[Marxism] March 20 Antiwar Actions Approaching

["Tony Abdo" <gojack10@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

March 20 Antiwar Actons Are Coming Up
Here is how Austin, Texas comrades are linking local issues with
international ones. From IndyMedia... (they have the uncovered Austin police
memos on their site, too, regarding the police surveillance of local
activists).

`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````
from indymedia.org
Last year, while undercover agents from the Austin police department were
infiltrating anti-war activist workshops, officers of the same department
continued the customary practice of harassment and brutality against
communities of color on Austin's east side.
Austin continues to be a divided city, both economically and racially.
Predominantly middle class activists have often voiced the same outrage
against local institutions as the under-privileged in Austin, but from
separate angles. The last few months, however, have seen an upsurge of
cooperative resistance. Segments of the Austin activist community that have
historically been divided are exploring new ways to connect and reinforce
their struggles.

Over the course of 2003, three black East-Austin residents have lost their
lives at the hands of the police. One victim, Sofia King, was a
schizophrenic woman supposedly armed with a knife. The other two victims,
Jessie Lee Owens and Lennon Johnson, were unarmed. The activist communities
of color, all subject to routine harassment, rose up in resistance to these
killings. The NAACP began holding weekly protests against police brutality
at the Travis County courthouse as well as the headquarters of the Austin
Police Department.

While these weekly protests were taking place a number of Austin anti-war
activists involved in opens-records requests, including the Austin People's
Legal Collective and the Texas ACLU, received photocopies of internal APD
memos documenting their undercover surveillance of anti-war activist
workshops during the spring of 2003. The opening memo commended the
undercover officers, whom it named, for "infiltrating a culture of society
that is highly suspicious of new members." The memos went on to describe the
discussions that took place among the activists in attendance, going so far
as to identify "leaders" by name. When the war broke out outraged citizens
filled the streets of Austin, but were rebuffed with heavy police
repression. Police tactics included the use of chemical weapons, ?snatch
squads?, and mass arrests.

Activist groups that had, in the past, concentrated primarily upon either
anti-war or police brutality issues, have in the last few months converged
in a campaign against the common "militarization" of our society, and the
ongoing "occupation" of communities, both here and abroad. Last week, a
number of communities in Austin including the Texas chapter of the NAACP,
PODER, AFSC, YLN, Caracol el Machete, the Rhizome collective and a local
direct action alliance, Austin Justice Action Movement (JAM), met to discuss
their common grounds. The group consensed upon turning the March 20th global
day of action against the war in Iraq, into "a common machete; a machete
slung against the common denominator of human injustice."

Together this coalition against police oppression worked out a plan of
action for March 20th, in which activists from around the city would rally
in the city, and then conduct a tour--from the site of Sophia King?s
killing, through cultural gentrification zones, and finally to the Austin
Police Department headquarters. From there, a Caravan to Crawford, Texas
(home of one of President Bush's retreats) will depart from Austin, Texas
for a statewide action to be held there.

In the meantime, APLC is petitioning the Texas Attorney General's office for
greater tranparency concerning surveillance of activist groups in Austin,
and weekly protests continue to be held by the NAACP and its newly-found
allies, every Friday afternoon at the Austin Police Department headquarters
(7th & IH-35).

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