AMERICAN LEFT HISTORY

This space is dedicated to the proposition that we need to know the history of the struggles on the left and of earlier progressive movements here and world-wide. If we can learn from the mistakes made in the past (as well as what went right) we can move forward in the future to create a more just and equitable society. We will be reviewing books, CDs, and movies we believe everyone needs to read, hear and look at as well as making commentary from time to time. Greg Green, site manager

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Helen Caldicott: Courting Armageddon

Thursday, June 23, 2016, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

First Church in Cambridge, Jewett Auditorium • 11 Garden St • Harvard T • Cambridge

Massachusetts Peace Action is excited to announce that the Honorable Dr. Helen Caldicott will be speaking in our Distinguished Peacebuilders Series! Come hear her talk, Courting Armageddon.
Helen Caldicott, a former pediatrician at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston and instructor at Harvard Medical School, has devoted the last 42 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction. Her most recent book is Crisis Without End: The Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe.
In one of her most recent lectures, addressing an audience at “The Real Truth About Health Conference" in February 2016, Caldicott criticized contemporary political discourse for ignoring the true dangers facing our species today. She exclaimed that, “There are many serious issues facing the world at the moment, but it’s necessary to triage the most serious threats—those to our very survival. As a physician, I see the ever-present threat of nuclear war as an ongoing, existential risk that threatens almost all planetary life with extinction.”
Caldicott will present her analysis of nuclear armament policy and apply her scientific experience more generally to account for the risks of nuclear energy. In addition, she intends to dovetail these concerns with her knowledge of climate change and global warming. The talk will be followed by discussion. Ms. Caldicott will sign copies of her books after the program.
Benefits Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund; part 3 of the spring Distinguished Peacebuilders Series. General admission cost $20; $5 for students; $10 for Massachusetts Peace Action members and low incomes. To attend all 3 talks this spring, $25 for members and $50 for non-members. Members who would like to attend a talk and pay their yearly contribution may register for $50.

To attend, register online for Helen Caldicott's talk or the entire series, call 617-354-2169 with credit card number, or write a check to “Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund” and mail to 11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Supporters of the series make a tax-deductible donation of $100 or more to the Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund, and will be acknowledged. Please donate at http://masspeaceaction.org/act/donate, select this option online, or send a check to 11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 (write “Peacebuilders” on the memo line).
Cosponsored by Boston Downwinders, Cape Downwinders, Massachusetts Downwinders, On Behalf of Planet Earth, Women's Action for New Directions, and Women's International League for Peace & Freedom - Boston Branch.
About Helen Caldicott:
Born in Australia, Dr. Caldicott attended the University of Adelaide Medical School and specialized in cystic fibrosis research. Though her early work as a pediatrician was primarily committed to the education of Australian physicians and government officials regarding the hazards of radiation, Caldicott quickly rose to prominence as an international advocate for nuclear disarmament.
While living in the United States, Dr. Caldicott founded the Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND) and worked as President of Physicians for Social Responsibility, expanding the organization into a prestigious coalition of over 23,000 doctors dedicated to educating colleagues about the dangers of nuclear energy. Furthermore, she helped to empower the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.
Caldicott has received several notable awards including the Lannan Foundation’s 2003 Prize for Cultural Freedom, the Australian Peace Prize, and twenty-one honorary doctoral degrees. She was personally nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Linus Pauling and the Smithsonian has named her as one of the most influential women of the 20th Century.

Upcoming Events:

Reportback from Venezuela - The Bolivarian Revolution Today	Tuesday, June 21, 2016 - 7:00pm	Center for Marxist Education	Cambridge
Helen Caldicott: Courting Armageddon	Thursday, June 23, 2016 - 7:00pm	First Church in Cambridge, Jewett Auditorium	Cambridge
Killer Drones: film and talk by whistleblower Christopher Aarons	Tuesday, July 19, 2016 - 7:00pm	Robbins Library	Arlington

Newsletter:

UJP Activist

Sign the CODEPINK petition! Justice for Palestine: A Challenge, A Victory, and the Work Ahead

Dear Duncan -- Yesterday New York Governor Cuomo signed an executive order that would punish groups involved in the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement supporting Palestinian rights. He made this shameful, anti-democratic move just before joining the Celebrate Israel parade on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Please join us in denouncing this assault on the the First Amendment and our right to boycott.
Sign the petition demanding Governor Cuomo immediately rescind executive order 157
If you are a New York State resident please also call Governor Cuomo’s office 1-518-474-8390 and tell him that you want him to rescind executive order 157. Sample script below:
I am calling to ask Governor Cuomo to immediately repeal Executive Order 157. It is unconstitutional to punish those who use boycott and divestment as a means to bring about political change. Boycotts are a constitutionally protected and time-honored nonviolent tactic to achieve social justice.
When we started our boycott campaign against settlement profiteer Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories in 2009, Israeli officials dismissed the efforts of the BDS Movement as inconsequential. Seven years later we can see that our principled work is so effective that the Governor of New York has signed this anti-democratic and unconstitutional Executive Order. He is trying to stifle speech and to punish those using the time-honored non-violent tactic of boycott to hold Israel to account for its violations of human rights and international law. Governor Cuomo may think he can employ this bullying tactic to stop people and groups from using boycott and divestment to end Israel's occupation and its apartheid policies, but he has misread the law and underestimated our commitment to justice and equality.
Sign the petition telling Governor Cuomo to rescind order 157

