A taxpayer group organizer is going to get their membership to participate in the Tea Parties coming up across the nation.
See http://federaljack.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4357
These are what they call peaceful demonstrations. People bring their kids.
I got to thinking about this in context of the bigger picture and came across this from Europe. http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2007/08/criminalization-of-peaceful-protest.html
The Criminalization of Peaceful Protest
by Baron Bodissey
Yesterday the Brussels Journal posted translated excerpts from an op-ed piece by Freddy Thielemans, the mayor of Brussels.
I decided to forbid the September 11 demonstration “against the islamicisation of Europe.” […] Since 2001 I have allowed over 3,500 demonstrations. This is only the sixth one which I forbid. […] The right to demonstrate exists only inasmuch as it does not cause a disturbance of the public peace and order. […] First and foremost the organizers have chosen the symbolic date of 9/11. The intention is obviously to [conflate] the terrorist activities of Muslim extremists on the one hand and Islam as a religion and all Muslims on the other hand. […] Such incitement to discrimination and hatred, which we usually call racism and xenophobia, is forbidden by a considerable number of international treaties and is punished by our penal laws and by the European legislation. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly pronounced judgements condemning this type of acts. […]
Our society has long fought to achieve that certain codes of behaviour connected with the Catholic religion are no longer enforced as civil law upon everyone. To my knowledge not a single rule specific to the Islamic religion is being enforced in similar fashion. And I see no indication that a large majority of our Muslim population is demanding any such thing.
…With regard to the planned demonstration of September 11 “against the Islamicisation of Europe” my mind is made up. And my decision is final: it will not take place.
Paul Belien then commented on Mayor Thielemans’ message:
Clearly this should be read as a threat. Anyone who intends to participate in the 9/11 demo is a criminal under Belgian and European law: he or she is a racist and a xenophobe (Islamophobe).
Contrary to what the mayor says, rules specific to the Islamic religion are being imposed upon society as a whole. For instance, Brussels has segregated swimming hours for women in public pools; Brussels public schools serve halal meat; Muslims slaughter sheep in the streets of Brussels; the religion-hating (religiophobia, anyone?) Brussels mayor, who toasts the death of the Pope, does not toast the death of Muslim leaders; …
Yesterday a British reader who is planning to attend the SIOE demonstration received an email which he passed on to us. It’s from a European contact who has knowledge of how these matters are handled in Brussels:
I should warn you that the Mayor is setting a trap! He intends deploying large numbers of territorial riot police and using them to beat the crap out of us as an object lesson. This will be meant to serve as the first lesson of obedience and warning to all those that oppose the Islamisation of the EU. I just thought you would all like to know. The Russians and Nazi used similar tactics. He is priming the public to view us as criminals. Then he moves in the boot boys and they will hand out everything they can muster.
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I have seen this all before!
I am thinking about whether it is sensible to go! I do not want my skull kicked in and then be put on trial on trumped up charges. It would only serve their cause and we have more important work to do than succumb to what is in effect entrapment. These are Belgian police not cuddly politically correct British coppers.
Be prepared for deliberate provocation and bullying on the slightest excuse.
Let’s not be babes in the woods about this. The deck is stacked against us.Expect that agents provocateurs will be planted among us. The guy standing next to you with the “Say NO to Sharia” sign may be an AFA plant or even a police infiltrator. When he lobs a rock over your head into the police lines and then disappears, it will be you who get cracked in the skull by a police baton, with a free ride to the hoosegow to follow, courtesy of Belgium’s finest.
I wrote yesterday about the autonomer in Denmark and their tougher cousins in Brussels. Assume that these anarchists of the “Antifascist Action” squads will be out in full force in Brussels. Assume also that the Belgian riot police will be primed to suppress the slightest hint of questionable behavior by the SIOE demonstrators, while turning a blind eye to anything that the AFA goons do in response.
Any media coverage of the event will be artfully edited to place SIOE in the worst possible light. If a neo-Nazi skinhead finds his way into our ranks, you can guarantee that the footage of him will be looping over and over again that night on TV screens all over the world. The counterprotesters — with their all-inclusive peace ’n’ love Multicultural signs and tame imams uttering perfectly-phrased bromides into the microphones — will be featured in the best news spots and sound bites of the event, complete with subtitles in all the relevant languages.
We will be caught between a rock and a hard place, with the police on one side and the autonomer on the other. Both will be better-armed and meaner than we are. Both will have the iron fist of sympathetic media coverage multiplying their firepower.
The only possible advantages we will have will be the rightness of our cause, and superior numbers.
The first of those is taken care of. Can we manage the second?
MY COMMENTS:
The parallel is not that good, but good enough.
