{"id":2693,"date":"2009-11-19T11:38:54","date_gmt":"2009-11-19T17:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/?p=2693"},"modified":"2013-09-04T12:58:26","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T18:58:26","slug":"lynne-stewart-the-patriot-act-and-cointelpro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/lynne-stewart-the-patriot-act-and-cointelpro\/","title":{"rendered":"Lynne Stewart, the Patriot Act, and COINTELPRO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 351 of The Black Commentator on\u00a0November 19, 2009
\nRepublished in bhbanco.org on November 23, 2009<\/a>
\nBy Larry Pinkney<\/p>\n

Cloaked in the guise of combating terrorism and of national security and virtually in plain view, the Bill of Rights and civil liberties in this nation have been, and are continuing to be, steadily, systematically, and meticulously shredded. The consequences are dire.<\/p>\n

No matter what the pretext, one does not protect, preserve, and strengthen hard won civil liberties\u00a0by limiting and thereby gutting and destroying them<\/em>. Indeed the best, most effective and genuine means of assuring\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0national security is by ensuring civil liberties, judicial fairness, and equitable social and economic justice\u00a0inside<\/span><\/em>\u00a0this nation itself; and\u00a0no amount<\/span><\/em>\u00a0of government \/ judiciary intimidation, spying or policing actions at home<\/em>, or military actions\u00a0abroad,<\/em>\u00a0can or will ever bring this about, nor are they really intended to,\u00a0despite any fallacious rhetoric to the contrary<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The case of seventy-year-old great grandmother, cancer survivor, former school librarian, long time political activist \/ organizer, and former New York City defense attorney Lynne Stewart is indicative of the U.S. Government\u2019s\u00a0ongoing<\/em> attempts to\u00a0frighten, discredit, intimidate, and silence<\/em>\u00a0the people of this nation, and most\u00a0particularly in this case<\/span>, defense attorneys<\/span>\u00a0who dare to seriously exercise the constitutional right and duty to provide their clients with a\u00a0vigorous and uncompromising<\/em>\u00a0legal defense.<\/p>\n

Lynne Stewart, as a defense attorney, has for well\u00a0over<\/em>\u00a0three decades, successfully defended clients who were the targets of U.S. Government subterfuge, police brutality, and prosecutorial subterfuge and discreditation. In so doing she constantly demonstrated to young lawyers what it really means\u00a0to stand up and defend<\/em>\u00a0the people in both\u00a0word and deed<\/em>. The people that Lynne Stewart legally and vigorously defended ranged from members of the Black Panther Party, to the Weather Underground, to U.S. protestors demonstrating against<\/em>\u00a0(the then U.S. and Israeli supported)\u00a0apartheid<\/em>\u00a0government of South Africa. Moreover, she did not hesitate to vigorously defend the human and legal rights of Muslims unjustly persecuted and targeted by U.S. Government agencies in this the 21st century. (Reference The Black Commentator of\u00a0July 12, 2007<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thus, Lynne Stewart herself became\u00a0a target of the\u00a0U.S.Government<\/em> in the person of the then Bush \/ Cheney U.S.\u00a0Attorney General, John Ashcroft. This scenario did not<\/span><\/em> \u201cchange\u201d under the present Obama \/ Biden \/ Rahm Emanuel administration or its current U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder. If anything in 2009, matters became even\u00a0worse.<\/em><\/p>\n

As a direct result of U.S. Government subterfuge, entrapment, and\u00a0 dis<\/em>information (with\u00a0corporate media\u00a0complicity<\/span><\/em>) against Lynne Stewart, she was on February 10, 2005, wrongfully and shockingly convicted of a bogus \u201cconspiracy to aid and abet terrorism\u201d charge relating to her legal defense of one of her clients. An appeal was immediately filed, in hopes that the appeal court would recognize and respect truth and justice and reverse this gross injustice.\u00a0However, the appeal court on November 17, 2009, did just the opposite and upheld this bogus, outrageous, and retaliatory conviction and sentence against the\u00a0people\u2019s lawyer<\/span>\u00a0– Lynne Portia Stewart.<\/em> This incredibly courageous, seventy-year-old former librarian, who is presently also battling a serious medical condition that requires surgery must\u00a0never<\/span>\u00a0be abandoned by us.<\/em> She did not abandon justice-loving people and we cannot abandon her. She is a target and a victim of the Patriot Act (the 21st century COINTELPRO) and the ongoing hysteria which was whipped up under the Bush \/ Cheney administration and is being\u00a0continued and further tweaked<\/span><\/em> under the Obama \/ Biden administration. We must remember that Lynne Stewart spoke and speaks\u00a0truth to power<\/span>\u00a0on behalf of the every day people and we can do\u00a0no less.<\/em> DO\u00a0NOT<\/span>\u00a0LET HER STAND ALONE! DO\u00a0NOT<\/span>\u00a0ALLOW THIS CORRUPT, HYPOCRITICAL, WAR MONGERING GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY TO COWER US INTO SUBMISSION! Continue to follow the developments in Lynne Stewart\u2019s case\u00a0closely<\/em>, with a view towards\u00a0reversing<\/span>\u00a0this gross injustice to her and to\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0of us! By supporting Lynne Stewart, we are loving and\u00a0supporting<\/span>\u00a0the very\u00a0best in ourselves<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Bear in mind that the above-described developments with respect to Lynne Stewart, are\u00a0part and parcel and<\/em> yet\u00a0another example<\/em>, of the ongoing shredding of the Bill of Rights and civil liberties in this nation.The government actions against Lynne Stewart are intended to make\u00a0us<\/em>\u00a0tremble and cower,\u00a0neither of which<\/em>\u00a0must we do. Too much is at stake!\u00a0Real<\/em> national security can only be had when the people refuse to allow the government to quash our human and political rights for therein is our national security.<\/p>\n

