[g8-sheffield] Oppenly Classist..

[zerosevenfour two]

The organisational structure of the army of a revolutionary movement 
infomation for insurrection Information gleaned from 20 Years on the Move

John Africa's Revolution

The MOVE Organization surfaced in Philadelphia during the early 1970's. 
Characterized by dreadlock hair, the adopted surname "Africa", a principled 
unity, and an uncompromising commitment to their belief, members practiced 
the teachings of MOVE founder John Africa.
"MOVE's work is to stop industry from poisoning the air, the water, the 
soil, and to put an end to the enslavement of life - people, animals, any 
form of life. the purpose of John Africa's revolution is to show people 
through John Africa's teaching, the truth - that this system is the cause of 
all their problems (alcoholism, drug addiction, unemployment, wife abuse, 
child pornography, every problem in the world) and to set the example of 
revolution for people to follow when they realize how they've been 
oppressed, repressed, duped, tricked by this system, this government and see 
the need to rid themselves of this cancerous system as MOVE does."

-- MOVE statement
During the early 1970's MOVE was based in the Powelton Village section of 
West Philadelphia (309 N. 33rd St.). Members had a preference for hard 
physical work and were constantly chopping firewood, running dogs, shoveling 
snow or sweeping the street. MOVE ran a popular car wash at this location, 
helped homeless people find places to live, assisted the elderly with home 
repairs, intervened in violence between local gangs and college 
fraternities, and helped incarcerated offenders meet parole requirements 
through a rehabilitation program. After adopting MOVE's way of natural 
living, many individuals overcame past problems of drug addiction, physical 
disabilities, infertility and alcoholism. MOVE welcomed dissenting views as 
an opportunity to showcase their belief and sharpen their oratory skills 
which they knew would be tested in their revolutionary struggle. MOVE 
presented their views at public forums and lectures of noted authorities 
including Dick Gregory, Alan Watts, Jane Fonda, Julian Bond, Richie Havens, 
Walter Mondale, Roy Wilkins, Buckminster Fuller, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 
Caesar Chavez and Russell Means, and none could refute John Africa's 
teachings. By 1974 MOVE was appearing in public with increasing frequency.
"If our profanity offends you, look around you and see how destructively 
society is profaning itself. It is the rape of the land, the pollution of 
the environment, the betrayal and suffering of the masses by corrupt 
government that is the real obscenity."

-- MOVE statement
The mainstream media began a long history of distorted MOVE coverage using 
misquotes, unverified rumors and biased stories. While those who actually 
met MOVE members could see the remarkable strength and health they 
exhibited, dehumanizing news accounts perpetrated the falsehood that members 
never bathed and were diseased.

Frank Rizzo, Police Commissioner from 1967-71 was the key figure in 
Philadelphia government and built his career on opposing black efforts to 
challenge the status quo. In 1967 Rizzo's first major action as Commissioner 
had been to halt a peaceful demonstration of some 3500 Black high school 
students asking for educational reforms and Black Studies programs by 
unleashing hordes of cops who charged with no provocation and chased 
students for blocks. Many were beaten. He ran the city with a prominent and 
heavy-handed police force that had a national reputation for brutality.


MOVE launched demonstration after demonstration aimed at focusing attention 
on police abuses. Community groups across the City sought MOVE's help in 
setting up demonstrations in their own neighborhoods. As a result of this 
activism, the police began a concerted campaign of harassment against MOVE, 
breaking up demonstrations by arresting MOVE members on disorderly conduct 
charges or violations of whatever local ordinance could be made to apply. On 
May 18, 1974, Leesing and Janet Africa, both pregnant at the time, were so 
brutally beaten by Rizzo's police that they both had miscarriages. By 1975, 
clashes between MOVE and the police reached increasingly brutal proportions, 
with frequent beatings, arrests and jail stays. On April 29, 1975, Alberta 
Africa, pregnant at the time, was held spread-eagle by four officers and 
repeatedly kicked in the stomach and vagina by a matron named Robinson, 
suffering a miscarriage as a result. Despite police violence against MOVE 
many MOVE mothers did bear children, including Sue Africa, in spite of 
several police beatings throughout her pregnancy, had a son, Tomassa, on 
Aug. 4, 1975 (Tomassa was later murdered by the city on May 13, 1985). 
Janine Africa's baby, Life Africa, was born March 8, 1976 but murdered by 
the police less than a month later, when his mother was grabbed by a cop, 
thrown to the ground with 3 week old Life Africa in her arms and stomped 
until she was nearly unconscious. The baby's skull was crushed. Police 
denied that the baby existed because there was no birth certificate.


