Screed 19: GENINA'S TREATISE ON BREAKING OFF
Screed 18, with its peremptory demands and its tone of scorn and hatred, was not really answerable. Randolph Hearst's reply was brief and dignified. The size of the latest demand of the SLA is far beyond my financial capability, he said. Therefore the matter is now out of my hands. His associate, Charles Gould, followed him to the platform and promised the SLA and the army of reporters that the Hearst Corporation would provide the additional four million dollars, but only provided Patricia Hearst is released unharmed. And he added that no other funds will be committed. . . under any circumstances.
In their stance as a separate government, the SLA screeds people had several times threatened to "break off negotiations" or "suspend communications". Now. faced with a hard line for the first time, they carried out the threat. The three screeds in the tape of March 9 sum up and punctuate all earlier transactions, while setting forth a new line too irrational and unbelievable to be answered at all, and making new demands. Wilder, fuller, and more poetic than any other set, they mark a final departure from the forms of reason and discourse. The first and longest of them, our Screed 19, carries the voice of "General Genina", speaking for the Army and the Court of the People. Genina's voice faked that of a moderately literate Black woman in her twenties.
General Genina's long discourse covers the whole range of SLA anxieties at this late stage of the Hearst operation. Her first theme is isolation. The small Black Liberation Army and a few still weaker groups had publicly saluted the SLA, but scores or hundreds of other racial and Left groups, including all the more active ones, had denounced it as a disaster and an enemy of the Left. Genina begins with a plea for the understanding and support of all such organizations. In her second movement, with extreme detail and verve, she justifies, the present suspension of communication and negotiation, on the basis of Hearstian trickery and deceit, with special attention to the indignities the Hearst or PIN food program had visited on "the people".
In her third movement, expanding on this, Genina compares the "strategies" of the SLA and its Hearst-FBI enemies. Here, in recurring to the deeds of Mrs. Hearst as Trustee of the University of California, Genina made an effort to get back to the normal Berkeley.Left issues from which Symbionism had sprouted only nine months earlier. For if the SLA had corrupted the media, the media had also corrupted the SLA, and the side-show free-food reportage was now forcing all political issues, including the basic issues of terrorism and revolution, away from the center of the stage.
In the more direful fourth and fifth parts, Genina comes to the particular case of Patricia Hearst. More emphatically than ever before, she links the destiny of Miss Hearst with the destiny of the SLA soldiers Russell and Little. The hope of getting the SLA onto a national television show had been growing in both SLA and media circles. It had been pounded at daily by reporters, by attorneys for the two men, and even by Randolph Hearst, who still hoped that appeasement of the Symbionese would help toward return of his daughter.
To those who bear the hopes and future of the people, let the voice of their guns express the words of freedom.
Greetings to the people and comrade sisters and brothers. My name is Genina and I am a general in the Symbionese Liberation Army.
I am speaking to you on behalf of the Symbionese War Council, the Court of the People, and on behalf of the Symbionese federation as a whole.
[I]
I speak the deepest expression of freedom and cry out for revolutionary unity. With profound love we greet the Black Liberation Army, the Weather Underground, the BGF and WO and those brave women and men who by force of arms have shown that there is no compromise for freedom, and that the meaning of the Federation's codes of unity holds the truth: That to die a race and be born a nation is to become free.
There have been many on the left who, without a clear understanding, have condemned the actions of the SLA and the people's forces who have chosen to fight rather than talk. These speakers condemn without clearly recognizing that our actions are a direct response to the vicious and murderous actions of the enemy corporate state against the people.
It has been claimed that we are destroying the Left but in truth an unarmed and nonfighting Left is doomed, as the people of Chile can sadly testify.
The analysis of these so-called leaders who presume to speak for the people can be traced to one of two qualities: Either they are cowards afraid of revolutionary violence because it is a direct threat to their personal security or they are opportunists who have personal gains in allowing the enemy to enslave or oppress and tranquilize the people.
The dream, and indeed it is a dream, of this reactionary leadership is that the enemy corporate state will willingly give the stolen riches of the earth back to the people and that this will be accomplished through compromising talk and empty words.
In reality, the enemy state forces the people to buy back the goods that the people themselves have produced at the price of blood. To this, our bullets scream loudly. The enemy's bloodthirsty greed will be destroyed by the growing spirit of the people and their thirst for freedom.
The actions of the SLA are based on a clear understanding and analysis of the enemy and its actions against the lives and freedom of the people. We call upon the people to judge for themselves whether our tactics of waging struggle are correct or incorrect in fighting the enemy by any means necessary.
[III
The SLA and the Court of the People wish to state to the people the reasons behind the present suspension of communications and negotiations.
