[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Democracy Now!: A Message from DN! Producer Jailed in Miami During FTAA

[Al Kagan]

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>DEMOCRACY NOW! SPECIAL ALERT
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>[The following is a message written by Democracy Now! producer Ana 
>Nogueira  who was arrested Friday evening while covering the FTAA 
>protests in Miami.  We thank the listeners and viewers who responded 
>to our action alert  last night and called officials demanding her 
>release. She was released  early Saturday morning. For full coverage 
>on the FTAA protests tune into  Democracy Now!]
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>Early this morning I was sitting in a jail cell in Miami, cold, 
>hungry and trying to ignore the cockroaches crawling on the floor of 
>the cell. My clothes had been taken away from me and thrown out 
>because they reeked of pepper spray.
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>I was arrested because I had not embedded myself with the Police 
>Department before doing my job of covering the protests for the 
>nationally syndicated public radio and tv program Democracy Now! 
>Instead, I was swept up late Friday afternoon with about 70 others 
>as we tried to obey an order to disperse from an "unlawful" jail 
>solidarity rally.
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>Mine is not an isolated case. Four other independent reporters were 
>arrested with me and three of them remain in jail: Jeanette Lee and 
>Michael Medow, both of Michigan Independent Media Center, as well as 
>an  IMC reporter who goes by the name of Winter. Todd Price, a 
>Madison, WI, journalist who was formerly the executive director of 
>community television  station WYOU, was arrested with me but has 
>been released.
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>In addition, Justin Lipson of the NYC IMC Video Team was arrested on 
>Thursday and is being held on a $10,000 bond. Police smashed his 
>camera and have charged him with two felonies. Miami New Times staff 
>writer Celeste Fraser Delgado was also arrested on Thursday while 
>trying to interview protesters. Her purse and press credentials were 
>left at the scene of her arrest.
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>I am out now thanks entirely to the pressure that Democracy Now! 
>supporters and staff put on the jail to release me. If not for all 
>the emails and phone calls the police received demanding my 
>immediate release, I would still be there. However, I am still 
>facing charges and will most likely have to return to Miami to 
>appear in court.
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>I thank everyone who stood up for the right of independent media 
>today and contacted the jail urging them to release me. But there is 
>more we need to do. Our colleagues in Miami are receiving disturbing 
>reports of ongoing abuse of prisoners inside the jail, including 
>severe beatings, being held in a cold room with no toilet, getting 
>cold-showered every two hours. People of color and transgender 
>people feel that they were specifically targeted. We must all act 
>now to demand that the torture stop and all charges against the 
>journalists be dropped.
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>Please, tell everyone you possibly can to call the numbers below to 
>demand the release of Jeanette Lee, Michael Medow, Winter, and 
>Justin Lipson, the dropping of all charges against journalists, and 
>the fair treatment of all prisoners.
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>-- Ana Nogueira, Democracy Now! producer
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>ACTION:
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>Call/Email These Authorities:
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>Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK)
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>305-470-7636 or 305-470-7600 (Press 2 for TGK, then 7 for booking or 
>9 for shift commander)
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>The Joint Task Force on Law Enforcement
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>Major Role (cell): 305-216-6594
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>FTAA Miami Unified Command Joint Information Center
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>Phone: 305-579-6420
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>Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas
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>mayor at miamidade.gov
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>City of Miami Mayor Manuel A. Diaz
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>Telephone: 305-250-5300
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>E-mail: mannydiaz at ci.miami.fl.us
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>Janet Lopez, Director Office of Communications
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>Phone: 305-416-1036
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>Pager:305-312-2981
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>Tune in to Democracy Now! Radio & TV on Monday for a complete 
>report: http://www.democracynow.org
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>And for more information visit the FTAA IMC in Miami at http://www.ftaaimc.org
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>To unsubscribe from this list click this link or paste the url into 
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> 
>http://www.democracynow.org/maillist.pl?op=removeme&email=akagan@uiuc.edu&emailid=175


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu