Police & Prisons

Statement On Arrest, Police Raid and Dropped Charges

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Mar 112025

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On October 23rd, 2024, at 6:50 AM, I was arrested by the SPVM (Service de police de la Ville de Montréal) for allegedly “uttering threats to burn or damage property”. They forced their way into my apartment, and several pieces of my technology were seized. I was interrogated for hours, pushed to the edge, but despite the state’s efforts, the Crown Prosecutor ultimately failed to gather enough evidence to move forward with any charges, even before a pre-trial was conducted. This is a victory, not just for me, but for all those fighting within the movement, and the broader militant community. The sudden dropping of charges is a clear reflection of the over-policing, over-surveillance, that militants within our movement have been experiencing since the huge surge of Pro-Palestine organizing. My arrest came after a wave of repression that occurred across so-called “Canada”, with house raids being issued against militants in Toronto and the sanctioning of Samidoun, a Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. It is clear, that my arrest was apart of a broader strategy to intimidate and demobilize us, to fracture the solidarity and resistance we’re attempting to build. They believed by targeting individuals could disrupt our efforts. But they failed.

What repression at this level does mentally is difficult to explain unless you’ve experienced it firsthand. I’m still attempting to find the correct words as I write this. The emotional and psychological toll is immense. The guilt of “being caught”, of sucking up the little resources we barely have and the overall shame still hangs over me. The weight of knowing you’ve been watched, followed, and targeted takes a toll that is far beyond the physical. The trauma of being detained, interrogated, and silenced for so long leaves scars that don’t just vanish with the dropping of charges. I could not speak publicly until now as legal conditions had restricted me, furthering the violence imposed by the state. For months, my ability to express myself was controlled, and it left me completely powerless.

Repression can provoke a range of reactions that only escalate an already fragile situation. Historically, the tactics used by the police to destabilize movements often lead people to act in ways that harm both those who are arrested and the broader community. It fosters distrust, wastes time on petty conflicts, and diverts attention from our true adversaries. When unchecked egos and harmful behaviour take hold, they inadvertently play into the hands of the state and its goals. Our movement is built on trust—without it, we have nothing, and repression triumphs. In the future, I hope that, alongside thinking about what’s best for the movement, we also consider empathy. I hope we can prioritize creating a community that supports arrestees, without infantilizing them or dismissing them based on the misguided assumption that they are “too traumatized” to make sound decisions.

The overwhelming majority of the community supported me without hesitation. I express my deepest gratitude to those who stood by me through this ordeal. To those who brought me groceries, helped put my life back together or gave me a shoulder to cry on — you are the reason I am standing here today. You saved me during the darkest period of my life. Your support was not just a comfort— it was a life line. Without your help, I would not have survived.

Let me be clear: the movement is far from over. The charges being dropped does not mean that this is the end. This is proof of our collective resilience, it is a sign that the state’s efforts to repress us were in vain. What happened to me is not an isolated incident, but a testament to the overall strength among us all. Repression is a temporary setback, a minor bump on the road, not a nail in the coffin. It will not stop us. It will only fuel us.

We will not be broken. We will keep fighting. We will continue to build a movement grounded in solidarity and resistance. The work we do is far from finished, and this experience will only strengthen our resolve to keep pushing forward. I hope my story, can be seen not as some cautionary tale but rather a ray of hope that there is a life after repression. The threat of jail time, being kicked out of school, losing your job, is not the end, it’s the beginning of the next chapter in our fight.

The black flag is at full mast.

In resistance, in love and in rage,

★

Report from Montreal’s NYE Noise Demo

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Jan 202025

From From Embers

A discussion with two organizers of this year’s New Year’s Eve noise demo in Laval. We discuss how things went, prisoner solidarity organizing in Montreal, the value of noise demos as an anarchist tactic and tradition, and where we might go from here.

Thanks to CKUT Prison Radio for the live footage.

