U.S. Elections 2000
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Protesters Resist Inauguration, Asheville Global Report ~ January 20
A United Front To Mobilize Millions For Democracy, By Ron Daniels ~ Dec. 14
Good Morning, Mr President, By Mary Dejevsky ~ Dec. 14
Charges Dropped Against Protesters, By Jennifer Brown ~ Dec. 7
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Dangerously Oversteps Judicial Bounds, Harvey Rosenfield ~ Dec. 9
The Courts & the Count, Robert Parry ~ Dec. 3
In Wake of Unfair Elections, Progressives Across U.S. Launch Series of Pro-Democracy Actions, By Ted Glick ~ Dec. 5
Return Of The Tired Men: An Old Guard Of Businessmen Will Follow Bush Into Power, Richard Sennett, Guardian ~ Dec. 1
A View From Serbia: What if George W. Bush Was Slobodan Milosevic's Son?, Jeremy Scahill ~ Nov. 30
CPSR Answers Computer-Based Voting Technology Questions, CPSR ~ Nov. 15
Why Independent Electoral Work? Ted Glick ~ Nov. 26
The Real Third Party Is... The Greenspan Party, James Ridgeway ~ Nov. 22
Serbia Deploys Peacekeeping Forces To U.S., The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Clinton Declares Self President For Life, The Onion ~ Nov. 17
NBC News Reverses Earlier Report Of Gore's Death, The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Bush Executes 253 New Mexico Democrats: Retakes State's Five Electoral Votes, The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Communication With Florida Cut Off, The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Nation Plunges Into Chaos: Pro-Bush Rebels Seize Power In West; D.C. In Flames, The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Calling the Presidential Race and Cousin George W., Bill Carter ~ Nov. 15
Bush Cousin Made Florida Vote Call For Fox News, Howard Kurtz ~ Nov. 14
African-American Precincts Victims of Widespread Fraud, By Robert Sterling ~ Nov. 14
Africa Offers To Send 'Observers' To Help US End Poll Confusion ~ Nov. 10
Cuba Offers To Send Ballot Observers To Florida If New Election Ordered, Nicole Winfield, The Sun Sentinel ~ Nov. 10
Nader and the Virtues of Gridlock, Election 2000: The Best of All Possible Worlds, by Alexander Cockburn ~ November 9
CIA Assets Accused Of Manipulating Election Results, by Jacobo, Independent Media Center ~ Nov 8
This Just In: Bush Or Gore May Win! Michael Moore ~ November 8
The Brains Behind Bush, The Guardian ~ November 8
13 Percent of Black Men in America Have No Vote, Reuters ~ November 3
Three Strikes And You're Out, Mr. Bush, Michael Moore ~ November 3
It's the Electoral System, Stupid! Tom Glick ~ November 2
Who Is Joe Lieberman? Manning Marable ~ September 2000
Take Action Oct 3rd at the Presidential Debates, David Taylor ~ Sept. 26
Zach in Philly, Zachary Lihatsh ~ Aug. 18
Student/Youth Call for Real Presidential Debate on Globalization, USAS ~ Sept. 20
Rumors Had Troopers Seeing Reds During The GOP Convention, by Craig R. McCoy and Linda K. Harris ~ September 10
State Police Infiltrated Protest Groups, Documents Show, by Linda K. Harris,, Craig R. McCoy and Thomas Ginsberg ~ September 7
Reporters Arrested, Assaulted By Police at Democratic Convention, RCFP ~ August 18
Reporters Committee Announces Hotline for Journalists at Democratic Convention, RCFP ~ Aug. 08
Our Movement Won a Tremendous Victory In Los Angeles, Todd Chretien ~ August 18
Media Unconcerned as LAPD Attacks Peaceful Crowd, Harasses IMC, FAIR ~ August 16
Gore Faces Protests Over Occidental Petroleum Shares, by Anthony Boadle ~ August 15
Convention Activists Denounce Treatment, High Bails, By Katherine Stapp ~ Aug. 9
Pacifists Admit Conspiracy, Accuse Philadelphia Police of Same, Chris Ney ~ August 9
Women Put Up With a Lot of Crap, But This Year's Presidential Farce Takes the Cake, Michael Moore ~ August 8
Calendar for the Democratic National Convention, UFE ~ August 9
Message from Prisoners at CFCF, Philadelphia, By Prisoners ~ August 6
Youth Meetings In LA!!! Jonah Zern ~ August 4
The Police Stole Our Message: R2K Report, by L.A. Kauffman ~ August 3
Mobilize Grassroots Democracy: Launch Meeting August 12 in Los Angeles, Jonah Zern ~ August 3
John Sellers' Bail Set at $1 Million, by Josie Foo ~ August 3, 2000
Police Chief Wants Feds to Investigate Protest Movement, By David Morgan ~ August 3
Tensions Cool in Philadelphia Streets, By Andy Sullivan ~ August 3
Condemn Brutal Treatment Of People Arrested At The Republican National Convention In Philadelphia, Theresa Gorman ~ August 3, 2000
Bush's 'Mantle of Lincoln', By Mumia Abu-Jamal
Labor Endorsements For D2K Pour-in In Reaction To Anti-Labor Platform Adopted Democratic Platform Committee, D2K Labor Organizing Committee, Aug 2
Thousands Will Demonstrate at Democratic Convention to Protest Party's Neglect of Working Families ~ August 1
MOVE Member Arrested At Protest, Ona Movellja ~ August 1
Party Conventions Flooded With Corporate Cash, By Anna Blackden and Jim Lobe ~ July 31
Grassroots News Coverage (and the Republican Convention)
Be A Part Of The People's Convention in Los Angeles, People's Convention ~ July 31
Students, Workers Protest at Lord & Taylor, By Ronald I. Kim ~ July 29
Calendar for the Republican National Convention, United for A Fair Economy ~ July 28
If You Don't Go To Philly Here's What You Can Do In Your Town, USAS ~ July 28
Coverage Whitewashes Police Violence, Distorts Activists' Agendas, FAIR ~ July 25
Convention Hospitality And Police Brutality, By Norman Solomon ~ July 24
Youth United at R2K In Philadelphia, Jen Barken ~ July 26
UNITY 2000 March and Rally July 30 ~ July 26
2000 Shadow Conventions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles! United for a Fair Economy ~ July 26
Umbrella Group Provides Overview of Mobilzation Around Republican National Convention Demonstrations ~ R2K Network ~ July 24, 2000
Police Shut Down Signmaking For March, Kensington Welfare Rights Union ~ July 21
Philadelphia Police Admit Spying on Activists, By Thomas Ginsberg and Craig R. McCoy ~ July 21
Judge to Block Democratic Convention Security Plan, by Dan Whitcomb ~ July 20
LA Judge Rules on Convention Access, by Michelle DeArmond ~ July 20
Power to the People Roadshow-Democracy Action Tour, Global Exchange ~ July 18
State Troopers Patrolling a Governors' Meeting in State College Did Not Take Kindly to Protesters, by Gwen Shaffer ~ July 13
Mobilization to Protest the Democratic National Convention 2000, Mobilize for Global Justice ~ July 12
March for Economic Human Rights, Kensington Welfare Rights Union ~ June 30
Report on Federal Anti-Activist Intelligence Network, By Frank Morales ~ June 14
US Army Intel Units Spying on Activists - Watching Anti-WTO Crowd, Intelligence Newsletter ~ June 14
City Rejects Application for Protest at GOP Convention, By Thomas Ginsberg ~ June 7
Protesters Resist Inauguration
Asheville Global Report ~ January 20
As the pomp and circumstance of President George W. Bush's inauguration attempted to forcibly transcend the domestic instability left in the wake of what may be the most contentious election in US history, approximately 20,000 people gathered in the nation's capital to protest. Bush, the first President in more than a century to lose the national popular vote, took the oath of office as president of the United States, pledging to "unite" the country which the November elections showed to be deeply divided, along cultural, geographic, and ethnic lines. For a large percentage of the US public, the presidency is deeply mired in a crisis of legitimacy by numerous allegations of vote fraud, voter disenfranchisement, and the controversial Supreme Court decision that halted the vote count on a legal technicality. For the many who came to demonstrate from as many as forty US states, a Bush/Cheney White House represents nothing less than a debasement of democracy, a Republican coup d'etat with a suitably incompetent figurehead for a puppet regime.
Despite a relentless, cold rain and unprecedented security restrictions for demonstrators, widespread feelings of outrage and contempt for the incoming administration were literally overwhelming for many of those in attendance. The day saw numerous marches, assemblies, street theater performances, and confrontations between police and protesters that have since drawn concern from media analysts, given the dramatic scope of the activities and - in many cases - their subsequent, mysterious absence from most news reports.
Demonstrators were evident on every block of the 1.6-mile inaugural parade route, and on some blocks on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue, they outnumbered other paradegoers. The day began early for protesters, who were in the streets well before Bush supporters. At 8:30am, a few hundred met at 12th and G streets NW, then marched to 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, to the beat of homemade drums.
A boisterous crowd of more than 1,000 assembled at Dupont Circle just before 10 am, chastising Bush for "stealing" the election. At 10:30, city crews arrived to cut an effigy of Bush from a tree. Speaker Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, told the crowd: "Let them have the tree. We have all of Dupont Circle and we have the whole country. They just have the White House."
Meanwhile, near the Supreme Court, Al Sharpton, Walter E. Fauntroy and other civil rights activists were holding a "shadow" inauguration and parade, attended by over 2,000 people. Laura Brightman of Brooklyn, NY commented, "We were sold out," as others around her chanted, "No justice, no peace."
"And when we tried to get justice [from the Supreme Court] we were sold again," said Brightman. "The election was stolen." At the Supreme Court building, Rudy Arredondo of Takoma Park, Md., put it this way: "Bush is a Supreme Court appointee. In my eyes, and in my children's eyes, he will never be a legitimate president."
Anarchists destroy inaugural checkpoint, hoist flag: media blackout Notably ignored by the mainstream press, radical activists made anarchist history during George W. Bush's inaugural parade when one of nine police checkpoints to the celebration was battered down and overrun with thousands of protesters. Not long after, protesters -- led by the masked, black-clad, anarchist collective known as the "Black Bloc" -- seized the Naval Memorial on Pennsylvania Ave. and raised anarchist flags up the monument's flagpole. Overwhelmed by the security breach, DC police and Secret Service appeared confused, powerless, and embarrassed as they tried to contain, arrest, or disperse the demonstrators, only to fail time and time again when Black Bloc members physically fought back and successfully prevented almost any such police retaliation from happening.
In the weeks leading up to Bush's inaugural moment, the "historically unprecedented" security measures being undertaken by the Republican Party in tandem with DC police and the US Secret Service received extensive attention in the news media. For the first time ever, anyone wishing to attend the inaugural parade was required to pass through one of nine police checkpoints, have their bags searched, and in some cases be frisked and have protest signs confiscated. "He stole the vote," said Ethyl Tobch, 79, of New York City. "The fact that the people's votes were absolutely stolen plus the checkpoints are very frightening. It makes you feel like you are in a real dictatorship."
It was a single egg that landed on the presidential motorcade, a brief, maybe blurry tele-view of colorful protest signs along the parade route. By most news accounts, the protests were an inaugural footnote, not worthy of much comment or attention. However, for the thousands of people attending the inaugural parade who had gathered near the US Naval Memorial, a dramatic, captivating spectacle unfolded before them, for many the likes of which had never before been seen. As the well-to-do sat perched, waiting anxiously in the expensive bleacher seats and hotel balconies overlooking the parade for the arrival of the Bush motorcade, parade-goers suddenly found themselves in the midst of a giant confrontation between police and protesters.
It began when a march of nearly 600 Black Bloc demonstrators began to make its way towards the parade route, leaving a small trail of impromptu blockades -- mainly newspaper distributor racks and automobiles -- behind them. Soon after, DC police appeared and managed to corral against a building wall about 80 of this group who called themselves the "Revolutionary Anti-Authoritarian Bloc." Mass arrests seemed imminent with the police holding loads of plastic, "zip-tie" handcuffs and City Transit Authority busses parked nearby at the ready for "criminal" mass transit. DC Executive Assistant Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer said the police contingency plan for up to 5,000 arrests involved the use of several buses and 180 officers specifically prepared for that many cases. All told, about 7,000 officers had been deployed from various law enforcement agencies, including US Marshals and National Guard troops. A standoff ensued between the police, spectators, and a groundswell of protesters suddenly reinforced by the unexpected arrival of a National Organization of Women (NOW) march and a Voter Rights march, chanting "Let them go! Let them go!" Hopelessly outnumbered, the police eventually complied, freeing the demonstrators to continue their protests.
With protesters now numbering in the 1,500- 2,000 range, a massive march proceeded to Pennsylvania Ave. Not much later, with the reunited Black Bloc at the front, a group of inspired participants grabbed a fairly large cart parked in front of a vacant construction site. "What is this?" someone asked. "It's a battering ram!" another yelled in reply.
Much to the astonishment of thousands of waiting parade-watchers, the construction cart came careening down an overlooking hill, crashing through a police checkpoint, only to be stopped from going into the parade avenue by a Secret Service car which pulled in front of it's path, damaging the federal vehicle in the process.
The floodgates had been battered open, allowing what from balcony seats must have looked like a giant pool of black ink to seep into the crowded festivities, followed by a colorful barrage of signs proclaiming: "Supreme Coup," "Hail To The Thief," "Not Our President" and hundreds more. For all of their elaborate preparations, much to their surprise, police and military were now confronted with an embarrassingly massive breach of national security.
Shocked Republicans and police watched as, soon after, four Black Bloc members scaled the nearby Navy Memorial flagpole to the roaring cheers of demonstrators. In little time, the Nautical flags were pulled down and replaced by black and red anarchist flags, as well as an upside down US flag -- the widely recognized symbol of distress.
Over the next few hours, riot police attempted at least three times to rush and disperse those assembled by the monument, only to be pushed, fought back, and defeated. Dozens of times, without identifying themselves, several undercover police attempted to "surprise arrest" demonstrators. Activists responded quickly, however, and with little exception, prevented this from happening by directly confronting the police, tackling them, fighting them, and many times forcibly removing them from the area.
Meanwhile, the parade had been delayed. When the Bush/Cheney motorcade eventually did arrive, the cars abruptly sped by this concentrated protest area, forcing the Secret Service chaperones to break pace and run full steam to catch up. At this particular moment, while food, debris, loud insults, and a sea of hundreds of middle fingers were hurled toward the new president, apparently several news networks broadcasting live simulcasts, simultaneously thought it best to cut to commercial breaks or check in with comments from fawning news pundits.
Most demonstrators in the area soon dispersed afterward, the object of their animosity having since passed by in the new Cadillac, which featured puncture-proof tires and six-inch-thick bulletproof glass.
Of the estimated 350,000 people who came downtown Saturday to see the swearing-in ceremony or parade, DC police arrested only five, and other law enforcement agencies arrested only a handful of others.
Demonstrations Nationwide
Protests in opposition to what many are characterizing as an appointed regime by the US Supreme Court were not limited to Washington DC. Thousands of US citizens in over a dozen cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Austin, Tallahassee, New York, Montpelier, Santa Fe, Denver, Los Angeles, Portland and others protested the inauguration. According to the Independent Media Center, thousands of protesters took over part of downtown San Fransisco, stopping cable cars. 3,500 demonstrated in Los Angeles. Even Paris, France saw thousands of demonstrators against the death penalty protest the swearing-in of the new US President.
All around the country, mock coronations of "King George II" were staged. In Seattle, an actor dressed in a Revolutionary War costume stole the crown from a shrub and offered it to the people. The crowd of 3,000 placed the crown at the head of a parade. Chicago protesters converged on the city's Federal Building. Demonstrators protested at the state capitols in Denver, Colorado and Montpelier, Vermont. In Albuquerque, New Mexico local TV coverage gave more time to local protests than to the Bush ceremonies.
In Austin, Texas, 500 people gathered on the state capitol steps. The election "was stolen and it was stolen in Florida. I think there should be a revolution in this country on just this issue," said Arthur Joe Sr. of Dallas.
In Asheville, North Carolina, forty-five indignant people braved freezing rain to sing, dance and wave signs, to the obvious delight of passing motorists, who responded with honks and thumbs up. The protest lasted from ten until two o'clock.
Source: Partially written, partially compiled by Eamon Martin. AGR staff contributed to this report. Additional sources: Independent Media Center, Washington Post, IPS, Philadelphia Inquirer
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A United Front To Mobilize Millions For Democracy
By Ron Daniels ~ Dec. 14
For several years thousands of Black people and our allies braved the bitter January cold to rally in Washington, D.C., under the leadership of Congressman John Conyers and Stevie Wonder, to fight to make Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday. But what good is it to have a Martin Luther King Holiday when this nation is trampling on King's legacy, including the hard won Voting Rights Act of 1965. What we have witnessed is the massive disenfranchisement of Black voters in Florida and across the nation and the hijacking of the presidency with the sanction of the highest court in the land. In recent years, the "million march" phenomenon has become quite faddish. But if there was ever a time for a million people's march, the time is now. Black civil rights/human rights, political, civic, labor and religious organizations and grassroots groups need to launch a unified effort to mobilize millions for democracy. January 20, 2001, Inauguration Day should be a Day of Resistance.
As Dr. Manning Marable noted in a recent television interview in New York, there is a straight line between the 1857 Dred Scott Supreme Court decision which declared that "the Negro has no rights that white men are bound to respect;" Plessy vs Fergusion in 1896 which was the judicial capstone of the Post Reconstruction era (which began with the infamous compromise/betrayal of 1876), and the events of the presidential election of 2000 where countless thousands of Black voters have been disenfranchised.
By a vote of 5 to 4, with Mr. Justice Thomas voting with the wrong side again (what a historical irony), the conservative majority on the Supreme Court used "strict constructionist," bureaucratic and technical interpretations of the U.S. Constitution to overrule the Florida Supreme Court's decision ordering a manual recount in several counties in Florida. Many of these counties have heavy concentrations of African American, Haitian and Hispanic voters. By ordering a halt to the recount, in effect, the Supreme Court of the United States spat in the face of millions of Black voters who had mobilized massively to promote and defend their interests and aspirations through the electoral process.
On November 7, Black folks marched on ballot boxes in record numbers, nearly 90% in Miami Dade County in Florida, to fend off what they perceived to be the dangers of a Bush administration. Black voters were not as much enamored with Al Gore as they were determined that the right wing counter attack and White backlash against the progress of the civil rights movement, as represented by forces behind George W. Bush, would be blocked from capturing the highest office in the land. Black voters, along with their allies in labor and other liberal-progressive constituencies succeeded in that quest only to have victory snatched from their hands.
Though election irregularities in Florida and across the nation were widespread, the most egregious violation was the thousands of Blacks who did manage to cast ballots only to have them thrown out by voting machines. This problem was aggravated by the disproportionate locating of antiquated voting machines in predominantly Black precincts in Florida. Hence, huge numbers of ballots with valid votes for President and other offices were not counted. These are the ballots that constitute the "undercount" which would have been rectified by the manual recount halted by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court of the United States, as it has in the past, aided, abetted and sanctioned the disenfranchisement of Black voters. By refusing to respect what is supposed to be the most fundamental right in the American democratic system, the right of citizens to vote and have their ballots counted, the highest court in the land altered the outcome of the election. The disenfranchisement of Black voters has produced an illegitimate President in the person of George W. Bush. It is an outcome that African Americans and all proponents of authentic democracy must reject.
As in the past, the systems of government have failed Africans in America, leaving us no alternative but to take to the streets to express our utter outrage and opposition to the coronation of an illicit regime and to put forth an agenda for genuine democracy and social, economic and racial justice. The disrespected, dispossessed and disenfranchised, Black people and people of color must be at the center and at the forefront of a massive mobilization to finish the unfinished democracy, to perfect the imperfect union, to move from "democracy for the few" to a new society where the will of the people reigns supreme. It's time for the second American Revolution.
There can be no place for egoism and organization turfism at this critical juncture in our history. We urgently need Black civil rights/human rights, political, religious, civic and grassroots leaders to forge a "united front," to gather up and galvanize the anger in Black America and the nation over the imposition of a fraudulent administration, to mobilize millions for democracy. On January 20th the nation and world must see true patriots and democrats in the streets of the nation's capital engaging in non-violent direct action, declaring our intent to become ungovernable in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence in pursuit of real democracy. In the words of our beloved Black Shining Prince Malcolm X, it must be "freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody."
Ron Daniels can be reached at RONMAE@aol.com. From The Black World Today
END
By Mary Dejevsky, The Independent ~ Dec. 14
Vice-president Al Gore finally abandoned his claim to the White House last night, opening the way for George W Bush to become the 43rd President of the United States and avenge his father's eight-year-old defeat. In a nationwide broadcast from his office in Washington at 9pm Eastern time (2am British time), with his family by his side, Mr Gore offered his congratulations and his "concession" to Mr Bush and called on a divided America to unite. "Partisan feeling," he said, "must yield to patriotism. What remains of partisan rancour must be put aside." Of Mr Bush, he said: "God bless his stewardship."
It was a subdued, but also unusually incisive Mr Gore who took to the airwaves last night, quipping that this time, unlike on 8 November, he would not be retracting his concession, but he was also defiant. While accepting the Supreme Court ruling that sealed his defeat, he said: "I strongly disagree with the court's decision." Mr Bush was due to follow Mr Gore on national television one hour later, in what aides said would be a "gracious and thoughtful" address intended "to begin the healing process of the country".
The pair of conciliatory broadcasts offered a dignified finale to the most bitterly disputed election for more than a century, an election that was eventually decided by the unprecedented intervention of the US Supreme Court. It was the court's ruling late on Tuesday night that rejected further recounts in Florida as "unconstitutional". But the court in its majority ruling had shown itself to be as fractured as America, and the damage to the court's reputation, as well as to the authority of the next President, remains to be gauged.
With his victory in Florida upheld by the country's highest court, the official results of the 7 November election gave Mr Bush a four-vote majority in the Electoral College - 271 to 267. Mr Gore, however, won the popular vote nationwide, 50,148,801 to 49,790,449, a margin of more than 350,000. The news yesterday morning that Mr Gore was disbanding his recount committee in Florida was the first solid sign that Mr Gore was giving up his 36-day fight. Staff who had been battling his cause in Florida were described as dejected and tearful.
Mr Gore had instructed his team not to criticise the US Supreme Court if the judgment went against him, a precaution that was largely observed. Mr Bush appeared to have issued a similar edict. The first response of his campaign representative in Florida, James Baker, was that he was "pleased and gratified". That one comment held through yesterday without amplification, until Mr Bush himself spoke in the evening. Mr Bush's victory made him only the second son of a president to become president and restored a Republican to the White House after the two-term presidency of Bill Clinton. But the joy of Republicans at their return to power was tempered by the closeness of the election and the difficulties forecast for whoever won power.
While many Democrats appeared to accept the outcome - Mr Gore never having been the most popular of candidates - black Americans and civil rights groups were outraged over what they said was a "stolen" election. Having lost the popular vote and won the White House in the end thanks only to a contentious court decision, problems of legitimacy and popular acceptance loom for the new President. He can expect little help from Congress. Republicans have a majority of only five in the House of Representatives and the Republicans' only advantage in the 50-50 balanced Senate will be Vice-President Richard Cheney's casting vote. The man who campaigned as "a uniter not a divider" faces his greatest challenge yet. Even as the Supreme Court deliberated its verdict for the best part of two days, predictions were already rife in Washington that the next President would be an unusually weak chief executive who was doomed to serve just one term.
The effect of the Supreme Court ruling, which still has to be formally accepted by the Florida Supreme Court, was to set back the clock to 26 November, the date on which Katherine Harris, the Secretary of State, certified the state's election returns and appointed the 25 electors (all Republicans) who will vote in the Electoral College next week. Their status was thrown into doubt by Mr Gore's appeal of the result, which is when the state legislature intervened to name a (Republican) slate of its own. The Supreme Court ruling rendered that action unnecessary and the Florida legislature yesterday suspended the move that had set it on a constitutional collision course with the state's judiciary.
For Mr Gore, his defeat in the courts was a tragic finale to a life-long career in politics. The scion, like his opponent from a political family, had been groomed for the White House since boyhood - and had come so excruciatingly close. But after an awkward campaign that failed to capitalise on his exceptional qualifications or on the prosperity enveloping the country, his prospects of receiving another chance in four years' time seem slim. During a hard-fought campaign, an unexpected civility was maintained. After election night, however, when Florida was placed erroneously first in the Gore column and then called for Mr Bush, the façade cracked. Tempers frayed when Mr Gore withdrew his early concession, laying bare two men of fierce personal ambition, competing for the most powerful job in the world. In the wake of the election, however, the unflattering spotlight fell not only on the dispositions of the two political rivals. It also illuminated lax and inconsistent voting procedures in the country that promotes itself as the world's leading democracy. If America agrees on nothing else as it contemplates a first term of President Bush, it could rally around voting reform.
END
Charges Dropped Against Protesters
By Jennifer Brown, Associated Press ~ Dec. 7
Prosecutors dropped charges Thursday against 32 people arrested during last summer's Republican National Convention after police failed to link the suspects to any crimes. Four state troopers infiltrated a warehouse that was a staging area for protests during the convention. During a raid on Aug. 2, police arrested 75 people, all for misdemeanors, but the cases have fallen apart. Charges may be dropped against 30 more people next week. The remainder accepted plea agreements earlier.
On Wednesday, troopers examined mug shots of 32 defendants whose trials were to be held this week but were unable to recognize mug shots of people whom they had testified against in pretrial hearings. Undercover troopers had said activists spoke about slashing tires on police cars and built devices to block intersections.Prosecutors say it is not unusual for cases to fall apart based on identification. They declined to comment directly on the dismissals, as did police.
"This department has very little to be proud of in terms of how it handled Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during the convention," said Pennsylvania ACLU legal director Stefan Presser. "The state and the city are now both going to be faced with very large and broad federal litigation, so they will have to answer for their actions." No civil lawsuits have been filed yet. So far, about 200 Republican convention defendants have been cleared and another 100 accepted plea agreements for lesser charges. Fewer than 50 have been convicted of minor charges. About 90 defendants have pending trials.
END
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Dangerously Oversteps Judicial Bounds
Harvey Rosenfield, President Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights of Los Angeles ~ Dec. 9
Following is a statement of Harvey Rosenfield, President Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights of Los Angeles, Calif.:
As a non-partisan, non-profit organization which has frequently fought to protect the independence and impartiality of the judicial branch, we are deeply disturbed by the U.S. Supreme Court's order staying the counting of ballots in Florida. We believe that by this unprecedented action, the Court has called into question its own legitimacy.
It is established law that stays are issued by courts only when necessary to protect the ability of the court to grant the plaintiff justice should the plaintiff ultimately prevail. That is, to obtain a stay, a plaintiff must show that without the stay, the court may be unable to award the plaintiff the relief requested, if the court later rules in favor of the plaintiff. That is the "irreparable injury" standard of law.
In supporting the majority s decision today, Associate Justice Scalia stated that the "irreparable injury" facing Governor Bush was the "cloud" upon the "legitimacy" of the Governor s Election.
This is an unprecedented departure from American principles of justice.
The Court's role in the litigation surrounding the Florida vote is not to protect the "legitimacy" of the winner. That is a political matter the Constitution leaves to the political branches, and, ultimately, the American people. The Supreme Court's role in this litigation is simply to determine if the Florida Supreme Court s ruling violates the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court s ability to make that decision -- its ability to protect the plaintiff's legal rights, rather than its political interests, cannot possibly be irreparably harmed by the fact that votes are being hand counted in Florida.
Justice Scalia's statement that "the country" may experience irreparable harm if the recount continues reflects a dangerous and constitutionally improper view of the role of the United StatesSupreme Court. The "country" is not a party in the case before the Court. Ensuring that the plaintiff -- or the defendant -- obtains the "public acceptance (that) democratic stability" requires is neither the Court's, nor Mr. Scalia's job.
There is great public interest in and even controversy over who won the national election. But the statutory and legal process of determining the next president was being followed, at least prior to the Court's intervention. At this moment, the sole danger to our democracy is that our democratic institutions will refuse to respect that process.
So long as our institutions behave as the U.S. Constitution and law requires, there will be no constitutional crisis.
Harvey Rosenfield of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights 310-392-0522 ext. 303
END
Robert Parry, Consortium News ~ Dec. 3
During the Iran-contra investigation in the 1980s, special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh likened the Reagan-Bush federal judges in Washington to "the strategic reserve of an embattled army.
"When President Reagan's guys were under the gun, the Reagan-Bush judges searched for some legal excuse to jump into the trenches."
At a crucial moment of the Iran-contra scandal, for example, tough law-and-order appeals court judges Laurence H. Silberman and David Sentelle both appointed by Ronald Reagan suddenly went soft on criminals and carved out a broad new legal right for defendants relating to grants of limited immunity.
The defendant who benefited from this new liberal legal construction was named Oliver North. Silberman and Sentelle overturned North's conviction on three Iran-contra felonies.
The surprising intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Florida vote count underscores again Walsh's observation. When the going gets tough for conservative politicians, the conservative jurists in the federal courts get going.
In this case, the high court's conservative "strict constructionists," who normallysputter with rage at the idea of federal intervention in a state legal dispute, seem determined to throw out a recount in Broward County that produced a net gain of 567 votes for Vice President Al Gore.
A ruling favorable to Texas Gov. George W. Bush could exclude those Broward ballots and boost Bush's tally from 537 votes to a more respectable 1,104 votes. That could help Bush survive any additional recounts that might be included in the Florida total.
The fear among Bush's team about a fuller recount makes more sense following a new study by the Miami Herald that surveyed the state's 5,885 precincts and concluded that Gore probably would have won Florida by a 23,000-vote margin, but for various flaws in the voting system and tabulations. [Miami Herald, Dec. 2, 2000]
If the Miami Herald is correct, then Bush appears to be heading to the White House not only as the first national popular-vote loser in more than a century but also as the voters' runner-up in the decisive state of Florida.
With Bush's holding such a dubious claim on the presidency, enter the U.S. SupremeCourt. During oral arguments on Dec. 1, the Reagan-Bush judges left little doubt that theirlong-held commitment to federalism and states' rights didn't extend to the Florida Supreme Court.
In a unanimous ruling, that state court had sought to reconcile two conflicting state laws by extending the initial deadline for certifying the vote in the presidentialelection. One state law set Nov. 14 as the initial certification date while anotherallowed for manual recounts that couldn't physically be done that quickly, at least notin populous counties.
So, the state judges ruled that the right of the voters to have their votes counted and the recount law's provision for a more accurate tally should be given greater weight than the technical deadline. Noting also that the law gave some leeway in the deadline to the secretary of state, the court allowed 12 more days for the recounts.
During that time, Broward County completed its recount awarding a net gain of 567votes to Gore. But the two other counties Dade and Palm Beach had more problems.
The canvassing board in populous Dade County canceled its recount on Nov. 22 after the Bush campaign dispatched paid demonstrators who stormed the county offices in Miami.
The protesters pounded on the walls as the cancellation was being voted. Afterwards, they cheered their victory. The official reason given for the canceled recount was that the canvassing board felt it still lacked enough time to complete the tally.
The day after the assault, Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney, personally called the rioters during a celebration at a Fort Lauderdale hotel and joked with them about their Miami action, the Wall Street Journal reported. [Nov. 27, 2000]In Palm Beach, less violent tactics were used. Republican legal representatives slowed the recount by lodging repeated objections.
When the Palm Beach canvassing board missed the new deadline by two hours, Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a co-chair of the state Bush campaign, rejected the revised tally and smilingly certified Bush the winner in Florida and thus the next occupant of the White House.
The Gore team challenged Harris's certification in court, demanding inclusion of thePalm Beach ballots and the counting of the disputed ballots in Dade County.
The High CourtWhile the Gore challenge crept along slowly in a state circuit court, the Bush campaign's lawyers took aim at the Broward votes before the U.S. Supreme Court.
To the surprise of many observers who considered the Florida Supreme Court's decision a garden-variety case of judicial review the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to intervene and give the case a rare expedited hearing.
Again, surprising to many observers, the court's Republican majority expressed strong objections to the Florida Supreme Court's actions during public oral arguments on Dec. 1.
For the U.S. Supreme Court, the question of who will be the next president is not insignificant, since the president fills vacancies on the court and could well determine the court's ideological balance years into the future. Most of the Reagan-Bush appointees sounded like they wanted another Republican president filling those vacancies.
Gov. Bush's central legal argument against the state court's ruling was based on afederal law passed in 1887 that called on states to have rules for presidential elections in place before the vote.
Bush's legal team argued that by extending the deadline, the Florida Supreme Courtviolated that provision. The Reagan-appointed justices on the U.S. Supreme Courtpicked up the theme.
"Certainly the date changed," declared Justice Sandra Day O'Connor during the questioning of a lawyer for Florida's attorney general. "That is a dramatic change. The date for certification. That is a dramatic change, the date for certification. . And it was done by the court. . And the legislature had very clearly said, you know, seven days after, that's the date. And it just does look like a very dramatic change made by the Florida court."
Justice Antonin Scalia, regarded as the most ideological conservative on the court, suggested that faulty balloting did not justify the postponed certification date. "Do you know of any other elections in Florida in which recounts were conducted, manual recounts, because of allegation that some voters did not punch the cards the way they should have, therefore no problem with the machinery, it's working fine, but, you know, there were, what? Pregnant chads, hanging chads, so forth?" Scalia asked.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, another Reagan appointee, saw the Florida Supreme Court's action to postpone the certification date as akin to a decline in moral values. "In fact, we can change the rules after the game; it's not important. Popular culture," Kennedy interjected.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who was elevated to the top judicial job by Reagan, also staked out a position on Bush's side. He criticized the Florida Supreme Courtfor citing the Florida Constitution as a factor in its decision, rather than strictly confining its legal reasoning to statutory provisions.
"That is a real problem, it seems to me, under Article II [of the state constitution], because in fact there is no right of suffrage under Article II. There's a right of suffragein voting for the legislature, but Article II makes it very clear that the legislature canitself appoint the electors" for president, Rehnquist said.
