Arm The Spirit 13
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![The S /p"\: i pirit ———————————————————————————————————————————————— : : For Revolutionary Resistance [ Puerto Rico Libre! Wi tis e of A The it wehavefocussd, somewhat, on the colonial sicustion of Puero Rico, and the independence sruggle being waged o fre heilod from US. imperalin contol by the independensista movement nd the armed cladestine organizationsboth {nside Purto Rico nd onthe U.S. manland. As Jly 25 s celebrated in Puert Rico as ndependence Day and sround the work! ¢ 4 Inermational Day in Soldarty ‘ith the Puero Rican Independence Suvggle and with the Puerto Rican Polical Prisoners snd risonersof War, we are inclding i his ssu ierviews we have dooe with two Puero Rica Prisoners of War, Edwin Conés and Albero Rodriguez jmprisoned as members of the FALN (Amed Forces of NationslLibeaticn,a wel sntments by two independentsas on il for their involvement withLos Macheiros (The Machete Wild- en). also“discovered" Poeto Rico, then known as Boriquen. | 1 the mame of Spam Eolombos id claim 1o the sand and e nameditSun Jun B I 1511, afergoldwas discovered, i eceved yet amother name: Poerto Rico,or Rich Por. Sinc te deys of Columbus, esisance o ‘olonilst ggression and conrol has ben strong From the fiere ressance of the indgeoous Arawaks and ‘Tuinos againt the Spanish, 1 the FALN and Los Ma- chetero, Puerto Ricans have abways siuggled and ‘ganized o regen he an and soverigaty. I was i he 19601, tha groups uch s the CAL (Comandos Amados de_Liberacon) and MIRA (Movimicnto de Iaquierda Revolucionaia en Amas) beganto engagen miliay actions such s the bombings of US. busineses that exploted Pocro Rican workers 0 botels i S Joan which catered o the U, ourist Alan Berkman Is Free! OnFriday July 10, political prisoner Alan Berk- ran vas s from pie. Al o s i prison since 1985 serving & sentence relating 10 & Secirof s e scios carsed by he Rod Gucril Ressnce o115 miay msaions 1 coporaions vhic suppors perais word oo, ndthe 198 il bobing by e A Resitanc Unit n rspone o e U5, vasion of Grmada. Al ws st oe o the ix comrades involved in the Resistance Conspiracy Case. During this triad, Alan was seriously ill with Hodgkins’ Dis- o, b ncrty dedfom e advre lct of ooty A s o activ el orover vy year g b vt bohas e 120 i it ke 1 m exprced physicin, Al elpdrat woundd prsonrs e e AticaRebel lon i 1971, el d Naive Americans Woundd Kocea 975, ~ We send our wammest greetings 1o comade Al Beskonnt e it i o i prser of i R T—— celebrate the 500 ssiverary of hiogher | Columbus’s arrival-inshe New World, that in 1493 be | tade. I themid 1970’, the FALN emerged, callin for airiegy o niingll e ecessay fomsof revolution- ary srogale of th Puero Rican peope ino an effort 0 ‘oveturm colniaism through 8 rotaced peopl’s war fo independence. The FALN has carid ou s acions within the bordersofth Urited Staes; s s i has bocn 0 operate withn the metrpolian sres of the ncany colonil pover, wher millions of Puro Ricans eside, fcing condiions o coloialvolence, exploia- on and poveny. FALN actions were centered in New. York City and Chicago snd included atacks on banks, govemmentoffice,and polie stins. Likewise, the Macheteros emerged towards the eodof the 1970’s in Pueto Rico, md inthe words o ane of ts Tounden:"Los Machetern i cl. desineonganization formed i 1976 that uses anmed strgle o oppose US. represtion in Pucrto Rico” s acions have incloded the 1981 bombing of nine Nutonal Guard plancs which caused damage of 350 millon, rocket stacks aimed x US. counbouser, mnd in 1986, i it ac. iom with two other e clndestine organizaions; FARP (Anned Forces of Pogular Resisance) sd OVRP Or. pmizaion of Voluniersforthe Puero R Revola- +ion),the bombing of iy installtions 1o proest the. possible raiing of Nicaragoen conras i Puerto Rico 0 the beginning of commercial logging i the Pucrio Rican Naional Rain Foreet. Alough at thepresstime wmed esisance is s low b there e 18 Pt Rican Prisoners of War and. politcal prisoners mprisoned for being par o these ‘amed clandesine organizatons and e upport appe- rtuses. The United Saes government bas rpeatedly vioated the homan rights o hee Puero Rican poliical prisoncrs and POWs by subjectng then o brusal and ortaousprison condtions These aboses inclodesex. sl andphysicl ssauls,long periodsn olsion cls and control unitssndthe denis] of medicl care. . Luis Nieves-Falcon, coordinaor of Ofensiva °92. 8 campaign tofee the poliical prisoner ad Pris- anersof W - has captured he et of he POW"s when e wries thatthy “are foeled by the fac that they are people whohhave futhinhe valiant men and women who will never be anyone’s saves. They belive ia human valour and have fith in the right 1o froedom, in the recupertion of our homeland’s soversigny and n the conscious men nd women of Pto Rico. The POW’ are fully aware of the empir’s sae,but ar convinced that PucroRico’sighto independence i much greaer The POW¢ are ks convinced thatnthe earfture, we ‘will il b ogether i fee bomeland that, nspie of it currentcolofal status, will proclaio this ocencs ‘We s ATS joi n the just demands or independ- ence for Purto Rico and freedom fo all Puerto Rican poliical prisoners and Pisoners of War. Victory For T Thiry-four Mohawks charged in the 1990 Oks criss were aquied o July by a Quebec Superior Cout Juryafe five daysof debberon. Ina satemen, those charged satod h“ e verdict sccn by the Mohawks and thei alies 13 an admision by thejony thasthe soesinvalving lind nd juridicion st be addresid, no in the criminal cours, but by negotaton " Bob Skidders « Mahavk leader who west ‘ander thenicknare Mad Jp duing the criss, ud that e decision was one that had been de fo 300years: I our eoplehadbeen given consideruion a h begiming thenthre would be o fight oday.” “1didn’thave ny it in ysem ke his,bos ’ siad that the truth was rally told” said Joe David, another of th sccused Mohawks. 1 feel eally good sbout the verdict” ‘Withthe exceptionof hree who were charged with he Mohawks! assauing » pesc officr snd ntrfering with sn ares, ll e accused had boencharged wih paricpating in iot and abstracting polic andthe millry. In addition, 18 wereaccused of posesson of irearms for a danger. ous purpose. "The crisi began whea the polic stomed a Mo- ek baricade st up1o protet a gol coursecxpansion onto acre buria Land that was part of the Mobaw rndionalland ase. A police ofices was kiled n the id, hhoaghnocne s been chargedn isdeth Afee e police snack, & sand-off which asted 78 days re- subed inth captreof s number of Mohawks - many of ‘whom were i his ecet i, ‘Crown prosectorJean Pere Boyer, clling for & ity verdict had ssid that anyting less would send » mestage o the world the aking up ams ispermissible nd Canada’simage () could sffer s resul.](arm-the-spirit-13-junejuly-1992 1.png)






![Assata Shakur On Racism In The USA Deliversd st a meetng o the Organtzaion of Solldar- ity of the Peopis of Afrca, Asia and Latin America. Havana, Cubs May 8,195 Fist of al L would ke tosay it 8 great pleasre and 1 great honoos for me 10 be here today. | would ke othakthe Cubangovernment md the Cobanpeople for | theilong and consisint histryof sldarty end sopport for the srggles of African Americns nd other op- prescd people i the United Suate. | amsure tht | peak forthe vastmajoiy ofprogressvetinking pople.n e United Sttes whea | say tha for s, the b rvoluion s been shining example of freedom, socal sie, ‘0dof coursgeous sruggleaginst .S, Imperiaim. We a1 tuly graefl for th very pincipled stand tha the Cuban govemment has taken aganstracis, both s tionally and nermaionally. ‘Many of u i the Afrcan- Amercan commanity ekt became aquanied with the Cuban revoluion i 1960, when Fide Casroandthe nire Cuban delegation sayed inth Teresa ot in Harem, N.Y. snd becam the it d probably the nly, worldlederto say in s hote i predominately Blck and poorneighbourbood. Black and Thind World peopl nthe United Sses have epeatedly bocn the victims o persecation and poliical repression and we are deepy graeful 1o the Cuban ‘peoplefor giving poliicalsylumto activiss ik Robert. ‘Willsms and Hey Newnon o the Black Paher Pry. ‘Weare lsovery apprcinive of e vast sppartin Cuba hat poliical pisoners like Angels Davis tnd Leonard Pelir have received. At time when the Uniied Sutes goverment’s policis sround e world ar becoming moremilarieic, epresson nside e U.S. boder i 1 n the uprwing. Raciem and poice bality have been patof th US. reaity, bt they are now reachin lvels that havenever ‘boen known before. The case of Rodney King in Los Aageles is no an isouid incdens. Over th lat five years here have been uprisings or mass demorstrsions inevery major ity nthe United e potstng police brtalty and repression. Alhough there ar re also ‘hitevicms of polie butlty, blcks sndcther Thind ‘World people e the most freuent vicims of police violnce.In Aficn- America,Lutino, Native American and Asian communites the police hav a virual lcense kil Bach year,hundredsofpolice e invesgaied on charges f using excessive forc orof wanion rder, bt only & smal mamber are ever offcaly charged with ‘rmes andoalyutiny percentagesr evr found guiy. And even on those rars occasions when policemen are actually conviced of assal, orture o mrder,the vio- Iators seldom spend im in pison fo theircrimer. “The racis massmedi nd the cnersirmnentndus- ey acty condone this police eror by degicing Blacks ‘and ot Thid Workd people s violent crminals s by reating police violeoce s & pormal jusifiabl fac of e The message i repeted over and overn thousends of bl ways, implying that Blacks and cher peaple of coloursomebow deserve 1 be bestenor shot. Giventhe eaiy i poor and appressed commni- i i ot rprisingthat olice braalty riggered oprising in Los Angels. What s infactsrprisng s that more rbellions havenotoccurd. e plice chiefDaryl (Gats hascome underfiefr s racitpoliciessd acst. remar. When bis department was cicized because s large amkberof Blacks, pproximatly 20, had died 3t ‘aresultof police chokehold, Gates sated that e may be finding that in some Backs when » (retin] it applicd e veins o aneriesdovot openup s as s they o on nomal people.” Police rcism i such commen ‘occurence in L.A.tha thepoliceshowed vl hesiation n laughing and joking over plice adios snd compuaes about the beating of Rodaey and ober police bet- ngs,refring o King and other blcks e lzard orllas.Foryear. L A. SWAT (assau) eams have conducied massive sweeps of Afrcan-American a0d Latino communities,during which huge mum. | bersofyouths are foreed o kneel i o the ground ‘whiethe polce conductrandom searches, suppor: edly o combat drug and gang aciviy. I some Los Angeles neighbouthoods police have put up con- crte bamicades with polce poiad st ntrnces Signs reading "Narcotis Enforcement Area - Open 10 Residents Only” have been put up nd cveryone police suspectof being a gang member of 4 drug. pusher o use e rosinely stopped and searched. ‘Theeventin Los Angeies re repeted, lmost dentialy, throughos the U.S.A. Alough young Black and Third Workd males i thet tecns and weatis have been the main targets of police vio- lence,no one s safe. T Calfomi,polce broke nto s locked sprt- mens and sho a five-year-ld black boy who was playing with oy pistol 1o desth. The oficer who. shotthe boy climed thathethough hathe by ws man who was rying 1o shoot him. He was never prosscuid. Eleanor Bumpers, 6-yeur-okd black grand- ‘mber,was shotiodeath splicestempted evict e rom hr home because she was severa months bebind with bor res. Police claimed tha Bumpers atacked them, aliongh she weighed close 10 300 potnds d could baely move because she sffered from sevre anbris. Michael Sewan, 18 yearscld, was beaen 1 death by police fortbe crime of painting onthe wals of e subway. I anmp o cover p his deth, New. York City’s chiel medica examminer falified aviopey eports o three diffeent occasons - satin that b diod from cardin ares, bronchial pneamonis, ad then - ally, of spinal cond njury. The six police who were young childrn. Siaty-one homes were alo desroyed, leaving 253 homeless. Atough the group had commi. 1ed no crime, police offcals iisted the bombing 10 evicthem from the res, ating that they were radicals, ndesirables, nd maurlists who had to be removed from the aea by fore. i many tates,notonly bestingsbut various kinds of orare have become a common pracice, usally 1o obean a forcd confession. In Texas, Alabar, Califor- nin, and New York, poics have besn accused and con- viced of oraring prisoners with *Stun Guns” - baons hat can deliver 50,000 ol chage. These are just tiny sampling of rcint polce violence in the Unted Sute. The overall st are alaming. In New York Ciy, for example, minories ac- counted for 92.5%of police kllings in 1990 Ther were 41 peopie killed by policein 1990; 15 were African- American, 23 were Luino, and only 3 were white The US. Jusice Depariment repots that thre were 15,000 cases of police brtaity and exceiv foceinvstigaied ‘overth as6years. The Jusice Deparumenthas brooght only approximaiely 40 awivid charging police brotal- ity. In lmost all areas, i the vast oy of cases s acism and violence asicreasing, the U, govemment looks the other way. Racism has become fashionalle in the United ‘Staes, agely doe o the open hostlty and indifference 10theplightofpoorandhird workdpeopl by eh Reagan and Bush administations. Both denistratons have igorously opposed al Civil Right egisiton, sl pro- rams 1o belp e pocr, nd have severy cus bck funds sacd for eakh, educaton and socil welfr. By the begioning of the 1990s, most of the policies d pro- rams which had provided # snal amount of1d 10 the urban poor had been eliminsid. Boih Reagan and Bush ra polictcal campigns ‘which epreseased e nteress of rich, white Amerca. Instead of using overly racst ngusge, thy closked their racit appeas with hily code-words by opposing “quotas”,“specal intres groops” “reverse descimion- tioa", eic. I 1988 the George Bush campaign pid g amouns of anly o ren “Wille Horlo” eeviion ads ‘whichdircly appeled o while rcism. Wille Horton was Black man who, while relessed from prson an & furough, llegedly raped » white worman. Bush quicly aligned himsel withelemeots of the ar.rgh,seikling hisspeaches with uka-right thetoic I was under these condions that wite sprema- it groups proiersed in the U.S. Between 1990 and 1991 the nummberof htegroups i the U . rose by 27%. In 1990 there were 69 Ku Klux Kian groupe; by 1991 there were 7. I 1990 there were 160 neo-Nzi groups; by 1991 there were more than 200. There were 25 bias- elated murders n 1991, upfrom 20 i 1990, As 2 result of he ongoing, uninterupted rcist policisof the LS. govermens, opprested communites % in sne of crsis. D abuse, violence, crie,the AIDS cpidemic and poverty have wieaked haves on black an other third world communitis. These condi- tions make up the underlying cause for the rage and cxireme discontnea tha lod up 1 the rebellion in Los ‘Angeles sd other places. Poverty There are more than § millon omeless people comeny livinginthe United States,](arm-the-spirit-13-junejuly-1992 8.png)

![Interview With Women Political Prisoners In Chile On Tuesdy, December 1091, some 150200 peopl damonsiraled i Saniago, Chil,The demonsira i was held o the Day o Human Righs der the mai: “Againt the Chilan Sl For the Feadomof Paliical Priomesl” Th damonsrtion was techwiclly ilega, since e crgaizrsdid ot wishiorecive e S s permis sonfor o march beforehand. i lanned tht march would sirt from two iffrnt ploces at 1 pom. and hed for Moneds (he overmment palace). As soon s people egan forming Jorhedemonsration, he polic arived and sood with e club i from of hee passing o lefets nd hokdingbamners. Wikt anyreason,cthr than wisin o hinder he demo beore i even began, the polcefred a water cannon ("Guanaca") down he i tree,hiting not onlyhe demanstraiors, bt pasers.byas wel.Demn- Satos responded with s and moloovs. Te up. pased hrowe of the molotew which st the “Granaco” Wt canon onfire s buialy betenand aen 0 hospi. The common march o the Moneds palace was abadoned since ihe amber of derontrtors was 50 smal o insead, mal bands o ecpe esded fr the uticemiiry. A regulr damonsrion s o longer possble, as people had alrady been dispersd. But bout 0 eople cssembledinfrot of he CODEPU (the polical prisoners” sugport group) building nr the Jusiceminisy. Tey showed stogans ik (Todas I ressPoliicas-prsene” "Alpoliial rinsersare her with ) and Haber,hberlos deechos . e, irar s resos,casiguaalirand” (Tt wit andse, humanighs will s h rons and et the poliical prisoners e ") The cops orderedall foregn. Crstoleave hearea-theyprobably aniedno winesses o it was 10 follow. They “lad ther o the ezt iirsecion, axd wen th foeigners e o gofr- her, ey were pushed nio ope wfic A a il conroniation, ey crosed e svet. Meawhi,some ofthe demonsirtos risdioseckrefue inhe CODEPU ffce, bt th ortar wordd’t et hminthe uing S0 hen 10 pecple wee btenand s, The cps hen entona cialrampageinth s iy, infl i e, firing tear gas and beating people. A mobile unit continu- ly paroled the ars in v tofo, b, and emomtaors. T wentonfor e s andmvolid ot he i curyforces. On aceoutof th sl o of eaple, o commo cions could e carred Ot 0 ot actons ware v nd sponaneos. Tt e conerence.whchwas o b¢ el onh Pl e rve ook e The backou 0 his damontration s he i oo poiicat prsoner. There are il 60 manand Vameninjailwho werepriscnednder e (Pincches] ictorsip. Te women are orgnised i o wamer’s Coluciv i the S Domingoprisen nSaiag,and e memare i e “Carel ablic in Saniog. e demonsirtors ware acing it the Chilean St hich contnesio dein perins who od siugsled Spainthe dctrshi, and which om0 vilte o ighi and sy owt o, Thy s the 20cald democracy which capres new prsonrs, ccordance it th new v Terorist Lw, who e mmbersof revolioaryorganistions,a whichwill it oo e 0 ol risors, d which i i b oo, a8 specily h e i Marel Rk The Chian S b ot changed s e icethe lecions of o s ago. The oy of ecnciaion Yo nad een drced gt he pecpl ot those responilefor he dicttors, Th goal of e Decam. ber 10 demonstraion was 10 maskthe St s reaiy, | Jor example: the secret service has merely been sub. ‘sumd ino the milary; the neo-libeal economic pol cis are coninuing, and thenew fnace miniter under Aybwin seems more lieral [in o clasical, economic sense -] tham i predecessor ader he dicalorship; ew antiterorit commandas are being formed: mili lary spending s up 30%, arc e amberof arabineros has aiso increased; and in the sphares of jutice, the [ ———— iy oo e e s oot nown he et sision, e ety ek Pk i vsion v bld o Dcenter 18 e wamek st SoneDonbi S ol i [y Sy oy i st oot oot e ey et T e s s oo ot P e 37y ol wi v i i o e Howpens et Losro ok o s s - s o s e il b o i o e eemeess e e 08 i e 4 S g ek S | T e v e | o [ — s onir tieronsi i s o e s ol 1 i e b o oo it oo pes i 3 sl PC il et n I ot i st o e bt | anti-terror law violations and weapons offences, has. [ drhemtdrek: er e s e o coonses et S Dorigs e o | Leonora- inhospilal since December 10/91; anMJ | s o s s 8. L e S 990, ek o ‘What s your presentsituation bere Inthe rison ke, ‘and how did you reach these conditions? Cecela: Our presen siuaion is the reult of long irugals o each decentcondiion. Ou atos s ol cal prisoners was mach harder o rainain under e dicatorship, i fact, it prciclly did’t exis. And every peiion we submited fo schooling orsports was wmed down. To ge these things, we had o carry out actions. ‘Sometimes we weresuccessful, sometimes we weren’, By the time of the end of the dicutorship. We had achicved some improvemmens, ike 1 b in & prson for polidca prisoners, like the one we’r: in now, Sanio Domingo. After the civilian govemment 1ok power, hingsremained the same. There’s e bt more “re. | dom"asfar ascondiions inside go, ke enghening the visiing day, more activiis, visit from childrn every | day,general viiors hre imes a week,and the right 10 receive pecialvsitors every day. We dodifferent kinds of jobs, crafiwork with copper and lesther, lieature, dance classs,and macrame. So we have los we can do, including computer lessons three tmes week, 5 ime. passes quickly. Patrica: Like Ceci sid, we achicved cerain “free- doms”,but ponetbeles,hings reharderfo usnowthan during hedicuaorsip. AL that e thre wasadictior- Ship whom we could stuggle aganat. Bt oday, two years aftrthe peopl voted in new govermen, we are Sl held a5 politcal priscners, and that’s & diffcuit Valentin: And snober hing, which hink s imporuant hatppl nemationally eamof, s ha we re tortured prscners, both nder the dictsorsip and the democ- iy, And the ias, o athr he law suts, which wenk before the coun Conceming human. rghts abuses, achieved nothing. What’s mor, some people respon- bl fo torur escaped going on il shogiher. Plesse describe o u the prison conditons under the dicatorship, and what aspecs havechanged fo you. Valentin: During the dicaorship thre e prisoners ‘who have bee njal mor han 10 years, and some of us have been infor 5 or 6 yeas - we were moved between diffeeot i, Firt we e in womea’s pison, which was very sl regulaied and repressve, espcially for the poliical prisoners. Then, because of iieratiooal | pressure, we were incorporsted into & men’s prison. ‘Alhoughallhe women here were pliical prisooers, we ill had 10 foar for rape nd physical stacs from the male social pisoner. Then, afe isuing » seies of demands, ud wih pressre from inermationa human vights organizations, we were pt in i prisc i Jan ary/B8.Sincethen we’ve boen her, in Sio Domingo, ‘whichdiffr alok romoer prisons, I s bigoldhouse, used specifcally for . That has improved ou lvog. conditons, s fa s sccomodatons g0, but ot the stte of our lock-down. The judicial condidons, which we have been sobject o, bothnow and daring he dicutor. ship, arounjot. Belinda: And snoths thing that needs 0 be aid regard-](arm-the-spirit-13-junejuly-1992 10.png)
![ing e condidons,especiallyfo imprisoned women, is tha every time we sart a movement 1o demand more space, we gt punished. Thatnialy siredhe stesion of e prison’sdirectors. Forexample, they thretened 10 ke away the guaranteed rightofthote comrdes, who, forexample, come isybeis mprisoned comvades i, 10 Vst 0 then they’dloe he abiliy 10 se tei com- rades. Weaso gt punished with geeralbancn visis. Some things we. did achieve, however, was the ability 10 have doctors and peychitrits visit That has ensbled s 10 hold some son of dislogue on prison siutions. This sision ha ld t fumilsl dsiniegra- tion, for example. This disiniegraion bas, among olher hings, health side-ffecs. And oven prychologoical helpcan’tundo he efecs o e, The docors, which ‘wehave now, e very rustworthy. This has ben ganed. bothhrough our acivies and rough the sppartf the socialorganizations who exert pressure on our behf. Gladys: naditiontothe disstgration o h amily for thote of us who have chikdren, here is an orgnizaion dedicated exchusively 10 this. Tha’s cracil, because children also have o lve through the side-effecs of tone. The PDIE s n organization which offes ey- chological help, pdiaty, and medicin. Patrica: Something else w have achieved i that com- ades are now abie to complee thir schooing ere. We havetwo comrades, who ar now e, who jo Fnished theis midlevel education. Ove groupintended 10 iody socology a the wniversity leve from inide. Unfor- il we coulde’sdo this,becusse there was & lack of profcssors. Botwith his ction, we succeeded i furher developing ourelves. Howi i that ot prisomersarenow out,while youll e st beng held? What cluse inthe Lex Cumplido ledto this? Patrica: That has 1o do with Bow the govemment has answeredthe problemn of poliical pisoner. That’s why. here weredifferent laws 0 dealwih the whole roblem ofpoliical prsoners. Thse wereheso-called Cumplido Laws. Atthe cud, everyting was mare complicaed,snd only few comdesactally gotous, sine the govern- ment viewed the problem a3 udical, ot politcal. So ‘what happened next? During th ast year of the diciator. ship, nd even now, hey solve things acoordin 1 their ‘own nteress. Andi’s th sam people: he judges now. ar e same ones there were then. In other words, athough the govermment changed hands, the jodicial sysiem did not. So tha’s why some prisners got out soones thanothers. But thenthere’s judges who hand oo indictments agans us. In my cse, ree,aod Valetina ‘g0 another on usta week g, andshe’s b in il for S years now! Thar’s the generl sitution. Things have otin worse, more miserable Thre’s sl he possiil- ity once the wials are Fially over, o win freedom by means of a pardon,or by anoffer of exile. But L ink s diffcuhtoprodict There ar o many diffrencases ke Miriam Ortega’s forcxample. She wasinprison for 10 ‘years. When hr ria ended,she was pardoned. But a5 You can see her il took 10 years. Valentin: Furhermore, wht th posibilyof reedom for cerin pisonersof the dictatorship meant s being leased under waming afer the tal was over. The punishments they got weresmall. This was on group. Sull thers received pardons,once he wials wee over: ‘And then there’s us, those of us that are lef, unlocky ‘cnoughto il uve opencases. If wegobeforeaprogres- e judge, then we may gainour frecdom. Butif we gt arigh-wing judge,one fromthe dicatoshipperiod then ‘wewill e deniedu freedom. Soit’s l amatierf fck. Bt sopports the mpression which the govemment and the couns ar giving tthe moment,namely rlesing & centain mumber of politca prisoners. And his st violaing the sipulations of thelews ‘which were pased i he partismient. We baven’tye o our chance fo & eleae wnder waming, But in this ‘ouniey, the mechanim ’ urgent. Hom doyou al bope (0 gaia your reedom, and what are your means of struggle? The men, for example, began bungerstrike withthe demand of “lmmediate Freedom!™ Tell us something about your acivites. Valentina: Yoo see, we were invlved in the hunger- ke, whichlsied 23 days, andthe porpose ws o draw auntion 10 the matier e again - 1o make the pubic aware of the fact that there are sl poliical prisoners from e dicttorship perod.In Janeofthis year(1991] ‘wehada second ungesrke. Thefirstone wasin March, and it ased 19 days. All these acions, an things ik prson ccuptions which we did kong withoursoppor- e, were and il are designed 0 put pressure on the. CRNATONAL Ntou PARITY FORALL WOMEN IN JAHL govermment 10 give s ou elease under waming snd 10 spood upthe ral, o gran pardons,and some comrades arecontidering exile 113 posibleopion. Al of these posabies which the government agred to discus but which theynevercnce disucssedunil June of 1991]. ‘The ungerstrike esliedinsome comrades aving theis ral poeded up,some gained thir feadom, and some now have the possibilty o a pardon. For us it was ike this:f we donotbing, we’ll e agai. Our main denand s frodom based on the amncsty mechanisms which are i place. Tha means, fhey say they’re actlly going 1o wrap upa case, h they do 0. The govemmment is in 8 posiion 1 pu pressure on the judges based on the ocrees. B if theres o pressre xered cithernation- sy oritematonaly thenthe il go very slowly. So ‘youcansee thenthis s cerly oltcl probleas. When he goverament sees that there re people mobilizin, exering presure, and making demands,hen they have o cither negocai o put pressre o the judicil sysem 1o make soe the mechanisms are functonin. Belinda: The question s ot asked, bow will we adjisk ounelves in socety, should we gan our freedom. For thoseof s il prison, we have seen how comndes | ‘who have been elessed have had diffculies on the ouide, 10d we’l hav 1o desl with these probems ourslves. There s 10 many tings sbou curcharges, under the Ani-Terrorist Law td weapoos vioaions hat willtfectus indily lfe and prevent s from fnding, ‘work. You want 0 be it inagin, bt you can’t,becanse o the ne hand there’s no jobs,and o the ober hand becaus is logiscally 30 difficl now, because you don’ have s home, you can’sdevelop yourself o sudy, nd you see yourself as marginalized. That’s snother point hat we addressed i he hungertriks. Gladys: 1 think i’s more than his. Fising back oo society i alo diffcult prychologicaly. Comrades who have been in prison for more than en yearsgetout snd have o make o n s vally diffeent sciety; hir iver outide were soddenly stopped, nd now they are back out, and hey e how things ave changed, e former friends e no longerhere, and the condiion are ol ifferen. They e havetoreadspttothis, od, s were, sart anew again. Notonly s fnding work diffcal, but just adjoting psychologcaly i s well Forthose com- des who are mothrs, here’ he problemn of coming 1 {erms with e children The chidrehave rowa up snd have vy differetlivs of e own. Relaionsbips with th iy and with e parner will ave sagaated. This s realy iffical sitsation. What do you think of the possibilty of exile or 3 ‘pardon? Wouldw’t pardon have to be tied with 3 Fenunciation? How doyou all view his as pssibily of gaining freedom? ‘Cecella: Well, s forvoluntaryexle, tha’s omething we v ejcied utrigh. We tink ha we have th igh 1o Jive o cur own county,because ur siruggle was & just ‘ne. We shouldhavebeen releasd n March 1990 [when Ayl ook power - cd. myself umed down “volun- ary"exile. They established heboundaris ealyon nd ‘ur opton for freedom s waiin for th caes o be over and hen o discuss the possbilsy ofan arvesty - hat’s e only way we ec of gining ur reedom. Thereare very individoal matiers of conscence 1 be dedt wilh ‘when considering whether o 20 10 ccept “voluniary” enle, Like in Paica’s cae, because hr fsnce is in Belgiom. Bot she doesm’t wan 10 go- S0 you se, we arc confroned withsome very diffcl problens, ke with her, ber parner and comrade is outside of the counry. ‘Andhecant earm, orh’ll e arested. And o he ot hand, she does’t want o lave ber county. That’s 3 iton with 5o esey soluon. She’ll ave o decidefor berself whenthe time comes: o say and los ber parne, o b reunited with him bt 0 leav hercounty behind. ‘Valentina: What we havesiruggld for i notonly 1 b recogazed a politcl prisones, bat 1o to have cur sruggleagaios e dictoship ecognized, hat we o3k on fomms of simggle which were revoluionary. Apart from our own efforis, we have o thank th iniemations] pressure which belpd o end hedicttorship. Ourlegi- mate right o form 4 essnce has ot yt ben reco. nized. What’s mor, hey degrade people with ulk of things like pardons, volunary exile, and the Cumplido Laws. The goverment rais us ike aw beeakers. They ook st us ¢ f we have done things which must be punished; they dont realize hat we had o aliemativ. When the government changed bands, ey did’thave {he will power o grant s oue rights and recognze us 35 policalpisoners. They parialyrecogrized s, bt hey fuiled 10 recopaize the most sigificant pa, and the ardest forus,samely hat weare sl npisn. Theyare recogaizeda politca prisoner aginsihe dicaorship, bt this s not sutomaticaly e o e freedom. ed ] We aren’t in the business o asking for concesions, o wriing papers and secking i We demand freedom aod e righ o lvein Chie, now. But th govemment o stcks to s mechanisn, and acts a5 i her’s po hemaive for us. We have accept these means, be-](arm-the-spirit-13-junejuly-1992 11.png)
![‘cause we donhavethe strengthto develop any alierm- ive o ha’s why we have 0 addrss th realty of the Curplido Laws and the ias. B these are realies ‘which we are not in agreement wih, especialy 5 Belnda: The same goes for e qesion of vluiary el ha’s emeing wed’ gre with, bt here’ s oo aemive. Tt meas cceping the fac a ither by o yououf e counry.rthey keepyou il You bave o choose betwen on o the et Youhave 10 reive e probiem it he coufioes f e Cu. pideLovs Avoe ing st he Complin Low 0 el egilnive o tht o adress . ey i e ’ igifcnt ht ey are ot conered with i, ey rig us to il but no 4 people who svgeled agint e dcmorsip o make hanges i i perodin ‘hich we v, The Camplido Law s ot pused wilh hiinmid, bt rber was s s e soaionto the prone e, whic fo he govemmens mesnt boh il md policlprisoners. ‘The wormen have been on hungerstrike sincs Decemn- er 91 Which women are these, and whatare their demands? [We do aot know the outcome of this hus- gersrike - o] Ester:Firs I’d ke o say thathere are sboutT0polical prisoners in Chile who were arested durin the democ- cy. Inthe penientay i Seniago,there are 40 com. rdes, and that ave to ot p with bad conditions nd violene from the gutrds. Some have received desth threts. As for the women, thre s the case of Marcela Rodrigue, whoisis the prisnbosptal. She s sninjry ‘which hs basically made hs an imvalid. This i from bullelodged inhervericbrae Othercomrades are being imprisoned in San Miguel. Ths is # man’spriscn, and they had 0 be imafered on accouns of sexualasass. Inttal, there sre 9 of s, 2 of whom havebeen raped. We have ll been orared by e avesigative Commisson, ‘which s 1 special police group. We bave al boa tor. ‘red, bl he govermment acsdea. e goveroment won’t recogize us as poliicl priscners, bot sl here: arespeciallawsthat sy only 1 u, ke the wespons laws, and the Anti-Teroriss L. On December 9, we began s new, unrefesbod hungersrke. We demand the eleas of Marcela Rodrigues on homaitrin groands. Thesocond demand s h rogrovpment o ll e wormen bere in Saoio Dormingo in Seniago. We also demind 1o be recognized a politcal prsoners, capturd during the dicatorship, and we alo demand the frvedom for all poltcal priscners. Tell us something more about Marcea Rodriguer’s ealth conditon? Ester: Marcela bas been i the prson bospul, in & egolarcel,for yearnow. She has noview o the oiside from hercell On bsic humanirian grounds,she should ot be in such conditons. We’d ie 1o se he relesed, 50 thatshecan be ehabilitsed. At presca, he has aly basic conditons. Bus she neads specia condiions in- clding physologial herapy s that he can e rehabili- 1ated. What Mcela demands i, if she cannot be re- eased, tha she aeast bave b ovn,rusted physicans. ‘Aod she also demands conditons which st leastallow et some feshair ‘Marcela has received deaththret from he gards. The Pniteaceri [where Marcela s beld-ed ) is 3 ‘man’s priscn, ad it llows o fee chice of physicant. Not only Mcel,bat also ber whole amily have been thresiened. They have found dead nimals ke cas and dog n their yard at home, an 0 his is why Marcea secms o g worse each week. A wek ago, she hadu seious break down. She will jin fully in the hungerstike, but she ‘would prefer 0 dic in hungersirke tha to die n the conditons in which she presenly ‘Marcelahas bl i her spine, 50 she s paraly parayzed. She has o control ver some o her bodily Tunctions. What she candos speak and move her bands, nothing ele. ‘The government makes a distinction betwen prison- ers ofthe dictatosbip and prisoners of the so-alled democracy. The present bungerstrike only Invalved the prisoners of the so-called democracy. Wh are your o, achangs, nd apons of o 5 ‘Cocela: We, s political priscners from e dicatorship, recopnize them s polical prisoner, we suppor ther and are imslidritywit thir acions. Ao ’s imporant o note thatthey re ool rarly ecogaized a poliical prsoncrs. But i general they aren’t. Thatis herpresent emnand. We see this s legitimat, 10 they desrve our support nd soldaiy, and we r ready o niiaie various achvites o suppor ther acton. Our primary means of support will be public declaraions which sappor their demmands. They are a part of the dossir which we bave sent ot intematonaly, nd in this we describe their \estmonies tnd theircurrent sisston. ‘We gave the impeus for murals n walls in San- tingo, and, i the opes that people will recognize their ights, we mde & pumphlet which was disibuted in acighborboods nd 10 organiztions; these are ur forms. ofupport And we have sked hose orgaizatons which support us o ikewise supporttei activiis. They are prisoners of this perod. AL the begianingof the hunger. ke, extemal commitice was fommed o sopport them. We ikewise suppor this exiemal commitce with resource materials. And we hav taken up he intems- tional sideoftheircampaign. How things o from bere depends o how the movementdevelops,and we’llhave 01e2 st what frms ourcomtinuing sapport cantake on. They have asked us o it leiers i thejustics minisry andothe prison sdminisraion, expressing heirdemand 10 be regrouped n this prson. ‘What formsof support are thre on theoutsde? How s the external commitie pt together, and what s s Parpose? Arethere partsofthe social moverment, po- tkcal groups, o parties which support your srikes? Ester: Theextemal commitio i 8 ro0p o rends snd alles of u all who support the hungerike, among. others the “Velcods Motherr”, and s the commitiee furhr develops, otber social orgnizaions will suely o, Bu tha’s the case o the momens. Dostatements sbautthe bungerstrike sppear in pub- i, that i, n the media? Ester: Yes, some media do covr the bungersrike, and o Monday th press confrence ootsde the prisn wes prevened from happening. Today, on Frday, s press: conference was given outside the Peitenceria. All the discusions wer sbout Marcla. Sh s the spoksspersen forthe bumgerike. What has the government’s reation been 1o your bungerstrike? Belinda: They’ve sid absoltely noting, | don’s hink. that bodes wel forus. And s | i, the sif i une- freshed,so we’re ot expecing 1 reach ourgoal i just fow days, and that goa is Marcel’simmediat release 0d regroupment in one prison. How reslistic are you about your demands belng oing to be difficut o reac his gou, eIt l depends onte level of suppart which the comrades receive, Pressure, bothfrom inide the counry and intemationally, coukdhelp 10 pus the overmment o release Marcela onhumaniaran grounds ndbecauseof herphysical conditon.There are ifferent facors which play o his. So he fundumenta issue ereisf people willupport heacion o reach hi gou. Marcla’s coniionof being it forpisonhas esuled i many iniemaional campigs. For exampie, big campuign ha developed in Frane, and there re lso effos being made in Sweden and Belgium andin ol countries which I can’t remember. If she s special ‘conditons o that she canrehabilsie erslf as much s possible - then she will make progress. Her progrss dpendsonbermedicalcare,carewhichshe s ot gting at preent. The longer hings are beld up, the more ifcul b recovery willbe. Tha’s why ber feedom i s0necessey, 50 she can go 10 ancther couniry where she can gt adoguate weaument. I sh remains i prison, she will ot heal. She needs, at the very leas, & minimal improvemeat in bt conditions, 1o tht she can car for herelf,because right now she’s oaly dependent. Belinda: Like you st id, Cec, ntheealercampsign for Marcels, the govemment was toully unseasibi. That’s why is 50 important that the suppon for present action be 0 much sronger. Gladys: And ’d ke 1 poin ot that these conditions for Marcla which we retalking sbout are merey forher survival. | don’ think they are tying o help ber be rehabiliated. They wanttokeepheralivetosucha degree that she can b i s 1o be detained. ‘ot thi bings with it 8 ot of diffculties and emotional and physcal problems Because sh s st much srength, she s gotien s whol sris of wounds, o account of erlack of rengih, nd hisjust makes b Twice she nearly died from n infecton. Thar’s ‘why wetink it would be good, 0, i’s fundamentalthat she b given ber freedom 80 that she can receive care. Andihen she could develop bi. Thisiscrcil, because it 40 had forher o se heref degeneraing day by day o s baby. "And that’s what she pracically s s he moment. ‘Cocella: Well ’dlike o ok you, o0 behalf of the collciv, for giving us the opportunity o discass cur siaton, sod o complain about ou ontinved deention, 010 make call 0 itermational rganizations o con- tinue 10 ask for our relesse and 1o support the new gemeraton of poiial prisones. They should receivethe “best conditons” possible during tei detetion - the bestcondion in piton whichhey shouk be reunited in. Forthemandforutalike, who find oursevessillin prion today, i’s crucial to support the pettons for egroupment beter conditions, and recogition s polii. cal prisoners. And i ourcase he presure st be kept o010 demand our freedom! o Angehsigen o #56) coninued rom page & Al means of sggle have been rescted snd recog- nized. The comrades can itegrate thenselves in the Wwork s 00n 45 possible, and mostimgerantly the U.S govemment has ot achieved s purpose of desroying. the Puerto Rican revokuonary movement. “The sruggle consinues unil the il victry rom Libertad Updat, April 18, 1952)](arm-the-spirit-13-junejuly-1992 12.png)




![e pover nd i e e word i Ty e o of "9, who e amcxaion o the fomer DDR by We Geman wh ey n s Shaie o iy, oe which b g i he Ociber Revolaion, b come 0 1n . Nonshless, we (o 1o icuvionof i oo b hisryof ourovn struggle - of its strengths and weaknesses - and to come up il new orcnton Wit our acions, we aaght o begin o rse coerpover o below o s dikcursion i re-orientation around this situation, which had greatly Incesad th okl conrdicins o givenrio a0 i, Nonebeless, we could ct bk hvugh s ofpoveriess o e sgnation o e v {or ofcpealimwhich hadgipped e vy pecple e oot oo moin. Tt s precilyour st action which made this mon e 1o ur, the wack oo Robwedder, Wath this o, wenervane nm ey new socil i, one wich arse ferhe socasinof e DDR I i s o hinde the march of cpilem o the former DR s 1o alow 151 cot s with hes Pl gl ther Now we el hat o cometo s ommen Sl from o oftwo il s snd st of cxpercac akes o gra deal of discsion s wnder- sanding laming rom e snodber’s e hisories, 5410 e go forward gt in aking » coutr pover G coue ther wer ety of peole who - porcd ur acions, b s s bardy sard sy incuion or el i s orgmizaioal g, nor ey psh the g power” o sy comer. Beraoe o al s, w e s bk 0 come Wi new deperars poi. Weaeodancpendcanion s ocodtons nd rctaions i order o G o with nw hovgh 224 propouls for devloing process of hange. A ek s meas eaming o ovahiney sossnt repestie e ik, ot rng gl oo cxperences. We o hatthre re comrades wh i o dicionsbeweenou et i Al d e carod Siumion,conderng o smple, the sclaing war i th Kurih eope, hich the Tukish st s Vaging with Geman weapons snd Geman ey hereisroqesionpatesnc othe plicisof Grea Germany, both from within 4 b, s e ey necomay o i iy bt o X oces o dacuion. Bt e el ths A st o v i proces i e "ocome up i e oitof dputar, weeed < common,do foundsion aying dcamion, S glov chines v global s ket mcreasing e popl deemed ok e by capital and who no longer have any means of exis- poople who ar being forced 1o the fringes bere i Grest Gemmsay, pecple who are secking # new socalralty ‘with aman crtcia nd who ejec the vales tnd ol ogy of apialism. “Thehistoryof decades ofscia orentontowrds capial bas alicnted peope from ther lves. Fom ti, d fromhefaiur 10 et anycxistingaliematives,we. can see why racistand st vioence has increasedher. s a way o duling e brsalityof day-to-day Ife. By not creting groups consisting of diffeen kinds of people who can work together 1 solve the common problems facing them dily, taking these problems in haod and struggling aganst them, what we have soca appen in ur society i herse of destrucive ad sl destracive forcesand incrased fuscist mobilzations. Isupioeveryone who does not want obecrushed. by the powerof money to develop new social iruggles ‘which come from the peopl themselvs. I this, w see the posuibilty of creaing o relevant social counter Bt the development of this s also & part of our responsibilty o all those people around the workl who ar sroggin for change and 0 al ppressed poopies, bocausi’supto s hereiose o i hat rea ‘work-poltcsdon’ o unchallenged t home, b raber atther i socal consciousmessht expresis ol ity with other peopls and which resists e ruling pow- ers. We have o tan & new socil movement in which people can find » emuine socil perspciive and seethe. ‘wortlesmess o the capais sy temand it resmentof s worh A movement withnew content nd vlocs, ‘one which canmakeconcreechanges -becanse hse are. ‘¢ gouls whichcan b ptoff il “ate e revolution”, Withour comemanique of 104, very long huse of our history came 1o an eod. This was our decision, because we want 1o see 3 proces of reflction and - orintationonou side- tadnoing o do wit e ate. “This stte s sought 1o destoy the RAF nd the prsoners romthe RAF a the resisancefo th st 22 ‘years uing ol e meansavailble o . The e failed, a0 with tis in miod, we nered i new phase. I the stae chooses todisrup his new phase, then i will b up. 10 everyone o decide bow to react, snd we won’ttake responsibilty for the consequences. ‘We have sttt mporiant cormponentof s new rbuilding process mustbe th siruggle o ree our imprisoned comades. When we sste ther fredom cm be achieved through » poliica slwion, tis s the resuls ofyears of sruggle. Freedom for al poliical pisners witin & forsceable period of ime cun ly b achieved through & process of sruggle. T should be everyone’s wsk o seizs the ntntive 0 struggle o cod the tomae and win freedom forthe prsonens. e sek el lfeperspsiive forcurimpris ved comrades andfor e prisoners from ll beruion movement; we want his foreveryone and wih everycne ‘who wans o iuggle forjoicesnd s humn exivience for al the oppressed poples of th word. 269 Red Army Fraction The recet cease fire annownced by the RAF has leashed a great deal of disussion within atonomisi and lef revolsionary crcles in Burope. In our nest e, weitend 1o cove part o his debte by repriting ‘amimber o crituques, not oy of the RAF, bt alsoof he R2s, RARA, and miltant-armed siugglein generl. For cxample, we will publish he tex of an RZ group who ‘announce thei intention toabandon hearmad siruggle. We willalso prin a paper by another RZ group who criizeboth1his tex, as wel s the “Gerd Albarus is Decd*text by another RZ cel. Althoughall o the papers 10be publshedinour nxs s arefrom Burope,we el thahe isuesdiscussedare inporiantandshoud halpio start a similor dicission here in North America on armed and milantresistance ’ENOUGH OF THE BROWN SHIRTS! Breryone bas heard of the buming refuges- sbou tis. Manich i o it way o becorn- ing the capial of the German noo-Nai movemen. Enough of isl We wil atack he facisl Two centersof the Munih fscst movement ot ‘ombed eaty tis morning. The firs, the AVO-offce of Ewald Alhans, the most imporant propagande center of the Monich neo-Naz sccoe. The second, he “Monich Anaeiger”, which i esponsibi or sread- eo-Nazi soene for year. I 1990, be organized o march 1o commenorae Hiler’s birbdsy, In March 1991, heorgmizndthe Leucir Congres,where beand othe promines neo-Nazis publicy decared thas the mardes o milions of ews dringth holocaus was lieIn May 1991, he oranizd mesting in the Edeo W hotel 1 honor Radolf Hess. He has amanged rnsporation scross Germany for Muich neo Nazis. Revolutionary Cells Communique hoses e the desths, b fu too il ar doing 50t money and behind-the-sceocs oniacts And fom s “We wank the rth aod ot righis”, which caled the There hasbasaly been a-right evet Minich which e has ot belped to organize. On May 192, be rpized s meeting nhis new brown b wderthe ‘motto:“Uniny Brings Sreagh™ About 300 neo-Na. i, includingthe ot signifcas cadres o Bayen, attnded. . Althans alsohassrong intermational ies He has offce s Heraog-Hearich Suee 30, he cansprad s ‘brown propaganda ushindered. “The “Munich Anzsiger” s fes adveriscment bullerin whichgets disrbutedtomailbores and which an be found i mot supermarkets. It comes ut n§ ‘neigbborhood ditons all troughout Munich. I’s published by Alfred Detscer, Jadgsret 28, In the ‘eper, Nazs dissibue ther fncis and racistpropa. yanda unindered. Like in issoe 45591, when the “Monich Anzsger” ra & ullpage arice exxiled holocat e mddemanded bt e loodof g mae efugcs b sopped”. T icce whs wrtea by e ld Nasi Ouo vt Reame. NPD 14 Regub. aner Pari owo neo-Nei ol parics 4] menberssso s this puper. Inthe lins s, eriings Toll o haed or freginen re oy prined. The s e ful o e ke “pusic lavlens puags ke reogee” nd“ay st . i youl el disbed i pring by AVO, Akbans was ighysecumed. Anoer comecio, ha. PS: We’d like o quicky respond 0 8 few groups in ihi satement: we don’ agree with people who hik that e and fames ae o longes spproprine methods forrevolutonary poltcs. Furlermore, wedon’t wank 1o close ou his sage of hisiory d be siack with rused rucures and e of sirugale, tiher we ‘want1obea polical subjec which s bl o ntervene i contemporarysocisl proestes. Revolutionary Cells](arm-the-spirit-13-junejuly-1992 17.png)
![Punks Making Statement By Brian Coan Regarding His Grand Jury Subpoena | When I was spproached by a Secre Sevice (S5) sgentwhilatrackpracice oo May 7, it s the it time: Thad evr found mysef i soch # posison. Bt | knew how o react [ efused 0 speak o theagent. The SS then tred 10 coeroe me nto lking by issuing me subgoena 10 tpper efor federa grandfry. Agin, this washe- st time ] or snyone el inthe contemporary marchist ‘movemeat for that mater) bad ever been in such 8 posiion. Butonce again, knew what o do: 1 couner- actthegrand jurys sececy, L alened e medi nd ther | ‘comiades in the movemment, and | staed ron the begin- ning that | would ot comply with thegran fory invest- gaion. ‘When I suedthe subpocnaon May 8, anageat ‘mensioned that it was rlaed o s threat on th presidn. Boton what grounds? Was i doe 0 peech I had iven & week caler a u rotest in fron of fedens court in Pitsfied, in which [ had defended the armed L A.rbel- lion? Or was the govemment ate something more? Perhups they were on » “fahing expediion”, oping 10 gai nfo o the anarchisyautonomist movernen, ot revolutionary anuchist necwork “Love nd Rage”. But there were oberthings 0 consider as wel, uch a8 my ‘contact wih poltical prseners, and my ivolvement ‘with Arn The Sprc, A or the e, there was abvi- ‘ous cuse for alam, iven the naure of the matrial ‘which ATS publishes. Givenll of hese concerns, it wa ot clear whatthe grand juy were upo. Henee, ook 8 sand of ol on-collborstion. Bt astime wore on, hings became more clear. The S, it tumed ou,had copid all o my computer s on thecumpus oo frme, which used o gainacces othe Intemet aglobal compoter information necwork. What’s Hews Brifscondinued from page 13 “CONTROMformesione” were stroiod. and churged with asociaion with » ferori organia- tion. In_ addiion, the newspeper’s offces were searched and some mserials were seied. Those arested were held in slitary coninement wmil ‘oun rled tat they be rleased cn Jsouary 2. We apologize for reporing tis pews so e, b word only 5ot 10 08 sbout his event recendly. We don’t now whathas developed since th comrades were reeased..On July 4, America’ ‘ndependeace Dey’, e march from Butery Pak to Cty Hall poles et s 25 people,mosly Puco Ricanide- peodenitn. Anothr demo is being plamned for Ociober 121 Now Yok Ciy, onpeizd by groues astcited with e Froedom Now Network (fomLa Patria Radical JuyS2).. Two Saia Cu,acivists whowed 16 o demagesvemd NAVSTAR s e wes o prisn uly 13, Kelth Klole od Peter ‘Lumsdsne piesded gy i US. Disc cot 1o exoying proenybeing manced fr he US. e, oy They e vpio e yarsin il when hey e sincod o Sprber 21. T ol tbe pir i pproximaely 2 londamage e Rockwell et n Sena Oz 00 My 10 The Pentagon aes he Rockwell seeltes 1 gade - clear e b wesponssndfor lry comat oc. For fonmation, wr to: Masins Ve, PO. Bos 1645, Berksley, CA 4701 (fom The Guardion 438). Threats Again more, a8 50 one else had been subpoensed 1o appesr beforthe grand jury,t g ook ke | was the arget. ofthe invsdgaton. Bt s, you can never be sue of ‘whatthe govemmentis up 10, 50 maintained my siace. of ot noncollsboraton. Just s v et down my posture, neiherdid the govermment. US Auorney Kevin O’Regan remrked to my lwyer, Sualey Coben: “OK, your cien wanis 1o playhard bl We’ll lay hrd-bul.” Sumley s mation o elay the grand-ury proceedings for cne week (Sunley ‘wasiobeoutof twwn right upunil e 288) was et with counter.motion from O’Reganinwhich was meationed | my ntation oot oy refuse o give testimony, butlso 10 refuse 1 give fingerprint and handwiting ampics. O’Regan o caledme s “olicalopporanit”and said s Stanley’s tempt o dely the proceedings was justa mesns of gaining time to do more polical organizing. Notsuprsingly, the jdge denied Staley’s mion, snd the grandjury was st 10 proceed on May 28. Given e fuc tht e amrchistautonomist move- mentanly had 20 days o orgmize, soldarey lfona were remendous (with maay hearfeltthnks being doe 1o imprisoned comrades and comrades from otherpurtsof the Left who helped with these ffos). Inthat time, 1 individual and movemment with no pror experience ia deslng with fedeal grand joies had 10 become ot cducaied and organied to take on the govemment. A leter-wriingand phone.incampaign was orgnized, sd they were veryffectiv. Theday bfore e poceedings, the US. Atomey’s phone rang all day long, and M. O’Regan received several dozen eners and potcads of protst from al sontsof people ranging from Willams College suodets and facuty. o Willsmstow residents, 10 anarchissautonomiss and lefist from across the US. and Canada. Allof this, combined with rea deal offvoursble mediaauenton, was not1o e iking ofthe US. Atomey’s offce. O Refan menioned ll ofhis i his counter motion o th court. effor Springfied n May 28 flly expeciing o be e that afemoon. T was only on that morming tht & conscious, pliicaly-motivaied decision was made (0 comply with the ubpeena’srequest or photo, hand- wring samples, finger prious, and ircarms documenis. ‘Was thi was rversal of a reviously-saied positon? Yer. Did i some way comply with he subpocns by providinghose mateils? Agan, I must it yes. Was s the st poltical route 10 ke? I think s The uacical decision to comply wih the sobpons’s request o fumish s phoograph, igerprinis, andriing sampis, nd frearms documents was 1ok ‘made unil the morming of the procsedings befors the federal grand ory. Thedocision was made afiea hested discassion with my lawyer and with comades. The. decition was not one o fear, bt rather oneofsengeh. It ‘was conscious, poltical decision, and ove which, we feel, resulied n the outcome of his case bing a minor poltclvictryforthemovemnent snd anembarrasment o the govermment. Because some peaple n the move- ‘would have sy beenthe pasive aceptance o il - in other words,compiying with he Sse’s wish 1o 6t an acsive militan offthe srets. ndeed, i his nok ‘whatfedera grand jures ek 10do? N THIS PARTICU- ’LAR CASE, sch a otcome - being heldn conizmpt by efusing 1o give materal aready in the goverments posscsrion- would have smounied o collaboratng with he Sae’swish o jil il acvis Bt through our Randingof he maer, w in elfct caud the St o ack down 1 cept st ‘Apin,bear i i whet i fct was t s here s ne e of compotermesge i which was i B e sl Tis wa e s ol o e Sue’scidnce s me on chageof st ‘oing e P of e Unied S s foderl e punishablcty oS yeusinpiso) Theesn forhe rbpocns waspobaly my sadaet el 10 el wih fodel aged abot the meag. T, copled withmy stpoken il poliics nd s fack ey ———er Soverments mind an nvesiguion My sance, coniry o wht some may ares, i einfore somoveryimporatprecedets it s mastnerespea o fden g As Sl nd et Loth s oo el aounbone i pringiid on iy 2, we were ke sid b US Atorcy Kevin ‘O’Regan and two SS agents. O’Regan then “explained” how i maticr was ot st my ol opions or sstcimions bt wassipl e ot nvesigaion o ossbl threat apit th Prsdes (0"Regan i Tepecdihis e pbicisingnaemnt o e membersof e gand oy O Repanioen i f vk ol he gttt e mesage was ot ioded s b e e masier wold be closed, we coud svid tho grand ury. a1 voukd nt ik e o contmpt charges. ey he Sae had b ot i an g con: otine checkp had cvcaeed o polic o 424 o of mdi nion uesicing e Ve iy of the fedes grend fry syl Aiboughoffred ncayroveof e for b puries, Tty o Fiue it evr ek i s Second, il sever give oy etmony 14 feder g .| eund o, smawer sny uesions. Even whenhey s showed me & coy o my s Hicenc nd sked i | mcogized .1 wovld’s e, i, il sever gvethe Suie things ey ot bav,orshoidn v, el e sk {oprovide’ opy ofthe nevpaperLove and Reg’ o kgl o v of - Tt S wou have reuscd, venhough e fedscould ot g any i bookstoreand g copy i vould hve e 8 pedrefualio i o snoous ol siack. B {being providedto e prand oy wer hings hich Thad ieady el ivnto e S vhen! g for pslpemi Whetyou sply oreha peri you gt Potographed s finger prid. S, collaboruied vy iving o e grand . adaeady ol Tacd by ppving o egallycayFrears s cpposcd nain du wih i one. If ey s ey have my sl o resetd e for e rand . | oldhev . “Apinthedeciion! made was o o, b Liofimiybaewis e ncedorto g omapolin afcive ruer o puaively et 8 e o 8 vl s, Agkin, h gl i v 1 30 i](arm-the-spirit-13-junejuly-1992 18.png)
