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Infoshop News interview with journalist Josh Wolf

Infoshop News | 27.04.2007 04:41 | Repression

Independent journalist Josh Wolf recently made headlines for spending more than 7 months in federal prison for his refusal to hand over video of a protest to authorities. Wolf is an anarchist activist and a video journalist based in the Bay Area of California.

Infoshop News interview with journalist Josh Wolf

Independent journalist Josh Wolf recently made headlines for spending more than 7 months in federal prison for his refusal to hand over video of a protest to authorities. Wolf is an anarchist activist and a video journalist based in the Bay Area of California. We interviewed him over email.

Infoshop News: Do you think that the government was using your case to try out new legal strategies against activists? The excuse that the police car was funded by "federal funds," thus federalizing your involvement, could be a new approach by the government to crack down on dissent.

Josh Wolf: In all honesty, I think it goes a lot farther than simply cracking down on dissent. The fact that the Federal government was able to get involved in this case is a serious threat to state autonomy. If they can make a federal case out of somebody allegedly throwing a firework four days after the fourth of July, then is anything shielded against federal jurisdiction? The San Francisco Police Department receives federal funding; a lot of local agencies get some form of federal funding. If this alone allows them access then this pretext can be used to squash dissent, but it opens the door for all sorts of unsavory investigations against the will of local government and the communities themselves.


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