Links:

Video from Clash MTL

Report from 2025 Hamilton Noise Demo

Seven Years Against Prison: On the practice of noise demos outside of prisons in Southern Ontario (pdf link)

It’s Going Down Roundup of 2025 NYE Noise Demos

Rafales: An Anarchist Learning Camp

Constellation Anarchist Festival

December 2018 From Embers episode about noise demos

What Happened to Prisoners Justice Day?

How Not to Blow Up a Pipeline

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Jan 132025

From Riot Medicine

This zine looks at the errors made in the 2022 film How to Blow Up a Pipeline and imagines how the film would have looked if the affinity group took security seriously. Fiction shapes reality, and the analysis is meant to help counter the unsafe practices we see on screen.

A5 Screen Reading
A4 Imposed

#FreeCaseyNow: On Casey Goonan and the Abandonment of Political Prisoners in the Pro-Palestine Movement

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Dec 292024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Casey Goonan is the only US political prisoner from the 2024 pro-Palestine student encampments. They are an abolitionist and anarchist who has dedicated themselves to multiple forms of prisoner support work and directly engaging with incarcerated comrades. The impact they’ve made inside is prevalent, as indicated by statements from their comrades Stevie Wilson and Hybachi Lemar. They’ve always pushed to ensure an understanding of Black struggle and revolt as central to their abolitionist work, and through understanding the totality of anti-Blackness the importance of an anti-police and anti-prison perspective was brought into any and all of their efforts towards liberation.

In June of 2024, they were arrested by a task force comprised of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in connection with an alleged direct action which took place in solidarity with the UC Berkeley encampments which had been brutalized by police and zionists earlier in the year* . If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison with a minimum sentence of 5. The investigation and court proceedings are currently ongoing but a non cooperative plea deal is pending in which Casey will plea guilty to one charge to allow additional charges to be dropped. This plea deal does not include information or testimony against anyone else.

While Casey has received a great amount of support from decentralized community in New York, Chicago, California, and elsewhere, the pro-Palestine movement needs to be publicly and actively supporting them. Right now, their primary accomplices are those who personally know them, those who prioritize prisoner support, and fellow anarchists. Despite vague assertions of the interconnectedness of repression and struggles between the American policing and prison apparatuses to that of Israel, there has been little material manifestation from that understanding within the US pro-Palestine movement. Meanwhile, coordinated struggle between prisoners and outside militants has been a key point of success for Palestinian liberation.

We must recognize the necessity of attacking the infrastructure of occupation domestically. Amidst calls for escalation, it is of vital importance to defend those experiencing repression from the legal system. To not do so is to allow one of the state’s most well-funded and structured counterinsurgency tactics to take complete hold of movements. If people are abandoned to incarceration, the fear of repression will throw everyone towards inactivity. This need for defense is especially true for those facing charges beyond the more palatable ways of dissent, like marches and encampments.

State repression must be met with expanding our community resources to reach those inside. Bravery must be met with support.

It’s not surprising that, despite the large presence of the Palestinian diaspora in the American pro-Palestine movement, tactics focus primarily on vocalizing dissent through marches and making demands of the state, which are a far cry from the struggle within Palestine itself. This is partially attributed to the class character of the diaspora — a petty bourgeois group would have no investment in attacking infrastructure they partially benefit from even if that same infrastructure perpetuates the genocide of indigenous groups including Black people and Palestinians both domestically and globally. Equally, the motivations and interests of the community organizations and student groups that are largely in control of the movement not only harbor that class character but also rely on funding from the infrastructure they refuse to attack. Despite the student movement being referred to as an intifada, it’s activity is incomparable to what has occurred during the numerous intifadas leading up to the Al-Aqsa Flood.

Considering pro-Palestinian community groups and political organizations like USPCN, CJP/SJP, Dissenters, NAARPR, JVP and PSL are supplied with enough funds to bus people in for marches, plan conferences, and campaign for local policy, certainly donating money towards legal fees for those facing repression would be no issue.

Even with all the attention and credibility being given to the pro-Palestinian student movement and despite the numerous pro-Palestine student groups on university campuses, there have been no publicly circulated student-led support efforts for Casey. Outside of participants of the Columbia University encampment, there has been no mention of them from any other university space, most likely attributed to groups aligning themselves with certain tactics, a hesitancy towards anarchists, and the fear of repression.

