FBI raids homes of Occupy protesters in Oregon and Washington

By Tom Carter
 
August 14, 2012 "Information Clearing House" --  Over the last month, heavily armed “domestic terrorism” units of the FBI used battering rams and stun grenades to conduct early-morning raids on the homes of political protesters in Seattle and Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. On July 25, three homes were raided in Portland alone and, since July 10, as many as six homes have been raided.

These raids are only the latest in an emerging pattern of similar raids conducted by the Obama administration in order to terrorize, suppress and chill political dissent, in flagrant violation of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

“The warrants are sealed,” FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele told the Oregonian newspaper, “and I anticipate they will remain sealed.” Steele described the raids as part of an “ongoing violent crime” investigation, which is related to the recent Occupy May Day protests, during which a number of minor acts of vandalism allegedly took place.

At 6:00 a.m. on July 25, Dennison Williams was asleep in his Portland home when FBI agents smashed down his door without warning with a battering ram and threw flash or stun grenades into the building. FBI agents armed with assault rifles then stormed into Williams’ bedroom, pointed their rifles at him while they handcuffed him, and forced him to sit in a chair for a half an hour without pants on while they searched his apartment.

Williams, a 33-year-old self-described anarchist who helped run an information booth at recent protests and events, reported that FBI agents boxed up and removed his laptop computer, political literature, his cell phone, thumb drives, and various pieces of clothing bearing political slogans.

Neighbors described yelling and multiple loud bangs and saw swarms of agents in body armor using a battering ram against the front door of Williams’ home. Similarly disproportionate displays of force and violence were involved in the other raids.

According to the Oregonian, a search warrant was left behind during one of the raids (available here). The warrant indicates that the agents were seeking, among other items, “anti-government or anarchist literature or material” and “documentation and communications related to the offenses, including but not limited to notes, diagrams, letters, diary and journal entries, address books, and other documentation in written or electronic form.”

In one of the raids, eyewitnesses reported as many as 80 agents in body armor, wearing military fatigues, and armed with assault rifles participating in the raid. No arrests were made in any of the raids, but as many as six protesters have been subpoenaed to appear before grand juries.

Two of the subpoenaed protesters, Williams and Leah Plante, 24, read a statement outside the courthouse on August 1: “This grand jury is a tool of political repression. It is attempting to turn individuals against each other by coercing those subpoenaed to testify against their communities. The secret nature of grand jury proceedings creates mistrust and can undermine solidarity. And imprisoning us takes us from our loved ones and our responsibilities.”

Williams and Plante declared their intentions to refuse to answer questions on the basis of their constitutional rights.

The “Pure Pop” record store, where Ms. Plante worked, issued a statement on its web site: “We at Pure Pop are unaware of the specifics of Leah’s current legal troubles but in her time at Pure Pop Records she demonstrated high character and integrity. We wish her luck, safety and perseverance.”

While the World Socialist Web Site has fundamental political differences with the various anarchist elements active in the Occupy protests, we unreservedly defend the democratic rights of these groups and individuals, and we demand an end to the campaign of intimidation and repression against them.

This is not the first of such raids that has been carried out by the Obama administration. In September 2010, the administration ordered raids on the homes of leaders of the Anti-War Committee (AWC) and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) in Minneapolis and Chicago, and subpoenaed 23 people to testify before grand juries.

The Minneapolis and Chicago raids were similar in form to the recent raids in Oregon and Washington: doors smashed in without warning by agents with assault rifles and body armor, inhabitants terrorized, and property scooped up and confiscated. The Obama administration justified raids using the “material support for terrorism” provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.

In the period leading up to the recent NATO protests in Chicago in May, similar trumped-up “terror” charges were leveled against three young anti-war protesters. Also in May, five young men described as “anarchists” were ensnared in a so-called “terrorist plot” in Cleveland, Ohio.

The question arises whether the recent FBI raids in Oregon and Washington were prepared by undercover police infiltration of groups around the Occupy May Day protests earlier in the year. In the cases of the Minneapolis and Chicago raids in 2010, at least one undercover FBI spy active in preparing the raids was subsequently exposed. (See “FBI infiltrator prepared government raid on antiwar groups in Minneapolis and Chicago”) The “terror plots” in Chicago and Cleveland also involved undercover provocateurs, who convinced the protesters to carry out the plot and even supplied them with dummy equipment to carry it out. (See “Chicago police frame antiwar activists on ‘terrorism’ charges” and “FBI provocateur ensnares Cleveland protesters in ‘bomb plot’”)

The gravity and seriousness of the Obama administration’s issuance of warrants to search homes for “anti-government literature or material” cannot be understated. It suggests that possession of such literature is now being considered evidence of criminal activity or “terrorism.”

