ASU gives Nazis what they want: The "Problem of Whiteness" debacle reaches new low

Do white supremacists call the shots at ASU these days? The Neo-Nazi National Youth Front (NYF) showed up at ASU on Tuesday (along with National Socialist Movement member Harry Hughes, the former comrade of JT Ready) to thank the university for silencing professors associated with the "The Problem of Whiteness" class and demanding their termination. And according to information provided to us, it looks like ASU is giving them exactly what they want.

Although they were straining the definition of "youth" to the point of pure absurdity, the NYF's small cadre of mostly middle-aged worn out white nationalist protesters held signs with one saying "Thank you ASU", while a crowd of about fifty surrounded them, mocked them and challenged them. They invoked "free speech" in their own defense while advocating censorship of classes they didn't like.

And they shouted their support for former ASU police officer Stewart Ferrin. Ferrin, you will recall, is the white officer who resigned last month after much hemming and hawing from the university, in the fallout from the violent arrest of a black ASU professor, Dr. Ersula Ore, for jaywalking on a blocked off street at night. Things got heated at one point during the demonstration as protesters and counter-protesters faced off, but the NYF, surrounded and outnumbered, didn't seem interested in following through with their threats against "the militant Left" which appeared online.

NYF and NSM at ASU. That's Harry Hughes with the camera.

Yup, that Harry Hughes.

A little background. The "outrage" of Professor Lee Bebout's The Problem of Whiteness course was originally instigated by a right wing ASU student correspondent to a Fox News show.  The controversy over "The Problems of Whiteness" class took an even harder right turn when the NYF posted anti-Muslim posters on campus and handed out fliers on campus specifically targeting Bebout denouncing him as "anti-white."

The NYF won't claim credit for it, but someone distributed the fliers targeting Bebout in his neighborhood, an action clearly meant to intimidate him. Because "free speech", right? Posts about the class on Stormfront, the infamous white supremacist website tied to scores of murders, encouraged racist militants to email the university, and naturally threats of violence came with it.

Emboldened by ASU's silence on the issue, the boneheads today also demanded the termination of ASU grad student Robert Poe, who teaches at the Tempe campus, and who two weeks ago led a workshop on the same topic.

Poe's flyer clearly says "informal and unsanctioned"

Poe's teach-in was specifically labeled "informal and unsanctioned." NYF member "John Hess" attended the teach-in with a video camera and recorded it. Hess then cherry picked a moment where Poe, responding to a question from Hess, said that he supported violence "against racists who choose to politically mobilize" and posted it online in the hopes that ASU would take the bait. A moral trip about violence from a Neo-Nazi, now that's rich. And ASU apparently fell for it.

It isn't hard to find examples of the use of political violence against racists in history, or even locally. Why Poe's statement would be controversial on a campus that has poli-sci departments overflowing with advocates for war, history departments that debate the use of violence, and that maintains such a cozy relationship with the most violent organization on Earth, the US Military, is a little baffling. If advocating violence against politically active racists is forbidden at ASU, then a whole generation of WWII vets should probably stay off campus -- and maybe stop sending their grandchildren and their money there, since it's obviously not welcome.

A 2009 anti-Nazi riot in Phoenix that you're not allowed to talk about at ASU

Of course, the university regularly grants free speech rights to all manner of right wing nuts who advocate violence. On the day before Poe's teach-in, for example, there was an anti-gay protester who called publicly for the government to kill homosexuals. And of course there's the "you deserve rape" guy (watch a video where he advocates death for "whores" below). And anti-abortion protesters, who belong to a movement that has been killing doctors for decades, regularly set up shop in front of the Memorial Union. Apparently this is protected speech at ASU, but referencing historical violent resistance to Nazis and the Klan is not.

According to information provided to Down and Drought, as threats poured in, the university told both professors to be quiet, likely hoping to hunker down and avoid controversy at a time when they were negotiating looming budget cuts with a Fox News adoring far right governor and legislature who might be agitated by the idea that such ideas are being taught on campus.

Our sources tell us that the university administration told both Poe and Bebout to stay quiet. Bebout was reminded that he is up for tenure and Poe was essentially issued a delayed termination, with the university removing his name from the class, forcing him to get class materials approved weekly, and forbidding him from teaching next semester. This looks a lot like ASU hoped to shift his official firing into the future, when there would be less eyes on it.

Where's Rob Poe's name?

We received a screen shot of the class that Poe is teaching this semester and his name has been removed from it. In his place is the name of the head of his department school, the School of Social Transformation (SST).  Is the head of department  SST now teaching Poe's class? Meanwhile, a search for Poe's name on the faculty website turns up no results. Where did he go? What happened to him? Did ASU throw him under the bus?

It appears that ASU has caved in to Neo-Nazi demands. Which, in essence, means that Neo-Nazis basically are making hiring and firing decisions at ASU, and have imposed some measure of veto power over curriculum. At today's protest, various members of the NYF ranted about eugenics, about biological differences between races and about their deep hatred for Jews. Will the biology department be the next target? You have to wonder where it will stop now.

According to the website "Problem of Whiteness 101", which catalogs the various racist posts, comments and Facebook "likes" of members of the NYF, local leader John Hess is interested in a lot of things that ought to really disturb the university, if they are indeed planning on continuing to cede curricular and staffing decisions to them. These things include the books Mein Kampf and the Bell Curve, and racist bands like Skrewdriver. The NYF likes to pretend that they are just "white activists," whatever that means, but their associations with Hughes and Hess's affinity for Nazi literature and white supremacist music tell a different story.

