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BOSTON: FREEDOM MARCH FOR HUMAN DIGNITY DEC. 14

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Editorial: UNIVERSAL STARVATION?

As Americans suffer unprecedented food price hikes, the nation's food industry enjoys unusually high profit gains, according to the latest statistics.

The recent Rome World Food Conference advertised the plight of a half million human beings around the globe who will soon perish -- victims of hunger.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz announced at the Conference the U.S. refusal to increase aid to starving Third World nations.

While the conferees talked in Rome, however, U.S. farmers at home murdered cattle, sheep, chickens and other livestock, and dumped milk down the sewer. The farmers claimed that only through reducing the precious food supply could they keep prices high enough to return profits sufficient to sustain them.

A short time ago America was engulfed in a so-called energy crisis. Fuels were scarce and their price sky high. Statistics showed that the oil industry enjoyed record profit levels throughout the "crisis".

The present "food crisis" is proving to be a similar moneymaking conspiracy by the food gaints. Recent food industry profit figures bear this out. According to The New York Times report, "Over the last few years, earnings of major food processors have grown at an average rate of about seven percent. But the earnings in 1974's first nine months and the third quarter have far exceeded that annual rate."

The Times goes on to list the gains of some companies, which include increases of up to 90 percent over the same period last year.

The article points out that the outlook for the end of this year and the first half of 1975 is for a continuation of the same two trends: continued soaring industry profits while the people struggle to pay the rapidly rising price of survival.

How long will the people of America and the world suffer the tyranny of big business robber barons who contrive "crises" to expand their power and riches?

If all of us together fail to act now to free ourselves from the present rulers' tyrannical domination, we may all soon die of starvation.

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Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Brothers of the Black Panther Party. All Power to the People! With love I say I am in the Menard Kamp and have been with the making of people's revolution for some time!

It is my understanding that your Party grasps the teaching of revolutionary theoretical thought! Criticism: What is happening to your Party? I see revisionism. You are becoming political functionaries (lackeys) working for the pig! Revisionism and dogmatism run counter to Marxism.

The truth is that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun! The seizures of power by armed force and the settlement of the issue by war is the central task and the highest form of revolution…

This Marxist-Leninist principle of revolution holds good universally for all countries.

I have read your newspaper and I can dig it. But I have no capital to purchase it. When or if I get some, I will purchase it if you can dig what I have run to you right back!

In Revolutionary People's War
From the Young Nobles Army
SoSo
Socia 37382
Box 711 I.S.P.
Menard, Ill. 62259

Dear Editor,

Subject: Community Control of Its Own Police

I shall make no excuses for the killers of Tyrone Guyton and those like him. But I believe there is a solution which could cut off that sort of police crime at its very roots.

(And let's squarely admit -- once and for all -- all of us, of the White, Black, and all other races that the luckless offender most often thrown into jail is only kind of criminal -- and that not by any means always the most dangerous kind of criminal -- and that not by any means always the most dangerous kind -- and in this matter what per cent of rapists ever actually see the inside of a jail?) -- and that solution which could best cut out at the roots the shooting of innocent people by police is community control of its own police.

Now I would like to make some points on that subject as follows:

1. Due to various reasons, as things now stand, the regular centralized police force which is charged with the job of keeping down crime in the ghetto has become only too often an army of occupation in hostile territory whose reputation, with reasons, with the local population is very bad. The people regard the police as hostile intruders and the police themselves feel they are patrolling in hostile territory -- in a situation only too close in too many ways to the American presence in Vietnam.

2. Under such conditions as those mentioned it becomes impossible to properly protect the community against crime without oppressive effects on the

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community as harmful, or more so, than the crime itself. And realistically this situation is completely unfair to both the centralized police and to the people of the community. Even if a White cop in the ghetto is not a racist and is trying to do an honest job, what decent chance does he have of properly doing it?

3. One more myth that the White middle class would do well to forget is the insane notion that the residents of the ghetto are in favor of crime. Why in God's name should they be? They're its victims more than any group in society.

4. I am a White working man who was brought up in Seattle's central area and I would like to visit my old neighborhood more often than I do. But suppose, just before I go there, a bunch of White racist cops go plowing through the neighborhood first, kicking the 'Black population around. Then suppose I, looking much like them, arrive on a sociable visit. All human nature being what it is, it is easy for me to understand why I might not be very popular.

Then suppose I was beaten up by some misguided citizens. Then suppose my White brothers on the police force came in and beat up a few completely innocent people. Their injustice to the Blacks becomes obvious and what good, pray tell, does this additional conduct do me? It only makes everything worse.

5. In the summer, in vacation time, my wife and I sometimes go up to Victoria to visit in Canada. Now, when did I ever think it necessary to bring my own police into their community to protect me? Such an idea would be ridiculous.

6. Meanwhile, suppose the central area had its own police, controlled by the community. I personally would feel much safer there than now.

7. And of course the effect on those who live there is far more important. There would be no feeling of an army of occupation. The police would be respected by their own neighbors and they would concentrate on true criminal problems and the home police would far better understand just what those problems were.

8. Community controlled police, knowing the community, would prevent a very large percentage of crimes in various ways -- such as counseling young people who respected them, informally settling disputes among neighbors whom they know and in other ways.

9. Of course a community controlled police couldn't do everything without help in many fields of human and social problems. But they certainly could be a beautiful start and a huge improvement over what there is now.

10. And community control of police in predominantly White communities could also greatly improve things for ourselves. Do not think for one moment that White communities don't have serious problems which could best be solved by our own community controlled police.

In Seattle there has been a very serious rash of murders and disappearances of White girls, which obviously Blacks have nothing to do with, including one nice little girl of fifteen who lived in my own neighborhood and who was abducted, raped and murdered. And, believe me, solving the murder of that girl is far more important to us than mistreatment of innocent people in the central area, of which I know only too much from accounts of Black fellow workers whose words and opinions I respect.

Sincerely,
Paul Dubnar
Seattle, Washington

Sisters and Brothers,

We are trying to reclaim Thanksgiving to change its meaning, to make it a tribute to people's struggle.

This card to our friends is part of our effort to build the support and revolutionary culture we need for years of struggle. In our local community we are holding a celebration (pot luck dinner, singing, silk-screening of People's Thanksgiving symbol) for the occasion, and urge you also to treat the holiday in a creative way.

- A commemoration of the history of people's struggle in our country, the heritage of resistance -- Native American uprisings, slave revolts, farmers' rebellions, workers' struggles, children's revolt, women's struggles, prisoner insurrections, mutinies, and all militant resistance against the forces of oppression.

- A commitment to continued struggle, to the solidarity and unity of Third World and white peoples, workers, poor people, and all others working to build a revolutionary movement in the United States.

- A dedication to the building of a new community, a revolutionary culture, grounded in the past, but directed to the future.

- A celebration of our accomplishments so far, the partial victories which strengthen us and propel us on to greater victory.

We send you our revolutionary greetings and encourage you to continue your important work.

In Solidarity,
The Thirteenth St. House
Al, Bobby, Boo, Bruce, David, Gayle, Jean, Kit, Lori & Terry
San Jose, California 95112

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COMMENT: A NATIVE AMERICAN REFLECTS ON THANKSGIVING

The following comment, written by James Lee West, a member of the Cheyenne nation, provides a Native American's eloquent views on the hypocrisy of White America's Thanksgiving celebrations. Brother West's reflections below are excerpted from a larger article he wrote for the Interreligous Foundation for Community Organization.

My people have grown weary of hearing the songs of Thanksgiving. My people have grown weary of looking back at the first winter when the White man came singing songs of praise to a White man's God who had blessed the new experiment in the "bleak wilderness" where no man had set foot.

My people have grown weary of a celebration that can speak over and over again of a great tradition and a great nation "born under God" for the good of all mankind and that can turn men's hearts and minds to years of building a great American dream without turning their hearts and minds to the blood and death upon which that dream is built.

My people do not grow weary because we do not wish to share in a dream or because we do not wish to gather as families in thanks to God. We only grow weary of a celebration which not only excludes us but which in fact attempts to emasculate us.

Thanksgiving brings back many memories to us, also. But memories of gratitude and good-will are not ours. Our memories are filled with blood and sickness and hate.

We remember very well that Masasoit helped to save those first White men by teaching them to survive in the wilderness they feared so much. But we also remember that he could not teach them their "red brothers" were more than animals.

We remember the Mohegans, a tribe whose territory included much of what is now eastern Massachusetts and who roamed in these woods long before any

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White man set foot here. We remember that the campaign of genocide was so complete and so careful that there is not a single Mohegan left to share in this great American dream. We remember this brother with pride and envy for he died an Indian and may now be better off than some of us.

Yes, the natives of this country remember the coming of the great American experiment. We remember the blankets deliberately filled with smallpox and other diseases by the White man which killed first the children, then the women, and finally the men whose preparation as proud warriors did not equip them for this first glimpse of biological warfare.

Thanksgiving -- you ask for the Indian people to join in Thanksgiving? You ask my people to join hands on their reservations and in their ghettos and sing praises to God for the founding and success of this great American dream? You ask me to share in the celebration of the death of my people!

There is a voice crying in the wilderness! Not the wilderness you tamed and civilized, but a wilderness you created! Your genocide was not successful in America; and even though you have isolated us as far from your life as you physically can, we have observed White society in America and we have heard the echoes of our cries as they come from Black ghettos, from California, from Latin America, from Vietnam.

Yes, the Indian people are watching and they are listening, but, luckily, from a distance. Our existence on reservations and in ghettos which are far from the mainstream of American society has helped us remain a people -- a part of America, yet so separated that we still possess much of our own culture. Not so separate, however, that we feel no kinship with those people who are brothers in oppression.

There is a voice crying in the wilderness, but it is no longer crying for pity: not for blankets, not for land, not for a poverty existence from the charity of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

It's a war cry that is growing stronger as our people realize that the meaning that has gone from our lives will not come back to us as Whites.

It is a cry against the average life expectancy of 44 years, against the suicide rate of teenagers on reservations that is three times that of teenagers in general, against the alcoholism rate, against an arrest rate that will not be cured by soothing medicine of self-pity and acceptance as Whites in a White world.

It's a war cry of a people who seek their humanity, the right to be human beings, and who must have that humanity as whole persons -- whole persons who are Indian.

We must all realize that the great blot of oppression on my people is worse today than it was yesterday.

In those days, when you considered us far worse off in all our barbaric heathenism, we were a whole people, proud and free! Yesterday, there might have been much we could have learned but there might have been much we could have taught you about life.

The Indian people are gathering to test our learning, and along with our brothers in oppression we are prepared to give refresher courses in human rights to those who have not learned well.

I hope you have learned. I hope you have learned that people cannot ask politely for their own human rights anymore. I hope you have learned that people who are different still hold the rights of whole personhood. I hope you have learned that whole persons are not necessarily White persons.

