San Francisco City Hall, 28 September 2002--Several thousand protestors marched through the streets of San Francisco today to commemorate the second anniversary of the Al Aqsa intifadah, the latest Palestinian uprising. They also denounced Amerika's war plans on Iraq.
MIM and RAIL comrades collected 231 signatures on a petition asking the University of California to divest in Israel. The UC invests more than $1 billion in companies doing business in Israel, the largest of which are military contractors.(1)
A comrade also collected 140 signatures on a petition asking the Turkish government to free journalist Memik Horoz.(2) S/he faxed the signatures to the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles and the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C., along with the following note.
"We believe [Memik Horoz] was falsely convicted. Furthermore, we believe the 'crime' with which he was originally charged--conducting interviews with a Maoist guerrilla leader--is no crime, but an application of the duties and rights of a free press. We ask that the Turkish government take any and all necessary measures to acquit Mr. Horoz and censure those responsible for this injustice."
The comrade pointed out that this petition was one way Amerikan residents could support the local resistance to U.$. war machinations. Turks who speak out against their government's role in Unkle Sam's war plans face brutal repression; Memik Horoz' case is just one example of that.
Most people in the crowd gladly signed either petition, and there were far more people there than the small MIM and RAIL contingent could reach before the rally dispersed. If you like the work MIM and RAIL are doing, don't stand on the sidelines! Grab a clipboard, design a poster, write us a check! Contact us (addresses on page two) or check out http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/faq/witbd.html.
Notes:
1. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/cal/DivestIsrael.htm
2. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/agitation/horoz.html
Contact MIM by writing mim@mim.org