FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
It will be a great day when our schools get all the
money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy
a bomber. |
Acting Executive Director
Tel. 215-563-7110
E-mail: tjames@wilpf.org
WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FILES FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST
On June 14, 2006 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), its branches in the Philadelphia area, sponsors and staff will submit a Freedom of Information Request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
WILPF will be joining over two dozen peace and justice groups in the Philadelphia region to launch the Don’t Spy on Me Campaign to expose the government’s war on dissent. The announcement of this campaign comes several months after a Freedom of Information Act Request exposed FBI spying on the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Justice in Pittsburgh, PA simply because the organization opposed the war. Although previously disclosed documents had shown that the FBI is retaining files on anti-war groups, these documents are the first to show conclusively that the rationale for FBI targeting is the group’s opposition to the war.
In 1977 and again in 1979 WILPF requested and eventually received 23 boxes of documents held by the FBI dating back to 1924. (These documents are now housed in the Swarthmore Peace Collection.) One of our founders, Jane Addams, was labeled the most dangerous woman in America. Sandy Silver, past president from 2002 to 2005 has said, “It was—and still is—a sad day when a woman is considered ‘dangerous’ for believing in and working for equality and justice for all people. If these goals are still considered ‘dangerous,’ then our present government has a great deal to worry about.”
WILPF joins in this action because we believe in that dissent in the name of peace and freedom is not a crime. We believe that the present administration has violated the law and abridged our first amendment rights. Other groups involved in the campaign include: A Space, Brandywine Peace Community, Catholic Peace Fellowship, Chester County Peace Movement, Darfur Alert Coalition, The Defenestrator, East Timor Action Network, Gold Star Families Speak Out, House of Grace Catholic Worker, IAC, IWW-Philadelphia, Military Families Speak Out, Northwest Greens, Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network (PRAWN), Shalom Center, SEAC(Student Environmental Action Committee), SOA Watch NE, the Peace Center of Delaware County, Veterans for Peace—Chapter 31, Vietnam Vets Against the War, White Dog Café, and others.
