Tag Archives: political repression

Victory Against Repression: Carlos Montes Court Case Ends in Victory!

Posted on June 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the LA Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

Los Angeles, CA – On June 5, 2012 Carlos Montes’ criminal court prosecution ended in a victory for Carlos and the movement.

Carlos Montes’ home was raided on May 17, 2011, by the combined forces of the LA County Sheriff’s Swat Team and the FBI, by crashing his door down at 5:00 a.m., with automatic assault rifles drawn, almost killing him. He was charged with 6 serious felonies with a possible jail time of up to 18 years.

With local and national support, via solidarity protests, call-in campaigns to President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Holder, local rallies and protests, and an offensive legal strategy, two felonies were dropped – this was a first partial victory. However the District Attorney still stated that they wanted Montes to do at least 5 years in state prison for the 4 felony charges remaining.

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Posted in Anti-War / Anti-Intervention, Chicano Liberation, Immigrants Rights

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Stand against repression, drop the charges against Carlos Montes and prepare for more challenges ahead

Posted on September 22, 2011 | 2 comments

Carlos Montes

The following statement is from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and is being reposted here Fight Back! News: 

On Sept. 24, 2010 the FBI launched a series of coordinated raids against anti-war and international solidarity activists in the Midwest. More than 70 agents of the FBI, ATF and Joint Terrorism Task Force were involved. Also raided that day was the office of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee. In concert with the raids, the FBI made attempts to intimidate activists in California, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

That day, the authorities started the process of serving subpoenas for activists to appear in front of a Chicago-based Grand Jury. Subpoenas mounted in the days and months following – until a total of 23 activists were ordered to appear in front of the grand jury witch hunt headed by U.S Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Simultaneously, more FBI ‘visits’ took place in the Midwest and Southwest.

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Posted in Anti-War / Anti-Intervention, FRSO

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FRSO presentation to the 2011 International Communist Seminar in Brussels

Posted on June 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

The following is the report from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization to the International Communist Seminar. The topic of the 2011 seminar was “The strengthening of communist parties in times of a deepening capitalist systemic crisis”:

Building A Communist Party in the United States, 2011

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization Faces U.S. State Repression

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is currently facing a campaign of repression by the United States government.  On September 24, 2010, under orders from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided homes and activist offices in Chicago, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.  14 anti-war and international solidarity activists, including two in Michigan, were subpoenaed to appear at a secretive Grand Jury investigation.  Nine more Palestine solidarity activists, most Arab-Americans, were subpoenaed to appear on January 25, 2011, bringing the total to 23.  The 23 refuse to appear at the Grand Jury inquisition where U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald claims to investigate “material support for terrorism”, focused on the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).  In actuality, the FRSO is the target of political repression by the U.S. government.  Comrades are facing indictments, a trial, and possibly Federal prison.  The main issues are free speech and the right to organize, recently narrowed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Holder vs. Humanitarian Law Project case.  The trial will center around the testimony of a Federal Agent who infiltrated the mass groups and the FRSO.

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Posted in Anti-War / Anti-Intervention, FRSO, Marxism-Leninism

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Workers, communist parties declare solidarity with FRSO in fight against repression

Posted on June 1, 2011 | 4 comments

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution adopted by workers and communist parties gathered at the International Communist Seminar in Brussels, Belgium, May 13-15. The statement expresses solidarity with Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), along with other anti-war and international solidarity activists who are facing repression in the United States. The resolution was signed by 42 parties.

Resolution in solidarity with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization against new McCarthyism

The undersigned participating at the 20th International Communist Seminar in Brussels, Belgium, May 13-15, 2011, denounce the U.S. Government repression of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), its leaders, and its allies in the anti-war and international solidarity movements.

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U.S. Attorney General Holder challenged on FBI repression

Posted on May 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

The following article is from Fight Back! News:

Minneapolis, MN – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder got a cold reception in Minneapolis May 27, where the Committee to Stop FBI Repression dogged him all day about FBI and grand jury attacks on anti-war and international solidarity activists. 100 people gathered outside his event at the University of Minnesota. The shouts of protesters outside could be heard inside, “Hey Holder, hear our fury! Stop the FBI, end the grand jury!”

