{"article":{"id":38199,"heading":"A blockade's worth of Inspiration from SF! read this article","author":"you","created":"2003-03-22 09:15:28","modified":"2003-03-22 17:30:48","last_modified":"Sun, 23 Mar 2003 00:30:48","article":"

Disorganize!!!!

http:\/\/sfgate.com\/cgi-bin\/article.cgi?f=\/c\/a\/2003\/03\/21\/TACTICS.TMP<\/a><\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Read this great article (from SF Chronicle?) on tactics and efficacy of affinity based group action. This is how to get it done, fer real.","numcomment":10,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/03\/38199.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":38214,"heading":"Let's do it!","article":"LA needs to see something of what San Francisco tasted today. We need to shut down business as usual and tell the people in power that we will not let them profit from this terrible war unopposed. ","author":"The Time is Now","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 09:47:29","modified":"2003-03-22 09:47:29","fileurl":""},{"id":38226,"heading":"Carefull","article":">>LA needs to see something of what\r\n>> San Francisco tasted today\r\n\r\nWhat you may end up "tasting" is martial law.\r\n\r\nGo do a google search on "Watts Riots"\r\n\r\nTry not to do anything TOO stupid, kids.\r\n\r\n","author":"MadMaxim","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 10:36:16","modified":"2003-03-22 10:36:16","fileurl":""},{"id":38235,"heading":"LA in the morning","article":"L.A. needs to see this kind of action on FRIDAY MORNING! Go block to block, never stop for too long - keep it shut down! Block those freeways! Just check out what they did in Portland, shutting down the I-5 Freeway 4 or 5 times in one evening! Keep on the move, go go go!","author":"Marcos","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 11:05:36","modified":"2003-03-22 11:05:36","fileurl":""},{"id":38247,"heading":"Tactics","article":"I heard a few people talking about this tactic late today, and wishing that we'd tried it in Westwood. \r\n\r\nAlso, some people were going around at about 8 pm, whispering, "We're moving to Westwood Blvd," but at that time I didn't understand what they were trying to communicate. Nobody really paid attention, and no cluster groups broke off that I saw.\r\n\r\nThen again, we did hold Wilshire for hours. The crowd on the west side of the intersection didn't move until victory was declared and the demo broke up.\r\n\r\nThe strategy they used in SF sounds viable for here, though. LAPD\/LASD are just like that--they'll use 50 cops to arrest four people. With the right organization, that means hundreds of us can rush to the next spot. Use their slowness against them. \r\n\r\nIf only we had aerial spotters, it could go on indefinitely..","author":"Brian","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2003-03-22 12:37:45","modified":"2005-08-15 01:17:32","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/03\/deputies.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/03\/deputies.jpg"}},{"id":38326,"heading":"spotters","article":" up in pdx there were people monitoring police radios and broadcasting info to cell phone mailing lists. it's not aeriel surveillance, but it's something.","author":"Nasrudin","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 16:57:09","modified":"2003-03-22 16:57:09","fileurl":""},{"id":38330,"heading":"Read THIS ARTICLE","article":"You people for "peace" for the Iraqi people are morons. Here's is your proof. And it will ONLY GET BIGGER. Are you starting to feel stupid yet? \r\n\r\n"No Saddam Hussein!" one young man in headscarf told Gurfein. "Bush!" \r\n\r\n\r\nU.S. Marines Rip Down Saddam Portraits \r\n1 hour, 5 minutes ago \r\n\r\nBy ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated Press Writer \r\n\r\nMilling crowds of men and boys watched as the Marines attached ropes on the front of their Jeeps to one portrait and then backed up, peeling the Iraqi leader's black-and-white metal image off a frame. Some locals briefly joined Maj. David "Bull" Gurfein in a new cheer. \r\n\r\n\r\n"Iraqis! Iraqis! Iraqis!" Gurfein yelled, pumping his fist in the air. \r\n\r\n\r\n"We wanted to send a message that Saddam is done," said Gurfein, a New York native in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "People are scared to show a lot of emotion. That's why we wanted to show them this time we're here, and Saddam is done." \r\n\r\n\r\nThe Marines arrived in Safwan, just across the Kuwait border, after Cobra attack helicopters, attack jets, tanks, 155 mm howitzers and sharpshooters cleared the way along Route 80, the main road into Iraq (news - web sites). \r\n\r\n\r\nSafwan, 375 miles south of Baghdad, is a poor, dirty, wrecked town pocked by shrapnel from the last Gulf war (news - web sites). Iraqi forces in the area sporadically fired mortars and guns for hours Thursday and Friday. Most townspeople hid, although residents brought forth a wounded little girl, her palm bleeding after the new fighting. Another man said his wife was shot in the leg by the Americans. \r\n\r\n\r\nA few men and boys ventured out, putting makeshift white flags on their pickup trucks or waving white T-shirts out truck windows. \r\n\r\n\r\n"Americans very good," Ali Khemy said. "Iraq wants to be free." \r\n\r\n\r\nSome chanted, "Ameriki! Ameriki!" \r\n\r\n\r\nMany others in the starving town just patted their stomachs and raised their hands, begging for food. \r\n\r\n\r\nA man identifying himself only as Abdullah welcomed the arrival of the U.S. troops: "Saddam Hussein is no good. Saddam Hussein a butcher." \r\n\r\n\r\nAn old woman shrouded in black — one of the very few women outside — knelt toward the feet