When, in the name of \u201cnational security\u201d or of allegedly combating \u201cterrorism,\u201d a government that cloaks its reprehensible acts of spying on its own people while simultaneously gutting their civil liberties is in reality\u00a0fostering,<\/span>\u00a0not combating,<\/em> terrorism. It\u2019s all about stifling any substantive\u00a0informed<\/em>\u00a0discussion and dissent. Such a government is not worthy of support. Democracy,\u00a0if<\/span>\u00a0it is to be\u00a0real<\/span><\/em>, is\u00a0not<\/em> some commodity to be bought, sold, or manipulated by government or corporations. It is contentious and must be\u00a0vigorously<\/em> exercised<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The goal of the infamously notorious, unconstitutional, murderous, and amoral U.S. Government\u2019s\u00a0Counter Intelligence Program<\/span>, known as COINTELPRO, which was fervently carried out internally against the peoples of the United States, was to \u201cneutralize<\/span>\u201d political dissent by \u201cdiscrediting, framing, disrupting, imprisoning, and often murdering\u201d\u00a0individual<\/em>\u00a0political activists, and where possible, targeting entire political organizations.<\/em>\u00a0These systematic outrages were of course engaged in by local, state, and federal policing authorities\u00a0 working together throughout<\/em> this nation; all in the nebulous, shrill name of so-called \u201cnational security<\/em>.\u201d The corporate news media played a deadly, covert, and insidious role of complicity by disseminating\u00a0dis<\/em>information to assist in ensuring the deadly effectiveness of COINTELPRO. As a direct result of the\u00a0U.S. Government COINTELPRO sponsored activities many people were framed, imprisoned, or murdered (including the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0government \/ police assassinations of Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark), not to mention the tens of thousands of families, lives and\/or reputations were utterly shattered. The\u00a0thousands<\/em>\u00a0of targets of COINTELPRO\u00a0included<\/em> (but were by\u00a0no means limited<\/em>\u00a0to) Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Huey P. Newton, H. Rap Brown (Jamil Al-Amin), and a host of many, many other men\u00a0and<\/em> women political activists nationwide.\u00a0Entire organizations<\/em>\u00a0were COINTELPRO targets including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Black Panther Party (BPP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the American Indian Movement (AIM), the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), etc. While COINTELPRO primarily targeted nonwhites, there were to be sure<\/em>, whites who the U.S. Government also sought to \u201cneutralize\u201d intimidate, and discredit due to their unmitigated audacity to stand up and dissent against the U.S. policies of wars abroad and\u00a0social, judicial and economic injustice at home<\/em>;\u00a0all in the bogus name of \u201cnational security.\u201d<\/span> It should be noted that down to the present day, as a result of COINTELPRO, there are numerous political prisoners\u00a0still<\/span><\/em>\u00a0languishing in \u2018America\u2019s\u2019 gulag prisons. This is and should be absolutely unacceptable to\u00a0all<\/span><\/em>\u00a0of us.<\/p>\n

