From Gaza to Greece, Lawrence to Oakland: We Do Mind Dying
From Gaza to Greece, Lawrence to Oakland: We Do Mind Dying
On the night of Saturday January 31st, a crowd of over 50 people took to the streets of Lawrence, Kansas to show physical solidarity with the ongoing struggles against state violence in Gaza, Greece, Oakland, Augusta and beyond. Most of the participants were from Lawrence, but comrades from the blossoming Prairie Fire anarchist network from Omaha, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City were also well represented.
The marchers took over Kentucky Street, a major arterial street in the Oread Neighborhood, with large banners, torches and drums. Chants of "From Oakland to Greece, fuck the police!" and "From Lawrence to Iraq, the war is on every block!" echoed throughout the student neighborhood. Dozens of people came out of their homes along the march route, and hundreds of statements explaining the reasons for the march were handed out along the way.
The statements read:
"Take a Stand Today, ‘Cause Tomorrow Ain’t Promised!
As we reflect on the 1,300 killed by Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza, the recent murders by police in Oakland and cities all over the U.S., and the murder of an anarchist youth in Greece, we must realize that they are on the front lines of the same battle in the racist war of imperialism that is the health of capitalism. The missiles fired at Israel, the police cars burned in Oakland, and the universities occupied in Greece are not the unprovoked and irrelevant offensives many media outlets claim them to be. They are attempts to reclaim space and autonomy that are responses to years of aggression, racism, and domination.
What these violent actions and their corresponding responses show is that the facade of freedom and justice on which our “democratic” societies rely is fading. We are experiencing the illness of our economic and social system as financial structures crumble and thousands lose their jobs every week. Increasing numbers of people who have until recently avoided the worst aspects of capitalist “development” and maintained some level of comfort, material if not social, are realizing that their lives are just as disposable under this system as the billions worldwide who starve daily. At the same time, popular power is expanding as governments flaunt their unjust nature by handing billions to the rich and leaving families homeless and jobless while overseeing the outright murder of civilians. Around the world, millions have taken to the streets to voice their disgust with their governments.
In the U.S. however, many of us sit by and wait for our bosses to cut our jobs, for the lenders to take our homes, or for the police to brutalize yet another. While some publicly voice their rage, the vast majority stay at home, some even decrying those voicing their rage and disgust. Rather than sitting around and waiting, we are following our comrades around the world and making our demands for an end to state violence and repression heard. Of course, we understand that marching is certainly not where movements end; in fact, it may be one of the least effective tactics we know of. However, many movements continue to begin in the streets, and open displays of popular power often act to publicize struggles for liberty and justice alongside other more concrete organizing; from neighborhood councils to prisoner support, from union building to community gardening. In any case, how better to confront a spectacle asmonstrous as state capitalism than creating a counter-spectacle of our own?"
Police tried to order the marchers from the streets at various points, but were greeted with hostility each time. The march snaked from South Park through the Oread Neighborhood and back down Massachusetts Street, the main downtown area of Lawrence.
Marchers broke off at several points and left spraypainted messages about the police and state violence along side streets and buildings on the route. Kentucky street remained closed for at least a half an hour after the marchers left that street, as fire crews responded to burning debris in the road.
The march ended near the site of the murder of Tiger Dowdell, a black anti-imperialist militant, who was killed by the police in 1970. No arrests were made, and the confrontational tone of the march set a precedent for future actions against state repression.
