Newspaper Page Text
Miami, Continued from Page 9A
agreement.
As it turned out, the Miami
(and Florida) establishment
went out of its way to promote
an atmosphere of panic and
dread within the larger popula
tion. For weeks prior to the
FTAA meetings and protests, the
press had been promoting antic
ipation of the worst, something
akin to the fear that Romans
must have felt as Artila the Hun
and his hoards approached the
gates of their fair city.
Inferences of terrorist threats
and mad anarchists were floated
in order to color the view of the
entire protest. Despite the fact
that the labor unions under the
leadership of the AFL-CIO,
along with other protestors,
planned around a peaceful
expression of opinion, the news
media turned the whole situa
tion on its head into invasion
Miami.
I have seen a possible future
for the US.A. and it is not a
pretty picture. The lords of the
White House, along with their
Black leaders from
Statehouse to barber
shops influence voters
By JENNIFER HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -
With electric clippers in one
hand and a comb in the other,
Aaron Smith just smiles as he lis
tens to his customers at Kiki's
Barber Shop talk about the race
for president.
In the coming months, this
downtown business will be one of
the places where the daily head
lines are debated and voting
alliances are made leading up to
South . Carplina’s first-in-the-
South Democratic primary.
In a state where black voters
could make up half of the elec
torate in the Feb. 3 contest, can
didates understand how impor
tant it is to gain an endorsement
from high-level black officials.
But political observers and cam
paign strategists say it’s just as
important to build support
among leaders in local barber
shops, churches and civil rights
groups.
“That’s where so much of the
political discussions take place in
the black community,” said U.S.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who
is the state’s top black elected offi
cial. “Quite frankly, I learned my
politics in my mother’s beauty
shop.”
Smith, who has a degree in
mathematics and is studying eco
nomics at the University of South
Carolina, says he'll support the
right candidate instead of holding
an allegiance to any political
party.
“Right now my mind is not
made up,” he says. “There’s too
many to judge.”
If he’s not discussing health
care costs with his grandmother
or jobs with students and profes
sors, Smith is back at the barber
shop talking about the latest
Ly
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various corporate and political
allies have decided in no uncer
tain terms to play upon the post
-9/11 fears among the people in
order to restrict the ability of the
people to express themselves.
Moreover, they are carrying
out a preemptive political strike
against any and all opponents of
their corporate-guided globaliza
tion. It was not simply a marter
of the police presence, however.
The pitiful national coverage of
the Miami events, as well as the
caricaturizing of the protestors
by local and national media, pre
sented the demonstrations as
more of a circus than an example
of growing opposition to Presi
dent Bush and his determined
march toward a world safe for
profits for his corporate friends
and allies.
Miami was living proof that
the USAPatriot Act and the
growing repression that we have
experienced since 9/11/2001 has
very little to do with any war
against terrorism. Rather, the
entire scene is as if it were out of
news.
“I'm pretty much the expert on
everything around here,” he said.
“Sports, politics, school work,
math _ just ask me.”
‘Two of Smith’s customers chat
about politics while in the barber
shop.
Wali Robertson, 21, can’t
believe the amount of money
spent on campaigns, while his
brother Ahmed, 22, is worried
about the possibility of a draft to
fight in Iraq if President Bush
remains in office.
Both want Bush replaced, but
they say it's too early to know
which of the nine Democrats
could beat the first-term Republi
can.
Clyburn has yet to endorse any
presidential candidate.
“I don't think that there’s any
kind of a monolithic attitude in
the black community out there at
all,” he said. “Blacks are not
unlike anybody else. They tend to
want to be with a winner. They
tend to want to see whether or
not their attitude is square with
the guy that’s out there.”
James Dukes, South Carolina
political director for John Kerry’s
campaign, says many potential
voters are not paying attention
yet and black elected officials give
guidance at the grass-roots level.
