NOTE: Support rally/event in Philadelphia TODAY! (See below) From: "Carolyn Ballard" <•••@••.•••> Subject: Fw: Press release: GOP Convention Protesters on Hunger Strike Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 14:35:52 -0400 ----- Original Message ----- From: David Levy <•••@••.•••> To: <•••@••.•••> Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 1:50 PM Subject: Press release: GOP Convention Protesters on Hunger Strike > > HUNGER FOR JUSTICE > > Activists Engage in Nationwide Hunger Strike > Solidarity with unjustly imprisoned Republican National Convention > Protesters > > Contact: 215-222-4711, mailbox # 8 (voice mail is checked every hour) > > Dozens of activists across the nation will be mobilizing a hunger strike > in solidarity with those who remain imprisoned after the Republican > National Convention protests. > > Prisoners have been hunger striking since their arrest, and now their > supporters, relatives, and people of the community plan to perform > solidarity hunger strikes at city halls across the United States. > > -- The US government has declared war on activists. Since Aug 2, 2000 > over 400 activists have been detained in Philadelphia on incredibly > exaggerated and completely false charges. Bails have been set at > unprecedented levels ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 dollars. Many > activists were tortured with excessive brutality. Inside the jails, the > Philadelphia police continued their attempts to dehumanize activists by > hog tying, dragging, and beating them. In one case a male activist was > dragged naked by his genitalia to an isolation unit. The legal team is > still documenting a myriad of cases of physical abuse. > > -- Over 50 reports of people being profiled and picked up off the street > since Aug. 2cd have surfaced. Furthermore, there is evidence of federal > government involvement in such operations. Activists singled out as > "organizers" have been put into isolation units and interrogated for > hours. > > It is crucial that we show our solidarity for those brave men and women > who are still being subjected to inhumane treatment because they didn't > compromise their integrity in the face of unthinkable brutality. > > OUR DEMANDS > > -- We demand that Lynn Abrahams open negotiations with the R2K legal team > and agree to their terms. > > -- We demand that congressional hearings be opened to investigate federal > involvement in the mistreatment of activists nationwide > > CALL TO ACTION > > This is a plea to those who support the struggle for justice in America. > Show your solidarity with these political prisoners and your anger over > the unreasonable treatment by the Philadelphia and federal governments. > > What you can do: > > JOIN THE HUNGER STRIKE: Organize citizens in your locale to hunger strike > at your city hall. Please contact the numbers above for information and > to express your commitment. > > MARCH: Plan marches, rallies, vigils, and civil disobedience in your home > town and/or state capital. > > TEACH: Organize teach-ins, workshops, sit-ins and press committees in > your area to disseminate information regarding our friends in jail. > > PRESS: Because of the corporate media's irresponsibility our friends are > suffering in jail. We must apply pressure to force media coverage. Set > up teams to call and inform corporate and independent media outlets. > > RAISE MONEY: To help bail out prisoners with unreasonable bail. Please > make out your tax-deductible check to ISMCH (The Institute of Social > Medicine and Community Health, our fiscal sponsor). Write "legal fund" > in the memo line. Send checks to PDAG/PO Box 40683/ Philly, PA, 19107. > > PHONE ZAP AND WRITE LETTERS: To the Philadelphia officials listed below > illustrating your disapproval of their actions. > > Phone Numbers: > Chief of Police, John Timoney: 215-686-3364 > Stephanie Stuber (Mayor's Chief of Staff): 215-686-7508 > Captain Fisher, Civil Affairs: 215-685-3684 > Ken Trujillo, City Solicitor: 215-683-5003 > Chief Maxwell, Head of Detectives and Criminal Investigation: > 215-686-3362 > Dept. Comm. Mitchell: 215-686-3364 > Councilman Nutter: 215-686-3416 > NOTE from Jan: I just made some calls: Deputy Police Commissioner Mitchell (215) 686-3364 the woman who answered said she couldn't answer my questions (about treatment of prisoners) and gave me 2 numbers (of jails) to call: the CFCS (215) 685-7843 (The woman who answered said she could give no info and eventually hung up on me.) the PICC (Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Centre 685-7100 (The woman who answered was more polite but also said she could not answer my questions.) I have called Captain Fisher twice now, the first time a few days ago & the man who I assume was him said that almost all (maybe he even said all) the prisoners had been released. This time he said very few were left, only those who refuse to give their name. Also