The Socialist Unity Party and Struggle-La Lucha newspaper condemn the unjust indictment of three members of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) and the Uhuru Movement along with three Russian nationals, announced by the U.S. Justice Department on April 18.
The indictment is a naked attempt by the Biden administration to criminalize criticism and resistance to the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine. It is also a continuation of the FBI’s decades-long racist war on the Black liberation movement.
The indictment accuses this long-standing movement based in the Black community of “conspiring to covertly sow discord in U.S. society, spread Russian propaganda and interfere illegally in U.S. elections.” The defendants each face up to 15 years in prison.
If allowed to stand, this will set a precedent for U.S. officials – Democrats and Republicans alike – to condemn any act of international solidarity or anti-war opposition and use “foreign influence” as an excuse to crack down on struggles for economic and social justice here at home.
We call upon all left and working-class forces to unite to combat this racist repression.
Violent FBI raids
Last July 29, the FBI violently raided the APSP’s Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the Uhuru Solidarity Center in St. Louis, Missouri, as well as the private residence of APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela using flash-bang grenades.
Chairman Omali is 80 years old, and this unjustified intrusion was amplified by the violence of the FBI. He was never accused of possessing weapons or participating in violent actions to justify this terror against his family.
His supposed crime? Helping to disseminate “Russian propaganda,” working with an alleged agent of Russia and taking his direction — not to plant bombs or pass on state secrets, but simply for purportedly having the same opinion and giving a platform to words that counter the U.S. narrative about its wars.
Flimsy excuses like these — criminalizing ideas — were used by the FBI in orchestrating the violent slaughter of members of the Black Panther Party, like Chairman Fred Hampton in Chicago. More evidence recently came out about the culpability of the FBI in the assassination of Malcolm X.
In fact, the history of this country is littered with false accusations, sabotage, and assassinations of Black political organizations. When J. Edgar Hoover led the FBI, his racism-inspired hatred of the civil rights movement and Black people in general, justified with his crusade against anyone he deemed a communist, is well-documented.
U.S. hypocrisy
As organizations dedicated to building social justice in this country, we must especially be in complete solidarity with the Black victims of this latest attack against yet another Black organization by the FBI and reject the use of this newest anti-communism. Despite Russia now being a capitalist country, this Cold War propaganda from the Soviet era utilizes the same big lies and vilifications as an attempted club against solidarity.
These lies attempt to hide the hypocrisy of a government that uses the National Endowment for Democracy, USAID, and others to sponsor regime change worldwide and encourage many to instigate violence against popular movements.
The U.S. capitalist class, which had hoped the trillions spent on war would solve its economic contradictions and growing political isolation, is now desperate to cover itself, threatening anyone mentioning its naked oppressiveness with arrest.
We remain in solidarity with the APSP and others targeted by the FBI and reject this new version of McCarthyism and racist terror.
FBI and the U.S. government, stop your racist targeting of Black organizations! Drop the indictment now!
The people have the right to fight against the U.S. war and for liberation — for social and economic justice!
Donate to the defendants’ legal fund at HandsOffUhuru.org/Donate.
See also: We remain in solidarity: Hands off APSP & all those targeted by these bogus FBI indictments!
