Friday, August 25, 2017

BAUAW NEWSLETTER, FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2017







ILWU Local 10 
March to Stop Fascism in San Francisco
Saturday, August 26, 10:00 A.M.

Note Change in Meeting Place:
Assemble on Scott Street in Marina Green
March to Crissy Field
Racists Want Charlottesville Terror Here – It’s Up to Us to Stop It!
LONGSHORE WORKERS: 
SHUT DOWN THE FASCISTS!
We, longshore workers, support the call to action for our union to take the lead for the working class, to stop a deadly threat to the rights and the lives of us all. 
This weekend, fascist groups plan to stage rallies that threaten to repeat the racist terror of Charlottesville in the Bay Area. We’ve shut down the port against racism, war and police repression. Longshore workers have got the power, and we will not allow labor-hating white supremacists to bring their lynch mob terror here.
On Saturday, August 26 at 10AM, we will assemble on Scott St. in Marina Green (between Fort Mason and Crissy Field) and march to stop the fascist provocation at Crissy Field. We’re calling on all ILWU members, other unions and supporters to be there. Stop these racist killers from killing again. If not now, when? If not here, where? We have the power. Let’s use it!
On August 26, the fascist group that calls itself “Patriot Prayer” plans to hold a rally on Crissy Field. On August 27, several fascist groups plan a rally in Berkeley. What this means was shown in Portland on May 26: a Nazi who attended a “Patriot Prayer” rally the previous month killed two men for standing up against his racist threats to two young women. On June 4, members of 14 unions in Portland mobilized in the struggle to stop the fascists drawn by “Patriot Prayer.”
Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12 showed again that the fascists are not about “free speech.” The rally by Nazis, KKK and other white supremacists led directly to the murder of Heather Heyer and injuries to dozens of courageous anti-racist counter-protesters. Some of the same Nazis plan to come to the Bay Area this weekend. Meanwhile, Trump obscenely praises “good” fascists and “beautiful” statues of bloody Confede­rate slave masters. 
And now the fascists want to bring their race-terror here? We say: Hell no! Who do these fascist creeps think they’re messing with? SF is a union town. Let’s bring out the whole Bay Area labor movement, with defenders of African American, Asian, Latino, gay, lesbian, women’s and immigrant rights, to stop the fascists
To do this, we must rely on our own power as workers – not phony “friend of labor” politicians of both bosses’ parties. Their pleas for Trump’s Department of the Interior to deny a permit for Crissy Field are a diversion. Any bans, especially in a port city, could be used against workers fighting for their rights. But as the Portland Painters said in a solidarity message, when we use our “power as workers to take action against the fascists on August 26th, that will be a call to action of workers and oppressed people throughout this country.”
Now’s the time to stand up for all that ILWU has fought for, as opponents of racism and oppression. We can’t let these racists and fascists keep on killing. Enough is enough. Let’s join together in unity and in strength to put our union resolution into action. On August 26, 
DON’T WORK! SHUT THE PORT DOWN AND THE FASCISTS TOO!
 Anthony Leviege #9576                               Jack Heyman #8780 (ret.)
Longshore Workers to Stop the Fascists
August 21, 2017

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Update: At the planning meeting on Aug. 22, union sisters and brothers highlighted the threat to African American and all union members posed by the hanging nooses and vile racist slurs that have repeatedly appeared at SSA terminal. Make no mistake: this racist filth is a threat of lynching. It’s exactly the kind of thing the Klan, Nazis and other fascist/racist terror groups use. We have to stop it with the power of our union. This is and must be closely connected to the mobilization this Saturday, Aug. 26 to stop the fascists.
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REMEMBER: We are assembling SATURDAY, AUG. 26, 10 AM, on
SCOTT ST. IN MARINA GREEN BETWEEN FORT MASON & CRISSY FIELD.
Labor donated

Berkeley Counter-protest 
Sunday, August 27 at 10:30 A.M.
Gather at Oxford and Addison
Following the rally, we will join the Counter-protest at MLK Civic Center Park






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Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?


Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? (City Lights Open Media)
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
A Book Review by Robert Fantina

With the recent acquittal of two more police officers in the deaths of unarmed Black men, the question posed by the title of this book is as relevant as it ever was. Through a series of concise, clear essays, Mumia Abu-Jamal details the racism against Blacks, comparing today's behaviors with the lynchings that were common in the south prior to the decade of the sixties. He points out the obvious: The passage of Civil Rights legislation hasn't changed much; it simply changed the way racism operates.

The ways in which the white establishment has worked to oppress Blacks is astounding. After the Civil War, when slavery was no longer legal, "whites realized that the combination of trumped-up legal charges and forced labor as punishment created both a desirable business proposition and an incredibly effective tool for intimidating rank-and-file emancipated African Americans and doing away with their most effective leaders."

Abu-Jamal states that, today, "where once whites killed and terrorized from beneath a KKK hood, now they now did so openly from behind a little badge." He details the killing of Black men and women in the U.S. with almost complete impunity.

There are two related issues Abu-Jamal discusses. The first is the rampant racism that enables the police to kill unarmed Blacks, as young as 12 years old, for no reason, and the second is the "justice" system that allows them to get away with it.

One shocking crime, amid countless others, occurred in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2012; a police officer was acquitted in the deaths of two, unarmed Blacks, after leaping onto the hood of their car and firing 15 rounds from his semi-automatic rifle into the car's occupants. That is 137 shots, at point blank range, into the bodies of two unarmed people.

If this were an anomaly, it would be barbaric, but it is not: it is common practice for the police to kill unarmed Blacks, and, on the rare occasions that they are charged with a crime, for the judges and juries to acquit them.

In the U.S., Black citizens are disproportionally imprisoned. With for-profit prisons on the rise, this injustice will only increase.

Abu-Jamal relates story after story with the same plot, and only the names are different. An unarmed Black man is stopped by the police for any of a variety of reasons ranging from trivial (broken tail light), to more significant (suspect in a robbery). But too often, the outcome is the same: the Black man is dead and the police officer who killed him, more often than not white, is either not charged, or acquitted after being charged.

The Black Lives Matter movement formed to combat this blatant injustice, but it will be an uphill battle. As Abu-Jamal says, "Police serve the ownership and wealth classes of their societies, not the middling or impoverished people. For the latter, it is quite the reverse." As a result, people of color suffer disproportionately, too often winding up on the wrong side of a gun.

What is to be done? Abu-Jamal refers to the writings of Dr. Huey P. Newton, who calls not for community policing, but for community control of the police. Abu-Jamal argues forcefully for a new movement, "driven by commitment, ethics, intelligence, solidarity, and passions; for without passion, the embers may dim and die."

Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? is powerful, disturbing, well-written, and an important book for our day.

Robert Fantina is the author of Empire, Racism and Genocide: A History of U.S. Foreign Policy. His articles on foreign policy, most frequently concerning Israel and Palestine, have appeared in such venues as Counterpunch and WarIsaCrime.org.
New York Journal of Books, July 2017

http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/Black-lives

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Haiti: Stop the Repression. 
No impunity. NO NEW ARMY
 The people of Haiti need our solidarity in the face of the increasing violence of the fraudulently imposed government of Jovenel Moise

Thursday July 14, 2017, in Petionville, Haiti, near Port-au-Prince, a young book vendor was shot to death by a police officer in front of horrified witnesses. The police used tear gas and batons against a crowd outraged by the murder and the quick, forcible removal of the body in a perceived attempt at a cover up. This is the latest of recent extra-judicial killings by the Haitian police and paramilitary forces.

The brutal killing occurred as the occupation government of Jovenel Moise, installed in the fraudulent elections of November 2016, is pushing to restore the brutal and corrupt Haitian military, which was disbanded by then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995. Moise has stated that he wants the Army back within two years. Haitians remember the US-supported bloody rampage by former members of this army that claimed thousands of lives during the period of the 2004 coup d'etat against the elected government. The US/UN forces and occupation governments subsequently integrated many of these killers into the Haitian police and government paramilitary units.  

This announcement takes place at a volatile moment in Haitian society. The Haitian police and other government paramilitary forces, accompanied by UN occupation forces, have carried out criminal attacks against protesting teachers, students, factory workers, market women, street vendors and others who are victims of government extortion, theft of land, money and merchandise.

On July 10 - 12, 2017, during three days of peaceful protest for an increase in the minimum wage, Haitian police attacked the workers from the industrial park in Port-au-Prince with tear gas, batons and cannons shooting a liquid skin irritant. One of the beaten workers is a woman who had recently returned to work from giving birth.

·      On June 12, the government-appointed rector of the Haitian State University used his car to hit and run over a protesting university student. The government prosecutor has ignored the complaint filed by the students against the rector and is instead pursuing the victim's colleagues in a blatant attempt to harass and intimidate them. 

·      In May 2017, units of the Haitian police and paramilitary forces again attacked the people of Arcahaie protesting the government's plan to remove the main revenue-generating district from the community, located about 30 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince.

·      In May 2017, a food vendor in Petionville was killed after he was deliberately hit and run over by a car of the municipal paramilitary forces according to outraged witnesses.

 ·      On March 20th, 2017, police officers were videotaped shooting at the car carrying President Aristide and Fanmi Lavalas presidential candidate Dr. Maryse Narcisse as they returned from court. The police officers were reportedly observed returning to the national palace; there was no condemnation of this blatant assassination attempt by the government.

Adding a newly organized Haitian Army to this mix is a sign that the Haitian government is planning on more repression. The Haitian military's purpose was to protect Haitian dictatorships and to attack any challenges by the Haitian people.  Whether under the Duvalier dictatorships from 1957-1986 or when the military overthrew the democratically elected Aristide government in 1991, leading to the killing of over 5000 people, the military has been a central anti-democratic institution in Haitian society. When then-President Aristide disbanded the narco-trafficking Haitian military in 1995, the Army was eating up 40% of the national budget in a country with fewer than two doctors per 10,000 people.

Now this infamous military is being restored just as the United Nations is said to begin a staged withdrawal of its troops. This is similar to what happened following the U.S. occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934, a period in which 20,000 Haitians were killed. As the U.S. forces withdrew, they left in place a neo-colonial army with Haitian faces to do their bidding and continue the repression of popular discontent.

Haitians are saying NO to the restoration of an additional repressive military force.  They are demanding an end to police terror and an end to impunity.  We join their call.

E-mail and phone-in campaign to:

·       Say No to the Restoration of the brutal Haitian military
·       Hold the US and UN occupation accountable for the terror campaign by the Haitian    police and security forces they train and supervise.
·       Say No to impunity for police terror in Haiti

Contact:
-  US State Department: HaitiSpecialCoordinator@state.gov
-  Your Member of Congress: 202-224 3121
- UN Mission in Haiti: minustah-info@un.org

Sent by Haiti Action Committee
@HaitiAction1 and on FACEBOOK

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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter

Table of Contents:


A) EVENTS, ACTIONS 
AND ONGOING STRUGGLES

B) ARTICLES IN FULL


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A) EVENTS, ACTIONS AND ONGOING STRUGGLES


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CODEPINK Fall Action at Creech:  
Oct. 5 to Oct. 12    (All welcome!)
(Oct. 7 is the 16th Anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan)

SHUT DOWN CREECH: Spring 2018: Apr. 8-14.  (National Mass Mobilization to Resist Killer Drones)


(Thanks to Sandy Turner, from Ukiah, CA, for sharing this link!)

The Pentagon and CIA now have Brett Velicovich, their own drone veteran and CEO of an "online drone retail store" (Dronepire, Inc. and Expert Drones) , to glorify drone killing. Shameful that NPR couldn't ask the very difficult and important questions.  Lots of public education is needed to help people separate fact from fiction!

Would love for someone to do research on this guy!

Please listen to this interview (filled with misinformation), and consider joining us at Creech in the fall and/or spring to be a voice against the slaughter.  
(Dates below).

