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This ain't it folks.
The police response yesterday showed just how upside-down things have gotten.
But left/progressive activists saying “domestic terrorism!” and sending photos to the FBI is really problematic.
Here’s why:
The police response yesterday showed just how upside-down things have gotten.
But left/progressive activists saying “domestic terrorism!” and sending photos to the FBI is really problematic.
Here’s why:
The police state doesn’t need your help.
The surveillance state doesn’t need your help.
Fascists weren’t the only ones at the capital yesterday.
Independent journalists and counterprotestors were there, too.
And the FBI wants help naming names?
NOPE.
Fascists weren’t the only ones at the capital yesterday.
Independent journalists and counterprotestors were there, too.
And the FBI wants help naming names?
NOPE.
If you have photos of fascists involved in yesterday’s mob, a much better way to help is to send them to investigative journalists like those at @bellingcat .
Bellingcat *only* identifies fascists, protects identities of journalists and anti-fascists.
Bellingcat *only* identifies fascists, protects identities of journalists and anti-fascists.
No matter what the FBI says, they are always full of shit.
No activist should ever, under any circumstances, communicate with the FBI.
Talk to your lawyer first. ALWAYS.
--> The National Lawyers Guild activist hotline is: 212-679-2811 @NLGnews
--> ACLU "Know Your Rights" https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/ @ACLU
Talk to your lawyer first. ALWAYS.
--> The National Lawyers Guild activist hotline is: 212-679-2811 @NLGnews
--> ACLU "Know Your Rights" https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/ @ACLU
Don’t believe capitol police, national guard, FBI, ANYONE in law enforcement or counterterrorism who says they were “caught off guard.”
The far right wasn’t hiding its plans. It shouted them at us.
The far right wasn’t hiding its plans. It shouted them at us.
Worse, the FBI has known for DECADES about far-right violence and repeatedly ignored it.
For ex: A report from West Point military academy said rightwing violence was up 400 percent. The FBI has repeatedly downplayed it http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/right-wing-violence-increase-west-point-study/6704/
For ex: A report from West Point military academy said rightwing violence was up 400 percent. The FBI has repeatedly downplayed it http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/right-wing-violence-increase-west-point-study/6704/
Instead of the far-right, you know what the FBI’s “number one domestic terrorism threat” has been?
The animal rights and environmental movements.
(Plug: I wrote a book about it. @CityLightsBooks http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100839230)
The animal rights and environmental movements.
(Plug: I wrote a book about it. @CityLightsBooks http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100839230)
In recent years, another top priority of the FBI has been so-called “black identity extremists.”
As former FBI agent Mike German said: “Basically, it’s black people who scare them” @BrennanCenter @RethinkIntel https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/26/fbi-black-activism-protests-history
As former FBI agent Mike German said: “Basically, it’s black people who scare them” @BrennanCenter @RethinkIntel https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/26/fbi-black-activism-protests-history
These movements aren’t being targeted because of any real threat they pose to national security.
It’s because of their race and their beliefs.
It’s because of their race and their beliefs.
Look at this report from the @AP about arrests at #BlackLivesMatter 
protests: most arrestees DO NOT have ties to radical groups: https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-race-and-ethnicity-suburbs-health-racial-injustice-7edf9027af1878283f3818d96c54f748
protests: most arrestees DO NOT have ties to radical groups: https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-race-and-ethnicity-suburbs-health-racial-injustice-7edf9027af1878283f3818d96c54f748
As @AP reported: “While some of the defendants clearly hold radical or anti-government beliefs, prosecutors have provided little evidence of any affiliations they have with organized extremist groups.”
The FBI isn’t going after the “radicals,” they are going after the mainstream.
SO:
As the far right / militia / white supremacists have grown more violent, the FBI has felt that a greater priority were things like animal rights activists releasing mink from fur farms, and activists with “perceptions of police brutality against African Americans.”
As the far right / militia / white supremacists have grown more violent, the FBI has felt that a greater priority were things like animal rights activists releasing mink from fur farms, and activists with “perceptions of police brutality against African Americans.”
We need to be very, very careful about how this unfolds.
We have to remember that the left is the target, the only real target, of the FBI.
We have to remember that the left is the target, the only real target, of the FBI.
J. Edgar Hoover’s far-right extremism shaped the birth, culture, and standards of the FBI as an institution to control leftist social movements.
Civil rights activists, antiwar, Black Panthers, American Indian Movement, and MANY more were targeted in COINTELPRO etc.
Civil rights activists, antiwar, Black Panthers, American Indian Movement, and MANY more were targeted in COINTELPRO etc.
Pretty much any social justice cause we think of as “progressive” now has been in the crosshairs of the FBI as a national security threat at some point. Clearly, some still are.
The FBI has spied on, harassed, entrapped, defamed, and covertly attempted to “neutralize” non-violent social movements throughout U.S. history.
“All my heroes have FBI files.” Truly.
This is the same FBI that tried to get Dr. King to kill himself. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/magazine/what-an-uncensored-letter-to-mlk-reveals.html
This is the same FBI that tried to get Dr. King to kill himself. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/magazine/what-an-uncensored-letter-to-mlk-reveals.html
THIS IS THE SAME FBI IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN.
Our oppressors don’t need our help.
Our oppressors don’t need our help.
Any new surveillance / terrorism / prison / policing etc powers given to the FBI or any cops/counterterrorism are ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS, used by the FBI against the left more harshly, and more pervasively.
Don’t get duped into thinking that the way to solve this problem is more FBI, more cops, more “domestic terrorism” powers, more surveillance, more watchlists, or actively assisting authoritarian institutions.
And don’t be surprised when any precedent that is set right now, with the far right, is later applied to the left.
It’s only a matter of time.
It’s only a matter of time.
The FBI isn’t going to solve this problem.
The FBI is one of the violent far-right institutions we should be dismantling.
The FBI is one of the violent far-right institutions we should be dismantling.
PS: All my love to @doctorow who I just saw has an excellent thread going on similar themes. Plz read https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1347244255962533888
And an excellent thread from @dialash as well: https://twitter.com/dialash/status/1347244505100132355
