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Original Weathermen to wreak havoc at RNC
August 23, 2004 -- EXCLUSIVE
A number of extremists with ties to the 1970s radical Weather Underground have recently been released from prison and are in New York preparing to wreak havoc during the Republican National Convention, The Post has learned.
A number of extremists with ties to the 1970s radical Weather Underground have recently been released from prison and are in New York preparing to wreak havoc during the Republican National Convention, The Post has learned.
RADICALS PLOT BAD WEATHER
By STEFAN C. FRIEDMAN
Email Archives
Print Reprint
August 23, 2004 -- EXCLUSIVE
A number of extremists with ties to the 1970s radical Weather Underground have recently been released from prison and are in New York preparing to wreak havoc during the Republican National Convention, The Post has learned.
A top-level source with extensive knowledge of police plans wouldn't disclose the names of the aging rabble-rousers but said a handful of them are already here and will play a behind-the-scenes role in attempting to disrupt the GOP gala.
"These people are trained in kidnapping techniques, bombmaking and building improvised munitions," the source said. "They've very bad people."
"They're not likely to take direct action," the source continued, "but they'll be orchestrating operations."
Originally called "The Weathermen," the anarchist organization came into existence in June 1969 as a radical splinter group of the Students for a Democratic Society.
During a two-year stretch, the group bombed a number of high-profile government buildings, primarily to protest the Vietnam War and racism in America.
While the group has been largely unheard from for more than 30 years, the release "over the last two years" of anarchists tied to the Underground — and their apparent willingness to return to their old ways — has the NYPD tracking their every move.
NYPD operatives spotted a few of the fanatics in Boston for the Democratic convention, but they are "saving themselves" for New York, the source said.
Despite the addition of the older anti-government zealots to the frightening possibility of Islamic militants and other domestic terrorists and anarchists — the source is confident the NYPD can keep the peace as the convention kicks off next week.
"This is the Super Bowl of police actions, and we're ready for it," the source said.
To prepare for any possible violent incident, the NYPD is employing aggressive airborne surveillance and elaborate undercover operations.
"There will be a constant eye in the sky," the source said, declining to give specifics, but adding that it "won't just be helicopters."
The NYPD is also tracking five extremist groups, according to a manual obtained by The Post titled "Executive Resource Handbook on Radical Groups."
Among the groups mentioned are the Earth Liberation Front, Refuse & Resist, and International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).
By STEFAN C. FRIEDMAN
Email Archives
Print Reprint
August 23, 2004 -- EXCLUSIVE
A number of extremists with ties to the 1970s radical Weather Underground have recently been released from prison and are in New York preparing to wreak havoc during the Republican National Convention, The Post has learned.
A top-level source with extensive knowledge of police plans wouldn't disclose the names of the aging rabble-rousers but said a handful of them are already here and will play a behind-the-scenes role in attempting to disrupt the GOP gala.
"These people are trained in kidnapping techniques, bombmaking and building improvised munitions," the source said. "They've very bad people."
"They're not likely to take direct action," the source continued, "but they'll be orchestrating operations."
Originally called "The Weathermen," the anarchist organization came into existence in June 1969 as a radical splinter group of the Students for a Democratic Society.
During a two-year stretch, the group bombed a number of high-profile government buildings, primarily to protest the Vietnam War and racism in America.
While the group has been largely unheard from for more than 30 years, the release "over the last two years" of anarchists tied to the Underground — and their apparent willingness to return to their old ways — has the NYPD tracking their every move.
NYPD operatives spotted a few of the fanatics in Boston for the Democratic convention, but they are "saving themselves" for New York, the source said.
Despite the addition of the older anti-government zealots to the frightening possibility of Islamic militants and other domestic terrorists and anarchists — the source is confident the NYPD can keep the peace as the convention kicks off next week.
"This is the Super Bowl of police actions, and we're ready for it," the source said.
To prepare for any possible violent incident, the NYPD is employing aggressive airborne surveillance and elaborate undercover operations.
"There will be a constant eye in the sky," the source said, declining to give specifics, but adding that it "won't just be helicopters."
The NYPD is also tracking five extremist groups, according to a manual obtained by The Post titled "Executive Resource Handbook on Radical Groups."
Among the groups mentioned are the Earth Liberation Front, Refuse & Resist, and International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).
For more information:
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/29...
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Sure they are. Tracking their every move. Uhh huh.
The obvious tactic is to overload the opposition with so much conflicting information that they will never sort it out.
None of which will include anything worth investigating although it might sound like it. Not. Or maybe not.
