Anarchoblogs

Happy September! Looking good everyone!! So, in the four or five month tradition of me randomly choosing some AK Press titles for a 50% off sale, I’ve done it again! If you meant to buy them and procrastinated, you’re in luck. For the entire month, these books are on sale:
How the Irish Invented Slang By Daniel Cassidy Irish words and phrases are scattered all across the American language, regional and class dialects, colloquialisms, slang, and specialized jargons (like gambling), in the same way that Irish-Americans have been scattered across the crossroads of North America for five hundred years. Cassidy traces the hidden history of how Ireland fashioned America, not just linguistically, but through the gambling underworld, urban street gangs, and the powerful political machines that grew out of them. Just $9.50!
At War with Asia By Noam Chomsky Drawing in part on his visits to Asia and in part on his extensive reading in the field, Chomsky discusses the historical, political, and economic reasons behind our involvement in a Southeast Asian land war. Chomsky examines the impact of our involvement on United States military strategy and what its eventual effect will be in America and abroad. Also just $9.50!
Abolition Now! Edited by CR-10 Publications Collective For a decade, Critical Resistance has organized to abolish the reliance on imprisonment, policing, and surveillance, seeing the prison industrial complex not as a broken system to be “fixed,” but a well-oiled machine that must be eliminated entirely. Published in honor of Critical Resistance’s tenth anniversary, Abolition Now! reflects the themes “Dismantle, Change, and Build.” It presents bold strategies to create a stronger movement of people committed to PIC abolition and build healthy communities free from surveillance, policing, and imprisonment. Just $8.00
An Anarchist FAQ Edited by Iain Mckay Having been an internet staple for over a decade, we are proud to offer this solicitously edited print version. This exhaustive volume, the first of two, seeks to provide answers for the curious and critical about anarchist theory, history, and practice. More a reference volume than a primer, An Anarchist FAQ eschews curt answers and engages with questions in a thorough, matter-of-fact style. 700 oversized pages for $12.50!
Italian Anarchism By Nunzio Pernicone Maybe kind of new for this list? I don’t know but I’m excited about the Carlo Tresca bio that’s at the printer so… From the First International to the 1872 Anti-Authoritarian International, from government suppression and anarchist insurrection to Errico Malatesta’s prominent role in resurrecting the anarchist movement, Nunzio Pernicone’s Italian Anarchism provides a critical examination of early anarchist practices across three decades of Italian history. Just $11.00!
Facing the Enemy By Alexandre Skirda Drawing on decades of research, Alexandre Skirda traces anarchism as a major political movement and ideology across the 19th and 20th centuries. Critical and engaged, he offers biting and incisive portraits of the major thinkers and, more crucially, the organizations they inspired, influenced, came out of, and were spurned by. Opinionated and witty, he is equally at home skewering the actions of the early anarchist Victor Serge as he is the Paris chief of police who organized undercover “anarchist bombers” in an attempt to infiltrate and discredit the movement. Just $9.00!

We’re also going to select another publisher whose books we’ll feature at 25% off for the month (stay tuned), but if you haven’t checked out Arbeiter Ring (August’s featured publisher), it’s not too late! All of these books are 25% off for a couple more days.

For those of you unfortunate enough to be in neither Dortmund, Hamburg, nor Oberhausen this weekend:

Kommt zur Kundgebung mit Infotischen am Samstag den 04.09.2010 um 12 Uhr bis 15 Uhr in der Nähe der Polizeiwache!

Am 4. September ist Tag der offenen Tür bei der Polizeidirektion Göttingen. Die Polizei feiert sich selbst und hat sich dazu noch das passende Thema „Zivilcourage“ ausgesucht.

