First, They Came For the Anarchists

[JSJ]

FBI officials Friday went door-to-door in Lawrence and neighboring cities trying to find and interview members of a local anarchist group.


Members of the group said they thought agents were trying to find out if they knew of any plans to disrupt the Democratic National Convention next week in Boston. According to national news reports, FBI officials said Friday they had "unconfirmed information" that a domestic group planned to violently disrupt the convention by targeting media vehicles with explosives or incendiary devices.

Citing unidentified sources, ABC News reported Friday the group whose statements triggered the warning was "made up of college-age members based in the Midwest."

Members of the Lawrence anarchist group say that, as far as they know, no one from their group is planning to go to the convention. They accused law enforcement agents of "scare tactics" and said they felt they were being harassed.

"I think they're exploiting people's fear about terrorism as much as possible so as to neutralize opposition," said Scott Pinkelman, 20, who said agents paid a Friday morning visit to his parents' home in Shawnee and called his father at work.

http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/176544

This shows fear- no, not by the kids the Federal BI are hassling, but by the government. The anarchists are alright, and should be defended by anyone with a heart and a desire to see things improve. -SJ

[thebigidea]

1. Hmmm. Interesting. You'd think the Bushies would encourage an attack.

[NoPasaran]

2. Any little attack on a TV truck by anarchist kids would be a trifle

compared to the atmosphere of universal fear required by the Bush* regime.

[thebigidea]

5. it'd still distract from the convention... FOX would love it!

[rock]

3. "unconfirmed information"

Isn't that an Irish Bull? Or maybe an oxymoron? Speculation is not information.

[HEFFA]

4. "The anarchists are alright"??

I dunno about that one, SJ. I have a real problem with idealogues of any ilk. Those who seek the destruction and/or elimination of government don't exactly strike me as "alright."

Don't get me wrong on this one -- the feds are probably using the convention, the fear of terrorism, and the all-encompassing need for "security" to their advantage in persecuting a fringe group. That's not "alright" either.

[G_j]

6. something to think about

Prsent Czar of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge was governer of PA during the 2000 Republican convention.


------Ridge and The 2000 Republican Convention
http://www.guerrillanews.com/newswire/172.html

Ridge's use of a Malden Institute report to justify the raid on the R2K protesters was particularly troubling. This ultra-right wing think tank used innuendo, lies and rumor in its propaganda-filled manifesto, suggesting that the global protest movement was funded by rubles smuggled out of the former Soviet Union. The raid, prior to the actual protest, raised many troubling legal questions, most notably prior restraint of First Amendment rights
---
on the Malden Institute:
http://www.pww.org/past-weeks-2000/Old%20McCarthyism.ht ...

The pennsylvania state police and the 'old McCarthyism'

By Norman Markowitz

The Philadelphia Enquirer on Sept. 10 reported a bizarre but important story – one that shows the Gestapo tactics and lunatic anti-Communism associated with J. Edgar Hoover, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and Joseph McCarthy are continuing. In a 23 report attempting to justify their infiltration, illegal search and seizures and brutal arrests and detention of protesters at the recent Republican National Convention, the Pennsylvania State Police cited "evidence" that the protesters were working for and funded by the CPUSA(the Communist Party of Eastern Pennsylvania particularly), trade unions connected to the "Soviet era" World Federation of Trade Unions, and other Communist and "Soviet" agencies.

The "source" of these allegations, according to the Enquirer, turns out to be something called the "Malden Institute," whose leading figures include a Florida televangelist with connections to Jerry Falwell, a novelist whose stock in trade was accounts of "KGB" disinformation campaigns, and, most of all an Englishman named John Rees, who, according to ultra-right watcher Chip Berlet, has John Birch Society connections and has been spreading Soviet and Communist conspiracy stories through ultra-right networks since the 1970s, undaunted even by the dismemberment of the Soviet Union.

The Malden Institute, according to the Enquirer, is to a significant extent funded by the Carthage Foundation of Richard Mellon Scaife, the Daddy Warbucks of many ultra-right organizations and campaigns, most of all the attempt to impeach President Clinton.

