In late July of this year, several anarchists in Portland, Seattle, and Olympia were subpoenaed to testify before a Federal Grand Jury set to commence on August 2nd at the Federal Courthouse in Seattle. The target of the investigation is presumed to be the vandalism that occurred during the May Day protests in downtown Seattle on May 1st, 2012.

Update on the Witch-hunt

From Tides of Flame

In late July of this year, several anarchists in Portland, Seattle, and Olympia were subpoenaed to testify before a Federal Grand Jury set to commence on August 2nd at the Federal Courthouse in Seattle. The target of the investigation is presumed to be the vandalism that occurred during the May Day protests in downtown Seattle on May 1st, 2012.

August 2nd was the first day subpoenants were expected to appear before their inquisitors. Only one showed up. No one cooperated. After hitting this brick wall of silence, the Grand Jury scheduled its next round of interrogations for August 30th. But at the last minute, it was rescheduled for September 13th.

That day, Leah Plante (Portland) and Matt Duran (Olympia) went into the Federal Courthouse. Only one of them came out again.

Over a hundred people gathered outside the building, holding a support rally. Department of Homeland Security agents were scattered throughout the area, most of whom had guns with live ammunition. Inside, both Leah and Matt made it clear they would say nothing to the inquisitors. Leah was eventually dismissed but the inquisitors kept Matt. People outside soon learned there would be a contempt hearing in the courthouse regarding Matt’s refusal to testify. In a rare move by the feds, something that has not happened since McCarthy’s Red Scare, the contempt hearings were closed to the public. Within a few hours Matt was being stolen out of the courthouse in a blue van with blackened windows.

The feds can incarcerate Matt until the Grand Jury expires or is called off. He is now being held at the federal holding facility in SeaTac. Leah has been re-subpoenaed for a later date. All of this took place in an overwhelming climate of fear.

On August 27th, the media began releasing stories about what they called an “anarchist group” in the U.S. military that had been planning to blow up dams and poison the water supply in Washington State. The “anarchist group” was called FEAR and its leader had executed one of its members and his wife when it was thought they might reveal the group’s plans to the authorities. When the group was apprehended, the media uniformly described them as being anarchists. The only evidence to support this claim was the fact that some of them had tattoos that resembled an anarchist symbol. Not even this assertion was backed up in any definitive manner but, after three days of hearing about the “anarchist group” named FEAR, the general public had formed the basic association between mass, indiscriminate murder and anarchists.

It should go without saying (to the regular readers of Tides of Flame, at least) that there is an insurmountable difference between right-wing psychopaths and anarchists. The members of FEAR, with their plans to form hierarchical cells and kill random people, were clearly not anarchists. Regardless, they provided the authorities with an opportunity to spread fear in the population regarding anarchists in the hope of people ignoring any future repression against them.

Meanwhile in Seattle, there was little media attention regarding the grand jury, nor did the authorities attempt to tell their lies directly to the mainstream. Unable to explain what they are doing without revealing their own stupidity and desperation, the federal government is keeping a low profile while also attempting to instill fear into the hearts of anarchists and their friends.

The true function of the inquisition is to burn a few witches and traumatize a rebel population into subservience and submission. It has not changed for hundreds of years. There are, however, far more free people, witches, and rebels inhabiting the planet. But as many of you know, capitalism has adjusted to accommodate nearly all types of thought and lifestyles, creating a society where even those who would have been burned to death in the past, the heretical and the unholy, can now rent an apartment and work at a bar.

Everyone who is now comfortable, everyone who is now safe from the authorities: remember that the inquisition is still pursuing those who cannot stand to be used as cattle, who do not let fear and despair keep us enslaved, who keep the flame of anarchy alive. We remain the greatest enemy of power and authority, and there is still only one way to defeat the inquisition: FIGHT.

Please, feel free to join in the struggle. Everything is plain to see. The pieces and the board are visible to all but those who refuse to see them. There are infinite possibilities for scuttling the plans of the rulers of this world, and as the past year has clearly shown, the rebels of the world are coming closer to joining forces against their common enemies. Tides of Flame will continue to provide you with information regarding the break down of the world in the hope that the flame will spread beyond these pages and render these words as redundant as they should be. As our friends in Egypt told us last year: "don't afraid, go ahead."

List of Solidarity Actions (Since 8/5)

8/5 St.Louis, MO - attacks on ATMs
8/6 Atlanta, GA - banner drop
8/7 Athens, Greece - stenciling & graffiti
8/10 East Vancouver, BC - banner drop
8/15 Paris, France - lots of tires slashed
8/17 Vancouver, BC - banner drop
8/21 Besancon, France - bank attacked
8/22 San Francisco, CA - yuppie businesses attacked
8/28 Oakland, CA - bank attacked
8/29 Call-in to US Attorney
8/31 New York, NY - banner drop
9/9 Vancouver, BC - noise demo & grocery store expropriation
9/12 Fax-in to US Attorney
9/13 Vancouver, BC - community policing center attacked
9/13 Seattle - Anonymous hackers claim shut-down of US Attorney’s phone
9/17 NYC area - rail line sabotaged
9/17 San Francisco, CA - banner drop
9/18 Vancouver, BC - yuppie restaurant attacked
9/19 Seattle - bank attacked
For complete list of solidarity actions, see saynothing.noblogs.org/solidarity

Support Grand Jury Defiance!

1. Attend Matt Duran’s contempt hearing at 9am on Wednesday, September 26, at the Federal Courthouse (700 Stewart Street). Please check saynothing.info for updates as the time, location, or plan may change as details emerge.

2. Organize a fundraiser or support event to spread information about the grand jury. Contact resistthegrandjury@riseup.net to coordinate.

3. Act on your rage! Solidarity means attack. Consider acting in ways that communicate the passion for freedom that those in the Northwest have continued to express by their refusal to cooperate with the State’s witch hunt. Their courage has already inspired dozens of solidarity actions across the world. Drop a banner, smash a bank, paint-bomb a copshop, or disrupt business as usual.

4. Donate money to support the legal costs and provide material support for those resisting the grand jury and the investigation.
• The Quiet Coyote Cash-Out
saynothing.noblogs.org/donate/
• No Political Repression Fund
On PayPal, send funds to
nopoliticalrepression@gmail.com
• Buy shit.supportresist.storenvy.com

Write to Matt

Matthew Kyle Duran #42565-086
FDC SeaTac
P.O. Box 13900
Seattle, WA 98198
Make sure to put your name and return address as well as Matt’s full name and inmate number (in pen) on each sheet of clean, plain, lined, paper.