Chicago, IL – Representatives of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) met this morning, August 8, with Maria Rincon, Consul General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Frank Chapman, FRSO Central Committee member, and Joe Iosbaker, a leading member in the Chicago FRSO district, reiterated the statement issued by the organization in the hours following the attempted assassination of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Comrades Chapman and Iosbaker also offered any assistance that the movement in the U.S. can provide to support the Bolivarian revolution, and to end U.S. Intervention in their internal affairs.

Rincon explained that the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is demanding that two suspects who were involved in the attempted assassination who are living in the United States be returned to Venezuela for prosecution.

Rincon expressed her appreciation for FRSO’s solidarity and said the FRSO statement will be published on the website of the Foreign Ministry of Venezuela. She also asked for FRSO’s continuing support for their demands for an end to sanctions imposed by the U.S. government.

Rincon expressed her support for the struggle of people in this country for justice, especially for the rights of immigrants, and for Black people's struggle against police crimes. Chapman, who is also the Field Organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, updated her about the struggle for community control of the police in Chicago, a campaign which is at a critical point because of the crisis in Chicago since the exposure of the cover up of the murder of Laquan McDonald. Iosbaker, a steering committee member of the Alliance, related that it was at an event at the consulate in 2016 that Alderman Carlos Rosa first offered to sponsor the legislation for an elected civilian, police accountability council (CPAC).

#ChicagoIL #Venezuela #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #JoeIosbaker #frso #Socialism #NicolásMaduro #FrankChapman #Americas

Chicago, IL – Chicago-based anti-war leader Joe Iosbaker is speaking out against the latest U.S./Turkey attacks on Syria and the Kurds. “What does it mean that the U.S. and its NATO junior partner, Turkey, are creating a ‘Safe Zone’ along the Turkey-Syria border? The first result is that dozens of Turkish fighter planes are engaging in attacks against the Kurdistan Workers Party in Syria as well as in Iraq. In Turkey, they’re cracking down on Kurds and the left, with hundreds of arrests.”

“And what of U.S. aims in Syria with this so-called Safe Zone? U.S. air strikes against the ‘Islamic State’ will increase, no doubt. They’ll drive them out of this area, and then turn it over to a more compliant puppet army,” continued Iosbaker.

Speaking on the aims of this widening war, Iosbaker stated, “The real purpose to the U.S. attacks on the so called Islamic State is the overthrow of the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. The plan for this Safe Zone is to turn it into the first ‘No Fly Zone’ over Syria. No Fly Zones are a tool in the imperialist arsenal, as we saw when the U.S. and NATO imposed the No Fly Zone on Libya in 2011. U.S. objectives haven’t changed in the Middle East: it wants to impose the Wall Street agenda on the people there.”

#ChicagoIL #JoeIosbaker #turkey #Kurds #Asia

Chicago, IL – 40 people gathered in Millennium Park here, April 25, to protest the U.S./Saudi bombing of Yemen.

In Yemen, a movement of the poor and oppressed people is fighting for bread and justice, against imperialism, monarchy and Zionism. The fight back there is led by the Ansurallah movement, which the Western media calls the Houthis.

Saudi Arabia has been bombing for a month, causing over 1000 deaths. The World Health Organization reports over 3487 wounded, most of them civilians. The U.S. is providing the Saudis with data on targets and mid-air refueling of their bombers.

Joe Iosbaker of the Anti-War Committee-Chicago spoke to those gathered and pointed out that this has to be seen as a U.S./Saudi War. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no arms industry. Their weapons come from the U.S. Saudi Arabia could not act if the U.S. withdrew their support. We have to demand, “U.S., Saudi Arabia, hands off Yemen!”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #JoeIosbaker #Yemen #AntiWarCommitteeChicago #SaudiArabia

There is a growing degree of repression and racist violence in the U.S. Witness the murders of the three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina a few weeks ago. For the Black communities in the U.S., there is a police state, which has existed since the Africans were brought to America as slaves. And the U.S. government war on Arabs and Muslims, both abroad and at home, continues and expands, despite the drawing down of troops in Afghanistan and the end of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. I want to highlight the case of the Palestinian activist from Chicago, Rasmea Odeh, as the an example of repression of that community.

Attacks on democracy domestically have always accompanied wars of aggression abroad. To understand U.S. imperialism today, it’s useful to look at the recent developments in the War on Arabs and Muslims; the wars fought abroad just in the past year; the level of racism and Islamophobia whipped up by the politicians and media; and the prosecution of Rasmea Odeh, the newest victim of political repression by Washington.

