-Caveat Lector- >SNITCH CULTURE IS HERE!!! > >It¹s official; the FBI is investigating anarchists and radical >environmentalists. > >As reported on 60 Minutes on January 14, the FBI is using informants, >undercover agents and a host of surveillance techniques to investigate >people suspected of belonging to the Earth Liberation Front. The CBS News >show also reported the FBI believes the ELF is associated with the >³anarchist movement² which surfaced during the World Trade Organization >demonstrations in Seattle. > >According to the January 15 issue of Newsweek, the investigation is being >conducted by the Joint Terrorism Task Forces formed in the wake of the >Oklahoma City federal office building bombing. > >Why is the FBI investigating left wing activists who have never hurt anyone? > >The answer can be found in the new book, SNITCH CULTURE: HOW CITIZENS ARE >TURNED INTO THE EYES AND EARS OF THE STATE. > >Researched and written by award-winning reporter Jim Redden, SNITCH >CULTURE reveals how politicians, law enforcement agencies, private >corporations, politically-oriented non-profit organizations, and the >establishment media are working together to build the most sophisticated >surveillance society in history. SNITCH CULTURE traces the creation of >this intelligence-gathering network from the earliest paid informants to >today¹s DNA databases and beyond. > >SNITCH CULTURE covers such important developments as the Red Scare, the >Federal Bureau of Investigation¹s infamous Counter-Intelligence Programs >(COINTELPRO), the National Security Agency¹s high-tech ECHELON >surveillance system, and Project Megiddo, which incorrectly predicted a >wave of domestic terrorism at the beginning of the year 2000. The 235-page >book also includes a look at the government¹s newest intelligence >initiative ‹ the war against the emerging anti-globalization movement. > >SNITCH CULTURE (ISBN: 0-922915-63-6) is now available at local bookstores, >from Amazon.com, and from Feral House, 2554 Lincoln Blvd., Suite 739, >Venice CALIF 90291. It retails for $14.95. > >Jim Redden is a professional journalist who has written for such diverse >publications as the Village Voice and Hustler. He has written about >anarchists, militias, skinheads and radical AIDS activists. Redden is >currently the Senior Staff Writer for the Portland Tribune newspaper in >Portland, Oregon. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Here is the introduction and chapter listings for SNITCH CULTURE. The >appendixes listed below are available for free at the Feral House website, >feralhouse.com. > >SNITCH CULTURE: >HOW CITIZENS ARE TURNED INTO THE EYES AND EARS OF THE STATE > >INTRODUCTION - LIVING IN THE SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY > >As American enters the New Millennium, this country is in the grip of a >government-created surveillance system which permeates every aspect of our >lives. The economy is booming and things couldn¹t be better for the vast >majority of citizens. Serious crime is at a 30-year low, with murder and >other violent felonies dropping in every region of the nation. Minorities >are earning more than ever before, and the schools have never been safer. >And yet, despite this good news, large segments of the population live in >fear ‹ a fear created and exploited by opportunistic politicians and >power-hungry law enforcement officials to justify the most sophisticated >police state ever created. > >And at the heart of this nightmare is the snitch, the government¹s weapon >of choice against criminals and law-abiding citizens alike. People gather >incriminating information on us even before we¹re born. Pregnant women are >routinely tested to see if they¹ve exposed their fetuses to alcohol or >illegal drugs, with doctors reporting ³drug affected² babies to social >service and law enforcement agencies. > >If we enroll in the public schools, we are spied on by other students, our >teachers, and our counselors. Many schools provide anonymous telephone tip >lines for students to squeal on their classmates. A growing number of >school administrators are paying for incriminating information. Teachers >and counselors are encouraged to report students with ³anti-social >tendencies² to the police. Reports of typical juvenile schoolyard behavior >now result in suspensions, expulsions and arrests. > >College campuses are riddled with informants. Politically active teachers >are monitored by students who oppose their views. Student political >organizations are infiltrated by undercover operatives gathering >information on controversial campus speakers and upcoming demonstrations. >Foreign students are targeted for surveillance, especially Muslims of Arab >ethnicity. > >Informants track us after we graduate and enter the workforce. Many >potential employers run background checks on job applicants, asking >friends and neighbors about their private lives. Some bosses hire >undercover agents who pose as workers and spy on everyone in the company, >reporting on everything from suspected thieves to employees with poor >morale. If we own a business, the government might send over fake >customers to see if they can trick us into breaking civil rights laws. >These so-called ³testers² report our reactions to federal officials who >can assess fines or even throw us in jail. > >Our neighbors are encouraged to spy on us. If our children cry, they >report us to social workers for abuse. If we have a large number of >visitors, they call the police and accuse us of dealing drugs. If we drive >a new car, they call the Internal Revenue Service and say we¹re not paying >our taxes. > >Family members routinely turn each other in to the police, especially for >illegal drug use. Encouraged by government snitch programs, children rat >on their parents, parents squeal on their kids, and children report their >siblings to the authorities. Wives