learn more about palestine/israel. witness palestine events will start in rochester on sept 21, 2014, with the play “my name is rachel corrie,” which will be part of the fringe festival. there will be a cultural and literary event in the fall and the film series will start at the little theatre on nov 16th.
Pls join the ISO and other activists today (Friday, July 11) at 4:30 pm at the Federal Building in Rochester, NY. As of Wednesday night, more than 80 civilians have been killed in Gaza. Hundreds of houses have been destroyed. 22 children have been killed. Let’s try to stop this before Israel sends 40,000 soldiers in tanks and on foot into the bloodbath in Gaza. This is a war and it’s time for the antiwar movement to show up and speak out! Stop the bombing of Gaza! Free Palestine!
enjoyed hot club of detroit at the jazz festival – have never seen anyone play the accordion quite like that! vijay iyer is here. love rochester jazz.
Yesterday (June 12, 2014) at 3:00 pm, we gathered at the corner of South Ave and Byron St in order to walk across the street to the Rochester regional parole office to deliver petitions and a statement demanding parole for Jalil Muntaqim.
Rochester friends, activists, people of conscience, pls join us for this v imp protest on June 12 at 3pm sharp, at the Rochester Parole Office at South Avenue and Byron Streets:
After 43 years and seven parole denials, enough is enough! On June 12 at 3pm at the Rochester Parole Office, supporters of Rochester Free Jalil will deliver a petition with over 800 signatures from people across New York State demanding that Political Prisoner Jalil Muntaqim be paroled. They will not be alone. Citizens across the state (from New York City, Albany, and Buffalo) will take part in a coordinated effort for justice. Jalil’s supporters are tired of the racist and political parole denials that keep Jalil in Jalil in jail and are tired of New York State wasting their tax money to keep him there.
Who is Jalil Muntaqim? Jalil Muntaqim (formerly known as Anthony Bottom), is a Black Panther and victim of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. He is also one of the longest held political prisoners in the world. In 1971, when Jalil was only 19 years old, he was arrested and accused of murder as part of the San Francisco 8. Later, it was discovered that Jalil was a victim of J. Edgar Hoover’s illegal COINTELPRO program. COINTELPRO was an effort to “neutralize” and “disrupt” social movements working for justice and human rights including the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Lawyers’ Guild, groups protesting the Vietnam War, and many others. Jalil is currently incarcerated at Attica Correctional Facility in Western NY. He is now 62 years old and has earned a BS in Psychology and a BA in Sociology. He was twice awarded for preventing prison riots, has taught computer literacy courses, founded a men’s writing workshop, written countless articles, several books, and is a son, brother, uncle, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
The FBI and numerous police departments have since apologized for the massive illegal campaign against social movements that left dozens dead and hundreds behind bars. Despite these apologies, the victims of these campaigns are still incarcerated, torn away from their families and communities more than 40 years later. Jalil spending more time in prison away from his community will do nothing to restore justice. Even the son of one of the victims (Waverly Jones Jr.) has expressed his strong support for Jalil’s release. “I was hoping that the Parole Board would look into it and realize that these men have indeed done their time and done everything the state sentenced them to do,” said Waverly Jones Jr. Jail’s release would be a first step in healing the wounds of America’s violent and racist past. Forty-three years is well past time for release for a political prisoner from the Civil Rights Era. People across NY state are telling the parole board to stop wasting NY taxpayers’ money and release Jalil to the community, where he can make a positive impact and take a community leadership role.
For background information, check out www.FreeJalil.com
FREE JALIL
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
PAROLE REFORM NOW
FREE ALL COINTELPRO PRISONERS
last week we spent an evening with my friend jim and his family. they live in williamstown, ny. they grow a lot of their own food. they use geothermal and solar energy to heat their house and do their laundry. mary makes the most fragrant and delicious rye bread on the planet. they recited a wonderful jewish blessing before we started to eat. both husband and wife are artists. they don’t own cellphones. jim says they’re addicted to farming their land – it’s the miracle of seeing a tiny “thread” bloom into a perfect strawberry or cabbage. what a down-to-earth, simple and beautiful way of life. not a bad thing to be addicted to.
Women of the Silk Road [3 Films from Pakistan, Turkey and Iran] showing on May 7, 14, and 21 at the Gandhi Institute, 929 South Plymouth Avenue, Rochester.
On May 7 at 7pm: Silent Waters – a film about a woman caught between 2 revolutionary moments: Pakistan after Partition, and later at the beginning of a fundamentalist transformation under Zia al Haq. Following the film, independent filmmaker, Mara Ahmed, will answer questions and speak about Pakistan, the Partition and her latest film.
Silent Waters is a film by Sabiha Sumar. “Partition Stories” producer Surbhi Dewan is also one of the producers for Sabiha’s next film. Hope to see you there.
it rained all day yesterday and it was overcast today but, hey, we’ll take what we can get. spring is finally here.
April 10, 2014 at 6:00 pm: THE MUSLIMS I KNOW was screened at SUNY Geneseo, as part of their Islam Awareness Week. Wonderful candid discussion with Muslim students afterwards. More here.
i went to attica last month to visit ex-black panther jalil muntaqim. he’s one of the longest held political prisoners in the world. i wrote about my visit and about jalil’s case (he was arrested under COINTELPRO). that article was just published in countercurrents. here it is.
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Jalil is no run-of-the-mill human being. He acquired a college education whilst being incarcerated; in 1976 he initiated the National Prisoners Campaign to Petition the United Nations to recognize the existence of political prisoners in the US; in 1997 he launched the Jericho Movement to demand amnesty for American political prisoners on the basis of international law; he has written books and maintains a blog; he’s quelled prison riots; he’s involved in literacy programs and has wonderful ideas about vocational training in prison running parallel to community programs outside so that released prisoners can transition effortlessly into them and chances of relapse are minimized. For all these efforts at organizing, Jalil is transferred relentlessly from one correctional facility to another.
Jalil understands that we have reached a racial crossroads in America. Black kids are being murdered for the clothes they wear or the music they listen to, stop-and-frisk and racial profiling have become institutionalized, books like Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” explain how a caste system rooted in mass incarceration has replaced segregation and slavery, Vietnam War protestors and activists have revealed how they stole FBI COINTELPRO files and books like Betty Medsger’s “The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI” delineate the disturbing history, machinations and criminality of the FBI. Jalil’s concern is that this “spark” might ignite people’s anger rather than become the impetus for constructive organizing. He hopes for liberal movements to unite and coalesce as they did during the Civil Rights era. He wants to hearken back to MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign and forge links between racism and economic inequity, between Trayvon Martin and Occupy Wall Street. More here.
cobbs hill park, rochester ny, march 22, 2014.
my friend cat’s bonfire last weekend: crisp moonlit night, spicy pakistani and indian food, great company and a fierce fire to keep filmmakers warm. photograph by dave sluberski.
march 17, 2014: met with the film committee yesterday to plan the festival. this is our third year. knee deep in film selection – lots of great films to select from this year!