Beyond the bare minimum of ensuring people are supported in obtaining adequate legal counsel, any revolutionary horizons with teeth require long term prisoner support. This practice is key to the current struggle that led to the Al-Aqsa Flood as exhibited by the rich history of organizing within prisons and the ongoing liberation of those being held hostage by Israel. In Khalida Jarrar’s words, “[t]he ongoing conquest to liberate prisoners is in tandem with the Palestinians’ constant and multifaceted struggle against colonialism. Hence, the slogan “emptying the prisons” is derived from and a core component in the Palestinian struggle through various stages in its history.”.

Those of us living under a plantation economy already have our own reasons to ensure incarceration is a central site of struggle. But if one does insist upon taking guidance from elsewhere and if one intends to “bring the Intifada home” or “escalate for Gaza”, Palestinians have provided plenty of methods for how carcerality can be attacked.

Casey understood this prior to their incarceration and there’s no doubt this knowledge influenced their own political horizons. If the pro-Palestine movement wants to also tote itself as an intifada they should take note of the militant organizing and support infrastructure within and between prison walls that occurrs in Palestine. Abandonment of prisoners is where revolutionary ideals die.

Empty The Prisons Free Casey Goonan

For More Info and Updates on Casey
cscommittee@proton.me
freecaseynow.noblogs.org
IG: @freecaseynow

Ways to Support Casey
– Organize a fundraiser for legal fees, commissary, or a nutritional package

– Host a letter writing night

– Form a defense committee

– Make + put up some propaganda

– Write to Casey

Readings Recs
A Practical Guide to Prisoner Support

Practical Abolition From The Inside Out

More Effective Prisoner Support

The Soledad Brothers Defense Committee: A Brief Consideration

San Quentin Six Defense Committee

A Spirit, Unbroken (Discusses the Martin Sostre Defense Committee)

Montréal Police Block Anti-Fascists. . . To Allow Black Metal Fans To Celebrate Nazi Military Exploits

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Dec 032024

From Montréal Antifasciste

Montréal, November 30, 2024—Last night was the second of three nights of the Messe des Morts black metal festival, at the Théâtre Paradoxe, in Montreal’s Ville-Émard district. An anti-fascist demonstration was held to denounce the chronic complacency of the festival and many fans of the genre toward the National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM), or neo-Nazi, current that infuses this milieu, particularly the presence in this year’s program of at least four bands linked to this current by their themes, affiliations, and collaborations.

As a result of a campaign to pressure the promoter, Sepulchral Productions, and the venue’s management, Paradoxe, three of the problematic bands—Horna, Sargeist, and Chamber of Unlight, those with the clearest links to NSBM—were denied entry to Canada as a national security threat, according to the promoter’s press release. Two other bands, Conifère and Phobocosm, had withdrawn from the program in the days leading up to the festival, for “obvious” reasons in the first case and “personal” reasons in the latter.

Nonetheless, the Swedish band Marduk, whose thematic obsessions with the military exploits of the SS and Wehrmacht during the World War II, which we’ve already addressed elsewhere, not only managed to play their scheduled gigs but also filled open slots on short notice, performing on all three nights of the festival.

Outside the theater, some two hundred people answered the call and joined the demonstration organized by the Montréal Antifasciste collective, the culmination of a sustained campaign of denunciation and mobilization that lasted several weeks. The diverse and combative crowd included residents of the neighbourhood, Southwest Montréal community groups, and a number of autonomous contingents gathered behind the banners of the SITT-IWW and the local chapter of Independent Jewish Voices.