and husbands turn on each other in >divorce proceedings, triggering criminal investigations by accusing their >former mates of everything from domestic violence to child abuse to hiding >their assets. > >Unconventional political and religious movements are also infiltrated by >snitches. Law enforcement agencies and private, politically-oriented >advocacy groups spy on liberal and conservative organizations alike, along >with tiny churches and obscure religious sects. No group is too small or >inconsequential to escape the prying eye of the government or its agents. > >Discussions with doctors and lawyers are no longer confidential. >Government regulations require doctors to report patients with HIV and >other contagious diseases to health authorities. Medicare recipients who >suspect their doctors are padding their bills are encouraged to report >them to Washington bureaucrats. Lawyers have gone to jail for not telling >the feds which clients are paying with cash. > >The intrusions don¹t even stop when we die. Government agencies routinely >ask doctors if drugs, both legal and illegal, contributed to the death. >Physicians must report whether their deceased patients smoked cigarettes >or drank alcohol. Passengers who die in car crashes are tested for >alcohol, with the results transmitted to transportation officials for >their reports on alcohol-related traffic fatalities. Police use the >results of such tests to justify their own brutality, arguing that unarmed >people they kill were drunk or stoned. > >Obeying the law is no protection against informants. Snitches frequently >set people up, tricking them into breaking the law. Or they simply lie, >making up stories and swearing to events that never happened. Criminals >routinely perjure themselves in exchange for special treatment, sending >innocent people to jail and even Death Row. Many people have lost their >jobs, been thrown out of their homes, gone to jail ‹ even lost their lives >‹ because of lies told by informants. > >We¹re so used to being tracked that we don¹t even notice how often we¹re >being urged to report our friends, neighbors, family members and complete >strangers to the authorities. A billboard in Harlem asks citizens to join >³Gunbusters Anonymous² and report ³illegal guns² to the New York Police >Department. Neighborhood ³crime watch² programs send thousands of people >into the streets every night to look for ³suspicious activity.² Newspapers >across the country publish weekly ³Crime Stopper² stories, running >descriptions and photographs of people wanted by law enforcement >authorities. Public service announcements on late night television urge >neighbors to ³take a bite out of crime² by watching each other. Police >officers visit the public schools, telling children to report their >friends and parents for suspected drug use. Wanted posters in post >officers are so common we look right past them. > >Snitching has become entertainment, a growing staple of network and cable >TV channels. America¹s Most Wanted serves up a half-dozen new suspects >every week, using hokey crime re-creations to make us pick up the phone >and report anyone who even resembles the actors and actress parading >across the screen. Tabloid programs such as The Jerry Springer Show use >informants to shame their guests, exposing hidden love affairs and >embarrassing personal faults for our amusement. Cheating husbands and >two-timing wives are physically attacked on stage when their darkest >secrets are revealed by vengeful ex-lovers, the studio audience roaring >its approval like the Coliseum crowds of ancient Rome. > >More recently, ³reality-based² TV shows such as Survivor and Big Brother >offer up round-the-clock surveillance for our amusement. The constant >monitoring is said to reveal the true character of the people in stressful >situation. Viewers vote on who they don¹t like, punishing unpopular >participants with digital banishment. > >But the modern surveillance society is not a passing form of >entertainment. And its consequences are far more severe than any passing >humiliation. Our most personal information is now being fed directly into >a massive system of interlocking computer databases maintained by >government agencies, law enforcement officials, for-profit businesses and >private intelligence networks. Our school, employment, medical, >psychiatric, banking, credit, automobile, housing, TV viewing, computer >use and gun ownership records are all stored electronically by people >we¹ve never met, accessible at the stroke of a computer key. > >And now the government is adding our DNA, the unique genetic code found in >our every cell, to their files. All 50 states have laws requiring that DNA >samples be taken from convicted criminals and sent to the National >Offender Database maintained by the FBI. By May 2000, about 280,000 >samples had been placed online and another 750,000 were still waiting to >be processed. Some politicians are already pushing for DNA samples to be >taken from anyone merely arrested for a crime. How long will it be before >everyone¹s DNA is simply tested at birth? And what will happen if a lab >researcher tells the government our genes say we¹re bad? > >Such tips can trigger a broad range of responses by federal, state and >local authorities, from home visits by child care and mental health >specialists to deadly raids by heavily-armed SWAT units. Governments have >spent billions of dollars in recent years militarizing local police >departments across the country, and creating special federal units with >overwhelming firepower. They are all ready and waiting for an informant to >send them on their next mission. > >The result of all this snitching has been boiled down to a simple >bumpersticker that can be seen on cars and trucks in all 50 state: ³I love >my country, but fear my government.