On Feb. 26,
the U.S. District Attorney in Chicago Palestine Minneapolis Chicago Grand Rapids , MI
The
documents reveal that the government carried out a McCarthyite operation based
on a collection of lies and out-of-context statements collected over a period
of years by a government informant sent into the Twin Cities Antiwar Coalition
at the time of the Republican National Convention held in that region in 2008.
A number of
those targeted were antiwar leaders who also held positions of responsibility
in trade unions and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The materials were
finally produced by the government as the result of a lawsuit filed by the
antiwar activists and by continuing public activity in defense of these
activists by civil libertarians, peace activists, trade unionists, and
socialists from around the nation.
The
activists, whose story is told on the website of their defense group, the
Committee to Stop FBI Repression (http://www.stopfbi.net), are meeting
with their attorneys to discuss what the release of the documents might mean to
their legal prospects. They remain under threat of long-standing subpoenas to
appear before a Grand Jury investigating “domestic terrorism.” Grand Juries
have long been used by the political police in the U.S.
While
consulting with their attorneys on a longer-range response, the victims of this
probe have called upon the U.S. District Attorney to immediately and publically
announce that his investigation of them has ended and that the case is closed.
All supporters of the right to free speech and political association should
rally behind this demand. National petitions, protests, and news coverage have
so far thwarted the government’s effort to demonstrate its power to intimidate
and silence antiwar and socialist activists. Now is the time to keep the
pressure on.
> The article above was written by Christine Marie and is reprinted from Socialist Action newspaper.
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