Time and time again when ever capitalism stumbles into one of its many cyclic "crises" and the ordinary people start to challenge the system, out of its cesspools and sewers slither the fascists. Today is one of those crises, and fascism is once again, raising its ugly head and spewing out its festering poison among the ordinary people. Fascism, aided and abetted by sections of the rich elite, plants the seeds of division among the ordinary people, dividing them along race lines, religious lines, nationality lines, holding up that well worn illusion of that great past, when we were "pure". As long as ordinary people keep fighting ordinary people, over imaginary differences, the rich can continue to exploit us, and hold onto their power and wealth. Fascist knuckle-heads are the storm troopers of the rich and the elite, their duty is to keep the ordinary people from organising as one group against this system of ruthless exploitation. It is the capitalist system's last line of defence against an organised working class, and its tactics are those of fear and brutal intimidation. Though, let's not forget that there are more fascist in fine suits strutting the corridors of power, than there are knuckle-heads stomping our streets. Nor should we forget that since their ideological stance is based on irrational illusions, it can't be dealt with by reasoning, it has to be met head on with force. As the man said, fascism doesn't start with concentration camps, that's where it ends.
What would you call a country that locks people up in a psychiatric hospital for following their moral conscience, to avoid others from suffering, rather than following the law and causing suffering? Obvious some despot regime or banana republic, certainly not a Western developed country. Of course you would be wrong, once again that land of the free, the good ol' US of A, stands out as the greatest terrorist nation on the planet. Ana Belen Montes, a US citizen, was no anti-statist, took no bribes, sold no information, received no payment, did not belong to some underground organisation, except the American intelligence agencies, which perhaps is the largest underground organisation in the world. However she now languishes in solitary confinement in a psychiatric hospital isolated from friends and family, unable to receive gifts, mail or visitors, with the exception of her brother. Her heinous crime is that she tried to create better relations between America and Cuba, she attempted to avoid conflict between the two nations, and so protect the lives of Cubans and Americans. How dare she, when the US establishment is out to destroy its neighbouring country, Cuba.
Of course you will look long and hard to find any of this in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, they never mention the terrorist and brutal acts of our home grown despot regimes, it is all glitter and gloss, all bubble gum and candy floss, amuse and titillate the masses, but never inform them, that is their sworn duty.
According to a report published in 2015, for more than ten years, Ana
Belen Montes has endured the following confinement conditions, in frank
violation of her human rights:
“A Federal Prison Bureau decree (due to her espionage conviction) restricting contact to only her closest relatives.
A prohibition on inquiries about her health or the reasons for her
detention in a center for the mentally ill, when she suffers no such
condition.
A prohibition on the receipt of packages.
Letters sent to her are returned by registered post to the sender.
She is not allowed associate with other inmates.
She is not allowed make or receive phone calls.
She is not allowed read newspapers, magazines or watch TV.
She is not allowed visits from friends.
Her family members have, because of her commitment to the cause of
Cuba, rejected or refused to maintain contact with her, meaning that Ana
has been totally isolated from the world for more than a decade.”
This translation on arrezafe slips from "he" to "she" but other than that, it is ease to follow.
"Hon, I got involved in the activity that has brought me to you because I obeyed my conscience rather than obey the law I consider that the policy of our government towards Cuba is cruel and unfair, profoundly unfriendly.; I considered myself morally obliged to help the island defend itself from our efforts to impose on it our values and our political system. " " We have displayed intolerance and contempt for Cuba for four decades. We have never respected the right of Cuba to define their own destiny, their own ideals of equality and justice. I do not understand how we continue trying to dictate ... how Cuba should select their leaders, who should not be their leaders and what laws are most appropriate for that nation. Why do not we let them decide how they want to conduct their internal affairs, such as the United States has been doing for more than two centuries? " " My greatest wish would be to see the emergence of a friendly relationship between the US and Cuba. I hope my case, in any way, encourage our government to abandon its hostility towards Cuba and work together with Havana, imbued with a spirit of tolerance, mutual respect and understanding. " " Today we see more clearly than ever that intolerance and hatred -for individuals or governments - all that is spread pain and suffering. I hope that the United States develop a policy with Cuba based on love of neighbor, a policy that recognizes that Cuba, like any other nation, wants to be treated with dignity and not with contempt. "
In recent years Glasgow's May Day "celebration" has descended into a sedate controlled march through the city, to a hall where we are expected to sit and listen to our political ballerinas spout how the will lead us to the promised land, the word "celebration" seems to have been misunderstood. Well a group us think that it is time we took hold of the word "celebration" and returned May Day to what it was meant to be, a "celebration", a coming together to chat, mix, to create new friendships, to honour or past working class heroes, to strengthen our bounds of solidarity by communicating with each other, a fun day. We also believe that May Day belongs on The Green, or any other public space, where people can come and go as they please.
