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The ACLU of Ohio has excellent resources regarding the
issue of government
spying.
Visit
their website.
Write US Senators and
Representatives opposing US military spying of peace activists
At the hearing Monday (February 13, 2006), Mike West, aide to US Representative
Sherrod Brown, reinforced the importance of contacting public officials
on this issue, including his boss! Needed is personal contact with Senators
and Representatives letting them know how we feel -- whether you attended
the march and rally in Akron last year or not. Ask that they look into
who spied on us, how long it went on (or has been going on), and what
they plan to do to stop it and prevent it from happening again.
Personal letters are better than post cards, personal post cards better
than calls, calls better than nothing. Written communication should
be sent to local addresses, not to DC (where it may take weeks to receive).
Contact information follows:
US Senators
US Senator George Voinovich
1240 E 9th St #2955, Cleveland, 44199
Phone: 216-522-7095 Fax: 216-522-7097
US Senator Mike DeWine
600 E Superior Ave #2450, Cleveland 44114
Phone: 216-522-7272 Fax: 216-522-2239
US Representatives that cover part of Akron/Summit Co.
US Representative Sherrod Brown
1655 W. Market St, Suite 435 Akron, OH 44313
Phone: 330-865-8450 Fax: 330-865-8470 fax
US Representative Tim Ryan
1030 E. Tallmadge Ave., Akron, OH 44310
Phone: 330-630-7311 Fax 330-630-7314
US Represetative Steve LaTourette
1 Victoria Pl #320, Painsville, OH 44077
Phone: 440-352-3939 Fax 440-353-3622
Resources
NEW! Department
of the Army Memorandum: Subject: Collecting Information on U.S. Persons(pdf)
Constitution
of the United States (pdf)
How
we can protect our Civil Liberties (pdf)
ACLU
Patriot Act 2 Highlights (pdf)
ACLU
Patriot Act 2 Briefing Paper (pdf)
Akron
Police Anti-Brutality Committee (pdf)
Lists of Individuals Killed at the Hands
of Law Enforcement:
Ohio (pdf)
Cleveland (pdf)
Links
HowToFightCityHall.com
AkronOhio.net
ACLUOhio.org
NOAC (Northeast Ohio Antiwar Coalition)
Other Topics
Letter
to MoveOn.org (pdf) calling on them to reframe their actions based
around individual and community rights.
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Call Public Officials:
Stop collecting our phone records!
Recent national news accounts detail federal intelligence agencies
since 9-11 collective the phone records of millions of US citizens.
This is in addition to previous charges of US government monitoring
or taping personal conversations and different from citizen spying
by the FBI or US military.
Contact your Congressperson and Senator and tell
them that such data collection is an invasion of privacy and adds
little or nothing to efforts to track "terrorists" who
intelligence agents claim use throw-away phones to communicate in
the first place.
By the way, we are still waiting for federal government agencies
to respond to our Freedom of Information Requests concerning Department
of Defense spying of Akron citizens in March, 2005.
In the News...
FOIA Document reveals Government surveillance of Akron AFSC's peaceful demonstration. Read the document HERE (pdf). Also see various media coverage regarding this issue below:
October 13, 2006 - New York Times Article (pdf) and related article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (pdf) on the topic of US database inclusion of Antiwar protests in Akron. Both articles were written by Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times. Article by Matthew Rothschild posted on the Progressive Online and again on October 14 on Common Dreams Online. On October 12, 2006 the ACLU sent this press release (pdf). The Akron Beacon Journal also covered this story on October 14, 2006. Read the ARTICLE (pdf).
Visit the National AFSC website to read statement regarding the FOIA documents.
April 27, 2006 - Wall
Street Journal article (in pdf form) - Neighborhood Watch -
Pentagon Steps Up Intelligence Effort Inside U.S. Borders by Bobby
Block and Jay Solomon features Akron...
April 8, 2006 - Canton
Repository Article(pdf) - Quaker-Founded Group takes on World
Issues
February 18, 2006
- The Cleveland Plain Dealer posted an OpEd written by
Greg Coleridge titled U.S. Must Stop Spying on Citizens,
though they edited part of the original version. To read both versions,
click HERE.
February 13, 2006 - The Community
Public Hearing on Pentagon Spying was held in Akron to a standing
room only crowd of concerned area citizens. Read AFSC Co-Clerk,
Dana Williams opening remarks
HERE (pdf). Photos
from the public hearing. Read articles by local media below:
Friday, February 10, 2006 - Letter
to the Editor, Akron Beacon Journal by Kathleen Myrman, Administrative
Assistant, AFSC
Monday, January 30, 2006
- The Northeast Ohio
Antiwar Coalition's Spy-In attracted media attention locally and
nationally...Read more from FOX/Channel
19, the Cleveland
Plain Dealer and the AP.
See pictures from this event HERE...
Friday, January 27, 2006 - AFSC received
this endorsement...
Dear Greg Coleridge,
This is to bring word to you that the Department of Church in the
World, Western Reserve Association, of the United Church of Christ,
Ohio Conference, meeting last evening took the following action:
"We share with the office of the American Friends Service Committee
in Northeast Ohio, outrage at the infiltration of some of their
events by federal agents. We agree that this type of thing is a
serious threat to our democratic way of life, and indeed to freedom
of speech itself. We join with you in working against this type
of intimidation. Grace and Peace to you and your co-workers."