A lot of pork on the hoof for the Messe des Morts…

Unfortunately, from the outset, the demonstration was surrounded and paralyzed by a massive police presence: several hundred officers on foot, on bikes, in cars, and on horses, spread over two city blocks, forming a tight perimeter around the theater. Although some fifty comrades managed to temporarily thwart this force, it proved far too imposing for us to effectively and sustainably challenge. At around 5:45 p.m., the demonstration was rendered immobile on Monk Boulevard, less than a hundred metres from the theater. The police then set up a checkpoint further south, triaged people and directed ticket holders down a parallel street that allowed them to bypass the unsafe perimeter and reach the theater entrance. It’s fair to say that on this particular evening the police literally carried the fascists’ water. It’s worth noting that a number of the SPVM officers on the front line were wearing the “Thin Blue Line” patch, a recognized far-right symbol. Wearing it is discouraged, but it has not yet been prohibited by the police service.

As absurd as it may seem, the local neo-Nazi milieu’s steroid-ridden mascot turned up at around 6:00 p.m., to “troll our small gathering.” After a tense five-minute standoff, he left with his tail between his legs. Under the circumstances, a physical altercation would inevitably have triggered a brutal and disastrous police intervention. We commend our comrades for keeping their cool in the face of this flagrant provocation.

(An aside, in passing, to the politicians—and the media—who have hallucinations of antisemitism every time there’s a Palestinian solidarity demonstration: the real antisemites, the fucking neo-Nazis, are right in front of your face, and you choose to send your rabid dogs to protect them.)

After an hour on site chanting antifascist slogans (“Siamo tutti antifascisti!” “Ville-Émard en a marre, des fachos et des bâtards!” [Ville-Émard has had its fill of fascists and bastards!]), we understood that there was nothing more to be accomplished by lingering in this suffocating trap, and the group pulled out and marched south on Monk Boulevard. The SPVM tightly flanked the procession, with the riot squad boxing us in on both sides. A hundred meters from the Monk metro station, a platoon commander, annoyed at a comrade’s legitimate protest, inexplicably decided to lead his men in a violent charge against the front row of the demonstration, swinging batons and whacking people with shields, as well as making liberal use of pepper spray. The point seemed to be to make sure everyone knew who was in charge! The demonstrators then dispersed into the metro, the riot squad with them every step of the way.

The Montréal Antifasciste collective would like to extend its heartfelt thanks to all the people and organizations who took part in the campaign of denunciation campaign and in the mobilization.

A Campaign with a Positive Balance Sheet

As we explained in our October 27 article, Montreal’s anti-fascist community had not felt it necessary to mount a denunciation campaign against the Messe des Morts in recent years, as it had done in 2016, because the programming did not present any particularly problematic groups. The 2024 event, however, was a provocation.

In early October, we contacted the administration of Théâtre Paradoxe (a social economy enterprise) to encourage them to take the necessary steps to prevent the questionable groups from performing at their venue. Unfortunately, all our diplomatic efforts came to nothing, as the theatre’s administration claimed to have no manoeuvring room as a result of a contract with the promoter of the Messe des Morts, the real culprit behind this grotesque fiasco. So we had no choice but to keep our promise to demonstrate outside of the festival.

Pivot : « Le collectif Montréal antifasciste dénonce un festival de musique black métal »
La Presse : « Tirs groupés contre un festival de black métal »

Whatever one might say about Friday night’s events, which were entirely dominated by the SPVM, we feel we’ve achieved the campaign’s broader objectives:

two of the four bands targeted, those closest to the NSBM scene, were unable to play at the festival;
we effectively alerted the community of a problematic situation; in particular, the Théâtre Paradoxe administration, which clearly knew little about the vampire it had invited into its home;
We exposed the flagrant contradictions that permeate the black metal milieu, causing welcome discord between complacent aficionados and anti-racist fans of the genre;
Our actions had major financial consequences for the festival’s promoter, whose activities over the years have shown an unquestionable sympathy for NSBM.

At the end of the day, we can look back on a positive campaign. In the coming months, we will be maintaining communication with the Théâtre Paradoxe administration to ensure that the 2024 edition of the festival is the last to take place in this venue. We’ll also be keeping up the pressure on the festival’s promoter, who has once again demonstrated complacency toward a hateful ideology and its manifestations in the black metal genre, despite his claims of political neutrality.

Of course, we’ll also remain constantly alert to ensure that Montréal remains resolutely anti-fascist.

