Dear All: Our DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SCHEDULE is from 4:30 pm. to 6:30 pm., every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at Archer Rd. and 34th St., every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at Univ. Av. and 13th St. Peace. Ku
Dear All: Our DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SCHEDULE is from 4:30 pm. to 6:30 pm., every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at Archer Rd. and 34th St., every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at Univ. Av. and 13th St. Peace. Ku
I plan to get to Westside Park, NW 8th Av. and NW 33rd St. earlier in the evening on Friday night May 27/early a.m. Saturday, May 28 than in past years. I have grip stripes and I think hanging the Ribbon will go much faster this year, even though we have additional panels.
I have a new canopy, modern pop up, white. It's rainproof, sturdier and easier to pop-up. I will bring my cooler for ice, gallons of well-water, pink lemonade, cups and initial ice. Like last year, I would appreciate occasional ice.
Proposed schedule for your pink pal Jacque for Memorial Weekend display:
I will be at the Ribbon Canopy from arrival for setup until about 10 a.m. Saturday.
then
Saturday evening from 6 pm until midnight
then Sunday morning 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
then
Monday morning 9 a.m. until complete takedown, starting at about 5 pm Monday.
IMPORTANT NOTE HERE; Please sign up through Scott at scottcamil@... and please cc me if you can be there. Thanks.
Volunteers receive all the pink lemonade they can possibly want to drink.
If possible, bring your own camp chair.
See you soon.
Jacque
Questions? Call me at 352-468-2101
NOTE: Please send to Scott the hours you can volunteer for this event. I especially need some folks who can help out at the Peace Ribbon table. Bring your camp chair and join in. You will be glad you did. The lemonade is delicious. Thanks to the wonderful folks who have given so much time in the past.
Dear All: Our DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SCHEDULE is from 4:30 pm. to 6:30 pm., every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at Archer Rd. and 34th St., every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at Univ. Av. and 13th St. Peace. Ku
Dear code Pink, the Palestine Film Fest is under way! We were hoping you could pass on the info to your listserves and help spread the word! Thanks so much!
~abigail~
Tuesday, May 3rd American Radical outdoor viewing on the Block @ 8pm 503 NW 6th pl.
documentary about american academic Norman Finkelstein, son of holocaust survivors, ardent critic of Israel and US Mid-East Policy. Finkelstein has been at the center of many intractable controversies, including his recent denial of tenure at DePaul University.
Juliano Mer Khamis, son of an Israeli Mother and Palestinian father, spends years of his youth teaching theater to Palestinian children as part of an alternative education program that his mother, Arna, established in the occupied West Bank. Years after his mother's death, Mer Khamis returns to find that the children he knew and loved have now joined the intifada—and captures how childhood innocence is lost to war. http://www.arna.info/
Friday, May 13th Zero Degrees of Separation @ the Pride Center 3131 NW 13th St, Suite 62 @ 7:30pm
looks at the Middle East conflict and the Palestinian Occupation, through the eyes of mixed Palestinian and Israeli gay and lesbian couples.
Sunday, May 15th, Nakba Day Salt of this Sea Downtown Library 401 East University Avenue @ 3pm
The first feature film by a Palestinian woman, Salt of this Sea tells the story of Soraya, a third-generation, working-class Palestinian refugee living in Brooklyn NY. Soraya discovers that her grandfather’s savings have been frozen in a bank account in Jaffa since he was expelled in 1948. Determined to reclaim what is theirs, she fulfills her life-long dream to return to Palestine.
Wednesday, May 18 Films for Gaza @ CMC 433 S Main Street 6pm
several short films and discussion about current situation in Gaza
Slingshot Hip Hopoutdoor viewing on the Block @ 8pm 503 NW 6th pl. may 20th
Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.
Tuesday, May 31st Budrus @ Unitarian Universalist Church 4225 NW 34th Street @ 7:30pm
Budrus is an award-winning feature documentary film about a Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today.
Dear All: Our DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SCHEDULE is from 4:30 pm. to 6:30 pm., every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at Archer Rd. and 34th St., every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at Univ. Av. and 13th St. Peace. Ku
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: address to send mail to bradley manning
From: "Lynn Farquhar" <zoahimsa@...>
Date: Tue, May 3, 2011 3:57 pm
To: zoahimsa@...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
found out yesterday it is possible now to write manning in prison, so i
hope you'll join me in sending words of support...
