Ohio 7 Broadsheet

8/14/2019 Ohio 7 Broadsheet

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OHIO 7: O TRIAL-

DARE TO STRUGGLEDARE TO WINWe need allies who are going to help us achieve a victory, not allies who are going to tell us to be nonviolent. If a whiteman wants to be an ally, ask him what does he think of John Brown. You know what John Brown did? He went to waragainst white people to help free slaves. He wasn't nonviolent. Malcolm July 5th, 1964)

None of us can be free, till all of us are free.T he Ohio 7, Carol Saucier Manning, Tom Manning, Richard Charles Williams, Barbara CurziLaaman, Jaan Laaman, Patricia Gros Levasseurand Raymond Luc Levasseur, are white working-classrevolutionaries. We (the Toronto Anarchist Black Cross)are publishing this tabloid for a number of reasons. TheOhio 7 are charged by the U.s. government with 11armed actions (ie. bombings) and seditious conspiracy.They have already been convicted to varying degrees forthe bombings, which were carried out against U.s. military facilities and recruiting offices, South African government offices, IBM, Union Carbide, Motorola, Honeywell and General Electric. These actions were claimedby the United Freedom Front (UFF), and were in solidarity with the people of Azania (South Africa) and CentralAmerica. The Ohio 7 have never claimed nor repudiatedthese actions . They are now doing very lengtl:ly sentences for these charges but are still going through trials,

being charged again for these actions through seditiousconspiracy charges.All of the actions of the United Freedom Frontwere aimed at sabotaging corporations in the ew YorkCity area, that bleed the people of all nations through thegenocideof imperialism (seeourboxed definition). Theseactions serve the purpose of making these corporations'participation in oppression costly and more difficult.They also aid in creating a much needed resistancem ~ v m n t in the United States. These are aims we agreewith. The difficulty that some of us as anarchists havehad withoursolidarity with theOhio 7, is thatsometimesthey call themselves Marxist revolutionaries,or communist or socialist. t seems important that we address thecriticisms we have had, in this introduction, so here itgoes .. Our solidaritY with the Ohio 7does not mean thatcontinued on back page)


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Seditious onspiracy is Thought rimet is political, economic, and social conditionsthatgive rise to demands for social change. Thegrea t aboli tionist Frederick Douglas s said, The

history oftheprogressafhuman liberty shows that all con-cessions yet made have been born out of struggle; if thereis no struggle there is no progress Those who profess tofavor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are those whowant crops without plowing up the ground. Powerconcedes nothing without a demand. t never did and itnever will.Withevery seriousattempt to advance the strugglefor basic human rights, political movements in this

country have been subjected to vicious attacks andcriminal prosecutions which havebeen ill-disguisedattempts to neutralize their leadership and organizations. Sedition laws are a part of the U.s government's more brutal methods of murder, selectiveviolence and harassment designed to destroy anyeffective political opposition and to control dissent.Seditiousconspiracy is such a law and it is defined inpartas twoormorepeopleconspiringtooppose,byforce,the government's authority or to delay the execution ofany law of the United States.The government favors prosectuting people withseditious laws because of the vagueness of suchlaws, their application to virtually anyone whoopposes the government, and the lesser standard ofproof needed for conviction. These characteristicsmake sedition laws far more useful to the government than trying to prosecte individuals for violations of specific state and federal laws. On thesimplest terms, a conspiracy is nothing more than anagreement between people . The government need. o prove only that such an agreement exists to obtainan indictment and conviction. This is what makesseditious conspiracy a "thought crime", since aperson's state of mind and intent are at the core ofany agreement. There is no distinction under thislaw between opposing the U.S . government andopposing its policies.

SEDITIOUS CONSPIRACY ISA POLITICAL OFFENSEThrough sedition laws thegovernmen t defines what"acceptable" political activity is; at what point an

agreement becomes a conspiracy and illegal; at whatpoint advocacy becomes encouragingand inciting";and when an organization's goals become seditious.In 1798 Congress passed the Alien and SeditionLaws" which were designed to punish those whowere critical of the Federalist administration in officeat the time. These laws were the direct forerunner ofthe Conspiracies Act of 1861. This law containedlanguage almost identical to today's seditious conspiracy law. The 1861 law was passed at a particularly brutal time in the United States past. t was justafter the Supreme Court's notorious Dred ScottDecision" which stripped Black People, both slaveand frce ,oftheir rights and declared that they werenot people but property.

t was also just after John Brown's .attack on Harper's Ferryand his subsequent execu tion for conspir-ing with slaves to rebel . And it was a time whenHarriet Tubman waS being hunted for her role infreeing slaves through the Underground Railroad.All these were seditious acts.

The Sedit ion Act of 1918 was similar in design andintent to today's law as well. Eugene Debs, EmmaGoldman, and "Big" Bill Haywood were all chargedunder the 1918 act. It targeted draft and anti-waractivistsand the Industrial Workersof the World (theWobblies) who championed the rights of workersand socialism. In summary, the sedition laws wereused to justify slavery and to institutionalize apartheid through the "Jim Crow laws; to destroy Native

Sedition laws are enforced in such a manner as todefend the interests of the governmentand the powerbrokers in this country. The history of the U.s. is. replete with examples of injustice masquerading inthe robes of law and patriotism.

RECENT AND CURRENT TRIALSThe most ~ e n t prosecu tions for sed itiousconspiracy, occurr ing in the 1930's, '50's, and '80's, have beenagainst those ad voca ting forindependence for PuertoRico. Puert o Ricoactivistshave refused to participate

in most of the trial proceedings, citing the illegal U.s.military occupation and domination of their country.The United Nations has stated that Puerto Rico is acolony of the United States and under internationallaw the authority the U.S. exercises over that countryis illegal.In 1971 information obtained from FBI files, lawsuits and a Congressional investigation revealed aU.S. government campaign of sabotage, disruption,infiltration and assassinations aimed at the government's political opponents. Thiscampaign was calledCOINTELPRO FBI Counter-Intelligence Programs).One of the primary targets was, and remains to this

day, the Black Liberq i0n Movement. One of its firsttargets was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Now comes the trial of the Ohio 7. These 7 people

are white North Americans of working class backgrounds with long histories of political activism.This is a case in which the government intends tofrighten the public. To date, the governmenthas donea fairly effective job.. t has used an awesome displayof police, weaponsand intimidationto frighten peopleaway from court. Much of the "left" even has boughtthe government'sclaim that the Ohio 7 are extremistsand stand apart from the "safe" political issues of themovement. The government has spent millions ofdollars already on this case, before trial begins , to feeda reactionary political climate, utilizingapublic showtrial" to tryand criminalizethe ideas, actions and livesof these people. This trial could well be a litmus test- an attempt by the government to test the waters forfurther prosecu tions.The Ohio 7 have been singled out for prosecutionbecause they are a small part of a legacy of resistance.They take their life experiences as workers and activists to heart. They have supported the aspira tions andgoals of the Black Liberation struggle from Harlem toSouth Africa; they oppose U.s. military interventionsin Central America; they support independence forPuerto Rico. They have allied themselves with thosewho fight for human rights.We, in this country, are dealing with a governmentthat has formed its own "criminal enterprise" at thehighest levels: a private government with its ownarmy, funding and political agenda, and a nationalsecurity state. One need only look at the role of theU.s. and its client fascist states of South Africa, Chile,EI Salvador, Israel and others to see that this systemdoes not respect the rights of our world's peoples.The Ohio 7 are motivated by a vision of a betterworld for all our children and a commitment to fightinjustice. f there is not common ground to be hadwith others based on this very human sentiment thenit can be said that fascism is beginning to cclipse thewill of the people to fight for social change.

