OCTOBER 1990 No. 4 GRAPO Hungerstrike Continues November 300k will mark one ull ear since the imprisoned milianis of Ist of Ociober AiiFascis Resistance Groups (GRAPO) and Commnist Party of Spain (reconsituied) (PCE ) began their hungerstrike Jor re-unifcation. In the cowse o this hungersrie, Jose Manal Sevillano Martin has died s the reslt of @ heariattackafleralmost S monthsfrom h siarof he ningersirike.As o this writig herearousd 0 prison ersatillon ungertike al o whomare beng orceed. The damage and injuries o them are now ireversidle, they are in sai of near deaih As we reporid i our June ssue (1) tere has beenumeroussolidrity dem- nsirations,acions and protesis. None of his has had any effct o the Spanish goverment who have main- aineda hardline againsthe hugerstrike by refusing o grant an of the prisoners’ demands. GRAPO has stepped sp itssirggle against the Spanishstatebycarring outa number falacks wihin recent months On gt 7ty bombed he ocialis Partyof Caalunya'soffce. Thre bombs wens ffin he space of 0 minuies on September 7 in Modrid a te Minisry of Economy, the Constituional Tribunal and the Stock Exchange. All were claimed by GRAPO. Anotherbomb wentof at he Minsryof the nerio and was aiibuted o GRAPO. On Septmber 296h, 4 indi vidals walked ino a Minisryof Transporiaion office and announced heyhad o bom. The office was evacu ated and 10 minies later the bomb went o, oially destroying the ffic. Three of th people wer indenii- fied as GRAPO illans. The same day saw train car s¢tonfire by unknown individals i soldariy withthe GRAPO prisonars. A the end of October, GRAPO sufferedaseback when 6 GRAPO guarrillas warecaptured by sate sec: rityforces. Theyare accused of iling Dr. ose Ramon Munoz Fernandes, on of the main medica chifs in- Resistance Consplracy Case Nears End Afteramos 2 12 years sinc the May 88 ndic ment in Washingion, D.C. by the U, govermment, the Resistnce Conspiacy Case is coming 0. lose. Al ‘Berkman, Susan Rosenberg, Laurs Whichor, Linds Evans, T Bl and Miarilyn Buck ar an-imperialist revoltionaries who ae accused of carying out amed atacks on US. corporse, miltary and govemment argets (he most specacal being o the US. Capitol building) and werscharged withseditious conspircy in reltion 1o tese actons. Thes atacks, mosly in sol- darity with Cenial American, Soubher Afian and Palestinian lberation trggler, were camiod out be- tween 1983 and "85 and wee claimed by three clandes- tine organizations; Red Guerril Resistance, Ammed Resistnce Unitand the Revolusionary Fighting Unit. “The indicumen sated tha the RCC dfendans were aucnping “lo inluence,change, snd protest polices and practices of he Unied Saes govemment concern- ingvarous ntermational and domestic manners hrough the useof violet nd llegal means.* The government had o physial proof that would link the 6 1o the bommbings but instcad used hei poiics and associ- volvd i the forcefeecding o the GRAPO, and carrying o amerous bombings. We have no more nformation han hs For more information o 10 show solidrity write 10 AFAPP, Apartado de Correcs 15220, 28080 Modri, SPAIN. This interview s from August 26h and has ben wranslatedfrom a Spanish newspaper, EGIN. No one seems 0 publically remember them, ex- copt when some officil note fikers out of & pensl instittion. Thei “case” ha disppeared fom the me- diaDespiethat,some 40prisoners lnked 1o PCE 1 snd ‘GRAPO coinue theirhungertike tht they began n Deceamberof 1989, for re-uificaton in one prison. mostcases they s bedridden and “plogged o lore. feding, According 1o Amnesty Inermationa, an suaization which has misundertood these prisoners” ‘conditions force-feeding s not objecionabi uless there s ~delbere crvel eaiment”. What Femando Hiemo Chomon astold EGIN painsa diffren picure, A picture tht almost 50 one wanis 0 se. Femsndo Hierro Chomon i 45 years old and has spent 13 of the i prison.Hissenence toals more tha 500 years. He has beenon hungersik since December 55,1989 [EGIN: Nearly 9 months have passed sice the strike staried. Wha s the physical sate and moraleof the prisunent? Chomon: Th physicaldteiorationis very grave andin nearly althe cases, mversible. The point o which the ungerstrik hascome 0, i can bo said that theijories it will eave us will be many and very serious. We are already desroyed intemally. evidence o hei gil. Al of them, with the aceion of Laars Whitchm who s bing held i preveaive detetion ae serving prison sntences or theirpart inth clandesine esistance. Bssctaly this boiled down o crminalizaton of resisance poliics andaccording!o the U.S. govemmentifthe § sharehese politcs then they caried out the uacks. In shor, “ibought crime”. “Throaghout the perod following the indicument, the RCC defendans and supporers fought on