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500 Turn Out For Free Food And Toys At Survival Festival: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA B.P.P. CHAPTER CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY

(Los Angeles, Calif.) - Over 500 people turned out to celebrate the first anniversary of the return of the Black Panther Partyt to southern California at the Southern California BPP Chapter's First Annual Winter Survival Festival held here on January 21.

Highlights of the festive Saturday event were the distribution of over 300 bags of groceries and 130 toys and the commemoration of the ninth anniversary of the assassinations of Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter and John Huggins.

The two Southern California BPP leaders were murdered on January 17, 1969, on the campus of the University of California here as part of the nationwide FBI COINTELPRO effort to destroy the Black Panther Party.

The Winter Festival, which also included lively musical entertainment and poetry readings, was an expression of the Southern California Chapter's thanks to the Black and oppressed community of Los Angeles for its contributions and firm support throughout the first year of rebuilding the Chapter.

Since the Chapter reopened on January 17, 1977, it has established numerous Survival Programs, among them the Free Food Program, Seniors Against A Fearful Environment (SAFE) Program, Consumer Survival Program, Liberation School and Martial Arts Program.

The community responded to the Winter Festival enthusiastically, with many people

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arriving early in the morning to help bag groceries and complete other preparations for the day.

Entertainment for the Festival -- which received extensive coverage from local television stations -- was provided by Charlotte Smith, who read her own poetry; the Black Cultural Association and Kedar, both of whom performed African music; and the Brothers and Sisters Blues Band.

Bob Duren, coordinator of the Southern California Chapter, explained the Survival Programs of the BPP, focusing on the Free Food Program.

Bob cited current high food prices, emphasizing that "it was need and not greed" that had brought people out to the Festival.

The Southern California BPP coordinator praised community efforts which had helped to secure the free food and toys for the Festival. He predicted that as support for the BPP grows in Los Angeles, "One day we will produce 10,000 bags of groceries and toys."

Before the distribution of groceries and toys, Certificates of Appreciation were awarded to community people and businesses who have consistently contributed to the Survival Programs of the Chapter throughout its first year. With the end of the Festival came the distribution of toys and groceries.

The First Annual Winter Festival of the Southern California BPP Chapter was a resounding success, with everyone leaving in good spirits, full of pride at the Chapter's remarkable accomplishments in one short year.

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“Longest Walk” Protest Planned, Feb. 11: INDIAN RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK

(Davis, Calif.) - In a major effort to combat a new wave of repressive legislation which would terminate all existing treaties signed between the U.S. and Indian tribes, Native Americans from across the country are preparing to embark on "The Longest Walk" on February 11, a cross-country winter journey from San Francisco to the nation's capital to bring national attention to the legislative attempt to expropriate Indian lands and all rights to self-determination.

This latest attack on the Native Americans has surfaced in the House of Representatives, with a current total of 18 congressmen either introducing or co-sponsoring anti-Indian legislation.

The most critical of these bills is H.R.9054, the deceptively-named "Native American Opportunity Act," sponsored by Representative Jack Cunningham of Washington state.

H.R. 9054 provides not only for the abolishment of all treaties entered into with Indian tribes by the U.S., but also for the abrogation of all rights and protections guaranteed to Indian people by these treaties, such as the rights to hunt and fish.

In effect, it will terminate all federal protections of Native American people and expropriate all Indian-controlled lands.

"The Longest Walk," which is being organized by the National Indian Coalition, will begin February 11 when much of this legislation will be considered with the reconvening of Congress on that date.

The Coalition has targeted 11 pieces of dangerous legislation which have been introduced into the U.S. House and Senate. In. addition to H.R.9054, they include:

- HJR 1 -- Creates an off reservation Indian Treaty Fishing Rights Commission to buy out Native American trade rights.

- HJR 206 -- Gives the states powers to regulate hunting and fishing outside reservations by Indians.

- H.R. 4169, and Senate version S.B. 842 --

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Abolishes Maine Indian treaty titles to state lands.

- H.R. 9175 -- Gives Washington state controls for all Indian hunting and fishing rights off reservations.

- H.R. 9136 -- Prohibits commercial sale of steelhead trout by Indians across U.S.

- H.R. 9906 -- Terminates New York Indian treaty titles to land.

- H.R. 9951 -- Gives tribes five years to go to federal or state court to establish their water rights, which will otherwise be terminated. Provides that no increase in the amount of water rights shall be granted by the court.

- H.R. 9950 -- Co-sponsored by most of the Washington state Congressional delegation. Current law holds that tribes possess full inherent sovereign powers except to the extent they have been taken away by Congress. H.R. 9950 would completely reverse this -- tribes would have no jurisdiction except what is expressly granted by Congress. The bill severely limits tribal sovereignty.

- S. 1437 -- Repressive proposed new federal crime code legislation which seriously erodes the civil liberties of all U.S. citizens. Under current law, the state courts have jurisdiction over offenses committed between non-Indians on Indian land. Under S. 1437, federal prosecutors would have the responsibility of bringing charges against both groups. The bill fails to clarify that Indian tribes have jurisdiction over non-Indian people who commit crimes on tribal lands.

The focus of the Indian Coalition at present is centered on H.R. 9054. Bill Wahpepah, a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and a major organizer of the march to the nation's capital, recently said that if the bill is allowed to become law, "the great land grab" of Indian territory will begin once again. Energy companies, he said, are already eyeing Indian reservations in the Southwest since they contain a huge portion of the nation's uranium and natural gas reserves.

The Coalition recently vowed to initiate recall proceedings against Congressmen Cunningham and Lloyd Meeds of Washington state and James Abdnor of South Dakota for openly supporting repressive legislation, particularly H.R. 9054, aimed at Native Americans.

Of the nine bills suppressing Indian rights introduced in the House during the first session of the 95th Congress, three were by Meeds, three by Cunningham, and one each by Representatives Cohen of Maine, Dingell of Michigan and William Walsh of New York. Beyond this core group of five congressmen, 13 other congressmen from a number of states by the first week of December had come forward as co-sponsors of the Meeds and Cunningham bills.

The 13 congressmen are: Joel Pritchard, Don Bonker, Mike McCormack, Thomas Foley, and Norm Dicks of Washington state; George Hansen of Idaho; Robert Dornan, Robert Lagomarsino, and Leo Rejan of California; James Mann of South Carolina; Larry Coughlin of Pennsylvania; Alan Stangeland of Minnesota; and Abdnor.

There are, at present, seven potential senators who may introduce or sponsor Meeds' jurisdiction and tribal water rights legislation on the Senate side, and one senator who has already introduce legislation opposing tribal land claims.

The Interstate Congress for Equal Rights and Responsibilities (ICERR) -- a staunch supporter of anti-Indian legislation -- is pressing for Senate introduction of the bills this month, and has targeted senators in four states for introduction.

Lehman Brightman, founder of the United Native Americans, says that "five national organizations are presently or potentially the most formidable contestants to the assertions of Indian rights and interest today." These groups are: ICERR, Indian Affairs Task Force of the National Association of Countries, National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited, and International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

The United Methodist Church of San Diego's Church and Society Mission has volunteered to contact churches across the route of the Indian Coalition's cross-country march for food and sleeping quarters.

The Coalition stresses that this effort will be costly in terms of food, clothing, shoes, socks and transportation costs for two vans -- one for medical equipment and one for food supplies. The march organizers are appealing for funds to provide at least one hot meal a day, winter jackets, wool socks, and canned goods. All checks should be made payable to "The Longest Walk," c/o D.Q. University, P.O. Box 409, Davis, Calif. 95616.

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Editorial: UPROOTING ROOTS

Mad. Steaming mad.

That's the feeling one gets from seeing how the American media empire is twisting the Roots phenomena "one year later" -- and it's a shame to see what they're doing since Alex Haley's inspiring, haunting odessey holds such special meaning for Blacks.

Cooptation is the name of the game and they're playing it for all they're worth. If we're to believe ABC-TV's recent follow-up, Roots -- One Year Later, America has achieved Dr. King's vaunted dream, with the sons and daughters of slaves (the Murray family, on the Black side), and the sons and daughters of slaveholders (the Murray family, on the White side), sitting down to eat together at God's table (a church luncheon and prayer service outside the old plantation grounds). This is what it was all about?

It seems that the burning desire for FREEDOM so vividly passed down through the generations from the loins of a supremely proud African named Kunta Kinte was a bit too much for some folks to handle, the searing brutalities of the Middle Passage across the Atlantic and the slave trade in the South too real and painful to be so vividly remembered.

So now the "twist" escalates, and the dignified tale of struggle and sacrifice numbed to insensitivity by a commercialized, self-serving analysis on "improved" race relations, kind of like "improved" Tide. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course, but that's the rub -- America's P.R. on its democratic "ideals" has always been more rhetoric than fact.

But, attempting to uproot Black seeds before they can nurture in fertile soil is a dangerous game, like playing with nature, and those who try, and those who think they can succeed, are doomed to frustration because no power on earth can stop the destiny of a people still longing to be "free at last," "free at last."

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Letters to the Editor

DEHUMANIZATION

Dear Editor,

Giving a prisoner a number is another form of undermining his or her identity, one more step in the dehumanization process. Of course it has its historical roots. The S.S. assigned numbers to prisoners in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

I must apologize if I'm continuing to bore you with letters. I must inform you that since August, I've not received a copy of THE BLACK PANTHER.

The racist anthropoid here has continued to inform me that THE BLACK PANTHER publication is considered as contraband and I've been forwarding them back to you. Are you receiving them? Are you receiving any of my letters along with the papers? If you have been receiving them I wish you would acknowledge. You can forward the free copies that you've been kind enough to send as a subscriber to someone else. There's no use in continuing to send them to me and I can't receive them. Some other comrade could appreciate receiving the consciousness-level raising material they hold. As I told you once, when I read them I pass them on! It is my duty to also send coal to the snow-bound! Please acknowledge your receiving this letter and the concentration camp's guidelines.

In the struggle,
Judge Wade
Clinton Correctional Facility
New York

SENSE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Greetings Comrades,

I know it may seem like a long time since my last contact with the people's paper. However, I've had you in both heart and mind. Also, I have gained new strength with comrade Huey back.

Actually I am writing in regards to continuing my subscription to the Party's newspaper because I am sure there is much important and informative events I am missing. If possible, please start me back, Keep in mind that I am incarcerated and without funds.

Also, are you mailing free literature to prisoners or know of any company that is? If so, please let me know.

The Party goes back a ways with me. I guess it gave me my first real sense of consciousness. Through the Party, I gained knowledge of self and the people. I have a great deal of respect for the Black Panther Party.

I will bring this letter to a close and look forward to hearing from you all soon. All power to the people.

Always in the struggle,
Brother Donald Harry
P.O. Box 137
Tillery, North Carolina 27882

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COMMENT: “The Power Of Negro Action”

By Paul Robeson

In commemoration of the life and spirit of Paul Robeson, whose multi-talented genius as activist/ scholar/athelete/entertainer established him as one of the great Black figures of the 20th century, before his death on January 24, 1976, THE BLACK PANTHER reprints excerpts from his brilliant 1958 autobiography, Here I Stand. The excerpts are taken from the chapter, "The Power of Negro Action."

"How long, O Lord, how long?" That ancient cry of the oppressed is often voiced these days in editorials in the Negro newspapers whose pages are filled with word-and-picture reports of outrages against our people. A photograph of a Negro being kicked by a White mobster brings the vicious blow crashing against the breast of the reader, and there are all the other horrible pictures -- burning cross, beaten minister, bombed school, threatened children, mutilated man, imprisoned mother, barricaded family -- which show what is going on.

How long? The answer is: As long as we permit it. I say that Negro action can be decisive. I say that we ourselves have the power to end the terror and to win for ourselves peace and security throughout the land. The recognition of this fact will bring new vigor, boldness and determination in planning our program of action and new militancy in winning its goals.

The denials and doubts about this idea -- the second part of the challenge which confronts us today -- are even more evident than those I noted in regard to the first. The diehard racists who shout "Never!" to equal rights, and the gradualists who mumble "Not now," are quite convinced that the Negro is powerless to bring about a different decision.

Unfortunately, it is also true

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that to a large extent the Negro people do not know their own strength and do not see how they can achieve the goals they so urgently desire.

The granting of our demand for first-class citizenship, on a par with all others, would not in itself put us in a position of equality. Oppression has kept us on the bottom rungs of the ladder, and even with the removal of all barriers we will still have a long way to climb in order to catch up with the general standard of living. But the equal place to which we aspire cannot be reached without the equal rights we demand, and so the winning of those rights is not a maximum fulfillment but a minimum necessity and we cannot settle for less.

What power do we ourselves have?

We have the power of numbers, the power of organization, and the power of spirit. Let me explain what I mean.

Sixteen million people are a force to be reckoned with, and indeed there are many nations in the U.N. whose numbers are less. No longer can it be said that the Negro question is a sectional matter: the continuing exodus from the South has spread the Negro community to all parts of the land and has concentrated large numbers in places which are economically and politically the most important in the nation.

Very often these days we see photographs in the newspapers and magazines of a Negro family -- the husband, wife, their children -- huddled together in their newly purchased or rented home, while outside hundreds of Negro-haters have gathered to throw stones, to howl filthy abuse.

But something is missing from this picture that ought to be there, and its absence gives rise to a nagging question that cannot be stilled: Where are the other Negroes? Where are the hundreds and thousands of other Negroes in that town who ought to be there protecting their own? The power of numbers that is missing from the scene would change the whole picture as nothing else could. It is one thing to terrorize a helpless few, but the forces of race hate that brazenly whoop and holler when the odds are a thousand to one are infinitely less bold when the odds are otherwise.

I am not suggesting, of course, that the Negro people should take law enforcement into their own hands. But we have the right and, above all, we have the duty, to bring the strength and support of our entire community to defend the lives and property of each individual family. Indeed, the law itself will move a hundred times quicker whenever it is apparent that the power of our numbers has been called forth. The time has come for the great Negro communities throughout the land -- Chicago, Detroit, New York, Birmingham and all the rest -- to demonstrate that they will no longer tolerate mob violence against one of their own.

