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IN VIETNAM THE VIETNAMESE SAY, “IF THE ENEMY REFUSES TO GET OUT ANNIHILATE HIM!”

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FREEDOM CANNOT BE GAGGED!

By Tom Hayden

What is now taking place in the federal courtroom where we of The Conspiracy are being tried is a repeat of what occurred in the streets of Chicago at the Democratic convention last year.

Now as then, police and government officials are creating a virtual riot. One has only to look across at co-defendant Bobby Seale, bound and gagged by order of judge Julius Hoffman, to realize who is manufacturing the disorder.

As during the convention when thousands of demonstrators sought to register their protest to the war and the Democratic party in power, the government is denying us fundamental constitutional rights. In Seale's case it was the right to defend himself after Hoffman refused to delay the trial a few weeks until attorney Charles Garry, Seale's chief attorney, recovered from an operation. When Seale and the seven other Conspiracy defendants insist upon exercising this right, they are accused of disrupting the judicial process.

Again, as during the convention, a near police state obtains. Chicago police and U.S. marshals have taken over the entire federal building "to preserve order," as though the forces of disorder were to be found in front of the judicial bench, not behind it. It has become a truism; whenever threats, denial of basic rights and police state machinery fail to break the revolutionary spirit, a police riot takes place -- in this courtroom as in Chicago during our confrontation in late August.

The eight of us are being charged with "conspiracy to riot" during the convention. If convicted, we each face $20,000 fines and 10 years in jail. In addition to Bobby Seale, the defendants are Dave Dellinger, Abble Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner and myself.

Here's how Hoffman nalled Bobby Seale:

Bobby came into the court Oct. 29 ahead of the judge and jury. He saluted Panthers and others in the gallery and gave a short speech. He said he would stand on his constitutional right to defend himself in the court. Several times Bobby told his listeners to "cool it" no matter what happened. He then sat down and waited for the trial to begin.

The Panther leader -- the only one of us who is Black -- harks back to a law passed during Reconstruction to substantiate his demand that he be allowed to defend himself. Hoffman insists that our lawyer, William Kunstler, is Seale's lawyer, too, but Bobby insists -- without antagonism to Kunstler -- that his choice is Garry. Failing that, he prefers to defend himself. His defense is, or was, simple. He only spoke when his name was mentioned by a witness or when the other attorneys had finished cross examination.

The government position is that Seale made his point for the appellate record during the first days of the trial and he should sit silently from now on. This position amounts to having Bobby return to the status of legalized slavery in the absurd expectation that in three or four years an appeals court will uphold his right to defend himself. Bobby wants it stressed that he was not disrupting the court, but attempting to hold onto rights which are his as a Black man and a citizen.

As the trial began, Bobby demanded the right to cross examine the witness on the stand after our lawyers -- Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass -- had finished.

Seale and Hoffman were having an angry interchange when U.S. Attorney Richard Schultz bounded to the lecture, waved his finger at Seale and told the judge that before court had begun that morning Seale had told his followers in the courtroom to be ready to attack. Seale slammed his hand on the table and shouted: "You know I told them to cool it. You're a liar."

At this point the judge ordered marshals to seat Seale. They threw him down into his chair twisting his arm. Court soon recessed and the judge warned Seale he would be dealt with appropriately.

After the recess, nearly all Blacks, hippies and underground pressmen found that their places in the courtroom had been filled by a gallery of middle-aged people who seemed to resemble most the political hacks who filled the convention with "We love Mayor Daley" placards last year.

Then came the gagging. No matter how prepared we were for it, everyone -- even most newsmen -- found it unbelievable and emotionally intolerable. But the gagging also demonstrated once again that the spirit of the people was greater than the man's technology: Bobby wasn't silenced.

When court resumed two Black marshals carried Bobby into the courtroom, his ankles and wrists manacled to a metal chair and a single piece of cloth like a large handkerchief pulled across his open mouth and tied behind his head.

When the judge brought in the jury it was clear several of the jurors were emotionally shaken. Even the government representatives seemed desperately uncomfortable.

Bobby almost immediately began to speak, once again demanding his constitutional rights to defend himself. The tone of his voice was muffled; that only added to the drama. The judge instructed marshals to improve the gagging.

From Wednesday afternoon until Friday morning marshals (and one supposes various specialists and scientists) attempted to construct a perfect gag and continually failed.

Seale was next brought into the courtroom in a wooden chair with leather straps around his ankles and wrists, presumably to stop the sound of the clanking chains, but it only made Bobby appear to be in an electric chair. Over the original cloth gag, the marshals began to add more cloth, one inch wide strips of adhesive tape and gauze stretch bandages. They were bound over the top and back of his head and tied under his chin to keep his mouth closed.

On Oct. 30 Bobby attempted to loosen his left arm and scribbled a note that his circulation was being cut off. The note was given to Weinglass who told the court that Seale had difficulty with circulation in his left arm, requesting the straps be loosened, While the marshals were loosening the strap on his left arm, Bobby muttered and shook his head violently to indicate his pain.

Then, the police riot began. The marshals struck him in the groin, in the chest and in the face with short punches or elbow blows. Jerry Rubin was hit in the face by a marshal's elbow as Jerry tried to point out the violence that was taking place.

Seale was then removed again. The jury which had gone out just as the violence began, did not see the beating.

When the jury came back in, Rennle Davis stood and told them Seale was beaten and tortured out of their presence. Hoffman again sent the jury out.

By Friday Oct. 21 it was clear the trial was heading toward an explosive climax. Seale scribbled a note saying he was now being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment because his blood circulation was being cut off and his breathing made difficult and he was running a fever because the gagging was irritating a tonsil condition he had. Conspiracy attorneys made a motion that the trial be recessed so they and two defendants -- Rubin and myself -- could fly to San Francisco to consult with Garry about the next steps in dealing with the crisis.

With great reluctance, the government and the judge allowed the recess. Hoffman warned us against making press statements because he did not want to be in bed watching television and see himself or the government vilified. I said that the purpose of the trip was to see what could be done next in resolving the crisis but that I would not be gagged.

The meeting in San Francisco involved members of the Panther central committee and representatives of the firm of Charles Garry. Attorney Arthur Kinoy was also there from New York.

Garry resumed practice on a part time basis Oct. 29, but even this present level of activity runs against the wishes of his doctors. There is no possibility of Garry entering a rough and tumble trial on a daily basis until mid-November or later.

Even if Garry were well, however, we feel that this case has been so hopelessly prejudiced that his coming would only be a tranquillzer for the judge -- not a step toward a "fair trial."

Garry's position is that the trial should be dismissed or that at the very least, Seale should be allowed to defend himself and that the government is entirely to blame for what has happened. The Panther Party position is that the case is a clear demonstration of the lack of justice for Black people.

Our meeting on the coast exhausts at this point any faint hope the government might have had for using Garry to get itself off the hook. The government must now escalate the gagging of Bobby, remove him from the case, move for a mistrial or what is perhaps most likely for a while at least, attempt to go ahead with the spectacle, hoping that Seale and Garry will get the blame.

In the meantime Garry and many other lawyers are joining in a suit in a Chicago district court to dismiss charges against everyone or let Seale defend himself. The suit will be filed Nov. 4. If denied, they will appeal.

As for the Conspiracy, we are aiming our struggle at the Nov. 13-15 antiwar demonstrations led by Rennie Davis and Dave Dellinger on the two coasts and a march on the Justice Department Nov. 15 to stop the trial and free Bobby.

On the East Coast it is really necessary to tie the Nov. 15 demonstration to the trial. There should be actions on the 13th and 14th at federal buildings throughout the country to stop the trial.

We think the entire trial is such a travesty -- from the nature of the law, to the way we were indicted, to the proceedings inside the courtroom -- that it is completely illegitimate. To say "Stop the trial" or to say "Free Huey" is really to say that there is no such thing as a fair trial possible for political dissenters and ideological crimes.

Reprinted from

GUARDIAN

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THE CHICAGO 8

Anyone who has closely been following the trial in Chicago now must realize that Fascism is running rampant in courts where political prisoners are being tried. I have been following the trial closely and the proceedings of that kangaroo court under the direction of "Judge Magoo" has hardened my stand behind the Black Panther Party and I am quite certain it has also won the vangaurd party increased support.

Chairman Bobby, has made evident by the treatment he has received, to the whole of America what has been known by many Black brothers who have come in contact with justice in a racist society, a fair impartial trial is impossible. Chairman Bobby asks for only what he is entitled to under the constitution, that being: the right to cross examine witnesses, the right to represent himself or have a lawyer of his own choice. All these have been denied, Judge Hoffman is truly a "blatant racist", for he has denied them to Bobby.

Judge Hoffman, merely Tricky Dick's "flunky", is trying to have the trial labeled a mistrial, drop all charges and prevent the inevitable, an appeal to the higher courts. They realize that if this so-called riot conspiracy law was ever tested for constitutionality it would not survive, it is an obvious denial of the free speech amendment.

The purpose of the trial as everyone knows, is to make it appear that the violence of last year's demonstration was planned by the eight now on trial, this is utterly ridiculous and completely unfounded. The denial of the eight. Bobby Seale in particular, the right to cross examine witnesses is an obvious attempt to cover up something. Whatever is trying to be hidden must be vital to the court because they are denying those on trial their constitutional rights.

A conspiracy does exist however, a governmental conspiracy of suppression of political activists Black and White who are hell bent on kicking the racists, the capitalists and others who would not grant self-determination to people, out of places of power. The eves of the world are on this court thanks to Chairman Bobby's undaunted cry for justice, credit must also be given to Judge Magoo, for his inability to cope with Bobby's cry, he has shed much light on the suppressive policy of Tricky Dick and his running dog flunkies. People are not going for all the bulls -- t America preaches, the inconsistencies are becoming clearer and the people of the U.S. (oppressed peoples) are forming a proletarian internationalistic force that will rise and crush the pig power structure.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!! John Coleman

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STATEMENT - THE SANYA LIBERATION COMMITTEE

We 20,000 Sanya workers firmly support the struggle of the Black Panther Party. The people of Japan and the U.S. will win over the state power in their struggle against U.S. imperialism. We demand the immediate release of Mr. Bobby Seale, the Chairman of the Black Panther Party who is being unjustly detained by the U.S. authorities. We believe that the struggle of the Black Panther Party is also the struggle of our Sanya workers. We sincerely hope we will struggle hand in hand until victory.

Sanya Liberation Committee Shinji Tamura, Chairman

We also express our warmest solidarity with all members of the Black Panther Party.

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JUDICIAL TERROR POSES AS LAW AND ORDER

by: William L. Patterson

The judicial wing of American ruling class democracy again stands before the world naked and unashamed, Bereft of any semblance of justice or morality, it seeks to hide its class and racist character by demanding observance of and obeisance to the "sanctity of the Law." Four hundred years of legal sanctity has left Black America stripped of his inalienable human dignity and White America stripped of any trace of humanism by a class that has never possessed either the one or the other.

The scene unfolds in the Chicago courtroom of Judge Julius Hoffman. He is presiding in the case now universally known as the case of the "Chicago Eight." There are eight defendants. One of them is a Black man, a Black American, a Black human being in a country where racism is a policy of government. Bobby Seale is the cofounder of the Black Panthers for self-defense now known as the Black Panther Party.

The trial has worldwide significance for as goes the democracy of the ruling class of the United States so may go the fate of mankind. The case thus becomes a cause celebre. Its grave significance lies in the fact that both Court and prosecution are using this case as the spearhead for mounting a drive in the courtroom upon "due process of law", constitutional guarantees, human dignity and rights and peace.

