Author Archive
September 29, 2011 at 12:25 am · Filed under Calling All Anarchists, posted by b. traven
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This Thursday through Sunday, September 29 through October 2, we will maintain a somewhat improbable CrimethInc. table at the New York Art Book Fair in New York City. We will also have tables at the anarchist book fairs in Boston, MA and Carrboro, NC on November 12 and in Humboldt County, CA on December 10.
In addition, on the strength of the success of our earlier events presenting on the issues discussed in the Work book, we’re booking two more short tours: one in October that will traverse the South as far as Texas before returning east via the Midwest, another in November to New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Whether or not you’ve read the book yet, please join us for one of these discussions.
If you have questions or would like to volunteer to set up a speaking date, email help@crimethinc.com.
Tour dates and promotional materials after the jump.
August 14, 2011 at 11:09 pm · Filed under Internal Memos, posted by b. traven
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This fall and winter, our operatives will be appearing around the country to speak on the subjects covered in the Work book: the ways capitalism has changed, the new forms resistance is taking, and how to formulate anti-capitalist strategies in the 21st century. If you would like to set up a speaking event, please email help@crimethinc.com.
Read about dates this August in Oregon, Washington, Virginia, DC, and Maryland after the jump.
July 4, 2011 at 11:58 am · Filed under Hot Off the Presses, posted by b. traven
“No One Is Illegal,” the latest video from Test Their Logik
Anarchist hip-hop duo Test Their Logik, fresh off G20 conspiracy charges and recently back from a coast-to-coast Canadian tour, are pleased to announce the release of their highly-anticipated debut album. Recorded, produced, and mixed by Illogik and mastered by Metalworks Studios (known for producing hip-hop acts such as Drake, DMX, and K-OS), “A” is uncompromising in both message and sound. Offering 11 new songs and 3 bonus tracks in just under an hour, it’s a lyrical explosion in the face of authority and oppression, a sonic boom in the ears of big brother, and a no-holds-barred escape into rebellion.
Ushering in a new era of subversive anti-authoritarian hip-hop, Test Their Logik delivers clear methodical rhymes alternating with rapid-fire lyrical assaults over dark bass- and synth-heavy beats. The album begins with a lyrical experiment never tried by even the most renowned lyricists: a full song only using words that start with the letter A. This title track sets the bar high for what comes next: everything from confrontation to reflection, to dancing, to imprisonment, and liberation.
Test Their Logik formed in the summer of 2009. They’ve toured extensively throughout North America, playing benefit shows for prisoners and grassroots projects and performing at anti-capitalist convergences including the protests against the Vancouver Olympics, the Toronto G20 summit, and the Cancún COP16 meeting. Their music has inspired revolutionaries around the world and been demonized by law enforcement agencies, corporate media outlets, and right-wing pundits. This is hip-hop as it should be: raw, forceful, polarizing, intelligent, and real.
June 8, 2011 at 12:11 am · Filed under Read All About It, posted by b. traven
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In May, a new movement spread across Spain and elsewhere around the world, with crowds occupying public spaces in an attempt to formulate a new resistance to the effects of capitalist crisis and austerity measures. We are excited to present Fire Extinguishers and Fire Starters: Anarchist Interventions in the #Spanish Revolution, a full report from a comrade on the ground in Barcelona. This report chronicles the trajectory of the movement and offers a critical analysis of the potential and limitations of the forms it assumed.
May 22, 2011 at 2:32 pm · Filed under Read All About It, posted by b. traven
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As a preview of the forthcoming tenth issue of Rolling Thunder, we present two texts about US border policy and policing:
The former, Designed to Kill, analyzes US border control policy, exploring how its actual effects and objectives differ from its ostensible purpose. The conclusions are based on several years of firsthand observation of both sides of the border by a participant in No More Deaths. For additional context, Four Stories from the Border offers glimpses into the lives of those who risk death to cross the border.
April 14, 2011 at 9:18 pm · Filed under From the Trenches, posted by b. traven
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Today is April 15: Steal Something from Work Day! Take those motherfuckers for all they’re worth. Goodness knows they’re doing the same to you! Perhaps, like countless other employees, you already do this every day; in that case, the thing that makes this day special is that today you know thousands of others are stealing in solidarity with you, imagining a better world.
In the US, April 15 is also Tax Day. The government is stealing your money and turning it into overseas occupations and death tolls; nowadays they’re cutting the few programs through which they used to give a little of it back to you. The way they’re slashing university budgets these days, next they’ll be going to schools and ripping out the copper pipes to sell on the black market. Much of the tax money they loot from you goes directly back into corporate pockets–the same corporations that are exploiting people like you! And despite the record profits the corporate sector is raking in once again, politicians claim they have no idea how to resolve their budget crises.
In this web of theft, your only hope is to redirect some of these resources to more sensible ends. Surely you and your coworkers, friends, and neighbors could come up with better uses for them! Be careful, though–unlike other days of action, Steal Something from Work Day should go by without the authorities noticing anything at all.
If you have any exciting adventures stealing from work today, write up an account and email it anonymously to us at stealfromworkday@gmail.com. Here follows a premium example of such a narrative.
Epic narrative from the Copying Wars after the jump!
April 4, 2011 at 10:38 am · Filed under Hot Off the Presses, posted by b. traven
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As we announced last week, we’re debuting a new larger size of posters as a benefit project to help us keep the rest of our prices low. Two of these are classics—the Gender Subversion and Your Life Is Your Life posters—while the third is our new poster depicting the pyramid of the capitalist economy, designed to accompany our new book, Work.
We chose these posters as a fundraiser because in contrast to our standard posters, which are designed for public wheatpasting and have to remain affordable to teenage vandals, oversize posters are a sort of luxury. We made them accordingly luxurious: they’re truly enormous (fully two feet by three feet), printed on durable, high-quality, recycled, matte-coated paper, and we mail them rolled up in a poly bag secured inside a poster tube to keep them in pristine condition. If you’re looking for a durable poster to put up in your classroom or kitchen, or if you simply want to help us keep going, feel free to order one. Even as a benefit, they’re still cheaper than anyone else would make them; and you can get a much cheaper price by ordering several, so perhaps they can serve to raise funds for your infoshop or literature distribution as well.
March 5, 2011 at 12:46 pm · Filed under Hot Off the Presses, posted by b. traven
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As seen in Wisconsin, inside and outside the occupation of the capitol building in Madison in protest against new government austerity measures, we’ve designed a new poster heralding the downfall of capitalism.
Download PDF : 864kb
To be clear, we’re not certain that capitalism is about to collapse. However, we’re convinced that it is doomed–such a volatile and destructive system cannot possibly last forever–and that it is entering a new phase of crisis. All the old peace treaties are coming to an end: unions have been outflanked by globalization, while the Fordist compromise of higher wages for obedient workforces has given way in the course of the transition to a service-based economy. These peace treaties were not simply ways to pacify resistance movements–they also served to perpetuate capitalism itself. Without the higher wages won by the old labor movement, for example, consumers can’t afford to keep rates of profit up for capitalists. Consequently, at the moment of its worldwide triumph, capitalism has run out of ways to expand, heralding a new period of instability. The next several years will surely be marked by more upheavals like the ones in Greece and Egypt; these may even reach the United States.
In that context, a poster like this is really an attempt to cast a spell, to convey a vote of no confidence in capitalism in hopes that it will be infectious. If capitalism is indeed entering a period of crisis, anarchists must not miss this opportunity to spread a vision of an alternative. It is precisely before the upheavals that we can do this most effectively: people’s idea of what is possible can change very quickly in the midst of turmoil, but their idea of what is desirable often changes much more slowly. If we miss this opportunity, we may see yet another phase of revolutionary struggles fought merely for “better democracy”–wasting an opportunity that will not come again for a generation. Therefore, we invite you to join us in covering the walls of North America with posters like this, and to brainstorm ways to escalate the conflict that point towards real liberation.
We’ve been working feverishly on further projects to this end, which we will unveil shortly.
More after the jump.
February 1, 2011 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Hot Off the Presses, posted by b. traven
Anarcho-punks From the Depths have just released a split LP with Next Victim, the most haunting band in Poland. These new From the Depths songs are darker and fiercer than their debut album; the Next Victim tracks are at once hypnotic and heart-rending. Both bands’ recordings are available for free downloading in their entirety on the From the Depths website.
The LP has been released in Europe by the famous Polish punk label Nikt Nic Nie Wie along with Zaraza Productions and Scream Records; it will be available in the US shortly through Stickfigure distribution.