So I wrote to this organizer –
One thing to remember – the free speech zones and the federalized LEO activities as seen at the Repub and Demo conventions. The LEO’s at these events did not need ANY excuse to use heavy handed tactics on folks who were just participating in a peaceful manner and doing nothing other than reporting or following the demonstrations. They were using pepper spray on those who clearly were no threat.
And going after selected media.
These demonstrations may be used as an excuse, eventually, to declare martial law.
What you will see are people showing up at these demonstrations that work for some black box agency who will ramp things up and try to turn the event into some type of violent march or engage in property destruction, vandalism, they might be in possession of ‘cocktails’ etc. They will be arrested and later released to do the same elsewhere.
As noted above, even the LEO’s will be employed in ways to incite violence; i.e., force people to defend themselves. They can always spin it later to look like they were there just to keep order and were then attacked.
I am sure that I am not the first to issue such a warning and I am sure that we will see some events where ‘plants’ are used to ramp things up. There are many ways to prevent this and I am sure that you can come up with several good ways to do so.
The other thing you will see is photographers and folks with video cameras. Some will be there for very innocent purposes and others will be documenting and getting info for the various black box agencies. These pics and videos can and will be used for just about anything that could be imagined to control or escalate the situation.
The intent, I believe, will be to use guerrilla tactics to foment more violence and increase civil unrest to give the excuse to impose martial law. With martial law they can get rid of jury trials and the BIG door is open.
I think you get the idea. We have to start thinking this way NOW. The old methods and assumptions about law, rights and enforcement can logically be thrown out the window. The PTB are on the fast track and quite prepared for anything coming their way from the sheeple.
Use your noggin and say a prayer!
MORE!
5 Reasons for Activists to Cover Their Faces at Protests
Feb 23rd, 2009 by Will Potter
“If activists have nothing to hide, why are they wearing masks?”
I’ve heard that question over and over again. It usually comes in the form of a soundbite from someone affiliated with a corporation, industry or government agency that is attempting to smear lawful activists as “terrorists.”
Their reasoning goes something like this: If you aren’t doing anything wrong, you have no reason to hide your face. If you are hiding your face, it’s an admission of criminal activity. Therefore, wearing a mask justifies rounding up lawful activists as “terrorists.”
That’s exactly what happened in the recent arrests of four activists on Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act charges in California. The FBI argues that activists “wearing bandanas to hide their faces” were intimidating, and that this therefore amounted to a campaign of terror.
To those not familiar with grassroots activism, that might seem like a pretty reasonable point. Masks are generally associated with bandits, ninjas and Hamburgler, all of which are quite intimidating. So, why would someone want to cover their face at a protest?
- Spying. The FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Forces routinely spy on lawful, above-ground activists. For instance, the ACLU exposed FBI agents spying on animal rights activists who were leafleting outside of HoneyBaked Hams. And corporations have been tracking who activists are dating.
- Blacklists. Government “watchlists” have millions of names. Recently in Maryland, it was exposed that law enforcement kept terrorist files on environmentalists, antiwar activists, and nuns.
- Grand jury witch hunts. Vocal, public activists are routinely hauled before grand juries in political witch hunts, and forced to testify about their political beliefs and political associations. If they refuse, they face jail time.
- Infiltration. The government has been using paid informants and provacateurs to keep tabs on lawful protest movements. The recent case of the RNC 8 is a good example, and even more disturbing is “Anna,” the FBI informant who befriended activists and entrapped them.
- Legal attacks. FBI agents have shown their incompetence in attempts to track down underground members of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. There have been arrests, but those crimes overwhelmingly remain unsolved. Instead, law enforcement has been cracking down on the public faces of those movements and labeling them “eco-terrorists.” A good example of that is the SHAC 7 case.
In this political climate, many activists have told me they face a difficult decision. If they take to the streets and protest on a controversial campaign (especially a campaign that has involved both legal and illegal tactics), they risk this surveillance, harassment and intimidation.
If they don’t take to the streets, they are compromising their beliefs and remaining silent about the things that matter.
For many, a solution has been to continue protesting on these campaigns, but with masks covering their faces. It clearly isn’t always the best solution. It can alienate and isolate everyday people who might otherwise be open to the message of the protest.
It clearly infuriates the feds that activists want to protect their identities while continuing to advocate for what they believe. A Joint Terrorism Task Force has even gone so far as to arrest an animal rights activist on felony charges for wearing a mask at a protest.
It would be a mistake, though, to blindly buy the FBI rhetoric. Wearing a mask may or may not best campaign decision for activists. But wearing a mask doesn’t mean activists are guilty, or that they are “terrorists.” For many activists, it simply means they don’t trust FBI agents and corporations. The developments of the last few days have shown they have good reason to feel that way.