![We received the following letter from a comrade in Greece: In ATS Nel1 (216) you efer o the wnited sctonof *12 of May" aad "RLPS." ageinta v of antiot police. ] hik that you might waz 0 know that the groups have camiod out lot of acions Al the two groups decidod 0 unite on Oc- ober 20, 1991, th dey, 14 yearsago, that goereila activat Chrsios Kisiis died durig a0 stack agains e Gemoan muli-caional AEG (s an ct of oldary s reveng for e maderd RAP - ades S priscn). 19.292 Bomb atack agaist » bat named “CAN- CAN". This bar is owned by Gigurtakis, notarious g deser who i conmecid o and proteced byt 26292 Bomb anack sgainsta van of ot poics ‘van near Thisi. 18 cops wounded. 392 Bomb asacks aginst two can elonging EBCoffcl in A, i 20352 B ks g e o o ‘who gavo he police descrptions of th persons who caried out o aack of Thik. 31,392 Bomb miack agins the Couns of Jusico of Also, ot of actions have been carried ut by the "Anarchint Group Mialis Kalteas”. he group s carid ot s i Sobingsover e 10menth (since October 1991): ~Fourocal ffices of e lin righ wing Nw De- mecmcy Pury in Kesl, i, lipol, md ~Thelocal oo he Scilis Pary n ko snd NSmimi. ~Two super makets i the are of Tlsia. - A police car i the are ofPeki. - The Boy Scout’s Club at Peister. The Boy Scou’s b hereinGroece ar oy tying o pase matonsl- st and it propagancs o o kids. (OF ourse, e clon wae’t diecied s the by sous e —continued from page 16 policiescf the G nations. Late Sunday night, s branchof the Destsche Bank was ire-bombed by an suoncmist roop,resulng in 150,000 dmage. A message nearby ‘was found whichread: “Auack the WWGI" Authe G7 ammit’sopening on Monday, he police prescnce wasexremely besvy. Mot demonsintors were Dot abl o reach he Max-Joseph-Plaiz wer the smmit ‘was being beld. Those that did were quickly surounded, beaten, 0d amesied. There were severl spontancous demonstations roughout e day, esuling i over SO et There were severlcomplaints ofpolice bruiy, 0 much s thateven Manich’s daily-paper ran & fron page condemnaton of the police’s “smecestary escala- (rom Interim 201 and La Patria Rodical Juby92) dliver 8 satement denouncing the federa grand ury process and affrming ef-radical poltc, ad then be beldincontempt. Butif wehad done tht, wenever would have really know what the sate was up 0. Bus by linening t0 the questions sked by the U.S. suomey (ahboagh,of coure, efusing to snswes sy), [ was sble 10 what th grnd jury was aficr. And s i e out, it wasa ivialmater relating 10y we of computes network. The knowledge o tis then put many of my. ‘comades’ minds at eas, since right up unil May 28, hre was il e fer tht the comrades i he move: men may gt sbpocnacd. IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, the bst polcal routewas 10 make acticaldecision. Why? I’s kind of ke when you ge bused for spray-paining. Do yourben denouncethe nis US.jsice ysiem nd goojal?No, foratrival charge, you pup withthe egal s and rytogetoff. Andi seem ikemy recent case was jstthe. federal eqivalentof spray-pinting. Of courve efuseto recogaiz the legiimacy of fodera grand juris; hey re. ool of polical oppression. They have been used, to wrongfully imprison Poerio Rican independentisias, Black/New Afikan revolotonarics,whitan-imperial st 10d 10 0n. But cven though I don’ recogaize theie legiimacy, they exist nonebeles. And | had 1o ace ooe of hem. Usnderlmostmy ther ircamstance, I hink . ncompromising stund o otl noo-ollaborion s te. ‘only way 1o go. But s the movemneat ready for this i my case? Was th lfh once agai prepared o ackle he sve of fodenl grand juries in-tod-of themielves? | don’ ink 10, That wam’t the main e n my case. ‘What wasatssue, however, was s whole variey of b ‘concers, ke youth, guns, computrs, ndtei laion 1o rdicableh poliics. ‘Autisime, have o exiend my warmest hasks o theimprisoned comrades who upportedme. Theyalked ‘wilhme, gave me dvice, nd were generally looking ot forme. This meant o tome. The et oa largs degre, s abandoned it oltcal prsoners. We o th ouside ofien forgetourcomradesonthe nsde, b’ clear bt ey haven’s forgoten boot us ik allserious aciv- A movement thatforgea s pisoners i ot evol onary. “Again, forthe most part it was ly 4 grop of imprisoned comrades and my lewyer who were giving ‘me (ofen conlicing) advice. Lot of fos sround the Love and Rage project, as well as several Canalians, ‘mobilized realy quickly Lo help. But again, mos o us had neverdeae wih thisbefore. So we had 0 go bout in the way tha scmed best 0 s in tis e, nd | hink we did OK. ‘Going ol was ever sn sse. | weat 1o Speing- el expectingohave a number fermy name s the end ofte day. And again th fodsoffered me way oo, axd refused 1o accept e “ofer.Sothe isue was poliics: ow couldthe moveament gan the mostfrom ll of his? ‘Would my being locked upor ol ncn-calsboraion be {ebest? Maybe. Butmaybe ot Foroneting, my being il would ave put big ouacial and organzatonal ‘nin on ATS and Love and Rage, two projecs sleady operating onvery low budgets. Normallythis wouldnot bo concem. But my case, gai, was st foolish cne, a0d one which caly diredly involved me. I way ik it would have been responsibleofme o drag the whole movemeot behind n ssoe which really only bad to do ‘with me. Obviousy there wer arger poltclissucs o il b hecas i me ws i reference 08 idc Touslaw, andhe governmmet did’thaveany subsancve ‘vidence foracase o begn with. o, wesezed o his, ‘madeth govermment ook ba fo elsing to commer about e nguiry ("We can neiherconfirmor deay that thegrand jury i evenin place a i tme.), we exposed the patue of federl grand juies in the muastream ‘media,and we al (opefuly) eamed that wehave otake hings ke govemment repression, movement secuy, 0 potenial impriscnment sesiously. Inany case,leamod alotfromal . Jostnoicng ‘Who gave me support and who didat wasrevealin: it was o surpise when lberal student activisis seered clea of me when the fods rived, but my fiends and “normal” working folks at my job dd all hey could 1o elp. And 1 hink the anarchist movemment gt 3 good ‘wake-up cll s well. We had 1o edcatecureives about the federl grand jry proces,for one hing. And this processof educatin i something e should continue: e have o cducate ourselvs ahout movement secuiy, about dealing with federal harssmen, and sbous the prospects of doin tme. | workoa the assumption that sae sepession will cnly become more iease 3 the decade wears on- with oy comrade fcing imprison: continaed on he back pge... NDF Unersie continsed from page 15 arybases. Lastyear, the Senae eached s new agreement onthe bases.ishouldsay et way. s ot et enough senstors who are opposed o the bases. n ine ‘with this, mor progresive oranizaions ar trying 1o make such issues cenral poliical questons inthe lec- Bt whh ltte succes, one would think.bave the Peace process and th totalwar become bt lssues? No.Buthepressur b the peace-movement o he policans has had some effct. Presidntial candidate Stlonga pubicy declared his willngncss o e nto 0 agrecment witthe NDF. Even Ramos bas mentioned e ssue, bu e ony alks o our surender IfRames s ceciod president (e was .}, bow will he NDF nsure tha the government begias negotaions? ‘We have lie choie. We will kecp defening. ouelvesagsinstthe govermment’s oal-war, which will surly coninue, and we willry 10 put pressue on the Ramos govemment. Miliary succesies b the NPA wil weakea the army’s faith in thei ability 1 Gefeat us ‘militrly.Inaddiion s, s mporan ht hepeace- movement say suong. There i now 4 group calling hemsclyes ‘peace nkiators” This s e broadest group 10 dae. They want o actas ntemediaie. The govers. ‘ment noeds o cleary sa what it wanis fom the peace- process. That’s why they may come io The Netherlands 108peak with the NDF. f this happens, h peace-process will ave advanced one siep. Then we can begin 10 discuss daes and delegaies. Of coure, intematonal support forthe peace rocessisalo mporan. The Swiss a0 Swedish governments bave offered 0 bost lks in ‘Geneva snd tockbolm respectvely, bt foreign ministes ‘Manglapus refused thi offer. The Europesn Parliament passed » resoluton expessing its hope that the new Philppinegovermmens will ke sieps towards pace nd improving human rights. Bt presursfrom he US gov- emment i crucial. Americanchurches have taken some iniatives. We need to have obher govemments and S0 the American presidental election Is mportant. ‘Who do you sapport, Claion or Bush? Wel, what can sy? That’s ke choosng btween Coke and Pepi..No, give me Heineken..or S Miguel Ithe mos: popularbeer n the Philippoes). (rom Konfronatie #11)](arm-the-spirit-13-junejuly-1992 19.png)
![— e We now have a FAX number. It’s (416) 527 2419 (for the Canadian address) We also have an E-mail address in the U.S.: aforum@moose.uvm.edu —Alberis Rodrluet ieriew condinaed Jrom page 1 Rican women lead s dangerous xisence hirives are. in dungerevery day,going out i the srets s nightis 3 theat,even living st home s 8 treat 0 them. So I think th siationin Poero Ricois ke the suion i the US. and Birope and everywhere inthe. ‘workd where wormen ae developing teir own polical hought,their own ideslogy 1o queston puciarchy. Several yearsago, one of he organizations inthe Puerto Ricen independence movement,the MLN, beld s congress, and s major par of that congress was dealing ‘wih sexom,the famly, bomosexuality and quesions ht for the s part the independence movemens hes ignored. Now I hik the MLN has begun a process n ‘whichthe wholeindependence movementis quesioning. it pat with regards 1 the isses of bomesexualty, sesim, od anindes owards women, children ad the family. Alotof very god hings heve come abou. I the Puerto Rico today woumen ar organizing theirown or- geaiztions nd heir own projects an they have chal- bave been taken towards dealing with sexism in the independence moveme,but | hick we have ong way 10 g0, And I think tht this camnot be jus & woman’s projes menhavetotake ol nitalso, Women williead s stroggle, bt men hav obe willng 1o change and 10 open ounelves up o cricism and ener this process. | binkivi hallenging and thresining 0 us becausc o 50 long we an the how and now o have women challnge s v i 8 prdicament hat or many mea i very difcult to bandle. But 1 hik if we are 1o grow as 8 AmmThe Spitis minfor- mation collecive focus- ing on milant nd revo- lationary srugges. Our perpecive s aono- mous bt we s a need o discoss and amalyse all fomms ofef resistance in order 1o contribue 10 8 revolutionary _process. We welcome tnd encour. age ther o jonusinour otk La Lcha Contoual Arm TheSpiits co oblished withthe U . based Autonorme Forum. Th ediorsl grovpis basedin Canada 0 sl comespondence, nd lienure Should b st o the Canadian adress. Subscriptions or s bi-morsbly buleinae $12 for 10 ssus. Donaiins e lways wekcome. We accepecash (concea it wel)or money orders but o cheques I sending s money oder oot *Arm The Spic, just leave i blank. A The Spist Amm The Spirc clo Wild Seed Pres clo Astooome Forum P.0.Box 57584, Jackson S P.O. Box 1242 Hamiton,Ont. Buringion, VT LEP4X3 CANADA 054021242 USA FAX Number for Canadian sddres: 416 527 2419 Editor: Gabriel Dumont movemen for socal change 420 5oL o 34 & narTow ‘oot movemen, hen | hink we bave 0 pea up 0 he struggle of wamen and th srugge aganst sexim, ‘paiinrchy snd bomophobia and alltese qustions thal ‘we hve ignored 100 ong. And we suffe because o that ignorance. Any last words? 1 definitely want 1o thask youfor giving me this opportniy. | hink thatthe Poeio Rican ndependence ‘movement has for » long time suffered & curan of lence. Many people tink of Puero Rico only a1 & wondeful place 10 vacation; an island with beautiful moumains and th sea, and they don’trealy realize the fachatwe have sufferd colonilism for 00 years. And alo, ther reover 1 Sllion Pero Ricans lvig in e U, in conditons of an ntermal colony and tat chal- lenge US. imperalism n each md every dy.Lbink that thelefthastorecogniz thatit doom’thave o gobalf-way sroumd he world o fight coloiais; colonalismexiss ight et doorand ] hisk that thef in Norh America nceds ook t te fac that there i colonilism righi n theirovm backyard,mnd o rlly round it and fgh ot independence. The lat thing s, | hink that the e in gemeral has 1o ealize that here are people in riscn because of their principled stand against imperalisn. ‘And even f on disagrees with the tactics thtthey have ased, o i they take 4 non-violent approsch 1o teir ‘polidea toggle, nonebeles,these brohers snd sisiers who saffr long yeas of imprisonment ar part of the very same srogale and should ot be gnored. Alberto Rodbigues and Edvin Corts were both ntr- viewed by ATS on CKLN, a pogressive radio siaion in Toronto, Canada, durin the early part of this year. Editorial Notes Weapologia for hefacttatsome of he information in this i is somewhat ou of date. Unforunctely. becauseour budge i 0 limted, we can onlypublsh oma roughlybimonthly schedule. Eventhoughpices ik the Chileanarticles area il od, we sl el i’ imporiant forsch informaiion io be published, since Uhere are 30 fow let radical publicaiions in North America which cover the material whichATS covers. Also included inthis s s asatement froman ATS Collecive member,Brian Coan, regarding hisrecent federal rand jury case. We are prising o lengihy Statement from Brian, because we fel i’ imporiant tha polsica issues involved n his handling of the case b properlyaddessed. —Brian Coan’s saiemens coniinaed from page 13 e, and oven deuth. Kind of pogaive mind-se, | ealize, bot i’ a realistic ove, and i’ beter 10 be prepared forthe wors, that way anything betc i il nshon, we hoold makeprsoner supportwork bigger prorty hanithas beenhe ast. Afer i, all milans/ revoluionaiesaepoteial prisones. | wasshmostane, o my comrades on the inside were there for me; we hould sl be thee forthem. Solidarity s 2 Weapon! Bran Com ‘Caution: Protected Private Property! hi pobliction emin the propery of e sener e andorunl t s b prcnaly and mtrialy e e o o . e, In o ven o o G ireck el s 0 e iion peeeediote i vith i ofteressn() for il dlvr o o e - NAPO inerview continued from page 7 They areiredof he cutbacks nhei collge envolments nd programs. They are inspied by Malcokmbecause e aaghthem o fight fo he lberaton ‘What do you thik the mpact nternationally and na- onally has been? 1 going o bavea profound impact It s forced e ntemationsl communiy o look at America nd see e acim and theresisance o thatracim. Ona mational perspecive it has allowed us 1o it aroundtis sue. I s the poteil fr rebuilding movement that wert 1o sleep in e 708 and i eawakeoiag in the 90s. Our responsibilty s 1 pul iogther that movement. “The aieis doingeveryhing posibletosquashany ‘movement becauseitdoes’t wanius oivehe poltcal conten or what i happening. As long a hey coninue o say i’s monsters and thugs and vltues involved in {his and thre is o poltcl consequeace, the they’re fne. They want to keep the real ssoes way from the screen. Intally, aybody could sa amything, Butafee hee o our days, the only ones thatcould alk wereall saying that these were st a few people, hat it didn’t eflct the ol community, that they’re just gung- ‘banger, thatmostpope uthese hadnobing 10 dowith Rodaey king that they were just greedy. ‘What has been the response rom the white comma nity? Thcre has bosn b response. People allover the workd have responded 1o the njustice. But the whitc commanitysill s ot of work 0 do 1 address laent raciem, sndtheother ssues that have comeup. f youlive i the Black communisy,you areaware of the sses. But because of e soaton, the only informuton thatthe ‘whit commurity gets is from the medi. S thy come. nd do the do-gooder ting of rying o clean up the commuit, but they really have o concept of what happened, of what’s going on and what people a1 1 sponding . “Hey, it was jury e, whatcan you say, the jory found them innoceat; i’s fir, that’s bow it ‘works "Ther is o el concepton of what cism s how it works throughout the sysem. What’s going o appen pext? 1 theshors e, the demands f e movement are forsmncsty or those mested; US. roops oot of South (Central Los Angels;ad ebuilding - providing ervices. A realimportant lement of our coaltion s providing Clthng snd whatever oher services are needed for survival We’ve organied a eriss inervenion group, the CoultionforJustics, oreinterprthe Los Angeles ebel- Tion, o formuate denands, and o Covntercthe medi campaign 1o criminalize our community. Our desire ‘within the New Afrken People’s Organization (NAPO) 0d the Malcolm X Grassroos Movermen, i 10 buid it into moch broader group, and i cerinly has the potenilforthat.For th frst i i qute a whike, we find ouneives working wid individuals who fel the ‘comectons beween his and what ele is happening in the world. Ubimaely, we see it buiding toward the ool libermion moverment that we want i his cou- . Chingaaji Akiayela is an organizer for NAPO. ‘Shewasinterviewed on May 8,192 by Breakthrough. NAPO, which celebraies s sixth anniversary this yearonMay 19, struggles forslf-determinationn the tradiion of Malcolm X. romthe inset o the Summer 2 s of Breakihrough)](arm-the-spirit-13-junejuly-1992 20.png)
The S
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i
pirit
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: : For Revolutionary Resistance
[
Puerto Rico Libre!
Wi tis e of A The it wehavefocussd,
somewhat, on the colonial sicustion of Puero Rico, and
the independence sruggle being waged o fre heilod
from US. imperalin contol by the independensista
movement nd the armed cladestine organizationsboth
{nside Purto Rico nd onthe U.S. manland. As Jly 25
s celebrated in Puert Rico as ndependence Day and
sround the work! ¢ 4 Inermational Day in Soldarty
‘ith the Puero Rican Independence Suvggle and with
the Puerto Rican Polical Prisoners snd risonersof War,
we are inclding i his ssu ierviews we have dooe
with two Puero Rica Prisoners of War, Edwin Conés
and Albero Rodriguez jmprisoned as members of the
FALN (Amed Forces of NationslLibeaticn,a wel
sntments by two independentsas on il for their
involvement withLos Macheiros (The Machete Wild-
en).
also“discovered" Poeto Rico, then known as Boriquen. |
1 the mame of Spam Eolombos id claim 1o the sand
and e nameditSun Jun B I 1511, afergoldwas
discovered, i eceved yet amother name: Poerto Rico,or
Rich Por. Sinc te deys of Columbus, esisance o
‘olonilst ggression and conrol has ben strong From
the fiere ressance of the indgeoous Arawaks and
‘Tuinos againt the Spanish, 1 the FALN and Los Ma-
chetero, Puerto Ricans have abways siuggled and
‘ganized o regen he an and soverigaty.
I was i he 19601, tha groups uch s the CAL
(Comandos Amados de_Liberacon) and MIRA
(Movimicnto de Iaquierda Revolucionaia en Amas)
beganto engagen miliay actions such s the bombings
of US. busineses that exploted Pocro Rican workers
0 botels i S Joan which catered o the U, ourist
Alan Berkman Is Free!
OnFriday July 10, political prisoner Alan Berk-
ran vas s from pie. Al o s i
prison since 1985 serving & sentence relating 10 &
Secirof s e scios carsed by he Rod
Gucril Ressnce o115 miay msaions
1 coporaions vhic suppors perais word
oo, ndthe 198 il bobing by e A
Resitanc Unit n rspone o e U5, vasion of
Grmada. Al ws st oe o the ix comrades
involved in the Resistance Conspiracy Case. During
this triad, Alan was seriously ill with Hodgkins’ Dis-
o, b ncrty dedfom e advre lct of
ooty
A s o activ el orover
vy year g b vt bohas e
120 i it ke 1 m exprced physicin, Al
elpdrat woundd prsonrs e e AticaRebel
lon i 1971, el d Naive Americans
Woundd Kocea 975,
~ We send our wammest greetings 1o comade Al
Beskonnt e it i o i prser of
i
R T——
celebrate the 500 ssiverary of hiogher |
Columbus's arrival-inshe New World, that in 1493 be |
tade. I themid 1970', the FALN emerged, callin for
airiegy o niingll e ecessay fomsof revolution-
ary srogale of th Puero Rican peope ino an effort 0
‘oveturm colniaism through 8 rotaced peopl’s war
fo independence. The FALN has carid ou s acions
within the bordersofth Urited Staes; s s i has
bocn 0 operate withn the metrpolian sres of the
ncany colonil pover, wher millions of Puro Ricans
eside, fcing condiions o coloialvolence, exploia-
on and poveny. FALN actions were centered in New.
York City and Chicago snd included atacks on banks,
govemmentoffice,and polie stins.
Likewise, the Macheteros emerged
towards the eodof the 1970's in Pueto
Rico, md inthe words o ane of ts
Tounden:"Los Machetern i cl.
desineonganization formed i 1976
that uses anmed strgle o oppose
US. represtion in Pucrto Rico” s
acions have incloded the 1981
bombing of nine Nutonal Guard
plancs which caused damage of 350
millon, rocket stacks aimed x US.
counbouser, mnd in 1986, i it ac.
iom with two other e clndestine
organizaions; FARP (Anned Forces
of Pogular Resisance) sd OVRP Or.
pmizaion of Voluniersforthe Puero R Revola-
+ion),the bombing of iy installtions 1o proest the.
possible raiing of Nicaragoen conras i Puerto Rico
0 the beginning of commercial logging i the Pucrio
Rican Naional Rain Foreet.
Alough at thepresstime wmed esisance is s
low b there e 18 Pt Rican Prisoners of War and.
politcal prisoners mprisoned for being par o these
‘amed clandesine organizatons and e upport appe-
rtuses. The United Saes government bas rpeatedly
vioated the homan rights o hee Puero Rican poliical
prisoncrs and POWs by subjectng then o brusal and
ortaousprison condtions These aboses inclodesex.
sl andphysicl ssauls,long periodsn olsion cls
and control unitssndthe denis] of medicl care.
. Luis Nieves-Falcon, coordinaor of Ofensiva
°92. 8 campaign tofee the poliical prisoner ad Pris-
anersof W - has captured he et of he POW"s when
e wries thatthy “are foeled by the fac that they are
people whohhave futhinhe valiant men and women who
will never be anyone’s saves. They belive ia human
valour and have fith in the right 1o froedom, in the
recupertion of our homeland's soversigny and n the
conscious men nd women of Pto Rico. The POW'
are fully aware of the empir's sae,but ar convinced
that PucroRico'sighto independence i much greaer
The POW¢ are ks convinced thatnthe earfture, we
‘will il b ogether i fee bomeland that, nspie of it
currentcolofal status, will proclaio this ocencs
‘We s ATS joi n the just demands or independ-
ence for Purto Rico and freedom fo all Puerto Rican
poliical prisoners and Pisoners of War.
Victory For T
Thiry-four Mohawks charged in the 1990 Oks
criss were aquied o July by a Quebec Superior Cout
Juryafe five daysof debberon.
Ina satemen, those charged satod h“ e verdict
sccn by the Mohawks and thei alies 13 an admision
by thejony thasthe soesinvalving lind nd juridicion
st be addresid, no in the criminal cours, but by
negotaton " Bob Skidders « Mahavk leader who west
‘ander thenicknare Mad Jp duing the criss, ud that
e decision was one that had been de fo 300years: I
our eoplehadbeen given consideruion a h begiming
thenthre would be o fight oday.”
“1didn'thave ny it in ysem ke his,bos '
siad that the truth was rally told” said Joe David,
another of th sccused Mohawks. 1 feel eally good
sbout the verdict”
‘Withthe exceptionof hree who were charged with
he Mohawks!
assauing » pesc officr snd ntrfering with sn ares,
ll e accused had boencharged wih paricpating in
iot and abstracting polic andthe millry. In addition,
18 wereaccused of posesson of irearms for a danger.
ous purpose.
"The crisi began whea the polic stomed a Mo-
ek baricade st up1o protet a gol coursecxpansion
onto acre buria Land that was part of the Mobaw
rndionalland ase. A police ofices was kiled n the
id, hhoaghnocne s been chargedn isdeth Afee
e police snack, & sand-off which asted 78 days re-
subed inth captreof s number of Mohawks - many of
‘whom were i his ecet i,
‘Crown prosectorJean Pere Boyer, clling for &
ity verdict had ssid that anyting less would send »
mestage o the world the aking up ams ispermissible
nd Canada'simage () could sffer s resul.
Interview With Alberto Rodriguez
In anartice you wrote n 1983 entiied “The Rightto
Fight s Noo-begotable’ you sated that “The armed
strugsle In Puerto Rico i ot simply » movement
dedicated to violence. 1t Is nelher milltarisic nor
Incined towards volence.” What s your conception
of armed struggte in Puerto Rico; what kind of more-
ment do you se 1t as belng?
Lenvision e srggle s bing politiclmilary
augel in which the polical apec o the gzl
ke moredoiant Paricaady i e sationof
Pucto i, for s otofdffeen itorcland poliel
eason, | do't e h classic modelof poople's war 1.
soc i predominunly agriculurlplace ke Chin or
Vietmam working. ik s bas o b ol miliary
sruggle in which the polical spects of he gle
wonld dominme. The polico-miliary aspc of e
rvgele vould abweys b in suppors o nd i soldarity
i andbopefllyncrin faions cven leading. b
iy polteal fores o e movemers.
“The policabmiliary organzaions that woold
Jead the gl would hev o be clandesin in rder
i thy ca opr e snd lea of e US. goven-
men ht s, s heivasoof 139, maosioed s
largeateligencs and pying necwork i Pero Rico that
makes s stempatoorpnize poblcly andopnly sic-
. hebioory o Pcro Rico s showe et vy ime
e independence movemen bas grown a4 g
hullnge US. imperilisn, the indepndence mone.
‘menthas b emaod, il e cader i, and mary
o them murderd.
W wond have rmed propaganda in which he
amod sevgle wold ducee s e consciousnes.
“The armed suggle woud be s 3 form of iy
ing and brnging 0 the ruggle the most comcions
clemens, e mo dcictod nd commiaedcemns o
he ndependene movemcn 1o the vggle. S sethe
rmed Arvgge a5 being an ntgrl pa of 4 poblic
movemen,of n independencs movemen ht openis
oy differenlevet nth o, inbe nveriis,
i the communites, it wold b el pun of &
polteal rggle
You were arrested i 1983, allegodly 2 8 member of
the FALN. In many of the FALN communiques there
ssigoifican discusson fhowelectons o Purio Rico
are'an atempt o force the Poerto Rican struggl to
ake place withn thelogal apparatus of imperialism.
‘Wit this n mind could tell s about the Puerto Rican
Independence movement's opposition o colonia dec-
tons,and conld ou tll s something sbou the Pria-
cile of Reatramiento on which this oppltion s
based?
The Puero Rican independence movemment has
alvays had an lecoral aspect o . In th begiming. i
e 190's,the independence movement a5 & whole,
hrough diffrentpartes, participted
1930 Don Pedros Campos, Presidentof the Nationalist
‘Pan, rainthe clecions of 1932 d saw ithand bow
clectons controlled by US. colonialism oaly Ied 10
divide the peopie. He saw 1 siwation in which Puerio
Ricans wee fighing Pucro Ricans over some posiion
‘which really did ot challenge thesats of Poerto Rico,
‘which did ot bingfto qeston U.S. colonial e ver
Puero Rico. Busically Poerio Ricans were fighing
Pucrto Ricms over posion or an offce. So Campos.
1aid out the program, o the conceps, of Restramento,
‘which basically means "boycon” and on-recogniion of
colonial e,
“The conceptoftheeectoral beycotis based cn the
factthatibe U.S. imvaded PucrioRicoin 1898 md forwo.
years there was # miliary govemment. In 1900, the
millary govermment was taoed o cviian govern-
ment which coninoed o be conrolled by Washinglon
D.C.Tothidaythe asenialelments f his relatinship
have not changed. Even though now we have 4 Puero
Rican Governor and Puro Rican Sente, Pucto Rican
soverigaty continnes 1o lie in the US. congress, and
controlof Puerto Rico;real economic andpoltical con-
trol, s in Washingion D.C.
Reatamieno sees clections s & palical devics
creted by he US. 1o perpetai the control. We i he
independence movement who reoppored i U.S. colo-
il i Puerto Rico, should not paricipaie in these
clctons because s onegate hevery hings hat woare
ruggling for. Now the independence movement a3 &
‘wholei very divided o te questionof eecions, ind |
‘would say pesonally that my opinin s that i parici-
puton i based o0 a lack of vision, a ack of faith in
revalution, feling hat sinceroting e s ealy going
on,well we'll jus gotoelectons everyfouryears 1 eel
thatforus o pariiate inelectons s fouswevery four
yearsener oo rocess i which we ar going 10 lose.
Everying i aainst us, the whoe lecoral sysem, und
the whole educational and policcal sytem is s up 0
equai ndependence with eroriem and ciminalty, and
‘we cannotwin n thet ind of enviroment.
So, really, it is the revoluionary independence
movement tha pposs clecions and that secs cecions
S5, cam, and s conspiracy o keep Puerto Ricans
arging amangst themseivs over issues and meaning-
lexs polical postions while the tme pover s i
Washingion. So the FALN nd other poltical-milary
organizations, and sevenl public organizations have
atempted 1o rganiz frons aganst cleciona paricips-
tion, ndthis lso ncudes paricipationinplebiscites nd
referendums crested by the U, whose purpose s ot 10
decolonize the nland, but 1o create new situion o &
nw s up where they can cotine theiscontrol.
Restrumieno, hen, 1o me, coninues, over sixy
‘years e, o b ealiy o be something tht e is 1
prncipetha can rally the Purto Rican people togeher
tisa evolsionary program whichcanchallenge peope
10 break with US. mperialist controland begin 10 think
aboot developing a polical projec which exist inde-
pendenly o the Uz, andcnly hen will e Puerto Rican
Independence movement no longer be & movement of
opposiion bat # atonal libersion strogge. 1 believe
ha e of ourgreatflaws and weaknesss hasbeen our
inabily 1o develop a roe naional libestion srggle.
Instead e forthe mostpart acta ef cpposiionto US.
govemment md U.S. imperalism. Poerto Rico i col-
ony, it a lasscalcolony. It s contolled by the US.
hrosghmiliary snd repressive means, and forus have
‘s mvement incpposition which s siply el oy,
political appositon, then we are not going 1 80 any
Wherein e ong run.
Tnee Restramiento s being anmportan concept o
nite evoluionary conscioumes, 1o challenge US.
mperialism, o crate an independence projct, o crete
& revoltionarysrtegy which the U, cannot control,
hatthe ULS. cannt dicit the terms o. Tis Reatam
iento, slong witha polical-milary iuggle, ke heane
Toutined earlr, vould be winnable sraicgy.
e e e
ety
T
s
iy
S e
EmbmiEe
S,
National Committee To Free
Puerto Rican Prisoners Of War
the Unlied Sates
Nuonal Offie
PO, Box 476698
Chicago,linois 60647, US.A.
Box 613 i -
Dorcbester Masachursets 02124, US.A.
138 efferson Suet.
Hardord, Conneciicat 06106, US.A.
2B 115 St
‘Now York, New York 10029, US.A.
3604 N.Th Avenne
Philacephis, Pennsylvani 19140, US.A.
3543 180 Sreet, Box 12
San Frncisco, Califomia 94110, US.A.
1 Poerto Rico -
OFENSIVA ‘92
Apariado Posal 20190
Rio ieduas, Porto Rico 00928
the armed siuggle for natonal beration. Many of
theguerril groups are entering o negotation with
the sate and olgarchies or are surrendering thelr
‘weapons and entering the elctora arens, as we bave
snen most recenty with El Salvador and Columbis.
How do you fee about this tarn of events, and how
does t afec th Puerto Rlcan struggle?
Wihout question, thi is something ha affects us
very decply. We have lways seen ourscivs as
part of 4n overall Luin American siiegy 1o
Gefen U.S. mperalism through the use of
people’s war and ammed sruggle.
‘The question to be aked honesly
s the queston of whether
amed siroggle is & winnable
stegy in Latin America. 1
contine to beleve that it
s, even though
many _gucril
groups and
amed organiza-
ions have begun
o e {HASTA
A LA
VICTORIA
SIEMPRE !
(L) Edvin Cors, Alberio Rodrigues, Joe Dokerty
(recenly exiredied 1o Northern Ireland), Ricardo
Jiménet and Kec Toure (no longer imprisoned).
ekt with e Tl of th Sovie Unios d the Socal
st blochatistime o cut a0y bk thebest
deal potsble. | do ot fel that the fundamental condi-
ionsn Latn America have changed,in whichorganiza-
tions should enter o negotiations with the ae, with
S, imperalism and it puppet sttes,because the con-
didon re nch ththey amot b resclved by some ype.
of poiicalsccommodaion with imperiaim. So1 eally
don’tknow where it going tocndup and fecl that -
diffeentn each counry bk i El Salvador, because
ofthe strengih ofthegoerilla movement ha thy will b
2 much betr situation 1 guaranee some democracy
and some improvement in e livesof themasss, while
in Columbis th gucrilla movements are much weaker
and willbeina worse siuntion. You have in Peruthecon-
tinuaion o the amned strggle, and 10 don'tsee EI
Salvador or Coluambie s beingthe ool fuar.
How do you view the upld changes which have been
occuring in the former Soviet Unloo and Eastern
Barope,1nd what ffect doyoufelthesechanges will
have for he developing world and natonaliberation
struggles?
