The Committee to Stop FBI Repression condemns the sentencing last week of three young Muslim men in North Carolina to between 15 and 45 years in prison each. Before sentencing, the judge noted that she had received hundreds of letters in support of the three men urging her to hand down the minimum sentence. Despite this, Ziyad Yaghi, Omar Aly Hassan, and Hysen Sherifi received nearly maximum sentences for a 'terrorism' case. Even the LA Times was critical because “prosecutors named no targeted victims...places, times or dates of attacks.”

At no time was a specific plot to harm anyone presented to the jury. Instead the U.S. prosecutor focused on the ideas held by the defendants. This includes opposition to the Iraq war, and verbal support for the Iraqi resistance in the case of Omar Aly Hassan, as well as on their Islamic faith. The U.S. Prosecutor said “corrupted ideology was the substance of the conspiracy” and that the defendants intended to wage “jihad”.

Jurors were visibly confused and misled during the proceedings. During the trial, transcripts of audio recordings were presented to the jury, much of which was in Arabic or in English with some religious terms used. Playing just two minutes of audio recordings sometimes required 20 minutes of translation and explanation of Islamic terminology. The paid federal informants were often the ones translating terms for the jury, even though many of these terms, like “jihad” for example, have multiple and complex meanings and interpretations.

Over 900 footnotes were in the transcript to translate these terms. There were no Muslims among the mostly white jury in one of the more conservative counties of North Carolina.

During the trial, prosecutors focused on inflammatory remarks made by the defendants in posts to Facebook and other social media. The defendants expressed regret at some of the posts made when they were teenagers. Before he heard his sentence Omar Aly Hassan said “I did make mistakes in my life, I did say some dumb things, but I am no terrorist.”

It is highly unlikely that non-Muslims would currently be convicted or sentenced to life in prison for making the same comments.

Preemptive prosecution, abusing the judicial system

Yaghi, Hassan, and Sherifi were tried and convicted thanks to the U.S. government's use of “preemptive prosecution”. Preemptive prosecution means the U.S. government will target individuals based on what they say or believe, rather than what they have done. Defense attorneys were unable to convince the jurors, who were at times sleeping and disinterested, that the evidence presented was well within the defendants' first amendment rights to free speech. Much of the evidence presented was from audio conversations between paid federal informants and other alleged co-conspirators. One defendant, Ziyad Yaghi, is not heard anywhere in the 750 hours of audio surveillance entered as evidence in the case; the Hassan family says that Omar Aly was not on any of the tapes either. Yet they are now imprisoned for decades.

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression joins with other civil liberties organizations and the defendants' families in condemning the unjust conviction and sentencing. It is a horrible miscarriage of justice that condemns three young men to life in prison by playing up Islamophobia in the courtroom and an FBI and U.S. government intent on finding terrorists where there are not any.

Committee to Stop FBI Repression January 21, 2012

#NorthCarolina #NC #OppressedNationalities #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #Muslims #ZiyadYaghi #OmarAlyHassan #HysenSherifi #PoliticalRepression

Resistance in the U.S. to attacks on the public sector is growing.  Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is unleashing a major assault, seeking to take away collective bargaining rights from state and possibly all public sector workers, including threatening to call out the National Guard against worker resistance.

The labor movement and the students are fighting back.  Labor, including public and private sector unions held a rally in Madison at the State Capital, turning out 30,000 people, demanding that the Governor’s bill be defeated.

High school students throughout Wisconsin walked out of their schools to protest against this attack, which also affects their teachers and education. The Madison School Superintendent was forced to close the schools on Tuesday after 40 percent out of 2,600 members of the teachers union called in sick. The students see their actions as part of the growing struggles for people’s democracy that took center stage by the mass actions of the youth and workers in Tunisia and Egypt.

The U.S. South is been a bastion of right-to-work laws, denying public sector workers the right to collective bargaining.  Dr. Martin L. Kings lost his life supporting the struggle of the Memphis, Tennessee sanitation workers who were fighting for this right, which he saw as a next phase of the Civil Rights struggle.

