Bay Area United Against War: Our activist-oriented San Francisco-based newsletter.
5/04/2015
BAUAW NEWSLETTER, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015
On
Sunday, June 28th, join Courage to Resist and the Chelsea Manning
Support Network in this year’s 2015 San Francisco Pride Parade!
March
for our heroic WikiLeaks whistle-blower Chelsea Manning and show your
support for Chelsea, whistle-blowers, and government transparency.
In
2013, the Chelsea Manning contingent was awarded the highest honor,
“The Absolutely Fabulous Overall Contingent”. That contingent was the
largest non-corporate group with well over 1,000 people! And last year,
Chelsea Manning was honored as an official Parade Grand Marshal! With
Chelsea’s legal appeals beginning soon, she needs your support more than
ever!
* Help lead the Chelsea Manning parade contingent by holding our lead banner!
* Wave from the motorized cable car!
* Cheer on our Flash Mob Dancers!
* Help staff the Chelsea Manning booth at the TransMarch
Volunteers
are urgently needed to attend a one hour contingent monitor training
prior to parade day. Contingent monitors walk (or ride) along with us
during the parade to double-check everyone is following the parade rules
and being safe. SF Pride requires each contingent to provide their own
monitors to participate, and we’ll need about 20 monitors to
participate.
Organized by the Chelsea Manning Support Network and
Courage to Resist – Please contact us to list your organization as an
endorser! To RSVP, volunteer, and/or become a monitor, please contact:
melissa@couragetoresist.org / 510-488-3559
Starting this September, Rising Tide
North America is calling for mass actions to shut down the economic and
political systems threatening our survival.
Already, hundreds of
thousands are streaming into the streets to fight back against climate
chaos, capitalism and white supremacy.
This wave of resistance
couldn’t be more urgent. To stop climate chaos we need a phenomenal
escalation in organizing, participation and tactical courage. We need a
profound social transformation to uproot the institutions of capitalism,
colonialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy, the systems that created
the climate crisis. And we need to link arms with allies fighting for
migrant justice, dignified work and pay, and an end to the
criminalization and brutal policing of black and brown bodies.
We need to #FloodTheSystem.
In
the lead up to the United Nations climate talks in Paris, in December,
we will escalate local and regional resistance against systems that
threaten our collective survival. Together, we will open alternative
paths to the failing negotiations of political elites.
This is
not another protest. It is a call for a massive economic and political
intervention. It is a call to build the relationships needed to sustain
our struggles for the long haul. To build popular power along the
intersections of race, class, gender and ability. To collectively
unleash our power and change everything.
The Story So Far
Over the past year, hundreds of thousands of people have flowed into the streets to fight back.
Fast
food workers in over a hundred cities went on strike, with thousands
arrested demanding $15 an hour and a union. Young people in Ferguson,
protesting the murder of Michael Brown by Darren Wilson, showed us the
power of sustained action as they fought back against state violence for
weeks, reinvigorating a national movement for Black liberation.
Hundreds of thousands of climate activists marched at the People’s
Climate March in New York, and the next day Flood Wall Street shut down
the heart of New York’s financial district.
Across the country,
and the world, powerful movements are using nonviolent direct action to
to disrupt business as usual and demand lasting systemic change.
These
moments show that broad mobilization and disruption are ways that we
can transform our society. It is time we move beyond conventional
strategies. Its time we connect across movements and #FloodTheSystem.
Rising
Tide North America and its allies call on communities, networks,
affinity groups and organizations across the continent to join together
this Fall to rapidly escalate the pace and scale of the anti-capitalist
climate justice movements.
We need to wash away the root causes
of climate change -- capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and
colonialism. These systems enable the domination of people and Earth.
They place gains for the elite before the well being of our communities.
To build the scale of movements necessary to take on this
challenge, we need everyone. Using sustained, coordinated direct action
we can bring more people into a movement for radical social
transformation than ever before.
The upcoming United Nations
meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Paris (COP 21) at the end of
the year provide us with an opportunity. Framed as climate negotiations
they are really about capitalism and the corporate elites. We have an
opportunity to focus the debate on capitalism itself as negotiators
wedded to and benefiting from the status quo refuse to discuss the
systems that drive the crisis. This is a natural moment to preemptively
highlight community resistance and radical alternatives in advance of
another colossal failure of international leadership. Through our
combined action we can turn the failure of these critical talks into a
moment in which the systemic nature of the crisis moves to the center
and in which our movements begin to connect and collaborate.
