<DIV>"I asked a revolutionary Bolshevik once, "If the vanguard gets power, and <BR>we don't like it and want to go and protest, where will we hire the <BR>coaches from? Will the government be supplying them?" He replied, "ah <BR>well, you see - there'll be no need to protest any more." "<BR><BR>Attempting to reduce this debate to flippant quotes from possibly flippant individuals contributes nothing. </DIV>
<DIV>Lets get serious about this.</DIV>
<DIV>Ian <BR><BR><B><I>g8-sheffield-request@lists.aktivix.org</I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Send g8-sheffield mailing list submissions to<BR>g8-sheffield@lists.aktivix.org<BR><BR>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<BR>http://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/g8-sheffield<BR>or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<BR>g8-sheffield-request@lists.aktivix.org<BR><BR>You can reach the person managing the list at<BR>g8-sheffield-owner@lists.aktivix.org<BR><BR>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<BR>than "Re: Contents of g8-sheffield digest..."<BR><BR><BR>Today's Topics:<BR><BR>1. Re: Oppenly Classist.. (Dan)<BR>2. Re: Oppenly Classist.. (fabian)<BR>3. Re: Oppenly Classist.. (zerosevenfour two)<BR><BR><BR>----------------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Message: 1<BR>Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2005 15:32:40 +0100<BR>From: Dan <DAN@AKTIVIX.ORG><BR>Subject: Re: [g8-sheffield] Oppenly
Classist..<BR>To: zerosevenfour two <ZEROSEVENFOURTWO@HOTMAIL.CO.UK><BR>Cc: g8-sheffield@lists.aktivix.org<BR>Message-ID: <42A85308.3010806@aktivix.org><BR>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed<BR><BR>Sorry, rant coming up.<BR><BR>Class war? Eh? Which classes? What is the working class, exactly? It <BR>seems to me the rest of the world, apart from maybe you and a few <BR>others, have managed to notice that the gradations of human societies <BR>are about as easy to stick into 'working class - middle class' as your <BR>average eco-system...<BR><BR>Am I working class? I work. Sometimes. Are you? You're on state <BR>benefits. Do you need four middle class grandparents to be middle class <BR>maybe? (After all, that was how the Nazis worked out if you were too <BR>Jewish to survive...)<BR><BR>And is there anything common between a British office worker and someone <BR>in and Export Processing Zone in South East Asia? How does calling them <BR>both working class
help change the world? Maybe you're hoping someone <BR>will cast the scales from their eyes with their damascan <BR>class-consciousness revelations, and they'll discover the Matrix-like <BR>reality of capitalism, and that in reality they're all one fraternal <BR>global proletariat... wait on, dude.<BR><BR>And what about the local people who run computer firms or steel works, <BR>or Beanies, or New Roots, or Sheffield Co-op Development Group, or <BR>Wrigleys Solicitors, or CDI co-operatives who run co-op housing, or <BR>Sheffield Homes who don't? Could we maybe need something more nuanced <BR>than 'middle class - working class' there, do you think? How do they <BR>compare to the companies trading in Coltan, or selling arms, or hiring <BR>out private armies and 'interrogation contractors' in Iraq?<BR><BR>Ah, they're probably all equally evil. Probably all should be first <BR>against the wall - Beanies co-op workers next to the Arms Dealers.<BR><BR>... or the (almost completely middle
class) Intermediate Technology <BR>Development Group, who are working hard to give Africans back their own <BR>means of production? Yeah - let's have a war with them too! (Coz war <BR>means people being killed, in case anyone's forgot. That's people, <BR>flesh and blood as you, not eggs - we're not making omelettes, here.)<BR><BR>Can all of them be stuck into two categories - one side good, the other <BR>evil? Christ - it's like listening to George Bush, or possibly George <BR>Lucas. You're either with us, or you're with the petit bourgeoisie. <BR>Setting up your own business or co-op? That way the dark side lies, <BR>yeeees...<BR><BR>I look forward to the day when the revolution comes, and we want to go <BR>and protest in London about something.<BR><BR>Dan<BR>----<BR><BR><BR>zerosevenfour two wrote:<BR><BR>><BR>><BR>> yes dan class is a means to subdegate all of humanity and take us from <BR>> our mother this earth.. however if simply say that class is there to <BR>>
