The Snap of a Twig
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Author : Anonymous

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“Force enhancers.” The ominous phrase shot across the airwaves with a
crack like a 22. I stared at the radio. A Congresswoman was describing her
work on transferring military technology to civilian police force.



In military jargon “force enhancers” refer to technologies that improve
the killing capacity of each soldier. An army can never have enough
soldiers, so true to Western thinking, there has been an incredible drive
to make the individual soldier better equipped on the battlefield.



This Congresswoman was saying how today’s cop is like a Wyatt Earp, out
there alone with a police cruiser replacing the horse and nothing else to
help out. This so called “liberal” legislator sought to deliver
“force enhancers” to local police. I guess she felt that there can
never be enough police officers in this “war against crime.”



I wondered how the military style assault units (SWAT teams), police dogs,
police helicopters with infrared, tear gas and riot gear fit into this lone
Wyatt Earp image she was painting. I also wondered what kind of military
technology she had in mind for cops of the future.



Never forget that crime is a social and political construct, not an
absolute, as they attempt to sell us this business of “fighting crime.”
The real product beneath all the rhetoric is social control. Police forces
defend the owning class. (This becomes clear to any forest activist
attempting to stop an illegal timber sale. Enforcers of the law only care
about the protesters trespassing, not about any violations of environmental
laws endangering the greater community.) Laws such as the Seditious
Conspiracy Act (18 USCS 2384) have been constructed specifically to
criminalize political dissent. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations (RICO) Act, originally intended to combat organize crime, has
been twisted around to punish political targets. Political prisoners have
received up to fifty years sentences just for RICO convictions.



Social control is big business. Every night the cop shows on TV advertise
this expensive product. Funding for the criminal “just-us” system has
increased seven-fold over the past twenty years, from $10 billion to $74
billion a year, with $25 billion spent for incarceration. Not only is
prison construction a major growth industry, but an increasing number of
private companies are reaping the benefits of cheap prison labor

Seeing the Danger through the Trees



Upon hearing the crack of a twig, a deer will look and listen motionlessly
for a few moments. If there’s no apparent danger rushing towards her, the
deer goes right back to browsing. This is a dangerous survival strategy in
an age where technology allows the hunter to kill at a distance. The
American Left seems to mimic this behavior. When we hear about something
alarming, we look up from our work only momentarily. Upon finding that
there’s still a US Constitution guaranteeing free speech and the right to
peacefully protest the government, we go back to painting yet another
banner and planning the next demo.



We forget that the constitution didn’t prevent federal agents from
raiding radical organizations throughout the country in September of 1918.
Thousands were arrested and 500 deported. A thriving socialist press was
effectively destroyed, along with the Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW), amid the red scare and war propaganda of WWI.



WWII brought the internment of 100,000 Japanese Americans. The Cold War
brought the chill of McCarthyism. Now we are in the middle of a war against
drugs and crime, an internal war, against citizens within our own borders.
It seems the politicians are getting ready to declare yet another war —
this one against terrorism. Better hold on tight to your civil liberties.



A twig snaps... We look up... What? Not another Crime Control Bill! 100,000
more cops on the street. This is costing us some bucks. Good thing I
don’t pay taxes.



Was that the wind... No, just another proposal for a national
identification card utilizing fingerprints or retina scans. No need to
worry; the American people will never accept that.



Another twig... Anti-terrorism legislation, funding 10,000 more FBI agents
ans authorizing the military involvement in certain domestic
investigations. Hmmm...



Rustling of leaves... $50 million dollars spent just on the Unabomber
investigation. Library computer records search for particular books that
may have been checked out. Satellite surveillance of Kaczynski’s cabin...
But that’s OK I ain’t no terrorist like he was.



A big thud nearby... Prison population doubled between 1975 and 1985 and
then doubled again in the last decade... But I’m not in jail. Well, at
least I’m not behind bars.

The Technology of Control



Political climates do swing back and forth between permissive and
reactionary. Maybe things will lighten up at the turn of the millennium.
(Fat chance!) However, technological developments are not cyclical like
politics, they are linear and exponential. The technology of control is
becoming ever more sophisticated and pernicious.



The digitizing of fingerprints was quite a revolution in law enforcement.
To check a set of fingerprints once required someone to visually compare
them with each set of prints one after another. It was time consuming and
labor intensive. Most investigations only compared prints with those on
file locally. These days portable fingerprint scanner in the cop car can
check a set of prints against the entire national law enforcement database.
No wonder the authorities are eager to get kids fingerprinted “for their
own safety.”



