MetaFilter posts tagged with anarchists

Let's Go Pitt!

empath — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:35:21 -0800

Some "highlights" from this weekend's G20 protests in Pittsburg.

Who is burning Athens?

taz — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 04:27:53 -0800

"Night of terror - Madness and lunacy in Athens" reads the headline of one Greek newspaper this morning; "Night of agony and terror - Athens, Pireaus and Thessaloniki at the mercy of hooded individuals" reads another, and the rest follow suite. Three days of mass protests, demonstrations... and finally rioting, rampage and looting across Greece have followed Saturday's fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy by police in Athens' bohemian/anarchist neighborhood of Exarchia. #griots posts on Twitter have been following events as they unfold (and if you check out last night's twitter history from blogger thibet you can get an idea of the chaos as it occurs as he makes his way through central Athens). Many are also photoblogging on Flickr with the tag "griots". Live streaming news from Skai Channel (in Greek, but lots of street action; requires windows media plugin for FF) Not a few voices on the left theorize that official action (or inaction) are calculated to push the citizenry, historically wary of police action, into welcoming, even demanding repressive measures: As I write, parts of the historic center of the Greek capital remain a battle zone with police forces chasing demonstrators and several buildings set ablaze. This writer cannot help the feeling that the police is actually permitting, if not leading, ‘extreme elements’ to create mayhem in order for it to have a perfect excuse to impose a state of emergency or some similar package of ’security’ measures. - blogger st3pp3nw0lf Leftists protests and demonstrations are common occurrences in Greece, and even more dramatic anarchist actions are mostly tolerated explains former U.S. diplomat Brady Kiesling: "Greek police have limited power to use force against these groups because public sentiment will not tolerate it. This has resulted in a delicate balance in Exarchia, with neither pushing the other too far. Many Greeks cite the events of November 17, 1973 – a day that is still commemorated, when the army stormed the Athens Polytechnic University and killed a number of striking students – as a reason why the police must be restricted. ... The police stay out of certain areas, unless there's a major emergency, and the anarchists don't trash things badly unless there's a good reason," Mr. Kiesling says. But "once someone gets killed, the doctrine is massive retaliation." Others suggest that the relative savagery of this storm of rioting has been exacerbated by desperate asylum seekers who exist on the fringe of a society that is on the front lines of European countries inundated by refugees, but which has few resources for (and some say little interest in) supporting this unprecedented influx of humanity at even the most basic levels. Managing editor of the Greek Newspaper Kathimerini lets no one off the hook in his scathing and cautionary op-ed on the incident and its aftermath, in which he warns that all interests and factions, left and right, will try to make capital of "Anger's Teen Martyr" : The rising tide of anger and despair of the past few years now has its martyr, a 15-year-old boy whose blood will be used to bind together every disparate protest and complaint into a platform of righteous rage against all the ills of our society (endemic and imported). ... If Greece had already appeared difficult to govern, it will now be out of control, as we can ascertain by the government’s grovelling and the police force’s spiteful inaction in the face of widespread rioting across the country over the past two days.

Bust Em Before They Bite

Xurando — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:33:33 -0800

Since at least February, the St, Paul police and the FBI have been trying to infiltrate protest groups planning to demonstrate and the RNC. Apparently they were successful because they have begun arresting protestors before the convention actually starts. They even went after the press. I have to wonder if any MeFites were busted?

De Rigeurmortis

strawberryviagra — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:38:05 -0800

Vale Tokin Blackman
"He always had the licks, just never the poses. James Paull – Jock to nearly everyone – was one of very few who could say "I spent a year composing in Amsterdam" and not sound like he was on Radio National. Ron Hitler Barassi ..

Some background on TISM for the uninitiated | Progressive Rock Wankers Interview | Noise Interview | Ron Hitler on Marilyn Manson | Wanker Video.

Gentlemen, start your periods.

Haymarket: Four people were hung fighting for the 8-hour workday

strangeleftydoublethink — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 12:09:16 -0800

Four anarchist labor organizers were hung on this day in 1887 based entirely on their words. On May 4, 1886, a bomb exploded at a rally in Haymarket square in Chicago. One policeman was killed. The rally had been called to protest police violence against strikers who were supporting the 8-hour workday movement. Police rounded up the city's radical labor organizers and eventually tried eight for the murder of the policeman at Haymarket. While most of the eight had not even been present at the meeting, the others were shown to have nothing to do with the throwing of the bomb. After the defense appealed as far as they could, five of the defendants were sentenced to death. One committed suicide in his cell the day before the execution was to take place. The other four were hung on Nov. 11, 1887, the birthday of their defense lawyer, Capt. Black.

Sacco & Vanzetti

plep — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 11:22:13 -0800

Sacco & Vanzetti. Two anarchists executed in Massachusetts in 1927. Their guilt was and is widely disputed.
'Sacco and Vanzetti were executed on August 23, 1927, a date that became a watershed in twentieth-century American history. It became the last of a long train of events that had driven any sense of utopian vision out of American life. The workings of American democracy now seemed to many Americans as flawed and unjust as many of the older societies of the world, no longer embodying any bright ideal, but once again serving the interests of the rich and the powerful. '

Protest Warriors

dhoyt — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 19:12:57 -0800

Protest Warriors Clash • Gil Kobrin of the Protest Warriors went down "under a hail of black boots" belonging to anti-Bush peace activists. "It wasn't much of a contest. ProtestWarrior's contingent numbered 13, the other side in the hundreds. If they won any hearts and minds, no one said so." Meanwhile, DC activist group Anarchist Resistance issued their call to action: "There's nothing left to salvage in this empire that is the U.S. government. It's time to bring it down." AR is listed as a resouce by the Internet Liberation Front who Kos reported "hacked and defaced six Republican websites" yesterday. Some commentary on civil disobedience by Thoreau & ActUp.

Anti-Facism

Netzapper — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:37:46 -0800

Need the antidote to the current administration? 133 years ago, Mikhail Bakunin laid the groundwork for anarchism as a rational political system in his seminal work God and the State. Strongly critical of the dehumanizing effects of religion, Bakunin famously paraphrased Voltaire when he proclaimed, "if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him." If you can't make hide nor hair of the President's words, perhaps Bakunin's rationalism is what you're looking for.

Protestors Scrutinized by the FBI

PrinceValium — Sun, 23 Nov 2003 08:58:28 -0800

If you've participated in an anti-war rally, or helped organize a demonstration, the FBI may have a file on you. The FBI claims that they are only weeding out anarchists and other "extremists." But the ACLU and some legal scholars are warning of a return of Hoover ism. Attention pinkos: You can run, but you can't hide, because you're probably on the no-fly list.

BirdD0g — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 06:31:28 -0800

The Free State Project is a plan in which 20,000 or more liberty-oriented people will move to a single state of the U.S. to secure there a free society. We will accomplish this by first reforming state law, opting out of federal mandates, and finally negotiating directly with the federal government for appropriate political autonomy. We will be a community of freedom-loving individuals and families, and create a shining example of liberty for the rest of the nation and the world.

raaka — Thu, 11 Apr 2002 14:38:25 -0800

Crimethinc is a new publisher that’s getting a bit of mainstream press mostly on the basis of a book called Evasion, which is a nonfiction account of a latter day Huck Finn cum Hayduke. (Any store that uses an Evan Dorkin comic to illustrate a point gets my dollars.)

snakey — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 16:07:50 -0800

Is violence necessary to fight The Man? Hey, ya can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. This essay makes some compelling points on the violence in Seattle and at the FTAA protests.

gluechunk — Mon, 06 Nov 2000 20:05:46 -0800

Remember: Don't Vote!