4strugglemag

Issue 4--Spring 2005

May 19th, Palestine, Police State USA, Resistance, Organizing Against the War

Welcome to 4strugglemag number 4. This marks the second year of 4strugglemag. We are continuously trying to sharpen our work and we intend to keep this voice of political prisoners coming to you.

This issue begins with a tribute to May 19th and the revolutionary leaders who were born on this date. Our major section deals with the struggle of the Palestinian people, including a historical fact sheet and other data. The third section deals with Police State USA. Mumia Abu Jamal and others discuss Lynne Stewart’s case. We also raise the question: is fascicm happening in the USA? Then we have a piece by Free on Radical Environmentalism. We also report on the March 19-20 worldwide anti-war rallies. Finally we have an analysis of racism by Larry Mitchell.

We encourage further discussion on all these issues especially on our discussion board. Letters are also welcomed, either to this magazine or you can write directly to the political prisoner writers.

Issue 5 will be out late this summer. One section will continue the issue of how real fascism is becoming in the U.S. and what could and needs to be done about it. In the meantime let’s all say no, in as many ways as possible, to the war and police state.

4strugglemag send a very positive and militant MAY DAY/International Worker’s Day salute to everyone. We’ll keep struggling—hope you do too.

Dynamic Peace and Justice
Jaan Laaman (W41514), editor
P.O. Box 100
South Walpole MA 02071 USA

Table of Contents

May 19th

2…May 19th, by Jaan Laaman
3…Sandino and Nicaraguan Resistance Against American Imperialism, by Robin Merrill
7…In Malcolm’s Memory, by Mumia Abu-Jamal
9…Ho Chi Minh, by Jaan Laaman

Palestine

11…Palestine: Core Conflict in the Middle East, by Jaan Laaman
12… Palestine: A History of Occupation and Resistance, from Revolutionary Worker
23… What Do You Know About Historic Palestine? by the NECDP
24 …The Struggles of Palestinian Prisoners: Fighting Repression, by Sumoud
29… Jaan Laaman’s Message for the April 2005 Palestinian Speaking Tour of North America
30… North American Speaking Tour of ex-Political Prisoners from Occupied Palestine
31… Some Facts About "The Only Democracy in the Middle East", by Arjan El Fassed
32… Detention Conditions in Israeli Occupation Jails Worst in 30 Years, from Prison Art Newsletter
34… Sabha is an Old Woman, by Abu Sadek Husseini
35… For a Unified, Democratic Palestine That Welcomes All Religions, by the NECDP

Police State USA

38… Fight the Convictions of Lynne Stewart, Mohamed Yousry, Ahmed Abdel Sattar! from Worker’s Vanguard
39… Lynne Stewart, People’s Lawyer, by Jaan Laaman
40… Targeting Lynne Stewart, by Mumia Abu-Jamal
43… Excerpts from Lynne Stewart’s Speech
47… Warning! Police State USA, by Jaan Laaman
49… The Battle for the Future Will Be Fought From Here Forward! from Revolutionary Worker

Resistance

55… A Brief Description of Radical Environmentalism, by Jeff 'Free' Luers
58… Earth Day 2005: Time for Green to Get Red, from Freedom Socialist
59… Robert F. Williams: Self Respect, Self Defense And Self Determination, by Sara Falconer
61… Racism and the Anatomy of a Solution, by Larry “Key” Mitchell

Organizing Against the War

73… Democracy Game in Iraq, by Bill Dunne
78…Bush, Oil, War and Thoughts on How to Become a True People, by Ali Khalid Abdullah
81… Protests Demand: End Iraq Occupation: Over 40 Countries, 700 U.S. Cities, by Leslie Feinberg
83…"Support Our Troops," or Support the Resistance? by Marta Rodriguez
89… Political Prisoners in the United States, by Jaan Laaman

May 19th

May 19th is a good day. It has been set aside and recognized as such by freedom loving people and revolutionary people for many years. May 19th happens to be the day of birth of three outstanding Freedom Fighters and highly respected revolutionary leaders. All of them had a direct impact on America and the world. They were: Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh and Agosto Sandino (Sandino may have been born on May 18).

Each of these men fought for justice, freedom and the liberation of their people and nation. Malcolm of course was the brilliant leader of the Black Nation within the USA. Ho Chi Minh was the great leader of the Vietnamese people. Agosto Sandino was an important leader in Nicaragua, who led the struggle against invading U.S. Marines in the 1920s and 30s. Although he was already long dead, in the 1960s and 70s, he was the inspirational figure for the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which finally expelled the U.S.-backed dictator from Nicaragua in 1979.

These three leaders struggled for national liberation against U.S. imperialism, each in their own time and place. Their courage, wisdom and example should continue to enlighten and inspire the ongoing struggles for justice, peace and freedom today. May 19th is thought of as a strong day and a day to honor national liberation and revolutionary struggles. 4strugglemag joins in the salute to May 19th and to these three outstanding leaders, and the struggles they were part of. History informs and guides us, even as the ongoing national liberation struggles call out for us to get busy now.

¡LA LUCHA CONTINUA!
Jaan Laaman, editor

Sandino and Nicaraguan Resistance Against American Imperialism

by Robin Merrill

"The sovereignty and liberty of a people are not to be discussed, but rather defended with weapons in hand"
-Augusto Sandino

Augusto Nicolas Calderon Sandino, although born in an obscure Nicaraguan village called Niquinohomo in 1895, would go on to alter the history and heritage of his country, and become a world wide symbol of the
revolutionary Anti-imperialism. Augusto Sandino was born illegitimately to a peasant worker named Margarita Calderón and her married boss, Gregorio Sandino. His mother abandoned him at the age of ten and he went to live with his maternal grandmother. Later he was brought into his father's household but he was forced to earn his keep by working and was never fully accepted.

In 1921, He shot, but did not kill, Dagoberto Rivas a son of an important Conservative in the village in retaliation to some comments which Dagoberto had made about his mother. He then ran away to the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua and from there to various other Central American countries. He finally landed in
Mexico spending the next four years working for Standard Oil. While there, he began to get involved in several diverse radical groups which seemingly
influenced his perspective on life and hence his future actions.

Sandino's main thesis, although heavily influenced by anarchism was the support of nationalism and anti-imperialism, specifically the resistance of US
occupation and domination of Nicaragua. The United States had maintained a US Marine force in the country from 1912 on, with only brief periods of respite. The US had also intervened in internal affairs through control of the Conservative party and economic influence. Sandino believed in the glorification of personal heritage and liberty and once said, "The sovereignty and liberty of a people are not to be discussed, but rather defended with weapons in hand"

Augusto returned to his homeland in 1926 as the Statute of Limitations on his crime ran out. In June of 1926, Sandino met a troop of migrating workers and
traveled North, finding employment in the San Albino mines. Sandino began to agitate and urge the miners to sabotage the mines. In december of 1926 a rebellion against the coservative governamt broke out. Taking some of his personal savings, Sandino purchased some old weapons from gun-runners on the Honduran border to arm the miners and proceeded to attack El Jícaro but
where defeated by the garrison force because Sandino was inexperienced and fought with standard mass-army tactics. Sandino decided that in order to be effective he would have to have better weapons. So he communicated with the rebelling Liberal troops led by Commander General José María Moncada but was refused better weapons and more men. Sandino somehow managed
to acquire some more weapons, after becoming popular with the other important Liberals, Moncada was finally convinced to allow Sandino to stage independent attacks with the help of rebelling soldiers. Having learned from his earlier mistakes, he gradually refined his warring techniques into a guerrilla
hit-and-run style of fighting much like that used by the Viet-cong during the Vietnam War. This form of guerrilla warfare would later influence many
liberation movements around the world fighting against U.S. imperialism.

The United States, wishing to calm the rebellion and decrease the casualties being inflicted on its armed forces, created a peace settlement between the two
parties. The majority of the Liberals agreed to the peace settlemnt, except for Sandino who chose to keep on fighting until the US had left Nicaragua. Sandino
saw the war as more than a case of Nicaraguans against Nicaraguans, but a war for self determination of the poor and oppressed peasants and worker both against the ruling classes of Nicaragua and against U.S. Imperialism.

Even though Sandino was an idealist with radical political and social ideas such as having communal lands and a unified Central America, Sandino was always a man of action and organized the sentiments of the peasants into revolt. the common peasants provided the manpower to fight and die when needed as well as a constant information network for Sandino's Geurilla army.

In 1933 Sandino and his peasant amry forced the the united states armed forces to leave Nicaragua. All in all, in spite of growth and recession of
Sandino's military strength, Sandino was still as great or greater a force as he had ever been when the US left. With his ideal fulfilled, Sandino agreed to
lay down his weapons and signed a preliminary agreement with the Sacasa government. The agreement was that, in exchange for peace, some men who wished to stay with Sandino could do so in a commune in the Río Coco commune. These men would be formed into an auxiliary military group under the president's supervision for one year. As the United States left, they formed a powerful National Guard under the head of Anastasio Somoza García which was supposed to create a solid, non- political force to allow the country to grow in stability.General Somoza was anything but apolitical and he rapidly began to turn the National Guard to his own uses.

In 1934, with the review of his "auxiliaries" getting ever closer, Sandino told the President that he might not lay down his weapons because he believed that the
National Guard was unconstitutional. Sacasa called Sandino to Managua to speak with him and when Sandino arrived he publicly announced that he thought that the National Guard was unconstitutional. Sandino's talks with the President resulted in an agreement which would, among other things, reduce Somoza's power through the National Guard significantly. On February 20, as Sandino returned from speaking with the President, the National Guardsmen under Somoza's command, fearing a loss of power, surrounded him and
his party and executed them. The next day the National Guard raided the northern commune, destroyed it, and killed most of Sandino's men, their wives, and children.

The revolution was finally subdued, and in 1937 the U.S client General Somoza became dictator. From 1937 to 1979, Nicaragua was ruled autocratically by two
successive generations of the Somoza family. Although Sandino’s revolution had failed, the seed of revolution had been planted. By the 1970’s, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) had grown in popularity and started to threaten Somoza’s hegemony. The Sandinistas, naturally, had taken their name from Augusto Sandino, the martyr who fathered the Anti-imperialist cause in Nicaragua. The Sandinista cause was supported by three major beliefs, “the three legs of the stool of Nicaraguan revolutionary democracy” . The first,
political democracy, The second, participatory democracy, the third, economic equality, meant a communistic economy and complete equalization of
wealth, incorporating both Marxist and socialist ideas.

The Sandinistas Political pursations were heavily influenced by Augusto Sandino his secular religious beliefs, his Marxist beliefs, and his close association with anarchism. Finally, they were influenced by the Christian Theology of Liberation.
With this philosophy, the Sandinistas justified their revolution as freeing people from social, economic, and political oppression. The Sandinistas were a
mixture of these influences, which made them a very unique cause, and very unique leaders.

On August 22, 1978, twenty-four Sandinista guerillas stormed the national palace at Managua, and by July 17, 1979, the Sandinistas had driven General Samoza out of power and began the process of making the dream of Sandino a reality.

(Note: Like many revolutions the Sandinista revolution fell short of its initial dream. Many things can be said about the period that the Sandinistas held power but none of them can be fully undersdood without the understanding of the U.S. led counter-revolutiuonary force of the contras. despite the U.S. 'TERRORIST' war against the sandinistas they managed to effect many
broad reaching changes in the social arrangment in Nicaruguara in favor of the the peasantry and poor working class.

