The BEARCAT busts through the front page of the Keene State College Equinox in this week’s edition, in a brilliant illustration that should give an indication to students of what it will feel like when the BEARCAT rolls up on their college parties. Here’s the article by Cam King:
Enraged at the potential idea of a tank rolling down the lovely causeway of Main Street, Keene residents roared to life to refute the acceptance of a federal grant to purchase a $286,000 armored vehicle by Keene City Council Members.
“Thanks but No Tanks!” had been the motto all week for Keene residents trying to oust the idea of allowing an armored vehicle to reside in town. (more…)
Five minutes prior to the start of the Keene city council meeting on 2/16, activists stood to sing “Thanks but no Tanks” to the tune of Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World”. Thankfully, no one was threatened with arrest. The vote on the BEARCAT attack tank was put off until the 3/1 meeting.
Readers may already be familiar with the tiny town of Keene, NH despite its population of some 20,000 people in rural New Hampshire. The town has been a major site for the Free State Project and radio advertisements mentioning Keene are heard regularly when listening to Antiwar Radio on LRN.
You may or may not be familiar with Lenco Industries, a Pittsfield, MA-based company that manufactures heavily armored vehicles for government agencies. But even if you are familiar with both, you might not have imagined that the twain should ever meet.
But the Department of Homeland Security is seeing to it that they have, throwing $285,933 in grant money at the Keene city government to buy what their mayor referred to as “our own tank.” (more…)
That’s what Keene, N.H., Mayor Kendall Lane whispered to Councilman Mitch Greenwood during a December city council meeting.
It’s not quite a tank. But the quaint town of 23,000 — scene of just two murders since 1999 — had just accepted a $285,933 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to purchase a Bearcat, an eight-ton armored personnel vehicle made by Lenco Industries Inc.
But those plans are on hold for now, thanks to a backlash from feisty residents. Resistance began with Mike Clark, a 27-year-old handyman. Clark, who said he’s had a couple encounters with Keene police and currently faces a charge of criminal mischief, read about the Homeland Security grant in the newspaper. “The police are already pretty brutal,” Clark said, claiming he was roughed up in both his encounters with local police. “The last thing they need is this big piece of military equipment to make them think they’re soldiers.”
On Saturday, February 4, a national day of war resistance was celebrated in the streets of cities around the nation. Following a protest at the Obama re-election campaign office opening, I headed to Veterans Park in Manchester, where there was a rally against war, especially the increasingly hyped prospect of war with Iran. In recent weeks, it seems established powers have been banging the war drums ever more loudly.
It appears to be a geographic continuance of ongoing military conquests by the US government, that in taking Iraq and Afghanistan, the next ambition would be the powerhouse that divides them. Though there’s a history of mistrust between the US and Iran, one obstacle that neither militant faction of the two countries may be able to overcome is the ability of the people of Iran and the United States to directly communicate. (more…)
The BEARCAT busts through the front page of the Keene State College Equinox in this week’s edition, in a brilliant illustration that should give an indication to students of what it will feel like when the BEARCAT rolls up on their college parties. Here’s the article by Cam King:
Thanks to Jason Ditz from Antiwar.com 