The case cannot be isolated. Its background makes isolation from the mainstream of struggle basically to change the course of American democracy an impossibility.

The indictments charging conspiracy to incite to riot flows out of the challenging attempt of thousands of citizens of the U. S. A Black and White alike to secure from the Platform Committee of the Democratic Party's Chicago Presidential Campaign Convention of 1968 a platform reflecting the vital interests of the people regardless of creed or color as opposed to the interests of monopoly capital. The people were demanding a peace plank. They wanted an end to the racist practices that characterize America's major parties conventions; they wanted adequate schools and housing, efficient hospitalization and above all -- security, job security where the wages would leave something for the rainy day. They wanted an America for the people. Their efforts failed momentarily. Their democratic demonstrations were smashed by a police, trained for and systematically incited to use force and violence against the people.

As the masses were beaten they persisted in the attempt to voice their grievances. Mass arrests followed. Rioting was charged, instigated the indictments alleged, by the "Chicago Eight". It was a conspiracy of City, State and Federal governments, a conspiracy to quell the people's fight to put an end to aggression wars. Mass arrests followed. The eight were indicted as the ruling class determined to carry its terror into the courtroom.

Judge Julius J. Hoffman was assigned the task of legally instituting the terror as a responsible mobster would.

There are lessons of inestimable value in this trial but one stands above all others. White progressives are learning what Blacks have long argued, that terror, force and violence will be their lot unless they stand and fight for the enforcement of the Constitution where the rights of any American are endangered. And for a peoples victory what is historically imperative is the unity of the people.

Here in this Chicago Federal Court is a classical example of what City, State and Federal officialdom means by "law and order". Law and order, by those in power in that branch of government that is declared to be dedicated to justice and equality. Here is American fascism in its nascent form as it develops on the judicial front.

The eight defendants led by Bobby Seale have not been docile observers to a judicial trampling on constitutional rights. They have not seen their arrests and this mockery of a trial as an isolated phenomenon. For them the trial has become a vital phase in the fight of all for which they stand. They came to Chicago to fight, to protest, to cry aloud. Seale hopes to awaken the American people. He has made the courtroom a battleground of the Black liberation struggle. He has emerged on the fighting front of democracy as a national figure. He has linked his battle against racism, that of his people, that of progressives with the fight for world peace and the liberation of all people.

He has shown how to mount an offensive struggle in a court of law. so-called, As usual, the object of the court's rage is the Black defendant. His leadership in the fight of the defendants to safeguard and protect American democracy in a court so-called of "law and order" is an inspiring thing. Those who rule our country have tried to give an aura of righteousness to their courts. They proclaim this institution's absolute impartiality. An air of sanctity envelopes judicial chambers. One must pay obeisence to the court, stand when the judge arrives, stand when he leaves and address him as "Your Honor."

The history of the treatment of Black Americans in court where it has been openly asserted that Blacks had no rights that Whites need observe, not even that of life itself, offers classical refutation of the Court's integrity, honor and common decency.

Bobby Seale has carried the offensive mounted in the streets by Black militants in their magnificent struggles against racist tyranny into the courtroom and with a savagery rarely exhibited in an American courtroom even against a Black man. The court has directed that he be gagged and chained. Seale demanded as his RIGHT, cousel of his choosing. In lieu of that he demanded as of right, to be permitted to defend himself, to cross-examine the governments' paid witnesses, to question decisions. A Nazi court had offered George Dimitrov, a communist leader no less, as Dimitrov stood before that body condemning Nazi criminality before the world. Seale challenges the criminal racist policies that those who rule America have made a way of life abroad as well as at home.

The hour to end racism in every phase of the life of our country and the relations of its citizens one towards another has come. The case of Bobby Seale cannot be isolated from the fight for an America governed by men of peace and domestic tranquility. The case of Bobby cannot be isolated from the American life lest it recur tomorrow. The conduct of our courts must be determined by the needs of the great masses, that their interests be zealously and jealously protected, that the nation may be unified and its security made secure.

The Hoffmans must go. The Haynesworths must not emerge. The indictments in Chicago must be dismissed, the constitutional rights and human dignity of men and women who stand before a court must be relentlessly defended else their legal rights inevitably be denied. The value of Black-White unity in struggle has been demonstrated in the Chicago courtroom where a Black American takes the lead in a defense of our cherished rights and the fight for the unification of all progressive forces in the interest of national security.

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STATEMENT: German SDS

At the present moment the ruling clique of the U.S. is trying to destroy the Black Panther Party by means of brutal terrorism. Open attacks on the streets, jail without legal justification, plans for the violent occupation of the Black Panther Party headquarters, and murder of the comrades working there-the imperialist state starts with open terrorism.

We have been educated by German history that the fascist murderous gang began its work when the contradictions within imperialism sharpened and the bourgeois-democratic system was no longer capable of reconciling them.

U.S. imperialism today is facing defeat by the heroic Vietnamese people's fight and the revolutionary movement is spreading all over Asia, Latin America and Africa. The imperialist rivals profit from the Vietnamese war; there is no more money to build up the facade of the welfare state. So the whole power structure is depending on the successful attempt to destroy revolutionary movements in the U. S. from their very beginning. The Black Panther Party will continue its revolutionary work even if the whole present leadership is put in jail. The Party is one with the masses, and expresses their needs and formulates these as a clear program. Because the Party is serving the people, it has inexhaustible sources for fighting within the Black community. The Black masses now know that their destiny under imperialism is to die on the battle field or to starve as members of the industrial reserve army (unemployed.)

To the contrary: The persecution of the Black Panther Party comrades is convincing the other oppressed people in the U.S. to organize themselves and to fight within a United Front Against Fascism.

We, German SDS, will do our best to make these facts clear to the German people. Some has been done in West Germany by convincing Black people not to die in Vietnam. We shall invite the comrades of the Black Panther Party to West Germany this winter and we shall organize demonstrations to support them. We shall sharpen our own fight against imperialism which will be the best help we can offer to the struggling peoples.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Christian Semler, German SDS

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DOUBLE EXPOSURE

The repression and fascist tactics perpetrated against Chairman Bobby Seale were so outright and brutal that the most vile curse word in any language cannot describe such treatment.

Bobby was not permitted the right to his choice of counsel and then when he asked the court (under the fascist, racist dictates of Judge Hoffman) to let him exercise his constitutional right of defending himself -- he was denied by Pig Hoffman. In desperation, the Chairman began to show to the whole world how the Pigs of the Power structure were actually railroading him -- were making it possible so that Bobby would be convicted on the trumped-up charge, "conspiracy to incite a riot by crossing state lines." Bobby, trying to exercise his right of cross-examination which was repeatedly denied, started calling Judge Hoffman a racist, fascist pig. At this time Bobby was put through cruel and inhuman torture of the likes that was not even done in Nazi Germany under the mockery of a trial. Now Bobby Seale, Chairman of the Black Panther Party, victim of fascist America, has been sentenced to four years of imprisonment for "contempt of court," Four Years!!

I work for a United Bay Area Crusade Agency, the Bay Area Urban League. The members of our staff in one of the component offices saw an urgent need to come out with a statement denouncing the treatment of the Chairman of the Black Panther Party. All the directors of all the componet agencies got together and presented the statement to the executive director. When it was mentioned to the executive director, he stated that the League couldn't take a position until after the "election." This is very key in point out how the Directors of Establishment funded programs are made to become puppets of the power structure. You see, the real reason why our executive director could not come out with a statement immediately is because he has to answer to a Board of Directors. And who is on the Board? Key people from the oppressive ruling class, If the executive makes a stand on something that is considered "controversial" by the Board, he is most apt to lose his job, status, and career.

Now Bobby Seale is facing a four year jail sentence, and also a murder trail is awaiting him in Conn. If the fascist Power Structure was this brutal to Bobby because of a "conspiracy to incite a riot" charge, you know they have something a thousand times more tortuous and heinous awaiting him in Conn.

Now is the time to actively speak out against these fascist tactics. By not speaking out against such acts of oppression, is only maintaining and supporting the same Power Structure. The same fascist racist pigs (like pig Hoffman) who have a set plan of repression for all poor and oppressed peoples of the world: These people who are worried about their jobs, status, and careers are the same people who, when the pigs of the ruling, oppressive power structure are through with their services, will stomp on them and throw them aside like used toilet paper.

We say Revolution in our Lifetime

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Leslle Johnson

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TRIBUTE TO BOBBY SEALE

There sits a man in a cold empty

cell

He is islanded, isolated from the

other inmates

He is denied proper living conditions

His health grows worse and worse

He IS MADE to attend that flunky

session

That session where he must listen

and smell the farts

OF PIG FASCIST JUDGE

HOFFMAN

Brothers and sisters his name is

Bobby Seale
He is Chairman of the people's

army

He has significances to all oppressed

people

He is a man in the fullest sense

He has done and is still doing

all he can

Brothers and sisters

Brother Bobby loves the people
He believes in complete freedom,

justice, equality, liberation and

peace for all oppressed people

He is a revolutionary

He stands in solidarity with

Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Black

people, Indians and poor

exploited Whites

He stands with everybody who is

in need of freedom

He is laying his life on the line

for the people

What greater gift can a man give
Malcolm X (El Hajj El Malik El

Shabazz) beams through him

He is one of Malcolm's beloveth

sons

He will keep on doing for the people

Never giving thought of himself

So faithful, bold, strong and true

This is the spirit of Comrade

Bobby G. Seale
The people continue

The oppression continues

Bobby Seale will still be there

And when the people achieve total

victory

They will remember and love that

brave Black man
CHAIRMAN BOBBY SEALE

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
White Plains Branch, N. Y. 10601
James Willie Worth Jr.

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MARTIN SOSTRE LAUNCHES HIS ATTACK ON THE RULING CLASS

New York (LNS) -- "Raise your right hand", said the clerk of the court, Martin Sostre raised his fist, took the oath, and began his prosecution of Nelson Rockefeller and three state prison officials for "cruel and unusual punishment" of prisoners. For Martin Sostre, the trial on October 29 was the product of ten years of struggle both in and out of prison against America's racist power structure. For the exploited people of America, it is a unique symbol of an oppressed man rising up against his supposedly unreachable enemy.

Nelson Rockefeller is used to putting Black people in jail, but he's not used to being brought to trial by one of them. Nor is it common that the wardens, like Harold Follette of Green Haven Prison, who order the tortures and harassment of prisoners, are exposed and brought to trial. Sostre's determination brought him through four years of solitary confinement from 1960 to 1964. He was put there after he had successfully taken action against the warden of Attica State Prison to allow distribution of Black Muslim literature and practice of Islam. In 1968 he was thrown back in prison and put in solitary for thirteen more months on a phony narcotics charge. (He was really arrested because he was a community organizer during the 1967 Buffalo Black rebellion.) Both of these punishments were designed to keep him from circulating among the prisoners and advising them of their rights.

Sostre was on the stand all day on the opening of the trial, giving evidence about his mistreatment and the mistreatment of other prisoners by the warden. He and his attorney, Victor Rabinowitz, produced nearly twenty letters that had been tampered with by the prison officials; letters written by Sostre that were never sent, and censored letters that were delivered to him. Sostre was calm and unemotional as he described his experiences at Green Haven Prison.

