============================================================ Tips and tricks, introductions to breaking technologies, Updates on proven software tools, new ideas for old problems. Find it all in the developerWorks newsletter. http://click.topica.com/caaacCMb1ddNBb2HgmNa/developerWorks ============================================================ > Joy Catherine > > please circulate as widely as possible > > > COMMUNIQUE FROM NYC-YA BASTA! and THE NYC-DIRECT ACTION NETWORK IN > GENOA, JULY 22, 2001 > > CONCERNING THE ATTACK ON THE INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER AND FASCIST/POLICE > COORDINATION DURING THE G8 SUMMIT > > The Independent Media Center in Genoa City and a nearby > schoolhouse "safe area" was attacked at midnight last night by > police, aided, it appears, by mysterious elements disguised as > anarchists who committed savage and bloody attacks on activists > and independent journalists. This is the culmination of a systematic > campaign of state violence against enormous and overwhelmingly peaceful > protests against the G8 summit here. > > We were in the Carlini stadium which was where Ya Basta! > was camped out when the attack occured - most of the major > tutti bianci and other contingents were already gone, there were > only about three or four hundred people left there at 1 AM when we > got news of the IMC attack. We were told to get our things > and walk up to a different camp about twenty minutes walk > away while Ya Basta! assembled journalists and parlaimentarians > whose presence would protect us, as our camp was definitely > next. Apparently the cops did show up an hour after we took > off, and completely trashed the place; after searching everything, > they opened the camp to a bunch of junkies who then went through > all the remaining bags and tents and made off with or destroyed > everything of value. > > The cops have been working with a lot of low-life elements: > the big story today is of a group of about fifty "Black Bloc" > types who none of the other anarchists knew who always showed up > and started acting extremely violently right before the cops > arrived to gas and attack peaceful protestors. In some cases this > reportedly caused actual fistfights with other Black Blockers who > were trying to stop them from attacking small shops or other > illegitimate targets. The main question people are asking is whether > they were cops or fascists working with the cops - the question may be > moot if reports are to be believed that the top story of the local > carabinieri HQ here is covered with swastikas and fascist symbols. > > The story with the IMC: a couple minutes before midnight according to > an eyewitness account from someone from RTS New York, a band of 50 > "anarchists" in suspiciously uniform black clothes, bandanas and halmets > appeared on a corner near the IMC, coming from the direction of a police > position, started overturning dumpsters, and vanished again. At exactly > midnight a major police convoy appeared and bashed down the gate of the > IMC with a van; people on the street who tried to form a line were > beaten bloody with truncheons; at the IMC itself they had to produce a > warrant and behave in a fairly civilized fashion, simply ripping tapes > out of cameras, appropriating files and smashing computers - largely > because the IMC was given the space by the city government and at least > one minister of parlaiment was present - but across the street, in a > "safe space" in which many activists were sleeping or eating in a > schoolhouse, they simply came in swinging and attacked everyone they > could get their hands on. Most of the most savage beatings were again > not done by uniformed police but by characters dressed in jeans and > bandanas and helmets with 'police' written on their T-shirts, which had > presumably been under the black sweatshirts all along. There was blood > and broken glass everywhere inside; dozens were arrested, many carried > off to the station in stretchers with broken limbs; today every third > person you see in the IMC is wounded in some way - black eyes, arms in > casts, gashes and cuts all over. Most are afraid to go to the hospital > because the police have been removing people with unexplained wounds > from hospital beds and throwing them in jail. > > There were unconfirmed reports in the corporate media that three > people were killed in the assault; most people today think this was > mistaken (corporate media is hobbled in covering stories like this > because most of them have a policy not to use independent media as a > source. Apparently the BBC refused to run live footage of the police > assault the IMC offered to supply them while it was happening because > they claimed the event was "unconfirmed"!) A French journalist is > looking into the matter of the "warrant" and believes that it was a > fraud - no such warrant was actually issued. There are rumors that > Amnesty International is going to take up the matter at the World Court > at the Hague and specifically accuse the Italian government of fascism. > > Considering the fact that the Berlusconi regime is already working in > coalition with overtly fascist parties (ie,led by Mussolini's > grand-daughter) the press is already beginning to talk of a fascist > government. Many of the techniques employed here: the use of fake bomb > threats, rightists posing as leftist terrorists to justify brutal > oppression, were those employed in the '70s to repress Autonomia. > However, what is happening here is obviously not just an Italian > phenomena: techniques of repression are clearly being developed > systematically, with new elements being added with every major action. > For instance, the Italian police here used what were for them entirely > new techniques here, such as the wall around the "red zone" and the > systematic use of extremely powerful tear-gas, which were spearheaded in > Quebec City in April; the use of agents provacateurs disguised as > anarchists right before police attacks on peaceful protestors was used > at least since Barcelona in June, where it was fully documented on film > and acknowledged even by the corporate media; the use of live ammunition > of course goes back to Gothenburg. It is important to note that after > Gothenburg, Ya Basta! appealed to the government, saying that they were > going to promise that no one associated with them engaged in any > aggressive acts against either persons or property, and they were asking > the police in return to agree not to bring live ammunition but rubber > bullets and other relatively non-lethal arms. The police refused, and > even publically announced a week before the summit that they were > ordering body bags for dead protestors. The shootings and killings were > not accidental: this was an intentional policy which goes back at least > to the top of the Italian government but most likely to agencies like > the US secret service which