Greener pastures, continued

by Ben Geman

The legal saga of a radical Weymouth activist who says his arrest for posting fliers was politically motivated continues to drag on in Quincy District Court (see "Munmia in Weymouth," This Just In, News and Features, February 4).

Dominic Giannone, 24, had been scheduled to face trial on "tagging" charges this past Monday for posting fliers in Weymouth last September advocating a high-school walkout in support of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. He was also to face trial Monday for another arrest, on charges of trespassing and disturbing a school, which stemmed from the walkout advertised in the fliers.

SPEAK OUT: local activists want the public to realize that some Philly demonstrators are still in jail.

But after the Norfolk County DA's office and Giannone could not agree to a plea on the tagging charge, both cases were rescheduled. Giannone had been willing to accept three months' unsupervised probation. But prosecutors wanted a six-month continued-without-a-finding sentence with supervised probation and court costs imposed, according to Daniel Beck, Giannone's attorney. Giannone says he was willing to accept three months to get the matter over with. But given that he practices the kind of street protests that frequently bring activists into contact with police -- he was, for example, in Philly for the GOP-convention protests, where hundreds were arrested -- the longer his probation, the greater his chance of violating it.

In the meantime, officers needed to serve as witnesses for the trespassing and disturbing-a-school charges were not able to attend on Monday, according to the DA's office. Judge Thomas Connors rescheduled both cases to begin October 6.

Giannone does not deny posting the fliers along with high-school students last year. But both he and his attorney say the tagging arrest had to do with the content of the fliers, not merely their posting. Supporters of Abu-Jamal -- a radical black journalist who's on Pennsylvania's death row for the 1981 shooting death of a Philadelphia police officer -- call him a political prisoner who never received a fair trial.

"I would suggest that had he put up posters for a garage sale or a high-school dance, we would not even be here today," said Beck, standing before Judge Connors on Monday during arguments in favor of a lighter sentence on the tagging charge. Watch this space for updates.

Tuesday's State House press conference by local activists reveals an important story-after-the-story of last week's street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention.

Since the "direct action," which occurred mostly on August 1, activists have claimed that many of the 391 people arrested in Philadelphia have faced a slew of violations, including physical abuse, being denied contact with attorneys, and inadequate medical attention. Authorities have denied the allegations.

What's more, bail has been set very high for some activists. Camilo Viveiros Jr., a leading tenant organizer with the Boston-based Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants, was arrested on several charges, including allegations of assaulting Philadelphia police chief John F. Timoney. He was held on $450,000 bail. (Viveiros's father, his girlfriend, and his boss all say it's tough to imagine the 29-year-old Somerset man hurting a fly.) Bail for John Sellers, of the California-based Ruckus Society, a group that trains progressive activists in protest techniques, was set at $1 million -- later reduced to $100,000 -- for his arrest on various misdemeanors. He was released Tuesday.

Activists' concern over the alleged mistreatment is not just about the conditions facing their jailed comrades, however. At a time when grassroots activism is showing signs of renewal, activists say, the crackdown is aimed at discouraging the movement by raising the stakes for the contingent of mostly young radical activists who are interested in civil disobedience.

With that in mind, activists say they want to keep a spotlight on the alleged abuses to help prevent them in the future -- and to ward off a chilling effect on future mass actions, such as the one planned for next week's Democratic National Convention in LA. "We're putting this [press conference] together with an eye on future dissent in general," said 24-year-old Matt Borus, of the Boston Global Action Network, shortly before the event, which drew about 50 observers and reporters in Tuesday's heat. "If this kind of crackdown -- outrageous bail and brutality -- is something we can expect, then anyone in this country with an opinion ought to be disturbed."

In the near term, it's hard to say what effect the Philly allegations will have on Los Angeles. David Levy, an organizer with the New York City Direct Action Network, says the allegations could "galvanize" LA. On the other hand, he told the Phoenix, people may just "think twice" about taking it to the streets.

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Ben Geman can be reached at bgeman[a]phx.com bgeman[a]phx.com.