Flyby News
"News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era"
Bush Insider Killed * Upside Down
24 December 2008
"Fear and religion. Religion and fear.
The two are historically entwined. The catalysts
for most of the atrocities committed by man.
Fear of evil fuels religion, religion fuels
hatred, hatred fuels evil, and evil
fuels fear among the masses. It is
a diabolical cycle, and we have
played into the Devil's hand."
- Julius Gabriel
(From Steve Alten's international best-seller, DOMAIN)1) Dark Transition Phases – Will Justice See the Light?- - Bush Insider Who Planned To Tell All Killed In Plane Crash
- - Career Army Specialist sues Rumsfeld, Cheney
- - Entrapment? Five convicted in Ft. Dix plot
- - CBS News: Did Contractor Expose Troops To Toxin?
- - Brainwashing and UNESCO Global Education System
- - Semantic Trickery Will Continue Occupation of Iraq
- - Scott McClellan: "Pres. Bush Outed CIA Agent Valerie Plame"
- - The Bush Family of Secrets -- The Bush Dynasty
- - Charlie Rose interview with Sean Penn
- - Design of WTC-7 - engineer malfunction?
2) Inaugurate Yourself tour with Sander Hicks
3) Leonard Peltier – firethunder - Mumia – Lori – freedom calling- - Open Letter to President-elect Barack Obama on Leonard Peltier
- - Oglala Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge winter emergency support
- - Upside Down World - Lori Berenson speaks out of prison
- - White Christmas poem by Jonathan Mark
"Brainwashing is a system of befogging the brain
so a person can be seduced into acceptance of what
otherwise would be abhorrent to him. He loses touch
with reality. Facts and fancy whirl round and change places…
However, in order to prevent people from recognizing the
inherent evils in brainwashing, the Reds pretend that it is
only another name for something already very familiar
and of unquestioned respect, such as education or reform."
- Edward Hunter,
Brainwashing (New York, Pyramid Books, 1956, pages 185-186).Editor’s Notes:
Fear, religion, education-brainwashing, allow the best of people to slip away from reality; but it is catching up to us, no matter how fast we run from the truth. Like Paul Wellstone, Bush insider IT expert, Michael Connell, fell from the sky. Following the original newswire article are links to other resources on this case. This first item is a walk on the dark side; like the last days of (P)resident George Bush’s administration. And on their heels is a lawsuit that was filed by a Career Army Specialist, April Gallop, on Rumsfeld, Cheney, regarding their giving no evacuation order on 9/11 at the Pentagon. Both the plaintiff and her attorney, William Veale, were in the documentary by Michael Berger: Improbable Collapse: The Demolition of Our Republic. Most news is recycled, but it is not just going on in circles, but spiraling out of control.
NY Times best-selling author Steve Alten is working on a major rewrite of The SHELL GAME for the mass market paperback, which would place Obama in the White House when the next 911 hits in 2012. This riveting cautionary tale could be released in September 2009 to coincide with the 8th anniversary, and in support for NYC campaigns for a new investigation. Alten plans to add special pages in the book for 9/11 truth resources that support the paperback. On the last Wednesday of each month I facilitate an hour teleconference for leaders in the 9/11 truth community. In January we plan to hear updates and Q&A with Richard Gage, Les Jamieson, Sander Hicks, Steve Alten, and others. We will learn about their projects, but also discuss how we can unite them to be more effective. Other truth leaders and representatives of truther groups are welcome to contact me to participate. Uniting the truth movement for mainstream awakening is key for the truth to set us free.
Item 2 is on an initiative by Sander Hicks called “Inaugurate Yourself.” Sander is traveling across the USA from January 10 to Washington DC for the inauguration on January 20th. Please check his schedule and let him know if you can help. Sander is also checking college venues in NYC for a major 9/11 event on the weekend of September 11, 2009. Please pass the word on this forum that would also be out in the streets in support of a YES referendum vote November 2009 for a real 9/11 investigation. The power of the people cannot be denied forever. Communication systems and outright lies have produced a tsunami of information that can counter the affects of brainwashing by our political leaders, education-pharmacy reforms, and the mainstream media. It will not be easy, but with people like Richard Gage, architects and engineers questioning the official report, we have a chance. Please contact all the architects and engineers you can, and send them to ae911truth.org.