Life As A 'Drone Warrior'


NPR interview "with Brett Velicovich about his memoir, Drone Warrior, which details his time hunting and killing alleged terrorists using drones in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places."


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/drone-warrior-author-brett-velicovich-hunting-terrorists/


PS:  We should have a massive letter writing and phone calling to NPR for this totally biased and dangerous misrepresentation!


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SIGN THE PETITION: DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST REALITY WINNER

https://couragetoresist.org/drop-charges-reality-winner/

Jun 8, 2017
Department of Justice:
Drop the changes against Ms. Reality L. Winner, the defense contractor who allegedly shared with the media evidence of attacks against US election systems by foreign agents. This information should not have been classified. Ms. Winner's prosecution appears politically motivated.
Courage to Resist will attempt to keep signers of the Reality Winners petition up-to-date with periodic news and alerts from her family and attorney. You will be able to opt out at any time.

WHY ALLEGED WHISTLE-BLOWER REALITY WINNER DESERVES SUPPORT

BY JEFF PATERSON, COURAGE TO RESIST. JUNE 8, 2017

Reality Winner is a 25-year-old Air Force veteran who was arrested in Augusta, Georgia on June 3rd. She allegedly released classified NSA documents to The Intercept, which were the basis for a story about Russian hacking efforts against US election systems leading up to last year's presidential election. Reality is currently in the Lincoln County Jail in Georgia, and faces up to ten years in prison.
Reality Winner—yes, that is her given legal name—did the right thing, and she should be defended.
Reality allegedly leaked information regarding attempted interference in an election, tampering that many believe assisted in Donald Trump's presidential win—despite earning nearly four million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton. The documents published by The Interceptonly confirm earlier accounts of US election hacking attempts and, given the current administration's extreme antagonisms against facts, the release of these documents was clearly in the public interest. Like the vast majority of government documents that are hidden from public view, these reports should have been declassified by now anyway.
Now Trump's own Department of Justice has targeted Reality. It's a sinister move, but on the other hand, simply a continuation Obama's unprecedented zeal in prosecuting whistle-blowers. Trump inherited an atrocious War on Leaks, and Reality is the latest victim of that war. Her arrest is a signal to the world, and the four million other Americans with access to classified information: Only sanctioned leaks benefiting the government will be tolerated.
There's a striking hypocrisy to Trump's crackdown. Less than a month ago the President was criticized for carelessly leaking classified information to Russian officials during a White House meeting. We now know this information concerned a bomb that is being developed by ISIS. This is standard operating procedure: lawmakers have no issue leaking classified information if it somehow furthers their interest, but they aggressively prosecute citizens who expose actual wrongdoing.
I believe that Reality Winner's possible actions should be understood within the context of recent heroic whistleblowing. Shortly before leaving office, Barack Obama commuted the remaining sentence of US Army soldier Chelsea Manning, who was facing 27 more years in prison for exposing war crimes and corruption. Edward Snowden, who leaked information about our government's massive spying program, was granted asylum in Russia but faces espionage charges back home. Just like Manning, it seems that Reality was able to see the inner workings of the United States' war machine.
She served in the Air Force from 2013 until early this year, working as a linguist. Like Snowden, she would have had a better view than most as to how our security state works. Up until last week, she was a military defense contractor with the Pluribus International Corporation in the suburbs outside of Augusta, Georgia, and had Top Secret security clearance.
The US government has spent tens of millions of dollars in better auditing capabilities since the disclosures by Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. Those that would rather keep the public in the dark as to what their government is doing with their tax dollars and in their name, have redoubled their efforts to identify whistle-blowers much more quickly. Winner's arrest was facilitated by the government's increased ability to more easily identify the relatively small number of people that recently accessed documents in question as well as the yellow-colored, nearly-invisible micro dots that most color printers today use to include a printer's serial number and time stamp on each printed page. This appears to have contributed to the focus on Reality Winner.
Reality is expected to plead not guilty to charges against her today. We don't know exactly why she allegedly released the NSA documents to the press, but we do have some insight into her views about the world. Her social media accounts show a woman who, like a clear majority of Americans, is critical of Donald Trump. She has also voiced support for Edward Snowden, and opposition to the US fabricating a reason to attack Iran.
According to The Intercept, [Winner's leak] "ratchets up the stakes of the ongoing investigations into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives . . . If collusion can ultimately be demonstrated – a big if at this point – then the assistance on Russia's part went beyond allegedly hacking email to serve a propaganda campaign, and bled into an attack on U.S. election infrastructure itself."
We are talking about a potentially monumental story that might require prosecutions, but Reality Winner shouldn't be the one who ends up in jail. While the details of the story continue to unfold, by all indications she deserves our support, and the release of these documents should be celebrated.

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Solidarity Statement from the California Coalition for Women Prisoners

Friends,

CCWP sent the solidarity statement below expressing support with the hunger strikers at the Northwest County Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma Washington, one of the largest immigration prisons in the country.  People at NWDC, including many women, undertook the hunger strike starting at the beginning of April 2017 to protest the horrendous conditions they are facing.  Although the peak of the hunger strike was a few weeks ago, the strikers set a courageous example of resistance for people in detention centers and prisons around the country. 

Here is a link to a Democracy Now! interview with Maru Villalpando of Northwest Detention Center Resistance (http://www.nwdcresistance.org/) and Alexis Erickson, partner of one of the hunger strikers, Cristian Lopez.
For live updates, visit: 

California Coalition for Women Prisoners Statement

California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) stands in solidarity with the hunger strikers, many of them women, detained by ICE at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC), a private prison operated by the GEO group contracted by ICE in Washington state.  We applaud the detainees at NORCOR, a county jail in rural Oregon, who recently won their demands after sustaining six days without meals. 

Since April 10th, those detained in NWDC have refused meals to demand changes to the abhorrent conditions of their detention, including poor quality food, insufficient medical care, little to no access to family visits, legal counsel or legal documents, and lack of timely court proceedings. Hunger strikes are a powerful method of resistance within prisons that require commitment and courage from prisoners and their families. We have seen this historically in California when tens-of-thousands of prisoners refused meals to protest solitary confinement in 2011 and 2013, and also currently in Palestine where over 1,500 prisoners are on hunger strike against the brutal conditions of Israeli prisons. 

As the Trump administration continues to escalate its attacks on Latinx/Chicanx and Arab/Muslim communities, deportations and detentions serve as strategies to control, remove, and erase people—a violence made possible in a context of inflamed xenophobia and increasingly visible and virulent racism. We stand with the families of those detained as well as organizations and collectives on the ground in Washington State struggling to expose the situation inside these facilities as well as confront the escalating strategies of the Trump administration.

CCWP recognizes the common struggle for basic human dignity and against unconstitutional cruel and inhumane treatment that people of color and immigrants face in detention centers, jails, and prisons across the United States. We also sadly recognize from our work with people in women's prisons the retaliatory tactics such as prison transfers and solitary confinement that those who fight oppression face. Similar abuses continue to occur across California at all of its prisons and  detention centers, including the GEO-run women's prison in McFarland, California.. CCWP sends love and solidarity to the hunger strikers in the Northwest. Together we can break down the walls that tear our families and communities apart. ¡ya basta! #Ni1Más #Not1More

    Northwest Detention Center Press Release May 4, 2017

Despite threats and retaliation, hunger strikers continue protest 

ICE ignores demands for improved conditions 

Tacoma, Washington/The Dalles, Oregon—Immigrants held at ICE facilities in two states—the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC), run by GEO Group, and NORCOR, a rural public jail—continued their hunger strike today, despite growing weakness from lack of food. The exponential growth of immigration detention has led ICE to contract the function of detaining immigrants out to both private prison companies and to county governments, with both treating immigrants as a source of profit. ICE has been using NORCOR as "overflow" detention space for immigrants held at NWDC, and is regularly transferring people back and forth from the NWDC to NORCOR. People held at NORCOR have limited access to lawyers and to the legal documents they need to fight and win their deportation cases. They are often transferred back to NWDC only for their hearings, then shipped back to NORCOR, where they face terrible conditions. Jessica Campbell of the Rural Organizing Project affirmed, "No one deserves to endure the conditions at NORCOR—neither the immigrants ICE is paying to house there, nor the people of Oregon who end up there as part of criminal processes. It's unsafe for everyone."

The strike began on April 10th, when 750 people at the NWDC began refusing meals. The protest spread to NORCOR this past weekend. Maru Mora Villalpando of NWDC Resistance confirmed, "It's very clear from our contact with people inside the facilities and with family members of those detained that the hunger strike continues in both Oregon and Washington State." She continued, "The question for us is, how will ICE assure that the abuses that these whistle-blowing hunger strikers have brought to light are addressed?"

From the beginning of the protest, instead of using the strike as an opportunity to look into the serious concerns raised by the hunger strikers, ICE and GEO have both denied the strike is occurring and retaliated against strikers. Hunger strikers have been transferred to NORCOR in retaliation for their participation. One person who refused transfer to NORCOR was put in solitary confinement. Just this week, hunger striking women have been threatened with forced feeding—a practice that is recognized under international law to be torture. In an attempt to break their spirit, hunger strikers have been told the strike has been ineffective and that the public is ignoring it.

Hunger striker demands terrible conditions inside detention center be addressed—including the poor quality of the food, the dollar-a-day pay, and the lack of medical care. They also call for more expedited court proceedings and the end of transfers between detention facilities.   Hunger strikers consistently communicate, "We are doing this for our families." Despite their incredibly oppressive conditions, locked away and facing deportation in an immigration prison in the middle of an industrial zone and in a rural county jail, hunger strikers have acted collectively and brought national attention to the terrible conditions they face and to the ongoing crisis of deportations, conditions the U.S. government must address.Latino Advocacy

Maru Mora Villalpando
For live updates, visit: 
News mailing list: News@womenprisoners.org

Activist Goes on Hunger Strike Outside the Northwest Detention Center
Maru Mora Villalpando Joins the Tacoma 12 and Adelanto 9 in Calling for an End to Human Rights Abuses in Immigrant Detention

Tacoma, WA - On Monday, June 19th, Maru Mora Villalpando, member of the NWDC Resistance, will begin  a hunger strike to call attention to the plight of up to 1,600 immigrants held in detention suffering human rights abuses at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC). On June 15, 2017, at least a dozen detainees went on hunger strike to call attention to inhumane detention conditions, refusing to eat for multiple days. By June 18, NWDC Resistance organizers received reports that more than 25 hunger strikers are calling on GEO Group to provide edible, nutritious food, on ICE to provide fair and timely hearings, and on civil society to step up and take action for the injustices in our communities. In response, Maru Mora Villalpando is going on hunger strike, and is joined by other members of civil society who are stepping up their solidarity.

As hunger strikers on the inside are discussing ceasing their strike on the inside, Maru will keep the hunger strike continuous by holding space on the outside. A female hunger striker in detention said: "I feel more deteriorated every day, more bad, more worse, because of what we are living through and what we are seeing inside. What we are suffering is horrible, horrible. Here they don't care what conditions we are living in… they don't care about anything." To listen to her story, go to: http://bit.ly/2sIyXzZ

GEO Group's human rights abuses are not a case of "bad apples." Just this week, GEO employees have refused to complete basic maintenance, such as repairing a broken air conditioner when projected temperatures are expected to reach 78 degrees. Likewise, people in detention have noted repeated problems with incorrect medications resulting in hospital visits, suicide attempts, and inadequate access to medical treatment -- even in diagnosed cases of malignant cancers.

There are also 9 asylum seekers on hunger strike at the GEO-owned Adelanto Detention Facility in Southern California. Rather than releasing asylum seekers pending their hearing, they were subjected to further trauma -- pepper spray, beating and solitary confinement. The #Adelanto9 continue on hunger strike to call attention to these blatant human rights abuses, meaning that people inside and outside detention centers are on hunger strike throughout the West Coast.

