In Solidarity with Pine Ridge - DGR Great Plains Announces Action at White Clay, NE

The film Battle for Whiteclay, a documentary about the ongoing genocide in Whiteclay, Nebraska

March for Justice 2012: Always in Memory of Wally Black Elk and Ron Hard Heart
Date: June 9th, 2012 at 12 pm
Location: Billy Mills Hall, Pine Ridge, SD
A Day of Action against Whiteclay, NE

Whiteclay, Nebraska is an unincorporated village with a population of 14 people in northwest Nebraska. The town sits on the border of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Oglala Lakota (also known as the Oglala Sioux Tribe), only 200 feet from the official reservation border and less than 3 miles from the center of Pine Ridge, South Dakota, the largest town on the reservation. On June 9th, the fight against Whiteclay continues.

Sale and possession of alcoholic beverages on the Pine Ridge is prohibited under tribal law. Except for a brief experiment with on-reservation liquor sales in the early 1970s, this prohibition has been in effect since the reservation lands were created. Whiteclay has four off-sale beer stores licensed by the State of Nebraska which sell the equivalent of 4.5 million 12-ounce cans of beer annually (12,500 cans per day), mostly to the Oglalas living on Pine Ridge. These retailers routinely violate Nebraska liquor law by selling beer to minors and intoxicated persons, knowingly selling to bootleggers who resell the beer on the reservation, permitting on-premise consumption of beer in violation of restrictions placed on off-sale-only licenses, and exchanging beer for sexual favors.

Many people have died in the streets due to exposure, as the state of Nebraska fails to address the breaches of state law and countless deaths as a result of dealers in Whiteclay. As long as the liquor stores in Whiteclay remain in business, the genocide of the Oglala Lakota people will continue.

Deep Green Resistance Great Plains and other Deep Green Resistances organizers across the country are coordinating support for the Oglala Lakota activists organizing the action against the liquor peddlers in Whiteclay. We stand with the people of Pine Ridge and the organizers of this action against the continuation of genocide. Stand with us as we send the message: “No more liquor in Whiteclay!”

On June 9th 1999 two Lakota men, Wally Black Elk and Ron Hard Heart, were brutally murdered in Whiteclay. It is in their memory that we will march for justice. We are seeking material support, in the form of food and donations for caravans and for the action itself. Additionally, we will be collecting donated fans and air conditioners to bring to elders on Pine Ridge.

Occupy the Machine Houston Action Postponement

Dear friends and supporters,

Occupy the Machine organizers have made a very difficult decision. We have decided to postpone our refinery blockade action until further notice. We did not make the decision lightly. We are extremely disappointed that we have to postpone this action, but very comfortable that we made the right choice. Of the many factors that contributed to this decision, there are two in particular that weighed heavily on our collective conscience.

OTM's mission includes a central focus on solidarity with all impacted communities. The public announcement of our campaign has inspired Valero to offer concessions to the residents of Manchester that live in the refinery's shadow. Community representatives involved in this process are more interested in reaching a settlement with Valero than engaging in direct action. OTM is willing to step aside and allow for these negotiations to move forward; to be clear, The Occupy the Machine coalition is dedicated to sustained, escalating direct action that supports and is supported by the local community. We respect the communities with whom we choose to partner.

Additionally, there are pending criminal charges against fellow occupiers who were recently arrested in an action intending to shut down the Port of Houston. It has come to our attention that another action targeting the Houston industrial complex may give ammunition to District Attorneys looking to make an example out of these protesters. Essentially, there is a risk that our actions will be leveraged against our friends who are already facing felony charges for political protest. To stand in solidarity with those facing prosecution, OTM believes postponing our Houston action is appropriate.

We extend our deepest apologies to those who have already made irreversible plans to attend this event; accordingly, Houston coalition members invite anyone in this situation to join in an Encuentro and face-to-face meeting with local community members and local activists. Additionally, our local team can guide you on a 'toxic tour' of Houston's petrochemical industry so that you can experience first hand the filthy reality of the fossil fuel economy. If it is too late for you to cancel your plans for Earth Day weekend in Houston, please contact and we will send you further details on what the weekend will look like.

