Friday, December 02, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Stopa deportation of Occupy Oakland activist Pancho!
Free Pancho now!
Demand that Barbara Lee order ICE to lift the immigration ban on Pancho!
Sign the petition now: http://www.change.org/petitions/free-pancho-now.
Demand that Barbara Lee order ICE to lift the immigration ban on Pancho!
Sign the petition now: http://www.change.org/petitions/free-pancho-now.
For more information and actions you can take click here (PDF).
Pancho while being arrested
Francisco “Pancho” Ramos-Stierle was arrested while meditating at the Oscar Grant Plaza during the second early morning raid on the Occupy Oakland encampment on November 14th. He is currently being held by the Oakland Police Department on $10,000 bail and they plan to turn him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immediate deportation. He could be sent to Arizona as soon as tommorrow morning. That means we need to act now!
Pancho is an Oakland resident and a powerful community organizer. He was recently pursuing his PH.D in astrophysics at UC Berkeley but resigned from the program when he learned that his work would be used to promote “safer nuclear weapons.” Pancho has continued his service to the Oakland community through promoting community gardens and organizing against divisive programs such as the ICE-coordinated “Secure Communities”.
As a mediator and activist, Pancho has become an icon of peaceful protest against the unnecessary force the city of Oakland is using against the 99%. Join us in demanding that Senator Barbara Lee intervene forcing ICE to drop the immigration hold on Pancho immediately and that they stop the unjust surveillance of immigrants in Oakland.
The photo of Pancho meditating–as riot police arrest him–has gone viral on Twitter, and Facebook and has been a source of incredible inspiration to many around world. In a note from jail Pancho wrote to us saying, “Just tell them I love them all. Great space to meditate!” Now it is time to demand the freedom of our brother as we speak out against police crackdowns, unjust U.S. immigration policies and support this growing movement against Wall Street greed.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Angela Davis speaks on Occupy Oakland - General Strike 02-11-11
Video footage of Angela Davis giving one of the opening speeches on the morning of November 2, 2011--The day of the first General Strike in Oakland since 1946.
Her speech is followed by an announcement stating that the Longshoreman's Unions has shut down the Port of Oakland in solidarity with the Strike.
Thousands went on the streets an shut down the port...
and the day ended this way....
Traveler's Aid Building Takeover and Police Response
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Nov 2 Oakland General Strike
Blockade Port of Oakland During Nov 2 General Strike
resolution passed unanimously by the Occupy Oakland strike assembly on Friday October 29
On Wednesday, November 2nd as part of the Oakland General Strike, we will march on the Port of Oakland and shut it down. We will converge at 5pm at 14th and Broadway and march to the port to shut it down before the 7pm night shift.
We are doing this in order to blockade the flow of capital on the day of the General Strike, as well as to show our commitment to solidarity with Longshore workers in their struggle against EGT in Longview, Washington. EGT is an international grain exporter which is attempting to rupture longshore jurisdiction. The driving force behind EGT is Bunge LTD, a leading agribusiness and food company which reported 2.4 billion dollars in profit in 2010; this company has strong ties to Wall Street. This is but one example of Wall Street’s corporate attack on workers.
The Oakland General Strike will demonstrate the wide reaching implications of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The entire world is fed up with the huge disparity of wealth caused by the present system. Now is the time that the people are doing something about it.The Oakland General Strike is a warning shot to the 1% – their wealth only exists because the 99% creates it for them.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Police brutally attack Occupy Oakland
Solidarity actions across U.S.
Please circulate this video of the police attack against the Occupy Oakland movement.
Police have stepped up their attacks to crush the Occupy actions across the country. Police forces in a number of cities have conducted mass sweeps and arrests of peaceful protesters. From the mass false arrest of more than 700 on the Brooklyn Bridge on Oct. 1 to mass arrests in Chicago, Atlanta, Oakland and beyond, the police forces have made clear their role as the servants of the 1 percent.
In Oakland, the police viciously attacked Occupy Oakland with tear gas, flash grenades and projectile weapons. Scott Olsen, an Iraq war veteran, was shot in the head by the police with a projectile. Scott is reported to be in critical condition.
As the video vividly shows, the Oakland police directly targeted those protesters who bravely tried to give aid to the injured.
We must all stand together. Let’s continue to organize, occupy and protest in the coming days and weeks. This is a global grassroots movement for justice and change. We won’t be pushed back by police violence.
There will be several demonstrations in cities across the country in solidarity with Occupy Oakland. Below are some of the actions that have been announced; Occupy movements from across the country are publicizing many others through their websites, Twitter and Facebook accounts.
In the Bay Area: There will be demonstrations at 6 p.m. nightly at 14th and Broadway in Oakland called by Occupy Oakland until protesters until their occupation resumes.
In New York City: Gather at Liberty Plaza tonight (Wednesday, Oct. 26) at 9 p.m. for a march.
In Boston: March tonight (Wednesday, Oct. 26) at 9 p.m. starting at Dewey Square.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
People of the world, rise up on October 15th!
OCTOBER 15TH
UNITED FOR #GLOBALCHANGE
On October 15th people from all over the world will take to the streets and squares.
From America to Asia, from Africa to Europe, people are rising up to claim their rights and demand a true democracy. Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non violent protest.
The ruling powers work for the benefit of just a few, ignoring the will of the vast majority and the human and environmental price we all have to pay. This intolerable situation must end.
United in one voice, we will let politicians, and the financial elites they serve, know it is up to us, the people, to decide our future. We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers who do not represent us.
On October 15th, we will meet on the streets to initiate the global change we want. We will peacefully demonstrate, talk and organize until we make it happen.
It’s time for us to unite. It’s time for them to listen.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Mumia Abu Jamal's death-sentence has been effectively ruled unconstitutional
United States Supreme Court Rejects Appeal from Philadelphia DA’s Office
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Death Sentence is Unconstitutional
(New York, NY) — Today the United States Supreme Court rejected a request from the
Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to overturn the most recent federal appeals court decision
declaring Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence unconstitutional. The Court’s decision brings to
an end nearly thirty years of litigation over the fairness of the sentencing hearing that resulted in
Mr. Abu-Jamal’s being condemned to death. Mr. Abu-Jamal will be automatically sentenced to
life in prison without the possibility of parole unless the District Attorney elects to seek another
death sentence from a new jury.
The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and Professor Judith Ritter
of Widener Law School represent Mr. Abu-Jamal in the appeal of his conviction and death
sentence for the 1981 murder of a police officer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Supreme
Court’s decision marks the fourth time that the federal courts have found that Mr. Abu-Jamal’s
sentencing jury was misled about the constitutionally mandated process for considering evidence
supporting a life sentence.
“At long last, the profoundly troubling prospect of Mr. Abu-Jamal facing an execution
that was produced by an unfair and unreliable penalty phase has been eliminated,” said John
Payton, Director-Counsel of LDF. “Like all Americans, Mr. Abu-Jamal was entitled to a proper
proceeding that takes into account the many substantial reasons why death was an inappropriate
sentence.” Professor Ritter stated, “Our system should never condone an execution that stems
from a trial in which the jury was improperly instructed on the law.”
Mr. Abu-Jamal’s case will now return to the Philadelphia County Court of Common
Pleas for final sentencing.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Camps – Controlled Life in Isolation
Call for a demonstration in Erfurt (East-Germany) 22nd of October 2011
According to the ‚Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz‘ (law concerning social services for asylum seekers) refugees are forced to live in mass accommodation while their procedure for granting the right of asylum is under way and often even after it is finished. Camps in the federal German state of Thuringia spread out over all districts. When choosing locations for them, the priorities are usually to keep costs low and to maintain a distance to the local population, as public authorities have frequently confirmed. That is why the majority of the camps are located in small towns and villages, also often outside the urban area, in most cases in former barracks of the NVA (Nationale Volksarmee, the army of the German Democratic Republic) or administration buildings of the GDR. In order to avoid responsibility and keep the costs to a minimum, most of the districts leave the running of the camps to private companies. This means that, since profit is the main priority, living conditions that are already bad grow even worse.
Call for Download (pdf)
According to the ‚Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz‘ (law concerning social services for asylum seekers) refugees are forced to live in mass accommodation while their procedure for granting the right of asylum is under way and often even after it is finished. Camps in the federal German state of Thuringia spread out over all districts. When choosing locations for them, the priorities are usually to keep costs low and to maintain a distance to the local population, as public authorities have frequently confirmed. That is why the majority of the camps are located in small towns and villages, also often outside the urban area, in most cases in former barracks of the NVA (Nationale Volksarmee, the army of the German Democratic Republic) or administration buildings of the GDR. In order to avoid responsibility and keep the costs to a minimum, most of the districts leave the running of the camps to private companies. This means that, since profit is the main priority, living conditions that are already bad grow even worse.
The purpose of the camps is to wear refugees down in terms of health and mental well-being; to make deportations go as smoothly and inconspicuously as possible; and to suppress any form of political and legal resistance against bullying and violations of the law. The camps are run by directors and ‚Betreuer‘ (wardens) who are responsible to the migration office and guarantee a thorough control of the refugees‘ private lives. The wardens have far-reaching competencies to decide about the residents‘ lives – e.g. whether they receive shopping vouchers, can see a doctor, can use learning opportunities, get working permissions or even receive their private post unopened and on time. This provides a huge scope for abuses of power and bullying, which creates a general mechanism of suppressing political resistance. According to experience, refugees have to face serious consequences including faster deportation for publicly criticising the situation – or sometimes for merely having visitors.
Residence obligation – Racist controls and suppression of Political Self-Organisation
Another means of isolating refugees is the residence obligation law, which requires refugees to stay in the one district allocated to them. While some other federal states have completely abolished this law, Thuringia modified it this year: the permitted moving space was extended to four districts – four out of 23. There is an official possibility of applying for a vacation, thus gaining permission to leave the district. However, permission is hardly ever granted. When there was a nationwide refugee conference in Jena, Thuringia in April 2011, refugees from the federal state of Lower Saxony were denied permission to leave the district and therefore could not participate. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees stated that asylum seekers did ‚not have the right to be politically active‘. This means that any action and meeting of the refugees‘ network can be criminalised according to this law. The police check for people violating the residence obligation law in train stations and city centres in Thuringia, specifically controlling people they perceive as ‚not German.‘ Violations of the residence obligation can lead to punishment fees or, in cases of repetition, to imprisonment. Residence obligation is therefore the main means German public authorities use to persecute refugees who are politically active.