of Americans, embracing an American woman. A younger man with her pulled her away, giving her a warning sign by sliding his finger across his throat. \r\n\r\n\r\nIn 1991, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died after prematurely celebrating what they believed was their liberation from Saddam after the Gulf War. Some even pulled down a few pictures of Saddam then — only to be killed by Iraqi forces. \r\n\r\n\r\nGurfein playfully traded pats with a disabled man and turned down a dinner invitation from townspeople. \r\n\r\n\r\n"Friend, friend," he told them in Arabic learned in the first Gulf War. \r\n\r\n\r\n"We stopped in Kuwait that time," he said. "We were all ready to come up there then, and we never did." \r\n\r\n\r\nThe townspeople seemed grateful this time. \r\n\r\n\r\n"No Saddam Hussein!" one young man in headscarf told Gurfein. "Bush!" \r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"Rich","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 16:59:08","modified":"2003-03-22 16:59:08","fileurl":""},{"id":38332,"heading":"San Francisco Street Subversion","article":"San Francisco Street Subversion\r\nBy Brian Sayre\r\nFrontPageMagazine.com | March 21, 2003\r\n\r\n\r\nOver five hundred were detained before eleven o'clock this morning; a television reporter declared 'truckloads more' had come in by mid-afternoon. Surrendering Iraqi soldiers? No, anti-American demonstrators, set loose on the streets of San Francisco.\r\n\r\nToday, on the first day of America's campaign to liberate the Iraqi people, at a time when the threat of terrorist attack is elevated and the troops need our support, thousands of Bay Area radicals poured into the streets in a last-ditch effort to impose their lost argument undemocratically on the rest of San Francisco. The majority of the city's police force were tied up unblocking the streets. With at least one suspected Al Qaeda pilot being sought by the FBI on American soil, the citizens of San Francisco lost the use of manpower best used to spot terrorists.\r\n\r\nThe disruption began early, before the morning commute. Coalitions of radical activists had long planned to block over two dozen different intersections and workplaces - by the time they got organized, before eight o'clock, they'd successfully shut down at least ten, including several on the main arteries of Mission, Van Ness, and Market. A freeway ramp was also blocked, with over two hundred people occupying it. Other protestors used subterfuge to achieve their aims. After stealing equipment from construction workers, a pack of young men sealed other freeway off-ramps with traffic cones and men-at-work signs. All were being well organized - the coalition behind the chaos, Direct Action to Stop the War, had arranged in advance for a legal team to defend the arrested. Out of their command post in the Justin Herman Plaza, they directed new arrivals to where they could cause the most confusion.\r\n\r\nAlthough the San Francisco police acted promptly, and began arresting those who refused to disperse, progress was slow as demonstrators locked their arms together within steel pipes. By half past eight, one intersection was shut down by people locked to large cement blocks; another group uprooted newspaper racks and strew them across the streets. There would be no business as usual for those San Franciscans who wanted to work and support their families.Will the protestors reimburse them for their lost pay? Their measure, designed to stop the war, hurts hardest the working poor they usually defend. While these protestors, many of them unemployed students, claim the safety of the Iraqi people is worth taking from the pockets of working Californians, President Bush and the majority of Americans know that only the liberation of Iraq from the dictator will truly make Iraqis safe, and are not about to listen to a small crowd of street rabble. At times like this, we must wonder - what exactly is their point?\r\n\r\nAs the day progressed, their point became more clear - to cause as much havoc as possible. Despite the best efforts of the San Francisco police force, they were unable to clear the streets, no doubt because of their refusal to lower themselves to the protestors' violent level. By mid-morning, at Post and Grant, people pushed cars out to blockade the street. By noon, crowds were roving up and down Market, blocking traffic - and just when the police had restrained a large number by the Federal Building, and were preparing for a mass arrest, a 'Black Bloc' of anarchist protestors assembled elsewhere and began their own march. Leading a march reportedly two thousand strong, this black-clad mob headed for the Financial District, opening a fire hydrant and breaking windows - windows of police cars, windows of the Federal Building.\r\n\r\nWhen many of these Black Bloc protestors were arrested at the Federal Building, police made surprising discoveries - these practitioners of 'non-violent civil disobedience' were armed. Knives. Wrenches. Clubs. Hammers. In one case, a taser. Mercifully, no firearms - yet. At the time of writing, news is still sparse, and details uncertain; but two short words on their own radical website are enough to bring an uneasy sickness to the stomach: "Cop down."\r\n\r\nThe arrested are being taken to at least two processing stations - one set up on the length of one of the city's piers. There the protestors are documented, cited, and released. As one local television reporter announced mid-afternoon, the turnaround time was two to three hours.