APPENDIX I
A GARLAND OF COUNTERSCREEDS
The written and spoken counterscreeds carried by media were enormous in number and bewildering in variety. They ran from little heartsick letters and prayers to enormously complex programmatic and exegetic discourses. They flew at one from what the SLA called "all forms of the media." They came from every intellectual stratum and every social and emotional position. There seemed no limit to what could be said about the SLA.
Counterscreed 1: THE FIRST FROM HEARST
After the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst on February 4, 1974, the Symbionese publicity staff kept its silence for over a week. In the interim many attitudes were considered by the Hearst family.
Groping in the dark, reasonably sure that the Berkeley kidnapping would have some kind of political meaning, but uncertain as to what its bearing would be, Randolph A. Hearst elected to take a soft line. The line was to become still softer in the subsequent weeks, when he knew what the SLA was, or pretended to be. Later, he and Mrs. Hearst tried to adopt the language of the Symbionese themselves, in order to placate them. When Patricia had actually turned Symbionese, he inadequately denounced these murderers and terrorists as cheaters, rip-off artists, and bad sports.
In this first response, Hearst was able to speak of the kidnapping as a crime. His statement was published in the Bay Area news media on February 6.
Mrs. Hearst and I pray to God that the men who took our daughter will show compassion and return her unharmed.
At this point, their only crime is abduction. For their sake and ours and especially for Patricia we plead with them not to make it any worse.
We do not believe we are clutching at straws when we say
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there is evidence that the abductors do have a measure of compassion and are not senseless and brutal.
They were heavily armed aad could have eliminated all witnesses. They did not.
Neither did they harm the owner of the car they commandeered. They held him for a few hours and then released him.
In short, there are witnesses who saw the men who took our daughter.
Thus, Patricia is no more a threat to them than are the others.
Doing bodily harm to her cannot help them. It can only add to the seriousness of their crime.
We want our daughter back unharmed. If she is released we will not seek to imprison her abductors.
We plead with them to communicate with us direct or through the press.
Please, we beg of you, do not compound your crime by harming our daughter.
Counterscrred 2: DAILY CAL CONTRA
One of the early rejections of the Symbionese system came from the Daily Ctilifomian, the powerful and generally radical student newspaper of the University of California at Berkeley. Despite some ex~ectable backing and filling on the general theme of injustice, the Daily Cal came down hard on the SLA, and added a couple of dark hints about its having an agent-provocateur intent, or at least function, in a February 11 editorial headed "SLA TERRORISM."
The kidnapping of University student Patricia Hearst from her Berkeley apartment last week, apparently by members of the mysterious Symbionese Liberation Army, has created an atmosphere of fear throughout our community.
Much as we want to see major changes in our society, we see no way that this kidnapping can have any positive consequences. The group that claims credit for it, the SLA, has done nothing to prove that it deserves to be considered radical. They have produced no program and no strategy for change. Their only promise for the future has been a threat of further assassinations like the killing of Oakland Schools Superintendent Marcus Foster last fall,
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for which they claim credit along with the Hearst kidnapping.
The Berkeley community cannot accept the claim of any group of nameless individuals to carry out acts of violence in its midst.
While we do not condone the many injustices that exist in American society today, we do not see how more killings and kidnappings can do anything other than provide a springboard for police repression.
In fact, the SLA's actions provide such a convenient excuse for a police campaign against all forms of radicalism that we cannot help but wonder where their real loyalties lie. Their actions are giving all those who are really working for radical social change a bad name.
We hope the members of the Symbionese Liberation Army will release Patricia Hearst unharmed. And we strongly condemn them and any other group that brings terror into our midst.
Counterscreed 3: THE CAPTURE OF THE PRESS
The collapse of the California press before the demands of the SLA was jearly total. Curiously, however, this collapse may have assisted readers of a scholarly and reflective mind.
From the beginning of their operations, the SLA screedspeople demanded much more than ordinary vulgar publicity. Perhaps from the common and excusable vanity of authorship, perhaps from pride in themselves as political planners and constitutionalists, and certainly from vain hopes that their writings, in company with their terrorist work, would stir up a cauldron of rage and violence among Negroes and other groups of what they called "the poor and the people," they' demanded the full and complete publication of all their works, even their borrowed Cobra emblems, in "all forms of the media." Omission of any detail was regarded as an "act of bad faith" on the part of any publisher or electronic editor. During the period in which Patricia Hearst was formally imprisoned this total exposure of their writings was dramatically punctuated, as in Screed 11, with assertions that "failure to do so Lie print everythingj will endanger the safety of the prisoner."
The hapless Randolph A. Hearst, generously seconded by his colleagues on rival newspapers, and by many stations of the electronic media, leapt to meet the demand. His statement, made on February 12, was published in many, many places the following day.
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We are, of course, taking the demands most seriously. We are doing all within our power to cooperate.
As requested, we will carry the letter in full in all editions of tomorrow's San Francisco Examiner.
We have also sought and obtained the cooperation of editors of other Hearst newspapers and of executive heads of Hearst radio and television stations.
Thus, the full text will appear in the San Francisco Examiner, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Seattle Post-Inteiigencer,
San Antonio Light, Baltimore News-American, Albany Times-
Union, Albany Knickerbocker News Union-Star, and Boston
Herald-American. It will also be broadcast on WBAL AM-FM and
WISN-TV, Baltimore, Maryland; WISN AM-FM and WISN-TV
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, WTAE AM-FM and WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, and WAPA Radio, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
These are the only newspapers, television stations and radio stations owned by the Hearst Corporation. There are, of course, more than 1700 newspapers and more than 2000 radio and television stations over which the Hearst Corporation exercises no
power or control.-
We have appealed to the owners of these stations and publications to cooperate to the greatest extent possible. We hope they will publish the text.
Counterscreed 4: HANG IN THERE, HONEY
Responding to Screeds 11, 12, and 13, which assured him that his daughter was still alive, but made the first impossible half-billion dollar demand upon his fortune, Randolph A. Hearst continued to take his soft line. The bumbling and apologetic tone which he adopted in this counterscreed of February 13, and in the news interview which followed it, was maintained until mid-April, when, in Screed 31, Patricia Hearst denounced him and he recognized that he had been tricked and cheated. The irony of his farewell phrase would not be evident until that later date.
