December 2003    

We print below a report on the first day of the trial of  Hostos Community College student leader, Miguel Malo, which opened on Monday, December 1.

The trial of Miguel Malo formally opened in Bronx Criminal Court December 1. Prior to today, Miguel has been hauled into court 27 times while the prosecution repeatedly asked for delays and adjournments. The case goes back to mid-August 2001, more than two years, when he was arrested for protesting against the slashing of bilingual and Spanish-language courses at Hostos Community College in the Bronx. So much for the supposed constitutional right to a “speedy” trial. We’ll see how “public” it will be, which is also part of the Sixth Amendment, as today there were only a few folding chairs inside the courtroom for the public to observe the proceedings.

This Friday, December 5, there will be a demonstration in support of Miguel Malo. It will start at 9 a.m. sharp, opposite the Bronx Criminal Court at 215 East 161st Street in the Bronx.

On top of endless delaying tactics, the prosecution also changed the complaint against him four times. Originally he was charged, literally, with holding up a sign. At the time Miguel was the president of the Hostos student government. The original complaint stated: “At the above time and place, the defendant began to hold up a sign and protest against the college administration inside the above location after being told…that such protest would only be permitted outside of the building, away from where school registration was taking place.” In other words, away from where anyone could see his sign. So the trial is also about the right to free speech and assembly, supposedly guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

But after the first try in court the Bronx District Attorney’s office decided that trying Miguel for holding up a sign was too blatant, so they dropped that and now is charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, harassment and assault of a cop. In other words, they threw the book at Miguel Malo. The maximum sentence for those charges is a year in jail, and Judge Robert Torres announced in court today that, “My standard operating procedure is that if he is found guilty, I give the maximum sentence.” 

Beyond democratic rights – which are in fact not guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, despite what the words say on paper, particularly in times of war such as we are now in – this trial is about racist repression and exclusion at the City University of New York. As Malo’s attorney, Ron McGuire, said at a September 16 forum at Hunter College:

“What is going on in CUNY is racial profiling, and that’s exactly why Miguel was arrested.  Hostos has been on lockdown, and they do not want people going out there, especially speaking in Spanish, talking about their rights. What this case is about is that a black or Latino student can stand with a sign the way a white man can at Hunter College.”

The backdrop to the forum projected the statement, “CUNY Is Not a Prison,” calling to stop the witchhunt and drop the charges against Malo. Another sign proclaimed, “Hostos Is a Miniature Police State.” This is what is posed by this ominous trial. 

During a lengthy conference with defense and prosecution attorneys prior to the formal opening of the trial this morning, the judge said repeatedly that “this trial is not about whether students have a right to voice their opinions,” and later he insisted that “this trial has nothing to do with the First Amendment.” 

But as defense attorney McGuire pointed out, the reason Malo was arrested was that the Hostos College administration was seeking to ban protest against their cuts. The night before the protests took place, the president of the faculty union chapter received a call warning that if there was a demonstration, bad things would happen. Two days later, College president Dolores Fernández posted a statement on the Internet saying that the very fact that students were demonstrating was a threat to registration. McGuire told the judge he intends to introduce evidence of this during the trial proceedings.

As for the phony charges of Miguel Malo allegedly “assaulting” the campus cops, at the previous hearing on November 24, the defense gave to the prosecution a picture of Malo’s back taken the day after he was in fact assaulted by the cops. The photo shows at least a dozen welts as a result of his manhandling by the authorities. As one of Malo’s supporters attending the trial remarked, the photo shows that this would be a first, someone supposedly attacking a cop with his back.

Miguel Malo’s back after he was thrown to the ground and brutally manhandled by campus cops, August 2001.

Again, this is racist repression reserved particularly for black and Latino students and those attending the working-class colleges. This case should have been thrown out eons ago. The reason it is still dragging on is that the District Attorney and the people who run the City University on behalf of the capitalist ruling class want to make an example of Miguel Malo in order to intimidate everyone. Miguel’s supporters have driven home the point that “An injury to one is an injury to all,” as the old Wobbly labor slogan went.  

At a demonstration in support of Miguel last Monday, November 24, protesters chanted: “War on Iraq, CUNY under attack.” Because the repression against Malo is part and parcel of the broad attack on democratic rights, immigrants rights, labor rights, student rights, you name it, in the context of the U.S. terrorist “war on terror.” A sign carried by the Internationalist Group at that demonstration declared, “Imperialist War Abroad Means Police-State Repression ‘At Home’,” and here we have an example of that.

It’s part of a broader pattern. Barely a month and a half after Miguel was arrested, CUNY authorities ordered tuition for undocumented immigrant students more than doubled, in an effort to drive them out of schools. The university attorney made it clear that he was doing this in order to show that CUNY was doing its part for the “war effort” against Afghanistan. Earlier this year, three Hunter College students were arrested for sitting down in the street to protest the imperialist war on Iraq. It’s a straight line from the U.S.A. Patriot Act to exclusion of immigrants from City University and the lockdown at Hostos College.

Supporters of Miguel Malo have been at the courtroom over and over to show their solidarity, and they were again today. The judge announced that proceedings would resume at 10:30 tomorrow morning, and would go straight through the week. CUNY Action to Defend Miguel Malo is encouraging people to attend the trial to show their support for Miguel and all CUNY students, faculty and workers who are threatened by this crackdown. Sessions are held in the morning starting at 9:30 and in the afternoon following a lunch break.

Come out to demonstrate support for Miguel Malo on Friday, December 5, at 9 a.m. sharp, across the street from the Bronx Criminal Court, 215 East 161st Street in the Bronx, located one block east of Grand Concourse (take the 4 or D trains to the 161st Street stop). n 

Defend Miguel Malo! (November 2003) 
Click here to download flyer for December 5 demonstration (requires Acrobat Reader)