SPECIAL ISSUE:NATIONAL BLACK HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN

UPDATECommittee for the Suit Against Government Misconduct

P.O. Box 254, Peter Stuyvesant Station,New York, N. Y. 10009 212-675-5000 October/November, 1979

BLACK NATION CHARGES GENOCIDE:

U.N. RALLY DEMANDS HUMANRIGHTS AND SELF-DETERMINATION

On Black Solidarity Day,Nov. 5, 1979, Black peoplefrom across the U.S. will de-monstrate at the United Nationsto charge U.S. imperialismwith genocide and to demandhuman rights and self-deter-mination for the Black Nation.They will document the grossviolations of human rights suf-fered by Black people, petitionfor the freedom of politicalprisoners and prisoners of war,and call on all progressivecountries and forces in theinternational community tosupport the struggle for self-

determination of the Black Na-tion. This historic event ispart of a protracted campaignled by the National Black Hu-man Rights Coalition that isdemanding an end to the policemurders of Third World peopleand the escalating attacks bythe KKK and other white supre-macist organizations, demandingfreedom for political prisonersand Prisoners of War, and anend to the genocidal condi-tions of spiraling unenploy-ment, chemical warfare ofheroin and methadone, indecenthousing, education and medical

Gont'd p. 9.

"FREE THE LANDAND THE RNA 1 1WILL FOLLOW'5The Republic of New Afrika

is the Black Nation in theUnited States that traces itsorigin to the kidnapping of100 million Afrikans and 320years of oppression and ex-ploitation by the UnitedStates. The Republic of NewAfrika (RNA) was founded andnamed in 1968 at a meeting of500 Black Nationalists in De-troit. At this meeting, dele-gates signed a Declaration ofIndependence and elected aprovisional government andclaimed the national territoryas the five states of thedeep South: Mississippi, Ala-bama, Louisiana, South Caro-lina and Georgia. This eventsignaled a new stage in al-most four centuries of Blackpeople's struggle for freedomand resistance to U.S. im-perialism.

The provisional governmentof the RNA was organized tolead the Black Nation's strug-gle for independence. At theheart of the Black Nation'sstruggle against genocide andfor self-determination is thestruggle for land. For, asMalcolm X argued, all revolu-tions are fought for land andpolitical power. The subju-

Cont'd p. 2.

National Black Human Rights Campaign demonstration in NewRochelle, N.Y. protesting the police murder of Qnery Robinson.

PNA oont'd

gated national territory ofthe RNA is land rich and vitalto the survival of the BlackNation. The Black Nation'srightful claim to this landis based both on the factthat it is Black people'sblood and labor that has de-veloped and enriched the landand because this territory ispart of the reparations owedBlack people for the enslave-ment and genocide they suf-fered at the hands of U.S.imperialism. The continuous400 years of struggle by Blackpeople has made it clear thatthey will win land and inde-pendence by any means neces -sary.

In response to centuriesof Black people's struggle forfreedom and political powerthe United States has alwayswaged counter-insurgency waragainst the Black Nation.This counter-insurgency hasalways targeted revolutionarynationalist leadership, fromthe frame-up and imprisonmentof Marcus Garvey to the assas-sination of Malcolm X.

In 1967, the U.S. govern-ment launched the latest stageof counter-insurgency againstthe Black Liberation movement—COINTELPRD. Its statedgoals were:

Who We AreThe CSAGM works under the lea-dership of the National TaskForce for COINTELPRO Litiga-tion and Research as part ofthe growing movement againstgovernment counter-intelli-gence. Members of the Commit-tee are plaintiffs in Clark v.USA, a major civil lawsuitagainst the FBI, Justice Dept.,Richard Nixon, John Mitchelland others. The plaintiffshad been named as the targetsof illegal activities forwhich ex-FBI officials wereindicted on criminal charges.

The RNA 11 being led in chains through Jackson, Miss, shortlyafter their capture in 1971.

"1. Prevent the coalitionof militant black nationalistgroups."2. Prevent the rise of a

'nessiah' who could unify,and electrify, the militantblack nationalist movement.

"3. Prevent violence onthe part of black nationalistgroups."4. Prevent militant black

nationalist groups and lea-ders from gaining respecta-bility, by discrediting themto three separate segmentsof the community [the 'res-ponsible 'Negro community, thewhite community, Negro radi-cals] .

"5. Prevent the long-rangegrowth of militant black na-tionalist organizations, es-pecially among youth."

J. Edgar Hoover recognizedthe significance of the found-ing of the RNA in the devel-opment of the Black national-ist movement. Many of itsfounding leaders and organi-zations had already been tar-gets of OOINTELPRO measuresand FBI investigations anddisruptions were begun onthose who organized and at-tended the founding conven-tion before the meeting eventook place. Regular FBI in-vestigative reports on the

RNA were sent to the WhiteHouse, local police, local of-fices of intelligence agencies,U.S. attorneys as well as mi-litary intelligence. Through-out 1969, the FBI tried tofind a way to incite violencebetween the RNA and otherBlack organizations. Finally,the FBI and Hoover agreed tomail out forged letters underthe forged signature of ErnariObadele, then RNA President,in an attempt to "createfriction between the RNA andthe Black Panther Party" (FBImemorandums, Jan. 13, 1969,Feb. 6, 1969, Feb. 17, 1969).In March, 1969, the Detroitpolice tried to assassinateBrother Gaidi Obadelo, co-leader of the PNA in a shoot-out outside of Bethel Church,site of the RNA second nation-al convention. In the shoot-out—started by the Detroitpolice department—four RNAcitizens were wounded by gunfire, one Detroit policemanwas killed and 155 men, womenand children were arrested.The FBI tried to use thisincident as a basis to labelthe RNA a terrorist group,even though all eye witnessesand even the FBI informerscontradicted this assertion.

