From: "Greg Butterfield" Save Address - Block Sender To: youth-4-mumia@egroups.com Save Address Subject: [Y4M] Philly activists stand up to GOP, cop threats Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 11:54:33 EDT ReplyReply AllForwardDeletePreviousNextClose ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- ACTIVISTS STAND UP TO GOP/COP THREATS By Betsey Piette Philadelphia If police and city officials have their way, only Republican Party delegates will have the right to gather in Philadelphia during the Republican National Convention July 31-Aug. 3. City officials refuse to issue permits for any demonstrations during the convention. Police spokesperson Lt. Susan Slawson said the 99-year-old Holmesburg Prison in Northeast Philadelphia may be reopened to hold "an overflow of protesters" during the convention. The prison was closed in 1995. (Philadelphia Inquirer, July 10) Activists vigorously oppose the protest ban. City officials initially denied permits for two demonstrations planned for the weekend before the convention. After organizers threatened a lawsuit, the officials granted permits for those events. As part of the settlement with Unity 2000--a coalition planning a march and rally July 30--the city will provide all services to the march free of charge, including a stage and sound system. On July 7, the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO endorsed the Unity 2000 march. The NAACP, National Organization for Wo men, ACT UP and hundreds of other groups are also supporting the march, which calls for "human rights and social justice." The national AFL-CIO is expected to follow suit. MUMIA CONTINGENT AT UNITY 2000 Millions for Mumia/International Action Center, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and other organizations plan a contingent in the Unity 2000 march. The contingent will protest the execution of Shaka Sankofa, demand a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and call for an end to the racist death penalty, police brutality and the prison-industrial complex. Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, along with vice-presidential hopeful and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, are at the center of the death-penalty debate. Bush has executed 138 people since 1995. Ridge has vowed to kill Abu-Jamal. Al Gore and the Democratic Party elite also support capital punishment. City officials continue to deny a permit for the July 31 March for Economic Human Rights. Police have threatened to arrest marchers. Organizers vow to march anyway. The march, called by the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, will protest that "poor people have been made to disappear from discussions about the so-called `economic boom,'" according to a leaflet. The Philadelphia Direct Action Group is organizing a series of mass civil-disobedience protests and direct actions Aug. 1-3 to target the corporate agenda that drives both the Republican and Democratic parties. Aug. 1 has been designated a day for citywide communication, outreach, protests and non-violent direct action against the death penalty and to stop the execution of Abu-Jamal. PDAG says it has received over 2,000 requests for housing during these events. POLICE HARASSMENT INTENSIFIES As the convention nears, police have intensified their harassment of protest organizers. Unity 2000 and PDAG members complain of surveillance. The groups charge that men who refuse to identify themselves have been photographing participants in organizing meetings. Philadelphia police were sent to Seattle and Washington-- sites of militant protests against the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and World Bank-- for training. Local media carry a steady stream of articles describing police preparations for what's being called "R2K." Police Commissioner John Timoney claims he hasn't authorized spying on protest organizers. But the Philadelphia Police Department has a long history of spying, harassment and violence against political activists, especially the Black Panther Party and the MOVE organization. Angry protesters from coast to coast vow to ignore police boundaries and take to the streets during the convention, despite the state's attempt to suspend the Constitution in Philadelphia. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://www.workers.org) ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Stop the execution! New trial for Mumia! Youth & Students for Mumia http://www.mumia2000.org