“We are convinced that liberty without socialism is privilege, injustice; and that socialism without liberty is slavery and brutality.” -Mikhail Bakunin-

Grand Jury Resisters Matt Duran & KteeO Olejnik Speak Out

(A)narchist Prisoner Sean Swain Blamed/Punished  for S@botage Campaign

In September 2012, copies of a “resistance manual” and flyers promoting “a joyous class war” and sabotage within the prison appeared within the Ohio Mansfield Correctional Institution (ManCI). According to a conduct report filed against alleged leaders, these materials “instruct inmates to bring the prison system to the brink” by engaging in a wide range of activities. The flyers were distributed by a group calling themselves the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, a reference to a 1990′s science fiction film.

The flyers promote three types of activities. First, wasting resources: “run electrical appliance and flush sink water all day” and “demand all food, clothes and medical/dental you are entitled to”. Second, damaging prison property: “break machines in the kitchen and OPI… pour salt water in staff computers… cut phone and computer lines… put gum, paperclips, and staples in door locks”. Third, broader organizing calls: “gang members to unite against our common enemy” and “steal, sabotage, organize, strike, resist”.

On September 19, three inmates were searched as suspected leaders of the Army of the 12 Monkeys. Searching Leslie Dillion and James Dzelajiljia’s cells allegedly uncovered original documents used to make copies and drafts of further writings. The prison authorities also took a copy of “Errico Malatesta, His Life & Ideas” into evidence from Dzelajiljia’s cell. In Sean Swain’s cell, they did not find anything related to the 12 Monkeys. Instead, they took a copy of a recent article Swain wrote opposing the ODRC’s privatization of inmate accounts into evidence. Swain had sent the article to outside supporters for posting on SeanSwain.org. This essay does not mention prison sabotage or the “army of the twelve monkeys” but was taken into evidence because, according to the conduct report, it has “wording and ideologies that matched the 12 Monkey resistance movement”.  Swain also has a tattoo inspired by the science fiction movie that inspired the logo for the Army of the 12 Monkeys.

The ‘m@levolent’ prisoner guerrilla manual which generated so much heat for Sean Swain, a non-violent Ohio prisoner for the past 23 years, can be downloaded by clicking HERE.

While held in segregation under investigation, the prison administrators opened the prisoners’ outgoing mail to seek further evidence. They allegedly found Dillion and Dzelajiljia sending letters written under pseudonyms of the 12 Monkeys, but no such letters by Sean Swain. Instead they mis-characterized an intercepted article for posting that merely described the situation and activities of the Army of the 12 Monkeys as a confession.

Dillion and Dzelajiljia are still awaiting a rules infraction board hearing, but Sean Swain has been found guilty. Swain was not allowed to question the investigator at the hearing. He denies having any connection or ideological affinity with the Army of the 12 Monkeys. He describes himself as an anarchist and a “neolithic indiginist” and the 12 Monkeys as a Maoist organization, who never use the word “anarchy”. Swain insists he has actually been targeted because of his opposition to JPay. In the article Swain described how the ODRC released private information of all prisoner visitors, and created additional fees when they hired JPay to administer inmate funds accounts. He characterizes this deal as a “get-rich scheme” to benefit ODRC Director Gary Mohr’s “Florida golf buddies”.

From September 19th – 21st Sean Swain was held in a suicide cell, with no pen, heat, shower, toothbrush or bed. From the 25th until the present he has been in administrative control while under investigation. His incoming mail has been delayed, monitored and withheld. His, Dillon and Dzelajiljia’s  outgoing mail has been opened and tampered with. They have been denied access to basic commissary, reading and writing materials, and other necessities they are entitled to while in segregation. During Swain, Dillon and Dzelajiljia’s time in segregation, 12 Monkeys activities continued among the general population.

The Rules Infraction Board’s conduct report admits that they have no evidence of Swain participating in, promoting, or writing for the Army of the 12 Monkeys. They have found him guilty based exclusively on an alleged “ideological affinity”. They have found him guilty of being a neolithic indiginist, a religious belief system that has been approved by the ODRC who granted Swain a religious practice exemption. Swain is appealing the decision on the basis that it does not meet the Rules Infraction Board’s very low “some evidence” standard. He is looking for a new lawyer, as the counsel he had hired only met with him once and offered no real assistance during the investigation. Descriptions of this experience in Swain’s own words can be found online at SeanSwain.org.

12 Monkeys is a 1995 science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, inspired by Chris Marker‘s 1962 short film La Jetée, and starringBruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt, with Christopher Plummer and David Morse in supporting roles.

