This week Kristian Williams, the author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America Recent published a collection of short case studies on Portland IMC regarding the use of agents provocateurs, including warning signs and practical advice.Click here for the full article. An excerpt of Williams’ article follows:
A recent article in Seattle’s Stranger detailed a long-term police operation to monitor, infiltrate, and entrap activists in Seattle: “The Long Con,” by Brendan Kiley, May 4, 2011.
The story is long, convoluted, and more than a little absurd; it’s all rather like the plot of a Coen Brothers’ movie. But the short version is that an undercover Seattle cop infiltrated an after-hours party scene—what prosecutors called “underground illegal gambling enterprises (concurrent with illegal liquor sales).” (All quotes in this section are from the Stranger article.) The SPD hoped to find some dirt on local politicians, the FBI hoped to find a connection to the Earth Liberation Front, and after two years they finally managed to hook someone with a drug scam:
“Bryan [Owens] had been pushing Rick [Wilson]—and everyone in their social set—for years to help him buy ever-larger amounts of cocaine. . . . he tried to play on people’s greed. ‘He’s like, “I can make you a millionaire,”‘ Rick remembers. . . . ‘He said he would pay for the drugs and I would take no financial risk. I told him to go fuck himself. He kept pestering me. I did, to my eternal shame, help him out,’ Rick says. ‘I asked around to some people who asked around to some people who eventually gave him some.'”
Owens then asked Wilson to come along when the exchange happened, just in case things went bad. On the way, a SWAT team surrounded Wilson’s car and arrested him. It turns out Bryan Owens, purported trust fund kid and environmental activist, is really Bryan Van Brunt, Seattle Police Detective.
When Wilson was interrogated, the cops were particularly interested in asking about the ELF. They told him, “We have hundreds of hours of surveillance, wire, video. . . .” The Stranger adds, “SPD surveillance logs show that police were following the families of suspects, their sisters and mothers, and that some family members’ homes . . . were raided and turned upside down for evidence.”
Wilson was convicted of the drug crime, and also of an unrelated offense he’d committed years earlier—running guns to Chiapas for the EZLN. He was sentenced to 40 months. A handful of other party regulars were charged with “professional gambling in the first degree.”
The usual criticisms—that these sorts of operations waste money, only stop crimes that the cops themselves create, and threaten our freedom—have already been made elsewhere. So I want to turn instead to the question of how activists might avoid this sort of infiltration and entrapment. After all, it makes no difference whether you take technical precautions like encrypting your email if it is your co-conspirator who is collecting the evidence against you.
With this in mind, Williams’ case studies sum up three recent cases involving the use of provocateurs against the anarchist and radical environmentalist movements. He also points out some of the warning signs that should have made people wary. Once again, click here for the full article. And then pass it on…
A Dec. 30, 2010 protest against gas price hikes. image from FM Center es Noticia
Out of one tine of what has become the Morales administration’s two-sided tongue come blood-stirring proclamations like the president’s empassioned grito “¡Planeta o Muerte!” at the 2010 Cancun climate change talks. Brilliant. Then there is the stark refusal, that not even Cuba or Venezuela would match, to sign on to the watered-down agreement at said talks.
And now comes the nation’s new law proclaiming the rights of Madre Tierra—to some minds, a legal-philosophic leap forward that, a few decades ago, only bioregionalists, primitive-anarchists, and traditional Native peoples could imagine.
But, sorry to say, the other spine of the eco-fork must be noted:
the launch of genetically-modified agriculture into a countryside presently free of GMOs;
two under-construction hydro-electric dams 300% bigger than the U.S.’s Hoover Dam at a cost of $13 billion, slated to channel water to Brazil in exchange for monies to boost Bolivia’s petro and plastic industries—this, in a country where many communities have no potable water and water-borne illnesses are rampant;
in a nation uncontaminated by nuclear radiation: uranium mining, with future plans for nuclear power plants—aided by Iran;
blankets of electromagnetic radiation in the form of WiMAX over urban landscapes – with the state telecommunications corporation bragging of 1350 radiobases in an area the size of Texas and California combined, with many more to come;
commodity-transporting highways bulldozing through protected nature reserves whose treasures, in the case of the Villa Tunari-San Ignacio de Moxos road, include 11 endangered species and three Native groups in 60 communities living their traditional hunter-gatherer-fishing lifeways;
new oil excavations;
new gas excavations;
in partnership with Mitubishi, Sumitomo, South Korea, and Iran: massive lithium development—threatening leeching, leaks, emissions, and spills in the world-treasure salt flats;
Bolivia’s own Made-in-China satellite;
with the help of India, the construction of humankind’s largest iron mine;
900 miles of pipeline slated to transport natural gas to Argentina; and
an explosion of airport and high-rise construction.