MOVE took on the courts and eventually overwhelmed them, acting as their own 
attorneys in hundreds of trials and hearings. On November 5, 1976, Rhonda 
Africa was arrested and brutalized. Nearly 9 months pregnant, Rhonda went 
into premature labor the next day, giving birth to a bruised and injured 
baby that soon died. (Rhonda herself was later murdered by the City on May 
13, 1985.)


On May 20, 1977, MOVE staged a major demonstration demanding the release of 
their political prisoners and an end to the violent harassment by the City. 
To keep an increasingly brutal police force at bay, MOVE appeared outside 
their house with firearms.

"We told the cops there wasn't gonna be anymore undercover deaths. This time 
they better be prepared to murder us in full public view, cause if they came 
at us with fists, we were gonna come back with fists. If they came with 
clubs, we'd come back with clubs, and if they came with guns, we'd use guns, 
too. We don't believe in death-dealing guns, we believe in life. But we knew 
the cops wouldn't be so quick to attack us if they had to face the same 
stuff they dished out so casually on unarmed defenseless folk."

-- MOVE
To force MOVE members out of their Powelton Village headquarters, Rizzo got 
court approval to starve them out. On March 16, 1978, the police set up a 
blockade around the house and shut off water lines. Those inside included 
pregnant women, nursing babies, children and animals Police arrested anyone 
who tried to break through the barricades, though some attempts to get food 
and water to MOVE were successful. During this time MOVE lost the farm they 
had paying on in Virginia. The blockade lasted almost two months and on 
April 16, 1978, thousands marched around City Hall protesting the City's 
action.

The City tried to negotiate a settlement. MOVE knew officials could not be 
trusted but entered into an agreement to expose the City's deceit. Terms of 
the settlement were publicized May 3, 1978 before MOVE had given final 
approval. MOVE then told mediators why those in the house could not be 
legally arrested. When newly installed D.A. Ed Rendell confirmed that the 
arrest warrants were indeed void as per Rule 1100. Terms were finalized 
after MOVE had a 90-day deadline for vacating the house deleted from the 
agreement. To obscure legal improprieties, a gag provision was included to 
prevent MOVE from talking to the media. Police were allowed to arrest, 
arraign and release on bail pending appeal, each wanted member in the house. 
Police searched the house for weapons and found only inoperative ones. The 
city agreed to dispose of all other pending MOVE cases within 4-6 weeks.


On August 2, 1978, Judge DiBona ruled that MOVE had violated the unagreed-to 
90-day deadline and the D.A.'s office then solicited MOVE arrest warrants 
for not vacating the house. The fact that Rendell's office could not legally 
practice law at a civil proceeding went unpublicized and the media was 
instrumental in perpetuating the myth that MOVE had agreed to a 90-day time 
limit. The City was so bent on framing and hunting down MOVE members the 
DiBona signed bench warrants authorizing police to bring before him 
practically every known MOVE adult, though over half of them were not in the 
house and couldn't possibly have violated an order to vacate it.


On August 5, Philadelphia authorities, in collaboration with Virginia 
police, staged a midnight raid on the Richmond home of two MOVE women and 14 
children, arresting Gail and Rhonda Africa at gunpoint and returning them to 
Philadelphia. The legal justification was Gail and Rhonda's alleged failure 
to leave a house that they weren't within a hundred miles of.