PLOT

In the beginning of the film, Cole is brought into the interrogation room and told to sit in a chair attached to a vertical rail on the wall. A sphere supported by a metal armature is suspended directly in front of him, probing for weaknesses as the inquisitors interrogate him.

James Cole (Willis) is a convicted criminal living in a grim post-apocalyptic future. In 1996–97, the Earth’s surface was contaminated by a virus so deadly it forced the surviving population to live underground. At some point in the years that followed, scientists have engineered an imprecise form of time travel. To earn a pardon, Cole allows scientists to send him on dangerous missions to the past to collect information on the virus, thought to be released by a terrorist organization known as the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. If possible, he is to obtain a pure sample of the original virus so a cure can be made. Cole is troubled with recurring dreams involving a chase and a shooting in an airport.

On Cole’s first trip, he arrives in Baltimore in 1990, not 1996 as planned. He is arrested and hospitalized in a mental institution on the diagnosis of Dr. Kathryn Railly (Stowe). There, he encounters Jeffrey Goines (Pitt), a fellow mental patient with fanatical animal rightsand anti-consumerist leanings. Cole tries unsuccessfully to leave a voicemail on a number monitored by the scientists in the future. After a failed escape attempt, Cole is restrained and locked in a cell, but then disappears, returning to the future. Back in his own time, Cole is interviewed by the scientists, who play a distorted voice mail message which gives the location of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys and states that they are responsible for the virus. He is also shown photos of numerous people suspected of being involved with the virus, including Goines. The scientists then send him back to 1996.

Cole kidnaps Railly and sets out in search of Goines, learning that he is the founder of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. When confronted, however, Goines denies any involvement with the virus and suggests that wiping out humanity was Cole’s idea, originally broached at the asylum in 1990. Cole vanishes again as the police approach. After Cole disappears, Railly begins to doubt her diagnosis of Cole when she finds evidence that he is telling the truth, including a photograph from World War I in which Cole appears. Cole, on the other hand, convinces himself that his future experiences are hallucinations, and persuades the scientists to send him back again. Railly attempts to settle the question of Cole’s sanity by leaving a voice mail on the number he provided, creating the message the scientists played prior to his second mission. They both now realize that the coming plague is real, and make plans to enjoy the time they have left.

On their way to the airport, they learn that the Army of the Twelve Monkeys is a red herring; all the Army has done is delay traffic by releasing all the animals in the zoo. At the airport, Cole leaves a last message telling the scientists they are on the wrong track following the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, and that he will not return. He is soon confronted by Jose (Jon Seda), an acquaintance from his own time, who gives Cole a handgun and instructions to complete his mission. At the same time, Railly spots the true culprit behind the virus: Dr. Peters (David Morse), an assistant at the virology lab run by Goines’s father. Peters is about to embark on a tour of several cities around the world, which matches the sequence (memorized by Cole) of viral outbreaks. After forcing his way through the security checkpoint in pursuit of Peters, Cole is fatally shot by police. As Cole dies in Railly’s arms, she makes eye contact with a small boy: the young James Cole witnessing the scene of his own death, which will replay in his dreams for years to come. Dr. Peters, aboard the plane with the virus, sits down next to Jones (Florence), one of the lead scientists from the future.

by NOB AKIMOTO on MARCH 30, 2013

There used to be a time when anarchists stood for something noble.

The 19th century anarchists and syndicalists were fighting against systems which systematized human oppression and misery. They rejected the statism inherent in 19th century nationalism and liberal imperialism, and instead sought to overthrow social orders that had within the lifetime of the founding lights of these movements had treated human beings as cattle, to be killed and used at the whim of landlords.

Moreover, there was a time when anarchists risked something important for these noble ends.

Even in the United States the anarchist movement was based upon viewing the use of lethal force against the simple idea of organizing for labor purposes.  There was the Homestead Strike, the Pullman Strike, and less creditably for the movement the Haymarket Affair. Organized political violence was often used toward the exploitation of labor.

Mikhail Bakunin, the father of anarchism, was involved in uprisings in the Revolutions of 1848. He was later jailed for his part in the Czech Rebellion, and over the course of his lifetime suffered from the effects of his treatment in the aftermath of the ’48 revolutions.

Further along after the many failures of ’48, came “propaganda of the deed”, the idea of using mass violence as a means of expressing political dissent. Auguste Valliante, Emile Henry, Emma Goldman, the youths of Narodnaya Volya were all willing to risk their lives, in political acts of violence. They were ultimately foiled. As Kropotkin had surmised a few kilos of dynamite weren’t sufficient to undo social structures. In some cases in fact they did positive harm to their cause, such as with the assassination of Tsar Alexander II.