The Obama administration’s decision to target political protesters for “anti-terror” operations signals that the police-state measures implemented in the so-called “war on terror,” ostensibly to fight Al Qaeda, are actually being utilized against domestic political dissenters, labeled “terrorists.” In the years since the launch of the endless so-called “war on terror,” all legal restraints have been removed on what can be done to someone labeled a “terrorist.” The Obama administration has openly asserted the power to unilaterally assassinate such individuals.

The American ruling class knows that its policies of brutal austerity, unending attacks on wages and living standards, and continual wars and occupations abroad will eventually encounter popular resistance. But the ruling class is determined to continue to pile up fantastic fortunes at the expense of the rest of society no matter the cost. As far as this layer is concerned, no form of political repression is too abominable to be used to protect the privileges and obscene wealth of the tiny few at the top.

For Obama (advertised as a “constitutional lawyer”) and the rest of his regime, elementary, centuries-old democratic protections—such as the First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures—count for nothing. With the unconditional backing of the ruling class, the Obama government routinely imprisons, tortures, and murders its opponents abroad; asserts the unlimited power to do the same to US citizens; and conducts illegal warrantless spying against millions of ordinary Americans on a daily basis.

The ramped-up raids on the homes of Occupy protesters are further refutation of the conception, advanced during the Occupy protests, that the Obama administration and the Democratic Party can be “pressured” by popular demonstrations into reversing their policies. The response of the ruling class and both of its political parties to popular demonstrations is not reform, but dictatorship and repression.

This article was originally published at WSWS

FBI and JTTF Raid Multiple Homes, Grand Jury Subpoenas in Portland, Olympia, Seattle

by Will Potter on July 25, 2012 Green is the New Red

As I’ve been reporting on Twitter, there have been multiple homes
raided and grand jury subpoenas issued in Portland, Olympia, and
Seattle.

Three homes were raided in Portland, by approximately 60-80 police
including FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force. Individuals at the homes
say police used flash grenades during the raid.

Grand jury subpoenas have been served to individuals in all three
cities: 2 in Olympia, 1 in Seattle, and 2 in Portland. The grand jury is
scheduled to convene on August 2nd at the federal courthouse in Seattle.

No arrests have been made. Electronics were confiscated along with
additional personal items.

All legal documents related to the searches and grand jury are sealed,
but based on interviews with residents, and what police told them at the
scene, this is clearly related to the ongoing demonization of anarchists
and the Occupy movement.

I’ll continue updating as this develops; please follow me on Twitter,
will_potter, for the latest.

UPDATE: Here’s local press from the Oregonian:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/07/fbi_raids_three_homes_in_north.html

Olympia WA: Capitol protests take a big toll

BY JORDAN SCHRADER and BRAD SHANNON | November 29, 2011 The Olympian

The toll in the first two days of the Legislature’s emergency budget session:

Six troopers and one state employee hurt in scuffles with protesters.
Fifteen arrests, and at least six demonstrators hit with shocks from
troopers’ stun guns.
$12,000 in overtime costs for troopers on Monday alone and $8,200 for
their first-day travel to Olympia.
Two hearings on the budget that were held up by demonstrators.
Two votes taken on legislation – neither of them on the state budget
that has brought lawmakers to Olympia to fix a $2 billion problem.

Demonstrators demand the gap be bridged in part with tax increases, not
just with cuts to social services, schools and the like. The State Patrol
says most have expressed those sentiments peacefully. But there have been
confrontations with a few in the Occupy movement.

Of 11 people arrested Tuesday, six are accused of disorderly conduct, most
for disrupting a budget hearing.

Committee chairman Sen. Ed Murray temporarily halted the proceedings. “I’m
actually sympathetic to the point they are making, but we have to have a
civil dialogue,” said the Seattle Democrat. It was “a little tough today”
to have a civil dialogue.

Five more were arrested for allegedly returning to the Capitol Campus
after receiving no-trespass warnings. Troopers handed out the warnings
Monday to 30 demonstrators who refused to leave the Legislative Building
after it closed for the night. On Tuesday, the building was emptied
without incident.

Mark Taylor-Canfield doesn’t intend to let the no-trespass order he
received stop him from returning. The Occupy Seattle activist said he
doesn’t believe the 30-day ban is legal.

