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News :: Miscellaneous |
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a way to fight for those targeted by today's political police (re: N.Odin et al) |
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by cares to speak up
(No verified email address) |
10 Nov 2001
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this is a short comment promoting the value of a South End Book (Boston) by past SDS lawyer, Brian Glick. It could be VERY helpful for all inclined to challenge our social order |
(Note: I'd written a longer article but lost it due to problems using this public computer; neither the "comment" button nor the "publish" button worked. Testing just now, it is apparent that the button is now available...thanks to an employee here rebooting the computer...)
Brian Glick, past Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) lawyer, and continuing civil rights attorney, has written a book that should be on EVERY social dissenter's priority list. You've probably heard about it, but never actually took a read of it. I've seen it on the shelves of IMCs before, but in talking to people, learn it hasn't been read by many people. Now that people like Nancy Odin are being attacked in the open, more people will hopefully realize the IMPORT of taking a topic like this by the horns, and not just getting scared by the implications of political police in the u.s.a., but KNOWING that there are *strategies* WE ALL can take to lessen the impact of such attacks.
The book is called _WAR AT HOME: Covert Action Against US Activists And What We Can Do About It_. Published in 1990, by the well-known alternative publisher, South End Press, the book goes thru both the history of political police attacks by the f.b.i. and local police agencies, shows that even not-very-radical groups (like physicians groups) are targeted, and gives quite a few pages of EXTREMELY VALUABLE information for strategies in which WE ALL can deal with these situations.
We must take heart, many others have been where we are before. Let us learn from them as much as possible and put these new attacks in perspective, instead of letting them scare us (as, no doubt, they are intended to do).
Please, pass this book info out to everyone you know (I certainly don't have the resources to do this). It should be read by more than just the usual leaders, but ALL wishing to involve themselves in dissent or critical thinking, or even those (like journalists) who seriously wish to understand some of the problems dissenters face in our society.
One strategy for dealing with covert attack, Brian outlines, is to begin having a way for open communication with all members of actions/organizations. That is, a place where ALL can talk about their worries and feelings, and even paranoia; the trick, Glick says, is not to let the political police tactics side-track us from our original goals.
I've noted that this book has been on IMC shelves, but most have not heard of it much less took the small amount of time to actually read it. All I can say about that is that such persons must be fools! What do they think dissent from the social order is, a game? It seems to me that the only thing people who ignore this topic are doing is setting themselves up for serious stupidity, and not learning anything from the mistakes of our collective past. |
