Black Scare Repression on the West Coast of Turtle Island (US)

BLOG POST posted on July 29, 2012 by Insurgent G

FBI paramilitary raids in Portland

Reposted from: http://saynothing.noblogs.org/

BREAKING: Interview and Documents from FBI Raid Show Feds are Targeting Anarchists

The first interview with any of the Portlanders who were served grand jury subpoenas as FBI agents searched their homes on Wednesday, July 25, shines some light on what authorities may be hoping to achieve with the raids.

Dennison Williams was in bed at his house on NE 8th Avenue on Wednesday morning when he heard a bang and someone shout, “FBI!” Then came a loud crash, which turned out to be agents breaking down his front door, and Williams heard a bang and a saw a flash of light—the agents throwing flash grenades. Williams started yelling from his bed that he was upstairs and unarmed.

“I was scared,” he said. “The police in this town have a history of shooting people, I was worried they would accidentally shoot me.”

According to Williams, FBI officers entered his room with assault rifles and kept them aimed at him while they handcuffed him. They put him in a chair for about 30 minutes while they searched his house. Williams says there were about 15 FBI officers in the house, plus one Portland police officer on the street outside. According to the property receipt Williams received from the officers, the feds seized several items, including his computer, phone, hard-drive, two thumb drives, and various clothes (including black jeans, black t-shirt, and a black bandana). They then served him a subpoena to appear at a grand jury in Seattle next Thursday, August 2nd.

Williams is not sure exactly what the grand jury is meeting about, but that likely they want to ask him about other people. The FBI has said only that the raids are part of an ongoing “violent crime” investigation.

“It’s related to political opposition, it’s related to political dissent,” says Williams. “They’re trying to create a wedge within people who are resistors… They’re specifically pursuing anarchists.”

The FBI search warrant states that they are looking to seize items which may be evidence regarding the crimes of conspiracy to destroy government property, interstate travel with intent to riot, and conspiracy to travel interstate with intent to riot. Those items include: Clothing and related items work during commission of offenses; paint; sticks and flags similar to those used or carried during the commission of the offenses, and material for making flags; anti-government or anarchist literature, documentation or communications related to the offenses, flares, computers or electronic storage media of any kind.

On July 10th, Seattle police officers staged a similar raid on the house of some Occupy Mayday protesters in Seattle. On the day Williams’ house and two other houses in Portland were searched, the FBI served grand jury subpoenas to people in Olympia and Seattle, as well. Williams was not sure how many people were served subpoenas, but thinks it is somewhere around seven people, and says he “will not cooperate” with the grand jury. Anyone who refuses to testify when subpoenaed can potentially face jail time.

Political supporters calling themselves the “Committee Against Political Repression” have already set up a website to post information about the case and take donations to the legal fund:NoPoliticalRepression.wordpress.com. There, they’ve posted a “solidarity statement” from numerous activist groups condemning the “series of coordinated raids.”

Also reposted from: http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/

Solidarity Statement against the raids and grand jury

On Wednesday July 25th, the FBI conducted a series of coordinated raids against activists in Portland, Olympia, and Seattle. They subpoenaed several people to a special federal grand jury, and seized computers, black clothing and anarchist literature. This comes after similar raids in Seattle in July and earlier raids of squats in Portland.

Though the FBI has said that the raids are part of a violent crime investigation, the truth is that the federal authorities are conducting a political witch-hunt against anarchists and others working toward a more just, free, and equal society. The warrants served specifically listed anarchist literature as evidence to be seized, pointing to the fact that the FBI and police are targeting this group of people because of their political ideas. Pure and simple, these raids and the grand jury hearings are being used to intimidate people whose politics oppose the state’s agenda. During a time of growing economic and ecological crises that are broadly affecting people across the world, it is an attempt to push back any movement towards creating a world that is humane, one that meets every person’s needs rather than serving only the interests of the rich.

This attack does not occur in a vacuum. Around the country and around the world, people have been rising up and resisting an economic system that puts the endless pursuit of profit ahead of the basic needs of humanity and the Earth. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement to now Anaheim, people are taking to the streets. In each of these cases, the state has responded with brutal political repression. This is not a coincidence. It is a long-term strategy by state agencies to stop legitimate political challenges to a status quo that exploits most of the world’s people.

We, the undersigned, condemn this and all other political repression. While we may have differences in ideology or chose to use different tactics, we understand that we are in a shared struggle to create a just, free, and liberated world, and that we can only do this if we stand together. We will not let scare tactics or smear campaigns divide us, intimidate us, or stop us from organizing and working for a better world.

No more witch-hunts! An injury to one is an injury to all.