The National Literacy Campaign of 1980 affected one in every two Nicaraguans . The literacy rate rose from 45% to 86% in one of the largest literacy campaigns ever, and the Sandinista government drew international
acclaim. Prior to 1979, about 4% of the landowners controlled about 52% of the arable land. The Sandinista junta set out to fix this, trying to make it an equal proportion. They directly started to confiscate Somoza family land, and other, similar land. The nationalization of Somoza’s property alone affected a total of 168 factories—25% of industrial plant in Nicaragua, valued at $200 million. This
initial confiscation led directly to the Agrarian Reform Law of 1981, which targeted unused farms, property of absent landlords, and unproductive land
for expropriation. From 1981-1985, thousands of acres of land were expropriated and turned into new, peasant collectives.Along with nationalizing aristocratic land, the Sandinistas began to nationalize certain industries. The Sandinistas issued reform that nationalized sugar distribution, commenced state
control over agricultural cooperatives, and started a limited policy of nationalization of business. By 1981, the state accounted for more than 30% of the industry of Nicaragua. The government also initiated control, with so-called ‘wildcat nationalizations’, over 20% of the cotton industry, 50% of the tobacco
industry, and 60% of the ‘staple cereal’ industry.

MOBAREZEH HAMISHE

www.nefac.net
www.jerichoboston.org

Robin Merrill is a member of the Mobarezeh anarchist collective (NEFAC Boston) and a Member of the Boston chapter of the Jericho movement.

In Malcolm's Memory

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

It is a tribute to grassroots Black and socialist movements that the name of Malcolm X is known today.

His handsome, bronze image stares back from U.S. postage stamps. His autobiography continues to inspire new generations all across America, and around the world. The Spike Lee production, "Malcolm X", renewed his life story for a new generation, emblazoning the chiseled features of actors Denzel Washington and Angela Bassett in the minds of millions as the faces of Malcolm X and his beloved wife, Sister Betty Shabazz.

The Malcolm X who lived, struggled, was imprisoned, followed by the FBI (and other government agencies), whose words were like pepper in the bloody scars of America, became transformed, over time, into someone that he would barely recognize: a 'civil rights' activist; instead of a nationalist, a freedom fighter, a rebel to white nationalism, and, in his own words, one who fought for 'human rights.'

For a time, he was the voice and the most recognized face of the Nation of Islam, and the paper he founded, *Muhammad Speaks*, was sold from coast to coast, one of the few, rare undiluted published voices of an oppressed people. He set up temples of the emergent organization in a score of cities.

He was the dark counterpart to the 'love thy neighbor' speeches of his closest political competitor, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and indeed, his sparks of righteous indignation and anger made Martin's sweet entreaties that much sweeter.

Malcolm's Feb. 21, 1965 assassination in New York's Audubon Ballroom did not spark the same kind of public, nor political reaction as did the assassination of Martin some 3 years later. *TIME*, *Newsweek*, and *The New York Times* maligned Malcolm in death, with the *Times* calling him a "twisted" man. Carl T. Rowan, a Black journalist, diplomat, and head of the United States Information Agency (USIA) was no better. When African and Asian countries paid him tribute, Rowan was disturbed, saying he "could not understand all the fuss about an ex-convict, ex-dope peddler who became a racial fanatic."

But while the Black bourgeoisie 'couldn't understand' the meaning of Malcolm's loss, Black poor and working class people certainly could. He was one of *us*, they reasoned, and his loss was our loss.

Malcolm's sharp, biting, and uncompromising criticism of White America, and the hypocrisy of its political leaders when it came to Black folks wasn't lost on Rev. King. According to theological scholar James H. Cone, Martin, in private, couldn't help but identify with much of Malcolm's insights:

Among close associates and friends King
did not hesitate to concede the truth of
Malcolm's analysis of the black condition.
He reportedly said to a friend: "I just saw
Malcolm on television. I can't deny it.
When he starts talking about all that's been
done to us, I get a twinge of hate, of
identification with him." [From: James H.
Cone, *Martin & Malcolm & America:
A Dream or a Nightmare* (Maryknoll,
N.Y.: Orbis, 1991), p. 256].

It has been 40 years since a ruckus erupted in the Audubon, and gunmen slew Malcolm X in front of his family and followers.

He still continues to speak to new generations, who find in him, the resistance of distant ancestors, the anger and resentment of a people who know, in their hearts, that they were not dealt with fairly, and the necessity of self-defense against a system that is in perpetual war with Black America.

His life inspired a generation of young men and women to form and expand the Black Panther Party, the Republic of New Africa, the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party, and myriad other groups. He brought countless white youth out of the cages of white liberalism and into movements for social justice and liberation. In a recent, somewhat amazing example, that of John Walker Lindh, who joined the Taliban in Afghanistan, his trek into the Third World began in the pages of *The Autobiography of Malcolm X*.

It has been generations, yet his voice continues to echo anew.

[*Sources*: *Cone, J.H., *Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare* (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1991), p. 40.; Carson, Clayborne, *Malcolm X: The FBI File* (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1991).]

[Check out Mumia's latest: *WE WANT FREEDOM: A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from South End Press (www.southendpress.org); Ph.
#1-800-533-8478.]

Mumia Abu-Jamal
AM-8335
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA
USA 15370-8090

Ho Chi Minh

by Jaan Laaman

“Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.” –Ho Chi Minh

These few words truly symbolize the long and noble life of one of the outstanding leaders of the 20th century—Ho Chi Minh. Born in Hoang Tru hamlet in Central Vietnam on May 19, 1890, Ho lived a long struggle-filled life of sacrifice and success. He died on September 2, 1969, as President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh did not live to see the total unification of his homeland, but it is a clear fact that it was his wise and honest leadership that led to the end of the war and total liberation of Vietnam on April 30, 1975.

Ho Chi Minh was a remarkable and resourceful person. He certainly was a true Vietnamese patriot as well as a dedicated Marxist revolutionary. He was a tireless organizer, a good teacher, a principled leader, and a life-long anti-colonial militant. He spent time in prison. He often lived underground using over 50 alternative names to avoid capture by colonial and imperialist forces who invaded Vietnam (these were France, Japan and the U.S.). He also was a poet. Ho was a symbol of revolutionary humanitarianism, devoted to the welfare of his nation, but also to the liberation of all oppressed peoples of the world.

Ho Chi Minh had a worldwide image of simplicity, goodness and selflessness. He was honored and loved as Uncle Ho. As a young person I vividly remember many marches and rallies where I joined my voice with thousands, often tens of thousands, and on some occasions hundreds of thousands of other Americans, as we chanted, “Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh, NLF is gonna win!” Here we were, citizens in the heart of America, getting a glimpse of the truth and sincerity of Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese independence struggle he symbolized. We knew our American leaders, Presidents Nixon and Johnson (Kennedy and Eisenhower before them), had gotten us into the wrong war for the wrong reasons. America was on the wrong side and millions here were determined to expose and resist this. We thought of Ho Chi Minh as our Uncle Ho, too.

“As the sun rises over the prison wall,
It shines on the prison gate.
Inside the jail, all is still dark,
But outside the sun has spread across the land.”

Ho Chi Minh’s life and work helped spread the revolutionary light of Liberation, Justice and Freedom around the world, and its still shines today.

Jaan Laaman, anti-imperialist political prisoner

Palestine: Core Conflict in the Middle East

The heart of the conflict in the Middle East is the struggle of the Palestinian people for land, justice and independence. The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq does have its own dynamic and motives, as do popular struggles against the Saudi and other oil state monarchies. Yet the core conflict in the Arab world continues to be the struggle of the Palestinian people.

While there is a religious component to the Israeli Palestinian question, fundamentally it is an unfinished remnant of the anti-colonial struggle that defined the history of the 20th century. Anti-colonialism, the internationally recognized right of all nations to self-determination and independence, was the hallmark and driving force of the 20th century. All but a tiny handful of nations achieved their independence from colonial rulers and/or racist settler state regimes. In 2005, Puerto Rico is still a U.S. colony. The north of Ireland is still ruled by Britain. The Basque people are still under Spanish (and French) control. Kurdistan, the nation of the Kurds, remains divided and under the control of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. And Palestine is still ruled and occupied by the settler quasi-theocratic state of Israel.

Reports on Palestine/Israel are aired daily in the U.S. by the corporate news media. The American public hears a lot about Palestinians and Israelis from the U.S. government and media, but these are rarely objective and balanced views. Overwhelmingly these take a pro-Israeli slant.

The anti-imperialist, social justice and revolutionary movement in the U.S. has long supported the Palestinian people’s struggle. Political prisoners in the America continue to do so today.

4strugglemag is devoting a major section of this issue to the Palestinian people’s decades long struggle for justice and independence. We begin with a documented, footnoted historical overview, that I excerpted from a “Palestine Fact Sheet,” which appeared in the Nov. 21, 2004 Revolutionary Worker (rwor.org).

Jaan Laaman
W41514
P.O. Box 100
South Walpole, MA 02071

Palestine: A History of Occupation and Resistance

Excerpted from Revolutionary Worker, #1259, November 21, 2004, rwor.org

What are the real roots of the conflict between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people? The truth has been lied about, twisted, and suppressed by the U.S. government and media. Often they picture the conflict as a battle between religions. Sometimes they portray any opponents of Israel as anti-Semites. The U.S. puts itself forward as a "honest broker" between the two sides who should "make peace" and "share the land." At the same time, the U.S. blames the current clashes on the Palestinians—even though [most of] the casualties have been Palestinians killed and wounded by the heavily armed Israeli forces…

The following is an outline of the roots and development of the state of Israel and the struggle of the Palestinian people.

The Beginnings of Zionist Settlement

Israel is a Zionist state—a state based on the political ideology known as Zionism. Israel was founded by Zionist Jews from Europe, who began to colonize historic Palestine (what is now Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank) in the late 1880s. At that time, there were small Jewish communities that had long existed in the Middle East, but Jews had not been a large part of the population in Palestine for some 2,000 years. Most Jews who lived in the area in ancient times had migrated to other parts of the world following the fall of the last Jewish kingdom in Palestine to the Roman Empire, around 70 AD. By the time the Zionist movement arose in the late 1800s… most Jews lived in Europe, and they were a very diverse group which included many different nationalities as well as religious and political viewpoints.