Seeing that continuous political activism in exile is often important for being granted asylum, this situation shows clearly that the assumed fundamental right to asylum is obviously a lie: not only does Germany forbid political refugees to be politically active; it continues to persecute them like their countries of origin did.
‚We are here because you destroy our countries‘
Unfortunately, this slogan of the Caravan for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants will not lose its topicality. Stressing the importance of political asylum is an attempt to stigmatise so-called ‚economic migrants‘ and set the public up against refugees, especially in times of crisis. The aim of this strategy is to conceal the structural global causes of flight and to prevent people from realising that they are the same structures that lead to crises and poverty in this part of the world. Who are those ‚economic migrants‘, then? If the expression refers to people from Tunisia who, being free from Ben Ali, flee to Europe to find a better life – then the question that must follow is: who supported Ben Ali for years, doing billion dollar deals with him and his clan and thus sustaining extreme financial inequality and an omnipotent repression system? If the expression refers to people from Senegal who cannot sustain themselves by fishing anymore – then the question that must follow is: who sent the high-tech fishing fleets that overfish the West African sea? If it refers to people from Afghanistan who have not only been deprived of any base for agriculture, but have also had all infrastructure destroyed, including their own houses – then the question must be: who has been waging war there for a decade?
If somebody leaves everything behind and flees, illegally crossing dozens of borders facing danger of death and paying through dehumanising clandestine employment on the way, then they must have a good reason. And in most cases it’s the same reason that leads to exclusion, rising poverty and more and more cuts to fundamental liberties in this country: capitalism in a world of national states with increasingly strong security systems.
The VOICE Refugee Forum
Founded as a reaction to the repressive situation in a refugee camp in Thuringia, the network called The VOICE Refugee Forum has for 17 years been fighting deprivation of rights and freedom. A large number of campaigns against deportation, isolation camps and residence obligation have frequently proven the necessity of autonomous self-organisation. The VOICE is not dependent on continuous financial support and functions without any hierarchic structure. The focus of its activism is always the fight for self-determination and continuous public presence of the refugees‘ voices. In Thuringia alone this made it possible to close down many isolation camps, to stop deportations and to prevent punishments for violations of the residence obligation law. For example, Miloud L Cherif has for several months successfully resisted his persecution for crossing a district border. He refuses to pay any fee (‚my freedom is not for sale!‘) and managed to avoid imprisonment through civil disobedience and public protest. Meanwhile, refugee activists in other federal states have begun to build networks of their own and make their voices heard. Refugees in Sachsen-Anhalt have long been fighting the isolation camp Möhlau. Baden-Württemberg saw its first refugee conference this year, along with several actions against deportation and enforced embassy hearings.
Break Isolation
This is the title of a campaign in Thuringia that has been intensified over the last year: a campaign against the isolation of refugees through their obligation to live in camps and the ban on moving freely across district borders. There is now a network of individuals and groups that, aiming to break this isolation, support The VOICE. They help with current actions, but also create documentation material and help to inform the public through regular visits to the camps and meetings with refugee activists.
Through self-organisation of refugees and solidarity within the community, the campaign showed the maltreatment of refugees in Gerstungen, Gangloffsömmern, Breitenworbis and Zella-Mehlis, and this success encouraged many refugees and non-refugees. During the campaign, the resistance drew more attention to the situation of refugees and the practice of isolation camps in Thuringia.
That is why we will demonstrate against exclusion and suppression in Erfurt on October 22nd 2011! The main focus will be on the situation in Thuringia; however, it is identical with that in other parts of Germany, and the world. Refugee activists from all regions of Thuringia, Caravan activists from the nationwide network and many other supporters will take to the streets together.
Support the refugees‘ resistance!!
Show solidarity for an autonomous, dignified and free life for everybody!
Instant closure of the isolation camps in Gerstungen, Breitenworbis and Zella-Mehlis!
Residence obligation and isolation camps have to go – everywhere!
October 22nd 2011 ERFURT
- 10am: manifestation at the ‚Anger‘
- 2pm: demonstration from the central station
Donations:
Förderverein The VOICE e.V.
Bank: Sparkasse Göttingen
Account number: 127829
Code (BLZ): 260 500 01
Keyword: Break Isolation
Thursday, September 22, 2011
There’s No Justice in the Capitalist Courts!
Free Troy Davis! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!
There’s No Justice in the Capitalist Courts!
By Steven Argue
During slavery a slave named Dred Scott was taken by his master to what is now Minnesota and Illinois. Slavery was illegal in those territories so Dred Scott took his master to court to sue for his freedom. In 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott saying that a Black man “has no legal rights that any white man was bound to respect”.
Since that time the Civil War has abolished chattel slavery and the heroic struggles of the Civil Rights and Black Liberation movements have abolished the most blatant forms of Jim Crow segregation. Yet, the death penalty, a hold-over of the class terror of slavery, continues. Likewise, racist injustice is alive and well in the American judicial system.
“Innocence is no Bar to Upholding a Jury Conviction”
In the tradition of Dred Scott, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1993 case of Herrara v Collins that the execution of an innocent man did not violate the Constitution. Judge Scalia stated of the case that "Innocence is no bar to upholding a jury conviction". As a result, strong new evidence that Leonel Herara was innocent was never allowed to be heard in a court of law. Instead, Leonel Herara was executed in 1993 in the state of Texas with his last words being, "I am innocent, innocent, innocent. I am an innocent man, and something very wrong is taking place tonight."
So a standard has been set where those who have been appointed to the highest court in the land don’t think that the execution of an innocent person is a violation of their constitutional rights. It is on this standard that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Troy Davis on March 28, 2011, denying his appeal without comment.
Troy Davis was sentenced to death in 1991 for the killing of an off-duty Savannah policeman. Davis was found “guilty” based on dubious accounts that he confessed to the killing and questionable “eyewitness” identifications that included false eyewitness testimony coerced by the cops. Seven of the prosecution’s nine “eyewitnesses” have since recanted. The only holdouts are one man who may be the actual killer and another who initially denied being able to identify the shooter only to pin it on Davis two years later. Three of the eyewitnesses say their testimony was coerced by the police. New eyewitnesses have come forth identifying another suspect.
Amnesty International said of his case, "Troy Davis was convicted of murder in 1991. Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row — even though the case against him has fallen apart."
Now Troy Davis may be executed on Wednesday, September 21st of this week. On September 6th a Chatham County, Georgia Judge issued a death warrant for Troy Davis. The so-called “Department of Corrections” then set the date for the execution. This Monday, September 19th the Georgia parole board heard arguments for and against execution. That five person panel is given the power to issue a ruling on whether Troy Davis lives or is legally lynched. They pronounced no decision Monday and gave no indication on when they will.
How Bill Clinton Prevented the Evidence from Being Heard
For over a decade, state and federal courts refused to hear evidence that Troy Davis is innocent. This included a federal court ruling against Troy Davis on April 16, 2009. A dissenting federal judge said the execution of Davis “in the face of a significant amount of the proffered evidence that may establish his actual innocence” was “unconscionable.” Yet the majority decision cited Bill Clinton’s 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, an act which virtually eliminates the right of federal habeas corpus (i.e. federal review of state legal cases).
The right to federal habeas corpus was a gain of the Civil War passed in the Civil Rights Act of 1871. The act gave the federal government authority to intervene in cases of racial injustice. This included federal habeas corpus giving the federal courts authority to review state legal decisions. Federal habeas corpus was further expanded during the Civil Rights and Black Liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s.
Bill Clinton’s 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, on the other hand, virtually eliminated the right to federal habeas corpus. The act bars federal reconsideration of most factual and legal findings of the state courts. It also puts a six month statute of limitations on new evidence in death penalty cases (one year for other cases).
The same 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act that has been used against Troy Davis was also cited as cause against federal review of evidence of the innocence of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is political activist, award winning journalist, and political prisoner on death row in the United States. Mumia was framed by the Philadelphia police and DA's Office. To convict Mumia they produced a crudely falsified “confession” which didn’t surface until two months after the killing; tampered with ballistics “evidence”; and produced “eyewitness” accounts that were secured through police manipulation, coercion, and blatant terror. During the trial the Philadelphia DA’s Office knowingly used perjured testimony and hid essential evidence to procure a conviction. That frame-up case was then presented in a court presided over by Judge Sabo who was heard by a court stenographer during the time of the trial saying, "Ill help you fry the nigger".
After investigation, Amnesty International stated of the trial, “Mumia Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer in 1982 after a trial that failed to meet international standards." Yet, like in the racist frame-up case of Troy Davis, the federal courts have cited the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act as pretext not to hear evidence of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s innocence.
As the historian Howard Zinn stated of Mumia Abu-Jamal in April 2009:
“To me, the Mumia Abu-Jamal case is another instance in the history of American injustice. Our judicial system is stacked against people of color, radicals, and people who are not wealthy, and Mumia fits all three categories.
“It is shameful that he has been in prison, and on death row, for such a large part of his life. He has shown immense courage in refusing to be beaten down by this cruel system.
“I hope that justice will be done in his case, but that will only happen if large numbers of Americans speak out loudly on his behalf, and on behalf of the principle — so much ignored — of equal justice before the law.”
A Continuing Pattern of Racist Injustice
Blacks have long faced political repression in the United States. For many decades the KKK, Democratic Party, and local police ruled over half of the country as a semi-fascist state where Blacks were denied the right to vote and murdered for speaking their minds. With victories won against that system the FBI orchestrated a reign of terror against the most radical Blacks who stood up against racism, class inequalities, and imperialism.
In the 1960’s and 70’s the U.S. government liquidated the Black Panther Party through the murders of 39 members, including the FBI organized police shooting of Fred Hampton in his sleep, and through political frame-ups such as that of Geronimo (Ji. Jaga) Pratt who was finally exonerated (i.e. found innocent) after 30 years in prison. Other framed Black Panthers still sit in prison and Black Panther Assata Shakur lives in exile, granted political asylum by Cuba, but with a one million dollar bounty put on her head by the New Jersey government. Mumia Abu-Jamal, a target of FBI surveillance from the time of his youth in the Black Panther Party, survived the FBI’s physical liquidation of his party, only to be framed-up in the 1980’s after exposing violent police repression against Black radicals in an organization called Move.
Similarly, the Lakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota who supported the culturally and politically nationalist American Indian Movement faced brutal counter-insurgency tactics complete with FBI-armed and -trained death squads that murdered 61 political activists and their children on the reservation between 1973 and 1976. As part of that terror war against America’s first nations, American Indian Movement member Leonard Peltier was framed by the FBI and remains in prison to this day. Many of Leonard Peltier’s supporters had hoped that Bill Clinton would pardon Leonard Peltier as he left office, but Clinton refused to do so.
Today, a world movement hopes that Troy Davis is not executed. In the last few days over 300 protests have been held for Troy Davis in cities around the world. Nearly a million petitions have been signed demanding Troy Davis not be executed. He is supported by many important organizations including the NAACP, Amnesty International, and the International Longshore and Warehouseman’s Union
Troy Davis has sat in prison for 20 years in a case that not only shows cause for reasonable doubt, the legal definition of innocence, but also shows the classic symptoms of a racist police frame-up including police coercion of witnesses. Whatever happens in the next couple days, justice in this case will not mean just stopping his execution, it will also mean freeing Troy Davis. Yet, we should be clear, the U.S. government is capable of the worst, it is capable of the murder of innocents, and it is even capable of producing legal arguments like "Innocence is no bar to upholding a jury conviction” to justify state sanctioned murder.
From Dred Scott to Troy Davis
In his May 1857 “Speech on the Dred Scott Decision” Frederick Douglass, a former slave and activist for the abolition of slavery, denounced the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision that a Black man “has no legal rights that any white man was bound to respect” by saying,
“If it were at all likely that the people of these free States would tamely submit to this demoniacal judgment, I might feel gloomy and sad over it, and possibly it might be necessary for my people to look for a home in some other country. But as the case stands, we have nothing to fear.
“In one point of view, we, the abolitionists and colored people, should meet this decision, unlooked for and monstrous as it appears, in a cheerful spirit. This very attempt to blot out forever the hopes of an enslaved people may be one necessary link in the chain of events preparatory to the downfall and complete overthrow of the whole slave system.”
The unpopular Dred Scott decision is widely seen as playing a role in bringing on the Civil War. It was the Civil War that completed the abolition of slavery, a task that had begun in the north with the American Revolution. With U.S. courts now openly ruling that it’s OK to murder innocent people, it is now time to prepare for a second American Revolution. It is with such radical conclusions we should confront government atrocities like what is being done to Troy Davis. In doing so, we make the government pay for its crimes.
By revolution I don’t mean blow things up or any other form of individual terrorism. A revolution is a change in who rules society. Presently the wealthy capitalists rule America through their ownership of the economy; through their political parties, the Democrats and Republicans; and through the repressive actions of their cops, courts, prisons, and military. That entire system must be swept away in a mass proletarian revolution.
Liberation News is dedicated to building a socialist party that has goals like eliminating the dictatorial control of our society by the wealthy, bringing about true workers democracy, ending imperialist wars, and bringing Black liberation through socialist revolution. While capitalism is leading us into an oblivion of economic decay, austerity, unemployment, ever more wars, and environmental catastrophe, a socialist economy can be geared for full employment, free health care, free education, housing for all, and better environmental protection because it will not be run for capitalist profit. A party that fights for such a socialist future also exposes and fights for immediate demands like freeing Troy Davis and abolishing the racist death penalty. In building such a movement that helps people draw the deeper radical conclusions of the injustices perpetrated by this system and the fight that is needed for liberation, we make the capitalist system pay for its crimes.
There’s No Justice in the Capitalist Courts!
By Steven Argue
During slavery a slave named Dred Scott was taken by his master to what is now Minnesota and Illinois. Slavery was illegal in those territories so Dred Scott took his master to court to sue for his freedom. In 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott saying that a Black man “has no legal rights that any white man was bound to respect”.
Since that time the Civil War has abolished chattel slavery and the heroic struggles of the Civil Rights and Black Liberation movements have abolished the most blatant forms of Jim Crow segregation. Yet, the death penalty, a hold-over of the class terror of slavery, continues. Likewise, racist injustice is alive and well in the American judicial system.
“Innocence is no Bar to Upholding a Jury Conviction”
In the tradition of Dred Scott, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1993 case of Herrara v Collins that the execution of an innocent man did not violate the Constitution. Judge Scalia stated of the case that "Innocence is no bar to upholding a jury conviction". As a result, strong new evidence that Leonel Herara was innocent was never allowed to be heard in a court of law. Instead, Leonel Herara was executed in 1993 in the state of Texas with his last words being, "I am innocent, innocent, innocent. I am an innocent man, and something very wrong is taking place tonight."
So a standard has been set where those who have been appointed to the highest court in the land don’t think that the execution of an innocent person is a violation of their constitutional rights. It is on this standard that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Troy Davis on March 28, 2011, denying his appeal without comment.
Troy Davis was sentenced to death in 1991 for the killing of an off-duty Savannah policeman. Davis was found “guilty” based on dubious accounts that he confessed to the killing and questionable “eyewitness” identifications that included false eyewitness testimony coerced by the cops. Seven of the prosecution’s nine “eyewitnesses” have since recanted. The only holdouts are one man who may be the actual killer and another who initially denied being able to identify the shooter only to pin it on Davis two years later. Three of the eyewitnesses say their testimony was coerced by the police. New eyewitnesses have come forth identifying another suspect.
Amnesty International said of his case, "Troy Davis was convicted of murder in 1991. Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row — even though the case against him has fallen apart."
Now Troy Davis may be executed on Wednesday, September 21st of this week. On September 6th a Chatham County, Georgia Judge issued a death warrant for Troy Davis. The so-called “Department of Corrections” then set the date for the execution. This Monday, September 19th the Georgia parole board heard arguments for and against execution. That five person panel is given the power to issue a ruling on whether Troy Davis lives or is legally lynched. They pronounced no decision Monday and gave no indication on when they will.
How Bill Clinton Prevented the Evidence from Being Heard
For over a decade, state and federal courts refused to hear evidence that Troy Davis is innocent. This included a federal court ruling against Troy Davis on April 16, 2009. A dissenting federal judge said the execution of Davis “in the face of a significant amount of the proffered evidence that may establish his actual innocence” was “unconscionable.” Yet the majority decision cited Bill Clinton’s 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, an act which virtually eliminates the right of federal habeas corpus (i.e. federal review of state legal cases).
The right to federal habeas corpus was a gain of the Civil War passed in the Civil Rights Act of 1871. The act gave the federal government authority to intervene in cases of racial injustice. This included federal habeas corpus giving the federal courts authority to review state legal decisions. Federal habeas corpus was further expanded during the Civil Rights and Black Liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s.
Bill Clinton’s 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, on the other hand, virtually eliminated the right to federal habeas corpus. The act bars federal reconsideration of most factual and legal findings of the state courts. It also puts a six month statute of limitations on new evidence in death penalty cases (one year for other cases).
The same 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act that has been used against Troy Davis was also cited as cause against federal review of evidence of the innocence of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is political activist, award winning journalist, and political prisoner on death row in the United States. Mumia was framed by the Philadelphia police and DA's Office. To convict Mumia they produced a crudely falsified “confession” which didn’t surface until two months after the killing; tampered with ballistics “evidence”; and produced “eyewitness” accounts that were secured through police manipulation, coercion, and blatant terror. During the trial the Philadelphia DA’s Office knowingly used perjured testimony and hid essential evidence to procure a conviction. That frame-up case was then presented in a court presided over by Judge Sabo who was heard by a court stenographer during the time of the trial saying, "Ill help you fry the nigger".
After investigation, Amnesty International stated of the trial, “Mumia Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer in 1982 after a trial that failed to meet international standards." Yet, like in the racist frame-up case of Troy Davis, the federal courts have cited the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act as pretext not to hear evidence of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s innocence.
As the historian Howard Zinn stated of Mumia Abu-Jamal in April 2009:
“To me, the Mumia Abu-Jamal case is another instance in the history of American injustice. Our judicial system is stacked against people of color, radicals, and people who are not wealthy, and Mumia fits all three categories.
“It is shameful that he has been in prison, and on death row, for such a large part of his life. He has shown immense courage in refusing to be beaten down by this cruel system.
“I hope that justice will be done in his case, but that will only happen if large numbers of Americans speak out loudly on his behalf, and on behalf of the principle — so much ignored — of equal justice before the law.”
A Continuing Pattern of Racist Injustice
Blacks have long faced political repression in the United States. For many decades the KKK, Democratic Party, and local police ruled over half of the country as a semi-fascist state where Blacks were denied the right to vote and murdered for speaking their minds. With victories won against that system the FBI orchestrated a reign of terror against the most radical Blacks who stood up against racism, class inequalities, and imperialism.
In the 1960’s and 70’s the U.S. government liquidated the Black Panther Party through the murders of 39 members, including the FBI organized police shooting of Fred Hampton in his sleep, and through political frame-ups such as that of Geronimo (Ji. Jaga) Pratt who was finally exonerated (i.e. found innocent) after 30 years in prison. Other framed Black Panthers still sit in prison and Black Panther Assata Shakur lives in exile, granted political asylum by Cuba, but with a one million dollar bounty put on her head by the New Jersey government. Mumia Abu-Jamal, a target of FBI surveillance from the time of his youth in the Black Panther Party, survived the FBI’s physical liquidation of his party, only to be framed-up in the 1980’s after exposing violent police repression against Black radicals in an organization called Move.