“I’m going to have to call their bluff,” said Taylor-Canfield, who also is
reporting on the movement as a freelance writer. “If I committed a crime,
then arrest me and charge me.”

Among those arrested Monday were three alleged to have committed assault
as they tried to push their way into the closed Legislative Building. The
patrol said two troopers were bitten and four suffered bumps and bruises,
but Lt. Mark Arras said all returned to work Tuesday.

A Department of Enterprise Services worker’s ribs were bruised and his
face was injured. The injuries kept the man away from work Tuesday.

During the same scuffle, a trooper shocked three demonstrators by touching
them with the end of his stun gun. Later Monday evening, as protesters
tried to block a bus hauling arrested suspects to the Thurston County
jail, stun guns were deployed again.

Sgt. J.J. Gundermann said the weapons were used not to disperse the crowd
of perhaps 75 protesters blocking the bus, but only on those who resisted.

“They were definitely pushing and shoving us,” Gundermann said.

A judge set bail Tuesday afternoon for the assault suspects, one of whom
is identified in court as a 26-year-old veteran and Occupy Tacoma
participant. Two of the three were ordered held in jail; the third was
released on his recognizance.

Occupy the Capitol protesters felt troopers used “excessive force”, said
Taylor-Canfield. He said he talked to one young man who told him he was
stunned multiple times near the bus as the group was “attacked by police.”

Eric Finch, an organizer with Washington Community Action Network, sees no
problems with how troopers have kept order. “Generally, they’re doing
their best,” he said.

Finch did disagree with Gov. Chris Gregoire and Enterprise Services’
decision to close the Capitol at night. Officials allowed a sit-in last
April to last through the night as protesters slept under the eye of
troopers.

Enterprise Services Director Joyce Turner said officials “learned a lot of
lessons” from those April protests, which she said started out peaceful
but “changed in tenor” dramatically.

Separate from the overnight demonstrations, 17 people were arrested in
April in a protest organized by Service Employees International Union 775
Northwest, which included an attempt to storm Gregoire’s office.

Gregoire’s spokeswoman, Karina Shagren, said the governor respects
protesters’ First Amendment rights but is concerned about the cost of
keeping the building open.

“It’s costing a lot of money,” she said.

The patrol released totals Tuesday for the money spent the day before to
have troopers stand guard and evict protesters. In addition to overtime
and travel costs, the patrol counted $76,000 in regular pay for troopers
who would have been working regardless of the demonstrations.

“The day to day work of troopers is important, or we wouldn’t have them
doing it,” Lt. Arras said in a news release. “If your car broke down
(Monday) and you sat beside the freeway for an extended period, that soft
cost suddenly has a very real impact.”

Several charged in attack identified as anarchists

August 23, 2011 The Olympian



BY JEREMY PAWLOSKI Staff writer OLYMPIA – Several people arrested early

Sunday after allegedly attacking two men downtown are affiliated with

local anarchist groups, Olympia Police Lt. Jim Costa said Tuesday.



Six of those also were arrested during a protest of police brutality in

downtown Olympia in 2010.



Two men told police they were attacked early Sunday morning when they came

upon a group of people throwing garbage and street signs into the street

and questioned why they were doing that.



“All we wanted them to do is respect where you live,” said Austin

Wattenberg, 24, an Olympia resident who works two jobs, at the Thai Garden

restaurant and at Community Resources, where he helps the disabled. “They

got violent over it. That’s not even that crazy of a thing to ask from

someone.”



Wattenberg said the people in the group told them to go away, and said

“this doesn’t concern you” as they threw debris into the roadway at Fourth

Avenue and Capitol Way about 2 a.m. Sunday.



Wattenberg said he responded, “You don’t understand, this is our town,

this is where we grew up, this does concern us.”



Wattenberg said he and his friend, Joshua Penn, 25, took a bag of garbage

and a sign that had been thrown into the road and placed the items off to

the side where they would not be an obstruction.



That’s when Wattenberg and Penn say the group of about 20 people descended

on them, threw them to the ground and punched and kicked them. Wattenberg

said he was shocked by the sudden violence of the group.



Wattenberg said Penn suffered cuts and bruises on his knee and elbow

during the attack.



Penn said members of the group identified themselves as anarchists.



Wattenberg and Penn used their cell phones to call Olympia police. Police

arrived and arrested 10 people whom Wattenberg and Penn positively

identified as being involved in the mayhem.



The 10 who were arrested were booked into the Olympia Municipal Jail and

cited with misdemeanor disorderly conduct/riot, Costa said.



Penn said members of the group that attacked him were complaining about

Olympia and the government.