The articles in item 3 are important to touch upon where holidays are most painful. My friend, Jehan Abdur-Raheem began his letter with this quote: “If you make friends with pain, you have a friend for life.” He was denied parole for the fifth time. If anyone wants to consider supporting him, I would welcome sending you a hard copy of his letter that includes where you can write in support of his appeal. Item 3 begins with an open letter by Harvey Arden to President-elect Obama to free Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Also, note the following forward by Harvey Arden on an emergency situation on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Following that is an article from Peru, an interview with political prisoner, Lori Berenson, who answers questions about life in prison, Peruvian and international politics, and activism. Please help make miracles happen in 2009, turn the world into a better place for all our relations. Mitakuye Oyasin.
"The most beautiful experience we can have
is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion
that stands at the cradle of true art and true science."
-- Albert Einstein
1) Dark Transition Phases – Will Justice See The Light?- - Bush Insider Who Planned To Tell All Killed In Plane Crash
- - Career Army Specialist sues Rumsfeld, Cheney
- - Entrapment? Five convicted in Ft. Dix plot
- - CBS News: Did Contractor Expose Troops To Toxin?
- - Brainwashing and UNESCO Global Education System
- - Semantic Trickery Will Continue Occupation of Iraq
- - Scott McClellan: "Pres. Bush Outed CIA Agent Valerie Plame"
- - The Bush Family of Secrets -- The Bush Dynasty
- - Charlie Rose interview with Sean Penn
- - Design of WTC-7 - engineer malfunction?
- - Bush Insider Who Planned To Tell All Killed In Plane Crash
Non-Profit Demands Full Federal InvestigationPRNewswire Sunday, Dec 21, 2008
Flashback: Rove Threatened GOP IT Guru If He Does Not ‘Take the Fall’
for Election Fraud in Ohio, Says Attorney (
www.bradblog.com/?p=6214)
Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush’s 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when his single engine plane crashed three miles short of the Akron airport. Velvet Revolution (”VR”), a non-profit that has been investigating Mr. Connell’s activities for the past two years, can now reveal that a person close to Mr. Connell has recently been discussing with a VR investigator how he can tell all about his work for George Bush. Mr. Connell told a close associate that he was afraid that George Bush and Dick Cheney would “throw [him] under the bus.”
For complete article, see:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20081220/pl_usnw/bush_insider_who_planned_to_tell_all_killed_in_plane_crash__non_profit_demands_full_federal_investigation- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For a related article via Democracy Now with guest Mark Crispin Miller, see:
www.democracynow.org/2008/12/22/republican_it_specialist_dies_in_planeNote: Mark Crispin Miller is a professor of media culture and communication at New York University.
His most recent book: “Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008.”
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Also, via Citizens for a Legitimate Government:
Connell Crash 'Oddities'
By Lori Price
Published by legitgov.org December 22, 2008
Recently subpoenaed Bush/Rove IT expert is Wellstoned.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AND more to watch and read:
http://vodpod.com/watch/1243407-connell-cancelled-2-flights-on-suspicion-his-plane-On-scene Video: Crash of Mike Connell's aircraft= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Career Army Specialist sues Rumsfeld, Cheney,
saying no evacuation order given on 9/11
By Stephen C. Webster
Published by Raw Story on December 17, 2008
A career Army specialist who survived the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, claims that no evacuation was ordered inside the Pentagon, despite flight controllers calling in warnings of approaching hijacked aircraft nearly 20 minutes before the building was struck.
According to a time-line of the attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration notified NORAD that American Airlines Flight 77 had been hijacked at 9:24 a.m. The Pentagon was not struck until 9:43 a.m.
On behalf of Spc. April Gallop, who served in the Network Infrastructure Services Agency as an administrative specialist, California attorney William Veale has filed a civil suit against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney and former US Air Force General Richard Myers, who was acting chairman of the joint chiefs on 9/11. It alleges they engaged in conspiracy to facilitate the terrorist attacks and purposefully failed to warn those inside the Pentagon, contributing to injuries she and her two-month-old son incurred.
"The ex-G.I. plaintiff alleges she has been denied government support since then, because she raised 'painful questions' about the inexplicable failure of military defenses at the Pentagon that day, and especially the failure of officials to warn and evacuate the occupants of the building when they knew the attack was imminent" said Veale in a media advisory.
Spc. Gallop also says she heard two loud explosions, and does not believe that a Boeing 757 hit the building. Her son sustained a serious brain injury, and Gallop herself was knocked unconscious after the roof collapsed onto her office.