As & Pucro Rican who has et US. coonial
since e first beginnings of my poltcal conscournes
back i the carly 70's, | have idenifed with he Soviet
Unionandihe socilistblocbecauscof hei antcolomil |
sand. As 1 developod polticll and began o s the |
contradicions o the Soviet nd Chines system; the way
‘Communism and socilism had been pracised, 1 sill
denified with i and supporie it n the sense that the
enemmy of my eneany s myfrien. Now wit e full of the
Soviet Union there i sl an emational side, » cerain
sxdness while s | think sboot t and s 1 s wha §00d
could come o i el each day les nd les ad bout ..
1 tink tht It of people in the e found oarselves
defending th Soviet Union even when he Soviet Urion.
‘wat notdefendable. Some of the posiions ey took in
Erite, some of e things they id in Afghanista; bow
they aiempiedio hokd ogethe a sysem based on eprs-
sion, how ey aempied 10 develop sysem n which
theyended politcs, hey eded democracy, sndin snse
theybecame everyihing hey wereideologically opposed
o Now s goneweolones el burden b . | 28 il Elecots of the Aonomist win of Pcro
‘We nolonger foel te ned o defend tht sysem. And [
hink that we can e from . think that ¢ gives s 1
opportanitytoleam{rom hat expeimentand s hat we
cammot develop s sysim fundamentally based on epres.
sion. As ety s we can ke it sound, w cannotbuild
‘anew word oder based o repesson: it must be based
on democracy.Sol hink it timeof chalenge. | ik
imeforus 10 pus away all hese concepeions. Many
ofusinthis generaton who came ot o the Victnam war
and he stuggles ofthe 70's developed a very romantic
and deaisic bsession with the uggle. And now that
the romanicsm and deaismhas been destroyed snd we
sccthecndofha xperince, i hallengesus, inasease,
obe much more rdical than we were because st of
cceping deas, we now have o be chalenged tocesie
‘ourown deas, develop deasthat arenot based,realy,
onlies
The Puerto Rican Independence movement bas al-
‘ways fuced severe repression from the US. govern-
‘ment. The FB in paticlar has b instrumental in
parsiing the US. paicy of atiemping to crush the
struggle for national beration n Puerto Rico. Re-
cently,revetions have come o ligh concerning the
role of the FBI and an organization called ‘Defenders
of Democracy” In the assasination of two Puerto
Rican patriots at Cerro Maravila. Could you tell us
‘what originaly happened at Cerro Maravil, and
what was the FBI's nvoivement?
We in the Poeto Rican independence movement
have beensaying for many year tht the F.B.L beadeda
deahsquad type uni in Puerto Rico snd that it has
‘maintained contol ofthe Puerio Rican policesioce the
1930's, since the Pueso Rican polce were mobilized
slong with the Naional Guard o smash nd destro the.
Puerto Rican Nationalist Pan.
For years, many of ourdetractorsatacked us and
said we were paranoid and that this det-squed did nok
exis and ther did not i this B conrolled polce
fore tha was agains the Puero Rican independence
mavement. Now we have been vindicated because the
‘whole Cerro Maraill siuaion as shown that there has
cxised deal-squadin Puerio Rico made vpof clements
ofthe Puerio Rican police, the F.B.L, andother Federal
goverment offcals, paticlary people in the US.
Navy and the U Marshllsrvice
In the Cerro Maravils case, two young Perto
Rican independentisas were organized and mobilzed
nto an organization which was 4 govermment cresied
organization. They were put no station o carying.
outarmed aacks gainthe .S, whichhad een totally
sctup and the they were ured 10 & commenications
tower where they were surounded by the police nd
murderedincoldblood. TheUS. nd PoeioRicanpolice
aiempted 1 cover tup, bt they filed because ceran
‘witnesss, cetain peopie inthe Pt Rican independ.
ence movement have not allowed 10 go sway,and ve.
pushed and pushed it And 1o tis day new revelatons
come upaboutthe inensty o he .S. ol n this whole
e and the factthat the FB.1 was acaly thee.
Thus for s he imporiance tha e F.B.L was there
and that ther exiss a deathsquad made up of US.
overment officilsandthe Purto Rican polic s tht
it shows that Paero Rico s coloay despt thefuct i
we have s conan satss known s Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico and hatthe U.S. efrs o us s democrcy.
Ths showsthat PuertoRico{s o different thanthe estof
Latin America whereyou have govermment that iy in
ot by forc, that creae exr-legal means 1o say in
“The Cermo Maravll case bas gone 1o the highest
levelsof goverment i Puero Rico d it hasgoneto the
highetlevels of govermmentinthe U, Wher i wilend
pis hard o ey, becaus s he govermmentimvestigat
Rican colonalsm that ar prescaly in power feel that
hey can gainsometing from nvesigaing this consir
a0y o kil e two comsades st Cerro Maravll. AL the
time of the murders the govemment in pover was the
Statchooders. So they are tempting 10 use this 18 4
opportunicy 1o down he Snchooders andhopefaly win
the cleciona th endoftis yer. It s nt clr ow
they are willng 10 go, andth fuct i ey may end vp
cutingtheir own throas becaus they have been unior
parmers, for § decades, in mintining U.S. conirl in
Puerto Rico. I his invesigaion continves and i keeps
n going o the very hearof he US. role in Puerio Rico
many o theirparty members will be questoning their
‘own policies and teir own thoughs
Soitis hard o ay how far they will o snd 1 oot
believe thathe Poerto Rican independence mavement
szong enough o force the govemment o continue the
investigaions. So the investgeton could end &t any
‘moment and whaiever has been discovered has been
discovered and here will e nothing mor 0. The U,
overmmentobviously hasaniners n trying 1 sop it
and hey aredoing everyiing possibe 10 sop e nves-
tigaion. But withow queston it has exposed o the
masses of Purio Ricanpeople e fact hatthere i a eath
Squad, tht the govemment has o qualms sbout usng.
vilence againt s own peopl 0 stay i powes, and i
the US. is the master of Puro Rico without question,
they arethe ones who pull l he srings and whaev
happens in Puerto Rico comes from Washingion D.C.
So, for u it has been vindication. I vindicasd
many of th things we have boe sayin for years and it
s been good for us. We have been abe 10 bring 1o us
many new peopl, and 't been very posiive thing, |
o't know how much more we can gain from i, b op
10 now i's been very good for s
Puerto Rican women have always played an impor-
tant rolen the Puerto Rican iberation sruggle, b i
your words,sexism runs rampant n the Independence
movement. Do you e the struggle against sexism a5
an ntegral par of the Independence struggle?
The Puerto Rican independence movement, com-
ing from soiey which s pusiarchl, bs becn s chau-
viistic and sexist movemmen, without question. While
we have exampls of Puerto Rican women who bave
o0 up and fought anddied for Pucro Rican ndepend-
ence, for the most pan women have been shut oot
‘Women haveforoed hemselves onto he tcene nd have
forcedmento recognize hem w10 scceptthem s ol
parmers i the srggle for Pueto Rican independence.
ot it has ot been because we have opened p the ranks
and allowed them 0 ent the movemens. It has been in
spite of men, and not becauseofthem.
Withost quesion, if we ar 10 be serous about
developing anew society anda new wy o hinking, then
we can'tsay we are oing 10 chunge some aspect of
ourselves and of our socity and not other sepects. We.
have o be willng and sble 1 open vp o discusion nd
1ot sruggleal aspects o Puerto Rican socity and the
sruggle for independence | think the srugge agains
sesim has 0 be n itegrl partofthe sivggle of the
Puerto Rican people o develop new way o thinking
and 2 new socey
InPuerto Rico you have s ssasion where themain
‘cause of death among Puero Rican women is domestic
Vilence. We have s terble siston of baterd women
and of incetand rap, This i aggravated by the deero-
ing economic condilons in Poeto Rico and by 4
colonal deology that condones and even encourages
such vilence against women. The Perto Rican inde-
pendence movement has ot been immane from thesc
hings. Some have aempted 10 e thes ssues and 1o
aie consciousness, bt we hve a long why 1 g0 Purio
continsed on the back page...
Interview With Edwin Cortés
O June 29, 983, you and thre others were arrested.
1 Chicago und sccused of belng members of the PALN
(Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Naconal), a evolo-
tonary dandestioe organizaton actvein the Unlted
States which basassumed respousbilyfor over 100
‘armed actons carried cut i support of Purto Rican
ndependence. Could you tell us sometsing of the
history bebind the FALN, wihin the contxt of the
bistory of the armed stroggl for Puerto Rican inde-
peadence?
The FALN bas been sn natrl extnsion of the
Prerto Rican sruggle for independence and socialim.
The armed stuggle was niisted Sepember 23, 18681
what is known ss the Grito de Lars (Cry of Lares)
occurred,ld by Dr. Ramon Emeierio Betance. This se.
& coune in Puero Rican history for amed sruggle.
Secret Socities and revolsionary acivty continued
‘when he United Sttes milailyinvaded Puero Rico on
July 25,1898, The amed goerillasdeclared the Repab-
lic of Ciles i Augus of 1898. The amd sroggle
contined developng in Poero Rico i the 1930's tp
il he 1950’ wihthe Puerto Rican Natonalist Pary;
d withthe experienceofthe Naticalist Pary and the.
previous movements, the amned candestine movement
ealy began t function round 1967 with he deveop-
mens of the Commandos Armados de Liberacion and
b orgmizaions, some of which ermbraced the s
eqy o Prolonged People’s War. Ad i 1974, he FALN
came abou, aacking Unied Sintes goveromenal, mili-
and corponte stcres; perpetuaorsof colonil-
am in Puerto Rico. The FALN developed clanderine
‘methods o orgaizaion i order 1o neatalize U, gov-
ermmestal reprssion wd 1o futhes the siggle for
Puerto Rican independence and socialism.
Are there atthe present time any organizations carry-
Ing out armed actions n Puerto Rice?
‘The Ejercio Popalar Boricus Machetero led by
Filbeio Ojeds, s wel a the Fuerzas Amadas Do
Pedro Albiza Campos have caimed crodi for varous
actions nd there has been many actsof sabotage, many.
of which no one has claimed credit for, in relation 1o
worker's srikes and other movement. Overal, the
amed revohuionary activiyin Poero Rico is st 4 low.
b
In your openiag statement o the court n August of
1985 you stated that “In keeping with my princpls,
‘with hetradition ofour eroke feedom ghtersand
‘ccordance withnternational aw, the ooy law which
has right to try me, it s my oblgation o declare
mysef » Prisoner of War.” Could you explain the
reasoning bebind the Prisoner of War postion?
The POW posion that we assamed was dveloped
by Guillermo Morsles in 1978 and in 1980 by Carmen
Valenin, Alicia Rodrigocz, Luis Rosa, Lucy Rorigucz,
Ricardo iménez, Carlos Tomes, Haydee Belvi, Elizam.
Escobar, Adolfo Matos, and Dyctn Pagie as well s
OscarLépezin 1981, end it was doe o heintenifcaion
of e amed struggein Peto Rico e Unied Suxes
43 el s n idelogical and poliial debaie going o
within the independence movement s 1o wheiher of nok
the ammed stroggle was evennecessay, and questioning.
itvis-a-vis s tacticor siregy. The POWs embraced e
amed aevggle wiin the siniegy of a Prolonged
People's War. e assumed he posiion inrderto further
the srugale for Poerto Rican independence because we
b med e o sty compoct o b
movemen,und was pcessaryaha ine;
1 sl sl today n ordrtocombet US. s
1 destoy the independence movemens and annex our
homeland. We ls challenged thelegaltyofthe Troaty
of Parisof 1898 which wassigned betwee th U.S. and
Spain. Spain gave Puero Ricotothe US. s plece of
propery, which did not belong 1o Spain. Spain had
aleady granied Puero Rico s autonomy under the
Courerof Autonomy of 189. The United Sttes nvades
Puerto Rico in Jly, 1898 and a *Sate of War” exiss
between the Pucro Rican people and the UsS. govern-
ment. Regardiess o he saeof the war, i il contioues
1ody. And icaly, ourPOW positionisootednnieroa-
onallaw, paricuirly resouton 1514 whichrecopnizes
the righ of colonial peole o self-desemminaion and
independence, and ober various esolatons of the UN
‘which rcognize amued strggle as & means 10 achieve
idependence md whichconfe a Pisoner of Warsatas
10 thoe captred in colomial armed conflcs.
How then doe the Prisoner of War’ postion contrast
it th ‘palitcal pisoner” psiton?
Bothpoiion complement ch e, Thecnly
diference bwen poltica piscnr s prisner of
aris ot « POW acknowlaige s paricipaticn nthe
amnc s, wherea s policl e scoersually bes
e s o some ol e, and ot e
Sy an e action.
‘You werefound gullty I 1985 ofseditious conspiracy.
‘What s seditous conspircy and why s i an impos-
sblecrime for Puerto Ricans?
During ourwial, Don Juan Antonio Coreer, who
was the national poct of Peno Rico and was one of
PuertoRico' greaes independentist sod socialist tink-
er, auiended our rial,and he developed the concepe of
sediton being the impossible crme. Unforunatcly, Doo
Jum died in 1985 with fullmilary hooours and be-
owed withthe rank of Commander.Seditonisfous
impossible crime becaus,firstof l, th US. accuss us
of conspiing o overthrow the .. govermment by force
‘andviolenceinorderioobainthe politicalndependence
of Puerto Rico. And the uthrity that wear challnging
s anillegal nd colonial mathority the U.S. has o awul
subority in Puero Rico. Colonalsm is s crime against
hmaniy. We lsochallenged e US. miliry inervn-
ion in our homeland in 1898, and the llegaly o the
Treaty of Pai.
"Also, forus sediton i crme of though; becase
forPrero Rican ndependentista,jos advocatng amod
evoluton, o supportfor rmed oganizaions s cnough
forthe US. govermmen 1o charge them wih sedition.
Somewher i the four, i the Poerto Rican sruggle
does reach high lvelof sirugge, it s my opiion hat
he U will ot hsitat 1o charge oherndependenisas
‘withseiton. Tis was shown in 1937, with D Pedro
‘Nlbiza Campos, s Harvard sdvcated lawyer, and leader
of the Pucrto Rican Naionalist Party, who was chirged
with sediton for jut merely advocating Poerto Rican
independence. He was never sccused of carying utany
med acuons.
‘Duringourwial Jose Rrgoes, who ook ol
cal pisoner defens, also challnged sediion and it
ecame abvious daring the rial tha he was accused of
sditon or nly merly supporing Pucro Rican nde-
pendence, and no forpaicipating i any armed actions.
So, the US. govermment rally does no need for
people tobe involved in armed acts o hargethem with
Sedition. s merely politcal sate that thy ose 10
incarcerte Puero Ricans.
‘Ao, in 1922, he U.S. Supreme Count passed &
deciion that Puto Rico blongs o, bt i o par of,
e Unied Suate. And we ed his dcieion 1 demon:
Puerto Rican
Prisoners Of War
And Political PnSoners
Luis Rosa INO2I43
Box 711
Meoar, liois 2259 USA
Alica Rodriguez INO7157
PO, Box 5007
Dvight,loois 60420, US A.
Alberto Rodrigues #92150.024(8-3)
Bdwin Conés #2153.004 (82)
Ricardo Jiméaez #3967 024(A2)
PO, Box 1000
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837, US A
Elizam Escobar #88969-004
FCI Colorado Usit
Adolfo Maios #83968-024
3901 Kiein Bivd (Unit 1)
Lompoc, Cliforia 93436, USA.
‘Carlos Albero Torres S8976.024
Woodhouse, P.0. Box 1000
‘Oxford, Wisconsin 53952:1000, US.A.
Dylca Pagia #88971.024
Ids Luz Rodsigocs #88973.024
Haydoo Belirin $83462.004
‘Carmen Valetin 485574024
Aljandria Tores #92152-024
FClPlesasion
701 8 S, Cap Pk
‘Dublin, Caifomia 94568, US A.
Juan Sogara Plmer ¥15357-071
100 FCI Rowd
Marianoa, Florida 32446, US.A.
Astonio Camacho-Negrén #03587.069
ROl MeKen (Unit2)
PO, Box 8000
Bradtord, Pansyivania 16701, USA.
‘Norman Ramirez Taavers KO3171-069
FC Danbary
Pembroke Swion
‘Danbury, Connoctcu 06811, US.A.
RobertoJosé Maldonado #03588.069
Fedenl Medical Facility
3150 Horon Rosd
Fon Wonh, Texas 6119, US.A.
L A. Colén Ororio #03172.069
FCl Ouville
Box 1000, Unit 5
Oirille New York 10963 USA.
S SIS
‘te thatPoero Rico i Ltin Americancouny in e
(Carbbean sndthtisightin fots raiona independ.
Could you el us sbout the campaign known s ‘Ofe-
s sz,
Ofensiva 92 beganin uly 1991, sndn Puerto Rico
0 the US. hey are orgmizing local commiees in
diferent parts of e iland, o ar they have orgnized
about 30 local commies. In the Urited States, the
Natonal Commicee o Free All Pveio Rican Pisoners
of War and Poliical Prisoners, ia Phiadelphis, Chicago,
Harord, New York, und oheriies have been esroc.
‘ared o embracthe wide support we hve eceived from
iffeent seciors. Th campaignisimed t 1992 because
‘we will b commemoraingth 500t armiverary of the
discovery o the Americas nd 10 s spproprisete for
Puerto Ricans 1o inteaify the strgglefor Poerto Rican
independence sndthe ex.carceruton oft poltcalpis:
‘oner and POWs. Alo, e UN hasdeclaed the 1990's
st decad for he elminationofcolonialim, sad this
resolutiongives fothe ammuiion o our valiat cause.
ik Ofeniva 92 has the poteial of orgaizing
nd mobilzing the Puerto Rican people sround support
for POWs and pliical pisoners,and the we can be
nifying force within the independence movement to-
day. This campaign s smilar 1 he campaign waged in
he carly 1970s for the Five Puero Rican Nationlits
‘Who wer in the United Sttes pisons frover 25 years
‘What can be done t suppart the sruggle for Puerto
Rican independence and the truggle o ree the ris-
oners of War and poltcal prisoners?
1 hink a commite in sopportof Puerio Rican
independence und POWs and pliical prisoners would
be in order 1 think such » commitee could ke up he
work of poopie around the colonial case of
PuctoRico as well 5 why we ave beenmprisoned and
mistrated. Th commitee can expose the hypocritcal
postare o the U.S-human right policy: i goesaround
the world talking sbout uman righis s freedom for
polticalpisoners,whie it negaes s ow human rights:
vilaions and deniesthe exisenceof pliical pisoners
here nthe US. The US. also allges tha Purto Ricois:
it own nteral affirandrfuses o recognize the s
dicionof th United Natons. s the responsibiity of al
peace loving and progressiv peoples of the workd o be
involvedinhe srugae o free Pueto Rico. A commitse
in Canada would help o inemationlize the colonial
caseof Puerto Rico.
How do you se tis struggle 1 fre the mprisoned
fghters In reltion to similar sruggles around the
worid?
The last e years we have bocn sble 10 make
contac with variaus movements in upportoffeedom
fopoltcal priscners he ish sruggle,the Palestiian
ssuggle, the srogseof GRAPO ind PCE() riscnersin
‘Spain,and various other movements. And we ae rying
101set ome kind f agenda where we could alk abouthe
incarcerationof poliicalpisooers and prisoners of war
and he repressive naare of the sae. Though the work
i suppor for pliical prisonrs we have also ben able
1o understand and sppert hestroggls againtmperial.
m,rcism, ionim, . We have very mach in com-
‘mon with people whoar ighiing ornaional independ-
‘nce and social change throughout the world. Togeher
‘wecanmake the 1990she decade ortheex-caceraion
of al policalprisonersand prisoners of wa.
For frther information oniac he Movimieno de Lib-
eracion Naciona, 1671 N. Claremoni, Chicago, L,
0647 USA
1. Luis Alrado Colon Osork,
mnudmmmm—hnnfidm
Rico n geoeral the following:
10t ecognize LS. Feden juisdicdion i Poero
Rico, northe cots imposed o this end by the power
of atmed force.
-1 denounce the cumpuign of i that the FB s
‘canying ot in laion 10 my arest d he spposed
ool e ey gyl i
time of my ares. The enemy pracices soch acics
orer io i 4 demarlie he ndependence
Neverteles, | decar tha the dug probie i
this country i not, s they llge, the main caus of
ime inour county. Aibough | ecognize that a grea
vanber of poopl i our counry, children, o young-
ster and aduls fom all social phers,use drogs s
form of escape and urvival, They ae o, norwil hey
‘ver be,the main cause o our problan.
“The rea cause s nothing but the sock-poltical
sitution produced by » Machisvelia plan direced
nd orchestned by the U.S. govemment in order 0
susain » relacionship o poliical conol over all a5
pocts of our development as 4 free and sovemign
~Today, befor ourcouney and all e countriesof he
‘work,the U.S. govesmment s gy of e esponsie
for al the death that cccar o » dily basis in our
comiry.
- denounce any inteot ofthe FBl 1o repess,trorie
orpressure bumble and good acro Rican people, uch
Statement To The Court - Luis Col6n Osorio
and the right i jodge mo is te Hagoe Iniemuiona
Cou.
Puco Rican people. I the bookle have elephone
a4 the meambers of the PNP, opulars ndependents
12 people that ar ot afliied withany polical:
pany for metcly having given fellow Poeo Ricsa .
plteofrce snd beans.
~ The only court with the power, e globalmandate
- have been rrod due 1o the conflict betweea the.
Puero Rican nation nd the U, ovemment;there
fore I1ake stand sccoring o he Geneva Convention
fldmmhmhmm-«hnfl
ofWar.
- Beathough hisfct i im'-flmi-llm'q’fll
the mechuniams within o reach o defend mysell
againt e injusicos commitied gains me, ot cous-
‘0 the Independence movemens.
- When | was aesid I had booklet wih various
phon pumbers, tha incuded fumily members tnd
Pocro Rican ficnds that have nthing t0 do with my
simaton, o my poliicalbeliefs. And the FBl s going
10 u8ethis bookle 10 repress and erorizethese good
‘mumbersof doctors, fumily members, inds ad jour.
oaliss,
- And finlly, ugrecing 10l the Posro Rican pecple
0 have uith i God.Inhis show decoloiaaton proc-
st togeher with poety, heart,heguitar s,
with houes day o day practic, and with th powerof
& whole naton i the difernt enches of sivggle,
from he egal 1o amd confrontaion, we will chieve
EXPOlice Terror In Sevilla
In Sevila, Sain, series of acions were held in
April 0 protstaganst he Expo 92 and 10 demonstsie
agast500year ofclonialim, the fortres Earope, and
the Nor-South confic.
Afer an ani-Bxpo concert on Apeil 19, 4 lef-
radical demonstraton of sbout 350 people whs hed.
Afer sbout anbour, the march was stopped by police on
bothsides,resuling i panic among somedemontrstors.
As pogie iedto dipers,thy were chased by police
wih pistols draon, and brualy besten. When some
demonsrsors fought back with stones, poics opened
fire, hiving one bystander nd wounding thee demon-
iors. Atleast 100 eople wer arresied,and most had
1o be hospializd.
‘When the Expo opened an Apel 20, s group of
‘people hoking lacards demanding the elaseof those
arested the ight before were tacked by policeas hey
4
AT
atempted 1 alk 1 & Spanish TV crew, There were 20
et Tensons increased in Sevil 4 hundreds of
police with machine guns were deployed throughout e
ity. I sems the s sought o crush any public aciios
agtinstihe Expo. A campingground used by demonsre
1o, incluing some peopl {rom South Amercs, wis
evicied by police on Aprl 21, There were 30 ars
On Aprl 22, mos of those rrsied had sill not
becn eleased,and thoe that were complained ofacim
and sevee misreaument. Solidaity demos and press
conferences were held in Piss, Paus, snd Venedig.
‘Three Germans und one Austrisn were tmnspored 0 4
‘Spanish priso forprevetive detenion. Other Europe.
ans athad been rrsted were guickly depored.But, a5
ndicaive o te New Europe, thers, expecially North
Affcans, were given much hrsher uestment. As 4 form
of intimidation, aesies wer t0ld that they must re-
nouincethe ani Expo actins before beng releaed, and
hatf any one pessom refused,all would il b hed
By tsis poin, the politcl diffrences among the
ani-Bxpo organizers ad worsened severely. The Groens
compleely distanced themselves rom the letrdic
roups. The Spaishpressspead s les sbot e
Sctions, and Svils was fled wi besvily rmed olice.
‘Mesnwiil, the prisoners were sl being misreted nd
deniedvisiors a they avaied i fortaking part n
“illgal demonstaion”. Ofien durin e confnemert,
prsoners hadtostandfor hoursaginet the walwi heir
ands sbove e heads. ey moved, ey werebeaien
They were asodenid food snd waerforlong priodsof
time, Severl South Amercians, upon beng released,
‘wersimmedisely deporid from Span.
Open Letter To The Puerto Rican People
As we reportedin AT, 12, Purio Rican indepen.
denista Ivonne Meléndes was io be senienced o July 1
andfacedupio 1S yearsinprisoncharged withiranspor.
ationand conspiracyinan expropriatin carriedout on
the Wels Fargo Companyin Connectcu in 1983 by the
polical miltary organizsion "Los Mocheteras”. We
re happy 0 reporttha sh willnot be ailed, but was
senienced 03 years probation an 1,000 bours ofcom-
ity work. On the same day, Filiert Ojeds Rios,a
Leader of "Los Macheteros” was seenced in absenia
andsenencedio 3 yearsfor isalleged aricipationin
he expropriation. Below we have reprined a satement
that Ivonne made befor the egal process egan.
1 wan 10 ke this opportumity 0 explain 1o the
‘Puerto Rican people the rasons why | have decded 10
face il o charges broogh againt me following my
arest on Augast 30,1985
‘However, before | crplain my reasons | wani 10
give my poliical analysisof each of ou cass und the
hisory preceding them.
Historically in Puerto Rico,the Puerto Rican nde-
pendence Movement has taken the niform position of
refusing to collborue with the government that -
presss ourpeopl.Lamsure that everyone who sraggles
for Poeo Rico's ndependence ecl this way.
Consider The Following
13% of the land on the 35 by 100 mile istand is
occupied by U.S. military bases.
U, mcteararmsare wsdandstordin PurtoRico
i vikaron of h Treaty of Titelolco,whichproki-
e malear weapons in Ltin America.
The inland's unemployment e is 43%
0% of Pt Rican womenof hild-berin s
steriisedas ress of US. depopsionprograms.
Half o the Pusrio Rican nation ha been forced t0
migrate 10 he United Sates e to wnemployment
and he colonil government s policies - an exodhs
(among the most massiv recorded by history. And,
hen thy arive inthe United Siate, th migranis
e subjected 0 povery and racism.
The US. congress reains power 10 legisate o
Puerto Rico withouthe consen of s people. Purto
Ricans on he folanc are o permited 0 voe for
Presdent e congresional represetatives.
11917 the Jones Actfocdcitizanship on the Puerio
Rican people along with hedrft and World War .
e
quent U, wars.
Implemeiation of U.S designed 2020 plon (named
for theyear of s anicpated congetion) wil irans.
formhe economy an physicalterrainof PuetoRico
1o conform1o US. trategic neds. The plam will -
ect h sanc 1 Lagescale sp mining and defor-
cstation, contamination of waer resowrces fther
reduction of s populion, ond expansion of US.
miary presence.
Aspart o s ttack on the independence movemes,
he FBI rins the colonial police - responsible for
bombing, arsauls and assassinaions of independ-
ence and iabouw activss.
FREEDOM FIGHTERS
NOT TERRORISTS
Amrestd comrades have tditonaly clamed the
Priscner of War satos based o the analyss that Pocrto
Rico was invaded milarily in 1898 by the US. and that
odaythe U.. cotinves 0 oppressourpeople.For hese:
reasons Pucrio Rico s colony of the US. To ke the
Prisonerof War posiion takes courngeand sacifice, st
means facing tomatic convicion and & mazimum
prison sentence, sch s thoe being servd by the Puerio
Rican Priscners of War in the U.S. Thei dcision was
‘based on theie amlyss. | respec and perfcty under-
and ha decirion.
‘When we were aresed on Augast 0, 1985, we
began anlyzing our reality o deermine what posiion o
ke, keeping in mind the goveroment's objectve - 10
take s out o circulaton, give us mazimum seences
nd keep s in sub-buman conditions of incarcertion),
asthey do our comdes - the poliical prisoners and
prisonersof war.
"We decided 1o oganize » poliical-legal defense
which implied using. US. laws o expore the
goverment's inenions, which has beca histoically 1>
obstract and weaken the movement troogh imprison:
s, abricaion of cases,persecuton and ssssivaion
euch s the ‘Cerro Mareil case.
During this poliical and lgal proces, diferen
circumstances have risen leading he compatiers and |
10 assume diffrent posiions. Theve were based on our
respecive poltical and personal idealogies 0d our
anatyis s e time.
Filibero Ojeda Rios and Luis Colén Osorio de-
cided1o go clandestine. | espect this deision mainly for
1. Every comrade has he right 1o confront the
encanyin whateverformbele undersandsisnccessary.
(oy dfiiion, coonialism i a crme agaist humaniy
andmosbefought by whatevermeans svailaic isbas
been ecogaized by intemational laws and the Unised
Natons),
2 Clandesiiy is a vald form o soggle, one that
thes comrades fet abligated 0 choos, becaus of the
epeession hat exiss in Perto Rico
“Though this decision could have had an immediste
effect on those of s who were on bal, i was more.
mporantioview thei ecisioninthe contestofthe long:
e goal, recognizingth impartance of e o pois
‘menioned sbove.
About a year ago, the govemment began to make
offers for » poliically negotisied way out of the case.
Once sgain, we surted 1o snalyze eachcase and found
it it o ll,the goverment's case i weak and they
el obligated o drop the charges against Elis Castro
Ramot nd Angel Diz Raiz Secondly the overmment
s no aiemative but t0 drop the two min charges,
‘which bor satences of 20 yearseach. I my case, this:
reduced the possbility of 1 60 year seeace 0 15 years.
“The govermmen continues o make offrs, tenpt.
g 1o negotst poliical way out i order 80 10 §0 10
il
1 tenminsied the negoisions on my own case in
December 1991, Th thercomdes decided toconine
negotining and seck s solution ccording 0 their own
siations. These negotations resulied in th fllowing:
1. Hillon_ Femandez Diamente and Orlando
| Gonzalez Claudio eached an agreement with the gov-
emment. The detsils of the ina outcome is wknown.
