Yarra elections: One in five people vote socialist across city

Yarra elections: One in five people vote socialist across city

Socialists increase vote and retain Stephen Jolly’s seat
October 27 saw elections take place across Victorian councils. The Socialist Party stood five candidates in the City of Yarra municipality which is located in the inner north of Melbourne.
The press widely reported these elections being some of the ‘dirtiest’ in recent times. In many electorates reports of stolen ballots, scuffles between candidates, and misrepresentations of party affiliations were the dominant focus.
By Socialist Party reporters Melbourne
In contrast, the Yarra Council election was much more political. It was one of the few places where there were genuine differences between the candidates: the choice in Yarra was between the Socialist Party and the establishment forces of the Labor Party, Greens and right-wing independents.
The Socialist Party had two sitting Councillors going into the election. Stephen Jolly was first elected in 2004 with 12.34% and was re-elected in 2008 after topping the polls with 29.18%. Anthony Main was elected in early 2011 after a Labor Councillor resigned. Main polled 5.55% and was elected on preferences.
The Council has 9 seats divided into 3 separate wards (3 seats in each ward). To be elected candidates need to win 25% plus 1 vote. Preferences are allocated until 3 candidates in each ward reach this target. The goal of the Socialist Party in this election was to retain Stephen Jolly’s seat in the Langridge ward and to increase our vote and deepen our support base in the other two wards, Nicholls and Melba.
It was clear on election day that many people voted for Labor or the Greens on the basis of state or federal issues. As the Socialist Party does not have the same national profile as these parties, we needed to actively win every vote we received.
We were also up against difficult objective conditions for socialists given the fact that the mining boom in Australia is giving people a false sense of security about the state of the economy and the system in general.
However, at a national level there is much disappointment in the federal Labor government. While the Greens are in de facto coalition with Labor they have been able to maintain an illusion of distance to some extent. Because of this they are still seen by many as a progressive alternative to the two major parties. However, there have also been some swings against the Greens in recent elections in various parts of Australia.
On Yarra Council the Greens and the Labor Party have also been in coalition from 2008 – 2012. They have shared the position of Mayor and have jointly voted for neo-liberal budgets. They have overseen year on year over inflation rate rises, cuts to some services and the attempted sell off of Council assets – although they claimed the opposite during the campaign!
In the lead up to the election the Greens were desperately trying to decouple themselves from Labor. To this end they had some success. Labor has been faring poorly in the polls nationally and the Greens recognised that if they were seen to be in partnership they too could lose support.
While in coalition locally, federally and in some states, in the inner suburbs of Melbourne the Greens are the major electoral challenger to Labor. The area of Yarra is part of the federal seat of Melbourne – the only lower house seat that Labor has lost to the Greens. The difference in Yarra compared to other inner city Councils is that it is also the only place that the Greens face a credible left-wing challenge in the Socialist Party.
Left-wing challenge to the Greens
It was clear from the election results that the work of the Socialist Party in the area is starting to become more widely recognised. For over 25 years now we have been involved in community campaigns in the area. Since 2004 we have also been the voice of opposition in the Council Chamber.
In this election, city wide, we managed to increase our vote from 12.16% in 2008 to 19.59% in 2012, with almost one in five people across the municipality voting socialist. This is by far the best result achieved by socialists anywhere in Australia in recent history.
Given that many people do not follow politics at a local level we see our vote as much more conscious than the votes for the other parties. While there is a layer who vote for the Socialist Party because we are anti-capitalist, most people who vote for us do so because they have been touched by our work or appreciate our local campaigning.
Our long term and consistent approach to community campaigning has meant that we have been successful in eating into the electoral support of the Labor Party and the Greens. Our highest votes were recorded at the booths where public housing tenants voted in big numbers, most of whom previously voted Labor.
At the Fitzroy Town Hall pre-poll booth near the Fitzroy estate we won 38.2%. At Collingwood College near the Collingwood estate we won 37.9% and at the Richmond estate, the biggest public housing estate in Victoria, and a stronghold of the Labor Party, we won an impressive 26% of the vote.
The Labor vote across Yarra went down by 1.88% while the Socialist Party vote increased by 7.43%. The Greens managed to increase their vote by 6.65% but this was largely due to the fact that they appealed to a more conservative constituency.
Many of the Greens candidates were extremely right-wing and would find themselves just as much at home in the Liberal Party. In fact one Greens candidate proudly described himself a Green with Liberal Party values while another was a former CEO.
Despite winning almost 20% of the vote the Socialist Party was rewarded with only 1 seat on the Council. In contrast the Labor Party won only 24.83% and was rewarded with 3 seats.
Langridge ward