“That’s your political statement, you’re going to knock down garbage cans

and trash the town?” Penn said.



The 10 people arrested were identified as: Emma Day, Jami Williams, Ryan

Scott, Alexander Barton, Kristy Keeley, Tyler Turner, Andrea Walden,

Steven Jablonski, Russell Swift and Eric Sullivan.



Six of the people arrested on Sunday also were arrested during a march in

downtown Olympia on April 8, 2010. They are: Williams, Jablonski, Keeley,

Sullivan, Turner and Barton.



Williams was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault during the

April 8 demonstration in downtown Olympia after she spray-painted the lens

of Olympian photographer Tony Overman’s camera as he was trying to take

photographs of the protesters.







Police say attackers are affiliated with anarchists

Melee: 6 were also arrested in 2010 incident



JEREMY PAWLOSKI August 24, 2011 The Olympian



OLYMPIA – Several people arrested early Sunday after allegedly attacking

two men downtown are affiliated with local anarchist groups, Olympia

Police Lt. Jim Costa said Tuesday.



Six of them also were arrested during a protest of police brutality in

downtown Olympia in 2010.



In Sunday’s early morning incident, two men told police they were attacked

when they came upon a group of people throwing garbage and street signs

into the street and questioned why they were doing that.



“All we wanted them to do is respect where you live,” said Austin

Wattenberg, 24, an Olympia resident who works two jobs, at the Thai Garden

restaurant and at Community Resources, where he helps the disabled.



“They got violent over it. That’s not even that crazy of a thing to ask

from someone.”



Wattenberg said the people in the group told them to go away, and said

“this doesn’t concern you” as they threw debris into the roadway at Fourth

Avenue and Capitol Way about 2 a.m. Sunday.



Wattenberg said he responded, “You don’t understand. This is our town.

This is where we grew up. This does concern us.”



Wattenberg said he and a friend, Joshua Penn, 25, took a bag of garbage

and a sign that had been thrown into the road and placed the items off to

the side where they would not be an obstruction.



That’s when, Wattenberg and Penn say, the group of about 20 people

descended on them, threw them to the ground and punched and kicked them.

Wattenberg said he was shocked by the sudden violence of the group.



Wattenberg said Penn suffered cuts and bruises on his knee and elbow

during the attack.



Penn said members of the group identified themselves as anarchists.



Wattenberg and Penn used their cell phones to call Olympia police. Police

arrived and chased off about 40 people and arrested 10 people, whom

Wattenberg and Penn positively identified as being involved in the mayhem.



The 10 people were booked into the Olympia Municipal Jail and cited with

misdemeanor disorderly conduct/riot, Costa said.



Penn said members of the group that attacked him were complaining about

Olympia and the government.



“That’s your political statement? You’re going to knock down garbage cans

and trash the town?” Penn said.



The 10 people arrested were identified as: Emma Day, Jami Williams, Ryan

Scott, Alexander Barton, Kristy Keeley, Tyler Turner, Andrea Walden,

Steven Jablonski, Russell Swift and Eric Sullivan.



The six arrested Sunday who also were arrested during a march in downtown

Olympia on April 8, 2010 are Williams, Jablonski, Keeley, Sullivan, Turner

and Barton.



Williams was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault during the 2010

demonstration in downtown Olympia after she spray-painted the lens of

Olympian photographer Tony Overman’s camera as he was trying to take

photographs of the protesters.

Police harassment on the streets of Olympia: A local activist speaks out

August 2011 Works in Progress

MC Strife (a.k.a. Paul French) is a local musician, anarchist, and
activist. For years, he has been active in organizing here in Olympia,
most recently in opposition to the new anti-busking law passed by the City
Council,as well as around issues of police brutality and class struggle.
In 2010, based solely on the testimony of one police officer, Strife was
convicted of assault against that officer. With a felony record, he has
been politically, socially, and economically disenfranchised as a result.

Strife has been the target of a consistent campaign of police harassment
downtown, relating to his activist work. Court records and communications
between various law enforcement agencies, received through the Freedom of
Information Act, reveal that Strife has come under the specific attention
of local police, who have been using police connections to monitor his
activities as far away as California. Strife has shared the relevant
documents with Works In Progress. [See right-hand column.]

In the midst of this ongoing harassment, Strife is choosing this moment to
make his situation public.

First, tell us a little bit about yourself.

