Don't forget the California Prison Hunger Strikers

by Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

The US prison system is well known for is harsh conditions and brutality.  Here in the US, minors and mentally impaired people are executed and/or incarcerated often spending years in solitary confinement. What solitary confinement is in actuality is a sentence the results of which is insanity; Dead Man Walking if you like.  The incarceration of workers and the poor and the racist justice system is well known. Prisoners in the US lose many rights all human beings should have, basically the right to be human.

Back in July, 30,000 prisoners went on hunger strike in California. We have commented on this strike more than once on this blog.  You can read the prisoners list of demands here.  The strike has now been on for 57 days.  Many of the prisoners have been relocated and are under threat of being force fed like the inmates at Guantanamo. The authorities refuse to deal with the issues they are raising.

A major issue is solitary confinement which is used as a form of punishment in California’s SHU’s or Security Housing Units. An inmate has only to be declared a gang member in order to be confined to solitary.  California has almost 12,000 people in extreme isolation which costs over $60 million per year. As prison rights advocates point out, “The cells have no windows, and no access to fresh air or sunlight.” This is torture, there’s no way around it. The UN declares solitary confinement for more than 15 days as torture but in US prisons an inmate can spend form 10 to 40 years alone.  I would ask any reader of this with an ounce of humanity in them; what would that do to you? Solitary confinement drives people mad.

On the issue of gangs, members of the most ruthless and powerful gang of all, the US capitalist class manages to avoid jail time no matter what they do. They can make conscious decisions that lead to massive environmental pollution and death (BP spill). They cause millions of people to be homeless or deny millions more health care in the interests of personal gain. They lie to us about events abroad seeking our support and money in the slaughter of those who resist their predatory invasions, yet are lauded as fine upstanding citizens.  This gang has many affiliates and sub-branches like the US Chamber of Commerce, The National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Round Table.  They meet in secret in places like Jackson Hole Wyoming, The Bohemian Grove here in California and other fine resorts.

In the streets and urban centers of the US sometimes belonging to a gang can mean security or for other young people a way to riches and recognition.  And if you find yourself in the US Gulag, the inmates there, having no right to a union which is something that must be demanded for prisoners, might seek safety in one of the ethnic gangs that exists. The prisons are generally segregated and racism is used by authorities much like it is in the workplace and society as a whole as a divide and rule tactic.

A guaranteed job and a minimum of $15 or $20 an hour for society in general as well as for inmates re-entering society, is what would change this situation. Recognizing that the public needs to be protected from some people, prisons should cease being mere centers for the warehousing of human beings to genuine correctional centers that would help people and help them re-enter society.  Prison employees should be trained in all the fields that deal with mental health and human behavior in order to actually help people.   The prison industrial complex as it is, is a massive industry with very lucrative profits to be made.  It is not human friendly.  In California this industry has grown massively. Prisons are constructed in rural depressed communities and are often the only job around. They are also constructed hundreds of miles from urban centers where the families of inmates live. The authorities consider this a plus, something that again isolates the inmate from whatever family structure they may have. When I was visiting an LA gang member in prison it was assumed I was a lesser person by the guards as well.  The families of inmates are not respected.

I commented on the decision to allow authorities to force feed prisoners and to ignore prisoners "do not not resuscitate requests" in an earlier commentary. The state is concerned about their safety apparently but we know it is about denying the individual some form of control over their lives and existence. The object of prison life is to take every aspect of human dignity away form the inmate.

The other issue to point out is the so-called free press. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to protest as a prison inmate, the consequences are severe.  The fat that so many initiated this strikes tells us something but the media in the main ignores it, or as is the case with workers on strike, demonizes the participants and gives their cause no credibility. The mass media in the US is the most unfree and censored of all the advanced capitalist economies. It is mind numbing demoralizing rubbish in the main.

Don’t forget the prison hunger striker. If you can get your union or organization to send letter to the governor and demand he intervene and repsond to the prisoners genuine concerns.  Readers can call California governor, Jerry Brown at: Phone: (916) 445-2841, (510) 289-0336, (510) 628-0202 fax 916-558-3160  and urge him to respond to the prisoners valid complaints.

There are still 70 prisoners refusing food after 57 days.  For more up to date information go to the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity webpage

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Prisoner hunger strikers to be force fed

by Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

There is nothing the ruling classes fear more than those who actively resist oppression, who take part and lead the struggle for freedom and human dignity.  Those who make the most sacrifice, many of them playing leading roles, are feared most of all, and especially in death.  The dead are the memory of the living, a reminder of the struggle against the oppressor.

The bones of the Irish revolutionaries that died at the hands of British occupation are scattered throughout the country in unmarked graves.  The British occupation made sure of that. They did the same in Kenya after they murdered or executed after show trials, the leaders of the Mao Mao that fought against British colonial rule.

The US ruling class is force feeding hunger strikers imprisoned in the concentration camp at Guantanamo Cuba.  Most of the people still there have never been convicted of anything and many of them have been scheduled for release but are are still incarcerated after 11 years.  Death by self imposed starvation is not something the US ruling class wants.

In California we also have a prisoner hunger strike that is in its 44th day with 70 participating.  Inmates want more humane treatment and an end to indeterminate solitary confinement that dehumanizes people and drives some insane. Some people have been confined to solitary confinement for as long as 30 years.

Inmates can sign legally binding "do not resuscitate requests" and it has been the policy of authorities in these situations to allow people to starve themselves to death.   But it seems the state can prevent us from dying now.  A San Francisco judge has given prison officials authority to force feed an inmate who may be in "failing health" even if they signed requests not to be revived.

If you aren't eating for 44 days, it seems that failing health is the required result but the all powerful and caring state will put you through the torture of force feeding caring as it does for the sanctity of human life.  If you can't afford medical care, housing, or food, the chances are you can die that way as the state recognizes that we are individuals and here in the USA individual rights trump all others.  If you choose not to work (unemployment) if you choose to sleep beneath underpasses, if you choose not to eat proper food and if you choose not to pay for medical coverage to a middle man in the form of an insurance company you can die.