called Stephanie Stuber's office. The woman who answered said she didn't know about the condition of the prisoners. She said that yes, she does relay the fact that people who are concerned are calling. I asked if she knows if S. Stuber intends to do anything to help the prisoners and she said she didn't know. I'd be interested to know if anyone has ideas about how to make our phone calls as effective as possible. For now, I think it is important to call and yet I also have the feeling that the people with authority to do anything are probably quite insulated from our concerns... Probably the most important thing to do is to get the best possible media coverage of our concerns. (Letters to the editor, etc.) also, of course, financial and other support for the protesters. ************************************************************************* From: "Carolyn Ballard" <•••@••.•••> Subject: Fw: Press Advisory: Jewish Community Leaders Support RNC Protesters Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 15:23:47 -0400 ----- Original Message ----- From: Julie Davids Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 2:16 PM Subject: Press Advisory: Jewish Community Leaders Support RNC Protesters PRESS ADVISORY Sara Marcus, R2K Legal Collective: 215-545-4844 Laurie Zimmerman, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College student: 215-713-0395 RABBIS, JEWISH COMMUNITY LEADERS SUPPORT RNC PROTESTERS Religious Leaders Issue Statement Decrying City's Treatment of Protesters; Urges Society to Heed Demonstrators' "Prophetic Voices." Rabbis urge city: "Do not persecute them for speaking out." WHEN: Thursday, August 10th, 2:30 PM WHERE: National Museum of American Jewish History, 55 North 5th Street, Independence Mall WHAT: Presentation of a statement signed by local rabbis and other leaders of the Jewish community. Thursday is the Jewish fast day Tisha B'Av, which marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples thousands of years ago. The statement --written in part by prominent writer and spiritual leader Arthur Waskow--draws connections between the fast day and the city's treatment of protesters, warning that "a society that will not heed its prophetic voices. has already shattered its own deepest holy places." WHO: Short statements from endorsers of the statement. May include: oRabbi Elyse Wechterman, MidAtlantic Regional Director, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation oRabbi Brian Walt, Mishkan Shalom congregation oRabbi Mordechai Liebling, The Shefa Fund and the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation oLaurie Zimmerman, rabbinical student, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College MORE INFO: (For regular updates, check www.phillyimc.org) More than 300 protesters remain behind bars in Philadelphia after they were arrested last week protesting the Republican National Convention. The largest protest, on August 1, focused on the racist and unjust criminal and penal system. Videographers have documented widespread violence against the protesters by the police during the arrests. Documentation of the protests and arrests is available online at www.phillyimc.org. Many of the protesters have suffered beatings, psychological abuse, denial of necessary medication and have been held for days without being arraigned, formally charged or having access to legal counsel. Detainees include 80 people pre-emptively arrested in a Philadelphia warehouse where they were constructing artistic puppets and signs for the August 1st protest. They have been charged with conspiracy. Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney has called for a federal criminal investigation of the non-violent activist networks that organized the week of protests. Bail for the protesters has run from $15,000 to as high as $1 millionthe highest bails set in the history of non-violent protest in the United States. The two groups whose members were saddled with $1 million bail, Ruckus Society and ACT UP Philadelphia explicitly advocate non-violence, and forswear all forms of violence including the destruction of property. Prisoners and legal observers inside the jail report widespread abuses of prisoners, including direct physical assault of bound prisoners; dragging of prisoners through troughs of urine and garbage; sexual assault by police officers and jail staff; denial of access to essential medications for diabetes, HIV and other conditions; prisoners held in solitary confinement; denial of access to attorneys. The protesters' attorney, Ron McGuire, has described the situation as "a civil rights catastrophe of the first order." ###### Julie Davids ###### ###### ACT UP Philadelphia ###### ###### •••@••.••• ###### ************* ************ ************* ************* ************* Lives must become more valuable than drug company profits ************* ************* ************* ************* *************
