FTAA demonstrators encounter police
state, torture
By Liz Allen
Miami, Florida, Nov. 24 (AGR)— In response to the Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA) meetings of delegates from 34 countries
in the Western Hemisphere in Miami, Florida, approximately 30,000
people took to the streets on Thursday, Nov. 23 to express their disagreement.
“This whole society has to decide if money is more important
than human life. It seems like that line has been passed already and
its time to turn that around,” said Ralph, an activist present
from New York, echoing a general sentiment of protest attendees.
“In the streets they have good people, because they are the organized
base. But inside the offices, inside the building, it’s terrible,
because the representation of South America, it does not represent
the people. The representation is only of government and only of small
groups of capitalists —the rich groups of capitalists,”
said Alexandro Campos, of the group Local Action for Global Justice,
from São Paulo, Brazil.
Tara Colon of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union said it was easy
to mobilize members of their group to attend the rally because: “Privatization
of water means no more right to water, no more right to housing —the
basic necessities of life. Our communities are affected directly,
not indirectly by these ministerial meetings. And NAFTA screwed our
communities over, took all the jobs away —more homelessness,
more hunger, more unemployment. The international community needs
to look here. Obviously, militarization exists here in the United
States, not just elsewhere. And we don’t have the right to demonstrate,
especially if we’re poor. We believe that the unemployed and
employed have to unite to create economic human rights for jobs with
living wages —a right to the basic necessities of human life.”
The demonstrations were marked by unrestrained police violence. Forty
federal, state and local law enforcement agencies policed the event.
Although no official numbers on how many police were on the street
were available due to government suppression of the numbers, the AFL-CIO
said there were at least 2,500 police clad in full riot gear, armed
with helmets, shields, batons, tazers, pepper spray, tear gas, and
rubber bullet guns. There were mounted police, bicycle police, police
dressed as protesters and members of the Black Bloc, and police in
tanks.
Lines of 15 or more police cars drove around the city with their lights
flashing and groups of police in full riot gear stood on nearly every
downtown corner, juxtaposed with lines of homeless people who slept
on the streets. Checkpoints were set up, people walking in groups
of more than seven were subject to arrest, and helicopters constantly
circled the sky.
Miami police chief John Timoney, a former New York street cop who
also was chief of police during the 2000 Republican National Convention
in Philadelphia, headed the operation. He estimated the cost of the
policing to be between 10 and 11 million dollars. The city received
a federal supplement of 8.2 million dollars, which was included in
the recently passed Congressional bill awarding reconstructive funding
to Iraq.
Two hundred and seventy-three people have been arrested and at least
13 people have been hospitalized after being beaten by police. People
of color and transgendered persons were specifically targeted. A police
officer is reported to have forced a female demonstrator who was arrested
to perform fellacio on him while she was in custody. Other reports
from inside the prison facilities include protesters having their
clothing removed and being sprayed with cold pressure hoses every
few hours. An activist known as “J” was shot in the head
by a beanbag filled with steel balls, while he 200 feet away from
riot police was helping another injured person to a medic. He has
a crack in his skull above his eye, will have a titanium plate put
in his head and may lose vision in his eye. Doctors said if he was
hit in a slightly different area he would have died. Witnesses who
saw “J” get shot are being sought.
Although the fence surrounding the Hotel Inter-Continental was not
torn down, on Thursday morning protesters did manage to get a rope
and anchor over the fence, which instigated only the first rounds
of pepper spray and concussion grenades that would be shot. Tear gas
canisters were grabbed by protesters and thrown back at police.
Later in the afternoon, after a permitted march that was organized
by the AFL-CIO, but had various groups and individuals in attendance,
a marching band began approaching police lined in front of the fence
on Biscayne Blvd., when police began firing tear gas and beating demonstrators.
Blood from injuries due to batons, rubber bullets, and beanbags became
a common sight. Demonstrators threw rocks and fruit at police. Some
police were spray painted. Dumpsters, metal fencing and other movable
items were drug into the street creating barricades and fire was set
to piles of trash. Describing the rubber bullets, one protester said,
“It sounded like automatic guns were being fired indiscriminately.”
The Miami Herald reported hree police officers were hospitalized from
the afternoon’s events.
A mass arrest was conducted during a jail solidarity rally on Friday
after a group of around 150 gathered peacefully outside the jail.
At least 25 were arrested after staging a sit-in, despite orders to
disperse. Demonstrators were also tear gassed, shot with rubber bullets,
and arrested while following the order to disperse by leaving the
area in small groups.