Not to be left out, corporations will introduce credit cards next year that
utilize fingerprints to verify identity. Certain banks now require thumb
prints before cashing a questionable check. They claim the prints are
destroyed after the transaction is successfully completed. When it comes to
the security business, I trust corporations even less then government. (The
Pinkerton Detective Agency’s style of handling labor disputes was
influential in shaping my view on the subject.)



DNA printing is another quiet revolution in law enforcement. The
reliability of today’s DNA evidence received a lot of attention during
the Simpson murder trial, but there has never been public debate on how
this technology might be used in the future. Humans leave behind a trail of
hair and skin flakes in cars and on furniture. It is assumed that only
criminals and terrorists would desire to keep their identity or their
whereabouts hidden from the government (or unfriendly corporations).



A government database has been created to store DNA prints from all new
members of the armed forces. The positive identification of corpses is the
stated intention behind this program.



Microchips have been implanted in several million cats and dogs. Maybe this
will become a routine practice for infants and immigrants as well. Then
there will be no question as to who the owner is.



Wildlife managers can fill you in on the latest advances in satellite
telemetry to track radio collared animals. I’m sure the self-appointed
managers of humans will be happy to try out this technology. (A primitive
version of a human radio collar is already in use for prisoners under house
arrest. The collar is not removable and signals the authorities if the
prisoner leaves the house.)



These technological advances all rely on computers. So don’t listen to
fools expressing the virtues of e-mail and desktop publishing. The banking
and insurance industries, the military and police establishment have all
gained much more powerful tools then the ability to send a letter
electronically or choose between 25 different fonts.



By the way, e-mail is the perfect medium for interception by unknown third
parties. A massive volume of messages can be checked for key words and
phrases or stored for future analysis. The US government admits to
routinely checking international cablegrams in this way.



In three or four years it will be possible to determine the location of a
911 call on a cellular phone to within 125 meters. Combine this
technological ability to instantly track down a mobile radio signal with
the mentality that allows microchips to be implanted for identification in
living beings, and you have something much worse than Orwell’s nightmare.
What repressive control technologies will the next generation of activist
face?

So What’s a Poor Activist to Do?



Digging trenches in logging roads and building rock walls may be great
exercise, but it is an inadequate response to the forces, both political
and technological, gathering against political dissidents. Even the most
formidable barricades at Cove/Mallard were easily cleared by big yellow
machines. Thousands of person-hours were spent building fortifications at
Warner Creek, yet it was all swept away in a few hours.



Blockades are a poor defense. Tree sits, though noble, don’t fare any
better. Simply put, our defense sucks.



Attempts at swaying the public mind by garnering media attention seems
naive. Short news blips stand little chance of registering concern in a
population dulled and disempowered by the banality of the media. Even if we
circumvent the typical reporting of only two moderate sides to an issue, we
then encounter multi-million dollar advertising budgets, greenwashing,
campaigns, and pervasive “conventional wisdom” of talk show hosts, news
columnists and cultural spin doctors. These soft control tactics of the
corporations are every bit as advanced as the hard control tactics of the
police and military.



I suggest we shift our focus from defense to offense. All those hours spent
dragging logs onto the road in a short-lived attempt at defending a place
could be better spent attacking the buildings, vehicles, heavy machinery
and other assets of earth destroying agencies and corporations. Very few
EF!ers have been practicing an offensive strategy, yet there are more than
enough targets in cities and rural areas to go around. The police are not
yet able to be everywhere. Learn to (carefully) play with matches and
diesel fuel. If that’s not your style, try neighborhood organizing. Leave
the media out of the picture and take the offensive by going door to door.
Don’t go there asking for money, organize, and patiently show people how
to fit into the resistance.



We are caught up in a technological war against the Earth and against
political dissidents. Adhering to a nonviolent code is a fine strategy, but
it is nevertheless imperative that we think like guerrilla fighters —
learn new skills, prepare for a repressive crackdown, and inflict maximum
political and economical damage.



Earth First! is already considered subversive by our opponents. No matter
what tactics we choose, the forces of oppression will try to crush us. We
are a threat to big business. We want to eliminate industrial resource
extraction. We want an end to the car culture and consumer culture. We want
all species to be given a chance to flourish. These are indeed
revolutionary aims, so let’s start acting like revolutionaries. It’s
time to strike back.



     From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org

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     The Snap of a Twig -- Added : January 30, 2021

     The Snap of a Twig -- Updated : January 07, 2022

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