Sure, the "black bloc" won a couple blocks here and there, and the protests did put the World Bank/IMF "on the map" in terms of public consciousness. But tactically, on A15-A17? They crushed us, hands down. Quite unlike Seattle. I hope activists have the courage to admit that -- and draw the appropriate lessons about the limitations of open meetings, not taking precations for security, etc.
CK
----- Original Message ----- From: Chuck0 <chuck at tao.ca> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 1:53 PM Subject: Fwd: Police Spy on New Activists
> And the following is just the tip of the iceberg.
>
> After last week, I now have some understanding of what it is like being
> an activist under a repressive regime.
>
> Chuck0
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Police Spy on New Activists
> Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 12:23:02 -0400
>
>
> POLICE STATE TARGETS THE LEFT
>
> by Jim Redden
>
> Forget about the Militias. The feds are now
> targeting the Anarchists.
>
> For most of the last decade, the domestic
> paramilitary forces of the National Security
> state have been battling far-right political
> dissidents. Especially since the Oklahoma City
> bombing, the FBI, the BATF and numerous state
> and local police agencies have targeted the
> anti-government Patriot Movement. Law
> enforcement agents infiltrated militias,
> Christian Identity churches, anti-abortion
> groups and suspected terrorist cells.
>
> According to the Southern Poverty Law Center,
> a well-respected civil rights watchdog
> organization, coordinated law enforcement
> efforts broke the back of the radical right
> by the end of the century. "Where the FBI
> typically worked about 100 domestic terrorism
> cases at a time in the early 1990s, it was
> investigating close to 1,000 as the millennium
> came to a close," the SPLC reported recently.
> "Hundreds, if not thousands, were sent to jail
> as authorities cracked down on the far right -
> many in revolutionary conspiracies that included
> planned mass murders."
>
> Now the FBI and other law enforcement agencies
> have apparently shifted their focus to left-wing
> political dissidents. The shift began in early
> Summer 1999. That was when a coalition of labor,
> environmental, human rights and other liberal
> organizations began planning a series of massive
> demonstrations for the World Trade Organization
> meeting set for late November in Seattle.
>
> The protesters shut down the WTO meeting and
> fought the police in the streets of Seattle. The
> size and fury of the demonstrations seemed to catch
> the authorities by surprise. But, as the Seattle
> Weekly reported on December 2, law enforcement
> officials had been spying on the activists for
> months before the demonstrations. According to the
> Weekly, "Sources say ... that police and 30 other
> local, state, and federal agencies have been
> aggressively gathering intelligence on violent and
> nonviolent protest groups since early summer (FBI
> agents even paid personal visits to some activists'
> homes to inquire about their plans). In past weeks,
> undercover officers have tailed several groups as
> they moved about the city in cars and vans, and
> were doing so after the WTO meetings began."
>
> The Weekly also discovered that members of the
> Pentagon's top secret Delta Force were deployed in
> Seattle during the demonstrations. This is the same
> unit which was secretly sent to the Waco stand-off.
> As the paper reported in its December 23 issue, the
> elite troops set up a command headquarters in a
> downtown hotel and operated undercover dressed as
> protesters. "Some Deltas wore lapel cameras,
> continuously transmitting pictures of rioters and
> other demonstrators to a master video unit in the
> motel command center, which could be used by law
> enforcement agencies to identify and track suspects,"
> the paper reported. "'These guys are the Army hot
> shots, the cowboys,' says [a] former Ranger who
> shared a few beers with the unit in Seattle."
>
> Hundreds of protesters occupied an abandoned office
> building in downtown Seattle during the protests.
> Numerous press reports quoted police as saying the
> squatters were being monitored by infiltrators.
>
> Four months after the protests, the Seattle Police
> Department called for the repeal of a city ordinance
> prohibiting political spying. The ordinance, passed
> in the wake of the Watergate Scandal, prohibits the
> police from gathering any information on anyone solely
> because of their political or religious beliefs. "The
> SPD Criminal Intelligence Section contributed little
> hard intelligence because of our inability to
> investigate any of the individuals or groups that
> ultimately did the most damage," the report said.
>
> But by then the government had already increased its
> spying on the anti-globalization movement which
> crystallized in Seattle. Many of the same groups were
> planning to protest meetings of the World Bank and
> International Monetary Fund in mid-April in Washington
> DC. Operating under the umbrella organization
> Mobilization for Global Justice, they scheduled mass
> demonstrations for April 16, 17 and 18. But as these
> activists began planning their demonstrations, they
> were targeted by federal, state and local law
> enforcement officials. The activists found their
> meetings infiltrated, their public gatherings
> disrupted, their phones tapped, and police posted
> outside their homes and offices.
