12/17 Panel on the Growing Menace of FBI Repression Worth Checking Out

An especially interesting and timely panel discussion is being held this Friday at First Parish Church in Cambridge. Its title says it all ... "The Growing Menace of FBI Repression." I don't push events in my editorials very often, but I think people should take some time to check this one out if they're not too busy with the hustle and bustle of preparing for the holiday break (brief though it may be for most working people).

Four speakers - Stephanie Weiner, Chuck Turner, Nancy Murray, and Laila Murad - will discuss some recent incidents that should make anyone who believes in democracy and the right to political dissent shudder.

Weiner is one of the Chicago anti-war and international solidarity activists that has been subpoenaed by a grand jury on charges of aiding terrorism ... the "terrorism" in this case being the kind of grassroots activism undertaken by kindly older church people for many a decade in most every town in America. The homes of Weiner and six other Chicago and Minneapolis activists were raided by the FBI for evidence on September 24th. Evidence like children's artwork.

Turner, as viewers of Open Media Boston are well aware, was recently entrapped at great expense by the FBI, found guilty on felony charges of taking a $1,000 bribe, and awaits sentencing next month. He continues to maintain his innocence and believes right-wing government officials are mounting targeted attacks on legislators of color, left-wing legislators and their constituents.

Murad will be talking about the efforts of the Tarek Mehanna Support Committee - established, activists say, to aid Mahanna after he was targeted by the FBI for refusing to spy on the Muslim community. He is now in solitary confinement at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility ... though his trial will not begin until October 2011. And Murray heads up the Bill of Rights Education Project of the Mass. ACLU and has a great deal of useful information to communicate about the subject at hand.

I would call the cases under consideration "canaries in the coal mine" of early 21st century US politics were it not for the facts that a) these FBI attacks on are becoming more commonplace, b) the FBI appears to be casting a wider net in terms of who they are harassing, and c) these violations of basic Constitutional rights are taking place under a Democratic administration - raising the serious question of what kind of attacks progressive activists can expect as that administration is increasingly beset by the hard right-wing.

If you'd like to attend, here's the basic info

The Growing Menace of FBI Represssion
Friday (12/17/10) at 7:30 p.m.
First Parish Church, Cambridge
3 Church St in Harvard Square

Suggested donation of $5 to cover event costs.
Email BostonUNAC@gmail.com for more info.

Download an event flyer here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1042836/flyer-2010-12-17.pdf