As soon as he arrived at Green Haven, he was put in solitary confinement, a punishment that indicates that they knew who he was and they had special plans for him. But "cruel and unusual" punishment is not so unusual in prison, and Sostre related the story of a man in the next cell.

Sostre had been communicating with him through the wall and found out that the man's ankle had been injured (possibly broken) by a guard. Sostre counselled him to register a complaint with the warden. One night soon after, Sostre heard guards enter the man's cell and beat him. The next morning Sostre was told that the man had "committed suicide."

In solitary confinement a man is confined to a small cell with only a bare electric bulb that stays on all the time. He is allowed out only one hour a day for exercise, deprived of any work program or reading material, allowed to bathe and shave only once a week, and a guard awakens him every half hour at night.

The defense attorney, Walsh, tried to object to as much of the evidence as possible. For example, he said that it wasn't clear that letters which had been partially blacked out or cut and scotchtaped had been censored, and he insisted that the identity of prison guards (who don't wear badges) be given before they are quoted. It was clear however, that his objections could not stop the prosecution. He looked more and more uncomfortable as the evidence accumulated and as the judge overruled his objections.

During the cross examination, Walsh tried to prove that Sostre had not received unusual punishment. He succeeded -- and in doing so, proved conclusively that brutal and unjust punishment is widespread and that Sostre has been mistreated by New York's prisons ever since he entered them in 1952.

Walsh has the support of the state government behind him, but he certainly didn't have the courtroom behind him. The seats in back were filled with Sostre's supporters. When Sostre came in, he saluted them with his fist and talked with some of them over the barrier between the spectator benches and the center of the court. When Walsh came in, he frowned on the scene of nearly a hundred people, about half of them Black and most of them young, who were frowning at him while waiting for Martin Sostre and Victor Rabinowitz to tear into him.

At one point, Walsh submitted a packet of Sostre's revolutionary writings taken from his cell and asked him if they were indeed his writings. Sostre replied that they were except for the last sentence which, he said, was obviously a well known quote. Sostre was asked to read the sentence. He read,

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Walsh was puzzled.

"Who said that"? He asked.

"Mao Tse-tung", replied Sostre, and the courtroom broke out laughing.

Judge Constance Baker Motley, a Black woman, seems to have some sympathy for the case; she granted the original preliminary injunction releasing Sostre from solitary in September. Judge Motley wrote at the time: "A preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy which should be issued only upon a clear showing of probable success and possible irreparable damage to the moving party". But she is still a federal judge, and federal judges are appointed by the government. Martin Sostre's case has already resulted in the firing of the editor of the Boston Globe for an article on Sept. 8 exposing his frame-up and political imprisonment, so it appears that there are higher authorities directing the case.

There was excitement in the courtroom because the people there were with Sostre, as were the 250 people who picketed outside the courthouse before the trial. The pickets, organized by Youth Against War and Fascism, were demonstrating in support of all political prisoners with banners saying "Free Huey", "Free Bobby", "Free the Conspiracy 8" and just about every other major political prisoner.

In the arena of political trials, Martin Sostre's stands out because he is on the offensive, he is prosecuting the men and the class that are trying to put him and his brothers away. It may even be possible for him to win some concessions on procedures for placing prisoners in solitary. But more importantly, Sostre's case will serve as an example of defiance -- where one man has isolated the enemy and commenced the attack.

-- 4 --

Can Capitalism Exist Without Racism?

NO! "The evil system of colonialism and imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the Black people," ….Mao Tse Tung.

The terms capitalism plus racism breeds fascism has a very deep and significant meaning upon the masses who suffer under such evils.

First, analysing the term "racism", we find it was actually used as a deceptive piece in the form of demagogy to deceive the masses as to the real motive of the ruling class. In order to use Black people, in the oppressed conditions in which they lived in and are still living in, the ruling class had to justify the reasons why they keep Black people bound and shackled to the land on which they were enslaved. Racism, being manifested in such examples as Black people were lazy, shiftless, inferior mentally and being born with a manifest destiny of slavery, was an easy outlet to their (oppressor) real motive for the oppression of Black people, Black people were a source of free labor!

In looking objectively at capitalism, we find that once racism was solidly implanted in the minds of the people as a justification of slavery, the oppressive pigs began to expand the area of exploitation to other ethnic groups in an attempt to create conditions wherein there would be complete social and economic subjugation on the part of the American people as a whole.

The pig power structure perpetuates racism as a tool to divide and conquer. By not only deceiving oppressed people as a whole, the ruling class also creates racism amongst various ethnic groups by granting a few more dollars, in the form of poverty programs, to one ethnic group in order to paint the picture of "favoritism." The result is that attitudes of antagonism and discontent is bred in one ethnic group against another. These conditions that were created by pigs to serve pigs, serve as an outlet for the exploitation of the people as a whole.

We know that a capitalist, by his very nature is a blood-sucker. Now in order to be a blood-sucker, the conditions must be such as to place at the disposal of the blood-sucker, someone's blood to suck.

The conditions for exploitation and oppression of the people can only come about by means of demagogy (lying) and/or terror. America was built on political hypocracy and bloody violence: In a word-Fascism:

The ruling class dissiminates all types of lies through the mass media (newspapers, TV, radio, etc.) by word of mouth in the churches, etc. with the end result being that it keeps the masses of people confused, thus divided, thus conquered.

When these lies cause to be functional, and they are, the only course left for the pig oppressor is to unlease a reign of terror, in the form of the police force and the standing armies, upon the people.

Because the Black Panther Party is the Vanguard organization leading the struggle for liberation in the correct manner in Babylon, because the Black Panther Party has made it plain to the masses that the fascist ruling class uses the pretext of defending the national interests to carry out the class policy of oppressing and exploiting its own people, as well as robbing and enslaving and murdering other people. Vietnam, Latin America, Asia, Africa, etc., the fascist plot to destroy the American peoples' Vanguard organization is to be expected. With Tricky Dick Nixon, J. Edgar Hog, Att. Gen, Mitchell, and Judge "Adolph" Hoffman at the helm of the conspiracy to destroy the Black Panther Party, open fascism has blatantly entered the courtrooms in the guise of "law and order."

The Chairman of the Black Panther Party, Bobby Seale has been railroaded by fascists practising blatant racism. The fact that Bobby Seale was continuously denied his "constitutional right of legal defense," and tried by a jury, not of his own peers, but of lillywhite suburbanites, right wingers, Black lackies and capitalists. Which clearly shows that the oppressed people have no rights that the oppressor is bound to respect.

Combined with the fact that "Adolph" Hoffman has direct interest in the Vietnam war and he is a blatant racist, he knows that Bobby Seale is a dangerous threat to him and the rest of the ruling class power.

Now that the people are hip to the madness perpetuated by these "do-gooders, there ain't no place to hide. The people will not forget who f -- ed them around when the shooting starts.

RIGHT ON BOBBY!
SEIZE THE TIME!

Richmond Branch, Black Panther Party

-- 5 --

FROM THE B.P.P. SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

The following is a list of events which have occurred within the last three weeks challenging the staid and comfortable social democracy of Sweden and Denmark:

Stockholm, 30 September. The Swedish foreign minister, Torsten Nilsson, announced at the Social Democratic party congress in Stockholm, that the Swedish government would give North Vietnam 200 million Swedish crowns, over a three year period, as an aid in the rebuilding of the country. Furthermore, he stated in his speech that the Swedish government would shortly make yet another attempt to get Greece excluded from the European Council.

Immediately after this announcement the Swedish Great Copper Works - a firm which dates back to before Columbus - stated that they had lost a 200 million (Swedish crowns) contract with an American firm. However, the Swedish firm's American representative says that the contract was not final. The negotiations were actually made between a Canadian subsidiary of the Swedish firm and an American firm.

October 1st, Olaf Palme was elected as Tage Erlander's political successor at the Social Democratic congress and shortly afterwards he assumed duties as Prime Minister. Olaf Palme is the man who, eight months ago, took part in a Vietnam demonstration together with the North Vietnamese Moscow Ambassador. After this America recalled her Ambassador to Sweden and since that time the residence of the USA Ambassador in Stockholm has remained empty. Palme himself says that he does not believe that's the reason America has not named a new government. "That would mean," he states, "that the American government should break off (diplomatic) relations with Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, South Africa, and all the other countries whose undemocratic regimes they do not sympathize with."

October 7th, the Danish parliament opened its yearly session with an opening statement by the Prime Minister. According to the Danish constitution the Danish P.M. has to open the yearly session of parliament with a statement concerning the general state of affairs in the country, something like the American President's State of the Union message. However, the P.M.'s statement is then debated in an opening debate which begins two days after parliament has officially opened.

The political spokesman from each political party may speak, after which any member of parliament who wishes to speak may do so. This is then followed by speeches from the ministers and then the political spokesmen and individual members can speak again. This speaking arrangement is important because it gives large as well as small political parties an equal voice and the public and press turn out in full strength for the occasion. The Left Socialist's political spokesman, Erik Sigsgaard, in his contribution to the opening debate in parliament October 9th, had a great deal to say about Denmark's relationship with the USA. He mentioned that although no Dane is in doubt that Poland and Czechoslovakia are deeply dependent on the Soviet Union it is more difficult for them to realize that Denmark is also just as deeply dependent on its super power, the USA, but that Danish politicians, bootlicking Toms, or Danish meatball Toms, have learned literally how to mold themselves in order to escape American wrath.

Sigsgaard then goes on to say, "The dependence grows each day proportionally with American firms as they get greater economic power in Denmark. It is therefore reasonable to be interested in that superpower which directs the development here to such a great degree, and it is necessary because most of the press systematically refuses to disclose much of what is happening in the "USA". He then goes on to describe the circumstances around the trail of the Chicago Eight, lists the persecution of the Panther Party with examples of the April events and names the arrest of Bobby Seale.

He continues: "In spite of the fact that the persecution of the left wing forces is very open it is hidden nevertheless in the Danish press." It does not only include the Panther Party.

Politically active students have been thrown out of their universities throughout the entire land. Many are serving long prison sentences. A ban can be expected against SDS and the BPP. The black population on the whole is persecuted. The labor unions have also begun to be subjected to terror. Lately, the pickets in five large cities have been attacked by police forces called upon, as it is called, to protect the factories' function. Many teachers, who had placed themselves on the side of the students in the conflict have been fired. San Francisco State College lost all their black teachers this summer. They declared that they had felt themselves forced to leave because racism and other persecution made their stay impossible."

After mentioning the amount of American soldiers and draftees who have fied to Canada, the renovation of the concentration camps which were used during the Second World War to intern the Japanese minority group, and the Internal Security Act from 1950, Sigsgaard says, "I bring this forth because there is much evidence that the USA is on the way to becoming a police state, and the left wing forces have found it necessary to establish a front against what they call fascism in the USA.

"Because of Denmark's dependence on the USA it is strongly relevant and necessary that such things are brought forward also in such an important debate as this one which is being conducted today. American police forces and soldiers have not only been put in Laos, Vietnam, Panama, etc., but also in Berkely, Chicago, Greensboro. The well known student leader, Tom Hayden, says it this way: the poor people's war in Vietnam has now been carried to within America's own borders. And what can we in Denmark do? We can in the least inform the public of the development. We can protest and we can finally lessen the dependence on the USA. But our silence gives consent and we then become accomplices."