and 6 others
The Empire is burning…
It started as an incident of police violence on a cold December night in the neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens, Greece. It soon became clear, however, that as the police officer pulled the trigger of his handgun, he set off a series of events that would change the entire social reality of Greece.The murder of 15 year old Alex Grigoropoulos in the streets of Athens acted as the spark that was to finally ignite the powderkeg of anger and fury felt by many Greek youth and others against the Greek police and the Greek state in general. Since Alex's murder on December 6th, Greece has been ungovernable. Billions of dollars of damage have been inflicted in the now daily street clashes between police and the Greek people leaving banks, schools, corporate stores, police stations, and cars burning in their wake.The ungovernability of Greece has spread to other areas of Europe throughout recent weeks. Solidarity demonstrations turned riotous in Spain, Denmark, Germany, France, and other countries. On December 20th, hundreds of cities across the world held events and actions in solidarity with the Greek Uprising. Banner drops, building occupations, street demonstrations, and direct action marked the day in cities in every populated continent.But the rage felt in the streets of Athens, that has been felt for weeks with no end in sight, is the same rage that people here in the United States have been feeling. Economic crisis. Police violence. Prison overcrowding. Growing unemployment. Ballooning military budgets. War without end. Sound familiar?In the last five weeks, several points of conflict erupted in the United States in interesting, but not necessarily surprising ways. Chicago: On December 5th, 250 workers for Republic Doors and Windows occupy their closed factory and demand severance pay and other concessions. They win their struggle in what may be the first factory occupation in several decades in the U.S.Augusta, Georgia: On December 16th, residents of an Augusta neighborhood rebel against the police after the death of local resident Justin Elmore during a police chase. A night of unrest follows the killing, and on December 22nd, over 200 local residents march against the police. Some of the members of the march are armed, and display rifles and shotguns to the watchful police. New York: On December 17th, students at the New School University occupy their school, issuing a list of demands that includes the resignation of the school's president. After several days of occupation, including physically defending the occupation from police, they do not win this major demand, though nearly all their other demands are met. A solidarity demonstration outside the New School leads to violent confrontations between the police and demonstrators.Oakland: On January 1st, Bay Area Rapid Transit police shoot and kill an unarmed rider of the BART, Oscar Grant. Video emerges of the shooting, clearly showing Grant laying on his stomach, restrained by police officers, as an officer pulls his gun and shoots Grant in the neck. Grant died from this wounds. On Wednesday January 7th, hundreds of protesters fill the streets and the situation turns into rebellion. Police vehicles and officers are attacked, storefronts of the business district destroyed, and street fighting lasts into the night. On Thursday the 8th, another night of rebellion continued, with one police substation being nearly destroyed.These incidents may seem disparate and isolated from each other. However, coupled with recent events in Iceland, India, China, and other places across the globe, the situation starts to become clear of the escalation of attacks against capital, the state, and an entire economic and social situation that has left the majority of us in misery. The major media in the United States sure won't work on connecting the dots and making the links between social conditions that are affecting the majority of the world's populace. While economic and political crises continue to mount, and while there seems to be no end in sight to state sponsored terrorism and repression, one can only expect that people across the United States and the rest of the world will continue to attack the mechanisms of domination that have destroyed their lives.However, far too many people in the United States will continue to watch as their paychecks disappear, their sons and daughters return home in flag-draped coffins, the food pantries empty, the homeless shelters turn people away for lack of beds, the prisons and jails fill far past capacity, our natural world is destroyed and gutted, and life itself becomes a commodity to be bought and sold... all the while reading blogs, watching youtube, checking their facebooks, and hoping that this is all a dream... If it's a dream, it's time to wake up, as the people of Athens, Augusta, Oakland, and cities around the world are doing now. Or as the saying goes "you're going to get woke up."There isn't any pretty solution to this mess we now find ourselves in. And it's not going to go away on its own. Too many people in this country think things will always be fine. The very foundations of this uniquely American notion of stability are being destroyed. Let's not be in that house when it collapses around us.
Open Letter to Barack Obama from Rebel Diaz
Rebel Diaz, a group of politically charged hip hop heads, posted [ this "open letter"][1] the other day.From their website: _Rebel Diaz - the in-your-face trio out of Chicago mix strong political statements with their dynamic flow and character. As a performance group, Rebel Diaz came together in early 2006 when they were invited to perform their revolutionary music at the historic immigrant rights march in New York City, in front of 500,000 people. This opportunity to speak to the masses began as a direct extension of their political work in the South Bronx, where they currently organize around immigration, education and housing issues. Today, Rebel Diaz travels throughout the world performing and organizing, using Hip Hop as a tool for education and social change._More from Rebel Diaz: [www.rebeldiaz.com][2]Also, don't miss this awesome video: [1]: http://odeo.com/episodes/23480832-An-Open-letter-to-Barack-Obama-from-Rebel-Diaz [2]: www.rebeldiaz.com
The rich get bailed out, the rest of us get bailed on.