I originally came to Olympia because of a serious case of wanderlust. I
lived in North Carolina for 20 years so moving to Olympia in 2006 seemed
like a breath of fresh air. Here I finished my last 2 years of higher
education at the Evergreen State College. A long-time fan of hip hop, I
first learned how to emcee here and formed a Hip Hop group called Thought
Crime Collective. My music draws inspiration from Olympia's vibrant
activist community and the inspirational example of people overcoming
their differences and militantly confronting the imperialist war machine
at our ports. This is how I first cut my teeth in Olympia, organizing
students through Hip Hop Congress and Sabot Infoshoppe (a radical lending
library) and doing Port Militarization Resistance work with brave people
from many different backgrounds.

How would you describe your politics?

I'm an anarchist at heart. I'm against all bosses, borders, nations, and
corporations that keep us fooled. It's true what they say: Revolutionaries
fight back nail and tooth. They call me a radical cause I strike at the
root, and an insurrectionist cause I don't trust those that rule. They
call me a criminal cause I expose structural violence, and a thought
criminal because free thought is dangerous to tyrants. I'm an
eco-primitivist cause I know the earth suffers, and an anarcho-syndicalist
cause I know the state's a buffer. I'm an abolitionist cause I know that
wage slavery's a bust. The truth is, I pay attention, so I know that power
always corrupts.

What activist work are you involved in?

I was almost illegally evicted recently, so I've been focusing on
homelessness advocacy through the new group CIVIL (Citizens In Violation
of Illegal Laws), and organizing the street community to assert their
rights, restarting the copwatch downtown and trying to oppose all the
unjust laws downtown that make a crime out of being poor. I don't
appreciate how the Downtown Business Association and other powerful local
actors are using these restrictive laws and an abusive police force to
sweep the poor under the rug, so they don't have to see the blood on their
hands - the displaced people, the shattered, fractured lives that their
unequal system leaves in its wake.

In the past, I've coordinated a radical lending library called the Sabot
Infoshoppe and took part in the anti-police rallies on the 4th Ave. bridge
(where I personally met the military spy John Towery). I've done Port
Militarization Resistance work in Olympia and Tacoma. I was also involved
in the Smash ICE movement to stop the Wells Fargo-built immigration
detention center in Tacoma. I've participated in solidarity actions with
the Greek Insurrection after the 15-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was
shot and killed by Athens police in 2008, and I helped bring Dead Prez to
Evergreen through my work with Hip Hop Congress the same year.

More recently, I've done benefit shows in Portland to help save the Black
Rose Infoshop, I performed at the Olympia Capitol Protest against the
slashing of vital social services, and done spoken word at three different
Bank of America Protests with the Olympia and Portland chapters of US
Uncut. Lastly, I've been doing support work for Scott Yoos, a dear friend
and disabled community activist brutalized by the police. I helped
organize the People Park Occupation last month and in 2010 I was framed
for punching a cop at the State Street 29 action in support of Oscar
Grant, a man who was extra-judicially murdered by a BART transit cop in
Oakland when he was on his knees with his hands tied behind his back.

Tell everyone about your music.

Thought Crime Collective consists of some of the Illest MCs and producers
found on the North American landmass. We act as embedded journalists on
the front lines of the revolution. Our music can be viewed as a call to
arms, as an exercise in testing the limits of free speech in our
supposedly free society and as a living historical document to inspire
future generations to resist the onslaught of the corporatocracy...

Our west coast affiliates can be found in Olympia, Portland, and Oakland.
Our East Coast contingent holds it down in Greensboro, North Carolina. We
dropped our first album, "Love & Rage" in 2010 and we are pleased to
announce that we have a slew of new projects in the works including a new
West Coast full length album tentatively called "Spliffs, Fists, & Clips"
and a new East Coast collaboration EP entitled "Revolutionary Suicide"
which should be dropping in the next few months as well! [All of TCC's
material is available at www.spraygraphic.com/thoughtcrimecollective. And
you can download 17 songs for free at
www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandid=1140475.]

Starting last year, you got increased attention from the police around
town. What was the first thing that made you say, "Hey, maybe this isn't
just a couple chance encounters with police. Maybe I'm being singled out."

