Support and Help US peace Activists being targeted by FBI and AG. National Call in DAy 2/1

[annm4peace]

Please share with others and don't forget to call. This witch hunt is to intimidate dissent.
some of these activists are my friends. They do not deserve to be treated like criminals because they compassionate human beings and they need our help.


NATIONAL CALL IN DAY to Fitzpatrick, Holder and Obama
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Over 50 cities, hundreds of groups, and thousands of people protested against FBI and U.S. Grand Jury repression on Tuesday January 25. The protests are a response to ongoing and expanding repression originating from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office in Chicago. On September 24th, the FBI raided anti-war and solidarity activists' homes and subpoenaed fourteen in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Michigan. All fourteen decided to not appear before the Grand Jury in October. The Grand Jury is a secret and closed inquisition, where the U.S. Attorney controls the entire proceedings, hand picks the jurors, there is no judge, and the activists are not allowed a lawyer.

The following month, three Minneapolis women had their subpoenas reactivated and they are still waiting in limbo. Then nine more Palestine solidarity activists, most Arab-Americans, were subpoenaed to appear at the Grand Jury on January 25, 2011, launching renewed protests.

Now we are asking you to call those in charge of the repression aimed against anti-war leaders and the growing Palestine solidarity movement. We want your help in promoting the national call in day to demand:
--Call Off the Grand Jury Witch-hunt Against International Solidarity Activists!
--Support Free Speech!
--Support the Right to Organize!
--Stop FBI Repression!
--International Solidarity Is Not a Crime!

Three calls:
1. Call U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at 312-353-5300. Then dial 0 (zero) for operator and ask to leave a message with the Duty Clerk.
2. Call U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder 202-353-1555
3. Call President Obama at 202-456-1111

Suggested text: “My name is __________, I am from _______(city), in ______(state). I am calling U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (Eric Holder, President Obama) to demand he call off the Grand Jury and stop FBI repression against the anti-war and Palestine solidarity movements. I oppose U.S. government political repression and support the right to free speech and the right to assembly of the 23 activists subpoenaed. We will not be criminalized. Tell him to stop this McCarthy-type witch hunt against international solidarity activists!

**Please sign and circulate our new petition at http://www.stopfbi.net/petition

Visit www.StopFBI.net or write [email protected] or call 612-379-3585.


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http://www.stopfbi.net/about/profiles

They are peace and justice activists, mothers and grandmothers, union members. These are the people who have been targeted with an FBI and Grand Jury investigation allegedly related to providing "material support" to a foreign terrorist organization.

[RandomThoughts]

1. I support the peace movement.

And Fox mulder was on a tv show, it was a metaphor.

[annm4peace]

2. US Labor Against the War statement of solidarity

USLAW Steering Committee
September 29th, 2010

On Friday, September 24th the FBI raided homes in Chicago, Minneapolis, Michigan and North Carolina, with the justification that peace and international solidarity activists who resided in them were providing "material support to foreign terrorist organizations".

The activists whose homes were raided are members of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee, the Palestine Solidarity Group, the Colombia Action Network, Students for a Democratic Society, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization - all organizations that have actively opposed U.S. foreign policies. The FBI also raided the office of the Anti-war Committee in Minneapolis, which had organized a demonstration during the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Among those in Chicago was Joe Iosbaker, an executive board member of SEIU Local 73, a USLAW affiliate in Chicago.

Doors were kicked in during the early morning raids and personal belongings, including children's artwork and posters of Martin Luther King, Jr, were taken, as well as cell phones, computers and boxes of paper records. No charges have been filed; no arrests were made. But about a dozen activists from Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury.

The F.B.I. broke down Mick Kelly's door around 7 a.m. Kelly is a food service worker at the University of Minnesota who was a key figure in organizing the successful 2008 anti-war street protests that embarrassed the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

The FBI justified these raids claiming that they were "seeking evidence relating to activities concerning the material support of terrorism."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26452.htm Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, commenting on the raids, observed:

"Material support" is another of those undefined police state terms. In this context the term means that Americans who fail to believe their government's lies and instead protest its policies, are supporting their government's declared enemies and, thus, are not exercising their civil liberties but committing treason."

The "material support" statute is so broadly written that it can, and does, include international peace-building activities that are not in any way intended to support terrorism. The raids come just days after the U.S. Justice Department Inspector General issued a report sharply critical of FBI surveillance of peace groups from 2002-2006, concluding among other things that there was no factual basis for the terror claims the FBI made to justify their actions. The Inspector General report also found that FBI Director Mueller testified falsely to Congress about the surveillance of peace groups.

The very same day, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) released an 88-page document titled The Policing of Political Speech: Constraints on Mass Dissent in the U.S.

The government attacks on the anti-war movement over the weekend will remind the more "seasoned" among us of the days of COINTELPRO and grand jury abuse at its worst. A broad coalition of organizations has called for a rapid response with demonstrations and other forms of protest across the country.

[annm4peace]

3. Military Families Speak Out condemns FBI raids on antiwar activists

Military Families Speak Out condemns the FBI raids upon the homes and offices of peace activists in Minnesota and Illinois on September 24, and the subsequent federal grand jury subpoenas delivered to nineteen activists.

We are the families of soldiers sent repeatedly to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The media and the majority of the American people, who do not have a human stake in their continuation, ignore these wars. We respect and depend upon the support of peace activists like these who stand with us as a reminder to our fellow citizens and to Congress that these wars have taken a terrible toll upon those who fight in them and upon the communities where we live. We watch our schools and social structures sapped by the insatiable need to finance two wars which have no end in sight.

These actions by the FBI serve no purpose except to create fear among those who dare to speak truth to power. No charges have been made, but the FBI has announced “the warrants are seeking evidence in support of an ongoing Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into activities concerning the material support of terrorism.”

How does a request for peace qualify as an act of terrorism?

After the Supreme Court’s decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project this summer, it is a crime to provide support, including humanitarian aid, literature distribution and political advocacy, to any groups that the United States government has designated as a ‘terrorist’ group. This decision, coupled with the loose definition of ‘material support’ could criminalize our constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech.

You cannot silence us through intimidation of our fellow peace activists. We will stand together to support the liberties provided by the Constitution that our family members in the military swear to protect.