Similarly, the Lakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota who supported the culturally and politically nationalist American Indian Movement faced brutal counter-insurgency tactics complete with FBI-armed and -trained death squads that murdered 61 political activists and their children on the reservation between 1973 and 1976. As part of that terror war against America’s first nations, American Indian Movement member Leonard Peltier was framed by the FBI and remains in prison to this day. Many of Leonard Peltier’s supporters had hoped that Bill Clinton would pardon Leonard Peltier as he left office, but Clinton refused to do so.
Today, a world movement hopes that Troy Davis is not executed. In the last few days over 300 protests have been held for Troy Davis in cities around the world. Nearly a million petitions have been signed demanding Troy Davis not be executed. He is supported by many important organizations including the NAACP, Amnesty International, and the International Longshore and Warehouseman’s Union
Troy Davis has sat in prison for 20 years in a case that not only shows cause for reasonable doubt, the legal definition of innocence, but also shows the classic symptoms of a racist police frame-up including police coercion of witnesses. Whatever happens in the next couple days, justice in this case will not mean just stopping his execution, it will also mean freeing Troy Davis. Yet, we should be clear, the U.S. government is capable of the worst, it is capable of the murder of innocents, and it is even capable of producing legal arguments like "Innocence is no bar to upholding a jury conviction” to justify state sanctioned murder.
From Dred Scott to Troy Davis
In his May 1857 “Speech on the Dred Scott Decision” Frederick Douglass, a former slave and activist for the abolition of slavery, denounced the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision that a Black man “has no legal rights that any white man was bound to respect” by saying,
“If it were at all likely that the people of these free States would tamely submit to this demoniacal judgment, I might feel gloomy and sad over it, and possibly it might be necessary for my people to look for a home in some other country. But as the case stands, we have nothing to fear.
“In one point of view, we, the abolitionists and colored people, should meet this decision, unlooked for and monstrous as it appears, in a cheerful spirit. This very attempt to blot out forever the hopes of an enslaved people may be one necessary link in the chain of events preparatory to the downfall and complete overthrow of the whole slave system.”
The unpopular Dred Scott decision is widely seen as playing a role in bringing on the Civil War. It was the Civil War that completed the abolition of slavery, a task that had begun in the north with the American Revolution. With U.S. courts now openly ruling that it’s OK to murder innocent people, it is now time to prepare for a second American Revolution. It is with such radical conclusions we should confront government atrocities like what is being done to Troy Davis. In doing so, we make the government pay for its crimes.
By revolution I don’t mean blow things up or any other form of individual terrorism. A revolution is a change in who rules society. Presently the wealthy capitalists rule America through their ownership of the economy; through their political parties, the Democrats and Republicans; and through the repressive actions of their cops, courts, prisons, and military. That entire system must be swept away in a mass proletarian revolution.
Liberation News is dedicated to building a socialist party that has goals like eliminating the dictatorial control of our society by the wealthy, bringing about true workers democracy, ending imperialist wars, and bringing Black liberation through socialist revolution. While capitalism is leading us into an oblivion of economic decay, austerity, unemployment, ever more wars, and environmental catastrophe, a socialist economy can be geared for full employment, free health care, free education, housing for all, and better environmental protection because it will not be run for capitalist profit. A party that fights for such a socialist future also exposes and fights for immediate demands like freeing Troy Davis and abolishing the racist death penalty. In building such a movement that helps people draw the deeper radical conclusions of the injustices perpetrated by this system and the fight that is needed for liberation, we make the capitalist system pay for its crimes.
Troy Davis Murdered, Innocence No Bar To Execution
"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath." Troy Davis ![[Photo: Troy Davis]](http://nyc.indymedia.org/images/2011/09/116193.jpg)
Photo: Troy Davis
I’m sorry. The horrific news is that Troy Davis has been murdered in a government sanctioned lynching. This comes after over a four hour delay past the scheduled execution. In these moments, I find it difficult to say anything new, but I think the article I wrote a few days ago sums it up, so I'm resending it. In addition, I'm adding Troy Davis's words the day before his execution.
"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath." Troy Davis
Photo: Troy Davis
I’m sorry. The horrific news is that Troy Davis has been murdered in a government sanctioned lynching. This comes after over a four hour delay past the scheduled execution. In these moments, I find it difficult to say anything new, but I think the article I wrote a few days ago sums it up, so I'm resending it. In addition, I'm adding Troy Davis's words the day before his execution.
"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath." Troy Davis
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Troy Davis, The Fight Isn't Over
Parole Board Agrees to Legal Lynching
![[Troy Davis, Photo from NY Times]](http://nyc.indymedia.org/images/2011/09/116170.jpg)
[Troy Davis, Photo from NY Times]
Update for Troy Davis, The Fight Isn't Over
The news on Troy Davis is very bad. Despite being innocent, the Georgia Parole Board has OK'd his execution for 7 PM tomorrow (September 21st). Yet the fight to free Troy Davis isn’t over, and if that fails, the fight to overthrow the evil system that murders him will continue.
This was not an unexpected outcome when I wrote yesterday’s article. For that fighting perspective please see:
“Free Troy Davis! There’s No Justice in the Capitalist Courts!”
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2011/09/116146.html
Troy Davis’s sister, Kim Davis, has started a new petition to have the Georgia Parole Board overturn their decision.
Stop my brother Troy Davis' Execution on Sep. 21.
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-my-brother-troy-davis-execution-on-sep-21
Protests will also be held in a number of places. One called by Black leaders in L.A. states in their press release, “Echoes of slavery, Jim Crow, Klan lynchings, racist police murders and economic injustice are now heard reverberating in the cell of Troy Davis. So must our rage.” They will be gathering to rally at Leimert Park in Los Angeles (at Crenshaw & Vernon) today (Tuesday, September 20th).
A protest will be held in NY today as well: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2011/09/116165.html
I am also posting a resolution passed by International Longshore and Warehouseman’s Union (ILWU) in favor of Troy Davis. It would be nice if they would act on this and shut down the ports to stop the execution. Having that kind of fighting labor movement and a bigger socialist movement to help lead it would hit the capitalists who rule America much harder than strategies of petitions and protests. We do what we can to build in that direction.
2009 ILWU Convention Resolution on Racist Oppression and the Death Penalty
Whereas, the ILWU and the militant wing of the American labor movement, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) grew out of the class struggles in the 1920’s and 1930’s mobilizing against anti-worker and racist oppression, notably the cases of San Francisco labor organizer Tom Mooney and the 9 black Scottsboro Boys of Alabama, falsely accused of rape, and
Whereas, police, courts and laws have historically been used against working people in our struggle to organize unions and fight back against racist oppression, and
Whereas, the ILWU has a long-standing principle of opposition to racism and to the death penalty, a vestige of slavery, which is the ultimate form of government oppression, and
Whereas, African Americans, Latin Americans and other people of color are disproportionately imprisoned on death row across the country facing execution, and
Whereas, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Troy Anthony Davis, Kevin Cooper, Leonard Peltier and the San Francisco 8 are some of the most prominent victims of these government frame-ups, Jamal and Davis accused of killing police and Peltier of FBI agents on an Indian reservation, and
Whereas, the U.S. Supreme Court recently denied the appeal of Jamal, while Davis and Cooper lost before federal appeals courts, and
Whereas, Martina Correia, sister of Troy Davis, spoke passionately this year at ILWU Local 10’s Black History month rally against racist repression and has now initiated a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of executing an innocent person,
Therefore Be It Resolved that the ILWU reaffirms our opposition to the death penalty, supports Martina Correia’s lawsuit and demands freedom for these victims of government repression, just as we did for Tom Mooney and the Scottsboro Boys in the wake of the Big Strike of ’34, on this the 75th anniversary of that momentous struggle.
******
Update by Liberation News, subscribe free:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news
“Free Troy Davis! There’s No Justice in the Capitalist Courts!”
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2011/09/116146.html
The news on Troy Davis is very bad. Despite being innocent, the Georgia Parole Board has OK'd his execution for 7 PM tomorrow (September 21st). Yet the fight to free Troy Davis isn’t over, and if that fails, the fight to overthrow the evil system that murders him will continue.
This was not an unexpected outcome when I wrote yesterday’s article. For that fighting perspective please see:
“Free Troy Davis! There’s No Justice in the Capitalist Courts!”
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2011/09/116146.htmlTroy Davis’s sister, Kim Davis, has started a new petition to have the Georgia Parole Board overturn their decision.
Stop my brother Troy Davis' Execution on Sep. 21.
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-my-brother-troy-davis-execution-on-sep-21Protests will also be held in a number of places. One called by Black leaders in L.A. states in their press release, “Echoes of slavery, Jim Crow, Klan lynchings, racist police murders and economic injustice are now heard reverberating in the cell of Troy Davis. So must our rage.” They will be gathering to rally at Leimert Park in Los Angeles (at Crenshaw & Vernon) today (Tuesday, September 20th).
A protest will be held in NY today as well:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2011/09/116165.htmlI am also posting a resolution passed by International Longshore and Warehouseman’s Union (ILWU) in favor of Troy Davis. It would be nice if they would act on this and shut down the ports to stop the execution. Having that kind of fighting labor movement and a bigger socialist movement to help lead it would hit the capitalists who rule America much harder than strategies of petitions and protests. We do what we can to build in that direction.
