Seattle United Against FBI Repression

Seattle United Against FBI Repression was set up to defend the 23 Midwestern, mainly Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! activists arrested by the FBI for allegegedly supporting terrorists.

Letter to Holder and Obama

February 7, 2011, Seattle United Against FBI Repression, contacts: Ellen Finkelstein and Doug Barnes press release;

Local leaders and groups ask President Obama and U.S. Attorney General to end Grand Jury investigation of peace and solidarity activists...

More than 70 regional community leaders and organizations have signed an open letter calling on President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to use their authority to "stop assaults on freedom of speech and association, to halt FBI entrapment, [and] to keep nonviolent activists from being sent to prison.” The letter (attached) was issued by Seattle United Against FBI Repression.

Signers to the letter include Larry Gossett, Chair of the King County Council; Alice Woldt, Executive Director, Washington Association of Churches*; Pramila Jayapal, Executive Director, OneAmerica; Juan Jose Bocanegra, El Comité Pro-Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social; Angela Ying, Pastor, Bethany United Church of Christ; Rodolfo Franco, President, Washington Federation of State Employees Local 304*; Terri Mast, Secretary-Treasurer, Inlandboatmen's Union; Jafar Siddiqui, American Muslims of Puget Sound; George Bakan, publisher of Seattle Gay News; Steering Committee of the Seattle National Lawyers Guild; Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation; Freedom Socialist Party; Jane Cutter, ANSWER Seattle; Elmer J. Dixon, cofounder of Seattle Black Panther Party; and many others.

According to Doug Barnes, an initiator of Seattle United Against FBI Repression, “People from a variety of communities have signed the letter because of their concern about FBI raids around the country on peace activists, labor organizers, Palestinian and Colombian solidarity groups, and socialists.” The raids began on Sept. 24, 2010 in Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota. Twenty-three activists have been issued subpoenas to appear before a Grand Jury or face imprisonment.

The letter states, “Here in the Northwest, we have not forgotten the false FBI terrorism charges after 9/11 against the owners of a Somali grocery store and wire service in South Seattle. In 2009, Olympia activists planning nonviolent civil disobedience against the war in Iraq were infiltrated by an Army intelligence agent, who passed information to the FBI, police, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). …We are also disturbed by the FBI’s renewed targeting of the Muslim community with its so-called ‘sting operations.’…These FBI entrapment tactics are creating anti-Muslim hysteria in those communities, which should not be the policy of our government.”

The letter concludes, “We are greatly concerned about these threats to our democracy, our First Amendment rights, and the civil liberties of all people who reside in the United States.” Signers ask for a prompt “proactive response” from President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.

Signatories

• Larry Gossett, Chair, King County Council
• De'Sean Quinn, member Tukwila City Council
• Susan Segall, American Friends Service Committee, Pacific Northwest Region
• Alice Woldt Executive Director, Washington Association of Churches*
• Angela Ying, Pastor/Head of Staff, Bethany United Church of Christ
• Pramila Jayapal, Executive Director, OneAmerica.
• Rodolfo Franco, President, Washington Federation of State Employees L 304*
• Juan Jose Bocanegra, Oscar Rosales Castaneda, El Comite Pro-Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social
• Paul Rogat Loeb, Author of “Soul of a Citizen”
• K.L. Shannon, Police Accountability Chair, NAACP of King County
• Oscar Eason, Jr., community activist
• Terri Mast, Secretary-Treasurer, Inlandboatmen's Union
• Marline Pedregosa, Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU, Local 6*
• Mel Kang, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Seattle Chapter*
• Paul Bigman, Business Representative, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 15*
• Mike Andrew, Pride At Work, MLK County Chapter
• Steering Committee of the Seattle National LawyersGuild Chapter
• Elmer J. Dixon, Co-founder and former member of Seattle Black Panther Party
• Arab-American Community Coalition

Rev. Rich Lang, Trinity United Methodist Church Women In Black - Seattle Ellen Finkelstein, Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation Gerry Condon, Veterans for Peace Heather Day, Community Alliance for Global Justice Neil Fox, Attorney at law and member of the National Lawyers Guild Ziyad Zatoun, concerned activist Doug Barnes, Freedom Socialist Party National Secretary Anne Slater, Radical Women National Organizer Patricia Imani, member Port Militarization Resistance Lois Danks, Coordinator Stop the Checkpoints Marilyn Mayers, Peace Ministry team, East Shore Unitarian Church Karen Weill, Dean Tuckerman, Larry Hildes, members of the National Lawyers Guild. Cindy Domingo, Co-Chair, U.S. Women & Cuba Collaboration and former National Coordinator, Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes Mike Withey, Attorney at Law, Attorney for the Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes Jane Cutter coordinator, ANSWER Seattle Palestine Solidarity Committee - Seattle Edward Mast, Linda Bevis, Palestine Information Project Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign Garry Owens, Legacy of Equality, Leadership and Organizing (LELO) Socialist Alternative - Seattle

• Leela Yellesetty, Seattle International Socialist Organization
• Voices of Palestine
• Peace Action Group of Plymouth Church UCC, Seattle Washington
• Seattle International Human Rights Coalition
• Jafar Siddiqui, American Muslims of Puget Sound
• James Squire, Physicians for a National Health Program*
• Mark Cook, member of Seattle Jericho
• Jonathan Lawson, Co-founder, Reclaim the Media

Colette Cosner, Regional Organizer, Witness for Peace Northwest Bill Aal, Co-founder, Tools for Change Chaim Eliyah, Coordinator, Seattle CISPES- Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador George Bakan, publisher, civil rights activist - Seattle Gay News Dan DiLeva, Socialist Alternative & October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality* Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture Jamie Mayerfeld, Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture Rev. Wesley Nordman, Pastor, Woodland Park Presbyterian Church Luzviminda Uzuri "Lulu" Carpenter, Secretary General of Pinay sa Seattle, of GABRIELA-USA Ruth Yarrow, Mike Yarrow, Karen Jones, & John Repp, members of the Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War (SNOW) steering committee Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity (OWLS), Seattle/King County - a multi-union organization for workers' rights Henry Noble, member International Association of Machinists 751 retired Martha L. Schmidt, Attorney at Law and member of National Lawyers Guild Aline B. Carton, Attorney at Law and member of National Lawyers Guild Duff Badgley, Coordinator for No Biomass Burn, a Seattle eco-activist group Larry Ebersole, MA, Amnesty International USA Area Coordinator in WA*