Patty, I hope you're listening. We're really pleased to know that you're okay.
You sounded a little bit tired or like you were sedated, but all right. And I'm sure the people who have you are telling the
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truth when they say they are treating you under the Geneva Convention.
I just want you to know that I'm going to do everything that I can to get you out of there. It's a little frightening because the original demand is what I was afraid of from the beginning, one that is impossible to meet.
However, in the next 24 to 48 hours I'll be trying my best to come back with some kind of a counter-offer that is acceptable.
It is very difficult because I have no one to negotiate with, except for the letters [here called screedsj which generally come two or three days later than we expect it.
Anyway, you can rest assured that Mother and I and all the family will do everything we can to get you out. Tell them not to worry. Nobody's going to bust in on them or start a shoot-out.
And take care of yourself. I think you'd like to know that everybody's praying for you. I think a few are even praying for the people that have you.
And we'd like to thank, and I'm sure you would like to thank, everybody who's rooting for you to get out of there and come home.
Hang in there, Honey!
Counterscreed 5: BIRTH OF THE COALITION
Screed 15, which conveyed the original demand for a free-food program, had listed fourteen race, radical, and counterculture groups as suitable to act as directors or referees. Most of these backed away at once. Others which came forward, hoping to help, included the Black Panther and Black Muslim organizations, and several integrated groups of ex-addicts, ex-prisoners, and the like.
Of the six organizations named in the screed, and agreeing to take part, the five most active were conspicuously Black. These were the Black Teacher's Caucus, the separatist Nairobi College of East Palo Alto, the United Prisoner's Union, the National Welfare Rights Organization, and Glide Memorial Church, headed by Cecil Williams. Faltering assistance was given by AIM, the American Indian Movement. In a February 13 meeting at Reverend Williams' Glide Church, leaders of the six groups agreed upon a joint statement registering their sympathy for Miss Hearst, agreeing to help with the food program, and tub-thumping on their familiar themes of inequality and social wrong. As shown in several
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screeds, with their headnotes, and in Counterscreeds 9 and 12, below, all six were soon to be overshadowed by Ludlow Kramer, Hearst's chosen PIN director, and then, more conclusively, by Arnold Townsend of
WAPAC.
Currently the leader, Reverend Williams dominated in preparing the statement and in publishing it via newspapers and television. The special note on "distortion" refers to an AIM statement which had been regarded as too friendly towards tactics of the SLA.
The organizations represented here today are concerned with the welfare of the people in our communities. Our priorities are service and response to the needs and problems of our consti-. tuence. We feel strongly that any decisions to be made affecting them, must involve their participation and determination.
The groups represented here have no knowledge of the SLA. None of the organizations present today have been asked to participate in the demands of the SLA.
It is unfortunate that the needs and problems of the people hunger, racism, unemployment, sexism, ill heath, inadequate housing, injustice in our courts and prisons, the uneven distribution of wealth, and other inequities, which are a reality, receive public attention only when critical situations like this arise. Unfortunately, society does not look at the real problems of the people until confrontation occurs.
The oppressive conditions of our society are a reality, and the majority of the people with whom we work are poor and disenfranchised. However, we do not condone terrorist activity whether it is carried out by either the SLA or the Establishment.
We are concerned about the life of Patricia Hearst as we are about all human life. We are concerned about avoiding bloodshed in the case of both Patricia Hearst and the members of the SLA.
Therefore, we are willing to appoint representatives from our organizations to serve as a liaison between the Hearst family and the SLA, if doing so would provide a situation that will prevent further destruction of human life.
At this most critical time, we are appealing to the press not to distort or misrepresent any of these organizations' statements, as they did in the case of AIM's statement on February 1 2.
We do not want the life of anyone sacrificed. But the lives of numerous brothers and sisters who are held captive and have been threatened for years with death in prisons and communities across the country are equally important to us.
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3
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We here are all involved in organizations and movements fighting racism and inequity directed against the poor, the Third World, the welfare recipients, prisoners and ex-prisoners, the aged, the young, and all those who carry society on their backs. We are not capitulating on our goals and directions. We will continue to struggle for the freedom and self-determination of people in our communities. We will continue our struggle to remove oppression, unemployment; racism, and the social ills which destroy human life. But our goal is to organize and educate the people, to bring people together to create positive changes in their lives.
Counterscreed 6: A TOUCH OF PROPHESY
While the Hearsts contorted themselves in an effort to keep the Symbionese happy, and the press and police competed in low-keyed statements that the only object to work for was "to get Patty back," a few voices were raised in support of the theory of law and order. Conspicuous among these were Ronald Reagan's and William Saxbe's. As Governor of California, Reagan argued that the ordinary processes of law, justice, and social welfare were being distorted by SLA operations. An outspoken man, he confessed to a wish that the people who took the Hearst free food would be sickened by it. As the United States Attorney General, the nation's top prosecuting attorney, Saxbe uttered the sentiments recorded below. Any and all such statements were angrily rejected by Hearst and others as "antagonistic" and "irresponsible." But they were the statements that turned out to be right.
Saxbe's statement of February 21,1974
America is now coming face to face with the problem we have seen in many areas of the world hijackings and political kidnappings. There is a worldwide trend toward terrorism which we are all aware of.
These terrorists will do just as much as they think they can get away with, and that is a problem that must be met head-on. They will be brought to justice.
I don't think amnesty is an element in this. Certainly we would not be in a position to grant amnesty to any kind of a violent crime.
I personally feel that kidnapping and crimes that usually result from kidnapping are heinous crimes that should be covered by the death penalty. The deterrent to crime is the apprehension and
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prosecution of criminals, and I personally feel that nothing should stand in the way.
Counterscreed 7: WORD FROM BO AND OSCEOLA
The adventures of Russell Little and Joseph Remiro, or Osceola and Bo in the SLA nomenclature, can be traced in screeds and headnotes beginning with Screed 10, Fahizah's "Letter to the People." Moving out from the central characters of the Hearst drama, and flitting nervously from one short-lived star to another, the media eventually came to these two SLA soldiers, the accused murderers of Marcus Foster.