A recent State Press article detailed concerns among the ASU and Tempe Muslim community about a rise in anti-Islamic sentiment and vandalism following the Chapel Hill shootings. ASU giving in to Neo-Nazis certainly won't help on that front. At the protest today, one prospective student waiting for his tour of campus was overheard describing second thoughts about attending after seeing the NYF protest.

Previously the NYF has organized anonymously and avoided appearing in public. But now, thanks to ASU's surrender, they have taken their first step into the open. Just as they were encouraged by ASU's cowardice in the case of Dr. Ore, they are likewise now bolstered by the university's handling of the "Whiteness" class and subsequent fallout.

We reached out to ASU repeatedly via twitter and got no response, which is not surprising since silence seems to be their strategy. You have to wonder, though, where silence and capitulation to Neo-Nazis will get us in the long run.

CORRECTION:
The article incorrectly identified the person listed as teaching Poe's class (Dr. Brayboy) as the head of his department. Brayboy is the head of Poe's school, the School of Social Transformation.

Is Tempe PD planning to use cell phone data to identify participants at an anti-racist rally?

According to local media, the Tempe Police Department are preparing for a potential clash between a group of white supremacists who have announced a "White Man March" on Mill Avenue on Saturday, and a counter-demonstration organized by local anarchists and anti-racists, including residents of the surrounding neighborhood.

The TPD has a less than stellar history when it comes to dealing with protests. With that in mind, we want to put a spotlight on a secretive tool in the arsenal of the Tempe cops, one that can easily be used for spying on demonstrators in real time by using something almost everyone carries with them these days: a cell phone. The question is, will the TPD use it -- and what will be the implications for civil liberties if they do?

The Tempe Police Department's history of political repression through intimidation, electronic tracking, and surveilling of activists, radicals, anarchists, and participants in Occupy Phoenix, has been documented here at Down & Drought (and also quite extensively by journalist Beau Hodai, and by the anarchists themselves (1,2)), and includes using anti-terror cops to spy on gardeners and deploying mobile surveillance to gawk at tailgaters.

Knowing this historical context, and considering statements from TPD about their preparation for Saturday's protests,  we decided to do a little to research on the use of technology for the purpose of remote electronic surveillance. This led us to the Stingray, a device being discreetly used by law enforcement agencies across the United States to covertly collect data.

The Stingray is known as an “IMSI catcher”, meaning that the device records the International Mobile Subscriber Identity of a particular wireless device, such as a cell phone.  According to documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal,  the "Stingray works by mimicking a cellphone tower, getting a phone to connect to it and measuring signals from the phone. It lets the stingray operator 'ping,' or send a signal to, a phone and locate it as long as it is powered on."

The Stingray has the ability to connect to all cell phones within a mile of the device, without police having to contact a wireless service provider, by collecting data on the identification and location of all phone communications within range, and then forwarding the signal on to the nearest cell phone tower.  Among the data collected by the Stingray include all outgoing numbers dialed for phone calls and text messages, and the identification for a phone which can be used to obtain call and text history.  As the Stingray is usually mounted in a police vehicle, it can stay mobile and, due to the lack of familiarity the public has with the device, would be difficult to identify.

A handful of valley police departments admitted that they use the device in an Arizona Republic article, among them Phoenix, Mesa, and Gilbert departments. These devices are generally purchased with grant funds made available by the Department of Homeland Security.  According to the Republic, a number of valley police departments refused to acknowledge the use of the Stingray device, including the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, which denied any knowledge of the Stingray device. 

In a similar instance, journalists in Sacramento researching the use of the Stingray in the region were told by the the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office that the department had no knowledge of owning or using the Stingray.  When confronted with documents from other departments, including a purchase order from Sacramento County, which confirmed that the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office did own a Stingray and related technology, the department never fessed up to owning a Stingray, instead telling the journalists that their "legal counsel is coordinating a response" to the inquiry.

The Stingray is a product of the Harris Corporation, a company which specializes in high tech surveillance technology, and made the Stingray a sought after device for law enforcement after years of developing the technology for the US military. Harris Corporation refuses to answer reporters' questions about the Stingray and related products, telling them to ask the police agencies about the device, which would be great if Harris Corporation wasn't also requiring departments to sign non-disclosure agreements upon purchase. This is the case with one of the notable local departments absent from the Republic's article, the Tempe Police Department, who paid Harris Corporation $60,321.75 for a Stingray package in October 2012.

The contract, which the Public Intelligence project downloaded and hosts on their site, was removed from the City of Tempe's website in the weeks after the purchase.  The removal of the contract, between the Harris Corporation and the City of Tempe, was likely due to the non-disclosure agreement that Tempe probably violated by posting the document to the city's website. A subsequent request for an additional purchase from Harris Corporation to not exceed $123,497.50 was approved by the Tempe City Council at their August 22, 2013 meeting.  Naturally, the details of the recent purchase by the Tempe Police Department from Harris Corporation are not available to the public.

The use of nondisclosure agreements between the government and private industry to hide the acquisition of spy equipment with very serious civil liberties implications is troubling, to say the least! Why doesn't the city want its residents to know about this technology?  As noted in the USA Today expose on the Stingray, there is a concern that the device could be used to identify the participants of a rally or protest for a political cause.  

As we have previously noted in our article on the Facial Recognition Unit of the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center (ACTIC), local law enforcement have repeatedly used tools that were purchased under the pretext of "fighting crime", but were actually used to spy on the participants in protests and activist events, many of whom had never been accused or convicted of a crime.

