Masters of KKKop-Fu, Part 4: "A$$hats Of Repression."

"Dear Friends and Comrades of the Pacific Northwest,

It has sadly come to our attention that a coordinated Federal assault has been launched on political activities in the cities of Olympia, Portland and Seattle. We have learned that homes have been raided, grand jury subpoenas have been served and comrades are stalked day and night by the FBI and other agencies.

This statement is meant to convey our solidarity along lines of compassion as well as anger. While our support goes out to everyone affected by this new wave of Federal repression, we are not satisfied to respond in the usual means: to stand by idly, to gather commissary or shout outside the courthouse.

This attack goes deeper than the obligatory motions(all necessary) and requires an emotional response to their threat of removing our loved ones from our lives. The stakes are not simply political; this is an attack on our relationships, our friendships, our comrades' well-being as well as ours. To assume the threat of jail for silence will only affect those subpoenaed is a mistake.

Here in the Bay, we support each other in the process of non-compliance and offer this letter as a step in that direction for the NW as well. We refuse to act and organize as if this attack on our 'neighbors' is not an attack on us as well, and we mean to respond in kind.[Are there @ subpoenas? Cuz that would be cool.] We are inspired by the immediate acts of solidarity from the Midwest: the enactment of vengeance. Our hope is for the responses to spread.

As the Grand Jury in Seattle is set to convene on August 2nd, comrades here in the Bay have declared a commitment to consistent actions under the banner of solidarity with the Northwest. With this unified spirit of persistence and rage we will combat the harassment and attempted entrapment of comrades across the US. We are invested in "creating the conditions where an offensive can sustain itself without fading, of establishing the material solidarities that allow us to hold on." We will not comply. We will not collaborate. We will not desert each other. We will not sit back. We will not wait. With love and determination, from all of us in the Bay."

-Solidarity Statement from the Bay Area via anarchistnews.org.

"According to several accounts, on the morning of July 10, 2012, the Seattle Police SWAT team, armed with flash-bang grenades, tactical rifles, and a search warrant violently invaded an apartment at 5 in the morning where some Occupy Seattle activists live.

The SWAT team used a battering device to break down the door, awakening the residents, pointing firearms at them. Police put residents in zip ties for over an hour. The warrant the police used to justify this attack had authorized them to look for some unspecified “anarchist” materials. During this raid, police seized some leaflets, tore down a curtain, and destroyed a bookshelf. The police themselves conceded that the residents were “cooperative” with this so-called investigation and arrested no one. This raid appears to have no legitimate rationale in terms of law enforcement and reeks of political intimidation.

Many of the apartment residents are members of the “Red Spark Collective,” well-known as being supporters of and builders of Occupy Seattle, and also well-known as being an openly communist grouping, which is quite different from an anarchist grouping. They have not been accused of any illegal activities and appear to engage only in constitutionally-protected political and free-speech activities.

We in Occupy Tacoma condemn this police action and recognize it for what it is. In reality, this raid is nothing more than an attack on the entire Occupy movement, including Occupy Seattle and Occupy Tacoma. Moreover, it is an attack on the whole of the American 99%'s free speech and political advocacy rights. It is a crude attempt to frighten us away from exercising our rights of association and speech. Although many of us in Occupy Tacoma do not necessarily support the political program of the Red Spark Collective, we recognize them as being active builders of and a legitimate part of our Occupy movement.

Occupy Tacoma and the Occupy movement in general welcome all who support nonviolent direct and mass action to end the 1%'s political stranglehold of power over our lives. We welcome all who share our vision on an equal basis, including religious groups, secular groups, moderates, liberals, radicals, anarchists, communists, socialists, and even conservatives. We refuse to allow this type of intimidation to divide us. We understand that an attack on any of us is an attack on all of us.

Therefore Occupy Tacoma urges:

1.That the City of Seattle reimburse the apartment building owner and the residents of the apartment building for any material damages or other damages resulting from this raid and immediately return all seized property.

