By COCO SMYTH

In June, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative became the latest target of the FBI in Ohio. Citing “voter fraud,” the FBI raided the NGO’s headquarters on June 11 in Columbus, seized computer files and documents, and sent agents to question activists affiliated with the organization across the state.

OOC is a liberal NGO that plays an important part in conducting voter registration campaigns across the state. Though the OOC is “non-partisan,” many of the political causes that it backs lean toward the Democratic Party. Beyond these activities, the OOC is a coalition comprised of 20 progressive organizations, including the Ohio Student Association. The OSA has recently played a leading role in the struggle against Ohio Senate Bill 1, which aims to gut higher education and destroy academic freedom.

The OOC has become a target of the Trump administration for two reasons—its voter registration activities and its support for grassroots progressive struggles in the state.

The Trump administration and its guiding program outlined in “Project 2025” propose a methodology for undermining bourgeois democracy and constructing a reactionary America. This has included deepening the American tradition of racist gerrymandering and the suppression and deregistration of voters from oppressed minorities. This is a core part of the Trump agenda, given the huge unpopularity of Trump and his supporters in the Republican Party among voters. Without manipulating and undermining democratic systems, the Republicans’ outsized control of governments at the state and federal level would not be assured.

The fact that OOC plays such an important role in voter registration has put a target on its back. Even the nonpartisan activity of registering people to vote is perceived as a threat by the Trump administration.

Beyond the immediate excuse of “voter fraud,” the targeting of OOC is part of a larger crackdown on progressive and leftist groups. The OOC has supported and participated in many movements, from struggles against police brutality to fights for academic freedom. The Trump administration and its allies in the federal and state governments perceive these types of grassroots progressive movements as a serious threat to their hold on power and have whipped up a new McCarthyism in an attempt to root it out.

Affiliated organizations of the OOC have organized and advocated against many of the maneuvers of the reactionary Ohio state government. They, alongside dozens of other groups, have made the task of implementing far-right legislation much more difficult for the government by mobilizing thousands against it.

It’s vital that all supporters of civil liberties in Ohio stand united against this brazen attack on the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. This case is the latest instance in the rising repression against movements for political progress in the United States, but it will not be the last. We need a united front in the face of these attacks on our democratic rights, our right to organize, and our right to hold on to progressive values and worldviews.

Furthermore, we have to move toward mass action and mass organizing methods to defend our existing rights and win much more. The already circumscribed rights granted to us by “U.S. democracy” are facing a direct threat, and it’s clear that the ballot box won’t secure those rights for us. From the intense repression conducted against the Palestine movement by the Democratic Party to the systematic attacks perpetrated by the Trump administration, it’s clear that repression is a bipartisan agenda.

It is up to us to unite against the threats against our democratic rights in the streets, in our communities, and in our workplaces. We know that Ohio Organizing Collaborative will not be the last organization to face state repression, so it is our collective duty to build the type of movement that can defend us all.

Photo: Getty Images

The post Citing ‘voter fraud,” FBI raids offices of Ohio Organizing Collaborative first appeared on Workers’ Voice/La Voz de los Trabajadores.

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