NH: Man Without I.D. Vows to Board Flight or Be Jailed
Some New Hampshirites are taking action!
I received an e-mail this week from Kat Dillon alerting me to an upcoming planned act of civil disobedience on 11 June 2005 inspired by the Real ID Act.
Excerpts from the press release:
Russell Kanning of Keene has announced he will approach a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Manchester airport on June 11 and refuse to cooperate with the requirement to show ID until he is arrested.
"In a free country," he says, "you do not need the government's permission to travel." "My goal is to visit Independence Hall by flying to Philadelphia, but I will refuse to show identification. Before airport security was federalized in 2001, I was free to do this, but not anymore."
Only two months after the September 11th attacks, the Aviation Security Act federalized airport security nationwide, and granted unprecedented police powers to the TSA. Now, an ID is mandatory to enter an airport, passengers must travel alone past security checkpoints, and random full-body searches in public are considered normal.
Kanning stresses that he will not resist arrest or do anything that might be perceived as physically threatening. He says this act of nonviolent resistance will follow the model laid down by Gandhi, who used peaceful noncooperation to expel the British from India. "We will tell them everything we're going to do ahead of time. We are not going to disrupt the operation of the airport," he says.
But Kanning says the parallels with Gandhi's situation go further than a shared belief in nonviolence. "In South Africa, where Gandhi's protests began, non-whites were required to have a special form of ID to walk in public. To fight against this law, he organized an event to burn these forms of ID."
and
Kanning says Gandhi's and Fisher's examples inspired him to take similar action against the growing surveillance state. He believes the Real ID amendment passed by the Senate this month will make things even worse. But he says it's important to stay positive. "Our goal is to be able to travel in privacy and end the federalization of airport security. This is only the beginning."
Visit the New Hampshire Underground (described by the correspondent as a group of Freestaters and New Hampshirites working toward freedom) for the complete press release which can be found by scrolling down to the "News" heading in the center column of the page.
I received an e-mail this week from Kat Dillon alerting me to an upcoming planned act of civil disobedience on 11 June 2005 inspired by the Real ID Act.
Excerpts from the press release:
Russell Kanning of Keene has announced he will approach a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Manchester airport on June 11 and refuse to cooperate with the requirement to show ID until he is arrested.
"In a free country," he says, "you do not need the government's permission to travel." "My goal is to visit Independence Hall by flying to Philadelphia, but I will refuse to show identification. Before airport security was federalized in 2001, I was free to do this, but not anymore."
Only two months after the September 11th attacks, the Aviation Security Act federalized airport security nationwide, and granted unprecedented police powers to the TSA. Now, an ID is mandatory to enter an airport, passengers must travel alone past security checkpoints, and random full-body searches in public are considered normal.
Kanning stresses that he will not resist arrest or do anything that might be perceived as physically threatening. He says this act of nonviolent resistance will follow the model laid down by Gandhi, who used peaceful noncooperation to expel the British from India. "We will tell them everything we're going to do ahead of time. We are not going to disrupt the operation of the airport," he says.
But Kanning says the parallels with Gandhi's situation go further than a shared belief in nonviolence. "In South Africa, where Gandhi's protests began, non-whites were required to have a special form of ID to walk in public. To fight against this law, he organized an event to burn these forms of ID."
and
Kanning says Gandhi's and Fisher's examples inspired him to take similar action against the growing surveillance state. He believes the Real ID amendment passed by the Senate this month will make things even worse. But he says it's important to stay positive. "Our goal is to be able to travel in privacy and end the federalization of airport security. This is only the beginning."
Visit the New Hampshire Underground (described by the correspondent as a group of Freestaters and New Hampshirites working toward freedom) for the complete press release which can be found by scrolling down to the "News" heading in the center column of the page.
posted by Kirsten at 11:49 AM
9 Comments:
have i been smoking something, or is it possible to fly without ID right now? unless they've done something recently on it, i think they give you the extra-super-analprobe technique and send you on your way, well chastised for having had the nerve to think you're living in cold war west germany instead of east. not sure this guy's going to be arrested unless he does the usual "public disturbance" or whatever (meaning "disagree").