Little and Remiro, whose previous experience of prisons had only been theoretical, were now studying "prison conditions" from the inside. To protect them from other prisoners they had been moved from the Contra Costa County jail to security cells at San Quentin, and were waiting for transfer to the Alameda County jurisdiction in which they would be arraigned for the Foster murder. On the outside, meanwhile, the SLA screedspeople promulgated the theories of political imprisonment and "Geneva Conventions" which they had taken up immediately after the abduction of Patricia Hearst. Always in everybody's mind was the frightening idea that the welfare of Little and Remiro would be linked with the welfare, or even the life, of the captive girl.
To exploit this situation, Little and Remiro, with the help of one or more of their lawyers, began their own personal drive for attention and recognition. In Counterscreed 7 we find the captive soldiers at an early stage of this drive. Like so incredibly many others, they offer themselves as agents capable of assisting in negotiations between the Hearsts and the parent SLA. Going beyond that, they hint at the acceptability of a prisoner exchange, and exhibit the hypothesis that Patricia's real enemies are to be found in the FBI. In view of their fishbowl visibility at the time, their account of beatings and chokings at the hands of jail guards seems unlikely.
Their message arrived at Station KPFA, Berkeley, on February 27, and was read aloud on that and other stations. It was reported, but not reprinted, in newspapers. During the next few weeks their demand for public attention became more strident, and they appeared to be on the point of taking a management role in the conduct of affairs of the case. In their next long message, given below as Counterscreed 10, they demanded that not only it but this preliminary message be printed in full; and the demand was duly met.
We, Joe Remiro and Russ Little, feel compelled at this time to
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expose to the general public the latest chain of events that we have experienced and the conclusions we have drawn from them.
First, we must give everyone some background information. We are being held in isolation, the Hole, on Death Row at San Quentin Prison.
The director of the California Department of Corrections, Raymond Procunier, has ordered this in an attempt to isolate us from news of what's happening on the streets and to keep the people on the streets from knowing what's happening to us. He is doing this under the direction of the FBI.
A prime example of this is the fact that last Tuesday, Feb. 19, Joe exposed the site of our present confinement, the oppressive visiting situation and the fact that we had not eaten any prison meals, since our forced move from the Adjustment Center, while in court in Martinez.
These statements and others made in the courtroom and also after court by our lawyers were completely suppressed by the news media.
Thursday, Feb. 21, at about 1:30 p.m., much to our astonishment, we got a phone call from our old friend "Death Row Jeff" Clifford Jefferson, a Folsom prison inmate. He explained that he was worried about us and had persuaded Procunier to allow him to call us and also arrange a meeting between the three of us Jeff, Joe, Russ.
At that point we asked that a lawyer be present at the meeting and agreed upon a lawyer to be contacted by Jeff immediately after our phone call was completed.
That same morning, Thursday, we had been discussing the vast coverage concerning the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst and the fact that this coverage has consistently included speculation that her safety and eventual release is linked to demands that we be released from custody.
In fact, the SLA has consistently referred to our safety and well being because they realize that we are innocent of the charges for which we are presently imprisoned!
We feel that a fair trial is virtually impossible anywhere in the United States. The speculative, biased, misinformative media campaign that has been waged against us has all but sentenced us to death!
We've concluded our discussion with a decision to try to come
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up with some suggestion that might be possibly be acceptable to the SLA, FBI and the Hearst family and which would result, if accepted, in the release of Patricia Hearst.
After finishing the telephone conversation with "Death Row Jeff," we knew the FBI had given Procunier their okay and speculated that their purpose would be to see if we had any viable suggestion to offer.
Later that night, at about 10:30 p.m., three guards came to our cells and told us we were leaving, destination unknown! After being shackled we were taken on a tour of the gas chamber, then placed in the back seat of a Department of Corrections car, where we remained for about one hour.
Still, no reason was given, but we decided that we were either going to meet with Jeff or be assassinated for an alleged escape attempt, since we were waiting outside of the actual prison walls!
Finally, we were driven to the first entrance gate and placed in an office across from the visitors waiting room. "Death Row, Jeff" arrived with Procunier and at least three carloads of FBI agents.
Jeff was brought into the room and we talked of our mutual concern for the Hearst woman and discussed a variety of suggestions. The meeting lasted from 12 midnight until 2 a.m.
Our demand for allowing a press conference, and the suggestions that we three agreed upon, were written down and handed to Procunier, who was acting as the go-between for the FBI and us.
We asked for nothing for ourselves and felt confident that, if Patricia Hearst's safety was primary with the FBI, they would set up the press conference. Joe and I also realized that the media's suppression of our status was a calculated power play to force us to participate in that meeting without any of our lawyers present.
After we woke up Friday, Feb. 22, we waited to be contacted by late afternoon. After hearing that Hearst was unable to meet the demands for an additional $4 million, we decided it would be best to try to get in touch with one of our lawyers and try to get the press conference together ourselves.
It was beginning to look, from the skimpy information we were getting, that a showdown was in the making. We sent word to Warden Nelson but he denied our request to phone a lawyer. We went all day Saturday and Sunday without any information on the kidnaping and without seeing or speaking to our lawyers.
Sunday afternoon, Feb. 24, at about three, we were taken
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from our cells, shackled and sent to the Alameda County maximum security jail. We arrived there at about 3:45 p.m. We were attacked about 15 minutes later by four deputy sheriffs during a strip search.
Both of us were beaten and choked. Russ sustained injuries to his left wrist, back, shoulders, neck and chest. He has been denied medical treatment and has had very little sleep since the attack because of pain. The officers also had spread rumors throughout the entire jail stating that we stabbed a black inmate at San Quentin with a knife supplied by a prison guard.
This racist lie was intended to cause us both verbal and physical attack by the prisoners. We refrained from mentioning this in court Monday Feb. 25. By this time, we realized, not only had the FBI refused to let us voice our suggestions but also they had decided to have us physically attacked in the hopes of retaliation by the SLA on the person of Patricia Hearst.