Call to Action: Hunger strikers and solidarity supporters are holding down a 24-7 encampment outside the Northwest Detention Center. Please join them to show people held in detention that they are not alone, and the state of Washington will no longer tolerate human rights abuses!

For live updates on the #Tacoma12 and solidarity hunger strikes, visithttps://www.facebook.com/ NWDCResistance/.

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NWDC Resistance is a volunteer community group that emerged to fight deportations in 2014 at the now-infamous Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. NWDC Resistance is part of the #Not1More campaign and supported people detained who organized hunger strikes asking for a halt to all deportations and better treatment and conditions.

Contact: Maru Mora Villalpando, (206) 251 6658, maru@latinoadvocacy.org


#Tacoma12     #Adelanto9     #Not1More      #NoEstánSolos

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Labor Studies and Radical History

4444 Geary Blvd., Suite 207, San Francisco, CA 94118

415.387.5700

http://www.holtlaborlibrary.org/mayday.html

Hours

(call 415.387.5700 to be sure the library is open for the hours you are interested in. We close the library sometimes to go on errands or have close early) suggested)

7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed on all major holidays and May Day 
We can arrange, by request, to keep the library open longer during the day or open it on weekends. Just ask.

Services

  • Reference Librarian On-site
  • Email and Telephone Reference
  • Interlibrary Loan
  • Online Public Access Catalog 
  • Microfilm Reader/Printer
  • DVD and VCR players
  • Photocopier
  • Quiet well-lighted place for study and research 
For an appointment or further information, please email: david [at] holtlaborlibrary.org 

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Support:




CONTRIBUTE 
Thank you for being a part of this struggle.

Cuando luchamos ganamos! When we fight we win!

Noelle Hanrahan, Director
Facebook
Twitter
Website
To give by check: 
PO Box 411074
San Francisco, CA
94141

Stock or legacy gifts:
Noelle Hanrahan
(415) 706 - 5222

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MEDIA ADVISORYMedia contact: Morgan McLeod, (202) 628-0871
mmcleod@sentencingproject.org
NEW REPORT FINDS RECORD NUMBER OF PEOPLE SERVING
LIFE SENTENCES IN U.S. PRISONS
Washington, D.C.— Despite recent political support for criminal justice reform in most states, the number of people serving life sentences has nearly quintupled since 1984. 

A new report by The Sentencing Project finds a record number of people serving life with parole, life without parole, and virtual life sentences of 50 years or more, equaling one of every seven people behind bars. 


Eight states  Alabama, California, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, and Utah  have at least one of every five prisoners serving a life or de facto life sentence in prison. 
The Sentencing Project will host an online press conference to discuss its report Still Life: America's Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences, on Wednesday, May 3rd at 11:00 a.m. EDT.   
Press Conference Details
WHAT: Online press conference hosted by The Sentencing Project regarding the release of its new report examining life and long-term sentences in the United States. REGISTER HERE to participate. The call-in information and conference link will be sent via email.  
WHEN: 
Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. EDT 
WHO: 
  • Ashley Nellis, The Sentencing Project's senior research analyst and author of Still Life: America's Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences
  • Evans Ray, whose life without parole sentence was commuted in 2016 by President Obama
  • Steve Zeidman, City University of New York law professor and counsel for Judith Clark—a New York prisoner who received a 75 year to life sentence in 1983
The full report will be available to press on Wednesday morning via email.

Founded in 1986, The Sentencing Project works for a fair and effective U.S. criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust racial disparities and practices, and advocating for alternatives to incarceration.

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When they knock on your front door: Preparing for Repression

BAY AREA ANTI-REPRESSION COMMITTEE

When they knock on your front door: Preparing for Repression
 BY 

Mothers Message to the NY/NJ Activist Community 

In order to effectively combat the existing opportunism, hidden agendas and to better provide ALL genuinely good willed social justice organizations and individuals who work inside of the New York and New Jersey metropolitan areas... with more concrete guidelines; 

The following "10 Point Platform and Justice Wish List" was adopted on Saturday, May 13, 2017    during the "Motherhood: Standing Strong 4 Justice" pre-mothers day gathering which was held     at Hostos Community College - Bronx, New York.......

"What We Want, What We Need" 

May, 2017 - NY/NJ Parents 10 Point Justice Platform and Wish List 

Point #1 - Lawyers and Legal Assistance:  Due to both the overwhelming case loads and impersonal nature of most public defenders, the Mothers believe that their families are receiving limited options, inadequate legal advise and therefore; WE WANT and NEED for community activists to help us in gaining access to experienced "pro-bono" and/or activist attorneys as well as the free resources provided by non-profit social justice and legal advocacy groups.

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Point #2 - First Response Teams: The Mothers felt that when their loved ones were either killed or captured by the police that they were left in the hands of the enemy and without any support, information or direction on how to best move forward and therefore; WE WANT and NEED community activists to help us develop independently community controlled & trained first response teams in every borough or county that can confirm and be on the ground within 24 hours of any future incident.

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Point #3 - Security and Support At Court Appearances: The Mothers all feel that because community activist support eventually becomes selective and minimal, that they are disrespected by both the courthouse authorities, mainstream media and therefore;   WE WANT and NEED community activists to collectively promote and make a strong presence felt at all court appearances and; To always provide trained security & legal observers... when the families are traveling to, inside and from the court house.

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Point #4 - Emotional/Spiritual Healing and Grief and Loss Counseling: After the protest rallies, demonstrations, justice marches and television cameras are gone the Mothers all feel alone and abandoned and therefore;                                                                             WE WANT and NEED for community activists to refer/help provide the families with clergy, professional therapy & cultural outlets needed in order to gain strength to move forward. 

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Point #5 -  Parents Internal Communication Network: The Mothers agreed as actual victims, that they are the very best qualified in regards to providing the needed empathy and trust for an independent hotline & contact resource for all of the parents and families who want to reach out to someone they can mutually trust that is able understand what they are going through and therefore;           WE WANT and NEED for community activists to help us in providing a Parents Internal Communication Network to reach that objective.

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Point #6 -  Community Offices and Meeting Spaces: The Mothers agreed that there is an extreme need for safe office spaces where community members and family victims are able to go to for both confidential crisis intervention and holding organizing meetings and therefore;                                                                                                                                                                                                 WE WANT and NEED for community activists to help us in securing those safe spaces inside of our own neighborhoods.   

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Point #7 - Political Education Classes and Workshop Training: The Mothers agreed in implementing the "each one, teach one"   strategy and therefore;                                                                                                                                                                                         WE WANT and NEEDfor community activists to help us in being trained as educators and organizers in Know Your Rights, Cop Watch, First Response, Emergency Preparedness & Community Control over all areas of public safety & the police in their respective neighborhoods.

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Point #8 - Support From Politicians and Elected Officials: The Mothers believe that most political candidates and incumbent elected officials selectively & unfairly represent only those cases which they think to be politically advantageous to their own selfish personal success on election day and therefore;                                                                                                                                WE WANT and NEED for community activists to help us in either publicly exposing or endorsing these aforementioned political candidates and/or elected officials to their constituents solely based upon the uncompromising principles of serving the people.

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Point #9 - Research and Documentation: The Mothers believe that research/case studies, surveys, petitions, historical archives, investigative news reporting and events should be documented and made readily available in order to counter the self-serving  police misinformation promoted by the system and therefore;                                                                                                                          WE WANT and NEED for community activists to help us by securing college/university students, law firms, film makers, authors, journalists and professional research firms to find, document & tell the people the truth about police terror & the pipeline to prison.

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Point #10 - Grassroots Community Outreach and Information: The Mothers believe that far too much attention is being geared towards TV camera sensationalism with the constant organizing of marches & rallies "downtown"  and therefore; WE WANT and NEED for community activists to provide a fair balance by helping us to build in the schools, projects, churches and inside of the subway trains and stations of our Black, brown and oppressed communities where the majority of the police terror is actually taking place. 



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My Heartfelt "Thank You!"

By Mumia Abu-Jamal

Several days ago I received a message from both of our lawyers, Bob Boyle and Bret Grote, informing me that the latest lab tests came in from the Discovery Requests.  

And they told me that the Hepatitis C infection level is at zero and as of today I'm Hepatitis C free. 

This is in part due to some fine lawyering by Bret and Bob who—remember—filed the suit while I was in the throes of a diabetic coma, unconscious and thus unable to file for myself.  
But it's also due to you, the people.  Brothers and sisters who supported our efforts, who contributed to this fight with money, time, protests and cramming court rooms on our behalf, who sent cards, who prayed, who loved deeply.  

I can't thank you all individually but if you hear my voice or read my words know that I am thanking you, all of you. And I'm thanking you for showing once again the Power of the People. 

This battle ain't over, for the State's cruelest gift is my recent diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver. With your love we shall prevail again.  I thank you all. Our noble Dr.'s Corey Weinstein, who told us what to look for, and Joseph Harris who gave me my first diagnosis and who became the star of the courtroom by making the mysteries of Hep C understandable to all.  An internist working up in Harlem, Dr. Harris found few thrills better than telling his many Hep C patients that they're cured.  

This struggle ain't just for me y'all. 

Because of your efforts thousands of Pennsylvania prisoners now have hope of healing from the ravages of Hepatitis C. [singing] "Let us march on 'til victory is won." So goes the old Negro Spiritual, "The Black National Anthem." 

We are making it a reality. I love you all.

From Prison Nation,
This is Mumia Abu-Jamal

Prison Radio, May 27, 2017

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Court order to disclose DA files in Mumia Abu-Jamal's legal case [video]

This 9-minute video gives background on new revelations about conflict of interest -- an appeals judge who had previously been part of the prosecution team -- in upholding the 1982 conviction of journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal on charges of killing a police officer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17Tp5NlllLU

A ruling to implement a judge's recent order for "discovery" could be made on May 30.

Judge Tucker granted discovery to Mumia Abu-Jamal pursuant to his claims brought under Williams v Pennsylvania that he was denied due process because his PA Supreme Court appeals from 1998-2008 were decided by Ronald Castille, who had previously been the District Attorney during Mumia's 1988 appeal from his conviction and death sentence, as well as having been a senior assistant district attorney during Mumia's trial.

The DA is given 30 days—until May 30, 2017—to produce all records and memos regarding Mumia's case, pre-trial, trial, post-trial and direct appeal proceedings between Castille and his staff and any public statement he made about it. Then Mumia has 15 days after receiving this discovery to file amendments to his PCRA petition.

This date of this order is April 28, but it was docketed today, May 1, 2017.

This is a critical and essential step forward!

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Dear Friend,

For the first time- a court has ordered the Philadelphia DA to turn over evidence and open their files in Mumia's appeal.   In a complacency shattering blow, the District Attorney's office is finally being held to account.  Judge Leon Tucker of the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court ordered the DA to produce all of the documents relevant to former PA Supreme Court Justice's role in the case. Castille was first a supervisory ADA during Mumia's trial, then District Attorney, and finally as a judge he sat on Mumia's appeals to the PA Supreme Court. 

This broad discovery order follows just days after the arguments in court by Christina Swarns, Esq. of the NAACP LDF, and Judith Ritter, Esq. of Widner Univ.

During that hearing, Swarns made it clear that the District Attorney's practice of lying to the appellate courts would not be tolerated and had been specifically exposed by the U.S. Supreme Court.  In the Terrence Williams case, which highlights Ronald Castile's conflict, the Supreme Court in no uncertain terms excoriated the office for failing to disclose crucial evidence.  Evidence the office hid for years.  This is an opportunity to begin to unravel the decades long police and prosecutorial corruption that has plagued Mumia's quest for justice.  

In prison for over thirty six years Mumia Abu-Jamal has maintained his innocence in the death of Philadelphia Police officer Daniel Faulkner on Dec. 9th 1981.  

