(Interview with Egyptian anarchist discussing the military coup and Muslim Brotherhood.)
A reading list on the "Right to the City."
"The broader implications of this go beyond Brown; one might think that what we are looking at is Cointelpro 2.0—an outsourced surveillance state—but in fact it’s worse. One can’t help but infer that the US Department of Justice has become just another security contractor, working alongside the HBGarys and Stratfors on behalf of corporate bidders, with no sense at all for the justness of their actions; they are working to protect corporations and private security contractors and give them license to engage in disinformation campaigns against ordinary citizens and their advocacy groups."
I think this is a succinct summary and agreeable conclusion regarding the whole RadFem thing.
As I understand the "RadFem" position, it rejects gender (man/woman) as socially constructed and oppressive to those in the Woman role, but embraces sex (male/female) as real and seeks to create safe spaces for Females. Yet such a sex realism simply moves the gender essentialism, whereby gender is an inescapable consequence of "socialization" as informed by anatomy, to a further remove. Essentialism in sheep's clothing. The motivation behind the whole fruitless endeavor seems to be to exclude trans-women from female liberation movements.
RadFems hold that women who are male (by some ostensibly scientific standard, I guess, or by some less-than-scientific claims of "socialization") are members of an oppressive class. Which, on its face, is ridiculous in my view. Trans*-identifying people are one of the most marginalized and vulnerable segments of society, and any movement which considers them to be oppressive is highly suspect to me.
A nice collection of Chesterton quotations.
"Yesterday a judge ruled that Jeff Olson, a 40 year old man from San Diego, California will face thirteen years for using washable children's chalk outside three Bank of America branches to promote credit unions over large banks."
"On April 25, 2000, convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski sent a letter to the authors of this book detailing his impressions of Timothy McVeigh. Its text---eleven pages in the handwritten original---is reproduced here in full."
Mo and Nadia were on a 90-day temporary duty undercover assignment as part of CPD Field Intelligence Team 7150 (FIT 7150). The team was tasked with "attend[ing] Occupy Chicago and anarchist movement events for the purpose of observing and listening to reports of any planned criminal activity"
A Food Not Bombs group was ticketed in Taos for sharing food
An explanation of the Transformation Problem by mikus at the libcom forums.
"This grand jury, like the ongoing targeting of anarchists in the Pacific Northwest, is part of a new, escalating wave of repression against anarchists nationwide, who are being persecuted specifically for their political beliefs and practices. It is no coincidence that the government would try to silence Jerry, as he has been an effective and tireless legal advocate for anarchists, Occupy Wall Street protesters, and others expressing political dissent."
A refreshingly balanced look at illegalism and its history: "Illegalist actions resonate beyond anarchists and into wider society, partly due to their often daring nature, serving to shock and inspire."
I love the New Yorker for still using diaeresis. I also liked this article despite its sometimes snarky dismissal of anarchism. Or maybe because of the cynicism
I love the NLG:
One of the aspects of the NLG that distinguishes us from most other legal associations is the class analysis we bring to our work within the law. As the preamble to our constitution states, we strive to be an “effective political and social force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.” This commitment to prioritizing the rights of people over property interests means that the Guild consistently represents workers in disputes with their bosses and supports movements struggling against economic exploitation and inequality.
Another account of the Idle No More round dance in Broomfield.