So what does this mean for the future of protest in Tempe, or any town where the cops have a Stingray?  It likely means that anyone carrying a cell phone could have their identity placed at the scene by police, despite any other precautions (such as wearing a mask to conceal the face).  With the lengthy history of the Tempe PD's Homeland Defense Unit's efforts to stifle free speech and assembly, and the coordination between valley Terrorism Liason Officers (TLO) to identify radicals and anarchists in the valley, it seems quite likely that the Stingray could be discreetly deployed at this weekend's anti-fascist counter-protest to the "White Man March."

And if you think the Tempe Police Department using the Stingray on Saturday to collect the identities of people protesting a white supremacist march (or just anyone on Mill Ave who may get lumped in) is without precedent, think again.  In 2003, the Miami-Dade Police Department purchased a Stingray in anticipation of protests aimed at the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) conference.  The department claimed the device was needed to monitor protests, and the "anticipated criminal activities" which they claimed would be organized by cell phone. Following the FTAA protests, the City of Miami, the Miami Police Department, and its officers, faced a number of lawsuits concerning the level of violence and brutality used by police against demonstrators, as well as complaints over the use of surveillance to target journalists for arrest.

With concerns over the use of the Stingray, and the Tempe PD's history of repression towards protest groups, we reached out to Sgt Michael Pooley, the Press Information Officer at Tempe.  We asked Sgt Pooley for comment on the use of the Stringray by the Tempe Police in regards to the possible "White Man March" and counter-demonstration this weekend. We also asked about any past use of the Stingray by police at protests, and if the department has any concerns over the privacy concerns of anyone ensnared in the department's data collection.  As of the time this article was published, there has been no response from Sgt Pooley, continuing the silence from Tempe on what appears to be a serious attack on civil liberty.

Party Foul: Racist ASU frats are ruinning Tempe's party culture

Tempe frats aren't just racist.  They're also bad partiers.  And they're ruining it for everyone else.

At least no one wore blackface.  That may be the one positive thing you can say about the stupid, racist "MLK Black Party" organized by members of ASU's Tau Kappa Epsilon.  Saved by low standards?

Thankfully not.  The university stepped in, suspending the organization for a second time in just over a year after pics from the party surfaced documenting white celebrants donning sports jerseys, tossing up gang signs and drinking out of watermelons.  By the way, the first suspension came after a gang of about 20 TKE members invaded an apartment complex and assaulted a black associate of another fraternity, an attack that certainly takes on a different hue in light of recent events.  Local civil rights advocates have issued a series of demands and threatened a boycott.

Photo via Phoenix New Times

This newest incident comes as the latest in a long line of frats behaving badly in Tempe.  Recent incidents include the near-immolation of an underage female party-goer, the aforementioned assault, a gun fight, the ditching of frat brother, intoxicated and near death, at a local emergency room with a post-it note stuck to him.  Etc, etc.

Reacting to the frat chaos, the city and police department vowed to respond.  "These young individuals as well as the property owners, they have to respect the right of our community and that is what we are trying to do," said Chief Ryff at the time.  The city set about making a plan to crack down, not just on trouble-making frats, but on the community in general.

This plan manifested at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, under a program called Getting Arizona Involved in Neighborhoods (GAIN).  Hundreds of cops invaded and occupied the neighborhoods surrounding the university.  In Arizona's version of Stop and Frisk, thousands of police contacts were made.  Over three weekends Tempe police and Maricopa Sheriff's deputies charged almost 1400 people, certainly very few of whom were fratboys.

READ MORE ABOUT TEMPE'S CRACKDOWN HERE

In particular, the inclusion of the MCSO in the program raised serious questions, given their terrible record of profiling Latinos and other people of color.  Students and residents in the neighborhoods around ASU resisted the police invasion in a variety of ways, including a popular Twitter campaign with the hashtag #shotsforjoe, which accompanied pictures of determined youthful partiers mocking Sheriff Joe Arpaio, drinks in hand, in defiance of the crackdown on good times.  Residents reached out to the media to explain their side of the story and to denounce the racism of the TPD and MCSO.

The crackdown was abruptly cut short after police gunned down a Tempe resident in broad daylight in the heart of downtown Tempe.  Witnesses contradicted the police story, but one this is for sure: the city had declared the area a police state, announcing a "zero tolerance policy" for any disorder.

There is an instinctual sense that ASU, still a regular top ranker in Playboy's top party schools list, has always been a place where partying was a part of life and that this was precisely what differentiated that part of the city from the quieter white bread suburban neighborhoods in the southern part of the city.  The areas around the school have always boasted a raucous culture of house parties and drunken walks home from the bar.  People live in downtown for a reason and accept and enjoy a certain degree of chaos.

But this traditionally more wild lifestyle has increasingly come into conflict with the city's plans for yuppification, upscalification and conventionification of downtown.  Recently the city changed it's standards for noise ordinances and residential codes in an attempt to homogenize the city.  Police can now act immediately to shut down loud parties whereas before they were required to give a warning.

As the city plans for a future of middle class USA basketball tourists and insurance salesmen, the need to domesticate downtown has become more pressing, and fratboy antics have given them the excuse they need.  Speaking to the Republic of the basketball deal, Susan Eastridge, CEO of Concord Eastridge, Inc., said, “In a lot of ways, we think this will invite even more development to happen in Tempe."  The expansion of commerce downtown demands order.

READ MORE ABOUT TEMPE'S PLAN TO DOMESTICATE DOWNTOWN

So it was no surprise that the police trotted out frat violence as their excuse for their crackdown.  The city recently released it's own self-tabulated results of the crackdown, citing reduced noise violations and lower incidents of muggings as proof that they had achieved their objective.  But at the outset the city had singled out in particular the frat violence and sexual assaults as justifications for their increased policing of what they deem the "loud party corridor."