The people have been experiencing the true meaning of the Hearst empire's sincerity, that true meaning being deception and lies. Throughout the previous period of communication between the SLA and the Hearst empire, the SLA and the Court of the People have dealt truthfully with all concerned. We have at all times followed our revolutionary principles of utilizing our three weapons of war: Our guns, our determination, and the truth. And this means that we will never say anything that we do not totally mean to do.
We wish to place before the people a comparison of the sincere actions of the SLA and the counter-actions of the Hearst empire.
1. The Court of the People requested that all documents of the Court be printed in full [inaudible]. The Hearst empire omitted Communiques One and Two concerning the Foster operations and Court documents that were to be published. Also the meaning of the seven-headed cobra on the reverse side of the document showing the emblem of the SLA was purposely omitted.
2. The Court of the People requested that $70 worth of top quality food, including an equal balance of drystuffs and canned goods and fresh meat, poultry, produce and dairy products, be given to poor families and in various Bay Area communities as a gesture of good faith so that negotiations for Patricia Hearst might begin. But Hearst and the Hearst empire contributed $2 million to People in Need, a program set up by Hearst in reaction to the request of the SLA. Instead of issuing a type and quality of food stipulated, PIN showed contempt for the people through disorganization in distribution of surplus commodities instead of top quality fresh meats, vegetables and produce. PIN also intended to shame the people by trying to distribute hog feed instead of top quality drystuffs. The people had to stand in long lines for hours only to be treated as dogs when the PIN food was thrown at them. Many people were injured by police in East Oakland.
3 .The SLA showed severe displeasure with the meager Hearst contribution and with the Hearst PIN program. The SLA reissued its guidelines for an adequate and equitable food distribution and requested that the Hearst empire add an additional $4 million to the measly $2 million. In a communique the SLA proved the Hearst trickery by stating just how rich and powerful the Hearsts and the Hearst empire really are. Randolph Hearst responded deceitfully that he could not meet financially the SLA requests, and stated in typical capitalist fashion that the situation was out of his hands. As if Hearst had no connection with the Hearst Corporation, the corporation, supposedly out of the kindness of its corporate heart, responded that it would provide the additional $4 million, but only after Patricia Hearst is released.
Hearst and the Hearst Corporation assumed that the SLA and the people were inexperienced in the area of corporate trickery, and so they said that they would give $2 million upon Patricia
Hearst's release and the rest in January, 1975. However, the people have experienced such trickery too many times in the past to ever be fooled by it again. SLA elements were at Wounded Knee and we too honored the elders' decision to cease the occupation. But we will not forget the lesson that we learned from our brothers and sisters there: One thing above all, never trust the words of the enemy.
Hearst's PIN program stated that it would follow the SLA distribution guidelines. However, instead of $70 worth of top quality food, the people have gotten $8 worth of mediocre food. Instead of fresh meat, half the people received one chicken. Many stood in long, cold lines for only a bag full of cabbages, while others stood in line and got nothing at all.
PIN said it distributed 30,000 bags of food. But this lie was revealed by WAPAC and the Coalition, which said only 15,000 walked away with food. After the second day of food distribution, WAPAC and the Coalition issued their reports on Hearst's PIN program.
The SLA and the Court of the People and the People themselves want to see this report printed in full in all forms of the media. There has never been any uncensored, uncut media reporting of any statement made by the Coalition speakers. Ludlow Kramer has boasted the well-known lies that Hearst's program has carried out the terms of the SLA-prescribed good faith gesture. The people know his words don't make no bag of cabbages into meat. [sic]
[III]
The Court of the People have a clear understanding of the actions of the Hearsts and the Hearst empire as a whole, in regards to its deceit and silence concerning its interests and crimes against the people.
It is no surprise that Mrs. Hearst has never once said anything about her activities on the University of California Board of Regents and its policy of financing corporations who [sic] operate internationally and exploit the hungry and oppressed people of the earth.
It is no coincidence that Mr. Hearst remained silent about his vast interest in the Safeway Stores, Inc., and Exxon, because it is very important that the people of this country not ask questions about these interests.
It is very important to the enemy that people do not begin to question why it is that the man who is so concerned for bilingual education for Chicano people is also the same man who owns vast stock interests in Safeway Stores, Inc., and thousands of acres of land robbed from Chicano people in California. And a silver mine and thousands of acres of land in Mexico that the Hearst empire has exploited from the peoples in Mexico.
Mr. and Mrs. Hearst, by constantly maintaining the secure position where they are not forced to reveal their interests and crimes, and without really conceding anything to the people, hope to gain the release of the prisoner.
In our analysis of enemy strategy we find multiple reasons for why [sic] the Hearst empire has not complied with our request.
1. By frustrating the people, forcing them to continually return to food distribution centers, stand in long lines and receive $8 worth of food, the Hearst empire attempted to discredit the political point of the action.
2. By handing out surplus and low grade donated food, some of which was not even meant for human consumption, in an undignified manner, the Hearst empire attempted to discredit and disprove the example we intended to display.
