• ' • ' . • . . •

ESSiON

H ARLEM, NEW YORK: EleanorBumpurs, a 66-year-old Blackgrandmother, is shot to death

by heavily armed police sent to evict herfrom her apartment. When Steven Sulli-van, the officer responsible for her mur-der, is indicted, 10,000 police stage amarch through the streets chanting, "IfBernhard Goetz is a hero, Sullivan is asaint." A short time later all chargesagainst Sullivan are dropped.

TUCSON, ARIZONA: In a coordinatedsweep, the INS arrests 60 Salvadoranrefugees and indicts 16 sanctuary work-ers for conspiracy to harbor fugitives.INS agents have been spying on churchmeetings to gather information.

NEW YORK, NY: Federal marshalls at-tack members of the Ohio 7 while theyattempt to read a statement in court. The7 are on trial for political bombings insolidarity with the people of CentralAmerica and Azania (South Africa).Three of them are beaten and repeatedlyshot with stun guns, the 1985 equivalentof the cattle prod.

PHILADELPHIA: Police drop a bomb onMOVE headquarters, killing 11 Blackpeople, four of them children, and burn-ing down three city blocks.

Although they may seem discon-nected, these incidents are all part of acoordinated government strategy. Thisisn't paranoia. Only by understandingthe full scope of what the government is

up to can we ever hope to combat repres-sion.

Today's state repression has its rootsin the 60s, a time when the entire worldwas in revolutionary turmoil and con-flict. National liberation struggles werewinning independence and freedom inAfrica, Asia and Latin America. InEurope, young people, students andworkers were in the streets. And in theU.S. the rulers were paying the price fordomestic colonialism, white supremacyand war. The Black rebellions in the cen-tral cities, combined with the massiveprotests against the Vietnam War,proved to be a nightmare the govern-ment vowed would never happen again.The state responded with COINTEL-PRO—the FBI program of assassina-tions, infiltration and disruption whichdevastated the Black liberation move-ment.

The draft was ended, the Vietnamesewon the war, the antiwar movement re-ceded. But amid Watergate and FBIscandals, the ruling class grew more de-termined to nip any future movement inthe bud. Joining with their counterpartsin Britain, who were busy confrontingthe Irish national liberation movement,U.S. counterinsurgency planners de-veloped the strategy we see u ifoldingtoday.

A key theorist of the new state repres-sion was Frank Kitson, who com-manded British forces in Northern Ire-land. In his book, Low Intensity Opera-

tions, Kitson declared that insurgencywas a permanent condition and thatcounterinsurgency had to be permanentas well. He argued that repressionshould operate at the earliest stages ofprotest. This is when the governmentshould infiltrate the movement in orderto gather intelligence, spread disinfor-mation and isolate the most radical ele-ments from the broader movement. Wecan see this strategy at work today in theU.S.

The New State RepressionThe myth of U.S. "democracy"has a powerful hold over ourminds. Living here in the heart

of the most violent imperialist power inthe world, we are taught to believe inthe fairness of the Constitution and thecourts. We are told that the governmentpenalizes only those who deserve it. Weare spoonfed the notion that armed resis-tance to imperialism—especially herein the United States—is terrorist andcriminal.

The goal of repression isn't to stop alldissent. The government needs dissentto foster the illusion of freedom—solong as protest remains within pre-scribed boundaries. Repression aims tokeep the movement harnessed as a loyalopposition, while the state has a freehand to attack revolutionaries and mili-tant resisters.

Look at how the state is movingagainst the New Afrikan (Black),

Puerto Rican, Mexicanand Native American na-

tional liberationmovernents •

The,,,

the

"disruptive elements" who have alwaysbeen in the forefront of revolutionarychange. With millions of Black andother Third World people sinking furtherbelow the "poverty line," a wave ofpolice terror is being unleashed againstThird World communities to keep thecolonized in line.

In this situation, the 80s version ofCOINTELPRO is taking place. Thestate is attempting to surgically removeany revolutionary organizations whicharise to challenge its colonial control.Armed clandestine formations like theBlack Liberation Army (B LA) and thePuerto Rican Fuerzas Armadas deLiberacion Nacional (FALN) areviewed as particularly threatening. Inrecent years the North American armedclandestine movement has attackednumerous government and militarytargets, including the U.S. Capitol afterthe invasion of Grenada. This move-ment has also become a focus ofcounterinsurgency.

