VIGOROUSLY OPPOSE MASS DETENTIONS AND PERSECUTION OF
POLITICAL FORCES!

SMASH THE SILENCE ON OPPOSITION TO U.S. IMPERIALIST
AGGRESSION!

The U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization calls on the
American working class and people to go all out to
step up the fight against the state terrorism and
political persecution being unleashed by the U.S.
ruling circles and their police and security forces in
the name of the "war on terrorism." The secret
detention of hundreds by federal officials must be
vigorously opposed and all attempts to justify the
disappearing of hundreds based on "suspicion of
terrorism" and "questioning" must be vehemently
denounced.

Even as the American people are increasingly
questioning in earnest the U.S. aggression against
Afghanistan and attacks on civil liberties being
undertaken in the name of the "war on terrorism," the
U.S. ruling circles are moving at a rapid pace to
secure arrangements for repression at home and
increased war abroad. Public opinion is being prepared
to accept officially sanctioned arbitrariness and
impunity by anyone in a position of "authority."
Developments show that anyone may be the target of
detention, arrest or persecution. The line that
individuals, organizations or whole communities must
"keep quiet" and "not make trouble" to avoid appearing
"unpatriotic" or in support of "terrorists" is being
clearly revealed as an attempt to hoodwink the people
into believing that the actions by the U.S. government
at home and abroad are supported by everyone. If the
ruling circles had such unanimous support, what is the
need for disappearing people and openly attacking
political forces standing opposed to the war in
Afghanistan?

Putting in place arrangements which sanction police
impunity, completely rob the people of even the
semblance of due process and criminalize the right to
conscience is aimed not at stopping terrorism but to
"identify, disrupt and dismantle" the movement of the
people for change. The ruling circles are rapidly
putting these new arrangements in place and increasing
their blatant attacks on the people. No one should be
caught unaware, thinking this does not pose grave
dangers for all, or that it "won't happen to me." Far
from it, the necessity is to challenge these brutal
attacks as soon as they arise and smash the silence on
opposition to U.S. imperialist aggression abroad and
repression at home.

We are providing below news analysis that shows the
gravity of the situation and underscores the necessity
to step up the fight for new arrangements that favor
the peoples of the U.S. and the world.

INDEFINITE, SECRET DETENTION OF MORE THAN 1000

As of November 5, according to Justice Department
spokeswoman Mindy Tucker, 1,182 people have been
arrested or detained by the federal government "in
connection with the investigation" into the September
11 terrorist attacks. Tucker said the majority are
still being held, news sources report. Thousands upon
thousands more have been visited in their homes and
places of work by FBI and other police agents, hauled
into police stations for questioning and denied entry
or removed from airports and airplanes.

Almost all those detained or harassed are Arabs or
South Asians, Americans of Arab or South Asian origin
or those with Muslim or Muslim sounding names.
Hundreds of people have simply been disappeared off
the streets by federal police forces. At this time,
aside from a very few cases, the Justice Department
has kept secret the detainees' names, whereabouts and
what charges, if any, they are being held under. The
few reports available indicate that those being held
are being denied access to lawyers, refused bail and
are being held even if cleared of any crime. Family
members, colleagues and friends have been forced to
turn to civil libertarians, legal and social defense
organizations to try and locate those disappeared by
federal agents.

Attorney General John Ashcroft has made clear that any
can be targeted in the current situation based only on
the declaration that they are a "suspected terrorist."
Ashcroft has said the federal government will "arrest
and detain any suspected terrorist" and keep them in
custody "as long as possible." While Ashcroft
emphasized that "suspected terrorists" will be
arrested for any violation, including "spitting on the
sidewalk," statements by government officials indicate
that the majority being held have not even "spit on
the sidewalk." While federal officials have refused to
give most details regarding the 1,182 being held, they
say they fall into three categories: those arrested by
the INS for immigration violations; those arrested and
charged with federal, state or local criminal charges;
and those held on material witness warrants. When
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on November 6
that the "lion's share" of those detained "in
connection" with September 11 have been released, the
White House quickly clarified that he was referring
only to those arrested on criminal charges. The INS
meanwhile, said on November 2 that they were only
holding 185 people, new sources report. In other
words, hundreds of those still detained are not being
held on any criminal charge or immigration violation
but simply because the government claims they may have
information.