“Once they start to get tuned
in, they're going to be watching ...
what campaigns are doing and
watching what folks in the com
munity they respect are doing
and who they’re supporting,”
Dukes said. , :
South Carolina, where about
30 percent of the population is
black, requires different cam
paign strategies than in the pre
dominantly white early-voting
states of Jowa and New Hamp
shire, said David Bositis, a politi
cal analyst at the Joint Center for
AUGUSTA FOCUS
a film, scripted to the “t.” Play
upon fears, encourage passivity
in the face of arrogance, distort
the news, foment lies and half
truths, this becomes the screen
play for the 21st century entry of
the police state into the U.S.A.
Interestingly, it is not just and
no longer Black folks who are
the sole recipients of the baton
and pepper spray in this brave
new world. This go round all
one has to do is to raise one’s
hand and say, “...excuse me, but
I don’t agree...” and, presto, one
becomes an enemy of homeland
security.
Bill Fletcher ]r. is president of
Trans Africa Forum, a Washing
ton, D.C.-based non-profit educa
tional and organizing center
formed to raise awareness in the
United States about issues facing
the nations and peoples of Africa,
the Caribbean and Latin Ameri
ca. He also is co-chair of the anti
war coalition, United for Peate}
and Justice (www.unitedfor
peace.org). He can be reached at ‘
bfletcher@transafricaforum.org.
Political and Economic Studies, a
think rank focused on black
issues.
“Given the size of the popula
tion, they (blacks) have more
organizations, people who are
networked and tied to a variety of
different groups and people than
the white population in general,”
Bositis said.
Mary-Catherine LeGertte, 19,
said her hometown church in
Marion is where she gets much of
her political information.
“I was always up on what was
going on, when they would ralk
about it in school, ... because I
found out about it Sunday at
church,” said the South Carolina
State University freshman, who
likes Wesley Clark in the presi
dential race.
The Rev. Ed Francis, who
works for Dick Gephardt’s cam
paign, said it's important to
spread the word among friends.
State Rep. Jerry Govan, chair
man of the Legislative Black Cau
cus, says several caucus members
are playing a key role in the pres
idential primary:
— Sen. Darrell Jackson, minis
ter at a 6,000-member church
near Columbia, and Rep. Bill
Clyburn, the caucus treasurer,
back John Edwards.
— Rep. David Mack, chairman
elect for the caucus, is state chair
man of Howard Dean’s cam
paign.
— Rep. John Scott, chairman of
caucus’ economic development
committee and assistant House
minority leader, supports Joe
Lieberman.
Govan, who is backing Kerry,
said he welcomes the diverse sup
port “because what that means is
none of these candidates, of
course, will be able to take South
Carolina nor the African-Ameri
can community for granted.”
FBI returns to spying
on anti-war protesters
WASHINGTON (NNPA) -
Civil rights scholars fear that new
efforts by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation to spy on anti-war
protestors might spark the kinds
of abuses that were popular under
FBI Director ]J. Edgar Hoover
during the 19605.
“One of the things that was
striking about the FBI files, which
I've read tens of thousands of
from the 19605, is how much
erroneous information were in
those files, how many times they
jumped to the wrong conclusion
about someone’s political affilia
tion,” says Clayborne Carson,
professor of history at Stanford
University and editor of the Dr.
Martin Luther King papers.
“What I'm afraid of now is that if
you're at a demonstration that is a
pro-Palestinian, that therefore,
you are in favor of terrorism. It's
not just the intended use of sur
veillance. It’s all of the various uses
that might be made of that infor
mation.”
It was disclosed last week by the
media that the FBI has been con
ducting surveillance at anti-war
protests in Washington, D. C.
and San Francisco and plan to spy
on other lawful demonstrations
across the nation.
“Exactly, what are they doing?”
asks David Garrow, author of
“The FBI and Martin Luther
King Jr.,” one the most authorita
tive books on the FBI efforts to
disrupt and discredit civil rights
leaders in the 1960 s under a pro
gram called COINTEL-PRO
(Counter Intelligence Program).