Signed:

Committee Against Political Repression
Freedom Archives
Sacramento Prisoner Support
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Critical Resistance
Stop the Injunctions Coalition
National Jericho Movement for Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War
We Are Oregon
Portland Jobs with Justice
Rose City Cop Watch
Bayan-USA Pacific Northwest Region
Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC)
Red Spark (Kasama)
Earth First! Journal collective
Repeal Coalition
1st of May Anarchist Alliance
Black Unity Movement
The Institute for Anarchist Studies
Connect the Dots
Oregon Jericho
Parasol Climate Collective
Portland Anarchist Black Cross
Right to Survive
Right to Dream 2
Rosehips Medic Collective
Communities United Against Police Brutality
The Radical Anti-Capitalist Caucus, of Occupy Portland
Students on Strike Organizing Committee
Autonomous Workers’ Group
Occupy Oakland Anti Repression Committee
Oakland Occupy Patriarchy
Oakland Occupy Legal
East Bay Solidarity Network
Portland Animal Defense League
Cascadians Against War
PDX Bike Swarm
Northbay Movement for a Democratic Society
Solano Peace and Justice Coalition
Solano Peace and Freedom Party
Northbay Uprising Radio Collective
MN Anti-War Committee
Peoples’ Action for Rights and Community
Redwood Curtain CopWatch
Occupy Eureka
Arizona Prison Watch
All Power to the Positive podcast
Justice for Palestinians, San Jose, CA
OccupyLV
Culture of Resistance
Family & Friends of Daniel McGowan
Blazing Arrow Organization
Portland International Socialist Organization
Anti-Racist Action-LA/People Against Racist Terror
The Portland World Citizens’ United Front
The Wild Poppies Collective
Everglades Earth First!
The Center For A Stateless Society
Black Orchid Collective
Hella503 Collective
Portland Rising Tide
Laughing Horse Book and Film Collective
Occupy 4 Prisoners, Oakland
Night Heron Grassroots Activist Center
Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition
New York Taskforce for Political Prisoners
The North American Anarchist Studies Network
submedia.tv
Cleveland 4 Support Group
Freedom Socialist Party
Socialist Action
Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County
Justice for Randy L. Dixon Rivera & Family
Peace Resource Center
Occupy Washington DC
Occupy Peace House DC
BDS LA for Justice in Palestine
The American Iranian Friendship Committee
NYC Jericho Movement
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, NYC Chapter
New Direction Fest
Socialist Viewpoint Magazine
Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Al-Nakba Awareness Project
Social Democrats
USA-Socialist Party, USA
The Young Social Democrats-Young Peoples’ Socialist League
Alliance for Global Justice
Nicaragua Network
Campaign for Labor Rights
New York City Labor Against the War
Labor for Palestine
Libertalia Autonomous Space
Community Futures Collective
The International Coalition to Free the Angola 3
Workers World Party
International Action Center
East Bay Saturday Dialogues
Soa Watch South Florida
Socialist Viewpoint
#OPDX
WORKERS ACTION
Occupy Kalamazoo
Good Morning Revolution
Wandering Llama Press
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee
Occupy Denver
Citizens Against Corruption
Mutant Legal Collective NYC
The Northampton (MA) Committee to Stop the Wars
South Chicago ABC Zine Distro
Defending Dissent Foundation
Occupy Seattle Street Medics
Vashon Women In Black
Veterans For Peace, Linus Pauling Chapter 132
Organic Consumers Association
World Can’t Wait
Internationalist Prison Books Collective
Collective A-GoGo
Alliance of the Libertarian Left of New England
Earth First! Prisoner Support Project
The Mineapolis Autonomous Radical Space (MARS) Collective
Wensday Media Distro
The Alice Committee
Liberty Tree Foundation
Grand Jury Resistance Project
Alliance for Peace and Justice of Western Massachusetts
Welfare Rights Committee (Mpls/St. Paul, MN)
Socialist Organizer
Occupy LCC (Lane Community College)
Phoenix Class War Council
The Wingnut Anarchist Collective
Richmond Copwatch
the ART lab
The People’s Tribunal (SF Bay Area)
San Jose Peace & Justice Center
Citizens for Legitimate Government
New York Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition
Unite Left Review
Anarchy-1 radio
Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement
Queers Without Borders
Olympia Coalition for a Fair Budget
Charm City Anarchist Black Cross
Blue Heron Infoshop
Portland Books to Prisoners

To add your group’s name to the solidarity statement, please email: nopoliticalrepression@gmail.com.

Calls for Solidarity from: http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net

1–10 August 2012: Contra Info call for propaganda actions against repression

We make a call out for ten days of propaganda actions, in as many places as possible, aiming to promote struggles which are more or less known but also entirely unknown to many people. Individuals and/or groups who wish to join in these ten days will choose the thematic and the means according to their own criteria and dynamics, for the strengthening of international and reciprocal solidarity amongst the oppressed.

We are mainly suggesting taking to the streets, painting slogans and dropping banners in solidarity with cases that we believe are important to be heard. We have done this in Athens in the past months, and you must have done it, too, in several occasions. But we need to go a step further and carry out such actions simultaneously at a European level and, hopefully, beyond. Some of us are in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Serbia, Portugal, Greece, but also in America, therefore we can make out of a simple action something beautiful. For those that feel all alone in places where they live, it might seem harder… but all you need is a sheet, paint or spray, plus a nice location. Wherever you are, call your mates and spread the word.

From the 1st to the 10th of August, we can place banners, post posters and fliers, write slogans on the walls, or carry out any other action that will encourage the diffusion of the anarchist/libertarian discourse beyond state-language borders. So, we look forward to receiving and disseminating photographic and/or written material from comrades’ actions, wherever they might be.

In early August, we coordinate our efforts and lift our head up high against repression and the society of prisons, against the States and their borders, against the Capital and its profits. We can be many; we can be everywhere.