Frat row, closed for business

Therefore, it's worth noting then that the city's own numbers have shown that they have completely failed in this objective.  Neither reports of aggravated nor sexual assaults declined in the period of increased policing, which cost nearly $150,000 (most of which was covered by the Feds) and which padded officers bank accounts with plenty of overtime before the holiday season.

But how does this relate to a bunch of white fratboys throwing a racist party?  Because despite what the city says, downtown Tempe is a place that welcomes parties, but the frats are really bad at partying.  They are self-centered and disconnected from reality in ways that are very troubling.  The failure to understand how their actions would be viewed and the message it would send is indeed deeply troubling.  And this violence, racism and general poor form is providing an excuse for the police to crackdown on everyone else.

Many people who are aware of Arizona's history as a segregationist state, of the battles over the MLK holiday, and the infamous racist rant of former governor Evan Mecham might not be surprised by whites acting badly.  Yet some people are wondering, "shouldn't these kids have known better?"  It turns out Tempe and ASU has its own troubled history.  Come time travel with me.

On April 14, 1989, a white mob surrounded four black students leaving a party on the now-bulldozed fraternity row.  In what turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, 500 fratboys and other whites surrounded the men, spat on them and taunted them with racial epithets.  When it turned violent the cops broke it up, macing the crowd and arresting two of the black men, who were taken to the station in handcuffs.  The local press ignored the racist riot until a week later when protesters marched and blocked the Memorial Union on campus.  Among their demands, that all fraternities develop an anti-racism education program for their members.  Imagine that?  In 1989!

Before that, back in the day, Tempe was a Klan stronghold and a "sundown town," and many prominent members of the community -- including the mayor, city council members and civic leaders (the founder of the Tempe Rotary Club, for instance) -- boasted membership in the not so secret organization.

This included two-time mayor and perennial councilman Hugh Laird whose name graces a school and a street and who used to enjoy regaling friends and family with this touching yet eerily relevant story of racial appropriation, as detailed in the book "Memories of Old Settlers of Tempe."

'Between 1905 and 1910, the new manager of Borden's Creamery was coming from the East Coast on the train. In a letter to the present manager, who was retiring, he inquired whether he should be concerned about Indian attacks or train robbers. Several Tempeans heard about the inquiry and decided not to disappoint him.

'The evening of his arrival, he was met by several Borden officials and was driven to the creamery by horse and buggy. Borden's Creamery was located on Eighth St. just east of Rural Road. About twenty of the leading townspeople we awaiting, west of Rural and Eight St. on horseback, dressed up in feathers and war paint to "attack" the buggy. When the "attack" occurred, the officials jumped from the buggy, but the new manager grabbed the reins and started back toward town. The "Indians" followed whooping and hollering and then faded away in the vicinity of Mill Avenue. The new manager drove the buggy back to the train depot on Ash Avenue, got on the train and headed back to Phoenix.

'Other Borden officials had a "devil" of a time trying to persuade him to return and assume his duties. He didn't think the prank was funny! I know this story because my grandfather, Hugh Laird, was one of the "Indians" and he delighted to tell it every Christmas.'

It seems to me that this isn't just a question of not "knowing better."  Racism isn't just about the maintenance of a white supremacist system, although it clearly is that.  And this kind of thing isn't just a social faux pas.  As if the real crime is that the thoughts were expressed publicly.  It's obvious why the caricature of blackness, of the rapper or the sports star or the drug dealer, would appeal to a bunch of workaholic repressed white kids who were likely raised in the suburbs by parents exactly the same as them. Hell, there's not much that is appealing about the repressed white protestant pressed-suit work-worshipping 9-5 life they're all sadly destined to lead.

Whites in the US, experiencing the constant self-repression of Protestantism and the work ethic, have a long history of envying idealized versions of the lives of others.  In terms of white fantasies, you can draw a line from the Noble Savage to the hip hop artist.  The white New Ager wants the spirituality without the poverty of the reservation.  The white fratboy wants the rap swagger without the police attention and prison time.

But these fratboys are playing black without the consequences.  Paul Mooney famously remarked on this historical tendency.  These kids want to play black without the disadvantages.   To inhabit that identity when its convenient.  That's a big part of why it's particularly offensive to see a bunch of privileged rich white kids doing this kind of racist shit.

On a Tempe neighborhood forum where complaints about local cops, fratboys and racism are common, one black former frat member described his experience this way, 

The privileged white kids of these fraternities will engage in all the post-racial backslapping in the world. They say "nigga" When it comes up in rap songs, so they get to thinking they "get it"--that it's all for fun, that "only lazy hood [black] people are niggas...you know what I mean right bro? You're different."

He continued: 'These kids probably say things like "but, God, racism ended like 40 years ago, right?"'

Another problem with the behavior of the frats in the neighborhood is that the repercussions for their actions generally land squarely on other people.  Which, in the case of the police response they invite, means poor, working class people, and people of color in particular.  That is, people with a lot less power and resources than fratboys have and who don't have rich daddies with season football passes and exclusive organizations to back them up.  

