The Committee to Stop FBI Repression is organizing a series of regional conferences across the country on Feb. 12 and Feb. 19 to bring people together for discussion, action, and mobilization to combat repression. Al-Awda NY is a participant in this coalition.
Stop FBI/Grand Jury Repression
East Coast regional conference
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, NY, NY 10012
Saturday, February 19, from 1 to 5 PM.
We have reserved the Main Hall that seats hundreds of people. The church on Washington Square park and at NYU is easy to get to by all public transportation. Speakers include Hatem Abudayyeh from Chicago and Mick Kelly and Sarah Martin from Minneapolis who were raided and/or subpoenaed by the FBI and ordered to appear at U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s Grand Jury.
PLEASE REGISTER ONLINE: http://www.stopfbi.net/events/committee-stop-fbi-repression/2-19-11/new-york-regional-organizing-conference
Panel I
Updates on FBI & Grand Jury Repression & Review of Past Grand Jury Witchhunts
Speakers include Hatem Abudayyeh from Chicago, Mick Kelly and Sarah Martin from Minneapolis who were raided by the FBI and/or subpoenaed to appear at U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s Grand Jury and National Lawyers Guild attorney Jim Fenerty.
Panel II
The Climate of repression and building a fightback against anti-Muslim repression, preemptive prosecution, entrapment
Panel to include families and/or lawyers from Project Salam, Newburgh 4, Fort Dix 5, Holy Land Case, Siraj Matin and Faisal Hashmi cases and Guantanamo cases.
Break out groups and discussion
Action Plans for the future of this fight, Know your rights training sessions, Targeting of the Palestinian movement, Strategy and tactics nationally
BACKGROUND
On September 24, 2010 the FBI raided seven Chicago and Minneapolis homes of well-known anti-war and international solidarity activists. Their ranks included a number of trade unionists. Also raided was the office of the Minneapolis–St. Paul based Anti-War Committee. The FBI subpoenaed fourteen activists in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan to testify at a grand jury. Then in December 2010, nine more people — all Palestini-ans or Palestine solidarity activists in Chicago — were ordered to testify before the same grand jury.
According to the FBI, the goal of the raids was to show material support for terrorism charges. It is outrageous! The U.S. government is trying to put people in jail for anti -war and international solidarity activism. These people have done nothing wrong, yet their freedom is at stake.
Those targeted are well-known leaders in the anti-war movement and many helped to organize the huge protest against the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN in September 2008. This is the suppression of our de-mocratic rights. It threatens our families, our children and our communities. This is a U.S. government attempt to silence those who support resistance to oppression in the Middle East and Latin America, by putting people in jail.
The 23 targeted activists are refusing to be pulled into conversations with the FBI about their political views or their organizing against war and occupation.
A NYC Working Committee includes representatives and supporters from:
Anti-Repression Committee from the NYC National Lawyers Guild, NYCISPES, Veterans For Peace Chapter 34 NYC, Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST), NYC International Socialist Organization, BAYAN USA, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, May 1 Coalition for Workers & Immigrant Rights, Muslim Solidarity Committee, Friends and Family of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Resistance in Brooklyn, Al Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition NY, International Action Center, Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, NYC School of the Americas Watch, World Can’t Wait, War Resisters League, Coney Island Avenue Project, Free Mumia Coalition, Picture The Homeless, Brooklyn for Peace, Todd Eaton of NYprotest Event Announcement Listserv, Project SALAM
