Studs Terkel, Terrorist
No, I’m not really claiming that Studs Terkel was a terrorist.
But, after reading his FBI file, you get a renewed sense of what the FBI’s files on Muslims and DOD’s files on peace activists must look like. It’s worth a gander, if only for a reminder of how paranoid–and susceptible to fear-mongerers–our country gets when we begin to profile our citizens because of alleged associations. Among Terkel’s suspicious ties include the National Lawyers Guild and Jewish women’s organizations.
The CUNY NYC NewsService FOIAed Turkel’s file after he passed away last year. Though the FBI just turned over 147 of 269 pages of his file.
The NewsService piece also reminds of Terkel’s NYT op-ed written during the debate about amending FISA in 2007.
In 1978, with broad public support, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which placed national security investigations, including wiretapping, under a system of warrants approved by a special court. The law was not perfect, but as a result of its enactment and a series of subsequent federal laws, a generation of Americans has come to adulthood protected by a legal structure and a social compact making clear that government will not engage in unbridled, dragnet seizure of electronic communications.
The Bush administration, however, tore apart that carefully devised legal structure and social compact. To make matters worse, after its intrusive programs were exposed, the White House and the Senate Intelligence Committee proposed a bill that legitimized blanket wiretapping without individual warrants. The legislation directly conflicts with the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, requiring the government to obtain a warrant before reading the e-mail messages or listening to the telephone calls of its citizens, and to state with particularity where it intends to search and what it expects to find.
Compounding these wrongs, Congress is moving in a haphazard fashion to provide a “get out of jail free card” to the telephone companies that violated the rights of their subscribers. Some in Congress argue that this law-breaking is forgivable because it was done to help the government in a time of crisis. But it’s impossible for Congress to know the motivations of these companies or to know how the government will use the private information it received from them.
As we continue to wade through the EFF document dump of that legislative battle and engage on the current battle over PATRIOT, it’s worth listening to Studs Terkel once again.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48434860@N00/ / CC BY-ND 2.0
Thanks so much for doing this, EW. Thanksgiving is coming out, and it’s so appropriate to remind us of the thanks we owe for people like Studs. As for J. Edgar’s reliance on witch hunts, unnamed “acquaintances,” anonymous sources, etc.: GRRRRRRRRRR.
Thanks. I actually quoted one of Terkel’s interviews on WWII for a post on 11/11. What a guy. If you’re blowing off someone like Terkel, or spying on him, it should be a wake-up call…
“So there wasn’t a World Series in Chicago, and Studs missed the 2008 Presidential election. Other than that, Louis (Studs) Terkel did everything possible in 96 years.”
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081031/MEMORY/810319997
I have the “red squad files” that were written up on my late friend, Charles Thomas, a local civil rights activist in the 60s and 70s. It’s really pretty shocking how almost illiterate the police writeups are and how broad they were, like listing all the license plate numbers of cars parked near the Michigan Union. He held sit-ins in the churches demanding that they put some of their money back into the community. The first response was that every church in Ann Arbor had a court injunction to keep him off “their property” (“oh how Christian,” I thought…but found out that it included the local synagogues as well). They later formed the Interfaith Council of Churches and did start putting some money into the community. The lesson I learned was that people can talk and talk about doing the right thing, but until you get in people’s faces and make them squirm and be uncomfortable, nothing changes. Stud Terkel struck me as that kind of guy.
Thanks to the “Sunshine Act”, several friends of mine active during the ’60s and ’70s also got their files. They spent hours rolling on the floor laughing their asses off at the inanities in the files–which was about all that was in them. While I could see the humor, it angered me greatly that so much time, money and effort was spent in collecting and storing all this misinformation. And for what purposes? To try and stop Civil Rights (while largely ignoring the KKK, John Birchers, Minutemen, etc. who were armed and dangerous)? To try and stop dissent among members of the very age group that was expected to go half-way around the world and fight and/or die for some amorphous “cause”? Very sad.
It is really sad! And I understand the laughter, but when you think about the fact that these are ‘the authorities’ it’s really frightening. You had to be really strong and/or crazy to fight during those times….and probably still now….
