Posted on 02/02/2006 3:35:42 PM PST by NewHampshireDuo
The FBI has been keeping tabs on a Maine peace group, according to a report provided to the Maine Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act.
A single e-mail that the Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice sent to members was in the FBI's files, a representative of the bureau's records division wrote in response to the MCLU's request for information. The e-mail, sent in February 2004, was recruiting people for a demonstration in Washington, D.C., called the Million Worker March.
The document may seem routine, but the fact that the file exists shows the federal government is targeting groups for surveillance because they are critical of government policy, said Zach Heiden, staff attorney for the MCLU.
The discovery of the file comes as controversy surrounds revelations that the National Security Agency has conducted warrantless monitoring of international phone communications involving U.S. citizens.
"The government says that it's only spying on terrorists or people dealing with al-Qaida, but we know that is not true," Heiden said. "We know that they are also looking at Quakers and Greenpeace and the Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice."
The FBI denied targeting groups or individuals for investigation, according to a statement issued Wednesday by Todd DiFede, supervisory special agent for Maine. DiFede said the bureau follows leads and reads material circulated by a large number of groups.
"The FBI collects a vast amount of information, including public source material," DiFede wrote in his statement. "The existence of a file regarding an individual or organization does not necessarily indicate that the FBI has in the past or is presently investigating an individual or group."
The Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice is a four-year-old umbrella organization made up of more than 60 anti-war and environmental groups, said Peter Stewart of South Montville, one of its coordinators.
According to its Web site, members include the Maine Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Veterans for Peace, the Maine Green Independent Party and the Maine Communist Party.
Members of the group have been involved in a variety of peace protests in the state, including the Maine Frequent Visit program, in which demonstrators occupy the offices of the state's congressional delegation.
The group maintains an e-mail list that is used to distribute news and announcements, Stewart said.
The announcement that ended up in the FBI file appeared to have originated in Canada and called for an "Anarchist feeder march" to join the Million Worker March scheduled in Washington. The invitation made only passing reference to the war in Iraq and the U.S. government, and announced the time, date and location for the start of the march.
"It was an innocuous call for people to attend. There was nothing terribly specific about it," Stewart said. "Oftentimes, we'll just pass something like that along."
In June, the MCLU was one of 17 state affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union that filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the FBI, asking whether there were files on 15 individuals and organizations in the state. Responses from the FBI have come back on eight of the requests, Heiden said. Only the one received a positive response from the bureau.
The MCLU's executive director, Shenna Bellows, said that monitoring Maine peace activists is a waste of anti-terrorism resources. She said the government could discourage people from speaking freely simply by reading the communications.
"Spying on Maine peace activists . . . does nothing to make this country safer, but it does make us less free," she said.
The MCLU has filed other Freedom of Information Act requests to determine whether the Defense Department has been keeping files on Maine peace and protest groups, including the MCLU itself.
In December it was revealed that the Pentagon included groups such as the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker peace group, in a database intended to catalog the activities of terrorists.
"The Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice is a four-year-old umbrella organization made up of more than 60 anti-war and environmental groups, said Peter Stewart of South Montville, one of its coordinators."
Interesting. More disgruntled leftists convinced that President Bush "stole" the last election, Eh?
Most of these "peace" groups are being funded and manipulated, with or without the knowledge of the rank and file members, by foreign organizations who are not the least bit interested in "peace". I'm glad the FBI is keeping track of them.
Ahha.. What is next? Are they going to say that FreeRepublic and ProtestWarrior are funded by the CIA and FBI? (They have already done so)
Good.
Ping
Full organization list:
Participating Organizations
Art, Music and Culture
Art Activism
Community Networks
Augusta Peace and Justice Group
Boothbay Region Peace and Justice
Citizens Offering New Alternatives (Lincoln County)
Ellsworth Peace and Justice Group
Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks
Island Peace and Justice Group (Deer Isle)
Lincoln County Peace and Justice Coalition
Midcoast Peace and Justice Group (Knox County)
Mount Desert Island Peace and Justice
Norway Public Interest Forum
Orono Peace Group
Peninsula Peace and Justice (Blue Hill Peninsula)
Seacoast Peace Response (Southern ME/NH)
Union River Greens (Hancock County)
Waldo County Peace and Justice Group
Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice
Winthrop Area People for Peace
Economic Justice
Big Medicine
Peace through Inter-American Community Action
2nd Maine Militia
Environment
Clean Maine Coalition/Clean Water
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning
Maine Speakout Project
International Issues
Let Cuba Live
Maine Peace and Justice in Israel/Palestine
Justice and Legal Rights
Maine Chapter, National Lawyers Guild
Media
Maine IndyMedia
Radio Free Maine
Sound Ecology
Sound Ecology Productions
Multi-Issue
International EcoPeace Community ESTIA, Orono
Justice and Peace Action, Maine Conference, UCC
Maine Greens Action Community
Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine
Peace and Justice Center of Southern Maine
Progressive Student Alliance - UMaine, Orono
Resources for Organizing and Social Change
Peace Action
AFSC Maine - Committee on Youth and
Alternatives to Military Service
Bridges for Peace
Global Network Against Weapons &
Nuclear Power in Space
Greater Bangor Area Veterans for Peace
Peace Action Maine
Women in Black
Veterans for Peace
VFP, Associate Members
Political
Communist Party of Maine
Democratic Socialists of America
Maine Green Independent Party
Racial and Ethnic Groups
Many and One
Spiritual and Religious Groups
Belfast Friends
The Open House, United Church of Christ, Portland
* denotes new member
United for Peace and Justice (UPJ): outgrowth of the Vietnam-era People's Coalition for Peace and Justice (affiliated with the VVAW through Al Hubbard) via CP leader Gil Green's Committees on Correspondence (a post-Soviet CP offshoot started in the 1990s) and the People for the American Way; affiliated with longstanding CP front groups like the American Friends Service Committee and the Insitute for Policy Studies; led by Leslie Cagan, a veteran of the CP and the Venceremos Brigade, a pro-Castro group
If the FBI were NOT keeping tabs on what these clowns are up to, they would be guilty of malfeasance of duty.
-ccm
Didn't you get your check from Langley yet? I did. I am looking into direct deposit.
Having the word peace in your name must mean that its ok for you to advocate the overthrow of our government. :-]
I wonder what ELSE lies under the layers in Maine. ugh!
Still waiting...
We can get paid to do this!?!
"Belfast Friends "
Probably leftover bastards who funded and organized the little Valhalla trip back in '84!
Shhhh, it's Quantico.
The announcement that ended up in the FBI file appeared to have originated in Canada
Well, there you have it.
Nothing "domestic" about it.
Not a surprise.
Total membership of all the groups under the umbrella 43
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