To that end a group of us got together last year and held a May Day picnic on The Green, it proved to be a success, and we enjoyed an afternoon of music, poetry and face-painting, plus lots of chat and food. So this year we would like to see it grow to an even great "celebration" of our working class traditions. You can help us do this.
The May Day on the Green
Committee is organising a May Day picnic for May 1 at 2 pm on the
Glasgow Green near the bicycle area (Free Wheel North). Our purpose is
to revive a long-standing radical tradition in Glasgow; an event on the
Green to celebrate May Day, the day to demonstrate our solidarity with
the struggles of working people around the world and to reaffirm our
commitment to a new and better world. Our picnic on the Green
will include poetry, songs and fun for children. Everyone brings food
to share with others in a communal meal. We want this to be an inclusive event with everyone who shares our perspective welcome to join us. We need your support to make the picnic a success:
--The Spirit of Revolt and the Clydeside branch of the Industrial Workers of the World
have endorsed the May Day picnic. Help us to get out the word and get
more organisations endorsing the event and publicising it. Contact Eric
at echester1943@gmail.com
--We want to have bicycles carrying signs that can go around the city
on the morning of May 1 to tell everyone to come to the Green. Contact
Bob at bob@citystrolls.com --We are looking for poets and musicians who would be interested in performing at the picnic. Contact John at john.c.at95@btinternet.com
All people desire freedom and the right to self determination, in this world of capitalism unbelievably few people have those desires satisfied. However, more and more people are awakening to the reality that nobody can give you these heart felt desires, you have to take them for yourself. Over the centuries appealing to those with wealth and power to be a bit more liberal in sharing that wealth and power has proved useless, we are still governed by that wealth and power, our lives are still shaped and controlled by that wealth and power. One thing we can be sure of is that the desire for freedom and the right to self determination will not disappear, nor will that control over us remain intact, it will break. It is already cracking and crumbling as across the planet people are coming together and no longer demanding, but taking that freedom and fighting for that right to self determination. You can name you country and there will be growing resistance to state and corporate control over our lives. Some of this struggle manifests itself in small groups, sporadic clashes with authority, others are long and fierce battles that face the full armoury of the state, costing lives. No matter how small or how large, how prolonged or short, all of these struggles strengthen in the consciousness of the people, that never dying desire for freedom and the right to self determination. One of the many struggles that our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, never thought fit to report on is the long running struggle in Hidalgo, in Mexico, which flared up in intensity at the beginning of this year, and this recent uprising is one that cost the lives, by police bullets, of at least two of those in struggle.
Although social-democrats and opportunists like Gerardo Fernández Noroña, John Ackerman and Javier Solalinde (El Padre Solalinse) have moved to preach peace in times of war and the importance of the electoral process, in the community assembly there are community members and affinity groups that are working hard to direct the struggle toward autonomy. They are working toward the total self-management of life in the municipality, to rupture the dependence of people on political representatives. “Nobody will come and save us.” There are some complaints against the mass media that talk of “chaos”, a “conflict” or a “final battle” in what clearly was the direct expression of class antagonism in an act of extermination against totally legitimate protest. On January 19th, more than 2000 people marched in the city of Pachuca. They protested outside the congress to demand dialogue with the deputies that have approved the structural reforms: the media again, almost jokingly, said that the protestors “retained”, “cornered”, or “kidnapped” deputies. What side are the independent journalists on? They are small seeds that the people are planting, in order to move towards communicative autonomy, leaving paid and self-referenced cartoons to the “specialists of communication.” After the insurrection, the organizational activities increased. On Sunday, January 15th, the state gathering “No to the gasolinazo” was celebrated with the participation of dozens of delegates from Hidalgo, teachers of the CNTE and people from other struggles in the country. On the 19th a march in Pachuca took place which culminated in the already mentioned “popular kidnapping” of deputies of the PRI. On Sunday the 22nd of January, workers from various multinational stores and institutions affected by the blockades, marched to demand that the “rioters open our centers of work”. For their part, the people of Ixmiquilpan gathered in the parking lot of the Comercial Mexicana to continue directing the routes of movement.
