[This report came in yesterday from organizers for the National Jericho Movement. The wheels may be coming off of the ugly revanchist effort to railroad 8 former members of the Black Panther Party into jail on charges of killing a San Francisco police officer--in 1971. One clear motive of the state in pursuing this case is to counteract the reversal of verdicts in frame-up cases that had kept former Panthers jailed for decades, like Geronimo ji-Jaga. They may have picked up a rock only to drop it on their own feet, however, because the previous trial of one of the 8, Harold Taylor, was thrown out of court because he had been savagely tortured. Bringing the case back up now proves once again that torture is not reserved for Iraqis swept into Abu Ghraib, but is practiced by the police right here at home as a matter of course.]
Prosecutors in the San Francisco 8 case announced that they are filing an amended complaint, in effect dropping the conspiracy count against 5 of the brothers, because the statute of limitations (of 3 years on conspiracy) has expired. This is a result of defense motions filed recently that challenged the complaint on the basis of expired statute of limitations.
Ray Boudreaux, Richard Brown, Hank Jones and Harold Taylor now only face one count, the alleged murder of a San Francisco police officer in 1971. The case against Richard O'Neal must now be dismissed, since he was originally charged only in the second count.
The prosecutors will argue that the statute of limitations did not expire against Herman Bell, Jalil Muntaqim and Francisco Torres as they were not residents in California during the last 35 years. "This is a ridiculous argument," according to defense attorney Stuart Hanlon, "as these men were forcefully removed from the state against their will by being imprisoned. Following his acquittal on charges in New York State, Cisco Torres was living in New York City. All 3 were consistently available to California State prosecutors." This legal point will be argued in the upcoming San Francisco hearing on January 10th, and their lawyers will ask that the conspiracy count be dropped against the other 3 men.
This is a major victory in this case which rests on statements coerced under torture. "This is the first step in the government's case falling apart," Hanlon said.
January 6, 2008
State Repression: The Good News...
...And The Bad
[This announcement of a Grand Jury investigation comes from ProLibertad, a group organized around the defense of Puerto Rican political prisoners (whose website seems to be down at the moment). It reports on a new stage in the repressive attacks on the Puerto Rican national liberation struggle ongoing since the murder of Filiberto Ojeda Rios over two years ago, a crime which has created an upsurge of national feeling in Puerto Rico and the diaspora. Is this a fishing expedition or a more concerted bid to quiet rebel voices? At the moment there's no way to tell, but in either case it requires a decisive response from all who stand with the Puerto Rican people and want to stop the growth of the repressive machinery of the US government.]
The FBI/NYPD Anti-Terrorism Task Force (Joint Terrorist Task Force) has been visiting Puerto Ricans and serving them with Grand Jury subpoenas. In one case they claimed to be investigating the “extremist group: The Welfare Poets”. Two others have been served with Grand Jury subpoenas to appear at the Federal Court at 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn on Friday, January 11, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. and, as of this communication, one is being sought to be served.
As was the case with the assassination of Machetero Leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios on September 23, 2005, a key historical date for the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, the FBI/U.S. Justice Department has chosen the date of January 11 for the Grand Jury hearing in New York, a date when independence forces celebrate the birth and contributions of Eugenio Maria de Hostos to the independence struggle against Spain.
To date, subpoenas to appear before the Grand Jury have been issued to: Tania Frontera, a graphic designer, pro-independence activist and participant in the Vieques struggle, activist and social worker Christopher Torres and filmmaker Julio Pabón, Jr. In addition, there are indications that Hector Rivera, one of the founders of the political/cultural group the New York based “Welfare Poets,” was visited to be served with a subpoena but was not home in NY at the time.
In Puerto Rico the group La Nueva Escuela convened a meeting with a broad range of pro-independence political forces to plan the response and mobilize legal and political resources. They also appealed to those active in the FBI Out of Puerto Rico campaign. A demonstration in front of the Federal Court House in San Juan has been called for January 10th.
In New York City on Saturday, December 29, 2007, Puerto Rican
pro-Independence activists, organizations and allies met with some of the subpoenaed activists, family members, legal advisors, friends and allies, to update themselves on the activities of the FBI/NYPD anti-terrorism agents leading to the Grand Jury hearings on January 11th. A call for a mass protest on January 11th at the Federal Court House in Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn was made, work committees were formed, a list of legal resources was presented and a general call outlined for support for these latest targets of Federal Grand Jury repression. A flyer is being drafted, and everyone is urged to mobilize.
December 4, 2006
SomeThoughts on Repression
On December 4, 1969, Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were gunned down in their sleep in a massive military-style raid executed by Chicago cops. I only heard about it a couple of days later, as I had just arrived in Cuba with the first Venceremos Brigade. Some of us talked regretfully about being stuck in the Caribbean for the next two months when stuff was starting to break loose back in the belly of the beast. Hey, we were young.
Every December 4, thousands of us of a certain age think of Brother Fred and of how the pigs murdered him because he was a dynamic leader of the oppressed.
I’ve been thinking about him today with Oaxaca in mind. Last night I heard filmmaker Tami Gold and some very recently returned global justice activists report. The situation is dire. 17 activists and bystanders have been killed and more than 150 arrested or disappeared in the last 10 days. Teachers union leaders, back at work, are being grabbed in the classroom and carted off. Bloody reaction is gaining the upper hand.
While it is true that the Mexican government would rather not suffer international attention or even anger, there are alternatives that the Mexican ruling class finds far less acceptable. I’ve spent the last few months being irked as hell at some here in the US who celebrated the popular uprising led by APPO as an invincible revolutionary upsurge. Wake up—they are in one city and armed, as the showdown with the Federal Preventive Police and PAN vigilantes unfolded, with slings, molotovs and some cheap handguns! I fear many more may die as Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and the Federales crack down and take revenge, and the movement begins the difficult task of adjusting and consolidating under conditions of “normalcy” and fearsome repression.
And if they think their interests demand it, the rich and powerful here will gun down as many as they need to—and jail more. The BPP lost many more cadre to the criminal “justice” system than police bullets. Some are still in jail. Today, with far less attention from liberals or the left, dozens of young activists in the ecology movement and the animal rights movement are facing—and serving!--fearsome sentences. Check out the Day in Support of the Green Scare Indictees slated for December 7. There’s probably an event happening near you.