In the early morning hours of August 8, hundreds of police and firemen 
surrounded MOVE headquarters. Using heavy construction equipment they tore 
down the barricades and knocked out the windows. With guns drawn, over 20 
officers entered the first floor of the house, only to find that MOVE had 
taken refuge in the basement. Fire hoses and deluge guns were then turned 
on, flooding the basement with water. MOVE adults were forced to hold 
children and animals in their arms to keep them from drowning. Suddenly 
gunshots rang out and immediately bullets filled the air as police 
throughout the area opened fire. Officer James Ramp was struck and killed by 
a single bullet. Three other policemen and firemen were wounded. MOVE never 
fired any shots and no MOVE members were arrested with any weapons. 12 
adults were arrested, all suffering physical abuse at the hands of the 
police, and 11 children had been in the house. As news cameras recorded the 
event, officers Joseph Zagame, Charles Geist, Terrance Mulvihill and 
Lawrence D'Ulisse severely beat MOVE member Delbert Africa while taking him 
into custody. Without provocation, Zagame smashed Delbert in the face with a 
police helmet as D'Ulisse connected with a blow from the butt of a shotgun. 
This knocked Delbert to the ground and he was then dragged by his hair 
across the street where the other officers set upon him, savagely kicking 
him in the head, kidneys and groin.


An afternoon conference was held at City Hall during which Police 
Commissioner Joseph O'Neill said Officer Ramp was killed by a shot in the 
back. Moments later a typed police press release was distributed stating 
that Ramp was shot in the chest. Rizzo displayed a table of firearms and 
claimed they were taken from the MOVE house. Some reporters noted the 
seemingly new condition of the weapons; others wondered what these guns were 
doing in the mayor's office rather than impounded in the police crime lab as 
evidence. No MOVE fingerprints were found on any of these weapons. Although 
destroying evidence of a crime is illegal, police bulldozed and leveled the 
house as soon as MOVE members were taken away. No efforts were made to 
preserve the crime scene, inscribe chalk marks, or measure ballistic angles. 
MOVE told Judge Merna Marshall that the destruction of the house prevented 
them from proving that it was impossible for any MOVE member to have shot 
officer Ramp. The Fred Hampton case in Illinois was cited, where the 
preservation of the crime scene enabled the estates of Fred Hampton and Mark 
Clark to prove that all offensive fire came from the police. Judge Marshall 
denied MOVE's petition and held them over for trial. Three defendants were 
tried separately and those who disavowed MOVE were released. MOVE protested 
that they were being held strictly because they were MOVE members rather 
than on any evidence that they had anything to do with the death of James 
Ramp. After refusing to disavow MOVE, Consuewella Dotson was later tried and 
sentenced to 10-20 years. Even though the MOVE members were in the basement 
when the gunfire occurred and only one bullet struck Ramp, Judge Malmed 
pronounced the remaining nine defendants guilty of the murder and sentenced 
each one to 30-100 years. On a radio talk show the next day, a caller (Mumia 
Abu- Jamal) asked Malmed, "Who shot James Ramp?", he replied, "I have no 
idea."


The police assaults and court hearings continued for several years, and one 
of the few media people to accurately report on MOVE and make a serious 
effort to understand the organization was Mumia Abu-Jamal, a highly regarded 
Philadelphia journalist and president of the Association of Black 
Journalists. Throughout the 1978 confrontation and resulting trials, Mumia 
continued to produce in-depth coverage of MOVE issues, often against the 
directives of his employers. On December 9, 1981, Mumia was found shot 
through the chest and badly wounded on a downtown Philadelphia street. 
Nearby lay a police officer, dead from gunshot wounds. During his subsequent 
arrest and treatment in a hospital, Mumia was abused and beaten by police. 
Mumia maintained his innocence and conducted his own defense until Judge 
Albert Sabo ruled he was being disruptive and ordered a court-appointed 
lawyer to take over the case. Mumia then refused to participate and the 
events at the crime scene were never fully determined. A jury found him 
guilty of first degree murder and gave him the death penalty. There has been 
an international call for the release of Mumia from what is regarded as an 
unjust sentence based on his association with MOVE.


