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Is the International Resistance Initiative really a group?
Friday, July 02, 2010 at 11:47 AM
LINK
In Trois Rivieres, Quebec, a bomb damaged an army recruiting office:
A little known group has claimed responsibility for the bombing that ripped through a Canadian Forces recruitment office in Trois-Rivieres, Que., early Friday, according to media reports.
Quebec provincial police said no one was injured since the building was closed when the blast occurred at 3 a.m.
Sgt. Eloise Cossette of the Surete du Quebec said the local police force received a phone call some 20 minutes before the explosion. "It was what we call a bomb threat," Cossette said.
A group calling itself "Resistance internationaliste" issued a statement Friday claiming responsibility for the attack.
Montreal newspaper La Presse reported Friday that it received an e-mail from the group noting it is opposed to Canada's military practices and wants to prevent a "further indoctrination."
This "group" might be the same one thought to be responsible for other attacks:
It is not yet known if the group is the same as the Initiative de resistance internationaliste that claimed responsibility in 2006 for bombing the car of a spokesman for Canada's petroleum industry and in 2004 for a failed attempt to topple a Hydro-Quebec transmission tower carrying electricity to the United States.
What I find strange is the length of time between attacks. First in 2004, then another in 2006, and this one in 2010, assuming it is the same group.
Talk about a slow burn.
I just find it hard to believe that a group of hardcore leftists crosses the line into so-called "direct action" (which is the standard leftist euphemism for criminal acts when perpetrated by themselves), and then sit around for years doing nothing more than muttering about capitalism and militarism and so on.
Then, for no apparent reason, they rouse themselves to attack again. Just one attack though. Then it's back to years of muttering.
You would think there would be pressures inside of the group to continue the bombing campaign. Then there has to be another bombing, or the group falls apart as members, disgusted that the campaign ended after one "victory", leave for more committed groups. In all those years, not one frustrated ex-member was ever picked up on unrelated charges and tried to peddle their knowledge of the IRI to earn consideration from prosecutors?
The attacks themselves seem to be so ineffectual. Long periods between pointless and ineffective attacks -- what self-respecting group of anarchists would put up with that? Compare that rate of action to the Earth Liberation Front. ELF seemed to average a dozen or more attacks a year across the United States. And yet even that rate seems to have failed to sustain the group, given that in the three years from 2006 through 2009, the number of attacks dropped to nine in total.
On the other hand, a single person compelled to commit violent acts can easily have a long cycle measured in years. It's the nature of their mental condition. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, seemed to go for a year or more between attacks. The attacks tended to happen in clusters of two or more within weeks of each other. It would seem that Kaczynski's hunger to bomb was then sated, and he would go quiet for a year or even longer, until his compulsion drove him to attack again.
A single mad bomber doesn't have to keep a gang of hotheads distracted during long delays between attacks. A single mad bomber attacks as per his own internal schedule, and in his mind, each attack is a massive blow to his enemies. There is no one around to tell him otherwise. He only has to impress himself, though the media helps by calling him a "shadowy group".
His strange needs now satisfied, he continues with his life, until the murmuring inner demon starts shouting for attention. If he has other outlets for his rage, then it could easily be years between these sorts of attacks.
Heck, it could really be a "shadowy group" of a dozen hardline Trotskyites. It could be that this group has remarkable internal discipline such that no disaffected members have left the group and ratted to the cops. It could be that each and every member of this group is impressed by the effectiveness of these attacks and has the patience to wait years before striking another mighty blow.
I don't buy it though. It's easier to believe that if all three attacks since 2004 are by the same organization, that this organization is really a single individual. A single mad bomber could evade police detection for a long, long time. A single mad bomber has to satisfy his own internal needs only, committing acts of violence at whatever rate suits him. A single mad bomber doesn't have to impress anyone but himself, so there is no external pressure forcing him to attack a series of targets that progress in value and in risk.
That's my take on this. Hopefully we'll know one way or the other. Unless the police fail to nab IRI this time, in which case I'll see you all back here in two to four years, when the IRI strikes again.
