FRSO organizational secretary speaks in Denver on 2010 FBI raids and repression

Denver, CO – On May 9, about 40 activists and community members from around Colorado met at the Washington Community Center for an event hosted by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization entitled “Political Repression – How We Fight and Win!”

The event’s main speaker was Tom Burke, organizational secretary of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, who has experienced facing political repression from the FBI. Fifteen years ago, Burke and 22 other anti-war activists across the country were raided by the subpoenaed to a grand jury or raided by the FBI for their long-standing international solidarity work with revolutionary movements in Palestine and Colombia.

“The main targets of these raids were the leaders of anti-war and international solidarity work, in particular the women organizers in Minneapolis and Saint Paul,” said Burke.

Attacks on the people’s movements have been commonplace under the Trump administration. On March 8, student activist Mahmoud Khalil was seized and detained by ICE despite his immigration status as a legal permanent resident. On March 17, Colorado organizer Jeanette Vizguerra was abducted from her workplace by ICE agents without warning and without a valid deportation order. As protests against Trump rage across the country, these acts of repression, among numerous others, have led to people banding together in solidarity against the Trump administration.

“You’ll hear, because I know everyone in here has been to protests, that protests don’t do anything. We know better than that. They put the fear of God into people like Trump. They become afraid of the masses of people who are fighting back,” Burke stated.

Another speaker at the event was Jonce Palmer, a general member of the FRSO and co-founder of the Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee. Palmer spoke about what an activist should do if the FBI knocks on their door– this coming from their experience shutting the door on the FBI on November 21, 2024.

After confirming their name, Palmer asked the FBI if they had a warrant and was told, “No, we don’t have any kind of warrant, but we wanted to talk to you about some threats made against organizations that you are a part of, and we wanted to offer potential protection and resources against these threats.” Palmer told them, “I don’t want to talk to you today. Goodbye.”

After shutting and locking the door, Palmer called comrades in the FRSO to let them know what had happened and to prepare for next steps. Local organizers reached out to Mark Burton, a Denver attorney notable for representing Colombian political prisoner Simon Trinidad. Burton wrote a letter to the FBI expressing that Palmer had no wish to talk to them further and that if there were actually any credible threats to Palmer or their work, they could communicate them to Burton instead. There was no response from the FBI.

Nels Pine, a local organizer with the Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee and member of the FRSO spoke about the public fight that the people’s movements had waged to free the Tampa 5 – students from the University of South Florida who had been brutalized and arrested while defending Black History and cultural studies programs at their school. Pine said, “They told people who they were, why they were attacked, and they were clear about it, because who’s going to fight for you if they don’t know who you are?” He continued, “and so the Tampa 5 were clear to stand up and stand behind the just cause that they were fighting for, and it was a good thing.”

Khalid Hamu, a local student organizer with Students for a Democratic Society, spoke about the repression of the Rutgers 4, activists at Rutgers University in New Jersey who were recently arrested. One student, Thomas Whitehead, is being held without bail.

Hamu said, “Student organizers organized a protest outside of the building where they’re having ‘Israel Week.’ The local Hillel chapter had invited this politician, Josh Gottheimer, a staunch Zionist and supporter of the anti-BDS bill that would make it illegal to boycott Israel.” Hamu continued, “Even before Josh had arrived onto the scene, the police lunged into the crowd and started attacking people and escalating the situation.”

Speaking about the stakes of the repression at Rutgers, Hamu said, “They’re trying to get one of them 15 years in prison. This is a clear violation of our right to speak out.”

“It is now the time to stand stronger and show solidarity. Thomas Whitehead and the other activists at Rutgers might’ve gotten into this mess because they were organizing, but organizing is how we’re going to get out of this mess,” concluded Hamu, who then led the room in chants of “Drop the charges on the Rutgers 4!” and “Free Thomas Whitehead!”

The event ended with a Q&A with Burke and more chants.

#DenverCO #CO #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #FRSO

Source: https://fightbacknews.org/frso-organizational-secretary-speaks-in-denver-on-2010-fbi-raids-and-repression?pk_campaign=rss-feed