This latest chain of events, combined with our understanding of the corruption and ruthlessness of the Nixon Administration government, leads us to only one possible conclusion:
U.S. Atty. William Saxbe and the Director of the FBI, Clarence Kelley, want Patricia Hearst to die! They are desperately trying to discredit the SLA in the eyes of the nation's hungry oppressed people. We feel it is of utmost importance to expose this callous plan to the public in the hopes of averting the death of Patricia Hearst, those who are holding her, and ourselves!
We are asking the public to support our demand to be able to present our suggestions, and reasons behind them, to the SLA and the general public in a live nationally televised press conference.
A WARNING TO THE FBI:
Even if you kill us and or slaughter Patricia Hearst and those holding her, we have made provisions to ensure that our suggestions will be made public.
Wednesday Feb.27 Russ Little
Joe Remiro
Counterscreed 8: REVOLT OF THE OAKLAND TRIB
As pointed out in the headnote to Counterscreed 3 and elsewhere, the often-repeated demand of the SLA screedspeople that their writings
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be published "in all forms of the media" was obeyed by all the significant papers of the Bay Area. Among those who bent over backward to oblige the SLA in this respect was the Oakland Tribune, the third of the Bay Area newspapers in size and significance. But after a month of printing the Hearst-kidnap documents, and three months of printing the Foster-m'irder documents, the Tribune rebelled. On March 10, in a special editorial statement, Joseph W. Knowland, the editor and publish. er, pointed out that further compliance would not be forthcoming. The fourth-ranking Independent-Gazette of Berkeley, which had not followed the demand in any case, immediately associated itself with the decision.
As editor, I have issued a policy directive to The Tribune nullifying the SLA demand to The Tribune and other media to publish SLA communications in their "exact form, not omitting any area."
The SLA, the other media, the Hearst family, and some of the reading public may ask why. The following is my answer:
A Free Press is the keystone of all of your other basic freedoms granted by God and preserved and protected by our Constitution.
The SLA's extortion, placing tyrannical demands on the Hearst family, the public and the media alike, seeks to enslave us all the public as well as the press.
The "power of the press" and the "Freedom of the Press" carry with them "Responsibility." One of the primary responsibilities of the press is to PROTECT your remaining freedoms from any and all tyrants, be they governmental agencies, foreign powers or revolutionary organizations.
To Miss Patty Hearst, I say: If you are indeed alive, and are held captive, may God bless you and protect you.
To the Hearst family I say: May God give you the strength to survive this ordeal, and our prayers, hopes and empathies are with you.
To my colleagues in the news media, I say: NOW is the time to protect our country's freedoms, not "tomorrow." For if not "now," there will be no "free tomorrows."
To the SLA I quote Thomas Jefferson, who 1 74 years ago said it far more succinctly than I could: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
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Counterscreed 9: THE WAPAC REPORT, IF ANY
During the feverish free-food episode recorded in the middle screeds with their headnotes, the WAPAC neighborhood association led by Arnold Townsend had seemed to become the principal outside agent for the SLA, or at least for its programs. As spokesman for WAPAC and head of the so-called Coalition, Townsend had assumed media importance rivaling and finally surpassing that of Kramer, the head of the program. And Townsend, interpreting his duty as a policing and reporting one, had taken to speaking of a "WAPAC report" on the food transactions.
Listening from its secret places, the SLA leadership got the idea that the report was a written one, and that the printed media were demonstrating bad faith by failing to print it. Marshal Cinque and General Genina both had their say on this, for which see Screeds 17 and 19. "The SLA and the Court of the People," said the latter in her faked Black accents, "want to see the report printed in full in all forms of the media."
Scrambling to meet this demand, and still believing that Patricia Hearst might be returned if all SLA demands were met, the Examiner staff people "requested a copy of the WAPAC report, only to learn that it did not exist in written form." Townsend's talk, and nothing else, was the report. Moving to the electronic media, the Examiner people found that no complete statement by Townsend had been taped by television or radio stations. They finally found "the most complete recording of the Townsend-WAPAC report" in the record of a four-minute newscast carried on the Berkeley station KPFA, another of the SLA favorites.
The KPFA news report, with additions from Townsend and his cluster of WAPAC lieutenants, was duly printed in the Examiner of Wednesday, March 13.
KPFA 's account of the conference opens with reporter Pat Roberto of KPFA saying Western Addition Project Area committee chairman Arnold
Townsend reported today on yesterday's People in Need food distribution program. Re-emphasizing that his organization and other groups forming the coalition of observers were not in a position to judge the program itself or the decisions made by the People in Need organizers, Townsend made the following comments:
As a program, PIN is suffering from a lack of coordination between the directors and the community groups, which has resulted In the groups bearing a large part of the burden of the
I ~I'~)
actual food distribution. For example, much of the responsibility for the transportation of food yesterday fell to the community organizations.
The coalition, said Townsend, came up with a different set of figures on the number of people served yesterday than did PIN officials. The coalition says that about 1 5,000 people were served, while PIN has said that about 28,000 got food.
There were other aspects in the implementation of yesterday's food giveaway which Townsend thought needed pointing out.
Arnold Townsend's voice is heard next, as he spoke at the news conference.
On Thursday, observing this lack of coordination, community observers took on the roles and responsibilities of enlisting volunteers and expediting the operation to insure that the lines of people at our doors would receive free food.
We believe that the community by its action in last Thursday's program shows its understanding for the neccessity of high quality food distributed in a dignified manner.
And just to cite a few further examples of what we're talking about, in all eleven of the sites, there were only 44 PIN volunteers for packing the food and unloading the trucks, etc. Of those 44 PIN volunteers, 25 of these volunteers were at the Mission District Shotwell center. Which left 19 volunteers for the ten centers.
No centers received hams, as reported by some newsmen and some papers. It was our understanding they were going to be held until Saturday, and to our knowledge none went out.
Most centers did not receive bread nor fresh milk. Those that did, the supply ran out early.
Community people assumed most or all of the responsibility at the 11 centers. Deliveries were not on schedule and observers had to, in many cases, load trucks and that's at the warehouse and deliver them to their own communities.
Further, in reporting to the community, there are some points we should like to make clear. And that is that there were some policemen at the two West Oakland and the two Mission sites, travelling through the sites.