Finally, I hope you have learned that you did not and can not destroy us, although you have tried through attempted genocide and now through the attempted emasculation of the very Indian-ness which makes us whole.

Thus, I offer this lesson from our common past. This lesson concerns a tradition called Thanksgiving and its meaning. This lesson presents an underlying hope that as we prepare for this tradition each year, we will open our minds anew and not be unconscious of those around us who are a part of this tradition and yet so separated from it.

REGISTER
TO VOTE

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BAN ON FEDERAL SPYING URGED

(New York, N.Y.) -- A ban on federal government spying has been recommended by a group of trial lawyers as a result of testimony by a former high-ranking Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) official.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., recently declassified documents reveal that the directors of the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) would lie to anyone, with the possible exception of the President to conceal identities of their undercover agents.

Both the recommendation to ban federal spying and the disclosure of FBI/CIA lying follow hard on the heels of reports that at least three federal agencies are planning to expand their record-keeping in violation of the right to privacy of individuals.

The group of trial lawyers also proposed that a strong Congressional oversight committee be established to review all wiretaps by federal agencies. The lawyers' recommendations were based on testimony by William C. Sullivan, the third highest ranking official of the FBI under its late director J. Edgar Hoover.

"To be candid," said Mr. Sullivan, "the 'right to privacy" was not at issue nor was it an impediment in solving cases. It mattered not whether electronic devices or other techniques were used… The primacy of civil liberties… gave way to expediency." Mr. Sullivan termed the FBI policy a "backdrop" for the governmental abuses of the Watergate era.

Mr. Sullivan added that "recent events indicate" that "the FBI as it is now structured is…a threat to our civil liberties."

Mr. Sullivan, who until 1971 was assistant FBI director in charge of criminal investigations and intelligence, proposed to the 1974 Chief Justice Earl Warren Conference on Advocacy, sponsored by the Roscoe Pound American Trial Lawyers Foundation, a three-year moratorium on electronic eavesdropping by any federal agency while a special commission studies all internal security and intelligence operations. Mr. Sullivan, who was forced into retirement by Hoover after a dispute, also recommended

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that the domestic security and criminal investigations operations of the FBI be separated.

The recently declassified documents which show that the FBI and CIA would lie to conceal their agents were quoted in a just published, Whitewash IV by Harold Weisberg, regarding the investigation of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

The documents disclose that late CIA director Allen W. Dulles participated in a 1964 discussion about whether Hoover and former CIA director John A. McCone would truthfully answer questions on whether Lee Harvey Oswald had ever worked for either of their agencies.

Although both Hoover and McCone denied on other occasions that Lee Harvey Oswald was employed by them, Mr. Dulles in the documents, admits that both directors would lie about it anyway, if Oswald did in fact work for them.

The three federal agencies planning to expand their records on private citizens are the FBI, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Veterans Administration (VA). Their plans to expand are taking place in the face of Congressional moves toward more privacy safeguards on government handling of personal records.

The expansion of the FBI's communications system raises the specter of the "possibility of a national police force," according to a White House source quoted in The Christian Science Monitor.

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BOSTON FREEDOM MARCH FOR HUMAN DIGNITY -- DEC. 14

(Boston, Mass.) -- A call has gone out to "justice loving people from all 50 states" to join the Boston Freedom March for Human Dignity on December 14.

"We must link our arms, Black and White, and march together for the right of all schoolchildren to go to any school in safety," said state Senator-elect William Owens of Massachusettes in explaining the reason for the demonstration.

According to the Emergency Committee for a National Mobilization Against Racism, organizer of the rally." We believe that the urgency of the situation requires the broadest possible demonstration bringing together from all over the country the maximum number of people who are against the mob attacks on Black school-children and who are for the right of these children to go to any school in safety."

The Freedom March was called in response to the racist uprising of White mob violence and terror surrounding the busing of Black students to formerly all-White schools in South Boston to achieve racial integration. The schools buses carrying Black children to the White schools were greeted with racist violence. News coverage of the controversy has focused mainly on the antibusing demonstrations.

More than 400 well-known individuals, community leaders and civil rights activists are listed as sponsors of the upcoming demonstration, organized by a coaliton of civil rights, trade union and religious groups.

"So far it is those antidemocratic forces who have had the momentum and the spotlight," said the organizers of the rally. "We cannot allow them to continue to appear to speak for the majority. They Do Not! But that impression will continue until all of us, who are supporters of the struggle against racism, publicly take a stand," they said.

"The eyes of the nation and the world are now focused on Boston, said state Senator-elect Owners, a member of the Massachusettes Legislative Black Caucus. "The December 14 demonstration against racist violence will show that the vast majority of Bostonians, Black, Brown, Yellow, and White, stand on the side of human rights and justice and oppose mob violence against all schoolchildren…

"Let our voices and our presence say: 'No to institutionalized

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racism, no to racist mob violence, no to racism in education.' Our message will be heard around the world."

"The Emergency Committee for a National Mobilization Against Racism in its few short weeks of existence has reached hundreds of organizations and individuals who have agreed to join together in sponsoring such a nationally called peaceful mass action," says a letter from the Committee.

Among the sponsors of the rally are: all the members of the San Quentin Six -- Johnny Spain, Hugo Pinell, Luis Talamentez, Fleeta Drumgo, Willie Tate and David Johnson; Attica Brothers Frank (Big Black) Smith and Herbert X. Blyden; American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Clyde Bellecourt; and U.S. Representative Parren Mitchell of Maryland, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Meanwhile, the Boston school boycott continues with attendance holding steady at about 75 per cent. Antibusing forces have been holding weekly demonstrations. Seven antibusing information centers have been set up in different White communities and 300 White students are in "alternative schools," reports the Guardian.

Further information about the December 14 Freedom March for Human Dignity may be obtained from the Emergency Committee for a National Mobilization Against Racism, 634 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 207, Cambridge, Mass. 02139. Or Call: (617) 876-9295.

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FRED HAMPTON MARK CLARK Assassinated December 4, 1969

The police murders of Comrades Fred Hampton and Mark Clark of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party during the early morning of December 4, 1969, etched their names in the cherished list of martyrs of the Black liberation struggle in America.

The deaths of Comrades Fred and Mark in the widely publicized raid on the Chicago Party facility, contrary to the wishes of the authorities, failed to stop the vital work started by these two revolutionaries in the community. As Fred often said, "You can kill a revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

Fred and Mark lived by the spirit of these words always pressing forward with the institution of survival programs in the community while the power structure worked to silence them.

Yet, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark have not been silenced. Their inspiring words, like their dedicated and courageous actions, remain alive in millions of people who follow the examples they set. They are not forgotten. Long live the spirit of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark! Long live the People's Struggle!!

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

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FREE LEGAL AID AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM: FREE COMMISSARY PROGRAM TO PROVIDE 500 CALIFORNIA PRISONERS WITH HOLIDAY PACKAGES

(Oakland, Calif.) -- With Christmas just a few weeks away, the Free Commissary for Prisoners Program is actively engaged in a drive to raise funds for purchasing Christmas packages for some 500 inmates incarcerated throughout the state of California.

The Free Commissary Program, which is part of the Free Legal Aid and Educational Program created in 1971 by concerned Bay Area citizens to aid, primarily imprisoned Black men and women, secures such necessary toilet articles for the inmates as toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, hair oil, shaving cream for men, feminine hygiene products for women, and other needed items such as stationery, envelopes, stamps and legal material.

These items are usually available in the various state penal institutions. However, they sell for such high prices that inmates cannot afford them.

Explaining how inmates utilize the services of the Free Commissary Program, Sister Lulla Hudson, Coordinator of the Free Legal Aid and Educational Program, told THE BLACK PANTHER that prisoners fill out mimeographed sheets provided by the penal institutions, indicating the items that they need. (Each institution has its own rules and regulations concerning what items may be sent to inmates and in what form they may be sent.) Once the request is received, the Legal Aid staff moves to fill the order.

The Free Busing to Prisons Program, another part of the Free Legal Aid and Educational Program,

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provides free transportation once a month to California prisons and jails for the families and friends of inmates. This community service is badly needed. Research shows lower rates of recidivism (repeat of offense) for inmates who have close family contact throughout their imprisonment.

The Busing to Prisons Program makes trips to the following penal institutions: Soledad, Tracy, Vacaville, San Quentin, Santa Rita and the Women's Institution at Corona. Trips to other prisons and jails are made upon request. To allow as many people as possible to visit their imprisoned loved ones, the trips are made on the weekends. Anyone wishing further information or desiring to make reservation may call (415) 562-526.

Because of their basic poverty due to the exploitative wages they receive, prison inmates cannot afford to pay the large sums of money required to get competent legal counsel. To meet this need, the Free Legal Aid for Prisoners Program refers inmates in need of legal advice to attorneys who provide their services free of charge or at a low cost.

In addition, some 50 students in Bay Area schools and colleges correspond with inmates as part of the Free Legal Aid and Educational Program's efforts to keep imprisoned men and women up-to-date with life in the communities where they will return after serving their terms.

A new feature of the Legal Aid Program, to start on December 5 according to Ms. Hudson, will be small group discussions on legal questions of particular interest to the community such as welfare rights and the landlord-tenant relationship. The discussions will be conducted by members of the Charles Houston Law club, a group of Black Bay Area attorneys. The discussions will be open to anyone interested and will take place on eight successive Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Community Learning Center, 6118 E. 14th Street.

Financial donations are badly needed to purchase the commissary items for the 500 Christmas packages. Anyone wishing to contribute should make checks or money orders payable to the Free Legal Aid and Educational Program, 6118 E. 14th Street, Oakland, California 94621. Community workers are also needed to help staff the Free Legal Aid and Educational Program. Anyone wishing to volunteer his or her services or wanting to sign up for the legal aid discussions may call (415) 562-5261.

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S.A.F.E. PROGRAM CELEBRATED AT SON OF MAN TEMPLE

(Oakland, Calif.) -- Celebrating the first anniversary of Seniors Against a Fearful Environment (S.A.F.E.) Program was Sister ALBERTINE RADFORD from the Allen Temple Senior Citizens Club who acted as the Guest Mistress of Ceremonies for this week's Son of Man Temple services. Dedicated to senior citizens, the service also featured DON GALOWAY from the Center for Independent Living, who delivered an informative and concern-filled message on the plight of disabled senior citizens.

JESSE BROWN, a blind vocalist and guitarist along with THOMAS JEFFERSON PRUITT, vocalist and poet, performed some "gut-bucket" blues like, "Got My Mojo Working" and "Baby What You Want Me To Do?" These and more selections were received with glee and pleasure as the audience clapped and sang along with them.

