Today is a National Call-In Day to support anti-war and international solidarity activists who are scheduled to appear before a grand jury in Chicago.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald is in charge of the Northern District of Illinois and is responsible for this investigation. His number is (312) 353-5300.

The FBI targeted these activists, probably for years, and raided their houses on September 24. The FBI took computers, cell phones, boxes of documents, photographs and even children's artwork.

Paul Beaty/AP

According to the FBI, the goal of the raids was to seek evidence “concerning the material support for terrorism.”

The FBI hasn’t filed any charges, but the FBI did subpoena 14 activists in Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan.

These raids are very troubling. This kind of harassment has the ability to crush social movements. Social movements require trust amongst members, and there’s nothing like a grand jury subpoena to undermine that trust. This harassment creates a milieu where effective social change is even harder to organize.

And this particular case is troubling to me personally, as I know some of the folks involved.

The FBI has a long history of covert actions against U.S. activists. One of the most egregious—and successful—examples of this was COINTELPRO.

COINTELPRO was the code name for the U.S. government’s covert intelligence program into social justice movements in the 1960s. COINTELPRO triggered the collapse of the Black Panthers, for just one example.

(To find out more about COINTELPRO, see “War at Home: Covert Action Against U.S. Activists and What We Can Do About It” by Brian Glick, South End Press)

And while COINTELPRO was officially disbanded, domestic covert action continues.

One organization that was targeted by the FBI in COINTELPRO fashion was the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). The FBI targeted CISPES throughout the 1980s and possibly 1990s and maybe even now.

Back then, the U.S. government deemed activists as backers of terrorism if they supported governments (Sandinista Nicaragua) or movements (the ANC in South Africa or the FMLN in El Salvador) it did not like.

I was a staff person for Chicago CISPES in the early 1990s. And that’s where I met Joe Iosbaker, Stephanie Weiner, and Tom Burke, all of whom the FBI has subpoenaed before a grand jury.

Stephanie Weiner and Joe Iosbaker announced during an October 5 news conference in Chicago that they and other subpoenaed activists would not cooperate with the FBI “fishing expedition.”

Weiner said that federal prosecutors are “attacking conduct that clearly falls under the realm of freedom of speech and never could be imagined to be ‘material support for terrorism.’ ”

“We have nothing to say to a grand jury,” said Iosbaker.

More than 30 Muslim, Jewish, and Christian organizations and 80 religious leaders have signed an interfaith statement condemning the FBI raids and grand jury subpoenas.

The FBI raids happened about a week after the Justice Department Inspector General issued a report critical of the FBI’s surveillance of peace groups from 2002-2006. The report concluded that there was no factual basis for the terror claims the FBI made to justify its actions.

It’s possible that this is a “fishing expedition” with a side of bureaucratic turf war. But going after these activists is bad news for everyone who has an opinion that doesn’t jive with current U.S. foreign policy.

Government harassment of political activists has a long history. It’s time for this to stop.

If you liked this article by Elizabeth DiNovella, the culture editor of The Progressive, check out her piece “Charmer in Chief."

Follow Elizabeth DiNovella @lizdinovella on Twitter