Stephen Jolly, standing for the Socialist Party in the Langridge ward increased his vote to an impressive 34.24%. He topped the polls for the second time in a row. Stephen is by far the most popular Councillor at Yarra and is widely respected for his many years of struggle in the area.
Second elected in the Langridge ward was the lead Greens candidate, and the 2012 Labor Party Mayor scraped into the final spot on preferences. In the Langridge ward the Labor vote was reduced by 2.4%. With just a few hundred more votes it would have been possible for our second candidate, Mel Gregson, to be elected on preferences. Together Mel Gregson and Stephen Jolly won 37.06% of the vote – the highest of any party.
Melba ward
Our other sitting Councillor Anthony Main stood in the Melba ward this time around. The Socialist party has never had a Councillor on this area. It is also the area of Yarra where the Labor Party is strongest.
Anthony was asked by the party to change from Nicholls to the Melba ward given the huge amount of inappropriate development taking place in the area and the utter incompetence of the right-wing Labor, Greens and Independent Councillors. The Socialist Party Councillors have initiated and been involved in campaigns in this area, particularly in struggles between ordinary residents and big developers. In 2008 we polled a mere 2.13% in this ward.
This was always going to a difficult position to win but given the circumstances we did extremely well. Anthony polled 11.74% of the vote beating two sitting Councillors including a former Mayor. The first position was won by the Labor Party. Uniquely they managed to increase their vote, partly through the luck of appearing on the top of the ballot paper but largely because of the absence of the ‘ALP endorsed’ Independent that stood in 2008.
The Greens also managed to increase their vote – in this case by 15.14%. It seemed that the Greens won most of this increase from a conservative layer who voted for one or another of the right-wing Independents last time around.
The Labor Party won the first seat in Melba with the Greens winning the second. The third spot ended up being a close race between Anthony Main from the Socialist Party and Phillip Vlahogiannis, a right-wing Independent.
There was much speculation during the campaign about the motivations of Vlahogiannis. He claimed to stand against inappropriate development and against the overuse of parking waivers in new blocks of units, yet he decided to preference the Labor Party – the party who stand for exactly the opposite!
To make matters worse he was also photographed handing out Labor Party how-to-vote cards at a pre-polling booth. This suggests that he may be a Labor Party ‘stooge’ candidate, put there to edge out Labor’s opponents. Unfortunately these facts were ignored by the mainstream media and he managed to avoid any serious criticisms during the campaign.
He managed to win a significant vote amongst the large Greek community and received preferences from another right-wing Independent and from the Labor Party. This pushed him just in front of Anthony Main, winning him the last spot in the Melba ward.
Nicholls ward
The Nicholls ward was where we won our second Council seat via a count back in 2011, winning 5.55% in the last election. Due to the work that we have done in this area over the past two years, our candidates Chris Dite and David Elliott managed to almost double our vote to 10.81%.
Again a few hundred more votes at the expense of the Labor Party in this ward could have seen Chris Dite elected on preferences. In the end the Greens won the first position and right-wing Independent Jackie Fristacky won the second position. The Labor candidate scraped into the last spot on preferences and thanks to an advantageous position on the ballot paper, despite seeing Labor’s vote drop by 5.15% since 2008.
Mass campaign
While most of our vote came from a conscious layer of supporters our election campaign played a significant role in popularising our ideas and consolidating our support. Over the course of about 2 months we managed to letterbox over 90,000 leaflets and knock on the doors of almost 15,000 homes. We did regular street stalls and put up thousands of posters across the municipality.
All up more than 150 people helped during the campaign. Alongside our polling both volunteers, letterboxers and door knockers, dozens of musicians, comedians, DJs, film makers and artists helped with fundraising and publicity for the campaign.
Our long term work and active campaigning in Yarra has meant the term socialism has been rebranded in the area. Rather than socialist ideas being seen as a relic of the past, Socialist Party members are seen as the best fighters against big developer greed, for more council services and as the best representatives of ordinary people residents and public housing tenants.
In 2002 three Socialist Party candidates won 3.5% across Yarra. In 2004 our three candidates won 4.5% and in 2008 we won 12.1%. Our vote this year of nearly 20% clearly shows that people are not afraid of socialist ideas if they are explained clearly and made relevant to people’s everyday lives.

The Socialist Party will continue to play a role in all the major struggles in Yarra and continue to win support for socialist ideas amongst a growing layer of people. While campaigning Councillors can play a useful auxiliary role, as we have shown in Yarra, real change happens when people organise and mobilise in their workplaces, in their communities and on the streets.
The challenge ahead for the Socialist Party is expand this work, side by side with building our organisation so that we can spread these examples beyond Yarra. Stephen Jolly will continue to be the voice of opposition to the establishment parties inside the Council Chamber and we will continue to campaign on the ground.
This election demonstrated that a small party like ours is able to win significant support on the basis of socialist ideas and action. This shows the potential a new mass workers party would have, with the support of left-wing unions, community groups and other activists, to replicate this success on a much wider scale.
More and more people are becoming fed up with the rightward drift of the Labor Party and the inaction of the Greens. As the mining boom winds down and economic conditions begin to worsen a growing number of workers and young people are recognising the need for an alternative way of running society. We consider our work in Yarra an important contribution towards building the political alternative that is necessary.

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From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin- When Horses Were Smarter Than Men-Steven Spielberg’s“War Horse”

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for Steven Spielberg’s War Horse.

DVD Review

War Horse, starring horses, Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, directed by Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Pictures, 2011

What is there not to like about a movie (even if based, or maybe particularly because it is based on a children’s novel) about a man (okay, a boy starting out) and his horse, their bonding together, their trials and tribulations and their successes (if that is an appropriate term in the midst of bloody carnage).Well, nothing, nothing on this good green earth (and the slice of England portrayed in the film is a very good example of that).

Nothing, except man getting in the way of an obviously smarter member of the animal kingdom, one Joey the horse. Why? Well, man and horse come of age just around the time of World War I when “civilized”Europe decided that a war to end all wars (they came up a little short, about 300 plus wars somewhere on the planet short since, on that proposition) was necessary to sort things out. So England and its colonies, France and its colonies, Russia and its colonies, and German and its colonies, decided to tear up half of continental Europe to see who the king hell king was anyway. And this war to end all wars happened to occur at just that point when humankind had exponentially increased its technological capacity to kill, to murder, and to maim at will.

But not at 2012 levels, so one Joey the horse got “drafted” into the war and wound up “serving,” one way or the other, both sides as beast of burden. But modern wars are not kind to those military whizzes who lived (pardon the expression) in the “horse and buggy era,” in the thinking of the last war, and so produced sickeningly destructive trench static warfare complete with barbed wire, maddened gas attacks, cavalry charges against fixed machine gun positions and used horse, including Joey (and his horse friend) to lug artillery into position. Madness, pure and simple.

And that is where Joey, unlike the Brits, Germans, etc. showed he was smarter than all those guys who knowingly and hopelessly kept going up over those bloody trenches without a murmur. When he had the chance he ran like hell, he“deserted” like any sane person would. And lived to tell about it (or have it told). Chalk one up for the horse set. And see this film as we near the one hundredth anniversary of the start of World War I in 1914.

From The Partisan Defense Committee

Workers Vanguard No. 1012	9 November 2012

Free the Class-War Prisoners!

27th Annual PDC Holiday Appeal

(Class-Struggle Defense Notes)

This year marks the 27th Holiday Appeal for class-war prisoners, those thrown behind bars for their opposition to racist capitalist oppression. The Partisan Defense Committee provides monthly stipends to 16 of these prisoners as well as holiday gifts for them and their families. This is a revival of the tradition of the early International Labor Defense (ILD) under its secretary and founder James P. Cannon. The stipends are a necessary expression of solidarity with the prisoners—a message that they are not forgotten.

Launching the ILD’s appeal for the prisoners, Cannon wrote, “The men in prison are still part of the living class movement” (“A Christmas Fund of our Own,” Daily Worker, 17 October 1927). Cannon noted that the stipends program “is a means of informing them that the workers of America have not forgotten their duty toward the men to whom we are all linked by bonds of solidarity.” This motivation inspires our program today. The PDC also continues to publicize the causes of the prisoners in the pages of Workers Vanguard, the PDC newsletter, Class-Struggle Defense Notes, and our Web site partisandefense.org. We provide subscriptions to WV and accompany the stipends with reports on the PDC’s work. In a recent letter, MOVE prisoner Eddie Africa wrote, “I received the letters and the money, thank you for both, it’s a good feeling to have friends remembering you with affection!”