Our original plan for this message was to celebrate the release of Palestinian feminist parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar after fourteen months in an Israeli prison, and we want to pause to savor this victory. International outcry, including letters from CODEPINK members, about Jarrar’s being held in administrative detention for months without charge resulted in a trial in Israeli military court where Jarrar accepted a plea deal as the means to earliest possible release. (With the hope of actual justice non-existent, the vast majority of Palestinians facing Israeli occupation courts take plea deals.) What were Jarrar’s crimes? She admitted to being a member of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a leftist political party that she was elected to represent, and to other offenses such as making a political speech, attending a book fair, and advocating on behalf of Palestinian prisoners. Upon her release last Friday, Jarrar said, “I know that the occupation wants to put all of Palestinian society into prison.”

As Israel’s occupation enters its fiftieth year, we pledge to redouble our efforts for justice in Palestine. We know how crucial the BDS movement is, and that is why we are pushing to get companies like RE/MAX and Airbnb to stop selling, renting, and advertising homes in illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Last Friday, CODEPINK and the rest of the Stolen Homes coalition organized actions in 18 cities across the world to pressure Airbnb to stop violating international law by listing homes in the settlements. Read about the actions here.
From our successes with Ahava and SodaStream to our continued work on the RE/MAX and Airbnb campaigns, we know that together we can have an impact. This is why it is so important that we protect our right to engage in boycott as a form or nonviolent action. Sign the petition, and if you are a New York State resident call Governor Cuomo.
Working for freedom, justice, and equality,
Nancy K., Alli, Ariel, and the entire CODEPINK team

NationBuilder

Upcoming Events:

After Obama: Challenges Facing Peace and Justice Work at Home and Abroad	Saturday, June 11, 2016 - 2:00pm	Cambridge Friends Meeting	Cambridge
The US War on Terror in the in the Middle East – and its Victims	Sunday, June 12, 2016 - 5:30pm	The Apartments at Coolidge School	Watertown
Reportback from Venezuela - The Bolivarian Revolution Today	Tuesday, June 21, 2016 - 7:00pm	Center for Marxist Education	Cambridge
Killer Drones: film and talk by whistleblower Christopher Aarons	Tuesday, July 19, 2016 - 7:00pm	Robbins Library	Arlington

Newsletter:

UJP Activist

From The Pen Of The WFTU General Secretary George Mavrikos

The WFTU General Secretary, George Mavrikos, intervened in the Plenary Session of the 105th ILC

06 Jun 2016

105th ILC, EUROPE, GENEVA, GS SPEECHES, SWISS

Today, on June 6th, the WFTU General Secretary George Mavrikos intervened in the Plenary Session of the 105th International Labour Conference. During his speech he underlined the importance of international solidarity to the workers in struggle around the world, the importance of class struggle against the capitalists and the governments and the preparations for the 17th World Trade Union Congress on 5-8 October 2016 in Durban, S. Africa.

The Speech of the WFTU General Secretary:

“Ladies and gentlemen,

Colleagues, representatives of trade union organizations,

On behalf of the World Federation of Trade Unions, I want to express our internationalism to the workers of France, who have been organizing strong, massive mobilizations against the anti-labor policies of the Francois Hollande government. The law promoted by the French government, attacks rights that were won through workers struggles.

We extend our solidarity to the people of Brazil, which is struggling against the antidemocratic, parliamentary maneuvers of the bourgeoisie; we unite our voices with the heroic Palestinian people which suffer from the Israeli politics. We are on the same side with the peoples of Syria and Venezuela which are in the aim of the imperialists and the capital.

Today, in all European Union Countries, the attacks of all governments against the workers and against trade union rights are generalized. This policy is centrally planned; it is a central strategic choice of the European Union and the monopolies.

In fact, these strategies have one aim: to convert us into modern – day slaves. Slaves without salary, labor, social security and democratic rights.

At the same time, state violence, the persecution against the trade union movement and those who fight in the first line of the struggles, is getting stronger and stronger.

Right now, as we are speaking here in Geneva, fighters of the World Federation of Trade Unions are in prison, because they fought defending the workers.

In Colombia, elected union leader Huber Ballesteros is in jail for 3 years now.

