[Infowarrior] - CSIS spying on Canadian punk band

[Richard Forno]

CSIS spying on Canadian punk band

Matthew Brett, May 20th, 2008

http://www.canadiandimension.com/blog/2008/05/csis-spying-on-canadian-punk-band/

(Share widely) Canada’s spy agency and an RCMP anti-terror unit  
carried out an intelligence campaign against Ottawa-based punk band  
The Suicide Pilots, documents obtained through Access to Information  
requests show.

Following the arrest of the band’s drummer, bones (aka Jeffrey  
Monaghan), the RCMP’s anti-terror unit opened a file on the band,  
alleging their logo “depicts an airplane flying into the Peace Tower  
on Parliament
Hill.” A copy of the frightened-looking airplane caricature was  
included in the 184 page file.

“If you want an example of bloated police powers, this is it,” says  
Ottawa-based lawyer Yavar Hameed. Hameed notes that the investigation  
seems to be completely unrelated to the arrest of Mr. Monaghan.  
Monaghan was alleged to have leaked the Tory Green Plan last spring.  
The anti-terror investigation appears to have surfaced after media  
coverage of Mr. Monaghan denouncing the Harper regime’s actions of  
climate change. Monaghan has never been charged. The investigation is  
organized through the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams  
(INSET), and the documents reveal an explicit coordination with  
Canada’s spy agency, CSIS.

Hameed notes that this case illustrates the unaccountability of police  
agencies in their efforts to catalog and criminalize activists. The  
Suicide Pilots have commented that the intelligence effort is another  
example of state-lawlessness in the so-called “War on Terror.” “The  
explosion of security culture over the past few years has cost  
countless innocent people very dearly, in ways we can’t even begin to  
fully appreciate - but this just straddles the line between disturbing  
and silly. What’s next? A tag-and-release program for
social activists? We already have a make-work program for creepy,  
paranoid voyeurs,” says the band’s vocalist NaCl.

It is unclear why, precisely, the band has been targeted. The  
documents indicate that investigators believe the band compares  
“Harper to Hitler” — a reference to the band’s song entitled Harper  
Youth. It notes that the band has “anti-Harper songs” and a “9-11 type  
drawing showing an airplane crashing into the Parliament.” The  
documents also make several references to the recently-opened  
Anarchist infoshop, Exile, in Ottawa.

“Transforming artistic expression into a terrorist thought-crime is  
outrageous” declares University of Victoria Canada Research Chair in  
Modern and Contemporary Art Allan Antliff. “I would be interested to  
learn more about the definition of terrorism under which the police  
justify their actions. I define terrorism as the illegal use of  
violence for the purposes of influencing someone¹s behaviour,  
inflicting punishment, or seeking revenge.  By those criteria they  
should be investigating the CIA, not a Punk Rock band.”

This is only one more example of Harper¹s “War on Terror” gone mad. If  
a no-name punk band in Canada can have a domestic terrorism file  
opened on them for promoting an anti-statist message, it sets an  
alarming precedent for the Harper government to monitor and censor all  
dissenters that voice their politics through art. All art, all music,  
is threatened by such RCMP and CSIS monitoring.

KEY FINDINGS:
-The investigation seems to be unrelated to the alleged Green Plan leak.
-The investigation is organized through the Integrated National  
Security Enforcement Teams (INSET). INSET is a recent amalgamation of  
intelligence and security agencies. It was created with the mandate to  
coordinate information flow between Canadian, US, as well as other  
policing and intelligence agencies.
-A PDF of the ATIP is available from thesuicidepilots at gmail.com and  
Yavar Hameed

Contact:
Yavar Hameed, Legal Council, 613 853 0840  (cell)
Allan Antliff, Canada
Research Chair, Art History, University of Victoria (allan at uvic.ca)