Bradley Manning
830 Sabulu Rd
Ft Leavenworth, KS 66027
Dear All: Our DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SCHEDULE is from 4:30 pm. to 6:30 pm., every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at Archer Rd. and 34th St., every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at Univ. Av. and 13th St. Peace. Ku
Dear All: Our DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SCHEDULE is from 4:30 pm. to 6:30 pm., every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at Archer Rd. and 34th St., every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at Univ. Av. and 13th St. Peace. Ku
On Friday, May 6, the bank accounts of Hatem and Naima Abudayyeh of Chicago were frozen. The bank manager at the TCF (Twin Cities Federal) branch could not explain what had happened
but stated that the Bank Security Act prevented him from releasing any assets.
In a strange turn of events, the bank admitted today that they shut down the accounts, stating they no longer want to provide banking services to the Abudayyeh family. Simultaneously, TCF management
informed the Abudayyehs today that they were issuing them a check for the value of their accounts.
Hatem Abudayyeh is one of 23 anti-war, Palestinian and international solidarity activists who have been subpoenaed to a federal
grand jury in Chicago. Many supporters of the Abudayyehs and the 23 activists suspected that the FBI and grand jury investigation against these activists was the cause of the seizure of the couple’s accounts.
Michael Deutsch, attorney for the family, said, “In my opinion, the bank did not act out of the blue. I suspect that the FBI and U.S. attorney investigation caused the bank to overreact and illegally freeze the Abudayyehs’ banking accounts that had been there for over a decade.”
In response to the seizing of the couple’s accounts, people across the country called the offices of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago, and those of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) demanding the return of their money and an
end to the repression.
A Code Pink activist from Washington, D.C., called Fitzgerald’s office and was told, “We’ve received hundreds of calls.” The OFAC office was bombarded as well, and journalists from a National Public Radio affiliate, Al Jazeera and other agencies contacted them for
an explanation.
TCF is well known for having links to the right-wing think tank the Center of the American Experiment.
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression and the Coalition to Protect People’s Rights see the return of the money to the Abudayyeh family and the admission by the bank of their action as a victory for their efforts and an affirmation of the constitutional right of Americans not to be deprived of property without due process of law. However, they are concerned that the actions of TCF management may violate state and federal public accommodations laws by denying the Abudayyehs banking services on a discriminatory basis.
Hatem Abudayyeh expressed his thanks to the many people who called in over the past two days. “Thank you all for your work. The pressure put on the U.S. attorney and OFAC no doubt caused them to contact TCF, who subsequently broke their silence and ended this frightening incident.” http://www.southsidepride.com/2011/05/articles/Palestinian_community_leader.html
Dear All: Our DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SCHEDULE is from 4:30 pm. to 6:30 pm., every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at Archer Rd. and 34th St., every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at Univ. Av. and 13th St. Peace. Ku
Hey CodePINKs:
FYI; excuse if you already received.
Your peace pal,
Jacque
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Gainesville NOW updates
From: "Lisa Labbe" <labbe@...>
Date: Sat, June 4, 2011 2:39 pm
To: "Gainesville Area NOW Local List" <ganowlocal@...>
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<font face="Arial">Hello Gainesville Area NOW members and
supporters,<br>
<br>
First, let us assure you that Gainesville Area NOW is not dead. We
are still active and have events planned for the summer and
beyond. <br>
<br>
One of the events is the National NOW Conference, which will take
place this year in Tampa. Join us June 24-26th at the Embassy
Suites at USF. Please register ASAP through National's website
(NOW.org). We'd love to see you there!<br>
<br>
GANOW is selling raffle tickets in conjunction with the
conference. You could win a 3 day, 2 night stay at the Embassy
Suites, and tickets to Busch Gardens. $5/3, $9/5, and $15/10.