2009 ILWU Convention Resolution on Racist Oppression and the Death Penalty
Whereas, the ILWU and the militant wing of the American labor movement, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) grew out of the class struggles in the 1920’s and 1930’s mobilizing against anti-worker and racist oppression, notably the cases of San Francisco labor organizer Tom Mooney and the 9 black Scottsboro Boys of Alabama, falsely accused of rape, and
Whereas, police, courts and laws have historically been used against working people in our struggle to organize unions and fight back against racist oppression, and
Whereas, the ILWU has a long-standing principle of opposition to racism and to the death penalty, a vestige of slavery, which is the ultimate form of government oppression, and
Whereas, African Americans, Latin Americans and other people of color are disproportionately imprisoned on death row across the country facing execution, and
Whereas, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Troy Anthony Davis, Kevin Cooper, Leonard Peltier and the San Francisco 8 are some of the most prominent victims of these government frame-ups, Jamal and Davis accused of killing police and Peltier of FBI agents on an Indian reservation, and
Whereas, the U.S. Supreme Court recently denied the appeal of Jamal, while Davis and Cooper lost before federal appeals courts, and
Whereas, Martina Correia, sister of Troy Davis, spoke passionately this year at ILWU Local 10’s Black History month rally against racist repression and has now initiated a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of executing an innocent person,
Therefore Be It Resolved that the ILWU reaffirms our opposition to the death penalty, supports Martina Correia’s lawsuit and demands freedom for these victims of government repression, just as we did for Tom Mooney and the Scottsboro Boys in the wake of the Big Strike of ’34, on this the 75th anniversary of that momentous struggle.
******
Update by Liberation News, subscribe free:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news“Free Troy Davis! There’s No Justice in the Capitalist Courts!”
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2011/09/116146.htmlMonday, September 19, 2011
Stop the State murder of Troy Davis on September 21!
The following statement is from Kimberly Davis, the sister of Troy Davis, who was wrongfully convicted and put on deathrow in 1991 for the death of a cop. There is no physical evidence against Troy Davis, and seven of the witnesses have recanted their story — many of them saying the police coerced them into give false testimony. Kimberly has launched a campaign on Change.org to stop his execution, which is scheduled for September 21. We urge our readers to participate in the campaign through the petition, call-in and in general to stop the brother's execution.
My brother, Troy Davis, has been on Georgia's death row for 20 years despite strong evidence of his innocence. His execution date is now scheduled for Wed, Sept 21. He has a hearing in front of the Georgia Board of Pardons & Parole two days beforehand.We need to tell the Board strongly and clearly: There's too much doubt to execute Troy Davis!
The case against my brother Troy consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, seven out of nine witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony.
Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. Here is what one had to say:
“I got tired of them harassing me, and they made it clear that the only way they would leave me alone is if I told them what they wanted to hear. I told them that Troy told me he did it, but it wasn’t true."
We need to tell the Board strongly and clearly: There's too much doubt to execute Troy Davis!
Sign the petition here: http://www.change.org/petitions/7-of-9-witnesses-say-my-brother-is-innocent-stop-troy-davis-execution-on-sep-21
Also, call the Board of Pardons and Parole at 404-656-5651 and demand that they stay Troy Davis' execution!---------------------------------
If you believe that there will never be peace on the planet without justice, reparations and reconciliation for African people and all the countless victims of imperialism past and present against whom terror, genocide,
Friday, September 16, 2011
Save Troy Davis' life
The state of Georgia plans to put Troy Davis to death on September 21. The case against him consisted of witness testimony that was full of inconsistencies. Since then, all but two of the state’s non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their testimony — and many have sworn in affidavits that police pressured or coerced them into testifying or signing statements.
There is still serious doubt as to Troy Davis’ guilt, and by putting him to death Georgia runs the risk of killing an innocent man. Please call on Board of Pardons and Parole to save Troy Davis’ life. And please share this information with others. Troy Davis needs as many of us as possible to speak up.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
My freedom is not for sale!
Miloud L. Cherif calls for the Abolition of Movement Restriction for Refugees in Germany
The Movement Restriction for Refugees in Germany (Residenzpflicht) is a means or opression by the German state against any effective attempt of refugees to make a stand for their rights and to get organised. The case of Miloud Cherif is the best example on how this law, most of the Germans still do not even know that it is existing, prevents refugees from meeting each other and from geting in touch with human rights organisations.But Miloud at the same time shows to all the refugees on how to confront the oppression - by civil desobediance:
Miloud Cherif Speaks on Residenzpflicht during Felix Otto rememberance in Jena
Declaration of Miloud L. Cherif against „Residenzpflicht“ - My freedom is not for sale
I wonder why a refugee should pay any amount of money if he left the place he lives in Germany, except the transport expanses.
On the 20.11.2010 I left to attend the nationwide caravan meeting in Berlin, and I've been stopped in Erfurt Hbf because I had no permission to leave my landkreis Schmalkalden-Meiningen in Thueringen and the police obliged me to go back to Zella-Mehlis (My heim – Refugee Isolation Camp).
Months later, and on the same day (24.03.2011) we made the demonstration in Meiningen for the closure of Zella Mehlis lager (The heim I live in), on the same, I received the letter telling me that I have to pay 58,50€ for ''breaking the law'' by being in Erfurt Hbf without permission.
I received many more letters since then, the last letters telling me to pay or to go to the jail in case I refused to pay the fine.
I refused to pay the fine, and I still refuse to pay, and I'll never ever pay the fine, because my freedom is not for sale.
I have been calling and I still call for the abolition of the residentzpflicht for refugees in Germany.
Refugees MUST have the right to move freely in the German territory without any permission or paying for it.
Residenzpflicht (Residential Obligation) was and will be a discriminative and a colonial law, aiming in the first place to ISOLATE the refugee in the same place He/She has been sent to, after submitting HIS/HER asylum file in Germany.
Residenzpflicht is the second tool in German authorities' Arsenal to isolate the refugee after the first which is the location of His/Her lager which in most cases is out of the city, somewhere in the middle on nowhere.
And for that, I call for ALL my brothers and sisters, refugees and non-refugees, to stand beside me, and support me in OUR battle of the justice, it's just another battle in the long war between the good and the evil.
Refugees need solidarity - Refugees want a fair life.
Miloud L. Cherif,
Coordinator of Zella-Mehlis Refugee Community,
Activist and Member of The VOICE Refugee Forum in Germany
Video interview with Miloud L. Cherif on how he fights to Break the Isolation of Refugees in Zella-Mehlis
Miloud L. Cherif fights to Break the Isolation of Refugees in Germany from Zella-Mehlis from The VOICE Refugee Network.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
BBC propaganda accident - Darcus Howe refuses to condemn London Riots
Darcus Howe, a West Indian Writer and Broadcaster with a voice about the riots. Speaking about the mistreatment of youths by police leading to an up-roar and the ignorance of both police and the governement.
Howe was born in Trinidad and Tobago, the son of an Anglican priest. He left Trinidad for London aged 18 to enter the legal profession at Middle Temple, but he swapped the law for journalism. He returned to Trinidad, where his uncle and mentor, radical intellectual CLR James, inspired Howe to combine writing with political activism. A brief spell as assistant editor on the Trinidad trade union paper The Vanguard was followed by return to Britain as editor of British magazine Race Today.
He became a member of the British Black Panther Movement, and in August 1970, following a protest, Howe was arrested and tried for riot, affray and assault. He was acquitted after a trial at the Old Bailey. Later, he was the editor of the magazine Race Today and was imprisoned for three months for assaulting a police officer. The celebration following his release was recalled in the song Man Free by poetLinton Kwesi Johnson. The central lines of the song describe Howe’s legal fight: “I stand up in the court like a mighty lion, I stand up in the court like man of iron, Darcus out of jail, Shabba!”.
Howe organised the 20,000 strong Black People’s March 1981 claiming official neglect and inefficient policing of the investigation of New Cross Fire in which 13 black teenagers died.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Kenneth Harding murdered by San Francisco Police officers
Dead over a $2 train fare
look at the outrage provoked by the shooting death of Kenneth Harding--and the violence of San Francisco police.
July 25, 2011
San Francisco police train their guns on Kenneth Harding as he bleeds to death
ON JULY 16 at 4:44 p.m., 19-year-old Kenneth Harding was shot at as many as 10 times by San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). Bullets pierced his leg and neck, and entered his brain, killing him.
This was the third fatal shooting in the past two months by the SFPD, and the second public transit-related shooting in a span of two weeks.
According to witnesses, police chased Harding from the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) light-rail after he ran away from them for not paying the $2 fare. After Harding was shot, cops surrounded his dying body without offering him medical assistance, as a crowd of angry community members began to gather.
A disturbing video of the event shows an agonizing scene--with many police, guns drawn, threatening bystanders and watching as Harding lay bleeding to death on the ground.
Since the shooting, Harding has been vilified in the corporate media. Most reports focus on his criminal record to try to prove that he was a "bad man"--with the implication that he deserved to die.
Police are trying to shift the blame and conversation away from themselves, but these reports do little to answer the larger questions raised by the recent upsurge of violence by Bay Area police. Why, for example, were armed officers chasing a man for not paying a Muni fee? And why are tax dollars being used to arm, train and fund police to ensure someone pays that $2?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
INCREDIBLY, POLICE now claim that Harding died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The San Francisco medical examiner released findings last week that the bullet recovered from Harding's head was from a .380 caliber firearm, while police on the scene were supposedly armed with .40-caliber weapons. The medical examiner also claims to have found gunshot residue on one of Harding's hands, and a .380 caliber bullet was allegedly found in one of Harding's pockets.
If police are to be believed, Harding shot backwards through a crowd at officers while running and somehow also--whether accidentally or intentionally--fatally shot himself in his neck.
As SFGate.com noted, this story has led many in the community to believe that police are covering up a murder in cold blood. In what can only be called an understatement, Police Commander Mike Biel said at a recent press conference that "he understands there may be skepticism about the latest evidence revealed by authorities."
Police claims that Harding was not only armed during the chase, but shot first at officers, are contradicted by the reports of multiple witnesses, who say Harding had no gun. "I just saw shots going forward," resident Henry Taylor told channel 7 ABC News. " I didn't see shots coming backwards."
Additionally, no gun was ever found on or near Harding at the scene. Initially, police claimed to have caught a suspect who supposedly removed the gun from the scene, with San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr telling Channel 7: "[W]e believe we have it in custody."
But now the cops' story has changed, and they claim the gun is still missing. Desperate to find a justification for the fatal shooting of the young man, police are now offering a $1,000 reward for the phantom gun.