In Guatemala, Julia Amparo Lotan, a vice-president of WFTU, is in prison for over a year, facing fabricated charges. In Paraguay, Ruben Villalbe, a leader of rural workers, is held in prison for over 4 years now, for organizing the struggles of his sector.

We will not let these comrades alone, not even for a moment, until they are free. The WFTU is proud for these cadres and their proud and militant stance.

Also, a central problem for the working class today, and not just for European workers, is the defense of the life of the immigrants and refugees, who are trying to save themselves by leaving the war zones. The main reason of this situation are the imperialist wars, imperialist interventions, who aim to steal the natural and economic resources of the peoples.

This image of the millions immigrants and refugees, side by side to the antilabor and antipeople policies of the governments, is exploited by xenophobic, racist and neofascist political forces. Neofascism is again threatening the peoples.

Facing this situation, nobody can afford to close their eyes and ears. Nobody can afford to wonder “For whom the bell tolls?” The bell tolls for everybody.

The World Federation of Trade Unions, that is preparing for its 17th World Trade Union Congress on October 5 to 8, is developing a modern, militant, unitary, class oriented strategy in order to give the answer of the workers side and the side of the class oriented trade union movement.

We are saying to the governments and the multinationals: We will not let you make us slaves of the 21st century.

We are telling to the world working class: united, with class unity, like brothers, we will make unions stronger, we will make participation of the youth in the unions stronger and having internationalism and solidarity among us as our weapons, we can successfully organize our defense and offence. Until the elimination of exploitation of man by man.

Thank you.”

From The Pen Of Chelsea Manning On Orlando-Free Chelsea Now!

Chelsea Manning Support Network <contact-bmsn@chelseamanning.org> 6/14/2016 12:02 PM

"We must not let the Orlando terror strangle civil liberties", Chelsea's new op-ed; Pride in Manning

To alfredjohnson34@comcast.net













Orlando response; Pride in Chelsea Manning

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We must not let the Orlando nightclub terror further strangle our civil liberties: Chelsea's new op-ed
After last weekend's tragedy in Orlando, Chelsea Manning cautions us that our response to such violence can be also be dangerous  in her June 13th Guardian opinion article.
"We must grieve and mourn and support each other," Manning states, "but in our grief and
outrage we must resist any temptations to let this attack – or any attack – trigger anti-Muslim foreign policy, attacks on our civil liberties or
as an excuse to descend into xenophobia and Islamophobia."

"We are not safe and secure when the government uses us as pawns to perpetrate violence against others."


Chelsea Manning, Guardian OpEd 

June 13, 2016

This morning, I woke up in my cell to an even more shattered and
fractured world. We are lost. We are devastated. We are bewildered. We
are hurt. And we are angry. I haven’t been this angry since losing a
soldier in my unit to an RPG attack in southeastern Baghdad during my
deployment in Iraq in 2010.

An attack like this is carefully planned and executed to maximize
attention by inflaming the passions of a helpless public..

Click here to read the complete op-ed



We Stand with Chelsea Manning at Pride
It's Pride season, and Chelsea Manning contingents are forming nationwide to support our heroic US Army WikiLeaks whistle-blower.

Join us as we march for Chelsea, whistle-blowers, and government transparency!

In 2013, our San Francisco 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! In 2014,
Chelsea Manning was honored as an official SF Parade Grand Marshal! 

This year, with her legal appeals now underway, Chelsea needs your support more than
ever!

Chelsea Manning support is confirmed for Salina, New York, Seattle, and
San Francisco. And Boston and Philadelphia already had Chelsea contingents march last weekend!


Salina- Saturday, June 25 
Organized by Codepink Kansas 

6-7pm, corner of Cloud & Ohio
New York - Sunday, June 26 
Organized by VFP Ch34, VVAW

Meet up info TBA
RSVP on Facebook
Seattle - Sunday, June 26 
Organized by Veterans for Peace 

Meet up info TBA
San Francisco - Sunday, June 26 
Organized by Courage to Resist & Chelsea Manning Support Network

Meetup at 10am Howard and Beale Streets

More info & volunteer opportunities: nancymancias (at) gmail (dot) com

RSVP on Facebook


Find more info on the Pride contingent near you

or register your own upcoming event!




Chelsea can continue to be a powerful voice for reform, but we need your help to make that happen. Help us support Chelsea in prison, maximize her voice in the media, continue public education, fund her legal appeals team, and build a powerful movement for presidential pardon.

> > > Please donate today! < < <




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In London-Solidarity With Julain Assange

Dear friends,

We invite you to join in this event. Payday and Queer Strike will be present.

We hope you can make it.

PAYDAY

Solidarity Vigil

marking the 4th Anniversary of Julian Assange seeking refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy and applying for Political Asylum.

