Strategies Against State Repression
Comments Off on Strategies Against State RepressionThursday Night — 03.07.13 — Strategies Against State Repression
Contents:
1. About this Thursday Night
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1. About this Thursday Night
What: Discussion
When: Thursday March 7th 7:00pm
Where: 16 Beaver Street, 4th Floor
Who: Free and open to all
On September 11, 2001, two planes struck two towers in the Financial District of New York. And the president of the United States at the time stated:
“Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack . . . .
America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.”
In an address to congress some 9 days later, he would add:
“They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.”
These words have now become part of an infamous history. Because with that pretext of protecting people’s freedoms in the United States, a whole host of extra legal measures, surveillance, torture, kidnappings, black prisons, internment camps, targeted assassinations, wars of various sorts were executed over this last decade.
On September 17, 2011, nearly 10 years later, just across the street from where the two towers once stood, that very freedom, which was proclaimed “under attack”, was being reclaimed. But this freedom was not being reclaimed from those who planned the attacks nearly 10 years earlier. It was instead being reclaimed from the increasing corporate control over life and the state which facilitates it. Liberty Plaza was proclaimed occupied and all of the glory and sacrifice (i.e., austerity) bestowed by the press and politicians to the economic gods of Wall Street was called into question.
Of course, very few could have anticipated the course of events which would lead to Wall Street’s occupation, particularly the struggles transpiring in North Africa and across the Middle East; but many who struggled against the measures and organizations being instituted in the so-called war on terror, anticipated that they would one day be turned toward those struggling for freedom or justice within the United States.
This evening’s discussion is organized by friends of the space who are interested in bringing to light and openly discussing these matters of state and police repression in the context of contemporary political struggles. They write the following as introduction to the evening:
As the economy continues to stagnate and convulse, and inequality grows, revolt and the struggle for a different society intensifies. However the repressive apparatuses of the state also intensify and expand, cracking down even harder on those forces expressing dissent and attempting change.
Police, courts, and prisons are central tools of the state for preventing the creation of different forms of life, and in recent months, political repression has reached a new level: with protestors receiving terrorism charges, or being extradited internationally; federal grand juries imprisoning people in solitary confinement for refusing to collaborate with authorities; and the persecution of online whistleblowers for exposing the secrets of the powerful.
What can be done to resist the intimidation of this repressive system, to coordinate and mobilize within our existing networks, and to build new forms of solidarity strong enough to continue the struggles?
So please join, for an open participatory discussion with some activists who will talk about their own direct experiences and insights relating to raids on their homes and workplaces, grand jury subpoenas and resistance, and political prisoner support work. There will also be a discussion of some current cases of friends and comrades in need of our support, interest, care, and attention.
Repression is something that affects all of us, and the more that is known, the less it can have its intended effect of making everyone afraid, dispersed, isolated, withdrawn.
Free literature and materials will be available at the event, and
donations will be accepted, with all proceeds going to the grand jury resisters in the Pacific Northwest.
Committee Against Political Repression:
https://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/
Conspire to Resist: http://conspiretoresist.wordpress.com/
Free Jeremy Hammond: http://freehammond.com/
Free the Cleveland 4: http://www.cleveland4solidarity.org/
NYC Anarchist Black Cross: http://nycabc.wordpress.com/
Pacific Northwest Grand Jury Defiance: http://saynothing.noblogs.org/ 16 Beaver Group: https://16beavergroup.org/
Support Grand Jury Resisters: http://supportresist.net/
Support Joel Bitar: http://supportjoel.com/
Support Dane Rossman: http://supportdanerossman.blogspot.com/
Affect: http://year0.org/
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16 Beaver Group
16 Beaver Street, 4th fl.
New York, NY 10004
for directions/subscriptions/info visit:
http://www.16beavergroup.org
TRAINS:
4,5 — Bowling Green
2,3 — Wall Street
J,Z — Broad Street
R — Whitehall
1 — South Ferry