The Holiday Appeal raises the funds for this vital program. The PDC provides $25 per month to the prisoners, and extra for their birthdays and during the holiday season. We would like to provide more. The prisoners generally use the funds for basic necessities: supplementing the inadequate prison diet, purchasing stamps and writing materials needed to maintain contact with family and comrades, and pursuing literary, artistic, musical and other pursuits to mollify a bit the living hell of prison. The costs of these have obviously grown, including the exponential growth in prison phone charges.

The capitalist rulers have made clear their continuing determination to slam the prison doors on those who stand in the way of brutal exploitation, imperialist depredations and racist oppression. We encourage WV readers, trade-union activists and fighters against racist oppression to dig deep for the class-war prisoners. The 16 class-war prisoners receiving stipends from the PDC are listed below:

*   *   *

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a former Black Panther Party spokesman, a well-known supporter of the MOVE organization and an award-winning journalist known as “the voice of the voiceless.” Last December the Philadelphia district attorney’s office announced it was dropping its longstanding efforts to execute America’s foremost class-war prisoner. While this brings to an end the legal lynching campaign, Mumia remains condemned to spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole, despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence.

Mumia was framed up for the 1981 killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and was initially sentenced to death explicitly for his political views. Mountains of documentation proving his innocence, including the sworn confession of Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, shot and killed Faulkner, have been submitted to the courts. But from top to bottom, the courts have repeatedly refused to hear the exculpatory evidence.

The state authorities hope that with the transfer of Mumia from death row his cause will be forgotten and that he will rot in prison until he dies. This must not be Mumia’s fate. Fighters for Mumia’s freedom must link his cause to the class struggles of the multiracial proletariat. Trade unionists, opponents of the racist death penalty and fighters for black rights must continue the fight to free Mumia from “slow death” row in the racist dungeons of Pennsylvania.

Leonard Peltier is an internationally renowned class-war prisoner. Peltier’s incarceration for his activism in the American Indian Movement has come to symbolize this country’s racist repression of its native peoples, the survivors of centuries of genocidal oppression. Peltier’s frame-up for the 1975 deaths of two marauding FBI agents in what had become a war zone on the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation, shows what capitalist “justice” is all about. Although the lead government attorney has admitted, “We can’t prove who shot those agents,” and the courts have acknowledged blatant prosecutorial misconduct, the 68-year-old Peltier is still locked away. Peltier suffers from multiple serious medical conditions and is incarcerated far from his people and family. He is not scheduled to be reconsidered for parole for another 12 years!

Eight MOVE members—Chuck Africa, Michael Africa, Debbie Africa, Janet Africa, Janine Africa, Delbert Africa, Eddie Africa and Phil Africa—are in their 35th year of prison. They were sentenced to 30-100 years after the 8 August 1978 siege of their Philadelphia home by over 600 heavily armed cops, having been falsely convicted of killing a police officer who died in the cops’ own cross fire. In 1985, eleven of their MOVE family members, including five children, were massacred by Philly cops when a bomb was dropped on their living quarters. After more than three decades of unjust incarceration, these innocent prisoners are routinely turned down at parole hearings. None have been released.

Lynne Stewart is a radical lawyer sentenced to ten years for defending her client, a blind Egyptian cleric imprisoned for an alleged plot to blow up New York City landmarks in the early 1990s. For this advocate known for defense of Black Panthers, radical leftists and others reviled by the capitalist state, her sentence may well amount to a death sentence as she is 73 years old and suffers from breast cancer. Originally sentenced to 28 months, her resentencing more than quadrupled her prison time in a loud affirmation by the Obama administration that there will be no letup in the massive attack on democratic rights under the “war on terror.” This year her appeal of the onerous sentence was turned down.

Jaan Laaman and Thomas Manning are the two remaining anti-imperialist activists known as the Ohio 7 still in prison, convicted for their roles in a radical group that took credit for bank “expropriations” and bombings of symbols of U.S. imperialism, such as military and corporate offices, in the late 1970s and ’80s. Before their arrests in 1984 and 1985, the Ohio 7 were targets of massive manhunts. Their children were kidnapped at gunpoint by the Feds.

The Ohio 7’s politics were once shared by thousands of radicals during the Vietnam antiwar movement and by New Leftists who wrote off the possibility of winning the working class to a revolutionary program and saw themselves as an auxiliary of Third World liberation movements. But, like the Weathermen before them, the Ohio 7 were spurned by the “respectable” left. From a proletarian standpoint, the actions of these leftist activists against imperialism and racist injustice are not a crime. They should not have served a day in prison.

Ed Poindexter and Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa are former Black Panther supporters and leaders of the Omaha, Nebraska, National Committee to Combat Fascism. They were victims of the FBI’s deadly COINTELPRO operation under which 38 Black Panther Party members were killed and hundreds more imprisoned on frame-up charges. Poindexter and Mondo were railroaded to prison and sentenced to life for a 1970 explosion that killed a cop, and they have now spent more than 40 years behind bars. Nebraska courts have repeatedly denied Poindexter and Mondo new trials despite the fact that a crucial piece of evidence excluded from the original trial, a 911 audio tape long-suppressed by the FBI, proved that testimony of the state’s key witness was perjured.

Hugo Pinell, the last of the San Quentin 6 still in prison, has been in solitary isolation for more than four decades. He was a militant anti-racist leader of prison rights organizing along with George Jackson, his comrade and mentor, who was gunned down by prison guards in 1971. Despite numerous letters of support and no disciplinary write-ups for over 28 years, Pinell was again denied parole in 2009. Now in his 60s, Pinell continues to serve a life sentence at the notorious torture chamber, Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit in California, a focal point for hunger strikes against grotesquely inhuman conditions.

Send your contributions to: PDC, P.O. Box 99, Canal Street Station, New York, NY 10013; (212) 406-4252.