In
the past, the climate movement has repeatedly tried days of action and
one-day marches. While these have built important relationships, they
have not created the sustained movement swells we need. To lay the
groundwork for exponential movement growth we are asking groups to
convene Action Councils, like those forming in the Pacific Northwest,
California, Montana, Northeast and elsewhere, with the intention of
coming together to organize sustained actions beginning in late Summer,
continuing through November and beyond.
With luck, waves of
mobilizations breaking across the continent and world will build off
each other to create a flood of resistance to fossil fuel extraction,
capitalism and colonialism.
Vision
#FloodTheSystem invites the Rising Tide network, the larger climate
justice movements, and other non-climate focused groups to create a
flood of massive economic and political disruption of the systems that
allow the climate and economic crisis to continue to escalate. This is not a simple call to action or day of action, it’s a long-term process. We want to organize a series of actions that would:
Build a more robust anti-capitalist movement that clearly defines
climate change as a symptom of capitalism. Specifically, we hope to
support and catalyze regional organizing networks and relationships to
challenge extreme energy infrastructure and the systems of oppression
that enable it.
Build long term local, regional and continental networks that can
continue to coordinate, build connections between movements, and
escalate these fights in 2016 and beyond.
Begin to work closely with other movements through the analysis of
where our struggles intersect and through a commitment to
anti-oppressive organizing practices.
Share, implement and gain experience in innovative models of
horizontal movement structures and mass democracy in organizing that
will serve radical forces for the long haul.
Create a flood of energy within regions that inspires others to join
in with organic, spontaneous actions and organizing. Regional blocks of
escalating action are already planned that will lead into, and play
off, each other. More emerge everyday.
Preemptively highlight community resistance and real alternatives to
the fossil fuel economy ahead of the inevitable colossal failure by
global elites at the United Nations climate negotiations in Paris.
Principles
#FloodTheSystem will organize and act according to the following principles.
Anti-capitalism/colonialism/racism/patriarchy - We see the climate
crisis as a symptom of hierarchical social systems based upon domination
and exploitation of lands, and predominately people of color.
Addressing the crisis at its roots means joining with and supporting
those who are fighting for liberation from these and other oppressive
systems, and for their replacement with relations based upon equity,
mutual aid, and ecological stewardship.
Grassroots Led, NGOs in Support Role - Non-profits and NGOs often
function to co-opt and defuse resistance into reform-based avenues which
are amenable to the social systems we are ultimately seeking to
dismantle and replace. The priorities of this mobilization should be
driven by groups grounded in and accountable to the communities most
impacted by white supremacy, capitalism, and settler colonialism, with
NGOs in a support role -- not the other way around.
Community-Based Alternatives - Corporations, nation-states, and
multilateral institutions like the United Nations are integral pillars
upholding global capitalism and colonialism. We see alternatives to
extreme energy and the climate crisis arising out of social struggles
which challenge and seek to replace these institutions and their logics.
However, we recognize that there may be important defensive struggles
within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, such as fighting
the expansion of carbon markets or advancing state recognition of
Indigenous land rights.
Police Mass Murder Fact As
of May 1, 2015, 387 people have been killed by police since
January 1, 2015 (that's a total of 120 days.) That's 3.225 people per
day, on average.
Amnesty for all those arrested demanding justice for Freddie Gray!
Amnesty for ALL those arrested demanding justice for Freddie Gray!
Sign and distribute the petition to drop the charges! Spread this effort with #Amnesty4Baltimore
"A riot is the language of the unheard" — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
An
estimated 300 people have been arrested in Baltimore in the last two
weeks. Many have been brutalized, beaten and pepper-sprayed by police in
the streets, and held for days in inhumane conditions. Those arrested
include journalists, medics and legal observers.
One
individual arrested for property destruction of a police vehicle is now
facing life in prison and is being held on $500,000 bail. That's
$150,000 more than the officer charged with the murder of Freddie Gray.
The
legal system has made it clear that they care more about broken windows
than broken necks; more about a CVS than the lives of Baltimore's Black
residents.
They showed no hesitation in arresting Baltimore's
protesters and rebels, and sending in the National Guard, but took 19
days to put a single one of the killer cops in handcuffs. This was the
outrageous double standard that led to the Baltimore Uprising.
Sign the petition to drop the charges on all who have been arrested.
Petition to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake
City Hall, Room 250,
100 North Holliday St.,
Baltimore, MD 21202
Dear Mayor Rawlings-Blake:
I stand in solidarity with those in Baltimore who are demanding that
all charges be dropped against those who rose up against racism, police
brutality, oppressive social conditions and delay of justice in the case
of Freddie Gray. The whole world now recognizes that were it not for
this powerful grassroots movement, in all its forms, there would be no
indictment.
