Friday, April 03, 2015

BAUAW NEWSLETTER, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2015


CANCEL ALL STUDENT DEBT!

Dear President Obama, Senators, and Members of Congress:
 
Americans now owe $1.3 trillion in student debt. Eighty-six percent of that money is owed to the United States government. This is a crushing burden for more than 40 million Americans and their families. 

I urge you to take immediate action to forgive all student debt, public and private. 

American Federation of Teachers
Campaign for America's Future
Courage Campaign
Daily Kos
Democracy for America
LeftAction
Project Springboard
RH Reality Check
RootsAction
Student Debt Crisis
The Nation
Working Families 


ADD YOUR NAME:
http://cancelallstudentdebt.com/?code=kos

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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter

Table of Contents:

A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS

B. ARTICLES IN FULL




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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS



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March for Justice for the 43 Students of Ayotzinapa
Saturday, April 4, 1:30pm
16th and Mission Sts., San Francisco



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Fight for $15

HISTORIC RALLIES ON APRIL 15

Boosting pay for working moms and dads helps ALL of us – not just the rich. It's time for $15.


BIG NEWS: On April 15, fast food cooks and cashiers will be STRIKING across the country – and thousands and thousands of Americans will be rallying alongside them.


In just two years, the Fight for $15 has grown from a few dozen striking fast food workers in New York City to a historic international movement.


Thousands of people working in a TON of new industries have joined the fight – from home care workers to gas station attendants, Wal-Mart workers to airport employees.


And now I'm asking: Will you join, too?


YES! I believe every working American deserves fair pay and I pledge to show up at the Fight for $15 rally on April 15.


This is your chance to stand with the striking low wage workers fighting for $15 an hour and union rights at MASSIVE national rallies across the country.


Big companies like McDonald's are making billions – while middle class and working Americans struggle to pay our rent and support our families. Frankly, it's wrong.


That's why, in just two weeks, we're standing up for fair pay for all.


Sign up here to join the rallies for $15 an hour on April 15. Together, we can make history.
When we come together, we win. It's that simple.


Dozens of cities and states across the country have raised the minimum wage since this fight began. In fact, more than 9 million workers have higher wages today – thanks to voter action, collective bargaining and direct public pressure on companies like Wal-Mart.


It's time for McDonald's and poverty-pay companies across the country to guarantee good pay for every hard-working employee. Help send the message loud and clear on April 15.


Thanks for joining the fight.
Beth Schaffer
McDonald's Employee, Charleston, SC
Fight for $15


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Save the Date - UNAC National Conference, May 8 - 10, 2015


UNAC is the major national antiwar coalition in the U.S. today.  The existence of a United National Antiwar Coalition is vital and we need your financial support to continue our work and to expand.

With U.S. wars today accelerating and expanding globally in various forms – from drone attacks on Yemen and Pakistan, never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support to neo-fascists in Ukraine, and proliferating Africom forces to threats of war for regime change in Syria – we have an obligation to do whatever is possible to educate the public and to take action to stop the carnage.

The wars abroad are connected to global warming with most wars fought over energy resources with the U.S. war machine as the largest polluter.

At home, we see hugely growing income inequality, a militarized and racist police force, mass incarceration of Blacks and Latinos, and a massive police state apparatus that includes global surveillance and laws to quell dissent.

In spite of the trillions spent by the U.S. corporate war government and its controlled media propaganda machine to keep us in check, the people are fighting back.  We’ve been inspired and strengthened by the hundreds of thousands of new activists taking to the streets of this country to stop police brutality, to build Occupy encampments, to fight for decent wages, to demand full rights for immigrants, to win marriage equality, to end global warming, to demonstrate solidarity with the besieged people of Gaza, and to protest unending U.S. wars.

UNAC has played an active, often leadership role, in all of the antiwar and social justice movements of our time.  While most activists are focused on their particular issues, the most vital role we can play is to connect the issues to their source.  All of the injustices and crimes we protest, stem from the imperialist insatiable drive for expanding profit and control – and the U.S. is the largest imperialist power militarily and economically.  When there should be plenty for all, only the obscenely wealthy benefit while the rest of the 99% struggle just to survive.

Some of our recent major accomplishments:
·       Initiated protest against NATO and 15,000 marched in Chicago in 2012.
·        Called for immediate actions against threats of war and coups directed at Libya, Iran, No. Korea, Africa, Latin America,    Ukraine, and maintaining the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
·        Organized a national tour for Afghan leader Malalai Joya.
·        Sent representatives to international NATO protests and conferences.
·        Serve on the Board of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms to act against Islamophobia , racist attacks on Muslims, and attacks on our civil liberties.
·        Participated in national efforts to organize anti-drone actions.
·        Campaigned to defend victims of government repression who speak out and expose Washington’s crimes, including Rasmea Odeh, Mumia abu Jamal, Lynne Stewart, Chelsea Manning, and the Midwest activists targeted by the FBI.
·        Produced national educational conference calls featuring experts on topics such as U.S. intervention in Africa, the destruction of Libya, the developing wars in Syria, and others.
·        Built an antiwar contingent in the massive New York City Climate Change march and built Climate Change action in other cities around the country.
·        Helped organize protests against Israel’s attack on Gaza
·        Helped organize protests against the murder of Blacks by white police and the militarization of the police forces in the U.S.

UNAC has a history of bringing hundreds of activists together at large national conferences to learn about the issues of the day, to discuss the way forward and to vote on an Action Program for the coming period.