The Zionists based their movement on the claim that Jews were god’s "chosen people" and that Palestine was the land god promised them. They said that Jews could never assimilate into other societies and could only deal with anti-Semitism by having their own state. Zionism did not reflect the views of many Jews who saw themselves as part of the life and struggles of the people in the countries where they lived. The Zionist movement reflected the interests of bourgeois Jews in Europe, and from the beginning it was based on allying with imperialism against the masses in the Middle East. Theodor Herzl, a founder of Zionism, wrote that a future Zionist state "would be the advance post of civilization against barbarism." (Rodinson)

The Zionists promoted the myth that Palestine, which is about the size of the state of Maryland, was a barren desert, "a land without people for a people without land." In truth, some of the first urban societies in the world originated in historic Palestine, and Palestinians had lived and farmed there for centuries. In 1947 some Palestinians could trace their land ownership back a thousand years. (Guyatt, p. 1)

From the start, the Zionist plan was expulsion and conquest. R. Weitz, the head of the colonization department of the Jewish Agency, a leading Zionist organization, wrote to other Zionists: "Between ourselves it must be clear that there is no room for both peoples together in this country... There is no other way than to transfer the Arabs from here to neighboring countries, to transfer all of them: Not one village, not one tribe, should be left." (Said & Hitchens, p. 239)

By 1918, there were 680,000 Palestinians living in Palestine, in contrast to 56,000 Jews, and Palestinians owned 97 percent of the land. ( Basic Facts , Quaker Newsletter) But the imperialists had plans for this region. After World War 1, various imperialist powers scrambled to scoop up the lands ruled by the defeated Ottoman Empire, including Palestine. The rivalry was intense because oil was now a precious economic and military commodity. Britain calculated that establishing a state of Zionist settlers—a settler-colonial state similar to South Africa—could help in digging its claws more deeply into the Middle East… In 1917 British Foreign Secretary Balfour declared: "The four great powers are committed to Zionism, and Zionism...is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land." (Sin, p. 10)

During World War 1, the British had promised independence to Palestinians and other Arabs. But Britain quickly broke those promises. In 1922, the British imperialists got the League of Nations to give them a "mandate" to rule Palestine as a colony. The British worked to "secure the establishment of the Jewish national home" by encouraging Jewish immigration, allowing the Jewish Agency to share the administration of Palestine, and by suppressing Palestinian resistance. (Said & Hitchens, p. 242, quoting British Parliamentary papers)

Between 1933 and 1945, Britain, along with its U.S. imperialist ally, severely restricted Jewish immigration into their own countries. This policy, aimed at pushing Jews to immigrate to Palestine, was carried out while the Jewish people in Europe faced the Holocaust…

There was Palestinian resistance to the Zionist settlers as early as the turn of the twentieth century. In 1936 Palestinians launched an armed uprising against the British authorities and the Zionist settlers. The British brutally crushed the uprising in 1939 and passed emergency laws condemning to death any Palestinian found with a gun. ( Roots , p. 68).

Zionist leader David Ben Gurion wrote at the time: "In our political argument abroad, we minimize Arab opposition to us...[but] let us not ignore the truth among ourselves... Politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves... The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country...." (Chomsky, pp. 90-91)

The Founding of Israel

Through World War 2, the United States had emerged as the top imperialist power in the world; and the U.S. was eager to replace Britain as the main power in the Middle East. In November 1947, the U.S. helped push through a UN resolution partitioning Palestine into a Zionist state and an Arab state. At that time, the Palestinians still outnumbered Zionist settlers two to one and owned 92 percent of the land. But the partition gave Israel 54 percent of the land.

On May 14, 1948—after the Palestinians and the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition—the Zionists proclaimed the state of Israel and launched a war against Palestinians. At the village of Der Yassin, Israeli forces massacred 250 defenseless villagers, including 100 women and children. Israel used this atrocity to spread terror among the Palestinian people, and many fled their homes in panic. When the war ended in January 1949, nearly 800,000 Palestinians—two-thirds of the population—had been forcibly driven into exile in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank. Israel had seized 77 percent of the land. (Chomsky, p. 95)

Israel used the Arab intervention on the side of the Palestinians as an excuse for the war. The Zionists claimed that they were only "defending" themselves from an unprovoked attack. But David Ben Gurion, now a top Israeli leader, spelled out Israel’s real aims: "The issue at hand is conquest not self-defense. As for the setting of borders—it’s an open-ended matter.... In each attack, a decisive blow should be struck, resulting in the destruction of homes and the expulsion of the population." (Sin, p. 16)

Wars of Aggression and Brutal Occupation

After the 1948 war Israel began systematically destroying Palestinian society —its towns and villages, its historical and cultural sites, its social infrastructure. By 1988, Israel had destroyed 385 of the 475 Palestinian villages inside the 1948 borders. ( Middle East Reports 5/6/88). Israeli leader Moshe Dayan admitted, "There is not a single Jewish village in the land which was not built on the site of an Arab dwelling place." (Sin, p. 15)

In 1967 the Israelis launched the so-called "Six Day War," aimed at grabbing more land and establishing Israel as a regional power. Israel seized the remaining 23 percent of historic Palestine—the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem—along with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria’s Golan Heights.

Israel again claimed it was just defending itself against Arab aggression. But Israeli leader Menachem Begin revealed, "In June 1967, we again had a choice. The Egyptian Army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that [Egyptian leader] Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him." (Chomsky, p. 100)

The 1960s saw a powerful revolutionary upsurge among Palestinians. Many were influenced by the war of liberation waged by the Vietnamese against the U.S. and Mao Tsetung’s teachings on people’s war. Palestinian guerrilla organizations launched an armed struggle against Israel in 1965, with the aim of creating a democratic, secular (non-religious) state throughout Palestine. In March 1968 Palestinian fighters held off a major Israeli attack at Karameh, Jordan—an inspiring battle that showed the potential for a people’s war against Israel. ( Roots , p. 9) Yasser Arafat and his armed Al Fatah organization emerged as a respected leadership within this early armed struggle.

After the 1967 war, the UN passed Resolution 242, calling on Israel to withdraw from all areas seized during the war, in return for Arab recognition of Israel. Instead of withdrawing from those newly seized territories, the Israelis, with U.S. backing, began to build heavily armed Zionist settlements on those areas and to incorporate them into Israel.

Since 1967, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have lived under harsh military occupation, with basic freedoms suspended and their economy under siege. By 1988 Israel had confiscated over 52 percent of the West Bank and 30 percent of Gaza for its military and settlers, while destroying thousands of Palestinian homes. Israeli troops have used extreme brutality and armed reprisals against Palestinian protesters—as in the "intifada" (uprising) of the late 1980s and the current clashes in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel has [often] served as U.S. imperialism’s [proxy] against threats to U.S. interests. In the Middle East, those interests center on controlling this strategic crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa and its vast oil reserves. This is why the U.S. has given Israel $2 to $3 billion a year in aid for decades. The aid allows the Israeli military to acquire the weapons used to wage wars of aggression and to suppress the Palestinian resistance. Without U.S. backing, the state of Israel could not survive.

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has carried out many vicious assaults on the masses in the region and around the world. In 1956 Israel aided the U.S. in the war for control of the Suez Canal. In 1976 Israel invaded Lebanon to prevent the government from being controlled by forces that the U.S. and Israel opposed. Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1982 and killed over 20,000 Lebanese and Palestinians. Israel seized the southern part of Lebanon through that invasion and held the territory until the year 2000. In 1982, Israeli warplanes bombed a nuclear reactor in Iraq; and in 1991 Israel supported the U.S. in the Persian Gulf War against Iraq. Israeli agents have trained torturers from Guatemala to South Africa and sold weapons to reactionary pro-U.S. governments all over the world. ("Fort Apache," Chomsky)

The Oslo "Peace Process" and the Palestinian Authority

U.S. and Israeli attacks on the Palestinians and other peoples of the Middle East gave rise to deep popular anger and sharp contradictions. In order to keep these explosive conflicts in check, stabilize its grip on the region, and strengthen Israel, the U.S. has, over the years, attempted to broker and enforce various "peace" agreements.

In 1978, the U.S. oversaw the "Camp David Accords" between Israel and Sadat of Egypt, which became the first Arab country to officially recognize the [Israeli] state.

A key part of U.S. strategy has been the "two-state" solution: the Palestinians would recognize Israel and cease their struggle in return for a "mini-state" of their own centered in the West Bank and Gaza. By the late 1980s Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), had basically agreed to recognition of Israel and the acceptance of a "mini-state."

The U.S. and Israel never had any intention of allowing a truly independent Palestinian state. Under the "peace" deal hammered out in Oslo in 1993 (and later in the 1998 Wye agreement), Israel gradually transferred about 40 percent of the occupied West Bank to the control of the Palestinian Authority. Yasser Arafat and the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization returned to Gaza from exile in Tunisia in 1994.

But this Palestinian Authority territory was only a small part of their historic homeland. Palestinians were offered 10 percent of their territory, in small disconnected pieces, slowly over the 1990s. Meanwhile the Israeli state controlled the other 90 percent. (Guyatt, p. xii) All key strategic points, the high ground of Golan, the main highways of the West Bank, the main access to water, neighboring countries and the sea—all remained in Israeli military control.

Meanwhile Israeli "settlements"—armed camps of rightwing religious fanatics and expansionists— multiplied all over Palestinian areas throughout this period, soon numbering hundreds, taking over the high ground, the water, the best roads, and bringing in Israeli troops to "protect" their land grab and aggressions.

…The Palestinian Authority was ordered to cease and even suppress any further struggle against Israel, its theft of Palestine and its armed domination over Palestinian people. The PA was denied any right to form a national army and functioned under intense constant attack by Israeli military forces. At every turn, the PA and Palestinians have been threatened—that if they did not do as ordered—they would be attacked, assassinated, penned up, dispossessed of their lands and orchards, and considered an unacceptable "partner for peace."

This Oslo agreement also made no provisions for the return of (or compensation for) the four million Palestinian refugees living outside of what is now Israel, West Bank, and Gaza. These refugees are "now the largest and longest existing such population anywhere."

And in the end, the negotiating process broke down during the July 2000 Camp David Summit—between President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the PA’s Yasser Arafat—when it became clear that the U.S. and Israeli sides insisted on permanently denying Jerusalem to the Palestinians, and were intent on denying the "right of return" of Palestinians to Palestine.

The Second Intifada: Provocation, Threat and Resistance

In September 2000, Ariel Sharon, the notorious Butcher General of the Israeli rightwing, led a thousand soldiers and police into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a key symbol of the Muslim religion in Jerusalem. This ugly armed provocation was designed to humiliate Palestinian people and assert Israel’s unchallengeable supremacy. His move was an arrogant declaration that the Zionists were determined to never share or divide Jerusalem with the Palestinian people—even though this historic city is seen as the capital of Palestine by both the Palestinian people and the Arab world generally.

There were two responses to this: The Palestinian people, and especially the youth, launched a Second Intifada—a great new wave of resistance and struggle against Israeli domination and occupation. And second, in February 2001, Sharon was installed in power as Israel’s prime minister.

The struggle and the oppression of Palestinian people have since greatly intensified: Under Sharon, Israel has intensified its direct military attacks on the Palestinian people. The Israeli government and armed forces have sought to shatter the whole political and civilian infrastructure of Palestinian society. Israeli helicopters and death squads hunted down and killed leading figures of Palestinian movements.

In March 2001, the Israel military dug deep trenches around Ramallah, almost completely sealing off the capital city of the Palestinian Authority. An AFP news report wrote about the military isolation of another city: "Jericho, fabled for the biblical account of the siege in which its walls came tumbling down, has been encircled for two months by a two-meter (six-foot) ditch that has effectively stopped the flow of products and raw materials in and out, beleaguering the local economy." The trenches are part of the policy of "closure" that Israel has used to carry out a vicious lockdown on the Palestinians in an attempt to break down the resistance. As they gun down and bomb Palestinian protesters in the streets, the Israeli occupiers are also strangling Palestinian communities through military blockades, checkpoints, curfews, and trenches.

Military checkpoints manned by Israeli soldiers prevent Palestinians from even traveling freely between different towns within the occupied West Bank and Gaza. There are documented cases of Palestinians dying of heart attacks and other medical emergencies when they were stopped on their way to hospitals by Israeli troops.

Over 130,000 Palestinian workers who used to commute to jobs inside Israel are being shut out and no longer have a means of livelihood. Overall the unemployment rate has jumped to almost 50 percent. The UN World Food Program recently announced that Palestinians have become among the poorest people in the world; poverty levels have doubled since September.

