From resist at resist.ca  Sat Sep  6 19:31:14 2003
From: resist at resist.ca (resist)
Date: 06 Sep 2003 19:31:14 -0700
Subject: [news] Venezuela declares war on WTO
Message-ID: <1062901874.875.9.camel@murray>

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: michael a. lebowitz <mlebowit at sfu.ca>
To: project-x at lists.resist.ca
Subject: [pr-x] Fwd: Venezuela declares war on WTO
Date: 06 Sep 2003 08:59:37 -0700


Say no at WTO, Venezuela tells developing nations
Friday, September 5, 2003 Posted: 2346 GMT ( 7:46 AM HKT)



CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela declared war on Friday against what it called an unfair
world trade system and urged developing nations not to subscribe to any new agreements at upcoming
global trade talks next week.

The world's No. 5 oil exporter made clear it would take an aggressive stance at September 10-14 World
Trade Organization negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, which aim to lower barriers to world trade.

Venezuela's chief trade negotiator Victor Alvarez said the world's poorest countries had only a tiny
share of world exports, which were hogged by rich nations: "It's clear who are the winners and losers
of today's world trade system."

"We'll be taking the fight to inside the WTO," he said.

Alvarez said President Hugo Chavez's left-wing government would not negotiate over its demand, shared
with other developing countries, that rich industrialized nations end "ruinous subsidies" for their
farm products.

Challenging what he called the "pro-market fundamentalism" of the United States and other rich
nations, he insisted on the right of Third World states to intervene heavily in their economies to
promote development and fight poverty.

"Venezuela is going to propose that no new commitments be adopted (at the Cancun talks)," Alvarez
said.

"It makes no sense for countries like ours to add new points to the WTO agenda when there's such a
long list of issues that haven't been satisfied," he added.

Venezuela's apparent spoiling strategy flew in the face of urgent calls from the United States and
Europe for concrete agreements during the Cancun meeting.

It also reflected repeated verbal attacks by populist former paratrooper Chavez against world bodies
like the WTO, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The Venezuelan leader, who is accused by his foes of trying to introduce Cuba-style communism at home,
has pilloried these organizations as "institutions created by empires to continue dominating the
world."

Echoes of Cuba's Castro Alvarez said Venezuela's position was shared by major developing nations like
Brazil and India. But it seemed to echo views expressed by Cuban President Fidel Castro, a friend and
ideological ally of the Venezuelan president.

Alvarez presented a 10-point list dismissing free trade demands by industrialized nations.

For example, he rejected calls for transnational companies to be given equal treatment with national
firms in bidding for state contracts. "We're not going to negotiate our government purchases," he
said.

While demanding a reduction in the subsidies of rich nations, Alvarez said developing countries should
be given more time and special treatment, including financing and debt-forgiveness, to develop their
farm sectors to face fierce competition in world markets.

He rejected suggestions that tough foreign exchange controls adopted by Chavez's government earlier
this year and Venezuela's active membership of the oil exporters' cartel OPEC were against the spirit
of free trade.

Alvarez described these as legitimate protection mechanisms. "They (the rich nations) want us to give
away our resources for free," he said.

---------------------
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Office Fax:   (604) 291-5944
Home:   Phone (604) 689-9510



Project-X list:
initiated for the (re)building of the Left.



From resist at resist.ca  Sat Sep  6 20:55:08 2003
From: resist at resist.ca (resist)
Date: 06 Sep 2003 20:55:08 -0700
Subject: [news] COPE Park's Board Chair Criticizes Cops for Not Removing
	Squatters
Message-ID: <1062906908.875.19.camel@murray>

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Calvin Woida <calvinwoida at hotmail.com>
To: apc-ctte at lists.resist.ca, copb-van-l at lists.resist.ca, gflett1 at shaw.ca, irv at sfu.ca, streetpoet77 at hotmail.com
Subject: [copb-van-l] COPE Park's Board Chair Criticizes Cops for Not Removing Squatters
Date: 06 Sep 2003 20:20:25 -0700


For those who missed it, here is COPE Park's Board Chair Heather Deal's 
solution to the problem of homelessness:  don't wait for an injunction, just 
have the cops throw them out right now (by the way, the Creekside squatters 
have written two letters to the Mayor, City Councillors, and Park's Board 
Commissioners, including Deal, requesting formal permission to stay in 
Creekside Park; so far, they have not received a reply):


Parks chair wants police to remove squatters

By Sandra Thomas-Staff writer

The chair of the parks board is criticizing police for not removing illegal 
squatters from city parks, though they have the power to do so even without 
a court injunction.

Heather Deal says the city has a bylaw dictating that parks be closed from 
10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and prohibiting tents or temporary structures of any kind.

"We aren't asking police to roust homeless people off benches," she said. 
"What we do want them to do in these situations is to enforce the bylaw 
that's already in place.

"It hasn't been a public safety issue so I guess the police are holding 
back. Nobody wants to be the heavy on this one."

Last week, squatters from Thornton Park moved across the street to Creekside 
Park next to Science World after they were served with a court injunction to 
move or face criminal contempt of court charges.

Some of those squatters were part of the original protest group that started 
a tent city at Victory Square in June to protest a lack of affordable 
housing in the city and provincial welfare cuts.

Part of that group also moved to Crab Park, also known as Portside Park.

Spokeswoman Const. Sarah Bloor said while police are carefully monitoring 
the situation at Creekside and Crab parks, they won't forcibly remove the 
squatters unless they receive an enforcement order from the courts.

She said police have a longstanding tradition of not disrupting non-violent 
protests, preferring to wait and see whether protesters respond to a court 
injunction.

Should a court-ordered injunction fail to dislodge the squatters, police 
could move in after an enforcement order was in place.

"But in the past 20 years police have never done that," Bloor said. "This is 
a problem the parks board is going to have to address. We are bound to 
follow a process of community standards and we would only get involved as a 
last resort."

But Deal suspects police have been reluctant to get involved because they 
don't want to look aggressive or unsympathetic to the protesters. She noted 
the department is already fighting an image problem after several 
high-profile accusations of use of excessive force.

While public safety hasn't been at risk in the parks so far, Deal pointed to 
indications of escalating violence and aggression towards media and the 
public from the Creekside protesters. Last week, a TV crew filmed an 
incident where a squatter punched a man on a bicycle so hard, he knocked his 
helmet off.

"If anybody is yelled at, spit on or touched we're asking them to call 
police immediately," she said. "We need to get these guys that are causing 
the trouble."

Bloor said a man has been charged with assault in that incident.

"We did seize a videotape and a criminal charge has been filed," she said. 
"It's the exact same procedure we would have done if something like this 
happened at other protests

_________________________________________________________________
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From megan at resist.ca  Mon Sep  8 14:15:17 2003
From: megan at resist.ca (megan at resist.ca)
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 14:15:17 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [news] Canada's Safe Haven For Junkies (salon.com article)
Message-ID: <1735.199.60.89.34.1063055717.squirrel@mail.resist.ca>

http://salon.com/news/feature/2003/09/08/vancouver/index.html

Canada's safe haven for junkies
Vancouver hopes to save hundreds of lives by opening street clinics where
heroin addicts can shoot up safely. But the White House is accusing Canada
of going AWOL from its war on drugs.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Mark Follman



Sept. 8, 2003  |  VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- It's 11 o'clock on a busy
Wednesday night inside 327 Carrall St. A dozen junkies nod on ragged
couches and chairs lining the downtown storefront's cluttered front room,
where one handwritten sign on the wall declares: "End the war on the
poor." The Clash rattles through a pair of stereo speakers
ancient-sounding enough to be an AM radio. The occasional flare of rubbing
alcohol spikes through the haze of cigarette smoke and smell of hot coffee
-- in the smaller back room, two or three junkies at a time inject heroin
or crack cocaine into their veins using sterile swabs and fresh needles
under the watchful eye of a registered nurse. In here they can also
receive advice on vein care, skin infections and detox programs, or just
temporarily escape the hustle of one of the bleakest city blocks in all of
Canada.

"I can do my fix in here without getting jacked for it," says Shelley, a
young woman with dark, tired eyes. Bruised holes dot the crooks of her
arms. She wears a tight white blouse, fishnets and black boots -- one of
the 80 percent of women who work in the sex trade among the neighborhood's
nearly 5,000 drug addicts. "People are pretty nice to each other here,"
she says with a slight smile.

The 327 Carrall St. operation is illegal, but the mayor's office has
looked the other way since it opened on April 7; the guerrilla
safe-injection site running here every night from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
insures junkies have sterile gear to shoot up with, and discourages them
from fixing alone -- a main contributing cause of overdose -- in the
festering alleys and decrepit residency motels of the neighborhood. The
site is the de facto vanguard of an evolving "harm-reduction" strategy
that the city of Vancouver hopes will help clean up the streets and halt a
decade-long illicit-drug catastrophe that's killed more than 2,000 via
overdose and infectious disease.

Essentially, the situation here has been so bad for so long that the
government is willing to help addicts plunge illegal drugs into their
veins if it means stemming the greater tide of destruction. If the city's
official plan stays on track, by mid-September street junkies will be able
to walk into a storefront at nearby 135 East Hastings St. almost any time
of day and get high in a safe, clean facility administered by the
provincial Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. It's a prospect that's
angered conservatives from Ottawa to Washington.

For now, this makeshift site operating in privately donated space is about
all the street addicts have. The slogan "Solidarity, Resistance,
Liberation" is painted on a sign above the front entrance; inside the
front room I'm greeted by the revolution's unlikely leader: a 26-year-old
activist wearing a baseball cap on her shaved head. Megan Oleson is a
registered nurse who works in critical care at Vancouver General Hospital
by day; every night she comes here to provide clean needles and advice to
junkies (who must supply their own drugs), with the help of volunteers
including current and ex-users. Friendly and mild-mannered, Oleson is
modest about her role -- she emphasizes that staffing a safe-injection
site with addicts' peers is vital to promoting its use. "They really run
the site," she says. But it's quickly clear from the way everyone greets
her that Oleson is revered by the dozens of patrons, up to 30 per night
who inject drugs and another 70 to 100 who come in just for a little
sanctuary. Other activists in the neighborhood say Oleson rarely sleeps,
but she looks relaxed and focused -- a petite Florence Nightingale with a
pierced nose, red tank top and combat boots.

To Canadian conservatives, however -- and to an agitated Bush
administration keeping a glaring eye on ever-liberalizing Canadian social
policy -- Megan Oleson is more akin to Public Enemy No. 1. She's a
renegade promoting criminal behavior and the decriminalization of hard
drugs -- the patron saint of a policy that would nurture chronic abuse,
the further decay of city neighborhoods, and capitulation in the long,
hard-fought war on drugs. And Washington may have good reason to fear
what's happening in Vancouver: If the new policy, planned and fought for
at the local level, indeed proves effective, other North American cities
troubled by throngs of drug addicts -- Seattle, San Francisco and New York
-- may be eager to follow suit.

Vancouver's bold strategy has provoked the expected ire of conservatives
-- especially south of the border, where Washington has recently watched
Canada sanction gay marriage and close in on federal decriminalization of
marijuana. The prospect of government-backed hard-drug use next door has
the White House palpably unsettled: As soon as Vancouver's planned site
gained Canadian federal approval in late June, U.S. drug czar John Walters
went off. "It's immoral to allow people to suffer and die from a disease
we know how to treat," he told the Associated Press. "There are no
safe-injection sites," he added, calling the policy "a lie" and
"state-sponsored personal suicide." David Murray, special assistant in the
U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, told the Vancouver Sun on May
2 that likely "unintended consequences" of the safe-injection site could
force the U.S. to tighten border controls to prevent increased drug
trafficking. That could, of course, negatively impact trade of all sorts.

All of which bounces off Megan Oleson. "There's really nothing radical
about this place," she says, once things slow down and we're able to go
into the less-crowded back room to talk. "It's highly practical.
Safe-injection sites are first-contact work at the ground level. I do
about two or three referrals every night to shelters, to places that offer
detox and prevention, and to recovery homes." At a nearby table partially
curtained off with a sheet, a young woman licks her lips as she cooks a
shot of heroin, her face knotted with anticipation. "The reality of it,"
Oleson continues, "is that for those who want to break away from the
hustle of the street, and many of them do, this gives them time to think
about it, and to have someone to talk to."

