[L-I] WWP condemns RNC/police repression

WWP candidates condemn RNC/police repression
THE STREETS BELONG TO THE PEOPLE!

Workers World Party and its candidates--John Parker for 
president, Teresa Gutierrez for vice president, and 
LeiLani Dowell for Congress--condemn the atmosphere of 
police repression and terror that has characterized New 
York City before and during the Republican National 
Convention. We demand amnesty for all those arrested in 
the protests.

And we salute the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and 
others from across the country who have come out into the 
streets to demonstrate against war criminal Bush despite 
the threats and overwhelming show of force. In their 
heroic defiance, these workers, oppressed people and 
progressives have brought new life to the popular slogan: 
The streets belong to the people!

Over 450 activists were arrested Aug. 27-29 alone. Their 
numbers continued to climb on Aug. 30, the opening day of 
the convention. And on Aug. 31, designated a day of 
massive civil disobedience, over 900 more were jailed. 
Their ranks include anti-war, anti-racist, environmental, 
women's rights, AIDS and many other activists from the 
diverse communities united against the RNC.

The New York chapter of the National Lawyers Guild held an 
emergency news conference Aug. 30 to expose the 
mistreatment of these political detainees. Some had been 
jailed up to 34 hours before being released on desk 
appearance tickets, while others were held 20 hours before 
being released with no charges. The New York Police 
Department kept many in a dangerous facility--an old 
warehouse on the Hudson River pier. Police turned away 
lawyers seeking access to their clients and refused to 
provide medicines to prisoners, the NLG charged.

The administration of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg had 
planned to spend at least $76 million in taxpayer money on 
convention "security" for Bush and the Republican Party 
delegates. Whose interests do Bloomberg and the NYPD 
represent in this effort? Certainly not New Yorkers', who 
overwhelmingly opposed hosting the RNC and 80 percent of 
whom support the protesters, according to a recent poll.

No, it is all on behalf of Wall Street and the giant 
banks, Big Oil and military-industrial companies. Whatever 
dissatisfaction some segments of Corporate America may 
harbor over Bush's conduct of the war in Iraq, they remain 
united in opposing any independent, mass action by the 
people--even if the majority of those demonstrating still 
believe they have no other choice than to vote for the 
"lesser evil" pro-war candidate, Sen. John Kerry.

The Bush administration, Bloomberg and Police Commissioner 
Ray Kelly waged a campaign of demonization against the 
protesters in the days and weeks before the convention, 
with the corporate media's complicity. Bush's Department 
of Homeland Security issued a "terror alert" based on 
years-old information to justify police excesses. 
Bloomberg and Kelly denied permits to protest groups, 
including United for Peace and Justice, organizers of the 
massive Aug. 29 anti-war march, for a planned closing 
rally in Central Park. Local tabloids and TV stations went 
all-out to make people afraid of the protesters.

None of it worked. But we must continue to fight for the 
right to protest. The RNC is only the latest battle in the 
ongoing, bipartisan criminalization of protesters, 
immigrants, youths, people of color and the poor.

Police-state tactics aren't exclusive to New York and the 
Republicans. Boston also spent millions of dollars on 
repression during the Democratic National Convention in 
July. Officials and the media used similar scare tactics 
there. Protesters were told they would be banished to a 
"protest pit" surrounded by high fences far from the 
convention site. By building militant labor-community 
solidarity and filing a strong lawsuit, Boston ANSWER and 
the Boston Coalition to Protest the DNC were able to win 
the right to march on the Fleet Center.

The current wave of attacks on the right to protest began 
long before Sept. 11, 2001. It started with President Bill 
Clinton and his 1995 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death 
Penalty Act. In concert with new repressive laws at the 
federal level, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani cracked 
down on protesters' rights and unleashed a wave of racist 
police brutality. In Texas, Gov. George W. Bush sped up 
death row executions to unprecedented levels.

Beginning with the 1999 Seattle protest against the World 
Trade Organization, every major manifestation of protest 
has been met with military-style police tactics and 
scapegoating of demonstrators.

Repression at the RNC is also part and parcel of the 
"three strikes" laws in California and other states that 
target youths of color and other poor workers--those whom 
the profit makers most fear will be radicalized in the 
years to come. It is of a piece with the Patriot Act, 
which especially targets Muslims, Arabs, South Asians and 
other immigrants.

We are committed to the fight against Bush, against the 
bloody occupation of Iraq, and against the war on working 
people at home--including the attacks on our right to 
protest. Regardless of who is elected in November, this is 
a struggle that must continue.

www.vote4workers.org

www.workers.org

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