While skimming through the news of the signing of the unprecedented $700 billion bailout package by President Bush, one quote from a [CNN news story][1] grabbed me.Just an hour after the bill made it's way through the House, President Bush announced, "By coming together on this legislation, we have acted boldly to prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country."This quote stings quite a bit with me, and I have a feeling it will sting quite a bit with many people across the country. Call me crazy, but I feel like this current economic situation has been a crisis for communities across the country for months, if not years. At the same time this quote was making its way across the ticker on CNN, another story was being aired about a woman named [Addie Polk.][2] Addie, a 90 year old woman that became a victim of the current credit and sub prime mortgage crisis and was facing foreclosure, shot herself as police tried to carry out her eviction from her home in Akron, Ohio. For every Citigroup executive that will benefit from the bailout package that became law last Friday, there are thousands of Addie Polks facing evictions, unemployment, and the looming threat of homelessness. The cracks in the foundations of the capitalist economy are spreading wider and wider everyday.Today the unemployment rate was holding at a rate of 6.1%, a five year high, while new applications for unemployment compensation are approaching a seven year high. Employers cut 159,000 U.S. jobs in September alone. Up to 10 states may [ run out of funds for unemployment compensation][3] by March of 2009.Over 2 million homeowners faced foreclosure in 2007, and a Credit Suisse research report released in April claimed that nearly 6.5 million home loans would be affected by foreclosure by 2012.The sad truth is that these numbers mean little to most of us anymore. We've heard them all. We know the economy is crumbling. Most of us know folks who have been evicted from their homes. We've personally lost jobs or know friends facing layoffs. The economic crisis is here and has been here for quite some time.To even pretend that this new bailout package will stop the spread of this crisis is a joke. It reimburses banks and corporations that lost money during the last several months of economic spiral. It does not, in anyway help out the rest of us.After the Great Depression, the United States implemented a system of safeguards to ensure that such an economic collapse would not occur again. The main focuses of these safeguards were to protect liquidity (the ease of assets to be converted into cash) and confidence in the U.S. economic system. The government did this in four ways: insuring the bank deposits of Americans, allowing access to government funds in case of a panic, providing a regime for the orderly failure of badly run companies and limiting how much credit could be leveraged off a particular asset.These regulations worked. However, they also started to limit the amount of money that venture capitalists could make off their investments. The ceiling had been reached. To counteract this, in the 1970's, venture capitalists, bankers, investers, and Wall Street collaborated to create a ["shadow banking system"][4] (this has nothing to do with conspiracy theories of shadow governments, I promise.) This banking system ran directly parallel to the official, state-regulated system that most people know.The shadow system relied on nonbank mortgage firms that were not regulated in the same ways as traditional banking institutions. There were no safeguards like insurance on deposits, or any of the other four pillars of government regulation that protected the official banking system.Thus came the creation of subprime mortgages. These mortgages were given to people that wouldn't normally have qualified for such loans. People who had filed for bankruptcy, had low credit scores, etc... people that were considered to be "under banked". Now, this system allowed for people to become homeowners like never before, and allowed what some term a further "democratization" of the banking system. The truth however, is that this was an anomaly that could not survive under neo-liberal capitalism. When the loans started to be defaulted on in record numbers, the entire system collapsed, and with no soft padding like the official banking system.The "free market" failed. Plain and simple. The banking system that avoided regulation and worked to fund itself and build larger profits for Wall Street fell apart. And because it was linked so closely to the official banking system, it is bringing the rest of the economy with it.The heads of corporations like AIG, Citigroup, Goldman-Sachs and others are directly responsible for the shadow banking system and the resulting mini economic crisis (I say "mini" because the actual economic crisis is the entire economic system, [neo-liberal capitalism][5], but we'll come back to that). Now, these same corporations are poised to receive BILLIONS of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money, money you and I worked hard to generate. That money is being given to the people that created this problem in the first place. In fact, some of that money is being spent to directly pay many of the main players in this entire scandal. Former executives of Goldman Sachs are being hired by Treasury Secretary Paulson to oversee the handling of the $700 billion that was allocated by Congress last week. Wait. You might be remembering that Paulson is also a former executive of Goldman Sachs. Our Treasury Secretary is a former executive for a corporation that has helped put us into this financial crisis, and is hiring his former co-executives to "bail us out".Some might think that