Police are also making much of Harding's criminal record--announcing publicly that the young man was on parole in connection with charges that he tried to force a 14-year-old girl into prostitution in Seattle, and that he was a person of interest in a shooting in that city that killed one and wounded three others.
But whether or not Harding had a criminal record or was wanted for another crime doesn't justify police chasing him down over a $2 fare and killing him in what many bystanders describe as closer to an execution.
"Regardless of if they found a gun or not, it's the fact they chased him from the T-train over a transfer, and while there's real crime going on," resident Debray Carpenter told ABC News.
Those in the community who experience everyday intimidation from police know that the police lie to cover their tracks. Bayview, the site of Harding's murder and San Francisco's last largely Black community, has the highest poverty rates in the city and an unemployment four times higher than the rest of the city.
Although San Francisco has a civilian review board to supposedly hold violent cops accountable, activists point out that if officers think they will be disciplined, they quit the day before their review board hearing to maintain their pension.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NOR IS Harding's death the only recent police-involved death. Just 13 days before Harding was killed, Charles Hill, a 45-year-old homeless man, was fatally shot three times by two Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officers moments after the officers responded to a call at the Civic Center Plaza BART station in downtown San Francisco.
The entire incident took only one minute. The media's limited coverage of the killing emphasizes BART and BART police's claims that Hill was intoxicated and wielding a knife and glass bottle. Witnesses, however, claimed that Hill posed no threat and "moved slowly" toward the armed officers, who almost immediately responded with lethal force. The police have refused to release footage of the incident and have not conveyed information of their investigation with the media.
Hill's death came just one week after BART police reached a $1.3 million settlement with the family of Oscar Grant III, who was murdered in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by BART officer Johannes Mehserle. Mehserle was released from prison this June after spending only 292 days behind bars. The message was clear: shoot and kill an unarmed Black man in the back without provocation, and the system will let you off easy.
The deaths of Harding and Hill also follow the June 7 fatal shooting of a suspected bank robber who allegedly tried to run over SFPD officers with his car, and a June 29 shooting and wounding of a wanted parolee who allegedly shot at the SFPD.
Hill's death also poses larger questions over police action: Why are Bay Area police so quick to shoot? Why didn't BART police utilize any of the non-lethal methods at their disposal before fatally shooting Hill? Why are police and the media emphasizing that Hill was "drunk" and "wielding a bottle" instead of asking why, within a minute of encountering officers, he had been fatally wounded?
This surge of police brutality has sparked anger, pushing community members and activists to the streets in protests, speak outs, and other actions.
On July 16, the day that Harding was shot, there were spontaneous demonstrations in the Bayview and Mission neighborhoods that closed down BART and Muni cars.
A July 20 march in San Francisco called by No Justice No BART, a group formed in the wake of Oscar Grant's killing, saw 150 protesters marching and 46 activists arrested. As the march route passed under a Muni station, a Bank of America window was smashed, and a hammer and flares were thrown at a police station as protesters chanted: "How do you spell murderer? S.F.P.D.!" Protesters carried a large banner that read, "You can't shoot us all!"
As one woman on the demonstration said, "The cops are just trigger-happy. They're trained to shoot young brown and Black men first, and avoid questions later."
That evening, Police Chief Greg Suhr was booed off of the stage by angry residents during a town hall meeting at the Bayview Opera House.
Days earlier, a quickly planned demonstration on July 11 at the BART platform where Charles Hill was murdered had 150 protesters chanting, "No justice! No peace! Disband the BART police!" as they walked in and out of train doors, climbed on trains and successfully shut down three of the busiest downtown San Francisco BART stations for over two hours.
By bringing together diverse community organizations and activists, the recent demonstrations have highlighted the strength in numbers of Californians challenging police violence.
Activists are now planning an August 20 teach-in and protest titled "Freedom from Violence and Police State Terror." Sponsored by the Idriss Stelley Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that works on law enforcement accountability, the protest at San Francisco City Hall is meant to launch a citywide police accountability and transparency movement that can hold police and politicians accountable for the daily violence poor and minority communities are subjected to.
Francois Hughes contributed to this article.
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Ethnic Cleansing of Black Libyans
Rebels, with the help of NATO bombs and missiles, drove out Misrata's Black population
byBlack Star News Editorial
The "rebels" in Misrata in Libya have driven out the entire Black population of the city, according to a chilling story in The Wall Street Journal today under the headline "Libya City Torn by Tribal Feud."
The "rebels" now eye the city of Tawergha, 25 miles away, and vow to cleanse it of all Black people once they seize the city. Isn't this the perfect definition of the term "genocide"?
According to The Journal's article, the "rebels" refer to themselves as "the brigade for purging slaves, black skin." The Journal quotes a rebel commander Ibrahim al-Halbous saying, of Black Libyans, "They should pack up," and that "Tawergha no longer exists, only Mistrata."
You won't read this kind of article in The New York Times, which has become as journalistically corrupt and as compromised as the old PRAVDA, during the Soviet era. This editorial page has been insisting since the beginning of the Libya conflict that the "rebels" embraced racism and used the allegation that Muammar al-Quathafi had employed mercenaries from other African countries as a pretext to massacre Black Libyans.
The evidence of public lynching of Black people are readily available online through simple Google or YouTube searches, even though The New York Times has completely ignored this major story. Does anyone believe that if people of African descent controlled the editorials in The New York Times or even the news pages that such a huge and damning story would be ignored?
If the case were reversed and Black Libyans were committing ethnic cleansing against non-Black Libyans, does anyone believe that the people who now control the editorials or the news pages at The New York Times would ignore such a story? Evidently, it doesn't much bother the sages at The Times that Black Libyans and specifically being targeted for liquidation because of their skin color.
Instead The New York Times is busy, as in a recent editorial boasting of its support for NATO's bombing campaign, which this week alone is reported to have killed 20 civilians. The Times has also ignored Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s call that the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigate NATO commanders on possible war crimes in connection to Libyan civilians killed.
The Times can't write about the ethnic cleansing of Black Libyans and migrants from other African countries because it would diminish the reputation of the "rebels" who the Times have fully embraced, even after the ICC also reported that they too have committed war crimes. Instead, The Times is comfortable with the simplistic narrative: "al-Quathafi bad," and "rebels good," regardless of the fact that The Wall Street Journal also reported that the rebels are being trained by former al-Qaeda leaders who were released from U.S. custody on Guantanamo Bay.
The Times also has totally ignored the African Union (AU) peace plan, which actually calls for a ceasefire, negotiations for a constitution, and democratic elections, all to be monitored by the International community.
So what can one say about the Times for ignoring the ethnic cleansing of Black Libyans by the "rebels" in Mistrata, with the help of NATO? Does this make The New York Times culpable of the ethnic cleansing, since the newspaper not only deliberately ignores the story, but also falsely depicts the "rebels" as Libya's saviors?
Call The New York Times at (212) 556-1234 and ask for the Foreign Desk editor--ask him why his newspaper is not reporting on the ethnic cleansing of Black Libyans.
"Speaking Truth To Empower."
Monday, May 16, 2011
Germany: The despot regime of province authorities
Foto: A Roma kid seats in fornt of the entrance to protest refugee Lager -
Break the silence in zella-mehlis action day 22.03.11
Action-Day Rally against the refugee Lager camp in Zella-Mehlis on 24.04. at 12.noon, Industriestraße 29
Violation of law and human dignity
An investigation on the actions of Landratsamt Schmalkalden-Meiningen, Thuringia
The despot regime of province authorities
Urlaubsschein : The permission [Urlaubsschein] to leave the Landkreis for a certain time is given out very rarely and selectively. Those who collaborate with the Lager staff and obey any authorities' decision, are in favour. Whereas refugees, who refuse to spy on their comrades and report to the employees, are excluded from any permission.
Firstly, the maximum time being granted to an appplicant for an Urlaubsschein is five days in three months. Secondly, this execution does not in the least correspond with other authorities' practices: The neighbour administration area [Landkreis] of Schmalkalden-Meiningen, which is Suhl, has a completely different and more liberal practice of permitting an Urlaubsschein. It seems that every Landratsamt is ruling its own kingdom and absolutley randomly treating refugees who face the "Jungle Law" .
Housing : The same logic is applied in the field of permitting indiviual housing: Many refugees would have the right to live in a separate flat because of sickness for example. None of them got it. On the other side, there is an inhabitant – friend with the Lager staff – who has his particular flat. All this despite the fact, that the caretaker [Hausmeister] himself confirmed to me the rule of average four single men sharing a flat while pushing me and my wife to share a flat with another woman.
Last year, one kitchen needed to be fixed. It took the workers in the
Lager three months to fix it - a work that could to be done in just a few days. All
refugees of that floor had to go to other floors for cooking throughout the three months.
Taschengeld : Talking about pocket money [Taschengeld], it's identical: Totally dependent on the refugee demanding it or the daily mood, it is given or not. No transparence at all within that Landratsamt.
Intenionally creating sufferance
Any time, a refugee expresses his anger about the conditions, the Lager employees answer the same famous sentence: "Refugees live from the taxes paid by German workers" and "refugees live better than many Germans." **
Gutschein : It is known, that Germany actually permits anyone passing the 4-years line (formerly three) of receiving voucher [Gutschein] to get cash money. In fact, this is disrespected here in the sphere of Landratsamt Meiningen, where anything is possible. There are refugees, that spend ten or twelve years getting only Gutschein. Only when receiving the residence permit, the Gutschein procedure stops.
In the past was another was applied: It was by chipcart,
In those times, the refugee got paid 31.70 every week, which means for times per month. In case, the money was not consumed within that week, it automatically disappeared from the card. The refugee only took note of this, when he ended up at the cash desk in the supermarket. Anytime there was a problem with the chipcard, the refugee had to go to Meiningen, which costs 11.40 by bus – despite that he actually doesn't have the right to get Taschengeld.
Until 2008, the Landratsamt only made shopping in the TOOM market and the CASA N=4 possible, where especially TOOM is more expensive than the other supermarkets.