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THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY

DECEMBER, 1641

Massachusetts, a great pretender of "liberalism" and the home of the Pilgrims, became the first American colony to give statutory and, therefore, legal status to slavery in December, 1641. Indeed, the practice of slavery flourished longer in Massachusetts, where it lasted for 143 years (it was prohibited in 1783), than in Georgia where it lasted legally for 114 years (1750 to 1863),

DECEMBER 4, 1833

Reflecting a budding consciousness of the horrors of human bondage, Black and White abolitionists in Philadelphia organized the American Anti-Slavery Society on December 4, 1833.

DECEMBER 3, 1847

Taking its name from that bright heavenly guiding light used by slaves seeking freedom, the great Black leader Frederick Douglass published the first issue of his newspaper, North Star, in Rochester, N.Y., on December 3, 1847.

DECEMBER 2, 1859

The legendary John Brown, who with 13 White men and 5 Black men attacked a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in a bold assault in the heartland of slavery, was hanged at Charlestown, Va., on December 2, 1859.

DECEMBER 3, 1864

The largest all-Black unit in the history of the U.S. Army, the Twenty-fifth Corps, was established on December 3, 1864.

DECEMBER 5, 1955

Acting in response to the arrest of Mrs. Rosa Parks, a middle-aged Black woman, for refusing to give up her seat to a White passenger, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other Black civic leaders organized the famous Montgomery (Alabama) bus boycott on December 5, 1955.

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WITNESSES TESTIFY OVER SEX DISCRIMINATION

(Chicago, Ill.) -- Three dozen witnesses, including a local state representative, concluded testimony here last week at a two-day session on discrimination in the insurance and electronics industries, conducted by the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

Illinois State Representative Bernard E. Epton told the Commission he was pessimistic about ending discrimination against women in employment. "We don't need any new laws. There are plenty on the books," Epton said. "I have faith in the government, but I have no faith that the laws will be implemented."

Answering widespread charges concerning discrimination in jobs, hiring practices, promotions, work assignments, salaries and benefits of white collar insurance workers and blue collar electronics workers, were the General Electric Company, Blue Gross, and Blue Shield. All of these companies at first refused subponas to appear and had to be threatened to be taken to court by the independent, bi-partisan federal Commission. Some companies admitted discriminatory hiring practices though few did anything about it.

Clyde Brooks, equal employment opportunity coordinator, noted that although women make up 74 per cent of Blue Cross' 60,075-person work force, the percentage of women in the supervisor, managerial and other top job is much lower.

The Commission discovered that what make matters worse is that due to the economic recession in the country, the possibility of employment for women and poor people is in jeopardy. The recession also gives the insurance and electrical companies the excuse to slow up their Affimative Action programs in hiring and promoting poor people and women.

Representative Epton, in reply to the evidence of discrimination in the insurance industry, stated:

"You of the Commission could end discrimination… You could let them know what you would do if they don't end discrimination. Unless you throw some officials in jail, we'll be right back here (with more hearings) in two years."

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FEMINIST GROUPS CHALLENGE DISCRIMINATION: CHARGE GOV'T. WITH FAILURE TO ENFORCE POLICIES

(Washington, D.C.) -- Five national feminist and education organizations have challenged the government's failure to enforce antisex discrimination laws in a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court here last week.

The suit, if it is upheld, will force the U.S. Department of Labor and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) to withhold millions of dollars in federal funds from colleges and universities that discriminate against women.

Plaintiffs in the suit include Women's Equity Action League, the National Organization for Women, National Education Association, Federation of Organizations for Professional Women and the Association of Women in Science.

Speaking before a press conference, lawyers from the Center for Law and Social Policy, who developed the suit, charged that HEW has failed to resolve many of the more than 550 complaints of discrimination.

Citing one example, the Legal Defense and Education Fund of the National Organization for Women (NOW) termed bias in textbooks a "most dangerous form of sex discrimination."

In an effort to curb sex discrimination in textbooks, (NOW) and numerous other women's groups have pushed for a requirement that elementary and secondary school boards screen textbooks for "sexist" tendencies.

The actions of the women's groups are based on the antibias provisions in the 1968 Presidential order, the 1971 Public Health Service law regarding medical and nursing schools, and the 1972 education amendments, proposed by Congresswoman Edith Green.

The amendments state that "no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefit of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."

In June, HEW published a set of regulations on the implementation of the law and invited comment by individuals and institutions.

The most vigorously contested aspect of the regulations was the use of federal funds "to endorse the integration of physical education classes by sex."

The House-Senate Conference committee on the labor and HEW appropriations bill for 1975 later voted down this regulation and legislation that would have covered such groups as Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls and the YMCA.

PROGRESSIVE

One of the most progressive aspects of the new regulation is the section which is designed to equalize funds for women athletes with those of men on colleges and universities. At present expenditures for women's athletics are only small fractions compared to those for men.

Many women's groups regard the debate over athletics as psychologically crucial. "In sports we are talking about real money and power, what with the revenue from television and all that," explained Bernice Sandler, director of the Project on the Status and Education of Women at the Association of American Colleges.

"It's here where the masculine mystique is most operative," she continued. Men are supposed to be independent and competitive. Women are supposed to be their cheerleaders," she said.

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VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE BEGINS

(Oakland, Calif.) -- With local municipal elections just four and one-half months away in April, 1975, the Committee for Greater Voter Registration officially launched its voter registration campaign this past week.

In the above picture, Sister ADRIENNE HUMPHREY (right), a volunteer student worker for the Committee, registers a local resident in downtown Oakland. There are at least 50,000 people in the city who qualify yet are not registered voters. The goat of the Committee for Greater Voter Registration is to register these 50,000 residents by next April.

The Committee for Greater Voter Registration is headquartered at 1674 11th Street in West Oakland. For further information, call 444-VOTE.

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SEATTLE BLACK COMMUNITY ANGERED OVER POLICE SHOOTING OF BLACK YOUTH

(Seattle, Wash.) -- The Black community is still seething in anger over the shooting and attempted murder of Michael Paul Jones, a 19-year-old Black youth, by a member of the Seattle Police Department.

According to eyewitnesses, Jones was being followed by three patrol cars and an undercover Pinto (not one patrol car and a Pinto as the police stated). When the brother turned off Yesler Street on to 16th Avenue, the police had blocked the street. Forcing him to swerve his car on to the pavement near a house, Jones then fled after seeing countless police cars arrive on the scene.

One officer who saw Brother Jones running, stopped his car and without any type of warning, fired his .38 special, hitting young Jones in the back at a distance of not more than 25 feet. The officer fired even though there were more than enough police in the area to apprehend the young brother.

OUTRAGE

When the community expressed outrage over the needless shooting, Chief of Police Robert Hanson threw together a gathering of hand-picked "community spokesmen." When the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party heard of the meeting, they immediately contacted the Black press (which was originally not invited) and other responsible community people. The meeting called by Hanson was to "open lines of communication" between the Black community and the police department.

At the meeting the community demanded answers about the shooting of Michael Jones and what was being done to discipline the cop who shot him. But, the police chief and his spokesman, Tim Burgess, tried to avoid providing answers.

When Party members continued to press Hanson for answers in the shooting and on general police policy, Hanson arrogantly stated that "you were not even invited." Party member Ron Johnson replied, "I never will be, or expect to be."

Adding fuel to the fire, Hanson picked this opportunity to state that the Seattle Police Department will be using hollow point bullets as soon as the order is received by the company (Remington). The hollow point allows the bullet to explode when it enters the body, causing gaping holes and certain death.

As a result of the shooting, Patrolman Roller, the cop who shot Brother Jones, received a 10-day suspension working in a program designed to teach officers how to react in "high stress situations."

As a result of the senseless shooting of Brother Jones and other frequent acts of police brutality against Black and oppressed people here, the Seattle Chapter of the Party will very soon come out with an initiative for community control of police.

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PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE

END FAMINE

(Oakland, Calif.) -- The estimated cost of ending the world famine for nine months is $2 billion. From June, 1973 to June, 1974 Americans spent: $77.6 billion on national defense; $22.2 billion on alcoholic beverages; $14 billion on tobacco; and $14.5 on recreation. Americans spent $39.1 billion alone on dining out. If Americans spent five per cent less on eating out this would total the $2 billion needed to feed the hungry at this time, reports the New Age Information Service.

"RETARDED" BLACKS

(San Francisco, Calif.) -- A preliminary order prohibiting San Francisco schools from using I.Q. tests for determining whether a Black student is retarded has been handed down. U.S. District Court Judge Robert F. Peckham ruled that the case "was properly brought on behalf of all Black California school-children who have been or may in the future be classified as mentally retarded on the basis of I.Q. tests." Lawyers argued that the tests are not valid because they do not properly account for the cultural background or experience of Black children.

But Judge Peckham denied a motion to stop San Francisco and the state of California from placing more Black children in the mentally retarded category than is their proportion in the school population. Evidence showed that Black children make up 30 per cent of San Francisco's school population but comprise 60 per cent of the so-called retarded children. Statewide Black children make up 9 per cent of the school population and 27 per cent of the mentally retarded group.

DISCRIMINATION RULING

(Sacramento, Calif.) -- A judge has ruled that a minority admissions program at the University of California at Davis medical school sets up an un-Constitutional racial quota that discriminates against Whites. Under the special admissions program 16 places in each medical school class of 100 are reserved for "educationally or economically disadvantaged students." According to the judge, during the five-year period documented in the suit, "not a single White person has been admitted" under the special program.

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FEDERAL JURY UPHOLDS INMATES' BRUTALITY SUIT

(Indianapolis, Ind.) -- A federal court jury returned a verdict last week in favor of 11 former inmates of the Indiana State Reformatory who charged in a civil suit that nine guards and two prison officials used undue force in quelling a disturbance on September 26, 1969.

The 11 former inmates were among 47 wounded when guards opened fire with 12 gauge shotguns filled with 00 buckshot at 208 inmates who were staging a sit-in on a volleyball court in protest of the authorities' refusal to meet a list of 10 demands. All but one of the inmates were Black.

Inmate James Durr was shot to death during the sit-in and Robert Clancy, a 21-year-old inmate from Fort Wayne, died four months later in Richmond State Hospital as a result of wounds suffered during the incident.

Only in the last year, reports The New York Times, have juries begun to award damages to inmates who have been victims of brutality by prison officials or employees.

The civil suit originally sought a total of $2.3 million in damages, but the six-member jury found the defendants liable only for compensatory, not punitive damages, meaning that individual defendants are liable for the damages but that the state of Indiana is not.

Nine guards and George Phend, superintendent of the reformatory, and his assistant, Richard Schroeder, all defendants in the case, were indicted under Title 18, Section 242, of the United States Code, a civil rights law that guarantees prisoners the "right to reasonable personal safety and security while in the custody of the state."

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SECOND CHICANO LEAVENWORTH BROTHER ACQUITTED

(Wichita, Kansas) -- Defense attorneys and several jurors in the Leavenworth Brothers trial here cried tears of joy last week after Armando Miramon, one of the Chicano Leavenworth Brothers, was acquitted in U.S. District Court of four charges of kidnapping and one charge of assault.