And to test the case of Denmark's dependence on America there arrived Sunday morning, October 12, on the 7:55 flight from Paris, two deserters seeking political asylum in Denmark. 20 year old Ted Price and 22 year old Reginald Alderton were led by the lawyer, Mark Lane. The two deserters request of political asylum will be a trial case. The Minister of Justice says that each case is evaluated independently and that principally all political refugees obtain asylum in Denmark. The Chairman from the Deserter Committee, Knud Jensen, is implicit that the deserters not be returned to France if they are denied asylum here because their status in France is so doubtful. There they are treated differently, at the whims of different police and in some instances have been expelled from the country. As evidence of the uncertain fate which might await Price and Alderton the Chairman for the Deserter Committee in Paris, who happens to be an Austrian, has now for the second time been thrown out of the country. Already on October 15th, the press were carrying stories of yet a third deserter who had asked for political asylum. However, unlike Alderton and Price, Robert Sweeney jumped ship while on NATO maneuvers and according to an agreement Denmark has with the USA he must be delivered to the American Authorities. However, before the Americans could get their hands on him and because his case was so unsure here in Denmark, Sweeney managed to escape to Sweden to ask for asylum there.

The Danish press, October 25th, carried a story in which it was reported that the foreign police have recommended to the Minister of Justice that the two deserters be denied either asylum or granted permission to stay and work in Denmark. Their reasons, which are only an attempt to miscredit these two young men not only in the eyes of the Danish public as a whole, but also to the government who will have the final decision regarding their case, are that Alderton had been implicated in an assault case while he was in the army in West Germany, that he had served a sentence of 4 months for a violation of the narcotics law in France, that he had in the fall sought permission to stay in Sweden and had been refused and that neither of the two deserters were in the imminent danger of being sent to Vietnam. When the pigs were asked if they had received their information from the American authorities they said they could not answer that question, and in response to the question of whether they had received information from Alderton's lawyer in France regarding the narcotics case, they replied, no. The Danish pigs' reports seem to be built entirely upon information from the American military and should therefore have no influence on the case as it has been seen time after time how everything is done to miscredit deserters, to make them into the worst of scum from society. This is a form of political persecution.

At the same time as the deserters were applying for political asylum in Denmark the USA was sharpening its threats to stop a million dollar loan from the American Export Import Bank to SAS because of the Swedish Vietnam policy. Through SAS the American-Swedish strife will have direct consequences for Denmark. The threat was presented by the official spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Washington, Carl Bartch. The final decision has not yet been made and Sweden has been informed that there is still time to become more wise. THIS IS IMPERIALISTIC BLACKMAIL!!!! And it becomes blackmail not only directed to Sweden but also to Denmark and Norway because Sweden represents only three-sevenths of SAS while Denmark and Norway represent two-sevenths each. An editorial written in "Information" states, October 15: "But now the case of the Swedish aid to North Vietnam shows that the Americans also have an alarmingly large economic influence in a west European land which is neither a member of the Common Market nor NATO… The threat to stop the loan through the American Export-Import Bank has been enough to create fear in Swedish business circles and the anxiety has not become less since the Chairman for the American harbor workers, Thomas Gleason, has threatened to introduce a boycot against Swedish ships docking at all harbors on the east coast and the gulf of Mexico… There is no doubt that the Americans have found an effective political method, by playing Swedish business against the Swedish government…

"But the case concerning Denmark is of a far more serious nature. Because of our connection to the USA through membership in NATO we have not been able to go as far as Sweden in criticism of the American Vietnam policy. In the meantime we have had an evident interest in that in any case a Nordic country could freely express its meaning on the war in Vietnam. It has given us the opportunity that we, on a Nordic level, have been able to contribute in political inititives which we could not dare take in our own hands being connected to NATO. It concerns, for example, the organising of massive aid to the whole of Vietnam when the war is at sometime over…

"…The Danish government can underline to the USA that the market-political pressures which are being used to limit a soverign nation's political market freedom is not within keeping with those ideals which we affiliated ourselves with when we signed the Atlantic pact."

Denmark and Sweden must show the USA that they are free and independent countries and will not be blackmailed into becoming yet another puppet on the string of American imperialism - USA dollar dominated colonies.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

-- 5 --

THIRD WORLD COMMITTEE FOR SOLIDARITY WITH VIETNAM

The Third World Committee for Solidarity with Vietnam, an anti-war coalition of Black and Third World groups and individuals, rejects President Nixon's November 3 speech as a stop gap action against anti-war mobilization and encourages all African Americans to join the fall offensive demonstrations scheduled in Washington D.C., November 13, 14 and 15.

The federation, which includes the Black Liberation Alliance, the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords Organization, a Puerto Rican youth group, the Young Socialist Alliance and the Arab Students Against the War, is currently visiting black college campuses and high schools to organize delegations to the national anti-war action in Washington.

Robert L. Lucas, national chairman of the Black Liberation Alliance and spokesman for the coalition states, "The people of North Vietnam are engaged in a national liberation struggle against colonialist oppression and invasion by American and European aggressors just as African Americans in this country are fighting racist oppression at the hands of American capitalists."

"President Nixon's phony declaration of troops withdrawals in a recent six week period are ample proof of the administration's insincerity. It would take 297 years to withdraw all troops at the rate the U.S. is going now. The concerted support of the African American community is needed at this time to intensify the demand to bring all the troops home now!

A March Against Death is scheduled to begin November 13 at Arlington National cemetery. On November 15, thousands of demonstrators will file past the White House.

The Third World Committee asks persons interested in participating in the Washington demonstrations to contact: Third World Committee for Solidarity with Vietnam, 75 East 35th Street, Chicago.

-- 5 --

TRIAL OF N.Y. 21 STARTS Nov. 17

The trial of the N.Y. 21 starts on Nov. 17. Thirteen kidnapped brothers and sisters have been held in "preventive detention" in lieu of $100,000.00 ransom. Now the fascist pig power structure is moving to railroad these Freedom Fighters to prison on trumped up charges that carry as much as 243 years.

When racist Judge Hoffman ordered Chairman Bobby Seale gagged and chained, it became very clear that "a Black man doesn't have any rights that a White man is bound to respect."

The N.Y. 21 will be subjected to the same type of fascist justice when they appear before pig Judge Murtagh at the Federal Court House at Foley Square, on Nov. 17, 1969.

We are asking all people who are concerned about constitutional justice to come out in support of these political prisoners.

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS

-- 6 --

U.S. PILOTS CAPTURED IN VIETNAM: THEIR MESSAGES TO WASHINGTON

REPRINTED FROM
VIETNAM COURIER

Editor's Note: Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army) has just published a long reportage on US pilots captured and now detained in North Viet Nam. The following is one of the final chapters of this story. Subheads are ours.

"WE have been duped." "They have lied to us." "Mr. Johnson and his entourage are big liars!"

Such is the bitter resentment felt by most of the American "strongmen" who have been captured and brought to this detention camp. So many of those sad realities have dawned upon them, one after the other. They had no idea they had erred so much in the past in their thinking.

Is it true that the Vietnamese communists are very cruel? Is it true that the Vietnamese people are living a very wretched life under a totalitarian regime and are longing for the Americans to come and liberate them? Is it true that the North Vietnamese communists are very ruthless? Is it true that one cannot escape torture and death once in their hands? Is it true that the Asians, the Vietnamese in particular, are very backward and ignorant and long for the US to come and bring them civilization and prosperity?

THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER
THEIR ADVERSARY

HERE is a passage from an open letter sent to Washington by Captain I. P.:

"Mr. Johnson, what you said does not fit in with facts. Either you yourself are deceived or you have deliberately deceived us. In North Viet Nam, people are going to the polls very regularly. Their government is an elected one, a thing very few of us in the States know. Their economy is indeed still at a low level but it is developing very promisingly. The Vietnamese are imbued with very ardent patriotism. They strongly hate the aggressors. They are a very civilized, human and tolerant people. They have given us a very kind treatment not of any obligation but out of their kind hearts, because they have a long tradition of humanity toward defeated enemies who have surrendered. They are very open-minded and know many things more than we do. I have known only a few persons but all those I have met show a wide knowledge, a high culture and especially a very kind heart."

Navy Lientenant Commander Allen Stratton, captured on January 5, 1967, told a foreign journalist: "You ask me what message I want to send to the authorities in the US. Well, that's this: they must weigh carefully before embarking on a war. They should understand the opponent better. Our adversary's unshakable resolve can only increase in proportion to our escalation. We want you to understand that here most of us were captured by rifle-holding farmers working on their fields. They are fighting back at us not only with the force of their army which is already something very formidable, but also with the strength of their people which is even more formidable." He continued, with his head bent: "Here, only when some of us met together did we know that a great many of us had been captured by Vietnamese women. They held weapons of all kinds: carbines, rifles, knives, sticks, and also farm tools like hoes, weeders and fishing tackles. We want the men in Washington to know in detail this very unusual sight: our plane was shot down and we bailed out. American aircraft were swarming overhead, bombing and strafing the surroundings. That made our hair stand on end. Yet, the Vietnamese rushed out to capture us while their air defence batteries continued to thunder furiously. They rushed to us with sparkling eyes and tight lips. They brandished their guns on us. The only thing we could do was to drop everything that could be considered a weapon and raise our hands to ask for mercy. This frightful moment when we thought we were going to depart from this life is still fresh in my mind. I'll never forget it."

COMPLETELY USELESS
PREPARATIONS

IN early 1969, after Nixon took office on January 20. I met Air Force Lieutenant F.S. in the courtyard of the camp. I asked him "Well, Johnson has left the White House and Nixon has just moved in. What do you think of it?" He hesitated for a while, then spoke in the same breath as if he had been pondering over it long before: "Yes, it means Mr. Johnson has gone back to Texas. There he has a very big ranch. But he may not, in good conscience, forget us here. He is indebted to us. It is he who has sent us here. Can it be that he will now sit idly to watch his milch cows and leave us in the lurch?"

This debt Johnson has not paid them, but the Americans here have already been thinking with apprehension of the treatment the Nixon administration would mete out to them if ever they should be fortunate enough to return to the States. This is a matter what is tormenting some of them and night.

It is the fear of being charged with "guilty behaviour", with "co-operation with the enemy", with "treason" once back in the United States. I wanted to inquire deeper into this question. One day in early April 1969, I talked about this with an Air Force Captain for a whole afternoon. He said: "As we had lost more and more pilots and the number captured and detained by you was increasing steadily. our military authorities felt it more and more imperative to teach us how to behave if captured. The basic document was the `Code of Conduct' which stipulated that we could only disclose to our adversary four things: name, rank, service number and date of birth." After some moments of thinking and looking down at his striped pyjamas as if to ascertain that he was actually in the conditions defined by the "Code of Conduct" he went on: "I still remember that the Code was issued in August 1955. It was President Eisenhower himself who oversaw the drafting of the code and signed it into Law, following the Korean war. Lieutenant Commander B.N., my superior, who had taken part in the Korean war, related to me that the captured GIs in Korea made so many declarations that it became a matter of grave concern for Mr. Eisenhower and his aides. At the time, the consensus was that never before had there been such a massive decline of morale and such a massive cooperation with the enemy. Nobody ever tried to escape from his camp. Mr. Eisenhower very painfully made a remark which I will quote to you: `We have shown ourselves not to be brave enough when confronting the enemy in the prison, face to face, wit to wit, culture to culture, on an individual basis.' The Government then ordered the Army to make a full-scale investigation into the US prisoners-of-war. This very careful study lasted nearly five years. More than 4,000 dossiers, and thousands of documents from one inch to 25 inches thick had been submitted to the inquiry body. If I am not mistaken, as a result 322 US officers and servicemen were brought to trial after being handed over by the opponent. A number were sentenced to death by martial courts. Thousands of others were put to disciplinary measures in one form or another."

