[INLINE]
Progress in Bari/Cherney Suit Against the F.B.I.: The NewCOINTELPRO of the
'90s
[INLINE]
by Judi Bari
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On May 24, 1990, Darryl Cherney and I were driving through Oakland on
an organizing tour for Earth First!/Redwood Summer when a bomb
exploded under the driver's seat of my car. Within minutes of the
blast, the FBI and the Oakland Police Department moved in and arrested
us on suspicion of carrying explosives. They lied outrageously,
claiming that the bomb had been in the back seat, when their own
photos showed clearly its location directly under me. [See _Partisan_
No. 1 for photo. -- editors.]
We survived the blast, but I have been crippled for life. Neither the
FBI nor the Oakland Police made any attempt to find our would-be
assassins, but instead used the bombing as a pretext to begin an
investigation of the environmental movement.
For the past few years Darryl and I have been battling the FBI over
their outrageous treatment of us in the 1990 car-bombing. We have
filed a civil rights lawsuit against them, and we have been seeking a
Congressional investigation. Now, finally, both of these efforts seem
to be bearing fruit.
Courtroom Victory
The civil rights lawsuit has passed its final legal hurdle, and is now
headed for trial. In a strongly worded, 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court
of Appeals turned down the FBI's third and last attempt to get the
case thrown out of court. Our lawsuit charges the FBI and Oakland
Police with false arrest and civil rights violations. We claim that
they knew perfectly well that Darryl and I were innocent, and that we
were in fact victims of a brutal assassination attempt. Yet the FBI
and police arrested us for the bombing, and conducted a slanderous
campaign against us in the press, as part of a plan to defame and
discredit Earth First!
The appeals court has upheld our right to make all these changes,
including those about the FBI's underlying motive to discredit Earth
First!, based on the strength of the evidence we have collected so
far. This evidence includes the police photos of the bombing scene
that show beyond a doubt that the FBI and police deliberately lied
when they arrested Darryl and me for knowingly carrying the bomb. We
have also gotten access to over 5,000 pages of FBI files on the
bombing case. These files have revealed a whole new layer of FBI
misdeeds, going even beyond what we expected.
Sweeping Surveillance
The FBI files show that no legitimate search for the bomber was ever
conducted. Instead, the FBI used this case as an excuse to investigate
environmentalists and their associates, both locally and nationally,
in a sweeping campaign reminiscent of the 1950's red scare.
Locally, under the guise of investigating the bombing, the FBI looked
through the letters to the editor files of nine small hometown
newspapers, and confiscated letters from environmentalists. The FBI
also interviewed local police, management personnel from the timber
companies, and Wise Use Movement anti-environmental activists, asking
them to submit names of and information about any and all
environmentalists. Using these methods, they collected data on
approximately 150 Earth First!ers and other environmental activists in
the redwood region.
Nationally, the FBI obtained the telephone records of fourteen Earth
First!ers and compiled a list of 634 out-of-state phone calls we had
made. The FBI then investigated each of these 634 phone numbers,
gathering information including names, addresses, physical
descriptions, places of employment, criminal records, and political
associates.
Another example of scandalous FBI behavior revealed in the bombing
file involves freedom of the press. In one memo to headquarters, San
Francisco FBI director Richard Held complained about an article
written by _Santa Rosa Press Democrat_ reporter Mike Geniella. In that
article, Geniella documented the FBI's targeting of Earth First! in
Arizona, Montana, and California. Richard Held states in his memo that
he intends to complain to the _Press Democrat_'s editors about Mike
Geniella's reporting, and suggests that FBI chief William Sessions
complain to the _Press Democrat_'s parent newspaper, the _New York
Times_. A few weeks later, Geniella was disciplined by the _Press
Democrat_, and removed from his position as timber reporter.
Congressional Hearings
The FBI's investigations of people whose only crime was writing a
letter to the editor or receiving a phone call from an activist
violates our most basic rights of privacy, freedom of speech, and
freedom of association. The use of false charges to frame and
discredit activists recalls J. Edgar Hoover's illegal COINTELPRO
campaign of political repression, used to disrupt and destroy activist
groups in the 1960's and '70's.
Most extraordinary of all, we found out during the "discovery" phase
of our lawsuit that law enforcement officers who quickly appeared on
the scene after the attempted murder of Darryl Cherney and myself had
just come from an FBI "bomb school" held on Louisiana-Pacific Lumber
Company land near Eureka. At the school, FBI and other officers
practiced blowing up cars with bombs so they could "investigate the
results."
Help Needed
We have gotten support for this case from various social justice
organizations, including the Center for Constitutional Rights in New
York. Our awesome legal team, headed by Dennis Cunningham of San
Francisco, has also donated many hours of free legal work. But with
the current heightened level of activity in this case, this is no
longer enough, and we must turn to our supporters for help.
There is a virtual press blackout on the case outside northern
California. If you can spread the word in any way, please contact us.
If you would like to receive updates on the bombing case, please write
to Redwood Summer Justice Project, and we will put you on our mailing
list.
And of course, if you can contribute toward our costs, any amount
large or small will be appreciated. Checks to fund our FBI work should
be made out to Redwood Summer Justice Project and mailed to the
address below. If you would like your contribution to be tax
deductible, please indicate this on your check.
Redwood Summer Justice Project, P.O. Box 14720, Santa Rosa, California
95402
[Judi Bari is a Mendocino County labor and environmental activist.]
From: The PARTISAN, Post Office Box 24764, Oakland, California 94623.
Four Issue Subscription: $2; E-Mail (Internet): bevans@netcom.com
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