If aliens invade earth and were tearing down the forests,contaminating the water, eliminating species, poisoning the atmosphere, and devastating the climate, would you take action to resist? Of course you would, well those in control of the monster, corporate globalisation are alien to the ordinary people of this planet, they are of another world that you and I do not inhabit, and they are doing all of the above. What action will we take to resist?
Click on "Watch on Vimeo" to view.
Examines our culture’s addiction to
systematic violence and environmental exploitation, and probes the
resulting epidemic of poisoned landscapes and shell-shocked nations.
Based in part on Endgame, the best-selling book by Derrick Jensen,
END:CIV asks: “If your homeland was invaded by aliens who cut down the
forests, poisoned the water and air, and contaminated the food supply,
would you resist?” The causes underlying the collapse of
civilizations are usually traced to overuse of resources. As we write
this, the world is reeling from economic chaos, peak oil, climate
change, environmental degradation, and political turmoil. Every day, the
headlines re-hash stories of scandal and betrayal of the public trust.
We don’t have to make outraged demands for the end of the current global
system—it seems to be coming apart already. But acts of
courage, compassion and altruism abound, even in the most damaged
places. By documenting the resilience of the people hit hardest by war
and repression, and the heroism of those coming forward to confront the
crisis head-on, END:CIV illuminates a way out of this all-consuming
madness and into a saner future. Backed by Jensen’s narrative,
the film calls on us to act as if we truly love this land, moving along
at a brisk pace, using music, archival footage, motion graphics,
animation, slapstick and satire to deconstruct the global economic
system, even as it implodes around us. END:CIV illustrates first-person
stories of sacrifice and heroism with intense, emotionally-charged
images that match Jensen’s poetic and intuitive approach. Scenes shot in
the back country provide interludes of breathtaking natural beauty
alongside clearcut evidence of horrific but commonplace destruction. END:CIV features interviews with Paul Watson, Waziyatawin, Gord Hill,
Michael Becker, Peter Gelderloos, Lierre Keith, James Howard Kunstler,
Stephanie McMillan, Qwatsinas, Rod Coronado, John Zerzan and more.
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I couldn't help myself from lifting this from arrezafe.
Rain of Terror
By Abiodun Oyewole
Excerpts from a poem by Abiodun Oyewole, of The Last Poets.
America is a terrorist killing the natives of the
land
Killing and stealing has always been America’s master
plan
To control the earth and everything on it
To divide
and conquer is all they wanted.
America is a terrorist killing the buffalo that roam the
plains
Killing and slaughtering animals was turned into a game
Giving
blankets contaminated with small pox
The natives were killed,
the beginning germ warfare
The beginning of white fear.
No
respect for the land, the trees, or the air we breathe
And
Christianity was an excuse to bring others to their knees.
America is a terrorist with a slave system in place
To take away the humanity of a darker race
Put people in
chains, then beat them with whips
Made them give up their
names
Those who survived the slave ship.
America is a terrorist with a Howdy Doody grin
Using the Bible to keep others in check
While America commits
all the sins
Thou shalt not kill, that’s not part of the
American dream
For to kill is a thrill they love to show on your
TV screen
Romance the gun just for fun.
Drop a bomb just
for charm.
This is the American Way.
And all of this talk
about equality, justice and peace
Spewing out of the mouths of
these governmental beasts.
But every time Blacks tried to find a
way to do for self
The American terrorist wasn’t having it
And
fear was all Black folks felt.
America is a terrorist feeding off racism and greed
Not caring or sharing, but enjoying watching people bleed.
For
over 400 years Blacks have lived in fear of the vicious cruelty of
the racists.
