The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.1           January 6, 1997 
 
 
Youth Protest Cops, Defend East Timorese  

BY CLINT IVIE
This column is written and edited by the Young Socialists (YS), an international organization of young workers, students, and other youth fighting for socialism. For more information about the YS write to: Young Socialists, P.O. Box 14392, St. Paul, MN 55114. Tel: (612) 644-0051. CompuServe: 105162,605

ATLANTA, Georgia - In just one week, the Coalition of Afrikan Tri-State Students (CATS) organized over 150 people, most of whom were young, to a conference to discuss ideas and possible solutions in the fight against police brutality. At the November 23 symposium, young people testified about police brutality in their cities - in many cases from personal experience. Participants at the meeting were outraged about the verdicts in Pittsburgh and St. Petersburg, where cops have walked free.

CATS is a Black student organization based on campuses in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. It was formed in 1995 after Pharon Crosby, a high school student who is Black, was brutally beaten by Cincinnati cops while waiting for a bus. The meeting was also organized by Georgia Technical Institute's African-American Student Union. Marcus Smith, a leader of the group, spoke at the event. He is a relative of Jerry Jackson, 23, who was killed by Atlanta police in December 1995. Brenda Jackson, the victim's mother, also spoke.

The program included a film showing explaining the Johnny Gammage case. Gammage died of asphyxiation after being choked to death by Pittsburgh-area cops. John Vojtas, one of the five cops involved, was recently acquitted, sparking demonstrations and a high school walk-out of 1,000.

During the open mike, a YS member addressed the issue of police brutality, stating, "All cops are bad. The rich make the laws and the real role of the cops is to protect the private property of the rich."

Young Socialists set up a table at the meeting and distributed a statement issued by the Atlanta and Athens YS.

"Why do killer cops walk free and what can be done about it?" asked the YS statement. "Workers and cops do not get equal treatment in the courts. Under capitalism, workers are presumed GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, and cops are presumed innocent. As Malcolm X explained in a speech he gave at Tuskegee Institute on a trip to the South he made in February 1965, the system "make(s) a criminal look like a victim, the victim look like a criminal, and end up with the criminal putting the victim in jail."

The statement continued, "The Young Socialists join with all resistance and protests to the horrors of capitalism including protests against police brutality and the death penalty, cuts in education and welfare, and defending affirmative action and equal rights for immigrants.

"We commend the organizers of today's meeting for providing the opportunity for youth and workers to discuss what to do to advance the fight against police brutality. Only by educating ourselves and studying past working-class struggles can we learn why as long as there is capitalism, there will be no peace.

"Rallies, teach-ins, and demonstrations that unite as many people as possible in a broad front against police brutality are necessary, and if organized can mobilize anti- racist fighters on campuses and in working-class communities. We must demand that all killer cops be prosecuted and jailed."

BY CHUCK DEMERS

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Some 100 students from Burnaby Central High School in Burnaby, British Columbia, staged a walkout and protest December 11 in support of the East Timor independence struggle. The walkout coincided with International Human Rights Day, and the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to two Timorese activists, Jose Ramos- Horta and Bishop Carlos Belo.

Protesters took up picket signs and organized chants, for over an hour towards the end of the school day, such as "Corporations listen up: This aggression has to stop! From the truth you cannot hide! Your profits stem from genocide!"

East Timor Awareness At Central (ETAAC), the student organization heading up the walkout, sought to expose and criticize the Canadian government's hypocrisy and complicity in ongoing genocide in East Timor. East Timor is a small island that gained independence from Portugal in 1975, only to be invaded by Indonesia that same year and annexed in 1976.

According to figures provided by the East Timor Alert Network, an international East Timor solidarity group that was the inspiration for ETAAC, roughly one-third of the indigenous population (numbering some 600,000 in 1975) have died as a result of the Indonesian occupation. Mass rape, napalm bombing, indiscriminate killing and forced sterilization in the small country have been reported by Amnesty International, church groups, and other human rights organizations. Businesses in the imperialist nations wish to maintain favorable ties with Indonesia, which offers 180 million potential consumers and low labor costs. In 1996, Canadian investment in Indonesia stands at $6 billion, and $365 million worth of arms permits have been signed by the government this year alone.

"They know where it's going, this $365 million worth of weaponry. If the government knows what's going to happen with it, we should really question whether human rights are `our' government's real interests," said Sacheen Desai, 16, a student at Burnaby Central.

Many students first became involved in the solidarity struggle with the East Timorese following a series of information activities organized by ETAAC, which now has 20 members, three of whom are also members of the Vancouver Young Socialists. One ETAAC event featured Bella Galhos, a young Timorese refugee living in Canada, and drew over 95 Central students. Galhos gave a first-hand account of the 1991 Dili massacre, which took the lives of more than 250 unarmed Timorese protesters.

The school administration frowned on a walkout during school hours, and issued a letter to students hours before the action stating that they would be held accountable, threatening unspecified "consequences."

According to Peter Duck, a co-founder of ETAAC and new member of the YS, Vice Principal David Mickle implied the disbanding of ETAAC.

However, following favorable media attention and community support the school principal was forced to back off. The action garnered attention from several local news stations and newspapers, as well as a national news program. The school received over 20 phone calls from community organizations and parents offering their support for the action.

The Vancouver newspaper The Province ran a prominent article and a photo of the protest and quoted some of the students. " `Our government is paying for this genocide,' said Chuck Demers, 16, pointing to Canada's $365 million in military sales to Indonesia and $9 billion in investments by Canadian corporations," the article said. " `(Indonesia) is a major human-rights violator. We're here to tell the Canadian government they can't get away with this,' he said."

The article continued, "For many, such as Selena Beitermoser, 17, it was their first political action. `We're helping Indonesia kill East Timorese by selling arms,' Selena said. `I think we should stop.' "

ETAAC plans to continue to educate students and the community in the new year.

Chuck Demers is a member of the YS and co-founder of ETAAC. Jacob Gavin is a member of the YS.  
 
 
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