WRITE TO YOUR COMR DES*Barbara Curzi Laaman #18213-053*Ray Luc Levasseur #10376-016*Richard Williams #10377-016FOC HartfordBox 178Hartford, CTUSA 06141-0178*Tom Manning #202873Trenton State PrisonCN861Trenton, NJUSA 08625

*Pat Gros Levasseurc/o Sedition CommitteeBox 4690Springfield, MAUSA 01101*Carol Saucier Manning #10375-016F.CI. Shawnee UnitPMB7007Marianna, FloridaUSA 32446*Jaan Laaman #10372-016Box 1000Leavenworth, KansasUSA 66048-1000

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE OHIO 7, WRITE OR CALL:

*The Sedition CommitteeIn Massachusetts(413) 586-4407 In New York(212) 969-0448


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OHIO : O TRIAL

Ray evasseursOpeningStatementNOTE: Throughout the course of his presentation, Ray was repeatedly interrupted by the federal prosecutors and theJudge. In the following text whatever appears within ( )and in italics indicates apoint where he is interrupted and forcedto depart momentarily from his prepared statement. What appears within ( ) here is what he would have included hadhe not been interrupted by the state. The following is excerpted from one of the Ohio 7 trials.II e government had a lot to say about crimein its openings, so I think that I m surethey ll allow me the time to address theseissues of crime. To me, there are crimes that are sohorrible that they stagger the human senses, thatshock our sense of humanity. Such were the crimescommitted in the 30 s and 40 s with the rise of NaziGermany. As the evidence will show, these crimeswere committed in the name of white supremacy, inmilitary and economic conquests and expansion.Most of us condemn these crimes. Well, today, in1985, there is another government which is the closest in todays modem world to being like Nazi Germany. t isan illegal government, a government thatrules through the use of force and terror. t is also araci st government based on whi te supremacy, whichviolently and systematically denies Black peopletheir human rights. And this is the government ofSouth Africa .

... . he first bombings claimed by the United Freedom -Front were on December 16th of 82. Bombedwere the offices of the South African Airways, which,as I said and as will be shown, are totally owned andoperated by the South African government. Also

. .

bombed were offices of the IBM Corporation onDecember 16th, which does business in South Africa. No worker or civilian was injured in thesebombings beca\-lse warnings had been issues to clearthe buildings. As the evidence will show, there werealways warnings given with all of the United Freedom Front bombings, and in fact no workers orinnocent people were ever hurt in any of thesebombings. However, this claim cannot - this claimof workers and innocent people not being hurt - isnot a claim that could be made by the racist government of South Africa, whose ruling and power isbased on terrori zing Black people .

As the evidence will show, it is a governmentwhose power is based on the fact that African peoplewho make up 80 percent of the population have beenforced , violently forced to live on 13 percent of themost barren and unproductive land in the country.And it is a most oppressive existence, where infantmortality is very high, where in some rural areas, 50percent of Black childre n die before they reach the ageoffive. Thatisa measure tojudge the humanity ofanysociety.

It is an existence where millions are hungry andwithout sufficient work to provide adequately for thewelfare of their children. The evidence will also showthat the bombing of the South African governmentoffice, South African Airways, and the IBM Corpora-tion were done in support and solidarity with theliberation struggle, the freedom struggle in SouthAfrica. And, theevidencewill show, it was done inre-sponse to South African troops invading the independent nation of Lesotho, in conducting a massacreof revolutionaries from South Africa, who_ ad beendriven, driven from their homeland to save theirlives. Innocent victims were gunned down by SouthAfrican soldiers as they slept. They were children.They were women. And they were men .

And, it was a massacre, because that ismassacre is, the slaughterof human beings anwhat happened , and thatisa fact,a nd thatis evidence will show .

The government will introduce evidencesecond bombing of IBM, which occurred o19th of 84, which isa commemoration date ofmassacre of African people, when in 1960 o21, 70, unarmed children, women and mgunned down by the South African police incalled Sharpeville. Most were shot in the bactried to flee to safety.

( ..The evidence will show that in September,offices of Union Carbide Corp. were bombed by thFreedom Front. In September of84, Black peopued to demand their freedom and with theirorganizationand resistance came another leadingdeath of African youth - gunshot wounds, particthe back - inflicted y South African police and

(The evidence will show that in a demonstsupport and solidarity with the freedom struggleAfrica, the bombing of Union Carbide was dedisix-year old Black child murdered by the racAfrican police. On the day prior to the Unionbombing,offices of the racist South African goverManhatten were bombed y the Red Guerrilla Ran armed clandestine organization committed toing the freedom struggle of Black people in Sout

(The intention of the racist apartheid system isthe abric ofsocial, cultural and community lifepeople. t is designed to destroy them as a natiopeople. In other words, it is genocide. Cananythingmore shocking to our own e n ~ e ofhumathe death from malnutritionand related diseasesAfrican children , who starve while rich whites lbest land? Or of Black children shot in thepermanently blinded by rubber bullets, fired frweapons? These rubber bullets, which you may hof, havealso been used by British troops againstof Northern Ireland . The use of these rubber bbeen condemned by a number of human rightstions.(There is resistance to racist South AfricaAfrican people who organize and lead the resistaa reedom struggle -a revolutionary strugg le to reland and to be truly independent. Self-determcentral to any struggle of people demanding therights, for it is from self-determination that otherights flow . Self-determination in South Africcontrol of the land y African people, and control

institutions and resources that most directlyaspects of their lives. t is to be able to live , work aas free people.(The support of the U.S.government and U.S.ctions in racist South Africa is critical to the surapartheid . African people have demanded thatgovernment cease its support of the South Africernment, and that U.S. corporations pull out oAfrica . African people - led by organiza tions sucAfrican National Congress and the Pan Africangress and other popu lar resistance organizationexposed the high level of collaboration betweengovernment and the racist government of Southand they have demanded an end to that collabThelJ have clearly pointed out how this country hfrom claiming to fight against fascism in World W

an alliance with facism and support of racism iAfrica in 1985.)Union Carbide is the same company that


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O IO 7: TRI LIn this country, it illegally tried to mine the landsowned by the Indian people.

( When the government raises the specter of terrorismand criminality, as it has in this trial, we must ask our-selveS - WHO ARE THE REAL TERRORISTS? ,those who support racist South Africa, or those who fightagainst it?The government will introduce evidence tha t willshow that many of the ~ i t e d Freedom Front bombings were direc ted' against military facilities andcontractors . As the evidence will show, the role ofthe United States government and mili tary in El Sal

vador is to support that country's vicious dictatorship. Keep it from collapsing in the face of a liberation movement that represents the aspirations of apeople to be free. They want to rid themselves ofU.s. and foreign domina tion, of U.s. military aggression.Now, there is one thing 1 agree with the go vernement on this case, and that is that this trial has a lotto do with bombings. As the evidence that we willpresent will show, that in the past year alone, theSalvadorean Air Force has been doubl ed with assistance from the United States governement, that use750 pound fragmentation bombs has increased, thatthese bombs ha ve the capaci y to d etona e before theyhit the ground; that makes them an antipersonnelbomb, with one purpose in mind, and that is to killliving people. That's what makes it an antipersonnelbomb. Tha t particul ar characteristic of it, that it won texplode when it hits the ground, that it will explodebefore it hits the ground.I mentioned before the research tha t I did, and thishas a lot to do with why 1am aware of some of thesethings, but also when 1worked with Vietnam VetransAgainst the War - these were the same type ofbombs used in Viet Nam against people. So, I havesome experience and knowledge about what thesethings do. But, Idon t think it takes a lot of experienceand knowledge to perceive what a 750 pound bombwill do when it explodes just before it hits the ground,when there are civilians around.As the evidence will show, the use of incendiarybombs has increased. These are called napalm andwhite phosp horous and by the victims in El Salvador,they are caIled "flaming liquid". They are the mostfeared of all . White phosphorousattaches to the skin,it burns and it burns very deeply. t is very painful,and ultimately very lethal.These bombings which primarily strike areas wherecivilians live, are part of a strategy of terrorizing thecivilian population in the countryside, and destroying the land, the cropsand the water supplies. As theevidence will show, the goal is to use the bombingsand other methods to depopulate an area, to forcepeople to flee their own homes, crea ting refugees, andit is the cornerstone of U.s. military policy in ElSalvador - to destroy that which gives rise to the

resistance there, and that is the Salvadorean peoplethemselves.Of concern to us during this trial is the fact thatmilitary policies in El Salvadorare formulated at thehighest levels of the United States government. Theevidence will show that the war in El Salvador iscarried out with war planes that are manufactured inthe United States, supplied by the United States,flown by pilots trained by the United States government, military, that are guided byrecognizanceplancs,flown by U.s. pilots. f you have heard that before, itis because you know something about Viet Nam, because we have seen it in Viet Nam before..The evidence will show that these war planes carried bombs and guns, manufactured by war contractors here in the United States, and then shipped to El

Salvador. The government will introduce evidencethat will show that one of thesecontractors is GeneralElectric. You can see right over there. This corporation, GE, produces a plane called the Dragon Fly, the

was used in Viet Nam, and it is now used in ElSalvador. The plane carriesup to six thousand poundsof bombs at one time. t is also equipped with verypowerful guns, machine type guns, mounted on theplane, and these guns are also made by GeneralElectric. They fire up to six thousand rounds aminute,and they can tear apart a villageina matter ofminutes. And, that is why the Salvadorean peoplerefer to these planes as "flying death squads".

The evidence will show that there is another kind ofdeath squad inEl Salvador. This death squad is madeup of intelligence agents and military personnel, andthat their targets are political activists and religiousactivists and workers and peasants. You perhapshave heard of, and we can - we will introduceevidence that points to one particular instance thatyou may remember - where four American nunsand lay workers weremurdered by oneof these deathsquads in El Salvador. They have murdered thou-.sands of people and they have the tacit approval ofthe Central Intelligence Agency. There is a history ofthis in El Salvador. As the evidence will show, in1932, there were 30 000 people who were systematicaIlymurdered by death squads in El Salvador. Manyof whom were political activists, who had their namesobtained by the death squads from the voter registration lists that existed at the time. Among those killedwere Farabundo Marti, the peasant revolutionaryleader from whom todays liberation movement in ElSalvador takes its name. Between October of '79 andDecember of '81, in El Salvador, 30 000 people weremurdered and six hundred thousand became refugees - forced to flee their homes. These figures havesince doubled as a result of increased U.s. involvement, in support for the Salvadorean governmentand the continuing activity of the death squads andthe escalation of aerial bombings.

This is sta te terrorism commi tted by a governmentwhich would collapse without the support of theUnited States. The government of El Salvador hasbeen condemned by human rights groups fromaround the world. It isa government that is guilty ofwar crimes. For while it is true that there are alwayssomeciviliancasualties in any war, it does not followsuit that a government deliberately targets civiliansand systematically murders them - which is thecase in EI Salvador. t has to mean more to us thanit affects the price of our morning cup ofcoffee, or thegallon of gasoline that goes into our cars. Thegovernment of EI Salvador and the United Statesgovernment must be held accountable for their violations of human rights.

.I would like to address the issue of conspiracy,to

conspiracy is,and it applies to this case and to manypolitical cases. They have always had thi sgovernment has always had a theory about conspiracy.When whites began to steal the lands of the NativeAmericans, and the Indian people started to fightback and they are still fighting back - the government called that conspiracy. When slaves werebrought over from Africa,and they rebelled and escaped, the governmi nt called that conspiracy. When

Malcolm X came along and said we must advancefrom civil rights to human rights, and the government said that was conspiracy as well. When workers, Black and white, fought for the right to organizeunions that are being broken now by the Reaganadministration , the government caIled that conspiracy. When a mass cross section of people in thiscountry organized to oppose United States intervention in Vietnam, the government saw conspiracy.

When Puerto Rican people demand independence for Puerto Rico, the government sees conspiracy.

The government's concept of conspiracy is to tryand criminalize what is justifiable resistance to itspolicies. t has to, because its power is being challenged, and its moral hypocrisy is being exposed..I realize that there isa risk,so to speak, in standinghere before you in what is essentially a public forum,and take the position that I support the actions of theUnited Freedom Front. That I support the actions ofthe Black Liberation Army, the FALN,a Puert o Ricanindependence organization, and the Red GuerrillaResistance. But I chose to take this position and rejectthe government's attempt to criminalize revolutionary movement. I chose to defend the principles of the

a l ~ ; - i m p e r i a l i s t movement, of which I am a smallpart. I cannot and will not distance myself from thosewho carry the fight. I cannot and will not distancemyself from those who have dedicated their lives tothe struggle - some of those who sacrificed their livesfor the struggle, fighting against a system that profitsfrom brutality and genocidal attacks against ThirdWorld peoples in Africa,Central America, and withinthe borders of this country. And, as a working classperson, as a revolutionary, there is no better positionfor me to take than to affirm through my own life, ourmovements commitment to a future in which nochild will ever have to suffer from the ravages ofoppression or capitalistic exploitation, racism imdimperialistic domination. A future that holds thehuman potential of the working class to be a greatasset to be developed as we build a future based onhuman needs, justiceand freedom. Thank you very