The primary activity of MOVE now became securing the release of innocent 
members facing not only 30-100 years in prison, but the wrath of a 
vindictive prison system and its abusive guards. Several members went on 
hunger strikes to obtain the basic rights other inmates received. In post 
trial motions, court-appointed lawyers neglected to raise the illegality of 
the arrest warrants from the 1978 confrontation. Judge Edward Bradley 
admitted there were inconsistencies but declined to take any action. D.A. Ed 
Rendell outright refused to meet with MOVE and Councilman Lucien Blackwell 
and City Council Chairman Joseph Coleman were non-committal. Starting in 
1982, MOVE was able to meet several times with City Managing Director Wilson 
Goode. After consulting a lawyer on MOVE's legal claims, Goode agreed that 
MOVE was innocent and promised to remedy the situation after he was elected 
mayor. Media refused to cover the issue and there was blackout on any 
information about MOVE. MOVE began publishing their own newspaper and using 
loudspeakers to inform people of the injustice and the City's conspiracy to 
eliminate them.


In 1984 Wilson Goode became mayor, then quickly reneged on his earlier 
promise and took no action as another confrontation with MOVE took shape. 
Anticipating how far the City would go to silence them, MOVE began 
fortifying their rowhouse at 6221 Osage Avenue in the Cobbs Creek section of 
West Philadelphia. At the same time, police made preparations for a 
murderous assault by secretly obtaining from the FBI over 37 pounds of C-4, 
a powerful military explosive, although this violated police regulations, 
FBI policies and federal law regarding transfer of explosives. Media 
suddenly began covering MOVE again, focusing on Osage Avenue neighbors' 
disagreements with MOVE rather than MOVE's longstanding legal dispute with 
the City. MOVE held a meeting with neighborhood residents in May, 1984 to 
explain their position and police stepped up their campaign of intimidation 
and harassment. Between June and October Alfonso Africa was arrested and 
beaten bloody several times by police. On August 8, 1984, hundreds of police 
and firemen spent the day surrounding the Osage block in what came to be 
viewed as a dry run for the later disaster, but MOVE would not be provoked. 
MOVE told negotiators they wanted at least one official to honestly 
investigate the unjust jailing of MOVE members, but officials and the media 
ignored this. On May 11, 1985, Judge Lynne Abraham signed arrest warrants on 
charges of disorderly conduct and terroristic threats. On Mother's Day, May 
12, police evacuated the 6200 Block of Osage Avenue and towed away parked 
cars.


On Monday, May 13, 1985, police and firemen launched a full scale military 
assault on the MOVE rowhouse using tear gas, water cannons, shotguns, Uzi's, 
M-16s, silenced weapons, Browning Automatic Rifles, M-60 machine guns, a 
20mm anti- tank gun, and a .50-caliber machine gun. Some of these weapons 
were illegally obtained with the help of the U.S. Alcohol Tobacco and 
Firearms Agency. Between 6:00 and 7:30 am police fired over 10,000 rounds of 
ammunition at the house knowing there were women and children inside. They 
also tried to blast through the walls with the military explosives the FBI 
had illegally provided. When none of these measures succeeded in driving 
MOVE from the house, a state police helicopter was used to drop a bomb on 
the roof. This started a fire that officials deliberately allowed to burn, 
burning down the entire block of some 60 homes. MOVE members repeatedly 
tried to exit but were met with police gunfire which killed some of the 
adults and children in the alley behind the house. Six adults and five 
children died. Also on May 13, 1985, police in Chester, PA in cooperation 
with Philadelphia, used tear gas to storm the Chester home of Alfonso 
Africa. The only adult present, his wife Mary, was arrested and their 5 
children were taken away as police ransacked the house. The legal basis for 
this action was Judge Lynne Abraham's warrant for Alfonso, although he had 
been incarcerated since May 8 on charges of threatening officer James 
McDonnell (who previously shot Alfonso on June 10, 1984).


