by W
Anarchists, activists and many others have long been plagued by the power of the courts as they reinforce the status quo under the banner of justice. The secretive Grand Jury proceedings have been a draconian tool used to carry out out secretive questionings without allowing council, and often with a suspension of the ultimately empty right to remain silent. All this can amount to witch hunts, especially concerning those investigating anarchists in the Pacific Northwest and New York City, most recently.
It can be difficult to pinpoint the goals of such punitive proceedings, as it is rarely stated outright what they are investigating, nor when they began, but someone who refuses to answer questions can be held in civil contempt for the entirety of the investigation (up to 18 months, barring extension). And so in the midst of such proceedings in the Pacific Northwest last year, presumably in connection with the May Day riot in Seattle (that actually followed its establishment), several anarchists were brought in for questioning and then imprisoned due to their belief that the authority of the state is illegitimate and (therefore) should not be cooperated with. In solidarity with those particular folks we made and hung the banner in our window, also recognizing similar actions by other infoshops across the country. I was particularly fond of The Holdout’s sign that stated, “No one talks, everyone walks.”
Some folks in the Northwest avoided the subpoena or refused to attend regardless of being served, commendably. And while one anarchist who had avoided the serve was still being notably harassed by law enforcement as recently as September, everyone was released from prison there. Still, that investigation has received a six month extension to March 4th, 2014, and is thus an ongoing problem. The most recent manifestation of such repression has left one of our own in prison in New York City, however.
For the second time Jerry Koch was brought in to a grand jury inquisition regarding the bombing of a military recruitment station in Times Square, and in again refusing to testify he now finds himself in prison. Recently motions have been made to release Jerry from confinement as it was meant to be coercive and he clearly has no intention of cooperating with the state. For all of his strength, though, he can still use support. As such, we continue to run our banner and put free materials out about his case and how to contact him and his support committee.
Such materials can be found at jerryresists[dot]net.
For further reading, New York Year Zero has also put out zine format materials on Jerry and the Pacific Northwest Grand Jury Resisters, and nopoliticalrepression[dot]wordpress[dot]com has occasional updates on the situation out west, too. Mind you, these are not isolated incidents, and animal rights and environmental activists have suffered the great brunt of such proceedings in the enveloping Green Scare of the the last decade, or so, as was well documented by Will Potter. The first Earth Liberation Front Press Office, consisting of Leslie James Pickering and Craig Rosebraugh in the 90’s, also documented similar experiences in book form (meanwhile, Pickering is still having his communications monitored at his residence in Buffalo, NY). And to round out the recent occurrences, there was also the case of solidarity of anarchists with the Latin Kings in North Carolina, who were undergoing grand jury proceedings there, documentation of which was published in zine form by negate city.