Isn't freedom swell!

If you are in a union you should get letters of support sent to the governor on the hunger striker's behalf. Here is the latest update on the prison hunger strike form Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity.  You will find contact info there.

Day 44 – Statement from Mediation Team

Posted on August 20, 2013 by prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity

Hunger Strikers, Gavin Newsom’s Citizenville and the Frontline
Years ago a defense attorney, who was contemplating acceptance of her first death row client, talked to me about how hard it would be to keep this person from ending up in San Quentin’s Death Chamber. But she was anxious to take on the task. I asked her why? She simply and eloquently explained that in every society there must be people who are willing to stand in the way of those who abuse the power they have over individuals under their control. If there is no one there to point out that abuse, to push back against those powerful forces, the abuse will spread and deepen and will become unstoppable.

On Day 44 of the prisoner hunger strike, we are watching a real-life display of that lawyer’s philosophy—prisoners are starving themselves to disrupt the abuse of power displayed by the CDCR’s inhumane policies and practices involving indeterminate solitary confinement. They have put themselves on the frontline of protest to demand to be treated like human beings.
Meanwhile, not long ago some of the family members of the hunger strikers attempted to meet with Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom about these important matters. At the time, Newsom was temporarily serving as Acting Governor while Jerry Brown was traveling out of the country. The meeting never happened: Acting Governor Newsom said he would not have any more to say about the prisoner hunger strike than the Governor had to say about it, which, thus far, has been nothing helpful.  Well, pretty much nothing at all.

Ironically, the Lieutenant Governor recently released a book he authored called Citizenville. His promotional email states that “Citizenville shows how we can make government as useful and engaging as your iPhone.” He adds: “I talked to technology pioneers, entrepreneurs, and social media stars for Citizenville to come up with clear steps we can take to reshape our government and engage ordinary citizens.”

Perhaps the “usefulness” of government as depicted in Newsom’s marketing material for his book would be better measured by him and Governor Brown agreeing to talk to the hunger-striking prisoners themselves. The two elected officials could learn of some meaningful fixes to CDCR policies and practices that would do more than merely “engage ordinary citizens,” such talks could actually save lives—those of the protestors as well as those prisoners who are being made morose or insane or both by indeterminate solitary confinement for decades.

On behalf of the Mediation Team,
Barbara Becnel 510-325-6336 

Hunger Strike Mediation Team
Dr. Ronald Ahnen, California Prison Focus and St. Mary’s College of California
Barbara Becnel, Occupy4Prisoners.org
Dolores Canales, California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement
Irene Huerta, California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement
Laura Magnani, American Friends Service Committee
Marilyn McMahon, California Prison Focus
Carol Strickman, Legal Services for Prisoners With Children
Azadeh Zohrabi, Legal Services for Prisoners With Children

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Mos Def's principled act in support of Guantanamo inmates' cruel treatment

A lot of you may have seen this already but it is Mos Def who agreed to have himself force fed as the hunger strikers in Guantanamo Bay concentration camp are twice a day. The hunger strike doesn't receive the mass media coverage it should in the US as controlled and censored as US media is. You have to hand it to him for his commitment to justice.

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Police murders and militarization of US society a threat to all workers

by Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

While things have no doubt changed since I lived in Europe over 40 years ago, one stark difference between there and the US is the power and role of the police. Here in the US, they can kill without recourse, this is particularly so when it comes to black folks, and young black men in particular.  Those who regret their lives are disrupted or their baseball game delayed because a freeway is blocked or some unruly people (more often than not white middle class youth) smash some windows, should consider that the racist cop who rained a barrage of racial epithets on Oscar Grant, the young black worker killed by Transit police, was fired due to these protests. 

The cop that shot Oscar Grant in the back as he lay on the ground surrounded by police would never have gone to jail at all had it not been for the street protests. George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the murder of Trayvon martin shows that the courts cannot be relied on to protect black youth.  The courts unfortunately cannot be relied upon to protect the rights of any worker as they are institutions designed to protect and further the interests of capital.

I saw three youngsters on a double decker in London last year getting in to it with two unarmed cops. They were not behaving properly I thought so myself, but the cops also didn’t approach them correctly.  Still, the youngsters gave the cops what for and as they were descending the upper deck for their stop one of them looks at the cops sitting in the back and called them “Baboons”.  The cops up and chased them and the last scene I saw was them giving a stern talking to the kids at the bus stop. I thought to myself, “They deal with cops here in the US like that they could be dead.” They got a bit too close to them and if a cop’s threatened here they can kill you no problem.  The same with the London riots last year.  Had they happened here, there’d be a lot more dead bodies.

You only have to watch US TV to see that we are a very violent society, young children see guns and shootings on TV daily and it’s portrayed in a way that it appears as natural as can be when we know that for a normal person, simply getting in to a tense and heated confrontation with another person is upsetting never mind killing them.

Last week, Reuters reported on the differences between the power of the police in Europe and here in the US.  According to Der Spiegel, the total number of bullets German police used in all of 2011 was 85.  Police in most other industrial countries are trained to avoid shooting with “fatal intent” whereas here in the US, “lethal force” is more often than not the norm. Of those 85 bullets fired by German cops in 2011, “…49 were warnings shots, 36 were aimed at criminal suspects, 15 people were injured, and 6 were killed”, Der Spiegel adds.

In the US, cops have to file a report every time they use their weapon in the line of duty but there are no statistics “readily available” according to RT.  But we have some idea of how things are from daily events.  Bruce Springsteen made a song “American Skin 41 shots to highlight the death of the New Yorker Amadou Diallo who was shot 41 times by cops while siting outside his apartment.  A 19 year old was killed by LA cops last month after being shot 90 times.  “The same month,” the New York Post reports, “…New York police fired at a suspected murderer 84 times.  While the man was wounded, “the punk incredibly survived,”.

