FBI attempts to question Chicago international solidarity activists. Don’t talk to FBI!
On November 15, three FBI agents came to the Chicago home of an international solidarity
Protest the School of the Americas
Saturday, November 17
Fort Benning, Georgia
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression will have a table and a workshop at the School of the America’s protest on Saturday, November 17th outside of Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia. www.soaw.org
CSFR workshop:
From Colombia to Palestine – Solidarity is not a Crime
Saturday, Nov. 17
10:00 pm to 11:30 pm
Room 213 at the Columbus Convention Center
801 Front Avenue, Columbus, GA
Meredith Aby, a Colombia solidarity activist will speak about the FBI raiding her home and receiving a subpoena to testify at a secret grand jury in Chicago. The FBI is attempting to criminalize international solidarity using a bogus investigation of “material support for terrorism”. Aby is not cooperating and refuses to put the Colombian activists who met with her in jeopardy.
Come learn how the U.S. government is targeting anti-war activists for repression and disrupting peaceful solidarity with movements in Colombia, Palestine, and across the globe. Aby will speak on solidarity and political repression, highlighting her case of the Anti-War 23. Come hear about the recent victory with the Justice for Carlos Montes campaign. Discuss how activists across the country are standing up to oppose the political repression of Arab-Americans and Muslims, especially the Holy Land Five charity leaders.
Hundreds Participate in Holy Land Five National Day of Action
Supreme Court Rejects HLF Appeal
In anticipation of the Supreme Court decision, there was a Holy Land Five national day of action on Oct. 25. Solidarity protests involving hundreds raised awareness in Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Tampa, Gainesville, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Albany and Dallas. New York City saw 75 people picket and conduct a successful press conference.
The U.S. Supreme Court entered an order declining the appeal of the Holy Land Five, Oct. 29. This rejection comes with no explanation. The judicial appeal process ends here, but the struggle to free the Holy Land Five continues.
Click to read more about the Holy Land Five decision
Families of Political Prisoners Conference
National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (NCPCF)
www.civilfreedoms.org
The NCPCF conducted a spectacular conference with the families of Arab-American and Muslim political prisoners, as well as others. The gathering of mostly wives, sisters, and daughters, discussed how to build a political movement to free the hundreds of Arab-American and Muslim political prisoners. They committed to go back to their communities and to reach out to the anti-war movement to build solidarity and end the repression. The families suffer tremendously under U.S. government repression, and often feel isolated even within their own communities. The conference was a turning point for the NCPCF and the families themselves. The U.S. government targets and wrongfully imprisons Arab-Americans and Muslims to justify their Middle East wars and the growing U.S. military threats in Asia.
The Antiwar Movement Challenges the U.S. Drone War
San Francisco Bay Area Tour
Speakers include:
Joe Lombardo, Co-National Coordinator, United National Antiwar Coalition
Leah Bolger, National President, Veterans for Peace
Toby Blome and Dianne Budd, CODEPINK
The speakers participated in a 31 member anti-war delegation to Pakistan to meet with anti-drone activists and relatives of the 760 civilians murdered by U.S. drones. The delegates visited Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore but were turned back as they approached Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan.
Initial tour schedule:
- Saturday, December 1: Oakland evening reception for tour participants TBA
- Sunday, December 2, Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee, Cedar and Bonita, Berkeley, 2:30 – 5:00 PM
- Monday, December 3, San Francisco Bay Area CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations, evening meeting TBA
- Tuesday, December 4, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, 7:00 PM TBA
- Wednesday, December 5, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, 48 South 7th Street, San Jose, 7:00 PM
For further information email: [email protected]
Endorsers and contributions to offset plane fare expenses welcome! Send your check payable to “UNAC” at P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610
Grand Jury Resistance Continues in Northwest
http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/
Another hero in the Pacific Northwest refused to speak at a grand jury targeting activists organizing for social change. Under the threat of imprisonment, Matthew Pfeiffer, known as Maddy by his friends, gave only his name and birth date under questioning. Pfeiffer then answered the political probes of U.S. prosecutor Michael Dion with “I am exercising my state and federal constitutional rights including the 1st, 4th and 5th amendments.” The frustrated prosecutor ordered Pfeiffer to appear before a judge upstairs and was then sent back down for a second round of the same political questioning. Pfeiffer is being forced to appear again on December 14, 2012.
Maddy Pfeiffer is not the first to be subpoenaed by this grand jury. Two other Olympia activists, Matt Duran and KteeO Olejnik—herself a former Evergreen student and Students for a Democratic Society member—are already sitting in the federal detention center at SeaTac for staying silent. These young anti-war and radical activists are heroes for refusing to participate in the U.S. government’s witch-hunt. Political repression at home continues to expand, while the U.S. wages war and plans new military interventions in the Middle East.