Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 11:20:24 -0500
From: Berta Joubert-Ceci <BJoubert@compuserve.com>
Vieques Shows the Arrogance of Empire
By Mumia Abu-Jamal, 1999
To many in America, the word "Vieques" is virtually meaningless. To Puerto
Ricans, both on the island and on the U.S. mainland, the word "Vieques" is
a reason for rage, and a stimulus to anger. Why? Because the history of the
island of Vieques, a smaller neighbor of Puerto Rico, proves clearly, that
Puerto Rico itself, and her territories, are mere prettified colonies of
the U.S. Empire.
Vieques, a municipality of Puerto Rico, was expropriated - taken - by the
U.S. Navy in 1941, and 3/4th of Vieques became a military bombing ground,
and tens of thousands of island residents were forced off of their farms
and land, some settling on the "Big Island" (P.R.), and others took up life
in the Virgin Islands, leaving the land of their birth. Acclaimed Puerto
Rican nationalist, Pedro Albizu Campos would aptly accuse the U.S. Navy of
carrying out a campaign of genocide against the people of Vieques, noting
that "Vieques society is dying (
) due to a cold, deliberate and
intentional attack by the U.S. government." The proud nationalist would
also lambaste the Puerto Rican colonial government for "collaborating with
Yanki despotism in the island by maintaining silence regarding the cold
hearted destruction perpetrated by the U.S. in Vieques."
Albizu Campos was right when he wrote those words in 1948; he remains
right. An empire doesn't ask, it takes. A colony has no choice in the
matter; it gets taken.
The fate of Vieques is insolvably linked to that of the big island, (Puerto
Rico) and lies at the very heart of the imperial-colonial relationship.
A truly independent Puerto Rico would be able to protect her municipalities
and territories from U.S. misuse, and expropriation. Let us join our voices
to the call for an end to the U.S. military occupation of the island of
Vieques! Let us also support the right of Puerto Ricans to independence!
ĄPara libertad e Independencia!
Ona Move! LLJA!
U.S. Navy Out of Vieques-Now!
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From: Mark Clement <MClement@bruderhof.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 16:21:27 -0500
A SHADOW OF JUSTICE
[col. writ. 11/12/99] Š 1999 Mumia Abu-Jamal
News Item: Reputed mob figures Al Daidone and "Long" John Martorano
were released from prison after 19 years imprisonment, after the Pa. Supreme
Court affirmed the earlier decision of the Superior Court reversing their
murder convictions in connection with the killing of labor leader John
McCollough. A divided court ruled that prosecutorial misconduct in the case
precluded a retrial.
The November 1999 decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court,
freeing Messrs. Daidone and Martorano made barely a flicker in the nation's
newslines. It is a local story, not worthy of the attention of a nation
wrapped in hypnotic fascination with the upcoming elections.
But I think this story is of utmost importance. Here's why.
Every fact that led to the reversal of their murder convictions was
evident from the day that their trial transcript was typed up; when the
arguments of the state prosecutor were made and recorded; long before the
first appeal brief was written.
It took 19 years for the state's highest court to rule that what
happened in a Philadelphia courtroom so many years ago was
uncon-stitutional, and that what prosecutors did was so fundamentally unfair
that no retrial could correct it.
For 19 years Daidone and Martorano were separated from friends and
family, consigned to small concrete and steel enclosures for most of their
days, with a sentence of life over their heads. For several years after
their retrial was granted, the DA's office fought to have them sent to Death
Row, if reconvicted! In the two decades since their conviction, the trial
judge, after at least one unsuccessful try at a higher judicial office,
retired from the bench. Their former D.A. left the office, reportedly to
represent state police. The head D.A. became mayor, left office and
presently contemplates the governorship.
By utilizing the now common term, "prosecutorial misconduct," local
media reports underplay and obscure what went on in the courtroom almost 20
years ago. Prosecutorial misconduct is shorthand for evidence-tampering,
improper arguments to the jury, and using other unfair tactics to convict
the two men.
Let me make it plain: In Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Daidone &
Martorano, prosecutors used false evidence, and even argued on the basis of
such false evidence that a judge or jury should convict these two men of
first degree murder, and send them to prison for the rest of their lives.
As it is, two men spent two decades in hell, and those who prosecuted them,
using tactics that even the Pa. Supreme Court couldn't swallow, moved on up
through the system, got raises, raised families, or retired on cushy
pensions.
In several American states, the 19 years that Messrs. Daidone and
Martorano have already spent in state and county jails and prisons would
constitute life sentences. They served the equivalent of life sentences,
based on prosecutorial misconduct at their trials. After the passage of so
much time, their freedom looks less like justice, and more like its pale
shadow.
Š MAJ 1999
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