Naomi Wolf: "Revealed: How the FBI Coordinated the Crackdown on Occupy"

[99th_Monkey]

Last edited Mon Dec 31, 2012, 03:07 AM - Edit history (1)

Revealed: How the FBI Coordinated the Crackdown on Occupy
Published on Sunday, December 30, 2012 by The Guardian
New documents prove what was once dismissed as paranoid fantasy: totally integrated corporate-state repression of dissent

by Naomi Wolf

It was more sophisticated than we had imagined: new documents show that the violent crackdown on Occupy last fall – so mystifying at the time – was not just coordinated at the level of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local police. The crackdown, which involved, as you may recall, violent arrests, group disruption, canister missiles to the skulls of protesters, people held in handcuffs so tight they were injured, people held in bondage till they were forced to wet or soil themselves –was coordinated with the big banks themselves.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, in a groundbreaking scoop that should once more shame major US media outlets (why are nonprofits now some of the only entities in America left breaking major civil liberties news?), filed this request. The document – reproduced here in an easily searchable format – shows a terrifying network of coordinated DHS, FBI, police, regional fusion center, and private-sector activity so completely merged into one another that the monstrous whole is, in fact, one entity: in some cases, bearing a single name, the Domestic Security Alliance Council. And it reveals this merged entity to have one centrally planned, locally executed mission. The documents, in short, show the cops and DHS working for and with banks to target, arrest, and politically disable peaceful American citizens.

The documents, released after long delay in the week between Christmas and New Year, show a nationwide meta-plot unfolding in city after city in an Orwellian world: six American universities are sites where campus police funneled information about students involved with OWS to the FBI, with the administrations' knowledge (p51); banks sat down with FBI officials to pool information about OWS protesters harvested by private security; plans to crush Occupy events, planned for a month down the road, were made by the FBI – and offered to the representatives of the same organizations that the protests would target; and even threats of the assassination of OWS leaders by sniper fire – by whom? Where? – now remain redacted and undisclosed to those American citizens in danger, contrary to standard FBI practice to inform the person concerned when there is a threat against a political leader (p61).

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/30

_______*________*________*________*_______*________*________*________*___

Just in case anyone here was doubtful about the FBI's massive & coordinated repression of OWS, using local police to brutalize and "eliminate" OWS encampments, all on behalf of Wall St.

[think]

1. Cough: "with the administrations' knowledge banks sat down with FBI officials"

Nice to see the administration, the FBI, and banks working together for our common good.

[stumblnrose]

2. They had a threesome

nt

[think]

4. and yet it was the American public who got screwed...... nt/

[starroute]

7. You can't leave local city governments out of the equation

Even nominally Democratic mayors are so concerned with pleasing their corporate masters and the forces of gentrification that they're all too ready to leap to attention at the slightest hint.

Mayors, police chiefs, and "civil leaders" are every bit as much of a menace as the federal government, the FBI, and the banks.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. But, but....

Oh never mind.

[HiPointDem]

5. these threads aren't getting much play. don't democrats care?

[rtassi]

10. Today's Democrats think it was Ok for this to happen ..

Those of us who have been around since protesting the Vietnam War saw this as advanced standard procedure, and are not at all surprised ... let alone needing Naomi Wolf (no disrespect intended) to inform us officially that the FBI was involved ... I mean really how else could it have happened in such a coordinated way? ... right up to the White House steps with this one ... Just like Nixon ... So why is anyone surprised? How hard was that to figure out?

[99th_Monkey]

17. Is one thing to suspect, presume, or try to "figure it out" based on the past

Is quite another to expose the ugly details and document them for all to see
how much of a "bi-partisan" tool our political apparatus is, to do the bidding
of the most wealthy assholes in the world.

Surprised? Not really. It was almost predictable, given how our self-appointed
oligarch$ react whenever their tyranical reign is challenged in any serious way.

I applaud Naomi Wolf's documentation of how this all came down, for the record.

[Egalitarian Thug]

15. Not when it's the Democrats doing it. IOKIYAD

Yay, team blue!

[farminator3000]

6. K&R

"The Federal Reserve of Richmond, Virginia had its own private security surveilling Occupy Tampa and Tampa Veterans for Peace and passing privately-collected information on activists back to the Richmond FBI, which, in turn, categorized OWS activities under its "domestic terrorism" unit. The Anchorage, Alaska "terrorism task force" was watching Occupy Anchorage. The Jackson, Michigan "joint terrorism task force" was issuing a "counterterrorism preparedness alert" about the ill-organized grandmas and college sophomores in Occupy there. Also in Jackson, Michigan, the FBI and the "Bank Security Group" – multiple private banks – met to discuss the reaction to "National Bad Bank Sit-in Day" (the response was violent, as you may recall). The Virginia FBI sent that state's Occupy members' details to the Virginia terrorism fusion center. The Memphis FBI tracked OWS under its "joint terrorism task force" aegis, too. And so on, for over 100 pages."

