Board Speaks Out on Haiti, Watada,Iraq, Deadly Force, Death Penalty

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Haiti Solidarity

The Pacifica National Board hereby resolves to support the February 7th International Day in Solidarity with Haiti.

February 7, 2007 will be the 21st anniversary of the fall of the Duvalier regime. On that date, mobilizations will take place in over 30 cities around the world, responding to a call put out by Fondasyon 30 Septanm (September 30th Foundation) and many other grassroots organizations in Haiti. These coordinated international protests demand an end to the brutal United Nations occupation of Haiti, freedom for hundreds of political prisoners arrested during the 2004-2006 coup, and the return of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who remains in exile in South Africa.

The climate of violence induced by the continuing foreign military occupation of Haiti has also had a terrible impact on Pacifica National Board member Ray LaForest. On Monday, January 22, Henri Robert LaForest, Ray’s older brother, was fatally shot through the heart while leaving a bank in Petionville. Ray is demanding a thorough investigation.

Henri LaForest, along with Ray, had been very active, in both Haiti and New York, in the struggles against the Duvalier dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s. Henri was also a constant presence in the mobilizations in New York and Washington, D. C. during the 1991-1994 coup against President Aristide.

At the time of Henri’s killing, Ray was organizing for the February 7th demonstration in front of the UN headquarters in New York. In solidarity with Ray LaForest and the late Henri LaForest, the Pacifica National Board reaffirms our commitment to their goals of justice, democracy and sovereignty in Haiti. We give our full support to the February 7th International Day of Solidarity with the people of Haiti.

--adopted 1/07

 

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LT. Ehren Watada

Whereas, Lt. Ehren Watada, a Hawai’ian of Chinese and Japanese descent, is the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq based on his conviction that the war is illegal and immoral, and that it is his duty under US and international law to refuse illegal orders; and

Whereas, the Bush Administration is carrying out the Iraq war in direct opposition to the sentiment of the majority of the world, including the United States, as the recent election demonstrated; and

Whereas, while the war has resulted in at least 650,000 Iraqi lives and more than 3,000 lives of US soldiers, and the devastation of a whole society, mass disability, destruction of families, communities and livelihoods; and

Whereas, the Bush Administration is currently spending $8.4 billion a month on continuing and expanding this war, resources which could be used for the care of people and the planet; and

Whereas, the US mainstream media, with few exceptions, has propagated the Bush Administration’s positions on the Iraqi war; and

Whereas, Lt. Watada is facing up to four years in jail on charges of missing a movement, and for public statements he has made against the war and calling on other soldiers to act on their conscience; and

Whereas, this is the first time since 1965 that the military is openly prosecuting an objector for his opinions; and

Whereas, the military court has refused to drop charges against Lt. Watada’s speech and ruled that Lt. Watada cannot give evidence validating his reasons for refusing to going to Iraq;

Therefore, be it resolved, that the National Board of Pacifica Radio support Lt. Watada’s right to his position of conscience as well as his request to be allowed to resign from the military and receive an honorable discharge; further, we oppose military court attempts to subpoena journalists to testify against Lt. Watada. We encourage all Pacifica stations and affiliates to cover the court-martial of Lt. Watada, the work of his mother, Carolyn Ho, his father, stepmother and other supporters; any appeals that might follow his military trial, related protests and other events in support of justice for Lt. Watada, as well as to share information about the growing national and international movement of those who refuse to go to war.

--adopted 1/07

 

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Journalist Subpoenas

The Pacifica Foundation objects to the Army’s decision to subpoena independent journalists and radio producers Sarah Olson and Honolulu Star Bulletin reporter Greg Kakesako, to testify in the court-martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the first officer to publicy refuse to deploy to Iraq. We are further disturbed by the Army’s decision to add independent journalist Dahr Jamail and videographer Sari Gelzer to the prosecution’s witness list.*

It’s a journalist’s job to report the news, not to participate in government prosecutions. The press cannot function if it is used by the government to prosecute political speech, and hauling a journalist into a military court erodes the separation between government and press. Turning reporters into the investigative arm of the government subverts press freedoms and chills dissenting speech in the United States. The press must preserve its ability to cover all aspects of a debate, not just the perspectives popular with the current administration. We believe a journalist’s duty is to the public and their right to know, not the government.

