ACTIVISTS CALL FOR RESISITANCE: GOV'T TRIES TO CURB PROTESTS/ ANTI-RACIST, ANTI-CAPITALIST ORGANIZERS FACE TRIAL SEPT 25 By Brian Becker As large demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic conventions draw closer, the question of how much right the people in this country have to disagree with the capitalist establishment grows hotter. Last April 15, nearly 700 people were arrested, detained and handcuffed in school buses, remote ad hoc police stations and underground basements in Washington. They had violated no law. They had been standing on a sidewalk peacefully protesting against the rise of the prison- industrial complex. The mass arrest on April 15 was an act of preventive detention and a clear violation of the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Among the arrested were shoppers, tourists, a visiting Park Ranger from North Carolina, and a Pulitzer Prize- winning photographer from the Washington Post. They were all caught up in a police sweep that must have been authorized by high government officials. The police had sealed the entire area around the demonstration on April 15 and then refused to let anyone leave. On Sept. 25, the first group of these political activists and organizers will go on trial in Washington. They face up to 90 days in jail if convicted of "disorderly conduct." The calculated use of repression in Washington was the first time the government got to display a new country-wide strategy aimed at crushing or marginalizing the new anti- capitalist movement that grabbed world attention in Seattle street protests last November. The same calculated use of police violence, break-ins, intimidation and mass arrests that took place in Washington last April is now evident in the government's tactics countering planned protests at the Republican and Democratic conventions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO SILENCE PROTEST The government is anxious to get a conviction at the Sept. 25 trial. There is a good reason for this. The police want a conviction to protect themselves. A class action lawsuit against the government and police will be filed on July 27 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A coalition of progressive attorneys will be acting on behalf of those arrested, others who had their offices broken into by government and police authorities, and the many beaten by the police in Washington on the weekend of April 15-17, when thousands protested outside a meeting of bankers and corporate tycoons at the International Monetary Fund. The lawsuit will charge that the government and police engaged in a massive conspiracy to violate the First Amendment right to free speech and assembly and the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal searches and seizures. It should be obvious to all that the capitalist class in the United States has encouraged a new era of aggressive police tactics to circumvent the burgeoning youth movement that has launched a struggle against the World Trade Organization, the IMF, Wall Street banks and corporations, and the prison-industrial complex. All the preaching to school children about democracy, the cherished status of the Bill of Rights and the right to free speech is being exposed as a fiction masking the brutal rule of the corporate and banking elites. Yes, everyone is entitled to "free speech," but only so long as the smooth functioning of all the capitalist institutions is never disrupted by those who denounce poverty, exploitation, low wages, sweat shops, police terror and the modern-day form of lynch-law justice known as death row. Police are readying the big fist approach now in Philadelphia and in Los Angeles. The Republican and Democratic conventions, these much-vaunted symbols of U.S.- style democracy, will be protected by thousands of riot- clad police. Billy clubs, tear gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades and armored personal carriers will be at the service of the delegates of "democracy." WHOSE CONVENTIONS? But whose conventions are these? Whom will they represent? Corporate America is contributing $42 million to "help" the two parties pay for their conventions, reports Douglas Turner in the July 17 edition of the Buffalo News. Microsoft is donating $1 million each to both the Republican and the Democratic conventions. United Airlines is giving $500,000 to the Democratic extravaganza while US Airways is donating $500,000 to the Republican Convention. These two airlines want to merge their operations to further corner the market, lay off airline workers and cut wages. A quick glance at the funding reports for the two conventions reveals that both parties are completely in the back pocket of the major capitalist corporations, banks, and oil monopolies. Lockheed Martin, the aerospace super-corporation, is giving $100,000 to both conventions. Presidents come and go, after all, but the military-industrial complex will remain. So will the $300 billion annual "defense" budget. Keep this Lockheed Martin donation in mind the next time you hear "your" senator or congressperson give an impassioned speech about the urgent need to "modernize the U.S. Air Force." Remember the United Parcel Service strike two years ago? The bosses at UPS said they couldn't afford to give adequate wages and benefits to part-time workers. But UPS is giving the Democrats a donation of $1 million to help defray the costs of all those banquets and balloons. Maybe that's just a way of saying thank you for the indictment of Teamster leaders after the union won the strike. The other major contributors read like a list of the Fortune 500--because that's pretty much what it is. HMOs that routinely fail to cover health-care services for patients are ponying up big bucks. Cigna is paying $100,000 to the Republicans. So is Independence Blue Cross. General Motors is giving the Democrats $1 million; DaimlerChrysler is giving $250,000 to each. DICTATORSHIP OF WEALTH The domination of the political process by the capitalist establishment is not based on their numerical weight in society. No, behind these corporations and banks are a tiny segment of the population. How can a handful of billionaires and mega-multi- millionaires rule in a society of 275 million people, most of them workers? In times of capitalist stability their financial power allows them to dominate society through the control of the two political parties and all three branches of government. The mass media, which is owned outright by the biggest corporations, is another pillar in their domination over society. But this domination of society by the dictatorship of wealth invariably gives rise to new movements for social justice. Some of them become more radical and even revolutionary and seek to reorganize society to make people's needs the priority. Then the smooth talk is replaced with the police club. Every serious movement that seeks revolutionary change, or even far-reaching reforms, must deal with the question of devising strategies and tactics to overcome political and police repression. Tenaciously defending our civil and legal rights is important. Extending the hand of solidarity to all those caught up in the web of police, courts and jails is critical. But fundamental to the success of the movement will be its capacity to awaken and merge with broader sections of the working class, especially the youths and those who suffer from low wages, police brutality and racism. Becker is the co-director of the International Action Center. He is one of the defendants standing trial on Sept. 25. The IAC plans to pack the courtroom and mobilize public support for the defendants. To help organize or make a financial contribution for this case, call (212) 633-6646 or e-mail iacenter@iacenter.org. - 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. 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