Fratboys can play black all night in the apartments their parents pay for, but when they're driving home in that shiny new graduation present they fly under the cops' radar.  Their whiteness protects them.  But they have brought upon the whole neighborhood a police crackdown from which they themselves are largely immune, which is painfully ironic coming from an exclusive club of resume-builders constantly crowing about the self-described community "philanthropy" they engage in.  Check out the Facebook page of any one of these organizations.  It's nothing but photo ops of well-off mostly white kids masturbating themselves for resume points while doing what should be considered normal, human behavior.  As the old saying goes, if you're who they've sent to save us, we don't want to be saved.  Or, "you're a little short for a stormtrooper."

In addition to denouncing their racist brothers, which they should do immediately, ASU Greeks also need to be better partiers.  Most people who live in the neighborhoods around the university support parties -- welcome them, in fact.  Not just because they're fun but also because they help push back against the developers and city managers who dream of raising rents, filling the neighborhood with condos, driving fun-loving people out, and squashing out all good times that aren't bought and paid for in a bar or restaurant on Mill Avenue.  So throwing these godawful racist or violent parties puts everyone who likes parties in an awkward position.

If there's hope for defending a rebellious Tempe where fun can still happen, it's in refusing to be cowed in the neighborhoods by buzzkillers in blue (who are sometimes actual killers) and pencil-necked urban planners.  But the frats' shitty, racist, sexist and idiotic behavior has become just another excuse for the ongoing crackdown on good times in the neighborhood.  The frats need to get their shit together.  Dump the racism first and foremost.  There are parties to be thrown and beers to be drunk.  For the common good.  And before it's too late.

VETS FOR PEACE SHOULD BE PROUD TO BE EXCLUDED FROM VETERANS DAY PARADES

Apparently Veterans Day is when the fascist, flag-waving crazy comes out in the Valley of the Sun.  Maybe this shouldn't be surprising.  After all, we're talking about the same sprawling megalopolis that includes Mesa, a city that almost had notorious National Socialist and white master race proponent JT Ready as the master of ceremonies for its soldier celebration in 2006, only booting him when it came to light that he had been kicked out of the Marines with a dishonorable discharge.

Last year some neo-Confederates used the holiday to honor a defender of the southern slavocracy in Arizona.  Said they to the old-timey East Valley Tribune in 2012: "We seek to restore the honor for the soldiers who fought in this army. They put everything on the line for a cause they believed in and they died for it..."  So controversy abounds, naturally.

Meanwhile, in the county jail, Arpaio has plastered American flag stickers on the cells, leading some inmates to deface them, resulting in bread and water diets as punishment.  He's also reminding prisoners that they're in the greatest and most-incarcerating nation on Earth by playing the national anthem and "God Bless America" every day.  Apparently Arpaio's jail can test the patriotism of even the proudest flag fanatic.  And, in what must rank as the most bizarre tribute to the troops, Channel 10 reports on plans to recognize the troops by housing "all inmate-veterans together, in honor of their service."  Cue the F-16 fly-by.  Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?

And that segues nicely into the recent controversy in Phoenix.  The city outsourced control and planning of their yearly parade to a private nonprofit called Honoring Arizona’s Veterans -- which promptly banned the anti-war group, Veterans for Peace from participating.  Apparently HAV disapproved of V4P's message.  As well they should.  After all, everyone knows these veterans parades are really about the national religion of war, the deifying the armed services and the glorification of militarism and patriotic masculinity.  And Veterans for Peace are for, well, peace.

Hence whatever parade you watch you can be certain to see the American Legion among their numbers.  The Legion was founded in 1919 during the height of the Red Scare, aiming to "uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a one hundred per cent Americanism."

Thus they naturally went right to work breaking up radical meetings and labor gathering, attacking immigrants, and basically violating the constitutional rights of anyone suspected of having anti-war or "anti-American" (read: leftist or labor union) sympathies.  Indeed, in 1919 Arizona Governor Campbell urged the Legion to rid the state of the troublesome radical unionists of the IWW, who he deemed "human vermin."  In 1948, the Arizona branch of the Legion sent representatives to a Los Angeles conference aimed at forming "inter-state un-American activities committees."

But I seem to remember that each soldier swears an oath to uphold the constitution.  And yet somehow the serial-violators of the American Legion get the green light to join the parade despite its vile history.  So considering all that, it seems to me that Veterans for Peace would do far better protesting the parade than participating in it.  Do they really want to put their stamp of approval on this jingoistic spectacle?  After all, in being excluded they are in good company.

Consider this simple thought experiment.  Private Chelsea Manning sits in jail today for revealing to the world the nightmare of the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, including its high civilian toll.  Among the revelations in the files she delivered to Wikileaks was the shocking video of Apache helicopter pilots gunning down journalists and civilians.  Without a doubt, those Apache pilots would be welcomed to participate in HAV's exclusive parade, while Manning and Vets for Peace are denied.  Revealing war crimes gets you banned, but participating in them?  Feel free to join right in!

Because 9/11 happened in Tempe?

So I have a suggestion for Veterans for Peace.  Since you're not welcome in the parade in Phoenix, you may consider coming down to Tempe.  Why?  Well check this out.

Tempe is going insane for veterans on Monday.  Not only are they having their own pointless parade down Mill Avenue, but they're sending their local aspiring brownshirts, the Tempe Police Explorers, door to door to place lawn flags in everyone's yards.  Check out the flyer below that appeared last Thursday on doors throughout the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Tempe.

Additionally, there's no word on whether these are recycled flags from Tempe's yearly 9/11 tribute at Tempe Beach Park (cuz, ya know, nothing says "support the troops" like a bunch of flags hemmed in between an artificial lake and public bathrooms) or if the city went ahead and purchased a thousand new flags.