these folks are the ones who know the most about the U.S. banking system, and so naturally should be given the power to help save this situation. This logic can be equated to saying that although a doctor is known to murder his patients over and over again, that it makes sense since he has a medical degree, to handle the operation to save your life. Would any of us really trust that doctor? Should that doctor be given the power to decide whether we live or die? Should the people who got us into this crisis be paid and rewarded to attempt to get us out of this?There are no guarantees that the Paulson bailout plan can even work, no matter who's deciding how to spend the money. Some economists have used an analogy that really resonates with me. If you were in a building that was on fire because of a shoddy electrical system that was bound to fail and built of construction materials that were easily flammable, and you had a canteen full of water, and this was the only water you had, and you knew you could die without that water, would you pour that small canteen on the fire consuming the whole building around you? The point of this analogy is that the crisis is already out of control. Of course there is an urge to do something, anything to stop the situation from spreading. However, spending $700 billion that we have to borrow in the first place, to stop an economic crisis based on the accumulation of debt and over-lending may not make sense. As Presidential candidate Barack Obama pointed out recently, a lot of funding for education, social programs, healthcare reform, and other projects will be put on hold indefinitely because of this bailout package.Maybe this analogy resonates particularly with me because of my already existing critique of neo-liberal capitalism. It's a building that was built for failure while the developers around us have laughed and counted their wealth. It never should have existed to begin with. It's a system that only makes sense for a select few that have continued to benefit at the expense of the rest of us. Much like the crumbling building that we're now trying to save, it needs to be completely dismantled and replaced with an economic and social infrastructure that actually meets the needs of all of us.The most insidious ramifications of this bailout plan may not even be fully realized yet. As former executives of Goldman Sachs start to hold all the cards for our economic future, three major banking firms are poised to control the entire U.S. economy. Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase along with Goldman Sachs stand to be some of the only solvent financial institutions to emerge from the crisis, and have had a hand in pushing economic reforms in Europe over the last several days that would put them in direct control over most of the world's economy.So where does that leave the rest of us or, as political theorist Antonio Negri describes, the multitude? We can clearly cheer on the government's efforts and hope that the bailout package works. But in the end, even if it does work, where does that really leave us? When will the next economic crisis come? And will daily life improve? Most of us have been living paycheck to paycheck for quite a while, and afraid of losing that roof over our head for even longer. The continued existence of this economic system will not stop that. Neither will it stop wars for resources, poverty, hunger, genocide, worker exploitation, and all the other social illnesses that have developed since the evolutions from agrarian communal economies to feudalism to capitalism and finally to neo-liberalism.And if we cheer on the bailout and it fails? Well, I guess this option is the same whether we act as cheerleaders to the bailout or not. The truth is, as communities, it is far beyond time for us to be thinking about how we're going to survive such a major economic crisis. How will we feed ourselves, ensure our neighbors have housing and clothing, and make sure that we don't end up like the fabled Okies from the "Grapes of Wrath"?Maybe that really is the only option at this point. Thinking about our survival as communities should start to become our top priority and strategy for dealing with this and future economic crises.Since I'm such a fan of analogies all of a sudden I thought I'd close with one. Okay, two. Something that a friend coined today really hit me. While talking about another analogy that Amy Goodman from the radio news program Democracy Now has been using about the bailout, I think he hit the nail right on the head. Amy Goodman equated the economic bailout package to giving a blood transfusion to a patient without first healing the gaping wound where all the blood was flowing out. My friend Tyler grinned and blinked and then said: "It's more like giving a blood transfusion to a wounded arm that has a mind of its own and just keeps stabbing you in the stomach." We could just let the wounded arm of neo-liberal capitalism die, and maybe we'd actually survive. Sure, it will take relearning a lot of things about who we are and how to survive, just as losing an arm would. But at some point, we have to recognize that a gangrenous limb will kill us in the end, and that a life beyond having that arm (insert the word capitalism) is not only possible but necessary. [1]: http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/03/news/economy/house_friday_bailout/index.htm?postversion=2008100309 [2]: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/03/eviction.suicide.attempt/index.html [3]: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/08/jobless.claims/ [4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_b... [5]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliber...