Crime has declined in the US perhaps due to the incarceration of close to three million people mostly for petty crimes, people that capitalism has abandoned. But in the aftermath of 911 and the rise of the Occupy Movement as part of the rising opposition to US capitalism’s efforts to put the working class on rations, US society has become increasingly militarized beefing up the police and special fascist type units as well as using drones and massive surveillance methods to root out dissent. According to USA Today, “instances of excessive force or “other tactics to violate victims civil rights” increased by 25 per cent from 2001 to 2007.”

Other examples from RT

In another 2006 six case, plain clothes and undercover New York police shot at Sean Bell more than 50 times a day before his wedding. Bell was killed, and three of his friends were critically injured. The case was widely compared to that of Diallo.

The phenomenon is so common in America that the term ‘contagious shooting’ – the idea that cops reflexively open fire because others are doing so – has entered the national vocabulary.

Perhaps one incident that spurred experts to coin the term was a 1995 Bronx robbery where officers fired an incredible 125 shots at a suspect who did not even fire back. “They were shooting to the echo of their own gunfire,” a former police official told The New York Times.  

One officer told the daily in 2006 that “the only reason to be shooting in New York City is that you or someone else is going to be killed and it’s going to be imminent,” and thus you fire as many shots as necessary to “extinguish the threat.”

Ironically, one officer even said, “until we have some substitute for a firearm, there will always be a situation where more rounds are fired than in other situations.”

You get a lot of support for this macho culture from trolls that have found themselves a safe place in the Internet culture where they can play cop and more often than not espouse racist and anti-worker views. But beefed up police forces have never made life safer for the working class.  The police as well as troops have been used historically to break strikes, sometimes with the most brutal results. The social role of the police makes them naturally the enemy of workers and organized Labor as their entire existence is based on defending laws that are made by the capitalist class in the interests of the capitalist class.  Troops, as workers in uniform are somewhat different when used in this capacity, and much more likely to be won over when workers are on strike or in open struggle against the bosses and the police.. The police can be neutralized at best by the united power of the working class in action; they are not workers in the same way.

Recently cops shot a man's dog after the arrested him as he was on a public sidewalk videoing their actions.  Apparently he didn't turn the music down in his car quick enough.  The dog tried to defend its master so the cops shot it.  It is on film at the end of this commentary but it is a disturbing scene so be warned animal and human lovers, the dog appears to suffer.

In the recent labor disputes here in the Bay Area where we saw a four and a half day strike by BART (mass transit) workers, the issue of safety on the job and as well as the safety of passengers is an issue. This is an issue or all public employees (and some private like UPS drivers for example) especially teachers, transit and utility workers as well as USPS employees.  I worked in areas where youth unemployment was as high as 30% or more and crime was rampant.  For teachers, all the ills of capitalist society are brought in to the classroom. But the answer to these real problems from organized labor and workers as a whole is training programs run by the Unions in every community and a massive investment in social infrastructure, education, transportation and real public housing, not beefing up the state security forces.

Jobs and more jobs is the key.  Increased militarization of society and more police will be used against unionized workers as we are forced to strike to defend ourselves against the capitalist offensive.  We are not exempt from police violence, we never have been.  By defending our communities and especially the poorer communities, many of them communities of color, we can build a united and powerful movement to fight back against the austerity agenda of the 1%.

 We need this united movement for there is plenty of bullets for the rest of us if the 1% feels their interests are threatened.  US police will not only use plenty of bullets to halt our offensive, the Germans will abandon their tolerance for German workers and ammo consumption will skyrocket there too.

Let’s not fool ourselves. Let’s remember which sections of society are our natural allies and which are our natural enemies.

This what the occupation of America's urban areas really means.

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Under pressure from below, Obama tries to calm the masses in the face of the Zimmerman verdict

Don't be fooled: he's not a friend of black folks or working people

by Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

The racist George Zimmerman has been freed by a jury after stalking and murdering a black teenager, Trayvon Martin.  Martin should have known better, eating Skittles and talking to a friend on a cell phone while black is a very threatening activity in some circles.

This is not so much about Trayvon Martin but all the young black males shot by the police and wannabe cops like Zimmerman.  The reality is, Zimmerman hunted down and murdered Martin vigilante style as the law allows; that’s why he got off. As President Obama said in his speech earlier this week, “The judge conducted the trial in a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense made their arguments. The juries were properly instructed that in a case such as this reasonable doubt was relevant, and they rendered a verdict. And once the jury has spoken, that's how our system works.” Don't laugh. More on this later.

The reaction in the black community has been as it should be, one of horror, anger, disgust and every other emotion that any normal community would express at such injustice, not simply the injustice in this particular case, but the ongoing killing and incarceration of young black males. It is a credit to their humanity, that this anger hasn’t expressed itself in more brutal ways like the random mass killings of whites.

“But more blacks are killed by other blacks; black on black crime is worse” I have heard more than a few times the past few weeks.  What lies behind this comment is that black people are to blame for their own condition, for the poverty, lack of opportunity and incarceration of their youth.  Women are raped because they dress provocatively as well. “Look at those blacks, they are animals.” is the implication here; it’s just another way of cloaking the racist argument.  Anyway, as Jamelle Bouie pointed out in a commentary on July 15^th,

“Yes, from 1976 to 2005, 94 percent of black victims were killed by black offenders, but that racial exclusivity was also true for white victims of violent crime—86 percent were killed by white offenders. Indeed, for the large majority of crimes, you’ll find that victims and offenders share a racial identity, or have some prior relationship to each other.”

Glen Ford writing in the Black Agenda Report reminds us that initially it was hoped this issue would go away:

The White House also wanted Trayvon to be forgotten. Three weeks after the shooting, speaking through his press secretary, the president declared, “obviously we're not going to wade into a local law-enforcement matter." A few days later, Obama sought to placate Black public opinion with a statement of physical fact: “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

Let’s recall that the Florida authorities initially refused to arrest Zimmerman for the murder which occurred last February.  It was the public outcry and pressure from below that forced their hand.  This week, in response to the verdict, there have been rallies and protests in hundreds of US cities.  Major black entertainers and public figures have spoken out in opposition to the verdict.  Here in Oakland there have been numerous rallies and protests all overwhelmingly peaceful.  A group also blocked a major freeway and it was interesting that the reporter that I saw anyway, normally eager to share images of one group of workers attacking another, or whites and blacks having opposite opinions on such issues,, spoke to a couple of motorists who although inconvenienced spoke favorably about the need to get people’s attention.