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O IO 7: ON TRI L

Personal Statements from the hio 7C ROL M NNING

Myname isCaroI AnnSaucier Ma nning. la m a3 2-year-old mother of 3 children, pages 6, 8, and 15. Iam also a political activist who was undergroundwith my husband and children for 9 years.For the past three and a half years Ihave been heldin prison. I am serving a IS-year sentence afterhaving been convicted of two bombings of U.s .military reserve offices in New York as a result of atrial in Brooklyn, N .Y. in 1985-86, in which the government indicted myself and six others for elevenpolitical bombings. I was convicted of these twobombings even though the prosecu tors s id that I didnot make or place any explosive device but claimedthat I knew about, supported, and helped with thecommuniques that were distributed . The government, not satisfied with my IS-year sentence indicted myself and 6 others in May 1986, one monthafter I was sentenced in the Brooklyn case, on thecurrent charges of Seditious Conspiracy, RIC O Enterprise and RICO Conspiracy. I am once .againindicted for the same conduct I have been tried foralready but now face an additional 60-year-sentence.I was raised ina family of five, ina small rural townin Kezar Fall, Maine. Both my parents were woollenmill workers who took much pride in being knownas hard workers who provided their family with anice home and coped with the wants and needs oftheir children.In school I was an average student, though myfavorite subject happened to be physical education.I liked playing field hockey and loved working outon the horse in gymnastics. In high school I wasplaced in the general course without ever really- being consulted and I did not know what I wanted todo or what was available for me.What really affected my school was when mymother died at the age of54 . I was fourteen years oldand had seen my mother go thr ough years of suffering in pain with the cancer that eventuall y killed her.I was angry that she had to continue to work whilesick, so that she could help provide for her familyand I blamed the terrible conditions in which sheworked for so long, for her death. Every day mymother left covered from head to toe in wool fibers,which she had also breathed in all day. The noisefrom the weaving room where my father worked nextto my mother was so loud it was deafening you hadto scream to be heard and you could smell the chemicals that had been used to treat the wool poisoning theair. All of these things plus the fast pace of constantwork that was expected, many da ys not even stopping to eat lunch, to me seemed criminal.My father was much devastated by the loss of mymother. They had been married for over 30 years andwere close. This wasdifficul t for me to deal with sinceI was a 14-year-old who was feeling the loss of mymother greatly. I came to feel as if school was a wasteof time and that I was only going to end up workingin the factory. By the tenth grade i tbecame just a placeto socialize and before finishing tha t year, I qui tschool when I met my husband Thomas Manning.We were married-in 1972. I was 16 and with maDYdreams, yet the most exciting to me at the time wasjust moving away from my hometown.We moved to Oxford, Pa. where we worked for ashort time with children with cerebral palsy. I havea cousin with cerebral palsy, who was enrolled in theschool.) Working with the handica pped children wasfor me a real joy, and someday I hope to be able to doit again. But once I became pregnant with my oldestson, I became homesick and wanted to return toMaine. This was in 1973 and we moved to Maine'slargest city, Portland.

I was aware of the struggle in the Civil RightsMovement, the racism that runs so rampant throughourcountry, and personally feeling a responsibility tofight against it.

The Vietnam war was happening and I knew manyof my older friends who had been sent there, angry,not wanting to go and not really understanding whythey should . When they returne d home, if they werem o ~ g the lucky ones, people questioned how theychanged so much, those of us not understandingwhat they had been through.

Then, from my husband who had been to Vietnamand after returning home went to priSon for 5 years,I learned of the inhumane treatment of prisonersbehind the prison walls of America.. When the Scar'd Times newspaper was left at thefront door of our apartme nt in Portland one day, bothTom and I read it with much interest from cover tocover. The paper was put out by prisoners, exprisonersand community activists-among them, Patand Ray Levasseur, who operated a drop-in center.They were involved in a broad range of work fromfighting for prisoners' rights, to finding housing, jobsand schooling for ex-prisoners and their families, toworking with people in the low-income neighborhoods around various issues such as housing conditions, welfare rights and against police harassmentand abuse.Within a few weeks, Tom was at the SCAR centerdoing various work. In between being a mother ofour infant son and keeping a home, I eventually alsobecame active and helped open a Day Care Center,visi ted prisoners, worked on the Scar'd Times paper,leafletted for the United Farm Workers, and attendeddemonstrations and functions that SCAR was involved in.The opening of Portland's first leftist bookstore by

a few of us in late 1974 , came with increased locafederal police surveillance, harassment and 'phyattacks on members of SCAR. This caused Towork less and less in the community and decideunderground. I followed him, fearing for our sbu t mos tly wan ting to keep my family together. those years I gave birth to our daughter in 1980another son in 1981. My priority in dail y lifealways maintain ing a home and life for them thaso normal a s circumstances would allow. Mydren really became my life since I had to lrelatively isolated existence but doing wha t I cdo to make sure they were involved in various aties outsi de the home. This was fairly easy to doDec. 1981, when my husba nd was be ing soughtcerning a shootout with a N ew Jersey State trowho was killed. From that time on, State and Felaw enforcement used our children in their huus. The children > pictures and even my oldestdental x-rays were put on a wanted poste r andtributed to'post offices, schools, doctors and librOnce we became aw are of this, it became morecult to enroll our children in school, take themdoctors - etc.,but of course those were risks thatto be taken.There were many times over the years whthought hard a bout turning myself in and getmy children to family members who could takeof them while I took care of the warrant tha t wamy arrest. But always the thought of being seated from them and knowing that the police wogo to ny extent to try and get information from- that stopped me from doing this.When I was arrested in April 1985, I foundthose fears I had over the years were real and were coming true. The first thing the FBI didtake my 3 children and hold them incommunicfor 8 weeks. My oldest son (11 years old at the twas interrogated for 7 hours on the day of our aand at least 5 other times during this period. Wthe government held my children hostage, I wasover and over by various law enforcement agenthat I could help my children if only I would cooate with them in prosecuting the others.Over the past three and a half years governmhas tried to break me by putting me at timehorrendous prison conditions and subjecting minhumane treatment. To this day I continue tprosecuted for standing by commitment tohusband an d for my political beliefs that the govment call criminal. Though I suffer greatly witpain of being separated from my children, Istand by my principles and beliefs, a right wshould share.P TRICI GROS LEV SSEUR

I am Patricia Gros Levasseur, one of eight chraised in a small town of the eastern shore of land . My father was in the arm y for a numberoand my mother worke d at factory and office jobmain contradiction I found in my life growing uobvious racism and the disparity between Blacwhites, rich and poor. I remember vividly trymake sense out of the blind hate which manypeople felt t owards Black people - struggling athe immovable positi on of race and economic osion.As a white working class woman, I realizedmy duty to work and organize against racissexism, the oppression of the people; we mustto tolerate this governme nt's policies throughoworld in the name of the American people.