He shook his head despondently, his eyes half-closed as if he were trying to remember something, then continued: "I have met some American GIs returning from detention camps in Korea. They were kept for quite a long time in camps in the United States. There they were required to do a really painful job which was to answer a list of 75 questions on their conduct while in the enemy prisons. Then they were also asked to answer nearly 50 questions of the military intelligence service aimed at getting information about the adversary. It was precisely after all this investigation and interrogation that the `Code of Conduct' was promulgated. Though it hardly filled a page, the Code was drafted by five officers of general rank and five top civilian officials in the US."

He paused, sipped some hot tea, then continued leisurely: "We not only had to learn by heart the `Code of Conduct' but also to undergo a period of seven to ten days of training in the `survival' schools. There we were taught how to find an escape route after falling in a jungle, to seek for food by oneself, to radio for help, to answer not beyond the four questions prescribed in case of capture, to endure hunger, thirst and torture, to escape prison, to keep silence because to keep silence and not to give away any information is also a weapon (1). What an irony it was this two-week program of survival! It was completely useless! We have met together in this camp and all of us agreed the pocket-books that were supposed to guide us in finding edible leaves and plants, in catching and finding bird nests, or the packs of cards printed with various kinds of edible plants, fruit and tubers as well as the fishing nets, hooks, saws, knives… are all to no avail. Because no sooner had we bailed out than you were already there!"

He paused for a while, took a few more sips of hot tea, and went on with a point of humour: "But what is more ironical is that the Americans who played the Vietcong in the `survival' schools in the United States gave us a good beating, yes, a good beating, although it was a sham beating. Here, there is nothing of the sort. The only torture battery I've ever seen is precisely the one at the US `survival' school. I want the officials in the Pentagon to close all these good-for-nothing schools."

Air Force Lieutenant V.R. also had a concern of his own, and it was again the fear of punishment back in the States. He made this remark which sounded rather philosophical: "We think that the Administration will treat us quite brutally! Those who fail to achieve their aim before an adversary usually have the tendency to take vengeance on a third adversary. Who knows their anger at their failures will not descend upon us? We are very anxious about the treatment that is awaiting there, in the States. But we don't mind, we have made every preparation. They may call us traitors. Well, they may court-martial us. Do you know, those whom I'll have to confront will be all white-haired commanders. There will be generals and admirals. They will stare at us like this…" He rose up, put his arms akimbo, and slightly bent forward. "But I'll stand erect and defend my conduct which I believe is right."

-- 7 --

HUMOUR AND LESSONS

HERE, in prison, they are allowed to listen to the radio, read newspapers and books, draw pictures and write wall-papers. Among the scores of cartoons I saw, I remember some which bore a marked American mode of thinking and style. Navy Lieutenant Commander C.X. drew a picture, featuring a US plane in flames plummetting to the ground, and a US pilot bailing out while air-defence batreries were in full action. An official of a US Insurance Company with a bowler hat on his head and a travel bag in his hand hurried to the scene and complained: "What a pity, I come a bit too late!" In an inside page, the paper featured Westmoreland with a full four-star patch, and a suitcase in his hand boarding a big plane marked "Washington Express." The caption read: "Well, how can my successor unravel the mess I have made all through the past four years?"

No less humorous were the drawings by Air Force Lieutenant Colonel P.L. He portrayed a Johnson flat on the ground pulling at Westmoreland's sleeve and pointing ahead: "Hey Westy, I think I see that same light at the end of the tunnel that you saw last year." But this light, as seen in the picture, turned out to be the glowing fire of the Liberation Army artillery pounding at the US base in Tan Son Nhut.

In the last pages, along with a commentary on the American withdrawal from Khe Sanh, the same artist in striped pyjamas drew the following picture: a bulging US military truck with these inscriptions on the door: "USMC Withdrawal Co." On the truck were many mounts of earth planted with signs reading, "Hill 741", "Hill 689"… On the roadside beneath an arrow pointing in the direction of Saigon was a broken wooden board inscribed with these words: "Hold at any cost! Signed: L.B.J." Two GIs were busy shovelling earth onto the truck. One told the other: "We can't hold Khe Sanh, here so we are moving the whole place closer to Saigon."

In another wall paper issued in early 1969. Navy Captain R.C. drew a picture of Uncle Sam with a stars-and-stripes bowler hat, his clothes mended with hundreds of patches, each spelling out one social ill in the US such as "price-rise", "tax increase", "crime", "devaluation", "Black violence." The biggest patch bore the word "Viet Nam war." An American shook hands with Uncle Sam, saying: "Why do you look so depressed? We are in the new year, you must get some better clothes, hey?"

Another artist, Navy Lieutenant K., was no less gifted. He drew a bare-breasted Abrams shouting orders to an American female secretary who was dusting the drawers in his escritoire. The drawers bore the inscriptions: "Search and Destroy", "First Dry-Season Counter - Offensive", "Second Dry-Season Counter-Offensive", "Top Secret", "To be burnt after reading"… The caption read: "We must clear the dust and keep all this stuff under the famous `clear-and-hold' plan." Another draving by the same artist: Bunker took an American senator on an inspection tour in Saigon to a military cemetery of the US strewn with graves of US soldiers. He said: "Yes, Senator, this is the land we intend to hold to the end against subversion and sabotage."

And there are many, many more such cartoons. A captured US pilot told me: "Look, these are our cartoons. We hope they can be published in the United States. They are art works made in this Hilton Hotel. We want to send them all back to Washington as a gift to the gentlemen in the White House."

From the diaries and memoirs of the "striped-pyjamas writers" we can draw something very useful for the present Nixon company.

Under the headline: "On the Viet Nam War", Captain B. wrote the following in his memoirs: "Here I have read with fascinating interest many Vietnamese stories published in English. The stories about the Cu Chi guerillas have captivated me. Not only am I sympathetic to the brave fighters defending their country, but also in my innermost, I've begun to encourage them."

Farther down, he wrote: "The losses which American planes caused to the population of Cu Chi and of which I've just learnt were inflicted on real human beings, on my friends in the stories I've just read and still remember… These crimes are no longer a record of figures. They are an offence against my feelings They anger me." Another passage depicted his feelings when he read in a Vietnamese newspaper a dogfight between Vietnamese pilots and American air pirates: "I have read with great excitement a fight of the Vietnamese pilot in his Mig 17. I share his emotion. It is admirable, his exploit in defence of his country?" He added, handing to me his memoirs: "That's that. Only the defenders of their country can have elevated feelings. We cannot have such feelings. We can only fight courageously when we have something to fight for, repelling aggressors against our Motherland for example. But in Viet Nam we are not in such a position. Here, you are the only ones to fight in defense of your country."

In this camp, unfortunately there are not yet many such meaningful drawings and impressions. This is understandable. Not that all US air pirates have quickly come to see the truth. Not a few of them still have the frame of mind of aggressors. Nevertheless, the setbacks of the US on the battlefield, and the resounding successes of the Vietnamese people have echoed to these prison walls and gradually opened their eyes to reality. If even chieftains of aggressive circles like McNamara and Clifford have had to admit the impasse and failure of the US, there is reason to believe that these hirelings of theirs will not have lost their senses to the point of denying the evident failure of the US and the obvious victory of the Vietnamese people.

One day in early August 1969 I showed Captain H.P. a piece of news. It was about a statement by US Defense Secretary Melvin Laird that the US -- government was deeply concerned with the fate of the American militarymen detained in North Viet Nam. The US pilot's reaction was quick: "Let those gentlemen need not worry about us here. The best thing they should do is to end quickly this wrong war and bring all the American boys home."

Many American pilots detained here did not mince their words: it was not that these bigwigs in Washington had any concern for these striped-pyjamas pilots. They pretended to be so because the American people, especially the families and relatives of the pilots detained here, were insisting with increasing firmness that the Nixon administration end the war of aggression in Viet Nam and pull out all American troops so that these pilots may be soon rejoin their families.

Though having no pity for the pilots, the Nixon administration cannot but be alarmed by their capture since they belong to the elite of the US Air Force which in its turn is the trump-card of Washington's "big stick" policy. A US Navy captain said: "As far as I know, there are in the United States Armed Forces quite a lot of pilots of transport, reconnaissance, training, relief and tanker planes and helicopters. But there are only a few thousand pilots of fighter-bombers. The fighter pilots can look down upon a US soldier of any other armed service. I would like to add that the number of those qualified fighter-pilots considered `old hands' among US can be counted only by the hundreds. Yet in this camp, as far as I can see, most of us are fighter-pilots."

Not a few among the elite of the US armed forces, who held their heads high in the US, have had to bow them to the Vietnamese people and are detained in this camp. This is indeed a slap in the face of the American brasshats and the rulers in Washington. But that is not all. There are other reasons for their alarm. Veteran flier Raisner said: "It is no wonder that they felt such a concern over our capture.

As you can see for yourselves, we are holders of a wide range of secrets of the US defence fabric. What a danger now that we are in the hands of the adversary? How can they remain quiet?"

In fact, among the striped-pyjamas pilots detained here many have quite substantial knowledge of the questions of strategy, tactics, techniques and weaponry of the US armed forces.

Some have graduated from military institutes and know quite well the strategic policies of the military aggression blocs under the aegis of US imperialism. Others had worked for many years in key organs of the Pentagon. Many know a lot about the US bases scattered all over the world. Some are electronic engineers, military aircraft constructors or technical experts in many important branches of the US Air Force and Navy. Just think that they would some day divulge things beyond those prescribed in the "Code of Conduct" suffices to make the hair of Pentagon and CIA officials rise on end.

Yet, these unique captures are piled up in the prisons of the DRVN. How can Nixon, Laird and their like face this hard fact with peace in their minds?

THANH TIN

-- 7 --

Premier Pham Van Dong's Message To The American People

Dear American Friends,

The progressive people of the United States have so far struggled against the war of aggression in Vietnam. This fall, the broad masses of the American people, encouraged and supported by many peace - and - justice - loving American personalities, have again started a broad and powerful drive in the whole country to demand that the Nixon administration stop the war of aggression in Vietnam, and immediately bring home all U.S. troops.

Your drive eloquently reflects the legitimate and pressing demand of your people to save the honour of the United States and to avoid for their boys useless death in Vietnam. This is also a very fitting and timely answer to the U.S. authorities who stubbornly persist in intensifying and prolonging the war of aggression in Vietnam, in defiance of the protests of American and world public opinion.

The Vietnamese people and the world's people fully approve and warmly hall your just struggle.

The Vietnamese people demand that the U.S. government completely and unconditionally pull out of Vietnam all U.S. troops and those of foreign countries belonging to its camp, and let the Vietnamese people decide themselves their own destiny.

The Vietnamese people deeply cherish peace, but a peace in independence and freedom. So long as the U.S. government has not stopped its aggression in Vietnam, the Vietnamese people will tenaciously fight on to defend their fundamental national rights. The patriotic fight of our people is also a fight for the objectives of peace and justice you are pursuing.

We are firmly confident that with the solidarity and courage of our two peoples, with the sympathy and support of the peace loving people in the world, the struggle of the Vietnamese people and of the progressive people in the United States against U.S. aggression will end in total victory.

Cordial greeting.
PHAM VAN DONG
Prime Minister of the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam.