In other words: full-tilt, high-tech, colossal-scale, high-capital modernization—on a Madre Tierra in which such expansion has already been shown to be The Problem…
Raleigh, NC – On Tuesday night, over twenty-five people showed their opposition to hydraulic fracturing and offshore drilling in North Carolina outside of the legislative building before heading inside for the final vote on SB 709 in the House of Representatives, leading to three arrests.
The third vote on SB709, also dubbed the “Energy Jobs Act”, was met with resistance before the session convened with a call-in day to legislators and a demonstration outside. Signs read, “Don’t Frack with Cackalack!”, “Don’t Frack With My Water!”, “No Offshore Drilling in NC!”, and “Expect Resistance!” The demonstrations consisted of people from Chapel Hill, Durham, Pittsboro, and Raleigh who called on the legislators to vote against SB 709, in favor of a healthy future for North Carolinians.
Upon moving inside, the quiet and respectful demonstration was swarmed by security agents as the wait began for SB 709 to be called. At least one representative switched his vote to be against the bill before it was called, which was met with applause. Once SB 709 was brought to the floor, two people unfurled a banner reading “Third times a charm! No to Fracking!” leading to their arrest. A third person was also arrested for proclaiming dislike of the destruction of the fine state of North Carolina. The arrestees, who live in counties that contain shale deposits that could be fracked, are all facing misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges.
The third reading of SB 709 resulted in 68 ayes and 49 noes. At this point the bill goes back to the senate for a reading, and then it is in the governor’s hands. We call on Governor Perdue to protect the future of North Carolina by vetoing SB 709.
“It is alarming that the General Assembly is so readily allowing corporation’s interests to harm the citizens, water, air, and land of North Carolina. Is this really what the General Assembly wants for its constituents?” —Heidi Grenmier, Durham County, Croatan Earth First!
“To Representatives Avila, Boles, Burr, Crawford, Dollar, Howard, McCormick, Murry, and Stam, all who represent areas with fracking potential and despicably voted in favor of SB709, know that we will hold you personally responsible when our tap water turns brown and explosive, our children and wives are sick, and our crops are toxic. We’ve seen what’s been happening in Pennsylvania, Montana, and Colorado. We don’t want it here.” – Adam Nash, Orange County
This is merely the beginning of the fight against hydraulic fracturing and offshore drilling in North Carolina. Community groups, including Croatan Earth First!, will be holding regular events and demonstrations against hydraulic fracturing throughout the region.
Below is a letter addressed from Everglades Earth First! to the National Park Service, Ken Salazar, the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Lew Hay, III, Chairman of Florida Power & Light. The letter promises open resistance to the construction of transmission lines, carrying electricity from new proposed nuclear reactors through Everglades National Park.
Transmission lines leading out from a Florida Power& Light facility.
National Park Service (NPS)Planning, Environment & Public Comment (PEPC) 1849 C Street NW Washington, DC 20240Ken Salazar, SecretaryDepartment of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240Lew Hay, III, ChairmanNEXTera Energy Resources (Florida Power & Light)700 Universe Blvd. Juno Beach, FL 33408
Any and all development of nuclear power grid infrastructure (transmission lines, fill pads, access roads, drained or cleared vegetation) by Florida Power & Light (FPL) and its affiliates across Everglades National Park (ENP) and the East Everglades Expansion Area (EEEA) will be vigorously resisted by Everglades Earth First! We will physically defend the Everglades and blockade the path of any development with our bodies.
We oppose both corridors proposed by FPL, also known as NEXTera Energy Resources. FPL’s current utility corridor consisting of 109,000 acres in the ENP and EEEA and its alternate proposal further east but within the same protected areas, will significantly damage sensitive wetlands. It will cause severe impacts to federally listed endangered and threatened species including the Everglades snail kite, eastern indigo snake, wood stork, and Florida Panther. FPL’s transmission lines carrying up to 500,000 volts of electricity across towers as high as 150 feet will increase the mortality of native and migratory birds.