The UNAC conference next May will bring activists from all the movements in motion to cross-fertilize these struggles.  We are particularly dedicated to bringing young activists together to support and learn from each other.  For this, we need your help to offer subsidies to leaders from Ferguson, from the border wars in the southwest, from the Native Americans who are fighting against the pipelines ruining their lands, from the Students for Justice in Palestine, and many others.

Please give generously so that we can continue our work to bring harmony and justice to the peoples of this earth.

You can send a check to UNAC at PO Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054 or click the button below to contribute on-line with your credit or debit card.

 https://www.unacpeace.org/

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We're fighting for Mumia Abu-Jamal's right to medical care, and we need your help to ensure he gets it!

Please join us: bit.ly/rise4mumia

Dear friend,

Mumia Abu-Jamal continues to be hospitalized in serious condition. He needs appropriate medical care unimpeded by correctional interference, immediately, and we need your help to ensure he receives it.

Please join our campaign to secure Mumia's ability to get treatment. Contribute to Mumia's medical fund at: bit.ly/rise4mumia

We need to raise $20,000 immediately to:

  • Pay for lifesaving medical care and consultation from doctors working with Mumia and his family
  • Increase our legal & medical campaign to ensure Mumia and his family will be given all new information on his condition
  • Obtain Mumia's medical records for review
  • Cover costs for Mumia's family as they travel to the hospital & prison
  • Cover legal fees for Mumia's attorney

Please visit our campaign site and consider making a lifesaving contribution for Mumia. Your donation, be it $25, $250 or even $10 will defend Mumia's right to live, his family's right to visit and view his medical records, and his doctors' rights to provide proper and immediate treatment.

If you care about Mumia and the right to medical dignity for prisoners, please click here to contribute now: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mumia-abu-jamal-needs-medical-care-now


Latest Update!
Dateline: Thurs. April 2st. Pottsville, PA


Mumia was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Schukylkill Medical Center on Monday morning after losing consciousness due diabetic shock (with a blood sugar level of 779 and a sodium level of 160).  After 20hrs of vigil his wife Wadiya and his brother Keith Cook were given 30 minutes each to see him. Pam Africa, listed on Mumia’s medical records as his emergency medical contact was also denied a visit.

On Wednesday Bill Cook (Mumia’s youngest brother) and Jamal Hart (Mumia’s oldest son) visited him.  Mumia’s condition was distressing. Jamal Hart left the room after ten minutes, distressed that his father was in pain. Bill Cook reports that Mumia was very ill.  He had labored breathing, was in pain, thirsty, and he was shaking.  He also had difficulty getting out of bed. He was chained with one hand to the rail. Except for the two short visits on Monday and Tuesday, he was without any family contact.  He was denied all other visits including legal visits.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections created an arbitrary and capricious rule on Wednesday, announcing that immediate family members would only be permitted to visit once a week. This means that Mumia’s wife, brothers, and son will be prevented from returning to visit until next week. Given that everyone else – lawyers included – are banned from visiting. Unless we organize to change it- Mumia will have no visitors today, and he will go the rest of the week without any contact with family or others. This is inhumane. Unacceptable. And must be changed.

On Thursday, Pam Africa will be keeping vigil at the hospital.  We call on the world to demand that visitation from immediate family members, and his sister Pam Africa, be allowed more than once per week while Mumia is in critical condition. We ask everyone to put our "eyes" on our brother, and give him support and comfort as he fights for his life.


Call SCI Mahanoy: Demand that Mumia's family and lawyers be allowed to visit him!

Superindendent John Kerestes
(570) 773-2158 x8102

Say you are calling about prisoner WESLEY COOK, #AM8335.
More alerts will follow as we receive them.

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For Immediate Release: March 30, 2015

Attn: News Desk

Prisoners and Advocacy Groups Win Right to a Trial On Constitutionality of the Silencing Act (PA SB508)

This morning, Chief Judge for the federal court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Christopher Conner, will hear the cases Abu-Jamal v. Kane and Prison Legal News v. Kane in a trial that willl determine the constitutionality of PA SB508 "the Silencing Act".  Defendant PA Attorney General Kane will be hard pressed to argue the constitutionality of the Silencing Act, a censorship law targeted at Mumia Abu-Jamal and other currently and formerly incarcerated people.

Defendant Seth Williams was dismissed from the case based on his explicit disavowal of enforcing the act until a court of competent jurisdiction rules on the constitutionality of the statute. His dismissal does not hinder Plaintiffs ability to obtain the relief of invalidating this law, as a favorable ruling on the First Amendment issue against Defendant Kane will achieve the same result. Williams' disavowal of enforcement is a far cry from his political grandstanding in support of this bill's passage in the fall.

The judge has ordered that this trial will include Plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction merged with a trial on the merits, meaning that if we win we will be granted a permanent injunction against the statute, and the statue will be invalidated.

“Silencing prisoners is one more way of dehumanizing them,” said Amistad Law Project Policy Director Nikki Grant. “We need the voices of the marginalized to shed light on injustice.”

The trial is set for this morning March 30 in Harrisburg, PA approximately 5 months since former Governor Corbett signed this ill-fated bill into law.

 The Abolitionist Law Center, Amistad Law Project, and the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law filed the lawsuit on Nov. 10th to stop enforcement of the law. The law firms represent Mumia Abu-Jamal, Prison Radio, Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal, Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall, Robert L. Holbrook, Donnell Palmer, Anthony Chance, and Human Rights Coalition.