They tried to march for justice and civil rights to
be treated fair
Attacked by dogs and fire hoses, beaten by
police, forced to live a life in total despair.
They bombed the
church in Birmingham while the children were in Sunday school
Took
the lives of four little girls, yes this terrorist was just that
cruel.
American terrorism is like a virus that’s home grown
and spreads across the planet too.
Selling guns and chemical
weapons, gift-wrapped in red, white, and blue.
Soldier boys
selling guns for hard drugs in exchange
It should be obvious by
now that this country is deranged.
America is a terrorist and no one wants to admit And pointing the finger at others is the ironic
part of it.
Drop a bomb in Philadelphia to wipe out an
organization called MOVE.
Killed
unarmed women and children because the police had something to
prove.
And all the Black Panthers who were trying to help their
community
Wiped out by the FBI for trying to create Black
unity.
Put drugs in the hood, set folks up for no good.
Kept
unemployment high, education is laced with lies.
Turn the people
against each other.
Made money more sacred than your
mother.
Cause an avalanche of grief by trigger happy
police.
Locked the Black man up in jail, made him think he was
born to fail.
And no place are you safe if you have a darker
face.
Henry Dumas, Amadou Diallo, Yusef Hawkins, Michael
Griffith, Anthony Báez, Eleanor Bumpers, Emmett Till, James Byrd,
just to name a few
Died at the hands of American terrorists.
You are being attacked by a group, by plunder and deceit, they are mercilessly destroying your standard of living, stealing your kids future, and are responsible for countless deaths of the needy and vulnerable. It is not done by accident, but by deliberate actions to enrich themselves and their friends. The pain you and yours suffer is life long, and is nothing short of unnecessary brutal violence. What ever action you take to defend your friends and family can only be labelled self defence. Under no circumstances can self defence be held up as a crime, the crime is that you have suffered so long and are still suffering such injustice, poverty and deprivation at the hands of the few, in the midst of unimaginable wealth, that you and your friends created. The laws that bind us to this injustice are produced by the plunderers to protect their purloined wealth and power. They have built a powerful apparatus to enforce these chains that bind us, it lives under the name of the "judiciary system" For us to willing uphold these biased "laws" is to continue to subject ourselves to subservience, and accept our present state of injustice, poverty and deprivation, it is to abandon our children and grand children to the same stunted future. We the many have to decide to make our own "laws" and stop playing this savage game to the loaded rules of the plunderers. In a few simple words we have to accept we are in a class war and self defence is never a crime.
An interesting article from "The Conjure House", I'm sure it will cause controversy and debate among the left, but of course that is what we should be having. It does however, offer food for thought, how far down the road to total control do you go, how much venom do you swallow before you turn, and how will you counter act the control, and the venom, is there a limit, or is this the way of life? This article is based on the American situation at the moment, but the epidemic that is sweeping America, has started to infect the rest of the Western world, do we have the antidote, or, are we to entering a world where non-compliance and "mis-fits" must be exterminated?
----Imagine for a moment you’re at a bar and there’s an immigrant in front of you. He’s quiet, but not antisocial, casually dressed but not sloppy. He
seems just like anybody else except he isn’t. What you don’t know is
he’s been working as an aviation programs engineer and even helped
design fly-by-wire planes, in which manual controls are entirely
replaced by computers. Smart guy, very talented, “high energy” as Il
Duce might say; a success story from India and right out of American
mythology.
Now, behind him, a new sound; old, fearful, you hear a hellish cry: “GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY!”
Who the fuck was that? There appears to be a bit of a scuffle in the
back, some guy hassling the immigrant you were just studying, but the
bar manager seems to take care of it. The man, who appears to be just
some old white dude, looks pissed. There’s something about him, but you
can’t seem to place it. The man leaves, but in a few minutes comes back
through the door. Perhaps he left something?
Maybe you’re at a protest this time, holding your sign and feeling
the electric current of hundreds of other bodies joined in solidarity. A
man emerges from the crowd, egging you on to hit him. He spits at you
like a diseased raccoon and curses like a fucking sailor. Maybe he’s
drunk you figure, or at least too high to really know what’s going on.
Someone else pushes him away.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re not even a full year into
the reign of a new emperor and already the political climate has become
practically poisonous, a vile and noxious cloud not only choking the
most at risk in our communities but the people seeking to defend them.