The suit also named additional, unknown persons who had foreknowledge of the attacks.
"What they don't want is for this to go into discovery," said Gallop's attorney, Mr. Veale, speaking to RAW STORY. "If we can make it past their initial motion to dismiss these claims, and we get the power of subpoena, then we've got a real shot at getting to the bottom of this. We've got the law on our side."
For the lawsuit's full text, and article, see:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/911_survivor_blasts_Rumsfeld_Cheney_No_1217.html= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Entrapment? Five convicted in Ft. Dix plotNick Juliano
Published on December 22, 2008 by Raw Story
Five men whom attorneys said paid FBI informants prodded into exploring their deepest fantasies about waging jihad on America were convicted in federal court Monday of conspiring to kill US soldiers but acquitted on attempted murder charges.
The men allegedly planned to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey, although defense lawyers argued that they never intended to carry out the plot and were drawn into making incriminating statements by the informants, one of whom was an illegal immigrant on probation for bank fraud and another who was paid $150,000 to secretly record the men.
The verdict was met with intense skepticism in the Muslim community.
"Many people in the Muslim community will see this as a case of entrapment," Jim Sues, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Associated Press.
Sues attended five days of testimony during the trial.
"From what I saw, there was a significant role played by the government informant."
Truncated, for the complete article, see:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Five_convicted_in_Ft._Dix_plot_1222.html= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - CBS News: Did Contractor Expose Troops To Toxin?CBS Evening News Exclusive:
American Soldiers Are Dying Of Lung Cancer -
And May Have Been Knowingly Exposed
by Armen Keteyian
For source article, see:
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/22/cbsnews_investigates/main4683471.shtmlFor a related topic, see FN’s resources for
Uranium Munitions: harm for generations= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Brainwashing and UNESCO Global Education SystemMon Dec 22, 2008 17:55
72.201.43.207
Brainwashing and UNESCO Global Education System
Edward Hunter | Crossroad 194 views
December 11, 2008
“Brainwashing is a system of befogging the brain so a person can be seduced into acceptance of what otherwise would be abhorrent to him. He loses touch with reality. Facts and fancy whirl round and change places… However, in order to prevent people from recognizing the inherent evils in brainwashing, the Reds pretend that it is only another name for something already very familiar and of unquestioned respect, such as education or reform.” — Edward Hunter, Brainwashing (New York, Pyramid Books, 1956, pages 185-186).
Truncated, for complete article and resources, see:
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=122203= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Semantic Trickery Will Continue Occupation of IraqTrying to Redefine Role of US Military in Iraq
Published by the NY Times on December 22, 2008
by Elisabeth Bumiller
WASHINGTON - It is one of the most troublesome questions right now at the Pentagon, and it has started a semantic dance: What is the definition of a combat soldier? More important, when will all American combat troops withdraw from the major cities of Iraq?
Truncated, for the complete article, see:
www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/washington/22combat.html?_r=1&ref=worldalso posted:
www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/22-2= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Scott McClellan: "Pres. Bush Outed CIA Agent Valerie Plame"YOUTUBE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3kSMvVRnk0= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - The Bush Family of Secrets -- The Bush Dynasty,
the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House,
and What Their Influence Means for America
By Russ Baker
Just Released: (Hardcover) More:
www.buzzflash.com/store/items/1421= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Charlie Rose interview with Sean PennA conversation about the film "Milk"
Broadcast by PBS November 28, 2008
Watch the Video - Duration: 53 min
www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9670= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Design of WTC-7 - engineer malfunction?Richard Gage, Alex Jones, and engineer-questions on radio
[Posted on 911bloger on Dec. 21, 2008 - 4:51 pm]
Design of Bldg 7 -- Texas Engineer, Richard Gage, and Alex Jones on the radio.
Texas Engineer calls into the Alex Jones show and discusses with Richard Gage elements of the steel construction of Building 7. Some excellent photos of steel construction are in this short video.
http://911blogger.com/node/18888Derek, a mechanical engineer familiar with aspects surrounding steel welds, states: "Engineers have an ethical responsibility to protect public health and safety. If we designed building 7 wrong, shouldn't we get many opinions on where we went wrong...so we don't have more buildings falling at freefall speed from office fire?"
For an updated FN resource, see:
The Bush Conspiracy and 9/11 Investigative Reports,
looking into the unanswered questions.
