I spent a few hours down there tonight.

The crowd is diverse, not as predominately young as I perceived from afar. They’re well organized, they have places set up for medics, food, media, etc. The General Assembly hosts a wide variety of speakers, of all ages, gender, race and socio-economic background. The crowd listens intently to the GA speaker, on the people’s mic, and they do call-and-response so those further back in the crowd can hear the person who has been given the soapbox. This was a real honor to watch.

The folks down there are a lot more nuanced than how they’ve been portrayed. They’re not unsympathetic to the people who have to make a living working for some of the corporations that led to the financial crisis, in fact there are some who spoke at General Assembly tonight who work for or had worked for similar corporations. They’re pragmatic, they’re not anarchists. The whole process is surprisingly organized and democractic. They’re working towards coming up with realistic action items. These people aren’t waiting for someone to save them, they’re working towards how they can save themselves.

(via soupsoup)

(via azelie)

LulzSec came out swinging.

As we’re aware, the government and whitehat security terrorists across the world continue to dominate and control our Internet ocean. Sitting pretty on cargo bays full of corrupt booty, they think it’s acceptable to condition and enslave all vessels in sight. 

Welcome to Operation Anti-Security (#AntiSec) - we encourage any vessel, large or small, to open fire on any government or agency that crosses their path. We fully endorse the flaunting of the word “AntiSec” on any government website defacement or physical graffiti art. We encourage you to spread the word of AntiSec far and wide, for it will be remembered. To increase efforts, we are now teaming up with the Anonymous collective and all affiliated battleships.

Together we can defend ourselves so that our privacy is not overrun by profiteering gluttons. Your hat can be white, gray or black, your skin and race are not important. If you’re aware of the corruption, expose it now, in the name of Anti-Security.

Banks got top billing for AntiSec, and campaigns against various governments provided an early example of what was intended. Similar to Anonymous’ Operation Iran, Lulzsec’s Chinga La Migra (“Fuck the Border Police”) targeted the State of Arizona:

We are releasing hundreds of private intelligence bulletins, training manuals, personal email correspondence, names, phone numbers, addresses and passwords belonging to Arizona law enforcement. We are targeting AZDPS specifically because we are against SB1070 and the racial profiling anti-immigrant police  state that is Arizona.  

Of course, the strong positioning and early successes attracted instant coverage. 

While LulzSec’s actions raise some legal issues as to how the information was attained, the more compelling — and inspiring — issue is the moral one: …what if the dump reveals information that shows the AZ police force was being overtly racist (on government computers!) or engaging in illegal behavior? Isn’t this the kind of thing the public has a right to know about? (And, in fact, they did discover that the AZ police force was being overtly racist, illegal and unethical — including hiring contracted Marines to go “migrant hunting” — in case that is somehow surprising to you.) 

In a way, LulzSec is transforming itself into a self-standing whistleblower, with an explicitly political manifesto: “Every week we plan on releasing more classified documents and embarassing [sic] personal details of military and law enforcement in an effort not just to reveal  their racist and corrupt nature but to purposefully sabotage their efforts to terrorize communities fighting an unjust ‘war on drugs.’”

Think what you want about their tactics — the fact is, LulzSec is on our side. 

Only one week in, AntiSec was spreading. 

All of a sudden, after a single disclosure, the plug has been pulled. LulzSec have called it quits.

Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind - we hope - inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere.

We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us… 

Please don’t stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve.

There are a host of theories floating around as to why. Perhaps hacking the FBI and others simply drew too much attention, and it was never going to last. Some point the finger at the arrest of a 19 year old suspected to be part of Anonymous, others at the release of LulzSec’s identity after infiltration by different groups of hackers. 

Either way, the actions of LulzSec and the sentiments behind AntiSec provide insight into a whole new realm of electronic activism. Collectively, the actions that were intended to form AntiSec are more militant and aggressive in their approach than that taken by Wikileaks. The approach begs the question: why wait for information on gross abuses of power when it can be stolen? 

Unfortunately, Given LulzSec’s apparent demise, who knows where this form of hacktivism will lead. Complete end? Unlikely. Forced underground? Perhaps. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. 

The riots in Greece that began in late 2008 were the result of the murder of 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by police. An accompanying newspaper headline from the following week: 

Greece ‘runs out of tear gas’ during violent protests

Greece has issued an international appeal for more tear gas after supplies ran low because police fired so much of it during a week of violent protests across the country.

Check out this clip for more, or you might be interested in the blog of a Greek anarchist who lives in the Skaramaga squat.    

Police lose control of St Paul for a couple of hours during Anarchist protests in 2008: 

Commanders were watching the parade for trouble, when it was really happening everywhere else.

As the BBC says: they wear pink saris and go after corrupt officials and boorish men with sticks and axes.

The several hundred vigilante women of India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state’s Banda area proudly call themselves the “gulabi gang” (pink gang), striking fear in the hearts of wrongdoers and earning the grudging respect of officials.

The pink women of Banda shun political parties and NGOs because, in the words of their feisty leader, Sampat Pal Devi, “they are always looking for kickbacks when they offer to fund us”.

Two years after they gave themselves a name and an attire, the women in pink have thrashed men who have abandoned or beaten their wives and unearthed corruption in the distribution of grain to the poor.

They have also stormed a police station and attacked a policeman after they took in an untouchable man and refused to register a case.

Great video here, watch 8:30 to 9:00 and get inspired. More here. 

Bash Back Attacks God!