People have called for Antifa to be declared a terrorist organization; state governments are writing bills that allow protesters to be run over and have their property stolen from them.
“Against us, all arms are good; we are in an enemy camp,
surrounded, harassed. The bosses, judges, soldiers, cops unite to bring
us down.”
To be a thinking person in this country of barbarians is to be a
criminal and with ever-increasing fervor the tribes loyal to the new
Emperor aim to make war upon us. There are millions of people sitting in
front of televisions as I type these words that would see nothing wrong
with a few hundred lives sacrificed every year to “keep people in line” and you can be sure that folks like you and I will be among them. The cops don’t stop them, they exchange racist texts with them; they console men who kill unarmed black children and tell them what they did was just.
New addition to Spirit of Revolt Archive, thanks to auther/writer/political activist, James Kelman, a letter from the past from one of Glasgow's better known anarchists, Bobby Lynn.
Robert (Bobby) Lynn, 1924-1996, was a well know Glasgow anarchist and a character. This month our “Read of the Month” is a letter that has just come into the Spirit of Revolt Archive. It is from Bobby to James Kelman,
attempting to raise money to start a social centre in Glasgow. Since
then, Glasgow has had several attempts at an autonomous/social centre,
but most have been very short lived. The latest one is the Glasgow Autonomous Space, (GAS), let’s wish it luck and hope it has a much longer life than previous attempts.
It is not often that we hear words of truth and wisdom from the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, I have little to no respect for any of those who walk its marble corridors of power, and sit and heehaw, playing the illusion, while indulging themselves in all the unearned privileges that go with being a member of the club. Gerald Kaufman, who died recently, was a member of that cesspool of festering power and privilege, he never rated high in my esteem, but he has to be admired for at least one speech he made in that hall of farce. It was heart felt, sincere, and truthful, and I'm sure it upset a considerable amount of his fellow parasites.
The speech is well worth publicising, and he deserves respect for his courage and honesty in uttering those words, in that symbol of British imperialism.
No doubt Greece will once again gain a little space in the babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media. The reason, well Greece has enough money to last until July, then it runs out. So another shuffling of billions through the various banks is necessary to keep the illusion of progress going, but for the people of Greece there is no progress. That band of robber barons that make up the "Troika", (IMF, International Mankind Fuckers, EC, European Conmen, ECB, European Criminal Bastards) are having their own problems. They can't agree on how to handle the mountain of gambling debt they have allowed to amass in Greece. Each one of the three gambling organisations that make up that band of robbers is aware that their money, to a degree is lost, their squabble is about who has to take the biggest hit. The IMF is trying to look compassionate in saying that Greece can't make the conditions placed on it, and the debt has to be re-structured or written down. While the European wing of this criminal gambling organisation is adamant the Greece stick to the punitive policy already in place, as any change would mean that they, The European mob, would have to take the biggest hit.
Protesters preventing a lawyer from presenting a case for repossession.
Meanwhile, the people of Greece are experiencing ever falling living standards. The education system is in tatters, the health service has all but collapsed, unemployment is still running at around 24%, with youth unemployment at around 50%. Poverty is endemic, suicide is on a rapid increase, homelessness is at a level that no civilised country can accept, evictions are a daily occurrence. Of course the people of Greece are not sitting down and wringing their hands, they are fighting back in lots of ways. Squats, community feeding schemes, voluntary health centres and more. On the matter of Greek evictions, the group "I Wont Pay" is growing in strength and confidence. Much like the Glasgow 1915 rent strike, where the people in great masses, prevented Sheriff Officers from serving eviction notices, the "I Wont Pay" movement are cramming into the courts where landlords are attempting to get eviction orders, and making the court unworkable. They have had several successes, this we hope will give them greater numbers and greater confidence.
While the billionaire robber barons of the financial Mafia, gamble and shuffle their ill gotten gains, we the people suffer, so that their gambling losses are recouped. How long will we put up with this blatant system of robbing the people to enrich the few. The choice is ours, do we sit and wring our hands, or do we organise to bring this festering cesspool of greed to and end?