But hell, at least these people had the courage of their convictions to stand in court and admit to both their aims and their failings. These weren’t nameless or faceless individuals and they sure as hell didn’t hide behind others.

This is in contrast to so-called modern “anarchists” of the Anonymous and internet vigilante variety.

They wear their little Guy Fawkes masks and proclaim their power over structures, over individuals, over any little thing that offends their fancy. Like a stopped clock they can be right once in a while, but for the most part they exist to satisfy vanity.

Of course Guy Fawkes himself would probably be ashamed by these atheistic wretches using his likeness. Their hiding behind anonymity and fighting for the oppressed privileged young men most of them are.

They hide in the mob, not to make a propaganda of the deed, or even a statement of power structures, but to revel in their untraceability. They make threats to individuals who dare critique them. They are what? A revolutionary vanguard of the oppressed middle class male?

Who actually are the ones standing for something of import? The ones who stand in public, with their real names, their real faces and expose themselves to the slings and arrows of the mob? Or the mob who decide to bask in their anonymity and make threats, attack others and focus on how they are oppressed despite their faceless multitude?

The modern anarchist is morally and socially bankrupt. They are not a counter to the problems of society but rather a symptom of its sickness. The underlying reasons things like Anonymous have traction, the reason the “Male Rights Activists” have traction, the White Nationalists, the Human Biodiversity whackos, all have traction is because they, are a faceless privileged few who feel themselves threatened by those who see past them into a different future.

Also, in case of TL; DR here’s a precis:
Dear Anonymous,

Threatening individuals on the internet through collective, vile action does not make you the moral equivalent of anyone admirable. You’re not Bakunin standing up for serfs and oppressed Czechs. You’re not even Guy Fawkes plotting to blow up parliament. You’re the mob that cheered and threw rotten vegetables as Fawkes was dragged to the scaffold, hung, drawn then quartered.

Love,

Nob

by Josh Schlossberg, Energy Justice Network

The grassroots biomass resistance has come a long way over the years and it’s growing stronger every day. A mere five years ago few people even questioned the logic of classifying polluting biomass energy alongside smokestack-free energy sources like solar and wind. Most environmental groups hailed bioenergy as a climate savior and the only mentions of biomass in the media were how many jobs developers were promising.

Then a very good thing—concern with climate change—opened the floodgates to something very bad—billions of dollars of government subsidies for biomass. Like a pack of hungry rats, the biomass industry gorged itself on the taxpayer-funded government cheese. A rash of biomass incinerator proposals erupted across the nation like an outbreak of acne. Quiet communities found themselves facing polluting monstrosities being erected a stone’s throw away from their homes or their children’s schools.

Enter the grassroots anti-biomass movement…

Communities across the Northwest, the Rockies, the Upper Midwest, the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic region, and the Southeast began banding together to confront the bio-monster. Drawing on statements by public health organizations such as the American Lung Association and medical professionals like Dr. Bill Sammons of Massachusetts, Dr. Norma Kreilein of Indiana, Dr. Bill Blackley of North Carolina, and Dr. Ron Saff of Florida, citizens sounded the alarm on health threats from an energy source that typically spews out more asthma-causing particulate matter and carcinogenic volatile organic compounds per unit of energy than a coal burning plant. Biomass busters across the nation collected one scientific study after another debunking the biomass industry’s “carbon neutral” myth and shoved them under the noses of politicians and the media.

Thanks, in no small part, to the grassroots anti-biomass movement, the bio-mess is now impossible for the general public to ignore. And we’re helping to slow down the bio-massacre, too. Over the last few years, dozens of biomass facilities have been proposed only to be withdrawn, the developers run out of town by unfavorable economics, nervous investors, clear-sighted politicians, and locals unwilling to bear the burden of another dirty power plant.

The ghosts of defeated biomass proposals harmlessly roam the streets of towns such as Shelton, Washington; Traverse City, Michigan; Milltown and Scottsburg, Indiana; Greenfield, Massachusetts; Valdosta, Georgia; and Port St. Joe, Florida, and many more (with more to come).

The handful of incinerators that bought their way into existence faced a tough fight every step of the way, and are now being watched like hawks by irate community members in towns like Gainesville, Florida; Rothschild, Wisconsin; and Eugene, Oregon. Every tax hike, safety oversight, and air permit violation is broadcast across the national network to prevent other toxic biomass power plants from taking root.