The charges against Miramon, and against Leavenworth Brother Jesse Lopez, who was acquitted earlier in the trial, resulted from a July, 1973, rebellion at Leaven-worth Federal Penitentiary in which four prison employees were taken hostage by inmates demanding that a prisoner grievance committee meet with the warden and news reporters.

Rose E. Childs, foreman of the jury, stated that the government had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Miramon willfully intended to take hostages. She also said that the Prosecution testimony was "full of holes."

Some shocking and significant revelations about prison conditions surfaced during the trial.

"Testimony about the 'hole' (Leavenworth's isolation unit)," said Childs, "made a big impression on us. There is no reason for treating prisoners like that."

The testimony of Dr. Steve Fox, a psychologist from the University of Iowa and a specialist in "sensory deprivation psychosis" was instrumental in bringing about the acquittal.

Based on Fox's testimony, the defense was able to prove that because Miramon was locked in isolation for long periods of time, he suffered from, as Fox put it, sensory deprivation and did not know what he was doing at the time of the rebellion.

Lynn Unruh, spokesperson for the Leavenworth Brothers Offense/ Defense Committee, said, "The defense of 'temporary insanity' or 'sensory deprivation psychosis has set a precedent in exposing the conditions of the 'hole,' and not only is it a new defense, but the beginning of the abolishment of the 'hole.' "

"The jury told us point blank," remarked defense Attorney Antonia Rodriquez, "that if they had not been presented with evidence of inhuman prison conditions and the types of behavior which the conditions cause, there never would have been a chance for acquittal."

However, in the trial of the four Black Leavenworth Brothers, it was quite a different scene. All four -- Odell Bennet, Jessie Lee Evans, Alf Hill, Jr. and Alfred Jasper -- were found guilty of assaulting guards and inciting to riot by the same court, and before an all-White jury.

In both trials, jury and defense witnesses testified that prison conditions caused the prisoners to rebel after many peaceful protests had produced no changes.

Although the acquittal of the two Chicano Leavenworth Brothers is cause for celebration, it is without question that the strategy of Judge Frank Theis and the government prosecution has been to divide the Chicano and Black brothers.

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PEOPLE'S CHINA ON WESTERN NATIONS ECONOMIC CRISIS

The following article describes the worsening economic crisis afflicting the major countries of the West. The article is reprinted from the Economic Reporter, a progressive magazine published in Hong Kong by the People's Republic of China.

The economic situation in all major capitalist countries is deteriorating. These countries are suffering from multiplex economic ailments: industrial stagnation, recession, inflation and financial and monetary crises which take place simultaneously. The troubles plague the government and monopolists alike, and none of them know the cure.

There are many signs which indicate the seriousness of the present situation and the dangers ahead -- firstly, the malignant inflation. The sharp upward price spiral that became more widespread last autumn has reached an unprecedented postwar level. In the first half of this year, consumer prices soared to a double-digit annual rate in all the major capitalist countries except West Germany. Last year's increase had already reached four times the average annual rate of the 1960s, according to a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED) of consumer prices of 24 major capitalist countries. New price spirals are now under way everywhere.

Another sign of the serious and dangerous economic situation in the capitalist world is that, since the fourth quarter of last year industrial production has declined or become stagnant in all the major capitalist countries. The U.S. gross national product dropped successively in all the last three quarters. Japan's industrial output fell in four of the first seven months of this year. The shrinking domestic market in West Germany has led to an industrial decline in spite of foreign orders. Industrial stagnation or slowdown also marks the economies of France, Italy and other major capitalist countries. Hence the warning of the British weekly the Economist in July: "The (capitalist) world recession …has arrived."

The industries of auto and housing, key industries in the major capitalist countries, are in a slump. Automobile sales in the West in the first half of this year were estimated at 30 per cent less than in the same period of last year. Many countries have drastically cut their car production. Housing starts have also been cut because of sluggish sales. U.S. housing "is sliding into its worst crisis since the depression," notes the U.S. News and World Report in its September 2 issue. In West Germany and Britain, the picture is almost the same. The slump in these two important industries is bound to make its impact felt on other sectors.

These economic problems have been compounded by huge foreign trade deficits. Adverse balance of payments is the rule in most of the capitalist countries this year. The U.S. trade deficit in the first eight months of this year exceeded 2,100 million dollars and its international payments deficit in the first half of the year totalled 7,200 million dollars.

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Japan's adverse swing in its foreign trade account in the first seven months of 1974 amounted to 7,040 million U.S. dollars, exceeding the total deficit of last year.

The trade deficits of Britain and Italy are even greater. Britain's trade deficit this year will reach 10,000 million and Italy's 12,000 million U.S. dollars, it is predicted. France's balance of trade this year has remained in the red month after month and its estimated balance of payments deficit by the end of the year is put at 6,000 million U.S. dollars.

Business failures have been mounting under the strains of soaring inflation and the output slump. 5,180 enterprises went to the wall in the United States in the first half of this year. Japan registered more than 5,500 bank-ruptcies during the period -- 60 per cent more than in the same period of last year. Bank and firm failures have also been reported in West Germany, Britain, Australia and other countries.

To shift their burden, the monopolists have laid off large numbers of workers. Growing unemployment is general throughout the capitalist world. The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 5.8 per cent last month. Official figures put the number of jobless Americans at 5.3 million in September, or 440,000 more than in the previous month.

In Britain, the jobless total exceeded 690,000 in August. This is a 15 per cent increase over July, the record monthly increase since the end of the war. In West Germany, the number of people out of work has climbed to 557,000 in September, a twofold increase over the figure of the same period last year.

The slump of stock prices in the major capitalist countries during the past few months has profoundly reflected the gloomy mood of people who have lost confidence in the economic future. It may be recalled that the great depression sweeping the capitalist world in 1929-1933 started with the slump of stock prices, and this time the scope of the slump has surpassed that of 1929.

Referring to the recent failures and big losses of some banks in the West, an editorial of The New York Times on September 7, points out that this situation "should serve as a warning that the sort of disaster that struck the world in 1931 with the collapse of the Austrian credit-anstalt is no longer unthinkable."

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OUR HEALTH

BREAST CANCER
CHECK-UP

The following are eight easy steps that women should follow in examining their breasts for lumps or other thickenings that might indicate cancer. The examinations should be made once a month, about one week after each menstrual period. These checkups should continue after a woman has completed menopause.

(1)Sit or stand in front of your mirror, arms relaxed at your sides, and look for any changes in size, shape and contour. Also look for puckering or dimpling of the skin and changes on the surface of the nipples. Gently press each nipple to see if any discharge occurs.

(2) Raise both arms over your head, and look for exactly the same things. Note differences since you last examined your breasts.

(3) From here on you will be trying to find a lump or thickening. Lie down on your bed, put a pillow or a bath towel under your left shoulder, and your left hand under your head. With the fingers of your right hand held together flat, press gently against the breast with small circular motions to feel the inner, upper portion of your left breast, starting at your breastbone and going outward toward the nipple line. Also feel the area around the nipple.

(4) With the same gentle pressure, feel the low inner part of your breast. Incidentally, in this area you will feel a ridge of firm tissue. Don't be alarmed. This is normal.

(5) Now bring your left arm down to your side and, still using the flat part of the fingers of your right hand, feel under your left armpit.

(6) Use the same gentle pressure to feel the upper, outer portion of your left breast from the nipple line to where your arm is resting.

(7) And finally, feel the lower outer portion of your breast, going from the outer part to the nipple.

(8) Repeat the entire procedure, as described, on the right breast using the left hand for the examination.

Remember -- if you find a lump or thickening, leave it alone until you see your doctor. Most breast lumps or changes are not cancer, but only your doctor can tell for sure.

-- 9 --

JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HEARS TESTIMONY AGAINST ROCKEFELLER

(Washington, D.C.) -- The first two days of testimony before the House Judiciary Committee arguing against the confirmation of Nelson A. Rockefeller as Vice-President of the United States centered on his vast financial holdings and his mishandling of the 1971 inmate rebellion at Attica State Prison.

The sparsely attended hearings. The New York Times reported, noticeably different from the crowded confirmation hearings before the Senate Rules Committee, caused Garner Cline, the Judiciary Committee's associate counsel, to comment:

"It's a little frightening when you consider that we may be choosing the next President of the United States; such little interest."

Some Committee members attributed the light attendance to the belief that the former New York governor will definitely be confirmed as Vice-President.

Leading off the anticonfirmation witnesses, Black New York State Assemblyman Arthur O. Eve called Rockefeller "unfit" for the office of Vice-President because of his role during the Attica rebellion.

"I would hope that this Committee will delve into the reasons

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why the governor attempted to cover up the atrocities committed by troopers and others under his orders." Brother Eve said. Forty-three inmates, guards and other prison personnel were murdered in wild gunfire by state police during the Attica uprising.

Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., a vice-president of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), charged that the "massive control of world finance and industry" enjoyed by the Rockefeller family would make conflict of interest unavoidable if Rockefeller becomes Vice-President and particularly so if he becomes President.

According to Rauh, "As President, every decision Mr. Rockefeller would make would affect the Rockefeller empire."

Three members of the Attica Brothers Legal Defense, Brother Haywood Burns, a lawyer, James Ingram, a Michigan newspaper reporter who was an observer at the Attica prison uprising, and Mariano Dalou Gonzales, who was an inmate at the time of the rebellion also testified before the Judiciary Committee.

The three accused Rockefeller of being responsible for the "barbarous conditions" that caused the uprising and that his "adamant (stubborn) refusal to go to Attica prison to meet with the citizen observers there, coupled with his order for the state military assault on the unarmed men inside, cost the lives of 43 people and the wounding and maiming of scores more."

The statement by Burns. Ingram and Gonzales also charged that "large portions" of Rockefeller's testimony on Attica before both the Senate Rules Committee and the House Judiciary Committee "distort or just plainly misstate the truth."

The central issue the Judiciary Committee is concerned with is whether Rockefeller -- better known as the "Butcher of Attica" -- in Committee chairman Peter Rodino's words, "should be precluded (prevented) from this opportunity to serve" because of his wealth.

The real issue, however, is bigger than Rockefeller's confirmation. As Vice-President he can only further corrupt an already disgraced office. What we as a conscious people must do is once and for all destory the opportunity for one unscrupulous individual to gain absolute control over our lives and eliminate the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States.

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PROSECUTION CHARGES MITCHELL HID TRUTH

"BEYOND QUESTION, A CONSPIRACY TO OBSTRUCT JUSTICE AND DEFRAUD THE UNITED STATES"

(Washington, D.C.) -- Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell's testimony in the Watergate cover-up trial last week was marked by a number of absurd claims and heated exchanges with the prosecution.

Reports of the trial in The New York Times indicated that Mitchell wound up the loser in several verbal battles with chief prosecutor James T. Neal. Mitchell's testimony followed the end of the prosecution's case and the beginning of the case of the former Attorney General, one of five defendants in the trial.