"Who would have thought that the legislature was leaving open the date for change by the court?" chimed in O'Connor. "Who would have thought that?" Scalia added, "I just find it implausible that they [the state legislators] really invited the Florida Supreme Court to interpose the Florida Constitution between what they enacted by statute and the ultimate result of the election." Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative appointee of President George H.W. Bush, sat silently, but normally hews closely to Scalia's positions.
While oral arguments do not always reflect how the court will ultimately rule, the Reagan-Bush justices appeared to have at least a 5-4 majority to side with Gov. Bush and toss out Gore's Broward County votes.
Warning Shots
On a more political level, the Reagan-Bush justices on the U.S. Supreme Court had fired warning shots across the bow of the Florida Supreme Court.
The oral arguments made clear that the U.S. Supreme Court is prepared to intervene if it feels that the Florida Supreme Court, dominated by Democratic appointees, is asserting itself too strongly in determining the outcome of the presidential race.
To date, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled in ways that have favored and hurt both Gore and Bush. On Dec. 1, for instance, the court rejected a citizens' lawsuit in Palm Beach County seeking a revote because of confusion caused by the illegally designed "butterfly" ballot.
The ballot, with two rows of candidates rather than one vertical list, may have cost Gore about 10,000 votes, when many elderly Jewish voters mistakenly voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan or accidentally voided their ballots by voting for Gore and Buchanan.
Throughout the post-election legal disputes, the Florida Supreme Court has stressed as its overriding principle that the right of voters to have their votes counted trumps technical legal provisions.
Now, the message from what appears to be a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court is that technical legal provisions should have supremacy.
Ironically, the one case that could most clearly erase Gov. Bush's 537-vote lead in the official Florida tallies is the one in Seminole County that turns on a legal technicality.
There, local Democrats complain that county officials violated state election law by giving rejected Republican absentee ballot applications to Republican Party officials so they could fill in missing data, while similarly flawed applications from Democrats and others were tossed aside.
Florida's strict absentee ballot law seems to prohibit outsiders from altering information on absentee forms, though the county officials argue that the changes were merely technical revisions.
As a remedy for the allegedly illegal preference given to Republicans, the Democrats want nearly 5,000 votes taken away from Bush's column, a change that would tip the election to Gore.
So, in Seminole County, the Bush camp is arguing that technical legal provisions should not prevent ballots from being counted, a seemingly contradictory stance from its position before the U.S. Supreme Court.
If the Bush legal argument from the high court were to be applied to the Seminole case, the notion that pre-election laws are chiseled in stone might come crashing down on Gov. Bush's foot. If a technical deadline is so important that votes cast for Gore must be thrown out in Broward, doesn't if follow that a technical violation on ballots for Bush should be discarded in Seminole? Is it fair to change the rules of the game for some and not for others? Cynics, however, might expect that the Reagan-Bush appointees on the U.S. Supreme Court simply would search out a whole new set of cherished constitutional legal principles.
Those new principles would explain why technical election-law provisions must take precedence when they help George W. Bush win the White House, but should be set aside if they help Al Gore.
[In the 1980s, Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek.]
[This message was sent via RWWATCH, a low-traffic forum that responds to right-wing campaigns (coming from any party) to misrepresent the truth in order to undermine democracy]
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In Wake of Unfair Elections, Progressives Across U.S. Launch Series of Pro-Democracy Actions
By Ted Glick ~ Dec. 5
973-338-5398
Over the weekend of Dec. 2-3, at the National 4-H Conference Center just outside of Washington, D.C., leaders from close to 50 local, state, regional and national organizations, a mix of races, ages, parts of the country and experience in the struggle, came together for "Progressive Dialogue II." The main purpose of this annual conference was to discuss "where do we go from here" as an independent progressive movement in light of the political energy unleashed over the past year.
This upsurge began with the creative and effective actions in Seattle and continued through other mass actions and the Nader/LaDuke campaign, leading to the current popular dissatisfaction with the present election debacle, particularly the outright denial of the right to vote for many people of color, especially in Florida. Discussions centered around a "Pro-Democracy Campaign;" the need for race to be placed at the center of a newly-emerging, 21st Century progressive movement; finding and linking our various movements; and a call to establish a "shadow government." The climate of the discussions was encapsulated by the long-time civil rights leader, Ms. Victoria Gray-Adams, as "creating a new way of being."
Ted Glick, the national coordinator of the Independent Progressive Politics Network and a co-convener of the dialogue, commented afterwards, "As the nation waits to find out who will be the next President, it is tremendously encouraging that groups from around the country have come together to develop a plan to defend the rights of working people and move towards a real democracy whoever becomes President. Concrete plans, people prepared to work, energy, and the beginnings of a vision for the future--as we witnessed here--have inspired me and others to step up the battle for true freedom."
The Pro-Democracy Campaign will be initiated by actions this month and next:
-PROTEST THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE on Monday, Dec. 18, 2000 at state capitols around the country.
-PRO-DEMOCRACY WEEK from January 15 (Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday) to January 20 (Inauguration Day). Teach-ins, demonstrations, rallies and other forms of action will be taking place in localities throughout the country during this week.
-A PROGRESSIVE GATHERING in Washington, D.C. January 17-19 being set in motion by the Progressive Challenge Project of the Institute for Policy Studies. The Gathering will include speakers and workshops toward the goal of launching Working Groups and an electronic network that will link progressives across the country with allies in Congress.
The specific focus of the Pro-Democracy campaign will be a Voters Bill of Rights: abolishing the Electoral College, investigating and ending violations of the Voting Rights Act, clean money elections/campaign finance reform, voting rights for former prisoners, making voting easier and more reliable, instant runoff voting, proportional representation, D.C. statehood, access to media and debates for all ballot-qualified candidates, and non-partisan administration of elections.
People volunteered to establish websites, media portals, listserves and other technologies to find, link and keep informed the activists and activities across the country of this emerging movement. These activities are projected as leading in the near future to what has been christened by former National Rainbow Coalition Executive Director Ron Daniels as a "Progressive Unity Conference spearheaded by people of color." Out of such a conference, or prior to it, could emerge some form of "Shadow Government" to carry on the progressive agenda developed in the struggle from Seattle to Nader and beyond.
Other discussion focused on the need to recognize the power of the voices of labor, youth and seniors, the need to oppose the interconnected systems of domination-class oppression, white supremacy, patriarchy and heterosexism, and the importance of incorporating art and culture into our strategies for education and movement-building.
For more information on the December 18 protest, contact Nick at Global Exchange at 415-255-7296. For more information on the January 15-20 Pro-Democracy Week contact the Independent Progressive Politics Network at 973-338-5398. For more information on the January 17-19 Progressive Challenge Coalition event in Washington, D.C., call 202-234-9382, x. 238.
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Return Of The Tired Men: An Old Guard Of Businessmen Will Follow Bush Into Power,
Richard Sennett, Guardian ~ Dec. 1
A lot of tired men are about to creep back into power in America. "President" Bush is a local Texas boy; for the big picture he relies on his father's people, in economics as much as in foreign policy. I met quite a few of these yesterday's men (almost all males) when they were out of office in the 1990s, passing the years of idleness at policy conferences on the virtues of private enterprise. They are an unimpressive lot.
They didn't get the new e-economy, neither how it worked nor what its dangers were. When the rich in America were raking money in and the markets booming, Dad's people continued to harp on the need for tax cuts to stimulate investment. When the treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, began to pay down the national debt (with the help of Dad's one distinguished appointee to office, Alan Greenspan), they cried foul; Democrats are supposed to be reckless spenders.
That businessmen, or business-minded people, are efficient and hard-headed in government is an outdated illusion. Compare Gordon Brown to the Conservative chancellors who came before him. He is infinitely more prudent and cunning - and tight-fisted, doling out goodies on social services only after the money had piled up in the Treasury kitty. You might not like the delay (I don't), but you understand it; a finance minister is meant to keep order rather than, like Norman Lamont, cry "I am in pain!" and reel from every economic blow.
Brown's American counterpart, Robert Rubin, was every bit as prudent and tight-fisted - and as clever. Unlike his Republican predecessors, who frequently lost control of the business cycle while steadily piling up a huge national debt, Rubin had no single economic policy; he had lots of policies, for whatever the moment required. There were several moments in the last administration when the economy faced a downturn; Rubin helped prevent them by adroit fiscal manoeuvring.
Why do conservative businessmen make bad politicians? Why, when they gain power, do they suddenly seem to lose their grasp of reality, clinging to simple nostrums like "Cut taxes!", bewildered by how to spend public money?
I kept going to policy seminars with Republican-era businessmen because they were something of an enigma. Get them talking about how to sell soap or insurance and suddenly the years fell away, they were full of energy and interesting ideas; I've the same sense of energy listening to aged doyens of the CBI in Britain. But speak the words "public" or "social" and the metal shutters of the mind come clattering down, shutters on which the graffiti "free market" and "lower taxes" have been sprayed.
The shuttered mind simply refuses to accept the positive side of the public economy. It cannot, in particular, accept the welfare state as a more efficient way to do the public's business, in medicine, transport, and housing, than ways based on selling soap. In the Reagan-Bush years, whenever these businessmen-politicians were confronted by unpalatable facts, they engaged in denial - or, in one egregious instance, tried to pretty-up unemployment figures by changing how the Department of Labour did its sums.
Blinded by their own belief in the superiority of business, guided by simplistic cliches, public servants drawn from the private realm tend to be bad servants of the public. Yet with a wave of the fairy's electoral wand in Florida, Dad's tired men will become the global economy's new masters. Their reappearance is particularly chilling because global capitalism looks set for another hard landing.
The big boom of the 1990s was largely fuelled by the technological revolution and a worldwide demand for consumer goods. Technology is now in a post-revolutionary phase and consumer demand is no longer pent up. In the States, both inflation and labour costs are rising. The bond markets have become credit averse and the stock markets are down, particularly the new-economy Nasdaq market. It is not a pretty picture, but it needn't spell disaster. The landing needs to be managed. For that, however, you need good managers. And good managers, in office, need to believe in government.
British friends assure me that Thatcherism is dead - though at 10 Downing Street there seem surviving signs of it, if not at No 11. But the fact that the British and American economies have become so interlocked is the real issue. During the big boom, British investment poured into America, as it did from the Netherlands and Germany; conversely, American management flowed into Europe.
The return of these blind, tired men to Washington is therefore no foreign spectacle. As diplomats, they aim to "coddle" Europe less; but in their own country, as businessmen in government, their incompetence will soon enough become our problem.
END
A View From Serbia: What if George W. Bush Was Slobodan Milosevic's Son?
Jeremy Scahill, Common Dreams ~ Nov. 30
BELGRADE Even here in Belgrade it is hard to escape the ongoing saga of "The Stand-off in Florida" "The Countdown to the Recount" "The Florida Vote" or whatever CNN is deciding to call it today. It's on TV. It's in the papers. And flipping around the satellite, I hear about it in German, Spanish and a half dozen other languages. Now that Slobodan Milosevic is gone from the political scene here for the time being, things have gotten a little boring. So I admit I have had a bit too much time on my hands. But just this morning I was thinking: What if George W. Bush was Slobodan Milosevic's son?
Imagine if the media in the US covered this whole saga the way they handled Slobo. Here's how it looks through the lens the corporate media reserve for those "undemocratic" places like Serbia...
George W. Bush comes from a powerful, ruling elite family. His father was a ruthless leader, former head of the "brutal and feared" (We like that phrase for people like Milosevic) CIA. As President of the US and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he "mercilessly" bombed Iraq back to the stone age and kicked into process the ethnic cleansing of more than a million Iraqi's. He was voted out of office and can't really run for president again, so he has sonny sit in. But the "clever maneuverer" (We like that phrase for people like Milosevic) he is, Bush Sr. places all of his old war buddies around sonny. W's new "cronies"--his "inner circle" are like a reunion of the war crimes tribunal that never was. Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, James Baker. It seemed the Bushes were heading back to the White House to pick up where they left off. They would "regain their grip on power." (We like that phrase for people like Milosevic).
But then comes election day. Bush loses by 300,000 votes. For Milosevic, that would definitely have been the end. I mean, the constitution in Yugoslavia says Slobo's presidential term didn't end until next summer. But oh nooo! Slobo was not going to be permitted to use a dirty trick like the law to "maintain his grip on power." Bill Clinton, Madeline Albright, Tony Blair and other international figures made that clear. No, Slobo -- the people have spoken. You must go.
But things are a little different in the capital of democracy. W didn't like the outcome, so he is using this outdated, archaic electoral college thing (which quite frankly sounds Milosevicesque) to disregard "the will of the people" (we like that phrase for people like Milosevic). Can you imagine if Milosevic tried this crap? Bombs away!
Anyway, I know this analogy isn't exactly the same, Bush didn't create the electoral college, Gore would do the same thing etc., etc., but it would be great if the corporate media handled this circus in Florida the way they handle other corrupt systems around the world. That would definitely be worth watching. Especially from Serbia.
Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist based in Belgrade. He reported live daily for Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! during the 1999 NATO war and was one of the few foreign journalists in Belgrade to witness the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in October.
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CPSR Answers Computer-Based Voting Technology Questions
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility ~ Nov. 15
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), a public interest organization that focuses on the benefits and risks to society of computer technology, offers the following answers to frequently asked questions about computer-based voting technology.
Q: Why do vote counting systems produce different totals when the ballots are recounted? Shouldn't machine counts and recounts of ballots produce repeatable, reliable results?
A: Many people have wondered why a computerized vote-counting systemwould have any significant inaccuracies. Some have publicly speculated that such variation must be the result of deliberate human action. Some people believe that computerized counts will always be more accurate than human counts, because of inevitable "human error." However, computerized vote-counting systems are complex, prone to several kinds of error.
Well-designed vote-counting systems minimize these errors. Some systems, particularly older systems, are not so well-designed, and are more prone to error. To illustrate this problem, we will describe some reliability problems with the oldest type of computerized ballot still in use, the Vote-O-Matic(tm). This system was once very popular and is still used in many places, including 15 Florida counties: Broward, Collier, Dade, Duval, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lee, Marion, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, and Sumpter.
The following describes reliability problems associated with one phase of the elections process: gathering ballots and running them through readers. Problems may occur in other phases, included materials design and printing, polling place administration, voter education, and vote tally software. By focusing on this one phase, we do not imply that the other phases are trivial. Conducting elections is demanding work, in all phases. Also, this paper focuses on errors. Elections frauds certainly have arisen in the history of American politics, but to our knowledge no fraud has been alleged in the ballot counting process for this election. Some level of error is inevitable when counting Vote-O-Matic ballots, however.
CPSR has been studying Vote-O-Matic-type vote counting systems for over ten years. Experts, including CPSR's own project personnel, have concluded that the Vote-O-Matic system has inherent accuracy limitations. Furthermore, careful manual counting of Vote-O-Matic ballots should always be more accurate than machine counts. The Vote-O-Matic system uses as a ballot the Hollerith punch card, also known as a "computer card." This once-common card is roughly 3" by 7", with small rectangular holes. For Vote-O-Matic cards, each hole in the card represents a vote for one candidate (or in favor or against a ballot measure). The ballot is counted by feeding it, short-side first, into a reader. (The card is made with one corner clipped, so that the correct end of the card is fed in first.) The reader has lights and sensors. When a hole passes over the sensor, light shines through, and the hole is read as a vote.
Hollerith cards were used for the 1890 census, and millions and millions of critical activities between then and the 1970's. Thus, one might expect the Vote-O-Matic system to be extremely reliable. But important differences between the standard Hollerith card and the Vote-O-Matic card make the Vote-O-Matic far less stable and reliable. There are three main problem areas:
- ballots
- ballot reader machines
- what happens when a ballot reader reads a ballot
* Ballots
The ballots use essentially the same card size and hole positions that IBM adopted in 1924 soon after they bought Hollerith's company. However, the cards are not the same. Hollerith's approach was to punch a hole in a solid piece of paper. Vote-O-Matic cards are pre-punched. Each square "chad" is held in place by a small wad of paper fibers at each corner. The vote then makes a hole by pushing the chad out with a round stylus. However, sometimes a chad will be partly punched out or will snag on something and be pulled out, creating what is known as "hanging chad."
Hanging chad can be attached at one, two, or three corners. Chad attached at one corner are usually torn off by the card reader or in handling. Chad attached at two corners are also often torn off, unless the two corners are on the side of the chad that is fed first into the card reader. Then, often, the chad will be forced back into the hole, only to flap open again later. chad attached at three corners are also usually forced closed by the card reader. Handling the cards can also change the status of hanging chad. Some studies have been done on chad, but there are many independent variable and complicating situations, so the preceding is a generalization.
These pre-punched cards are also reportedly sensitive to changes humidity. The reasons have not, to our knowledge, been studied, but it is likely because the chad loses and gains moisture faster than the bulk material. Thus taking a box of Vote-O-Matic cards from an air-conditioned room to a humid evening to another air-conditioned room will have unpredictable effects. It may take the cards some time to settle down after the ordeal. The pre-punches also make the cards less rigid than a normal Hollerith card, and thus more prone to bending. Bent cards often cause problems during reading. The trailing edge of the card is uneven, because of tabs from where the write-in tab was detached. The faces of the card are not as smooth as a regular card, again due to the pre-punches.
* Ballot Reader Machines
So far as we know, there are no longer any manufacturers of Hollerith card readers. High-speed card readers have a lot of precision parts. Existing readers must be periodically rebuilt, but many companies no longer exist and the remaining manufacturers, so far as we know, no longer offer maintenance contracts on the units. Elections is about the last market left for Hollerith card readers. Elections companies buy up equipment from counties as they move away from Vote-O-Matic systems, and sell it jurisdictions still using Vote-O-Matic. Elections aren't a particularly hard life for a card reader, since a reader is only used for a few days a year. Still, the readers eventually need to be rebuilt, which elections companies do with a dwindling supply of spares, hangar queens, and whatever rebuild protocols they devise. Still, some parts age more on calendar time than with use. As the readers age, they become less reliable and more prone to error and breakdown.
* What Happens When a Ballot Reader Reads a Ballot
Ideally, a stack of ballots is sucked one-at-a-time from the input hopper to the output hopper of a card reader, each being counted accurately. However, sometimes two cards are sucked through. This is probably because pre-punching makes small ridges on the bottom of the card, and an identical pattern of small troughs on the top. The ridges tend to get caught in the troughs. Also, feed mechanisms have to be engineered with consideration of the air cushion between the cards, as one moves relative to the other. This air cushion will not have the same properties for Vote-O-Matic cards as for normal cards, due to surface roughness. For whatever reason, misfeeds happen.
Hanging chad can flip open and closed. Detached chad can become stuck in the feed path, increasing double feeds and misfeeds. Detached chad can jam two cards together, increasing misfeeds. In some machines, detached chad can jam over the light or sensor, causing holes to not be read until the chad blows out of the way. Detached chad can migrate from one card to the next. Chad that was not detached before, but merely buckled or only detached on one corner (which counts as "not an open hole" in many jurisdictions) can catch on other cards and become hanging chad or be torn loose. The read process can be quite traumatic to a Vote-O-Matic card.
Q: Is counting ballots by hand more or less reliable than counting them by machine?
A: A human count of Vote-O-Matic cards should almost always produce a significantly more accurate result than automated reading. People cannot count cards as quickly as a card reader, but a card reader is much more limited than a person in how it can handle and read a card. Any damage a card has sustained can confuse a card reader or cause it to malfunction. People are better able to deal with such problems. Unfortunately, reading a Vote-O-Matic card by machine changes the card. Cards that have had one or more trips through a high-speed card reader will appear different to a human reader than they would have when freshly punched by the voter. Erik Nilsson, an election technology analyst for CPSR, believes that the Vote-O-Matic system should be replaced. "For a quarter century, election experts have been calling for the Vote-O-Matic system to be retired. The results of the 2000 election show that it is now time move beyond this temperamental antique."
Q: Would Internet voting solve this problem?
A: Internet voting is often suggested as a solution to election counting problems, but has many problems of its own, for example:
- If people voted from home, it would be very difficult, perhaps impossible, to assure that those who vote are who they say they are. Someone could vote for one of their family members, for example.
- If people vote from home rather than in a polling place, vote secrecy and privacy could be compromised. Elections in many democratic societies, including the U.S., are based on the promise of secret ballots, where only the voter knows who he or she voted for (unless he or she chooses to tell others).
- A home-based Internet-based voting system would favor people who have computers and Internet connections at home. Such amenities are not possessed by all citizens in the U.S.
- Purely electronic ballots leave no paper trail, so electronic subversion of voting records could be difficult or impossible to detect.
- Voting from home could destroy the sense of shared civic responsibility and pride that most people clearly feel when they go to an actual polling place to vote. On the other hand, Internet voting could offer the following advantages: - Customized presentation of voting choices, for example voter-selected font size - Reliable vote tabulation - Access for the disabled, and rural
- Can handle large numbers of voters
Computers, of course, can and will be used in elections. One approach that could provide the advantages without many of the disadvantages would be to provide Internet terminals in polling places. Voters would come to the polling place and identify themselves, as they always have. Vote-O-Matic and other outdated, unreliable systems would be replaced by more current technology. Each polling place would have a "manual" backup system on site, for when the network connections or computers fail (as they surely will) or when a voter is simply unable to understand how to use the computer.
A home-based Internet voting system is completely out of the question until access to the Internet in the U.S. is universal. Until such a time, adopting a home-based Internet voting system would be unconstitutional. Today we are far from universal access. For example, in some urban poor districts, 14% of households lack even basic phone service, much less Internet connections. On some Indian reservations, the percentage of phone-less households is even higher: 40%.
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility was founded in the early 1980s by computer scientists and engineers who were concerned about the use of computer technology in military applications, particularly the Strategic Defense, or "Star Wars", Initiative. In the mid-1980s, the organization branched out to include other issues, such as electronic privacy, freedom of speech, and the use of computer technology in elections.
For further information, please visit CPSR's website: http://www.cpsr.org/issues/voting.html or contact the CPSR office at 650-322-3778 or e-mail: cpsr@cpsr.org to be directed to experts in the area of Internet voting. Susan Evoy * Managing Director, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility P.O. Box 717 * Palo Alto * CA * 94302 Phone: (650) 322-3778 * Email: evoy@cpsr.org
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Why Independent Electoral Work?
Ted Glick, Independent Progressive Politics Network ~ November 26
As the post-election legal maneuvering continues in Florida, some in the progressive movement may be thinking, "So what? Whoever ends up the victor, the people still lose. Elections are a waste of time. We should stay focused on the issues."
This is the flip side of the point of view of other progressives who violently opposed the Nader campaign because of the votes it would draw from lesser-evil Al Gore. Yet, in many respects, there are similarities between these two positions, the electoral abstentionists and the no-matter-what Democrats. Both essentially discount the possibility of building a powerful and accountable third party. Both lack faith in the ability of masses of people and their leaders to contend successfully against the corporate elite for fundamental change, at least on the electoral playing field. And both would weaken the popular, progressive movement in its on-going struggles around issues by defanging it, removing a potentially valuable weapon with which to defend our gains and make advances.
Ultimately, what is going to change this country is not the election of someone like Ralph Nader to the Presidency but the emergence of a broadly-based, massive political movement. Such a movement, to be successful, must bring together workers, people of color, women, youth, lesbians/gays, farmers, environmentalists, immigrants and others in support of a genuinely progressive agenda and program. And this movement must become more than just a pressure group pushing from the outside. It must gain the power to implement its program.
This is where elections come in. The fact is that the United States is a country in which "democratic" elections have been the method of choosing government leaders going back to George Washington. The fact that those elections have been distorted by the influence of big money, increasingly so today, or the fact that women until the 1920s and African Americans in the South until the 1960s could not vote, does not change the fact that it has been electoral campaigns, not military coups or armed revolts, that have been the historic method of determining those people who will officially steer the ship of state. This dynamic is deeply rooted in the collective political psyche of the U.S. population.
Accordingly, if we on the Left wish to build a mass movement for systemic change, we cannot avoid the necessity of constructing an electoral-oriented political party that will represent and be based upon a popular alliance.
The Democratic Party is not such a vehicle, even if significant numbers of people of color, workers, women, gay/lesbian people and others vote for its candidates much more often than for Republicans. This happens because of our choice-limiting, winner-take-all reality and the Democrats' success in derailing or coopting potentially threatening independent movements, such as what happened with the Rainbow Coalition movement of the 1980s.
As many of us experienced through the Nader/LaDuke campaign, and as others have experienced through other independent electoral efforts over the years, independent electoral campaigns can be profoundly empowering. It was empowering to sit in a filled-to-the-cheap-seats Madison Square Garden and hear alternative, truthful political analyses of what is wrong with this country and what can be done to make it right. It was empowering to know that you were one of many tens of thousands of volunteers giving of your time for a cause you knew was right. It was empowering to see your candidate on TV going toe-to-toe with the "experts" and coming out ahead, making his points clearly and with passion. And it was even empowering to see the election results, short of the 5% objective, for sure, but almost three million in number nationwide, despite everything that was done to destroy this movement.
Think how empowering such a campaign could be if it had significant involvement and leadership from trade unionists, from Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian/Pacific Islanders, from the women's movement and from the other constituencies of the popular alliance. This must be a primary objective for 2004!
And yet, the electoral abstentionists have a valid point. The danger of electoral work is that those we elect, or who become prominent because of a campaign, will become more interested in advancing their political careers than in doing the right thing by those who worked for or voted for them. This is why a new, progressive political alternative in this country, the Greens in alliance with labor, communities of color and others, must be about on-going work year-round on issues, the use of a variety of tactics, and the building of organization that brings forward new leaders and keeps existing leadership honest. Only a wholistic, deeply-rooted, independent political alternative stands a chance of getting the job done. Let's do it!
Ted Glick is the National Coordinator of the Independent Progressive Politics Network and the author of "Future Hope: A Winning Strategy for a Just Society." He can be reached at P.O. Box 1132, Bloomfield, N.J. 07003.
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The Real Third Party Is... The Greenspan Party
by James Ridgeway, Common Dreams ~ November 22
While the Clinton and Gore legions have been fighting it out in Florida, the real work of government is being done not in Congress or by the lame-duck president, but by Federal Reserve boss Alan Greenspan. In a menacing speech to the Central Bank of Mexico last week, Greenspan warned that youthful street uprisings against free trade must now be crushed lest they endanger "market-oriented systems."
"The progress in lowering trade barriers since World War II marks the triumph of putting an important idea into practice—that international trade benefits all nations," Greenspan said. "Indeed, in every nation, those benefits are shared by people spread across quite different income brackets." And he warned that any weakening of the strong economic growth of recent years "runs the risk of reviving mistrust of market-oriented systems, even among conventional policy-makers. . . Clearly, the risk is that support for restrictions on trade is not dead, only quiescent."
Greenspan's speech gave the clearest example of how Washington might function over the next four years under some form of national-unity regime. It's pretty simple. With Congress and the president unable or (in the case of Congress) unwilling to run the country, real power concentrates in the quasi-independent agencies such as the Federal Reserve, which are prepared to act. Like high officials in Iran, who can operate in their own sphere as long as they do not intrude into the power base of the clergy, the leaders of these institutions can issue policy directives on their own as long as they do not intrude overmuch on Wall Street. It should be noted that lately in this regard there have been some storm clouds brewing for Greenspan on the Republican/libertarian right in response to his spate of interventions as the market has fluctuated.
Once right-wing Republicans adjust to the horror of it, a weak national-unity government would not necessarily be regarded negatively. The right has always worked for the withering away of federal institutions, including Congress.
They prefer to see power draining out of Washington into state capitals, where, conservatives believe, what social-welfare policies that are allowed ought to be established. The model for national unity was set in the mid-'90s when Bill Clinton essentially capitulated to Newt Gingrich and the congressional Republicans, joining the conservatives in a sea change to the right on major issues such as welfare reform.
Although in theory a national-unity government should be feasible since it is in the parties' own self-interests and they agree on most major policies, there are—in addition to the bottom-line question of patronage spoils—basic differences: on, for example, defense funding, medical insurance, and the privatizing of Social Security. In Congress, national unity faces pitfalls, not the least of which entails divvying up committee slots and chairmanships.
Needless to say, this would involve dealing in some way with far-right ideologues of the Armey-DeLay-Gramm stripe, who, before they were muffled, governed by screaming across the aisles in the protracted impeachment battle—which itself precipitated many of the present divisions.
Late last week, Gore took the first opportunistic step toward national unity with his call for a meeting with Bush to smooth the way for a new government. More important than the fact that Gore was abruptly rebuffed, members of Congress were hurling wild accusations before the vice president even spoke, with Texas's Phil Gramm accusing Gore of trying "to steal the election."
Nevertheless, on Monday the conservative Heritage Foundation, which more than any other group sets the agenda for the Republican right, magnanimously called together representatives of the neoliberal New Democratic Progressive Policy Institute and the liberal Urban Institute to try to forge "a strong bipartisan consensus on a number of key public policy issues," from taxes to education to health care.
Copyright 2000 Village Voice
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Serbia Deploys Peacekeeping Forces To U.S.
The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Serbian president Vojislav Kostunica deployed more than 30,000 peacekeeping troops to the U.S. Monday, pledging full support to the troubled North American nation as it struggles to establish democracy.
Picture of Serbian Peacekeeping Forces Deployed
We must do all we can to support free elections in America and allow democracy to gain a foothold there," Kostunica said. "The U.S. is a major player in the Western Hemisphere and its continued stability is vital to Serbian interests in that region." Kostunica urged Al Gore, the U.S. opposition-party leader who is refusing to recognize the nation's Nov. 7 election results, to "let the democratic process take its course."
"Mr. Gore needs to acknowledge the will of the people and concede that he has lost this election," Kostunica said. "Until America's political figures learn to respect the institutions that have been put in place, the nation will never be a true democracy." Serbian forces have been stationed throughout the U.S., with an emphasis on certain trouble zones. Among them are Oregon, Florida, and eastern Tennessee, where Gore set up headquarters in Bush territory. An additional 10,000 troops are expected to arrive in the capital city of Washington, D.C. by Friday.
Though Kostunica has pledged to work with U.S. leaders, he did not rule out the possibility of economic sanctions if the crisis is not resolved soon. "For democracy to take root and flourish, it must be planted in the rich soil of liberty. And the cornerstone of liberty is elections free of tampering or corruption," Kostunica said. "Should America prove itself incapable of learning this lesson on its own, the international community may be forced to take stronger measures."
END
Clinton Declares Self President For Life
The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Denouncing the American electoral process as "immoral and corrupt," President Clinton announced Tuesday that he will not step down on Jan. 20, 2001, declaring himself "President For Life."
Clinton Greets his Subjects From a White House Balcony.
Proclaiming Nov. 14 a new national holiday as "Day One of Americlintonian Year Zero," Clinton issued a directive of total martial law over "all territories formerly known as these United States, from now on to be called the Holy United Imperial Americlintonian Demopublic (HUIAD)." He added that all election results are "hereby invalidated under Demopublican provisional law."
"The American people have spoken," Clinton said. "By failing to generate a 51 percent majority for either candidate, they have shown their inability to muster the drive to collective action. The time has come for a new America, a strong Americlintonian Empire, capable of providing the indecisive electorate with direction through one man's sheer force of will." Dressed in full military regalia and flanked by members of his elite Demopublican Guard, Clinton told reporters, "Let all peoples of the land know this: The era of bipartisan inaction and paralysis has ended. The Age of the Great Cleansing Fire begins today."
A significant portion of the U.S. Armed Forces has sworn loyalty to the Imperial Demopublic Council of Generals, the new military wing of the Clinton regime. But despite such support, many political observers question the constitutionality of Clinton's actions, which include the burning of the Constitution, the dissolution of Congress, and the establishment of "re-education camps" in suburban D.C.
At a sparsely attended press conference, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno raised the prospect of a Justice Department investigation of "possible illegal activities" on the part of Clinton. Most observers, however, believe that such a probe is unlikely: Less than an hour after Reno spoke, her battered and broken body was publicly fed to Clinton's dogs. "Let them bring their pitiful reprisals to the impotent courts. Their lawyers and lawsuits shall face the wrath of a people united by the almighty fist," said Clinton, whose divinity as HUIAD's first Emperor-God was ratified late Tuesday night by the Americlintonic High Priest Council. "Let them recount their puny, paper ballots. They shall wither, as will the bankers, lawyers, and lobbyists all, before the Holy Cause of Americlintonia's glorious, righteous might."
Defiant in the face of objections from the Bush and Gore camps, Clinton has consolidated his power over the last several days, ordering armed takeovers of major federal buildings and the systematic collection and display of his enemies' heads on iron pikes. In a test of the new regime's power outside the nation's capital, Senator-Elect Hillary Clinton, rechristened "Bride of The Lord Clinton On Earth," summarily ordered HUIAD troops to fire on Manhattan crowds, leaving more than 2,500 dead on Wall Street and quickly dispersing protesters loyal to defeated Republican challenger Rick Lazio.
Resistance movements are already forming. The new Legion Of Californians has sworn to defeat HUIAD in the west, and anti-Clinton groups have been reported across the U.S., including Naderist factions in Washington State and Maine. Clinton has publicly dismissed such insurrections as "pathetic," confident that nothing will stem his authority over "the former U.S." "The rebels are but mewling kittens who shall taste blood instead of milk," said Clinton, threatening to deploy HUAID-controlled nuclear weapons against members of resistance movements. "The holy power of the atom shall, if it must, cleanse this nation of all infidels."
END
NBC News Reverses Earlier Report Of Gore's Death
The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Three hours after placing Al Gore in the "dead" column, NBC News retracted its projection Tuesday, changing the vice-president's status to "too close to call."
"I'm sorry, but it now appears that we reported Mr. Gore's death prematurely," NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw announced on air at approximately 2:15 a.m. EST. "The latest readings show his red-blood count down to 3.1. At this point, it could go either way."
Gore, shot Monday by a Republican sniper during a foray into the Bush-controlled territory of New Hampshire, has been clinging to life in a hospital just across the Vermont border. According to NBC News correspondent Tim Russert, nurses and anesthesiologists leaving the operating room at various points during a 14-hour operation on Gore were exit-polled regarding his chances of survival. "When several sources reported a direct hit to the spinal cord, everyone thought it was all over," Russert said. "It turns out that report was erroneous. The shot missed the spinal cord by a hair's width." Early in the evening, NBC's on-screen outline of Gore was colored blue, signifying life. At 11:17 p.m. EST, it turned red, indicating death. When word arrived that Gore had a pulse but no signs of brain activity, the outline reverted to its original uncolored state, meaning "unconfirmed."
