Joint Statement from the San Francisco 8

Greetings, Friends & Comrades:

I am sending you the joint statement from the San Francisco 8 which has been reviewed and agreed upon for publication and distribution. We/I would appreciate your responses and would like to open this for discussion within our community. Please check the various mentioned websites for more information.

Revolutionary love & unity,

Jalil Muntaqim

Joint Statement from the San Francisco 8

We, the San Francisco 6, would like to send this joint statement extending

our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all our friends and

supporters. As many of you know, this COINTELPRO persecution has been

on-going for nearly 36 years. However, in the last few years, in accord

with the implementation of the Patriot Act, state and federal authorities

initiated plans to stifle political dissent, particularly targeting young

activists. Similarly, COINTELPRO’s objective was to “… expose, disrupt,

misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of Black

nationalist, hate type organizations and groupings, their leadership,

spokesmen, membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for

violence and civil disorder …” (COINTELPRO memo of August 25, 1967).

The FBI not only targeted the Black Panther Party, but according to this

COINTELPRO memo: “Intensified attention under this program should be

afforded to the activities of such groups as the Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,

Revolutionary Action Movement, the Deacons for Defense and Justice,

Congress of Racial Equality, and the Nation of Islam. Particular emphasis

should be given to extremists who direct the activities and policies of

revolutionary or militant groups such as Stokely Carmichael, H. “Rap”

Brown, Elijah Muhammad, and Maxwell Stanford.” By March 4, 1968,

COINTELPRO was in full operation leading to directing its full attention

to the Black Panther Party when it came into existence in October 1968, to

prohibit the BPP from developing durable long-term political and

organizational relationships with various segments of the Black community.

This case represents the continuation of that COINTELPRO objective, to

further indicate how the government will persecute today’s activists. The

government is seeking to rewrite the history of struggle as exemplified by

the BPP, venomously trying to define that legacy of struggle as a

“terrorist” movement. We vehemently reject that labeling, as the

government attempts to characterize the San Francisco 8 as “terrorists,”

“criminals,” and “wanton killers.” They will never say the SF8 were

political activists and progressive civil/human rights organizers. They

will never say they sought to relieve the community of all forms of state

sponsored terrorism that is often found in Black, Asian and Latino

communities today. They will never admit to the unconstitutional practices

of the FBI COINTELPRO activities, despite the 1974 Senate Church Committee

findings condemning those practices. Furthermore, they will never seek to

establish remedies for those who are victims of the illegal FBI and local

police actions under COINTELPRO, and now under the Patriot Act, if we

don’t demand they do so.

It is with this understanding the SF8 are issuing this joint statement,

calling for friends and supporters to organize a national determination to

ensure our victory. Ours will be a victory against fear and state

terrorism; it will be a defeat against state torture tactics, threats and

coercion. This case and our call for action will teach today’s activists

what to expect from the state in its efforts to suppress dissent and

protest of government repression. Indeed, this task will forward a broader

understanding of what happened in the Movement of the 60s and 70s, and how

COINTELPRO disrupted and destroyed the most viable Black political party

that emerged out of the civil rights movement.

Ultimately, what is here proposed will tell of a youth movement and how

the government sought to undermine and destroy it. The proposal will

expose how the government seeks to retaliate because those youth (who are

now Elders) did in fact challenge the system of racist oppression. They

not only challenged oppressive conditions in our collective communities,

but also worked to support all oppressed peoples fighting against

colonialism and imperialism at that time.

This case evolves out of a history of political struggle in this country,

and it is our duty to fulfill that mission by expressing what happened

then, and COINTELPRO’s negative impact on today’s social movements.

Therefore, while we engage in a legal battle in the courtroom, it is

imperative we urge our friends and supporters to extend the political

front in the various communities. We must reach out to the various street

organizations and youth groups, the animal and earth liberation groups,

women’s rights and LGBT forums, the immigration rights struggles, and the

many ethnic communities who are struggling for a better life in this

country.

Hence, the course of the overall struggle to win the release of the San

Francisco 8 requires a broad political determination, reaching beyond the

important legal issues of the case. For example, the question of torture,

COINTELPRO, and matters of reconciliation are essential to this case.

Therefore, a successful national campaign in support of the SF8 requires

friends and supporters to achieve the following objectives:

1. Anti-Torture Legislation:

In 1909, the Niagara Movement evolved into the NAACP led by W.E.B. Dubois.

The principle platform of the NAACP at that time was a struggle to forge

an anti-lynching movement. Today, torture in its many forms has become a

scourge in America: there is the inhumane use of restraint chairs in jails

and prisons, an especially despicable device reminiscent of medieval

torture mechanisms; there has been an increase in use of the taser as a

weapon to induce confessions and control prisoners, resulting in many

deaths, another inhumane torture device.