What exactly being a police explorer has to do with spreading "some pride and patriotism" is left to our imaginations, but it does beg the question as to why exactly all this fuss is necessary.  Maybe it has something to do with Tempe's expanding counter-insurgency strategy against residents and students.  But, if Tempe residents were to support the young fascists' dream of covering the neighborhood with "red, white and blue to show support and appreciation for our veterans," are we to believe that, unlike in the case of Phoenix, this support extends to Veterans for Peace and Pvt. Manning, as well?  Highly unlikely.  And nor should they.

In 1954, Veterans Day usurped Armistice Day, the now ancient -- almost old-timey feeling -- holiday invoking the memory of the so-called "war to end all wars," and our alleged determination to learn the lessons of the past.  After the sometimes hot/sometimes not Cold War and more than ten years of the War of Terror, Armistice Day almost seems like it's a quaint relic from another world.  Not fit for our modern times.  So it should be no surprise then that those who oppose militarism, war, jingoism, mass murder and imperialism would find themselves excluded from Veterans Day parades and celebrations.

So, Veterans for Peace, quit trying to join that celebration of death and warfare in Phoenix.  Pack your signs into the spacious trunks of your bumper-stickered Priuses and drive over to Tempe.  Stand on the corner of Mill and University on Monday morning and declare your opposition.  Accept your well-earned place, along with Chelsea Manning, outside the parade.  Then maybe help the neighbors take care of all those flags.  And maybe bring a lighter.

Tempe anti-terror cops sent undercovers to infiltrate a local bar to spy on anarchists planning a community garden

According to documents released by the Center for Media and Democracy this week, while investigating Occupy Phoenix organizers and anarchists in Phoenix, Sgt. Ken Renwick (of Tempe's Homeland Defense Unit) directed plain clothes officers to "visit Casey Moore's and see if we can get any intel".  Casey Moore's is a bar in downtown Tempe where police suspected anarchists gathered and hatched their plans.  It's affectionately called "Casey's" by regulars.

The problem?  May Day was approaching and while it seemed Occupy Phoenix had wound down in many respects, it was known that Tempe anarchists were planning something, probably in Tempe, maybe in Scottsdale.  But finding out what hadn't proved an easy task.

At the beginning of Occupy Phoenix Sgt. Tom Van Dorn, head of the Major Offenders Bureau and Career Criminals Squad was forced to admit that "finding out how the anarchists are organizing and what they are up to is still difficult".  Sending police infiltrators like Saul DeLara (quickly unmasked by veteran activists) hadn't helped.  By May the cops were still complaining about the lack of information, and Brenda Dowhan worried about the "complete silence from May Day organizers".

Incidentally, Dowhan is a perfect example of the explosion of anti-terrorism positions since September 11th, signing off her emails as "Terrorism Liaison All Hazards Expert, Phoenix Police Department Homeland Defense Bureau, Arizona Counter-Terrorism Information Center".  An online search reveals her as an alumni.of Kaplan University, an online college.  In one email, Dowhan shared at least one link to an article posted to AnarchistNews.org entitled "Spain: New wave of incendiary attacks and sabotages by Nihilist Anarchists".  There were no attributed anarchist incendiary attacks in Phoenix during the period covered by these documents.

The cops are heading to Casey's

This wasn't the first time anarchists in Tempe had been singled out by anti-terrorism authorities to fit their demands for a local terrorist bogeyman.  In 2004, Dan Elting, a Phoenix cop and counter-terrorism trainer, organized a community forum at the Tempe library in which anarchists were described as terrorist threats equivalent to Al-Qaeda and the Klan.  Printouts of the Phoenix Anarchist Coalition's webpage were distributed as reference materials to a very conservative, elderly and scared audience.  It was the only local organization so featured.

Around the time Tempe plain clothes officers appear to have been directed in the name of homeland defense to brave the cool Spring patio weather and cold beers at Casey's to spy on anarchists, Casey's had been informally the site of a regular Thursday night anarchist drinking night known as "Anarchy Thursdays".  This is almost certainly the reason why cops were sent there.

Anarchists had been living and organizing in Tempe for well over a decade, and downtown Tempe had seen two previous May Day marches in 2002 and 2003.  The former had gotten a bit out of hand from the perspective of the cops.  In addition, police reacted clumsily and pepper sprayed journalists.  But by 2003 the bike unit had received training by the Eugene Police Department in crowd control (Eugene being another national hotbed of anarchist organizing at the time) and the march was more easily contained.

Over the years anarchists have become well-established in downtown Tempe neighborhoods and the community there, and had proved it most recently (pre-Occupy) during the 2010 resistance to SB1070.  Anarchists had initiated and been central organizers in building Tempe neighborhood resistance to the application of the law in Tempe, doing door to door organizing, printing yard signs denouncing the law that proliferated through the neighborhood, putting on well-attended neighborhood general assemblies and one very large march through the neighborhood that attracted a wide range of Tempe residents.  Police were not able to contain that march to the sidewalks and residents marched cheerfully in the streets as their neighbors frequently came out to wave in support or join in.

What the cops did know was that the Tempe May Day action involved taking over a public space ("reclaim the commons", as it was called in anarchist parlance) in order to plant a community garden.  An occupation.  This much was clear from the posters that went up around town.

The chosen spot was a long vacant lot downtown.  For two decades it had been the location of Tempe's largely beloved "Gentle Strength Co-op" (although not so much with the developers and city council).  Anarchists had held weekly meetings for years there as the Phoenix Anarchist Coalition, and had run an infoshop on the premises for about six months at one point (until some yuppie members complained about "bad vibes").  Still, anarchists worked there and were prominent members.  But the co-op had closed now and, after a failed attempt to develop the land into a Whole Foods/condoplex, it had lain fallow and unused for years.  What's more, the empty lot was now owned by the very same Canadian corporation that owned Zuccotti Park, the site of the original Occupy Wall Street encampment.