Cont'd p. 7.

ASSATA ANDSUNDIATAON THEOFFENSIVE AGAINSTCOINTELPRO

Assata Shakur (slave name,Joanne Chesijiard) and SundiataAcoli (slave name, ClarkSquire) are two Black revolu-tionaries imprisoned since1973. They are serving lifeplus 30 year sentences as aresult of the U.S. government'swar against the Black Nationin struggle for land and inde-pendence. Their continuingstruggle for freedom, forthemselves and for all Blackpeople, provides leadershipin the fight to defeat U.S.imperialism and exposes theU.S. government's total denialof human rights of all Blackpeople in the U.S.

Their freedom will be agreat victory for the BlackNation and all anti-imperial-ist forces because it will re-present the strength and de-termination of the Black li-beration struggle as a wholeto liberate some of its keyleaders. Their freedom willbe a severe blow to U.S.imperialism, as it continuesto bring all its militaryand intelligence forces tobear to keep Assata and Sun-diata imprisoned, because itwill overturn the -most pro-found effects of COINTELPRDon the Black liberation move-ment.

Assata and Sundiata wereboth ineirbers of the BlackPanther Party (Sundiata wasone of the N.Y. Panther 21)who were involved in coimnjnityprograms and struggles againstthe daily genocidal condi-tions faced by Black people.They are two of the many revo-lutionary nationalists who,in the face of the govern-ment's increasing warfareagainst Black people, foughtfor the survival of Black

Oont'd p. 6.

FREEDOM OF FOUR PUERTO RICANNATIONALISTS ADVANCES STRUGGLEAGAINST POLICE TERROR

On Sept. 10th four of theworld's longest held prisonersof war were released from U.S.prisons — Lolita Lebron, OscarCollazo, Rafael Cancel Miranda,and Irvin Flores Rodriguez.On the same weekend, the Na-tional People's MoratoriumAgainst Police-HSB-BIA-FBIRepression was convened in NewYork City under the leadershipof the Movimiento de LiberacionNacional (MLN), a revolutionaryMarxist-Leninist Puerto Ricanand Chicano/Mexicano organiza-tion inside the U.S. borders.The victory of the freedom ofthe four Puerto Rican National-ist POWs established the frame-work for the convening of thisnational conference — calledtogether to forge a unitedstrategy among Third Worldpeoples inside the U.S. in thestruggle against police terror.The struggle to expose and endgovernment counter-insurgencyactivities and police terrorhas its highest expression inthe struggle to free POWs —liberation fighters capturedand held by the enemy.

The Pour are free today asa result of the heightening ofthe armed struggle for PuertoRico's independence, the mobi-lizing of the Puerto Ricanpeople against U.S. imperial-

ism, the growing internationalpressure and the increasing ex-posure of the U.S. as thegreatest violator of humanrights in the world today.

The Pour are leaders of thePuerto Rican independence strug-gle because they have foughtand have risked their lives indefense of their homeland. Theyhave maintained a position of"retraimiento" — a stance ofnon-collaboration with theinstitutions of imperialistcontrol: elections, plebe-scites, courts, etc. and infighting for the right of op-pressed peoples to engage inarmed struggle to win libera-tion. This is the stand takenby the 21 Puerto Ricans recent-ly arrested in Vieques, PuertoRico,in the struggle to end theU.S. military occupation oftheir land. And it is the standof the RNA 11 in asserting thatBlack people are citizens of thesovereign nation of the Repub-lic of New Afrika, and as suchcan only be tried as prisonersof war and must be treated ac-cording to the Geneva Accordsgoverning the treatment of POWs.

It is this leadership whichguides the struggle for humanrights and against genocide —

Cont'd p. 11.

The Pour Nationalists (from 1-r): Irvin Flores Rodriguez, OscarCollazo, Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda.

FBI FORCED TO RELEASE MOREFJLES-THOUSANDS OF DELETIONSHIDE CRIMES

Just as "information" isthe basis of any counter-in-telligence operation, informa-tion is at the heart of Clarkv. USA. The government gathersinformation in order to better"disrupt, discredit and neu-tralize" the national libera-tion struggles and progressivemovements in this country. Weneed information about thoseactivities in order to betterunderstand the history of ourmovement, the overall func-tioning of COINTELPRD in thepresent and to nullify or wea-ken the impact of the govern-ment 's counter-intelligenceprograms in the future. Infor-mation is key to counteringthe counter-intelligence war.

The bulk of that informa-tion is contained in volumesof files compiled and main-tained at FBI headquarters andfield offices. Control overthese files is a critical partof the FBI's ability to con-duct illegal activities insecret and to cover up theextent and responsibility forsuch activities when they arerevealed. Outright destruc-tion of files by FBI agentshas been one of the main ob-stacles to the prosecution offormer officials Gray, Feltand Miller. Geronimo Pratt isin prison because the FBI re-fuses to release files whichwould conclusively show hisinnocence. In our case, FBIfiles are the main source ofinformation about the extentand depth of the illegal ac-tivities conducted in the nameof "protecting the nationalsecurity".