Once again the Land of The Free, the good ol' US of A, sets the standard in draconian authoritarian laws. The State of Arizona leads the charge in attempting to prevent any form of protest from taking place. This latest piece of legislation, if enacted, could see you take part in a peaceful protest, some individual throws a rock, you are all complicit, and could have all your assets seized. It doesn't matter who threw the rock, one angry individual, an agent-provocateur, or a drunk, you are all still liable. It makes for intimidation of those wishing to enact their legal right to peaceful protest. By protesting an injustice, you could run the risk of being made homeless and penniless, by the vindictive action of the state. So the illusion of democracy capitalist style, grows ever thinner, the truth is there for all to see.
Imagine having all your assets seized because you planned a peaceful protest that disturbed the peace? That could be a reality under SB1142, which just passed the Arizona state senate. Under SB1142, Arizona’s racketeering laws are expanding to include rioting. This gives the state government the right to criminally prosecute and seize the assets of everyone who planned a protest that turned violent and everyone who participated. The bill also redefines what constitutes a rioter as any person who “uses force or violence or threatens to use force or violence, if such threat is accompanied by immediate power of execution, which EITHER disturbs the public peace OR RESULTS IN DAMAGE TO THE PROPERTY OF ANOTHER PERSON.” Read the full text of the bill at http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/53leg/1R/bills/SB1142S.htm The vote was 17-13. One of the 17 that voted for this, Sen. John Kavanagh, gave the following justification for this absurd, unconstitutional new law: “You now have a situation where you have full-time, almost professional agent-provocateurs that attempt to create public disorder. A lot of them are ideologues, some of them are anarchists. But this stuff is all planned… I should certainly hope that our law enforcement people have some undercover people there. Wouldn’t you rather stop a riot before it starts?” Who defines what is considered a ‘violent’ protest? Who determines what ‘disturbs the public peace’? Does profanity, shouting, or loud music constitute disturbing the peace? The opponents of a protest could just hire agitators to make protests violent, then the authorities could use this as an excuse to seize the assets of all the protesters. You are peacefully protesting and some guy starts throwing rocks at windows. Not only are you arrested on racketeering charges, but then the cops come and seize your house, car, and belongings? Good luck affording a lawyer to defend you in court! If this succeeds and is signed into law by the Governor of Arizona, you can bet a similar nationwide law will be on its way not long after…
The desire to be free is something that smoulders in every heart, but under conditions of repression and exploitation, it is all too often, a frustrated personal secret. At times in some individuals it bursts forth in acts of rebellion, this is an irritant on the harsh skin of this repressive society, it may be tolerated or, as in most cases, authority will attempt to extinguish that free spirit. However, when the desire to be free explodes in an area, as it did in Spain 1936, and now in Rojava, the treatment to extinguish that explosion is far more savage and brutal. The possibility of people living together in co-operation and harmony, controlling their own lives, can not been seen to succeed, so will not be tolerated, it will be a fight to the death, as authority does it worst to extinguish that inborn desire. Come what may, the desire to be free will not die, each explosion of that desire feeds another, and another, until one day the entire planet will glow brightly from those explosions and authority, repression and exploitation will be its ashes.
Recently, for some, Rojava has been hailed as the new 1936 Spain, with its libertarian dreams being painfully brought to life, this being the case it would be expected that the surrounding states would take a dim view of that type of structure, and work to undermine its progress. Our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, doesn't give it any of that "oxygen of publicity", that it spews out on trivia, sex and scandal. Despite this Rojava has struggled painfully on its course to that better world. However, the cards are stacked against it, as the various states, all of them opposed to any form of libertarian society, try to strangle the dream, as they did in Spain all those years ago, with sanctions, and brutal violence. Now the ultimate weapon is being used in Rojava, starving the region of the blood of life, water. Nothing is too sadistic, nothing is too brutal, as they work hard at stopping the idea of a libertarian society gaining ground. To our imperialist masters with their state apparatus, death and destruction is a price worth paying as they preach their mantra, capitalism or nothing.
