WW News Service Digest #372
1) Glover will be Heard
by wwnews
2) Mumia Tries to get Court to Hear Evidence
by wwnews
3) U.S. Pushes All-Out War in Colombia
by wwnews
4) Colombia: Life Inside the Demilitarized Zone
by wwnews
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 24, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
GLOVER WILL BE HEARD: RALLY GOES AHEAD DESPITE
RIGHT-WING CAMPAIGN
By Bill Hackwell
San Francisco
Despite a barrage of attacks from the pro-war media, actor
and progressive activist Danny Glover will be speaking in
Modesto, Calif.--a city of 190,000 in California's
agriculturally rich Central Valley--on Jan. 19 to
commemorate Martin Luther King Day.
Glover had originally been invited to speak at Modesto
Junior College by the Modesto City Council. All that
changed, however, after the film star gave a speech at
Princeton University Nov. 16 that was critical of the
indiscriminate U.S. war against the people of Afghanistan,
and defended people's right to be in opposition to the war.
He also came out against the racist death penalty and for
the right of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal to a new
trial.
The Princeton audience was overwhelmingly supportive of
Glover's talk, but several newspapers and talk show hosts
then launched an attack on Glover, suggesting that if he
"didn't love this country, he should leave it." Col. Oliver
North, former organizer of death squads in Central America
and current host of the reactionary talk show "Radio
America," rallied racist right wingers against Glover,
including calling for a national boycott of his new movie,
"The Royal Tenenbaums."
At this point the Modesto City Council buckled under the
pressure and decided to censor Glover, rescinding its
invitation. However, the local planning committee for Martin
Luther King Day activities has not only kept Danny Glover's
appearance alive but has called on all progressive people
and supporters of civil rights to attend the event.
Michael Napp, chair of the Modesto Committee for Peace in
the Middle East, one of the sponsoring groups, said the
event is receiving a lot of support from all over the state
despite threats of a counter-demonstration. Outraged
students in the group Alternative to War at Modesto Junior
College have passed out flyers to build the activity.
Glover is now scheduled to speak on Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. at the
Christ Unity Baptist Church, 1320 L St. in Modesto. In the
Bay Area, the International Action Center is organizing
solidarity car pools to Modesto. People interested in a ride
should call (415) 821-6545. For more information in Modesto
call (209) 529-5750.
John Lucas, president of the Modesto Peace Life Center,
another sponsoring group, commented on the irony of the
Modesto City Council pulling out, given Dr. King's
opposition to the Vietnam War: "I find it interesting that
Martin Luther King would not even be invited to his own
event."
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (wwnews)
Date: torstai 17. tammikuu 2002 05:44
Subject: [WW] Mumia Tries to get Court to Hear Evidence
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 24, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
THIRD APPEAL FILED: MUMIA TRIES TO GET COURT TO HEAR
EVIDENCE
By Monica Moorehead
A legal appeal on behalf of the revolutionary inmate Mumia
Abu-Jamal, on death row, was filed for the third time with
the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court on Jan. 9. The appeal
asks that the Supreme Court make Pamela Dembe, a Common
Pleas state judge, hear the testimony of Arnold Beverly, a
former mob hit man who has confessed to killing white police
officer Daniel Faulkner on Dec. 9, 1981.
Abu-Jamal was framed for this killing. He was convicted by a
biased jury of first-degree murder on July 3, 1982, and
given the death penalty. He has faced two death warrants
signed by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who now heads
the Office of Homeland Security for the Bush administration.
Only mass intervention by the political movement here and
worldwide saved Abu-Jamal from legal lynching by lethal
injection.
Judge Dembe recently refused to allow Beverly's testimony to
be heard in her court, stating that she did not have the
"jurisdiction" to hear this crucial testimony. Dembe could
have ordered a new post-conviction relief hearing. That
would allow all the evidence suppressed during the original
1982 trial to finally be heard. This evidence was also
suppressed during hearings in 1995 and 1996.
All this evidence, including the Beverly confession,
corroborates Abu-Jamal's profession of innocence. A lie-
detector test has corroborated Beverly's claim that Abu-
Jamal had nothing to do with the Faulkner killing.
Federal District Judge William Yohn threw out Abu-Jamal's
death sentence in the middle of December, admitting that the
original jury had been improperly instructed during the
sentencing phase, but refused to overturn the conviction.
