From: "Brian Hill" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: US Presidential Caucus announcement/invitation/demonstration, Des
Moines, Iowa, Jan 12
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 22:54:51 -0800
!GREEN RAUCOUS IN THE IOWA CAUCUS!
National Jobs & Environmental Day of Action -- Earth in the Balance
Des Moines, Iowa -- Wednesday, January 12, 2000
(time and place to be announced)
Special Guests: David Brower and the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and
the Environment - www.asje.org
Members of organized labor, environmental groups, clergy, farmers,
indigenous peoples, small businesses, recyclers, students, elected
officials, party activists, and more, are converging in Iowa – home of
the nation's first presidential contest -- to demand that the
presidential candidates begin addressing the most pressing issues of
our time -- PROTECTING THE PLANET AND OUR LIVELIHOODS. An unprecedented
alliance of labor/environmental/religious/indigenous/farm leaders
recently came together in Seattle to protest the undemocratic WTO and
its assault on farmers, workers and the environment. Some of these same
leaders and organizations are now planning a major PEACEFUL
DEMONSTRATION
in Des Moines, Iowa, for WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12. The demonstration
will be held near Vice President Al Gore's Campaign Headquarters in
downtown Des Moines. After the rally, demonstrators will caravan to the
campaign headquarters of other candidates. This is a nonpartisan event, and we
will be addressing all the major candidates competing in Iowa, Democrat
and Republican.
Our message to the candidates is simple: not enough is being done by
our government to protect small family farms, workers and the environment.
We want a contract with the presidential candidates to set our nation
on a sustainable path that protects locally-owned businesses, family
farmers and the environment. These issues are not receiving the attention
they deserve in the presidential campaign, and we demand a national
dialogue. Any and all organizations and activists committed to this goal are
welcome.
Bundle up for the cold weather (the event will be held outside), and
bring your family and friends. Also bring your props, costumes,
signs, banners, and energy and ideas. If you can't travel to Iowa, but want
to support the demonstration, you can ENDORSE THIS EVENT by adding your
organization's name to the list of groups that endorse the goals of
the demonstration. This list will be distributed to the media. SIMPLY
REPLY TO THIS EMAIL and we will sign your group on (please keep your message
brief -- all we need is the name of your organization and a message
saying, "Sign us on"). You can also help by FORWARDING THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT to anyone and everyone you know in the environmental, farm, labor,
small business and religious communities. The presidential candidates are
struggling for every vote they can get in Iowa, a state where retail
politics still thrives, and where the candidates must respond to the
will of the voters. This is a rare opportunity for us to send a powerful
message to our political leaders as we enter the new millennium.
[SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY -- PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: Anyone who can come to
Iowa for a few days before or after the demonstration will have an
opportunity to participate in the statewide-televised January 8
Democratic and January 15 Republican presidential debates taking place
in Des Moines. While few, if any, of us will be able to get inside the
hall (it only seats 200), most of the action will be taking place outside.
The influx of national media into Iowa during that week will create
numerous opportunities for us to advance our cause. We'll need to
stay flexible and seize whatever opportunities present themselves, but
we'll definitely be planning some sort of formalized press events around the
debates (at which participating groups will have an opportunity to
distribute their materials to the media). We will also want to have a
large presence (with signs and banners) for the media outside the
debate hall.]
NFPA has some funds available to assist with car travel for those in
need. NFPA will also assist as many activists as possible with
housing, and we will shuttle people to and from the airport (but we'll need
details on your itinerary).
For more information on the "RAUCOUS IN THE CAUCUS," or to endorse the
demonstration, please contact the National Forest Protection Alliance
through John Talberth [•••@••.••• or 505-986-1163], Jake
Kreilick [•••@••.••• or 406-829-6353] or Tom Weis
[515-265-8266].
