Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 08:16 CDT From: James Davis To: pt.dist@umich.edu Subject: People's Tribune (Online Edition) 8-1-94 ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 31 / August 1, 1994 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 31 / August 1, 1994 FRONT PAGE STORY FOLLOWS INDEX Editorial 1. SUPREME COURT NOMINEE IS AN $8 MILLION MAN News 2. NOC PROTESTS L.A. COUNTY BUDGET CUTS 3. 'YOUTH STRUGGLING FOR SURVIVAL' CALLS FOR A CONFERENCE 4. RIGHTS VIOLATIONS PAVE WAY FOR A POLICE STATE IN U.S. 5. MILWAUKEE WELFARE: 'THEY TREAT US LIKE CRIMINALS' (INTERVIEW) 6. CREDIT PROVIDERS ARE SKIRTING THE LAW 7. A CALL TO ACTION: STOP THE GENOCIDAL CRIME BILL 8. VIOLENCE IS THE SICKNESS OF THIS LAND 9. MEXICAN MILITARY THREATENS ACTIVISTS AFTER SOLDIERS ARE ACCUSED OF GANG RAPE 10. TEEN-AGER KILLED DURING POLICE RAID IN EAST LOS ANGELES Deadly Force 11. 'THREE STRIKES' LAWS WILL PUT MORE PEOPLE IN PRISON Culture Under Fire: Unity '94 Journalists Convention 12. GREETINGS TO THE UNITY '94 JOURNALISTS CONVENTION 13. DEAR WRITERS, POETS, AND JOURNALISTS 14. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CLINTON'S 'TOUGH TALK' LETS CORPORATE CROOKS WALK WASHINGTON, D.C. -- While Bill Clinton was busy pushing a $28 billion crime bill which calls for more prisons, cops and boot camps, the U.S. Senate committed a few crimes of its own in mid- July. -> The "Workplace Fairness Act," a measure which would have outlawed the permanent replacement of striking workers, was killed by the Senate July 13, while Clinton looked the other way. -> During the same week, the president dropped his support for the crime bill's "racial justice" provision. If this had been approved by the Senate, condemned prisoners would have been able to file appeals based on past discrimination in the handing down of death sentences. -> Finally, the same Senate Judiciary Committee which approved the crime bill ignored evidence of wrongdoing by Judge Stephen Breyer, Clinton's candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court. The senators on the Judiciary Committee embraced a millionaire judge who ruled on eight toxic dumping cases while owning stock in Lloyd's of London, an insurance company for corporate polluters! Together, these represent "three strikes" from Clinton and Company. They have the nerve to talk about "crime" while they legalize union-busting; increase the scope of the death penalty; and encourage the polluting of America by promoting for a position on the Supreme Court a man who complains openly about "expensive" ways of saving lives. The crime bill says nothing about the $331 billion worth of white collar crimes committed each year in this country. The true aim of this bill is repression of the poor, the unemployed and the desperate. It must be stopped at all costs. The real criminal element in America consists of those who poison our air and water, shut off our gas and electricity, over-price our necessities, break our unions and deny us equal rights. It is the members of a capitalist class that commits robbery and murder on a massive scale and gets away with it. They are the ones who belong behind bars, not us. For more on the crime bill, see story 7. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: SUPREME COURT NOMINEE IS AN $8 MILLION MAN Judge Stephen G. Breyer is worth more than $8 million. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Breyer will not just become the newest member of the U.S. Supreme Court; he will also be the richest. Breyer has been a federal appeals judge for 13 years. U.S. News and World Report described him this way: "[Breyer's] business decisions most often favor government agencies and large corporations. He has ruled for defendants in 17 of 19 antitrust cases, a record similar to the most pro-business judges appointed by Ronald Reagan." In a 1993 book, Breyer denounced what he called excessive government regulation. In that work, he calls for making a "cost benefit analysis" to decide whether the government should spend money on things like removing asbestos from schools or cleaning up toxic waste dumps. Why is this Massachusetts multimillionaire being put on the Supreme Court now? Breyer's nomination marks the end of an era. His judicial philosophy fits the needs of a ruling class moving to guarantee its control, its privileges and its property, even if it has to create a police state to do it. Forty years ago, the capitalist system was expanding. U.S. multinational corporations made gigantic profits by setting up factories in the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa and paying starvation wages to the workers in the neocolonies. When those corporations passed a small part of those superprofits on to the employed workers here, the U.S. standard of living rose to an all-time high. In those days, the ruling class needed a Supreme Court which would expand democracy; the ruling class needed the support of workers here for its looting of the world. Today, the situation is completely different. Qualitatively new means of production have been developed. As computers and robots have been introduced into the work place, millions of people have been thrown out of work. The real solution to the growing restlessness and misery of these millions of unemployed people would be to reorganize society to use the incredibly powerful new means of production to provide a decent life for everyone. Of course, that's an option the ruling class won't even consider. Instead, the exploiters are moving to eliminate democracy so that they can maintain their class privileges. That's why someone like Breyer had to be nominated. Breyer's nomination shows we will not obtain justice by relying on