The Freedom of InformationAct passed in 1974 is the mainlegal avenue through which theFBI's absolute control of itsfiles can be challenged. TheAct provides for a simpleletter writing procedure

through which an infividualcan obtain all the relevantfiles that government agenciesmay have. It is designed tobe a curb on invasions of pri-vacy and abuse of governmentintelligence gathering powers.On the one hand, thousands ofpeople have received files asa result of the FOIA; on theother, it clearly has been in-effective in controlling eith-er invasion of privacy or

In our case, the "simpleadministrative procedures" pro-duced virtually no files andwe were forced to institute acollateral FOIA suit (Bibermanet al. v. FBI) to the mainClark v. USA. Only when wetook the FBI to court for fail-ing to meet the requirementsof the law did we receive anysubstantial files.

Currently, the FBI main-tains that they have releasedall the files they intend toor are required to. They main-tain this despite the factthat all of the files areheavily "redacted" (i.e.,abuses of government authority. ,, , * , ,

T_T , , . blanked out or deleted); con-Tne FBI is currently trying toreduce its effectiveness evenfurther through amendments tothe FOIA which would severelylimit the scope of what hasto be released and also allowfor massive destruction offiles through "routine" admi-nistrative procedures.

tain huge gaps in time periods—most have virtually no in-formation about 1972-1974,the years cited in the indict-ments of FBI officials, orthe present; and no informa-tion about illegal activities.The FBI has filed documents

Cont'd p. 10.

VICTORY NEARS FOR GERONIMOPRATT: GOVERNMENT COVER UP

EXPOSEDi^:^^r-:';--^^>:-:.>^!jil*i->^>^»""

••-.*»,

the government has activelywithheld evidence from theirown surveillance records forall these years that prove Ge-ronimo 's innocence. The go-vernment's continuing cover-up has forced both the publicand the judge to raise ques-

and is bringing Geronajto c oser tions abQUt what else .̂ ^uO IlTGiGClQm GcLdi Qoy • AS JTGpOJi t •f~Vi^*i T* /"V"\TM11IJT "PRO ^f^*l~'i vi "t"i r^g?

ed in the last UPDATE, Geronimo ̂^ are SQ desperately trying

Pressure is mounting dailyin the struggle to free Gero-nimo Pratt. It is exposingthe government's frantic crimi-nal cover-up of its attacks onGeronimo and the Black movement

Pratt, a Black revolutionaryfighter, who has been impri-soned for the last eight years,has been waging an intense bat-tle, along with his supportersand the National Task Forcefor COINTELPRD Litigation andResearch that has forced thegovernment to admit that he wasbeing kept in solitary confine-ment on false charges and was atarget of daily harassment andattack before and after hisimprisonment; that has led toan attorney general in the casebeing held in contempt for ly-ing to the court and that isfast exposing the fact that

to nide> Cont'd p. 8.

Geroniro Pratt

FBI SEEKS EXPANDED SECRET POLICE POWERSince Watergate, the FBI

and entire U.S. intelligencecomnunity has cone under at-tack for its criminal activi-ties, including the COINTELPROprogram. The fight to exposethe scope of those crimes andto free the political prison-ers and prisoners of war im-prisoned as a result has beenled by Black and other ThirdWorld peoples. In responseto the public exposure andlosses suffered at home andthroughout the world, the in-telligence community is fight-ing to recoup its defeats andto consolidate its strength.

In this attenpt, the FBIhas argued that COINTELPRO isended and that its ranks havebeen cleaned of the few "badapples". The truth, however,is quite the contrary. 'Des-pite overwhelming evidence ofFBI involvement in murders,assaults, break-ins and falseinprisonment, no agents havebeen punished, while these ac-tivities have continued.Along with the government'srefusal to prosecute thoseknown FBI agents guilty ofcriminal activities, legisla-tion is now before Congresswhich would legalize criminaland unconstitutional activi-ties of the FBI while revokingwhat has been an effectivetool for their exposure.

The proposed FBI Chartercurrently before Congress,in the name of limiting anddefining FBI powers, givesthe FBI virtually unlimitedrights in coirbatting domestic"terrorism." What would de-fine "terrorism", however,would encompass a wide scopeof individuals and politicalorganizations, but would par-ticularly attack the nationalliberation movements organi-zing within the U.S.

Rather than criminalizebreak-ins and burglaries, FBIagents are instructed that"investigations are conducted

with minimal intrusion consis-tent with the need to collectinformation or evidence in atimely, effective manner."Further, violations of the lawmerely must be approved by ahigher official. Informantsand agents will be authorizedto engage in criminal activi-ties with FBI approval, aslong as the potential benefitsof such activities "outweighsthe seriousness of the con-duct involved." Lawyers anddoctors are authorized to berecruited as informants forthe FBI. The FBI would havevirtual unlimited access to aperson's telephone, bank, taxand credit records.

Enforcement of these guide-lines for FBI powers would beleft entirely to the FBI andthe Department of Justice.These agencies' history ofcondoning and rewarding thecriminal actions of theiragents forecasts continuedapproval of FBI violations ofthe law.

Coupled with the Charter,the FBI has proposed "revi-sions" of the Freedom of In-formation Act. The Act hasbeen a valuable tool in thestruggle to expose COINTELPRO.Complaining that the FOIA hasbeen used by organized crimeto discover the names of in-formants (highly improbablesince the FBI zealouslyguards their identities) , theFBI would:

1. Make the Act unavail-able to "convicted felons".Thus, people such as GeronimoPratt would be unable to ob-tain the information necessaryto expose the FBI frame up ofhim.

