April 13, 2013
President Comandante Hugo Chavez Frias will be remembered for his efforts in the transformation of Venezuela and Latin America away from the dominance of United States imperialism. Chavez championed socialism, national liberation and international solidarity. He reaffirmed the indigenous and African roots of Venezuelan and Latin American culture and society.
January 29, 2013
Civil rights attorney and political prisoner Lynne Stewart needs help. She fought breast cancer two years ago, apparently successfully, but now the cancer is spreading. Her condition is treatable. But authorities have denied her request for transfer from her Texas prison to the New York City hospital where she received expert medical attention before.
October 9, 2012
With 54.42 percent of a record-turnout vote, Hugo Chávez has won a fourth term as president of Venezuela, in a race widely recognized as a crucial struggle between the progressive forces of the “Bolivarian Revolution” and the right-wing opposition of U.S.-backed Henrique Capriles.
August 12, 2012
An estimated 80,000 men, women and even children are being held in solitary confinement on any given day in U.S. prisons. If the struggle to end inhumane treatment inside prisons is to become anything more than a largely apolitical movement for so-called “civil rights,” it must put two long-ignored points back on the agenda: race and revolution.
April 4, 2012
The Oakland International Film Festival is Friday-Sunday, April 6-8, at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Street, Oakland. Visit http://www.oiff.org/2012schedule.pdf. This year’s headliner is one of the most controversial independent films ever made, “The Spook Who Sat by the Door.” Watch it again here.
December 15, 2011
The widows of two African presidents slain in the 1994 missile attack on the presidential plane that triggered the Rwanda Genocide filed notice with the 10th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals challenging “head-of-state immunity” granted to the current president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, by the Obama administration in Habyarimana v. Kagame.
July 2, 2011
Advocates of intervention in Southern Sudan argue that the U.S. can’t be bystanders to what could become another Rwanda and must become instead “upstanders” preventing genocide. Was the U.S. a bystander to the Rwanda Genocide? Professors Peter Erlinder and Edward Herman both say no.
February 21, 2011
Your community needs you at the Police Commission hearing on Tasers: this Wednesday, Feb. 23, 5:30 p.m., in Room 400, City Hall. A study found that in the first year of Taser usage, sudden deaths in custody go up 550 percent and officer shootings more than double. The United Nations and Amnesty International consider Tasers to be torture devices, and the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Lawyers Guild, and the NAACP oppose their use. It is certain that Taser usage does not lead to fewer shootings.
January 14, 2011
The People’s Tribunal Against Police Brutality and Misconduct will be convened on Saturday, Jan. 15, 11 a.m., in North Philadelphia amidst a whirlwind of public debate, legal battles and community protest sparked by the upsurge in police brutality there and across the country.
November 10, 2010
I was swept up and arrested Friday night in Oakland at the end of the Justice for Oscar Grant march. As usual, most Bay Area TV stations gave a factually awful – very pro-police – spin to what happened.
July 8, 2010
THE VERDICT is INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER. Heed these wise words: Attention activists and citizens over 50 years old: HANDS AROUND OUR YOUTH! We need to be present to protect our youth from police brutality. We must bear witness to our youth’s right to assemble and peacefully demonstrate. Let OPD know these are our children and deserve to be respected as full USA citizens with the right to peacefully demonstrate without interference. Come and protect our children.’
June 13, 2010
“Peter Erlinder is in need of all assistance the international organization for human rights lawyers can muster. He is in the hands of a murderous, brutal regime,” declares six-term Congress member and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. Professor Erlinder was jailed after traveling to Rwanda to defend Victoire Ingabire, leading candidate challenging incumbent President Paul Kagame.
May 18, 2009
Troy Davis has spent 18 years on Georgia’s death row despite overwhelming proof that he is an innocent man. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. and around the world are outraged by the obvious injustices of this case, and they’ll be out demonstrating on May 19, Malcolm X’s birthday.
February 28, 2009
‘Since the police murder of Oscar Grant, there has been an awakening of the sleeping giant, the social consciousness of the people,’ writes Minister of Information JR. Call DA Tom Orloff, (510) 272-6222, to demand the charges be dropped against JR Valrey and all protesters. Stay tuned for more on the war against police terrorism in Oakland, birthplace of the Black Panther Party.
January 14, 2009
The National Lawyers Guild calls upon BART, Oakland and Alameda County officials to recognize that their shameful response to Oscar Grant’s murder fueled the street protests.
January 13, 2009
Minister of Information JR, now out of jail, tells how and why Oakland was rocked by rebellion Jan. 7 after nearly a week of official silence following the New Year’s police execution of Oscar Grant. Look for a report – both here and in the February paper that will hit the streets Jan.30 – on the Town Bizness Townhall Meeting Against Police Terrorism that had people spilling out the door Friday.
January 9, 2009
The only journalist arrested while covering the Jan. 7 rebellion and one of only three protesters charged with a felony was POCC Minister of Information JR. Charged with arson (of a trash can), he is totally innocent. Tell Mayor Dellums, DA Orloff and Rep. Lee to drop all charges against all protesters.
December 1, 2008
Grassroots activist Ronald Dauphin, a supporter of President Aristide, was arrested by armed paramilitary troops on March 1, 2004 – the day after U.S. officials forced Aristide into exile. Mr. Dauphin has spent five years in jail without having been convicted of any crime.
October 10, 2008
Due to the great outpouring of support in Michigan, Rev. Edward Pinkney has become the Green Party candidate in the 6th District Congressional race. He is running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, a political heir to Whirlpool Corp.-Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment Inc.