When the Negro is told that he must "stay in his place," there is always the implicit threat that unless he does so mob violence will be used against him. Hence, as I see it, nothing is more important than to establish the fact that we will no longer suffer the use of mobs against us. Let the Negro people of but a single city respond in an all-out manner at the first sign of a mob -- in mass demonstrations, by going on strike, by organizing boycotts -- and the lesson will be taught in one bold stroke to people everywhere.

The time for pussyfooting is long gone.

The power of organization, through which the power of numbers is expressed, is another great strength of the Negro people. What is important is to recognize a meaningful fact which is so often denied: Negroes can and do band together and they have accomplished remarkable works through their collective efforts.

To all groups in Negro life I would say that the key to set into motion our power of organization is the concept of coordinated action, the bringing together of the many organizations which exist in order to plan and to carry out the common struggle. We know full well that it is not easy to do this.

But as I move among our people these days, from New York to California, I sense a growing impatience with petty ways of thinking and doing things. I see a rising resentment against control of our affairs by White people, regardless of whether that domination is expressed by the blunt orders of political bosses or more discreetly by the "advice" of White liberals which must be heeded or else. There is a rapidly growing awareness that despite all of our differences it is necessary that we become unified, and I think that the force of that idea will overcome all barriers. Coordinated action will not, of course, come all at once; it will develop in the grass-roots and spread from community to community. And the building of that unity is a task which each of us can undertake wherever we are.

The power of spirit that our people have is intangible, but it is a great force that must be unleashed in the struggles of today. A spirit of steadfast determination, exaltation in the face of trials -- it is the very soul of our people that has been formed through all the long and weary years of our march toward freedom. It is the deathless spirit of the great ones who have led our people in the past -- Douglass, Tubman and all the others -- and of the millions who kept "a-inching along."

It lives in every Negro mother who wants her child "to grow up and be somebody," as it lives in our common people everywhere who daily meet insult and outrage with quiet courage and optimism. It is the spirit which gives that "something extra" to our athletes, to our artists, to all who meet the challenge of public performance. It is the spirit of little James Gordon of Clay, Kentucky, who, when asked by a reporter why he wanted to go to school with White children, replied: "Why shouldn't I?" and it is the spirit of all the other little ones in the South who have walked like mighty heroes through menacing mobs to go to school. It is the spirit of the elderly woman of Montgomery who explained her part in the bus boycott by saying: "When I rode in the Jim Crow buses my body was riding but my soul was walking, but now when my body is waling my soul is riding!"

POWER OF SPIRIT

Yes, that power of spirit is the pride and glory of my people, and there is no human quality in all of America that can surpass it. It is a force only for good: there is no hatefulness about it. It exalts the finest things of life -- justice and equality, human dignity and fulfillment. It is of the earth, deeply rooted, and it reaches up to the highest skies and mankind's noblest aspirations. It is time for this spirit to be evoked and exemplified in all we do, for it is a force mightier than all our enemies and will triumph over all their evil ways.

For Negro action to be effective -- to be decisive, as I think it can be -- it must be mass action. The power of the ballot can be useful only if the masses of voters are united on a common program; obviously, if half the Negro people vote one way and the other half the opposite way, not much can be achieved. The individual votes are cast and counted, but the group power is cast away and discounted.

Mass action -- in political life and elsewhere -- is Negro power in motion; and it is the way to win.

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“DARK MIDNIGHT IN AMERICA FOR BLACK PEOPLE”: VERNON JORDON DENOUNCES CARTER'S JOBS, TAX POLICIES

(Washington, D.C.) - "It's a dark midnight in America for Black people," lamented National Urban League (NUL) Executive Director Vernon Jordan last week in describing the state of Black America and assailing the Carter administration for "continued depression" and "unacceptably high unemployment" in the Black community.

Jordan also blasted the broad tax cut proposal being readied by President Carter which he said would not benefit Blacks or the nation's troubled cities.

In the NUL's third annual "State of Black America" report, Jordan said:

"1977 was a year of continued depression, with unacceptably high unemployment and a widening income gap. Most Americans consider that 1977 was a year of economic recovery. We cannot share that view."

Jordan's harsh criticism of the Carter administration follows a blistering indictment of the President -- who collected 94 per cent of the Black vote in his narrow 1976 victory -- last July when he said Blacks were "betrayed" by Carter.

Jordan's remarks last week marked the third time in eight days that a prominent Black group had sharply criticized White House policies -- all focusing on double-digit Black unemployment.

The most "disturbing symbol" of the administration's performance, Jordan said, was that "Black youth unemployment continued its upward spiral" to 38.6 per cent in 1977.

The NUL executive director told reporters, "Unemployment is an urgent and serious problem in the Black community." Asked about Carter's job policies, Jordan, replied, "We are disappointed.

"The state of Black America is grim, and we expect the President to be responsive to those needs," said Jordan.

Jordan listed four main priorities for the Black and poor community: The tax cut proposal, the administration's upcoming national urban policy, full employment legislation now before Congress, and welfare reform.

Attacking Carter's tax cut proposal, Jordan said any reduction in federal revenues would "become an excuse for not implementing vitally needed urban and social programs."

The civil rights leader said any tax cut should include individual reductions "limited to replacement of the increase in the Social Security tax," as well as tax breaks for businesses that invest in high unemployment areas or to firms that train and hire youth and the long-term unemployed.

President Carter is said to be considering a $25 billion tax cut, much more than is needed to offset Social Security tax increase. Jordan said "it is unlikely that Blacks and the cities would materially benefit" from such a tax cut.

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UNEMPLOYMENT FOR SCHOOL AGE BLACKS THREE TIMES HIGHER THAN WHITES: Milwaukee Toughest For Blacks To Find Jobs

(Milwaukee, Wisc.) - Milwaukee is the toughest city for Blacks to find a job, according to year-end Labor Department statistics.

Not only do adult Black Milwaukeans endure the nation's highest jobless rate, but the huge and growing disparity in the ratio of Blacks and Whites who are unemployed is epitomized here.

The official Black adult jobless rate is 19.8 per cent, while the rate for White adults is 5.3 per cent, one of the country's lowest.

Meanwhile, this enormous gap in the unemployment rate among Blacks and Whites has been devastating nationwide among Black school age youth whose jobless rate is three times as high as for Whites in the same category.

In Milwaukee, at least 11,000 Black adults and 2,000 Black teenagers are out of work, according to official statistics.

Not included are those persons, both Black and White, who have been out of work so long that they are no longer reflected in jobless figures. Over 2,500 workers are in this category, according to the Jewish Vocational Service.

Both the city and county have been cited in federal court actions for discriminatory employment practices and have been ordered to implement affirmative action programs with timetables and guidelines.

In one court order that also set requirements for trade unions,

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the city was told that it must hire one Black for each White hired in skilled craft jobs until Blacks held 17.2 per cent of such jobs -- the percentage of Blacks in the city's population at the time, reports the New York Times.

Currently, there are 569 skilled craft jobs provided by the city. Minorities hold 54 of these jobs, or 9.5 per cent.

Blacks on the city and county payrolls are heavily concentrated in low-paying custodial or other jobs that require little skill. In these categories, minorities also hold a disproportionately low number of supervisory positions.

Carl Gee, the local Black Opportunities Industrial Corporation (OIC) director, and affirmative action officers here charge that the County Civil Service Commission has fought federal hiring orders.

"We found, for example, that for the clerk-typist positions the Black women were given old manual typewriters to take their tests on while White women were allowed to use electric typewriters," said Gee. "The county was going back to court and saying it couldn't meet the quota requirements because it couldn't find qualified Blacks to fill the positions."

Nationwide unemployment rates for Blacks were three times as high as those for Whites among students, school dropouts and high school graduates, according to Labor Department figures on school age youth as of October, 1977, compared with a year earlier.

About 80,000 more persons 16-to 24-years-old dropped out of school between October, 1976, and October, 1977, than during the previous year. The unemployment rate for dropouts was double that for the graduates.

Nationwide unemployment in December took the biggest month-to-month drop in 30 years -- from 6.9 per cent to 6.4 per cent.

Reaction to this figure from economists outside the government ranged from incredulity to satirical amusement, reports the Guardian. Data Resources Inc., a Wall Street firm whose economic forecasts are used by major corporations to plot investment policies, called the Labor Department figures "incredible."

FICTITIOUS JOBS

Over two months, seasonal adjustment accounted for adding a million fictitious jobs into the jobless figure calculations. Thus the dramatic drop in the figures.

At the same time the Labor Department figures came out, the Commerce Department released statistics showing that business activity had hardly expanded at all in the last three months of 1977.

Although the Labor and Commerce statistics depicted a far different economic picture, one thing was the same in both figures: the continuing misery of Black and minority workers. Although the government asserted that overall Black unemployment fell more than a point to 12.5 per cent, the Black-White gap widened in December. (The unemployment rate for Whites was 5.6 per cent.)

For Black teenagers, the official rate remained unchanged at 37.3 per cent.

Economists for the National Urban League and other Black organizations estimate that the about half the Black unemployed.

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM: OAKLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOL-A MODEL IN ACTION

The following is Part 6 of our continuing series on the innovative educational programs of the model elementary level Oakland Community School (OCS). This week's article describes the School's diversified Physical Education curriculum.

PART 6

(Oakland, Calif.) - Just as hungry children find it difficult to do schoolwork, physically unfit children are also hindered in the classroom. The Oakland Community School Physical Education program is designed to develop strong and healthy bodies as well as provide enjoyable recreational activities.

The primary focus of Physical Education classes for children in Levels 1 and 2 is that of gross motor skill development. The children learn the purpose of how to use the large muscles of their body, which include the arms and legs.

Skills developed in Level 1 are hopping, skipping, running, leaping, pushing and pulling, throwing and catching.

In Level 2, the children advance to gymnastic activities that develop their large muscles. Physical education activities at this stage include learning how to squat, how to execute a forward rollout, a forward roll, a "frog stand," the "crab walk," walking on a balance beam, and playing dodge ball and hop scotch with a partner.

Children in Level 3 begin to understand how various body movements, exercise and other physical activities aid the development of body coordination and control. The focus of their classes is a continuation of gymnastics -- learning how to hop, run and balance correctly.

The children acquired a basic understanding of the physical structure of their bodies in the primary skills levels (1, 2 and 3), and in Levels 4, 5 and 6 move into playing sports.

Tunnel ball, volleyball, baseball, basketball, skating, softball and track are part of the Physical Education curriculum at this stage. As team sports, they help the children learn how to play together cooperatively.

Levels 4 and 5 children begin to learn such gymnastic skills as cartwheels and rolls and head and hand springs. They also learn the basics of folk and creative dancing.

In Level 6, OCS children are introduced to the fundamentals of martial arts, learning how to develop the footwork patterns and the basic use of the hands. Soccer is also taught at this level.

Team sports at the OCS emphasize friendly competition, the idea that friendship is first, competition second. A popular part of the School's Physical Education curriculum is competition among the older children. Trophies are awarded to the winners of these intra-school tournaments.

In addition, the older children periodically compete in various sports with staff members, allowing them to interact in a less formal setting than the classroom.

Physical Education classes at the OCS provide a program of challenging recreational activities that aid the children in developing healthy bodies.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Judge Disqualifies Himself At Huey P. Newton Hearing

(Oakland, Calif.) - Alameda County Superior Court Judge Allen E. Broussard stunned a hearing on the false criminal charges lodged against Black Panther Party President HUEY P. NEWTON last Wednesday by announcing that he was disqualifying himself from the case.

Broussard, who is Black, said he has known Preston Callins, the tailor who alleged the BPP leader assaulted him in a 1974 incident, for some 20 years and therefore it would be "inappropriate" to handle the case or any related motions. Broussard added that the Newton case was assigned to his jurisdiction while he was on vacation -- an unusual occurence -- and that he realized he would have to disqualify himself at the first hearing in early January. He said he would send the case back to the Calender Department and set the next hearing for Wednesday, Febrauary 1, at 9:30 a.m. in Department 11.

In photo above, Huey, his wife GWEN and attorney SHELDON OTIS chat together following the abbreviated hearing.

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This Week In Black History

January 23-30, 1977

The television version of Black author Alex Haley's epic best seller, Roots, was screened on January 23-30, 1977 by the ABC television network. The powerful, week-long mini-series had the greatest impact on America, both Black and White, of any program in the history of television as well as being the most watched program ever (over 150 million viewers). The strength and power of the Roots series can be directly attributed to the stunning performances turned in by Black actors LeVar Burton (the young Kunta Kinte), John Amos (the older Kunta Kinte), Lou Gossett (Fiddler), Leslie Uggams (Kizzy) and Ben Vereen (Chicken George). Roots, both the book and the screen version, served to greatly expand the understanding of the Black people's 400-year struggle for freedom in racist America.

January 22, 1971

On January 22, 1971, Black congressmen boycotted President Richard Nixon's State of the Union message due to his "consistent refusal" to hear the pleas and concerns of Black Americans.

January 26, 1941

Mass meetings held in 24 states on January 26, 1941, to protest blatant racial discrimination in the nation's defense effort.

January 18-28, 1962

Angry Black students at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana staged a series of protests against the expulsion of students for participating in sit-in demonstrations closing the school from January 18 to January 28, 1962

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SIT - IN: 3,000 Farmers Jam Nation's Capital

(Washington, D.C.) - A delegation of over 3,000 angry farmers demonstrating in the nation's capital for higher farm prices last week staged a sit-in at the Agriculture Department and ended their nearly two-hour protest after winning their demand for a meeting with Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland.

Earlier in the day, sympathetic truckers threw up a roadblock at one of the bridges across the Potomac into Washington, D.C. to back the farmers' demands.

In another major development last week, leaders of the nationwide farm strike presented their case at a Congressional hearing, charging that they were going bankrupt because of deflated agricultural prices and demanded minimum-price legislation that would assure them a fair return for their products.

Nearly 2,000 farmers and dozens of tractors paraded down Washington's Independence Avenue from the capitol to the

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Agriculture Department.

A large contingent then swept by security guards and into Bergland's outer office, while tractors blocked traffic along the busy thoroughfare.

The farmers shouted demands to see Bergland, then en route from Spokane, Washington, and made known their intention to stay until the secretary appeared.