When I look back over my life and the sum tmy experiences so far, I'm struck by the realitycharges of Sedition and RICO. I know my life hbeen criminal or corrupt. Now the governm


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who came to this country and put down, destroyedand overthrew by use of force whole nations of Native American peoples,virtually wiping ou t an entirecivilization? Wasn 't it our ancestors who stole andenslaved African people? Isn't itour country that hasa long history of going outside its borders to determine what form ofgovernment peopleof other countries should have? What is it when high-rank inggovernment officials can lie to the people of thiscountry and for their own profit and ideology sellarms and drugs and sQlicit funds to finance the overthrow of Nicaragua? Is that Racketeering? Is thatCorrupt Oraganization? Is that Seditious?Eight of us (now five [ed.] are charged with conspiracy to overthrow the U.5. government by use offorce and we never had any Redeye missiles; we hadno tanks, no helicopters, and no hundred milliondollars. t is our belief that it is the people of acountry who decide to throw off an unjust andcorrupt government. t is the people of a countrywho decide what to build; it always has been and italways will be.BARBARA CURZI LAAMAN

I was born on November 10, 1957, and am themotherof2 daughters, 14 and 13 years old, and a sixyear old son, who I share with my Comrade husyears old. Raised in a tight-knit bl ue collar family, Idid most of my growing up in Boston and Buffalo.From inner city alleyways and schoolyards to thesteel mills and warehouses where I worked l came tounderstand the realities of U.S. capitalism. I becamepolitically active in the mid-60's, around the VietnamWar. In addition to laborand community organizing,I was a full-time SOS activist and participated invarious capacities-in the student, anti-war and antiimperialist movements. Much of my work has goneinto fighting against racism and apartheid and inband, Jaan Karl Laaman. The youngest of four children, I was raised in an ethnic neighborhood in Boston wheremy grandparents settled after immigratingto the U.S. from Italy in the early 1920s. My parentsworked in factories most of their lives. They taughtusthat everyone has a right and a responsibility to theircommunity and to themselves to develop to theirfullest potential.Asa workingclass woman and mother, the strugglesfor decent health care and housingand against racismand pollution have always been part of my life. Isawthat good heath and education resources are available only to the privileged few. I saw that racism,sexism and class divide poor and working classcommunities. They fough t among themselves for thecrumbs, too worn down to go after the real cause ofthe problem. In the mid-70s, as Boston exploded wi thrasist violence, I joined the Anti-racist Committee.From the community level, my view expanded toinclude international struggles against all kinds ofsuffering caused by imperialism.I have been in prison for three and a half years afterliving clandestinely with my husband and childrenfor two and a half years. The government has threatened me with 265 years of sentences for being part ofthe underground anti-imperialist movement. Afterone trial, I recieved a 15-year sentence for conspiracyand for actions carried out by the United FreedomFront opposing U.5. government support for aparthied in South Africa and their war on the people ofCentral America.I am presently on trial for the exact same activities,now described in three conspiracy charges, includingSeditious Conspiracy, which could add 60more yearsof prison time to my life.I became and will remain committe d to building ajustsociety in this country, free of racial and economicoppression. Whatever my conditions, I'll keep brightmy vision and never stop working until we've builtthat better day.JAANLAAMAN

OHIO : ON TRI L .', , ~ l ~

years old. Raised in a tight-knit blue collar family, Idid most of my growing up in Boston and Buffalo.From inner city alleyways and schoolyards to thesteel mills and warehouses where I worked, I came tounderstand the realities of U.S. capitalism. I becamepolitically active in the mid-60's, around the VietnamWar. In addition to labor and community organizing,I was a full-time SDS activist and participated invarious capacities-in the student, anti-war and antiimperialist movements. Much of my work has goneinto fighting against racism and apartheid and insupport of National Liberation and o c i a l i ~ t movements.About 1970 I came to understand that arme d resistance was a necassary part of any struggle commi ttedto the defeat of imperialism, and I have been part ofthe guerrill a / underground / armed movement sincethen. From 1972 to 1978 I was imprisoned for bombing Nixon's re-election headquarter s and the policestation in Manchester, New Hampshire. After myrelease, I did public anti-aparteid and anti-Kian organizing in New England. Then I again went totallyunderground and worked as a full-time guerrilla.Since being captured in November of 1984, and having been through several politcal trials (all of us havesome sentences-I have 98 years), my comrades and Iare now being charged with seditious conspiracy forbeing members of the United Freedom Front and / orthe Sam Melville Jonathan Jackson Unit (both organi-

tests for better conditions. I read a lot of history alldworked in political study groups. I was locked up ,beaten, and shipped out for my activities. I learnedthrough study and my efforts that the struggle wasmuch larger than my present surroundings. I became a communist.Upon my release I worked briefly with the PrairieFire Oraganizing C&nmit tee. I went to work for theNew England Free Press - a radical, collective printshop - for almost 2 years. Along with Barbara, Jaan,and Kazi, I was part of the Amandla Concert inHarvard Stadium in 1979. Featuring Bob Marley,Amandla was a benefit concert to provide aid to theliberation forces in Southern Africa. My role was aspart of a People's 'Security Force which providedsecurity for the concert. We also did security workfor the community - such as house sitting withpeople who were under attack by racists. We wentto Greensboro, North Carolina in 1979 to protest thekillings of CWP member s a year before by the KKK.I went underground to join the Armed Clandestine Movement in 1981 and was captured in Cleveland in 1984. V ENCEREMOS

zations have claimed many anned actions).

.< 7. :~ t ~ :. .Although I am again in captivity will aU its limitations and heart-aches, especially concerning the children, I understand this is but another front in outstruggle. AMANDLA FREEDOM IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE

RICHARD C WILLIAMSI have3beautiful children ages 18, Il and 8 andam

not married. I was born on November 4, 1947 inBeverly, Massachusetts which is a small costal city 25miles north of Boston. My mother was a factoryworker and seamstress and my father was a machineoperator. I have one sister younger than me by 6years. Just when the draft was getting heavy forVietnam I turned 18 years old and promp tly receivedmy notice. Like most working class kids, white orBlack, there was no easy way out of it. Either getdrafted, join or hide. I chose not to go. At 20 yearsold I was arrested for having marijuana, which inMassachusetts was a felony. Given ,the choice of 6months in jail or joining the army, I went to jail in1967 and became ineligible for the draft.I continued to have brushes with the law when in1971 I was arrest ed for robbery in New Hampshireand recieved a 7 to 15 year sentence. I was 23 andfaced 5 solid years in jail ,atth e least. I realizedat thattime that I was going nowhere fast, that I needed tochangesomething-so Istarted with myself. I becameinvolved wi th trying to better the prison conditionsI was in, which were deplorable. t was 1971 , theyear George Jackson was murdered, the year of theAttica RebeUion. There was unrest in most prisons

