Tempe Police and Arizona Anti-Terror Unit are targeting anarchists and indigenous projects in Arizona

A campaign of political repression is under way against anarchist and indigenous projects in Arizona, spearheaded by the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center and the Tempe Police Department Homeland Defense Unit. The Tempe police department’s anti-terror division preemptively shut down the Protect the Peaks solidarity benefit show that was planned for Friday night, using the threat of a fire code violation to ensure that the venue would have to cancel the event.  The Homeland Defense Unit acted on an alert they received from Arizona's main counter terrorism information gathering hub, also known as a fusion center, that a benefit show to raise money for the struggle to save the San Francisco Peaks was scheduled to take place in Tempe on Friday night.

The benefit show organizers had contacted a DIY venue/space run out of a warehouse in west Tempe, a well regarded space that has hosted a number of shows over the last year, often receiving coverage in the Phoenix New Times and other media.  It is a labor of love for the person who runs it, who has a full time job in addition to hosting the occasional show at the venue.  The Protect the Peaks benefit show would have been the first political show to have been hosted at the space, it also put the venue on the radar of Arizona's counter terrorism fusion center.

On Thursday, September 6^th the venue operator received an unannounced visit at his workplace from an officer assigned to the city’s Homeland Defense Unit.  The officer, Detective Derek Pittam, threatened to have the venue shut down for fire code violations if the Protect the Peaks show wasn’t canceled immediately.  Detective Pittam informed the person that he was aware that the venue regularly held shows and made it clear that under no circumstances would this benefit show be held at the venue.  The venue's future is now up in the air due to the threats of the Homeland Defense Unit, even though Detective Pittam admitted to the venue operator that he was aware that there had never been one call to police or reports of any illegal activity at that location.

 Detective Derek Pittam of the Tempe Police Homeland Defense Unit

At least one officer working in the Homeland Defense Unit spent last week locating the DIY venue, identifying the operator of the venue, finding his cell phone number, and where he works his full time job so that he could be harassed by Detective Pittam. They had also decided that their anti-terror unit was going to manufacture a fire code violation as pretext to shut down the show, unless the Homeland Defense unit is regularly enforcing code violations in Tempe.

I've learned that during the workplace visit, Pittam specifically identified support for the "Save the Peaks" as a concern for the authorities.  Throughout his visit Detective Pittam made it clear, the issue is with the benefit show not the venue, however the venue would face the consequences for allowing a radical, anarchist, and indigenous themed event.

I've also learned that the venue operator was again contacted on his cell phone Friday night by a Tempe police commander who wanted the venue's permission as the primary property manager to arrest individuals (who may not even know the show was canceled) for trespass on site.  The venue operator declined, and was then asked by the commander for the landlord's phone number, which he also declined to provide to the Tempe Police.   A friend who drove by the venue Friday evening observed one marked police vehicle on the property where the venue was located, and another vehicle parked near by.

In the short time since word got around about the show being canceled, many people involved with various projects are shocked and outraged over this show of state repression.  I was able to chat with Alex Soto, a Tohono O'odham MC from the hip hop group Shining Soul, one of the acts that was scheduled to perform on Friday.  In addition to his music, Alex has organized against border militarization on his traditional land,  the Tohono O'odham nation, a land divided by the US/Mexico border wall and militarized by the border patrol.

He had this to say about the cancelling of the show:

"The show itself is an example of the solidarity between indigenous people, the Diné and O'odham, and anarchist people who are supportive, it also means that the authorities are afraid of us acting in collaboration, collectively.  They’re afraid of all of us coming together, it’s not new, it’s happened before at past demonstrations where we’re targeted, we’re marked for oppression, mainly just by being ourselves and being there.

It doesn't matter to them whether it's an action or protest, or in this case with our talents and our musical gifts to bring people together, the state doesn’t respect that.  This act of repression by the police further motivates myself and everyone else involved to push forward and to have another benefit or show, because we know this will be effective, and all we’re doing now is picking up mics and guitars.

