Bash the Rich: Fight the FIT

Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT) will be out in force for this one and we
will be there to greet them.

Whilst we allow the FIT teams to film and follow; stop and search; control
and coral, we will not have successful public actions. When we start
refusing and resisting, we will start to win.

This is a call from FIT Watch activists to join us on 3rd and show the FIT
Teams we will oppose their intimidatory tactics.

FIT Watch can be done by anyone and can be as passive or as
confrontational as you wish. Here are some tactics we have found to be
effective:

1. Holding large banners in front of photographers. This is
particularly effective with double sheets on sticks which can block a
camera from a distance. This is the least confrontational way of
blocking photography.
2. Taking photos of them. They really don’t like this but it isn’t
illegal. With any photos it’s always good to either try and get the
cop’s number in the shot, or note it down.
3. Following the FIT. Pick a team and tail them. Turn their tactics
onto them – everything time they send a text message look over their
shoulder, listen to their phone conversations, look at what they’re
writing in their notebooks.
4. Watch out for group huddles, especially with senior officers and go
and unobtrusively stand by them. This disrupts their briefings and
there’s always the possibility you might learn some useful information.
5. Upload any information gathered about the FIT to
www.fitwatch.blogspot.com or email to  defycops@yahoo.co.uk
6. Put yourself physically in the way of the camera men by standing
constantly in front of the camera and constantly shadowing them. This
has been the most confrontational tactic used so far and has therefore
been the one people have been arrested for. However it has also been
possible to do this without arrest.

For anyone who doesn’t know, these are the cops who are paid to harass
anarchists (and the Far Right, football fans and Islamic fundamentalists).
They follow “known” people on protests and they stand outside public
meetings taking photos and writing copious notes.

The personal is political. Over the last six years I have been harassed,
wrongfully arrested, assaulted and driven to a nervous breakdown as a
direct result of the treatment I have received from the FIT teams. I know
people who will not attend meetings or protests because they can’t deal
with the FIT teams. I do not want to watch another person being driven to
the edge by their actions. I do not want to hear of one other person being
discouraged from joining our actions because of their behaviour.

Once and for all we need to admit they are a problem. We’ve spent too long
ignoring them, pretending they don’t have an impact on us because of a
belief that once they know they’re having an effect, they will become more
powerful. However they know they’re having an effect and this is why
they’re persisting. They get away with what they do because we let them.
And whilst we continue to ignore their presence, we will never tackle the
problem.

I feel a lot stronger since I have admitted this vulnerability and I now
feel a pressing desire to reclaim their power. We have seen their
behaviour fuck up our friends. We have seen the very real impact their
presence has had on our movement. Isn’t it time we attacked this
disease,this cancer which has afflicted us for years?

If we were being systematically tortured by the State, we would protest.
Mental abuse is just as important and it is vital to the strength of our
actions that we challenge this. This call to action and discourse is an
attempt to kick start that challenge.

Over the last seven years, everyone who has attended a public (state
perceived) anarchist meeting in London will have had their details
recorded. This has both enabled the police to build up profiles of us over
the years and has also made many newcomers feel uncomfortable about
joining our meetings. Many people carry on walking when they see thecops.

It is argued that our meetings are already infiltrated and it is therefore
a distraction to focus on the police outside. However the psychological
effect of having them outside our meetings is damaging; damaging to both
the experienced activists who feel harassment at their presence and to the
people who do not even step inside the meeting because they don’t want
their photograph taken.

The cops are so comfortable outside our meetings they think they don’t
need back up. Four cops and a photographer feel safe outside our meetings.
We have become too accepting of our own repression and this must change.
We hold large demonstrations on behalf of others, on behalf of comrades in
foreign jails. We must extend this solidarity to ourselves. We need to
start dismantling the chains of our own oppression.

At the last Disarm DSEi public meeting, two people were arrested after
trying to hold up placards whilst the cops were filming. Many people
attending the meeting were inspired by the action and many commented they
were happy to have been able to attend without having their photographs
taken.

This proposal calls for solidarity demos outside every public meeting
where there is likely to be a FIT presence. Every time the FIT team harass
us, we must react. We must show them we will no longer tolerate this
treatment. We must rebuild solidarity amongst groups. We may not want to
get involved in the organising of every campaign, but we can spare half an
hour to stand outside a meeting in solidarity with those in attendance. If
we can spread this level of solidarity throughout the different
groupscurrently experiencing harassment from FIT teams, then we are in a
place to build a stronger, more effective, community.

Having a few persistent people with banners is a good start. However we
should be aiming to get to the stage where it is prohibitively expensive
for them to police our public meetings. We need to get to the stage that
when they try to follow us through our demonstrations, people
automatically link arms and prevent them from doing so. We are safer to
the State if we stay as disparate groups. We are at our most powerful when
we work in solidarity with each other.

This proposal can only start to work if we act in solidarity with each
other. What are you going to do?

Further Action:This proposal is only meant to be a starting point. If
there are enough people interested, it’d be good to have a cross group
meeting to discuss strategies et cetera. This proposal is a personal
response, it’d be good if different groups wanted to come together and
write a joint proposal. For further information, networking, ideas etc
email  defycops@yahoo.co.uk

Join the email list by sending a blank email to
 fitwatch-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

A blog has been set up with the aim of becoming a resource for
peopletrying to resist the FIT teams. People are invited to add
theirexperiences, ideas, photographs, information –
www.fitwatch.blogspot.com. Anyone can add comments to the blog, but anyone
can be added as an author who wishes to contribute regularly.