[jonthebru]

8. It is the "Golden Rule."

Those with the Gold, rule!

[think]

9. Sad but oh so true.......

[Zorra]

11. Naomi is vindicated, and a whole lot of DU posters are eating serious crow right now.

Last November, after she reported that there had been a coordinated stomp on and totally violently crush Occupy effort by police agencies at all levels, there was a whole bunch of threads and posts trashing Naomi and saying she made it all up.

I just searched through those threads and posts.


Congratulations on your vindication, Naomi!!!

[HiPointDem]

12. People don't want to hear it because it reflects badly on the obama administration.

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. Obama silent on 7,400+ beatings and arrests. Elephant in the room.

Then he signs the NDAA, NDRP, HR347, FISA (today!)...with zero oversight on the banks. Want to bet cash money there will be no call from the WH to investigate and punish the FBI/DHS/Banks over this? I'll happily apologize if there is real action as a result but in looking at the trend of the burgeoning police state, I'd say the police state is the plan, not the Bill of Rights.

Prove me wrong, Obama. I won't be holding my breath.

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. Jean Quan let slip early on that 18 mayors were tele-conferencing on what to do about Occupy

camps in their cities. Not too long after, multiple camps were attacked nearly all at once. Go figure.

Occupy have revealed for the average person to see, that banks are the true power in this country and perhaps the world. Time for the Iceland model.

[Egalitarian Thug]

16. I'm sure you don't mean to imply that there is some kind of coordinated effort on the part

of good and honest Democratic officials to suppress the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of American citizens to freely assemble and seek redress of their concerns. Do you?

[Fire Walk With Me]

25. I wouldn't dare point out a real problem if Democrats were involved

even if fixing it meant creating a better world!

[Egalitarian Thug]

27. Well that's good hear. You know, what you posted might be interpreted that way

by a few cynical malcontents with a radical agenda.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. They're back

[randome]

28. 'Coordinated stomp'? Please point out the relevant passage.

And I don't mean by parroting whatever Naomi says. Read the documents. There was no 'coordinated stomp'.

[KG]

19. recall being tut-tutted by the 'serious' DUers?

[madrchsod]

20. nothing new other than the efficient use of new technology

anyone who has ever read the history of the labor ,civil rights,and the anti war movements should`t be shocked at the level of coordination of these groups.

[99th_Monkey]

29. Of course, "there's nothing new under the sun" is the old saying..

yet there are seasons and cycles and current iterations of particular
phenomenon, type of event, or what have you.

OP was to inform, not surprise you. Sorry if you were disappointed,
or are feeling "surprise-deprived" or something like that.

[Norrin Radd]

21. kr

[ProSense]

22. Actually read the documents released by the FBI about OWS

Actually read the documents released by the FBI about OWS
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/30/1174818/-Actually-read-the-documents-released-by-the-FBI-about-OWS

More: http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1174818/48903539#c5

Happy reading.

[Odin2005]

23. Is it FASCISM, yet???

[randome]

24. Not even close.

What would you expect law enforcement to do when there are a hundred different protest groups without any leaders? Take someone's word for what they are doing? If so, whose word?

Read Prosense's link above. This is nothing more nefarious than law enforcement doing its job. In several places, they specifically state that the different OWS groups were peaceful.

[Cleita]

26. Yes, they are doing their job, that job being of

clicking their heels and following the orders of their fascist overlords. As someone who has lived through WWII, Nazis, Soviets, and more banana republics than I care to count, it isn't hard to see the hard right, authoritarian nature of what is happening when the population decides that it's fed up and those in charge retaliate.

[Egalitarian Thug]

33. Not until there are tanks and troops wearing Hugo Boss on the streets.

The determinedly obtuse will never admit what is until it beats down their door.

[dreamnightwind]

30. Great to have confirmation of this

It was pretty obvious at the time to Occupy supporters, though the details were unknown. Personally though I am surprised that the government would consult with the banks, that seems too out-of-the-box, or at least I'd like to think so. It's so blatantly fascist it isn't funny.

Perhaps the most concerning tidbit here is that they were considering Occupy protesters to be "domestic terrorists" rather than patriotic citizens trying to reform a system that had shown itself incapable of fixing major systemic problems.

You can certainly see where this leads. In the not-too-distant future, drones will be sent to deal with the "domestic terrorists". We're getting close to Blade Runner territory here.

[99th_Monkey]

31. +100 nt

[dogknob]

32. I had to "jazz up" that link a little to share it on Facebook...

"Zany dog colludes with Breaking Bad sushi chefs and other Mad Men to spread Glee and anger the Walking Dead. Honey Boo Boo clutches her iPad and demands a quick end to imagined hostilities by any means possible."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/30

That should get one or two hits.