Those attempt to thwart the rule of law and the national precepts, as well as support the regime that has proven itself to be a rogue regime composed of "democratic" and "republican" politicians for a buck operating outside those laws domestic and foreign for the agenda interests (global hegemony) of their constituency, the criminal corporate oligarch, are anything but those who "preserve and protect".
They are seen for what they are, mercenaries for hire that are more interested in a paycheck than in protecting the rights of people and society against the lawless regime of corporate criminals and their judicial and executive stooges for hire.
That will make them designated enemy combatants to the precepts of the republic and as such targets of opportunity at will for those who so choose.
The obvious tactic is to overload the opposition with so much conflicting information that they will never sort it out.
None of which will include anything worth investigating although it might sound like it. Not. Or maybe not.
Those attempt to thwart the rule of law and the national precepts, as well as support the regime that has proven itself to be a rogue regime composed of "democratic" and "republican" politicians for a buck operating outside those laws domestic and foreign for the agenda interests (global hegemony) of their constituency, the criminal corporate oligarch, are anything but those who "preserve and protect".
They are seen for what they are, mercenaries for hire that are more interested in a paycheck than in protecting the rights of people and society against the lawless regime of corporate criminals and their judicial and executive stooges for hire.
That will make them designated enemy combatants to the precepts of the republic and as such targets of opportunity at will for those who so choose.
It has such great stories. I think they have a higher circulation than the New York Times, as well.
>Originally called "The Weathermen," the anarchist organization
“Anarchists”!?! Give me a break. The Weather Underground weren’t anarchists. Either they were bourgeois adventurists, posing as Marxists, or else they were puppets of the state. Either way, they accomplished nothing constructive. Terrorism serves only the interests of the ruling class. Real anarchists have eschewed terrorism for a century. We tried it. It didn’t work. It only made things worse. Real anarchists organize constructive projects at the grassroots level, and shun terrorists like the plague.
Rioting isn’t terrorism. But neither is it revolution. It occasionally has a place in the greater scheme of things, but seldom accomplishes anything but providing a chance to blow of steam. In the morning, it is over, except for the people in jail. Better we should use that steam to drive our turbines, instead of blowing it off, IMHO
Rioting in a minefield of surveillance cams, Face Recognition Software, and meta databases like PROMIS, is just plain stupid. The RNC is trap bait. Don’t fall for it. If you want to fight, then fight. But fight on ground of your own choosing. Fight on terrain where you have the advantage. Don’t fight in a mine field laid by your enemies. And above all, don’t concentrate your forces, especially out in the open where you can be encircled and trapped. Learn from last year’s Fiasco at Seventh St. Disperse, think like guerrillas, and survive to fight another day.
Remember what we’re fighting for. It isn’t the space between any city’s sidewalks, even NYC’s, but for the space between humanity’s ears. Anything we do in the streets must be done with that in mind.
And never forget the immortal words of baseball great Wee Willie Keeler, whose motto "Keep your eye clear, and hit 'em where they ain't" is still wise counsel for any underdog in a big man's world.
“Anarchists”!?! Give me a break. The Weather Underground weren’t anarchists. Either they were bourgeois adventurists, posing as Marxists, or else they were puppets of the state. Either way, they accomplished nothing constructive. Terrorism serves only the interests of the ruling class. Real anarchists have eschewed terrorism for a century. We tried it. It didn’t work. It only made things worse. Real anarchists organize constructive projects at the grassroots level, and shun terrorists like the plague.
Rioting isn’t terrorism. But neither is it revolution. It occasionally has a place in the greater scheme of things, but seldom accomplishes anything but providing a chance to blow of steam. In the morning, it is over, except for the people in jail. Better we should use that steam to drive our turbines, instead of blowing it off, IMHO
Rioting in a minefield of surveillance cams, Face Recognition Software, and meta databases like PROMIS, is just plain stupid. The RNC is trap bait. Don’t fall for it. If you want to fight, then fight. But fight on ground of your own choosing. Fight on terrain where you have the advantage. Don’t fight in a mine field laid by your enemies. And above all, don’t concentrate your forces, especially out in the open where you can be encircled and trapped. Learn from last year’s Fiasco at Seventh St. Disperse, think like guerrillas, and survive to fight another day.
Remember what we’re fighting for. It isn’t the space between any city’s sidewalks, even NYC’s, but for the space between humanity’s ears. Anything we do in the streets must be done with that in mind.
And never forget the immortal words of baseball great Wee Willie Keeler, whose motto "Keep your eye clear, and hit 'em where they ain't" is still wise counsel for any underdog in a big man's world.
New York Observer - August 25, 2004
Off the Record
by Tom Scocca
For readers whose life under Code Orange wasn't nerve-jangling
enough, this week the New York Post unveiled a whole new level of
pre-Republican National Convention terror: Code Gray. On Aug. 23,
under the Post's ever-more-must-read "Exclusive" badge, the paper
warned that "[a] number of extremists with ties to the 1970's radical
Weather Underground S<caron> are in New York preparing to wreak havoc" on
the convention.