Police reinforcements were called but did not enter the building.

Deputy Agriculture Secretary John White, President Carter's choice to head the Democratic National Committee, later conceded to the farmers' demand and promised that Bergland would meet with them the next day.

White later restated the Carter administration's refusal to heed the farmers' demand for 100 per cent parity to insure that their earnings regain their lost purchasing power.

In taking their case before Congress last week, witnesses, representing the American Agriculture Movement, the loose-knit organization that is leading the farm strike, gave their testimony at a field hearing conducted by Senator Robert Dole of Kansas, representing the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Over 300 farmers attended the hearing.

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DEATH ROW PRISONERS ESCAPE GAS CHAMBER: EVELLE YOUNGER'S ATTEMPT TO EXECUTE 53 BLOCKED BY CALIF. COURT

(Sacramento, Calif.) - For Black and poor people, the stakes are high here in California. Life or death -- by execution in the gas chamber. Fortunately, California's bloodthirsty Attorney General Evelle J. Younger last week lost his personal quest to execute up to 53 Death Row inmates when the state supreme court unanimously rejected his petition for a review of a ruling by the Court of Appeals in San Francisco banning the death penalty.

Younger has seized on and continued to whip up the recent racist national hysteria over the death penalty issue to a feverish pitch here in the nation's most populous state as his major campaign ploy to upstage and attempt to unseat California Governor Edmund Brown, Jr., in the upcoming gubernatorial campaign. Younger is a leading Republican candidate in the upcoming primary elections.

Here's what led to last week's unanimous action of the California Supreme Court:

On January 27, 1975, Michael Payne was sentenced to be executed after a San Francisco Superior Court jury convicted him of first-degree murder and rape.

The death sentence was automatically appealed to the state supreme court. Before the court decided Payne's fate, however, it outlawed the death penalty in December, 1976.

Payne's case was then transferred to the Court of Appeal, which, technically modified his sentence by substituting life imprisonment for execution.

In rejecting the attempt to reimpose the death sentence on Payne, the Court of Appeals described the attorney general's argument as "fallacious, sophistical and specious."

There were 68 prisoners on California's Death Row when the supreme court declared the death penalty un-constitutional in December, 1976.

So far, only 15 prisoners have had their sentences formally reduced to life imprisonment, according to a spokesman for the state prison system.

Last August, the state legislature overrode Brown's veto -- which the governor issued "as a matter of conscience" -- and enacted a new death penalty.

Younger, seizing on the unpopular stand taken by Brown, tried unsuccessfully to apply that law to prisoners -- overwhelmingly Black and poor and including Black Panther Party member Johnny Larry Spain, who was convicted on trumped-up charges on August 12 last year in the infamous San Quentin case -- whose sentences have not been commuted.

-- 5 --

“IT WILL NEVER BE ENDED UNTIL THEY ARE FREE”: N.C. Governor Denies Pardon For Wilmington 10

(Raleigh, N.C.) - "It will never be ended until they are free!" was the angry response by the Black mother of one of the Wilmington 10 after listening to North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., arrogantly proclaim in his deep Southern drawl before a prime time, statewide television audience that he "cannot and will not pardon" the 10 civil rights workers who were railroaded to prison on trumped-up charges during the height of racial turmoil in Wilmington in 1971.

Stubbornly refusing to yield to national and worldwide pressure to pardon the unjustly imprisoned civil rights workers, Hunt declared in a tough tone, "…I have concluded that there was a fair trial… and will not pardon these defendants."

In a token gesture, the North Carolina governor reduced the sentences of all but one, the group's leader, Rev. Ben Chavis, 30, of the imprisoned Wilmington 10 so they may be paroled -- which Hunt emphasized was not automatic and will be strictly supervised -- by October 28. Hunt decided that Chavis will not be eligible for parole until January 1, 1980. The group's only White, Ann Sheppard Turner, was paroled a year ago.

Hunt's refusal to pardon the Wilmington 10 -- listed by Amnesty International, the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize winner, as political prisoners -- brought a storm of protest.

Congressman Parren Mitchell of Maryland, head of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), said, "From this point on, I will have to oppose every human rights commitment that comes up… because we can no longer support human rights abroad and deny them at home."

Etta Patrick, mother of one of the Wilmington 10, said, "I don't think it's the end of it. It will never be ended until they are free!"

Willie Vereen, mother of another of the group, said Hunt's speech "just tore me apart. I just don't know what's going to happen. We really don't think Hunt made the right decision."

The defendants' chief attorney, James E. Ferguson II, said Hunt's decision "means that North Carolina has firmly rooted itself in the past -- in racism and repression."

Raleigh's Black U.S. attorney,

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Mickey Michaux, said Hunt "has made a grave error both in his reasoning and in his position based on his reasoning."

In a statement issued in New York the Rev. Avery Post, president of the 1.8 million-member United Church of Christ, said, "I am overcome with shock and pain and disappointment."

Chavis was director of the Wilmington office of the Commission on Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ when the 1971 incident took place. Avery vowed that the church, which has been one of the main financial backers of the imprisoned civil rights workers, will continue every effort to free the 10.

Chavis was originally sentenced to 25 to 29 years after being convicted on trumped-up charges of burning a White-owned Wilmington grocery store and a related charge of conspiracy to fire at policemen and firemen responding to the blaze. Hunt reduced that sentence to 17 to 21 years.

MINIMUM SENTENCES

Hunt reduced the minimum sentences of the other Black men -- Marvin Patrick, 25; Connie Tindall, 27; Jerry Jacobs, 25; Willie Earl Vereen, 24; James McCoy, 25; Reginald Epps, 24; Wayne Moore, 25; and William Wright, 25 -- to range from 13 to 17 years.

Hunt told his North Carolina audience. "From all that I have learned in reviewing this case, I have concluded that there was a fair trial, the jury made the right decision and the appellate courts reviewed it properly and ruled correctly."

In his speech, however, Hunt failed to address the major complaint of the Wilmington 10's supporters: that they were convicted on trumped-up charges and that the state's key witnesses had recanted testimony, which he revealed he had been coerced by the prosecution to give, that resulted in the conviction of the civil rights workers.

-- 6 --

SURVIVAL PROGRAMS OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER BLACK PANTHER PARTY

People's Free Legal Aid And Educational Program (Provides legal aid classes and full legal assistance referral service for people who are in need.)

Intercommunal News Service (Provides the community with an alternate source of news through the distribution of the BLACK PANTHER newspaper, keep Strong, and the Intercommunal Spark, the Southern California Chapter's newsletter.)

Liberation School; Tutorial Sessions (Provides individualized and group instruction in Black and African History; home-work assistance; Basic Sciences.)

Consumer's Survival Service (Provides assistance to victims of business abuse and false advertising.)

People's Physical Culture Program (Builds, strengthens and disciplines minds and bodies through scientifically directed recreation and exercise activities; sponsors nutrition counselling, physical conditioning and preventive health maintenance services.)

Free Martial Arts Program (Provides free, professional self-defense instruction.)

Free Food Program (Provides periodic mass distribution of groceries.)

Free Films And Community Discussions (Offers weekly movies on topics dealing with Poverty, Racism, African history. Healthcare, Crime and many more.)

-- 7 --

GOVERNMENT PAID $2.5 MILLION TO 5,000 INFORMANTS: F.B.I. SPY NETWORK UNCOVERED IN CHICAGO

(Chicago, Ill.) - The FBI paid $2.5 million to recruit an army of more than 5,000 spies who informed on Chicago-area activists and political organizations between 1966 and 1976.

During this 10-year period, the FBI opened files on about 27,900 individuals and organizations in the largest domestic spying operation disclosed to date.

The vast Chicago spy web was revealed in documents made public last week in response to written questions that U.S. District Court Judge Alfred Y. Kirkland ordered the FBI to answer in a suit against illegal government activities brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The documents also acknowledged an FBI break-in of the offices of the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights. A list of financial contributors was taken and dossiers were subsequently started on 46 persons whose names appeared on the list, the Committee said.

The FBI made the admission in response to a question dealing with burglaries and "black bag" jobs.

The Committee was formed during the McCarthy era to oppose government repression and most recently has campaigned against government spying.

Between January, 1966, and November, 1976, the FBI's Chicago office used 5,145 "informants" and "confidential sources" who had not been used previously, the documents said.

Of the $2.5 million paid to informants, about $400,000 was paid to persons who provided information in so-called "extremist" cases which Richard Gutman, an attorney and a spokesman for the Bill of Rights Committee, said involved mainly Black and Hispanic leaders and radical Black groups.

$2.1 MILLION

About $2.1 million was paid to obtain information about alleged "security risks" -- individuals and groups who were defined by the FBI as not necesarily violent but who may have espoused controversial or unpopular ideas, such as opposition to the Vietnam war.

"The overwhelming majority of the spying was political spying," Gutman said.

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“Veiled Prophet” To Head F.B.I.

(Washington, D.C.) - Who is william Webster? And what is the Veiled Prophet Society?

That's a pair of questions millions of Black and poor Americans were asking last week with President Carter's announcement of Webster as his choice to replace Clarence Kelley as director of the FBI.

Webster, a 53-year-old Republican judge from Illinois appointed to the federal appeals court by then President Richard Nixon in 1974, will assume the $57,000 a year, 10-year post following Senate hearings, which are expected to begin in two to four weeks.

What is the Veiled Prophet Society? It's the 100-year-old, lily White, all-male organization to which Webster belongs, one of three all-white groups he holds membership in.

Besides the 1,000-member Veiled Prophet Society, which has been accused by a St. Louis civil rights organization of racism and "elitism," Webster (according to his entry in Who's Who) belongs to the St. Louis Country Club and the Noonsday Club, neither of which has any Black members. Since last Wednesday's announcement Webster has been unavailable for comment on whether or not he would maintain his connections with the three organizations.

Also, an Associated Press survey of 60 of Webster's 185 appellate court opinions has turned up his tendency to support eavesdropping and other controversial investigative tactics used by federal and local police.

Similarly, A.P. reports that Webster has allowed prosecutors "considerable latitude" in the evidence they could use against a defendant at a trial.

In a 1976 case, for example, Webster wrote the court's opinion affirming the fraud conviction of James Harvey of Arkansas, who was accused of using a "blue box" to circumvent the Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.'s billing system and make long-distance phone calls for free.

When company officials

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suspected Harvey of using the scheme, they eavesdropped on his calls for six weeks, then alerted the FBI. It obtained a search warrant, raided his home and arrested him.

Harvey contended that the eavesdropping was illegal and the search was improper because the warrant was too vague.

But Webster wrote that the warrant was valid and that "the wire interception was not unreasonable in duration and was necessary to the protection of the rights and property of Southwestern Bell."

In another case, he ruled that the Constitution permits a government informant to secretly tape record incriminating conversations with a criminal suspect, and that those tapes may be used as trial evidence against the suspect.

With the exception of a 1974 case in which he upheld the Wounded Knee Defense-Offense Committee's right to sue the FBI for illegal harassment, A.P. concludes that Webster "has generally interpreted the law and the Constitution to favor prosecutors rather than defendants."

Webster is actually Carter's second choice as FBI director, a fill-in for Frank Johnson, a U.S. District Court judge from Montgomery, Alabama, whose slow recovery from a major operation caused him to be replaced.

Webster made no mention of ongoing revelations of illegal FBI spy activity and widespread internal corruption in his statement accepting Carter's nod, commenting, "I consider this nomination a great honor because the FBI has a unique place in the hearts of the American people. It is a vital institution that has served the public well."

Meanwhile, criticism of the late FBI czar J. Edgar Hoover continues, the latest salvo coming from Patrick Murphy, a former chief of police in four major U.S. cities, who called Hoover the "publicity-hungry Rasputin of American law enforcement" undeserving of his reputation as a scourge of criminals.

Criticism of Hoover is nothing new these days, but seldom has it come from within the ranks of law enforcement officials.

In his new book, Commissioner, Murphy says the late FBI director built up a seemingly impressive record of crimebusting by going after "cheap victories" with lots of publicity value.

"Assiduously avoiding such difficulty law enforcement assignments as organized crime, narcotics trafficking, and street crime," Murphy writes, "Hoover put his money on such easy winners as kidnaping, where the criminals were usually dumb and clumsy and the crime was susceptible to solution within a short period of time."

Murphy served as chief or commissioner of police in New York City, Detroit, Washington and Syracuse, N.Y. He acknowledges that he and his colleagues lived in silence for years knowing of the Hoover abuses.

"Only those of us who have chosen to devote our lives to law enforcement, and who have had to suffer the suffocating presence of the Bureau, possess the dubious distinction of having had to live silently with the truth about this monstrosity," Murphy says.

"Our silence was advisable (if not wholly commendable) because of Hoover, who operated behind the scenes as the unquestioned Rasputin of American law enforcement."

He also accuses Hoover of a long list of sins, ranging from racism to establishing a relationship with local police based on "menace and mutual mistrust."

"To those of us concerned about the right of the American citizen to the best possible police service at every level, Hoover's transparent program to divide and conquer made him and his Bureau the biggest singls bureaucratic obstacle in the country to better law enforcement," Murphy says.

"His half century on the Mount Olympus of American law enforcement turned into an American nightmare."

-- 7 --

Hoover Spied On, Undermined Warren Commission

(Washington, D.C.) - The FBI spied on the Warren Commission's investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy, and the Commission, in turn, suspected Lee Harvey Oswald had been a Bureau agent, newly released FBI files disclosed last week.

The 58,754 pages of FBI assassination files, including 8,150 pages of direct agency communications with the Warren Commission, show the Bureau considered then Representative Gerald Ford as its informant inside the blue ribbon panel, and that the late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover kept a bitter feud going with Chief Justice Earl Warren -- charging his Commission was tarnishing the Bureau's image in regard to its now widely suspect assassination probe.

Hoover was "insulted" and infuriated by an early Warren Commission belief that the FBI had sent Oswald to the Soviet Union as an agent in 1959: by its accusations the Bureau was leaking information to the press; and by its conclusion the FBI should have told the Secret Service what it knew about Oswald before Kennedy went to Dallas.

