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Our comrades in the Mysterious Rabbit Puppet Army are following up their summer shows with a short winter tour down south. Their feature show, “What Are Prisons For?”, uses shadow puppets to outline the history of the Prison Industrial Complex from chattel slavery in the South to today’s exploding prison population. We highly recommend this excellent introduction for viewers of all ages.
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This coming week, CrimethInc. operatives will be in northern California, tabling with a wide range of material and speaking about Work at the Humboldt County Anarchist Book Fair and other locations from Eureka to Oakland and Santa Cruz. We’re starting to plan events for 2012 now; if you can help, contact us via help@crimethinc.com.
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Test Their Logik is currently on a ten-week tour of Europe promoting their new album “A”. They’ll be traveling everywhere between England, Greece, and Catalonia, stopping at the anarchist book fair in London and the G20 in Cannes and playing shows at legendary squats and social centers. Joining them at some of these shows will be some of the best European anti-authoritarian hip-hop acts, including Mary Read Collectif, DJ Malatesta, and Drowning Dog.
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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.
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Steal Something from Work Day 2011 is just around the corner—this coming April 15! To prepare for it, you could print out copies of Heist, our full-length Journal of Workplace Reappropriation, to sneak into all the locker rooms and dish pits in your area. You could forward links to the original Steal Something from Work Day video and the impressive Submedia follow-up to all your friends and family, if perhaps not your coworkers. There’s even a Facebook page you could join.
Or you could contact our friends at Wild Nettle Distribution, who will freely send you STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY stickers to spread the word where you live. They’ll be sending out packs of 25-50 at no cost—all you have to do is email distro@wildnettle.com. Don’t forget to include a name and address; donations help, but are not mandatory. If you’d like more than 50 stickers, please help cover printing and shipping costs; for example, a $10 donation for 100 stickers would be great. Perhaps you could go in on a big package with others in your town? You can donate by sending money via Paypal to distro@wildnettle.com. Unfortunately, Wild Nettle can’t afford to send international packages for free, so contact them if you live outside the US.
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.
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What kind of world do the G20 leaders want to create? They showed us a sneak preview at the G20 summit in Toronto last June: a billion-dollar security budget, 20,000 security personnel, secret laws, pre-dawn house raids, indiscriminate attacks with batons, tear gas, and rubber bullets. Over 1100 people were arrested, most of whom were never charged.
If this is the future, who can blame people for resisting?
Since the G20 protests, we’ve waited breathlessly for a comprehensive account of the charges and investigations stemming from the summit. Despairing of finding one, we finally prepared this report. It’s not all-inclusive; there is a tremendous amount to keep up with, and many important details are still being forcefully withheld.
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We’ve also designed a poster collection urging support for the arrestees.
Please print out copies and distribute these far and wide.
[6 PDF Posters : 705k]
We call on everyone who desires a better world to support all those charged, arrested, and brutalized in Toronto. Government repression need not spell defeat; it simply marks a new phase of conflict, offering an opportunity to counterattack in the field of public opinion and discourage future repression. Our ability to act tomorrow is determined by what we do today to help our targeted comrades. If you want to support the G20 arrestees, skip to the end of this report for a list of ways to do so.
This report is dedicated to David Japenga, found guilty August 25 of breaking windows during protests against the G20 summit in Pittsburgh in September 2009.
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In early June, we announced our proposal for a month of anarchist outreach and visibility actions. Within weeks we received announcements of localized event schedules across the US and beyond. Tours are currently criss-crossing the country; dozens of Really Really Free Markets [RRFM] will assemble; convergences and reading groups will open their doors. This August, anarchists are stepping into visibility with mutual aid and resistance.
There are currently three publicly-announced touring groups on the road. The Conspiracy Tour is circling the country to build support for the targets of state repression in the anarchist community and presenting legal training for communities of resistance. The Emergency Tour is traveling through the midwest, visiting primarily small towns to present an introduction to anti-capitalism and mutual aid organizing. The Letters Tour is doing a short circuit mid-month to promote the new issue of their anti-political literary journal.