And sometimes the victories are bittersweet. Kings Beach, California and Pownal, Vermont both managed to keep biomass profiteers from breaking ground in their towns. But like hockey-masked Jason from the Friday the 13th movies, the developers didn’t die, only set up shop in poorer, less-organized towns a bit further down the road in Placer County, California and Fair Haven, Vermont. Only strong statewide networks can keep the bio-monster at bay.

But even statewide efforts aren’t enough, as developers have just learned to avoid the more troublesome states and set their sights on the ones without active resistance. Which is where the national Anti-Biomass Incineration campaign comes in.

If local fights are the “heart” of the anti-biomass movement, the national campaign is the system of arteries and veins that keep the blood flowing. To date, over 50 organizations across 35 US states have united in solidarity on a clear and compelling message opposing “all industrial, commercial and institutional burning of biomass and biofuels for energy.” If your organization hasn’t already signed the platform, what are you waiting for? Join the national movement by emailing Traci [at] energyjustice [dot] net.

Of course, the biomass battle isn’t only being waged in the United States. US and UK-based Biofuelwatch has demonstrated without a shadow of a doubt that the anti-biomass movement must go international, pointing towards Europe’s increasing demand for biomass from the US and the global south. On April 15, 2013, Australian-based Biomassacre.com hosted the first International Day of Action Against Bioenergy, where hundreds of people around the world in Australia, UK, US, Germany and Italy held up signs to show anti-biomass solidarity on an online visual petition.

It’s become crystal clear that if we want to clean up the biomess once and for all, the anti-biomass movement needs to move beyond borders and take the resistance beyond NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) to NOPE (Not On Planet Earth)!

From SPD’s Police Blotter:

5 Malicious H@rassment Suspects Arrested

by Detective Renee Witt on May 31, 2013

Seattle – Five suspects were arrested for viciously attacking a man on Capitol Hill. On 5/29/13, just shortly before 10:00 p.m., a witness flagged down an officer to report that he saw 6 or 7 men assaulting an unknown black male. The witness went on to say that while the group was assaulting the man they were yelling racial and sexual orientation epithets at the victim.  The witness saw the group beating the man with their fist and kicking him. They were also striking the victim with their skateboards.

The witness also saw the group harassing passers by and yelling racial and sexual orientation epithets. The witness pointed to a group of males that were sitting on the sidewalk in the 900 block of E. Pike St. He identified the group as the suspects who he saw beating the unknown black male.  The officers contacted the group.

While officers were interviewing the suspects, a man (later identified as the victim) walked up to the scene, bleeding from a laceration to the mouth. He pointed to the group and told the officers that the suspects had assaulted him and called him names associated with his ethnic background and sexual orientation.

Officers placed all of the suspects under arrest.  One of the suspects broke away from the group and ran off. One officer gave chase and caught the suspect a few blocks way in the 1500 block of Broadway.

Search incident to arrest officers located a 6 inch fixed blade knife concealed in one of the suspect’s waistband. They also found a 4 inch fixed blade knife and a glass pipe consistent with Methamphetamine use on one of the other suspects.

The victim stated that he did not know the suspects or why they attacked him.

The 20-year-old victim was bleeding heavily from a lacerated lip.  He was transported to HMC for further treatment of his injuries.

Five suspects were booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Malicious Harassment.

Additional charges of Obstructing a Public Officer and Unlawful Use of Weapon was requested on two of the suspects.

Urging others to follow suit, Puget Sound area (A)narchists openly brag of shutting down a neighborhood grocery store in Seattle using the specter of GMO foods as a pretext.

The following article is a re-post found on the Puget Sound Anarchist web site:

The state of our food supply is hella stinkin’.

But some people aren’t smelling the stench.

We left some helpful notes for the shoppers and workers at QFC, Kress Market, and Whole Foods.

Of course, we disagree with the very concept of these garbage-shilling exploitation machines some like to call ‘super markets’. It was a delight to shut one down, even for just a few hours.

It was also a day of protest against Monsanto, and it was an added bonus to show some solidarity with those who are waking up to the dangers of corporate agriculture.

The battle ahead of us will not just be fueled by arson and sabotage, though those are both awesome and fun.

For every GMO crop we burn down, every day of lost revenue, we replace it with the work of our own hands. For every hour of business shut down, we give an hour of our work toward creating food that isn’t poison for our neighbors and comrades.

This is our call-to-action!

*Use your means and your imagination to stop business-as-usual in your nearby ‘super market’. We use stink bombs (OH BOMBS!) that you can get online or in real life for almost nothing. I’ll bet you can think of something just as fun and cheap.