North Carolina and Virginia have specific laws making it illegal for workers and state and local governments to bargain for union contracts. Most of these laws were enacted during the period of Jim Crow, when Blacks were denied the right to vote and had no representatives in Southern state legislatures. When the state and local governments deny their own workers this basic right, it sends a message to all workers in the region, that the governments are hostile to unions.

The lack of a concerted movement to organize public sector workers throughout the South based on a program that includes winning collective bargaining rights, has been a major factor weakening the few efforts to organize unions in the South.

The major restructuring of the core industries of the U.S. economy over the past 30 years, resulted in shifting more than 1/3 of the auto industry and other formerly unionized manufacturing to the South. There are more union members in the state of New York, than in all of the 11 Southern states combined.

The largely un-unionized South has undermined labor’s strength as a national movement.  Organizing labor in the South must be addressed, if the U.S. labor movement is to survive and be a powerful force for workers in the U.S. and global economy.

The economic crisis is increasing the competition between the states for industries and investments, in their efforts at economic recovery.  The unionized states outside of the South, in their efforts to shift more public resources to private corporations through privatizations, tax breaks and major incentives, are sharpening their attacks on public sector unions to compete with the Southern states and low wage labor internationally. Attempts to roll back collective bargaining are now occurring in Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota, as well as Wisconsin. Right to work bills are pending in about a dozen Northern states. Public service jobs, wages and benefits are under attack just about everywhere.

National resistance to the attacks on public sector, must therefore link the struggles against attacks to eliminate existing public sector rights to collective bargaining, with the struggles of public sector workers concentrated in the South, who are denied this right.

The NC Public Service Workers Union UE-Local 150 has been in the forefront of the movement to repeal the ban on collective bargaining rights for public sector workers in North Carolina. Through its International Worker Justice Campaign, it has won a ruling from the International Labor Organization finding the U.S. and North Carolina out of compliance with international laws.

In addition to fighting for collective bargaining rights, UE150 is initiating campaigns for legislative and local government workers bill of rights, pressing to make the terms and conditions of public sector workers a part of the political agendas.

Public sector workers and unions throughout the South must form a Southern Alliance for Collective Bargaining Rights, to launch a region-wide movement.  The South must become a strategic battleground for the U.S. and international labor movement, demanding that the U.S. and the South comply with international human rights standards.

From Wisconsin to North Carolina, Virginia and throughout the U.S. South: Public Sector Workers Demand Collective Bargaining Rights Now!

#NorthCarolina #NC #UELocal150 #NC9598 #CollectiveBargaining #GovernorScottWalker #Wisconsin #NorthCarolinaPublicServiceWorkers

Traducción por Evette Cruz

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cómo ha impactado la lucha de los recolectores de basura a otros trabajadores en el sector público de Raleigh? ¿Qué papel ha jugado el movimiento al revocar la ley NC 95-98?

Saladin Muhammad: Sí, trabajadores de la ciudad en otros departamentos han comenzado a participar en el sindicato. También lo han hecho trabajadores del estado. El sindicato de trabajadores de servicios públicos de Carolina de Norte, UE Local 150 lanzó la campaña internacional de justicia para los trabajadores en 2004 para construir un movimiento por los derechos de los trabajdores en negociar colectivamente y revocar la ley NC 95-98. La lucha actual le da atención a la huelga como una de las pocas opciones de los trabajadores cuando no hay derecho a negociar. Muchos aliados y fuerzas que en silencio han dicho que apoyan el derecho de negociar colectivamente han salido públicamente con su apoyo como resulta de esta lucha. Presentando nuestro caso a la comunidad ha sido una parte importante de esta lucha. Esta lucha ha podido limitar el asunto de la huelga como argumento utilizado por la gerencia en contra de los sindicatos.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cuál es el significado de la lucha de los recolectores de basura en Raleigh dentro de la meta a largo plazo de organizar el sur?