The Silencing Act, also known as 18 P.S. § 11.1304, allows the Attorney General, county District Attorneys, and victims of personal injury crimes to bring a lawsuit in civil court against the person convicted of the personal injury crime to enjoin conduct that “perpetuates the continuing effect of the crime on the victim”. The actions that could prompt a lawsuit include “conduct which causes a temporary or permanent state of mental anguish.”

“This law is unconstitutional,” said David Shapiro of MacArthur Justice Center. “The facts are on our side and the law is on our side. The Silencing Act targets a huge amount of constitutionally protected speech based on who is speaking.”

After a prerecorded commencement speech by journalist and prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was played for graduates at Goddard College in Vermont, the Pennsylvania legislature passed and outgoing Governor Corbett signed into law the Silencing Act on October 21st, 16 days after the commencement speech.

Abu-Jamal has spent 33 years in prison, 29 of which were in solitary confinement on death row after being convicted at a 1982 trial that Amnesty International said “failed to meet minimum international standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings.”

Robert L. Holbrook, who is serving a death by incarceration, life without parole, sentence he received as a child, had this to say about the law: “there are people in prison who will stop writing, stop publishing, stop speaking out because of this law.”

Bret Grote       bretgrote@abolitionistlawcenter.org    412-654-9070
Ashley Henderson ashley@amistadlaw.org          215-310-0424
Noelle Hanrahan info@prisonradio.org         415-706-5222
David Shapiro david.shapiro@law.northwestern.edu        312-503-0711

Amistad Law Project is a West Philadelphia-based public interest law center.
Our mission is to fight for the human rights of all people by providing
legal services to people incarcerated in Pennsylvania’s prisons.
www.amistadlaw.org | @amistadlaw | 267-225-5884

The Abolitionist Law Center is a public interest law firm inspired by the struggle of political and politicized prisoners, and organized for the purpose of abolishing class and race based mass incarceration in the United States.   412-654-9070

Prison Radio has recorded Mumia and other political prisoners for over 25 years, and we are pulling out all the stops to keep these voices on the air.   415-706-5222

Please donate today to amplify prisoners' voices far and wide beyond the bars:
     Support Prison Radio: prisonradio.org/donate
     Defeat SB 508: bit.ly/defendfreespeech

Copyright © Prison Radio
www,prisonradio.org 415-706-5222
Our mailing address is:
Prison Radio PO Box 411074, SF CA 94141

http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=247585f092e945ff55b9a1bb2&id=e113d0b6d0&e=0107d76ccd

Donate Now
to fight the “gag” law!
go to:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/protect-freedom-of-speech-keep-mumia-on-the-air

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Support Prison Radio

$35 is the yearly membership.

$50 will get you a beautiful tote bag (you can special order a yoga mat bag, just call us).

$100 will get the DVD "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary"

$300 will bring one essay to the airwaves.

$1000 (or $88.83 per month) will make you a member of our Prison Radio Freedom Circle. Take a moment and Support Prison Radio

Luchando por la justicia y la libertad,

Noelle Hanrahan, Director, Prison Radio

PRISON RADIO

P.O. Box 411074 San Francisco, CA 94141

www.prisonradio.org
info@prisonradio.org 415-706-5222


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Campaign to Free Lorenzo Johnson

Lorenzo Speaks Concerning Prosecution's Brief:
JANUARY 1, 2015—The prosecutor has run away from (almost) every issue raised in my PCRA by begging the Court to dismiss everything as “untimely”. When they don’t do this, they suggest that me and my lawyers were “defamatory” towards either my former prosecutor Christopher Abruzzo or Detective Kevin Duffin, in our claims they withheld, misused or hid evidence of my Innocence, in order to secure an unjust conviction in this case. If I charged, a year ago, that about a dozen AGs (attorneys general) were involved in circulating porno via their office computers, people would’ve laughed at me, and seen me as crazy.

But, guess what? During 2014, we learned that this was the truth. How can it be defamatory to speak the truth? Notice the OAG (Office of Attorney General), never said the obvious: That AG Abruzzo didn’t inform the Defense about the relationship between his Motive Witness and his head detective (Victoria Doubs and Det. Duffin); that Det. Duffin doesn’t deny Doubs was his god-sister, and that she lived in his family home, or that he assisted her whenever she got into trouble.

Why not? Because it is true. How can you defame someone who defames himself? Mr. Christopher Abruzzo, Esq., when a member of the higher ranks of the OAG, sent and/or received copious amounts of porno to other attorneys general and beyond. What does this say about his sense of judgment? He thought enough about his behavior to resign from his post in the Governor’s Cabinet. If he thought that his behavior was okay, he’d still be sitting in the Governor’s cabinet, right? The OAG cannot honestly oppose anything we’ve argued, but they try by seeking to get the Court to do their dirty work, how? By denying an Evidentiary Hearing to prove every point we’ve claimed.

The prosecution is trying desperately to avoid dealing with the substance of my claims in Com. v. Lorenzo Johnson. So, they slander my Legal Team and blame them for defaming the good AG’s and Cops involved with this case. They try to do what is undeniable, to deny that they hid evidence from the Defense for years. They blamed me for daring to protest the hidden evidence of their malfeasance and other acts to sabotage the defense. They claim that they had an “Open File” policy with my trial counsel. But “Open File” is more than letting an attorney read something in their office. If it’s a search for the truth it must include what is turned over to the attorney, for how do we really know what was shown to her?

