Beatriz Allende Commits Suicide

Havana (LNS/Guardian) Beatriz Allende, 33-yearold daughter of former Chilean President Salvador Allende, herself a prominent figure of both the Chilean and Bolivian revolutionary movements, committed suicide October 12, 1977.in Havana, Cuba. News of her death was released by the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina. Allende worked closely with her father right up to the morning of the coup, when in the final hours she was present in the Moneda Palace. When the palace was under slege, President Allende ordered many of the staff to surrender. Beatriz Allende left only after others persuaded her that the future of the resistance against the coup depended upon the survival of important leaders.

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Together with her mother Hortensia and her sister Isabel, Beatriz was dedicated to the building of resistance and solidarity organizations around the world. During two brief visits to the U.S., she helped consolidate a network of solidarity work here.

Her funeral was attended by a large number of Chilean exiles in Havana and Cuban officials, including Carlos Rafael Rodriquez, vice-First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party

Congresswomen Urge Extension of E.R.A. Deadline

The National Gay Task Force is among the groups urging their members to support a bill introduced in Congress which would extend the deadline for ratifica tion of the Equal Rights Amendment for seven years (until March 1986) The bill, introduced by Elizabeth Holtzman (D-NY) and Margaret Heckler (R-MA), has the sponsorship of 15 of the 18 Congresswornen and the strong support of President Carter and major Congressional leaders, including Tip O'Neill, the Speaker of the House.

On October 12, the Congresswomen met with 60 major wornen's organizations and members of Congress at the office of Presidential Aide Margaret Costanza to conduct a briefing on the extension of the ERA deadline. A unanimous decision was reached in sup port of the plan.

The deadline extension, if approved by Congress. will in no way affect feminist efforts to get three more states to ratify the Amendment by the original deadline of March 1979. The extension is merely a "back-up procedure."

At the present time, it is believed that a simple majority, rather than a 2/3 vote, will be needed to approve

the deadline extension in Congress, although the Justice Department has not made a final determination on this question.

Los Angeles Women Win Pension Rule

New York (LNS)-Women workers at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power no longer have to pay for living longer. Until a recent court ruling they were required to pay into their pension plan 15 percent more than male workers in their department. The city reasoned that since women lived longer than men, they should pay more in the pension fund.

Local 18 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers took the city to court on behalf of its wornen members. The federal court of appeals ruled In their favor, saying the policy violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibiting sex discrimination in employ ment.

Plastic Parfalt

NEW YORK (LNS) -Thanks to the Food and Drug Administration, Ice cream packagers have never been required to list the artificial ingredients mixed into the majority of commercial ice creams. These chemicals are often used as flavor substitutes, because they are cheaper than using the real thing.

Instead of vanilla, most companies use Piperonal, a chemical used commonly to kill lice. Instead of pineap ple, they use Ethyl Acetate, a chemical used to clean leather. And instead of cherry, there's Aldehyde C17, a chemical used in manufacturing plastic and rubber.

Joann Little Missing

Raleigh, N.C. (Guardian)-Joann Little disappeared from the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women on October 19. Women on October 19. She had been completing a 7-10 year sentence for breaking and entering and robbery, the same sentence she was serving at the time of an attempted rape by a white jaller whom she stabbed in 1975. Last week the prison disciplinary committee removed Little from a work-release job as a dental assis tant. She was charged with fallure to report for work September 13-14 in spite of evidence given by her employer, Dr. Lane, who stated that she was at work on the two days in question. Little had hoped that suc cessful participation in the work-release program would help her achieve parole status. With the demotion, however, her hopes for parole had diminished. Little's attorney, Jerry Paul, said that he did not know the exact reason for her disappearance but that she had been very, upset by recent harassment from prison authorities.

Mexican Women Win Antibias Laws

The Mexican government, responding to mass pressure from women, has taken several significant moves recently to bring about greater equality for

Women.

The Constitution is being reworded to include women under Its protection and Congress is changing several laws that discriminate against women.

The 1917 Constitution hs been amended to include the concept that "everyone shall be equal before the law." There is also a new statement that women can use to defeat their centuries-old domination by the Roman Catholic Church. The addition reads that "everyone shall have the right to determine the nurnber and timing of their children in a free, responsible and in formed fashion."

It will be up to the people, of course, to insure that safe, reliable birth-control methods and abortion will be provided cheaply in order to effect the new language In too many other developing countries, under pressure from Washington, family-planning centers have forcibly sterilized women or made sterilization the only birth control method available.

The Mexican Congress Is In the process of revising most laws that discriminate against women Its aim is to grant legal equality in the home, at work and in school

ASSATA SHAKUR FACES TRIAL

New York (LNS) -Once again, black political activist Assata Shakur is facing trial-this time charged with murder following an incident in a Brooklyn social club in January, 1973. Defense workers say that in this case and In prior trials, federal and local law enforcement agencies have acted illegally in their prosecution of Shakur.

"We're going to ask for an evidentiary hearing on FBI fabrication of the case." says Willian. Kunstler, attorney for Shakur, noting that there is "hard evidence" of government misconduct.

On October 13, the defense filed a motion to obtain the release of all information, documents arid memos relating to the defendant.

Kunstler cited specific details of the trials, as well as the Church Committee report on U.S. Intelligence ac tivities, in which "FBI employees admitted they were supposed to 'plle charge upon charge' on members of the BLA (Black Liberation Army)," of which police said Shakur was a leader. In addition Kunstler said: "The FBI 'Cointelpro' program was shown to be the most vehement against the BLA."

Shakur has been subjected to trial in New York and New Jersey over the last four years, and acquitted three times on various bank robbery and kidnapping charges. But in March of this year, she was convicted by an allwhite jury on charges of murdering a New Jersey state trooper. The case stemmed from a "shoot first, ask questions later" state trooper attack on her and others in a car on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. The former deputy minister of the New York Black Panther Party, Zayd Shakur, was killed in that attack, and Assata Shakur was seriously wounded. She is now serving a prison sentence of 99 years plus 30 years. Her conviction will be appealed.

In another case against her. "the person she was supposed to have kidnapped was a paid FBI informant." said Kunstler, referring to a December, 1972 incident in Brooklyn. "And the other victim (of a robbery during that incident] was his girlfriend." Shakur was acquitted in that incident.

Shakur's lawyers will press for hearings to show government misconduct, as a step towards having the court dismiss the indictment "If we can get FBI infor mants and officials (like FBI Director Clarence Kelley) and witnesses (for instance, Frank Church), we can wreak havoc." explained Kunstler

November 1977/What She Wants/page

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