Man charged for vandalism of recruiting stations

Authored by: seanmcg on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 09:18 AM UTC

are you kidding me!, 10 years in prison?, $250,000 fine?, that's insane!. I live in Scotland and i was caught for smashing the window of a court, it must have cost at least

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Authored by: Admin on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 09:56 AM UTC

Well, if this guy spends a day in jail, I suspect that many more windows will be broken around the country. That will be the best response, to show the state that we won't be intimidated by these draconian punishments.

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Authored by: D. Umpster on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 01:57 PM UTC

This is why I think that the climate of repression in this country more resembles Russia than any Western European country here in NYC it's a huge fucking deal if we can have a demonstration that marches or is in the street without a permit, just as it is in Moscow. Here they may even arrest you for riding your bike as part of critical mass if you don't have a permit with a specified route on it. Besides that there are hundreds of political prisoners in this country and anarchists have been doing serious time for more and more bullshit in the past few years.

*Rob Thaxton served 7 years for throwing one rock at the police at a demonstration.

*The SHAC 7 - Six people are serving an aggregate of 24 years in prison, and were ordered to pay a joint restitution of $1,000,001.00, for running a website or working with people who did. The website advocated that people send "black faxes" to companies in order to harass and pressure them to not do business with an animal testing company.

*Jeff Luers is serving 22 years 8 months for damaging 3 SUVs with firebombs in a statement against global warming (the SUVs were later repaired and sold.)

*Benjamin Persky served 2 years for breaking windows at animal rights demonstrations. Two of his co-defendants broke fewer windows and served a year.

*Brendan Walsh is serving 5 years for breaking a window and trying and failing to set a recruitment center on fire with a molotov.

*Eric McDavid has been imprisoned for almost 15 months and faces 20 years not for doing anything but for agreeing to sabotage something with an FBI provocateur.

*Sherman Austin served a year in prison for running a website that linked to a page that had information about bombs. He worked out a plea deal after being threatened with a "terrorism enhancement" that could under the USA PATRIOT Act add an additional to 20 years to his sentence if convicted.

*Lasandra Burwell, a mother of 9, is serving 5 years for throwing bricks at riot police and breaking a police cars windshield at an anti-Nazi demonstration. She is .

*Chris McIntosh is serving 8 years in prison for about $5,000 worth of damage to a McDonald's outlet.

Unfortunately I could go on but I'll stop there.

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Authored by: Admin on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 07:03 PM UTC

The level of repression in this country is no greater than it was in the 1990s or the 1970s. If anything, we have more freedom to dissent now than our comrades did in the 60s and 70s. Back then the cops were killing dissidents. These days the cops get rough, then they lose millions in court cases.

The courts and the authorities will get away with repressing a few individuals more if we aren't collectively protesting and increasing the size of protests. The police are helpless when they are outnumbered, which is the one lesson that radicals should have learned from Seattle, but obviously didn't.

We need to organize, build more organizations, and get in the face of the authorities and the ruling class.

Chuck

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Authored by: Al Ligator on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 07:33 PM UTC

I agree with all of that other than I don't see what good "building more organizations" would accomplish. This country has tons of organizations, I would argue that it is the TACTICS that needs to be improved. If you want to build more organizations fine, perhaps it may help, but maybe we need more actions than groups.

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Authored by: finne on Sunday, May 13 2007 @ 01:28 AM UTC

"These days the cops get rough, then they lose millions in court cases."

And everyone's well-justified rage at police violence is placated because the system is "working the problems out" - thus arguing about comparative levels of violence sort of obscures the fact that the violence is still there, and that most of the information most people are getting about that same state violence comes from a media apparatus that is sympathetic to it.

Building anarchist organizations is absolutely crucial, but so is a visible and relentless attack on the organs of power. We can't let the necessity of organizing become an excuse to at least advocate violent action, and we can't let discussions of tactics devolve into everybody feeling all wounded and asking the people who remind us of the necessity of sabotage and confrontation "what they have done", calling each other sarcastic names like "self-appointed guerilla", as so many anarchist dialogues have.