They say it is inconceivable that an attorney would read a file, beginning on page nine (9), and not ask for the preceding eight (8) pages. Yet, it is conceivable if trial counsel was ineffective for not demanding the record of the first eight pages. Pages that identify the State’s only witness as a “SUSPECT” in the murder for which her client was charged! How could such an attorney fail to recognize the relevance of such an issue, barring their sheer Ineffectiveness and frankly, Incompetence.

By seeking to avoid an evidentiary hearing, the prosecution seeks to avoid evidence of their wrongdoing being made plain, for all to see. If they believe I’m wrong, why not prove it? They can’t. So they shout I filed my appeal untimely, as if there can ever justly be a rule that precludes an innocent from proving his innocence! Not to mention the fact that the prosecution has failed to even mention the positive finger prints that ay my trial they said none existed. Don’t try to hide it with a lame argument about time. When isn’t there a time for truth? The prosecution should be ashamed of itself for taking this road. It is unworthy of an office that claims to seek justice.

After the trial verdict The Patriot-News (March 18, 1997) reported, “Deputy Attorney General Christopher Abruzzo admitted there were some serious concerns about the strength of the evidence against Johnson and praised the jury for doing a thorough job.” I guess he forgot to mention all of the evidence he left out to show Innocence.

Now, more than ever, Lorenzo Johnson needs your support.
Publicize his case; bring it to your friends, clubs, religious
and social organizations. 


SIGN LORENZO JOHNSON'S FREEDOM PETITION

http://www.freelorenzojohnson.org/sign-the-petition.html

CONTRIBUTE TO LORENZO'S CAMPAIGN FOR FREEDOM!
http://www.freelorenzojohnson.org/how-can-i-help.html


Write: Lorenzo Johnson
            DF 1036
            SCI Mahanoy
            301 Morea Rd.
            Frackville, PA 17932

 Email: Lorenzo Johnson through JPAY.com code:
              Lorenzo Johnson DF 1036 PA DOC



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Click HERE to view in browser
http://www.iacenter.org/prisoners/freepinkney-1-28-15/
       
Join the Fight to Free Rev. Pinkney!

On December 15, 2014 the Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan was thrown into prison for 2.5 to 10 years. This 66-year-old leading African American activist was tried and convicted in front of an all-white jury and racist white judge and prosecutor for supposedly altering 5 dates on a recall petition against the mayor of Benton Harbor.

The prosecutor, with the judge’s approval, repeatedly told the jury “you don’t need evidence to convict Mr. Pinkney.” And ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WAS EVER PRESENTED THAT TIED REV. PINKNEY TO THE ‘ALTERED’ PETITIONS. Rev. Pinkney was immediately led away in handcuffs and thrown into Jackson Prison.

This is an outrageous charge. It is an outrageous conviction. It is an even more outrageous sentence! It must be appealed.

With your help supporters need to raise $20,000 for Rev. Pinkney’s appeal.

Checks can be made out to BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization). This is the organization founded by Rev. Pinkney.  Mail them to: Mrs. Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union Street, Benton Harbor, MI 49022.

Donations can be accepted on-line at bhbanco.org – press the donate button.

For information on the decade long campaign to destroy Rev. Pinkney go to bhbanco.org and workers.org(search “Pinkney”).

We urge your support to the efforts to Free Rev. Pinkney!Ramsey Clark – Former U.S. attorney general,
Cynthia McKinney – Former member of U.S. Congress,
Lynne Stewart – Former political prisoner and human rights attorney
Ralph Poynter – New Abolitionist Movement,
Abayomi Azikiwe – Editor, Pan-African News Wire<
Larry Holmes – Peoples Power Assembly,
David Sole – Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice
Sara Flounders – International Action Center


MESSAGE FROM REV. PINKNEY

I am now in Marquette prison over 15 hours from wife and family, sitting in prison for a crime that was never committed. Judge Schrock and Mike Sepic both admitted there was no evidence against me but now I sit in prison facing 30 months. Schrock actually stated that he wanted to make an example out of me. (to scare Benton Harbor residents even more...) ONLY IN AMERICA. I now have an army to help fight Berrien County. When I arrived at Jackson state prison on Dec. 15, I met several hundred people from Detroit, Flint, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids. Some people recognized me. There was an outstanding amount of support given by the prison inmates. When I was transported to Marquette Prison it took 2 days. The prisoners knew who I was. One of the guards looked me up on the internet and said, "who would believe Berrien County is this racist."  

New Court Date on 4 Motions for Rev. Pinkney 

TUES, FEB. 24 1pm Berrien County Court 

Background to Campaign to free Rev. Pinkney

Michigan political prisoner the Rev. Edward Pinkney is a victim of racist injustice. He was sentenced to 30 months to 10 years for supposedly changing the dates on 5 signatures on a petition to recall Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower.

No material or circumstantial evidence was presented at the trial that would implicate Pinkney in the purported5 felonies. Many believe that Pinkney, a Berrien County activist and leader of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO), is being punished by local authorities for opposing the corporate plans of Whirlpool Corp, headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

In 2012, Pinkney and BANCO led an “Occupy the PGA [Professional Golfers’ Association of America]” demonstration against a world-renowned golf tournament held at the newly created Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The course was carved out of Jean Klock Park, which had been donated to the city of Benton Harbor decades ago.