Well, as a person who was raised by activist intellectuals (both teachers
- one's a historian the other an anthropologist), I have to admit I wasn't
surprised about the political repression in the least. Especially due to
the militant nature of my music, which is directly influenced by the
radical protests and actions I engage in. Although I had sneaking
suspicions, I never had any proof of this until Drew Hendricks did a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request which revealed law enforcement
exchanges between the Olympia Police Department (OPD) and Washington State
Patrol (WSP). That demonstrated that authorities had been spying on me
through my Facebook, they knew the make/model/license plate of my car,
they knew where I lived, and they knew that I was going to perform at the
Olympia Capitol Occupation on April 5, 2011. They referred to me
interchangeably as Paul French and the "white rapper" in their e-mail
exchanges. The state was also documenting my friendships and associations,
as evidenced by an exchange about a trip I took to Sacramento in
solidarity with the California Teacher's Strike that happened early May
2011. Most disturbingly, Drew also discovered that OPD Detective Rich
Allen may be receiving pressure from Seattle Detectives and even "domestic
terrorism people" to either frame me or try to pressure me for information
that I don't have on the arson that happened at the West Side police
substation a few months ago.

So all I can say is that I did expect some surveillance and state
intimidation, but never to the extent that the Freedom of Information Act
requests revealed. What was especially concerning was that the WSP had
originally planned to engage in some kind of undefined contact with me
before I performed on April 5 at the Capitol, but I performed two hours
early, so the exchanges have a vexed tone to them. Then the second e-mail
between Detective Allen and Darrin Reedy (a Crime Analyst), revealed that
other unnamed departments in the region were requesting information on me.
They seemed to be communicating about me as if they might be attempting to
hold me responsible for any illegal actions taken at the Capitol the day I
performed. The exact quote from the e-mail read... "He performed at 1600
[hours]... 81 peopled rushed the governor's office and they had to lock
down the offices... they left fairly quickly after that... No physical
confrontations..."

This is especially important in light of the frame-up that the state was
able to carry out against me successfully at the State Street 29 protest
one year earlier. Officer Sean Lindros lied and said that I punched him in
the face, even though he misidentified the color of my bandana, and had no
visible marks or bruises in the pictures he took of his face after the
protest.

[Strife provided WIP with photos of himself and of Sean Lindros taken by
OPD after the incident. In his police report, Lindros referred to these as
"Photos of my injuries." No "injuries" or indications of contact of any
kind were apparent in the photos of Lindros. Lindros also claimed he
identified Strife out of the crowd based solely on the fact that the
person who allegedly punched him was wearing a blue bandana. However, the
arrest photo clearly shows Strife wearing a bandana of a different color.]

At the time, you told friends of yours, "Hey, I think something's up. I
think the cops are harassing me." And people didn't believe you. What was
it like, to be in that position?

It was immensely frustrating. I felt alienated from my own friends and
social scene. I'm largely to blame because I cut off a lot of ties with
people I knew who were trying to support me, because of how suspicious I
had become about informants. Looking back, my response was probably
exactly what the state was aiming for, and why they are especially worried
now that I have continued building relationships in the activist
community. Watching as the Olympian dragged my name through the mud for
something I never did, becoming demonized as the poster child for the "bad
protester" archetype and facing jail time, even though I only marched that
night to hand out flyers, had a kind of nightmarish Kafkaesque quality to
it. Knowing intrinsically that something was wrong, but being unable to
convince anyone of the false nature of the charges against me, nearly
drove me to the edge of my sanity, and led to my first and only nervous
breakdown. When I spoke to people about all the parallels between my case
and other known cases of surveillance, like the John Towery fiasco, or the
Phil Chinn debacle, I would either get blown off as paranoid, or people
would scoff and incredulously declare, "You really think the authorities
don't have better things to do than watch your every move?" The catch is,
I can't technically be considered paranoid, if it's been proven beyond a
reasonable doubt that the powerful are out to get me. It's vindicating
that we finally have that proof.

What do you think the point was, for the cops to be targeting and
harassing you like this? What do you think they hoped to achieve?

I can only speculate that they are attempting to get me to drop out of the
activist community, or maybe they are trying to run me out of town. Maybe
they thought that I'd miss one of the many court dates, so they'd be able
to bring me into custody and pressure me to give up information about
other local anarchists. Giving me six tickets in two months has also
forced me into a corner financially. I suppose the authorities were trying
to make it generally untenable for me to show my face on the streets at
any time without facing legal, financial, and political repercussions
because of my work bridging the activist and street communities.

What's been their most frequent method of harassing you downtown?

I am downtown all the time busking, so I've been charged with pedestrian
interference by OPD only to be pulled over by WSP less than 5 minutes
after getting into my car. The most common way of concealing the political
nature of the harassment was pulling me over while I was driving perfectly
well. They would use a number of pretexts, and then repeatedly give me the
same $550 "driving without insurance" ticket. The excuses they've pulled
me over for include that my muffler was too loud, a passenger was not
wearing a seat-belt, Washington is a two-license plate state. WSP
Somerville even had the gall to lie to my face and say that my front
lights didn't work when they did. But the important thing is, they
wouldn't give me a ticket for the pretext - just the one for "driving
without insurance."