Sunday June 19^th 2016, 4pm
outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London,

No 3 Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, SW1X 0LS

Nearest tube: Knightsbridge

Plenty to read about the latest developments here: https://justice4assange.com/

***********************************************************

JADC (Julian Assange Defence Committee)

Grassroots solidarity for the WikiLeaks editor

JADCmessage@protonmail.ch

****************************************************************************

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Free Black Lieration Fighter Sundiata Acoli!

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Hands Off Assata Shakur!-Hands Off "Auntie"

Click on the headline to link to more information about the class-war prisoner honored in this entry.

Make June Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month

Markin comment

In “surfing” the “National Jericho Movement” Website recently in order to find out more, if possible, about class- war prisoner and 1960s radical, Marilyn Buck, whom I had read about in a “The Rag Blog” post I linked to the Jericho list of class war prisoners. I found Marilyn Buck listed there but also others, some of whose cases, like that of the “voice of the voiceless” Pennsylvania death row prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, are well-known and others who seemingly have languished in obscurity. All of the cases, at least from the information that I could glean from the site, seemed compelling. And all seemed worthy of far more publicity and of a more public fight for their freedom.

That last notion set me to the task at hand. Readers of this space know that I am a long time supporter of the Partisan Defense Committee, a class struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization which supports class war prisoners as part of the process of advancing the international working class’ struggle for socialism. In that spirit I am honoring the class war prisoners on the National Jericho Movement list this June as the start of what I hope will be an on-going attempt by all serious leftist militants to do their duty- fighting for freedom for these brothers and sisters. We will fight out our political differences and disagreements as a separate matter. What matter here and now is the old Wobblie (IWW) slogan - An injury to one is an injury to all.

Note: This list, right now, is composed of class war prisoners held in American detention. If others are likewise incarcerated that are not listed here feel free to leave information on their cases in the comment section. Likewise any cases, internationally, that come to your attention. I am sure there are many, many such cases out there. Make this June, and every June, a Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month- Free All Class-War Prisoners Now!

****
Markin comment:

Although the American authorities have not been able to get their clutches on Assata Shakur, now in Cuba, it is not for lack of trying. Hands Off "Auntie"!

***********

What Is The Hands Off Assata Shakur Campaign?

The Hands Off Assata Campaign is a coming together of organizations and individuals who are outraged by the heightened attempts by the federal government, congress of the united states and the state of new jersey to illegally force thru kidnapping a return of Assata Shakur from Cuba to the plantation United States.

We know that Assata Shakur is a bona fide political exile living in the island nation of Cuba. She was persecuted for her political beliefs and tortured while in prison. We support the international human rights and Geneva conventions, which enabled her to seek and secure political asylum in Cuba, and we support the right of the Cuban people to grant it to her. We are shocked by the actions of new jersey and the department of justice, who has issued a $1 million dollar bounty on head of Assata Shakur.

Doing such a thing is tantamount to a call to "soldiers of fortune" to kidnap and kill Ms. Shakur and for them to engage in international espionage against the sovereign nation of Cuba.

We are shocked by the activities of the United States House of Representatives, which in September 1998 passed House Resolution 254, calling on the Cuban Government to extradite Assata Shakur. Given that there is no binding extradition treaty between Cuba and the United States, such a request is outside the context of international law. In addition, we call on the Congress of the United States to hold public hearings on the past and current impact of FBI's Counter Intelligence Program known as COINTELPRO.

Given that Assata Shakur was not the only one politically persecuted for her political beliefs, we demand that a full airing take place on that program. And finally are calling on the United States end its hostility towards the tiny nation of Cuba by normalizing relations with the Island and ending the US economic blockade

Assata Shakur: Sister, Woman, Exile, Mother, Grand mother

ASSATA SHAKUR is an African woman. She is a social justice activist, a poet, a mother and a grandmother. She has lived in Cuba since the early 1980s. During the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s, she found herself a victim of both racial profiling and political targeting. After being spotted on the New Jersey turnpike on May 2, 1973, (DWB) driving while Black, it was discovered that she and her two companions were known members of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X, Leonard Peltier and many members of the Civil Rights and American Indian Movements, Assata and her companions had been watched, their phones tapped, their families monitored, their organizations infiltrated, and widespread disinformation campaigns waged against them. They were like many activists of the day targets of the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). In fact, Assata was wanted, not for anything she had actually done, but for a variety of crimes that government and state officials were trying to pin on her. This was common in the 1970s: discredit the voice of activists by painting them as criminals, trumping up indictments, tying them up in courts and if possible jailing them. In the mid 1970s, The Church Committee of the Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations and the Domestic Intelligence Subcommittee, headed by Senator Walter Mondale, provided incontrovertible documentation of a government sponsored conspiracy against the civil and human rights of all sorts of political activists.