Dear Friend,   Monday, November 19, at 5:30PM, Boston University School of Law will host a screening the film "Doctors of the Darkside." A panel discussion on doctors' role in the US's torture programs will follow. The panel will feature BU Law alum, Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, a lawyer and Commander with the US military, as well as Kristine Huskey, Director of Physicians for Human Rights' anti-torture program and Boston University School of Public Health professors Dr. Michael Grodin and George Annas. Exploring the legal and medical dimensions of the use of torture and the war on terror, the panelists will discuss current efforts in the legislature to address doctors' complicity. Join us Monday, November 19, at 5:30PM in Room 1270 at the Boston University School of Law, 765 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215. The event is free and open to the public. There is limited seating, so please arrive early. Refreshments will be provided. Tickets may be reserved with registration online. View the "Doctors of the Darkside" website for additional information. Hope to see you there, Samantha A. Peetros Communications Specialist Bill of Rights Defense Committee 8 Bridge Street, Suite A, Northampton, MA 01060 www.bordc.org info@bordc.org Telephone: 413-582-0110 Fax: 413-582-0116

Bradley Manning acknowledges act of conscience

Bradley Manning acknowledges act of conscience Hundreds rally for Bradley at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Army PFC Bradley Manning, awaiting trial for allegedly sharing thousands of classified documents with the transparency website WikiLeaks, offered to accept responsibility for a narrow set of offenses within the currently charged offenses this week during a pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade, Maryland. “PFC Manning is not pleading guilty to the specifications as charged by the Government,” noted PFC Manning’s attorney David Coombs on his blog. Nor is he “submitting a plea as part of an agreement or deal with the Government.” “Like most supporters, I’ve backed Bradley Manning on the belief that he was the heroic whistle-blower in question,” explained Jeff Paterson of the Bradley Manning Support Network. “Now that Bradley appears to have acknowledged this in court, its reason to redouble efforts to support him leading up to his February court martial.” If Bradley’s plea offer is accepted, the parties would likely be able to bypass weeks of forensics testimony that would be required to prove Bradley accessed and/or transmitted the classified documents at issue. The court martial proceedings might then focus on what Mr. Coombs has long contended: That the release of these documents brought little to no harm to U.S. national security, and that PFC Manning’s motives, if he did release them, were to expose crime, fraud, corporate malfeasance, and abuse. Read more... Take action November 27th - December 3rd November 27-December 2, 2012, Bradley Manning's defense will be facing off with the military prosecution in Ft. Meade to argue that all charges be dismissed because of "unlawful pretrial punishment". At this extremely important hearing, Bradley's lawyer David Coombs will focus on the abuse Bradley endured in Quantico, VA, which was declared by UN Chief Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez to be "cruel, inhuman and degrading." We are calling for rallies at local military recruiting offices and U.S. embassies during this hearing. Go here to learn more. Following the hearing, on December 3, at 7pm EST, defense lawyer David Coombs will make his first ever public appearance to provide an overview of pending defense motions before the court and other facts regarding U.S. v. Manning. This event, taking place at All Soul's Church in Washington DC, will also be live-streamed atbradleymanning.org We ask that you consider organizing a group viewing of the presentation. Go here to register, if you wish to host a public event. Donate now to the Bradley Manning defense fund. For more information about the defense fund click here. Report from the courtroom At this week’s motions hearing for Bradley Manning, the government called three witnesses to the stand to testify regarding the defense’s motion to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial. On Wednesday, Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, Investigating Officer for Manning’s Article 32 pretrial hearing, explained why he excluded several days in December 2011 from Manning’s speedy trial clock – some were federal holidays, he took his son to a swim meet one weekend, and for the others he simply went to work at his civilian job for the Department of Justice instead. Almanza also said he would’ve accepted witness testimony regarding the classification of documents, which would have obviated the long wait for Original Classification Authorities to submit their reviews. Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, at right, as I.O. of Bradley's pretrial hearing in December 2011. (Sketch by William J. Hennessy Jr.) Bert Haggett, information security official for the Army, testified to explain the classification review process and his role in handling documents in Manning’s case. Haggett examined classified documents and determined to which government agencies to refer them for review. He tried to justify the extremely long review process, saying that it could take upwards of a full year. Also of interest Wednesday was the briefly mentioned plea offering that Manning has submitted. Manning is offering a plea by exceptions and submissions to lesser-included offenses (notably, he’s not pleading to anything the government is charging him with). The court will rule on whether to accept these as lesser-included offenses, and what the maximum punishments are for several offenses. This plea offering isn’t legally binding: if the court rejects the offer, Manning can withdraw it without conceding guilt. On his blog, defense lawyer David Coombs announced that Manning has decided to be adjudicated by military judge Col. Denise Lind at trial, instead of a military jury. On Thursday, Col. Carl Coffman – Special Court Martial Convening Authority – testified all day about his approval and exclusion from the speedy trial clock of the government’s many pre-arraignment delays. Coffman revealed that he made almost no effort whatsoever to expedite the classification process, relying solely on vague updates from the prosecution and signing off on government-written approval memos with little consideration for Manning’s right to a speedy trial. Bradley will return to court November 27-December 2 to resume portions of the speedy trial litigation and to litigate the Article 13 motion to dismiss for unlawful pretrial punishment. The remainder of the speedy trial motion will conclude December 10-14, at Ft. Meade. Notes from day 1. Notes from day 2.

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Veterans Administration Won’t Talk, Treats Vets Like the Enemy

By William Boardman

On October 4, a small group of American veterans went to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Washington, DC, to talk to officials there about veteran suicides, veteran homelessness, veteran joblessness, and other veteran struggles. No one from the department would talk to them.

Even the contingent of Homeland Security guards blocking the door wouldn’t explain to the veterans why they couldn’t come in. So they stayed on the sidewalk in front of 810 Vermont Avenue, a few hundred yards from the White House, and established Occupy Dep’t of Veterans Affairs and they’ve been there ever since, even through Hurricane Sandy.

After more than a month, Veterans Affairs officials still have not talked to any of the diverse group. Instead, the VA has continued low level police harassment and frequent power washing of the sidewalk, threatening to arrest anyone who interfered with the power washing. Trinity Church in New York City used similar tactics against Occupy Wall Street in 2011.

Despite the length of this occupation in the nation’s capitol and the importance of the issues it raises, there has been almost no media coverage other than a couple of pieces by Cory V. Clark on OpEd News and scattered social media posts. Searches of the Washington Post, New York Times, and DemocracyNOW all produced the same result – nothing.

