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The FBI is
Harassing the Antiwar Movement 10/13/2021 The FBI contacted the ex-wife of the UNAC
coordinator, Joe Lombardo. They said
that they wanted to speak with her about his trips to Russia and Venezuela. These trips were taken on behalf of UNAC to
attend antiwar conferences in Russia and as part of an antiwar delegation to
Venezuela to express solidarity with that country against US sanctions and
political attacks. Right before the
FBI contact, Joe Lombardo and others also met with the Venezuelan delegation
to the UN general assembly at the Venezuelan Consulate in New York. This meeting was organized by the Sanctions Kill Coalition, which opposes
the illegal US unilateral, coercive, economic sanctions against countries
such as Venezuela.
This attempt at intimidation comes on the heels of
the defeat of the US in Afghanistan, where the US antiwar movement played an
important role in building opposition to the US invasion and occupation of
that country. These FBI visits are designed to intimidate members of the
antiwar movement and to try to gather dirt that can be twisted into false
charges. This is what the FBI did to
hundreds of Muslims throughout the country as they tried to build their case
for the phony “War on Terror” to gain support for their wars on Afghanistan,
Iraq, and other countries. Much of the work in defending these falsely
accused Muslims has been done by the Coalition
for Civil Freedoms, of which UNAC is a founding member. The
Coalition also wrote a statement in support of Joe Lombardo after the FBI
visit. Another group of antiwar and solidarity activists
that have been attacked by the FBI in recent years were those defended by the
Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR). Many of these people had their homes raided
by the FBI. Additionally, an antiwar
office in Minneapolis belonging to a UNAC affiliated group was raided. Subpoenas to appear at a Grand Jury
investigating “material support for terrorism” were given to those
attacked. All the people subpoenaed
refused to appear at the Grand Jury and to this day, the government has not
tried to force them to do so. This was
a big victory and was largely due to the exemplary defense effort waged by
CSFR. CSFR also wrote
a statement in support of Joe Lombardo. Is it possible that the government is making another
probe to see if they can charge the antiwar movement with giving “aid to the
enemy?” This was successfully done
during World War I. The government
made it illegal to oppose that war.
Letters of antiwar activists were opened by the Post Office and if
antiwar statements were found, the writer could be arrested. Many who were part of the Left were
arrested including the leadership and much of the membership of the
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and of the Socialist Party including
Eugene V. Debs, who ran for president of the United States from his prison
cell. Debs was prosecuted under the
newly create Espionage Act, which targeted “disloyal” citizens who “attempted
to interfere with military progress during the war”. The Espionage Act was never taken off the books but had
not been successfully used since that time, that is until recently when they
used it to prosecute Daniel Hale. Daniel Hale was part of the
military’s drone program in Afghanistan.
It became clear to him that the drones were mainly killing civilians,
not the Taliban. So, Hale made that
information public. The government
claimed that his information came from classified sources, so he was
prosecuted under the Espionage Act and given close to 4 years in prison. The US does not want the truth to come
out. They don’t want information that
contradicts their narrative. This is
also why they are going after Julian
Assange and perhaps why they are now going after the antiwar movement. The question is, with the defeat in Afghanistan,
huge strides made by the sanctioned countries and the anti-sanctions movement
to oppose the sanctions and with challenges being made to the political and
economic hegemony of the US, are we seeing a new round of attacks on the
antiwar movement and those who oppose US imperialism? There are some lessons that we have learned from the
past in defending our movement. The
first is that if one of us is attacked it is an attack on our entire
movement. “An injury to one is an
injury to all.” Whatever our political
difference, when one group or member of our political community is attacked,
we must all stand together and fight back.
A second lesson that we have learned is that the FBI
is not our friend. Never talk to the
FBI. They are not here to help us, they are here to defend the US government in its wars
against the people at home and abroad.
The FBI cannot require you to talk to them unless they get a subpoena
from a court and if they don’t have a subpoena, you do not have to talk to
them. If they do have a subpoena, then
you are entitled to have a lawyer present.
This is essential. If you are
subpoenaed, you need to have a lawyer.
The FBI has tricked many people in the past who have made innocent
statements that have been used against them and others. If your organization would like to make a statement
in support of Joe Lombardo and against the attacks on our movement, it would
be most welcome. Please send such
statements to UNACpeace@gmail.com. Let’s stand together and fight against attacks on
our movement. The UNAC Administrative Committee, Bahman Azad, Ajamu Baraka, Judy Bello, Sara Flounders, Margaret Flowers, Margaret Kimberley, Cassia Laham, Autumn Lake, Joe Lombardo, Jeff Mackler, Rhonda Ramiro |