She keeps a nonchalant eye on the junkie, who now has a skinny rubber tube
cranked around her left bicep. The woman finds the swollen vein on her
forearm, slides the needle in and presses the plunger down. Oleson quietly
notes her good technique; uninformed junkies often jab needles into their
arms, legs or neck, causing abscesses and other skin problems. The woman
tilts her head back against the wall, eyes closed, her face dropping.
"Drug users and people in poverty deserve dignity and help," Oleson says.

As we exit through the front room for a quick walk to the corner store,
Oleson notes that the rules at 327 -- no fighting, no dealing, no
unsupervised fixing -- are set by the users themselves. "There's nothing
better than people determining their own health needs, right?" she asks.
Looking around at all the nodding faces tinged with easiness and pain --
many of them Asian, black or indigenous, most of them impoverished -- it's
a tough question to answer.

Since 1993, greater Vancouver has seen an awful share of the needle and
the damage done: an average of 147 overdose deaths annually among an
estimated 12,000 injection users of heroin and crack cocaine. At first,
the long-term drug crisis is hard to fathom amid the picturesque
landscape: a prosperous city ringed by lapping bays, green forests and
mountains; home to a vibrant, polyglot community of almost 2 million still
riding the rush of a successful bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

But detour into the roughly 10 blocks of the notorious downtown Eastside
and the lush environs give way to the stench of urine, piles of trash, and
discarded needles. The neighborhood's boarded-up storefronts, few dingy
bars and numerous flophouses give no clue that the tourist-friendly
Gastown and Chinatown districts are close by. Infectious disease has swept
through a desperate populace of back-alley users commonly preparing fixes
with dirty needles and puddle water -- more than 30 percent have HIV and
90 percent hepatitis C. Fearful of law enforcement and street thugs, some
hurried addicts use their own blood to dissolve powdered narcotics for
injection. The concentration of poverty scattered around the open drug
scene's epicenter at Main and Hastings -- known locally as "pain and
wasting" -- was recognized by the 1996 Canadian census as the poorest
neighborhood in the nation. By 1997, with hundreds of deaths on the
downtown streets, city officials had declared an epidemic.

According to Dr. Evan Wood, an epidemiologist at University of British
Columbia, an abundance of cheap drugs and acute poverty underwrite the
ghetto of despair. Displacement due to law-enforcement patterns and
"ridiculously underfunded" addiction treatment exacerbate the problem.

"The only really effective way to deal with the drug crisis is to get at
the demand side," says Wood, who also conducts leading HIV/AIDS research
at St. Paul Hospital in Vancouver. "But there's a five-day waiting list to
get into detox, and you have to phone every morning to keep yourself on
that list." It's a striking state of affairs, given Canada's reputation
for providing a vast social safety net. With nowhere to turn, most addicts
choose to inject -- the fastest and cheapest way to get high -- regardless
of the health dangers.

The first of its kind on the North American continent, Vancouver's
official safe-injection site will be a proving ground for the city's
ambitious "Four Pillars" drug policy. The strategy also calls for greater
treatment and prevention programs, and vigorous law enforcement targeting
dealers -- but not addicts, whom the policy says should be treated as a
health problem. At an annual cost of about $2 million (Canadian), the site
will offer 12 injection stations, a medical emergency room, counseling
offices, and a "chill-out" room where users can socialize or simply relax
after their latest fix, according to Viviana Zanocco, a spokesperson for
the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.

Although illicit-drug use inside the site will be permitted by special
federal exemption, defining a boundary for street enforcement may remain
tricky. "One Catch-22 is that people will still have to purchase their
illicit drugs from somebody," says Zanocco. "How does the site work if
people are too scared to go in because they're afraid the police will be
standing outside the door? It's a struggle, I admit it. We're working with
the police department on a strategy."

"This is a health problem, not a criminal problem," says Vancouver Mayor
Larry Campbell. Like many other Canadian officials, Campbell appears
unfazed by Washington's rhetoric. "We have conservatives in Canada, too,
and they won't look at fact or reason either," he says flatly. "I've been
to Zurich [Switzerland] where they had a problem way worse than ours, and
I've seen the results." The harm-reduction component of the widely
endorsed plan -- Mayor Campbell was voted into office in 2002 promising to
implement it -- is modeled after programs in Europe and Australia, which
have dramatically reduced overdose deaths and the spread of disease.

Though Canada is tagged a firebrand of progressive social policy next to
the U.S., it, too, has long fought a supply-side war on drugs. Almost 95
percent of the roughly $500 million spent annually on Canada's drug
strategy goes toward efforts to reduce the illicit drug supply. But that
paradigm may be cracking now, due in part to the dire situation in
Vancouver, and some leading-edge research at University of British
Columbia.

With an in-depth study of the city's injection drug users already in
progress, Evan Wood and his colleague Dr. Martin Schechter, head of UBC's
epidemiology department, were able to measure the impact in late 2000 of a
seizure of 220 pounds of heroin -- the single largest drug-enforcement win
in Canada's history. Following more than 120 addicts during the months
before and after, the researchers reported that "the massive seizure
appeared to have no impact on injection users or on the perceived
availability of heroin." In fact, the study found that the median price of
heroin in Vancouver dropped 20 percent following the seizure, with no
change in purity, suggesting an even more saturated supply. Separate
research showed the number of fatal overdoses actually ticked higher in
the following months.

Wood and Schechter also cite a 2001 United Nations report indicating that
only 5 percent of the global illegal drug flow is successfully thwarted by
law enforcement. Still, the problem isn't on the enforcement front lines.
"The responsibility lies with the politicians and policymakers who
continue to direct the overwhelming majority of resources into failing
supply-reduction strategies, despite the wealth of scientific evidence
demonstrating their ineffectiveness," they write. "Our strong consensus
[is] that curbing HIV and overdose epidemics requires a shift toward
prevention, treatment and harm reduction."

The devastation visible on Vancouver's downtown streets leaves little
doubt that the war on drugs has failed here. But working with an
inherently unstable clientele of street junkies, there are no guarantees
harm-reduction measures will succeed. Coaxing marginalized addicts to
embrace an official safe-injection site could prove difficult -- let alone
making the site an effective stepping stone to detox and rehabilitation.

"I used to break into cars all the time, anything to get another fix,"
says Robert, a jittery 37-year-old junkie in shorts and a tattered T-shirt
who asks me for 15 cents at the corner of Abbot and West Pender. It's
early afternoon and a couple of businessmen in suits whisk by; normal
commercial activity and the hardcore street hustle blend with a strange
ease on this block. Robert's fingertips are blackened, and scabby holes
pock the backs of his hands, his forearms and the sides of his neck. He
says he's heard about the coming safe-injection site, but quickly adds, "I
don't shoot no more." We go into the McDonald's on the corner, where he
pays the few extra cents he needed for his order: two strawberry sundaes,
with extra peanuts. "I think that site is a foolish idea," he says,
repeating unconvincingly that he's been clean for three months.

Back outside at the bus stop, Robert greets a young addict named Jasmine,
then sits down to eat. He keeps glancing across the street, where a couple
of prostitutes work the corner in broad daylight, a pimp-dealer type
lurking close behind. "You don't think I'm going to be on heroin do you?"
he says, jiggling on the bus stop seat. "I'm not ever going to be a junkie
again. Never."

Angelic-faced Jasmine says the site wouldn't get her off the street. "When
you have to fix, you do it wherever you want. You won't wait to go to some
other place."

"Yeah, you just go around the corner," Robert exclaims.

"Think about it, people that fix coke get so retarded," Jasmine chimes.
"You think they'll really stay inside there? They're gonna boogie straight
out the door all jacked up!" she laughs.

"Yeah, tear up ... start ripping the carpets up!" laughs Robert. His face
goes flat again. "It's like a stupid joke," he says, shaking his head.

But the site is a grave matter for Ann Livingston of Vancouver Area
Network of Drug Users, an activist group working out of a ragtag office
just down the block at 50 East Hastings St. The city's harm-reduction plan
has wound through six years of study and debate, with the new
safe-injection site promised over a year ago. "Just what really is a
public health emergency?" implores Livingston, who helped set up the
guerilla site at 327 Carrall. "It's a really vicious, violent thing to
leave in place, while people diddle around and argue about protocols and
funding. It verges on criminal negligence to stand by and watch a group of
people year after year when you can predict extremely accurately how many
will get HIV/AIDS, and how many will die."

The activist group, made up of hundreds of current and former addicts
(Livingston herself is not a drug user), hasn't waited around. It runs
nightly "alley patrols," and now distributes 1.5 million clean needles per
year, according to Livingston -- that's roughly half the 3 million given
out annually in Vancouver, which has the largest needle exchange in North
America.

"We have a really long way to go," agrees Fiona Gold, a "street" nurse at
the nearby office of the B.C. Center for Disease Control. Gold oversees
CDC outreach in the Eastside. "I've told far too many people here they've
tested positive for HIV. It's just nuts. We really have to do something
different." According to the latest Vancouver drug use epidemiology
report, injection drug use was the predominant mode of HIV transmission in
B.C. from 1994 to 2000. A 1997 study of more than 1,400 Vancouver needle
users revealed an HIV infection rate of 18 percent -- the highest level
anywhere in the developed world. Since 1997 the number of new cases in the
city has dropped significantly, but the report suggests that decline may
be due to a "near saturation" of the addict population considered most
prone to infection.

Conservatives, Gold also points out, should be equally invested in the
harm-reduction strategy -- especially those who are fiscally conservative.
Every HIV-infected addict dropped into the healthcare system costs the
Canadian government an average of $150,000 in long-term care; the cost of
12 such patients would pay for the new site to run for a year, she says.

Gold introduces me to Earl Crow, a middle-aged ex-rocker from southern
California with stringy blonde hair, dark brown eyes and a humble smile.
He tells me how he came to Vancouver four years ago hooked on speedballs,
a potent mixture of heroin and cocaine. "I was really wired, I was
shooting a gram a day," he says. But he made the decision to clean up,
joined Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users in 2000 and became its
president for the next year and a half. He now works outreach for the CDC
in the Eastside, giving out information and clean needles, and watching
for medical emergencies in the back alleys -- sometimes he puts in 12-hour
days.

But he also knows the daunting odds harm-reduction tactics must overcome.
"When I was using there wasn't a fucking person in the world who was going
to come and save my life. It had to come from my own heart and head," he
says.

Crow agrees to take me around with him, and we head up Powell Street to
nearby Oppenheimer Park. The mild afternoon and oasis of grass belie the
park's reputation as a drug-dealing hub; at night, Crow says, it's one of
the city's most dangerous spots. We run into a young addict named Michelle
who says she's been in the neighborhood for 15 years, and we talk as she
hurries us down the block. We reach the local welfare office and she darts
inside. "She's all jumpy like that because she's been up for a few days,"
says Crow. "The beginning of the month is tough. It gets busy for us out
here because people binge." He adds that some healthcare workers are
worried the new safe-injection site could become a "revolving door" for
addicts who inject coke, a much more fleeting fix than heroin. "Some of
them whack 20 or 30 times a day," he says.

Michelle comes back out, check in hand, and as we hustle back toward
Oppenheimer Park, I ask her what she thinks about the coming site.

"Maybe it'll work, but not if you have to go through all the nurses and a
bunch of forms and shit. You'll be withdrawn by the time you can get a
fix," she says, skipping along. "And it won't work if it's all super-clean
and they're gonna freak out if there's one little drop of blood on the
floor." At the corner of Jackson Street, she spots who she's looking for
and flits off across the block.

For more than a decade, harm-reduction programs in Europe have produced
compelling results. In Zurich, Switzerland, many streets that were once
needle-littered and crime-ridden are no longer so forbidding. And since
the country's first safe-injection site opened in 1986, there hasn't been
a single fatal overdose at any of the 13 sites operating across three
Swiss cities, according to the U.S.-based advocacy group Drug Policy
Alliance. Frankfurt, Germany, a city with population and drug-user
demographics similar to those of Vancouver, opened five sites beginning in
1994; fatal overdoses there declined from 147 in 1991 to 26 in 1997, and
the spread of HIV among drug users declined dramatically as well.