If you don’t see your event or action represented in this list, please email experimental.committee@gmail.com or announce it as a comment to add it to this list. If there isn’t anything happening where you live, go ahead and plan something!
We’re sending solidarity and love out to Testament and Illogik, among others, who cannot tour because of the absurd conspiracy charges brought against them in the wake of the G20 protests in Canada.
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In addition to supplying the above video, our friends Test Their Logik have written in with a note about the planned resistance to the upcoming G8 and G20 meetings which will take place in Huntsville and Toronto, Ontario, from June 25-27:
Toronto-based organizations of women, people of colour, indigenous peoples, the poor, working class, queer people, trans people, and disabled people are organizing an anti-capitalist and anti-colonial convergence to counter these fuckers. We in Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance are calling on our friends and lovers, our comrades and co-conspirators, to join us in creating the most militant resistance that the city of Toronto has ever seen. The bankers and politicians who claim to run our world will not be allowed to run our town. In defiance of the largest military operation to take place on Kanadian soil in living memory, people are organizing everything from street parties to occupations, massive demonstrations to autonomous and targeted attacks.
The Toronto Community Mobilization Network is the network of the different communities, organizations, and individuals that are organizing the varying responses to the militarization of this city and to the systems of oppression and domination that a meeting of world “leaders” represents. The objective is to use the opportunity of the G8 and G20 summits to highlight and strengthen the diverse movements for social justice that already exist in the Toronto area. The full schedule of the events is available here. The TCMN, and all of its constituents, have agreed to respect a diversity of tactics as part of their statement of solidarity and respect.
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By now, anarchists and anti-authoritarians across the country have probably given up waiting for an announcement of the annual CrimethInc. Convergence. The truth is that as experienced organizers grow more weary of repeating themselves, and the emerging energetic anarchist communities are all tending to be less and less interested in organizing, few places seem to be appropriate candidates for this summer’s convergence. Moreover, by early spring it was already too late in the game for a community to come forward and offer to host the event, and interest simply had not surfaced.
In possibly the first great anarchist mistake of the decade, the CrimethInc. Experimental Committee was founded in late January. Their first assignment? To preserve and integrate the best elements of the convergence into a new model, adjust them to strengthen longstanding weaknesses, all the while upping the ante in a way that serves the anarchist community as a whole. At first, we thought their solution was a bad idea, so we commissioned a report and quickly changed our minds.
We’re excited to announce the release of a new hip-hop track to benefit the State Street 29 in Olympia, WA. This collaboratively produced song, titled “Great Lakes to Cascades,” is a free download for those who donate $1 or more to the State Street 29 Support Committee. To donate more than $1, simply increase the quantity in the shopping cart—100% of your donation goes directly to the Support Committee.
Click here to donate and download the MP3.
It features Testament & Illogik of Raised Fist Collective (Ontario) and Strife, MK Ultra and Unrest of Thought Crime Collective (Olympia) and recorded in Olympia in early February 2010 during Raised Fist’s Empowerment Tour. It’s a simple but fierce narrative on preparedness and strength emphasizing the aggressive spirit of mutual aid and collectivity. [256kbps VBR MP3]
The State Street 29 is a group of individuals who were arrested on the night of April 8th, 2010. They were arrested at a march consisting of over 60 people that took place in downtown Olympia. The march was done in solidarity with the West Coast Days of Action against State Violence to draw attention to the fact that police everywhere are perpetuating and fostering fear among our communities. Our goal as the State Street 29 Support Committee is to encourage others to view the arrestees, from the perspective of those who rely on and care about them, as loving, well intentioned, and active people concerned about the safety of our community.
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This week From the Depths depart for a two-month tour of Europe coinciding with the European release of their Germinate LP on the German label Fire and Flames. They’ll be traveling everywhere between Holland, Greece, and Finland, stopping at the anarchist book fairs in Paris and Stockholm and playing with some of their favorite bands, including Plague Mass and Next Victim.