Medical care : Refugees with health issues are dependent on the permission to go to a doctor instead of deciding this self-determined. Often enoguh, it is denied from the beginning. But in case, a doctor is seen and medicine needs to be bought, the refugees often are asked to cover the costs themselves. Even though, many don't even have the right to possess cash money.
This work been done by Miloud and Salah, a former resident of this lager
for 9 years.
The investigation is going on, more to come in the next reports.
Miloud L Cherif
The VOICE Refugee Forum - Coummunity in Zella-Mehlis
English:
Refugee Community in Zella-Mehlis demand for the right to live a free life in Germany
http://thevoiceforum.org/node/2039
We are Abused, Insulted, Our Privacy and Freedom are taking away from US
http://thevoiceforum.org/node?page=1
Gemeinsam gegen Isolation und Repression – der Solidaritäts- und Aktionstag vom 22.3.2011 in Zella-Mehlis > http://thevoiceforum.org/node/2052
Lager Zella-Mehlis schließen – Die rassistische Isolation der Flüchtlinge durchbrechen
http://thevoiceforum.org/node/2033
„Das Lager muss weg ! “ - Lautstarke Demonstration von Flüchtlingen und UnterstützerInnen in Meiningen am 24.3.2011 > http://thevoiceforum.org/node/2058
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Report on Jena Refugee Conference and Zella-Mehlis Lager Protest
We will Break the Isolation from the Lagers!
Refugee Conference in Jena and Action-day in Zella-Mehlis 22-24.04.2011
Report in German:
Stellungnahme und Video-Bericht von der VOICE-Konferenz in Jena und der Kundgebung in Zella-Mehlis
thevoiceforum.org/node/2110
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Mass deportation of Roma from Germany to Kosovo
Today the future of many inocent people was destroyed!
We do not tolerate any further deportations!
We do not tolerate any further deportations!
Today, on 12 April, it came despite massive protests and concerns to a large collective deportation to Kosovo. Among the deportees were many Roma, who had been tolerated for years here in Germany. Apart from the fact that deportations represent a violent intrusion into the lives of those affected and therefore already are reprehensible, the deportation of long term tolerated Roma to Kosovo is a special cruelty against innocent people.
Roma in Kosovo are a highly discriminated minority and are exposed to racially motivated attacks and exclusion from society. Their lives are not save there.
Single mothers, elderly and sick people are particularly at risk. In particular, the common practice of the authorities in charge of the tearing apart families, away leads to dramatic destinies and those affected live in fear and vulnerability.
Even now, Germany has an opportunity missed to make amends to a small part of the consequences of the crimes committed against the Roma community by granting Roma refugees protection from discrimination and persecution. On the contrary! New suffering was caused. If we not act quickly especially the youngest generation of children who was born and raised in Germany will have to suffer.
In one case today, a young mother with four young children (1-5 years) was separated from her husband lying in the hospital. Her husband is in a verry bad condition after he was already in January 2010 alone deported to Kosovo. There he lived for several months as a homeless man on the street, before he managed to escape and return to Germany. But he not succeeded his family to see again. He was discovered in Bavaria and put back in detention. After his stay of several months in Kosovo, in deplorable conditions, he was now so ill that he had to be moved to a hospital, where he still fights for his life. In addition to severe tuberculosis and an eye disease he has to cope with the psychological consequences of his experiences. Intensive efforts to prevent the mothers’ deportation failed.
This is just one of known fate of deportation. In the plane were estimated up to 80 involuntary passengers.Many thousands will follow after the plans of the German government. Against the plans has indeed became formed a widespread resistance in the population and the Roma community, but this is not yet enough perceived by the public. Now is important that this resistance is also heard by the people and the politicians.It should be clear that these expulsions cannot be implemented without notice and without resistance. We need the attention of the press for the victims and the fight for their right to stay, so that all may be clear that it should not give these deportations.
Begani family from the district of Wolfenbüttel was lucky. The deportation of the four adult children could be prevented by the decision of a court. The children can stay for the moment with their seriously ill father in Germany.
Projekt Roma Center Göttingen e.V.
Postfach 30 05
37020 Göttingen
Postfach 30 05
37020 Göttingen
Monday, April 04, 2011
Bahrain: A Small Country with a Big Struggle Needs Global Support
Bahrain 101 A Small Country with a Big Struggle Needs Global Support and Attention
By Hanna Nikkanen
Special to The Narco News Bulletin
April 4, 2011
It’s been a long, complicated spring in the Arab world. Bahrain is a small country, unfamiliar to most of us. Right now it’s very important that we know who they are, so even though I’ve never been there, I’ll try to explain…
...Bahrain in a nutshell
On February 17, weeks of non-violent protests against King Hamad’s regime were followed by a ruthless crackdown. In hopes of avoiding the symbolism of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the government later completely tore down Manama’s Pearl Roundabout, where the largest demonstrations had been taking place.
Bahrain is a sandy archipelago in the Persian gulf, nestled between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It’s tiny: its total area is slightly smaller than that of a nearby Saudi airport.
Approximately 12 percent of the island nation’s population have participated in the recent protests. They started by demanding greater political rights and, when the regime didn’t budge, many started calling for an end to monarchy.
In mid-March, 1000 troops from Saudi Arabia and 500 from UAE were deployed at the regime’s invitation to “protect assets” and “uphold stability”. The king has declared a three-month martial law that authorises the chief of the armed forces to take all measures to “protect the safety of the country and its citizens”.
Bloggers have been arrested. Hospitals have been raided by the military, doctors and patients brutally beaten.
Al Jazeera English reports from a Manama hospital right after the February crackdown.
Footage from the state TV. The reporter, explaining how there’s no truth to the rumours about attacks on medical staff, is seen turning off her microphone when she hears screams from the hospital.
“We are in a civilized country,” a doctor yells at the camera in Al Jazeera’s report, shocked because his surroundings seem to suggest something else. “We are a civilized people!”
Bahrain is, indeed, a relatively modern country, a fast-growing financial center with a population of just over a million. It may be small, but it is by no means insignificant: Bahrain’s job in the Gulf is to host oil refineries and banks – and the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
Now the relevant foreign powers have rallied to support the king. Al Jazeera, too, is keeping a bit of a distance, even though occasionally they publish self-criticism on the matter – like in this piece from March 28: AJE: The West’s ‘double standards’ in Middle East.
A lonely newspaper
Late at night on April 2nd I was talking on Facebook with Bahraini journalist Nada Alwadi. We were subtitling a video (more about that later), me in Helsinki doing the editing, Nada in Manama in charge of the translation. Then Nada got an email from her boss: the Ministry of Information had ordered her newspaper, Alwasat, to shut down.
Alwasat is a thin newspaper, about 20 pages. The country’s other four Arabic dailies are controlled by members of the royal family. Alwasat was founded by Dr. Mansoor Aljamri in 2002 amid a flurry of political reforms. Aljamri, an opposition activist, had recently returned from exile in London.
“They have been attacking whoever is reporting what is really happening,” Nada typed. “Rumors have been spread about our editor-in-chief, our printing building has been attacked and the machines broken, and now here comes this order.”
Minutes later, the newspaper’s website was down.
On April 3rd Alwasat didn’t come out, missing a day for the first time in its history. By the evening, Mansoor Aljamri agreed to leave his position. That seemed to satisfy the ministry, and the paper is back in publication – for now.
“Alwasat will be published again tomorrow”, Nada Alwadi says. “Suspending Dr. Mansoor is a major turn down, as he is a well-known opposition figure. We are all wondering who is next.”
A sectarian uprising?
Bahrain’s state media is intent on portraying the protests as a violent sectarian conflict: the Shia majority against the Sunni ruling class. Many foreign journalists have followed suit, reducing a nation-wide pro-democracy struggle into a sectarian skirmish that threatens the stability in the region and invokes the ghost of Shia-majority Iran.
According to the opposition, the protests have always been non-violent and non-sectarian. “Neither Sunni nor Shia; Bahraini,” was the protesters’ slogan in the now-demolished Pearl Roundabout.
The video that I mentioned above – the one we were subtitling when Nada Alwadi heard about the order to close down her newspaper – repeats that slogan. It’s a song that challenges the media’s portrayal of the movement as a sectarian one.
I am Bahraini, an anti-sectarian song by Waad Alsammaa Band, with English subtitles.
The video shows Sunnis and Shias protesting side by side, often with signs pointing out their dismayal at the regime’s attempts to divide the country along sectarian lines. At 0:39, we see Sunni and Shia men praying together – they position their hands differently in prayer.
A tragic trade-off
On April 2nd, a leaked document seemed to show that Bahrain’s freedom has been sold in a cynical treaty between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
“Two diplomatic sources at the United Nations independently confirmed that Washington, via Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave the go-ahead for Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain and crush the pro-democracy movement in their neighbor in exchange for a ‘yes’ vote by the Arab League for a no-fly zone over Libya,” Pepe Escobar writes in Asia Times.
Escobar continues: “One of the side effects of the dirty US-Saudi deal is that the White House is doing all it can to make sure the Bahrain drama is buried by US media.”
Read Escobar’s entire article here: Asia Times: Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal (2 April).
What’s next for Bahrain? The tiny country is teeming with Saudi soldiers, and they may want to stay. The mainstream media seems mostly happy with the simple explanation of a sectarian conflict. The protests continue, although smaller than before, and the religious leaders emphasize the importance of keeping things non-violent, no matter how frustrating it gets.
But it’s becoming obvious that this will be no Egypt.
I wonder if, in our new infatuation with Al Jazeera English, we so-called Westerners are too eager to believe that the Qatari-owned channel is the be-all and end-all of news from the Gulf, and anything that’s not reported on AJE is not worth our time. Or if our news fatigue has already killed our interest in the Arab struggles.
Honestly, I don’t want to believe that our attention span is that short or that our outlook on mass media is that naive.
The Bahrainis are facing a very dangerous time, and we can help by letting the world know that we’re not giving up, that we’re still paying attention. So please spread the word. Circulate the “I am Bahraini” video linked above, look for good articles and link to them, make noise whenever a blogger or a journalist is arrested or an independent newspaper is threatened. Be a Bahraini.