Studies of the European programs show less clear results, however, in
battling long-term addiction. Though conservatives often denounce
harm-reduction policy in strictly moral terms, such mixed results may be
enough to arm the policy's opponents with a more practical argument --
that chronic junkies pose a greater criminal threat than a public health
one.

"To many harm-reduction advocates, heroin use is a practical [health]
problem, but that's not a plausible view if you live in a neighborhood
where drug addicts steal your television set," says Mark Kleiman, a drug
policy expert and professor of public policy at University of California
Los Angeles. "Ask people living in those neighborhoods if they want a
safe-injection site next door, and they will say -- perfectly reasonably
-- no." In fact, notes Kleiman, many harm-reduction supporters themselves
get caught up in an ideological battle against the conservative crusade.
"As a result," he says, "I don't think they take into account all the
possible consequences of harm-reduction measures."

But the Canadian federal government appears convinced of the potential
benefits; it's promised $1.5 million to fund research at the pilot site,
and if the site proves effective, several more could follow in the
Vancouver area and in other cities facing illicit-drug problems, including
Winnipeg and Toronto.

Urban hard-drug havens in the U.S. could be next. According to a New York
Times report on Aug. 11, New York City is estimated to host a staggering
200,000 heroin addicts -- more than 16 times the number in Vancouver, and
20 percent of the nearly 1 million addicts living in the U.S.

"It's certainly reasonable to expect that if this is successful in Canada,
that some people will want to imitate it here," says UCLA's Kleiman. The
prospect of entering uncharted legal waters may be another reason
Washington conservatives are sounding a defiant note. "It's unclear to me
whether or not current federal law would forbid a safe-injection site,"
says Kleiman. "It's not at all obvious to me that it would, because the
site does not provide illicit drugs. There's no doubt that those who want
to keep U.S. drug policy very supply-reduction focused feel threatened by
this."

Mayor Larry Campbell, who first saw the Vancouver drug crisis blooming
while working as a narcotics officer three decades ago, says that becoming
B.C. chief coroner in 1996 galvanized his view of harm-reduction policy.
"When you're going into a room every day and there are two people dead
with needles still in their arms, you know the status quo isn't working,"
he says. "I went from being an enforcement officer to one whose major job
was to prevent death. Hopefully this policy will do that, and prevent
disease, and will give us back the heart of our city."

But conservatives also argue that the positive results of harm-reduction
programs overseas may not translate across different cultures or
cityscapes. "I think there are far more serious difficulties with the
Swiss model than have been acknowledged," David Murray of the U.S. Office
of National Drug Control Policy, a social anthropologist by training, told
the Vancouver Sun in May. "My impression is that the presumed benefits
will turn out to be illusory." Enabling addicts to pursue their habit,
conservatives say, will inevitably boost neighborhood crime and deepen
urban decay.

"It is possible safe-injection sites are a good idea," says UCLA's
Kleiman. He points to the success of needle exchange programs in promoting
drug use abstinence, though he stops short of the controversial heroin
distribution plans that the U.K. and others have tried, with mixed
success, in the past. "But purely from an economist's point of view," he
says, "a safe-injection site makes being a drug user easier, and one would
expect that to lead to more people becoming drug users and staying drug
users."

"This isn't a game I'm playing where we win or lose, it's peoples' lives,"
says Mayor Campbell. "If it doesn't work, we'll try something else, but we
know that pure enforcement doesn't work. Remember, I'm an ex-narc and I
have many friends in the DEA and FBI. The fact of the matter is, the most
compelling reason to do this is the U.S. system -- just take a look at
your jails. Prisons are a growth industry in the United States, and a vast
majority are in there for drugs, of some form or another." Indeed, more
than 70,000 inmates, or roughly 55 percent of the U.S. federal prison
population, are currently locked up for drug offenses, according to the
Federal Bureau of Prisons. "People don't come out rehabilitated, and the
drug and health problems aren't dealt with," says Campbell. "We're simply
trying to move beyond outdated laws."

Evan Wood of University of British Columbia further points to a study
published by his colleague Dr. Mark Tyndall in the April 2003 scientific
journal of the International AIDS Society, which concludes that jailing
addicts actually worsens the HIV epidemic. Tyndall's study shows that
Vancouver injection drug users incarcerated over the prior six months
faced nearly triple the risk of HIV infection. "We know HIV spreads very
rapidly among addicts in prison, where they're sharing rigs," says Wood,
affirming that illicit drug use on the inside is indeed commonplace. "I go
to many [international] public health conferences ... and my understanding
is it's no different in the U.S."

Standing in the pleasant salt breeze of the city's trendy Yaletown
neighborhood, former Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen explains why he defied
all expectations and made harm-reduction policy a hallmark of his
nine-year career in office. Owen served from 1993 with the backing of the
conservative Non-Partisan Association until the party dumped him from its
2002 election ticket. He was instrumental in setting the four-pillar drug
strategy in motion in 1997. Owen says his perspective began to shift when
a wave of crack cocaine hit the streets in 1996, and he made several trips
to the Eastside to observe the growing problem. "I got to know some of the
people there. It was quickly obvious: The user is sick and the dealer is
evil," he says. "What are you going to do? Lock up a 16-year-old girl
who's selling her body because she needs dope? You have to lock up the
dealers and treat the addicts."

Dressed in a crisp button-down shirt and khakis, the now-retired Owen is
more diplomatic than polemical -- until the discussion shifts to
Washington. "In the State of the Union address, George W. said his
approach to the narcotics problem is to prevent importation, and to treat
those who are addicted." Owen claps boisterously. "Wonderful! Then do it!
The problem is, the U.S. hasn't done it for 30 years and it's just
bullshit to cloud over a serious issue like this. They haven't stopped the
importation -- they can't -- and the consumption is rampant as can be. So
that's just fine: Keep flying your planes over Colombia, Turkey and
Afghanistan, and burning crops and blowing planes out of the sky," he
fumes. "It isn't working and we can't wait at the city level because we've
got destruction here. And it's in Seattle and Portland and San Francisco
and New York. We have to deal with this at the street level, so don't come
here and criticize us."

UCLA's Kleiman offers a bit more tempered advice for a displeased Bush
administration.

"A really sensible U.S. government might say to Canada, 'We think this is
a really dangerous experiment, but if you're crazy enough to try it in
your neighborhood, God bless you, and we'll watch,'" he says. "A
scientific view of drug policy would say, 'Here's an opportunity for us to
learn something.' Of course, that's not what I expect to see from
Washington."

For Megan Oleson, such debate is almost beside the point. A little before
1 a.m., Oleson and I are sitting on a bench in Pigeon Park, a dreary
cement strip on the corner a half block from 327 Carrall. The street
hustle is going strong: people dealing, smoking, drinking and using,
several homeless people sleeping on the pavement. "A lot of institutions
and healthcare workers claim they understand harm reduction," Oleson says,
"but in the end you're challenging a lot of stigmas. You get these people
parachuting into ghettos, who don't really care what people's health needs
are."

Still, it seems dubious to assume all these despairing people could rescue
themselves.

When we walk back inside 327 Carrall the relative calm is striking, though
it's still plenty busy an hour before closing time: addicts drinking
coffee or nodding off; a couple of others pacing, anxious to get through
the door into the back room.

It's not hard to imagine the look on John Ashcroft's face, were he to walk
inside this place. Yet not one person has died here since the site opened
over four months ago -- even as a couple of people per week are pulled off
the nearby streets in body bags.

"I'm here because I hate seeing my friends inject in the alley," Oleson
says. "I hate going to fucking memorial services because people go to
their hotel room and OD because they're alone."

She heads for the fixing room, pausing to greet a couple of familiar faces
before she gets back to work.


- - - - - - - - - - - -

About the writer
Mark Follman is an editorial fellow at Salon.





From sharai at resist.ca  Tue Sep  9 10:17:10 2003
From: sharai at resist.ca (sharai)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 10:17:10 -0700
Subject: [news] Prosposed City Rezoning Discriminatory against Escorts/PRESS
	RELEASE
Message-ID: <000e01c376f6$433cdb40$8e4066cf@garlicb>

September 8th, 2003

PRESS RELEASE

Prosposed City Rezoning Discriminatory against Escorts

Van, BC

In an attempt to create a progressive new category of
zoning, the city of Vancouver appears once again to be
discriminating against escorts/entertainers and sex
workers charges prostitution activist Jamie Lee
Hamilton.

"The city plans for the creation of a new zoning for
the downtown district called office/work/live is
discriminatory, objectionable and obscene, claims
advocate Jamie Lee Hamilton. In this proposed new
zoning the city is discriminating against sex workers
by expressly prohibiting them from obtaining licences
under this proposed new category which flies in the
face of current zoning which allows sex workers to be
licenced by the city under the general OFFICE
category. The city should be careful because they seem
to be treading into an area of human rights violations
and this could result in disputes around Human Rights
and Charter of Rights issues, says Hamilton. With the
Olympics planned for Vancouver, I'm certain the city
does not wish to be embroiled in negative campaigns
regarding hateful discriminatory policy and potential
claims of human rights violations", states Hamilton. 

The city is holding a public hearing on Wednesday
September 10th in council chambers at 7:30 pm
regarding this proposed new zoning. Hamilton will be
presenting a brief and will also introduce the
government of New Zealand's proposed new prostitution
law reform which has recently passed third reading. 

For further info contact Jamie Lee at (604) 781-6624
-----------------------------------------------------
"Love is profoundly political. Our deepest revolution will 
come when we understand this truth. Only Love can 
give us the strength to go forward in the midst of 
heartbreak and misery. Only Love can give us the 
power to reconcile, to redeem, the power to renew weary 
spirits and save lost souls.The transformative power of 
Love is the foundation of all meaningful social change."
---Bell Hooks 





From ron at resist.ca  Tue Sep  9 12:25:23 2003
From: ron at resist.ca (ron)
Date: 09 Sep 2003 12:25:23 -0700
Subject: [news] News from the Indigenous Struggle Across Canada
Message-ID: <1063135523.4922.258.camel@murray>

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: No One Is Illegal - Van <noii_van at hotmail.com>
To: redwire at lists.resist.ca
Subject: [Redwire] News from the Indigenous Struggle Across Canada
Date: 09 Sep 2003 11:47:32 -0700

September 9, 2003 -
The public inquiry into the death of Cree teenager Neil Stonechild began 
Monday, September 8, 2003. He is one of three indigenous men found frozen to 
death just outside Saskatoon over the past decade. In all three cases there 
is strong evidence to suggest that Saskatoon police officers kidnapped the 
men and dropped them off on the outskirts of town.

September 2, 2003 -
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shot and killed a 17 year old member of the 
Grassy Narrows (Anishnaabe) Nation named Geronimo Fobister on August 27. The 
Provincial Police Emergency Repose Unit and a K9 dog unit tracked down the 
armed young man and shot and killed him on a trail.

Since December 3, 2002, the Anishnaabe community of Grassy Narrows have been 
blockading a logging road at Slant Lake, 80 km north of Kenora, Ontario, to 
prevent logging trucks from entering cut blocks on their traditional lands. 
Until the blockade was set up, members of the Grassy Narrows community had 
been protesting through official channels clear cutting by Abitibi 
Consolidated.

"Grassy Narrows News - Day 269

Ahneen Kakinna,

I have not been able to write any sooner as a result of a family urgent 
matter I had to attend. My adopted daughter was involve in terrible head on 
vehicle accident with her 4 days old son. They were hit by an OPP cruiser on 
the Grassy road. She had to be air lifted to WPG Health Science Center and 
she was on a life support system for 3 days. The baby was not hurt. It 
appears that the police were on wrong side on this one . They just passed 
another vehicle on an up hill. SIU from Toronto are conducting the 
investigation. Charges are pending. For Alana it will a long recovery as she 
still in the hospital. 2 other people were also injured but were not life 
threatening they had broken ribs and facial cuts. There were no injuries 
with the 2 OPP officers.

As of this morning an angry troubled young man by the name of Geronimo 
Fobister took a gun after he was AWOL from a youth correction 
detentioncenter in WPG and made it to Grassy. The stand off with the OPP 
tactical task unit lasted throughout the day on this small reserve bush. 
About 5:00 pm two shot could be heard by on-lookers and it was over.

