Peace Arch demo misrepresented by Workers World.

["Macdonald Stainsby" <mstainsby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

      The largest Marxist-Leninist party in North America is currently the
Workers World Party. As I write this, I am pained by its neccessity. Workers
World has done some of the finest work in the US in most of the last decade,
including close work with the International Action Center that also includes
Ramsey Clark. The recent war on Yugoslavia was no exception, as WWP called
the question, the only question, "Hands of Yugoslavia" and organized around
opposition to the war that was unmatched in the continental US. I adress
these points in the hopes that something will be done about some amazing
errors in the recent article "Action Halts Border Traffic: "Free Leonard
Peltier and All Political Prisoners" by comrade Tom Scahill.


First off, why on earth is a comrade from Buffalo writing on an event that
took place between Vancouver BC and Seattle Washington? When demos like this
happen it is of the utmost importance that they be reported accurately. That
usually means first hand knowledge is a pre requisite. Perhaps this
misunderstanding could have been avoided if WW only wrote on what they saw.

The very title of the article is, well, wrong. There was no "blocking
traffic". At the Peace Arch (not a bridge!) people started gathering around
10:30 am. The location was symbolic of the nature of North American Indian
struggles, one that has no borders. Perhaps 65-70 percent of the people in
attendance were Indians. There were compañeros from Chile who showed up and
drew out (symbolically) the continuity across all the Americas. Some brought
information about Mumia. The Avakian cultists were the only party ones who
showed up, newspaper bundles at the ready.

    Of course traffic "was backed up for miles", it's the bloody border
crossing. People who drove by got a first hand reality check, and sometimes
the odd individual from our demonstration would go up to this or that
vehicle and talk it up with people, give them a chance to ask questions, but
that's about it.

The "Peace Bridge" does not exist. If it did, then maybe 35 cars could form
a caravan, but we actually car-pooled to the event in a few scattered (and
jam packed) vans. Ours broke down, incidentally, so looking for a ride back
to Vancouver BC suggested to me first hand how desperate travel actually
was. The "Peace Bridge" must be in aid of the "Peace Arch" which does in
fact exist. Following in the footsteps of then-passportless Paul Robeson,
the placing of the demo was in good historical company. The arch is a
monument, a rather large concrete one at that. It is straight up, no one
could climb it if they tried. So I have absolutely no idea where much of the
WW reporting on the "bridge" could possibly be coming from.

The state reacts very differently to Native struggles than it does to the
rest, especially in Canada. This report is very distressing from the vantage
point of what this could actually do- it can allow the state to "prove" that
these folks were "out of hand", and lead to further repression. The Canadian
and American states want to crush these brave folks first and foremost. That
is what the genocidal attacks that still go on are all about. We can not, as
supporters or as directly involved, get involved in this kind of bizarrea
reportage. Shame on WW for being so casual. It can be read as a provocation.
The demo was about energy. The energy to struggle. The energy to remember
and to look to the future. Reminders of the modern fight can not go on
without an understanding of history. You could as easily reported the songs
that had been all but snuffed out by the US and Canadian governments that
were brought back to life. That is survival. And that survival is far more
militant than "blocking traffic".

Perhaps this is rather strong. Bummer. It is intended as a wake up call to
our fine Workers World comrades, unmatched in their work around Iraq and
Yugoslavia. Yet that is the point. We must be twice as good in our work
inside this beast than we are at describing things abroad and further. I
hope this can be recitified.

Comradely greetings, comradely intentions.
Macdonald JE Stainsby


The Article in question repoted here:


ACTION HALTS BORDER TRAFFIC:"FREE PELTIER AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS:
By Tom ScahillBuffalo, N.Y.
Native people and their supporters shut down the Peace
Bridge between the U.S. and Canada on Oct. 10. Traffic
backed up for miles on both sides of the bridge. The
protest--held on "Columbus Day"--demanded clemency for
Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal and all other politicalprisoners in he
U.S.
Peltier, an American Indian Movement warrior, is serving
two consecutive life sentences after his conviction in the
1975 shooting deaths of two FBI agents. Abu-Jamal, a former
Black Panther Party member, is on death row in Pennsylvania,
convicted in 1981 of killing a white Philadelphia policeofficer.
Both are recognized worldwide as political prisoners,
jailed for standing up against the U.S. government and state
machinery. Supporters in both cases point out that the
judicial misconduct was so egregious that it fits the
pattern of classic government frame-ups of politicalactivists.
The Oct. 10 action was organized to win wider awareness of
these and other cases. At the height of the protest, a 35-
car caravan and as many demonstrators on foot crossed the
Peace Bridge half-way. At the international boundary line
protesters stopped for more than half an hour--halting all
traffic in both directions.
Earlier that afternoon protesters rallied in LaSalle Park
at the foot of the Peace Bridge. Grandpa Bear, from the
North American Native Warriors Association, stated that "as
people of conscience, we cannot allow the further
incarceration of Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the
Puerto Rican prisoners, or any political prisoners."
He stressed that 50 million people worldwide have demanded
a new trial for Leonard Peltier. Yet President Bill Clinton
has still not responded to a request for clemency. And
Clinton's administration still refuses to support the callfor a new trial.
Lydia Bayoneta, a National Committee member of Workers
World Party from Rochester, pointed out that the strength of
the mass movement here and in Puerto Rico did recently wrest
a victory from Clinton. She described the struggle that won
the recent release of 11 of the Puerto Rican political
prisoners being held in U.S. jails.
Bayoneta made an impassioned appeal to unite the power of
the movements to free political prisoners Leonard Peltierand Mumia
Abu-Jamal.
The rally provided the opportunity for other important
cases to be raised, as well. Dan Asayenes-Smoke and Mary Lou
Smoke, from the Anishnabe nation, described the struggle
resulting from the 1995 killing of Dudley George at Stony
Point, which is near Sarnia, Ontario.
George was killed by provincial police at Stony Point
during the forcible removal of Native people from their
land. Stony Point was Native territory until the Canadian
government stole it in 1942. Native people had been
occupying the area in a struggle to force the Canadian
government to give the land back.
The pro vincial government has refused to hold an inquiry
into Dudley George's murder.Robin Baynes--a member of a non-Native coalition

in
Toronto demanding justice for Dudley George--told those
gathered that Canada is officially ranked "number one" as
the best nation to live in. But for First Nation peoples,
she stressed, Canada is ranked 61st.
Other speakers included Morris Antone, an elder from the
Oneida nation, and Native leader Harry Hill.                          END -

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com