ckaihatsu
8th June 2011, 15:39
Fwd: Urgent! Call Senator Durbin: Protest Extension of FBI Head Mueller
Friends:
On Thursday, June 9 the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing about extending the term of the current head of the FBI, Robert Mueller.
Wednesday, June 8th: CALL Senator Richard Durbin, who sits on the Judiciary Committee
Urge him to:
1) VOTE AGAINST the extension of Mueller’s term as FBI head and
2) DEMAND answers from Mueller about the FBI's violation of civil liberties and their infiltration and repression of the 23 Midwest anti-war activists!
In Chicago: 312-353-4952
In Washington: 202-224-2152. Ask for Daniel Swanson, Counsel, Judiciary Committee
Senator Durbin represents 12 of the 23 activists who were subpoenaed by the Grand Jury, and 3 of the people whose homes were raided by the FBI. Senator Durbin has expressed his personal opinion about the FBI and grand jury repression in a letter to a constituent - http://www.stopfbi.net/2011/1/11/letter-illinois-senator-richard-durbin - “We should never again repeat mistakes like the internment mandates of World War II or the sweeping investigations of the McCarthy era.”
We are asking him now to take our stand even stronger.
Background:
Under Mueller's reign, the FBI has waged a war on people in the United States who oppose U.S. foreign policy.
In September 2010, the FBI raided the homes of anti-war and international solidarity activists in Chicago and the Twin Cities. 14 people were given subpoenas to appear before a grand jury. In December, 9 more activists in Chicago were subpoenaed to the grand jury. The activists subpoenaed include 16 women and 7 men, ranging in age from 20 to 70-somethings. Ten are parents of babies and young children. One is a great-grandmother. They are workers - including teachers, clerical workers, and cooks. They are mothers, fathers and community organizers.
On May 17, 2011, in an expansion and intensification of FBI repression of political activists, a SWAT Team, along with the FBI, smashed down the door and rushed in with automatic weapons as Carlos Montes slept in his home at 5:00 a.m. Carlos is a longtime Chicano activist and member of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression who lives in Los Angeles, CA. The raiders ransacked his house, taking his computer, cell phones and hundreds of documents, photos, diskettes and mementos of his political activities in the immigrant rights and Chicano civil rights movements. Hundreds of historical documents related to the Chicano movement, dating back to the 1970s, were taken away.
According to the Justice Department's Inspector General report issued on September 20, 2010, the FBI improperly spied on American activists involved in First Amendment-protected activities and mischaracterized nonviolent civil disobedience as terrorism, which improperly placed activists on terrorist watch lists. The FBI also made false and misleading statements to Congress and the American public to mute criticism over its unlawful spying activities.
In its 2010 Annual Report, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR), a body of the Organization of American States, noted the FBI and grand jury repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists
"The raids and subpoenas reflect escalating hostility toward individuals and groups working in solidarity with the Palestinian and Colombian people and are blatantly political attacks on peaceful activists," said Azadeh Shahshahani, Executive Vice President and International Committee co-chair of the National Lawyers Guild. "The fact that these attacks on free speech, freedom of association and the right to dissent have gained the attention of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is a welcome development."
For more info, go to stopfbi.net
Please write [email protected] to report on your phone calls.
Thank you -
Committee Against Political Repression
Friends:
On Thursday, June 9 the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing about extending the term of the current head of the FBI, Robert Mueller.
Wednesday, June 8th: CALL Senator Richard Durbin, who sits on the Judiciary Committee
Urge him to:
1) VOTE AGAINST the extension of Mueller’s term as FBI head and
2) DEMAND answers from Mueller about the FBI's violation of civil liberties and their infiltration and repression of the 23 Midwest anti-war activists!
In Chicago: 312-353-4952
In Washington: 202-224-2152. Ask for Daniel Swanson, Counsel, Judiciary Committee
Senator Durbin represents 12 of the 23 activists who were subpoenaed by the Grand Jury, and 3 of the people whose homes were raided by the FBI. Senator Durbin has expressed his personal opinion about the FBI and grand jury repression in a letter to a constituent - http://www.stopfbi.net/2011/1/11/letter-illinois-senator-richard-durbin - “We should never again repeat mistakes like the internment mandates of World War II or the sweeping investigations of the McCarthy era.”
We are asking him now to take our stand even stronger.
Background:
Under Mueller's reign, the FBI has waged a war on people in the United States who oppose U.S. foreign policy.
In September 2010, the FBI raided the homes of anti-war and international solidarity activists in Chicago and the Twin Cities. 14 people were given subpoenas to appear before a grand jury. In December, 9 more activists in Chicago were subpoenaed to the grand jury. The activists subpoenaed include 16 women and 7 men, ranging in age from 20 to 70-somethings. Ten are parents of babies and young children. One is a great-grandmother. They are workers - including teachers, clerical workers, and cooks. They are mothers, fathers and community organizers.
On May 17, 2011, in an expansion and intensification of FBI repression of political activists, a SWAT Team, along with the FBI, smashed down the door and rushed in with automatic weapons as Carlos Montes slept in his home at 5:00 a.m. Carlos is a longtime Chicano activist and member of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression who lives in Los Angeles, CA. The raiders ransacked his house, taking his computer, cell phones and hundreds of documents, photos, diskettes and mementos of his political activities in the immigrant rights and Chicano civil rights movements. Hundreds of historical documents related to the Chicano movement, dating back to the 1970s, were taken away.
According to the Justice Department's Inspector General report issued on September 20, 2010, the FBI improperly spied on American activists involved in First Amendment-protected activities and mischaracterized nonviolent civil disobedience as terrorism, which improperly placed activists on terrorist watch lists. The FBI also made false and misleading statements to Congress and the American public to mute criticism over its unlawful spying activities.
In its 2010 Annual Report, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR), a body of the Organization of American States, noted the FBI and grand jury repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists
"The raids and subpoenas reflect escalating hostility toward individuals and groups working in solidarity with the Palestinian and Colombian people and are blatantly political attacks on peaceful activists," said Azadeh Shahshahani, Executive Vice President and International Committee co-chair of the National Lawyers Guild. "The fact that these attacks on free speech, freedom of association and the right to dissent have gained the attention of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is a welcome development."
For more info, go to stopfbi.net
Please write [email protected] to report on your phone calls.
Thank you -
Committee Against Political Repression