It is an outrage that peaceful protesters have been brutalized,
beaten and pepper-sprayed by police in the streets, and held for days
in inhumane conditions. Those arrested include journalists and legal
observers.
Even the youth who are charged with property destruction and looting
should be given an amnesty. There is no reason a teenager -- provoked by
racists and justifiably angry -- should be facing life in prison for
breaking the windows of a police car.
The City of Baltimore should work to rectify the conditions that led
to this Uprising, rather than criminalizing those who took action in
response to those conditions. Drop the charges now!
Dear President Obama, Senators, and Members of Congress:
Americans
now owe $1.3 trillion in student debt. Eighty-six percent of that money
is owed to the United States government. This is a crushing burden for
more than 40 million Americans and their families.
I urge you to take immediate action to forgive all student debt, public and private.
American Federation of Teachers
Campaign for America's Future
Courage Campaign
Daily Kos
Democracy for America
LeftAction
Project Springboard
RH Reality Check
RootsAction
Student Debt Crisis
The Nation
Working Families
John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York
524 W. 59th St at Amsterdam Ave. WHY WE FOCUS ON U.S. IMPERIALIST WARS
Saturday, May 30
Session 1, 10:00-11:50 am, Room 1.83
Abstract:
Many antiwar groups have joined with the U.S. in condemning Russia or
ISIS or others that the U.S. government sees as its enemy. This has led
some to not take up the fight against U.S. military attacks in Libya,
Syria or Ukraine. However, it is the U.S. that is the main terrorist
force and the cause of war in all these areas. This panel will discuss
the role of the U.S. military abroad and how we can stop it
Joe Lombardo, Co-Coordinator, UNAC
Sara Flounders, Co-Director, International Action Center
Additional speaker tba THE WARS COME HOME
Sunday, May 31
Session 6, 12:00-1:50 pm, Room 1.85
Abstract:
Since 9/11, we have not only seen continuous war abroad but increased
militarization of the police, attacks on Muslim and communities of
color, austerity and attacks on our civil liberties. This is what UNAC
means when we call for an end to the War at Home and Abroad. The panel
will discuss this situation and how we can fight against it.
Margaret Kimberley, Editor and Senior Columnist, Black Agenda Report
Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor, Pan-African News Wire and a
Co-founder of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice
Marilyn Levin, Co-Coordinator, UNAC
FREE OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA!
EAST COAST MARCH 2015
Saturday, May 30, NYC
West Harlem – El Barrio
Now
age 72, Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera has served
more than 30 years in prison, convicted of seditious conspiracy for his
commitment to the independence of Puerto Rico, though he was not accused
or convicted of causing harm or taking a life. Serving a sentence of
70 years, he is among the longest held political prisoners in the
history of Puerto Rico and in the world.
Route & Rally:
Assemble at 11:00 am 125th & Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. March
east to Lexington, then south to 106th & Lexington St. rally site.
Red Crescent relief ship to Yemen stopped by US-backed Saudi destruction of Yemeni port.
(Excerpts
taken from report of U.S. resident Caleb Maupin of the International
Action Committee who was on the ship delivering humanitarian aid,
writing from Djibouti on May 23, 2015.)
I Have Witnessed A Crime Against Humanity! - A Message from Caleb Maupin in the Port of Djibouti
From
the Port of Djibouti in North Africa, it is with great sadness and
burning outrage that I announce that the voyage of the Iran Shahed
Rescue Ship has concluded. We will not reach our destination at the Port
of Hodiedah in Yemen to deliver humanitarian aid. The unsuccessful
conclusion of our mission is the result of only one thing: US-backed
Saudi Terrorism. Yesterday, as it appeared our arrival was imminent,
the Saudi forces bombed the port of Hodiedah. They didn’t just bomb the
port once, or even twice. The Saudi forces bombed the port of Hodiedah a
total of eight times in a single day! The total number of innocent dock
workers, sailors, longshoremen, and bystanders killed by these eight
airstrikes is still being calculated.
With its so many criminal
threats and actions, the Saudi regime was sending a message to the crew
of doctors, medical technicians, anesthesiologists, and other Red
Crescent Society volunteers onboard the ship. The message was “If you
try to help the hungry children of Yemen we will kill you.” These
actions, designed to terrorize and intimidate those seeking to deliver
humanitarian aid, are a clear violation of international law. I can say,
without any hesitation, that I have witnessed a crime against humanity.
In
the context of the extreme Saudi threats, after lengthy negotiations
which have been taking place around the clock in Tehran, it has been
determined that the Red Crescent Society cannot complete this mission.
The 2,500 tons of medical supplies, food, and water are being unloaded,
and handed over to the World Food Program, who has agreed to distribute
them on our behalf by June 5th. ……….