THUS ON THAT DAY IN MAY, Assata was a marked woman. And after police stopped them, a shoot out occurred. When the smoke cleared one police officer, and one of Assata's companions, Zayd Shakur lay dead. Assata, shot in the back and dragged from the car, lay wounded. Only belatedly taken to the hospital, Assata was then chained to her bed, tortured and questioned while injured. In fact, she never received adequate medical attention even though she had a broken clavicle and a paralyzed arm. Nonetheless, she was quickly jailed, prosecuted and incarcerated over the next few years for the series of trumped up cases. Interestingly, in five separate trials, and with majority white juries, charges were dismissed because of lack of evidence or she was acquitted of all charges ranging from bank robbery to murder. As the manager of one bank said at trial - she is just not the one who robbed my bank. Only in the final trial in 1977, where she was charged with the Turnpike killings, was she found guilty. This even though forensic evidence taken that day showed that she had not fired a weapon. She was sentenced to life + 33 years in prison. In 1979, and after nearly six years behind bars, she escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey and some time later emerged in Cuba where she applied for and received political asylum. Since being in Cuba, she has continued her college education, published an autobiography, and writes on global issues facing women, youth, and people of color.

DURING THE 1990S, rightist politicians and police bodies - this time in conjunction with conservative members of the Cuban-American community - reinvigorated their attempts to pursue Assata Shakur. They did this even though Assata has not tried to re-enter the United States and is, according to international law, a political exile who should be left alone. Linking "fear of crime" rhetoric with anti-Cuban sentiment, New Jersey governor Christine Todd-Whitman issued a bounty which was $100,000, on the head of Assata Shakur. She even went as far as to announce her bounty on Radio Marti, the US government radio station which beams anti-Castro propaganda into the Caribbean. To do such a thing put Assata in danger because it is tantamount to encouraging any opportunists to kidnap and/or kill her for pay. In addition, in 1998, Congressmen Franks and Menendez from New Jersey and Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart of Florida introduced and got passed - House Resolution 254 - which calls for the Cuban government to extradite Assata Shakur as a condition to normalizing US-Cuba relations. Interestingly, while Assata and Cuba are portrayed as "criminal", a terrorist bombing campaign - thought to be sponsored by ultra-rightist forces in the United States - has been launched against Cuba, killing and injuring Cuban citizens and foreign tourists alike.

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Free Dr. Mutulu Shakur-Free Tupac's Father!

*In Honor Of Our Class- War Prisoners- Free All The Class- War Prisoners!- Free Gary Tyler! A Small Victory Gary Is Free !

Click on the headline to link to more information about the class-war prisoner honored in this entry.

Make June Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month

Markin comment

In “surfing” the “National Jericho Movement” Website recently in order to find out more, if possible, about class- war prisoner and 1960s radical, Marilyn Buck, whom I had read about in a “The Rag Blog” post I linked to the Jericho list of class war prisoners. I found Marilyn Buck listed there but also others, some of whose cases, like that of the “voice of the voiceless” Pennsylvania death row prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, are well-known and others who seemingly have languished in obscurity. All of the cases, at least from the information that I could glean from the site, seemed compelling. And all seemed worthy of far more publicity and of a more public fight for their freedom.

That last notion set me to the task at hand. Readers of this space know that I am a long time supporter of the Partisan Defense Committee, a class struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization which supports class war prisoners as part of the process of advancing the international working class’ struggle for socialism. In that spirit I am honoring the class war prisoners on the National Jericho Movement list this June as the start of what I hope will be an on-going attempt by all serious leftist militants to do their duty- fighting for freedom for these brothers and sisters. We will fight out our political differences and disagreements as a separate matter. What matter here and now is the old Wobblie (IWW) slogan - An injury to one is an injury to all.

Note: This list, right now, is composed of class war prisoners held in American detention. If others are likewise incarcerated that are not listed here feel free to leave information on their cases in the comment section. Likewise any cases, internationally, that come to your attention. I am sure there are many, many such cases out there. Make this June, and every June, a Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month- Free All Class-War Prisoners Now!

*****************

Gary Tyler's Quest for Justice
by Dave Zirin
The Nation

The history of the American legal system is scarred with instances of injustice: the Haymarket martyrs, Sacco and Vanzetti, the Scottsboro Boys, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Add to this list the case of Gary Tyler, convicted of murder at the age of 16. Tyler's case was remarkable because at the time of his 1975 conviction, he was the nation's youngest death-row inmate. The spotlight dimmed when his sentence was commuted to life without the possibility of parole in 1977, a year after the US Supreme Court declared Louisiana's death penalty unconstitutional.

Tyler, now 48, is living out his days in Louisiana's notorious Angola prison. A former slave plantation, Angola is home to 5,000 prisoners, 75 percent of whom are black. He has now spent years of his life behind bars because he was the wrong color in the wrong place at the wrong time.