The other defendants, all former high Nixon administration officials, are: John D. Ehrlichman, Nixon's chief domestic advisor; H.R. Haldeman, White House chief of staff; Robert C. Mardian, assistant chief of staff; and Kenneth Wells Parkinson, former attorney for the Nixon re-election committee. All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice in the original Watergate investigation.

Prosecutor Neal wound up his cross-examination of Mitchell by charging that he had "stonewalled" and hidden the truth. Mr. Neal brought out various discrepancies between Mitchell's testimony at the trial and testimony that he had given elsewhere, such as the Senate Watergate Investigation Committee.

Mitchell tried to base some of his defense on absurd semantic differences with Mr. Neal, contending, for instance, that some of the untruthful testimony he had given had been "literally true." He also made the ridiculous claim that according to his own definitions of certain words, he had told the truth.

Mitchell heatedly denied charges made by prosecution witnesses against him. Contradicting testimony given at the trial, he said that he did not have the "slightest idea" why hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash had been paid to the seven men who participated in the Watergate break-in on June 17, 1972.

There had been testimony that Mitchell had been in on the decision to make the payments and that he had authorized funding for the payments later. The point is crucial to the case because the prosecution has charged that it was through such means as paying off the seven burglars in return for their silence that the obstruction of justice charges against the defendants stem.

The prosecution rested its case after having presented 28 witnesses, 28. White House tape recordings and two other tape recordings' in 29 days of testimony.

Mr. Neal told the court that a conspiracy "has been established beyond question, a conspiracy to obstruct justice and defraud the United States."

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DELLUMS' CORNER: ATTACKS DEFENSE PERSONNEL CUTBACKS

(Washington, D.C.) -- California Congressman Ronald V. Dellums last week denounced Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger's announced intentions to cut personnel on over 100 U.S. military installations, including more than 100 civilian positions at Alameda (California) Naval Air Station.

Schlesinger's plans, according to Dellums, are "the wrong way to reduce defense spending."

Dellums, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that the Pentagon's domestic move only creates more economic difficulties. He noted that these job cuts were announced the same day President Ford said that no American troop reductions will be made in South Korea, where the U.N. now has stationed approximately 40,000 troops.

Dellums has long argued that substantial troop reductions could be made in South Korea, citing the capacity of the large modern South Korean army. He pointed out that South Korea is the prime example where U.S. military overseas commitments are necessary.

Rep. Dellums pointed out that while a lower military budget is a top priority, he emphasized that it must be done in a responsible manner and that the first place to cut must be made in the current overseas troop strength of more than 500,000 men which now cost nearly $20 million a year.

"I think the whole problem of adjustment in a peace-time economy should be one of the principal tasks of the Armed Services Committee," He said. Rep. Dellums said he will again lead the fight to cut troops overseas in the 94th Congress, and that he believes that a 100,000 overseas troop cut can easily be accomplished next year without affecting U.S. defense capabilities.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: MORTON SOBELL: POLITICAL PRISONER OF AMERICA'S COLD WAR

The following exclusive interview with Mr. Morton Sobell, a former co-defendant with Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in the notorious "atom bomb" spy trial in the 1950s, took place last week when Mr. Sobell was in the Bay Area to publicize his new book, On Doing Time. The book concerns the 18 years and five months Mr. Sobell did in federal prison -- the first five on the "Rock, "Alcatraz Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay -- as a political prisoner of America's hysterical Cold War policy.

QUESTION: What's it like to do 18 years as a political prisoner of the United States government?

SOBELL: First of all, while I did do 18 years, at the same time I didn't really do it because I did the 18 years day by day. I didn't do it all at one time. believe, however, that one can do 18 years without one fundamental requirement. That is that he have backing on the outside.

During the entire period that I was in, there was one committee or the other -- starting with the Committee to Save the Lives of the Rosenbergs; after they were executed it became the Committee to Secure Justice for Morton Sobell -- which served many functions, raising funds for legal fees and publicizing the case.

I tried as much as possible (when my wife visited me, in letters and other mail) to try to be a part of the ongoing process outside.

That gets to the point that in doing the 18 years, I had one foot on each side of the wall.

This isn't the easiest way of doing time, of course. The easiest way to do it is in "the sack." But, I have seen people do it 10 years that way and you become a zombie. I decided early in the game that wasn't for me.

Helen, my wife, had to take a whole lot of crap from me in the course of this "ongoing dialogue" during this entire period. The roughest part, of course, was on the "Rock" (Alcatraz) where I did the first five and one-half years.

They had pressure on me for a while. The last bit was after the trial, when they told me if I didn't "cooperate," or if my wife didn't get out of the Committee (to save the Rosenbergs), they would send me to the "Rock." They followed through with their threat. It was the Committee pressure that finally got me transferred (to Atlanta Federal Penitentiary) in 1958.

QUESTION: They tried to break you?

SOBELL: Well yes.

You see, first they tried to get me to "cooperate," to point my finger at someone else. They had to be satisfied with a little tiny conspiracy -- Julius, Ethel and myself-and this really didn't add up to a hell of a lot. They would have liked to have had other people there as defendants. They wanted us to falsely accuse others, friends, of espionage and they kept up the pressure even after I got to the "Rock" -- the FBI visited me there.

You want to know what the "Rock" was like? Well, a group of us, about 10, were sent to Atlanta. Out of the 10, within two months, three men wanted to go back. The "Rock" had been so highly structured, so confining, so rigid, that these guys couldn't stand the freedom in Atlanta. On the "Rock," for example, we visited by telephone through a thick piece of glass. No human contact on the "Rock." It was my last year there before I saw my son or daughter. My wife tells me it took me over a year in Atlanta to loosen up, to be spontaneous again.

People on the outside should realize that anytime you got a political prisoner on the inside this is a contract between both of them. The guy inside will do his fighting, as much as he can, and the people on the outside will fight on the outside for him. It's not that there's a relationship of one where you have someone inside, the brave person and people on the outside, merely supporting him. The whole thing is one. Being aware of this really made it easier to do time.

You have to have political understanding. You can't do the time and remain sane without political understanding.

You know, people sometimes speak of the Rosenbergs in terms of "heroic." This is a myth that, I think, the-Establishment likes to propagandize. My feeling on the matter is that Julius and Ethel were plain, ordinary working class people.

DEATH

The point is that plain, ordinary people who are not "heroic" can go to their death for a principle if they know what the hell it's all about. The Establishment doesn't want to have this known. If people realize their own strength, at all times, then the Establishment would get frightened. They want people to think that they don't have strength, that only "superhuman" people have strength. That is not so!

QUESTION: To combine two questions, were you a political activist before you were arrested and what was the political climate when you were arrested?

SOBELL: There were no political activists in my time.

I joined the Communist Party -- really the Young Communist League (YCL) -- in 1936, in school. In fact, one-half of my graduating class in the school of engineering joined the YCL. That was during the Depression (1933-1938). I was in school when things were really hurting much worse then. Kids were actually starving.

For us, in school the answer was obvious: the means of production have to belong to the people. So we joined the YCL.

In 1950, when the Cold War started to heat up, I remember a loyalty oath I signed in 1947. (I stopped working for the communist Party in 1940.)

Our trial was nothing like the trials today. In 1951, everyone

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was scared -- the defendants were scared, the lawyers were scared and everybody outside was scared.

During our trial, we had no support whatsoever, absolutely none. As a matter of fact, it was some six, eight months after the trial and the sentence that the National Guardian newspaper started to run a series of articles about the case. This was the first breakthrough.

QUESTION: The Cold War, was that intimidating?

SOBELL: Well, this is the way it was: (a) The Cold War was intimidating everybody; and (b) this trial intimidated people even more. The trial's purpose was to tell the people that we were "agents" of a foreign government. Not only did they try to intimidate the adults, they tried to intimidate the kids as well. You remember the kids had to go through this "atom raid" thing below the desk. That was bullshit. It had only one real reason: That was to frighten the kids. And this trial was to frighten the adults. It worked; it worked.

This was a political trial. There couldn't have been any crime for the simple reason that the crime was supposed to have been giving the Soviet Union the secret of the atom bomb.

"SECRET"

There is no such thing as the "secret" of the atom bomb. The only secret was that it could be done.

What the trial was about was that the Establishment had convinced the American people that we had a monopoly on the atom bomb. (They convinced themselves of that also.) So, they figured that with a monopoly on the atom bomb they could rule the world. Well, in 1949, when the Soviet Union exploded its bomb, it really threw them. The only thing was there must have been a "spy" that got the "secret."

To show that mobilization to save the lives of the Rosenbergs must have been effective, just before the end, in June, (Supreme Court) Justice Douglas issued a stay of execution because some lawyers brought in a brief with a really solid legal point. They knew that if they didn't execute Julius and Ethel then and there they wouldn't be able to do it later.

So, what they did was to get the Supreme Court back from vacation. They listened to arguments for just one day, overruled Douglas' stay and the Rosenbergs were executed the next day.

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SUPPORT THE COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE FOR HUEY P. NEWTON

THE COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE FOR HUEY P. NEWTON is an independent citizens' group made up of a cross-section of attorneys, clergy, students, political activists, and other concerned citizens. The Committee, which was formed in August, 1974, is pressing for a full investigation into the intensifying pattern of attacks by police and federal authorities against Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party. For further information contact THE COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE FOR HUEY P. NEWTON, c/o Community Learning Center, 6118 E. 14th Street. Oakland, California 94621, or call (415)562-5261.

I would like to donate to help the Committee's legal and educational activities

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SPEECH DELIVERED AT BOSTON COLLEGE NOVEMBER 18, 1970

PART 6

BY HUEY P. NEWTON

In last week's excerpt from a speech delivered at Boston College and excerpted from To Die For The People, Huey P. Newton, leader and chief theoretician of the Black Panther Party, discussed America's emergence from a nation to an empire and the development of the Black Panther Party's philosophy of revolutionary intercommunalism.

In this week's selection, Part 6, Brother Huey explains that the peoples of the world are uniting against the empire and beginning to control their own destinies and lives.

Marx and Lenin felt, with the information they had, that when the non-state finally came to be a reality, it would be caused or ushered in by the people and by communism. A strange thing happened. The ruling reactionary circle, through the consequence of being imperialists, transformed the world into what we call "Revolutionary Intercommunalism." This would be the time when the people seize the means of production and distribute the wealth and technology in an egalitarian way to the many communities of the world.

We see very little difference in what happens to a community here in North America and what happens to a community in Vietnam. We see very little difference in what happens, even culturally, to a Chinese community in San Francisco and a Chinese community in Hong Kong. We see very little difference in what happens to a Black community in Harlem and a Black community in South Africa, a Black community in Angola and one in Mozambique. We see very little difference.

