FBI vs anti-war activists

[S.A.M.]

Not sure if these discussions are still permitted at sciforums, but... I have been noticing a trend in FBI actions against anti-war activists

1. Shutting down internet sites

FBI shuts down 20 antiwar web sites: an unprecedented act of Internet censorship
By the Editorial Board
13 October 2004

The US government move to shut down nearly two dozen antiwar, anti-globalization web sites on October 7 is an unprecedented exercise of police power against political dissent on the Internet. The World Socialist Web Site denounces the attack on the Indymedia sites and demands a halt to all such attempts at suppressing political criticism of the US government.

The shutdown was carried out by Rackspace, a US-based web-hosting company with offices in San Antonio, Texas, and greater London, in response to an order from the FBI requiring it to turn over two of its British servers that were hosting dozens of Indymedia sites. There are conflicting accounts of the legal process, with Indymedia attributing the order to a US federal district court, while the Electronic Freedom Foundation, which is supplying legal representation to the group, describes it as a “commissioner’s order” directly from the FBI itself.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/oct2004/inte-o13.shtml

2. Harassment of activists by raids on homes

FBI Launching Mass Raids of Antiwar Activists’ Homes
Insists Raids Are Related to 'Material Support for Terrorism'

So far there do not appear to have been any arrests related to the raids nor, according to FBI spokesman Steve Warfield, are there any expected. He also insisted that there was “no imminent threat” related to the antiwar organization targeted. Some of the activists say they were ordered to appear before a grand jury, however.

The warrant against antiwar activist Mick Kelly’s home cited efforts to look into his ability to “pay for his own travel” to Palestine and Colombia and appeared to have been little more than a fishing expedition looking for possible links to “foreign terrorist organizations including but not limited to FARC, PFLP, and Hezbollah.” Kelly insists that the raids were about harassing antiwar organizers.

Officials said they were related to a Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation. The JTTF in Minneapolis has a long history of heavy-handed investigations against protest groups, including an attempt in 2008 to infiltrate a vegan potluck.

Most of the raids were conducted in Minneapolis and were related to antiwar leaders in that city. Other raids were also reported in Chicago, Michigan, and North Carolina. Many of the homes targeted in Minneapolis were related to the Marxist-Leninist group “Freedom Road Socialist Organization” (FRSO) but this was not the only group targeted.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/09/24/fbi-launching-mass-raids-of-antiwar-activists-homes/

3. And recently, legal action against activists on trumped up charges

The FBI on Tuesday added four more names to the list of antiwar activists subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury as part of an investigation into whether members of the peace movement provided "material support" for terrorism.

[Photo Credit: Committee to Stop FBI Repression]In all, 23 people have been subpoenaed since September 24, when the FBI raided the offices and homes of prominent activists in Chicago and Minneapolis. None has been charged with a crime. Several have also refused to testify in what they say is a witch hunt aimed more at intimidating those who dare speak out against U.S. foreign policy than uncovering actual ties to terrorists.

And they're probably right.

Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling this past June, the definition of "material support" for terrorism is now so broad as to include any sort of "advice" to a State Department-designated terrorist group, even if that advice is "stop engaging in terrorism and embrace nonviolence." Former President Jimmy Carter and groups such as the ACLU and Human Rights Watch have spoken out against the ruling.

Because the definition is so broad, though, it provides the perfect legal basis for the government to go after those opposed to its policies abroad. And as the Bush administration ably demonstrated, there are plenty of people in government who would be all too happy to equate opposition to the U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen - just to name a few - as de facto support for terrorism.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/12/22-6

Is this a slippery slope? Is there any protection for these activists?

 

[Tiassa]

Only the courts

Is this a slippery slope? Is there any protection for these activists?

Only the courts, and we cannot predict how quickly that process will grind itself to completion.

As with other aspects of our War on Terror, some of this seems to have its roots in the Drug War. In 1999, the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act failed in Congress; it passed the next year, as I recall. But MAPA'99 had a very curious provision in it. Giving advice to drug users was to be made illegal. And the bill was construed in such a fashion that advising a person how to keep someone overdosing on drugs alive would have been a crime for supporting illegal activity.

 

[S.A.M.]

What struck me is - why Chicago and Minneapolis? Are there more anti-war activists there than other places? Or is it, as you implied, a carry over from the drug wars? What about other parts of the country?

 

[Tiassa]

A wandering consideration

What struck me is - why Chicago and Minneapolis? Are there more anti-war activists there than other places? Or is it, as you implied, a carry over from the drug wars? What about other parts of the country?

Honestly, I don't know.

Although the Minneapolis bit granted me an ironic twinge. In 2000, a court had to tell law enforcement in the Twin Cities to knock it off. Police officers were dressing up as census workers, knocking on people's doors, and looking for reasons to conduct a probable-cause search. Many citations were issued for "Keeping a Disorderly Home".

It's against federal law for anyone to impersonate a census worker.

But that's Minneapolis for you, I guess.

And now that I think about it, I believe it was Chicago that launched a web page for children to inform on their parents. Don't quote me on that, though; I might be wrong that it was Chicago.

Jokes about the weather come to mind, too, but you have to read Steven Brust to get those. Never mind.

Patrick Fitzgerald (Libby perjury prosecution) is the US Attorney for Northern Illinois. B. Todd Jones is the US Attorney for Minnesota; I know virtually nothing about him. I couldn't tell you anything about their roles in these investigations and raids, but if the feds are in on it, their offices are involved.

I would also note that Colleen Rowley, best known as one of the few people who say 9/11 coming, worked the FBI Minneapolis field office. People, personalities, priorities; those are the general answers. Specifically—beyond that—I couldn't tell you.