subdegate we ignore the very real plight and fight of that class the <BR>> working class. i have no intrest in what or why the g8 are in <BR>> sheffield. the reson i can not leave this alone to my own cost and the <BR>> very cost to friendships is because of my love for the working class. <BR>> it will the working class who the police will use there new found <BR>> confidance and powers upon. it will then become part of folk law how <BR>> the middle class was so midley pissed upon. but part of histstory how <BR>> the powers of section 14 and so fourth was further used to fuck over <BR>> the working class. therfor this for me is an issue of class and <BR>> becomes a class war..<BR>><BR>> mozaz.<BR>><BR>> _________________________________________________________________<BR>> Winks & nudges are here - download MSN Messenger 7.0 today! <BR>> http://messenger.msn.co.uk<BR><BR><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message:
2<BR>Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 15:44:54 +0200<BR>From: fabian <FAB@IN-NO.ORG><BR>Subject: Re: [g8-sheffield] Oppenly Classist..<BR>To: "zerosevenfour two" <ZEROSEVENFOURTWO@HOTMAIL.CO.UK><BR>Cc: g8-sheffield@lists.aktivix.org<BR>Message-ID: <A90E9E46-D8EC-11D9-A1C9-000393446E06@IN-NO.ORG><BR>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed<BR><BR><BR>class is regarded a highly outdated political concept by most of the <BR>contemporary radical left, read Empire/Multitude by <BR>Hardt/Negri...class-war as a dichotomic concept of good versus evil is <BR>structurally equivalent to Bushs politics, just as modern and <BR>misleading. Lets move beyond modern politics and change the world <BR>without taking power (Halladay)<BR>class appears to be still a significant cultural marker in the UK <BR>(which is also a monarchy and who cares?), but hey, is classwar hoddies <BR>against suits, golfing vs. football, is it merely fashion? From my <BR>perspective: It certainly
is.<BR><BR>F.<BR><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message: 3<BR>Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2005 15:10:11 +0000<BR>From: "zerosevenfour two" <ZEROSEVENFOURTWO@HOTMAIL.CO.UK><BR>Subject: Re: [g8-sheffield] Oppenly Classist..<BR>To: fab@in-no.org<BR>Cc: g8-sheffield@lists.aktivix.org<BR>Message-ID: <BAY21-F37DC5535CBA0D63F7620899FC0@PHX.GBL><BR>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed<BR><BR>The organisational structure of the army of a revolutionary movement <BR>infomation for insurrection Information gleaned from 20 Years on the Move<BR><BR>John Africa's Revolution<BR><BR>The MOVE Organization surfaced in Philadelphia during the early 1970's. <BR>Characterized by dreadlock hair, the adopted surname "Africa", a principled <BR>unity, and an uncompromising commitment to their belief, members practiced <BR>the teachings of MOVE founder John Africa.<BR>"MOVE's work is to stop industry from poisoning the air, the water, the <BR>soil, and to put an end to the enslavement of life -
people, animals, any <BR>form of life. the purpose of John Africa's revolution is to show people <BR>through John Africa's teaching, the truth - that this system is the cause of <BR>all their problems (alcoholism, drug addiction, unemployment, wife abuse, <BR>child pornography, every problem in the world) and to set the example of <BR>revolution for people to follow when they realize how they've been <BR>oppressed, repressed, duped, tricked by this system, this government and see <BR>the need to rid themselves of this cancerous system as MOVE does."<BR><BR>-- MOVE statement<BR>During the early 1970's MOVE was based in the Powelton Village section of <BR>West Philadelphia (309 N. 33rd St.). Members had a preference for hard <BR>physical work and were constantly chopping firewood, running dogs, shoveling <BR>snow or sweeping the street. MOVE ran a popular car wash at this location, <BR>helped homeless people find places to live, assisted the elderly with home <BR>repairs, intervened