our rulers to appoint decent judges. From now on, we will only get the justice we are organized to take. ****************************************************************** 2. NOC PROTESTS L.A. COUNTY BUDGET CUTS By Dianne Flowers LOS ANGELES -- The Southern California National Organizing Committee members and friends found a new strength and spirit when they protested budget cuts with a sleepover at the Los Angeles Civic Center on July 13. They were showing Governor Wilson and the county supervisors that the budgets cuts will cause more women and children to be sleeping on the streets. The day began with children chanting "No More Cuts." It ended with homeless NOC members and supporters sharing their knowledge of the streets and giving their own blankets to women and children huddled up to keep warm. "We're here not just to represent ourselves, but our families and neighbors, so multiply us and that's the strength we are representing here," said Maria Torres, one of the NOC organizers and a member of the Comite Pro Paz (Committee for Peace) of Mission Dolores Church. A priest from the church celebrated a special Mass for the needs of the people. "There was a lot of knowledge shared tonight. It gives you the strength to go out and keep battling because you know you're not the only one out there," said Jackie Gage, another of the NOC organizers and a member of the Long Beach Homeless Organizing Committee. Speaker after speaker talked of their suffering caused by this capitalist system that throws us out of work, then blames us for the problem and calls us lazy. Dee Petty, an NOC organizer from the San Pedro harbor, invited everyone to the NOC conference the following Saturday, saying, "I hope you'll be there so we can have a new society that will make a big difference." ****************************************************************** 3. 'YOUTH STRUGGLING FOR SURVIVAL' CALLS FOR A CONFERENCE CHICAGO -- Young people from around Chicago -- from the communities of Pilsen, Humboldt Park, Uptown and the South Side, from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, Chicago, and from organizations such as Casa Aztlan's Healing Generation and Empty the Shelters -- have been meeting this summer to establish a new organization of youth. We are associated with the National Organizing Committee of Chicago. Our present name is Youth Struggling for Survival. Our outreach has gone to youth in the suburbs, in other Chicago communities and campuses. With the assistance of Luis Rodriguez, nationally known poet and writer, and Pat Zamora, youth coordinator at Casa Aztlan, we've determined the following points: -- Nothing can be done without organization. -- Nothing can be done without politicization. -- Nothing can be done without revolutionary education. -- Nothing can be done without culture. -- Nothing can be done without strategy and tactics. -- Nothing can be done without unity (across gang lines, color lines, language lines, and gender lines). -- Nothing can be done without communication. Toward our aim of uniting Chicago and area youth in our own interests (and to branch out nationally as well), we are convening a conference on August 13, 1994, at the University of Illinois, Chicago, 750 South Halsted. The conference will be in the Illinois Room, on the second floor. Admission to the conference is free; admission for the party afterwards is $2. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Youth Struggling for Survival Conference STATEMENT OF PURPOSE A meeting of young adults? Oh, my God! Hoodlums, criminals, drug dealers and murderers! That's what some people expect when a group of young powerful thinkers come together and try to change the world. But we're coming together to share our common problems with this corrupt system that has manipulated our lives for too long. Police brutality. Racism. Miseducation. Unemployment. Sexism. These are just some of the problems we have learned to accept in our horrific lives. August 13, 1994 is going to be a day for new ideas -- and solutions. This conference is going to symbolize that we have had enough of all this corruption. And if nobody is going to do something about it, we will! We're supposed to be the next generation, then we are going to establish ourselves as a powerful generation that can make the system work for us, instead of us working for the system. All youth are welcome to participate. For more information, contact Rocio Restrepo at 312-730-9492 (pager) or Luis Rodriguez at 312-252-5388 (fax). The above statement was written by Ramiro Rodriguez, one of our members, for the conference. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 4. RIGHTS VIOLATIONS PAVE WAY FOR A POLICE STATE IN U.S. SIMPSON CASE RAISES FOURTH AMENDMENT ISSUES >From the U.S. Supreme Court on down, the admission into court of illegally obtained evidence, coerced confessions and perjured police testimony sends thousands of people to jail every day. Los Angeles Municipal Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell's July 7 decision to swallow the Los Angeles Police Department's highly suspect story about why it carried out a warrantless search in the O.J. Simpson case may seriously erode fundamental constitutional rights already under attack before her decision. On May 11, for example, cops led an illegal raid in Boston which left a 75-year-old minister dead of a heart attack. The district attorney found no fault with police. That outrage was followed the next day by an armed invasion of the home of a middle-class Chicago couple "mistakenly" suspected by the FBI of being drug dealers. When the raiding agents got through waving their .45-caliber automatics around and threatening to pistol-whip their terrified