2.That the City of Seattle apologize to the Red Spark Collective, Occupy Seattle, and the Occupy movement as a whole for this appalling attack on our civil liberties.

3.That the City of Seattle cease and repudiate this kind of political intimidation under the pretext of law enforcement, and cancel all plans for similar activity—plans which the police themselves announced they likely would carry out in the near future.

Occupy Tacoma:

1. Calls on all supporters of free speech and assembly to join us in condemning this un-American action and demand that Seattle cancel any and all plans for any further attacks of a similar nature.

2. Occupy Tacoma calls on all city governments in our state, as well as citizen groups, to adopt similar resolutions, and demand the Seattle city authorities immediately cease these phony “investigations.”

3. We urge all concerned citizens to get in touch with Seattle authorities and voice their concerns.

The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair."

- OCCUPY TACOMA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE RIGHTS OF ASSEMBLY AND FREE SPEECH FOR OCCUPY SEATTLE AND RED SPARK COLLECTIVE.

H. L. Mencken; General Assembly of Occupy Tacoma, July 22, 2012.

"On July 26, 2012 at 1 PM activists near Burlington, VT received a knock at the door of their home from two FBI agents. The agents asked to speak with a member of the household who wasn't present. The person who answered the door, organizer and self-identified anarchist Jo Robin, a pseudonym, asked the agents why they were looking for her roommate.

While they initially declined to tell her, they ultimately said that they wanted to ask him questions about the Northeast Governors' Conference, to take place in Burlington over the July 28th weekend. Organizers from the northeast United States and Quebec have planned a convergence to coincide with the binational governors' meeting, the BTV Convergence.

Members of the FBI-targeted house near Burlington have been actively involved in planning the convergence, including Jo Robin. "I think it's highly inappropriate for the FBI to visit my home to ask my roommate about his political activity," said Robin. "That kind of intimidation intends to chill political speech. It isn't appropriate and I want the federal government to know that we are not intimidated." It's not the first time Robin has been approached by law enforcement to inquire about her First Amendment protected political activity.

While organizing in New York City she was repeatedly, informally interrogated by plainclothes NYPD officers about her protected speech and association. On more than one occasion, members of the NYPD legal office called Robin out by her legal name in public.

An NYU and Fordham University study released this week says that Robin is far from alone, reporting "evidence that police made violent late-night raids on peaceful encampments, obstructed independent legal monitors and [were] opaque about [their] policies."

Today's FBI visit to the activist house near Burlington in advance of the governors' conference follows a week of FBI raids on houses affiliated with anarchists in the northwest United States. Also this week, journalist and green activist Will Potter released documents showing that the FBI "is creating reports and maintaining files about the writing, interviews, and lectures of journalists who are critical of the government’s repression of political activists," including his own writing, which agents called "compelling and well written."

Remember: if the FBI asks to speak with you, you do not have to talk to them, no matter what they say. The best thing you can do is take the agent's card and say your lawyer will contact them. Say nothing else, because lying to a federal agent can get you in very serious trouble, and they'll figure out a way to make it look like you lied. Don't get caught in their vice; don't speak to them without your lawyer present. Ever."

- privacysos.org

Beats:

• "Gotta Understand" - Jurassic 5 (prod. by Bean One)
  
• "Never Been Any Reason" - Head East (God Dammified Remix)
  
• "Most High" - Gilbere Forte, ft. Droop-E and Casey Veggies. (prod. by Guido)

Slaps: 

• "Gotta Understand" - Jurassic 5 (prod. by Bean One)
  
• "Free Verse #4" - Juga Hill
  
• "Talk It Like You Walk It (Freestyle)" - Ill Camille
  
• "Dysfunctional" - Tech 9

Vocals:

• The Redemption of General Buttnaked.
  
• Police Terrorism in Dallas, TX.
  
• FBI Entrapment: How They Do It.
  
• More From The Children of Anaheim.
• William Blum: More History of the CIA.
  
• MORE...!