FBI infiltrator prepared government raid on antiwar groups in Minneapolis and Chicago

[Hannah Bell]

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression has revealed that a government agent infiltrated the Anti-War Committee (AWC) and later the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) during a two-and-a-half year undercover operation leading up to the raids of activists’ homes and offices on September 24, 2010. The raids, based on the bogus charge of providing “material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations,” initiated a government crackdown that resulted in subpoenas requiring 23 activists appear before a federal grand jury in Chicago...

At a press conference, subpoenaed AWC and FRSO member Jess Sundin outlined how Sullivan had become involved during preparations for the legally permitted demonstrations at the 2008 Republican National Convention held in St. Paul, Minnesota. Sullivan worked her way up, chairing meetings, giving public speeches, and assisting with bookkeeping, in the process gaining access to membership lists and “unimpeded access to our financial records,” said Sundin.

“On September 24th, federal agents burst into our homes and turned our lives upside down,” said Sundin of the raids...While other AWC supporters rallied after the raids, “one person disappeared entirely,” said Sundin, “a person we thought was a fellow activist and who had claimed to be our friend: Karen Sullivan. This woman not only worked with us in the Anti-War Committee and other groups, she involved herself in our personal lives. Getting to know our children, joining in birthday celebrations, paying visits on our families when someone’s sick.”

Sullivan took part in trips both within the US and to the Middle East posing as an activist. In this role she may have been used to finger Palestinians and Columbians for arrest or killing to the CIA, the Israeli Defense Forces, Mossad, and the Colombian secret police. In one case, Sullivan evidently sought to obtain trade union contacts from one AWC member who had been to Colombia, a country where in 2008 the International Trade Union Confederation claims more trade unionists were murdered than in the rest of the world combined.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/fbir-j26.shtml



TAKE ACTION! HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1) SIGN the National Petition to Stop FBI Repression of Activists
2) CALL President Obama (202-456-1111) and US Attorney General Eric Holder (202-353-1555) and demand: Stop the repression, Immediately return all confiscated materials, No grand jury proceedings
3) DONATE or mail checks to Committee to Stop FBI Repression, PO Box 14183, Minneapolis, MN 55414
4) VOLUNTEER your time and skills. Organize an event, join a support committee, help with web design, graphics, or any number of other things.

Coming Up:

Save the date! On February 12th there will be regional solidarity conferences all around the country to discuss next steps for fighting back against FBI repression. To get involved with the conference in NYC, email [e-mail]

http://www.nycsocialist.org/

[truedelphi]

1. Thank you for posting this. Today the head of Egypt fled to

England, while the "emergency measures" that were oppressing the people of Egypt are to be lifted.

Be nice if we could get back to having a democracy here in the USA.

[JohnyCanuck]

2. K&R n/t

[gratuitous]

3. Ah, the bad old days of COINTELPRO

The past isn't dead and gone; hell, it's not even gone.

[Robb]

4. If true, and that's a big if

...Oopsie. :D

ETA: I'm reading elsewhere there were two undercover agents.