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November 25, 2009 at 01:04:51 Permalink Angola 3 Newsletter: Death By One Thousand Cuts Diary Entry by Angola 3 News (about the author) |
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Below is the newsletter released today by the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3. The newsletter features four new releases from "Angola 3 News," as well as sections on both Mumia Abu-Jamal and Lynne Stewart. ::::::::
November 24, 2009
The
infamous "Death by a Thousand Cuts", a method of torture in Imperial China,
appears to be the model the State and Federal judicial systems are employing in
the handling of the appeals for Herman and Albert. Year by year, month by
month, day by day, the myriad indignities and injustices mount up as endless
delays hinder the final resolution of their cases.
Herman's
brief stint in a two-man cell ended last week when he was moved to a one-man
cell again, but he remains in lockdown for another 90 days or so from now. This
means he has limited material in his cell, infrequent time in the exercise pen,
no contact visits and minimal commissary. All his mail is monitored
closely, but that's nothing new.
Albert
meanwhile remains in CCR in Angola awaiting a decision from the 5th Circuit
Court on upholding the overturning of his conviction and so another year grinds
to a halt with the State increasing their efforts and expenditures to keep two
men, 62 and 68 respectively in punitive lockdown after 37 years in solitary
confinement for a murder that there is still no evidence that they actually
committed.
Guantanamo Bay has drawn universal condemnation, but
the evolution of our own prison system remains as far away as ever, impervious
to the rising tide of public criticism and the economic hardships created by
this system. The articles below are a sad testament to these dark times.
New Releases From Angola 3 News
Our newest project, www.angola3news.com
has released several new videos and articles spotlighting other stories
of political repression and torture, as well as other issues central to
the story of the Angola 3, like
racism, prisons, human rights, solitary confinement, and
more. Below are four new releases.
Robert Hillary King, the only released member of the Angola 3, published his autobiography in 2008, entitled From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of Robert Hillary King.
Dr. Terry Kupers, M.D., M.S.P. wrote the introduction to From the Bottom of the Heap
and is Institute Professor at The Wright Institute in Berkeley,
California. He is a consultant to Human Rights Watch, and author of the
1999 book entitled Prison Madness: The Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars and What We Must Do About It.
Watch the video here.
The Arrest and Torture of Syed Hashmi --an interview with Jeanne Theoharis
Jeanne Theoharis is the author of an April,
2009 article in The Nation, entitled "Guantanamo At Home," which
focuses on the arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment of US citizen Syed
Hashmi in Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, with Guantanamo-like conditions.
Hashmi's trial will begin on December 1, and for the
last few weeks, NYC activists have been holding vigils for Hashmi.
Read the full interview here.
Confronting Human Rights Abuses in US Prisons --an interview with Bret Grote of Human Rights Coalition/Fed Up!
Bret
Grote is an investigator and organizer with Human Rights Coalition/Fed
Up!, a prisoner rights/prison abolitionist organization based in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Grote first became involved with the group
after returning from the mobilization in Jena, Louisiana in Fall
2007.HRC sister chapters are in Philadelphia and Chester, PA. While
covering a range of topics in this interview, Grote details how HRC/Fed
Up! is documenting human rights abuses in Pennsylvania prisons, and
using this documentation to fight back.
Read the full interview here.
Video Interview With Emory Douglas: The Black Panther Party and Revolutionary Art
Emory
Douglas
first served as the art director for the Black Panther Party's
newspaper, and later served as Minister of Culture until 1980.
Throughout these years, Douglas' iconic artwork was published in the
BPP newspaper and beyond. His artwork is featured in the new book
entitled Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas. For more information about Douglas, please click here.
All photographs featured in this video are taken by Roz Payne, who is the editor of the 12-hour DVD release entitled What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party Library (AK Press, 2006).
Douglas
was interviewed in San Francisco by Angola 3 News in October 2009. This
is the second segment of our interview to be released. Watch the first
segment here.
Watch the new video here.
Blogging About Angola Prison
The "In Sight, In Mind" blog published an account of a recent visit to Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, which begins:
It is not often that I will openly admit to being touched, emotionally rocked
by an experience in life in a way that leaves me with a bitter taste in
my mouth and a heavy heart. It is more historically in my character to
claim to be untouched by disturbing images or experiences, but there
are rare times that necessitate sharing.
Read the full articlehere.
Lynne Stewart: Heroic Human Rights Lawyer Jailed
Lynne Stewart's bail has been revoked, and she is
now being held in jail after the Second Circuit ruled on her and the
government's appeals on Tuesday, November 17, 2009. For the latest updates on her case, click here.
To learn more about Stewart's history of resisting political repression, you can watch an online video
of Stewart speaking in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political
prisoners in Oakland, CA on April 24, 2009. Following the Tuesday
ruling, independent journalist Stephen Lendman wrote an excellent
article entitled "Lynne Stewart: Heroic Human Rights Lawyer Jailed,"
where Lendman writes that "for 30 years, Stewart worked heroically to
defend America's poor,
underprivileged, and unwanted, never afforded due process and judicial
fairness without an advocate like her."
Read Lendman's full article here, as well as a more recent article by Jeff Mackler, featured at the Monthly Review website here.
Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal hand-deliver petitions to the US Justice Department in Wash. DC
A photo-essay by Betsey and Joe Piette reports that "over 25,000 letters calling on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to
conduct a civil rights investigation of the 28 year conspiracy to
execute death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal were delivered to
the doors of the Department of Justice in Washington at the end of a
spirited march and rally on Nov. 12."
Watch videos from a solidarity event in San Francisco on November 8 that also focused on Troy Davis and Kevin Cooper, who are two other innocent death row prisoners who may be facing execution if upcoming court rulings are unfavorable to them.
For more information about this civil rights campaign, read the June 16, 2009 SF Bay View Newspaper article which cites five examples of withheld evidence, and visit the campaign's home page at www.freemumia.com.
America's Supermax Prisons Do Torture
In her latest article, entitled America's Supermax Prisons Do Torture, journalist and former Black Panther Kiilu Nyasha writes:
These conditions are a flagrant violation of article 6 of the U.S.
Constitution which affirms that treaty law (i.e. international law) is
the "supreme law of the land." Thus, article 10 (3) of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights stipulates that
"The penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners the
essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social
rehabilitation."
Angola
3 News will be video-interviewing Nyasha this week, so stay tuned for
the release. To learn more about Nyasha, please visit her website here.
Read the full article here.
Read the Mother Jones series "Angola 3: 36 Years of Solitude" here.
#76759
Elayn Hunt Correctional Center
B-5-D#14
PO Box 174
St Gabriel, LA 70776
Albert Woodfox
#72148
CCR, Lower A5
Louisiana State Penitentiary
Angola, LA 70712
37 years ago in Louisiana, 3 young black men were silenced for trying to expose continued segregation, systematic corruption, and horrific abuse in the biggest prison in the US, an 18,000-acre former slave plantation called Angola. In 1972 and 1973 (more...)
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