New York, NY – Attendees at regional conferences Feb. 19 in New York City and Chapel Hill, N.C., enthusiastically applauded anti-war and solidarity activists who have stood up to extreme intimidation and refused to testify before a Chicago grand jury. The meetings were part of growing support for 23 activists who have all taken the principled position that they will not appear before the grand jury.

The New York conference endorsed an action program that includes participating in national anti-war events in March and April, calling mass protests when activists are summoned to appear at grand jury sessions, and organizing emergency protests when indictments are handed down.

Two earlier regional conferences were held Feb. 12 in Oakland, Calif., and Chicago.

An original 14 subpoenas were issued last September after FBI raids on the homes of activists, mostly in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago. Those subpoenas were vacated, but nine new ones were issued in December and three of the original 14 were issued second subpoenas. On Jan. 25 the newly subpoenaed people also refused to testify. The grand jury now must decide how to go on with its attack on the movement, which those affected believe will continue in one way or another.

Muslims also target of FBI

One session of the New York conference focused on the many other instances of state repression after passage of the Patriot Act. Most of those targeted have been Muslims victimized by provocateurs working with the FBI, who entrapped people into nothing more than questionable conversations. The state would then bring charges of “conspiracy,” since nothing was actually done. Hundreds of people have been convicted and sentenced to long prison terms.

Another important session included discussions by attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild, who provided strategy on what to do if the FBI knocks without having obtained warrants for arrest or search.

Speakers explained how someone subpoenaed but not charged with any alleged crime could still face jail time. The grand jury can offer immunity from prosecution based on a person’s testimony. When that happens, the person no longer has Fifth Amendment protection and cannot refuse to testify. The grand jury can then find those who refuse to testify to be in civil contempt and can imprison them, without any trial, for as long as the grand jury is sitting.

Both Feb. 19 conferences drew organizers from labor, the local communities, anti-war groups, political groups, civil rights and civil liberties organizations. More than 100 — including people from Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia — were present in Chapel Hill at the University of North Carolina School of Law, while some 250 attended the New York meeting, including people from upstate New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Three of those who had been subpoenaed were invited speakers at the New York conference: Sara Martin of Women Against Military Madness; Mick Kelly, editor of Fight Back! newspaper; and Hatem Abudayyeh, the executive director of the Arab American Action Network, a community-based organization in the Chicago area.

For more information, see www.stopfbi.net.

#NewYorkCity #NY #InJusticeSystem #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #grandJury #stopfbinet #subpoenas #PoliticalRepression

The following solidarity statement was passed by the House of Delegates of the Chicago Teachers Union on January 5, 2011.

Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates Resolution- January 5, 2011

FBI Raids on Trade Union, Anti-War and Solidarity Activists

Whereas, early morning September 24 in coordinated raids, FBI agents entered seven homes of union workers and anti-war activists in Chicago and Minneapolis, confiscating crates full of computers, documents, cell phones, children’s drawings, photos of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and personal belongings. They handed out subpoenas to testify before a federal Grand Jury to 14 activists.

Whereas, 10 of the 14 people subpoenaed are union members and 2 are teachers with a long history of activism and leadership within their unions and local labor communities. One target of the raid was the home of Joe Iosbaker, chief steward and executive board member of SEIU Local 73 in Chicago, where he has led struggles at the University of Illinois for employee rights and pay equity.

Whereas, the FBI has a long history of violating peoples’ human and civil rights. During the 1960s the FBI COINTELPRO spied on and harassed civil rights and anti-war activists, including the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Whereas, the grand jury for those subpoenaed is an unfair process where the defendants’ lawyers are not present, nor is the grand jury screened for biases. Similar to how teachers have a right to due process by their unions, these 10 union members and 4 other activists have a right to receive a fair judicial process.

Whereas, the nationally coordinated raids and fishing expedition is an assault on the First Amendment rights of every union fighter, solidarity activist or anti-war campaigner. This time the FBI is using the pretext of investigating “terrorism” in an attempt to intimidate activists.

Therefore be it resolved, that the Chicago Teachers Union supports the following demands:

1. Stop using the national security laws to intimidate people from using their 1st amendment rights.
2. Immediately return all confiscated materials: computers, cell phones, papers, documents, personal belongings, etc.
3. End the Grand Jury proceedings and FBI raids against trade union, anti-war and international solidarity activists

And be it further resolved, that the Chicago Teachers Union participate in the ongoing movement to defend our civil rights and civil liberties from FBI infringement; forward this resolution to the Illinois Federation of Teachers; and call on similar organizations at all levels to similarly oppose the witch hunt.

#ChicagoIL #FBI #ChicagoTeachersUnion #September24FBIRaids #grandJury #stopfbinet

Dear readers of Fight Back!

The editors and staff of Fight Back! want you to make a New Year’s resolution for 2011: Go to the web site StopFBI.net every single day. StopFBI.net is the voice of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the coalition that is building the fight against the FBI attacks and grand jury subpoenas that have hit anti-war and international solidarity activists.

StopFBI.net is updated daily. It contains solidarity statements issued by organizations and prominent individuals. The site has background information on the activists who have received grand jury subpoenas and a petition against the repression that everyone should sign. Most importantly, Stopfbi.net has calls for action that help to build the struggle against the grand jury witch hunt.

Have no doubt about it, the situation is extremely serious. A total of 23 activists have received summons to appear before a Grand Jury run by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Many of those targeted are activists who stand in solidarity the Palestinian and Colombian people. Their ranks include anti-war, trade union and community leaders. Patrick Fitzgerald wants to turn the clock back to the 1950s and play the role of Joe McCarthy – his aim is to put activists in prison. We cannot let him do that.

So in the upcoming year, make it a point to go to StopFBI.net every day. Respond to the calls for action. Together we will beat back this very real repression that threatens every progressive movement. The road will be hard. We know that. And we also grasp that fact that our future is bright. Everywhere, time is on the side of those who fight for peace, justice, equality and liberation.

Build the battle against the grand jury witch hunt in 2011!

In struggle,

Mick Kelly,

For the editors and staff of Fight Back!

#UnitedStates #Editorials #September24FBIRaids #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #stopfbinet