in violence between local gangs and college <BR>fraternities, and helped incarcerated offenders meet parole requirements <BR>through a rehabilitation program. After adopting MOVE's way of natural <BR>living, many individuals overcame past problems of drug addiction, physical <BR>disabilities, infertility and alcoholism. MOVE welcomed dissenting views as <BR>an opportunity to showcase their belief and sharpen their oratory skills <BR>which they knew would be tested in their revolutionary struggle. MOVE <BR>presented their views at public forums and lectures of noted authorities <BR>including Dick Gregory, Alan Watts, Jane Fonda, Julian Bond, Richie Havens, <BR>Walter Mondale, Roy Wilkins, Buckminster Fuller, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, <BR>Caesar Chavez and Russell Means, and none could refute John Africa's <BR>teachings. By 1974 MOVE was appearing in public with increasing frequency.<BR>"If our profanity offends you, look around you and see how destructively <BR>society is profaning
itself. It is the rape of the land, the pollution of <BR>the environment, the betrayal and suffering of the masses by corrupt <BR>government that is the real obscenity."<BR><BR>-- MOVE statement<BR>The mainstream media began a long history of distorted MOVE coverage using <BR>misquotes, unverified rumors and biased stories. While those who actually <BR>met MOVE members could see the remarkable strength and health they <BR>exhibited, dehumanizing news accounts perpetrated the falsehood that members <BR>never bathed and were diseased.<BR><BR>Frank Rizzo, Police Commissioner from 1967-71 was the key figure in <BR>Philadelphia government and built his career on opposing black efforts to <BR>challenge the status quo. In 1967 Rizzo's first major action as Commissioner <BR>had been to halt a peaceful demonstration of some 3500 Black high school <BR>students asking for educational reforms and Black Studies programs by <BR>unleashing hordes of cops who charged with no provocation and chased
<BR>students for blocks. Many were beaten. He ran the city with a prominent and <BR>heavy-handed police force that had a national reputation for brutality.<BR><BR><BR>MOVE launched demonstration after demonstration aimed at focusing attention <BR>on police abuses. Community groups across the City sought MOVE's help in <BR>setting up demonstrations in their own neighborhoods. As a result of this <BR>activism, the police began a concerted campaign of harassment against MOVE, <BR>breaking up demonstrations by arresting MOVE members on disorderly conduct <BR>charges or violations of whatever local ordinance could be made to apply. On <BR>May 18, 1974, Leesing and Janet Africa, both pregnant at the time, were so <BR>brutally beaten by Rizzo's police that they both had miscarriages. By 1975, <BR>clashes between MOVE and the police reached increasingly brutal proportions, <BR>with frequent beatings, arrests and jail stays. On April 29, 1975, Alberta <BR>Africa, pregnant at the time, was
held spread-eagle by four officers and <BR>repeatedly kicked in the stomach and vagina by a matron named Robinson, <BR>suffering a miscarriage as a result. Despite police violence against MOVE <BR>many MOVE mothers did bear children, including Sue Africa, in spite of <BR>several police beatings throughout her pregnancy, had a son, Tomassa, on <BR>Aug. 4, 1975 (Tomassa was later murdered by the city on May 13, 1985). <BR>Janine Africa's baby, Life Africa, was born March 8, 1976 but murdered by <BR>the police less than a month later, when his mother was grabbed by a cop, <BR>thrown to the ground with 3 week old Life Africa in her arms and stomped <BR>until she was nearly unconscious. The baby's skull was crushed. Police <BR>denied that the baby existed because there was no birth certificate.<BR><BR><BR>MOVE took on the courts and eventually overwhelmed them, acting as their own <BR>attorneys in hundreds of trials and hearings. On November 5, 1976, Rhonda <BR>Africa was arrested and
brutalized. Nearly 9 months pregnant, Rhonda went <BR>into premature labor the next day, giving birth to a bruised and injured <BR>baby that soon died. (Rhonda herself was later murdered by the City on May <BR>13, 1985.)<BR><BR><BR>On May 20, 1977, MOVE staged a major demonstration demanding the release of <BR>their political prisoners and an end to the violent harassment by the City. <BR>To keep an increasingly brutal police force at bay, MOVE appeared outside <BR>their house with firearms.<BR><BR>"We told the cops there wasn't gonna be anymore undercover deaths. This time <BR>they better be prepared to murder us in full public view, cause if they came <BR>at us with fists, we were gonna come back with fists. If they came with <BR>clubs, we'd come back with clubs, and if they came with guns, we'd use guns, <BR>too. We don't believe in death-dealing guns, we believe in life. But we knew <BR>the cops wouldn't be so quick to attack us if they had to face the same <BR>stuff they dished