It is FPL’s plan to severe sensitive Everglades habitat to construct transmission lines to connect the proposed new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point to areas north. FPL’s application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to be approved by that agency. In light of failures and social and ecological implications caused by the meltdown at Fukushima Nuclear Plant in Japan, any attempt to jeopardize the safety of the people of the state of Florida with new nuclear infrastructure and any attempt to further destabilize the Everglades bioregion, and specifically Everglades National Park, carries the potential implications of murder and ecocide. We can not, with full and healthy conscience, allow this to happen. We will not.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday morning, June 16, 2011 Contact: Beth Lavely Tel: 928.254.1064 protectpeaks@gmail.com
*PROTECT THE PEAKS – STOP DESTRUCTION & DESECRATION NOW!*
Today we take direct action to stop further desecration and destruction of the Holy San Francisco Peaks. We stand with our ancestors, with allies and with those who also choose to embrace diverse tactics to safeguard Indigenous People’s cultural survival, our community’s health, and this sensitive mountain ecosystem.
On May 25th 2011, sanctioned by the US Forest Service, owners of Arizona Snowbowl began further destruction and desecration of the Holy San Francisco Peaks. Snowbowl’s hired work crews have laid over a mile and a half of the planned 14.8 mile wastewater pipeline. They have cut a six foot wide and six foot deep gash into the Holy Mountain.
Although a current legal battle is under appeal, Snowbowl owners have chosen to undermine judicial process by rushing to construct the pipeline. Not only do they disregard culture, environment, and our children’s health, they have proven that they are criminals beyond reproach.
Four weeks of desecration has already occurred. Too much has already been taken. Today, tomorrow and for a healthy future, we say “enough!” As we take action, we look to the East and see Bear Butte facing desecration, Mt. Taylor facing further uranium mining; to the South, Mt. Graham desecrated, South Mountain threatened, the US/Mexico border severingIndigenous communities from sacred places; to the West, inspiring resistance at Sogorea Te, Moana Keya facing desecration; to the North, Mt. Tenabo, Grand Canyon, Black Mesa, and so many more… our homelands and our culture under assault.
We thought that the USDA, heads of the Forest Service, had meant it when they initiated nationwide listening sessions to protect sacred places. If the process was meaningful, we would not have to take action today.
More than 13 Indigenous Nations hold the Peaks Holy. The question has been asked yet we hear no response, “what part of sacred don’t you understand?”
For hundreds of years resistance to colonialism, slavery, & destruction of Mother Earth has existed and continues here in what we now call Arizona.
The United States recently moved to join the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, evidently the US has not currently observed and acted upon this declaration, otherwise we would not be taking action today. This document informs our action, we also assert that UNDRIP supports the basis for our action. Although a current legal battle is under appeal, Snowbowl owners have chosen to undermine judicial process by rushing to construct the pipeline. Not only do they disregard culture, environment, and our children’s health, they have proven that they are criminals beyond reproach.
We continue today resisting Snowbowl’s plan to spray millions of gallons of wastewater snow, which is filled with cancer causing and other harmful contaminants, as well as clear-cut over 30,000 trees. The Peaks are a pristine and beautiful place, a fragile ecosystem, and home to rare and endangered species of plants and animals.
Our action is a prayer.
We invite those of you who could not join us today and who believe in the protection of culture, the environment and community health to resist destruction and desecration of the Peaks:
– Join us and others in physically stopping all Snowbowl development!
By Panagioti Tsolkas, Earth First! Journal editorial collective
In aPalm Beach Post articlefrom earlier this year: A St. Louis company, Wind Capital Group, says they hopes to build Florida’s first wind farm, on thousands of acres of sugar land east of Belle Glade. The region is known as the Everglades Agricultural Area, and thought to be a crucial component to restoring the greater Everglades watershed. But has been increasingly encroached upon by industrial development proposals, including rock mines, an ‘inland port’ andFPL’s controversial 38oo megawatt West County Energy Center.
The company has been meeting with Palm Beach County planners to change to the county’s development rules that would be needed before its turbines could be built. Now they are courting environmental groups to accept the proposed changes.
The Chamber of Commerce loves the idea of the $250 million project. “That is tremendous,” Brenda Bunting, Executive Director of the Belle Glade Chamber of Commerce, said of the project. “We would be excited to see something like that come. We are always looking for things that benefit this community.”
