Category Archives: conspiracy

activism, Anarchist, conspiracy, General, Grand Jury, PNW, Police, Prisons, repression, Security Culture

Continued updates on the PNW Grand Juries

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In march of 2012, the Federal Government initiated a Grand Jury in the Seattle Area to focus on Anarchists. FBI began tailing Anarchists in Portland around this time, and probably in relation. This Grand Jury will likely continue to carry on through at least September of 2013, if not March 2014. Houses have been raided in Olympia/PDX/Seattle, folks have been jailed, some have been pressured into snitching and breaking bonds of trust. Two people are currently being held for refusing to speak to the Grand Jury and a third, Maddy, stands strong on the outside.

This week we speak to 2 people, Corey and Sophie, from the Pacific Northwest about how this case is proceeding, how people keep themselves safer, how we support each other and what solidarity looks like.
https://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/
http://saynothing.noblogs.org/
http://cldc.org/
http://grandjuryresistance.org/educational_materials.html
https://www.wepay.com/donations/33405

Anarchist, conspiracy, Earth & Animal Liberation, Eric McDavid, General, History, Ian Coldwater, Marius Mason, Police, Prisons, repression, RNC8

Conspiracy Trials, Grand Juries and Security Culture

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This week’s show features a conversation with Ian Coldwater, a co-founder of the Coldsnap Legal Collective, about Conspiracy Trials, Grand Juries, Security Culture and technology. We discuss some of the trials that have come up against Anarchists, Animal and Earth defenders and other radicals over the last 8 years in the U.S. and Canada with an eye towards what we can learn in order to increase our safety as activists and radicals.

For more info, check out the following links:
http://coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com/
http://crimethinc.com/texts/recentfeatures/conspiracy.php
http://rnc8.org
http://asheville11defense.com/

Keep an eye open for local events by the Never Alone Tour in your area.

Anarchist, conspiracy, General, Greensboro, Police, Prisons, Racism, repression

FBI raids of Almighty Latin Kings + Queens Nation of NC (12/11/2011)

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from http://www.ashevillefm.org/the-final-straw/12/2011/fbi-raids-of-almighty-latin-kings-queens-nation-of-nc

This weeks interview is with Sara Lee of the Greensboro support group for Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation in North Carolina. During the hour, Sara Lee talks about the history of the ALKQ Nation and it’s development in North Carolina, including being fundamental to the drawing together of Crips, Bloods, MS13 and community and faith groups in Greensboro in 2008 to draft a gang truce and common statement of the necessity for organizations of all stripes to focus on community enrichment and safety. On Tuesday of last week (December 6th) at 8AM, an elite FBI SWAT team, the ATF & the Greensboro-FBI committed synchronized and violent raids on houses and families allegedly aligned with the ALKQ Nation here in NC, rounding up 13 people and harassing their families for 3 to 4 hours.

Anarchists, like Sara Lee, are calling for support for the ALKQN defendants who they’ve worked with on anti-prison struggles here in state.

The defense network is made up of family, friends, allies and anarchist comrades. The arrested current and former members of the ALKQN organization in state are being indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on Racketeering and RICO charges.

More information on the case (as well as a link for donations for legal costs) can be found at http://alkqnsupport.com/

There will be a Noise Protest at the Detention hearings in support of the defendants on Tuesday, December 13th @ 10AM & 2:30PM outside of the L. Preyer Federal Courthouse at 324 West Market St in downtown Greensboro.

Anarchist, conspiracy, panel discussion, repression

NC Rising 2: Repression + Counter-Repression

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NC Rising 2 was a weekend of shows, workshops and panel discussions that brought folks from around the United States to Warren Wilson College, outside of Asheville, North Carolina.  Below is the second half of the first panel discussion, on a Friday in 2010.

Repression and Counter-Repression brought together people from all over who had recently been coping with repression to discuss its current framework. Panelists spoke from a variety of perspectives from within “ecological,” “animal liberation,” and “anti-capitalist” struggles. The contributions of each will help broaden our understandings of how repression acts against revolutionary projects and how a practice of revolutionary solidarity can reduce some of the effects of repression and help us to construct an environment of counter-repression.

* What is the framework of repression under which we are operating?

* What is “Revolutionary Solidarity”? What is its function? What are its means?

* How, in such a paralyzing condition of surveillance and political condition of weakness, can we move towards a practice of revolutionary solidarity?

panelists included:
Hugh, who just survived a long legal battle over I-69-related charges;
Katherine, of the Friends and Family Of Daniel McGowan;
Neil, a member of Internationalist Prison Books Collective and a supporter of the Asheville 11, defendants recently accused of 112 misdemeanors and 34 felonies;
Talia, a survivor of Minnehaha Free State repression, member of the Coldsnap Legal collective, worker for the NLG, and member of the Conspiracy Tour.

This panel was moderated by an editor of Rolling Thunder magazine.

The recording of Part one was unusable.

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activism, ALKQN, Anarchist, Author, communization, conspiracy, CounterInsurgency, Earth & Animal Liberation, General, Grand Jury, History, Immigration, Occupy, PNW, Police, Prisons, repression, Security Culture

Life During Wartime: Counterinsurgency in the U.S.

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This week’s show features a conversation with William Munger, co-editor and contributor to the upcoming AK Press book, Life During Wartime (2013). We talk about the application of Counterinsurgency praxis by law enforcement domestically in the U.S. and what that looks like in it’s varying forms.

What is COIN (Counterinsurgency)? How is it being applied to movements and communities in the United States? How do we resist it? These are among the topics covered during the conversation.