were ultimately coordinating the defense of > the summit. > > It is important to stress that the initiative for personal violence in > just about every case we have looked into came from the police and not > the protestors. On the 19th, there was a completely peaceful march of > 50-60,000 people calling for international freedom of movement; since > the police did not attack, there was no violence or property destruction > of any kind. The next day there were to be four or five separate columns > descending on the walled "red zone" ranging from the Tuti Bianci in > whimsical foam rubber armor and giant plexiglass shields, reformist > groups like ATTAC who had no intention of doing direct action of any > kind, radical syndicalists, a theatrical "pink bloc" with wigs and > feather dusters, and a pagan bloc teamed with Gandhian pacifists who > performed a spiral dance ceremony. Every single one was attacked by the > police, and always following the same pattern: first massive gassing > similar to Quebec City, then baton charges meant to break bones and > heads. The only group which was not attacked was the small "splinter > group" within the Black Bloc which somehow mysteriously appeared in the > middle of whatever group the police were about to attack next, > destroying property randomly, and in some cases physically attacking > people (including other anarchists) who tried to stop them, then somehow > vanishing right before the cops began gassing. This group was never > itself assaulted by the police, it seems, but every other one was at one > point or another. If the police were intending to provoke mayhem, they > succeeded: enraged protestors and many local citizens banded together to > smash store windows and set fire to banks; in some places they even > turned police violence back on the police, throwing rocks and bottles: > there were several street battles, and in one of them, nearby where the > Ya Basta! march was blocked by a police assault, local people, (real) > anarchists and others combined forces to drive the police back and at > certain points the police were definitely getting the worst of it; this > is where a police officer shot one protestor through the eye and drove > his van over him, killing him. Whatever the circumstances of the actual > shooting (and it was not the only occasion in which police used live > ammunition, others were, apparently, wounded by live bullets), the > decision to incite violence and then arm police with live ammunition was > made beforehand with full knowledge of the likely results, and in open > defiance of desperate pleas from the protestors not to take that course. > It is the Berlusconi regime and the international police networks who > have been coordinating the repression of the movement who are > responsible for the violence and death in Genoa, not any particular > policeman, carabinieri, or even fascist. These men knew exactly what > they were doing. > > We have to coordinate an immediate response. We always knew that the > hammer of the state would come down eventually. The movement has been > growing too fast, and has been far too effective, to be allowed to > advance further. Now it is happening. At this point it appears we have > no choice: we must appeal, in every way possible, to civil society; to > spread the word about what is happening, and to hold those responsible > to account. It is already starting to happen in Europe and it is much > harder in the United States where the press is so much more > systematically biased against us, but this is a time to start playing > every card we have - every connection or access to the power structure, > time to start making phone calls, to start daily protests and even, if > necessary, scrupulously non-violent direct actions against the media > itself if it refuses to reveal what is actually happening here. We have > to jam their email and phone banks, not to let them get away with lying > about us any more. These things can be done. We can turn it around. We > can stop the engine of repression in its tracks if our pressure is > massive and overwhelming. Every time we read a story saying "police raid > headquarters of violent protestors" we need to have a hundred letters > sent demanding that they print the truth. We need to start calling the > journalists responsible and demanding to know why they use the language > they did and will not publish key information. To ask them: if you admit > (as they often do in private) that police attacked overwhelmingly > peaceful protestors, why is it they never say so? Be creative. Be > disruptive. Absolutely refuse to go away. > > > > Did you see any of this? > Stay safe, > A > > > Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 13:53:02 +0500 > From: "chuck reinhardt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: "chuck reinhardt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: police raid > > Reclaim the Streets NYC - http://www.rtsnyc.org > > > > ListBot Sponsor > Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. 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Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. > http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay > > > > > > at 12pm, i was in a cafe around the corner from the media center, when we > heard dumpsters falling over. i ran out to see the intersection full of > people dressed like the black block, with the military police right behind > them. they attacked the people sleeping in the school yard , and occupied > the media center. i took a few pictures and we were beaten back repeatedly > by the mp's. dozens of protesters were taken to the hospital, many serious. > they were sleeping at the time. helicopters were overhead all night. we are > having a meeting now to plan. the rest of us are safe for now. more later. > > chuck > >From: Rossini > >To: Chuck Reinhardt > >Subject: (no subject) > >Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 00:44:47 +0200 > > > >dear chuck this day seems never going to an end. we are listening just > >now to the police invading the emdia center in the school where we were > >talking this very afternoon.... they said that a lot of people have been > >hurted in the school in front of the media center.... I hope you were > >not sleeping there!!!!!!! let us know how are you! merde, I can't > >believe! seems we are living in Cile in the 70'! > >we are listening to our friends in the radio and are very worried! > >ok we wait news..... ciao > > > > > __________________________________________________________ > Michael Eisenmenger Media JumpStart > 39 Broadway, 10th Floor, New York, New York 10006 > PH 212 894-3386 Fax 212 616-4994 http://mediajumpstart.org > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > Visit and show your support for the Grass Roots Oyate http://members.tripod.com/GrassRootsOyate Clemency for Leonard Peltier. 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