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FBI Brands Reclaim The Streets as "Terrorists"
As Posted on LA IMC with Link to FBI Document added:
In another sign that the growing anti-capitalist, anarchist, anti-car movement is gaining effectiveness, the FBI recently listed Reclaim the Streets amongst the "Threats of Terrorism to the United States." In a May 10 statement before the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services and Select Committee on Intelligence, FBI director Louis Freeh listed Reclaim the Streets as a "potential threat" to the United States along with assorted terrorists from Egypt and Lebanon.
In another sign that the growing anti-capitalist, anarchist, anti-car movement is gaining effectiveness, the FBI recently listed Reclaim the Streets amongst the "Threats of Terrorism to the United States." In a May 10 statement before the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services and Select Committee on Intelligence, FBI director Louis Freeh listed Reclaim the Streets as a "potential threat" to the United States along with assorted terrorists from Egypt and Lebanon.
Is Dancing Terrorism?
PB Floyd
FBI brands Reclaim the Streets as \"terrorists\" - what the fuck have they been smoking?!
In another sign that the growing anti-capitalist, anarchist, anti-car movement is gaining effectiveness, the FBI recently listed Reclaim the Streets amongst the \"Threats of Terrorism to the United States.\" In a May 10 statement before the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services and Select Committee on Intelligence, FBI director Louis Freeh listed Reclaim the Streets as a \"potential threat\" to the United States along with assorted terrorists from Egypt and Lebanon.
The report reads in part: \"Anarchists and extreme socialist groups - many of which, such as the Workers\' World Party, Reclaim the Streets, and Carnival Against Capitalism - have an international presence and, at times, also represent a potential threat in the United States. For example, anarchists, operating individually and in groups, caused much of the damage during the 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle.\"
The list also included \"extreme fringes of animal rights, environmental, anti-nuclear, and other political and social movements\" as well as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).
Getting included in such a list is always both a good and a bad sign: it means we\'re doing something right and are threatening the system, but it also vastly increases the likelihood of infiltration, frame-ups based on planted evidence, government-sponsored internal movement \"splits,\" police use of deadly force, etc.
Reclaim the Streets is actually more of a tactic than a movement or an organization. In 1996, activists in England decided to hold the first RTS \"street party\" by holding a day-time rave, complete with sound system, dancing, and party games, all with a political spin in a busy intersection. The party aimed to temporarily \"reclaim\" the street from cars and point out how capitalism and car culture deprive people of public space and opportunities for public festivals.
The brilliant tactic rapidly caught on, and Reclaim the Streets street parties are now regularly carried out all over the globe. RTS goes beyond the limitations of the traditional \"march and rally\" protest by building coalition with the rave/dance/youth scene to create something that is disruptive and public like a protest, but that is also joyous, fun and beautiful like a party. Because it\'s fun and crosses over with the counter-culture, it\'s a lot easier for a street party to attract a large crowd.
A street party can effectively shut down a business district, in a positive, militant yet non-threatening way. Instead of handing out flyers about the world we want to build, street parties permit a revolutionary society to be conducted in the here and now, right on the street for all to see. Any passer-by recognizes that dancing is a lot better looking and more fun that smog-choked asphalt. The asphalt is what capitalism is all about creating; a world of enjoyment, art, music and social intercourse is what we\'re all about creating.
So it is particularly ironic and interesting that the FBI considers these dance-based parties as a \"terrorist\" threat. Where is the terror? Where is the violence?
As far as we know, no RTS street party has ever (1) exploded; (2) emitted poison gas; or (3) kidnapped anyone. It is true that there has been flagrant (1) dancing; (2) loud pulsing music; (3) flyers and banners; (4) public art; (5) kissing. While you might say it is scary seeing the weird guy with the spiky hair kissing the buff longshoreman type out in public, it isn\'t exactly terrorism.
Maybe the terrorism is because auto traffic gets blocked. We have noticed that a car bombing, like a street party, stops traffic until the mess can get cleaned up. But we thought the FBI only got involved when there was something seriously illegal going on or people getting hurt.
After wracking our brains, we figured it must be the video footage on Bay Area Reclaim the Streets\' web page, which shows a car getting flipped over during the first street party held in the USA on May 16, 1998. (http://xinet.com/rts.) That street party was to protest the WTO, 18 months before Seattle. Just for the FBI\'s benefit (you\'re reading this because it has the newly \"terrorist\" word RTS in it, right?) that car was donated to us by a friend to help us block the street. We drove it into position in the middle of the streets, let the air out of the tires, and flipped it. It was just a prop. Kinda like art, ya know? We didn\'t flip all the cars in Berkeley, as much as they might deserve it, because, ya know, we\'re about having a good party, not getting into fist fights with innocent people who happen to park in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Anyway, humor aside, the FBI terrorist listing is troubling. Getting branded a \"terrorist\" is usually a precursor to getting your ass shot off or thrown into prison for life, etc. What\'s next, Food Not Bombs on the \"10 Most Wanted List\" for conspiracy to commit lunch?
