Update on panelists for Wed eve Forum: Unity to Resist Government Crimes

[Neal...@aol.com]

Forum--

 

      UNITY TO RESIST GOVERNMENT CRIMES

 

-- FBI raids, grand juries, detention without trials, torture, deportation, assassinations-- instruments of government terror against those who refuse to be silent and stand up for rights.

---The right to resist.

 

PANELISTS:

-Jose Lopez--long-time organizer for Puerto Rican independence, who has experience of being jailed for refusing to talk to a Grand Jury, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center

 

-Stan Willis-- Chicago Chair of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, and Black People Against Police Torture

 

-J.R.-- organizer against evictions in the African-American and other communities, and against other injustices. Co-founder of the Chicago Anti- Eviction Campaign

 

-Jorge Mujica-- organizer on immigrant rights and May Day marches

 

--Maureen Murphy-- managing editor of The Electronic Intifada and a Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago organizer to speak on government attacks in the U.S. on Middle Easterners, Muslims and Palestinians, and their resistance

 

-Joe Iosbaker-- one of the 14 anti-war activists and organizers whose homes were raided on September 24, all of whom have refused to give testimony to the grand jury--and with an update on the additional 5 who have since been subpoened.

 

Wednesday, December 15, 6:30 pm,
with light refreshments available courtesy of the forum co-sponsor,  DePaul University’s Peace, Justice, & Conflict Studies Program.

The Forum program begins at 7 p.m.

 

PLACE: DePaul University, Lincoln Park campus, Room 161 in the Schmidt Academic Center, 2320 N. Kenmore, 2 blocks from the Red Line Fullerton stop.

 

For further information, contact the Forum Committee at 773.250.3335
or justi...@juno.com
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WHY IS THE GOVERNMENT ESCALATING ATTACKS ON ORGANIZERS WHO ARE RESISTING ITS CRIMES?

The U.S. is escalating its war drive. Not only is it continuing its brutal occupations and wars against Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and its billions of dollars in support of the ruthless Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is also escalating its threats against Iran and North Korea and China.. It is increasing its efforts to stop the struggles for self-determination and social justice in Latin America.

 

So the government needs a quiet home front to continue its terrorism and mass destruction abroad. It cannot tolerate those who are organizing inside the U.S. for the independence of Puerto Rico, for the rights of immigrants and against mass raids and deportations, for an end to the profiling and detentions of Muslims, Palestinians and other Middle Easterners, for the equal rights of African-Americans and against the repression and criminalization of youth, and for resistance fighters around the world.

 

To maintain and extend its empire for the benefit of U.S. monopolies, the government wants to silence and paralyze all the movements against its injustice, and create scapegoats to divert attention away from the deaths and destruction it is responsible for. It needs to disrupt and destroy organizations and their work for rights.

 

To suppress those who refuse to be silent, who refuse to stop mobilizing people for resistance, the government has enacted more and more repressive laws which show that it does not recognize the rule of law and shreds the Bill of Rights. The 1996 Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the 2001 Patriot Act greatly broadened the definition of terrorism and of “material support for terrorism.” Government actions have repeatedly shown that this support can be legal activity, like advocacy for refugees, or providing humanitarian aid, or printing interviews. By “terrorists,” the government means resistance fighters. The government-- itself the biggest terrorist the world has ever known--is declaring that organizers against its crimes should be severely punished for speaking or writing or marching or otherwise supporting resistance at home and abroad.

 

The 14 anti-war activists who have recently received subpoenas to appear before a Grand Jury have-- like many others before them-- stood up to say they will not cooperate with the witch hunts of the government. And five more activists have received subpoenas as of the second week of December.

 

To resist the government’s assaults on people’s rights at home and abroad, we need to unite people from all the struggles to turn things around and PUT THE GOVERNMENT ON TRIAL!

 

Let us together develop further an offensive against the government. Let’s use all our creative energies to develop effective tactics to fight for the rights of all. Especially, let’s together plan actions to bring out the close connections of all the resistance struggles at home and abroad, such as on the March anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and on May Day.

 

We can win victories by mobilizing masses of people to go on the offensive against the U.S. government crimes.

 

Let us reject the world U.S. imperialists have created and their claim that there’s no alternative. Let us work toward a new democracy of our own making--a society where the rights of all are upheld and the people are empowered to govern and decide. --by Betty and Neal Resnikoff