In the hours following the erroneous report, NBC was more cautious about making projections, posting the latest readings from Gore's blood-pressure monitor but refraining from speculating about his overall status. Democratic Party chairman Ed Rendell expressed anger over what he called NBC's "shoddy, irresponsible journalism." "Who knows how this could affect how Gore is perceived when he attempts to gather military support in disputed states?" Rendell said. "NBC should know better than to call the outcome of an operation before the body is even closed." NBC was not alone in prematurely calling Gore's death. CBS, ABC, and CNN all made the same mistake. "In our efforts to bring Americans the most up-to-the-minute news on the war for the White House, we made some hasty decisions," CBS anchor Dan Rather said. "I'd like to apologize to all of our viewers, as well as to the entire Gore junta."
END
Bush Executes 253 New Mexico Democrats: Retakes State's Five Electoral Votes
The Onion ~ Nov. 17
New Mexico's five electoral votes swung back into the Bush column Monday when George W. Bush executed 253 Las Cruces-area Democrats. With their deaths, the Al Gore-backing Democrats were declared ineligible, wiping out the Democratic candidate's narrow 252-vote victory margin in New Mexico and giving Bush the state by just one vote.
The Bodies of Democrats are Taken by Bush 2000 Coroners
Bush Gives the Go-ahead Sign to Executioners at the El Paso Correctional Facility
"We express great sorrow for the families of the condemned," said Karl Rove, Bush's senior strategist. "We must keep in mind, however, that these are not innocent people we're talking about here. These individuals were guilty of a variety of crimes, fromvagrancy to jaywalking to reckless endangerment of pedestrians' lives through inappropriate use of rollerblades. And for these crimes, they paid a fair price." Continued Rove: "The fact that their deaths deliver the state of New Mexico to George W. Bush, well, that's merely a happy coincidence."
The New Mexico Democrats, all of whom lived less than 20 miles from the Texas border city of El Paso, were arrested last Friday during a day-long law-enforcement sweep by Texas state troopers. A majority of the arrests were made in El Paso, where many of the New Mexicans were visiting friends or relatives over the weekend. Asked if the executions were in any way motivated by his narrow deficit in New Mexico, Bush said, "They most certainly were not.""All 253 individuals were found guilty in a court of law," Bush said. "They were given a fair, 30-minute trial and handed a punishment commensurate with their misdeeds. Blatant disregard for the law may be tolerated elsewhere, but not in the great state of Texas. Or states close to Texas."
The New Mexico Democrats were administered lethal injection and pronounced dead shortly after 3 p.m. in the El Paso Correctional Facility, making them the 36th through 288th persons to be put to death in Texas this year. Immediately afterward, their ballots were nullified in their home voting district of Dona Ana County. According to Texas Department of Corrections spokesman Martin Cobb, 27 of the executed Democrats were employees of a Las Cruces software company. They had crossed the Texas border to attend the weekend-long Southwest Computer Expo at the El Paso Convention Center. "All of the information we gathered on the Las Cruces 27 indicated that they were questionable characters," Cobb said. "Some had subscriptions to The New Yorker. A few were confirmed members of the Sierra Club. One even participated in a union-led teachers' strike a few years ago."
Despite cries of protest from families of the deceased, both the Texas Board Of Pardons And Paroles and the Texas Court Of Criminal Appeals refused to stay the executions. Rove, however, is confident that they received a fair trial."It was presided over by the Honorable Jacob T. Hayes, one of the most respected and experienced judges in the state," Rove said. "You're talking about a man who is a close personal friend of such esteemed figures as the governor of Florida and a former president of the United States." Bush, who personally presided over the mass lethal injection, expressed sorrow for those executed. "It is a tragedy that these people chose to take their lives down such a destructive path," Bush said. "Fortunately, they did not die in vain, for their deaths will serve as a deterrent to other New Mexico Democrats who are considering a similar life of crime."
END
Communication With Florida Cut Off
The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Federal officials confirmed Tuesday that all forms of communication with Florida, the bloody battleground for 25 electoral votes, have been cut off. Across the state, Atlantic Bell phone lines and relays have been severed. The efforts of Georgia-based emergency crews hoping to reconnect lines have been hampered by piles of burning vehicles choking all roads leading into the state. In addition to the loss of phone contact, Internet, television, and radio communications have been lost to the surging violence plaguing the most bitterly contested state in the nation. "We are attempting to bring swift and fair closure to these elections," said Florida Governor Jeb Bush during a statewide televised message at 7:35 p.m. EST Monday, the last known transmission from the Sunshine State. "We ask that Gore and his followers concede gracefully and allow a dignified end to a long--what the...? No! Back! Back!" The screen then went black.
Though technicians stationed along the Georgia border have reported receiving faint, garbled radio signals from walkie-talkies and ham radios, the content of these transmissions is unclear. Through the heavy static, the technicians have reportedly heard a variety of unconfirmed sounds, including screams for help, the toneless recitation of random strings of numbers, and harshly barked combat orders. The technicians could also make out certain specific words and phrases, including "Bush by three," "rererererecount," and "Oy gevalt." Several heavily accented female voices could also be heard wailing, "Elián."
According to reconnaissance photos taken by Russian military aircraft, the entire southeast portion of the state, including Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, is obscured by thick smoke. In a photo of Biscayne Bay, the water has a distinct crimson tint. Another photo shows a flotilla of commercial fishing boats, overloaded with refugees and sailing in the direction of Cuba. "We have no idea what's going on down there," said Captain Matt Tunney of the Georgia National Guard, one of the few reserve units available to respond to the Florida crisis. "There are 15 million people trapped in that boiling cauldron, everyone from Boca Raton retirees to Jacksonville rednecks to Miami Beach fashion models. To be honest, I don't think I want to know what's going on."
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Nation Plunges Into Chaos: Pro-Bush Rebels Seize Power In West; D.C. In Flames
The Onion ~ Nov. 17
Presidential-election-related violence continued to spread across the nation Tuesday, with Day Seven of the battle for the White House claiming another 1,200 lives. In Bush-controlled Tennessee, news of Gore's call for a sixth recount in the disputed territory of Florida sparked full-scale rioting, with Republican militiamen setting fire to Gore's heavily fortified Nashville compound. It is believed Gore running mate Joseph Lieberman was trapped in the blaze, though his whereabouts and status were unknown as of press time.
In Austin, Democrats continued to clash with armed Bush troops outside the Texas capitol. Inside, the Bush family waited for news on the welfare and whereabouts of Dick Cheney, who was carried off by a band of NARAL Reproductive-Freedom Fighters. Washington sources reported via short-wave radio that the city is littered with burning and abandoned National Guard tanks. The last D.C. television transmissions, which were broadcast at 11:22 p.m. EST Monday, showed the drowned bodies of more than 200 Young Republicans in the National Mall's cyanide-laced reflecting pool.
It is unknown whether the deaths are a mass suicide or the work of a Democratic guerrilla group operating out of the Gore-controlled territory of Maryland. Since declaring himself President For Life, President Clinton has remained sealed inside a subterranean White House bunker with a cadre of Secret Service personnel and a stockpile of canned goods. Like the many state governors who declared themselves regional warlords over the weekend, Clinton said he plans to wait out the fighting in the streets.
Meanwhile, Bush and Gore steadfastly maintained their claims to the presidency after respectively declaring Austin, TX, and Nashville the provisional national capitals. While Gore controls much of the nation's Northeast and Upper Midwest, Bush currently holds all territory west of the Mississippi River except California and Washington. Each man has issued commands to the American people to cease rioting and acknowledge him as president and has ordered the armed forces to salute him as the next Commander In Chief.
Borders between Gore states and Bush states have been witness to some of the fiercest fighting of the past week. Along the Illinois-Indiana border, an estimated 240 people have died in skirmishes, including 47 Danville, IL, residents in a midnight Hoosier raid on the Gore-controlled state. On Sunday, police at the Arizona-California border turned away more than 40,000 Golden State Republicans seeking to cross into Bush-controlled Arizona. Democratic refugees attempting to cross in the opposite direction were similarly rebuffed.
News of other presidential candidates is sketchy at best. On Monday, National Public Radio reported that a man "strongly resembling" Ralph Nader was crucified at the hands of angry New Hampshire Democrats. Pat Buchanan is believed to have entered Florida with several hundred Jewish followers shortly before communications with the state were lost. Libertarian Party candidate Harry Browne is believed to be mounting a challenge to election results in Suffolk County, NY, where Constitution Party candidate Howard Phillips edged him out for fifth place by just two votes. Alan Greenspan, who established the Fed-In-Exile in Paris last Friday, has announced a freeze on the markets until order can be restored. He has temporarily fixed the value of the U.S. dollar at $15 Canadian. Citizens have been urged to stay in their homes and keep their lights off until further notice.
END
Calling the Presidential Race and Cousin George W.
By Bill Carter, New York Times ~ Nov. 15
Senior executives for the Fox News Channel acknowledged last night that John Ellis, an executive who played a central role in the first decision on election night to project that George W. Bush had won the presidency, and who is a first cousin of Mr. Bush, spent much of the night in communication with the candidate. The Fox executives said they had been unaware of the contact and said Mr. Ellis had misused his role with the network, perhaps damaging its reputation. Mr. Ellis, the head of the election desk for the Fox News Network, acknowledged in an article published this week in The New Yorker magazine that he held repeated phone conversations with Mr. Bush and his brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, throughout election night, giving them indications of the vote. John Moody, the vice president of editorial news for the Fox News Channel, said, "Did we know he was on the phone to his cousin? No. Just as we wouldn't have expected him to tell us the details of a family dinner," Mr. Moody said, "neither would we have expected him to provide information to one of the candidates."
Mr. Ellis's role in the events of election night was seized upon by officials from Vice President Al Gore's campaign last night both as evidence that the Fox channel is biased toward Republican candidates and that the Fox call of the election for Mr. Bush was the start of a chain of events that led to the misimpression that Mr. Bush was, at one time anyway, officially the winner of the still-contested race. "Fox has been an avowed enemy of the Gore campaign throughout the election," said Mark Fabiani, the campaign's communications director. "To have a network like Fox call it and everybody follow suit was a tremendously damaging thing. It took literally 24 to 48 hours to convince people that Gore had won the popular vote."
Fox was the first to call the race for Mr. Bush, based on his lead with almost all the precincts counted. Each of the other television news organizations drew the same conclusion in a matter of minutes. Fox executives dismissed the Gore' camp's accusations of bias as part of the nasty political exchanges that have characterized the days since the election, though they acknowledged that the controversy will almost certainly undercut the channel's efforts to counter an image in the television industry as the pro- Republican news channel.
But Fox executives emphasized that Mr. Ellis alone did not make the calls on who won states but merely headed a four-person team. Mr. Moody said that all the team members had to agree on projections before they were submitted to executives and put on the air. And Ari Fleischer, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said Fox could be charged with influencing the election, "only if you assume that NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, and PBS all follow Fox and make no independent determinations of their own." Executives at the other networks denied that they were reacting to Fox when they made the Florida call.
Mr. Ellis declined to comment last night though he did release a letter he wrote to The New Yorker, disputing any suggestion in the piece that he had violated the rules of the Voter News Service - which provides the information about exit polling to the networks - by giving early information on specific data to Mr. Bush. However, he acknowledged that during the night he did "speak frequently with Governor George Bush and Governor Jeb Bush." They are his first cousins: Mr. Ellis is the son of Nancy Ellis, a sister of former President George Bush. But Mr. Ellis also pointed out that others on the Fox "decision desk" were communicating with the Gore campaign. Representatives of the Bush campaign made the same point. But neither they nor Mr. Ellis suggested that anyone was talking directly to Mr. Gore on numerous occasions that night.
Asked how it came about that Fox would hire the cousin of one of the candidates to run its vote analysis, Mr. Moody said, "I don't believe you should punish people for who they are related to, as long as they don't misuse either the relationship or their ability to get information." He noted that Mr. Ellis had only a 30-day consultant's contract, but he cited Mr. Ellis's experience in election analysis, which dates to 1978 when he started out at NBC. Mr. Ellis worked for NBC News through 1989, a period that contained three elections involving his uncle. His professionalism and integrity were never questioned anywhere he worked, Carl R. Wagner, a Democratic consultant and former co-worker, said last night.
END
Bush Cousin Made Florida Vote Call For Fox News
By Howard Kurtz, Washington Post ~ Nov. 14
In yet another bizarre twist to an already surreal campaign, the head of Fox News's Election Night decision desk--who recommended calling Florida, and the election, for George W. Bush--turns out to be Bush's first cousin. Even as he was leading the Fox decision desk that night, John Ellis was also on the phone with his cousins--"Jebbie," the governor of Florida, and the presidential candidate himself--giving them updated assessments of the vote count.
Ellis's projection was crucial because Fox News Channel put Florida in the W. column at 2:16 a.m.--followed by NBC, CBS, CNN and ABC within four minutes. That decision, which turned out to be wrong and was retracted by the embarrassed networks less than two hours later, created the impression that Bush had "won" the White House. Which is why media circles were buzzing yesterday with the question of why Fox had installed a Bush relative in such a sensitive post.
"Appearance of impropriety?" asks Fox Vice President John Moody, who approved Ellis's recommendation to call Florida for Bush. "I don't think there's anything improper about it as long as he doesn't behave improperly, and I have no evidence he did. . . . John has always conducted himself in an extremely professional manner." But Moody admits that Ellis's Election Night conversations with the cousins "would cause concern."
Ellis--whose mother, Nancy Ellis, is the sister of former president George Bush--boasted to the New Yorker that "everyone followed us." He also said the morning after the election that "Jebbie'll be calling me like eight thousand times a day." Ellis did not respond to an interview request yesterday. Ellis's support for his cousin was hardly a secret. He wrote in The Washington Post's Outlook section nine days ago that the Texas governor is "smart, engaging, enormously energetic, possessed of dynamic leadership skills, funny, wry [and] optimistic," as opposed to "the morally berserk universe of the Clintons."
Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said: "The notion that you'd have the cousin of one presidential candidate . . . in a position to call a state is unthinkable. Fox's call precipitated all the other networks' calls. That call--wrong, unnecessary, misguided, foolish--has helped create a sense that this election went to Bush, was pulled back and he is waiting to be restored."
Critics say the Ellis connection will reinforce Fox's reputation as a conservative network whose anchors include Tony Snow, a former Bush White House staffer, and such commentators as Newt Gingrich. Fox maintains it merely provides a balanced alternative to the liberal networks. But, says Rosenstiel, "the marketing slogan 'We report, you decide' is obliterated by the fact that one candidate's first cousin is actually deciding, and then they report." Marvin Kalb, Washington executive director of Harvard's Shorenstein press center, calls Ellis "a fine writer and columnist, and he's always sensitive about his relationship with his first cousin. His mother is very, very close with former president Bush. Therefore I am puzzled as to why he'd put himself in a position where he would seem to be the one making the call for his cousin. It clearly conveys the wrong impression."
As a Boston Globe columnist last year, Ellis wrote after some reader complaints: "I am loyal to my cousin. . . . I put that loyalty ahead of my loyalty to anyone else outside my immediate family. That being the case, it is not possible for me to continue writing columns about the 2000 presidential campaign." Ellis worked for NBC News as a producer and researcher in the political unit from 1978 through March 1989, soon after President Bush took office. Fox says it hired Ellis this year for work during the primaries and on Election Night. He also worked for Fox in 1998 when, Moody says, he called George Bush's reelection in Texas (though that was a landslide).
Ellis, who lives in Irvington, N.Y., was among those briefing Fox News President Roger Ailes last Tuesday night, but he was not a total Bush loyalist. At 7:52 p.m., Fox called Florida for Al Gore based on Ellis's recommendation, though Fox was not the first to make that projection. After Fox's report, according to the New Yorker, Jeb Bush called and asked Ellis: "Are you sure?" The Gore call, based heavily on exit polls from Voter News Service, also turned out to be wrong and was retracted by the networks two hours later. At 2 a.m., Ellis called his cousins to say it was "statistically impossible" for Gore to win Florida. "Their mood was up, big-time," Ellis told the New Yorker's Jane Mayer. "It was just the three of us guys handing the phone back and forth--me with the numbers, one of them a governor, the other the president-elect. Now that was cool."
But it was decidedly uncool to some Fox staffers, angry at what they see as Ellis exaggerating his role. Some are calling him "John 'Alexander Haig' Ellis," declaring himself to be in charge. Whatever the Yale graduate's job description, it remains unclear why a television network allowed him to call the election for his cousin. "You factor that in to everything else, but John is a professional," Moody says. "It would be as strange not to hire him because of who he's related to as to hire him especially because of who he's related to."
END
African-American Precincts Victims of Widespread Fraud
Robert Sterling, Editor, The Konformist ~ Nov. 14
In the over four and a half years time period I've ran The Konformist via email and the web, I have never come across a story this huge. What we have before us is an election scandal that makes Watergate and The October Surprise look like pattycake. In Palm Beach County, as reported, 28,036 votes in the Presidential race have been tossed, a number nearly twice as much as the previous election. Until recently, the focus has been on the effects due to the butterfly ballot, which appears to have caused confusion and led to votes for Pat Buchanan. What has only been uncovered now is that nearly half of those votes tossed out are in African-American precincts.
The percentage of disqualified votes countywide was seven percent, an admittedly high number. However, in two precints of Riviera Beach with African-American populates at 94 and 96 percent, the figure of disqualifications was 20%. As confusing as the ballot may have been, these numbers of mistakes are virtually impossible. There is an explanation: there are now reports that African Americans have complained they were given ballots that were already marked for rival candidates. While some may have caught the problem, it is likely that many people would not notice the problem while voting.
The implications are tremendous: a major attempt to swindle votes from African-Americans was a deciding factor in the 2000 election. We are no longer talking about "honest" f-ups. We're talking about a sinister conspiracy. The Konformist will not state for sure who the culprit is, but some questions must be asked: who would benefit from suppressing African-American votes in the Presidential race? How could these votes have been tampered with and who could have done it? And, perhaps most important, why is Katherine Harris, Florida's GOP Secretary of State, so eager to end the investigation of the vote totals in Palm Beach? (She has claimed, falsely, that Tuesday at 5PM is the drop-dead date for submitting voter totals.)
The Konformist will have this full story on its website tonight. It should also be on Conspire.com's and Disinfo.com's websites too. Parascope is working on this as well. Please feel free to post this, and the articles below which supply the evidence to back up everything that is stated above.
Thank you,
Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist
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Africa Offers To Send 'Observers' To Help US End Poll Confusion
Agence France Presse ~ Nov. 10
African nations suggested Friday sending 'observers' to the United States to help overcome presidential poll confusion as the world's press argued over whether it was witnessing electoral chaos or simply democracy in action. "International observers should be put in place" because "the United States must join the established democracies," said South Africa's daily Star.
A top aide to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe endorsed the idea: "perhaps now we have reached a time when they can learn a lot from us. Maybe Africans and others should send observers to help Americans deal with their democracy." Others fantasized about observers dressed in Hawaiian shirts and Bermuda shorts, alongside UN Blue Helmets, investigating Al Gore's campaign claim there were "serious and substantional irregularities" in the ballot. "It is a shameful reflection on our continent that, in the US's hour of need, we were not there beside our American brothers and sisters to help and advise where we could," said an editorial in South Africa's weekly Mail.
As the presidential vote cliff-hanger threatened to drag on into next week, there was widspread surprise this could happen to the world's most famous democracy. "An American legend collapses -- suspicions of fraud in US vote," ran the headline in Turkey's mass-circulation Hurriyet daily. "Even in the United States there is electoral fraud," the Bulgaria financial daily Curentul wrote.
Congo's independent La Reference Plus said Thursday the US vote provided "strong arguments for bad leaders and dictators in Africa." "If this happens in the United States, how do you want everything to be clean and transparent in the poor African continent," added the daily. Portugal's Diario de Noticias also echoed the view that democracy was being undermined: "In the end, this (US vote) is bad news for democracy in America. And in consequence, is bad news for democracy."
But the French press dismissed that notion, saying the true winner in the US presidential elections was, in fact, none other than democracy. "The current crisis will be overcome," wrote the conservative daily Le Figaro, dismissing claims the chaos will damage the US. "In spite of waiting two more days and playing with the nerves of onlookers, it's only the vote count -- precisely because every vote counts -- which determines the outcome of the vote. That is democracy." Democracy is imperfect but "it's worked for two hundred years. And not that badly," it said.
Britain's press, however, began dividing along party lines, debating the rights and wrongs of attempts of Democrat Al Gore camp to overturn the result in Florida, which his Republican rival George W. Bush won by a whisker, according to the initial count. "Desperate Al Gore began fighting dirty last night in his bid to snatch the US presidency," wrote Britain's best selling tabloid, The Sun.
The right-leaning Daily Telegraph echoed this view, saying Gore's team had "opted to challenge the results rather than concede defeat graciously." The Guardian, however, came out in support of the vice president for the sake of US democracy. "It said there had to be challenges to the alleged "possible wilful fraud and/or gross incompetence" and called for a re-run of the vote in areas where there had been significant irregularities.
END
Cuba Offers To Send Ballot Observers To Florida If New Election Ordered,
Nicole Winfield, The Sun Sentinel ~ Nov. 10
NEW YORK -- Cuba's foreign minister said a new election in Florida would be a "reasonable" way to resolve the disputed vote for U.S. president and offered to send observers to ensure fair balloting.
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, in New York on Thursday for a U.N. visit, wondered what the United States would say if the complaints of voter confusion over some ballots and reports of alleged irregularities had been registered during elections in other countries.
"I believe that those in the United States who have always tried to become judges of the elections that take place elsewhere must be receiving a lesson of modesty and humbleness," Perez Roque said at a press conference. Roque questioned whether in future U.S. votes, "it would be necessary to have a more rigorous or strict international scrutiny regarding the transparency of elections."
His comments came as Cuba's Communist Party daily, Granma, blamed the electoral uncertainty on foes of Fidel Castro, charging that Cuban exiles in Florida were desperately trying to regain political power lost with Elian Gonzalez's return to the island. "A dark cloud today darkens the political scene in the United States," Granma said in a front-page editorial Thursday. Perez Roque said a new round of balloting in the state was a "reasonable suggestion," but stressed it was a decision for the American people to make. He said Cuba would be willing to provide advisers if asked. But he added that as far as Cuba was concerned, it didn't matter whether Texas Gov. George W. Bush or Vice President Al Gore won the election, since neither has advocated lifting the nearly 40-year-old embargo against the island.
"Judging by the statements that have been made by themselves, one is as bad as the other," Perez Roque said. The foreign minister was in New York for the annual vote in the U.N. General Assembly criticizing the U.S. embargo and calling for it to be lifted as soon as possible.
The nonbinding resolution passed with 167 votes in favor -- the highest margin in the nine years Cuba has brought the initiative to the United Nations. The United States, Israel and the Marshall Islands voted against. Four countries abstained. Deputy U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham said the General Assembly was wrong to target its criticism against U.S. trade policy toward the communist island.
"The focus of the international community ... should be on the continuing human rights crisis in Cuba rather than on bilateral aspects of the United States' efforts to facilitate a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba," he said.
END
Nader and the Virtues of Gridlock, Election 2000: The Best of All Possible Worlds
by Alexander Cockburn ~ November 9
So it all came out right in the end: gridlock on the Hill and Nader blamed for sabotaging Al Gore. First a word about gridlock. We like it. No bold initiatives, like privatizing Social Security or shoving through vouchers. No ultra-right-wingers making it onto the Supreme Court. Ah, you protest, but what about the bold plans that a Democratic-controlled Congress and Gore would have pushed through? Relax. There were no such plans. These days gridlock is the best we can hope for.
Now for blaming Nader. Fine by us if all that people look at are those 97,000 Green votes for Ralph in Florida. That's good news in itself. Who would have thought the Sunshine State had that many progressives in it, with steel in their spine and the spunk to throw Eric Alterman's columns for The Nation into the trashcan?
And they had plenty of reason to dump Gore. What were the big issues for Greens in Florida? The Everglades. Back in 1993 the hope was that Clinton/Gore would push through a cleanup bill to prevent toxic runoff from the sugar plantations south of Lake Okeechobee from destroying the swamp that covers much of south-central Florida. Such hopes foundered on a "win-win" solution brokered by sugar barons and the real estate industry. Clinton signed off on it, in a conversation with Alfonso Fanjul overheard by Monica Lewinsky as her the commander in chief deferentially accepted his marching orders.
Another issue prompted some of those 97,000 to defiantly vote for Nader: the Homestead Air Force Base, which sits between Biscayne National Park and the Everglades. The old Air Force base had been scheduled for shutdown, but then Cuban-American real estate interests concocted a scheme to turn the base into a commercial airport. Despite repeated pleas from biologists inside the Interior Department as well as from Florida's Greens, Gore refused to intervene, cowed by the Canosa family, which represented the big money behind the airport's boosters. Just to make sure there would be no significant Green defections back to the Democratic standard, Joe Lieberman made a last-minute pilgrimage to the grave of Jorge Mas Canosa, once the godfather of the sinister Cuban-American National Foundation.
You want one final reason for the Nader voter in Florida? Try the death penalty, for which Gore issued strident support in that final debate. Florida runs third, after Texas and Virginia as a killing machine, and for many progressives in the state it's an issue of principle. Incidentally, about half a million ex-felons, sentences and probation fully served, are disenfranchised permanently in Florida. A crucial number of these would have voted for Gore the crime fighter and supporter of the War on Drugs.
Other reasons many Greens nationally refused to knuckle under and sneak back to the Gore column? You want an explanation of why he lost Ohio by four points and New Hampshire by one? Try the WTI hazardous-waste incinerator (world's largest) in East Liverpool, Ohio. Gore promised voters in 1992 that a Democratic administration would kill it. It was a double lie. First, Carol Browner's EPA almost immediately gave the incinerator a permit. When confronted on his broken pledge, Gore said the decision had been pre-empted by the outgoing Bush crowd. This too was a lie, as voters in Ohio discovered a week before Election 2000. William Reilly, Bush's EPA chief, finally testified this fall that Gore's environmental aide Katie McGinty told him in the 1992 transition period that "it was the wishes of the new incoming administration to get the trial-burn permit granted. The Vice President-elect would be grateful if I simply made that decision before leaving office."
Don't think this was a picayune issue with no larger consequences. Citizens of East Liverpool, notably Terry Swearingen, have been campaigning across the country on this scandal for years, haunting Gore. So too, to its credit, has Greenpeace. They were particularly active in the Northeast, during Gore's primary battles with Bill Bradley. You can certainly argue that the last-minute disclosure of Gore's WTI lies prompted enough Greens to stay firm and cost him New Hampshire, a state which, with Oregon, would have given Gore the necessary 270 votes.
And why didn't Gore easily sweep Oregon? A good chunk of the people on the streets of Seattle last November come from Oregon. They care about NAFTA, the WTO and the ancient forests that Gore has been pledging to save since 1992. The spotted owl is now scheduled to go extinct on the Olympic Peninsula within the next decade. Another huge environmental issue in Oregon has been the fate of the salmon runs, wrecked by the Snake River dams. Gore thought he'd finessed that one by pretending that unlike Bush, he would leave the decision to the scientists. Then, a week before the election, Gore's team of scientists released a report saying they thought the salmon could be saved without breaching the four dams. Nader got 5 percent in Oregon, an amazing result given the intensive carpet-bombing by flacks for Gore like Gloria Steinem.
Yes, Nader didn't break 5 percent nationally, but he should feel great, and so should the Greens who voted for him. Their message to the Democrats is clear. Address our issues, or you'll pay the same penalty next time around. Nader should draw up a short list of Green non-negotiable issues and nail it to the doors of the Democratic National Committee. By all means credit Nader, but of course Gore has only himself to blame. He's a product of the Democratic Leadership Council, whose pro-business stance was designed to regain the South for the Democrats. Look at the map. Bush swept the entire South, with the possible exception of Florida. Gore's electoral votes came from the two coasts and the old industrial Midwest.
The states Gore did win mostly came courtesy of labor and blacks. Take Tennessee, where voters know Gore best. He would have won the election if he'd carried his home state. Gore is good with liberals earning $100,000-$200,000. He can barely talk to rural people, and he made another fatal somersault, reversing his position on handguns after telling Tennessee voters for years that he was solid on the gun issue. Guns were a big factor in Ohio and West Virginia too. You can't blame Nader for that, but it's OK with us if you do.
As for Nader holding the country to ransom, what's wrong with a hostage taker with a national backing of 2.7 million people? The election came alive because of Nader. Let's hope he and the Greens keep it up through the next four years. Not one vote for Nader, Mr. Alterman? He got them where it counted, and now the Democrats are going to have to deal with it.
END
CIA Assets Accused Of Manipulating Election Results
by Jacobo, Independent Media Center ~ Nov 8
George Herber Walker Bush has allegedly used his old CIA connections to manipulate election results in Florida. A brief outline of Bush's alleged use of the CIA, and an update on the "irregularites" in the Florida contest. Jeb Bush will not be well received at the Bush family Thanksgiving dinner, if the "does not deliver Florida." Florida voters defrauded: "They thought they were voting for Gore; they were voting for Buchanan instead."
With less than a one thousand vote difference between Gore and Bush in Florida--which will determine the electoral outcome-- allegations about Bush's father are flying fast. Numerous independent analysts, conspiracy theorists, and non-corporate media commentators, in the US and abroad, are speculating about George Herber Walker Bush's CIA connections. During the 60's, operation mongoose, one of the largest rogue CIA operations, allegedly working outside Presidential control, was based in Florida. The operatives involved in "mongoose" were overwhelmingly Cuban exiles, who have been traditionally sympathetic to Republicans.
George Bush Senior headed up the CIA for, and retained his CIA connections throughout the period of his vice presidency under Reagan. Bush employed the CIA, and is widely believed to have had a direct hand in the support of the Contras in the anti-Sandinista insurgency. The contra war, fought throughout most of the 1980's, was also largely dependent on Cuban exiles, who based their methods on the historical example of operation mongoose. When Bush left office, inspite of his electoral loss to Clinton, the former President was allegedly able to keep control of many of his CIA assets, a large number of which worked privately for mercenary groups, and an equally large number of which continued in the CIA. Secret operations in Florida, according to some former CIA agents, continue to this day.
According to a source, who spoke anonymously to an associate of this reporter, one of largest contingents of secret forces is presently organizing in the Florida Keys. Those who follow the issue of the Republican's so-called "Plan Colombia", will be aware that Clinton and Gore have made some moves to resist US intervention, which include protracted delays in sending war materials to the Colombian military. The Cuban exiles, and most Republican leaders, including Bush, Trent Lott, Denny Hastert, Tom Delay, have worked hard to get the aid to the Colombian military, and have cultivated a close connection to the most reactionary and secretive members of the exile community, who help with covert operations throughout Latin America.
Some analysts are now speculating that the voting in Florida has been manipulated, by covert operatives, with Governor Jeb Bush's approval. The corporate media jokingly reports that Jeb Bush will not be well received at the Bush family Thanksgiving dinner, if the "does not deliver Florida." The official press also reports that there were a number of "voter irregularities" in Florida. The corporate media scoffs at any notion that "corruption" could alter the vote in Florida--- yet some comparisons have already been made with the irregularities in Chicago during the Kennedy--Nixon contest, where it is widely alleged that the corrrupt Mayor Daley delivered the election to Kennedy by a variety of illegal manipulations. One of the most significant scandals in the present electoral fiasco in Florida, involves the counting of Gore votes for Buchanan, in fairly large numbers. Voters checked the box for Gore, but the results were tallied for Buchanan. "They thought they were voting for Gore; they were voting for Buchanan instead," CNN reported at 5:15 a.m.
There is little doubt that George Bush Senior, G.W. Bush, and Governor Jeb Bush have the resources, the motivation, and the requisite lack of moral scruples to have been able to conduct such an operation. Of course the corporate media has depicted the Bush family as an honorable happy coterie, which would never entertain such notions--- inspite of the fact that Bush Senior was the head of one of most murderous and immoral organizations in modern world history, and inspite of the fact that the Gulf War, Bush's Baby, was fraudulant and reckless from start to finish.
END
This Just In: Bush Or Gore May Win!
Michael Moore ~ November 8
Dear friends,
It's a cliffhanger! From my vantage point -- and, hey, whadda I know? -- I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that....EITHER BUSH OR GORE IS ABSOLUTELY GONNA WIN! And when they do, just as soon as those votes in Florida are recounted and/or challenged -- and no matter which way the vote goes -- here is the country we are going to get with Bush-or-Gore (based on their own campaign platforms and statements in which they agreed with each other):
** Bush-or-Gore will spend billions of dollars more on the Pentagon -- and God knows, we need more missiles to defend ourselves from ... well, from ... you know ... all those enemies!
** Bush-or-Gore will continue the death penalty with enthusiasm! Revenge works!
** Bush-or-Gore will oppose UNIVERSAL health coverage! Get sick? Get f-----!
** Bush-or-Gore will vigorously support NAFTA and WTO and the removal of even MORE jobs to third world countries! Cheaper shoes!
** Bush-or-Gore will continue the embargo against that scary, scary country -- Cuba!
** Bush-or-Gore will continue bombing Iraq and keep up the embargo of food and medicine that costs 5,000 infants and children their lives every month! Yea! Less Iraqis!
** Bush-or-Gore have promised to expand the War on Drugs that locks up another million of our citizens who need help with their addictions! And we'll get the added bonus of our next military incursion ... in sunny South America!
** Bush-or-Gore are going to raise the minimum wage by a whopping 50 cents an hour next year! More Hamburger Helper!
** Bush-or-Gore have said it must remain illegal for gays and lesbians to enter into civil unions with each other (eeeeuuww! yuck!).
** Bush-or-Gore will give us a presidency and a White House that has been bought with $540 million of "contributions" from the wealthiest 10%. The rich will have their issues attended to with diligence. The rest of us? We need to get in that 10% Club! No wonder this vote is sooooo close. Two guys who promise the same thing find out that they get the same vote! This system is genius!
