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Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
LOVE AND RAGE
Electronic Edition
FEBRUARY/MARCH 1993
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Translators
Eugenio, Todd, Ana*, Gustavo*, Cath
Love and Rage is printed on recycled paper, using soy- based inks.
Love and Rage is printed by a union printer. ISSN # 1065- 2000.
Submission deadlines for the next three issues: March 1, April 15,
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Look. Articles, Letters, Notes of Revolt, and other things printed
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-30-
In this Issue:
Part 1: USA News
Cops and The Klan
Don't Talk to Grand Juries!
MOVE: Ramona Africa in Philadelphia
IWW Unites Loggers & Environmentalists
A Short History of the Wobblies
Anti-Fascist Skinheads: "Not All Skins Are Racist"
Statement from Animal Liberation Front Fugitive
Direct Action Manual
The 1993 March on Washington
Round Up: Fascist Attacks
Short Takes
Part 2: International News
The Real Agenda in Somalia
European Newsbriefs
Spanish Anarchist Needs Support
Anti-Fascist-Action Fights the Right in Britain
Mexico: Anti-Columbus Day Actions
Part 3: Prison News/ABC Page
Mumia Abu-Jamal Responds to Hentoff
Support Sundiata Acoli, Political Prisoner
Kenny Tolia Freed
Vacaville: Intolerable Conditions for HIV+ Inmates
Campaign for Anarchist Prisoners in Spain
Help Political Prisoners in Nigeria
Political Prisoners: Contacts for Activists
Part 4: Letters to the Editor, Notices
A Few Words About Politics
Changes at Love and Rage
Changes: ABC and OGB Pages
Where's AYF?
Letters to Love and Rage
Part 5: Resources
Announcements & Upcoming Events
US Activist News Roundup
Kill Your Television
Resources for Anti-Racist Activists
Anarchist Resources
Supporting Groups & Regional Contacts
Disco-Bull
..................................................................
LOVE AND RAGE
Electronic Edition
FEBRUARY/MARCH 1993
Part 1
COPS AND THE KLAN
THE PROBLEM OF ORGANIZED white supremacist activity among law
enforcement and other uniformed services is widespread, and is
only growing in the '90s, despite affirmative action in police
departments (or sometimes because of entrenched resistance to it
among white cops).
The latest disclosures regarding Robert Bauman, a civilian
employee of the Los Angeles Police Department for 23 years,
underscore the seriousness of the problem. Assigned to investigate
applicants for police permits, with access to criminal records,
tax filings, and other data, Bauman was discovered by undercover
LA and Huntington Beach cops participating in activities organized
by Tom Metzger and other white supremacists in Orange County.
Huntington Beach police reported that he apparently engaged in
counter-surveillance activity against them, disrupting their
attempt to cover the meeting and apparently identifying them as
cops to other participants.
A subsequent investigation by the LAPD's Anti-Terrorist Task Force
and by Internal Affairs uncovered other connections to white
supremacist activity, and after a warrant was obtained, a search
of Bauman's home disclosed a vast collection of material on the
nazis and white supremacist literature. Bauman however, claims he
is only a independent historical researcher, not affiliated with
Metzger.
Whatever his affiliation, Bauman used his access to LAPD computers
to run checks on Metzger, Stan Witek of the local nazi party,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Irv Rubin of the JDL, a private
investigator and Peace & Freedom Party candidate, Jan Tucker, and
as many as 200 others. His defense is that he was obtaining the
information for his personal historical research and interest in
right wing and left wing groups. He says that he was angry at
Rubin for disrupting a historical society meeting in Pasadena,
apparently a reference to the holocaust- revisionist outfit, the
Institute for Historical Review, tied in to Willis Carto's
Spotlight/Liberty Lobby network and Joe Fields' Populist Party.
Bauman has been given a 10-day suspension, and new Police Chief
Willie Williams promises to tighten up access to police computers.
But Bauman has appealed his suspension, saying even 10 days is too
much, and citing the cases of at least 45 other cops and civilian
employees who have been disciplined in the last three years for
using the computers for unofficial business. Most received only
reprimands or one or two day suspensions.
Meanwhile over at the Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Block has been
criticized for not implementing the reforms proposed by Judge
Kolts. The Kolts report on the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department,
like the earlier Christopher Commission report on the LAPD,
proposed mostly band-aid solutions for a serious problem. But the
worst part of the Kolts whitewash of the LASD was its
determination that there is no proven foundation to charges of
organized white supremacist activity in the sheriff's department,
specifically through such quasi-gang formations as the Vikings and
the Cavemen, whose members have been involved in shootings and
killings of Black and Latino youth.
This finding flies in the face of a court ruling that the Vikings
were a neo-nazi formation, and another requiring that if
prosecutors could talk of the gang affiliations of defendants, the
Viking affiliation of Sheriff's Deputies also be entered into
evidence. One such ruling, requiring that the LASD actually abide
by its own stated guidelines on the use of force, was recently
voided by an appeals court as being too far-reaching. But the
Kolts Report's most glaring omission illuminates the reality of
organized racist activity in the department.
In criticizing DA Ira Reiner's refusal to prosecute deputies for
brutality or murder, the Kolts Report cites the case of one deputy
who went out looking for trouble on New Year's Eve three years
ago. He was overheard making racist comments and ended up shooting
and killing a Mexican national. Yet Kolts fails to mention that
the deputy involved, Brian Kazmierski, had previously been
investigated by the FBI and kicked off the force for burning
crosses inside the county jail to intimidate Black prisoners.
Kazmierski had been reinstated to the department on the express
orders of Sheriff Sherman Block.
The media went along with this coverup, not reporting on
Kazmierski's history, and refusing to print letters which pointed
it out. Another area of white supremacist involvement has been
among fire fighters.
The LA Fire-Fighters Association recently ran an ad showing a
fire-dog under the cross-hairs of a gun, with bullet-holes in the
ad, to protest budget cuts. The ad was a thinly veiled reference
to the LA uprising, in which some fire-fighters were fired upon.
