The State is the Real Terrorist: For the Release of RNC Protesters

On Sept. 11, a protest was held in front of the US Embassy in Warsaw. Sept.11 is a day which is strongly connected in the American mind with terrorism, so it was no coincidence that on this day, people showed up to challenge the way the idea of terrorism is being used in the US (and in other countries) to stifle legitimate protest and resistance while at the same time terrorizing people into supporting repression, torture, war and murder.

The immediate inspiration for this picket was the arrests of hundreds of people at protests against the DNC and RNC in the US and, in particular, the arrest and charges of "conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism" against some people involved in organizing the protests or their logistic support. We would like to send our message of solidarity to Monica, Eryn, Luce, Erik, Nathanael, Robert, Garrett, Max and others who face these harsh charges while the real terrorists carry on their business with impugnity.

ANTI-TERRORIST FARCE

The state's attempts to invent "terrorists" could be considered a farce - if the consequences for those charged weren't so gravely serious. Hundreds of people have been the victims of the US anti-terrorist hysteria. The horrible incidents of Sept. 11, in which many innocent civilians lost their lives and thousands of others suffered or became ill, provided a pretext for these actions. Yet the brunt of the wars in Iraq and Afganistan, the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim hysteria, the increased invigilation of citizens - this has been borne most often by normal people who have nothing to do with the murder of anybody, nothing to do with terrorism. These people - those who have had bombs fall on their homes, or have seen loved ones maimed or killed, who have been deported, surveilled, locked up, denied habeus corpus - they have in fact been TERRORIZED by the state which claims it is fighting terrorism. But is it really?

When examining the facts around Sept.11, one sees that something is very off indeed. The "official version" not only does not make sense: there is extremely strong evidence that much of it is bullshit and that a large scale cover-up, if not a CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT REAL TERRORISM, took place. (Those interested can read the Terrorism Timeline or watch such films as "9/11: Press for Truth" or "Loose Change", to name a few.)

How is it possible that a technologically advanced military did not intercept the planes which crashed into the WTC when it is standard procedure to intercept planes which diverge off their flight path? How is it possible that when the military claimed to be looking for Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden in Afganistan they let a large convoy go right past the border into Pakistan? How is it that at first the government only allocated $3 million for the 9/11 Commission? The answers are very uncomfortable, even unthinkable for millions of people: the government did not want to stop a real terrorist attack, they did not really want to apprehend Bin Laden (who they used to cooperate with), nor did it really want any real investigation into the matter.

It is important to compare this with the state's actions before and during the DNC and RNC: they infiltrated and inviligated groups, they gave police in each city $50 million to make sure the conventions were not disrupted in any way, they turned the cities into police states. In the end they put ridiculously severe charges on people, some of whom probably committed no serious crime whatsoever, let alone terrorize anybody. It looks like much more was done to stop RNC protests from getting a bit strong than was done to prevent the deaths of thousands of innocent people at the WTC.

For anybody paying enough attention, this is the typical modus operandi of this oppressive state which will stop at nothing to prevent citizens expressing their anger and dissent in anything but the most passive way. It is this ability to crush all resistance and to attempt to scare those who dare protest that keeps the politicians in power, unchecked, free to conduct the most heinous wars and abuses against its citizens and the people of the world.

SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON

We grieve the loss of innocent lives which is the result of wars, oppression, brutalization, exploitation. Such violence against people only breeds more violence. The greatest hope of overcoming this spiral of despair is human solidarity.

On September 11, when some choose to mourn individually, we choose to challenge people to think about this as connected to the larger phenomenom of terrorism and to consider its real character and its causes. In examing the nature of terrorism, we ask people to also take a look at what was going on at the RNC and to ask: was that terrorism, or freedom of expression? Were the thousands of people on the streets supporters of terrorism or were they the ones who spoke out against the real terror which is going on?

We think that the answer will (eventually) be obvious to many.

Anarchist Solidarity
anarchistsolidarity@yahoo.com

(some posters at the picket)