*Reap the rewards! After a full day of not-selling-a-thing, they’re gonna have tons of waste! Dumpster your rewards! And then…

*Share that hummus and pita bread with your comrades while you seed-bomb (SO MANY BOMBS!) the neighborhood with edible plants… Or build a raised garden bed… or do something with the comrades sharing food, cuz they always need a hand… You could steal supplies for your local gardener…

Keep it hella illegal. Never ask permission… and never work… EVER!

EXPLOITATION STINKS!

Signed,

Little Sister Conspiracy

From the SPD Blotter:

Hazmat callout to investigate suspicious packages emitting a “rotten egg” aroma
Written by Detective Renee Witt on May 25, 2013

A Seattle Whole Foods was evacuated after two suspicious packages were found inside the store. Today, just shortly before 1:00 p.m., officers responded to a report of suspicious envelopes left in the Whole Foods Store near Westlake and Denny. The envelopes reportedly were giving off an aroma like rotten eggs and were seeping an unknown fluid.

Officers arrived on scene and made contact with store security and personnel outside the store. They stated that they started smelling an aroma like rotten eggs in the store and found an envelope in the produce section giving of the odor. They also noticed that the envelope was leaking an unknown fluid. Store security picked up the envelope and took it outside, placing it on the ground.

Officers confirmed the aroma emanating from the envelope as well as the fluid leaking from it. They also noticed a hand written note on the outside of the envelope. (Details of the note is part of the investigation and will not be released at this time). [They don’t want to talk about it, because it’s embarrassing that they called in a bomb squad and a fucking HAZMAT team for two toys made for kids 5+!]

Whole Foods personnel informed officers that they had found another envelope in the beverage section of the store and that it had been left in place. This envelope was emanating the same odor, was leaking fluid and had a note written on the outside as well.

Officers were directed to the second envelope. They immediately cordoned off that area of the store and safeguarded the location until (SFD) Seattle Fire Department responded.

Multiple SFD units, including their HazMat unit arrived on scene. The store was evacuated of all customers and employees and the surrounding outside areas were cordoned off. [For three hours!]

The Arson and Bomb Squad also responded to the scene and once briefed began their investigation. [HaHa!]

Once SFD was able to determine that the substances in both envelopes were not hazardous, they packaged the envelopes and turned them over to officers to be placed into evidence. [What a mess! Have fun!]

The store was turned back over to Whole Foods employees and the scene was reopened to the public.

This is an open and active investigation. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 9-1-1. [HaHa!]

On 22 May 2013 at approximately 14:20 local time, a man was run down by a car before being stabbed and hacked to death by two men with knives and a meat cleaver. They then dragged his body on to the road and waited for police to arrive, telling passers-by that they had attacked a soldier to avenge the killing of Muslims by the British military.

The killing took place on a street in Woolwich in southeast London. The dead man was identified as Lee Rigby, an off-dutybandsman in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers of the British Army. The two alleged assailants were shot by police officers who arrived at the scene, and taken to hospital in serious condition. Both men are native Londoners of Nigerian descent. Politicians and religious leaders including those of the Muslim community condemned the attack.

2013 Woolwich attack
The pub and the tower block on Wellington Street near the attack
Location	Woolwich, Royal Borough of Greenwich, London, England
Date	22 May 2013 14:20 BST (UTC+01:00)
Weapon(s)	Knife Meat cleaver Pistol Vauxhall Tigra car
Deaths	1
Injured (non-fatal)	2 (the suspects)
Suspected perpetrators	Michael Adebolajo Michael Adebowale Male and female alleged co-conspirators

The attack occurred at 14:20 in Wellington Street, near its junction with John Wilson Street, part of the South Circular Road (A205) in Woolwich. Drummer Lee Rigby, a soldier of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was off duty at the time and reportedly wearing a “Help for Heroes” T-shirt. He is believed to have been deliberately hit by a Vauxhall car, then attacked by two men with knives and a meat cleaver. Women later stood over the body of the man, trying to protect him from further attack. The attackers, who were 22 and 28 years old, later stood around, waving knives and a gun, and asked people to take pictures of them. Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, a passenger on a passing bus, was one of the first people on the scene. While the two men were awaiting a police response, Loyau-Kennett tended to the victim, who later died. She engaged in a conversation with the attackers, one of whom said to her: “We want to start a war in London tonight.” She asked the men to hand over their weapons, which they refused.

Victim

The victim, Lee Rigby

The soldier killed in the attack was later named as 25-year-old Lee Rigby of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Rigby, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, had served in Cyprus, Germany and Afghanistan before becoming a recruiter and assisting with duties in the Tower of London. He had a two-year-old son.

