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Title: The Snap of a Twig Author: Anonymous Language: en Topics: Earth First!, green, law, leftism, police, security, technology Source: http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/feraltowardswildness/snap.html Notes: from Black and Green #1
“Force enhancers.” The ominous phrase shot across the airwaves with a
crack like a 22. I stared at the radio. A Congresswoman was describing
her work on transferring military technology to civilian police force.
In military jargon “force enhancers” refer to technologies that improve
the killing capacity of each soldier. An army can never have enough
soldiers, so true to Western thinking, there has been an incredible
drive to make the individual soldier better equipped on the battlefield.
This Congresswoman was saying how today’s cop is like a Wyatt Earp, out
there alone with a police cruiser replacing the horse and nothing else
to help out. This so called “liberal” legislator sought to deliver
“force enhancers” to local police. I guess she felt that there can never
be enough police officers in this “war against crime.”
I wondered how the military style assault units (SWAT teams), police
dogs, police helicopters with infrared, tear gas and riot gear fit into
this lone Wyatt Earp image she was painting. I also wondered what kind
of military technology she had in mind for cops of the future.
Never forget that crime is a social and political construct, not an
absolute, as they attempt to sell us this business of “fighting crime.”
The real product beneath all the rhetoric is social control. Police
forces defend the owning class. (This becomes clear to any forest
activist attempting to stop an illegal timber sale. Enforcers of the law
only care about the protesters trespassing, not about any violations of
environmental laws endangering the greater community.) Laws such as the
Seditious Conspiracy Act (18 USCS 2384) have been constructed
specifically to criminalize political dissent. The Racketeer Influenced
and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, originally intended to combat
organize crime, has been twisted around to punish political targets.
Political prisoners have received up to fifty years sentences just for
RICO convictions.
Social control is big business. Every night the cop shows on TV
advertise this expensive product. Funding for the criminal “just-us”
system has increased seven-fold over the past twenty years, from $10
billion to $74 billion a year, with $25 billion spent for incarceration.
Not only is prison construction a major growth industry, but an
increasing number of private companies are reaping the benefits of cheap
prison labor
Upon hearing the crack of a twig, a deer will look and listen
motionlessly for a few moments. If there’s no apparent danger rushing
towards her, the deer goes right back to browsing. This is a dangerous
survival strategy in an age where technology allows the hunter to kill
at a distance. The American Left seems to mimic this behavior. When we
hear about something alarming, we look up from our work only
momentarily. Upon finding that there’s still a US Constitution
guaranteeing free speech and the right to peacefully protest the
government, we go back to painting yet another banner and planning the
next demo.
We forget that the constitution didn’t prevent federal agents from
raiding radical organizations throughout the country in September of
1918. Thousands were arrested and 500 deported. A thriving socialist
press was effectively destroyed, along with the Industrial Workers of
the World (IWW), amidst the red scare and war propaganda of WWI.
WWII brought the internment of 100,000 Japanese Americans. The Cold War
brought the chill of McCarthyism. Now we are in the middle of a war
against drugs and crime, an internal war, against citizens within our
own borders. It seems the politicians are getting ready to declare yet
another war — this one against terrorism. Better hold on tight to your
civil liberties.
A twig snaps... We look up... What? Not another Crime Control Bill!
100,000 more cops on the street. This is costing us some bucks. Good
thing I don’t pay taxes.
Was that the wind... No, just another proposal for a national
identification card utilizing fingerprints or retina scans. No need to
worry; the American people will never accept that.
Another twig... Anti-terrorism legislation, funding 10,000 more FBI
agents ans authorizing the military involvement in certain domestic
investigations. Hmmm...
Rustling of leaves... $50 million dollars spent just on the Unabomber
investigation. Library computer records search for particular books that
may have been checked out. Satellite surveillance of Kaczynski’s
cabin... But that’s OK I ain’t no terrorist like he was.
A big thud nearby... Prison population doubled between 1975 and 1985 and
then doubled again in the last decade... But I’m not in jail. Well, at
least I’m not behind bars.
Political climates do swing back and forth between permissive and
reactionary. Maybe things will lighten up at the turn of the millennium.
(Fat chance!) However, technological developments are not cyclical like
politics, they are linear and exponential. The technology of control is
becoming ever more sophisticated and pernicious.
The digitizing of fingerprints was quite a revolution in law
enforcement. To check a set of fingerprints once required someone to
visually compare them with each set of prints one after another. It was
time consuming and labor intensive. Most investigations only compared
prints with those on file locally. These days portable fingerprint
scanner in the cop car can check a set of prints against the entire
national law enforcement database. No wonder the authorities are eager
to get kids fingerprinted “for their own safety.”
Not to be left out, corporations will introduce credit cards next year
that utilize fingerprints to verify identity. Certain banks now require
thumb prints before cashing a questionable check. They claim the prints
are destroyed after the transaction is successfully completed. When it
comes to the security business, I trust corporations even less then
government. (The Pinkerton Detective Agency’s style of handling labor
disputes was influential in shaping my view on the subject.)
DNA printing is another quiet revolution in law enforcement. The
reliability of today’s DNA evidence received a lot of attention during
the Simpson murder trial, but there has never been public debate on how
this technology might be used in the future. Humans leave behind a trail
of hair and skin flakes in cars and on furniture. It is assumed that
only criminals and terrorists would desire to keep their identity or
their whereabouts hidden from the government (or unfriendly
corporations).
A government database has been created to store DNA prints from all new
members of the armed forces. The positive identification of corpses is
the stated intention behind this program.
Microchips have been implanted in several million cats and dogs. Maybe
this will become a routine practice for infants and immigrants as well.
Then there will be no question as to who the owner is.
Wildlife managers can fill you in on the latest advances in satellite
telemetry to track radio collared animals. I’m sure the self-appointed
managers of humans will be happy to try out this technology. (A
primitive version of a human radio collar is already in use for
prisoners under house arrest. The collar is not removable and signals
the authorities if the prisoner leaves the house.)
These technological advances all rely on computers. So don’t listen to
fools expressing the virtues of e-mail and desktop publishing. The
banking and insurance industries, the military and police establishment
have all gained much more powerful tools then the ability to send a
letter electronically or choose between 25 different fonts.
By the way, e-mail is the perfect medium for interception by unknown
third parties. A massive volume of messages can be checked for key words
and phrases or stored for future analysis. The US government admits to
routinely checking international cablegrams in this way.
In three or four years it will be possible to determine the location of
a 911 call on a cellular phone to within 125 meters. Combine this
technological ability to instantly track down a mobile radio signal with
the mentality that allows microchips to be implanted for identification
in living beings, and you have something much worse than Orwell’s
nightmare. What repressive control technologies will the next generation
of activist face?
Digging trenches in logging roads and building rock walls may be great
exercise, but it is an inadequate response to the forces, both political
and technological, gathering against political dissidents. Even the most
formidable barricades at Cove/Mallard were easily cleared by big yellow
machines. Thousands of person-hours were spent building fortifications
at Warner Creek, yet it was all swept away in a few hours.
Blockades are a poor defense. Tree sits, though noble, don’t fare any
better. Simply put, our defense sucks.
Attempts at swaying the public mind by garnering media attention seems
naive. Short news blips stand little chance of registering concern in a
population dulled and disempowered by the banality of the media. Even if
we circumvent the typical reporting of only two moderate sides to an
issue, we then encounter multi-million dollar advertising budgets,
greenwashing, campaigns, and pervasive “conventional wisdom” of talk
show hosts, news columnists and cultural spin doctors. These soft
control tactics of the corporations are every bit as advanced as the
hard control tactics of the police and military.
I suggest we shift our focus from defense to offense. All those hours
spent dragging logs onto the road in a short-lived attempt at defending
a place could be better spent attacking the buildings, vehicles, heavy
machinery and other assets of earth destroying agencies and
corporations. Very few EF!ers have been practicing an offensive
strategy, yet there are more than enough targets in cities and rural
areas to go around. The police are not yet able to be everywhere. Learn
to (carefully) play with matches and diesel fuel. If that’s not your
style, try neighborhood organizing. Leave the media out of the picture
and take the offensive by going door to door. Don’t go there asking for
money, organize, and patiently show people how to fit into the
resistance.
We are caught up in a technological war against the Earth and against
political dissidents. Adhering to a non-violent code is a fine strategy,
but it is nevertheless imperative that we think like guerrilla fighters
— learn new skills, prepare for a repressive crackdown, and inflict
maximum political and economical damage.
Earth First! is already considered subversive by our opponents. No
matter what tactics we choose, the forces of oppression will try to
crush us. We are a threat to big business. We want to eliminate
industrial resource extraction. We want an end to the car culture and
consumer culture. We want all species to be given a chance to flourish.
These are indeed revolutionary aims, so let’s start acting like
revolutionaries. It’s time to strike back.