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Dear friends, We'd like to thank everyone who helped over the past few weeks as Farouk's habeas petition heated up--the 20 people who showed up in a driving winter rain for the press conference last Friday, of course, but also the people who helped by writing/calling/faxing David Venturella, by phonebanking, by petitioning. It would have been nice to have gotten media coverage, at least from the progressive media. One problem seems to be that many people have decided immigration detentions are no longer an issue--especially as everybody focuses on primary season. We need to have some discussion on this over the next month. We'll send out an update soon on the state of the legal case. Basically, though, Shane has sent a blistering response to the government (copies available on request), and we're waiting to see what the judge does. Of course we'll let you know as soon as anything happens. Below I've pasted in a letter Farouk wrote for us on Dec. 29. I apologize for the delay in sending it out. I've also added news about Konrad, who made the video, and a note from WESPAC on Malcolm Shabazz--not a subject that's directly connect to Farouk's imprisonment, but one which I think will interest many of you. In the meantime, please continue to petition, leaflet, write to Venturella, etc. If the email bounces or the fax number doesn't work, send it us, and we'll mail it to him. Don't forget to circulate the video, show it to your friends, get people to buy it. And be sure to order Free Farouk buttons from the NJ Farouk Committee: $2 each, $1 each for orders of 10 or more. Send check or money order payable to "Cash" to North Jersey ARA, PO Box 133, Rochelle Park, NJ 07662. In solidarity, David Wilson for the committee ================================================================ 1. Letter on Unity from Farouk Abdel-Muhti to His Supporters December 29, 2003 (Click!) 2. Rooftop Films announces 2003 Filmmakersı Fund grant winners (Click!) 3. [WESPAC-Foundation] Grandson of Malcolm X locked up in prison (Click!) ================================================================ 1. Letter on Unity from Farouk Abdel-Muhti to His Supporters December 29, 2003 Dear Comrades and Friends, I salute you with affection and spirituality in the name of peace, patience and justice from inside this dungeon, where for more than 25 days I have been living on bread and potatoes without any consideration of my being a human being. I want to be in good health to fight for my freedom and my rights, serving over 20 months of misery in jail for fighting injustice in this society. Thanks to all of you for the strength you have given me by your steadfast support. My cosmic consciousness tells me this is not just for myself but for the rights of thousands of people who are trapped in this imperialist, monstrous system. Comrades and friends, one hand cannot wash itself; a hand washing a hand makes us clean. So we need unity among all freedom- and justice-loving people, always looking for the right answer on the fundamental basis of our issues and principles. Any disease that comes in the body of our infrastructure, if it cannot be cured by all of you, let the disease destroy that cell. My sisters and brothers, I am not imposing myself. I am just a small atom among you. We need collective decisions, not just to save me but to save all the detainees in the jails all over the US by the order of this fascist administration in Washington--but at the same time to build a society with justice and equality and to create over the ashes of this satanic empire a paradise in this land to benefit nature and all living things. For this is not just a North American problem, but a worldwide problem. Together we have to put an end to this misery of the 21st century, the war of conquest which today is practiced by the US and the war of colonialist settlers which is practiced by the Israeli fascist regime. It is our duty to defend human rights and equality in this country and all over the world, and to stop imperialist multinational globalization and to replace it with the law of equality, which is the real path of justice and true freedom, based on the needs of human beings and of the earth in general. We have to remove the shackles of our egotism and not concentrate power in the hands of one person or group, but rather make it a collective effort, and not make it a monopoly concentrated in a few hands, because this brings consequences which will not protect the interests of all but just the interests of a few. To secure and guarantee the livelihood of every man, woman and child, it is important to learn to build infrastructure with unity and a sense of responsibility for human beings and to take care of this earth, which is our mother land, to bring the truth against this imperialist taboo of exploitation and indoctrination of individual selfish behavior--which we are all fighting against. With patience and unity we will win. Venceremos! Farouk Abdel-Muhti ========================================================= 2. Rooftop Films announces 2003 Filmmakersı Fund grant winners Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 03:35:01 -0500 From: Rooftop Films <info@rooftopfilms.com> To: mailinglist@rooftopfilms.com Subject: Filmmakers [iso-8859-1] ı Fund Grant Awards Rooftop Films is proud to announce the winners of the 2003 Filmmakersı Fund grants. For those of you who donıt know, the Filmmakersı Fund is our way of giving back to the artists who make Rooftop Films happen. In each of the last four years, Rooftop Films has taken one dollar from every ticket sold, and put it in a special fund for our filmmakers (the rest of the money covers the expenses of our volunteer-run non-profit corporation). At the end of each Summer Series, all the filmmakers whose work we showed can apply for grants for their next film. We feel that rather than giving away $10 to each filmmaker, giving away a few larger sums towards specific projects is a better way to help the filmmakers and the independent filmmaking community in general. At the end of our 7th Annual Summer Series, Rooftop Films had over $2,600 to give away, plus access to more equipment and resources than ever before. Nearly 1/4th of all our filmmakers applied for funding, a record participation in the Filmmakersı Fund. We gave $1,255, our largest ever cash grant, to Konrad Aderer (³Life or Liberty,² 7/4/03) to cover production costs for his ongoing documentary investigation into the detention and deportation of Muslim-Americans and their families. (The film is tentatively titled ³Enemy Aliens.