Is the International Resistance Initiative really a group?
Friday, July 02, 2010 at 11:47 AM
LINK
In Trois Rivieres, Quebec, a bomb damaged an army recruiting office:
A little known group has claimed responsibility for the bombing that ripped through a Canadian Forces recruitment office in Trois-Rivieres, Que., early Friday, according to media reports.
Quebec provincial police said no one was injured since the building was closed when the blast occurred at 3 a.m.
Sgt. Eloise Cossette of the Surete du Quebec said the local police force received a phone call some 20 minutes before the explosion. "It was what we call a bomb threat," Cossette said.
A group calling itself "Resistance internationaliste" issued a statement Friday claiming responsibility for the attack.
Montreal newspaper La Presse reported Friday that it received an e-mail from the group noting it is opposed to Canada's military practices and wants to prevent a "further indoctrination."
This "group" might be the same one thought to be responsible for other attacks:
It is not yet known if the group is the same as the Initiative de resistance internationaliste that claimed responsibility in 2006 for bombing the car of a spokesman for Canada's petroleum industry and in 2004 for a failed attempt to topple a Hydro-Quebec transmission tower carrying electricity to the United States.
What I find strange is the length of time between attacks. First in 2004, then another in 2006, and this one in 2010, assuming it is the same group.
Talk about a slow burn.
I just find it hard to believe that a group of hardcore leftists crosses the line into so-called "direct action" (which is the standard leftist euphemism for criminal acts when perpetrated by themselves), and then sit around for years doing nothing more than muttering about capitalism and militarism and so on.
Then, for no apparent reason, they rouse themselves to attack again. Just one attack though. Then it's back to years of muttering.
You would think there would be pressures inside of the group to continue the bombing campaign. Then there has to be another bombing, or the group falls apart as members, disgusted that the campaign ended after one "victory", leave for more committed groups. In all those years, not one frustrated ex-member was ever picked up on unrelated charges and tried to peddle their knowledge of the IRI to earn consideration from prosecutors?
The attacks themselves seem to be so ineffectual. Long periods between pointless and ineffective attacks -- what self-respecting group of anarchists would put up with that? Compare that rate of action to the Earth Liberation Front. ELF seemed to average a dozen or more attacks a year across the United States. And yet even that rate seems to have failed to sustain the group, given that in the three years from 2006 through 2009, the number of attacks dropped to nine in total.
On the other hand, a single person compelled to commit violent acts can easily have a long cycle measured in years. It's the nature of their mental condition. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, seemed to go for a year or more between attacks. The attacks tended to happen in clusters of two or more within weeks of each other. It would seem that Kaczynski's hunger to bomb was then sated, and he would go quiet for a year or even longer, until his compulsion drove him to attack again.
A single mad bomber doesn't have to keep a gang of hotheads distracted during long delays between attacks. A single mad bomber attacks as per his own internal schedule, and in his mind, each attack is a massive blow to his enemies. There is no one around to tell him otherwise. He only has to impress himself, though the media helps by calling him a "shadowy group".
His strange needs now satisfied, he continues with his life, until the murmuring inner demon starts shouting for attention. If he has other outlets for his rage, then it could easily be years between these sorts of attacks.
Heck, it could really be a "shadowy group" of a dozen hardline Trotskyites. It could be that this group has remarkable internal discipline such that no disaffected members have left the group and ratted to the cops. It could be that each and every member of this group is impressed by the effectiveness of these attacks and has the patience to wait years before striking another mighty blow.
I don't buy it though. It's easier to believe that if all three attacks since 2004 are by the same organization, that this organization is really a single individual. A single mad bomber could evade police detection for a long, long time. A single mad bomber has to satisfy his own internal needs only, committing acts of violence at whatever rate suits him. A single mad bomber doesn't have to impress anyone but himself, so there is no external pressure forcing him to attack a series of targets that progress in value and in risk.
That's my take on this. Hopefully we'll know one way or the other. Unless the police fail to nab IRI this time, in which case I'll see you all back here in two to four years, when the IRI strikes again.