Dabei hat die Polizei in Göttingen gerade in letzter Zeit mal wieder deutlich gemacht, dass sie weder Freunde noch Helfer sind. Im Rahmen der absurden Ermittlungen aufgrund des Brandes in der Teeküche der Ausländerbehörde durchsuchte sie ein selbstverwaltetes Wohnprojekt, kontrollierte tausende FahrradfahrerInnen auf der Suche nach „Rechtsaufsteigern“ und phantasiert von linkem Terrorismus wegen ein wenig Alleskleber, der Feuer gefangen hat. Auf Demonstrationen tritt sie aggressiv und brutal auf und in der Nacht stürmt sie dann in Wohnungen von „nicht-deutschen“ Menschen, verschleppt diese und schiebt sie gegen ihren Willen in ihre vermeintliche „Heimat“ ab.

Während selbst Amnesty International in einer aktuellen Kampagne die Polizeigewalt und Straflosigkeit der Beamten anprangert; während die Polizei Proteste gegen Naziaufmärsche brutal verhindert; Zivilcourage verfolgt oder – wie jüngst das Blockadetraining der Grünen Jugend in Göttingen – verboten wird; während PolizistInnen mit über 1.600 Körperverletzungen im Amt die Statistik der politisch motivierten Gewalt 2009 anführen, will sich die hiesige Polizeidirektion mit Familienspaß und Technikshow als Beschützerin des gesellschaftlichen Friedens darstellen.

Stattdessen ist jeder Streifenwagen nur trauriger Ausdruck davon, dass wir noch immer in einer Gesellschaft leben, die auf Gewalt gegründet ist und nur durch die permanente Androhung und regelmäßige Ausübung von Gewalt funktioniert. Die abstrakte Gewalt der gesellschaftlichen Ordnung konkret durchzusetzen, das ist die Aufgabe der Polizei. Zugleich ist die Existenz der Polizei auch ein Beleg, wie viel Gewalt zwischen den Menschen stattfindet, wie viel Aggression, Wut und Gleichgültigkeit das Gesellschaftssystem tagtäglich produziert. Der lähmenden Argumentation, die Polizei sei aufgrund der Diebe, Mörder und Vergewaltiger notwendig, stellen wir die Frage nach den gesellschaftlichen Ursachen dieser Gewalt entgegen.

Kommt zur Kundgebung mit Infotischen am Samstag den 04.09.2010 um 12 Uhr bis 15 Uhr in der Nähe der Polizeiwache!

(via)

• What kind of world do the G20 leaders want to create? They showed us a sneak preview at the G20 summit in Toronto last June: a billion-dollar security budget, 20,000 security personnel, secret laws, pre-dawn house raids, indiscriminate attacks with batons, tear gas, and rubber bullets. Over 1100 people were arrested, most of whom [...]

Continue reading at CrimethInc. Far East Blog …

Give Me Down to There Hair. Daily Brickbats (2010-09-03):

Officials at Godley Middle School in Texas have placed 12-year-old Chris McGregor in in-school detention until he cuts his hair. The school dress code bars male students from having hair below the shoulders, and McGregor's locks are too long. Superintendent Paul Smithson says the rule helps reduce bullying. You see,...

In which Superintended Paul Smithson is using indefinite in-school suspension to make sure that no student "stands out" in any way.

Here's his justification for this insane enforcement of an inane policy: "Bullying's a big thing, and we want to make sure everyone's dressed appropriately, someone doesn't bring attention to themselves so that someone says something to them, and all of a sudden we have a problem."

Yep: a problem with the bullies. So why does Paul Smithson's policy punish the victims instead?

What: For the past year or so, the reading club has studied reasons for supporting less government intervention in our lives. We have read Bastiat and Spencer, along with many others. We have compared Machiavelli’s The Prince to The Politics of Obedience by Etiene de la Boetie.

Knowing how important it is to keep an active mind, the following essays clearly articulate the opposing view for expanding the scope and power of government.

The author is professor Douglas J. Amy of Mount Holyoke College, the proprietor of the website “Government is Good.”

He has many more articles on the site, but the two of focus here are “Why We Need More, Not Less, Government” and “Taxes are Good.”

They should take about 30 minutes to read.

For this discussion, we can practice debating these issues since at first it might be easier to do with a friendly face than a complete stranger. That way it helps to build confidence in our arguments and make them more persuasive.