Grassy is in state of confusion and alot of anger is ringing with the youth. 
Some of the youth gathered at the blockade to give Honour song to the 
falling youth. He was armed with shotgun and half a bottle of 60 oz whiskey. 
Police reported they had tried to negotiate with the youth for two hours. He 
had requested to talk with his 7 year old surviving sister and one point he 
blamed himself for his mothers death 2 years ago and did notwant to return 
to jail. SIU will be called to investigate this tragic ending.

There is a lot of anger from the youth and they are asking why isn't there a 
protocol between the leadership to try to have people from the reserve, 
someone close to have tried to talk to him to give up. Where is this going 
to lead now! Some are trying to encourage everyone to move forward even 
harder towards what we are standing for. You try to climb this mountain but 
we can't reach the top.

Grassy had just celebrated last week that Treaty 3 Aboriginal Police just 
took over from the OPP. What ramification will this bare on them? Will there 
be a Inquest remains to be seen.

The department of Indian Affairs will be meeting the Chief and myself in his 
office on Sept. 4 to discuss the blockade issues, Possible Litigation 
against the Ontario Government for abandoning and walking out from mercury 
pollution negotiation.

Chief Simon Fobister and myself have agreed to meet with Abitibi president 
on September 11 in Montreal. The meeting will focus on our positions and 
what their position is. Chief Fobister is not prepared to negotiate with 
Abitibi until clear cutting on the Grassy Narrows Traditional land is no 
longer happening. We will be prepared to go to their customers and tell them 
about what they(Abitibi) are doing to the land and environment and the 
people who have depended on that land.

Treaty #3 will also be holding their strategy session Sept 15 prior to our 
trip to the World Forest Congress Conference in Quebec city Sept. 20/2003. 
Arthur Manual and other BC groups and chiefs will also be with us......asa 
Steve"

September 1, 2003 -
50 members of the Swan Lake Nation in Manitoba occupied the band 
administration office for several days last week over the misuse of band 
funds and the improper care of buffalo and elk. The band members also 
demanded the resignation of the band administrator and economic development 
officer.

August 29th, 2003 -
Water Wanted : Round Lake First Nation Delcares State of Emergency
Residents of Round Lake First Nation protested yesterday in a plea to the 
Department of Northern and Aboriginal Affairs to do something about their 
water supply. More than 800 residents on the fly-in community located 325 km 
North of Sioux Lookout, have been without more than one hour's worth of 
water for over a week. Chief and council have declared a state of emergency. 
Cutbacks to services and design flaws with Round Lake's water treatment 
plant have resulted in a "third world" water supply. High concentrations of 
micro-organisms and total and dissolved organic carbon in the lake water are 
overwhelming the plant's capacity to provide clean water.

photos at:
http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/8129.php

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself with MSN Messenger 6.0 -- download now! 
http://www.msnmessenger-download.com/tracking/reach_general

Redwire Native Youth Media
www.redwiremag.com
Our stories, our voices, ourselves



From christoff at dojo.tao.ca  Wed Sep 10 12:25:14 2003
From: christoff at dojo.tao.ca (Stefan Christoff)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 15:25:14 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [news] CKUT Radio: Confronting the WTO Ministerial in Cancun Mexico
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0309101524580.9078-100000@dojo.tao.ca>


CKUT Radio: Confronting the WTO Ministerial in Cancun Mexico

Listen to an interview with Aziz Choudry of the Popular Mobilization
Against the WTO in Montreal and Tom Hasen an organizer with the Mexico
Solidarity Network currently in Cancun about the grassroots mobilization
to confront and oppose the World Trade Organization Ministerial meetings
which are set to take place in Cancun from September 10th - 14th.

A popular mobilization in opposition to the WTO Ministerial meetings which
represents many different sectors will continue their struggles against
capitalism in different ways in Cancun: peasants, indigenous and black
communities, trade unionists, students, women's movements and
environmental organizations are taking to the streets to oppose the WTO.
This mobilization follows a strong resistance of thousands of people who
took to the streets of Montreal against the WTO Mini-Ministerial meetings
which took place at the end of July.

Cancun has been turned into a militarized city with upwards of 20 000
police and two navy frigates on hand to attempt to suppress the massive
demonstrations planned to take place in the coming days. There are
indications that the coming WTO Ministerial meetings are set to fail,
given the heavy disagreements of WTO member countries over the
agricultural subsidies maintained by G8 nations which are responsible for
crushing many agricultural markets of countries and communities throughout
the global south. Those organizing to confront the WTO are also
highlighting the link between the WTO's economic policies to the continued
displacement and poverty of indigenous peoples and communities throughout
the world.  Thousands will be taking to the streets of Cancun to reject
the legitimacy of the WTO and call for it's abolition.

-> To listen to an interview with Aziz Choudry & Tom Hasen on the Cancun
mobilization visit:
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=7739

-> Visit the Peoples Global Action Network's page on the resistance to the
WTO Ministerial in Cancun at:
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/cancun/

-------------------------------

Trade Talk: Speaking in Tongues
By Aziz Choudry / ZNet September 06, 2003

It's enough to make your eyes glaze over.

Modalities. Conditionalities. Most-favoured nation. Rules of Origin.
Phytosanitary Standards. TRIPS. TRIMS. GATS. WTO. APEC. FTAA. NAFTA. Trade
negotiators, governments, the media and many non-governmental organisation
(NGOs) are pumping out material brimming with an alphabet soup of acronyms
and jarring technical jargon.

The torrent seems particularly bad right now. Another World Trade
Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting looms imminently, with a November
Summit of the Americas not far behind, where trade ministers and officials
will meet to discuss the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a trade
and investment agreement between all of the countries in the Americas
except Cuba.

The arcane language of trade negotiations and global economics resembles
the incomprehensible utterances of those who, in a state of apparent
religious ecstasy, believe themselves moved by a divine force and speak in
tongues. Whether it is a belief in salvation by God or the global free
market economy, "true believers?" frequently feel that they alone have the
truth, the light and the way.

The inaccessibility of this language remains a big plus for the economic
interests "governments and corporations? behind initiatives like the WTO
and FTAA as they seek to mould the world so that global capital can do
what it likes, when it likes, how it likes, and with whomever it likes. It
is as though they have devised a secret code to keep most of us none the
wiser about what they are doing and not particularly interested in finding
out, either. That is a surefire way to minimise popular understanding,
public debate and dissent.

The dense, confusing jargon and the rather abstract-sounding nature of the
Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT which
established the WTO) led to the subject being dubbed a "ratings killer" by
New Zealand media some years ago. It has only been popular education and
action on these and other agreements, especially mass mobilisations and
non-violent direct action that have focussed any public attention on them.

Deconstructing and demystifying the WTO and global economics through
popular education in terms that we can all understand is an important task
if we are to reach out beyond activist and NGO networks and build genuine
mass movements that can seriously contest the power of global capital and
local elites.

But those of us who closely follow trade negotiations with morbid
fascination and concern like soap opera addicts also have a tendency to
adopt this gibberish. Perhaps there is something hypnotic and strangely
seductive about these words, once we have figured out what they mean.
After the initial bewilderment and alienation, they seem to become rapidly
incorporated into our own vocabulary. Then we want to proudly show off our
new words.

Why do so many NGOs critical of the WTO spend so much time speaking the
same language as the trade bureaucrats?

Is it to seek legitimacy in the eyes of officials and institutions? "Take
us seriously, we can use long and complicated words and phrases too".

Is it an initiation rite into a cozier world away from the fraught and
unglamorous work of mobilizing in communities? "I'm not one of those nasty
anti-capitalists, let's talk about modalities".

When we try to fight them in their language we risk sacrificing the power
to name our world and assert our values.

Policy analysis, research and advocacy are important but these must be
directed by and used to advance the needs and demands of grassroots
struggles, not the interests of NGOs which want to maintain good relations
with governments and officials by showing that they speak and understand
the same language literally and figuratively. Unsurprisingly, that
language tends to exclude criticisms of colonialism, capitalism or
imperialism.

The framing of issues in this language, and the narrow focus on technical
aspects of texts and official processes is hardly conducive to popular
education for mobilization, and indeed shuts out the majority of our
societies.

This addiction to technical jargon tends to obscure, rather than advance
popular understandings of these processes and institutions and their
effects on our lives. It inevitably permeates our "popular education"
resources. It runs the risk of connecting only with a very small segment
of societies in certain NGOs and activists who eagerly read the regular
email bulletins on WTO negotiations. Without being connected to broader
political, economic and ecological questions, and struggles for justice
and dignity on the ground, their activities and analyses can seem as
disconnected from on-the-ground reality as the heady world of trade
bureaucrats.

Writing about "NGOism" US global justice activist Patrick Reinsborough
says that there is a "terrifyingly widespread conceit among professional
campaigners? that social change is a highly specialized profession best
left to experienced strategists, negotiators and policy wonks. NGOism is
the conceit that paid staff will be enough to save the world."

I have nothing against sound critical policy analysis but I worry about
the way in which this language in the gospel according to the WTO (or the
FTAA, World Bank, IMF, etc) comes to frame so much of what we do and say.
It is all-too-easy to develop a severe case of tunnel vision from poring
over complex wordy documents and to adopt the bizarre compartmentalization
of life-and-death issues which the agreements, provisions, articles and
clauses of official texts lend themselves to.

Some NGO policy analysts do excellent work in monitoring negotiations and
disseminating information. They are able to expose concrete examples of
the anti-democratic processes and powerplay that characterizes WTO
negotiations. But there is often a real sense of disconnect between their
priorities and the priorities and struggles of peoples movements. Many
people most directly affected by neoliberal policies and mobilising at the
grassroots may not be familiar with the jargon but have a keen
understanding of what is going on and a bigger picture analysis which is
often missing in the world of professionalized NGO policy analysts.

The devil lies not only in the details of trade and economic agreements,
but in the underlying economic, social, political and environmental
agendas underpinning them. Too many of the analyses of trade negotiations
have too little political analysis. We fetishise the minutiae of these
agreements at the risk of losing sight of the fact that they are
manifestations of bigger systemic problems - like capitalism and
colonialism.

A certain elitism has already developed in global justice networks where
policy "experts" in relatively well-resourced organisations are elevated
to guru-like status and get to interpret the texts and meanings of
meetings for the rest of us. These interpretations and the accompanying
suggestions for action are often divorced from the lived realities of
daily struggles for justice and dignity, and a political analysis of the
bigger picture. They often urge reformist solutions to try to change or
insert some words here or there, rather than challenging the underlying
values and principles on which the agreements are based, or heeding
popular demands for radical transformation of the prevailing economic
order.

We need to be wary of the development of an emergent class of high priests
of policy analysis, who are claiming the space, authority and mandate to
set strategy and direction of global justice movements. The gulf between
them and the aspirations of peoples struggles needs to be acknowledged and
addressed. If anyone is going to save the world from the ravages of
neoliberalism, it will be community mobilizations and mass movements, not
professional NGOers speaking in tongues.

----------------------







From resist at resist.ca  Wed Sep 10 22:17:05 2003
From: resist at resist.ca (resist)
Date: 10 Sep 2003 22:17:05 -0700
Subject: [news] Americans believe US stance 'making terrorism more likely'
Message-ID: <1063257424.998.12.camel@murray>

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: shniad at sfu.ca
To: shniad at sfu.ca
Subject: [pr-x] Americans believe US stance 'making terrorism more likely'
Date: 10 Sep 2003 16:28:48 -0700


Financial Times    September 9, 2003

US stance 'making terrorism more likely'

By Edward Alden in Washington

Most Americans think that the US administration's aggressive military
pursuit of the war on terrorism has made further terrorist attacks more
rather than less likely, according to polls released before Thursday's
second anniversary of the September 11 2001 attacks.

Sixty-four per cent of respondents said that the US military presence in the
Middle East increased the likelihood of terrorism, 77 per cent thought that
there were widespread negative feelings towards the US in the Islamic world
that enhanced terrorist recruiting, and 54 per cent thought that the US had
been too assertive in its foreign policies.

In addition, 81 per cent thought a key lesson of September 11 was that the
US needed to work more closely with other countries to fight terrorism, up
from 61 per cent in a similar poll more than a year ago.