This has forced that superb and eloquent representative of the US capitalist class, or the 1% as they are sometimes referred to, to speak out.  On Friday Obama spoke in very personal terms about the case and about how it could have been his son shot, or him 35 years ago. “There are very few African American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store.” Obama said, reaching in to the hearts of black folks showing how much he identifies with them, “There are very few African Americans who haven't had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.” 

He went on, "You know, I think it's understandable that there have been demonstrations and vigils and protests, and some of that stuff is just going to have to work its way through as long as it remains nonviolent.”

Obama is representing his class well.  He is smart, learned; very slick, " The poverty and dysfunction in those communities "can be traced to a very difficult history,"  he said reminding people also that there was a greater chance of Trayvon Martin being killed by his peers than the likes of Zimmerman or a white person.

He followed his effort to calm the black working class through this rare attempt to identify with them with a few suggestions on how to proceed like a sort of diversity training for the cops; in other words, how to arrest young black men without killing them and how to police the black community with a smile.

He wants to “gather together business leaders, elected officials, celebrities, athletes -- to address the need for African-American men to feel that they are "a full part of this society."

“I'm not naïve about the prospects of some grand, new federal program.” Obama added assuring the class he represents that their interests are secured, and that there will be no New Deal on his watch.  “I'm not sure that that’s what we're talking about here.” He continued, “But I do recognize that as President, I've got some convening power, and there are a lot of good programs that are being done across the country on this front.”

Speaking to his victims he assured black folks that,  “I don’t want us to lose sight that things are getting better.”  He talked about his children and children in general, “I think, (Children) have more sense than we did back then, and certainly more than our parents did or our grandparents did; and that along this long, difficult journey, we’re becoming a more perfect union -- not a perfect union, but a more perfect union.”

It was a masterful piece of propaganda. It was so good it pretty much silenced the conservative talk show hate mongers.  “We are all Americans” there is no racism, no class conflict, just some bad historical precedents and mindsets that we have to overcome.

There was no talk of black on black crime being a product of third world conditions in the richest nation that has ever existed. No mention of what is an occupation of the black community by the police. Poverty, low wages  and not just a lack of a way out but an impossibility of a way out except for a tiny handful.  No mention of housing, slumlords the incarceration of black males finding the very same condition when they are returned to society.  No mention of the war on drugs that is not a war on drugs but a war on black people. This is what underlies black on black crime.

Look at Obama’s cabinet, the thug and former Israeli Defense Force member Rahm Emmanuel who is closing 150 public schools in Chicago. Arne Duncan, Obama’s education secretary who is connected to all the forces in society aiming to privatize public education.  The savaging of social services and elimination of public sector jobs as well as hundreds of thousands of teachers all affects the black community with a vengeance.

And look at Detroit a city with a majority black population.  Kevin Orr, the emergency manager appointed to deal with this once great city’s bankruptcy who is black, is about to violate the Michigan constitution and cover the city workers pension for a period of six months only although the constitution states these benefits will not be “diminished”.

The Obama administration has refused to help Detroit.  I guess after providing former Egyptian dictator Mubarak among others with billions of US taxpayer dollars, and spending a few trillion more on predatory wars we have no money. Obama’s aggressive drone policy that kills hundreds upon hundreds of young children and babies also cost a few bucks to maintain and certainly doesn’t make us any safer.

“Can we help Detroit? We don’t know,” Vice President Joe Biden said last week. Jay Carney, the White House spokesperson has ruled out any assistance for Detroit.  Obama’s phony claims to feel the pain of black folk and how much better things are holds no water with me. Things are worse for white workers so we know damn well the situation isn’t improving for blacks.

Jobs for all, a massive infrastructure spending program on housing, transportation, schools and a $20 an hour minimum wage is what will cut across black on black crime and crime in general. Training centers in every community organized by the construction unions and community organizations is what is needed to train workers to rebuild what capitalism and the market has destroyed.  It is the system that Obama heads as commander in chief that has destroyed Detroit where three or four generations of American workers gave their labor to make this country rich. Everything that amounts to a real solution to the capitalist crisis waged in the black community will be opposed by the Obama administration.

I have been surprised by the response to Obama’s speech from some folks, even socialists who have been impressed by his connection to the human side of it.

I am neither fooled nor moved by Obama’s comments he was forced to make due to the pressure from black America and more whites than I think people realize.  He is an astute and slick representative of the bourgeois. A nasty character indeed.

He did a very good job for them last Friday.

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John Grishom: "Gitmo, a sad perversion of American Justice"

US justice: Making friends around the world

by Richard Mellor

Afscme Local 444, retired

The only way one can avoid being sickened and disgusted by the existence of the Guantanamo concentration camp in US occupied Cuba is if one ignores it; and that’s what the vast majority of Americans do.  For many years growing up in Britain I paid little attention to the terrorism of the British state in Northern Ireland as well. I couldn’t avoid the news completely so the hunger strikers, the B Specials, the sectarian killings the treatment of Catholics and what it meant, all came to me through the “official”state media.  With some help, I eventually broke out of my isolation and came to understand the history behind the occupation of Ireland’s six northern counties and the troubles and violence that was still occurring there.

After spending billions of dollars of US taxpayer money arming al Qaeda and the Islamic movement in Afghanistan, the employer/employee relationship between the Pentagon and the Taliban, the backward reactionary feudal warlords, was eventually severed by 1999. (Up until 1999 every Taliban official was on the payroll of the US government, treatment of women be damned.) *  After 911, the US offered its new allies, the ruthless Northern Alliance, bounties if they captured and handed over terrorists which they did with gusto.  People were then jailed, tortured, killed and eventually drugged, hooded and flown to the concentration camp at Guantanamo. As we shared with our readers recently, many Taliban that surrendered with the promise of amnesty were brutally murdered under the guidance of US military personnel.  The fate of three British tourists, rounded up by US allies is well documented in the movie Road to Guantanamo. For the US public, burdened with the most censored media and highly efficient state surveillance and propaganda machine, we have no clue who the people in Guantanamo really are.