The people of Yemen, like
the forces of resistance in so many other parts of the world, have
refused to surrender. As they face a horrendous onslaught with US made
Saudi bombs, I hope that news of our peaceful, humanitarian mission has
reached them. I hope they are aware that in their struggle against the
Saudi King, the Wall Street bankers, and all the great forces of evil,
they are not alone. There are millions of people across the planet who
are on their side.
Imperialism is doomed, and all humanity shall soon be free!
Remove U.S. Drone Relay Stations from German Soil
At
the UNAC Convention, May 8-10, American German activist Elsa Rassbach
spoke powerfully about the need to stand in solidarity with German
activists who are protesting the use of the U.S. Base in Ramstein,
Germany to host a satellite relay necessary to the military drone
program. All targeted killings and surveillance by US drones in
Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia require the use of this
relay, which sends data received overland from domestic U.S. bases to a
satellite which then forwards the signals to individual drones. This is
a gross violation of the sovereignty of Germany, just as the drone
surveillance and strikes themselves are violations of the sovereignty of
Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and the other countries where
they are used, and targeted killings are a violation of the most basic
human rights of the victims, all of whom are technically civilian.
UNAC supports the campaign to remove the relay from German soil, and stands in solidarity with the people of Germany.
On
Wednesday, May 27, Faisal bin Ali Jaber will have his first hearing in a
lawsuit against the German government's complicity in the deaths of his
brother-in-law and nephew by a drone strike in Yemen. Jaber's
brother-in-law was a cleric and a peacemaker. He was arranging a
meeting to show the local Al Qaeda converts the error of their
understanding when he ws killed. Drone strikes prohibit local
solutions to local problems. The relay in Germany was installed in
secrecy under the cover of the U.S. - German Status of Forces
agreement. Now that it's existence is known, the German government
must respond appropriately in light of German, EU and International
Law.
We support Faisal bin Ali Jaber's right to justice, and
the rights of all the victims to a just hearing, and the right of the
German people not to be made complicit in U.S. war crimes
Please click here to donate to UNAC:
https://www.unacpeace.org/donate.html
The ‘Mumia Abu-Jamal Needs Medical Care NOW!’ team just posted:
1 new Announcement:
Dateline May 17th 2015:
We
have not seen or spoken to Mumia Abu-Jamal for a week. He is being
held incommunicado in a hospital without access to visits of any kind or
the phone.
This is deeply troubling.
On Tuesday May 12th in the evening Mumia was taken from the prison to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA.
The Legal & Medical Team working 24/7.
Bret Grote, Esq, and co counsel Bob Boyle are preparing an emergency court action in Federal Court. Bret Grote, notes
"The
DOC demonstrating its contempt for human rights and proper health care
by holding Mumia Abu-Jamal incommunicado from his family and lawyers.
Instead of recognizing the value of family support and legal
consultation in protecting and improving his health, the DOC is treating
Mumia like a piece of property that it can withhold access to and
information about arbitrarily and with impunity. Demand that Mumia be
permitted visits and phone calls "
A delegation from
Collectif Français 'Libérons Mumia' from Paris, France went to the
hospital & the prison. The prison guards denied their visit. On
Saturday Mark Lewis Taylor, of Princeton Theological Seminary was
turned away.
Keeping Our Eyes on Munia
In the
past two weeks, Mumia’s doctor has identified seriously inadequacies in
the medical care provided by the infirmary. Mumia’s doctor stressed
that a cat scan was needed. The prison said it was fine. There were
serious medical issues raised by the troubling cat scan results. Then
Mumia was given a topical cream that was on the warning label counter
indicated to the very specific and rare potential cancer that is a
possible cause of his extreme skin ailment. Clearly, a biopsy was
called for. Upon hearing that on Monday a biopsy would be conducted,
Mumia’s doctor immediately specified that it should be taken from his
trunk area. When Mumia told the Physician’s assistant who conducted the
biopsy at the infirmary this, he could not change the standing order
which was to take the biopsy from his arm.
The
concern is that what might be driving the extreme skin condition is
subcutaneous T cell lymphoma – a treatable cancer. Mumia was told that
the physicians at SCI Mahanoy in March were prevented from ordering
additional tests by officials of the Wexford Corporation that has the
health care contract.
Clearly Mumia needs an
immediate diagnosis, and then a competent treatment plan. Please join us
in keeping Mumia alive, and then seeing him free.
Noelle Hanrahan, P.I. Director Prison Radio
https://www.indiegogo.com/individuals/585261
Take Action Now!
Demand
that the Department of Corrections permit Mumia to have an examination
by his doctor! Click here to call and fax the Prison and State officials
and state our demands.