2) Inaugurate Yourself tour with Sander HicksDemand More.
Think Harder.
Dream Big.
“Inaugurate Yourself” JAN 10 – JAN 20 Networking with Sander Hicks for events at following locations would be appreciated.
Jan 10 Los Angeles, CA [house party gig in San Diego w. Michael Copass semi-confirmed.]
Jan 11 Santa Barbara, CA [need to try to get a response from Alex at Pescadrome, two emails not yet returned.]
Jan 12 Phoenix, AZ [gig confirmed at 620 E. Roosevelt #137 Phoenix, 85004
www.perihelionarts.comJan 13 Santa Fe, NM [possible gig at Cloud Cliff bakery?]
Jan 14 Waco, TX [Not sure about Waco, OK City is closer.
Jan 15 Shreveport, LA [pretty sure Richard Wilkes at the Shreveport Community Church is on it.]
Jan 16 New Orleans, LA [ needs assistance]
Jan 17 Jackson, MI {confirmed, with Donna Ladd, Jackson Free Press]
Jan 18 Louisville, KY [ needs assistance, my idea is to reach out to Ron Whitehead, the local literary figure/organizer...but I have not had a chance to search and find his email....]
Jan 19 Harrisonburg, VA [my old stomping grounds...Jennifer Keach is on JMU faculty, she has ideas about the new political venues there.]
Jan 20 Washington, DC [need assistance, trying to find out what other alternative happenings are happening....]
Sander Hicks
Email sander{at]voxpopnet(dot}net
CEO
Vox Pop Inc.
http://voxpopnet.nethttp://voxpopbowery.comVox Pop has a new community activist group on Facebook. You are invited to get involved to support the live events at the pro-Enlightenment, radically democratic, progressive publishing cafe, Vox Pop, 1022 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn.
www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38639307408&ref=tsFind out more - Inaugurate Yourself -
www.gnn.tv/B30284
3) Leonard Peltier – firethunder - Mumia – Lori – freedom calling- - Open Letter to President-elect Barack Obama on Leonard Peltier
- - Oglala Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge winter emergency support
- - Upside Down World - Lori Berenson speaks out of prison
- - White Christmas poem by Jonathan Mark
- - Open Letter to President-elect Barack Obama on Leonard PeltierFrom the desk of Harvey Arden
Harvey Arden is Founder: ~The Wisdomkeepers Collective ~
"Bringing the Elders to the World & the World to the Elders"
Dear President-elect Obama:
Great Act of Mercy by you can help heal the still raw wounds of Indian people and their continuing confrontation with the ‘Dominant Society’ of the United States. I don’t know if you know the Leonard Peltier case personally; nor will I argue it here. Please talk to Secretary Bill Richardson and Sen. Inouye about this great injustice now in its 33rd year; they both know it well. Leonard was 31 when he was framed; he's now 64. A poll a couple of years ago asked thousands of people, “Who Is the Greatest American Indian in History?” The winner, yes, was Leonard Peltier. Crazy Horse, as I recall, was 2nd; Sitting Bull, 3rd. All Lakota ('Sioux') incidentally.
Mr. President-elect, I ask from my deepest heart that you grant a brief audience to me and Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th-Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Pipe of the Great Lakota Nation, so that we may deliver a message to you on behalf of millions of good souls around the earth who plead for Leonard’s freedom, who see Leonard’s freedom as The Sign that Democracy and Love and Prayer and Justice still have a meaning in America.
I ask to read to you from Leonard’s book PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE, of which I am privileged to be the editor. A wondrous stage play MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE has been produced from Leonard's words to rave audiences, and we will be delighted to bring the soon-to-tour words-and-music production to the venue of your choice, for you to experience the power and poetry and compassion of it. It wrings the soul.
I would welcome the presence of VP-elect Biden, Sec.-designate Hillary Clinton (and Bill, of course), Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Inouye, your new FBI director and any other persons you'd like to be on hand. I also ask to have Leonard Peltier himself standing beside me in the Oval Office as I read his words—words Leonard would read to you himself if his locked jaw would allow him to. Leonard also asks me to invite Mumia Abu Jamal--another political prisoner, to whom we also ask you to grant executive clemency. Freeing these two men would be an act of intrinsic greatness, I daresay a Holy Act.
Mr. President-elect, we await your strong hand in bringing these enormous and glaring injustices to an end.