On the previous Wednesday, a People’s Gala was held, which included
musical performances by Dead Prez, Billy Bragg and Boots Riley from
the Coup, who along with other speakers from North American, South
American and Caribbean countries, spoke about how the FTAA does not
represent the over 800 million people affected, and will only increase
poverty, exploitation and militarization.
Over 17,000 of the demonstrators the next day were union members from
the AFL-CIO. The march on Thursday, planned to go two miles, was set
to go by the fence that surrounded the Inter-Continental Hotel where
the delegates met, but was unable to do so because of police lines.
Over 2,000 union members also had planned to join the march but could
not do so because police prevented their buses from entering the area.
“The Miami police basically broke every good faith agreement
made months in advance,” said Guillermo Menes of the AFL-CIO.
Members of the AFL-CIO peacekeeping force who were to act as a liaison
between police and possibly violent demonstrators were arrested and
tear gassed.
“Whoever was arrested was unjustly arrested. They were clearly
part of a permitted march and rally,” said Menes, who said the
AFL-CIO is considering legal action.
Tanks and lines of riot police were used to block access to water.
Those entering the permitted rally at the Bayfront Amphitheater were
subject to search, and non-union people were not allowed in.
A 71- year old union retiree was pepper sprayed, thrown to the ground
at gun point, jailed for two days, and refused heart medication.
Many union members did not expect police to violently confront protesters.
“I’m surprised they already blew some tear gas off; everything
has been peaceful so far. This show of force out here —there’s
an awful lot of police. Guess they’re trying to show strength
in numbers. I don’t expect anything to happen —the tear
gas I didn’t expect already,” said Chuck Tome of Teamsters
local 769.
Pat Lane, a steelworker from Indiana, said a few people from each
local came out. They started getting involved in the anti-free trade
movement because mills were getting shut down. She described one of
the incidents of solidarity between steelworkers and other demonstrators:
“We were taking a bus down to go to a theater to go to a global
trade workers’ forum and they had these kids on a corner, going
through their backpacks and standing them up against a wall. I don’t
know why, because they had just got there, but they did eventually
let them go after the workers had begun chanting, ‘Let them go!
Let them go!’”
Throughout the week, widespread support for protesters from Miami
residents was evident. Protesters were consistently told “thank
you” and “to be careful.” Residents of a neighborhood
close to the center of town took in protesters on Thursday who were
escaping police brutality that afternoon.
Many demonstrators present were from the area.
“It will take away a lot of jobs if it happens. We don’t
need that shit. We don’t need people’s jobs taken away from
them. People are already suffering as it is,” said Miami resident
Melvin Jones, from Miami, who lost his job four weeks ago and collects
unemployment.
Throughout the demonstrations, a welcome center operated as a meeting
place for activists. There was a wellness center, a sign and bike
repair station, message boards, literature exchange, an independent
media center, and legal support. Food Not Bombs served thousands of
people food and water both at the space and in the streets.
In the streets, legal observers organized by the National Lawyer’s
Guild were present in green hats to document infringements on civil
rights and civil liberties. Eight were arrested and four were beaten
by police. When asked early Thursday afternoon what he saw, Joe Catley,
a legal observer from Miami, said: “I saw people surrounded by
police and trapped, not allowed to go anywhere for over an hour, and
they were not even told they were being detained. Over near the Miami
Police Department headquarters, I saw police pepper spray people.
There was a person tazered. I didn’t see that, but I saw the
pepper spray and I saw people being thrown to the ground and arrested.
My legal observer partner was pepper sprayed. I was threatened by
police to be pepper sprayed.” Cately said that he came because
he “wanted to do my bit to try and ensure that people stayed
safe and to try to have a dissuasive effect, number one, and to have
a recording function if anything bad happened.”
A group of eleven people not involved with the demonstrations on Thursday
were walking on 11th street when they were beaten by a group of more
than 73 police officers. They had some of their personal items either
scattered or stolen. Members of the group reported that aside from
being accused of being members of the Black Bloc, the police officers
took souvenir pictures with them while they were bleeding and in handcuffs.
They were told that if they were in Cuba, they would be executed on
the spot. They intend to sue the Miami Police Department for these
actions. Also, an abandoned mansion that was being squatted was raided
and seven people inside were arrested and charged with burglary.
On Thursday morning, a permitted Amnesty International rally, scheduled
to be held at the friendship torch was also disrupted by lines of
riot police.