In addition, I’d like to express that as a Tohono O'odham person, I have solidarity with other indigenous people in this area, in this case it’s Diné people and the other 12 tribes that hold the San Francisco Peaks as a sacred site.   This act by Tempe police, and all the entities involved is an attack on who I am and who we are as indigenous people, it verifies to me that we’re doing our role, in this case by standing in solidarity with the peaks, or when we oppose the loop 202 freeway or oppose the border and militarization because this is what solidarity and healthy communities look like.   When we stand together, fight alongside each other, or in this case sing together to defend who we are and what we hold sacred, then fuck the Tempe PD, fuck Phoenix PD, fuck DPS, and any entity that tries to stop this energy that’s building here in Arizona."

When the authorities act to intimidate or threaten dissident voices and movements, it causes a chilling effect, in this case the Tempe police were willing to let a fire inspector poke around in the venue until any little violation could be found that would shut the show down.  We also know that they wanted to arrest anyone who came to the property expecting to see a show. This is a direct attack on the ability of people to freely gather, communicate, and organize without the potential of arrest or physical injury by police, in addition to the potential for serious financial problems for the venue operator. 

More information will be coming this week.

Phoenix Anarchist Winter General Assembly

Phoenix Anarchist Winter General Assembly

    Saturday, December 17, 2011
    3:00pm until 6:00pm
    At The Fixx
    11 East 7th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281
   
We will have discussion, food and social events after!

During this time of crisis it is essential that we get together to formulate strategy, have debate and plan for an ever increasing uncertain future. Our ideas are spreading faster than ever, let's fan the flames!

Proposed topics with more to come include:
- Anarchism, The Global Crisis and Resistance

- Items to act on such as teach ins, social events, demonstrations

- Looking towards to the future, a participatory discussion on what may be coming down the road

We invite all anarchists to come, endorsers so far include:

The Phoenix Class War Council (firesneverextinguished.blogspot.com)
Anarchist Anti-Authoritarian Caucus (At Occupy Phoenix)
www.phoenixanarchist.org
Survival Solidarity (survivalsolidarity.wordpress.com)

Our Lives Are Not Negotiable!

 

OUR    LIVES   ARE   NOT   NEGOTIABLE!

We are at the beginning of a great shift. We are in motion, all of us, experiencing new ideas, trying out new ways of living, organizing and relating to each other. The old ways of doing things, which have had the feeling of going through the motions for some time now, are finally fading away. Soon they will all be gone.

The truth is we have been tired of this world for some time. It isn't organized for our benefit, which makes sense because it isn't organized by us. It's organized by capitalists and bureaucrats, politicians and technicians. So-called “experts”. The institutions, all of them, have revealed themselves as servants of power, not broken but functioning normally as part of a giant profit- and power-driven machine. It hasn't changed, it's just easier to see it now.

American democracy isn't broken, we are witnessing the logical conclusions of its internal nature. Likewise with American capitalism. We don't need to “fix” it because it isn't broken. Neither was it ever meant to respond to us. In capitalism we produce and consume, but the profits go elsewhere. In democracy we validate capitalist domination over our lives. This is the normal functioning of the system.

This crisis goes beyond “corporate greed” or “getting corporate money out of politics”. It wasn't some character flaw that led to this calamity. And it isn't any particular mechanism by which elite power influences politics that is the problem. It's that elite power controls politics regardless. This is because we live in a dictatorship of money, of capital. Just like you can't get money out of capitalism, you can't get capitalist power out of government because government exists to perpetuate capitalist power.

This crisis goes deep. It's not just foreclosures, it's also the vacuous suburbs themselves. It's not just unemployment, it's the meaninglessness of our jobs. It's also being worked to death in an era of massive technological advancement. It's a system that moves so fast that we never get any time to slow down. We exist for the system, not the other way around. Meanwhile the system throws so many of us away, locking us in prisons, poverty or powerlessness. It eats up the Earth with an insatiable appetite, foisting the costs unto us.

It's a system determined to eat up everything in sight, invading and colonizing everywhere, including our minds and relationships to each other. Always accumulating at our expense, and backed up by the army and the police, it's a system that doles out petty privileges to some while it systematically attacks others, all the while keeping the lion's share for those at the top. And, as we have seen, if it wants to it can take those privileges away. The laws do not protect us so why should we respect them? In this system we have very little control over the fundamental questions of our lives. Picking between brands of ketchup isn't freedom. And neither is working in the ketchup factory. Nor studying at ketchup university.