The company wants to build between 84 and 100 wind turbines, on land near the intersection of State Road 880 and Browns Farm Road. The150-megawatt turbines would stretch across 11,000 to 15,000 acres, said Robin Saiz, Wind Capital’s director of project development. Each turbine would stand between 262 feet and 328 feet tall, roughly the height of a 30-story building.
Environmentalists say they are concerned spinning turbines could harm birds and bats. “There are a lot of questions that remain to be answered, before we jump on the wind energy bus,” said Joanne Davis, a community planner with 1000 Friends of Florida.
Migratory birds flying through the region could be struck by the fast-moving blades. The endangered snail kite, for one, could be devastated if even a few were killed, environmentalists say. “When you talk about birds like the snail kite, we can’t afford to have any mortality,” said Drew Martin, conservation chairman for the Sierra Club’s Loxahatchee Group.
In June 2007, Florida Power & Light Co. announced plans to build the first wind farm in Florida, on Hutchinson Island, 8 miles south of Fort Pierce in St. Lucie County. The plan met resistance from nearby residents and wildlife biologists and has been put on hold.
Wind Capital says it hopes to have its turbines running by the end of next year.
In other news on industrial wind: A Campaign by the American Bird Conservancy pushes for mandatory standards on turbines
In a June 14, 2011 press release, the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) stated the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) says it received nearly 30,000 comments on the draft Wind Energy Guidelines and Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance. About 21,000 comments coming through the efforts of ABC calling for mandatory wind energy standards and mitigation for impacts to wildlife and habitat. The comment letter sent by ABC and other groups is available athttp://www.abcbirds.org/Wind_Guidelines_Comment_Letter.pdf.
Nearly 30,000 was an unusually large number of comments for the Division of Habitat and Resource Conservation, which took the comments down from the FWS wind energy website after running into technical trouble posting them.
Meanwhile in Maine…
Last July, four demonstrators were arrested while blocking a turbine blade from reaching the development site of the Kibby Mountain Wind Project. The four protesters are expected to face a jury trial in Franklin County Superior Court in Farmington beginning Monday, June 20th.
Courtney Butcher was charged with criminal trespassing. Erik Gillard, Ana Rodriguez, and Willow Cordes-Eklund were all charged with failure to disperse. Cordes-Eklund was arrested after U-Locking her neck beneath a tractor-trailer carrying a 15-ton turbine blade on Rt. 27. Over 60 protesters gathered on the morning of July 6, 2010 at the development site to oppose the construction of 22 industrial wind turbines on the ridge of Kibby Mountain. The protestors claim that industrial wind development destroys the delicate Alpine ecosystems of Maine’s western boundary mountains. Protestors also object to Kibby Mountain wind developer TransCanada’s involvement in the practice of tar-sands oil extraction in Alberta, Canada. The activists claim this shows that TransCanada is not interested in green energy, one of the supposed justifications for the Kibby project and other wind developments in Maine.
“We recognize the value of developing alternative energy systems,” said protester Meg Gilmartin of Maine Earth First! at the time of the blockade. “But these projects are an example of how corporations take advantage of the climate and energy crises to make profits while avoiding accountability. This is pristine, sensitive ecosystem being destroyed for a project that will not displace any fossil fuel energies from the grid.”
The protest preceded a Land Use Regulation Commission meeting on July 7th, where a plan for additional 15 turbines on neighboring Sisk Mountain was voted down. A later version of the proposal was approved in January. Friends of the Boundary Mountains has since filed an appeal to the Maine Supreme Court to overturn the approval, citing violation of due process, as there was no public hearing for the second Sisk Mountain proposal.
Noted for it’s extreme ecosystem sensitivity, development on Sisk Mountain was opposed by such groups as Maine Audubon Society, Appalachian Mountain Club, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine Earth First!, The Native Forest Network, Friends of the Boundary Mountains, and the Citizen’s Task Force on Wind Power.