Saladin Muhammad: Esta lucha ayuda a crear una alianza de labor, fé y comunidad como un frente unido para la justicia social con potencial de construir un movimiento democrático unido por justicia social y ecónomica y poder político para afro-americanos y trabajadores en el sur. La gente entiende la conección entre las condiciones de trabajo y la calidad de los servicios ofrecidos.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Qué viene proximamente en la lucha de los trabajadores de recoleción de basura?

Saladin Muhammad: El sindicato tendrá una reunión de trabajadores municipales para alentar a trabajadores de las ciudades en todo el estado para desarrollar un programa de acción estatal. Los foros están siendo organizados en varias ciudades en las próximas dos semanas titulados, “Insuficiente personal y pago, demasiado trabajo.”

#NorthCarolina #NC #AfricanAmerican #SaladinMuhammad

Fight Back!: How has the struggle of the Sanitation workers impacted other workers in the public sector in Raleigh? How does the movement to repeal NC 95-98 play into this?

Saladin Muhammad: Yes, city workers in other departments have begun joining the union. State workers are also stepping up. The NC Public Service Workers Union-UE Local 150 launched the International Worker Justice Campaign in 2004 to build a rank-and-file and grassroots movement for collective bargaining rights and the repeal of NC 95-98. The current struggle draws attention to the strike as one of the only options left to the workers when there is no right to bargain. Many allies and forces who silently said they support collective bargaining are coming out publicly with this support as a result of this struggle. Appealing to the community has been a major component of the struggle. This struggle has been able to take away the strike issue as an argument used by management against unions.

Fight Back!: What is the significance of the Raleigh Sanitation workers' struggle in the long-term goal of organizing the South?

Saladin Muhammad: This struggle is helping to create a labor, faith and community alliance as a social justice united front with the potential of building a united democratic front movement for economic and social justice and political power for African Americans and workers in the South. People seemed to make the connection between the relationship of quality working conditions to the delivery of quality services.

Fight Back!: What is next for the Sanitation workers struggle?

Saladin Muhammad: The union will hold a municipal workers' summit reaching out to city workers throughout the state to bring together to develop a statewide program of action for city workers. Forums are currently being organized in various cities over the next two weeks entitled, “Understaffed, overworked and underpaid.”

#NorthCarolina #NC #AfricanAmerican #NC9598 #InternationalWorkerJusticeCampaign #UE

Over a year ago I became aware of Andy Stern’s proposals for change within the AFL-CIO. At first I thought this was a good thing – to have discussion in the labor movement about our direction. For example, under both Sweeney and Stern there has long been a call to the international unions to put more resources into organizing. What seemed lacking was an examination of how organizing campaigns had been done in the past and what needed to be changed.

In North Carolina we tried to have a general discussion, but without real substance to the issues. The discussion stalled at the need for democracy and anger at Stern’s proposal for forced mergers between unions. The discussion that I wanted never happened, because there was nothing concrete in the SEIU proposal, other than the forced mergers, for people to latch onto and talk about.

As the months passed, other unions joined with Stern: UNITE HERE, the Laborers and the Carpenters. The Carpenters had already disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO and had a history of raiding other unions, collaborating with management and having a top down, corrupt leadership. When they came on board, some of us really began questioning what was going on. The sense of unease increased with the inclusion of the Teamsters.

Even coming to Chicago, I was hoping there’d be some kind of discussion, and there just wasn’t at all. The Change to Win Coalition (CTW) had submitted a number of resolutions, but when the CTW unions decided to boycott, that ended any hope for discussion. Without another side, the convention was dominated by anger at the CTW for splitting the labor movement and increased support for Sweeney to keep the labor movement together.

In talking with many other delegates it was very unclear what the differences were between the Sweeney camp and the CTW Coalition. There certainly didn’t seem to be the ‘irreconcilable’ differences stated by Stern that would cause a split. At the Convention there was much talk of why this unholy alliance and how much of a coalition was it really? The general sense was that each union had their own agenda, with the bottom line being money, power and ego.