Yohn ordered a new sentencing hearing, which could result in
a life imprisonment term or another death sentence. A new
sentencing hearing would listen only to evidence already
admitted before the court. That leaves out recently
discovered evidence like the Beverly confession, as well as
the testimony of witnesses who have subsequently recanted
the stories they told under police pressure.
Yohn ignored 29 other constitutional rights violations that
were included in a federal appeals brief filed by Abu-
Jamal's former lawyers, Leonard Weinglass and Dan Williams.
This federal appeal was filed on Oct. 4, 1999, after the
Pennsylvania State Supreme Court turned down Abu-Jamal's
appeal for the second time.
If the courts agreed to hear the Beverly confession, it
would raise many questions as to why organized crime ordered
the execution of Faulkner in the first place. A Jan. 8 press
release issued by Abu-Jamal's attorneys states that Beverly
was paid to kill Faulkner "on behalf of corrupt elements in
the Philadelphia Police Department and organized crime,
because the officer was an obstacle to the 'protection
racket' corrupt officers were running in center city
Philadelphia." There have been many scandals involving the
Philadelphia police in recent years.
The Philadelphia criminal justice system, including the
Fraternal Order of Police, want to keep a tight lid on any
further exposure of police corruption and misconduct.
This new appeal also seeks to introduce the testimony of
court stenographer Terri Maurer-Carter, who says that she
overheard the judge in Abu-Jamal's original trial, Albert
Sabo, state that he was "going to help fry the n----r."
Abu-Jamal's lawyers-- Marlene Kamish, Eliot Grossman and
Michale Farrell--are filing state and federal appeals at the
same time, and estimate this will cost $150,000 in legal
fees. The International Concerned Family and Friends of
Mumia Abu-Jamal has asked that donations earmarked to Abu-
Jamal's legal defense be made to the National Black United
Fund and sent to NBUF at 40 Clinton St., 5th floor, Newark,
NJ 07102.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (wwnews)
Date: torstai 17. tammikuu 2002 05:44
Subject: [WW] U.S. Pushes All-Out War in Colombia
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 24, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
AS TROOPS SURROUND FARC ZONE: U.S PUSHES ALL-OUT
WAR IN COLOMBIA
By Andy McInerney
One thing is clear about the rapidly changing situation in
Colombia. Powerful forces within the U.S. and Colombian
ruling classes are pushing for all-out war against the
Colombian popular movement.
On Jan. 8, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Anne Patterson, along
with a team of U.S. military personnel and advisers, turned
over 14 Black Hawk helicopters to the Colombian military.
The next night, Colombian President Andres Pastrana declared
an end to talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP). Pastrana and the FARC-EP
have been involved in a process of dialogs since January
1999 aimed at addressing the roots of the half-century of
armed conflict in Colombia.
The message was clear. The U.S. government, the chief patron
of the Colombian ruling class, is prepared to escalate its
war against the Colombian people.
The most visible effect of a collapse of the dialog process
is the Colombian government's efforts to re-occupy the five
municipalities that it evacuated as a precondition for the
talks to take place. The FARC-EP's negotiating team and
leadership have been stationed in the zone to conduct the
talks.
By Jan. 13, thousands of Colombian government troops were
massed on the borders of the zone, preparing to invade. A
Jan. 10 Associated Press dispatch reported the presence of
U.S. personnel at the Larandia base, a staging ground for
Colombian troops near the zone.
And while Pastrana pulled back from the threat to invade the
zone on Jan. 14, he still threatened to carry through with
the plan on Jan. 20. That was the date Pastrana had given in
October extending the zone for the talks.
THREAT OF DEATH SQUADS
Local residents fear that with the troops will come a wave
of paramilitary terror. Death squads have already
assassinated the mayors of two towns just outside the border
of the zone.
The talks between Pastrana and the FARC-EP were the result
of a series of military and political victories by the
revolutionary and popular forces beginning in 1996.
Government military bases and police barracks were overrun.
Hundreds of government soldiers were captured. Millions of
workers and peasants were taking to the streets against the
government's economic measures.
The government agreed to the talks as a maneuver to buy
desperately needed time to refurbish its armed forces. That
was proved by the fact that within months of the outset of
the talks, the U.S. was committing over $1 billion in
military aid to Colombia--up from $37 million in 1997.