The hunger strike at Guantanamo is continuing and some prisoners are considering the only path open to them, plead guilty to war crimes in the hope of getting some sort of trial.  That’s what 11-year resident, Sufiyan Barhoumi would like to do the Wall Street Journal reports this week.  The problem is that the Pentagon won’t charge him with anything.  One of the reasons is the legal wrangling that is going on around these detainees.  The main war US capitalism is engaged in is the “War on terror”, and “terror” not being a nation or having an army or state as it is actually a tactic, tends to complicate things.

The human beings in Guantanamo are not in America, I don’t mean physically, because Guantanamo is in occupied Cuba, but legally and other ways.  In the US under most circumstances, the justice system releases you if you are not charged with a crime after a certain time.  But not so in Guantanamo as the WSJ explains:

“Elsewhere in the American justice system, suspects go free unless prosecutors file charges. In Guantanamo, the opposite is true: Detainees who aren't charged and are presumed innocent under the Military Commissions Act of specific war crimes nevertheless face indefinite detention because the Pentagon has classified them as enemy combatants.”

“Enemy combatants” is a handy term and doesn’t fall from the sky by chance.  Language is important it seems. Being “enemy combatants” or, as we are finding out a “terrorist” strips you of rights society offers to the population as a whole or rights that soldiers have when nations enter conflict.  British colonialism refused to give the collective term “rebellion” to those who fought its occupation and theft of their land as this would give them legitimacy.  The Mau Mau were terrorists not freedom fighters, the same with Irish resistance to 500 years of British occupation. The difference is significant as convicting a Guantanamo inmate of war crimes means the thugs at the Pentagon must prove it to a military commission beyond a reasonable doubt.  But with enemy combatants, all that has to be shown is that a “preponderance of evidence”  or with as the WSJ explains “a 51% certainty”  the accused “belonged to a force associated with the Taliban or Al Qaeda”.  As I point out above you’d have to arrest the entire US Congress for that but the statute of limitation has expired on that one conveniently. What al Qaeda is if it is anything at all is a mystery as any resistance to US imperialism’s adventures are “alleged militants” “alleged insurgents” “terrorists”etc.  Friends of the Pentagon are always “rebels”.

So the methods and practices in Guantanamo are not new.  Domestically, they are used in US prisons daily.  For example, Guantanamo authorities are suggesting that they will file charges so concentration camp occupants can offer some sort of legal response and a chance of leaving the place if they testify against each other. In the present hunger strikes in California prisons this is one of the demands, stop forcing inmates to snitch on each other.  While it has been proven that not very useful information comes from torture as people will say anything to put an end to it, getting prisoners to turn anyone in for anything in order to improve their own conditions serves the authorities well, it divides the population, increases internecine gang and racial warfare and strengthens the forces of the state. This is why the struggle for prisoner’s rights must include the right to have independent unions that can represent their interests. In the case of the above mentioned Mr. Barhoumi, they want him to testify against a fellow inmate considered more important,

Being more important than Barhoumi this man was not sent straight to Guantanamo but first to a CIA torture center in Afghanistan where he was waterboarded 83 times according to the WSJ. As with inmates in the US gulag, the human character is very strong as is the hatred of organized state forces and people don’t give up others easily. It’s not a question of taking sides here but even those we oppose have to be respected at times for their principled commitment to what they believe rightly or wrongly is a just cause.  Mr. Barhoumi is “willing to work with this system and plead guilty because it’s his only alternative to indefinite detention” Capt. Justin Swick, his defense attorney tells the WSJ, but he refuses to win his freedom or possibility of it by testifying against others which is the US government’s condition to set the process in motion, “He won’t help convict someone else in a system he believes is illegitimate” says Swick.

There are some decent people in this world. Swick points out that Guantanamo authorities refused to allow John Grisham novels in to the camp as they’re “problematic”.  I’ve never read a Grisham novel so I’m not really sure what horrific dangers one could produce for US authorities or how they threaten the American way of life. But I am tempted to read Mr Grishom whose response to Guantanamo authorities concern about safety and inmate care was, “In response to all their humaneness is to ask where waterboarding fits in.” adding that “Gitmo is a sad perversion of American justice.”

Apparently, the thugs that run the place have backed off on the Grishom novels for MR. Bargoumi, perhaps as a response to the massive hunger strike that is occurring there.  Barhoumi is pleased but will wait till he’s off hunger strike before he reads them. 

The  US state apparatus combines coercion, manipulation, incarceration and the most brutal violence in its war on the workers and middle class. Guantanamo is nothing new, not the exception when it comes to the treatment of the incarcerated.Along with this, racism, sexism and blaming immigrants and foreigners for their crisis, are all tactics aimed at weakening the unity of the working class. People have an understanding that to confront this war machine is serious business and a daunting task; the lack of mass protests at the war being waged against workers in the US is not simply due to apathy. Although we have seen some resistance over the past period and tremendous support for the Occupy Movement as well as lots of isolated individual struggles around the environment,  racism, police brutality, housing etc. , I think there is still a strong feeling among the majority of the population that there’s not much we can do, so there’s a sort of numbing to it all and a “get on with my life”attitude hoping the tide will turn.  But more and more Americans are drawing the conclusion that the tide will not turn so this mood can rapidly change as US history shows and an overconfident US capitalist class can and will make some serious miscalculations that will hasten this process.

