The Police State strikes again.

Posted on May 18, 2009

Just in case anyone who reads my blog still has illusions about the federal government respecting our fundamental human right to free speach, free assembly, and protest (rights recognized by, but not in any way originating with the first amendment of the bill of rights); here’s yet another wakeup call.  This one from the DesMoines Register, a mainstream publication not known for their radical sympathies.

FBI infiltrated Iowa anti-war group before GOP convention

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090517/NEWS/905170341

By WILLIAM PETROSKI
© 2009, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company
May 17, 2009

An FBI informant and an undercover Minnesota sheriff’s deputy spied on political activists in Iowa City last year before the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Confidential FBI documents obtained by The Des Moines Register show an FBI informant was planted among a group described as an “anarchist collective” that met regularly last year in Iowa City. One of the group’s goals was to organize street blockades to disrupt the Republican convention, held Sept. 1-4, 2008, where U.S. Sen. John McCain was nominated for president.

The undercover Minnesota deputy who traveled to Iowa City was from the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department, which infiltrated a group known as the “RNC Welcoming Committee” that was coordinating convention protest activities in St. Paul.

The undercover officer accompanied two activists from the Twin Cities who attended the University of Iowa in April 2008 for a Midwest campus anti-war conference.

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Tristan Anderson Critically wounded by IDF

Posted on March 13, 2009

I just got forwarded a message that a friend of mine has been critically wounded by the Israeli military while protesting for Palestinian rights. Apparently he was shot in the head with a tear gas canister and is currently in the hospital. He’s hardly the first American to be wounded by the IDF – just a few years ago Rachel Corrie was run over by a bulldozer that was destroying Palestinian homes in the West Bank to make room for yet another illegal Israeli Settlement in the tiny strip of land that is all the Palestinian people have left of their country.

Just imagine what the American response would have been if a Palestinian soldier had willfully run down and killed an American citizen or shot an American citizen in the head, and then compare it with the complete indifference from Bush and Obama both in response to these assaults. That right there should tell you everything you need to know about the stranglehold that the Zionist lobby (as opposed to the mythical “Jewish” lobby – plenty of Jewish folks oppose Zionism and most hard-core supporters of Israel in America are fundamentalist Christians) has on American politics.

Here’s the full article on what happened to Tristan.

13th Friday 2009, Ni’lin Village: An American citizen has been critically injured in the village of Ni’lin after Israeli forces shot him in the head with a tear-gas canister.

Tristan Anderson from California USA, 37 years old, is currently being taken to Israeli hospital Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv. Anderson is unconscious and has been bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth. He sustained a large hole in his forehead where he was struck by the canister.

“The Israeli soldiers were standing on the hill looking over us firing tear-gas canisters straight into the crowd. Tristan was hit and fell to the ground. He had a large hole in the front of his head and his brain was visible. I tried to stop the bleeding, but he was bleeding heavily from the head, nose and mouth.” Ulrika Jenson (Sweden) – International Solidarity Movement

“Tristan was shot by the new tear-gas canisters that can be shot up to 500m. I ran over as I saw someone had been shot, while the Israeli forces continued to fire tear-gas at us. When an ambulance came, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulance through the checkpoint
just outside the village. After 5 minutes of arguing with the soldiers, the ambulance passed.” Teah Lunqvist (Sweden) – International Solidarity Movement

Contact:
Ulrika Jenson (English and Swedish) – +972 598 521 158
Teah Lunqvist (English and Swedish) – +972 598 531 036
ISM Media Office – 02-297 1824 or +972 598 503 948

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) http://palsolidarity.org/ is a Palestinian-led non-violent resistance movement committed to ending Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land. We call for full compliance with all relevant UN resolutions and international law.

For specific media inquires such as interview requests, photo usage, etc. please email the ISM Media Office at media [at] palsolidarity.org

Other sources are now reporting the following related details: Ulrika Jenson, an International Solidarity Movement activist, said troops fired tear gas canisters into the crowd from a hill above.

“Tristan was hit and fell to the ground,” Jenson was quoted as saying in an ISM statement. “He had a large hole in the front of his head, and his brain was visible.”

Why the protests?
“Ni’lin was 57,000 dunums in 1948, reduced to 33,000 dunums in 1967, currently the town’s land is 10,000 dunums and will be 7,500 dunums after the construction of the Wall.”

“Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with live ammunition on 29th July 2008. The following day, Yousef Amira (17) was shot twice with rubber-coated steel bullets, leaving him brain dead. He died a week later on 4 August 2008. Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22), was the third Ni’lin resident to be killed by Israeli forces. He was shot in the back with live ammunition on 28 December 2008. That same day, Mohammed Khawaje (20), was shot in the head with live ammunition, leaving him brain dead. He died three days in a Ramallah hospital.”

Tristan’s Reporting:

Tristan’s 2004 Posts From Iraq | Tristan Speaking in 2004 About His Trip to Iraq During First Year of War | Tristan’s 2006 Report Back From Oaxaca

Recent Coverage By Tristan: Berkeley Oaks Tree Sit | 2008 Reclaim The Streets Protest | 2008 Iraq War Protest | 2008 Chevron Protest |Fossil Fools Bike Ride | Anti-War Bike Ride | More Of Tristan’s Indybay Reports Over the Years

A letter from a social class struggle anarchist.

Posted on January 29, 2009

Another article off the A-infos newswire, this one from a very frustrated comrade in Greece. I’ve written a fair amount about the same kinds of feelings and I think a lot of what he’s saying is just as true about the movement in North America – there are far too few real revolutionaries and far too many angry kids who just want to smash things.

Not that smashing things can’t be a good thing in the right circumstances (think Boston Tea Party), but destruction for its own sake is a problem because it alienates the majority and marginalizes radicals. Renouncing the Vanguardism of Marxism and taking an Anarchist approach to Class Struggle means we need to be able to mobilize the working class en masse in order to win. Our strength – and our only hope for victory – is in numbers.

So yes to protests! yes to mass actions! yes to self-defense against police violence! yes to occupying space and standing up to reclaim the commons! but please, let’s be smart and not reinforce the negative stereotypes about anarchists that the mass media here, in greece, and worldwide works so hard to perpetuate..

(en) Greece, Athens, A letter from a social class struggle anarchist.

Date Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:58:57 +0200

---

Dear Comrades, I don’t have to go to work until Monday so I am in a position to say a few things about the majority of the Greek anarchists. —- This majority supports a vague kind of anarchism; for these persons the very big differences between Proudhon, Bakunin, Malatesta, Cafiero, Kropotkin, Camillo Berneri, Bookchin and so on, are simply details. Why so? Because after reading a
few anarchist pamphlets they think that there is no need to read any more and examine more carefully the thinking of each of the above-mentioned theoreticians. Moreover they think they “know” – after reading only a few pamphlets! And who are those that don’t know? The entire Greek population (minus these two hundred people)!! —- These anarchists think that we need no theories – we need violent actions to radicalise any social upheaval. For them, the only activity which has any importance is violent action – the only true action!!

What do we really have? Uneducated anarchists (they don’t think before acting, they don’t think after acting and they don’t think of the consequences of their actions), they are the supporters of an anarchism which has never existed (they are not individualists, not syndicalists, nor communists – they are simply “anarchists”) believers in the one and only solution for all the “problems”
(violence) and they are elitist (they “know”, and all the others don’t “know”).

In fact given the mindless action of these anarchists the Greek state has no need of provocateurs. Their participation in a demonstration always leads to their direct confrontation with the police and dispersal of the demonstrators. Of course they don’t give a damn about the purpose(s) of the demonstrations.

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Come Meet the New Boss – Obama to defend Telco Spy Immunity

Posted on January 22, 2009

Yes We Can … continue George Bush’s well established precedent of violating citizens privacy rights, protecting big corporations, and trading our freedoms for the false security of a Police State. Come meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Obama to Defend Telco Spy Immunity
By David Kravets, Wired Magazine

The incoming Obama administration will vigorously defend congressional legislation immunizing U.S. telecommunication companies from lawsuits about their participation in the Bush administration’s domestic spy program.

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Class Struggle Anarchist Statement on Gaza‏‏

Posted on January 14, 2009

A newly released statement from the Workers Solidarity Alliance about the massacre in Gaza (I refuse to use the word “war” because it implies a two way conflict when what is happenning in Gaza is anything but that – the latest count I heard on NPR this morning was over 1,000 Palestinians dead compared to 13 Israeli’s).

Gaza is in flames. Its population terrorized by the incessant bombing of Israeli warplanes against its public and residential districts and even its schools (3). Countless of the Gaza Strip’s mostly impoverished residents are dead, many of these children, women, and the elderly. Many more Palestinians have lost loved ones, have been maimed, both physically and psychologically, and all are living without access to basic necessities, water, food, medical care, etc. All of this as the consequence of the largest military assault (codename: “Operation Cast Lead”) waged by Israeli armed forces since 1967 against the Gaza Strip and its approximately 1.5 million residents.

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