"The Commonwealth  must  produce  any  and  all  documents  or  records  in  the  possession  or  control  of  the Philadelphia  District  Attorney's  Office   showing   former   District   Attorney   Ronald   Castille's   personal   involvement   in the  above-captioned  case  ... and public statements during and after his tenure as District Attorney of Philadelphia."

It is important to note that the history of the District Attorney's office in delaying and appealing to prevent exposure of prosecutorial misconduct and the resulting justice.  At every turn, there will be attempts to limit Mumia's access to the courts and release.   it is past time for justice in this case.  
Noelle Hanrahan, P.I.

Prison Radio is a 501c3 project of the Redwood Justice Fund. We record and broadcast the voices of prisoners, centering their analyses and experiences in the movements against mass incarceration and state repression. If you support our work, please join us.

www.prisonradio.org   |   info@prisonradio.org   |   415-706-5222

Thank you for being a part of this work!

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Kevin "Rashid" Johnson Packed Off to Florida!

Rashid: I'm off to Florida and a new phase of reprisals for publicizing abuses in US prisons

July 14, 2017

Readers are urged to share this story widely and write to Rashid right away; mail equals support, and the more he gets, the safer he'll be: Kevin Johnson, O-158039, RMC, P.O. Box 628, Lake Butler FL 32054

by Kevin 'Rashid' Johnson
http://sfbayview.com/2017/07/rashid-im-off-to-florida-and-a-new-phase-of-reprisals-for-publicizing-abuses-in-us-prisons/

Packed off to Florida

Following Texas prison officials planting a weapon in my cell on March 26, 2017, then stealing most of my personal property on April 6, 2017, in an ongoing pattern of retaliation for and attempts to repress my writing and involvement in litigation exposing and challenging abuses in Texas prisons, including their killing prisoners, I was unceremoniously packed off to the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) on June 22, 2017.
This transfer came as outside protests mounted against the abuses, and Texas officials became more and more entangled in a growing web of their own lies invented in their efforts to cover up and deny their reprisals against me, and also while a contempt investigation was imminent upon a motion I filed in a federal lawsuit brought by relatives of one of the prisoners they'd killed – a killing I'd witnessed and publicized.
Florida, notorious for its own extremely abusive prisons, readily signed on to take up Texas's slack. And being an openly corrupt system unaccustomed to concealing its dirt, FDC officials shot straight from the hip in expressing and carrying on efforts to repress and act out reprisals for my exposing and challenging prison abuses.

The Welcoming Committee

Following a four-hour flight from Texas to Florida, I was driven in a sweltering prison van from an airport just outside Jacksonville, Florida, to the FDC's Reception and Medical Center (RMC) in Lake Butler, Florida. I was forced to leave most all my personal property behind in Texas.
Upon reaching RMC, I was brought from the van, manacled hand and foot into an enclosed vehicle port, where I was met by a mob of white guards of all ranks. I was ordered to stand in a pair of painted yellow footprints on a concrete platform as the guards crowded around me.

I was ordered to stand in a pair of painted yellow footprints on a concrete platform as the guards crowded around me. "This is Florida, and we'll beat your ass! We'll kill you!" said the spokesman.

Their "chosen" spokesman, a tall goofy guard, R. Knight, stepped forward and launched into a speech consisting of threats and insults. He emphasized that I was "not in Virginia or wherever else" I'd been. That "this is Florida, and we'll beat your ass! We'll kill you!" He assured my "Black ass" that my tendency to protest "won't be tolerated here."
He went on and on, like an overseer explaining the plantation's code of decorum and the "place" to a newly arrived Black slave. The analogy is apt. "You will answer us only as 'no sir' and 'yes sir,' 'no ma'am' and 'yes ma'am.' You forget this and we'll kick your fucking teeth out," he barked.
I was then taken through the various stages of being "processed" in: fingerprinted, examined and questioned by medical staff etc. Knight took possession of my property and stole a number of documents and all my writing supplies (five writing tablets, four ink pens, 19 envelopes, stamps), all my hygiene supplies (deodorant, shampoo, two bars of soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, nail clippers) and so on.
All these items that I brought with me from Texas were inventoried and logged by Texas officials. Knight logged and inventoried me as receiving from him only my watch, some legal papers, 15 envelopes and my eyeglasses.
Next, I was taken into an office and sat before a Sgt. L. Colon, RMC's "gang (or STG, Security Threat Group) investigator." He proceeded in the same hostile terms. He explained that he knew all about me and his displeasure with my published articles about prison abuses, and he assured that FDC would put an end to it. He admitted his purpose was to put an STG profile on me, refer it to FDC's central office in Tallahassee to be upheld, and I would then be put on STG file, which in turn would be used to stop my writings.
He proceeded to ask about me being a "Black Panther leader" and, using a thoroughly amateur interrogation method, attempted to have me characterize myself and my party as a gang. When his efforts failed, he charged me with being a "bullshitter." I told him only that I am a member of a constitutionally protected, non-violent communist party and whatever false stigma he wanted to try and invent against me and us was typical of fascist governments and we'd address it publicly and in court. Our "interview" was terminated.

Another nurse did my medical history check, remarking that my blood pressure reading was extremely high, 145/103. Although she had all my medications sitting there in front of her, and I told her I had not received my dose that day, she refused to provide them and did nothing.

Upon arriving in Florida, I had not received my hypertension medications since the prior morning. The sweltering heat was aggravating my condition. During the intake process a routine blood pressure check was done and my reading was around 145/103. The nurse who did the reading passed me on to another nurse who did my medical history check, remarking that my reading was extremely high. Although she had all my medications sitting there in front of her, and I told her I had not received my dose that day, she refused to provide them and did nothing.

Barbaric housing

Following completing the intake process, I was walked a substantial distance across the prison yard carrying my bag of property in handcuffs and the sweltering midday heat, dizzy from my elevated blood pressure.
I was led to K-building, the solitary confinement unit, where I was put into a cell, K-3-102, which had no bunk in it and had a commode that had to be flushed by guards from outside the cell – often they would not flush it when it needed to be and I asked them to. The commode had otherwise been obviously left unflushed for long periods, because inside the bowl was and is a thick, yellowed layer of calcium and waste residue and it reeked of fermented urine and feces.
Just before I entered the cell, it was wet-mopped, not to sanitize it, but to cover the entire floor with water that would not, and did not, dry for over a day afterward due to the extreme humidity and lack of air circulation in the cells. There is no air conditioning in the cell blocks and, unlike in Texas, FDC prisoners may not have in-cell fans.
My cell was infested with ants which would find their way into my bed as I slept on the floor. I received numerous bites from them and I believe also roaches that frequently crawled into the cell. At night, in the pitch black cells – and even when the lights were on – mice and huge, two-inch-long cockroaches, along with the "regular" smaller breed of roaches, ran into and explored the cell.

My cell was infested with ants which would find their way into my bed as I slept on the floor. I received numerous bites from them. At night, even when the lights were on, mice and huge, two-inch-long cockroaches, along with the "regular" smaller breed of roaches, ran into and explored the cell.

The K-building lieutenant, Jason Livingston, posted a special note outside my cell door stating I was on a heightened security status, that I and the cell were to be specially searched any time I exited or entered the cell, that I was to be specially restrained and the ranking guards had to accompany me to and from any destination outside the cell. The pretense was that I was an extreme physical threat.
I was denied my hypertension medications until I briefly fell unconscious on the evening of June 24, 2017.
Following sending word out to an attorney and others about my conditions and experiences, who apparently raised complaints on my behalf, I was moved to a "regular" cell, K-1-204, on June 30, 2017, with a bunk and a commode I can flush. I was repeatedly confronted by various guards who've commented that I'm no dangerous person and they don't understand why I've been profiled or treated as though I am.
A week later FDC officials would come clean, exposing on the record their actual motives for my mistreatment, and "special" security status.

Solitary confinement for publicizing abuses

My readers and others will recall when, in January 2017, I was given a disciplinary infraction by Texas officials for a statement I wrote about suffering their abuses that was published online. When confronted about such retaliatory acts by a PBS reporter, Ms. Kamala Kelkar, TDCJ spokesman Jason Clark initially lied, denying that I received any such infractions, until Ms. Kelkar emailed him a copy of the charge I'd received. He then suddenly changed his story, lying yet again to claim the infraction had been overturned, then declined to answer any further questions.[i]
Clark knew enough to deny and try to cover up such acts of retaliation against a prisoner exercising his right to freedom of speech. Florida officials, however, have come right out admitting and exposing such actions.[ii]
On July 6, 2017, I was confronted by RMC classification officer Jeremy Brown, who notified me that I am to be formally reviewed for placement on Close Management I status, which is the FDC's name for solitary confinement. The reason he gave for this review was the exact STG pretext Sgt. L. Colon told me on my first day was going to be created to justify suppressing my writings about prison abuses.
Brown served me written notification stating my CMI review was based upon my alleged "documented leadership in a Security Threat Group that is certified by the Threat Assessment Review Committee in Central Office." Remember, this is the very same illegal basis upon which California prison officials were indefinitely throwing prisoners in solitary confinement which prompted three historic mass prisoner hunger strikes in 2011 and 2013 and was abolished upon the settlement of a class action lawsuit against the practice in 2015.

My assignment to solitary confinement is for "documented leadership in a Security Threat Group" … This is the very same illegal basis upon which California prison officials were indefinitely throwing prisoners in solitary confinement which prompted three historic mass prisoner hunger strikes in 2011 and 2013 and was abolished upon the settlement of a class action lawsuit against the practice in 2015.

But FDC officials went much further in supporting "comments" to state their true motives for devising to put me in solitary and for my mistreatment up to that point.
As Colon had threatened, an STG label was invented against the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, a party about which Colon admitted he and the FDC had no prior knowledge. The reason the party was designated an STG and gang was because (get this!) I'd written articles while in Oregon and Texas prison systems that were published online about abuses in the prisons which generated concern and perfectly legal protests from the public, which was characterized as my gang following that "caused disruption in the orderly operations" of the prisons.
The notice went on to admit, as I've long contended in my writings, that these writings are the actual reason I've been transferred from state to state – illegal retaliatory transfers – which was characterized as STG activities.
Passing mention was made that I'd received disciplinary infractions while in Oregon and Texas, but no attempt was made to show those infractions bore any connection to my party affiliation. In fact, those who have followed my writings and the series of official reprisals – which is now being admitted by FDC officials – know those infractions were fabricated retaliations, many of which I was prevented from contesting.
So, according to FDC officials, I am a confirmed gang leader because I publicize prison abuses through articles that are posted online and my gang members and followers are members of the public who read my articles and make complaints and inquiries of officials, which acts are characterized as presenting disruptions to prison operations – or in other words throwing a monkey wrench in their business-as-usual abuses.

According to FDC officials, I am a confirmed gang leader because I publicize prison abuses through articles that are posted online and my gang members and followers are members of the public who read my articles and make complaints and inquiries of officials, which acts are characterized as presenting disruptions to prison operations.

For this I am to be thrown into solitary, which means any future posting and publishing of writings by me about prison abuses will be characterized as my continuing to engage in STG or gang activities, and any legal public protests as my gang members threatening prison security.
I didn't make this up, it's all in writing; read it HERE (scroll down to "SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS"). This is where taxpayers' monies are going in financing these ubiquitous gang busting units. And should you protest, you will be labelled a gangster yourself. I won't belabor the point.
Dare to struggle, Dare to win!
All Power to the People!
[i] Kamala Kelkar, "Resistence Builds Against Social Media Ban in Texas Prisons," PBS NewsHour Weekend, Jan. 29, 2017, 5:23 p.m. EST
Send our brother some love and light – and share this urgent story widely. The more people who write to him now, the safer he'll be: Kevin Johnson, O-158039, RMC, 7765 S. Cr. 231, P.O. Box 628, Lake Butler FL 32054.