..more..
------------------

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/sep2000/rnc-s12.shtml
Police targeted protesters at Republican National Convention for their political views
-------------------
http://www.progressive.org/pmp0701/pmpwo301.html
Tom Ridge's record raises questions
--------------------
http://www.sfbg.com/News/34/45/45nffbi.html
Disrupting dissent
Philly chief wants feds to tackle L.A. protesters.

[dumpster_baby]

7. good to see young people in politics. However....

...I have never really understood anarchists because they seem to have no plan about how to get from here to there. I agree with many of their ideas about what is good and bad in life. But getting there is the real problem.

[cosmicdot]

8. going door-to-door

that sounds like something between McCarthyism and Nazi Gestapo ...

what's next painting a Huge A on the outside of houses expected of disagreeing?

freedom up to a certain level, or 'there should be limits to freedom', is unAmerican, isn't it?

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." B. Franklin

The question isn't whether one agrees with "Republicans", the question is the right to be one (substitute other political orientation within quotation marks, i.e., anarchists). The question regards the tactics being used without check and balances. The 'uniters' divide us in court. The worry is having a 5 to 4 court which might say, this is OK, when it isn't.

[G_j]

9. houses raided

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/07/22/7909099

For Immediate Release
Statement from Kansas Mutual Aid Legal Collective July 22, 2004

Today we received news from friends and activists in Denver, Colorado pertaining to incidents involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation and possibly local law enforcement agencies.

It was communicated to us, that two houses in Denver had been raided by the FBI and that at least two people had been arrested. Their charges and situations are not at this time known to us. We do know that they were asked questions about the upcoming election events including the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, as well as questions about "ABC".

According to the person that contacted us, it is not thought that anything of value had been taken from the houses, but multiple checks of identification occurred. Agents were reported to have made threatening statements to individuals who were attempting to record names and badge numbers of those agents that were present.

This comes on the heels of repeated harrasment at the hands of state agencies of activists in New York and Boston, as well as more locally in Kirksville, Missouri, where activists were questioned by FBI and local agencies about upcoming events surrounding the DNC and RNC.

<snip>

-----------------------

[HawkerHurricane]

10. Anarchist 'group'?

United Anarchists? Sounds like a parody group me and my friends set up back in 1982, the "United Anarchists Party"... "Only by working together can we achieve anarchy".

[undergroundpanther]

11. For the curious

Here's 4 books I'd reccomend about anarchy for people who do not understand what Anarchy is at all.I find some of the deepest most honest thinkers about social issues are anarchists.And BTW Anarchy is not about lawlessness or anti cooperation,or survival of the fittist,that's the republican RW platform, Anarchist means anti ruler as is a dominator. Anarchists are Anti Authoritarian,they don't just obey they ask why should they just blindly obey,They lead themselves and become examples and mentors of self soverignity in an interdependant community that needs each other. Anarchists are anti abuse of power, anti bully. The Word Anarchy relates to the word Archon.In Gnostic beliefs there is a distoerted unspiritual thing wisdom created by mistake it was ignorant and very controlling and thought it was supreme and was entitled to dominate A force that controls uses and abuses the world to feed,and glorify itself called an Archon.Anarchy is Anti-Archon. And anyone who wants freedom and responsibility,integrity over cronyism,prefers a real community,over class /personal exploitation by the pushy, anyone who rejects the notion of kings and rulers and the idea of manifest destiny has an anarchist side whether they ankoewlege it or not I think this confusion over anarchy a matter of unintended ignorance and powers that be work overtime to distort anarchists because it goes right to the heart of thier 'power sources',that empty sound (authoritarianism)they make that if believed by enough people entitles them to pretend to be a king.. and the people play along and bow down.

The Culture of Make Believe
by Derrick Jensen
Or A Language Older Than Words
by Derrick Jensen

and

Beyond Covilization Daniel Quinn
or My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.

[truizm]

12. Have you read Anarcho-Syndicalism by Rudolf Rocker or

Political Justice by William Godwin?