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SEQUENCE:79703
CREATED:20051031T200600Z
DESCRIPTION:    Information and Events surrounding the upcoming International Day of 
 Solidarity with Political Prisoners.  To celebrate the first International 
 Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners there will be a number of events 
 in the Bay Area (as well as in numerous cities nationally and 
 internationally.)  -There will be a Film fest at Laney College in Oakland 
 and New College in San Francisco on the nights of November 28, 29, 30, and 
 December 1. (More details available soon.)  - There will be a demonstration 
 on Friday, Dec. 2nd, from 12 noon - 2 p.m. in front of the Oakland Federal 
 Building, 1301 Clay St., Oakland, which is 1 block from the 12th St. City 
 Center BART station.  - ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3RD, THERE WILL BE AN EVENT 
 AT THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH (14TH & CASTRO STS IN DOWNTOWN OAKLAND.) This 
 event will feature speakers Kathleen Cleaver (former Black Panther Party 
 leader) and Alicia Rodriguez (former Puerto Rican Political Prisoner), as 
 well as other speakers, and dance and drumming performances.  Background on 
 the Day:  Annette "So –Ann" Auguste, imprisoned in Haiti. The Mamburao 7, 
 imprisoned in the Phillipines. Manal Ghanem imprisoned by the Israelis. The 
 Aachen Four recently imprisoned in Germany. Mumia Abu Jamal, Jalil 
 Muntaqim, Sundiata Acoli, Marilyn Buck, the Cuba 5, Leonard Peltier, Oscar 
 Lopez - all imprisoned in the United States.  Are any of these names 
 familiar? They are a few of the tens of thousands of political prisoners 
 held in prisons and jails around the world. The repressive governments 
 which incarcerate and criminalize them hope that the world outside will 
 never know their names or learn why they really are in prison.  The United 
 States has some of the longest held political prisoners in the world – 
 women and men who were part of the American Indian Movement (AIM), the 
 Black Panther Party, MOVE, the Puerto Rican Independence movement and the 
 white anti-imperialist movement, who were fighting for self-determination 
 and social justice in the sixties and seventies. Many were targets of the 
 FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO program which launched campaigns of 
 assassination, disinformation and frame-ups in order to crush people’s 
 liberation movements and social dissent. The same system which has kept 
 them in prison for over three decades criminalizes and incarcerates over 2 
 million people in the United States today.  Since September 11th, the 
 United States has greatly expanded the number of political prisoners and 
 detainees it holds inside its borders and around the world. In the name of 
 waging its "war against terrorism" and under the authority of the Patriot 
 Act, the U.S. has  ∑ Suspended international human rights laws including 
 the Geneva Conventions; invented the term enemy combatant in order to avoid 
 observing international law; detained hundreds without charges at 
 Guantanamo; kidnapped people around the world through its program of 
 "extraordinary rendition"; and escalated the use of torture from Abu Ghraib 
 to Baghram and Belmarsh (England)  ∑ Targeted Arab, South Asian, Muslim 
 and Latino communities with police sweeps, arrests based on false charges 
 of aiding terrorist organizations and accusations of gang affiliations. It 
 has used the threat of deportations to divide immigrant communities and 
 turn people against each other.  ∑ Opened an offensive against 
 progressive lawyers such as Lynne Stewart, Chowkwe Lumumba, and Manlin 
 Chee. Used grand jury witch hunts to reopen political cases from the 
 1970’s and harass young activists from the current animal rights and 
 environmental rights movements. Labeled all of these activists as 
 terrorists.  ∑ Slashed basic civil rights and constitutional protections 
 through such programs as random subway searches, surveillance of library 
 readership, no-fly lists and secret courts that approve wiretaps and email 
 surveillance of progressive activists.  ∑ Used the media to spread a 
 climate of hate and fear in which vigilantes such as the Minutemen are 
 promoted, hate crimes are supported, and people are encouraged to spy and 
 inform on each other.  As increasing numbers of people around the world say 
 no to occupation, coup d’etats, grinding poverty, brutal repression and 
 endless war, the United States and its allies are spearheading the 
 globalization of repression to crush all opposition to the imperialist 
 system.  To challenge the globalization of repression, Filipino political 
 prisoner Donato Continente, suggested initiating an International Day of 
 Solidarity with Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War. On December 3, 
 2005 people in countries around the world including Palestine, the 
 Philippines, Haiti, Brazil, Italy, Switzerland, England, India and the U.S. 
 will mark this day with rallies, marches and other forms of resistance. 
 Join us in making this day a step forward in building a global movement of 
 resistance to imperialism and creating stronger bonds between the peoples 
 of the world.  Freedom and amnesty for all Political Prisoners! Respect 
 International Human Rights Law!  End all torture!  add your comments\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/10/31/79703.php
SUMMARY:Demonstration for the International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners
LOCATION:Oakland Federal Building, 1301 Clay St., Oakland, which is 1 block from the 
 12th St. City Center BART station.
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/10/31/79703.php
DTSTART:20051202T200000Z
DTEND:20051202T220000Z
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