Where: In the past we have used Skype for the online discussion. Instead, we can use a more user-friendly online application called Tinychat. No download or registration is required, but the call is limited to 12 “broadcasters,” though more may listen in if they like. The URL chosen at random for this chat is http://tinychat.com/uieni83284908.

If someone would like to arrange a meeting place, that would be great too.

When: Monday, Sept. 20, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Here’s a fantasy news story:In two unanimous votes, President Obama was impeached and removed from office for the crime of “lying to the American people”. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said “He promised that he would close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp …

Continue reading at FSK's Guide to Reality …

Which reveals that Mr. Dali, who was always a great self promoter, was a lifelong supporter of Franco. Here

"For every political assassination carried out by Mussolini's fascist regime, there were 10,000 such assassinations by the Franco regime. More than 200,000 people were killed or died in concentration camps between 1939 (when Franco defeated the Spanish Republic, with the military assistance of Hitler and Mussolini) and 1945 (the end of World War II, an anti-fascist war, in Europe). And 30,000 people remain desaparecidos in Spain; no one knows where their bodies are. The Aznar government (Bush's strongest ally in continental Europe) has ignored the instructions of the U.N. Human Rights Agency to help families find the bodies of their loved ones. And the Spanish Supreme Court, appointed by the Aznar government, has even refused to change the legal status of those who, assassinated by the Franco regime because of their struggle for liberty and freedom, remain "criminals."

Now the Spanish establishment, with the assistance of the Catalan establishment, wants to mobilize international support for their painter, Dali, portraying him as a "rebel," an "anti-establishment figure" who stood up to the dominant forces of art. They compare Dali with Picasso. A minor literary figure in Catalonia, Baltasar Porcel (chairman of the Dali year commission), has even said that if Picasso, "who was a Stalinist" (Porcel's term), can receive international acclaim, then Dali, who admittedly supported fascism in Spain, should receive his own homage." Drawing this equivalency between Dali and Picasso is profoundly offensive to all those who remember Picasso's active support for the democratic forces of Spain and who regard his "Guernica" (painted at the request of the Spanish republican government) as an international symbol of the fight against fascism and the Franco regime.

Dali supported the fascist coup by Franco; he applauded the brutal repression by that regime, to the point of congratulating the dictator for his actions aimed "at clearing Spain of destructive forces" (Dali's words). He sent telegrams to Franco, praising him for signing death warrants for political prisoners. The brutality of Franco's regime lasted to his last day. The year he died, 1975, he signed the death sentences of four political prisoners. Dali sent Franco a telegram congratulating him. He had to leave his refuge in Port Lligat because the local people wanted to lynch him. He declared himself an admirer of the founder of the fascist party, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera. He used fascist terminology and discourse, presenting himself as a devout servant of the Spanish Church and its teaching--which at that time was celebrating Queen Isabella for having the foresight to expel the Jews from Spain and which had explicitly referred to Hitler's program to exterminate the Jews as the best solution to the Jewish question. Fully aware of the fate of those who were persecuted by Franco's Gestapo, Dali denounced Bunuel and many others, causing them enormous pain and suffering.

None of these events are recorded in the official Dali biography and few people outside Spain know of them. It is difficult to find a more despicable person than Dali. He never changed his opinions. Only when the dictatorship was ending, collapsing under the weight of its enormous corruption, did he become an ardent defender of the monarchy. And when things did not come out in this way, he died."

So my comic has finally been printed and zine fest is literally tomorrow. I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get patches and small zines printed all week. For some reason this type of stress is more pleasing than that of any other that I've ever experienced. I usually hate stress, but I look at this as a can you rise to the occasion type of thing. And so far in every aspect I have not yet let myself or anyone else down. And that's a great feeling.

Everyone that has seen my comic so far has given me great responses except for a small group. But they are pretty PC so I try not to let that get to me. My comic is raunchy but fun and light hearted in the end. I think people look at it and think I'm trying to offend. But I'm just spectating and commenting. But I digress. My original point was that it feels good to know that people are interested in what I'm doing. I have a few mixed feelings about Zine Fest. I'm excited to see all the zines and what other people are working on, I'm even more excited to see who is interested in what I have been working on. But it's a whole new different ballpark. It's the first time I will be meeting people face to face and putting myself out there as an illustrator. And that alone is enough to make me feel a bit odd. I am confident as an artist, but this is a really big fish for a little guppy like me to be in right now. Luckily enough I am so excited that hopefully it won't matter.

News and views from around the web posted to the Wonderland Wire:

• Hedge Funds Have Been A Scam For The Past Twenty Years – James Altucher | Business Insider 3 September 2010
• South Africa: Country Close to Joining BRIC Group | allAfrica.com 3 September 2010
• Mozambique food price rises ‘irreversible’ | BBC 3 September 2010
• Suicide blast rips through Pakistan city, 43 dead | Reuters 3 September 2010
• India’s Maoists execute police hostage | AFP 3 September 2010
• Here’s The Most Radical Stimulus Idea Obama Is Considering – Joe Weisenthal | Business Insider 3 September 2010
• Pentagon Bulks Up Yemen’s Arsenal as Shadow War Grows – Spencer Ackerman | Wired.com 3 September 2010
• The New York Times Starts Banging The Drum For Stimulus Via Fannie And Freddie – Joe Weisenthal | Business Insider 3 September 2010
• Companies in U.S. Added 67,000 Jobs in August | Bloomberg 3 September 2010
• BP’s Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response Costs Rise to $8 Billion | Bloomberg 3 September 2010
• Heavy in dollars, China warns of depreciation | Reuters 3 September 2010
• ‘Clunkers,’ a classic government folly – Jeff Jacoby | The Boston Globe 3 September 2010
• China and the New World Order – Noam Chomsky | Little Alex in Wonderland 3 September 2010
• NATO air strike kills 10 civilians: Afghan president | AFP 3 September 2010
• Some states haven’t changed coke-crack disparity | AP 3 September 2010
• Afghanistan: Afghans pull money from troubled Kabul Bank | LA Times 3 September 2010
• Why Israelis Don’t Care About Peace with Palestinians | TIME 3 September 2010
• COLOMBIA: US Military Aid Contingent on Reversal of Rights Record | IPS 3 September 2010
• Pakistan to Get $450 Million Emergency Loan From IMF | Bloomberg 3 September 2010
• Rape Victims in Congo Raid Now Number More Than 240 | NY Times 3 September 2010
• Weekly Diaspora: The High Cost of Cheap Labor – Catherine Traywick | HuffPo 3 September 2010
• U.S. Funding Boost Is Sought for Yemen Forces | WSJ 2 September 2010
• Defense mergers on rise – Top Secret America | WaPo 2 September 2010
• Is the Obama Administration Guilty of a War Crime? – Daphne Eviatar | HuffPo 1 September 2010
• KBR Only Contractor Granted Legal Immunity From Harming Soldiers And Civilians: Army Secretary McHugh | HuffPo 1 September 2010
• The 10 Highest-Paid CEOs Who Laid Off The Most Workers: Institute For Policy Studies (PHOTOS) | HuffPo 1 September 2010

Filed under: Daily Briefing Tagged: Af-Pak War, Afghanistan, airstrikes, bailouts, Barack Obama, BP, BRIC, Cash for Clunkers, China, Colombia, Daphne Eviatar, DR Congo, drones, economic crisis, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Guantanamo Bay, Gulf oil spill, hedge funds, immigration, India, international law, Israel, Kabul Bank, Kashmir, KBR, Middle East peace process, military industrial complex, Mozambique, NATO, Omar Khadr, Pakistan, Quetta, South Africa, Spencer Ackerman, suicide bombing, Top Secret America, unemployment, USDCNY, wage slavery, war crimes, War on Terror, Warfare and Conflict, Yemen

Touché Amoré & La Dispute - Split (2010): Download This release isn’t so fresh, since it...