Ajamu Baraka, Amnesty International Executive Director for the Southern
Region in the United States, explained that morning: “We had
a permitted speak-out this morning on human rights violations in the
Americas, but we got surrounded by police. They tried to force us
to move. We refused to move, but now we are effectively behind police
lines, so people who want to come to the rally aren’t able to
come to it. We’re doing a rally anyway. We’re here this
morning to raise up the situation faced by human rights defenders
in the Americas. As the delegates from across the Americas gather
to talk about free trade and prosperity, we want to bring attention
to the fact that those same ministers represent governments that are
systematically violating the rights of human rights defenders.”
Those arrested appeared at their bond hearings via video camera from
Miami-Dade jails. Money was raised from around the country to bail
the incarcerated out of prison. Over 10,000 dollars was raised in
24 hours. In Asheville, NC, a jail solidarity rally of about 23 people
was held in Prichard Park at 5:30 on Monday, November 24.
Photos courtesy ftaaimc.org
People’s protest topples Georgia’s
president
By Andrew Johnson
Nov. 23— Tens of thousands of Georgians thronged the streets
of this Caucasus nation’s capital in jubilation Sunday after
President Eduard Shevardnadze announced that he had quit.
Bowing to protesters who had stormed parliament declaring a “velvet
revolution” or “revolution of the roses” and demanding
that he leave, Shevardnadze signed a resignation letter. “I
am going home,” he told the nation in a televised statement.
When asked who would be the next president of Georgia, he said:
“It is not my business.”
The embattled Georgian president had to be hustled from the parliament
building in Tbilisi by bodyguards yesterday after hundreds of opposition
demonstrators stormed the building.
They broke in while Shevardnadze, re-elected after a contested election
earlier this month, was convening the new parliament.
Georgia’s opposition parties say the election was rigged and
demanded Shevardnadze’s resignation. Led by opposition leader
Mikhail Saakashvili, the demonstrators overturned tables and chairs
and leapt onto the podium. Fist fights broke out after Saakashvili
ordered Shevardnadze’s supporters to leave the building. He
then claimed the “velvet revolution has taken place.”
The Georgian parliament’s outgoing speaker and leader of another
opposition group, Nino Burjanadze, said she was taking on the role
of President. “I, as chairman of the Georgian parliament, in
accordance with the constitution, will take on the functions of
the President until such time as it becomes clear whether he [Shevardnadze]
has the ability to continue,” Burjanadze said.
Shevardnadze, 75, the former foreign minister of the Soviet Union,
had initially vowed not to resign. He declared a state of emergency
and accused the opposition of staging an “armed coup”.
“I will not resign,” he had declared not a day before
his resignation. “I will resign when the presidential term
expires, according to the constitution,” he said before his
car, accompanied by armed guards in riot gear, pulled away from
the parliament building. He later added: “This is an attempt
at a coup d’état and an attempt to overthrow the President.
I’m declaring a state of emergency. This is a special order
and the Defense Ministry as well as the Interior Ministry will be
involved in it. And we will restore order.”
The contested election had thrown the poverty-stricken state into
its biggest crisis since it broke away from the Soviet Union 12
years ago.
The capital had become increasingly tense with both pro- and anti-Shevardnadze
forces refusing to give ground and amassing thousands of supporters.
Earlier Saakashvili told a rally of 25,000 people in Freedom Square
that Shevardnadze had one hour to “come to the people or the
people would come to him.”
Police in body armor were posted in front of all the main government
buildings and Shevardnadze supporters camped out in front of the
parliament building. But the heavily armed police gave little resistance
when the demonstrators advanced.
Georgia’s top security official, Tedo Japaridze, also acknowledged
on Friday that the vote — which independent exit pollers said
the opposition appeared to have won — had been tarnished by
fraud. He said a new parliament should be considered temporary until
a new vote can be held.
The pro-Shevardnadze For a New Georgia bloc came in first with 21.32
per cent of the vote, while the Revival party, which has been critical
of the government but sided with Shevardnadze in the crisis, finished
second with 18.84 percent. Saakashvili’s National Movement
came in a very close third with 18.08 percent of the vote.
Protests began soon after parliamentary elections on Nov. 2, when
the opposition cried foul over vote rigging and blatant attempts
to steal the result. European vote monitors said the election showed
“spectacular irregularities.”
Street marches grew as opposition leaders — themselves a mixed
group, who couldn’t form a united front before the election
— vowed not to recognize the new parliament, and demanded that
Shevardnadze resign.