3. By prolonging the program, soliciting donations and giving nowhere near the required amount, the Hearst empire could retain control under the facade of humanitarianism with no loss to their bank books.
The tactics of misplaced supply of the food, delayed and missing trucks, supposed hijackings of mysterious trucks claimed to be loaded with top quality meat, are all designed to mislead the people into believing that these things were normal mishaps and that the Hearst empire was not responsible for them and was really attempting to meet some of the needs of the people.
The Hearst empire has attempted to encourage division among the people by giving them crumbs to fight over.
Our strategy was to show by example what can be done: That this goodwill gesture was intended to give some food to the people, while at the same time pointing out our understanding that the people can never expect the enemy to feed them. That, in fact, the people do not want the enemy to feed them, but rather the people must have back their land and control over their ow~ :~ destinies and must themselves realize the fruits of their own labor.
We did this to point out how the enemy can easily afford to feed the people if it were forced to, but what the enemy cannot afford is to reveal to the people the total extent of the sum of the wealth that it has robbed from the people.
[IV]
The SLA stated that Patricia Campbell Hearst would be kept in accordance with international codes of war regarding prisoners of war, and that she would be maintained in protective custody. It ~
was further stated that the captive SLA elements who stay at San Quentin would also have to be kept in accordance with such codes because of their legal POW status.
The SLA requested that Randolph and Catherine Hearst and the Hearst empire see to it that our comrades' conditions follow those guidelines It was stated at that time that Patricia Hearst's
condition would correspond at all times with that of the captured brothers The SLA has waited with disciplined patience for the agents of the fascist state, includmg the Hearst media empire to deal with the conditions of our comrades' confinement.
The Symbionese War Council, the Court of the People, had considered transfemng Patricia Campbell Hearst to a secunty area which would physically correspond to a strip cell on Death Row m San Quentin concentration camp. This would be an obvious response to barbaric conditions which our comrades are forced to endure.
However, after extensive nationwide intelligence and analysis by the Symbionese War Council, it became clear that the fascist corporate state and its chief domestic police agency, the FBI, and 4 other police state agencies and institutions, intended to set up Patricia Hearst for execution in order to discredit and isolate the people's forces.
This is shown by the deliberate disregard for the health, life and safety of Joseph Remiro and Russell Little, and the plans of the police state agencies to see to it that Patricia Hearst is killed.
Despite FBI claims that they would not do anything to endanger Patricia Hearst's life, they have raided homes throughout the country knowing full well that to do so would endanger the life of Patricia Hearst.
The plans of the police state agency are to see to it that Patricia Hearst is killed and then use her death to further rally middle America in support of the Nixon-represented corporate dictatorship and against all revolutionary forces.
The fascist state and the FBI have attempted to manipulate public opinion in support of Patricia Hearst's safety and eventual return while at the same time creating conditions that it knows would force her execution, saving them the embarrassment of doing it themselves.
But, we have repeatedly stated that Patricia Hearst's safety, execution or freedom is totally her family's and its class's responsibility.
It is in the direct interest of the fascist corporate state to eliminate all popular revolutionary forces, even if that would mean sending the FBI to execute Patricia Hearst.
U.S. Attorney General William Saxbe's statement that the FBI should bust in [sic] to rescue the prisoner was no slip of the tongue, but was in reality a prematurely exposed government policy decision.
Just as Nelson Rockefeller and the prison authorities in New York State could easily sacrifice the lives of hostage correctional officers at Attica in order to kill incarcerated freedom fighters inside, just as Ronald Reagan and prison authorities in California could sacrifice the life of Judge Haley at the Marin County Courthouse in order to kill manchild Jonathan Jackson and incarcerated freedom fighters from San Quentin, so, too, can the U.S. government and the FBI, with the sick permission of her father, willingly and without regret sacrifice the life of Patricia Hearst in order to attempt to kill members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.
We know from our experiences in prisons, and from our comrades who have been killed in prisons, and from all those comrades still locked down, Russell Little and Joseph Remiro have already been issued tickets to ride the fascist corporate state's railroad to the gas chamber, and that the appointment by Randolph Hearst of a member of the fascist U.C. Board of Regents to insure so-called due process of law, is merely a ploy to hide the already predetermined destination of that train, not to stop it.
[V
In response to Randolph Hearst's public request that Patricia Hearst be allowed to communicate periodically with her family in conjunction with international codes of war regarding prisoners of war, the SLA asks Randolph Hearst:
On what basis should the people's forces allow such communications?
1. The Symbionese War Council has determined that communication between POW Patricia Hearst and her family will come after the immediate creation of the necessary mechanisms whereby Russell Little and Joseph Remiro can communicate via live national TV with the people and the SLA concerning the full scope of their physical health and all the conditions of their confinement.
2.That this tape and a transcript of it be published in full, omitting nothing, in all forms of the media.