These actions are on the rise. News sources report
that since October 10 the number being detained has
increased 66 percent. Some 100 more were detained
between November 1 and 5 alone. To date, not a single
charge has been laid in connection with September 11.

ARMED GUARDSMAN STOP GREEN PARTY MEMBER

A November 2 media alert from The Greens/Green Party
USA (G/GPUSA) reports: "Armed government agents
grabbed Nancy Oden, Green Party USA coordinating
committee member, Thursday [November 1] at Bangor
International Airport in Bangor, Maine, as she
attempted to board an American Airlines Flight to
Chicago." Oden was quoted in the media alert as
saying, "An official told me my name had been flagged
in the computer."

Oden is a sixty-year-old long-time organic farmer and
peace activist in northern Maine. She was ordered away
from the plane despite the fact that an extra search
turned up nothing. "Military personnel with automatic
weapons surrounded Oden and instructed all airlines to
deny her passage on ANY flight," the media alert
reported. "I was told that the airport was closed to
me until further notice and that my ticket would not
be refunded," Oden said. "Not only did they stop me at
the airport but some mysterious party had called the
hotel and cancelled my reservation," she said.

According to the media alert, Oden was scheduled to
speak in Chicago on November 2 on a panel concerning
pesticides as weapons of war. The Greens National
Committee met in Chicago November 2-4 "to hammer out
details of national campaigns against bio-chemical
warfare, the spraying of toxic pesticides, genetic
engineering, and the Party's involvement in the
burgeoning peace movement." Oden, the media alert
said, "helped to coordinate the Green Party USA's
antiwar efforts these past few months, and was to
report on these to The Greens national committee." The
media alert quotes Oden as saying, "I was targeted
because the Green Party USA opposes the bombing of
innocent civilians in Afghanistan." An October 19
statement by G/GPUSA called for an immediate end to
the bombing of Afghanistan and denounced the
aggression as state terrorism.

Bangor International Airport, FBI and Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) officials quoted in the Bangor
Daily News referred to new FAA guidelines and an FBI
"terrorist watch list" as triggers for Ms. Oden's name
being flagged and the subsequent "added security
response." None would state a specific reason for the
actions against Oden and none would specify what the
criteria is for either the FAA guidelines or the FBI's
"terrorist watch lists." None denied that an
individual's political affiliation or opinions could
be part of such a list. Likewise, "industry officials"
quoted regarding the FAA guidelines would not say what
the criteria set forth in those guidelines was, saying
only that it did not include federally protected
characteristics such as race, religion, age or sex.

Even the statements by various officials which sought
to justify the actions against Ms. Oden reveal the
extent to which public opinion is being prepared for
further attacks against the people, the
criminalization of dissent and impunity on a
widescale. In an interview posted on
wartimeliberty.com, Ms. Oden states that she
questioned the extensive "security screening," asked
the official using a hand-held metal detector not to
touch her and jerked her arm away when she was
accosted by a National Guardsman who asked her if she
"knew what happened on September 11." No one disputes
that she did allow them to complete their search of
both her person and her baggage.

American Eagle spokesman Kurt Iverson, quoted in the
Bangor Daily News, rendered events as follows: "She
[Oden] was uncooperative during the screening process.
... Obviously if they can't submit to screening,
[Federal Aviation Administration] regulations require
that they not be allowed to board the plane." In other
words, submitting to the screening process means not
questioning it. Implicit in this attempted
justification is the notion that the actions against
Ms. Oden are "reasonable" simply because she
questioned what was happening.