out so casually on unarmed defenseless folk."<BR><BR>-- MOVE<BR>To force MOVE members out of their Powelton Village headquarters, Rizzo got <BR>court approval to starve them out. On March 16, 1978, the police set up a <BR>blockade around the house and shut off water lines. Those inside included <BR>pregnant women, nursing babies, children and animals Police arrested anyone <BR>who tried to break through the barricades, though some attempts to get food <BR>and water to MOVE were successful. During this time MOVE lost the farm they <BR>had paying on in Virginia. The blockade lasted almost two months and on <BR>April 16, 1978, thousands marched around City Hall protesting the City's <BR>action.<BR><BR>The City tried to negotiate a settlement. MOVE knew officials could not be <BR>trusted but entered into an agreement to expose the City's deceit. Terms of <BR>the settlement were publicized May 3, 1978 before MOVE had given final <BR>approval. MOVE then told mediators why those in the
house could not be <BR>legally arrested. When newly installed D.A. Ed Rendell confirmed that the <BR>arrest warrants were indeed void as per Rule 1100. Terms were finalized <BR>after MOVE had a 90-day deadline for vacating the house deleted from the <BR>agreement. To obscure legal improprieties, a gag provision was included to <BR>prevent MOVE from talking to the media. Police were allowed to arrest, <BR>arraign and release on bail pending appeal, each wanted member in the house. <BR>Police searched the house for weapons and found only inoperative ones. The <BR>city agreed to dispose of all other pending MOVE cases within 4-6 weeks.<BR><BR><BR>On August 2, 1978, Judge DiBona ruled that MOVE had violated the unagreed-to <BR>90-day deadline and the D.A.'s office then solicited MOVE arrest warrants <BR>for not vacating the house. The fact that Rendell's office could not legally <BR>practice law at a civil proceeding went unpublicized and the media was <BR>instrumental in perpetuating
the myth that MOVE had agreed to a 90-day time <BR>limit. The City was so bent on framing and hunting down MOVE members the <BR>DiBona signed bench warrants authorizing police to bring before him <BR>practically every known MOVE adult, though over half of them were not in the <BR>house and couldn't possibly have violated an order to vacate it.<BR><BR><BR>On August 5, Philadelphia authorities, in collaboration with Virginia <BR>police, staged a midnight raid on the Richmond home of two MOVE women and 14 <BR>children, arresting Gail and Rhonda Africa at gunpoint and returning them to <BR>Philadelphia. The legal justification was Gail and Rhonda's alleged failure <BR>to leave a house that they weren't within a hundred miles of.<BR><BR><BR>In the early morning hours of August 8, hundreds of police and firemen <BR>surrounded MOVE headquarters. Using heavy construction equipment they tore <BR>down the barricades and knocked out the windows. With guns drawn, over 20 <BR>officers entered
the first floor of the house, only to find that MOVE had <BR>taken refuge in the basement. Fire hoses and deluge guns were then turned <BR>on, flooding the basement with water. MOVE adults were forced to hold <BR>children and animals in their arms to keep them from drowning. Suddenly <BR>gunshots rang out and immediately bullets filled the air as police <BR>throughout the area opened fire. Officer James Ramp was struck and killed by <BR>a single bullet. Three other policemen and firemen were wounded. MOVE never <BR>fired any shots and no MOVE members were arrested with any weapons. 12 <BR>adults were arrested, all suffering physical abuse at the hands of the <BR>police, and 11 children had been in the house. As news cameras recorded the <BR>event, officers Joseph Zagame, Charles Geist, Terrance Mulvihill and <BR>Lawrence D'Ulisse severely beat MOVE member Delbert Africa while taking him <BR>into custody. Without provocation, Zagame smashed Delbert in the face with a <BR>police
