Why doesn’t the press cover political prisoners? These people have never raped, tortured or murdered anyone, yet face a lifetime in prison or execution because of their outspoken politics. Washington State has numerous political prisoners though none, at the moment, have been sentenced to die.

In Pennsylvania, however, Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on death row since 1982 for a crime he did not commit. He was arrested during the Reagan years because he was a political radical who, as a radio journalist, didn’t mince words on police terror in Philadelphia where cop and court corruption is legendary.

Abu-Jamal’s trial judge was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police. Evidence was illegally suppressed, witnesses intimidated, Blacks excluded from the jury, and a forged “confession” introduced which defies Abu-Jamal’s continued assertion of innocence. His public defender was also later disbarred as incompetent.

Mumia’s travesty of a trial and the urgency of his looming execution should be front-page news. His case is widely supported internationally, but few Americans even know about it. The alternative press can and must help break this shameful press blackout.

—Monica Hill, Seattle

Tobacco Tax is Regressive

I was at the Fremont Sunday Market a while ago, and someone asked me whether I would like to help raise the tax on cigarettes to fund healthcare in Washington State. I picked up the initiative clipboard and stared at the words in the blazing sun. “It says here that some of the money will be spent for drug law enforcement”, I said. “Are you being paid to gather signatures?” It turned out the answer was “Yes” and the group backing initiative 773 is the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Now a tax on cigarettes is a classic sin tax, and it probably does help to discourage smoking somewhat, particularly among those who live on a shoestring. In this time and place however, it can also be argued that it’s really a regressive tax, because those in the know and in the money, tend to disdain smoking, while less-educated, less-affluent persons are still blackening their lungs in large numbers. Does Washington State really need another regressive tax? Our state government is already shaking down the poor so energetically to get cash that it is a contender as the most regressive state government in the nation.

Do we really need millions of dollars more to pour into the violence reduction and drug law enforcement account, or is it perhaps time for a little modification of the drug and sentencing laws? How much does a given increase in the tax on cigarettes do to discourage smoking? If the proposed tax really caused hoards of smokers to quit, presumably not much money would be raised for the State budget. I’m all for raising more money for healthcare, but am not sure that this is the fairest or the best way to do it.

—Christina Barry

Seattleites Arrested in Mideast Protest

Seattleites Linda Bevis (she is an attorney and teaches social studies at Renton High School) and Ed Mast, a playwright, were arrested in August in occupied East Jerusalem, charged with taking part in an illegal demonstration and with attacking Israeli soldiers.

They were taking part in an International Citizens Protection Force, made up of over a hundred internationals, who are hoping by their presence to protect Palestinians from violence by Israeli soldiers and settlers, as well as draw international attention to the illegality of the occupation and current escalations, and the unjust conditions under which Palestinians are living.

The campaign was launched by the Centre for Rapprochement in Behlehem, a Palestinian center for nonviolence. The Rev. Thom Saffold of Michigan organized a US contingent of about thirty people.

Both Ed and Linda are members of Seattle’s Palestine Information Project, which provides educational programs and displays.

—Seattle Radical Women

Americans Blindly Love Palestinian Underdogs

How convenient it is to sympathize with and support causes when one can easily remove themselves from undesirable and threatening circumstances at any time. Perhaps Wendy Pearlman [letter to editor, July/August issue] needs to do some research on the history of attacks on children, women and targeted civilians in Israel, throughout its history, in order to understand why Israel needs checkpoints for its safety. it is very convenient to be passionate in Birzeit, the hotbed of ideological venom, which all too easily manipulates naive and ignorant western minds, appealing to their emotions only, without a trace of any factual truths to balance such self-serving propaganda. Additional research into the mentality of blood revenge, family honor killings, Haj and Jihad may further reveal to Wendy the fanatic and impossibly irrational existence one faces when living with such beliefs and conducts.

Objectivity and levelheaded enlightenment will greatly aid Wendy in seeing the situation for what it truly is. Hatred is sacred at Birzeit! Israel struggles to maintain a democracy, while seeking peace amidst an ancient sea of Muslim terror, brutality, internal Arab strife and murders of all who dare to be enlightened and seek peace, harmony and a mutually respectful coexistence in the Middle East. Such lofty ideals never existed in Birzeit. Within the Arab world those who would voice an intellectual preference for such ideals would simply be eliminated. Anwar Sadat, as well as many others the local media will never inform you about, quickly comes to mind.

Come home Wendy and do your homework before your naiveté completely clouds you western potential to differentiated between truth and myth. And until “Palestine” becomes an official state voted by the United Nations, the validity of your thoughts and opinions is seriously questioned.