-Caveat Lector- Mr. Elmore seems a bit underinformed in some areas, but has offered an interesting viewpoint. Dave Hartley http://www.Asheville-Computer.com/dave http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.48/seattle.htm The Lessons of Seattle by Bruce Elmore Well, the Circus-in-Seattle appears to be winding down, and upon close examination of the events that occurred there, I have gleaned what I feel are a number of useful tactics which will be necessary for freedom lovers to use sooner or later. It must be obvious to all but the most completely stupid among us that the protestors won this battle. While I personally disagree with this band of Luddites, I must admit that their tactical and strategic planning was completely successful. Smart people learn from others, whether they agree with them or not. I believe there are many useful lessons to be learned from the protestors in Seattle. I will attempt in my own way to elucidate those lessons here. General Observations First off, the "mobs" won this round. That fact is indisputable in my opinion. The array of groups who assembled in Seattle had as their goal the disruption of the WTO talks. This goal was accomplished in a rather spectacular fashion in spite of the forces which were arrayed against them. Forget about what you saw on your television sets. What is important to remember is the fact that a bunch of citizens managed to shut down a meeting of Government Officials from over 100 nations in a major American city, and they did it without resorting to the use of any weapons at all. Think about it. Not one foreign dignitary was killed, and the only people who carried, displayed, or used any firearm of any type were members of the Seattle Police Department. The Seattle Police Department knew well in advance that these people were coming to protest the WTO meeting. In fact, the City Fathers of Seattle had issued "permits" allowing some of these protests to occur. They were warned well in advance that "trouble" was likely. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were allocated to deal with anticipated problems, yet still, the protestors managed to accomplish their goal of shutting this conference down. They succeeded! How did they do this? My sources tell me that this feat was accomplished quite easily, and I will tell you, my gentle reader, how they pulled this off. Communications Strategic Communication Sources indicate that the protestors took advantage of a number of means of communications technology. All of these means are available at little or NO cost to you. First, the protestors made contact with a number of persons of like mind via the Internet. They then set up (relatively) secure means of e-mail communication using any number of free e-mail providers and using the simple and free encryption program known as PGP. http://www.pgpi.org/ Their planning was done via e-mail and was encrypted using this very powerful tool. The leaders of this bunch located and used maps of the downtown Seattle area which they also located and exchanged among themselves using the Net. Maps of ALL major cities are available on the Internet. They are incredibly detailed. Yahoo.com will give them to you for nothing. All one needs to do is log onto their site, and follow the simple instructions, and these maps can be printed out on your PC at home. From there it is a rather simple matter to identify choke points, rally points, and other tactical information. You can then communicate this critical information to other like-minded groups and individuals via (relatively) secure e-mail. I mentioned PGP. Allow me to explain. PGP is a very simple, and very secure method of encrypting private communication over the Web. Without getting too complicated, PGP renders one's e-mail almost unbreakable to all but the most dedicated of opposition. Some readers will no doubt be familiar with this incredible piece of technology and point up that Government can indeed "crack" PGP encrypted e-mail. Those people are correct, but cracking PGP requires a very large committment to decypher even ONE e-mail message, using the most sophisticated resources of the NSA. In this case, there were hundreds of people exchanging their plans using this amazing tool. The Seattle Police Department never had a chance to monitor the plans of a dedicated group using this form of secure communications technology. Tactical Communication The tactical communication methods used by the "protestors" appear to have been fully integrated with their strategic methods. All of these methods are available to any U.S. citizen for a very small investment. The news media made mention of the fact that two-way radios were "banned" during the uprising. This "ban" appears to have made little or no difference in the outcome of events in Seattle. My research and sources have revealed that at least three and possibly four methods of tactical communications were used by the "protestors". I will detail them here. Radio Communications, Short and Long Range There are a number of types of two-way radios available to the general public without license, and almost all of them are completely untraceable to all but the most sophisticated of adversaries. By most accounts, the "protestors" were using rather primitive means of