Calling the final Warren report "seriously inaccurate in so far as its treatment of the FBI is concerned," Hoover lamented in one staff memo:

"The Bureau will never live this down and will (be) viewed as

-- 26 --
a second rate outfit henceforth."

The FBI director and his men warred privately with anyone who challenged their exclusive authority over the Kennedy probe and their finding that Oswald, and Ruby, acted alone, calling Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach a liar, attempting to discredit investigations carried out by Texas officials and New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison and battling with the Warren Commission over news leaks.

The files show the FBI somehow obtained the transcript of a confidential "emergency meeting" the Warren panel held on January 11, 1964, to discuss, in the words of an FBI analyst, "information to the effect Lee Harvey Oswald was a Bureau informant" in Russia.

"The discussion shows that members of the commission felt the Bureau would not admit that Oswald had been an undercover agent," the FBI review said -- thereby undermining the Commission's confidence in the Bureau's investigation.

Ford's rold as a trusted Bureau informant within the panel was described in a series of memos filed by Hoover deputy Cartha Deloach in December, 1963, when the Commission had just been formed.

Deloach said Ford had called him to his office "in the strictest confidence," expressed displeasure at the way Warren was running things and "indicated he would keep me thoroughly advised as to the activities of the Commission…on a confidential basis."

Hoover typically began an FBI inquiry in June, 1964, when he read a newspaper report that the famous French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre had joined the "Who Killed Kennedy Committee."

The clipping identified Sartre only as an author.

Hoover promptly scribbled a memo:

"Find out who Sartre is."

-- 8 --

PEOPLE'S PERSPECTIVE

Blacks Inferior?

(New York, N.Y.) -- The Pioneer Fund, a tax-exempt, $2 million trust fund, has for over 20 years provided large grants to researchers attempting to prove the genetic inferiority of Black people. Dr. William B. Shockley and Dr. Arthur R. Jensen, two well-known proponents of White racial superiority, have both been awarded substantial grants -- the former to the tune of $179,000 for the past 10 years.

Mark Rudd Sentenced

(Chicago, Ill.) - Mark Rudd, a former leader of the radical Weathermen group, was sentenced last week to two years probation and fined $2,000 for his role in the "Days of Rage" anti-war demonstrations here in 1969. Rudd, 30, lived in voluntary "underground" for over seven years before his surrender in New York last September.

F.B.I. Spying Revealed

(Chicago, Ill.) - Some 3,200 pages of recently released FBI files show that for 30 years the Bureau spied on Dr. Quentin Young, chief of medicine at Cook County Hospital here and an organizer of the Chicago Medical Committee for Human Rights. Chicago police and FBI, the documents show, tried to entrap Young on a sedition charge when in 1966 an informer attempted to have the doctor falsify his medical records to help him evade the draft.

Supreme Court Rulings

(Washington, D.C.) - The Supreme Court last week upheld South Carolina's use of a teacher-testing system that disqualified 83 per cent of the Black applicants but only 17.5 per cent of the Whites. Associate Justice Byron R. White dissented from the ruling, saying the high court should have accepted the case for argument and decision. In another case, the Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that Black employees suing Stockham Valves and Fittings, Inc., an Alabama manufacturer, over job discrimination can use statistics to help prove their case. Data showed that 66 per cent of Stockham's lowest-paying jobs and only five per cent of its betters jobs were held by Blacks when the suit was filed.

Chicana Activist Released

(Del Rio, Texas) - The possibility of spending 65 years in prison confronts Chicana activist Delia Gonzalez who is charged with "encouraging and inducing" 13 Mexican nationals to illegally move into the U.S. The 39-year-old mother has been released on a $20,000 bond and must now stand trial on a trumped-up 13-count federal indictment.

U.C. Protest

(San Francisco, Calif.) - About 100 clapping, chanting students disrupted a meeting of the University of California Regents here last week to protest cutbacks in minority admissions and the Allan Bakke case. The students were protesting approval of a plan to limit special admissions to 6 per cent of the freshman class.

S.F. Parents Angry

(San Francisco, Calif.) -At the last of 14 public hearings last week on a sweeping reorganization of this city's public school system, angry parents from the predominantly Black Hunters Point community expressed strong opposition to a plan that would force their children to be bused out of four neighborhood schools. Several hearings have ended in angry confrontations with school Superintendent Robert Alioto and parents and students who are irate over the proposal to close 17 schools and revamp the district's integration plan.

Nazi Convicted

(Arlington, Va.) - A member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist White Peoples' Party and former U.S. Army Presidential honor guard was convicted earlier this month of assault against a Black off-duty police officer. Frederick Verduin was fined $1,000 for attacking Edward Threat at a gas station here across the street from the Nazi group's national headquarters where the Black cop had stopped with his White wife.

-- 9 --

National Black Network Strike Into 14th Week

(New York, N.Y.) - A strike by employees of the National Black Network (NBN) has entered its 14th week as the once highly-rated news agency has refused to negotiate, cancelling three bargaining sessions called by a federal mediator.

Black film star Fred Williamson recently refused to cross a picket set up here by striking NBN workers.

Black actors Ossie Davis and actress Ruby Dee, who write and record NBN's popular "Story Hour," have also refused to cross the picket line.

Since affiliate reporters are supporting the strike, NBN is now using UPI audio news to fill the gap. This has angered many affiliate stations because they are not receiving enough Black-oriented news -- the product NBN has been noted for disseminating.

Sources close to NBN management say the network is being hurt, losing many thousands of dollars as sponsors such as Kraft, the U.S. Army Reserve, Capitol Records and Metropolitan Life Insurance have dropped their advertising. Many affiliates, complaining of bad quality and missed commercials, are threatening to drop the network.

Before the strike began, the four-year-old radio network had 83 affiliates across the country and grossed $3.5 million in 1976.

-- 9 --

HARLEM TENEMENT BURNS, INADEQUATE PROTECTION CHARGED: BLACK CHILD DIES IN FIRE -- CITY CUTBACKS BLAMED

(New York, N.Y.) - A two-year-old Black Harlem child. Kimberly Hayes, died here earlier this month in a fire in a building on month in a fire in a building on Riverside Drive and 136th Street -- a needless death which is a direct result of cutbacks imposed on New York City residents by powerful banking interests.

While there is a firehouse near the scene of the fire at 143rd Street, all the firefighters and equipment were busy at another fire; and all other nearby fire battalions were also fighting fires.

The Fire Department is supposed to compensate for such emergencies by sending firefighters and equipment from a station in another part of the city. On this day, firefighters from the 8th Battalion at 33 W. 43rd. St. had been sent to cover any calls to the 143rd St. firehouse.

However, at the end of their shift -- 20 minutes before the fire was reported, these firefighters were called back to their own firehouse -- to avoid their being paid overtime.

DESPERATELY NEEDED

Thus, when help was desperately needed, the 143rd St. firehouse was empty; and by the time an engine company came from a fire station at 3rd Ave. and 124th St., it was too late to save the life of two-year-old Kimberly Hayes.

Kimberly Hayes is not the first victim of city cutbacks in fire services, Works World reports.

In January, 1976, four-year-old David Figueroa was killed in a fire in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Until November 22, 1975, there had been a fire station three blocks from his house. But on that day it was closed, making the nearest fire station eight blocks away.

Speaking of the needless death, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association said, "More tragedies like this will occur unless fire protection is restored to the Park Slope section and other parts of the city."

His prediction was fulfilled as the next month saw two separate fires which took the lives of 13 people.

In a fire on the Upper West Side which killed 10 people, including seven children, neighbors charged that the firefighters arrived a full 30-45 minutes after the fire was first reported.

Four days later, three firefighters died when the roof of a burning Queens restaurant caved in. Firefighters blamed the deaths on layoffs.

-- 9 --

Chicago Police On Killing Spree -- 2 Gunned Down On Jan. 1

(Chicago, Ill.) - In the past six months the notoriously brutal Chicago Police Department has gone on a virtual killing spree, mowing down White as well as Black teenagers, while police officials refuse to discipline the killer cops.

The killings -- which have taken the lives of seven teenagers alone since last June -- have prompted police watchdog groups and even some law enforcement agents themselves to call for a change in police standards which grant police the right to shoot unarmed citizens.

In the latest deaths, two off-duty cops fatally shot a 37-year-old man and a 16-year-old youth in two separate incidents on New Year's Day.

The department suspended policeman Michael T. Smith after he shot L.V. Collins, 37, at point-black range in a downtown subway station. A spokesperson said the five-and-a-half month police recruit had been drinking for several hours in a tavern prior to the killing.

Earlier that morning, investigator Joseph Kosala shot dead Steven Gutowski, 16, after the teenager allegedly pointed a sawed-off 22-caliber rifle at him several times. Police labeled the shooting "justifiable," the Guardian reports.

Under Illinois law, police are considered "justified" in using "deadly force" not only when a life is endangered, but also when the officer believes that the suspect has committed a forcible felony and that the suspect would escape without the use of deadly force.

The New Year's Day killings were only the latest in a rash of shootings and killings by the Chicago Police Department which have outraged the community residents.

Last December 17, close to 100 demonstrators gathered outside police headquarters to protest police killings of Chicago teenagers.

A week earlier, 15-year-old Ralph Briggs died in Cook County Hospital after being shot by an off-duty police officer during an alleged weekend unarmed robbery. The Briggs family plans to fire a damage suit against the officer, the police department and the city.

It has since been confirmed that the White officer who shot and killed the Black youth was drunk.

"There may be an attempt to reclassify the action, to suggest that he [policeman Gardner] is less responsible because he was intoxicated," explained Howard Saffold of the Afro-American Patrolmen's League.

The demonstrators marched from the Daley Center Plaza to police headquarters where they presented police officials with a petition demanding disciplinary actions, especially in the case of 14-year-old Tyrone Neal, a Black youth shot last October.

Among other teenagers who have not survived police abuse in the last few months are:

-- 20 --

- John Neuman, 18, who was fatally shot on June 11 as he ran down an alley with his wrists handcuffed behind his back. He had been caught trying to retrieve his minibike from a friend's garage. Neuman's father has filed a $1.75 million civil suit against the city, two policemen and other officials.

- Demetrius Thomas, 14, was killed after he jumped out of the window of his apartment when police came to investigate a burglary. The commotion apparently frightened the youth. The Office of Professional Standards ruled it was a "justifiable mistake."

- David Karpiel, 15, was fatally shot while in a car that allegedly ran a red light. Investigators concluded that policeman Doneske's gun accidentally discharged as he ordered the youth from the car. But even before the conclusions had been drawn, Deputy Police Superintendent John E. Killackey assured Doneske, "I am certain no charges will be brought."

Renault Robinson, director of the Afro-American Patrolmen's League, expressed pessimism concerning the chance of citizens winning court suits against the police. "The department may suspend someone but hardly ever fire because that would leave the city open for damages," he said.

"Race of the victim is crucial," Robinson added. "If only Blacks were being killed, there would be no uproar, but the latest victims were Whites."

-- 10 --

100 DEMONSTRATE OUTSIDE COURT: JoANNE LITTLE GRANTED BAIL -- $50,000

(Brooklyn, N.Y.) - Joanne Little, who is currently fighting extradition back to North Carolina from New York City, was granted $50,000 bail this past Wednesday.

At her first extradition hearing on January 6, state supreme court Judge Cornelius O'Brien turned down a bail application submitted by Ms. Little's lawyer, William Kunstler, and then adjourned the hearings for 30 days.

Ms. Little has been imprisoned on Rikers Island since her arrest as a fugitive on December 7, almost two months after she fled a North Carolina jail.

At the hearing, Kunstler requested that Ms. Little be released on bail on the grounds that she faced neither the death penalty nor life imprisonment. Ms. Little, before her escape, was serving a seven to 10-year sentence stemming from her alleged involvement in the theft of $200 worth of clothes from a mobil home in Washington, North Carolina. Despite the fact that she had no prior conviction, Ms. Little was given the maximum sentence, of which she has already served four years.

Ms. Little has stated that she would "rather die than go back to North Carolina," where she has been the target of constant harassment since she won national attention and support by killing a White jail guard who tried to rape her.

"There is no way she can be treated fairly here," Jerry Paul, Ms. Little's lawyer in North Carolina, told Liberation News service in a telephone conversation after the hearing.

"They have tried to frame her before."

Paul then went on to describe several instances in which prison officials had manufactured or destroyed evidence relating to Ms. Little's parole applications:

Rebecca' Ranson, a former dramatics teacher at the prison, has signed an affidavit stating that she was fired from her job after she refused to comply with a superior's request that she testify that Little stole a pair of scissors and a tape recorder from her; and another inmate who works in the prison office has told Paul that she saw one of the officials remove part of Little's file before her parole hearing.

This fall, during her last parole hearing, Ms. Little was charged with having "unauthorized material" -- a tape cassette -- and -- using a towel to cover her dresser.

Outside the courthouse on January 6, over 100 activists carrying signs and chanting "Free Joanne Little" demonstrated in support of her fight to remain in New York.

Supporters have also initiated a petition drive urging that New York Governor Hugh Carey deny North Carolina's "brutal and unusual request."

-- 10 --

Victory In Lawsuit Challenging Mississippi Jail Conditions

(New York, N.Y.) - The National Conference of Black Lawyers recently announced a victory in its federal lawsuit challenging conditions at the Jackson County, Mississippi, Jail.

In its December 7, 1977, order, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, ordered Sheriff Fred R. Diamond of Jackson County to complete construction of a new jail, "with all equipment in place ready for use and operation," on or before September 15, 1978.

In addition, the court ordered the following list of prisoner rights "shall be posted in the area of the jail occupied by the prisoners so that they shall have ready and easy access thereto":

- "Prisoners are entitled to adequate and proper medical care and attention at all times."

- "Prisoners have the right to reasonable visitation by members of their family, relatives and attorneys at such times and under such circumstances and conditions as the sheriff shall impose."

- "Prisoners shall not be segregated on the basis of race and requests for transfer or assignment by prisoners to other cells which are not based on sound reason other than race will be denied."

- "Prisoners are entitled to a proper diet under sanitary conditions at mealtimes."