Waves of Military Assault on West Bank and Gaza

In February 2002, the Israeli Army launched massive armored invasions of the Palestinian towns of the Gaza Strip—openly threatening heavily populated areas with heavy artillery and tank cannons. Armored Israeli bulldozers have razed hundreds of homes since September 2000, leaving thousands of Palestinians homeless, and have destroyed hundreds of acres of olive and fruit trees vital to people’s livelihood.

During these operations, Israel also carried out several air strikes, using U.S.-supplied F-16 warplanes and Apache combat helicopters. The bombings and rocket attacks from the air caused widespread destruction to residential areas and government offices—including the offices of the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East. UN officials expressed outrage at Israel’s use of heavy bombs near civilian areas.

In March 2002, Ariel Sharon and the Israeli government carried out the largest military offensive against Palestinians since the 1967 war. Massive columns of tanks and infantry poured into Palestinian areas — carrying out collective punishment against a whole people and committing shocking atrocities.

In complete defiance of the Palestinian Authority, 150 Israeli tanks invaded the West Bank town of Ramallah on March 29, crushing cars and anything else in their way. Israeli troops looted and rampaged through homes, shops, and Palestinian Authority administration offices. They took countless men and some women away, blindfolded, for brutal interrogations—sending thousands to an isolated military prison in the Negev Desert.

At the Education Ministry, the soldiers deliberately destroyed important records of Palestinian society—like school graduation records and other official documents and records. They destroyed the mail in post offices.

These attacks specifically and especially targeted the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli troops forced their way into the PA’s main government compound, smashing gaping holes in the walls as they fired tank shells and machine guns. Soon the Israeli military had control of the compound, and PA head Yasser Arafat was holed up in a second-floor office. The electricity was cut off, and a cell phone became his only means of communication to the outside world.

Until he left… for medical treatment in Paris, Arafat had been held a prisoner in his Ramallah office for years, constantly under threat from nearby Israeli tanks and troops, while the Israeli government openly debated whether to have him assassinated or exiled.

Meanwhile at the Jenin refugee camp, home to 15,000 people, the Israeli occupiers met fierce resistance—a dozen Israeli soldiers were killed in one ambush. The Israeli troops attacked in a savage act of revenge, reducing the whole center of the camp to rubble and dust with missiles, tanks and armored bulldozers.

Israel’s Apartheid Wall

In June 2002, the Israeli government began erecting a sinister fortified barrier wall—separating Israel from Palestinian areas of the West Bank, and stealing new lands from the Palestinians in the process.

The Israeli government calls it a "security fence"—the Palestinian people call it the Apartheid Wall— because it divides Palestine into unequal societies under the control of a racist… settler state.

This wall is steadily snaking its ugly way across the landscape of Palestine—made of concrete walls, electrified fences, electric sensors, razor wire, trenches, and watchtowers. Israeli guard troops have orders to shoot any Palestinian who approaches the wall’s Buffer Zones without authorization.

When completed, this wall will cut across more than 400 miles through Palestinian land—and it is carefully de- signed to even further isolate many Palestinian towns, to separate farmers from their fields, to annex more Palestinian territory on the West Bank, and drive more Palestinian people from their homes by imposing a prison-like feel over every aspect of life.

The entire Gaza Strip is already enclosed by an Israeli military wall, making that area into a giant concentration camp for more than a million Palestinians.

Sources:

V. K. Sin, "Israel: Imperialism’s Attack Dog in the Middle East," A World To Win , 1988/11

"Palestine: A History of Occupation and Resistance," Revolutionary Worker, November 10, 1991

"Fort Apache: The Middle East" a four-part series, Revolutionary Worker, January 6-27, 1984, citing Israel Shahak, Israel’s Global Role (Belmont, MA: Arab American University Graduates, 1992); Fateful Triangle ; and Maxime Rodinson, Israel: A Colonial-Settler State? (New York: Monad Press 1973)

Noam Chomsky, The Fateful Triangle (Boston: South End Press, 1983)

Joy Bonds, Jimmy Emerman, Linda John, Penny Johnson, Paul Rupert, Our Roots Are Still Alive—The Story of the Palestinian People (New York: Institute for Independent Social Journalism, 1981)

Nicholas Guyatt, The Absence of Peace—Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (New York: Zed Books, 1998)

"Palestine for Beginners," Middle East Report , September-October 1988

"Israel and the Palestinians," Middle East Report , May-June 1988

"Who Are the Palestinians," Quaker Middle East Representatives, Newsletter #7

Edward W. Said, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Abu-Lughod, Muhammad Jallaj, Elia Zureik, "A Profile of the Palestinian People," in Edward Said & Christopher Hitchens, eds., Blaming the Victims—Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question (New York: Verso, 1988)

"Twenty Basic Facts About the Palestine Problem," The Islamic Association for Palestine, 2000

Edward Said, "The End of Oslo," Nation , October 30, 2000
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
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What Do You Know About Historic Palestine?

by the New England Committee to Defend Palestine (NECDP)

* Forced displacement of 750,000 people
In 1947 and 1948, Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes in a wave of terrorist attacks by armed Zionist paramilitary groups, whose goal was to establish the Israeli state.These attacks included the infamous massacre in Deir Yassin, where 250 men, women, and childrenwere killed. Such attacks forced more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in more than 400 villages to allow for the creation of Israel on May 14, 1948.

This choice -- to colonize a land already inhabited -- meant abandoning the legitimate struggle for justice for the Jewish people in their home countries.

The gross injustice inherent in Israel's creation and continued existence cannot be allowed to stand. For decades, the U.S. government has funded Israel with over $4 billion annually -- much of it military aid to support an internationally denounced military occupation that subjugates the expelled Palestinians. As U.S. taxpayers, we have a crucial role in demanding that our government end all military, economic, and political support to the colonial-settler state of Israel.

* Historic Palestine is the key

The only just solution is the establishment of a unified and democratic state of Palestine that includes all of Historic Palestine (most of which is today called Israel). This State would be populated by the displaced Palestinians and their diaspora and be open to people of all religions, races, and ethnicities, including Jewish people.

The "two-state solution" legitimizes the colonization of Palestine and the existence of a state foundedon the forced displacement of another people. It requires that the history of Israel's creation, the plight of the indigenous people, and what existed before be erased and forgotten. It is unjust and will not bring peace.

A unified and democratic Palestine would recognize the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to full self-determination and the right of all Palestinian refugees to return to and repossess their original homes and lands. It is the only legitimate basis for peace and justice.

New England Committee to Defend Palestine
www.onepalestine.org, necdp@onepalestine.org

The Struggles of Palestinian Prisoners: Fighting Repression

by Sumoud

“Three more people in masks came into the room. They blindfolded me, put a hood over my head…. They kicked and slapped me. They beat me with a plastic pipe and whatever they could get their hands on. I couldn’t see anything because I was blindfolded. I just felt the blows. That last ten to fifteen minutes… later they stood me on a chair and handcuffed me to a pipe that was fixed to the wall. They removed the chair from under me and left me hanging in the air, with my handcuffed hands holding onto the pipe and the weight of my body, hanging in the air, pulling my hands downwards. They left the room.”

These words were spoken by a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in 2001. Ismail was tortured for several hours and after he was charged with throwing stones at Israeli soldiers he ended up spending 7 months in an Israeli military prison.

Ismail is one of thousands of Palestinian children who have spent time in Israeli prisons.

All of these children face some form of torture or abuse. They are accused of political offences and resisting Israeli occupation, most often throwing stones. Most will spend more than 6 months and sometimes years in Israeli prisons were they are denied contact with their families and separated from their communities.

Today, there are approximately 350 Palestinian children being held as political prisoners. They form one part of around 8000 Palestinians in Israeli jails including 120 women prisoners.

Israel tells us these prisoners are terrorists. Israel tells us torture is necessary because these prisoners are ticking bombs. Let us hear from one of these terrorists:

“Because there was no one I could talk to and I felt incredible frightened and scared I tried to commit suicide while being in solitary confinement. On October 12th I was moved to Ofer military prison camp. When I arrived the soldiers asked me to take off my clothes and I was standing in my underwear. Then one of the soldiers took off even my underwear and started to use the metal detector on my naked body. While he was doing that he used his other hand to touch my body concentrating mainly on my back and bottom. This continued for a while and I was crying being terrified that something would happen.”

This is a brief extract from the youngest Palestinian prisoner, Rakan Nasrat. How old is Rakan? He is 12 years old. He was arrested two years ago on 29 September – ironically the anniversary of the second Palestinian uprising. Rakan was arrested at a checkpoint near Bethlehem and taken to an Israeli settlement. He was threatened with electric shocks while under interrogation and then placed for 12 days in solitary confinement in a small room measuring 2m by 2m. He was beaten and sexually assaulted. He tried to commit suicide four times including one time where he was hospitalized for 2 days.

Or we can take the case of a 15 year old Palestinian girl, Riham Musa. Riham was shot three times at an Israeli checkpoint near Tulkarem. She was taken to an Israeli hospital where she was operated on and part of her large intestine removed. She had both her hands and legs shackled to a hospital bed for two weeks, prevented from seeing any vistors and guarded 24 hours a day by Israeli soldiers. She was to spend 7 months in prison.

Of the eight thousand Palestinian prisoners around 1000 are being held under administrative detention orders. This means they have never been charged or faced trial. They are merely held in prison under administrative detention which can be renewed indefinitely every 6 months.

All Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are subject to Israeli military law. They are arrested, tried and sentenced on the basis of these military orders. Military Order no. 101 states allows for a maximum ten year sentence for any Palestinian raising a flag or other symbols, publishing a political leaflet or picture or conducting a political meeting with more than 10 people without permission from the Israeli military commander.

These military orders do not apply to Israeli settlers also living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is one small example of Israel’s apartheid system.

Why does this happen?

Every Palestinian family has a friend or relative in prison. Every Palestinian who is arrested goes through a similar experience of torture or abuse. Every Palestinian detainee is tried before a military court where the judge and prosecutor is appointed by the Israeli military.

These facts indicate one thing. The arrest of Palestinians is not a rare act reserved for so-called “security threats”. The abuse detainees face is not random or the result of poor training. Rather, Israel’s detention policies and the use of torture form a systematic and conscious state policy. It is integral part of a colonial system designed to intimidate, threaten and control the indigenous population of Palestine. It is a system designed to quash resistance to occupation.

The Israeli occupation needs the Israeli prison system. Put simply, the occupation couldn’t continue without torture, without arbitrary arrest, without its military courts. The killing of Palestinians by Israel’s military, the curfews, closure and starvation policies against the civilian population, the Apartheid wall and checkpoints all require one thing – a system of control designed to intimidate and destroy the lives of those who resist these policies.

The arrest and abuse against Palestinian children is one part of this system. Israel attempts through these policies to tell the population that no-one, not even the weakest section of the Palestinian population is beyond their reach. Anyone can be arrested. Anyone can be tortured. Anyone can be separated from their families for years.

Israel’s detention policies are not unique. Arrest without charge or trial is all too familiar for many living in North America today. Deportation is an experience that many understand too well. The use of torture, threats and intimidation against detainees is not restricted to Israel. Finally, a prison system designed to control and divide a population is an every day fact for this continent’s native population.

These practices are possible only because of the financial, military and diplomatic support of governments like the US and Canada. Western governments know all too well these practices go on. They are, after all, the tried and true methods of colonial repression.

