Insightful Political Analysis 2:16 pm / 17 May 2012 by Roderick, at Austro-Athenian Empire
They’re on to us! (CHT Tennyson.)
Blockupy in Frankfurt: The Dance of the Cop and the Democrat 1:42 pm / 17 May 2012 by Fire and Flames
The more acute the current economic crisis becomes, the more the Western European „democracies“ reveal about just how optional the „democracy“ aspect of their governance really is. If the entire mainstream media and good citizens of the First World joined in outraged unison when the Egyptian army attempted to clear protestors out of Tahrir Square, one has to wonder what exactly makes it acceptable when Greek police arrest pacifist activists for setting up camp in Syntagma Square?
This „democracy“ which we enjoy is a spectacle organized merely because it assures better control of the savage mobs than brute force. If, as is sadly the case in Germany, the mainstream of society identifies with the State and its political and economic project, then the unpleasant display of the brute force that lies at the core of power is rendered luckily unnecessary. Should it happen however that society threatens to diverge from the script deemed acceptable by the needs of Capital, we are then quickly shown just how secondary „democracy“ is when it contradicts the needs of the market. Nowhere was this more obvious than in Greece over the last months, where the State simply decided to beat and tear gas „austerity“ into a people who refused to bow. And when finally Greek PM Papandreou, either in an act of political desperation or in a moment of rare honesty and clarity, dared to suggest holding a referendum on the question of Greeces economic bailout, the European political class erupted in a cacophony of shock, dismay, and outrage. Scandalous…that in the birthplace of „democracy,“ it should be the people themselves who are involved in a decision regarding their future. As if they knew anything?!
Citizens lamenting the loss of good old democracy, while others try to criticize the repressive measures of the state by policing themselves…and explaining that no militant acts would have taken place.
Thus it should come as no big surprise that when the „Blockupy“ campaign called for actions, demonstrations, cultural events, and a protest camp in the city of Frankfurt from May 16th to 19th, the German state chose not to watch idly from the sidelines, letting democratic expression unfold. Fearing that indeed, the land might have by now become so dry that even in the belly of the beast „a single spark could start a prairie fire,“ they threw the entire weight of the States repressive apparatus at all those planning to demonstrate. First, they forbid all gatherings (with the exception of the main demonstration on Saturday). Then, the Frankfurt police sent letters to all those who had been arrested at a previous anti-capitalist demonstration in Frankfurt in which they were informed that they were forbidden from entering the Frankfurt inner city for the days of the planned protests. This move effectively cancels the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, stripping people who have been convicted of no crime of their „right“ to demonstrate. And finally, they began stopping busses carrying activists from other cities from even entering the city, and handing all passengers in the busses written prohibitions from entering the city of Frankfurt. Once again, the „rights“ of democracy only apply to those who hold convenient opinions.
Cops evicting a square in Frankfurt, because democracy is only for those with nothing to say. Meanwhile, demonstrators chant „we are peaceful, and what are you?“ because apparently the issue here is not economics or the future shape of society, but rather who is more peaceful.
As if on cue, the next act in this somewhat sad and repetitive play will be the outrage of the left, which will once again put on display some of its most unattractive aspects. There will be, and already has been, much talk about what an overreaction this is on the part of the police and the State, much complaining about the violence both systematic (prohibitions and such) and raw (cops hurting people), and much proclaiming to the four winds that the demonstrations are peaceful. These are the arguments of victimization and self-defeat. Or, had the actions taken a militant and confrontational tone, would we then also be in favor of forbidding them? Is there any more virtue given to the content of our critique because we are in the position of weakness, of being those with the bloodied heads and the poltical trials in our future? Should we really be appealing for more „rights,“ concessions, or permits from the system and the State we want to abolish?
Those who still argue like this continue to not understand the true nature of power. There never was and never will be common ground between revolutionaries and the powers that be, and there never was and never will be a road to real, lasting emancipatory change which does not sooner or later take you outside of the framework of what is the accepted conflict range of dissent. Morality, politics, and groveling for the good will of public opinion are best left to politicians and political parties. Anarchists, anti-authoritarians, and revolutionaries will only have what we take and what we create. There is no justice. There is just us.
Why October 20 must be hijacked 12:48 pm / 17 May 2012 by Phil Dickens, at Truth, Reason & Liberty
The Trades Union Congress has called for a national demonstration against austerity on 20 October. You'll have to forgive me if I don't quite hail the revolution yet. Or even, as Right to Work do, start spouting that "massive demonstrations in October can help finish [the Tories] off." At best, this is an exercise in letting off steam.