*See Michel Chossudovsky: War and Globalization 

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Opportunity knocks (again) for BART Unions. Trayvon Martin murder is a union issue

Trayvon Martin. Caused his own death according to Florida court

by Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

As to be expected AFL-CIO and Change to Win leaders don’t have too much to say about the Zimmerman verdict and what I could find on the AFL-CIO website was pretty lame. I looked at the CTW website which while not quite so drab also had nothing on there about this defeat for workers in this country and for black workers in particular.  On the AFL-CIO page Randi Weingarten of the AFT issued the following statement:

 “While we believe in the rule of law and the jury has spoken, the implications of the acquittal are profound. It is very disappointing that a racially profiled, unarmed African-American young man wearing a hoodie can be shot dead and there be no consequences for the perpetrator. This case reminds us that the path to racial justice is still a long one, and that our legal and moral systems do not always mesh. The proceedings in the Sanford, Fla., courtroom may well have dealt with the criminal aspects of the case, as defined by Florida law, but we will continue to deal with the moral ones. As the AFT pledged in a resolution passed at our 2012 convention, we remain steadfast in our commitment to fight for laws, policies and practices that will prohibit racial profiling at the federal, state and local levels.

“The disposition of this case is the antithesis of what we teach our children in school—that the law protects innocent victims and that no one has the right to take the law into his or her own hands. Everyone’s child matters. We pray for the strength of Trayvon’s parents and loved ones in this difficult time.”

Lee Saunders, the president of AFSCME, my former Union says:

“AFSCME is calling for the Justice Department to immediately conduct an investigation into the civil rights violations committed against Trayvon Martin. We know that it will take federal intervention and a massive grassroots movement but justice and positive change is still possible.
Bottom of Form

“In the fight for justice, it is time to stand our ground. As we have throughout our history, AFSCME will work with faith leaders, community groups and civil and human rights activists to create a more just society for all.”

Ho hum! Reading this reminds me of Nina Simone’s words from Mississippi Goddamn:

Picket lines
School boy cots
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
For my sister my brother my people and me

Yes you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying 'Go slow!'
'Go slow!'

But that's just the trouble
'Do it slow'
Desegregation
'Do it slow'
Mass participation
'Do it slow'
Reunification
'Do it slow'
Do things gradually
'Do it slow'
But bring more tragedy
'Do it slow'
Why don't you see it
Why don't you feel it
I don't know
I don't know

Nina Simone

I checked the National Education Association’s website (NEA, the largest union in the country, and couldn’t find a word about Trayvon Martin and his murderer’s acquittal. I clicked on the link “Minority Community Outreach” and there was nothing there either. Like the Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden affairs where heroic individuals are being ruthlessly persecuted by the state for making the public aware of the violence, corruption and lies that are the norm for this government, Trayvon Martin is a non issue even on a page that deals with minority community involvement. This is as these issues are topics in every workplace, every coffee shop, every dinner table and drinking establishment.

And what does Ms. Weingarten mean by the “Rule of Law”. Laws are made by politicians of the 1% and in the interests of the 1%.  Would she say as a union leader in Nazi Germany that “we believe in the rule of law”? And what about the Jim Crow laws in the US Apartheid South? They were changed through direct action and violating the law not praying. One sees this term in the big business press all the time it means to respect laws that protect the capitalist class and their system, that’s what it means.  If those heroic figures that built the trade Union movement in this country had that attitude we wouldn’t have unions at all. We wouldn’t have sick leave or unemployment benefits, meager as they are; the UAW wouldn’t exist.  The Apartheid South would still be thriving if people had respect for the “rule of law”.

The union hierarchy is the only force that slavishly obeys the law except when it comes to dealing with their own members and the internal life of our organizations that they head.  Wall street crooks steal billions, politicians lie cheat and live off the fruits of bribery and the Union tops claim sainthood.  The bosses pass laws that are clearly against the interests of union members and all working people and the union hierarchy ensures they are not broken; anything to avoid a fight; send an e mail to the president and vote Democratic. They are terrified of a victory as it would increase expectations and inspire millions of workers drawing them in to activity after decades of savage attacks on our living standards.  Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is the trademark of the Union leaders atop organized labor.

Here in the Bay Area, a 4 day strike by Bay Area Rapid Transit workers galvanized attention for a

ATU members on strike

period.  Due to the ability of the BART workers to cripple the local economy contract negotiations between these two forces always makes headlines.  The bosses went on the offensive and demonized these workers in their media.  The union leaders as I explained in an earlier commentary have no answer to this as their general approach is that concessions have to be made. After all, we all have to share the pain, there is a need for “shared sacrifice”.

The decision to halt the strike for 30 days was a mistake as it is hard to get workers back on the lines once they’ve been taken off.  With a strike you either win one or lose one. The decision to end the strike for what is termed a “cooling off” period was in order for the union hierarchy and their political allies in the Democratic Party to make some deal that the members can accept, hopefully with minor changes that bring less aggressive concessions.  It is my view that they were forced to call one due to the anger from below and the pressure they were facing to let off some steam in case the pot boiled over. 

It is still not too late but the labor leadership will not act unless they are absolutely forced to from below or replaced. The anger in the ranks is significant for BART workers as they have not had a raise in five years but all workers have been savaged over the past period. There is a golden opportunity that must not be lost here.  The other transit workers that operate the buses have their contract up and could legally strike with the BART workers, they are also in the same union as the train operators, the ATU. SEIU 1021 also represents BART employees like station agents and janitors. The city of Oakland workers  also in SEIU 1021 have suffered serious cuts and can also strike.  Water workers are also in contract talks and their contracts expired at the end of May I think.

Unfortunately, despite a mood among bus drivers to support BART workers at a transit board meeting, the decision by union officials not to bring bus drivers out with the them was a serious mistake and made victory less likely for both. Both BART and AC Transit workers face aggression and acts of violence from the public. The same is true for teachers.  But labor’s response is not more policing. Increase policing never helps workers and the poor and certainly doesn’t help the most oppressed sections of our class. All the ills and pressure of society weigh heavily on public sector workers like transit, city, teachers and water workers as we deal with the public every day. Our response must be jobs for all, housing, education, urban renewal, wages and an end to racism and sexism.  This will strengthen us with the public and will unite the class rather than dividing it.  Unity is not an abstract thing.  What are we uniting around?  It has to be made concrete. We cannot win without building links with the communities in which we live and work.