victims, they admitted the "error" but refused to apologize. And let's not forget New York City, where police corruption hearings have revealed widespread perjury, the beating of civilians, protection of drug dealers and other lawless acts committed by "the law." Is this the kind of country we want? Can we celebrate "independence" and "democracy" on the Fourth of July and tear up the Constitution three days later? We don't think so. This isn't about O.J. Simpson. You can debate that case all you want, but there is little doubt that the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure was violated by the LAPD. We think it's time for serious, concerned people to organize and confront the danger of a police state in America. We have to speak out in our churches, unions and community organizations. Every family of every victim of cop brutality; everyone who has tasted injustice at the hands of prosecutors and judges; all who understand the price we are paying for the unchecked power of the police -- we must lead this fight. The battle to defend our rights isn't something to watch on television. It's a real fight that we can't afford to lose. ****************************************************************** 5. MILWAUKEE WELFARE: 'THEY TREAT US LIKE CRIMINALS' (INTERVIEW) [The following is excerpted from an interview done with Linda Ray by The Milwaukee Journal. It is reprinted with permission.] Linda Ray, a Milwaukee mother on welfare, doesn't really consider it welfare. She says it's actually "child support." She says current initiatives for welfare reform miss the mark because they don't take that fact into account. Ray is a member of Welfare Warriors, an advocacy group for mothers on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and is on the Area Council of the Social Development Commission. Ray, 28 and college-educated, lives with her three children. She receives AFDC for one child, Supplemental Security Income for another child who is disabled, and regular child support from the father of the third. She talked with Journal reporter Eugene Kane about the flap over welfare and welfare reform. Q. Why are you on welfare? A. If the father of my two oldest children was dead, I would be collecting Social Security for child support and no one would be looking down on me. If I divorced a guy who was willing to pay child support, I would be collecting support from that man. But instead, I had children from a guy who doesn't pay any child support and therefore I'm on AFDC. Q. What do you think about the various initiatives being touted as welfare reform? A. When they say welfare reform, they're looking at the mothers. When we're [Welfare Warriors] talking about welfare reform, we're talking about reforming the system. It is the system that is broke. Yes, there are mothers that need help and could use certain services. But the fact is that we have this huge system, and two- thirds of the money goes to pay the non-poor (bureaucracy) to police the poor. ... Q. What is the main problem with welfare reform? A. Welfare reform is needed, but we're coming at it from different standpoints, and everything that Gov. Tommy Thompson has done has cost more money to implement than the current system, and it's all been punitive. They're treating us like criminals before we've ever committed a crime. Q. What about other politicians, other than Thompson? Democrats like Mayor John O. Norquist, state Rep. Antonio Riley -- a black man raised on welfare -- they're in favor of welfare reform, too. A. I'm a disillusioned Democrat because I no longer see the Democratic Party as being what it used to be. It used to be the conservatives and the liberals, now we have the conservatives and the moderates. There are no liberals. The moderates, though perhaps well-intentioned, are not understanding the true situation. What's wrong with saying that a mother needs child support? ... Antonio Riley was brought up by a mother who was on welfare, but he himself has never had to pay the bills or figure out a way to live and raise children on welfare. At all these public forums, you're constantly talking about the mothers, and what to do about the mothers, but you never invite the mothers. Nobody ever talks to us. ... Q. But don't you think a lot of women would like to [stay at home and raise their children], but can't? Do you think it's fair that they have to work, and you don't? A. I think that all of those working women should be able to stay at home if that's what they want to do. Caregivers ... should be valued in this society. Part of the problem is we have this double standard. We have people saying that all mothers have to be driven into the work force, but at the same time, we have schools asking mothers with troubled kids to come in for full days, sometimes weeks at a time to help their child. Now a concerned mother would want to do that, but she can't. When I pay my sales taxes, ... or when I paid my property taxes, which I do pay, I'm paying for things like the new stadium or the Bradley Center. ... I would like to make sure all of my tax money goes to help the poorest members of our society, but I can't. I'm not allowed to make the decision where the money goes any more than you are. The work force does not need every person; we don't even have enough jobs for the people who want them. They don't need us -- our children need us. Q. You're a white woman on welfare. Does race play a part in the current controversy about welfare reform? A. One of the biggest myths about welfare is that it's all central city blacks on welfare. In most cities, African-Americans are overrepresented in the welfare population only because they're overrepresented in the poor population. In any urban