DR WING BYTOM M NNlNG

TOM M NNING

Boston born and raised, in a large working classfamily, never enoug h $, though my father workedday and night, with sleep in between, his only daysoff were when he was hurt or some crisis in thefamily. He was a longshoreman and a postal clerk,he worked himself to death, trying to get one end tomeet the other, he never did make ends meet. Thatwould be a cycle and capitalism is not made thatway, he always got the worst end, we know nowwho got the best end, it took me a long time to figureit out, on the streets, in the military, Cuba, Vietnam,prison and back on the streets. Doing communitywork, the answer became crystal clear, socialism, asystem where ends meet. The bosses oppose thissystem with a vengeance, they attack it with theirarmies and police. The People must fight for theirown system in all ways. One of these being armedclandestine struggle, we have a long way to go, butwe are getting there, with more Angolasand Nicaraguas we will get there-and ourown struggle with thegovernment's courts in Springfield, Massachusetts


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~ O IO : ON TRIALBos Luc: estern Sweep he hio

by Maggie Smith & Valerie WestThe use of counterinsurgency techniques, intelligence gathering, intimidation and repression havebeen a consistent practise of U.S. government attempts to dismantle its domestic opposition. Thepermanent government in Washington, DC,consid

ers its military models from around the world as itplans for the conditions created by a domestic economic crisis or another unpopular war. Techniquesnow being used against revolutionary dissidentswithin the U.S. are being put into place with an eyeto more extensive use against a broader segment ofthe population.In February of 1982, the U.s. government announced the existence of an investigation, codenamed BOS-LUC, which was to become the mostextensive fugitive search since the Lindenburg kidnapping. BOS-LUC BOS for its Boston base andLUC for Raymond Luc Levasseur) was intended tocapture Raymond Luc Levasseur, Patricia Levasseur, Thomas Manning,Carol Ann Manning,RichardWilliams, Jaan Laaman and Barbara Curzi-Laaman,and to provide information about their allies andpolitical base. The government contends that .thesepeople, now known as the Ohio 7, were responsiblefor 27 actions against U.s. military installations andcorporations dating from 1975 which were claimedby the Sam Melville / Jonathan Jackson Unitand TheUnited Freedom Front. Theircommuniques expressconfidence that only a multi-leveled attack on U.S.imperialism will be victorious.The BOS-LUC task force, directed by the JointTerroristTask Force JTTF), was characterized by excessive brutality, intimidation and harrassment offriends and family of the accused, extensive use ofillegal surveillance of the political community, thecreation of informants, threats against the safety ofthe children of the q IO 7 c o n s i t n t lying andfalsification of documents by government agents.BOS-LUC was sta'ffed by agents of the FBI , Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and statepolice from Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, NewHampshire, New York, New Jersey as well as theJTTF. The BOS-LUC investigation was an activeexercise of the national political police force publically acknowledged by the JTTF in 1976. In 1982,other concurrent investigations focussedon the PuertoRican Independence movement, the Sunrise Collective, the American Indian Movement and the Brinksexpropriation . BOS-LUC is infamous for its exploitation of the children of the Ohio 7as an actual counterinsurgency technique. Beginning with the development and distribution of a 30-page dossier on thechildren, including their medical and dental records,to the eventual detention, interrogationand attemptedbribery of these children, the strategy of BOS-LUC inregard to the Ohio 7 children is a landmark in government misconduct. Thousands of docters, dentistsand child-care workers were asked to look for thesechildren and then call agents o f BOS-LUC.Agents of the task force seized many citizens resembling the Ohio 7 and subjected them to publichumiliation and physical abuse prior to any positiveidentification. A famiLy was surrounded by policeafter leaving a diner, and the father was beaten andsearched in front .of his family in the parking lot.Another family was pulled over on the highway andforced at gunpoin t to lie face-down in the rain on thepavement. Anotherman 's teeth were broken with thebarrel of a gun. In Pennsylvania, an entire paramilitary team landed in a field, surrounded a family intheir home and held them hostage for six hours.These people had the simple misfortune to look likemembers of the Ohio 7. There are numerous ongoinglawsuits growing out of this investigative fervor.

All members of the large Manning family havehad their homes invaded by force by the BOS-LUCagents. One particular New Year's Eve, four Man

expected to survive the surgery; the agents arguedthat he had nothing to lose by talking to them.The surveilliance by electric means, paid informatsandphotographicmethodsyeildedSOO,OOOpagesof material from investigations of the Ohio 7. Indesignated areas, numerous pen registers were obtained, then hundreds of BOS-LUC agents wouldconduct an intelligence sweep; the idea was that theincreased police activity would generate more phonecalls to sympathizers and all the outgoing numberswould be subject to expand FBI investigation. Acasual mention by a dist ant relative of Tom Manningof the name Tommy in a telephone conversationbrought a small army of agents into the bedroom of astranger in less than 1 hour.

Informantsareessenti al to U.s. government policeactivity. In the Ohio 7 case primary governmentinformers committed many crimes, notably a brutalmurder, while under the Witness Protection Program. This informer (Joseph Aceto, aka Joseph Balino) was offered 'red carpet treatment', includingheavy doses of the tranquili zer Mellaril to increasehis veracity . According to medical records releasedto the defense, he twice attempted suicide and hasbeen diagnosed as paranoid and schizophrenic (herecieves messages from god and the tv.) undreds ofacquaintances and activists were subpeonaed to grandjuries investigating the Ohio 7. One witness to thegrand jury, Felipe Nogura, gave over five days oftestimony and has since moved up into internationa lstudies and diplomatic circles. He is currently employed as a telecommunications expert in the WestIndies. The grand jury and police harrassment whichencircled those who were subpeonaed were a strategy to turn hundreds of people into collaboratorswith BOS-LUC.Government agents repeatedly lied in affidavitsnecessary to obtain search warrents. Fabricated information was attributed to allies of the Ohio 7. Inanother situation, an address was extracted from achild of the Ohio 7 and attributed to a co-defendant.This child had resisted a seriesof bribes offered by theagents of BOS-LUC, and gave the address only afterbeing told that her parents' lives depend ed on hercooperation. These fabrications are classic COINTELPRO tactics of disinformat ion to foment distrustwithin the movement.In ear ly 1984, BOS-LUC was expanded intoWestern Sweep. Under the direction of the BOS-LUCtask force, hundreds of local police officers in West-

em Massachusetts, Conneticut, Vermont and NHampshire were deputized and handed photwanted posters and dossiers on the Ohio 7 and otrevolutionary activists. The newly minted agentsWestern Sweep went out, knocked on doors, stoppcars, set up roadblocks and saturated the area wwanted posters. They contacted schools, day-cBos-Luc