-- 7 --

TO THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY:

I could title my reply to Mr. Goldstein "Israel, the Shame of the Jews", or "Jews Without Honor". How, I ask myself, in one short generation, could the Jews have changed from a major victim of fascism to a people who commit fascist crimes against others? The millions of murdered Jews of Europe must be turning over in their graves when crimes against the Arabs are desecrating their memories.

The answer, Mr. Goldstein, is imperialism -- a capitalist Israel exists only as a tool of a capitalist United States, and surely, even you Mr. Goldstein must realize that this capitalist United States is the greatest fascist danger in the world today. Bitter is the sight of formerly socialist - minded Jews supporting imperialist moves against the Arabs -- here is the rotten fruit of nationalism when it becomes reactionary and opposed to internationalism.

Mr. Goldstein, as a Jew and a human being, I do not want to see the Jews of Israel perish, just as the people of Vietnam do not like to see the American soldiers perish. But those who support imperialism will perish. Salvation for the Jews can never come through oppressing other peoples. Black as well as white soldiers will be killed in Vietnam as long as they permit themselves to be used as tools of the imperialist invaders.

Peace can come to Israel only on an anti-imperialist, anti-racist basis of Arab-Jewish working class unity. This requires changing the capitalist racist government of Israel as well as revolutionary changes in the Arab lands. The very concept of Israel as a state dedicated to maintaining a Jewish majority by expulsion of Arabs and immigration of Jews is a racist concept. The United States capitalists knew exactly what they were doing when they closed their doors to the Jewish refugees of Europe and instead set up the state of Israel. In this way the U.S. gained a reliable imperialist outpost in the center of the Arab countries -- they don't care at all if Jews and Arabs kill each other.

No capitalist country is a democracy, and oh, how true this is of Israel. When the Communist Israeli leader opposed the war against the Arabs he was KNIFED RIGHT ON THE FLOOR OF THE ISRAELI PARLIAMENT. The special "military laws" are still in effect in Israel and there is no freedom for the brave Jewish anti-imperialists who oppose the government. There never has been freedom for the Arabs who remained in Israel and for many years couldn't even join the Histadruth unions. If anyone thinks the Jews can maintain their occupation by methods gentler than those used by the Nazi occupiers, they are very much mistaken. Brutality is not inborn; it springs from imperialism. Imperialist Jews will be no more humane than imperialist Germans or Americans.

I love the Jews, my people, and am proud of their many contributions to civilization, especially to socialism. Because I love the Jews I hate the government of Israel for being a tool of the U.S., committing crimes against the Arabs and jeopardizing the lives of the Jews by launching them on an imperialist war. I would like to see an anti - imperialist organization of Jews and Arabs in this country to make available a true picture of the situation in the Mideast. My thanks to the Black Panther Paper for the fine part it is playing on this question.

Fraternally,
Beatric Lumpkin

-- 8 --

THE UNITED STATES STILL HAS NEO-COLONIALIST VIEWS UPON SOUTH VIET NAM

REPRINTED FROM
VIETNAM COURTE

-- September 21 Statement of the DRVN Government on US President Nixon's Statement --

ON September 16 and 18, US President Nixon announced the withdrawal of 35,000 US troops from South Viet Nam by December 15, 1969, and repeated US so-called "respect for the South Vietnamese people's right to self-determination."

As is well-known, for many years now the United States has been carrying out intervention and aggression in Viet Nam; it has committed over half a million US and satellite troops to the most strocious colonial war in history in South Viet Nam. As it has been committing aggression against South Viet Nam, it must bring it to an end, and withdraw all its troops from South Viet Nam without laying down any condition whatsoever. Yet, it obdurately sticks to its "mutual withdrawal" claim. Setting terms to the withdrawal of US troops is tantamount to demanding a ransom to be paid for its aggression, which is completely at variance with justice and human morality.

The 35,000 men whose repatriation has been announced by the United States represents an insignificant part of the half million odd US troops in South Viet Nam. This trick of troop withdrawals by driblets cannot conceal the fact that the United States is still maintaining nearly half a million US troops of occupation in South Viet Nam, and dragging out the war of aggression. That explains the condemnation by public opinion in the United States and in the world of this new cunning Nixon trick.

The US President has also stated that "the only item which is not negotiable is the right of the people of South Viet Nam to determine their own future free of outside interference." He behaved as if the United States had respected this right. In fact, everybody knows that the US has trampled it underfoot, created the Saigon puppet administration as a tool of its aggressive policy, and sent US and satellite expeditionary troops to South Viet Nam for an aggressive war. Though now forced to pay lip service to "respect for the South Vietnamese people's right to self-determination" in an attempt to deceive public opinion, it still sets its face against the formation of a provisional coalition government to see to free and democratic general elections, and insists that the Saigon puppet administration be allowed to organize faked general elections while US troops are occupying South Viet Nam.

It is therefore obvious that, in the name of "respect for the right to self-determination," US President Nixon is preventing the actual exercise of this right by the South Vietnamese people.

In his appeal issued on the occasion of July 20, 1969 President Ho Chi Minh made it clear that:

"The Vietnamese people firmly demand the withdrawal of all US and satellite troops, not the withdrawal of only 25,000, or 250,000 or 500,000 men, but a total, complete, unconditional withdrawal.[…]

"So long as US troops and the puppet administration remain in existence in South Viet Nam, really free and democratic general elections will be absolutely impossible."

It should also be pointed out that since US President Nixon took office, the United States has been intensifying the war in South Viet Nam, it has made every effort to strengthen the puppet army and consolidate the puppet administration, it has stage managed a force of "cabinet reshuffle," replaced Tran Van Huong by Tran Thien Khiem, a bellicose militarist, a former henchman of Ngo Dinh Diem. It has been carrying on acts jeopardizing the sovereignty and security of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and air attacking many places in the area between the 17th and the 19th parallels.

Clearly enough, the United States has not yet given up its aggressive designs, it is still hatching schemes to achieve neo-colonialism in South Viet Nam and to prolong the partition of Viet Nam.

But the longer the United States pursues the war of aggression, the more it exposes itself to humiliating setbacks and to condemnation by justice - and peace-loving public opinion in the world and by progressive American public opinion.

The Vietnamese people deeply cherish peace, but a genuine peace in true independence and freedom.

The South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam have put forward the to-point overall solution as a sound basis for a peaceful settlement of the Viet Nam problem. This plan has enlisted warm approval and support from the peoples of the world. It is also an honourable way for the United States to extricate itself from the Viet Nam war, so costly in terms of men and money.

The Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam unreservedly supports the position of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam expounded in its September 20, 1969 statement.

The Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and its representative at the Paris Conference on Viet Nam have declared time and again that as the United States has committed aggression, it must bring its aggression to an end, and withdrawal all its troops from South Viet Nam without any condition whatsoever. Such a course is the key to a settlement of the Viet Nam issue.

As long as the United States pursues its aggression in Viet Nam, refuses to pull out its troops from South Viet Nam totally and unconditionally, and clings to the Thieu - Ky - Khiem puppet administration, the Vietnamese people, carrying out the sacred testament of President Ho Chi Minh, are resolved to unite as one man, to brave all sacrifices and hardships, and to fight on till they achieve their fundamental national rights as recognized by the 1954 Geneva Conference on Viet Nam.

The Vietnamese people and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam are firmly confident that the fraternal socialist countries, the justice - and peace-loving countries, and the peoples throughout the world will extend increased support and assistance to the Vietnamese people's patriotic struggle against US aggression till total victory.

FOR its part, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam issued on Sept. 20 a condemnation of the obdurate position and perfidious attitude of the Nixon administration as regards the settlement of the South Viet Nam question. The statement read:

"THE Vietnamese people, like public opinion in the US and the world, have pointed out that the announced US pull - out of 25,000, of 35,000, or of more, troops is merely a piece of deception aimed at appearing public opinion, covering up its scheme to prolong the war and US military occupation of South Viet Nam. Since the US has deployed over half-a-million expeditionary troops in an aggression against South Viet Nam, and has been infringing the independence and sovereignty of the Vietnamese people, it must end its aggression, withdraw quickly and completely this aggressor army from South Viet Nam. The arrogant demand by the US government that the Vietnamese people respond to its `troop withdrawal in driblets' trick shows all the more clearly US persistence in its claim for `reciprocity', and insistence on conditions for ending its aggression. US President Nixon asserts that he respects the South Vietnamese people's right to self-determination, while in fact he is scheming to maintain the puppet administration, opposing the right to self-determination of the South Vietnamese people, and urging them to surrender and accept the rule of the clique of traitors.

"If the US really wants a peaceful settlement to the South Viet Nam question and an honorable end to the war, it must seriously respond to the ten-point overall solution of the South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam, promptly and unconditionally withdraw all US troops and troops of the other foreign countries of the US camp from South Viet Nam. It must give up its scheme to maintain the stooge administration and let the Vietnamese people settle themselves their own affairs without foreign interference.

"The South Vietnamese people ardently cherish peace but it must be a peace in independence and liberty. If the Nixon administration continues to strive after the illusory position of strength on the battlefield and at the conference table and obdurately prolongs the war of aggression in South Viet Nam, it cannot escape still heavier failures."

-- 8 --

ATTENTION!

In last weeks Black Panther Paper the quotation on the front cover by our Chairman Bobby Seale was not complete due to technical error. It should have read: "If I am continuously denied this constitutional right of legal defense counsel of my choice who is effective by the judge of this court, then I can only see Judge Hoffman as a blatant racist of this U.S. court with gross prejudicial error toward all defendants and myself in particular.

-- 9 --

The journalists' anti-imperialist conference of Pyongyang

BY ERNESTO VERA,
President
of the Journalists
Union of Cuba

REPRINTED FROM GRAMNA

THE journalists' anti-imperialist conference held in Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was an outstanding event in the history of journalism.

The presence of delegations from 90 countries gave proof of the scope of the conference, and the speeches and debates demonstrated the quality of the event.

Everything -- even the alightest detail of an organizational nature -- was foreseen, but the most important thing was the site of the conference, the prevailing revolutionary climate and the popular enthusiasm that existed with regard to the conference. It may be said that all the people of Korea participated in one way or another in the tasks of the conference. The factories and farms set themselves work goals in salute to the conference; a mass rally of 100 000 people was held to start things off; and 2000 people were permanently in attendance at the conference, following its development with the greatest interest. The press, radio and television gave detailed coverage to conference happening. Radio and TV broadcasts, it should be noted, can be picked up perfectly in the southern portion of the country, which is occupied by Yankee troops.

To give an idea of the effort put into the event by the Korean comrades, suffice it to say that the main streets of all the cities were covered with flags, banners and posters which referred to the conference. Three months were spent in these preparations.

The people lined the roadsides to welcome the delegates whenever they traveled -- especially the children, who stopped and gave the Pioneer salute with a discipline that impressed everyone.

The tone for the conference was set by Marshal Kim II Sung in his opening speech. His presence there and his remarks were a significant contribution to the success obtained. He demonstrated an impressively detailed knowledge of the work of journalists and gave important guidelines in this regard that can be applied in the present circumstances by anti-imperialist journalists fighting against U.S. imperialism anywhere in the world.

