Resolution on FBI raid of African People’s Socialist Party

The following Peace and Freedom Party resolution was officially adopted at the August 2022 meeting of the State Central Committee.

The Peace and Freedom Party condemns the recent FBI raids on the African People’s Socialist Party and opposes all attacks on organizations that criticize U.S. foreign policy.

On July 29, the FBI raided the African People’s Socialist Party’s Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida, and their Uhuru Solidarity Center in St. Louis, Missouri. They entered the home of APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela using flash-bang grenades and handcuffed him and his partner.

Chairman Omali was never accused of possessing weapons or participating in violent actions. This act of state terror against him and his family is completely indefensible.

According to the FBI, these raids are part of a federal indictment of a Russian national, Aleksandr Ionov, who leads a non-governmental organization alleged to have received funding by the Russian government. Ionov is the one charged, not the APSP, but he is currently living overseas. The FBI knows that he will not ever stand trial here to rebut the government’s charges, nor will the APSP receive its official opportunity to counter the claims in the indictment.

This attack on the APSP is part of a long tradition of attacks on people’s organizations that critique U.S. policy against the working class in the U.S. and around the world.

We call on all class-conscious and progressive people to condemn this and all FBI operations against the left. We defend the right of the African People’s Socialist Party and all organizations to speak out against U.S. foreign policy.

– submitted by Marsha Feinland