—the Montréal Antifasciste collective

Open Letter From The Estamos Aquí Collective

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Nov 292024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

In response to the media’s attitude towards the demonstration of Friday, November 22, 2024 in Montreal

If we are writing these lines today, it is because for several days, the media have been endlessly focusing on broken windows and spilled paint following last Friday’s anti-NATO demonstration. This obsession with the destruction of material goods, however, obscures a much more fundamental question: why is anger exploding in this way?

Where the media focuses on inanimate objects, they neglect a much more complex emotional response: this violence is not gratuitous. It symbolizes a cry of helplessness in the face of destroyed human lives, erased memories, and persistent pain that, far from being heard, is reduced to statistics or isolated facts. The debate should not be limited to broken windows, but should ask what motivates this desperate gesture: a distress, a cry of revolt in the face of insidious and omnipresent violence.

We, members of the Colectivo Estamos Aquí, went to this demonstration to express a legitimate anger: that of the survivors of a military dictatorship in Guatemala, which caused more than 250,000 deaths, 45,000 disappearances, and destroyed hundreds of Indigenous communities. This is the memory that we came to defend. A memory that the authorities of the Americas and Europe seem to want to relegate to the background, under the pretext of political and international issues that are too complex for the populace. But what about the integrity of the colonized, displaced, and killed people? Their emotions and traumas, their own issues? This violence, that of the oppressed, seems to have been normalized, even forgotten.

Anticolonial struggles, whether in Latin America or elsewhere, are all linked by common roots: exploitation, domination, and dehumanization. These struggles, despite the diversity of their forms and contexts, all attack a global system of injustice and repression.

However, the media prefer to divert attention from the root causes and focus on the material damage. In doing so, they minimize the violence of a system that destroys human lives in favor of commodities. It is as if, somewhere, the roles have been reversed and that it is now objects—and not human beings—that embody the soul of the world.

In this hierarchy of values, where possessions are elevated to the highest rank, human beings are gradually reduced to simple functions: those of producers, consumers, tools of capitalism. The real violence here is not the breaking of windows, but the systematic disregard for human lives.

Everywhere, Indigenous peoples are reduced to exotic symbols or exploitable resources. Their lands are plundered, their cultures marginalized, and their voices stifled. This dehumanizing treatment reflects a persistent colonial vision, where the dignity of human beings is denied to justify the exploitation of resources.

We are told that violence has no place. Yet, faced with institutional violence of monstrous force and magnitude, the question deserves to be asked: is violence not sometimes the only possible response?

Scenes From The Atlanta Forest Website Is Offline

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Nov 272024

From Unravel

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This is our last canary, =

you can find our pgp key on our canary page at https://web.archive.org/web/https://scenes.noblogs.org/submissions/promise/

As of 11/22/2024(MM/DD/YYYY), no-one working on this project, nor the project itself has ever received a National Security Letter, an order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, has been contacted by law enforcement, contacted by any government entity, has been served a subpoena for a Grand Jury related to this project, or any other classified request for user information. If we ever receive such a request, we would seek to let the public know.

This project has come to a close.

The noblogs team Autistici/Inventati decided to shut down this blog shortly following the republication of the Heritage Foundation dox from againstbeltwayfascism.noblogs.org and after the dox of the Elbit Systems of America. This blog hosted a great deal of antagonistic content over the years, and we are thankful to the Autistici/Inventati team for allowing a majority of the content to remain up for so long. They undoubtedly tolerated a great deal of resistance – we trust that their decision to shut down the blog did not come lightly.

the addresses published in the aforementioned two doxxes are still easily available on https://web.archive.org/web/sceneshosting.blackblogs.org and https://web.archive.org/web/20240815105347/https://againstbeltwayfascism.noblogs.org/the-fascists-of-the-heritage-foundation/, https://web.archive.org/web/20240815105347/https://againstbeltwayfascism.noblogs.org/heritage-staff-listed-as-contributors/, and a significant archive of the rest of the blog is hosted at https://web.archive.org/web/https://scenes.noblogs.org/

This site served as a nexus for anonymous publication, a space for engaging in dialogue with other rebels, and a place to spread complicity and proliferate autonomous activitiy.

