Category Archives: Internal Memos

John Timoney is dead. “The world has lost a great man and a law enforcement giant,” says the Police Chief of Ferguson, Missouri, who learned his trade under Timoney in Miami. Well, that’s one perspective. For myself and many others across the world, his death is a relief. It would have been better if he had never been born.

Timoney held positions in the upper echelon of the law enforcement world for nearly thirty years. He was First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, Police Commissioner of Philadelphia, Police Chief of Miami, and finally, private consultant to the kingdom of Bahrain. He played a major role in the repression of social movements in the United States during the summit protest era of the late nineties and early aughts, and a significant role in the suppression of the Arab Spring nearly ten years later. Those of us who were active in these movements came to know his methods well.

I am one of the countless people who suffered at the hands of John Timoney and the police he commanded. Although sixteen years have passed, I still prefer to tell this story anonymously.

Read on.

Today we take a break from our ongoing series about the anarchist critique of democracy to observe an annual day of action, Steal Something from Work Day.

Today is April 15—in the US, the day that taxes are usually due to the federal government. Ironically, this time tax day has been moved back to Monday so the IRS can celebrate Emancipation Day—which the rest of us have no opportunity to celebrate, chained as we are to the grindstone. Slavery has been abolished, but wage slavery persists.

The government steals a part of our labor in the form of taxes. Our employers steal a part of our labor in the form of profit. And the necessity of working steals our lives, one day after another—it steals us from each other, forcing us to toil to keep the bills paid rather than being creative together or spending time with our children.

We can build towards a worldwide movement to abolish the imposed scarcities and controls that force this situation on us. But in the meantime, we have to be pragmatic, to do the best we can with the opportunities available to us. That’s why people all around the world celebrate April 15 as Steal Something from Work Day.

For this year’s heartening account of workplace theft and a selection of Steal Something from Work Day resources, read on.

To warm the hearts of children and enivironmentalists everywhere, we present an imposed pdf of our children’s book, The Secret World of Terijian, ready for grassroots printing and distribution. The Secret World of Terijian tells the story of two children who set out to defend the wilderness in their back yards, and the comrades they meet along the way.

The best review of The Secret World of Terijian is still probably the one penned by Kirk Engdall, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, in his response to Daniel McGowan‘s Motion for Amended Judgment: “The story line of this children’s book romanticizes the criminal activities of the Earth Liberation Front and encourages children to become involved in similar criminal conduct…” We hope this zine version will be useful to everyone who is organizing events for the June 11 day of solidarity with Marius Mason and all long-term anarchist prisoners. Print some copies to raise donations for Marius and everyone else behind bars in the struggle for a better world.

Imposed PDFs for print reproduction (4.7MB): B&W : Color

Standard PDF for reading on screens (2.2MB)

This is at least the fifth edition of The Secret World of Terijian since it appeared a decade ago. It features the illustrations by Ingi Jensson that were originally published in the Icelandic translation, Hulduheimur Heiðarlands, in 2010. The photo above shows the Slovakian version, published earlier this year.

On April 17, a CrimethInc. agent will present at the Base in New York City about To Change Everything, exploring its most provocative themes and tying it into struggles taking place around the world. The next day, on April 18, we will table at the New York City Anarchist Book Fair. The following weekend, on April 25, we will be tabling for our fifteenth consecutive year at the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair in Oakland. Come to any of these events for a heaping helping of free anarchist literature.

After eleven years in service with nearly half a million copies deployed by CrimethInc. agents around the world, we are sad to announce the retiring of our This Phone is Tapped stickers. Sad, because we had hoped to retire them after defeating the rule of ubiquitous surveillance on every form of remote communication, but unfortunately the only thing that has been defeated are payphones. As payphones have disappeared, so has demand for these stickers and as we sent out the last copies this week, we decided not to reprint them—partly because we have a more than capable replacement already in action.

Thanks to everyone who helped cover payphones across the globe over the last decade, as well as achieving placement on the Wikipedia Phone Tapping page and helping out hapless blog editors forced to find images to go with unending stories of mass surveillance.

Read hilarious threats from payphone owners after the break.

We are elated to announce that in just a couple short weeks we’ll be shipping out Rolling Thunder #11 to subscribers—we received the unbound, printed samples last week (pictured above) and they were absolutely perfect. Issue #11 begins what we consider to be the second series of Rolling Thunder and we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the small improvements we’ve made.

Rolling Thunder subscribers: If you have moved, now is the time to send us your new address, if you haven’t already; shoot an email to rtsubs@crimethinc.com with your new address and we’ll take care of it. Also, if you are a subscriber and didn’t get our new issue notification email two weeks ago, it means either your email service marked it as spam, or the email address we have on record for you is no longer valid—if the later is the case, drop us a line and lets us know your preferred contact email. Our most sincere thanks for subscribing, it’s what makes Rolling Thunder possible.