International Day in Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners – Putting Pressure on the ICRC

The worsening situation of Palestinian prisoners and detainees has been widely documented by many of the Palestinian human rights organizations as well as international and UN bodies. Israel continues to practice torture and other forms of mistreatment against Palestinian detainees including severe beatings, being tied in painful and contorted positions for long periods of time, psychological abuse, long periods of solitary confinement, and pressure to collaborate with the occupying forces. Inside Israeli prisons, Palestinian prisoners frequently report attacks by prison guards including the firing of tear gas inside prisoner’s cells, beatings, denial of food and medical treatment and long periods of solitary confinement. Women prisoners report that they have been stripped naked by prison guards and shackled spread-eagled to prison beds in solitary confinement.

Despite these grave violations of prisoner rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mission in the area only carries out visits to central Palestinian prisons every six months. The ICRC has failed to adequately address the concerns of Palestinian prisoners during their visits, including the provision of urgently needed clothes, shoes and other personal needs.

April 17th is the International Day in Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners. It is marked by demonstrations through out the Occupied Territories with families demanding the release of prisoners. Many of these demonstrations take place outside the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Palestinian Prisoner’s Family Committees are challenging the actions of the ICRC in the occupied territories. In most Palestinian cities, weekly vigils are held outside ICRC offices urging the ICRC to fully investigate the conditions of Palestinian prisoners.

There are very specific demands and procedural matters that the family committees insist on. For example, the visiting procedures of the ICRC to Israeli prisons are extremely problematic. It appears from reports from Palestinian prisoners as well as prisoner support organizations that the ICRC has quietly accepted Israeli restrictions on which prisoners they can visit. Furthermore, the ICRC visits take place in official ‘visiting areas’ and do not include any kind of monitoring of the prison and detention conditions inside the prison/detention centre as a whole (through, for example, walk-throughs of the general prison areas). The family committees demand that ICRC follow this walk-through procedure as it would be a simple and effective way of placing pressure on the Israeli prison administration to improve the conditions in these prisons.

This year Sumoud Political Prisoner Solidarity Group is working on two projects to ensure that the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners is brought up within the Palestine solidarity movement and the prison abolition movement in North America. First, we have organized an eight-city speaking tour of ex-Palestinian political prisoners and lawyers from the occupied territories. The main objectives of the tour are: 1. To raise awareness and solidarity around the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners inside Israeli occupation jails. 2. To connect the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners to struggles against the prison industrial complex in North America.

Second, following a call from Palestinian Prisoner family committees to focus on the ICRC – we have called for a day of action on April 18th (the Monday after International Day in Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners) outside ICRC offices.

For more information, please see sumoud.tao.ca

Jaan Laaman’s Message for the April 2005 Palestinian Speaking Tour of North America

POWER TO THE PEOPLE! FREEDOM FOR PALESTINE!

Hello. This is Jaan Laaman, anti-imperialist political prisoner, speaking to you from Walpole State Prison in Massachusetts. I’m sending this message today, March 31, which is Land Day in Palestine. It is with enthusiasm, pleasure an a decades-long commitment of solidarity to the Palestinian people and their noble just cause of Freedom, Justice and Independence for Palestine, that I salute this tour and all you people participating.

The slogans I began with are well worn, going back to the 60s, but the cause of a free and independent Palestine goes back even further. In fact the Palestinian people’s struggle, with their words, battles, suffering and sacrifices helped awaken people worldwide, including here in America, to the realities of u.s. imperialism and the Zionist Israeli state. Yet here we are, in the 21st century and still Palestine is an occupied and abused nation.

We know Israeli prisons are full with Palestinian men, young and old, and even with women and children. We also know Israelis are routinely violating Human Rights, abusing and even torturing prisoners. It is so important for us here in North America to speak out and act out on this. And let it be heard, that political prisoners in America stand in firm and fraternal solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners.

Before I finish let me inform everyone about a new voice of u.s. political prisoners, 4strugglemag.org. That is www. the number 4strugglemag.org. The next issue, which comes out in May, features a major section on Palestine. 4strugglemag is committed to continue writing about and supporting the Palestinian people.

Well, I won’t lie, I most definitely would rather be out there at this gathering with all of you right now, but do know that I, and all political prisoners, are with you in spirit and solidarity.

FREE PALESTINE!
FREE PALESTINIAN PRISONERS!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

And remember by sisters and brothers,

FREEDOM IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE!

North American Speaking Tour of ex-Political Prisoners from Occupied Palestine

FREE PALESTINIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS!
North American Speaking Tour of ex-Political Prisoners from Occupied Palestine

Speakers include:

* Sahar Francis: Palestinian lawyer with Addameer, a Ramallah-based
organization that campaigns for the rights of Palestinian political prisoners;

* Ala Jaradat: Ex-political prisoner who works with the families of detainees;

* Suha Qattamesh: Ex-political prisoner who works around prisoner and women's
rights;

* Osama Saleh: Former Palestinian political prisoner in Israeli prisons; member
of the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees in Montreal;

* With recorded solidarity statements from North American political prisoners,
including: Marilyn Buck, David Gilbert and Jaan Laaman.

There are currently 8000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli-occupation
jails and prisons, including 350 children and 80 women. Come to this unique
event, with former political prisoners -- including women activists from
Palestine and recorded statements from North American prisoners -- to learn
more about this important struggle for justice and dignity by Palestinians.

North American tour organized by Sumoud: A Political Prisoner Soldarity Group:
sumoud.tao.ca

Some Facts About "The Only Democracy in the Middle East"

by Arjan El Fassed, from "Imprisoned Decency," The Electronic Intifada, 18 August 2004

• From 1967 to now, Israelis have arbitrarily detained over 630,000 Palestinians.

• 32,000 Palestinians were arrested by occupation forces during the first three years of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which began in September, 2000.

• In 1989 alone, Israelis detained 50,000 Palestinians, representing 16% of the entire male population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip between the ages of 14 and 55.

• Over 200 Palestinian prisoners have died while in Israeli custody, due to torture, ill-treatment, deprivation of medical treatment, and neglect.

• Israelis have systematically tortured and ill-treated approximately 80% of all Palestinian detainees. The torture is both psychological and physical, and includes beatings of sensitive organs, choking, pulling of hair off the body, prolonged solitary confinement, subjecting detainees to noise, screams, and threats against their families. Prisoners are also tear-gassed in confined spaces.

• Other forms of torture and ill-treatment include forcing Palestinian detainees to stand hooded and handcuffed for long periods of time, the use of electric shock, burning, beatings with hands, fists, truncheons, and boots, deprivation of sleep and basic hygiene; and starvation. In the occupied Palestinian territories, Israelis have established military courts that do not comply with fair trial standards. There are no standards. Justice, where it exists, is completely arbitrary.

• About half of the nearly 8,000 Palestinian prisoners are being detained without charge. The vast majority of Palestinian prisoners are political prisoners who have been arbitrarily imprisoned or detained for no legitimate security reason, but for political expression or simply because they are Palestinian.

• Between September 2000 to the end of June 2003, approximately 2,000 Palestinian children were arrested and detained. Children as young as 13 are held in Israeli prisons, with children aged 13 and 14 constituting approximately 10% of all child detainees. Almost all child detainees have reported some form of torture or mistreatment.

No issue symbolizes Israel's denial of freedom to Palestinians better than that of political prisoners. Palestinians have been subjected to the highest rate of incarceration in the world -- approximately 20 percent of the Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territories has, at one point, been arbitrarily detained or imprisoned by the Israeli occupation.

Detention Conditions in Israeli Occupation Jails Worst in 30 Years

from Prison Art Newsletter, Vol. 5, No. 2, January 2005

GAZA, Palestine, January 3, 2005

The Palestinian Ministry of (political) Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs considered on Sunday that 2004 was the worst year for Palestinian prisoners, as detention conditions inside Israeli jails deteriorated to a level never seen in 30 years. A report issued by the ministry’s information department indicated that the year 2004 witnessed fierce attacks inside Israeli jails that reached all prisoner categories, pointing out that the most dangerous measure Israeli authorities attempted was to label those prisoners as terrorists, and treat them in the same way as Guantanamo prisoners in order to strip them of international sympathy. The report pointed out that the Israeli government has given the administration of prisons to radical military generals who deal with the prisoners in an absolute military sense, leading to the increase of oppression, persecution and aggression against those prisoners.

Mr. Riyadh Al Ashqar, director of the information department, said that since 1967 more than half a million Palestinian prisoners have been imprisoned in Israeli jails. “Since Al Aqsa Intifada, Israeli occupation forces arrested about 35 thousand prisoners, eight thousands of them still inside the different Israeli jails. Of those still imprisoned, 361 children and 126 females in addition to about a thousand patients suffering different diseases, including paralysis, blindness and amputations. Al Ashqar noted that the administrative detention frequencies have increased drastically, a thing that caused the administrative detainees to boycott the court hearings to protest the renewal of their terms. 2464 administrative detainees are still inside Israeli jails, of them 434 have spent more than ten years, 140 spent more than 15 years and 16 spend more than 20 years, while five prisoners, including the oldest Palestinian prisoner Saeed Al Ataba, have spent more than 25 years in prison. The Ministry documented more than 2000 arrests this year, compared withy 500 cases in 2001. The number of deaths among the prisoners also increased during 2004, as 176 prisoners died inside Israeli jails, compared with 165 deaths until 2003.

Also, the year 2004 recorded an increase in the number of life terms, as the number of prisoners sentenced to more than one life terms in Israeli jails reached 444 prisoners, including Abdullah Barghouti, who was sentenced to 67 life terms in prison, which is considered the highest verdict ever made in Israeli courts.

As for detention conditions inside the jails, the year 2004 witnessed the revoking of kitchen access to Palestinian prisoners, and instead the kitchen was handed over to Israeli criminal convicts, and thus Palestinian prisoners refused to eat what those convicts cook as it contradicts their beliefs and traditions, forcing them to prepare their own food and incur more expenses due to the increase in foodstuffs prices. The prisoners also complained of the bad food being served in Israeli jails, which resulted in many food-poisoning cases among them. Additionally, Israeli jail administrations imposed many penal measures against Palestinian prisoners, including banning family visits, imposing high fines for worthless reasons, frequent transfer of prisoners from one jail to another to destabilize the prisoners.

One of the prisoners, Aladdin Al Bezyan, who is a blind man sentenced to 20 years in jail, has been denied family visits for four years now. Al Ashqar further mentioned that during 2004 a large number of female prisoners was recorded, as 63 out of a total of 126 prisoners remain inside Israeli jails. The Ministry of Prisoners Affairs report asserted that the number of patient prisoners soared inside Israeli jails, due to the bad detention conditions as well as decreased hygiene and lack of proper health care. The number of sick prisoners rose from 700 in 2003 to more than a thousand in 2004 including dozens whose conditions are serious and require immediate surgeries, according to outside doctors who reviewed their medical files.

The report confirmed that there have been a deliberate lack of medical attention by the Israeli Prison Service towards Palestinian prisoners, especially those hospitalized at Al Ramleh prison hospital, where 140 prisoners are staying with minimum attention. The year 2004 also saw the opening of new jails to accommodate the large number of prisoners being arrested every day by random arrest campaigns and raids throughout the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The ‘Gilboa’ prison was recently opened in the Bisan Valley near ‘Shatta’ prison, and can accommodate 200 prisoners. The Israeli Prison Service made this new prison to isolate the leaders of the prisoners’ movement. Israeli authorities also opened a new block in ‘Ayalon’ prison, which was previously a horse stable, and will be used to detain civilians, and later turned it into a block for Palestinian prisoners. Another new block was also opened in ‘Negev’ desert prison. As for weapons, Israeli authorities used a variety of chemical agents against the prisoners, such as hot pepper rounds that paralyze the prisoner and cause him to suffer excruciating pains.

