July 10 , 2000 The End Is Near BY RICK ROCKWELL Can the Mexican opposition topple the PRI? Temp Slave Revolt BY DAVID MOBERG Contingent workers of the world unite. Locked Down BY KRISTIN ELIASBERG Prison cutbacks leave inmates hopeless. News & Views Editorial BY SALIM MUWAKKIL Just say no to the war on drugs. Forgotten America BY JUAN GONZALEZ Enemies of the state. Appall-O-Meter BY DAVID FUTRELLE A Terry Laban Cartoon Bully Culprit BY JAMES B. GOODNO Estrada is leading the Philippines into crisis. Three's Company BY JOHN NICHOLS Third parties strategize for the November elections Don't Drink the Water BY ERIK MARCUS Did a factory farm cause a deadly E. coli outbreak? Eight Is Enough BY DAVE LINDORFF Judge restricts freedom of anti-death penalty activists Pass the Petition BY TED KLEINE In Michigan, a Republican leads a campaign to legalize marijuana Profile BY TRAVIS LOLLER Irina Arellano: on strike and in style. Culture Botched Burbs BY SANDY ZIPP BOOKS: How the suburbs happened. Harrington's Way BY KIM PHILLIPS-FEIN BOOKS: The Other American. Slaughterhouse Live BY JEFF SHARLET BOOKS: Absolute oral history Shakespeare Inc. BY BEN WINTERS FILM: Something is definitely rotten in Denmark. Post-Feminist Smackdown! BY JANE SLAUGHTER

Eight Is Enough By Dave Lindorff Philadelphia In what looks suspiciously like the methods of the old apartheid regime in South Africa, a federal district court judge here, apparently responding to a request from federal prosecutors, has restricted the freedom of travel, freedom of association and freedom of speech of several key activists in the movement to gain a new trial for Death Row inmate and black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. Protesters converged on the Supreme Court this spring when it deliberated on the Effective Death Penalty Act. Credit: Chris Kleponis/AFP The eight, who include C. Clark Kissinger, a member of the national coordinating committee of the Mumia movement, Mitch Cohen, a New York Green Party activist, and Francis Goldin, Abu-Jamal's 76-year-old literary agent, were arrested a year ago during a demonstration at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Their crime, for which others were also arrested, was "failure to obey a lawful order" to disperse - usually a minor charge, and one for which those who pleaded guilty at the time were fined $250 and released. Kissinger, Goldin, Cohen and the other members of the "Mumia 8," however, pleaded not guilty and went to trial. Found guilty, they were then slapped with much more than just a fine. In addition to being ordered to serve a year of supervised probation, they were ordered confined to the area of their respective home federal court districts - New York City in Goldin, Cohen and Kissinger's cases - with permission to travel required from a federal probation officer. They also had their passports impounded, were ordered to provide monthly evidence of income and expenses and must report any felons they are in contact with. All have filed appeals of their sentences. Kissinger was denied permission go to Philadelphia last month to speak at rally on the 15th anniversary of the police bombing of the MOVE residence, where 11 people, including five children, were burned to death and an entire city block was destroyed. "My probation officer said he'd have to check with the district court," Kissinger says. "He said when they let people travel, they have to assess third party risk. Apparently our decision to take our case to court instead of pleading guilty constitutes a threat to third parties." Kissinger calls the sentences a blatant attempt by federal prosecutors and the court "to stop our political work for Mumia" and vows "it won't work." Former South African political prisoner and Abu-Jamal supporter Dennis Brutus, commenting on the sentences, says, "As someone who suffered various restraints, including loss of passport, I am profoundly troubled to see apartheid [tactics] replicated in the United States."   TOP HOME SUBSCRIBE MAIL   In These Times © 2000 Vol. 24, No. 16