In the interests of full disclosure, please note that Gore (who voted to put anti-abortion zealot Scalia on the Supreme Court) has said he believes in a woman's right to chose. So that would be "different." And if he follows through, that would be important. And, if Bush is the President ... well, uh, look at the bright side: All Americans will share a common bond. Everyone will be able to say, "I'M smarter than the President of the United States!" Not bad, eh? So, cheer up! No matter which way it goes, somebody is going to be president.
Yours,
END
The Guardian ~ November 8
There's the conservative prophet who espouses Victorian values. Then there's the born-again Christian who bases his morality on Hollywood westerns... Julian Borger unveils the key thinkers advising a would-be president Special report: the US elections Tuesday November 7, 2000 The world's most powerful capital is today holding its breath, waiting to discover who its new tenants will be. If Al Gore pulls off a miracle it will presumably be business as usual - more or less the same breed of earnest young Democrats that has been filling the Starbucks branches on Pennsylvania Avenue for the past eight years.
If George W Bush triumphs, however, Washington will have to brace itself for a cultural tidal wave rolling in from Texas. If elected, the governor from Austin would inevitably bring a new crowd of advisers, wonks, gurus and hangers-on from the governor's mansion in Austin. There will be many immediate changes. Overnight, cowboy boots will become de rigueur with business suits, and the Texas twang (in both its authentic and ersatz varieties) will reverberate around the cafes of Georgetown. But beneath the froth, there will be another, more profound, cultural transformation at the epicentre of the world's sole superpower. Gore has the reputation of making key decisions on his own. To know him is to know who is going to be behind the wheel.
Bush is an entirely different kind of operator. He keeps normal business hours, and expects his team to agree on a policy decision and present it to him in digestible form, rather like Ronald Reagan. So, as with Reagan, the identity of those advisers will take on a particular significance for the US and the world should America swing right today.
They are, to say the least, a pretty interesting bunch - a different tribe entirely from the slick, pragmatic New Democrats in power at the moment. They have more in common with the Reaganauts than the subsequent court run by Bush the Elder. Bush's key economic adviser is Larry Lindsey, an early adherent from the Reagan era of supply-side economics. The doctrine (famously derided as "voodoo economics" by the governor's dad), provides an academic rationale for giving tax cuts to the rich. The theory is that rich people would invest their windfall in the stock market, providing a morale-boosting injection of funds and investment capital to create jobs, providing "trickle-down" wealth to the ordinary people. The supply-siders thus provide a do-gooder gloss to the Bush tax-cut plan, which would hand $81bn (60% of the total reduction) to the richest 13m taxpayers.
The foreign affairs team also has an 80s feel to it. Condoleeza Rice, the likely national security adviser in the event of a Bush win, worked for the governor's father, but is a child of the cold-war mentality which reigned supreme under Reagan. Together with Paul Wolfowitz (another hard-line Reaganaut and possible defence secretary), she advocates a much tougher, adversarial stance towards Russia and China, and a much more hard-headed assessment of vital national interests, stripped of the humanitarian interventions which have flourished under the Clinton-Gore administration.
In terms of economic and foreign policy then, a Bush White House is likely to be merely a throwback. It is the underlying ethos (what the governor would undoubtedly call "the heart") of a future Republican administration that would be truly exotic, even bizarre. Bush's favourite slogan "compassionate conservatism" is no empty jingle - it is actually borrowed from a body of work by a pair of obscure conservative gurus, whose influence would surely grow exponentially if the Republicans recapture the White House. One is Myron Magnet, a cultural hawk from the right-wing Manhattan Institute. His rival for George W's heart and soul is a Marxist turned born-again Christian from Texas, Marvin Olasky, who believes the whole machinery of state-provided social welfare should be scrapped in favour of a return to 19th-century-style religious charities and soup kitchens.
Olasky has come on a long intellectual journey. Born into a Boston Jewish family in 1950, he renounced his religion at the age of 14 and became an avowed atheist. At Yale, he joined the Communist party and in 1972 travelled to Moscow on a Russian freighter, to prove his Marxist-Leninist ardour. His 180-degree transformation came only a year later, apparently as a result of watching a lot of Hollywood westerns. He was doing a graduate degree in American culture at the University of Michigan, focusing on US cinema. He later said that the profound moral sense of right and wrong he found in the western genre, raised in his Marxist mind the nagging question: "What if there is a God?" The answer seems to have been not far behind, because Olasky quickly renounced his Communist affiliation, and converted to evangelical Christianity.
He now teaches journalism at the University of Texas, but most of his effort is spent in publishing a right-wing Christian conservative journal ambitiously called World (largely devoted to the denunciation of Bill Clinton and all his evils) and running the church he founded in Austin, the Redeemer Presbyterian. The Redeemer church teaches that women have no place in leadership, having already engineered the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Olasky once said that there was "a certain shame attached" to the idea of voting for a woman, because it meant that men had failed in their role.
Olasky also believes that liberal journalists have "holes in their souls" and practice "the religion of Zeus", which came as something of a surprise to the east-coast press. "What could he mean?" they wondered. Frank Rich, a veteran columnist at the New York Times, and one of those accused of having a hole in his soul, said: "He still hasn't told me whether the religion of Zeus goes in for Bar Mitzvahs."
These distractions aside, the driving force behind Olasky's church work and his prolific writing is the war against social welfare. His 1992 book, The Tragedy of American Compassion, argues that the Great Society programmes launched in the 1960s sapped the moral strength from the poor by providing a prop: "Every time we tell someone he is a victim, every time we say he deserves a special break today, every time we hand out charity to someone capable of working, we are hurting rather than helping," he argued.
Instead, Olasky teaches that charity should be channelled through faith-based organisations, which would distribute largesse accompanied by the required religious fortification, to counter the character-rotting impact of giving things away for nothing. To stand up his conclusions, he once dressed up as a beggar and wandered the streets, reporting back that although he was given food and shelter, his true craving, for a bible, was left unfulfilled. Olasky's golden age for Christian charitable works was the 1890s, when the grateful poor were ministered to by "slum angels" who gave "gladly" through "Jesus's love". It is Thatcherism plus God. All this explains a lot about what has been going on over the past five years in Texas, where social services and government health care have been under intense pressure, even as Governor Bush was informing the rest of the world of his heartfelt compassion.
Myron Magnet is cut from similar cloth as Olasky. The conservative prophet sports big Dickensian bushy whiskers (apparently inspired by a stay at Cambridge University), and a Victorian philosophy to match. His seminal work, The Dream and the Nightmare, espouses many of the same ideas as Olasky, arguing that many of the country's present social problems are a direct result of the 60s counterculture, which "permitted, even celebrated, behaviour that when poor people practice it will imprison them inextricably in poverty." Bush said the book "really helped crystallise some of my thinking about cultures, changing cultures, and of part of the legacy of my generation". The underlying philosophy has surfaced in his campaign rhetoric in the form of his biting criticism of the philosophy of "If it feels good, do it".
From an examination of the brains behind Bush's catchphrases, this is more than a promise not to have oral sex in the Oval Office. It suggests a Bush victory next week would bring a new political class to town which looks backwards for its inspiration, not just to the halcyon days of Reagan, but far further, to a bygone Victorian age where there were bibles in the soup kitchens, and the poor knew their place.
END
13 Percent of Black Men in America Have No Vote
Reuters ~ November 03, 2000
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With efforts to get out the vote in full swing ahead of Tuesday's election, activists hoping to rally minority communities face a legal roadblock -- 13 percent of black men have lost the right to vote because of incarceration or past felony convictions.
In Alabama and Florida, one study found, the total is as high as one in three.
"About 1.8 million men are disenfranchised within the African-American community,'' said Keenan Keller, minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, where a bill to extend voting rights to ex-offenders has languished for more than a year.
"In certain swing states, the number of folks who are disenfranchised could actually have a direct impact on the election,'' he said, adding that because of aggressive policing linked to the war on drugs the impact on future elections could be great.
"You have the situation where juveniles can lose the right to vote before they even get it,'' he said.
The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C., organization that promotes alternative sentencing programs, reports that in 47 states and the District of Columbia, all convicted adults in prison are denied voting rights while they are incarcerated. Thirty two states also deny paroled felons the right to vote, 29 deny felons on probation the vote, and in 13 states ex-offenders lose their voting rights for life.
Only Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts allow prisoners convicted of felonies to vote. But that right is on the ballot in Massachusetts on Tuesday when voters will be asked to decide whether to disenfranchise prisoners in that state.
LAWS BASED ON CIVIL DEATH
Laws denying criminals the right to vote have been on the books in the United States for 200 years. They are based on the belief that those who break the law should suffer ``civil death'' and forfeit some rights.
Roger Clegg, general counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Equal Opportunity, has testified before the House Judiciary Committee on the issue. He said there are good reasons why the criminal disenfranchisement law should be maintained.
"The basic point is that somebody who is not willing to follow the law should not have a role in making the laws for everyone else. That's what you're doing when you vote,'' Clegg said in a telephone interview.
"There has to be some sort of minimum threshold of trustworthiness or loyalty an individual must have before they have a role in running the government.''
But those advocating a change say the old ``civil death'' laws could not have envisioned a society in which millions of people -- convicted of crimes ranging from murder to non-violent theft -- lose their right to vote. They say once a criminal has served their sentence they should be free to participate in the political process.
Like the dark days of segregation, when laws were manufactured to keep blacks out of the voting booth, some today are reviewing the rules governing voting rights for felons to see whether they disproportionately affect the African-American community and muzzle its political voice.
In all, 4.2 million Americans -- either current prison inmates or ex-offenders -- are not allowed to vote. Of those, more than one third are black, according to The Sentencing Project. That amounts to 13 percent of all black men.
"We estimate in our report that for black males born today, in the most restrictive states, 30 to 40 percent of them will lose their voting rights at some point in their life,'' said Mark Mauer, the group's assistant director.
In 1998, The Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch looked at the extent of criminal disenfranchisement and found that in Alabama and Florida, 31 percent of all black men were permanently disenfranchised.
In five other states -- Iowa, Mississippi, New Mexico, Virginia and Wyoming -- one in four black men were permanently disenfranchised, and in Texas one in five black men had lost the right to vote.
In September, The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law filed suit in federal court in Florida challenging the constitutionality of the state's permanent disenfranchisement of ex-felons.
Nancy Northup, director of The Brennan Center's Democracy Program and lead attorney in the case, said the state's law is designed to discriminate against African Americans.
"It violates the voting rights act because it continues to discriminate against African American voters,'' she said.
END
Three Strikes And You're Out, Mr. Bush,
Michael Moore ~ November 3
Dear friends,
With the revelation last night of the drunk driving arrest and conviction in 1976 of George W. Bush, this marks the THIRD arrest -- that we know of -- involving this man who would be President.
Let me ask you, the readers of this letter: How many times have YOU been arrested? Me, none. Most of you -- once? twice? This guy has been arrested AT LEAST THREE TIMES! How many people do you know have been arrested three times? Go ahead, do a quick count on your fingers.
The answer? NONE!
Yet, we are being asked on Tuesday to vote for a man who has been arrested THREE TIMES. For President of the United States! Are they kidding? The Republicans must take us all for idiots.
The first arrest of George W. Bush was for theft at a hotel. The second arrest was for disorderly conduct at a football game. The third arrest, we've now learned, is for a very serious crime -- drunk driving. What's the next crime committed by George W. Bush that we will learn of? When will we learn it? It is time for everyone to demand the truth from Governor Bush. I'm telling you, we haven't heard the last of his criminal behavior.
But next Wednesday will be too late to find out.
The press should be ashamed of itself for its laziness. I cannot believe it took a young woman, Erin Fehlau -- at a FOX affiliate, no less -- up in Maine to stumble onto this story and do the necessary work to uncover it. Where have the big networks' investigative reporters been?
I'll tell you where: ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL!
After seeing this local Maine reporter on "Nightline" last night explain how a policewoman told her she overheard a conversation between a lawyer and a judge, and then the reporter started digging around and found out the facts, it was clear the story was not planted by the Gore campaign, as Bush and his people have been insinuating.
The real story here is how did this conviction get covered up for so many years? I spoke to a lawyer last night familiar with these kinds of cases. She said that a D.U.I., in and of itself, is not something worth covering up. Had Bush revealed this himself, he would have found the public forgiving of his infraction.
No, my lawyer friend continued, the only reason to cover it up would be that there was something ELSE connected to the arrest that night -- e.g., drugs or resisting arrest. This other potential charge could have been dropped and expunged. The reporter was shown only the court docket which listed Bush's name, address, and the charge to which he pleaded guilty. What we need to see is the actual POLICE REPORT from that night. Assuming it hasn't been doctored, that will tell us the truth.
The Bush people have already lied about the nature of the D.U.I. arrest (they said the cop pulled Bush over because he was "driving too slowly"; the arresting officer last night said it was because Bush had "swerved off on the shoulder of the road"). Bush himself lied last night when asked about the night he spent in jail. "I didn't spend time in jail," he insisted. The officer told the local reporter that Bush, in fact, was handcuffed, taken to the station, and held in custody for at least an hour and a half.
This is not just some simple traffic ticket. I don't want to hear one word comparing this drunk driving conviction to Clinton's transgressions. Lying about consensual sex you had with another adult is NOT the same as getting behind the wheel of a car when you are drunk and endangering the lives of others (including the life of your own sister, Mr. Bush, who was in the car with you that night).
It is NOT the same as Gore volunteering he smoked pot in his youth. That act endangered no one's life and he did not try to cover it up.
And don't tell us that the drunk driving and the "drinking problem" was just a "youthful indiscretion." You were NOT a "youth" when you were in your THIRTIES on the night you were arrested while careening off the road. The fact is, according to your own admission (if not in these words), you were a drunk and a bum 'til the age of 40, living off your rich daddy who spent his time bailing you out of trouble.
For crying out loud -- if any Republican is reading this, I implore you: this man does not deserve to be placed in the highest and most respected office in the land! Bush voters, come to your senses! If you can't bring yourself to vote for Nader or Gore, then show your love for your country and just stay home next Tuesday.
Please, save our nation this incredible, unfolding, never-ending embarrassment.
Yours,
P.S. Last night, just as the news was breaking about George W. Bush's arrest and conviction for driving while drunk, I sent out an open letter to Governor Bush, asking him to answer three questions which I believe affect our national security:
1. Are you, Mr. Bush, unable to read and write on an adult level?
2. Are you an alcoholic and, if so, how will this affect your performance as Commander-in-Chief?
3. You say that you have not committed any felonies since 1975. What felonies did you commit PRIOR to that date?
I implore our nation's media to demand answers to these questions before Tuesday's election. The people have a right to know.
P.P.S. "The Awful Truth" is pre-empted tonight. Our election special marathon is on Bravo, this Sunday afternoon, beginning at 4pm ET
END
It's the Electoral System, Stupid!
Tom Glick ~ November 2
This is the third title that I've come up with for this column in the last two days. The first one was, "A Rift Whose Time Has Come." The second was, "Two Dates in November." But I've decided to put the main point of this particular column right up front.
Why are progressives divided, confused, bitter and/or at each others' throats as we come down to the wire towards election day? It's the electoral system, stupid!
What has become of the coalition of trade unionists, young people, environmentalists, fair trade campaigners and others which stunned the country and the world last November 30th through mass action in the streets of Seattle on the first day of the World Trade Organization's meeting? It's the electoral system, stupid!
And why is it likely, as this column is being written, that the election day results, whatever they are, are going to exacerbate tactical and strategic differences within the overall progressive movement? It's the electoral system, stupid!
Don't get me wrong: I have no illusions that all of us who call ourselves "progressive" really see things in the same way. Those who are attacking Nader as if he were the anti-Christ and speaking of Gore as if he were the reincarnation of Martin Luther King, Jr. may have similar views as the Nader movement on a number of issues, but in the final analysis, when push comes to shove, they're more concerned with not rocking the boat than with doing the right thing on those issues. They genuinely deserve Nader's appellation, "frightened liberals."
But there are many, many more people who will be voting for Gore who share many of Nader's views and who are, without question, long-term allies of those of us, myself included, who will be voting for Nader (and I'd be voting for Nader whichever state I lived in).
Those of us who are crystal clear on the bankruptcy of the two-party system need to be able to distinguish between these two groups. It's a question of reliable and unreliable allies. We need to continue to work with the reliable allies, maintaining cordial or friendly relationships, finding common ground across the board in the coming months and years as we fight against either Gore or Bush on the issues.
We also need to interact with the unreliable allies. Sometimes it will be to criticize them for their timidity and fear, their willingness to sell out principles and basic beliefs under the guise of "realism" and "practical politics." And sometimes we will find ourselves in situations, usually short-term, where we are working together.
If we are ever going to get to the kind of broadly-based and effective pro-justice party, or alliance of parties, that can seriously contend for power, we need to learn how to distinguish between these two types of allies. Noting what they are saying now, and how they say it, about Gore and Nader is one way to make those distinctions. Class, culture, nationality, gender, sexuality, age, income-these are other considerations. Past histories of principled, or not-so-principled activism, are another way.
We need to make these distinctions because we need to internalize some lessons from the experiences of the last several months. One of the most significant lessons is that as long as we are forced to compete electorally under a winner-take-all system, it will be extremely difficult to build up the critical mass of electoral victories necessary to sustain our incipient third party movement.
The U.S. electoral system is a throwback to the past. The vast majority of countries in the world use some form of proportional representation (PR) in choosing government representatives. Under such systems parties are represented in government roughly proportional to the number of votes they receive. It's common sense: governments that are truly democratic should represent the entire electorate, not the 51%, or whatever it is, which votes for the winner.
We need to come off of this November, 2000 election building up some steam to unfold a Pro-Democracy Movement. At the top of its agenda should be work at local, state and national levels to educate the public on this and related issues, like same day voter registration, easier ballot access and voting rights for ex-prisoners and immigrants. We need to mount local campaigns to change electoral laws from winner-take-all to PR or Instant Runoff Voting, either legislatively or through an initiative campaign. The summer of 2001 should become Democracy Summer, with hundreds of young people and others participating in a national campaign to reach out widely on this set of issues.
Some may object: this is too technical, not a survival issue, not "sexy" enough. People won't respond.
Similar arguments were made 10 years ago when campaign finance reform, especially public financing of elections, was hardly on anyone's radar screen. I remember being at a meeting on the Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi organized by Randy Kehler, Gwen Patton, Ben Senturia and others in the Working Group on Electoral Democracy. They had invited an impressive cross-section of progressive activists from around the country to a weekend retreat to discuss whether or not this issue had any possibility of resonating with people at the grassroots, and if so, how. Today, public financing reforms have been enacted in four states, there is a major national organization, Public Campaign, working with groups all over the country to expand upon those victories, and John McCain almost won the Republican nomination for President on the strength of this issue.
Proportional representation, including instant runoff voting, is an issue whose time has come. Let's not be stupid anymore. As we work on the survival, justice and other democracy issues, let's also be about the work of changing the electoral system which continues to divide us and make us feel much weaker than we are. There is extensive support for a genuinely progressive political agenda in this country. Whoever we vote for on November 7, let's undertake the work following the election that will allow that support to achieve practical results in the future.
Ted Glick is National Coordinator of the Independent Progressive Politics Network and author of the recently-published, FUTURE HOPE: A Winning Strategy for a Just Society. He can be reached at futurehopeTG@aol.com or P.O. Box 1132, Bloomfield, N.J. 07003.
END
Manning Marable ~ September 2000
The major political surprise of this summer was Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore's selection of Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate. Lieberman, a socially conservative Orthodox Jew, had first become widely known nationally as the most prominent Senate Democrat to denounce President Clinton's misconduct in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The media, for the most part, was overwhelmingly positive with the selection of the first Jewish candidate on a major party national ticket. The New York Post, for example, declared that Lieberman was "Miracle Man Joe." The Miami Herald summed up the general media consensus: "Gore's VP Pick Historic."
What was most unusual was the Republican response to Lieberman, which was also extremely positive. William Bennett, Reagan's former secretary of education declared that even "conservatives acknowledged that the vice president had made a wise choice by picking a man of principle, intelligence and civility." Republicans immediately noted that the Connecticut Senator was ideologically closer on many issues to Texas Governor George W. Bush than to Gore.
The surprising selection of Lieberman by Gore raises three unavoidable questions, from the vantagepoint of African-American politics: (1) Who is Joe Lieberman?; (2) Why did Al Gore choose him? and (3) What does it mean for black people?
Who is Lieberman? To his credit, one of his earliest involvements in politics was during the summer of 1964, when he traveled south after graduating from college to participate in the "Mississippi Freedom Summer," organizing and registering black voters. After a modest career as a state senator and Connecticut's state attorney general, Lieberman stunned the political establishment by upsetting liberal Republican Lowell Weicker for the Senate in 1988. Weicker was generally a progressive voice on civil rights, and had even been arrested in 1985 for demonstrating against Reagan's policies favoring apartheid South Africa. Lieberman defeated Weicker in part by attacking him from the right, on such issues as the Republican incumbent's call to normalize relations with Cuba.
Throughout his twelve years in the U.S. Senate, Lieberman positioned himself on the extreme conservative wing of the Democratic Party. He chairs the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), the "centrist" group of elected officials (including Clinton and Gore) who have aggressively pushed their party toward more conservative public policy positions.
On a wide variety of issues, Lieberman is clearly to the right of both Clinton and Gore. On gay rights, for example, in 1994 Lieberman supported an amendment offered by reactionary Republican Senator Jesse Helms, which cut off federal funds to any school district that used educational materials that in any way "supported homosexuality."
Lieberman has a long record of hostility toward affirmative action that even his liberal apologists in the Democratic Party cannot hide. Back in 1995, when Lieberman took over the DLC, he declared, "You can't defend policies that are based on group preferences as opposed to individual opportunities, which is what America has always been about." Lieberman embraced California's Proposition 209 in 1996, which outlawed affirmative action programs in that state. When President Clinton, after months of hesitation, finally put forward the formulation that affirmative action programs ought to be "mended, not ended," Lieberman led the opposition within the Democratic Party. The DLC's Progressive Policy Institute issued a report criticizing Clinton's position, and called for abolishing it for government hiring and contracting, and making it voluntary in private business.
On issues of higher education, Lieberman has again played a conservative role. He was the only Democrat to vote against liberal historian Sheldon Hackney, the President of the University of Pennsylvania, to become head of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He claimed that Hackney was too liberal on campus issues of "political correctness." Lieberman then became co-founder of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a five-year-old group that rejects "racial preferences," opposes "political correctness," and defends "Western civilization." Another co-founder with Lieberman is the notorious Lynne V. Cheney, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, ideologue of the Far Right, and wife of Richard B. Cheney, the Republican vice presidential candidate.
On militarism, Lieberman was one of only ten Senate Democrats (including Gore) to support President George Bush's war against Iraq. He favored a more aggressive use of U.S. military force in Kosovo. Lieberman vigorously supports the deployment of a new missile defense system. On economic issues he's generally pro-business, and he challenged Democratic leaders in 1989 by supporting a capital gains tax cut. Not surprisingly, he championed Clinton's brutal 1996 Welfare Act.
Lieberman's most recent conflicts, prior to his nomination as vice presidential candidate, have been over public schools. He has consistently promoted voucher schemes to divert funds from public education, claiming that vouchers would "give poor kids and their families a lifeline out of failing schools."
Given this remarkably conservative record, for a Democrat, why did Gore select him as his running mate? I think there were several factors at work. Gore felt he had to distance himself from Clinton's sex scandal and impeachment fiasco. What better way to separate himself than by embracing Clinton's chief Democratic critic? Second, the selection of a Jewish candidate gave Gore the image of being independent-minded, or as one Democratic pollster put it, "much more strong-willed than most people realize." Lieberman's selection was calculated to help the Democratic ticket in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and possibly Florida, and should assist Hillary Clinton to win a New York Senate seat. But the primary reason Gore selected Lieberman is because they basically agree on nearly all important issues. Both men are centrist, "New Democrats." Gore's 2000 party platform soundly rejected liberal positions on literally every major issueÛincluding capital punishment, health care, military spending, and assistance for the poor. Under the so-called "party of the people," the Gore-Lieberman ticket supports globalization, the death penalty, limited expansion of health coverage, and the allocation of federal resources for debt reduction rather than to rebuild inner cities or reduce black infant mortality.
Where does all this leave African Americans? I looked at the staged New York Times photograph of Senator Lieberman standing before the meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus at the recent Democratic National Convention. Standing on either side of Lieberman are Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman and Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Only hours before, Herman and Waters had engaged in a spirited public disagreement over the selection of Lieberman. In the photo, Herman looks relieved, and Waters appears sad. Perhaps Maxine reflects the grim realization of other black Democrats, who are now forced to campaign for candidates and a party platform they privately oppose. All they are left with is to frighten black voters to the polls with the spectre of a Republican victory.
They don't realize the obvious: the Republicans have already won. By accepting Lieberman onto the ticket, as Nation writer David Corn states, Gore "has accepted (or surrendered to) the Bush terms of battle." Bush, Cheney, Gore and Lieberman, in the end, only reflect variations of the same bankrupt political philosophy.
END
Take Action Oct 3rd at the Presidential Debates
David Taylor ~ Sept. 26
CALL TO ACTION
COME TO BOSTON TO
TAKE ACTION OCTOBER 3rd AT THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES
On October 3rd of this year the two major party candidates will gather together to stage a spectacle of false democracy. The presidential debates are intended to serve as a shining example of how politicians are accountable to the people and how we have a choice in the decisions that are made about our lives. In reality the debates are a corporate sponsored puppet show where the candidates of the elite debate issues of little importance to most Americans. The debate is a prime example of how the electoral system leaves us with the false choice between numerous bought politicians and ultimately offers no hope for ordinary people to have a voice, let alone participate in the political process.
We want real, direct democracy that gives everyone power over the decisions and resources that matter in our neighborhoods, towns, schools, and workplaces. This is the only way we can the make lasting, positive social and ecological changes that will rebuild our communities and our environment. We can and will create direct democracy in our community organizations, town meetings, neighborhood groups, rank and file unions and grassroots movements.
Poverty and cuts in welfare, healthcare, education, public transportation and social services while the rich get richer; police brutality, racism and corruption; repression of grassroots activism; locking up of more and more youth; gentrification of our neighborhoods; skyrocketing rents and harassment of homeless people; political prisoners-like Mumia Abu Jamal-and the death penalty; poisoning of our air and water and killing of our forests; low wages, lousy, meaningless jobs, sweatshops and union busting; the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank forcing poverty, misery and environmental destruction around the globe for corporate profits.
These problems are all rooted in the same undemocratic political and economic system, controlled by big corporations, that hides behind staged political elections. It's time we came together to stand up to this system and create directly democratic positive alternatives! A new world is possible and we are part of a global movement that is rising up to make it happen. Join us.
Take Action at the October 3rd Presidential Debates
In response to this farce of democratic discussion we plan to hold our own truly democratic debates in the only civic forum left to us; the streets. We are planning an action, which would encompass communities from all parts of society to come together in the streets to discuss the issues, which truly affect our lives. We realize the current political powers have not and will not rule in the interests of the people, and because of this we feel it is our duty to help create a space where communities can begin to discuss how to reclaim our political power in order to begin making the decisions about issues which directly impact our lives. Come to Boston and take Direct Action for REAL DEMOCRACY!!!!
Here is some of what is planned and what you need to know to come to Boston:
DIRECT ACTION COMMUNITY CONVERGENCE,
Friday, September 29 - Monday, October 3rd
Convergence time and places are still to be announced but there will be a nightly spokes council meeting from Thursday Sept. 28th - Monday Oct 2nd. Please call (617)782-2313 for the location and schedule of the convergence.
The Direct Action Convergence will be a space for workshops including nonviolent direct action, first aid training, media messaging, street theater, puppets, art and more.
DIRECT ACTION AT THE DEBATE
The initial proposal of the O3 coalition to the spokes council is for a mass street party and people's debate to take place during the debates on Morrissey Blvd, across the street from the U-Mass campus where the debates will be taking place. We will be meeting in the northwest corner of Columbus park at 6:45 PM on Oct. 3rd. We are currently developing infrastructure for large scale street theater and a "debate in the streets" where members of the community can take part in real direct democracy and discuss the issues that really effect them in their daily lives.
There will also be a Mumia/ Prison Industrial Complex March (starting at 5 PM in Dudley Sq.), a Tour of Shame in Boston Financial District (starting at noon at Park St. Station in Boston Common) and a variety of other events. We strongly encourage affinity groups to come up with creative actions to do during the day or in support of the street party that evening.
ACTION GUIDELINES
All participants in this action are asked to agree to these action guidelines. Having this basic agreement will allow people from many backgrounds, movements and beliefs to work together for this action. They are not philosophical, political requirements placed upon you or judgments about the validity of some tactics over others. These guidelines are basic agreements that create a basis for trust, so we can work together for this action and know what to expect from each other.
1. We will use no violence, physical or verbal, towards any person.
2. We will carry no weapons
3. We will not bring or use any alcohol or illegal drugs.
4. We will not destroy property
AFFINITY GROUPS:
Everyone participating in the action is asked to form or join an affinity group which are self-sufficient, small, autonomous teams of people who share certain principles, goals, interests, plans or other similarities that enable them to work together well. The groups of 5-20 people should include some support people who do not risk arrest and are committed to do support before during and after the arrest stage of the action. Through a decentralized, highly democratic and powerful process, AGs make and carry out plans either individually in their own actions or with other affinity groups in a mass action. When acting together, affinity groups choose a spokes person to represent them at the Action Spokes Council. Because we will be participating in multiple actions over several days, strong, well-organized, and creative affinity groups will be essential to the success of this event.
Affinity Groups are vital to any mass nonviolent action for providing support and solidarity. By insuring familiarity and building trust with one another we take care of each other and reduce the possibility of disruptive behavior by police /provocateurs. Some affinity groups have stayed together over long periods of time for political support while others come together just for a particular action. Form an affinity group with your friends, people from your town, neighborhood or workplace, from your organization or community, with people you share some other affinity, interest or identity with. Two or more affinity groups that have something in common, or want to do similar actions should work together as a "cluster" of affinity groups.
If your affinity group is coming to Boston please e-mail us at info@bostonmobilization.org.
ACTION SPOKESCOUNCIL:
We will have our first Action Spokes Council on Thursday, Sept. 28 to develop the best possible action plan for the debate. The Action Spokes Council is the primary decision-making body for the overall action plan. It is made up of representatives or "spokes" from affinity groups with spokespeople chosen by each affinity group responsible for carrying their groups plans, opinions and decisions to the spokescouncil and carrying information and decisions back to their group. Using consensus, the Action Spokes Council decides what the action and jail/court solidarity strategy and framework will be. Once those have been agreed to, affinity groups (AGs) will determine how they can best participate in and contribute to the success of the overall action.
JAIL/COURT SOLIDARITY
Through jail solidarity we can take power in a situation designed to make us powerless. We do this by making our decisions as a group, by acting in harmony with each other, and by committing ourselves to safeguard each other's well being. Every time there is a choice in the legal process, if activists do not cooperate or things become more difficult for the authorities. Solidarity tactics mean that people noncooperate as a group unless the authorities agree to our demands. An overcrowded, expensive jail and legal system create additional pressure. This can give us some control legal consequences and get them over with more quickly, protect the authorities from singling some people out for harsher treatment, resist fines and probation, and extend the action to the prison and legal system with the strength and community of a group, instead of as individuals. We encourage action participants who are able, to clear their calendar in advance for several days or a week or so after the action should it become necessary to use a fill-the-jails tactics to win our demands. It is likely that those who want or need to leave will be able to do so. The use of jail/court solidarity will be discussed and decided on at the spokescounicl.
LEGAL
Please keep in mind: We do not have full legal support for this action. We have assembled a team of legal observers and a small number of lawyers to do support. We encourage you to talk to your affinity group about taking on a greater level of support if you plan to get arrested.
NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION TRAINING:
All action participants will be encouraged to take a nonviolent direct action training to prepare themselves for both the action and for jail and court solidarity to deal with the legal system. We will have several trainings during the convergence. Please come and prepare yourself for action!
HOUSING
Boston is home to over 100,000 college students and we got a few hundred who want to give you a place to sleep. Please contact the Campus Action Network for more information on housing at (617) 547-5408 or e-mail at housing@bostonmobilization.org.
SEE YOU IN BOSTON
For More information check out www.bostonmobilization.org, e-mail us at info@bostonmobilization.org or call us at (617) 782-2313.
In Solidarity,
the O3 Coalition
[FYI, media coverage will be provided at http://boston.indymedia.org. ]
END
Zachary Lihatsh ~ Aug. 18
Date: Fri, 18 Aug My name is Zachary Lihatsh, and I am a twenty year old New Hampshire native attending Guilford College, a small Quaker school in Greensboro, North Carolina. At Guilford I'm majoring in fine arts, aspiring to be a metal sculptor. I also have a keen interest in our environment and the treatment and well-being of all people, especially those who have no voice of their own. I'm genuinely concerned about our future on this planet and the need to make responsible decisions to insure that all people can enjoy basic human rights. Most importantly, I think, I'm the sort of person who is willing to work hard to make this world kinder and more humane. I sincerely try to be thoughtful, fair, and honest. I recognize there are currently situations where the rights of individuals and groups have been usurped, and I feel compelled to speak up - to participate in non-violent protest. Because of my concerns regarding the use of child labor and sweatshops, I participated in peaceful demonstrations in Seattle, helping to increase awareness of the WTO and its unchecked power. I demonstrated in Washington, D.C. to help bring attention to the World Bank and the need to forgive debts of many third world countries. Most recently, I was in Philadelphia at the time of the Republican National Convention, to question the distribution of wealth and, consequently, power in this country and throughout the world. What follows is my account of my arrest and subsequent treatment at the hands of the Philadelphia Police Department.
On Tuesday, August 2, I was arrested at the corner of Rittenhouse Square and 18th Street. I was on foot, one of four people whose responsibility was to assist any demonstrators needing first aid. We had no pre-determined route, and simply headed in the direction of any large collection of police vehicles. We were running, medical supplies in hand, to where we thought there might be injured protestors. Tired and out of breath, we repeatedly found ourselves stopped by police blockades, so we were forced to take less direct routes to our destinations. On the corner of Rittenhhouse and 18th, in central downtown Philadelphia, our progress came to a halt. As we tried to enter a street, a barricade formed before our eyes. I heard one officer shout, "Don't let them through!" Behind the barricade, I spotted friends handcuffed and physically hurt. I stopped and turned around to convey the information to my companions who were a short distance behind me. One officer then shouted "let them through!" I was surprised to witness the opening of the barricade before me. One officer, in a white shirt, announced something along the lines of, "You guys are going to join your friends". Then, "Get Them!" I did not run. Instead, I attempted to explain that I hadn't done anything wrong. The officer forcibly grabbed me, applying a painful submission hold, with my arm twisted and yanked upwards at my back. My three friends pressed in quickly behind me to see if I was ok. They abruptly met the same fate.
