Questions are being raised after last Friday’s FBI raid at the apartment of Minneapolis peace activist, Mick Kelly. According to the FBI search warrant, agents were looking for evidence that Kelly and other peace activists here and in Chicago are supporting foreign terrorist groups such as the FARC in Colombia, the Liberation of Palestine, and Hezbollah based in Lebanon. Agents removed notebooks, address books, photos, computers, and maps of Kelly’s travels, though he claims he has never gone to Colombia or the Palestinian territories and has never sent money to terrorist groups.
Kelly, who works as an editor and writer for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), was detained outside the Xcel Energy Center while distributing fliers promoting a march during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in June of 2008. He won a settlement from the city of $5,000 after filing a federal lawsuit.
Despite the warrant and the raid on Kelly’s apartment, which was supported by a SWAT team as well as a cadre of FBI agents, no arrests were made. According to a statement from the FBI, he and the other peace activists subjected to the warrants and raids are “the subjects of an ongoing investigation.”
Supporters of the raids contend that if these peace activists are engaged in illegal activities, they should be prosecuted. Critics contend that the FBI and the federal government have no evidence supporting the raids and are simply stifling dissent for those opposed to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Perhaps the FBI will find evidence justifying the warrants and the high-profile raids. But what if they don’t? What if no one is charged and convicted of a crime?
The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution is supposed to protect us against unreasonable search and seizure. Given the abuses of power in the previous administration, including suspending the right of habeas corpus and committing acts of torture, it is disturbing to think that the present administration may be traveling down the same slippery slope when it comes to the rights of its citizens.
Since 9/11 many in the country live under a cloud of fear that terrorists will strike again. Some in the media have perpetuated and taken advantage of this fear for their own political and economic gain. Yet we hear virtually nothing about the threats from within, threats that may present an even greater danger to our rights and our freedoms.
If Kelly and the other activists are found to have supported terrorist groups, then they should have to pay the legal and financial consequences. However, if no evidence supporting the warrants or the raids is found, then Mick Kelly will no doubt file another lawsuit against the government. We should all support his constitutional right to do so. In this climate of fear, any one of us could be the next citizen to have them violated.