>
> On April 7, veteran political commentator Sam Smith
> reported that police were visiting activists all over
> Washington DC. Writing in his Progressive Review
> newsletter, Smith said, "While the use of informers
> and agents provocateurs by the police, military, and
> intelligence agencies is not unknown in the capital,
> open efforts to intimidate participants prior to an
> event is virtually unknown."
>
> Smith also reported that police were watching student
> activists at Washington's America University, which was
> scheduled to hold a series of public forums on the IMF
> and World Bank in the days leading up to the mass
> protests. As Smith discovered, university officials were
> cracking down on the activists at the urging of the
> police. Here's what UA one student said: "To our
> wonderful surprise we found out the metro police have
> been tapping our phones and emails and have been sending
> spies to our meetings. They found out about two students
> leafleting against Marriott and sent 30 plain-clothed
> policemen to spy."
>
> And Smith also discovered that the police were checking
> up on area high schools. He found that school authorities
> in suburban Montgomery County were circulated a flyer
> urging people to be on the look out for mobilization
> materials in the schools, and to report them to the school
> safety office. The memo, from the schools' Department of
> School Safety reads as follows:
>
> "This office has received the following information from
> the Montgomery County Department of Police, Special
> Investigations Divisions. Detective Thomas Cauffiel asked
> Mr. Douglas Steel, field security coordinator, to notify
> school based staff to be observant for any material
> referring to the upcoming International Monetary Fund
> rallies which are scheduled for April 9-17, 2000 in
> Washington, DC Police are concerned that a group named
> "Mobilization for Global Justice" might attempt to recruit
> high school students to join in a planned rally. The police
> reported the following: "Splinter groups, possibly
> associated with this group, took part in the recent
> demonstration in Seattle that turned violent." If you see
> any materials on your campus which refer to these rallies,
> please contact the Department of School Safety and
> Security at 301/279-3066."
>
> Some of the best reporting on the police harassment was done
> by Jason Vest, a former Business Week editor and Village
> Voice reporter who now works for the SpeakOut.com website.
> Among other things, Vest discovered that activists at George
> Washington University were under surveillance. "We know
> they're reading our emails, and I'm fairly convinced my
> phone is tapped too," GW student Dan Calamuci told Vest
> over a phone line replete with loud, regular clicking
> noises. "Last week, we did a speakout - just seven of us
> with a bullhorn - at the corner of 21st and H. Within a
> few minutes, five cops showed up, three of whom were
> undercover, or trying to be - talking into cell phones
> saying, "We have three guys and four girls on the corner
> and this is what they're saying.'"
>
> Vest also reported that the authorities were harassing
> people providing housing to the demonstrators gathering in
> Washington. "Last Tuesday [April 11], Bettie Hoover, the
> head of the DC chapter of the American Friends Service
> Committee and a veteran social justice activist, was
> surprised to learn that two Howard Country police
> detectives were casing her Maryland farm," Vest wrote.
> "'One of my family found these detectives walking around
> my property,' says Hoover, who had listed her farm on the
> a16 [April 16] organizing Web site as a camping haven for
> protesters. 'I said, "Excuse me, who told you to come by,"
> but they never really did tell me. But they did threaten me
> with zoning violations if I let people camp. 'This guy
> didn't know diddly - he didn't know what the regulations
> were and I did - and I said to him, "I don't appreciate
> this harassment." He said, "Oh, no, ma'am, we're not
> harassing you, we're just here to help.""
>
> Vest also discovered the city tried to shut down a homeless
> shelter when protesters were staying."In all the years he's
> run the homeless shelter at 11th and M streets in Northwest
> Washington, Harold Moss has never had the fire marshal show
> up demanding to inspect the premises," Vest wrote. "Never,
> that is, until last week. Moss opened his doors to the Midnight
> Special Legal Collective, a handful of progressive activist
> lawyers from Seattle in town for the massive protests against
> the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Suddenly,
> the fire marshal was interested in going over the place with
> a fine-tooth comb. 'I couldn't prove it one way or another,
> but in all probability, he showed up because of [the
> protesters] being here,' said Moss, who has managed to stave
> off the inspector inspection."
>
> Even the establishment media reported the government was
> harassing activists in the days leading up to the mass protest.
> "Some protesters think they are being watched. They are correct."
> the Washington Post reported on April 1O.
>
> Executive Assistant Washington Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer
> confirmed the police were infiltrating the protest groups. "If
> it's an open meeting and it says, 'Come on over,' then anybody's
> welcome," Gainer told the paper.
>
> And the Post printed this account of an encounter between police
> and activist. After Detective Neil Trugman of the intelligence
> unit got word that an organizer named Adam Eidinger was planning
> to lead six crews to hang protest posters around town, he and
> his partner stopped by for a talk. "Eidinger said the detectives
> identified themselves and said he didn't have to speak to them,"
> the paper reported. "Eidinger agreed anyway, and they talked on
> the stoop. The detectives, Eidinger recalled, said they hoped
> there wouldn't be any violence, and Eidinger said he hoped so,
> too. Then the detectives warned him against hanging posters,
> saying protesters could be arrested. 'I felt intimidated,'
> Eidinger said."