My backpack, containing my wallet, ID's, some clothing, and asthma medication was taken, and I was hand cuffed and made to sit on the curb. I have severe asthma and have been hospitalized twice over the past year as a result, so I asked to have access to my medication. My request was denied, though I was assured that I would see all my belongings again soon. At the time of this writing, neither the backpack nor its contents have been returned to me. The police then loaded us into a van, in which I observed hair prints in still-wet smears of blood on the walls.. Although the person next to me in the van was my good friend, with whom I planned to hike the Long Trail the following week, I didn't even recognize his beaten, cut, and swollen face at first. His eye lid was cut open, there was a fist- sized lump and abrasion on his forehead, his lip was split, and his nose looked as if it had been broken. We were kept in the back of the stifling hot van, dripping with sweat, for a very long time. The lights were off, and there were no windows, so, when we finally started to move, we could not see where we were going. The van drove for a short while, and then the vehicle stopped, and we sat in the heat again. When we were finally taken out of the van, we were lined up against it, then led into a garage, where we sat on the floor for several more hours. At last, we were finally permitted drinks from a hose. My friend's handcuffs were too tight, and blood was flowing down his hands. In order to position the clippers to cut the plastic cuffs, the police pulled the cuffs even tighter. My friend screamed out in pain.
After being processed and frisked by female guards, we were brought into holding cells. My holding cell was about 8x8 feet, and I was there with five other males. While in the holding cell, which was obviously designed for a single person, I experienced mistreatment and neglect from the prison guards. We were not given adequate food, our water was temporarily turned off, and people who needed medical attention were ignored. Some people fainted, and others vomited. During the two and a half days I spent in that cell I was never allowed to make a phone call and never provided with my needed medication.
I was finger printed and photographed, and my finger prints were matched to an earlier non-violent protest in Seattle, where I had been charged with obstructing pedestrian traffic. Hence, there was no question about my identity. I was then arraigned, and my bail was set at $20,000. I was placed in a different cell, along with three other protestors. Once again, I was denied a phone call. Two others were allowed to make calls, but when it was my turn, I was told that all the phones were busy, and the guards returned me to the cell.
I was released on the night of Thursday, August 3, after about 60 hours in jail.
I was charged with 9 misdemeanors: possession of an instrument of crime (I was carrying only medical supplies, clothing, my ID's, and my two inhalers), risking endangerment of another person (I was attempting to aid other persons), conspiracy to risk endangerment of another person, obstructing justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, disorderly conduct, disorderly conduct conspiracy, obstructing a highway (I wasn't even near a highway), and conspiracy to obstruct a highway. As I read through the list, not one of the charges describes myself or my conduct during the time in question.
As I await my September 16th court date, I am struggling to make sense of the events of the past two weeks. I feel angry, frustrated and wrongfully accused, and at the same time I realize that atrocities and human rights violations far worse than these happen every day. I feel it is our moral obligation, as the privileged few of the world, to stand up and speak out where others cannot. I find that my own personal experiences are far different from the protest stories presented by the popular media, and people with whom I've spoken since my release are surprised and shocked by my story. Too often the protestors have been characterized as an unruly mob bent on lawlessness and destruction. I can only wonder why there was not more accurate and truthful reporting of protest activities as well as the police response which followed. It is essential that people have clear and non-biased information, so they can reasonably assess the significance of these events. I encourage all individuals who truly value human rights to speak directly with someone who actually participated in the recent protests, in order to better understand what really happened.
Zachary A. Lihatsh
Grantham, N.H.
END
Student/Youth Call for Real Presidential Debate on Globalization
USAS ~ Sept. 20
In the wake of Senate passage of PNTR for China and on the eve of the World Bank/IMF Summit in Prague, we the undersigned student/youth activists call for a real presidential debate on globalization. We can no longer tolerate a "new world order" that places corporate profit above human need and the planet itself. Free trade is now the greatest threat to human freedom in the 21st century, and as student/youth activists with the greatest stake in the future, we also have the most to lose.
Not-too-surprisingly, the two Republicratic candidates for president, as well as the corporate media conglomerates, have all declared globalization to be a "non-issue" this electoral season. The grassroots resistance evident in Seattle, Washington, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles would indicate otherwise. Student/youth activists were a major force behind those protests and we will continue to defend human rights, labor standards, environmental protections, family farmers, indigenous peoples, affirmative action, and democratic sovereignty from attack by such free trade regimes as NAFTA and the WTO.
Therefore, we call for a real presidential debate on globalization this fall - first and foremost by opening the televised debates to ALL serious contenders, including Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke. Our voices are being silenced by the two party duopoly and their corporate media outlets. Similar elite "consensus" justified slavery, child labor, and other forms of oppression for centuries, but we are now prepared to say the "emperor has no clothes." If our call is not heeded, we are just as ready to express our protest at the ballot box, in our communities, and on our streets.
SIGNED:
END
Rumors Had Troopers Seeing Reds During The GOP Convention
by Craig R. McCoy and Linda K. Harris, Philadelphia Inquirer ~ September 10, 2000
The cold war is long over but Pennsylvania State Police were still on the lookout for communists and Soviet sympathizers among the demonstrators protesting last month's Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. In state police affidavits justifying a raid on a West Philadelphia warehouse used by convention protesters, troopers alleged that communists were behind the demonstrations.
"Funds allegedly originate with Communist and leftist parties and from sympathetic trade unions," the state police declared in the affidavits. "Other funds reportedly come from the former Soviet-allied World Federation of Trade Unions."
The language left critics, including demonstrators and civil-liberties lawyers, both a little amused and a lot indignant. They said it seemed like something out of a musty red-baiting periodical of the 1950s - Red Channels and the like.
The allegations - passed to state police by a private group funded by conservative multimillionaire Richard Mellon Scaife - did not belong in government affidavits seeking judicial approval for a search warrant that led to 75 arrests, they said.
"It's McCarthyite. It's tarring people," said David Kairys, a law professor at Temple University. "It's reminiscent of the worst of the '50s."
The allegations of communist money made up only a small part of the 23-page affidavits in support of search warrants for three vehicles and the warehouse, at 4100 Haverford Ave. The affidavits, made public Wednesday after having been sealed for more than a month, relied most heavily on the direct observations of undercover troopers who infiltrated the warehouse.
Known as "the puppet warehouse," police called it a center of illegal activity; activists said it was a workshop in which they made more than 100 puppets and a large satirical float, "Corpzilla."
The documents were the first public acknowledgement that police had infiltrated groups planning to protest during last month's Republican National Convention.
Without elaboration, the affidavits stated that the allegations of communist funding had come from the little-known Maldon Institute.
Asked last week about the Maldon Institute, Jack Lewis, a state police spokesman, seemed a little unsure.
"Our people said they believed this institute is based in the United Kingdom," he said.
The Maldon Institute - named after an obscure battle in England in the 10th century - is based in Baltimore and has a mailing address in Washington, D.C.
Lewis added: "I'm told by our intelligence people that the Maldon Institute is a private organization that provides intelligence information to police departments.
"We have found in the past that the Maldon Institute generally presents reliable information."
Lewis said that state police and other police departments "routinely receive information from the Maldon Institute at no cost, via e-mail. The department did not solicit this information."
Asked whether state police had attended Maldon Institute conferences, Lewis responded: "State police personnel have had contact in the U.S. with representatives of the institute."
According to public records, the institute is funded, at least in part, by Scaife, the Pittsburgh political philanthropist best known for his financial support of several private investigations of President Clinton in recent years.
Financial forms for Scaife's Carthage Foundation show it provided Maldon with $250,000 in 1998.
Institute documents show that board members have included D. James Kennedy, a Florida televangelist who is cofounder of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority; and Robert Moss, a journalist and novelist who in the 1980s wrote that the KGB used Western media to manipulate public opinion.
The institute's officials did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment Friday.
In an interview last week, Chip Berlet, who studies conservative and far-right groups, said a key figure within the 15-year-old institute has been John H. Rees, a British-born contributor to the John Birch Society and publisher of a newsletter devoted to intelligence-gathering and distributed to police.
In the 1970s, Rees published the Information Digest, which gave details gathered after he infiltrated left-leaning groups under a false name, the Baltimore Sun reported in 1988.
Just this year, Rees, as director of the Maldon Institute, helped organize an invitation-only conference in New York City on terrorism that drew FBI agents and police, according to conference sponsors.
Berlet said state police erred in using the institute as a basis for police action.
"It issues monographs and monitors cults and terrorist groups and left-wing groups," said Berlet, senior analyst with the left-leaning Political Research Associates, based in Massachusetts. "It does so from an old-fashioned counter-subversion perspective that is obsessed with finding reds under every bed."
Berlet said police needed to distinguish protesters who were engaged in nonviolent and legal protest from those breaking the law.
"You're never going to draw those appropriate distinctions if you're relying on these kind of scurrilous, McCarthyite allegations," he said.
Lewis, the state police spokesman, noted that the affidavit drew from "a wide variety of sources" and did not rely solely on the Maldon Institute's work. The affidavits drew most heavily on information developed by troopers who had infiltrated the warehouse.
The affidavits, in alleging communist links to the protest, cited specifically a Maldon Institute research report dated April 7. Lewis said the state police would not release that report.
"The department does not believe it has an obligation to provide the public with all information it receives as part of its intelligence-gathering operation, whether or not the department pays for that information," he said.
The affidavit's specific allegation is that communist money flowed to a protest group called the Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network through its supposed ties to People's Global Action, an anti-capitalist group formed in Switzerland two years ago.
All of this astounded Mike Morrill, a leader of the Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network. His group organized a peaceful march for July 30 - one permitted by the city.
Morrill last week released his group's donor list. It showed that the group raised about $48,000 for the Republican convention protests, with the largest contributions coming from well-known city labor unions. Of the total, $200 came from the Communist Party of Eastern Pennsylvania, the only communist group listed.
Morrill said he took no part in the Aug. 1 street blockades that disrupted city traffic.
"Imagine my surprise when I found out my organization was awash in money, funded by Soviet-era organizations and communist-inspired groups from around the world," Morrill said.
"Were it so, I'd probably have a better wardrobe and live in a nicer house."
Copyright 2000 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
END
State Police Infiltrated Protest Groups, Documents Show
by Linda K. Harris,, Craig R. McCoy and Thomas Ginsberg, Philadelphia Inquirer ~ September 7, 2000
State police undercover agents posing as demonstrators infiltrated activist groups planning the protests at the Republican National Convention, search-warrant documents made public yesterday showed.
The undercover operation was detailed in legal documents filed Aug. 1 by Philadelphia police seeking search warrants for a raid that day on a so-called "puppet warehouse" at 4100 Haverford Ave. in West Philadelphia. The documents were under a court seal until yesterday.
About 75 people were arrested in the raid at the warehouse. The infiltration was immediately condemned yesterday by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the city public defender's office.
"It's worse than sleazeball," said Stefan Presser, the ACLU's legal director. "This is an outrage."
Presser and other critics said dissenters needed the right to rally and to organize without fear that police were spying on them. They said they feared that police undercover officers could cross the line from intelligence-gatherers to provocateurs.
"The legality and propriety of this potentially unconstitutional police conduct will certainly be an issue at the time of trial in all of these cases," said Bradley Bridge, a senior lawyer with the defender's office.
During the convention, Police Commissioner John F. Timoney repeatedly denied that police had engaged in infiltration.
"We had not infiltrated any group," he said the day after police raided the warehouse that had become one of several gathering spots for demonstrators during the convention.
A spokeswoman for the commissioner said yesterday that he would have no comment. Lt. Susan Slawson, commander of the police public-affairs unit, said the commissioner could not talk because "it's in litigation," a reference to a civil suit filed by demonstrators challenging their arrests during the protests.
The use of state police as the undercover operatives took place as the city itself was restricted from using its own officers for such infiltration under a long-standing mayoral directive. The directive says the police may not infiltrate protest groups without the permission of the mayor, the managing director, and the police commissioner.
Mayor Street and City Solicitor Kenneth Trujillo declined comment yesterday.
In seeking search warrants, police cited the work of the undercover operatives and detailed the intelligence gathered as the convention approached. The information is sketched out in affidavits of probable cause seeking warrants to search the warehouse, a U-Haul van, another van, and a pickup that police deemed suspicious.
"This investigation is utilizing several Pennsylvania state troopers in an undercover capacity that have infiltrated several of the activist groups planning to commit numerous illegal direct actions," said one affidavit, signed by Detective William Egenlauf of the Philadelphia Police Department.
It says the state police undercover operatives arrived at the warehouse on July 27, four days before the convention began.
Once there, the agents assisted "in the construction of props to be used during protests," the affidavit says.
It says agents observed demonstrators building street barriers and "lock boxes," devices used by protesters to lock arms together when blocking streets. The papers say they overheard discussions that indicated protesters planned on "using the puppets . . . as blockades."
The operatives also reported that "persons indicated they would be throwing pies, bottles and cardboard boxes filled with water at the police," the affidavits stated.
Timoney held a news conference after the convention to display items seized during the raid, including two massive slingshots and chains wrapped in kerosene-soaked rags. Such devices were not used during the protests. Police also displayed seized "lock boxes."
Protesters have claimed the facility was nothing more than an art studio to fashion the puppets, floats and other props that were a hallmark of the demonstrations.
Demonstrators also said their protests would be nonviolent, with illegal actions limited to the blockading of streets. Their lawyers have complained that numerous people were arrested in the warehouse without any proof they had any connection to illegal items.
A key subject of controversy has been the raid on the warehouse.
The request for the search warrants for the warehouse and lengthy affidavits detailing police intelligence-gathering was made yesterday, a month after Municipal Court President Judge Louis J. Presenza approved the searches.
At the request of the District Attorney's Office, the warrants were sealed - barred from public inspection - for a month as soon as they were issued. The legal request for the warrants maintained that premature "disclosure of this affidavit could endanger the lives" of the undercover operatives.
The affidavits cite sweeping police intelligence-gathering before the convention. This included monitoring of unspecified "electronic messages" sent among demonstrators, an apparent reference to police scrutiny of Web sites and electronic mailing lists.
The police documents identified what investigators viewed as the key protest groups and their goals. Funds for one group "allegedly originate with Communist and leftist parties and from sympathetic trade unions" or from "the former Soviet-allied World Federation of Trade Unions," according to the affidavits.
The affidavits go on to identify a handful of leaders of the various groups. Among those cited by name are John Sellers and Kate Sorensen, who were later arrested during demonstrations in Center City. The two were held in jail for days in lieu of $1 million bail - a sum critics said was extraordinary. In recent interviews after their release from jail, people who were inside the warehouse said that they had suspected early on that four undercover officers were working among them. Four men - known as Tim, Harry, George and Ryan - showed up together at 41st and Haverford about a week before the convention, introducing themselves as union carpenters from Wilkes-Barre who built stages, several demonstrators said.
They were big, burly men who were older than most of the people working in the warehouse. They did not seem particularly political or well-informed, according to demonstrators. All four, however, were considered hard workers.
Soliman Lawrence, 20, of Tallahassee, Fla., worked closely with the four on a massive satirical float built for a protest march.
"They gained our trust," Lawrence said. "The fact that we didn't know them very well wasn't a big deal.
"I remember thinking to myself, 'Why does everyone who looks like that have to be a cop?' " Lawrence said. "I didn't like that I thought like that."
END
Reporters Arrested, Assaulted By Police at Democratic Convention
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press ~ August 18
Los Angeles police have been accused of targeting journalists when they clear crowds of protesters from the streets, and at least a few reporters have ended up in jail or in hospitals as a result. Journalists have been arrested and assaulted in a number of episodes during the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles this week, in what seems to be a growing trend during protests at large political events. The Los Angeles incidents come on the heels of two reporters' arrests during the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia two weeks ago.
Journalists covering protests in Los Angeles on Monday night, the first night of the Democratic convention, suddenly found themselves being hit by rubber bullets and charged by officers on horseback. The Associated Press reported that when police started moving in on protesters leaving a free concert, the journalists started "separating themselves from the main body of fleeing concertgoers and waving credentials."
A Houston Chronicle reporter was knocked over a barricade by a mounted police officer. According to a Chronicle editor who was on the phone with her at the time, she was waving credentials and begging police to let her inside the security fence when an officer on horseback collided with a group of people she was with. She sought help for a cut knee, but was instead ordered to run. Six different officers refused her pleas for help finding First Aid, according to the editor.
A reporter for Hearst Newspapers wearing a press ID and DNC credentials was reportedly clubbed by a police officer during the same incident. The Chronicle and Hearst have also sent written protests to the city over the police behavior.
A number of reporters and photographers were hit with rubber bullets fired by police, which left large welts on their skin.
Reporters for the Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press were arrested Tuesday night while covering a bicycle-based protest designed to "promote bicycling as a way to relieve traffic congestion and pollution."
Tribune reporter Flynn McRoberts was arrested with protesters in the bicycling event were traveling through downtown streets with police escorts. He was held for eight hours before being released. Editors in Chicago, who had lost communication with McRoberts while he was phoning in a story during the protest, called a special media hotline set up for the convention when McRoberts did not call back. Hotline attorneys worked with police to secure his release.
McRoberts was cited for "reckless driving" of a bicycle, although the charge was modified to "obstructing a public way" after prosecutors found that the recklessness charge cannot apply to bicycles. His rented bicycle is still being held by police as evidence.
Associated Press broadcast reporter Brian Bland also was arrested, and his reporting equipment and bicycle were confiscated. The AP is protesting the arrest.
Police spokesman Commander David Kalish said that the two reporters were arrested because they were doing the same things that the protesters were doing.
The media hotline was set up by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and manned by Gary Bostwick and other attorneys from Davis Wright Tremaine in Los Angeles.
The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday said it intended to file a federal lawsuit against the police department for deliberately attacking members of the media during the Monday confrontations, according to Los Angeles Daily News and AP reports.
"The LAPD deliberately targeted members of the media, clubbing and shooting them," ACLU chief counsel Michael Small said at a press conference.
"It was a really shocking and, I think, troubling display of excessive force by police," ACLU spokesman Christopher Calhoun said.
"It would be ludicrous to imagine the LAPD would target members of the media,'' LAPD spokesman David Kalish responded. "However, during the incident following the rock concert, it may be possible that media who were in the group were inconvenienced."
On Wednesday, at a protest against police brutality, a Cable News Network sound technician was hospitalized after being struck in the chest by a police baton during a scuffle between police officers and protesters.
According to a broadcast report and a story on CNN.com, a CNN photographer had dropped his cellular telephone during the standoff. After a police officer retrieved the phone, the unnamed CNN sound technician leaned forward to take the phone from the officer. When leaning forward, she reportedly was "jabbed" in the stomach with a baton by another police officer.
After being struck by the officer, she was taken to Glendale Memorial Hospital, where she was diagnosed with bruised and contused ribs and then released, according to CNN.com.
The web site reported that CNN News Group CEO Tom Johnson wrote a letter of complaint to L.A. Police Chief Bernard Parks complaining that "unnecessary force" was used against the injured technician.
"We expect a prompt review by LAPD of this incident and a reprimand of the officer involved," Johnson said in the letter.
Interviewed later on CNN's "Larry King Live," police spokesman Kalish said, "We apologize for [the incident] but, unfortunately, that's what happens in these types of situations when journalists are integrated in a violent situation."
According to a CNN account, Kalish said Police Chief Bernard Parks asked the police department's Internal Affairs division to investigate the incident. "They'll conduct a thorough investigation," Kalish added.
Police arrested 38 of the demonstrators at the police brutality protest, bringing the number of convention-related arrests to 192 since Saturday. Protesters reportedly threw bottles and other objects at police, who used batons and fired rubber bullets in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
Although there were no known reports of journalists being assaulted two weeks earlier in Philadelphia, at least two reporters were arrested while covering protests or interviewing protesters.
A reporter for an online news service was arrested during protests. He called the Reporters Committee hotline, and attorney Samuel Klein of the law firm Dechert worked to secure his release.
A Reuters reporter was also detained after police stopped a van carrying 19 demonstrators whom the reporter was chronicling, according to a Washington Post account. He was reportedly released later without being charged.
The Reporters Committee has been operating emergency hotlines for reporters at national conventions since 1972, and has started providing such services during other major political events, such as World Bank and World Trade Organization meetings, as arrests of journalists become more common.
END
Reporters Committee Announces Hotline for Journalists at Democratic Convention
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press ~ Aug. 08, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lucy Dalglish, (703) 807-2100
Every major political protest recently -- from World Bank meetings to the Elian Gonzales case to the Republican convention -- has had one thing in common: the arrest of, interference with or outright assault on journalists covering the news. To prevent or at least minimize these disruptions during the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles next week, a hotline has been established to ensure that cost-free legal assistance will be only a telephone call away.
In cooperation with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, attorneys with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP have volunteered to operate a 24-hour MEDIA HOTLINE for credentialed journalists covering the convention. The Los Angeles Police Department and other officials will cooperate with HOTLINE lawyers to minimize problems for journalists arrested or detained during demonstrations or other disturbances that occur during the convention. The lawyers staffing the HOTLINE will be Gary Bostwick, Alonzo Wickers and Susan Seager.
The HOTLINE number is (310) 293-4504, and will be available to all journalists carrying Democratic National Convention credentials throughout the convention. In addition, the general Reporters Committee hotline will be available as a backup at (800) 336-4243. Copies of a flyer, which outlines procedures for resolving problems arising from detention or arrest, will be available at the Media Operations Center in Los Angeles, or from our web site at http://www.rcfp.org/news/releases/dnc2000.pdf.
The Washington-based Reporters Committee, a nonprofit association of reporters and editors established in 1970, provides cost-free legal advice and research assistance to journalists and their lawyers. The Reporters Committee has established such hotlines at national conventions since 1972.
For further information, contact Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director, at the Reporters Committee, (703) 807-2100, or Gary Bostwick, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, (213) 633-6800.
END
Our Movement Won a Tremendous Victory In Los Angeles
Todd Chretien, International Socialist Organization ~ August 18
4,000 people took the streets and marched from the DNC about 4 miles to the Twin Towers LA jail, the modern Bastille. We drove a sound truck up to the gates of the prison and sent in a mass message of solidarity with the thousands of ordinary prisoners, as well as the 150 demonstrators being held there on ridiculous, unconstitutional charges.
Why was this march so important?
First, because it capped off an incredible week of protests:
Sunday: 3,000 - 4,000 marched for Mumia, 1,000 marched against the GAP
Monday: 2,000 marched for the U'wa, 3,000-4,000 marched on the Tour of Corporate Shame AND 15,000-20,000 marched to demand Human Need NOT Corporate Greed.
Tuesday: 3,000 LA Teachers and 2,500 SEIU city workers marched to demand decent contracts and raised the threats of strikes, 42 campuses met in the Convergence Center and organized to launch a massive fall campaign for Nader and Medea.
Wednesday: 3,000 marched against the criminal justice system
Thursday: 5,000-7,000 marched for an end to sweatshops and to demand amnesty for undocumented workers, 4,000-5,000 participated in the final rally at Staples with Spearhead and Michael Franti, and 4,000 took the streets to march to the prison.
All tolled, 30,000-40,000 people took part in the D2K protests one way or another.
Second, the final march re-affirmed our rights to free speech and freedom to assemble and march, rights that the LAPD did everything it could to destroy by provaction, assault, rubber bullets, batons and pepperspray. Our final march represents a tremendous political blow to the policital power of the LAPD and will inspire the movement against police brutality.
Third, the fact that the final day passed with no arrests means that we did not permit the cops to create the story for our movement. Our message came across loud and clear: Sweatshops, the INS, police brutality, the prison industrial complex, the attacks on unions, the destruction of the envirmonment, etc. are all part of one system. The Democratic Party's job is to defend that system by any means necessary (be it cooptation and taking credit for small reforms or be it by war and mass police repression). We have learned that the sysem must be changed and the Democrats are an obstacle that must be overcome if we are to change it, that's why we were in LA.
Now what are the lessons?
1/ Size matters. Our numbers are growing and the rich and powerful are afraid of that. Cops ten thousand people in the street, but they can deal. They cannot deal with millions.
2/ Class matters. All week long, the demonstrations were overwhelmingly young and working class. While relatively small parts of the AFL-CIO officially endorsed the D2K, tens of thousands of workers marched during the week. From the sweatshop workers to the teachers to the city workers and the thousands more who came as individuals, the movement is making serious inroads to the working class.
Why is this important? First, the working class is the overwhelming majority of the population. Second, the union have tremendous political power which our movement needs. Third, and most important, real power in this society rests in the ability of workers to shut down the economy throught strike action. The fact that workers are marching in the streets means that they can take those lessons to help strengthen their organizations at work.
3/ Politics Matter. Up til now, debates over politics and tactics in our movement have been all too absent. Our great victory in LA means we have to start learning and discussing what works and what doesn't work. We've learned in the streets that some ideas work and some ideas do not work. Here are the key debates:
What's our goal? To remain as a small, militant minority? OR build a movement of millions? I believe it has to be millions. Why? First, we can not win as a minority, the corporations and politicians will not voluntarily give up power, it will have to be taken from them. They have the money, the guns, the media. All we have is our numbers. It has to be our millions against their power, or their power will defeat us (no matter how angry we are).
How do we reach our goal? Their are some who say, "Whatever anyone wants to do is cool. It's all good." I disagree. Last night, at the march to Twin Towers, I helped organize a march marshal team of 80-100 people whose job it was to keep the front of the march together and keep it slow enough that the back didn't lag and get split by the cops. The cops would have loved to turn our final night into a melee and destroy what everyone had worked so hard to accomplish all week. The mass march was peaceful (we took a vote at the mass rally that it would be that way). This was key because if we had suffered arrests, there were many people who may well have been deported or locked away on three strikes charges. We used the same tactics, and many of the same marshals, as we did during the immigrants rights march earlier in the day.
Moreover, it was the right thing to do. An orderly marched showed that our movement has a clear political purpose. Millions of people saw it on TV or will read about it and think, "They are serious. The media has lied about them being yahoos. I hate the system too, and I want to get involved." On the other hand, the Black Block (really a tiny minority of about 60), pushed their way to the front of the march, trampling people as they went; including sweatshop workers - note that Black Block didn't bother to show up to that march - , youths of color, socialists, even some anarchists, and regular people who wanted to have an orderly march. They elbowed shoved aside the march marshals who were linking arms in front to keep the march evenly paced and orderly. When the marshals decided that the only way to confront the violence of the Black Black against the march would have been to fight, we made a tactical decision to let them through because we didn't want to give the cops the excuse they were looking for. Some people joined them, but the vast majority did not.
What was the Black Block's purpose? They yelled, "Don't police yourselves. You are acting like cops!" Then they ran ahead a little ways and waved their flag. They yelled all sorts of things about "resisting the f**king police state, etc", but the only people they actually physically contronted were the marchers. When an African American marshal whose brother was murdered by the cops in the Twin Towers took the bullhorn to appeal to Black Block not to break up the solidarity of the march, they called him a dictator.
Later, after we successfully negociated our departure from the rally in front of the jail, the Black Block sat down in front of the sound truck. This forced several hundred of us to stay behind for several minutes while we re-routed the truck, putting us all in danger in the presence of 3,000 angry cops (when most of the march had already left.)
They Black Block called us cowards and cops and all sorts of other names, but at the end of the day, they didn't put their money where their (actually quite filthy) mouths were and stick it out at the jail. They tagged along and went home. No doubt to rail about the "f**king marshals." I say, if they want to fight the cops while our movement is in its infancy, go do it someplace else. If they believe that they have the right as a tiny minority to decide that they will put undocumented workers and the rest of us at unnecessary increased danger so they can wave their flag and pose in front of the cameras in their masks, then I say we have the right to prevent them from doing so.
Let's be clear. This is a debate in the movement. When the press tries to sew divisions so that the cops get off the hook, we should all say, "The violence comes from the police. They have guns. We are peaceful."
Our movement needs to reach millions. Ralph Nader and Medea Benjamin's campaign will help us do that. If Nader gets 5 million votes, that means our movement can have 5 million activists. The campaigns won't be the only thing going on this fall, but they certainly will be the most important in the minds of the the workers and students who hate corporate greed. We as a movement have to get involved in that campaign and build it with all our heart and sole. Not because it's an end in itself, but because its a massive opportunity to reshape the left in the US and give us the experience, numbers, organizations we need to go forward.
The ISO believes that the future of the movement lies with millions of workers and students. Our tactics and strategies have to be designed to build that kind of movement. We are tremendously hopeful that the experiences we're all having in the streets together will help us learn how to do this. We also believe that debate in the movement is necessary and healthy. The D2K week showed that we have the potential to change the world.
I was moved to tears on many occasions as I watched people crossing boundaries put up by the system: between students and workers, activists and new people, people of all races, young and old. As inspired as I am about our chances, I am just as determined to argue for the ideas that can help us win. The movement has to grow up. The "anything goes" attitude we've had up til now was part of our adolescence. It was healthy then, it is an impediment now. Everyone has the responsibility to think about what will work and what will not work, and to create an atmosphere in the movement where political debate is encouraged be you an socialist an evnironmentalist an anarchist or a liberal.
The next step is the Nader/Medea campaign. There are millions of workers and students for us to reach. History does not give the left many opportunities as good as the one we have in the next three months. Carpe Diem!
In Solidarity,
Todd Chretien
International Socialist Organization
END
Media Unconcerned as LAPD Attacks Peaceful Crowd, Harasses IMC
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting ~ August 16, 2000
On Monday, August 14, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) stepped up its assault on free speech rights, using the pretext of a bomb scare to shut down the Independent Media Center's (IMC) satellite cast and, later the same night, turning a peaceful, legal concert and rally into what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has called "an orchestrated police riot."
Cops Crash Newscast
There has been virtually no mainstream coverage of the LAPD's interference with the IMC's "Crashing the Party," a live independent news show hosted by Laura Flanders which is being broadcast nationwide via satellite during the convention. According to Free Speech TV, one of the groups producing the show, Monday's broadcast of "Crashing" was prevented when the LAPD closed the parking lot outside the IMC and evacuated the show's satellite van, ostensibly in response to a bomb threat.
Representatives from the IMC point out that the police action began just as "Crashing" was about to air and ended 10 minutes after the satellite broadcast window for the show had closed (Village Voice, 8/15/00). According to a report on the IMC web site, police told a member of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) that they had received the bomb tip that morning. Yet police did not take action until late afternoon, just before the show was scheduled to begin. The IMC report also states that the NLG's Ben Rosenfeld witnessed the county police searching the van "without waiting for the bomb squad to arrive," and that "for a time, the bomb squad refused to come to the scene, citing insufficient evidence."
This incident raises serious questions about whether the LAPD was targeting members of the independent media for harassment, and should ring alarm bells for journalists everywhere.
The Raging Machine
Similarly, mainstream media response to the police violence after Monday night's Rage Against the Machine concert has been, by and large, dangerously misleading.
Eyewitnesses from the IMC, the ACLU and the NLG report that the gathering of 8,000 to 10,000 concert-goers and activists was peaceful until a few people on the fringe of the crowd began throwing debris at police. The IMC's Jennifer Joos witnessed the incident from the balcony of the Staples Center, and estimates that no more than 15 to 20 people out of several thousand were involved in throwing objects. "They were isolated and not inciting the rest of the crowd," says Joos.
According to the ACLU, rally organizers tried to defuse the confrontation and offered to end the concert themselves. Police refused their assistance, instead declaring the assembly unlawful, ordering the crowd to disperse, and eventually firing on the crowd with a variety of weapons, including rubber-jacketed bullets, pepper spray and "bean bag" guns.
The ACLU has called the events a "police riot" characterized by "extreme use of force and undifferentiated attacks on a crowd of people" Though the exact number and severity of injuries to civilians is still unknown, the ACLU reports that "numerous legal observers and members of the media were assaulted by the LAPD," and that the LAPD dispersed at least one team of legal observers "for no other reason than to eliminate witnesses to LAPD misconduct" (ACLU letter to the Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney, 8/15/00). The ACLU filed suit today against the LAPD for singling out members of the media "for attack" on Monday night.
This very serious evidence of police misconduct has been obscured in many mainstream reports by references to the "violence" of protesters and misinformation about the size and nature of the disturbance that the police responded to with such force.
In one article, the Washington Post (8/15/00) referred to Monday's peaceful marches as "a rollicking daylong siege" and falsely stated that "a few hundred protesters" were involved in throwing debris at police officers before the LAPD opened fire on the crowd. The Post article does not mention any complaints that the police action may have violated civil liberties. In fact, the article's only reference to protesters' criticism of the police is the paper's contention that earlier in the day "demonstrators tried to provoke officers... into showing less restraint" by chanting "pigs" at them.
Likewise, USA Today incorrectly reported that "several hundred people" threw objects at the police (8/15 and 8/16/00). Describing the incident as a protester "rampage" in one report (8/16/00), the paper claimed (8/15/00) that "the downtown peace was kept largely because of the enormous presence of police."
The Associated Press made the same error and even compounded it, stating in several stories that "hundreds of demonstrators threw rocks and fired steel balls from slingshots at police" (8/15/00). Garrick Ruiz, an organizer and spokesperson for the D2K coalition, witnessed the incident and has been collecting reports about it; he says he neither saw nor heard any evidence of any steel balls or slingshots being used by protesters.
The New York Times was more accurate in its account of the number of people throwing debris, but repeated the claim that "ball-bearings" were shot at police (8/16/00). The Times did note that the LAPD has been criticized on civil liberties grounds, but states that "early reviews [of police performance] are mixed," though the only positive reviews the paper cites in its two most recent articles on the subject are from the LAPD itself and a Gore campaign aide. No representatives of the ACLU have been quoted by the Times, and articles have focused on the challenges faced by the LAPD, even noting that "police had to contend with second-guessing on the street" (8/16/00).
