......prisoners in Turkey have employed the tactic of the “Death Fast.” Some 122 prisoners have died in the fast so far and over 600 are left with disabilities.
......First Secretary of the Cuban Embassy in Greece José Cala and First Secretary of the Venezuelan Embassy in Greece Porfirio Pestana both addressed the symposium. Cala spoke on the terrorist attacks against his island by U.S. imperialism since 1959 as well as the economic blockade against the Cuban people.
......“Shaka Sankofa: The World’s Greatest Legal Lynching,” was shown. Many of the international participants were surprised by the overt racism and injustice at the core of the U.S. criminal justice system.
......Many speakers told of anti-terror laws being put on the books in their country. In Belgium, the state can condemn a person just for belonging to an organization or association. Those detained have their human rights violated and torture is used against them.
......Dr. Hisham Bustani of the Popular Arab Resistance Alliance spoke of the recent U.S. and Israeli failure in Lebanon. “Imperialism doesn’t know what to do,” he said, “so they keep changing plans. The U.S. is weak now and the solution for the Arab masses is armed resistance. We must defend ourselves when we are called terrorists. WE are not the terrorists! We are the resistance and we have the right to defend ourselves against U.S. imperialism.”
......Egyptian Socialist Party spoke on supporting the resistance in the Arab world. “The victory of the resistance will mean that the U.S. control of capital and human resources will change. The poor in the U.S. must understand that this is in their interest,” she said. “We hear the debate among the anti-war movement—armed resistance or peaceful resistance. It is the right of our people to use arms against the greatest imperialist power in the world. All oppressed people have the right to choose our path to defeat imperialism,” she stated.