Phoenix Arizona is not a quiet place in terms of politics. The atmosphere across the state has been extremely hostile, combative and oppositional for years. There is not a lack of things to do when it comes to struggling against reactionary forces in the valley of the sun. A lot of history and analysis can be put into any action or event, just due to the history and social forces behind it.

Soul Searching: Phoenix Police Use Out Of State Unitarians to Harass and Expel Phoenix Radicals From Public Event

Phoenix Arizona is not a quiet place in terms of politics. The atmosphere across the state has been extremely hostile, combative and oppositional for years. There is not a lack of things to do when it comes to struggling against reactionary forces in the valley of the sun. A lot of history and analysis can be put into any action or event, just due to the history and social forces behind it. So, with that said here is a quick update skipping most of the analysis on events that transpired over the weekend. This is relevant due to the nationwide radical crackdowns and isolation attempts currently happening over the past 6 months.

The Unitarian Universalists (UU's) held their nationwide GA in Phoenix Arizona over the weekend, it ended as of last night. Many of the local Phoenix UU's have been active in immigration struggles as well as Occupy. They decided to have a mass vigil at Tent City Saturday Night, Tent City is the outdoor jail that I believe Germany still has a non extradition treaty to Maricopa county due to. A clear target, that has been targetted before by other liberal groups. Their GA was attended by thousands so the event was bound to be fairly large.

Over the past bit, the valleys police forces have been ramping up their attempts to isolate radicals. This has not only extended to anarchists, vaguely radical and Occupy folks have been targetted as well. Basically, the same pattern that is happening everywhere. It is worth it to point out that the police, have prior to Occupy, contacted church groups asking them not to work with radicals in Phoenix.

On Saturday night word started to come out that people were being harassed by the police and out of town UU event organizers. Important points:

The police directed out of town Unitarian Universalist peace police towards anyone they deemed radical telling them to kick them out

This was not one isolated incident, this happened for hours at different places in the demonstration with separate groups of people or individuals

The police also used the event to harass anyone that did not seem like they were with UU's, specially Occupy folks, this ended up including some Unitarians as well

Groups kicked out included people with children, long time organizers and friends of people targetted

This was a generalized attack on the radical movement in Phoenix. For whatever reason, which I am sure will be analyzed sooner than later, the police used out of town activists to sow division and isolate radicals.

The day after, Sunday, there was an uproar, the Unitarians had a public meeting where they apologized and attempted to make peace. Take this and share it with folks who might still be unclear about what we are dealing with. If you are reading this and have other information to add, feel free.