99% sure i saw on that airport show a guy fly on southwest airlines, post 9/11, without ID. some idiot was complaining about it, as if having ID means you couldn't possibly be evil. southwest, to their credit, told her to get stuffed. it may be that his hurdle will be against an airline, NOT the fed idiots. would hate for this brave guy to get all worked up and then he's facing a cavity search mod to his protest, or some other element that will dilute his message. the only way they'll arrest him, far as i know, is if he gets rightfully angry about it. you can refuse to show ID at most places that "require" it, and they turn you away; it's not an automatic arrest. he's going to have to raise his voice or something, after which they'll say an arrest was for "disturbing the peace", not for ID.
sorry i don't feel like researching this now, but if somebody can correct me on this, i'm all for it. i know the press release says ID is mandatory to enter an airport. it wasn't before i quit flying 2 years ago.
Salty, I don't think it is, not via commercial aviation anyway. John Gilmore wasn't allowed to board the jet without showing papers, and is challenging the secret law in court.
Last time I flew, it was a private plane. Over the entire trip, we entered five airports, including a regional airport that served several airlines. We were never asked for identification papers of any sort, and certainly didn't need to show anything before entering any airport.
http://cryptome.org/no-id-fly.htm
ID for boarding aside, i'd say the guy's biggest problem, if it's true that w/o ID he can't get in the airport he selected, is that he's willing to show ID to get in an airport, but not on a plane. if that's the case, his arrest will reek of artifice, however it's initiated. i'm not getting "has his shit together" vibes from this one.
The only time he'll be required to show ID should be at the security checkpoint.
kat, it appears you're affiliated with "new hampshire underground" and the planned protest. if so, your press release doesn't agree with what you just said:
"Only two months after the September 11th attacks, the Aviation Security Act federalized airport security nationwide, and granted unprecedented police powers to the TSA. Now, an ID is mandatory to enter an airport, "...
the press release further states that kanning will "refuse to cooperate with the requirement to show ID until he is arrested." even as stupid as TSA is, they'll probably just tell him he can't fly. then they'll tell him to leave. if he runs into the one TSA guy with two operating brain cells, he will be asked to go elsewhere so that it can be "discussed". he will be offered the invasive search option. he will decline. TSA brainy guy (mythical character, of course) will say, "okay. well, please turn off the light to my office on your way out."
"Kanning stresses that he will not resist arrest or do anything that might be perceived as physically threatening." then he's going to refuse to leave on his own. spinning that into a meaningful result might be quite a stretch. sure is a lot more complicated than the excellent manicure protest. could even backfire.
russell says, "Before airport security was federalized in 2001, I was free to do this, but not anymore."
not true. it was the airlines who really got the ID tyranny happening, and they did it long before 2001. yes, you could get somewhere without ID, but it wasn't way easier than doing it now. the airlines are perhaps a bigger problem than the TSA. they often use the fedgoons as cover for their nazi policies.
i sure hope you guys are hiding some secret plan, because from what i've seen, i think you're getting into trouble that's not going to pay off. would be a shame for that to happen to the same people from the manicure protest.
i've had my run-ins with TSA and similar airline fools. i've found that shoving documents from their respective orgs is the only way to get anywhere with them -- not that you want to get anywhere with them in this case.
of course, that gets a little harder when the "regulations" "governing" what they do are "secret".
if you're going to go forward, i wish you well, but wouldn't it be more effective to just grab one of those worthless TSA pukes and hold him hostage, like they plan to do to your friend? LMAO. oh, i forgot; you need "authorization" to commit such crimes.
as for ideas, my idea is to boycott the lot of the worthless pukes, from the TSA down to the last cooperating airline. however, if you want to take action, i think the strip-search option offers a lot of visual media opportunity, kinda like PETA does with their fur stuff. how about a campaign to encourage more people to refuse to show ID? information. give hard, verifiable details. quote "authorities" that the TSA won't question.
if more people opted for their dumbass searches, maybe they'd have to confront the lunacy of the whole deal. at least, it has the makings of a very visible and attention-getting concurrent media campaign. think porn. think pictures.
i guess my point is that i would skip the arrest step as a given, and go to the next; no need to further demonstrate the brutal, arbitrary nature of goons. the environment is so complex the message might never get out.
if he just needs a ride from NH to philadelphia and back, i'm volunteering here to give him one if he'll back out of this.
"civil disobedience" is a nasty term.
The simple solution is to boycott ONE of the carriers and drive it either into bankruptcy or submission. Very simple and wouldn't require EVERYBODY to achieve the goal, just enough to cripple it..........just as in nature, select the weakest of the herd and seperate it for the kill......
Kat did anyone get names/other identification from the FBI agents, document the encounters, file complaints, etc...? If you have any documentation, I would like to get copies of anything you are willing to share.
Thank you.
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