The attackers waited for 15 to 20 minutes for armed police to arrive and reportedly danced over the body, while one of the men asked passengers on a bus to take photographs of him.^[10] When armed police arrived, the man with the machete charged at police and was shot by a female officer, while the other did the same with a gun and was also felled by police marksmen. Channel 4 News had broadcast footage showing the two perpetrators having shouted “Allahu Akbar“. The MP for Greenwich and Woolwich Nick Raynsford said that the victim was a soldier at the nearby Royal Artillery Barracks. He also said: “The situation is clearly a very very serious one indeed. One individual is dead and two others are seriously injured and apparently in hospital.” The Guardian newspaper reported that the Ministry of Defence was frustrated with the comment as it would have preferred to have told the family of the victim before the media. The attack took place 300 to 400 metres (980 to 1,300 ft) from the barracks perimeter.

A gun, knives and a machete were later seized at the scene. Police officers, including firearms officers who arrived later, were at the scene. The victim was later pronounced dead.

Suspects

One of the attackers, who was captured on video by a passer-by, said:

The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers, and this British soldier is one, is a eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. By Allah, we swear by the Almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. So what if we want to live by the Sharia in Muslim lands. Why does that mean you must follow us and chase us and call us extremists and kill us? Rather you lot are extreme. You are the ones. When you drop a bomb, do you think it hits one person or rather your bomb wipes out a whole family. This is the reality. By Allah, if I saw your mother today with a buggy I would help her up the stairs. This is my nature. But we are forced by the Qur’an in Sura at-Tawba [Chapter 9 of the Qur’an], through many, many ayah [verses] throughout the Qur’an that [say] we must fight them as they fight us, a eye for a eye and a tooth for a tooth. I apologise that women had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your governments. They don’t care about you. Do you think David Cameron is gonna get caught in the street when we start busting our guns? Do you think the politicians are going to die? No it’s going to be the average guy, like you, and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so we ca.., so you can all live in peace. Leave our lands and you will live in peace. That’s all I have to say. Allah’s peace and blessings be upon Muhammad.

Both of the men have been confirmed as Londoners of Nigerian descent. One man has been named as Michael Adebolajo, a 28-year-old, born in Lambeth, London, of Nigerian descent.^[7] He studied sociology at the University of Greenwich and converted from Christianity to Islam. The other was named as Michael Adebowale.

Two additional persons, a man and a woman, were arrested on 23 May on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.

Response

In addition to condemning the attack, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for calm and a “measured response” while adding “we have met with community representatives, and extra officers remain on duty there tonight. Across London our officers are in contact with their communities too.” Simon Letchford, a Metropolitan Police Commander, later issued a statement that read: “I can understand that this incident will cause community concerns, and I would like to reiterate that we are investigating what has taken place today. … I am asking people to remain calm, and avoid unnecessary speculation.”

The Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a visit to Paris to chair a COBRA meeting. The Ministry of Defence issued a statement that it was urgently investigating the incident. The Home Secretary Theresa May subsequently chaired a meeting of the COBRA committee. The COBRA meeting was attended by the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick and other unnamed members of the intelligence agencies.

After Cameron’s arrival, a second COBRA meeting was held, following which he said:

This country will be absolutely resolute in its stand against extremism and terror. This action was a betrayal of Islam and the Muslim communities that give so much to our country. We will defeat violent extremism by standing together. We will not rest until we know every detail. [The attackers told Ingrid Loyau-Kennett that] they wanted to start a war in London and she replied, ‘you are going to lose, it is you against many. She speaks for all of us.

The London mayor Boris Johnson speculated that it was “overwhelmingly likely” to have been a terror attack.

Queen Elizabeth II was said to be “concerned” by the report of the attack. The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Home Secretary Theresa May and the Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband condemned the attack.

The British National Party leader Nick Griffin posted a series of Twitter messages blaming “mass immigration” for the attack and calling for a protest rally in Woolwich. After the English Defence League called on its supporters to mobilise, the same evening over 100 of its members staged a protest at Woolwich Arsenal station in which bottles were thrown at police. Individuals were also arrested in two separate incidents at mosques in Essex and Kent. Speaking in response to the incidents, Julie Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of Britain expressed fears the far-right would use the attack as a way of creating community divisions. An additional 1,200 police officers were deployed across London to prevent revenge attacks on minority communities.