Medic in Viet-Nam, Still Trying to Heal People

In a USTREAM video by Occupy Eye on Common Dreams that was about the Tar Sands Blockade in East Texas, the coverage gets to the Veterans Affairs about 40 minutes in. There a man who calls himself “Frosty,” a Viet-Nam veteran and former medic, with a bushy white beard, describes what it’s been like spending a month on the sidewalk trying to get to talk to the bureaucrats charged with looking after his welfare and that of his fellow vets from half a dozen American wars.

Articulate and friendly in demeanor, Frosty has intense things to say – for example, that the VA has only 19 suicide hotlines in the whole country, and that a caller reaches only a recording and gets only a recorded promise of a callback within 24 hours. “The VA doesn’t care,” he says, noting that the suicide rate among veterans is currently estimated an 18 a day, and likely under-reported.

Like the other vets sharing the sidewalk in front of the VA, the first thing Frosty wants is to establish a veterans’ council that will have direct access to the VA, and to which the VA will have to be responsive. Some of the veterans are trying to work with Congress to make this happen, to improve VA response to all veterans’ issues, but especially suicides, homelessness, and joblessness.

Current estimates cited by vets are that there are more than 750,000 homeless veterans in the United States, about a quarter of the total homeless population of three million. The Department of Veterans Affairs puts the number much lower, based on a January 2011 survey. The VA Secretary, retired general Eric Shinseki has, according to the VA website, “announced the federal government’s goal to end Veteran homelessness by 2015.” In May 2011, the U.S. 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the VA’s “unchecked incompetence” was an unconstitutional of veterans’ benefits.

The current jobless rate for veterans aged 18-24 is 29%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

No One’s Talking About Depleted Uranium Poisoning, Yet

Not all veterans are supportive of Occupy the VA. The website “This Ain’t Hell, But you can see it from here” refers to the vets at the VA as “a bunch of scruffy-looking folks claiming to be veterans,” then misrepresents why they’re there. Among the mostly hostile comments is this one from November 6 (which was immediately attacked):

I was there just yesterday, and I have to say, those scruffy people are Occupiers, they want a different world, and there is nothing wrong with that. they are supporting those that are standing up for our veterans. To put them down is a symptom of what is wrong with this country. Didn’t we ignore our veterans when they were in Vietnam, and did not learn a lesson. They are not getting their benefits, because of a new computer program, and the vets are 900,000 behind, and are waiting a year or more for those benefits. 18 soldiers commit suicide a day because of no mental health treatment. Wake up, stop criticizing people who are standing up instead of sitting at a computer. By the way my husband died of Agent Orange at age 47, my neighbor 29 Afghan vet shot himself in the head, so don’t put down those standing up. Shame on you.

Veterans Affairs has been a troubled agency for decades now, sometimes better, sometimes worse, rarely adequate to meet the need. After Viet-Nam the agency was in denial about Agent Orange poisoning the troops and Vietnamese alike. Later it took a decade or more for the agency to accept the reality of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder. Today, only Frosty is talking about depleted uranium poisoning the troops, Iraqis, Afghanis, and people anywhere else our military has used it.

This article was published at NationofChange at: http://www.nationofchange.org/veterans-administration-won-t-talk-treats-vets-enemy-1352976949. All rights are reserved.

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Defend The Palestinian People-U.S.Out Of The Middle East

This spirited rally for Gaza was attended by at least 300 people; note that there will be another tonight. While the focus here is on Palestine, the peace community's perspectives on the Israeli and US governments are also relevant to VFP's current discussion about Leah's trip to Iran, a country already suffering from crippling US sanctions (remember our February Iran action? the "No War On Iran" meme in every march?), despite its adherence to international law. It has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, for example.

A few simple points of fact: The U.S. has a vast nuclear arsenal and is the only country that has ever deployed these weapons (Iran has none). Israel is in open violation of the NPT with its huge "secret" stockpiles of nuclear weapons. America's economic and military support of Israel has caused suffering and death in Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and elsewhere.

Leah (and others with CodePink, UNAC, etc.) did the world a tremendous service by trying to shine a light on U.S. drone killing of civilians in Pakistan; her effort to do the same for what US sanctions are doing to the citizens of Iran should, in my judgment, be encouraged. Obviously many Smedleys disagree; but before decrying the mission, why not consider what's actually known, and not known, about Iran, and what a delegation to Iran might teach Americans?

Those of us who regularly attend local and national peace vigils and speak-outs often discuss, to anyone willing to listen, the number of countries the Obama administration is actually at war with; the reality of drone strikes, "diplomatic" interventions and "humanitarian" wars; and (as only Nate and Tony acknowledge) the fact that economic sanctions are indeed an act of war against ordinary citizens. So even if Iran's leaders *were* "evil," it's important to recognize that sanctions do nothing to hurt Iran's leaders.

Hope the following video provides more food for thought on how military policy targets citizens/civilians. Peace, Joan

Re: Video: "March and rally for Gaza, Boston, Mass., November 15, 2012"

Joan Livingston has shared a video with you on YouTube For VFP, which (except for Ross Caputi) missed this event. There will be another march tonight in solidarity with Gaza, whose bombing was approved by Obama on Monday. March and rally for Gaza, Boston, Mass., November 15, 2012 by Joan Livingston Supporters of Palestine in Boston protest Israel's killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip, marching to the Israeli consulate with music, visuals, and chants against Israeli apartheid, the occupation of Palestinian territories, and US military/economic support for Israel's crimes. Hundreds of activists from many area groups, including Jews for Palestine, CodePink, the United National Antiwar Coalition, and OccupyBoston, joined pro-Gaza protestors in other cities around the globe; they also encountered a counter-demonstration by Zionists. Help center • Email options • Report spam ©2012 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