Please keep those who are languishing in jails for accusations related to this movement in your hearts- better yet, send them letters.

Continue fighting for the end of RICO charges.

Never forget Tortuguita, a hero whose bravery cannot be understated.

Continue fighting for a world without markets, hierarchy, and fascism.

For a time, the struggle in the atlanta forest was one of the powerful torches that carried the flames of antagonstic anarchist destruction. We hold our actions in this struggle proudly, and hope you do as well.

We will never forget the weelaunee forest, we will never forgive those that perpetrated its destruction.

!Viva Tortuguita!

Nothing is Finished

Everything Continues

scenes admins

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About Violence: A Communiqué on the Block NATO Demonstration*

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Nov 252024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

*This release is based on the journal Block NATO, organised by CLAC and D4P, but it is independent. We will explain here the reasoning behind our actions of the evening of Friday, November 22nd, because we know why we do these things and we believe very strongly in what we do.

Let’s put things first in context : Friday marked the start of NATO’s parliamentary assembly in Montreal. NATO represents the military apparatus of the global north, it’s the biggest military alliance in history. While our governments are already making the life of the excluded and exploited a death circus, NATO pressures Canada to invest 50% more of its GDP into the military. That represents 55 billion dollars. NATO is a major decision-making body that embodies militarist and imperialist interests. It’s also an accomplice in the genocide happening in Palestine.

NATO includes the richest countries in the world, namely Canada, Germany, the United States, France, Italy and the UK, but it also conspires with non-member allies such as Japan and the Zionist entity (Israel). It protects the capitalist interests of the global north, with the United States as a semi-formal secretary. NATO organises the threat and capacity to act in devastating ways to counter any initiative of liberation of the global south. Its interests are imperialist: the States formed and governed by capital aspire to extend their power by exploiting external territories where they steal resources, destroy nature and enslave people through political, economic and/or military domination. It normalises the horror of its crimes against humanity by camouflaging them as humanitarian missions and by splitting the political costs between different countries, maintaining their democratic bases in ignorance or illusion.

The military interventions supported by NATO protect governments aligned with American interests and crush any alternative, keeping the global south under capitalist constraints. NATO’s alliance with the zionist entity is ideologically coherent, as a colonial enterprise, but Israel also provides technologies of control and weapons that NATO states use throughout the world, in their imperialist missions and on their own populations.

And oh by the way, no we don’t support Russia or prefer it to NATO, people typically think NATO is about defending against Russia, but we don’t even care, every fucking colonizer of this world has to be taken down, we hate this capitalist system and its extensions from the bottom of our heart.

The problem we’re fighting here isn’t specifically NATO’s assembly, nor the actions of the CDPQ (which requires every public employee to fund the Palestinian genocide), but they are symptoms of that problem. What the problem really is, is the dominant system which causes all these horrors : capitalism. There is no more time for calm and asking nicely. Resistance is legitimate, the State and the police can no longer have a monopoly on violence – if it’s the only language they’ll hear. We want the illusion to stop and we want to draw light, in the streets and in the media, to the horrors deployed right under our noses. We attack capital, materialised most densely downtown, to oppose symbolically and materially the most odious crimes committed for capitalism:

The windows of the Palais des Congrès, where the NATO summit is happening A car set on fire Riot police covered in paint Businesses’ windows smashed

Our acts are charged with rage born from the horrors we witness and denounce here, but also from our own grief: between climate collapse and housing crisis, inflation and shit jobs, health and education systems in ruins, xenophobia, transphobia, covid and depression, profiling and repression, the rise of fascism, etc. All of which answer to the same system. We have had enough and we are horrified, so we gather and we show our refusal. Our actions have had a symbolic and material impact: they have imposed costs financially, have disrupted and disturbed, have propagated our ideals and made visible this very legitimate and necessary struggle.