S*;' v2. Separate information

into two categories. The Actwould not apply to intelligenceinformation, OOUSTIELPRO, poli-tical surveillance or other

documents on the FBI's crimi-nal and unconstitutional ao-tivities.

3. Make FBI documents un-available until 7 years afterthe completion of an investi-gation, or never if the inves-tigation is continuing.

4. Leave the determinationof what documents areable up to the discretion ofthe FBI, revoking even thelimited powers of the Courtto make an independent judge-ment.

These t«> proposals, ratherthan serving to guide the FBI,serve to confer unlimited andunchecked powers upon the in-telligence community. Thedangers are clear.

The FBI's strategy to winover the Congress and the pub-lic in support of thesechanges in the law is equallyas clear. By attempting todefine the targets of thesechanges as "felons", "terror-ists", and "extremists", theimpression is given thatAmerican citizens engaged inlawful political activitywould be unaffected. Thestrategy of COINTELPRD wassimilar: isolate and destroythe leading progressive strug-gles of Black and otherThird World peoples in theU.S. by labelling them as "ter-rorist" and "criminal". Be-cause of its own white supre-macy, the Left and other socialmovements of white people ac-cepted these definitions, thusgiving the FBI the power andlegitimacy to extend its coun-ter-intelligence programs farbeyond their original targets.

EXPOSE COINTELPRO!

DEFEAT THE FBI CHARTER!

FREE ALL PRISONERS OF WAR!

Assata/Sundiata cont'd

Nationalism by escalatingthe struggle to a higherlevel, away from the eyes ofthe state.

The government's murdersand imprisonment of revolution-ary nationalists escalated inthe name of the hunt for theBlack Liberation Army. Avicious police-directed mediacampaign, labeling numerousBlack revolutionaries as ter-rorists and cop killers,helped create a climate thatorganized mass white supportfor the government's attemptto exterminate the BLA.

Assata was the target ofa nationwide hunt with a$50,000 reward offered for hercapture, dead or alive. Thepolice had shoot-to-killorders when they attacked her,Sundiata and Zayd Malik Shakuron May 3, 1973 on the N.J.Turnpike. Zayd was murdered,and Assata and Sundiata wereseverely wounded and arrested.One N.J. trooper was killed.They were convicted in separ-ate trials in N.J. in coun-ties where the majority ofthe population is white andbelieved them guilty beforethe trial. All attempts bythe defense to bring evidencerelated to COINTELPRO weredenied.

Under the direct leader-ship of Assata and Sundiata,a concerted struggle fortheir release is being wagedby the Black Liberation move-ment. This campaign is oneof the major focuses of theNational Task Force for COIN-TF.T.PRO Litigation and Re-search, whose work is finallybreaking open the government'sconspiracy by forcing produc-tion of documents about COIN-TELPRO against Assata and theBlack Liberation movement asa whole. "

Lata has been kept inmaximum security units sincethe time of his arrest. Be-cause of his involvement inthe struggle that is forcingthe state to close down theM.C.U. behavior modificationunit at Trenton State Prison,he has recently been trans-ferred out of that institutionto the Federal Prison in Lewis-burg, Pa. That behavior modi-fication unit houses men incells considered too smallfor dogs—cells that are inreality modern day torturechambers, designed to isolateand destroy revolutionaries.He is fighting the transfer,as another attempt to furtherisolate and possibly kill him.

Assata is appealing the1977 conviction for felonymurder—accused of being pre-sent at the scene of someone'sdeath. She is currently inmaximum security in Clinton,N.J., having fought continu-ously against being kept inisolation, often in men'sprisons, and being sent to amaxi-maxi control unit in theFederal Prison in Alderson,W.Va. Her appeal is based onthe government's counter-intel-ligence conspiracy againsther. She has fought to gainaccess to her POIA files,denied her throughout hertrials. These documents show

WAR IN ATHE STRUGGLE TO

A Forum Tc

Assata Shakur and The RepSpeakers:

Dara Abubakari—PresidentRepublic of New Afrika

Ahmed Obafemi—National FAfeni Shakur—National Is

tion and Research

May 19th Oonmunist OreWomen's Committee AgaiCultural Event

FRIDAY, NO\£MBER 9, 1979

COLUMBIA TEACHER'S COLLEGE- - 120t$2.50 DonationSponsored by: May 19th Communist C

Assata Shakur

an inter-agency effort to killor imprison her. Between 1973and 1978 Assata stood trial8 times in N.Y.C. She wasnever convicted of any of thecharges. The trial in N.J.was a racist railroad in everyway, judge, jury and prosecu-tion all worked together toconvict her. She is challeng-ing that and the legal irre-gularities that occurred.

The Black Liberation move-ment's current efforts to freePrisoners of War challengesthe white left's attempts tomake Assata and Sundiata"acceptable" to white people,a position which only fur-thers the government's attemptsto isolate them. As the BlackLiberation Army has explicitlyargued, support for Assatacan not stand above full poli-tical support for the BlackLiberation Struggle.

PROTEST THE TRANSFER OFSUNDIATA!

SEND CONTRIBUTIONS!

For more information:

National Task Force for COIN-TELPRO Litigation & Reserach

P.O. Box 65Bronx, N.Y. 10473

NERICA:FREE THE LANDBenefit

blic of New Afrika 11

Provisional Government of the

& 11 Defense Committee3k Force for COINTELPRO Litiga-

mizationist Genocide

— 7:30 p.m.

i St. & Broadway, NYCChildcare

:ganization

RNA cont'd

In 1971, the RNA moved itsheadquarters to Mississippito concentrate the struggleto free the national homelandand organize to win the re-tparations due the descendantsof slaves. The key aspect ofthe work was organizing aplebescite demanding theUnited Nations oversee anelection in the national ter-ritory, as to whether Blackpeople choose to be citizensof the U.S. government or thenewly formed government ofthe Republic of New Afrika.

