It has been said that history repeats itself. Unfortunately, sometimes history exceeds itself. During the 1960s, the FBI engaged in an series of illegal activities, under the auspices of its COINTELPRO operation. COINTELPRO involved break-ins, warrantless searches, illegal surveillance, harassment, use of fabricated evidence, perjury, incitement to violence, false imprisonment and assassination.
When these abuses came to light during the mid-1970s, in hearings conducted by Idaho Senator Frank Church, they were almost universally condemned. Two FBI agents were even convicted of crimes they committed while engaging in COINTELPRO activities, but Ronald Reagan pardoned them before they ever served a day in prison. A federal grand jury also refused to indict the Chicago police officers who extrajudicially executed Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark during a so-called “raid” in December of 1969. And, according to a former “GOON” squad member, FBI agents were allegedly complicit in several murders on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota during the early 1970s by providing weapons to the GOONS—pro-government Native Americans who supported a tribal leader that traditional Native Americans believed was illegally elected and corrupt.
Ironically, with the passage of the so-called Patriot Act in the wake of the September 11th attacks , many of the abuses so vociferously condemned during the Church Committee hearings have now been legalized.
The Restore Civil Liberties Law would require the National Security Agency (NSA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to register as criminal organizations, since their sole purpose is the destruction of democracy, civil liberties and human rights, both domestically and abroad, for the sake of exploiting human and natural resources, protecting corporate profits, and ensuring that wealth remains in the hands of the few.
This law would also revoke Reagan’s pardon, and prosecute or reprosecute all law enforcement personnel who committed crimes under the auspices of COINTELPRO and the Patriot Act. This law would also order the immediate release of any and all left-wing political prisoners convicted during the COINTELPRO era who still remain imprisoned.
Finally, this law will extend civil liberties to the workplace. It will be illegal to deny employment to anyone, or to fire anyone from employment, for exercising any right or freedom guaranteed by the Bill of Rights . These protections against employer retaliation will increase political awareness and activism, since fear of employer retaliation is the primary reason people hesitate to speak out against social and/or economic injustice.
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