Drawing will be held at the conference, and you need not be
present to win. </font><font face="Arial">If you want to buy some
tickets, let us know.</font><br>
<font face="Arial"><br>
Florida NOW will hold their state conference immediately following
the National Conference. Please stay on Sunday, from 4-9 pm, to
handle FL NOW resolutions, bylaw changes, and elect new officers
for next term. It is very important that all FLNOW members try to
attend. There is no extra registration fee, but there may be a
small charge for dinner.<br>
<br>
It is time once again to hold elections for GANOW. If you have any
interest at all in helping to lead our organization for the coming
year please contact us. Elections will be held at the August
general meeting. There are many positions available:<br>
President<br>
VP<br>
Secretary<br>
Treasurer<br>
Membership Director<br>
Legislative Director<br>
Abortion Rights Committee Chair<br>
Universal Health Care </font><font face="Arial">Committee </font><font
face="Arial">Chair<br>
Get Women Out to Vote </font><font face="Arial">Committee </font><font
face="Arial">Chair<br>
<br>
Look for info to come to you soon about our next Feminist Friday
Happy Hour and our Summer Feminist Film Series.<br>
<br>
Also, let us apologize if you have already requested to be removed
from this email list. We recently lost our inbox of "to-dos" due
to an update, and we regret that we had not gotten to your request
yet. Please resend.<br>
<br>
Lastly, we'd like to remind you that now, more than ever, NOW
needs your membership. If you are outraged at the recent
legislative session, than please renew your membership (or JOIN if
you haven't yet). Governor Scott and his woman-hating, racist, and
homophobic cronies must be stopped. We need your activism and your
money. Please renew, join or donate today! (GainesvilleNOW.org)<br>
<br>
In Sisterhood,<br>
Gainesville Area NOW<br>
*****<br>
<br>
</font><br>
Please feel free to pass this email on to anyone who might be
interested.<br>
For more information about Gainesville Area NOW, The National
Organization for Women, please visit our website at <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="http://www.GainesvilleNOW.org">www.GainesvilleNOW.org</a>.<br>
<br>
You are receiving this email because you signed up for Gainesville
Area NOW's listserv. To opt in or out, send an email to <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:info@...">info@...</a>.<br>
<br>
This list is intended to relay information from the Executive Board
of Gainesville Area NOW to its members and supporters. It is not
intended as a discussion group. Replies from recipients will not be
forwarded to the list.<br>
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_______________________________________________
Ganowlocal mailing list
Ganowlocal@...
http://mail.gainesvillenow.org/mailman/listinfo/ganowlocal_gainesvillenow.org
Fight Back News Service is circulating the call from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, urging cities to organize actions in support of Carlos Montes, a longtime activist for worker and immigrants’
rights.
We are calling for protests on the day that Carlos Montes appears in court in the aftermath of the FBI and Los Angeles Sheriff’s raid on his home. Please organize an action in your city - then email the info to us (info@...) and we will post it to the StopFBI.net website.
In an expansion and intensification of FBI repression of political activists, a SWAT Team along with the FBI smashed down the door and rushed in with automatic weapons as Carlos Montes’ slept in his home on May 17, 2011 at 5:00 AM. Carlos is a longtime Chicano activist and active member of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. The raiders ransacked 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. Hundreds of historical documents related to the Chicano movement were taken away. He was arrested on one charge dealing with a firearm code and released on bail the following morning.
This attack on Carlos Montes is part of the campaign of FBI harassment targeting 23 peace and justice activists which has until now been centered in the Midwest. Carlos Montes’ name was listed on the search warrant left in the office of the Minneapolis Anti-War Committee last September 24. An FBI agent approached Carlos while he was in a squad car and asked him questions about the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
Carlos Montes has done nothing wrong. This is an attack on him and an
attack on the Chicano movement for equality. Carlos has been involved and a committed leader in the immigrant rights, anti war, solidarity, and quality education movements his whole life. Please stand with Carlos
and defend all the movements for equality and justice.
On June 16, Carlos Montes will appear in court. We need your support.
Join in protest with thousands across the country and demand:
Drop the Charges Against Carlos Montes!
Stop FBI Attacks on the Chicano and Immigrant Rights Movements!
Stop FBI Repression of Anti-War and International Solidarity Activists NOW!
Take Action! Please organize a local protest or picket in your city on Thursday, June 16. E-mail us at info@... to let us know what you have planned. Check out www.StopFBI.net to see if there is an action in your area.