At such an important point in our history, now is not the time to seek to restore normality. Now is no time to be conservative. Do not hold back! We must resist the temptation to try to return to the way the system functioned in the past. Not only isn't it possible, but it would be a betrayal of this amazing moment. And things weren't so great back then anyhow. Don't beg for reforms. Insist on your dreams. Think big. Look around you for inspiration of how things could be. Now is the moment to ask yourself how you would like the world to be, not what you would settle for. It can be different. It can be totally different.

DEMAND   EVERYTHING,  INSIST  ON  YOUR  DREAMS  AND  RESIST   THE  URGE   TO COMPROMISE  IN  THE  STRUGGLE!

#Occupy Phoenix reading roundup for 10/28

PCWC's continuously updated news that we think should be of interest to #occupyphoenix.

Postal workers occupy TD Bank on Bay Street (rabble.ca)

Activists dropped a banner at a downtown parking garage Wednesday morning to protest Mayor Menino's recent statements concerning anarchists (Boston Indymedia)

Anthropologist Graeber Turns Radical Side Loose in Zuccotti Park Protest (Bloomberg)

On the Previous Few Days, And What Is to Come… (Bay of Rage)

SFPD: Massing of Police Was Training Exercise, Readying For Oakland Protesters (KQED)


Occupy Oakland makes plans for citywide general strike (Mercury)


Behind the Barricades at Occupy Oakland  (Mother Jones)

“Anonymous” Shuts Down Oakland P.D. Website Over #OccupyOakland Battle (Pat Dollard)

Occupy Movement Not Ready for General Strike, Says Duke Labor Historian (Duke)

Getting to the Roots of Capital (Articles on the Occupy movement from an anarchist perspective)

#Occupy reading roundup 10/19

Our regular and continuously updated throughout the day collection of articles we think are useful to the #occupyphoenix movement.

#OccupyOakland – One Week Strong at Oscar Grant Plaza (Bay of Rage)

Tijuana Police Arrest Occupy Tijuana / Ocupemos Tijuana Protesters

Process is politics at Occupy Wall Street (Salon)

A few words spoken on October 15 at the state capitol in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street (benbrucado.com)

Representing the Native Presence in the "Occupy Wall Street" Narrative (Unsettling America)

A Letter to Phil Gordon (Mayor of Phoenix) About the 46 Arrested at #occupyphoenix (That Blog About That Queer Kid)

Intellectual Roots of Wall St. Protest Lie in Academe: Movement's Principles Arise From Scholarchip on Anarchy (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Occupy movement in New Mexico finds new name out of respect for Native Americans (American Independent)

Wall Street's Second Occupation: The Rise of the NYPD's Homeland Security State (Alternet)

NYPD: "Militarized to its bones" (benbrucato.com)

A short primer on jail support for #occupyphoenix from my experience (PCWC)

Here's how jail support goes from my experience:

(0) Get some money together.  Have a house party.  Rob a bank.  Organize a car wash.  Whatever.

(1) Get a land line that someone is going to sit at and wait by in case arrests happen.  That's their job. It's not exciting but it's fucking important. It's gotta be a land line in Maricopa county because Sheriff Joe is an asshole and you can't call cell phones from his prisons.  Let everyone at the action know the number to call.  It should be someone you all agree on and that you trust.  Reliable.

(2) Ask people who might get arrested what name they want to use when they call and who they want you to call for bail money, help, support, a ride, someone to cover for them at work tomorrow or whatever.  People might want to use fake names.  That's okay because fuck the cops.  Write that shit down so you get it right.

(3) It's gonna take a few hours for people to process out.  Maybe 24 hours even or more.  That's just how it goes because the pigs want to keep people out of the game while they protect rich people and the status quo.  That's why they sometimes arrest you and don't charge you.  They're pricks.

(4) Call all your fucking friends.  Have your friends call their friends.  Get your asses down to the fucking jail.  Call your friends who are musicians. The cops or idiot lawyers may tell you that if you stay that people in jail can't see friends, families or lawyers.  This is bullshit.  No one sees family or lawyers before their first appearance before the judge.  The asshole judge is not going to ask about guilt or innocence so lawyers don't really fucking matter at that point.  Don't fall for this shit.  Stay outside the jail and wait for your friend.  They will be happy you did.  If you're loud enough they might hear you.  They'll like that.