The FARC-EP, on the other hand, made every effort to show
its commitment to the process. It used the talks as a means
of presenting its political vision of a new Colombia--one
with "neither exploiters nor exploited." It invited
thousands of Colombians--workers, peasants, Indigenous,
women, Black--to the dialog zone to present their demands to
the government and the world through "public audiences."
Because of these two factors--the government's insincerity
and the wider hearing for the revolutionaries' message--
Pastrana's government has staged several provocations
against the talks over the last three years. The FARC-EP was
blamed for atrocities, subsequently proven false. The FARC-
EP was blamed for attacks in neighboring countries,
subsequently proven false.
In all of these cases, the FARC-EP leadership and
spokespeople have insisted on truthful accountings of the
events and have brought the facts of the cases to world
attention. Each time, the Colombian government has been
forced to come back to the table or risk being exposed as
the opponents of peace to Colombians and the world.
Now, Pastrana justifies his threats to abandon the talks by
claiming that the FARC-EP walked away from the talks. It is
another lie.
The FARC-EP has been warning for months, most notably in a
Nov. 6 message from its commander-in-chief Manuel Marulanda,
that the government was attempting to abandon the talks.
Specifically, the insurgents noted that the government was
sending military flights over the dialog zone, that
paramilitary troops were taxing and harassing people
entering the zone, and that government troops were trying to
infiltrate the zone.
The government did not deny any of these actions, which are
all violations of the terms of the talks.
"The one that should return to the table is the government
and not the FARC," charged FARC-EP spokesperson Raul Reyes
on Jan. 10.
'GOV'T PUTS INTERESTS OF RICH FIRST'
In a communiqué released on Jan. 13, the FARC-EP faulted
Pastrana for failing to abide by the terms of the Oct. 7
agreement extending the zone until Jan. 20. "Once again, the
despicable interests of a privileged and rich minority are
put above the interests of 40 million Colombians. For the
moment, the perpetual warmongers have ended up imposing
themselves as a blockade to the possibilities of peace with
social justice.
"We reiterate to the country and to the world our will to
continue using all forms of struggle for the changes that
Colombia needs to achieve reconciliation and the
reconstruction of the homeland. ... We call on all
Colombians to struggle in an organized way to win the
economic, political and social changes that Colombia needs."
The zone itself, like the talks it is tied to, is a product
of the FARC-EP's political and military strength with
respect to the government. Beyond serving as a safe area for
the talks to take place, it has become a symbol of the new
Colombia that the FARC-EP advocates: a zone free of death
squads, a zone of rebuilding and of social justice for
working people.
The government's decision to make such a direct threat to
the talks was a direct result of the bellicose climate in
Washington after Sept. 11. Since then, high-ranking Bush
administration officials have made a point of placing the
Colombian revolutionary insurgent movements within the
framework of the so-called "war on terrorism."
Riding high on the devastation meted out to Afghanistan, the
Pentagon now feels more emboldened than ever to try to
impose its domination on the world--especially against any
group that dares take up arms against U.S. exploitation.
The Jan. 10 New York Times was quick to point out the risks
of this new warlike shift in strategy. Analysts following
events in Colombia "warned that such a show of force could
ultimately backfire if the Colombian armed forces proved
unable to establish control or if an all-out civil war
ensues."
TANKS IN BOGOTA
The battle that would ensue from an invasion of the zone
would certainly not be restricted to the zone itself. The
FARC-EP has 70 political-military fronts spread across the
country. During the three years of talks, it has put a major
priority on building the Bolivarian Movement for a New
Colombia, an underground civilian political structure
organized in cities across the country.
For that reason, Pastrana announced that thousands of
military troops would be stationed in Colombia's major
cities. As early as Jan. 10, the day after Pastrana
announced the talks would be over, tanks were patrolling the
streets of the capital city of Bogotá.
Few outside the swelled helmets in the Colombian military
believe that the government armed forces will be able to
defeat the FARC-EP. That raises the inevitable prospect of a
widening and direct U.S. presence in Colombia.
The Washington Post admitted as much in a Jan. 15 article.
"The Bush administration is considering expanding U.S.
counter- narcotics aid to Colombia to give more aid to that
country's counter-insurgency war against leftist guerrillas,
according to administration sources.
"High-level consideration of the proposals, one official
said, is a direct result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
on the United States."