The water and electricity cuts continue on its 4th day in
Kobane. The Firat river’s water supply is so low that the base of the
river, at least 3 kilometres in width is visible. The canton has
announced that the cuts are indefinite. Those who have wells are sharing
their water supply with their neighbours but this is a limited and
ineffective alternative and thousands are without a drop of water. The
use and control of natural resources has been something that the
Turkish state has used against the Kurds for decades. As the crackdown
and mass human rights violations against the Kurds continue in Bakur,
Rojava is slowly strangled with the ongoing humanitarian embargo and
water cuts. Worse, when Turkey finally releases the water from their end
hundreds of villages will be flooded causing massive damages and
disruptions to agriculture and livestock (as it did last year) which is
the backbone of the economy. This is a tactic that Turkey has used
repeatedly against Rojava; as did Assad by cutting water supplies to
Kurdish regions or rerouting water from Kurdish areas to Arab regions. Terrorism
takes many forms, whether its bombing and destroying thousands of
villages, to burning hundreds of acres of forests and farms, to stopping
water flowing further down to other regions, to embargoes. The use of
the environment and land to oppress and terrorise the colonised is a
well used tactic by states against indigenous communities and
minorities. The motto of the Rojava Revolution is “Resistance is
Life”, but I wonder how a deeply oppressed, economically underdeveloped
society that lacks resources, infrastructure and access to multiple
borders is able to resist such terrorism.
Experiencing the anti-Trump hysteria I'm filled with mixed emotions ranging from sadness, disappointment and anger. This seemingly world wide anti-Trump cacophony is certainly being fed by our lie machine, the babbling brook of bullshit that is our mainstream media. Every outlet has some point of ridicule, outrage or amazement, at the latest revelations coming from that dangerous, moronic, irrational fundamental Christian, Trump, and the world jumps on the bandwagon. It somehow creates the illusion that if we could only get rid of this idiot, it would be a tremendous victory for democracy. Of course their solution is to replace the rabid fundamental Christian with a elitist variation such as the war warmongering duplicitous billionaire Clinton, who, steeped in a life of duplicitous deals, backed Obama's murderous foreign policy to the hilt. There is world outrage as Trump imposes travel bans on Muslims, but where was that outrage while Obama was killing Muslims, aided and abetted by the hypocritical Clinton. This anti-Trump campaign directs our anger from the real problem, the system that allows a bunch of billionaires to control our lives. Get rid of Trump, impeach him, legally challenge him, and have him removed tomorrow, and the American military imperialist power will still be out their killing and maiming civilians, destroying cities and plundering the wealth of the world to fatten that bunch of billionaires that pull the strings to their own personal advantage. Replace Trump by who you wish, and they will make sure they do nothing to hinder the system of American imperialism from continuing to exploit and plunder the planet. So I'm sad that so many people are working so hard to get rid of Trump believing that solves the problem. I'm disappointed that so many people can't see beyond the cult of leadership, I'm angry that so many people think that the pre-Trump option was a desirable era. So much energy being spent that could be directed against the root cause of our problems, the system, and it is being wasted on trying to change the label. Changing the label on a bottle of poison, doesn't change the contents.
For every anarchist in a black balaclava, there are at least forty aiming in the same direction, but taking a different route, anarchism is a multi-stranded fabric. Anarchism is the destination, the battles, tactics, struggles and strategies are how we deal with the obstacles that litter our path. It is a path that will require all our imagination, initiatives, determination and solidarity, for our opponents, apart from having a massive propaganda apparatus in their armoury, they have power, savagery, brutality and massive weaponry in their arsenal. However we should never forget, our means shape our ends, how we shape the foundation will determine the structure of our building. In spite of the image portrayed by our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, of anarchism as a violent creed, anarchism is a philosophy of love. It is not hate that drives us to fight injustice, it is love of justice, it is not hate that drives us to struggle against oppression, it is love of freedom. No matter the shape and colour of our battles, it is love of humanity that dives us forward, a desire that all our people must be free from oppression and exploitation.
Potentially at least,
anarchism and pacifism are, as Garrison and Tolstoy saw, bound together
conceptually; it’s plausible to argue that government could not operate
at all without physical force, coercion, incarceration, and other forms
of violence, so that pacifism entails the rejection of state power. Mott
said that people “should have no participation in a government based
upon the life-taking principle—upon retaliation and the sword.” On the
other hand, anarchism does not entail pacifism, and many anarchists have
considered themselves insurrectionists and violent revolutionaries. This
debate has extended throughout the history of anarchism. In DC and
London in the 1980s, for example, the political punk movement split
between militant anti-fascists and “peace punks.” The two strands
continue among anarchists now, though the more war-like party is the
more visible.