(5) Your friends are going to call you.  Do what you agreed to do in step 2.  They will really fucking appreciate it.  Being in jail, especially if your friends are alone, injured, or of a marginalized identity, can really suck.  It can be deadly.  They want to talk to you and to know they are getting out.  Help them with all your heart but don't lie.  Never lie about release prospects.  Don't talk about illegal shit.  The cops are listening.

(6) Pack the room where they are being read their charges.  These days because the fucks who run shit are afraid that we will liberate our friends like we used to back in the day, this mostly happens via video.  Your friends who are locked up probably can't see you, but they will be happy to hear you tell them you were there when it counted after they get out.  So be there.

(7) Bail your friends out if you can.  Really fucking important.

(8) Be outside in large numbers when they get out.  They are going to be so stoked to see you.  They might want a beer, too, so buy it for them because jail fucking sucks.  Maybe buy them two.

Others should chime in if I forgot something.  This shit always meant a lot to me.  And I'm a fucking militant, not a lawyer, so there's your disclosure.  Lawyers should advise but not tell you what to do.  Their job is to get your ass out of jail after you do what you do, not to tell you not to do it.

The National Socialist Movement scum show up armed to counter protest #occupyphoenix

Today at the first mass general assembly of the #occupyphoenix movement, neo-Nazi members of the National Socialist Movement showed up, armed and in their "Arizona Border Guard" militia fatigues, to counter protest.  Sporting assault rifles, they posed flanked by dozens of cops.  Recognizing key NSM organizers in their midst, several people confronted them and set about informing the generally ignorant crowd that before them stood actual fascists, armed to the teeth.

Ignorant liberals behaved in a variety of idiotic ways.  Some contending that the Nazis were part of the 99% as well, if only confused.  Others were actually intrigued by the word "socialist".  "I kind of like socialism," one old lady said.  Other confused liberals mistook the fascists for soldiers, forgetting their self-assumed pledge of non-violence (which apparently exempts the military as well) and posing their children for a cool shot with the army guys.

One liberal pacifist came up to confront people speaking loudly about the Nazis, telling them that the protest was supposed to be non-violent and that by using loud language we were being "violent".  She made no such attempt to approach the Nazis, highlighting the deep contradictions and blindspots in the ideology of nonviolence as practiced by this movement, which so far has only deployed this ideology inwards to control participants rather than outwards towards the genuine threats.

This attitude towards the NSM scum played out, quite predictably, along racial lines, with whites being the only ones to express attitudes of tolerance towards them.  This points to the continuing importance of addressing racism and the continual appeal and relevance of racial privileges within the movement.  Indeed, we can expand this argument to the whole attitude of the bulk of the white movement towards the police.  Experiencing policing in quite different ways than people of color in general, white middle class liberals mistake their own experience for that of others, and routinely attack anyone who questions the alleged 99% status of the police, or points out their quite obvious  tendencies towards violent action, as violent themselves.  To question the violence of the police is to be violent, according to this backwards analysis.

The presence of an armed fascist street-level opposition to our movement, in the form of the National Socialist Movement and it's "Arizona Border Guard" front group, is one major reason to reject dogmatic pacifism and poorly thought-out nonviolence.  Instead, what we heard from protesters speaking during the general assembly were declarations of the most naive nonviolence imaginable.  Arizona is a right wing state and the forces of reaction are huge and easily overwhelming if they want to be.

#Occupyphoenix organizers should not kid themselves about their numbers or power.  This movement clearly has capability to attract large numbers, as evidenced by the several thousand that showed up today for the general assembly and will march later to set up camp at Margaret T. Hance park.  But we need to be honest about our political circumstances and the forces of reaction arrayed against us.  Today is a reminder for those who are paying attention.

When the fascists finally departed, one man in a motorized wheel chair came up to me to ask me who they were.  When I told him, a cheer went up from the crowd mocking the vacating Nazis.  He looked at me and said, "They're gone, but don't mistake their absence for the absence of fascists in general."  Standing behind him were the cops.  Another lesson the #occupyphoenix movement has yet to learn.

New PCWC poster for #occupyphoenix

Build the general strike.