Once again, OTM is resolved in taking our activism to a new level. We invite you to imagine, as many of you already probably have, if thousands of people occupied refineries, roads, ports, oil wells, gas wells, surface mines, etc. In other words, imagine if people occupied the locations where the 1% destroy the land and exploit the people for profit. Imagine their production stopping, their stock prices falling, their cash flow being interrupted, their contracts unfilled, their ability to get loans ended, their business finished!

In order to be effective, though, we need numbers: a mass of committed activists willing to give their time and energy. We need bodies to support blockades that will stay, day after day after day after day... as long as it takes. For every person they drag away to jail, we must bring ten more to replace them. We need people who can't come to the action to support those who do. We need financial support for those willing to risk arrest. We need you to join us in this vision and organize with us.

We truly regret that we will not be able to bring this vision into fruition this Earth Day weekend; nonetheless, we are not giving up. We will Occupy the Machine —stop the 1%, literally.

 

In Solidarity
-Occupy the Machine Coalition

DGR Great Plains Reports from Pine Ridge Reservation

Hello Friends,

From February 25th-27th, Deep Green Resistance Great Plains traveled to Wounded Knee, South Dakota, located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in order to take part in the 39th Annual Liberation Day. The purpose was to commemorate and celebrate those who took part in and died in the 1973 takeover as well as those who died in the Wounded Knee Massacre. Members of DGR Great Plains traveled from Iowa City, IA, Cedar Rapids, IA, Cedar Falls, IA, and Omaha, NE, to meet in Jefferson SD the night before. Upon arrival, we bonded, shared a meal, had a meeting, and watched a documentary about the 1973 takeover to give everyone in the group some historical perspective.

We arose bright and early at 6am to begin the long drive west across the state of South Dakota. Along the drive, many of us from the heart of production for the world’s corn and soybeans were taken in by the beauty of the prairie land, golden and swaying in the wind. With over 99% of our prairies gone, it was quite a treat to see. On our first day in Western South Dakota, we took time to take in the natural beauty of the Black Hills. An evergreen tree called the Ponderosa Pine dominates the forests of the hills, making the hills appear black. Later that day we went to Wind Cave National Park, which is as close as we could get to South Dakota’s natural state before the arrival of settler society. For so many of us that spent most of our lives in cities, standing in the presence of a strong force of wind, the endless hills, free roaming bison, antelope, mule deer, elk, prairie dogs and the vastness of the sky was a freeing experience. Being there gave us a new perspective on what we are fighting for, from an abstraction to something tangible and real.

The next day was the pow wow. Before the pow wow we took time in the morning to meet with activists at the Wounded Knee Museum, and we also took time to drop off supplies that we brought with us (blankets, electric blankets, winter clothes and canned food items) for elders whose homes are not built well enough to deal with the South Dakota winters. All of us, especially those at a pow wow for the first time, really enjoyed taking in all of the beautiful costumes, beating drums and singing. To our surprise they called our group down and our Lakota friends and all of us performed a round dance in DGR Great Plains' honor. We were asked to give a short speech to let everyone in the audience know why DGR Great Plains was in attendance. We let them know that DGR was at Liberation Day to show our solidarity with all indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, and the we would do everything in our power to help keep alive their beautiful culture and language and protect their land from encroachment by settler societies.

The last day was the four directions walk. It was quite a windy day but the weather was no matter. While our group walked a mile, people walked from more than several miles away to this event. To be there that weekend, to participate and fly our banner alongside members of both Native Youth Movement and the American Indian Movement, was quite an honor. This trip was an important first step to building a relationship with the Lakota people, a relationship crucial to successful defense of the land against our common enemy. DGR Great Plains was shown the greatest hospitality by our hosts, and given honor and respect that we still work to deserve. We hope to have the chance to earn it soon.

This adventure was crucial to creating friendship and a feeling of family among our members. Some of us knew each other before the trip and others were meeting for the first time. We did an excellent job of getting along as twelve people all shared one hotel suite. I think we all walked away from this experience having grown closer as a group, and stronger in our resolve to bring down this death machine.

Love and Rage,

The Deep Green Resistance Great Plains Crew

New Book Featuring Deep Green Resistance Authors: The (Un)OccupyMovement

A new book, compiled and edited by Mankh (Walter E. Harris III), features contributions from Deep Green Resistance authors Aric McBay, Lierre Keith, and Derrick Jensen. The book is called The (Un)Occupy Movement: Anatomy of Conscousness, Practical Solutions, Human Equality. Prose and Poetry, and you can order copies here.

