| CONSPIRING FOR CHANGE: the politics of protest in the post 9-11 world
A benefit for the RNC8 and the SF8
Friday July 10th at 6:30 p.m.
@ the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St.
$8 - $800,000 suggested donation, no one turned away
Join us for an evening of inspiration and resistance! The War on Terror
has entangled long histories of state violence with new forms of repression.
From yesterday's COINTELPRO to today's PATRIOT ACT, the government has attempted
to criminalize U.S. political movements in the courts, in the media, and
on the streets. This event brings together longtime activists locally and
from around the country to discuss the use of conspiracy and terrorism charges
against contemporary organizers, to connect legacies of social justice struggles,
and to chart paths of opposition.
There will also be artwork by local Puerto Rican artists Danny Torres and
Ismael Avila and the first Philadelphia showing of the exhibit Voices Outside:
Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex, a portfolio created by artists
in the Justseeds Artist Cooperative.
THE PANELISTS
Ramona Africa
Ramona Africa is an international spokesperson for the MOVE organization, a
revolutionary back-to-nature organization whose main belief is in life. This
organization has experienced violent repression at the hands of the government,
with nine members known as the MOVE 9 incarcerated for a crime they did not
commit. In 1985, Philadelphia police dropped a military-grade bomb on MOVE
headquarters, killing six adults and five children. Ramona, the only adult
survivor of that attack, was immediately arrested on charges including conspiracy
to riot, and served seven years in prison.
Laura Whitehorn
Laura Whitehorn, an anti-imperialist activist, served nearly 15 years in prison
for militant actions against U.S. policies during the 1980s. For many years
before that, she was active in a variety of radical organizations, including
the Weather Underground and the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee. Released
from prison in 1999, she lives in New York City with her partner, Susie Day.
Whitehorn is an editor at POZ magazine, a national source of information
and news about HIV, and works with other activists in the New York State
Taskforce for the Release of Political Prisoners.
Luce Guillén-Givins
Luce began her political work at age 15, joining a Tucson-based immigrant and
border rights group. Since then she has expanded her focus to include other
issues of globalization, capitalism and empire, and found that anarchist
organizing methods best suited her desire for anti-oppression struggle. In
addition to organizing as part of the RNC Welcoming Committee, Luce has spent
much of the past couple years working with EWOK! (Earth Warriors are OK!),
a Twin Cities-based eco-prisoner support group.
Luis Sanabria
Luis Sanabria was a founding member of the National Committee to Free Puerto
Rican POWs and Political Prisoners and a member of the Movimiento de Liberacion
Nacional (MLN), which spearheaded the campaigns for freeing two generations
of Puerto Rican political prisoners. He is a founding member of the Juan
A. Corretjer Centers in San Francisco and in Philadelphia, and a board member
of Philadelphia's Centro Pedro Claver, which celebrates its 30th anniversary
this year.
Soffiyah Elijah
Soffiyah Elijah is a Clinical Instructor at the Criminal Justice Institute
at Harvard Law School. She has had a distinguished career as an attorney
and was an assistant professor of law at the City University of New York.
She has represented a number of political prisoners and activists in the
U.S. including Kwame Turé, Marilyn Buck and Sundiata Acoli. Dr. Elijah
has done extensive research on the U.S. criminal justice and prison systems
over the past 20 years. She is currently representing Francisco Torres in
the San Francisco 8 case.
Francisco Torres (Invited)
Cisco was born in Puerto Rico and raised in this country. He is a Vietnam Veteran
who fought for the grievances of Black and Latino soldiers upon his return
to the states. A former Black Panther, he has been a community activist since
his discharge from the military in 1969. His presence at the event depends
on whether he will be able to travel during the preliminary hearings, which
start in July.
THE CASES
The San Francisco 8 are the eight Black community activists, Black Panthers
and others, who were arrested January 23, 2007, in California, New York,
and Florida on charges related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police
officer. Similar charges were thrown out thirty-five years ago after it was
revealed that police used torture to extract confessions when some of these
same men were arrested in New Orleans in 1973. The original charges against
them came out of COINTELPRO, and the reopening of the case was made possible
by the PATRIOT act. After more than two years, preliminary hearings in the
case begin in July 2009. For more info check out www.freethesf8.org
The RNC8 are the eight
activists facing conspiracy and terrorism charges for their work organizing
against the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
They were arrested before the convention even began and charged with conspiracy
to riot in furtherance of terrorism, making them the first people ever
charged under Minnesota's version of the PATRIOT act. They are not being
charged with actually doing anything, but face the possibility of several
years in prison for publicly organizing against the RNC. For more info
check out www.rnc8.org
This event is sponsored by Philly RNC8 Support Committee and the National
Boricua Human Rights Network
The A-Space Anarchist
Community Space,
4722 Baltimore Ave, W. Philly,
215-727-0882 leave msg
National
Jericho Movement • P.O. Box 1272 • New York, NY 10013 |