With all the controversy in Keene surrounding young people in Central Square, those who have been observing have likely noticed the usual political tactic of lumping individuals into groups. This is a typical and thoughtless approach. It makes it easy to dismiss people and their opinions, because they can be seen as just one of the group. It has (and continues to) happened with liberty-minded people being called “Free Staters” and “Free Keeners” even if they aren’t one, the other, or both. Now it’s happening with some of the teens and young adults hanging out in Central Square. Just call them “Juggalos” and then one can just dismiss them all as troublemakers, when in reality only a few of them might actually be. I mean, the FBI recently called the Juggalos a nationwide gang, so they must all be criminals, right?
This is the mindset of people who haven’t bothered to try to talk to any of the people they don’t understand. I used to be this way myself. I considered all the government people to be evil, but then I realized they are just human beings who for the most part think they are doing good. Many don’t realize that they are supporting a violent monopoly and are blind to the horribly destructive ends of the system in which they work. Having one-on-one conversations with some of them helped me see them as fellow humans instead of heartless bureaucrats.
I get it. It’s easy to categorize people into groups. It’s also lazy. Most of the Juggalos that I have met are good, young folks. Smoking weed is not a crime against other human beings and nor is enjoying the common. Oh, and guess who helped pick up the park as part of Kleen Keene? Some of the Juggalos. Seems the real issue with Central Square is that some teens do things that some adults don’t appreciate, like using profanity. These conflicts have lived on for generations and no law will make them go away. Older folks should remember what it was like when they were younger and then try to connect with the people on the Square rather than just write them all off as a “problem”.
This is a little late, but the video of the Municipal Services, Facilities and Infrastructure Committee meeting, addressing disorderly behavior in Central Square, is available online, courtesy of Cheshire TV and the City of Keene. (The City of Keene has been working, successfully, to make local government more accessible. The video requires Microsoft Silverlight to play, which is frustrating, but a lot better than no video at all. [Update: Steve, a computer whiz, says you can also play it with VLC media player. Download the relevant program at the link.]) See the Video and more
WALL ST – TalleyTV visited occupied Wall Street with three FR33 Agents from the Shire, Michele 7, Derrick J and Ryan Maddox. There they met up with other allies, including Ethan Lee Vita who agreed to be interviewed about his occupation experiences.
During our recording, Ethan and I were approached my a uniformed lieutenant employed by the New York Police Department. He was trying to intimidate Ethan and myself into leaving the spot where we were standing – in front of a piece of art. Neither of us moved and the law enforcer couldn’t cite and reason or law why it was necessary for us to move. So we continued going about our peaceful business.
Occupy New Hampshire survived four complete nights as an intentional community. The first two in Victory and the final two-plus in Veterans Park had such a spurious air about them. The environment created by the occupation was that of a foreign presence upon a national ground. A presence foreign in that it was a horizontally organized competitor to the established order in Manchester. And while the occupiers were claiming no ground but that which they’d camped upon (and demonstrated a willingness to shuffle between parks to accommodate previously scheduled events), it still seemed so apparent, and would be confirmed through arrests, that there was something fundamentally challenging to the status quo by people camping out in a park that they are forced to pay for.
The quiet Elm Street in front of Veterans Park on October 19, approx. 2:00am.
I spent two long periods of time at the occupation (more…)
Radio Free Keene News is a five minute newscast which is available as a podcast and also will air at the top of some hours on LRN.FM.
You can download the edition for this week here. Topics covered include the recent dismissal of activists’ charges, Michele Seven’s caging for driving, and the city’s meeting about Central Square.
Thanks to the Union Leader for covering the story, where a judge dismissed the wiretapping charge against Biker Bill, saying: “engaging in an audio recording of a police officer in the course of his official duties in a public place is protected speech under the First Amendment”
CONCORD – Citing a federal appeals court ruling, a Goffstown District Court judge dismissed a charge of unlawful wiretapping against a Weare man who used his cell phone’s voice mail to record a traffic stop by a police officer.
Judge Edward Tenney cited a First Circuit Court of Appeals order in August in the case Glik v. Cunniffe in making his ruling. “The Glik holding makes it perfectly clear that First Amendment protections apply to both audio and video recording.” (more…)
Free Keene welcomes Garret Ean, the founder of FreeConcord.org as our newest blogger! Free Concord is a great site to visit to get more liberty-oriented opinion and news, focusing on the Concord area as well as Manchester. Since Free Keene has been around longer and has a larger audience, I thought Garret would make a good blogger here so he can cross-post content to FK and draw more visitors to his blog. Here’s his bio from the Bloggers page:
Garret has been involved in political action since high school, but it wasn’t until college that he came to consider himself a liberty activist. In college, he ran for state representative twice, while pursuing a criminology degree. In late 2010, he started FreeConcord.org to cover news of interest to liberty activists in the greater Concord area. You may catch him in front of the state house with chalk and camera in hand, making futile attempts to objectively cover liberty-flavored events as he participates in them. The underlying theme of his activism is propagating the revolutionary notion that human beings own themselves.
With all the controversy in Keene surrounding young people in Central Square, those who have been observing have likely noticed the usual political tactic of lumping individuals into groups. This is a typical and thoughtless approach. It makes it easy to dismiss people and their opinions, because they can be seen as just one of the group. It has (and continues to) happened with liberty-minded people being called “Free Staters” and “Free Keeners” even if they aren’t one, the other, or both. Now it’s happening with some of the teens and young adults hanging out in Central Square. Just call them “Juggalos” and then one can just dismiss them all as troublemakers, when in reality only a few of them might actually be. I mean, the FBI recently called the Juggalos a nationwide gang, so they must all be criminals, right?
Radio Free Keene News is a five minute newscast which is available as 
Free Keene welcomes Garret Ean, the founder of 