First Student’s harassment of union workers hits home…
Phil has been getting at me for some time to actually update this thing. I had hoped to have a lengthy article or two written about the protests at the political conventions by now, before such writings seem irrelevant. However, reality has made that writing seem impossible, at least until today. Now, I may have plenty of time to write more, as I've found myself in the growing ranks of unemployed workers in today's crumbling economy. Here's a statement to the [International Brotherhood of Teamsters][1] that I wrote about my suspension in consideration of termination from First Student, Inc., where your local anarchist protagonist has driven school buses for the past three and a half years...On Tuesday September 23rd, I, David Strano, an employee with the Lawrence (KANSAS) branch of First Student, Inc., received a phone call from my branch manager and supervisor, Wayne Zachary. Mr. Zachary told me that I needed to immediately speak with him regarding a fax he had received from the "central office" of First Student, Inc. I communicated to him that I could not meet with him that afternoon, but that I could meet with him immediately following my morning shift on Wednesday September 24th, at First Student, Inc. I was instructed by Mr. Zachary that I could not work my morning shift on Wednesday, and that I instead would need to meet him at 9am.I met with Mr. Zachary and the branch safety manager, Barbara VanCortlandt, this morning, Wednesday September 24, 2008. During the meeting, Mr. Zachary showed me a piece of paper that had been faxed to him by the "central office" of First Student, Inc. The paper listed three criminal misdemeanor charges that I had been convicted of in 2001, 2002, and 2006. He told me that he had been instructed to inform me that his supervisors had informed him that I was to be put on immediate suspension without pay, pending a decision about termination from the company due to these convictions.I have disclosed these convictions to the company twice on applications for employment. I first applied to First Student, Inc, when it was Laidlaw in December of 2004, and disclosed my entire criminal history. A criminal background check was done by the company at that time, and it was determined I still qualified for the position I had applied for as a driver for the company. I have been officially employed by the company since January of 2005, and have been a driver since that time.Again, when Laidlaw was purchased by First Group in 2007, I was asked to fill out a new application with the company and, when I did so, I disclosed my criminal background. These convictions have never been a secret to the company, and definitely never been a secret to Mr. Zachary or Ms. VanCortlandt, as they were even the butt of jokes throughout the years in the local branch. It's widely known that I have a criminal history by my coworkers.My criminal history is comprised of minor misdemeanor charges, all stemming from civil disobedience at political protests since 2000. None of my convictions ever resulted in me having to serve any jail or prison sentence, and none were for a violent offense. I was assured when I was hired that the only convictions that could affect my employment were convictions for drugs, violence, violence against children, sexual misconduct, or other such offenses. My criminal record contains no convictions that in any way resemble these types of offenses. The three convictions that appeared on the fax that I am now facing termination over are:-1 count of misdemeanor criminal damage to property from 2001 that resulted from a political protest against the Gap, Inc, for their use of child/sweatshop labor to produce clothes. The outcome of this conviction was a small fine. - 1 count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct, that honestly I don't remember the details because I have been convicted of disorderly conduct on at least 5 occasions for political protests... but all have been for "being too loud or disruptive at protests". Again, I have only ever been sentenced to minor fines and probation. -1 count of misdemeanor criminal trespass from 2006, stemming from a political protest against the War in Iraq at a military recruitment center in Lawrence, Kansas. A group of us occupied the recruitment center in an act of non-violent civil disobedience and were later arrested for not complying with an officers orders to leave the building. I received a fine and community service for this conviction.These were all convictions that have been repeatedly disclosed to the company, along with others (as this is not my complete criminal background), and that were never a secret to any of my supervisors. In fact, the arrest in 2006 was publicized in the newspaper in Lawrence, and my supervisors commented on this fact when I came back to work for the 2006-2007 school year.I don't wish to make idle speculation about the nature of my suspension, but I do find it interesting and somewhat telling, that though I've been employed