many levels 1 expose the politcal naure of the rial, made. efors o de criminalize snt-imperialis resistance snd nisedthessue f henecessitytoresis U.S.imperalism a0d.oppression. It was during this time that Alan Berkeman sfereda reapee of Hodgkin's dissse & form of cance). Afler ight o get medical teting, biopey in May confiomed what Al had suspecied; there was 8 recurence of the cancer tht had it been dingnosed in October 1985 Then, ke now, he had o srugge 1o gt proper medical treanen, which took place under ighly sessfl milaized scuriy. This securit was themost ikely reason hat the cancr has Astohow ourmorlei,hat an e seena th fack hat we ave nealy 9 months o iuggle, sising with the i decision of contnuing unilwe g whit we sk for. 'EGIN: How dossit fol o the nsde? Howdothedays goby? Chomon: What sustainsus i uruiy and o idologi- cal imess; aainst this here sl they cando. The hungerstrike and the tortre which i appied o us with the engtheningofaslow agony makes it very hard the days pass vy slowly, the ights e engihened because our metabolism haschanged and seep is impossble. “The physcal pains remany, from th bones e livr. There i consantdishes. The isolacion i very hard, sl that soroundsus i boscle and repessive environment. Butalnall, it woukd be worse o g0 along. with thei inications and be shipped from prison 10 prison, lone and submiting 0 al ypes of humilations o realiation, We know,and thy Know it 0o, hat we. only have one opion: g re-unificaion of die rying. EGIN: What have been, or are, the hardest move- ments? ‘Chomon: I's hardto put the sike nio more o lss difficult momment. But i can e seen s crucialthe death of Sevillno or when you get news tht this of that comade s in intensive care. Physicaly the hardest moments are thoe o forced feeding. EGIN: There arethos tha deny that forced eeding. ‘and what surrounds It s form of torture. Can you explain more about this? coninued on the back page retumed sod it had been themajor impediment for him oreceivetesing and reatment. Aferpressurc ad been broaght 1 bear gainst the governmen, Aln was fi- sy sllowed to str chematherapy eaument. Since then bis condition has stcadily worscned despit de mands tha he be eleased on paole (for which he i 1) 1 ws i this contex hat the defndant de- cided 1o eier ino negotiuions with the govermmer. “The main easoning behind this wasbecause, they ek, s the deliberte wording of the indiciment woul be enough to have them conviced. This would add an addiional 40 10 S0 years ono thir prson seniences. Becaute Al s due tobe reessed in ‘92, an aditonsl prison temm would severely imithis chances for sur- vival. The result of the negotitons were that ifLinds, Laursand Marlyn pleaded guilty 1o the Capitol b ing and he seditious conspiracy charge, Al Tim and Susan would have ther charges cropped. Afier much discusionthe defendants decided o cceptthe erms of he pleaagrcement as they stated .. doing anyiing we canto save Ala'slifeis expressionof urrevoluton continued on page 3 Interview with Dhoruba bin-Wahad Washington, D.C. August 8th 1990 Q: Could you describe the reasons for your mprison- Dborubas wasimprisoned as consequence of my in- volvement i the Black Pascher Pary (BPP). The Black Panther Party was organaton i he Black comm- ity i the United Sates thtsought o dfend he Balck community from acst poice atacks, that tempted o scquire sef-deermination or the Black communiy, that atempted 0 estblish decent edvcation for Black children, tha aiempied to acquire docent housag for Biack prople and that fought toverds sh polical em- poweament o people of Affican descent inth Unitd Suwer. Q: What was your pasiton and work In the Black Panther Party? D1 was the fed secreary forthe New York chaperof the BPP. My primary arca of work was in New York ity Harlem, South Brons and op and down he ast em seaboard of th Unied Sses. Q: Youspent 19 yearsnjal becauseof n FBl setup; n what context did that take place? D: The Federal Borea ofIavestiations,known s the FBI, cared out a program of rcist repression o the Black Hoeruion strugale in the United St in the 1960'sandeary 70's. Thisprogram of st epression is knownas COINTELPRO which wasthe acronym for COunter INTelligence PROgram. Oter U govem. ‘ment agencis bad simila type programs - the CIA had & program alled Operaion Chaos; the Natonal Seu- iy Agency hada program eniled Shamrock.Basially thes programs were programs of vicious police epes. simedai discredtinglgiimse Black organizations snd {heirsiugglefo Black empowement. Once L became leader inthe New York Black Paher Pay the United Staes goverment and e loca police geaeicsin New York Stae argtied me for netralzaton. Newtalizs- tion was ther erminology for neutrlizing me in the Black commanity. wasclassfed