A trial date of October 9th, 2002 has been set for three of the remaining Republican Convention Defendants. In August of 2000, when the Republican Convention met in Philadelphia, local activists invited their friends to be out in the streets protesting the Republicans' abysmal stance on criminal justice issues. Over 400 of the protestors were arrested, and three of them are still awaiting trial. Eric Steinberg, Darby Landy, and Camilo (pronounced Camille) Viveiros were charged with conspiracy and violations against then police chief John Timoney. Lawyers for the "Timoney 3," as they have been called, attempted to reduce the charges, which initially included conspiracy charges and a felony assault charge against community organizer Camilo Viveiros. Initially court proceedings went well, and in October of 2000 some charges were dropped. In December of 2001 however, Mr. Viveiros's attorney Robert Levant recieved the bad news that the superior court of Pennsylvania had restored the charges, including the first degree felony assault. An appeal was immediately filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. On Friday July 12th attorney Bob Levant was told that the appeal had not been accepted. All three defendants now face trial on October 9th, 2002. Supporters for Camilo hope that friends and supporters will come to Philadelphia for the trial. Nore importantly, however, immediate actions can be taken to see that justice prevails. Camilo is facing serious charges and the possibility of a long prison sentece. His friends are asking all concerned and compassionate people to help by educating others about the case, raising money for the legal defense fund, writing letters to Philadelphia publications expressing concern about the case, and writing letters, in care of Friends of Camilo, to Judge Yohn to be used at the appropriate time in the trial. Help educate about the case by tabling at events and conferences, hosting a panel or discussion, or organzing a fund-raiser or other event to raise awareness. If you were at the Republican convention protests and were near Latimer (near Walnut) and 17th at the time of the arrest you can help by contacting the legal defense team. If you are a writer or journalist you can help by writing a story, an opinion piece, a letter to the editor or interviewing people involved with the case. If you are part of an organization, a faith- based group, a radical network, or a concerned community it is helpful to write a sign-on letter on behalf of your group. Local supporters can attend a legal update and letter writing event on Thursday, Aug. 22 at the Aspace, 4722 Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia at 7:30pm. Guidelines for letter writing and information packets about the case will be available. Those interested in coming to Philadelphia for the trial, or helping to organize court support can email Wayne Ritz: WayneRitz@hotmail.com Background information on the Timoney 3, the Republican Convention, and Camilo Viveiros can be found at: www.r2klegal.org and www.friendsofcamilo.org Letters (please send 2 copies)and donations in support of Camilo should be sent to: Friends of Camilo P.O. Box 23169 Providence, RI 02903 Contact: StayingStrong@hotmail.com to recieve guidelines for letter writing, materials for tabling,resumes of Camilo's organizing work, background information for articles, contact information for interviews, contact information for the legal defense team or to have general questions answered. To subscribe to an announcement listserv about the case email: info@r2klegal.org To attend regional organizing meetings, start a Friends of Camilo group in your area, get contact lists for your event or fundraiser, or have someone speak about the case at your event contact A-space@defenestrator.org To contact Eric and Darby or recieve information about their cases email: info@r2klegal.org or check the website>A trial date of October 9th, 2002 has been set for three of the remaining Republican Convention Defendants: www.r2klegal.org ============================== GUIDELINES FOR LETTERS TO THE JUDGE (If you do not know Camilo personally) Letters, if possible, should be on official stationery from the organization/institution. Please send two signed copies of the letter, one addressed “To Whom it May Concern” and the other addressed to “Honorable Judge Young.” Please send the letters to: Friends of Camilo, P.O. Box 23169, Providence, RI 02903. Do not send them directly to the Judge. If your organization has branches or affiliates, please urge them to write letters as well, particularly those in Philadelphia, to help build pressure where it is needed most. èLetters to the Judge should focus on putting Camilo in a positive light, showing the value of his work to the community. It is not helpful to rant against the Police Commissioner, D.A., or the Philadelphia police in general. 1)DESCRIBE THE ORGANIZATION & THE LETTER WRITER: - State your title, position or affiliation with an organization, church, association, union, etc. This can be anything from Executive Director to Member. - State the constituencies your organization serves and the size (#s) - Describe how your organization serves/impacts the community. - When instructive, describe the specific issues (civil rights, labor, economic justice, faith-based social justice) where the organization’s work is focused and the connection to various social, ethnic or academic communities that highlight the organization’s status in the community. 