This War on Arabs and Muslims began with George W. Bush. He used the 911 attacks to justify launch-ing wars of conquest in Afghanistan and Iraq, with plans for Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia and Sudan. The U.S. had been in decline on the world stage since defeat at the hands of the Vietnamese in 1975. What he named the War on Terrorism was intended to put the U.S. back on top, to regain a position of power and profitability enjoyed in the 1950s and ‘60s.

Things didn’t work out that way. The Iraq War ended a disastrous loss, and Afghanistan is an unfolding defeat.

The empire didn’t learn the lesson from these losses that regular people learned – that the era where big powers can remake the map using military force has come to an end. The White House thinks it is a matter of smarter tactics, choosing wars more carefully and keeping the junior partners in NATO on board. Now President Obama deploys a variety of war fighting methods: drone warfare, special operations, color revolutions and proxy armies – but their objective is the same – to use military force and the murder of hundreds of thousands, as in Syria, to maintain and expand U.S. hegemony, to control markets and to ensure profitability.

The newest Iraq War that started in August might seem to be a response to the danger to the world from the Islamic State. However, there’s nothing new about wars of ‘humanitarian intervention.’ The same pretext was used in Libya in 2011. The U.S. was looking for a reason to justify going back into Iraq, and now they have it.

Officially, the War on Terrorism has ended. That rhetoric is no longer used. But in truth, there continues to be a war on the countries and nations of the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. Why are they targeted? Because the countries where they are the majority are the largest oil producers. Because those peoples have had the audacity to believe that their national resources should be theirs to develop.

The endless war on these peoples is required because they refuse to accept the dictates by Washington.

In the U.S., there is a necessary corollary to these wars. It is a domestic war on Arabs and Muslims. The U.S. Attorney’s offices in Chicago, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan, went after a Palestinian community activist in Chicago named Rasmea Odeh. Rasmea is 67 years old. She was put on trial and convicted in November, and now faces a possible sentence of ten years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and deportation. What crime did she commit? When she emigrated to the U.S. from Palestine, she failed to admit that she had been brutally tortured and raped by Israeli guards in 1969. She didn’t say on her application for citizenship that a kangaroo court of the Israeli occupation – a military occupation which is illegitimate and criminal in the eyes of the world, convicted her of a bombing, based on a confession that they tortured out of her, and which she immediately denied.

There is no due process in Israeli military courts, which ‘convict’ over 99% of Palestinians who come before them, and ‘evidence’ from these should not be accepted in a court in the U.S. U.S. law doesn't allow the use of evidence obtained through torture. The War on Arabs and Muslims has changed that. We use torture against prisoners in our wars abroad, and our courts now uphold the use of torture by the Israelis.

Rasmea was targeted by the U.S. government also as part of the repression of the pro-Palestinian movement. This movement, often called the BDS movement for Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions, has grown in recent years against Israel’s occupation and wars on Gaza.

The case against her grew out of the investigation of 23 anti-war and Palestinian community organizers in Chicago and Minneapolis, who were subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in 2010. I am one of those activists. My home was raided by 25 FBI agents on Sept. 24, 2010. I was targeted for my role as an or-ganizer of a large protest against the Iraq War, and because I am a supporter of the cause of the Palestinian people.

The grand jury is investigating myself and the 23 activists for allegations that we provided ‘material support of terrorism.’ This is a lie. The FBI and the Justice Department investigated us and are at-tempting to ‘criminalize’ efforts to empower Chicago’s Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities, as well as work to build solidarity with the struggle in Palestine. No one testified to that grand jury and, due to broad public support and a strong defense campaign, no one was indicted.

Rasmea was not one of the 23, but she is a colleague of Hatem Abudayyeh, who was raided on the same morning I was. Hatem is the director of the Arab American Action Network in Chicago, a community service organization. Rasmea is the associate director. But it is clear that Rasmea came under attack by the U.S. government because she is Palestinian, and because for decades, she has organized for Palestinian liberation and self-determination, the Right of Return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes, and an end to U.S. funding of Israeli occupation.

On March 12, Rasmea will be sentenced. We are asking the judge for leniency, and we are preparing for the appeal. Rasmea’s story is the tale of the Palestinian people. She and the Palestinians are victims of a brutal occupation that has cost many lives and much suffering.

A growing movement has pledged to continue to work for her until she is out of prison and among the Palestinian community and their supporters. Free Rasmea Odeh.

#MoscowRussia #Moscow #AntiwarMovement #JoeIosbaker #PoliticalRepression #RasmeaOdeh

Moscow, Russia – The delegation of U.S. anti-war activists met today, Dec. 16, with the Embassy of the State of Palestine Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Dr. Fa’ed Mustafa. Ambassador Mustafa agreed to the meeting after a request was made by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, the hosts of the international conference of anti-war forces.