Berrien County officials were determined to defeat the recall campaign against Mayor Hightower, who opposed a program that would have taxed local corporations in order to create jobs and improve conditions in Benton Harbor, a majority African-American municipality. Like other Michigan cities, it has been devastated by widespread poverty and unemployment. 

The Benton Harbor corporate power structure has used similar fraudulent charges to stop past efforts to recall or vote out of office the racist white officials, from mayor, judges, prosecutors in a majority Black city. Rev Pinkney who always quotes scripture, as many Christian ministers do, was even convicted for quoting scripture in a newspaper column. This outrageous conviction was overturned on appeal. We must do this again!

To sign the petition in support of the Rev. Edward Pinkney, log on to: tinyurl.com/ps4lwyn.

Contributions for Rev. Pinkney’s defense can be sent to BANCO at Mrs Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022

Or you can donate on-line at bhbanco.org.

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COURAGE TO RESIST
http://couragetoresist.org/

New Action- write letters to DoD officials requesting clemency for Chelsea!

November 24, 2014 by the Chelsea Manning Support Network

Secretary of the Army John McHugh
President Obama has delegated review of Chelsea Manning’s clemency appeal to individuals within the Department of Defense.
Please write them to express your support for heroic WikiLeaks’ whistle-blower former US Army intelligence analyst PFC Chelsea Manning’s release from military prison.
It is important that each of these authorities realize the wide support that Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning enjoys worldwide. They need to be reminded that millions understand that Manning is a political prisoner, imprisoned for following her conscience. While it is highly unlikely that any of these individuals would independently move to release Manning, a reduction in Manning’s outrageous 35-year prison sentence is a possibility at this stage.
Take action TODAY – Write letters supporting Chelsea’s clemency petition to the following DoD authorities:
Secretary of the Army John McHugh
101 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-0101
The Judge Advocate General
2200 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-2200
Army Clemency and Parole Board
251 18th St, Suite 385
Arlington, VA 22202-3532
Directorate of Inmate Administration
Attn: Boards Branch
U.S. Disciplinary Barracks
1301 N. Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2304
Suggestions for letters send to DoD officials:
  • The letter should focus on your support for Chelsea Manning, and especially why you believe justice will be served if Chelsea Manning’s sentence is reduced.  The letter should NOT be anti-military as this will be unlikely to help
  • A suggested message: “Chelsea Manning has been punished enough for violating military regulations in the course of being true to her conscience.  I urge you to use your authorityto reduce Pvt. Manning’s sentence to time served.”  Beyond that general message, feel free to personalize the details as to why you believe Chelsea deserves clemency.
  • Consider composing your letter on personalized letterhead -you can create this yourself (here are templates and some tips for doing that).
  • A comment on this post will NOT be seen by DoD authorities–please send your letters to the addresses above
This clemency petition is separate from Chelsea Manning’s upcoming appeal before the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals next year, where Manning’s new attorney Nancy Hollander will have an opportunity to highlight the prosecution’s—and the trial judge’s—misconduct during last year’s trial at Ft. Meade, Maryland.
Help us continue to cover 100% of Chelsea’s legal fees at this critical stage!




Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
 Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org

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B. ARTICLES IN FULL




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1)  Out of Debtors’ Prison, With Law as the Key
"We have a two-tier system: The rich pay fines. The poor go to jail."



When Jack Dawley returned in 2007 to his hometown, Norwalk, Ohio, after eight years in prison and on parole in Wisconsin, he knew getting by would be difficult. He had a felony conviction and a history of past drug and alcohol abuse, although he’d been sober since 1999. He was unprepared for another obstacle, however: A few years later, he would keep landing in debtors’ prison.

Dawley did all right at first. For four years, he worked construction jobs and paid down the $1,400 in fines and court fees he owed the municipal court in Norwalk for domestic violence and D.U.I. convictions during his drunken years. But in 2012, he injured his back, lost his job and missed a payment on his court debt.

He was arrested and sentenced to jail for 10 days. When he got out, he had 90 days to make a payment. He failed, and went back to jail. A cycle was beginning: jail every 90 days.

Later in 2012, he took a job as a cashier. He was on his way to cash his first paycheck when he was pulled over and arrested, again for an infraction stemming from his debt. Back in jail, he missed eight days of work. When he got out, his job was gone. He stayed out of jail, but was homeless for the next two years.

Although the United States outlawed debtors’ prison two centuries ago, that, in effect, is where Dawley kept going.

It is crowded there. The most infamous example today is Ferguson, Mo. There, the recent Department of Justice investigation of the police and courts portrays a system designed to jail the poor for their poverty.

The purpose of law enforcement in Ferguson, said the Justice Department, is not public safety, but revenue generation. The city’s second-largest source of income is fines and fees paid by citizens, the vast majority stemming from parking, traffic or other very minor infractions. The police find any excuse to arrest black residents and charge them with multiple violations. The courts then extract exorbitant fines and fees. Those who cannot pay are threatened with jail, and many go.

Ferguson may be an extreme — or it may not — but across America, courts levy fines and fees totaling hundreds or thousands of dollars on misdemeanor offenders, and jail them when they cannot pay.

You don’t go to jail for walking your dog without a leash, making an illegal left turn or burning leaves without a permit, but in many states you will go to jail if you can’t pay the resulting fees and fines. We have a two-tier system: The rich pay fines. The poor go to jail.

