A number of librarians across the country have expressed opposition to the FBI’s snooping into public library records and the fact that they are being barred from saying anything about their conversations with the federal secret police. And for good reason.

Despite cutbacks in government funding and curtailed hours, public libraries are used by tens of millions of working people across the United States as a place to find and read literature of interest at no cost. To Ashcroft’s Justice Department, even the thought of having such a public resource is probably an idea that must be suppressed. The Attorney General could well be staying up nights worrying about what someone might find among all those magazines and books, or what ideas a person might come up with after being exposed to a broad range of world history and literature.

But it is precisely because of how public libraries are used that the Justice Department’s moves to send in the secret police is such an affront to working people, and one that needs to be condemned by all defenders of civil liberties.

The wealthy class and its political servants seized on September 11 to accelerate their drive against workers’ rights and attempt to erode civil liberties. While their free ride from this event is long gone, they continue to press the erosion of democratic rights. One example is the recent antiterror legislation signed by the governor of New Jersey that tars anyone government officials deem is "a member of a terrorist conspiracy." Similar bipartisan measures have been promoted by capitalist politicians across the country.

Under the pretext of fighting the "war against terrorism" the U.S. rulers are pressing ahead with probes to see how they can push back gains won in past battles. FBI prying into library records goes hand in hand with the Justice Department announcing that it will allow FBI agents to spy on public gatherings, church events, and web sites. These moves are tied to the jailing of citizens and noncitizens without charges by labeling them "enemy combatants." The inmates are held in military prisons or the concentration camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for an indefinite period, with no access to legal counsel.

These encroachments on the Bill of Rights ultimately target workers and their unions, which are defensive organizations established to protect gains won through previous struggles by the working class.

Recently the director of "homeland security" reportedly phoned an official of the Longshoremen’s Union on the West Coast to advise him that a strike would undermine the country’s "national interest." Similar methods attempting to intimidate unions involved in labor disputes have been tried in the past, such as government declarations of "national emergency" or when former president William Clinton invoked the Taft-Hartley Act to end the American Airlines strike in 1997.

The labor movement and defenders of constitutional rights need to step up protests against government encroachments on privacy and constitutional guarantees. We need to defend our right to privacy and demand the FBI stop snooping in libraries. This will strengthen the unions against attempts to weaken our ability to resist the bosses’ assaults on our living standards and working conditions.
 
 
Related article:
FBI starts secret search of library records  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home