- "Prisoners have the right to uncensored communications subject to the right of the sheriff or jailer to intercept any communication deemed necessary to his safety, the security of the jail or the safe keeping of the prisoners. No major discipline may be administered without disciplinary proceedings, which shall be conducted in accordance with prisoner fairness and due process; however, a trial is not contemplated. No hearing is required for minor discipline such as limiting or restricting visitation, canteen privileges and the like."

- "Prisoners having a clam for violation of the above rights shall have the right to take same, through their legal counsel, and have their case considered and adjudged by a United States Magistrate."

-- 10 --

BEHIND THE WALLS: Work Stop Rocks San Quentin

(Tamal, Calif.) - Mainline inmates at San Quentin Prison here went on a two-day work strike last week to protest "racist violence" perpetuated against Blacks and Warden George Sumner's policy of "selective lockdowns" when angry Blacks retaliated.

Some 100 supporters picketed the State Building in San Francisco in support of the five key issues raised by the work stoppage: (1) Fire Warden Sumner; (2) Release prisoners lockdown who were not involved in the stabbings; (3) End discriminatory lockdowns; (4) End arbitrary transfers; (5) Form a community-based team to investigate the prison administration's role of "manipulation and collusion" with White supremacist groups. The rally was organized by the August 21 Coalition.

The lockdown was begun when several Black prisoners allegedly attacked the two White inmates in retaliation for a previous fight in which Larry Green, a member of the World Community of Islam in the West, convicted for the San Francisco "Zebra" killings, suffered minor stab wounds. Two shots were fired by prison guards before the fight was broken up.

Meanwhile, Sumner was reportedly slugged by another World Community member, Milton Earl, 27. Earl walked over to Sumner to talk to him about the Green stabbing, but instead allegedly hit the warden "square in the jaw," according to a prison spokesman. Earl was beaten, subdued by guards and later transfered to Soledad, while San Quentin, except for the prison's honor block, was locked down for the first time since last summer.

-- 11 --

U.S. Still Major Arms Supplier To Foreign Dictatorships

(Washington, D.C.) - In a study released last month by the Field Foundation, the Institute for Policy Studies here charged that despite President Carter's pledge to promote human rights abroad, the United States is still a major arms supplier to the police forces of foreign dictatorships.

The study, "Supplying Repression," written by Dr. Michael T. Klare, is the first fully-documented report on U.S. exports of police and paramilitary gear to foreign governments. After identifying the major U.S. supply channels to foreign dictators, Klare, director of the Project on Militarism and Disarmament of the Institute for Policy Studies and the author of War Without End: American Planning for the Next Vietnams and numerous articles on U.S. foreign and military policy -- concludes that:

"Rather than standing in detached judgment over the spread of repression abroad, as Carter's human rights rhetoric suggests, the U.S. stands at the supply end of a pipeline of repression technology that extends to many of the world's authoritarian governments."

"Supplying Repression" takes off with the 1974 Congressional decision to abolish the Office of Public Safety and other U.S. aid programs for foreign police and prison agencies. Klare demonstrates that the 1974 ban has not been very successful in halting the flow of repressive hardware to foreign governments, and that in fact new channels have been established to ensure the continued

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delivery of arms and equipment to the internal security forces of pro-U.S. regimes.

Taking 10 conspicuous human rights violators as an example (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Iran, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, and the Philippines), Klare shows that since 1973 these 10 countries:

- Received $15.6 million in police hardware under the INC program, some of which is being used for political operations rather than anti-drug raids;

- Received $4.3 billion in U.S. military and economic aid;

- Spent $18.2 billion on U.S. arms under the FMS and Commercial Sales programs;

- Sent over 12,000 top officers for military training in the U.S. and the Panama Canal Zone under the IMETP program; and

- Bought 18,000 pistols and revolvers, five million rounds of ammunition, 1,800 riot guns, and assorted other U.S. weapons for local police use.

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BAY AREA BLACK ACTIVISTS SET $50,000 GOAL: ZIMBABWE COALITION LAUNCHES DRIVE FOR MEDICAL SUPPLIES

(San Francisco, Calif.) - Led by the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), on February 1 Bay Area Black activists will launch a $50,000 fundraising drive to secure medical supplies for the Zimbabwean (Rhodesian) armed liberation struggle.

ZANU, co-member of the Patriotic Front, has organized the Zimbabwe Medical Drive Coalition (ZMDC) here which in the next five months will sponsor a number of activities to raise funds for the medical supplies that are urgently needed by the fighting forces of the Patriotic Front.

B.C.T.F.

The ZMDC will be working in conjunction with the Black Community Task Force (BCTF), a group of longtime activists in the San Francisco Black community that is seeking total community participation in the fundraising drive. BCTF and ZANU believe that having a separate structure in the Black community will make it easier to obtain community support.

Both groups have set a goal of $25,000, for an overall total of $50,000 to be raised by June 1.

The Coalition has three principles of unity:

(1) To provide concrete material support to the armed struggle being waged by the Patriotic Front against the Ian Smith regime of Rhodesia;

(2) To support the Front in solidarity with Chimurenga, the war of national liberation; and

(3) To build a mass movement against U.S. imperialism and its role in southern Africa.

Stressing the importance of the medical drive, a statement from the Coalition explains:

"ZANU believes that it is the responsibility of all the forces that oppose U.S. imperialism to unite and provide concrete support to the struggle of the people of Zimbabwe. ZANU lays stress on going to community and anti-imperialist forces for material aid.

"At the present time, medical supplies are an urgent necessity for the Front and for the refugees living in Mozambique whose camps have been attacked by the racist army of Ian Smith.

"A large part of the Rhodesian army is made up of mercenaries from Europe and the U.S. These mercenaries bring to the army their experience in attacking national liberation struggles in Vietnam, Ireland, and other former colonial countries. Medicines, medical equipment and medical literature is urgently required."

For further information about the Zimbabwe Medical Drive or the Black Community Task Force, call (415) 543-0890.

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Protest Campaign Blocks Krugerrand Sales

(New York, N.Y.) - As a result of a massive public protest campaign, a growing number of institutions across the U.S. are discontinuing sales or advertisements for the Krugerrand gold coin from apartheid South Africa.

Most recently, Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Inc., the nation's largest brokerage firm, discontinued Krugerrand gold coin sales in all its branches as of the end of 1977, according to a release from the American Committee on Africa.

Protests by groups opposing the sale of the Krugerrand took place at Merrill, Lynch branch offices in numerous cities, including Boston, Cleveland, San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Eugene and Portland, Oregon.

A multimillion dollar promotional campaign launched by the South African government has made the U.S. the world's number one market for the Krugerrand, developed to insure a steady demand for the apartheid state's number one export -- gold. The gold for the Krugerrand's comes from South Africa's 48 gold mines, condemned by many as literal "deathtraps" for thousands of Black miners yearly.

In 31 of the top mines, Americans own an average of 26 per cent of the outstanding shares. The mines are controlled by seven major financial groups, which together account for 90 per cent of all mineral production in South Africa. About 90 per cent of the workers in these mines are Black and 9 per cent are White.

Black miners' current monthly salary is $124 compared to $563 for Whites. This gap between Black and White mining salaries is the largest of any industry in South Africa.

In Chicago, three local television stations WBBM, WMAQ and WGN have joined the NBC, CBS and ABC network affiliate stations in New York and Boston

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in discontinuing Krugerrand advertisements.

Major department stores -- Carson, Pirie, Scotland Company in Chicago, Abraham and Strauss in New York and the May department store in Cleveland -- have discontinued selling Krugerrands.

In December, Continental Bank of Chicago joined the Black-owned Seaway Bank of Chicago and the New Jersey National Bank of Princeton, in cutting off sales of the "blood-stained" coins. The Record, a daily newspaper serving northern New Jersey, recently refused $7,000 in Krugerrand advertising.

City councils in Portland, Oregon, Denver, San Antonio, Dayton and Chicago, as well as the State House of Representatives in Massachusetts, have adopted resolutions condemning Krugerrand sales and have urged citizens not to buy them. A strongly worded resolution passed by the Denver City Council reads as follows:

"The Council hereby expresses its opposition to and loathing of the racial policies of the so-called Republic of South Africa; and urges the people of Denver not to buy the coins known as Krugerrands, whose sales will help to reinforce the present government of South Africa in pursuing its repugnant and inhuman racial policies."

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REVOLUTIONARY SUICIDE: Huey P. Newton

"Surviving"

We conclude the chapter "Surviving" in this excerpt from Revolutionary Suicide by Black Panther Party President and chief theoretician Huey P. Newton and continue with the chapter "China" as the Party founder describes his enlightening trip to the People's Republic of China in September, 1971.

Jensen replied, "No, it's not in the interest of justice, because it's not just. I didn't think I would ever have to say these words, but I think the case should be dismissed."

The dismissal was granted, bringing to an end the insane and unjust series of legal assaults that had started more than four years earlier. I had spent thirty-three months in prison; my family had suffered untold personal agony; the Party had spent many thousands of dollars in my defense, money that could have been used to help the community. Jensen was right, but now in the sense be intended. Justice had not been served.

"China"

"The people who have triumphed in their own revolution should help those still struggling for liberation. This is our internationalist duty."

Chairman Mao, Little Red Book

Today, when I think of my experiences in the People's Republic of China -- a country that overwhelmed me while I was there -- they seem somehow distant and remote. Time erodes the immediacy of the trip; the memory begins to recede. But that is a common aftermath of travel, and not too alarming. What is important is the effect that China and its society had on me, and that impression is unforgettable. While there, I achieved a psychological liberation I had never experienced before.

It was not simply that I felt at home in China; the reaction was deeper than that. What I experienced was the sensation of freedom -- as if a great weight had been lifted from my soul and I was able to be myself, without defense or pretense or the need for explanation. I felt absolutely free for the first time in my life -- completely free among my fellow men.

This experience of freedom had a profound effect on me, because it confirmed my belief that an oppressed people can be liberated if their leaders persevere in raising their consciousness and in struggling relentlessly against the oppressor.

Because my trip was so brief and made under great pressure, there were many places I was unable to visit and many experiences I had to forgo. Yet there were lessons to be learned from even the most ordinary and commonplace encounters: a question asked by a worker, the response of a schoolchild, the attitude of a government official. These slight and seemingly unimportant moments were enlightening, and they taught me much.

For instance, the behavior of the police in China was a revelation to me. They are there to protect and help the people, not to oppress them. Their courtesy was genuine; no division or suspicion exists between them and the citizens. This impressed me so much that when I returned to the United States and was met by the Tactical Squad at the San Francisco airport (they had been called out because nearly a thousand people came to the airport to welcome us back), it was brought home to me all over again that the police in our country are an occupying, repressive force.

I pointed this out to a customs officer in San Francisco, a Black man, who was armed, explaining to him that I felt intimidated seeing all the guns around. I had just left a country, I told him, where the army and the police are not in opposition to the people but are their servants.

I received the invitation to visit China shortly after my release from the Penal Colony, in August 1970. The Chinese were interested in the Party's Marxist analysis and wanted to discuss it with us as well as show us the concrete application of theory in their society. I was eager to go and applied for a passport in late 1970, which was finally approved a few months later.

However, I did not make the trip at that time because of Bobby's and Ericka's trial in New Haven. Nonetheless, I wanted to see China very much, and when I learned that President Nixon was going to visit the People's Republic in February,1972, I decided to beat him to it. My wish was to deliver a message to the government of the People's Republic and the Communist Party, which would be delivered to Nixon when he made his visit.

I made the trip in late September, 1971, between my second and third trials, going without announcement or publicity because I was under an indictment. I had only ten days to spend in China. Even though I had no travel restrictions and had been given a passport, the California courts could have tied me down at any time because I was under court bail, so I avoided the state's jurisdiction by going to New York instead of directly to Canada from California.

Because of my uncertainty about what the power structure might do, I continued to avoid publicity after reaching New York.

TO BE CONTINUED

-- 14 --

Amnesty International Demands End Of Apartheid: SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT TORTURES POLITICAL FOES

(New York, N.Y.) - Amnesty International (A.I.), the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights organization, last week accused the South African government of approving torture and suppression of political opponents and declared that no reforms will work unless the entire apartheid regime is abolished.

The stinging attack was made in a major A.I. report entitled "South Africa: Political Imprisonment and Torture."

Martin Ennals, secretary-general of the prestigious organization, told a press conference that as long as apartheid exists, "there can be no structure (in South Africa) which conforms with and guarantees universally recognized standards of human rights."

The report documents a legal system under which detention without trial, political imprisonment and "banning" -- restriction on an individual's freedom of movement, expression and association -- have become commonplace. It also examines the notorious Terrorism Act and other security laws which are used to suppress all forms of Black opposition and thus maintain White political control and social and economic privilege.

Within this legal structure, the introduction to the report maintains, it is inevitable that individuals will be imprisoned for reasons of conscience.

In addition the report states that the use of torture by security police during the interrogation of political detainees is routine and receives tacit government approval. A.I. commented:

"Many consistent and substantial allegations of torture have been made by political detainees in recent years. However, the South African government has refused repeatedly to institute a thorough and independent inquiry into such allegations or to repeal laws like the Terrorism Act which provide for indefinite incommunicado detention.

"Such laws, in our opinion, invite -- even incite -- security police torture of political detainees. Steve Biko and several of the detainees who have died in security police custody during 1977 were held under this act."

The report also characterizes as "vindictive and uncompromising" the conditions under which convicted political prisoners are held. At least 38 political prisoners, including the African nationalist leader Nelson Mandela, are imprisoned for life. Twenty-one Black people, including Steve Biko, are known to have died in detention between March, 1976, and November, 1977.

South African government policy is designed to maintain White political supremacy, economic and social privilege. By means of institutionalized violence the South African government prevents effective Black political opposition. Most Black leaders have been repeatedly detained, imprisoned or restricted.

Many hundreds of South Africans have been subjected to arbitrary imprisonment and detention without trial. Others have died at the hands of the authorities.

The government possesses wide powers for the control and suppression of all forms of political opposition. Parties and organizations can be banned, public meetings prohibited, newspapers and publications banned.

There are a series of extensive and severe laws under which most political prisoners are held. These laws make any normal political activities into offenses against state security and give the police extensive powers of arbitrary arrest and detention without trial.

