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"What the FBI is doing now is trying to stifle political dissent. And trying to remove, particulary people from the Middle East and South Asia, who are opposed to US Foreign policy. We're not going to allow this to happen."

That was Gloria Rubac with the Houston chapter of ANSWER, the International Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition, at last Friday evening's rush hour demonstration in front of the Mickey Leland Federal Building downtown. Amidst fears of new terrorist attacks, few Americans have given any thought to government infringement on their civil rights.

In response to this, Rubac and other Houston activists, including La Resistencia, Progressive Workers Organizing Committee and Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, are spending their time leading up to Independence Day educating fellow citizens about the effects of the so-called anti-terrorist legislation, such as the Patriot Act and Attorney General John Ashcroft's recent mandate lifting restrictions on the FBI's investigative practices.

In relating the current political climate to the FBI's historical legacy, Dr. David Michael Smith, a Professor of Political Science at College of the Mainland in Texas City, representing the Progressive Workers Organizing Committee at Friday's rally, discussed some of the agency's practices against those who disagreed with government policies.

"Many people involved in the struggle for social justice know that they are surveiled ... sometimes people are harassed, or sometimes people are even beaten or blacklisted or families are threatened and frankly there's a long history of murder of activists. People who belonged to the Young Lord's Party, the American Indian Movement, the Black Panther Party ... so many people know that there is this problem with state surveillance."

According to Charles Rhodes, an assistant professor and constitutional law specialist at Southwest Texas College of Law:

"Under the act, the FBI can go to court and request that has an effect that a person is involved in terrorism, which is a lower standard than the normal probable cause requirement for getting a warrant. If the FBI has reason to expect that a person may be involved with terrorism, there's a court set up ... It's done in secrecy and then the FBI can go search, for instance, the person's library records."

Dr. Smith expressed that the FBI and other agencies do not need more power to monitor lawful, peaceful political activities.

For KPFT News, this is Mauryzia Wong.

E-mail Mauryzia Wong at mw_houston@yahoo.com