The New York Times (8/16/00) also featured an article headlined "Protesters With No Message Except, 'Let's Not Go Home'," which characterized events after the Rage concert as "a standoff between police officers who want to go home and young people who don't." Dismissing the activists as "excitable rock fans" who make trouble because they "want to be entertained," the article called police attempts to handle the situation "ingenious."
ACTION
Please contact national and local media and ask them to cover the LAPD's interference with the IMC's satellite cast. Urge them to seriously investigate charges from the ACLU and others that the LAPD has committed numerous civil liberties violations, and to correct any inaccurate reports they have run about protester violence.
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
CONTACT
Washington Post: ombudsman@washpost.com
USA Today: editor@usatoday.com
Associated Press: info@ap.org
New York Times: letters@nytimes.com
END
Gore Faces Protests Over Occidental Petroleum Shares
by Anthony Boadle, Reuters ~ August 15, 2000
LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of activists, joined by Hollywood stars, questioned Vice President Al Gore's credentials as an environmental champion on Tuesday, calling on him to divest his family shares in Occidental Petroleum Corp.
The Los Angeles-based company has come under fire from environmentalists for its plans to drill for oil on land claimed by the U'wa Indian tribe in northeastern Colombia.
More than 1,000 environmental activists and anti-capitalist demonstrators marched through downtown Los Angeles to the Democratic Convention where Gore will accept the party's presidential nomination on Thursday.
"Al Gore: reject big oil $$," said a banner.
"Divest your shares and show us you are an environmental champion on the side of the U'wa," Atossa Soltani, director of the Amazon Watch environmental group, said at the rally.
The 5,000-member U'wa tribe drew attention to their cause by vowing to commit collective suicide by walking off a cliff if Occidental proceeded with its drilling plans. Tribe members believe the land is sacred and oil is the "life blood of Mother Earth."
Gore reported in his public financial disclosure in May that his family's shares in Occidental were valued at between $500,000 and $1 million.
The shares were left by his father, Al Gore Sr., who had a close business relationship with the founder of Occidental, Armand Hammer, and was a member of the company's board of directors for 20 years after leaving the Senate.
The U'wa conflict has become an embarrassment for the Gore campaign, which has depicted rival Republican candidates George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as an oil industry ticket with no concern for the environment.
"Gore's connections with Occidental make him no better than Bush," Soltani told the rally.
Actors Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen, Cary Elwes, Alicia Silverstone and singer Bonnie Raitt, wrote to Gore urging him to take urgent action to save lives and the environment among the U'wa.
"You have enjoyed the sponsorship of Occidental Petroleum throughout your political career," they wrote in a letter that said Gore's connection with Occidental ran deeper than the stock he controls through his family estate.
"Many of us have supported your candidacy because we were drawn to you by a shared sense of concern for the Earth. What you do on this issue now will be not only of critical importance but a question of integrity," they wrote.
Raitt sang at the rally accompanied by John Densmore, drummer of the legendary Doors rock group.
Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway said the vice president could not sell the stock in Occidental because he does not own it. The shares are in a trust for his mother Pauline.
"He has been fighting to protect the environment for 25 years and he will continue that fight," Hattaway said. Gore has asked Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to speak to the Colombian government to make sure that the U'wa are getting due process to air their grievances, Hattaway said.
In a seven-year legal wrangle, the U'wa won a temporary injunction in March blocking oil exploration, but that was overturned six weeks later by a Colombian high court. Occidental said it would restart work immediately preparing its first test well in the Samore block, which is estimated to hold some 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil. Though the well is just outside the limits of their legally recognised reservation, the U'wa insist it is still on their ancestral lands.
END
Convention Activists Denounce Treatment, High Bails
By Katherine Stapp
NEW YORK, Aug. 9 (IPS) -- Authorities continue to hold over 150 protesters who disrupted last week's Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, and many who have been released say they were treated harshly by police while in custody.
A total of 391 people were arrested, and over 100 engaged in hunger strikes to draw attention to the overcrowded conditions in the city's five jails. Arraignments of the remaining prisoners continued yesterday.
Critics charged that some of the arrests were a form of "preventive detention" -- jailing someone for what they might do, not what they have done -- which is illegal under U.S. law.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania issued a statement yesterday condemning the high bail set for the detainees, and warning that the local police commissioner's call for a federal investigation into the "non-violent civil disobedience could intimidate many people from participating in protests."
"We need to highlight the threat this overreaction poses to those who express dissent," Larry Frankel, executive director of the Philadelphia ACLU, told IPS. "They're being treated like dangerous criminals."
The chilling effect of the arrests and high bail is particularly relevant in light of the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles next week, which many of the same groups plan to protest.
In the statement, the ACLU said it is "concerned that bail is being set at artificially high levels to keep protest leaders in detention until their date of trial," which will be after the convention.
Some leading activists in the demonstrations that stopped traffic and disrupted downtown streets on Aug. 1 were being held on unusually high bail even though they have only been charged with misdemeanors.
John Sellers, the activist held on the highest bail -- $1 million -- had his bail reduced by a Philadelphia judge yesterday to $100,000. Some of the so-called ringleaders were picked up by the police as they walked down the street.
While the ACLU is not representing any of the jailed activists in their criminal cases, it is reviewing complaints of what it terms "credible stories concerning serious injuries inflicted upon those who were arrested last week."
At a press conference last weekend, recently released activists told of being denied phone calls, medical assistance, and food or water for extended periods.
Others told reporters that they had witnessed beatings and abuse of other detainees.
Jamie Graham, of the R2K umbrella network that organized many of the protests, said he was tackled by police after photographing the arrest of a female colleague. His camera was smashed and he himself was taken to jail, after being told by one officer: "I've been watching you for three days."
The Philadelphia police department denies that excessive force was used on any of those arrested.
But Joseph Piette, an organizer with the New York-based International Action Center who was held in Philadelphia's Roundhouse jail from Aug. 1 to 4, told IPS that he saw an officer holding people against the wall by their throats, and that one detainee who complained was hogtied with plastic restraints.
"Protesters get training, they learn how to do civil disobedience," Piette said. "You know never to fight back, but to slump to the ground (when arrested). Still, this one cop would slam people against the wall and put his hand on their necks and hold them to the wall by their necks. I witnessed this twice."
Piette added that he was held in a one-person, six foot square cell with up to eight other people, that was so cramped the occupants had to take turns standing.
He said a civil rights lawsuit against the Philadelphia police department would be announced shortly.
About 70 of the protesters were arrested during a stand-off at the so-called Ministry of Puppetganda, a warehouse in West Philadelphia that was the headquarters of several groups. Police arrived with a search warrant claiming the building contained materials intended to block traffic, although the occupants insisted that the sections of pipe and other items were simply used for puppet-making.
The thousands of youthful activists who descended on Philadelphia last week raised issues ranging from the death penalty and police brutality to campaign finance reform and abortion.
At times, the protests had a carnival-like atmosphere, featuring a flatbed truck with mud-wrestlers wearing masks of Al Gore and George W. Bush (the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates), people dressed as dollar bills in a comment on big-money politics, and a cast of giant satirical puppets.
Delegates attending the Republican convention said they experienced minimal inconveniences, even during the height of the civil disobedience on Aug. 1.
END
Pacifists Admit Conspiracy, Accuse Philadelphia Police of Same
Chris Ney, War Resisters League ~ August 9, 2000
The War Resisters League today released the following statement about the recent protests and arrests in Philadelphia:
In the wake of the protests at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia last week, that city's police chief, John Timoney, has called for a federal investigation into what he has called a nationwide conspiracy. Since the great bulk of the protests consisted of nonviolent civil disobedience, we can only assume he refers to a conspiracy to commit such acts.
If there is such a conspiracy, the War Resisters League is part of it. We have been involved in such "conspiracies" for more than 75 years, organizing for—and training people for—nonviolent civil disobedience campaigns against, in the words of our pledge, "war and the causes of war." We are part of the long and honorable tradition of Gandhian nonviolence that, as adopted in the U.S. South by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and others, helped end the shame of legal apartheid in this country. And we organized for, and trained people to participate in, the newest wave of such protests, the ones that happened in Seattle late last fall, in Washington this past spring—and in Philadelphia the week before last. In the last year, we have also offered nonviolence training for protesters opposed to the bombing of Vieques and those opposed to the sanctions and military actions against Iraq.
There need be no investigation. We admit it: We conspired to bring nonviolent civil disobedience to Philadelphia. Prosecute us, Chief Timoney.
In fact, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is prosecuting some of us. War Resisters League members are among the more 300 demonstrators who at this writing still sit in Philadelphia's jails, held there by unprecedentedly high bail: $15,000 for those charged with misdemeanors (or even conspiracy to commit misdemeanors), up to $1,000,000 for those charged as top organizers of the protests. Excessive bail is a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but it is not the only civil liberties violations going on in Philadelphia. We are also particularly concerned about the reports of brutal police tactics, reports of abuse ranging from sleep deprivation to denial of food and water and bathroom access to denial of medication to beatings. Finally, the City of Brotherly Love used police powers to stop protests before they happened—besieging and then raiding a puppet-making space and arresting 75 people on charges of obstructing traffic while they were still indoors.
Indeed, the constitutional violations were so widespread and egregious as to raise the question: Did the Philadelphia police actually conspire to suppress the protests altogether, depriving thousands of protesters—and tens of thousands of their people across the nation for whom the protesters were speaking—of their most basic right to dissent?
How about it, Chief Timoney? We've confessed; will you? Or must we—as some human rights groups have urged—call for an independent investigation into Philadelphia's police practices?
War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012
Phone: 212-228-0450 Fax: 212-228-6193 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon) 1-800-975-9688 E-mail: wrl@igc.org web address: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl
END
Women Put Up With a Lot of Crap, But This Year's Presidential Farce Takes the Cake
Michael Moore ~ August 8, 2000
Dear friends,
Women put up with a lot of crap, but this year's presidential farce has got to take the cake.
We now have four men on the "two" major party tickets running for the White House. Neither candidate, Democrat nor Republican, even bothered to CONSIDER a woman for Vice President, let alone appoint one.
Women: 53% of the population -- the MAJORITY gender -- and once again, there is ZERO representation. The minority still rules, still calls the shots, still holds the reins of power. That's called "apartheid."
You know what amazes me? That neither Gore nor Bush even tried to PRETEND they were considering a woman for Vice President! In the past, the all-male Presidential candidates have at least "floated" some names, or said "so-and-so" was on "the short list." They thought women might be upset if it looked like they were being ignored. So they played the game of interviewing "Pat Schroeder" for the job, or mentioning "Elizabeth Dole" as a "possibility."
No more.
This year, in what appears to be a political version of "battered women's syndrome," guy politicians have discovered that they don't have to do a damn thing to placate women voters. They are convinced women will just take it -- in silence.
And just as Dick Cheney is the true face of George W. Bush, Joe Lieberman is the true face of Al Gore. Lieberman's number one financial backer in Connecticut is the insurance industry -- and when they say "jump," he leaps. He even opposed Clinton's watered-down health insurance bill. He is an enemy of affirmative action. He has voted for tax cuts for the rich, voted for NAFTA, supports a form of prayer ("the minute of silence") in the public schools (and the granting of vouchers to help fund religious schools), and joined Al Gore as one of only 10 Democrats in the Senate who supported Bush the First in starting the Gulf War.
In short, a real guy's guy.
Of course, not to beat a dead Corvair, there is a candidate who is now, according to Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" last Sunday, polling between 11% and 15% in some surveys, and has chosen a woman as his running mate. His name is Ralph Nader and HER name is Winona LaDuke. She is a Harvard graduate from Minnesota and a Native American. She has a bunch of wild ideas women usually come up with, the kinds of things that probably keep them off the other tickets -- like, everybody should be guaranteed insurance if they get sick, or working moms and kids deserve day care, or maybe we shoud build a few less submarines in Connecticut and build a few new schools in the Bronx. Stuff like that. Chick stuff, ya know. Stuff us guys ain't got time for.
Ralph and Winona have tripled their tanding in the polls since they started. There is a momentum taking place and maybe, just maybe, the majority - women - will rise up and say enough of this male apartheid.
Yours,
END
Calendar for the Democratic National Convention
United For A Fair Economy ~ August 9
Los Angeles, CA -- August 13 - 17
For more Information Contact : Sue N. Wins (Dara Silverman) 617-480-2454
On August 14-17, during the Democratic National Convention, thousands of protesters will go to Los Angeles to raise the issues that are being excluded from political debate due to the overwhelming influence of corporations and wealthy individuals on our political process. Come raise your voice against corporate control over our democratic institutions. Let the Democrats know that there is a growing movement to make them accountable to human needs not corporate greed.
Join UFE at the Shadow Convention and the Democratic Convention protests. You can help bring attention to growing economic inequality by joining our street theater team of Billionaires, help us lead workshops to provide tools to this growing movement or just come to learn more about globalization and economic inequality and what we can do about it.
Billionaires for Bush (or Gore): With the presidential campaign in full swing, a bipartisan coalition of super-rich donors, is coming together to celebrate the victory of their agenda at the Republican and Democratic conventions this summer. Although the ballots are not cast until November, the Billionaires have already determined both candidates' platforms. To celebrate their influence, Billionaires for Bush (Or Gore) plan to make a splash at the Democratic convention in LA. Billionaires for Bush (Or Gore) is a non-partisan spoof created by United for a Fair Economy to draw attention to the connection between the campaign finance system and growing inequality. See www.billionairesforbushorgore.com for more information.
United for a Fair Economy is one of six national convening organizations for the "Shadow Conventions: A Citizens Intervention in American Politics." During the conventions, at alternative convention center sites, we will be hosting educational forums, workshops and entertainment on the themes of growing inequality, campaign finance reform and America's failed drug war. On Monday, August 14th, we are calling on all UFE supporters to attend our day on "Poverty and Inequality" with plenary sessions, workshops and more from 10am until 5:30 pm . See the shadow convention web-site for up to date programming (www.shadowconventions.com).
Shadow Convention site:
Patriotic Hall, 1816 Figueroa St. (Cross street: Washington), Los Angeles, California. Call 213-346-9558 or email la@shadowconventions.com
Trainings: UFE trainers will be leading our popular economic education workshops, the Growing Divide, the Racial Wealth Divide and Globalization for Beginners throughout the week. Please check out our web-site for updates: www.ufenet.org
Trainings site:
Convergence Center, 1919 West 7th St at Westlake (near McArthur Park), Los Angeles CA 213-484-0484
Schedule of Events:
Sunday, August 13th:
Billionaires:
5:30pm -- Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) Meet and greet the elite Benefit Extravaganza. Meet at the Gap on the Santa Monica Promenade.
Monday, August 14th:
Billionaires:
9 am -- Billionaires will do battle with the community Pageant of Puppets. Meet at Pershing Square, Flower and 5th St.
Time TBA. Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) grace the shadow Convention with their presence.
2-4 pm -- Corporate Tour de Force. Billionaires will ride around downtown LA in a horse-drawn carriage (as part of the Corporate Tour of Shame).
4 pm -- Million Billionaire Rally and March (as a contingent of the Human Needs not Corporate Greed march) Meet at Los Angeles Public Library, 5th and Flower St.
*Shadow Convention*:
Patriotic Hall, 1816 Figueroa St. (Cross street: Washington)
Focus on Poverty and the Wealth Gap
10 -3pm -- Panels, speakers include Rep. John Lewis, Angelica Salas, Rep. Jessie Jackson, Jr. Rev. James Lawson, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Rev. Jim Wallis, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Tuesday, August 15th:
Billionaires:
9am -- Billionaires will do battle with the community Pageant of Puppets. Meet at Pershing Square, 5th and Olive St.
Training:
11-1pm -- Growing Divide, Convergence Center, 1919 West 7th St at Westlake (near McArthur Park)
March:
12-2pm --March for Racial Justice. Meet at McArthur Park. March to Staples Center. Demand fair and decent transportation for residents of Los Angeles.
Shadow Convention:
Focus on Failed Drug War/ Prison Industrial Complex
Wednesday, August 16th:
Billionaires:
9am -- Billionaires will do battle with the community Pageant of Puppets. Meet at 1919 West 7th St at Westlake
Time TBA. Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) grace the shadow Convention with their presence.
Training:
11-1pm -- Globalization for Beginners, Meet at the Convergence Center, 1919 West 7th St at Westlake
7-9 pm -- Racial Wealth Gap, Meet at the Convergence Center, 1919 West 7th St at Westlake
Shadow Convention:
Focus on Campaign Finance Reform
Thursday, August 17th:
Billionaires:
9 am -- Billionaires will do battle with the community Pageant of Puppets. Focus on Citibank/ CitiGroup. Meet at Pershing Square, 5th and Olive St.
9:30pm -- Billionaires will crown our two Headed candidate, BushGore at a Coronation Ceremony at a venue to be determined. Audience members play "Hail to the Chief" on hundreds of kazoos.
Training:
11-1pm -- Globalization for Beginners, Convergence Center, 1919 West 7th St at Westlake Convergence Center, 1919 West 7th St at Westlake
Sue N. Wins (AKA) Dara Silverman
National Organizer, United for a Fair Economy, 37 Temple Pl. 2nd Fl. Boston MA 02111
617-423-2148 x 26 (work) 617-480-2454 (on the road) dsilverman@ufenet.org
www.billionairesforbushorgore.com
END
Message from Prisoners at CFCF, Philadelphia
Forwarded by R2K Legal ~ August 06
We are 24 male prisoners currently held at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility for our participation or attempted participation in the August 1st non-violent direct actions against the Republican convention in Philadelphia. The carefully choreographed conventions of both major parties have nothing to do with democracy. They are corporate sponsored pageants designed to legitimize a system of corporate class rule that crushes the human spirit and that is destroying the planet. The criminal justice system of cops, courts and prisons that targets poor and working class people in general and people of color in particular is a cornerstone of a system that serves the rich and maintains their rule. Our actions in the streets of Philadelphia were intended to shine a light on the incarceration of 2 million people in the U.S., on the systematic use of police brutality to terrorise whole communities, on the racism and cruelty of the death penalty, on the many political prisoners, including Mumia Abu-Jamal, who are caged for their commitment to social justice. Our actions were aimed at disrupting the Republican convention to the best of our ability.
While we're sorry any inconvenience we may have caused the people of Philadelphia, we are proud of what we did to expose this rotten system. From the moment of our arrest we have experienced and witnessed the workings of a system designed to dehumanize people. Many of us were brutalized in the course of arrests. Some of us were beaten or peppersprayed after we were handcuffed.
In jail as many as nine people were packed into cells designed for two people. People with dietary restrictions went without food for up to 48 hours. In some cases our hands and feet were cuffed together and some of us had our cuffs so tight that we lost feelings in our hands or bled as a result.
We were denied the opportunity to meet with our lawyers prior to arraignment and were arraigned in a court room closed to the general public with the exception of select members of the capitalist media. We were arraigned with a court appointed public defender serving as counsel despite our explicitly and repeatedly stated desire to be represented by our own counsel who were denied access to the proceedings. We were charged with a variety of misdemeanors and in a few cases with felonies. Our individual bails have been set at between $10,000 and $1,000,000. Many if not all of the charges against us are either greatly exaggerated or completely falsified.
At Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility [County Jail] we have been placed in a special pod where we have little contact with other prisoners. While we regard our conditions here as dehumanizing we recognise that we are receiving special treatment such as extra food. So far we have not been beaten or physically hurt by personnel here.
Throughout this process we have sought to resist and stand in solidarity with each other to the best of our abilities. Almost all of us have refused to give our names. Many of us have had to be physically dragged through the various stages of this process. We have kept our spirits high through singing and chanting and pounding on our cell walls. We developed systems for communicating with each other and for reaching decisions by consensus. Many of us ripped the bracelets intended to identify us off our wrists. We resisted fingerprinting and attempts to photograph us. Some of us have refused food. In jail we stripped naked to make our processing more difficult. In the course of all this we have discovered strengths we never knew we had and have built a wall of solidarity based on profound love and respect for each other. We have drawn particular strength from the proud defiance of the sisters whose loud voices we have heard and whose acts of resistance we have occasionally been able to witness. While our access to information is restricted we are aware of the efforts of those on the outside to assist us. We love you all. We are in here for you and know that you are out there for us.
We believe that our experiences so far strongly vindicate us in our decision to take powerful action to expose the brutality and injustice of the so-called criminal justice system. As we go through this process we are learning personally of the mistreatment people experience every day in this country. As a group of mainly white and mainly middle class men we know full well that the treatment routinely received by poor people, people of color, and other marginalized people is much worse than what we have received.
While we have had little contact with other prisoners, that contact has been overwhelmingly positive, they know why we are here and they let us know in many ways that they support our actions and respect our commitment and solidarity. In turn we are learning from them about the workings of the prison and their own traditions of resistance. They have our respect, admiration and solidarity. So far the efforts of some personnel to cultivate distrust and antagonism between us and the other prisoners have failed.
We are political prisoners: We are being held on outrageous charges, in many cases with no foundation whatsoever in our actual actions; Our bail figures are far out of proportion even for the crimes we are falsely accused of; We are here because of our political commitment and because we dared to defy the corporate powers that be as they were attempting to give a veneer of popular support to the rule of the few.
We call on those who support us to continue to put pressure on the Philadelphia authorities to win our quick release. We urge you all to continue to organize protests on our behalf and to write and call the mayor's office, the prosecutors and the prison authorities to demand:
1.Our immediate and unconditional release on our own recognizance
2. That all charges be dropped and
3. That prisoners with dietary restrictions (vegans and vegetarians) be provided with adequate food that they can eat.
Call these officials and let them know that you support our demands:
District Attorney Lynne Abraham 215-686-8701
Mayor John Street 215-686-2181
City Solicitor Ken Trujillo 215-683-5003
30 of us have gone on hunger strike to win these demands. We want everyone to know that we are in good spirits and remain strong in our solidarity. We come from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, but we are united in our commitment to genuine democracy and an end to corporate rule in general and to the criminal injustice system in particular.
FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
STOP POLICE TERROR
TEAR DOWN THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
END THE DEATH PENALTY
Write to us:
John Doe "JD" Professor, John Doe ODB, John Doe Wolfman, John Doe 6010 "Dinger", John Doe "That's not good for business", John Doe Slick, Camilo Viveiros Jr., John Doe 6013, Christopher Hartley, John Doe Mac, John Doe Mango, John Doe "B.A.", John Doe Sparky, John Doe Flea, John Doe "Hank H. Parts", John Doe "Wisp", John Doe Tennessee/Jimnikov, John Doe Buckshot, John Doe GOD, John Doe Switchblade, John Doe Ms. Pac Man, John Doe Zeke, JD Lovebug, J.D. Kowbone
END
Jonah Zern ~ August 4
For A More Detailed LA Schedule Visit:
http://www.a16.org/losangeles/calendar.cfm
Central Website for Housing/Transport/Food etc:
Media Coverage: http://la.indymedia.org/
Convergence Center: 323-993-7212 Located at 1919 W. 7th St., LA (Near Westlake St, one block east of MacArthur Park. Near the Metro Line.) (alternative locations are of course set up in case of a visit by our friendly men in blue who of course are doing their job by repressing our freedom of speech. For updates for locations in the case of repression on Go to http://www.corpreform.org/summerofaction.html; IF YOU DON'T SEE IMMEDIATE INFO THERE GO TO MESSAGING BOARD, EVEN THOUGH IT SAYS RNC, UPDATES WILL BE THERE!)
Saturday, August 4, beginning at 11AM; Convergence Space
Launch Rally for the Convergence Space Flyering, Bands, Trainings, Philly Updates!!
Sunday, August 5 at 4PM; Convergence Space
Launch Action Spokescouncil Meeting
Beginning Monday, August 7 - Thursday, August 10
4-6 PM at the Convergence Spot (After Thursday we will find a bigger space) YOUTH BLOCK MEETINGS! to organize together, plan media, plug into affinity groups. For Location in Case of Convergence Raid and After Thursday check www.corpreform.org/summerofaction.html
Saturday, August 12, 4-6PM, Convergence Space
Launch Meeting for Democracy Action Coalition (http://www.corpreform.org/democracyaction)
Monday, August 14, 2PM Convergence Spot or potential Church Location
Youth of California Meeting; Youth of Color Reps Are Especially Encouraged to Attend. For Info Contact Malachi at malachi@justact.org or 415.431.4204, Page: 415.688.0227
Tuesday, August 15, 11AM, Convergence Spot
Campus Campaign Kick Off Meeting for Medea Benjamin for Senate/Ralph Nader for President Campaign. RSVP to Youth Coordinator Mitra Ebadolahi at Youth4Medea@hotmail.com
Numbers to Call for Philly Solidarity! Set Our Friends Free!!!
Chief Maxwell Head of Detectives and Criminal Investigation: 215-686-3362
Deputy Commissioner Mitchell in charge of Demonstrations: 215-686-3364
Captain Fisher Civil Affairs: 215-685-3684
Mayor John Street: 215-686-2181
Stephanie Franklin Suber Mayor¹s Chief of Staff: 215-686-7508
Ken Trujillo City Solicitor: 215-683-5003
Councilman Nutter: 215-685-3416
Councilwoman Blackwell: 215-685-3418
PROTEST AMERICAN CORPORATE DEMOCRACY!!!!
Other Sites For Information:
STARC: http://www.corpreform.org
http://www.corpreform.org/summerofaction.html
Jonah Zern 510.540.8915
END
The Police Stole Our Message: R2K Report
The Philadelphia police, that is, before the massive direct action - or should I say, "lawless rampage" - outside the Republican National Convention on August 1.
"Zero hour" for the protests, as folks called our start time, was set for 3:30PM that day. At that moment, affinity groups would converge on selected targets throughout Center City, blockading key streets and intersections, while "flying squads" of other protesters would circulate throughout the entire area, reinforcing blockades or creating temporary ones of their own.
The tactical goal was to snarl as much traffic as possible for as long a time as possible. The objective was to draw attention to issues of criminal injustice, while inconveniencing convention delegates on their way to the GOP's festival of corporate wealth.
A few hours before the appointed time, police surrounded the cavernous West Philly building that had been dubbed the Ministry of Puppetganda. They arrested everyone inside - about 70 Puppetistas - and then destroyed everything that had been built there: giant puppets, banners, signs, and costumes. These protest props were to dramatize the policing and prison issues that motivated the direct action, and to communicate our vision of change.
It was a smart move by the police. Stripped of our means of communication, we looked as if we had no message to convey. This perception became a running theme in corporate media coverage of the August 1 demonstrations; we were cast as mindless hordes wreaking random havoc.
There were about two hours on Tuesday when chaos reigned, and I have to say it was glorious. Not the small-scale window-breaking, tire-slashing, and graffiti, mostly targeted at police vehicles; the use of those tactics in the context of a big direct action leaves me lukewarm at best. (The sort of property destruction where people sabotage experimental genetically modified crops and so forth: that makes my heart go pit-a-pat.)
What thrilled me in Philly was the success and character of the action from an organizational point of view. By about 5:00PM, all you needed to do if you wanted to know where disturbances were happening was to look up in the sky and follow the helicopters. I somehow never bothered to count them, but there were half a dozen at least, spread out over a large area.
Each helicopter hovered over an effective, autonomously organized blockade. Throughout the afternoon, the whir of helicopters was joined by dozens of sirens, as long lines of police dashed around the city trying to contain the protests, only to encounter new disruptions in previously quiet locations. Center City was gridlocked, and delegate buses were stuck in the traffic before they could even pick up their intended passengers. (I got a great photo of my affinity group in front of one such vehicle, flashing the message "Take Next Bus.") Delegates who wanted to get to the convention had to walk some distance before they could even hail a cab. We made our presence felt.
The decentralized character of the action rendered police surveillance ineffective and made our protest impossible to stop. The district attorney is already trying to pin conspiracy charges on people whom the authorities perceive as leaders, like John Sellers, the director of the Ruckus Society, which trains activists in blockading and other nonviolent techniques. (His bail was set at a jaw-dropping $1 million.) But the beauty of the action is that it wasn't a conspiracy. There was no central planning of the actual blockades: The people who created the various disruptions kept their plans to themselves, and no one knew everything that would go down. On the day of the action, communications people relayed information between the various geographic sectors, but there were no "leaders" in the usual sense, directing or even coordinating the course of events.
Instead, actions of this sort rely on organizers - people who play a very different role. For Philly, these key activists crafted the call to action, focusing on police brutality and the prison-industrial complex; they got the word out about the protest, encouraged others to come, and handled endless logistical details.
The lasting significance of the Philly action won't be its effect on public opinion (and wouldn't have been, even if we hadn't bombed so badly in the media). It will be how and by whom it was organized. The Philly organizers were not the same crew that put together the Seattle WTO protests or the IMF and World Bank actions in Washington, D.C. (The overlap between the organizers of the two earlier actions was so extensive that many called the D.C. mobilization "cliquish.")
The major players in Philly were a good deal younger and far more racially diverse than the organizers of Seattle or D.C. Activists of color - including members of New York's SLAM (Student Liberation Action Movement) and Philadelphia ACT UP - were key in initiating the mobilization and played central planning roles throughout the months of organizing.
In twenty years of activism, I've never seen a comparable effort: a decentralized direct action based on affinity groups and consensus decision-making process, that was substantially shaped by people of color. Throughout the last two decades, the movements that have used this structure and process have been overwhelmingly white - including the Seattle and D.C. mobilizations. In Philly, the issues, priorities, and analysis of movements of color intersected an organizational style developing in predominantly white movements: The convergence was wonderful to see.
After Seattle, Elizabeth (Betita) Martinez published a widely circulated essay, "Where Was the Color in Seattle?" The piece, drawing on interviews with a number of young activists of color who attended the WTO protests, has sparked debate and action throughout the overlapping activist networks that make up the emerging movement for global justice. Many whites have taken anti-racism trainings in the months since, and have sought to make new alliances by supporting movements of color, rather than expecting activists of color to join predominantly white campaigns. Meanwhile, many activists of color - inspired by Seattle and D.C., even though critical of their monochromatic character - have embraced and transformed the Seattle organizing model, as part of a longer-term renaissance of direct action within African-American, Latino, and Asian-American movements.
The Philly protests are an exciting sign of progress, an indication that sturdy bridges are beginning to form between predominantly people of color and predominantly white movements. If these alliances continue to strengthen, along with analogous bonds between labor and environmentalists, just imagine what this movement can do. Even without puppets.
*******
You've heard of the Revolutionary Anarchist Black Bloc, with their controversial tactics and fierce demeanor. Philly marked the advent of a new force on the streets:
the flying squad of the Revolutionary Anarchist Clown Bloc. Bedecked in silly wigs, red noses, and other trappings of resistance, the Clown Bloc aimed "to show the Republicans they are not the only clowns in town."
As they swarmed through the streets of Philadelphia, they left fellow protesters giggling over their deadpan take-offs on classic activist slogans: "Hey hey, ho ho, hee hee!" "Three word chant, three word chant" and so forth.
Their official communique, even more of an activist in-joke, stressed their political openness: "We are not, however, calling for a strictly anarchist clown bloc. We hereby open the call to those who do not identify as anarcho-clowns, but nonetheless struggle to create the same revolutionary antics: autonomist fan-dancers, situationist contortionists, anti-fascist jugglers, council communist hula-hoopers, wobbly tall-bike riders and stilt walkers, radical cheerleaders, primitivist fire breathers, and yes, even anti-state libertarian marxist mimes! Together, we can take back our lives from dominations by elephants, jackasses, ringleaders, and all others. Our intent is not to be divisive of the larger protests, but to support them by wearing very large shoes."
******
It was remarkable how many irony-impaired spectators didn't get the Billionaires for Bush (or Gore), several dozen delightful performers who marched under the slogan, "Because inequality isn't growing fast enough!" Wearing tuxedos and evening gowns in the Philadelphia heat, the Billionaires put it all in perspective:
"Gore or Bush, Bush or Gore, we don't care who you vote for. We've already bought 'em We've already bought 'em"
"What do we want?" Prison labor! "How do we want it?" Cheap!
My favorite Billionaire moments came when my friend Alex took some of the paper money he was carrying and sidled up to journalists from the corporate media. He'd take a fake $5000 bill and slip it into the journalists' hand or pocket: "You all are really doing a great job for us," he'd say. "We're really happy with what you've been doing."
******
During the most chaotic part of the day on Tuesday, I was walking not far from City Hall with Alex and other members of my affinity group, when I spotted the loathsome Phil Gramm, Republican senator from Texas, heading right for us. "Hey Alex, that's Phil Gramm," I said. Alex was quick on his feet. "The party's over. The rich aren't going to have their way any more," said Alex. Gramm slowed down. "Bullshit," he replied (and I swear this is an exact quote). "The rich have always run everything, and they always will." What I would have given for a video camera.
*******
For more on the Philly actions, visit
www.billionairesforbushorgore.com
FREE RADICAL is an e-column on the current upsurge in activism, written by L.A. Kauffman. It will appear only sporadically until the end of September. Back issues of FREE RADICAL.
FREE RADICAL is syndicated by Alternet.[to subscribe, send a blank email to free-radical-subscribe@egroups.com]
All contents Copyright 2000 by L.A. Kauffman
END
Mobilize Grassroots Democracy: Launch Meeting August 12 in Los Angeles
Jonah Zern ~ August 3
LAUNCH MEETING ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 4-6PM AT THE CONVERGENCE SPOT IN LA
Convergence Center, 1919 W. 7th St., LA Phone: 323-993-7212
(Near Westlake St, one block east of MacArthur Park. Near the Metro Line.) (alternative location will be posted at http://www.corpreform.org/democracyaction in case this place is shut down by the police)
**********Launch Conference Call August 27th at 4PM Pacific, 7PM EST**********
Please RSVP to democracy@yahoo.com, including your organization's name and phone number (please title your e-mail RSVP). Space is limited for both meetings.
To join a listserv to discus the actions send a blank e-mail to democracyaction-subscribe@egroups.com
****************************************************
We, a group of organizers and visionaries from the Bay Area, hope that by creating a strong coalition of grassroots organizations representing all sectors of our movement for equality and justice that we will be able to move towards a vision of a community-centered society based upon equality and sustainability. Our immediate goal in creating this coalition is to allow us to step out of the two party debate this fall, to create common resources to build and fashion strong local- and regional- based actions to claim true democracy in our election cycle. Our group consensus that Novemember 7, Election Day, would be ideal as one day of action, and is researching other potential days to propose at the August 12 meeting, such as October 4, the day following the first presidential debate as a statement that we do not believe that the most important ideas and dialog is represented in our political process.
