Panel on State Repression - Updated Speaker List - 11/17, Washington, DC

Please help spread the word if you know folks on the East Coast who might be interested...

thanks,

--w

State Repression in the Era of the "War on Terrorism"

A Panel on the Criminalization of Animal and Environmental Activists and
the Continued War on the Black Liberation Movement

Featuring:

Ashanti Alston, former political prisoner and Black Panther
Ramona Africa of MOVE
Will Potter, Journalist and Creator of GreenIsTheNewRed.com

Other Speakers: TO BE ANNOUNCED

Saturday, November 17 at 7 p.m.
at St. Stephen's Church
1525 Newton Street NW
Washington, D.C.

$5-10 donation will cover expenses and benefit political prisoners.
NO ONE TURNED AWAY FOR LACK OF FUNDS.

Join journalists, attorneys, and former political prisoners at a forum
discussing the links between past and present instances of
state repression of social justice movements. From the targeting of animal
and environmental activists being dubbed by many as the "Green Scare" to the
37-year-old charges being brought against former Black Panthers in San
Fransisco, hear how history is repeating itself as state repression
intensifies in the era of the "War on Terrorism" -- and what we can do to
fight it.

FEATURING:

Ashanti Alston Omowali is an anarchist activist, speaker, and writer, and
former member of the Black Panther Party. He was also a member of the
Black Liberation Army, and spent more than a decade in prison after
government forces captured him (and the official court system convicted
him) for armed robbery. A former northeast coordinator for Critical
Resistance, Ashanti is currently co-chair of the National Jericho Movement
(to free U.S. political prisoners), a member of pro-Zapatista
people-of-color U.S.-based Estación Libre, and a member of the Malcolm X
Grassroots Movement, NYC.


Ramona Africa is the sole adult survivor of the massacre of 11 members of
the MOVE organization. On May 13, 1985, the FBI and the City of Philadelphia
dropped a C4 bomb on MOVE's 6221 Osage Avenue home in West Philadelphia.
Carrying the young Birdie Africa (the only other survivor) with her, Ramona
dodged gunfire and escaped from the fire with permanent scarring from the
burns. After surviving the bombing, she was charged with conspiracy, riot,
and multiple counts of simple and aggravated assault. Subsequently Ramona
served 7 years in prison. If she had chosen to sever her ties with MOVE, she
could have been released far earlier. In the face of this she held true to
her revolutionary beliefs and was uncompromising in the face of state
terror. Since her release from prison, Ramona has tirelessly worked as the
MOVE Minister of Communication on behalf of the MOVE 9, Mumia Abu-Jamal,
and all political prisoners and prisoners of war.


Will Potter is an award-winning independent journalist based in Washington,
D.C., who focuses on how the War on Terrorism affects civil liberties. He
has tracked how lawmakers and corporations have labeled animal
rights and environmental activists as "eco-terrorists." He has also
closely followed the trial of the SHAC 7, a landmark First Amendment case
involving a group of activists charged with "animal enterprise terrorism"
for running a controversial website.


For further information and updates, go to: www.dcinfoshop.org
Or call, 202-986-0681


Co-Sponsored by: Brian MacKenzie Infoshop; Red Emma's Bookstore and
Coffeehouse; Friends and Family of Daniel McGowan; Black August Planning
Organization