[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [ALACOUN:11377] The beginning of a witch hunt

[Al Kagan]

>Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 15:17:56 -0500
>To: ALA Council List <alacoun at ala1.ala.org>
>From: Mark Rosenzweig <iskra at earthlink.net>
>Subject: [ALACOUN:11377] The beginning of a witch hunt
>Cc: alacoun at ala.org, member-forum at ala.org
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>This news item is one of the most chilling I've seen about the fate 
>of intellectual freedom and the right to dissent under the Bush 
>administration. Drake University has been ordered to divulge the 
>records of anti-war students and faculty and the files  of the local 
>National Lawyers Guild, sponsor  of an anti-war forum there, have 
>also been ordered by a federal judge.
>
>Note that a woman who is a librarian was falsely charged and arrested.
>
>These subpoenas and the Grand Jury which is convened\ are a test of 
>the right to dissent.
>
>Please see this article. I am interested in what ALA ( as well as 
>SRRT & PLG) might do.
>
>Mark Rosenzweig
>SRRTAC
>Councilor at large, ALA
>
>
>  	Feds Win Right to War Protesters' Records  
>
>February 7, 2004 02:06 PM EST  
>
>
>DES MOINES, Iowa - In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in 
>decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over 
>records about a gathering of anti-war activists.
>
>In addition to the subpoena of Drake University, subpoenas were 
>served this past week on four of the activists who attended a Nov. 
>15 forum at the school, ordering them to appear before a grand jury 
>Tuesday, the protesters said.
>
>Federal prosecutors refuse to comment on the subpoenas.
>
>In addition to records about who attended the forum, the subpoena 
>orders the university to divulge all records relating to the local 
>chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a New York-based legal 
>activist organization that sponsored the forum.
>
>The group, once targeted for alleged ties to communism in the 1950s, 
>announced Friday it will ask a federal court to quash the subpoena 
>on Monday.
>
>"The law is clear that the use of the grand jury to investigate 
>protected political activities or to intimidate protesters exceeds 
>its authority," guild President Michael Ayers said in a statement.
>
>Representatives of the Lawyer's Guild and the American Civil 
>Liberties Union said they had not heard of such a subpoena being 
>served on any U.S. university in decades.
>
>Those served subpoenas include the leader of the Catholic Peace 
>Ministry, the former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network, a member 
>of the Catholic Worker House, and an anti-war activist who visited 
>Iraq in 2002.
>
>They say the subpoenas are intended to stifle dissent.
>
>"This is exactly what people feared would happen," said Brian 
>Terrell of the peace ministry, one of those subpoenaed. "The civil 
>liberties of everyone in this country are in danger. How we handle 
>that here in Iowa is very important on how things are going to 
>happen in this country from now on."
>
>The forum, titled "Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!" 
>came the day before 12 protesters were arrested at an anti-war rally 
>at Iowa National Guard headquarters in Johnston. Organizers say the 
>forum included nonviolence training for people planning to 
>demonstrate.
>
>The targets of the subpoenas believe investigators are trying to 
>link them to an incident that occurred during the rally. A Grinnell 
>College librarian was charged with misdemeanor assault on a peace 
>officer; she has pleaded innocent, saying she simply went limp and 
>resisted arrest.
>
>"The best approach is not to speculate and see what we learn on 
>Tuesday" when the four testify, said Ben Stone, executive director 
>of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, which is representing one of the 
>protesters.
>
>Mark Smith, a lobbyist for the Washington-based American Association 
>of University Professors, said he had not heard of any similar case 
>of a U.S. university being subpoenaed for such records.
>
>He said the case brings back fears of the "red squads" of the 1950s 
>and campus clampdowns on Vietnam War protesters.
>
>According to a copy obtained by The Associated Press, the Drake 
>subpoena asks for records of the request for a meeting room, "all 
>documents indicating the purpose and intended participants in the 
>meeting, and all documents or recordings which would identify 
>persons that actually attended the meeting."
>
>It also asks for campus security records "reflecting any 
>observations made of the Nov. 15, 2003, meeting, including any 
>records of persons in charge or control of the meeting, and any 
>records of attendees of the meeting."
>
>Several officials of Drake, a private university with about 5,000 
>students, refused to comment Friday, including school spokeswoman 
>Andrea McDonough. She referred questions to a lawyer representing 
>the school, Steve Serck, who also would not comment.
>
>A source with knowledge of the investigation said a judge had issued 
>a gag order forbidding school officials from discussing the subpoena.
>
>---
>
>On the Net:
>
>Drake University: http://www.drake.edu/
>
>National Lawyers Guild: http://www.nlg.org/
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
>	 
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
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