TORTURE

The use of torture by the security police has intensified since the outbreak of disturbances in Soweto in 1976. It is by no means a recent phenomenon. Torture is routinely used during the interrogation of political detainees to extract "confessions" and generally to intimidate the opponents of apartheid. Over the past 15 years at least 40 political detainees have died while in security police custody.

Testimonies describe the most common forms of torture as being: brutal physical attacks and beating; electric shocks; being forced to stand for long periods, sometimes with small stones in the shoes; being forced to assume a sitting position -- the "invisible chair" -- for many hours; subjected to murder threats or threats against families; prolonged interrogation and sleep deprivation; and psychological disorientation through long-term solitary confinement.

BANNING

More than 170 people from all racial groups are now restricted under "banning orders." This number includes several people who are widely regarded as leaders of the Black population. Churchmen, journalists, teachers, students and former political detainees are

-- 15 --
currently listed as banned.

Banned people are neither charged nor brought before a court. Banning orders are administratively imposed by the "minister of justice" -- usually for periods of five years and are frequently reimposed when they expire. No court of law can question the validity of such orders or instruct the "minister" to lift or amend the restrictions. The only authority of the courts is in fining or imprisoning those who contraverse the terms of banning orders.

The government gives no specific reasons for imposing a banning order: the "minister of justice" merely asserts that the person was engaged in activities that could "endanger the maintenance of public order." Nor does this assertion need to be proved under the terms of the Internal Security Act.

PRISON CONDITIONS

Approximately 450 convicted political prisoners are currently serving sentences in South Africa, mostly Africans but including people from all racial groups. They are imprisoned for violent and nonviolent offenses against the security laws and Include several prominent Black political figures.

Upon entering prison all political prisoners are classified according to their social, political or criminal background. Political prisoners are usually given the lowest grade -- grade D -- which is normally reserved for habitual criminals. They are rarely upgraded. This grade determines their entitlement to diet, clothing, equipment and privileges.

CIVILIAN KILLINGS

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people were killed during the widespread civil unrest of 1976-1977. Most of the dead were Black -- shot by police during the disturbances in Soweto, Langa, and other Black "townships." Many were schoolchildren.

Disturbances continued into 1977 and spread throughout the country. It is impossible to be certain how many people were killed since the government refused to issue figures or publish lists of the dead and injured. Instead, government ministers and officials tried to conceal the full extent of the killings.

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Banned In South Africa

(London, England) - In the fiercest attack on opposition organizations since the banning of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and the African National Congress (ANC) in 1960, the South African government took action under the Unlawful Organizations Act last October 19 and banned at least 18 organizations, including most groups in the Black Consciousness Movement. The full list of organizations banned is as follows:

- South African Students' Organization (SASO) -- founded in 1969 by Black students under the leadership of Steve Biko in a breakaway from the White-dominated National Union of South. African Students (NUSAS), SASO was prominent in student protests and unrest in the early 1970's and though based in the Black "tribal" universities and colleges has always rejected separate education, Bantustans and apartheid as a whole. In 1973 the entire SASO executive was banned and in 1974 many individuals arrested: nine were eventually imprisoned at the end of 1976 after a long trial. Many other former officials are in exile.

- Black People's Convention (BPC) -- founded in 1971 as a Black people's organization unifying African. Colored and Indian members, building Black awareness and stimulating community action. BPC has always operated as an open political movement. In 1973 much of its leadersip was banned. The BPC has remained active politically and in encouraging community projects such as health clinics. The current president of BPC is

-- 15 --
Hlaku Kennett, Raeldi, who is now under detention.

- South African Students' Movement (SASM) -- formed in 1970 as a national movement for Black high school students, and involved in the 1976 boycott of Afrikaans in schools and subsequent demonstrations. SASM has branches all over the country: in September, 1976, five members were imprisoned for incitement to military training. Many other school student members have been arrested.

- National Youth Organization (NAYO) -- formed in 1973 as a Black youth organization. Its president was banned in the same year and in 1975-76 several officials and members stood trial under the Terrorism Act before being acquitted. Among NAYO's constituent bodies are the following, also banned: Border Youth Organization. Natal Youth Organization, Transvaal Youth Organization, Western Cape Youth Organization, Eastern Cape Youth Organization.

- Black Community Programs (BCP) -- formed in 1973 to undertake and encourage projects by and for the Black community. It has organized welfare and self-help projects in the Eastern Cape. Natal and Transvaal. Its workers and officials have suffered bannings similar to those imposed on SASO and BPC. BCP also published use annual survey Black Review from 1972-6.

- Zimele Trust Fund -- a Black charitable organization established in 1975 to help the economic, social and educational rehabilitation of former political prisoners and their families, which has initiated a relief fund and various other projects. Almost all the Zimele Board of Trustees was detained in August, 1976,and its administrator, and Mapetla Mohapi, died in detention.

- Black Women's Federation (BWF) -- formed in 1976 as an umbrella body for about 60 Black women's organizations. Several of its members, including its president. Fatima Meer, and Mrs. Winnie Mandela were detained during 1976 and subsequently banned. The BWF has taken a strong position on the issues of squatters. Bantu education and nursery provision.

- Black Parents Association (BPA) -- formed in Soweto during the 1976 uprising to act as a liaison between the students and the authorities. It has continued to speak on behalf of Black people and has been responsible for distributing relief money to victims of last year's shootings. Its chairman is Dr. Manas Buthelezi.

- Soweto Students' Representative Council (SSRC) -- formed in 1976 by SASM members with delegates from Soweto secondary schools to organize the action against Afrikaans and Bantu education and subsequent demonstrations. Responsible for issuing many of the calls to action and subject to intense police harassment which forced many of the leadership underground and eventually into exile. Before its banning, the SSRC was actively organizing the school boycott in Soweto and calling on teachers to resign as a first stage in the dismantling of Bantu education.

- Union of Black Journalists (UBJ) -- formed in 1973 to represent Black journalists. Has published a bulletin; several members were detained during 1976 and the current UBJ president and five other members are in detention.

- Medupe Writers Association -- formed in January,1977, as a Black writers' group based in Johannesburg to promote Black literature. Membership is currently over 200.

- Association for the Educational And Cultural Advancement of African People (ASSECA) -- founded in 1969 to raise funds and improve the standard of African education. Criticized as too moderate by some Black people.

- Christian Institute (C.I.) -- formed in 1963 as an ocumenical church group. Together with the South African Council of Churches the C.I. sponsored SPRO-CAS, the study project on Christianity in an Apartheid Society, which produced 10 reports on different aspects of apartheid. In 1975 the C.I. was declared an "Affected Organization" and prohibited from receiving funds from overseas. It has regional offices as well as headquarters in Johannesburg. Several of its officers and its journal were also banned.

- In addition to the above it was reported that the Siyazinceda Trust, a group in Cape Town established to help the families of political detainees, has also been declared an unlawful organization. This would bring the total number of banned organizations to 19.

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THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY PROGRAM

MARCH 29, 1972 PLATFORM

WHAT WE WANT, WHAT WE BELIEVE

1. WE WANT FREEDOM. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.

We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.

2. WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.

'We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.

3. WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE CAPITALIST OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.

We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over fifty million Black people. Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.

4. WE WANT DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.

We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.

5. WE WANT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY.

We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.

6. WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE.

We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventative medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical attention and care.

7. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

We believe that the racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against Black people, other people of color and poor people inside the United States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces and that all Black and oppressed people should be armed for self-defense of our homes and communities against these fascist police forces.

8. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL WARS OF AGGRESSION.

We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desires of the U.S. ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that if the U.S. government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars that it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.

9. WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW HELD IN U.S. FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, CITY AND MILITARY PRISONS AND JAILS. WE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR ALL PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.

We believe that the many Black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. prisons and jails have not received fair and impartial trials under a racist and fascist judicial system and should be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institutions, because the masses of men and women imprisoned inside the United States or by the U.S. military are the victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment. We believe that when persons are brought to trial that they must be guaranteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprisonment while awaiting trials.

10. WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE'S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, when ever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

-- 17 --

Intercommunal News: CONTINUED SOWE TO SCHOOLS BOYCOTT URGED: “SQUATTERS” CAMP DESTROYED -- 15,000 BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS HOMELESS

(Cape Town, South Africa) - Government bulldozers completed the destruction of a Black "squatters" camp here last week, leaving some 15,000 people, mostly women and children, homeless.

In other developements in the White apartheid regime last week:

- Over 1,500 Sowetans chanting anti-aparthied slogans held a rare public meeting, one of the first since the government crackdown on Black political protest last October 19.

The meeting, called by the Soweto Action Committee (SAC), urged students to continue their 19-month-old boycott of local schools and rejected a government plan for elections to community councils in the "township."

Two Black journalists and five White foreign correspondents who attended the SAC meeting were arrested by armed riot police and later released.

- Primary schools opened in Soweto, with less than 50 per cent student attendance. Forty-two per cent attendance was reported in the primary schools of Cape Town.

A large white cross built last year by a Black Anglican priest, who was banned in October, was all that was left standing in Unibell shantytown. A hut beside it that had served as the school, church and community center for the "squatters'" camp was flattened to the ground.

Residents searched furtively for their belongings through the debris of cardboard, oil cans and corrugated tin that had made up their homes, saving the tin for use in another camp.

The actual dismantling of Unibell was initiated by the residents to rescue their possessions before the government bulldozers entered the camp.

Hundreds of Black women and children -- who lived in the shantytown "illegally" in order to be near their husbands and fathers who work in the city -- simply left and moved into the surrounding rural areas or to other shantytowns, taking with them anything salvageable from the wreckage.

Unibell, like the squatters' camp of Modderdam which was destroyed last September, was declared a "health hazard" by the White apartheid regime. The government offered no alternative accommodation for the evicted residents.

A government spokesperson said that Unibell residents who did not have permission to live in Cape Town would be given free tickets to the Transkei, the "homeland" given "independence" in October, 1976. Most of the Blacks who lived in Unibell were members of the Xhosa tribe for which the Transkei was established.

Police observed but did not interfere with the SAC meeting called to protest the Bantu (Black) educational system in South Africa. One-tenth of the funds spent on the education of White children is spent for that of Black youth.

SAC has called for the repeal of the Bantu Education Act and the abolition of the country's discriminatory educational system. A statement issued by the Soweto group urged that a national education convention "be called to plan a new educational framework meeting the needs of all the people of South Africa."

-- 22 --

Soweto youth launched their school boycott in June, 1976. Since that time, school attendance has been consistently below 50 percent. Similar boycotts are underway throughout the country.

Leonard Khumalo, Black photographer for the Post -- the newspaper created to replace the banned Black publications, the World and the Weekend World -- Willie Nkosi, a Black photographer for the Rand Daily Mail, a prominent White newspaper, a Black driver and five White foreign correspondents were arrested as they left the SAC meeting held at the San Francis Anglican Church.

The foreign correspondents represented the Associated Press (A.P.), Agence France Presse, Voice of America and United Press International (UPI).

The Black photographers were released from custody after their White colleagues.

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PROFITS -- $125 MILLION: Henry Ford Vows: “We Will Not Leave South Africa”

(Johannesburg, South Africa) - Declaring that we "can do more for the people of South Africa by staying." U.S. automobile czar Henry Ford II said here last week that he will maintain the Ford Motor Corporation's $125 million investment in the White apartheid regime.

Addressing a news conference here following a visit to Ford's Struandale plant in Port Elizabeth (see last week's issue of THE BLACK PANTHER). Ford disputed arguments of apartheid foes that favor ending the $20 billion foreign investment in South Africa.

"Our policy is that we are remaining in South Africa." the wealthy car manufacturer told a large crowd of local and foreign journalists at the end of his eight-day visit to South Africa. "It is our opinion that we do more for the people of South Africa by staying here, and by providing equal opportunities," he maintained.

Despite the Ford corporation's insistence that it has eliminated discrimination in its South African plants, its nearly 2,900 Black workers complain that company

-- 22 --
policies still favor Whites.

Up until seven years ago, U.S. corporations operating in South Africa maintained a deaf ear to criticisms from apartheid opponents.

In 1971, the Polaroid Corporation made the first significant concessions to Black workers, establishing a pioneer plan for the workers at its distributor's operation here, the New York Times reports. The plan, which included nondiscriminatory pay rates, upgraded programs and educational opportunities for Black employees.

The camera company withdrew from South Africa last year after its distributor, Frank and Hirsch Ltd., defied instructions and secretly sold Polaroid supplies to the White minority government.

Over a dozen laws bar Black job advancement in South Africa, including one prohibiting the appointment of Black managers at stores in "White" areas.

The White unions have done little to open their ranks to Blacks, who are forbidden to form unions under South African law. Blacks who work in mines are now allowed to train as "artisans' aides" but cannot join the skilled trades as equals with Whites.

The Ford plants in Port Elizabeth last year joined other U.S. businesses in signing an agreement barring discriminatory pay rates. Among hourly-paid workers, however, there remains a wide gap between wages for Blacks and Whites, with the former receiving $1.09 as compared to $2.31 for Whites.

In a token gesture, last year Ford recognized a newly formed Black group, the United Automobile Workers' Union, as "official spokespersons" for its employees.

Currently, contract talks are being held between White and Colored (mixed race) unions at Ford, the latter which have the same legal rights as White unions. A Black representative is attending the talks.

Frederick H. Ferreira, director of industrial relations for the company, says that the contract under negotiations will set a uniform pay scale and conditions for all races, and therefore, will make the Ford Corporation "totally unionized."

Black workers dispute his claim. Said one $5.500 a year Black cost analyst at the Struandale plant:

"The Whites bargain for what concerns them, which are the higher grades, and the Blacks are left to fend for themselves. Without legal rights. Blacks will have to settle for whatever the company gives."

-- 18 --

DUMPING GROUND FOR DISABLED: HORRIFYING CONDITIONS IN SOWETO “TRANSITCAMPS”

The following article, written by Gloria Mtungwa and reprinted from the publication Fourth Quarter, provides an eyewitness account of the brutal living conditions forced on Blacks who live in Soweto "transit camps."

(Soweto, South Africa) - Besides the killing of innocent and revolutionary children in cold blood, besides using their vicious repressive machinery, "the armed police," in quelling the oppressed masses in peaceful protests, has devised the most evil brainwashing and dehumanizing apparatus in Soweto.

