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Press Releases R2K LEGAL COLLECTIVE MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 9, 2000 CONTACT: Sara Marcus (215) 545-4844; Laurie Zimmerman, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College student (215) 713-0395 http://www.r2klegal.org Rabbis, Jewish Community Leaders Support RNC Protesters Religious leaders issue statement decrying city's treatment of potesters, urge society to heed demonstrators' "prophetic voices," Rabbis urge city not to persecute them for speaking out What: Presentation of a statement signed by local rabbis and other leadersof the Jewish community. When: Thursday, August 10th, 2:30 p.m. Where: National Museum of American Jewish History, 55 North 5th Street, Independence Mall Confirmed Speakers: Rabbi Elisa Goldberg Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, The Shefa Fund and the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation Rabbi Brian Walt, Mishkan Shalom congregation Laurie Zimmerman, rabbinical student, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Endorsers: Rabbi Brian Walt, Mishkan Shalom Congregation Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director, The Shalom Center Rabbi Mordechai Leibling, The Shefa Fund and Jewish Reconstructionist Federation Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, Temple University Rabbi Peter B. Schaktman, Associate Director, UAHC Greater NY Council of Reform Synagogues Rabbi Marcia Prager Rabbi Elisa Goldberg Dr. Joel Hecker, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Sue Hoffman, Associate Director, The Shefa Fund Cynthia Greenberg, Coordinator, Jewish Social Justice Network, Jewish Fund for Justice, New York, NY Andrew Stettner, Executive Director, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, New York, NY Laurie Zimmerman, student, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Christie Balka, Bread and Roses Fund Alex Volin, Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty Julie Davids, ACT UP Philadelphia Sara Marcus, R2K Legal Collective Matthew Borus, Boston, MA Background: Thursday is the Jewish fast day Tisha B'Av, which marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples thousands of years ago. The statement --written in part by prominent writer and spiritual leader Arthur Waskow--draws connections between the fast day and the city's treatment of protesters, warning that "a society that will not heed its prophetic voices… has already shattered its own deepest holy places." More than 300 protesters remain behind bars in Philadelphia after they were arrested last week protesting the Republican National Convention. The largest protest, on August 1, focused on the racist and unjust criminal and penal system. Videographers have documented widespread violence against the protesters by the police during the arrests. Many of the protesters have suffered beatings, psychological abuse, denial of necessary medication and have been held for days without being arraigned, formally charged or having access to legal counsel. Detainees include 80 people pre-emptively arrested in a Philadelphia warehouse where they were constructing artistic puppets and signs for the August 1st protest. They have been charged with conspiracy. Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney has called for a federal criminal investigation of the non-violent activist networks that organized the week of protests. Bail for the protesters has run from $15,000 to as high as $1 million the highest bails set in the history of non-violent protest in the United States. The two groups whose members were saddled with $1 million bail, Ruckus Society and ACT UP Philadelphia explicitly advocate non-violence, and forswear all forms of violence including the destruction of property. Prisoners and legal observers inside the jail report widespread abuses of prisoners, including direct physical assault of bound prisoners; dragging of prisoners through troughs of urine and garbage; sexual assault by police officers and jail staff; denial of access to essential medications for diabetes, HIV and other conditions; prisoners held in solitary confinement; denial of access to attorneys. The protesters’ attorney, Ron McGuire, has described the situation as "a civil rights catastrophe of the first order." --030-- |
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