Forwarded message: Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 21:11:11 -0400 Reply-To: PNEWS Progressive News and Views Distribution List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sender: PNEWS Progressive News and Views Distribution List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: PNEWS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Amnesty for Political Prisoners and POW's From: Prison Activist Resource Center <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ||||||||| News, alerts and analysis from the Prison Issues Desk ||||||||||| Forwarded from the folks at Crossroad Support Network: A CALL FOR AMNESTY FOR BLACK POLITICAL PRISONERS AND POW'S by Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, Federation of Black Community Partisans My name is Lorenzo Komboa Ervin. I live in Atlanta, Georgia. In the late 1960's, I was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panther Party. Because of my activities in the Black Liberation movement of the 1960's, I was railroaded by the United States government to a "life" sentence, where I served almost 15 years. I was just one of a number of persons who went to prison from the Black revolutionary movement. There is nothing heroic or exceptional about my individual case. Many of those whom I was in prison with are still there, such as Herman Bell, Sundiata Acoli and many others who have gone there since my release. It is for them I make this proposal, not for myself. The idea of a general amnesty for Black political prisoners/prisoners-of-war is based on two primary reasons, well recognized in international law: (l) humanitarian, and (2) political, although not necessarily in that order. This proposal is the bare outlines for an amnesty campaign, there is no "textbook". Just so everyone will understand what I am not talking about, let me say this first: I am not talking about Amnesty International, the liberal reform organization, who has a policy against supporting anyone who has engaged in or advocated violence; I am also not talking about having political prisoners filing for a presidential pardon and begging for "forgiveness" for their revolutionary acts. We do not know what formula the state will use to grant amnesty (pardon, executive clemency, declaration of amnesty, habeas corpus, etc.), nor should we care as long as the State does not have the prisoners or the movement make any political compromises, and as long as they deliver the pp's/pow's from prisons alive. I want to make sure that everyoneunderstands fully what I am talking about. First, what is amnesty? It is a political demand on an authority, usually a government, to drop all Criminal or disciplinury charges before or after an insurrection or other act of resistance; or a demand upon the state to release all political prisoners, no matter what their offense. This latter demand is called general amnesty, but it requires serious organizing of a movement capable of challenging the state for power and uniting all insurgent movements in the American empire. In fact, we have not seen a movement like this since the Black Liberation movement of the 1960's, some 30 years ago. The fact is that we have not now reached this stage, but that we cannot wait around for that day to arrive. We must organize a movement which can free pp's/pow's now. I am talking about a specific class of long-term political prisoners whom an amnesty campaign can be built around first: imprisoned members of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army wing of the BPP, many of whom have been imprisoned for over 20 years. This BPP/BLA campaign, however, will just be the first campaign of many to release all political prisoners/pow's; the truth is that we must build this movement in stages, long term BPP/BLA prisoners first, then other prisoners while we fight to dismantle the prison system itself (and the state which uses it as its major weapon). THE STATE DISPOSES, WHILE THE MOVEMENT REPOSES There is one extremely important lesson in all of this: the state does not set the timetable for how long political prisoners stay in prison; this is entirely up to us in the support movement outside. If WE CAN BUILD A MOVEMENT POWERFUL ENOUGH, with a mass base that will engage in direct action to demand the freedom of pp's/pow's, then we can free practically any prisoner in custody. The second lesson is that we cannot win a piecemeal or sectarian political prisoner defense campaign. We must build universal support for political prisoners, not just our individual political formations opportunistically using their cases. A joint amnesty campaign requires that all individual defense campaigns unite both in action and organizationally. This also means that we drop the infamous practice of "selective support" (and non-support) of certain political prisoners on sectarian grounds, and support all left-wing political prisoners vithout distinction. It means as well that we drop all pretense that a sectarian group, no matter how energetic their campaign may be, can by itself free a political prisoner. Rarely is this so; we must build the united front for political prisoner defense THAT comrade George Jackson spoke of in "Blood in My Eye". Twenty weak "defense committees" simply don't do anybody any good. No rhetoric, JUST real live facts. A BARE BONES AMNESTY CAMPAIGN It is important first to understand that we are talking about conducting a political campaign and building a mass movement around the issue of politial prisoners/pow's, and that we are not just making another paper appeal to the "conscience of the American police state, (which doesn't have a conscience anyway). This campaign would mobilize our forces into a joint amnesty group, in order to maximize our resources and our human capital. It would also expose the crimes of the state on a broad scale, for instance COINTELPRO and how it was used to smash the BPP. So here are a few things I propose: 1. A mass meeting to be held sometime within the next few months, (I am intentionally not being specific as to the date), to build a mass amnesty campaign for BPP/BLA long term prisoners. This meeing ~would also be a mass educational event to explain COINTELPRO to a whole new generation of activists and the people at large. 2. Begin an immediate campaign to file an International Writ of Habeas Corpus to the united Nations International Court of Justice, UN Human Rights commission and other international bodies, to demand the release of the BPP/BLA prisoners/POW's. 3. Conduct an international information aampaign to expose the U.S. government's COINTELPRO, OPERATION CHAOS,and other such political repression of the BPP/BLA. But this information campaign should especially demand the release of all BPP/BLA prisoners now that the history of the BPP is being revisited by playwrights, authors, film makers and scholars, presaging intense public interest and a new reawakening of BPP politics by youth groups. 4. Building a (political) Prisoners Defense Fund to raise money for legal defense, to support prisoners' families, and to send small amounts for prisoners "creature aomforts" while they are in prison. 5. Conduct an emergency amnesty campaign for Mumia Abu-Jamal, while he is still alive on Pennsylvania death row. This case is a perfect example of how our organizational weakness might deprive this brother of his life. We must come together around this common agenda of saving him from state murder, or bear the badge of shame at our indecison and inaction. CONCLUSION Rather than engaging in rhetoric to criticize this document or dismiss it out of hand, it is hoped that activists can constructively discuss it, and more importantly act on its prescriptions. I could not possibly, and have not sought to cover everything in this proposal. I encourage others to take this proposal, add their ideas and make it better. It won't hurt my feelings, and it is not engraved in stone. I and the Black Partisan @ Federation, a new political formation, cannot on our own make this project a reality; it requires that the majority of groups organized around the cases of political prisoners/pow's put aside egotism, opportunism, and sectarianism, and work toward the goal of freeing our political prisoners. That is all I have to say at this time. Lorenzo Komboa Ervin 145 Park Drive Decatur, GA 30030 ___________________________________________________________________________ Prison Activist Resource Center| PeaceNet Prison Issues Desk PO Box 3201 Berkeley CA 94703 | <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ph: 510/845.8813 fx: 845.8816 | http://www.igc.apc.org/prisons/prisondesk.html e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | ~~~ a resource for educators & activists ~~~ \|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|+|+|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/ For progressive & radical info on prison issues, e-mail the Issues Desk or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for an auto-response w/ details on many resources. ____________________________________________________________________________ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ***** PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS ****** @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ PNEWS CONFERENCES provide "radical" alternative views with an emphasis on justice, humanitarian positions, protests, boycott alerts, activism information, etc. **************** To subscribe, send request to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- and state in in message: "SUBSCRIBE PNEWS-L <Your full name> @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ -- Michael Golden [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Biology Grossmont College 8800 Grossmont College Drive El Cajon, CA 92020 619-465-1700 x332