The Central Labor Councils: CLCs

What was most positive to me from all of the convention were the rank-and-file members of the CLCs getting together every night to discuss what was happening. The councils had become much more active since the 1995 Convention. When Sweeney first came to power in 1995, plans were laid to build up the CLCs. For a while this happened. In our small council, we are all volunteers, so we really benefited from staff from Washington helping to set up programs, figure out budgets and plan educational events.

There were national conferences of CLCs. We were recognized for what we are – the grassroots of the AFL-CIO. But over time, the emphasis shifted from organizing and education of union members to ‘politics’ – Democratic Party politics.

Where the split will be felt most sharply is within the Central Labor Councils. They will be hurt by the disaffiliation of per capita dues but more hurt by the loss of members who are working together on organizing campaigns, living wage campaigns, campaigns to Save Social Security etc.

The disaffiliated unions (including now the United Food and Commercial Workers) stated that they wanted to remain involved in state federations and CLCs. Sweeney looked like the bad guy by saying that those unions can not be involved in CLCs. A resolution was passed by the remaining Executive Board to up their dues and give a portion of that increase to the state federations and CLCs most affected by the disaffiliating unions (read: “AFL-CIO wants to make it easier for those bodies not to take money from the disaffiliates.”). On the last day of the Convention the E-Board and Sweeney made it very clear, in a letter and remarks that, “You are either in or you’re out.”

The really bad part will be the raiding of other unions for their members; this has a history between SEIU and AFSCME in particular, where they have both fought over the same bargaining units. So much for ‘new’ organizing. This raiding only weakens the solidarity of the labor movement. At the convention it was announced that SEIU has already begun raiding an AFSCME unit in California, which in turn was payback for AFSCME raiding an SEIU unit in Illinois.

Small councils like Western North Carolina, big councils and state feds and rank-and-file workers in the whole country have a common experience of having been left out of the equation by the top officials. Now we are going to have to cope with this new situation. How will we unite labor when we’re no longer in one federation? How will we stop raiding? If there’s a strike, delegates at the convention pledged, “We’re union members, we’ll support any union on strike.” But if there’s no federation affiliation between two unions at an employer, will members of one federation cross the other’s picket lines?

Labor Unity in the Councils

I think that people in the CLCs are determined to stick together. Pressure is on the internationals to allow, if not affiliation, at least participation with the labor councils. We want the money, but we also want members. Some locals send a check in every month, but they don’t send anybody as delegates. You have money, but what can you do without people?

#NorthCarolina #NC #Commentary #AndyStern #AFLCIO #CentralLaborCouncils

Fight Back!: How has the struggle of the Sanitation workers impacted other workers in the public sector in Raleigh? How does the movement to repeal NC 95-98 play into this?

Saladin Muhammad: Yes, city workers in other departments have begun joining the union. State workers are also stepping up. The NC Public Service Workers Union-UE Local 150 launched the International Worker Justice Campaign in 2004 to build a rank-and-file and grassroots movement for collective bargaining rights and the repeal of NC 95-98. The current struggle draws attention to the strike as one of the only options left to the workers when there is no right to bargain. Many allies and forces who silently said they support collective bargaining are coming out publicly with this support as a result of this struggle. Appealing to the community has been a major component of the struggle. This struggle has been able to take away the strike issue as an argument used by management against unions.

Fight Back!: What is the significance of the Raleigh Sanitation workers’ struggle in the long-term goal of organizing the South?

Saladin Muhammad: This struggle is helping to create a labor, faith and community alliance as a social justice united front with the potential of building a united democratic front movement for economic and social justice and political power for African Americans and workers in the South. People seemed to make the connection between the relationship of quality working conditions to the delivery of quality services.

Fight Back!: What is next for the Sanitation workers struggle?

Saladin Muhammad: The union will hold a municipal workers’ summit reaching out to city workers throughout the state to bring together to develop a statewide program of action for city workers. Forums are currently being organized in various cities over the next two weeks entitled, “Understaffed, overworked and underpaid.”

#NorthCarolina #NC #Interview #Interviews #AfricanAmerican #WorkersAndGlobalization #SouthernLaborMovement #UELocal150 #UELocal160 #NC9598