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Defying the Tomb: Selected Prison Writings and Art of Kevin "Rashid" Johnson featuring exchanges with an Outlaw Kindle Edition

by Kevin Rashid Johnson (Author), Tom Big Warrior (Introduction), Russell Maroon Shoatz(Introduction)

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Major Battles On
For over 31 years, Major Tillery has been a prisoner of the State.
Despite that extraordinary fact, he continues his battles, both in the prison for his health, and in the courts for his freedom.
Several weeks ago, Tillery filed a direct challenge to his criminal conviction, by arguing that a so-called "secret witness" was, in fact, a paid police informant who was given a get-out-of-jail-free card if he testified against Tillery.
Remember I mentioned, "paid?"
Well, yes--the witness was 'paid'--but not in dollars. He was paid in sex!
In the spring of 1984, Robert Mickens was facing decades in prison on rape and robbery charges. After he testified against Tillery, however, his 25-year sentence became 5 years: probation!
And before he testified he was given an hour and a ½ private visit with his girlfriend--at the Homicide Squad room at the Police Roundhouse. (Another such witness was given another sweetheart deal--lie on Major, and get off!)
To a prisoner, some things are more important than money. Like sex!
In a verified document written in April, 2016, Mickens declares that he lied at trial, after being coached by the DAs and detectives on the case.
He lied to get out of jail--and because he could get with his girl.
Other men have done more for less.
Major's 58-page Petition is a time machine back into a practice that was once common in Philadelphia.
In the 1980s and '90s, the Police Roundhouse had become a whorehouse.
Major, now facing serious health challenges from his hepatitis C infection, stubborn skin rashes, and dangerous intestinal disorders, is still battling.
And the fight ain't over.
[©'16 MAJ  6/29/16]
Major Tillery Needs Your Help and Support
Major Tillery is an innocent man. There was no evidence against Major Tillery for the 1976 poolroom shootings that left one man dead and another wounded. The surviving victim gave a statement to homicide detectives naming others—not Tillery or his co-defendant—as the shooters. Major wasn't charged until 1980, he was tried in 1985.
The only evidence at trial came from these jailhouse informants who were given sexual favors and plea deals for dozens of pending felonies for lying against Major Tillery. Both witnesses now declare their testimony was manufactured by the police and prosecution. Neither witness had personal knowledge of the shooting.
This is a case of prosecutorial misconduct and police corruption that goes to the deepest levels of rot in the Philadelphia criminal injustice system. Major Tillery deserves not just a new trial, but dismissal of the charges against him and his freedom from prison.
It cost a lot of money for Major Tillery to be able to file his new pro se PCRA petition and continue investigation to get more evidence of the state misconduct. He needs help to get lawyers to make sure this case is not ignored. Please contribute, now.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
    Financial Support: Tillery's investigation is ongoing, to get this case filed has been costly and he needs funds for a legal team to fight this to his freedom!
    Go to JPay.com;
    code: Major Tillery AM9786 PADOC
    Tell Philadelphia District Attorney
    Seth Williams:
    Free Major Tillery! He is an innocent man, framed by police and and prosecution.
    Call: 215-686-8711 or

    Write to:
    Major Tillery AM9786
    SCI Frackville
    1111 Altamont Blvd.
    Frackville, PA 17931

      For More Information, Go To: Justice4MajorTillery/blogspot
      Call/Write:
      Rachel Wolkenstein, Esq. (917) 689-4009RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com





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      Commute Kevin Cooper's Death Sentence

      Sign the Petition:
      http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/petition.php


      Urge Gov. Jerry Brown to commute Kevin Cooper's death sentence. Cooper has always maintained his innocence of the 1983 quadruple murder of which he was convicted. In 2009, five federal judges signed a dissenting opinion warning that the State of California "may be about to execute an innocent man." Having exhausted his appeals in the US courts, Kevin Cooper's lawyers have turned to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights to seek remedy for what they maintain is his wrongful conviction, and the inadequate trial representation, prosecutorial misconduct and racial discrimination which have marked the case. Amnesty International opposes all executions, unconditionally.

      "The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man." - Judge William A. Fletcher, 2009 dissenting opinion on Kevin Cooper's case

      Kevin Cooper has been on death row in California for more than thirty years.

      In 1985, Cooper was convicted of the murder of a family and their house guest in Chino Hills. Sentenced to death, Cooper's trial took place in an atmosphere of racial hatred — for example, an effigy of a monkey in a noose with a sign reading "Hang the N*****!" was hung outside the venue of his preliminary hearing.

      Take action to see that Kevin Cooper's death sentence is commuted immediately.

      Cooper has consistently maintained his innocence.

      Following his trial, five federal judges said: "There is no way to say this politely. The district court failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing."

      Since 2004, a dozen federal appellate judges have indicated their doubts about his guilt.

      Tell California authorities: The death penalty carries the risk of irrevocable error. Kevin Cooper's sentence must be commuted.

      In 2009, Cooper came just eight hours shy of being executed for a crime that he may not have committed. Stand with me today in reminding the state of California that the death penalty is irreversible — Kevin Cooper's sentence must be commuted immediately.

      In solidarity,

      James Clark
      Senior Death Penalty Campaigner
      Amnesty International USA

        Kevin Cooper: An Innocent Victim of Racist Frame-Up - from the Fact Sheet at: www.freekevincooper.org

        Kevin Cooper is an African-American man who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in 1985 for the gruesome murders of a white family in Chino Hills, California: Doug and Peggy Ryen and their daughter Jessica and their house- guest Christopher Hughes. The Ryens' 8 year old son Josh, also attacked, was left for dead but survived.

        Convicted in an atmosphere of racial hatred in San Bernardino County CA, Kevin Cooper remains under a threat of imminent execution in San Quentin.  He has never received a fair hearing on his claim of innocence.  In a dissenting opinion in 2009, five federal judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals signed a 82 page dissenting opinion that begins: "The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man." 565 F.3d 581.

        There is significant evidence that exonerates Mr. Cooper and points toward other suspects:

          The coroner who investigated the Ryen murders concluded that the murders took four minutes at most and that the murder weapons were a hatchet, a long knife, an ice pick and perhaps a second knife. How could a single person, in four or fewer minutes, wield three or four weapons, and inflict over 140 wounds on five people, two of whom were adults (including a 200 pound ex-marine) who had loaded weapons near their bedsides?

          The sole surviving victim of the murders, Josh Ryen, told police and hospital staff within hours of the murders that the culprits were "three white men." Josh Ryen repeated this statement in the days following the crimes. When he twice saw Mr. Cooper's picture on TV as the suspected attacker, Josh Ryen said "that's not the man who did it."

          Josh Ryen's description of the killers was corroborated by two witnesses who were driving near the Ryens' home the night of the murders. They reported seeing three white men in a station wagon matching the description of the Ryens' car speeding away from the direction of the Ryens' home.

          These descriptions were corroborated by testimony of several employees and patrons of a bar close to the Ryens' home, who saw three white men enter the bar around midnight the night of the murders, two of whom were covered in blood, and one of whom was wearing coveralls.

          The identity of the real killers was further corroborated by a woman who, shortly after the murders were discovered, alerted the sheriff's department that her boyfriend, a convicted murderer, left blood-spattered coveralls at her home the night of the murders. She also reported that her boyfriend had been wearing a tan t-shirt matching a tan t-shirt with Doug Ryen's blood on it recovered near the bar. She also reported that her boyfriend owned a hatchet matching the one recovered near the scene of the crime, which she noted was missing in the days following the murders; it never reappeared; further, her sister saw that boyfriend and two other white men in a vehicle that could have been the Ryens' car on the night of the murders.

        Lacking a motive to ascribe to Mr. Cooper for the crimes, the prosecution claimed that Mr. Cooper, who had earlier walked away from custody at a minimum security prison, stole the Ryens' car to escape to Mexico. But the Ryens had left the keys in both their cars (which were parked in the driveway), so there was no need to kill them to steal their car. The prosecution also claimed that Mr. Cooper needed money, but money and credit cards were found untouched and in plain sight at the murder scene.

        The jury in 1985 deliberated for seven days before finding Mr. Cooper guilty. One juror later said that if there had been one less piece of evidence, the jury would not have voted to convict.

        The evidence the prosecution presented at trial tying Mr. Cooper to the crime scene has all been discredited…         (Continue reading this document at: http://www.savekevincooper.org/_new_freekevincooperdotorg/TEST/Scripts/DataLibraries/upload/KC_FactSheet_2014.pdf)

             This message from the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. July 2015


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        B. ARTICLES IN FULL


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        1)  Chaos Breaks Out at Charlottesville City Council Meeting
        "'I'm outraged!' said Tracy Saxon, 41. 'I watched my people get beat and murdered. They let Nazis in here have freedom of speech, and they protect them? And we can't have freedom of speech?'"
         AUG. 21, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/us/charlottesville-council-melee.html?rref=
        collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=
        rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

        CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — They shouted down the mayor and City Council members, took over the Council chambers for about a half-hour, and gave more than four hours of impassioned testimony about how city officials had botched the response to the deadly white supremacist rally here this month.
        In the end, the angry residents who spoke at the Charlottesville City Council meeting on Monday got some measure of action as officials said they would have a third-party review the city's planning and reaction to the rally. The Council also voted unanimously to take the first administrative steps to remove a statue of the Confederate general Stonewall Jackson in the city.
        That move was significant, as it was the Council's decision earlier this year to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee that prompted the white nationalists to rally in the city earlier this month.
        Monday's meeting was the Council's first since the rallies on Aug. 11 and 12 that brought hundreds of white supremacists to Charlottesville. White and black residents alike were furious with the police response to the demonstrations, and they faulted officers for not engaging during repeated scuffles. A woman, Heather D. Heyer, was killed when a man drove into counterprotesters.
        The meeting started out without incident, but as soon as the rally was mentioned, several residents began shouting down city officials for allowing the Aug. 12 "Unite the Right" rally to take place. The chamber erupted, and when police officers forcibly removed three people, the 100 or so at the meeting broke out into furious chants of "Shame" and "Shut it down!" The three people were issued summonses charging them with disorderly conduct. No injuries were reported.
        "I'm outraged!" said Tracy Saxon, 41. "I watched my people get beat and murdered. They let Nazis in here have freedom of speech, and they protect them? And we can't have freedom of speech?"
        At one point, two people stood on the dais and unfurled a banner with the words "Blood on your hands!" as council members and the mayor left the room. The residents refused to cede control of the room until the authorities promised to release the residents who had been taken away and let people have their say.
        Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy, the only African-American on the Council, was the sole member who remained. He negotiated with residents to restore order in exchange for scrapping the meeting's regular agenda and giving each person one minute to speak.
        It took about a half-hour for order to be restored, and the meeting stretched for several hours, as speaker after speaker spoke about their anguish over what the community had experienced. Several people wept and said they had been unable to sleep since witnessing violence against their neighbors.
        "I'm not the same person I was that day," said Paul Hurdle, who shook as he described the mayhem on Aug. 12.
        Gail Weatherall, who said she had lived in Charlottesville for 35 years, called for a citizen-led review of the events and the city's response.
        Several speakers criticized the Council members for not having heeded warnings to avoid the protest, and promised to vote them out of office. But city officials stressed that they had tried to deny the white supremacist rally a permit, but that a federal court had ruled in favor of the protest organizers.
        "We tried really hard," Mayor Mike Signer said. "A federal judge forced us to have that rally downtown."
        His account was met with jeers, and the shouting continued.
        Mr. Signer took the brunt of the community's ire, as many people demanded his resignation.
        Responding to residents' concerns, Maurice Jones, the city manager, said Charlottesville would have a third party review the city's response to the white supremacists' gathering. He urged residents to submit specific complaints of serious incidents to the police chief.
        Afterward, the City Council voted unanimously to drape the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in black in mourning.