Another voice is heard (inaudible).
Townsend:And, excuse me, yes, at Fillmore.
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Other voices shout names of other sites: And Hunter's Point Our place too
Townsend:You see. Yes, West Oakland. However, there were no incidents or arrests. One incident in Oakland. The police came over and got some people who had broken into a place and gotten some bags that were there for the volunteers. And Mr. Johnson and his people went over and asked them told them to let them go. And they did let the people go.
Also, each bag contained about seven or eight dollars worth of food. Also, at each center, approximately 500 to 1000 people were turned away.
KPFA 's account concludes with a wrap-up by newswoman Roberto Townsend repeatedly denied that his report was any kind of
an indictment of PIN director Ludlow Kramer or other organizers. "We are just stating facts as we perceive them," he said. And he would only add that, "We think there could be some improvements. They could do more of the things they say they are going to do." Townsend also said that he thought the new two-day-aweek schedule announced for the program by Kramer today might make the project more efficient. But he declined any opinion as to whether the shortened schedule would be acceptable to the SLA.
Counterscreed 10: FURTHER WORD FROM BO AND OSCEOLA
Following their first long letter, printed above as Counterscreed 7, Remiro and Little did most of their communicating through friends and lawyers, with the help of KPFA and other organs of the media.
In spite of the tense tragedy and low farce of ongoing transactions in the Hearst case, the East Bay wheels of justice managed to move a little, and the evidence that linked Remiro and Little to the Marcus Foster murder, and to lesser crimes such as arson, larceny, and shooting at policemen, began to come before an Alameda County grand jury. Rather than proclaiming their guilt as the SLA had formerly done, the captured soldiers now denied it. The rest of their indignant letter rehashes old themes. Patricia Hearst had not yet made her absolute juncture with the SLA and its vision of liberty and justice, but had done enough preliminary hinting to justify the friendly tone they adopt toward her.
To assist its being shown on television, Little and Remiro had
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carefully hand-printed their counterscreed in heavy capital letters, It was printed and read aloud in the various media on March 28 and 29. On the latter day, the two soldiers were indicted for the Foster murder, and other crimes.
We, Russ Little and Joe Remiro, have decided to go ahead and send out this statement instead of waiting for the live, televised press conference that we and our lawyers have exerted every effort to obtain. It should be obvious to all at this point, that those officials who interpret and enforce the laws are determined to stop the conference.
The news media have expressed support and offered to help get our statements out to the public. Now that it's not live let's see how many publish this statement in full and how many take excerpts out of context, as they did in our first statement, in an attempt to further prejudice people against us! If the news people are truly interested in informing the public, they will publish this statement and our first one, dated Feb. 27, in full:
As has consistently been the case since we were attacked and arrested on Jan. 10, the judges, D.A.s and sheriffs, with the supervision and support of federal law enforcement agencies, have conspired to keep us from speaking to the people. We asked for the press conference in the hopes of contributing to the safe and speedy release of Patricia Hearst! Why won't they let us speak? Patty says it herself, as does the S.L.A. in the last tape they sent out.
Briefly stated: the federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, courts included, are responding to the demands of the corporate powers whose interests they represent and protect at all costs! At this point they are so desperate that they would not even be completely satisfied with the death of those S.L.A. forces guarding her, or even the annihilation of the entire S.L.A. They seek to discredit the strategy and tactics of the S.L.A. and other revolutionary groups, and feel this can be accomplished only if Patricia is killed and her death blamed on the S.L.A.! ! We realized this cold, brutal fact and discussed it at our midnight meeting, Thursday Feb. 21, with Death Row Jeff.
Procunier and those federal agents with him allowed Jeff and us to meet together in the hopes that, after a tour of the gas chamber, we would unconsciously aid them by just making a
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simple statement such as, "Release Patricia Hearst." Once they realized that we intended to expose their plan of action, they showed their true colors put Jeff in the "hole" in Vacaville, us in the "hole" in San Quentin, and tried like hell to stop us from communicating with the public. This racist, exploitive treatment of Death Row Jeff is typical of his prison experiences during the last 29 years and of the entire capitalist-imperialist system.
Another aspect of this meeting which seems to have been overlooked is, "Where did our hand-written suggestions go?
When we gave them to Procunier, he would not even look at them said they were for "higher-ups" (sounds familiar doesn't it?). The F.B.I. denied any participation or knowledge of the meeting, so, "Who read our suggestions? "Statements that no one knew what we intended to say are out-right lies!
People are expecting us to tell about the prison conditions we've encountered since our arrest. We've spent a little more than a month in San Quentin's maximum security, "adjustment center" and a few days short of a month in the "hole" on Death Row. In prison time this is hardly mentionable.
To find out about the "adjustment center" and the "hole" ask those who have spent precious years "locked down." Those who have been regularly aiid indisciminately gassed and beaten with pick handles. Those who on Aug. 2, 1971, witnessed the murder of George Jackson. Those who have witnessed countless other murders in the name of "rehabilitation and adjustment." Some have been beaten into insanity while others have been beaten into the objective reality which has led to the birth of organizations such as the B.G.F. and W.O.
Coblentz acting in the interests of the Hearst Corporation said that he visited us in the "hole" and was satisfied that we were being treated well. Our attorneys pointed out to the judge, in Alameda County, that such was not the case and requested that the judge personally view our conditions of confinement. The judge did as requested and immediately put out a court order to have us moved. This action must have taken some moral convictions but why is it that he or no other judge ever gave a second thought about two Black comrades who were also in the hole? At the time, they had been living under those same conditions for over 45 days, one of them without any hot water. We have learned that Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt is now also in the "hole" on Death
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Row. Why is it that Lt. Calley accused of killing many innocent civilians is out on a one thousand dollar "appeal bond," while Geronimo and other comrades have appeals also but no such "appeal bonds"? We question such moral convictions.
This is the same brand of morality that claims to put the highest of values on life, in respect to Patricia Hearst, and is silent while a C.I.A. sponsored, military dictatorship is murdering upwards of 80,000 innocent people in Chile. The same brand of morality that sits back while the U.S. government murders and supports the murdering of thousands of innocent human beings in Asia, South America, Africa, Ireland and all over the world. The same brand of morality middle class Amerikkkans use as they allow their government to carry out an organized terrorist campaign of murder and oppression in this country's ghettos, barrios, reservations and prisons. We have no respect for this brand of self-oriented, racist morality!