Mumia
needs his own physician specialists! Please donate now to help make
this possible. Please got to the web site below and give as generously
as you can.
Also,
We need to keep up the pressure
with phone calls:
Let
SCI Mahanoy Superintendent John Kerestes and Secretary of Corrections
John Wetzel know we insist that Mumia have medical specialists of his
own choosing, and that they have daily access rights to examine and
treat him. Also let them know that Mumia’s family needs regular and
frequent visitation rights.
SCI Mahanoy
Superintendent John Kerestes
(570) 773-2158
SCI Mahanoy
Chief Health Care Administrator Steinhardt
(570) 773-2158
Christopher Oppman
Director, PA Department of Corrections Health Care Services
(717) 728-5309
John Wetzel
Secretary, PA Department of Corrections
(717) 728-4109
NO EXECUTION BY MEDICAL NEGLECT!
SAVE MUMIA'S LIFE!
Mumia is Innocent! Free Mumia Now!
This message by:
Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
20 April 2015
Call now to demand freedom and medical care for Mumia:
Often
when we call in, prison and state officials have taken their lines off
the hook. Know that every action matters, even when they don't pick up.
If they don't answer, please leave a voicemail:
John Wetzel, PA Secretary of Corrections: 717-728-4109
Governor Tom Wolf: 717-787-2500
SCI Mahanoy: 570-787-2500
For a full list of addresses and faxes, visit prisonradio.org
Support Prison Radio
$35 to become a member.
$50 to become a member and receive a beautiful tote bag. Or call us to special order a yoga mat bag.
$100 to become a member and receive the DVD "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary."
$300 to become a member and bring one essay to the airwaves.
$1,000 (or $88 per month) will make you a member of our Prison Radio Freedom Circle. Thank you!
JANUARY
1, 2015—The prosecutor has run away from (almost) every issue raised in
my PCRA by begging the Court to dismiss everything as “untimely”. When
they don’t do this, they suggest that me and my lawyers were
“defamatory” towards either my former prosecutor Christopher Abruzzo or
Detective Kevin Duffin, in our claims they withheld, misused or hid
evidence of my Innocence, in order to secure an unjust conviction in
this case. If I charged, a year ago, that about a dozen AGs (attorneys
general) were involved in circulating porno via their office computers,
people would’ve laughed at me, and seen me as crazy.
But,
guess what? During 2014, we learned that this was the truth. How can it
be defamatory to speak the truth? Notice the OAG (Office of Attorney
General), never said the obvious: That AG Abruzzo didn’t inform the
Defense about the relationship between his Motive Witness and his head
detective (Victoria Doubs and Det. Duffin); that Det. Duffin doesn’t
deny Doubs was his god-sister, and that she lived in his family home, or
that he assisted her whenever she got into trouble.
Why
not? Because it is true. How can you defame someone who defames
himself? Mr. Christopher Abruzzo, Esq., when a member of the higher
ranks of the OAG, sent and/or received copious amounts of porno to other
attorneys general and beyond. What does this say about his sense of
judgment? He thought enough about his behavior to resign from his post
in the Governor’s Cabinet. If he thought that his behavior was okay,
he’d still be sitting in the Governor’s cabinet, right? The OAG cannot
honestly oppose anything we’ve argued, but they try by seeking to get
the Court to do their dirty work, how? By denying an Evidentiary Hearing
to prove every point we’ve claimed.
The prosecution is
trying desperately to avoid dealing with the substance of my claims in
Com. v. Lorenzo Johnson. So, they slander my Legal Team and blame them
for defaming the good AG’s and Cops involved with this case. They try to
do what is undeniable, to deny that they hid evidence from the Defense
for years. They blamed me for daring to protest the hidden evidence of
their malfeasance and other acts to sabotage the defense. They claim
that they had an “Open File” policy with my trial counsel. But “Open
File” is more than letting an attorney read something in their office.
If it’s a search for the truth it must include what is turned over to
the attorney, for how do we really know what was shown to her?
They
say it is inconceivable that an attorney would read a file, beginning
on page nine (9), and not ask for the preceding eight (8) pages. Yet, it
is conceivable if trial counsel was ineffective for not demanding the
record of the first eight pages. Pages that identify the State’s only
witness as a “SUSPECT” in the murder for which her client was charged!
How could such an attorney fail to recognize the relevance of such an
issue, barring their sheer Ineffectiveness and frankly, Incompetence.