>
> A few days later, on April 13, USA Today reported government
> agents were going undercover online to thwart the protesters.
> "[T]hey have been monitoring 73 internet sites where the groups
> have been exchanging messages to learn more about their plans.
> Sometimes, officers have even gone online posing as protesters,"
> the paper said.
>
> According to USA Today, law enforcement agents were physically
> following suspected anarchists throughout the capitol city. "They
> have been monitoring the movements of nearly two dozen
> self-proclaimed anarchists who have arrived in Washington,"the
> paper reported, adding that police had been reviewing "dozens of
> videotapes" from the Seattle protests, identifying suspected
> leaders and plotting riot-control strategies.
>
> What did the law enforcement agencies learn? That's a secret -
> but they reacted like it was a prophesy for the end of the world.
> Police agencies all around the Washington area were mobilized. All
> 3,500 DC police officers were put on alert, along with unknown
> number of law enforcement agents from 12 federal and state
> agencies, including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
> Firearms. The authorities spent over $1 million on new body armor
> and bullet-proof shields. They set up three mass detention centers
> where arrested protesters would be taken. They removed 69 mailboxes
> where bombs could be hidden.
>
> "They ain't burning our city like they did in Seattle," Police
> Chief Charles Ramsey told USA Today. "I'm not going to let it happen.
> I guarantee it."
>
> The authorities started cracking down on the activists the weekend
> before the IMF/World Bank meetings were scheduled to begin. On
> April 9, administrators at American University abruptly cancelled
> the town hall meeting on globalization set for Wednesday. As Vest
> reported, "Carrie Ferrence, an AU student activist, says she asked
> David Taylor, chief of staff to AU's president, for the rationale
> behind the cancellation. According to Ferrence, Taylor replied
> that Washington's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) told him
> that 'they had information from both on and off campus sources
> that this event would be targeted for some kind of disruption,'
> but that 'they said they wouldn't provide any security for the
> event.'"
>
> On April 13, three days before the protests were scheduled to begin,
> seven activists driving to a planning meeting were pulled over by
> the police. According to a Washington Post account of the incident,
> the Secret Service frisked one passenger, showing him a photo that
> had been taken of him earlier.
>
> The activists were charged with possession of the implements of a
> crime. The National Lawyers Guild protested the arrests. In a letter
> to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, NLG President Karen Jo Koonan
> said the "implements of a crime" were materials and tools for
> building signs and banners. According to the Post, the police
> seized 256 PCV pipes, 45 smaller pipes, 2 rolls of chicken wire,
> 50 rolls of duct tape, gas masks, bolt cutters, chains, an
> electrical saw, and lock boxes. "These activists construct signs,
> puppets, sound stages, and other tools for expressing their
> political views," Koonan wrote. "They were in fact arrested for
> possession of implements of First Amendment activity. We have
> been told by an MPD officer that the FBI directed them to make
> this arrest."
>
> Koonan also complained that the authorities had turned Washington DC
> into an armed camp: "The Foggy Bottom neighborhood resembles an
> occupied city. Streets are closed, and public sidewalks are open
> only to people with acceptable identification. An officer with a
> video camera sands on the roof of the PEPCO building at all times,
> and other officers wander the area taking still photographs and
> video of people in the area, even if they are not attempting to
> enter the restricted zone. Anyone wearing buttons or carrying
> signs is given especially close scrutiny. The result is a chill
> on the expression of political views."
>
> Said Denis Moynihan of the Mobilization for Global Justice, "Despite
> assurances to the contrary, we are beginning to see an escalation of
> police tactics similar to the gross violations witnessed in Seattle."
>
> A short time later, Vest reported a follow-up to his original stories.
> "Since then, a number of other activists and organizers (as well as a
> few journalists) have also been subjected to measures ranging from
> surveillance, implicit threats and bureaucratic intransigence apparently
> designed to marginalize the effectiveness of their mission," he wrote.
> "What makes the situation all the more maddening is that such actions
> are apparently being taken based on the ridiculous view that every
> protester or activist is an anarchist time bomb waiting to go off - a
> view apparently buttressed by unspecified police 'intelligence' that
> may or may not be true."
>
> On the morning of April 15, law enforcement authorities unexpectedly
> raided a warehouse that served as the demonstrators' headquarters.
> According to eyewitness accounts, the agencies involved in the raid
> included the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the
> Washington Metropolitan Police Department and the Washington Fire
> Department. Claiming the warehouse violated fire codes, the
> authorities threw all the activists out and closed the building.