But much more naked racism has come to light among fire
departments nationwide. In 1989, for example, the City Council of
Montgomery, Maryland was forced to withhold funding from a
volunteer fire department after the white chief called a Black
volunteer nigger boy. In 1990, a Black cop who had helped expose
Carrollton, Georgia Fire Chief, L.A. Dukes, for having allegedly
designated nigger beds for African-American fire- fighters, was
found drowned under mysterious circumstances. In April of 1992,
Scott Lowe, the former fire chief of Grovetown, Georgia, who had
been exposed as a Grand Titan of the Christian Knights Klan, was
arrested for having burned a cross at the home of a local Black
family back in 1987.
Open racism and hidden white supremacist involvement are an even
more serious problem among police forces. In Houston, where the
Klan has been waging an active recruitment campaign among the
police for over a year, a police Corporal, Al Csaszar, was put on
paid leave in July of 1992 after beating a Nigerian immigrant and
yelling racist epithets at him. His partner was also taken out of
the field. In June 1992, Boynton Beach, Fla., police officer Dave
Demarest sought reinstatement to the department after having been
fired in February for having flaunted a swastika tattoo to several
other cops, including a Jewish woman officer.
In his defense, Demarest presented that racism and nazism were
widespread and generally accepted at the department. He submitted
as evidence a photo of two officers dressed in nazi uniforms for a
Halloween party; the picture had been displayed in the office of
the deputy chief. A lawyer for Demarest said that another
detective had mounted a picture of a Black man on his office wall,
captioned Is it a chimp?
Such incidents are not restricted to the South by any means. In
Denver, Col. in August 1992, two cops, Bill Carter and Ruth
Potter, of the intelligence unit assigned to monitor Klan
activities, were re-assigned after they sent baby shower gifts to
Klan leader Shawn Slater, a former nazi skinhead. In a copyrighted
interview with Kerwin Brook, an anonymous white Denver police
officer described how many cops will go out and call Black or
Mexicano people on the streets nigger or spic, hoping to provoke
an angry response and a fight where they can jump or arrest the
person. In a separate article, Brook reports the experience of
13-year old Jessica Vargas, who was on her way to protest a Klan
rally, when a Denver cop flashed a KKK hand sign at her and her
friends. We know the cops are against us, but to see him do it
with his own hands! And he just smirks, said Vargas. You just get
shocked.
In Texas, a Deputy Sheriff named Scott Tschirhart brutally beat
two young Chicanos last July; Tschirhart had been forced off the
Houston police after killing three Black men. In Calif., it's
ironic that the very Huntington Beach police department which
uncovered Bauman's involvement with racist and anti-semitic groups
is being charged with anti-semitism and harassment by two Jewish
cops, who found themselves the victims of constant slurs by fellow
officers and superiors. In the northwest, several police forces
have recently had Richard Masker address them about white
supremacist groups. Masker was fired from a municipal job in
Oregon for mailing out Hitler birthday cards, and in August, he
was reprimanded at a similar job in Idaho for sending a letter to
a business association accusing it of being part of an
international Marxist, Zionist conspiracy.
Another area of great concern is white supremacist involvement in
the military. In August 1992, members of the Aryan National Front
and the Confederate Hammer Skins, along with Klan leader Bill
Riccio, were arrested in possession of military explosives and
ammunition for machine guns at an Aryan Fest concert. In Colorado,
the Army was forced to issue a ban last July on military personnel
attending Klan organizing rallies at Fort Carson and threatened
GI's with discharge if they got involved in Shawn Slater's KKK
campaign.
One particular area of bigotry among cops is anti-gay sentiments
and violence. In Dallas, Tex, for example, the City Council voted
earlier this year to uphold a police department ban on hiring gays
and lesbians. The Dallas PD uses a 100-year old Texas sodomy law
to reject such applicants; people who apply to be cops in Dallas
are subjected to a lie detector test and asked if they have ever
committed a homosexual act. In 1991 in Salt Lake City, Utah, a cop
was suspended for an off-duty gay bashing when he and two friends
were charged with assault and anti-gay name calling against a gay
man. In Santa Cruz County in northern California last year,
Sheriff Al Noren, reluctantly forced to meet with gay leaders to
discuss harassment of gays by deputies, issued a memo calling the
gay community vicious and devious. Noren defended his remarks as
justified because one gay protestor had described a deputy he
encountered as obviously a nazi. The sheriff said he considered
that remark vicious.
People Against Racist Terror (PART) has available a full length
research report Blue By Day, White By Night? about cops and the
Klan, with dozens of documented incidents of organized white
supremacist involvement in police, military and other uniformed
forces over the past decade or more. It's available for $2.00
from:
PART
P.O. Box 1990,
Burbank, CA 91507
from Turning the Tide Vol. 5, #6
-30-
-30-
DON'T TALK TO GRAND JURIES!
GRAND JURIES ARE SLEAZY, scummy things that are on the planet
mainly to harass and gather information on activists. In a
nutshell, you either answer their questions or you go to jail,
(and if you answer their questions you probably still go to jail
anyway). While limited legal representation is possible, your
lawyer cannot be in the courtroom with you, (neither can observers
or the press). You can be granted immunity from incriminating
yourself (Fifth Amendment), but once granted, you have no legal
right to refuse to answer questions. The Jury can still ask you
questions about other people. Also, you can still be convicted on
the testimonies other people give the Grand Jury about you. So
you are not really immune.
So to make a long story short don't talk to Grand Juries! If
called before a Grand Jury, immediately call the National Lawyers
Guild in your area requesting pro bono representation. Tell as
many people as you can. Alert the media. Try to rally community
support to blitz the authorities with phone zaps, fax-a-thons,
letter writing campaigns, and petitions. Let the robed-ones know
that they are being watched. We can make their lives hellish with
pesky (but-oh-so-legal) behavior. Knowing how to resist Grand Jury
coercion and repression is very important these days.
For more information, contact the:
Movement Support Network of the
Center for Constitutional Rights at
(212) 614 6438.
-30-
MOVE: RAMONA AFRICA SPEAKS IN PHILADELPHIA
by Bob Helms
THE ANARCHIST COMMUNITY OF Philadelphia hosted a discussion with
Ramona Africa of MOVE at the A-Space on Baltimore Avenue on
September 28, 1992. Over eighty people squeezed in for the
hour-long talk and the hour-long question and answer session.