The rise of debtor’s prisons has been well documented in the last few years in reports by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union(pdf) and by news investigations. (A series by NPR’s Joseph Shapiro and a New Yorker article by Sarah Stillman are particularly good.) In the past two years, though, attention to this issue has started to produce change.

First, some background: Courts didn’t always charge defendants fees, but now they do in every state. In the 1980s and 1990s, as prison and jail populations rose alongside anti-tax fever, legislators began shifting the burden of paying for justice from the taxpayer to the offender. They raised fines for misdemeanors and imposed dozens of fees and surcharges.

In most states, you pay to be arrested, pay for a public defender, and pay for your own probation. In some, you emerge from jail owing room and board or are billed for a jury trial. Fines and fees have become important sources of city income, giving legislators and judges an incentive to assess large sums for minor offenses — and to compel payment by jailing those who don’t pay, no matter what their economic situation.

The injustices are compounded when governments contract with private companies to manage probation, as they do in 13 states, according to Nusrat Choudhury, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union. These companies offer their services free to a city — and then charge offenders fees sometimes as large as or larger than their debt, with jail the penalty for nonpayment. In many cases, debt collection is the only service they perform. Human Rights Watch has said that most states that use private probation ”do not currently subject probation companies to any meaningful oversight or regulation at all.”

Debtors’ prison is both senseless and illegal. Jailing defendants often costs far more than they owe, and makes it very difficult for them to pay. Going to jail each time a payment is missed isn’t conducive to holding down a job. And in 1983, the Supreme Court ruled that courts must inquire about a defendant’s ability to pay fines and can jail only those who can pay but won’t. Nonpayment of court fees can be punished by garnishment, but not jail.

Yet defendants don’t know this. They don’t know they can ask for a hearing on their ability to pay, with counsel. Courts routinely fail to suggest a hearing or ask any questions about ability to pay.

Ohio has been a leader in reforming debtors’ prison. The impetus came from the A.C.L.U.’s Ohio chapter, which, in 2013, issued a report that told stories of affected people (including Dawley), and calculated how much money the state was losing by jailing people for debt.

The report found that in many municipal courts and mayors’ courts, indigent offenders were jailed without hearings about their ability to pay. Ohio law said that people jailed for nonpayment (which should not happen if they are indigent) should get a $50 credit against their debt for each day in jail. But courts routinely ignored this.

The A.C.L.U. sent its findings to state officials, including Maureen O’Connor, Ohio’s chief justice, who asked immediately for a meeting.

O’Connor assembled a committee of judges to draft a memo called a bench card (pdf), which she issued to every municipal court judge. The card sets out the law — most important, the requirement to determine ability to pay. It lists the steps for doing so, and acceptable and unacceptable ways to collect fines and fees. O’Connor asked the A.C.L.U. to let her know of new complaints.

“Since the bench card, complaints have fallen precipitously,” said Mike Brickner, senior policy director of the A.C.L.U. Ohio. “When we have substantiated claims, we have alerted the Ohio Supreme Court and they have intervened — and that has changed things.” People jailed also received retroactive credit for their jail time.

One beneficiary is Dawley. He stayed out of jail after 2012 by borrowing small sums from friends to make his payments. He eventually got a job in a produce warehouse, where he rose to quality control inspector. Now he works as a paint finish master, reconditioning trucks. No longer homeless, he’s been in his own apartment for a year. And, aided by credits for time served, he’s finished paying his debt.

Serious problems remain in Ohio; there will always be abuses in a system funded by offender fines and fees. But the use of debtors’ prison has been greatly reduced. Why so easily? O’Connor said all that was needed was to correct misperceptions. “I don’t think judges were intentionally not following the law,” she said. “It wasn’t: ‘I don’t care what the law is and I’m going to do it my way.’ This was clearly an area they needed to brush up on.”

Brickner believes that once judges realized that their cities were losing money by jailing the indigent, the practice became less attractive. Another possible reason is that most people can imagine themselves affected. “Anyone can get a traffic ticket,” said Sarah Geraghty, a senior attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights, who represents plaintiffs in debt cases.

Since Ohio’s bench card, legislatures or courts in several other states have issued rulings protecting offenders from debtors’ prison. In Washington and, yes, Missouri, state supreme courts have ruled that courts must determine an offender’s ability to pay, to set fees and fines accordingly, and to jail only those who can pay but willfully refuse. (Class action lawsuits against Ferguson and the neighboring city of Jennings have just been filed in federal court.) Colorado passed a similar law last year.

The most remarkable example is emerging now in Georgia. That state started using private probation in 1991, and became the state most dependent on it. About 80 percent of Georgians on misdemeanor probation — 175,000 people at a time — are supervised by for-profit companies that, according to Human Rights Watch, earn about $40 million a year from offenders.

The A.C.L.U. and the Southern Center sued, and last week won a settlement that will produce an Ohio-style bench card in DeKalb County. Meanwhile, Georgia’s government is instituting reforms. Just after his election in 2011, Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, established a bipartisan council to propose changes in the criminal justice system. Last year, he asked the council to follow up on a state audit’s finding that the ways courts oversaw misdemeanor probation were leading to abuses.

The council’s recommendations (pdf, page 21) include better oversight and transparency, and caps on fees to private companies that oversee pay-only probation. Judges must determine an offender’s ability to pay, and waive or modify fees and penalties for the indigent. These reforms are included in a bill that passed the Georgia House and is expected to pass in the Senate.

