By Lucho Granados Ceja

It has been confirmed that the legitimate President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, has returned to the capital, Tegucigalpa, after traveling by land over a period of two days. Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, spoke with Zelaya on the phone and has called for the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti to respect the life of Zelaya and to peacefully return power to Zelaya.

The valiant people of Honduras, who have been resisting for 86 days, have already taken to the streets by the thousands to support the return of Zelaya. Juan Barahona, the general coordinator of the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup, has called this is a peaceful popular insurrection and claimed that the de facto government of Micheletti has few options before them if they wish to stay in power now that Zelaya has returned. “The Armed Forces would have to commit a blood bath in order to [keep the de facto government in power],” stated Barahona.

Zelaya was ousted by political elites in a coup on June 28, 2009, the same day that a referendum was set to take place in order to determine the desire of the Honduran people to re-write the constitution. It was this prospect of a more progressive constitution that would favour the interests of the people and not the rich that drove them to oust the President.

Developing story…

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The May 1st Movement ‘May Day Schools’ for class solidarity presents:
National Liberation and Toronto Workers:
Is there a connection?

Sunday, September 27th, 2009
2:30pm – CUPE 4400 Offices
1482 St Clair West., Toronto

with,
Diwa Marcellino of BAYAN Canada, speaking on the Philippines
Jey Jeyarasallingam of Canadian HART on Tamil Eelam, and
Amparo Torres of the Bolivarian Circle Manuelita Saenz, on Colombia

Click image for details.

7:15pm, Friday September 11, 2009
Bavia Arts Studio 898 St. Clair West (Oakwood & St. Clair), Toronto.

Parade begins at: 7:15 p.m.
March to the Artscape Wychwood Barns (Christie & St. Clair)
Rally begins at 7:45 p.m.

BAYAN Canada and BASICS Free Community Newsletter present…

Featuring Steve Williams Co-Director of the California based group People Organized to Win Employment Rights and co-author of the book Towards Land, Work and Power.

Williams’ presentation at Building Leadership for Change (March, 2009).

Co-sponsored by Socialist Project and Centre for Social Justice.

Submitted by Black August organizers in Toronto BASICS #15 (Sep/Oct 2009)

Black August was established in the California prison system in the early 1970s by men and women of the Black Liberation Movement. Black August holds great significance in the African tradition of resistance against white supremacy and imperialism in the United States. In the late 1970s, the observance and practice of Black August left the prisons of California and was practiced by African American revolutionaries throughout the United States. Since then it has spread and grown and there are Black August events in cities throughout the U.S. and internationally.

As the journalist and former Black Panther Kiilu Nyasha writes: “Black August, [was] first organized to honor our fallen freedom fighters, Jonathan and George Jackson, Khatari Gaulden, James McClain, William Christmas, and the sole survivor of the August 7, 1970 Courthouse Slave Rebellion, Ruchell Cinque Magee. It is still a time to embrace the principles of unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical fitness and/or training in martial arts, resistance, and spiritual renewal. The concept, Black August, grew out of the need to expose to the light of day the glorious and heroic deeds of those African women and men who recognized and struggled against the injustices heaped upon people of color on a daily basis in America.” Read more…

Anonymous Submission
BASICS #15 (Sep/Oct 2009)

Prison Justice Day (PJD) started on August 10, 1976, to remember two prisoners who died while locked up in solitary confinement in a Canadian Maximum Security Institution. PJD has continued to be celebrated both inside prison and outside, and has become an international day to recognize all those who have died unnatural deaths while in prison. Every August 10, prisoners hold a one-day work stoppage and hunger strike, while supporters on the outside hold community events to educate the public to the conditions of Canadian prisons.

On August 10th, 1974 Eddie Nalon bled to death in a solitary confinement unit at Millhaven Penitentiary (Ontario). An inquest into his death found that the emergency call button in his cell was not working, as with many others in the unit. It was also revealed that the guards had deactivated the receiving mechanism in the control tower. In 1975 on the first anniversary of Eddie’s death, prisoners at Millhaven went on a one-day hunger strike, refused work and held a memorial service. The next year, on May 21, 1976 prisoner Bobby Landers, died in the same segregation unit at Millhaven. Lander’s had been active in struggles for Prisoners Rights at Archambault Penitentiary, and was involuntarily transferred to Millhaven and placed in segregation, where he had a heart attack. He died because the emergency call buttons were again not working.

Every year, August 10 is a day of protest against all deaths in custody. Some of the other issues that PJD addresses include the use of segregation as a tool to punish prisoners. Prison justice advocates have said that in recent years the number of people serving long terms in segregation has gone up, and that prisons are often placing inmates with mental health issues in segregation as a way to deal with them. Double bunking also continues to be an issue, as prison overcrowding has forced institutions to house 2 and even 3 people in spaces designed for one. Prisoners are often transferred involuntarily, including within a single institution, from prison to prison and between security classifications (minimum vs. maximum). This is often done arbitrarily and without and formal process or disciplinary hearing for prisoners. Health Care also continues to be an issue for prisoners.

August 10th is a call for alternatives to incarceration that includes intervention programs to work with youth, peer initiatives for ex-prisoners, community based re-integration programs, housing, employment, skills training, Violence prevention, Community mediation and restorative justice as well as the decriminalization of victimless crimes. This is especially important to consider now, as the federal government has been taking a “get tough” approach on crime that could lead to new laws to lock up more people, such as mandatory minimum sentencing.

For more info about PJD, prisons in Canada and prisons in general check out: PrisonJustice.ca or PrisonSucks.com. ?

Canadians and Venezuelans Building People-to-People Solidarity

by Pablo Vivanco, Solomon Myobuku, & Kelly O’Sullivan
BASICS #15 (Sep/Oct 2009)

On July 3rd, 2009 the first delegation of Canadians with the Frente Norman Bethune Brigade of organizers departed for Venezuela for nearly a month of exposure with the mass movements of the socialist ‘Bolivarian Revolution’, soon to be followed by a second delegation of Canadians on July 20th.

Frente Norman Bethune (FNB) is an initiative of the Toronto-based Latino community organization Barrio Nuevo, and its main objective is to facilitate an exchange between activists in Venezuela and Canada, allowing them to share their experiences in the various social movements and struggles they are involved in.

The two delegations that visited Venezuela this summer consisted of a mixed group of community activists, educators, artists, union activists as well as a photographer. Back in late 2008, a number of activists from Venezuela were hosted by Barrio Nuevo here in Canada, and were toured across many cities and regions (see BASICS #11). Read more…