So, what has actually happened, is that the non-state has already been accomplished, but it is reactionary. A community by way of definition is a comprehensive collection of institutions which serve the people who live there. It differs from a nation because a community evolves around a greater structure that we usually call the state, and the state has certain control over the community if the administration represents the people or if the administration happens to be the people's commissar.

It is not so at this time, so there's still something to be done. I mentioned earlier the necessity for the redistribution of wealth. We think that it is very important to know that as things are in the world today socialism in the United States will never exist. Why? It will not exist because it cannot exist. It cannot at this time exist anyplace in the world. Socialism would require a socialist state, and if a state does not exist how could socialism exist? So how do we define certain progressive countries such as the People's Republic of China?

How do we describe certain progressive countries, or communities as we call them, as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea? How do we define certain communities such as North Vietnam and the provisional government in the South? How do we explain these communities if in fact they too cannot claim nationhood? We say this: we say they represent the people's liberated territory.

They represent a community liberated. But that community is not sufficient, it is not satisfied, just as the National Liberation Front is not satisfied with the liberated territory in the South. It is only the groundwork and preparation for the liberation of the world -- seizing the wealth from the ruling circle, equal distribution and proportional representation in an intercommunal framework. This is what the Black Panther Party would like to achieve with the help of the power of the people, because without the people nothing can be achieved.

WEALTH

I stated that in the United States socialism would never exist. In order for a revolution to occur in the United States you would have to have a redistribution of wealth not on a national or an international level, but on an intercommunal level. Because how can we say that we have accomplished revolution if we redistribute the wealth just to the people here in North America when the ruling circle itself is guilty of trespass de bonis asportatis. That is, they have taken away the goods of the people of the world, transported them to America and used them as their very own.

In 1917, when the revolution occurred, there could be a redistribution of wealth on a national level because nations existed. Now, if you talk in terms of planning an economy on a world-wide level, on an intercommunal level, you are saying something important: that the people have been ripped off very much like one country being ripped off. Simple reparation is not enough because the people have not only been robbed of their raw materials, but of the wealth accrued from the investment of those materials -- an investment which has created the technological machine. The people of the world will have to have control -- not a limited share of control for "X" amount of time, but total control forever.

In order to plan a real intercommunal economy we will have to acknowledge how the world is hooked up. We will also have to acknowledge that nations have not existed for some time. Some people will argue that nations still exist because of the cultural differences. By way of definition, just for practical argument culture is a collection of learned patterns of behavior.

Here in the United States Black people, Africans, were raped from the mother cuntry, and consequently we have literally lost most of our African values. Perhaps we still hold on to some surviving Africanisms, but by and large you can see the transformation which was achieved by time and the highly technological society whose tremendous mass media functions as an indoctrination center.

TO BE CONTINUED

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BLACK STUDENT ALLIANCE: “TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE”

The Black Student Alliance (BSA) is a progressive organization made up of high school, college and university Black student unions and other Black groups. In the following letter Brother Johnny Stakes, a student at the University of California at Berkeley and a long-time friend of and activist within the Black Student Alliance, outlines the present conditions on campus and presents that group's goals.

Many people believe that the student protest movement is dead. They attribute this belief to the fact that college campuses are relatively quiet today. No longer do thousands of students march and rally against blatant injustices committed against poor and oppressed people. No longer are National Guardsmen called onto college campuses to quell student demonstrations.

What does all this mean? Does it mean that students have lost all hope in changing a corrupt system? Not at all.

The changes in student attitudes and activities over the last few years came about because of many reasons. The primary reason was that students were content with just having rallies and marches, while at the same time neglecting to implement programs which could have been instrumental in building a long lasting liberation framework.

In his book Blood In My Eye, George Jackson correctly stated that, "Today the rally affords us the opportunity to effect intensive organization of the projects and programs that will form the infrastructure of our communes. If the mass rallies close, as they have in the past with a few speeches and a pamphlet, we can expect no more results than in the past: two hours later the people will be Amerikans again (instead of people)."

FAILED TO REALIZE

Student protest leaders failed to realize this point, so consequently they went on holding the same old rallies and marches with the same old speakers until the students got tired of all of this and lost interest in the struggle.

The student protest rallies of the late 60s and early 70s failed to take on a new significance. Today many students say that they don't go to rallies because they've "heard it all before."

Many students who foresaw the failure of rallies and marches broke away from the general student protest movement and formed so-called "underground" movements. Groups such as the "Weather Underground" were formed as a result of frustration at the general student protest movement. However, what the Weather Underground and other similar organizations failed to understand is that terrorism can never be used to organize the people. In using terrorism, the Weather Underground not only alienated itself from the rest of the student protest movement but from the community as well. V.I. Lenin would call such groups as the Weather Underground, infantile leftists. These fanatics did more than their fair share to help sabotage the student protest movement, and the question remains where are they today?

In addition to the "left-wing" Communists, and the reformists who failed to understand the necessity of fundamental change, the student protest movement was infiltrated with the usual opportunists, jackanapes, police informers, egotists, etc. All of whom helped to shatter the student protest movement.

"VETERANS"

The Black Student Alliance was formed in 1971 by a group of dedicated students living in the Bay Area. These students, many of whom were "veterans" of the past student protest movement, had carefully analyzed the problems that affected students. They then

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came to the conclusion that the best way to deal with problems affecting students was to do so collectively. In other words, it was feasible for the various Black student unions to come "together, so we can make a change."

With this motto in mind the BSUs of Merritt, Laney, Alameda, Grove St., and other Bay Area colleges came together for the purpose of helping each other better serve the community.

The Black Student Alliance was organized at a crucial period of time in the student protest movement. It was organized at a time when many Black students were beginning to question the sincerity of so-called "campus revolutionaries."

One of the unique aspects of the Alliance, one which would help to insure its future, was the fact that the Alliance believed that the Black student community could not be separated from the Black community in general.

After learning from the mistakes of the past student protest movement, the Alliance came to the realization that rhetoric is not the answer. The people need programs which meet their basic needs and desires -- so the Alliance implemented programs for students and supported and worked with programs for poor and oppressed people in the community. At the same time the Alliance does not fail to educate the students about the fact that it is the job of the government to meet people's needs.

Some of the programs that the Black Student Alliance has implemented over the last few years are the Free Book and Meal Program, which provides poor students with the necessary books for their courses as well as a hot nourishing lunch every day; Free Transportation, which provides students with bus fare to and from school every day; a Free Medical Clinic (at Grove St. College, a branch of the People's Free Medical Research Health Clinic); Free Tutorial and Counseling services; Political Education; etc.

These programs, and others, are all free. The BSA believes that in order to get people involved in the liberation struggle you must organize them around their basic needs and desires.

In addition, the Alliance has actively supported such issues as the United Farmworkers struggle, the San Quentin 6, the prosecution of the police murder of 14-year-old Tyrone Guyton, voter registration, electoral campaigns of true People's Candidates, Sickle Cell Anemia testing, etc.

The Black Student Alliance also has a weekly radio program on station KDIA (every Sunday at 7:45 p.m.). This radio program is used to educate the community about current issues which affect their lives as well as issues on campus.

More than anything else the Black Student Alliance sets an example that other student organizations will inevitably have to follow if they are to survive and serve the community.

This type of organizing is crucial today, if the badly fragmented student protest movement is to be revived. For more information about the Black Student Alliance, call (415) 834-5740, ext. 233.

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“NIXON AND THE MIAMI CONNECTION”

PART 1

Richard Nixon was one of a long string of corrupt American chief executives. He differed from other Presidents, however, in that he failed to succeed in keeping the lid on his criminal activity. When the Watergate scandal broke, investigations which began into the Nixon Presidency uncovered some of the horrifying inner workings of the office of the President of the United States.

This week THE BLACK PANTHER begins publication of excerpts from the newly released book Big Brother and the Holding Company, the intriguing story of the world behind Watergate. Following is Part 1 of an essay from the book in which investigative reporter Jeff Gerth unearths "The Miami Connection" -- Nixon's relationship with organized crime.

Richard M. Nixon has been a central figure in American politics since the end of World War II. At the end of his third Presidential campaign, he was the best-financed candidate in American history. Yet in many ways Nixon remains a profound enigma. Never a man of great personal popularity, he has nevertheless survived an almost endless series of personal crises and defeats to attain the pinnacle of American power.

Nixon's career has been continuously marred by scandal and controversy. From his smear campaigns in the late forties, to the secret slush fund that led to the Checkers speech in 1952, to the Hughes loan in 1960, to the four-hundred-thousand-dollar ITT scandal in 1972, to the Watergate break-in and the secret Republican war chest, Nixon's ascendancy to power has been surrounded by the stigma of suspicion.

Nixon's rise to wealth and power has required the silent loyalty of a wide range of personalities whose names only occasionally surface in the glare of scandal -- with good reason. Richard Nixon would not be President were it not for his uncanny ability to thrive on political crisis. As much as anything else it is his self-proclaimed poker-playing instincts -- the cautious, calculating, close-mouthed style and the ability to keep a stone face in rough as well as smooth times -- that carried Nixon to the Presidency.

"A hundred Navy officers will tell you Nix never lost a cent at poker," says a buddy from World War II. "It's a matter of being in the right place at the right time," says Nixon, "and I'm always willing to take a chance… maybe it's that old poker-playing instinct."

But it is in moments of vulnerability that the underworld inevitably makes contact. It is the loan shark who will lend you money when no one else will, and it is the mob that controls the pleasures and vices of escape -- narcotics, gambling, pornography.

Accordingly, Nixon's closest contact with organized crime occurred during the most vulnerable periods of his political career -- his start in the forties, and his years out of office in the sixties.

A major base for the wide network of organized crime is the Caribbean, and consequently a major capital is Miami. In the days of the Cuban dictatorship, Miami was the center of the "Havana connection" -- a funnel for money flowing from the Caribbean gambling hotel, prostitution, and drug operations which centered in prerevolutionary Cuba. The control exercised by organized crime of Miami dates back to the forties.

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As of January 3, 1947, Richard Nixon was a congressman from southern California. Mr. Nixon and his biographers have always maintained that he never showed up in Florida -- the site of so many of his later dealings -- until the early fifties. Keeping Nixon out of Florida in the forties is essential to the Nixon image, because in 1950 Senator Estes Kefauver opened his celebrated hearing on organized crime in Miami. In seven hundred thirty pages of testimony Kefauver painted a shattering picture of nationally known gangsters working in harmony with Florida public officials ranging in rank from sheriff to governor.

But according to Richard Danner, a former head of the Miami FBI office, and his FBI partner John Madala, Nixon did show up. Many of Nixon's early Florida excursions found him fishing with Bebe Rebozo, an unknown gas station operator, and Tatum "Chubby" Wofford, whose Wofford Hotel Kefauver identified as Syndicate-controlled.

