"We have done this because we love liberty and hate authority." – Voltairine de Cleyre
Posts tagged copblock
Strikes! Keep them General and Wild.
Aug 15th
Child, demanding better working conditions, meet the State.
This is the picture I see in my anarcho-head: The state is a thug (that’s you cops) which holds us down while the capitalist picks our pockets. If we can get the thug off our back, we can, finally, get our hands around the capitalist’s throat. This is why I hate the State first and most, because I am itching for a good ol’honest fight. Bring back the strike, make it general and wild. Fire us in droves; we will just out compete you.
“Laborers are free to compete among themselves, and so are capitalists to a certain extent. But between laborers and capitalists there is no competition whatever, because through governmental privilege granted to capital, …, the owners of it are enabled to keep the laborers dependent on them for employment, so making the condition of wage-subjection perpetual. So long as one man, or class of men, are able to prevent others from working for themselves because they cannot obtain the means of production or capitalize their own products, so long those others are not free to compete freely with those to whom privilege gives the means.” –Voltairine de Cleyre
“The State always represents the organized interests of a dominate class; therefore the subjection of other classes may be said to benefit the State and their emancipation may be opposed as a danger to the State. It is evident from the very nature of the State that its interests are opposed to those of Society…” –Suzanne LaFollette
“By Sacrilegious Hands”
Aug 3rd
Alex Svoboda and dislocated knee, Thanks LEOs.
The June, 2010 issue of the Industrial Worker tells the story of Alex Svoboda who was brutally attacked by three police officers while participating in a union solidarity rally. The attack left her pinned to the ground, handcuffed and her left knee severely dislocated. She was then charged with assaulting an officer. The police assault charges are, now, officially in doubt.
In Lagrane, Missouri an American Bulldog named Cammi is filmed while the local police department proceeds to subdue her, secure her… then shoot her in the head.
In Seattle, Washington police officers are filmed screaming racially charged threats and kicking the head of a compliant and innocent man before letting him go.
El Reno, Oklahoma ten police officers suffocate and taser a disabled eighty-six year old grandma who was confined to a hospital style bed.
As the stories of insane abuse keep flooding in many local law enforcement agencies, instead of reflecting on their behavior, their judgment or the validity of the laws being enforced, are seeking State and Federal protections.
Several states have made it illegal to record the Police as Wendy McElroy explains:
“In response to a flood of Facebook and YouTube videos that depict police abuse, a new trend in law enforcement is gaining popularity. In at least three states (Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland), it is now illegal to record an on-duty police officer even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists.”
And Jenn, writing for copblock.org, points out that even a police officer’s credibility is becoming beyond reproach:
“Recently, a defense attorney was ordered by a judge to apologize to a police officer witness for implying the officer was untruthful. While the whole point of trial is to discredit the other side’s witnesses, apparently, cops are supreme beings, more deserving of respect and authority than the rest of us peons. This judge felt implying a cop is not a credible witness was an offense by which a lawyer should be humiliated.”
Why is this happening? How do we stop it?
The revered and radical historian Lord John Acton can offer an insight into both these questions.
Why is it happening?
“Where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control.” –Lord Acton
It must be understood that the “services” police claim to provide are, also, the right of anyone and everyone to perform: Defending yourself and your friends from violence. Dispute resolution. Restoration.
And it is exactly the “services” that the police are known for providing that no one has the right to perform: Theft through taxes, fines and asset forfeiture. Intimidating and assaulting people walking down the street. Torturing old ladies in their beds. Dislocating knees. Shooting pets.
Stopping it is a matter of time and pressure. There really is only some much abuse good people can take, if they wish to remain good. This is similar to the way Lord Acton describes the run up to the Reformation:
“During the latter part of the Middle Ages, the desire for reform of the Church was constant. It was strongest and most apparent among laymen, for a famous monastic writer of the fourteenth century testified that laity led better lives than the clergy. To the bulk of ordinary Christians reform meant morality in the priesthood. It became intolerable to them to see the Sacrament administered habitually by sacrilegious hands, or to let their daughters go to confession to an unclean priest. The discontent was deepest where men were best. They felt that the organization for the salvation of souls was serving for their destruction, and that the more people sought the means of grace in the manner provided, the greater risk they incurred of imbibing corruption.” –Lord Acton; Lectures on Modern History, Pg 90.
Law enforcement has become, has always been, the organization claiming to administer justice for citizens all the while serving up their destruction; and the more people sought justice in the manner the police provided, the greater risk they incurred of imbibing the same corruption.
Reformation (fingers crossed it’s a revolution too), as long as the people wish to be or remain good, is only a matter of time and pressure. God I hope Americans want to be good.
The Red and Black Stands Its Ground.
Jun 4th
Dear Friends, Fellow Workers and ALLies,
The community and workers of Portland’s Red and Black Café, an IWW, anarchist, vegan, co-op, needs your support and solidarity.
A uniformed police officer, James Crooker, entered the Red and Black Café and ordered a cup of coffee. On his way out of the store he was delayed by another customer who wanted to let him know how much they appreciate the police and the service they perform (keeping the homeless out of sight, the workers working, minorities in jail, and the angry away from the throats of “Our [corporate and political] leaders [who] invent nothing, but new taxes, and conquer nothing but the pockets of their subjects”1).
John Langley, one of the co-owners and Fellow Worker, of the Café approached Officer Crooker and asked him to leave, stating how uncomfortable he felt having an armed Police Officer inside an Anarchist Café.
As John Langley explained to Lynne Terry:
“It’s not about the police,” Langley said. “It’s about what the police represent to many people who frequent the cafe.
The cafe draws vegans — of course — along with homeless people and animal-rights and environmental activists who Langley said have been targets of police abuse and harassment.
Now this story has gone national and the Conservative/Liberal Statists are up in arms. William Gillis, in a letter to Roderick Long, describes the impact on the Café:
“I have good friends on staff and their phones are ringing off the hook with death threats. Mainstream conservative and liberal pundits have talked of showing up with weapons to start a confrontation… My friends could really use some support; in this environment some kind words or awareness from those who aren’t fanatical devotees of the police state would go a long way.”
The anarchist stands resolute against rulership, against authority, against oppression – period. This is why we will sit at a lunch counter against the wishes of its racist owner and, at the same time and in the same respect, remove the statist myrmidon from our own coffee shop.
This is not a contradiction; this is consistency!
So help out the Red and Black if you can, give them a shout, drop a buck or two in their paypal and make the Neo-Con-Liberals tremble.
“Crowned heads, wealth and privilege may well tremble should ever again the black and red unite.” — Otto von Bismarck.
1. Thomas Hodgskin
Pure Angry Madness…
May 20th
This story is pure angry madness. (H/T to RadGeek, Charles Johnson)
“It was hell. The man was suffering,” Raybin told News 2 Tuesday. “Everyone has had problems with their teeth. Can you imagine being in jail with no help, no medical attention and having the enamel of four of your teeth destroyed? It was an agony for him. The medical people didn’t do zip for him.”
These cops are out of control. They represent and index only the meanest, coldest segment of our society. Lt. Tanya was not alone when she ripped Anthony’s teeth from his head! Other cops stood by and watched it happen! They listened to his screams. Imagine it! Hearing screams, watching screams and doing nothing.
This is the kind of story one would expect to hear from the Inferno. ”My dear Dante, in this room they pull the teeth from your head,” Virgil explained.
“Dear god! What do you call this place,” cried Dante?
“America.“
