"As you know most existing organizations stress such primitive reactions as unquestioning obedience. Their agents become addicted to orders. You will receive orders of course and in some cases you will be well-advised not to carry out the orders you receive. On the other hand your failure to obey certain orders could expose you to dangers of which you can have at this point in your training no conception. There are worse things than death Mr Lee for example to live under the conditions your enemies will endeavour to impose. And the members of all existing organizations are at some point your enemy. You will learn to know where this point is if you survive. You will receive your instructions in many ways. From books, street signs, films, in some cases from agents who purport to be and actually are members of the organization. There is no certainty." -- William S. Burroughs, 1962, The Ticket That Exploded.
Dear comrades in the newly formed San Francisco SCP:
It's no secret that the formation of a Surveillance Camera Players group in the Bay Area hasn't been easy. There was a false start, and some uncertainty as to whether there would ever be a second attempt. Frankly, we were distressed by these events, because the formation of a Bay Area SCP has to us always seemed like a "logical," even an inevitable development. The SCP has frequently said that it would like to be like Food Not Bombs, an autonomous "chapter" of which exists in every city in which hunger is a problem. The SCP would like to see an autonomous SCP group in every city in which surveillance cameras are a problem. Though the original Food Not Bombs group was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts (in 1980), "Food Not Bombs" didn't really get going until an autonomous "chapter" was formed in San Francisco, which remains the home of one of the most active (and oppressed) FNB groups in the country.
As if you, too, sensed the importance of the SCP founding an autonomous "chapter" in the Bay Area, you remained undiscouraged by the false start, and organized yourselves right in time to participate in 7s01 an international day against video surveillance. Though we were unable to see your performance as it took place, we have read Pulsar's report and have seen the jpg pictures taken of it. Despite the fact that this was your first performance together as a group, it had everything one could hope for: a perfect target (that horrible Union Street webcam); intellectual clarity and integrity (the text of the flyers you handed out and the statements you made to the press); and cultural creativity (the puppet and your use of masks). All this bodes very well for the future.
We welcome you as we would a new brother or sister. We hope your arrival heralds many more for this family without parents.
With love and admiration for your courage and commitment
Bill, for the New York SCP
Contact the NY Surveillance Camera Players
By e-mail SCP
By snail mail: SCP c/o NOT BORED! POB 1115, Stuyvesant Station, New York City 10009-9998
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