During an hour and a half conversation in September 1972, Danner recounted for me one of Nixon's Miami visits. The time was 1948. Nixon was involved in prosecuting the Hiss case, in which (in Six Crises) Nixon has confessed his "name, reputation, and career" were staked. In the middle of the prosecution, George Smathers called Danner from Washington to tell him, "Dick is on the verge of a physical breakdown. We're all concerned about him." Smathers put Nixon on the train and Danner met him at the other end, in Miami.

Danner remembers he thought Nixon looked "like a northern hick" coming off the train in his heavy overcoat. After a week in Vero Beach, where Danner had a car dealership, the two headed for a Miami osteopath. Danner called Rebozo to say, "Bebe, get your boat and meet us at the doctor's office." The three then went out on Rebozo's yacht. From the sunny quiet of Miami Nixon returned to Washington rested and ready to continue his attack on Alger Hiss.

Danner's past was hardly free of scandal. There was his friendship with corrupt officials like Dade County Sheriff James Sullivan during his 1940-46 FBI days and there was his stint in 1946 at the Miami Beach Hotel Owners Association with his friend Abe Allenberg, the association president. Allenberg also happened to be booking manager of the Wofford Hotel and local representative for the New York syndicate.

From 1946 to 1948 Danner was city manager of Miami, and his term of office ended with him caught in the middle of a gangland dispute over control of the city police. In 1948 the city council dismissed Danner, accusing him of "playing both ends against the middle." Furthermore, one council member alleged that two years earlier Danner had accepted ten thousand dollars from gambling interests while managing the Congressional campaign of George Smathers.

In the early fifties Danner left Florida to join his friends in Washington. He opened shop as a lawyer and took out membership in the Burning Tree Country Club, where his golfing partners were Smathers and Nixon. Danner managed to keep out of the public eye until mid-sixties, when General Motors used him to coordinate its snooping on Ralph Nader.

In 1968, Howard Hughes sent Nixon a hundred-thousand-dollar contribution through Danner and Rebozo. Danner was representing Hughes's Las Vegas casino interests at the time. Not long after Nixon had set himself up at Key Biscayne -- with the help of Rebozo -- Danner located himself in Nevada to oversee the Hughes empire there. Danner's friendship with former FBI buddy Robert Maheu put him there in the first place, and it was Nixon's influence that kept him safe during Maheu's stormy, well-publicized departure.

TO BE CONTINUED

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THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY PROGRAM

MARCH 29, 1972 PLATFORM

WHAT WE WANT, WHAT WE BELIEVE

1. WE WANT FREEDOM. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.

We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.

2. WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.

We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.

3. WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE CAPITALIST OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.

We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over fifty million Black people. Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.

4. WE WANT DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.

We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.

5. WE WANT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY.

We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.

6. WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE.

We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses. most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventative medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical attention and care.

7. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

We believe that the racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against Black people, other people of color and poor people inside the United States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces and that all Black and oppressed people should be armed for self-defense of our homes and communities against these fascist police forces.

8. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL WARS OF AGGRESSION.

We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desires of the U.S. ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that if the U.S. government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars that it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.

9. WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL BLACK AND POOR OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW HELD IN U.S. FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, CITY AND MILITARY PRISONS AND JAILS. WE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR ALL PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.

We believe that the many Black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. prisons and jails have not received fair and impartial trials under a racist and fascist judicial system and should be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institutions, because the masses of men and women imprisoned inside the United States or by the U.S. military are the victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment. We believe that when persons are brought to trial that they must be guaranteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprisonment while awaiting trials.

10. WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE'S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

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PORTUGUESE -- RULED AFRICAN ISLANDS TO BE FREED

(Algiers, Algeria) -- Portugal's crumbling African empire became smaller last week with the signing of an agreement here by Portugal and liberation leaders of the West African islands of Sao Tome and Principe, granting the islands independence on July 12, 1975.

The agreement to free the islands, located in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of the west African country of Gabon (see map, this page), was signed by Miguel Trouvoado, a member of the executive committee of the island chain's liberation movement, and Almeida Santos, Portuguese minister of interterritorial coordination.

The nation of 61,000 people, who are predominantly Black, will be free from over 500 years of Portuguese rule and exploitation under the terms of the agreement.

Between now and next July, Sao Tome and Principe will be ruled by a provisional government headed by a Portuguese high commissioner and liberation movement representatives. An election of an assembly composed of the islands' native people will be held five days before independence is proclaimed.

In the former Portuguese African colonies of Guinea-Bissua and Mozambique, the ruling Armed Forces Movement in Portugal, upon granting independence to the two countries, recognized the leading liberation movements as representing local opinion.

The Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe demanded the same recognition in preliminary negotiations with Portugal held in October in Libreville, Gabon's capital.

Seeking to retain as much influence as possible in the islands, Portugal prolonged negotiations by stubbornly seeking

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to organize a referendum (vote) on self-determination. The push for a referendum, however, failed. The assembly that will be elected next July is expected to draft a new constitution.

The provisional government will be composed entirely of members of the Movement for the Libertion of Sao Tome and Principe with the exception of one Portuguese high commissioner who will retain control of the armed forces until independence.

With the agreement on the independence of Principe and Sao Tome, Portugal's only remaining African colony (the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau are expected to vote for union with already liberated Guinea-Bissau) is Angola, its largest and richest territory. Secret negotiations took place recently in Algiers between Dr. Agostinho Neto, head of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the country's leading Black revolutionary group, and Maj. Ernesto Melo Antunes, a minister without portfolio in Portuguese government. Reports on these negotiations are forthcoming.

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Intercommunal News: U.S. -- BACKED CAMBODIAN REGIME RETAINS UNITED NATIONS SEAT

(United Nations, N.Y.) -- A close vote here on November 28 allowed the U.S.-puppet Cambodian regime of Marshal Lon Nol to retain its seat in the United Nations (U.N.) for another year. The vote was 56 to 54, with 24 abstentions.

The drive to expel the Lon Nol government was led by the People's Republic of China, Algeria and Yugoslavia, who demanded in a resolution, supported by 34 countries and presented to the U.N. General Assembly, that Cambodia's seat be given to the revolutionary government-in-exile of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who now lives in Peking.

People's China and Algeria argued that the Lon Nol regime holds office today because of a 1970 U.S.-backed coup that removed Prince Sihanouk from office and gave American troops the freedom to use Cambodia as a base for fighting against North Vietnam. It is a well known fact among diplomatic observers that the U.S. CIA is the only reason Lon Nol remains in power in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.

The U.S., seeking to retain its neocolonialist influence in Southeast Asia, vigorously lobbied against the resolution. The Soviet Union and its allies supported the resolution while many Western European nations, Latin American countries and Israel voted against it.

Several of Cambodia's Asian neighbors, including Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand -- the latter three countries received massive economic aid from the U.S. -- voted against the resolution on the grounds that the U.N. has no right to impose a government on the Cambodian people.

The General Assembly approved a resolution calling on "all the powers which have been influencing the two parties in the conflict" in Cambodia to "use their good offices for conciliation between these two parties with a view to restoring peace."

The resolution also asked U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim to report to the General Assembly in one year on the progress made in resolving the Cambodian conflict and asked the Assembly to delay further action until after Waldheim's report.

The chief U.N. delegate of People's China, Huang Hua, angrily commented after the vote that even if the "traitorous Lon Nol clique were able to hang on in the United Nations for a few more days, "it could not expect to remain in power through a resolution that had been concocted by a superpower (the U.S.)."

Meanwhile, the U.N. vote is not expected to seriously affect the situation in Cambodia. As one Western diplomat put it, "We called it victory when we held them off in the U.N. last year, but here we are a year later and we've done it again and nothing has improved on the ground here. Things are worse than ever."

The Cambodian economy is in serious trouble, with prices rising at an inflation rate of almost 300 per cent annually and people starving because they are too poor to buy food.

On the battleground the dead and wounded increase at a rate of more than 300 a day. The people's forces of Prince Sihanouk control three-fourths of the country while the Lon Nol regime's control is confined to the cities and towns, where over half of Cambodia's population of seven million lives.

Despite the U.N. vote, the Lon Nol government is threatened with a major loss of U.S. aid. Congress strongly favors cutting the nearly $700 million in Cambodian aid, most of it military, which it approved for the last fiscal year.

The Senate is currently proposing to slash this figure almost in half to a limit of $347 million, a figure U.S. officials claim will make it impossible for the despotic Lon Nol government to remain in power.

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TOWARD A “NEW MOZAMBIQUE”: BY SAMORA MACHEL

An historic, revolutionary speech by FRELIMO (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique) President Samora Machel was read on September 20, 1974, during ceremonies in Lourenco Marques, Mozambique's capital, in which FRELIMO militants were installed as the leaders of the country's transitional government. This government will guide the country to complete independence to take place on June 25, 1975, following over 400 years of Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique.

This is the conclusion of Comrade Machel's inspirational speech which gives an in-depth analysis of society in the "new Mozambique."

CONCLUSION

Colonialism has already been buried, Mozambique's independence will be a fact within a few months. Let us therefore definitely turn towards the future. What matters now is to build the future relations between our peoples, between the democratic forces of our countries. And the future relations between our peoples largely depend on the actions of the High Commissioner and on frank and sincere cooperation between the High Commissioner and the Transitional Government.

Together with the High Commissioner, the Transitional Government will build, stone by stone, the edifice of friendship and cooperation which we hope will be a historical example. We are faced with the tremendous challenge of a unique historical situation -- the simultaneous liberation of two peoples through a common victory against fascism and colonialism. Neither of us liberated the other, it was mutual liberation through a parallel struggle which must take a new scope in the future.

Even now in the cooperation established between our forces in the struggle against the death throes of colonial-fascist reaction, we presented to the world a singular demonstration of the fact that the identification of peoples in the struggle against a common enemy is not an empty word, but it is possible, open and fruitful, even between yesterday's colonized and those who were forced to be instruments of that colonization.

We therefore expect the High Commissioner, in the spirit of the Lusaka Agreement, to carry out to the full what we regard as his most inspiring duties, which are to give impetus to the process of decolonization, eliminate the vestiges of colonialism and lay the foundations for a new type of relations between our peoples.

In line with its political principles, and remaining true to the commitments it has undertaken, FRELIMO will cooperate sincerely with the High Commissioner of the Portuguese Republic and with the Portuguese Armed Forces, so as to fulfil together the tasks of the present phase and build the future.

At this moment, we wish to pay heartfelt and stirring tribute to the memory of all our heroes, to all those who made both us and our country what we are today. Among them all and to remind us of them all, we wish to evoke the unforgettable memory of Comrade Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane, founder and first President of FRELIMO and true inspirer and driving force of our struggle, who fell in the national liberation struggle. May his example of heroism and sacrifice be a source of inspiration and encouragement to enable us to fulfill the new tasks.

MOURNING

At a time when the city of Lourenco Marques, and with it the whole of Mozambique, is mourning because of a fascist adventure, let us be able to transform our sorrow into new strength to galvanize us to continue on the road of building independence, freedom and democracy in our country.