Excerpt from the book's introduction:

As the title suggests, there is an “Occupy Movement” (begun with Occupy Wall Street) that has stirred the so-called American melting pot from its backburner state. Suddenly, things are cooking and more and more People are getting a whiff of the spirited air. Yet, from the perspective of the First Nations or Natives, the land has been unjustly occupied since 1492. Indigenous Peoples around the globe are dealing with similar issues. Hence, “Unoccupy Movement.”

Read a review of the book here.

New Study: Current Climate Change Models Underestimate Rate and Severity of Species Extinction

Mark Urban, lead author of a new study about the effects of climate change on plants and animals, under one of many ice sheets threatened by a warming environment

Excerpt:

Plenty of experimental studies have shown that species are already moving in response to climate change, says [Mark] Urban, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut. For example, as temperatures rise over time, animals and plants that can't take the heat are moving to higher altitudes where temperatures are cooler.

But not all species can disperse fast enough to get to these more suitable places before they die off, Urban says. And if they do make it to these better habitats, they may be out-competed by the species that are already there -- or the ones that got there first.

Read whole article here.

You Don't Have to Reinvent the Wheel- What Occupy Can Learn from the Populists

Introspection, retrospection, and learning from past movements like the Populists of the late 19th century could propel the Occupy Movement to new heights. Some strategic framework based on the lessons of history could open a world of possibilities, but the movement must first begin to challenge some of the patterns and assumptions that have defined it thus far.

Occupy Albany protesters moving their info tent
as they're evicted on December 22, 2011

Reposted from Truthout

Excerpt from article by Ashley Sanders:

...[T]he Populists came within an inch of changing the entire corporate-capitalist system. They wanted a totally new world, and they had a plan to get it. But as you may have noticed, they didn’t. And now here we are, one hundred years later, occupying parks where fields once stood. We’re at a crucial phase in our movement, standing just now with the great Everything around us—everything to win or everything to lose. It’s our choice. And that’s good, because the choices we make next will echo, not just for scholars and bored kids in history class, but in the lives we do or don’t get to have. The good news is this: the Populists traveled in wagons and left us their wheels. We don’t have to reinvent them. We’re going in a new direction, but I have a feeling they can help us get there.

Occupy has done a lot of things right, and even more things beautifully. But strategy has not been our forte. That was okay at first, even good. We didn’t have one demand, because we wanted it all. So we let our anger grow, and our imagination with it. We were not partisan or monogamous to one creed. That ranging anger got 35,000 people on the Brooklyn Bridge after the Wall Street eviction, and hell if I’m not saying hallelujah. But winter is settling now, and cops are on the march. Each week we face new eviction orders, and wonder how to occupy limbo.

It’s time for a plan, then, some idea for going forward. This plan should in no way replace the rhizomatic-glorious, joyful-rip-roarious verve of the movement so far. It can occur in tandem. But we need a blueprint for the future, because strategy is the road resistance walks to freedom.

Read whole article here.

Occupy the Machine - Stop the 1% Has Begun

Our Bodies Will Be Our Demand

Photo Credit: Not a DGR Action. Earth First and Rising Tide blockaded a gas-fired
power plant construction site in Palm Beach County, Florida in 2008.

Occupy the Machine is an ad hoc umbrella group using serious, sustained direct action campaigns to shut down major targets that destroy the land and exploit humans, permanently.

Sign up here to be notified when the target is announced.

Occupy the Machine has begun.

We are pleased to announce the Occupy the Machine US Speaking Tour! Learn more

Pass it on!

###

The Occupy Movement is beautiful. We support it and though we are small, we are participating all over the country. We invite all occupiers to read, give feedback, and if you feel moved to do so to present this at a General Assembly or committee meeting near you.

We invite you to imagine, as many of you already probably have, if thousands of people occupied local refineries, roads, ports, oil and mining extraction sites, etc. – in other words, imagine if people occupied the locations where the 1% destroy the land and exploit humans, all for profit.

Imagine their stock prices falling, their cash flow being interrupted, their ability to get loans and/or expand “production” – a euphemism for converting living beings into dead products – finished.