2) DESCRIBE YOUR FAMILIARITY WITH THE WORK CAMILO DOES: - See http://www.friendsofcamilo.org for information. If the issue you want to highlight is not there, please contact: stayingstrong@hotmail.com and they can provide you with more details about the kind of work Camilo has been involved in over the years. - State why is would be a shame to deprive Camilo of his ability to continue to work on important community issues. 3) DRAW A LINK BETWEEN YOUR ORGANIZATION AND CAMILO’S WORK: Camilo has been involved in direct service, advocacy and community organizing, He: works to assist mostly elderly and disabled tenants who are endangered by rent increases to form tenant associations and stop evictions; volunteered as a caregiver in high school; volunteered on a suicide hotline; worked in group homes with developmentally disabled adults; worked in the local rape crisis center; co-founded the Progressive Student Alliance (to increase financial aid funding and preserve programs to support immigrant and first-generation American students); co-founded the national organization Empty The Shelters (Fill the Homes), which helped students and youth contribute to the efforts of welfare rights organizations and unions of the homeless; helped to mobilize a mostly Cambodian and Lai neighborhood in Fall River, Massachusetts, to pressure the city to shut down a toxic incinerator; went to Canada to stop the creation of a Hydro Quebec dam on Innu land; co-founded Homes not Jails in Boston. Camille has been committed to the use of civil disobedience for years. Camille has always believed that the power of the people lay in passionate activists successfully building the support of ordinary people. 4) EXPLAIN WHY IT WOULD BE A GREAT TRAGEDY TO IMPRISON SOMEONE LIKE CAMILO State why you think Camilo’s role in the community should be considered; how the kind of work he does is so useful and necessary to society. E.G. “Proceeding with the prosecution of these charges would constitute a great disservice not only to Camilo and everybody that is lucky enough to know him, but to a society that is already suffering from a serious shortage of people as passionate and committed as Camilo.” Tom O’Brien, former co-working, MAHT ================================= Biography of Camilo Viveiros Jr. Camilo Viveiros was born in 1971 to immigrant parents from the Azores, Portugal. Before immigrating to Southeastern Massachusetts, his parents led an agrarian life in the Azores, a small group of islands in the Atlantic between Portugal and the U.S. Raised in the closely-knit Portuguese community of Fall River, Massachusetts, Camilo was taught from an early age that strong family ties and support were more important than the size of a bank account. Through their example, his parents instilled in their son a commitment to sharing generously with others -- important values in an extended family without large paychecks. Both of Camilo's parents worked blue-collar jobs -- his mother, working for over forty years in the garment industry, while his father worked his whole life as a laborer. Camilo was arrested on August 1st, 2000, during demonstrations in Philadelphia highlighting national mispriorities of putting the profits of the few over the needs of public. In particular that day of protests was focused on the number one growth industry in the U.S. the prison and criminal justice industries. While more and more prisons are being built, funding for education, healthcare, affordable housing and decent jobs are being cut. As the regional organizer in southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod for the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants, he works to assist mostly elderly and disabled tenants who are endangered by rent increases to form tenant associations and stop evictions. He had come to Philadelphia in that capacity, to represent the concerns of these tenants and to address call attention to the lack of support for low and moderate income people in general. Until his arrest, Camilo has been involved in work for social justice virtually without a break. This dedication to helping those who have "fallen through the cracks" made itself known early on in his youth. During his high school years he began by volunteering as a caregiver, choosing the settings in which he could help those who were most overlooked. In his teens he spent time volunteering on a suicide hotline, giving attention to people who called in their worst moments of crisis. Believing he should try to contribute to the welfare of others before graduating high school, he dedicated time to distributing food to those in need. "Camilo is always looking after the underdog," his friend, David Malone, says of those years. "In high school he took time out to befriend others, who were being made fun of, because he has a big heart." After high school Camilo worked in group homes with developmentally disabled adults, assisting residents with their everyday needs to "make a little positive difference in their lives". Shawn Mills a co-worker of Camilo's at a group home for the developmentally disabled seniors