Dr. Siddiqui’s case exposes ‘war on terror’

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Iowa flood relief: Politicians dine in while workers check out 55. Provide unemployment and retirement payments at the level of union wages and We propose an EMERGENCY CONGRESS OF LABOR to discuss and take steps to 6) To combat inflation: A sliding scale of wages and pensions that matches the rises in comsumer prices. To combat high medical costs: A free, universal, public health-care 1) Bail out the people, not the bankers! Open the account books of the banks to full public inspection. Nationalize the banks to be supervised by workers’ committees. 7) Immediate citizenship for all undocumented workers. No job discrimination; equal 2) No foreclosures! No forced evictions! Cancel usurious debt payments, and reduce pay for equal work — regardless of gender, sexual orientation, skin color, or national 3) Full employment at union wages! An emergency public works program to employ 8) Nationalize manufacturing, big agribusiness, energy, and transportation corporaall jobless workers and youth! Employ people to build what we need — low-cost quality should organize ACTION COMMITTEES in every workplace and neighborhood threat4) Immediate and full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq & Afghanistan! Close all ened by the crisis. These committees can draw up more concrete demands than the U.S. bases abroad! No money for the military — use funds instead for public works!

Convert the war industries to making products for people’s needs and to combat global 10) To put all these measures into effect, we need a LABOR PARTY — based on a fighting union movement and all people who are oppressed and exploited. For a 5) Reduce the workweek to 30 hours with no cut in pay, and cut the retirement age to Editor: Michael Schreiber International Editor: Gerry Foley Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly by Socialist Action Publishing Association, P.O. Box 460501, San Francisco, CA 94146-0501. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Socialist Action, P.O. BOX 460501, San Francisco, CA 94146-0501. RATES: For one year (12 issues, 1st-class mail): U.S., Canada, Mexico — $20. All other countries — $30. Money orders and checks should be in U.S. dollars.

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Rhetoric and violence against innocent Muslims has reached hysterical levels. This scapegoating becomes a necessity for the ruling class as support declines for the endless U.S. wars in the Middle East and South Asia.

To justify the “war on terror,” both the Bush and Obama administrations have relied on phony show-trials. Innocent Muslims like the Fort Dix Five have been followed by infiltrators and convicted of terrorism with no material evidence. The case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is especially egregious.

Aafia Siddiqui is a Pakistani neuroscientist who studied in the U.S. before earning her doctorate from Brandeis. At MIT she became active in the Muslim Student Association. The political climate following Sept. 11 prompted her to move with her family back to Pakistan. But when she and her husband divorced, she began looking for work in the U.S. again.

Dr. Siddiqui and her children’s whereabouts were unknown between March 2003 and July 2008. The U.S. government insists that she was in hiding, but former prisoners at Bagram, Afghanistan, have stated that she was the “Grey Lady of Bagram,” the sole female inmate whose nightly cries of pain inspired a hunger strike in her defense. Binyam Mohamed, an innocent Ethiopian man who spent seven years of detention and torture at the hands of the U.S., indentified Dr. Siddiqui as the mysterious woman, “prisoner 650,” he saw while being held in Bagram.

Aafia’s oldest son claims that in March of 2003, some 15-20 people, including a “white lady,” kidnapped his mother and two siblings while they were traveling via taxi to an airport in Pakistan.

In 2008, Dr. Siddiqui was found on the streets of Ghazni, Afghanistan, and arrested by Afghani forces. According to the U.S. government, she was captured while carrying instructions on building explosives, chemical weapons, and weapons “involving biological material and radiological agents.” She was also supposedly carrying bottles of chemicals and handwritten notes listing “mass casualty” targets in the U.S.

Despite these allegations, Dr. Siddiqui is not facing a single terrorism charge. Instead, the U.S. brought Dr.

A WORKERS’ ACTION PROGRAM TO FIGHT THE CRISIS implement the following demands — mortgage payments in proportion to their capitalist-caused decline in value.

housing, efficient mass transportation, cheap and renewable sources of power, schools, clinics — and to conserve our water, forests, farmland, and open space.

warming.