Officer Derek Pittam, by May Day 2012 serving as a Tempe Police Department Homeland Defense Unit Detective, had come up on the bike squad and had experience dealing with Tempe anarchists.  He'd had many run ins with them during protests and their routine cop watch patrols in the downtown.  Like many cops post-9/11, he had moved into one of the myriad anti-terrorism-related jobs that had proliferated across police departments nationwide thanks to increased Federal funding, a kind of grade inflation that led to the ridiculous number of titles accumulated à la Dowhan by many of the officers appearing in the documents released by PR Watch.  Those documents reveal Pittam was determined to deny anarchists a victory in their May Day plans.

Anti-terror cops defend empty lot from gardeners

In order to execute those plans, and to make sure that the vacant lot stayed empty and unused by the neighborhood, Pittam engaged in a series of pre-emptive actions (of questionable legality), such as sending police to visit local businesses warning of anarchist activity (including, according to one business owner, a claim that anarchists planned to run "really long hoses" across the street to water the lot).  Oh, the horror! 


He also wrote a letter to local businesses and prominent non-anarchist neighborhood residents.  In it, he linked the May Day action to anarchist violence. Pittam clearly saw this as a battle for the hearts and minds of Tempe.  He wrote: "I am very concerned that the organizers of this event have not disclosed important information in their quest to gain support from local residents and businesses." Unfortunately for Pittam, the letter was leaked by residents sympathetic to Tempe anarchists, who then published it the day before the garden planting, causing some embarrassment.

A riot cop is confused as a child is detained for vandalism

On the day in question about seventy people showed up with the intent of building a community garden, a great many of them local residents.  They gathered at the Farmer's Market across the street, with the permission of the owner.  What they found was a line of riot cops positioned in the lot.  Police threatened any trespassers with arrest.  Still loaded up with supplies (and with the cops baking in the hot sun), the group decided to take over a strip of city land right next to the lot.  Police did not act and a garden was built.  Several news outlets sent out reporters and cameras to
report on it, capturing the excitement and enthusiasm of participants.  A concrete planter was poured and filled with a variety of plants and vegetables.  At one point police, watching from the park, thought they saw some small children vandalizing a sign, so they stormed in and detained the kids and their parents.  It turned out the paint was water-soluble, so only warnings were given.  The impromptu community garden was maintained for three days until city workers came early in the morning and destroyed it.

In an email tooting his own horn about police activities that day (designed, as Sgt. Renwick had said, to make neighborhood residents and anarchists "go home saddened", denied victory), Pittam wrote, 'Our local actions, for better or worse, did appear to have an impact.  We did not have "Black Bloc" emerge...'  Why anyone would imagine a black bloc to be a useful tactic for building a garden wasn't clear, but it must certainly have been related to the general hyping of the potential for violence that these cops regularly engaged in.  Indeed, most likely a black bloc wasn't deterred at all, but none was ever planned.  After all, aside from its uselessness in that situation, it was also 100 degrees that day.  Only cops hang around in all black in those conditions.  They were the only black bloc that day.

Justifying their jobs in the face of what was in fact was a bit uncooperative but nevertheless standard fare protest must have been both frustrating and difficult to understand from an anti-terror framework.  It's telling that no where in these documents does it appear that police called each other out on their fantastic imaginings.  Instead, like Pittam post-garden defense, it's pats on the back, self-congratulation and attaboys. 

Interestingly, people who participated in the action didn't view it as a defeat.  A plot was taken over, the contradiction of cops defending an empty lot with significant local meaning was on full display, and a garden was planted.  And it was destroyed because the city couldn't tolerate it.  It would seem the organizers actually came out on top that day, not the TPD.

Nevertheless, when we read these police documents what we get is the odd juxtaposition of anti-terror rhetoric and gravity on one hand, and then the broad interpretation of results in the face of the actual run of the mill nature of the "threat".  As in the case of a local homeland defense officer, organizing with Phoenix anti-terror cops to send undercovers to spy on drunk anarchists and to deploy riot police in downtown Tempe to stop the planting of a community garden.  Oh yeah, and to detain children for painting.



This is part 3 in our ongoing series analyzing recently released police and Federal documents detailing their surveillance and infiltration of Occupy Phoenix and anarchists in the Valley.

Gunning for that Number One Spot

In the four months since the Sandy Hook school massacre the debate around gun control has polarized a section of American opinion on the types of firearms available to the public for purchase, who should have access to them, and how difficult should it be to acquire one.  A paranoia persists amongst the American right wing that the Obama administration will be using the mass shootings as pretext to initiate a federal "gun grab."  Scenarios amongst the right have ranged from the President of the NRA alleging that the government will be going door to door to confiscate weapons, to a pair of US congressmen from Oklahoma who have charged the Obama administration are behind the months long ammunition shortage. The impact of the shortages on ammunition and firearm sales, when combined with an apocalyptic fear of the federal government carrying out a gun seizure (of majority white gun owners nonetheless), has resulted in handsome profits for the firearms industry.

While there has been no attempt at gun control in Arizona, proponents of firearms have responded to calls from right wing political organizations to mobilize at the state capitol for a series of rallies to denounce any potential "gun grab" by the federal government. Hundreds gathered at various rallies at  the Arizona state capitol to demonstrate against any proposed legislation to further regulate the sale of firearms, ammunition, and magazines by the federal government.  The rallies are a mixed crowd of gun enthusiasts, anti-immigrant biker gangs, border militia members, and political opportunists looking to capitalize from the far-right's latest bout of persecution complex.