When Saakashvili led the charge into parliament, the crowd breaking
down the tall wooden doors and sending deputies racing for safety,
he pointed at the white-haired Shevardnadze on the podium and shouted:
“Resign! Resign!”
Source: Independent (UK), with additional info from Christian Science
Monitor
PATRIOT Act expansion moves through
Congress
By Jim Lobe
Washington, DC, Nov. 21 (IPS)— The US Congress is poised to
approve new powers that would let the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) search and seize business records without court approval in
the name of the administration’s “war on terror”.
The legislation amounts to the first substantive expansion of the
controversial USA PATRIOT Act since it was approved just after the
Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
Acting at the behest of the administration of President George W.
Bush, a joint House-Senate conference committee has approved a provision
in the 2004 Intelligence Authorization bill permitting the FBI to
demand records from certain businesses without the approval of a judge
or grand jury if it deems them relevant to a counter-terrorism probe.
Until now, only banks, credit unions and similar financial institutions
were obliged to turn over such records on demand.
Shortly after the conference agreement was reached, the House of Representatives
approved the underlying authorization bill by a margin of 263 to 163.
It is expected to pass the Senate shortly.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it was “disappointed”
with the House’s approval but happy that a number of lawmakers
on both the left and right decided to oppose the bill to protest the
records provision, whose inclusion in the bill was discovered by staff
aides only last week.
Particularly notable in Thursday’s House vote was the defection
by 15 right-wing Republicans from the administration’s fold.
“This PATRIOT Act expansion was the only controversial part of
this legislation, and it prompted more than a third of the House,
including 15 conservative Republicans, to change what is normally
a cakewalk vote into something truly contested,” said ACLU Legislative
Counsel Timothy Edgar.
“One need look no further than this vote to get an effective
gauge of the PATRIOT Act’s lack of popularity on Capitol Hill
and among the American people,” he said.
The PATRIOT Act gives unprecedented powers to the FBI and the entire
federal government.
It was rammed through Congress by the administration just six weeks
after the 9/11 attacks, and has evoked great controversy. An unusual
coalition of liberal, left and right-wing groups has argued that the
law’s expansion of the government’s surveillance and investigatory
powers threatens individual freedoms and privacy rights.
More than 200 local governments and jurisdictions, including some
of the country’s largest cities and the states of Hawaii, Alaska
and Vermont, have since approved resolutions upholding their citizens’
rights to full enjoyment of the rights guaranteed in the constitution
and urging a narrowing of the PATRIOT Act.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has been holding a series of critical
hearings in the past month on the act’s impact.
Members of the judiciary committee, including Republican Larry Craig
of Idaho and five Democratic senators, sent a letter to the conference
committee earlier this week urging it to strip the new provision from
the intelligence bill so that it could be taken up by their committee
in public hearings. The provision has never been publicly debated.
“I’m concerned about this,” Illinois Senator Richard
Durbin, who tried unsuccessfully to limit the life of the new provision,
told the New York Times. “The idea of expanding the powers of
government gives everyone pause except the Republican leadership.”
The measure would extend the FBI’s power to seize records from
banks and credit unions to securities dealers, currency exchanges,
travel agencies, post offices, casinos, pawnbrokers and any other
business that, in the government’s eyes, has a “high degree
of usefulness in criminal, tax or regulatory matters.”
Such seizures can be carried out with the approval of the judicial
branch of government.
The administration wants the powers in order to more effectively prosecute
the “war on terrorism,” although critics warn that once
granted, the FBI might use the powers in cases irrelevant to terrorism
in order to gather evidence against targets of other investigations.
Indeed, the recent Senate hearings have discussed incidents in which
information about individuals was obtained by the FBI through the
use of its counter-terrorism powers although the probes were directed
against what the ACLU called “garden-variety criminals.”
The provision not only permits the FBI to seize records from more
kinds of businesses; it also forbids businesses from informing their
clients about the seizures.
In that way, it is comparable to a particularly controversial section
of the PATRIOT Act that permits the FBI to seek an order for library
records for an “investigation to protect against international
terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities,” and prohibits
librarians from telling anyone that the FBI demanded the records.
Librarians and civil-liberties groups have sued the government to
have that section declared unconstitutional.
“The more checks and balances against government abuse are eroded,
the greater that abuse,” said the ACLU’s Edgar. “We’re
going to regret these initiatives down the road.”