****************************************************************************
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 13:12:11 EST
From: Refuse & Resist! <•••@••.•••>
To: Multiple recipients of list <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Mumia/Letter to the Movement
December 17, 1999
A Letter to the Movement:
THE NEXT CRITICAL PERIOD IN THE BATTLE TO SAVE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
The new millennium will usher in some CRUCIAL MONTHS IN THE BATTLE TO
SAVE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL. Now more than ever, our energies and efforts in
organizing for him must be both more intense and more carefully
implemented. The early months of 2000 are those in which we must build
and mobilize public expression, during the run-up to a critical ruling
by the Federal District court that may happen as early as March.
This court ruling, by Federal District Judge William H. Yohn, Jr., may
determine whether or not Mumia receives an "evidentiary hearing" to
reopen the factual record in his case, or whether all future appeals
will be based on the court record of the "hanging judge" Albert Sabo.
Judge Sabo found every prosecution witness to be truthful, found every
defense witness to be untruthful, and barred the admission of witnesses
and documents critical to Mumia’s defense.
<snip>
THE MASS MOVEMENTS DO SHAPE COURT DECISIONS. Legal pundits would have us
believe that everything is decided by judges. But history shows that the
courts are greatly affected by voices and actions of the people. This is
particularly true in high profile political cases that concentrate
broader issues being fought out in society. Remember how mass actions
and the bus boycott forced the courts to rule against segregation in
Montgomery Appeals courts overturned the Chicago 7 convictions and the
conviction of Panther leader Huey P. Newton, in part because the whole
world was watching. And the movement against the war in Vietnam impelled
an emergency ruling by the Supreme Court to allow publication of the
Pentagon Papers. It is during the early months of 2000 that the
government will be "taking the temperature of society" on this case, and
making the decision of how much they will be forced to give ground.
OUR MOVEMENT FOR MUMIA HAS ACHIEVED MUCH over the last year. The Oakland
teach-ins, the Rage Against the Machine concerts, the N.Y. Town Hall
Rally, the West Coast Longshoremen’s work stoppage, the April 24
mobilizations, the Evergreen State College commencement address, 95
arrested in civil disobedience at the Liberty Bell, Mumia 911, and Mumia
Awareness Week, have set Mumia’s case before millions. But let us not
kid ourselves. We still need to build the broadest movement possible in
order to counter an opposition that remains powerful, dangerous,
well-organized and poised to kill Mumia.
<snip>
EVERYONE CAN TAKE ACTION. Already planned are dozens of programs,
actions, newspaper ads, and mobilizations to give collective voice to
our cry for justice (see attached list). The actions of every individual
count. Mumia’s lawyer, Leonard Weinglass, has already received over
15,000 letters to Judge Yohn on Mumia’s behalf. Couldn’t we collect
100,000 such letters by the time of the hearing? Virtually everyone has
access to some professional or social grouping. Can’t we all take this
case in our schools, churches, professional associations, unions, and
even our friends and families. Can’t we take advantage of public events
and commemorations such as the Martin Luther King weekend to raise
Mumia’s case? Can’t we poster Mumia’s image everywhere? With the year
2000 being an election year, shouldn’t the candidates be hounded with
this issue. Pennsylvania Governor Ridge has now signed 179 death
warrants, 106 for African-Americans in state that is 10% Black.
Shouldn’t he be branded everywhere as "Governor Death"?
WE ALL HAVE MUCH AT STAKE in preserving Mumia’s life and voice. The
movement for Mumia has become a focus for many other movements that are
working to shake our peoples free from patterns of oppression that
ravage us today: the epidemic of police brutality concentrated in Black
and Latino communities, the burgeoning prison-industrial complex, the
ready-use of a death penalty that is likely to place nearly 4,000 people
on death row by the end the year 2000.
We dare not lose Mumia’s voice and life. Every day of our movement’s
past work has been indispensable to where we are now in the struggle to
save Mumia. The next few months, leading up to the Federal District
court’s decision on an evidentiary hearing and whether Sabo’s record
will be allowed to stand, must feature our best efforts, our strongest
measures, our most creative energies.