"SHARING OF INFORMATION" AND CRIMINALIZING DISSENT

A feature of the new USA PATRIOT Act is that it
permits widespread spying on Americans and allows
police forces to secure and share all variety of
information about individuals and groups who have
committed no crime. State agencies are not required to
reveal the information obtained nor the criteria by
which individuals or groups are deemed to pose "a
threat to national security," or be a "suspected
terrorist."

FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, speaking to the
National Press Club on October 17 on "The New World of
Aviation" emphasized the importance of "information
sharing across key government agencies." She said,
"Since September 11 we have experienced constant
sharing of information, specifically with intelligence
and law enforcement agencies." She added, "Still the
longer-term challenge is a central database against
which passengers and employees can be checked." She
too referred to "FBI watch lists."

As well, news sources report that this month, the T.
F. Green Airport in Rhode Island will be the first
airport to fully utilize "facial recognition"
technology among its security measures. What activist
has not had the experience of being videotaped or
photographed by police while participating in a
demonstration? With officials refusing to elaborate
any criteria for placing people on "watch lists" or
triggering FAA security measures, who can doubt that
the sharing of databases and technology like facial
recognition will not be correlated to target any
political opponent of the regime carrying out
everyday, lawful activities? Likewise, who can doubt
that this new "information sharing across key
government agencies" will be used to link names from
airplane ticket purchases and the like to identify
individuals in video footage from demonstrations?

IMPUNITY AND OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED POLITICAL
PERSECUTION SPELLS GRAVE DANGER FOR ALL THE PEOPLE

The seriousness of the situation must not be
diminished nor dismissed. Government officials from
President Bush on down continue to issue their
ultimatums that "either you are with us or you are
with the terrorists." Ongoing developments show that
anyone can be assaulted at any time and they have no
remedy whatsoever. The onus is being put on each
individual to "prove their innocence." The indefinite
detention of hundreds based on information they
supposedly have, and the actions against Ms. Oden for
no other reason than her political views and
affiliation, underscore the question: innocent of
what? And to whom are they to "prove their innocence"?
Actual charges and evidence of a crime, judicial
review, public scrutiny and all the norms of due
process are being eliminated. This is what impunity
is. Airport personnel, military personnel, border
patrol agents, police forces and a host of others
which will reveal themselves in the course of
developments are being given the green light for
arbitrariness and to criminalize individuals carrying
out normal, daily lawful activities. Even questioning
being the target of such actions is described as
failure to submit and further used to justify attacks.

Just as the massive roundup following September 11
began with racist attacks on the most vulnerable in
society, non-citizens and immigrants, so too the
actions against Ms. Oden are clearly an attempt to
"test the waters" of public opinion. By no stretch of
the imagination is the 60-year-old Ms. Oden a
"terrorist," a "suspected terrorist" or "threat to
security," nor did officials attempt to portray her as
such. The ruling circles are clearly seeking to
measure the extent the "war on terrorism" -- and the
atmosphere of fear and hysteria the government and
monopoly media are desperately trying to maintain --
will float as justification for actions against
opposition to the political regime.

Far from succumbing to the pressure to remain silent
and passive in the situation, Americans are
increasingly expressing their discontent and tens of
thousands have demonstrated their opposition to the
war in Afghanistan. For the workers, women, youth and
all justice-loving people there is no other course of
action than to step up the opposition to the war
against Afghanistan and vigorously challenge the
attacks on the people abroad and at home. It is vital
to stand together and to activate others to smash the
silence on opposition to U.S. aggression abroad and
repression at home.

OPPOSE IMPUNITY AND PERSECUTION OF POLITICAL FORCES!

DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OR PUBLIC CHARGES AND DUE
PROCESS FOR ALL DETAINEES!

SMASH THE SILENCE ON OPPOSITION TO U.S. IMPERIALIST
AGGRESSION!

STOP THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN!

source:  http://www.usmlo.org/