The unionists talked about the victory of the Charleston Five in defeating the bosses' frame-up charges that stemmed from an assault in January 2000 by 600 cops on dockworkers who were picketing a nonunion outfit. Five workers who had been charged with instigating a riot were held under house arrest for more than 18 months. After a nearly two-year defense campaign the prosecution was forced to drop the felony riot charges brought against them and settled for a plea agreement on minor charges and no jail time. "The ILA members at the civil rights conference said their union is defending 27 other workers who face lesser charges related to the police attack," said Italie.

Italie, a garment worker, said he spoke with ILA members and other unionists about being firing from his job at Goodwill Industries last October for comments he made as the Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Miami during a televised debate, condemning Washington's war against Afghanistan and defending the Cuban Revolution. "Tomorrow I and other supporters of the campaign will be in Charleston where we will staff a literature table at the ILA union hall. I will also meet with Kenneth Riley, president of ILA Local 1422."

Italie said he met several workers and officials who were members of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). "One of them is a UNITE local president in New Jersey who identified with my case," he said. "She has a disabled daughter who has been mistreated by government and private agencies."

Later in the day after attending the AFL-CIO conference, Italie joined a rally of 200 people demanding the release of 187 jailed Haitian immigrants who have applied for asylum in the United States. They are being detained despite interviews with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) authorities concluding that they have a credible fear of persecution if they went back to Haiti. "Normally immigrants who reach that step in applying for asylum are released pending a hearing with the INS," said Italie, who spoke at the event, which also included Linda Chavez-Thompson, AFL-CIO executive vice president; Fred Frost, president of the South Florida AFL-CIO; and Marleine Dastiene, a leader of Haitian Women of Miami.

Italie said he told the rally that "after September 11 the Bush administration has been carrying out a war against Afghanistan and workers' rights. The U.S. rulers are making immigrants a special target to divide and weaken the labor movement. That's why they go after Haitians, Arabs, and other immigrants."

Italie told the Militant, "The treatment of POWs at the Guantanamo naval base is one more example of the hypocrisy of the U.S. government, which portrays itself as a defender of human rights while treating prisoners in a humiliating and degrading fashion. The intent is to intimidate those who go up against U.S. imperialism. The real targets are not the prisoners in Guantanamo, but workers and farmers in the United States and around the world. The detention camp is also an affront to the sovereignty of Cuba, whose territory is being used by Washington to hold and abuse prisoners."

The day after the Haitian rights protest Italie said he spoke at a demonstration of 300 people at McDill Air Force Base in Tampa in opposition to the war in Afghanistan and the U.S. government's assault on civil liberties. Another speaker at the protest was Ian Harvey, a high school teacher in Naples, Florida, who has come under fire for organizing antiwar actions that included some of his students.

"Later that night I went to St. Petersburg, Florida, where the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) held their awards banquet," said Italie. "Before the event I talked to Fred Shuttlesworth, the keynote speaker, who reaffirmed his support for my case. The chairperson of the program, Florida State SCLC president Sevill Brown, acknowledged my presence and the free speech fight to the audience."

Italie said the next event on his itinerary was staffing an information table at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte and then a dinner meeting with Ahmad Daniels, who was fired from his job as director of the Mecklenburg County Office of Minority Affairs for stating his political views in a local newspaper. Daniels and Italie are scheduled speakers at a meeting on the UNCC campus sponsored by the Campus Greens and the Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of Rights. To arrange speaking engagements for Michael Italie in your area, please send proposed dates and events planned to the Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of Rights, P.O. Box 510127, Miami, FL, 33151-0127. Tel: (305) 724-5965 or E-mail: DefendFreeSpeech@yahoo.com
 

The United Mine Workers of America, Local 1332, District 22, at its meeting on January 17, 2002, approved to endorse Michael Italie's fight to defend his constitutional right, freedom to free speech and civil liberties.

The local union speaks out against the injustices placed on working families. Mistreatment by Goodwill Industries hits the core of our democratic society and is a blatant and immoral assault on our constitutional rights.