The Alliance for Global Justice condemns and urges all people of good will to protest the September 24, 2010, FBI raids on Colombia and Palestine solidarity activists’ homes in Minneapolis and Chicago. The raids and grand jury investigation are nothing less than an effort to criminalize solidarity efforts to promote peaceful and just solutions to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the half century civil war in Colombia.
The Alliance for Global Justice is particularly concerned about unconfirmed reports that our National Co-Coordinator James Jordan is among 22 people named in the search warrant for the Minneapolis anti-war office, meaning that his emails with them will be read. Jordan has done groundbreaking work in exposing the US Bureau of Prisons’ role in the construction and oversight of prisons in Colombia where conditions constitute nearly unimaginable human rights violations such as lack of sanitary facilities and access to potable water as little as ten minutes a day. Jordan has also been an international leader in the effort to expose the unjust incarceration and prosecution of Colombian labor leader Liliany Obando who was jailed on the eve of her release of a report documenting military and paramilitary assassinations and human rights violations against Colombia’s largest farmer/farmworker union, FENSUAGRO, which has had more members killed than any union in the world.
The grand jury “witch hunt” is reportedly looking for evidence that activists have violated the ban of “material support” for groups designated as “terrorist” by the United States government. The definition of material support was recently broadened recklessly by the US Supreme Court. The Alliance for Global Justice sees the current persecution of Colombia and Palestine solidarity activists as the first step to criminalize actions in solidarity with governments and social movements which oppose US hegemony, economic policy, and militarism. We think this is an extremely dangerous attack on civil liberties by the Obama Administration and cannot be allowed to stand.
The Alliance for Global Justice does not, and has never, provided material support, even under the new definition promulgated by the Supreme Court, to any organization designated as a “terrorist organization” by the US government. We do not, in fact, provide any support. We do support the rights of all peoples to self-determination and self-defense in their quest to build a peaceful and just society and world and a better life for themselves and their children.
We will not be intimidated or frightened away from working in solidarity with our sisters and brothers struggling against oppression anywhere in the world. We urge all our supporters to take action to oppose this latest assault on all of us who work peacefully for a better world. Please contact President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to demand an end to the FBI raids and to demand that the grand jury witch hunt be closed down immediately. Send messages as well to your Representative and Senators and let them know that their response will help determine how you vote in November.
Sample phone message: My name is ______________ and I live in _____________. I want to protest the September 24, 2010, FBI raids on Minneapolis and Chicago peace and justice activists. People involved in peaceful, anti-war activism and humanitarian justice work should never be harassed in this way. Please return their belongings to the activists, drop grand jury hearings, and end surveillance of peace and justice activists. Thank you.
Make protests to:
Attorney General Eric Holder
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20530-0001
202-514-1057 Main switchboard
202-353-1555 Comment line
[email protected]
President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
202-456-1111 Comment line
White House Written Comments
