Stop the Repressive Raids on Patriotic Peace Activists!

Statement by Houston Communist Party USA

It is our understanding that on September 24, 2010 at 8am, the FBI carried out coordinated raids on seven homes of anti-war and solidarity activists and two offices in Chicago and Minneapolis and served grand jury subpoenas in Illinois, Michigan, and Minnestota. Other activists in California and North Carolina were contacted in an effort to intimidate. Initial reports indicate that their homes were ransacked with all but household essentials taken by the FBI.

Such authoritarian actions are reminiscent of the McCarthy era as well as the Palmer raids. Do we need to remind the Obama administration that you were elected on a platform of peace and a promised end to the wars in the Middle East? Many CPUSA members worked hard for your election and support you completely even to this day. We will be working hard for the election of Democrats in these mid-term elections.

Harassment of the left is not what we expected from this administration. We did not expect you to throw Van Jones and Shirley Sherrod under the bus when they were attacked by the right wing. We did not expect you to step up the oppression and deportation of immigrant laborers and bring it to a level that would shame the Bush administration. We did not expect you to issue right wing slurs of liberals and disrespect organized labor which has been nothing but loyal to you. Such statements as “F… the UAW” and “drug test the liberals” should not be tolerated and anyone making such statements should be unceremoniously removed from government office.

The peace activists you are attacking were merely working for the originally stated goals of your administration during your campaign in the 2008 election cycle.

No one is fooled by the so-called withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq. People know that there are still 50,000 troops in Iraq that are costing U.S. taxpayers $1,000,000 a year for each soldier deployed. People know these soldiers will kill many civilians and continue to destroy a country that never attacked or threatened our great nation.

These recent attacks on peaceful, law abiding activists is totally incomprehensible. However, what is even more astounding is the lack of action from the FBI and other Federal law enforcement agencies in curtailing the activities of the ultra right wing. While beating up on peace activists, the countless bloggers as well as TV and radio personalities who spew out racist hatred and advocate a violent takeover of the federal government and even assassination of many government officials walk free. When will the FBI do their job and vigorously prosecute these shameless criminals who display their venom for all to see?
Call the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at (202)353-1555 and/or write an email to:AskDOJ@usdoj.gov. to register your concerns about these authoritarian measures applied to peace activists and failure to police the right wing hate squads.