Along these lines, he said, "Progressive journalists all over the world must expose all aspects of the policy of war and aggression followed by U.S. imperialism and reveal its bestiality, so contributing to the creation of worldwide anti-imperialist public opinion. No illusions should ever be held about Yankee imperialism. History clearly shows that sowing illusions about U.S. imperialism and urging unprincipled compromises with it only leads to lulling the peoples' revolutionary vigilance -- which, in turn, causes the Yankee imperialists to be more insolent, cruel and ferocious, and encourages them in their schemes of war and aggression. Progressive journalists all over the world must spread the truth among the popular masses that imperialists must be fought with determination, to the end, and that only by means of a decisive and persevering struggle against the imperialists' policy of war and aggression is it possible to obtain freedom and liberty from the colonial yoke, defend the achievements of the revolution, obtain new victories and maintain lasting peace.

"At the same time, journalists must teach the masses to oppose servile adoration of the United States, fear of or submission to the United States, and acceptance of support from the United States. They must also teach the masses to have infinite hatred for U.S. imperialism. The reactionary ideas of U.S. imperialism are the tool used to produce ideological degeneration in people, making them political invalkis. Progressive journalists who represent vanguard ideas must firmly reject the reactionary ideological and cultural offensive of Yankee imperialism."

This tone prevailed throughout the conference, as can be seen from the documents which were unanimously approved. The three documents that were approved -- the Declaration of Pyongyang and special resolutions on Vietnam and the Lenin contennial -- reveal the prevalling climate.

The Declaration of Pyongyang establishes basic guidelines for journalists in the joint struggle against Yankee imperialism and other important world problems, as well as giving firm support to the peoples' struggles against imperialist aggression and oppression. The heroic struggle of the Vietnamese people against the aggression of Yankee imperialism and the universal tribute to the man who successfully led the October Revolution and the establishment of the world's first socialist state, the Soviet Union, were treated in separate documents.

With regard to Cuba, the Declaration of Pyongyang states the following: "We consider it our common duty to oppose the aggression and subversive piots of Yankee imperialism against the Republic of Cuba and to struggle for the victory of the Cuban Revolution. The victory of the Cuban Revolution was the first break in the chain of neocolonialist domination maintained by U.S. imperialism in Latin America. A great event, it serves as clear proof of the inevitable defeat of U.S. imperialism in our time. The schemes of military aggression and blockade of Yankee imperialism aimed at strangling the Republic of Cuba must be halted, and the aggressive Yankee imperialist troops must immediately withdraw from the Guantanamo base.

"We send our warm support and encouragement to the people of Cuba, that, with the entire nation and people united as a single man, is firmly fighting to defend the achievements of the Revolution and for the victory of the socialist cause in the face of the aggression of Yankee imperialism."

The Declaration of Pyongyang is a militantly anti-imperialist document. Moreover, it was unanimously agreed upon by representatives of the 90 countries at the conference.

We feel that the spirit and agreements of the Pyongyang conference are an important precedent for the development and success of the 7th Congress of the International Organization of Journalists, which will be held in Hayana next year.

The special resolution on Vietnam says, among other things, that "From now until December 20, 1969, ninth anniversary of the founding of the National Front for Liberation of South Vietnam, we will wage a large-scale campaign in every country through the newspapers, radio and television to denounce and condemn the continued intensification of the U.S. war in South Vietnam. We will give broad publicity to the 10-Point Program of the National Front for Liberation of South Vietnam and Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam as a solution to the problem. We will demand that the United States cease its "war of aggression and quickly and completely withdraw its troops from South Vietnam."

This worldwide campaign by progressive journalists will contribute to tying the hands of the Yankee imperialists and aid the struggle of broad sectors of the U.S. population that have risen up against the unjust Yankee war against the people of Vietnam.

Latin-American journalists were represented at the conference by delegations from 18 countries -- the largest participation by the journalists of this area in any intenational meeting of journalists to date.

The other special resolution, on the Lenin centennial, points out that "The imperialists and opportunists will in no way be able to lesson Lenin's great ideas or block the path of the revolutionary peoples of the world that march under the flag of anti-imperialist struggle which Lenin unfurled."

In Korea our delegation was given red-carpet treatment by both Party and government officials and the Korean people. The Cuban delegation met twice with Marshal Kim II Sung, had an hour-long meeting with President Chol Yon Kum and addressed 100 000 people in a mass rally at the stadium in Pyongyang. The Cubans' speech was heard over loudspeakers in all major cities. Once again, our Korean comrades have demonstrated the deep affection and friendship they feel for the people of Cuba.

The event, whose official name was International Conference on the Tasks of the World's Journalists in Their Struggle Against the Aggression of U.S. Imperialism, served as an important forum for political education, advancing the ideas and awareness of the participants. Logically, the countries in the front ranks of anti-imperialist struggle had a lot to do with this.

In its remarks, the Cuban delegation pointed out the global scope of the acts of aggression of Yankee imperialism and expressed support for the peoples' liberation struggle throughout the world. On the nature of the journalist's work, it said, "Journalists -- and this is often discussed -- sometimes talk about journalism, whether it is something characteristic or special, if journalists are a class, about professional problems, about trade union problems. In short, journalism themselves or those who talk about journalism or journalists often forget the real essence of this profession: its political nature. The journalist, like it or not, is a political militant. He defends his people or he betrays them."

In view of the fact that there exist absurd ideas to the effect that anti-imperialism is a limiting factor leading to isolation, the Cuban delegation added, "Yankee imperialist aggression may be seen everywhere, in all parts of the world. And, if this is so -- if imperialist aggression, especially Yankee aggression, exists in all parts of the world -- and if the journalist is a political militant who either defends or betrays his people, the first duty of the journalist, anywhere, is to be in the front ranks of militant anti-imperialism so as not to be a traitor to his people but to be a defender of his people. The base will, therefore, be broad, because imperialist aggression is widespread."

Regarding the struggles of the peoples of Latin America, the Cuban journalists said, "This is not a short process; this isn't something that will be solved in two days. This, like the first independence of Latin America, is a struggle involving years of effort, of tenacity, which is why it is a fight for the strong, for the firm, for the revolutionaries, and not a fight for the weak, the hesitant, the pseudorevolutionaries…. This struggle for the second independence of Latin America will not be won in two days, but it will be won. It will be won because the peoples of Latin America fight for it and because there are men such as Ernesto Che Guevara, who blazed a trail with his example."

We believe that the Pyongyang conference will go down in history. We are sure that its agreements will, of necessity, be a point of reference for journalists who are true to their people. Undoubtedly, the conference site, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was a decisive factor in making the conference a complete success, thanks to the revolutionary climate prevailing in that sister country, proving the importance of revolutionary prestige in attaining victory in any important project.

We know of no participant who didn't return home very impressed by the successes achieved in so short a period of time by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in every field. Complete support was expressed for the struggle of the Korean people to expel the aggressive troops of Yankee imperialism from South Korea and reunify the country. All the anti-imperialist journalists appreciated the Korean comrades' efforts in making the conference sponsored by the International Organization of Journalists a success.

PUBLISHED:

-- [10] --

MESSAGE TO ALL PROGRESSIVE FORCES: By CHAIRMAN BOBBY SEALE

This is Bobby Seale in the San Francisco, County jail, I just arrived back here today November 10th, Monday. And there's a word to be said to the progressive forces in America, about imperialism abroad, and domestic imperialism (fascism) here at home.

It's correct that many millions of people, 55 - 60 per cent of the nation or more, are fed up with this unjust aggressive war against the Vietnamese people. It's understood that the Vietnamese people are fighting for their right to self determination, their right to determine their own destiny in their own land, country, in their communities. It's good that progressive forces (organizations and people) can come forth and mass and demonstrate and redress their grievances against the government for waging such a war against people unjustly, not only in Vietnam but anywhere else in the world. But its got to be understood that if there is imperialism abroad, if there is a war going on in the part of the fascist ruling class circles that are infasted inside the U.S. government, if there is a war going on that they perpetrate and put together there, it must be understood that they're not waging that war those peoples right to self determination, that they're waging that war for some inequality and unjustness against those people. And it's evident that it is being waged for this reason on their part because of the fact that there is no equality and there's no justice at home for people right here in America like Black people in particular who've suffered under racism and brutality and murder for 400 years right here in America. It's evident and it's clear that if there is genocide in a country as in Germany during World War II, then anything that ruling class fascist government does outside is also unjust and is also aggression and is also out to deny and murder and kill people.

What we have to understand is that right here at home in America we have to oppose imperialism, also. That you can't just fight imperialism, the acts of imperialism abroad, without understanding and recognizing community imperialism here of Black people, Brown people, Red people and even to the point of protesting students and radicals and progressive peoples here, in America.

Domestic imperialism at home is in fact fascism. But what in essence is it? I think Black people if we go over the concrete experiences that we've had in America and what's going on now against us we can understand exactly what it is -- to be corrailed in wretched ghettos in America and look up one day and see numerous policemen occupying our community, and brutalizing us, killing brother Linthcombe, murdering young Bobby Hutton. The fact that so much brutality goes on to the extent politicians say it and the only thing that the courts put out is that it's supposedly "justifiable homicide" on the part of policemen who occupy our community.

The police state that exists here in America right now is in fact fascism right before our eyes. There are numerous examples of the police state activities. Only last week, I hear and understand, that a young Black brother was allegedly or supposedly cashing a so-called fictitious check in a bank here in San Francisco and was walking out of the bank amongst a crowd of people and this police guard runs out of the bank and he's only walking and the brother is shot dead in the mid-section of his back. He's dead and killed, Black brothers and Black people who have experienced and know these fascist tactics and know of too many cases and too many situations where young brothers and Black people have been gunned down and murdered by these cops, and it's becoming more and more out of hand. It's becoming out of hand because in every major city, in every major metropolis where Black people live police forces have been doubled, tripted and quadrupled.

Also, the racist courts of American are justifying the police brutality and murder of Black people and any people. The democratic convention as EVERYBODY knows, as everybody saw on the T.V. and read in the papers was nothing more than pigs, cops running rampant, brutalizing, murdering and bashing scults. And many Black people looked on and said, "Look at those White people getting beaten", because we knew we had been beaten and brutalized for many years and still area.

They dragged me into this case. They put me as one of the defendants there, and they literally, overtly, fascisticly, pigishly and racistly denied me my basic constitutional rights. Charles R. Garry, the most beautiful lawyer in the world, a revolutionary lawyer, was here at home going through an operation. He's a beautiful brother. He's 60 years old and had to have an operation for his health and couldn't come to the court. Dr. Goodlett explained it to the court a month before the court even convened that Charles would be risking his life, and I made motion after motion, request after request, and argued those requests and those motions on my behalf in my attempts to defend myself there and was literally denied, (literally denied) my constitutional rights to be able to defend myself, after it was clear that my lawyer wouldn't be able to be there to assist me. For a man to stand up and demand his constitutional rights and in turn the court looks at him and denies him that is to say he's not intelligent enough to see what's going on. But in fact we Black people, we people, all people. American people, know that to deny people their constitutional rights, their right to defend themselves, their right to council, or any constitutional right is nothing more than to justify the brutal tactics, murderous fascist tactics of the police running rampant in the communities of America, and in particular the Black communities of America.

To the Peace Forces, the progressive forces in America, the protestors, those who know the war in Vietnam is unjust, those who are going to the streets and demonstrating, those who think they're really, really doing something -- what they're doing in trying to end the war in Vietnam, is not meaningful at all, yet. It's not meaningful at all and will not become meaningful at all if you really want to stop the war in Vietnam, until you take some action here in America against the fascist brutal forces against Black people here in America. The very fact that the North Vietnamese government has announced that they are willing to release prisoners of war, for the release and dropping of all charges and trumped-up charges against the Minister of Defense Huey P. Newton, and myself, this should be demanded also. This is directly relating to the very fact that we have to end police brutality and murder of Black people right here at home. Because the Black Panther Party itself has moved in this direction from its very inception to get rid of those fascist forces that corral us.