radio communications which included the following: FRS-Family Radio Services This type of radio communication is available from a number of sources for minimal cost. It utitilizes the FM band and uses 14 different frequencies, and has a built-in "privacy" option which "scrambles" the signal to anyone who isn't in the "ring" designated by the users of the devices. It is by no means perfect, but it does work, and has a range of almost 2 miles under ideal conditions. My sources indicate that this particular "band" of radio communication was used extensively by the protestors. FRS radios are extremely small, about the size of a package of cigarettes. They can be purchased from any number of sporting goods outlets for less than US $150 dollars per pair. There are options which allow them to be completely concealed on the user's body so they can be utilized without anyone noticing that they are in use unless one is right next to the person using it. Citizens Band-or CB Radio CB radio became very popular in the 1970s. They are inexpensive, and both hand-held and vehicle-mounted units are widely available. CB radios have a range under ideal conditions of almost 5 miles, and have 40 discrete frequencies or "channels" available for use. If one avails oneself of an ideal location for the placement of an antenna, CB radios can have a range of 30 to 40 miles using a "base" unit. It doesn't take much to see that this could have been a very powerful tool for coordinating the actions of a dedicated cadre of "protestors" such as those in Seattle. There are also devices, which while "illegal", are widely available, that can boost the range of CB radios to almost 100 miles, although I have no evidence that these boosters were used in the particular case of the protests in Seattle. I do however believe that such devices were indeed used by the leaders of the "protests" in Seattle as part of an integrated communications protocol. I believe that Freedom Lovers should be prepared to acquire and use such devices. HAM Radio I have no hard evidence that this particular type of radio communications was used in Seattle, but I feel it merits a mention as it certainly could have been used. HAM has an almost PLANETARY range in the hands of experienced users. All of the evidence I have seen indicates that only the first two types of radio communication were used by the protestors in Seattle, although all three most certainly could have been used. Cellular Phones These were definitely used by the protestors in Seattle. While "two-way radios" were "banned" by the City Fathers of Seattle, no mention was made of cellular technology, and for good reason. Almost everyone owns or has access to a cellular phone these days, and the Seattle Police would have had no opportunity to jam, shut down, or confiscate such a widely available piece of communications technology without a massive reaction on the part of the citizens of Seattle. My sources indicate that cell phones were used quite extensively by the protestors and their leaders! Personal Protection For The Protestors The most dedicated of the protestors seems to have made rather sophisticated plans for their personal defense, and by this I do NOT mean firearms. Not one single Seattle Police officer appears to have been injured by the protestors. If they have, I have been unable to locate any evidence of it. My analysis indicates that all of those who inserted themselves between the "rank and file" protestors and "law enforcement" seemed to be very well prepared for the encounter. Gas masks were worn by many of those who seemed to be "in charge" of things. The persons who were wearing gas masks also seemed to be wearing a lot of very heavy clothing. This make a great deal of sense. Gas masks (which were "banned" by order of the City Fathers of Seattle) protected the leaders of the protests from the chemical agents which were used for "crowd control" by the Seattle Police. The heavy clothing protected the "protestors" from the variety of "non-lethal munitions" which were used by the Seattle Police. I personally saw a protestor take a "non-lethal" round fired from a 12-gauge shotgun, which was fired from almost point-blank range into the protestor's chest, and it had NO EFFECT on that protestor. By the way, that was after that particular protestor took a steel-toed boot into crotch. That was most instructive indeed. Lessons Learned Overall In my opinion, the most important lessons of Seattle is that this monster we know as Government can be stopped by citizens! While I in NO WAY agree with the philosophy of the mob (if they even have one) who shut down the WTO meeting in Seattle, I feel it critically important that their tactics be analyzed logically. Those tactics seem to have been entirely successful. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Bruce Elmore's email mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 3, No 48, December 13, 1999 http://zolatimes.com/ Interactive Forum The Lessons of Seattle http://www.zolatimes.com/zolatimes/scripts/article.pl E-mail the Editor mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For a Free e-mail Subscription Click the City Times Image DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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