WBAI REMEMBERS LYNNE STEWART

AUDIO ARCHIVE is now available
A part of the WBAI Evening News for Mar. 13, 2017
17 min. long – Our report starts at 11 min. 14 sec.
http://www.wbai.org/articles.php?article=3376

Lynne Stewart: People’s Lawyer – Presente!
Produced by Sally O’Brien and Bob Lederer,
with generous production assistance from John Riley

Following the news headlines, we reported on the memorial service for Lynne Stewart – attended by hundreds last Saturday at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery. We will also do a retrospective on the remarkable life of this widely admired People’s Lawyer and fighter for justice.

MORE ON LYNNE’S LIFE: “WHERE WE LIVE” on WBAI
Thurs., March 16 from 9:00-10:00 PM EST

Tune in to 99.5 FM or http://wbai.org/playernew.html ,
when sally o’brien and dequi kioni-sadiki of “Where We Live” will present more coverage of the life of Lynne Stewart.

Dear Brother Ralph Poynter, all the Family and Comrades of Lynne Stewart,

Deeply saddened to hear the passing of Lynne Stewart, we, the Hoshino Defense Committee members, send a heartfelt condolence to you. She was one of the greatest working class lawyers, who defended our rights, struggling against repressive laws including the USA Patriot Act.

When her cancer had seriously deteriorated behind bars, we organized a part of the global fight for her immediate release.

Her amazing comeback to various events and the speeches after accomplishing the release on December 31, 2013, delighted us greatly.

She gave her message to our rally Freedom for Fumiaki Hoshino on June 29 that year, which encouraged and inspired our movement.

We will carry on her work, strengthening international solidarity to free all political prisoners in the world including those in the US, Korea, Turkey and Japan.

In Solidarity,

Hoshino Defense Committee

http://fhoshino.u.cnet-ta.ne.jp/pages/01-english.html

==========================================================

Dear Brother Ralph Poynter and all Lynne Stewart’s family,

I am deeply grieved at the passing away of Sister Lynne Stewart. Her unflinching fight helped all of workers around the world defend their own right to live. Therefore, we also participated in the struggle for her freedom when her imprisonment under the outrageous USA PATRIOT led to serious aggravation of the cancer.

Tears welled up in my eyes while seeing the video of her in wheelchair at the NY airport finally out of prison.

Esteeming Fumiaki’s struggle very highly, Lynne sent a heartfelt video message to the Free Hoshino National Rally held in Tokyo; it was the great encouragement for all of us.

We will strengthen our fight to free Fumiaki Hoshino and all political prisoners of the world together with Lynne who continues to inspire us.

Akiko Hoshino,

Co-Chair of the Hoshino Defense Committee

http://fhoshino.u.cnet-ta.ne.jp/pages/01-english.html

LYNNE STEWART: PEOPLE’S LAWYER, FREEDOM FIGHTER PRESENTÈ!

[col. writ. 3/8/17]
©’17 Mumia Abu-Jamal

Lynne Stewart, after 78 winters in America, has died, after battling for years against breast cancer.

But that was just some of her battles, and like most of us, she won some, and lost some. But she never stopped fighting!

For decades, she and her husband, Ralph, fought for New York’ site political activists and revolutionaries, like Black Panthers and Young Lords–a Puerto Rican socialist collective. But mostly, they fought for the freedom of the poor and dispossessed of New York’s Black and Brown ghettoes.

She–they–fought often and fought well in the city’s courts.

Her husband, Ralph, was a stalwart of the Black Panther Party, and her most committed defender.

When Lynne was targeted by the US Justice department, and she was tried and convicted for putting out a press release for her client, the blind Egyptian sheikh, Omar Abdul Rahman, Ralph stood in the hot Washington, DC sun, with a sign in front of the White House, demanding his wife’s release.

Her defense of her client was in the best tradition of criminal defense lawyers, and she received significant support from a broad swath of the Bar–from lawyers-yes; judges, no.

Initially sentenced to 28 months, the 2d Circuit sent it back for resentencing-and she got 10 years!

Her support only grew.

The late activist lawyer, Bill Kunstler once opined that defense lawyers should be officers of their clients, instead of officers of the court.

Lynne Stewart was an officer of her clients; a People’s Lawyer, beloved and respected.

May she ever be so.
–©’17maj

View the original letter here (PDF): http://lynnestewart.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/LYNNE-STEWART-tribute-Jihad-Abdulmumit.pdf

Dear Comrade Sister Lynne,

As-salaamu ‘alaykum!

