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PEOPLES TRIBUNAL
NEWSLETTER
Published by the National Continuing Committee for an Independent Peoples Tribunal
Temporary Address» P. 0. Box 637, Oakland, California 9460-4-
WHY AN INDEPENDENT PEOPLES TRIBUNAL?
The public exposure of the massacre of
Vietnamese civilians - young and old, men,
women, boys, girls, infants - by U„S. forces
at My Lai (Song My), southern Vietnam,
created a moral shock wave across the United
States. The newly exposed level of imperialist criminality called for a new level of
opposition. But how?
The International War Crimes Tribunal
organized by Bertrand Russell had earlier
condemned the U.S. war in Vietnam as an
illegal, criminal war. So it was not surprising that one response to the exposure of
the My Lai massacre was a sudden surge of mock
indictments, mock trials and mock sentences of
war criminals.
These actions have been steps forward by
the anti-war, anti-imperialist movement in the
U.S. Implicitly, they imply recognition that
1) all appeals, in diverse forms and degrees
of magnitude made to the United States
Governments, the Congresses and governmental
institutions have proved of no avail in a-
bating or stopping the U.S. war in Southeast
Asia; 2) all appeals of the people against
the increasing "legalization" and carrying
out of fascistic attacks, in the U.S. itself,
on the peoples' freedoms, rights and their
very lives have been fruitless; 3) the United
Nations is in fact no instrument of remedy
for the peoples, as proven by its impotence,
non-feasance and malfeasance in backing the
United States' aggression against Korea, in
keeping one-fourth of the world's people
(China) outside its membership, its role in
the murder of Lumumba in Africa, and in other
deeds and failures to act.
Independent action by the people is essential to proper examination of, conclusions on
and recommendations for remedy of, the
violations of the peace, freedom, rights and
welfare of the peoples in the United States
and abroad.
CRIME BEGINS AT HOME
The crime of murder by government is as
American as apple pie.
Pred Hampton and Mark Clark were murdered
by Chicago and Illinois State pigs in Chicago,
U.S.A. The orders for the murders were given
by Illinois States Attorney Hanrahan in cooperation with the United States Government's
Federal Bureau of Investigation«,
The Kent State University students were
murdered and a dozen or more of their fellow
students were wounded by national guard troops
who were under orders and were armed to kill.
Three black youths were murdered by police
in Orangeburg, South Carolina, U.S.A.
Six black workers were murdered by police
in Augusta, Georgia. Each was shot with from
2 to 9 bullets in the back.
Three youths were murdered in Jackson, Mississippi by State police who riddled the girls
dormitory on the Jackson State University
campus.
James Rector was murdered by a force of
assorted pigs who were marshalled under the
authority of the California governor and who
were armed and ordered to shoot to kill.
The history of the United States is filled
with recorded but unpublicized pages of victims murdered by official government sgents.
Infamous massacres include those at Ludlow,
Colorado} Centralia, Washington; the Little
Steel slaughter of strikers in Gary, Indiana;
and so on, and so on.
The history of organized labor in the U.S.
is filled with the martyrdoms of those who, in
pursuit of their campaigns to organize the
workers, were murdered by government assassins
and by corporate assassins, each in cooperation with the other. The assassination of persons under cover of government law is standard
practice in the United States of America.
Political opponents are sentenced to death by
firing squad (Joe Hill) — by hanging (countless innocent victims, and proudly "guilty"
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