The TUC has been the driving force in demobilising the trade unions. First by making the case effectively that the fight against austerity and broad attacks on our class should be reduced to an industrial dispute over pensions, then by leading a significant contingent of that dispute to make a deal once they'd given workers a huge one-day protest strike as a bit of a show. With the last, and most "militant," section of that fight also winding down to managed defeat, it's safe to say that they stamped on every spark of resistance they could in the official labour movement.
Dave Prentis, in leading the call for a demo, was particularly cynical. Calling for "the biggest demonstration in our Labour movement’s history," he says that we need "to show the government that there is a real alternative." But the best way to do that is through direct action, and particularly industrial action, which he was one of the first to back out of.
After well over half a million people took to the streets of London on March 26 2011, the government blithely announced that it would change nothing. They were right - because the state and capital are not moved by protest, but only by effective exercising of class power. This is why, on the fear that "if we don't give them reform, they'll give us revolution," we got the welfare state. It's also why, with an A to B march here, a one-day strike there and some candle-lit vigils in-between, they feel safe to roll it all back.
Effective resistance to austerity will not come via the TUC or any of its affiliated unions - even the "awkward squad." It will come only through the working class, in the workplace and out of it, organising for ourselves and taking direct action independent of these rusting hierarchies. Whether the people in those hierarchies are "left" or "right," they will still defuse workers' anger into A to B marches and limited protest actions, whilst seeking to place themselves into the discussion on the degree to which our class is screwed over. That is their structural role within capitalism, and that is why every last one of Adam Ford's public sector strike predictions came true.
Our aim, without concession and without apology, should be to cause economic damage. To flex our muscles and tell the ruling class: as long as your cuts are inevitable, this country will be ungovernable. That was the case this time last year, and all that has changed now is that the trade unions are well into their routine of letting off workers' steam to ensure that doesn't happen. October 20 will be just another case in point on that.
This is why the march must be hijacked. Rather than letting the TUC have their stale and passive march from one end of London to the other, where a bunch of bureaucrats and Labour Party apologists will waffle at people for the rest of the day, there needs to be a huge and visible bloc of anarchists, militants and radical workers.
Not only that, but this bloc needs to steer as much of the march as possible away from speakers corner and towards areas where they can cause significant economic disruption. On March 26 2011, Oxford Street and Fortnum and Mason were effectively shut down and the day's trade lost as a result of UK Uncut and the radical workers bloc. When we see the next national demonstration, something similar needs to happen - perhaps with the breakaway bloc meeting up with a picket against workfare rather than one against tax evasion.
Such an action will not bring down the government. It will not bring about revolution. But it will be an effective expression of class struggle which actually impacts on those we are fighting, whilst sidelining and stealing the headlines from those working to demobilise us.
No doubt, as ever, the media will flap about violent anarchists planning to hijack a peaceful protests. They will pull out every absurd stereotype and red scare bogeyman they can, and the liberals will wring their hands and beg for clemency. Just this once. Can't we leave it alone, so that they can have an unblemished, peaceful protest?
The answer should be no. Politics is not PR, and we are fighting a war against a class enemy intent on rolling back everything we've won. If a huge mobilisation in central London isn't hijacked for effective, militant direct action, then the movement is in far more dire straits than we thought.
 |
| Part of the radical workers bloc on the TUC March For The Alternative, March 26 2011 |
Dave Prentis, in leading the call for a demo, was particularly cynical. Calling for "the biggest demonstration in our Labour movement’s history," he says that we need "to show the government that there is a real alternative." But the best way to do that is through direct action, and particularly industrial action, which he was one of the first to back out of.
After well over half a million people took to the streets of London on March 26 2011, the government blithely announced that it would change nothing. They were right - because the state and capital are not moved by protest, but only by effective exercising of class power. This is why, on the fear that "if we don't give them reform, they'll give us revolution," we got the welfare state. It's also why, with an A to B march here, a one-day strike there and some candle-lit vigils in-between, they feel safe to roll it all back.
Effective resistance to austerity will not come via the TUC or any of its affiliated unions - even the "awkward squad." It will come only through the working class, in the workplace and out of it, organising for ourselves and taking direct action independent of these rusting hierarchies. Whether the people in those hierarchies are "left" or "right," they will still defuse workers' anger into A to B marches and limited protest actions, whilst seeking to place themselves into the discussion on the degree to which our class is screwed over. That is their structural role within capitalism, and that is why every last one of Adam Ford's public sector strike predictions came true.
