Fw: [ANSWER]: Call to Action: JUNE 29 - MARCH ON THE FBI in DC!

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg at tin.it>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "A.N.S.W.E.R." <answer.general at action-mail.org>
To: <answer.general at action-mail.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 2:21 AM
Subject: [ANSWER]: Call to Action: JUNE 29 - MARCH ON THE FBI in DC!


> CALL TO ACTION:
> Saturday, June 29 @ 12 noon
> 
> MARCH ON THE FBI AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
> headquarters in Washington DC
> Pennsylvania Ave. between 9th and 10th St. NW
> 
> - Say no to the FBI attacks on civil rights and civil 
> liberties
> - Stand up against racism and racial and religious 
> profiling
> - No new COINTELPRO
> - Defend the Arab American, Muslim and South Asian 
> communities
> - Stop the new witchhunt against political and religious 
> organizations
> - Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier & all political 
> prisoners in the U.S.
> - Money for jobs, education and healthcare - not 
> repression and war
> 
> The Bush administration announced in the last week of May 
> that the FBI would be seizing vast additional powers to 
> spy on the people of the United States.  We must act now 
> to stop this assault on our rights.
> 
> These powers pose a grave danger to civil liberties and 
> civil rights, and will - unless defeated by the people - 
> lead to a new round of persecution of people based on 
> their political or religious convictions.
> 
> There was no vote in Congress.  No public referendum.  No 
> judicial review.  George Bush, Attorney General John 
> Ashcroft and FBI director Robert Mueller decided to 
> unleash the FBI on people targeted by the Bush 
> administration - not because they have committed a crime, 
> not because they are being investigated for a crime.  They 
> will be targeted because the government has determined 
> that their political or religious views or affiliations 
> warrant surveillance, infiltration, and disruption of 
> their personal lives or the organizations to which they 
> belong.
> 
> Ashcroft and Mueller are adopting the tactics of the 
> vicious reign of J. Edgar Hoover's secret police tactics 
> that were used against unions, progressive groups, and 
> African American, Latino and American Indian civil rights 
> organizations.  Tens of thousands of people lost their 
> jobs, were falsely imprisoned, were deported or went into 
> exile and were subject to government harassment.  Scores 
> of political activists in the Black Panther Party, the 
> Young Lords Party and in many others movements were 
> murdered by FBI COINTELPRO (counter-intelligence) 
> programs.
> 
> Pressure brought to bear on the government from the mass 
> people's movements of the 1960s and 1970s eventually led 
> to the government adopting new guidelines, purportedly 
> designed to curb FBI abuse of people's rights.  In fact, 
> this kind of FBI abuse has never stopped.  What is new is 
> that the FBI is overtly shifting from focusing on criminal 
> investigations into focusing on counter-intelligence 
> programs - a code word for an attack on dissent and on 
> political and religious organizations that Bush and 
> Ashcroft have decided should be targeted.  Following on 
> the heals of the Patriot Act - which has put the CIA back 
> into the business of domestic spying - the FBI and the CIA 
> are teaming up to conduct secret police activities.
> 
> Since September 11, 2001, thousands of Muslim, Arab 
> American and South Asian people have been subjected to the 
> complete violation of their civil rights and civil 
> liberties.  Charitable organizations have had their assets 
> seized.  Thousands have been illegally detained. 
>  Educational institutions, homes and businesses have been 
> raided.  And the FBI has carried out a massive 
> interrogation campaign of people based on race, religion 
> and ethnicity.
> 
> Bush, Ashcroft and the ultra-right are taking advantage of 
> the so-called war on terrorism to beat back the First 
> Amendment and the Bill of Rights.  They think that people 
> will be frightened and intimidated and unwilling to carry 
> out a political mobilization to stop this attack on free 
> speech.  
> 
> As Bush proclaims endless war and diverts billions of 
> dollars from social services to the military-industrial 
> complex in the coming years, the government is putting 
> into place repressive mechanisms aimed at stopping the 
> growing anti-war movement in the United Sates.
> 
> We can defeat this attack on civil rights and civil 
> liberties. We must unite against racism and racial 
> profiling.  
> 
> More than anything, the people of this country need to be 
> back in the streets to let the government know that we 
> will not be silenced and we will not be intimidated. 
>  Everything that we have learned from the union movement, 
> the civil rights movement and the anti-war movements of 
> the past is that the people can defeat the government's 
> plans through their own mobilization.
> 
> WHAT CAN YOU DO?
> 
> *ENDORSE the June 29 protest! Email ANSWER at afgj.org with 
> your/your group's endorsement.
> 
> *DONATIONS are urgently needed! Tax-deductible 
> contributions can be made at 
> http://www.internationalanswer.org/donate.html
> 
> *HELP GET THE WORD OUT - organize others to come to 
> Washington DC on June 29.  For more information, see 
> http://www.internationalanswer.org (downloadable flyers, 
> local contacts and more will be available). We are calling 
> on all nearby cities in the East Coast, South and Midwest 
> to come to Washington DC on Saturday, June 29 for a 
> regional demonstration at the FBI headquarters. If you 
> can't make it to DC, organize a local action at a Federal 
> Building on Friday, June 28.
> 
> FOR MORE INFORMATION
> http://www.internationalanswer.org
> email: dc at internationalanswer.org
> NY: 212-633-6646
> DC: 202-332-5757
> Chicago: 773-583-7728
> SF: 415-821-6545
> LA: 213-487-2368
> 
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