This is pretty good. You get to see the SF Tac Squad and the Blue Meanies (Alameda County Sheriffs) in action. I remember the giant sling-shot and the burning vehicle–to say nothing of the sound of those batons hitting the human skull.
And today John Yoo teaches on that very same campus.
Interesting…maybe something similar is beginning out West. Remember that those protests began in what was pretty much an on campus issue (the right to tabling on Sproul Plaza in 1965…the “Free Speech Movement”). It then expanded to protests against the firing of the UC President who compromised with the students. Then Reagan initated the first tuition, more protests. Then the Anti-War protests struck with a vengeance. Throughout this were people just protesting the police response to the protests…the killing of protestors in Peoples Park, Kent State, Louisiana State, etc.
From Reagan to now…students are going to pay $10,000 for a year at UC???? It’s a Private School now!
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/2336989.html
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_13411067?source=most_emailed&nclick_check=1
And reading some of the comments…it’s amazing just how complacent and accepting the public is to this destruction of California’s future.
While doing some of that wading, I came upon this March 7, 2008 email chain (pages 32-33 of 66 page PDF) regarding that “Quantico Circuit” mystery in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, part 81-4 document:
Based on my Googling, I’m guessing that the “John Greer” referenced as the author in the original email is this person:
And of course, Jeremy Bash’s CV reads like this:
Less notable was the fact that Jeremy Bash was married to Dana Bash of CNN who is now married to John King of CNN who has recently replaced Lou Dobbs on CNN. My, what an incestuous web they weave. *g*
For those who have forgotten the content, that Babak Pasdar “affidavit” on the mysterious “Quantico Circuit” is here (7 page PDF)
Given the tenor of the times in which he lived, I imagine that Studs Terkel would have been disappointed if he did not have an FBI file. Especially after 1960.
from BayStateLibrul’s link (#3, thank you) to Roger Ebert’s loving memorial of Studs Terkel:
Also, a nice companion to this would be Amy Goodman’s tribute to Yip Harburg, “The Man Who Put the Rainbow in ‘The Wizard of Oz’.” Harburg wrote the lyrics to “Brother Can You Spare a Dime” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (L. Frank Baum’s book had no rainbow) and was later blacklisted.
OT
Someone may have posted this news earlier. David Miliband is not happy.
My friends in the land of Tea & Crumpets tell me that Judges & Barristers on all sides are waiting their turn to smack Blair & Co.
Has anyone noticed how quickly and quietly the “Blair for EU Preznit rally” petered out ?
Yep…he lost….I guess they don’t whant two “ASS kicking bullyboys” in one town, it seem they have there hands full with the new NATO civilian head….and also the normal heads of state don’t wanna be the nr. two guys….Who knows what the reasons were maybee they also did’t whant him in that job if he got “dirty” hands so to speak.
Yep, his “starpower” is a bit tarnished.
“Flash in the pan” comes to mind.
Lots of batons. Different than the baton lessons I had in 5th grade. And today my brother-in-law has diabetes as a result of being in the seabees in Vietnam, something the VA finally acknowledges, but still he fights for the treatment they like to say they provide as we support the troops. Some things don’t change.
{{{{{{{{ffein & brother-in-law}}}}}}}}
I’m sure y’all must’ve seen this earlier … Comey & Goldsmith give two thumbs up to Holder’s decision to try KSM in NYC – from wapo
kinda makes me wonder what is in my own FBI files
do they have any information about actual crimes
if it’s jes a collection of my political activity, the bastards missed half of my life
disclamer: snce I have been questioned by FBI agents about actual criminal activity, I’m probably the only one here who has a legitimate FBI file in the first place …
I trust the FBI at the time you knew them was indeed involved in doing the people’s business. In the time to which I am referring, their mission was defined by Jedgar who was certainly no friend of Civil Rights and Vietnam War protests.
Yes, I definitely think Studs Terkel would have been disappointed not to have an FBI file – but not surprised at how stupid it was.
Of course, I suppose I should acknowledge that the National Lawyers Guild has been called a “front group” for the Communist Party since its founding. And in those early days, there may have been some truth to it.
Having had contact with a number of Guild members, I can testify that they are DFH’s. (Probably the leftist lawyers Sen. Kyl had in mind while speaking to AG Holder)/s