---------- Forwarded Message ---------- From: Andrea Costello <andreahope@...> To: mark1343@... Subject: IMPT - Attend City Comm. Mtg for Police Review Bd - 6/22 - 5 pm Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:10:18 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
Hi Miriam,
Could you please forward out to any lists or friends? This is a really important meeting to the campaign. Hope you're well.
Thanks, Andrea
-----Forwarded Message----- From: Gainesville Police Review Sent: Jun 16, 2011 12:49 PM To: gvillepolicereview@... Subject: IMPT - Attend City Comm. Mtg - 6/22 - 5 pm
Please forward...
CRITICAL MEETING - WED., JUNE 22, 2011 - 5 P.M.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR INDEPENDENT CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW IN GAINESVILLE
In response to community organizing, the issue of whether to establish an independent police review board will be discussed at a meeting of the Gainesville City Commission’s Public Safety Committee.If you want a police review board in Gainesville, you need to be at this meeting.
The Public Safety Committee meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 22, 2011, at 5:00 p.m. in Room 16 at City Hall.
Members of the Committee for a Civilian Police Review Board will gather in front of City Hall at 4:30 p.m. on June 22, 2011, before the Public Safety Committee Meeting.We will have a short briefing about the main points of the proposed ordinance for a community police review board which was submitted to the City Commission in March 2011 and talk about how to get involved in this campaign.
Come and show your support for a truly independent civilian police review board which can receive, investigate and make determinations on complaints involving officers of the Gainesville Police Department.
Activists cry foul over FBI probe
By Peter Wallsten, Published: June 13
CHICAGO — FBI agents took box after box of address books, family calendars, artwork and personal letters in their 10-hour raid in September of the century-old house shared by Stephanie Weiner and her husband.
The agents seemed keenly interested in Weiner’s home-based business, the Revolutionary Lemonade Stand, which sells silkscreened infant bodysuits and other clothes with socialist slogans, phrases like “Help Wanted: Revolutionaries.”
The search was part of a mysterious, ongoing nationwide terrorism investigation with an unusual target: prominent peace activists and politically active labor organizers.
The probe — involving subpoenas to 23 people and raids of seven homes last fall — has triggered a high-powered protest against the Department of Justice and, in the process, could create some political discomfort for President Obama with his union supporters as he gears up for his reelection campaign.
The apparent targets are concentrated in the Midwest, including Chicagoans who crossed paths with Obama when he was a young state senator and some who have been active in labor unions that supported his political rise.
Investigators, according to search warrants, documents and interviews, are examining possible “material support” for Colombian and Palestinian groups designated by the U.S. government as terrorists.
The apparent targets, all vocal and visible critics of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and South America, deny any ties to terrorism. They say the government, using its post-9/11 focus on terrorism as a pretext, is targeting them for their political views.
They are “public non-violent activists with long, distinguished careers in public service, including teachers, union organizers and antiwar and community leaders,” said Michael Deutsch, a Chicago lawyer and part of a legal team defending those who believe they are being targeted by the investigation.
Several activists and their lawyers said they believe indictments could come anytime, so they have turned their organizing skills toward a counteroffensive, decrying the inquiry as a threat to their First Amendment rights.
Those who have been subpoenaed, most of them non-Muslim, include clerical workers, educators and in one case a stay-at-home dad. Some are lesbian couples with young children — a point apparently noted by investigators, who infiltrated the activists’ circle with an undercover officer presenting herself as a lesbian mother.
All 23 of the activists invoked their right not to testify before a grand jury, defying U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office is spearheading the investigation.
A spokesman for Fitzgerald, the Chicago prosecutor whose past work has sometimes riled both political parties, declined to comment.
It is uncertain whether Obama is aware of the investigation. A White House official referred questions to the Justice Department, where spokesman Matthew Miller said the agency will not comment on an investigation, but he disputed any assertion that people would be targeted for political activities.
“Whenever we open an investigation, it is solely because we have a reason to do so based on the facts, evidence and the law,”Miller said.
The activists have formed the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, organized phone banks to flood Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s office and the White House with protest calls, solicited letters from labor unions and faith-based groups and sent delegations to Capitol Hill to gin up support from lawmakers.