Notwithstanding the deliberately misleading rhetoric of the Obama \/ Biden \/ Rahm Emanuel administration, this nation has entered an era of\u00a0de facto renewed<\/em><\/span>\u00a021st century COINTELPRO activities and McCarthyism\u00a0under the insipid guise<\/em> of the \u201cPatriot Act.\u201d<\/span> This is the same Patriot Act that Barack Obama is seeking to\u00a0extend<\/em>, just as he has\u00a0already<\/em>\u00a0extended and expanded the notorious activities of the U.S. Government\u2019s\u00a0international kidnapping and torture program<\/em> known as \u201crendition.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the pro-apartheid Zionist Obama \/ Biden \/ Rahm Emanuel administration and its allies in the corporate media have cynically used\u00a0the increasing pain and suffering<\/em>\u00a0of the \u2018American\u2019 people\u00a0against we ourselves<\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0turning the attention of the nation<\/span>\u00a0to a\u00a0fake<\/em>\u00a0debate on \u201chealth reform\u201d which is\u00a0neither open, honest, nor representative of genuine systemic<\/em>\u00a0change for the hurting masses, the Obama administration\u00a0pursues<\/em>\u00a0its\u00a0wars abroad<\/span>\u00a0in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, and elsewhere while seeking to\u00a0continue<\/em>\u00a0and strengthen the ill gotten gains of repression made under the previous Bush \/ Cheney administration by continuing the Patriot Act here at home<\/span>,\u00a0including<\/em>\u00a0among other provisions, the despicably undemocratic, patently unconstitutional, and outrageous portion within said Act known as the \u201clone wolf\u201d provision. Make no mistake about it: This political repression is being, and meant to be, directed against citizens and noncitizens alike in this nation of\u00a0all<\/em> colors and ethnicities. It is time to put aside our petty ideological squabbles and unite against this repression.<\/p>\n

No matter what the pretense, the PATRIOT ACT is the\u00a0continuation<\/span><\/em>\u00a0of COINTELPRO today, which has\u00a0now<\/em> been\u00a0codified into law<\/em>. The Obama \/ Biden \/ Rahm Emanuel administration is demonstrating itself to be as hypocritical and amoral as its Bush \/ Cheney predecessors\u00a0– with one noteworthy exception: this present administration is, at least\u00a0for the political moment<\/em>, much more articulate and adept at misleading the people. It is therefore far more dangerously\u00a0effective<\/span>\u00a0at economically, judicially, and socially\u00a0emaciating<\/em>\u00a0the masses of people than the Bush \/ Cheney administration could have ever even dreamed of being.<\/p>\n

It must be reiterated: The Patriot Act is the\u00a0continuation<\/em> of COINTELPRO and the corporate, self-described \u201cnews\u201d media today continues in its shameful role of aiding and abetting – through disinformation, obfuscation, and omission – the stripping away of real freedoms and civil liberties in this nation and around the world.<\/p>\n

We must be aware of, but certainly not intimidated by these developments. Political repression at home is not merely on its way. It is in fact, in large measure already here, though not yet recognized by some.\u00a0Both<\/em>\u00a0the liberals and the lunatic right wingers of the Democratic and Republican Parties (i.e. the Republicrats) are, in essence, moving this nation, at an ever increasing pace, towards deepening political repression. The so-called liberals\u00a0pretend<\/em>\u00a0that the dangerous erosion of alleged freedoms and civil liberties is simply not happening right in front of their very eyes, while the right wingers are virtually inviting it (i.e. political repression) as a means to their ends.<\/p>\n

Our task is to\u00a0educate, agitate, and organize<\/em>\u00a0throughout this nation. We must be clear that the constant so-called specter of \u201cterrorism\u201d is, like the specter of \u201ccommunism\u201d during the McCarthy period of fear and repression, being fanned and fostered by the\u00a0misguided, dishonest, hypocritical<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0undemocratic<\/em> practices on the part of the U.S. Government and its corporate allies\u00a0at home and abroad.<\/em> Remember that democracy is\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0spread at the tip of a sword, in the muzzle of rifles, or by horrific explosions of cluster and\/or so-called \u2018smart\u2019 bombs and the like. It is terrorism that is in fact fostered and spread by these things,\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0democracy.<\/p>\n

We must always remember that unjust wars\u00a0abroad<\/span>, and political repression, subterfuge, and disinformation at home go hand and hand<\/span>.<\/p>\n

We must struggle to reverse the increasing political repression in this nation\u00a0and<\/em> bring about an immediate end to the unjust\u00a0U.S.\u00a0wars abroad. We must struggle for\u00a0genuine (not fake)<\/em>\u00a0single payer universal health care, for full employment, decent housing, and relevant education, judicial\u00a0accountability and justice<\/em>, an end to the new and hideous form of racism and economic apartheid gentrification in communities\u00a0throughout this nation.<\/em>\u00a0We must struggle for real and serious\u00a0systemic<\/em>\u00a0change and an end to corporate capitalist de facto hegemony.<\/p>\n

No more unjust wars! No more COINTELPRO! No more PATRIOT ACT and its concomitant political repression at home! No more lies! Let us stop allowing this administration to give political cover to repression at home and Empire abroad! Enough!<\/p>\n

\u201cChange we can believe in?\u201d The\u00a0only<\/span>\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0change that we can believe in is the change that we the people demand, organize for, and\u00a0bring about ourselves<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Life<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0to the masses of people in this nation and around the world! Onward then sisters and brothers! It\u2019s time to\u00a0intensify<\/em>\u00a0in speaking\u00a0truth to power<\/span>\u00a0and educate, agitate, and organize<\/em>. Remember: \u201cDon\u2019t Mourn. ORGANIZE!\u201d<\/p>\n