The findings were part of a comprehensive survey of US foreign policy
attitudes released on Tuesday by the Program on International Policy
Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.

An ABC News opinion poll this week showed similarly rising scepticism over
the wisdom of the war in Iraq. Forty-eight per cent of Americans now thought
that the Iraq war had increased the risk of terrorism against the US, while
40 per cent thought it had decreased the threat.

Those findings were far more pessimistic than a similar poll in April after
the US military victory, when only 29 per cent thought the Iraq war would
make terrorist attacks more likely.

The findings come as President George W. Bush's administration was trying to
persuade Congress and the American people to back a long-term effort to
transform Iraq, including $87bn (?51bn) in new spending for next year alone.
The surveys reveal a deep ambivalence in the US about that project.

In the PIPA poll, taken between August 26 and September 3, respondents were
split equally on whether the US should undertake a new "Marshall Plan" to
transform the Middle East as it did in Europe after the second world war.
But 50 per cent thought that Mr Bush was not prepared to commit resources on
that scale, while only 39 per cent thought he would.

The survey also revealed a deep concern among Americans about how the US was
perceived in Muslim countries. Fifty-seven per cent thought, for instance,
that while Muslim countries are opposed to al-Qaeda's terrorism, they shared
many of its hostile feelings towards the US. Large majorities also thought
the US should make greater efforts to improve its relations with the Muslim
world. 

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c
=StoryFT&cid=1059479688587&p=1012571727162

Project-X list:
initiated for the (re)building of the Left.



From resist at resist.ca  Thu Sep 11 07:43:17 2003
From: resist at resist.ca (resist)
Date: 11 Sep 2003 07:43:17 -0700
Subject: [news] Murray Dobbin Interview with Cuban Ambassador
Message-ID: <1063291396.998.25.camel@murray>

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: shniad at sfu.ca
Date: 10 Sep 2003 22:55:15 -0700

Rabble Magazine     September 3, 2003

Interview with Cuban ambassador 

Murray Dobbin

For thousands of activists in both the developed world and the third world,
Cuba has been both an inspiration and an amazing example of a country that
has actually withstood the extreme hostility of the most powerful nation in
history. The list of accomplishments is equally amazing: a higher literacy
rate and higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rate than its
antagonist. The admiration, however, has never been without criticism.	The
issue of human rights, including official attitudes towards sexual
orientation and political dissent, has troubled many supporters and dogged
the Cuban government for years. This spring, just before the United States
launched its war against Iraq, Cuba brought the human rights issue to a
fever pitch by sentencing 75 political dissidents - all with active
connections to James Cason, the new American Interests Section chief in
Havana  to long prison terms and by executing, following a one-day trial,
three hijackers. The debate about these actions amongst the whole range of
Cuban supporters has been intense.  To get the official explanation of these
actions, Vancouver writer Murray Dobbin interviewed Carlos Fernandez de
Cossio, Cubas ambassador to Canada, and a key figure in the next generation
of Cuban leaders.

Murray Dobbin:	Many supporters of Cuba were dismayed this past spring by
the actions of the Cuban government in executing three hijackers and in
sentencing self-described dissidents to long prison terms. People who
followed the case and its background level the criticism that Cuba was not
seriously threatened by these individuals as Cuban security forces had
infiltrated the groups in question and knew their every move.  How does the
Cuban government justify these harsh actions?

Carlos Fernandez: First of all the two issues have to be looked at
separately. Yet both are in the same context. The 75 people who were
arrested in Cuba are by no means the only people who protest in Cuba - who
disagree with the some or all of  the governments policies. The people we
prosecuted were people who were violating the law, were knowingly violating
the law. Laws that were established to protect Cuba from foreign aggression,
foreign aggression that comes from the United States. For a long period Cuba
had decided to have a flexible approach to these people knowing that in
spite of what they were doing there was not much of a threat.

But with the actions of the current United States administration and their
designation of lists of countries that could be eventually subject to 
military aggression changed that. Their disregard of any international law
that could stand in the way of such aggression and the fact that very
influential people who are strong enemies of Cuba have been advocating with
the Bush administration to take the step of military action against Cuba, 
made us feel strongly that we do face a real concrete threat.

We believe that today that there is almost nothing that can stop the United
States from taking such an action. Evidently the UN, despite is opposition
to such actions, cannot stop the US.  Public opinion, in spite of its
opposition to such action, wont stop the US. Even opposition from its
allies wont stop the US. Only Cubas determination to defend its country
and to stop any element that could serve an aggression of this type  will
stop such an aggression.

The people who were prosecuted are people, in a moment of escalation of
United States hostility and aggression, do serve and have served as
mercenaries or agents of a foreign government which is against the law in
Cuba. We do have a right to apply our laws which existed before the trial in
Cuba and we do have reason to think that these people can be a real danger
to our country.

MD:  Few  people who want to support Cuba would dispute anything you have
said about the threat of the United States and the right of Cuba to enforce
its laws. Yet they also ask whether these actions were strategically the
smartest thing for Cuba to have done.	I am thinking specifically of the
executions. Is it not possible that you lost more in global support from
those who support Cuba than you gained in reinforcing your security?  

CF:  You raise a real and legitimate concern. Clearly, Cuba did not do this
to enrage our enemies or to offend our friends. We measured the costs before
we acted. We knew that a heavy propaganda attack would come down on us but
we could not allow the United States to believe that they had the means and
the forces within Cuba that would allow them to make the mistake of invading
Cuba and cause the loss of thousands of lives. For us it was important to
let the United States know that there was no basis for them to miscalculate
in any aggressive plans the might have.

Now that could always be a debate in the future - perhaps it will turn out
to have been a strategic mistake.  We think that it would have been a
strategic mistake if we trusted that nothing would happen and then a year
from now the United States builds a phony case against us, with the help of
their mass media,   portraying these people as a core group capable of
forming a government in Cuba. On this basis the United States could trick
itself -  falsely convince itself - into believing that they could
successfully invade and occupy Cuba. This is exactly what happened with
Iraq.

MD:   Since George W. Bush came to power Cuba has been subjected to new and
more aggressive provocations from the US. Could describe some of those?

CF:   This administration came to power with closer ties to and stronger
support from what we call the Cuban American mafia  - extreme right groups
in Miami with a history of terrorist activity  than any other president in
the history of our bilateral conflict. As a result the Bush administration
came to power with a greater commitment to those people and a greater
identification with their views. One of the areas that has changed as a
result it is the migration issue. 

We achieved with the United States a migratory agreement in 1994-95  as a
result of which the United States granted a minimum 20,000 visas to Cubans
each year, and the United States committed itself to measures to prevent
people from using illegal means to migrate to the United States [and] to
measures such as returning people who were caught on the high seas. But the
United States has always had a loophole in this arrangement - a law called
the Cuban Adjustment Act thanks to which any Cuban who does reach the United
States coast is immediately accepted as a resident. This measure becomes an
encouragement for anyone who wishes to migrate and it becomes above all an
encouragement to people who do alien smuggling. 

The United States had been living up to its commitment of providing 20,000
visas but since the Bush administration sent its new Head of Mission to Cuba
last year, they have reduced the number of visas granted to less that 1,000.
This has created problems for Cuba which like other Latin American countries
faces a strong migratory pressure towards the US. People who have calculated
that they would be given a visa to go to the United States have discovered
that it will be very difficult to obtain one. At the same time they are
received as heroes in the United States if they use violent means to enter
the US. All of this adds up to a major encouragement to commit acts of
violence or piracy to migrate to the US.

The Helms-Burton HB law states that if an uncontrolled migratory flow takes
place from Cuba to the US, the United States should take this as an act of
aggression and should respond in kind. Actions such as those that have
occurred over the past year for us equate to creating the conditions for an
act of aggression - to allow the United States to apply their law which
means that they should react to Cuba militarily if Cuba can be accused of
launching an uncontrolled migratory flow.  

MD:   One of the most serious developments between the United States and
Cuba is the issue what has been dubbed the Cuban Five - the five Cubans
who are now in jail in the United States convicted of espionage. Could you
explain their story?

CF: These are 5 Cuban men who as a result of the persistent terrorist
actions carried out  from the territory of the United States against Cuba 
took on the task infiltrating these organizations. They infiltrated them  to
learn what they did, to alert the Cuban  government of terrorist activity.
There are individuals and organizations that have been organizing, financing
and carrying out terrorist actions in Cuba for years. Many of them are
ex-CIA agents from the 1960 s and 70s and have continued in a semi-private
way carrying out these actions but with the tolerance and to a great extent
with the complicity of the United States  government . 

Faced with United States tolerance of these terrorist activities we have
been forced to infiltrate these organizations and that is what these 5 men
did. They did not infiltrate the United States	government  or	government 
agencies nor were they in the United States to act against the interests of
the US.  

For this they were convicted in a very unfair trial which violated many
United States legal processes. They were tried in Miami and sentenced to
extremely long terms  - one got two consecutive life sentences, two got 19
years and one got 15 years. Nothing was proved against them except being the
non-registered agents of a foreign  government	and in some cases it was
proven that they were living under a false identity. Nothing else was
proved. No witness was able to corroborate that they took any action that
would endanger the security of the US. There was no evidence whatever of
what in the United States is defined as espionage.

They have been subjected to extremely harsh conditions. Before the trial -
for seventeen months - each one of them was in solitary confinement; they
were allowed no reading material; they were scattered in jails around the
country and not allowed any visits from their families.

MD: What is the political background to these trials and convictions?

CF: It seems that the United States had monitored these men for about a year
before they were arrested. They had detected that they were acting as agents
of the Cuban government and had concluded that they were no danger to the
United States government and simply tolerated their presence. In the summer
of 1998 when terrorist actions started to build in Cuba and after serious
terrorists actions were taken against the United States in different parts
of the world, the United States called for co-operation from foreign
governments. Cuba once again reiterated that we were ready to co-operate but
that we knew that there was terrorism being generated in the United States
against our country. They said that they wanted proof - we said we had that
- and they sent a high level FBI delegation to Havana to discuss this. We
presented them with abundant evidence of what was being planned, they said
they would come back in two weeks with their response. A month and a half
later they arrested these five men.

They did not arrest them because of what they learned as a result of the
meeting; they arrested them evidently because we were getting too close to
powerful individuals in the United States. You see, not only is there
tolerance of terrorist activity by the United States government  but there
is a strong intimacy between those terrorist groups and figures within
important agencies of the United States government  with important political
contacts. Evidently the  government  felt it was not in their interest for
this level of information to continue to flow to Cuba making it possible for
it to become widely known.

MD: What is the current situation regarding the Cuban Five?

CF: An appeal of the convictions and sentences was launched in April and we
are waiting for a response from the government. We have been told that we
will be given an oral hearing to make our case for the appeal in which we
will be allowed just three minutes to present our arguments for appeals on
all five cases.  Perhaps early next year we could hear from the appeals
court on what we have requested - that is, a retrial in a venue other than
Miami where we argue it is impossible to get a fair trial.


Murray Dobbin is a Vancouver writer. 



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From sharai at resist.ca  Fri Sep 19 10:27:56 2003
From: sharai at resist.ca (sharai)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 10:27:56 -0700
Subject: [news] Jamie Lee Hamilton PRESS RELEASE
Message-ID: <000e01c37ed4$7b822880$984066cf@garlicb>

PRESS RELEASE

September 17, 2003



CALL FOR A PLEBISCITE



?The Mayor may want more talk, but I want action? said
Jamie Lee Hamilton in response to an abrupt ?about
face? on the part of city council who just last week
supported a move that would bring prostitution in from
the cold. ?How many more women will die before this
Council acts?? said Ms Hamilton, a sex worker advocate
who has called for a plebiscite as a practical
alternative to the forums that the Mayor has proposed.




Ms Hamilton understands that street prostitution
brings out the worst in people who want to protect
their neighbourhoods from the increased traffic and
other nuisances associated with the street sex trade.
A forum on this issue is unlikely to solve anything in
Ms. Hamilton?s view: ?Does the Mayor really think that
your average John or Sex Trade Worker will come out to
a forum and expose themselves to shame and ridicule??



