This is from my presentation about the current farce called the 'war on terror' which targets marginalized communities and political dissent in the U.S. It covers a little history, government surveillance, and corporate private security. It also contains tools for activists, political organizers and some within targeted communities to protect themselves against the repression. Some of it based on my personal experiences and included in my book: Black Flags and Windmills

1. What me worry?
The Rise of the S urveillance S tate & What We
can DO About it

2. I. What is terrorism?
Who defines it?

3. Is destroying property
the same as attacking
civil society for political
motivations?

4. Terrorism: a definition
• It’s associated with unlawful use of violence,
or threats of violence by non-state agents
• It’s intended to instill widespread fear in civil
society beyond those targeted
• It’s used to force change in government
policy or causes economic loss for
corporations

5. Do these two acts represent
the same thing?

6. II. S ome history of targeting
political movements

10. Angola 3

11. III. Growth of the ‘Intelligence’
industry

13. Private / Government
revolving door

14. Almost 4,000 gov.’t agencies
created or reassigned

16. *Muslims/People of Middle Eastern descent
*Muslims/People of Middle Eastern descent
* Animal Rights /Environmentalgroups
* Animal Rights /Environmental groups
* Political activists :: Anarchists in particular
* Political activists Anarchists in particular

17. What about right wing/anti-choice
groups?
• Militias
• Anti-choice activists
• White supremacists
• Religious fundamentalists

18. Are extremist actions by the right
labeled terrorism?

19. ? WHY ?

20. IV. S ome cases and what they reveal

21. Spying in my FBI cases
• Collected 1,200 pages from 2001-2008
• “ environmental terrorist” , “ animal rights extremist”
or “ domestic terrorist”
• Investigated in 13 field offices in 9 states
• Five informants since 2001
• Under various intense surveillance during this time
including: physical, electronic, video and photo.

22. Spying in my FBI cases
• All known relations were investigated
• S ubpoenaed all utilities, mortgage and bank
records
• Investigated by IRS for tax evasion.
• Visits to business & home
• Threats of grand juries
• ‘Randomly’ searched at airports every time. Trouble

23. ‘Intelligence’ agencies
information gathered is wide
but not deep

24. Information learned from looking at
1,000’s of pages of FBI F.O.I.A.’S
* Informants are their best sources.
* Agencies are taking too much information to
develop critical analysis around it.
* They push a lot of duplicate & redundant
paperwork
* ‘Intelligence’ information gathered is wide,
not deep.

25. Information learned from looking at
1,000’s of pages of FBI F.O.I.A.’S
They don’t understand horizontal /decentralized
politics or organizing structures.
They do sloppy work.
Even with their vast resources they still have limits on
how or what they will allocate them too.
Private security & gov’t. agencies are revolving doors
of personnel and projects.

27. V. What we CAN do

28. What we can do I
Don’t be afraid
Remember the counter-terrorism complex is the largest most
inefficient bureaucracies ever created.
The ‘worst’ things we fear only happen to a vastly small
number of people.
If you are targeted it can b e a scary, but remain calm.
If we give in to fear they have already won

29. Movement work
* Solidarity: Reach out & support those
targeted or imprisoned
Especially communities beyond radical subculture
* Practice appropriate security culture
99% of our movement is above ground.99
* Don’t let the state divide us
* Bad behavior is bad behavior
Remove problematic people
* Don’t believe the hype!
Facebook, Apple & Twitter knows more than the state!

30. Organizing work
* Attend/ Conduct ‘Know Your Rights” trainings
* S upport diversity of tactics in movements
It takes all kinds of actions to resist Power.
* Maintain transparency within the public sphere.
There is protection in wider communities
* Lawyer up
Find friendly lawyers that can be called upon. The state understands them.
* Use the media ( grassroots & corporate)
* Keep organizing for liberation

31. DON’T GIVE IN
DON’T GIVE UP
RES IS T
REBEL
CREATE
BUILD

32. scottcrow.org
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