For your information: DDeBar ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 10:26:23 -0800 From: Alexis Buss <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Wooden Shoe Books threatened by skinheads Hello - I'm writing this on the road but just got news that Wooden Shoe, Philadelphia's radical bookstore, has been threatened by skinheads. On Sunday night/Monday morning, someone wheatpasted fliers reading "Death to Mumia" and white supremacist propaganda to our windows. A few days before this, the store received an anonymous phone call threatening to burn our "commie, nigger-loving store" down. The Shoe is located near South Street, where there have been occasional incidents of Nazi skins attacking people. The white supremacist literature originated from the David Duke-style openly racist organization called the National Alliance. The "Death to Mumia" flier had a Minneapolis contact address for the "Death to Mumia Coalition." The Shoe displays prominently in our windows announcements for the upcoming Peoples' Tribunal on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and a variety of announcements for other political actions in the city. We also display radical books, the variety of which are generally despised by neo-nazi-types. It seems to a number of Shoe collective members that we're not dealing with an organized effort here, probably just a small group of amateurish boneheads. Nonetheless, we don't want to be entirely dismissive of the threats, especially since we're just re-opening after an unsuspicious fire that destroyed our store last February. We would appreciate advice from folks who have dealt with this kind of harrasment before. Also any information on the groups I've mentioned above would be appreciated (size, history of violence, organizational attachments, addresses, etc.) In other Philadelphia news, West Philadelphia Pirate Radio, Radio Mutiny, was visited last Tuesday by the FCC. The FCC had no warrant, so they weren't allowed in and no equipment was taken away. They delivered a citation. This is the fourth report I've heard in the past month of a micro-powered radio station being visited by the FCC. On Monday, a well-attended demonstration was held in center city which got some good press coverage. Radio Mutiny has been going for almost a year, and has been active in free airwave issues and have also helped organizing efforts in creative ways, like taking a transmitter to rural Pennsylvania to help an IWW organizing drive at a highly restrictive job training center for young people. Please respond directly to my address - I've cc-d this message to a number of lists. In solidarity, Alexis Buss [log in to unmask]