Read the full article HERE:
The dead hand of notorious UK spycop Mark Kennedy has reached out once again – this time in France, where a major trial involving a so-called ‘metaphysical anarchist’ cell saw the most serious charge – terrorism – dismissed. In a statement afterwards one of the defendants accused the prosecution of having based its case on false statements made by the police – in other words, fabricated (or exaggerated) evidence. Here is what happened…
On 11 November 2008, twenty French men and women were arrested simultaneously in Paris, Rouen, and in the small village of Tarnac (located in the district of Corrèze, Massif Central). Those in Tarnac were living in a small farmhouse – and in the village they had reorganised the local grocery store as a cooperative and taken up a number of civic activities, from the running of a film club to the delivery of food to the elderly.
The police operation was dramatic: it involved helicopters, one hundred and fifty balaclava-clad anti-terrorist police and massive media coverage. The arrests sparked huge protests in Paris and in other French cities and towns, as well as the village of Tarnac, which describes itself as communist and where those arrested were seen as highly-respected members of the community.
The State and System have factually proven their role against anarchists, anti-authoritarians, fighting people, self-managed spaces and various parts of society.Within the social war there are also losses. The times we are living now are tough. Disgusted by the social relations and the models which they reproduce, against every form of exploitation and authority we aim at the destruction of this rotten system, whether it’s “prospering”, or it’s in “crisis”.We consider multiform action as an integral part of the revolutionary procedures. From the distribution of leaflets in the squares, the occupation of spaces, the self-organization in workplaces and neighbourhoods, up to militant protests, night-time raids and re-appropriations.
The words of our brothers and sisters in captivity, give us the strength to continue.
Nothing is forgotten, nothing is left behind,
the war continues as long as the enemy is here.And the journey continues with “losses”
but also joys, with hardships but also
pleasant surprises.
Therefore, ALL OR NOTHING…Solidarity to those who fight for freedom
and dignity inside and outside the prisons.The destruction of all prisons is a pebble in
the struggle for human dignity, and social
and individual freedom.Rage and conscience until social
revolution. Revolutionary greetings to all
comrades EVERYWHERE AND ALWAYS!S . FROM THE ANARCHIST PROJECT ACT FOR FREEDOM NOW!
Note from Rabble: It seems barely a day goes by that we can avoid the fascistic anti-migrant bullshit in the press. The time is now. We have to start seriously preparing for rising xenophobia and more movement of people as multiple crises converge. This means: zero-tolerance for anti-migrant snatch squads, countering the propaganda on the streets, and building strong transnational solidarity.If you want to support the struggle in Calais but would like a better understanding of what’s really going on, get yourself down to one of these upcoming infonights.The latest news from Calais: More than 4000 people, stuck in a camp they didn’t choose to be in, desperately trying to find ways to cross to the UK, with 11 people dying so far since June. The government’s response: more controls. The media’s response: fear mongering at the ‘criminal gangs intimidating truck drivers’. Our response: solidarity.We are a bunch of people who have been involved in Calais Migrant Solidarity and have recently returned from Calais. During August we will be travelling around the UK talking about Calais and how to get involved there.Confirmed dates so far:LARC, London – Saturday 15th Aug @ 1:30pmCowley Club Brighton – Sunday 16th August @ 4pmNext to Nowhere, Liverpool – 19th August at 7pm1 in 12 Club Bradford – Thursday 20th August @ 6pmEarth 1st Summer Gathering – Sunday 23rd AugustGlasgow (TBC)
Anarchists know (or should know) that individuals who enter institutions usually come face to face with possible conflicts between institutional norms and their personal integrity. Those who remain end up perpetuating those norms regardless of any possible intention to alter them. But the observation that institutions change people is not the whole story. Power corrupts, but the already corrupt and the easily corruptible seek to join powerful institutions precisely so they will have professional opportunities to exercise their corruption.Read the full article HERE:
The laughable institutional excuse of supposed bad apples continues to be deployed at press conferences. These supposed bad apples are the ones who join the police in order to harass queers, beat up detainees, demand freebies from sex workers, steal from dealers, frame suspects, punitively deploy crowd control weapons, exercise disproportionate violence, and antagonize and terrorize non-compliant people — up to and including murder. .And who then have the bad taste to get caught. But no Field Training Officer has to teach them how to do these things. When there’s a too-big- to-be-ignored episode of alleged misconduct, all the good cops and their supporters line up with the bad apples, making every person standing with them complicit. Institutional self-preservation doesn’t dissipate even a little in the wake of embarrassing multi-million dollar settlements to survivors of police abuse.