And recently, they've been targeting you for your work in opposing the
busking ban?

Yes, I have an interesting story about that situation. Tired of being
hassled for "busking without a permit," I went down to the Olympia
Building with $100 ready to purchase a permit, only to be notified that
there was no such thing. Busking permits are only given to local
businesses to expand the four locations that are okay to legally busk
downtown. (Last Word Books has the only permit so far.) The staff handed
me a busking map with this information, and I immediately made 100 copies
and went around handing it out to everyone on the streets, telling people
to "Know Your Rights," and obviously making it a bit harder for the police
to harass, jail, and rob poor people.

But it doesn't end there. Officer J Herbig pulled up a week after this
incident, and called me by my full name over to his SUV. Mentioning that
there had been a memo from the higher-ups circulating about my role in
publicizing the free busking zones, he told me he'd been looking for me
and insisted that I hold on a second, while he went down to city hall and
printed out another copy of the busking map and the legal definition of
busking. He tried to convince me that what I was doing (offering political
shirts and books for donation on the street with no "expectation of
payment") did not fall under the rubric for busking, which usually
involves some kind of public performance. So he was trying to argue that I
wasn't allowed to do that even in the busking-permitted zones. I then
replied that I had over 4,000 pages of poetry and that I would be happy to
perform for the passers-by to meet this requirement. This is where things
get surreal. Herbig then got on his police bullhorn, and jokingly
introduced me thusly, "Listen up everyone, Strife of Thought Crime
Collective has something to say!" Nonetheless I was shaken by this
acknowledgement of my music. He then left shortly after, without incident.
But the whole "You are breaking the law, you are not busking" angle would
be picked up on a month later by Ruth Snyder, the code enforcement officer
and one of the most vocal proponents of downtown yuppification who
continued to threaten to have me arrested and cited for bringing my
screenprints downtown.

Let's go back a bit, and talk about State Street. You were arrested, along
with a handful of others, and you ended up being convicted of felony
assault against an officer. What happened there?

The logistics of what happened during the end of the march were pretty
suspicious. I committed no acts of vandalism and no violence against
police, however I was singled out as the "kid with the banner" moments
after a highly coordinated take-down where the rest of the march linked
arms and passively got "liberal-arrested," rather than fighting back or
fleeing the situation. There was an unmarked SUV with California license
plates at the take-down, and my roommate can testify that after arresting
3 out of 5 members of my hip hop group, the officers processing us were
joking that, "I guess Thought Crime Collective isn't playing tonight..."

Tell everyone a little bit about your legal battle after your arrest. How
did that go?

I didn't have the money for a lawyer so I took a public pretender who
convinced me to cop to an Alford Plea, which paradoxically counts as a
guilty plea while still allowing me to maintain my innocence. Using an
Alford Plea meant that I wouldn't have to implicate others or testify in
court, and I took it because I felt that the state would be able to
convince a jury to be biased against me because of my politics.

Looking back in retrospect, what do you think about the State Street
march? Some people will say, "Oh, this guy was arrested in one of those
black bloc marches, so it doesn't matter if the police harass him. He
deserves whatever he gets." What do you say to that?

That doesn't really make sense, when you think about it. People
participate in black bloc actions for different reasons. The anarchist
movement is never as unified and monolithic as the media likes to imply.
There is no central committee dictating policy or coordinating actions.
Personally, I marched that night against police brutality and to hand out
flyers to people so they would become more aware of the truly horrific
situation that people of color, homeless folks, and the poor face every
day, being treated like second class citizens. Despite the fact I didn't
engage in any illegal behavior, I was framed and served two months in
jail, possibly in retaliation for my music, but definitely in retaliation
for my politics. Even if you're of the opinion that I deserved jail time
for going to the protest, I served the sentence and my participation in
this event shouldn't be a blank check for the powerful to watch my every
move and nullify my rights to free speech and to protest grievances. Trust
me, no one wants a coercive society where certain people have the power to
define which ideas are acceptable and which ideas are so abhorrent you
shouldn't even be allowed to debate them. How can you have freedom of
thought in a society where you are not allowed to discuss large
uncomfortable truths? As Voltaire said, "I may disagree with what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say them."

How do you think your arrest at the State Street demo relates to the
current harassment against you by OPD?

