Support for Curtis
On May 15 there was a presentation on the Mark Curtis frame-up at the Rocky Mountain Peace Center in Boulder, Colorado. The Prisoner Rights Project [PRP] meets two to four times a month there and extended the invitation.
Sixteen people were in attendance, two of whom were acquaintances of Mark. One described meeting him in the Omaha -Des Moines area, where she had attended several forums and the protest rally for the "Swift 17" in March of 1988.
The Nick Castle video [The Frame-up of Mark Curtis] was received quite well. People thought it important to have outreach on the gubernatorial and U.S. Representative/Senator level. The conditions under which the lockup was meted out were found to be universally atrocious and repugnant. The coordinator of the PRP thought it important that computer networks and the newspaper Prison News Service be kept current on the case.
Directly from the meeting came 10 endorsement cards, eight of which I believe are new, plus $60 in contributions. Within the last three weeks a co-worker of mine also signed on the case, contributing another $15. The Prisoner Rights Project also purchased two pamphlets on the case, including the new one [Why Is Mark Curtis Still in Prison?].
Horace Kerr
Denver, Colorado
Democratic rights
Allan Rock, Canada's solicitor general and minister of
justice, defends the proposed gun control Bill C-68 with the
absurd contention that it will result in fewer suicides and
less violence in our cities.
The bill, if passed, will affect the ownership, possession, and use of privately and collectively-owned (as in Amish communities) firearms. Section 99 of Bill C-68 will institute a major change in the search and seizure provisions in Canadian law and give sweeping new powers to the police. A police officer will no longer be required to have reasonable expectation that a crime was or will be committed in order to search without warrant or even need to subsequently seek a warrant.
It will overturn the basic democratic right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, the right to privacy and security, and the right to remain silent under police questioning. It will also deny the right to legal counsel.
While more and more groups such as the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Lawyers' Guild have voiced concern, the union leadership as a whole has been silent, and indeed some individual union leaders are supporting the bill that will, without a shade of a doubt, be used against working people and our organizations in the future.
Bea Bryant
Blenheim, Ontario
Cop who killed gets award
Several weeks ago in Glassboro, New Jersey, patrolman Peter Amico received the "Combat Cross Award" for last year's shooting incident that left Eltarmaine "L.T." Sanders, 14, dead. Amico claimed that Sanders rushed at him with an eight-inch kitchen knife. Neighbors said that the youth had already thrown the knife at a cousin he was chasing before Amico shot him. Local and federal investigators also closed the matter, saying that there were no civil rights violations. The killing sparked demonstrations last year. The NAACP organized a protest candlelight vigil at the police awards ceremony.
A resident of Poplar Street where the killing took place said that giving this award to Amico was "a slap in the face." The kids still maintain the memorial - a handwritten placard, two hats, flowers and a balloon.
Glova Scott
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Note from a subscriber
I haven't noticed anything on the MBPM [Maurice Bishop
Patriotic Movement] in Grenada, or any other discussion of
developments there in quite a while. Your consistent defense
of Cuba and opposition to U.S. moves against the people of
Iran and Iraq is inspiring and unique.
A reader Framingham, Massachusetts
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