Read the full article HERE:Third, the neo-colonial agreement Europeans leaders have just imposed upon Greece will eventually render the country ungovernable. Tsipras is the third prime minister to be forced into a kiss of death; centrist PASOK and right-wing New Democracy already obliterated themselves by signing up to the previous two bailout agreements. SYRIZA’s fate under the German austerity diktat is unlikely to be any different. Later this year, when draconian tax hikes start biting and Greece is inevitably tipped back into recession, Tsipras’ sky-high ratings will almost certainly start to fall. Even if new elections are to be held in the fall, it is unlikely that the new government will be able to serve out its full term.While Tsipras’ demise will be welcomed by the hardliners inside the creditor camp, the truth is that the Eurozone has shortsightedly set itself up for a fall. What makes the third bailout different is that, after Tsipras, there will be no one left inside Greece to credibly manage the memorandum. With the centrist and right-wing opposition in complete disarray, the leftists were quite literally the last hope for political stability and reform. Now, with SYRIZA on the verge of a split and Tsipras bound to suffer growing popular opposition and the withdrawal of grassroots support, it is not clear what pro-EU partner can step into the void and act as the creditors’ mouthpiece inside their newly acquired debt colony.
Squatters & Homeless Autonomy (SHA) are hosting five days of talks, workshops, skill-shares & socials this week in a central London squatted space. So far, events include:
Monday 10th, 6pm: Street Resistance
In our age of state and fascist violence, self-defence is a necessity. Join Monday’s street resistance session, including muay thai and dirty boxing, to develop confidence, technique and composure. Communal vegan food and film afterwards!
Tuesday 11th, 7pm: Talk on Class Stigma, by Lisa Mckenzie
Join Class War’s Lisa Mckenzie for a talk and discussion on ‘class stigma': the false identities, such as ‘chav’, ‘scrounger’ or ‘thief’, and the anti-working class beliefs they create.
Wednesday 12th, 4pm: Bike Clinic & Culturefuck Cinema
Tired of bland, commodified, hyper-Westernised culture? Fuck that! Join our culturefuck cinema night, sure to melt your mind. Leave cultural assumptions at home! Also come along to the free bike clinic for all your carbon-free, bike-punx needs.
Thursday 13th, 7pm: Stop TTIP and ‘Infiltration in our Movements’
On Day 4 of Regeneration, activists from StopTTIP UK will be talking on the looming future of corporate “free trade” agreements and how we can combat it, and Green and Black Cross will be speaking on the state of police infiltration in our movements.
Events will take place at 67 Guildford St., just off Russell Square Further events and location to be confirmed over at SHA’s Arsebook page.
GROWN IN DETROIT
Tuesday, August 11 at 6:30pm for 7:00
The Portal Plantation Productions, 987 Govan Road, G51 3AJ
Focuses on the urban gardening efforts managed by a public school of
300, mainly African-American, pregnant and parenting teenagers.
Also COMMON GOOD PROJECT, will be at Centre Human Ecology in the Pearce Institute every Thursday from between 1-4pm, or by prearranged times:
CHE Pearce Institute, 840-860 Govan Road, Glasgow G51 3UU Phone:
07811263923
email: info@inthecommongood.org
Web: commgood.wordpress.com
PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT
Part of the PAR To increase understanding and encourage participation in helping to build local institutions where research can be shared, discussed and developed with others.