Among other things, Will’s research has focused on the case study of the relationship and dialogue developed between law enforcement in Salinas, California and the Monterey, California-based Naval Postgraduate School. This relationship has allowed NPS to conduct the beginnings of a proxy-war on the local Latino populations with a focus on eradicating gang networks. Will’s essay, “Social War in the Salad Bowl” won a grant from the Institute for Anarchist Studies this last year.

U.S. Army Field Manual 3-24: Counterinsurgency Warfare
NPS: Gangs and Guerrillas

The playlist for this show can be found at AshevilleFM

activism, Anarchist, Cleveland 4, conspiracy, General, May Day, Occupy, Prisons, repression, Security Culture

The Case of the Cleveland 4: The FBI, Entrapment & the construction of Terrorists

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This week’s conversation features a discussion of the case of the Cleveland 4, anarchists arrested in Ohio on April 30th for allegedly attempting to blow up a bridge. But the case isn’t so simple as idealists independently taking direct and spectacular action against infrastructure. As members of Cleveland 4 Justice (the support group for the defendants) share with us information about the accused, what is known about the alleged infiltrator sent by the FBI to facilitate a terror case (Shaquille Azir), and the significance of the timing of the arrests to coincide with May Day celebrations worldwide and the reawakening of the Occupy Movement in the U.S., we see a widened scope of intrigue and entrapment that fits into a bigger picture of corrupt government and self-serving security services.

Cleveland 4 Justice. ORG
How FBI Entrapment Is Inventing Terrorists and Letting Bad Guys Off The Hook”

Crimethinc’s “Inside The FBI Entrapment Strategy”
My boys, The Cleveland 5

activism, Anarchist, Author, Cleveland 4, conspiracy, Earth & Animal Liberation, Eric McDavid, General, Grand Jury, Ian Coldwater, June 11, Marius Mason, Occupy, Pax, Police, Prisons, repression, Security Culture, Will Potter

Cleveland Anarchists, Pax and Support for Long Term Anarchist Prisoners: Conversations with Will Potter & Ian Coldwater

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This week’s show features two conversations around the fbi, prisons and Anarchists.

The first is with Will Potter, author of Green is the New Red and blogger at greenisthenewred.com . Will is an award winning, independent journalist based out of Washington, D.C. Our conversation revolves mostly around the recent case of Anarchists in Cleveland entrapped into plotting destruction of infrastructure by the FBI and an informant.

The second conversation is with Ian This show is also in preparation for the upcoming June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners. Ian updates us on Marius Mason and Eric McDavid, two of the main focuses of his recent tour of the U.S. called Never Alone, in run-up for June 11th. Ian also speaks about security culture, revolutionary solidarity and growing cultures of resistance, as well as updates us on the cases of Pax in Portland (accused of property destruction) and the Grand Jury in the S.F. Bay Area.

http://www.june11.org
http://www.greenisthenewred.com
http://www.supportmariusmason.org/
http://www.supporteric.org/
http://freepax.org/
http://waronsociety.noblogs.org/

Anarchist, conspiracy, Earth & Animal Liberation, Eric McDavid, General, June 11, Marius Mason, Police, Prisons, repression

Eric McDavid, Marius Mason and June 11th Day of Solidarity (June 10, 2011)

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In recognition of June 11th as a Day of Solidarity with Long Term Anarchist Prisoners, this week’s The Final Straw (now 1-2pm EST on Fridays) will present the second of two shows on the Green Scare. I’ve interviewed supporters of Marius Mason and Eric McDavid, both victims of the Green Scare serving 20 year sentences and, also, Anarchists.

The first was an interview with Will Potter, author of Green is the New Red and is archived on archive.org

This week we’re speaking with Jesse, a Midwest organizer of June 11th Solidarity about the history of June 11th and the importance of being out here for the folks in there. We’ll also be speaking with Sarah on Marius Mason’s struggle as well as with Jennie from Sacramento Prisoner Support, which handles the case of Eric McDavid. Both Marius and David are anarchists facing around 20 years each for crimes that either: a.) didn’t harm anyone; b.) didn’t ever happen (Eric was convicted of conspiracy despite lacking intent). Both cases involve snitches cooperating with the law enforcement. Both cases concern people taking action (or thinking about it) to defend the earth.

For more info check out the following pages:

http://june11.org
http://supportmariusmason.org
http://www.supporteric.org

Anarchist, Author, conspiracy, Earth & Animal Liberation, General, June 11, Police, repression, Will Potter

Green is the New Red: An interview with Will Potter

book cover of "Green is the New Red" by Will Potter
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As the June 11th day of Solidarity with long-term anarchist political prisoners approaches, The Final Straw will be addressing the Green Scare over the next two shows.

I’m happy to bring you an interview with Will Potter, author of the new book, “Green is the New Red” and founder of GreenIsTheNewRed.com , a blog where Will follows the suppression of free speech and activists working to end animal cruelty and the destruction of our natural environment.

Next week, The Final Straw will bring you an interview with members of the support committees for long-term anarchist political prisoners Marie Mason and Eric McDavid (respectively).

Soundtrack for this week’s episode was taken from Filastine’s album, Burn It, which was pressed by CrimethInc to benefit the legal defenses of victims of Operation Backfire and the Green Scare.

Free all prisoners!

For more info on these shows, check out:
http://www.greenisthenewred.org
http://www.june11.org
http://supporteric.org
http://www.supportmariemason.org
http://breakthechains.info/