Ramona is the only adult survivor of the City of Philadelphia's
bombing- slaughter of eleven MOVE members, including five
children, on May 13, 1985. She was released this past May after
serving the maximum sentence of seven years on riot charges
relating to the day of the state murders.
MEMBERS MASSACRED
Riot, as Ramona explained during the talk, is the official term
for sitting in one's own home and minding one's own business while
hundreds of cops dump thirty-seven pounds of the military
explosive C-4 (which cannot be used legally by police) and 10,000
rounds of ammunition into the house, burning it (and about sixty
other homes) to the ground. Before the shooting began that day,
the cops watched some of the MOVE women take the children out of
the house, across police barricades, and into Cobbs Creek Park.
(The park is one block from the MOVE house, where the women would
chat and the kids would play every morning of every year.) The
cops then watched them go back, past the barricades and into the
house. Then the cops proceeded to burn them all alive. Anyone, of
any politics or any intelligence, can see that the city government
deliberately exterminated these non-combatants, with obvious
malice aforethought.
While MOVE is not an anarchist group, and anarchists might not
concur on every particular of MOVE's philosophy, anarchists and
MOVE have far more in common than we have in contention. Based on
John Africa's teachings, MOVE's mission is: first, environmental
to stop industry from poisoning the environment and enslaving
people and animals; second, educational to set the example of
revolution for people to follow when they realize how they've been
victimized and tricked by the government and the system in
general, and to show people the need to totally divorce themselves
from the system. I, for one, think that these purposes are in
harmony with those of most anarchists.
Ramona was a law student at Temple University when she began
keeping track of MOVE's legal troubles and attended some of the
trials. It became clear to her that none of the jurisprudence
she'd learned in the classroom was being practiced before her eyes
in court. All this began Ramona's life On The Move. Her training
in law was well in evidence in the clarity and precision with
which she presented her organization's case to the Philly
anarchists.
MYTHS SHATTERED
One by one, Ramona crushed the misconceptions about MOVE members,
about the myths related to the 1985 siege at Osage Avenue, and
about the 1978 police riot on Powelton Avenue. (These two sites
are in different parts of West Philadelphia, each within a mile of
A-Space.)
Ramona crushed the myth that MOVE was insanely confrontational and
had a siege mentality. The incessant and murderous attacks by
police abundantly justified MOVE's defensive postures. She
eradicated the misconception that MOVE lived in filth, filled
their yard with garbage, and didn't teach their kids to read. To
the contrary, MOVE members are perfectly clean and extremely
healthy; they have discovered composting and teach the kids at
home. (I've seen some of the MOVE kids. They're bright,
happy-looking lively kids, who have wonderful dreadlocks.)
Ramona also denounced the accusation that MOVE is a black-only,
racist cult as totally false. While most members are
African-Americans, there are very committed Hispanic and white
members. MOVE's philosophy simply isn't racist. The surname
Africa, adopted by all members, is a gesture of devotion to John
Africa, MOVE's coordinator, and is not a fixation on Africa, the
continent.
RESISTING REPRESSION
The MOVE organization deserves all of the respect that anarchists
can give it. If our movement were targeted for extermination by
the government, how many of us would hold fast to our ideals so
bravely and defiantly as Ramona and dozens of her comrades have
held to theirs? Would YOU pass up parole, offered on the
condition that you renounce anarchism and shun all of your
anarchist friends? Ramona herself as well as Carlos, Alberta, Sue,
Consuela, and Alfonso Africa all have resisted this powerful
method of State coercion, sacrificing many years of liberty in
doing so.
I've been corresponding with Delbert Africa, who has been doing a
thrity to one hundred year sentence since the August 1978 police
attack at Dallas, PA. The scenario of the attack went like this: a
cop was killed, by one bullet, during a full-scale police assault
upon MOVE's house. All evidence was either destroyed, created, or
suppressed by the police, the DA, and the coroner. As a result,
nine MOVE members got murder raps. Plenty of eyewitnesses say that
the police officer was killed by friendly fire.
ON ANARCHISTS
Now some fourteen years have passed, and Delbert Africa sits in
Dallas prison. He is familiar with anarchism, by way of anarchist
inmates, and has read some of the movement's literature.
About the MOVE philosophy vis-a-vis anarchism, he writes: There
shouldn't be any conflict per se, between any anarchist and MOVE,
because we don't believe in any form of external government. . . .
This system's foot is on all our necks, so all of us should work
to get it off.
I feel that the new world that we anarchists carry in our hearts
ought to have plenty of room in it for the brave and committed
militants of MOVE. Let's think of them as very much on our side.
-30-
Wobblies on the Move Again
IWW UNITES LOGGERS, ENVIRONMENTALISTS
by Jess Grant
IN THE OLD GROWTH REDWOODS of northern California, in the
post-industrial decay of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, and in the
gay bars of San Francisco's South of Market area, the Industrial
Workers of the World (IWW, or Wobblies) are on the move again.
Long relegated by many to the pages of American labor history, the
IWW is experiencing a resurgence of activism that belies their
reputation as a clique of Joe Hill Memorial archivists. This
resurgence poses a direct challenge to the dominant trade unions,
in tactics and philosophy if not in numbers.
LOGGERS AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS GET TOGETHER
In 1989, eco-organizer Judi Bari helped found IWW/Earth First!
(EF!) Local #1 on the North Coast of California, in an effort to
build an alliance between loggers and environmentalists. She knew
that she wasn't comfortable blaming the loggers themselves for the
destruction of the forests. She recognized that they were as
expendable to the timber corporations as the trees they were paid
to cut, perhaps more so. When several workers at a Georgia
Pacific sawmill in Ft. Bragg were poisoned by a PCB spill, it was
IWW/EF! Local #1 who came to their defense. The International
Woodworkers Association (IWA), the trade union which supposedly
represented the mill workers, did nothing to help, and in fact
supported the company's position that nothing amiss had occurred.
But Local #1 raised hell until an Occupational Safety Hazard
Administration (OSHA) inspector came to the site and confirmed
what the workers already knew that the spill was toxic, and not
mineral oil as the company had claimed.
ORGANIZING MARIJUANA TRIMMERS
Local #1 is now engaged in its most ambitious organizing campaign
to date organizing not just timber workers, but marijuana trimmers
as well! As legitimate jobs disappear and the economy worsens,
more people are turning to the pot fields to pay the rent. Like
most underground industries, the lack of regulation and labor
solidarity has created a climate ripe for exploitation and greed.