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Petition: Drop the Charges Against Carlos Montes

Posted on May 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

Door kicked down by SWAT team at Carlos Montes' home. (Committee to Stop FBI Repression)

The following is being posted here from the International Action Center website. To see the petition please go here:

Petition Text

To: U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, President Barack Obama, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder,

cc: Vice President Biden, DOJ Inspector General Fine, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, Congressional Leaders, the Congressional Black Caucus, U.N. Secy Gen Ban, and members of the media

** Drop All Charges against Carlos Montes, and immediately return all of his property!

** Stop the attack on the Chicano and Immigrant Rights Movements!

** Call Off the Chicago Grand Jury and Stop the Expanding Witchhunt against Anti-war and International Solidarity Activists!

** Hands Off Palestine Solidarity Activists!

** Throw Out the reactiviated subpoenas against Tracy Molm, Ann Pham and Sarah Martin in Minneapolis, and ALL of the 14 subpoenas from the September 24 FBI raids of homes of 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.

I am writing to oppose the continuation and expansion of the FBI campaign of harassment of immigrant rights, anti-war and Palestine and other International Solidarity Activists, including the raid on the home of Carlos Montes and his arrest and the confiscation of his property, the 9 added subpoenas in the Chicago area, and reactivation of 3 of the original 14 subpoenas from the September 24 FBI raids of anti-war and international solidarity activists’ homes.

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Posted in Action Alerts, Chicano Liberation, FRSO, Immigrants Rights

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FBI and Los Angeles County Sheriff raid veteran Chicano activist Carlos Montes

Posted on May 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

Door kicked down by SWAT team at Carlos Montes' home. (Committee to Stop FBI Repression)

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

Los Angeles, CA – On May 17, 2011 at 5:00 AM the SWAT Team of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and members of the FBI raided the home of Carlos Montes, a long time Chicano activist and active member of theCommittee to Stop FBI Repression. The SWAT Team smashed the front door and rushed in with automatic weapons as Carlos slept. The team of Sheriffs and FBI proceeded to ransack his house, taking his computer, cell phones and hundreds of documents, photos, diskettes and mementos of his current political activities in the pro-immigrant rights and Chicano civil rights movement. Also taken were hundreds of historical documents related to Carlos Montes’ involvement in the Chicano movement for the past 44 years.

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Posted in Anti-War / Anti-Intervention, Chicano Liberation, FRSO

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What was McCarthyism?

Posted on February 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

The following is from the website ML Today. It is all the more important to understand this important episode of our history given the current McCarthyite witch-hunt being carried out against anti-war and international solidarity activists.

Prof. Roger Keeran, a labor and policy studies coordinator at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies in New York, explains what McCarthyism was and was not during the 50’s. Dr. Keeran is author of the history, The Communist Party and the Autoworkers Unions.

He spoke in Vancouver, Canada in early December 2010 at a conference organized by the World Peace Forum (http://pasifik.ca/node/28792).

Each part of his talk is about 11 or 12 minutes long.

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Tracy Molm describes FBI raid, Grand Jury repression

Posted on December 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

From StopFBI.net

Tracy Molm, a Minneapolis-based Palestine solidarity activist, describes what happened during the recent FBI raid on her apartment in September, its aftermath, and her solidarity work for Palestinians. Her subpoena has now been reactivated by the grand jury in this assault on First Amendment rights of peace activists. Her presentation was made at the Dec. 4, 2010 People’s Thanksgiving Dinner in Chicago. For more information on the solidarity campaign: http://www.stopfbi.net.

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Posted in Anti-War / Anti-Intervention, FRSO, Imperialism, Palestine

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New York meeting builds movement against Grand Jury, FBI repression of anti-war activists

Posted on November 11, 2010 | 1 comment

The following article by Maureen Murphy is from Fight Back! News:

Tom Burke speaking at Committee to Stop FBI Repression New York City meeting (Fight Back! News/Staff)

New York, NY – More than 150 movement leaders and concerned individuals packed a standing room-only hall at Saint Mark’s Church in the Bowery on Nov. 6 for the first national meeting of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

The national committee was formed after 14 anti-war, international solidarity and labor activists were served subpoenas in late September to appear before a federal grand jury. Many of the activists’ homes were raided, as were the offices of the Anti-War Committee in the Twin Cities. According to a statement made by the targeted activists, “The subpoenas claim that the grand jury is investigating violations of the 1996 law on the issue of ‘material support’ of ‘designated foreign terrorist organizations.'” (http://www.stopfbi.net/about/statement-on-the-grand-juries)

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Posted in Anti-War / Anti-Intervention, FRSO

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