The past months have seen a continuation of prison struggle in its many forms, as well as a blanket of repression from state forces against anarchist insurgency. As international attacks multiplied and the comrades remained steadfast, the Greek hunger strikers won many of their demands. At the same time, the Czech Republic unleashed Operation Phoenix in an effort to repress the struggle there, and the Spanish state continued its attacks against anarchists by initiating raids and arrests in Operation Piñata. Chilean comrades Nataly, Juan, Enrique, and Guillermo won many of their hunger strike demands; while elsewhere in Chile, the state continued its attacks on Tato and Javier, accused of burning a Transantiago bus. Sean Swain was held incommunicado for months and Marius Mason was thrown in solitary for a month. And just days ago, anarchist comrade Ignacio Muñoz Delgado was arrested in Chile by plainclothes cops, who say they found Ignacio with an explosive device and pamphlets expressing solidarity with comrades arrested for an arson attack on the Homicide Investigation Brigade. Hunger strikes from Greece to Chile to Alabama, widespread counter-attacks against repression, the ceaseless cadence of the anarchist war against power. We are disgusted by the state’s attempts to grind our comrades into dust, but we are strengthened by the beautiful flames of anarchy that cannot be contained by recuperation or prison walls.We are excited to share the writings in this second issue of Wildfire, for their diversity and their incisiveness. We print texts from comrades previously unknown to us and from those we have struggled alongside for years. We print introductions, poetry, updates, and the first steps in a debate on prison strikes and reformism. Since we refuse any ideology that flattens the polymorphous nature of anarchist thought and practice, we print these very different texts with joy at each of their particularities.We send our love to all anarchist combatants caught in the enemy’s dungeons!CONTENTS
– “All Prisoners are Political” by Sean Swain
– “Remember the Dead, Solidarity for the Living” by Brandon Baxter
– A letter from Manuel Salas
– Call for support from Anarchist Black Cross – Florida Prison Chapter
– A letter from Todd Shepard
– Introduction by Christopher L. Young
– “From an Alabama Prison” by Fahamivu Amon
– An update from Gender Anarky
– A letter from Julia Wheelwright
– “Silent Scream” by Francisca Orellana Polanko
– “Buckin in the BOP” by anonymous
– “Federal Sentencing Reforms” by anonymous
– A letter from Michael Kimble
– “Chaotic Confinement” by Charles Chatman
– A Letter from Blacc Lion
– A chronology of the last four months of revolt, repression, and attack.
– “For Spyros Dravilas: Awaiting the Hour of Vengeance”
Mission
Agency promotes contemporary anarchist perspectives and practices through commentary, media relations, and educational campaigns. Our mission is to:
Engage the public and the mainstream media about anarchist ideas, practice, and action.
Ground our work on two basic ideas: first, that anarchism is the most liberating political theory and practice and the least harmful way of approaching the world, and second, that all of society would benefit from a greater public understanding of what anarchists believe and how anarchy works.
Facilitate the media and public in finding and accessing a multitude of anarchist perspectives, through both pro-active and re-active efforts as well as through acts of cultural intervention. We do this by combining our shared knowledge and experience in public relations and communications work with the writing, speaking, organizing, and awareness-raising skills of contributing writers and activists. By creating original, accessible materials written for a broad audience including anarchists and non-anarchists alike, and promoting anarchist perspectives on a wide range of current events, we amplify the reach of existing anarchist voices and projects.
Distribute a diversity of anarchist positions that adhere to an anti-state, anti-capitalist, and anti-oppression framework. We acknowledge that there are many different anarchist perspectives and visions, and this project’s aim is to make the public aware of a range of anarchist beliefs, in a spirit of solidarity and non-sectarianism.
And the unofficial strike, which does not involve any trade unions, is being backed by the Polish Express newspaper which has created a Facebook group to promote the event. A red t-shirt produced for the protest states: “Enough! Stop blaming us.”
