This piece of writing has developed from a recent interaction I had with the local activist scene[1], as well as from prior experiences of my brief involvement within this group. I recently attempted to criticize the actions of these specific people but my ideas were swept under the rug as elitist, and I an inactive “armchair revolutionary”[2]. In other words, my critique was swept aside as irrelevant because of my lack of activist street-cred. I do not deplore these descriptions aimed at me nor am I offended by their statements as I see that it emerges from their inability to receive criticism. In fact, the situation has provided me with an opportunity to elucidate some ideas that I’ve previously found difficult to articu... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Kotoku Shusui
Born 4 November or 23 September 1871 — Japan, died 24 January 1911 — Japan
Kotoku Shusui was a socialist and anarchist who played a leading role in introducing anarchism to Japan in the early 20th century, particularly by translating the works of contemporary European and Russian anarchists, such as Peter Kropotkin, into Japanese. He was a radical journalist and is often considered an anarchist martyr, as he was executed for treason by the Japanese government.
Socialist years and imprisonment
Kotoku moved from his birthplace, the town of Nakamura in the Kochi prefecture, to Tokyo in his mid-teens and became a journalist there in 1893. From 1898 onwards he was a columnist for the Every Morning N... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
The Siege of the Third Precinct in Minneapolis
In this anonymous submission, participants in the uprising in Minneapolis in response to the murder of George Floyd explore how a combination of different tactics compelled the police to abandon the Third Precinct.
The following analysis is motivated by a discussion that took place in front of the Third Precinct as fires billowed from its windows on Day Three of the George Floyd Rebellion in Minneapolis. We joined a group of people whose fire-lit faces beamed in with joy and awe from across the street. People of various ethnicities sat side by side talking about the tactical value of lasers, the “share everything” ethos, interracial unity in fighting the police, and th... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Finally, we face the outrage of Belarusian people in the streets. The increase of resistance is enormous. Many people say that such an uprising was never seen before during the rule of Alexander Lukashenko. These three nights, probably all the world has seen crowds of people giving fight to the police special forces, using barricades, burning tires and Molotovs.
The police (or “militia” in Soviet-fashioned Belarus) reacts with great violence. Many people got seriously injured and there is one confirmed killed protester.
There is also the call for the General Strike issued by the opposition. How successful it will be is yet to be seen. But there are first confirmed reports of strikes at several State-owned enterpris... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Understanding exactly what is meant by the Sixth Declaration is a difficult task. While the Declaration opens with a reference to it being the ‘simple word’[1] of the EZLN there is a certain, perhaps deliberate, lack of theoretical clarity. This can, completely understandably, cause problems interpreting the document and the Zapatista position.
This document is intended to look at the Sixth and the Zapatistas in more detail, in particular examining its view of nationalism and the state. The Zapatistas repeatedly say that we are to take their words seriously – it is only correct that we follow this request and do not seek to explain away any difficulties.
Neo-liberalism and nationalism
The Sixth Declaration... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
INTRODUCTION AND DEDICATION IN ANTICIPATION OF THE TRIAL ON 13th JANUARY 2016
At this time, as the wheels of this monstrous society continue to grind on, and the scattered insurgents make to throw what they can beneath the tracks to slow it down in whatever way, we are left with some questions. These are questions that, in our opinion, deserve more thought and provocation than they usually assume in the circles of anarchists, rebels and land-defenders. Namely; it is clear that mobilizations (independent of any timeframe), such as those for our imprisoned or fallen, are a practical necessity in order to constitute diverse forces that are ready to face and understand the consequences of any struggle that materially contests the ruling ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
“Force enhancers.” The ominous phrase shot across the airwaves with a crack like a 22. I stared at the radio. A Congresswoman was describing her work on transferring military technology to civilian police force.
In military jargon “force enhancers” refer to technologies that improve the killing capacity of each soldier. An army can never have enough soldiers, so true to Western thinking, there has been an incredible drive to make the individual soldier better equipped on the battlefield.