at the company since 2005 (I did leave the company for 6 months in Feb. of 2007, and became re-employed in August of 2007) and both Laidlaw and First Student, Inc. were notified repeatedly of my convictions, that I am being suspended with threat of termination during the week of the Teamsters Union election that is scheduled at the Lawrence branch on September 26, 2008. I have been an active member of the local Teamsters Organizing Committee and an outspoken advocate for the union since July.During my meeting with Mr. Zachary and Ms. VanCortlandt, I asked repeatedly to see any company policy, memo, or rule that I had violated for having several misdemeanor convictions on my criminal background. They could show me none. I also asked for clarification of why I was being suspended, and they only said that it was a decision from "higher up" but that it had to do with the new application I had filled out for the job and my convictions. This application was filed with the company nearly a year ago and fully disclosed my entire criminal background.I am currently suspended without pay, and I have been notified that a decision regarding the status of my employment will be mailed to me. In the meantime, I will be contacting the regional human resources office in Kansas City for First Student, Inc, to appeal this decision. ------ POSTSCRIPT: No matter what your stance on my politics or what I've been convicted of, the fact that this hasn't been an issue until the week of our union election should at least make you think about what's going on at First Student. Also, just for the record, yes, I have plenty of critiques of the Teamsters, but they've been pushing a pretty successful campaign against First Student thus far, and really improving the workplace reality of the company's employees across the country. That to me is definitely worth throwing my hat in the ring for.I guess with so much more time on my hands, I'll have to dust off the blog and come out writing... [1]: http://www.teamster.org
Origins
Ever reviled, accursed, ne'er understood, Thou art the grisly terror of our age. "Wreck of all order," cry the multitude, "Art thou, and war and murder's endless rage." O, let them cry. To them that ne'er have striven The truth that lies behind a word to find, To them the word's right meaning was not given. They shall continue blind among the blind. But thou, O word, so clear, so strong, so pure, Thou sayest all which I for goal have taken. I give thee to the future! Thine secure When each at least unto himself shall waken. Comes it in sunshine? In the tempest's thrill? I cannot tell--but it the earth shall see! I am an Anarchist! Wherefore I will Not rule, and also ruled I will not be! JOHN HENRY MACKAY.In March of 1999, I was graduating from high school. The United States Armed Forces were bombing Serbia. My father was in the Army, assigned to a medical unit that would be attached to the NATO invasion force. I lived in Leavenworth, Kansas, and this would be where I started down the long road to anarchism.I could say firmly that I was against the invasion of Kosovo. The case for war was not there. For Bill Clinton, a president that did nothing to stop the ethnic cleansing and genocide in Rwanda to claim that genocide of ethnic Albanians was a reason to invade Serbia was mind blowing. A strong case for such a claim of genocide never actually materialized. The less than honest intentions of the United States for the further expansion of NATO and political, economic, and social control over a former Soviet Republic shone through the rhetoric quite easily. By the time May rolled around, the only groups actively working against the invasion were strongly in the far-left of the political spectrum, and included organizations with ties to [Marxist-Leninism][1] and anarchism.The Communists were strong supporters of Serbian leader[Slobodan MiloÅ¡eviÄ][2], and this was an immediate indicator that I didn't want to work with them on any level. Their ideas appealed to me in certain respects. I had grown up working class and could identify with their critiques of capitalism, but their support of another dictator that also took advantage of working class people in his own country left a bad taste in my mouth. The critique and analysis being offered by the folks in the anarchist camp definitely made more sense and spoke more fully to what I was feeling.I started to research what exactly anarchism meant. Coming from a military family, and being groomed to attend West Point or at least an ROTC program in college, I came from a background of being damn patriotic. But then I read a book by [ Howard Zinn][3], [A People's History of the United States][4], and my entire world was turned upside down.Zinn was one of the more outspoken critics of the invasion of Kosovo that sat more in the anarchist camp. His words hit me with an electricity I could never imagine. After having read one of his essays about the invasion, I knew I had to find the book that every yahoo-browser search revealed to be his most widely read written