Working conditions are often intolerable, with hours and
piece-rate wages not much better than those of urban sweatshops.
Of course, the industry has some unique fringe benefits to offer
its workers, but smoking all the pot one wants hardly compensates
for the lousy pay and the paranoia that comes with the job.
QUEER JANITORS UNITE
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, a queer workers movement is emerging
from the IWW's efforts to organize the End Up, a popular gay bar
in the South of Market district. In July of 1992, all five of the
bar's janitors had joined the IWW, in response to years of
arbitrary discipline and firings. After four months of a
successful experiment in collective self-management, the general
manager appointed a supervisor over the maintenance department,
pushing an already disgruntled crew to the point of action.
After two of the Wobblies presented a contract proposal to the
management, four of the five Wobblies lost their jobs. They
responded to the firings with direct action: blocking daytime
liquor deliveries with their picket lines and getting the word out
to the queer community about what had happened. They called for a
boycott of the End Up, getting the support of such diverse groups
as Teamsters Joint Council #7, ACT-UP San Francisco, and School
Board Commissioner Tom Ammiano.
Queer community members continued to patronize the bar despite the
boycott. On September 1, 1992, the Wobblies' Press Conference and
Media Circus caught the attention of the local alternative and gay
media. IWW member Deke Nihilson burned the rainbow flag, long a
symbol of diversity and unity in the gay community, to illustrate
how deadly the deception of queer solidarity can be in the absence
of class analysis. The Bay Guardian, the Bay Times, and the Bay
Area Reporter all ran feature pieces on the dispute, printing
verbatim the IWW's critique of queer-on- queer exploitation in the
name of community.
After two months of intense pressure from the IWW, both on the
streets and in the media, the End Up could no longer pretend that
the union would just go away. Despite their best efforts to
characterize the dispute as one ex-employee with a grudge, the
Wobblies' tenacious tactics influenced the community and posed a
threat. The bar hired the most notorious union-busting law firm in
San Francisco, Littler and Associates, to scare off the union. Pro
bono labor lawyer Marc Janowitz is helping these janitors in the
paperwork fight. Their case has gone to the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) against the workers' will.
Ultimately, the End Up is a battle to educate the queer community
abut the kind of exploitation that occurs under the guise of gay
and lesbian solidarity. It will also push the mainstream trade
unionists to examine their own homophobia and disregard of this
culturally and economically marginalized workforce. It's natural
that this issue would arise in San Francisco, for decades a mecca
of gay and lesbian culture, yet for the IWW there was nothing
planned about it. Some of their members got fired, that's all, and
they reacted as best they knew how.
LEHIGH VALLEY WOMEN FIGHT MANAGEMENT
Thousands of miles to the east, meanwhile, in the decaying
rustbelt of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, a very different sort of
IWW battle is taking place. There a dozen women at a bingo parlor
joined the Wobblies to fight the abusive management policies of
the non-profit groups which use the bingo money to fund their good
causes. Unlike the End Up workers, these bingo workers filed
Unfair Labor Practice claims with NLRB to protest the firings that
came down in the wake of unionizing. They were slapped with a
picketing injunction just the same. Although the NLRB has now
ruled in the workers' favor, the harassment firings continue.
Though frustrated by the bureaucratic shackles placed on them, the
Lehigh Wobs have been inspired by the outpouring of support from
their community. Two years of steady grassroots work in Lehigh
Valley, building coalitions with peace and environmental groups,
has paid off. These Wobblies have credibility among progressive
activists and regular working folk.
AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL
When the IWW's best-known organizer, Judi Bari, suffered an
attempt on her life as a result of her eco-labor activism, IWW was
there offering supprort. Bari was targeted with a car bomb (by
whatever corporate/governmental cabal tried to take her life) in
the spring of 1990.
In 1991, the Wobbly Bureau of Investigation (WBI) was formed to
pursue an investigation of the bombing, as well as a lawsuit
against the police agencies involved in the original
(non)investigation and coverup. The IWW membership overwhelmingly
approved a referendum to loan the WBI $25,000 seed money to get
the project off the ground, thus putting into action their old
motto, an injury to one is an injury to all.
The WBI's case just recently cleared a major hurdle. A federal
judge allowed Bari and her co-plaintiffs Darryl Cherney, Betty
Ball, and Gary Ballto move forward with their case (discovery
motions and deposition of defendants). The judge threw out the
defense's motions for dismissal.
SOWING THE SEEDS OF REVOLUTIONARY UNIONISM
Although these actions are small in scale, they reveal the value
of IWW tactics and philosophy. These are worth re-examining in
light of the ineffectualness currently gripping the dominant trade
unions: the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL - CIO).
Wobblies reject the importance of the traditional strike. The IWW
innovated the sitdown strike, later popularized by the CIO, as a
way of paralyzing production without leaving the shopfloor. The
whole issue of replacement workers, now such a hot topic, would be
irrelevant if workers simply refused to leave their workstations.
Scabs can't take your place if you never leave it to begin with.
The IWW's emphasis on direct action, with all the creative
possibilities that offers to workers, has been utterly abandoned
by the AFL - CIO. Because autonomous action on the shopfloor
bypasses the authority of the labor bureaucracy, it's been deemed
unacceptable by those who stand to lose control. Yet tactics like
work-to-rule, slowdowns, and dual power (ignoring the boss) are
tremendously empowering actions when undertaken collectively by
groups of workers.
Marginalized workers are still the focus of the IWW's organizing
work. While the AFL - CIO tends to only be interested in
organizing workers if they're relatively skilled and grouped in
large workplaces, the Wobblies are open to any worker, anywhere.
Finally, the IWW places no faith in the labor institutions created
by the US Government to supposedly protect workers. Though the
context of the contemporary labor struggle often appears to leave
unionists no alternative but to engage in these bureaucracies, the
Wobblies do everything possible to stay out of bureaucratic
clutches. The courts and the NLRB are the boss' friend, not the
worker's. Even many trade unionists will reluctantly admit that
this is so.
The IWW offers no challenge to the AFL-CIO in terms of numbers,
financial resources, or political clout. Still small, the IWW
today counts about five hundred members, most of them in the US
and Canada, with a smattering in Australia, Europe, and one
delegate in Brazil. The older generation has largely passed on,
leaving the union in the hands of younger activists raised in a
different political climate than their predecessors. The machismo
of One Big Union has given way to a generation of radicals who
were brought up on feminism and ecology.
The Wobblies pose no direct threat to the AFL-CIO since, after
all, eighty-five percent of the American workforce is now
non-union. Raiding the trade unions is the last thing on the
IWW's mind. The IWW has plenty of fertile turf in which to sow the
seeds of revolutionary unionism without stepping on the ground of
that dominant labor federation. But if radical ideas and a long
memory prove threatening to the powers-that-be, then the IWW may
live to again see a day when the name of the Wobblies is as
reviled by the ruling class as that of the Bolsheviks and Murphy
Brown all rolled together.
-30-
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WOBBLIES
THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS of the World was founded in 1905. It
quickly established itself as the most militant, and most
revolutionary, wing of the labor movement in the US.
The IWW was modelled on the emerging syndicalist unions in France
and Spain. It pioneered the organization of all workers in a
single industry into a single union, twenty-five years before the
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) launched its successful
organizing drives on the same principles.
The IWW opposed the division of workers into competing trades and
pushed itself as the One Big Union of the entire working class.
The IWW was the first predominantly-white union to consistently
reject the racial segregation of the labor movement.
During the 1910s, the IWW waged countless militant strikes and
advanced its anti-authoritarian vision of the abolition of the
wage- system. Although smaller than the more conservative American
Federation of Labor (AFL), the IWW captured the imaginations of
some of the most downtrodden sections of the US workforce.
The IWW suffered heavy repression due to their opposition to World
War I. The Russian Revolution and general upsurge of revolutionary
activity at the end of the World War brought further repression:
the Palmer Raids. Hundreds of radicals, including many Wobblies,
were arrested and deported. Under the leadership of the Russian
Bolsheviks, many of the remaining Wobblies abandoned the IWW in an
attempt to influence the AFL unions.
Since the early 1920s, the IWW has not been a significant force
within the workers movement in the US. However, its legacy has
continued to influence many militant and radical labor organizers,
and the IWW itself has persisted tenaciously as an organization,
always attracting enough new people to keep the old revolutionary
vision alive.
-30-
NOT ALL SKINHEADS ARE RACISTS!
by MAYDAY SKINS/RASH
THESE DAYS, IT SEEMS EVERYONE thinks all skinheads are racist.
Thanks to the mass-media (looking for a sensationalized story to
sell papers and air time), and the increased growth of the racist
right's organizing efforts in North America, our subculture has
been stolen and demonized.
THE ORIGINAL SKINS
The original skinheads first appeared in England in the late
1960's, growing out of the rude-boy and hard-mod movements. White
working class culture united with that brought to the UK by
Jamaican immigrants, and skinheads were the result. The original
skins were black and white and listened to ska music (a speeded up
more danceable form of reggae), as well as soul and blue beat.
These skins had a very tough, clean style which expressed their
working class backgrounds, wearing Doc Marten workboots, Levi's
jeans, donkey jackets and suspenders (called braces). At dances
they would wear flashy suits and would mix freely with West Indian
youth, whose music and culture they admired. Racial violence by
skinheads was near non-existent at this point. How could there be
when the skinhead style grew out of black culture and skins
listened to black music?! (For this reason, we call neo-nazis
boneheads because they are and abomination to where real skinheads
come from.)
It is true that skinheads were often linked to violence (which was
frequently mindless). Skinheads frequently got into scraps with
other subcultures, the police, and, towards the end, other
skinheads. This eventually lead to their downfall, and by 1972 the
original skins were a rare breed.
THE Oi! YEARS
Out of the punk rock explosion of the late 70's grew Oi, a street
level movement of kids dedicated to bringing punk back to its
angry roots. Oi! bands sang about real issues faced by youth in
the UK - such as unemployment, prison, and authority. And many
bands had an obvious left-wing slant (such as SHAM 69, THE
BUSINESS, and the ANGELIC UPSTARTS).
Unfortunately, other people sought to cash in on the new skinhead
revival. Garry Bushell, a writer for SOUNDS music magazine (the
SPIN or ROLLING STONE of the UK), frequently played up Oi!'s
negative image of violence and aggressiveness, while at the same
time making a hefty amount of money by promoting records of
bonehead bands. This attracted a lot of thugs to what was once a
positive, working class movement.
At the same time, due to outreach by the NATIONAL FRONT (a fascist
political party which at that time was at its height in Britain),
racist and neo-nazi skinheads also began to appear. A mutation of
the original racially-mixed skinhead movement, they sought easy
scapegoats to the problems of unemployment and recession, blaming
immigrants, blacks and other minorities instead of the
conservative British government (then under Margeret the Vampire
Thatcher). Nazi skinhead bands, such as SKREWDRIVER and BRUTAL
ATTACK, and organizations like BLOOD & HONOUR, a racist skinhead
network, made the message popular and accepted in the skinhead
subculture.
Of course, the mass media helped the nazis along by giving them
exposure without debate. Interested only in selling papers, the
media refused to allow anti-racist skins a voice. And thus the
media effectively silenced those who directly fought this
nazi-resurgence on the streets, and they flooded the skin scene
with right wing scum. Despite this setback, real anti-racist skins
continued to fight on for their tradition by organizing Oi!
Against Racism concerts and physically fighting nazis out of the
streets and shows.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A SKIN
Real skinheads hold certain ideals in common. We are all working
and lower-middle class. We believe in unity, pride in our class
and in ourselves. We enjoy music, dancing and a good night out.
Many of us like beer (though some don't). We seem to get in a lot
of fights (though many of us do not start them). We are militant
in standing up for what we believe in. And WE HATE RACISM. We
fight it wherever it rears its ugly head.
People ask why we don't just give up being skins, since we get
attacked both by the right, for being anti-racist, and by the left
and general public, who think all skins are racists. To this we
answer that skinhead is our identity. We believe in it. It's who
we are, and we could no more give it up than change where we were
born or the color of our skin. We are proud of being what a skin
really stands for (and not the racist shit preached by the right
and the media), and we want to create a culture that expresses our
ideals. In short, being skins is our life and we won't let anyone
take that away from us.
THE NEW BREED
There is a growing section of the skinhead movement which is not
only anti-racist, but also strongly left-wing. Many of us are
anarchists, socialists, communists, and anti-fascists. In addition
to fighting racism, we fight against sexism and homophobia (the
verbal, physical, and psychological attacks on gays and lesbians).
We fight against war, against attacks on the poor and working
class (such as strike breaking, cutbacks, etc.), against
imperialist intervention, police brutality, and prisons. We fight
for a better world based on our beliefs.
FIGHT FOR YOUR CLASS, NOT YOUR COUNTRY
While many skins are nationalists, and proudly display the flag of
their country, we are against this. Being nationalist goes against
what being a skin means to us. Patriotism is a tool of the
politicians and the rich of all nations to make the working class
fight one another, instead of fighting their real enemies.
Nationalism has poor kids killing each other in wars and blaming
foreigners and immigrants for the lack of jobs (instead of the
corporations who exploit us all). Patriotism has been responsible
for slavery and the massacre of millions of indigenous people.
Instead of nationalism, we promote pride in our class and culture.
We believe in uniting the international working class against the
rich bastard rulers who screw us over every day.
FENCEWALKERS
Many skins argue we should keep our beliefs out of the scene. To
this we argue that being a skin means standing up for what you
believe in and having pride in it. We hate the rich, the police,
the nazis, and the politicians. We want change because we're tired
of being screwed over, and we want a better world. Politics
affects our lives, and we're sick of letting others crucify us
without a fight. We're proud of our beliefs because they are part
of who we are. So our politics reflect who we are, where we're
from and where we want to go. And we're working-class skins who
want a change, so our beliefs belong at the shows, clubs, and
dancehalls.
Also, the nazis offer something to angry kids. These kids often do
not start out as white supremacists, but they are in a process of
rebelling against authority. The nazis offer scapegoats,
revolutionary solutions (though we think the wrong ones), and a
strong movement to be part of. If we want to stop the nazis and
get our subculture back, we have to offer a strong movement as
well, preferably one which offers REAL revolutionary solutions
beyond patriotism and nationalism. Fencewalkers are skins who
refuse to take sides, but claim to be into unity. We argue there
can be no unity with boneheads. In the coming battle you have to
choose sides - the nazis or us. And you'd better know which side
of the fence you stand on!
UNITY IS STRENGTH
Being isolated is a drag. Only if we unite can we make a
difference in our lives and in this world. If we want to change
the media's and general public's view of skins, we have to make
our voices heard. If we want to stomp out nazis and reclaim the
skinhead tradition, we have to get organized. A better world based
on our ideals must be fought for - no one can make it for us!
We are hoping to set up a network of red, anarchist, anti-fascist,
and anti- nationalist skins. Through this network, we hope to
increase correspondence, trade tapes and scene info, organize
against racism, and have a laugh. We will hopefully one day put
together zines, a distribution, a record label, concerts, and
other things to reclaim our working-class, anti-racist history.
If you're a skinhead interested in getting involved, write us.
Send a self-addressed stamped envelope, and we'll help you get in
touch with folks in your area. Tell us what's going on with you:
your ideas, criticisms, info from your area, and anything else you
think would be of interest. Change starts with us working
together!
For more info, contact:
Mayday Skins/RASH-NYC
PO Box 365
Canal Street Station
NY, NY 10013-0365
-30-
ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE (no date)
ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT (ALF) spokesperson, Rod Coronado, who has
been hiding due to threats against his life from the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the fur industry, is willing to
surrender to federal authorities under the following conditions.
1) That all grizzly bears held hostage as experimental subjects by
Washington State University (WSU) be released to a wildlife
rehabilitation center approved by People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA 301-770-8969) and Earth First! (406-728-8114),
with the intent of returning the bears to their native homeland
from which they were removed.
2) That WSU issue a public statement promising never to capture or
acquire more endangered species as research subjects or for any
other purposes.
3) That all tax-payer supported research being conducted on mink,
coyotes and otters by Washington State University, Oregon State
University, Michigan State University, and Utah State University
be suspended.
Although the Coalition Against Fur Farms (CAFF) and the ALF do not
approve of the incarceration of any native wildlife, Rod Coronado
believes that the hostage exchange of one species for another is a
reasonable alternative. If these three conditions are agreed to,
and met, and negotiated through PETA and Earth First! I, Rod
Coronado, will turn myself in to federal authorities in Montana at
the tribal headquarters of the Blackfoot Nation. As part of the
agreement, I, Rod Coronado, swear to cooperate fully with Grand
Jury Inquisitions into ALF activity that I am suspected in,
relating to the defense of native wildlife and the environment. I
swear to testify and answer all questions relating to my role as a
spokesperson on behalf of the ALF, and as the Coordinator of the
CAFF.
I, Rod Coronado, believe that my non-violent actions in defense of
the earth, are innocent acts to protect the ecological integrity
of this country's natural heritage. This statement of conditions
of surrender is in no way an admission of guilt to charges laid by
the United States Government, or any other law enforcement agency.
It is my belief that with a fair trial, the citizens of this
country will recognize that the real acts of terrorism committed
on university campuses in the last eighteen months, are those
carried out by Oregon State researcher Ron Scott, Washington State
researcher John Gorham, Michigan State researcher Richard
Aulerich, and Utah State researcher Frederick Knowlton.
Recent attempts by the FBI to portray me as a fugitive evading
arrest are standard practices by the US Government to convince the
public that I am guilty and that I am a violent criminal the first
steps in justifying the assassination of Native American activists
who choose to maintain their cultural and religious beliefs.
Through the example of US history, it is my understanding that if
I was to continue my defense of Native American wildlife and
lands, then I would be murdered by the FBI or people within the
fur industry. The FBI, while questioning David Howitt in June
1992, acknowledged a threat against my life. In May 1992, when the
FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) raided
my mountain home in southern Oregon, the presence of automatic
weaponry in my attempted arrest is a testament of the US
Government's willingness to use deadly force to squash my
representation of Native American wildlife, and those who defend
that wildlife.
In over ten years of non-violent resistance to the destruction of
native wildlife and lands, I have never caused an injury or loss
of life to any living being. Through my obligation as a citizen of
the earth, I have only ever targeted the implements of life's
destruction, i.e. whaling ships in Iceland. I have never, nor will
I ever, carry or use firearms or explosives in my defense of my
earth mother. My religious beliefs recognize the sanctity of all
life and would never allow me to justify a violent act that would
result in the loss of life. It is only because of the FBI's record
of violence against Native Americans such as Anna Mae Aquash,
Leonard Peltier, Tina Trudell, Pedro Bisonette and other American
Indian Movement (415-552-1992) activists that I avoid contact with
the US Government by living a life in hiding.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Rod Coronado
Coordinator, Coalition Against Fur Farms
Spokesperson, Animal Liberation Front
-30-
Continent-wide Project:
DIRECT ACTION MANUAL
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA anarchists are initiating a continent -
wide effort to write and produce a manual for direct action and
street protest geared to the conditions of the 1990s. One of the
primary goals of this project is to draw on the collective
experience and current knowledge of anti-authoritarians engaged in
radical protest in the streets, neighborhoods, and cities of North
America, and to impart this useful information to others in the
form of a Direct Action Manual.
TO ORGANIZE AGAINST THE STATE
Street protests in the past several years have become both more frequent
and more militant throughout North America. In the Bay Area, mini-
rebellions occurred because of the Gulf War, People's Park, a gay rights
bill veto, the Rodney King incident, and activist Rosebud Denovo's
recent murder. Since May 1992 there have been a number of flashpoints
all over North America where people's rage has spilled over into a
powerful force in the street.
The State has become quite effective in responding to any incipient
uprising. The crackdown in May 1992 is just a glimpse of the kind of
police - state action to be expected as the United States collapses
internally and people begin to rise up against the continuing
injustice.
Activists in the 1990s need to seriously re-evaluate current forms of
resistance and to consider more appropriate strategies and tactics.
CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLES
There are several existing handbooks for resistance, many around the
anti-nuclear and environmental movements, that we can look to as
models. These contain very useful information on affinity groups, group
dynamics, consensus decision - making, feminism, and non-hierarchical
organizational structures. But these handbooks are geared toward specific
types of action (such as nuclear weapons site occupations).
The Direct Action Manual will be different. We hope that it will
lend itself to broad interpretation, so that it can be applied to a number of
different situations, not just specific actions, issues, and geographical
regions. Also many of these existing handbooks embrace non-violence.
This manual will not exclude militancy and seeks to encompass a wide
range of tactics.
A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT
The Bay Area Web Collective is coordinating this project and is urging
publications, groups, organizers, and individuals from all over the
continent to submit articles and offer support. Materials sent in will be
circulated in the form of a periodic discussion bulletin. We hope this will
initiate an exchange of ideas to develop this project in a cooperative
manner. (To receive this bulletin, send a donation to cover costs.)
A preliminary outline for the manual is now being circulated.
Please start sending draft material or finished copy right away.
Keep articles as short as possible. Already published articles are
welcome. If possible send material on MacIntosh disks.
At the Atlanta Conference, the Love & Rage Network decided to
endorse and support this project, as resources are available. Endorsement
and involvement of other groups is sought. Let The Web know how you
want to help. For financial contributions, checks can be made payable to
the ``Aspect Foundation'', and sent to the Web. Send a SASE for a copy
of the preliminary outline and send your comments, suggestions, ideas,
and especially draft submissions for the manual to:
The Web Collective
PO Box 40890
San Francisco, CA 94117
-30-
THE 1993 MARCH ON WASHINGTON
by Liz A. Highleyman
FOR LESBIAN, GAY, AND BI Equal Rights and Liberation will take
place on April 25. This event will be the largest queer action
since the 1987 March on Washington, and organizers are predicting
attendance by up to a million people. The Love & Rage Network is
calling for a contingent of anarchists as an alternative,
anti-authoritarian presence at the march. Many Network members are
queer themselves, and the Network has consistently supported queer
liberation.
The march is being organized by delegates from across the US, as
well as representatives of special groups such as AIDS activists
and prisoners. The organizers are committed to gender parity and
participation by people of color.
The march platform contains a wide range of issues and was hashed
out at national meetings over the course of the past year. As
might be expected, there has been considerable controversy. More-
conservative people opposed planks concerning civil rights for
people of color, reproductive rights, and universal health care,
wanting to maintain a single issue focus on gay civil rights. More
radical queers opposed the focus on mainstream electoral politics,
on the demand for gay participation in the military, and on the
demand for same-sex marriage. Needless to say, many people will
not agree with every position in the platform, and participation
does not imply 100% support. (In fact it may be even more
important for those who do not agree to attend and make their
voices heard.)
This march appears to be the beginning of a broad coalition for
sexual and gender liberation, which encompasses and goes beyond
the existing gay and lesbian movement. After much discussion and
debate, bisexuals were explicitly included in the title of this
march. Transgender people were not included in the title this
year, but their concerns are represented in the platform and many
transgender people plan to participate. Leatherpeople plan a
strong presence as well.
Several broad based (non gay-specific) politically progressive
organizations have endorsed the march and plan to take part.
Hopefully there will be a large showing of non-gay/lesbian/
bisexual people who support the freedom of sexual choice. After
the showing by the ultra right in the recent election, many are
considering this march to be a show of queer strength and support
in the face of reactionary attacks, as well as a reminder to the
new administration that sexual minority concerns cannot be ignored
now that the election is over. It is important that anarchists
have a presence in the march to let people know that we cannot
rely on laws and the government to guarantee queer liberation.
Direct action groups such as Queer Nation and ACT UP will have a
strong presence. In addition to the march itself, civil
disobedience actions are planned for the following Monday (April
26).
The Love & Rage Network Council meeting will be held on the same
weekend of the march, on Friday Saturday, April 23 24. Plans for
any actions that the anarchist contingent might want to take
during the march or the day after can be discussed at this time.
It was decided at the conference in Atlanta that a black bloc is
probably not the best tactic for this march. As queers and
supporters of queer liberation we want to be seen, not hide behind
masks. (This relates to the historical need for queers to keep
themselves hidden.) We also discussed the need to be very careful,
especially as a non-gay-specific group, to select appropriate
targets for any actions and to make our message clear. (Many felt
that this was not done well at last year's reproductive rights
march.) The provisional plan is to see what ACT UP and other
direct action groups have planned and to plan our actions
accordingly. We hope that many anarchists and anti-authoritarians
will participate in the contingent, not only those who consider
themselves Love & Rage affiliates and supporters.
Because so many people are expected in DC, travel and
accommodations will be tight. (Several national organizations are
holding their yearly meetings that weekend as well). So plan
early, and come to DC to support queer liberation! Contact Love &
Rage at (212) 569-0989 for information on travel and lodging
arrangements.
-30-
Round-Up: FASCIST ATTACKS
The following is a small sample of recent fascist attacks:
TORONTO, ONT -- Hate crime statistics indicate that there were 500
more hate crimes here in 1992 than in 1991. -from National
Public Radio
TAMPA, FL -- Christopher Wilson, an African-American man from
Brooklyn, was set on fire by three white men on New Year's Day,
1993. A note found at the scene of the burning read, One less
nigger, one more to go, and was signed KKK. -from NY Newsday
PATTERSON, NJ -- A Paterson police officer, Lt. VanKluyve, was
caught with a cache of neo-nazi literature, machine guns and gun
parts, and $97,000 cash, strongly suggesting that he is linked to
organized white-supremist terror. (No kidding!) After VanKluyve
tried to buy two gun-silencers from undercover federal agents, his
home in Wyckoff, NJ was raided by a joint force of federal,
county, and city agents on January 5, 1992. -from Plain Words
OPOLE VOIVODSHIP, POLAND -- A group of neo-nazis from Germany, the
National Offensive, has set up headquarters in this Polish
village. Nazi literature is sold in local stores. Throughout the
region, memorials with German-language plaques have been erected
to nazi soldiers. The National Offensive claims that their aim is
to restore a Greater Germany, stretching all the way to Lithuania.
So far no specific acts of violence have been linked to the group,
but Poles in the area are concerned. -from The Polish-American
Journal
SOFIA, BULGARIA -- Among the youth here there have recently ppeared
disturbing nationalist, neo-fascist, racist and anti-semetic
tendendies. In Sofia, as in the west, this has occured mainly with
skinheads. They support neo-fascist ideas and endorse racism and
violence. Groups of these youths attack other, innocent youths on
the main streets of Sofia. They provoked the terror at Club 113 of
the University of Sofia. There is nothing left for us to tell you
except: HIT THE NAZIS IN THE MUG!
Federation of Anarchist Youth
Antonio Grozdev
-from Action Newsletter
NOVI SAD, CROATIA -- Petar Babic, a Serb , was postering the
following text when he was beaten by a Serbian mob in October
1991. In November 1991 he was found dead, killed by a bullet.
The reemergence of nationalism throughout the world is a
phenomenon of importance too great to be ignored. ~ Nationalism
will define us, divide us, and dominate us; it has no place in the
struggle towards self-realization, free global interaction, and
liberty. ~ Categorize humans you cannot. Nations are false
divisions. We are one because we are all human beings. We are
separate because we all recognize the viability of free
personality....~ Independence movements are the veneer of national
hatreds and political trickery. Don't buy the lie. Your oppressor
isn't just there. It's all around you. It might even be yourself.~
Power to the people,not to their nations. The borders we build are
the borders we will have to live behind. -- from the
Extra-Nationalist Commission
-30-
Short Takes:
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FIGHT TO SAVE AUDUBON BALLROOM
NEW YORK CITY -- COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS SHUT DOWN Hamilton
Hall (a University building) with a blockade, on December 21,
1992, in protest of the University's plans to turn the Audobon
Ballroom a bio-genetic research lab. The Audubon Ballroom, the
assassination site of Malcolm X, is located in the middle of
Harlem. The bio-genetic testing could endanger the lives of nearby
residents. Instead, students and community residents want the
building turned into an international multi-cultural research
center, for community use. Demonstrators successfully and
spontaneously shut down two main roads first Broadway, then
Amsterdam Avenue, and then Broadway again. The cops were too slow
and unable to arrest anyone. A series of smaller demonstrations
followed the next week.
*
Whites Set Black Man on Fire
TAMPA, FLORIDA - Christopher Wilson, an African-American man from
Brooklyn, was set on fire by three white men on New Year's Day,
1993. A note found at the scene of the burning read, "One less
nigger, one more to go," and was signed "KKK." Wilson suffered
burns over forty percent of his body. --from the NY Post
*
NAZI COP
PATERSON, NEW JERSEY - A Paterson police officer, Lt. William
VanKluyve, was caught with a cache of neo-nazi literature, machine
guns and gun parts, and $97,000 cash, strongly suggesting that he is
linked to organized white-supremist terror. (No kidding?) After
VanKluyve tried to buy two gun-silencers from undercover federal
agents, his upper-middle class home in Wyckoff, NJ, was raided by a
joint force of federal, county, and city agents. The raid took place on
January 5, 1992.
from Plain Words #1
*
Klan Rally
AUSTIN, TEXAS - The Klan held a rally at the state capitol
building on January 16, 1992, to recruit new members and to
protest Martin Luther King Day. A counter demonstration and march
was organized by Peoples Anti-Racist Coalition (PARC), a peace and
justice group. --from some anarchists in Austin
*
Tiny Vandals
FINDLAY, OHIO -- TWO SECOND-GRADERS AND A FOUR YEAR-OLD were
arrested on charges of vandalizing an elementary school, causing
$20,000 of damages, over the weekend of January 9, 1993. Officials
are unsure of how to proceed. All power to the young people!
-30-
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@ _Love & Rage_ is a Revolutionary Anarchist newspaper produced
@ by the Love and Rage Network. The Love and Rage Network is a
@ continental network of groups and individuals in Canada, Mexico,
@ and the United States. Subscriptions to the newspaper cost:
@ $13 for first class (fast, envelope), $9 third class (slow, no
@ envelope), $13 international (outside of United States), free for
@ prisoners, GI's, published bimonthly.
@ Please write to us at POB 3, NY, NY 10012
@ email: lnr%nyxfer@igc.apc.org
@ or: loveandrage@igc.apc.org
@@
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