Name Address City Phone Siddiqui to New York City, charged with attempted murder. Their prosecution alleged that, while detained, she grabbed a soldier’s M4 rifle and began indiscriminate shooting at close range.

Her own story is quite different. She states that she was in the detention facility in Ghazni, heard the Afghans speaking to Americans, and peered through a curtain. A startled soldier announced that she was loose. She was Mari Araujo / Socialist Action CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa—On Aug. 30, Socialist Action members participated in an enthusiastic picket line of a Democratic Party fund-raising dinner in Northwest Cedar Rapids—a district hard hit by the 2008 floods that devastated the city. Over 30 protesters demanded a worker-centered reconstruction program in opposition to the Big Business favoritism and bureaucratic red tape that has prevailed in the “recovery” process.

Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, in a race for re-election, spent time among the protesters. He was accompanied by a host of Democrats running for election for state positions. The candidates flashed their politician smiles and assured the demonstrators that they are doing “everything they can” to assist the people of the devastated benefits.

system.

origin.

ones outlined above.

workers’ government!

State Zip E-mail tions and place them under the control of elected committees of workers. 9) To mobilize support for the demands it adopts, the EMERGENCY CONGRESS • Ashland, Ore.: damonjure@ earthlink.net • Ashland, Wis.: northlandiguana@ gmail.com • Boston: bostonsocialistaction@ gmail.com (781) 630-0250 • Carrboro, N.C.: (919) 967-2866, [email protected] • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860)478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: P.O. Box 16853 Duluth, MN 55816, [email protected], www.the-red-raven.blogspot.com • Florida: socialistaction_tampa@ hotmail.com • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 8021482, [email protected] • New York City: [email protected] shot twice and required a blood transfusion.

There was no forensic evidence to prove that she shot the gun—no fingerprints, casings on the floor, bullet holes in the walls, or injuries. The only casings found were from the revolver used to shoot her. Eyewitness stories contradict each other. Siddiqui refused to cooperate in the trial, insisting it was biased against her.

The peace and justice movement must stand with Dr.

Siddiqui and all the victims of the show-trials. A rally is planned for the courthouse during her sentencing hearing: Sept. 23, 8:45 a.m., at 500 Pearl St., Manhattan. n neighborhoods. They insisted, of course, that a Republican victory would doom their efforts.

But most of the protesters had no time for this political double-talk, and were set on organizing actions independent of the ruling elite’s twin parties. Activists interested in building an ongoing campaign for dignified flood recovery are organizing a coalition under the banner of CAVE People (Citizens Already Victimized Enough, People!).

Socialist Action supporters in Cedar Rapids are active in building the coalition and have suggested an action program that centers on the following demands:

• Rebuild workers’ homes and apartments! Cut down the red tape; end the favoritism of Business District recovery!

• For a massive public works program to carry out reconstruction and provide meaningful employment for the city’s growing ranks of unemployed, many of whom lost their jobs and their homes due to the flood. Reconstruction must be under the control of democratic, self-organized councils of the working people whose residences were destroyed or damaged, as well as the unions representing the reconstruction workers.

• No support for capitalist politicians! Organize independently to force the city and state governments to accede to our demands.

• No cuts, no austerity; tax the rich! No more Iowan tax dollars wasted on wars abroad—bring the money home to rebuild Cedar Rapids and rejuvenate our social services! Increase the tax burden on the elite to fund the reconstruction. n For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610, [email protected], (510) 268-9429 Socialist Action newspaper editorial offices: [email protected] Website: www.socialistaction.org WHERE TO FIND SOCIALIST ACTION • Philadelphia: [email protected] • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: [email protected], (401) 419-1706 • San Francisco Bay Area:

P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, Ca 94510 (415) 255-1080, sfsocialistaction@ gmail.com • Superior. Wis.: wainosunrise@ yahoo.com • WASHINGTON, DC:

National Office

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