Nine, l’histoire de la communauté Move

Chapter 1

The Move organization

The MOVE Organization surfaced in Philadelphia during the early 1970's. Characterized by dreadlock hair, the adopted surname "Africa," a principled unity, and an uncompromising commitment to their belief, members practiced the teachings of MOVE founder JOHN AFRICA.
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Chapter 2

The Context

Throughout the 1970's, Frank Rizzo was the premier figure in Philadelphia government. He started as a street cop and rose through the ranks, eventually serving as Police Commissioner from 1967-71.

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Chapter 3

August 8, 1978

On Tuesday, August 8th, hundreds of cops in flak jackets and riot helmets surrounded the 33rd Street location at dawn and ordered MOVE to surrender.

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Chapter 4

Mumia Abu Jamal

One of the few media people to accurately report on MOVE and make a serious effort to understand the organization was Mumia Abu-Jamal, a highly regarded Philadelphia journalist and president of the local chapter of the Association of Black Journalists.
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Chapter 5

May 13, 1985

Between 6:00 and 7:30 am, police flooded the area with tear gas and fired over 10,000 rounds of ammunition at the house knowing there were women and children inside.
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Chapter 6

On A Move !

As several MOVE members became eligible for parole, the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole issued a special stipulation that any potential MOVE parolee agree not to associate with other MOVE members as a condition of being released.
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Chapitre-2-Le-Contexte

- Starvation Blockade -

To force the wanted MOVE members from the house, Rizzo got court approval to starve them out. On March 16, 1978, an army of hundreds of cops invaded the neighborhood and sealed off a four block area.

While sharpshooter posts and machine gun nests were set up, workmen shut off the water to MOVE's headquarters. Those inside included pregnant women, nursing babies, children and animals. Rizzo boasted that the perimeter was so tight "a fly couldn't get through." When various community members, who opposed Rizzo's cruel tactic, made humanitarian attempts to rush the barricades with food and water for MOVE, they were arrested and beaten by the police.

With loudspeakers and amplification, members exposed the folly of the city's action in spending thousands of dollars a day on police overtime just to stand around and watch MOVE. As police in stake-out posts at surrounding rooftops, apartments, and parked patrol cars were treated to a steady stream of revolutionary commentary, supervisors instructed their men not to listen to anything MOVE said, after too many officers began to seriously consider what they heard.

There was a great deal of dissention in police ranks regarding the handling of MOVE. Some cops had taken to tossing bottles, rocks, and firecrackers into MOVE's yard, hoping to provoke a confrontation. But it only resulted in a police fist fight wherein two officers got in a scuffle with a third one who had been throwing rocks at MOVE babies.

Rizzo's attempt to starve MOVE out continued for almost two months, capping off nearly a year of continuous 24-hour police surveillance that had begun on May 20, 1977. Traffic had been detoured, neighbors had to show identification going to and from their own homes, and reporters noted that city spending for police overtime had passed the million dollar mark. On April 4, 1978 thousands marched around city hall in a massive demonstration protesting the city's barbaric action. As the absurdity of Rizzo's police siege became internationally known, Philadelphia became an embarrassment to the human rights initiatives of President Jimmy Carter and United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young.