The issues of setting up a community advisory board and determining the date of a new election that will stagger the terms of board members are outstanding questions that need to be resolved. But, we need to work together on these issues. A cooperative and supportive attitude by both sides in this conflict will be a welcome change from the hostility and paralysis we have seen in recent months.

The large number of KFCF members (almost 600) participating in this election was really impressive! The message that came through loud and clear is that voters want to continue receiving KPFA & they support local programming. Both sides have stated their support for these fundamental principles and this is the glue that will hold the station together as trust is rebuilt in the aftermath of this election.

The recall did not succeed and the pro-recall supporters need to change their strategy and figure out how to continue moving KFCF forward towards becoming a community radio station. The board majority must build bridges with the HUGE minority that voted to recall the board. The Community Alliance wholeheartedly supports the current changes taking place at KFCF, that are the first steps in transforming it into the community radio station that we so desperately need for the valley.

Hate violence is defined as an attack on persons or property motivated by intense feelings of hostility, intolerance and fear of or bias against a target group. Prejudice plays a major role in this phenomenon.

Help us to prevent extremist hate groups and targeted acts of hate violence from sowing divisions and discord in our society. Now that Fresno is an All American City, let us build a Beloved Community with a Vision of Healing and Voice of Hope. Let us work together to build a culture of peace and nonviolence.

Stop the Hate Week activities will include: Programs at CSUF, Fresno City College, Fresno Pacific University, and the Fresno Center for Nonviolence. Clergy are being invited to preach on the topic over the weekend. Sponsored by the Interfaith Alliance of Central California.

For more information call Regina Hansen 224-3752, w. 432-3600 or Dr. S. Kapoor 278-2013.

Monday, October 2, Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday, Rally and garlanding. Peace Garden, Fresno State at 12:00 noon Please bring flowers and friends. Contact: S. Kapoor 278-2013, Frankie Moore 278-2741 or 278-6040, Gail Abbott 278-3973.

Monday, October 2, Fresno City College, Student Lounge, College Center South end of Cafeteria 12:00 noon to 3 pm. India's Independence from Colonial Rule: Gandhi's Role and Contribution - A panel presentation followed by group discussion

A Photographic Exhibition on the life of Mahatma Gandhi Contact: Prof. Kehindi Solwazi, 442-4600 x8123, Gurdeep Sihota 265-5711

Monday, October 2, "Street Activism and Gandhi" – 7:00 pm. Panel Discussion. Fresno Center for Nonviolence, 985 N. Van Ness, 266-2559.

At Fresno Pacific University. A week of activities is being organized by a committee. Please contact Prof. Katrina Poetker, 453-5503.

Thursday, October 5, Interfaith Candlelight Vigil Against Hate Violence at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. bust. 7:00 pm Fresno County Courthouse Park. Speaker, CSUF President John Welty. Dances of Universal Peace, Dance Troupe.

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GORE OR NADER?
By Richard Stone

Which presidential candidate to vote for? The debate is raising impassioned argument in progressive circles. While most of us say plainly that Nader's platform and past performance are much more supportable, many believe that the difference between Gore and Bush--and the possibility of aiding a Bush victory by pulling support from Gore to Nader--make it imperative to stay in the Democratic fold. I noted that everyone I spoke with who had thought this problem through spoke with fervor, as if they had defined the "real" situation and calculated the "true" answer. What if we listened to each others’ truth--what would we discover?

In response to an invitation to try this experiment, about a dozen intrepid folk gathered at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence on Sept. 12^th. Surprisingly, all but one had decided to vote for Nader. Still, the range and quality of discussion was impressive.

