Courtesy of WWW.PRISONRADIO.ORG
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.
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