centers and medical facilities with phots and mediand dental records. Many activists were repeatedinterviewed, followed and harrassed. The womecommuni ty in Western Massachusetts was contacby FBI agents offering assistance after a rash of tephone threats. The FBI assistance turned out to hinon cooperation with Western Sweep. In the estimtion of the government, one out of three residentsthe four-state area was contacted during the WestSWl'ePWestern Sweep was an operation carried outthe BOS-LUC task force, a methodology to nationacoordinate the investigation of revolutionaries. Textensive use of computers allowed cross-refereing of a record quantity of police investigation. Tmain-frame computer used by BOS-LUC wasnated by Grumman. The computer produced a nain Ohio which was related to a traffic accidentConnecticut and led the agents to the home of Rand Pat Levasseur, in the late fall of 1984 .The BOS-LUC agents discovered the Levasshome in Ohio at 7pm and in less than 12 hoursHostage Rescue team from Washington, DC, armopersonnel from Cleveland and the SW AT team frPi ttsburg were present to seize Ray and Pa t and thchildren. This rapid response and coordination wBOS-LUC in action. When Carol and Tom Mannwere arrested in 1985, their children were kidnappby the FBI and Carol was threatened from the firstdof captivity that the safety of her children dependon her cooperation. t took a hunger strike by Tand Carol, thousands ofnamesonpetitions and acity by many people to gain the release from custoof the three Manning children after two monthsinterrogation and isolation.Horrifying prison conditions, hysterical securmeasures and repeated trials for the same actiohave been suffered by the Ohio 7 since their captuWhen Carol was in Framinjham, Massachusetts, swas handcuffed and shackled at all times, even inshower, and stripsearched and cavity searchedfront of male guards each time she was brought inout of her cell. A special armoured vehicle was bfor Tom Manning and Richard Williams in NJersey, and then used in Massachusetts. Ray Levseur was sent directly to Marion Prison in Illinoisafhis conviction for bombings in New York. All the mhave been repeatedlyheld in draconian Control Unin various prisons as a result of their status as revotionary dissidents. They are on trial now in Sprinfie ld, Massachusetts for Seditious Conspiracy aRICO. Many of the acts included in this new indment are acts for which the Ohio 7 have already beconvicted in other trials. The government refusesrelease the cost of BOS-LUC or Western Sweep,the curren t trial for Scditious Conspiracy hascost$million and is only in pre-trial proceedings. Onlyjurors have been selected after six months of jselection, because the number of people who waffected by Western Sweep. The Ohio 7 have stefastly maintained that they are guilty of no crimand they have fought in every hour of their captivfor their politics, their human rights and their capity to continue the struggle.

The United States understands that it isimmune to the developmen t of a revolutionary retance movement. As it faces global economic cri


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\

- - .. ., - , ' .- .. . .. . .O IO : ON TRIAL

Statement rom the''RESISTANCE CONSPIRACY CASE efendants uly ~ 9 8 8. , . . . ,. - .. , On May 11, 1988, we were indicted for seeking toinfluence, change, and protest policies and practices f theUnited States government concerning various internationaland domestic matters through the use of violent and illegalmeans. .The indictment charges us with conspiracy andwith aiding and abetting the bombings of a number of

military and governmental buildings - resulting in pr operty damage,out no injuries to anyone.What are the policies and practices referred to?-The U.S. practise of slaughtering thousands of Nicaraguan civilIans through the proxy contra army.-The U.S. invasionofGrenada , tne first Black socialist nonaligned nation in this hemisphere.-The U.s. EOlicy of establishing brutal dictatorships in EISalvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Chile that murdertheir own people to make their countries safe for U.s.investment.-90 years of U.S. colonialization of Puerto Rico.-The U.s. policy of aiding and abetting the racist govern-ments of fsrael and Soutn Africa.-The centuries-old practise of racialgenocide and oppression of Black, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Asian and NativeAmerican peoples here, and of promoting racism andracist violence.-The U.s. government 's denial that Prisoners of War andpolitical pri soners are he ld in U.s. jails, targeted for isolation and destruction.

Do we want to change these policies and practices?Wholeheartedly. They VIolate every tenet of internationallaw and human decency. They cause death, destruction,)JOverty and suffering for millions. t is a disgrace tha t we,the pL'Ople of the U.s., allow our government to pursuethem. To do nothing is to become tacit accomplices inthese crimes and practises.Each of us charged in this indictment has commi tted ourlife to fighting fOr social justice here and to extendingsolidarity to national liberation movements around theworld. E ach oneofushasbcen involved in supporting thejust struggle of the Vietnamese pt;ople, in fighting againstthe Ku Klux Klan and racist VIolence, in supporting thestrugglefor Black liberat ion/New Afrikan independenceand for Puerto Rican independence. We a v e ~ r t i c i p a t e din and supported the movement for women s liberation,and soughtan end to gay and lesbianoppression. We have

America's only political priso ner on death row ,Mumia Abu-Jamal, has been denied his appeal tohave his death sentence over-turned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.Mumia's appeal had also demanded a newtrial. the March 6 high court decision ignored amultitude of fair trial violations and refused toconsider the political motivations which were central in prosecuting Mumia and getting him sentences to death."As a former Black Panther Party spokesman

been anti-imperialist activists and organizers for many ment, unable to meet together or with oUf lawyersyears. preparea defense. We, accused ofacts of resistance agaiThis has been our life's work, and it has brought us into state terrorism by the U.s. government, actswhich i:hecontinuing conflict with the U.s. government. t has also selves caused no a s u ~ t i e s are labeled "terrorists," forclinked us with the millions of people around the world t o c o m c t o c o u r t d r a ~ i n s h a c k l e s a n d d i s p l a y ~ b e h iwho strugglefor freedom and against cxploita tion. Fight- a bullet-proOf plexiglasS partition. North a nd Poindexting against poverty and oppression, and inspired by a whose actions ment a trial for was crimes and crimvision of collective and personal liberation, -people from against humanity, ar e .called h e r ~ s by pOliticians,aSouth Africa to Palestine to Central America to the'ghettos come to court draped m the bles smgs of Ronald Reagof the U.s.are struggling to change the condi tionsofthcir and with the benefi t of millions of dollars from right-wmlives. With them we say, "No Justice, No Peace." backers. , .The govemment is relentless in its pursuit of thop l S whose rove and concern extend across national and racl p_ barriers, and whose commitment leads them to acti, resistance. That is why the Sanctuary and Plowsharmovements have been targeted by the Reagan Admistration. That is why a group of Puerto Rican independtistas are now facing charges in Hartford, ConnecticThat is why a group of working class 'anti-imperialactivists currently face sedition charges in SprmgfieMassachusetts. That is why a New Afrikan FreedoFighter, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, and one of.U (,MarilynBuche U.s. government fears the gr owth of the anti-imperialist movement that we've helped to build over the past20 years. We have been targeted by the EB .I. for continuingharassment, surveillance and imprisonment.Each ofus has been an anti-imperialist political prisonerfor more than three years. We have been condemned tosentencesas longas 70 years. Laura Whi tehorn is now thelongest-held pofitical pri soner in "preventive detention."We have battled cancer, psychological torture, and isolation, buried in the worst prisons in the U.s. along withhundreds of Black/New Afrikan, Puerto Rican, NativeAmerican and North American political prisoners andPrisoners of War.We are neither terrorists nor criminals. We are guilty ofno criminal activity.Now we face these new charges. They were broughtmore than three years and 14 prosecutions after the last ofus was arrested. The charges are couched in language tha ttargets our politics and associations. The governmentmaKes no claim to know who actually did the bombings.The Reagan administration want s to stagea show trial thatwill notonlyhavea chilling effect on activists here, but willalso divert attention from the North/Poindexter trialsgoing on down the hall from ours.We will fight this politically motivated indictment, butwe expect no justice. We are each held in solitary confine-

were recently tried in New York. .. _.f political prisoner s can be treated as less thiln humaas outside the bounds of human decency - how will othsectors of the political community be treated when thvoices become too loud?