Our aim, without concession and without apology, should be to cause economic damage. To flex our muscles and tell the ruling class: as long as your cuts are inevitable, this country will be ungovernable. That was the case this time last year, and all that has changed now is that the trade unions are well into their routine of letting off workers' steam to ensure that doesn't happen. October 20 will be just another case in point on that.
This is why the march must be hijacked. Rather than letting the TUC have their stale and passive march from one end of London to the other, where a bunch of bureaucrats and Labour Party apologists will waffle at people for the rest of the day, there needs to be a huge and visible bloc of anarchists, militants and radical workers.
Not only that, but this bloc needs to steer as much of the march as possible away from speakers corner and towards areas where they can cause significant economic disruption. On March 26 2011, Oxford Street and Fortnum and Mason were effectively shut down and the day's trade lost as a result of UK Uncut and the radical workers bloc. When we see the next national demonstration, something similar needs to happen - perhaps with the breakaway bloc meeting up with a picket against workfare rather than one against tax evasion.
 |
| The student demonstrations, at the height of the class anger the unions are working to demobilise |
No doubt, as ever, the media will flap about violent anarchists planning to hijack a peaceful protests. They will pull out every absurd stereotype and red scare bogeyman they can, and the liberals will wring their hands and beg for clemency. Just this once. Can't we leave it alone, so that they can have an unblemished, peaceful protest?
The answer should be no. Politics is not PR, and we are fighting a war against a class enemy intent on rolling back everything we've won. If a huge mobilisation in central London isn't hijacked for effective, militant direct action, then the movement is in far more dire straits than we thought.
Zig Zag Jan 1985 – Redskins, The Membranes & Nick Cave 12:09 pm / 17 May 2012 by Highlander, at Cactus Mouth Informer
Prison rape is no joke 10:59 am / 17 May 2012 by Charles Davis, at false dichotomy by charles davis
As pundits and politicians fill the airwaves with talk of poll numbers and campaign strategies, there's a genuine epidemic of rape going on in the United States among the most marginalized segment of American society: the nation's more than 2.3 million incarcerated men, women and children.
According to a new survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, one in 10 people formerly imprisoned in a state cage reported that they were sexually abused during their most recent stint behind bars. LGBT inmates are abused the worst, 39 percent of gay male prisoners telling investigators they were assaulted by their fellow inmates.
But it wasn't just prisoners who were doing the assaulting, but -- can you believe it? -- the paid enforcers of state violence who are paid to daily dehumanize the chattel before them. Just Detention International, an organization which seeks to draw attention to the sexual assault of prisoners, notes in a press release that nearly a third of all prisoners "reported staff sexual harassment during showers and searches while undressing -- harassment that did not meet the Department of Justice's threshold for sexual abuse." Meanwhile, nearly half of those who were sexually abused by DOJ standards and "reported to a corrections official that they had been sexually abused by a staff member were themselves written up for an infraction." Inmates also reported that they were just as likely to be punished for reporting prisoner-on-prisoner abuse as they were to get the opportunity to speak to an investigator. More than a third said "facility staff did not respond at all."
"With such blatant retaliation for reporting abuse, it’s no wonder the vast majority of prisoner rape survivors choose to remain silent,” says Lovisa Stannow, JDI's executive director. The report "reaffirms the crisis of sexual abuse in U.S. detention, and of the government’s utter failure to protect people in its custody."
If you want evidence of a war on women and other living things, don't just pay attention to the formal goings-on in state legislatures -- look at the prisons and their hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. And keep in mind this depressing thought: that war is condoned by a bipartisan majority of politicians as well as a mainstream culture that thinks prison rape is more material for a stand-up routine than an appalling shock to one's humanity. The federal standard announced by DOJ to address this epidemic is welcome, but as the survey suggests: it's all in how the rules are enforced.
(*I'll add links to source material when they are made available.)
According to a new survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, one in 10 people formerly imprisoned in a state cage reported that they were sexually abused during their most recent stint behind bars. LGBT inmates are abused the worst, 39 percent of gay male prisoners telling investigators they were assaulted by their fellow inmates.
But it wasn't just prisoners who were doing the assaulting, but -- can you believe it? -- the paid enforcers of state violence who are paid to daily dehumanize the chattel before them. Just Detention International, an organization which seeks to draw attention to the sexual assault of prisoners, notes in a press release that nearly a third of all prisoners "reported staff sexual harassment during showers and searches while undressing -- harassment that did not meet the Department of Justice's threshold for sexual abuse." Meanwhile, nearly half of those who were sexually abused by DOJ standards and "reported to a corrections official that they had been sexually abused by a staff member were themselves written up for an infraction." Inmates also reported that they were just as likely to be punished for reporting prisoner-on-prisoner abuse as they were to get the opportunity to speak to an investigator. More than a third said "facility staff did not respond at all."