The Mount Hope Church is a deplorable, anti-queer mega-church in Lansing, Michigan. The church works to institutionalize transphobia and homophobia through several repulsive projects including organized “ex-gay” conferences and so-called “hell houses”, which depict queers, trannies and womyn who seek abortions in hell. Mt. Hope is complicit in the repression of queers in Michigan and beyond.

Bash Back! ain’t down with that. And so on Sunday November 9th, about thirty radical queers from Lansing, Chicago, Memphis and Milwaukee disrupted the church’s most well-attended sermon.

At noon, a small group of folks dressed in pink and black, equipped with a megaphone, black flags, picket signs and an upside-down pink cross began demonstrating outside the church. The group was extremely loud and wildly offensive.

The demonstration drew a majority of Mount Hope’s security staff outside to watch them.

Meanwhile, with the guards pre-occupied by the distraction, over a dozen queers had put on their Sunday-best and infiltrated the church’s congregation. At the signal that the guards had been lured outside, the infiltrators sprung into action.

A group stood up, declared themselves fags, and began screaming loudly. Upon hearing the loud interruption, other affinity groups went into action. A team that had been hiding under the pews in the closed-off balcony dropped a banner and pulled back the curtains to reveal “IT’S OKAY TO BE GAY! BASH BACK!”. Another group threw over a thousand fliers to the entirety of the congregation. The fire alarm was pulled. Queers began making out in front of the pastor. And within a matter of minutes, everyone had evaded the guards and made their escapes.

Bash Back! operatives, still hidden among the congregation observed a person screaming that Satan had come to Mount Hope, that the end was here, that the queers were everywhere. She then began speaking tongues. The dumbfounded pastor, after regaining his composure, went on to speak of the of decadent, depraved wolves that menace his flock of sheep.

Let it be known: So long as bigots kill us in the streets, this pack of wolves will continue to BASH BACK!

We are everywhere.
bashbacknews.wordpress.com

(from Social Rupture)

Major visible contributions of anarchists have been made through the protests in Greece in 2008, against the WTO in Seattle in 1999, the Mexican Zapatistas, the general strike in Paris of 1968, the Spanish anarchist’s role in the Spanish Revolution of 1930s, the Italian anarchists and their fight against fascism of the 1920s, the Mahknovist uprising in Ukraine around the 20s… the list goes on. 

The tactics used by anarchists have evolved significantly since the birth of anarchism in the 1840’s. Direct action has always been considered the bedrock of anarchist activities, but their tactics are both creative (for example, self-organising) and resistant (for example, railing against oppressive power structures). 

Activists operating from an anarchist philosophy have sabotaged, blockaded, picketted and occupied a wide range of targets. The strike was a key tactic, and black blocs have emerged as a protesting technique. Anarchists have also engaged in armed resistance.  

More constructively, anarchists have given away produce for free, occupied factories, facilitated collectives, run squats or communal living arrangements and delivered social programs and services. Ever heard of the Really Really Free Market?

The WTO protests in Seattle in 1999 bought renewed focus on the anarchist movement, attention that has only been heightened with the protests in Greece and Toronto and the recent activity of Wikileaks. Julian Assange is on the record as saying:

Leaking is inherently an anti-authoritarian act. It is inherently an anarchist act.

Other recent tactical evolutions have seen anarchists producing open-source technologies, disseminating information that erodes the power of entrenched authorities, or jamming cultural norms that support oppression. The wide wide world of technology ensures that anarchist tactics will undoubtedly continue to evolve over time.

(from Art and Anarchy)

(via joeyage via scheisse)

Separate Oil and State by Greenpeace.

Greenpeace drove a message home to the heart of Canada’s oil industry today, hanging a huge banner from the Calgary Tower that says “Separate Oil and State” to highlight the need to sever the cozy relationship between the toxic tar sands oil industry and the federal and provincial governments.

In total, eight Greenpeace protesters were arrested — including the three climbers and another from the top of the tower, and a young man on the street who police say may have participated by buying tickets to the attraction. Calgary police said criminal charges are pending.

(via joannecostello via sum1)

While its an exaggeration to say all social change requires violence, this is certainly a strong case stating that those attempting major change should be open to the full range of tactics. Well worth watching: take 10 minutes. 

Pacifying Resistance

http://endciv.com

Some of the most celebrated social justice victories of the 20th century are attributed to the great pacifists of our time, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. This constitutes a historical whitewash, as these “victories” were achieved when the state weighed its options and chose the lesser of two evils: the pacifists. In this segment Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Aric Mcbay, Harjap Grewal, Gord Hill and Peter Gelderlus deconstruct the Gandhi myth and show us why militant action plays an important role in movements of resistance.

(via cuntymint via berealisticdemandtheimpossible. You might also be interested in a previous post, or hit ‘full range of tactics’ in the tag cloud at the top of the page). 

The Love Parade started out as a 150-person protest over the Berlin Wall, with the motto Peace, Joy, Pancakes: peace for disarmament, joy for music and pancakes for fair food production / distribution. From its beginning, the festival stood for understanding through love and music. 

19 people were killed in a stampede on Sunday. Original expectations of 800 000 people were wildly surpassed when 1.4m attended: too many people, not enough space. Its unlikely the festival will ever be held again.  

While the Love Parade began as a political protest, there had been a lot of criticism over the commercialisation of the festival. Its creator parted ways with the festival in 2006 over such concerns. Love Parade festivals have been run all over the world in recent years.