[Gipfelsoli Newsletter] Pittsburgh -- London -- Copenhagen

Tue Nov 3 10:19:23 CET 2009

- Activist meeting against the “European security architecture”
- Tortuga House Update: Pennsylvania Drops All Charges Against Madison &
Wallschlager for Twittering
- Case against alleged G-20 protest coordinators dropped
- Policing Dissent in the Information Age
- G20 Mobilization: Preliminary Assessment
- Police in £9m scheme to log 'domestic extremists'
- Copenhagen: Danish government will adopt "riot law"

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Out of Control!

Activist meeting against the “European security architecture”

    * in deutsch: http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/7769.html
    * en francais: http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/7770.html
    * in serbian: http://antifabgd.net/?p=1600

European security politics of the last twenty years has increased the potency of
social and state control in a prodigious manner. New technologies, legislations,
techniques and doctrines were established in the middle of the judicial, police
and military apparatuses. The forces of control are merging, while the fronts
of struggle are multiplicated.

Conflicts did not miss of course. From popular neighbourhoods to video
surveillance, “border management” and "e-borders“, databases, control of
telecommunication, new DNA or biometric technologies, satellites and flying
cameras, blocking of websites, repression of militants, migrants, “crowd
control” at summit protests or alternative cultures as the free parties, the
hold of state control stretched.

But resistance is too punctual, located and specific to succeed. Very rare are
the initiatives which managed, from demonstrations to direct actions, from
meetings to judicial procedures, from speech to riots, to find a long-lasting
echo among the population and to really prevent the march towards the control
society.

More: http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/7768.html

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Tortuga House Update: Pennsylvania Drops All Charges Against Madison &
Wallschlager for Twittering

In the face of a PR nightmare, Pennsylvania authorities have withdrawn all
charges against two members of Tortuga accused of using Twitter to aid
protesters at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. At a hearing today, instead of oral
arguments regarding a defense motion to unseal the secret 18-page affidavit
authorizing the arrests of Elliott Madison and Michael Wallschlager at a motel
just outside of Pittsburgh, the prosecution immediately moved to withdraw all
charges against the two before the defense had a chance to argue its case.
Although clear from the beginning that these charges were absurd based on the
State’s very own laws, our housemates were incarcerated for 36 hours, had their
van towed and belongings confiscated, and one house member was given $30,000 in
straight bail.

More:
http://friendsoftortuga.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/tortuga-house-update-pennsylvania-drops-all-charges-against-madison-wallschlager-for-twittering/

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Case against alleged G-20 protest coordinators dropped

Allegheny County prosecutors withdrew criminal charges today against two New
York men accused of using cell phones and the Internet messaging service
Twitter to direct the movement of protestors during the G-20 Summit in
Pittsburgh.

Police arrested Elliot M. Madison, 41, and Michael Wallschlaeger, 46, both of
Jackson Heights, N.Y., after they found them Sept. 24 in a Kennedy hotel room
full of computers, police scanners and Pittsburgh-area maps, according to a
state police criminal complaint.

Prosecutors withdrew the charges after an attorney for the men asked Common
Pleas Judge David R. Cashman to unseal police affidavits that backed search
warrants used in their case. Cashman previously sealed the warrants.

More: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_651135.html

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Policing Dissent in the Information Age

The Twitterest Pill

By JACK Z. BRATICH

Ahh, remember the Summer of Tweet-Love? Those heady days in June 09, when
pundits and cable news anchors sang the praises of their beloved social media
platform Twitter? Remember how we changed our Facebook profile pics to Green in
solidarity with Iranian protestors?

Perhaps Eliot Madison was feeling that techno-optimism in late September, when
he was arrested in Pittsburgh during the G20 protests. Police stormed his motel
room, where Madison and others had set up a communications node (as part of the
Tin Can Comms Collective) to gather and distribute information about the
demonstrations. This hub contained hardware like police scanners, phones,
computers and involved, yes, tweeting. Madison was charged with criminal use of
a communication facility, hindering apprehension or prosecution, and possession
of instruments of crime. The following week, police raided his home in Jackson
Heights, Queens and he and his roommates were detained while the premises were
searched for sixteen hours.

More: http://www.counterpunch.org/bratich10092009.html

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G20 Mobilization: Preliminary Assessment

The reports are coming in, and many participants are describing the G20 protests
in Pittsburgh as a success. This is exciting news; the US anarchist movement
hasn’t pulled off an unequivocally successful nationwide mobilization in half a
decade or more. At the same time, success entails risks of its own: we may
overlook the things we didn’t do well, take credit for things outside our
actual influence, or fixate on attempting to repeat ourselves. Meanwhile the
authorities, who often exaggerate our effectiveness to justify repressing us,
appear to be understating the extent of anarchist damage and disruption in
Pittsburgh, perhaps to downplay the possibility of militant anticapitalism
regaining momentum.

This appraisal explores the triumphs and shortcomings of the G20 mobilization,
in hopes that these lessons can be applied soon on a variety of other
battlefields.

For a description of the context of the G20 and an account of the events of
Thursday, September 24, read this. For a discussion of policing at the G20 and
a report on the events of Friday evening, read this.

More: http://www.crimethinc.com/texts/recentfeatures/g202.php

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Police in £9m scheme to log 'domestic extremists'

Thousands of activists monitored on network of overlapping databases
Police are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend
political meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of
nationwide intelligence databases.

The hidden apparatus has been constructed to monitor “domestic extremists”, the
Guardian can reveal in the first of a three-day series into the policing of
protests. Detailed information about the political activities of campaigners is
being stored on a number of overlapping IT systems, even if they have not
committed a crime.

Senior officers say domestic extremism, a term coined by police that has no
legal basis, can include activists suspected of minor public order offences
such as peaceful direct action and civil disobedience.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/25/police-domestic-extremists-database

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Copenhagen: Danish government will adopt "riot law"

The Danish government is presently preparing a proposal turmoil/riot law package
in order to change the legislation which – if it is passed by the parliament –
will have serious consequences for people participating in the actions during
the COP15.
The content of this law package was announced Sunday the 18^th October, less
than two month before COP 15, and will be tabled for the Parliament within the
next couple of weeks. It is obviously ready before the COP.

The idea is not to scare anyone with this article as it is not even sure that
this law will be adopted. Even if it is adopted, its hardly realistic that it
will be used against big groups of people. But it is important for all of you
to be updated on the Danish situation and because it is necessary to establish
international pressure and attention in the media on the issue. It is crucial
to bring forward that its not only danish activists who is against this
legislation but also international community groups and social movements whom
are fighting for a fair and just climate agreement.

More: http://de.indymedia.org/2009/10/263838.shtml