At its heart, reclaiming the streets is radical and does have the potential to over throw the \"American Way Of Life.\" What if instead of just having a street party once every three months with a few hundred people, there were thousands of autonomous cells everywhere organizing many street parties around the world every single day? Picture millions of people dropping out from capitalism living life for joy, not for their bosses. Imagine people more interested in partying in the streets (and disrupting business as usual) than partying in some capitalist club. Instead of billions of hours wasted on MTV in some suburb, what about billions of hours wasted partying down on the interstate highway while digging it up to plant crops, bringing the whole capitalist, techno machine to its knees! (While, ironically, listening to \"techno\" music!) I guess that\'s why the FBI is watching.
http://www.infoshop.org
----------
Link to Transcipt of FBI Testimony Added:
Statement for the Record
Louis J. Freeh, Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
on the
\"Threat of Terrorism to the United States\"
before the
United States Senate
Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services,
and Select Committee on Intelligence
http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress01/freeh051001.htm
PB Floyd
FBI brands Reclaim the Streets as \"terrorists\" - what the fuck have they been smoking?!
In another sign that the growing anti-capitalist, anarchist, anti-car movement is gaining effectiveness, the FBI recently listed Reclaim the Streets amongst the \"Threats of Terrorism to the United States.\" In a May 10 statement before the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services and Select Committee on Intelligence, FBI director Louis Freeh listed Reclaim the Streets as a \"potential threat\" to the United States along with assorted terrorists from Egypt and Lebanon.
The report reads in part: \"Anarchists and extreme socialist groups - many of which, such as the Workers\' World Party, Reclaim the Streets, and Carnival Against Capitalism - have an international presence and, at times, also represent a potential threat in the United States. For example, anarchists, operating individually and in groups, caused much of the damage during the 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle.\"
The list also included \"extreme fringes of animal rights, environmental, anti-nuclear, and other political and social movements\" as well as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).
Getting included in such a list is always both a good and a bad sign: it means we\'re doing something right and are threatening the system, but it also vastly increases the likelihood of infiltration, frame-ups based on planted evidence, government-sponsored internal movement \"splits,\" police use of deadly force, etc.
Reclaim the Streets is actually more of a tactic than a movement or an organization. In 1996, activists in England decided to hold the first RTS \"street party\" by holding a day-time rave, complete with sound system, dancing, and party games, all with a political spin in a busy intersection. The party aimed to temporarily \"reclaim\" the street from cars and point out how capitalism and car culture deprive people of public space and opportunities for public festivals.
The brilliant tactic rapidly caught on, and Reclaim the Streets street parties are now regularly carried out all over the globe. RTS goes beyond the limitations of the traditional \"march and rally\" protest by building coalition with the rave/dance/youth scene to create something that is disruptive and public like a protest, but that is also joyous, fun and beautiful like a party. Because it\'s fun and crosses over with the counter-culture, it\'s a lot easier for a street party to attract a large crowd.
A street party can effectively shut down a business district, in a positive, militant yet non-threatening way. Instead of handing out flyers about the world we want to build, street parties permit a revolutionary society to be conducted in the here and now, right on the street for all to see. Any passer-by recognizes that dancing is a lot better looking and more fun that smog-choked asphalt. The asphalt is what capitalism is all about creating; a world of enjoyment, art, music and social intercourse is what we\'re all about creating.
So it is particularly ironic and interesting that the FBI considers these dance-based parties as a \"terrorist\" threat. Where is the terror? Where is the violence?
As far as we know, no RTS street party has ever (1) exploded; (2) emitted poison gas; or (3) kidnapped anyone. It is true that there has been flagrant (1) dancing; (2) loud pulsing music; (3) flyers and banners; (4) public art; (5) kissing. While you might say it is scary seeing the weird guy with the spiky hair kissing the buff longshoreman type out in public, it isn\'t exactly terrorism.
Maybe the terrorism is because auto traffic gets blocked. We have noticed that a car bombing, like a street party, stops traffic until the mess can get cleaned up. But we thought the FBI only got involved when there was something seriously illegal going on or people getting hurt.
