Peltier defense activists call PayPal/eBay boycott
By Stephanie Hedgecoke
The Boston Area Leonard Peltier Support Group
and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee have called on
supporters to boycott PayPal and its parent company, eBay, in
response to an attack on their rights to organize online.
PayPal is an online company that allows people to send payments
to merchants or organizations with funds from their bank
accounts or credit cards without revealing account numbers.
PayPal notified both the LPDC and the Boston support group
in late June that it had closed their accounts and frozen funds
collected online for up to 180 days. PayPal alleged a
"violation of Acceptable Use Policy" and stated that Indigenous
rights activist and political prisoner Leonard Peltier was
"notorious for committing murderous acts." The manner in which
PayPal shut down the groups strongly suggests FBI or other
right-wing interference.
On a June morning in 1976, two FBI agents died during a
shootout at the Pine Ridge Reservation, which they themselves
started, in a very tiny village when children and adults and
elders were asleep in their homes.
There was never any evidence that Peltier fired the shots.
He was later extradited from Canada to stand trial only through
the U.S. government's suppression of hundreds of thousands of
documents and roomfuls of evidence to prove his innocence. U.S.
prosecutors have publicly admitted that they do not know who
actually fired the shots that killed the agents. The FBI still
has not released these documents despite many Freedom of
Information Act actions brought by Peltier's lawyers.
Leonard Peltier has been in prison for 28 years for a crime
he did not commit, and the U.S. government has repeatedly
refused to parole Peltier since he became eligible over 10
years ago. In violation of their own statutes, they will not
consider him for parole until he has served over twice the
normal term for his alleged offense.
Leonard Peltier is recognized around the world as a
political prisoner. Millions of people, including former South
African political prisoner Nelson Mandela, past and present
members of the U.S. Congress, and many human rights
organizations, have called for his freedom.
PayPal's actions are a direct attack on the constitutional
rights of Peltier's supporters and all Indigenous Nations and
peoples. It has also caused a short-term financial crisis for
the critical defense work to free Leonard Peltier. The LPDC
states that there is now an urgent need for donations, which
should be sent by regular mail to: LPDC, P.O. Box 583,
Lawrence, KS 66044-0583. "No amount is too small," the group
says.
Sign the Pledge to Boycott PayPal/eBay
The Boston LPSG and the LPDC ask supporters to not use the
PayPal service on Web sites you own or manage, to not donate to
or purchase from sites that use PayPal, and to not buy or
sell/auction items using eBay.
An online petition campaign has also been started. The
petition may be read and signed at the following web page:
www.petitiononline.com/balpsg03/petition.html.
Reprinted from the July 22, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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