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        2)  Protesting, Glorifying, and Justifying White Supremacy by the Bay
        by BAR contributor Ann Garrison, August 24, 2017
        https://blackagendareport.com/protesting-glorifying-and-justifying-white-supremacy-bay


        "A much larger white supremacist hate rally is coming up on September 9—11: the Urban Shield War Games and Weapons Expo."
        Berkeley, California, Mayor Jesse Arreguin and the Berkeley City Council are shitting bricks. During last week's emergency city council meeting, he said they couldn't even sleep. He'd called the meeting so the council could vote to expand the city manager's crowd control authority. Charlottesville and the right/left rumbles that Berkeley's already seen this year have the mayor and the councilors terrified—understandably—that people will get killed or injured at the next one and that all fingers will point the blame at them. The immediate cause for concern is a "No Marxism in America Rally" and counter protests coming up on Sunday afternoon, August 27, in Downtown Berkeley's Martin Luther King Park. The council not only passed the new crowd control measures, but also used its website to plead with its citizens to eschew Downtown Berkeley, stay home, and Tweet:
        "In recent events, we have seen individuals come armed and armored for violence - and use peaceful protesters as a cover for violent actions. You can help by separating yourself from violence.
        "Extremists use language to stir up supporters and provoke counter-protesters - generating the conflict that creates publicity for their cause. The best way to deny them the attention they seek is to not engage and avoid such events entirely.
        "In an age of social media, there are many ways to assert your values and speak to the causes you support. Reaching out to organizations or individuals in need is an alternative to conflict.
        Stay away from conflict. There are many alternative ways to respond."
        Berkeley activists, however, will not be denied. As of Monday, August 21st, "Bay Area Rally Against Hate," "Respect Berkeley," and "Berkeley Antifa" had all announced plans to counter protest. "Respect Berkeley" said they plan to assemble on Martin Luther King Way, across the street from Martin Luther King Park at 10:00 am, an hour before the "No Marxism in America" rally goers arrive. They added that "this is a fluid situation, so please check back and also check social media."
        "Bay Area Rally Against Hate" said they'd gather several blocks away on the UC campus, then decide whether or not to march on MLK park.
        Berkeley Antifa created a poster that reads as though they're preparing for the Siege of Madrid:
        "ATTENTION ALL ANTI RACISTS
        NAZIS ARE COMING
        DEFEND BERKELEY"
        "Choose the skin tone" of your target from three available choices: brown, browner and black
        Many appeared at Berkeley's emergency city council meeting to speak out against expanding the city manager's crowd control authority, particularly because the city manager is known to side with the police in disputes with the citizenry, and to support the Bay Area's much larger white supremacist hate rally coming up on September 9—11: the Urban Shield War Games and Weapons Expo. Activists have tried and failed to get Berkeley and Oakland to pull their officers out of Urban Shield, but this year they at least managed to get the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to exclude Urban Shield vendor Strategic Operations. Media Alliance Executive Director Tracy Rosenberg argued the case at a Board meeting:
        "Strategic Operations promises to provide 'battlefield immersion.' The Bay Area is not a battlefield. Law enforcement agencies are not at war with Alameda County. The images above [Black people and Muslims] are described as humanoid live action targets and are available in a catalog on Strategic Operations' website that asks the buyer to 'choose the skin tone of their target from three available choices: brown, browner and black. This kind of blatant racism does not reflect Bay Area values."
        National Park Service ups the ante in San Francisco
        The San Francisco Mayor and Board of Supervisors are also shitting bricks, and probably for more reason. The National Park Service granted Patriot Prayer a permit to hold a "Free Speech, Unity and Peace San Francisco" rally at Crissy Field on August 26, the day before the "No Marxism in America" rally in Berkeley. We are now in the final month of the 50th anniversary of San Francisco's Summer of Love, just to heighten the contradictions and make this even more ridiculous. Mayor Ed Lee, City and County Board of Supervisors President London Breed, San Francisco House Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and California Senator Dianne Feinstein—a San Francisco resident—have all asked the park service to reconsider and pull the permit, but as of August 22, four days before the rally, the park service had not obliged, citing First Amendment obligations.
        There's a lot of disagreement about just who Patriot Prayer and its chief organizer Joey Gibson are, but no doubt that they attract alt-right, white supremacist militias like the ProudBoys, the Oath Keepers, and the Three Percenters. In Seattle, Gibson invited anyone—including women and Black Lives Matter activists—to come up on his stage and take the microphone, but San Francisco isn't preparing for a diversity festival.
        "Patriot Prayer attracts alt-right, white supremacist militias like the ProudBoys, the Oath Keepers, and the Three Percenters."
        Crissy Field is federal property, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, on San Francisco's northernmost bay shore. It's a much larger expanse of open space than Berkeley's MLK Park, and San Francisco is the Bay Area's urban center, so it could become the site of a much larger confrontation. And, since it's on federal property, the feds could up the ante by calling in federal law enforcement. Mayor Ed Lee says he thinks they'll let the San Francisco Police handle it by themselves and promises that they'll have every single officer in the force on the job. No vacation or comp time absences. He says that the SF Police will disarm anyone carrying weapons—even though the armed, camo clad, Oath Keepers have vowed to handle security for Patriot Prayer, and despite the fact that it's been legal to carry weapons, concealed or not, on National Park Service land since 2010. So I wish Mayor Lee luck, even though he's an asshat. Are they going to stop every car—or boat—headed for Crissy Field, and search them for weapons? Seal off the streets and make everyone walk to the park service land after a stop and frisk? Stop and search any recreational boats sailing, rowing, paddling, or whatever towards the Crissy Field shore? The Berkeley Police say they plan to set up checkpoints and disarm anyone on their way into Martin Luther King Park.
        "SF Police will disarm anyone carrying weapons—even though it's been legal to carry weapons, concealed or not, on National Park Service land since 2010."
        San Francisco's Bethany United Methodist Church is one of several groups organizing security training for Bay Area Rally Against Hate counter protestors, and the Antifa are no doubt preparing in their own way.
        So are we going to see another, larger, bloodier Charlottesville? Of course that's what has our city governments palpitating, and there seem to be plenty of people on both sides itching for a fight while others preach nonviolence. Stars of the alt-right movement have promised to appear in Berkeley and/or San Francisco, but there's no central issue like Charlottesville's Robert E. Lee monument. Both sides are coming to manifest their own existential urgency. Indigenous activists and their supporters have renewed their demand for removal of a statue—part of the "Pioneer Monument" in San Francisco Civic Center—but no one's organized a militant response to save it yet. The statue depicts a visionary Spanish conqueror, a kindly Spanish padre, and a submissive native at their feet.
        Berkeley's Free Speech Zone
        Berkeley's latest round of civil unrest began in February, when Breitbart columnist Milo Yiannopoulos arrived to speak to the Berkeley College Republicans. University authorities canceled the event because protestors had gathered on campus and threatened to keep Yiannopoulos from entering the designated venue. Before it was over, Antifa ninjas—or provocateurs—had started a few street fires and broken a few windows at the Wells Fargo Bank Building in Downtown Berkeley. Donald Trump tweeted his outrage, and international media castigated UC Berkeley, home to the 1960s Free Speech Movement, for suppressing free speech.
        International press more recently denounced KPFA Radio-Berkeley for canceling a talk by scientific atheist Richard Dawkins, after it was revealed that he had made Islamophic statements on his Twitter page and during his current book tour.
        Berkeley thus became one of the alt-right's prime targets, and free speech became its rallying cry. Yiannopoulos vowed to return in the fall to stage "Milo's Free Speech Week" in UC-Berkeley's Sproul Plaza, the center of campus. He said he'd bring an army if he had to and if he could afford one. "We will hold talks and rallies and throw massive parties, all in the name of free expression and the First Amendment," Yiannopoulos wrote on his Facebook page. "All will be welcome, regardless of political affiliation."
        In April, the university canceled Ann Coulter's speech to preclude further unrest, after which Yiannopolous threatened to return for a whole month. He said that there's violence at his rallies "because the left knows it's losing. It's losing the political battle and losing the free speech battle. And like a dog being kicked to death, it is lashing out."
        At the last two rumbles, police formed a line between left and right and the two sides shouted at each other across the divide. I showed up to watch and wondered whether the two sides might agree about getting out of NATO, Syria, and the Koreas and shutting down the empire of bases, though I couldn't imagine what they'd do with such congruence if it somehow emerged. Ann Coulter lambasted Trump for bombing Syria in April and said that he should concentrate on building that wall.
        The Bay Area's biggest white supremacist rally will be here in October
        It's called Fleet Week and the Blue Angels Air Show and its always organized to include Columbus Day in San Francisco. This year the Navy will be here from October 2 to October 9. Festivities include a Columbus Day Parade, which had to be renamed the "Italian American Heritage Day Parade" for appearance's sake. Nevertheless, a member of the Italian American community is always selected for the honor of playing Columbus for a Day and riding through North Beach with the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria floats. Across the Bay in Berkeley, native people hold an Indigenous People's Day and Pow Wow.
        Fighter bomber jets perform airborne acrobatics for a whole week, and U.S. Navy destroyers, nuclear subs, and nuclear aircraft carriers host public "tours of the ships," all to glorify and justify white supremacy, American exceptionalism, endless war, and mind-numbing military expense. Admiral Chester Nimitz created the Blue Angels Air Show in 1946, at the end of WWII, to help the Navy generate public and political support for a larger allocation of the shrinking defense budget, and he was very successful.
        Code Pink usually manages a minor presence on the waterfront during Fleet Week, but only KPFA Radio-Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper cover it. Last year Veteran for Peace Vice President Gerry Conlon braved his way out into the Bay with the Navy in a sailboat called the Golden Rule that displayed a 6-foot-wide peace symbol on one of its sails. Pacifists tried to sail the Golden Rule into the Marshall Islands in 1958 to protest U.S. atmospheric testing of large nuclear bombs.
        The only other protest last year arose after Blue Angels fighter bomber jets roared over the Oakland Coliseum just as Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr was throwing a critical pass. Chris Harris Jr. intercepted and made a 74-yard touchdown that gave the Denver Broncos a 16-7 lead with less than seven minutes to play.
        Ann Garrison is an independent journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2014, she received the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize for her reporting on conflict in the African Great Lakes region. She can be reached at ann@kpfa.org.

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        3)  Blacks Should Not Become Uncle Sam's Clean-Up Crew
        by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
        https://blackagendareport.com/blacks-should-not-become-uncle-sams-clean-crew

