Anti-war activists harrassed

I received a post from International Action Center which contained some pretty disturbing news. The post said that activists in the Minneapolis and Chicago areas were targetted by the FBI in a series of raids on homes and offices.

AP says,

FBI agents in Chicago took a laptop and documents from the home of a Palestinian-American anti-war activist in an attempt to silence his advocacy, an attorney said Sunday.

The FBI on Friday searched eight addresses in Minneapolis and Chicago, including the home of Hatem Abudayyeh, who is the executive director of the Arab American Action Network, attorney Jim Fennerty told The Associated Press.

“The government’s trying to quiet activists,” Fennerty said. “This case is really scary.”

More than half a dozen agents went to Abudayyeh’s home on Friday and took any documents containing the word “Palestine,” Fennerty said.

Abudayyeh, a U.S. citizen whose parent immigrated from Palestine, wasn’t home at the time of the raid because he was at a hospital with his mother who is battling liver cancer, Fennerty said.

Apparently no arrests were made but this is a worrying development: anti-war activists are being harassed because of their views and for no other reason. This is reminiscent of the Red Scares of the 20th Century.

Demonstrations are being planned for this week in various cities.

Monday 27/9/10

Minneapolis, MN – 4:30, FBI Office Monday, 111 Washington Ave. S.

Chicago, IL – 4:30 Fedeeral Building, Federal Plaza.

Kalamazoo, MI – 4:30 Federal Building, 410 W Michigan Ave

Salt Lake City, Utah – 9 AM at Federal Building

Durham, NC – 12 noon Federal Building, 323 E Chapel Hill St

Buffalo, NY- 4:30 pm at FBI Building – Corner of So. Elmwood Ave. & Niagara St.

Gainesville, FL – Monday, 4:30 PM at FBI Building

Tuesday 28/9/10

NYC, NY –  4:30 to 6pm Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza,

Newark, NJ – 5 to 6pm Federal Building Broad Street

Philadelphia, PA – 4:30pm Federal Building, 6th & Market,

Washington DC –  4:30 – 5:30 FBI Building, 935 Pennsylvania Ave NW.

Boston, MA –  5 pm, JFK Federal Building

Detroit, MI –  4:30 pm McNamara Federal Building, Michigan Ave. at Cass

Raleigh, NC –  9 am. Federal Building, 310 New Bern Ave

Asheville, NC –  5 pm Federal Building,

Atlanta, GA – Noon, FBI Building

Los Angeles, CA – 5 pm, Downtown Federal Building, 300 N Los Angeles St

Tucson, AZ – 5 pm Federal Building

Wednesday 29/9/10

Albany, NY –  5 to 6 pm Federal Building

The anti-war movement in the US is still strong unlike the Stop The War coalition in Britain which was hijacked by the SWP and eventually strangled to death. We need to revitalize the anti-war movement in the UK and ensure that it is kept out of the hands of the SWP and others who would use it for their own ends. We also need to show solidarity and support to our American comrades who are being harassed by the state’s security apparatuses.

UPDATE:

The Stop the War Coalition have announced a national demonstration in London for 2o November. There is no mention anywhere on the site about the raids.