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Introduction Greetings loyal readers! Spurious George, our Thief-in-Chief, made his first visit to New York City as President in July. Naturally the demonstrators were out in force to greet him. As a veteran of hundreds of demonstrations, I was shocked and horrified to experience the extent to which our civil liberties continue to be violated by the increasingly powerful and repressive police state we find ourselves living in. I also attended the court hearing in the important (and censored from the mainstream media) case in Banamex v. Narconews and Al Giardano. This month’s column highlights my take on these events. Trim the Shrub The anti-Bush demonstrators attempted to assemble across the street from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where the Human Reptile was attending a memorial service for the late Cardinal O’Connor (not one of the world’s most progressive humans). Aside from the irony of Bush’s presence in a Catholic church (given the fact that he spoke at Bob Jones University, which is notorious for its vitriolic hatred of Catholics, homosexuals and interracial dating), it was amazing how the N.Y.P.D. attempted to prevent Bush demonstrators from getting anywhere near His Illegitimacy. The police engaged in their usual practice of not allowing the demonstrators to assemble at the location that had been announced in all the listserves, so the first thing the demonstrators had to do was locate the demonstration. The police used sawhorses to create a penned-in area on the sidewalk for the demonstrators. One group of demonstrators was wearing bright orange sashes with black letters that read “FIRST AMENDMENT ZONE.” Some of us chose to leave the pen and walk with our signs across the street from the church. (I carried a shocking pink posterboard with the words “POSSESSION OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE! TRIM THE SHRUB NOW" in black letters. Maybe the police just didn’t like my sign.) The street in front of the church was completely blocked off to everyone, even Bush supporters. Bush supporters and curious onlookers were allowed to congregate across the street, but anyone carrying a sign was told to keep moving or they would be arrested. Since when is it illegal to stand on any public street anywhere in this country with a sign? The reason none of us challenged this egregious violation of our constitutional rights is because no one was willing to risk permanent injury from being illegally beaten by police as a prelude to illegal incarceration at the taxpayer’s expense. We recognize that we can better serve the movement with all of our faculties intact. We received word that The Shrub would be leaving the church by the back entrance at 3:00. A few of us took our signs and tried to go to the Madison Avenue entrance. The minute the police saw us coming, they started taking sawhorses and blocking off the streets. When we came back to return to main group of demonstrators, the police pointed us in the other direction and told us that the street was closed. This was a boldfaced lie – the street was open, but the police were lying to us to try to discourage us from re-joining our compatriots. The police are sworn to uphold the law, not to violate the free speech rights of freedom lovers aggrieved by an illegal takeover of their government. Banamex v. Narconews and Al Giardano Like most Americans, you are probably unaware of a very important lawsuit being brought by Mexico’s largest bank, The Bank of Mexico, against an indigent journalist and his website. There is a reason for this – this is one of the top censored stories of 2001. There has been a complete mainstream media blackout on this story (although that’s starting to change.) For the full story, visit http://www.narconews.com and read the legal briefs and motions. Here’s a quick overview. Al Giardano is a progressive American journalist who wrote for such illustrious publications as The Boston Phoenix (before it was taken over by corporate America). A few years ago he left his country in disgust, because it had become impossible for him to practice real journalism. He thought he had left journalism forever as well. However, this changed when he met Mexican journalist Mario Mendendez (who is also a defendant in this suit.) Mario told Al about an investigation Mario had done proving that Banamex’s general director, Roberto Hernandez Ramirez narcotics trafficker and money-launderer. Al did his own three-month investigation confirming Mario’s allegations and began publishing a website, Narconews, to publicize this and other egregious doings involving drugs and money-laundering in Latin American countries and the United States. Under Mexican law, defamation is a crime. In order for a defamed individual to collect civil damages for defamation, there must first be a criminal conviction proving that the defamation occurred. Banamex has gotten the Mexican government to bring not one but three criminal prosecutions against Al and Mario in Mexican courts. All three times the charges were dismissed, because in Mexico (as in the United States) truth is an absolute defense to defamation. The Mexican courts found the allegations made by Al and Mario about Roberto Hernandez Ramirez’ drug dealing and money laundering activities were true. It is difficult to see how Banamex even has a claim here, because the statements were made about Ramirez, not Banamex. The fact that Ramirez happens to be the general director of Banamex does not mean that these journalists made any claims about Banamex. But Banamex did not stop there. They are now suing Al, Mario and Narconews (which is not a business, but merely a website – so they definitely screwed that one up!) in New York, claiming that Banamex does lots of business in New York and that the defendants have done business in New York, so therefore New York has jurisdiction. Why would they pick New York? First of all, New York has one of the most back-up judicial dockets in the world, so bringing a suit here will involve high litigation costs and will drag on for a long time – a real economic hardship for indigent defendants that live in Mexico. The firm representing Banamex, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld (whom I refer to as Aching Hump Louse Foulmouth and Hell), is making the pathetic (and wholly specious) argument that because Al Giardano’s ISP is in New York, and because Al used a New York post office box as an address, and because Al and Mario were invited to speak at a conference in New York, that therefore Al and Mario have been doing substantial business here that puts them within the jurisdiction of the New York courts. These assertions are laughable, and the judge (Hon. Paula Omansky) appeared to agree. First of all, attending a conference does not constitute doing business – especially for Mario Mendendez, whose one and only visit to New York was to appear at this conference. Second, Al does not have a key to his post office box and has never used it to receive mail – he only used it to have a US address for his ISP. Third, the server used by Al’s ISP is located in Maryland, and there are some cases holding that location of the server is what determines jurisdiction, not the address of the ISP. Fourth, never before in the history of libel law anywhere in the world has a very wealthy defendant sued an indigent one for libel, so this suit is clearly harassment. But it’s harassment that could have a chilling effect on Internet journalism worldwide. Why? Because if the New York court grants jurisdiction in this matter, it will set a precedent that any journalist that posts articles to the Internet can be hauled into court anywhere in the world. Needless to say, this would have a chilling effect on the Internet journalism and the alternative press. I would like to stress that Al Giardano is one of the greatest freedom fighters in the history of the world. Akin Gump did not have his home address in Mexico. Al could have avoided service of the summons and complaint and ducked this entire lawsuit, but he did not. Al voluntarily made himself available as a defendant in this lawsuit, because he recognized what an important fight this is. His lawyer, Tom Lesser, is representing Al pro bono. He has spent countless hours and incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in Al’s defense. Please go to the Narconews site and give as generously as you can to Al’s defense. You can send a check to Tom at the address on the site, or make a payment to Al’s cause online via PayPal. This fight is for all of us, because without freedom of information and a free Internet press we will all wind up as slaves for the multinational corporations controlling this planet. Murder in Genoa As you are all aware by now, an anti-globalization demonstrator was killed in cold blood by the Italian police at a demonstration. There are (and will continue to be) demonstrations around the world to denounce the horror of this event. If there are any such demonstrations in your city attend them and make your horror and outrage known to the authorities. On the Bright Side Some of you have complained that this column can be too depressing, especially when I report on current events. Well, I’m sorry about that folks, but this world is becoming an increasingly depressing place. Our best defense against these developments is to stay informed and to make our opinions known. The encroachments on our civil liberties continue daily. If we don’t keep trying, we’ll all be slaves to the global corporations that are buying up water rights, polluting our environment so badly that people in some of the world’s poorest countries (e.g., Indonesia) are forced to buy bottled water they can ill afford. Coca-Cola is buying up water rights like mad and using the water to create their horribly unhealthy products (soft drinks are “liquid candy”) that contribute to the global epidemic of obesity, diabetes and hyperactivity in children. We have to inform ourselves and boycott products and services that contribute to insane corporate profits and further degradation of humanity. But I titled this section “On the Bright Side,” didn’t I? The bright side is that despite the corporate media’s continued attempts to silence the truth, the truth continues to come out. People like Al Giardano and Mario Mendendez should be hailed as the heroes they are, and supported with our prayers, our contributions and our kind words. We can win if we continue to keep informed, protest the encroachment of our rights and the daily destruction of our planet, and continue to organize into coalitions united in displaying our discontent with the power structure. Donate to Al Giardano and Narconews today!!! Copyright 2001 Marcy J. Gordon. All rights reserved. The author wants you to know you are free to copy and distribute this article for noncommercial purposes, provided you reproduce it in its entirety and credit the author. For quotation permission, please contact the author at mgordon@pipeline.com. |
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