The year 2004 also witnessed a grave escalation towards minor prisoners, as Israeli authorities dealt with them as ‘ticking bombs,’ imprisoning them and torturing them as adult prisoners, which is a blatant violation of all human rights law and international conventions. The number of patient children inside Israeli jails rose to 48, compared with 34 in 2003.

At the end of its report, the Ministry of Prisoners Affairs demanded all the legal and human rights organizations to urgently interfere and help the Palestinian prisoners, as well as expose the Israeli violations against them and intensify visits to Israeli jails to get a closer picture on the prisoner’s catastrophic conditions, especially patients and minors, whose detention lacks the simplest rights stated by the Fourth Geneva Convention.

From the Freedom Archives

Sabha is an Old Woman

by Abu Sadek Husseini

Sabha is an old woman.
Sixty years old …
Her heart is green, green, green.
Like an old tree –
as old as the earth.

Her son…
… will soon be nine.
But he knows how to throw stones!
And he knows how to shout:
Oh, Palestine!

Her mother shouted as they knocked him down:
Leave my son alone!
Leave my son alone!
Isn’t it enough that you’ve killed his father and brother?

But the devil only smiled,
and told her:
Listen, old woman!
We’ll slaughter all who don’t obey.

But then the mother produced a knife,
and before he raised his hand
she sank it deep into his heart.

[Abu Sadek Husseini is one of the most beloved poets among exiled Palestinians, the author of the most popular fighting songs of the liberation movement.]

For a Unified, Democratic Palestine That Welcomes All Religions

by the New England Committee to Defend Palestine (NECDP)

Why the “Two-State Solution” is No Solution at All

Can there be peace while an entire people remains dispossessed and oppressed? More than half a century of strife and conflict has shown that the answer is no.

We stand for a unified and democratic Palestine encompassing all the historic territory of Palestine with equal rights for all and where all religions would be welcome. We believe that the so-called “two-state solution” is no solution at all. In fact, it would only perpetuate the injustice that is inherent in Israel’s very existence. Why? Perhaps this is best explained through analogy.

The South African analogy

Consider South Africa. More than 5 million settlers of European origin have lived there for generations. During the struggle against apartheid in that country, no defender of the Black population of South Africa, no advocate for self-determination, proposed two states as a solution. No one raised the call for a white European state with guaranteed security that would abut a demilitarized, subordinate African state.

Yet, that is precisely what the “two-state” solution in Palestine proposes: a dependent Bantustan—the name given to the pseudo-independent rural areas where South African Blacks were forced to live—for Palestine alongside apartheid Israel. Such a solution is no less a mockery of justice and self-determination for Palestine than it was in South Africa.

The only genuine solution to the “Arab-Israeli conflict” is to eliminate that which created and fuels it—the existence of the Israeli state. There will be no peace so long as the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a return to their stolen homeland are not realized. The “two-state” solution does not achieve that realization.

Israel’s fundamental injustice

Israel’s history is one of continuous violence and injustice against the native people of Palestine. In the years between the UN partition and the official declaration of the Israeli state, Zionist paramilitary squads unleashed systematic terror, killing or driving more than 750,000 Palestinian Arabs from their lands, and razing some 400 villages.

Israel’s infamous “Law of Return” grants Jewish people born anywhere in the world the right to live and own land within Israel, while depriving native-born Arabs of these same rights. A “two-state” solution would perpetuate these injustices.

What would “two states” mean for the Palestinians?

Some proponents of two states argue that a division of land should be made according to borders held before the 1967 war. Others would base the division on the 1993 Oslo Accords. In either case, the “solution” perpetuates the colonization of an indigenous people, and fails to recognize the Palestinians’ right to return to their stolen lands.

The Zionist government has already demonstrated its true colors on this question. Consider occupied Gaza: 5,000 Israeli settlers control 40% of the fertile land and 60% of the drinking water. The 1.2 million Palestinians who live in Gaza get what remains.

A “two-state” solution establishes that the colonizer has a legitimate claim to the land and resources it has colonized. It requires that the history of Israel’s creation, the plight of the indigenous people, and what existed before be erased and forgotten.

No justice, no peace

Only justice will bring peace. And justice demands a unified and democratic Palestine for all—with the right to return for all those whose villages were razed and homes destroyed. This just solution is consistent with the true history of Palestine before the brutal Zionist colonization began in the late 19th century—a history of peaceful coexistence between people of diverse ethnicities and religions.

necdp@onepalestine.org

Police State USA

Fight the Convictions of Lynne Stewart, Mohamed Yousry, Ahmed Abdel Sattar!

from Worker’s Vanguard, March 18, 2005

Leftist lawyer Lynne Stewart, her translator Mohamed Yousry and paralegal Ahmed Abdel Sattar were convicted on February 10 in federal court on all counts in a government frame-up “anti-terrorism” trial. Stewart and Yousry could face decades behind bars; Abdel Sattar could face life imprisonment. This is an outrage and dangerous provocation against civil rights and liberties for everyone. These convictions must be overturned or the right to an attorney, the right to dissent, the right not to be disappeared by the U.S. government will be in fact vitiated in this country.

Stewart was the court-appointed attorney for the blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (imprisoned for life on charges stemming from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing). She zealously defended her client and defied the government’s attempt to hold him incommunicado as if he were a “ghost detainee” in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, or some other U.S. torture center. Government-approved translator Mohamed Yousry—a popular York College professor (fired by the craven CUNY administration upon his indictment), doctoral candidate at New York University and opponent of Islamic fundamentalism—was convicted of… doing his job, translating. Abdel Sattar, a supporter of the sheik, was convicted of conspiracy to kill and kidnap persons in a foreign country—and the conspiracy was such a secret that the government prosecutors couldn’t say which persons in what country, yet admitted not a single act of violence resulting from this alleged “conspiracy” occurred!

The Spartacist League and Partisan Defense Committee, a legal and social defense organization in accordance with the views of the Spartacist League, urge everyone to energetically take up this case. Get your union or organization to publicly go on record against this ominous precedent and organize to overturn the convictions! Fight the frame-up! Send donations to

The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
350 Broadway
Suite 700
New York NY 10013 USA

Lynne Stewart, People’s Lawyer

by Jaan Laaman

In February long time Human Rights attorney Lynne Stewart (and two co-defendants, paralegal Ahmed Sattar and translator Mohamed Yousry), was convicted under the Patriot Act. This was a serious assault against basic legal rights in America. Lynne is a life long defender of peace, justice and revolutionary activists who oppose and resist the policies and acts of U.S. imperialism. Lynne’s conviction is part of the emerging police state that has mushroomed since 9/11/01.

Lynne Stewart is not simply a courageous and determined People’s lawyer, she is a compassionate sister, a grandmother and a friend to many. She is my dear sister and friend. She was one of our (Ohio 7) principal attorneys in all our combined federal cases and in my comrade Richard Williams’ state cases. Till the day of her conviction she remained Richard’s lawyer.

As a defender of those who resist and criticize the government, Lynne’s case is important for all people concerned about justice, freedom and government abuse. But we should also remember that Lynne is not just a symbol of a principled attorney under attack. Lynne is a very real 65 year old woman, who is facing 45 years in prison. There is a huge human dimension here, as well as the cutting edge political case. I urge people to remember this and to take some active steps of support before her sentencing in September. I hope readers will go to Lynne’s web site (lynnestewart.org), and see what they could do to support her. This sister and selfless attorney who has been there for so many men and women in their hour of need, as the force of the government crashed down on them, now needs us to step forwarding her hour of need.

FREEDOM IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE!
Jaan Laaman, Ohio 7 political prisoner

Jaan Laaman (W41514)
P.O. Box 100
South Walpole MA 02071

Targeting Lynne Stewart

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

The conviction of civil Rights attorney Lynne Stewart and her co-defendants translator Mohamed Yousry and paralegal Ahmed Sattar is a triumph of fear over reason. The three legal workers were charged and convicted of aiding and a bedding terrorism in connection with their representation of the Blind Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. When the former attorney general Ashcroft announced the arrest of Stewart he did so on the late night David Letterman talk show. Certainly an unprecedented venue for such an announcement. And as it began on TV so it was often prosecuted with a fearsome visage of Osama Bin Laden beamed to jurors via video tape threatening to attack America on the Sheik’s behalf.

Even though the judge dutifully instructed the jury that Osama Bin Laden had nothing to do with the case. How do you wash something like that from the mind after it has been admitted into evidence? Lynne’s husband activist Ralph Pointer put the hammer to the nail when he said of the trial “this prosecution doesn’t have a damn thing to do with terrorism. It has to do with politics and putting Lynne Stewart away.” Stewart was really targeted because she ignored unconstitutional rules put in place by the government.

In an interview with Stewart she spoke about what the case was really about. “The justice department decided that things that I did as a lawyer are now to be outlawed, are now to be made into crimes, in order to deter other lawyers from vigorously defending people. What I basically did was, I issued a press release on behalf of my client. They said that this press release was materially aiding a terrorist organization, thus making it impossible for any first amendment right to be protected. And to me that is the real essence of this work, is that we be permitted to defend people such as yourself in these cases as political people, not just as defendant 10872.”

Recently black political prisoner Albert Woodfox of the Angola Three talked about the importance of lawyers in destroying isolation. “I think that this was a pretty strong shot across the bow as they say, you know if you dare put forth an honest attempt to uphold the standards of law in this country we will get you. You know we will destroy you, cause in most cases they are only voice to the outside world.”

And now the state has prevailed sending shock waves through the defense bar that already shies away from the kind of cases that has been Stewart’s staple for a generation. She has taken on cases involving members of the Black Panther Party, the Attica Brothers, Puerto Rican Independence fighters and since at least 1995 the blind Sheik. In order to put into operation the draconian special measures of the government the state needs to seed fear into those who are sworn to protect and provide a full and vigorous defense- lawyers. But the battle isn’t over. Perhaps what has happened has awakened many people in this country who would have preferred to slumber? Lynne Stewart, paralegal Ahmed Sattar and professional translator Mohamed Yousry plan to stage a vigorous appeal of this outrageous verdict. They will need your support, now more than ever, it will take work of many to undo John Ashcroft’s revenge.

Excerpts from Lynne Stewart’s Speech

February 17th, at the Community Church of New York (Hall of Worship) at 40 East 35th Street

from bellaciao.org/en

(Lynne enters to a standing ovation, wild cheers, and applause--- audience chants, “No justice, no peace!”)

...I came down from Harlem where I spoke at a rally. I spoke on the radio this morning to Portland, and on our own WBAI.

(cheering)

Tuesday night we were on the way home. We were at the drugstore, and who comes on the radio, but my friend and comrade Mumia Abdu-Jamal. He has a clear and concise statement which is here for you to take. I said to Ralph (her husband Ralph Poynter), “He’s buried in the belly of the beast on death row, and he’s taken the time to elucidate, to champion (me).” If Mumia can do it, why can’t we do it? (audience claps)

I’d like to say that the most remarkable thing, as I look around this room, is the people who have come together. We have all lived for decades through the so called “sectarian left”. We’ve all been together, together on marches, but it really shows that when there is an issue, an issue that affects us all, we can come together (audience claps) and we need to come together.

...We’re out here now. We are under the heel of this boot. The idea of not fighting this is unthinkable. I’m not saying that we’re not doing this for us. We’re doing this for us. I am saying that if we don’t stop it now, they, our children and grandchildren, will not have the opportunity to rise up in a way that we have now, and say, “No more!”