        "If the historical crime is not linked to demands for the righting of present-day wrongs, there will be no lasting benefit to the people's struggle."
        The landscape of the United States is littered with physical testimony to the nation's origins as a white settler colonial outpost of land pirates who exterminated and enslaved their way to global capitalist empire. Purging the evidence of historical crimes is a great catharsis, especially for the victims of U.S. "Manifest Destiny." However, this intrinsically righteous project can be subverted into a kind of ritual national cleansing that leaves the essential nature of the current regime not only intact, but rejuvenated and exuberant -- "born again," this time as the planet's unassailably "exceptional" nation. Blacks and their progressive allies will be thanked for (once again) cleaning up Uncle Sam's racist, imperial act.
        Such is precisely the goal of U.S. corporate rulers and military chieftains, who were quick to disassociate themselves from Donald Trump's defense of the old stone symbols of white power. Global hegemony requires a different symbolic repertoire.
        The national Democratic Party -- to which almost all of the personalities depicted in the besieged statues belonged, and which was the White Man's Party for most of the nation's history before switching places with the GOP two generations ago -- is most anxious for a symbolic national makeover. Firmly controlled by Wall Street and Silicon Valley, the party offers nothing of substance to its Black and brown constituencies; symbolism is its electoral stock in trade.
        "Corporate rulers and military chieftains, who were quick to disassociate themselves from Donald Trump's defense of the old stone symbols of white power."
        National "unity" has always been the watchword of the bipartisan War Party: unity behind the mission of global domination. The U.S. armed forces led in the process of racial integration, the better to subdue the non-white populations of the world. Corporate capital takes on whatever ethnic and racial camouflage is necessary to envelop the planet in its tentacles. Stonewall Jackson is no asset to the imperialist Project for a New American Century. Neither is Robert E. Lee a good fit for corporate governance treaties like NAFTA and TPP.
        The Black political (misleadership) class, having no agenda beyond maintaining its own presence and self-dealing opportunities on the peripheries of power, traffics entirely in symbols. They are eager to enlist in every national "unity" project sponsored by corporate interests, to highlight their purported "strategic" presence within power structures. In their world, Black faces in high places is an end in itself; politics is the manipulation of symbols, which are substitutes for power.
        In their appeals to corporate power, Black misleaders invoke national "unity" as a euphemism for color-blindness. Rather than cultivate Black communal power, they ask for a place for themselves "at the table" of the rulers -- no agenda required.
        "Stonewall Jackson is no asset to the imperialist Project for a New American Century."
        For example, in the fall of 2010, the NAACP led a "One Nation Working Together" rally at the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington. Nearly 200,000 people showed up, but even Wade Henderson, of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, called it "a march without a plan of action." Speakers endorsed the Democratic Party's general campaign positions. Only Harry Belafonte made any mention of the multiplying wars Barack Obama was waging. His remarks were considered bad form in the context of national "unity."
        For the next six years, the NAACP and other established Black civic groups claimed to be grappling with formulating a broad Black political agenda. They failed to produce even a semblance of an agenda, because that would entail making demands on the Democrats in power, including the Black president. Instead, these misleaders acted as annexes of the Democratic Party and called for national unity in the face of Republican racism -- their default, useless position.
        In the aftermath of Hillary Clinton's defeat, last November, Black Democrats quickly joined in the manufactured anti-Russian hysteria. This can be understood both as a visceral willingness to believe anything negative about the loathsome Orange Menace in the White House, and as an appeal for national unity against the racist hordes in Trump's base, who were somehow allied with the Kremlin. The result, however, was to place Black politicians, including Barbara Lee and John Conyers, in an alliance with the War Party. Regarding Trump, Lee wondered"Where do his loyalties lie?"
        "Black misleaders invoke national 'unity' as a euphemism for color-blindness."
        Almost the entirety of the U.S. ruling class is eager to treat the racist statues battle as a question of national unity -- although they will draw the line, as has Trump, at George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other Great White Men that did not wear the Confederate States uniform. It is, of course, vital, in mass political education terms, to point out the monstrous social crimes and contradictions embodied in the monuments. It is also important to win victories that people can see with their own eyes, as the statues tumble or disappear in the night. But, if the historical crime is not linked to demands for the righting of present-day wrongs, there will be no lasting benefit to the people's struggle. Rather, the movement will have removed a blemish from the face that the U.S. presents to the world, without effectively challenging current structures of oppression. That's a win-win for the bipartisan War Party, the Democrats and international capital, and is the perfect kind of symbolic victory treasured by the Black political class, but will produce meager and diminishing returns for Black empowerment.
        Frederick Douglass's dictum applies generally: "Power concedes nothing without a demand -- it never has and it never will." Protests that focus on the racist personalities and structures of the past must demand remedies for oppressions of the present.
        "Taking down those monuments is good, that was right, but meanwhile it doesn't help anybody get food and shelter."
        In Baltimore, where the mayor pre-empted protesters by dismantling and hiding racist monuments in the dead of night, activists have erected a tent city to demand housing and jobs, and a $2 billion equity fund to finance ongoing reforms. "Taking down those monuments is good, that was right, but meanwhile it doesn't help anybody get food and shelter," said Rashid Abdul-Aziz, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The group Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle tweeted, "Take down racist statutes along with racist statues."
        In Philadelphia, the statue in question honors a more recently deceased white villain. Frank Rizzo, the former police commissioner and mayor who died in 1991, was a northern version of Birmingham's Bull Connor. Rizzo's statue was recently spray painted with the words "Black Power," allegedly by Diop Olugbala, of the Black Is Back Coalition. A coalition has come together, to demand not only the removal of Rizzo's statue, but that the city council consider legislation for Black community control of the police – which would be a fitting reverse-memorial for the despicable Rizzo.
        BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

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        4)  Is McGregor Safe Fighting Mayweather? Ringside Physicians Say No
        "The Nevada State Athletic Commission is responsible for deciding what constitutes a fair fight, and for sanctioning bouts that are often worth hundreds of millions of dollars."
         AUG. 24, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/sports/mcgregor-ufc-boxing.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=
        Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

        The highly anticipated showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor may be a financial bonanza for its promoters, as well as for Nevada's casinos and sports books, but there is an important constituency that does not believe Saturday's bout should happen at all: the Association of Ringside Physicians.
        The group of more than 100 ringside doctors, whose members have decades of experience and have worked hundreds of major bouts in New York, Nevada and other jurisdictions, is arguing that McGregor, the mixed martial arts champion who will be fighting in his first professional boxing bout, is overmatched by Mayweather, who is 49-0 and considered the best boxer of his generation.
        "We were very surprised this bout was even sanctioned and was going to be permitted to carry on," said Larry Lovelace, a doctor and the president of the organization, which is focused on preserving fighter safety. "The thing I really fear, truly fear, is that somebody's going to get really hurt in this upcoming fight."

        In June, Tim Hague, 34, a mixed martial artist turned boxer, sustained fatal injuries during a bout against Adam Braidwood in Edmonton, Alberta. It was Hague's fourth pro boxing match after competing in 34 M.M.A. fights.
        The Nevada State Athletic Commission is responsible for deciding what constitutes a fair fight, and for sanctioning bouts that are often worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2015, for example, the commission deemed a fighter named Rohan Murdock a vastly inferior opponent for the boxer Andre Ward and refused to sanction their light heavyweight bout. On paper at least, Murdock appeared to be a credible opponent: He was 18-1 and the World Boxing Organization's No. 6-ranked supermiddleweight
        "You can't just go by the numbers, that he's 18-1, you have to look at who he's fought," said Bob Bennett, the executive director of the commission. "I have the utmost respect for any fighter that's willing to get in the ring. But Andre's skills were far superior to Murdock's."
        While McGregor, 28, compiled a 21-3 record in mixed martial arts, in which the rules allow him to use his feet and wrestle opponents to the ground, Bennett said the commission decided that he was simply a premier athlete who belonged in the ring with Mayweather.
        "If you're going to take the position that Conor has never had an amateur or professional fight, then I'm not going to change your mind," Bennett said. "If you look at him today versus Floyd Mayweather, Conor is the taller, longer, stronger, more powerful opponent. He's also a southpaw, which makes it a little more difficult for a conventional fighter. He's 12 years younger than Floyd."
        Richard Steele, a retired Hall of Fame referee who officiated many of boxing's biggest fights over a career that lasted nearly four decades, said he was not sure he would have sanctioned the bout.
        "Here's a guy from one sport, challenging the world's best in his own sport — I really don't know how it's going to work," Steele said. Referring to McGregor, he added: "He can't kick. He can't elbow. He can't do nothing. Nothing that he's used to doing that makes him a great M.M.A. fighter."
        Steele said he would be inclined to stop the fight more quickly than he normally would if McGregor appeared to be in trouble, considering McGregor's lack of boxing experience.
        "I would definitely have it in mind about protecting this kid," Steele said. He added: "The safety of the fighter is always going to be there. But it might be a little bit more in this fight because this guy's never been in a boxing ring before."
        Erik Magraken, a lawyer who publishes the blog Combat Sports Law, questioned whether Nevada regulators were able to put fighters' safety first when they profited from the events themselves.
        "Commissions exist in an inherent conflict of interest," Magraken said. "They are designed to look after the health and safety of fighters, but they rely on keeping a percentage of gate receipts. They ultimately have a financial stake in bouts."
        The Nevada commission has a particularly large financial stake in the Mayweather-McGregor bout. The state receives 8 percent of the gross revenue from every ticket sold at a boxing event in Nevada, and the commission gets 25 percent of that amount.
        Leonard Ellerbe, the chief executive of Mayweather Promotions, and Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, have told reporters that over $60 million in tickets have been sold for the fight, which means Nevada stands to receive in excess of $4.8 million, with the athletic commission's cut topping $1.2 million.
        Lovelace said the commission's recent decision to approve lighter gloves for the fight was also made with an eye toward the bottom line.
        McGregor and Mayweather will wear eight-ounce gloves for their middleweight bout instead of the 10-ounce gloves typically mandated for fighters in the 154-pound weight class. In granting this request, which had been made jointly by the fighters, the commission ignored a plea from the Association of Ringside Physicians. In theory, the lighter gloves will make for more powerful punches, especially for McGregor.
        "I don't think that's the commission's role, to try to affect the fight, or to try to affect ticket sales," Lovelace said.
        Bennett denied that the commission was putting its finances ahead of fighter safety.
        "As a regulator, I take offense to the fact that we're approving this fight for fiduciary reasons," Bennett said. "That's totally unfair, and it's simply not true."


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        5)  Death of Philippine Teenager Stokes Opposition to Duterte's Drug Crackdown
         AUG. 23, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/world/asia/duterte-drug-crackdown.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fworld&action=
        click&contentCollection=world&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=sectionfront

        MANILA — Kian Loyd delos Santos, 17, is just one of thousands of Filipinos shot and killed by the police since President Rodrigo Duterte began a sweeping crackdown on drugs last year.
        But the youth's death last week in Caloocan City, outside Manila, has had an effect that no other police killing has: The Senate, though dominated by allies of the president, has opened an investigation.
        Mr. Duterte, known for his brazen promises of impunity for police officers who kill people suspected of using or selling drugs, has personally ordered that those responsible for Mr. delos Santos's death be taken into custody.
        The developments have critics of Mr. Duterte's drug war cautiously optimistic that the Philippine public, which has been broadly supportive of the crackdown, is starting to see it differently.

        "Kian's plight is a wake-up call of why we need to safeguard human rights," said Arpee Santiago, the director of the Ateneo Human Rights Center, a Philippine advocacy group. "It is a much needed jolt."
        Mr. delos Santos, a high school student, was among 96 people killed in the Manila area last week in what the police called a "one-time, big-time" crackdown on drug dealers and addicts in the capital and several sprawling suburbs. It was the bloodiest week of the antidrug campaign that Mr. Duterte started after taking office last summer, promising to rid the country of corruption and crime.
        The police said that Mr. delos Santos had been carrying a handgun when they encountered him on Aug. 16, and that they had shot him in self-defense after he "fought it out" with them. The police have a term for that, "nanlaban," which has become associated in the Philippineswith police killings.
        But since the teenager's death, surveillance camera footage has emerged of police officers forcefully leading him away — contradicting accounts of a spontaneous shootout. Witnesses said they had seen officers dragging Mr. delos Santos to a cul-de-sac near a community basketball court, handing him a gun and telling him to run — only to shoot him as he turned to do so.
        An autopsy found that Mr. delos Santos had been shot at least twice in the head, at close range. At his wake, his father told reporters that a gun had been found in the youth's left hand, though he was right-handed. He had wanted to be a police officer, the father added.
        The police have killed more than 3,500 people since the beginning of Mr. Duterte's crackdown, according to their own count, and they note that the vast majority resisted arrest. While many Filipinos have expressed doubts about that point, rarely if ever have there been surveillance camera images contradicting a police account of a shooting, as in Mr. delos Santos's case.
        The outcry has Mr. Duterte and his allies scrambling to contain the fallout. Some of the president's supporters in the Senate crossed party lines to vote in favor of an investigation. A Senate hearing on the case will be held on Thursday.
        "I agree that there should be an investigation," Mr. Duterte said on Monday. "If there is liability, they will go to jail."
        The president added that he had ordered that the officers involved in the teenager's death be taken into custody — a reversal from his frequent promise to pardon officers who kill suspects without provocation.
        The American ambassador to the Philippines, Sung Kim, offered his condolences to Mr. delos Santos's family and said he hoped that the "investigations lead to full accountability," a rare foray by an American diplomat into a volatile domestic issue.
        Mr. Santiago, the rights advocate, said the surveillance footage in Mr. delos Santos's case proved what critics had long argued: that extrajudicial killings in the Philippines are routinely passed off as "nanlaban" shootouts. Mr. Duterte should order a far broader investigation, he added.
        "His sincerity can only be determined in his resolve to make perpetrators of crimes accountable, including those involved in his anti-illegal-drugs campaign," Mr. Santiago said.
        Senator Risa Hontiveros said she was saddened that it had taken a youth's death for the country to realize "how corrupt and abusive President Duterte's drug war really is."
        While Ms. Hontiveros noted that it was too early to say if the episode would turn the tide against police killings, she said she was hopeful that the public would demand accountability from Mr. Duterte.
        Reflecting growing indignation, thousands of rights activists and others braved strong rains on Monday to show their support for Mr. delos Santos's family.
        Ramon C. Casiple, a political analyst at the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, said that the accounts from witnesses and the forensic evidence in his death had fueled outrage.
        "Duterte knows this can be transformed into a political issue against his administration," Mr. Casiple said. "I think he wants to defuse the situation before it becomes a real threat to his presidency."
        Mr. Duterte has shown himself to be very resilient, however, and his down-to-earth appeal, rooted in a leftist anti-establishment streak, should serve him well, analysts said.
        That Filipinos welcomed the president's promise to punish Mr. delos Santos's killers is too little, too late, Ms. Hontiveros said.
        "This cannot make us forget his other words that have inspired, abetted and condoned the senseless killings in the name of the war on drugs," she said. "The president's hands are stained by the blood of Kian."
        "He inspired this culture of impunity and killing," she said of Mr. Duterte. "He reveled in the deaths of drug addicts, while at the same time turning a blind eye on the big drug lords close to him and his family."