The fact is we need to start calling for constant action. Every broken window is a victory we must replicate and surpass. We can't wait for "the people" to "become ripe for revolution", like the fucking RCP. A lot of people enter into "critiques" of little false perspectives like "insurrectionary anarchism", as if every single anarchist wasn't at some level also an insurrectionist, and use their supposedly "mature" or "pragmatic" sensibilities to assuage their own guilt at not being able to go out and actually destroy the infrastructure (and symbolic order) of capital. It's true that people used to get killed by the cops - but they also sometimes used to kill cops back. Now we get killed less, but disarmed and silenced more, and never kill anyone. If I didn't want to believe otherwise, I would say that unless we all begin to stop being afraid to advocate constant, unmediated confrontation with the state, the cops and their bosses are going to win.

We do need to keep talking and building, but we also have to remember that every word and every action has to be part of our war on the state, on capital, our war whose stakes surpass anything our enemies can offer us if only we surrender, our war for a kind of liberation that horizontal organizing, cooperative economics, and alternative media activism are an important part of but can't achieve without joyous militancy.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 04:20 PM UTC

I also think that one big thing this movement (in america) can do is solidarity actions, and fucking go nuts with them as well! I think it would:
1. boost morale big time!
2. get attention again (hey, all that ruckus in seattle WORKED)
3. it could start linking different struggles together if done right
4. change the climate of fear & paralysis to a climate of confrontation once again
5. would ultimately inspire others to raise hell
I really think that that is what can give this movement here a big kickstart again, pump new life into it, and make it a threat again.

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Authored by: Pomegranate on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 11:56 PM UTC

in the U.S. a crime against property such as vandalism is the most serious of offenses.


---

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

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Authored by: unclescams on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 08:03 PM UTC

I am the person that has been charged. I appreciate the comments, sharing of ideas, and support.

If you are interested, check out my music:

www.myspace.com/unclescams (anarchist hip-hop)

www.myspace.com/deadmillionaires (electronipunk)

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Authored by: D. Umpster on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 08:08 PM UTC

I don't see any evidence that the level of repression has lessened since the 70's or the 90's. In my opinion the climate of fear and repression has grown more intense. I hesitate to say this because the last thing I want to do is contribute to that or discourage people from taking action.

Yes the police straight up murdered Fred Hampton, George Jackson and a bunch of other Panther brothers in the 60's and 70's and there were shooting incidents on college campuses but that kind of extra legal repression isn't happening today, because COINTELPRO was successful and police by and large don't need to resort to extra legal murderous tactics to suppress resistance nowadays. Today the police have a lot more money and high-tech tools to monitor and disrupt radical activities. Just look at how many old cases were reopened following September 11th. Not only did the FBI and police invest an enormous amount of time and energy in solving a bunch of old ELF cases, they also resumed a decades old frame-up of former Panthers and other activists who are now awaiting trial in San Fransisco. In addition they set into motion the Sacramento case (Eric McDavid) and who knows how many others we may never hear about.

Not only are there numerous indictments against activists but because of the USA PATRIOT Act people are facing decades more in jail. Just look at the numbers and consider race too (because across the board people of color get longer sentences especially radicals.) How many white revolutionaries from the 60's or 70's a still in prison? If they are it's probably because they joined the Black Liberation Army like David Gilbert, but people like Karl Armstrong who actually killed someone when he bombed the Army Math building in Madison served only 7 years. Compare that sentence to Jeff Luers' or Rob Thaxton's. Now everyone who attends a protest is likely to be labeled a terrorist.

I think it's important to be realistic about the climate of repression in this country and not get hung up on that fact that protests here don't look like the ones in Athens or Berlin and it's not just because the cops have guns it's also because the judges have terrorism enhancement guidelines.

I am not sure how but we need to fight back. People need to stop thinking of anarchy as a fashion or social scene and really commit to starting some shit.

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Authored by: anarkid on Friday, May 11 2007 @ 09:22 PM UTC

Comrade,
Please let us know what can be done to support you. We are more than willing to assist however possible.
Solidarity.
-Also, you are quite well spoken in those videos on your myspace page.

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Authored by: unclescams on Saturday, May 12 2007 @ 01:24 AM UTC

Thank you kindly for the support and compliments. Right now, it doesn't seem that much can be done support wise. I have a fairly dedicated friend base to help out with immediate emotional and social needs, and nothing financial is needed at the moment. I have contaced the NLG with no luck of a response as of yet, but i will be represented by a Federal Defender at my arraignment.

Hearing compliments and support like this is overwhelmingly meaningful, and i hope to continue to receive it for morale, and i wish to let you and everyone in the struggle know that i support them and their efforts as well.

My page will be updated with further info about future events and opportunity to offer support.

Thanks again.

-scams

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