Labor backers include local and statewide affiliates representing the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, two of the most influential unions in the liberal movement. So far, nine members of Congress have written letters to the administration asking questions.
The major national labor organizations have not gotten involved in the case and are considered likely to support Obama’s reelection next year.
But some state and local union organizations are expressing alarm about the case, saying that the government appears to be scrutinizing efforts by workers to build ties with trade unionists in other countries.
“I am so disgusted when I see that so many union people have been targeted in this,” said Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, which represents clerical workers at the University of Minnesota, including four members who are possible targets.
The union’s statewide group, which says it represents 46,000 workers, called on Obama to investigate and passed a resolution expressing “grave concern” about the raids. Similar resolutions have been approved by statewide AFSCME and SEIU affiliates in Illinois.
If there are indictments, the case could test a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that found the ban on material support for designated foreign terrorist groups does not necessarily violate the First Amendment — even if the aid was intended for peaceful or humanitarian uses. The ruling held that any type of support could ultimately help a terrorist group’s pursuit of violence.
The probe appears to date from 2008, as a number of activists began planning for massive antiwar demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
After the convention, the FBI’s interest continued, apparently focused on the international work pursued by many of the participants. Several activists said they had traveled to Colombia or the Palestinian territories on “fact-finding” trips designed to bolster their case back home against U.S. military support for the Israeli and Colombian governments.
In 2009, a group raised money to travel and deliver about $1,000 to a Palestinian women’s group, but the delegation was turned back by officials at the airport in Israel, organizers said.
Search warrants, subpoenas and documents show that the FBI has been interested in links between the activists and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hezbollah.
In the early morning of Sept. 24, 2010, agents raided homes in Chicago and Minneapolis, issued subpoenas to 14 activists, and tried to question others around the country, including prominent antiwar organizers in North Carolina and California.
At 7 a.m., according to documents and interviews, about a dozen armed federal agents used a battering ram to force their way into Mick Kelly’s second-floor apartment, which sits over an all-night coffee shop in a working-class neighborhood of Minneapolis.
Kelly, 53, a cook in a University of Minnesota dormitory and a member of the Teamsters, said he was at work and his nightgown-clad wife, Linden Gawboy, was slow to answer the door.
Apparently by accident, the agents left something behind: a packet of secret documents headlined “Operation Order,” laying out detailed instructions for the FBI SWAT team to find clues of Kelly’s activism, including personal finances or those of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a far-left group he works with. The documents point to the FBI’s interest in Kelly’s foreign travel.
“We’ve done absolutely nothing wrong,” Kelly said. “We don’t know what this is about, but we know that our rights to organize and speak out are being violated.”
In Chicago, the raid at the home of Weiner, 49, also targeted her husband, Joe Iosbaker, 52, a University of Illinois-Chicago office worker and a union steward for his SEIU local. The couple are among the grassroots activists close to the world once inhabited by Barack Obama who have been caught up in the investigation.
Like others, Weiner and Iosbacker have been fixtures on the local liberal political scene, protesting police actions, attending antiwar rallies, leading pay equity fights and even doing some volunteer work for Obama’s past campaigns.
Tom Burke, who received a subpoena Sept. 24, had in 2004 discussed the plight of murdered Colombian trade unionists with then-state senator Obama.
“He was a sympathetic ear,” Burke said, recalling that Obama told him the murders were a “human rights problem.”
Hatem Abudayyeh, one of seven Palestinians to be subpoenaed in the investigation, recalls encountering Obama in the community during his years as a state legislator. Abudayyeh, 40, is executive director of the Arab American Action Network, a Chicago advocacy group that hosted then-state senator Obama for at least two events.
The role of the undercover officer, which defense lawyers said was confirmed in their talks with prosecutors, became clear in the weeks following the raids. She had joined a Minneapolis antiwar group, then joined demonstrations at the School of the Americas military training site in Fort Benning, Georgia, and at one point flying with a group to Israel on the trip that was thwarted at the airport.
“They were smart sending a 40-year-old lesbian,” said Meredith Aby, 38, a high school civics teacher and longtime organizer. “A good match,” added Jess Sundin, a university clerical worker.
Aby and Sundin, whose homes were raided and who received subpoenas, had helped lead a group called the Anti-War Committee that had coordinated with antiwar activists across the country to plan the demonstrations at the Republican convention.