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        6)  Jim Mattis, in Ukraine, Says U.S. Is Thinking of Sending Weapons
         AUG. 24, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/world/europe/mattis-ukraine-russia.html?rref=
        collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=
        stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront

        KIEV, Ukraine — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis vowed on Thursday to help Ukraine stand up to Russian violations of its sovereignty and signaled that the Trump administration was considering providing defensive weapons to the Ukrainian military.
        President Barack Obama had resisted such a step, fearing it would be seen as a provocation by Russia. In the first visit to Ukraine by an American defense secretary in nearly a decade, Mr. Mattis seemed to be anticipating that argument.
        "Defensive weapons are not provocative unless you are an aggressor, and clearly Ukraine is not an aggressor since it is their territory where the fighting is happening," Mr. Mattis said at a joint news conference with Ukraine's president, Petro O. Poroshenko.
        State and Defense Department officials have recommended that the United States provide Javelin anti-tank missiles and other defensive weapons to Ukraine to strengthen its forces and raise the potential cost to the Kremlin of a Russian attack.
        But President Trump, who has consistently taken a more conciliatory position toward Russia than have his top national security advisers, has yet to take up the matter.
        Mr. Mattis declined to disclose what he planned to recommend to Mr. Trump. Nor did he indicate any timetable for deciding the matter. But his comments suggested that he was sympathetic to supplying defensive weapons — long a topic of enormous interest in Ukraine.
        "On the defensive lethal weapons, we are actively reviewing it," he said. "I will go back now having seen the current situation and be able to inform the secretary of state and the president in very specific terms what I recommend for the direction ahead."
        While the Obama administration had rejected providing the Javelin anti-tank system to Ukraine, the context has shifted in recent years.
        The failure of the Minsk peace agreement, which was negotiated by Russia, Ukraine and European nations in 2015, and Russia's active military posture in the region, have combined to bring the issue to the fore, as has the change of administrations in Washington.
        Mr. Poroshenko sought to buttress Ukraine's case by saying that it had responsibly used the nonlethal systems it had already received from the United States, and asserting that the anti-tank weapon would be used to deter further Russian aggression.
        "Any defensive weapons would be just to increase the price if Russia makes a decision to attack my troops and my territory," he said.
        Not all European nations necessarily agree. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, strongly opposed the provision of such weapons when it was considered by Mr. Obama in 2015, saying that they would merely inflame the military situation.
        Mr. Mattis met with Mr. Poroshenko after participating in the commemoration of Ukraine's 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. The American also held separate talks with Ukraine's defense minister, Stepan Poltorak.
        The previous American defense secretary to visit Kiev was Robert M. Gates in October 2007. Mr. Mattis stood on a parade-reviewing stand to the left of Mr. Poroshenko as the Ukrainian president awarded medals, one posthumously, to two Ukrainian soldiers who fought against separatists and their Russian allies in eastern Ukraine.
        Soldiers from the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, a National Guard unit from Oklahoma that is involved in training Ukrainian troops, joined the military parade with Ukrainian units, which marched through the Maidan, the square where protests in 2014 led to the ouster of the pro-Russian president, Viktor F. Yanukovych.
        Mr. Mattis later placed flowers and stood for a moment in silence at a memorial for 100 demonstrators killed by pro-government snipers during the Maidan uprising.
        He had been on the reviewing stand with Mr. Poroshenko, other dignitaries and fellow defense ministers. "What a day!" Mr. Mattis observed later. "This is a day that will live long in my memory: to feel the refreshing sense of independence, of freedom."
        British, Canadian, Turkish, Georgian and East European defense ministers joined Mr. Mattis at the event, but German, French and other Western European defense ministers did not attend.
        The United States has already provided about $750 million in nonlethal arms to Ukraine, including body armor, night-vision equipment, radios and Humvees, as well as radars to pinpoint the location of enemy mortars.
        Mr. Poroshenko said that Russia still had an estimated 3,000 troops in eastern Ukraine. He also reaffirmed his support for a new cease-fire, and urged the Kremlin to withdraw its troops and to stop supplying the separatists.
        Mr. Mattis concurred with that assessment. "Despite Russia's denials, we know they are seeking to redraw international borders by force, undermining the sovereign and free nations of Europe," he said.
        American military officials have already begun to think about how and where to train the Ukrainians to operate the Javelin missile system. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson is among the officials who support providing defensive arms to Ukraine, according to administration officials who asked not to be identified because they were discussing internal deliberations.

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        7)  For First Time Since 1970s, White Man Executed for Racial Killings in Florida



        Mark James Asay, 53, was executed Thursday for what prosecutors called the racially motivated shooting of two men in Jacksonville three decades ago.
        He became the first white man to be put to death for killing a black man since the state restored capital punishment in the 1970s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
        Mr. Asay’s death by lethal injection is a landmark in other ways: It was the first time the drug, etomidate — part of a cocktail — was used in the United States for an execution, and the first execution since the Florida Legislature began requiring a unanimous jury recommendation.

        Jurors in Mr. Asay’s case, which was decided before the legislative action, voted 9-3 for the death penalty.
        “This was a case where the system failed in so many ways and on so many levels to get to the truth of what happened,” said Martin McClain, Mr. Asay’s lawyer, who had worked to get the United States Supreme Court to review the case.
        In 1988, Mr. Asay was sentenced to death for the murders of Robert Lee Booker, 34, a black man, and Robert McDowell, 26, later identified as white and Hispanic, who dressed as a woman.
        Prosecutors argued that Mr. Asay was a white supremacist who killed the men because of their race. The shootings were hours apart in downtown Jacksonville. Since the conviction, the victims’ families said they had been waiting for justice.
        “I could have been fishing with him. I could have been hunting, something,” Frank Booker told the Jacksonville television station FirstCoastNews of his brother. “But due to circumstances I won’t be able to do that with him.” He added: “Why would we let someone who has killed two people under first degree, under racism, still be here on this earth?”
        For years, Mr. McDowell was identified as black. But recently the authorities acknowledged that Mr. McDowell was white, a critical mistake that dispelled the white supremacist label, Mr. McClain said.
        “It just didn’t happen the way the prosecutors say it did, and the mistake about the race changes the whole theory of the case. And if he were to go to trial right now, he would not get the death penalty under the new rules,” he said.
        Mr. Asay denied shooting Mr. Booker and offered his version of events for Mr. McDowell. In a jailhouse interview with the Jacksonville television station News4Jax, he said he shot Mr. McDowell — whom he knew as “Rene” and had encounters with — in an inebriated rage.
        “I’m very sorry for what happened. Rene was actually a friend of mine, I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I did not go out with intentions of having a problem with anybody. I just got drunk.”
        He said his white supremacy tattoos were for his protection in a Texas prison, where he served time on an unrelated charge before the Florida murders.
        “I was 19 years old, forced to survive in a hostile prison environment, and I got these tattoos in that environment so that I could blend in, so that I could be safe in that environment,” he said in the interview.
        The execution was carried out using three drugs, including etomidate, an anesthetic, which drew harsh criticism, including from its manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson.
        “Florida’s use of etomidate in the execution tonight is extremely problematic,” Maya Foa, director of Reprieve, an international rights organization, said in a statement. “The lethal injection is anything but a humane and gentle way to kill.”
        The Florida Department of Corrections defended its use of the drug: “This is the Department’s most solemn duty and the foremost objective with the lethal injection procedure is a humane and dignified process.”
        A new study shows that when a white person kills a black man in America, the killer often faces no legal consequences. In one in six of these killings, there is no criminal sanction, according to an examination of 400,000 homicides committed by civilians from 1980 to 2014.

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        8) Germany, in a First, Shuts Down Left-Wing Extremist Website




        BERLIN — An influential website linked to violence at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hamburg last month has been ordered to shut down, in the first such move against left-wing extremists in the country, the authorities in Germany said on Friday.
        Thomas de Maizière, the interior minister, said that the unrest in Hamburg, during which more than 20,000 police officers were deployed and more than 400 people arrested or detained, had been stirred up on the website and showed the “serious consequences” of left-wing extremism.
        “The prelude to the G-20 summit in Hamburg was not the only time that violent actions and attacks on infrastructural facilities were mobilized on linksunten.indymedia,” he said, referring to the website.

        The order on Friday was the latest move in a long battle against extremism in Germany. It comes in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Va., this month and amid worries about “antifa” factions that use violence to combat the far-right in the United States.
        The Interior Ministry said the website was the “most influential online platform for vicious left-wing extremists in Germany,” and noted that it had been used for years to spread criminal content and to incite violence.
        The right to demonstrate peacefully is enshrined in the Basic Law, Germany’s 1949 constitution, but the authorities have taken action against hate speech and incitements to violence. In June, officers raided the homes of 36 people accused of hateful postings on social media. And in January 2016, the Interior Ministry ordered a ban on a right-wing website, “Altermedia Deutschland.”
        Linksunten.indymedia, founded in 2008, billed itself as “a weapon in the social struggle” and said it was a “decentrally organized global network of social movements.” The ministry was able to move against the website because it viewed those running it as an “association,” and under German law, those can be blocked for extremist activity. The platform was not accessible on Friday, and the ministry said that its goal was to shut the site permanently.
        Raids in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg were conducted in the early hours of Friday against several leading members and supporters of the website, the ministry said in a statement.
        In Hamburg last month, about 500 police officers and an unknown number of protesters were wounded in scenes of looting, improvised firebombing and setting cars on fire close to where world leaders had gathered. The ministry said that the website had referred to police officers as “pigs” and “murderers,” and had featured instructions for creating Molotov cocktails.
        The anticapitalist protests were a flash point for a country that, because of its complicated history of Nazism and Communism, tries to strike a careful balance between defending free speech and maintaining public order.
        Mr. de Maizière said that activity on the website intended to “legitimize violence against police officers” and was an “expression of an attitude that tramples human dignity.”
        “This is absolutely unacceptable and incompatible with our liberal democratic order,” he added.
        But a spokeswoman, Ulla Jelpke, for the political party The Left told the newspaper Die Welt that the ban was an “illegitimate act of censorship” and an “arbitrary limitation of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”

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