BY ANGEL LARISCY

FT. MADISON, Iowa - "Many people tell me I should take it easy, that it would be best to live the quiet life after I'm out of prison and home," said Mark Curtis to 32 supporters who had gathered across the street from the maximum security prison here.

"But I can't live quietly in a world where over 30 Black churches are burned to the ground; where U.S. troops roam the globe at will to make things safe for big-business interests; a world that creates the kind of hell I just came from."

After seven and a half years in prison, Mark Curtis left the grounds of the Iowa State Penitentiary here at 8:14 am on Tuesday, June 18, to address supporters of his fight. Imprisoned since 1988 on frame-up charges of attempted rape and burglary in Iowa, Curtis recently won parole to Chicago, Illinois, where his wife, Kate Kaku, resides.

Trade unionists, political activists, family and other supporters traveled from eight states to welcome Curtis, celebrate this victory, and at the same time recommit themselves to his continued defense, as Curtis faces new challenges on parole.

Hazel Zimmerman, a longtime leader of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee (MCDC), chaired a welcoming ceremony held across the road from the prison immediately after Curtis's release. She greeted Curtis "on behalf of the many thousands of people all over the world who have worked hard for this day."

Tom Alter, speaking for the Young Socialists National Committee, welcomed Curtis and said, "Your struggle has been an inspiration to us in the Young Socialists as you have reached out to fighters around the world." Alter noted that now that Curtis was released, he and other YS members looked forward "to fighting shoulder to shoulder with you for a socialist future."

Supporters of Mark Curtis formed the MCDC in days following his unjust arrest in Des Moines. The committee moved its offices to Chicago earlier this year in anticipation of Curtis's release.

"While you're free from these walls, you're not a free man," said Chris Naper, a leader of the MCDC in Chicago. Naper was referring to Iowa and Illinois parole conditions and to legislation recently passed in Illinois that requires all those convicted of a sex crime to register with local law enforcement officials for ten years after their release from prison.

Because Curtis was framed on charges of sexual assault, prison officials made him sign an Iowa sex offender registry form before he could be released. Within 72 hours after his release Curtis has to report to his parole officer; report to the Chicago police department to register as a sex offender; and report to the Iowa state police to give a blood sample for DNA fingerprinting. Under the parole conditions, he will not be allowed to leave Cook County, Illinois, without special permission.

The defense committee has secured a legal team to help, Naper reported, and has pledged to lend its support to assure that Curtis' rights are protected "until you're totally free from all these undemocratic restrictions."

Joel Britton welcomed Curtis on behalf of the Socialist Workers Party National Committee. "Your unjust imprisonment is over - an unjust parole of uncertain duration has begun," Britton said.

"Your comrades and supporters in Chicago are ready to work with you - to get employment, to get acclimatized to your new life outside prison walls, Britton added. "To get back, in due time, into the political world out here made richer by a capitalist crisis deeper than it was when they took you away from us; made richer by the political polarization we see deepening; made richer by the struggles of working people all over the world."

Mark Curtis began his remarks with a quote from James P. Cannon, a founding leader of the SWP who was jailed with other party leaders for his opposition to U.S. entry into World War II. Upon his release from prison in 1945, Cannon greeted supporters by commenting, "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted . . ."

For more than seven years he spent in half a dozen different Iowa prisons, Curtis has remained a political activist and socialist. "The world I am coming out into is very different," he said, noting the deepening capitalist economic crisis and the impact it is having on working people worldwide.

While in prison, Curtis said, he watched Nelson Mandela win his release from jail in apartheid South Africa, he cheered for the Russian people as they broke the chains of Stalinist bureaucracy, and he followed the ongoing struggle of the Cuban people as they move to strengthen their revolution in the face of imperialist hostilities and a world economic crisis.

Curtis said that he is going to Chicago to pick up where he left off by getting a job and getting involved in political activity. He said he looked forward to standing "shoulder to shoulder with fighters like those on strike against McDonnell Douglas."

Explaining why he can't live the "easy and quiet life," Curtis said the conditions that capitalism is breeding and forcing workers to live under "are calling me back" to get involved in the fights of working people.

"I pledge myself to take every opportunity to publicize and build support for others who have been framed-up and victimized," said Curtis pointing to the cases of Native American activist Leonard Peltier and Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.

His recent experiences have reinforced his view that "there is no better calling than that to commit your life to helping to lead the fight against capitalism and for a better society."

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union member David Ochoa took the day off from his job at a meatpacking plant in Perry, Iowa to travel to Ft. Madison to greet Mark Curtis. "He's a man who's done a lot for immigrant workers," explained Ochoa as he waited for Curtis' release. "He's trying to make a change in the capitalist system and fight for workers' rights."

Frankie Travis, a member of the United Paperworkers International Union (UPIU) from Decatur, Illinois also missed a day of work to attend the event. "Mark Curtis inspired people like me and others around the world with the spirit he showed while he was in prison."

After the welcoming ceremony, Curtis and his supporters drove to Peoria, Illinois, for a luncheon. As people talked informally, Hazel Zimmerman noted that Curtis's remarks at the prison were "just like the speech he gave supporters in the courtroom following his conviction" in 1988 when he turned his back to the judge, faced supporters, and explained how he would leave the prison the same man as he went in. Zimmerman said she thought this was the biggest victory.

Curtis's mother, Jane Curtis, who had traveled from New Mexico for the occasion, said she agreed. "They certainly have not succeeded in dampening his political spirit."

Supporters in the Chicago area have reaffirmed their commitment to holding weekly meetings to organize to publicize Curtis' victory in winning parole and to stand ready to defend him from whatever new violations of his rights may occur.

To make a financial contribution toward Curtis' legal expenses and for more information on how you can help, write the Mark Curtis Defense Committee at P.O. Box 477419, Chicago, IL 60647, call (312) 235-4820 or E-mail at 75543,1440 (Compuserve).

Angel Lariscy is a member of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) Local 7-807 in Mapleton, Illinois.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home