Signed:
Pam Africa, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Safiya Bukhari, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (New York)
Ron Daniels, Center for Constitutional Rights
Angela Davis, University of California-Santa Cruz
Ossie Davis
Martín Espada, poet
Herman Ferguson, New African Liberation Front
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University
Frances Goldin, literary agent
C. Clark Kissinger, Refuse & Resist!
Jeff Mackler, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (Northern California)
Bob Mandel, Oakland Education Association
Manning Marable, Black Radical Congress
Robert Meeropol, Rosenberg Fund for Children
Monica Moorehead, Millions for Mumia/IAC
Joan Parkin, Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Marcus Rediker, Western PA Committee to Free Mumia (Pittsburgh)
Muhjah Shakir, The Jericho Amnesty Movement.
Al Sharpton, National Action Network
Mark Taylor, Academics for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Michael Warren, attorney
Steve Wiser, Bruderhof communities
Julia Wright, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia
Abu-Jamal
(Paris)
Major Winter-Spring Events for Mumia:
January--Amnesty International publishes pamphlet on the Mumia case
Jan 12--union delegation from Europe in Washington, DC
Jan 15-17--MLK commemorations; bring Mumia into these
February 18-19--the National Emergency Conference for Mumia
Week of February 23--annual national student/youth day for Mumia
February 28--Civil Disobedience action in Washington and San Francisco
February-March--Educators for Mumia ad in the New York Times
April 1-8--Mumia Awareness Week, tied to anniversary of MLK
assassination
April--publication of Mumia’s new book "All Things Censored"
April 29--Rosenberg Fund for Children program in Berkeley; Mumia
component
April 30--Rally for Mumia in the Paramount Theater of Madison Square
Garden
(do not publicize until further notice)
Day of Mumia’s first court appearance--Mass convergence on Philadelphia
Many of these events provide the opportunity for teach-ins, forums,
video showings, special collections for the legal defense, car caravans, mass
postering and distribution of leaflets.
***********************
Refuse & Resist!
305 Madison Ave., Suite 1166
NY, NY 10165
http://mojo.calyx.net/~refuse
refuse @calyx.com
************************
Refuse the politics of cruelty! Unleash a spirit of resistance!
Become a card-carrying member of Refuse & Resist!
**************************************************************************
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 04:24:12 -0600
To: •••@••.•••, •••@••.•••
From: Mark Douglas Whitaker <•••@••.•••>
Subject: National Conference on Civil Disobedience
National Conference on Civil Disobedience
January 22nd - 23rd, 2000
American University
Washington, DC
Civil Disobedience is an old and effective technique of resistance and
protest which has helped lead many oppressed groups to lasting freedom.
Today, forms of civil disobedience are being used by many different groups
for a variety of liberation struggles around the world. It has become
timely, important, and necessary to learn from each other's struggles
while keeping in mind the lessons of those who have fought before us.
The National Conference on Civil Disobedience envisions coordinating a
dialogue between many different activist groups and providing every
activist with a multitude of tools to take home, share, and utilize
effectively.
The National Conference on Civil Disobedience is geared towards the
activist. It is run by activists who adhere to a strict non-profit,
non-corporate policy ethic. All workshop hosts are only accepting
reimbursement for travel expenses. A full report of our expenses is
available for participants after the conference. Because we wish to make
the conference accessible to everyone, the cost is kept at the lowest
possible rate and scholarships are available for extenuating
circumstances.
More info at:
http://www.infoshop.org/nccd/
--
Chuck Munson
Mid-Atlantic Infoshop
http://www.infoshop.org/
Leonard Peltier Freedom Month
Executive Clemency For Peltier!
http://www.freepeltier.org/lpfreedommonth.html
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Now!
http://www.infoshop.org/gulag/mumia_idx.html
****************************************************
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 15:07:28 -0500
To: •••@••.•••
From: Gary Gallon <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Re: cj#1044,rn> Brian Hill: WHAT IT FELT LIKE IN SEATTLE
Dear Friends,
Time to prepare meetings and events for the Free Trade of the Americas
meeting in Quebec City, June 2000.
Gary Gallon
****************************************************************************
******
Jan Slakov, Weymouth, NS, Canada B0W 3T0
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