PROTESTERS SET SIGHTS ON BOSTON
Mumia to address teach-in before capitalist
‘debates’
By Gery Armsby
As police storm troopers tried to quell the militancy of
protests at the Republican and Democratic conventions this
summer, "repression breeds resistance" was the battle cry of
many demonstrators in the streets of Philadelphia and Los
Angeles.
That spirit of resistance is building in Boston.
Presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush are
scheduled to hold their first major televised debate there
Oct. 3.
Activists plan to continue the work begun in Philadelphia
and Los Angeles: to expose both big-business candidates for
their roles in slashing social programs and promoting
imperialist war. Protest groups will hold events throughout
the week leading up to the debate.
Death-row journalist and political prisoner Mumia
Abu-Jamal has accepted an invitation to deliver an
audio-taped speech to a teach-in Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. It will
be held at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, where
the Bush/Gore debate is set for the following Tuesday.
The teach-in is hosted by U-Mass students. It will include
presentations by leaders of the MOVE Organization from
Philadelphia and other death-penalty foes.
Organizers from the Boston Coalition for Mumia Abu-Jamal
and the International Action Center are building support for
the Sept. 29 teach-in. The groups say they will also organize
strong contingents to confront the Gore and Bush campaigns on
Oct. 3.
Frank Neisser, a member of the Boston Coalition for Mumia
and the IAC, told Workers World: "We are proud to have Mumia
speak in Boston on Sept.29. He is 'the voice of the
voiceless' and his case--the police brutality, witness
coercion, judicial misconduct, all of it--is a perfect
example of why we need to build a mighty movement against
both the candidates and their capitalist system, which is
rotten to its very core."
At the Oct. 3 events demonstrators plan to demand: "Money
for schools, housing and hospitals, not prisons and legal
lynchings. Stop the death penalty now!"
In addition to the teach-in, there will be an "alternative
debate" on Oct. 2 featuring third-party candidates whose
campaigns are being boycotted by the media. One of these is
Workers World Party presidential candidate Monica
Moorehead.
Moorehead will also speak at a meet-the-candidates forum
on Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. The forum, hosted by the Moorehead-La
Riva Campaign and WWP, will be held at the Community Church
of Boston.
Readers who want more information or wish to get involved
in building for the activities around Oct. 3 should contact
the Boston International Action Center/National Peoples
Campaign at
(617) 983-3835 or on the Web at
www.home.earthlink.net/~npcboston.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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