I heard the news about your passing; but now I’m not quite sure. After a wave of sadness, I called Ralph. Although his voice was somber, his words were strong and determined. “We have to double our efforts to get all of our sisters and brothers out of prison!” I listened compassionately. He was giving me orders! Marching orders! Lynne’s orders! I sat for a moment processing our conversation. Daggone you Lynne Stewart – frontline warrior, wife warrior, mother warrior, attorney warrior, friend warrior, warrior warrior; in the courtroom sitting when you were expected to stand and standing when they wanted you to sit; advocating and objecting to the judge’s injustices. From prison you wrote me, Jihad, you need to organize the Muslims to get Imam Jamil, Maumin, Jalil, Aafia Siddiqui, and all the other Muslim Political Prisoners out. Form a Muslim Caucus! Get them involved! We gotta do something more than what we are doing! After a Ralph-led full frontal assault, they let you out of prison with the high expectation of 18 months to live. You cheated death then and you’re cheating it now. You’re not dead; you’re very much alive. You are living through each and every one of us who continues to struggle against any and all forms of injustice, state violence, racism, oppression, exploitation, and inhumanity. We hear your laughter and pointed remarks; your courageous analysis, your courageous actions, your courageous presence speaking truth to a tyrant, any tyrant. You were not afraid to call an ace an ace, a chump a chump, a friend a friend and an enemy an enemy. I pray I have that spark when I reach 77. (I’m still not sure whether you and Ralph were serious when we were at the ABC Conference in Colorado a few years ago and you said you wanted to get up early in the morning and work out and exercise with me). Thank you for representing us; for taking our cases; for demanding the freedom of all Political Prisoners. Thank you for being there! You and that brotherman of yours. You are such a profound inspiration. Keep on giving them orders and we’ll talk again soon!

Link to audio of Jaan reading “Farewell thoughts to my friend Lynne Stewart”, from Prison Radio: http://www.prisonradio.org/media/audio/jaan-laaman/farewell-thoughts-my-friend-lynne-stewart-235-jaan-laaman

“Farewell thoughts to my friend Lynne Stewart” from Jaan Laaman, political prisoner
International Woman’s Day, March 8 2017

With a sunny sky outside, and a “Day Without Woman Strikes” and other very positive and powerful events taking place all across the United States and around the world, I am sitting quietly and sadly reflecting on the life of my friend Lynne, who died last night.

There is so much that can, and probably will be said about this dynamic and wonderful woman. For decade Lynne Stewart was a, if not the, preeminent human rights, civil rights, peoples’ lawyer, boldly fighting for justice, equality, and freedom in many of the most important and widely reported cases in the United States.

Lynne truly was fearless and could not be intimidated by prosecutors, judges or FBI and other gun-toting goons. She believed in, and fought for Constitutional rights and equal justice. She always fought for her clients.

Lynne was not only brave and determined, but she was a brilliant attorney. She also was very hard working, doing the necessary research and innovative paperwork that often forced the courts to accept her arguments.

Lynne touched so many people and lives in large and dynamic ways, in personal, caring and nurturing ways. As a lawyer, Lynne was a very significant part of the legal team for all of us Ohio-7 people in our many trials. Beyond just her work and skill as an attorney, Lynne was also there for our children and families. As a small boy, my son Ricky always stayed at Lynne’s home when he came to visit me and his mother while we were being held in MCC New York. Lynne was our family friend, as well as a sister and a comrade in the struggle.

So many people will miss you, Lynne, your guidance and wisdom, your concern and care. the love you had for the people and the freedom struggle is only matched by the love so many people, freedom fighters included, have and will continue, to have for you.

Rest easy my sister. We will shed our tears for you then firm up our hearts and spirits and continue in the revolutionary freedom and justice struggle that you contributed so much and uniquely to.

Valedictorian

“Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone”
—Moroccan

“Did you say I’ve got a lot to learn
Well don’t think I’m trying not to learn
Since this is a perfect spot to learn—
TEACH ME TONIGHT”
—“Teach Me Tonight” Sammy Cahn

Can strings push?
Can sticks pull?
Is water wet?
Is fat meat greasy?
Are big lies alternative facts?
Can warmongers win peace prizes?
Are Mothers older than daughters?
If you die, do you come back the next day?