Stick your neck out long enough you get it chopped off, right? Only if you
haven't built a network of solidarity and a community of friends who are
willing to snatch the executioner's blade. That's why I'm finally exposing
this harassment. There's nothing particularly special about me. I'm
outspoken, I'm a poet, I'm an activist, that's true. But lots of people
fit those categories and received similar if not worse treatment from the
establishment. I am coming forward with these FOIA documents (available at
www.olywip.org) in the hope that other people who are going through the
same thing will come forward and tell their stories so we can have
community dialogue and hold the powerful accountable for their abuse, so
we can unify and reverse the dampening effect that the Towery situation
has had on our ability to effectively organize and resist the machinations
of the powerful.

What do you hope to see going forward, both in our community, and in your
own situation?

I hope to be able to live and organize in Olympia for a long time. I hope
this exposé convinces the establishment to end its attempts to silence me
through overt and covert means. I see our movement overcoming all of this
political repression and getting off the ropes to take the ring once more
and knock these bullies straight on their asses. I hope to help unify the
divergent groups and remind people that we all have the same foes in this
fight and that right now, we may not have it all together, but together we
could have it all.

Olympia Peace Activist talks about Challenging Abusive Conditions in the Olympia City Jail

Interview recorded at Free Radio Olympia by dj Questionmark on May 2, 2011

Download at:

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/05/03/patty050211.mp3
(27.8 mb mp3 30 minutes and 56 seconds)

Olympia peace activist Patty talks about her participation in a federal
lawsuit to change conditions in the Olympia City Jail. She was arrested in
November 2007 during anti-war protests that shut down military transport
through the Port of Olympia. Patty was one of 40 women who held a sit in
at the port gate. The lawsuit came from their treatment in Olympia City
Jail where they were held for hours in their underwear and subjected to
other humiliating treatment. Patty talks about options people may have
when abused in jail.

We don't talk to police, We don't make the peace bond

March 21, 2011 Puget Sound Anarchists

So today in Olympia I left my house for a run at about 1:00 PM. I had only
gotten two blocks away from my house when i noticed a large white SUV turn
out behind me, I didn't think anything of it at the time. However, a few
blocks later i was jogging on the left side of the side walk and the large
white SUV approached me, driving on the wrong side of the road and very
slowly. Through out this whole conversation i continued to be jogging,
although I did slow my pace.

The window was rolled down and i heard "Excuse me sir, can i ask you a
question". Hearing this I looked up and realized two white men in suits
with shaved heads, the passenger was wearing a blue tooth and was using a
computer built into the vehicle. So... after seeing this, it was pretty
clear who they were. I told them that I was running and wanted to be left
alone. They replied stating "Please sir, it will only take a minute of
your time". I responded in similar way stating that I was on my run and
wanted to be left alone.

Their response was "Mr. First Middle Last"(name), "Mr. Sabot Infoshoppe (
a student group I coordinate), You don't know who your fucking with do
you." I responded stating that I didn't know who they were and that I
didn't want to talk to them. They responded "Bullshit, you know who we
are, we know who you are, you and all your little buddies better cut this
shit out".

They then told me that I should get into the car, i said no. They said it
again, telling me that I really should get into the car, I told them to
fuck off. They then asked me if I have ever seen the inside of a prison
cell, because thats where me and all buddies are going and once again said
"you better realize who your fucking with". At this point i stopped
responding.

He stated very angrily that I need to get my ass in the fucking car right
now and commanded at me to "STOP!". I asked him if i was being detained or
arrested, there was no response. I continued to jog and he started
incessantly shit talking. Saying how me and all my buddies are going to
prison, how we're never gonna win, how we need to realize who were fucking
with, etc...

At this point I kind of tuned it out because it all blurred together and
the convo had been going on for about two blocks. The car then slowed
down, which I assumed meant they were going to leave, they did.

The car (still driving on the wrong side of the road) slowed down and made
a quick left, I ducked back to try to grab the license plate, but they
speed away and then turned abruptly. I believe it was Washington plate,
but I can't say for sure whether or not it was a gov't plate, it could
have been. I remember it starting with a "0" and then it contained a "3"
or "7" and a "9". I realize this isn't helpful, but its what I remember.

So yeah, doesn't take a genius to figure out this is obviously related to
the acts of sabotage at the westside police station. They were obviously
prying for info, trying to get me into their car and shit.

There was an instance last week where people who were almost definitely
officers of agents were seen photographing another anarchist oriented
house, this was witnessed by those that live there.

So nothing we don't already know, they are around, they are pissed, and
they want to scare us. Just thought i'd share my story. word.

An Anarchist from the 360.