“The hearingon thecase i schedaled for Apil 10,1992
2. Tssac Comacho-Negrén reached an agreement
withthe govemment whereby hischarges were reduced
1 one count with posible maximum senicac offve
years, He was given » 44 month sntence.
3. Jorpe Farinacci Gurcia aso reached an aree
mens with the govemment. To date we ar not aware of
the fina resls. His sentencs hearingis scheduled for
Jaly 10,1992.
Lunderstand and respecs the deciions of the com-
rades.Lbelevethat when fced with th impossibilty of
o fir ral, o jury of people who are not our pers, and
maimo senences, was th corrct poriton 1 ake
e 10 thie parculr itutin.
Mahemaiclly speaing, 200 years are more than
10 years. Polically speaking, poliical prisones and
prisoners of warae ncded on h srets 0 advance the
ruggle for Puero Rican independenc, ot inprison.
Neverteles, this leaves us wilh an wresolved
issue; why have | decided 10 go o uial, f | am aware 5.
they were, that L will ot ecive fai i, tht Lill -
juror that re ot my peer, i & couny, in angusge
0 culture that e o my own!
Thesearemy ressons:
1. The violaons ofcvil nd homan rights i this
case,including:
- vioations of the Puerto Rican colonial
consitation and e ight o privacy as i elaes o the
recordings made during the investigaion;
- impeisonment for 16 moeihs without bail;
buil conditions that incuded retricions on our
freedom of movemen, propertes confiscated fo more
than five years, nd house arest resticions from 1200
midnight 1 6:00 AM, among obers;
- being exradited frommy country o be judged by
people who are ot my peers;
- violation of & speedyfexpedied tral. We have
‘waited ot 90 ays, bot almont seven years, Lt sic s
Do jusice.
"forced sepraton from my hildren and faily for
il hese years;
~ d all he tber violations that | am wnable o
enumersie at his time because there are o many.
2 And, the reason tha cries a o of welghtinmy
decision;
‘As's woman and a Purto Rican mothe, [ believe
hat we hould always spire 10 give the masimum. Our
polcal work s oficn ignored and minimiacd. For this
Feason I hink someane shoukd i voice n protest.
“Throughout all these. years of colonialism, our
people have demonstaed esisance, nd i cancontrib-
e 0 that process, 1 will do t provdly.
I pracice, his proces,full o conradicions and
ifficulies, n which w bave ken difeent positions,
s proven o beavictory and has advanced our srvggle
contnued on page 13..
Interview With Chinganji Akinyela
New Afrikan Peoples Organization, L.A. Chapter
Why 4l the King verdic cause such an explosion i
the Black community?
1ot just the vrdict. Plopl have becn old aver
e past fve years and more that police crimes in our
community canbe resolved hrough e justicesysem. In
e last yoar, the situation of the Koresn women who.
Kl Lot Harlin 1 was e off o fee brosghta
ot of hea, e and anger i th Black commanity; ight
behind it was the Rodney King wia. People watched i,
ey waited for justics 10 be served. When it wast,
people hadaready docided there was going tobe hell 5
ey in the szt €' mor than a sporianecus ot of
olaed incdentas the media has bocn wying 10 sy. I’
josifed response 10 an ufust siuaton
What was ke tolive i South Central LA, during
the st woek?
U have been inspire by our people. [ had thought
that LA was pray letargi, eety Hollywood, pretyy
Dismeyland. And I'v bocn inspire o see people e-
spond i s bealing way, + wey that makes sense, that s
jos. Living her has bon frghtening. I'm more frghi-
‘end by the st tropers and the milfary than by the
people who have come from oor community and are
Tespondingin» iregic wey o unjost sysem. 1 say
hat because i wasnot st enselessotin o baming.
i was done stegically, andin discustion wih people
outonthestreet,most eopleundersand hat we e ot
i jopardy. No homes were bumed. Bat you can 010
Philadelphis and they Il bum 8 whoe ocighbourhood
like they did with the MOVE bombing withot any
consideruion for families sodchildrn. There wer some.
Canaalics, nd lorumaily when you have war, when
‘you bave rbelion, thee are some casualies.
‘One of themost apallinghingisththe cnly area
Whereheroops are i southof Pico Boulevard. I you g0
upin the white commanity - Bevery Hils, Hollywood,
other areas which were al afecied by the rebellion -
thre are o troop there. This ik South Afrca Peopl:
‘upthere have no idea what' going onin South Cearl.
They have 1o idea pople are walking up and down the
et with guns and n faigoes s i i wee war sne.
‘Abbough the curew s lified, everything closes down.
e dark. They don'tJt mare thn fve people imo &
bank atatm. ' teifying. ' ot ke iving inacity
st Totl rgimentatio. | mean, i's 1 Nz camp. Go.
outside the community and ' » whol other workd.
‘What would yousa to e chargethat e community
was engaged n snseless, sl-destructive violence?
1 funny 10 me 1 hear peopl ak about violence
onthe part of urcommanity, when we'r responding 10
S siaton that s bocn very violenttowards us. 's OK.
‘whenit works forth syiem. But when s us responcing.
10 e ysiem, we're violens, eroist, gmngbangers, and
thugs. In videowpes of the ooting you do ot see pre-
dominanily gangbengers. You e mothers, abers, il
ren out thee iberating thingsfo heir survival.
youlook st relisically,yousee s srvegy. The
fires, te so-caled looting, were sysematc. In most
cases, those business were ciher Korean or whie-
‘owned, Thes nstitusion i s communisy re ok of our
Community 4nd do not serve our commniy. We are
consumers nthoe markets, but he money mmediniely
£0%s outofourcommunity, 50 w do ot reapany of the
‘enefi. I those instiuionsare o be rbul,they have
1o b responsive our communiy.
Unforumately, 0% of the Black businesses i Los
Angeles were lso afected because hey were nearolher
businesss ' 58410 secour senio cizens aving 0 g0
40 farout o th commenity o purchase thei groceris
and what have you. We, 1 actvit, have mixed emo-
tions about this, bocaus i docs affec pecple who e
dependent on these sevices wthin oor community in
order o be ble o exis. On the other hand, we s a5
Tightcous response 10 very s s, Infact, s 8
blow aaine eocolonialist siuation wherethy st up
censin things i ourcommnity to make t ook ike i's
ouns, bt ' ot urs infct t does ot serve s at all.
(Can you ek about the reationship betweenthe Black.
and the Latino commanity f all this?
1 think i's key. We've soen grff which says
~Crips, Bloods™ - two opposing gangsher in Los Ange-
les-*4nd Mesicans unie” thoughout South Cetl.
the past there have been 8 o oftesions berween the
Mesican and the Black gangs, and withi the general
popalaton feling that te Mexicans were takiog over.
Nowthere'ssome el unity. Infactwe've reached out 10
build conliions 10 do some joint work, 8o that the sume
casions sreallowsd o come back.
How would you compare thi rebelion 1o what bap-
‘pened In Watts 27 years sgo?
“Themostsrikinghingormestha urpeoplebave
guns now. There were seveal pswn shops and surplus
ores thas were i, and e st ings hat were aken out
‘were guns. Pople re armed; nthe past that wasn't he
case. Mostof he 1965 upiing wass-caledloting and
borming. Here 'sbeen peope prparing for war.
T oo think ic’s much more youth-led thaa i the
past. T've tlked 10 & many young poope who waiched
the uia intesivey. The youth are responding, tey're
organizing they're poliscized. the work thatthey have
L.A., Washington Heights...
On Fridey July 3, Jos Garcs, Dorinican -
‘migrant living in upper Mankatan, was tho and
Killed by NYPD officer Michael O'Keefe. The fo-
lowing Manday, 8 march o the 34h precinct tamed
violent. The vielence continved for the next three
days, withover 1200 i polce beng deployed nthe
neighborbood. One, desonsuraior was killed when,
scconding to winesses, police comered the man on
he roof of a building and then pushed him o his
oath. Polic oftn b o e from sipe ire during
the ioing. By Friday July 10, 125 people had been
areaed, 14 beildings md 125 cars were bumed,
several business were loted, nd seores of police
were injoed and et two dozen police vehicl
asboen detoyed. Over 2000ripolicsremained in
the Washinglon Heighis aighborhood throughout
theweskend... They have ound common ey
“The gang e between the rips andthe Bloodsin
Lot Angeles i sl in ffoct. Gang embers have
recenly held meetings with Korean merchanis n sa
effons t heal racial wounds o rotom cighbor-
hoods. Gang membes lso ssued a wriien roposal
with thee ideas for rebilding Eis LA. They have
even formed a nonprofit corporation osllar-wash
spray md gangtrce vhins o raise money for
community feconsrucin..
doneinthe aftermath,intermsof really getinga viceon
he medi,hasmade i 0 clear thtouryouh s nok ot
aeneraion.
How e the youth Infivenced by th legacy of Mal-
cmX?
The youth are without a doub influenced by Mal-
colm "By any meansnecessary” speaks o thei frusr-
tionsatbing ol 10 vait, o bepatietand o follow. The
‘yoular nspredby Macolm becaus b spoke o hem.
They are iredof a schol sysiem which does ot adess.
them, They areredof being empied by materiaism b
able o have the “hings” which say they aresucceseful
continued on the back pae...
Assata Shakur On Racism In The USA
Deliversd st a meetng o the Organtzaion of Solldar-
ity of the Peopis of Afrca, Asia and Latin America.
Havana, Cubs May 8,195
Fist of al L would ke tosay it 8 great pleasre
and 1 great honoos for me 10 be here today. | would ke
othakthe Cubangovernment md the Cobanpeople for |
theilong and consisint histryof sldarty end sopport
for the srggles of African Americns nd other op-
prescd people i the United Suate. | amsure tht | peak
forthe vastmajoiy ofprogressvetinking pople.n e
United Sttes whea | say tha for s, the b rvoluion
s been shining example of freedom, socal sie,
‘0dof coursgeous sruggleaginst .S, Imperiaim. We
a1 tuly graefl for th very pincipled stand tha the
Cuban govemment has taken aganstracis, both s
tionally and nermaionally.
‘Many of u i the Afrcan- Amercan commanity
ekt became aquanied with the Cuban revoluion i
1960, when Fide Casroandthe nire Cuban delegation
sayed inth Teresa ot in Harem, N.Y. snd becam
the it d probably the nly, worldlederto say in s
hote i predominately Blck and poorneighbourbood.
Black and Thind World peopl nthe United Sses have
epeatedly bocn the victims o persecation and poliical
repression and we are deepy graeful 1o the Cuban
‘peoplefor giving poliicalsylumto activiss ik Robert.
‘Willsms and Hey Newnon o the Black Paher Pry.
‘Weare lsovery apprcinive of e vast sppartin Cuba
hat poliical pisoners like Angels Davis tnd Leonard
Pelir have received.
At time when the Uniied Sutes goverment’s
policis sround e world ar becoming moremilarieic,
epresson nside e U.S. boder i 1 n the uprwing.
Raciem and poice bality have been patof th US.
reaity, bt they are now reachin lvels that havenever
‘boen known before. The case of Rodney King in Los
Aageles is no an isouid incdens. Over th lat five
years here have been uprisings or mass demorstrsions
inevery major ity nthe United e potstng police
brtalty and repression. Alhough there ar re also
‘hitevicms of polie butlty, blcks sndcther Thind
‘World people e the most freuent vicims of police
violnce.In Aficn- America,Lutino, Native American
and Asian communites the police hav a virual lcense
kil Bach year,hundredsofpolice e invesgaied on
charges f using excessive forc orof wanion rder, bt
only & smal mamber are ever offcaly charged with
‘rmes andoalyutiny percentagesr evr found guiy.
And even on those rars occasions when policemen are
actually conviced of assal, orture o mrder,the vio-
Iators seldom spend im in pison fo theircrimer.
“The racis massmedi nd the cnersirmnentndus-
ey acty condone this police eror by degicing Blacks
‘and ot Thid Workd people s violent crminals s by
reating police violeoce s & pormal jusifiabl fac of
e The message i repeted over and overn thousends
of bl ways, implying that Blacks and cher peaple of
coloursomebow deserve 1 be bestenor shot.
Giventhe eaiy i poor and appressed commni-
i i ot rprisingthat olice braalty riggered
oprising in Los Angels. What s infactsrprisng s that
more rbellions havenotoccurd. e plice chiefDaryl
(Gats hascome underfiefr s racitpoliciessd acst.
remar. When bis department was cicized because s
large amkberof Blacks, pproximatly 20, had died 3t
‘aresultof police chokehold, Gates sated that e may
be finding that in some Backs when » (retin] it
applicd e veins o aneriesdovot openup s as s they
o on nomal people.” Police rcism i such commen
‘occurence in L.A.tha thepoliceshowed vl hesiation
n laughing and joking over plice adios snd compuaes
about the beating of Rodaey and ober police bet-
ngs,refring o King and other blcks e lzard
orllas.Foryear. L A. SWAT (assau) eams have
conducied massive sweeps of Afrcan-American
a0d Latino communities,during which huge mum. |
bersofyouths are foreed o kneel i o the ground
‘whiethe polce conductrandom searches, suppor:
edly o combat drug and gang aciviy. I some Los
Angeles neighbouthoods police have put up con-
crte bamicades with polce poiad st ntrnces
Signs reading "Narcotis Enforcement Area - Open
10 Residents Only” have been put up nd cveryone
police suspectof being a gang member of 4 drug.
pusher o use e rosinely stopped and searched.
‘Theeventin Los Angeies re repeted, lmost
dentialy, throughos the U.S.A. Alough young
Black and Third Workd males i thet tecns and
weatis have been the main targets of police vio-
lence,no one s safe.
T Calfomi,polce broke nto s locked sprt-
mens and sho a five-year-ld black boy who was
playing with oy pistol 1o desth. The oficer who.
shotthe boy climed thathethough hathe by ws
man who was rying 1o shoot him. He was never
prosscuid.
Eleanor Bumpers, 6-yeur-okd black grand-
‘mber,was shotiodeath splicestempted evict
e rom hr home because she was severa months
bebind with bor res. Police claimed tha Bumpers
atacked them, aliongh she weighed close 10 300
potnds d could baely move because she sffered
from sevre anbris.
Michael Sewan, 18 yearscld, was beaen 1
death by police fortbe crime of painting onthe wals
of e subway. I anmp o cover p his deth, New.
York City's chiel medica examminer falified aviopey
eports o three diffeent occasons - satin that b diod
from cardin ares, bronchial pneamonis, ad then -
ally, of spinal cond njury. The six police who were
young childrn. Siaty-one homes were alo desroyed,
leaving 253 homeless. Atough the group had commi.
1ed no crime, police offcals iisted the bombing 10
evicthem from the res, ating that they were radicals,
ndesirables, nd maurlists who had to be removed
from the aea by fore.
i many tates,notonly bestingsbut various kinds
of orare have become a common pracice, usally 1o
obean a forcd confession. In Texas, Alabar, Califor-
nin, and New York, poics have besn accused and con-
viced of oraring prisoners with *Stun Guns” - baons
hat can deliver 50,000 ol chage.
These are just tiny sampling of rcint polce
violence in the Unted Sute. The overall st are
alaming. In New York Ciy, for example, minories ac-
counted for 92.5%of police kllings in 1990 Ther were
41 peopie killed by policein 1990; 15 were African-
American, 23 were Luino, and only 3 were white The
US. Jusice Depariment repots that thre were 15,000
cases of police brtaity and exceiv foceinvstigaied
‘overth as6years. The Jusice Deparumenthas brooght
only approximaiely 40 awivid charging police brotal-
ity. In lmost all areas, i the vast oy of cases s
acism and violence asicreasing, the U, govemment
looks the other way.
Racism has become fashionalle in the United
‘Staes, agely doe o the open hostlty and indifference
10theplightofpoorandhird workdpeopl by eh Reagan
and Bush administations. Both denistratons have
igorously opposed al Civil Right egisiton, sl pro-
rams 1o belp e pocr, nd have severy cus bck funds
sacd for eakh, educaton and socil welfr. By the
begioning of the 1990s, most of the policies d pro-
rams which had provided # snal amount of1d 10 the
urban poor had been eliminsid.
Boih Reagan and Bush ra polictcal campigns
‘which epreseased e nteress of rich, white Amerca.
Instead of using overly racst ngusge, thy closked
their racit appeas with hily code-words by opposing
“quotas”,“specal intres groops” “reverse descimion-
tioa", eic. I 1988 the George Bush campaign pid g
amouns of anly o ren “Wille Horlo” eeviion ads
‘whichdircly appeled o while rcism. Wille Horton
was Black man who, while relessed from prson an &
furough, llegedly raped » white worman. Bush quicly
aligned himsel withelemeots of the ar.rgh,seikling
hisspeaches with uka-right thetoic
I was under these condions that wite sprema-
it groups proiersed in the U.S. Between 1990 and
1991 the nummberof htegroups i the U . rose by 27%.
In 1990 there were 69 Ku Klux Kian groupe; by 1991
there were 7. I 1990 there were 160 neo-Nzi groups;
by 1991 there were more than 200. There were 25 bias-
elated murders n 1991, upfrom 20 i 1990,
As 2 result of he ongoing, uninterupted rcist
policisof the LS. govermens, opprested communites
% in sne of crsis. D abuse, violence, crie,the
AIDS cpidemic and poverty have wieaked haves on
black an other third world communitis. These condi-
tions make up the underlying cause for the rage and
cxireme discontnea tha lod up 1 the rebellion in Los
‘Angeles sd other places.
Poverty
There are more than § millon omeless people
comeny livinginthe United States,
—_—
Between 1986 10d 1990 here was 1 49% rse inthe.
‘unber of Blacks lvin in high povery aeas in ceral
ctes. I 1989, alfof Black chidre ander 6 were ibing
i poveny,along with 40% of Latino children.
aversge income ros 0 148,438 n 1989 from 120,253
1979, nthe same 10 year period,theaveage ncome of
the poorest ne-fifthof all amilicsdeclined by 559
1990, the average Black worker eamed $329 » week,
‘compared with $421 or the average white worker.
Bducation
As government funds ar cu, access to quality
‘education becomes more and more difcut for poor
children. In many larg ciies, th hightschooldrop-outs
e i between 30% and 70% Racism follows children
from Kindergarten o college.
Black chidren ae hre times more lkely 10 be
classifid “rtardod” by theis public schools ss whites,
‘whil black tecnagesread four yearsbehindthe level of
white clasmates.
ln 1980, the weathiest school disticts in New
Jerey spent $300 more per child than the poorest dis.
rcts.Today,they spend 3,0 more. In Texss,in 1978,
the richet disricts spent $600 more than the poor
discicts. Today they spend upo $5,000 mor.
Tuiion coss have more than wipled s privae:
collgessince 1977 Lustyear's aversge ill was sbout
8700. At public schools iton more thn doubled, up
10 3bout $1.700las year Thepercntage of low-ncome.
black high chool gradustes suending colege droppedio
30%n 1983, form nealy 40% i 1976..In 1976, 53% of
black middie-income high school graduaies were en-
rolled; by 1988 only 28% were there. The black prescnce
on campus waned - even s ot colegestendunce rose,
according o Newsweck:
“Who goes o Colege?" from Newsweek)
Blackmales 4%
Black femtles 6%
White maes 39%
Whic females 46%
Health
“The death rae for Black ifants (17,6 per 1,000
bt 2 f 1988) s more thn twic that for whites (8.5
per 1,000). Acording to the Natonsl Commission 1o
Prevent Jafnt Moraliy,Detoi, Washingion, nd Phils
delphis suffe highes infun-desth s than Jamaica or
‘Costa Rie.In CetrlHilenthe nfant mortlity e is:
the same s in Malaysi:
oot Moraliy Rae, 1985
(Deaths per 1,000 birhs)
Contnl e~ 234
Bedford Suyvesant 210
Eas Harlers 149
NewYokCiy 133
Asudy by . Harold reeman,directorof srgery
Harlem Hospital, and Dr. Colin McCord, found tat &
min Hariem s less chance f iving past 40 than 8
man in impoverished Bangladesh. In Bangladesh 55
percent of men liv 1o age 65, whileanly 40 percen of
Harlem men ive that long,
Nearly 7% of al US. bbies - a quare millon s
year-arcborm1oo small. Tt is fa highe, s ising,
‘mong minoriies. In 1988 fully 13% of il Black children
came nio the world dangerously underweight.
‘Cocaine use rote ominously amor young women
doring the 1980's. Recent findings suggests tht the
problem has peaked; experts gucss that 300000 1o
100,000 women deliver cocine-ezpored babies each
year. At Harlem Hospal, th froquency o cocsine we
‘among expectant matbers jumped from 1% in 1980 1o
20% in 1968. A 1989 survey soggested that 17% of
Philadelphin’s babes were bom exposed.
More than 34 milion Americans have oo heakh
insurance. Of the uninsured,sbout 27% o Hispanis are.
ninsured, 20% of blacks and 12% ofwhite.
Prison
Biack males compris less than 6% of he US.
Populiton b epresent nearly 50 % ofprisoner n el
and penitoiares. The Urited Sate now has e world's
highestknow e of ncarceation, with 26 prsonersper
100.000peopulason. South Africis second inthe workd
with e of 333 per 100,000
- Blackmlesnthe US. are incarersed ata i of
four tmes that of Black male in Sosh Arice, 3,109 per
100,000 compared 10729 per 100,000,
~Between 1973 and 1988, the mamber of felons n
s and federal priscns almost ipled from 204,000 10
603,000, By 1989, the toal inmate popalaton i US.
prisns and jails hd passe the one millon mark.
- Almos e infour (23 perce) lack men i the
ag¢ group 20-2 i ther inprisom i, on probaton, or
parol on any given
~For white e inthe age group 20-29, one in 16
(6%)i unde the control of the criminljustics sysem.
- Latino males e ull bewoen these two groups,
with e in 10(10.4%) within the rmina otice syscm
on any gven day.
The umberofwomen imaeshaslmost rpledin
the last 10years. Thre quaren of the women are moth.
e, and many of them single paent... The typica of-
fender, scconding 0 1988 naional tdy conduciedfor
the American Corectionsl Astocistion, s 8 young mi-
nority matber
Death Penaty
There e 2,400 pople on desth
Tow. More than 41% of prisoners on desth row are
Aftcan- American.
- More than 6% of those on dest row reHispanic.
- Native Americans eceive the death peoay in
‘umbers more than iple thei proportion o the general
popultion. A House Juiciary Commite found that 60
of the 115 prisoners on death row in Alsbama were
Aftcan American, s were 71% of thos execuied snce
the recsabishmentof executions n ha e nhecarly
19805,
The overmment'sown General Accouming Offce
revicwed 20 sodies onthe patemsof death sentencin.
‘The sty concluded that " 82% o the sudies, rce of
vicm was found 1 inflcnce the lkehbood of being
charged with capial murder Those who. murdered
‘whites were more likely 1o be sentnced 1o death than
hose who murdered Blacks”
“There are more than 100 Politcl Prsoners and
Prisones of War curvently in US. Prisons.
“The “Special ntematonsl Trbunal On The Viols-
tion OfHuman Rights Of Polical Prisoners And rison-
ers Of War In United Sner” Piscns And Jal” beld n
December, 1990, concloded i s vendict that:
~“Within theprsons and il of the Unied Ssies
exis substanial mumbers o Plical Prisoners and Pri
oners of War.
- “These risones hve been incrcersed for their
opposition 0 UsS. govermment policies and actions that
at egal under domestic and nermaiona aw, ncud
g the right 0 self-determination, genocide,coloial |
am,rcism and milariom.
-“TheUS. goverment riminalizes d mprisons
persons involvd in th strugles fo slf.detemination
of Native Amercans, Pocro Ricans, and Black and
Mexicano-Chicano acvists witin the borders o the
Unied Ssts.
- “The US. also crminalizes snd imprisons whie:
North Americans and others who have worked i oldar
ity with srugges for self-determination, s well 3 for
peace and sgains nucear v, againet aciem, sexim
and e forms o discrimination.
- “Political people have been subjcte 1o dispo-
portonaicly lengihy prisn senences and 10 ortre,
cruel, nbuman and degrading estment withia he U,
prisonsysem.”
‘The Realty of Life n the USA
“The realty of wht e in the USA is really lie
dependson what clas and race one belongs . In rany
‘cases hequalityofife s frcyfrom the images shown
onthesilver creen. Th image ha the .S, govermment
projctsabroa i based cn shes hipocriy. Whie US,
leaders make speeches sboutuman Righis sbroad they.
blauanly violae the human righis o the U.S. populution.
Democacy has meant it more to many people
livinginthe US.A. tan a choiesbetween the esser f
evils Just because you've got Hider, Massoln and
Franco nunning against each othr inanslcton doesn'
mean you've got democracy. Ther is o freedom of
speechinthe .S, olyfreedom o whispe, Anyane who
eally spesks out aganst U.S.polices loudly and effc.
tivly becomes trgeted by the FBI o the CIA. The
govemment’s spokesmen give much lp service 1o
“multi-pat democracy,” b any pary that difers from
the pro-capitaist policiesof the Republican and Desno-
craic paries will be ifilrted 0d atacked by govern.
mea agencis.
Oppressed peoplein the UritedSstes idenify with
a0d supgon Cubs, not only becaus of Cuba's evole-
tionarycxample. We ls elte o the Cubancxperiece.
becatic we ave been victimized by the same reacion-
ary poliics. It s ot diffcultfor s 1 recopnize and
‘condernthe U.S. blockade againstCubs,because many.
of us v experienced very different but somehat
similar blockade duing our e lfetmes The subja-
atd people i the Unied Sates have been mbjecied o
s kind of cconomic and poliial blockade since the day
‘we were bom. We have expericaced a job blockade, an
edocation blockade, heabhear blockade, nd s fic.
dom, jusice snd iberty blockade. We cn relate 10 the
plightof e Cubanpeople because weknow whatt fels
lik 10 be aacked from al side, simply for fighing,
agains exploiation. We support the igh o the Cuban
people 1o sel-detrmination. We fel cerin tht the
‘Cuban peopie wil be bl 1 solve thei own problems,
‘withoutcopying any kind of bigbusiness, Willie Horion
syl “democracy.”
Reering ohe vprising and the rcia comporiion
of Los Angeles, Police Chif Daryl Gees calld i "
“Thid Worldcity." Those of us who have sffeed at the
hands o the US. governmeat oryears knew the rah in
‘what he sid. e same federa troops that ad ivaded
Panama thathad foughtn I, were now fighinginLos
Aageles. And w were the cnemy. Inne of e bloodies
ebellons n US.histry,with clos 1060 dead and more.
then 2,000 wounded, the ralty s saing us nthe fce.
Opprssed people i the U.S. e o dierent from op-
pressed propleall overthe word, We will never be frie
il imperialismis defete.
Vivala Revolucion Cubanat
Vivala ibertad!
Veaceremasttt
(rom Race & Class Neweed via NY Transfer News
Servce)
Interview With Women Political Prisoners In Chile
On Tuesdy, December 1091, some 150200
peopl damonsiraled i Saniago, Chil,The demonsira
i was held o the Day o Human Righs der the
mai: “Againt the Chilan Sl For the Feadomof
Paliical Priomesl”
Th damonsrtion was techwiclly ilega, since
e crgaizrsdid ot wishiorecive e S s permis
sonfor o march beforehand.
i lanned tht march would sirt from two
iffrnt ploces at 1 pom. and hed for Moneds (he
overmment palace). As soon s people egan forming
Jorhedemonsration, he polic arived and sood with
e club i from of hee passing o lefets nd
hokdingbamners.
Wikt anyreason,cthr than wisin o hinder
he demo beore i even began, the polcefred a water
cannon ("Guanaca") down he i tree,hiting not
onlyhe demanstraiors, bt pasers.byas wel.Demn-
Satos responded with s and moloovs. Te up.
pased hrowe of the molotew which st the “Granaco”
Wt canon onfire s buialy betenand aen 0
hospi.
The common march o the Moneds palace was
abadoned since ihe amber of derontrtors was 50
smal o insead, mal bands o ecpe esded fr the
uticemiiry. A regulr damonsrion s o longer
possble, as people had alrady been dispersd. But
bout 0 eople cssembledinfrot of he CODEPU (the
polical prisoners” sugport group) building nr the
Jusiceminisy. Tey showed stogans ik (Todas I
ressPoliicas-prsene” "Alpoliial rinsersare
her with ) and Haber,hberlos deechos .
e, irar s resos,casiguaalirand” (Tt wit
andse, humanighs will s h rons and et the
poliical prisoners e ") The cops orderedall foregn.
Crstoleave hearea-theyprobably aniedno winesses
o it was 10 follow. They “lad ther o the ezt
iirsecion, axd wen th foeigners e o gofr-
her, ey were pushed nio ope wfic A a il
conroniation, ey crosed e svet. Meawhi,some
ofthe demonsirtos risdioseckrefue inhe CODEPU
ffce, bt th ortar wordd't et hminthe uing S0
hen 10 pecple wee btenand s, The cps hen
entona cialrampageinth s iy, infl i e,
firing tear gas and beating people. A mobile unit continu-
ly paroled the ars in v tofo, b, and
emomtaors. T wentonfor e s andmvolid
ot he i curyforces. On aceoutof th sl
o of eaple, o commo cions could e carred
Ot 0 ot actons ware v nd sponaneos.
Tt e conerence.whchwas o b¢ el onh Pl
e rve ook e
The backou 0 his damontration s he i
oo poiicat prsoner. There are il 60 manand
Vameninjailwho werepriscnednder e (Pincches]
ictorsip. Te women are orgnised i o wamer's
Coluciv i the S Domingoprisen nSaiag,and
e memare i e “Carel ablic in Saniog. e
demonsirtors ware acing it the Chilean St
hich contnesio dein perins who od siugsled
Spainthe dctrshi, and which om0 vilte
o ighi and sy owt o, Thy s the
20cald democracy which capres new prsonrs,
ccordance it th new v Terorist Lw, who e
mmbersof revolioaryorganistions,a whichwill
it oo e 0 ol risors, d which
i i b oo, a8 specily h
e i Marel Rk
The Chian S b ot changed s e icethe
lecions of o s ago. The oy of ecnciaion
Yo nad een drced gt he pecpl ot those
responilefor he dicttors, Th goal of e Decam.
ber 10 demonstraion was 10 maskthe St s reaiy, |
Jor example: the secret service has merely been sub.