It’s a remarkable example of bipartisan compromise. Probation reforms are endorsed by the advocacy groups and the probation companies too. “As with any industry, you have good actors and bad actors,” said W. Thomas Worthy, a former legal aide to the governor who was co-chairman of the council, and now is director of governmental affairs at the state bar. “The good ones knew major reforms were coming, and came to the table.”

John Bozeman, a lobbyist for the Community Corrections Association of Georgia, said the consequences could have been much more onerous for the companies. “They could have written a bill where our guys could not have functionally operated. Instead, it was: How can we solve the problem?”

Last year, the legislature passed a very different bill that shielded companies in secrecy (Governor Deal vetoed it). That only a year later they felt the need to compromise shows that public outrage can, occasionally, accomplish something.

“People who had minor interaction with the criminal justice system were sucked further in for no good reason other than to enrich a private company,” said Geraghty. “We’ve reached a point in this state where the abuses by many of these private companies have been so flagrant and so frequent that people in power, the governor and others, agree that the time has come for significant reform.”





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2) Deputies Said to Taunt Prisoners


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3) Study Finds Older Workers Often Missing From Rising Job Rate
By Elizabeth Olsen


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4) In Brazil, Some Inmates Get Therapy With Hallucinogenic Tea


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5) Catholics on Left and Right Find Common Ground Opposing Death Penalty
By  


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6) Income Inequality: It’s Also Bad for Your Health
By


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7) Steep Costs of Inmate Phone Calls Are Under Scrutiny


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8) Witnesses, Who Say Police Killed Activist, Are to Be Charged in Egypt


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9) California: Policy Adopted Against Execution Drugs


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10) Movement to Increase McDonald’s Minimum Wage Broadens Its Tactics


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11) Study Reveals Sad Link Between Poverty And Children's Brain Development


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12) Prosecutors Scrutinize Minority Borrowers’ Auto Loans


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13) 'Heart Over Hard': Thousands Protest Austerity in Brussels
Demonstrators call for Belgian government to tackle fraud and enact higher taxes on the rich
by Deirdre Fulton
Monday, March 30, 2015
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/03/30/heart-over-hard-thousands-protest-austerity-brussels


Protesters in Brussels on Sunday. (Photo: Geertje Franssen/Hart boven Hard/Facebook)

For the second day in a row, thousands of demonstrators and trade union activists protested in the streets of Brussels on Monday, calling for an alternative to the Belgian government's austerity measures.

According to the Associated Press, those participating in Monday's rally "braved hail and winds as they demanded the right-wing government change course and make sure the brunt of the austerity is borne by the wealthy."

Calling for higher taxes on the rich, notably on capital gains, and tougher action to tackle fraud, the protesters specifically "targeted measures by the business-friendly government of Prime Minister Charles Michel such as cuts in public sector pay, the extension in working hours and restrictions to social services," AP reports.

Up to 7,000 people were expected to take place in strikes across the country Monday.

TeleSUR reports that the event was organized by the "social NGO Hart boven Hard," which translates to "Heart over Hard."

Monday's demonstration follows one that took place on Sunday, where an estimated 20,000 protesters from various cities rallied against social injustice.

As Press TV reported: "A number of the protesters shouted slogans like, 'Yes, there is an alternative'... They also called for a fair tax system and a better distribution of government spending." 


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14) Mumia Abu-Jamal Taken to Hospital in Emergency, Surrounded by Guards; Family & Friends Denied Access
By Democracy Now!
31 March 15
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/29373-mumia-abu-jamal-taken-to-hospital-in-emergency-surrounded-by-guards-family-a-friends-denied-access

mprisoned journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal has been taken to the Intensive Care Unit of Schuylkill Medical Center in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, after he was removed from prison for a medical emergency without any notification to his family, friends or lawyers.

Abu-Jamal’s longtime friend Johanna Fernández said she only learned he had been transferred when she went to visit him Monday morning at SCI Mahanoy after worrying that he had sounded sick when the two spoke by phone last week.

"Upon arrival I was told I could not see him," Fernández told Democracy Now! "We were told he was in diabetic shock and taken to the hospital."

For the past three months Fernández says Abu-Jamal has complained of suffering from an "extreme eczema outbreak" and described his skin as "akin to that of an elephant’s."

"He tried to access whatever healthcare was available to him and it was woefully inadequate," said Noelle Hanrahan, producer of Prison Radio.

Abu-Jamal’s brother and next of kin, Keith Cook has traveled from North Carolina to Pottsville, but so far has been denied access.

Prison authorities say they refuse to comment on inmate medical conditions or hospitalizations, and a hospital official said he had no information about Abu-Jamal.

Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 of killing of a Philadelphia police officer, but has long maintained his innocence and is one of the world’s most famous political prisoners.

Supporters say hospital staff has confirmed Abu-Jamal is in the ICU. They think he is being held in a private room that has the curtains drawn and is under armed guard. No updates have been given on his condition. They remain extremely concerned and are asking for people to call authorities and request that his family be allowed to see him.

"Taking prisoners to outside hospitals is not standard operating procedure," Hanrahan noted. "You have to be extraordinarily sick."