Imagine if we were able to stop them, stop the 1%. Literally. Not symbolically.
We think it can be done if we all do it together. We think it can be done if we all figure out how to do it and if we are willing to make the necessary sacrifices, together.

Here’s one way we could start:

Deep Green Resistance Responds to Stratfor Intelligence Leaked byAnonymous that Reveals Spying on Occupy Movement and DGR

(View DGR press release.)

Internet group Anonymous has leaked information from October and November 2011 suggesting that private intelligence firm STRATFOR has been working with Texas law enforcement to infiltrate the Occupy movement and spy on the Deep Green Resistance movement.

In December 2011, Anonymous attacked the STRATFOR website, allegedly stealing 200 gigabytes of data and shutting the site down for weeks. This isn’t the first time Anonymous has gone after such corporations. In early 2011, Anonymous went after internet security firm HBGary, releasing private documents that included secret plans by HBGary and others to attack and discredit Wikileaks on behalf of big banks.

Photo Credit: Voice of Grey Hat

The information released by Anonymous is a partial “teaser” of the information taken from STRATFOR. It consists of emails in which STRATFOR employees discuss Occupy Austin, Deep Green Resistance Austin, and Deep Green Resistance in general. STRATFOR “Watch Officer” Marc Lanthemann writes about receiving information on Occupy Austin and DGR from a “Texas DPS agent.” The Texas Department of Public Safety is a statewide law enforcement agency that includes the Texas Rangers, Highway Patrol, and an Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division.

“Law enforcement sharing information about local activism with private intelligence firms should be a huge scandal,” writes Rachel Meeropol, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “Privately funded surveillance and infiltration of activist groups is especially chilling, as time and again we see such corporations operate as if they are above the law and accountable to no one.”

In the emails, the staff discuss how a Texas DPS agent went undercover and tried to gather information from an Occupy Austin General assembly, as well as receiving information from what he calls "my Occupy people" about people they assumed were in Deep Green Resistance. Comments in the email suggest that the agent's surveillance of Occupy Austin was ongoing and continued past the incidents described. In addition, the Stratfor staff describe doing online research on DGR Austin and Deep Green Resistance more generally. They wrongly described the purpose of a DGR Austin public meeting on what radicalism means for Austin as “indoctrination”; they wrote about the book Deep Green Resistance, and they speculated about the relationship between DGR Austin and other groups.

If there is a silver lining here, it is that the emails we have do not paint a picture of a very competent organization. Between hasty generalizations, the STRATFOR staff get a number of important facts completely wrong. First of all, they confuse members of the DGR action group in Austin (which does exist) with another group they call the “Phoenix commune” (which may or may not exist).

They also allege a conflict between members of the DGR Austin group with Occupy Austin that doesn’t seem to have happened. It’s not clear if this is part of the strategy counterintelligence groups have used in the past to try to provoke conflict between different social movements—the FBI used this very effectively against groups like the Black Panther Party—or whether STRATFOR is simply relying on unreliable or incompetent sources.

Elsewhere STRATFOR displays a perception of radical environmentalism that falls somewhere between muddled and simply wrong. One agent suggests DGR is inspired by Nazism and philosopher Martin Heidegger, while another declares that DGR “is focused on creating a situation where violent confrontation will be the ultimate outcome.” Both of these assertions are just plain false.

There is a long history of clandestine groups releasing secret information about the surveillance of social movements. In 1971, and underground group called the Citizen’s Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into an FBI field office and released thousands of pages of secret information, revealing that the FBI had attacked 1960s social movements with methods ranging from surveillance and infiltration to targeted assassinations. Though we have no contact with Anonymous, their leak of information about government and corporate tactics of repression is part of an important tradition.

For more information about Deep Green Resistance, visit http://deepgreenresistance.org.

The “teaser” can be viewed below and here. More leaked information from STRATFOR is presumably forthcoming.

Below is a photograph of STRATFOR employee Marc Lanthemann (from a social networking profile that is no longer online) so that activists can recognize him; we would suggest that you do not speak with him, allow him in to your home, give him access to meetings, or otherwise provide him or his organization with information.