Respectfully,
(signed) Harvey Arden
Washington, DC
12/23/2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you agree with the above, reply with AGREE! on subject line. Thanks!~
harvey@haveyouthought.com
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- - Oglala Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge winter emergency supportReceived via a Fwd from Harvey Arden
From: jamie moran [mailto:poorwolf@tiscali.co.uk]
Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2008 6:05 AM
To: barvi@indiancenter.org
Subject: freezing red indian woman
Dear Friends in USA--
There is an old Lakota woman [she does beautiful star quilts, in the traditional manner] on the Oglala Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge who is in danger of freezing this cold winter. She has lost her husband and is all alone, living in a small place near Manderson [where the holy man Black Elk is buried].
I have sent her what I can. It occurred to me, if I asked friends in America to send her some spare dollars, it might mount up, and get her through the cold spell. Many elders at Pine Ridge literally struggle to not freeze to dearth in the savage winter cold, but this is a particularly stark case. This old lady has no relatives on the rez. Can you help her?
If you can, then please send dollars in cash, or a dollar money order, [or even an international dollar money order - if sending something from abroad] to the following person and address=
Anna Firethunder,
P.O. Box 87
Manderson, South Dakota, 57756 USA.
Many thanks.
Have a good Christmas, and a better 09.
Cante wasteya,
Jamie.
21dec08
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
You can help via EMERGENCY WINTER HEATING/UTILITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Visit
www.linkcenterfoundation.org/id24.html to learn more about conditions on the Reservations
Link Center Foundation
P.O. Box 576 – Firestone, CO 80520-0576
For Credit Card Donations, please visit our website at
www.linkcenterfoundation.org= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Upside Down World - Lori Berenson speaks out of prisonLori Berenson is a US citizen currently being held as a political prisoner in Cajamarca, Perú. After serving nearly five years in harsh Peruvian jails high in the Andes, her conviction for treason against Perú and her life sentence were overturned. In June 2001 she was cleared of terrorism-related charges but convicted of collaboration, and sentenced to twenty years in prison in a trial that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights claims completely violated her rights. [Source:
freelori.org]
Peru: Interview with Political Prisoner Lori Berenson
Lori answers questions about life in prison, Peruvian and international politics, and activism.
Upside Down World -- 25 September 2008
by Emma Shaw Crane
[EXCERPT]
American activist Lori Berenson was pulled off a bus in Peru in November of 1995, detained by anti-terrorist police, and tried for treason against the Peruvian state by a hooded military tribunal. A gun was held to her head as she received her sentence: life in prison. Accused of being a leader of the MRTA (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement), Lori was one of thousands of people kidnapped, tortured, disappeared, and/or imprisoned during then-president Alberto Fujimori's campaign to defeat rebel groups.
At the time of Lori's first "trial," Peru was emerging from over a decade of bloody civil war, fought between leftist guerillas and the Peruvian military. Two major armed movements fought the Peruvian government, the MRTA and Sendero Luminoso, the Maoist Shining Path. Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has estimated that approximately 70,000 people were killed between 1980 and 2000. Seventy-five percent of the victims were indigenous people, mostly Quechua, a number vastly out of proportion to their 16% share of the national population. The Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission holds the government (through its military, police and intelligence apparatus along with paramilitary units) responsible for at least 45% of those deaths-compared to the MRTA who caused less than 2% of mortalities during the civil war. The Shining Path was deemed responsible for the majority - 53%.
This interview with Lori Berenson took place shortly before the first of a series of trials of Alberto Fujimori began in Lima. Last December, the former president was sentenced to six years in prison for abuse of authority, the first of three charges. His second trial, for human rights abuses including homicide and kidnapping, resumed July 14th, 2008. Ironically, if he is found guilty on all counts, Fujimori could serve up to 30 years in prison-just ten years more than Lori Berenson is currently serving. However, since Fujimori turns seventy this year, he is eligible under Peruvian law for a reduced sentence served under house arrest.
In this interview, Lori discusses how she maintains her hope while in prison, what she believes it takes to effect real and lasting social change, the emerging 'New Left' in Latin America, and why women political prisoners are perceived as a threat to social stability.
What's the hardest thing for you about being in prison?