In addition, in February, From the Depths will tour the West Coast of the US with the amazing Austrian hardcore band Plague Mass, whose new LP we just helped release. Hurry out to see these bands—this is probably your last chance.
Tour dates and more information after the jump!
December 15, 2010 at 9:39 am · Filed under From the Trenches, posted by b. traven
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Nearly five months after being charged with conspiracy and other indictable offences during Toronto’s G20 protests, both members of the southern Ontario hip-hop group Test Their Logik had their charges stayed and release conditions withdrawn. Although the prosecutor originally said the government would be seeking jail time, it turned out they had very little evidence and didn’t feel capable of bringing the case before a judge.
While asking to “stay” the charges, a move which still gives them a year to look for new evidence and re-open the case, the prosecutor told the judge, “We know they did it but we don’t have the proof.” This is a ridiculous assertion given that the main reason they were targeted and warrants were sent out for their hip-hop aliases is their music video “Crash The Meeting” that is still circulating on youtube.
There were over a thousand arrests and hundreds of charges brought against G20 resisters on little to no evidence. Like most charges relating to the G20, the charges against Testament and Illogik were targeted political repression not even perfunctorily disguised as an attempt to enact justice. The picture of Canada as a police state gone mad is growing ever clearer.
Unfortunately, though hundreds have had their charges dropped or stayed, several dozen still face very serious charges and need support urgently. It is more important than ever to donate to the legal defense of those still facing charges, and to show solidarity by any and all means. All proceeds from the Test Their Logik benefit album offered here two months ago will go to current G20 defendants.
More after the break.
November 8, 2010 at 9:32 am · Filed under Internal Memos, posted by b. traven
We’ve just helped release the new LP from Plague Mass, our good friends from Austria. Entitled “Union of Egoists,” the LP captures the high-energy intensity of one of Europe’s best d.i.y. metallic hardcore bands. It’s available through Stickfigure distribution.
From the Depths will be bringing Plague Mass on tour in the US next February.
Just in time for the tour, we’ll be co-releasing a 12″ split between From the Depths and Next Victim, from Poland. We’ve been following Next Victim’s eerie music with great excitement since some of the members were in Mind Pollution, another amazing band. It’s an honor to get to collaborate with two bands that have been so inspiring for us!
Plague Mass “Last Home” [7.9 MB MP3]
Next Victim “Własna Nisza” [10.6 MB MP3]
Tour schedule after the jump.
October 19, 2010 at 8:40 am · Filed under Read All About It, posted by b. traven
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We just received this inspiring and instructive report from anonymous comrades in Russia, describing two years of struggle against logging operations in one of the major forests near Moscow. The struggle culminated this summer in the “Khimki battle,” in which several hundred armed antifascists and anarchists attacked a government building in suburban Moscow; the authorities responded in kind, and subsequent solidarity efforts in Belarus provoked further repression.
Most of the links in this text lead to Russian-language pages; those too busy to teach themselves Russian can at least plug the website addresses into Google translate and struggle through computer-generated translations.
Read on after the break.
October 14, 2010 at 2:17 pm · Filed under Read All About It, posted by b. traven
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A tremendous amount of attention has focused on Greece lately. Looking at the successful anarchist movement there, we can nurture utopian visions to strengthen our resolve; but if we only consider apparent success stories, we will not be prepared for the challenges ahead.
The entire Balkan peninsula is a sort of laboratory of crisis. Studying it, we can discern some of the possible futures that may await us now that North America seems to be entering an era of crisis as well. The vibrant anarchist movement in Greece represents one possible future, in which a powerful social movement establishes hubs of resistance. But only a few hundred kilometers north Serbia shows another: a nightmare of ethnic conflict, nationalist war, and false resistance movements in which the anarchist alternative has sunk almost as deep as Atlantis.
The roots of the differences between these countries are hundreds of years old, but we can identify some recent factors. Only a generation ago, both were ruled by dictatorships: Greece by a US-based fascist dictatorship that collapsed under pressure from rebellious students, winning youth revolt the respect of the general population to this day; Yugoslavia by a socialist dictatorship, in which Tito maintained power by playing various groups off against each other. When the Berlin Wall came down and the socialist government collapsed, the country was torn apart by ethnic strife. By the end of the 1990s, Serbia was reduced to a much smaller nation ruled by a nationalistic communist, Slobodan Milošević.