###

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Episode #...something. Stratfor eats Cocks: lurking emails.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
YEAH!!!MAILS MAILS MAILS MAILS MAILS MAILS MAILS also cocks.

for oncoming #AntiSec Updates on Stratfor mails and other
candiez: @AnonymouSabu @AnonymousIRC

>STRATFOR MAILS TEASER #3.
>LULZ!

/*
awesomeness:
1. An unmeasurable amount of awesomenimity something can produce.

urbandictionary
*/

Well hope you all enjoyed that first teaser ---> http://pastebin.com/YwazdGRZ
and second one ---> http://pastebin.com/EFVXcq0f
>.<

So here we go...again with more srs shit now cause internets is srs business.

TITLE: STRATFOR TAKES ON OCCUPY WALLSTREET MOVEMENT

----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: brian.genchur@stratfor.com

To: jacob.shapiro@stratfor.com
To: opcenter@stratfor.com
Subject: Re: Dispatch tomorrow?
Date: 2011-10-17 03:56:39

Content:
10-4

Brian
On Oct 16, 2011, at 8:44 PM, Jacob Shapiro
wrote:

i'm not sure about this -- let's talk in the morning

On 10/16/11 8:13 PM, Brian Genchur wrote:

I like this. Any additional thoughts?

Brian

On Oct 16, 2011, at 6:21 PM, scott stewart wrote:

I guess we could also take a more tactical slant. I've seen people talking
about how this "new movement" is a terrible threat to corporations, but in
reality, due to the history of anarchists, animal rights, anti-war and
anti-globalization protesters, companies are well prepared for such hippy
hijinks.

On 10/16/11 7:10 PM, "scott stewart" wrote:

Is it worth talking about how the occupy wallstreet people are really just
retreads from the anarchist movement in the late 1990's early 2000's? It
also showed a little bit in the code pink anti war movement in the mid
200s.

So it is not a completely new phenomenon, it is just an older phenomenon
that is once again regaining strength.

On 10/16/11 2:57 PM, "Brian Genchur" wrote:

Are there any ideas for a good Dispatch topic for tomorrow?

Will need a thesis and bullets sent to list before tomorrow. Thank you!

Brian Genchur
Sent from iPhone

--
Jacob Shapiro
STRATFOR
Director, Operations Center
cell: 404.234.9739
office: 512.279.9489
e-mail: jacob.shapiro@stratfor.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------

> trick or t(h)reat!
> lol

neeeeeeeeeext.....

TITLE: STRATFOR INFILTRATES OCCUPY MOVEMENT
> deep penetration resistance
> LOL
> trollolol
> XD

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: stewart@stratfor.com
To: alpha@stratfor.com
List Name: mailto:alpha@stratfor.com
Subject: Re: [alpha] INSIGHT-US-Occupy Austin and Deep Green Resistance-NO CODE

Date: 2011-11-17 14:01:00

Content:

It might sound strange, but some of the most radical deep ecology people
actually believe that there are too many people on the earth and that
radical steps must be taken to reduce the population and save the earth.
This strain of deep ecology is a clear reflection of the way the movement
was heavily influenced by people like Martin Heidegger who were also
committed to Nazism. Yes, Nazis were radical environmentalists.....

From: Marc Lanthemann
Organization: STRATFOR
Reply-To: Alpha List
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:08:31 -0600
To: Alpha List
Subject: Re: [alpha] INSIGHT-US-Occupy Austin and Deep Green Resistance-NO
CODE

Jesus I spent a couple of hours researching these guys - weird is an
understatement. Apparently they met yesterday a couple of blocks away from
my house to consolidate their leadership, go through basic indoctrination
and plan more events. As far as I can tell, the Austin chapter is not
nearly as radical as the central Lierre Keith DGR whose website is a
treasure trove of incitment to passive resistance, blowing up energy
infra, basic counter intel and legal guidance.

Their ideology seems to be a mix of hardcore environmentalism, anarchism,
radical feminism and the general notion that we need to go back living
sustainably like the american indians by blowing up every pipeline and
cell tower on the planet. Unlike the central DGR, Austin DGR doesn't seem
to have defined targets and goals (their meeting yesterday was a
brainstorming session on what radical environmentalism means in Austin).

just a few nice quotes from their central website:

The task of an activist is not to navigate systems of oppressive power
with as much personal integrity as possible; it is to dismantle those
systems.

