Professors Condemn Court 'Repression' of Panthers

Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky yesterday condemned the American judicial system for its "repression" of the Black Panthers and other dissident groups.

"The courts are political devices, arms of the government, pretending to be neutral between the government and the citizen," Zinn, professor of history at Boston University, said yesterday.

The two professors appeared at a press conference to show their solidarity with members of the Committee to Defend the Panthers, who have called for a peaceful rally in New Haven on Tuesday to demand the release of Bobby Seale and Erica Huggins.

Seale and Huggins are to stand trial in two weeks on charges stemming from the murder of Alex Rackley in May, 1969. The charges carry a maximum sentence of death.

"The genocidal war against Black Americans has reached classic proportions," a committee statement said.

"The question of justice in America is involved-the use of the Justice Department, judges and juries to support things as they are, to keep protestors down, to keep black protestors down," Zinn said.

"I recall many murders against black people in the South which the Justice Department ignored. In these cases the Justice Department could easily have amassed evidence, as opposed to the flimsy evidence against the Panthers," he said.

"Furthermore, nobody in this country, in this government, can hold a murder trial as long as the war in Vietnam goes on. It is absurd and hypocritical," Zinn added.

Repression Effective

Chomsky, professor of linguistics at M.I.T., said that judicial repression is being effectively used to break some radical groups. "These groups need not lose the trial-the government can use judicial harassment, holding up the trial, to immobilize the group," Chomsky added.

The committee also announced a "constitutional convention" that will be held in Washington, D. C., at the end of November. A plenary session of the People's Revolutionary Council met in Philadelphia in September to draw up proposals for the convention. Committee members hope for a turnout of 30-50,000 people at the Washington convention.