We wanted this to be the biggest victory party that ever was. We wanted to bring a victory to the movement that has seen so many setbacks, starting with the election, the Florida results, when people did not take to the streets... followed the by the attack on Afghanistan and the attack on Iraq. All of these things we have not had the strength to fight enough to really organize people, to really get to the people.

I‘m not saying that my case can get to the people, but it certainly speaks in a way very personally to people. I think it is something that we can use to organize around, and I am perfectly willing to be the foil...

I don’t want folks to get distracted by those naysayers who want to say, “She went over the line. She is not like the rest of us lawyers. We would not do that”...

There is opposition. This is not universal. We knew it was not universal when that jury spoke... We all had high hopes. We thought that these are Manhattan people. These are New Yorkers like we are. If anyone could understand what’s at stake here, they can do it. We put our faith in them. We were disappointed. There’s no question about that. It hit us like a truck, a Mac Truck. It took a while for us to bounce back, but were back! (audience claps)

The fact of the matter is we need to create the climate in which jurors are not afraid, in which people are not afraid.

I was asked on the radio with Portland, Oregon today, and I really thought that fascism is the word to describe what is happening. I remember when I was a teenager, in the early 1950’s, they used to talk about creeping socialism. That the country was going to wake up one morning and be socialist. (audience claps)...

We really have been subject to creeping fascism. It comes in very slowly, but it still stands on your neck when you least suspect it. I said to the woman in Oregon, that it (fascism) is not creeping in anymore; It’s galloping. (audience claps)

There are people in the audience that I know have been fighting fascism in the 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s up until today. Many are tired, but we must continue because there is no other place to go. If we don’t fight it, it will take over, and we will not be able to live a life or be the human beings that we need and want to be. (audience claps)

There is an announcement that I’d like to make. An announcement that very saddens me, and sad I know to all of you because my beloved lawyer, my comrade, my tall Texan who held me up during this trial, and figured the strategy, and made the summations, the openings and the pretrial motions, has had to withdraw from the case. Michael Tiger has withdrawn from the case for health reasons. He asks us all to respect his privacy and not go further than that, and I for one will not, but I don’t want anyone to think there is any ill will because Michael and I dearly love each other. I know if he could, he’d be sitting right up here (on the panel) helping, supporting and explaining what went on. (audience claps)

I’ve decided that his place will be taken by Josh Dratel. He is not necessarily a Manhattan household name. Then again neither was Michael Tiger when he started out. Josh is well known among the circles of lawyers who respect and understand those who take on the representation of people who are least favored by the government. Josh had represented people from the embassy bombing and in Guantanmo. He has written a book. It’s called the “Torture Papers.” I feel that him coming into this case gives us a leg up because he has written many of the briefs which backed up our legal positions with the court. He is brilliant. He is caring and someone you can rely on in a situation like this although, I have to tell you, he like all the lawyers said to me, “Lynne, do you think you could tone it down a little.” (audience laughs) Well, you know what my answer was to that. I said, “Josh, I’ll do anything, but I can’t do that.” (wild applause from the audience).

There was an instance once again of some insidiousness by a person who called many of the organizations to announce that he was calling from the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee and claimed, “Lynne Stewart no longer wanted the support of all these leftist groups because they were ruining her image.” (audience laughter) Fortunately people like Leslie Cagan know that people like Pat are a phone call away. She was like, “Who the heck is this guy? What was he talking about?” Within a matter of hours, that bright notion was completely squelched. Whoever this person may be, and the phone number he left is no longer on the scene, and Ralph (her husband Ralph Poynter) said something to the effect that anytime, anywhere, anyplace, he’s ready for him! (audience laughter).

I want to close by saying we are going to fight, and, you know, it’s a funny thing, people told me that when they got up on Friday they were so disheartened, they just wanted to go back to bed and hide under the covers. I think that the attitude has to be that of a dear friend, who has been my friend since I was fifteen years old, who called me up Friday morning and said, “Sad? I’m not sad. I’m fighting mad! I’m angry! How dare they do this to you!” That I think has got to be our response.

We have to organize ourselves. Organize others. Get out there. Protest. We need your input into this. We have ideas. We want to do meetings like this. This is not something we can do on our own. We have ideas. We want to do readings like this. We want to do small meetings. We want to organize people to write letters.

I was on Air America over the weekend. I said, “Gee, I’d like it if we could get a 100,000 letters to the judge. You know miracle on 34th Street. He said, “A hundred thousand? We can get a million letters!” (audience claps)

We’re not looking for treatises. We’re looking for people who can say, “I know of this woman’s work, and I don’t think she should spend one day in jail.” (audience claps) We are going to organize around that. We have samples letters here, and some on the website as well...

We also, of course, would like a tremendous outpouring for the sentencing date, which is now in September, which as activists, you all know is a better month than July to get people out. No one is vacationing, no schoolteachers gone. This a good month in New York. We are looking for a tremendous turnout that day. We’d like to fill up the park down there, people shoulder to shoulder...

I just want to say in closing that when you get up in the morning, sometimes it’s hard to put your shoes and socks on, and make it out the door, but I tell you it is the only way to live. It’s to do this type of work, to be political, to join with comrades, to join other people in fighting the good fight. I know this because I have done it for a life-time. I wouldn’t change my life for anything. I wouldn’t change any of the things I have done. It’s going to be very hard for the Probation Department to get any contrition out of me (audience laughs) because I think our task is to represent zealously, and zealously is not a word that comes in half shares, and that goes for all of you, whatever your interest whether you’re the green peace guys who got beat up on the floor of the London exchange today, or whether your leading a one man demonstration like my friend Gary out here. You need to be able to call a lawyer, and have that lawyer be there. An elderly man from Minneapolis said, “I’m really scared, when I heard you were arrested because I get arrested a lot!” (audience laughs) Some of us do; some of us don’t. The fact is that if you, or if you are in a posture where you need a lawyer, you want to be sure that that lawyer can be in your court. That that lawyer will have nothing but your concern in his or her mind. That is what this case is really all about. We have to be vigilant... We have to make sure that there are lawyers out there to protect us all. Thank you.

www.lynnestewart.org

Warning! Police State USA

by Jaan Laaman

From its inception over a year ago, 4strugglemag has been warning about the growing police and war state that America has become since 9/11/01. Of course there has always been an imperialist and racist aspect to the U.S. The founding fathers unleashed genocide on the indigenous Native people, while Africans were brought here as slaves.

The question now is whether a qualitative new level of police and government power is taking place. Is bourgeois democracy fading while a fascist police state grows?

The rhetoric of “fascism” and a “fascist police state” has been tossed around the left for many years. The reality of identifying the turning point when fascism takes hold is much harder to see, particularly as it might be happening. Fascism won’t be a Hitler look alike marching into the White House with nazi banners. It probably will be a lot of American flags and “patriotic” and “religious” words, as essential rights and liberties are taken away from the public, while the police power of the government becomes legally unchallengeable.

Prior to Hitler taking power in Germany in 1933, there were socialists and communists in the German parliament and the left and unions were active. How did the nazis so easily take over? More importantly, what is happening in the U.S. today? Are we seeing a qualitative growth towards a full out fascist police state?

Prisons in the U.S. are the closest realities to living in a complete police state, so as a political prisoner for over 20 years, it is difficult for me to gauge how extreme the police state is across America. There are clearly very many bad signs though.

A few months ago the Revolutionary Worker (the newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party), put out a statement that a type of “Christian fascism” was taking root in this country. I have asked many of my friends and family to give me their opinion on this. The responses have varied, but everyone agrees that government and police power is growing and dangerous.

4strugglemag is printing a large section of the RCP statement. People can see the full position paper at rwor.org (RCP Publications, P.O. Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, Il 60654).

Whether you agree with the RCP’s analysis or choose to follow their direction in opposing the growing police state is up to each reader. 4strugglemag is an independent and nonsectarian revolutionary voice. We think the question of a creeping or already in place fascist police state is very important for all of us to discuss and deal with. 4strugglemag welcomes this discussion on our chat board as well as written letters or articles for future issues.

VENCEREMOS!
Jaan Laaman, editor

The Battle for the Future Will Be Fought From Here Forward!

Excerpted from Revolutionary Worker, rwor.org/future/web.htm

YOU THINK YOU KNOW................BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA..............JUST WHAT BUSH HAS IN STORE FOR.....YOU.....US.....THE WORLD.....OUR FUTURE!

Straight up—Bush and his people aren’t just ordinary Republicans. And they’re not ordinary Christians either. They are Christian Fascists—dangerous fanatics who aim to make the U.S. a religious dictatorship and to force this upon the world. If they get their way—and they are very far along the road to getting it—society will be plunged into a high-tech Dark Ages.

Those who compare Bush to Hitler are right! But, don’t be waiting for people wearing little mustaches and marching the Nazi goose-step to come to your town. This brand of fascism is coming differently, and it's coming straight from the White House.

Staring at Christian Fascism

People say, "they couldn’t, no they just wouldn’t" strip away "classic" U.S. democracy and plunge us into fascism. But let’s see what they’ve done... and what they plan to do.

Bush believes that he is on a "mission from God," and so do his cronies. Army General William Boykin recently declared that the Iraqi people were the "face of Satan," that the Christian God was the only true and "real" god, and that "God himself" put Bush in the White House. He said all this publicly and in uniform, no less—and after people protested it, Boykin was promoted! Over the years these Christian Fascists have dug in at every level of the courts, the army and Congress. BUT NOW THEY PLAN TO GO FURTHER, moving more thoroughly into the highest levels of power. Supreme Court Justice Scalia and other highly placed Republicans want to wipe out the separation of church and state, and use government to support and enforce religious belief.

Bush has launched a worldwide "crusade." In the name of "good vs. evil," he’s killed tens of thousands of people in Iraq, and maybe more—and still the war rages. In the name of "fighting terror", he justifies torturing people in prisons like Guantanamo and murdering wounded prisoners in Iraq. This proven liar has rammed through a new "doctrine" that lets him wage war whenever and wherever he says he "sees a threat", and there is no telling where he’ll stop. The U.S. has long committed monstrous crimes around the world ... and NOW THEY PLAN TO GO FURTHER. The imperialists in power—all of them, with Bush at the core—want total global empire. Bush himself believes in Armageddon, that Islam is "evil", and that he is "fighting for God." How many people, halfway ’round the world or right down the block, will lose their lives to this lunacy? Lunacy backed up by, and serving, imperialism.

Bush’s gang suppresses science. They’ve taken control of scientific agencies. They promote "creationism" against evolution and they suppress scientific research on life-and-death issues like global warming, the AIDS epidemic, and stem-cell research. Unless they can use it to make money or make weapons, Bush’s people hate the scientific spirit of trying to figure out how the world really works. Science calls into question their dogmatic interpretation of the Bible that prepares people to sacrifice for "god and country"—and never ask why.

Bush is dismantling democratic rights. Tens of thousands of immigrants have been detained and deported for little, if any, reason and thousands more have been imprisoned with no charges—many for years. The Bush regime spies on political and religious groups. It suppresses ordinary protests with massive force, including even tanks in the streets. And it openly disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Black voters in the last election. All this, AND NOW THEY PLAN ON GOING FURTHER. Bush aims to pass more fascist laws, his flunkies threaten artists and intellectuals who dare to step outside the lines, they are invading all aspects of daily life—and it is an open question as to whether any rights at all will be left standing.