² > >The Snitch Culture did not come about by accident. It was deliberately >created by Democrats and Republicans alike, working with federal, state >and local law enforcement officials to build a nationwide >intelligence-gathering network which is impossible to escape. This >surveillance system did not spring to life overnight. It was assembled in >pieces over the past century in reaction to one manufactured threat to the >American way of life after another, each requiring new laws, new law >enforcement agencies, and new informants to enforce. Our political and law >enforcement leaders repeatedly seize on bizarre but isolated incidents to >create the image of a country under attack from all sides. The threats >have ranged over the years from anarchists to marijuana to Communists to >heroin to Muslims to methamphetamine to white supremacists, but in each >case the government¹s response has been the same ‹ a new domestic war. The >War on Crime. The War on Drugs. The War on Terrorism. The War on ! >Youth Violence. > >The establishment press plays along with the charade, creating a parallel >universe where death and destruction waits around every corner. With the >advent of satellite trucks and 24-hour news channels, the result is a >constant media bombardment of ever greater dangers, all requiring us to >spy on our neighbors, friends and family members. > >President Bill Clinton exploited the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to channel >hundreds of millions of dollars to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to >greatly expand its domestic political surveillance programs. The FBI >opened a new counter-terrorism center and established a series of >multi-jurisdictional task forces, working with state and local authorities >to gather intelligence on suspected dissidents in their regions. The far >right neo-Patriot movement was the original target but, by the end of the >decade, the government had shifted its focus to the left-leaning >anti-globalization movement that debuted at the World Trade Organization >meeting in Seattle. > >The Columbine High School massacre became an excuse for America¹s public >school students, teachers, counselors and administrators to turn on any >child who didn¹t fit in. Within hours of the shootings, the press was >running in-depth reports about homicidal teenagers raised on a corrosive >diet of morbid goth music, violent video games and blood-drenched movies ‹ >an entire generation of young people with no regard for human life. >Clinton went on national television and urged students across the country >to report any classmates who seemed anti-social. Hundreds if not thousands >of students were suspended, expelled and even arrested for typical >adolescent behavior, or for bringing something as innocuous as nail >clippers to class. > >The message is clear: Americans must spy on each other, reporting all >signs of suspicious activity or aberrant behavior to the authorities. And >if the people won¹t tattle, the government will monitor their every waking >moment anyway. Video cameras line the freeways. Bank transactions are >monitored. Even our computers are being used against us, collecting and >sending personal information through private companies to federal law >enforcement agencies. > >The ultimate symbol of this power is Echelon, a massive system of space >age listening devices and supercomputers maintained by the U.S. >government¹s top secret National Security Agency. Created over the course >of the Cold War, Echelon is an information vacuum cleaner which can >monitor virtually every phone call, e-mail, fax, radio transmission, >television broadcast, and other form of electronic communication in the >world today. Legal concepts such as the right to privacy are a joke to >this computer-driving monitoring system which can eavesdrop on practically >everyone at the same time. > >The result is a society driven by manufactured mass paranoia, where >personal betrayal is seen as a virtue instead of the lowest form of human >behavior. And as the 21st Century begins to unfold, this perverse version >of reality is being exported around the world. Seamless global >surveillance is the ultimate goal. All it takes is a tip from a snitch to >make you a target. > >PART ONE: BIG BROTHER IN THE 21ST CENTURY > >Chapter 1 - Instruments of Destruction > >Chapter 2 - Choice of Evils > >Chapter 3 - 24/7 Surveillance > >Chapter 4 - The Digital Snitch > >Chapter 5 - Corporate Origins of the Snitch Culture > >Chapter 6 - Uncle Sam Wants You to Snitch > >Chapter 7 -The Federal Intelligence Infrastructure > >Chapter 8 - Private Intelligence Network > >Chapter 9 - Mass Media Propaganda > >PART TWO: THE NATIONAL SECURITY SURVEILLANCE STATE > >Chapter 10 - America¹s War on You > >Chapter 11 - Domestic Deniability > >Chapter 12 - What Did The Know, and When Did They Know It? > >Chapter 13 - Punishing Whistleblowers > >Chapter 14 - Brave New Schools > >PART THREE: THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME > >Chapter 15 - Infiltrating the Anarchists > >Chapter 16 - The Coming Global Snitch Culture > >Chapter 17 - Stopping Snitch Abuse > >PART THREE: CASE STUDIES > >Case Study 1 - The Real Legacy of McCarthyism > >Case Study 2 - COINTELPRO Abuses > >Case Study 3 - The Third Wave Experiment > >Case Study 4 - The New Ghetto Informant Program > >Case Study 5 - The Asset Forfeiture Money Machine > >Case Study 6 - The ADL Spy Scandal > >Case Study 7 - The Project Megiddo Fiasco > >Case Study 8 - The Russian Mafia > >Case Study 9 - Infowar Is Declared > >Case Study 10 - Gun Control Snitch Strategies > >APPENDIX DIRECTORY > >Appendix 1 - Tom Gerard¹s San Francisco Police Department Files > >Appendix 2 - Roy Bullock¹s Anti-Defamation League Files > >Appendix 3 - Cult Awareness Network Files > >Appendix 4 - The FBI¹s Project Megiddo Report <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