Going around the "township" on a Saturday afternoon looking for this much feared and secret place, people of the "township," on being asked about this place, showed open signs of ignorance.

The following Sunday morning, we discovered it late in the afternoon, situated right in the heart of the "township."

On approaching the so-called "transit camp," one is met by a high grey wall and at the gate a huge kierie (stick)-wielding African guard. We were refused entry, and were angered by the fact that one of our own people was being used as an oppressive tool towards his own people.

We somehow managed to gather information from a passerby, a youth, who had been watching with anxiety our efforts to gain entry. He told us that the man on guard usually goes on a drinking spree at 5:00 and that he would not be back until Monday.

We returned to the place at 5:30. It was just as the youth had told us. There was nobody at the gate and we entered without experiencing any problems. When we entered the gate, we were met by a terrible smell.

The yard was littered with dirt, the garbage cans were full up to the brim and about 35 undernourished, pot-bellied kids were running around the yard playing their own styled games.

In the kitchen, a woman with one arm was struggling to cook some mealie-pap (corn porridge). She was the one who prepared food daily for the children and other inmates, because she was, at least, relatively "fit" to be able to carry out that duty.

Looking at the place inside there is a row of attached cement rooms, looking more like a row of public toilets. We ventured into the rooms and what we saw greatly shocked us. We immediately split into groups of three to gather information from people who could at least relate to us their experiences in a place such as this one, and also its general social condition.

There were 18 of these small rooms, each occupied by at least 20 individuals, grown-ups, children, teenagers and babies. Most of the people were bed-ridden, blind, crippled or affected in one way or the other. Most of them had at one time been factory workers, miners, domestic workers or employed in some type of job.

The general complaint by inmates was that they were brought here by their former bosses with promises that they would be taken for medical treatment, and that better housing conditions would be provided as well as financial and welfare assistance.

All these promises were made as early as 1961 and not fulfilled. The people are undernourished and dressed in tatters. They are given no medical attention. Diseases are rampant, such as kwashiorkor, syphilis, veneral disease, tuberculosis, leprosy and measles, to name a few.

In one corner of a room a woman sat motionless. It took us some time to coax her to speak. Unknown to us at first, she was totally paralyzed, but she tried with great effort to speak.

Her story was that at the age of 16 she was employed as a domestic servant in Rosebank for a rich White family, where she worked up to the age of 45.

On one unlucky day she had a severe stroke which left her paralyzed for life. She was taken to the family doctor that very day, given an injection and a few tablets and in the evening was driven to this unknown place.

She told us how very worried she is, because she had been there for a year and a few months, occasionally being shifted from one corner of the room to another, just staring into space. Her children had up to this day not been informed of her whereabouts.

On the floor lay sprawled about 11 other helpless people unable to speak or move an inch.

We came across a little 11-year-old girl named Pearl, who was dirty, but very intelligent with a baby of six months strapped to her back. She explained

-- 24 --
to us that she and her baby brother were brought there after her parents had died.

Her family lived in Jacksons-drift, where they had a house, cattle and a car of their own. Some White people came by car one evening while she was still preparing food and took them to this "ugly place" as she described it.

On entering another room we were met by an utterly horrible scene. We were told by the same young girl that this man, lying before our eyes on some scraps of paper, had been screaming about four days ago and holding his stomach in agony before he eventually died. He had been dead for three days, and the body was already beginning to smell.

There were now about 30 youngsters being kept in this place, without schooling, clothing or medical attention. Many of the teenagers have started smoking dagga out of frustration.

The people are not allowed any freedom of movement, hence the guard. Even if they do venture out of the gate they would probably get arrested as none of them were issued with passes or any other identification papers.

Their daily diet consisted of breakfast, mealie-pap and condensed milk; lunch, peanuts and porridge: and supper, porridge and sugar water.

THREE WEEKS

The little girl informed us that some Indian people come with these products once every three weeks and if they do not come, the inmates often go for days without eating. She was worried because her brother was becoming very hot (as she described it) and was always vomiting and could no longer eat the food which they were being given.

We came across a closed door, broke it down and found it to be some type of office. On looking through the files, we discovered that there were many more people who used to occupy that place than just those who were now present -- and, those who were either maimed, blind, crippled or T.B. cases.

All of them were well-advanced in age. The people could have died or just have been taken and dumped in the Bantustans to die.

These are the conditions in which Black South Africans find themselves after having become redundant to the country's capitalist machine.

-- 18 --

Africa In Focus

Rhodesia

(Salisbury, Rhodesia) - According to a report from the Associated Press (A.P.) submitted to Rhodesian military censors, the Ian Smith regime has announced a program to grant amnesty to Black guerrilla forces who surrender. Observers here said the new alleged "safe return program" is a major effort by the White minority government to decrease support for the armed liberation struggle due to Smith's current negotiations with Black puppet "leaders." Previously, guerrillas have been considered criminals by the government. Some 60 have been hanged in recent years.

South Africa

(Cape Town, South Africa) - The South African government last week banned a poster of murdered Black activist Steve Biko. The Black People's Convention (BPC), one of 19 Black organizations outlawed by the White apartheid regime last October, produced the poster.

Mozambique

(Maputo, Mozambique)- The Permanent Commission of the People's Assembly recently passed a law restructuring Mozambique's banking system. The law, in force since January 1, provides that private banks in the country will cease operation and a People's Development Bank be created. Soon after Mozambique became independent on June 25, 1975, the FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front) government took over the country's bank management system. This latest action will help faciliate the centralization and distribution of and control over financial resources by the government.

Tanzania

(Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) - The Tanzanian government has ordered all able-bodied citizens to participate in productive work, particularly in the agricultural sector. Due to the elitist nature of the Tanzanian educational system under British rule, many youth refuse to do any manuallabor, because they falsely believe that such work is for uneducated people. In this capital city, however, unemployment is high among school graduates because of the lack of white collar or government jobs in a country that is primarily agricultural.

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“PEOPLE'S JUSTICE”: NO BARS IN MOZAMBICAN RE-EDUCATION CAMPS

(Niasseco Re-Education Camp, Mozambique) - There is no escape from this "re-education" camp for social misfits and political enemies of the central Marxist government.

The camp compound, deep in the heart of impenetrable forests alive with lion, leopard and wild boar, are modeled to some extent after those run by the Vietnamese to re-educate those who strayed from the communist path.

It can only be approached by dugout canoe. There are no roads.

There also are no bars, locks or keys at Niasseco in northern Mozambique and only 13 unarmed staff to guard 350 "reeducados" or prisoners, reports United Press International.

"Elaborate security is not necessary," a camp guard said. "We have had inmates escape, but they have all been returned. They cannot beat the forest or the local people who fully support FRELIMO (the government)."

WORLDWIDE REPUTATION

Mozambique's re-education camps have gained a notorious worldwide reputation since independence in June, 1975, mainly from Portuguese refugees who told horror stories of beatings, deaths and malnutrition.

Those stories appear exaggerated. The dozen camps scattered around Mozambique are harsh, spartan, but strictly and correctly run.

"It's rough, but if I had to go to prison in Africa, I think I'd prefer to be re-educated in Mozambique," said one Western diplomat who has no specific sympathy for the regime.

The central government in Maputo is so attached to the idea it wants to transform all normal prisons into re-education compounds.

Most of the 3,000 "reeducados" come from the country's cities. "The main aspect of the re-education program is simply the experience of living the spartan, rural existence the vast majority of Mozambicans face every day," a top government official said.

The 350 inmates in the camp here all are men charged with crimes such as theft, drug abuse,

-- 22 --
sexual or political offenses.

A nearby camp is reserved for women, many of them former prostitutes from Maputo's infamous "Sin Street."

The prisoners never appeared in court and never were sentenced, instead being dealt with by "people's justice." They simply were accused by officials of the country's political party, FRELIMO, and reported to the police before being shipped to Naisseco.

The reeducados live in mud walled, thatched native-style huts with no doors or privacy.

Daily routine starts at 4 a.m. with a bath in the nearby sluggish Lugenda River followed by a long day tilling nearby fields, or working in the carpentry, metal working and basket weaving workshops.

Each detainee receives at least 90 minutes "political education" a day. Families are kept informed of the inmates' whereabouts and there are few, if any, reports of physical abuse or major mistreatment.

"In order to be released a reeducado must demonstrate he is disciplined and supports the fundamental principles of FRELIMO." camp commandant Andre Jose Tabnco said.

"The officers observe the discipline of everyone day to day," he said. "It depends on the discipline of a person how long he stays."

-- 19 --

The Israeli -- South African Connection

(Berkeley, Calif.) - Early this year, Israel's Finance Minister Simha Ehrlich plans to make the first official visit to South Africa by an Israeli Cabinet member. His visit is expected to strengthen the controversial but growing economic and military bonds between the two countries.

According to the Associated Press (A.P.). Ehrlich intends to renew a secret three-year-old agreement that allows South Africans to invest in Israel -- the only exception to South African laws which forbid private investment in foreign countries.

Ehrlich will reportedly seek Pretoria's approval for South Africans to double their investment in Israel from an estimated $35 million to $75 million, Internews reports.

Although Israel "officially" disapproves of South Africa's apartheid system, the Israeli-South African connection has deepened considerably in recent years.

In 1974 the two nations upgraded their relations to the ambassadorial level, and in 1976 South African "Prime Minister" John Vorster made an official four-day visit to Israel, followed by the swift expansion of commerical, scientific and military ties.

Between 1968 and 1976, Israeli-South African trade soared

-- 24 --
from $9 million to more than $100 million. And the $100 million trade firgure does not include the biggest single category in the exchange: weapons.

The arms trade between Pretoria and Tel Aviv is closely guarded, but the New York Times reported last May that South Africa is buying six Israeli warships equipped with Gabriel surface-to-surface missiles for a total of about $500 million.

Israel denies and South Africa will not comment on persistent press reports that the two are cooperating to build nuclear weapons.

The London Economist reported last November that Henry Kissinger encouraged the new Israeli-South African relationship in early 1975 when he secretly asked Israel to send troops to Angola to cooperate with the South African army in fighting the leftist MPLA.

Vorster's visit to Israel in 1976 cemented the new ties, although some Israelis questioned the propriety of welcoming as an ally a man jailed is South Africa during World War II for his pro-Nazi views. Vorster's trip led to a number of far-reaching agreements.

- In the area of energy -- one of Israel's vital concerns -- South Africa has agreed to provide Israel with 40,000 tons of coal a month. The reported 10-year agreement will reduce Israel's dependence on Iranian oil.

- Israel has become a conduit for South African countries and the United States.

- South Africa is now the largest customer for Israel's booming arms export industry. The Economist reports that in return for South African financing of Israel's costlier military projects. Israel is supplying weapons systems and is training South African military personnel.

-- 19 --

Rhodesian Torture Techniques Revealed

(London, England) - Dr. Selwyn Spray, the American missionary doctor who was imprisoned and eventually deported by the Smith regime in June, 1977, on suspicion of assisting guerrillas, has since presented graphic evidence to the United Nations of the use of torture and atrocities by the Rhodesian security forces, Focus In Africa reports.

Dr. Spray, who appeared before the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in July, 1977, worked for two and one-half years at mission hospitals run by the United Church of Christ at Chikore and Mount Selinda, south of Chipinga and close to the Mozambique border in southeastern Rhodesia.

He was declared a prohibited immigrant by the regime in March, 1977, and subsequently arrested and held for two weeks in Chipinga prison after two alleged guerrillas had been shot and killed by the security forces close by his house.

According to Dr. Spray, systematic torture was carried out by members of the Police Special Branch and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Beatings by the army were more spontaneous, and for punishment rather than interrogations.

Torture was routine in local police stations, involving beating with fists and feet, whipping with hosepipes, beating with sticks

-- 24 --
and clubs, electric shocks, pushing the head under water and banging it against a wall. Techniques were used to cause great pain, but without mutilation or permanent signs of injury. Medical charts of torture victims admitted to the mission hospitals were presented by Dr. Spray to the U.N. committee.

The security forces used many means of intimidating the local African population according to Dr. Spray. Any incident in the vicinity would be followed up by a security force swoop in which every resident man, woman and child would be arrested, held in detention and interrogated for periods of up to a month. Individuals would be picked out by the security forces and beaten up in public as a warning to others.

The dead bodies of alleged guerrilas killed by the troops would be dropped into a village or in front of a school and residents or students forced to look at them. The corpses were treated in a "disgusting" way, without respect.

In one such incident, passengers on two buses passing Mount Selinda were stopped and brought out in inspect two dead guerrillas, accompanied by a lecture on the evils of "terrorism.'"

African informers constituted a crucial part of security force operations. Africans already employed in government service were given monetary rewards or promotion in return for passing information on to the police.

Further evidence submitted by Dr. Spray included:

- Prison conditions -- Africans in Chipinga jail were kept in open pens or concreted areas surrounded by a high fence with a small roof from which to get shelter in the rain. Fifteen to 20 people were kept in each pen, measuring 25 feet by 25 feet, and shared a single flush toilet.

No beds were provided and prisoners slept on the concrete with a minimum of blankets.

- Curfew regulations -- Men, women and children were shot dead without warning by the security forces when found breaking the curfew. In April, 1977, the curfew regulations applying to the Chipinga and Melsetter areas were amended to prohibit the movement of all vehicles between sunset and sunrise, other than on metalled and tarmacadam roads.

- "Protected" villages -- The entire farm population of Chikore mission had been removed into three protected villages. In addition to the other hardships of life in the fenced camps, the mission medical staff, who ran a clinic in one "protected" village, had noted a "rather marked increase" in malnutrition and an increase in communicable diseases among small children.

The "protected" villages had badly disrupted morals and traditional relationships within the community. The African guards were in general poorly educated and ill-disciplined and there were many reports of the threat and rape of young women in the camps.