In the name of the cornerstone values this nation claims to uphold and for which the men and women in the military are fighting, we ask you to drop the speech related charges against Lt. Watada and put an end to your insistence that journalists participate in the prosecution of these charges. We need more information, participation, and debate – inside and outside the military – not less. As the LA Times argued in its January 8th editorial: “It’s time for the Army to back off.”

--adopted 1/07

*After this motion was adopted, the Army dropped the subpoenas intended to force journalists to testify.

 

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Iraq War Withdrawal

Be it resolved, that the Pacifica National Board support the resolution of the US Senate to oppose the Bush Administration’s decision to send 21,000 more US troops to the war and occupation of Iraq, as well as legislation to cut off funds for continuing the war and occupation.

The Pacifica National Board issues an emergency appeal to the people of the United States, as well as the US Government to develop and adopt a diplomatic solution to resolve the armed conflict in Iraq and to immediately withdraw US troops.

--adopted 1/07

 

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Death Row Inmate Troy Anthony Davis

Whereas, in 1991 Troy Anthony Davis, a black man who is a native of Savannah, Georgia, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in Georgia for the murder in August 1989 of a white police officer;

Whereas, at Mr. Davis’ trial in 1991, the prosecutor, a white prosecutor, struck a disproportionately large number of black people from the jury pool and thereby denied Mr. Davis a fair trial;

Whereas, at Mr. Davis’ trial, the government relied on fifteen witnesses who were not police officers in order to obtain a conviction and death sentence against Mr. Davis;

Whereas, after Mr. Davis’ 1991 trial, thirteen of these government witnesses with some confessing to perjury with some identifying a man named “Red” Coles as the actual murderer, and with new witnesses disclosing at least two confessions to the murder by a “Red” Coles;

Whereas, the courts refuse to acknowledge this proof of Troy Davis’ actual innocence and have decided to allow him to be executed, although that that would be a grave injustice against an innocent man;

Be it resolved that the Pacifica National Board firmly requires each of the five radio stations and Free Speech Radio News to investigate this case of injustice against Troy Anthony Davis, to report in their news and public affairs programs about this case on an ongoing basis beginning immediately, and to do so in an effort to expose this injustice to the public and with the hope of saving Trot Davis’ life;

And, be it resolved, that the Pacifica National Board firmly requires each of the five Pacifica Radio stations and Free Speech radio News to broadcast editorials calling for an immediate reversal of Troy Davis’ conviction and for his immediate release from prison;

And, be it resolved, that the Pacifica National Board urges Democracy Now! to investigate the Troy Davis case, to report on it thoroughly, and to broadcast editorials in favor of reversing Troy Davis’ conviction.

-adopted 1/07

 

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Police Brutality

The Pacifica National Board condemns the unwarranted murder of Sean Bell, an innocent and unarmed African American male and the attempted murders of his friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, who were also Black and unarmed, in a barrage of 50 bullets fired by 5 New York City Police Officers;

The PNB also condemns the police killing of Kathryn Johnston, a 92 year old African American grandmother who was killed by the police in Atlanta in the same week as Sean Bell, in a botched drug raid, as well as the killings and harassment of all those who have been victimized by police brutality;

Be it further resolved, that the Pacifica National Board supports the demand by many organizations and community activists nationwide for an end to police brutality. We join Congressmembers Cynthia McKinney and John Conyers, the incoming House Judiciary Committee Chair, in their demand for Congress to hold national hearings on the state of America’s law enforcement agencies’ use of force and deadly force against the Black, Latino, and other communities of color.

--adopted 12/06