The rallies at the state capitol were not in response to any specific gun control laws being passed in the Arizona state legislature since there is no chance any bills advance in the Republican majority, gun friendly legislature. Quite the opposite, in recent years the state legislature have passed a number of laws over the years which reinforce gun owners' rights, and facilitate the accessibility with which guns are available to purchase from dealers and private citizens.  It's not surprising that Arizona is considered the number one state to be a gun owner in the United States.

 The February 16th Second Amendment rally at the Arizona state capitol.

Arizona was recently ranked as the friendliest state for gun owners by Guns and Ammo Magazine based upon a criteria of a person's ability to open carry or carry a concealed weapon in public, the ability to purchase MSRs (Modern Sports Rifles) such as AR-15s and AK-47s without restriction, the lack of restrictions to obtain Class 3/NFA firearms beyond the federal law, the passing of Stand Your Ground laws regarding "self defense", and any other laws on the book which restrict gun or ammunition purchases.  In addition, Arizona is one of the top states for individuals who have applied for manufacturing licenses to begin producing or customizing firearms.

Arizona scored a near perfect score of 49 in the magazine's ranking, and this is in no small part due to Republican state legislators have sponsored a slew of pro-gun legislation in recent years.  While few of the more recent bills have made it to the governor's office for final approval in to law, there have been a handful of eye brow raising bills which made national news headlines. The most controversial bill is HB 2291 which would prohibit any federal law enforcement agent from enforcing federal gun laws in Arizona, making any such enforcement a Class 6 felony, and require local law enforcement to arrest the federal officer enforcing the law.  Given the supremacy clause of the US constitution it seems unlikely that legislators will approve the bill that is as likely a political stunt as it is a genuine attempt at secession.

Another which was passed last week prohibits city gun buy backs from destroying the weapons turned in, the new law will require cities to resell these firearms.  In Arizona it is the poor and working class who are compelled to disarm with offers of  "guns for groceries", however there is the Armed Citizens Project which seems keen to buck the perception of the white male gun owner by offering free shotguns in limited numbers to single women and homeowners in "high crime" neighborhoods in Tucson.

Most amusing are some of the hypotheticals of the state's slide into weaponization as a prescription for society's problems, for example could it be possible for working class and poor folks in the near future to turn in a firearm for a grocery credit, and, due to the "buy back" law, that same firearm could be back in their home courtesy of the Armed Citizens Project. It's a doubtful scenario, but the politic of the gun is a driving force in right wing ideology across the state and there may be unforeseen consequences to come from the push to the weaponization of Arizona.

Bomb threat closes down work on Joe's new HQ, reveals local news buffoonery

AzCentral and 12 News reports today that workers showing up early this morning to their gig building Joe's new gulag hq were stunned to find a bomb threat spray painted on one of the buildings.  The message seemed obvious enough, which photos taken overhead from an entirely necessary news chopper that wasn't intended at all to give a sense of false urgency to a slow-moving story, revealed to be scrawled in large (mostly) capital letters, reading, "Bomb inside…No Work Today...Happy May Day…Stop building prisons for other workers.”  And that's apparently exactly what happened: workers were sent home or to other job sites and construction stopped for the day.

And, indeed, given that Sheriff Joe intends to use it fill his jails up with migrant workers and that other workers were the ones building it, the point seems both apt and easy enough to understand.  That is, if you're not a local news reporter.  But, never keen to waste an opportunity to be confused by a story, the local media dove right in, displaying their complete inability to grasp just what it was the vandal might be getting at.  Just what could it all mean?

Let's start with the facts, shall we?  The Channel 12 anchor started off by reporting only a fragment of the message, making the "May Day" part seem like a distress signal (which, when combined with the ellipses in the AzCentral article, made it seem like it was written while falling off a cliff).  She also warned us about a suspicious lunch box (more about that later!).

Meanwhile, Channel 10's Diane Ryan demonstrated her journalistic prowess by managing to quote the message correctly, but got stuck instead on the significance of the first of May, reporting that "May Day is anarchist day".  It's true that May Day historically honors the Haymarket martyrs, anarchist labor organizers who were hanged in Chicago during the struggle for the 8 hour day, but one hardly suspects Diane Ryan has this level of understanding.  Nope.  Anarchist Day.  That'll do!

Anyhow, closing out the story with a dose of patriarchal male authority, long time and beloved local news anchor Ron Hoon reminded us that law enforcement takes this sort of thing seriously, and then took to openly advocating for the capture of the scofflaw defacer. "Hopefully we can announce an arrest soon," he opined.  No need to interview the police, their man behind the desk, secret super cop Ron Hoon, will advocate their position for them, apparently.  Will he make the arrest himself?  Think of the savings!  The time, the money.  But seriously, what journalism school did the Hooner go to where they taught him that his job was to take the side of law and order when it comes to political protest?

Of course, in this day and age, the Hooner is right -- the cops do take this kind of thing ridiculously seriously.  Recently bomb threats have shut down schools during AIMS week, and today the PPD proved to any doubters than any suspicious lunch box that falls of a work truck from now on will be dutifully and spectacularly blown up by a fucking bomb-blowing-up robot.  Yes, you'll be late to work.  Yes, it's just some guy's tools.  Too bad.  Because despite the budget cuts plaguing our schools and transit system, there's always money for the bomb squad.  Because it keeps you scared.