Ms Hamilton has called for a plebiscite, asking
simply: ?Do the citizens of Vancouver want
prostitution indoors or outdoors?? The time for
discussion has long since passed as bodies continue to
pile up in morgues. The costs of a plebiscite are
considerably less than the City currently pays in
punitive strategies that further victimize sex trade
workers.



If average respectable citizens patronize sex trade
workers, why can sex trade workers live and work in
average respectable premises? The City is a leader in
harm reduction in its approach to illegal drugs. Why
can?t it show the same leadership in reducing the harm
associated with prostitution? These are some of the
questions Ms Hamilton has for the Mayor and council.
?The Mayor?s experience as Chief Coroner gave him an
experiential base to fight for Harm Reduction for Drug
Users. Surely the lives of sex trade workers are just
as important.?



In the ?80?s Mayor Mike Harcourt continually stated
that we should get prostitution off the street and
indoors where it?s so much safer. Hopefully this Mayor
is not too proud to learn from Mr. Harcourt.



For further information, contact:

Jamie Lee Hamilton

604-781-6624


-----------------------------------------------------
"Love is profoundly political. Our deepest revolution will
come when we understand this truth. Only Love can
give us the strength to go forward in the midst of
heartbreak and misery. Only Love can give us the
power to reconcile, to redeem, the power to renew weary
spirits and save lost souls.The transformative power of
Love is the foundation of all meaningful social change."
---Bell Hooks





From ron at resist.ca  Fri Sep 19 14:08:59 2003
From: ron at resist.ca (ron at resist.ca)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 14:08:59 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [news] SkyTrain Police Assault Teacher
Message-ID: <65134.24.201.23.196.1064005739.squirrel@mail.resist.ca>

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
From:    "Calvin Woida" <calvinwoida at hotmail.com>
Date:    Thu, September 18, 2003 12:10 pm
To:      copb-van-l at lists.resist.ca
         copwatch at resist.ca
Cc:      bru at resist.ca
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Teacher taking SkyTrain cops to civil court

By Mike Howell-Staff writer

A 27-year-old teacher who claims two SkyTrain cops tackled her last fall
and  hit her in the eye with a flashlight is furious with the justice
system  after learning the Crown decided not to proceed with charges
against the  cops.

Christy Logeman, a special education teacher in Vancouver, required facial
 reconstructive surgery after last November's incident, near the Stadium 
SkyTrain station, said her lawyer Michael Mines.

Logeman learned Wednesday the assault charges had been dropped, but a 
message left Thursday for Crown counsel spokesman Geoff Gaul was not 
returned to the Courier before deadline to explain the decision.

"She's irate," said Mines, who's launched a civil suit against TransLink
and  the special constables on Logeman's behalf.

According to Mines, the two SkyTrain special constables rushed Logeman
from  behind, pinned her to the ground and then one of them struck her
with a  flashlight in the face.

At the time, Mines said, Logeman was chasing her boyfriend after he stole 
her wallet and keys. The boyfriend, who had a court-imposed no-contact
order  with Logeman, took her belongings after she refused to allow him to
go home  with her, Mines said.

She was tackled just after she took a swing at her boyfriend with a
shopping  bag containing sandals. Logeman suffered a broken bone around
the eye and  continues to receive medical care for her injury, he said.

Mines noted his client was initially charged with assaulting the SkyTrain 
cops, but the charge was dropped after the SkyTrain cops couldn't prove to
 Crown how Logeman specifically suffered the injury. The boyfriend was not
 charged.

In a rare court procedure, Logeman was then successful in getting
provincial  court judge Jocelyn Palmer to approve assault charges against
the SkyTrain  cops.

The Crown, however, decided not to proceed with the charges based on a 
recommendation from a Vancouver city cop investigating the incident. No
date  has been set for the civil trial.

TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said Mines' purpose in contacting the media
 is to simply seek publicity and get Logeman's name published in the
Courier.

"If she's going to proceed with the suit, why is she looking for publicity
 as well?" Hardie said. "TransLink and the special constables will deal
with  this where it should be, and that is in court."

Hardie wouldn't comment on the incident, but cautioned that Logeman's
story  is simply based on claims at this point. He did, however, say
SkyTrain cops  often don't know who is the "bad guy" or "good guy" when
responding to an  altercation.

"All we know is that there are two people going at each other, and in some
 cases it's necessary to simply separate them and treat everybody the same
 way."

TransLink employs about 70 SkyTrain cops, the majority of them retired
RCMP  and city cops (which explains why most of them are white, middle
aged  redneck assholes!). With about 52 million boardings a year on
SkyTrain,  Hardie said his office receives about 10 complaints a year of
alleged  wrongdoing regarding SkyTrain cops.

The New Westminster police department has an agreement with TransLink to 
investigate all complaints against SkyTrain cops-unlike the province's 
municipal police departments, who are investigated by the Office of the 
Police Complaint Commissioner.

New Westminster police continue to investigate the allegations against the
 SkyTrain cops in the Logeman incident, Hardie said.

_________________________________________________________________
Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online
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From ron at resist.ca  Sat Sep 20 07:57:51 2003
From: ron at resist.ca (ron)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 07:57:51 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [news] UN surges to Arafats defence
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.53.0309200757320.9588@resist.ca>



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 20:15:44 -0700
From: shniad at sfu.ca
To: shniad at sfu.ca
Subject: [pr-x] UN surges to Arafats defence

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1046130,00.html

The Guardian   September 20, 2003

UN surges to Arafat?s defence

General assembly's condemnation of Israel's threat to eject Palestinian
leader leaves US exposed

Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles

The UN demanded that Israel drop its threat to remove the Palestinian
leader, Yasser Arafat, by an overwhelmingly majority yesterday, thus
isolating Israel and the US.

The general assembly voted 133-4 the day after President Bush blamed Mr
Arafat for undermining the current round of peace negotiations, which have
been stalled by renewed violence.

The resolution condemned Israel for threatening to remove Mr Arafat, but
also the Palestinian suicide bombings. Despite this even-handedness, the US
and Israel voted against, supported by Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.


The resolution, though non-binding, served as a reminder of the isolated US
position on the Middle East.

Earlier this week, it vetoed a similar resolution in the security council,
saying that while it did not support removal of Mr Arafat it would not back
wording that did not also condemn terror groups by name.

Last night it offered the same reason.

Its ambassador, John Negroponte, said the motion was unbalanced and omitted
specific mention of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in
its condemnation of suicide bombing.

Israel said earlier this month that it wanted to remove Mr Arafat from the
Middle East equation, one cabinet minister going so far as to suggest that
he might be killed.

The general assembly resolution attacks Israel's policy of "extrajudicial
killings and their recent escalation", and condemns "the suicide bombings
and their recent intensification". It urges the Palestinian Authority to
"take all necessary measures to end violence and terror".

The authority's UN representative, Nasser al-Kidwa, said that Palestinians
faced an increasingly oppressive military power and called the threats to Mr
Arafat "insane".

He added: "We have been very clear in our condemnation of actions committed
by Palestinian groups in contravention of international law, specifically
the suicide bombings that have targeted civilians in Israel."

On Thursday, Mr Bush criticised Mr Arafat for undercutting the road map to
peace.






Project-X list:
initiated for the (re)building of the Left.


From ron at resist.ca  Sat Sep 20 07:58:31 2003
From: ron at resist.ca (ron)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 07:58:31 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [news] Kennedy: Iraq War a 'Fraud'
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.53.0309200758190.9588@resist.ca>


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 20:16:46 -0700
From: shniad at sfu.ca
To: shniad at sfu.ca
Subject: [pr-x] Kennedy: Iraq War a 'Fraud'

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/9/19/114105.shtml

September 19, 2003

Kennedy: Iraq War a 'Fraud'

It looks as if President Bush's plan to set "a new tone" and govern as "a
uniter, not a divider" has backfired, as far as Sen. Ted Kennedy is
concerned, judging by the Massachusetts Democrat's comments yesterday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Kennedy said Iraq never posed any
imminent threat to the U.S. and claimed that Bush's war on terrorism was "a
fraud made up in Texas to give Republicans a political boost."

Kennedy also accused Bush of misappropriating more than a billion dollars in
U.S. aid to Iraq, saying that reconstruction funds have been used instead to
bribe leaders in the region so they'll send troops to aid the American
military effort.

In 2001, President Bush launched a charm offensive on Sen. Kennedy that
included allowing the notorious liberal to water down what was supposed to
be a top Bush domestic priority - the education bill.

Months later, Bush renamed the Justice Department after Robert F. Kennedy.

Speaking at the ceremony to mark the honor, RFK's daughter Kerry Kennedy
Cuomo immediately trashed Bush's goodwill gesture, announcing to her
daughter, who was in the crowd, "Cara, if anyone tries to tell you this is
the type of justice your grandpa would embrace, don't you believe it."

The White House declined to comment yesterday about Sen. Kennedy's latest
verbal assault.



Project-X list:
initiated for the (re)building of the Left.


From christoff at dojo.tao.ca  Sun Sep 21 22:57:35 2003
From: christoff at dojo.tao.ca (Stefan Christoff)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 01:57:35 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [news] CKUT Radio: Palestinian Refugee Camps Are No One's Home 
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0309220157210.22580-100000@dojo.tao.ca>


CKUT Radio: Palestinian Refugee Camps Are No One's Home

Listen to a report about the ongoing struggle of 100 Palestinian refugees
in Montreal fighting deportation from Canada. This report features an
interview with a refugee from Bourj el Barajneh refugee camp near Beirut
Lebanon, who describes the terrible conditions which Palestinian refugees
live everyday in the camps of Lebanon. In Lebanon Palestinian refugees are
forbidden from owning property, working in over 78 professions, receiving
proper health care, and moving & traveling freely.

This report also features interviews with Ehab Yousef a Palestinian
refugee from the Occupied Territories who is facing deportation from
Canada and Leila Mouammar a Palestinian activist from Montreal about a
recent delegation organized by the Coalition Against the Deportation of
Palestinian refugees to the riding office of Immigration Minister Denis
Coderre in Montreal North. The delegation was organized to demand a
meeting with the Immigration Minister regarding the pending deportations
of the Palestinian Refugees and to put forward the two central demands of
the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees: 1)
Immediately stop all deportations of Palestinian refugees & 2) Accept
Palestinian refugee claims, thus giving them the title of Landed Status in
Canada.

-> To listen to the report on the Coalition Against the Deportation of
Palestinian Refugees visit:
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=7738

-> Below are the details about Refugee Camps Are No One's Home! a
demonstration on September 27th in Montreal to support of the 100
Palestinian refugees facing deportation from Canada:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 12:02:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: refugees at riseup.net


REFUGEE CAMPS ARE NO ONE'S HOME!
Solidarity March with Montreal's
Palestinian Refugees Facing Deportation from Canada

As Part of the International Days of Action Against Occupation and Empire!
Stop the Deportations!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 27th @ 1:00 PM
Gather at Norman Bethune Statue
corner of Guy and de Maisonneuve
(metro Guy-Concordia)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Within the context of the international days of action against occupation
and empire a demonstration has been called in Montreal by the Coalition
Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees. This march will take to
the streets of Montreal to express solidarity with over 100 Palestinian
refugees who are facing deportation from Canada in the coming weeks and
months. Most of the refugees facing deportation are from the refugee camps
of Lebanon and from Occupied Palestine. They have claimed refugee status
in Canada over the last couple of years. Systematically Palestinian
refugee claims are being rejected by Immigration Canada post September
11th.

This march will put forward two demands to Citizenship & Immigration
Canada: 1) Immediately stop all deportations of Palestinian refugees & 2)
Accept Palestinian refugee claims, thus giving them the title of Landed
Status in Canada.

This march is being called as part of a growing political campaign in
Montreal to fight against these deportations. At this point hundreds of
calls, faxes, emails and letters have been sent to Coderre's offices in
Montreal and Ottawa in support of the Coalition's demands which have to
this point been endorsed by over 100 groups and organizations throughout
Quebec, Canada & the world. This last July a solidarity march in support
of the Campaign to Stop the Deportation of Montreal's Palestinian Refugees
brought hundreds of people to the streets of Montreal.

