115 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
115 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
The Power and The Prophet
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BAD Broadside #9
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There has been a great deal of criticism in the popular press
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and elsewhere of the government's actions in the Branch Davidian
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debacle in Waco. The Quincy Patriot Ledger (4/21/93) classified the
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event as "among the worst disasters in the history of American law
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enforcement". The ATF and the FBI are being taken over the coals for
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the methods used and their failure to achieve a pacific outcome to
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the siege. Reno and Clinton are faulted for lacking the prescience to
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anticipate a disaster of the magnitude that occurred, and for letting
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the feds force the issue. Why didn't they, it is asked, keep up the
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"sanctions" until the Davidians got tired and came out? What excuse
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was there for losing patience and precipitating the holocaust that
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occurred? Many have even asked why the ATF felt it had to invade the
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Davidian compound in gangbusters style at all. The Davidians were out
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there in the middle of nowhere not bothering anyone, and Koresh could
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have been seized away from the compound. Obviously the Davidians
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should have been quite simply left alone.
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Government sources offered a number of inadequate responses, from
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Reno's frank acceptance of responsibility (for the failure at the end,
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not the whole thing) to the defensive drivel from law enforcement
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types who tried to lay the blame for their own bungling on Koresh, who
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refused to play fair. The stockpile of legally purchased small arms is
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cited as the reason for the initial precipitate action. Rumors of
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undefined "child abuse," that fashionable all-round excuse for frantic
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intervention, was among the reasons given for the final attack. But
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the real reason for the extreme nature of the siege and the attack
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wasn't over a question of guilt. It wasn't what Koresh and company had
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allegedly done, or even what they might do as armed sex-mad religious
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maniacs that was the problem. It was their unrepentant challenge to
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the authority of the State.
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Many sense an inevitability about the whole thing, and in a very
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important way they are right. Given the authoritarian nature of both
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the State and the Davidian sect, once the conflict was engaged, the
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only way it could end was in the destruction of the offending party.
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It has long been an anarchistic truism that the State reserves for
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itself a monopoly on coercive control. As Benjamin Tucker says flatly,
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"Aggression, invasion, government are interconvertible terms. The
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essence of government is control, or the attempt to control." The
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State will not and cannot allow an independent authority to evade
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this control within its jurisdiction. Koresh et al have been denounced
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for futilely holding out against the government rather than
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negotiating. It was indeed futile, but quite possibly they were aware
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that there was no real "negotiation" possible. It is a cardinal
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principal of the State that no one (apparently not even the heads of
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rival States) can hold themselves "above the law"; i.e., independent
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of the authority of the State. Therefore the only question is how the
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law will be avenged, not whether it will be. The only option open was
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complete surrender and abasement, after which the details and extent
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of punitive retribution could be adjusted.
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The Davidian sect assumed and acted as if it had independent
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authority by virtue of the dictates of christian doctrine. They
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wouldn't play by the rules and give in like nice little subjects of
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the State. Yet anarchists should resist the temptation to identify
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with these victims of governmental repression. The tragedy occurred
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because both sides shared a fatal weakness -- a hypertrophy of
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authority. Religion, especially the christian religion, has long
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claimed an authority that transcends that of the State in certain
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matters, although few groups are so naive as to force the issue to its
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logical conclusion. As anarchists have long insisted, such authority
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inevitably leads to disaster. David Koresh and his followers -- it
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is nonsensical to pretend they were all his dupes -- chose to follow
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the dictates of their faith rather than those of the State, as other
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religious groups from the Pilgrims to the Mormons have in the past.
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And as in the past, they suffered by challenging the power of the
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State.
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The authority of the State is maintained through the demand that
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its laws and regulations be acceded to without question. It
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customarily took an open and active breach of these laws, an actual
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perpetration of a "crime," to precipitate a coercive response by the
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government. However, it has now become the fashion to anticipate
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possible breaches and to move against potential "criminals" who
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through their beliefs and activities (such as espousing religious,
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sexual or political nonconformity) may at some point transgress the
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myriad rules and regulations the government has at its disposal for
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excusing coercion. Following an often brutal and intimidating
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experience at the hands (and feet) of agencies such as the ATF and the
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DEA, the social penitent is supposed to be led away to be made an
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example of to other would-be dissidents. When the invaded refuse to
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play to the State's script by not surrendering and confessing their
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subjugation, they must be destroyed (socially or biologically).
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By asserting their own authority over that of the government, the
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Davidians laid down an irresistible challenge. The State took up the
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challenge, and as is usually the case, won. The Davidians were
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attacked, reviled, humiliated, demonized in the press and finally,
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although inadvertently, physically destroyed. There may be
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considerable criticism now and perhaps some jobs will be lost or some
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ameliorating statutes passed, but the State itself will not be
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affected. As long as the criticism focuses only on the manner in which
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the repression was handled rather than questioning the prerogative of
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the government to repress at will, nothing will change.
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NO COPYRIGHT
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Please send two copies of any review or reprint
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of all or part of this to:
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Boston Anarchist Drinking Brigade
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(BAD Brigade)
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PO Box 1323
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Cambridge, MA 02238
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Internet: bbrigade@world.std.com
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April, 1993
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