If you are NOT a Rolling Thunder subscriber: Now is a great time to subscribe—you’ll be sent the new issue the second it’s available (and weeks before it’s available to non-subscribers), and it’ll save you a ton of money (see below) compared to buying the issues one at a time. Subscriptions are essential to Rolling Thunder’s continued survival; if you believe Rolling Thunder to be a project worth supporting, please subscribe.

Subscription Cost Per Issue vs. Single Issue Cost:

• In the US, to order a single issue costs $11.37 ($8 + $3.37 Media Mail Shipping), versus subscribing which costs just $25 total for four issues ($6.25 per issue).
• Outside the US, to order a single issue costs $32 ($8 + $24 Global Priority Mail), versus subscribing which costs just $35 total for four issues ($8.75 per issue).

For us, this week started with a flurry of bulk book orders from people getting them as gifts for the holiday. It reminded us that outreach takes many forms—and giving books to close friends and family might be one of the most efficient and effective methods there is. Reflecting on it, we decided to try a little experiment this year: our first ever sale, with books 27%-50% off.

We’ve made three simple gift packs designed for different types of recipients: Contradictionary, our most broadly appealing book, suitable for everyone, but an especially delightful Trojan horse for fans of the printed word; Work, an excellent introduction to anti-capitalist ideas for curious folks questioning the forces that shape our world; and Rolling Thunder, perfect for immersing radicals and free-thinkers alike in the contemporary anarchist milieu, providing an excellent base from which to begin exploring real-world projects and actions.

So, if you find yourself caving to the gift-giving pressures of this time of year, or you simply want to share the ideas that are important to you with the people who matter most in your life, these could be a great place to start:

Contradictionary: 5 copies for $20, 27% off regular wholesale price. All five books come with special release bookmark and pencil (usually limited to one per order). Add Contradictionary Gift Pack to cart.

Work: 3 copies for $15, 50% off regular price. All three books come with a copy of the bulk capitalist pyramid poster (usually just one per order). Add Work Gift Pack to cart.

Rolling Thunder Bundle: 3 bundles for $15, 35% off regular price. Each bundle contains the 3 most recent issues of Rolling Thunder (#10, #9, #8); well over 300 pages per bundle. Add Rolling Thunder Bundle Gift Pack to cart.

Each pack comes with 10 PRISM stickers (which make excellent stocking stuffers), and are limited to three of each pack per person. Sale ends January 1st.

More photos after the jump.

To accompany our in-depth interview on the history and context of Israeli anarchism, here are some of the CrimethInc. materials that have appeared in Hebrew, including translations of Dear Occupiers and Eight Simple Steps towards Revolution. A full translation of Fighting for Our Lives is available at mevakerhamedina.blogspot.com along with other texts.

PDFs and photos after the jump.

Putting the “latest” in “latest episode,” we present the fifth installment of our bimonthly podcast, wherein we turn our attention to police and the systematic violence they incarnate. Kristian Williams, author of Our Enemies in Blue, joins us to discuss the development of police tactics since 1968; other special guests include members of East Atlanta Copwatch and a comrade from Çarşı, a Turkish football-ultra group holding it down at Gezi Park in İstanbul. All this is filled out with news from around the world, and a review of “To the Indomitable Hearts: The Prison Letters of Luciano ‘Tortuga’ Pitronello.”

Download the episode or stream it online or read the full transcript. You can also subscribe in iTunes here or add the feed URL to your podcast player of choice. Rate us on iTunes and let us know what you think, or email us at podcast@crimethinc.com. Episodes appear on the first and third Sunday of every month. No, really.

Hot on the heels of sending out the last copy of #6, we are now finally out of Rolling Thunder #7 as well. As a result, we’ve made the complete PDF of the issue available for free download. Packed more densely than any to that point, our seventh issue strained at it’s 114-page limit:

Anarchists coordinated mass mobilizations against the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, provoking major clashes; the global economy collapsed; Greece experienced an anarchist-organized insurrection in response to a police murder; and at the beginning of 2009, Oakland was shaken by similar unrest. Our coverage pushes beyond the surface of events to offer insight into the organizing structures and historical background, fleshing out timelines and analyses with personal narratives and cutting-edge cartography. In addition to all this, the issue includes an exploration of the relationship between the punk subculture and the anarchist movement, complemented by interviews with bands and collectives from beyond the white punk ghetto, and ends with a primer on small-town organizing using Winona, Minnesota as a case study.

We’ve reduced the price to just $8 for our Rolling Thunder Bundle bundle containing issues #8 – #10. And, don’t forget, you can subscribe to Rolling Thunder to get future issues hot off the press, while also supporting the project and ensuring the journal’s continued existence. Our current plan is to release issue #11 this fall.

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