Our bookstore is no stranger to unwanted government attention; we’ve been threatened by city officials, visited by the FBI, and surveilled by police. Historically, the investigation and prosecution of activists has aimed to disrupt our movements for change, sow fear and isolation among participants, break intergenerational bonds, and criminalize struggles for freedom. But we can overcome these attacks through principled action and uncompromising solidarity.
Firestorm has made the following commitments:
• We will minimize non-required collection and storage of information about customers, authors, event participants, and others who engage with our co-op.
• We will resist, and publicly disclose, any attempt to obtain such information when it exists.
• We will decline to answer questions from police and government agents.
• We will fight any court or government subpoena, process, or demand for records, testimony, or evidence.
• We will support those in our community who face state repression, regardless of “guilt” or “innocence.”
• We will retain legal counsel to defend our freedom to not cooperate with the State.
We know that these actions cannot guarantee safety for our members or community, but to cooperate in the face of our own repression, or the repression of others, would be a profoundly unsafe betrayal. Noncooperation is both the ethical and strategic position for those who want to build a new world, but must contend with the old one.
Find our entire statement, including linked references, at https://firestorm.coop/noncooperation.html.
#FreedomToRead #StateRepression #CoopsNotCops #Anarchism #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop