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Mayoral candidates Autry and Whitehurst have been invited to meet with residents of under-served communities to answer questions about the City's role in creating safe, vital neighborhoods. The forum will be held on Monday, Oct. 16th at 7:00 p.m., at the Tehipite Middle School, 630 N. Augusta (east of Fresno St., just north of Belmont.) The forum is sponsored by the Neighborhood Policy Council, a year-old organization formed to bring together representatives from Fresno's many neighborhood-based organizations. The NPC was founded on the belief that healthy neighborhoods THROUGHOUT THE CITY are necessary for a healthy Fresno and that healthy neighborhoods require both a degree of self-governance and the power of alliance to create a neighborhood perspective that can be effectively present in city policy-making. (The NPC meet the 3^rd Monday of each month at 5 p.m. at Catholic Charities, 140 N. Fulton St., just north of Divisadero. Pizza is provided.) At the forum, the candidates will respond to questions prepared by NPC representatives, which they will have previously received. Issues they will be asked to address include: stopping the misuse of federal money designated for neighborhood revitalization (CDBG funds); effectively enforcing health and building codes, and activating the responsibility of absentee landlords; developing affordable, decently maintained housing, especially south of Shaw; improving garbage and solid waste removal; recognizing and building the "non-market economy" of neighborhood exchange that sustains healthy communities.

For information about the forum (including how to get flyers to distribute in your neighborhood) or about the NPC, contact co-chair Ruben Contreras at 268-1975.

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GANDHI & STREET ACTIVISM: Oct. 2 marks the birth of Mohandas Gandhi, the Mahatma (Great One) of 20^th century nonviolent activism, the man who inspired the work of King and Chavez. We have invited a panel of young activists--participants in the recent demonstrations in Fresno (THE GAP), Seattle, Los Angeles--to discuss their understanding of non-violent action in this current era. We have also asked Rev. Bryan Jessup of the Unitarian Universalist Church to act as respondent, bringing an historical and spiritual understanding of Gandhi's work to bear on the discussion. Please join us for this unique celebration of Gandhi's lasting significance, which also serves to initiate "Stop the Violence" week.

PEACE CHALLENGE: Last year the Center used an out-of-the-blue grant to create a pilot project, a Peace Challenge for Youth that involved group projects rather than the conventional "peace essay contest". The results were exciting both in the quality of work done by our teenage participants and in our ability to involve those outside the academic elite. But the number of groups we were able to engage was disappointing--only five, and one dropped out mid-way.

To make "cost-effective" the amount of work involved in putting together this program, our small planning committee agreed we need to at least double the number of entries this year. And to do that, we need an involved project committee of at least 10 to do face-to-face outreach and serve as liaison with participant groups. We have approached the Human Relations Commission to act as sponsor for the whole event (last year they hosted our awards ceremony at City Hall). But even if they take this on, we have a primary responsibility to raise the committee--this is OUR peace challenge. If we do not find 10 committed souls by the end of October, we are prepared to turn back our grant. My last month's mention found one new recruit: we now number 4. But this is crunch time where we will either put up or shut up, as they say. Anybody want to play?

BRIAN WATSON: Somewhere in the midst of this paper you'll find a flyer for a special event on Oct. 18^th. Please post it (I use my refrigerator) for your own recollection, and make copies to distribute. This is an important occasion. One of the most significant under-reported stories of the last few years is our country's singular efforts to up the nuclear ante and create the next generation of weapons, thus renewing the arms race and endangering current disarmament treaties. Small groups of courageous, determined folk are ferreting out the factual truth (hidden behind benign names like "Stockpile Stewardship"), and confronting the military/industrial/congressional complex with moral truth about why this madness must end.

Brian Watson, our speaker on the 18th, is a member of one such group--now known as "the Bangor 8". And remarkably, not only did they stand up to power, they won their case in a court of law. The key was the judge's instructions to the jury to give due consideration to the treaty obligations of the U.S. as signatories to international pacts against the use and development of nuclear weapons. Hear Brian's remarkable story, and learn about the exciting legal implications of this case. Join us on Wed. Oct. 18th at the 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4144 N. Millbrook, in Fresno.

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A Twelve Step Program for Democrats and Republicans to End Nuclear Weapons Addiction.

The following steps should be taken by the nuclear weapons states to assure that we end the nuclear weapons threat now hanging over all of humanity:

1. Publicly acknowledge the weaknesses of deterrence, which clearly is ineffective against an enemy who is irrational and cannot assure against accidents, miscalculations, or terrorists.

2. Publicly acknowledge the illegality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons under international law.

3. Publicly acknowledge the immorality of threatening to annihilate millions of people in the name of national security.

4. Commence good faith negotiations to achieve a Nuclear Weapons Convention to eliminate and prohibit all nuclear weapons.

5. Establish an international accounting system for all nuclear weapons and weapons-grade nuclear materials.

6. Sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and cease laboratory and subcritical nuclear tests designed to modernize nuclear weapons systems.

7. Re-affirm the commitments to the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and cease efforts to violate that treaty by the deployment of national or theater missile defenses.

8. Declare policies of No First Use of nuclear weapons against other nuclear weapons states and policies of No Use against non-nuclear weapons states.

9. De-alert all nuclear weapons and de-couple all nuclear warheads from their delivery vehicles.

10. Reduce nuclear arsenals in all nuclear weapons states to no more than 200 de-alerted nuclear weapons by the year 2005, and place these weapons in internationally monitored storage sites.

11. Set forth a plan to complete the transition under international control and monitoring to zero nuclear weapons by 2020.

12. Reallocate the $35b currently being spent annually for maintaining nuclear arsenals to improving human health, education and welfare.

"President Putin of Russia has offered to cut Russia's long-range nuclear arsenal to 1000-1500 warheads, provided the US does not build its $60b 'Son of Star Wars' in violation of the ABM Treaty. Russia also urged that the world negotiate a global missile ban, a much less expensive and more secure way to prevent attacks from so-called "rogue" states, but the US is determined to proceed with its corporate-—driven scheme to militarize and control space." (Sacramento-Yolo Peace Action Newsletter June 2000). (We applaud President Clinton's recent decision not to deploy National Missile Defense.)

The Department of Defense Appropriations Act allocates $288b to military needs for the fiscal year beginning October 1 ($20b more than for the last fiscal year). Senators John McCain and Phil Gramm (both R.) said during Senate debate over the bill that it included more than $7b in "outrageous pork-barrel spending" not requested by the Pentagon, ranging from $1.5m for research on chronic fatigue syndrome (hardly a military problem) to $4m for desert tortoise research in California! (Calif. Peace Action).

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Basic Strike Update  

One of the biggest obstacles in the Basic Vegetable strike has been the isolation of rural King City, CA. This has led to a media blackout of the strike. Please forward this e-mail update on the Basic Vegetable strike to your own mailing lists so that we can spread the word on our struggle.

The strike by 800 members of Teamsters Local 890 against Basic Vegetable Products, in King City, CA, is fourteen months old. It will not end until all of our members return to work with a fair contract.

Here is the current situation:

1. The strikers continue to be solid and Basic Vegetable Products continues to have to throw away a huge percentage of the onions and garlic which they are trying to process. We have defeated Basic's effort to decertify the union. Over 650 strikers came out to vote in the first phase of a representation election held June 28, while only slightly more than 450 scabs showed up to vote on August 31. The union's position as collective bargaining representative is assured. Under federal law, Basic must continue to negotiate with Local 890 at least through the next harvest season, and probably beyond.

2. Our boycott campaign is going well, taking aim at Basic's big institutional sales of dried onion, garlic, potatoes and refried beans to facilities such as hospitals, jails and public schools. County governments, covering over 7,000,000 Californians, and school districts, covering over 1,000,000 students throughout California, have told Basic and its parent company, Basic American Foods, that they will take their business elsewhere. Kaiser hospitals in Northern and Southern California have joined the boycott, as well as the New York private hospital buying consortium. We are now extending our campaign to customers in Seattle, New York, Boston, Chicago and other large cities.

3. On August 22-23, Teamsters General President, Jim Hoffa, came to California to express the entire union's support for the Basic strike, and to launch a campaign directed at major industrial customers-Unilever, Campbell Soup, Nissin Foods, Clorox (Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing) and others. As a result, Teamsters throughout the country will be asking their employers to voluntarily agree to buy their ingredients-now supplied by Basic-from other sources.

4. At many University of California and California State University campuses in both Northern and Southern California we have won the support of campus unions, campus USAS (anti-sweatshop) groups, Latino student groups, student governments and residence halls associations. In short, we intend to win this strike, and we know that the only way we can do so is with the support of the public-our friends in the churches, in the community and on campus.

The Bioneers Conference is the preeminent gathering of visionaries with practical solutions for restoring the Earth. For both professional and general audiences, this three-day annual event equips participants with models, resources and networks, encouraging everyone to act as primary forces in the transformation toward a restorative future. Experience Bioneers. Join this dynamic community in creating a future environment of hope.

"No conference on Earth celebrates more fully the possibilities of creating a world that is conducive to life. Bioneers is central to the re-imagination of what it means to be human."
-Paul Hawken

Over 100 presenters including: Julia Butterfly Hill, Paul Hawken, Alice Walker, Fritjof Capra, David Korten, Matthew Fox, Caroline Casey, Kevin Danaher, Amy Goodman, Mark Hertsgaard, Michael Lerner, Michael Toms, Nina Utne and many more.

For more info on the conference, contact: 1-877-BIONEER (1-877-246-6337) or on the web at www.bioneers.org.

Interested in forming a carpool to conference, contact: Sanjiv Kapoor at 449-8891 sanjivk@rocketmail.com

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The Fresno Free College Foundation Annual Banquet will be held on Saturday, November 4, at the Downtown Club in Fresno. The theme of this year's banquet is "Celebrating 25 years of Community Radio in the Valley" featuring guest speaker Dennis Bernstein, host and producer of the "Flashpoints" program heard weekdays at 5 pm on KFCF 88.1 FM. Dennis Bernstein is a highly regarded journalist whose reporting has included the Iran-Contra investigation, the Savings and Loan scandal, corporate corruption, government misdeeds and the Pacifica Radio controversy. His arrest and siezure by armed guards in the KPFA newsroom for reporting on the Pacifica affair triggered the lockout of KPFA staff and programmers in the summer of 1999.

Tickets are $35 per person and more information can be obtained by contacting the Foundation office at (559) 233-2221.

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The STORM campaign heats up as Carpenters and other tradesmen walked away from their jobs on August 14^th. The workers strike--over poverty level wages, unfair labor practices, no benefits, and no opportunity for training--resulted in the almost total shutdown of construction activity at 5 major housing developments in an affluent northeast Fresno area.

Assisted by Carpenter organizers, organized labor, and representatives from dozens of community groups and coalitions, the workers carried picket signs at the entrances to the developments, visited the workers that were on site working, and convinced them to leave the job and join the strike.

Beginning at Silverleaf development, as many as 180 men, women and children marched, chanted and talked to workers about their rights and the ongoing campaign to raise the standards of the industry.

The sacrifice and solidarity shown by the workers was amazing considering the extremely low wages and oppressive conditions they work under. Approximately 90-120 workers walked the strike lines and hundreds more showed support by not showing up to work.

Moving from development to development the workers left signs saying "NO WORK TODAY". Media from most of the local television stations covered the job action. Unfortunately, local media coverage continued to focus on the involvement of the Carpenters Union rather than the workers’ issues and sacrifices.

Worker committees have been formed representing 15 different Framing, Drywall, and Concrete companies. These committees have been meeting with Carpenter representatives every other week to discuss conditions and strategies for changing them. The conditions many of the sub-contractors suffer under include developers shopping their bid, extremely high comp. rates, unskilled labor, and the loss of skilled manpower to areas paying up to three times the wage rate they are able to pay. A dialogue between developers and the workers and union continues, with some builders expressing a willingness to seriously consider using Union Carpenters to build their houses.

"The greatest accomplishment of the builder in this area isn’t the work they do but how cheap they get it done"; "The houses get more difficult while the wage rates have remained the same as they were 15 to 25 years ago."

The building industry in the South Valley is steadily degenerating downward as skilled workers seeking decent wages and opportunities flee to the north. The local Building Industry Association is painting a false picture of the industry as it desperately dumps money into local politicians’ campaign coffers longing for the days before "Rezone" and the FBI came to town.

"Quality construction" is an overused phrase that means very little as the workers struggle to make ends meet, working for lower and lower wages. Developer/Builders cry foul as class action lawsuits over construction defects sweep across the valley. The gaudy facades and gingerbread plastered on the fronts of their houses is not an answer to their problems.