\r\n\r\nHowever, the protests are set to continue all night. Already, protestors have announced 're-convergences' every two hours until midnight - at these re-convergences, they assemble enough bodies until they can set off through the city with relative impunity, able to be subdued only by a large force of riot cops. They plan to stay out all night; many have expressed enthusiasm for continuing their unlawful activity indefinitely. Again - just what is the point? Mayor Willie Brown, despite being personally against a war on Iraq, provided the answer for the San Francisco Chronicle: "I've got to assume that these people are so misguided that they are actually aiding the enemy by doing what they are doing." \r\n\r\nExactly, Mayor Brown. The protestors are indeed aiding the enemy, by making it easier for him to strike us at home.\r\n\r\nThere is room in civil society for a wide range of opinions on the war in Iraq, although now that the government has decided, we all have an obligation to support our troops and respect the sacrifices they make. Those against a war still have plenty of opportunity to dissent - by writing to the newspapers, by calling their politicians, and by participating in legal protest, planned for by the police.\r\n\r\nYet no one has a right to break the law. No one has the right to jeopardize others by keeping our police from their job. At times like this, we all must speak out against the 'revolving door' system of arrests taking place in San Francisco and other cities across America. Our police do their job well, putting themselves in danger to ensure our cities run, but when they can only take a radical out of action for two to three hours at a time, the laws they enforce are failing them. But there are steps we can take to correct this situation. \r\n\r\nWe can start by encouraging our politicians and prosecutors to press for harsher penalties and higher bails, keeping a protestor from being arrested multiple times in a single action, allowing the police to clear the streets of lawbreakers rather than simply shifting them around. A much better solution – give teeth to the existing laws with mandatory, harsher penalties in time of increased terrorist threat, penalties that would keep these lawbreakers from weakening our defenses against terrorism for the duration of the conflict.\r\n\r\nAmerica is at war in Iraq. God bless our troops. Regrettably, a few have chosen to wage war at home. May God also bless our police.\r\n","author":"Sam","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 17:02:28","modified":"2003-03-22 17:02:28","fileurl":""},{"id":38335,"heading":"God?","article":"God? There is no God. Humans invented the idea of God and now use that idea to herd the sheep around.\r\n","author":"huh?","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 17:07:19","modified":"2003-03-22 17:07:19","fileurl":""},{"id":38345,"heading":"The New X","article":"The New X\r\nby The New X \u2022 Thursday March 20, 2003 Thut 04:33 PM\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nthe fear that Saddam will attack the US with WMD shows how PARANOID americans are. \r\n\r\nthey don't really know why he will attack \r\nthey just know he will \r\n\r\n"we don't know what a nigger is, but we're just gonna hate 'em anyway" \r\n\r\nAMERICAN HYPOCRISY \r\n\r\nTO ANY PRO-WAR ADVOCATE \r\nI DARE YOU TO REPLY TO THIS: \r\n\r\nThe US government supported Saddam during his most murderous years. They supplied him with WMD and the technology to make his own WMD. EVEN THOUGH HE WAS A KNOWN TYRANT. Why? So that he would use them on the Iranians. Even after Halabja in 1988, the US government CONTINUED to support him. \r\n\r\nNow in the year 2003 (whether it is morally just or not), Saddam no longer wishes to play into US global strategy. So he is ALL OF A SUDDEN branded a TYRANT ------ EVEN THOUGH HE WAS A MURDEROUS TYRANT ALL THE YEARS THE US SUPPORTED HIM! \r\n\r\nIsn't it hypocritical that although he was even more murderous back then, he was considered an ALLY and FRIEND OF AMERICA simply because he was killing Iranians (if 5,000 kurds happened to be gassed in a single attack thats no big deal). Now he's still murderous but now the US actually acknowledges that he is a tyrant. Imagine if he was still following US wishes by fighting with Iraq, would the US be calling him a TYRANT? I DON'T THINK SO. \r\n\r\nHYPOCRISY HYPOCRISY HYPOCRISY. \r\n\r\nUntil the US apologizes to the victims of Saddam terror DURING THE YEARS THAT THEY SUPPORTED HIM, this war will only be about US PARANOIA and its attempts at gaining a FALSE sense of security. \r\n\r\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------- \r\n\r\nwar advocates only want to see sand nigger blood being spilled. they try to improve the body count \r\n2,500 Americans (WTC) < 100,000 Sand Niggers. \r\n\r\nSo they can feel better about themselves and feel as if they "won" the overall battle. Their oh so precious American pride was hurt on 9\/11 and now they seek to get it back by killing sand niggers left rite and center \r\n\r\n(basically this is the whole starship troopers scenario)\r\n","author":"The New X","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 17:22:44","modified":"2013-11-10 23:49:11","fileurl":""},{"id":38357,"heading":"God Bless USA","article":"God Bless USA, the land of the free. America just tries to help the oppressed. Iran was opressing and helping Iraq was helping the people of Iran. I don't believe any of the stories about oil or our good president only being interested in spreading Capitalism to the mid east and helping his loyal friends make lots of money selling arms and space weapons. No way God loves the USA that is why we are so strong.","author":"MollyHawk","parent_id":38199,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-22 17:30:53","modified":"2003-03-22 17:30:53","fileurl":""}]}