work.The book, much like Emma Goldman's biography, transformed my life, and better informed my political and social development. These two books formed the foundation for my adoption of anarchism as a political ideology.So what is anarchism? I guess that was originally intended to be the topic of this post, so I should actually get to that. I've actually spent weeks thinking of how best to address that topic in a blog post. The reality is, nothing I could write on these pages would be as in depth or explanatory as the damn Wikipedia entry for Anarchism is. I'm not a fan of super long blog posts, and I'd rather my writing on here focus on how I try to apply these theories to my life. I like telling stories, not relating the cold definitions of political ideologies that are hundreds of years old. And although I could spend months debating the fact that there is no such thing as "anarcho-capitalism" and that anarchism has historically always been in direct opposition to capitalism, I think the Wikipedia entry is pretty in depth and pretty accurate otherwise.So, here's the link to the [Wikipedia entry for Anarchism.][5]I, and the majority of people I know that are involved with the growing North American Anarchist movement seem to identify with the anarcho-communist tendencies within Anarchism. The major focus of my work for the last 9 years has been on translating an ideology based on collective liberation to an actual movement capable of collective liberation. But first, I had to spend months even defining for myself what the hell collective liberation even means as a concept... and that sounds like a good topic for the next blog.On a related and alarming note, [the conflict in South Ossetia,][6] in which Russia and Georgia have entered into what can only (in my opinion) be described as a war, has developed rapidly over the last 24 hours. NATO is once again readying to be deployed in some way, as Georgia recently petitioned for membership within NATO. Is there a chance that NATO troops will finally see direct combat against Russian soldiers? NATO was created as a Western answer to the [Warsaw Pact][7] in the 1950's but never saw combat until... guess when? ...The U.S. backed attack on Kosovo. I can't stop thinking about what might happen if this conflict expands or spills out of its current confines.We can at least expect natural gas prices to climb, and we'll see how that will affect our already crippled economic reality. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism-... [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slobodan... [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn [4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_People's_History_of_the_United_States [5]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism [6]: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/08/georgia.ossetia/index.html [7]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact
We all saw it coming.
Yep. That's right. One of those crazy Lawrence anarchists has finally joined the ranks of the Lawrence.com blog-o-sphere. It's a big turnaround on Lawrence.com, a big leap forward from the days of blogger [Jason Barr][1] sarcastically critiquing us on this very website every day for weeks following the outbreak of the war in Iraq and our protests and responses to the invasion.I've always had a fascination with media and the way it impacts people, and in this case, I've been an avid blog reader since I discovered the medium. Blogs are everything I love about writing.The written word has had the most profound impact on the development of my political and social ideals. In the late 90's, while Jello Biafra spat out the lyrics of "Police Truck" in the background, I found a book called [Living My Life][2] by an amazingly well spoken woman, [Emma Goldman][3].Her book read like blogs read now, offering social commentary on personal stories from her lifetime. I was obsessed and read both volumes in four days. And then read them again. And again. Emma was a Russian Jew who became an anarchist in the 1880's, strongly influenced by the execution of the [Haymarket Martyrs][4] in 1887. (These are topics that will all be explored in future blogs, I'm sure.)So... what was my point again? Oh yes... I like to read, and write, and find writing to be so important in a time of pending social control at the hands of a state with growing power. So, hopefully this blog can be my contribution to the growing discourse in blogland. And maybe I can make future blogs more interesting and witty... and maybe I can one day be the Emma Goldman to another person looking for some inspiration. Or more likely, I can at least start a lot of bickering and even more name calling within the forums and comment sections.All power to the imagination... and other cheesy anarchist catchphrases... [1]: http://www.lawrence.com/blogs/barr/ [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_M... [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Gol... [4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarke...
