Author Archives: peter p

-
Tonight, the convergence space in the Twin Cities was raided by police officers brandishing a warrant to search for materials that they didn’t find. Afterward, they used the entry as an excuse to harass, invade, and repress the activists gathered there. This post was originally drafted to be a simple introduction to the logistics work done in Minnesota in preparation for the RNC — but as we were preparing it, news of the raid reached us (via Twin Cities Indymedia’s rss feed) and we had to quickly append this note. Read the RNCWC’s Press Statement for more info.

As tension builds in the Twin Cities, we thought it would be fun to share one of our contributions to the logistical organizing of the RNC Welcoming Committee. There should be no doubt that members of the RNCWC in Minneapolis/St. Paul have done an incredible job meeting the larger anarchist community’s enthusiasm for convention resistance. We were happy to pitch in by helping design some of their logistics literature.

RNC Welcoming Guide (.8MB) .:. Need To Know Basis MN Legal Primer (.9MB)

We’re not trying to boast, though—we’re making these screen-readable .pdfs available to help those who can’t be there understand as much as they can about what’s going on there while events unfold.

Follow Along
twincities.indymedia.org — up-to-the-minute updates from people on the ground.
infoshop.org — for communiques and news coverage

Logistics Support
nornc.org — RNC Welcoming Committee Central Branch
tincancollective.org — RNC Communications Collective
coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com — Jail Support and Legal Collective
northstarhealth.wordpress.com — Medic and Healthcare Collective

Rolling Stone, part of “the American press [that] ignored Oaxaca” during the near-civil war of 2006 pictured in Rolling Thunder #4, has published a story on anarchist journalist Brad Will (presented in its entirety below). Brad was shot and killed by local government officials on October 27, at the peak of the conflict.

The article itself is supportive, having presumably been written by one of Brad’s countless friends, and even mentions Rolling Thunder. Thanks to such shining examples of journalistic integrity as Rolling Stone, it’s possible for revolutionaries outside the United States to get coverage—albeit only a few lines a year and a half late—in the US media. All they have to do is hope some sexy, well-connected US journalist gets killed beside the countless anonymous locals whose lives are ended by US-backed repression.

Let’s keep Brad’s memory alive by supporting all those who still struggle for freedom, in Oaxaca and around the world.

To keep up with current events in Oaxaca, try narconews.com.

Complete article text after the jump.

“Mindless violence is getting up each day and being complacent. Self-destructive behavior is worshipping routine for its security and praying to the market for happiness or adventure.”

After the presidential inauguration of 2005, nationwide mass mobilizations died down in the United States. Everyone from anarchists to liberals had rightly given up the idea that the Iraq war could be stopped by symbolic mass actions—smashing windows is no less symbolic than a candlelight vigil, unless you come back to smash them again the following week—and without the anti-globalization movement or the election circus to focus on, there wasn’t much left to mobilize people on a national scale besides the standard fare of ecological crises, labor struggles, disaster relief, and defendant support. Activists had to make good on all the rhetoric that had been thrown around about the shortcomings of summit-hopping by finally taking the time to focus on their local communities. In some areas, this has resulted in a lot of great community-based organizing—the recent proliferation of Really Really Free Markets brings to mind the spread of Food Not Bombs over a decade ago. While the relative quiet on the national scale gives the impression that anarchism is going through a minor recession, we won’t find out whether or not this is true until the next wave of mass actions—which we predict for 2008—shows what anarchists have been brewing in their communities.

Continue reading →