helmet as D'Ulisse connected with a blow from the butt of a shotgun. <BR>This knocked Delbert to the ground and he was then dragged by his hair <BR>across the street where the other officers set upon him, savagely kicking <BR>him in the head, kidneys and groin.<BR><BR><BR>An afternoon conference was held at City Hall during which Police <BR>Commissioner Joseph O'Neill said Officer Ramp was killed by a shot in the <BR>back. Moments later a typed police press release was distributed stating <BR>that Ramp was shot in the chest. Rizzo displayed a table of firearms and <BR>claimed they were taken from the MOVE house. Some reporters noted the <BR>seemingly new condition of the weapons; others wondered what these guns were <BR>doing in the mayor's office rather than impounded in the police crime lab as <BR>evidence. No MOVE fingerprints were found on any of these weapons. Although <BR>destroying evidence of a crime is illegal, police bulldozed and leveled the <BR>house as soon as MOVE
members were taken away. No efforts were made to <BR>preserve the crime scene, inscribe chalk marks, or measure ballistic angles. <BR>MOVE told Judge Merna Marshall that the destruction of the house prevented <BR>them from proving that it was impossible for any MOVE member to have shot <BR>officer Ramp. The Fred Hampton case in Illinois was cited, where the <BR>preservation of the crime scene enabled the estates of Fred Hampton and Mark <BR>Clark to prove that all offensive fire came from the police. Judge Marshall <BR>denied MOVE's petition and held them over for trial. Three defendants were <BR>tried separately and those who disavowed MOVE were released. MOVE protested <BR>that they were being held strictly because they were MOVE members rather <BR>than on any evidence that they had anything to do with the death of James <BR>Ramp. After refusing to disavow MOVE, Consuewella Dotson was later tried and <BR>sentenced to 10-20 years. Even though the MOVE members were in the basement
<BR>when the gunfire occurred and only one bullet struck Ramp, Judge Malmed <BR>pronounced the remaining nine defendants guilty of the murder and sentenced <BR>each one to 30-100 years. On a radio talk show the next day, a caller (Mumia <BR>Abu- Jamal) asked Malmed, "Who shot James Ramp?", he replied, "I have no <BR>idea."<BR><BR><BR>The police assaults and court hearings continued for several years, and one <BR>of the few media people to accurately report on MOVE and make a serious <BR>effort to understand the organization was Mumia Abu-Jamal, a highly regarded <BR>Philadelphia journalist and president of the Association of Black <BR>Journalists. Throughout the 1978 confrontation and resulting trials, Mumia <BR>continued to produce in-depth coverage of MOVE issues, often against the <BR>directives of his employers. On December 9, 1981, Mumia was found shot <BR>through the chest and badly wounded on a downtown Philadelphia street. <BR>Nearby lay a police officer, dead from gunshot
wounds. During his subsequent <BR>arrest and treatment in a hospital, Mumia was abused and beaten by police. <BR>Mumia maintained his innocence and conducted his own defense until Judge <BR>Albert Sabo ruled he was being disruptive and ordered a court-appointed <BR>lawyer to take over the case. Mumia then refused to participate and the <BR>events at the crime scene were never fully determined. A jury found him <BR>guilty of first degree murder and gave him the death penalty. There has been <BR>an international call for the release of Mumia from what is regarded as an <BR>unjust sentence based on his association with MOVE.<BR><BR><BR>The primary activity of MOVE now became securing the release of innocent <BR>members facing not only 30-100 years in prison, but the wrath of a <BR>vindictive prison system and its abusive guards. Several members went on <BR>hunger strikes to obtain the basic rights other inmates received. In post <BR>trial motions, court-appointed lawyers neglected to
raise the illegality of <BR>the arrest warrants from the 1978 confrontation. Judge Edward Bradley <BR>admitted there were inconsistencies but declined to take any action. D.A. Ed <BR>Rendell outright refused to meet with MOVE and Councilman Lucien Blackwell <BR>and City Council Chairman Joseph Coleman were non-committal. Starting in <BR><BR>=== message truncated ===</BLOCKQUOTE>