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Radiotepec - Music from around the world, Segment 1
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Show: Music For All the Little People, Segment 1
BREAKING: FBI Raids Activist House in Utah, Connected to Iowa ALF Investigation
Mar 15th, 2010 by Will Potter
FBI agents and law enforcement from multiple agencies have raided a well-known activist group house in Salt Lake City, Utah, today in connection with an investigation of Animal Liberation Front crimes in Iowa.
I just got off the phone with multiple housemates who were there witnessing the raid, and who were able to read the warrant. Details about all of this are still emerging, but at this point it is clear that the warrant was issued by the Southern District of Iowa, and authorizes the seizure of any books, pamphlets, computers and other materials tied to “animal enterprise terrorism.”
Some background: In Minnesota, a graduate student named Scott DeMuth has been indicted on conspiracy charges under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. The charges are related to a 2004 raid by the Animal Liberation Front at the University of Iowa.
Another Minnesota activist, Carrie Feldman, has been jailed for refusing to testify about her political beliefs and political associations before a grand jury. Feldman was a teenager at the time of the ALF crime, and says the grand jury is clearly an attempt to harass and intimidate the activist community.
So how did the FBI end up in Utah? One of the housemates, Peter Young, is repeatedly mentioned by name in the warrant. Young was one of the first people prosecuted for “animal enterprise terrorism” in connection to fur farm raids in the late 90s. (His co-defendant Justin Samuel is also mentioned in the warrant). He served two years in prison, and has been living in Salt Lake City, speaking at colleges, and writing on his website, Voice of the Voiceless. He is among the most vocal, public supporters of the ALF and direct action.
The only connection I can decipher between Young and the Iowa investigation is this: in an emergency motion filed against Scott DeMuth, to keep him in jail, the government calls DeMuth an “anarchist” and “domestic terrorist.” As evidence of this, they say he is an “associate” of Peter Young. As DeMuth’s faculty advisor has publicly explained, this is tied to his research as a graduate student.
There are about nine people living at the activist group house in Salt Lake. At least 15 computers were taken by the FBI, along with boxes of documents, notebooks, files, and address books. The house is well-known in the area as a gathering space for animal rights and other activists. No arrests have been made, and at this point it seems Iowa is being used as a pretext for a continued campaign of harassment and intimidation.
Among the items taken from the FBI’s terrorism raid: a postcard for Iowa 80, “the world’s largest truck stop.”
I’ll continue to update as this story develops. In the meantime, this is a good opportunity to plug the National Lawyers Guild hotline, 1-888-NLG-ECOL. Also, please write Carrie Feldman a letter as she continues to resist the grand jury witch hunt. Carolyn Feldman,
770 Iowa St., Dubuque, IA 52001.
PoP dEFECT RADIO: Free Radio Santa Cruz 15 Years, Segment 1
BREAKING: FBI Raids Activist House in Utah, Connected to Iowa ALF Investigation
FBI agents and law enforcement from multiple agencies have raided a well-known activist group house in Salt Lake City, Utah, today in connection...
Obama Supports DNA Database of 'Presumed Innocents'
President Barack Obama recently expressed support for DNA sampling within the criminal procedure upon arrest by local, state and federal au...
COP15 arrestees Noah and Natasha head to trial March 16th
Noah, who hails from Denver, is headed to trial tomorrow. Stay tuned for how it turns out! Our thanks to Cop15 AntiRepression for this:
On March 16th and March 19th, Noah (American) and Natasha (Australian) will go to trial for charges related to the organization of demonstrations against the COP15 conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. They are facing politically motivated charges which accuse them of organizing to disrupt the public order and do violence to police, and face stiff prison sentences as well as deportation form Denmark. Both were targeted by Danish police and arrested in December during the COP15, and kept in jail for 25 days in isolation before being released in advance of their trials.
Their trials are part of a campaign of police repression carried out by the Danish police during the COP15 in which over 2,000 people were arrested within a week of protests. Of all arrested, only around 30 were charged with any crime, and those that were charged were kept in jail for between one week and 47 days without trial. Some have already gone to trial and either been acquitted or received small jail sentences and heavy fines for charges such as assaulting a police officer or throwing a stone. Some have also been deported and banned from Denmark for 6 years. Noah And Natasha are the first two to go to trial of seven accused of organizing demonstrations, and face much stiffer jail sentences (a year or more) then those who have previously gone to trial. The case is being brought on minimal and sketchy evidence, primarily acquired through dubious phone taps and other types of police surveillance.
This type of repression in Denmark has recently spread to antifascist activists, and three have been put into custody in the past two weeks; two for allegedly putting up posters of Nazis in Aarhus and one under Danish terror laws for allegedly watching extreme right wing groups. These new cases are part of a new wave of police and political repression in Denmark made possible by the repression against activists during the COP15.
We are calling for all charges to be dropped against those arrested during the COP15 and afterwards, and for the police to stop their repression of free speech in Denmark. Take some time this week to show solidarity with those standing trial and in jail in Denmark, and let any Danish embassies or consulates in your area know your displeasure.
Resist state repression!
Freedom for all political prisoners!
More info and updates at: http://cop15antirep.blogsport.eu/
Peak Oil Check-In: 40% of US Electricity From Wind by 2030?, Segment 1
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Montreal: 11 Cop Cars Smashed and Vandalized
March 14, 2010
Eleven cruisers were vandalized overnight at the Montreal police traffic and road safety division's building in the city's St. Henri district...Windows were smashed and the vehicles' computers were damaged.
USA: Join Us and Make Wall Street Pay
UK: Steel unions launch campaign for future of UK steel making
Israel's Apartheid
By Murray Dobbin - 8 March 2010
...[T]here is absolutely no doubt that the system of separation of Arabs and Jews can be compared with the apartheid system in South Africa. Indeed, many experts on how the apartheid system was run claim that Israel's system of hafrada, or separation, is far more brutal and deliberately humiliating than anything devised by the racist regimes of Pretoria.
La Brutalidad Policial Mata
No a la Re-elección del Militarismo, la Pobreza y el Terrorismo de Estado
¡Las Mujeres Actuamos y Luchamos!
Painted Into a Corner: Scott Brown and the Health Care “Debate”
It is a truism in US politics that the range of acceptable opinion is extremely narrow, even compared to other Western nations. Democrats and Re...