FBI operations, phony conspiracy in-dictments and grand juries have targetedall these struggles. Prisoners of Warfrom these movements have been sin-gled out for brutal treatment in U.S.prisons. By Spring of 1985, over 100people had been imprisoned as part ofthe government counterinsurgency ef-fort.

The government is also working over-time to contain the growing movementagainst U.S. intervention in CentralAmerica. The goal is to penetrate themost militant sectors and to draw a di-viding line between polite protest andserious resistance. When the movementsteps beyond that line—through directaction, material aid campaigns for Nic-

' sanctuary

— _ ,̂.......i j-v.u>_in_«m jciugces, fiow-shares actions at military facilities—the

government cracks down withindictments and jail.

Let's take a look at howall this is being done

in the "land ofthe free."

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MAX 1985 - PolicE TERROR AqAJNST T!IE BUck

In Ireland, South Africa and Israel, being jailedfor no crime other than one's political beliefs is

known as political internment. It's used to take or-ganizers off the streets and put them in jail. Thesame thing is happening in the U.S. — and it'sknown as the GRAND JURIES.

The grand juries are targeting the Puerto Rican,New Afrikan (Black), Mexican and white anti-imperialist movements. Since 1976, nearly 50political activists from these struggles have beenjailed for the "crime" of refusing to talk to federalgrand juries. In the last year alone, 25 people havebeen interned.

Many people think of the grand jury as an impar-tial body that reviews evidence to determine ifcriminal indictments should be issued. But thepolitical grand jury is nothing less than forced inter-rogation. You cannot have a lawyer present. Thegovernment is not required to inform you of thenature of the investigation, or whether you yourselfare under investigation. There are no limits to thescope of their questions, which you are required toanswer under threat of contempt. Through thegrand jury, the state attempts to achieve the follow-ing: crush the clandestine movement by using thethreat of jail to find someone who will inform; in-timidate, harass and criminalize leaders and sup-porters of public anti-imperialist organizations;and gather information on the growing movementsagainst U.S. intervention and militarism.

Seeing that the threat of civil contempt (whichcarries a maximum charge of 18 months or the re-maining life of the grand jury) wasn't working, theU.S. decided to use the charge of criminal con-tempt against many of those who refused to complywith subpoenas. This charge carries no determinatesentence, and although defendants are given a jurytrial, their guilt is a foregone conclusion. To date atleast ten people in the U.S. and Puerto Rico havebeen convicted of criminal contempt.

There is only one answer to this. Non-collabora-tion. By refusing to talk, we refuse to cooperatewith these witchhunts. We help make it impossiblefor them to gather detailed, close-in information onthe movement. We make ourselves and othersstronger by showing that we won't be intimidatedbv the threat of iail and WP hnilH a

September 15, 1984: Demonstrators march in Battle Creek, MI, to denounce policebrutality and grand jury inquisitions against the Black community. Over 200 people,

The Land of the Free?-Tfc

Unleashing the FBI: The U.S.secret police are again on theattack, armed with an annual

budget of $1 billion, state-of-the-artcomputers and electronic surveillanceequipment. Under Executive OrderNo. 12333, the FBI and the CIA are nowlegally allowed to infiltrate and spy onany domestic group they deem a threat.The FBI is also operating internation-ally: recently it was revealed that theFBI has been training the Salvadoranpolice force and has taken over the in-vestigation into the killings of fourMarines in a guerrilla attack in San Sal-vador.

The use of informers is at the heart ofthe strategy to contain today's growingmovement. Files obtained under theFreedom of Information Act revealedthat the U.S. Navy and the Departmentof Energy had coordinated spying onmeetings to plan demonstrations at Con-cord Naval Weapons Station and Van-denburg Air Force Base in California.The FBI, along with the U.S. MarshallsService and the Marine Corps have beenmonitoring the anti-nuke movement.Predating Reagan's embargo, the FBIhas also been working hard to scare peo-ple away from visiting and supportingNicaragua. Of the 100,000 U.S. citi-zens who have visited revolutionaryNicaragua, over 1,000 have been visitedin their homes by FBI agents who claimto be investigating threats to "nationalsecurity." Right-wing Senators andNew Right organizations are launch-ing a coordinated campaign againstCISPES (Committee in Solidaritywith the People of El Salvador), portray-ing this mass-based organization as a

"terrorist" front group for Salvadorancommunists.

