The largest deployment of FBI agents for a political case since the Counterintelligence Programs against the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, and the Young Lords occurred on September 24, 2010. In a joint, national operation the FBI targeted homes and offices of people who had organized rallies against the post 9/11 wars. This time the accusation was “providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations”. In the end this giant and expensive FBI operation did not yield a single charge.
However the 2010 raids and the confiscated materials were used against two prominent activists who were affiliated with the peace movement: the Brown Berets co-founder Carlos Montez, and the Palestinian American Rasmea Odeh, leader in the Chicago Arab American community.
Odeh was targeted in 2013 by the immigration officials for having left off her immigration application a fact that the whole world and the US State Department knew: in 1969 she had been tortured into a false confession by the Israeli army and spent time in prison. Now, in the early months of 2016 a response is expected from the Circuit Court to her appeal on a conviction for this so-called lie to 18 months in prison and deportation. Odeh is currently out on bail.
In early January 2016 at the Third Unitarian Church, Chicago, Joe Losbaker brought the community up to date on the solidarity movement for Rasmea Odeh. Angela Davis, Danny Glover and the founders of Black Lives Matter have come out in Odeh’s support.
Joe Losbaker is chief steward and member of the executive board of Local 73 SEIU in Chicago. He begins the story on the day the FBI came to his door in September 2010
The meeting was recorded by Dale Lehman on January 10, 2016 and produced by TUC Radio in anticipation of the response by the Circuit Court to Rasmea Odeh’s appeal of her conviction to prison and deportation. For updates and background information go to http://www.stopfbi.net/
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:59 — 19.9MB)
