Additional thoughts on George Tiller, on the anniversary of his murder

What Would George Tiller Do?
Today is the third anniversary of Dr. George Tiller’s assassination. On May 31, 2009, Tiller was shot and killed by Scott Roeder while he served as an usher in his Wichita church. Tiller was one of the only abortion providers in the country to provide late-term abortions. He often wore a button that said “Trust Women.”

I wonder, if Dr. Tiller were alive today, what he would think about the unwavering attack against women’s reproductive freedom and bodily integrity—if he could ever of imagined that American women would still not just be fighting for the right to abortion but for birth control. Or that there would be a national debate on whether or not it’s appropriate to call a woman who wants contraception coverage a “prostitute.” I imagine that even for a man who had seen a lot of misogyny in his life, the current climate against women would be shocking.

Since Tiller’s murder, the legislative agenda against reproductive justice—and common-sense decency—has been staggering. (via The Nation.)

Here’s something I wrote about the murder of George Tiller, back at the time it happened:

Well, I will probably continue to think about the murder of Dr. Tiller and the issues it raises, but there’s only so much I want to say about it here. A friend of mine cautioned me against saying anything at all, pointing out that, the way things are, no one ever changes their mind on the topic of abortion anyway. But as I said in my first post, it had more to do with standing up and being counted, registering my anger, than with any notion of changing any anti-abortion fundamentalist’s point of view. That being said…

Hacktivism as Direct Action – Nazi Punks F**k Off [cont’d]

Previously, I discussed the neo-Nazi hate group/website Stormfront.org and possible responses to groups such as this – and to the growing use of the internet by such groups as their key recruitment, organizing and propaganda tool, more generally – including:

• ignore them and hope they go away;
• protest;
• try to get them shut down, rounded up, put away, whatever, through official channels; and
• take direct action against them.

Problems were raised with the viability and efficacy of each of the first three of these possible responses, and I concluded by briefly addressing the idea of “cyberwarfare” direct action as a response to the web presence of hate groups such as Stormfront.

Fighting the Fascists Using Direct Action Hacktivism | Anarchist news dot org

From Hack This Zine – by tHoughTCRiime

Taken from the most recent issue of the anarchist hacking zine HackThisZine published by Hackbloc. Grab copies at https://hackbloc.org/zine

The past few months have manifested a number of internet attacks on white supremacist organizations ranging from destroying websites to releasing internal communications. Let’s analyze what happened to further discuss what tactics are appropriate and effective in our movements.

The most recent incident in December involved the release of mysql database dumps for ten neo-nazi websites and forums including private messages, emails, password hashes, everything. For anti-racist activists and researchers, there is a bottomless goldmine of information available in these databases….

read the rest at Anarchist news dot org.

This goes to the issues I began addressing in my post on the neo-nazi website a few weeks ago.

Christian Warriors against the New World Order [UPDATED]

Nine members of a Michigan-based anti-government militia that posted its military exercises on the Internet and allegedly plotted to kill police officers were indicted in Detroit on Monday on conspiracy and weapons charges.
The indictment said the Hutaree, which describes itself as a “Christian warrior” group, viewed all law enforcement as the enemy. It said members planned a violent act to get the attention of the police, possibly by killing an officer at a traffic stop, then attacking the funeral procession with explosives.
via Militia members indicted on conspiracy, weapons charges – latimes.com.

Nazi Punks F**k Off

In follow-up inquiries to my post on the NotCanada.com anti-immigration website, I came across Stormfront.org a racist, neo-Nazi website and I have been thinking about it and its ilk quite a bit since then, specifically about what could be done to confront sites/groups like this. It’s an issue I’ve touched on before (eg, in posts on the killing of Dr. Tiller), but I am no closer to a solution or to feeling reconciled to my lack of a solution.

Net Speech, Free Speech, Hate Speech

US feds subpoena names of anonymous web commenters • The Register

U.S. prosecutors narrow subpoena – ReviewJournal.com

Activist Accused of “Advocating Literature and Materials Which Advocate Anarchy” | GreenIsTheNewRed.com

David Grenier: You Could Get 10 Years in Prison Just for Reading This

Perusing the websites of comrades and fellow-travelers – particularly anti-globalization activists and anarchists / anarcho-syndicalists – I periodically run across disclaimers to the effect that nothing on the website should be taken as advocating violence or illegal acts, etc.