A strike by BART, AC Transit and the City of Oakland workers would open the door to the transformation of the mood among workers in and outside the unions. You want public support?  Here’s your chance. Taking a major public stand against the Zimmerman verdict and against the ongoing murder and incarceration of black youth will get a tremendous echo in this community along with a call for community involvement and help to win the strike around such demands as:

No to the 1%’s austerity agenda

No more police, no more jails but a massive hiring and job training program under the direction of the unions and community organizations.

A $20 an hour minimum wage

Free public transportation for all seniors

Increased services in mass transit (especially buses) including for the disabled

Free public education at all levels, reopen closed schools reduce class sizes and hire one million teachers

For a national public health service

Organized the unorganized.

The money fro these basic things can come from making the rich pay, ending all wars an occupations and nationalizing the banks to suggest a few.

These are just a few small ways a movement can be built around such a strike that would undoubtedly challenge the 1%’s austerity agenda and drive back their offensive. The slogan should be No more business as usual, it stops here in the Bay Area, the home of two huge general strikes.  

No more Trayvon Martins—no more shared sacrifice. Jobs for all.

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Martin Bashir tells the truth about Trayvon Martin's murder

You can't put it better than this.
Some comments from Zimmerman about Mexicans from his old MySpace page.

"Some of Zimmerman's apologists make the argument that he could not possibly be a racist vigilante as he is actually half peruvian and a self identified Latino. Here is what Zimmerman had to say about Mexicans on his old myspace page, "I dont miss driving around scared to hit mexicans walkin on the side of the street, soft ass wanna be thugs messin with peoples cars when they aint around (what are you provin, that you can dent a car when no ones watchin) dont make you a man in my book. Workin 96 hours to get a decent pay check, gettin knifes pulled on you by every mexican you run into!”

 Note: we haven't verified the source of this other than facebook

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Zimmerman. Racism and divide and rule and the working class.

In a previous blog we explained how the racist Zimmerman got off for murdering Trayvon Martin. I would like to add to this. The Wall Street Journal today lists some of the events leading up to the trial, which of course according to it was a model for civilized society. It even gets round to praising Obama with his calls for calm. That is one for the books. The Wall Street Journal praising Obama.  Obama's role in this is despicable. When it happened he said that if he had a son he would look like Trayvon now he says the jury has spoken so that is that. Class enters here also. If it had been Obama's son then there would have been a different response.

This was a racist jury. There was not a single Black person on it.  Only a racist could conclude that a young black child walking home doing nothing wrong could be murdered and the murderer was innocent. This verdict also in spite of what the law tries to say points the finger at  Trayvon Martin. If Zimmerman was not guilty then Trayvon was. Somebody has to be responsible for the death of Trayvon. It was not an accident.

What a despicable lot these attorneys, the local cops, the judge, the jury were. In our home we had to turn off the TV we were so nauseated by the dirty methods of the defense, the phony stare of Zimmerman, the gleeful celebrations of the defense attorneys when the verdict was read out, and not a single sign of or statement from Zimmerman or his family in sympathy with the Martin family. Obviously this racist family thought their son had done a good job in killing this black child.   The judge would not allow the jury to hear the many many times Zimmerman called the cops to report what he said were suspicious people every one of whom were black. If this is not a sign of racism in the attitude of Zimmerman what is. This judge by ruling these out shows her racism also. 

The Wall Street Journal tries to arm its racist readers with some arguments to defend the verdict. It säys that "police investigators made mistakes including failing to preserve the crime scene or to widely canvass the neighborhood in timely fashion." It was not racism see just some "mistake" the cops inexplicably made. They would not have made this mistake if the shooter had been black. He would most likely have been shot their on the street. There was a six week delay in arresting Zimmerman. And it only happened at all due to the pressure of the anti racist forces in the country. The local chief of police had to resign the role of the local racist cops was so bad. These events prove that the local cops supported Zimmerman with the exception of the one cop who in the first day or two said he should be charged.

This verdict strengthens the racist forces in this country who think it is open season on shooting young black males.

But let us look at who runs this country in the context of the murder of Trayvon Martin. . It is run by the major corporations which are dominated by the mainly white capitalist class. Their system is on a major offensive against the working class. All the gains made by the great revolts of the 1930's and 1960's are to be taken back. At the same time  their system cannot provide jobs for all. Full employment would mean a much stronger working class and with this would come a powerful thrust from the working class for a bigger share of the pie. This ruling capitalist class do not want this at all costs. So through the Federal Reserve they manipulate interest rates and through this unemployment rates to keep sufficient numbers of workers unemployed to weaken the working class. In this they particularly target the black working class and youth in order to con many white workers into thinking this is a question of race not a question of policy by the capitalist class. but what to do with these millions of mainly black workers and youth for whom their system will not provide jobs. The jail them, the US has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's prisoners, or they shoot them on the streets to intimidate those they cannot jail. This is the big picture of why Trayvon is dead.

Malcolm X said you cannot have capitalism without racism. this is what he meant. The working class  have to unite against the racist capitalist system. Those who think they can maintain a racist attitude or can sit out the struggle against racism are making a bad mistake. In the last analysis racism and the divide and rule tactics of the capitalist class that go with it are aimed at the working class as a whole.

Sean.

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Travyon Martin murderer walks away scot free

George Zimmerman

The authors that write for this blog share this short statement in response to the Zimmerman verdict. We will write more as things develop over the next few days.

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

So the racist murderer Zimmerman walks free. The producers of this blog are enraged.  Think about who this racist murderer really is. In the past he was accused of domestic violence against a former girl friend. A younger female cousin accused him in the past of molestation and assault. This same younger cousin also said that Zimmerman's family was proudly racist against Black people. He was also arrested for assaulting a cop. This horrible creature murdered a young man because this young man was black and he could get away with it and he did. He is from a privileged background, his father being a retired judge.  Are we supposed to think this means nothing in America?