Sure, the Vietnam War is being refought in the press, with Senator
John Kerry returning fire on his tormentors from Swift Boat Veterans
for Truth. Long-dormant battles are opening up in the culture wars.
Norman Mailer is in New York magazine, talking to his son John
Buffalo Mailer about the Movement.
But the Weathermen? In 2004?
Reporter Stefan C. Friedman, citing a single nameless source, wrote
that the danger stems from "the release 'over the last two years' of
anarchists tied to the Underground-and their apparent willingness to
return to their old ways." As the veteran radicals prepare for
"orchestrating operations," Mr. Friedman wrote, the NYPD is "tracking
their every move."
If the cops are back on the anti-radical beat, it's a covert
operation-a very, very covert operation. "Well, it was news to me,"
said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. " S<caron> I wasn't aware of any of the
information in that article."
There could be a few old radicals holding court with the younger
generation, Mr. Browne said, but the NYPD isn't tailing them. What
about the Post's "top-level source with extensive knowledge of police
plans"?
"There you go-an oxymoron right there," Mr. Browne said.
In a sidebar, the Post listed the Weather Underground's various
misdeeds-most recently, a trio of bombings in, um, 1971. The Post
also named "Some known leaders*" of the group.
"*The NYPD has not identified any of these former members as 'people
of interest,'" a footnote added in small type.
"Find out who the source is," said ex-Weatherman Brian Flanagan,
reached on the phone at his Upper West Side bar, the Night Cafe. Mr.
Flanagan, one of the figures named-but not accused!-in the Post, was
not in a mood to discuss the alleged Weather Underground revival any
further. "It's ridiculous," Mr. Flanagan added, ringing abruptly off.
A Post spokesperson said that the paper's informant was "a great
source," but declined to name or characterize the source in any way.
"We stand by the story," the spokesperson said. "It's a legitimate story."
It's "strange and made-up," said writer and activist Laura Whitehorn,
a Weather Underground member convicted of bombing the U.S. Capitol.
"And perhaps libelous," she added. Of the five people named in the
Post, Ms. Whitehorn said, "the only one who was in prison at all to
be released is me."
The number of Weather Underground members who fit the Post's
description-freed from prison in the last two years-is "less than a
handful," said Sam Green, director of the 2002 documentary The
Weather Underground. There are three or four of them at most, Mr.
Green estimates, and these days they're inclined to quietly follow
the terms of their parole.
"They're all women, and they're all very law-abiding," Mr. Green said.
Ms. Whitehorn was released in 1999, so she doesn't quite qualify as
one of the Post's "very bad people" who have been "trained in
kidnapping techniques, bombmaking, and building improvised
munitions." Still, is she planning to blow anything up next week?
"No, no," she said. "I think George Bush is doing a pretty good job
of that himself. He doesn't need any help."
The NYPD's Mr. Browne shared the estimation that the present-day
Weathermen are roughly as much of a menace to New York City as Al
Roker. When the department talks about people with a history of
disruption, he said, it means "history" in the sense of maybe 1999.
"The individuals S<caron> that we'd be concerned about tend to be younger
than that," Mr. Browne said.
That would mean the NYPD is ignoring the likes of the Symbionese
Liberation Army and the Black Panthers, too. That's not a problem,
right? The Black Panthers aren't coming to town?
"Why do I need to show up?" asked Panther co-founder Bobby Seale from
his home in Oakland, Calif. "I might write an editorial."
The veterans of the Black Panthers have moved on to other things, Mr.
Seale said: teaching, writing and sympathizing with the much younger
generation of protesters. And so have the Weathermen. "The Weather
Underground doesn't even exist," Mr. Seale said. "I would know. They
would call me."
But the Weather Underground is an effective symbol, said Jeremy
Varon, a professor of history at Drew University and author of
Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction,
and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies.
"They're anything from cause célèbre to bête noire," Mr. Varon said.
With the convention coming, Mr. Varon added, the invocation of the
Weathermen looks like "an effort to put the specter of violence out
there." Naming the Weathermen means "plucking out in the conservative
mind the worst of the worst of the worst."
As a practical matter, Mr. Varon said, the Post's vision of the
Weathermen as masterminds of unrest doesn't jibe with reality.
Younger generations have managed to protest on their own.
"Nobody needs the knowledge of the Weathermen," Mr. Varon said.
"They're not necessary as consultants."
