Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

June 27, 2011

Copwatch and Infoshop on Missouri's bizarre watch list of domestic threats

Copwatch, Infoshop and Christian vegetarians are on Missouri’s domestic terrorist ‘treat’ list -- rather than ‘threat’ list -- thanks to a misspelled word


By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Copwatch, Infoshop and Christian vegetarians are all under surveillance because they pose a “significant domestic terrorist” threat.
Why? Because they are anarchists, according to the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) of the Division of Drug and Crime Control.
Well, actually, due to a misspelled word, it says they all pose a “significant domestic terrorist ‘treat’ at this time.”
Missouri, are they domestic threats or domestic treats?
The report, “MIAC Strategic Report 11-28-2008 on Anarchists,” is a police watch list published in 2008. The watch list was exposed by Lulzsec, in the Arizona Department of Public Safety files.
The Missouri watch list tosses feminists, peace activists, labor activists and environmentalists into the mix.
“Although they have not all been listed, we believe the groups discussed pose a significant domestic terrorist treat at this time,” the report states.
In its bizarre categories of anarchists, the Missouri watch list states, “direct action radical sub-groups not all believe in violence.” Feminists, peace activists and race equality activists are listed as anarchists in the Anarchist Punk category.
“Many Anarcho-Punks are supporters of issues such as animal rights, racial equality, anti-heterosexism, feminism, environmentalism, worker's autonomy, the anti-war movement, and the anti-globalization movement.”
Christian vegetarians are apparently something to be feared, at least by Missouri officials, who fail to explain how being a vegetarian deserves a mention on a police watch list.
Here’s what Missouri officials say:
“Christian anarchists have opposed war and other ‘Statist’ aggression through nonviolent tax resistance. Many Christian Anarchists were vegetarian or vegan.”
The watch list includes a variety of labor union organizations, Black Bloc and eco-anarchist groups, without naming any personal names.
Although Copwatch is most often considered a human rights organization and Infoshop, an online news source, Missouri officials, however, place both on the anarchists watch list, as domestic threats:
Copwatch is a network of United States volunteer organizations that "police the police". Copwatch groups usually engage in monitoring of the police, videotaping police activity, educating the public about police misconduct, and advocating for more accountable law enforcement practices.
The main function of most Copwatch groups is monitoring police activity. "Copwatchers" go out on foot or driving patrols in their communities and videotape interactions between the police and civilians. Some groups also patrol at protests and demonstrations to ensure that the rights of protesters are not violated by police officers. Copwatch organizations generally abide by a policy of non-interventions with the police, although this may not be true for all groups. The anarchist ran Infoshop News published the new “Copwatch 101” booklet found at the following address http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=04/04/06/6676838

Run for the 1950s bomb shelter: Missouri officials say the Anti-Racist Action Network is not only anarchist, but are “sometime seen to be ‘Red’ or Communist.”

READ MORE: http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2011/06/copwatch-and-infoshop-on-missouris.html

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