> Police claimed they found a Molotov cocktail in the building, a
> charge denied by the activists. "They found a plastic bottle that
> had rags in it that were being used to get paint off of people's
> hands," organizer Eidinger said.
>
> A short time later, the Troy Skeels of the Independent media Center
> reported that the authorities were preventing them from printing and
> distribution their publications. "As we are attempting to go to press
> with the 'Blind Spot,' IMC's print publication due to hit the streets
> tomorrow, we are confronting a serious technical difficulty: Citing
> 'riot activity' the Kinkos print shops in the area are either closed
> already or thinking about it." Skeels wrote. "I learned about this
> turn of events this afternoon as I and some people I was trading
> literature with were asked to leave a Kinkos near the White House.
> The employee at the Kinkos we were at was polite as he asked us to
> leave, but explained that our presence was putting his shop in danger
> of being closed. Continuing our discussion on the sidewalk, I learned
> that other Kinkos had already been closed at police direction."
>
> Continued Skeet, "Philip, from Oberlin College, Ohio, sporting a box of
> freshly printed pamphlets told me that he had left one Kinkos (24th and
> K street) that closed after police came in and harassed people printing
> up pro-demonstration, or simply anti-IMF literature. There was of
> course, no riot activity in sight. At least three Kinkos have already
> closed. It remains unclear how long the other popular '24 hour'
> printing outlets will remain open."
>
> Reviewing the events unfolding in the Capitol, Smith wrote, "Illegal
> sweep arrests. Print shops intimidated into closing by police.
> Universities canceling public forums under pressure from officials.
> Homes of opposition leader' broken into and ransacked. Headquarters
> of the opposition raided and closed by police. These were the sort
> of things by which we defined the evil of the old Soviet Union.
> These were some of the reasons we said we had to bomb Yugoslavia.
> And now they have become characteristics of the federal government's
> handling of the current protests.
>
> By the morning of Saturday the 16th, the police had blocked off 50
> blocks around the headquarters of the World Bank and the International
> Monetary Fund. The first mass arrests happened that afternoon when
> thousands of protesters marched toward the headquarters of the two
> financial institutions. The police blocked their way, then isolated
> and arrested approximately 635 activists - far more than the 525
> protesters arrested during a full week of demonstrations in Seattle -
> declaring their march illegal.
>
> The authorities quickly revealed that they were obsessed with
> identifying the protesters. As the Associated Press reported, those
> who provided identification were fined $50. Those who didn't were
> fined $300. Of course, all of the names provided to the police were
> quickly entered into the vast web of computer databases used by law
> enforcement organizations across the country.
>
> Demonstrators clashed with police all Sunday. The activists were not
> able to prevent the international finance ministers from meeting,
> but the protests were still the most direct challenge to global
> capitalism ever seen. Even the police admitted the activists had
> gotten their message out. "The media is here, and that's how I
> gauge success," a uniformed captain told the NBC Evening News.
>
> By Sunday evening, the Establishment Opinion Cartel was clearly worried.
> "Police said they must keep the World Bank and IMF open at all costs,"
> CNN reporter Bob Franken said with a straight face.
>
> By Monday it was apparent that these global financial institutions are
> more important than the U.S. government itself. Because of the protests,
> most downtown federal workers were given the day off. At the
> recommendation of federal and local law enforcement officials,
> nonessential workers at the State, Treasury, Commerce and Interior
> departments, and other key agencies in the area around the World
> Bank/IMF headquarters, were told to stay home. "This is obviously a
> decision that we don't take lightly. It's very unusual and very
> rare," a spokesman for the Office of Personnel Management said.
>
> As a result, the anti-globalization protesters forced a partial
> shut-down of the federal government - something the Patriot
> Movement has not achieved after nearly a decade of bombings,
> shoot-outs, armed confrontations and rallies.
>
> Organizers declared victory even before the protests ended. "A few
> days ago most Americans didn't know the first thing about the World
> Bank or the IMF," Patrick Rensborough, a spokesman for Mobilization
> for Global Justice, told the New York Times on Sunday. "These
> institutions can't survive public scrutiny. This is the first step
> toward shutting them down."
>
> Beca Economopoulos of Mobilization for Global Justice agreed. "In
> Seattle on November 29th, nobody had heard of the World Trade
> Organization and the impact that it had on the degradation of the
> environment and people's lives on the planet," she told reporters
> early Monday. Now folks can tell you about the World Bank and the
> International Monetary Fund, its violations of human rights, its
> degradation of the environment and lowering of labor standards."
>
> Even the IMF released a communique which acknowledged the protesters
> had made its policies a matter "of growing public debate." As the ABC
> Evening News reported on Monday, "The demonstrators outside the
> building did their best to be heard. The delegates inside the
> building said they got the message.
>
> And that's why the anti-globalization activists are the new
> Public Enemy Number One.
>
> 4/17/2000
> ________________________________________________________________
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