²) In this short film, Konrad will continue talks he began in ³Life or Liberty² with a U.S. citizen named Shokriea, whose husband was suddenly deported after 9/11, as she meets with civil rights lawyers and petitions to raise awareness about her husbandıs case, and the sad case of many other Muslim-Americans. Konrad will also interview detainees in the Bergen County (NJ) jail, and with David Venturella, an immigration official who will speak for the Department of Homeland Security. As a Japanese-American whose family was interned during WWII, Konrad has long been active around the issue of immigrantıs rights, and Konrad plans that with the completion of this short, and the help of Rooftop Films, he can create a feature film that will raise awareness around the country, with the aim of changing some of the racist policies in action today, and re-uniting broken families. ========================================================= 3. [WESPAC-Foundation] Grandson of Malcolm X locked up in prison To: WESPAC-Foundation@yahoogroups.com Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 07:16:27 -0800 (PST) Subject: [WESPAC-Foundation] Grandson of Malcolm X locked up in prison Reply-To: nirainjana@prout.org Hello folks, We had a discussion on Saturday evening with Ms. Shabazz about how we can help her nephew, the grandson of Malcolm X, who has been incarcerated since 1997 and has just recently been transferred to solitary confimement a few miles from the Canadian border. He is 19 years old and this move makes it very difficult for his family members to visit him. I just received this e-mail from Ms. Shabazz about what WESPAC members can do to help: "My nephew, Malcolm, has been transferred to Malone Correctional Facility under deplorable conditions, only to further break his young spirit. It is truly an Almighty miracle that this Spirit has kept him protected, strong and focused with greater perseverance and determination. Personally, I don't know if I could've done it. And now being transferred even further north of what was already a 4.5-hr drive from NYC, he is now almost an 8 hour drive away (fearful/saddened that he will not get any visitors now because of the distance), and under 23 1/2 hours 'BOXED' lock down with a 6 ounce meal serving per day. He spent most of his time in the Law Library, reading, writing, researching, and all of that along with commissary, and other things we take for granted, are denied him. His spirits are falling. "The officers ripped up his address book and took the remaining of his possessions, further making false claims against him. Just the thought of it all is disheartening as the conscious and conscientious wonder what can we do for those continually treated unjustly. Certainly after all we have experienced throughout the world, the great contributuions and many sacrifices, we as a people are not self-consuming, idle consumers of shiny, temporary material gain. . . " There is no doubt that young Malcolm is receiving extra harsh punishment because of his heritage. We view him as a poitical prisoner, recognize that he is a part of his grandfather's legacy and that it is our responsibility to cherish and protect him. We know the beast makes every effort to destroy the message of Malcolm X. We will not let him do that. Young Malcolm's lawyer, Ron Kuby, is filing an appeal "seeking to reverse the sentence (punishment for an alleged infraction of prison regulations) and reverse the removal of his privileges." We ask you to do several things to assist our brother at this time. 1) Write to young Malcolm. He needs all the human contact AND AS MANY QUALITY BOOKS AS POSSIBLE TO READ and warmth he can get at this time. Malcolm Shabazz's ID number is: 02-R-4617. The full address is:
Malcolm Shabazz #02-R-4617
Upstate Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 2001
Malone, NY 12953
2) Call the prison regularly (at least once a week) inquiring about Malcolm's health and physical condition. They need to know that we are watching them and will tolerate no continued abuse. Those of you who are members of an organization, create a telephone tree within your organization, assigning each member a day of the week to call the prison concerning Malcolm.
These are the numbers we have for the prison: (518) 483-6997 Spokesman, James B. Flateau @(518) 457-8182 Another number (taken from the DAILY CHALLENGE) is (518)639-5516. The address is: Glenn S. Goord Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services 1220 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12226 (This is the address for writing to inmates) Upstate Correctional Facility Box 2001 Malone, NY 12953 (This is the address for the prison. Use this when writing to the administration of the prison.) Upstate Correctional Facility P.O. Box 2000 309 Bare Hill Road Malone, NY. 12953 (518) 483-6997 Malcolm Shabazz's ID number is: 02R4617. ========================================================== 2/11/04: Farouk Abdel-Muhti has now been held for 657 days ========================================================= Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti PO Box 20587, Tompkins Square Station, New York, NY 10009 Phone: 212-674-9499 * Email freefarouk@yahoo.com Website: www.freefarouk.org** ========================================================= |
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