Josh Wolf interviewed by Amy Goodman - April 4th

Josh, your video was shown on the corporate news and published here on Indybay.org before it was posted on your blog. Why do I keep hearing, including in this interview on DM!, that you first published the video to your blog? A lot of us remember that night well.

While your point about the continuously inaccurate statements regarding the original edited protest video and where is was first posted/broadcast is well taken, in this interview when Josh refers to a video being first published on his blog he is referring to the UNedited version that just came out yesterday, where it did actually appear first on his blog, if not at the same time a CD/DVD of the footage was delivered to the local US Attorney.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And then, in terms of the actual agreement, what happened to the video then?

JOSH WOLF: The video was first published on my website, and then, sometime after that, we filed a motion for my release along with a declaration, and the declaration contained a DVD with the same material that was posted on the website.

This statement proves that there was near zero (zip zilch nada, etc..) justification by the GW Bush regime's Homeland Security & overall police state tactics for the almost year long incarceration of photojournalist Josh Wolf. There was never any fire, and an arson attempt of a police car by a flare (not really firecracker, no TNT, etc..) the thrown flare wasn't going to actually ignite the metal and glass hull of a police car?? The tires catch from a flare? Again, highly improbable concept. There's something called physics that police statists should learn about when making false accusations..

excerpt;

"AMY GOODMAN: And what were those two questions?

JOSH WOLF: They're covered in the declaration itself. One is “Can I identify the person who Officer Shields was chasing?” which I have no idea who that was. And the second question was, “Did I witness the incident of the alleged attempted arson on the police car, the ‘throwing the firecracker’ or something of that nature?”

AMY GOODMAN: And what did you respond to that?

JOSH WOLF: That, again, I was filming his -- Officer Shields’s partner during the time that that allegedly occurred, so it would have been impossible for me to see that happen, and my unpublished material demonstrates that."

entire article @;
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/04/1343227

The key term being "alleged attempted arson", the actual arson itself was never begun let alone completed, the police vehicle never ignited, etc.. The primary point being the flare itself wasn't capable of igniting metal and glass of the police vehicle, so even the term "attempted" doesn't apply, as in not physically possible in physical reality..

Then it comes down to a broken taillight that occurred sometime during the protest though Josh Wolf didn't exactly record this either. Why bother detaining somebody (at taxpayer expense) when they haven't much of a clue about their comrades anyway. In some strange way this is like the illegal detentions by GW Bush regime of prisoners at Abu-Graib and Guantanamo, mostly lower level soldiers (previously rural farmers, goatherders, etc..) who may have been coerced into training by CIA sponsored Al-Queda and don't know anyone besides the sargent who facilitated the trainings. Protests at anti-war and anti-globalization events are usually anonymous in nature as there is not any heirarchy, a benefit of the anarchist movement..

We call for the immediate release of all Guantanamo detainees byt he GW Bush regime, SHUT DOWN Guantanamo prison!!

Hanging out with comrades for a few beers after protests and working side by side with them on media and newsletters does increase some familiarity, though often through various nicknames & identities as we can't be that trusting of the system to reveal identities. This results in photojournalists being singled out by HS/FBI/CIA/etc.. for prison time as windows into the movement, data collection for Homeland Security CIA/FBI/etc... computer files, etc. Creating a culture of BOTH fear and surveillence, spying on citizens is the mechanism the GW Bush regime uses to maintain their media war of deceit upon the peoples of the Americas, including US peoples..

This isn't about a broken police taillight or a false filed claim of an injured police officer. The SFPD enjoys certain freedoms (again at taxpayer expense under guise of Homeland Security, Patriot Act, etc..) in demolishing their own equipment in a pretend 'bomb scares' (just like FBI 'bomb school' in Humboldt County before unknown assailants bombed the car driven by Judi Bari & Darryl Cheney from EF!) , so the coverage for a broken SFPD tail light could have amounted to a bill for 100.00 or so, not a year in prison, court time/costs, etc..

So we're justifing the 9 months of incarceration of Josh Wolf over a broken tail light on a police cruiser?? No wonder the rest of the world is aware of the growing fascist menace under the GW Bush regime..

Maybe that drunk driver on the way home from the coffee and donuts factory broke the tail light?? Billed to the freedom of Josh Wolf as activists are scapegoated??

This false incarceration of Josh Wolf was clearly an attempt by the GW Bush regime to create a climate of fear and repression amongst the activist community, specifically targeting anarchists. Then there's that assault committed at the G8 jail release party in Berkeley where front line anarchist 'twice' suffered a broken jaw and teeth following a vicious attack by a gang of thugs who were told to "go home" by arriving Berkeley PD who then proceeded to threaten the jail release party house with a noise violation while our comrade was denied any help with transport to the emergency room by Berkeley police..

As a witness to the attack i am ashamed to admit that i stood aside like a coward while our friend was beaten by thugs. However it appeared that he was singled out for being the strongest and most vocal among the group against police state oppression of activists during the several days of protests..

The assault was dismissed by police on the scene as random gang violence, though if some desperate thugs were quietly slipped some cash by undercover police and shown a photo of the person targeted, they wouldn't be asking any questions. In these police state mechanisms the culture of oppression against activists is maintained both above and below the visible surface..

We may never prove that this assault on an anarchist was a deliberite attack on the anarchist community as a whole by singling out our friend, though the same mechanism of violent oppression happens to activists throughout the world, so why would the bay area be any different??

An international War Crime trial needed for the GW Bush regime for illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq and the ongoing oppression of peoples throughout the Americas via Homeland Security/Patriot Act/illegal detentions and surviellence of ALL activists, including excess oppression of anarchists, ecodefenders and anti-war activists throughout the US and the Americas..


love, peace and justice,

moth