If the destruction of Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique was brought about primarily by sacrifice and efforts of the Mozambican people, it is nevertheless important to emphasize at this time the great contribution united Africa made to this victory, which is the common victory of the liberation movements in the Portuguese colonies and of the entire American liberation movement.

We therefore wish to hail the representatives of the Organization of African Unity who are here to show by their presence their consistent solidarity with our struggle. We particularly wish to hail the representatives of Tanzania and Zambia, great brother peoples who, with heroism and determination were able to assume the role of strategic rear and therefore made our victory possible. Here we honor the memory of the Tanzanian and Zambian brothers who fell victim to colonialist aggression, consolidating through their sacrifices friendship and solidarity which, forged in the hard years of war, will be strengthened and consolidated in peace. Through them we send our greetings to our brothers in all countries bordering on the fighting territories in Guinea, Senegal, the People's Republic of the Congo and Zaire.

We salute the valuable and decisive contribution made by the generous political, moral and material help given to us by the socialist countries in the highest internationalist spirit.

Through the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, we greet the United Nations Organization and the international community in general, whose growing moral, diplomatic and material support was a powerful factor in encouraging our struggle and isolating the colonial-fascist regime.

SUPPORT

We wish to hail especially the support given by the democratic forces throughout the world, by progressive international organizations and revolutionary and anticolonialist forces in western countries.

In conclusion, we wish to greet the Portuguese people, through the Portuguese democratic forces with whom we forged bonds of militant fraternity during the difficult years of common struggle, bonds which, more than the written words of treaties, are the guarantee of our future friendship and cooperation.

As we engage in this new struggle, we call upon our entire people to remain united, firm and vigilant under the banner of FRELIMO embarking with enthusiasm, discipline and hard work on the building of a free, developed and democratic Mozambique, under the watchword: UNITY, WORK, VIGILANCE.

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AFRICA IN FOCUS

ETHIOPIA

The military junta in Ethiopia has elected a new chairman, Gen. Tafari Banti, to replace Lt. Gen. Aman Michael Andom, who reportedly died while resisting arrest during a military power struggle last week. Attention in this troubled East African nation also focused on the possibility of increased, and more widespread, fighting in the north, where ethnic minorities have carried on a 12-year guerrilla war under the leadership of the Eritrean Liberation Front.

MOZAMBIQUE

Mozambique will become a "revolutionary base" against imperialism and racism, but to FRELIMO (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique) this does not mean. "an arsenal of weapons, or even interference in the internal affairs of other countries." Prime Minister Joachim Chissano said recently. Some South Africans, Rhodesians and Americans had "misinterpreted" FRELIMO President Samora Machel's recent reference to Mozambique as a "revolutionary base against imperialism" to mean that the country would interfere in the internal affairs of its neighbors, Chissano said. "Evidently," he added, "we could not expect a different interpretation from people who don't know what a revolution is."

ALGERIA

A giant parade, rally, reception and other festivities were held in Algiers, capital of Algeria, November 1 to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of the country's armed struggle for national independence from France. Numerous heads of state from Asian and African countries were present at the ceremonies. At a speech on the occasion, Algerian President Houari Boumedienne said that "Only through armed struggle can the rights of the despoiled be restored. There is no other way out."

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“WHITES ONLY” IMMIGRATION POLICY IN SOUTH AFRICA BLASTED

(Johannesburg, South Africa) -- The racist White minority-ruled regime of the Republic of South Africa has come under attack by a South African religious organization for its "Whites only" immigration policy.

The Christian Institute, one of the country's leading anti-aparthied pressure groups, in recent arguments against the continuously controversial immigration policy, says:

"White immigration is an important instrument in helping to maintain the status quo in the South African political economy, based as it is on the maintenance of White power and privilege and the denial of rights and advancement opportunities to the Black majority."

The Christian Institute is calling for an immediate end to White immigration, which annually brings some 30,000 new people into the country, primarily from Great Britain.

ARTIFICIAL SHORTAGE

The Institute's major argument against all-White immigration is that an artificial shortage of skilled labor has been created by the government in its attempts to maintain South Africa's industrial segregation, under which nearly all highly paid jobs are reserved for Whites.

The labor shortages, explains the Institute, should "logically and morally be met from the huge reservoir of unskilled and semi-skilled Black labor in South Africa.

South Africa's declining influence and domination in southern Africa, brought on by such events as FRELIMO's (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique) defeat of Portugal after an 11-year armed struggle and the imminent fall of the fascist White government of Ian Smith in Rhodesia, has made the government increasingly fearful of the potential political power of the country's Black population. Therefore, the Institute says, the government is seeking to fill all skilled labor positions with White immigrants, according to news stories reported in The Christian Science Monitor.

The government, seeking to justify its racist immigration policy, has condemned the Institute's analysis of the situation. Piet. Koornhof, minister of immigration, said:

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"South Africa needs skilled immigrants to stimulate economic growth in the interest of all. Every immigrant who comes to South Africa creates work for two or more non-Whites."

The chambers of industry, which together employ at least 95 per cent of the private sector work force, insist that the present system of White immigration in no way threatens the advancement of Black workers.

The central question is, what kinds of additional jobs do immigrants create for Blacks -- higher paid, more skilled employment opportunities, or merely more of the same unskilled jobs?

The Christian Institute maintains that the upward mobility of Black workers is slowed down by White immigration. For example, the Institute said, under the Bantu (Black African) Building Workers Act, Black workers are denied jobs in the building industry in urban areas. However, White immigrants many of whom are Portuguese, have been recruited to meet the shortage of building artisans.

The government has ridiculously argued that White immigrants "will eventually erode (destroy) the racist attitudes" of White South Africans.

According to the Institute, "since immigrants benefit immensely from the system, and their standards of living and economic prospects improve significantly in South Africa, they are clearly unlikely to want to change the system."

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DEVIOUS INDEPENDENCE SCHEME FOR BLACK SOUTH AFRICA HOMELANDS PLANNED

(Johannesburg, South Africa) -- A plan to grant independence to the tribal homelands of South Africa would leave the Black population of this White minority-ruled country no better off than under the present system of apartheid.

The plan would reportedly be put into effect before the Black liberation movement of South Africa succeeds in the overthrow of the White settlers' government here.

The National Party Government of South African Prime Minister John Vorster devised the plan for fear that his country would share the fate of Portugal's former African colonies -- Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau -- where liberation movements have either won independence or are expected to win it soon.

Under the plan, the vorster regime would try to partition South Africa, keeping 86 per cent of the land and "solving" the Black problem by granting independence to the homelands, set aside for the tribal groups in the remaining 14 per cent. This 14 per cent is also the poorest land available with the least natural resources to sustain life.

The scheme would create nine independent Black nations within the present boundaries reserved for the African tribes.

The policy aims to evade giving equal citizenship to non-Whites by offering an alternative: separate nationhood for Blacks coupled with some form of political autonomy outside the White political framework for those of mixed ancestry and Asians.

Many of the homelands are hostile to the proposed independence plan and may resist it unless they are given more land and other concessions are made reports The New York Times. Chief Gatsha Buthelezi of Zululand, for instance, said that he clearly prefers unity, not fragmentation, of the Black community.

But, reports The Times, the leaders of one of the largest homelands, the Transkei, have indicated that they will accept independence, and discussions on the subject have begun with a target date of 1976 sometimes mentioned.

Vorster has never clearly explained how he would deal with a refusal by the homelands to accept the sham independence.

In any case, many Whites view the regime's failure to heed the growing demands for Black equality as quite dangerous, since that would inevitably lead to a bloody confrontation in a country where the four million Whites make up only 17 per cent of the population and are surrounded by a sea of Black-ruled nations.

But, they note, to give ground is painful and equally dangerous to the privileged minority, which sees it political power as the ultimate guarantee of privilege.

Recognizing that the White minority could not forever repress the aspirations of the vast Black majority, the Vorster regime devised its independence plan as an attempt to substitute relatively painless change for a truly revolutionary transformation of the nation.

So, while recognizing that change is taking place and will continue to take place, the minority government of South Africa is pressing ahead with a major effort to confine the change and make it conform to its racist ideology, so that a great deal of what occurs will turn out to be superficial.

The liberation movements in South Africa are committed to a revolutionary transformation of the country, however, and their struggle is progressing.

-- 18 --

WORLD SCOPE

PUERTO RICO

The organized power of Puerto Rico's working class recently forced the island's colonial governor to pardon 11 jailed union leaders or face a nationwide general strike. The 11 are leaders of the Authentic Independent Union, representing workers at the Aqueducts and Sewers Authority, who struck in late October. On November 5, the union leaders received a contempt of court citation and were sentenced to 30 days for encouraging an illegal strike. In Puerto Rico it is illegal for government employees to strike. The sentencing of the leaders brought on widespread protests from almost all segments of organized labor in Puerto Rico.

BAHAMAS

The White settlers of one of the Bahamas Islands, Grat Abaco, have formed the Abaco Independence Movement (AIM) in the hope of separating Grat Abaco from the government of the Bahamas, reports the East German daily Neues Deutsch land. AIM is an organization composed of a few wealthy Whites on an island whose population of 6,500 is 60 per cent Black. Whites only make up 15 per cent of the total population on the Bahamas. The Black majority government of Prime Minister Pindling has yet to comment on the movement.

ISRAEL

The Israeli government announced plans last week for a major new industrial center on the occupied west bank (Arab people live on the west bank) of the Jordan and several smaller projects on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem. Despite governmental denials, Israel's decision seemed a clear response to the resolution passed on November 22 in the United Nations (U.N.) affirming the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and giving the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) observer status in the U.N.

-- 19 --

LIKE IT IS

Day in and day out

I'm dieing: but,

still alive

To what point or development do

you and I sacrifice

People have died: Nat Turner,

Marcus Garvey, W.E.B.

Dubois, Kwame Nkrumah,

El Hajj Malik al-Shabazz

(Malcolm X). King, etc., etc.

But their name lives on in our

memory and struggle for

liberation

Must we die without any contribution,

cause, and purpose

(much more broader than our

immediate and personal

situation)

At this point I'm scared of death -

because there is no more;

but, "that's just objectivity."

I'll only live through you, when

there is no more for me

When I was at a peak of development

in the movement

(meaningly organized effort) I

wasn't scared of death

Does this mean I'm dieing or

decreasing in my and our

committment

to our people to eliminate exploitation

and oppression.

Yes! I do profess freedom and

"waging ideological struggle"

wil not develop without

protracted revolutionary

struggle.

I know that

Thus many control mechanisms

affect our mind which are

apparently

interrelated and interdependent

with our practices.

Knowledge begins with practice.

Nothing's absolute or complete

and things are not static,

but constantly changing.

Incidently;

We don't have long (spend time

wisely)

Easier said than done

Got to deal, deal, deal,

Before there won't be no more

dealing (for me)

But, it's no doubt in my mind

that: