Teamsters and Turtles, are they still together?       A lot was made of
the US labor movement's presence at the Seattle protests.      But one
senses a sort of strange silence now.     Will the labor movement
resurface at the Democratic and Republican Party Convention Protests?

One thing is for sure.      The police are going to bust heads hard, or
they will resort to mass 'preventive' and illegal arrests to silence
anyone they deem a threat to staged democracy.

The question is..... have the Teamsters (and the entire AFL-CIO) found
an excuse in the Nader campaign to divorce the Turtles?      Will these
brave leaders of the workers step back into the streets?    Will they
even support those that do get victimized by these upcoming military
actions?

One senses a loud silence.     But maybe I'm wrong?    Wouldn't it be
great if Nader showed up?

Tony
_______________________________
ACTIVISTS CALL FOR RESISITANCE: GOV'T TRIES TO CURB PROTESTS/
ANTI-RACIST, ANTI-CAPITALIST ORGANIZERS FACE TRIAL SEPT 25
By Brian Becker

As large demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic conventions
draw closer, the question of how much right the people in this country
have to disagree with the capitalist establishment grows hotter.
Last April 15, nearly 700 people were arrested, detained and handcuffed
in school buses, remote ad hoc police stations and underground basements
in Washington. They had violated no law. They had been standing on a
sidewalk peacefully protesting against the rise of the prison-
industrial complex.

The mass arrest on April 15 was an act of preventive detention and a
clear violation of the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S.
Constitution.

Among the arrested were shoppers, tourists, a visiting Park Ranger from
North Carolina, and a Pulitzer Prize- winning photographer from the
Washington Post. They were all caught up in a police sweep that must
have been authorized by high government officials. The police had sealed
the entire area around the demonstration on April 15 and then refused to
let anyone leave.

On Sept. 25, the first group of these political activists and organizers
will go on trial in Washington. They face up to 90 days in jail if
convicted of "disorderly conduct."

The calculated use of repression in Washington was the first time the
government got to display a new country-wide strategy aimed at crushing
or marginalizing the new anti- capitalist movement that grabbed world
attention in Seattle street protests last November.
The same calculated use of police violence, break-ins, intimidation and
mass arrests that took place in Washington last April is now evident in
the government's tactics countering planned protests at the Republican
and Democratic conventions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO SILENCE PROTEST
The government is anxious to get a conviction at the Sept. 25 trial.
There is a good reason for this. The police want a conviction to protect
themselves.
A class action lawsuit against the government and police will be filed
on July 27 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A
coalition of progressive attorneys will be acting on behalf of those
arrested, others who had their offices broken into by government and
police authorities, and the many beaten by the police in Washington on
the weekend of April 15-17, when thousands protested outside a meeting
of bankers and corporate tycoons at the International Monetary Fund.

The lawsuit will charge that the government and police engaged in a
massive conspiracy to violate the First Amendment right to free speech
and assembly and the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal
searches and seizures.

It should be obvious to all that the capitalist class in the United
States has encouraged a new era of aggressive police tactics to
circumvent the burgeoning youth movement that has launched a struggle
against the World Trade Organization, the IMF, Wall Street banks and
corporations, and the prison-industrial complex.

All the preaching to school children about democracy, the cherished
status of the Bill of Rights and the right to free speech is being
exposed as a fiction masking the brutal rule of the corporate and
banking elites.

Yes, everyone is entitled to "free speech," but only so long as the
smooth functioning of all the capitalist institutions is never disrupted
by those who denounce poverty, exploitation, low wages, sweat shops,
police terror and the modern-day form of lynch-law justice known as
death row.
Police are readying the big fist approach now in Philadelphia and in Los
Angeles.

The Republican and Democratic conventions, these much-vaunted symbols of
U.S.- style democracy, will be protected by thousands of riot- clad
police. Billy clubs, tear gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades and
armored personal carriers will be at the service of the delegates of
"democracy."

WHOSE CONVENTIONS?
But whose conventions are these? Whom will they represent?

Corporate America is contributing $42 million to "help" the two parties
pay for their conventions, reports Douglas Turner in the July 17 edition
of the Buffalo News.
Microsoft is donating $1 million each to both the Republican and the
Democratic conventions.

United Airlines is giving $500,000 to the Democratic extravaganza while
US Airways is donating $500,000 to the Republican Convention. These two
airlines want to merge their operations to further corner the market,
lay off airline workers and cut wages.

A quick glance at the funding reports for the two conventions reveals
that both parties are completely in the back pocket of the major
capitalist corporations, banks, and oil monopolies.

Lockheed Martin, the aerospace super-corporation, is giving $100,000 to
both conventions. Presidents come and go, after all, but the
military-industrial complex will remain. So will the $300 billion annual
"defense" budget. Keep this Lockheed Martin donation in mind the next
time you hear "your" senator or congressperson give an impassioned
speech about the urgent need to "modernize the U.S. Air Force."

Remember the United Parcel Service strike two years ago? The bosses at
UPS said they couldn't afford to give adequate wages and benefits to
part-time workers.

But UPS is giving the Democrats a donation of $1 million to help defray
the costs of all those banquets and balloons. Maybe that's just a way of
saying thank you for the indictment of Teamster leaders after the union
won the strike.

The other major contributors read like a list of the Fortune
500--because that's pretty much what it is. HMOs that routinely fail to
cover health-care services for patients are ponying up big bucks. Cigna
is paying $100,000 to the Republicans. So is Independence Blue Cross.

General Motors is giving the Democrats $1 million; DaimlerChrysler is
giving $250,000 to each.

DICTATORSHIP OF WEALTH
The domination of the political process by the capitalist establishment
is not based on their numerical weight in society. No, behind these
corporations and banks are a tiny segment of the population.

How can a handful of billionaires and mega-multi- millionaires rule in a
society of 275 million people, most of them workers?

In times of capitalist stability their financial power allows them to
dominate society through the control of the two political parties and
all three branches of government. The mass media, which is owned
outright by the biggest corporations, is another pillar in their
domination over society.

But this domination of society by the dictatorship of wealth invariably
gives rise to new movements for social justice. Some of them become more
radical and even revolutionary and seek to reorganize society to make
people's needs the priority.

Then the smooth talk is replaced with the police club.

Every serious movement that seeks revolutionary change, or even
far-reaching reforms, must deal with the question of devising strategies
and tactics to overcome political and police repression. Tenaciously
defending our civil and legal rights is important. Extending the hand of
solidarity to all those caught up in the web of police, courts and jails
is critical.

But fundamental to the success of the movement will be its capacity to
awaken and merge with broader sections of the working class, especially
the youths and those who suffer from low wages, police brutality and
racism.

Becker is the co-director of the International Action Center. He is one
of the defendants standing trial on Sept.
25. The IAC plans to pack the courtroom and mobilize public support for
the defendants. To help organize or make a financial contribution for
this case, call (212) 633-6646 or e-mail [log in to unmask]