Off the Record
by Tom Scocca
For readers whose life under Code Orange wasn't nerve-jangling
enough, this week the New York Post unveiled a whole new level of
pre-Republican National Convention terror: Code Gray. On Aug. 23,
under the Post's ever-more-must-read "Exclusive" badge, the paper
warned that "[a] number of extremists with ties to the 1970's radical
Weather Underground S<caron> are in New York preparing to wreak havoc" on
the convention.
Sure, the Vietnam War is being refought in the press, with Senator
John Kerry returning fire on his tormentors from Swift Boat Veterans
for Truth. Long-dormant battles are opening up in the culture wars.
Norman Mailer is in New York magazine, talking to his son John
Buffalo Mailer about the Movement.
But the Weathermen? In 2004?
Reporter Stefan C. Friedman, citing a single nameless source, wrote
that the danger stems from "the release 'over the last two years' of
anarchists tied to the Underground-and their apparent willingness to
return to their old ways." As the veteran radicals prepare for
"orchestrating operations," Mr. Friedman wrote, the NYPD is "tracking
their every move."
If the cops are back on the anti-radical beat, it's a covert
operation-a very, very covert operation. "Well, it was news to me,"
said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. " S<caron> I wasn't aware of any of the
information in that article."
There could be a few old radicals holding court with the younger
generation, Mr. Browne said, but the NYPD isn't tailing them. What
about the Post's "top-level source with extensive knowledge of police
plans"?
"There you go-an oxymoron right there," Mr. Browne said.
In a sidebar, the Post listed the Weather Underground's various
misdeeds-most recently, a trio of bombings in, um, 1971. The Post
also named "Some known leaders*" of the group.
"*The NYPD has not identified any of these former members as 'people
of interest,'" a footnote added in small type.
"Find out who the source is," said ex-Weatherman Brian Flanagan,
reached on the phone at his Upper West Side bar, the Night Cafe. Mr.
Flanagan, one of the figures named-but not accused!-in the Post, was
not in a mood to discuss the alleged Weather Underground revival any
further. "It's ridiculous," Mr. Flanagan added, ringing abruptly off.
A Post spokesperson said that the paper's informant was "a great
source," but declined to name or characterize the source in any way.
"We stand by the story," the spokesperson said. "It's a legitimate story."
It's "strange and made-up," said writer and activist Laura Whitehorn,
a Weather Underground member convicted of bombing the U.S. Capitol.
"And perhaps libelous," she added. Of the five people named in the
Post, Ms. Whitehorn said, "the only one who was in prison at all to
be released is me."
The number of Weather Underground members who fit the Post's
description-freed from prison in the last two years-is "less than a
handful," said Sam Green, director of the 2002 documentary The
Weather Underground. There are three or four of them at most, Mr.
Green estimates, and these days they're inclined to quietly follow
the terms of their parole.
"They're all women, and they're all very law-abiding," Mr. Green said.
Ms. Whitehorn was released in 1999, so she doesn't quite qualify as
one of the Post's "very bad people" who have been "trained in
kidnapping techniques, bombmaking, and building improvised
munitions." Still, is she planning to blow anything up next week?
"No, no," she said. "I think George Bush is doing a pretty good job
of that himself. He doesn't need any help."
The NYPD's Mr. Browne shared the estimation that the present-day
Weathermen are roughly as much of a menace to New York City as Al
Roker. When the department talks about people with a history of
disruption, he said, it means "history" in the sense of maybe 1999.
"The individuals S<caron> that we'd be concerned about tend to be younger
than that," Mr. Browne said.
That would mean the NYPD is ignoring the likes of the Symbionese
Liberation Army and the Black Panthers, too. That's not a problem,
right? The Black Panthers aren't coming to town?
"Why do I need to show up?" asked Panther co-founder Bobby Seale from
his home in Oakland, Calif. "I might write an editorial."
The veterans of the Black Panthers have moved on to other things, Mr.
Seale said: teaching, writing and sympathizing with the much younger
generation of protesters. And so have the Weathermen. "The Weather
Underground doesn't even exist," Mr. Seale said. "I would know. They
would call me."
But the Weather Underground is an effective symbol, said Jeremy
Varon, a professor of history at Drew University and author of
Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction,
and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies.
"They're anything from cause célèbre to bête noire," Mr. Varon said.
With the convention coming, Mr. Varon added, the invocation of the
Weathermen looks like "an effort to put the specter of violence out
there." Naming the Weathermen means "plucking out in the conservative
mind the worst of the worst of the worst."
As a practical matter, Mr. Varon said, the Post's vision of the
Weathermen as masterminds of unrest doesn't jibe with reality.
Younger generations have managed to protest on their own.
"Nobody needs the knowledge of the Weathermen," Mr. Varon said.
"They're not necessary as consultants."
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