Ejewish People Zionism Noi

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SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 1989 7 On Nov. 15, 1989, an Israeli judge agreed to postpone carrying out the 20-month prison sentence issued one week earlier to Isracli peace activist Michel Warshawsky.

This victory came about because of the immediate protests to Warshawsky's conviction, both internationally and in the Israeli state. The judge has set a January 1990 date for an appeal trial.

Warshawsky had been sentenced to 20 months in prison by a panel of three judges. The Alternative Information Centre, where Warshawsky works, was fined $5000.

The Alternative Information Centre and Warshawsky were accused of providing typesetting services to "illegal organizations" and of holding printed material which belongs to "illegal organizations."

The sentence was based entirely on one booklet, which, according to the prosecution, was oriented to giving guidelines to Palestinian activists on how to "resist" during interrogation and torture by the secret service, and on Warshawsky's refusal to furnish the names of the people who supplied the material to the Alternative Information Centre.

Warshawsky was arrested on Feb. 16, 1987, when Israeli police raided the Alternative Information Centre in Jerusalem, shutting it down and impounding its equipment. The Centre, a collective made up of both Arab and Jewish members, publishes the well-respected News From Within.

News From Within, widely read by professional journalists, has been one of the few reliable sources of information about humanrights violations in the "Occupied Territories" held by Israel. In addition to publication of this news service, the Centre provided nonprofit publishing facilities to movement and community groups.

Although the Israeli judge agreed to Warshawsky's demand to appeal his sentence, there is still a big danger that his conviction will be upheld. It is necessary to redouble our efforts so that the temporary reprieve Warshawsky has won can be transformed into a complete acquittal.

Letters, telegrams, and messages protesting this sentence and demanding Warshawsky's acquittal should be sent to the Embassy of Israel, 3415 International Way NW, Washington, DC 20008; and to the State Department Human Rights Desk, Washington, DC 20520.

Please send copies of Kathleen O'Nan/Socialist Action Alternative Information Centre, P.O. Box 24278, Jerusalem, Israel, Tel. 241159.

The city of San Francisco has agreed to pay $22,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in connection with a lawsuit brought by Socialist Action against the city.

In January 1989, Socialist Action sued the city of San Francisco in U.S. District Court for violating its First Amendment right to political association by requiring it to reveal the names of contributors to its 1988 election campaign. On June 2, 1989, the city dropped its demand for names of financial contributors, and the case was settled. [See July 1989 Socialist Action.] Still in dispute, however, was who would pay the fees of the ACLU attorneys, who expended nearly $30,000 in time and materials on behalf of Socialist Action. In an agreement reached earlier this month, the city will pay $22,000 to the ACLU, rather than have the issue decided by a judge at a hearing scheduled for Dec. 29, 1989.

Although the settlement must be approved by the Board of Supervisors, the ACLU expects to receive payment by mid-January 1990.

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By JEFF MACKLER Incensed by the brutal torture and slaying of six Salvadoran Jesuit priests and two churchworkers, tens of thousands of anti-intervention activists—including labor and church organizations-rallied across the country.

In San Francisco, 1000 Catholics-led by several Jesuit college rectors in the area—rallied at the Federal Building on Nov. 20. They demanded an immediate end to all U.S. military aid to the Salvadoran government.

When rally speaker Father Anthony Sauer, president of St. Ignacious College, announced the 215-t0-194 Congressional vote of Nov. 20 which refused to block any aid to El Salvador, the S.F. Bay Area crowd responded with cries of "Shame, Shame, Shame!"

Tessa Rouvrol of San Francisco Catholic Charities reported calls her agency had received from El Salvador describing the government's napalming of children and bombardment of churches.

Backed by the unrefuted testimony of eyewitness reports from surviving Jesuit leaders in Los Angeles at the office of Congressman Mel Levine.

In Chicago, two activists were arrested as they querried George Bush at a Republican fund-raising event. They asked, "Why are we supporting El Salvador?" Later, 10 nuns were arrested at the same event.

A 2000-strong Pennsylvania Ave. demonstration at the White House blocked traffic for several hours and ended with the arrest of 98 non-violent protesters.

Trade-union activity

U.S. trade unionists have also increased their activity in response to the death-squad bombing of the offices of the FENASTRAS trade-union federation, the largest affiliate of the National Union of Salvadoran Workers (UNTS). Ten Salvadoran unionists were killed in the Oct. 31 blast, including FENASTRAS leader Febe Elizabeth Velasquez. [See interview with Mark Anner on opposite page.] The same day, the offices of COMADRES, (Mothers of the Disappeared) was dynamited.