Joe R. Golowka joegolowka at earthlink.net Anarchist FAQ - http://www.infoshop.org/faq
"Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice, and socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality." -- Mikhail Bakunin ----- Original Message ----- From: <geoffpalmer1 at msn.com> To: <anarchy-peace at egroups.com> Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2000 11:13 PM Subject: [Anarchy-Peace] Takin it to the streets...
> ACTIVISTS CALL FOR RESISITANCE: GOV'T TRIES TO CURB PROTESTS/
> ANTI-RACIST, ANTI-CAPITALIST ORGANIZERS FACE TRIAL SEPT 25
> By Brian Becker
>
> As large demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic conventions
> draw closer, the question of how much right the people in this country
> have to disagree with the capitalist establishment grows hotter.
> Last April 15, nearly 700 people were arrested, detained and
> handcuffed
> in school buses, remote ad hoc police stations and underground
> basements
> in Washington. They had violated no law. They had been standing on a
> sidewalk peacefully protesting against the rise of the prison-
> industrial complex.
>
> The mass arrest on April 15 was an act of preventive detention and a
> clear violation of the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S.
> Constitution.
>
> Among the arrested were shoppers, tourists, a visiting Park Ranger
> from
> North Carolina, and a Pulitzer Prize- winning photographer from the
> Washington Post. They were all caught up in a police sweep that must
> have been authorized by high government officials. The police had
> sealed
> the entire area around the demonstration on April 15 and then refused
> to
> let anyone leave.
>
> On Sept. 25, the first group of these political activists and
> organizers
> will go on trial in Washington. They face up to 90 days in jail if
> convicted of "disorderly conduct."
>
> The calculated use of repression in Washington was the first time the
> government got to display a new country-wide strategy aimed at
> crushing
> or marginalizing the new anti- capitalist movement that grabbed world
> attention in Seattle street protests last November.
> The same calculated use of police violence, break-ins, intimidation
> and
> mass arrests that took place in Washington last April is now evident
> in
> the government's tactics countering planned protests at the Republican
> and Democratic conventions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
>
> MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO SILENCE PROTEST
> The government is anxious to get a conviction at the Sept. 25 trial.
> There is a good reason for this. The police want a conviction to
> protect
> themselves.
> A class action lawsuit against the government and police will be filed
> on July 27 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A
> coalition of progressive attorneys will be acting on behalf of those
> arrested, others who had their offices broken into by government and
> police authorities, and the many beaten by the police in Washington on
> the weekend of April 15-17, when thousands protested outside a meeting
> of bankers and corporate tycoons at the International Monetary Fund.
>
> The lawsuit will charge that the government and police engaged in a
> massive conspiracy to violate the First Amendment right to free speech
> and assembly and the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal
> searches and seizures.
>
> It should be obvious to all that the capitalist class in the United
> States has encouraged a new era of aggressive police tactics to
> circumvent the burgeoning youth movement that has launched a struggle
> against the World Trade Organization, the IMF, Wall Street banks and
> corporations, and the prison-industrial complex.
>
> All the preaching to school children about democracy, the cherished
> status of the Bill of Rights and the right to free speech is being
> exposed as a fiction masking the brutal rule of the corporate and
> banking elites.
>
> Yes, everyone is entitled to "free speech," but only so long as the
> smooth functioning of all the capitalist institutions is never
> disrupted
> by those who denounce poverty, exploitation, low wages, sweat shops,
> police terror and the modern-day form of lynch-law justice known as
> death row.
> Police are readying the big fist approach now in Philadelphia and in
> Los
> Angeles.
>
> The Republican and Democratic conventions, these much-vaunted symbols
> of
> U.S.- style democracy, will be protected by thousands of riot- clad
> police. Billy clubs, tear gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades and
> armored personal carriers will be at the service of the delegates of
> "democracy."
>
> WHOSE CONVENTIONS?
> But whose conventions are these? Whom will they represent?
>
> Corporate America is contributing $42 million to "help" the two
> parties
> pay for their conventions, reports Douglas Turner in the July 17
> edition
> of the Buffalo News.
> Microsoft is donating $1 million each to both the Republican and the
> Democratic conventions.
>
> United Airlines is giving $500,000 to the Democratic extravaganza
> while
> US Airways is donating $500,000 to the Republican Convention. These
> two
> airlines want to merge their operations to further corner the market,
> lay off airline workers and cut wages.
>
> A quick glance at the funding reports for the two conventions reveals
> that both parties are completely in the back pocket of the major
> capitalist corporations, banks, and oil monopolies.
>
> Lockheed Martin, the aerospace super-corporation, is giving $100,000
> to
> both conventions. Presidents come and go, after all, but the
> military-industrial complex will remain. So will the $300 billion
> annual
> "defense" budget. Keep this Lockheed Martin donation in mind the next
> time you hear "your" senator or congressperson give an impassioned
> speech about the urgent need to "modernize the U.S. Air Force."
>
> Remember the United Parcel Service strike two years ago? The bosses at
> UPS said they couldn't afford to give adequate wages and benefits to
> part-time workers.
>
> But UPS is giving the Democrats a donation of $1 million to help
> defray
> the costs of all those banquets and balloons. Maybe that's just a way
> of
> saying thank you for the indictment of Teamster leaders after the
> union
> won the strike.
>
> The other major contributors read like a list of the Fortune
> 500--because that's pretty much what it is. HMOs that routinely fail
> to
> cover health-care services for patients are ponying up big bucks.
> Cigna
> is paying $100,000 to the Republicans. So is Independence Blue Cross.
>
> General Motors is giving the Democrats $1 million; DaimlerChrysler is
> giving $250,000 to each.
>
> DICTATORSHIP OF WEALTH
> The domination of the political process by the capitalist
> establishment
> is not based on their numerical weight in society. No, behind these
> corporations and banks are a tiny segment of the population.
>
> How can a handful of billionaires and mega-multi- millionaires rule
> in a
> society of 275 million people, most of them workers?
>
> In times of capitalist stability their financial power allows them to
> dominate society through the control of the two political parties and
> all three branches of government. The mass media, which is owned
> outright by the biggest corporations, is another pillar in their
> domination over society.
>
> But this domination of society by the dictatorship of wealth
> invariably
> gives rise to new movements for social justice. Some of them become
> more
> radical and even revolutionary and seek to reorganize society to make
> people's needs the priority.
>
> Then the smooth talk is replaced with the police club.
>
> Every serious movement that seeks revolutionary change, or even
> far-reaching reforms, must deal with the question of devising
> strategies
> and tactics to overcome political and police repression. Tenaciously
> defending our civil and legal rights is important. Extending the hand
> of
> solidarity to all those caught up in the web of police, courts and
> jails
> is critical.
>
> But fundamental to the success of the movement will be its capacity to
> awaken and merge with broader sections of the working class,
> especially
> the youths and those who suffer from low wages, police brutality and
> racism.
>
> Becker is the co-director of the International Action Center. He is
> one
> of the defendants standing trial on Sept.
> 25. The IAC plans to pack the courtroom and mobilize public support
> for
> the defendants. To help organize or make a financial contribution for
> this case, call (212) 633-6646 or e-mail iacenter at iacenter.org.
>
> geo-free
>
>
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