After wracking our brains, we figured it must be the video footage on Bay Area Reclaim the Streets\' web page, which shows a car getting flipped over during the first street party held in the USA on May 16, 1998. (http://xinet.com/rts.) That street party was to protest the WTO, 18 months before Seattle. Just for the FBI\'s benefit (you\'re reading this because it has the newly \"terrorist\" word RTS in it, right?) that car was donated to us by a friend to help us block the street. We drove it into position in the middle of the streets, let the air out of the tires, and flipped it. It was just a prop. Kinda like art, ya know? We didn\'t flip all the cars in Berkeley, as much as they might deserve it, because, ya know, we\'re about having a good party, not getting into fist fights with innocent people who happen to park in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Anyway, humor aside, the FBI terrorist listing is troubling. Getting branded a \"terrorist\" is usually a precursor to getting your ass shot off or thrown into prison for life, etc. What\'s next, Food Not Bombs on the \"10 Most Wanted List\" for conspiracy to commit lunch?
At its heart, reclaiming the streets is radical and does have the potential to over throw the \"American Way Of Life.\" What if instead of just having a street party once every three months with a few hundred people, there were thousands of autonomous cells everywhere organizing many street parties around the world every single day? Picture millions of people dropping out from capitalism living life for joy, not for their bosses. Imagine people more interested in partying in the streets (and disrupting business as usual) than partying in some capitalist club. Instead of billions of hours wasted on MTV in some suburb, what about billions of hours wasted partying down on the interstate highway while digging it up to plant crops, bringing the whole capitalist, techno machine to its knees! (While, ironically, listening to \"techno\" music!) I guess that\'s why the FBI is watching.
http://www.infoshop.org
----------
Link to Transcipt of FBI Testimony Added:
Statement for the Record
Louis J. Freeh, Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
on the
\"Threat of Terrorism to the United States\"
before the
United States Senate
Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services,
and Select Committee on Intelligence
http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress01/freeh051001.htm
For more information:
http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress01/fre...
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IMC Network
Length 6 min. 28 sec.
Link to video:
http://clients.loudeye.com/imc/sweden/reclaim.ram
Link to site of videographer (Katalyytti/Ali Tegan:
http://kulma.net/katalyytti/
Thanks for your journalism under fire!
1. Young people enjoy themselves- dancing, music, smiles, fun.
2. Police decide fun cannot be allowed (or decide that they are dealing with dangerous dancing terrorists.)
3. Police get in a tight bunch and seem to move to the music in a funny way - as if they can't decide whether to dance or attack people.
4. They decide to attack people.
5. People don't like being kicked, beaten, yelled at, arrested, for dancing.
6. People chase police and throw stones at their BODY ARMOR & SHIELDS.
7. Police shoot people (and possibly KILL person).
8. The police are murderers.
9. George Bush is a mass murderer.
10. The current world economic system and those who control it are mass murderers.
we have to remember that paranoia is stupid but security is smart. watch out for muscle-bound weirdos who want to encourage violence. anyone who is trying to incite a riot is committing a serious crime and this should be explained to them. remember that you and your friends are normal and the cops are fucking scared inside because they are totally out of their element and there is music and they know that what they are doing is dangerous and wrong. they are also aggro testosterone macho fuckers and it isnt easy for them to suddenly turn this off or hide it, which is something that (should be) already discouraged in our counterculture.
so fuk 'em... when is the next bay area rts???!????
That said, anyone who does not like the portrayal of these protests as violent should realize that news coverage makes larger riots more likely. A chance to set things on fire and smash windows with only a slight chance of arrest is appealing to many people who have no political agenda. I would be less worried about police provoking riots than more people showing up for the excitement. Even if only the news media is portraying many protests as riots (when most are actually peaceful), that is enough to create a hype around protests as fun. Afterall what teenage boy would not want to be branded a terrorist (movies and the newsmedia sell this as the coolest possible label). Just wait a year or two and there will probably be a few Holywood movies with heros who look an awful lot like the Black Block or RTS. There have already been a few Earth First based action movies where the heros shoot people and blow up oil refinaries.
The commerical drive behind riots is a little disturbing, but not all bad. Capitalism may have no soul but its also has no brain. Businesses are perfectly happy sowing the seeds of their own destruction as long as they can show short term profits to their shareholders.
9. George Bush is a mass murderer.
10. The current world economic system and those who control it are mass murderers.
11. People who disagree with me are mass murderers
12. Mass murderers are NOT mass murderers
13. Murder Masses are mass murderers
14. Mmmfgfg Msjaiod is adaiudya ytasfo tsaigf
15. agf9 ef8 dns gjsdgj9d0g
16. ...................
http://www.reclaimthestreets.net/
http://guest.xinet.com/rts/
http://www.reclaimthestreets.net/
http://www.rtsnyc.org/