In 1981 the existence of a top secret,nationwide elite within the FBI, calledthe Joint Terrorist Task Force (JTTF),was revealed. The JTTF's key impor-tance is the integration of the federalpolice (FBI) with the local, county andstate police forces in "anti-terrorist" ac-tivity. The FBI gets augmentation of its8,800 Special Agents; the locals get the"national security" shield of the FBI. Itscomputer data banks and field agentsare charged with collating the most upto date information on the movement asa whole. They zero in on individualsand groups considered most dangerousby the government. Members of theJTTF supervised the beating and tortureof Puerto Rican Prisoner of War WilliamMorales in a Mexico City jail and ofNew Afrikan Freedom Fighter SekouOdinga in New York. They executedNew Afrikan Freedom Fighter MtyariShabaka Sundiata as he lay wounded onthe street.

Recently, in an incident reminiscentof "disappearances" in Latin America,the JTTF seized the three children ofThomas and Carol Manning, white anti-imperialists who are charged with polit-ical bombings against U.S. military andcorporate targets. Their children—Jeremy, Tamara and Jonathan, ages ele-ven, five and three—were taken for in-terrogation after their parents were cap-tured by the FBI. No one—neither theirparents, relatives nor defense lawyers—was allowed to see or talk with them fortwo months until nationwide protestsforced their release.

Enjoying the official protection of themedia, the FBI has instructed news serv-ices to clear all reports on the JTTF with

FBI top brass in Washington before fil-ing stories. How can this squad and theFBI as a whole operate like this? Be-cause in the name of "anti-terrorism" allmanner of violations of human rightsare acceptable in the United States.

The Law as a Weapon: For repression tosucceed in the long run, the public hasto be convinced that it is a desirable andnecessary alternative to the breakdown

The Denton legislation is merely thetip of the iceberg. The Supreme Court ismore than ever in the hands of right-wing conservatives, as is the top eche-lon of the federal judiciary. Ruling afterruling from the courts routinely favorsincreased police and governmentpower. Budget slashing at the same timeresults in the denial of legal services tothe poor precisely when more ThirdWorld youth are being sent to prison for

In the name of "anti-terrorism"

all manner of violations of human rightsare acceptable in the United States.

of civilized order. Make the unthinkableacceptable AND legal. This is what isnow happening in the U.S.

Senator Jeremiah Denton, head of theSenate Sub-Committee on Internal Sec-urity, has authored a bill giving the StateDepartment authority to establish a listof "terrorist" organizations and coun-tries. It would be a federal crime for anyU.S. citizen to provide support for anygroup on the list. Obviously, this isaimed at political and material supportfor the FMLN/FDR in El Salvador, forNicaragua and Cuba, for the Palestinianrevolution, for the liberation move-ments in Azania ... the list could go on.Denton withdrew the original bill afterit sparked protests but a new version isbeing worked up.

longer and longer terms. This is notoften considered political repression,but the reality is that Black and Latinopeople are over 10 times more likely tobe jailed than are whites.

Preventive detention, a la South Af-rica or Northern Ireland, is also here, ar-riving without much fanfare or notice.A recently passed law allows the govern-ment to hold without bail defendantswho it deems a threat to public safety.No longer will the state have to provethat a defendant is a risk to flee prosecu-tion. This has already been used againstPlowshares activists in Kansas City,against white anti-imperialists chargedwith political bombings and in the caseof the New York 8 + (Black activistscharged with conspiracy to liberate apolitical prisoner and expropriate ar-

mored cars). The state is also makinguse of anonymous juries—telling pro-spective jurors that it is too dangerous toreveal their names and addresses, thusprejudicing them from the beginning.This tactic was used in the criminal con-tempt trial of five Puerto Rican andMexican leaders and supporters of theMovimiento de Liberacion Nacional(MLN). Anonymous juries were alsoused in the conspiracy trial of the NewAfrikan and white revolutionariescharged with the 1981 Brinks expropria-tion attempt.

From Dragnet to Hill Street Blues:From the beat cop to the SWAT team,the power and image of the police per-vade American life. Now we havemilitarized police with all the hi-techsophistication of modern armies. Formillions of Black and other colonizedThird World people in the U. S., cops arebrutal and racist enemies who threatenthem as part of official policy. In 1982the Justice Department admitted that forevery white person killed by the police22 Black people are killed. Is this the re-sult of a few bad apples on the force?Hardly. Police terror is systematic andprotected by law. Out of the thousandsof police murders of Third World peoplein the last five years, not one cop hasever been tried and convicted of first de-

gree murder.Not surprisingly, among the white

population, cops are seen as protectorswho are reasonable and fair. Most whitepeople now want more cops and havebeen convinced of the rightwing prop-aganda that every Black youth is a po-tential criminal. Witness the avalancheof support for Bernhard Goetz when heshot four Black youths on a New Yorksubway. This makes it even more impor-tant for progressive white people to takea stand against police and vigilante ter-ror and in defense of human rights forcolonized people.