Religious leaders expressed their concern: the Bishop of Woolwich the Rt. Rev. Dr Michael Ipgrave said he was “deeply saddened and distressed”. Muslim leaders denounced the attack: the Muslim Council of Britain said the attack “has no basis in Islam and we condemn this unreservedly”; the head of the Ramadhan Foundation Mohammed Shafiqalso condemned the attack; and the director of Faith Matters and co-ordinator of the government-backed anti-Islamophobic project “Tell MAMA” said: “We as the Muslim community will work against anyone who promotes such hatred.” Baroness Neville-Jones, a former security minister and chairman of the British Joint Intelligence Committee, and Colonel Richard Kemp, a former Army commander, suggested blame could be put on internet hate preaching. Neville-Jones told the BBC Radio 4‘s Today programme that “the inspiration that comes from internet hate preaching and jihadist rhetoric … is a very, very serious problem now.”

The BBC News political editor Nick Robinson quoted a government source that had described the perpetrators as being “of Muslim appearance” during the 22 May edition of the BBC News at Six. The BBC received 43 complaints after Robinson used the term; it was also picked up by other media outlets. Robinson issued the apology the following morning.

Asghar Bukhari, of the UK Muslim Public Affairs Committee, said the British government was “completely denying that it has anything to do with the political situation around the Muslim world”.

In an interview with Reuters, the British Islamist Anjem Choudary assigned blame for the attack to British foreign policy, stating that the assailant “said it all in that clip…. He blamed Cameron and he blamed the army and the authorities, and he said that British public should do something about it because they’re not doing anything in their names. From the statements that he’s made himself, it’s clear that that was being targeted. The cause is clear – it’s the British foreign policy.”

Although the British MP George Galloway stated that the attacks were “indefensible”, he tweeted that it was “exactly what we are paying the same kind of people to do in Syria.” In an interview with Russia Today, Brian Becker, the national coordinator of the anti-war coalition ANSWER, agreed that British foreign policy towards the Middle East had created an “escalating cycle of violence.” Becker also stated that “The British colonial past and its current legacy of intervention and war is undoubtedly a factor” in the motivations behind the attack.

Investigation

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said that it would investigate the incident as per normal circumstances. The IPCC investigate any incident in which police discharge a weapon. Investigators said that they were searching six houses: three houses in Greenwich, south London; one house in Romford, east London; another house in north London and a property in Lincoln in central England.

by Beau Hodai

The U.S. counter terrorism apparatus was used to monitor the Occupy Movement nationwide. Click here to read CMD’s special report, based on a year-long investigation.

Government Surveillance of Occupy Movement

On May 20, 2013, DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy 
released the results of a year-long investigation: “Dissent or Terror:
 How the Nation’s Counter Terrorism Apparatus, In Partnership With 
Corporate America, Turned on Occupy Wall Street.”

 The report, a distillation of thousands of pages of records obtained
 from counter terrorism/law enforcement agencies, details how
 state/regional “fusion center” personnel monitored the Occupy Wall
 Street movement over the course of 2011 and 2012.

The report also examines how fusion centers and other counter terrorism entities that 
have emerged since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have
 worked to benefit numerous corporations engaged in public-private
 intelligence sharing partnerships. 

While the report examines many instances of fusion center monitoring
 of Occupy activists nationwide, the bulk of the report 
details how counter terrorism personnel engaged in the Arizona Counter
 Terrorism Information Center (ACTIC, commonly known as the “Arizona fusion center”) monitored and otherwise surveilled citizens active in
 Occupy Phoenix, and how this surveillance benefited a number of 
corporations and banks that were subjects of Occupy Phoenix protest 
activity.

While small glimpses into the governmental monitoring of the Occupy Wall Street movement have emerged in the past, there has not been any reporting — until now — that details the breadth and depth with which the nation’s post-September 11, 2001 counter terrorism apparatus has been applied to politically engaged citizens exercising their Constitutionally-protected First Amendment rights.

REPORT Dissent or Terror: How the Nation’s ‘Counter Terrorism’ Apparatus, in Partnership with Corporate America, Turned on Occupy Wall Street

REPORT APPENDIX open records materials cited in report.

PRESS RELEASE “New Report Details How Counter Terrorism Apparatus Was Used to Monitor Occupy Movement Nationwide”(PDF)

SOURCE MATERIALS almost 10,000 pages of open records materials are archived on DBA Press.

PRWATCH ARTICLE “Dissent or Terror: How Arizona’s Counter Terrorism Apparatus, in Partnership with Corporate Interests, Turned on Occupy Phoenix”

Key Findings

Key findings of this report include:

• How law enforcement agencies active in the Arizona fusion
 center dispatched an undercover officer to infiltrate activist groups
 organizing both protests of the American Legislative Exchange Council 
(ALEC) and the launch of Occupy Phoenix and how the work of this 
undercover officer benefited ALEC and the private corporations that
 were the subjects of these demonstrations.