Civil libertarians and other critics say the investigation fits a pattern for the FBI, pointing to a Justice Department inspector general’s report — issued three days before the raids — chiding the agency for monitoring the domestic political activities of Greenpeace, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups in the name of combating terrorism.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee and a close Obama ally, wrote Holder in April conveying the activists’ concerns that the probe was infringing on their rights.
“Clearly we need to have a bright line where people can exercise their civil rights, their civil liberties, to peacefully protest,” Schakowsky said in an interview.
Holder experienced the activists’ anger first hand last month, when Tracy Molm, 30, an AFSCME organizer whose apartment was raided, stood to interrupt a speech he was giving at the University of Minnesota. Holder, unaware that she was a possible investigation target, agreed to meet with her after the speech.
In a small room off the auditorium, with the attorney general flanked by aides and security, Molm demanded to know why the administration was pursuing the inquiry, she recalled later in an interview.
“He said they had a predicate for the investigation,” Molm said. “I said, ‘The predicates after 9/11 are nothing.’”
“We’re going to have to agree to disagree,” Holder replied, according to Molm.
At that point, Molm revealed that her apartment had been raided as part of the investigation. Holder and Justice Department officials abruptly ended the discussion.
For two Minneapolis queer families the morning of September 24, 2010 started at 7 am with banging on the door and FBI agents presenting search warrants and subpoenas to appear before a secret grand jury. Â While their young children watched, their homes were searched, and computers, cell phones, address books, pictures and political papers were carted out by the boxload. Â Similar raids were occurring in other Twin Cities homes, as well as in Chicago. Â Â It might seem surreal, but it is just another incident in the long and disturbing history of repression of both political activists and queer rights activists by the
U.S. government.Â
Back in the 1950s “President Eisenhower issued an executive order barring gay men and lesbians from all federal jobs. In 1955, against the backdrop of fear created by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s hunt for homosexuals and Communists, the FBI began a surveillance program against homosexuals.”
Members of the Minneapolis based Anti-War Committee can attest to the fact that this surveillance and harassment are continuing today. Â Many of its members are queer women, and the FBI took advantage of this fact,
sending an undercover law enforcement officer pretending to be a lesbian mother to infiltrate the AWC just prior to the Republican National Convention in 2008.
The mole, “Karen Sullivan,” worked side by side with members of the Anti-War Committee for over two years, the whole time pretending to be a
queer anti-war activist. During this time, she gained the trust and friendship of each member on the committee, claiming to work to end wars
of U.S. occupation around the world.  Then came the September 24th raids, and “Karen Sullivan” disappeared.  Questions and concern emerged,
and then the FBI confirmed that she had been spying and lying for them.
 The fact that she claimed to belong to the same oppressed minority as many of the committee just made her lying and betrayal that much more painful.
In September, fourteen people were subpoenaed, including five queer Minneapolis anti-war activists.  Since then nine more subpoenas and another raid have been carried out by the FBI in their unbelievable fishing expedition to find evidence of “material support for terrorism.”
 All twenty-three people that have been subpoenaed to testify have refused.  While the US government may think it can continue its McCarthyesque campaign of repression and harassment of queer peace activists, these people are fighting for their right to organize and continue to work for change.
Ways to get involved:
Go to stopfbi.net to sign the petition and for more information on our case.
Join us to stand up to any escalation of the attacks on anti-war and
international solidarity activists. Â Fight for the right to speak out, organize and to stand in solidarity with those who want freedom!
Call President Obama (202-456-1111) to say Stop FBI Repression of Antiwar Activists NOW!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arupa<barupa@...> Date: Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 7:43 PM Subject: Boycott Notice from the Coalition to End Meal Limits Now
To: Arupa <barupa@...>
What: Boycott Nathan Collier and Paradigm Properties/Collier Companies!
When: From now until the City Commission votes to feed everyone at the St. Francis House!