‘sumd ino the milary; the neo-libeal economic pol
cis are coninuing, and thenew fnace miniter under
Aybwin seems more lieral [in o clasical, economic
sense -] tham i predecessor ader he dicalorship;
ew antiterorit commandas are being formed: mili
lary spending s up 30%, arc e amberof arabineros
has aiso increased; and in the sphares of jutice, the
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L e S 990,
ek o
‘What s your presentsituation bere Inthe rison ke,
‘and how did you reach these conditions?
Cecela: Our presen siuaion is the reult of long
irugals o each decentcondiion. Ou atos s ol
cal prisoners was mach harder o rainain under e
dicatorship, i fact, it prciclly did't exis. And every
peiion we submited fo schooling orsports was wmed
down. To ge these things, we had o carry out actions.
‘Sometimes we weresuccessful, sometimes we weren',
By the time of the end of the dicutorship. We had
achicved some improvemmens, ike 1 b in & prson for
polidca prisoners, like the one we'r: in now, Sanio
Domingo. After the civilian govemment 1ok power,
hingsremained the same. There's e bt more “re. |
dom"asfar ascondiions inside go, ke enghening the
visiing day, more activiis, visit from childrn every |
day,general viiors hre imes a week,and the right 10
receive pecialvsitors every day. We dodifferent kinds
of jobs, crafiwork with copper and lesther, lieature,
dance classs,and macrame. So we have los we can do,
including computer lessons three tmes week, 5 ime.
passes quickly.
Patrica: Like Ceci sid, we achicved cerain “free-
doms”,but ponetbeles,hings reharderfo usnowthan
during hedicuaorsip. AL that e thre wasadictior-
Ship whom we could stuggle aganat. Bt oday, two
years aftrthe peopl voted in new govermen, we are
Sl held a5 politcal priscners, and that's & diffcuit
Valentin: And snober hing, which hink s imporuant
hatppl nemationally eamof, s ha we re tortured
prscners, both nder the dictsorsip and the democ-
iy, And the ias, o athr he law suts, which wenk
before the coun Conceming human. rghts abuses,
achieved nothing. What's mor, some people respon-
bl fo torur escaped going on il shogiher.
Plesse describe o u the prison conditons under the
dicatorship, and what aspecs havechanged fo you.
Valentin: During the dicaorship thre e prisoners
‘who have bee njal mor han 10 years, and some of us
have been infor 5 or 6 yeas - we were moved between
diffeeot i, Firt we e in womea's pison, which
was very sl regulaied and repressve, espcially for
the poliical prisoners. Then, because of iieratiooal
| pressure, we were incorporsted into & men's prison.
‘Alhoughallhe women here were pliical prisooers, we
ill had 10 foar for rape nd physical stacs from the
male social pisoner. Then, afe isuing » seies of
demands, ud wih pressre from inermationa human
vights organizations, we were pt in i prisc i Jan
ary/B8.Sincethen we've boen her, in Sio Domingo,
‘whichdiffr alok romoer prisons, I s bigoldhouse,
used specifcally for . That has improved ou lvog.
conditons, s fa s sccomodatons g0, but ot the stte
of our lock-down. The judicial condidons, which we
have been sobject o, bothnow and daring he dicutor.
ship, arounjot.
Belinda: And snoths thing that needs 0 be aid regard-
ing e condidons,especiallyfo imprisoned women, is
tha every time we sart a movement 1o demand more
space, we gt punished. Thatnialy siredhe stesion
of e prison’sdirectors. Forexample, they thretened 10
ke away the guaranteed rightofthote comrdes, who,
forexample, come isybeis mprisoned comvades i,
10 Vst 0 then they'dloe he abiliy 10 se tei com-
rades. Weaso gt punished with geeralbancn visis.
Some things we. did achieve, however, was the
ability 10 have doctors and peychitrits visit That has
ensbled s 10 hold some son of dislogue on prison
siutions. This sision ha ld t fumilsl dsiniegra-
tion, for example. This disiniegraion bas, among olher
hings, health side-ffecs. And oven prychologoical
helpcan'tundo he efecs o e, The docors, which
‘wehave now, e very rustworthy. This has ben ganed.
bothhrough our acivies and rough the sppartf the
socialorganizations who exert pressure on our behf.
Gladys: naditiontothe disstgration o h amily for
thote of us who have chikdren, here is an orgnizaion
dedicated exchusively 10 this. Tha's cracil, because
children also have o lve through the side-effecs of
tone. The PDIE s n organization which offes ey-
chological help, pdiaty, and medicin.
Patrica: Something else w have achieved i that com-
ades are now abie to complee thir schooing ere. We
havetwo comrades, who ar now e, who jo Fnished
theis midlevel education. Ove groupintended 10 iody
socology a the wniversity leve from inide. Unfor-
il we coulde'sdo this,becusse there was & lack of
profcssors. Botwith his ction, we succeeded i furher
developing ourelves.
Howi i that ot prisomersarenow out,while youll
e st beng held? What cluse inthe Lex Cumplido
ledto this?
Patrica: That has 1o do with Bow the govemment has
answeredthe problemn of poliical pisoner. That's why.
here weredifferent laws 0 dealwih the whole roblem
ofpoliical prsoners. Thse wereheso-called Cumplido
Laws. Atthe cud, everyting was mare complicaed,snd
only few comdesactally gotous, sine the govern-
ment viewed the problem a3 udical, ot politcal. So
‘what happened next? During th ast year of the diciator.
ship, nd even now, hey solve things acoordin 1 their
‘own nteress. Andi's th sam people: he judges now.
ar e same ones there were then. In other words,
athough the govermment changed hands, the jodicial
sysiem did not. So tha's why some prisners got out
soones thanothers. But thenthere's judges who hand oo
indictments agans us. In my cse, ree,aod Valetina
‘g0 another on usta week g, andshe's b in il for
S years now! Thar's the generl sitution. Things have
otin worse, more miserable Thre's sl he possiil-
ity once the wials are Fially over, o win freedom by
means of a pardon,or by anoffer of exile. But L ink s
diffcuhtoprodict There ar o many diffrencases ke
Miriam Ortega's forcxample. She wasinprison for 10
‘years. When hr ria ended,she was pardoned. But a5
You can see her il took 10 years.
Valentin: Furhermore, wht th posibilyof reedom
for cerin pisonersof the dictatorship meant s being
leased under waming afer the tal was over. The
punishments they got weresmall. This was on group.
Sull thers received pardons,once he wials wee over:
‘And then there's us, those of us that are lef, unlocky
‘cnoughto il uve opencases. If wegobeforeaprogres-
e judge, then we may gainour frecdom. Butif we gt
arigh-wing judge,one fromthe dicatoshipperiod then
‘wewill e deniedu freedom. Soit's l amatierf fck.
Bt sopports the mpression which the govemment and
the couns ar giving tthe moment,namely rlesing &
centain mumber of politca prisoners.
And his st violaing the sipulations of thelews
‘which were pased i he partismient. We baven'tye o
our chance fo & eleae wnder waming, But in this
‘ouniey, the mechanim ' urgent.
Hom doyou al bope (0 gaia your reedom, and what
are your means of struggle? The men, for example,
began bungerstrike withthe demand of “lmmediate
Freedom!™ Tell us something about your acivites.
Valentina: Yoo see, we were invlved in the hunger-
ke, whichlsied 23 days, andthe porpose ws o draw
auntion 10 the matier e again - 1o make the pubic
aware of the fact that there are sl poliical prisoners
from e dicttorship perod.In Janeofthis year(1991]
‘wehada second ungesrke. Thefirstone wasin March,
and it ased 19 days. All these acions, an things ik
prson ccuptions which we did kong withoursoppor-
e, were and il are designed 0 put pressure on the.
CRNATONAL
Ntou PARITY
FORALL
WOMEN
IN JAHL
govermment 10 give s ou elease under waming snd 10
spood upthe ral, o gran pardons,and some comrades
arecontidering exile 113 posibleopion. Al of these
posabies which the government agred to discus
but which theynevercnce disucssedunil June of 1991].
‘The ungerstrike esliedinsome comrades aving theis
ral poeded up,some gained thir feadom, and some
now have the possibilty o a pardon. For us it was ike
this:f we donotbing, we'll e agai. Our main denand
s frodom based on the amncsty mechanisms which are
i place. Tha means, fhey say they’re actlly going 1o
wrap upa case, h they do 0. The govemmment is in 8
posiion 1 pu pressure on the judges based on the
ocrees. B if theres o pressre xered cithernation-
sy oritematonaly thenthe il go very slowly. So
‘youcansee thenthis s cerly oltcl probleas. When
he goverament sees that there re people mobilizin,
exering presure, and making demands,hen they have
o cither negocai o put pressre o the judicil sysem
1o make soe the mechanisms are functonin.
Belinda: The question s ot asked, bow will we adjisk
ounelves in socety, should we gan our freedom. For
thoseof s il prison, we have seen how comndes |
‘who have been elessed have had diffculies on the
ouide, 10d we'l hav 1o desl with these probems
ourslves. There s 10 many tings sbou curcharges,
under the Ani-Terrorist Law td weapoos vioaions
hat willtfectus indily lfe and prevent s from fnding,
‘work. You want 0 be it inagin, bt you can't,becanse
o the ne hand there’s no jobs,and o the ober hand
becaus is logiscally 30 difficl now, because you
don' have s home, you can'sdevelop yourself o sudy,
nd you see yourself as marginalized. That's snother
point hat we addressed i he hungertriks.
Gladys: 1 think i's more than his. Fising back oo
society i alo diffcult prychologicaly. Comrades who
have been in prison for more than en yearsgetout snd
have o make o n s vally diffeent sciety; hir iver
outide were soddenly stopped, nd now they are back
out, and hey e how things ave changed, e former
friends e no longerhere, and the condiion are ol
ifferen. They e havetoreadspttothis, od, s were,
sart anew again. Notonly s fnding work diffcal, but
just adjoting psychologcaly i s well Forthose com-
des who are mothrs, here' he problemn of coming 1
{erms with e children The chidrehave rowa up snd
have vy differetlivs of e own. Relaionsbips with
th iy and with e parner will ave sagaated. This
s realy iffical sitsation.
What do you think of the possibilty of exile or 3
‘pardon? Wouldw't pardon have to be tied with 3
Fenunciation? How doyou all view his as pssibily
of gaining freedom?
‘Cecella: Well, s forvoluntaryexle, tha's omething we
v ejcied utrigh. We tink ha we have th igh 1o
Jive o cur own county,because ur siruggle was & just
‘ne. We shouldhavebeen releasd n March 1990 [when
Ayl ook power - cd. myself umed down “volun-
ary"exile. They established heboundaris ealyon nd
‘ur opton for freedom s waiin for th caes o be over
and hen o discuss the possbilsy ofan arvesty - hat's
e only way we ec of gining ur reedom. Thereare
very individoal matiers of conscence 1 be dedt wilh
‘when considering whether o 20 10 ccept “voluniary”
enle, Like in Paica’s cae, because hr fsnce is in
Belgiom. Bot she doesm't wan 10 go- S0 you se, we arc
confroned withsome very diffcl problens, ke with
her, ber parner and comrade is outside of the counry.
‘Andhecant earm, orh'll e arested. And o he ot
hand, she does't want o lave ber county. That's 3
iton with 5o esey soluon. She'll ave o decidefor
berself whenthe time comes: o say and los ber parne,
o b reunited with him bt 0 leav hercounty behind.
‘Valentina: What we havesiruggld for i notonly 1 b
recogazed a politcl prisones, bat 1o to have cur
sruggleagaios e dictoship ecognized, hat we o3k
on fomms of simggle which were revoluionary. Apart
from our own efforis, we have o thank th iniemations]
pressure which belpd o end hedicttorship. Ourlegi-
mate right o form 4 essnce has ot yt ben reco.
nized. What's mor, hey degrade people with ulk of
things like pardons, volunary exile, and the Cumplido
Laws. The goverment rais us ike aw beeakers. They
ook st us ¢ f we have done things which must be
punished; they dont realize hat we had o aliemativ.
When the government changed bands, ey did’thave
{he will power o grant s oue rights and recognze us 35
policalpisoners. They parialyrecogrized s, bt hey
fuiled 10 recopaize the most sigificant pa, and the
ardest forus,samely hat weare sl npisn. Theyare
recogaizeda politca prisoner aginsihe dicaorship,
bt this s not sutomaticaly e o e freedom. ed ]
We aren't in the business o asking for concesions, o
wriing papers and secking i We demand freedom
aod e righ o lvein Chie, now. But th govemment
o stcks to s mechanisn, and acts a5 i her's po
hemaive for us. We have accept these means, be-
‘cause we donhavethe strengthto develop any alierm-
ive o ha's why we have 0 addrss th realty of the
Curplido Laws and the ias. B these are realies
‘which we are not in agreement wih, especialy 5
Belnda: The same goes for e qesion of vluiary
el ha's emeing wed' gre with, bt here' s
oo aemive. Tt meas cceping the fac a ither
by o yououf e counry.rthey keepyou il
You bave o choose betwen on o the et Youhave
10 reive e probiem it he coufioes f e Cu.
pideLovs Avoe ing st he Complin Low 0
el egilnive o tht o adress .
ey i
e ' igifcnt ht ey are ot conered with i,
ey rig us to il but no 4 people who svgeled
agint e dcmorsip o make hanges i i perodin
‘hich we v, The Camplido Law s ot pused wilh
hiinmid, bt rber was s s e soaionto the
prone e, whic fo he govemmens mesnt boh
il md policlprisoners.
‘The wormen have been on hungerstrike sincs Decemn-
er 91 Which women are these, and whatare their
demands? [We do aot know the outcome of this hus-
gersrike - o]
Ester:Firs I'd ke o say thathere are sboutT0polical
prisoners in Chile who were arested durin the democ-
cy. Inthe penientay i Seniago,there are 40 com.
rdes, and that ave to ot p with bad conditions nd
violene from the gutrds. Some have received desth
threts.
As for the women, thre s the case of Marcela
Rodrigue, whoisis the prisnbosptal. She s sninjry
‘which hs basically made hs an imvalid. This i from
bullelodged inhervericbrae Othercomrades are being
imprisoned in San Miguel. Ths is # man'spriscn, and
they had 0 be imafered on accouns of sexualasass.
Inttal, there sre 9 of s, 2 of whom havebeen raped. We
have ll been orared by e avesigative Commisson,
‘which s 1 special police group. We bave al boa tor.
‘red, bl he govermment acsdea. e goveroment
won't recogize us as poliicl priscners, bot sl here:
arespeciallawsthat sy only 1 u, ke the wespons
laws, and the Anti-Teroriss L. On December 9, we
began s new, unrefesbod hungersrke. We demand the
eleas of Marcela Rodrigues on homaitrin groands.
Thesocond demand s h rogrovpment o ll e wormen
bere in Saoio Dormingo in Seniago. We also demind 1o
be recognized a politcal prsoners, capturd during the
dicatorship, and we alo demand the frvedom for all
poltcal priscners.
Tell us something more about Marcea Rodriguer's
ealth conditon?
Ester: Marcela bas been i the prson bospul, in &
egolarcel,for yearnow. She has noview o the oiside
from hercell On bsic humanirian grounds,she should
ot be in such conditons. We'd ie 1o se he relesed,
50 thatshecan be ehabilitsed. At presca, he has aly
basic conditons. Bus she neads specia condiions in-
clding physologial herapy s that he can e rehabili-
1ated. What Mcela demands i, if she cannot be re-
eased, tha she aeast bave b ovn,rusted physicans.
‘Aod she also demands conditons which st leastallow
et some feshair
‘Marcela has received deaththret from he gards.
The Pniteaceri [where Marcela s beld-ed ) is 3
‘man's priscn, ad it llows o fee chice of physicant.
Not only Mcel,bat also ber whole amily have been
thresiened. They have found dead nimals ke cas and
dog n their yard at home, an 0 his is why Marcea
secms o g worse each week.
A wek ago, she hadu seious break down.
She will jin fully in the hungerstike, but she
‘would prefer 0 dic in hungersirke tha to die n the
conditons in which she presenly
‘Marcelahas bl i her spine, 50 she s paraly
parayzed. She has o control ver some o her bodily
Tunctions. What she candos speak and move her bands,
nothing ele.
‘The government makes a distinction betwen prison-
ers ofthe dictatosbip and prisoners of the so-alled
democracy. The present bungerstrike only Invalved
the prisoners of the so-called democracy. Wh are
your o, achangs, nd apons of o 5
‘Cocela: We, s political priscners from e dicatorship,
recopnize them s polical prisoner, we suppor ther
and are imslidritywit thir acions. Ao 's imporant
o note thatthey re ool rarly ecogaized a poliical
prsoncrs. But i general they aren't. Thatis herpresent
emnand. We see this s legitimat, 10 they desrve our
support nd soldaiy, and we r ready o niiaie various
achvites o suppor ther acton. Our primary means of
support will be public declaraions which sappor their
demmands. They are a part of the dossir which we bave
sent ot intematonaly, nd in this we describe their
\estmonies tnd theircurrent sisston.
‘We gave the impeus for murals n walls in San-
tingo, and, i the opes that people will recognize their
ights, we mde & pumphlet which was disibuted in
acighborboods nd 10 organiztions; these are ur forms.
ofupport And we have sked hose orgaizatons which
support us o ikewise supporttei activiis. They are
prisoners of this perod. AL the begianingof the hunger.
ke, extemal commitice was fommed o sopport
them. We ikewise suppor this exiemal commitce with
resource materials. And we hav taken up he intems-
tional sideoftheircampaign. How things o from bere
depends o how the movementdevelops,and we'llhave
01e2 st what frms ourcomtinuing sapport cantake on.
They have asked us o it leiers i thejustics minisry
andothe prison sdminisraion, expressing heirdemand
10 be regrouped n this prson.
‘What formsof support are thre on theoutsde? How
s the external commitie pt together, and what s s
Parpose? Arethere partsofthe social moverment, po-
tkcal groups, o parties which support your srikes?
Ester: Theextemal commitio i 8 ro0p o rends snd
alles of u all who support the hungerike, among.
others the “Velcods Motherr”, and s the commitiee
furhr develops, otber social orgnizaions will suely
o, Bu tha's the case o the momens.
Dostatements sbautthe bungerstrike sppear in pub-
i, that i, n the media?
Ester: Yes, some media do covr the bungersrike, and
o Monday th press confrence ootsde the prisn wes
prevened from happening. Today, on Frday, s press:
conference was given outside the Peitenceria. All the
discusions wer sbout Marcla. Sh s the spoksspersen
forthe bumgerike.
What has the government’s reation been 1o your
bungerstrike?
Belinda: They've sid absoltely noting, | don's hink.
that bodes wel forus. And s | i, the sif i une-
freshed,so we're ot expecing 1 reach ourgoal i just
fow days, and that goa is Marcel'simmediat release
0d regroupment in one prison.
How reslistic are you about your demands belng
oing to be difficut o reac his gou,
eIt l depends onte level of suppart
which the comrades receive, Pressure, bothfrom inide
the counry and intemationally, coukdhelp 10 pus the
overmment o release Marcela onhumaniaran grounds
ndbecauseof herphysical conditon.There are ifferent
facors which play o his. So he fundumenta issue
ereisf people willupport heacion o reach hi gou.
Marcla's coniionof being it forpisonhas esuled
i many iniemaional campigs. For exampie, big
campuign ha developed in Frane, and there re lso
effos being made in Sweden and Belgium andin ol
countries which I can't remember. If she s special
‘conditons o that she canrehabilsie erslf as much s
possible - then she will make progress. Her progrss
dpendsonbermedicalcare,carewhichshe s ot gting
at preent. The longer hings are beld up, the more
ifcul b recovery willbe. Tha's why ber feedom i
s0necessey, 50 she can go 10 ancther couniry where she
can gt adoguate weaument. I sh remains i prison, she
will ot heal. She needs, at the very leas, & minimal
improvemeat in bt conditions, 1o tht she can car for
herelf,because right now she's oaly dependent.
Belinda: Like you st id, Cec, ntheealercampsign
for Marcels, the govemment was toully unseasibi.
That's why is 50 important that the suppon for
present action be 0 much sronger.
Gladys: And 'd ke 1 poin ot that these conditions
for Marcla which we retalking sbout are merey forher
survival. | don' think they are tying o help ber be
rehabiliated. They wanttokeepheralivetosucha degree
that she can b i s 1o be detained.
‘ot thi bings with it 8 ot of diffculties and
emotional and physcal problems Because sh s st
much srength, she s gotien s whol sris of wounds,
o account of erlack of rengih, nd hisjust makes b
Twice she nearly died from n infecton. Thar's
‘why wetink it would be good, 0, i's fundamentalthat
she b given ber freedom 80 that she can receive care.
Andihen she could develop bi. Thisiscrcil, because
it 40 had forher o se heref degeneraing day by day
o s baby.
"And that's what she pracically s s he moment.
‘Cocella: Well 'dlike o ok you, o0 behalf of the
collciv, for giving us the opportunity o discass cur
siaton, sod o complain about ou ontinved deention,
010 make call 0 itermational rganizations o con-
tinue 10 ask for our relesse and 1o support the new
gemeraton of poiial prisones. They should receivethe
“best conditons” possible during tei detetion - the
bestcondion in piton whichhey shouk be reunited
in.
Forthemandforutalike, who find oursevessillin
prion today, i's crucial to support the pettons for
egroupment beter conditions, and recogition s polii.
cal prisoners. And i ourcase he presure st be kept
o010 demand our freedom!
o Angehsigen o #56)
coninued rom page &
Al means of sggle have been rescted snd recog-
nized. The comrades can itegrate thenselves in the
Wwork s 00n 45 possible, and mostimgerantly the U.S
govemment has ot achieved s purpose of desroying.
the Puerto Rican revokuonary movement.
“The sruggle consinues unil the il victry
rom Libertad Updat, April 18, 1952)
FPMR: Our Eight Years
by Daniel Martiner
On December 14, 1991 the Manmel Rodriguez
Pusitic Front (FPMR) was 8 years ok, Bom n 1983 in
themdstof th Pnochet dicatorshipthe FPMR has bee
a0 important actor in nasional e, epecially daring the
‘yearsoftyrnay.
Every amiversary, aide from being ime of
celbruion, hould o be time o evalution nd reflc-
of the past should
Making 0 account of the Pairioic Front's life
proves how diffical i i 1o summarize tis brief bt
intcase istory, these 8 years filed with human and
revolutionary conent at tmes ising 1o heroem because
of their digity nd consequence.
“The bith o he orgamization ook plce inthe hest
of the peak of the i icaoril popularmrvggles which
had bee increasing since 1980 Driven by the popalar
rebellon which bad the dicutorship i check, we were
bom nd grew in-the mide of great nightourhood,
communal, regional and national procests; strikes and
othes mulifcetd froms of sggle which oo people
appled orid themselvs of the tyrnny whichoppressed
s since 1973
"On December 14, 1983, 8 naiona blackout -
‘nounced that something ew was being bom i the
‘couniey th peopl eceved with grea jo their w ool
of comaba bo inhedecpest partof s socal being. The
actions took place quicky, dizzyingly, mehed in the
frootal atacks agains he dicatoahips i them we were
fommed and forge ourcombasiveness s the rmed s
of the Cilean peope. Thre were thousands o Parios
‘who begn joiing the “Front” 1 be oa the fron ine
agaiast the tyranny, men a0d women from al socal
lastes, mostof the youth who werethe ones who with
greicn decisveness ook on the new forms of ivggle
hichthe FPMR s leading. The colosal icresse of
the quanity of combative acions b th popular masses
began producing qualiaive kesp among them, almost
natrallygoingonto superiorforms ofsuggle, incipient
expressions of amed acions which demanded organiza-
on ad eadersipin which the milftas and ober cpers-
tional iuctues went on 1o eam the admiation 4nd
sympaiby o the people which o longe el unprotected
in s unequl ot dicutorial suruggle,
“The main objecive of the gret offeive from
thoseyearswas 1 overhrow th dicaiorship, 1 obiain
it overtrow as it was 10 longer possble to continue.
Pusing up with 0 much opprssion and sateterorisn,
50 much criminaliy. How o finish withth dictsorship
was . diffcakt objctive; the means exmployed in the
sruggle weretianic and hroic. Between 1983 10d 1986
it began sinking in an almost totl crisie: sconomic,
poltical, milary and moral and ol itemal
intematonal isclson. s discediation was toal and it
sufferedabsou rpadiston. That s how 1986 aived,
Which defned iell as the decisive year Everything.
ndicaiedthathis would be schieved sndhe el would
be progresive, paicpatory and pogular, bt we would
reach an advanced democracy wih importan parici
paton by the seciosof thelft which ud i a impor.
tant ol throughoot al hote year.
“The strengh of th deeds had forced s sectorof the
cemeright_opposiion, hegemonized by Chrisisn
Democracy o join the margin of the slorementioned
sruggls, 1o spport the social mobilization and oher
forms ofsi-dicatoral strggle, faced with e earof
being marginalized b th changes that could e seenin
the shor erm. In hi manner the Chritan Democrats
‘weat from collboruing wih the fuscist egime 0 the
opposion tnd articipaing n thescruggls fo s over
throw, incorporating il s policesthe concepes o il
disobedicace and ungovermability 1o complement, o
‘counterbalance, those of opelar ebelion and nional
revol with which the et had won ¢ lesderahip e In
this pictue threare twoimporant clements which sk
be highlighied:
1) The pea of his ofensive against the tyranny
achieved i's desabilization by sharpening 4l of ts
contrdicions and crisis inal flds,
2) In the midst o thissrong combativeness and
nleashing o the popular masts evoluionary vilence
e greatest nitary achievements in which the e layed
an imponan roe took place. During this period the
workers command assembly of civiiy and the bl of
politcal paries were creaed, among others.
News Briefs
Inthe Marchisue of the German polie magasine
“Krlmialistie”, ouralis: Mathias Mitzko do-
scribes the ntagonism between fa-ight orces sod
autonomistan. fuscists s considersle security
‘porblem or the pearfuure. In his ive.page anicle
eniied “The. ANTIFA-Canpaign of Auionome
Groups*, he examines the milian, pro-vilencs
poltcs o the wionomisis which incorportes .
sintancs o “fscira” with criicsm of “westes .
perilio” snd Gemmany asyloen polices. Mietzko
poins outhat . fascam s shways beca s poent
100t for“othodos commuist maipulaon and dis-
informaion". The aricle meetions by name such
periodical a5 “Radikal” and makes pote of he
BCN,en sionemistcompuiernformationetwork.
Outhe ntematona evel, e pig Mietzko lsotakes
Dotice of the auionomistconfernce hed n Veaice
in 1991, the network of “nfo-shops” which has
sprung up actoss Westem Erope, and alisged on.
tact etween German i fascsssnd forign evo-
lutionary groupings suchas DevSolandbo PKK n
other words, th autonomist ani-fascistscene s ex.
perincingaperiod ofniense scruiny andcimipa-
‘zation by be Gemman sae security apparsun, For
exampie, the Gouingen Autonome. ANTIFA sccne
was recently criminalized under paragraph 1295,
andthe anarchist pper “Unlassba” was indiced for
“rupporting a temoris organization”, i, the RAF,
“This i al pae of wave of mids nd sestches of
sutonomistinfo-shops throughout Gernany (Fam
APS)... Ciing 10 practcal resuls afer spening
almost$500,0000fJustice Ministyfunds e Dusch
Soverament s decided to disband the special fn-
veSgative eam which was s-up 1 ovesigae he
‘clandesine smtonomist group RARA. The team,
nowas LCT:2,will cotinoetsinvestigaionsun
the endof 1992, bus. with reduced budiet of e
a2 $50,000. Ha Hal RARA Continoal The LCT-2
teambas b fuled t0tum up any coesrogarding e
8roup calling thecaseves “Froedom For Al Palt-
cal Prisonert” who e e 1 several milary heli.
copten at a milfry base near Abern on Febrary
3 (rom APS)...On Juuary 27, Florence Tos i
Serge Quadruppani,ciior o the rdical Freach
maguine “Mordicus”, wer charged with “incte-
mentiorobbery,loting,ason, directprovoction o
‘murderous crimes, md complicy i misdemesa-
ors" Theapparet easo for e indictment eem
10 be 0 aricle in which they published the ext of s
rap soag, “Cest ton feta” (“This s your feas®™,
‘which inclodes the refan, “No cops n the quanr,
Boquateforthe cops." Thetwo diors e acing 3.
5 years inpeson ortheso idicalous charges rom
"Communis Ainational).. Since My 14, bock-
ades sctup by Native snd Metipeopls bave s
cesfully baled clear-coing inhe forest of ot
‘westem Sakaicheavn. The orce onhe lockades,
oosely calld the “Proteciors of Mother Earth”,
have ciicived he “corpora indiss” of the Tribal
Comcilforsellngollogeing rightso the NordSusk:
corporution. Lubicon peoples from Alberts sod -
tivins from Toronio have ided in the blockade
actions.OnJune 30, over I00RCMP offcersmoved
n on one blockade and arested 31 prople. The
policshave vowed o lake furthec acio i the bock-
ades are not ended soon. Tribal elders, however,
rfuse o end he blockade unil hei concems sbout
the logging are ddressed from Ecomadia #120)...
On Decmber 1791, ive peopl astociied wthhe
Talian - communisyantiimperialst magazine
contnued on the back poge..
—_———
A Blow To The Possbe Popular Triumph
The lvel of confrotaton was 10 great that the
United St forsew revolutonary result and the
imminen ovestbrow o the tyan, his was made clearer
consideinghe sitaton ia Cental America: e Sandin-
ta evoluton; e srong uerril ivggls inEl Sah
dorand Guatemal,an s nflcnce inthe region. Faced
‘with his ear the United States developed a complee
offensiv agains. Chile which involved bllons of dol-
ars. Thi ok lace maialy nthe olitcal, economic and
miliry felds n the cultrl, judica and diplomatic
ares, among other areas of inerest. The objecive of
these American efons were 1o preserve i imperialist
fnterns in hileand throughout the roion.