From The Pen Of V.I.Lenin

Workers Vanguard No. 1012 9 November 2012 TROTSKY LENIN Soviet Democracy and Workers Rule (Quote of the Week) As with the current presidential election, the exploited and the poor in the U.S. are asked every four years to vote for a representative of the capitalist ruling class who will oversee their oppression. Addressing American workers following the 1917 workers revolution in Russia, whose 95th anniversary we celebrate this month, Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin denounced the fraud of democracy under capitalist rule, counterposing to it the workers democracy instituted by the soviet regime as part of the fight to establish a worldwide socialist order.   The Soviets of Workers and Peasants are a new type of state, a new and higher type of democracy, a form of the proletarian dictatorship, a means of administering the state without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie. For the first time democracy is here serving the people, the working people, and has ceased to be democracy for the rich as it still is in all bourgeois republics, even the most democratic. For the first time, the people are grappling, on a scale involving one hundred million, with the problem of implementing the dictatorship of the proletariat and semi-proletariat—a problem which, if not solved, makes socialism out of the question....   The old bourgeois-democratic constitutions waxed eloquent about formal equality and right of assembly; but our proletarian and peasant Soviet Constitution casts aside the hypocrisy of formal equality. When the bourgeois republicans overturned thrones they did not worry about formal equality between monarchists and republicans. When it is a matter of overthrowing the bourgeoisie, only traitors or idiots can demand formal equality of rights for the bourgeoisie. “Freedom of assembly” for workers and peasants is not worth a farthing when the best buildings belong to the bourgeoisie. Our Soviets have confiscated all the good buildings in town and country from the rich and have transferred all of them to the workers and peasants for their unions and meetings. This is our freedom of assembly—for the working people! This is the meaning and content of our Soviet, our socialist Constitution! —V.I. Lenin, “Letter to American Workers” (August 1918)

WV 1012 9 November 2012 · Hurricane Sandy Capitalist Greed, Labor Heroism · Amid “War on Drugs” Militarization, Economic Crisis Mexico: PRI Back at Helm of Capitalist State Break with the PRD! For a Revolutionary Workers Party! · Free the Class-War Prisoners! 27th Annual PDC Holiday Appeal (Class-Struggle Defense Notes) · Soviet Democracy and Workers Rule (Quote of the Week) · Elections 2012: Wall Street Democrat vs. Wall Street Republican For a Workers Party That Fights for a Workers Government! Part Two · Notice to Our Readers

From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin-Rock And Roll Is …, Take Two

                                       

 

Rock and roll was (is) big, sweaty cities, hot time summertime and the living is easy cities, New York-sized outlandish skyscrapers to the stars (if you could see them out on those lonesome canyon wall) cities, Chicago big windy, sloppy hog butcher to the world (reeking of stinks, animal stinks, vegetable stinks, two in the morning whiskey stinks) cities, seven hills rolling to the golden pacific wash and Japan seas great American west night San Francisco (visions of endless North Beach City Lights Bookstore-Hungry Eye –black bereted, black stockings, black chinos, black, hell, black everything down to those midnight sunglasses worn 24/7/365 beat, beat down, beat around, beat six- ways-to- Sunday beat, but beatitude beat too, Kerouac on the road beatitude beat although undiscovered,  Howl , beat)cities, sprawling sun-sweated, be-fogged, brown hills and all swish and swirl coreless arroyo Los Angeles ( searching for perfect Malibu waves, for Venice Beach muscle boys, for bikini-ed tanned golden girls, and, and Hollywood angst , Rebel Without A Cause angst, Blackboard Jungle angst,  max daddy Asphalt Jungle angst, hell again, just cruising Saturday night Hollywood Boulevard (and Vine, okay) looking for a walking daddy cities.

Be-bop cities okay, kids be-bopping, doo-wopping, do-langing, sha-sha –sha-ing (if such a  sound is possible) acting like king hell king long gone walking daddies and mamas (okay, okay chicks, twists, frails) sitting around Washington Square , Central Park, Union Square, Lincoln Park, Grant Park,  Russian Hill, Telegraph Hill, Golden Gate Park, Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier, Malibu surf run, name your square, park, hill, beach, run, what the hell is a surf run (perfect wave, huh), or be square,  be-bopping away, waiting, waiting impatiently, waiting out of their shoes, blue suede Carl Perkins stolen like a thief by Elvis shoes or not, maybe fearful Pat Boone, Pat Boone!!! white bucks, whatever,  impatiently for the big freeze red scare (hell, no far away, big freeze red scare right down in big city New York Foley Square and dead commie Rosenburgs, stalinite jews for god’s sakes, why did they do it, Hollywood Ten cinematic villains writing up some Malibu night mare scenes to scare young children, future golden boy perfect wave surfers, to death Chi town Wobblies turned red never getting over Haymarket 1886 and doing hard time in Joliet, Longshoremen Harry Bridges and golden gate breach) cold war night to turn warm and  provide some fresh air to breath, to breath a not parentcoppriestteacherauthority, not air raid shelter, head down, ass up breathe.

Clapping hands by twos and threes as some bopping horn, or better sexed-up sax (not some old time, teen old time, tenor or alto Johnny Hodges/ Lester Young/ Charlie Parker/Dizzy be-bopping thing but chained, chained hard and fast to that riffing guitar), parent wary too sexed-up sax that made junior toss in his bed at night and sis, well, made her, cool and collected, toss a few sweaty wet nights too, make of that what you will, always sax wails, whales, wales, away with that big beat, beat down, beat around, beat six- ways-to- Sunday (the day exactly), some guitar riff out of Les Paul or some jazz Charlie Christian saint, maybe some Ike Turner Rocket 88 turbo-blast, trying to make sense of that off-beat Bill Haley and the Comets Rock Around The Clock beat that framed, hell, beat to hell that  silly Asphalt Jungle  j. d. (juvenile delinquent for the clueless squares, jack-rollers, corner boys, whip chain-slashers for those in the know also looking for that freeze to thaw in their own coping way) movie seen down at the Majestic on that cool off Saturday popcorn afternoon.

Stag (stag, meaning no girl, not solo, but with full corner boy regiment, white shirted, maybe white tee-shirted, black chinos, some Thom McAn mother bought shoes, ugh, slick-backed hair, and wisp of Elvis king sideburns, (wisp, just like wisp beards, later, damn and corner boy laughs and fag-baits) in tow, the crowd from 42^nd Street hangs, Division Street hangs, Post Street hand, and yah, again Hollywood Boulevard hangs), later, intermission later, seeing she, Public School 63 (or name your school la, la, la, do I have to do all the work?) sweet Madonna and then to Eddie Cochran Sitting in the Balcony, Zooey (maybe jewish and no madonna, no frozen irish Catherine Madonna, Muffy wasp Madonna , Rita italian Madonna , Greta german Madonna thing, thank god but not caring not caring a fig just following that Zooey  ivory bath soap, could it be perfume smell, that has hooked guys, smart guys too, guys who know up from down, since, well Adam), and off to private upstairs balcony screenings.