The delegation that met with the ambassador included Joe Lombardo, co-chair of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), Bill Doares of the International Action Center and UNAC and Mo Hannah, also a member of UNAC and me.

First on the agenda for our delegation was to talk with Ambassador Mustafa about the case of Rasmea Odeh, the Palestinian activist from Chicago and the newest political prisoner in the U.S. She was convicted in a federal court in November of a violation in her immigration application in 2004. In 1969, she was imprisoned by the Israeli occupying army in Palestine. She was convicted by a military ‘court’ there after being sadistically tortured, which caused her to confess to a crime she didn’t commit. In her trial last month, the judge ruled that no evidence could be presented of the crimes of the Israeli occupation.

The ambassador of course knew a lot about her case, and expressed support for her. He agreed to share our report with Ramallah, and to continue to raise awareness about her among people in Palestine. He urged our delegation to link her case to the stories of thousands of Palestinians who are also falsely arrested and imprisoned, tortured and brutalized by the Israelis.

Finally, we expressed to him that the U.S. government complicity with the Israeli occupation in Rasmea Odeh’s case exposes their overall role as the main backer of Israel’s occupation.

#MoscowRussia #Moscow #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #JoeIosbaker #DrFaedMustafa

Chicago, IL – Rasmea Odeh es una activista en la comunidad palestina en Chicago. Su historia es la historia de los refugiados palestinos aquí.

Ella perdió su casa familiar en Palestina durante Al Nakba, “la catástrofe”, como los palestinos llaman a la fundación del estado de Israel en 1948. Cientos de aldeas palestinas fueron agredidos por las milicias terroristas israelíes que mataron a miles y obligaron a 750.000 al exilio.

Luego en 1967, Israel ocupó el resto de Palestina, incluyendo el West Bank, donde Odeh era un estudiante universitario. Bajo la ocupación ilegal, condenada innumerables veces por votos en la ONU, fue detenido el 20% de la población palestina. Como decenas de miles viviendo bajo la ocupación, Odeh fue arrestado por el ejército israelí y acusado de un delito; ella luego fue juzgada sin el debido proceso, torturada a confesar el crimen y condenada a cadena perpetua.

Diez años más tarde, Odeh fue liberado en un intercambio de prisioneros. Ella testificó en una audiencia de la ONU sobre la tortura. Algunos años despues, ella emigró a los Estados Unidos, donde se convirtió en un ciudadano. Se ha dedicado décadas de su vida a las cuestiones de justicia social, incluyendo los últimos diez años a su trabajo en Chicago con la organización Arab American Action Network, donde es un líder defensor de los derechos de las mujeres y los derechos de los inmigrantes.

Porque ella ha trabajado abiertamente en defensa de su comunidad y de Palestina, en el otoño de 2013 fue arrestada en su casa en los suburbios de Chicago por el Departamento de seguridad nacional (DHS).

Cuando ella fue llevada ante un juez esa mañana, sólo yo, Hatem Abudayyeh, su abogado, Jim Fennerty, solo unos pocos amigos y miembros de la familia estaban con ella. Una vez que corrió la voz, muchos miles han tomado a su lado, con apoyo, y promesas de actuar en su defensa.

¿Por qué el gobierno la esta juzgando?

Esa mañana en octubre, un asistente del fiscal de Estados Unidos en Chicago había acusado Odeh de una violación en su solicitud de ciudadanía. Pero eso es sólo un pretexto.

Un fiscal federal con una historia de odio de Palestina estuvo presente en la corte cuando apareció Odeh: Barry Jonas, mejor conocido por haber procesado los cinco de Fundación de Tierra Santa, los hombres palestinos quienes encabezaron la caridad musulmana más grande en los Estados Unidos. Ellos están encarcelados por 65 años por el delito de suministro de alimentos y medicamentos a los niños de Gaza. Para Jonas, alimentación de los niños está ayudando al terrorismo, y el sistema judicial de Estados Unidos ha adoptado esa posición también. Para el gobierno de Estados Unidos, los palestinos, los árabes y musulmanes merecen ser atacados por su oposición a Israel y a las guerras de Estados Unidos en sus patrias.

Desde la mañana de su arresto, el caso de Odeh ha demostrado ser ligadas a la investigación por Jonas de activistas de solidaridad internacional y contra la guerra. Esa investigación comenzó durante una protesta de paz permitida en la Convención Nacional Republicana en 2008. El FBI y la Fuerza de Equipo Contra Terrorismo enviaron agentes encubiertos para espiar a los organizadores. Cuando los agentes se enteraron que el movimiento anti-guerra también se solidariza con los pueblos de Colombia y Palestina, el fiscal estableció un gran jurado federal y un juez firmo una orden de cateo para organizar redadas a las casas de líderes laborales, comunitarios y anti-guerra en Chicago y Minneapolis.