National grassroots organizations where key organizers have currently expressed strong interest in the launch meeting on August 12 and being part of this coalition include Just Act, Alliance for Democracy, STARC, United Students Against Sweatshops, Youth Force, Refuse and Resist, Rainforest Action Network, Global Exchange and Campus Green Vote. Our goal is to have 8-9 national grassroots organizations with spokes at the launch meeting on August 12 and 15 organizations represented on the launch conference call on August 27. We also strongly encourage local coalitions and organizations to attend both meetings. In outreaching for these meetings we are targeting specific organizations that we feel will create a strong diversity of issues represented at the table at these meetings and in this coalition, but also encourage you to outreach as well to organizations who you feel would want to participate.
An agenda for August 12 will be posted as the meeting date approaches at www.corpreform.org/democracyaction (assuming the web designer is released from jail in Philadelphia). Initial agenda items include discussing vision for this coalition and Democracy Action, picking coordinated days of action for this fall, establishing a strong website with resources for grassroots activists, and creating a tabloid or pamphlet with our major issues represented to mass distribute (possible a version of the one already distributed).
We believe that this coalition could potentially build well past the November elections as a means to create stronger ties within the movement, to enable faster and deeper coalition building, to work together to provide joint resources for the movement, and facilitate the building of a stronger community of activists on a local level throughout the country. However, we also realize the necessity to build step by step and reassess as we go. We believe that each organization should have full autonomy in deciding whether or not to participate in creating and building events, actions, and resources created this fall and beyond.
Call to Action is at http://www.corpreform.org/democracyaction
Jonah Zern 510.540.8915
END
John Sellers' Bail Set at $1 Million
Submitted by Josie Foo, www.phillyimc.org ~ August 3, 2000
Saying that he believed John Sellers, the director of Ruckus Society, presents a risk to the community at large, to police officers, and to the citizens of Philadelphia, bail commissioner Jim O'Brien set bail at $1 million.
Sellers, who was arrested empty-handed while walking down a street outside the Police Administration building, is charged with conspiracy, possession of an instrument of crime, reckless endangerment, and a litany of misdemeanors
The district attorney, Cindy Mertelli, asked for the million dollar bond. She characterized Sellers as a menace with a multi-state arrest record, although she was unable to be specific about those arrests. Sellers, she said, had "contacts in Florida where (Ruckus') training camp is, preparing for mayhem and violence."
She produced a 27 page "dossier" on Sellers listing Sellers' fundraising activities and called him an "immense" risk of flight and a real risk of danger to the community, in light of the large amounts of money he has access to and his contacts throughout the states."
She said that Sellers had made provocative statements in some newspaper articles and had been "involved in Seattle, a situation with almost dead bodies."
Although none of the charges levied at Sellers are for violence, she said that Sellers "sets the stage to facilitate the more radical elements and intends to do the same in L.A."
Sellers, speaking from his cell at a police precinct via television hookup to the court, said he was a person of conscience whose prior arrests have been for non-violent action, and that he has never shirked court dates.
He said the few articles cited by Mertelli was disnigenuous, and he could cite numerous articles, in the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, and others, about Ruckus conducting its non-violent direct action training camp in Arcadia, Florida.
He said, "We are an incredibly transparent group, we even gave the police our website. We have nothing to hide."
"Even my parents," he said," are proud of me."
Sellers' attorney, Lawrence Krasner, also addressed the bail hearing by phone. He called the district attorney's statement nothing more than a "political diatribe" that misunderstood the nature of non-violent civil disobedience. He asked O'Brien not to allow Mertelli to politicize the process and to set bail within the guidelines.
Krasner said that Mertelli's comments were "outrageous." All Sellers had allegedly done, he said, was hand a banner from a crane. He had not worn a mask, and had not kicked in any windows."
He said Sellers was "a national figure that should be given reasonable bail as there is no indication he will not show up."
Mertelli pointed out that Ruckus' website mentioned some instances of violence, at which Krasner replied that Martin Luther King Jr. often mentioned violent episodes involving dogs biting humans, at which a surreal exchange ensued between Krasner, O'Brien, and Mertelli.
O'Brien, obviously partisan, argued that news groups like NBC do not participate in the violence they cover, and he asked Mertelli to confirm that no news groups had been arrested. Mertelli readily confirmed this.
O'Brien admitted that in his 10 years of serving as a bail commissioner, he had never been asked to set bail for arrests of civil disobedience and hoped he never would again. He then set bail at $1 million, saying, "I believe that the close co-ordination of all events and their close timing indicates a synchronization" of incidents, and that Sellers "presents a risk to the community at large, to police officers, and to Philadelphia's citizens."
Krasner then asked that the public defender, Bill Deeley, be appointed to appeal the bail to the emergency judge, but his request was denied on the basis that there are "probably" other defendents arrested on the same charge, although there were no co-defenders listed on the same arrest (DC) number. Krasner then tried to waive any conflict, but O'Brien refused to allow it.
Throughout the hearing, Sellers leaned on his hand and appeared at times intently listening, and at other times distraught.
Krasner said he would come in personally to appeal the bail and O'Brien said that, although his own shift ended at 3:30 p.m., he would be present to make his own argument to the emergency judge.
At 4:50 p.m., following argument, the emergency judge affirmed the $1 million bail. At 5:10 p.m. news sources including CBS News was reporting that the police had pinpointed the "ringleaders" of August 1 indicents and had been stalking them throughout the day. John Sellers was identified as one of the ringleaders that were stalked.
Ruckus Society is holding a press conference at 7 p.m. at the William Way Center at 1315 Spruce Street, at 7 p.m. today (August 3, 2000).
END
Police Chief Wants Feds to Investigate Protest Movement
By David Morgan ~ August 3
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Philadelphia's police chief said on Thursday federal authorities should investigate a coalition of activist groups that have targeted two political conventions, the World Trade Organization and the World Bank for mass protests.
At the same time, defense lawyers for hundreds of protesters jailed this week in Philadelphia claimed that city officials were keeping their clients behind bars illegally by setting bail at exorbitant levels for relatively minor charges.
On Tuesday, thousands of protesters tried but failed to bring the host city of the Republican National Convention to a standstill by blocking intersections in several spots downtown during their only act of mass civil disobedience.
Police won accolades from city leaders for thwarting the demonstrations and making hundreds of arrests without provoking the violence seen last year during the WTO meeting in Seattle.
Protesters appeared to have called off ``direct action'' campaigns planned for Wednesday and Thursday, saying they would instead concentrate on solidarity rallies for jailed comrades.
Police Commissioner John Timoney said the groups that organized the Seattle protests and demonstrations outside the World Bank in Washington last April were responsible for sporadic scenes of violence in Philadelphia.
Planned For Los Angeles
A similar coalition plans to demonstrate later this month in Los Angeles during the Democratic National Convention.
"I intend on raising this issue with federal authorities,'' he told reporters at a news conference without naming specific organizations.
"Somebody's got to look into these groups,'' he said. "I don't think you should have people out there who are going to hang around and plan to come into a different city time after time to assault police officers, engage in serious property damage and destruction. That ain't cricket.''
Fifteen Philadelphia officers were injured on Tuesday in scuffles with protesters. More than 20 police cruisers were vandalized by marauding bands who also overturned dumpsters, smashed windows and sprayed graffiti on downtown buildings.
All told, 369 people were arrested, including 19 who were charged with felony offenses including assault.
Among those in custody were several alleged protest leaders, including the head of the Ruckus Society, a Berkeley, California-based group that trains activists in nonviolent civil disobedience.
"We know they had a list of things they were going to do, and they set about doing it. That, to me, is kind of troubling,'' said Timoney, who deflected claims that some protest leaders were arrested while walking the street with cellular phones.
"I've been assured that we have probable cause to make those arrests,'' he said. "There are no preemptive strikes. We're locking people up who we think we can prove were engaged in criminal activity.''
Lawyers Have Different Version
Civil rights lawyers had a different version of events.
"What we are seeing in Philadelphia is a civil rights catastrophe of the first order,'' said New York-based civil rights attorney Ron McGuire.
He said the city was imposing bail of more than $15,000 in cases that would ordinarily merit only a couple hundred dollars, in an apparent bid to keep protesters in jail until after the Republican convention had ended.
"I cannot imagine a reason for these levels other than deliberate and unconstitutional detention,'' McGuire said.
Police confirmed bail had been set at $50,000 for one suspect charged with misdemeanor offenses.
The American Civil Liberties Union also expressed concern about conspiracy charges brought against 80 people found in a West Philadelphia warehouse that police raided on Tuesday, saying it contained material which could make crowd control more difficult and more dangerous.
"The charges are questionable. What we have basically are people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time,'' said Larry Frankel, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. ''We have a lot of concerns here about situations that might be called preemptive.''
Many jailed protesters were refusing to give police their names or personal details in an act of jail solidarity. Protest organizers also said 140 had joined a hunger strike to protest conditions. Organizers also held a news conference with protesters who claimed to have suffered police brutality while behind bars.
END
Tensions Cool in Philadelphia Streets
By Andy Sullivan ~ August 3
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Protests on the fringes of the Republican National Convention turned peaceful as the city recovered from Tuesday's clashes that tied up traffic across downtown and led to hundreds of arrests.
Police said they arrested 50 people on Wednesday, adding few details except to say the arrests were scattered across various locations through the city of about 1.4 million people. The police said there were 290 arrests on Tuesday, down from their earlier estimate of about 350.
On Wednesday, about 400 activists in a park across from the city jail demanded the release of those in police custody, while demonstrators picketed a downtown bank and a gathering of anti-abortion Republicans. A separate march called for women's rights.
The subdued tone of the day's events contrasted with that of Tuesday, when activists blocked downtown intersections, injuring at least 15 police officers and vandalizing 28 police and city vehicles.
Police largely succeeded in keeping the situation from becoming as chaotic as that seen at trade talks in Seattle last year when protesters brought that city to a standstill.
"They were folks who came here hell-bent on causing disruption,'' Police Commissioner John Timoney said. "The Philadelphia Police Department is in control of the situation. Make no mistake about that.''
Most arrested were not cooperating with police and did not give their names -- something likely to keep them behind bars until after the convention ends on Thursday, Timoney said.
An activist with the organization that planned much of the civil disobedience said police arrested many of the organization's key members early on Tuesday before they took to the streets, contributing to the day's lawlessness.
"We did everything within our power to organize a day of nonviolence, and what happened instead was that our organizers and our peacekeepers were taken off the streets,'' said Amy Kwasnicki with the Philadelphia Direct Action Group.
Scattered Protests
Some activists picketed outside Citigroup on Wednesday morning, calling it the world's most destructive bank. John Sellers, head of the Ruckus Society, a group that schools activists in the art of civil disobedience, was arrested at that event. Police had no immediate comment on his arrest, while supporters said he was only observing the peaceful event.
END
Condemn Brutal Treatment Of People Arrested At The Republican National Convention In Philadelphia
Theresa Gorman, COPWATCH ~ August 3, 2000
Copwatch, a group dedicated to monitoring and raising awareness about police misconduct, stands with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Austin Peace and Justice Coalition (APJC) condemned the Philadelphia Police Department's treatment of protesters at the Republican National Convention and held a news conference on the Guadalupe St. side of Texas Governor George W. Bush's mansion in Austin on Thursday, Aug. 3.
In Philadelphia, on Tuesday, Aug. 1, and Wednesday, Aug. 2, between 400 and 500 people were arrested because of their involvement in non-violent protest in the city where the Republican National Convention is taking place. As of Wednesday evening, 140 detainees had begun a hunger strike in the jail.
Civil disobedience is NOT a violent crime and should NOT be met with brutal arrest tactics. People arrested are being held in a Philadelphia holding area called the "Round House." They have been held without access to lawyers and many do not know their charges. Some have been "hog-tied" - their wrists tied to their ankles. One person was knocked unconscious and hospitalized.
The handcuff-like plastic "zip ties" are NOT being removed while they are being held and some arrestees have blue, swollen and bleeding hands and feet. Those injured are not receiving medical attention. Police without uniforms and with a search warrant that was not signed by a judge surrounded a building where people were making puppets for the marches, broke in the door and arrested 70 people. "Free the Haverford 70! and "Puppeteering is NOT a crime" was chanted outside the jail.
Philadelphia is famous for police abuse. This needs to end NOW. The Philadelphia Police are repressing massive popular dissent of the Republican Party's agenda. Gov. George W. Bush's marathon string of executions in Texas, as well as Texas' top ranking on child poverty are examples of the policies Republicans will be pushing if Bush is elected. We denounce his bid for the Presidency, as we denounce the human rights violations taking place in Philadelphia.
We urge all people to call the Philadelphia Police Department and Police Commissioner John Timoney at 215-592-5874 and Mayor John F. Street at 215-686-2181 and the Philadelphia City Council President Anna Verna at 215-686-3412 to denounce these brutal and unnecessary tactics.
In Austin, police brutality continues to plague residents. The Austin Police Dept. has logged 6 killings by police in the past 18 months, and though the District Attorney has refused to bring charges against any of the police officers, serious questions continue to surround the these killings. We, the citizens, actively oppose police brutality in Austin and in Philadelphia.
Austin A16 Mobilization for Global Justice
E-mail: AustinA16@Yahoo.Com
D.C. and International action at http://www.a16.org/
COPWATCH
Contact: Theresa Gorman
Phone: 499-8899
END
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
"Slavery is a blight on our history, and racism is still with us. ... The party of Lincoln has not always worn the mantle of Lincoln."-----Gov. George W. Bush, Texas. (excerpt from NAACP speech, July 10)
With the pleas of half a dozen brave protestors shouting about the "legal lynching" of the late Texas death row inmate Gary Graham(Shaka Sankofa) ringing in the Baltimore air, the nation's Republican presidential candidate appeared before the NAACP national convention in an attempt to demonstrate the ways of a "compassionate conservative."
In his 20-minute speech that invoked the names of NAACP founder W.E.B. DuBois, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and other historical figures, Gov. Bush demonstrated, if not great oratorical ability, that indispensable political skill of talking without saying much of anything.
For who but the dimmest among us doesn't know that slavery was a blight on our history," or that "Lincoln's party has not always worn Lincoln's mantle?" Bush, speaking before a predominantly Black group, did not mention "affirmative action," the "confederate flag," "Amadou Diallo," "Gary Graham," nor the "death penalty." He did refer to "school choice," a code for public tax support for vouchers. The national membership gave Bush polite and tepid applause.
Despite an invitation issued in opening remarks by NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, Gov. Bush did not define the often-touted term, "compassionate conservative." One wonders, however, what is it? A "reasonable racist?" A "friendly fascist?" A "doting despot?"It appears a "compassionate conservative" is a conservative who smiles while saying "no."
With regard to the "mantle of Lincoln" and the "party of Lincoln," it appears that neither the mantle nor the party of Lincoln were what we've come to think of as Lincoln. Consider the insights of historian James McPherson who, in his book The Negro's Civil War (1965/1991), notes the idea of the Republican Party as anti-slavery and Lincoln as the supporter of equal rights were seen as nonsense at the time:
"The Republican party, nominally anti-slavery, was officially opposed only to the extension of slavery into the new territories. No major political party proposed to take action against slavery where it already existed. During the campaign, Democrats charged that if the Republicans won the election, they would abolish slavery and grant civil equality to Negroes. 'That is not so,' rejoined Horace Greeley, an influential Republican spokesman. 'Never on earth did the Republican Party propose to abolish slavery.... Its object with respect to slavery is simply, nakedly, avowedly, its restriction to the existing states.' ...Lincoln himself had repeatedly voiced his opposition to equal rights for free Negroes." [pp.3-4]
The "party of Lincoln?" "Compassionate conservative?" The brilliant Frederick Douglass, although a Republican "field hand" (his own words), bitterly attacked President Lincoln during the height of the Civil War: "I come now to the policy of President Lincoln in reference to slavery. ... I do not hesitate to say, that whatever may have been his intentions, the action of President Lincoln has been calculated in a marked and decided way to shield and protect it from the very blows which its horrible crimes have loudly and persistently invited... He has steadily refused to proclaim...complete emancipation to all the slaves of rebels who should make their way into the lines of our army. He has repeatedly interfered with and arrested the anti-slavery policy of some of his most earnest and reliable generals." (McPherson, p.47)
Frederick Douglass was speaking in 1862, several years before the war ended. While he was a Republican (as were many Blacks of that period) he was not reluctant to strongly criticize a Republican President--in wartime! Can African-Americans today do any less?
Both major American political parties exist to serve corporate interests, above all else, not the interests of workers, or the poor, or the oppressed. Instead of the sickening sycophancy that today passes for Black support of political parties that don't support Black interests, we should learn from the bold, outspoken Douglass. Criticize! Viable, radical and revolutionary parties should also be organized and energized to provide real, meaningful alternatives.
END
Labor Endorsements For D2K Pour-in In Reaction To Anti-Labor Platform Adopted Democratic Platform Committee
D2K Labor Organizing Committee, Aug 2
LOS ANGELES -- Labor endorsements for D2K are now starting to pour in as a reaction to the anti-labor platform adopted by the Democratic platform committee.
In addition to yesterday's endorsement by the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, this morning we were endorsed by the San Francisco Central Labor Council, and more endorsements are on the way. In addition the Steelworkers (USWA) have announced they will bring their horse drawn Wells Fargo stage coach replica to take part in the Monday events.
No matter what some labor leaders and political elites say, labor has NOT withdrawn from the Seattle coalition, we will NOT break the bonds of solidarity forged in the streets of Seattle, and we WILL be in the streets of Los Angeles August 14-17 to protest the corporate free trade policies of the Democratic Party.
Following is the resolution of support issued this morning by the San Francisco Central Labor Council.
WHEREAS; labor's agenda to defend working families includes the key issues of fair trade, universal health care, and a living wage for all, and
WHEREAS; the draft platform for the Democratic Party includes support for Fast Track, and expansion of free trade agreements that are destructive to the interests of working families, and,
WHEREAS, delegates to the Democratic Platform Committee voted to reject amendments for universal health care and a living wage for all, and,
WHEREAS; the Seattle coalition of trade unionists, environmentalists, youth, and people of faith have called for mass peaceful permitted mobilizations against the corporate free trade agenda to be held in Los Angeles on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, August 14, 2000, and specifically a "Stop the WTO - World Tour of Corporate Shame" march to begin at 2:00pm in Pershing Square, and a mass "March for our Lives" march on the Staples Center to begin at 4:00pm in Pershing Square,
BE IT RESOLVED, this body officially endorses the aforementioned mobilizations, encourages it's affiliates and members to take part in them, and will offer such assistance and support as may be necessary.
D2K Labor Organizing Committee
contact: Michael Everett 310-394-2596
END
Thousands Will Demonstrate at Democratic Convention to Protest Party's Neglect of Working Families
Tuesday, August 1, 2000
Frustrated with Corporate-Dictated Party Politics, Demonstrators Will March for a Living Wage, Immigrant Rights, and an End to Sweatshops in the US and Abroad
Los Angeles, California-On Thursday, August 17, sweatshop workers, Asian and Latino community groups, students, religious leaders and activists will march from Los Angeles' garment district to the site of the Democratic National Convention to protest the party's official support of harsh immigration policies and to demand support for living wage jobs and an end to sweatshops locally and abroad. The marchers hope to show the link between the party's corrupt dependence on corporate donations and the neglect of the needs of working families. The march is part of five days of protest during the convention which will raise issues that the two major parties, more concerned with the interests of their contributors than the public interest, continue to ignore.
The demonstration on August 17 will begin at 4:00 pm with a rally in the garment district, at 8th and Santee Streets, will continue with a march to the convention at the Staples Center, and then conclude with a 6:00 pm vigil to coincide with Al Gore's nomination acceptance speech.
The two issues--the harsh realities of the working poor in this country and the struggles of immigrants-are inextricably connected, organizers say. Immigrants from Mexico, Central America and Asia are the primary workers in the nation's low wage industries, including garment, agriculture, electronics assembly and restaurants. Even though all workers are entitled to the same workplace and human rights, immigration status is being used as a tool by employers to intimidate workers from speaking out against abusive conditions. Undocumented workers in Los Angeles face daily threats of deportation and INS workplace raids, which trap them in a sweatshop system.
Politicians, serving the interests of their corporate donors, turn a blind eye to these abuses and continue to push for "free trade" policies which allow corporations to move freely across borders, demonstrators say. Yet, workers seeking employment are not afforded that same right to cross borders.
"We are demanding a general amnesty for all undocumented immigrants," said Victor Narro, workplace project director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "Then workers will be better able to assert their workplace rights without fear of reprisals."
Protest organizers say it is necessary to look no further than where the convention is located for proof of the harsh realities working people and immigrants face daily. Los Angeles is considered the sweatshop capital of the United States--140,000 immigrant garment workers in the city labor 10-12 hours a day earning less than the minimum wage. California is home to Operation Gatekeeper--the program of heightened militarization at the US-Mexico border that has resulted in a 1% decrease in people crossing the border and a 400% increase in their death rate.
Protesters point to attempts by large retailers to evade a recent California law that mandates they pay the workers who sew their clothes the minimum wage and overtime as evidence of how wealthy interests try to manipulate politicians for their own narrow needs. "Retailers such as the GAP and Sears are hoping to buy Governor Davis' influence with their political contributions," said Nikki Bas, director of Sweatshop Watch. "But the thousands of garment workers who toil for poverty wages in California, not these wealthy corporations, represent the public interest. The governor must listen to their voices and ensure they are paid fairly."
"My family has sewn clothes for all the big names, yet we can't even afford to buy those clothes because we don't make minimum wage or overtime," said Los Angeles garment worker Graciela Ceja. "Governor Davis can support garment workers as we fight for justice. Retailers can and must be held accountable under the law."
In addition to demanding accountable government at the state level, demonstrators will denounce President Clinton's "Fair Labor Association," saying it is no solution to sweatshops. "President Clinton formed the FLA to quiet protest about sweatshop labor conditions without actually doing anything to provide real protection for sweatshop workers. The FLA allows corporations to dominate their own sweatshop monitoring process--which is ridiculous, since those very corporations have a profit-interest in maintaining sweatshop conditions! That is why students have convinced their college and university administrations all over the country to sign on to the Worker Rights Consortium an alternative, pro-worker, pro-human rights, and genuinely independent sweatshop monitoring system. Being that Al Gore has not come out in favor of the WRC proves once again, that the Democratic party is beholden to corporate interests!" said Rebecca Weston of United Students Against Sweatshops.
Corporate globalization, supported by both major parties, is dramatically widening the gap between the rich and poor across the globe. "Garment workers sewing jeans for the Gap in Central Mexico make just 28 cents an hour, but ask for a living wage of $1.00 an hour. Meanwhile, Gap CEO Millard Drexler raked in $172.8 million in compensation last year. This huge disparity of wealth makes it more urgent than ever that politicians address human needs, not corporate greed," says Leila Salazar, Global Exchange's GAP Campaign Organizer.
Partial List of Sponsors:
California Students Against Sweatshops, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, El Rescate, Global Exchange, Mobilization for the Human Family, Southern California Fair Trade Network, Sweatshop Watch, Korean Immigrant Women Advocates, California Students Against Sweatshops, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), Garment Workers Justice Center
Contacts:
Leone Hankey, Southern California Fair Trade Network, 323-931-3669
Victor Narro, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of LA, 213-353-1333
Nikki Bas, Sweatshop Watch, 510-834-8990
Leila Salazar, Global Exchange, 415-558-9486 ext. 355
Rev. Richard Bunce, Mobilization for the Human Family, 909-625-8722
Rebecca Weston, United Students Against Sweatshops, 415-648-5621
END
MOVE Member Arrested At Protest
ONA MOVELLJA ~ August 01
"JUST BECAUSE IT'S LEGAL DON'T MAKE IT RIGHT" JOHN AFRICA
In a day dedicated to protesting the so-called "justice system" over 200 protesters were arrested, some were actively participating in civil disobedience while others were targeted and arrested for doing nothing more than speaking out.
Mike Africa Jr. was one of those targeted. While at the large protest for Mumia Abu-Jamal today at Philadelphia's city hall, Africa along with a number of others were swept up when police attacked the demonstrators. Later on this evening Mike was released after authorities were confronted by other MOVE members. Many others arrested are still in custody at Holmsberg prison outside of Philadelphia.
Mike Africa's arrest shows once again the pattern of harrasment that this system has used in order to attempt to intimidate MOVE members. The very same rotten system that locked up Mike today is the same one that locked up both his parents and seven other MOVE members on Aug 8th 1978. It is the same system that framed Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1981, and that bombed innocent MOVE men, women, and children on May 13th 1985.
All people need to speak out against this flagrant injustice. Demand freedom for Mumia, the MOVE 9, Leonard Peltier, all political prisoners, and for those arrested while protesting the Republican convention here in Philadelphia!
"REVOLUTION IS DOIN IT OR IT AINT GETTIN DONE" JOHN AFRICA
END
Party Conventions Flooded With Corporate Cash
By Anna Blackden and Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Jul. 31 (IPS) -- He who pays the piper, as the saying goes, calls the tune.
So what to make of the fact that most of the $70 million pricetag for the Republican National Convention, which got underway in Philadelphia today, will be picked up by big U.S. corporations?
And that much the same will be true for the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in two weeks?
Nothing, insist the sponsors. They say they are only doing their civic duty, and that voters should not consider corporate contributions to the conventions to be different from advertising for major sports events, like the Superbowl.
But to others, especially those who favor Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, the corporate sponsorship of the conventions, like the campaigns themselves, speaks volumes about what interests ultimately control the U.S. political process.
"The national conventions used to be an integral component of American democracy," writes David Enrich in this week's left-leaning Nation magazine. "Now they're just another channel through which corporations corrupt our political life."
The conventions of the two major parties will cost a total of more than $120 million, roughly equal to the amount of foreign direct investment which flowed into Ghana and Zimbabwe in 1998.
Of that amount, the federal government will contribute $13.5 million to each party, and local governments, eager to promote tourism, a few million dollars more.
The balance will come from so-called "host committees" in each of the two convention cities which are authorized by law to raise as much money as they want from corporations and wealthy individuals.
Such corporate-financed "host committees" are playing a growing role in public life in the United States, as corporations increasingly sponsor events ranging from local parades to the nightly news broadcast on public television.
Even important international conferences are underwritten by big business. Last year, for example, corporate donations, mostly from major arms contractors, covered about one-third of NATO's 50th anniversary summit celebrations here in Washington. Several months later, the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle was heavily financed by big companies, all of them highly dependent on trade.
On the domestic political front, big corporations usually dole out money to both major parties (although Republican candidates generally attract substantially more corporate money than Democrats).
For the two major-party conventions, for example, AT&T, General Motors, and Microsoft Corporation are each contributing $1 million in cash and services.
Millions of dollars more are being donated in somewhat more partisan ways by a veritable who's who of U.S. industry, such as Bell Atlantic Co, BP Amoco, Motorola, United Parcel Service, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
It was not supposed to be this way. Indeed, Congress started earmarking funds for the political conventions back in 1974, immediately after president Richard Nixon was forced to resign due to the Watergate scandal, precisely because of disclosures surrounding ITT Corporation's $400,000 contribution to the 1972 Republican convention which was apparently designed to encourage Nixon's Justice Department to settle an outstanding anti-trust case on favorable terms.
Today, donors are not so direct, according to experts. "In return for contributions, they do expect a higher degree of access, but (they hold) no illusions about receiving a quick quid pro quo in return," says Shelia Krumholz of the independent Center for Responsive Politics here. "If a 'tit for tat' service is uncovered, it's actionable (in court)," she notes.
On the other hand, the fact that most of the big contributors are in industries, such as telecommunications, finance and defence, which face heavy government regulation, is no coincidence. Microsoft is currently appealing a major anti-trust decision; AT&T is hoping its merger with Media One will not be opposed by the government; and General Motors is under constant threat from local and national clean-air laws and related regulations.
Still, most corporate spokesmen insist that their contributions are spurred by innocent motives, such as advertising, if not outright altruism.
A spokesman for Lockheed Martin, a major contractor for a national missile defence system whose development and deployment are being considered now by Pres. Bill Clinton and Congress, told the Washington Post that its $100,000 contributions to each convention were "part of good government. We support the democratic process."
Aside from the direct contributions to the conventions, corporations are hosting parties for delegates -- many of whom serve in Congress and in statehouses across the United States -- at the convention. This permits them to literally "rub elbows" with policy-makers whose good offices they may need now or in the future.
All of this corporate generosity bolsters the charge, made with increasing effectiveness this year by Nader, that the parties essentially are in the pocket of the big corporations, and often the same ones at that.
"Up against corporate government, voters find themselves asked to choose between look-alike candidates from two parties vying to see who takes the orders from their campaign paymasters and their future employers," he said recently. "The difference (between Republican candidate George W.) Bush and (Vice President Al) Gore is the velocity with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door."
Nader who, according to recent polls, is supported by as much as 10 percent of the electorate in key swing states in the West and Northeast, has set a goal of raising $5 million for his presidential campaign. The Republicans have spent more than twice that amount just to outfit their convention hall in Philadelphia.
Moreover, the massive corporate funding of the convention -- as well as the actual presidential campaigns which are likely to have cost hundreds of million dollars by November when the balloting takes place -- is effectively distancing average citizens from the process, according to many analysts. The result is that politics is becoming "more of a spectator sport than a participatory sport," according to CPR's Larry Makinson.
"No one should sell access to us," according to Michigan Congressman Sander Levin, a Democrat. "The government should be available to the people without charge."
END
Grassroots News Coverage (and the Republican Convention)
Compiled From A Variety Of Sources ~ July 31
An already-developed piece of free activist software is the software used to run the Independent Media Centers that have covered the Seattle WTO protest and the IMF/World Bank protest more recently in April. This software allows many people to post news that can be seen via the Internet by millions.
You can find continuous independent-media reports of the demonstrations, etc., in Philadelphia in connection with the Republican Natl Convention by checking Website www.phillyimc.org
During the upcoming Republican National Convention in Philadelphia (7-31 to 8-3), www.microradio.net will be web-casting live audio reports from the front lines of protest! People from around the world will be able to tune in over the airwaves of the internet.
The revolution will not be televised...it will be webcast. Keep it tuned for more...
A good mainstream source of protest coverage is C-Span. They did at least several hours of coverage of April 16 - DC (showing unedited speeches from the big rally and also showing a good amount of footage from the protestors' blockade of the meeting).
They broadcast a 30 minute version of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union "reality tour" of Philadelphia, and about an hour of the Unity 2000 rally all on C-Span.
END
Be A Part Of The People's Convention in Los Angeles
People's Convention ~ July 31
Be a part of the People's Convention.
When the Democratic National Convention rolls into Los Angeles this August, its participants will be greeted by streets aswarm with protesters demanding an alternative to the policies of global capitalism's twin parties, and preparing to build that alternative.
Those of us who have fought for years to end police abuse and erosion of civil liberties, retain affirmative action, protect welfare and healthcare rights, save the women's right of choice, fight discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered persons, secure a living wage for workers and prevent the destruction of public education have been frustrated. We have seen our efforts delayed and betrayed by mainstream politicians, including many "liberal" democrats indebted to capital for campaign contributions. Most of us have witnessed this long enough to understand that the problem is systemic: capital has a system that serves it; we must create one that serves us.
On August 10-13, 2000 there will convene a People's Convention in Los Angeles to provide an alternative vision to the capitalist agenda of the Democratic National Convention. The Greens, the Peace and Freedom Party, Solidarity, Committees of Correspondence and the Independent Progressive Politics Network have also voted to support the People's Convention, which can:
convene a broad range of independent left and progressive political organizations;
share practical organizing skills in workshops for building a stronger movement;
host a political fair for activists and demonstrators to learn more about existing community and political groups with which they can work and affiliate;
provide a public forum for independent and third party presidential candidates;
integrate left and progressive political parties with grassroots non-electoral groups;
create working unity among various sectors of the left, locally and nationally.
A website, www.peoplesconvention.com now exists to facilitate pre-convention discussion and plan the convention agenda. The convention itself will hold caucuses to work out proposals on issues. In addition we will host a week long Political Fair which will include workshops on organizing skills, leadership skills and democracy. Organizations will also be welcome to lead workshops on their own issues. Youth are encouraged not only to participate, but also to take a leadership role, bringing them the culture and enthusiasm that could infuse this movement with new spirit.
From August 13-17 massive demonstrations will protest the Democratic Party's collusion with capital's repression and divisiveness in the U.S. and globalization of poverty and exploitation. The People's Convention can fuel those demonstrations with a positive vision of social justice. Together we can build a progressive political program calling for concrete action to end racism, sexism and exploitation.
In Solidarity,
Medea Susan Benjamin, US. Senate Candidate, California Green Party
Leslie Cagan, National Co-Chair, Committees of Correspondence
Noam Chomsky, Author and Educator
Ron Daniels, Center for Constitutional Rights
Ted Glick, National Coordinator, Independent Progressive Politics Network
Arthur Kinoy, National Lawyers Guild
Manning Marable, Director, Inst. for Research in African-American Studies, Columbia Univ.
Elizabeth Martinez, Institute for Multi-Racial Justice
Dave McReynolds, Presidential Candidate, Socialist Party, USA
Sabina Virgo, Co-Chair, Crack the CIA Coalition
Merle Woo, Freedom Socialist Party
People's Convention-L.A. 2000
P.O. Box 6254, Alhambra, CA 91802
Phone: 213-736-6633 Web: www.peoplesconvention.com
END
Students, Workers Protest at Lord & Taylor
By Ronald I. Kim, USAS ~ July 29
More than 100 students and workers gathered on the ground floor of Lord & Taylor in the old Wanamaker building at 13th and Market streets Saturday at 11:30 a.m. to protest working conditions and exploitation in the clothing and apparel industries.
Most of the students belonged to United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), a nationwide organization formed in 1998 to hold universities accountable for the conditions in which their licensed clothing is produced. They were joined by local workers, including members of the UNITE! union from the Domestic industrial laundry plant in Kensington who staged a successful month-long strike last spring.
