#state terrorism

A comrade writes: An alarming development. Ofc this is exactly what the framers of “Project Esther” envisioned, the re-making of Palestine solidarity protest into “terrorism,” which if one knows anything about the history of such things, certainly does not intend to stop there. I hope this case falls apart

“For all the government’s alarming language, the indictment includes no terrorism counts, no assault counts, and no hate crime counts.

Yet from its opening pages, the indictment repeatedly invokes Hamas, the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, red triangles, red handprints, “martyrs,” “intifada,” and the Weather Underground, the 1960s radical group that bombed government buildings.

That framing is not accidental. It is the spine of the government’s case.

The defendants are Zainab Aliasgar Hakim, 23; Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim, 21; Paige Elizabeth Feyock, 26; Ahmet Kerem Korkaya, 28; Jonathan Hongru Zou, 22; Alexander Matthew Sepulveda, 23; Mariam Muhammed Odeh, 24; and Colin Hunter Weger, 24.

An indictment is not evidence. It is the government’s version of events, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.”

"To live in Minnesota as Somalis at this moment can feel like being skinned bit by bit. The pain of an entire community being bullied by a government is unimaginable — and, unfortunately, unoriginal. This has happened to so many other communities before us.

In places where I walk and know the streets by name, I can hear people whispering to their children: “Are we safe?” Even friends who were born here pause before crossing the street, sensing that ordinary days can be interrupted without warning.

There was a time when the morning bus felt like a possibility. Now it feels like an unanswered question. Will someone you love be asked to explain themselves before they make it home?"