-- 20 --

World scope

England

(Strasbourg, France) - The European Court of Human Rights condemned Britain last week for "inhuman and degrading treatment" of political prisoners in Northern Ireland in 1971. Britain was denounced for its use of the "five techniques" interrogation method -- which it has now allegedly abandoned -- in an attempt to gain information from Irish captives about members of the Irish Republican Army. The "five techniques" involved putting hoods on prisoners' heads, subjecting them to continuous noise, preventing them from sleeping, making them stand for long periods in painful positions and depriving them of nourishment except for occasional bread and water.

N.A.T.O.

(Washington, D.C.) The General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report last week calling for greater standardization of weapons among the 14 nations of NATO to increase military operating efficiency. The GAO suggestion follows pressure exerted by President Carter on the Western alliance at the recent London NATO summit for more standardization among the 23 types of combat aircraft and more than 100 types of tactical missile systems used by member nations to improve efficiency.

Italy

(Rome, Italy) - Italy's 18-month-old government resigned last week in the face of increasing pressure for a Communist Party (CPI) role in the cabinet. Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti resigned after the Communists, Socialists and Republicans withdrew support for his Christian Democratic Party, which had rejected a Communist role in the government. The government must either call new elections or work out a compromise acceptable to the CPI.

-- 21 --

ENTERTAINMENT: COPPOLA'S “APOCALYPSE NOW” TURNED DOWN BY PENTAGON: U.S. MILITARY REFUSED TO ASSIST VIETNAM FILM

(San Francisco, Calif.) - Despite constant denials by Frances Ford Coppola, recently published correspondence between the popular director (Godfather and Godfather, Part II) and the Pentagon has revealed that the U.S. Department of Defence has consistently refused to cooperate with, or provide assistance for his latest movie, Apocalypse Now, an epic on the Vietnam War, because of disagreements over the film's script.

So adamant was the military brass in refusing to aid the multimillion dollor project that when a typhoon hit during filming in the Philippines, destroying sets and trapping both cast and crew in the jungle until they had to be airlifted out, a Navy officer approached a co-producer only to remark:

"I do not like you. I do not like your freaky people. I do not like your movie. I do not like you here. But you are here. You conned your way on the base. If I ever catch you or any of these people on my base again, I'll have you in jail, and you'll never get out…"

This attitude and attempt at overt military censorship contrasts sharply with the assistance provided for John Wayne's Green Berets, for which the Department of Defense allowed the use of 94 helicopters and extensive army personnel and weapons.

Much of the making of the long-awaited Apocalypse Now has been shrouded in secrecy. Even the film editing, now being completed in several San Francisco locations, is a much guarded secret.

Yet this much is known: so far Apocalypse Now has cost $25.5 million, forcing Coppola to mortgage virtually all of his material possessions, including his mansion in Pacific Heights; filming took place between March, 1976, and May, 1977, with a two-month break in the summer of 1976 when a typhoon destroyed the film's sets; the final version, now scheduled for release in the fall of 1978, will be approximately three hours and 42 minutes in length, over 20,000 feet of film, to be cut from 1.5 million feet or 278 hours of raw film.

Set in Vietnam during the 1960's, Apocalypse Now is based on Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, which was set in the Belgian Congo in the 19th century. Marlon Brando plays a character like Conrad's Kurtz, a brilliant general gone crazy, with Martin Sheen as Marlowe, who travels into the jungle to "terminate" Kurtz.

In December, the Real Paper in Boston published part of the voluminous correspondence between Coppola's film company and the Pentagon.

On April 23, 1976, Coppola wrote a lengthy mailgram to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, outlining his position on the controversy to that time:

"By way of introduction, my name is Francis Coppola. I wrote the screenplay for the film Patton and wrote and directed Godfather and Godfather,Part II. I am considered a major director of entertainment motion pictures and am not associated with any political movement or with any form of didactic political film.

"When we first commenced this project, we went to the Department of Defense at the Pentagon and submitted an early script asking if we could receive cooperation from the military, along the lines of other films such as the Green Berets. We understood that we might be permitted to pay rental for military hardware, especially helicopters and other weaponry. We particularly wanted the weapons and aircraft that were used in the Vietnam War.

"After a great deal of time, we were told that in the present condition of the script, it was very unlikely that we could receive any form of military cooperation unless considerable changes were made. We worked further on the script, made certain changes… As a result of this submission, we heard nothing.

"This silence went on for a great length of time, and because it was clear to us that the Department of Defense would neither cooperate with us nor communicate with us, we were forced, due to the heavy pressure of the schedule and the financing of the film, to find a country which had similar and suitable American weaponry that would allow us to make this film.

"We first attempted to do our production in Australia. After all but making a deal with the Australian government, there was a sudden about-face and we were denied use of their helicopters and weaponry. It was rumored, though not confirmed, that this was the result of American military men contacting certain colleagues in the Australian military.

"We were asked by many journalists and press people whether or not we sensed an outright attempt to suppress this movie and we vehemently denied it, hoping to not in any way embarrass the military on this question and thus prejudice our chances for some limited form of cooperation.

We later found a friendly country… the Philippines…which signed a contract with us, allowing us to use the men and equipment we needed. We were told by certain authorities in the Philippine government that there were informal protests and inquiries from the U.S. government as to why they had done it.

"At this point, I think I had been asked as a serious filmmaker over a thousand times, `Why are you making a film about Vietnam?' I think this is a very amazing question to me. I can turn the question back, `Why am I the only one who will deal with a film about Vietnam?'

"My film is not an attempt to mock, criticize or condemn those who participated in the war. My film is merely an attempt to use the theatrical, dramatic form to examine the issues of this war, which certainly must be among the important events in our history.

LAST STRAW

"Now I am down to the last straw. The Filipino Air Force has been cooperative but they simply do not have the hardware to allow me to finish my film. What I am requesting of the Department of Defense is some form of limited cooperation with my production company to allow me to pay for rentals for certain Huey helicopters and one Chinook helicopter. It is my understanding that this is no different from the cooperation given John Wayne's production company for the Green Berets.

"If this is denied, I can only assume that the military uses its control of these aircrafts as a means of dictating which films can be made and which films cannot be made. Perhaps this is the reason that there has been no

-- 25 --
motion picture dealing with the subject of Vietnam, be it pro or con, be it from a humanistic point of view, be it any point of view, since all the weaponry and all the aircraft used in that war are controlled for the most part by the Department of Defense, and the DoD will not allow any film to be made which, in their opinion, is anti-military.

"I put the entire length and breadth of my career on the following statement: `This film is not anti-military. It is not anti-U.S. It is pro-U.S. It is prohuman, and it tries to shed light on what I believe to be important and the truthful views on this war. It is not a morality play. It is a serious examination of the issues of Vietnam.' The film will be made.

Secretary Rumsfeld responded to Coppola's mailgram with a telegram of his own on April 29, 1976:

"Department of Defense policy precludes participation in productions in which neither assistance or the project itself benefit the DoD or otherwise is in the national interest, based on factors such as depicting a true interpretation of military life. Apocalypse Now does not qualify at present…"

-- 22 --

INSIDE LATIN AMERICA

Panama

(Panama City, Panama) - Panamanian Chief of State Omar Torrijos last week yielded to right-wing pressure from U.S. congressmen and told visiting members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he would agree to amend the Panama Canal treaties conceding future rights of the U.S. to defened and use the waterway. Torrijos agreed to amend the treaties -- which must be ratified by the U.S. Senate -- to include a statement of clarification signed by the Panamanian leader and President Carter giving the U.S. the right to intervene militarily against any threat to the canal after Panama took over the water way in the year 2,000.

Puerto Rico

(San Juan, Puerto Rico) - Bombs knocked out electrical service to large sections of San Juan last week, including the Isla Verde International Airport. Bus drivers, mechanics and over 6,000 unionized employees of the state-owned Light and Power Company here are on strike demanding higher wages. The electricity workers' strike is being led by Luis Lausell, a member of the Central Committee of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

Mexico

(Mexico City, Mexico) - Vice-President Walter F. Mondale, conceding to longstanding demands by Mexican-Americans and the Mexican government, last week pledged "no massive deportations" of undocumented workers. Mondale also offered U.S. "support for expanding efforts by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to increase rural development efforts in Mexico" in talks here with President Jose Lopez Portillo. The price for Mexican natural gas was also reportedly a key topic of discussion.

-- 23 --

SPORTS: FRIENDSHIP FIRST: 3rd ANNUAL O.C.L.C. MARTIAL ARTS TOURNAMENT HELD

Sunday, Jan. 22, 1978

-- 25 --

SOUTH AFRICA: The Full Facts

The public is invited to attend an informative eight-week series of seminars focusing on the continuing revolutionary struggle in South Africa. A display of writings by Steve Biko, films, slides, poetry reading and other activities are planned for eight consecutive Wednesdays, beginning on January 25.

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Place: Dwinelle Hall, Room 88, University of California, Berkeley

Sponsored by Karabo

For Further Information, Call: (415) 848-3810

-- 25 --

Letters to the Editor

BENEFIT FOR SKYHORSE / MOHAWK

Dear Editor,

Four Arrows, a group made up of spiritual leaders, activists, writers, craftspeople, musicians, weavers and dancers from throughout the North American continent, will take part in a march and day of educational and cultural activities sponsored by the Skyhorse / Mohawk Defense Committee on Saturday, February 11 at Echo Park in Los Angeles. The march will begin at noon at Sunset and Figueroa Streets and travel on Sunset to Echo Park, where there will be speakers, dancers, arts and crafts, and other events throughout the afternoon.

Four Arrows has been working toward building cooperation between their people and other peoples throughout North Ameria. They travelled under the name White Roots of Peace until last year when they changed their name to reflect the growing involvement of native people of Mexico and Central America.

They offer displays, social activities, a marimba, speakers and a special presentation of spiritual nahuatl (Aztec) dancers from Mexico. About half the group are Spanish-speaking, the others speak English, and many also speak their native languages. Among the nations represented are Mohawk, Mam, Muskoke, Wylaki, Nahuatl, Quiche and Cree.

Members of the group are volunteers, united together by traditional spiritual beliefs. Travels began in 1969, and have criss-crossed campuses, urban Indian centers, and prisons. The group was last in the Los Angeles area about 2½ years ago.

The Skyhorse-Mohawk trial began June 1, 1977 and is expected to continue for some time.

Witnesses to the events in Phoenix around the arrest of Paul Skyhorse and Richard Mohawk testified recently.

Phoenix officer Earl Townsend testified that he first saw Mohawk on a gurney after he was shot.

Testimony by officers showed that some clothing was picked up at the hospital where Mohawk was arrested (pants & sandals); some from the jail where Paul was taken (pants, boots); and that two sets of clothes came from a friend's house.

One officer testified that on October 17, 1974, he was handed some clothing (at least 1 pair of pants and a shirt) which he placed in a plastic bag. He said he then put the bag in a drawer to hold it for the Ventura authorities, so he did not book it into evidence. Later, he placed the bag with the clothes in an office and that was the last time he saw clothes.

Two other cops testified that they picked some clothes (including a pair of grey-striped pants), but both denied ever receiving any clothes in a plastic bag.

Officer Quaife said he was later contacted and asked about the "missing" clothing -- which the prosecution apparently lost.

Skyhorse / Mohawk Defense Committee
633 So. Shatto Pl. #209
Los Angeles, Ca. 90005
(213) 383-1297

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A PROGRAM FOR SURVIVAL

"All these programs satisfy the deep needs of the community but they are not solutions to our problems. That is why we call them survival programs, meaning survival pending revolution." -- Huey P. Newton

GEORGE JACKSON MEDICAL CLINIC

Provides free medical treatment and preventative medical care for the people.

THE SICKLE CELL ANEMIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Established to test and create a cure for Sickle Cell Anemia. The foundation informs people about Sickle Cell Anemia and maintains an advisory committee of doctors researching this crippling disease.

PEOPLE'S FREE DENTAL PROGRAM

(Being implemented) Provides free dental check-ups, treatment and an educational program for dental hygiene.

PEOPLE'S FREE OPTOMETRY PROGRAM

(Being implemented) Provides free eye examinations, treatment and eyeglasses for the people.

PEOPLE'S FREE AMBULANCE PROGRAM

Provides free rapid transportation for sick or injured people without time-consuming checks into the patients' financial status or means.

FREE FOOD PROGRAM

Provides free food to Black and other oppressed people.

FREE BREAKFAST PROGRAM

Provides children with a free, nourishing, hot breakfast every school morning.

FOOD COOPERATIVE PROGRAM

Provides food for the people through community participation and community cooperative buying.

INTERCOMMUNAL NEWS SERVICE

Provides news and information about the world and Black and oppressed communities.

PEOPLE'S FREE COMMUNITY EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

Provides free job-finding services to poor and oppressed people.

SHOE PROGRAM

(Being Implemented)

Provides free shoes, made at the People's Free Shoe Factory, to the people.

PEOPLE'S FREE CLOTHING PROGRAM

Provides new, stylish and quality clothing free to the people.

PEOPLE'S FREE LEGAL AID AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

Provides legal aid classes and full legal assistance to people who are in need.

FREE BUSING TO PRISONS PROGRAM

Provides free transportation to prisons for families and friends of prisoners.

FREE COMMISSARY FOR PRISONERS PROGRAM

Provides imprisoned men and women with funds to purchase necessary commissary items.

SENIORS AGAINST A FEARFUL ENVIRONMENT (S.A.F.E.) PROGRAM

Provides free transportation and escort service for senior citizens to and from community banks on the first of each month.

PEOPLE'S COOPERATIVE HOUSING PROGRAM

Provides, with federal government aid, decent, low-cost and high-quality housing for Black and poor communities.

PEOPLE'S FREE PLUMBING AND MAINTENANCE PROGRAM

Provides free plumbing and repair services to improve people's homes.

FREE PEST CONTROL

Free household extermination of rats, roaches and other disease-carrying pests and rodents.

OAKLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Provides Black and other oppressed children with a scientific method of thinking about and analyzing things. This method develops basic skills for living in this society.

LIBERATION SCHOOLS: FREE MUSIC AND DANCE PROGRAMS

Provides children free supplementary educational facilities and materials to promote a correct view of their role in the society and provides support for the Music and Dance programs of the Oakland Community School.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER

Provides 24-hour child care facilities for infants and children between the ages of 2 months and three years. Youth are engaged in a scientific program to develop their physical and mental facilities at the earliest ages.