Later, maybe four o’clock later, strolling (got to learn how to get the hang of that damn thing, the stroll, no not the dance, jesus not the dance, the walking in such a way that it takes half an hour to get Zooey homeward rather than the ten real minutes it takes, if you want to hang on to Zooey, boy) off to Schrafft’s corner lunchroom ( Harry’s Variety, Doc’s Drugstore, Hayes-Bickford, Friendly’s, Brigham’s, Howard Johnson, okay) and quarters for jukebox, endless cadges; play this and that six, twelve, infinite times. And our father, Elvis, Elvis, all shakes, shiver, making girls, making Zooey (he heard, heard from the corner boy grapevine, really the corner boy Be-Bop Kid’s sister who overheard that blessed news at one Monday morning before school girls’ “lav” talkfest when they were discussing, ah, discussing what made them “wet”) sweat (and Zooey, cool fragrance bath soap smell Zooey does not sweat even in sweaty New York/Chi Town/Frisco/LA LA land cities) and do things up in cloistered rooms (so he heard, a separate corner boy sister’s wisdom as source) while they (boys “they” in case you didn’t figure that out) ran the clerks at Mr. Sam’s clothing store ragged looking for just the right look, and old Mr. Mack at Doc’s Drugstore too benefited selling combs, gels, and six other things, except correctives for two left feet.        

Rock was (is) small Podunk towns, every boy knows every girl (and maybe desires each and every one and the reverse too although that would cause a scandal in monogamous protestant-driven podunk), small , sweaty towns and villages, hell, one street main street crossroads down in dusty Texas, pass throughs for Greyhound buses and oil tankers, summertime and the living is easy crossroads, Podunk outlandishly named towns, Boise (big, two-hearted rivers and endless forests between jukebox locales, jesus, and those bad ass city corner boy thought they had it tough), Helena (and old time whiskey dreams filled with unfulfilled gold dust dreams, Ponticello (big-hearted in its own way), Big Sur (sleepy town before the invasion), Olde Saco filled with raven-haired, smooth-cheeked French-Canadian boys calling out the songs in patois French (no Arcadia here), be-bop (okay, half  be-bop towns, dusty old towns soon, how soon, to be de-populated by every boy and girl and off to the big sweaty rock and roll cities). Kids sitting around the village green, the fourth of july bandstand, the monument to the civil war, maybe on ocean edge towns down some salty beach fighting off King Neptune for some sea wall space or some hidden Seal Rock lovers lane fighting off some enterprising  corner boy (senior set) in his father’s passed- on car, be-bopping away, waiting, waiting just like big sweaty city waiting ,for the big freeze red scare (hell, no far away, they ran those pink, red  NAACP guys, white guys, students making strange noises about black was right if white was right, right out of town, right onto those Trailways buses, one way, pronto) cold war night to turn warm and  provide some fresh air to breath to breath a not parentcoppriestteacherauthority, not air raid shelter (or under old time mahogany inkwell desks for real Podunk towns), head down, ass up breathe.

Clapping hands by twos and threes as some bopping horn, or better sexed-up sax (not some old time, teen old time, tenor or alto Johnny Hodges/ Lester Young/ Charlie Parker/Dizzy be-bopping thing but chained, chained hard and fast to that riffing guitar), parent wary too sexed-up sax that made junior toss in his bed at night and sis, well, made her, cool and collected, toss a few sweaty wet nights too, make of that what you will, always sax wails, whales, wales, away with that big beat, beat down, beat around, beat six- ways-to- Sunday (the day exactly), some guitar riff out of Les Paul or some jazz Charlie Christian saint, maybe some Ike Turner Rocket 88 turbo-blast, trying to make sense of that off-beat Bill Haley and the Comets Rock Around The Clock beat that framed, hell, beat to hell that  silly Asphalt Jungle  j. d. (juvenile delinquent for the clueless squares, jack-rollers, corner boys, whip chain-slashers for those in the know also looking for that freeze to thaw in their own coping way) movie seen down at the Bijou (imitation big city Majestic, really doubling for Sunday morning pancake all you can eat, bring the family socials too, doors open at eight, eight in the morning, jesus), on that cool off Saturday popcorn (popcorn addicted same as in sweaty cities) afternoon. Stag (ditto, cities, maybe corner boys, some innocent when you dream Mama’s Pizza Parlor corner, closing when main street closes at 9:00 PM , maybe no), but later, intermission later, seeing she, Olde Saco South Junior High School, for example, she (no blank big city Public School X number here) sweet Madonna (same as big city on that) and then to Eddie Cochran Sitting in the Balcony, Betty (or Jane, Mary, nothing as exotic as big city, maybe jew, big city Zooey) and off to private upstairs balcony screenings.

Later, maybe four o’clock later, strolling (got to learn how to get the hang of that damn thing, the stroll, if you want to hang on to Betty/Jane/ Mary, boy) off to Doc’s corner drugstore and quarters for jukebox, endless cadges, play this and that six, twelve, infinite times. And our father, Elvis, Elvis, all shakes, shiver, making girls, making Betty (he heard) sweat (and Betty, Zooey-like, cool Betty does not sweat even in sweaty summer midday corn-picking fields) and do things, universal do things, private girl things, up in cloistered rooms (so he heard, though that same universal Monday morning before school  “lav” talkfest- and lie-fest) while they (boys “they” in case you didn’t figure that out) ran the Sears catalogue (and Ma) ragged looking for just the right look, and old Doc (Doc Andrews and no doctor but just a guy who crushed pills and  sold liquor as medicine for what ailed people to get by) and his fuddy-duddy drugstore with odd medicines for sick people what-a- drag- to- be-old-and- it- ain’t- never- going- to- come- to- that- for- me  benefited selling combs, gels, and six other things, except correctives for two left feet.        

Rock was (is)…

 

From The Partisan Defense Committee- Free the Class-War Prisoners!-27th Annual PDC Holiday Appeal

Workers Vanguard No. 1012	9 November 2012

Free the Class-War Prisoners!

27th Annual PDC Holiday Appeal

(Class-Struggle Defense Notes)

This year marks the 27th Holiday Appeal for class-war prisoners, those thrown behind bars for their opposition to racist capitalist oppression. The Partisan Defense Committee provides monthly stipends to 16 of these prisoners as well as holiday gifts for them and their families. This is a revival of the tradition of the early International Labor Defense (ILD) under its secretary and founder James P. Cannon. The stipends are a necessary expression of solidarity with the prisoners—a message that they are not forgotten.