Asid from the United Stses some European cou-
res s invested 1 hlp achieve el in sccordance
withheirinterests ffors i which many non- govermen-
1al organizations (NGO's)have played anmport medit-
ing ol of e rugales. The big nflux offeshdolars 1
“help” the peaceful rmovalof the dicaorsip bought
many who began 10 play & braking roe. I this marmer
Chrinian Democracy nd othe cenier-right sciors al-
lowed themaeivs t be wsd inthe formla 1 remove
Pinochet tnd the diciatorship from govermment; 8 for-
mols which wentagaast sy popularsoluton sndespe-
cialya revolionay one. The United Sttesdermandod
from the beginnin, end ol social mobilzation nd
vilent suggles, 45 well 4s any agreement with the
Maristefand sboveallhe evoluonaies,“erroriss”™
intheishypocrical sleng. Atthat sagesignficant iar-
a0 advances had lready been achieved,prncipally i
the stdent levl, mong obers. These humilating de-
mands were acceptd by Chrsian Democrats surely
becaute ofteir ancient grodines for powes which bas
been demonstrated 50 many times before. Already in
1964 thy recieved millons of dollars from the United
Staes, through the CIA, o halth possible presidental
iumph of the “Marsist” cadidate Salvador Allnde.
When Allende was overtrown a5 presidnt i 1973,
Cristian Democracy sappored the fascat coup d'etat
and the bloodbeth in which they immersed our peope,
{hinking ththe coupis iy would deliver power 10
them st that time. In th pacs made in 1986787 they
forced theexclusion of e Commnis Purty and the MIR
and logicalyth polica-mlay organizaions. Fom
here the so-called conceraton fo democracy became
prvileged u & pliiea formula for chnge, oliial
aliance 10 which the most opporuist and inconsequen-
il seciors o hetadional Cilean Jf atached then-
slves,
“They negotnted these agreements withth dica-
tombipandsncethen they ssumed the “poicyof aree-
menss” o g0 about replacing the i dictaoial sruggl.
‘Ourpeople,otally againt hese undignifid runsacions
‘madebehindtheirbacks,lead great basesofsragle i
1986 from the perspecive of ovethrowing the dicaor.
Thestonal ke afoly .3 of hatyearwas a wanscen.
denal combtive sroggle, the regime resoned 0 the
‘mon crminal ste teoriam 1o impede the popular
rugge:they murdered a family on Mamif sret in 3
touthern Suntingo neightourhood. They bumed live
wo youbs inthe Bstacion centa eighboarbood among
thoosands of other trocities. I the monahof Augus ey
discovered s arge cache of weapons inthe porher par
ofthe county with whichthy frosrated grea tempt
in the paih o liberion; they held the Patiotc Front
respantibie for this and unlesshed rea “witch hunt”
agains our orpanizaton. On Sepumber 7, 196, the
‘xecution siemp of the tyt ook place in“Operaion
208 Century”,n ambush f the dictators motorcade in
he canyon of the Msio, an acton camid out by the
FPMR. These three imporant decds only ilustae the
7ot effors ot were made by thousands of actons
nd the tyrmy.
“The diffcabies in meeiing he objectives of the
“Deciive Year"produced all mannerof fears ad deser-
tions, of sebacks and rereats. The isorclft was ot
apable of muitaining s seadfst ao-dicttoral posi-
tiom which produced s serious process of dispersion and
iomizaion which they have yt 1o overcome. Regrea-
by in the midst f this the Chrisian Demmocrats and theis
lles ssumed thepoliical eadership whichcouldcount
o allthe resurces to chieve their carrent egeamony.
Al o his facilmed theinstional timeiable conten-
plied by the 1980 Pinochet consiutin, srengthened
by the agrcments and politcal support of those who.
compromised themselves in he diciator's negodated
e, ensuring a process of condinity o the polica
ysem imposed by te tyrasny in s neary 17 yearsof
oppression.
Our organiztion nevr accepted the “pscado-le-
giimacy” of the crininal Pinochet regime and their
frudolent preudo-consiution. We also never give
mora olvency tothe government whichhas given st
10 eprescns this comedy of “democracy” bom n agree-
ments with imperalism, o raber widh the same ones
Tespnsibl fo the 1973 coup dett.
A System OF Dominaion: The Dictaoria Contisulty
From i e e arecments which ave boca
impoted defend nerens alien 1o our peope, 10 oot
sation, s have v e o dowith et resios-
o ofrea dmocrcy n he ey ssured Americn
ety it plce For i e - e o
model b ben h prfectnrument 1 e thre
s, 1 consolidaie he sy of dominion i
pored uring th dictomhip by tood wnd fie. This
Coeron sy of dependance, bcens o s s
dance, conitts & ong ter naicoa devclopment
prjectof reic haracier which will morgage the
Counryfr decades o the 21t cenuy. In it oty
by risto ity cas elations i v -
oot secor. b momaionalr, e goup of o
o paer and heplical md iy chucs wiih
Rave clloed fo th revison of depeniens capiai
which curody holds power. Thi cxplins he ol
‘ehich e dicto continues 1 ploy 4 commande .
hietofthe armyandthe s g of poer e il
‘caeasly bolds. It aso cxpains the evoaion f the
“democruic” govemmen in i yars nioe monihs of
maasgemen, bt e o herights creasing s wel
't repressive counter npogent charscie i vsanes
iy by day. Fial, resident Paicio Aylwin il
b ansounced tht I Augse 7 e i 0
democracy” ended dogical et was e s was
o consoldte it
‘The Patiotic Front's Development Process
these years of e we bave sccumulids e
combaivecapricnce, e have caried o sigaiicant
mamber ofpicipaly o s acons 0 welsane
o one.One cion tht s o wht he idnaprog
ofColonel Cako Careo,Dieciorol AMAE, e amy
‘weapons faciory whichsppear o be curenly invaved
inthe contmband hipment f 1 00 of wespons eized
in Hungary e o 1o Croui, i vielain f th e
bargo on weapons sl Lo e waring counies i that
egion. Coloned Careo was feed n o Psl, Brezil.
[rmsitors o Caet'storared, bl by
v ey found i iver in hile. Accorin ot
Uniguayan newspaper “Brecha” no one has clamed
et o the Killng bt i sppears el 0 e above
‘menioned srms shpmen o). Aside from the
Combaive actions nd various oms of Arvgge e
plyed inthee years we haveasocaiedout animpor-
{ant amotntofscislwork we havea good sccumulation
e areaof suggeforhamen ighs d sy
polical iplomat workinhe ool e, ..
“As torganiation we werebor 4 the ard s
of the Chilen poople but since 1987 we iiiied our
ransformtion 1o # polical-mliry organiztion - 3
processsill underway. e first ool forthis change was
the poltical edesign elaborted in the 20d semester of
1987, Ul 1988 our policsand sctions were wiin e
concepts of national uprsings which e replaced that
year wih the political sirtegic lie of Parioic and
Natonal War (. and N. W) whichhad it aptismo e
on Ociober 21, 1988 in the campaign for“naiona dig-
nity”, batle in which our comrades Cecilia Magri C.
od Raul Pellgain F., Comandanes Tanara nd Ro-
drigo, fll n combat, wh wih thei scrfce became.
rue symbols inte rescue of digniy.
Our pany construction i that of a vanguard or
gaaationin s conceptof shared vanguards, organizaions
‘whichshould e buil and i will b oor pople who give
them s quaiy.
Our siegic lineof P and N. W, was completed
wth the Paioic Siuggle for Natoral Digaity (PSND),
ourtacticallne claborsid n 1990.In September of tht
yearthe “Manifesto for Nationl Digniy” sumaurized
‘o careent policy, our acic for the perod. This s
Finished with the document “Characie of he Snge”.
Despite the fuc tht our characteizaion of the
ity weacked lsibilsy Lo conronthe new elities and
the space thy have ceated. This took us 0 & criain
‘sgtionofour pojec which we confionted by demo-
crtically analyzing it s alllvels of the orgaization,
miliens, combatmts, a0d leaders i the i Inerual
Rodrigaita Consulaion which wok place in he first
morshs of 1991 This consulation concloded i clear
mandate forchange o acheived greatr inerion n>
Curret eaity 1 advance ou revoltionay project of
‘mtional and scial liberation which will end the curent
sysim of domination and dependeac. Todsy thesc
‘changesarebeing implemented which ignifies esruc-
{uring and edefning o th project's par.
Ideologica Fountalns Of Rodriguism
Pusioiom is he priocpal ieologial o,
From it ve rexco ou hisoric oo, eveythin that s
s shou ot s cur pecpe. This s e i
evoltionsy memaionslsn scmming from Lac.
samericaien: Bolive, St M, Mari. We have
leamed from, 0 b ispid by e Cuban nd
Sundiias revoluicns, We have sienific soilsn 13
oue anyic b, 1. gude o acion
Huranist s nd cdicl vahos, sch s igniy
and decorum, which r needd s mch i these mes.
Consnency, sefcanes, loyaky and iy with the
“The Roigist mysican whichour broshers end
iners - ed) have had bused o these prcices a0d
principies ad huan nd revoltiomary vaucs bave
e th most beric s aced pages ofour isory.
e brothrs ud i) who hvepuid it prisns and
Shall end tis incomplet summary, symbolzing all of
the patiots who have given their lives for our cause;
Camilio, Taisna, Marceo, Puico, Margarta, Valei-
o, Moises, Jos,Ignacio, Cesa, Pao, Elzabet, Estr,
Julio, Ricardo, Mianue, Wilson, Jua, Maria, lidoro,
Raul Ceclia, Robert, Hernan, Carlos and Maarici.
‘Memory would neves e sbie o eain somany dear
atmes whohad given e mos sublime human snd moral.
base which each time obligates us mors o cary our
iberaon projec forwad, for which they gave thei
valusble and ineplacesble lives. For them, for our
‘peoples for he viabilty of prnciples and revoluion we
Conclude withour slogan:
“Unil vctoy ordeatht”
(rom Ko ey Latincamaricano, JanMar. '%2)
Peace Negotiations In The Philippines
Interview With European NDF Representative
Acitwarbasbeenfohtithe Pippins o e
a3 as. Thflof e Marcos dictorsi i 1986
e he rospcs for pace mre ey, B fe the
Tecen resdenil elcions, esce now sans e
iton han ever. Negotaions e he Naioal
DemecraticFront NDF)ad it gerilawing e New
eopi s Ay (NPA),wer ot o the compeign
Jormofon e condit,
e vt of Marees anc Aquin' s aa-ovr o
poweraserictcfsesoiaions i Febrary 196 edioa
Cesefoe and egoiions bevwen Aguino and the
NDFNPA. Bt hi procescllsped o Samary 287,
b the Atuin g ooty enahed prtesh
rch by famars. Thi atack ecame rown o the
oo Mssare" In March f 1907, At .
carad “linar on the i wing ressance meve.
pon
Sice the,the confict s taen on dissrus
propoiors: e ave been over 2 il iieral
Tefees v hept 3 s, The e and doppear
s o e fwing St vt b comen.
place. Amnesty Iniernational s last report from February
o i ar reporied ht e asdering coninar”
he Phippinc. Thearmy and e rghing pars
military troops roam freely.
T 1990, e et overds pece roces
dewiopd. Charch groups and ew-govrmmenil or-
yonstions ook he v, and i Sepember 191,
{herwara meting i Hong Kong e NDF lders
and Phiippin armygenrais A second round of ik
ebduldforMerch g this oo i B werelled
Uy he gomermet et memen ekt
acing place (e European Parlamen) wes o0
remine” et woddaion e NDF o chanc vpread
i propanana.Snce he, thre v bee %0 s
{evards schedaing frbr als
Thefolowig i e it Byon Bocar, e
NDF s represencive o Western e
The talks n Hong Kong did notresultfn much, and the
ks n Brusselsnever ook place. What weat wrong?
“The ks in Hong Kong wer supposed o discuss
respecting human ights snd spplying ntemationa laws
o8 stuton of smnedconfict Inoureyes, is s e it
sicp of the peace-process. Nommal cvilians mast be
proteced. We had proporals with us, b the
Sovermment’s delegates had noing, They did't even
have « mandae from the government nd 40 they
couldn' signor sgre 1o anything.
“The government el that the tlks would give us
itemtional st a5 8 pary in 0 amed stuggle. We.
ave neverdemanded thi satu. The Philppine govern-
ment consstently manuains thet the Philippine
‘constitton ha obethe bsis o thepeace process, and
har' becn the biggest obstace s far That relegaie the
NDF 1nd the whole national democrtic stuggle 10 8
police mater. hat s o acceptable o us. Theconfictin
the hilppines is ot jadicil ne, but plical on.
The causes o the confict hve o b seld wih poltcal
messures. Bothsdes have tobe pen o thi. Only then
can serious ks begin.
How do you sccount fo these problems?
The govermment doean' ake the negotaions seri-
ouly. They e the peace-rocess 45 & par of their
srtegy of oal-war. Aquino used the peace process n
1986. She wed it 10 et the “moral jusification” for
resuling o amilary souionto the poblem. Shevowed.
10 crush th revolutionary movement by the o o her
. That'sthisJune. Sonow she'slking sbou aiing.
“urtegic control”over he revoluionary movement by
the end of 1993 Ax long s the govemment keeps
hinking in those trms nd refuss 1o work towards 8
poltclsolutiontothe conflc o advances can e made
n the peace-pocess.
‘Some people caim that the NDF dow’ttakethe pace-
process seriously, but are Just using 1 for tactical
pins. Is armed struggle sl your most important
strategy?
Youhavetojdge he NDF by s deeds. And when
‘you considr allhe effors we'v madesince 198810 gt
poople a the negotiating able, we have 1o be ukea
Cxmest. Of course discssions sbow where the talks
shouldakeplace re.a part of the NDF s overall gy
Bt we have sated tha we wan 10 contiove with the
peace-process il a policalsolution i reached. We.
sand by that promise.
Bt unti then,you'l Keep shooting?
Yer.there can be o cease-ire without 8 clear
proporal sndme-able fortalks. We eamed tha back in
1986/87. At thatim, we agrd 0 cease i before e
agenda or e alks had boe set. Bu al he poverment
wanied 0 alk sbout was our surender. o the ammod
sl contiucs.
Bt ent that an 00d comblnation, peace negoiatons
and armed struggle?
I some aeas, wehave srucure inpacehat have
10 be defended. We have 1o maintain and expand our
srengih. That i necessay, 5o that we wil be aken
seriously t negotitons. You could compare his 0 Bl
‘Salvador. The peace-proces there only got underway
‘when the US ecognized that the FMLN rbels couldnot
be defesied ilitaly. Even though the farright Chrs
meambers o he govermment,sod especially he ey,
‘consistenly mainta tha we have o be crushed milir
iy
Withinthe NDF, are ngotiations viewed asrefornis?
No. The fac tat you ave il upeacugh strength
a0d organization to force the ele 1 negotite about
ead o this, hen we view it a pan o he evolutionary
process Wha's more,he peace movementn e Pilp-
pines relizes tha pesce means more then s he ab-
sence of war. We have o in soutions o the probems
‘which case the conflc.
Can ths be compared to B2 Salvador?
‘The proces hat we ae involvd i e much ke it
was i Bl Salvador, bt the eventaal contet will be
docided by he negoiations themselvs. We wou'tlay
down our weapons befor there is complee agreement
on scial, economic, s polical reforms.
Did the FMLN give up on oo many of s demands?
Inmany ways, thelr agenda didadiffr from ours.
Bt we disagree on the end resul. Many of s fee that
they gave more than ey got.
(Can you be more concree? Wil Industries b nation-
alzed?
T don'tknow. But e poiais e disnaaling of he
pecilla-ammy. It scemstha he PMLN agreed oleaverhe
Sovemment’s anmy iniact, more 0 than they waated,
whie e forces would he incorpraid no the police.
Asforthe oberefoms, et sl ave o be a numberof
‘consttutionsl changes- Somepeopledoubs wheberhere
have been coough gusraneessecured ofacual eforms.
The FMLN have said that the people are hei best
suaranie,aod itemational oldaiy...The discassions
ar il akingplace. We will avetocxamine the specific
advaniages and disadvanages o the scual ccord. As
forthe Philppins, thas wil depeod on the balance of
power.
What roe do lctions play I our strategy?
We atrally don' ke par, ot e doview them
s el mporia. We ncourag he propresive
orpizaions Lotk pr nd suppor rogrssvecandi
e, Everyting we win i the clecons gy ken,
bt clections are no a mporant as building peopes-
orpmizaions d the amed siuggle. Thes clcions
‘won'tlead o mesaingfl change. ot onesingle cand-
daeiseven addessing e fundamenal poblems
ing he prople.
‘What do you think you can coneretely achieve?
Firs, progressive candidate can b chosen,But st
e natonsl lvel, hey havelle chance i the “gans,
0005, and old” sy, They haveabeterchancea b
localleve, eventhoughheireffect here s minimal. T
imporant hing is o sdvance the srugl f the pooples”
‘movement Flectoral scuggle snd mas-srvggle mus o
ogeiber. Another imporant poit i the Americs mill
coninued on page ...
Red Army Fraction
Communique
‘Greetings To Al Those Taking Part In The Demon-
strations And Congresses Agalnst The World Eco-
‘omic Summit In Munich!
We aregiad tatyou ll have come o this demon-
sracion d o thiscongres, despiethemassve umbers
ofpolice troops s themedia's smear.campaign, which
‘both stempted 1o beat down and defea your oganizing
efors and prepantions.
Despit the varying levels i th devlopmentof he
srogal and differing conditons there emais the ed
for & comm seach or urgent solutions for pecpls’
lives agains the world-dominsting polices of the G-1
saes, whose capialit power rles over people a0d
desoys maure.
‘We think s corect that you al bave chosen 1
oppose the S00:year fetival of imperialim with this
demonsirtion, congrss, 1addays of sctions. You bave
showed that on out sds - th side of the oppresed -
history and the consciousmessof siggle are alve. As
onga this mperaist ystem, whicvaves hrnan lves
and naareas mere toolsof capialism, exis, here will
o exist irvggle for sociey fre from domimation.
‘The srgglefor e liberation of spral worth will b
camiod ou wherever racst and sexist strctres of op-
presion exist which deythe wort of human beings.
‘With this congress, you have made i posible o
exchangeexperinces withone aother s o e from.
each ther, o come common evaliations snd 1 begin
‘working on common sitegis.
Given the contemporary titsion, we thisk it's
extremely importaa,boh berea wel s itermatioally,
10 arive at concee common goals sod demands. We.
Deed 0 come p with proposals s to wht iep e 1o
e taken against he ruling powes'gip over pople and
e - whetherin Manich, Rio, Los Angels or Mapato,
‘whether inPalesine or Kurdisan and reverse e ol
sloba catetrophe.
A process of sppropristionfrom belowis cresedin
concret staggles and demands which confron the ol
ing powen with the peopls’ nees. For xample, the
ruggleforliving space, the srvggle againt destroctive
and pindessabowr the sruggle agans:cavironmensal
destucion, th pison sioggles, organizing belp for
efugees, ani-fscist mobilizatons, and th demand for
dbtcancelaion tnd reparaions from the imperalist
sats which have profted rom clonizing peoples.
Wein Germany beara grea deslofresponaibilyin
{his proces,because we lveunder st whose capacty
for destrucion is enormos. Domesticaly,the ruling.
powers have created a reacionary climate which has
reslied in raciet moblizations and an almostdsly war
‘againstefugees. Th uling powersneed his eacionary
climae 10 sirengthen the German mle-consciousness
nd 238 safety-valve aginst the increasingly despernc
Hiving conditions o millons o peopl er,because hey
want 1o be given 4 froe hand for thir superpower
poltcs: oday, e German detschmark marchs across
Easte Europe, tomorrow, Germanroops mch acos
the globe. Next 1o Japan, Gemnany has the world's
srongest economy. The might of German capial is
nbroken.
With this suatement rom us, we'd ik o make
some poits from our Aprl commanique (namely, our
de-escalation) clar o e comrades from other counisies
ho have avelld hee forthse potets.
This spartof ourspeciliep within Germany. We
don' question the legitimacy of amed liberaion
sugyles n otber counries;our decpest slidarity goes
ot 1o sl hose siuggling foriberation troughout the
world.
i up forthose involved i the sruggl o decide,
basod upon ther specfic conditions, which means i
form o strggle should b employed t given point in
For you l, we'dlike o sy something beif sboot
ourown hisory.
‘We, the RAF, came ino existence inhe arly T0's
outof he workd-wide i Vienam War movemens. Our
beginmings came during the 68 revolts, 3 time when
many peopl became aciv: i his county, where, afes
Auschwitz, there was 1o broad social discussion of
‘Germany's Nazi past snd whereex- Nis beld posiions
of powes in al the major govemment and financal
nstiutions,communist and sn. aciss were piedon,
and allihos who sought o break with Germany s fascist
past faca eprssion. Agains thisgloomy and suffoct-
ing imperialst rality i post-war Gernany, an enire
eoeraion sought new emancipaiory snd ni-capialist
means of lvng. For cxumple, base-democratic -
Tares s schools and uiversies,ving ogeber in com-
munes 1 cpposed o uclear amilies,orgnizing wornen
against e rditional oles and againstiheiroppresion
both within socety and within the I
During he Vienam War, our counry was e most
imporunt wmiable forthe U.S-genocide of the Viel
namese people. We linked ourslves 1o the world-wide
esistance o U imperaivm.
‘Autbaime, heexstence f he Soviet Union made
it earer 1o securetes to the wionl iberation move.
menis of the Souh. Under those global ircumstances,
‘wemadeour radicalsruggle b arof e nemational
ot imperialis. lberaton font. That was our swom
perspeciv, 1o cany ot simulincous iniematonal
Hrogale o chieve frecdom.
Even when imperiaism was abl 10 bl the ad-
‘vance of the berationtragglesat hecad of he 0's,our
politics were il pimarily orenated in his wey snd
remained that way wp 10 the mid-80's. We used oor
g inthe 80' t hinder theimperialist ol-back,
orderto tum around hehistory since the October Revo-
Tuton; we wanied o re.stengehen our side.
T the vaious phases of our 22-year isory, we
have intevened i our role s an wben gueril aginst
imperinist word poliics, against US. polces, ageinst
'NATO, againt the formuaionof s West Eoropean bloc,
agains the develogment of Grest Germany s & workd
Look Forward In Anger!
- Anti-G7 Actions
In cuty July, the world cconomic summis
(WWG) of the workd's seven riches naion, be O,
ook place in Mrich, Gemnany. Sinc te s
‘was being heldin Bavasia, one of Germiny's most
conservtive egion,heavy confroniationsbetween
police and - summi demonsuors were ¢x-
pecid. To prevent this, over 000 police from il
over Germany wers depoyed in Manich, and il
foads o the ity had polic check pons.
(On Suurdey, aly 4, over 15,000 pople ok
purt in 10 4.7 demonsiruion through Manich.
Manic plic do o lerai the wearing of masks,
oreven e bolding ofarg bncrs o theides o
demontruions. Shordy et the march begen, he
‘women/isbia-blocunfurid s burneslong e vide
o theirbloc,reslin i police stack.n e, 53
people were amested duin e dmo. Iresingly,
e wutonamit d womensbian blocs made 15
about 273 ofth ot dem, which 1ys something
hout e abilsy of varios roupe o mobilie.
“The same was e hroughos he woekend b
fore e sctual G summi. The Aui-Summit Con.
e, beld he weckead befor he O s, was i
many ways, » disspointmeas. Ociginally scheuied
10 be beld on a universty campus, the university
evoked the permi shorly beloe he even was 0
begin. Thus,h countr congres b e disprsed
among seven area churchs, This undernandably
pse any participans, since hechurch s played
eadin ol n colonialim d i world explor-
aion throughout hisory. Plns by suomorsisis o
merly siom the uiversity md s the bldings
anyway were ey rsisid b el and et
roups who did o want 0 sk confontations wi
th police, who had aready mided wo coucr-con-
a7 orpunsing meeings in the weeks bfore he
aciualevens el
Despt il tho problens and disppoiomerss,
much nceded ditogue bevween Europoan, Lati
American, Asitn, sod Middle Eates social move.
ments did ke plac a the Ani-Sunmit Congress.
One e econd doy o s congres, epresaaives
‘were rese from the NutonalDecsocrtic ot of
the Phippines,the Pro-Homman Righe Assocaion
of Trkey, e FMLN o E Savador, NatonalLib-
ervien Movement Tupamaron of Urvgusy, the
‘Sovermemnt of Cubs, the Plsario Front of Sahars.
Afica and the Purio Rican MLN. The opics is-
casted were bumaa righs, the New World Order,
poliicalprisners, mthodsof sevge, md polics
o bomctopole. Despitcthe delogicldiffernces
of many of e paricipais, ome basc poios were
sareedupon: 1) Thathe Now World Orer snbing
ess s he rdivision of he workd i spheres of
infiucnce or the powertl and will eve sve the
soci-cconamic probems of the Thid World; 2)
“Tha the opic of politcal prisoners and prsones of
‘warmuste aprioity nhesgendas o revoloionary
policalmovemcnts; ) Tha s sof e umont mpor.
e 1o susan trly aubeosc and indepeodeat
process oot presibed by imperialiss; 4) Tha the
ope of humaaity Tests on the development of
Socalim tha s roly paiipaory, where there do
ot cas prvicges justfor e e, ad whee thre
nooppressiononihebsisof ac,genderoscxal
preference. Therewas asolk of yin 10 esblish
0 ntemaional Dey in Slidarey with he Plical
Prisoners of the World.
Besides h discusions duing he - smmi.
congress, actons weesocaiedout o prcet he
" onnsed n the beck pge-.
|
|
e
pover nd i e e word i
Ty e o of "9, who e amcxaion o the
fomer DDR by We Geman wh ey n s
Shaie o iy, oe which b g i he Ociber
Revolaion, b come 0 1n . Nonshless, we (o
1o icuvionof i oo b hisryof ourovn
struggle - of its strengths and weaknesses - and to come
up il new orcnton
Wit our acions, we aaght o begin o rse
coerpover o below o s dikcursion i
re-orientation around this situation, which had greatly
Incesad th okl conrdicins o givenrio a0
i, Nonebeless, we could ct bk hvugh
s ofpoveriess o e sgnation o e v
{or ofcpealimwhich hadgipped e vy pecple e
oot oo moin.
Tt s precilyour st action which made this
mon e 1o ur, the wack oo Robwedder, Wath this
o, wenervane nm ey new socil i,
one wich arse ferhe socasinof e DDR I i
s o hinde the march of cpilem o the former
DR s 1o alow 151 cot s with hes Pl
gl ther Now we el hat o cometo s ommen
Sl from o oftwo il s snd st of
cxpercac akes o gra deal of discsion s wnder-
sanding laming rom e snodber's e hisories,
5410 e go forward gt in aking » coutr
pover
G coue ther wer ety of peole who -
porcd ur acions, b s s bardy sard sy
incuion or el i s orgmizaioal g, nor
ey psh the g power” o sy comer.
Beraoe o al s, w e s bk 0 come
Wi new deperars poi.
Weaeodancpendcanion s ocodtons
nd rctaions i order o G o with nw hovgh
224 propouls for devloing process of hange. A
ek s meas eaming o ovahiney sossnt
repestie e ik, ot rng gl
oo cxperences.
We o hatthre re comrades wh i o
dicionsbeweenou et i Al d e carod
Siumion,conderng o smple, the sclaing war
i th Kurih eope, hich the Tukish st s
Vaging with Geman weapons snd Geman ey
hereisroqesionpatesnc othe plicisof
Grea Germany, both from within 4 b, s e
ey necomay o i iy bt o
X oces o dacuion. Bt e el ths A st
o v i proces i e
"ocome up i e oitof dputar, weeed
< common,do foundsion aying dcamion,
S glov chines v global s
ket mcreasing e popl deemed ok e
by capital and who no longer have any means of exis-
poople who ar being forced 1o the fringes bere i Grest
Gemmsay, pecple who are secking # new socalralty
‘with aman crtcia nd who ejec the vales tnd ol
ogy of apialism.
“Thehistoryof decades ofscia orentontowrds
capial bas alicnted peope from ther lves. Fom ti,
d fromhefaiur 10 et anycxistingaliematives,we.
can see why racistand st vioence has increasedher.
s a way o duling e brsalityof day-to-day Ife. By
not creting groups consisting of diffeen kinds of
people who can work together 1 solve the common
problems facing them dily, taking these problems in
haod and struggling aganst them, what we have soca
appen in ur society i herse of destrucive ad sl
destracive forcesand incrased fuscist mobilzations.
Isupioeveryone who does not want obecrushed.
by the powerof money to develop new social iruggles
‘which come from the peopl themselvs. I this, w see
the posuibilty of creaing o relevant social counter
Bt the development of this s also & part of our
responsibilty o all those people around the workl who
ar sroggin for change and 0 al ppressed poopies,
bocausi'supto s hereiose o i hat rea
‘work-poltcsdon' o unchallenged t home, b raber
atther i socal consciousmessht expresis ol
ity with other peopls and which resists e ruling pow-
ers. We have o tan & new socil movement in which
people can find » emuine socil perspciive and seethe.
‘wortlesmess o the capais sy temand it resmentof
s worh A movement withnew content nd vlocs,
‘one which canmakeconcreechanges -becanse hse are.
‘¢ gouls whichcan b ptoff il “ate e revolution”,
Withour comemanique of 104, very long huse of
our history came 1o an eod. This was our decision,
because we want 1o see 3 proces of reflction and -
orintationonou side- tadnoing o do wit e ate.
“This stte s sought 1o destoy the RAF nd the
prsoners romthe RAF a the resisancefo th st 22
‘years uing ol e meansavailble o . The e failed,
a0 with tis in miod, we nered i new phase. I the
stae chooses todisrup his new phase, then i will b up.
10 everyone o decide bow to react, snd we won'ttake
responsibilty for the consequences.
‘We have sttt mporiant cormponentof s
new rbuilding process mustbe th siruggle o ree our
imprisoned comades.
When we sste ther fredom cm be achieved
through » poliica slwion, tis s the resuls ofyears of
sruggle. Freedom for al poliical pisners witin &
forsceable period of ime cun ly b achieved through
& process of sruggle.
T should be everyone's wsk o seizs the ntntive
0 struggle o cod the tomae and win freedom forthe
prsonens.
e sek el lfeperspsiive forcurimpris
ved comrades andfor e prisoners from ll beruion
movement; we want his foreveryone and wih everycne
‘who wans o iuggle forjoicesnd s humn exivience
for al the oppressed poples of th word.
