[Antiracism] Free Lucasville 5; stop war

Sat Jan 13 13:05:15 EST 2007

FROM: the International Action Center (National Office): 212-633-6646
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FREE THE LUCASVILLE 5: Tell Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio to overturn the 
convictions of all prisoners with charges related to the Lucasville 
rebellion.
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In 1995 five innocent men were sent to death row in connection with the 
prison uprisingin Lucasville, Ohio in 1993.

Siddique Abdullah Hasan, George Skatzes, Jason Robb, Namir Abdul Mateen, and 
Bomani Hondo Shakur (Keith Lamar) were convicted of capital murder in 
relation to the deaths of a guard and nine inmates.

Four of the five were actually involved in negotiating a resolution of 
grievances and ending the uprising. The fifth, Bomani Shakur, was one who 
simply refused to talk.

None of the Five had any involvement in these killings or the decision to 
carry them out. Other inmates had their sentences reduced in exchange for 
perjured testimony, which some of them have now recanted.

When the African-American and specifically the Muslim defendants were on 
trial, the prosecution appealed to racism and anti-Islamic prejudice.

They have been in solitary confinement for 13 long years and their appeals 
are running out.
OSP is a supermax prison located at 878 Coitsville-Hubbard Rd., Youngstown, 
OH.

Four of the Lucasville Five are held in OSP as well as most of Ohio's 189 
other death row prisoners.

TELL GOV. STRICKLAND TO HALT THE EXECUTIONS IN OHIO
Write to: Gov. Ted Strickland
77 High Street, 30th Floor,
Columbus, Ohio 43215
FAX (614) 728-4819 or
call him at (614) 728-4900.

>From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 letter from Birmingham Jail:

"For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without 
wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while 
suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation- and yet out of a 
bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop.

"If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition 
we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred 
heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our 
echoing demands."
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WMass Troops Out Now Coalition: Statement Responding to BUSH's PLAN TO 
ESCALATE IRAQ WAR
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The Western Massachusetts affiliate of the TROOPS OUT NOW COALITION, a 
national grassroots alliance of antiwar activists, trade unionists, and 
community organizers, has issued a statement (below) responding to President 
Bush's Jan. 10 speech about Iraq.

The Western Mass. Troops Out Now Organizing Committee has participated in 
nearly all major regional and national antiwar protests during the last four 
years, transporting hundreds to area residents to demonstrations in NYC, 
Philadelphia and Washington, DC.

For background on the Coalition, please access this URL:
http://www.troopsoutnow.org/statements/whoweare.html

* * * * HELP BUILD THE JAN. 27 DC MOBILIZATION* * * *
Another national effort is underway to protest President Bush's escalation 
of the war, with support coming from the UMass Amherst Anti War Coalition. 
That group has chartered 2 buses for a major antiwar demonstration in 
Washington, DC on January 27. UMass organizers say one bus is now full,
although seating is still available on the other coach. Tickets are $50 a
piece.
FOR FURTHER INFO about the Jan. 27 protest, email: BusToDC at gmail.com or 
phone Noah Charney @ 615-351-6913
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SUMMARY OF The Western Mass. Troops Out Now Coalition's Statement

The statement calls President Bush's credibility into question, suggesting 
the public should have no confidence in his current claims (or judgement) 
given his deceptive statements during the run-up to the war and his 
longstanding denial of hard realities in Iraq. Like his serial reinvention 
of pretexts for the war, Bush continues to offer fabrications and 
contradictions.

Calling many of tonight's proposals a recasting of earlier failed 
strategies, the statement emphasizes worsening conditions in Iraq. It also 
cites public opinion surveys showing wide majorities in the U.S. and Iraq 
opposing war.

Citing the $2 billion a week cost of the ongoing war in Iraq, the Western 
Mass. Troops Out Now Coalition urges Congress to end it by voting against 
further appropriations; the Coalition also calls for the immediate 
withdrawal of all U.S. and allied military forces from Iraq. Our message is 
clear: not one more day, one more life or dollar spent on this illegal and 
unwinnable war Bush refuses to end.
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Western Mass. Troops Out Now Statement:

After deliberately misleading the public by trumping up a nonexistent threat 
from Iraq and long denying that country's collapse into chaos, George Bush 
wants your trust again. He's got it all figured out now, offering a new cast 
of characters to implement his latest disaster-in-the-making: a significant, 
sustained U.S. military escalation. This force "surge" and the money to back 
it, suggests Bush, will help secure victory.

Bush's record on Iraq shows he's been spectacularly wrong, and deceptive, 
about nearly everything. Some key elements in the plan he unveiled tonight, 
Bush criticized in June 2005, saying they would "undermine our strategy" for 
victory in Iraq and "suggest we intend to stay forever." (To view this VIDEO 
FLASHBACK provided by think Progress, access this URL:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/01/08/bush-more-troops/)

This is hardly the first Bush flip flop: on December 19, 2006 the Washington 
Post quoted Bush saying, "We're not winning, we're not losing" in Iraq, 
although shortly before the Novermber midterm elections Bush emphatically 
declared, "Absolutely, we're winning." However, during a Defense 
Intelligence Agency briefing early the same year, the agency told Bush the 
Iraqi resistance was winning. . .

FOR THE FULL TEXT, access this URL:
http://wmass.indymedia.org/newswire/display/1477/index.php

WMass International Action Center/Troops Out Now Coalition
Email wmassiac at hotmail.com
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