HELP BUILD THE "COMMON FRONT AGAINST STATE REPRESSION"!
CFASR Communique #1


In the wake of 9/11, we are witnessing a disturbing trend of attacks on our civil liberties in the name of "anti-terrorism". New legislation such as the American "Patriot Act" and the Canadian "Bill C-36" seek to give law enforcement and government intelligence agencies increased power to eavesdrop on private communications, conduct searches without warrants, make arbitrary arrests, and label legitimate political dissenters as "terrorists".

Considering the "developed" world's unwillingness to address the root causes of terrorism (i.e., imperialism, poverty, etc.), there is absolutely NO excuse for these new police state measures. Far from a reaction to terrorist threats, these measures can be seen as nothing other than an expansion of state power for the purposes of bringing the general population under further subservience. Furthermore, it can be argued that they are merely a taste of things to come.

In light of this, a group of citizens has decided that the time to resist this encroaching fascism is now! These attacks on civil liberties must be stopped before they gain even more momentum. This group of citizens, calling itself the Common Front Against State Repression (or CFASR), has the ultimate goal of becoming a broad coalition that can provide a focused, cohesive, and effective resistance to these fascist trends.

Though, at this time, our coalition consists of only about a dozen committed individuals from across North America who gave birth to this idea on an internet discussion forum, we believe that, by other activist organizations becoming involved, CFASR can truly grow into a force to be reckoned with. Because of this, we are currently conducting outreach such as this comunique to invite organizations to participate.

We are prepared to take whatever efforts are necessary to help this coalition grow, but WE CAN'T DO IT ALONE! Ultimately, it will be organizations such as yours that not only make this coalition work, but that actually comprise it. Until such time as we build up sufficient numbers, we have little more than an idea. And this idea is that a single unified resistance front rather than just sporadic acts of activism and civil disobedience is essential to defeat the impending totalitarianism.

We are currently in the process of discussing ideas for how this coalition can be structured to allow for maximum participation of people of different political views, from different locations etc. It is our goal to unite both radicals and moderate liberals from across North America and around the world under a single banner.

Because many of us will undoubtedly be separated by great distances, it is essential to organize ourselves in a decentralized manner. One idea we have considered is having each member organization form a new working group dedicated solely to helping organize CFASR actions. These working groups would both report to their own organization's general meetings and keep in contact with the CFASR working groups of other organizations to coordinate their efforts. We welcome any and all ideas about how this coalition could be structured, what actions we can organize, etc.

At this point in time, the world is at a critical juncture. Though these post-9/11 attacks on civil liberties are just beginning, they are steadily picking up momentum. It is critically important that we begin to mount an effective resistance to this new police state while it is still in its infancy. This is why we strongly encourage all organizations and individuals who are concerned with social justice to join and help build the Common Front Against State Repression.

If you are interested in becoming involved, have questions, or would like to contribute your ideas about how to make the CFASR stronger, then please join our email listserve by sending a blank email message to cfasr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Once you have subscribed, you can post your comments by sending them to cfasr@yahoogroups.com.


Please check back often to see the new developments to our website.