This march is being organized as part of a worldwide movement of immigrant
and refugee communities who are fighting back against the countless
injustices perpetuated against them by the Canadian State. Montreal's
Palestinian Refugees need your support to fight against Citizenship and
Immigration Canada's attempt to deport them to the illegal and deadly
Israeli military occupation which plagues everyday life throughout
Occupied Palestine and to the violence, poverty and persecution which
defines life in the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon.

STOP THE DEPORTATIONS OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES!
NO ONE IS ILLEGAL!

Organized by the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian
Refugees, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), the No One is
Illegal Campaign.

For more information:
By Phone: 514.591.3171
By Email: refugees at riseup.net

-----------------------------






















From resist at resist.ca  Fri Sep 26 14:43:11 2003
From: resist at resist.ca (resist)
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:43:11 -0700
Subject: [news] No-Fun City Cracks Down on Live Music
Message-ID: <1064612590.1894.200.camel@murray>

From: HipStaR ProducTionS <craig at hipstarproductions.com>
To: Vancouver Promotions <craig at hipstarproductions.com>
Subject: FW: Help stop this By-Law
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:11:24 -0700


In the ongoing effort to maintain Vancouver's laughingstock status as
far as arts and entertainment goes, the city of Vancouver has decided to crack
down on restaurants in the Main Street area that have been allowing "more
than two performers on stage with amplified instruments (oh yeah, and no
dancing too)". The restaurant owners have been given until this Wednesday
(tomorrow) to cancel or alter all upcoming events that would contravene this
ridiculous by-law.  

Consequently, Main Street residents, and others who would frequent our
neighbourhood venues to see quality live music, are forced to either
drive, bus (ha) or cab downtown to see music at the multitude of live music
venues there (no wait... there are hardly any small live music venues downtown,
I must have been thinking of Montreal)... either that or stay home (the
number one choice of the Vancouver Police Department).  

We all know that this is prime b.s. (bureaucratic shenanigans).

Fortunately, we can do something about it... namely letting City Haul
know that they can't just wring one of the last vestiges of fun out of this
city. There are several options you can take:

1)  Write to the city council mayorandcouncil at city.vancouver.bc.ca or
City of Vancouver  453 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C., V5Y 1V4
2)  Come in to Red Cat Records or one of the effected restaurants and
signthe petition.
3)  Sign the online petition at
http://www.petitiononline.com/music4us/petition.html      

These venues give many local and travelling musicians a place to play...
residents a place to drink without driving, paying a large cab fare or
waiting until 5:00 AM for the first bus home... and are are an important
part of the quality of life in our neighbourhood.  Don't let the City
crap on us again.

PLEASE PASS THIS ONTO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED.



From resist at resist.ca  Fri Sep 26 14:57:05 2003
From: resist at resist.ca (resist)
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:57:05 -0700
Subject: [news] Safeway clerks say yes to new five-year contract
Message-ID: <1064613425.1894.202.camel@murray>

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: shniad at sfu.ca
To: shniad at sfu.ca
Subject: [pr-x] Safeway clerks say yes to new five-year contract
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:40:51 -0700


Vancouver Sun	September 26, 2003

Safeway clerks say yes to new five-year contract
 
Gerry Bellett

Safeway's 4,700 clerks and cashiers employed at 49 Lower Mainland stores
have voted 70 per cent to accept a new five-year contract that gives them a
35-cent-an-hour wage increase for each of the final four years of the
contract.

The settlement also provides a signing bonus that ranges from $150 to $1,000
an employee depending on seniority.

"We have mixed feelings about the settlement," said Tom Cameron-Fawkes, an
official with Local 1518 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

"We are not happy with the wage and benefit increases we got, but when you
look at where we were eight months ago -- with the company trying to
obliterate the collective agreement -- we are happy we've prevented that
from happening," said Cameron-Fawkes.

The settlement came after a series of rotating strikes by union members, who
had threatened to stage a full strike last Sunday if an acceptable contract
offer wasn't received.

Two other UFCWU locals -- representing bakers, deli workers and meat cutters
-- are still negotiating with the company.

The deli and meat cutters are threatening to strike Oct. 4 if a new contract
hasn't been settled by then.

Cameron-Fawkes said the union was disappointed it couldn't get Safeway to
agree to rescind an agreement made in 1997 whereby two tiers of employees
were created -- pre-1997 employees who kept wages at 1997 levels, and Clerk
Two employees hired after the agreement was signed who received reduced
wages.

"That agreement was brought in in 1997 to help Safeway because the company
was having severe financial problems. They needed to renovate old stores and
buy new ones and in return for job security we agreed to set in place the
Clerk Two system.

"We were there for them and we felt this time they could come through for us
but the Americans said no way," said Cameron-Fawkes.

In the first year of the new contract, wages for top scale pre-1997
employees will be raised from $21 to $21.35.

Tier Two Clerks will go from $10.50 to $10.85 an hour.

In 1997 a Tier Two employee was paid $8.50 an hour while senior pre-1997
employees received $18.95 an hour based on a complicated hours-of-work
formula.

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/story.asp?id=E6EF6D89-A79E-43A5
-8DCB-52641B98D271

Project-X list:
initiated for the (re)building of the Left.



From gflett1 at shaw.ca  Sun Sep 28 19:20:36 2003
From: gflett1 at shaw.ca (Gordon Flett)
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2003 19:20:36 -0700
Subject: [news] Steelworkers On Strike
Message-ID: <3F7796F4.528D5F54@shaw.ca>

46 members of USWA Local 2952 struck Modern Auto Plating Ltd. in
Vancouver on January 24, 2002.

They are attempting to improve workplace health & safety conditions,
while asking for modest increases in wages and benefits. You only have
to see the outside of this sweatshop to realize why these workers need
health & safety improvements. On the inside they work under conditions
similar to those that existed in England during the Industrial
Revolution in the latter part of the 19th century. 12 members have
crossed their own picket line and are scabbing on their fellow workers,
thereby prolonging the strike, as the owner refuses to negotiate.

You can help by visiting their picket line at 60 East 5th Ave. (at
Quebec St.) to show support for these exploited, mostly immigrant
workers from Eastern Europe. They picket from 6:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday
to Friday, and from 8:00 to 11:00 AM on Saturdays. Refreshments and food
are always welcome.

The I.W.W. Vancouver holds a solidarity picket with them every Tuesday
at noon, and will continue to do so until the end of the strike. We
invite others to participate, but any time that someone can visit and
show support is greatly appreciated by these workers. It strengthens
their resolve, by showing that someone still cares. That they are not
alone, and not forgotten. They shall not be forgotten, these strikers
who continue to stand on that picket line after such a very long time,
and refuse to be beaten. Others might have been broken long ago, but not
these brave souls. They are the pride of the labour movement, and should
be treated as such.

For further information about the strike, and/or about how you can help,
please contact Local 2952 President Scott McRitchie at
604-525-7481. The company's # is 604-876-4161.

I.W.W. Vancouver Strike Support Committee

I.W.W. I.U. 450


From resist at resist.ca  Mon Sep 29 11:49:15 2003
From: resist at resist.ca (resist)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 11:49:15 -0700
Subject: [news] 1, 000 in Vancouver urge end to foreign occupations in Middle
	East
Message-ID: <1064861355.941.78.camel@murray>

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: shniad at sfu.ca
To: shniad at sfu.ca
Subject: [pr-x] 1,000 urge end to foreign occupations in Middle East
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 10:30:40 -0700


Vancouver Sun	   Monday, September 29, 2003

1,000 urge end to foreign occupations in Middle East

Anti-war protest part of international day of action
 
Amy O'Brian 

About 1,000 people gathered on the sunny lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery
Sunday afternoon to demand an end to the foreign occupations of Iraq,
Palestine and Afghanistan. 

The rally -- which drew seniors, toddlers, university students and teenagers
-- was part of an "international day of action" that included much larger
demonstrations in Athens, Paris, New York, San Francisco and London, where
about 20,000 people gathered after marching through the city. 

In Vancouver, rainbow flags mingled with communist banners as an impromptu
marching band gathered to energize the crowd before a march along Georgia,
Granville and Robson streets. 

Although the lawn was bustling with people before the march, the rally did
not attract nearly the same number of people as the monthly demonstrations
held before and during the U.S.-led bomb attacks on Iraq. On Feb. 15, an
estimated 30,000 people gathered on the streets surrounding the art gallery
in solidarity with millions of other protesters around the world. 

Organizers were not surprised by the smaller crowd at Sunday's rally, saying
people were disheartened by the lack of effect earlier protests seemed to
have on the war in Iraq. "We knew not to expect the huge numbers we had [in
the winter and spring]," said rally organizer Derrick O'Keefe.

"When there were such huge protests and [U.S. President George W.] Bush and
[British Prime Minister Tony] Blair went ahead with the war anyway, I think
a lot of people got depressed or demoralized."

But O'Keefe said the goal of the rally is to let people know the issue is
not dead and that the occupations of middle eastern countries are synonymous
with war. 

"The situation isn't as clear as it was before the bombing, but I think the
occupation is a continuation of the war," he said. 

The continuing American occupation in Afghanistan is crystal clear for Kabir
Hamid, who left his parents in Afghanistan nearly four years ago when he
fled the country for a better education. 

Hamid, 21, now a student at the University of B.C., said he is frustrated by
those who think an end to Taliban rule and the presence of American troops
means a better life for the people of his country.

"Famine is still as bad as it ever was. There are millions of people dying
of starvation.... Women's rights are still as bad as they ever were because
you need a cultural change. You don't change the way people feel about women
by bombing a country." 

He said he feels privileged to be getting a good education in a democratic
society, but will never forget his home. "Every day is a day of despair.
Every day something in your memory or in your experience reminds you what is
happening to your people." 


http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=4d2a0ad3-a9fe-4e92-a493-136f96020
8aa

Project-X list:
initiated for the (re)building of the Left.



From resist at resist.ca  Mon Sep 29 11:51:40 2003
From: resist at resist.ca (resist)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 11:51:40 -0700
Subject: [news] Victory! Release of Bilquis and Imran (mtl)
Message-ID: <1064861500.941.81.camel@murray>

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: ha rsha <hwalia08 at hotmail.com>
To: van-discuss at lists.resist.ca, van-announce at lists.resist.ca
Subject: [van-discuss] VICTORY! RELEASE OF BILQUIS AND IMRAN (mtl)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 05:26:42 +0000


RELEASE OF BILQUIS AND IMRAN FROM DETENTION!!!

***  NEW WESBITE ***:  http://bilquisfatima.tripod.com/

There has finally been a victory in the case of Bilquis and Imran!!!

On September 17, 2003 Bilquis and Imran received approval to appeal their 
PRRA rejection to the Federal Court of Appeal.

The percentage of claimants that are approved for an appeal hearing is under 
10% and this major victory has undoubtedly been due to the massive political 
campaign in support of Bilquis and Imran all around the country. Thank you 
to the hundreds of supporters and allies who have previously written to 
Minister Coderre, attended press conferences and rallies, organized 
solidarity actions and campaigns in various cities and offered their support 
to Bilquis and Imran and all the Pakistani refugees.

Their appearing at the Federal Court of Appeal is set for December and until 
then a stay has been granted and they are being released from detention on 
Monday September 29, 2003. Their case HAS NOT BEEN WON until they are 
granted a permanent stay and their deportation order is overturned. Minister 
Coderre still has the ability to intervene and stop the deportation and our 
campaign must continue.

This case carries major implications for all the Pakistani refugees, as well 
as other communities such as the Algerians and Palestinians in Montreal who 
are self-organizing to resist the policies of CIC and IRB. The deliberate 
decision not to intervene in this case is easily construed as a reactionary 
and authoritative decision on the part of CIC and IRB to exert their powers 
over asylum seekers who are gaining strength as a movement for justice in 
numbers, morale, and supporters.

To all allies and supporters, PLEASE CONTINUE TO URGENTLY FAX/EMAIL/CALL 
Coderre immediately. THE STRUGGLE  IS NOT YET OVER!!!

Please be polite but firm in letters, and see below for sample letter and 
backgrounder with important points to stress in your phone call, fax or 
email. PLEASE ACT TODAY !

Solidarity and struggle, friends and neigbours of Bilquis and Imran, Action 
Committee, No One is Illegal, and REBELdesis. Contact nooneisillegal at tao.ca 
or call 514-409-2049.