area, blacks are always overrepresented in the poor population. Q. How would you reform welfare? A. We already have a child-support program in this country that keeps single-headed households out of poverty. It's called Social Security. If the government were to treat the children of the deadbeats the same way they treat the children of the dead, then we would have guaranteed child support until our children reach adulthood. It would free us up to work without losing child support. You can't do that on welfare without being penalized. ****************************************************************** 6. CREDIT PROVIDERS ARE SKIRTING THE LAW By Jan Lightfoot HINCKLEY, Maine -- Nearly a year ago, President Clinton called for credit as loans, credit cards, check overprotection guarantees, etc., to be available to the poor. Even a president knows life is easier when people have the use of credit. For decades, laws have been on the federal books that say issuers of credit cannot discriminate against anyone on forms of welfare. Yet many credit card businesses avoid this elusive protection by requiring a minimum income. A minimum income which is three times higher than any honest person on welfare, Social Security, disability or whatever has as their income. The poor and the elderly poor have yet to fight against this financial discrimination. A person on welfare survives on about $4,500 a year. An older person living off Social Security usually averages between $5,700 and $8,900 a year. If a welfare mother or father has an income of above $10,000 a year, they would be defrauding the government or have 15 kids. Most banks dodge dealing with the elderly by insisting the income be $15,000 a year or some other arbitrary figure. This is discrimination. Here in the Northeast, Fleet Bank uses Clinton's call for more credit to be available to the poor as an advertising slogan. A slogan which Fleet Bank occasionally upholds. Often, the first round of applying for credit or a loan will present the same insurmountable hurdles as when applying for any credit for the first time. With Fleet Bank, a phone call to a bank officer brings credit. With credit, life is easier. Federal law supports non- discrimination in matters of credit. When credit card companies discriminate, we must bring legal action. One case will enhance the lives of 33 million poor people. Fight for economic justice! ****************************************************************** 7. A CALL TO ACTION: STOP THE GENOCIDAL CRIME BILL By Truxon Sykes, Executive Director, Baltimore Homeless Union BALTIMORE -- The present controversy over the racial justice amendment to the already oppressive federal crime bill is ending by opening the doors to legalized genocide. The media reports that President Clinton feels that it is not worth losing the whole crime bill over the issue of racial justice. So, it will be legal to exterminate poor whites, blacks, Hispanics, Indians, dissidents or any persons or groups that do not appeal to the ruling class. America should know by now that any law said to be against blacks is against all who are not rich and powerful. We cannot allow "divide and conquer" to lead us into a police state. Discrimination in applying the death penalty has been proven to be a fact. We must appeal to the American people to stop this march toward fascism. We must file suit against Clinton and any representatives who vote for a bill that does not recognize the need for justice in our courts. If the president signs this bill, he will violate his oath of office. He should be impeached, along with all who help pass this bill. We must file suits in all courts -- the World Court and the United Nations -- not against the government, but against the public servants who brazenly defile the Constitution. The true leadership of all ethnic groups will fight until the end to stop this giant step backwards. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SOUND THE ALARM! The ruling class is proposing that today's social problems can be solved by force and terror. If we lose our political rights, we lose the ability to fight against police abuse. Distributing the People's Tribune and joining the National Organizing Committee is the best way to sound the alarm and prepare to fight for what rights still remain. It can't be done without money. Send your donations to the People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 8. VIOLENCE IS THE SICKNESS OF THIS LAND By Jack Hirschman SAN FRANCISCO -- So much has been written and televised relative to the case of O.J. Simpson that a fundamental thing has been lost in the media circus: the violence that leads men -- whether O.J. or not -- to spousal abuse and even to murder does not come from thin air. It is the result of a syndrome of abuse visited upon everyone in this land, of the violent abuse of human dignity via an economic system that batters everyone from childhood on -- through the family as well as institutional and religious institutions that are blackmailed to support that system, and through daily drubbings projected in movies, television and sell-out newspapers. Indeed, violence is the sickness of this land; but its roots lie in the diseased system that perpetuates the hypocritical lie that the United States is the peacemaker of the world rather than its blackmailer; that this government loves children above all, when it continually enacts hatred of them in the form of social and economic deprivations that drive them to flight, self-destruction and death; and that the government loves justice and fair play when, in fact, it's driven by engines of cutthroat competitions more murderous than a lost or jealous or desperate soul (male or female) eaten up