FBI raids on antiwar activists: A frontal assault on democratic rights

[Hannah Bell]

Those targeted in the September 24 raids are not terrorists stockpiling bombs, but political activists whose “weapons” are leaflets, placards, newsletters and Internet postings. Most are members or supporters of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), which publishes the newsletter Fight Back...

The FBI is apparently attempting to use the precedent set by the recent US Supreme Court ruling in the case of The Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder. In this reactionary decision, handed down in June, the high court upheld the charge of “material support” to terrorism against people who were working with the PKK, a Kurdish nationalist guerrilla group fighting in Turkey, and the LTTE, the Tamil nationalist organization fighting a civil war in Sri Lanka.

The individuals charged in that case were not providing military or technical assistance to guerrilla warfare. Some were seeking to persuade the PKK to make the transition from guerrilla warfare to electoral politics in Turkey (as the Irish Republican Army did in Northern Ireland, under the auspices of the Clinton administration). Others were advising the LTTE, during a period of ceasefire in the Sri Lankan civil war, on how to obtain disaster aid for the Tamil population after the 2004 Asian tsunami.

Both the PKK and LTTE had been designated as “terrorist” organizations by the US State Department because they were fighting governments allied to Washington. Similar organizations fighting governments at odds with US foreign policy were not so designated, although their tactics were identical. If the Holder precedent had been in effect during the 1980s, antiapartheid campaigners in the United States could have been arrested and prosecuted for “material support,” because the Reagan administration had designated the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela as “terrorists...”

The September 24 raids came only four days after publication of an internal report by the Justice Department’s inspector general admitting that the FBI improperly opened “terrorism” investigations into peace and social justice groups including Quakers, Catholic Worker, the Thomas Merton Center, Greenpeace, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/pers-s27.shtml

[Scuba]

1. Silly protesters. Free Speech is for Corporations.

[ixion]

2. For corporations, preachers and teabaggers

the rest of us, not so much.

[The Magistrate]

3. Mr. Martin Is Correct, Ma'am

You know my general view of his organization, but credit where due must be paid: he is spot-on here.

The 'material support' definitions have been stretched to the point where a gossamer of silk thread is treated like columns of re-bar concrete.

These people have done nothing a free society could construe as crime or threat of impending crime.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[blindpig]

5. They are getting their ducks in a row...

for when things start getting serious.

This is as much a dry run as anything else.

[maryf]

6. If you've got the nerve:

We call on all antiwar and social justice organization across the country to organize protest demonstrations in the coming days at Federal Buildings or FBI offices. Some in progress...



Demonstrations have already been called in the following cities:

Minneapolis MN, Mon: 4:30, FBI Office Monday, 111 Washington Ave. S.



Chicago, IL, Monday: 4:30 FBI Building, 2111 W. Roosevelt Rd.



NYC, Tues. 4:30 to 6pm Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza,



Newark, NJ Tues 5 to 6pm Federal Building Broad Street



Washington DC, Tues 4:30 – 5:30 FBI Building 935 Pennsylvania Ave NW.



Detroit MI Tuesday 4:30 McNamara Federal Building



Buffalo, NY 4:30 at FBI Building - Corner of So. Elmwood Ave. & Niagara St.



Durham NC on Monday, 12 noon Federal Building, 323 E Chapel Hill St



Raleigh NC. Tuesday 9 am. Federal Building, 310 New Bern Ave

Asheville, NC Tuesday



Atlanta, GA, Tues Noon, FBI Building



Gainesville, FL on Monday, 4:30 PM at FBI Building



Salt Lake City, Utah, 9 AM on Monday at Federal Building



Albany, NY, 5 - 6 PM, Wednesday at the Federal Building



Add your voice to denounce the attacks on antiwar and social justice activists. Call the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at 202-353-1555 or write an email to: [e-mail].

Send copies of all communications to UNAC at the above email address. Affiliate your organization to UNAC now! Join our National Coordinating Committee of antiwar and social justice organizations across the county to immediately end all U.S. wars, interventions. Trillions for jobs, education and human needs not war!

[Luminous Animal]

7. EFerrari has a longer list here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9208721

I'll be at the San Francisco protest.

[maryf]

9. Thanks, recc'd there too!

solidarity!

[Pavulon]

8. Good thing this is the US and you will see the warrants, and in discovery

the evidence will be presented if these people are charged. If they are charged you can go to their trial, just dont wave bloody hands in the judges face, and if they are convicted they can appeal.

I am sure if they are indicted they will have a donation site up so you can donate to their defense. And if they are convicted you can place money in their federal account to buy stuff at the prison shop like snickers bars.

The law says you cant give money, technical assistance, or support to terrorists on a public list.