Before anything was even attacked, the police charged, pepper-sprayed and hit us. In our fight, we have seen the complicit posture of our governments : police violence is an obvious manifestation of it. To repress our actions, the police, the state’s guard dogs, have used weapons and tactics developed by the zionist entity and other NATO investments. The police have again and always defended the interests of the rich and the State: pepper-spraying, beating, breaking ribs, gassing, poisoning. It tries to choke hopes of freedom for human lives and nature, currently massacred, but we are still standing. We denounce the arrests and many injuries (cracked skull, broken arm, projectiles in the eyes, etc.), but we are still standing. The Fall was warm and winter will burn hotter, because the struggle is all we have left, because we need to do everything we can, because we love our revolutions deeply, because we love our comrades and what we know we can do together.

The media will focus on our violence, they will manipulate our messages, our messages confronting the atrocities perpetrated by Israel and NATO – responsible for millions of deaths. So it is crucial to say again that it is the brutality of the oppressive structures governing us that we fight, that the worst violence is the State’s and that that violence is a direct consequence of capitalism.

LOVE AND RAGE.

-THE BLACK BLOC

How to defend yourself during a police interrogation

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Nov 252024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

PDF

Preface to the English version

In summer 2022, 2000 copies of this book were printed in French and 2000 in German. The french version is now sold out, and the Publisher «Éditions du Commun» had now reissued the book.

The book was written with the intention of serving as a tool of self-defense against the manipulative interrogation strategies employed by the police. As stated in the introduction, “It addresses readers in various countries in which legislation may differ“. And indeed, we soon received feedback that the content conveyed by the book is equally applicable to countries such as Turkey, Morocco, Serbia, Italy, Denmark, and many more. And soon a number of supportive people were offering to translate the book into other languages. This is what happened with the English version, and we’d like to take this opportunity to warmly thank our translator and proofreader for their fine work.

As a consequence of imperialism and colonization, English is spoken today in contexts as diverse as Kenya, Australia and, of course UK and the USA. So many different places from which you may be reading these words, and where the contexts of repression are very different. Most of what is conveyed in the book applies to all these contexts, but, in case of doubts, it makes sense to keep an eye out for certain elements that differ and check them with your local legal team.

Our network lacks relays in the English-speaking world, so let us take this opportunity to pass on the message that we are looking for a publishing house or a collective that would be interested in printing and distributing the book in its geographical regions.

With these words, we wish you a pleasant reading.

Project-evasions – network of anarchist friendships

To the International Anarchist Movement: Three Security Proposals

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Nov 172024

From the No Trace Project

This text is addressed to the international anarchist movement, which we’ll define as the sum of individuals fighting for anarchist ideas around the world. This movement is in conflict with its natural enemies — the State, fascist groups, and so on — and must protect itself if it is to survive in this conflict. In this text, we make three proposals for the international anarchist movement to consider in the coming years in order to allow anarchists to continue attacking while limiting their chances of getting caught.

Our enemies organize internationally through cooperation between police and intelligence agencies and new developments in science and technology — the increasing precision of DNA forensics and the proliferation of drones being just two examples. This means that a repressive technique used in one country may soon appear in another where it is not yet being used. It also means that an effective countermeasure used by anarchists in one country may be effective in another. We should therefore share knowledge of repressive techniques and countermeasures on an international level.

Ideally, any experience of repression or experimentation with countermeasures that might be of interest to other anarchists should be written up, translated into several languages, and made public. When anarchists are arrested and brought to trial, we can often obtain court documents that reveal how they were caught: we should exploit this and publish analyses of such documents, bearing in mind that information obtained in this way may be partial or distorted. We should experiment with new countermeasures and write and publish reports on these experiments (except in cases where the State might adapt and weaken the countermeasure by reading the report). We should try to collect information at the source: read police training manuals, steal police files, analyze data leaks from police servers.

A specific feature of the international anarchist movement is its decentralization. We see this not as a weakness but as a strength: in addition to preventing the hierarchies inherent in centralized organizations, it makes it harder for our enemies to target us because they cannot topple the whole movement by disrupting one part of it. However, this decentralization also makes it harder for us to share knowledge across borders. To overcome this, we see two options: developing informal bonds with other anarchists by meeting at international book fairs and other events, and using the Internet. We propose using the No Trace Project as an international platform to share the knowledge that is suited for sharing on the Internet, not as a replacement for informal bonds but as a useful supplement to spread information beyond existing informal networks.

