Going To A Protest? Police Are Watching

Government and industry harassment of activists is real, and not the babblings of the overly-paranoid. Therefore, if we hope to survive as an effective, grassroots movement, we need to be ready for government harassment before it happens. If we wait until we feel its full force, we will not have the necessary infrastructure and knowledge to successfully withstand their assaults.

The government’s crusade against politically-active individuals is intended to disrupt and suppress the exercise of time-honored free speech activities, such as boycotts, protests, grassroots organizing and solidarity work. Remember that you have the right to stand up to the intimidation tactics of FBI agents and other law enforcement officials who, with political motives, are targeting organizing and free speech activities. Informed resistance to these tactics and steadfast defense of your and others’ rights can bring positive results. Each person who takes a courageous stand makes future resistance to government oppression easier for all.

In her book, Spying on Democracy, Heidi Boghosian, the former director of the National Lawyers’ Guild, wrote about the military police / Directorate of Emergency Services at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA saying: “In the words of the government agencies involved, they aimed to neutralize PMR [Port Militarization Resistance, a political / activist group that opposed the war in Iraq] through a pattern of false arrests and detentions, attacks on homes and friendships, and attempting to impede members from peacefully assembling and demonstrating anywhere, at any time. Harassment was systematic and pervasive… The case revealed that today’s military has continued to engage in COINTELPRO-type operations and shows the extent to which the lines between the military and civilian law enforcement have blurred. Forces now used against ordinary people engaged in free speech and protest include, increasingly, weapons and tactics used by the U.S. military for combat missions. The drift from passive intelligence gathering to offensive counterintelligence is one manifestation of the difference between civilian law enforcement principles and the military’s exclusive focus on defeating perceived enemies through combat, propaganda, and covert operations... The role of civilian law enforcement, in theory, is to protect the public and the Constitution whereas the role of the military is to identify the enemy and neutralize them... When the military starts identifying peaceful dissenters here as the enemy, God help us all.”

Read more about Personal Protection for PNW Street Medics here: (https://pnwstreetmedics.blogspot.com/2023/08/personal-protection-for-pnw-street.html)


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