*** SAMPLE LETTER *** TAKE ACTION !!!
CONTINUED PRESSURE ON MINISTER CODERRE

Please be polite but firm in letters, and see below for sample letter with 
important points to stress in your phone call, fax or email.

* The contact information of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, 
Denis Coderre:
Phone: (613) 957-0312
Fax: (613) 957-2688
Email: Minister at cic.gc.ca

His Montreal Constituency Office(s)
Phone: (514) 323-1212
Fax: (514) 323-2875
Email: Coderd1 at parl.gc.ca


September 28, 2003

Honourable :

I would like to draw your particular attention to the case of Mrs. Bilquis 
Fatima, a Pakistani woman and her 17 year old son Imran Hussain who have 
recently been released from the Laval Detention Centre in Montreal after 
being incarcerated for over three months.

Bilquis and Imran have been granted a stay until their Federal Court of 
Appeal hearing, yet they are still fearful about the outcome of this hearing 
and the very real possibility of deportation.

Bilquis Fatima is 64 years old. She is in extremely poor health, uses a 
wheelchair, has had two heart attacks and needs kidney dialysis three times 
a week. She and her son have been in Montreal for the past two years during 
which time her refugee claim was in process.

Bilquis fled Pakistan after the murder of her husband. She belongs to a 
minority community in Pakistan which has been under attack and has 
well-founded fears that if she goes back to Pakistan, her life and the life 
of her son will be in danger. In addition, she is in no condition to remain 
in detention or make the long and life-threatening trip back to Pakistan or 
the US.

I urge you to please consider the mounting support for Bilquis from various 
church groups, unions, student groups, womens groups, media outlets, members 
of political parties, and community organizations. You, Minister Coderre, 
carry immense discretionary powers to stop this deportation and I urge you 
to intervene in the case of Bilquis and demonstrate a commitment to values 
of compassion and dignity. On humanitarian and compassionate grounds you 
should intervene immediately to allow Bilquis and Imran the right to remain 
in Canada and be granted regularized status immediately.



From resist at resist.ca  Mon Sep 29 13:59:12 2003
From: resist at resist.ca (resist)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 13:59:12 -0700
Subject: [news] Peltier Pleads For New Hearing
Message-ID: <1064869152.937.86.camel@murray>

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Ytzhak <Ishaq1823 at telus.net>
To: Redwire <redwire at lists.resist.ca>
Subject: [Redwire] [BlackIndianActivists] Peltier Pleads For New Hearing
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 13:26:23 -0700

Peltier pleads for new hearing

Posted: September 29, 2003 - 2:38pm EST

DENVER - Some 250 supporters of Leonard Peltier gathered in support
outside the federal courthouse in Denver during recent court
proceedings. High level government officials, a vast number of attorneys
and thousands of supporters from across the country and in foreign
countries have called Peltier a political prisoner.
  

Leonard Peltier has served more than twice as long in prison than
federal guidelines require.

The parole commission denied parole once and determined based on faulty
evidence that Peltier would not be considered for parole until 2008.
That prompted Peltier to put the case up to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court
of Appeals.

Peltier is hopeful that the Appellate Court will direct the Parole
Commission to provide information that would substantiate the reason for
not conducting the parole hearing.

"When the commission puts off a hearing for more than 48 months it has
to be supportable," said Barry Bachrach, Peltier attorney.

The argument before the Appeals panel was that the federal government
has shown that it cannot provide evidence that proves Peltier was in the
immediate vicinity when two FBI agents were killed at point-blank range
on June 26, 1975, near Oglala on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

In 1996, the commission went against the federal parole guidelines when
it concluded that Peltier fired the fatal shots that took the lives of
Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams. That fact was never
proven in court.

"The decision must be reversed if the facts are incorrect and
unsupported by the record," Bachrach told the court.

Peltier?s role in the upheaval that occurred on the Pine Ridge
Reservation from 1973 to 1975 and somewhat beyond was identified by many
as a war zone. It came to a head in 1975 with the FBI agents? deaths and
with the 1976 discovery of the body of Ana Mae Pictou-Aquash, a member
of AIM and a participant in the activities on the reservation.

The government?s argument, given by Erick Melgren of Wichita, Kan. said
the commission was very clear in its decision that Peltier should not be
paroled whether or not he actually pulled the trigger. He was also
pessimistic that the commission would change its mind should another
hearing be ordered.

Bachrach asserts that the commission neglected to consider the testimony
of former U.S. Attorney Lynn Crooks told a U.S. Circuit Court earlier
that the government could not absolutely prove that Peltier was the
shooter. A lynchpin that supports that argument is the fact that a rifle
said to be Peltier?s did not match the ballistics test of the bullets
removed from the agents. That evidence was never presented in court and
didn?t come to light until a few years after Peltier was in prison.

And if Peltier is in jail for aiding and abetting he should have been
paroled more than 11 years ago, Bachrach said.

The parole commission?s position that Peltier deserved to spend so much
time in prison because he helped ambush the agents, which gives reason
that he is in prison for aiding and abetting, But the commission also
added its opinion, not substantiated by fact, that he pulled the
trigger.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1995 was not persuaded by arguments
that missing evidence, inaccurate facts and false testimony should allow
Peltier a new trial.

According to federal guidelines at the time Peltier was convicted and
sentenced he should have been paroled in 1986. President Bill Clinton
was lobbied heavily by members of the FBI that also purchased full-page
newspaper advertisements to not issue a clemency order for Peltier
before he left office.

That was a political issue at the time, Bachrach said, and for the FBI
to get involved with a judicial issue, which is the case now, would be
fraudulent.

Bachrach said he was pleased with the court appearance and that the
three judges on the 10th Circuit were responsive to arguments in support
of Peltier, but there is not speculation when a decision will be issued.

(By David Melmer and Associated Press reports)

This article can be found at http://IndianCountry.com/?1064860818
  
  

-- 
- 
___ 
Stay Strong 

"Peace sells but who's buying?" 
Megadeth 

"This mathematical rhythmatical mechanism enhances my wisdom 
of Islam, keeps me calm from doing you harm, when I attack, it's
Vietnam" 
--HellRazah 

http://www.sleepybrain.net/vanilla.html

http://awol.objector.org/artistprofiles/welfarepoets.html

http://ilovepoetry.com/search.asp?keywords=braithwaite&orderBy=date

http://www.dpgrecordz.com/fredwreck/

http://www.lowliferecords.co.uk/

http://loudandoffensive.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THCO2
  
  

________________________________________________________________________
Redwire Native Youth Media
www.redwiremag.com
Our stories, our voices, ourselves



From simonp at vcn.bc.ca  Mon Sep 29 16:12:59 2003
From: simonp at vcn.bc.ca (simonp)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 16:12:59 -0700
Subject: [news] re:  Paul Martin Satire
Message-ID: <3F78BC7B.6030801@vcn.bc.ca>

Satirical website savaging Paul Martin as the brainwashed, robotic 
politician in The Manchurian Candidate:

Paul Martin is The Manchurian Candidate <http://www.vcn.bc.ca/%7Esimonp>



From pat_wobbly at hotmail.com  Tue Sep 30 17:53:24 2003
From: pat_wobbly at hotmail.com (Pat S)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 17:53:24 -0700
Subject: [news] 'Arrested for Breathing'
Message-ID: <Sea2-F51ImPiZxOASWT00000cfb@hotmail.com>

'Arrested for Breathing'
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0340/allah.php

Members and supporters of the politically-charged rap group dead prez (dpz), 
who were arrested Saturday afternoon in Crown Heights, allege the incident 
was police harassment. Clayton Gavin, a/k/a Sticman, one half of the 
controversial rap duo, his DJ, Umi Bem Niilampti, and two other associates, 
Samuel Murrain, a/k/a Ness, and Harris DeJesus, a/k/a D-Don, were in the 
midst of a photo shoot when they were detained for disorderly conduct and 
resisting arrest, among other charges, after refusing to show identification 
when queried by police. The cases against all but one of the defendants have 
already been dismissed.

According to Rosa Clemente, a dpz spokesperson and part of the Malcolm X 
Grassroots Movement (MXGM), at around 3:30 p.m., the group members were 
posing for a photographer in front of a Dean Street and Bedford Avenue 
building when they were approached by two female cops demanding their 
identification. In response, the group told the officers they were guests of 
a friend who lived at the address, and asked the reason for the ID request. 
Clemente says the police persisted, saying, "'What?s the problem, just show 
us ID,'" and that the rappers asked, "'For what? Why do we have to show you 
ID? There?s hundreds of people on this block, you ain?t asking them for 
ID.'"

dead prez claim that after this exchange the officers called for backup, 
more police arrived and the group was surrounded. Sticman says he repeatedly 
asked if he was under arrest, was told that he was not, but wasn?t allowed 
to leave or continue his work. "I was harassed and attacked by the police in 
my neighborhood," Sticman told the Voice. "I was never told anything about 
being under arrest. . . . There were no complaints. I wasn?t violating any 
laws other than the law of being black and being outside."

After the arrival of reinforcements, a sergeant ordered arrests. "He 
basically says, 'Arrest them all.' They arrest four people. They don?t 
arrest all the folks out there," says Kamau Karl Franklin, an MXGM attorney 
and dpz co-counsel along with Marisa Benton. "Something I found interesting 
was that the photographer who actually was taking the pictures, who is a 
white guy from England, wasn?t arrested at all. . . . He was just pushed to 
the side, and, luckily, he kept taking pictures."

"They also threw [Murrain] on the ground," says Clemente, "and put their 
knee on his head, and his head is on the sidewalk and he is visibly bruised 
and cut and they didn?t pick up his shoes, so he?s at the precinct with no 
shoes." In addition, both Sticman and Clemente say that DeJesus was roughed 
up and slammed against a vehicle.

Benton, a lawyer for the Legal Aid society contacted by dpz supporters, and 
the first attorney to see the men, finds the arrest curious. "The bottom 
line is they were arrested for breathing from what I could tell," says 
Benton. "Definitely, it was an unjustifiable arrest. I understand the police 
officers got nosy and tried to find a reason to question them and get their 
IDs. This is something that happens a lot."

The NYPD says that the officers were responding to a report of male 
trespassers at the location and observed a male urinating against a wall and 
several males congregated near a stairway. According to the police version, 
when the officers approached, and asked for ID to ascertain whether or not 
the subjects lived at the location, the subjects became disorderly and 
additional units were called in. The police also say that DeJesus kicked a 
female officer, causing her to sustain a minor injury to her left leg.

Franklin says that authorities alleged earlier that they saw suspicious 
movements?someone hiding something under a shirt?and that?s what prompted 
them to approach the group. He calls that assertion a total cover-up and 
lie. "It?s obvious what they were doing, they were taking pictures," he 
says.

Franklin says his clients were within their rights to refuse to give IDs 
without being given a reason. "There is no pass law," says Franklin 
referring to the one-time law in South Africa requiring all blacks to carry 
state-issued passes to enter urban areas. "They are not required to give ID 
[when] someone just walks up to them and demands ID, even if it?s a police 
officer. We have no basis for the initial stop."

Charges against Sticman, Niilampti, and Murrain were dismissed early Sunday 
and they were released from the Brooklyn courthouse without appearing before 
a judge. "As we are waiting for arraignment, we don?t see their names on the 
docket," says Clemente. "Then we go to get lunch, we come back. Stic, Umi, 
and Ness were released through the back door. They didn?t give them an 
explanation."

"Prosecution declined to prosecute," says Franklin. "Only [DeJesus] was 
held, and he is being charged at this present time with assault in the third 
degree, attempted assault in the third degree, menacing in the third degree, 
and harassment in the second degree?all misdemeanor charges. And the most 
amusing thing about the complaint is that there?s no charge here of 
disorderly conduct, no charge of resisting arrest, no underlying charges as 
to why they walked up to them in the first place and started demanding their 
ID."

DeJesus was arraigned, released without bail, and still faces charges. dpz, 
who were recently released from their Sony contract, just performed Friday 
night at the New School University as part of the ACLU College Freedom Tour, 
where NYPD and school police presence was reportedly heavy.

Listen to Dead Prez song samples from their soon to be released album "Get 
Free Or Die Trying" (Landspeed Records) here...
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/1/nomikalmusic.htm

_________________________________________________________________
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