FBI brands Reclaim the Streets as "terrorists" (fwd)

[Heiko Recktenwald <uzs106@ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de>]

Das Thema, wer sind "die Tewrroristen" heute, hatten wir hier ja auch
mal:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:09:21 -0700
Subject: FBI brands Reclaim the Streets as "terrorists"

<http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0072014>

Is Dancing Terrorism?

FBI brands Reclaim the Streets as "terrorists" - what the f**** have
they been smoking?!


In another sign that the growing anti-capitalist, anarchist, anti-car
movement is gaining effectiveness, the FBI recently listed Reclaim the
Streets amongst the "Threats of Terrorism to the United States."  In a
May 10 statement before the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Armed
Services and Select Committee on Intelligence, FBI director Louis Freeh
listed Reclaim the Streets as a "potential threat" to the United States
along with assorted terrorists from Egypt and Lebanon.

The report reads in part:  "Anarchists and extreme socialist groups -
many of which, such as the Workers' World Party, Reclaim the Streets,
and Carnival Against Capitalism - have an international presence and, at
times, also represent a potential threat in the United States.  For
example, anarchists, operating individually and in groups, caused much
of the damage during the 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial
meeting in Seattle."

The list also included "extreme fringes of animal rights, environmental,
anti-nuclear, and other political and social movements" as well as the
Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).

Getting included in such a list is always both a good and a bad sign:
it means we're doing something right and are threatening the system, but
it also vastly increases the likelihood of infiltration, frame-ups based
on planted evidence, government-sponsored internal movement "splits,"
police use of deadly force, etc.

Reclaim the Streets is actually more of a tactic than a movement or an
organization.  In 1996, activists in England decided to hold the first
RTS "street party" by holding a day-time rave, complete with sound
system, dancing, and party games, all with a political spin in a busy
intersection.  The party aimed to temporarily "reclaim" the street from
cars and point out how capitalism and car culture deprive people of
public space and opportunities for public festivals.

The brilliant tactic rapidly caught on, and Reclaim the Streets street
parties are now regularly carried out all over the globe.  RTS goes
beyond the limitations of the traditional "march and rally" protest by
building coalition with the rave/dance/youth scene to create something
that is disruptive and public like a protest, but that is also joyous,
fun and beautiful like a party.  Because it's fun and crosses over with
the counter-culture, it's a lot easier for a street party to attract a
large crowd.

A street party can effectively shut down a business district, in a
positive, militant yet non-threatening way.  Instead of handing out
flyers about the world we want to build, street parties permit a
revolutionary society to be conducted in the here and now, right on the
street for all to see.  Any passer-by recognizes that dancing is a lot
better looking and more fun that smog-choked asphalt.  The asphalt is
what capitalism is all about creating;   a world of enjoyment, art,
music and social intercourse is what we're all about creating.

So it is particularly ironic and interesting that the FBI considers
these dance-based parties as a "terrorist" threat.  Where is the
terror?  Where is the violence?

As far as we know, no RTS street party has ever (1) exploded; (2)
emitted poison gas; or (3) kidnapped anyone.  It is true that there has
been flagrant (1) dancing; (2) loud pulsing music; (3) flyers and
banners; (4) public art; (5) kissing.  While you might say it is scary
seeing the weird guy with the spiky hair kissing the buff longshoreman
type out in public, it isn't exactly terrorism.

Maybe the terrorism is because auto traffic gets blocked.  We have
noticed that a car bombing, like a street party, stops traffic until the
mess can get cleaned up.  But we thought the FBI only got involved when
there was something seriously illegal going on or people getting hurt.

After wracking our brains, we figured it must be the video footage on
Bay Area Reclaim the Streets' web page, which shows a car getting
flipped over during the first street party held in the USA on May 16,
1998.  (http://xinet.com/rts.)  That street party was to protest the
WTO, 18 months before Seattle.  Just for the FBI's benefit (you're
reading this because it has the newly "terrorist" word RTS in it,
right?) that car was donated to us by a friend to help us block the
street.  We drove it into position in the middle of the streets, let the
air out of the tires, and flipped it.  It was just a prop.  Kinda like
art, ya know?  We didn't flip all the cars in Berkeley, as much as they
might deserve it, because, ya know, we're about having a good party, not
getting into fist fights with innocent people who happen to park in the
wrong place at the wrong time.

Anyway, humor aside, the FBI terrorist listing is troubling.  Getting
branded a "terrorist" is usually a precursor to getting your ass shot
off or thrown into prison for life, etc.  What's next, Food Not Bombs on
the "10 Most Wanted List" for conspiracy to commit lunch?

At its heart, reclaiming the streets is radical and does have the
potential to over throw the "American Way Of Life."  What if instead of
just having a street party once every three months with a few hundred
people, there were thousands of autonomous cells everywhere organizing
many street parties around the world every single day?  Picture millions
of people dropping out from capitalism living life for joy, not for
their bosses.  Imagine people more interested in partying in the streets
(and disrupting business as usual) than partying in some capitalist
club.  Instead of billions of hours wasted on MTV in some suburb, what
about billions of hours wasted partying down on the interstate highway
while digging it up to plant crops, bringing the whole capitalist,
techno machine to its knees!  (While, ironically, listening to "techno"
music!)  I guess that's why the FBI is watching.