But it’s not only Zimmerman and his family who were and are racist.  So are the prosecutors who dragged in every racial stereotype they could and the judge who determines what can or cannot be allowed in to the case and directs the affair. The Jury was also racist. Nobody could have listened to this case, where a young man who was doing nothing wrong was murdered walking home from the store, and not seen it was murder unless they were racist.  This cannot be seen in isolation as young black men are murdered with impunity by the police in US society.  And of course the US capitalist system and its so-called justice system is racist and biased. No one actually believes that we are all treated equally under the law. Young black men can be shot at will in our society and they fill the prisons in droves.

The reason Trayvon Martin was murdered and his murderer got off was because Trayvon Martin was a young black male.

Some of us who write for this blog have black male grandchildren.  People sometimes do not understand why the parent or relative of a black male might be concerned when our young ones are out in the world. But it is completely normal for black folks to feel this way given the murder of their children by the police and racists and a justice system that allows it.

A white mother of five who reads this blog told us that she would be terrified to have a young black male child. She says she does not know how Black mothers have the strength to put up with the murdering and jailing of their children, especially their male children.  We agree but it is time for action.

There are numerous protests and gatherings throughout the country tomorrow in response to this racist verdict and there will no doubt be more.. They are all over Facebook and social, networking sites. If you work with black folks, if you drink with them, if you are their neighbors and even if you aren’t it is your obligation, the obligation of all people to get off their asses and come out for our brothers and sisters in the black communities across this nation as this situation develops.

Anyone that can’t come out in to the streets and to actions and protests in support of our black brothers, sisters and comrades to protest yet another racist verdict and the freeing of a privileged thug and racist killer of black youth we don’t want to hear you whining about property destruction and rioting should this occur given the anger at this travesty. Do not let the black communities stand alone.

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Sterilization: coercion is not consent!

Cynthia Chandler is the co-founder of Justice Now.  She gives FFWP permission to publish her comments on why sterilization coercion is not consent!  She asks our readers to sign on to the petition to stand up to forced sterilization.  We also published a previous blog about forced sterilization in India, offering women I Phones in exchange for sterilization.  This also is not free choice, it's coercion, it's more, it's violence against women.
                      ***************

 

by Cynthia Chandler

 My response to prison officials who say women in prison signed release forms before being sterilized: Of course. That is the whole point. In a coercive environment, people in power can make people who are dominated do or say anything, including signing a release form authorizing sterilization.

Think about it. Arrest a woman when she is pregnant. Cage her in a jail designed to be so unpleasant that it induces plea bargains quickly. Feed her nothing but a couple of bologna sandwiches daily. Shackle her with her hands behind her back in a paddy-wagon, where she can do nothing to protect her belly as she is jostled about, and then take her to court to face the humiliation and life destruction that is criminal prosecution.

Send her to prison where she will be stripped and body cavity searched, her changing breasts and belly exposed, inspected, and patted down publicly, daily, repeatedly. Give her very limited food, the quality of which is so poor, people try to not eat it anyway. Subject her to daily taunts of bitch, nigger, whore by guards. Subject her to doctors with a demonstrated lack of attention and skill that results in documented abnormally high levels of miscarriage and still birth. Some doctors will refuse to even touch her.

Have her stand in the hot central valley sun in 100+ degree heat for hours to try to get prenatal vitamins. Add continued taunts reminding her that she is an unfit mother--that she deserves to, and will, have her baby taken from her at birth. She will sleep on a thin egg crate mattress over a concrete slab--back pain, sciatica, irrelevant.

Have her be alone without family, birth attendant, anyone to give her basic information about how and why her body is changing, what it means, how to cope with birth. There is no birth plan. There is no information about what a birth plan is. Know that there is a high likelihood that she has survived child sexual abuse and violence and that having her body taken hold by her baby inside her, no matter how much she loves her child, likely triggers fear over loss of control and post traumatic stress disorder. Good luck getting prompt medical attention if she should start bleeding or get an infection. And if she should refuse even one suggestion made by an inattentive physician, she will know that getting attention later will be even less likely.

Those same doctors will be reminding her of how irresponsible she was to get pregnant, how she will be doing the right thing to agree to be sterilized, that to do so is to be a good mother/Californian/person. When she goes into labor, in a crowded cell designed for 4 people and now housing 8, she will have to try to keep quiet so as to not increase tension among everyone else caged in the cell. When she is near birth, and only then, will she be put into a cage, within a van, like a dog, and brought to a hospital by the same pool of guards who refer to her and women in prison generally with racist, sexist slurs. Until recently, she would have been shackled, too, unable to use her hands to keep pressure off her vagina or to find any comfort during contractions, or generally, to keep from falling in any direction. Her world may very well be a sea of pain, fear, and shame. She will arrive at her final destination--a rural hospital with less than 100 beds and a distressing reputation for poor care.

The whole prison has been renovated, except the wing for prisoners that remains as it has for over 20 years. The medical staff refer to it colloquially as the dungeon. She will know no one. And she will know that when her baby comes, her baby will be taken away, most likely forever. And then a doctor, with his own agenda of saving the state money and possibly ridding the world of people like her, says he can help her. He can make sure she never has to experience any of this pain ever again. It's a simple procedure. Just sign this form. This pain will be in the past and you can go on with your life. And a correctional officer looks on. And again, until recently, she would be shackled to a gurney. And she signs.

By 1970, even without the added pain of daily life in prison, over one-third of all Puerto Rican women of child bearing age were coerced during the pain of labor into "consenting" to sterilization during labor and delivery through government-led eugenic programs. Californian doctors similarly coerced tens of thousands of Latinas to "agree" to be sterilized during labor and delivery in Los Angeles in the same period. Early civil rights activists understood how these sterilization programs were racist, sexist and wholly coercive--the consent the government was so proud of obtaining, was not consent--it was the product of intimidation, fear and coercion. And that is why there are now federal safeguards radically limiting when and how free-world people can consent to sterilization surrounding pregnancy. And why there is a total prohibition on any sterilizations for the purpose of birth control on people in prison--because it was understood that any attempt at obtaining consent in that kind of coercive environment is unreliable at best.

So of course California coerced women into signing consent forms before committing the crime of sterilizing them. Congratulations. Shows what bullies they are. They know how to intimidate women well.

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