Chicago Union Steward Targeted In FBI Raid Says It's Effort To Intimidate Anti-War Movement

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/14265

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on October 10, 2010 - 7:47pm
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By Doug Cunningham

The recent FBI raids on peace activists, a union member and university employees in Chicago and Minnesota’s Twin Cities are efforts to intimidate activists. That’s according to Chicago attorney Melinda Power.

: “Government cannot have their right to stop people from exercising their First Amendment rights to express their public opposition to what the government is doing here in the United States, in Afghanistan or anywhere in the world. The government is saying you cannot say we don’t like what the government is doing. We’re here because we think, yes people have a right to publicly object, to demonstrate, to march, to voice our oppositions to the policy of the government.”

The September 24th raids included twenty FBI agents barging into the Chicago home of SEIU Local 73 union steward Joe Isobaker. The FBI stayed for twelve hours, searching through everything in the home and taking away a host of personal items.

: “We denounce the FBI raids. These raids, searches and grand jury investigations are nothing more than an attempt to intimidate us and to intimidate the antiwar movement. We have done nothing wrong. We’re being targeted because we oppose the criminal wars and occupations launched by our government in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The FBI targeted anti-war activists, Arab-American activists and activists against U.S. military aid to Colombia. The government claims it’s part of an anti-terrorist investigation. The activists maintain their actions are peaceful and lawful exercises of their constitutional rights.

(Audio courtesy of Chicago's Labor Express program)