Shortly after they arrived,RNA cadre tried to purchaseland to establish the capital.But State Attorney GeneralA. F. Summer declared, "Therewill be no independent nationset up in Mississippi" andintervened to prevent the le-gal purchase.

The United States attackson the RNA culminated with afull scale military attack onthe leadership and governmentworkers in the RNA's Jackson,Mississippi government centeron August 18, 1971. In aclassic counter-insurgency op-eration, the FBI installed a

paid secret informer, ThomasSpells, in an RNA governmentcenter who facilitated theassociation with RNA personnelof a man only he and the FBIknew to be a fugitive, in-stead of arresting the fugi-tive, the FBI allowed him totravel to Mississippi for anRNA convention. Shortlythereafter, the FBI issued awarrant for the fugitive andunder this pretext carriedout the military attacks onthe government center andresidence of RNA presidentImari Obadele. After 75 se-conds warning, using a floorplan provided by the informer,police fired into the home,demanding that the sleepingresidents surrender. Thoughthe attack was executed muchlike the attack which mur-dered Fred Hampton and MarkClark in Chicago 2 yearsearlier, the RNA cadre wereprepared for such an attackand were able to escape toa tunnel.

During the shoot-out, aJackson police lieutenant waskilled and an FBI agent wounded,Seven people were arrestedand charged with murder, trea-son and waging war against theState of Mississippi. At theRNA government center, noshooting occurred, but fourothers were arrested, includ-ing President Imari Obadele,subsequently convicted of con-spiracy to assault federal of-ficers, though he was not pre-sent at the shooting.

An FBI teletype right afterthe raid urged federal prose-cution of Imari because "ifObadele can be kept off thestreet it may prevent furtherproblems involving the RNA"(from Jackson FBI to Hoover,9/8/71). As Jackson's mayor,Russell Davis proclaimed,"every legal possibility forforcing the RNA out of Jacksonhas been exhausted." Althoughthe frame up and attacks on

the RNA represented a classicexample of counter-insurgency,the white left basicallydenied the existence of thecase and participated in theisolation of the RNA 11 bylabeling them extremists orultra-nationalist.

All of the informationavailable about these COINTEL-PRO operations is a result ofa fierce battle waged by theRNA and the National TaskForce for COINTETPRO Litiga-tion and Research to exposeand document COINTELPRO'sconspiracy. Before any spe-cific information on COIN-TELPRO was ever forced pub-lic, the RNA 11 demandedtheir FBI files and filed amotion to dismiss the casebecause of denial of civilrights of RNA citizens.The judge denied the notionand the FBI denied havingany files on the RNA until theRNA 11 exhausted all legal ap-peals. Since then, 73,000pages of evidence have beenreleased exposing the clearstrategy to sabotage the po-litical impact of the RNA.

As COINTELPRO's conspiracyagainst the RNA continued,threats were made to RNA law-yers in an attempt to sabo-tage their representation ofRNA citizens. News releaseswere planted by the FBI in De-troit and in Jackson as partof a major media assault toportray the RNA as terrorists.In the face of the federal go-vernment's reluctance to pur-sue the prosecution of theRNA 11 due to lack of evidence,the Jackson FBI and SenatorsJames 0. Eastland and JohnStennis exerted politicalpressure on the Department ofJustice "to remove whateverobstacles are blocking the or-derly procedure of this case...for trial" (FBI memo,7/12/73) .

Cont'd p. 8.

8

RNA cont'd

Today, five targets remainin prison: four, OffoggaQuduss, Karim Njabafudi, He-kima Ana and Imari Obadele infederal cind state peniten-tiaries, and a fifth, AddisAbaba in a half-way house.One of the 11, Tawwab, wasnever captured.

In the face of the impactof the attacks and lossessuffered at the hands of CO-INTELPRQ, the Black libera-tion struggle is now intensi-fying and overturning COIN-TELPRO's impact, escalatingthe struggle to free theland and free POWs. Becausethe RNA 11 never separatedthe struggle for its freedomfrom the struggle to free thenational territory, it has

consistently exposed the fun-damental illegitimacy of theU.S. empire.

Because the RNA workersrepresent Black people in theday-to-day struggle for humanrights and against genocideall over the country, the go-vernment attack had a profoundimpact on the entire Blackmovement. By refusing to sup-port the struggle to free theland and by boycotting thecase of the RNA 11, the whiteleft never challenged U.S.imperialism's attack on Revo-lutionary Black Nationalism.

The RNA 11 always foughtto define themselves and otherimprisoned Black freedom figh-ters as Prisoners of War. In1973, the RNA organized a de-monstration in the South ex-plicitly demanding freedom

for POWs, which was attendedby 2000 people!

The National Task Forcefor OOINTELPRD Litigation andResearch and the RNA 11 areappealing their convictions.They have instituted suitsto gain access to the files,as part of the fight to re-open their case and intensifythe political and legal bat-tles for their freedom. Thestruggle to free the RNA 11fundamentally challenges allwhite people because it meansthat revolution is based inthe total transformation ofU.S. boundaries. The fightto defeat COINTELPRO cannever be separated from thestruggle to free the land andfor total liberation of theBlack Nation.