• How fusion centers, funded in large part by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, expended countless hours and tax dollars in the monitoring of 
Occupy Wall Street and other activist groups.

• How the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has financed
 social media “data mining” programs at local law enforcement agencies engaged in fusion centers.

• How counter terrorism government employees applied facial
 recognition technology, drawing from a state database of driver’s
 license photos, to photographs found on Facebook in the effort to 
profile citizens believed to be associated with activist groups.

• How corporations have become part of the homeland security “information sharing environment” with law enforcement/intelligence agencies through various public-private intelligence sharing partnerships. The report examines multiple instances in which the counter terrorism/homeland security apparatus was used to gather intelligence relating to activists for the benefit of corporate interests that were the subject of protests.

• How private groups and individuals, such as Charles Koch, 
Chase Koch (Charles’ son and a Koch Industries executive), Koch 
Industries, and the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council 
have hired off-duty police officers — sometimes still armed and in
 police uniforms — to perform the private security functions of keeping
 undesirables (reporters and activists) at bay.

• How counter terrorism personnel monitored the protest
 activities of citizens opposed to the indefinite detention language
 contained in National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.

• How the FBI applied “Operation Tripwire,” an initiative
 originally intended to apprehend domestic terrorists through the use
 of private sector informants, in their monitoring of Occupy Wall 
Street groups. [Note: this issue was reported on exclusively by DBA/CMD in December, 2012.]

Press

• The Progressive, “Spying on Occupy Activists”, Matthew Rothschild
• AlterNet, “How America’s National Security Apparatus–in Partnership With Big Corporations–Cracked Down on Dissent, Alex Kane
• In These Times, “How the Government Targeted Occupy”, Lisa Graves (also reprinted at PRWatch.org)
• The Big Picture, New Report Details Surveillance of OWS, Thom Hartmann
• Democracy Now!, “Editor of The Progressive, Matt Rothschild, Calls For Eric Holder to Resign Over Spying on Press, Occupy Protesters”, Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh

OUR GENERATION

Check it out! The Earth Guardians “Voice of Youth” have just filmed their first music video, and it is awesome! A huge thank you to Musa and BlackSun Cinema for filming, producing and editing this most excellent video… Spread it far and wide, and lets help these youth standing up for their future, get their message out to the world!

by Jacob Devaney (Founder and Director, Culture Collective)

At Evergreen Middle School near Denver, Colorado, young members of Earth Guardians made a presentation and sang a rap which has infuriated local parents and brought angry threats upon the school and the youth. Some are calling it “liberal indoctrination” others calling it “censorship,” the school has apologized, and what started out as a simple presentation by 13-year-old Xiuhtezcatl and his 9-year-old brother Itzcuauhtl has turned into a national story. The youths presentation included a rap that they wrote about the dangers of fracking stating, “poisoned the water, poisoned the air, poisoned the people, do you think that’s fair?” and included a call-and-response for the students, “When I say what the, you say frack. What the… frack, what the… frack.”

Earth Guardians is an organization started and run by youth (most under 13 years old) whose mission is, “…to educate and assist youth in becoming active caretakers of our precious earth, and to empower them in becoming outspoken environmental leaders, both locally and globally.” Earth Guardians achieve their mission through nature programs, environmental education, message-driven performances and community activism. From their website, “Earth Guardians provide youth with the knowledge, tools, and leadership qualities needed to envision and shape a healthy planet, one that we can all be proud to pass on to our next generations.”

A local teacher had learned about Xiuhtezcatl and Earth Guardians through a film produced by Peter Gabriels organization, Witness, and she thought that a presentation would be inspirational for her students. Witness features youth activists and promotes video advocacy. The short video focuses on our Public Trust, and the governments responsibility to make sure our air and water is protected while highlighting the work of Xiuhtezcatl and Earth Guardians.

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This Friday
Don’t Miss it!

Three local bands for one great price at the coolest venue you’ve never been to! The new Analog Cafe & Theater, with adjacent bar and restaurant, is where we’ll be this Friday, May 24th, along with two sizzling hot acoustic bands: The Bottlecap Boys and The Renegade String Band. Come in out of the rain and boogie-down Portland-style with us!
http://www.waywardvessel.com/tour

And the winner is…

We’re excited to announce that we have been selected along with 3 other bands from all over the west as finalists in the 2013 NW String Summit Band Competition to take place on July 19th! Stay posted for details and updates. http://www.stringsummit.com/

Read our latest blog entry about using the power of a Wayward Vessel jingle to move people across oceans. http://blog.waywardvessel.com