Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Oct. 24, 1981, edition 1 / Page 17
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Durham-Based Institute Study Points To Conspir SAT., OCTOBER 24, 1931 THE CAROLINA TIKES -17 By Donald Alderman . -.? ' Nearly two years after Nazis and Klansmen fatally wounded five Com munist Workers Party members, an ( independent report indicates the kill ings could have been avoided had Y' local authorities acted more respon sibly. The; report, ? Released ; by the Durham-based Institute! for Southern i Studies last ' Friday, concludes that "Klan and Nazi members planned an assault" on the CWP and others gathered to voice their sentiments . against Tacism. The six-months, 31-page report juxtaposes opposing contentions of all actions and actors contributing to the tragic incident. On November 3, 1979, what was to be a "Death to the Klan" rally turned into a violent confrontation between the CWP and Klan along with Nazis. It was as if the rally was "Death to the Communists." Four CWP members were slain on the spot. Another died two days later and eight persons were injured. To deaf ears, the CWP almost im mediately charged that the slayings were a conspiracy with government complicity. The Institute's report, the first ma jor independent and objective analysis of the ordeal; again raises concerns that were voiced by the CWP as to the relationship between the Greensboro Police Department and Klansmen and Nazis, and the degree to which local officials, the prosecutor and federal agents, were involved in the killings andor fur- . thered injustice by covering up the -truth;- To further the investigation in an effort to pursue justice, the Institute strongly recommends:' . . The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department move im mediately on the advice of U.S., At torney H.M. Michaux to prosecute the KKK and Nazi attackers. -rA Congressional investigation be launched into the Justice Depart ment's handling of the Greensboro case; into the role of Treasury' Department agents, and all other rele vant pub.lic officials and agencies in planning, executing and covering the KKK-Nazj caravan's organization and mission; and; into the adequacy of federal statutes to protect citizens when local officials fail to uphold the exercise of their constitutional rights. Greensboro citizens be encouraged to pursue an independent investiga tion into the role the city, state and federal officials played in thwarting their effective self-organization and to demand a public accounting of the city officials' actions through a citizens review commission or whatever mechanism they feel ap propriate. ..' '--Written by Ms;' Liz Wheat on, a staffer with the Institute, the report is the culmination of a multi-hour inter" view with a reporter who covered the trial of the Nazis and Klansmen, analysis Of television film showing the 88-second shooting spree and an ex clusive interview with Ed Dawson, a paid police informant within the Klan who was greatly involved in planning and carrying out the shootings. The Institute field a press con ference in Washington to announce release of the report.' Commenting on the findings that the report documents was the Institute's presi dent, Julian Bond: "The Greensboro case reveals what happens when there is a total collapse of the criminal justice system in protecting citizens from racial hate and pseudo-patriotic vigilante groups like the Klan and ' Nazis." ' ; "When local officials systematical ly abandon protection of citizens and promote an atmosphere of benign neglect toward racial violence, the federal government has an absolute obligation to intervene and ensure that justice is restored," Bond said. The Greensboro Justice Fund, a legal fund for the widowed and in jured in the Greensboro incident, has attempted for nearly a year to get the federal government to intervene and acy restore justice. The group has filed a civil lawsuit against federal, state and local officials along with Klansmen and Nazis all being conspirators in planning and executing the CWP kill ings, the GJF says. The Institute's report states that the Justice Department responded to the suit by saying that it was not the federal government's responsibility to protect the community from the Klan or the CWP, from their right-wing counterparts. . The Justice Department has not only ignored the Greensboro Justice Fund but also an U.S. Attorney and others who have demanded justice. Former U.S. Attorney Michaux ! recommended shortly before leaving office that the Justice Department seek civil indictments against the Klan and others who victimized an inno cent neighbor. His request apparently also fell upon deaf ears, as the depart ment has not yet responded. Published reports say a coalition of Greensboro groups issued a call for an investigation into the shootings. The Greensboro Justice Fund, Citizens for Justice and United and the N.C. Civil Liberties Union are among the groups demanding an ex planation from the Greensboro Police Department concerning the lack of protection of the demonstrators on November 3, 1979. The Institute says the report is not designed to prove a conspiracy but to account for actions preceding and following November 3 that may shed light on many unanswered questions. The report documents the follow ing conclusions: Greensboro police were informed two weeks before November 3 .that a large group of Klansmen were plann ing to "disrupt" the rally. , There were two known agents in volved in planning the confrontation: Bernard Butkovich, an agent for the Bureau of Alcohpl, Tobacco - and Firearms, and Ed Dawson, a paid in formant with the Greensboro Police Department. Greensboro city officials, the local and state Human Relations Commis sion, the. news media and the U.S. Justice Department diverted attention from the murdes and the role of the local police by citing damage to the city's reputation. The prosecutor seated avowed anti communist jurors. The jury foreman was a former member of a paramilitary anti-Castro group. The police monitored the organiza tion of the rally nearly a month before November 3. Butkovich and Dawson were never called to trial. They could have prov ed the KKK-Nazi caravan intended to assault which would have provided a guilty verdict. J Ethopia Calm May Be Deceptive Following Sadat's Assasination In the wake of (he assassination of Egypt's . President Anwar Sadat, the ' whole region from Morocco to Saudi Arabia has experienced an escalation of rhetoric, threats and counter threats, military maneuvers and potential new crises. In Washington, Rabat and Khartoum, in particular, the finger has been pointed at Libya's Muammar Qaddafi and, behind hint, the Soviet Union. Surprisingly, however, Ethiopia has largely escaped the $ort of pressure directed at Libya, even though the ! military regime in Addis ! Ababa was cited until ! recently as a prime exam-1 pie of Soviet penetration and still ? ; hosts an ; estimated 12,000 Cuban ...troops and 2,000 Soviet advisors. Africa . News this week examines Ethiopia's changing status in the region. U.S. military maneuvers still include Ethiopia's enemy, Somalia, from which guerrillas continue to harass Addis Ababa's troops in the Ogaden. policy that, without . abandoning the close alliance with the Soviet bloc, has sought to reach a detente with neighbor ing Sudan, now a focus of Western concern. To the south, Ethiopia has avoided trouble with staunchly pro-Western Kenya, the two countries being bound in an unlikely miltary alliance But even when Ethiopia, by the common fear of South Yemen and Libya Somali nationalism signed a defense treaty on August 19, pledging joint struggle against im perialism, the Western voices of protest singled out Libya, then engaged in a shoot-out over the GulfofSidrawithaU.S. naval taskforce. Ethiopia's low inter national profile results j partly ; from ; a foreign the prospect that Somali speaking minorities within their borders might fight for reincor poration in the Somali Republic. In addition, Ethiopia has courted Western European, Japanese and even U.S. capital, links that are still more impor tint to economy than the Soviet connection. Since late 1980, an Ethiopian compensa tions committee , has moved ahead on negotia tions with foreign com panies which had proper ty nationalized in 1975. The progress of the negotiations, involving settlement of Japanese, Italian and even one U.S. claim, has made possible the resumption of World Bank financing with a $40 million rural development package in February. The European Economic Community and its member countries are the most important ' sources of Ethiopian development aid, while the U.S. .ranks first theA country's . among buyer of Ethio- v ty pian coffee, Japan, the U.S., Italy, the G.F.R. and France are the top ranked suppliers of Ethiopia's exports, with an Eastern-bloc country, the G.D.R., turning up only in eighth place. In September the Ethiopian government released over 500 political prisoners to celebrate the seventh an niversary of the 1974 revolution, including both officials of the pre-1974 Haile Selassie government and some left-wing opponents of the ruling military coun cil. Though Amnesty In ternational noted that many prisoners had not . yet been freed, the move was evidence of a relative calm and sense of securi-: on the part of the k -Xzi-' D)a, upf l)Op NLTJH Mop Bankim As kw at we kixxu ither bank w .vuurup & loan (An anvthin( like H uAaf tilth tuxlnv .vuuwup. is making this offer: Right now, voure hearing a lot about the All Savers Certificate offeringlax-fiee Interest. At INLNUwe call it our laxbaver Certificate and like banks and savings & loans all over the countrv, we can si0n Vou or as little as $500. 