What would we do if Nazis had invaded, and they were vacuuming the oceans,
scalping native forests, damming every river, changing the climate, and
putting carcinogens into every mother's breast milk, and into the flesh of
your children, your lover, your mother, into your own flesh? How much
worse would the damage have to get? Would you resist? If there existed a
resistance movement, would you join it?

On 11/16/11 7:42 PM, Victoria Allen wrote:

WHOA.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Korena Zucha
Sender: alpha-bounces@stratfor.com
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:38:01 -0600
To: Alpha List
ReplyTo: Alpha List
Cc: Anya Alfano
Subject: [alpha] INSIGHT-US-Occupy Austin and Deep Green Resistance-NO
CODE

New source so don't yet have code or rankings. Source is a Texas DPS
agent.

There is a group you may be familiar with called Deep Green Resistance.
They are led by (among a number of people) a eco-radical named Lierre
Keith. She co-wrote the book, Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save
the Planet. Very enlightening if you haven't read it. The movement
advocates the collapse of industrial civilization to reach their eco
goals. In the book, they advocate the use of guerrilla tactics to defeat
current institutions when it comes to the environment. Whether anyone in
the Fed or elsewhere classifies this group as eco-terror or not, I don't
know, but they are nothing but and should be watched.

http://deepgreenresistance.org/

The local Austin chapter was part of the Occupy Austin crowd at city
hall, however, things were not "radical" enough for them since they do
not believe in working within the system. When I was working U/C on Nov.
5th, some of my contacts told me that at the General Assembly on Nov.
4th, there was some conflict between regular Occupy people and Deep
Green. Deep Green picked up all their stuff and left during the night.
As best as anyone knows, they left and went to a state park off 71. The
only place I know is McKinney Falls out in that area. They have started
a group called the "Phoenix Commune" and intend to make their base out
there, living off the land, so to speak. My source says they told him
that as long as they move 10' everyday, the park officials can't make
them leave. These Deep Green people worry me. When my Occupy people
refer to them as "stupid, crazy motherfuckers", that bothers me, because
these Occupy people will tolerate just about anything.

I passed the info on to locals and since the park is way outside the
complex, I haven't done any follow up other than to keep an eye and ear
open for anything they may plan for the complex.

Early on in the Occupy movement, they got the group to support some
document called, "Indigenous Struggle Solidarity Statement" calling
Austin an occupied territory. It includes a picture of armed native
Americans.

http://deepgreenresistanceaustin.org/2011/10/09/occupy-austin%E2%80%99s-indigenous-struggle-solidarity-statement/

So, to make a long story short, I think the eco-terror group is focused
on creating a situation where violent confrontation will be the ultimate
outcome.

--
Marc Lanthemann
Watch Officer
STRATFOR
+1 609-865-5782
www.stratfor.com

-------------------------------------------------------------

:o

#ROFLMAOAPMP

> eco-terror?
> whats its carbon footprint? its supposedly lower than usual terror, isnt it?
> is that like a low budget paranormal activity movie? :3

Press Release: Anonymous Hacked Documents Reveal Law Enforcement Spiedon Occupy and Shared Information with Private Intelligence Company,STRATFOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

View documents here.

View Deep Green Resistance response and picture of Stratfor employee.

Computer hackers known as Anonymous leaked information obtained by hacking into private intelligence firm Stratfor’s computer network. The documents – what Anonymous is calling a teaser – suggest that from at least October to November 2011 Stratfor worked with Texas law enforcement to infiltrate the Occupy movement and spy on the Deep Green Resistance movement. The document contains emails in which Stratfor employees discuss Occupy Austin and Deep Green Resistance. Stratfor “Watch Officer” Marc Lanthemann writes about receiving information on Occupy Austin and DGR from a “Texas DPS agent.” The Texas Department of Public Safety is a statewide law enforcement agency that includes an Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division.

Deep Green Resistance condemns the surveillance and infiltration of activist groups by law enforcement and private corporations and calls on activists and their allies to expose and protest this violation of all of our constitutional rights.

“Law enforcement sharing information about local activism with private intelligence firms should be a huge scandal,” writes Rachel Meeropol, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “Privately funded surveillance and infiltration of activist groups is especially chilling, as time and again we see such corporations operate as if they are above the law and accountable to no one.”

In the emails, the staff discuss how a Texas DPS agent went undercover and tried to gather information from an Occupy Austin General assembly, as well as receiving information from what he calls "my Occupy people" about people they assumed were in Deep Green Resistance. Comments in the email suggest that the agent's surveillance of Occupy Austin was ongoing and continued past the incidents described. In addition, the Stratfor staff describe doing online research on DGR Austin and Deep Green Resistance more generally. They wrongly described the purpose of a DGR Austin public meeting on what radicalism means for Austin as “indoctrination”; they wrote about the book Deep Green Resistance, and they speculated about the relationship between DGR Austin and other groups.

Stratfor and law enforcement not only violated activists’ constitutional rights, they also were grossly incompetent. Their report is full of hasty generalizations and inaccuracies. They confuse members of the DGR action group in Austin (which does exist) with another group they call the “Phoenix commune” (which may or may not exist). And they allege a conflict between members of the DGR Austin group and Occupy Austin that doesn’t seem to have happened. It’s not clear if this is part of the strategy counterintelligence groups have used in the past to try to provoke conflict between different social movements—the FBI used this very effectively against groups like the Black Panther Party—or whether Stratfor is simply relying on unreliable or incompetent sources.

In addition, their claim that DGR is inspired by Nazism and philosopher Martin Heidegger is outrageous and obviously wrong. As is their claim that DGR “is focused on creating a situation where violent confrontation will be the ultimate outcome.” It doesn’t require an agent to get simple facts correct. Both of these assertions are just plain false.

In December 2011, Anonymous attacked the Stratfor website, allegedly stealing 200 gigabytes of data and shutting the site down for weeks. Anonymous has gone after such corporations before, such as internet security firm HBGary. They released private documents that included secret plans by HBGary and others to attack and discredit Wikileaks on behalf of big banks.

There is a long history of clandestine groups releasing secret information about the surveillance of social movements. In 1971, and underground group called the Citizen’s Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into an FBI field office and released thousands of pages of secret information, revealing that the FBI had attacked 1960s social movements with methods ranging from surveillance and infiltration to targeted assassinations. Though we have no contact with Anonymous, their leak of information about government and corporate tactics of repression is part of an important tradition. More leaked information from Stratfor is presumably forthcoming.

Are You a 'Good White Person?'

Having been raised in a culture predicated on racism and vilification of the “other”, we have all internalized a racist perspective. Relationships across lines of difference often fall prey to power dynamics reinforced by this perspective. The proliferation of “good white people” has not made the situation any better. In fact, as argued in this blog post, they may have made it worse.

Excerpt:

If you’re a POC [person of color], you probably know at least one of these Good White People! If you’re white and reading my blog, maybe you are one; a well intentioned whitey. You’re ‘on my side’, right? You figured out racism is ‘bad’ so now you’ve joined the fight against racism! Maybe you work in a social enterprise, for a charity, with refugees, or Indigenous people, or in the multi-cultural arts. You’re proud of yourself for your many years of human rights work. You’ve claimed your anti-racist identity, you have friends and maybe even lovers who are people of colour, so how could you possibly be racist?

How could you NOT be racist? We have been raised in a white supremacy and we have all internalised racism. We are all racist.

I don’t have the emotional or political energy for friends and acquaintances who express that they are hurt and offended that I’ve inferred that they are racist by critiquing their behaviour or by simply withdrawing from their company. I know that it hurts to feel admonished or abandoned, but this is not comparable or relevant to the hurt and betrayal I feel by people who have tried to contextualise the racist behaviours I experience in terms of the person who has enacted racism’s ignorance, insecurities, or good intentions (which are factors in their behaviour, but don’t alter my experience of their behaviour as racism). This justification de-validates my experience, and though I remind myself that friends are well intentioned in trying to comfort me by convincing me that I needn’t feel bad because nobody meant any harm, they are silencing me as a person of colour, re-centering the experience around whiteness, and being complicit in white supremacy. In contrast, I emphasise how empowering it has been to share experiences of racism and have my anger and sense of alienation validated by others. This has been infinitely more ‘comforting’ than the friends who have had a ‘Don’t worry about it’ attitude. That’s their privilege not to worry about something that permeates all aspects of my daily, lived experience.

Excerpted from an article at harshbrowns.wordpress.com