In the case of the SF8, law enforcement officers employed similar torture

techniques, including those used in Vietnam and in Abu Ghraib by U.S.

military personnel. The use of torture permeates all facets of the

so-called “criminal justice system.” Obviously, like the old anti-lynching

platform of the NAACP, the San Francisco 8 call for a national campaign

demanding anti-torture legislation on local levels (city councils and

state legislatures). The SF8 hold that any form of interrogation that

employs the use of water boarding, simulated drowning techniques, cattle

prods, tasers, restraint chairs, physical beatings, sensory and sleep

deprivation, and psychological coercion must be deemed inhumane and

criminal. Therefore, the San Francisco 8 call for all progressive and

peace loving people to join in a national campaign on city, state and

congressional levels for proclamations and legislation outlawing all forms

of torture.

2. Reopen COINTELPRO Hearings:

It is well known that the FBI targeted the Black Panther Party for

annihilation under the secret counter-intelligence program (COINTELPRO).

The FBI COINTELPRO effort resulted in the assassination, criminalization,

vilification, and the splitting of the BPP leading to its destruction,

with many BPP members today languishing in prisons. The FBI COINTELPRO

actions worked in alliance with police departments across the country, and

today, the Patriot Act has legalized much of what were illegal COINTELPRO

practices.

In 1974, the Senate Church Committee investigating the illegal FBI

COINTELPRO activities declared such practices unconstitutional. However,

the Senate Church Committee failed to create remedies for those who

suffered from the unconstitutional practices of the FBI and police

departments. Subject to that reality, the San Francisco 8 hereby call for

a national movement for the reopening of COINTELPRO hearings. We, the SF8,

urge friends and supporters to phone/fax/write to John Conyers, Chair of

the Judiciary Committee in Congress, and appeal for him to conduct public

hearings on why victims of COINTELPRO languish in prison over 30 years

after it was declared unconstitutional.

We, the SF8, ask friends and supporters to contact your congressional

representative, Congressional Black Caucus members and other elected

officials urging them to enable John Conyers to reopen COINTELPRO

hearings.

3. Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

At the conclusion of hostilities in the struggle to end apartheid in South

Africa, many progressive forces took a path to resolve potential

antagonisms subject to racial, socio-economic and political strife during

the decades of apartheid. That path led to the creation of the Truth and

Reconciliation Commission, principally led by the Honorable Bishop Desmond

Tutu.

In the United States, people of Afrikan descent suffered the trauma of

chattel slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow segregation laws, political

repression and state terrorism under the auspices of COINTELPRO. However,

unlike South Africa, at no time has there been a national determination to

resolve political, social or economic antagonisms born out of

centuries/decades of racial strife.

In recent years, as a result of the reparations movement, some

corporations, cities and states have issued apologies for having been

involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Despite these apologies, the

systemic inequities prevail with devastating consequences on every vestige

of life confronting the majority of people of Afrikan descent in America.

The San Francisco 8 understand that these historic dynamics perpetuate

social-cultural determinants that inhibit the necessary psychological

inducements towards self-reliance and self-determination. Therefore, we

are calling for progressive peoples to open dialogue and begin the process

towards organizing a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission to

address these inequities. We believe such a Commission could serve as a

catalyst to forge substantial resolutions to heal America’s racial trauma.

In conclusion, it is these three areas of concern we jointly agree will

empower a national campaign to virtually expose the negative impact of

both COINTELPRO and the Patriot Act. We call for all progressive peoples

in support of the San Francisco 8 and all U.S. political prisoners to find

the means to organize committees and coalitions to implement this proposal

on local and national levels.

Again, we, the San Francisco 8, extend our heartfelt appreciation for your

solidarity and support. Let us, together, build a sustainable and durable

initiative that redresses civil and human rights violations, as we

organize to win the freedom of the San Francisco 8.

Free All U.S. Political Prisoners!

The San Francisco 8

For more information about the San Francisco 8, contact:

Committee in Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), P.O. Box 90221, Pasadena, CA

91109. Website: www.freethesf8.org Email: freethesf8@riseup.net Phone:

415-226-1120.

Freedom Archives, 522 Valencia St., San Francisco, CA 99110; email:

info@freedomarchives.org; phone: 415-863-9977

Episode: Legacy of Torture

Viewing options
Play RealMedia format (28m 19s; for broadband users)

Producer: The Freedom Archives (www.freedomarchives.org)