By
seeking to avoid an evidentiary hearing, the prosecution seeks to avoid
evidence of their wrongdoing being made plain, for all to see. If they
believe I’m wrong, why not prove it? They can’t. So they shout I filed
my appeal untimely, as if there can ever justly be a rule that precludes
an innocent from proving his innocence! Not to mention the fact that
the prosecution has failed to even mention the positive finger prints
that ay my trial they said none existed. Don’t try to hide it with a
lame argument about time. When isn’t there a time for truth? The
prosecution should be ashamed of itself for taking this road. It is
unworthy of an office that claims to seek justice.
After
the trial verdict The Patriot-News (March 18, 1997) reported, “Deputy
Attorney General Christopher Abruzzo admitted there were some serious
concerns about the strength of the evidence against Johnson and praised
the jury for doing a thorough job.” I guess he forgot to mention all of
the evidence he left out to show Innocence.
Now, more than ever, Lorenzo Johnson needs your support.
Publicize his case; bring it to your friends, clubs, religious
On
December 15, 2014 the Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan
was thrown into prison for 2.5 to 10 years. This 66-year-old leading
African American activist was tried and convicted in front of an
all-white jury and racist white judge and prosecutor for supposedly
altering 5 dates on a recall petition against the mayor of Benton
Harbor.
The prosecutor, with the judge’s approval,
repeatedly told the jury “you don’t need evidence to convict Mr.
Pinkney.” And ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WAS EVER PRESENTED THAT TIED REV.
PINKNEY TO THE ‘ALTERED’ PETITIONS. Rev. Pinkney was immediately led
away in handcuffs and thrown into Jackson Prison.
This is an outrageous charge. It is an outrageous conviction. It is an even more outrageous sentence! It must be appealed.
With your help supporters need to raise $20,000 for Rev. Pinkney’s appeal.
Checks
can be made out to BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community
Organization). This is the organization founded by Rev. Pinkney. Mail
them to: Mrs. Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union Street, Benton Harbor, MI
49022.
Donations can be accepted on-line at bhbanco.org – press the donate button.
For information on the decade long campaign to destroy Rev. Pinkney go to bhbanco.org and workers.org(search “Pinkney”).
We urge your support to the efforts to Free Rev. Pinkney!Ramsey Clark – Former U.S. attorney general,
Cynthia McKinney – Former member of U.S. Congress,
Lynne Stewart – Former political prisoner and human rights attorney
Ralph Poynter – New Abolitionist Movement,
Abayomi Azikiwe – Editor, Pan-African News Wire<
Larry Holmes – Peoples Power Assembly,
David Sole – Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice
Sara Flounders – International Action Center
MESSAGE FROM REV. PINKNEY
I
am now in Marquette prison over 15 hours from wife and family, sitting
in prison for a crime that was never committed. Judge Schrock and Mike
Sepic both admitted there was no evidence against me but now I sit in
prison facing 30 months. Schrock actually stated that he wanted to make
an example out of me. (to scare Benton Harbor residents even more...)
ONLY IN AMERICA. I now have an army to help fight Berrien County. When I
arrived at Jackson state prison on Dec. 15, I met several hundred
people from Detroit, Flint, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids. Some people
recognized me. There was an outstanding amount of support given by the
prison inmates. When I was transported to Marquette Prison it took 2
days. The prisoners knew who I was. One of the guards looked me up on
the internet and said, "who would believe Berrien County is this
racist."
Background to Campaign to free Rev. Pinkney
Michigan
political prisoner the Rev. Edward Pinkney is a victim of racist
injustice. He was sentenced to 30 months to 10 years for supposedly
changing the dates on 5 signatures on a petition to recall Benton Harbor
Mayor James Hightower.
No material or circumstantial
evidence was presented at the trial that would implicate Pinkney in the
purported5 felonies. Many believe that Pinkney, a Berrien County
activist and leader of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization
(BANCO), is being punished by local authorities for opposing the
corporate plans of Whirlpool Corp, headquartered in Benton Harbor,
Michigan.
In 2012, Pinkney and BANCO led an “Occupy the
PGA [Professional Golfers’ Association of America]” demonstration
against a world-renowned golf tournament held at the newly created Jack
Nicklaus Signature Golf Course on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The
course was carved out of Jean Klock Park, which had been donated to the
city of Benton Harbor decades ago.
Berrien County
officials were determined to defeat the recall campaign against Mayor
Hightower, who opposed a program that would have taxed local
corporations in order to create jobs and improve conditions in Benton
Harbor, a majority African-American municipality. Like other Michigan
cities, it has been devastated by widespread poverty and unemployment.
The
Benton Harbor corporate power structure has used similar fraudulent
charges to stop past efforts to recall or vote out of office the racist
white officials, from mayor, judges, prosecutors in a majority Black
city. Rev Pinkney who always quotes scripture, as many Christian
ministers do, was even convicted for quoting scripture in a newspaper
column. This outrageous conviction was overturned on appeal. We must do
this again!
