The day after the Sept. 24 multistate raids and grand jury subpoenas, a broad
range of progressive activists and community members denounced the FBI at a
rally at the federal building in downtown Milwaukee.
New York, Sept. 28.photo: Greg Butterfield
Progressive activists and organizations across the U.S. began immediately to
galvanize a struggle upon learning of the outrageous attacks carried out
against solidarity activists by federal agents and the Obama administration.
Demonstrations have been called in at least 32 cities and towns from coast to
coast.
“The FBI is trying to round people up and scare activists from doing
solidarity work with people in other nations, oppressed nations around the
world. They’re trying to scare us into silence,” said Natasha
Morgan of the Colombia Action Network and the Freedom Road Socialist
Organization.
Rally in Washington, DC
The national headquarters of the FBI in Washington, D.C., was the scene of a spirited picket line and rally Sept. 28 to protest the FBI raids. Almost every progressive group in the area was represented, including Bailout the People Movement, International Action Center, Black is Back Coalition, Rev. Graylan Hagler, National Lawyers Guild, Code Pink, Students for a Democratic Society, Answer Coalition, Veterans for Peace, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, International Socialist Organization, Green Party, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Workers World Party. Participants attempted to enter the FBI building to deliver a list of demands. Police and FBI agents quickly locked the doors to stop activists from getting inside. Groups vowed to continue with protests.
photo: Sharon Black
Morgan and another Milwaukee activist in Students for a Democratic Society were
contacted by the FBI via phone on Sept. 24. They told the FBI that legal
counsel was being retained and immediately ended the calls.
The rally was sponsored by SDS Milwaukee and was attended by representatives of
the Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association-American Federation of Teachers
Local 2169; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local
82; the Latin America Solidarity Committee; Workers World Party; and other
organizations.
On Sept. 27 in Minneapolis, more than 500 demonstrators
gathered at the FBI headquarters. They chanted, “From Colombia to
Palestine, solidarity is not a crime!” and spoke out against the
raids.
Speakers included activists whose homes were raided, as well as representatives
of the labor, anti-war and social justice movements. Speaker after speaker
expressed support and solidarity with their fellow activists who had been
targeted.
Minneapolis
Photo: Fight Back! News
“This is an attack on our ideas,” stated Jess Sundin of the
Anti-War Committee, whose home was raided. “These actions by the FBI will
not intimidate us nor will they silence us. ... Standing up for truth and
justice is not a crime!”
Clyde Bellecourt, founder and national director of the American Indian
Movement, urged support for those facing the grand jury. He recalled the brutal
FBI repression suffered by Native Americans in the 1970s during the occupation
of Wounded Knee.
In Detroit, the Sept. 27 weekly meeting of the Michigan
Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice heard from Tom Burke of the
Freedom Road Socialist Organization, one of the subpoenaed activists who now
lives in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Detroit/Tom Burke,
FRSO, speaks.
“What this centers around is our international solidarity work and the
fact that we are all deeply internationalist,” said Burke. “The FBI
agents told us directly that their goal is to find evidence to support charges
of terrorism. They won’t find it.” Burke said he attended a
demonstration against the raids earlier that day in Kalamazoo,
Mich.
In downtown Durham, N.C., more than 50 community members and
activists rallied Sept. 27 in support of Kosta Harlan, a Durham anti-war
activist with the Colombia Action Network and Students for a Democratic
Society, and to oppose the FBI’s targeting of other activists across the
country.
Durham, N.C./Kosta Harlan, a target of FBI, at protest.
Four FBI agents visited Harlan on the morning of Sept. 24 and attempted to
intimidate him.
“I believe that I am being targeted for my anti-war activism,” said
Harlan. “Everyone who believes in ... basic democratic freedoms should be
concerned by the FBI’s disgraceful actions. All of my organizing work is
public and perfectly legal. I call on all people of conscience to speak out
against these violations of our fundamental rights.”
Black Workers for Justice; the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation; NC
Peace Action; Raleigh Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST); members of UE
Local 150, NC Public Sector Workers Union; and people from other progressive
organizations attended the rally, which was followed by a “Know Your
Rights” training session provided by the National Lawyers Guild.
In Raleigh, N.C., dozens of social justice, anti-war, and
immigrant rights activists gathered the morning of Sept. 28 in front of the New
Bern Avenue Federal Building to denounce the raids and harassment. The protest
included members of FIST, SDS, MASFF, NLG and Black Workers for Justice.
A rally was held in Atlanta in front of the Richard Russell
building Sept. 28. Activists represented the IAC, ACLU, SEIU, UNITE HERE and
Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition.
A spirited demonstration in Boston picketed and chanted
outside the JFK Federal Building the afternoon of Sept. 27. The protest was
co-sponsored by the Boston Mayday Committee and the International Action
Center.
Boston
Activists from many organizations in the anti-war movement participated, as
well as civil liberties and immigrant rights activists. Chants and slogans
demanded an end to the raids, and that all confiscated materials be returned.
Immigration raids were linked to the FBI raids on activists.
Buffalo, N.Y.
Speakers brought up the history of state repression going back to the Palmer
Raids and emphasized the importance of standing up in solidarity, uniting and
fighting back.
Ellie Dorritie, Leslie Feinberg, Peter Gilbert, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Dianne Mathiowetz, Frank Neisser and Scott
Williams contributed to this article. Information on the Minnesota action was
taken from www.fightbacknews.org.
International Action Center • Solidarity Center • 147 W. 24th St., FL 2 • New York, NY 10011 Phone 212.633.6646 • E-mail: iacenter@iacenter.org • En Español: iac-cai@iacenter.org
