By CPUSA Houston

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.

Check out this article by Sam Webb on racism at http://peoplesworld.org/ginning-up-racism-its-winners-and-losers/

Check out this link to an article by Jarvis Tyner http://peoplesworld.org/hope-is-stronger-than-hate/

via ZZ blog

Friday, September 24 at 8:00AM, the FBI made a coordinated raid on seven homes of several anti-war and solidarity activists and two offices in Chicago and Minneapolis and served grand jury subpoenas in Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota. Other activists in California and North Carolina were contacted in an effort to intimidate. These actions by Federal agents are part of an effort to suppress militant anti-war activity and especially anti-imperialist solidarity with movements in Latin America and Palestine.

Those subpoenaed report that the FBI investigation is directed towards possible “terrorism” charges against those activists who were themselves terrorized by the Federal agency. Once again the fear-mongering “terror” charge has been mounted against all who dare to speak out against US imperial transgressions.

Initial reports indicate that the homes were ransacked with all but household essentials taken by the FBI.

Several of the activists are well known as long time, dedicated, and principled fighters for working class empowerment and social justice.

Clearly, this represents a ramping up of Federal activism against the left and, thus, a tribute to the work of these activists as well as a badge of honor in the struggle for social justice. We should all show our solidarity. You can send your support to: info@colombiasolidarity.org or info@fightbacknews.org.

The following actions are urgently needed:

Call the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at 202-353-1555 or write an email to: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.

Demand:

**Stop the repression against anti-war and international solidarity activists.

**Immediately return all confiscated materials: computers, cell phones, papers, documents, etc.

**End the grand jury proceedings against anti-war activists.

Plan and Support national days of protest at FBI offices or Federal Buildings, September 27 and 28th.

A demonstration has been called at the Minneapolis FBI Office Monday, 4:30, September 27th(111 Washington Ave. S.).

Zoltan Zigedy

zoltanzigedy@gmail.com

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Posted By zoltan zigedy to ZZ’s blog at 9/25/2010 05:22:00 PM

by James Thompson

I work with a large number of working people in the community and one thing I hear about repeatedly is their lack of legal representation. Many people are under direct attack by the banks and financial institutions. These super-wealthy institutions are trying to glean every penny they can from poor and working people. This has been going on for a very long time, but intensified during the Bush administration and more recently during the economic crisis.
We have a limited social safety net in this country and the excesses of Wall Street and the banks point out that that needs to be changed. Social security benefits are woefully inadequate to meet the needs of poor people who are unable to work. These benefits need to be expanded. Medicare and Medicaid provide limited health coverage to the poor, aged and disabled and this coverage needs to be expanded. Health care should be a right and available to all who need it.
However, there is another service which is also essential to the well-being of the people. Legal services are crucial to the survival and stability of people and families in our modern culture.
Poor people have essentially no options in legal assistance when they find themselves embroiled in a legal struggle. Court appointed attorneys are available on a limited basis. Although I have known some outstanding court appointed attorneys who really care about their poor clients, for the most part these attorneys are poorly paid and this is reflected in their performance. In Russia there was an old joke “They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work.” We have all heard the stories of court appointed attorneys sleeping in the courtroom as their clients are shipped off to death row.
It is no wonder that we have such a high rate of imprisonment and executions, particularly among poor people, African Americans and Latinos. Everyone recognizes that anyone imprisoned in this country faces a long, hard road for the rest of their lives just to survive since their employment options decrease. Of course, people who have been imprisoned are also vulnerable to super-exploitation by ruthless employers who seek to lower everyone’s wages in order to raise their profits.
What working people need is a broader, stronger safety net. This would include quality education for all, quality health care for all, decent retirement benefits for all and competent legal services for all. The whole judicial system needs a massive overall with strictly enforced regulations guaranteeing quality accessible legal services for everyone, not just the ultra-wealthy.
A system comparable to the Medicare system could be built to provide legal services. People could pay into the system and have legal insurance which would guarantee competent legal services when they are in need.
Such a system would help poor people fight the attacks by unscrupulous financial institutions as well as provide competent legal defense when they are unjustly charged with crimes they did not commit. Such a system would be a bulwark against foreclosures, assist with bankruptcies filed by poor people and protect families from unnecessary loss of their children to the state. Another mission of such a system could be helping working immigrants attain citizenship.
Our country just paid a trillion dollar tab for unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the billions in bailout money for banks and lending institutions. What about the people who paid the tax money squandered for such negative purposes? It is time for the people of this country to share in its great wealth. One way for that to happen is to expand the safety net. Legal services should be a right in a country who prides itself on the revolutionary concept that “all men (i.e., the people) are created equal.” “Equal before the law” should not just be an abstract concept, but should be reality.
PHill1917@comcast.net

HAVANA, Cuba, Sept 20 (acn) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez participated on Sunday in an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the meeting between the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro and US black civil rights activist Malcom X at the Theresa Hotel in New York.

Rodriguez arrived in New York to participate in various summits called by the United Nations and in the discussions of the 65th ordinary period of sessions of the UN General Assembly, Prensa Latina news agency reports.

The commemoration took place in a facility only a few meters from the building in which the Theresa Hotel was located in 1960.

Foreign Minister Rodriguez addressed a very attentive and appreciative audience, speaking about the solidarity between Cuba and African-Americans all these decades.

“Fifty years after Malcolm X met with Fidel Castro in New York in the midst of the Cold War, the Cuban people still rely on the support of African-Americans,” Cuba’s FM said.

Rodriguez said the Cuban delegation to the United Nations in 1960 received support from Malcolm X and other black leaders and forged a lasting bond between “Cuban revolutionaries and the African-American progressive people.”

The diplomat added that while the Cold War is long over, the threat of nuclear war still looms if Iran is attacked over its nuclear program.

“Today, the same firm voice of our historical leader is in front of an international call for peace, and cautioning about the risk that a military attack against Iran would have for the world, putting it on the brink of a nuclear war,” Rodriguez said to a cheering crowd.

The celebration included a panel comprised of Rosemari Mealy, author of the book `Fidel and Malcom X: Memories of a Meeting’; and William Sales, a professor of African Studies at the Seton Hall University.

Other speakers included Jane Franklin, author of the book `Cuba and the United States: A Chronological History’; veteran trade union militant Ashaki Binta; and Evelyn Erickson and Narciso Ortiz, two young Americans who graduated from Havana’s Latin American School of Medicine.

The Cuban supporters asked for help freeing five Cuban antiterrorists imprisoned in the United States since 1998 and they also remembered the legacy of the Rev. Lucius Walker, who died on September 7. He was the executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizations (IFCO)-Pastors for Peace, an organization he led since its founding in 1967, and who directed a program to send Americans to study medicine in Cuba.

http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2010/0920cuban-fm-participates-event-commemorate-fidel-malcom-x-new-york.htm

Here is a link to an article on unions for the unemployed posted on Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/14/unions-for-the-jobless-un_n_716323.html