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15) The Supreme Court’s Death Trap
By


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16) Strikes in Argentina Bring Transportation to Standstill


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17) Mumia Abu-Jamal In Critical Condition, Supporters Say He Is Being Tortured By Prison Officials
By April V. Taylor
April 3, 2015
http://kulturekritic.com/2015/04/news/mumia-abu-jamal-in-critical-condition-supporters-say-he-is-being-tortured-by-prison-officials/

After initially being denied access, the family of prominent political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal has finally been able to visit him at Schuylkill Medical Center in Pottsville, Pennsylvania where he was rushed to after losing consciousness. Emails reveal that he was taken to the hospital, “Shackled to the bed, alone, and prevented from knowing that his family is close by he remains in intensive care. Prison officials and hospital officials when not spreading misinformation are denying Mumia’s family access to visits, while also denying the family and his lawyers any information or records about his condition.”

In a Facebook post by longtime friend Johanna Fernandez, Fernandez reports that Abu-Jamal’s wife and brother were each allowed to see him separately for 30 minutes. Fernandez points out that the visits were a result of international pressure from supporters and activists who flooded the phone lines of hospital and prison administration demanding Abu-Jamal’s family be allowed to visit him.

Fernandez also reports that Abu-Jamal’s blood sugar was dangerously high at 779 when he was rushed to the ICU in a state of diabetic shock. Diabetic coma occurs when the blood sugar reaches 800. Abu-Jamal’s blood sugar had reportedly come down to 333 as he recovered slowly.

Abu-Jamal had recently been under the care of prison medical staff for a case of eczema, and despite having “comprehensive” blood tests completed at least three times this year, no one was aware that Abu-Jamal had become diabetic. The lack of awareness by prison staff may have been a result of the fact that Abu-Jamal had been placed in solitary confinement for not being awake during a body count, where one of the first signs of diabetes, lethargy, was not noticed.

Fernandez also states that, “Mumia has been complaining about being ill since January. If he had gotten the proper care he needed originally, he would not be in this situation. This crisis illustrates the problem of health care in American prisons as a basic human rights violation. I am personally concerned because Phil Africa of the MOVE organization was rushed to the hospital not long ago in good health and a few days later he was dead. We need to fight to defend Mumia’s life, and that of all prisoners.”

Family, friends and supporters are demanding a review of his medical condition and treatment by outside doctors. Abu-Jamal was reportedly also being treated for a severe eczema outbreak that left his skin “raw, blistered and bloody,” and also caused his skin to swell and rupture after an adverse reaction to the medication he was given for the eczema outbreak.

Pam Africa, a fellow MOVE supporter, veteran activist and close associate of Abu-Jamal says that she is outraged by Abu-Jamal’s condition and treatment and that, “Prison officials are lying. Mumia is going through torture at the hands of the Department of Corrections through medical neglect. It is clear to people that they want to kill Mumia. They gave him the wrong medication which made his condition worse.”

Africa goes on to reveal, “Inmates on the inside who questioned what was happening have been subjected to direct retaliation by the superintendent. They have been moving concerned inmates out of Mumia’s unit in an effort to both bury and keep this critical information from the public.”

In addition to pointing out the suspicious circumstances around Africa’s death, supporters have also pointed out that Abu-Jamal was hospitalized the day a federal judge was set to hear an appeal against a law inspired by his address to Goddard College students for their commencement ceremony. The state of Pennsylvania ruled to allow victims of crimes to file injunctions against perpetrators who inflict “mental anguish,” in attempt to prevent Abu-Jamal and other political prisoners from being able to speak publicly.



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18) Kean University Cancels Common’s Commencement Speech Because of ‘A Song for Assata’
Posted on  
by
http://iloveblackpeople.net/2015/04/kean-university-cancels-commons-commencement-speech-because-of-a-song-for-assata/

The rapper Common is not the most racially controversial artist in America.  In fact, some say he’s relatively mild mannered.  But even one old song about Assata Shakur is enough to brew racial tensions in a country that pretends that racism doesn’t exist.  The rapper was set to appear at Kean University to speak, but he’s now been told to go away after writing a song in support of Assata Shakur many years ago.  According to some officials, Shakur is simply a wanted “cop killer” who doesn’t deserve anyone’s support, let alone an artist like Common.
The campus is divided about the decision to push Common off campus.  Also, in recent years, many colleges campuses have become quite restrictive when it comes to freedom of speech, effectively banishing anyone sharing unpopular viewpoints.  It leads us to wonder what future exists for a country when people are not able to express dissent without having their views squashed by those who disagree with them.
Common, who recently said that black people should show a hand in love to white people when it comes to racism, was scheduled to give Kean’s commencement address next month—that was until someone came across his song “A Song for Assata.” On Monday the university announced that Common had been selected, but by Tuesday it had axed him.
Susan Kayne, a university spokeswoman, told The Record that the announcement was made prematurely.
“The students expressed interest in Common because he composed the Oscar-winning song ‘Glory’ with our prior commencement speaker John Legend,” Kayne said. “While we respect his talent, Kean is pursuing other speaker options.”
Apparently New Jersey State Police took issue with Common’s old song because of Shakur’s conviction for killing a New Jersey state trooper.

Chris Burgos, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association of New Jersey, said that having Common speak at the university would be a “slap in the face.”


“What is troubling here is that a state university that is subsidized with state taxpayer funds is once again being questioned on their decision-making at the highest levels,” Burgos said, according to The Record.


One has to wonder how Common feels about this. Maybe he should extend a hand in love to them and talk it out over a cup of Starbucks and #racetogether.




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19) Alabama Man Freed After Decades on Death Row


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