Beyond the immediate reality of workers’ rights is the fact that taxpayers are paying for the developer/builders’ greed. The community pays to subsidize their outrageous profits. The workers’ medical bills are paid by the taxpayer. We pay for the drain on social programs due to overload by low paid workers. The unbridled sprawl of new developments leaving the rest of our neighborhoods to decline comes at what cost?

This battle for respect and dignity by the workers will not stop. As a crew of roof framers said the other day, "It can’t get any worse, so what do we have to lose?" As their contractor said "Right now, today! I have to make a decision whether to pay my men or pay my workers compensation insurance. Every week my business is on the edge of bankruptcy."

As this is written the Carpenters are preparing for another Strike to force the their issues and yours into the light. Your support means more than I can express. Your open mind and willingness to ask questions and provide answers will help to educate the general public and the political leadership in our communities.

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GAP 17 CASE MAY SET PRECEDENT FOR FREE SPEECH LAW
By: Bryan Apper

A private security force hired by Fashion Fair Mall and the Fresno Police Department joined in an effort to break up a pro-labor movement in Fresno this May with tactics reminiscent of scenes from In Dubious Battle or The Grapes of Wrath. About 50 protestors of Gap Corporation (including Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic) sweatshops gathered at Fashion Fair Mall for an informational picket. Arrests of protestors were made without warning or with inadequate warning.

The Gap 17 are fighting the charges leveled against them in a city and county that are historically hostile to labor. This case is important to the entire labor community for a number of reasons:

1. It can reaffirm free speech rights at malls guaranteed by the California Constitution in the face of Fashion Fair's refusal to approve any time or place for protests of Gap sweatshops. Fashion Fair claims a right to regulate the content of "free speech" at the mall, including censorship of any remarks that might be considered "critical" of its tenants.

2. The Gap 17 case may set a statewide precedent for how California Penal Code Section 602.1 is applied to protestors and informational pickets. The code is included with trespassing provisions, but focuses on "intimidation" of business owners or customers and "disruption" of businesses. The Gap 17 are resisting this cynical attempt to characterize informational pickets as "intimidation."

3. It may unmask the unholy trinity of anti-union businesses, anti-labor politicians, and police (and private security) that has reared its head so many times in our Valley's labor history. The police should have protected the free speech rights of protestors rather than acting as a private security team for Fashion Fair. Who ordered these arrests and why?

4. Arrests were made with no warning or inadequate warnings. The Gap 17 want to preserve town square free speech and resist Tiananmen Square type round-ups. Raids on the labor movement need to be relegated to the pages of Steinbeck novels where they belong.

A team of top Fresno-area lawyers (e.g., Patience Milrod and Bob Hirth) are volunteering their time and talent. Contributions to the Gap 17 legal defense fund are needed, however, to cover the numerous incidental costs (e.g., serving subpoenas on Gap and Fashion Fair minions in San Francisco and Los Angeles, etc.). Contributions can be sent to the Gap Legal Defense Fund c/o the Labor Community Alliance.

***********

Bryan Apper is a member of the St. Benedict Catholic Worker in Fresno. The SBCW has supported many labor causes in the Valley including the UFW, providing cold drinks to striking UPS workers, participating in informational pickets at KFTV Univision Channel 21, and demonstrating with the Carpenters Union and the anti-Gap sweatshop campaign. The SBCW also serves about 1,500 dinners each month to Fresno's homeless, working poor, and visitors and released inmates at Fresno County Jail.

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TO OVERCOME THE BARRIERS
By Diane Scott

Should women have the right to make their own reproductive choices? Are you concerned that, in this valley, many barriers to choice exist? How can they be overcome? Come to an ingathering of people for choice to be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno Thursday, October 12, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. to learn how ACCESS works to surmount the many barriers women face in order to exercise their legal rights and how you can help.

ACCESS was founded to provide a central place for women and girls to get the information, support and resources they need to act on their reproductive and sexual decisions. ACCESS makes available a toll free hotline to provide these aids. There is also a volunteer Practical Support network of over 200 men and women in California who help provide the concrete services needed. There is also a Women In Need fund if services must be purchased.