En la mañana del 24 de septiembre de 2010, 70 agentes de la Fuerza de Equipo Contra Terrorismo redaron siete viviendas y una oficina y visitaron casas en otros tres Estados. 23 personas fueron citadas ante el gran jurado. Este caso es el más grande acto coordinado de represión de las personas involucradas en el activismo político desde los años sesenta.

Los 23 negaron a testificar – se negaron a testificar al jurado lo que ellos conocían y trabajan en el movimiento contra la guerra, en el trabajo de solidaridad Palestina o en Colombia. Los activistas fueron capaces de detener el gran jurado, pese a la amenaza de la cárcel por negarse a testificar, gracias al apoyo recibido por el movimiento por la paz, trabajo y libertarios civiles, incluyendo una docena de miembros del Congreso. Un asistente del fiscal de Estados Unidos había sido escuchado quejándose de que los activistas estaban teniendo “su día bajo el sol”, pero amenazaron que no había terminado el caso. Hasta hoy, el gobierno se ha negado de abandonar la investigación.

Hatem Abudayyeh fue uno de aquellos cuya casa fue redada en Chicago en 2010. Abudayyeh es el director de la Arab American Action Network, y Odeh es su compañero de trabajo. La conexión no puede ser más clara. Pero para puntuar la conexión, el FBI visitó a un empresario palestino en Chicago en abril y le preguntó acerca de los Abudayyeh y Odeh.

Sistema legal de Estados Unidos confirma la ocupación israelí

Fuera de la sala de corte en Chicago en octubre, Abudayyeh vio la multitud de siete u ocho agentes DHS parados fuera de la sala donde Odeh se reunió con su abogado, Jim Fennerty, después de la lectura de la acusación. Después de escuchar el asistente fiscal citando la confesión de Odeh, obtenida mediante tortura sádica por el ejército de Israel en su ocupación ilegal, Abudayyeh comentó lo suficientemente fuerte para que los agentes lo escucharon, “así que ahora trabajas para Israel?”

En el sistema legal de Estados Unidos, las confesiones obtenidas mediante tortura no son aceptables en un tribunal de justicia. Sin embargo, una y otra vez, se han hecho excepciones cuando se trata de las acciones de los palestinos en apoyo y defensa de sus compatriotas. En dos casos federales anteriores, los cinco de Tierra Santa y el caso de Muhammad Salah, confesiones bajo tortura podían ser registrados como evidencia y ambos fueron clave para la condena. Ahora la tortura de Odeh es ser confirmada por el Departamento de justicia otra vez.

En Chicago, el Departamento de policía es tan conocido por su tortura de sospechosos afroamericanos que le costó al alcalde Richard M. Daley los Juegos Olímpicos de 2016. El hecho de que Chicago se ha convertido en la capital de la tortura de los Estados Unidos no se puede desaprovechar.

Para justificar su uso de una confesión bajo tortura, el fiscal tuvo que recurrir a demonización, alegando que Rasmea Odeh es una ‘terrorista’ escondido en los suburbios de Chicago. Los activistas de solidaridad internacional y contra la guerra son “violentos”, conspiran para dar “apoyo material” a “organizaciones terroristas extranjeras” en Palestina y Colombia.

Es la intención de Barry Jonas y el Departamento de justicia criminalizar la protesta. Quieren que sea un crimen oponerse a la fuente número una de la violencia en el mundo hoy en día: las guerras de Estados Unidos. Quieren hacer solidaridad un delito, si se expresa por personas que luchan contra los gobiernos apoyados por EEUU, como Colombia y financiado por los EEUU, como la ocupación israelí de Palestina.

Un imperio en crisis

Atacando Rasmea Odeh por algo que ocurrió en 1969 parece un acto de desesperación. En la mente de Barry Jonas, una mujer de 67 años de edad que ha trabajado durante décadas alimentando las comunidades de inmigrantes y refugiados es peligrosa y tiene que ser puesto en prisión y luego deportada. De la misma manera, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) destroza cientos de miles de familias de inmigrantes latinos para mantener “la seguridad fronteriza.”