"With such blatant retaliation for reporting abuse, it’s no wonder the vast majority of prisoner rape survivors choose to remain silent,” says Lovisa Stannow, JDI's executive director. The report "reaffirms the crisis of sexual abuse in U.S. detention, and of the government’s utter failure to protect people in its custody."
If you want evidence of a war on women and other living things, don't just pay attention to the formal goings-on in state legislatures -- look at the prisons and their hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. And keep in mind this depressing thought: that war is condoned by a bipartisan majority of politicians as well as a mainstream culture that thinks prison rape is more material for a stand-up routine than an appalling shock to one's humanity. The federal standard announced by DOJ to address this epidemic is welcome, but as the survey suggests: it's all in how the rules are enforced.
(*I'll add links to source material when they are made available.)
Recap: Night of Progress 9:00 am / 17 May 2012 by Justin Oliver, at DFW Alliance of the Libertarian Left
On May 13, Sunday evening, 1919 Hemphill hosted a Night of Progress, featuring a number of local radical organizations along with live music and performance art presentations.
Among the participants were Peaceful Vocations, a counter-recruitment coalition that provides young people with career alternatives to joining the armed forces. They work to inform potential recruits of “the facts about military enlistment, war, and the many alternatives to the G.I. life,” according to the group’s website. Peaceful Vocation volunteer Diane Wood took the time to record a video explaining the group’s recent progress in the Fort Worth ISD.
The Black Cat Collective, a dynamic community-based mutual aid network, made several texts in the left-libertarian and anarchist tradition available. In the video below, Black Cat member Number 3 gave a brief overview of the collective’s ongoing projects.
Workers International League and North Texas BDS, which supports divestiture from organizations with ties to the government of Israel, were among the other groups present.
David North (ICFI) ~versus~ David Green (Grand River) 8:47 am / 17 May 2012 by @ndy, at slackbastard
wsws.org is the online publication of the ICFI, the ‘International Committee of the Fourth International’. You may remember the ICFI from such rallies as took place in Melbourne in the early 1990s (when they were still known as the ‘Socialist … Continue reading
Twit story 8:10 am / 17 May 2012 by Charles Davis, at false dichotomy by charles davis
First I was like:
But then a federal judge appointed by Barack Obama ruled that under the NDAA, "it is certainly the case that if plaintiffs were detained as a result of their conduct, they could be detained until the cessation of hostilities - i.e., an indeterminate period of time," and I was like:
And because I wanted to regain my smug sense of superiority by courageously debating a straw person:
Because, probably, only two people have ever been indefinitely imprisoned by the United States. And they were, probably, some WHITE DOODS, right?
But then a federal judge appointed by Barack Obama ruled that under the NDAA, "it is certainly the case that if plaintiffs were detained as a result of their conduct, they could be detained until the cessation of hostilities - i.e., an indeterminate period of time," and I was like:
Priorities (cont’d) 6:27 am / 17 May 2012 by Rad Geek, at Rad Geek People's Daily
From CBS News, CIA sacrifices valuable intelligence source to foil underwear bomb plot
U.S. intelligence officials faced a difficult decision. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was looking for a suicide bomber. The target: an American jetliner. The only way for intelligence officials to ensure they controlled the plot was to have their own agent volunteer to be the bomber and then hand the bomb to the CIA. The tradeoff: They would lose a source penetrated deep inside the organization — but they would save lives.
The choice presented here is a choice between giving up some government spying, on the one hand, or standing by and knowingly leaving hundreds of people to be murdered, all for the sake of your military-political priorities. I suppose I should be glad they didn’t choose the latter. But I must point out that this is a tradeoff
only if you think you have a right to trade in human lives. And it is a difficult decision
only if you don’t value those lives very highly.
Also:
stop-stop 6:24 am / 17 May 2012 by Captain Capitulation, at cheese it, the cops!
see ya chuck brown. looking back on it, late seventies/early eighties dc was a rare music scene, what with the invention of hardcore: bad brains, teen idles. also the excellent blues revival bands that were still the basic dc bar fare: the nighthawks, e.g. i remember go-go shows at big concrete barn downtown: chuck brown, touble funk, rare essence etc. when kool herc started working the turntables in the bronx, he did it to extend the break or the drum bit. go-go just did it with squads of actual percussion instruments. go-go had a cool swing, but it also git a bit incessant after a few hours.
