[Ppnews] FBI raids homes of Occupy protesters in Oregon and Washington

[Political Prisoner News]

*FBI raids homes of Occupy protesters in Oregon and Washington*

*By Tom Carter
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32182.htm
*
August 14, 2012 "Information Clearing House 
<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/>" --  Over the last month, 
heavily armed "domestic terrorism" units of the FBI used battering rams 
and stun grenades to conduct early-morning raids on the homes of 
political protesters in Seattle and Olympia, Washington and Portland, 
Oregon. On July 25, three homes were raided in Portland alone and, since 
July 10, as many as six homes have been raided.

These raids are only the latest in an emerging pattern of similar raids 
conducted by the Obama administration in order to terrorize, suppress 
and chill political dissent, in flagrant violation of the US 
Constitution and Bill of Rights.

"The warrants are sealed," FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele told the/ 
Oregonian/ newspaper, "and I anticipate they will remain sealed." Steele 
described the raids as part of an "ongoing violent crime" investigation, 
which is related to the recent Occupy May Day protests, during which a 
number of minor acts of vandalism allegedly took place.

At 6:00 a.m. on July 25, Dennison Williams was asleep in his Portland 
home when FBI agents smashed down his door without warning with a 
battering ram and threw flash or stun grenades into the building. FBI 
agents armed with assault rifles then stormed into Williams' bedroom, 
pointed their rifles at him while they handcuffed him, and forced him to 
sit in a chair for a half an hour without pants on while they searched 
his apartment.

Williams, a 33-year-old self-described anarchist who helped run an 
information booth at recent protests and events, reported that FBI 
agents boxed up and removed his laptop computer, political literature, 
his cell phone, thumb drives, and various pieces of clothing bearing 
political slogans.

Neighbors described yelling and multiple loud bangs and saw swarms of 
agents in body armor using a battering ram against the front door of 
Williams' home. Similarly disproportionate displays of force and 
violence were involved in the other raids.

According to the/ Oregonian, /a search warrant was left behind during 
one of the raids (available here 
<http://media.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/other/DWsearchwarrant.pdf>). 
The warrant indicates that the agents were seeking, among other items, 
"anti-government or anarchist literature or material" and "documentation 
and communications related to the offenses, including but not limited to 
notes, diagrams, letters, diary and journal entries, address books, and 
other documentation in written or electronic form."

In one of the raids, eyewitnesses reported as many as 80 agents in body 
armor, wearing military fatigues, and armed with assault rifles 
participating in the raid. No arrests were made in any of the raids, but 
as many as six protesters have been subpoenaed to appear before grand 
juries.

Two of the subpoenaed protesters, Williams and Leah Plante, 24, read a 
statement outside the courthouse on August 1: "This grand jury is a tool 
of political repression. It is attempting to turn individuals against 
each other by coercing those subpoenaed to testify against their 
communities. The secret nature of grand jury proceedings creates 
mistrust and can undermine solidarity. And imprisoning us takes us from 
our loved ones and our responsibilities."

Williams and Plante declared their intentions to refuse to answer 
questions on the basis of their constitutional rights.

The "Pure Pop" record store, where Ms. Plante worked, issued a statement 
on its web site: "We at Pure Pop are unaware of the specifics of Leah's 
current legal troubles but in her time at Pure Pop Records she 
demonstrated high character and integrity. We wish her luck, safety and 
perseverance."

While the /World Socialist Web Site/ has fundamental political 
differences with the various anarchist elements active in the Occupy 
protests, we unreservedly defend the democratic rights of these groups 
and individuals, and we demand an end to the campaign of intimidation 
and repression against them.

This is not the first of such raids that has been carried out by the 
Obama administration. In September 2010, the administration ordered 
raids on the homes of leaders of the Anti-War Committee (AWC) and the 
Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) in Minneapolis and Chicago, 
and subpoenaed 23 people to testify before grand juries.

The Minneapolis and Chicago raids were similar in form to the recent 
raids in Oregon and Washington: doors smashed in without warning by 
agents with assault rifles and body armor, inhabitants terrorized, and 
property scooped up and confiscated. The Obama administration justified 
raids using the "material support for terrorism" provisions of the USA 
PATRIOT Act.

In the period leading up to the recent NATO protests in Chicago in May, 
similar trumped-up "terror" charges were leveled against three young 
anti-war protesters. Also in May, five young men described as 
"anarchists" were ensnared in a so-called "terrorist plot" in Cleveland, 
Ohio.

The question arises whether the recent FBI raids in Oregon and 
Washington were prepared by undercover police infiltration of groups 
around the Occupy May Day protests earlier in the year. In the cases of 
the Minneapolis and Chicago raids in 2010, at least one undercover FBI 
spy active in preparing the raids was subsequently exposed. (See "FBI 
infiltrator prepared government raid on antiwar groups in Minneapolis 
and Chicago <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/fbir-j26.shtml>") 
The "terror plots" in Chicago and Cleveland also involved undercover 
provocateurs, who convinced the protesters to carry out the plot and 
even supplied them with dummy equipment to carry it out. (See "Chicago 
police frame antiwar activists on 'terrorism' charges 
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/terr-m21.shtml>" and "FBI 
provocateur ensnares Cleveland protesters in 'bomb plot' 
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/clev-m03.shtml>")

The gravity and seriousness of the Obama administration's issuance of 
warrants to search homes for "anti-government literature or material" 
cannot be understated. It suggests that possession of such literature is 
now being considered evidence of criminal activity or "terrorism."

The Obama administration's decision to target political protesters for 
"anti-terror" operations signals that the police-state measures 
implemented in the so-called "war on terror," ostensibly to fight Al 
Qaeda, are actually being utilized against domestic political 
dissenters, labeled "terrorists." In the years since the launch of the 
endless so-called "war on terror," all legal restraints have been 
removed on what can be done to someone labeled a "terrorist." The Obama 
administration has openly asserted the power to unilaterally assassinate 
such individuals.

The American ruling class knows that its policies of brutal austerity, 
unending attacks on wages and living standards, and continual wars and 
occupations abroad will eventually encounter popular resistance. But the 
ruling class is determined to continue to pile up fantastic fortunes at 
the expense of the rest of society no matter the cost. As far as this 
layer is concerned, no form of political repression is too abominable to 
be used to protect the privileges and obscene wealth of the tiny few at 
the top.

For Obama (advertised as a "constitutional lawyer") and the rest of his 
regime, elementary, centuries-old democratic protections---such as the 
First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourth Amendment right to 
be free from unreasonable searches and seizures---count for nothing. 
With the unconditional backing of the ruling class, the Obama government 
routinely imprisons, tortures, and murders its opponents abroad; asserts 
the unlimited power to do the same to US citizens; and conducts illegal 
warrantless spying against millions of ordinary Americans on a daily basis.

The ramped-up raids on the homes of Occupy protesters are further 
refutation of the conception, advanced during the Occupy protests, that 
the Obama administration and the Democratic Party can be "pressured" by 
popular demonstrations into reversing their policies. The response of 
the ruling class and both of its political parties to popular 
demonstrations is not reform, but dictatorship and repression.

/This article was originally published at / /WSWS/ 
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/fbir-a13.shtml>

Copyright © 1998-2012 /World Socialist Web Site/ -

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20120815/5bef1b59/attachment.htm>