Disinformation and the Media: We'veall experienced disinformation. Howmany times have we participated in de-monstrations only to see them distortedand/or ignored in the media? Yet our in-itial instinct is to believe what we hearand read. The media is supposed to beindependent of the government, anotherof those great American "checks andbalances."

What a joke! Despite the New Rightattack on the "leftist" media, the truth isthat the government uses the press andTV as its number one vehicle for creat-ing consent and support. In 1975 theSenate Select Committee on Intelli-gence, during its investigation of CIAdirty tricks, revealed a small part of thepenetration by intelligence agencies

44

The

Who blew up the oiltanks in Corinto?

Who minedNicaraguan ports?

Who bombedSandino Airport?

Who published theCIA crime manual?

So whoare the terrorists?"

—Daniel Ortega £President of Nicaragua

Prison is very much a part of political struggle. This istrue from El Salvador to Azania and, though the U.S.

denies it, there are scores of political prisoners and Prison-ers of War in this country.

Native American fighters. They are representatives of NorthAmerican armed clandestine organizations. They are Plow-shares activists. All of them have taken their stand againstthis most oppressive of systems.

into the media. More than 200 wire ser-vices, newspapers and publishing com-panies were owned by the CIA worldwide. Estimates of the amount ofmoney devoted to CIA propaganda oper-ations annually ranges in the billions ofdollars. Recent examples of disinforma-tion are: the story of the phantom MIG'sin Nicaragua; the attempt by Reaganand Reader's Digest to paint the nuclearfreeze movement as a KGB plot; theseries of New York Times articles detail-ing "disintegration" of the FMLN/FDRin El Salvador and promoting divisionsbetween the FMLN and FDR.

The "war against terrorism" is the ul-timate disinformation cover story. Takea look at "Nightline" and count thenumber of interviews with right-wing"anti-terrorist" experts. "Terrorism" hasbecome synonymous with liberationstruggle around the world—from Cen-tral America to Palestine, from PuertoRico to Azania.

A Special Seminar on Terrorism washeld in Puerto Rico in 1978 and at-tended by leading representatives of thearmed forces and intelligence agenciesof the U.S., Britain, West Germany,Italy, Uruguay and Puerto Rico. It wasargued that the media "should never bepermitted to demonstrate the terrorist asa human being." The final report of theconference dismissed "idealism or truthin journalism" as "less than realistic andpandering to slogans" and urged themedia to become full participants in the"anti-terrorist" crusade.

A classic example of this strategy atwork was the FBI/media campaign topaint Thomas and Carol Manning of theOhio 7 as crazed criminals. TV stationsin the Northeast ran pictures of the Man-nings' eldest son dressed as a cowboywith a toy gun in his hand. Underneaththe picture, they captioned "When Igrow up, I want to rob banks just likenw f«O»»r.-"'The(•tofrom

and criminals, they are often locked away for life. They arefrom the Black liberation movement and the Puerto Ricanindependence movement. They are Mexieano activists and

Clockwise, from top left: Maria Cueto, Mexieano Political Pris-oner; Silvia Baraldini, North American anti-imperialist PoliticalPrisoner; Carmen Valentin and Haydee Torres, Puerto RicanPrisoners of Wars.

pie for all of us. They know that their courage and spirit canbreak through the fear of jail. This can't be allowed, so theU.S. and its NATO allies have perfected what they call the"denial" system to break the spirit of the prisoners and toisolate them from all support.

Denial means just that. Political prisoners are routinelyheld in solitary confinement. Richard Williams of the Ohio7 has been put in a special cell, never seeing any otherprisoner. Puerto Rican POW's Lucy Rodriguez and HaydeeTorres were also placed in specially constructed isolationcells at Alderson Prison. Once convicted, political prison-ers are moved from prison to prison, preventing friendshipsor political relationships from developing. Mail, visits,phone calls are strictly monitored and curtailed. All this issupposed to serve notice upon these activists that theyshould give in to their imprisonment.