To sign the petition in support of the Rev. Edward Pinkney, log on to: tinyurl.com/ps4lwyn.
Contributions for Rev. Pinkney’s defense can be sent to BANCO at Mrs Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022
New Action- write letters to DoD officials requesting clemency for Chelsea! November 24, 2014 by the Chelsea Manning Support Network
Secretary of the Army John McHugh
President Obama has delegated review of Chelsea Manning’s clemency appeal to individuals within the Department of Defense.
Please
write them to express your support for heroic WikiLeaks’ whistle-blower
former US Army intelligence analyst PFC Chelsea Manning’s release from
military prison.
It is important that each of these
authorities realize the wide support that Chelsea (formerly Bradley)
Manning enjoys worldwide. They need to be reminded that millions
understand that Manning is a political prisoner, imprisoned for
following her conscience. While it is highly unlikely that any of these
individuals would independently move to release Manning, a reduction in
Manning’s outrageous 35-year prison sentence is a possibility at this
stage.
Take action TODAY – Write letters supporting Chelsea’s clemency petition to the following DoD authorities:
Secretary of the Army John McHugh
101 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-0101
The Judge Advocate General
2200 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-2200
Army Clemency and Parole Board
251 18th St, Suite 385
Arlington, VA 22202-3532
Directorate of Inmate Administration
Attn: Boards Branch
U.S. Disciplinary Barracks
1301 N. Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2304
Suggestions for letters send to DoD officials:
The
letter should focus on your support for Chelsea Manning, and especially
why you believe justice will be served if Chelsea Manning’s sentence is
reduced. The letter should NOT be anti-military as this will be
unlikely to help.
A suggested message: “Chelsea Manning
has been punished enough for violating military regulations in the
course of being true to her conscience. I urge you to use your
authorityto reduce Pvt. Manning’s sentence to time served.” Beyond that
general message, feel free to personalize the details as to why you
believe Chelsea deserves clemency.
Consider composing
your letter on personalized letterhead -you can create this yourself
(here are templates and some tips for doing that).
A comment on this post will NOT be seen by DoD authorities–please send your letters to the addresses above
This
clemency petition is separate from Chelsea Manning’s upcoming appeal
before the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals next year, where Manning’s
new attorney Nancy Hollander will have an opportunity to highlight the
prosecution’s—and the trial judge’s—misconduct during last year’s trial
at Ft. Meade, Maryland.
Help us continue to cover 100% of Chelsea’s legal fees at this critical stage!
Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
8) One-Time Bonuses and Perks Muscle Out Pay Raises for Workers
"Over
the past 12 months, real average hourly earnings have increased by just
2.2 percent. Since 1979, most of the gains in pay have gone to those at
the top of the salary pyramid while, except for brief periods in the
1980s and late 1990s, those in the middle and at the bottom have been
losing ground."
8) One-Time Bonuses and Perks Muscle Out Pay Raises for Workers
"Over
the past 12 months, real average hourly earnings have increased by just
2.2 percent. Since 1979, most of the gains in pay have gone to those at
the top of the salary pyramid while, except for brief periods in the
1980s and late 1990s, those in the middle and at the bottom have been
losing ground."
For
30 years, the federal government has helped millions of low-income
Americans pay their phone bills, saying that telephone service is
critical to summoning medical help, seeking work and, ultimately,
climbing out of poverty. Now, the nation’s top communications regulator
will propose offering those same people subsidized access to broadband
Internet.
On Thursday, that regulator, Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission,
will circulate a plan to his fellow commissioners suggesting sweeping
changes to a $1.7 billion subsidy program charged with ensuring that all
Americans have affordable access to advanced telecommunications
services, according to senior agency officials.
The effort is the
F.C.C.’s strongest recognition yet that high-speed Internet access is
as essential to economic well-being as good transportation and telephone
service. Mr. Wheeler will propose potentially giving recipients a
choice of phone service, Internet service or a mix of both, the
officials said. He will also suggest new measures to curb fraud, a
source of criticism in recent years.
While the plan is likely to
secure the support of the F.C.C.’s Democratic majority in a vote next
month, it is almost certain to also set off fierce debate in Washington.
The subsidy program, Lifeline, has faced extensive scrutiny. And many of Mr. Wheeler’s previous actions, including his successful push to regulate broadband Internet as a public utility, have drawn indignation from opponents.
