Vol. 79/No. 20      June 1, 2015

The investigation and arrest of six Somali young people for “conspiracy and attempt to provide material support” to Islamic State is the latest attack on the rights of Somalis. The U.S. government has seized on these arrests and the recruitment efforts of Islamic State, al-Shabab and similar organizations to intensify its investigation of the Somali community. Islamic State is a reactionary, anti-working-class, terrorist organization.

The U.S. government and its political police are setting a dangerous precedent that can be used against the constitutional rights of all working people. The case is built on wiretapping and the use of a FBI informant, who was paid nearly $13,000.

Many Somalis in the U.S. are outraged at the FBI’s deepening involvement in their lives and the appearance of entrapment of the six young people.

For years, members of the Minnesota Somali community have been subjected to assaults on their rights — from FBI informers, wiretaps, grand jury investigations, no-fly lists and harassment at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport to intelligence gathering FBI-funded community outreach programs and shutting down money-transfer businesses (hawalas).

The latest government intrusion is the Countering Violent Extremism pilot program jointly run by the Justice Department, National Counterterrorism Center and the Department of Homeland Security. Some Somalis are justifiably suspicious of money being doled out to community organizations through the CVE program by the same agencies that spy on, harass and trample on the constitutional rights of many in their community.

The Socialist Workers Party stands with those who say, “Don’t talk to the FBI.” Talking to the FBI lends legitimacy to their methods, which have been and will be used to target workers and their unions, the Black movement and all those who stand up for working-class rights or oppose government policies.

The way to stay the hand of the rulers’ political police and to advance the interests of workers and farmers around the world is to build a powerful, disciplined working-class movement. This course is the opposite of Islamic State, al-Shabab and similar terrorist groups.

To defend democratic rights, we must look to the organized power of the working class and its allies, not the capitalist government or the bosses’ parties — Democrats, Republicans and “independents” who trail after them. We need to build a labor party based on the unions that will unite workers and our allies fighting cop brutality, for $15 and a union, against capitalism’s wars and social catastrophes and in defense of our political rights.

The capitalist rulers think that if they can weaken the rights of one group of workers, they can weaken the rights of all workers. But our rights are indivisible. An injury to one is an injury to all!
 
 
Related articles:
Arrest of Somali youth in Minn. sparks debate on FBI spying
 
 
 
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