Geronimo Pratt cont'd

Recent developments sinceour last newsletter have inclu-ded:—the government's Vaughn affi-davit - their index of mater-ials they hold in Geronimo'scase and their reasons forwithholding some—was ruled in-sufficient by the judge, chal-lenging the FBI's claim thatthey have disclosed all infor-mation necessary.

—Congressman Paul McCloskey,moved by Geronimo's case totake action, wrote public of-ficials, including WilliamWebster, about a possible co-ver-up of Geronimo's files.When Webster wrote back deny-ing any misdeeds by the FBI orJustice Department, McCloskeywas incensed enough to makethis letter public. Webster,caught in the act, was forcedto respond that he had neversent the letter and would per-sonally look into Geronimo'scase!

The media and public havehad to respond to all of thisgrowing evidence. One dramaticexample of this was the act ofa famous English mountain clim-ber, who climbed to the top ofGrace Church in San Franciscoand unfurled a banner saying,"Governor Brown, when are yougoing to free Geronimo Pratt?"

Geronimo is finally gettingsome accurate press. This initself is a defeat of COINTEL-PRO strategy that utilized themedia to portray Black revolu-tionaries, such as Geronimoand Assata Shakur, as terror-ists and criminals and thathelped create the atmospherein which people were gunneddown and railroaded to prison.

For most of the years ofGeronimo's imprisonment, mostwhite leftists and progressiveswould have assumed that hewould remain in jail forever."Free Geronimo Pratt" was aslogan with little meaning andno imperative. Many, in fact,concurred with the state's line

that Geronimo was a terroristand certainly guilty as char-ged. Yet the unremitting strug-gle led by Geronimo and theBlack movement has put hisfreedom and the freedom of allPOWs on the agenda for now.Geronimo will be free, and hisfreedom will be a major vic-tory in the struggle to freeall POWs and to counter COIN-TELPRO. The lessons for allof us involved in this fightare clear: that the struggleto free Afrikan Prisoners ofWar is concretely leading inexposing COINTELRPO and under-mining the government's at-tempts to both rewrite thehistory and reconsolidate andsecure its intelligence opera-.tions today. For national li-beration is the strategy todefeat COINTELPRO.

FREE GERONIMD PRATT!FREE ALL PRISONERS OF WAR!DEFEAT U.S. IMPERIALISM!

st

Black Nation cont'd

care. With the slogan, "humanrights is the fight for self-determination, the NBHRC ispointing to the basic denialof human rights that definesBlack people's continued en-slavement by imperialism andis pushing forward the 400-year struggle of Black peopleagainst genocide and for li-beration.

The demonstration at theUnited Nations culminatesmonths of struggle and organi-zing that has included demon-strations in response to policemurders and attack, such as themurders of Luis Baez in Brook-lyn and Emery Robinson in NewRochelle. The NBHRC has alsobegun the massive task of do-cumenting the names of and dataconcerning the thousands of po-litical prisoners held captiveby the United States. Thelonger term plans of the NBHRCafter the UN mobilization in-clude holding a National BlackConvention on Genocide on Sep-tember 13, 1980, the ninth an-niversary of the Attica up-rising.

The UN demonstration andthe ongoing struggle led bythe NBHRC represent and reflectthe resurgence and heighteningof the Black liberation strug-gle in this period. The Blackmovement has emerged from theheavy blows it suffered at thehands of COINTELPRO that muchstronger and clearer. For im-perialism's counter-insurgencycan never defeat Black people'sstruggle. These advances inthe Black Nation's strugglefor land and political powercome at a time of intensecrisis for U.S. imperialism,as the tide of national libera-tion achieves victory aftervictory around the world. Theimpending victory in Zimbabwe,where people's war is defeat-ing white settler colonialismand imperialism represents aprofound blow against the

rule of world wide white sup-remacy. In the face of de-cline and crisis, imperialismintensified its exploitationof Third World people insideits borders and heightens itsattacks against Third Worldpeople's struggles. Continu-ous attacks and murders by thepolice, and the consolidationand escalating terror of theKKK and other white siprema-cist organizations are COINTEL-PRO—imperialism's counter-insurgency program—for the1980's. Tney operate, alongwith imperialism's "war againstterrorism" through which thegovernment is reorganizing andconsolidating its attacks onrevolutionary nationalists inthe U.S. and internationally.As stated by the NBHRC, "Theoppression of Black people inthis-country has always beenan accurate barometer of theright-wing trend of the U.S."

The Committee for the SuitAgainst Government Misconduct

recognizes that these condi-tions, and the struggle forhuman rights by Black people,represented by the NationalBlack Human Rights Campaigndefine the content and direc-tion for our work and the in-volvement of all white reoplewho are struggling againstCOINTELPRO and to free Prison-ers of War. To fight COINTEL-PRO we must support the strug-gle of the Black Nation forself-determination, and fightthe rise of white supremacy.This special doi±>le issue ofour newsletter is dedicated tothe struggle for Hunan Rights,and in particular the UN mobi-lization on November 5th. Forwe understand that the strug-gles to free Afrikan Prisonersof War will be key short termvictories in the protractedstruggle for full human rightsand self-determination of theBlack Nation. We are enclos-ing pledge cards, which westrongly urge people to fillcut to contribute to the Na-tional Black Human RightsCampaign.

FREE ALL AFRICAN POWs:THi F!GHT AGJUNST COiNTELPRO

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18 7 p.m.