At approximately 11:35 a.m., a young man in dreadlocks began speaking through a bullhorn while people gathered from throughout the ground floor. Police physically prevented activists trying to unfurl a banner from the first-floor balcony, but the message on the second-floor banner was clear: "Just Say No To Nike." A blue flyer was passed out, detailing the multibillion-dollar shoe company's repeated suppression of labor organizers and student activists and exposing Nike CEO Phil Knight's contributions to the Republican Party in exchange for "free trade" legislation on China.
The dreadlocked man was followed by Lynn Fox of UNITE!, who gave a brief speech on the labor abuses of Nike and clothing manufacturers such as Lord & Taylor. Protesters then marched and chanted through the store but had to exit when police began to assemble.
Outside the store, the first man recalled the recent shooting death of an African American man in Michigan after his daughter was falsely accused of shoplifting at Lord & Taylor, and connected this tragedy with recent acts of police brutality in Philadelphia such as the Thomas Jones beating. He then announced the launching of a new Internet site, www.behindthelabel.org, which follows USAS's "Nike Truth Tour" across the U.S.
Lynn Fox addressed the crowd once again, reaffirming that "UNITE! is here for students and workers." After a woman from the Domestic plant spoke up, a USAS member from the University of Pennsylvania led the group in song, first chanting "We are the union/The mighty mighty union", then replacing "union" with "workers" and "students." By this time, several camera crews from local TV stations were on the scene, and over 30 police -- including, according to one sighting, Commissioner John Timoney -- had lined up along the 1300 block of Market Street, facing the protesters on the sidewalk.
The crowd then marched around City Hall to Love Park, site of this afternoon's rally for universal health care. To everyone's surprise, city police stopped traffic and cooperated with the marchers at intersections. Whether this action sets a precedent for Sunday's Unity 2000 rally, expected to draw thousands of activists, is not clear.
END
Calendar for the Republican National Convention
United for A Fair Economy, July 28
JOIN UFE AT THE CONVENTION PROTESTS!
If you're going to Philadelphia and want to get involved with what UFE is doing there, contact us!
**Workshops - Dara Silverman, 617-480-2454
Participate in Globalization for Beginners, the Racial Wealth Gap, and more!
** Billionaires for Bush (Or Gore)'s Million Billionaire March Andrew Boyd, 646-391-1055
March with us in your Billionaire costume!
** Shadow Conventions Contact the office at 215-898-0061
Come hear the REAL debate not included in the conventions!
**Creative performances at the Shadow Conventions Jenny Levison, 617-970-9090
Experienced performers needed!
For general information on the convention protests, contact Unity2000.
For details, see the calendar below.
United for a Fair Economy is one of six national convening organizations for the "Shadow Conventions: A Citizens Intervention in American Politics." During the conventions, at alternative sites, these groups will be hosting educational forums, workshops and entertainment on the themes of growing inequality, campaign finance reform and America's failed drug war. On Wednesday, August 2nd, we are inviting UFE supporters to attend our day on "poverty and inequality" with plenary sessions from 10 until 2, workshops in the afternoon and a rally with great national speakers, Cheri Honkala, Jim Wallis, Eugene Rivers, and Robert Reich from 6 to 8 PM. See the shadow convention website for up to date programming.
People can get tickets for the Philadelphia Shadow Convention through the web site (www.shadowconventions.com) or by calling 215-898-0061 or 215-898-6465 (voice mail)
Billionaires for Bush (or Gore):
With the presidential campaign in full swing, a bipartisan coalition of super-rich donors is coming together to celebrate the victory of their agenda at the Republican and Democratic conventions this summer. Although the ballots are not cast until November, the Billionaires have already determined both candidates' platforms. To celebrate their influence, Billionaires for Bush (Or Gore) plan to make a splash at the Republican convention in Philadelphia. Billionaires for Bush (Or Gore) is a non-partisan spoof created by United for a Fair Economy to draw attention to the connection between the campaign finance system and growing inequality. See www.billionairesforbushorgore.com for more information.
Trainings Locations: You can attend one of our popular education workshops at the following locations!!
Training Center:
CEC (Community Education Center) 3500 Lancaster Ave (35th St) West Philadelphia The Killtime (3854 Lancaster Ave.) will hold trainings from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM every day during the convergence.
The Fakehouse (3868 Lancaster Ave.) will hold trainings from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM every day during the convergence.
Shadow Conventions:
The Annenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania, 3680 Walnut Street (corner of 37th & Walnut Streets)
Convergance Center:
William Way Center - 1315 Spruce Street
Calendar of UFE and other Events:
Thursday July 27th
Training: 10-12 noon -- at Convergence: Growing Divide Workshop facilitated by Lenie Schaarman and Dara Silverman
Friday July 28th
Training: 10-12 noon --at Convergence: GLOBALIZATION FOR BEGINNERS facilitated by Sue Ellen Klein and Dara Silverman
Training: 7-9pm -- at Convergence: RACIAL WEALTH GAP facilitated by Dara Silverman, Vanessa Lowe, and Kate Pham
Saturday July 29th
Training: 10-12 noon -- Convergence Center: GLOBALIZATIÓN PARA PRINCIPIANTES facilitated by Annette Ramos and Liza Goldman-Huertas
In the Street: 10-4pm -- March: Ad Hoc Coalition to Defend Health Care March
Sunday, July 30th
Creative Action: Million Billionaire March in the Unity2000 March (Permitted Rally)
9:30am -- Meet to march as a UFE/Billionaires group at 29th and Market St. (the river side of 29th)
10:00 am -- Billionaires Pep-rally
10:30-12:00 noon -- March as a Contingent of Unity 2000
1:30pm -- Perform on Main Stage
Shadow Convention: Kick-off
Monday July 31st
In the Streets: 11am -- Kensington Rights Welfare Union march (un-permitted) Meet at City Hall (Market and Broad St.)
Creative Action: Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) Vigil for Corporate Welfare -- Candelabra Vigil (to support the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and Poor Peoples Campaign March)
11:00 am -- Meet at City Hall-- Market and Broad St.
12:05 to 12:15 PM -- Billionaires Protest Campaign Finance Reform at Shadow Convention (Contact Jenny Levison for more information)
Shadow Convention: Campaign Finance Reform
Tuesday August 1
In the Streets: Focus on the Prison Industrial Complex
Shadow Convention: Failed War on Drugs
Creative Action: Billionaires Appearances around the city -- (Meeting time and place TBA)
Wednesday August 2
In the Streets: Multi-Issue Day
Shadow Convention: Poverty and Economic Inequality
1:15pm -- Drill Team
2-6pm -- Trainings including GLOBALIZATION FOR BEGINNERS and THE GROWING DIVIDE
7-8pm -- Billionaires Fight Back!!
9:309:45 PM -- Coronation Party -- We will crown our two-headed BushGore candidate before Jello Biafra's performance at the Lost Film Festival. Meet at The Plays & Player Theater, 1714 Delancey Pl. (To coincide with Bush's nomination)
Please contact me if you want more information.
Dara Silverman, National Organizer
United for a Fair Economy, 37 Temple Pl. 2nd Fl., Boston MA 02111 617-423-2148 x26 (work) 617-480-2454 (on the road)
END
If You Don't Go To Philly Here's What You Can Do In Your Town
United Student Against Sweatshops ListServer ~ July 28
As the Republican National Convention and Unity 2000 near at the end of this week, many of you are probably getting excited with the upcoming protest in Philly. But, if you don't go there for whatever reasons, here's what you may want to do with your friends.
Many of you may already know a campaign called, "Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)" which makes fun of both presumptive presidential candidates' campaigns in order to get more people's attention to issues from "progressive" perspectives which are normally undiscussed in both Rep/Demo campaigns (they are backed by United for a Fair Economy). This site (http://www.billionairesforbushorgore.com - check out other funny contents like the slogans and chants - and there is a link from the Unity2000 site) links with a site called "Poster Nation". PosterNation is a program of grassroots action based on the concept of "Nationwide Saturation Postering."
On selected action days, PosterNation encourages across the U.S. simultaneously engage in acts of guerilla street-postering. And, this year's campaign is Billionaires for Bush (or Gore). The aim is to make the twin causes of campaign finance reform and economic equality major factors in public consciousness during the 2000 election.
So, you might organize an action in one or more of upcoming action days (or some of you may already be planning):
Sunday, July 30 -- Republican National Convention
Monday, Aug 14 -- Democratic National Convention
Tuesday, Oct 3 -- First Presidential Debate
Tuesday, Nov 7 -- Election Day
Over 200 local action groups have participated in PosterNation actions, putting up over 20,000 posters in 43 different states. The posters have been seen by an estimated one million Americans. But, I would say thatbe aware of your local ordinance/law which probably prohibit postering in many public places, not to mention private ones.
You can print out three kinds of regular size flyers from this PosterNation site (click on "campaign materials").
In addition, for your interest, this is the schedule of "Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)" campaign:
-Million Billionaire March, Sunday, July 30, Philadelphia
-Vigil for Corporate Welfare, Monday, July 31, Philadelphia
-Billionaires Rampage, Tuesday, August 1, Philadelphia
-Coronation Party, Wednesday, August 2, Philadelphia
-Million Billionaire March, Monday, August 14, Los Angeles
-Coronation Party, Wednesday, August 16, Los Angeles
END
Pre-Convention Coverage Whitewashes Police Violence, Distorts Activists' Agendas
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) ~ July 25
Early coverage of the upcoming protests at the Republican and Democratic national conventions has followed a familiar pattern: Mainstream media are stoking fears about the potential for violence in Philadelphia and Los Angeles by rewriting the actual history of police brutality at last year's anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle. In its place, media are developing a mythology of dangerous protesters who, for unspecified reasons, violently overpowered police.
"It is widely agreed that the Seattle police got out-foxed by better organized protestors trying to shut down the World Trade Organization meeting last year," reported NBC's Fred Francis in a story about the conventions (Nightly News, 7/14/00). Francis went on to describe activists who attended the "violent" Seattle demonstrations as a "battle-tested" force "better trained than the LAPD for street violence."
Widely agreed? Francis must have either missed or discounted the American Civil Liberties Union's recent report on the Seattle protests. "Demonstrators [in Seattle] were overwhelmingly peaceful," wrote the ACLU. "Not so the police."
According to the ACLU's 87-page report, "Out of Control: Seattle's Flawed Response to Protests Against the World Trade Organization," the City of Seattle's response to the WTO protests was characterized by "unwarranted restrictions and outright assaults on citizens and on their basic American rights." The "draconian" violations of civil liberties committed by Seattle police and officials included widespread use of "chemical weapons, rubber bullets and clubs against peaceful protesters and bystanders alike"; numerous "individual acts of [police] brutality"; the suppression of free speech rights; hundreds of improper arrests; and intimidation and "brutal" abuse of arrestees. (See http://www.aclu-wa.org/ISSUES/police/WTO-Report.html.)
NBC, ABC and CBS all ignored the release of the ACLU report, as did CNN. The Seattle Times is the only major American newspaper to have covered the ACLU's findings (7/5/00).
Yet the media haven't forgotten Seattle-- mainstream reports on the upcoming convention protests consistently refer to them as follow-ups to Seattle, and frequently ask whether authorities in Philadelphia and Los Angeles will be able to avoid a similar scenario. But which scenario?
One ABC World News Tonight report (7/23/00) asked what lessons Philadelphia police have learned from Seattle, and how they will be applied to the convention. According to reporter Jim Sciutto, Philadelphia police observers in Seattle saw protesters "at times playing to the television cameras" by feigning injury. Sciutto's report features, without rebuttal, a Philadelphia police lieutenant claiming that at the sight of a camera, activists are trained to "fall down and start screaming and yelling whether you hit them or not." ABC's report made no mention of any substantive allegations of police brutality in Seattle.
When riots erupted in Los Angeles on June 19 after the Lakers won the NBA Finals, several news outlets discussed the random acts of vandalism as though they were comparable to the protests planned for the Democratic convention. "Los Angeles officials hope that the convention crowd will exercise more self-restraint than the Lakers crowd," reported the NBC Nightly News (6/20/00). The CBS Evening News (6/20/00) made the same comparison, reporting that officials promised "much less access for potential troublemakers" at the convention than there had been at the Lakers game. CBS voiced skepticism however, adding, "but that's what they said in Seattle.... And some of those [protest] groups have already announced they're coming here."
What emerges from this coverage is an image of activists as a paramilitary mob preparing to take to the streets to frustrate and discredit the police. This distorted view has been helped along by the three major networks' failure to discuss in any depth protesters' critiques of the conventions. CBS mentioned that Los Angeles anarchists would protest in order to "shine the spotlight on economic injustice" (7/10/00); NBC (7/20/00) noted that the protesters' message is "simply that the political parties have been taken over by big money interests." Neither network featured any further examination of the activists' political positions.
Demonizing activists and ignoring police brutality may imbue police departments with a sense that they can operate with impunity-- or at least without fear of serious scrutiny from the press. This media whitewashing may heighten the risk that citizens assembling to speak out at the conventions will face police violence.
ACTION: Please contact the media and urge them to provide more balanced coverage of the protests at the Republican and Democratic conventions than they did of last year's protests in Seattle. Acknowledging the ACLU's findings about the growing problem of anti-protest police brutality would be one way to improve coverage. Taking activists' politics seriously would be another.
For more information on the protests planned for the Republican Convention (7/31/00-8/4/00), visit http://r2kphilly.org/ . For info on actions at the Democratic Convention (8/14-17/00), visit http://www.d2kla.org/.
CONTACT:
NBC Nightly News Phone: 212-664-4971 or 202-885-4259 Fax: 202-362-2009
ABC World News Tonight Phone: (212) 456-4040 Fax: (212) 456-4297
CBS Evening News Phone: (212) 975-3691, (202) 457-4385 Fax: (212) 975-1893
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a politetone. Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
END
Convention Hospitality And Police Brutality
By Norman Solomon, Creators Syndicate ~ July 24
Once again, Americans will be watching the extravaganzas known as the Republican and Democratic national conventions, this time in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Both events are underwritten by business patrons; both cities are notorious for police misconduct. Hospitality and brutality-- the contrasts could hardly be more extreme.
As thousands of delegates and journalists converge on the City of Brotherly Love in eastern Pennsylvania, the welcome mat is embossed with great riches. The Republican convention beginning Monday is brought to you by movers and shakers of Wall Street.
The Grand Old Party's jamboree will cost in excess of $50 million, mostly supplied via corporate donations. The same sort of financing is in the pipeline for the Democratic convention (estimated price: $35 million) a couple of weeks later. The symmetry of the largess is breathtaking.
US Airways "has contributed $500,000 to the GOP convention, at a time when it is lobbying for support of its merger with United Airlines, which is a $500,000 contributor to the Democratic National Convention," the Center for Responsive Politics explains. The spirit is often bipartisan. "Dozens of the nation's biggest companies, many of which have major issues pending before Congress, are lining up to help foot the bill for this year's conventions, some writing seven-figure checks to each of the events' local host committees."
Several of those checks are from multimedia giants. After using mergers to become a dominant provider of cable and broadband Internet access, AT&T chose to split $2 million evenly between the conventions. The huge firm is eager to keep federal regulators off its back.
Titans of the telephone service biz have been quite generous. The Republican convention received $1 million from Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic). The Democratic convention got a million bucks from SBC Communications -- which wants Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to let Baby Bells get into the long-distance phone business. Microsoft gave $1 million to each party's convention. Wonder why.
Delegates and journalists enjoy plenty of perks at the conventions. The parties tend toward the opulent, with lots of catered food and drink. It's a festive atmosphere, with privilege in the air.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the media tracks, 2 million people take their meals inside America's prisons and jails. How they got there, and what happens when they're behind bars, is mostly out of media sight and mind. Occasionally the coverage explores well beyond cliches and stereotypes, but generally it's superficial and fleeting. Maybe, for the most part, we'd rather not know.
Scandals about police brutality and fraud -- plaguing Philadelphia, Los Angeles and other cities -- make headlines from time to time. Yet little seems to change in a criminal justice process filled with systemic racism. The dragnet is extremely skewed. For instance, 15 percent of the nation's drug users are African Americans -- but they account for 33 percent of drug possession arrests. One-third of the young black men in this country are locked up, on probation or on parole. "We are seeing the media cheerlead for the erasure and the erosion of basic human rights and civil liberties," says Van Jones, director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. "If this were happening in any other country in the world, this incredible militarization of the police, the incredible expansion of police power, the increase in police weaponry, the decrease in defendants' rights, the incredible stockpiling of bodies behind prison walls, we'd be screaming."
But evasion is easier. "Much of America remains in denial about the magnitude of police brutality, reflecting a historical pattern that continued throughout the 20th century," journalist Jill Nelson observes in the introduction to the new anthology "Police Brutality." She writes that "abuse by the police is common in black, Latino, and other minority communities."
After videotape of Philadelphia police officers beating a black suspect appeared on TV screens nationwide in mid-July, Nelson commented: "Clearly, there is a problem when it comes to policing citizens of color and respecting our constitutional rights. ... It is time we look at re-imagining and retraining the police as to what their role is in a democratic society."
And just as clearly, it is also time we look at re-imagining and retraining lawmakers, judges -- and journalists. Whether or not the comfortable have enough comforts, the abused have certainly endured untold abuse. While media conglomerates help to produce the major party conventions, the voices we most need to hear are elsewhere.
Norman Solomon is a syndicated columnist. His latest book is "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media."
END
Youth United at R2K In Philadelphia
Jen Barken ~ July 26
Youth Bloc!
Unite with youth from all causes, backgrounds, and walks of life in nonviolent direct actions!
As youth activists, we will no longer let our varying affiliations and organizations keep us divided. We recognize the commonality in what often seem like separate struggles, and we shall stand together in Philadelphia to fight for true democracy and justice!
There is no ideology or single cause prescribed by this collective; participation is open to all youth and student activists wanting to combine their energies with their peers.
Take part in planning the actions: meetings EVERY DAY at 4:30pm beginning Wednesday, July 26th at the Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Ave. (near 30th St. Station).
more info:
fuzzywuzzy -- 215.732.1034 ~ jen -- jbarkan@wesleyan.edu
Information:
(youth action) Summer of Action
VOLUNTEERS: (info also at www.thepartysover.org)
Have a car? DRIVE people back from jail after they've been released.
SECURITY - you know it's needed!
Do you have experience leading social-action workshops? Call for TRAINERS!
Help with PUPPETS!
OFFER HOUSING!
Help COOK for hundreds of protestors.
FIRST AID Teams
LEGAL Observers
MUSICIANS interested in providing sounds to go with the actions-as well as to play before and after the actions. Even if you can only play a couple of simple beats on a 5 gallon bucket, this means you!
MEDIA: hook up with the indymedia center.
Bike Mechanics
The volunteer coordinator is Jessica Mammarella (856) 866.2394
END
UNITY 2000 March and Rally July 30
July 26
Philadelphia, PA, July 20, 2000 - The tens of thousands of demonstrators expected at the UNITY2000 March and Rally on Sunday, July 30th, will highlight crucial human and economic issues that are being ignored by the major political parties.
Representatives from the over 200 endorsing organizations will address real social problems such as poverty, injustice in the legal and prison systems, environmental degradation, racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, rapacious globalism, ever-growing militarism, declining support for education, and a political system that has been sold to the highest bidder.
More than 30 speakers from progressive groups plus entertainers who represent many elements of US cultures and peoples will be featured. MCs will be Wendell Young III, President of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, Urvashi Vaid, Policy Institute Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, columnist and commentator Ariana Huffington, and Horace Small, Executive Director of the Democratic Socialists of America.
National and local speakers will include former presidential candidate John Anderson and 90-year-old cross-country walker Granny D explaining the need for campaign reform. John Sweeney of the National AFL-CIO, William George of the AFL-CIO of Pennsylvania, Henry Nicholas of the National Union of Hospital and Healthcare Employees District 1199C, Jim DeBord of the Steelworkers International, Thomas Paine Cronin of AFSCME District Council 47, David Thurston of United Students Against Sweatshops, Martin Berger of UNITE!, and Eduardo Ortega of the Comite de Accion de Trabajadores Agricolas (CATA) will examine how corporate power and greed have hurt workers and communities throughout the world.
Father Roy Bourgeois of School of the Americas Watch, Barbara Erenreich of the Democratic Socialists of America, Gordon Clark of Peace Action, Lhadon Te Thong of Students for a Free Tibet, and Dr. Ahmed Shawki of the International Socialist Organization will look at US militarism, globalism, and world peace.
Dr. Ridgely Mu’Min Mohamed of the National Black Farmers and Agriculturalists, Reverend Steven Baines of Equal Partners in Faith, Judy Shepard, mother of hate-crime victim Matthew Shepard, J. Whyatt Mondesire of the NAACP, Loretta Ross of the National Center for Human Rights Education, Tharmon Pierce of ACT UP, Patricia Ireland of the National Organization for Women, and Edwina Baker of 2000 African American Women will spell out the effects of discrimination and what needs to be done to let all the people of the US live as full appreciated human beings.
Meg Maguire of Scenic America, Cheri Honkala of Kensington Welfare Rights Union, and Leona Smith of the Union of the Homeless will explore the results of poverty and the need for livable communities in a livable environment. Robert Newman, Director of Parks and Recreation for Washington, DC, will discuss youth at risk and the juvenile justice system while Joan Parkins and Darby Tills of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty will look at the prison industrial complex and the unequal application of punishment to people of color in the US justice system. Tony Mazzocchi of the Labor Party will talk about our need for Universal Health Care. Other speakers will present issues such as environmental justice, environmental racism, and the experiences and needs of our elders. Michael Morrill of the Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network will sum up the goals of UNITY2000 and look at where will we go from here.
The many exciting musicians and entertainers scheduled for UNITY2000 include Ringmaster, a feminist hard-rock band; Sing It Down, a peace-activist duo; Labor singer/songwriter Tom Juravich; balladeer Cassandre Xavier, folk singers Drew Calvin and Stephan Smith; the Solidarity Singers; Native American rappers, Warrior’s Blood; poet Amina Baraka; and the Boukman Eksperyance, a Haitian reggae band.
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2000 Shadow Conventions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles!
United for a Fair Economy ~ July 26
Come to Philadelphia for our education/action day on Poverty and Inequality in America!
Are you...
Fed up with the political establishment's avoidance of issues of poverty and wealth?
Frustrated neither presidential frontrunner talks about those who still suffer, even during this time of economic prosperity?
Dispirited by lackluster political party conventions that discourage meaningful debate?
Then come to the Shadow Conventions! In Philadelphia during the Republican convention and in Los Angeles during the Democratic convention experience:
A sharply defined agenda of participatory politics to the American people.
Two whole days devoted to the issue of poverty and the wealth gap convened by: Call to Renewal, the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, and United for a Fair Economy. (August 2 in Philly and August 14 in L.A.).
Featured speakers including: Senator John McCain, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich; grass roots leaders Cheri Honkala and James Lawson; former Clinton administration official Peter Edelman (resigned in protest of the welfare law); author Jonathan Kozol; actor Warren Beatty; Congressmembers and Conveners Deepak Bhargava, Chuck Collins and Jim Wallis.
Please join us!
This fun, lively opportunity to challenge political parties to provide leadership on poverty and the wealth gap will include roundtable discussions, music, and theater activities! For a full schedule and to register, visit www.shadowconventions.org.
PHILADELPHIA: July 30 - August 3, 2000
(Special focus on Poverty and the Wealth Gap begins at 10 am on August 2nd)
The Annenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania, 3680 Walnut Street (corner of 37th & Walnut Streets)
Sunday Kick-off with U.S. Senator John McCain
LOS ANGELES: August 13 - 17, 2000
(Special focus on Poverty and the Wealth Gap begins at 10am on August 14th)
Patriotic Hall, 1816 Figueroa St. (Cross street: Washington)
Sunday Kick-off with U.S. Senators Paul Wellstone and Russell Feingold
To register or to volunteer, call:
Philadelphia Shadow Convention headquarters: (215) 898-6465
Los Angeles Shadow Convention headquarters: (213) 346-9558
Register ASAP!!!!!
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Umbrella Group Provides Overview of Mobilzation Around Republican National Convention Demonstrations
R2K Network ~ July 24, 2000
The R2K (Republican 2000) Network is an umbrella group of organizers, coordinators and activists planning to demonstrate, educate and agitate before and during the upcoming Republican National Convention.
The R2K Network consists of the Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Healthcare, Unity 2000, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, the Philadelphia Direct Action Group, and many other groups planning or participating in convention-related actions. (It is those meetings whose attendees have been photographed by Philadelphia police officers, as the Department first denied and then recently admitted.)
There will be many demonstrations, rallies and direct actions at the RNC. But there is a relation between them, a commonality, that the R2K Network was formed to address. The R2K Network, besides coordinating mutual support among its many component groups, speaks to the underlying source of all those groups' concerns: the fundamentally anti-democratic nature of our political system and the control of the political agenda by the wealthy and corporate elite.
While an array of issues will be raised forming a colorful tapestry of a people's agenda, we are united in our call for an end to what is fundamentally an undemocratic system. It is no secret that both the Democrats and Republicans are controlled by corporate dollars and that they cater to the interests of the rich and not the poor and working people in this country. We will work to bring this message to light by carrying giant puppets, flags and other beautiful works of art while engaging in marches, rallies, educational events and non-violent civil disobedience.
We will be demanding a total change in priorities that support people around the globe while protecting our most valuable resource--the planet and *all* living beings, plants and animals who draw sustenance from it. We will be focusing on issues of greatest concern to communities in Philadelphia such as the deteriorating of the social safety net and basic human needs such as healthcare, education and housing. We want good paying jobs with benefits that will allow people to raise their families with dignity and security and where workers can choose union representation free from intimidation and harassment.
We will be looking at issues of racism, sexism and homophobia and demanding respect and an end to hate crimes and calling for amnesty for immigrants. We will be demanding an end to the criminal injustice system in all its forms from the death penalty to racial profiling to police brutality. We will be calling for global justice in the form of fair trade that values workers rights, environmental protections and local sustainability.
Some R2K members are engaged in direct action and civil disobedience; others have "worked within the system," though with some difficulty, and obtained permits and city services for their events. All are committed to peaceful, non-violent political activity.
THE PARTY IS OVER—NO BUSINESS AS USUAL!
HUMAN NEED, NOT CORPORATE GREED
NO GLOBALIZATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
Contacts:
John Hogan, 215-898-6132 Quotes
Pheobe Schellenberg, 215-848-1120 Quotes
Amy Kwasnicki, 215-219-2327
Beka Economopoulos, 215-888-8833
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Police Shut Down Signmaking For March
Kensington Welfare Rights Union ~ July 21
Today at at one o'clock in the afternoon, Philadelphia Licensing and Inspection shut down the Spiral Q puppet theater. Young people there were busy making signs for the Kensington Welfare Rights Union March for Economic Human Rights on July 31, opening day of the Republican Convention. The police removed everything from the building. Police refused to give their names or badge numbers.
Poor and homeless people from the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and the KWRU will not be silenced, nor will we disappear -- with our without our signs. Their attempt to silence us and to make us afraid will not work.
We will continue to march.
Contact Info: Kensington Welfare Rights Union, NUHHCE, ASFCME, AFL-CIO
PO Box 50678, Philadelphia, PA 19132-9720
Phone: 215/203-1945 ~ Fax: 215/203-1950 ~ Email: kwru@libertynet.org
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Philadelphia Police Admit Spying on Activists
By Thomas Ginsberg and Craig R. McCoy, Philadelphia Inquirer, Staff Writers ~ July 21
Reversing an earlier denial, the Philadelphia Police Department admitted yesterday that its officers conducted surveillance at private meetings of activists planning protests at the Republican convention.
The department earlier this month flatly denied that police were watching and photographing activists. Lt. Susan Slawson, the force's spokeswoman, said in an interview published July 6 that any such activity would violate formal curbs on police intelligence-gathering "and we are in no way violating it."
Yesterday, the department acknowledged plainclothes Philadelphia police officers had been photographing protesters. "It is our people," Slawson said.
She made the admission after The Inquirer informed department officials that car-registration records showed that a car used during one surveillance was owned by the force.
Slawson said Police Commissioner John F. Timoney was not available to comment on the reversal. Slawson took the blame entirely upon herself for the incorrect information provided earlier this month.
"I spoke prematurely," she said. "I wasn't aware that we were doing surveillance. Everybody else knew. I didn't check into it before I made the comment."
Slawson's denial was widely reported at the time. Neither Timoney, Deputy Commissioner Robert Mitchell, who is heading security for the convention, nor any other senior police official publicly corrected Slawson's denial.
In another shift, Slawson yesterday abandoned her previous statement that surveillance would violate a 1987 court settlement. The settlement came after police were sued for posing as civilians to get inside protest planning sessions for that year's celebration of the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.
The department's new view, she said, is that the 1987 pact banned infiltration of protest groups, not watching them or taking pictures.
"I read the order wrong," Slawson said.
Stefan Presser, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which monitors police adherence to the 1987 directive, yesterday endorsed the department's latest interpretation.
Presser agreed that the order applied only to undercover infiltration of protest groups.
Slawson, commander of the Police Public Affairs unit, declined yesterday to say whether the surveillance was still going on, who authorized it, or whether it was targeted at people thought to be planning disruptions or violence.
"We won't get into any of our intelligence operations," Lt. Slawson said.
While apparently lawful, the police surveillance - and the fact that nobody took responsibility for it - contributed to tension between police and activists over planned protests at the four-day GOP convention, starting July 31.
Throughout June, activists from several groups reported at least five instances in which unidentified men were seen watching and photographing people entering and leaving protest meetings.
In one instance, on June 29, an Inquirer reporter observed two men dressed in casual clothes, with one carrying a Nikon camera, watching activists arrive for a meeting at the offices of the leftist group Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
The pair at times sat on the hood of a maroon Plymouth, a car The Inquirer has learned was registered to the department.
Both men calmly refused to answer any questions posed by an Inquirer reporter and later by several activists. "I got no beef with them," one of the men said when asked about the demonstrators.
Yesterday's admission by the department prompted a mixture of scorn and disdain from protest organizers.
"This is just outrageous," said Michael Morrill, an organizer of a large rally on July 30 called Unity 2000. "If this is in fact going on, and city officials are lying about it, I wonder what else they're doing."
"We're taking it in stride now," said Amy Kwasnicki, a member of the Philadelphia Direct Action Group, an umbrella group for protesters. "Whatever is going to happen is going to happen."
The Direct Action Group is coordinating three days of protests and civil disobedience during the convention, including undisclosed actions for which protesters are preparing to be arrested. They have pledged not to be violent.
Asked yesterday about the reasons for the surveillance, Slawson said only: "Just because we are getting information about people who are going to be part of the demonstrations here doesn't mean we believe they in particular are going to be in any way disruptive or violent."
The surveillance is not the only picture-taking controversy now involving the Philadelphia police.
A New York City-based civil-rights group complained last week, in a letter to New York police, that a Philadelphia police officer photographed demonstrators during a May 1 rally in Manhattan.
Philadelphia commanders have confirmed that officers traveled to New York City for May 1 rallies, as well as to demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and Seattle as part of intelligence-gathering for the GOP convention.
Slawson yesterday refused to say whether Philadelphia police had, in fact, photographed protesters in New York.
New York police are forbidden to photograph demonstrators under a 1985 consent decree. The Center for Constitutional Rights, citing that decree, said in its letter of complaint that it might sue New York police for collaborating with Philadelphia officers in the surveillance. It's not clear whether the decree would cover Philadelphia police.
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Judge to Block Democratic Convention Security Plan
By Dan Whitcomb, LA Times ~ July 20
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal judge said he would strike down as unconstitutional plans by Los Angeles officials to keep protesters at the upcoming Democratic National Convention fenced in and well away from delegates.
U.S. District Judge Gary Feess said he would issue a formal order on Thursday barring the city from enforcing its security plan -- which includes a special "no access zone'' ringing the Staples Center arena, where the convention will take place -- on the grounds that it violated the demonstrators' free speech rights.
Los Angeles police officials have predicted mass arrests, rioting in the streets and chaos at the Democratic National Convention in August, and have made elaborate plans for containing demonstrators and protecting conventioneers.
Some protest groups have said that they will not be shunted off to the city's designated areas for demonstrations, which are more than a block from the arena, and have vowed to resort to civil disobedience to make their voices heard.
About 60 members of a pro-life youth group called Survivors turned out for Wednesday's 90-minute hearing, which stemmed from a lawsuit filed against the city and its police department by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
"It's the court's view that the no-access zone is unconstitutionally overbroad,'' Feess told the packed courtroom. ''The zone is violative of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution'' which guarantees free speech.
Debra Gonzalez, a lawyer for the city, told Feess that the no-access zone and other security arrangements were necessary to protect those attending the convention, including President Clinton and presumptive nominee Vice President Al Gore.
But Feess, who reviewed detailed plans of the security arrangements, said that some the restrictions seemed to have been put in place mostly for the convenience of conventioneers. He cited one area that was cordoned off so that shuttle buses bringing in delegates would not be disturbed.
"When its convenience vs. the First Amendment, convenience loses every time,'' he said. "Maybe (the delegates) are going to have to walk a little further. Maybe they are going to have to hoof it.''
Feess said that a major political convention was exactly the type of event that Americans should be allowed to attend and protest without being muzzled by authorities.
"Somehow, somewhere, there has to be communication (from demonstrators)and there can't be communication from parking lot four,'' he said, referring to one of the Staples Center car parks set aside for protests.
Gonzalez said after the hearing that the city would consider appealing Feess' ruling.
Daniel Tokaji, a lawyer for the ACLU, hailed the decision as a victory for the First Amendment and for the demonstrators, many of whom had vowed to risk arrest rather than be confined behind fences.
Sarah Dawson, a spokeswoman for Survivors, said she was pleased with Feess' decision, but said the group would stage protests in front of the Staples Center on Thursday to hammer home their position.
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LA Judge Rules on Convention Access
by Michelle DeArmond (AP) ~ July 20
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Activists who have set their sights on this summer's Democratic National Convention scored a victory Wednesday when a federal judge said city officials must give protesters better access to the convention site.
U.S. District Judge Gary Feess agreed with the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the city and police department. The suit claimed a wide buffer zone officials planned to establish around the convention site --the downtown Staples Center -- would violate protesters' constitutional rights by keeping them too far from delegates.
''When it's convenience versus the First Amendment, convenience loses every time,'' Feess said. ''It is hard to imagine an event when free speech activities would be more important.''