Ramona Africa was charged with conspiracy, riot and multiple counts of 
simple and aggravated assault. Although no testimony was presented 
indicating she ever held or fired a weapon, a jury found her guilty and 
Judge Michael Stiles sentenced her to 16 months to 7 years. Mayor Goode 
appointed a special commission to investigate the catastrophe, but it had no 
power to indict. Findings released in March, 1986 were highly critical of 
City officials and included extensive recommendations, but as years passed 
these were largely disregarded and forgotten. In 1986, D.A. Ron Castille 
impanelled a grand jury to investigate criminal wrongdoing on the part of 
the City. Notwithstanding 11 deaths, 60 homes burned to the ground, 
unauthorized possession and use of military explosives, and a fire that was 
deliberately allowed to burn out of control, Castille's grand jury followed 
his recommendations and returned not a single indictment. A federal grand 
jury investigating civil rights violations also returned no indictments. 
None of the investigations looked at earlier legal improprieties.


There are currently 9 MOVE members imprisoned by the PA penal system. Locked 
away in remote areas, far from the public eye, they have endured years of 
continuous physical and mental harassment. Delbert, Carlos and Chuck Africa 
were kept in solitary confinement over five years for refusing to violate 
MOVE belief by cutting their hair. At Muncy prison, MOVE women upheld their 
religious principles by refusing to give blood samples and were repeatedly 
put in solitary confinement, sometimes for as long as 3 years. Sadistic 
prison guards were delighted to inform Delbert, Janet, Sue, Phil, Janine and 
Consuewella Africa that some of their children were killed in the police 
assault on May 13, 1985. No MOVE members were involved in a 1989 Camp Hill 
prison riot, but Chuck Africa was singled out by correctional officers Bray, 
Cywinski and Lt. Komsisky, and while handcuffed and shackled, Chuck was 
brutally attacked and beaten. He was then transported incommunicado across 
the country until lodged at the maximum security prison in Lompoc, CA, until 
his return to PA 16 months later. Delbert, Phil and Edward Africa were also 
abruptly transferred out of state and weeks passed before their family 
learned of their whereabouts. Phil and Edward were shuffled through a number 
of prisons before arriving at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, KS. 
Delbert was eventually taken to the military prison at Fort Gordon, GA. They 
spent many months, and in Phil's case, over a year at these locations before 
being returned to Pennsylvania.


Lack of media coverage has given the Parole Board the power to demand the 
special stipulation for MOVE members at parole hearings that they may be 
paroled if they agree never again to associate with MOVE, even when the 
person's husband or wife is a member. All MOVE members have refused this 
stipulation and are doing/have done their maximum sentences.


After the tragic deaths and destruction the city caused in 1985, the vast 
publicity surrounding the disaster continually overlooked the fact that 
MOVE's original demand for justice in the 1978 confrontation remained 
unresolved. Now, Ed Rendell is the mayor of Philadelphia, and Judge Lynne 
Abraham is now D.A. Lynne Abraham. Judge Sabo has been called out of 
retirement in the City's efforts to ensure the murder of Mumia-Abu Jamal.


MOVE points out that in their over 20-year history, destruction and death 
have always been the work of the police, so inquiries as to the future 
likelihood of such occurrences should be directed to city officials. MOVE 
has never dropped a bomb, burned down a neighborhood or killed anyone, they 
have only demanded the release of innocent members. The City of Philadelphia 
has murdered 17 MOVE members, including adults, children, 1 baby and 4 
miscarriages.


Nine MOVE members remain unjustly incarcerated on 30-100 year sentences.

"As long as we are alive, we will never abandon our innocent brothers and 
sisters in jail, and they know we will never abandon them, and this city 
gonna always have a problem until every last one of our brothers and sisters 
is home."

-- MOVE statement

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