We do in fact, put the highest of values on human life all human life . This includes the life of Patricia Hearst as well as the lives of the children of the poor and oppressed peoples of the world. We do not hold Patricia Hearst responsible for the actions of the Hearst Corporation or the part it plays within the ruling c 1 a s s. We do, in fact, admire the level of courage and objectivity she has displayed and send her our warmest regards.
Patty, we feel that we have already done the most concrete thing we can do to assist in your safe release by exposing the true intentions of the F.B.I., etc. to the public. We feel confident that the S.L.A. will release you unharmed. We're glad to hear that you recognize the dishonest actions of your family in regards to meeting the food program and remaining silent while others jeopardize your safety. We hope that when you are released you will continue to be strong and speak your mind! We realize, as do you, that the S.L.A. has consistently referred to our safety and well-being but that in reality, you will not be harmed for anything that might happen to us. You're in no better position than us, as far as the reactionary force's intentions they want to make an example of your death as well as ours! Actually, you're in a better position only as long the S.L.A. can protect and keep you well hidden until you can be released and returned safely to your fiance. Who knows you might even look back on this as a
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worthwile experience where people were fed and you and the public were exposed to the cruelty and inhumanity of the corporate powers who rule this country. It's good to hear you're reading George Jackson Soledad Brother is another beautiful book he wrote about the California prison system and the lives of nonwhite people in this country. We look forward to receiving a visit from you, Patty, after you are released.
To the Symbionese Liberation Army we also send our warmest love and regards. We understand the motivation of your actions, in our behalf, as you know that we are innocent and that there is no chance of us receiving a fair trial. Please don't waste your time or risk your lives worrying about us. We're in good health and spirits! Our struggle, at this time, is secondary. We join our comrades Lolita Lebron, Assata Shakur (slave name JoAnne Chesimard), Sundiata Acoci (slave name Clark Squire), Richaro Brown, Henry "Sha-Sha" Brown, the N.Y. Five and all those struggling from within these concentration camps, and expect our trials to also reflect the injustices of a sick society and oppressive system. We in no way feel isolated or surprised by the actions of the state and federal authorities. We are in unity with our comrades and grow strong in the realization that Comrade George [Jackson] lives.
We share the S.L.A.'s concern for the safety of Patty and the element guarding her. They are in grave danger and should deal with the primary tasks of the safe return of Patty to her fiance and the safe withdrawal of the S.L.A. element. We hope that "everyone" is preparing for the government's massive, terrorist assault that will surely follow Patricia Hearst's release. It's obvious that dozens of suspected S.L.A. members are now being actively sought. Once she is released many people and organizations will be attacked and put behind bars regardless of any guilt or knowledge of the S.L.A.! Just another fascist attempt to kill that which it breeds.
In ending we'd like to send a twit of our sincerest love and regards to the Black Guerilla Family. Weather Underground, Black Liberation Army and W. 0. and all other comrades. We'd also like to send our sympathies to all those intellectual, sunshine revolutionaries in a quote from George Jackson "If today's young revolutionary vanguard are not merely enter-
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taming themselves with a new kind of chicken, a political form of bumper tag, if they seriously intend to step out front and take the monster to task, they should understand from the outset that the monster is merciless.
A Luta Continua Venceremos
(The Struggle Continues We Will Win)
Love Joe Remiro, Russ Little
Counterscreed 11: BLA GREETS SLA
A small but deadly group of Black militants, the Black Liberation Army or BLA, soon expressed its appreciation of the SLA program. This terrorist group, usually estimated to have about 200 members, was more active in Eastern cities than in California. But one of its most exciting actions had been an armed attack on a San Francisco police station, and one of its members, Rubin Scott, was under indictment for the murder of a policeman killed there. Presumably the all.Black BLA did not under. stand the predominately white and middle.class membership of the SLA. In any case, the revolutionary greetings of BLA to SLA were duly mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle from a Berkeley mail box.
Profound revolutionary greetings.
Comrades in arms, we of the Black Liberation Army speak to you from our prison cells, our underground safe houses, from the streets and from the grave.
The dialectics of our conflicts has spiraled to the point of open guerilla warfare.
It is being waged against the number one enemy of mankind "The Military Armed Fascist Corporate American State."
We have been waging this protracted War of Liberation virtually alone. Oh but how sweet it is to hear the thunder of your weapons resounding on the battlefield.
We are coming of age. As the caterpillar becomes the butterfly, so the manchild becomes the armed combatant.
Counterscreed 12: FOOD AND POWER: A LAST WORD
As the Hearst or PIN food program guttered in dismay, shock, and finally grief, the so-called Coalition, which now titled itself "The People's Community Food Coalition," wrote its last report, which was also its first. The report follows the ordinary political strategy of denying virtue and energy to "administration" while loading these qualities on "the people" or "the community." It thus expands, almost to infinity, the hopelessly tangled tug-of-war that had developed between Ludlow Kramer and his do-gooder staff on the one side, and Cecil Williams, Arnold Townsend, and other skilled community politicians on the other. Its rising chords of praise to all private citizens and all "organizations with a community base" give emphasis to the practical fact that with the decline of Black church affairs, the Black leader's principal route to prestige, power, and tax-supported salaries has been through the politics of the "neighborhood" or the "community." Only when he was safe back in Washington State did Kramer declare that from first to last the PIN program had been mainly, in his words, "a power grab."
From:Community Food Coalition
To. The Community
Subject:The People in Need Food Programs
First we would like to state that this is and has been a very broad based coalition made up of the following organizations with food being distributed in the following areas:
1)East Oakland
2)West Oakland (Citizen's Neighborhood Assistance Program)
3)East Palo Alto (Nairobi College)
4)Richmond (Welfare Rights Organization)
5)Sonoma County Food Coalition
6)Vallejo Original Americans of Vallefo
7)Mann City
SAN FRANCISCO
1.Chinatown
2.Western Addition
a.Fillmore WAPAC
b.Haight Haight-Ashbury Food Coalition
3.Hunters Point
4.Mission District
a.United Prisoners Union
b.Real Alternatives Program 5. South of Market
6.Potrero Hill
Potrero Hill Community Government
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7.Sunny dale
8.Double Rock
In areas where no organizations are named individual groups of people came forward to distribute the food. Also participating in the program were Glide Memorial Church, American Indian Movement.
We as a coalition were involved as observers and co-ordinators in the community end of the program. We were not responsible for purchasing, selection or transportation of the food, and have no power in, and can make no promises concerning, the wider events surrounding the food distribution program.
We feel that in any food distribution program such as this, people with organizing skills and a respect in the community should be involved at every level.
Administration: In the PIN program there was a general lack of coordination. There were no regularly scheduled meetings, charts, etc. There were no defined lines of authority or organization. Statements were made of a factual nature as to the coordination of the program and were later proven to be unfounded, such as in the areas of sites, volunteers, food, transportation. For example we were told that the program was ready to go with a ham in each bag, when in fact the hams were not even in California.
Volunteers: In regard to volunteers, PIN consistently exaggerated the number, i.e.: 4000. There was never the stated amount of volunteers in any center or in the PIN warehouse, this was another detriment to the distribution. In each distribution, in most cases except the last, community people had to go to the warehouse and load their own trucks.
Warehouses: Nowhere was the need for coordination more important than in the warehouse and nowhere was it more lacking. There was no system of checking what came in or the quantity of what came in. The program was lacking in quantity control, i.e., a large quantity of beef was ordered which was not up to standard. The pulling back of this beef created further disorganization and time loss.
Purchasing:The persons in charge were from out of state and
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had no knowledge of local supplies. They were inexperienced in appraising the quantity of food purchased and inexperienced in ordering food in the required quantity.
Distribution: Sites The selection, co-ordination and development of the sites was the responsibility of PIN. This task however ultimately fell on the community.
Transportation: The PIN administration failed on each distribution date to deliver trucks to chosen sites at designated times, which was one of the most vital parts of the entire operation.
Quality of Food Distributed: The food was accepted by the Community. According to a nutritionists report, requested by the coalition, the food was wholesome. The quality of the food improved with each distribution.
Amount of Food Distributed: The amount of food varied from box to box. People were turned away at every site, at each distribution. As many people were turned away as were fed. The coalition repeatedly requested an accounting of the wholesale price of each box. We never received any such accounting. From time to time a count was made of the number of boxes to be distributed. These counts were made by various PIN officials, and often times were proved tD be inaccurate and inconsistent.
Rip off: The problem rip-offs were internal with the PIN organization, from a combination of factors including poor warehousing, inefficient security, improper, purchasing practices, and poor administration.
The food was needed and welcomed by the people. However, it is a sad commentary that it takes an event such as this, to feed and illustrate the problems of the hungry. It was our feeling that the overall press coverage has done more to confuse the issues than to clarify them. For this reason it was requested that they not be present at the distributions and that is why there have been no recent press conferences by the coalition. The Community Coalition distributed food because we recognized that without the assistances of the coalition the distribution would be anarchistic and possibly harmful to our community. We also realized that the people needed it.
The coalition recognizes that in our practice criticisms can be made. We welcome and request that the community let us know these criticisms. There were very few uniformed police observed during the distributions although there were many in the vicinity. After the first attempted PIN distribution, it was clear that only organizations with a community base, can put a food program together with dignity and respect.
DARE TO STRUGGLE, DARE TO WIN, DARE TO LOVE!
Counterscreed 13: ONE OF THE BRAINWASH EXPERTS
After the conversion of Patricia Hearst to the life and principles of the SLA, great numbers of psychologists and psychiatrists stepped forward to explain. On the first was Dr. Frederick J. Hacker, a psychiatrist at the University of Southern California, who was consulted by the Hearst family and afterwards interviewed by the news media. We print an excerpt of the interview covered in the San Francisco Examiner of April 5, 1974, by reporter Gale Cook.
Patricia Hearst may have been brainwashed, an international expert on terrorism said today, but perhaps not so thoroughly that her captors can risk sending her home.
With $4 million hanging in the balance, Dr. Frederick J. Hacker asked, why didn't the Symbionese Liberation Army send Patty home to her family for a couple of weeks?
The fact that they didn't makes the University of Southern California psychiatrist believe that in the SLA's mind, at least, Miss Hearst is an uncertain convert.
Hacker described the technique that he calls "the dishonest productions of honesty" this way:
"If somebody is exposed to constant threat, not only to life, this then becomes a threat to his or her identity, to the full structure of formal belief, and this uncertainty can be cleverly manipulated to such an extent that even very strong persons think that they honestly change their mind."
There is at least good possibility that tactics like those made Patricia Hearst say she is joining the SLA, Hacker said.
Hacker, who has been consulted by the Hearst family in dealing with Patty's kidnappers, urged the public, to withhold judgment on the surface indication Patty has turned against her family.
Hacker said publicly on March 4 that the cheerful tone of Patty's voice in the second tape indicated she was reacting to danger by adopting some of her captor's viewpoints.
He pointed out that in some hijacking cases, stewardesses had established a quasi-love relationship with the hijackers and later were reluctant to testify against them.
Concerning Miss Hearst's most recent statement, Hacker said:
"There is the possibility, as I predicted, that by clever manipulation, spontaneously a kind of sympathetic relationship develops with the underdog, and that furthermore this kind of relationship can be manipulated.
"I would urge, until we have full disclosure of what happened, that the community look at this thing with a great deal of caution and charity.
"We know from experience with American prisoners in Korea and China that clever brainwashing can lead to surprising results.
"This is possibly the most dangerous threat of modern technology and modern psychology that free consensus can be manipulated.
"Coercion can wind up as a consensus that appears to be free, can lead to psychological changes causing a decision seeming to be totally free while in fact it is a result of coercion."
Systematic coercion, he emphasized, can in a case like Patricia Hearst's produce the semblance of freedom even for the subject herself
"We know again from scientific experience that if total input of information is controlled, guided and censored, that you can in a large number of people produce very important changes of mind," Hacker said.
"This has been the whole experience in the totalitarian system. It's no coincidence that in Russia most people are Communists.
"Therefore if that has taken place, Patty or a person in that position deserves sympathy and charity rather than censure and rage."
Hacker said he did not rule out the additional possibility Miss Hearst was simply compelled to make her statement by crude force. However, he thought this less likely.
Hacker is a professor on the faculty of USC medical school and of the USC law center. His most popular class is a law course in the tactics of terrorism.
Counterscreed 14: REVOLUTION UNDER CONSTITUTION
At the beginning of May, when a San Francisco grand jury finally began to hear evidence about the newer crimes of the SLA, it called in a number of witnesses. Most of these belonged to radical and revolutionary circles in the Bay Area, and some had been intimate with SLA members even after the organization turned to its program of "actions." Most had already refused to assist the police, and some now refused to assist the grand jury. In their statements, they almost invariably asserted that in being called on to give evidence, they were being denied rights insured to them by American law and the American Constitution. Paul L. Halverson, 27, had already refused to help the FBI, as his counterscreed will indicate. He now denies the legal right of the Grand Jury to question him. The National Lawyers' Guild which he mentions is a radical group set up by Marxists in the 1930's, and currently active in liberal and left causes of all sorts.
At the outset, I wish to publicly state that I have no connection with the SLA. I have no information that I can provide the grand jury that the FBI does not already know.
Our subpoena apparently springs from the fact that my wife and I are friends of Camilla Hall. The last communication we received from her was a brief note several months ago. The FBI has already obtained this from us by a ruse.
We have learned (from our attorney and a National Lawyer's Guild publication on grand juries) that the questioning of witnesses in grand jury proceedings can take any form the government prosecutor wishes it to take. They can ask a witness virtually any question they want, even if it has nothing to do with the matter being investigated.
I am an American citizen and a veteran of the Vietnam war.
I was raised to believe that I lived in the greatest country in the world because we had the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to guarantee us our freedom that could not be taken away by any government But now I have encountered "Catch 22," the grand jury.
During grand jury proceedings a witness' Constitutional rights are suspended and he or she is expected to answer any and every question presented to them by the government prosecutor or be found in contempt.
To be found in contempt is to be sentenced to spend the remaining term of the grand jury behind bars, which could be a sentence of up to 18 months. My attorneys and I have agreed we will resist this violation of my constitutional and legal rights by every means at our disposal.
If we are to remain a free country, then the American people must be made aware that threats to our individual liberties are on the increase. Our Democratic form of government is deteriorating, witness the whole Watergate affair. Our individual freedoms are being threatened, witness grand jury proceedings.
The founders of this nation were interested in keeping governments in the hands of the people, and I am sure that if Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington were around today they would be horrified by the slogan that has appeared of late: "America Love it or Leave it."
Power corrupts, that is a well known fact, and keeping America free requires the continued effort of all its citizens, of all political persuasions. We cannot merely say "the government knows best," because whether we like it or not, that means we are giving up what our founding fathers had in mind that we, the people, should be the government.
The Right and the Left need each other if we the people are to maintain control of this government.
I have committed no crimes against the state or any individuals within the state; and if I end up in jail as a result of these grand jury proceedings, it will be because I refused to relinquish my Constitutional rights.
Paul L. Halverson
Counterscreed 15: A LAST SCHEME OF DEATH-ROW JEFF
Clifford Jefferson, a Black robber and murderer serving a life sentence in the Vacavile prison, had already tried to intervene in favor of the SLA by working toward an exchange of Patricia Hearst for Little and Remiro. His attempted intervention is acknowledged in Tania's Screed 28. When Patricia became Tania, and the SLA gave up the idea of exchange, it also gave up the idea of ransom. As April drew on and that plan withered, Jefferson noted that time was running out on the four million dollars held in escrow against the release of Patricia Hearst. He then developed a new plan by which the money could be saved for "the
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poor and the people." As a by-product of phone calls exchanged with Randolph A. Hearst, he taped his new plea to his revolutionary comrades outside the walls. Media published his counterscreed on May 1 and May 2. There was no SLA response, and the four million went out of escrow and back to the Hearst Corporation at midnight of May 3.
My name is Clifford Jefferson. I am called by my friends Death Row Jeff.
I am speaking to my comrades of the SLA, especially to the combat unit. I would like to first extend my very personal greetings to all the poor and oppressed people of the world. Also, I would like to extend a very warm personal greetings to General Field Marshal Cinque, and to all our combat forces in the field. Likewise, I would like to extend greetings to two of my close comrades, Russ Little and Joe Remiro, and not forgetting [prison friends] Albert Taylor and Raymond Scott.
Now, Cm, the reason I'm talking to you here now is because I personally believe that you have did something that no other revolutionary in the United States has done, and I say it to a multitude of people. I am sure that you are aware that there is many, many poor and homeless Isic on all errors] to be fed, and I am sure also that you realize that in the last communique from myself and Ray Scott and Al that it was a deadline mentioned that came into $4 million dollars in escrow to feed the poor and homeless people. And this deadline expires May 4. [Actually May 3~1 I have complete confidence in you, Cm, in every respect. I have complete confidence that you will do what is proper in every respect, for sure, that these other poor and oppressed people be fed.
Further, 1 would suggest that there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Comrade Tania freely and voluntarily joined the SLA. I know she was not brainwashed and I know she is completely dedicated to the people. I realize that she was accused along with many other beautiful comrades of being involved in a people's action in robbing the bank. But it's my belief that Comrade Tania would better serve SLA above ground, go around the country and around the world teaching to the people, talking with the people. Let the peoples know what SLA's goal is, and what SLA stands for, and the love and duty of every SLA member.
So, think about this, Comrade Cin. I hope you will respond as soon as possible to this, Comrade Cin. I know that it'll be difficult for Comrade Tania for a few days, but I've been assured that she will be permitted to speak freely in behalf of SLA, where I think she will best serve. With this, I am saying love and struggle, with my personal and very personal greetings to you, Comrade Cin.
Hello, comrade forces. Dare to struggle and dare to win!
