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.

Denver!

Kevin Carson weighs in on the controversy over the legitimacy of violence in protests: "The state is simply a group of human beings cooperating for common purposes — purposes frequently at odds with those of other groups of people, like the majority of people in the same society. And violent actions by an association of individuals who call themselves ‘the state’ have no more automatic legitimacy than violent actions by associations of individuals who call themselves ‘the Ku Klux Klan’ or ‘al Qaeda.’"

I was there. I wrote about it! (http://americancynic.net/log/2012/5/6/my_may_day_2012.html)

A cute story made up of photographs of little plastic people. I like how the ducks are wearing the red square… and how the anarchist saves the day :)

Good article about Montreal’s Anarchopanda. It turns out he’s a philosophy professor.

The best essay I’ve read on the purpose of breaking windows as a form of propaganda of the deed: “when an activist tamely busts some window they’re obviously not trying to win by depriving the state of glass surfaces. This too is outreach of a form. But you are not the target audience … That’s why politicians and police consistently go apeshit over things like measly storefront windows. Their control is dependent in no small part on being seen in control. Certain boundaries to what’s considered feasible must be secured at all cost lest they begin to loose the illusion of invulnerability that dissuades the subjugated from rising up. No one in power gets hysterical when a common thief, for example, breaks a window because thieves are perceived as part of the same ecosystem of exploitation in which cops and CEOs position themselves as the apex predators. Political vandalism is potent in part precisely because it risks much for no personal gain. It announces a violation of the established rules"

This is a protest I went to back in November. State troopers under Governor Hickenlooper and Denver police under Mayor Hancock had just arrested dozens of people at the Occupy Denver camps and confiscated food and supplies from the kitchen, and then they were made the “guests of honor” at a Denver homeless shelter’s Thanksgiving dinner. It was pathetic.

I’m the thumbnail image for this article!

A photo, quote, and brief bio of 20 people arrested at OWS. My favorite quote: “I think that everyone should be arrested at least once.”

I responded to a questionnaire from the citizen journalist who wrote this article, and am quoted in it along with two other activists who were arrested at Occupy-related events (one from the West Coast and one from Australia). I think I came off sounding like I was trying to be insightful without actually being very insightful (someone remind me never to talk to a reporter in real life!), but at least she used my ‘cops hate tents’ quote to close the article. (I don’t know what the ‘police brutality’ bit in the title has to do with anything; I don’t think any of us were brutalized or witnessed brutality.)

I disagree with her: protest chants almost never feel meaningful.

The DA recently added a charge of trespassing and one of interfering with a law officer to my case (and offered me a deferred judgment, which I refused).

This is the issue by which I became associated with Occupy Denver in the first place.