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

Tonight the Troy Area Labor Council in Upstate New York unanimously passed the following resolution:

Resolution Condemning FBI Raids on Trade Union, Anti-War and Solidarity Activists
Proposed by TALC Delegate Joe Lombardo, CSEA Local 694

Whereas on September 24, 2010, the FBI carried out coordinated raids on the homes and offices of anti-war and trade union activists in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan, during which agents confiscated computers, mailing lists, cell phones, passports, political literature, correspondence and children’s drawings; and served
subpoenas to 14 people to testify before a federal grand jury about alleged material support for foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs); and

Whereas from the Palmer Raids to J Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO, the FBI and Department of Justice have long histories of exploiting public fears in order to disrupt trade union, civil rights and anti-war organizing; and

Whereas four days prior to the September 24 raids, the Office of the Inspector General of the United States revealed that the FBI has systematically and illegally spied on political activists; that FBI director Robert Mueller lied to Congress about details of the surveillance; and that agents frequently confuse civil disobedience with “domestic terrorism”; and

Whereas on June 20, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Holder v Humanitarian Law Project to uphold a provision of the USA Patriot Act that defines material support for FTOs so broadly as to include legitimate humanitarian work, journalism and international solidarity;

Therefore be it resolved that the Troy Area Labor Council AFL-CIO denounces the September 24 FBI raids and grand jury investigation of Midwest anti-war and trade union activists as a dangerous assault on free speech and association; and

Be it further resolved that the TALC call on Congressional Representatives Scott Murphy and Paul Tonko and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer to request full and transparent Congressional investigations of post-9/11 FBI surveillance of social movements and the use of expansive anti-terror laws to criminalize dissent; and

Be it finally resolved that the TALC forward this resolution to Capital District Area Labor Federation and associated councils and the AFL-CIO and urge these organizations to similarly condemn FBI and
DOJ attempts to intimidate and disrupt grassroots social movements.