On Sept. 15 and 16, FBI agents went to the homes of three members of the Seattle-Cuba Friendshipment Committee (SCFC). Doug Barnes, Chris Pforr, and Tom Warner all refused to cooperate with the FBI.

The agents gave two different, equally disturbing, professed reasons for their unannounced home visits. First, there was the rationale that the FBI was trying to prepare for the possible visit of Cuban leader Fidel Castro during the World Trade Organization ministerial talks in Seattle Nov. 29-Dec. 3. The SCFC was host to a team of Cuban diplomats that were in Seattle recently scoping out the city. However, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense; SCFC members are far less likely than the Cubans themselves to know any possible details of a Castro visit. And if it's security they're worried about, the far more important worry would be the plethora of rabid anti-Castro-ites, any one of which could easily come out here from Florida or New Jersey with an assault weapon and a deathwish. The FBI would be far better off investigating those circles--or the U.S. government itself, which has an actual track record of repeatedly trying to kill Castro.

So that doesn't particularly add up. But neither does the second reason given by agents: their concern over possible "civil unrest" during the WTO talks. Not that the FBI doesn't care about the enormous demonstrations planned; they, along with the SPD, King County Sheriff, Secret Service, BATF, FEMA, and several other agencies, are part of a task force holding planning meetings and officer trainings to prepare for the protests. But SCFC activists haven't been involved at all in planning the anti-WTO protests. Cuba, in fact, is pro-WTO, as is Castro, and SCFC members tend to approve of whatever The Revolution likes. So why were they singled out?

The most likely explanation, as Barnes says, is that the FBI visits were "sheer harassment." The visits can easily be seen as part of a pattern of continuing harassment against SCFC and the Pastors for Peace aid caravans to Cuba. (Remember the 1996 debacle when the U.S. government attempted to prevent a caravan from leaving the country at San Diego.) And they provide several useful lessons for all Seattle activists as we approach the WTO demonstrations.

First, assume that the FBI and other investigative arms of our domestic security apparatus are interested in any and all aspects of anti-WTO planning. These demonstrations have the potential to be nationally and even internationally significant in jump-starting a popular opposition to free trade policies--and, thus, global corporate rule. Some very powerful people don't want to see that happen.

Second, these folks lie. Witness the bogus stories as to why FBI agents are making unannounced home visits to citizens who have had the nerve to exercise their First Amendment rights.

This leads to the most important lesson: Never cooperate with an FBI agent or other snoop looking for information. You never know what their true purpose is, and even the most innocuous piece of information could be used to hurt somebody who, again, is stupid enough to think they can have opinions in this country without consequences. It shouldn't be this way, but it is. Remember that you are under no legal obligation to talk with them. Thank them for their time, and close the door.

It may well be that we'll see more instances of such harassment--or worse--as the WTO approaches. The stakes of this demonstration are very high. Be security conscious. And then, in November, let's go out and kick corporate America's ass.