James Deitz, correspondent
Kurt Wieser, department chair
Members and others present: Margaret Mills, staff; Ed and Betty
Horner,Lou Deitz, Mary Miller, Robin Schreiber, Nancy Thrams, Susan
Johnson.
Copies of the FOIA requests from the ACLU can
be seen at the Ohio
ACLU website.
The Northeast Ohio AFSC Action Regarding
Pentagon Spying...
December 20, 2005 - Statement
by AFSC Condemning Pentagon Spying on Akron Area Citizens
See the released excerpt from the DOD database/TALON report: here
Read more...media coverage of press conference
by AFSC: Original
Press Release/AFSC, Akron
Beacon Journal and Cleveland
Scene articles.
Listen to NPR coverage: Quaker Group Claims Pentagon
Spying
Monday, December 19, 2005 - A Northeast Ohio Quaker group says
it's become the target of a Defense Department spy operation.
The American Friends Service Committee says recent anti-war events
in Cleveland and Akron were added to the Pentagon's TALON reporting
list of potential threats against military installations.
http://198.234.121.107/news/daily/2005/12/19/18763.mp3
National AFSC Action...
February 1, 2006 - QUAKER
ORGANIZATION SEEKS PENTAGON SURVEILLANCE FILES
An urgent message from the General Secretary
of the American Friends Service Committee - December 16, 2005
What I'm about to tell you is an outrage. This
is an important update for the peace and justice community.
Please share this message with all of your friends.
You may have been following the breaking scandal
that the Department of Defense has admitted spying on the American
Friends Service Committee, our coalition partners, and thousands
of people like you.
Take
action now to tell your Congressional representatives that
you want the government to stop spying on the people of this
country.
Two years ago, the Defense Department directed
its Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) to establish a
domestic law enforcement database that included information
related to "potential terrorist threats directed against
the Department of Defense." Earlier this week, NBC broke
the story that the Pentagon was using the system to collect
information on peaceful gatherings and counter-recruiting activities.
NBC obtained a 400 page printout from the database
of which 8 pages have been released. In those few pages, we
have found four events sponsored by AFSC. The threatening events
in the database included handing out literature in front of
military recruiting stations and commemorating the second anniversary
of the Iraq War.
We knew that our staff had already been under surveillance by
the FBI and local police in Colorado, Illinois, and Iowa for
their work to end this war. The courts agreed with us then that
spying, not free speech, is a threat, as they did during the
Vietnam War, when we helped win the guarantees that we are all
supposed to enjoy today that our military will not spy on Americans.
Take
action now to see that history doesn't repeat itself.
Tell Congress that you support our fundamental
right to speak our mind and organize on the issues of the day.
This new wave of spying can only be seen as a threat to our
rights to free speech and the freedom of assembly. For decades,
Cold Warriors criticized foreign governments for exactly these
types of activities. With the help of friends like you, AFSC
stood firm against the pressures of the McCarthy era and we
won't stop speaking truth to power today.
Tell your representatives in Washington that this isn't our
America.
Please, take
action now.
In Peace,
Mary Ellen McNish,
General Secretary, AFSC
Other Civil Liberty-Related Stories from Northeast
Ohio...
Karl Liske Case
May 2005 - Karl Liske was charged
with "criminal mischief" in connection with spelling
out the word "TRUTH!?" on the sidewalk in washable
paint at a vigil on May 20. The vigil took place in front of
a military recruiting center to highlight the untruths told
by military recruiters about military service and the war in
Iraq.
Karl's "crime" was categorized as
a "first degree misdemeanor," with a maximum penalty
of 6 month in jail and a $1000 fine. About a dozen supporters
were with Liske at the Municipal Court. Attorney Warner Mendenhall
represented Liske.
Read More...
Writing
"Truth" on the Sidewalk: Who do we think we are?
by Caroline Arnold - Posted in the Kent-Ravenna Record Courier
on June 5, 2005.
Police
Say Protest Went Too Far - Akron Beacon Journal Article
published on July 2, 2005
CASE
DROPPED! - Akron Beacon Journal Article published July 9,
2005!
Anthony Hudson Case
April 2005 - Anthony Hudson, a public access TV producer
in Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Youngstown and Cincinatti, was
brutally beaten by the police while in the Summit County Jail.
Hudson's PowerNeTv programming is diversified but mainly deals
with exposing government conspiracies and corruption. He has
been under assault by the City of Akron and Time Warner cable
for this type of programming for many years.
The AAPBC (Akron Anti-Police Brutality Committee)
has organized to address the need to investigate the case of
Anthony Hudson: for the purpose of calling for the establishment
of a Police Auditor. The Police Auditor can identify, assess
and correct allegations of police brutality and human and civil
rights violations. Read
More...
June 1, 2005 - Akron Beacon Journal Article
- Protesters denounce
taser use, violence...
July 20, 2005 - Akron Beacon Journal Article
- Forum Discusses Police
Brutality...
July 22, 2005 - Akron Beacon Journal Article
- Where is
the police auditor? Seven months later, and still no appointment...
Ashraf Al-Jailani
The Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support
Network (GCISN) recognizes three years of detention for a man
who has not been charged with a crime. He is a Yemeni Muslim,
husband and father of three from Kent, Ohio. All who have concern
for the traditions of civil liberties, and the foundations of
equal justice under the law will find this matter of great importance.
This is one of the most egregious violations of standards of
criminal justice procedure and human rights imaginable.
For more details call GCISN at 440-237-0673
or email truth_force@yahoo.com
or visit the websites www.WeAreAllImmigrants.blogspot.com
and www.helpashraf.com
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