on the FBI's Secarity Index which the FBI used o denote those individuals they ntended 0 newtalize. The government carried vt programs ofdisinformatin regarding my acviies sod they eveatuallyfed fls informaton o he New York Citys isrict Auomey s ffc, the prmary prosecto- ia agency of city govemment in New York.In 1969, theyindiciedthe leadership of e Black Panier Pary on conspiracy charges - conspracy 1o bomb various buidings, and conspiracy o il policemen. This con- spracy charge led0.5100,000bond forch one of us. Twas elcased na $100,000bond ferspendingshmort a year in prison. | was released because the Black Panthec Py thoughis was important that | ot out and beganto do organizing work round th cuse of Black poltcal prisoners andhe Black Panter Py mermbers who were sl i prison. So | trveled al over the couniry speaking at various campuses, organizing, people around polical prisoners and the repression against he Black Pandher Party. As 2 consequence of this work and e wark of others. inhe New Lefinthe whie_ commnity, progresive forces i the Black ‘community, natonals fores - the Pasther 21 were ‘cquited s lmostyesr on il OF coure, during, e cours of thes paricular effrs o rase support for thePanther21, Lbecame classified forahigher degreeof ‘counerielligence acviy or counernel eting, and | was targtied and placed i the Agiaor Indes Fil of the United tses govermment. The Agi Lo Index File s afilethat e U government ulized 10 arge thos individuals ey fl had nfleace n the Black community or amongst oppressed people. This classfication led dieely o operaions againstmy per. s0n by the United Sttes govemment 10 kill me. And thes asassination atemps reached the rition dor- ingacrucial point o the tral of the Panther 21 [ had 0 e underground in order 0 protect my L from the ageat provocaicurs and th sei-ups tht e FBlandthe Variousgoverument agencics wereaming atme. How. ever, s things would have i, the fudge refused o severe my cas from he restof e Panthrs who wereon tria and 1 was acquitied with the est of the Panchers i absicacia while underground. s was whileunderground. that | was captured dring the course of an ant-dug. operaion caied out b th Black Liberation Ammy in the Black community. My capure led diccly o my frame-sp for the aempied murder of wo polcemea who were shot and wounded 1w weeks prior 1o my et spent 19 years inprison o his frame-up. [t was acireumstanial cas.lowascircumsanial vidence und it wasonly aie | led a civil st n e Federal Coutin 1975 saying tha the governmen had rgeied me for peutrlzaton under the COINTELPRO agenda tha | was affoded discovery - hat s the govermment had o m over mateial and informtion 1 me during the courseof my ivil suit. This informaton led diecly 1o my relesse, becauseitrevealed amassive witbholding of evidence by the sate prosccusors i my cas. It showed that the govermment witesses had led and that evi- dence indicaing my innocence was witheld. As & consequence | was released on March 22nd, 1990 Q: Why did the processof geting you auttakesolong. and Whatwas the governmentsintent with that proc. e? D Wel, ink thtit wascearrom the very beginning hat the govermment’s aiempi 0 neraliz and cri nalze the it win,of the Black beraion move ment in the United Sttes went hand i hand with protctng s image abroad as the baston of democracy andhuman ighs on the ome hand; and o the ot and ithad 1o do withcontroling the masses of Black people and insuring that there did not rise up amonst the massesof African peoplen e United Ssts the ypeof revolsionary Ieaderhip that would lead o the over- hiow of the present racis regme, he prescs rcist socity. (Couldyou descrbe the averalssation wit 9 poltca prisoners In the United Staes and the current fforts o gaa thelr frecdom? D: Thers approximately an excess of 150 politcal prsooers in the United Sues. The ‘majorty of hes poliical prisomers areof course Black poliica prsoners. And the majoiy of these Biack poltcl prisoners have ome out of the ammed suruggle of the Black liberion ‘movementinthe US. They are fomer Black PanthecParty members nd former cadres i the Black Liberstion Amny. There are aso about 20 whie paliica prisoers, or North American poliical prisoners, who are mpris ‘oned s result o their a-ivperialist stand nd theis suppont forthe Black iberatonstruggiinthe United Ssies, Then there re a nuamber of A can Indian prisones of war in e United Sis Puerto Rican prisoners of was who are nprisoned as & consequence of theiran:-colonialsrugele againt the Unied Staes The ask that Lampresenly engaged in, s the suggle 1o fre al of thse poltcl prisoners; 1o ring the United Stsesbefoe the ntematonal comma- ity of nations and charge it with violton of humua ights and have the world communiy