5655 S. UNIVERSITY (blue gargoyle), CHICAGO

The Comnittee for the Suit Against Government Misconductis participating in this important event as part of thecontinuing fight against COINTELPRO. This event, sponsoredby the May 19th Communist Organization, will include speak-ers from the National Task Force for COINTELPRO Litigationand Research, the National RNA 11 Defense Committee, theMay 19th Communist Organization, and the CSAGM.

Chicago, as a leading center of the struggles of Blackand Puerto Rican people for liberation, has been a majorfocus of U.S. government attack on nationalist leadership.

On December, 4, 1969, the FBI and Chicago police stageda military assault, murdering Black Panther Party leadersFred Hampton and Mark Clark. Their families and the survi-vors of the assault have fought a 10-year battle to exposethese COINTELPRO assassinations.

Today, 29 Black and Latin men will go on trial, 17 fa-cing the electric chair, for charges resulting from a prisonrebellion in Pontiac, 111. in July, 1978. Central to thestruggle against COINTELPRO is the fight to free politicalprisoners and Prisoners of War.

10

FBI Releases Files cont'd

known as "Vaughn Affidavits"for two of the plaintiffswhich are suposed to statereasons for any files thathave been withheld. We arechallenging both specific ex-emptions and their right towithhold pages in the name of"national security" with nofurther explanation or becausethey contain the name of aninformant. Additionally, thelaw provides no basis forwithholding information as toillegal activities—activitieswhich the government itselfadmits have occurred—yet nosuch information has been re-leased.

Clearly, we have not lear-ned much about the specificbreak-ins, burglaries, bug-ging and other illegal actswhich could be used as evi-dence in Clark v. USA. But inwhat has been released, aswell as what has been omitted,we have already learned agreat deal about CDINTELPRD.We have learned about themassiveness of the counter-intelligence activities—plaintiffs whose lives wererecorded on a minute-to-minutebasis for days on end; aboutconstant buggings of privateconversations in the assumed"privacy" of one's home; aboutthe widespread use of infil-trators and informants whofed information about virtual-ly every political meeting,demonstration, benefit weever attended; and about FBI"visits" to dozens of rela-tives, friends, employers,etc. of each of us, askingquestions, showing pictures,implying that we were involvedin "something illegal" with-out ever saying what or of-fering any proof.

The files we have receivedalso show the self-consciousattempts of the FBI to use andcreate dissension and splits

in the movement—in particularthe SEE/PL split and any con-tradictions between SD6 andthe Black Panther Party. Thefiles also reveal the FBI'sactive interest in our per-sonal contradictions and dif-ficulties. There are reportson arguments between plain-tiffs; that one plaintiff re-duced her political activityand might therefore be willingto talk to the FBI; and even areport that one plaintiff wassupposed to be entering thehospital and that that wouldprovide a good opportunityfor the FBI to try to inter-view her.

Interspersed throughout thefiles is the FBI's justifica-tion for heightening counter-insurgency activities in ge-neral and illegal activities(though not by name) in par-ticular. Practically everypage ends with the notation"armed and dangerous" or"known to be involved in ter-rorist activities" withoutany evidence to support thisand even when the content ofthe nemo says exactly theopposite. People are movedfron one security index to a"higher priority" one basedon their "association" withknown Weathermen or Weather-man sympathizers and we haveread in the files that wewere "suspects" in numerouscriminal investigations aboutwhich we were never informed,never indicted or tried.

The files show the FBI'sfocus of attention on ourwork and our relationshipswith Third World movementsand organizations. This be-gins with pages of descrip-tion of the Black PantherParty and the work that weengaged in in support of theirprograms and in denfense ofBlack activistis and revolu-tionaries harassed and impri-

soned by the police and FBI—the New York Panther 21, BobbySeale and Erica Huggins inNew Haven. The files continuein recounting our work in de-fense of other political pri-soners and prisoners of war—in support of Assata Shakur,Sundiata Acoli and numerousother alleged members of theBlack Liberation Army; in sup-port of prison struggles atAttica and elsewhere. Whatthe files very self-conscious-ly don't reveal is any of theFBI OOINTELPRO illegal opera-tions in relation to thosepolitical activities detailedin the files. Basically theyhave only released what is al-ready public information—anarrest at one of Assata Sha-kur's trials, a grand juryinvestogation around the BLA,for example.

While we have already re-ceived thousands of pages offiles we are just at the be-ginning of the fight for in-formation. We know that theFBI will not voluntarily re-lease information about itsillegal activities (in largepart because these activitiesare not just a "thing of thepast"). We have also beenable to see the impact ofsome of our errors, the lackof self-consciousness aboutour relationship to thestate which allowed us tomake personal contradictionsand differences accessibleto the FBI as well as notbeing able to see the hand ofthe government in many politi-cal struggles. Finally, we canunderstand even more sharplyfrom the files that the poli-tical justifications and ra-tionalizations as well as themassive infrastructure whichhas been created mean that aslong as it has the power theU.S. government will neverend CDINTELPRO.

Freedom of Pour cont'd-̂ *?_•*•-•*."' " - i&s'i';11-**-

the struggle for self-deter-mination and political powerfor Third World peoples insidethe U.S. The National Morator-ium brought together organiza-tions and individuals frcmChicano/Mexicano,. Puerto Ricanand Black communities acrossthe U.S. The National Coali-tion of Oppressed Peopleswhich was forged out of themeetings is developing a uni-ted strategy in the struggleagainst police terror. Thisunity is reached by exposingand collectivizing informationfrcm all corners of the coun-try, by uncovering the stra-tegy of the enemy. During the2 1/2 days, testimony was

The Conmittee is distributingthe following items:

Tape/speech by Assata Shakur,CSA.GM Forum, 5/4/79, Womenand COINTELPRD. 25 jz*.