But it isn't working. Upon capture, 15 Puerto Ricanshave declared themselves Prisoners of War. They base theirstance on International Law codified in UN resolutionsagainst colonialism and the Geneva Accords which statethat any person involved in an anti-colonial struggle mustbe treated as a POW upon capture. Although the U.S. callsthem criminals, it has charged them with the political crimeof seditious conspiracy — opposing by force the authorityof the U.S. government in order to obtain the independenceof Puerto Rico. New Afrikan/Black revolutionaries alsoclaimed POW status as part of their fight for self-determina-tion and independence. Captured North American freedomfighters have stood defiant in court and in prison. Pointingto the Nuremberg principles, they maintain that it is theobligation of all people to resist by any means necessary thegenocidal policies of their own government.

This is a time when many people are getting arrested forthe first time in civil disobedience and direct action aroundCentral America and South Africa. There have been manydiscussions of jail solidarity — standing with all those whohave been arrested. But for this concept to have full mean-ing, it needs to include the building of campaigns in supportof political prisoners. We can deny the government theirstrategy by demanding that political prisoners not be iso-lated but instead be housed in groups. We can write to theprisoners, support them and learn from them. And we mustinsist on full human rights and freedom for our sisters andbrothers behind bars.

a Halloween party and was doctored toeliminate another child who was hold-ing a banjo. In this way the media helpscreate the climate for inhumane treat-ment of the children as well as theparents.

Rghting BackRepression is scary. It's meantto be. It's meant to limit us topolite disapproval as the U.S.

escalates in Nicaragua and El Salvador.It's_ meant to up the ante so that it be-comes more risky to take the streets andmore dangerous to give sanctuary. Toscare people away from supporting cap-tured freedom fighters or defendinggrand jury resisters. To control ourmovement and destroy our spirit. As ouropposition becomes more effective,government repression will surely growworse. But this is a double-edgedsword, because repression exposes theinhuman nature of the system. Todaymore people are standing up to say NO!to what the U.S. is doing around theworld. In the process, they are begin-ning to confront the forces of the gov-ernment. Last year in San Francisco,the police violently attacked a numberof anti-intervention demonstrations. InChicago, police singled out a gay manduring a Pledge of Resistance actionand beat him in the police station.Sometimes the police may act coopera-tively, other times the riot squads arecalled out in force. But either way theirgoal is to control, divide and neutralizeresistance.

Faced with repression, we can act onthe time honored call that "An Injury toOne is An Injury to All." Far from react-ing piecemeal to each incident of repres-sion, we can come together with a pow-erful and informed response. Our abil-ity to sustain a fight for humanity andfreedom depends on this.

D on't talk to the FBI. You don't have to. There isno law requiring any of us to talk to an FBI

agent. Every bit of information given to the FBI be-comes part of their intelligence gathering on themovement.

Some people think we can outsmart the FBI, turntheir questions around and get information fromthem. Experience has shown that this is dangerous:our questions and answers often provide insights forthe FBI to go on. Likewise, the FBI will try to catchus up if we make statements that they can prove arefalse. When this happens they can threaten us withperjury charges. When you talk to the FBI, even ifyou "don't say much," they have established a veryimportant fact—that you are indeed a person whotalks to the FBI. The likelihood of their return withmore questions or a call to a grand jury is greatly in-creased. The best thing to do is REFUSETOTALK!

Don't let the FBI inside your house. Legally theycan only enter your home if they have a search or ar-rest warrant. If they say they have a warrant, demandto see it and demand to see their I.D. If they want toask a few questions, show you pictures of people,ask about who uses your phone, etc. say "No, I havenothing to talk to you about." Tell them that yourlawyer will get in touch with them. The FBI will tryto intimidate you if sweet talking fails or vice versa.This is why we must be clear and firm in our refusalto cooperate.

The government and FBI want to use their fear tac-tics, lies and spies to put us on the defensive. Now isthe time to build a real wall of resistance.

ON'T TAlkTO rhc FBI

The International Network Against the New State Repression has come together to expose and resist the ever-growingattacks by the U.S. government against progressive and revolutionary movements. We are a network of New Afrikan(Black), Puerto Rican, Mexican and white anti-imperialist organizations and individuals. If you would like to knowmore about our work, to share information about repression in your area or to discuss the ideas in this broadside, pleasewrite us at the addresss below.

NATIONAL ADDRESS:

International Network Against New State Repression1340 W. Irving Park, Suite 129Chicago, IL 60613

LOCAL ADDRESS:

220 • 9th Si. #443San Francisco, CA 94103