|
Denver-I recently visited David Martin in the Jefferson County, Colo. jail.
David is currently in his fifth month of incarceration as a grand jury
resister in the famous Santa Solidarity case in Denver. When I saw him he
looked healthy and was in good spirits. He told me that he's been able to
write more since he's been in jail. He told me a story about how a guard
complimented his intelligence [all mail is screened] in a recent letter
he'd written to his mother about Afghanistan and U.S. foreign policy.
David's problems began shortly before Christmas last year when the Campaign
for Labor Rights in Washington, D.C. made a call for solidarity actions at
Kohl's department stores around the country. Kohl's was producing a number
of its winter garments at a sweatshop in Nicaragua whose workers were
trying to organize. The workers at the time were being brutally repressed
by company-paid thugs. Rank-and-file union leaders faced trumped-up charges
of assault and conspiracy pressed by the government. [The workers have
since earned union representation thanks to the international labor
solidarity that was demonstrated.
When the Denver Peace and Justice Committee called for an action at Kohl's,
David volunteered to be the emcee for the rally outside. Participants at
the rally leafleted patrons of the store to inform them of Kohl's
complicity in Nicaraguan union busting. Speeches were made favoring the
right for all workers to organize and opposing U.S. corporate unionbusting
activities.
While the rally was happening outside, four individuals-who were not part
of the protest- entered the store dressed in Santa suits and began to
engage in profit-depreciating activities. They vandalized clothing and
spraypainted anti-sweatshop graffiti on the walls. In the end, the Santas
escaped. By all accounts, David was not one of the Santas. He was emceeing
the rally.
The police responded to the vandalism by raiding the office of the Peace
and Justice Committee and seizing all of their mailing lists and computers.
The Committee maintains that they neither planned nor endorsed the actions
of the Santas.
In May a grand jury was formed, the first of its kind for a misdemeanor
vandalism case. David was called to testify and refused. He was immediately
jailed. David refuses to testify in defiance of the grand jury system that
denies people any constitutional rights, including the right to an attorney.
David has been in jail for almost five months and is due to be released in
November when the grand jury expires. The police seemed to have been
banking on David's testimony; so far no suspected Santas have been
arrested. It is possible for the grand jury to be renewed after its
six-month term expires, but it seems unlikely given the lack of police
action.
-Mile High Mike
Return to top
| 