National interest in Tyler's case was revived by a recent series of articles by New York Times columnist Bob Herbert. In 1974 Tyler was on a school bus filled with African-American students who attended the formerly all-white Destrehan High School in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. A white mob attacked the school bus. As Gary's brother Terry recalled years later to journalist Adam Nossiter in a piece published in The Nation, "They were on the attack, man. It was panic."

Witnesses at the time said someone on the bus pointed out the window and yelled, "Look at that white boy with that gun." After several pops, a 13-year-old white student, Timothy Weber, lay wounded on the ground. Weber's cousin, Deputy Sheriff V.J. St. Pierre, rushed the boy to the hospital, where he later died from a gunshot wound. Later, white supremacist David Duke came to Destrehan to fan the flames of racial hatred.

Herbert wrote, "That single shot in this rural town about 25 miles up the Mississippi River from New Orleans set in motion a tale of appalling injustice that has lasted to the present day." The police came onto the bus and Tyler was dragged off. Then came the beatings. As Juanita Tyler, Gary's mother, told Herbert, "One of the deputies had a strap and they whipped him with that. It was terrible. Finally, when they let me go in there, Gary was just trembling. He was frightened to death. He was trembling and rocking back and forth. They had kicked him all in his privates. He said, 'Mama, they kicked me. One kicked me in the front and one kicked in the back.'

He said that over and over. I couldn't believe what they had done to my baby." An all-white jury found Tyler guilty of first-degree murder. Since his conviction, the four witnesses against him have recanted their testimony.

The murder weapon, as Herbert reported, had been "stolen from a firing range used by the sheriff's deputies." It appeared out of nowhere as the murder weapon. The gun has since magically disappeared from the evidence room.

A federal appeals court ultimately ruled that Tyler did not receive a fair trial, but justice was again denied. In an interview with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now!, Herbert explained that the court ruled that "the charge to the jury was flawed, and they said that it was flawed so badly that it clearly could have had an impact on how the jurors ruled. But they were so insistent on not having this case overturned and not having Gary Tyler freed or have a new trial that they ruled on a technicality that he did not deserve a new trial. So it's on the record that a federal appeals court has said that his trial was fundamentally unfair."

In 1989, Louisiana Board of Pardons (LBP) voted 3 to 2 to commute Tyler's sentence from life to sixty years, making Tyler eligible for a speedy release from prison. But Louisiana Governor Charles "Buddy" Roemer, a Democrat facing an electoral challenge from David Duke, refused to issue a pardon. A crucial element in Roemer's decision was the racially charged political climate: Eighteen years later, that climate has changed. And now the fight to free Gary Tyler has been reignited by a new advocacy effort, led by Tyler's family, lawyers and activists.

Joe Allen, a member of the Free Gary Tyler steering committee, credited Bob Herbert's columns for reviving the effort to free him. "Gary's case is one of the great miscarriages of justice in the modern history of the US but had largely been forgotten until the recent work by Bob Herbert," he told me. "I think think there is momentum now that makes it possible for the first time in decades to build a national campaign for his freedom."

In addition to the Free Gary Tyler campaign, Amnesty International's relaunched advocacy has given the Tyler case new visibility. Building on this momentum, I contacted people I know from the world of sports to ask if they would to stand with Tyler at this critical time. And they have responded.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos were part of the most dynamic moment in the history of sports and struggle when they raised their black-gloved fists at the 1968 Olympics. Lee Evans was also a gold medal winner at those Olympics and a leader of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a top-ranked boxer who spent almost twenty years in prison for a triple homicide before being exonerated after an international campaign to win his freedom. Jim "Bulldog" Bouton and Bill "Spaceman" Lee were all-star pitchers for the Yankees and Red Sox who told uncomfortable truths about both society and the game that they love. Etan Thomas plays for the NBA's Washington Wizards and stands in the tradition of the previous generation of political athletes. Together, they and other sports figures are are asking Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco for the release of Gary Tyler. Read the statement to see how Tyler's quest for justice has brought these and other extraordinary figures from the world of sports together.

JOCKS 4 JUSTICE
To: Gov. Kathleen Blanco

We, the undersigned members of the sports community, call upon you, in the name of justice and racial reconciliation, to pardon Gary Tyler and free him from Angola prison. Gary is an innocent man who has spent 32 of his 48 years on earth behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Gary's life has been destroyed because of racial hysteria and that peculiar brand of police work known internationally as "Southern Justice."

As you are undoubtedly aware, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert has spent the last month exposing the terrifying truth behind Gary's conviction. In 1975, Gary Tyler, an African-American teenager, was convicted by an all-white jury for the murder of Timothy Weber, a thirteen-year-old white youth. Weber was shot and killed during a busing riot where 200 whites attacked Gary's school bus. Weber's death quite understandably sent shock waves across the state. The police needed a killer.

They chose Gary and his nightmare officially began. Gary's mother detailed to Herbert the sounds of listening to deputies at the police station savagely whipping her son, while they blocked her from entering the room. "They beat Gary so bad," she said. "My poor child. I couldn't do nothing." Every witness who identified Gary as the shooter has since recanted and alleged police intimidation. The gun supposedly used on that day has disappeared.

In the mid-1970s, Gary's case mobilized thousands across the country for his freedom and led Amnesty International to declare him a "political prisoner." Denied a fair trial 32 years ago, imprisoned for life for a crime he did not commit--we call upon you to free Gary Tyler now.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
boxer and author of The 16th Round

Tommie Smith
1968 Olympic gold medalist

John Carlos
1968 Olympic bronze medalist

Lee Evans
Olympic gold medalist

Etan Thomas
Washington Wizards center and author of More Than an Athlete

Jim Bouton
former New York Yankee pitcher and author of Ball Four

Bill "Spaceman" Lee
former Boston Red Sox pitcher and author of The Wrong Stuff

Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
former Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion and head of Joint Action for Boxers (J.A.B.)

David Meggyesy
former NFL linebacker and retired Western Regional Director, NFL Players Association (NFLPA)

Jeff "Snowman" Monson
Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter

Toni Smith
former member of Manhattanville College Women's Basketball team

Dr. Phil Shinnick
member of the 1964 US Olympic team

Bobbito Garcia
co-editor of Bounce Magazine and NYC DJ

Dennis Brutus
former director of the South African Non Racialist Olympic Committee and professor emeritus of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh

Doug Harris
executive director, Athletes United for Peace

Lester Rodney
sports editor, the Daily Worker, 1936-58

Rus Bradburd
former assistant basketball coach at the University of Texas El Paso and author of Paddy on the Hardwood: Journey Through Irish Hoops

Julio Pabón
president and CEO of Latino Sports Ventures

William Gerena-Rochet
editor of LatinoSports.com

Dave Zirin
columnist for The Nation online and author of What's My Name Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070402/zirin

From The Guys And Gals Who Know The Face Of War-The Smedleys-Veterans For Peace

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!-Bill Dunne

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!-Bill Dunne

http://www.thejerichomovement.com/prisoners.html

A link above to more information about the class-war prisoner honored in this entry.

Make June Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month

Markin comment (reposted from 2010)

In “surfing” the National Jericho Movement Website recently in order to find out more, if possible, about class- war prisoner and 1960s radical, Marilyn Buck, whom I had read about in a The Rag Blog post I linked to the Jericho list of class war prisoners. I found Marilyn Buck listed there but also others, some of whose cases, like that of the “voice of the voiceless” Pennsylvania death row prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, are well-known and others who seemingly have languished in obscurity. All of the cases, at least from the information that I could glean from the site, seemed compelling. And all seemed worthy of far more publicity and of a more public fight for their freedom.

That last notion set me to the task at hand. Readers of this space know that I am a longtime supporter of the Partisan Defense Committee, a class struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization which supports class war prisoners as part of the process of advancing the international working class’ struggle for socialism. In that spirit I am honoring the class war prisoners on the National Jericho Movement list this June as the start of what I hope will be an on-going attempt by all serious leftist militants to do their duty- fighting for freedom for these brothers and sisters. We will fight out our political differences and disagreements as a separate matter. What matters here and now is the old Wobblie (IWW) slogan - An injury to one is an injury to all.

Note: This list, right now, is composed of class-war prisoners held in American detention. If others are likewise incarcerated that are not listed here feel free to leave information on their cases in the comment section. Likewise any cases, internationally, that come to your attention. I am sure there are many, many such cases out there. Make this June, and every June, a Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month- Free All Class-War Prisoners Now!

Class War Prisoner

*Honor The Memory Of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg- Soldiers of The Revolution

Click On Title To Link To The Rosenberg Defense Fund For Children

The very recent disclosures through the release of previously classified documents of possible perjury to the grand jury by Ethel Rosenberg's brother and sister-in-law and co-defendant Morton Sobel's seeming confession that he acted as a spy on behalf of the Soviet Union during World War II have forced me to post this review earlier than I had anticipated. The comments I made below I stand by. I, however, am beginning to develop an even stronger respect for what Julius Rosenberg tried to do in defense of the Soviet Union- when it counted by someone who could do something about it. More later on these soldiers of the revolution.

DVD REVIEW

Heir To An Execution, directed by Ivy Meeropol, 2004

This year marks the 55th Anniversary of the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg by the American state. As I mentioned in a March 2007 review of a book on their case –they were not our people, but they were our people (meaning they doggedly adhered to the Stalinist line to the end but also upheld the defense of the Soviet Union, as they understood it, as well). Below is a DVD review of a documentary of their lives produced by one of their granddaughters who, although she does not appear to be particularly political, has as many questions about the fate of her grandparents as we militant leftists do.

The first two paragraphs are taken from that previous March 2007 review to set the stage for the kind of questions that their granddaughter, Ivy Meeropol, daughter of Julius and Ethel’s son Robert attempted to deal with on this political case although the thrust of her work was to find out how the case affected her family and their friends as much as anything else.

“Eisenhower, Stalin, the Cold War, the Korean War, atomic bombs, atomic spies, air raid shelters, the “Red Scare”, McCarthyism and the Rosenbergs- in the mist of time these were early, if undigested terms, from my childhood. Ah, the Rosenbergs. That is what I want to write about today. Out of all of those undigested terms that name is the one that still evokes deep emotion in these old bones. For those who have forgotten, or those too young to remember, the controversy surrounding their convictions for espionage in passing information about the atomic bomb to the now defunct Soviet Union and their executions defined an essential part of the 1950’s, the hardening of the Cold War period in American history. Their controversial convictions and sentencing evoked widespread protests throughout the world. Thus, those who seek to learn the lessons of history, our working class history, and about justice American-style should take the time to carefully examine the case and come to some conclusions about it….

…And what questions drive the scholarship on the case? Was their trial a frame-up in classic American-style against leftist political opponents of the Cold War and American foreign policy? Were they, individually or collectively, “master spies” at the service of the Soviet Union? Were they innocent, if misguided, progressives caught up in the turmoil of the American “red scare” of the post-World War II period? Did the government through its FBI and other security agencies, its attorneys, its judges stumble into a case which would make many reputations? Did the American Communist Party, itself under severe scrutiny and persecution, betray the Rosenbergs? Did the various international campaigns on behalf of the couple work at cross purposes with their various demands for a new trial, reduction of sentence and clemency? What kind of people were these Rosenbergs? In short, were the Rosenbergs heroic Soviet spies, martyrs, dupes or innocents? Those are the questions thoughtful readers are confronted with and I will deal with at least some of them in due course in latter commentaries.”

These same questions mentioned above stalk the viewer today after watching this very personal, and at times tearful, take on the case. Clearly the evident adduced argues more forcefully, especially in light of the Verona tapes, that the Rosenbergs did something illegal, although not what they were executed for. As clearly, as well, they were abandoned by friends and family then and it appears unto the nth generation from Ms. Meeropol’s frustrated efforts to put the picture of their lives together through some of the relatives. Moreover, the toll on the two Rosenberg (Meeropol) children (and through them their children) makes this at some level something of a life time curse.

Yet here is a picture that I have constructed that seems to me to be a little closer to the truth. I like the picture of Julius leading a march in defense of freedom for labor leader Tom Mooney at City College of New York in the early 1930’s. I like the picture of Ethel singing in Times Square for the benefit of the Spanish Republicans. I will stick with my original take on the fate of the Rosenbergs- they, in their own ways and for their own purposes, were soldiers of the revolution, and didn’t complain about it or their fates. Yes, I like that idea. Yes, that is why at the beginning of this piece I could say without hesitation that these were our people, although they were not our people. Watch this and see why and then go out and get some books on the subject.

AMERICAN LEFT HISTORY

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Helen Caldicott: Courting Armageddon

Helen Caldicott: Courting Armageddon

Thursday, June 23, 2016, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

First Church in Cambridge, Jewett Auditorium • 11 Garden St • Harvard T • Cambridge

Sign the CODEPINK petition! Justice for Palestine: A Challenge, A Victory, and the Work Ahead

Sign the CODEPINK petition! Justice for Palestine: A Challenge, A Victory, and the Work Ahead

From The Pen Of The WFTU General Secretary George Mavrikos

The WFTU General Secretary, George Mavrikos, intervened in the Plenary Session of the 105th ILC

From The Pen Of Chelsea Manning On Orlando-Free Chelsea Now!

"We must not let the Orlando terror strangle civil liberties", Chelsea's new op-ed; Pride in Manning

We must not let the Orlando nightclub terror further strangle our civil liberties: Chelsea's new op-ed

We Stand with Chelsea Manning at Pride

Chelsea can continue to be a powerful voice for reform, but we need your help to make that happen. Help us support Chelsea in prison, maximize her voice in the media, continue public education, fund her legal appeals team, and build a powerful movement for presidential pardon.

> > > Please donate today! < < <

In London-Solidarity With Julain Assange

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Free Black Lieration Fighter Sundiata Acoli!

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Hands Off Assata Shakur!-Hands Off "Auntie"

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Free Dr. Mutulu Shakur-Free Tupac's Father!

*In Honor Of Our Class- War Prisoners- Free All The Class- War Prisoners!- Free Gary Tyler! A Small Victory Gary Is Free !

From The Guys And Gals Who Know The Face Of War-The Smedleys-Veterans For Peace

*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!-Bill Dunne

*Honor The Memory Of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg- Soldiers of The Revolution

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