On paper, what happened next reads like an anarchist fairy tale. An ostensibly decentralized and nonhierarchical underground youth group named Otpor (“Resistance”) carried out a propaganda campaign aimed at rousing popular revolt, despite aggressive repression from the authorities. After a rigged election, hundreds of thousands of people converged on the capital and intense streetfighting ensued. An unemployed vehicle operator, nicknamed “Joe” by his colleagues, drove his bulldozer through a hail of bullets into the headquarters of the state television station at the head of a furious crowd. Other protesters set the Parliament on fire and violently wrested control of the streets from police. The authorities surrendered, the government toppled, and soon a former anarchist was prime minister.
More history, commentary, an in-depth interview and appendices after the jump.
September 30, 2010 at 2:49 pm · Filed under Calling All Anarchists, posted by b. traven
Two of our favorite hip hop artists, Testament and Illogik, are facing serious charges for their alleged involvement in the historic protests against the G20 summit in Toronto last June.
Performing as Test Their Logik, the two were in the middle of preparing their debut album when they were arrested. Now their release conditions prohibit them from associating with each other, and they are unable to continue recording.
Fortunately, we managed to get our hands on the material they finished just before their arrests, and we’re releasing it as a benefit to help with their legal expenses. This is some of the most powerful, passionate music we’ve heard in years; it’s an honor to share it here.
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Test Their Logik
“Arrested Development” 9-Song Album
: 160kbs (VBR) MP3 [40.3MB] :
: 160kbs (VBR) AAC [41.9MB] :
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Click here to make a donation to
the Test Their Logik Legal Fund.
The album is available here for free downloading, but we urge everyone to donate to their support fund. If you can’t use Paypal, click here to learn how to send a check to their support committee.
The charges against Testament and Illogik are a shameless attack on political activism. The two have been outspoken critics of the G20, the 2010 Olympics, and capitalism in general, publicly speaking out even when others were intimidated into silence. They are among over 100 people facing conspiracy charges in connection with the G20 protests, an unprecedented crackdown on dissent.
The charges are also an attack on hip hop. Sure to come up in the trial is the Crash the Meeting video the two released to promote the G20 protests, which has received nearly 50,000 views on youtube. The video is hardly shocking by corporate hip hop standards; it doesn’t objectify women, promote guns or gang violence, or glorify personal acquisition of wealth. Instead, it spreads a positive message of collective struggle against tyranny—exactly the kind of message the authorities want to keep out of popular music.
Before corporate America started paying attention, groups like Public Enemy used hip hop to spread revolutionary messages and consciousness. Profiteers moved into the hip hop market not only to make millions off it but also to promote artists who rap about pimpin and blingin instead of social change.
Test Their Logik take hip hop back to real life, describing the destruction wrought by capitalism and calling for grassroots resistance. Everything they predicted in the Crash the Meeting video came true in Toronto beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. Essentially, they’re being charged for having their finger on the pulse. The authorities can try to jail the messengers, but there’s nothing they can do to stop the music.
Additional details after the break.
September 8, 2010 at 2:15 pm · Filed under Read All About It, posted by b. traven
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Or, How We Raised $2000 for Scott DeMuth and Carrie Feldman
It is with great rejoicing that we announce our latest triumph, the successful development of an effective new means of fundraising to support targets of state repression.
All you need to try this yourself is 1) a person or cause that deserves fundraising support, 2) another person who cares about that person or cause, and 3) a bunch of people who want to play a practical joke on the caring person.
In our case, the targets of state repression are Scott DeMuth and Carrie Feldman, two young anarchists the FBI is struggling to tie to an Animal Liberation Front action that occurred at the University of Iowa in 2004 when the two were barely in high school. Scott is charged with conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act; he goes to trial September 13. After serving four months in prison for refusing to speak to a grand jury, Carrie has been subpoenaed again, this time to testify at Scott’s trial. The two face tremendous legal expenses and are in dire need of support.
Last November, we were fruitlessly trying to brainstorm new ways to raise funds for Scott and Carrie. At the same time, we were teasing our friend Steve for hating folk punk, an obscure musical genre. Have you ever had a friend who loved to hate things and be miserable in a way that was positively adorable? Steve is that kind of person, as hundreds of admirers can attest. Somebody had spread a rumor that Steve was in a folk punk band, Steve was incensed, it was hysterical—and suddenly we had a brilliant money-making scheme.
The scheme and resulting free MP3 album download after the break.
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