Launching the ILD’s appeal for the prisoners, Cannon wrote, “The men in prison are still part of the living class movement” (“A Christmas Fund of our Own,” Daily Worker, 17 October 1927). Cannon noted that the stipends program “is a means of informing them that the workers of America have not forgotten their duty toward the men to whom we are all linked by bonds of solidarity.” This motivation inspires our program today. The PDC also continues to publicize the causes of the prisoners in the pages of Workers Vanguard, the PDC newsletter, Class-Struggle Defense Notes, and our Web site partisandefense.org. We provide subscriptions to WV and accompany the stipends with reports on the PDC’s work. In a recent letter, MOVE prisoner Eddie Africa wrote, “I received the letters and the money, thank you for both, it’s a good feeling to have friends remembering you with affection!”

The Holiday Appeal raises the funds for this vital program. The PDC provides $25 per month to the prisoners, and extra for their birthdays and during the holiday season. We would like to provide more. The prisoners generally use the funds for basic necessities: supplementing the inadequate prison diet, purchasing stamps and writing materials needed to maintain contact with family and comrades, and pursuing literary, artistic, musical and other pursuits to mollify a bit the living hell of prison. The costs of these have obviously grown, including the exponential growth in prison phone charges.

The capitalist rulers have made clear their continuing determination to slam the prison doors on those who stand in the way of brutal exploitation, imperialist depredations and racist oppression. We encourage WV readers, trade-union activists and fighters against racist oppression to dig deep for the class-war prisoners. The 16 class-war prisoners receiving stipends from the PDC are listed below:

*   *   *

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a former Black Panther Party spokesman, a well-known supporter of the MOVE organization and an award-winning journalist known as “the voice of the voiceless.” Last December the Philadelphia district attorney’s office announced it was dropping its longstanding efforts to execute America’s foremost class-war prisoner. While this brings to an end the legal lynching campaign, Mumia remains condemned to spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole, despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence.

Mumia was framed up for the 1981 killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and was initially sentenced to death explicitly for his political views. Mountains of documentation proving his innocence, including the sworn confession of Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, shot and killed Faulkner, have been submitted to the courts. But from top to bottom, the courts have repeatedly refused to hear the exculpatory evidence.

The state authorities hope that with the transfer of Mumia from death row his cause will be forgotten and that he will rot in prison until he dies. This must not be Mumia’s fate. Fighters for Mumia’s freedom must link his cause to the class struggles of the multiracial proletariat. Trade unionists, opponents of the racist death penalty and fighters for black rights must continue the fight to free Mumia from “slow death” row in the racist dungeons of Pennsylvania.

Leonard Peltier is an internationally renowned class-war prisoner. Peltier’s incarceration for his activism in the American Indian Movement has come to symbolize this country’s racist repression of its native peoples, the survivors of centuries of genocidal oppression. Peltier’s frame-up for the 1975 deaths of two marauding FBI agents in what had become a war zone on the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation, shows what capitalist “justice” is all about. Although the lead government attorney has admitted, “We can’t prove who shot those agents,” and the courts have acknowledged blatant prosecutorial misconduct, the 68-year-old Peltier is still locked away. Peltier suffers from multiple serious medical conditions and is incarcerated far from his people and family. He is not scheduled to be reconsidered for parole for another 12 years!

Eight MOVE members—Chuck Africa, Michael Africa, Debbie Africa, Janet Africa, Janine Africa, Delbert Africa, Eddie Africa and Phil Africa—are in their 35th year of prison. They were sentenced to 30-100 years after the 8 August 1978 siege of their Philadelphia home by over 600 heavily armed cops, having been falsely convicted of killing a police officer who died in the cops’ own cross fire. In 1985, eleven of their MOVE family members, including five children, were massacred by Philly cops when a bomb was dropped on their living quarters. After more than three decades of unjust incarceration, these innocent prisoners are routinely turned down at parole hearings. None have been released.

Lynne Stewart is a radical lawyer sentenced to ten years for defending her client, a blind Egyptian cleric imprisoned for an alleged plot to blow up New York City landmarks in the early 1990s. For this advocate known for defense of Black Panthers, radical leftists and others reviled by the capitalist state, her sentence may well amount to a death sentence as she is 73 years old and suffers from breast cancer. Originally sentenced to 28 months, her resentencing more than quadrupled her prison time in a loud affirmation by the Obama administration that there will be no letup in the massive attack on democratic rights under the “war on terror.” This year her appeal of the onerous sentence was turned down.

Jaan Laaman and Thomas Manning are the two remaining anti-imperialist activists known as the Ohio 7 still in prison, convicted for their roles in a radical group that took credit for bank “expropriations” and bombings of symbols of U.S. imperialism, such as military and corporate offices, in the late 1970s and ’80s. Before their arrests in 1984 and 1985, the Ohio 7 were targets of massive manhunts. Their children were kidnapped at gunpoint by the Feds.

The Ohio 7’s politics were once shared by thousands of radicals during the Vietnam antiwar movement and by New Leftists who wrote off the possibility of winning the working class to a revolutionary program and saw themselves as an auxiliary of Third World liberation movements. But, like the Weathermen before them, the Ohio 7 were spurned by the “respectable” left. From a proletarian standpoint, the actions of these leftist activists against imperialism and racist injustice are not a crime. They should not have served a day in prison.

Ed Poindexter and Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa are former Black Panther supporters and leaders of the Omaha, Nebraska, National Committee to Combat Fascism. They were victims of the FBI’s deadly COINTELPRO operation under which 38 Black Panther Party members were killed and hundreds more imprisoned on frame-up charges. Poindexter and Mondo were railroaded to prison and sentenced to life for a 1970 explosion that killed a cop, and they have now spent more than 40 years behind bars. Nebraska courts have repeatedly denied Poindexter and Mondo new trials despite the fact that a crucial piece of evidence excluded from the original trial, a 911 audio tape long-suppressed by the FBI, proved that testimony of the state’s key witness was perjured.

Hugo Pinell, the last of the San Quentin 6 still in prison, has been in solitary isolation for more than four decades. He was a militant anti-racist leader of prison rights organizing along with George Jackson, his comrade and mentor, who was gunned down by prison guards in 1971. Despite numerous letters of support and no disciplinary write-ups for over 28 years, Pinell was again denied parole in 2009. Now in his 60s, Pinell continues to serve a life sentence at the notorious torture chamber, Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit in California, a focal point for hunger strikes against grotesquely inhuman conditions.

Send your contributions to: PDC, P.O. Box 99, Canal Street Station, New York, NY 10013; (212) 406-4252.