Bush’s Morality: Hypocrisy and Hatred

Bush talks about "values," but if you’re a single woman and you want to live your own life ... or if you’re gay and proud ... these Christian Fascists have you in their cross-hairs. They’ve severely restricted the right to abortion and tried to put independent-minded women on the defensive. They whipped up anti-gay hatred as a big part of their presidential campaign. BUT NOW THEY ARE GOING MUCH FURTHER. Bush aims to appoint new Supreme Court justices who will totally outlaw abortion, and he wants to pass a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. And these fascists also go after the more humane forms of Christianity that don’t share their hateful bigotry.

"Values?" These people have the morality of a lynch mob! If you are Black or Latino, and especially if you are up against the merciless conditions of the inner city ... then you too are in the cross-hairs. Bush plans to rip out even social security. He wants to do health care, education, welfare, and even prisons through churches that are directly approved, funded by and answering to the government. These churches will not "lift people up"—and these programs will degrade people, insisting that they agree that their hunger, their homelessness, and their problems flow from their "sins"—and not from a system that has oppressed them from Day One. And the full Christian Fascist plan—which includes vastly expanded capital punishment for minor crimes, in accord with Old Testament "morality"—is far worse, with a downright genocidal direction to it.

A Time for Resistance

Are we exaggerating? If anything, people have always under-estimated just how fast and how far Bush would go. And now he claims a "mandate" for his lunacy. No, Bush and the people around him are deadly serious and aim to go much further than almost anyone expects.

As for "mandate?" BULL! The will of the people was NOT expressed in this election. Kerry didn’t call Bush out for his lies and deception, or expose the real horrors of Bush’s deeds—and his plans. There was no real fight, and people should not grant a shred of legitimacy to Bush.

And waiting for yet another Democrat to disappoint and betray people four years from now is not only worthless—it may be way too late. What we need now, very urgently and very immediately, is RESISTANCE. Resistance, in the words of Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, "that refuses to be bound by the terms of mainstream politics or the notion that this politics represents the ’ultimate word’ on the ’will of the people.’ Resistance that will not just protest the juggernaut of war and fascism but go all-out to STOP it. Resistance that will reach out and win over people who have been deceived by this madness but whose deepest interests are opposed to it. Resistance that will be united—but will still include space for dreams and debate."

We can build on the past resistance to the Iraq war and other Bush outrages. But this must come back together and take a huge leap with major actions when Bush is inaugurated on January 20th, 2005. People everywhere must see that there really ARE "two Americas," squaring off over the future.

The Revolutionary Way Out

This Christian Fascism didn’t materialize out of thin air. It arose on the basis of CAPITALISM and the most powerful capitalists support it (even as they fight among themselves).

What do we mean by capitalism? Today, people could produce enough food, housing and clothing to provide a decent life to everyone on the planet. But the means to do this are owned and controlled by a handful of global capitalist-imperialists who are driven to get ever greater profit, or else go under. And so half the people on the planet live on less than $2 a day. Billions go hungry. People are driven from country to city and then around the world, desperately seeking work, while communities in the U.S. are left to rot. And now the Bush lunacy has taken this to an even more terrible level.

But imagine a different future. A future where people consciously learn about and transform the world, and are not imprisoned in the chains of tradition and ignorance. A world without racism and without borders. A vibrant place, where people together debate and decide how to develop society. A world where people no longer wonder where their next meal will come from, or if they will be homeless, or abandoned or sick in their old age—a world of abundance, where people together hold all of society’s resources in common. A world where people not only work to produce the necessities of life, but get into art and culture and science—and have fun doing it! A world without the domination of women by men, where people interact with each other based on mutual respect, concern and love for humanity. A world that looks out for and takes care of the environment.

That world is communism. And we can get to that world.

A Revolutionary Society

But how? Through revolution—where those who are today exploited and oppressed rise up and defeat the powers-that-be. A revolution led by the class that owns nothing but its ability to work, and yet works together to make the world run. A revolution in which this class steps on to the stage of history and leads tens of millions more—including the millions who hate the cruel reign of Bush and the Christian fascists.

Revolutions don’t happen overnight, or by accident. But when a deep crisis suddenly erupts in society, and when a revolutionary party has been actively organizing and preparing people for such an opening, and when millions of people begin to think we need a basic change ... and become a "revolutionary people" ... then dreams can be seized in the clear light of day. No, we’re not there yet—but the extreme changes being wrought by the Bush crew could very well lead to such a crisis. And our Party is doing all it can to bring forward a revolutionary people to seize that time, whenever it may come.

People have made this kind of revolution before—first in Russia, then in China. And they accomplished amazing things. In the end, however, those revolutions were finally turned back and defeated by the guardians of the old order…

The Clash of Two Futures

Two futures confront each other. Will imperialism force a future of darkness and suffocation onto the people? Will tens of millions more needlessly suffer and die? OR, will the critical spirit be unleashed in a way that does a great GOOD for humanity? Will society move forward in a revolutionary direction and set about removing the great suffering and misery cast down on the people by capitalism?

Resistance

A Brief Description of Radical Environmentalism

by Jeff "Free" Luers

There is a common misconception that radical environmental struggle is a relatively new form of protest. However, the history of eco-defense is nearly as old as the human race itself. Many indigenous cultures around the world held the Earth and their surroundings as sacred. Social rules prescribed how the land and water that gave life to the people were to be treated and honored.

It is only in the last several hundred years that human societies have moved away from these beliefs. The modern world has increasingly lost touch with its wild roots. This lack of understanding and respect for the Earth has allowed the
wanton destruction of our planet. This tragedy no longer affects the wild but humans as well.

There is no human in the world that can pass a blood toxin test for dioxin-a carcinogenic or teratogenic by-products of most industry. There is no ocean fish uncontaminated by mercury or PCBs. There is no escape from global warming. That is the reality of the 21st century.

Over the years, the radical environmental movement has evolved not only in the escalation of tactics, but in political theory as well. Many radical environmentalists recognize the connections between capitalism, oppression and the destruction of the planet. Indeed, the connections are obvious to any student of globalization.

Wealthy nations use imperialist policies to gain access to developing poorer nations, stealing their resources and implementing sub-par industrial methods-which pollute and toxify far beyond the standards of rich countries. Back at
home, the same practices are used. Dangerous factories, toxic waste dumps and incinerators are built in communities predominantly of people of color or low income. These communities often get little say in environmental impact reports or the decision making process. In fact, state and industry response to
resistance of such noxious facilities is the age old excuse of providing jobs to those in need.

While I can not speak on behalf of the movement, it is my perception that it is motivated (in part) by a sense of deep ecology. The belief that all life is interconnected from plant to animal to forest to ocean to the world at large. It is this connection and interdependence that creates the Earth as we know it and allows life to flourish. When one habitat or species is affected by pollution or global warming, it creates a chain reaction that affects the entire network of life.

It is because of this belief that the majority of political and radical environmentalists work to bring communities together. Not only to challenge state and corporate practices but to learn to create alternatives to them. It is only by developing alternatives to capitalism and harmful industry that we can create a world not motivated by profit-rather, one based on sustainability and the amount of good we can bring all people, not just a handful of rich elite.

In the last decade, new international and clandestine organizations have stepped forward to challenge the might of industrialized nations. Groups like the Earth Liberation Front [ELF], Justice Department and Revolutionary Cells have taken the fight to the state and corporations directly, including the targeting of
executive officers [of corporations] and their residences.

While the ELF maintains a code of non violence toward human and non-human life, the Revolutionary Cells and Justice Department support the use of political violence and have engaged in bombings and direct assaults.

There is an increasing tendency of these groups and like minded individuals to target class status symbols-the oil industry, banks and governmental agencies-as the destruction of the environment and the oppression of people are often tied together.

In February 2002, the Congressional Committee on Resources held a hearing on “Eco-Terrorism.” Numerous politicians, corporate representatives and the Domestic Terrorist Section Chief of the FBI testified. The FBI defined the
ELF as the most dangerous and prolific terrorist group in the United States. Despite the fact that in 13 years of activity, the ELF has never harmed a soul. However, they have caused close to $100 million in damages to property.

Congress has designated the above groups, specifically the ELF, as terrorist organizations using the same language to define the ELF as they have used to define al-Queada and enemy combatants. There are currently several bills before state and the federal government attempting to increase the punishment for acts of 'eco-terrorism', including the use of the death penalty. Several of these bills have passed into law.

However, even without these laws, excessive sentences are being handed down to those labeled as 'eco-terrorists'. [ed-Jeff himself has a 22 year, 8 month sentence for burning 3 SUVs]. In some ways, the labeling of underground
radicals as terrorists has split the environmental movement. Some above ground activists, particularly groups like the Sierra Club have denounced direct action and condemned those involved.

However, there are many above ground supporters of direct action. More and more, there is a strong sense of solidarity between the above and underground networks. It would seem that legal and reform activists are recognizing the need for direct action. Perhaps, more surprisingly, the underground resistance is understanding the need for public outreach and education which can only be done by above ground activists.

There is also an increasing trend of social justice activists and environmental struggles coming together forming support support networks. People from all
movements and struggles are beginning to see the connection between fighting for liberation, equality and the Earth.

While politics and ideal remain as diverse as life on the planet, most agree that freedom, as well as clean air, water and land and all the joys and wonders of the Earth are our birth-right. It is for this, we fight.

For more information about political prisoner Jeff 'Free' Luers, see www.freefreenow.org There will be a June 10-12th 'Weekend of Resistance' for Jeff.

Jeff "Free" Luers (13797671)
Oregon State Prison
2605 State Street
Salem OR 97310 USA

Earth Day 2005: time for Green to get Red

from Freedom Socialist, Vol. 26, No.2, April-May 2005, www.socialism.com

In 1962, Rachel Carson's groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, awakened an entire generation to the threat of a “spring without voices.” The environmental movement that emerged in response to urgent calls such as Carson's accomplished enough change to bring birds like the bald eagle back from the brink of extinction.

Yet this April 15, Earth Day, there is little to celebrate. The change has proven to be not nearly enough. Forty-three years after Carson's book appeared, her dire predictions about ecosystems unraveling are coming to pass.

Researchers call amphibians the “canary in the coal mine” because their permeable skin makes them especially sensitive to environmental disturbance. Today, 32 percent of these species face extinction due to deforestation, pollution, habitat loss and climate shifts. Humans are also not immune, as shown by alarming rates of asthma, especially in poor communities where pollutants get dumped most.

Despite all this, here in the U.S., laws like the Clean Air and Endangered Species Acts, wholly inadequate, are endangered themselves. Auto and oil industry executives try multiple tactics, from lawsuits to lobbying, to attack even the most pathetic half-measures, like California's new air pollution standards. And corporations like Bechtel plot how to privatize life-giving resources such as water — as it becomes more precious thanks to pollution caused by corporations like, you guessed it, Bechtel!

The era of polite lobbying and piecemeal reforms has to end. The planet's dire situation calls for more fundamental change. We need serious solutions like mass, free rapid transit, strict regulation of smokestack industries, laws to force corporate polluters to clean up their messes worldwide, and much more. Such measures won't be won without going to war against the corporations and the whole capitalist system that enshrines their profits. It is time for environmentalists to take it on — for the sake of human survival and the springs to come.

Robert F. Williams: Self-Defense, Self-Respect and Self-Determination as Told by Mabel Williams

Review by Sara Falconer

Freedom Archives (Editor) and Robert F. Williams
Audio CD, 1 hour 15 minutes
April 2005, available from