Speech by Judith Clark, CSAGMForum, 5/4/79, Women andCOINIELPRD. 25 jzf.

How to file for your FOIA file50 ft.

Silk-screened T-shirts: HumanRights By Any Means Neces-sary, with photo of MalcolmX. $5.00.

* * * * * * * * *

Please send me additional in-formation about the work ofthe CSMM.

Name

Address

City/State_

Telephone_

given about numerous brutalmurders and police attacksagainst Third World communi-ties:

—Brooklyn, New York: theAugust, 1979 brutal murder ofLuis Baez, with police shoot-ing an unarmed Puerto Ricanman 24 times, claiming that hewas threatening them with apair of scissors. This oc-curred in the same precinctwhere Arthur Miller, a Blackcommunity leader, was beatenand murdered 2 years ago as heattempted to intervene as thepolice ticketed his brotherfor a traffic violation.

—Chicago, Illinois: theJune, 1977 murders of RaphaelCruz and Julio Osorio when po-lice, in military fashion, at-tacked the Puerto Rican Daycelebrations in Humboldt Park.This occurred on the same daythat the FALN — Fuerzas Arma-das de Liberacion Nacional,a Puerto Rican armed clandes-tine independence organiza-tion — bombed 2 buildings indowntown Chicago, demandingIndependence and Socialism forPuerto Rico.

—Oakland, California: thecold-blooded murder of BarlowBenevidez in June, 1976, shotin the back while he was hand-duffed and held against a po-lice car. Despite a fiercestruggle in the Chicano/Mexicano community, the policehave refused to investigatethis murder.»•• ~ -. :;>""~- .--- '• '--•' -"" ./'.:r*J*-*.

—Denver, Colorado: the July,1977 murders of Artie Espinozaand James Hinojos, killed infull view of 200 people whenpolice attacked people in apublic park in the Chicano/Mexicano community. The March,1973 murder of Luis Martinez,Jr., member of the Crusade forJustice and known politicalleader in the community.

This reign of terror alsoincludes the Ku Klux Klan bor-

der patrols throughout thesouthwest, operating under thesupport of the Immigration andNaturalization Service andthe increasing KKK cross burn-ings and attacks against Blackfamilies in New York City andother northeast cities. Thisconsolidation of organizedwhite supremacist groups ispart of the U.S. govermentcounter-insurgency strategyagainst Third World nationalliberation movements inside theU.S.

The central demand of theMoratorium, "Disarm the Policeor Arm the People" makes clearthat the struggle for humanrights is the fight for survi-val for Third World peoplesand, in raising the issue ofpolitical power, it directlychallenges U.S. imperialistcontrol and domination.

The tvo days concluded witha militant march — expressingcelebration, anger and deter-mination — through the PuertoRican community of New York'sLower East Side and up to theUnited Nations where documentsand testimony frcm the Mora-torium were delivered to theUN Human Rights Commission. Theseveral hundred demonstratorschanted: "The human rightsproblem in the world today isright here in the USA", "TheFour are free, Puerto Rico soonwill be", "Esta lucha va llegara la guerra popular" (Thisstruggle will develop intopeople's war), and "Boricua,Chicano, luchando mano en mano"(Boricua, Chicano, strugglinghand in hand). When the marchpassed New York's BellevueHospital, the crowd cheered"William Morales, Live LikeHim; Dare to Struggle, Dare toWin" in support of Puerto Ri-can independentista WilliamGuillermo Morales who escapedfrom the hospital's prisonward last May, defying imper-ialism's tightest security, and

Cont'd p. 12.

Freedom of Four cont'd

whose continuing freedom at-tests to the will and deter-mination of the Puerto Ricanpeople and the armed clandes-tine movement to protect theirwarriors. The United Nationsrally was addressed by the Mo-ratorium organizers Jose Lopezof the MLN and Ricardo Romeroof the MLN and the ColoradoCommittee Against Repression,as well as by representativesof the Puerto Rican revolu-tionary organization La LigaSocialista Puertorriquena andthe Mexican revolutionary or-ganization El Comite de DefensaPopular.

12

Ws in the Committee for theSuit Against Government Mis-conduct attended the Moratoriumand participated in the marchto the United Nations becausewe understand that these policeattacks are not isolated inci-dents, but are part of thestrategy of U.S. imperialismthrough its COINTEL program andother similar programs to neu-tralize or destroy movementsfor national liberation.

In the face of these at-tacks and the rise of the KKK,there is no neutral positionfor white people. To be pro-gressive requires that you ac-

tively support the strategybeing forged by the nationalliberation movements in de-manding human rights and anend to police terror. We en-courage all who support theCSAGM and the campaign to ex-pose COINTELPRO to support theprogram of the NationalPeople's Moratorium.

CELEBRATE THE VICTORY OF THEFREEDOM OF THE FOUR PUERTORICAN NATIONALISTS!

SUPPORT THE NATIONAL PEOPLE'SMORATORIUM AGAINST POLICEREPRESSION!

INDEPENDENCE AND SOCIALISMFOR PUERTO RICO!

Conrnittee for the Suit AgainstGovernment MisconductP.O. Box 254, Peter Stuyvesant Sta.New York, N. Y. 10009