¿Por qué esta Barry Jonas tan asustado? ¿Podría ser que ve el final del llamado proceso de paz y la solución de dos Estados, ya que las protestas de la primavera árabe arrasaron con el régimen de Mubarak, el gobierno árabe más poderoso de alianzas con los criminales en Tel Aviv? Tal vez teme que la subida del movimiento de la desinversión/boicot/sanciones será para Israel lo que era para la original apartheid estado de Sudáfrica – su fin. Barry Jonas, como todos los sionistas, debe abrigar el temor de que el veredicto es que Israel: es un estado racista, viviendo en tierras robadas y tiempo prestado.

Llamado a la acción

Detroit es el lugar del juicio. Juez Paul Borman ha creado el lunes, 8 de septiembre para la apertura del procedimiento. Todos aquellos que conocen Rasmea Odeh, la apoyan y aman la justicia, se están movilizando para estar en la corte con ella. Aquellos que no pueden ir deberían ayudar a recaudar fondos para la defensa y para ayudar a enviar a otros a Detroit.

Llenamos la sala de la corte. Poner a Israel en un juicio por sus crímenes. Justicia para Rasmea.

#ChicagoIL #JoeIosbaker #RasmeaOdeh #PoliticalRepression

Chicago, IL – Rasmea Odeh is an activist in the Palestinian community in Chicago. Her story is the story of Palestinian refugees here.

She lost her family home in Palestine during Al Nakba, “the Catastrophe,” as Palestinians call the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. Hundreds of Palestinian villages were assaulted by the Israeli terrorist militias that slaughtered thousands and drove 750,000 into exile.

Then in 1967, Israel occupied the rest of Palestine, including the West Bank, where Odeh was a college student. Under the illegal occupation, condemned countless times by votes in the U.N., 20% of the Palestinian people were detained. Like tens of thousands living under that occupation, Odeh was arrested by the Israeli army and charged with a crime; she was then tried without due process, tortured into confessing to the crime and sentenced to life in prison.

Ten years later, Odeh was released in a prisoner exchange. She testified to a U.N. hearing on torture. Some years later, she emigrated to the U.S., where she became a citizen. She has devoted decades of her life to social justice issues, including the past ten years to her work in Chicago with the Arab American Action Network, where she is a leading advocate for women’s rights and immigrant rights.

Because she has been outspoken in defense of her community and Palestine, in the fall of 2013 she was arrested in her home in the Chicago suburbs by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

When she was brought before a judge that morning, only Hatem Abudayyeh, her lawyer, Jim Fennerty, myself and a few friends and family members were with her. Once word got out, many thousands have taken her side, rallying, pledging and acting in her defense.

Why is the government putting her on trial?

That morning in October, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago charged Odeh with a violation on her application for citizenship. But that is only a pretext.

A federal prosecutor with a history of hatred of Palestine was present at court when Odeh appeared: Barry Jonas, best known for having prosecuted the Holy Land Five, the Palestinian men who headed the largest Muslim charity in the U.S. They are imprisoned for as long as 65 years for the crime of providing food and medicine to the wrong children – the children of Gaza. For Jonas, feeding those children is aiding terrorism, and the U.S. court system has taken that stand as well. For the U.S. government, Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims are targeted for their opposition to Israel and to U.S. wars in their homelands.

Since the morning of her arrest, Odeh’s case has been shown to be linked to the investigation by Jonas of anti-war and international solidarity activists. That investigation began during a permitted peace protest at the Republican National Convention in 2008. The FBI and its Joint Terrorism Task Force sent in undercover agents to spy on the organizers. When the agents learned that the anti-war movement also supports the people of Colombia and Palestine, the U.S. Attorney set up a federal grand jury and got a judge to swear out warrants to search the homes of long time community, labor and anti-war leaders in Chicago and Minneapolis.

On the morning of Sept. 24, 2010, 70 Joint Terrorism Task Force agents raided seven homes and an office and visited homes in three other states. Ultimately, 23 people were subpoenaed to the grand jury. This case is the largest coordinated act of repression of people involved in political activism since the 1960s.

All 23 refused to testify – refused to tell the grand jury who they knew and worked with in the anti-war movement, in Palestine solidarity work, or in Colombia or Palestine. Those activists were able to stop the grand jury, despite the threat of prison time for refusing to testify, because of support received by the peace movement, labor and civil libertarians, including a dozen members of Congress. An Assistant U.S. Attorney had been overheard complaining that the activists were having “their day in the sun,” but threatened that the case against them wasn’t over. Until today, the government has refused to drop the investigation.

Hatem Abudayyeh was one of those whose home was raided in Chicago in 2010. Abudayyeh is the director of the Arab American Action Network, and Odeh is his co-worker. The connection could not be clearer. But to punctuate the connection, the FBI visited a Palestinian businessman in Chicago in April, and asked him ab