A look at both the historical context within the George Floyd rebellion and how current experiments within it might expand.
The storming of the Third Precinct lifted the veil of fear. As it went up in flames, so did the self-assured certainty of the old world. More than half of the country believes burning the precinct was justified. All the institutions have lost legitimacy: the government, the cops, the media, the economy. The law has shown itself for what it is: sad, scared men draped in a Blue Lives Matter flag crying when the lights go out. Liberalism and its peace treaties are in tatters. This is really the end of an era, the breakdown of an intolerable order. Now we must learn to inhabit the ruins we have given ourselves.
There where land becomes ugly, where all poetry disappears from the landscape, imaginations are extinguished, spirits are impoverished, routine and servility overtake the soul and set it on the path to torpor and death.
Élisée Reclus, Concerning the Awareness of Nature in Modern Society
“Ecology” is commonly defined as a branch of science dealing with the relationship of living things to their environment; a late 19th century word coined by the german zoologist Ernst Haeckel. As a political term, it gains currency in the 1960s to refer to reflections on the impact of human activity on the environment and the respective social movements that in different ways have sought to address the negative consequences of that activity.
A New Wave of Repression in Chile: And Why It Matters in the United States
On July 24, the Chilean state raided three homes and arrested two anarchists on bomb-related charges, Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar. Monica and Francisco have spent the last 10 years in and out of prison facing similar charges in Chile and Spain. Their latest arrest is just the newest chapter in a series of intelligence operations against them—but it is also an escalation of the state’s attempts to quell the popular rebellion that rocked Chile from October 18, 2019 until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Will the confinement and the ceasefire get the better of the Lebanese uprising? Will the omnipresence of security be able to bridge the chasm into which the population seems to sink deeper every day? These are, in any case, the questions that Ghassan Salhab asks from Beirut.
Remembering a revolution in spain, 1936 (A translation of a short commemorative-reflective text by Marc Dalmau, in El Salto Diario 18/07/2020) …
The events of July 18, 19 and 20, 1936 constitute one of the most over-interpreted events in our history and at the same time, more than eighty years later, they continue to be tremendously unknown.
Ciao Paolo: a tribute to Paolo Finzi from the collective of Centro Studi Libertari
A tribute to the Milanese anarchist, author and publisher. (libcom.org 22/07/2020)
We are deeply saddened to announce Paolo Finzi’s passing. Yesterday, July 20 2020, he took his own life.
Born in 1951, since the mid-Seventies he has been responsible, together with his partner Aurora Failla, for the monthly magazine A rivista anarchica, which he contributed to (and founded as well). He was also among the founders of Centro Studi Libertari / Archivio G. Pinelli.
A friend and comrade through many battles, a master of anarchism and ethics, dialogue and debate, a brilliant, intelligent, sensitive and kind man who taught us to doubt and reflect, to listen and respect in a deep and profound way.
From Portland to the World: A Call for Solidarity with the Struggle against the Federal Occupation
Since the end of May, demonstrators opposing police violence and white supremacy have thronged the streets of Portland, Oregon, clashing with law enforcement officers. Last week, aspiring autocrat Donald Trump escalated the situation by announcing that he would be sending federal agents around the country to assert his authority through acts of violence against protesters. The past few days have seen thousands sweep into the streets of Portland to defend those who were already protesting and demand the departure of Trump’s federal agents from their city.
Now participants in the movement in Portland are calling for solidarity actions starting this Saturday, on July 25. The following statement from several Portland organizations—including (Pop)ular (Mob)ilization, Portland Rising Tide, the Revolutionary Abolitionist Group, Colectivo X, and Symbiosis PDX—entreats everyone who has been inspired by the determination and endurance of demonstrators in that city to spread the struggle countrywide, just as Donald Trump hopes to deploy federal forces everywhere.
Please circulate this video and statement—and think about how you can prepare to fight against the escalation of state tyranny wherever you are.
From Portland to the World
We love that people are thinking about the ways they can support the people in this city, especially those who have been pressing hard in the streets for the past seven weeks in support of the struggle for Black lives and for freedom for all—and despite the brutally repressive tactics of police and federal forces. We want to accept your support—and we say the best way to support us is to take inspiration from Portland and bring this fight to where you are in any way you can.
Go as hard as you want, use every tool in the toolbox, and employ every tactic you can. Our fight is your fight and we want to share it with you. Our common struggle against fascism and against the police and federal officials defending white supremacy are intertwined. The movement is moving: solidarity is spreading and the bigger we get the faster we win.
We will stay in the streets until every institution in our society reflects the acknowledgement that BLACK LIVES MATTER—and we hope you will too.
Endorsed by:
(Pop)ular (Mob)ilization Portland Rising Tide The Revolutionary Abolitionist Group Colectivo X Symbiosis PDX
…
See also: Portland Awakens: A Report From The Front Lines (Its going down 21/07/2020)
18.07.2020: Social rebel, counterfeiter, bandit, modern Robin Hood – the list of titles with which our anarchist comrade Lucio Urtubia was honoured is long. His life, which sounds like an adventure novel, is a mirror of the revolutionary movements in Europe in the second half of the 20th century. Lucio Urtuba passed away today. Rest In Power Lucio! (enough is enough!)
By Black Flag Catalyst (Anarchist Library 16/07/2020) …
Foreword
My city: Portland, Oregon is currently under siege from an occupying force. Make no mistake in assuming the state will hesitate to occupy other cities with their militant, violent force, for less than reasonable reason(s). It’s spread to Columbus, Ohio, and Miami. We learned from Standing Rock, the state uses protests as a testing ground for what they can do at other protests.
When it happens, please take into account the following lessons I’ve learned from nights of protest interacting with federal agents and police:
The New Terror Bill in the Philippines: Another Front in the Worldwide Struggle against Tyranny
(19/07/2020)
Yesterday, a new “anti-terror” law went into effect in the Philippines, marking another stage in the worldwide rise of autocracy. The law enables authorities to warrantlessly arrest and detain anyone for two weeks or more on the sole suspicion of inciting terrorism “by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, banners or other representations,” even “without taking any direct part in the commission of terrorism.” What constitutes terrorism is defined at the whims of the Anti-Terrorism Council, a group comprised almost entirely of members of authoritarian president Rodrigo Duterte’s cabinet.
Dignity: On The George Floyd Rebellion
From It’s going down (06/08/2020) …
A look at both the historical context within the George Floyd rebellion and how current experiments within it might expand.
The storming of the Third Precinct lifted the veil of fear. As it went up in flames, so did the self-assured certainty of the old world. More than half of the country believes burning the precinct was justified. All the institutions have lost legitimacy: the government, the cops, the media, the economy. The law has shown itself for what it is: sad, scared men draped in a Blue Lives Matter flag crying when the lights go out. Liberalism and its peace treaties are in tatters. This is really the end of an era, the breakdown of an intolerable order. Now we must learn to inhabit the ruins we have given ourselves.
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