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Additional Benefits - preferred rule m personal loans, preterm! rale i a XmUl Cushion" in you NCNB cheoHnii mutt and a iiersonal line of nr i Ameritui ExpnwQ)UQd-(xiik(iilytwcuiimuto regime. On at least two fronts, however, that calm is likely to be deceptive. In Eritrea, conflicts in re cent months between the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) have resulted in a much stronger position for the latter, which has con tinued to resist Ethiopian efforts to reconquer its base areas. Most striking are the advances reported in re cent months by the Tigre People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which after six years, of guer rilla struggle in this Ethiopian province ; bordering Eritrea has in the last eighteen months significantly expanded v it j control. According to Asfaha Hagos, a TPLF representative, the front as of October held 95 of Tigre's land area, with some 40,000 Ethiopian troops confined to major towns and highways. Even towns such as Axum, the ancient capital of Ethiopia, are constantly threatened by TPLF forces, writes Le Monde's Jean-Pierre Langellier. According to the TPLF, in September, several military opera tions resulted in more than 200 Ethiopian casualties, and defec tions from Ethiopia's ar my including a member of COPWE, the govern ment commission charg ed with setting up a Marxist-Leninist party. And early this month the group launched an un precedented attack inside Wollo, the next province south. The significance of this attack is that the people of Wollo ' themselves requested TPLF aid in ousting the central . government military forces. The TPLF action accordingly fits into the organiza tion's stragegy of sup-' port for other forces it regards as progressive and democratic within the Ethiopian 'empire state.' The TPLF, which has a close alliance with the EPLF in Eritrea, defines its own struggle as aimed at self-detemrination for Tigre and other oppress ed nations within Ethiopia, and for a 1 democratic, popularly responsive government in all of Ethiopia. The TPLF and other left wing opponents of the government of Mengistu Haile Mariam reject the present government'? claims to socialist policies, and charge that' in reality it is a 'facist' military junta, relying exclusively on military force for its survival. The TPLF position is reflected in its critique of measures such as the government's literacy campaign and land: policies. Though the na; tional literacy campaign is reported to have lowered illiteracy rates from 93 to 65 by February of this year, it has only reached the ur ban population, says the TPLF. The TPLF itself has its own literacy publications, and is car rying on its own schools in the area they control, says Hagos, as well as other social programs such as rural health clinics, of which they - lives. recently opened the 29th. Particularly revealing of the contrasting stands toward social transfor mation, according to Hagos, are land reform policies. While central government reforms did eliminate the feudal landlords, it was primarily the richer peasants who could benefit, since they had access to necessary sup plies such as seeds, tools, and oxen. The TPLF, Hagos says, has in con trast organized the poor and middle peasants. Conflicting claims such as these are typical of the guerrilla struggles now being waged in various parts of rural Ethiopia, where the ma jority of the peculation And whilf the claims are difficult, if not impossible, (0 evaluate, they do ppiflt up the likelihood that the fate of the present : government and it's op ponents will be largely determined by their suc cess or failure in social transformation and economic mobilization of the country's 27 million peasants. By me i way. L-1 I By Joe Black Since 1960 Black people have had rallying cries such as: "We Shall Overcome"; "Power to the People"; and "Nation Time"; however, for the Black Brothers and Sisters in the 1980's there can be but one rallying motto and that is: "Survival Time." The national administration is forcefully telling us that the government I is not going to take care of us. But rather ' than curse this unforeseen negative action. I we should heed the encouragement of a ' Black man who suggests: "Take the first t step, stand on your feet there is always help for the problems you meet." i Although they are suffering, I say that there is help for the Black, the poor, and j the elderly: and I am not talking about any form of hand-outs. God has given to each ; of us a mind for thinking and a body for ! working and He helps those who help t themselves. Thus, I am reminding you tfyat ! Black survival will come through political participation and economic growth. My friends. Black America, with its projected 1 annual gross income in excess of $100 billion dollars, is not a poverty state we i just have misguided priorities. For example, ! as we labor through the years we are content , to think that Social Security will support i us wheri we reach the age of 65. But why I shouldn't we think and plan to live a tittle better during our golden years? We can if we heed these words of Mr. Allen Beasley: 'No man should stay poor, begin to save; get up! Don't be a slave. Let's pledge to gain economic freedom by saving rather than spending. The task won't be difficult - to save $10.00 each pay day we only need to sacrifice some of our weekly alcohol and tobacco purchases. The Black philosopher tells us: "Don't be a slave to strong drink, a slave to dope, even a slave to creditors; It's no joke. Remembei; . it's not the one with the highest I.Q., but rather what each chooses to doT xv Vice President .S. The Greyhc -nd Corporation i
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Oct. 24, 1981, edition 1
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