For more on impacts of industrial wind on wildlife, check out other recent press releases from ABC:
Conservation Groups, Thousands of Citizens Call on Feds to Protect Birds from Wind Turbines, May 19, 2011. View Release
Dramatic Video Shows Bird Strike at Wind Turbine: One Bird Currently Killed Every Minute by Wind Power in the US, April 5, 2011. View Release
Bird Group Says Cancellation of North Dakota Wind Farm Reflects Seriousness of Bird Issues April 4, 2011. View Release
Call for Public Debate on Wind Power after Misleading Industry Release on Bird Deaths March 3, 2011. View Release
New Federal Guidelines on Wind Farm Will Not Stop Bird Deaths. February 8, 2011. View Release
Wind Power Could Kill Millions of Birds Per Year by 2030. February 2, 2011. View Release
Wind Development Threatens Iconic American Birds. December 29, 2011. View Release
South Florida Smash HLS rally outside of Primate Products near Miami Florida
Animals rights activists are claiming victory after a local private airline, Monarch Air Group, agreed to stop shipping primates for research.
Monarch, which runs private passenger and cargo flights from its base in Fort Lauderdale, sent a letter to the animal rights group South Florida SMASH HLS yesterday announcing its decision.
“Per a recent shareholder meeting, Monarch Air Group has decided to seize [sic] the transportation of primates,” said the letter signed by company President David Gitman.
“It’s just not in the company’s interest to be doing that anymore,” said a man who answered the phone at Monarch this morning. He declined to give his name.
Activists want airlines to stop shipping animals so that local research companies such as Primate Products will not be able to import monkeys.
Amerijet, another Fort Lauderdale-based cargo shipping company, made a similar announcement in February, ending its primate shipments.
Activists had targeted the company with letters, emails, phone calls, and protests outside the homes of Amerijet executives. Monarch’s decision came soon after activists began bombarding the company with similar tactics — emails, faxes, and phone calls about shipping primates.
“Smash HLS congratulates Monarch Air Group on its compassionate decision to stop the cruel monkey flights,” the group wrote on its blog. “We are so greatly pleased!!”
Briana Watersaccepted a plea bargain today, June 14th, which requires her full and complete cooperation with the state. It reads, in part, “Defendant shall cooperate completely and truthfully with law enforcement authorities in the investigation and prosecution of other individuals involved in criminal activity. Such cooperation shall include, but not be limited to, complete and truthful statements to law enforcement officers, as well as complete and truthful testimony if called as a witness before a grand jury, or at any state or federal trial, retrial, or other judicial proceedings. Defendant acknowledges that this obligation to cooperate shall continue after Defendant has entered guilty pleas and sentence has been imposed…” The plea agreement later states, “Defendant agrees that Defendant’s sentencing date may be delayed based on the United States’ need for Defendant’s continued cooperation…”
The “Statement of Facts” in the plea agreement implicates other people in the actions to which she is pleading guilty. This includes Justin Solondz (who is currently awaiting trial), Rebecca Rubin and Joseph Dibee (who have not been captured). To view the plea agreement, visit:http://www.ecoprisoners.org
Click hereto listen to the interview with former undercover agent Mark Kennedy who infiltrated environmental protest groups in the UK and engaged in sexual relationships with activists under surveillance.
He is being accused of state-sanctioned sexual abuse by activists.
The Earth First! Journal, having recently relocated from the deserts of Tucson, Arizona to the hot and humid swamplands of South Florida, has come under attack of late from the forces of repression. We’ve had heavy police presence at our office, all three current long term editors are embroiled in legal battles for actions against Scripps Biotech and one (that wiley and ferocious editor that some call “aguamala”) has outstanding legal issues in defense of the wild in three states. An agent from the Joint Terrorism Task Force has been following us around and that no good so-and-so Uncle Sam has told us he don’t like what little we’ve paid him in taxes.
On top of that we are, as always, beautifully and tragically broke, wondering where we’ll get the money for our next publication.
Well, in our last call out for donations to support the Journal, we also asked for solidarity actions. So far, only one fine friend has stepped up. Lucy Parsons, the infamous anarchist gator of the Everglades went on a rampage, attacked a police car then walked into a bank and into the vault and ate all the money before escaping bank into the swamp.
Thanks Lucy. Now for the rest of you, we ask if you can step it up to and donate us a few bucks to keep this Journal alive?
Just click the donate button on the top of the screen.
This week Kristian Williams, the author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America Recent published a collection of short case studies on Portland IMC regarding the use of agents provocateurs, including warning signs and practical advice. Click here for the full article. An excerpt of Williams’ article follows:
With this in mind, Williams’ case studies sum up three recent cases involving the use of provocateurs against the anarchist and radical environmentalist movements. He also points out some of the warning signs that should have made people wary. Once again, click here for the full article. And then pass it on…
EF! DAM
Ecodefense