Activists in the United States are preparing to challenge
that eventuality. The International Action Center and other
Colombia solidarity groups plan actions against the U.S. war
moves on Jan. 17.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
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changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (wwnews)
Date: torstai 17. tammikuu 2002 05:44
Subject: [WW] Colombia: Life Inside the Demilitarized Zone
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 24, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
WHAT COLOMBIA COULD BE LIKE: LIFE INSIDE THE
DEMILITARIZED ZONE
By Teresa Gutierrez
I had the good fortune to travel with an International
Action Center delegation to Colombia in November 2000. Our
delegation, headed by former U.S. Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark,
visited representatives from various sectors of the movement
for social change.
We spent some time in Bogotá as well, and the "zona de
despeje"--the demilitarized zone. This zone is currently
very much in the news as the administrations of U.S.
President George Bush and Colombian President Andres
Pastrana present a bellicose ultimatum to the rebels who
have been operating in the zone for almost three years.
Our delegation spent a couple of nights in San Vicente de
Caguán, a small town inside the zone. We walked the streets,
ate dinner at the plaza and talked to residents. We also
spent a couple of nights at the encampment of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-
EP), just a few miles from San Vicente.
When we first arrived in San Vicente the atmosphere there,
compared to that of Bogotá, immediately struck me.
Bogotá was tense, people cautious, afraid to talk about the
political situation.
But it is different in San Vicente. There, people are very
open. As you walk the streets, the air is festive as music
rings out all around you. The youth play basketball in the
park. The hotel and restaurant workers, taxi drivers-
everyone--carry themselves differently. They do not appear
to be tense or watching their backs at every moment.
And they were eager to talk with us about the political
situation.
A DIFFERENT WAY TO LIVE
One of the most important comments repeatedly made by the
residents of San Vicente was that now that the FARC-EP was
in the area, the brutal and horrific atrocities that had
been carried out by the right-wing paramilitaries had ended.
The death squads could no longer carry out their war of
terror. Residents no longer feared that at any moment they
find that their husbands, wives, children or other loved
ones had been massacred.
Drugs were no longer allowed, youth informed us. The only
complaint one 17-year-old had was that the rebels proposed
that motor scooters--which seemed to pleasingly overrun the
town--no longer be allowed after 10 p.m. so that people who
rose early to go to work would not be disturbed late at
night.
Residents we stopped on the streets told us that the town
was very different than it had been two years earlier. Now
there was more solidarity among the people. Issues such as
domestic violence or so-called common crime were handled in
a totally different way than they had been before.
All the people we spoke to back then understood that the
number one problem facing them was Plan Colombia. They all
knew that if the U.S. continued to escalate intervention in
their country, the situation would only get worse. No one
wanted war, but they feared the government had sold them
out.
When we spent a couple of nights in the rebel encampment of
the FARC-EP, we had a chance to hang out with some of the
rebels. Those not busy at their turn washing clothes or
preparing food or studying economics talked openly and
freely with us.
I talked a lot with Pablo, a 17-year-old who had been born
in the area. We videotaped some of our conversations. He had
important things to say about the Pentagon's Plan Colombia
and the war waged against the Colombian people in the
interests of the elite. He had a lot of knowledge of the
political situation around him as well as a lot of passion.
But it was through my conversations with him off-camera that
I understood the real sense of why he had joined the rebels.
It was off-camera that we talked more about San Vicente.
It is hard to describe in words the feeling that Pablo had
for San Vicente. But his pride at what had been accomplished
there in just a short time was unmistakable. With a smile so
bright it could have lit up the necessarily dark encampment,
he asked me what I thought about the area.
I told him how impressed I was. How safe we felt there, and
how safe the residents also seemed to feel. How it reminded
me of Cuba, that it felt like a place with people who had a
sense of fulfillment, a sense of their destiny.
It did not feel like most places on earth: that beaten-down
sense people get when life is so very hard. In San Vicente
you did not feel that horrible sense of alienation that
comes from a society that is divided and oppressed.
Pablo smiled wistfully and said, almost to himself, "If only
all of Colombia could be like San Vicente."
Today, the danger of the U.S.-backed Pastrana government
unleashing a wave of terror on the people of San Vicente and
all of Colombia is very real. Now more than ever solidarity
with the people in the zone and all of Colombia is needed.
Organizing to stop U.S. intervention is an urgent task.
But the people of San Vicente have had a taste of a society
free of death squads. They have seen what the future might
look like. It is not likely they will go back to the way
things were.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
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changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
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