We wake with watch hands
Saying different things—yet
Saying nothing untrue at 9
At 10, 11, ‘Round Midnight
Or, 4 in the morning:
Our Valedictorian checked out,
Crossing crimson curtains,
Slipping through silken membrane
Into sacred Ancestral spaces—
But never quietly into the night!

nickel-slick enemies know it’s
Her they’re hearing in creaking
floorboards, rustling drapes, leaves
Talking back beneath their boots and
Blistering cross-examination of cops

“Finding Paths, Forging Links In
Long ChainsOf Class Struggle
Making Mama Harriet Happy,
Never Bowing Down Or Sucking Up”
stellar seventy-seven page
Commencement Address delivered fortissimo
Amplifying power to the people

Flipping tassel, flinging mortarboard skyward—
signaling us to step up, strap on our balls, take
Mama Harriet hormones, speaking truth to
Class

Entering from Tahrir Square,
Wisconsin’s State Capitol,
Zucotti Park, Oscar Grant Plaza…
colleges of class struggle

Signaling us to become
Distinguished Professors of
Lynne Stewart Studies, “unpacking”
“de-contextualizing” “contextualizing”
“intersectionalities” of class struggle—
Hard-wiring ourselves for happiness, joy, love:
Lives worth living

Signaling us to become
Distinguished Professors of
Lynne Stewart Studies—
Shameless agitators having Yes Men fun,
Dancing in the street to Brass Liberation Orchestras;
Single-payer ju-ju workers hot on socialism’s trail;
Anonymous, Wikileak workers speaking truth to
Class

Lynne Stewart Scholars come matriculate:
Come agitate, come with love trumping hate
Come educate with fierce, scorching debate
Come quickly, blowing whistles on ______ gate
Come shredding scribblers who obfuscate
For we know we can win
With readers like Lynne
With leaders like Lynne
We know we can win
With writers like Lynne
With fighters like Lynne
We know we can win
With lawyers like Lynne
With warriors like Lynne!

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved

View all the interviews as well as Lynne’s release in 2014: https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/8/rip_lynne_stewart_peoples_lawyer_fmr

From Telesur (Venezuelan English-language TV):

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Lynne-Stewart-Lifelong-Fighter-and-Peoples-Lawyer-Dies-20170307-0026.html

Stewart, originally sentenced to 28 months in prison, was resentenced on July 10, 2010, to 10 years in prison, but continued to fight a government frame-up.

After suffering a major stroke on March 1, Lynne Stewart died Tuesday evening at home, after being granted a compassionate release from prison three years ago due to fourth-stage breast cancer.

Stewart devoted her law practice to defending the poor, underprivileged, unwanted and forgotten, according to her partner Ralph Poynter.

The human rights attorney was arrested on April 9, 2002, on charges of helping pass messages from her client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center attack in New York City, to his followers in al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, an organization designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S.

Stewart was subsequently convicted for conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists, while her felony conviction led to her automatic disbarment.

Her sentence was characterized by many as an attempt by the U.S. government to silence dissent, curtail vigorous defense by lawyers, instill fear in those who seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free speech and defend the rights of all oppressed people.

Attorney Leonard Weinglass, said of her incarceration, “The Lynne Stewart case is the case that’s going to mark this era as the era of the war on terrorists, which includes the war on lawyers who defend those who are accused of terrorism. To put her behind bars when no one was injured, no one was harmed, when those who produced the torture memos, those who produced the war are going free and even prospering is really the irony of our time.”

Stewart fought false accusations and a government frame-up. Originally sentenced to 28 months in prison, she was resentenced on July 10, 2010 — in an unprecedented move after her bail was suddenly revoked — to 10 years in prison for showing an alleged lack of remorse after her initial sentencing.

In a statement after her release on Dec. 31, 2013, Poynter said, “The enduring global movement for social justice has persevered — ever inspired by Lynne Stewart’s steadfast refusal to bend the knee, submit to coercion or official duplicity.”

Photo from: Susan M Reverby (thank you!)

From WBAI News – Four-minute audio clip (with long quotes from Ralph after Lynne’s passing): http://www.wbai.org/articles.php?article=3373

Just a few of the many tributes that have been pouring in on Facebook, email, and other venues:

Elizabeth Hook

I have known a hero in my lifetime, I have laughed with and cried with and shared the righteous rage with a hero. I got to hug a hero, stand at her wedding and find shelter in her home. See her babies grow up and eat pie with her. She casts no shadows, only light now. A woman who gave herself to struggle for decades. A heart, a strong and loving heart that beat so hard for so many, death cannot stop it. Her spirit goes to the reward for loving warriors, there is a significant part of her city, and the nation and beyond that, who feels this loss tonight. Oh captain, my captain.

*****

Orie Lumumba

PRESENTE

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE FOR THE PEOPLE
I LOVE YOU ALWAYS
REST IN PEACE LYNNE STEWART

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