Hanna Nikkanen, of Finland, is in the class of 2011 of the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Egypt: disturbing trends above, contradictory trends below
28 March 2011. A World to Win News Service. Recent events in Egypt indicate attempts by the US-backed military regime to restabilize the situation on a basis that goes against the aspirations and expectations of many of the youth and others who toppled Hosni Mubarak. The attacks on women demonstrators in Cairo 8 March were a weather vane. There is a rising cold wind representing a convergence between the regime, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists as a force standing against basic social change, and what must be frankly seen as the force of tradition and backwardness that is contending with the people's deep longing for liberation. What was called for as a "Million Woman March" on International Women's Day, in a reference to one of the final demonstrations before Mubarak was forced out, did not reach its goals. The crowd in Tahrir Square numbered only a few hundred or a thousand at most, according to news reports. But it was extremely important in two ways. First, the radicality and relevance of its demands for equal rights for women can be seen in the viciousness with which it was attacked. Second, it brought together a broad section of women, especially but not only young, including women wearing hijab (head scarves) and those whose heads were defiantly uncovered. Some men came out with them as well. These are brave forces with broad roots who are determined to keep the movement going forward. The protest was surrounded by a far larger crowd of men, who heckled them and chanted that women's place is in the home. There was a long period of shouting and debate. Some men argued that this demonstration, held in honour of the martyrs of the anti-Mubarak movement as well as demanding rights for women, was an insult to men. They were incensed by the women's demand that women be allowed to run for the presidency, since, they said, women shouldn't be involved in politics at all. The women persisted in the face of verbal and physical abuse and danger. Many argued vigorously with their accusers. Groups of women and men fought to free women who were being grabbed at and abused. Army security forces in the square did not intervene, except to fire shots in the air at the end as the demonstrators were finally forced to withdraw. Women participants have described the men's behaviour as similar to the crowds of pro-regime thugs who violently attacked the anti-Mubarak protests earlier. This is a complicated question, since at least some of the crowd of men seen in video footage are clearly Islamists, who ended up supporting the anti-Mubarak movement. Interviews and participants' accounts give little reason to believe that it was hard to get together a mob of the same kind of ordinary men who routinely harass and sometimes abuse ordinary women on Cairo's streets, whether wearing hijab or not. (Four out of five women report having been subjected to this, and two out of three men admit having subjected them to it, according to a survey taken in 2008 by the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights widely believed to be accurate.) The following day the army did intervene in Tahrir Square – to clear it of the remaining demonstrators and finally tear down their tents. Although the protest camp was far smaller than in the days leading up to Mubarak's ouster, it was a symbol and rallying point for those who feel that far more change is still required. More than 190 people were arrested. The army targeted the women for some of the most vicious treatment. According to an Amnesty International report based on interviews with women protesters, at least 18 were held in a military detention centre in a Cairo Museum annex near the square. They were handcuffed, beaten with sticks and hoses, and subjected to electric shocks in the chest and legs. Forced to strip naked, their pictures were taken and they were told that the photos could be used against them in the future. Officers demanded to know whether or not they were virgins and submitted them to degrading "virginity checks". They were told that those who were not virgins would be charged with prostitution. All of the women were brought before a military court. Several received suspended one-year prison sentences. They were all released 13 March. Women were at the forefront of the anti-Mubarak movement, and the general atmosphere in Tahrir Square was mainly supportive of their presence. For weeks, up until the day when Mubarak fell and men sexually attacked an American woman reporter, women reported little or no harassment. Several told reporters that for women daily life in the protest camp was like paradise compared to the humiliation they faced on the streets. For millions of Egyptians, Tahrir Square represented the possibility of a different kind of society. The military's behaviour on 9 March basically put their stamp of approval on the mob attacks on the women's rights demonstration the day before. Bad as this is, it is part of an even worse larger picture coming into view. This became fairly plain in the referendum the military held 19 March, meant to clear the way for parliamentary elections within a few months. The military chose a panel to decide what issues to put to a vote and the date. The panel's instructions were, "Get this over with quickly." The referendum was to approve changes to the 1971 constitution. One proposal was to eliminate the changes Mubarak had made to allow him to stay in office indefinitely – which of course the people themselves had already overruled. There was also a proposal to allow candidates to run as independents. This would allow the Muslim Brotherhood to run for parliament as long as they did not officially represent their party, which cannot run in its own name because the constitution bars parties constituted along religious lines. The new parliament could change that. Symbolically, at least, the most important item on the referendum was the addition of a clause forbidding an Egyptian president to have a "foreign" wife. This item combined male chauvinism, national chauvinism and religious intolerance (a popular current of opinion blamed Egypt's woes on alleged female influence on its presidents – Mubarak and his predecessor Anwar Sadat were married to women with English Christian mothers). The mob that attacked the 8 March demonstration had also objected to the presence of foreign women among the protesters. The junta has tried to send some conciliatory messages to the protest movement. The former Interior Minister and other Mubarak regime figures now face trial for killing demonstrators – after protesters led by former political prisoners in Cairo and Alexandria stormed the Amn Dawla (State Security Investigation Service) headquarters and brought out incriminating documents that overworked paper shredders had not yet had time to destroy. The new Interior Minister announced that the SSIS, the secret police whose agents reputedly number in the hundreds of thousands, would be dissolved and replaced with a new organization. A major protest demand was met when Ahmed Shafik, a military man Mubarak, in one of his last acts, had made Prime Minister, stepped down and was replaced by Issam Sharaf, Mubarak's ex-Transportation Minister who came to Tahrir Square to express solidarity with the protesters. However, the decades-old state of emergency is still in force and being viciously wielded. It authorises the military to arrest people and hold them without charges or bring civilians before a military tribunal. Not all of Mubarak's political prisoners have been released, and perhaps a thousand people arrested since Mubarak's fall are still being held. Some have already been sentenced to five years in prison. Currently the ruling military council is considering legislation to make demonstrations and sit-ins illegal. The military's focus on the referendum and early parliamentary elections, then, is not driven by a desire to let the people speak freely, become informed and make decisions but to channel and silence the protest movement and establish a new legitimacy for the rule of the same classes and many of the same men who have long ruled Egypt. Holding parliamentary elections soon, observers agree, would short-circuit the long period of ferment and political and social debate that the military clearly wants to avoid, and favour two parties: Mubarak's National Democratic Party, whose extensive patronage network brought it millions of members, and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Mubarak regime's relations with the Brotherhood were contradictory. Men associated with the Brotherhood served as high officials in part of his government. Mubarak, like Sadat, modified the once secular constitution to declare that Sharia (Islamic religious law) is the source of Egypt's civil law. While for a long time the Brotherhood was allowed to operate semi-openly despite its supposed illegality, in later years Mubarak also manoeuvred to cut down their influence and exclude them from parliament. The secret police jailed and tortured their rank and file members by the thousands. The Brotherhood at first boycotted the movement to get rid of Mubarak, then joined it when it seemed to have a real chance to win. "There is evidence the Brotherhood struck some kind of a deal with the military early on," Elijah Zarwan, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group told The New York Times. The ICG is an authoritative source because as a think tank working out future Western policy it is supported by former heads of state and officials of imperialist powers. "It makes sense to the military: You want stability and people off the street. The Brotherhood is one address where you can go to get 100,000 people off the street." The Brotherhood can do more for the military than get its own members off the street. In recent days Islamist forces have been scuffling with secular people who want to conduct street protests themselves. There are somewhat different trends within the Brotherhood, and outside its ranks is a widespread Salafist movement whose declared aim, unlike the Brotherhood, is strictly religious rule. But there seems to be a trend for Islamic forces in general to oppose attempts by secular forces to continue the protest movement. When the new "pro-revolution" Prime Minister Sharaf came to address a crowd in Tahrir Square, the prominent Brotherhood figure Mohamed al-Beltagi was standing beside him. The referendum seems to have represented the implementation of this new unholy alliance. Although almost two-thirds of the country's eligible voters didn't bother to cast a ballot, all the constitutional changes the military had allowed to be put up to a vote were overwhelmingly approved. To judge by reports from Cairo, Brotherhood officials and members brought people to the polls, queued them up and told them how to vote (and chased away people suspected of being a "no" influence.) At first Brotherhood leaflets pronounced that it was a religious duty to vote for the amendments and that the object of the referendum was to confirm Islam as the regulator of political and social life. Later, when this was widely criticised, they said that a vote for the amendments was a vote for stability. No one can doubt that this is true – a certain kind of stability, the kind that suffocated Egyptians for so long until the rebellion. It is no surprise that millions are still asleep, many wilfully. Now the question is whether or not the millions who have awakened to political life and dared struggle for big changes in their lives, their society and their world are going to be silenced. In this situation, the International Women's Day demonstration, objectively and in the minds of a great many people, both those who supported it and especially those who hated it, embodies a central element characterizing the two roads Egypt faces. The demand for equal rights for women on all levels of law and in practice defies one of the most deeply rooted and extensive features of this society. As in other countries, in Egypt the patriarchal subjugation of women is a basic part of the glue holding together a whole network of relations of exploitation and domination. It is essential to the rule of those classes that both represent these relations and have become junior partners to imperialist monopoly capital and foreign political domination. Further, even in the imperialist (monopoly capitalist) countries where women have won formal (legal) equality through struggle, the logic of the capitalist system has not met and cannot meet the deeper demands for the liberation of women from the powerful persistence of patriarchal domination and old and new chains of inequality and oppression – or in other words, the yearnings that motivated most of the women who demonstrated in Tahrir Square 8 March. How relations will work out between between Egypt's US-trained, financed, armed and lauded military and the variety of Islamic forces is still to be seen. But it has become clear that whether women should go home or keep marching has already become a political dividing line between those who are overjoyed to have thrown out Mubarak but are still unsatisfied, and the most ferocious opponents of social change, those who feel that things have gone far enough or too far already, and want to bring the social upheaval and effervescence to a halt.
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