An updated list of the shows is available here. Contact the band at fromthedepthsnc@gmail.com.
Geoff, who has played drums in From the Depths, will not be joining the band on this tour, in order to focus on an accountability process he is participating in. More information is available on the band’s website.
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We’re soliciting stories about workplace theft for a journal that will appear in early April, in honor of STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY. Obviously, they should be anonymous and fictionalized. A simple paragraph will suffice, though if one of you sends in the War and Peace of employee revenge, we won’t complain.
Send stories to stealfromworkday@gmail.com. The deadline is Tuesday, March 30.
[Steal Something from Work Day sticker in the Niagara Falls FBI building]
More STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY Materials!
STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY postcards and trifolds are ready now. Email stealfromworkday@gmail.com to receive a box of the postcards; the trifolds are ready to print out and photocopy.
The first printing of the stickers flew; we’ve just printed 8000 more. They’re still available from Wild Nettle Distro: email distro@wildnettle.com. We’re still soliciting photos of STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY materials in action at that address.
WORLD DAY OF STEALING FROM EMPLOY
Thanks to the mixed blessings of Google Translate, even the monolingual can enjoy endorsements of STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY from elsewhere in the world, such as Barcelona:
Work disorienting you. Enslaves you. Alienates you. You tired. You disgusting. It makes getting up early. I fuck with both loose climbs. I kill that bitch shit coffee and eating makes you fucking evil. You down. It gives you headaches for things that should be crap.
Inspirational Quote of the Week
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that 75 percent of all employees steal at least once, and that half of these steal repeatedly. The Chamber also reports that one of every three business failures is the direct result of employee theft. According to the US Department of Commerce, employee dishonesty costs American business in excess of $50 billion annually.”
Hire Power Associates
Call for Buildup Actions on March 15
We’re calling for actions a month before STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY to build up awareness of the campaign. Here are some options for what you could do, right now or on March 15:
-Tell a friend or coworker about the campaign
-See that trifolds, posters, and stickers appear everywhere
-Take photos of posters, graffiti, or banner drops
-Announce STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY over the public address system in a retail outlet
-Organize a flash mob in a shopping mall, or—better—an office building or warehouse district: march behind a STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY banner, or leaflet all the customers, or…
-Send an outraged email about STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY to a talk show or news program, or send your local paper a letter to the editor.
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April 15 is Steal Something from Work Day. GET READY!
Steal Something From Work Day STICKERS!
These classy black and red “silent agitators” are available for free or donation from Wild Nettle Distro, and will also be included free in orders from CrimethInc. Far East. They look great on a doorframe or coffee maker! To get a big package of them for your community, email distro@wildnettle.com.
Steal Something From Work Day PHOTO CONTEST!
We can’t urge you to steal from your workplace–and you don’t need our encouragement! But we can urge you to take a pocketful of STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK stickers and head to the nearest factory, office, housing development, shopping center, or school.
Keep your eyes open–and when you see a STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY sticker, take a photograph of it! Email your photos to stealfromworkday@gmail.com and they’ll go up in the gallery. If you’re the private sort, start a new email from a public-access computer to send your photos. The person who sends the best photograph wins a gift package–to be mailed after April 15, of course. [Sample photo here.]
Steal Something From Work Day GOES VIRAL!
A new Facebook group is promoting STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY. Invite everyone you can–let’s dispel the stigma around reclaiming the product of our labor! This is a great place to upload photos and video, and to promote the campaign in general. Be sure to use common sense whenever using social mapping technologies like Facebook.
Steal Something From Work Day GOES INTERNATIONAL!
Thanks to capitalist globalization, it’s never been easier to get exploited by some profiteering corporation–nor to steal from one! Comrades as far away as Spain, Russia, and Bulgaria are getting ready for STEAL SOMETHING FROM WORK DAY.
Meanwhile, here in the US, employee theft is reclaiming $40 billion from corporate bloodsuckers annually, and increasing by 15% per year. Keep up the good work, America!