The Coalition to End the Meal Limit NOW!, a local, grassroots community coalition based around getting City Hall to vote to allow everyone to be fed at the St. Francis House, is calling for a boycott against Nathan Collier and his Paradigm Properties/Collier Companies based on the mounting evidence of Collier's influence over the decisions of the City Commissioners and his prejudiced stance towards the homeless in general. Emails have been uncovered from Collier to multiple Commissioners telling them to not only enforce the meal limit at the St. Francis House against the "vagrants" Downtown (Collier will only refer to homeless and underprivileged people as "vagrants," a de-humanizing term), but to make food sharing Downtown (including the St. Francis House) illegal altogether! It has become apparent that the City Council listens more to wealthy developers like Collier than they do to their constituents, who are overwhelmingly against the limit. This boycott is necessary because Gainesville cannot give money to a person who has hijacked democracy and who is spreading a message that the homeless are an army of vagrants "turning the Bo Diddley area into a de-militarized zone."
Collier and Paradigm Properties/Collier Companies owns major student apartment buildings like Arlington Square and College Park. If you are leasing from an apartment, please ask if it is connected to Nathan Collier in any way. If it is, please inform them that you will take your business elsewhere so long as the person profiting from you espouses prejudice and is attempting to use his influence to do away with food sharing with the underprivileged. Please also take a moment to call Collier Companies and give your opinion or ask hard questions regarding Nathan Colliers stance towards the homeless: 352-375-2152.
Just as a boycott has been called against Napalitino's for their stance towards the homeless veterans center, so too should conscious Gainesville residents boycott Nathan Collier for his prejudiced stance towards the homeless and hungry Downtown!
Rep. Kucinich writes letter to Attorney General Holder regarding FBI repression of anti-war and solidarity activists
Published on July 25, 2011 by StopFBI.net
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression is pleased to circulate the following letter from Congressman Kucinich, addressed to Attorney General Holder. Rep. Kucinich is the tenth Congressional representative to raise concerns about the FBI’s repression of anti-war and solidarity activists.
As the CSFR’s national campaign to end the repression gains momentum and growing support, the FBI attacks continue as antiwar and immigrants’ rights activist Carlos Montes, who was raided by the FBI in May, faces a court hearing on August 12 for six trumped-up felony charges brought against him. Like the other targets of the FBI raids,
Carlos Montes was a leader of the huge protests outside of the 2008 Republican National Convention. As Rep. Kucinich points out in his letter, the FBI repression originates from infiltration and surveillance
of permitted, non-violent protests at the 2008 RNC.
Finally we thank Rep. Kucinich for asking tough questions of Attorney
General Holder. We encourage other Congressional representatives and Senators to follow Rep. Kucinich’s example by standing strong in defense
of our civil liberties and speaking out against political repression.
July 25, 2011
For Immediate Release Nathan.White@...
(202)225-5871
The Honorable Eric Holder
Attorney General
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Re: Investigation of Midwest Anti-War Activists
Dear Attorney General Holder:
I am writing to express my concern over reports about the investigation that the Department of Justice has been conducting of anti-war activists in several cities including Minneapolis and Chicago. I
do not want to interfere in your investigation in any way, but there are two aspects of it that cause me great concern. I am hoping that your
answers to my questions will resolve my concerns.
The first aspect is that the investigation appears to have begun, as early as April of 2008, with the assignment of an undercover agent to infiltrate the meetings of anti-war groups and individuals who were planning protests and demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis that summer. The introduction of an undercover
agent into meetings of anti-war groups would normally be cause for concern in isolation, but it is especially worrisome in the context of other efforts during the previous administration to stifle legitimate anti-war dissent including, as disclosed last month, that the Bush White
House had asked the CIA to investigate Juan Cole, a University of Michigan professor who was a strong critic of the Iraq War. Why was an undercover agent assigned to infiltrate groups that were planning peaceful protests at the Republican National Convention? And, if the justification for that assignment was to determine whether any violent activities were being planned, why was that undercover operation continued after the Convention was over?
The second aspect is that the focus of the investigation appears to be whether these small, local groups have somehow provided “material support or resources” to foreign terrorist organizations. This suggestion defies credibility. What possible “material support or resources” could these small, local groups provide to foreign terrorist organizations? And, what contacts could they have conducted that would justify an investigation in which seven houses were searched and 23 individuals were subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury?