“One of the crucial things that
first pops into my mind is how
many named individual persons,
if any, is the FBI opening files on?
The fact that you've got agents
sort of observing these rallies and
even if they've got a vid%mera,
that to me is sort of less intrigu
ing, less pressing than, ‘Are they
working to identify named U.S.
citizens?"” ' .
‘The FBI, which is part of a Jus
tice Department headed by Attor
ney General John Ashcroft, main
tains that their efforts to monitor
marchers are both legal and neces
sary. Officials say they are using
surveillance to deter terrorism.
Civil rights advocates are not
unmindful of the FBl’s effort to
smear the reputation of Dr. Mar
tin Luther King Jr. Not only did
they spy on him, collecting volu
minous files, FBI agents sent
tapes of private conversations to
Dr. King’s wife, Coretta; urged
Dr. King to commit suicide and
endangered the lives of some
activists by pitting them against
one another, sometimes with
bogus correspondence.
“In my speech to the NAACP
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convention [last] summer, I pre
dicted this,” says Julian Bond, for
mer communications director of
the Student Non-violent Coordi
nating Commirtee (SNCC) and
now NAACP board chairman. “I
said that they spied and lied about
us in the 1950 s and 60s during
the Hoover era and they're proba
bly spying and lying about us
today.”
Bond told the Houston
NAACP audience: “We do not
want to live in a country that per
mits surveillance of religious and
political organizations. Yer the
new FBI guidelines announced by
‘J. Edgar Ashcroft’ do just
that... The FBI tried to disrupt
the civil rights movement. They
not only wanted (Dr. King| dis
credited; they wanted him dead.
We thought we had purt a stop to
Hoover's programs of spies and
lies in the 1970 s after these abus
es were discovered. Now, under
the guise of fighting terrorism, the
FBI is going back to spying on
law-abiding citizens.”
Many of the FBI abuses were
disclosed during congressional
hearings chaired by Sen. Frank
Church (D-Idaho). He was head
of the Select Commirtee on Intel
ligence, later known as the
Church committee. After the dis
closures, limits were placed on
how far the FBI could go in inves
tigating law-abiding citizens.
Under Ashcroft, however, some
of those safeguards have been
relaxed.
“There’s a perception, there is a
presumption of a license in the
fight against terrorism to do any
thing these intelligence agencies
[want],” says Ron Daniels, execu
tive director of the Center for
Constiturional Righrs in New
York. “It’s intended to have a
chilling affect on dissent and a
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December 4, 2003
chilling affect on the movement.”
Congress shares some of the
blame for increased FBI monitor
ing of protesters, activists say.
Attorney General Ashcroft was
given broad new powers, many of
them not subject to review by fed
eral judges, in the 342-page
US.A. Patriot Act, passed by
Congress and signed by President
Bush just days after the Septem
ber 11 terrorism attacks on the
S
Among other things, the legis
lation allows the FBI to conduct
searches of citizens' homes with
out a warrant or prior court
approval, to secretly monitor
Internet traffic even if that person
is not suspected of committing a
crime and to independently take
other steps that had previously
required the prior approval of a
judge.
Even the most conservative
Republicans have expressed reser
vations about the law.
As he was retiring from Con
gress last year and leaving his post
as House majority leader, Dick
Armey of Texas said in one
speech, “"We the people had better
keep an eye'on “We, the People,’
that is our government, not out of
contempt or lack of appreciation
or disrespect, but of a sense of
guardianship.”
Some scholars and activists are
alarmed by the nonchalant atri
tude of many Americans.
“It surprises me that this is hap
pening with so little public com
plaint,” he says. “It seems to me
we've been through this before.
And we've seen the dangers, and
we've seen thar it leads to abuses
like what happened in the ‘6os or
in Wartergate and we've been
down that road. And now we
seem to be quite willing to, as a
nation, go down thar road again.”
13A