Vol. 4, No. 24 July 29, 1966
In this volume Page
Notable Victory for Alexander Defense Committee oe emnneen Wilson Faces the Bankers -- and the Workers .. Case of the Fort Hood Three -- by Dick Roberts .. 2 ah ee Ree 5 Leftist Prisoners Slain ‘by Guatemalan Police. 8 America's Ghettoes Explode Again
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-- by Evelyn Sell . SMA te) altos Sete 9 Tensions Remain in Dominican sume neal I heel PARA nea Neh hell oe 14 Back to the Trujillo Machine. Masten eotoehin 16 Robert Williams Moves to China 18 De Gaulle's Trip to Moscow -- by Ernest Mandel ...... 2 eran oe eek, | ee Vietnam in Background at Kyoto ‘Meeting . Arlene Nox cinbe EN Ma Ad) an The Crisis in Yugoslavia -- by Henri Valin ......... Make Satie kato B 2a Po idieakl 24 One Reason Why War in Vietnam Is Unpopular among LOE sal tt Che RA aia RSA Deter Ae gO ee Res At eck 26 A Seat for Japan in Nuclear Pike? Oe Lee . BON 5 ee ee 27 Plantation Strike in ROT BL. wk FTG RNTAINGL DAMA AIO, acer ttt mnientnratiwn risen 28 Perspectiva Mundial.. Be ae yen Sort en ee dr 31 A Tribute to Malcolm ‘X fron Japan | Boe ade! 32 Japanese Communists Explain Silence on China 9 i240 2 34 Documents: - On the MR-13's Break with Posadas. eet, eee ee a ea Free Adolfo Gilly! ere. ae ee | ae niente Net: EL et Rca dae 37
NOTABLE VICTORY FOR ALEXANDER DEFENSE COMMITTEE
The American civil-liberties movement won a Signal victory July 15 when Assistant Attorney General J. Walter Yeagley of the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the government had decided to drop the case it was seeking to develop against the Alexander
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Defense Committee. The victory was one of the swiftest, if not the swiftest in this field in the United States. The original order to the committee to register as the "agent" of a "foreign principal" was dated May 20.
The committee was formed to help get funds for the legal defense of Dr. Neville Alexander, who, together with ten comrades, was placed on trial in South Africa for political opposition to the racist policies of the fascist Verwoerd regime. Dr. Alexander, a noted scholar, was given a ten-year sentence. After the conviction of the eleven, the committee helped in appealing the sentences; and, when the appeal was lost, collected funds to help maintain the families of the victims. It has also offered help to other victims of the Verwoerd government.
The order from the Justice Department to register, would have compelled the committee to file reports’ on the source of all contributions and would in other ways have acted as a repressive measure aimed at crippling the committee's activities. Failure to register entailed possible sentences of five years in prison and heavy fines.
Robert H. Langston, executive secretary of the committee, announced that the organization had decided not to register and would fight the order.
Appeals were made to all organizations concerned about civil liberties to help defend the organization against the attempt to repress it. It was the resounding response to this appeal that. actually caused the government to decide to retreat.
Statements of support rapidly came from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Workers Defense League, the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, the American Committee on Africa, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Students for a Democratic Society. The National Council of the latter organization authorized its president, Carl Oglesby, to become an officer of the Alexander group. He became co-chairman.
Upon returning from his trip to Africa Senator Robert F. Kennedy learned of the order issued by the Justice Department , which he formerly headed. He wrote to Yeagley June 29 inquiring about the order.
The Justice Department utilized this opening to back down. Yeagley replied to Senator Kennedy in a letter dated July 15 stating that in view of certain changes in the law that went into effect July 4 and also in the absence of "evidence indicating that the committee is acting under the direction or control of a foreign principal," it.had reviewed the order and was withdrawing it.
The victory set an important precedent for other organizations engaged in activities of a similar nature in the United States.
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