People’s Voice Editorial
As we prepare to celebrate New Year 2011, it’s appropriate to remember the victims of reactionary regimes who remain imprisoned. There are countless such prisoners around the globe; here are just a few of the sisters and brothers whose freedom must be a high priority for the people’s movements.
* The Five Cuban Heroes – Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, Rene Gonzalez – convicted for the “crime” of exposing the plans by CIA-backed exile gangs to commit further terrorist attacks against the Island of Freedom.
* Liliany Obando, trade union activist on trial in Colombia as part of the “Farc-politica” frame-up by the regime against those who stand up for labour rights and democracy.
* American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier, convicted 34 years ago on a phony murder charge, and Indigenous activist John Graham, recently found guilty of murder on the flimsiest of evidence in a South Dakota trial.
* Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Black Panther journalist in Philadelphia whose courageous Death Row struggle for freedom continues 28 years after his original legal lynching in 1982.
* Mordechai Vanunu, the scientist jailed repeatedly since exposing the “secrets” of Israel’s massive nuclear weapons program.
* Marwan Barghouti, the popular Palestinian leader serving five life sentences after trials conducted by the occupation authorities, which he rightly considers illegal.
* Mansour Osamloo, leader of the Tehran bus drivers union, repeatedly jailed by the Iranian regime since 2005.
* Alex Hundert, anti‑G20 activist arrested before the Summit last June, and repeatedly imprisoned since then. (Messages to Hundert can be sent c/o Toronto West Detention Centre, 111 Disco Rd, PO Box 4950, Rexdale ON M9W 5L6.)