ACCESS recognizes that Fresno is in the center of the Central Valley and also provides one of the most comprehensive health care programs in the valley through Planned Parenthood. Also, due to the many calls the hotline receives from women in Fresno and outlying areas seeking reproductive health services, ACCESS is interested in strengthening the Practical Support network here in order to serve more women in the valley.

As a woman’s right to choice is being threatened more and more, this is an important time to take steps to make women’s right to choice a concrete reality. Can you, when called upon, provide transportation for a woman in need? Can you provide a bed for an overnight stay, look after her other child or children while she receives services, give her emotional support, interpret for her, make a donation to the WIN fund, or give any other help she might need? We need you! For more information call Diane, Practical Support Volunteer, 222-6135 or Mona, Program Coordinator, 510-923-0822. Let’s all make choice a viable right!

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MINNIE BRUCE PRATT --POETRY/ PROSE READING-- FEMINIST/GENDER ISSUES

Minnie Bruce Pratt, renowned activist, educator, and award-winning poet and essayist will present a reading/talk, "Walking Back Up Depot Street: Towards the Intersections of Race, Sex, Class, Sexuality" on Wednesday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the University Business Center auditorium at California State University, Fresno. Pratt’s latest book, WALKING BACK UP DEPOT STREET, is a powerful collection of narrative poems, the work of a white, anti-racist, Southern, lesbian poet reclaiming her history from the oppressive forces of the twentieth century. Her previous works, including CRIME AGAINST NATURE, REBELLION: Essays 1980-1991, and S/HE, encompass intersections of feminism, lesbianism, anti-Semitism, racism, gender-boundary crossing, and her experiences as a lesbian mother of two sons. She became nationally known as one of three lesbians whose National Endowment for the Arts grants were revoked in a conservative political backlash. Subsequently she has received a Lillian Hellman-Dashiell Hammett Award from the Fund for Free Expression to writers "who have been victimized by political persecution." (For more information about Minnie Bruce Pratt and her books, see her website at www.mbpratt.org/.) The talk is co-sponsored by the CSUF Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Alliance, LGBT Allies Network, and the Women¹s Alliance. The event is open to the public and free of charge, with parking available in university lot "J." The venue is wheelchair accessible and the event will be ASL interpreted.

For childcare inquiries, please call the Women's Resource Center at 278-4435 by October 1.

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NO STAR WARS!
NO NUCLEAR ROCKET!
KEEP SPACE FOR PEACE!
By: Ellie Bluestein

October 7 has been designated as an International Day to stop the militarization of space. There will be a demonstration at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Washington D.C., Cape Canaveral, and many cities in the U.S. and around the world. If we do not have a demonstration here in Fresno at the corner of Blackstone and Shaw, for instance, we should at least have a heavy call-in to both Clinton and our legislators to end our efforts at militarizing space. Clinton’s decision to not go ahead with immediate approval of the testing of the Nuclear Missile Defense system has given us breathing space, but it has not come as a result of backing off by the pentagon and the nuclear industry and its supporters. Rather, it has come about because of worldwide opposition from the many outstanding scientists who have pointed out its infeasibility, from the many nations warning that it will destabilize the treaties already in place to reduce nuclear weapons and from the failed tests that have already taken place. We need to build on the momentum that has been generated by this mild concession to worldwide opposition.

In his speech delaying commitment to immediate funding of the anti-missile defense system Clinton ordered the Pentagon to pursue a "robust program" to prove the effectiveness of the technology. Officials at Raytheon said, "The President's decision does not affect development and testing, which will continue. Raytheon continues its confidence in our radar and hit-to-kill technology." Raytheon builds the 121 pound missile that is supposed to intercept and destroy enemy missiles. In the January 2000 test, the Raytheon interceptor missed a dummy warhead because of a leak. The deployment of the NMD system is estimated to cost $60 billion, which could better be used to ensure a sustainable global future and to redress the environmental devastation and human suffering already caused by nuclear weapons production and testing. Threats from Iran, Iraq and North Korea are years away if not totally imagined and can only be removed by political, rather than military means. Earlier this year Russia finally approved the Start II treaty to reduce nuclear weapons and is ready to start work on a Start III treaty to further decrease such weapons but has warned that development of a missile defense system will abrogate the treaties already in place. Russian President Putin has called for a conference to ban the militarization of space.

