[News] Freedom Archives needs your support

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Dear friends and supporters.

We recently learned that an intercepted email between us and Free 
Speech TV from January 2007 regarding our agreement to air The Legacy 
of Torture has appeared among the over 200,000 pages of discovery in 
the case of the San Francisco 8. We have retained legal counsel in 
this matter. It also appears that some significant number of letters 
to you, our supporters, never made it to their destination. While 
this government surveillance and "losses of mail" is not totally 
surprising, it is always sobering to realize that our work is on the 
radar of the state. As always, we rely on your support rather than on 
grants to maintain our independence as well as our ability to produce 
work that challenges government repression.

Pardon any duplicate requests, but we hope you can send us a 
contribution if you haven't already done so. Here is a version of the 
letter we mailed. Thanks for your ongoing support!


May 2007

Dear Friends,

Earlier this year the Freedom Archives produced an important film,
Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement.
This film exposed the police brutality experienced by some Black
activists following their arrest in 1973. The statements forced from
some of these men who came to be known as the San Francisco 8
were obtained under torture, and thrown out of court.
As with all of our projects, we felt that this forgotten history had
something important to share with today's struggles for justice, and
would reinvigorate the national conversation about racism, torture and
war. It is being well received in the US, Canada, Africa
and everywhere it plays.

But in a strange twist of fate, this film is taking on new meaning and
heightened importance in 2007.

On January 23, those same men were arrested again along with several
others, and now, more than 34 years later, the case has been reopened.
The film, including live interviews of some of the San Francisco 8,
provides a rare glimpse into the hearts and minds of these men, and the
state of the justice system under which they suffered.

We have partnered with the National Radio Project to release a radio
version, now heard on radio stations throughout the US and Canada.
And the momentum is building. This film, 28 minutes in length, is also
being used to spur fundraising for the defense of the San Francisco 8
through house parties, campus showings and community gatherings
nationwide.

This film was produced with no major grants, but from donations of
our best supporters, like you, who are committed to the idea that by
understanding our past, we can affect our future.

We thank you for your past generous support and ask you to help
us again now, that we may update the film to reflect the current
status of these men and to bring Legacy of Torture to more audiences
nationwide. Your gift now will also help us expand our reach to new
communities, strengthen our youth programs, and to continue to
preserve, protect and share the important lessons of our movement.
Please take a moment to reflect on the voices of individuals,
organizations, and events that have molded our movements for justice
and human rights. We ask you to make the largest gift you are able, and
to share this letter with family and friends.

In struggle, solidarity and peace,

Claude Marks, Director            Patricia Hemphill, Youth Program Director




Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
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