Florida prisons back off ban on 3 issues of ‘Militant,’ but fight continues
https://themilitant.com/2020/10/17/florida-prisons-back-off-ban-on-3-issues-of-militant-but-fight-continues/
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
Vol. 84/No. 42
October 26, 2020
In an important victory for political rights, Florida prison officials
Sept. 24 overturned their suppression of Militant issues nos. 33 and 34,
and then two weeks later reversed their ban on no. 38.
Each of these issues had been suppressed for reporting on growing
support for overturning a series of impoundments of the paper. But the
response by a broad array of organizations and individuals sending
letters to the Department of Corrections Literature Review Committee
helped bring pressure to bear to get prison authorities to back off.
However, at that same Sept. 24 meeting the committee upheld a ban on
issue no. 31. What is most significant here is that for the first time
they gave a specific reason. Their “reason,” however, confirms that they
banned no. 31 because they disagree with the paper’s political
viewpoint. This is an explicit violation of First Amendment protections
of freedom of speech and of the press.
In their Sept. 24 “notice of rejection” of the issue, officials at
Florida State Prison in Raiford said the article, “Workers Oppose
Federal Cops, Antifa Violence in Portland,” “is dangerously
inflammatory” and that it “encourages, riot, insurrection, rebellion,
organized prison protest” or “disruption of the institution.”
That accusation seems strange to anyone reading the article since it
opposes both looting and violent attacks by groups like antifa in
Portland, Oregon, as well as the government’s use of federal police and
National Guard to attack political rights.
In a Sept. 28 letter to Militant attorney David Goldstein, Dean Peterson
from the committee wrote that they rejected the appeal because “the
language of the cited article calling for the replacement of cops and
the entire justice system was sufficiently inflammatory to uphold the
impoundment and reject the publication.”
This is a reference to the article’s last paragraph, which reports that
Socialist Workers Party candidates in the 2020 election call for working
people to build their own party, a labor party, that would help mobilize
millions to bring to power a workers and farmers government. Replacing
the capitalist government, the article explained, would open the door
for uniting people to replace today’s entire criminal “justice” system,
which exists to enforce capitalist exploitation and oppression. There is
nothing “inflammatory” about the reporting.
“Florida prison officials have no right to suppress any issue of the
paper because they disagree with its reporting on the political position
of candidates running in the 2020 election, or any other political
view,” said Militant editor John Studer. “Daily newspapers and other
media frequently carry articles on the debate over police brutality, the
criminal ‘justice’ system and the widespread protests against police
brutality. Prisoners have the right to read and consider a wide range of
views and to form their own opinion.”
The fight to defend the rights of the Militant and its readers behind
bars is a cutting edge in the broader battles in defense of political
rights. That’s why the Florida Press Association, Reporters Committee
for Freedom of the Press, Amnesty International USA, American Civil
Liberties Union – Florida, PEN America, the News Leaders Association and
other individuals and organizations have joined in calling on Florida
officials to overturn the bans.
“It is crucial that this fight over the rights of the press are public
and publicized, to continue to press Florida officials to deliver the
paper to our subscribers behind bars,” Studer said. “Join us in urging
them to reject their explicit — and unconstitutional — attack on the
paper’s reporting in issue no. 31.”
Send letters to Dean Peterson, Literature Review Committee, Florida
Department of Corrections, 501 South Calhoun Street, Tallahassee, FL
32399 or via email at Allen.Peterson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, with a copy to
the Militant at themilitant@xxxxxxx.
Front Page Articles
Cut workweek with no cut in pay to stop layoffs
Workers need a labor party to fight for all working people
Fight against rulers’ attacks on workers’ health, wages
Mass protests in Belarus: ‘Resign now, new elections’
Fed up with the two capitalist parties, workers scoop up the ‘Militant,’
books
Florida prisons back off ban on 3 issues of ‘Militant,’ but fight continues
Feature Articles
Rulers use ‘racial sensitivity’ programs to attack working class
Also In This Issue
Protests hit cop killing of Jonathan Price in Texas
50 years ago: Ottawa sends troops to occupy Quebec
New Pathfinder 2021 brochure presents arsenal for workers
Cuba puts science, health care at the service of working people
Canadian Dominion grocery workers strike wins solidarity
Campaign to sell Militant subscriptions and books Sept. 26 - Nov. 24
(week two)
Socialist Workers Party-Building Fund Sept. 26 – Nov. 24 (week two)
On the Picket Line
Northern California hospital workers strike over short staffing
Pennsylvania Steelworkers strike over NLMK concession contract
Central Wash. vegetable packers organize to win union, rights
After one-day strike, pharmacy workers locked out in Quebec
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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_____
Robert G. Ingersoll
“Give me the storm and tempest of thought and action, rather than the dead calm
of ignorance and faith! Banish me from Eden when you will; but first let me eat
of the fruit of the tree of knowledge!”
― Robert G. Ingersoll, The Works Of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. Iii