[Peace-discuss] Tue 5/31, Chicago:: "Then They Came for Me - Civil Liberties in Peril in Chicago"

[Morton K. Brussel]

Certainly support!  --mkb


On May 24, 2011, at 10:39 AM, Stuart Levy wrote:

> In case you might be in Chicago on Tuesday evening, May 31st,
> the American Friends Service Committee will have a panel on
> the ongoing use of FBI raids and grand jury subpoenas to threaten activists,
> and how the civil liberties community has been mobilizing in response...
> 
> [Whether any of us can attend or not, should AWARE register our support
> of this event?]
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Action Name: Then They Came for Me - Civil Liberties in Peril in Chgo
> 
> Action URL:
> http://icjpe.org/actions/Then-They-Came-for-Me-Civil-Liberties-in-Peril-in-Chgo
> [http://pjep.org/sso]
> 
> Action Mini URL: http://pjep.org/sso
> 
> Date:  2011-05-31
> 
> Event Time: 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
> 
> Location:  DePaul University, McGowan South Room 104
> 1110 W BELDEN AVE
> CHICAGO, IL, 60614-2245
> MAP [http://maps.google.com/?q=1110+W+BELDEN+AVE+CHICAGO%2C+IL%2C+60614-2245]
> 
> Organization: American Friends Service Committee
> 
> Description: On September 24, 2010 the FBI carried out a series of raids of
> homes and anti-war offices of public activists in Chicago and Minneapolis.
> Following the raids the Justice Department subpoenaed 23 Palestine and Colombia
> solidarity activists to appear before a Chicago grand jury headed by US Attorney
> Patrick Fitzgerald. A grand jury is a secret court proceeding where the jury
> members are not screened for bias, where a prosecutor questions witnesses
> without a defense attorney present, and where there is no judge.
> 
> Many believe that the government is testing a June, 2010 US Supreme Court
> ruling, Holder vs. the Humanitarian Law Project, which goes a long way in
> criminalizing political dissent. What do these FBI raids and the calling of a
> grand jury mean for the right of freedom of speech, public debate and peace and
> justice organizing in the US? How can this chill debate over this nation’s war
> policies, national security doctrine and role in the world?
> 
> Come hear from those who have been directly affected and from the Chicago civil
> liberties community, which has been mobilizing to bring to light the realities
> of grand jury proceedings and the right to freedom of speech.
> 
> Speaker Panel:
> 
> Moderated by MICHAEL MCCONNELL, Great Lakes Regional Director of the AFSC and
> ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.
> 
> MICHAEL DEUTSCH is an attorney with the People’s Law Office in Chicago. For over
> 40 years he has represented political activists and other victims of police and
> government civil rights violations.
> LEAH FRIED has been an organizer with the UE (United Electrical, Radio and
> Machine Workers of America) for 12 years.
> SARAH SMITH is a young Chicago student who participated in a delegation to
> Palestine and Israel, and shortly thereafter was subpoenaed by the FBI to appear
> before a grand jury.
> REEMA AHMAD is the Executive Director of Project Mobilize, a political action
> non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of politically marginalized
> communities at the local, state and national level.
> STEPHANIE WEINER teaches English in Chicago City Colleges, is a founder of
> AFSCME Local 3506, and is one of the activists raided and subpoenaed.
> HATEM ABUDAYYEH is Executive Director of the Arab American Action Network and
> one of the activists raided and subpoenaed.
> 
> Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Miryam Rashid at
> (312) 427-2533 x 18 or mrashid at afsc.org [mailto:mrashid at afsc.org]
> 
> Sponsored by American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International -
> Chicago, Coalition to Protect People’s Rights, Chicago Faith Coalition on Middle
> East Policy, Students for Justice in Palestine (DePaul), Chicago Committee
> Against Political Repression, Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in
> the Middle East, American Muslims for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace-Chicago,
> National Lawyers Guild, Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism, Council on
> American-Islamic Relations - Chicago, Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and
> Palestine, North Shore Coalition for Peace, Justice and the Environment, Chicago
> Area Peace Action, US Palestinian Community Network
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