It is difficult for people on the "outside" to grasp the full extent of the harsh brutality within the prison system. It is not just the removal of your freedom to move about, but the total surveillance, the arbitrary and vindictive rules in an attempt to have total control over you, to keep you in a state of submissiveness, the violence it breeds, and the isolation from friends and family. Despite these inhuman conditions, because humans are what they are, the desire to be free still burns within, and manifests itself in many ways. Not a new article, but still well worth reading again. Michael Kimble has spent 31 years in prison, and is still fighting against the savage oppression that is the state's way of handling those it deems unmanageable and/or a threat, the prison system. All prisoners are suffering an injustice, prisons are the antithesis of justice, freedom and justice will only blossom when the last prison has been bulldozed and given birth to a meadow of wild flowers.
Could you talk a bit about why you got locked up in the late ’80s?
I got locked up in 1986 for the murder of a white guy that wanted to do
harm to me and a friend who was out one night walking. We had our arms
around each other and this guy started fucking with us, calling us fags,
niggers, and all kinds of disrespectful, homophobic and racist shit.
When he attacked after confronting him, I pulled a pistol I had on me
and shot him. The media tried to turn it into a racially motivated
murder and all kinds of things. I really didn’t know any of this until I
had a chance to view my Pre-sentence Investigation Report (PSI) and
this was after I had already been in prison awhile. I took the case to
trial and received a life sentence and here I am 29 years later, still
in prison because of a homophobic racist. I have no regrets about it.
You’ve talked before about your political development while in
prison – from communism to anarchy. Could you tell us about how that
happened? Were there experiences, events, relationships, or writings
that pushed you in the direction of anti-authoritarian action?
Yeah, I became a communist in my early years as I’ve said before,
because it spoke to the oppression of Black, gay, poor people and of
course prisoners, and espoused the idea of creating a world free of
these oppressions. I became a part of the New Afrikan Independence
Movement (NAIM) which was very vocal at the time and it seemed that all
the warriors from the Black Liberation Movement was part of the NAIM.
And they were active in the prisons as far as legal (lawsuits, letter,
phone campaigns, education) support and visiting prisoners. And of
course, they participated in cultural programs as well in the prisons
here in Alabama. Also around this time the ABCs had begun to be visible
through their support of “political prisoners/prisoners of war” from the
previous decades’ movements (BLA, BPP, UFF, anti-imperialists, WUO,
etc)1 , so I started receiving literature and newspapers (The Blast,
Love & Rage, Bulldozer, Fifth Estate, etc.) and started to learn
about anarchism and it resonated with me. Shit, I was against authority,
against oppression and started to see the contradictions between
statehood (government) and freedom. Anarchism was/is talking about doing
away with all this, and putting into practice now and not waiting on
the future. And I’ve been a staunch anarchist since.
From Anarchy Live,an extract from the latest writings of Michael Kimble:
A new year, same shit! I’m not really a writer and don’t really like
writing, and don’t have anything in particular to write about, so I’ll
just put things down as it pops in my head. Lately, my mind has been troubled about a lot of things and I do feel
compelled to write something. One is how we keep going for the same old
stuff that power be putting down. It’s really depressing when I see
that even some anarchists, who should know better, decry the
election/selection of Donald Trump instead of Hillary Clinton. Don’t we
realize that Clinton is just another piece in the power matrix and that
she would only continue that status quo of power’s domination? Right now as I write I’m sitting in a single person cell freezing.
It’s in the low 30s tonight and there is no heat. I’ve been doing
exercise to stay warm. Now I’m tired and decided to attempt to write
something coherent and meaningful. I’ve been in this cell since January
4, 2017, allegedly for discussing actions planned for January 20, 2017
with a comrade on the east coast in a letter. They are calling it a
conspiracy. Then, a cell phone was found in my property by the riot
squad, who has been deployed here at Holman for the last couple of
months in an attempt to regain control and restore order to a population
that has proven to be tired of order. But since I’m an outlaw, I’m not
tripping.