said "Camilo always treated clients with respect, he spoke to them as peers and recognized them as unique individuals." During his college years and in his professional work, Camilo has continued to devote his time to help people in impoverished communities to attain basic survival needs, from food and housing to environmental health and protection from domestic violence. This caring has been expressed through his work with myriad grassroots community organizations, several of which he helped to found. During college he worked in the local rape crisis center, assisting those who had been sexually assaulted to find services and counseling. Also while in college, he co-founded the Progressive Student Alliance, whose members struggled to increase financial aid funding and preserve programs to support immigrant and first-generation American students. Also, during these years, Camillo began what would become a lifelong commitment to ending homelessness and increasing the availability of affordable housing. He co-founded the national organization Empty The Shelters (Fill the Homes), which helped students and youth contribute to the efforts of welfare rights organizations and unions of the homeless. Camilo's commitment to empowering communities in need has continued in his professional work. Yet his activism as an adult has not been limited to his paid work. As one example, he helped to mobilize a mostly Cambodian and Lai neighborhood in Fall River, Massachusetts, to pressure the city to shut down a toxic incinerator. Ed Duran, who was part a the coalition effort, commented, "Camilo is always thinking about how to broaden community participation He helped increase participation by simply going door-to-door. Residents responded to his approachable and humble character and with more community support we eventually got the incinerator shut down. " Again and again, both his professional colleagues and the community residents he works with describe Camilo's manner and organizing style as unique, marked by his belief in each person's human dignity and his soft spoken support. Efforts by police administrators to portray Camillo as violent or thuggish contradict sharply with the experiences of the elderly and disabled tenants, religious, labor and community leaders who have come to know him. As Gary Hicks, one public housing tenant who has witnessed Camilo's efforts, says, "Camilo constantly builds up tenants' self-confidence through his gentle encouragement". "All of Camilo's caring community work and sensitivity for some of our most vulnerable community members does not match who police officers claim he is," says his partner, Mimi Budnick. "Camilo has spent much of his life trying his best to play a positive role in others' lives. We will not allow an inaccurate impression of him to be accepted. We're confident that the more others get to know him, the more people will understand why this violent portrayal just doesn't ring true." Background Information on Camilo Camilo Viveiros Jr., a social justice activist who resides in New England, has been singled out and villianized by the most powerful law enforcement official in Philly, police commissioner Timoney. The Philly Commissioner of police testified against Camilo Viveiros at his pretrial on August 9th. Camilo went to the Institute for Social Ecology for two summers and has made visits back to this area to keep in touch with other activists. He has worked with Vermont activists in the mid 90's going up to Canada to stop the creation of a Hydro Quebec dam on Innu land. He participated in a non-violent blockade and was arrested with Vermonters defending the sovereignty of the Innu people from ecological genocide. Through the years Camille has co-founded a variety of grassroots social justice groups ranging from Empty the Shelters in Oakland to Homes not Jails in Boston to community coalitions to stop incinerators, stop the construction of an outfall pipe on indigenous land, end the use of chaingangs etc. etc. The Commissioners attempt to put Camille behind bars is a clear attack on the continually growing momentum of large direct action demonstrations. Camille has been committed to the use of civil disobedience for years. Putting an end to the movement means that our opposition will want to scare people off by marginalizing people like Camilo. Camille has always believed that the power of the people lay in passionate activists successfully building the support of ordinary people. This situation is no different. He recognizes that the City of Philly has sent a clear message to the core of long time activists who came to Philly. What needs to be done now is to broaden our support. Any community organization that looks into it's history, has to acknowledge that there was a time when authorities attempted to marginalize and in fact criminalize their activities: religious freedom, women's ability to vote, the emancipation of people of color from slavery, labors' protection of working people, "disabled" peoples' access to public buildings etc. All those movements have gone through times when their activists where painted as villains and violent trouble makers. We need to reach out to community members and remind them of the past and invite their contemporary solidarity. Link: http://www.friendsofcamilo.org