The Reagan administration wants our prosecutionserve as a warning to those who demand justice ahuman rights.We say as long as this government tramples onrights, the lives, and the dignity of human bemgs hereanywhere else in the worfd, there will always be restance. That is not a criminal conspiracy - it is a movemeof solidarity and resistance, of love and h ope.NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE

the state can have no casethere is no caseagainst freedom-Thulani DavisFrom anti-imperialist political prisoners: '

Alan Berkman Marilyn Buck Susan RosenbergTimothy Blunk Linda Evans Laura Whitehorn

TELEGRAMS AND LEITERS SHOULD BESENT NOW TO THE GOVERNOR:Gov. CaseyMain Capitol Bldg.Room 225Harrisburg, PA 17120FOR PETITIONS AND MORE INFORMATION,PLEASE CONTACT:

and an outspoken MOVE supporter, Jamal has ;been in the cross hairs of Philadelphia's racist killercops for over 20 years," said Partisan Defense Ctte. l

PARTISAN DEFENSE COMMIITEEP.O. Box 99Canal Street StationNew York, NY 10013At the time of his arrest, Jamal was President of the Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia .He earned the cops' undying hatred especially forhis sympathetic interviews withimprisoned MOVE members after the 1978 cop siege.Mumia was framed up in the killing of a Philadelphia policeman in 1981 . Atthe 1982 sentencing hearing, the prosecutor argued for the death sentence by.claiming that Jamal 's having been a member of the Black Panther Par ty showed hewas a committed cop-killer. The jury was assured that the death penalty wouldnever be carried out, that Jamal would have "appeal after appeal." For years thePennsylvania Supreme Court had held in other cases that this obviously false

argument mandated automatic reversal of the death sentenceupon review. But inits March decision the court ignored its own precedent in its push to silenceMumia by execution.Mumia was targeted becauseof what he wrote and said, becauseof who heis:a radical Black man who became known as ''THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS."At his trial, Mumia was denied counsel of his own choice. To get a hanging juryofll whites, the courtpermitted theseatingofa white juror who admitted he couldnot be impartial, while excluding 12 prospective black jurors simply on theprosecu tion's request.Jamal'sappeal was supported by amici curiae (friends of the court) briefs formBlack Lawy er

OHI 7: LTPO TEIn Springfield, MA, the government has found itself bogged in theOhio 7 trial and has been repeatedly criticized by the local media . T he mediais asking why the government is prosecuting people at the current cost of 2.1million dollars, when all but one dcfendent have already been convicted forthe same activities covered in this indictment and have sentences from 15-53years. The jury selection alone had taken 6 months to pick only 6 jurors.So, on August 30th, the government prosecutors dropped chargesagainst Tom Manning and Jaan Laaman,announcing tha t they were tr ying tosimplify the trial. In essence, however, they were maneuvering to divide anddemoralize the defendants. With htismove they could silence two powerfulvoices in the trial and separate Tom and Jaan from their wives and comrades.The case has taken on the vindictive nature of a selective prosecution of threemothers, politically active and concerned women who have refused to renounce their husbands and life-oriented progress ive politics they hold.


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O IO 7: ON TRIAL continued from ront page)we support, across the board, all marxist or socialistrevolutionary groups. Nor would we support everyaction or words any group or person uses. This is verysimilar to how people in society interact; would. yousupport everything you or your friends have done inyour whole life? We decide on a case by case basis whowe offer solidarity to , or what we think is important toeducate people in our communities about.

where we defend ourselves and others from those whodirectly threaten our lives, and we seek to liberate ourselves (and society ) from the diseases of racism, sexism,homophobia and all apathy that is the underlining problem which we face in this struggle. We are intent oncreating a society where we are self-managed and autonomous. A society in which those who are working ina particular area can organize their work and make theirThere is an old saying;

Actions speak louder thanwords". In this particular case wefeel there is much to be learnedfrom the Ohio 7's resistance andthe actions for which they arecharged. Their situation shows ustheir courageand strength to builda resistance movement, and tomake changes that forward thestruggles for self-detenninationworld-wide. Self-determination isa right which we support for allpeoples.

wrR N HERE f R Y U own decisions. A society wherethose who are affected by a problem are directly in control of theirnenc...JU...J...JcL JUJau

:> situation and therefore are those;> who can resolve it.O The Ohio 7 in the actionsthey have been accused of, werec not working to build a marxisten0:loWZoJ)-QWe have been shownthough, through historical examples, that so far marxist or socialist revolu tionshave resulted inthe continuationof oppressionandimperialism, through the reign of

vanguard party. Ulterior motives, i f they existed, are not ofconcern to us as they are not themain issue being brought out inthe case. We feel that the Ohio 7are sincere in their struggle for aworld based on human needs,justice and freedom, as theirwritings and statements willshow. The Ohio 7 are beingYOU RE OUIIH H fOR US charged with RICO (racketeering) and seditious conspiracy laws which are very powerful weapons the state uses to outlaw dissent in society.Seditious libel has already been threatened against theToronto militant political prisoner magazine "Bulldozer",when these friends were raided in 1983. They wereraided because of their support for the Canadian guerrilla group Direct Action/Vancouver 5. We simply cannot ignore the Ohio 7 and the states conspiracy case,because from this will come the platfonn for the state torepress, criminalize and outlaw all revolutionary people,and all others seeking social change. We cannot waituntil the state has imprisoned or killed our anarchistcomrades before we act to stop the onslaught of ourenemies, because by then it will be too late. Enough said,eh?

one group over society in the form of state bureaucracy.In Russia, Cuba, Spain, China, Ethiopia etc, new bureaucracies set up by fonner revolutionaries and marxist politicians have repeatedly clamped down with impunity onany people or movements beyond their con trol, using themethods of violence, repression and propaganda machines. Anarchists and autonomous movements or cultures have suffered under every marxist regime. It isironic that even the most activeand committed fighters inthese revolutions tend to be the first victims of the newgovernment, whether they are anarchist or marxist orwhomever

y our definition as anarchists, we seek anti-sta tistor self-managed ways of organizing and living in allaspects. We believe in self-defense and social revolution,

Imperialism is a forceful extraction of wealth from one people by another by force ofanns or political manipulation and cultural extennination.

Unlike Marxists', our support is not for the would-be national rulers, but for thepeople who fight to defend themselves and to better their conditions

Toronto Anarchist Black Cross P.O. Box 6326StatiQn A Toronto Ontario Canada MSW 1P7

Ohio 7 Broadsheet

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