More
than 12 million households now participate in Lifeline, which was
created in 1985 by the Reagan administration to subsidize landline
telephone service. In 2008, the program was extended to cover the cost
of mobile phones. Enrollment rose sharply — as did abuse, with some
households receiving more than their single allowed subsidy. To qualify,
a household must have an income at or below 135 percent of the federal
poverty line, or must participate in a program like Medicaid or food stamps.
Gene
Kimmelman, who lobbied as a consumer advocate to create Lifeline, said
the program was meant to keep people from having to choose between
essentials like food, electricity and phone service. Now, he said,
Internet access needed to be added to the list.
“Broadband is
every bit as important today as plain old phone service was 30 years
ago,” said Mr. Kimmelman, a former Justice Department official who is
now chief executive of Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group.
Mr.
Wheeler’s proposal is an effort to bridge the so-called digital divide,
the ever-widening economic and social inequalities of those with access
to technology and those without it. In 2000, 3 percent of Americans had
broadband at home, according to Pew Research. In 2013, 70 percent did. But the adoption of broadband in low-income and minority households has not kept pace.
According to Pew data
from 2013, the most recent year for which numbers are available, 54
percent of those making less than $30,000 a year have broadband,
compared with 88 percent of those making more than $75,000. The same
survey found that 53 percent of Hispanics and 64 percent of blacks in
the United States have high-speed Internet at home, compared with 74
percent of whites.
For recipients like Sharell Harmon, a
23-year-old single mother from Elkins, W.Va., the Lifeline program has
made a big difference.
“Without a phone, I couldn’t connect with
my job, my kids’ doctors or their schools,” said Ms. Harmon, who works
full time in construction while pursuing a college degree. “You don’t
realize how many people you have to talk to until you can’t.”
Under
her plan, she is entitled to 250 minutes of talk time and 1,000 text
messages a month, limits she says she never comes close to crossing.
But, Ms. Harmon said, she also needs high-speed Internet to feel fully
connected and has struggled to pay her broadband bill.
“Everything
is online these days,” said Ms. Harmon, who said she supported any
effort to allow the subsidy to be applied to broadband. “I take classes
online, do my schoolwork. My kids play math and phonics games.”
A
vote on Mr. Wheeler’s proposal is expected on June 18, according to the
senior agency officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity
because they were discussing a plan that had not yet been circulated
among all five commissioners. If the plan wins majority approval, as
expected, the antifraud measures would take effect soon after. The
commission would then discuss the specifics of incorporating broadband
into the program, and write rules to govern it. A final vote on the plan
could come before the end of the year.The Lifeline program offers each
household a $9.25 monthly subsidy toward the cost of service; it was not
until 2008, when the benefit was extended to prepaid mobile phones,
which cost less than landlines, that some phone connections became fully
free for Lifeline recipients. Mr. Wheeler is proposing setting service
standards, which could include a specified number of mobile minutes and
minimum broadband speed. Debate over just how far a $9.25 credit can go
in covering the cost of broadband is sure to arise.
The plan will
almost certainly face strong criticism. Some Republicans recently
expressed skepticism that the F.C.C. has fully rooted out abuse from the
program. In April 2014, the Justice Department indicted three people on
charges that they defrauded the agency of $32 million in false Lifeline
claims from September 2009 to March 2011.
In 2012, the F.C.C.
instituted stricter safeguards, including the establishment of a
database that crosschecked that no household received more than one
subsidy. In March, the Government Accountability Office issued a report
evaluating the effect of those changes. It said that the number of
participating households had fallen to about 12 million in 2014 from
about 18 million in 2012, suggesting more households were being held to
one subsidy.
“The reforms had some impact, but whether they’ve
reduced all of the fraud, we can’t tell,” said Michael E. Clements, an
acting director at the G.A.O. who helped write the report. Mr. Clements
said that of the 11 primary reforms the F.C.C. had said it would make in
2012, four had yet to be completed, according to his office’s recent
review.
In response to the report, Michael O’Rielly, a Republican
commissioner on the F.C.C., called the Lifeline program “inefficient,
costly and in serious need of review.”
Mr. Wheeler’s push for new
safeguards may be partly an effort to pre-emptively answer the
program’s critics. Service providers currently must verify participants’
eligibility for Lifeline, and under the new plan, they would be
required to keep proof of that eligibility and make it available if
audited, senior F.C.C. officials said.
There has been speculation
in Washington for months about changes to the program. A Senate
subcommittee hearing is already scheduled for June 2 to examine its
effectiveness and ways to prevent further abuse. The office of the
senator who called the hearing, Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi,
did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
“The program
has been under attack, and the F.C.C. is currently facing incredible
political pressure,” said Michael Scurato, policy director of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. “It wasn’t always this contentious to make sure our neighbors in this country are connected to communications of the day.”