2. Establish a security baseline

Anarchists who carry out direct actions should analyze the risks associated with their actions and take appropriate precautions: dress anonymously, be mindful of video surveillance and DNA traces, and so on. However, this is not enough. If only those who carry out actions take precautions, it is easier for our enemies to target these individuals. This is, firstly, because they stand out: if only a handful of comrades always leave their phones at home, for example, this could be an obvious starting point for an investigation with no other specific leads. And secondly, because our enemies can get information about them through their friends who do not carry out actions: if someone doesn’t use social media but is mentioned on their friends’ social media, for example, an investigation could query their friends’ social media to get information about them. We should therefore establish a security baseline that everyone in anarchist networks agrees to follow, including those who have never carried out direct actions and have no intention of doing so.

We can’t say what this baseline should be, as it will depend on each local context, but we can give some ideas. As a bare minimum, everyone should help hide information from our enemies by not speculating about who is involved in an action, not bragging about one’s own participation in an action, not talking to the police, and encrypting any computer or phone used for conversations with other anarchists using a strong password. Discuss sensitive matters exclusively outdoors and without electronic devices, and don’t make it obvious to your social environment who you are having sensitive conversations with (e.g. don’t ask someone to “go for a walk” in front of people who aren’t involved in the project being discussed). In addition, we think everyone should stop using social media (and definitely stop posting photos of other anarchists, even with their consent, because this helps the State map anarchist networks) and leave their phones at home at all times (not just during actions). Carrying your phone with you has security implications for everyone you interact with.

It can be difficult to convince people to follow such a security baseline, especially if they think they have no personal interest in following it. If someone is reluctant, we should remind them that it’s not just their security that’s at stake, but also the security of other anarchists around them who may be carrying out or planning to carry out direct actions. Everyone who wants actions to happen has an interest in making anarchist networks as difficult as possible for the authorities to repress.

3. Explore new horizons

Our enemies evolve over time as they refine their strategies and techniques. We should prepare not for the battles that already took place, but for those yet to come. We should therefore go beyond our current security practices, anticipate the evolution of our enemies, and develop new countermeasures.

Here are three issues we think the international anarchist movement should explore in the coming years.

Drones

Aerial surveillance is rapidly becoming cheaper and more efficient. How should we react to the presence of police drones at riots, anarchist events, and so on? How can we detect or take down drones? Should we prepare for the risk of drones being used for routine aerial patrols, and if so, how?

Facial recognition technologies

In 2023, a journalist tracked down German left-wing militant Daniela Klette, who had been in clandestinity for decades, by using facial recognition technology to match a decades-old photo of her with a recent photo from Facebook taken during a dance class. What can we do against this threat? How can we prepare for the increasing integration of facial recognition technology into public video surveillance systems?

Lack of insight into police activity

Until a few years ago, radio scanners were used by anarchists to monitor police frequencies, for example to learn about nearby police activity while carrying out a direct action. In most contexts, this is now impossible because police communications are encrypted. Can we develop new techniques to functionally replace radio scanners or, more generally, to gain insight into police activity in a given area?

About the authors

We’re the No Trace Project. For the past three years, we’ve been building tools to help anarchists understand the capabilities of their enemies, undermine surveillance efforts, and ultimately act without getting caught. We plan to continue in the years to come. We welcome feedback. You can visit our website at notrace.how, and contact us at notrace@autistici.org.

This text is available as a zine (in Letter and A4 dimensions).

Let’s prepare ourselves, and may luck be on our side.

Older Entries

A lot of pork on the hoof for the Messe des Morts…

A Campaign with a Positive Balance Sheet

In response to the media’s attitude towards the demonstration of Friday, November 22, 2024 in Montreal

Preface to the English version

1. Share knowledge internationally

2. Establish a security baseline

3. Explore new horizons

Drones

Facial recognition technologies

Lack of insight into police activity

About the authors