The statute that prohibits “material support or resources” to foreign
terrorist organizations is very broad and unclear. It has been amended several times in response to judicial decisions that have found its provisions to be unconstitutionally vague or overbroad. While the Supreme Court provided some guidance in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, that clarification did not exist until June 21, 2010.
Holder clarified the scope of conduct that could be prosecuted under the statute. However, almost 90% of the time period subject to your investigation occurred prior to that clarification. During those 26 months, the controlling legal authorities included the 2007 and 2009 decisions of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Humanitarian Law Project v. Mukasey,
which did not allow prosecution of individuals who provided “training,”
or “expert advice or assistance,” or “service” to those organizations. If that is the nature of the conduct that you are investigating, is it fair to bring criminal charges for acts that were viewed by some courts as lawful at the time they were committed?
One of the biggest problems with vague criminal statutes is the opportunity they provide for differential enforcement. The Washington Post and
other news sources have reported that former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, former White House
security adviser Frances Townsend, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani have publicly expressed their support for the Mujaheddin-e-Khalq (MEK), an organization that has been on the foreign terrorist list of the State Department since 1997. They spoke in support
of the MEK, in Paris last December, at a rally organized by an international group that lobbies for the MEK. Can their public advocacy truly be “independent,” within the meaning of the Holder decision, if it is solicited by an organization that lobbies for the MEK?
I fully support their constitutional rights to express their opinions
on this issue and any others. But, I don’t understand why their support
of a foreign terrorist organization goes unchallenged by law enforcement, while anti-war activists are targeted with FBI searches and
grand jury subpoenas. Is there any distinction that justifies the different treatment of these two groups other than the fact that one of them is composed of prominent people who support the wars conducted by two successive administrations and the other is composed of ordinary people who do not?
It has been reported recently that “the MEK has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists, PR agents and communications firms to build up pressure on Secretary Hillary Clinton to take the group off of the terrorist list.” In Holder, the Department of Justice, under both your direction and that of Attorney General Mukasey, argued that it
was a felony to file an amicus brief on behalf of a foreign terrorist organization, or even to engage in public advocacy on behalf of such an organization, unless that advocacy was totally “independent” of the organization. How do you reconcile those arguments with the total
absence of attention paid to lobbying activities in support of the MEK?
How do you reconcile that inaction with the apparent overkill that had been directed at the anti-war activists in Minneapolis and Chicago?
A federal prosecutor has tremendous power and resources. Because of that, he has a concomitant obligation to exercise that power with judgment and discretion. Is it good judgment to direct the overwhelming resources of the federal government onto small, local groups and individuals whose primary interest is peace? Is it good judgment to investigate them under a vague and broad statute whose text and interpretations have changed numerous times over the past decade? Is this really the best use of Department of Justice personnel?
While we were enjoying a couple of months of rest, US militarism continues its pernicious expansion. Join us in our weekly anti-militarism sign-holding tomorrow.
Our DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SCHEDULE is from 4:30 pm. to 6:30 pm., every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at Archer Rd. and 34th St., every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at Univ. Av. and 13th St.
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Jacque- thanks so much for saying hi
From: "jim funk" <jimfunk1@...>
Date: Sun, August 28, 2011 6:59 pm
To: jacque@...
al2011@...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
it was a pleasure talking to you. I like folks who can be serious and joke
around in an open way at the same time. Now if someone can tolerate my
foot and mouth disease it makes me really happy!
II'm sending this to my brother Alex as well so he could ask you directly
about your group. My brother is having a gathering sept 11 that I thought
you might like. ?He's got a big place- so bring some friends if you can
make it? (that ok Alex?) you could ask him if he wants to forward it to
your group. I will ask him if he wants to forward it to Shari and Scott.
The ole save the earth guy is down on ac- but I hope with a lot of people
he makes an exception.
Sorry Irene didn't bring your crops a little rain at least- but really got
to watch what we pray for!
take care, jim
Hi Everybody --
Apologies if you have received more than one of these.
In memory of the terrorist attacks on that day 10 years ago, I am hosting
a potluck supper and Documentary Viewing and Discussion, Sunday Sept 11 at
18h00 (6PM)
The address is 224 NE 10th Ave in Gainesville, 32601.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=29.661136,-82.32236
Phone (FLA) 214-0-412
If I have left anyone out, please let me know.
Send Email