This is the kind of action that has to be taken on the part of the Peace Forces in America and the progressive forces in America. And until they begin to do that they will not begin at all to stop imperialism; they will not begin at all to stop domestic imperialism right here at home. You must move against domestic imperialism, growing rampant, FASCISM -- right here in America, before you can end the war in Vietnam or all forms of aggressive wars like that against other people abroad. The very fact that Black, Brown, Red and other peoples in America and poor people, even poor White people, are corralled in wretched ghetios, especially those people of color and Black people whose communities are occupied in the fashion they are and murdered. No, we can't continue to allow ourselves to be duped with the notion that we're doing something good until we learn to smash imperialism right here at home. Because to smash imperialism right here at home is to smash imperialism abroad. Smashing imperialism means taking action, demanding that those prisoners of war be allowed to come home. When you say "Bring the GI's home", bring the Gl's home. And we can bring the prisoners of war home by demanding that the U.S. government release political prisoners here in America we will set a precedence of opposing fascism, abroad and at home. If that is what the Vietnamese people want, to release the political prisoners and people here in America, then I say that the progressive forces have to take some action in that direction; and they will be relating directly to smashing imperialism at home and recognizing that this has to be done.

People move. Black brothers and sisters, American people, it's time that we moved against fascism at home because to smash fascism at home is to smash fascism for ever abroad.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

-- 12 --

FORT LEWIS 35

On Monday October 20, the American Servicemen's Union held a meeting at the Cascadian Service Club on Fort Lewis. There were 35 GIs and three civilians at the meeting, which had been underway for about 30 minutes when a platoon of MP's descended upon the service club. SSG Bostick, the sergeant in charge of the MP's, arrested five people be considered to be the leaders of the meeting and took them outside to waiting squad cars. The meeting continued without these "leaders". It was decided by the rest of the men that the best action would be to return to their different units and start spreading the word about the gestapo tactics of the military police. As they began to leave the men were told that they too were under arrest. A 2 1/2 ton truck was brought to the service club and the men were herded onto it for a ride to the Provost Marshal's Office. The men in the truck sang songs and greeted people with V signs and raised fists during the ride.

The next five hours was a really fantastic show of solidarity. We were all put in an 8 by 10 foot cell where we continued the meeting that the MP's had tried to break up. We discussed the ASU-its purpose and goals; we made plans for the next issue of the local's newspaper, FED UP; and we discussed plans for an action at Fort Lewis in November in connection with the nationwide moratorium. One additional matter was brought up. We decided to have another meeting on post in two weeks, the regular meeting day. After the meeting was over we began cheering and shouting and singing and just generally making a lot of noise. Because of all this noise, the MPs couldn't make phone calls or conduct any normal business. They just couldn't understand why our morale was so high. I mean we were supposed to be scared and worried because we were in jail. After about an hour the three civilians were released. They were escorted off post and verbally told not to return.

SSG Bostick then began to interrogate the men. He would pick one man from the cell and the rest would yell "Article 31" (the military version of the fifth amendment) and cheer. After about two minutes he would return to pick another man for questioning and, the same thing would happen. After questioning about 15 of the men, all he had was 15 names, ranks, service numbers, and units and Article 31. No one was answering any questions. SSG Bostick talked with Major Miller, the officer in charge, and they decided that since they couldn't break our solidarity and they had no reason to charge us with anything, they would have to release us. As groups of men were released to their units, the rest would cheer. We knew that we had nothing to be afraid of because we had done nothing wrong.

The first thing all 35 men found out the next morning was that they were confined to quarters "pending investigation". Some of the men had to sign in every hour, others didn't. Some were constantly questioned, others weren't questioned at all. An official press release said that the men were returned to their units where it was up to their commanding officers whether or not any action would be taken, but one group was informed by their commander that the order restricting them had come from General Pearson, the post commander.

The civilians who had been released went to the Shelter Half, a GI coffee house, and began calling the press and preparing a leaflet for distribution at Fort Lewis. The next day the leaflet was all over the fort and a press conference had been set up. The staff at the coffee house had a list of the names of the 35 men and the rest of the week was spent on post visiting the men and acting as liaison between the men and between the 35 and the press. Most of this work was done on the sly because whenever the MPs found out that a staff member was on post, they were hassled and followed. A lot of the men really felt isolated and were being harassed and intimidated, but the visits by the Shelter Ball staff really helped keep up our morale.

A few of the men were told that charges were being brought against them for disobeying orders or not getting a haircut or having a rusty lock on their locker. The only reason for these absurd charges, most of them false, is because the Army cannot punish a man for going to a meeting and speaking out against the war or the Army, so they'll find something else to punish them for. Officially, the reason for a man being busted will be because he didn't get a haircut, but the real reason will be because he attended a meeting of the American Servicemen's Union on post. Most of the men are not making any compromises by allowing themselves to be falsely charged.

About half of the 35 arrested at the meeting were taken off restriction by the end of the week, but the next day they were all confined to quarters again. This was done because another Monday night meeting was planned, only at the Shelter Half this time. We wanted a chance to get together and talk about what had happened. But the Army doesn't like us getting together at all. They can't legally tell us not to attend a meeting, but we can be put on restriction or extra duty so that it's impossible to go anywhere.

Since Monday night the Army has been steadily backing down. The first official press release said that we were arrested for having a "meeting of a political nature" on post. The most recent press release says that MPs were called to the service club because "boisterous activities" were reported and that men have always had the right to hold meetings on post. By forcing the Army to say that we have this right, we have won it, but these meetings are not just gatherings; they serve a purpose. Actions can be planned to protest a war that we don't want to fight just to line the pockets of a few already rich men. Plans can be made for local newspapers. Men can get together and discuss actions against a totalitarian army where the rank and file enlisted man is nothing more than an animal; a replaceable cog in a gigantic death machine.

This incident is not over. Men are still confined to quarters and charges can still be brought against us. You can help us be contacting the public information office at Fort Lewis with inquiries about the meeting and asking them why the men are still restricted. The Army doesn't like publicity, so you can help us by spreading the word.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Shelter Half
5437 South Tacoma Way
Tacoma
GR5-9875

Bruce Frederick
ONE OF THE 35

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OUT OF VIETNAM INTO KOREA

During the past few months the number of men sent from Fort Lewis to Korea has been increasing. As many as 800 men a day on some occasions have left McCord for Korea. These men have, for the most part, had engineering MOS's. The kind of skills needed for construction work. What's being constructed in Korea?

According to General Westmoreland the setting is right for another Korean conflict. At a news conference last month, Westmoreland said that another Korean war was "certainly a possibility". He refused to give any reason other than "because of the attitude of the North Korean leadership."

A large number of troops being withdrawn from Viet Nam are being sent to other US bases in the Pacific. Units are not being deactivated and men are not being sent home.

This all adds up to one thing: the Army is, with malice aforethought, preparing for another war with Korea. When they feel that the war in Viet Nam can no longer be supported by their lies, they'll simply start fighting in Korea. The war will not be over, the location will just change.

Reprinted from

GI Paper, FED UP

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A NEW CALL TO RESIST ILLEGITIMATE AUTHORITY

Opponents of the Vietnam War have worked to end it in many ways, some through conventional politics, some by supporting draft resistance or attacking university complicity in militarism. Others have carried resistance further, destroying draft files and developing opposition within the armed forces.

We believe that resistance to many forms of illegitimate authority is necessary to bring health to this country and make it a constructive force instead of a terror in the politics of nations.

Therefore, we support those who resist by

. refusing to register for the draft or submit to induction

. impeding the operations of draft boards and induction centers

. expressing anti-war views while in the armed forces, or refusing to obey illegal or immoral orders, or absenting themselves without leave

. conducting rent and workers' strikes, boycotts, and similar direct actions aimed at ending exploitation in the fields, in factories, in housing

. organizing against harassment by police, by the FBI, by the courts, and by Congress

. organizing sit-ins, strikes, and any principled actions at schools and universities, to end racist practices and direct complicity with militarism.

The Vietnam war has reminded us that major decisions can be made in the United States in cynical disregard of the clearly expressed will of the people and with little concern for those most affected, at home and abroad. The war has also illustrated the readiness of the U.S. to use violence to impose the social arrangements of its choice and to destroy those who attempt to achieve popular control over their affairs. Closely linked to the government, providing its top personnel and shaping its policies, are the centers of private power, the great corporations that control the economic life of the nation and, increasingly, of the world. They are governed not by popular will but by corporate interests as determined by a narrow autocratic elite. The government's resort to force to impose decisions of a ruling elite is one sign of failing democratic institutions and thus of the illegitimacy of the state. Both the use of police and the military and the absence of democratic control over major institutions underscore the illegitimacy of the authority that sets public policy in the U.S. and establishes the framework for social life. But it is not enough to decry the exercise of illegitimate authority; if it is illegitimate, it must be resisted.

Resistance to the war and the draft has brought peace groups into conflict with police, courts, and universities. This is not surprising, for the war has its roots deep in our society and to oppose it seriously is to attack a wide range of evils and the institutions that sponsor them. A brief review of five areas of illegitimate authority follows.

1. The war on Vietnam is neither a unique folly nor an error in judgment. Since the end of the last century, U.S. power has been used for economic, political and cultural exploitation of smaller and poorer nations. The "accelerated pacification," the most ferocious non-nuclear bombing in history, and the deceitful maneuvering in Paris are recent manifestations of a global strategy aimed at building an integrated world system dominated by the U.S. Thus seen, Vietnam is one of a long series of interventions in the affairs of many nations: Greece, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Iran, Laos, Thailand, the Congo, the Philippines, and others. Motivated by a mixture of private interests and misplaced convictions, the Pax Americana continues to inflict suffering and subservience on much of the Third World.

2. The Vietnam War has also brought the human and economic cost of the garrison state at home. It has allowed an insatiable military organization to claim over half of the federal budget, directly and indirectly. (A tenth is allocated to health, education, and welfare.) Beyond that, President Nixon has promoted the MIRV and the ABM, both bellicose gestures towards China and the Soviet Union as well as extravagant subsidies of aerospace industries. The Pentagon has insisted recently that military expenditures, even "after Vietnam," will remain at current levels, in order to "resupply and modernize" the armed forces. And in states and cities, a martial mood prevails as police and national guardsmen arm themselves with new weapons, gas the Berkeley campus from helicopters and, there and elsewhere, shoot at citizens, particularly the poor and the young. Dissidents in the army face heavy sentences; and for young men generally, the draft remains the prime symbol of social obligation. In brief, the violence of the state has come increasingly to threaten or control the lives of U.S. citizens.

3. This triumph of illegitimate force has continued to enrich the rich. Cost-plus defense and space contracts have guaranteed affluence to a handful of corporations and subsidized their growth, while the real wages of workers, after inflation and spiraling taxes, have diminished. The non-unionized and the unemployed are, obviously, the worst victims: welfare programs, ill-conceived to begin with, have been cut back or left languishing, more an insult than an aid. Real welfare programs have been reserved for the wealthy: tax loopholes, the oil depletion allowance, airline subsidies, farm subsidies, highway projects, urban renewal, subsidies to elite universities and so on. In the past government policy has characteristically preserved or increased the distance between rich and poor. The policy of permanent preparation for war is no exception.

4. Like wealth, control over institutions has been unequally distributed and irresponsibly used. The mistre