Letter from Steve Kurtz to His Supporters
July 12, 2008

From the CAE Defense

Dear Supporters,

After four long, difficult years I have been released from my legal ordeal. I want to thank everyone who supported me through this—the greatest challenge I’ve ever had to face. I feel vindicated today because I am innocent, but today I am also humbled by a legal and political victory that is not mine alone. Everyone who contributed their support to this case can lay claim to a victory against the forces aiming to abridge our fundamental rights. I am mindful that my case was just one of many examples where fear and irrationality gained the upper hand after 9/11. I am aware that my vindication is an exception. I continue to have anxiety about the outcome of many pending cases still awaiting justice.

Although it seems that my case has come to a conclusion, it is only now that I can fully comprehend the immensity of what happened. The tragic death of Hope was a profound loss. The unfortunate events following Hope’s death occurred at a moment of intense pain and sadness for all of us. Neither my life nor the work of Critical Art Ensemble has been the same without her. If she were here today, I know she would be proud of everything that has been done by all the people involved. Collectively, we stood without flinching, and defeated a monster of social injustice. Hope always said that we should “never surrender” to authoritarian power, and we didn’t.

Rape threats, beatings and racist chants: 15 Italians jailed for abuse of G8 Genoa protesters
John Hooper
The Guardian

Fifteen Italian police officers and doctors were last night sentenced to jail terms of up to five years after being found guilty of abusing protesters detained during riots at the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa.

Thirty other defendants were cleared of charges ranging from assault to the denial of basic human rights. The judges issued their verdicts after 11 hours of closed-doors deliberations.

Homeless People Shut Out of Sapporo Bus Terminal in Run-up to G8 Summit

Article found at Mainichi Daily News:

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080613p2a00m0na008000c.html

Japanese Police Raid Anti-G8 Kyoto Union Office

http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/Hokkaido_2008/5181.html

10th of June before 9 in the morning, 19 police men from Kyoto Prefecture Police Security 3rd department (so called public safety dep.) raided and searched the union office which is used by Rakunan Union, Rakunan Workers Network, Asia Joint Action (Asia Kyodokodo) , (and ) also an house of ‘A’ who is a member of Rakunan Union for the suspect of “fraud related incident” (with an arrest warrant), which is an apparent excuse to crush the movement against the summit.

A Yippie Veteran Is in Jail Far From the East Village
Colin Moynihan, New York Times

It has been more than 40 years since Dana Beal came to prominence as a theoretician for the Youth International Party, known as the Yippies, and embarked on a long career in the world of countercultural politics.

Since 1973, Mr. Beal and other Yippies have used a brick tenement on Bleecker Street, just west of the East Village, as a base for planning large-scale events, including demonstrations at national political conventions and worldwide marches calling for the legalization of medical marijuana, among other causes.

But Mr. Beal, 61, was far from the national stage last week when he found himself arrested on charges of money laundering in Mattoon, Ill., about 170 miles south of Chicago. He is being held in a county jail in nearby Charleston, awaiting an appearance before a judge on Thursday.

Ronald Tulin, a Charleston lawyer representing Mr. Beal, said that the police found his client with a large sum of cash, which was sniffed by police dogs.

“They’re saying the money smelled like marijuana,” Mr. Tulin said.

Critical Art Ensemble's Steve Kurtz Cleared of All Charges

Department of Justice Fails to Appeal Dismissal
Kurtz Speaks about Four-Year Ordeal

Buffalo, NY—Dr. Steven Kurtz, a Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY at Buffalo and cofounder of the award-winning art and theater group Critical Art Ensemble, has been cleared of all charges of mail and wire fraud. On April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the government’s entire indictment against Dr. Kurtz as “insufficient on its face.” This means that even if the actions alleged in the indictment (which the judge must accept as “fact”) were true, they would not constitute a crime. The US Department of Justice had thirty days from the date of the ruling to appeal. No action has been taken in this time period, thus stopping any appeal of the dismissal. According to Margaret McFarland, a spokeswoman for US Attorney Terrance P. Flynn, the DoJ will not appeal Arcara’s ruling and will not seek any new charges against Kurtz.

Anti-G8 Anarchist in Kansai Area (West Japan) Arrested

Tabi Rounin, better known as 'Rebel_Jill' has been detained by police on minor charges in the run-up to the G8 in Japan, as the police attempt to investigate his international connections and disrupt his revolutionary activities. This is a known tactic of the Japanese political police, see here for more information about this tactic and an interview with Tabi:

Interview with Comrade 'M'
http://www.325collective.com/social-control_m.html

Interview with Rebel-Jill
http://www.325collective.com/interviews_rebel-jill.html

Forensic Evaluation Completed of Mexican Investigation of Brad Will Case

PHR Recommends a Thorough Investigation into US Journalist Brad Will's Case and a Larger Inquiry into Pattern of Violence in Oaxaca

Media Contacts:
Nathaniel Raymond
nraymond@phrusa.org
Tel: (617) 301-4232
Cell: (617) 413-6407

The International Forensic Program (IFP) of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) recommends a thorough and wider inquiry following its comprehensive forensic review of the ongoing investigation by Mexico's Attorney General (Procuraduria General de la Republica-PGR) into the October, 2006 death of 36-year-old American Brad Will. Will, a video-journalist for Indymedia.org, died of gunshot wounds while covering violent protests in the state of Oaxaca. At issue in this case is whether Will was killed by bullets fired at close range from within the crowd of protestors, or from a greater distance by paramilitary forces. At least 17 other reported deaths related to protests in Oaxaca since 1996 remain unresolved.

Utah Phillips: May 15, 1935 – May 24, 2008
John Pietaro

Utah spoke directly to each of us in that filled auditorium on April 24 of this year. It didn’t matter that it was his disembodied voice, speaking over a cell phone held up to a microphone, held aloft by Pete Seeger, one of the event's headliners. The strength of Phillips' message message was as clear as the vitality in his tone. I was happy to be there to hear Utah's response to our benefit concert on his behalf, happier still to witness the warm exchange between he and Seeger, another elder of fighting the good fight. But this room on that sunny spring day in Rosendale New York was dedicated Utah Phillips; we'd all come with the intention of helping this man who’d been there for the greater “us” for decades. Utah told us of his life and plans for the future. Sure, he sounded tired, but none could accept that Utah would not get through this challenge. He told us so. None would believe that he would pass away just about a month later. Damn, at least we can say that it took a lot to silence Utah. But the echo of his work rings loudly, as sonorous as the music onstage that day from Pete, Dar Williams, Redwood Moose, Sarah Underhill, Norm Wennet, Bill Vanaver, my own Flames of Discontent and others.

Linguist Noam Chomsky Gives Students Lesson in Free Thinking
Emily Krone, Daily Herald Staff
http://tinyurl.com/4qcvs3

In a second-floor classroom at a Carpentersville [Illinois] high school, one of
America's most renowned free-thinkers warned about 40 assembled students
that the American public school system conspires to blunt their
creativity and engender their obedience.

Via speakerphone from his office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, linguistics professor Noam Chomsky told Dundee-Crown High
School students that a two-tiered educational system exists: While the
elite attend schools that promote critical, independent thought, the
masses attend schools that train students to pass tests and follow orders.

The system evolved after the Industrial Revolution, Chomsky said, when
the ruling elite recognized the need to transform independent artisans
and farmers into pliant factory workers.

Today as then, Chomsky said, the imperative is the production of a
docile work force that will perpetuate the status quo.