Frustration! You don't have control of your own life. People don't treat you like an adult. People are afraid to tell you that someone's sick. You are unable to deal with your own problems, either economic or otherwise. You feel sort of - in Spanish it would be impotencia - you can't do anything. The prison authorities beat someone up, you can't do anything. Someone's sick, you can't do anything. You need to write a letter to someone and you can't mail it. Frustration.
How do you maintain your hope and political conviction in a place as oppressive and confining and limiting as prison? What can you say about the prison system?
Each of the prisons I've lived in has provided a direct experience of why I think this prison system needs to change. Certainly, the first years I was in jail were very repressive years. Even in the last few years, you can still see the mistreatment of poor people. You can see it when they are presented before the judges, and you can see it in daily treatment. It's money: those who don't have money are not equal citizens. It's a very defined class differentiation.
Do you expect to be paroled in 2010, and what is your hope for your future?
I should be paroled but I'm not sure. I think many things can happen. The only thing that's been constant over the last sixteen to twenty years is that the terrorists are the bad people. During the ten-year regime of Fujimori, Alan García was in exile for corruption - and now he is president again. Who knows how Fujimori's trial will be, and how he will be regarded in about five years. But what has been a constant is that terrorists are terrorists, at least in the media. If it is really perceived as a danger, then political prisoners who are higher profile won't be released, and I won't be released on parole when I become eligible.
What tactics do you use to stay sane?
I was once asked a similar question: "How do people cope with prisons?" There are a variety of tactics. One is escaping from it in your mind - people get high, people do a whole bunch of things. In the case of myself, and most political prisoners I have known, the thing would be the confidence that whatever you believed in was right. So I think that has not changed. And you might have a good day or a bad day, I mean, when it rains everyone gets sort of gloomy, but even so, you don't forget that you have that.
What messages do you have for Mumia?
My greatest respect to him and to all the political prisoners I've read so much about over these last several years. Keep struggling, because you're right! This isn't just a message for him, but to those who need to move on such issues so that his situation, and the situation of others like him, can change. There needs to be knowledge and consciousness of the need for these things to change. These are people who are victims of a state's oppressive ways.
Do you think labeling people 'terrorists' will get old, like labeling people as 'Communists' did?
I still have the pieces that we wrote on this three or four years ago, saying 'No, we're subversives, we're political prisoners, we are not terrorists. Terrorism means actions that cause terror, that try to create terror.' I think I spent so much time trying to explain it to people, where it got to the point, after years of that, that I realized people still use the word terrorist and it doesn't really change anything. Those who will feel deterred by the word might feel deterred by it anyway, and those who can see through the paint will do so as well. So this is a point on which I've definitely changed over the last three or four years, in the sense that it really doesn't matter. You want to call me a terrorist? Call me a terrorist! It really doesn't change anything. I know I am not a terrorist.
The other thing is, in terms of political prisoners, I definitely think that female political prisoners are seen as a greater threat.
Why do you think that is?
One of the things they always say, and you can read this in cases, particularly in the case of the Shining Path, they always say, "Oh, the ones from the assassination squadrons are cold blooded, and they are always women." I remember hearing something similar when I lived in El Salvador. I think it's this fear that a woman, when she is politically clear on things, is supposedly firmer in her beliefs. The torture of women has been horrendous- how many women have had kids in jail because of rape? It has to do with revenge. They committed the crime of leaving the roles that were given to them, and then on top of that being subversives, and on top of that, being firm in their beliefs.
I remember a woman who was recently sentenced to thirty years for something she didn't do. I think it was largely because of the fact that when she was detained by the police she refused to speak, she refused to self-incriminate, and they said, "She's too strong, she's got to be a leader." She withstood the torture, withstood everything. And that was probably the reason she got a thirty-year sentence.
The above were excerpts, for the complete article, see:
www.freelori.org/news/08sep25_upsidedownworld.htmlFor additional info:
freelori.org= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - White Christmas poem by Jonathan MarkThe White Christmas is a symbol of more than we can assemble,
it is the heart that hurts when that is broken.
Jesus the man, Christ his symbol, came with love but became an idol.
With joy he gave, he spoke, a truth to live, more than just hope;
but, as Centuries went by, man manipulated truth into lies,
stating that heaven or hell awaits those who do or do not realize;
yet death is just an opening door, to allow us to go on
with the thoughts we lived with and for.
Jonathan Mark
poem written 12/21/1977
Published by Tree-Root Press 1980
All My Relations – Mitakuye Oyasin
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