269 Red Army Fraction
The recet cease fire annownced by the RAF has
leashed a great deal of disussion within atonomisi
and lef revolsionary crcles in Burope. In our nest
e, weitend 1o cove part o his debte by repriting
‘amimber o crituques, not oy of the RAF, bt alsoof he
R2s, RARA, and miltant-armed siugglein generl. For
cxample, we will publish he tex of an RZ group who
‘announce thei intention toabandon hearmad siruggle.
We willalso prin a paper by another RZ group who
criizeboth1his tex, as wel s the “Gerd Albarus is
Decd*text by another RZ cel. Althoughall o the papers
10be publshedinour nxs s arefrom Burope,we el
thahe isuesdiscussedare inporiantandshoud halpio
start a similor dicission here in North America on
armed and milantresistance
'ENOUGH OF THE BROWN SHIRTS!
Breryone bas heard of the buming refuges-
sbou tis. Manich i o it way o becorn-
ing the capial of the German noo-Nai movemen.
Enough of isl We wil atack he facisl
Two centersof the Munih fscst movement ot
‘ombed eaty tis morning. The firs, the AVO-offce
of Ewald Alhans, the most imporant propagande
center of the Monich neo-Naz sccoe. The second, he
“Monich Anaeiger”, which i esponsibi or sread-
eo-Nazi soene for year. I 1990, be organized o
march 1o commenorae Hiler's birbdsy, In March
1991, heorgmizndthe Leucir Congres,where beand
othe promines neo-Nazis publicy decared thas the
mardes o milions of ews dringth holocaus was
lieIn May 1991, he oranizd mesting in the Edeo
W hotel 1 honor Radolf Hess. He has amanged
rnsporation scross Germany for Muich neo Nazis.
Revolutionary Cells Communique
hoses e the desths, b fu too il ar doing
50t money and behind-the-sceocs oniacts And fom s
“We wank the rth aod ot righis”, which caled the
There hasbasaly been a-right evet Minich which
e has ot belped to organize. On May 192, be
rpized s meeting nhis new brown b wderthe
‘motto:“Uniny Brings Sreagh™ About 300 neo-Na.
i, includingthe ot signifcas cadres o Bayen,
attnded. .
Althans alsohassrong intermational ies He has
offce s Heraog-Hearich Suee 30, he cansprad s
‘brown propaganda ushindered.
“The “Munich Anzsiger” s fes adveriscment
bullerin whichgets disrbutedtomailbores and which
an be found i mot supermarkets. It comes ut n§
‘neigbborhood ditons all troughout Munich. I's
published by Alfred Detscer, Jadgsret 28, In the
‘eper, Nazs dissibue ther fncis and racistpropa.
yanda unindered. Like in issoe 45591, when the
“Monich Anzsger” ra & ullpage arice exxiled
holocat e mddemanded bt e loodof g
mae efugcs b sopped”. T icce whs wrtea by
e ld Nasi Ouo vt Reame. NPD 14 Regub.
aner Pari owo neo-Nei ol parics 4]
menberssso s this puper. Inthe lins s,
eriings Toll o haed or freginen re oy
prined. The s e ful o e ke “pusic
lavlens puags ke reogee” nd“ay st
. i youl el disbed i pring
by AVO, Akbans was ighysecumed. Anoer
comecio, ha.
PS: We'd like o quicky respond 0 8 few groups in
ihi satement: we don' agree with people who hik
that e and fames ae o longes spproprine methods
forrevolutonary poltcs. Furlermore, wedon't wank
1o close ou his sage of hisiory d be siack with
rused rucures and e of sirugale, tiher we
‘want1obea polical subjec which s bl o ntervene
i contemporarysocisl proestes.
Revolutionary Cells
Punks Making
Statement By Brian Coan Regarding His Grand Jury Subpoena |
When I was spproached by a Secre Sevice (S5)
sgentwhilatrackpracice oo May 7, it s the it time:
Thad evr found mysef i soch # posison. Bt | knew
how o react [ efused 0 speak o theagent. The SS then
tred 10 coeroe me nto lking by issuing me subgoena
10 tpper efor federa grandfry. Agin, this washe-
st time ] or snyone el inthe contemporary marchist
‘movemeat for that mater) bad ever been in such 8
posiion. Butonce again, knew what o do: 1 couner-
actthegrand jurys sececy, L alened e medi nd ther |
‘comiades in the movemment, and | staed ron the begin-
ning that | would ot comply with thegran fory invest-
gaion.
‘When I suedthe subpocnaon May 8, anageat
‘mensioned that it was rlaed o s threat on th presidn.
Boton what grounds? Was i doe 0 peech I had iven
& week caler a u rotest in fron of fedens court in
Pitsfied, in which [ had defended the armed L A.rbel-
lion? Or was the govemment ate something more?
Perhups they were on » “fahing expediion”, oping 10
gai nfo o the anarchisyautonomist movernen, ot
revolutionary anuchist necwork “Love nd Rage”. But
there were oberthings 0 consider as wel, uch a8 my
‘contact wih poltical prseners, and my ivolvement
‘with Arn The Sprc, A or the e, there was abvi-
‘ous cuse for alam, iven the naure of the matrial
‘which ATS publishes. Givenll of hese concerns, it wa
ot clear whatthe grand juy were upo. Henee, ook 8
sand of ol on-collborstion.
Bt astime wore on, hings became more clear. The
S, it tumed ou,had copid all o my computer s on
thecumpus oo frme, which used o gainacces othe
Intemet aglobal compoter information necwork. What's
Hews Brifscondinued from page 13
“CONTROMformesione” were stroiod. and
churged with asociaion with » ferori organia-
tion. In_ addiion, the newspeper’s offces were
searched and some mserials were seied. Those
arested were held in slitary coninement wmil
‘oun rled tat they be rleased cn Jsouary 2. We
apologize for reporing tis pews so e, b word
only 5ot 10 08 sbout his event recendly. We don't
now whathas developed since th comrades were
reeased..On July 4, America’ ‘ndependeace Dey',
e march from Butery Pak to Cty Hall poles
et s 25 people,mosly Puco Ricanide-
peodenitn. Anothr demo is being plamned for
Ociober 121 Now Yok Ciy, onpeizd by groues
astcited with e Froedom Now Network (fomLa
Patria Radical JuyS2).. Two Saia Cu,acivists
whowed 16 o demagesvemd NAVSTAR s
e wes o prisn uly 13, Kelth Klole od Peter
‘Lumsdsne piesded gy i US. Disc cot 1o
exoying proenybeing manced fr he US.
e, oy They e vpio e yarsin
il when hey e sincod o Sprber 21. T
ol tbe pir i pproximaely 2 londamage
e Rockwell et n Sena Oz 00 My 10 The
Pentagon aes he Rockwell seeltes 1 gade -
clear e b wesponssndfor lry comat
oc. For fonmation, wr to: Masins Ve,
PO. Bos 1645, Berksley, CA 4701 (fom The
Guardion 438).
Threats Again
more, a8 50 one else had been subpoensed 1o appesr
beforthe grand jury,t g ook ke | was the arget.
ofthe invsdgaton. Bt s, you can never be sue of
‘whatthe govemmentis up 10, 50 maintained my siace.
of ot noncollsboraton.
Just s v et down my posture, neiherdid the
govermment. US Auorney Kevin O'Regan remrked to
my lwyer, Sualey Coben: “OK, your cien wanis 1o
playhard bl We'll lay hrd-bul.” Sumley s mation o
elay the grand-ury proceedings for cne week (Sunley
‘wasiobeoutof twwn right upunil e 288) was et with
counter.motion from O'Reganinwhich was meationed |
my ntation oot oy refuse o give testimony, butlso
10 refuse 1 give fingerprint and handwiting ampics.
O'Regan o caledme s “olicalopporanit”and said
s Stanley's tempt o dely the proceedings was justa
mesns of gaining time to do more polical organizing.
Notsuprsingly, the jdge denied Staley's mion, snd
the grandjury was st 10 proceed on May 28.
Given e fuc tht e amrchistautonomist move-
mentanly had 20 days o orgmize, soldarey lfona were
remendous (with maay hearfeltthnks being doe 1o
imprisoned comrades and comrades from otherpurtsof
the Left who helped with these ffos). Inthat time, 1
individual and movemment with no pror experience ia
deslng with fedeal grand joies had 10 become ot
cducaied and organied to take on the govemment. A
leter-wriingand phone.incampaign was orgnized, sd
they were veryffectiv. Theday bfore e poceedings,
the US. Atomey's phone rang all day long, and M.
O'Regan received several dozen eners and potcads of
protst from al sontsof people ranging from Willams
College suodets and facuty. o Willsmstow residents,
10 anarchissautonomiss and lefist from across the
US. and Canada. Allof this, combined with rea deal
offvoursble mediaauenton, was not1o e iking ofthe
US. Atomey's offce. O Refan menioned ll ofhis i
his counter motion o th court.
effor Springfied n May 28 flly expeciing o be
e that afemoon. T was only on that morming tht &
conscious, pliicaly-motivaied decision was made (0
comply with the ubpeena'srequest or photo, hand-
wring samples, finger prious, and ircarms documenis.
‘Was thi was rversal of a reviously-saied positon?
Yer. Did i some way comply with he subpocns by
providinghose mateils? Agan, I must it yes. Was
s the st poltical route 10 ke? I think s
The uacical decision to comply wih the
sobpons's request o fumish s phoograph, igerprinis,
andriing sampis, nd frearms documents was 1ok
‘made unil the morming of the procsedings befors the
federal grand ory. Thedocision was made afiea hested
discassion with my lawyer and with comades. The.
decition was not one o fear, bt rather oneofsengeh. It
‘was conscious, poltical decision, and ove which, we
feel, resulied n the outcome of his case bing a minor
poltclvictryforthemovemnent snd anembarrasment
o the govermment. Because some peaple n the move-
‘would have sy beenthe pasive aceptance o il
- in other words,compiying with he Sse's wish 1o
6t an acsive militan offthe srets. ndeed, i his nok
‘whatfedera grand jures ek 10do? N THIS PARTICU-
'LAR CASE, sch a otcome - being heldn conizmpt by
efusing 1o give materal aready in the goverments
posscsrion- would have smounied o collaboratng with
he Sae'swish o jil il acvis Bt through our
Randingof he maer, w in elfct caud the St o
ack down 1 cept st
‘Apin,bear i i whet i fct was t s
here s ne e of compotermesge i which was
i B e sl Tis wa e s ol
o e Sue'scidnce s me on chageof st
‘oing e P of e Unied S s foderl
e punishablcty oS yeusinpiso) Theesn
forhe rbpocns waspobaly my sadaet el 10
el wih fodel aged abot the meag. T,
copled withmy stpoken il poliics nd s fack
ey ———er
Soverments mind an nvesiguion
My sance, coniry o wht some may ares, i
einfore somoveryimporatprecedets it s
mastnerespea o fden g As Sl nd et
Loth s oo el aounbone i pringiid
on iy 2, we were ke sid b US Atorcy Kevin
‘O'Regan and two SS agents. O'Regan then “explained”
how i maticr was ot st my ol opions or
sstcimions bt wassipl e ot nvesigaion o
ossbl threat apit th Prsdes (0"Regan i
Tepecdihis e pbicisingnaemnt o e membersof
e gand oy O Repanioen i f vk ol he
gttt e mesage was ot ioded s b e
e masier wold be closed, we coud svid tho grand
ury. a1 voukd nt ik e o contmpt charges.
ey he Sae had b ot i an g
con: otine checkp had cvcaeed o polic
o 424 o of mdi nion uesicing e
Ve iy of the fedes grend fry syl
Aiboughoffred ncayroveof e for b puries,
Tty o
Fiue it evr ek i s
Second, il sever give oy etmony 14
feder g .| eund o, smawer sny uesions.
Even whenhey s showed me & coy o my s
Hicenc nd sked i | mcogized .1 wovld's e,
i, il sever gvethe Suie things ey
ot bav,orshoidn v, el e sk
{oprovide’ opy ofthe nevpaperLove and Reg' o
kgl o v of - Tt S wou have
reuscd, venhough e fedscould ot g any i
bookstoreand g copy i vould hve e 8
pedrefualio i o snoous ol siack. B
{being providedto e prand oy wer hings hich
Thad ieady el ivnto e S vhen! g for
pslpemi Whetyou sply oreha peri you gt
Potographed s finger prid. S, collaboruied vy
iving o e grand . adaeady ol
Tacd by ppving o egallycayFrears s cpposcd
nain du wih i one. If ey s ey have
my sl o resetd e for e rand . |
oldhev .
“Apinthedeciion! made was o o, b
Liofimiybaewis e ncedorto g omapolin
afcive ruer o puaively et 8 e o 8
vl s, Agkin, h gl i v 1 30 i
We received the following letter
from a comrade in Greece:
In ATS Nel1 (216) you efer o the wnited
sctonof *12 of May" aad "RLPS." ageinta v of
antiot police. ] hik that you might waz 0 know
that the groups have camiod out lot of acions
Al the two groups decidod 0 unite on Oc-
ober 20, 1991, th dey, 14 yearsago, that goereila
activat Chrsios Kisiis died durig a0 stack
agains e Gemoan muli-caional AEG (s an ct of
oldary s reveng for e maderd RAP -
ades S priscn).
19.292 Bomb atack agaist » bat named “CAN-
CAN". This bar is owned by Gigurtakis, notarious
g deser who i conmecid o and proteced byt
26292 Bomb anack sgainsta van of ot poics
‘van near Thisi. 18 cops wounded.
392 Bomb asacks aginst two can elonging
EBCoffcl in A, i
20352 B ks g e o o
‘who gavo he police descrptions of th persons who
caried out o aack of Thik.
31,392 Bomb miack agins the Couns of Jusico of
Also, ot of actions have been carried ut by
the "Anarchint Group Mialis Kalteas”. he group
s carid ot s i Sobingsover e
10menth (since October 1991):
~Fourocal ffices of e lin righ wing Nw De-
mecmcy Pury in Kesl, i, lipol, md
~Thelocal oo he Scilis Pary n ko snd
NSmimi.
~Two super makets i the are of Tlsia.
- A police car i the are ofPeki.
- The Boy Scout's Club at Peister. The Boy Scou’s
b hereinGroece ar oy tying o pase matonsl-
st and it propagancs o o kids. (OF ourse,
e clon wae't diecied s the by sous e
—continued from page 16
policiescf the G nations. Late Sunday night, s branchof
the Destsche Bank was ire-bombed by an suoncmist
roop,resulng in 150,000 dmage. A message nearby
‘was found whichread: “Auack the WWGI"
Authe G7 ammit'sopening on Monday, he police
prescnce wasexremely besvy. Mot demonsintors were
Dot abl o reach he Max-Joseph-Plaiz wer the smmit
‘was being beld. Those that did were quickly surounded,
beaten, 0d amesied. There were severl spontancous
demonstations roughout e day, esuling i over SO
et There were severlcomplaints ofpolice bruiy,
0 much s thateven Manich's daily-paper ran & fron
page condemnaton of the police's “smecestary escala-
(rom Interim 201 and La Patria Rodical Juby92)
dliver 8 satement denouncing the federa grand ury
process and affrming ef-radical poltc, ad then be
beldincontempt. Butif wehad done tht, wenever would
have really know what the sate was up 0. Bus by
linening t0 the questions sked by the U.S. suomey
(ahboagh,of coure, efusing to snswes sy), [ was sble
10 what th grnd jury was aficr. And s i e out,
it wasa ivialmater relating 10y we of computes
network. The knowledge o tis then put many of my.
‘comades’ minds at eas, since right up unil May 28,
hre was il e fer tht the comrades i he move:
men may gt sbpocnacd.
IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, the bst polcal
routewas 10 make acticaldecision. Why? I's kind of
ke when you ge bused for spray-paining. Do yourben
denouncethe nis US.jsice ysiem nd goojal?No,
foratrival charge, you pup withthe egal s and
rytogetoff. Andi seem ikemy recent case was jstthe.
federal eqivalentof spray-pinting. Of courve efuseto
recogaiz the legiimacy of fodera grand juris; hey re.
ool of polical oppression. They have been used, to
wrongfully imprison Poerio Rican independentisias,
Black/New Afikan revolotonarics,whitan-imperial
st 10d 10 0n. But cven though I don' recogaize theie
legiimacy, they exist nonebeles. And | had 1o ace ooe
of hem. Usnderlmostmy ther ircamstance, I hink .
ncompromising stund o otl noo-ollaborion s te.
‘only way 1o go. But s the movemneat ready for this i
my case? Was th lfh once agai prepared o ackle he
sve of fodenl grand juries in-tod-of themielves? |
don' ink 10, That wam't the main e n my case.
‘What wasatssue, however, was s whole variey of b
‘concers, ke youth, guns, computrs, ndtei laion
1o rdicableh poliics.
‘Autisime, have o exiend my warmest hasks o
theimprisoned comrades who upportedme. Theyalked
‘wilhme, gave me dvice, nd were generally looking ot
forme. This meant o tome. The et oa largs degre,
s abandoned it oltcal prsoners. We o th ouside
ofien forgetourcomradesonthe nsde, b’ clear bt
ey haven's forgoten boot us ik allserious aciv-
A movement thatforgea s pisoners i ot evol
onary.
“Again, forthe most part it was ly 4 grop of
imprisoned comrades and my lewyer who were giving
‘me (ofen conlicing) advice. Lot of fos sround the
Love and Rage project, as well as several Canalians,
‘mobilized realy quickly Lo help. But again, mos o us
had neverdeae wih thisbefore. So we had 0 go bout
in the way tha scmed best 0 s in tis e, nd |
hink we did OK.
‘Going ol was ever sn sse. | weat 1o Speing-
el expectingohave a number fermy name s the end
ofte day. And again th fodsoffered me way oo, axd
refused 1o accept e “ofer.Sothe isue was poliics:
ow couldthe moveament gan the mostfrom ll of his?
‘Would my being locked upor ol ncn-calsboraion be
{ebest? Maybe. Butmaybe ot Foroneting, my being
il would ave put big ouacial and organzatonal
‘nin on ATS and Love and Rage, two projecs sleady
operating onvery low budgets. Normallythis wouldnot
bo concem. But my case, gai, was st foolish cne,
a0d one which caly diredly involved me. I way ik
it would have been responsibleofme o drag the whole
movemeot behind n ssoe which really only bad to do
‘with me. Obviousy there wer arger poltclissucs o
il b hecas i me ws i reference 08 idc
Touslaw, andhe governmmet did'thaveany subsancve
‘vidence foracase o begn with. o, wesezed o his,
‘madeth govermment ook ba fo elsing to commer
about e nguiry ("We can neiherconfirmor deay that
thegrand jury i evenin place a i tme.), we exposed
the patue of federl grand juies in the muastream
‘media,and we al (opefuly) eamed that wehave otake
hings ke govemment repression, movement secuy,
0 potenial impriscnment sesiously.
Inany case,leamod alotfromal . Jostnoicng
‘Who gave me support and who didat wasrevealin: it
was o surpise when lberal student activisis seered
clea of me when the fods rived, but my fiends and
“normal” working folks at my job dd all hey could 1o
elp. And 1 hink the anarchist movemment gt 3 good
‘wake-up cll s well. We had 1o edcatecureives about
the federl grand jry proces,for one hing. And this
processof educatin i something e should continue:
e have o cducate ourselvs ahout movement secuiy,
about dealing with federal harssmen, and sbous the
prospects of doin tme. | workoa the assumption that
sae sepession will cnly become more iease 3 the
decade wears on- with oy comrade fcing imprison:
continaed on he back pge...
NDF Unersie continsed from page 15
arybases. Lastyear, the Senae eached s new agreement
onthe bases.ishouldsay et way. s ot et
enough senstors who are opposed o the bases. n ine
‘with this, mor progresive oranizaions ar trying 1o
make such issues cenral poliical questons inthe lec-
Bt whh ltte succes, one would think.bave the
Peace process and th totalwar become bt lssues?
No.Buthepressur b the peace-movement o he
policans has had some effct. Presidntial candidate
Stlonga pubicy declared his willngncss o e nto 0
agrecment witthe NDF. Even Ramos bas mentioned e
ssue, bu e ony alks o our surender
IfRames s ceciod president (e was .}, bow will he
NDF nsure tha the government begias negotaions?
‘We have lie choie. We will kecp defening.
ouelvesagsinstthe govermment's oal-war, which will
surly coninue, and we willry 10 put pressue on the
Ramos govemment. Miliary succesies b the NPA wil
weakea the army’s faith in thei ability 1 Gefeat us
‘militrly.Inaddiion s, s mporan ht hepeace-
movement say suong. There i now 4 group calling
hemsclyes ‘peace nkiators” This s e broadest group
10 dae. They want o actas ntemediaie. The govers.
‘ment noeds o cleary sa what it wanis fom the peace-
process. That's why they may come io The Netherlands
108peak with the NDF. f this happens, h peace-process
will ave advanced one siep. Then we can begin 10
discuss daes and delegaies. Of coure, intematonal
support forthe peace rocessisalo mporan. The Swiss
a0 Swedish governments bave offered 0 bost lks in
‘Geneva snd tockbolm respectvely, bt foreign ministes
‘Manglapus refused thi offer. The Europesn Parliament
passed » resoluton expessing its hope that the new
Philppinegovermmens will ke sieps towards pace nd
improving human rights. Bt presursfrom he US gov-
emment i crucial. Americanchurches have taken some
iniatives. We need to have obher govemments and
S0 the American presidental election Is mportant.
‘Who do you sapport, Claion or Bush?
Wel, what can sy? That's ke choosng btween
Coke and Pepi..No, give me Heineken..or S Miguel
Ithe mos: popularbeer n the Philippoes).
(rom Konfronatie #11)
— e
We now have a FAX number. It's (416) 527 2419 (for the Canadian address)
We also have an E-mail address in the U.S.: aforum@moose.uvm.edu
—Alberis Rodrluet ieriew condinaed Jrom page 1
Rican women lead s dangerous xisence hirives are.
in dungerevery day,going out i the srets s nightis 3
theat,even living st home s 8 treat 0 them.
So I think th siationin Poero Ricois ke the
suion i the US. and Birope and everywhere inthe.
‘workd where wormen ae developing teir own polical
hought,their own ideslogy 1o queston puciarchy.
Several yearsago, one of he organizations inthe
Puerto Ricen independence movement,the MLN, beld s
congress, and s major par of that congress was dealing
‘wih sexom,the famly, bomosexuality and quesions
ht for the s part the independence movemens hes
ignored. Now I hik the MLN has begun a process n
‘whichthe wholeindependence movementis quesioning.
it pat with regards 1 the isses of bomesexualty,
sesim, od anindes owards women, children ad the
family. Alotof very god hings heve come abou. I the
Puerto Rico today woumen ar organizing theirown or-
geaiztions nd heir own projects an they have chal-
bave been taken towards dealing with sexism in the
independence moveme,but | hick we have ong way
10 g0, And I think tht this camnot be jus & woman's
projes menhavetotake ol nitalso, Women williead
s stroggle, bt men hav obe willng 1o change and 10
open ounelves up o cricism and ener this process. |
binkivi hallenging and thresining 0 us becausc o 50
long we an the how and now o have women challnge
s v i 8 prdicament hat or many mea i very
difcult to bandle. But 1 hik if we are 1o grow as 8
AmmThe Spitis minfor-
mation collecive focus-
ing on milant nd revo-
lationary srugges. Our
perpecive s aono-
mous bt we s a need o
discoss and amalyse all
fomms ofef resistance in
order 1o contribue 10 8
revolutionary _process.
We welcome tnd encour.
age ther o jonusinour
otk
La Lcha Contoual
Arm TheSpiits co oblished withthe U . based
Autonorme Forum. Th ediorsl grovpis basedin Canada
0 sl comespondence, nd lienure
Should b st o the Canadian adress. Subscriptions or
s bi-morsbly buleinae $12 for 10 ssus. Donaiins
e lways wekcome. We accepecash (concea it wel)or
money orders but o cheques I sending s money oder
oot *Arm The Spic, just leave i blank.
A The Spist Amm The Spirc
clo Wild Seed Pres clo Astooome Forum
P.0.Box 57584, Jackson S P.O. Box 1242
Hamiton,Ont. Buringion, VT
LEP4X3 CANADA 054021242 USA
FAX Number for Canadian sddres: 416 527 2419
Editor: Gabriel Dumont
movemen for socal change 420 5oL o 34 & narTow
‘oot movemen, hen | hink we bave 0 pea up 0
he struggle of wamen and th srugge aganst sexim,
‘paiinrchy snd bomophobia and alltese qustions thal
‘we hve ignored 100 ong. And we suffe because o that
ignorance.
Any last words?
1 definitely want 1o thask youfor giving me this
opportniy. | hink thatthe Poeio Rican ndependence
‘movement has for » long time suffered & curan of
lence. Many people tink of Puero Rico only a1 &
wondeful place 10 vacation; an island with beautiful
moumains and th sea, and they don'trealy realize the
fachatwe have sufferd colonilism for 00 years. And
alo, ther reover 1 Sllion Pero Ricans lvig in e
U, in conditons of an ntermal colony and tat chal-
lenge US. imperalism n each md every dy.Lbink that
thelefthastorecogniz thatit doom'thave o gobalf-way
sroumd he world o fight coloiais; colonalismexiss
ight et doorand ] hisk that thef in Norh America
nceds ook t te fac that there i colonilism righi n
theirovm backyard,mnd o rlly round it and fgh ot
independence. The lat thing s, | hink that the e in
gemeral has 1o ealize that here are people in riscn
because of their principled stand against imperalisn.
‘And even f on disagrees with the tactics thtthey have
ased, o i they take 4 non-violent approsch 1o teir
‘polidea toggle, nonebeles,these brohers snd sisiers
who saffr long yeas of imprisonment ar part of the
very same srogale and should ot be gnored.
Alberto Rodbigues and Edvin Corts were both ntr-
viewed by ATS on CKLN, a pogressive radio siaion in
Toronto, Canada, durin the early part of this year.
Editorial Notes
Weapologia for hefacttatsome of he information
in this i is somewhat ou of date. Unforunctely.
becauseour budge i 0 limted, we can onlypublsh
oma roughlybimonthly schedule. Eventhoughpices
ik the Chileanarticles area il od, we sl el i’
imporiant forsch informaiion io be published, since
Uhere are 30 fow let radical publicaiions in North
America which cover the material whichATS covers.
Also included inthis s s asatement froman ATS
Collecive member,Brian Coan, regarding hisrecent
federal rand jury case. We are prising o lengihy
Statement from Brian, because we fel i’ imporiant
tha polsica issues involved n his handling of the
case b properlyaddessed.
—Brian Coan's saiemens coniinaed from page 13
e, and oven deuth. Kind of pogaive mind-se, |
ealize, bot i’ a realistic ove, and i’ beter 10 be
prepared forthe wors, that way anything betc i il
nshon, we hoold makeprsoner supportwork bigger
prorty hanithas beenhe ast. Afer i, all milans/
revoluionaiesaepoteial prisones. | wasshmostane,
o my comrades on the inside were there for me; we
hould sl be thee forthem.
Solidarity s 2 Weapon!
Bran Com
‘Caution: Protected Private Property!
hi pobliction emin the propery of e sener e andorunl t s b prcnaly and mtrialy
e e o o . e, In o ven o o G ireck el s 0
e iion peeeediote i vith i ofteressn() for il dlvr o o e
- NAPO inerview continued from page 7
They areiredof he cutbacks nhei collge envolments
nd programs. They are inspied by Malcokmbecause e
aaghthem o fight fo he lberaton
‘What do you thik the mpact nternationally and na-
onally has been?
1 going o bavea profound impact It s forced
e ntemationsl communiy o look at America nd see
e acim and theresisance o thatracim. Ona mational
perspecive it has allowed us 1o it aroundtis sue. I
s the poteil fr rebuilding movement that wert 1o
sleep in e 708 and i eawakeoiag in the 90s. Our
responsibilty s 1 pul iogther that movement.
“The aieis doingeveryhing posibletosquashany
‘movement becauseitdoes't wanius oivehe poltcal
conten or what i happening. As long a hey coninue
o say i's monsters and thugs and vltues involved in
{his and thre is o poltcl consequeace, the they're
fne.
They want to keep the real ssoes way from the
screen. Intally, aybody could sa amything, Butafee
hee o our days, the only ones thatcould alk wereall
saying that these were st a few people, hat it didn't
eflct the ol community, that they're just gung-
‘banger, thatmostpope uthese hadnobing 10 dowith
Rodaey king that they were just greedy.
‘What has been the response rom the white comma
nity?
Thcre has bosn b response. People allover the
workd have responded 1o the njustice. But the whitc
commanitysill s ot of work 0 do 1 address laent
raciem, sndtheother ssues that have comeup. f youlive
i the Black communisy,you areaware of the sses. But
because of e soaton, the only informuton thatthe
‘whit commurity gets is from the medi. S thy come.
nd do the do-gooder ting of rying o clean up the
commuit, but they really have o concept of what
happened, of what's going on and what people a1 1
sponding . “Hey, it was jury e, whatcan you say,
the jory found them innoceat; i's fir, that's bow it
‘works "Ther is o el concepton of what cism s how
it works throughout the sysem.
What's going o appen pext?
1 theshors e, the demands f e movement are
forsmncsty or those mested; US. roops oot of South
(Central Los Angels;ad ebuilding - providing ervices.
A realimportant lement of our coaltion s providing
Clthng snd whatever oher services are needed for
survival
We've organied a eriss inervenion group, the
CoultionforJustics, oreinterprthe Los Angeles ebel-
Tion, o formuate denands, and o Covntercthe medi
campaign 1o criminalize our community. Our desire
‘within the New Afrken People's Organization (NAPO)
0d the Malcolm X Grassroos Movermen, i 10 buid it
into moch broader group, and i cerinly has the
potenilforthat.For th frst i i qute a whike, we
find ouneives working wid individuals who fel the
‘comectons beween his and what ele is happening in
the world. Ubimaely, we see it buiding toward the
ool libermion moverment that we want i his cou-
.
Chingaaji Akiayela is an organizer for NAPO.
‘Shewasinterviewed on May 8,192 by Breakthrough.
NAPO, which celebraies s sixth anniversary this
yearonMay 19, struggles forslf-determinationn the
tradiion of Malcolm X.
romthe inset o the Summer 2 s of Breakihrough)