First paragraph (Teaser):

Steve Argue Interviewed in The Argentinean Newspaper Prensa Obrera Regarding The Patriot Acts And His Arrests In Santa Cruz For Political Tabling.

Rest of the text:

In This Posting:

1. Steve Argue Interviewed in The Argentinean Newspaper Prensa Obrera Regarding The Patriot Acts And His Arrests In Santa Cruz For Political Tabling.

2. Santa Cruz Police Violate Free Speech With Two More Arrests!

3. Text of the flyer Steve Argue was distributing before his arrest.

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Steve Argue Interviewed in The Argentinean Newspaper Prensa Obrera Regarding His Arrests In Santa Cruz For Political Tabling:

Vicente Balvanera: Have democratic rights actually deteriorated since 9/11?

Steve Argue: Yes, and this has taken many forms. Especially targeted have been Arab immigrants for long detentions without cause, deportations, and jailing for political opinions. These racist acts by the U.S. government coincide with the kinds of racist justifications U.S. imperialism has always used to justify its wars abroad. The war on Iraq is no different, with an Arab country targeted for an act they had nothing to do with.

Of course we all know the war on Iraq isn't about September 11, but is instead about taking direct U.S. corporate control of the oil and also about the profits being made by the capitalists off of the arms industries. Likewise the racism against Arabs at home is not in reality targeted against terrorism, but instead is targeted against the rights of the entire working class as the ruling class fears our rights more and more in the face of a failing capitalist economy.

September 11 was the excuse, but not the reason, for the Democrats and Republicans taking away many basic democratic rights by passing the Patriot Acts. These acts have formally abolished many rights that had been won through 200 years of working class struggle, although those formal changes are today primarily used against Arabs, Muslims, and South Asians (citizens and non-citizens) living in the United States.

These acts give the US government the legal authority to jail Americans without charges, deny us the right to an attorney, deny us the right to confront witnesses against us, denies us the right to attorney client confidentiality in communications, gives the government the legal ability to hold us indefinitely without trial, to hold us in secret, to monitor political and religious groups without any probable cause of a crime, to search and seize belongings without probable cause if the government claims it is part of an anti-terrorism investigation, and to prosecute any librarian or telecommunications official that reveal subpoenas where they are forced to turn over information for government spying.

For Argentineans, having suffered under the US backed military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983 that murdered 30,000 leftists such moves towards dictatorship in the United States itself may not be such a great surprise. Yet those extreme measures of capitalist dictatorship in Argentina were not enough to silence the opposition, nor will any of the measures carried out here. From the brave and determined mothers of the disappeared who held their vigils under the worst days of the military dictatorship to today's struggles that are actually beginning to expropriate the capitalists, the Argentinean working class has not been silenced.

The attacks on American civil liberties through the Patriot Acts have paved the legal framework for similar extreme crackdowns. Yet the capitalists often pay a political price for their repression and they prefer to rule primarily through lies and false promises. That is why these new laws are presently being used mainly, but not entirely, in a racist manner with most people feeling they are immune. Yet, these new laws now sit as a legal weapon to be used with the rest of the weapons of the police and military against any group at any time the government feels it necessary.

It should also be kept in mind that even before the passing of the Patriot Acts the US was holding many political prisoners such as Mumia Abu-Jamal who is on death row, and Leonard Peltier as well as others. The new laws go hand in hand with a general deterioration in democratic-rights that started even before
September 11 and has accelerated since.

Vicente Balvanera: How has that deterioration manifested itself for the working class, employed and unemployed, and the people?

Steve Argue: Besides the direct attacks on immigrant communities, we are seeing many other manifestations of escalating repression.

On April 6th the Oakland Police opened fire on peaceful protesters on the Oakland docks. The police used so-called non-lethal ammunition and although many were injured and some permanently disfigured, luckily nobody was killed. The violence against the protest was planned in advance with false warnings from the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center (CATIC) that the protest was likely to be violent.

Defending these actions Van Winkle, of the state Justice Department said, "[I]f you have a protest group protesting a war where the cause that's being fought against is international terrorism, you might have terrorism at that (protest). You can almost argue that a protest against that is a terrorist act."

Despite the repression that was carried out, another protest was held at the same location on May 12 that was joined by an 8-hour strike of dockworkers opposing the shipment of war material and reasserting the right to protest.

There are many individual incidents as well. In New Jersey a man was arrested and charged for wearing a peace T-shirt. In Charleston, West Virginia, a small city with its roots in the confederate south and KKK suspended by the principal for distributing fliers against the war and then driven out of the school under threats from fellow students. The West Virginia State Supreme Court upheld these actions against her by the principal by refusing to hear her appeal.

One of the direct attacks that has taken place against the working class came in the form of the Bush administrations threats to the leadership of the west coast dockworker's union (ILWU). They were told that a potential strike by the worker's would be treated as a threat to national security. This had a chilling effect on the negotiations and was seen as direct interference against the workers by the Bush administration.

Vicente Balvanera: How is what has happened to you in Santa Cruz connected to other attacks elsewhere?

Steve Argue: While the fake leftists who run the Santa Cruz City government have given lip-service to opposing the Patriot Acts, without any instructions of non-cooperation to their staff, they have passed new laws broadening the repressive powers of the local police.

Many of these laws are directed at street performers and the homeless as well as against political rights. Street vending and even sleep at night for the homeless, including in a vehicle, were already illegal in Santa Cruz. New laws outlawed juggling and performers staying in one place for more than an hour.

The new law that I was arrested under twice is one that makes it illegal to have a political table up for more than an hour. As a result of these arrests I am facing up to two years in prison and up to a $2,000 fine. I have argued that free speech is a constitutional right that is not limited to one hour.

Vicente Balvanera: How is the workers' movement and the people's movements of struggle confronting this attack on their political rights?

Steve Argue: So far the main tactic of opposing this attack on free speech in Santa Cruz has been one of working to generate publicity on the issue. The fake leftists in office in this town, and the government in general, need to try to propagate a false civil libertarian and progressive aura in order to be elected and supported in their anti-worker and anti-poor agenda. It is this vulnerability that we see as our biggest strength at this stage in the struggle.

Due to the political pressure being exerted, the joint political tables of the Revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg Club of the Peace and Freedom Party (RRLC-PFP) and Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF) have been left alone by the police the last two times we went out. If this continues it represents a victory. We will not be satisfied with this however. We are also demanding that this new law be overturned and that the charges be dropped against those of us arrested. We will concede nothing in the face of repression, the political literature tables will continue!

To further the publicity, and possibly win, we plan on running candidates in the City elections. These candidates will ruthlessly expose the actions of the fake leftists in office and put forward a program of the working class and poor. My 2002 campaign for city
office garnered 15 percent of the vote.

To further challenge this unconstitutional literature law we will also be initiating a court challenge that argues against constitutionality of the law.

The use of the elections and courts in this and in the broader struggle do not represent illusions in these as a place where we can get justice in capitalist America, although victories in these arenas can represent the strength of the movements we are building. We understand that ultimately justice is won by the determined actions of the working class, poor, and people in general.

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Santa Cruz Police Violate Free Speech With Two More Arrests!

Press statement of the Revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg Club of the Peace and Freedom Party (RRLC–PFP).

Steve Argue and Matt Hartogh were arrested on Sunday July 6th for distributing literature on Pacific Avenue. Both had their literature tables, signs, and literature confiscated by the police and taken in as evidence of their supposed crime. Steve Argue was also arrested on June 23rd under the same law. One of the flyers they were distributing can be read at the end of this statement.

The law they were arrested under is a new law passed by the supposedly “progressive