|
Greens warn of an increase
in FBI abuse of constitutional rights and illegal COINTELPRO tactics
against law-abiding citizens and organizations.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Following
last week's legal victory by environmental activists against the FBI in
federal court, the Green Party of the United States raised concerns
about legal abuses as Attorney General Ashcroft announced expanded
powers for the agency.
"The behavior of FBI officers in the Earth First! case isn't an
aberration," said David Cobb, Green Party candidate for Attorney
General of Texas. "It's a pattern we've seen ever since J. Edgar
Hoover's surveillance of prominent leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King,
since COINTELPRO, and since the secret campaign to fire former
University of California President Clark Kerr, recently revealed by
journalist Seth Rosenfeld. Rather than new license to interfere with
people's right to dissent, the FBI needs what any powerful
law-enforcement body needs in a democracy -- accountability."
Activists Darryl Cherney and the late Judi Bari triumphed in their
federal civil rights lawsuit against several FBI agents and Oakland
Police officers when the jury returned a favorable verdict and awarded
the plaintiffs $4.4 million for various FBI and police violations of
their constitutional rights after a car they occupied was bombed on May
24, 1990.
"It's outrageous, in the wake of the Cherney-Bari verdict and the
FBI's willful negligence in the face of last year's evidence of
impending terrorism, as documented by agent Colleen Rowley, that
Attorney General Ashcroft and FBI Director Mueller are assigning to
themselves and to the FBI greater power to spy on legitimate groups and
organizers," said Elizabeth Shanklin, Green candidate for U.S.
Congress in New York's 17th Congressional District.
Greens note that COINTELPRO targeted thousands of law-abiding Americans,
but resulted in few indictments, convictions, or even accusations of
criminal behavior. Although the FBI's illegal COINTELPRO activities were
banned in the 1970s, they continued through the 80s and 90s, with covert
operations against religious and pacifist groups opposing U.S. foreign
policy in Central America and other civil rights, environmental, and
Native American organizations.
The Bush Administration seeks to restore COINTELPRO-style FBI powers:
monitoring activists' meetings, electronic surveillance of groups and
citizens, and other tactics the agency deems appropriate.
"The President says these powers will give agents means to stop
terrorists," said Charles Pillsbury, Green candidate for
Congress in Connecticut's 3rd District. "But 'enemy of the state'
can mean just about anybody -- non-violent environmentalists like Bari
and Cherney, anti-globalization protesters, Greens, and anyone else who
might question White House policy or object to the tactics of the FBI or
Ashcroft's Justice Department."
FBI and police officers were found to have violated the First and Fourth
Amendments in 1990 by arresting Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari and
searching their homes; by creating a media smear campaign in which Earth
First! was labeled a terrorist organization and the activists called
bombers; by collecting extensive files on political groups in the Bay
Area; by engaging in a secret investigation of Earth First!; by
concocting a fake informant tip, other information to implicate the
activists, and at least one fraudulent search warrant affidavit; and by
ignoring evidence at the scene of the bomb blast that injured Cherney
and Bari.
"Bari was an effective organizer, and she was bombed for it,"
said Ben Manski, Green Party Co-Chair and a veteran of Earth First!
campaigns in Wisconsin and Oregon. "America has lost too many of
our most courageous leaders to police violence and intimidation. The
cost to society of such violence against activists is very high, and
it's got to stop."
"In a world where George Bush says you're either with the
terrorists or against the terrorists, the FBI sided with the terrorists
in our case," said Darryl Cherney.
Contacts:
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
More Information:
The Green Party of the United States http://gpus.org
http://www.gp.org
National office:
1314 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Index of Green Party candidates in 2002 http://www.gp.org/patience.html
search:
rgt, lwcj, trr
|