Those are some of the talking points that can be used to call for an end to this very expensive and wasteful star wars venture. At the recent UN Non Proliferation Review Conference a pledge was made by all nations, including the U.S. to work towards eliminating all nuclear weapons. We need to hold our nation to this goal.

Saying No To Power
Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker William Mandel
Creative Arts Book Company
Berkeley, Ca
1999
$18.50

What's it like to spend your lifetime fighting for social change? SAYING NO TO POWER takes you on a journey that puts you on the front line in the struggle for peace, social justice and socialism. Mr. Mandel is a "red diaper baby" who had graduated from high school at fourteen when his parents took him to the Soviet Union in 1931 to help build socialism. Back in the U.S., he joined the Communist Party at eighteen and was assigned to industrial Ohio where the steel, auto, and rubber unions were being built. In the 1950's when McCarthyism was looking for commies under every bed, they found Bill and ordered him to appear before all three witch-hunting committees, two in the U.S. Senate and also in the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities. Instead of being intimidated, Mandel turned the tables on Senator Joe McCarthy and demanded an end to the witch-hunt. He had faith in the American people's desire for free speech as stated in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

We follow Mandel into the 60's and learn about the significant role he played in the Free Speech Movement and as a commentator on KPFA (KFCF 88.1 FM, our local progressive radio station). He is one of the most knowledgeable experts in the country on the former Soviet Union. In the 90's he was removed from the air for "deviating" from the subject matter of his regular program.

If you want to learn about the life of someone who has spent most of the last century in the struggle to build a better America, read SAYING NO TO POWER.

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STOP POLICE BRUTALITY
By: Lauralee C. Carbone

Last year on October 22nd, over 10,000 people took to the streets (many more people wore black in solidarity) in over 60 cities across the U.S., large and small. What were they protesting? All these people joined together for the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation. This year organizers of the October 22nd Coalition are expecting more people to take to the streets. Why are they protesting?

Police brutality continues to grow across the country. The L.A.P.D. is riddled with scandal after scandal, the wave of police killings in New York following the murder of Amadou Diallo continues as does the use of vigilantes by I.N.S. agents and sheriffs to hunt and lynch immigrants, and brutality even affects us here in the central valley. Recently, on September 11, Fresno police killed an unarmed car jack suspect fleeing, and on September 13, an 11-year-old Modesto boy was killed when a SWAT team raided his home for narcotics. The "police state" continues to grow everyday, fueled by legislators big on crime and punishment.

Today, cops stop, search, harass and arrest people based solely on the color of their skin. Racial Profiling or Driving While Black or Brown (DWB) is a common practice that has victimized too many people. People in police custody are subject to widespread use of torture and cruel, inhuman punishment. Youth of color are being targeted as criminals by police and legislators (Prop 21). They face longer and stiffer sentences. The 4 white teenagers who stole 200 pounds of explosives were only given slaps on the wrists. Would teens of color receive the same treatment? Repressive tactics are used by police to suppress dissent as in Seattle, Washington, Philly, LA, and here in Fresno, where the GAP protesters were arrested by police. In fact, most people on death row are people of color and economically poor. The prison population has ballooned to over two million and growing, with no end in sight. Hundreds of immigrants are killed every year trying to cross the US-Mexico border. There is no accountability of the police to the communities that they serve.

Youth, victims of police brutality, attorneys, and activists have come together to fight back. October 22nd has become the day to bring all this resistance together. So join the many people seeking justice on October 22, by demonstrating against police brutality and repression.

NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST 
MARCH AND VIGIL
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22 • 5 PM
IN FRONT OF THE MAIN LIBRARY IN DOWNTOWN FRESNO
STOP POLICE BRUTALITY, REPRESSION, AND THE CRIMINALIZATION OF A GENERATION
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CALL (559) 299-2148

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