Supreme Court denies Christic Institute La Penca case review

Scan page 14

Court OKs deportation of Irish Republican Joe Doherty my imprisonment without charge in an American prison. With 18 years of imprisonment in Ireland and the United States behind me, and more than likely, many decades of prison cells, belly chains and strip searches ahead of me, I continue committed to my Republican beliefs." Doherty's beliefs are shared by at least half the oppressed population of Northern Ireland, who regularly vote for Republican candidates, and a great deal of the Irish Commenting on the Supreme Court decision, the editors of the Washington Post called for disregarding the views of the lowly Irish in their Feb. 27 weekly edition. "We," the Washington Post editors wrote, "find nothing troubling about denying political asylum to someone convicted of murder in the course of a violent campaign to overturn the democratically elected goverA more shameless avowal of the partnership in crime between U.S. and British imperialism is hard to imagine. There is no "democratically elected" government in Northern Ireland. It is ruled directly by Britain. The local government that had been Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the established in his area, artificially cut off to assure the largest extradition of Joe Doherty, an Irish Republican, to Britain. The possible territory with a pro-imperialist majority, was glaringly Reagan-Bush reactionary court ruled that, in order to protect the exposed as a repressive regime similar to the white supremacist government in South Africa. This fact was exposed by a mass interests of the United States, the U.S. Attorney General has the right to send Doherty against his will to a country where he movement of the oppressed people that the British army tried to suppress by shooting down 13 peaceful demonstrators in 1972.

In 1982, Doherty escaped from the notorious Crumlin Road The 1972 massacre sparked a turn to armed resistance in jail in Belfast, before the conclusion of his trial on the charge of Northern Ireland, just as the Sharpesville massacre did in South shooting a British army captain in an IRA ambush. He fled to the United States, where he was arrested two years later. Since All opponents of oppression and exploitation in the United that time, he has been held in U.S. prisons awaiting a final rul- States have a duty to denounce the partnership in crime between U.S. and British imperialism, now sanctified by the ReaganBush Supreme Court, and oppose the deportation of Joe 14 SOCIALISTACTION FEBRUARY 1992 On Jan. 13, 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari, or review, filed by the Christic Institute. This action brought to a close the legal aspects of the historic 1986 lawsuit that forcefully exposed the many connections between illegal U.S. aid to the Nicaraguan contras, the Central Intelligence Agency, and international drug trafficking.

The Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that had awarded unprecedented damages in the amount of $1.2 million against the Institute for filing a "frivolous" lawsuit against 19 defendants who were involved in illegal support to the Nicaraguan contras.

The original litigant, journalist Tony Avirgan, was severely wounded when a Joe Doherty faces life in prison.

ing on deportation.

In the December issue of the Gael, Doherty wrote that he was ... Algerian women similar aims. In time, and through common work, they built up a national coordinating committee. This collaboration was strengthened by the malicious campaign that the fundamentalists launched against women. At first, this campaign was conducted through verbal insults in the streets, the media, and in the mosques, and with the use of anti-woman arguments.

The essential message was that the sole cause of the crisis hitting Algeria was women. Women were responsible for unemployment, since they were taking men's jobs. Women were responsible for the decline of the education system, since most teachers were women. Women were responsible for rising crime, because they were not where they should be, bringing up children properly. Women were responsible for the moral decay of the country.

After a few months, the whole country was in a state of real psychosis. Women were being attacked in the streets, on the buses, at work, in the universities-especially women on their own-whether widowed, divorced, or single.

At this time, almost every weekend, the women's groups organized rallies, demonstrations, and other activities. The movement seemed to grow with every attack. The 1990 municipal elections brought the fundamentalists' campaign to a standstill.

For the whole of 1989 and the first half of 1990, the women's movement was pracbomb exploded at a La Penca, Nicaragua press conference called by contra leader Eden Pastora to denounce CIA support to one wing of the contras.

Included in those receiving money from the enormous bond the Christic Institute was compelled to post were the likes of CIA secret agent John Hull. Hull was indicted last year by the Costa Rican government on charges similar to those included in the law suit headed by Christic Institute Chief Counsel Daniel Sheehan.

The Christic Institute's executive director, the Rev. Bill Davis, told Socialist Action: "The Federal Court system is a 'goner."

However, though this particular battle may be lost, the war is not. If we cannot get our case in front of a jury, we will take it to the court of public opinion. The American population as well.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Africa.

San Francisco Irish paper The celebrating the "3000th day of Doherty.

tically the only force that actively opposed the fundamentalists, even though it was totally isolated within the society. There were indeed several parties whose programs called for emancipating women. But, except for the far left parties, women could not rely on their support.

Nonetheless, the activity of the women's movement led the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), the biggest of the Islamic parties, to change its approach to women for these municipal elections. The same people who had been inveighing against women now started talking about a wage for housewives. If you asked how this was to be paid, the answer would be that the police would be abolished —an argument especially popular among the young.

Promising heaven on earth Since the 1988 revolt, there has been a deep gulf between the population and the FLN regime. The FLN is seen as corrupted, and has lost the confidence of the people. Opposed to the regime, the fundamentalists propose to restore moral values and social justice.

They have promised housing for all. There is an extremely severe housing shortage in Algeria.

On the average, seven people live in dwellings of nine square meters. Whoever promises housing promises heaven on earth. They have promised a just distribution of water. There is indeed water in the rich neighborhoods but not for the poor.

Such promises have found a good reception among women. They saw their daily housework valued and a possibility for we The Christic Institute will pursue its campaign, "Causes and Cures," a national Emergency