by the abuse and violence of childhood and striking out in rage and despair. We've all loved our families and know that all our lives have been a struggle to sustain that love amid the horrible humiliating shames this system of lies and indignities has visited upon everyone (black or white or brown or red or yellow) -- rich and poor alike: the poor Juice as well as the rich Juice. Our birth families. Or the ones we make. Our struggles to sustain them. And the ones of torn children. Divorced eyes. Senses separated from the flesh. Souls with nothing to stand on. These are not simply turns of phrase. This system murders everyone from infancy to the last gasp. Feeds us its little modern business-thug wisdom. Its innate hatred of sensitive affection. Its driving juggernaut of Profits, Profits, Profits. I tell you, sick and soulless capitalism isn't worth the dribble of one of its abused and endlessly abused poverty-stricken -- and even if born into a rich house, still poverty-stricken -- infants. I'll fight that abusive disease called capitalism till my dying breath and hopefully thereafter, because it must be stopped, its infection is spreading. And the ones to stop it are the real doctors of the world, the people themselves. Change the system and the abuses will diminish to zilch. People are not innately violent. The way they are exploited is. ****************************************************************** 9. FORUM OPENS WINDOW ON MEXICO'S CRISIS By Steve Teixeira For members of the National Organizing Committee, the "Breaking the Barriers" forum held in Los Angeles, Mexico City and San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas was like opening a window. Relying on the U.S. media for the truth about Mexico is like listening to muffled voices through a wall. This window brought us revolutionary voices clear and strong. The government now admits there are 10 to 12 armed groups of serious revolutionaries in the country. But the uprising also spurred many other forms of political activity. "It has opened doors for peoples' organizations to deepen the national struggle," said scholar/activist Manuel Hidalgo of San Cristobal. The Zapatistas (EZLN) are calling for a "People's Democratic Front" and a transitional government to prepare new, honest elections instead of the one set for August 21. This is the meaning of their slogan, "For us, nothing. Everything for all." And masses of people are answering that call. A "front," or coalition, of groups called CIUSPAZ is organizing in San Cristobal and COMPAZ is organizing throughout the state of Chiapas to support the EZLN's demands for change, and to stop any military action by the government. "In 40 counties they've formed civic fronts of residents," CIUSPAZ activists told the Tribuno del Pueblo. "We want peace, but a peace with dignity and justice, not the Ôpeace' we had before!" Likewise, a national front of 180 farmworker organizations, CEOIC, has held huge marches and mobilizations in support of the Zapatistas. But there have also been other fights -- like the hundreds of campesinos in Oaxaca chanting "Zapata lives!" who blocked state and federal offices in June to protest abuses. As one CIUSPAZ activist explained, the struggle in Chiapas has served as "a mirror for the rest of the country." The forum also opened a window on immigrant workers like Juan Hernandez Meza, whose group migrated within Chiapas. After fighting both politically and even physically against takeovers from rich landowners, they became an early inspiration for the birth of the EZLN. Both this internal migration and the stream of desperate people going north "are part of the process of globalization," noted Chiapas researcher Juan Pohlenz. This links the immigrant workers to the struggles of the poor in the United States as well. The rise of new types of civic organizations, including the people with no jobs or even homes, is the key to the future of the revolution. Zapatista subcommander Marcos made that clear in a controversial meeting with Mexican presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas. He criticized Cardenas' party, the PRD, and others for not basing themselves enough on the "power of the voiceless and faceless. Whoever truly gains this power will be invincible." [For more information on the forum, contact Dr. Juan M. Sandoval, Seminario Permanente de Estudios Chicanos y de Fronteras, 525-548- 1617 (Mexico, D.F.).] ****************************************************************** 9. MEXICAN MILITARY THREATENS ACTIVISTS AFTER SOLDIERS ARE ACCUSED OF GANG RAPE By Allen Harris Mexican military personnel have put two people from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas -- and peace activists there -- under constant surveillance after complaints were filed that federal troops gangraped three local women at a military roadblock, according to an urgent dispatch received recently by the People's Tribune. The dispatch from the Coalition of Non-governmental Organizations for Peace (CONPAZ) also says that the military is harassing its own people after CONPAZ filed a complaint against the Mexican Federal Army (MFA) "for the crimes of gang rape, abuse of authority, violation of duty, intimidation and threats" in connection with the rape charges. The two people in question are Yolanda Castro and Roger Maldonado, who charge that MFA troops committed the atrocity against three women of the Tseltal people at a roadblock in Altamirano, Chiapas, on June 4. The Mexican National Secretary for Defense issued a press statement denying the charges and threatening the accusers, saying it reserved "the right to legally proceed against the people or entities that defame our institutions." CONPAZ reports that the military threat "is already taking the form of constant surveillance by plainclothed military personnel of offices of non-governmental organizations. "Additionally," reports CONPAZ, "representatives of NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] have been harassed, as in the case of the indigenous women's weaving cooperative, J'Pas Joloviletik." CONPAZ urges that faxes and telegrams to Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari and the Mexican Secretary of National Defense Gen. Antonio Rivielo Bazan demanding the end of the harassment "and the guaranteeing of the physical and psychological integrity" of Castro and Maldonado "as well as all representatives and consultants of non-governmental organizations in Chiapas." CONPAZ urges letters and faxes be sent to the following addresses: Lic. Carlos Salinas de Gortari Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos Palacio Nacional Mexico, D.F. Fax: 2-71-17-64 Gral. de Div. Antonio Rivielo Bazan Secretario de la Defensa Nacional Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional Mexico, D.F. Fax: 5-57-79-04 The address of CONPAZ is: Chiapa de Corozo 19 El Cerrillo San Cristobal de las Casas C.P. 29220 Chiapas, Mexico ****************************************************************** 10. TEEN-AGER KILLED DURING POLICE RAID IN EAST LOS ANGELES By Maria Teixeira EAST LOS ANGELES -- Flavio Obregon, 19, died near the Pico-Aliso housing projects here July 16. The police say he jumped through the bedroom window of his home while trying to escape from them. Cut from the glass, Obregon bled to death waiting for an ambulance. It took more than half an hour to arrive! The community is sad, confused and angry. There are a number of discrepancies and questions in this case. Why did he jump? Was he pushed out of the window? Was he already in custody? But the bottom line is the inhumanity of how Flavio lost his life. This young man bled to death while waiting 35-45 minutes for help. POLICE PRESENCE IN COMMUNITY A week before this tragedy, an officer was shot and wounded by someone in the area. The police reacted by setting curfews and pressuring the community. Young people were stopped, searched, beaten and jailed. Cars were towed away for having no registration. Hateful words were communicated by the police; the message got out that they wanted the name of the person who shot the officer. On July 6, the same day that Flavio died, the president of the Resident Advisory Council was arrested by the police. He ended up with two black eyes, an arm in a cast and various other injuries. The arm of his eight-year-old little girl was also bruised and cut. Witnesses say this happened when officers pushed her in the house and closed the door shut on her. COMMUNITY RESPONSE The next day, members of the Comite Pro Paz (Committee for Peace) at Dolores Mission Church moved quickly and organized a march to protest this situation. Residents and supporters marched from the church to the Hollenbeck police station to say "enough is enough." They met with the watch commander and requested that other police divisions be pulled out of the area to avoid a war. The next day, this was done. The Comite Pro Paz is also demanding an independent investigation because of the contradictions between the stories of the police and the stories of some eyewitnesses, and they want a meeting with Los Angeles Police Chief Willie Williams. The National Organizing Committee and the People's Tribune salute the heroic members of the Comite Pro Paz. Tragedies like the death of Flavio Obregon will continue as long as the police and jails are looked at as the solutions to our problems. Poverty breeds tense situations and young people who feel they have no future. Our communities need jobs, youth programs and other services. Let's demand those things from the richest country in the world! ****************************************************************** 11. DEADLY FORCE: 'THREE STRIKES' LAWS WILL PUT MORE PEOPLE IN PRISON PRISONER ANALYZES REPRESSIVE SCHEME +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Deadly Force" is a weekly column dedicated to exposing the scope of police terror in the United States. We open our pages to you, the front line fighters against brutality and deadly force. Send us eyewitness accounts, clippings, press releases, appeals for support, letters, photos, opinions and all other information relating to this life and death fight. Send them to People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Ill. 60654, or call (312) 486- 3551. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ By Paul Wright [Editor's note: Below we print the third part of an article by a prisoner in Washington state analyzing the "three strikes and you're out" laws. These laws require people convicted of their third felony to be sentenced to either very long prison sentences or life imprisonment.] MONROE, Washington -- There are already numerous laws which mandate life imprisonment without parole for certain first-time or repeat offenses. The federal Armed Career Criminal Act, passed in 1988, mandates 25 years imprisonment without parole for a three-time felon found in possession (not using, just possession) of a firearm. The state of Michigan and the federal government also mandate life imprisonment without parole for possession of more than 650 grams of heroin or cocaine for a first-time offender. The only other offense in Washington state which carries a penalty of life imprisonment without parole is aggravated murder. When the laws make no distinction in punishment between killing five people, having a gun, having 650 grams of drugs or stealing $151, there is something wrong. Washington and California police have reported that since the "three strikes" laws went into effect, suspects have become more violent in resisting arrest. A suspect who knows he will spend his life in prison if convicted of a $151 robbery has, quite literally, nothing to lose if he has to kill a few people to avoid arrest. The result of this, I suspect, will eventually be the broadening of the death penalty. Seattle Police Sgt. Eric Baden was quoted in The New York Times saying: "It now looks like some of these three- strike cases might try to get away or shoot their way out. Believe me, that's not lost on us. We're thinking about it." It is perverse logic when the proponents of these types of laws cite with approval the increasing numbers of people receiving such sentences -- whether life imprisonment without parole or the death penalty -- claiming they are a deterrent. If such laws were effective, the numbers would decline. Neither the mainstream media nor the politicians have any interest in using logic or common sense in formulating public policy. All these laws will achieve is an increasing number of poor people in prison, more violence, more state repression and, eventually, greater use of the death penalty. To be continued. [Paul Wright is the co-publisher of the Prison Legal News, which can be obtained by writing P.O. Box 1684, Lake Worth, Florida 33460.] ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CULTURE UNDER FIRE Culture jumps barriers of geography and color. Millions of Americans create with music, writing, film and video, graffiti, painting, theatre and much more. We need it all, because culture can link together and expand the growing battles for food, housing, and jobs. In turn, these battles provide new audiences and inspiration for artists. Use the "Culture Under Fire'' column to plug in, to express yourself. Write: Culture Under Fire, c/o People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ >From July 27-31, 1994, four minority journalists associations will hold a joint convention in Atlanta. The convention's theme is "Unity '94." This is the first time that this country's African American, Asian American, Hispanic and Native American journalists will meet together. We of the People's Tribune congratulate those with the foresight to organize and coordinate such a historic convention. America's social fabric is being ripped apart, not by the electronic revolution, but by those who control its marvels. We have to turn this situation around. For that to happen, each and every one of us has to become socially responsible. In the words of the great Abolitionist journalist William Lloyd Garrison, let's make our pens, PCs, cameras and voices "as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice." Your sisters and brothers, The People's Tribune Editorial Board ****************************************************************** 13. DEAR WRITERS, POETS, AND JOURNALISTS: In crisis-ridden times, writers and those who are in the business of getting ideas and literature out into the world play a critical role in our society. The People's Tribune is an independent, nationally distributed weekly newspaper voicing the revolutionary essence of these times. It is the newspaper of the National Organizing Committee, which has a program based on the liberating potential of those who have to fight the capitalist economic and political system to live. The program is summed up in one sentence: "We will get only what we are organized to take." It's not enough today to just articulate the inequities and problems of this society; we have to put forward viable, lasting solutions. This is where writers, poets, and journalists become indispensable. They have the clarity of the word, of expression, and the power to arouse the largest number of people to action. This is an appeal to such writers to contribute to the People's Tribune, and to make their work count. We, the following writers, have written articles, poems, and submitted interviews and perspectives to the People's Tribune over the years. The impact of these works is often immeasurable, but quite deep. Please consider being part of this growing struggle for true justice in America. Respectfully, Luis J. Rodriguez Nelson Peery Jack Hirschman Abdul Alkalimat [For more information, contact the People's Tribune at 312-486- 3551 or P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654-0524.] ****************************************************************** 14. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF LITERATURE OF THE REBELLION By Nelson Peery [The following are remarks made by Nelson Peery, the author of Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary, at a panel discussion on literature and rebellion held on May 28 at the American Booksellers Association convention in Los Angeles. The panel discussion was sponsored by Booksellers for Social Responsibility and PEN Center USA West.] I would like to start out with a word about the book "Black Fire." I started writing that book right after the war when the McCarthy period was just setting in and it was little more than a chronicle of the process of a black young man and the development of his consciousness. I found the manuscript in 1990 and tried to go over it. I discovered that there were stages of development of a person becoming a real revolutionary. That journey essentially is from social consciousness -- that is, beginning to really understand what the relations within society are. For me, that was a race consciousness, beginning to understand what the position of blacks in the United States is. Then came the class consciousness -- political consciousness -- in understanding the mechanism that is holding us in the positions we are in. This includes of course, the understanding that human beings are not the enemy. When I finally liberated myself -- the morning I was able to wake up and say, "The white folks aren't the enemy. It's the relationship between me and them that is the enemy," I became a serious revolutionary. I have remained one since. The final thing was self-consciousness -- when I understood the responsibility that I had as a thinking individual to attack and change this thing, to never make peace with it. Nobody who is self-conscious can ever lay down their sword and shield, whether they are a bricklayer, as I was, or a writer. I began to understand that society, in its evolution, goes through these stages. But it can't do it without literature and rebellion. Literature of rebellion is a very special literature. Literature in general is somewhat like a concave mirror. It takes in all these impressions and senses; concentrates them and reflects them back to the people so that they understand what they are going through. Literature of rebellion goes beyond this. In addition to being this concave mirror, literature of rebellion has to pose a solution to problems. It cannot be satisfied simply saying that you're being exploited, your political situation is intolerable, or America is becoming a police state. It says what you propose to do about it. Such literature becomes a social weapon. As a result of the almost spontaneous rise of literature that is pointing the way out -- as this becomes clear -- the other side moves. I think that all of you are very well aware that America is becoming a police state. When I left Chicago I was kind of shocked to see two columns side by side. One stated that crime in America had dropped six percent (five percent in Chicago). Alongside was another article which said, "We need more police." What do we need more police for if the crime rate is dropping? It is because literature of the revolution is growing. It is necessarily going to bring a certain consciousness to the people that they need. It is taking this step toward a social consciousness, an understanding of what our society is and what the relationship is between people and classes. Those of us who write, organize and distribute literature have to accept this tremendous responsibility of creating and distributing literature that reflects the realities of the life that we live. I have picked up so many books lately that don't have anything to do with how we are going to guarantee that not one more child dies of malnutrition; that not one more woman freezes to death in an empty building. That is the responsibility of any serious human being, especially those of us who are the propagandists of society. We cannot accept this responsibility if we don't grasp what is the content of our time. No literature is real literature if it does not do this. The fundamental thing that shapes all of the aspects of our life is the tremendous economic revolution -- the transformation from human labor to robotics; to production through electronics. That brings, on the one hand, the wretched poverty. On the other hand, we have to be visionaries enough to realize that this robotic production can produce an economic paradise on earth. Work becomes writing books, reading poetry, dancing and playing with babies. That is possible today. That idea will not arise spontaneously among the masses. It must be given to them. That, to me, is the responsibility of the author, the distributor and the bookseller. It is an awesome responsibility. The well-being of the world hangs in balance -- in the hands of those who have assumed the responsibility of being the propagandists for humanity. ****************************************************************** 14. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published weekly in Chicago, is devoted to the proposition that an economic system which can't or won't feed, clothe and house its people ought to be and will be changed. To that end, this paper is a tribune of the people. It is the voice of the millions struggling for survival. It strives to educate politically those millions on the basis of their own experience. It is a tribune to bring them together, to create a vision of a better world, and a strategy to achieve it. Join us! Editor: Laura Garcia Publisher: National Organizing Committee, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 486-0028 To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos, graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and requests for bundles of papers to: PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE P.O. Box 3524 Chicago, IL 60654 Respond via e-mail to jdav@igc.org Reach us by phone: Chicago: (312) 486-3551 Atlanta: (404) 242-2380 Baltimore: (410) 467-4769 Detroit: (313) 839-7600 Los Angeles: (310) 428-2618 Washington, D.C.: (202) 529-6250 Oakland, CA: (510) 464-4554 GETTING THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE IN PRINT The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is available at many locations nationwide. One year subscriptions $25 ($35 institutions), bulk orders of 5 or more 15 cents each, single copies 25 cents. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, tel. (312) 486- 3551. WRITING FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE We want your story in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. Send it in! Articles should be shorter than 300 words, written to be easily understood, and signed. (Use a pen name if you prefer.) Include a phone number for questions. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654, tel. (312) 486-3551. ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. ******************************************************************