This Congresswoman was saying how today’s cop is like a Wyatt Earp, out there alone with a police cruiser replacing the horse and nothing else to help out. This so called “liberal” legislator sought to... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Mortgages, loans, investment, property development, license applications, accountancy, endless legislation, business plans, backbiting, membership lists, the dead time absorbing activists and the debt, oh the debt!
Welcome to legal social centers! Have a pleasant stay. The Cowley Club in Brighton just opened. It’s a posh looking bar. It has a bookshop, the prices are cheaper than normal, the front door of the building is made of Indonesian hardwood (Solidarity South Pacific?!) and the plants were bought at Ikea. It has no dedicated meeting space (yet), only the bar area — revealing its priorities in the design. In themselves, legal social centers are what they are; a social enterprise — cafés, bars, possible ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
In reading the newspapers, we find the two names mentioned above frequently put side by side. Nay, we find them also associated with the terms Communism and Nihilism, as though these four “isms” had the closest relation to each other. This is a mistake. Socialism and Anarchism are opposites which have nothing in common but their appurtenance to Social Science. Socialists and Anarchists as such are enemies. They pursue contrary aims, and the success of the former will destroy forever the fanatical hopes of the latter.
It is true that in theories, both are thoroughly dissatisfied with the present state of human society and its politics, and that they severely criticize almost all the economical and political constitutions ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
“10 years ago, in the same kind of meeting as today, if you’d said « white » [1], people would have broken the furniture. Today, thanks to the Indigenous of the Republic, thanks to Houria [2] one can say « the whites ».” – Eric Hazan [3]
Unfortunately we are still unable to prove wrong what Eric Hazan has said above. He is the publisher, classified as extreme left, of the latest explicitly anti-semitic pamphlet by Houria Bouteldja Whites, Jews and us, whose enormously repulsive character has not caused as many reactions as it would deserve. The categories and vocabulary of the ideology of racialization, which for some time has been taken up in political organizations and milieus ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Letters From Prison
Subsequent to his arrest in December 1981, Balagoon was in frequent contact with comrades who published the Bulldozer newsletter in Toronto, Canada. An anarchist anti-prison publication (the “bulldozer” was meant to be the only acceptable tool for prison reform), several of Balagoon’s writings were first published in this newsletter, which later became known simply as the Prison News Service. Although PNS ceased publication in 1998, luckily several letters from Balagoon have been kept over the years and were made available to the editors of the first edition of this book. As repetition, length, legibility, and relevance make publication of all of these letters unfeasible, an effort was made to as... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Anarchism
The philosophy of a new social order based on liberty unrestricted by man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary.
Anarchy
Absence of government; disbelief in, and disregard of, invasion and authority based on coercion and force; a condition of society regulated by voluntary agreement instead of government.
Anarchist
A believer in Anarchism; one opposed to all forms of coercive government and invasive authority; an advocate of Anarchy, or absence of government, as the ideal of political liberty and social harmony.
Free communism
Voluntary economic cooperation of all towards the needs of each. A social arrange... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Marx made a thorough analysis of the production process as an exploitation of labor, but he made only cursory and reluctant comments about the prerequisite for capitalist production, about the initial capital that made the process possible. Without the initial capital, there could have been no investments, no production no great leap forward. This prerequisite was analyzed by the early Soviet Russian marxist Preobrazhensky, who borrowed several insights from the Polish marxist Rosa Luxemburg to formulate his theory of primitive accumulation. By primitive, Preobrazhensky meant the basement of the capitalist edifice, the foundation, the prerequisite. This prerequisite cannot emerge from the capitalist production process itself, if that proces... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Workers’ and Peasants’ Collectives in the Spanish Civil War
This year is the 60th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, which began in July 1936 when General Franco led a fascist coup to replace the left-wing Republican government.
It was no coincidence that this happened at a time of intense class struggle in Spain. Limited concessions granted in the face of the struggle by the left wing of the ruling class — the ‘Popular Front’ government elected in February 1936 — had not succeeded in restoring the economic and social stability needed by capitalism. Strikes, demonstrations and political assassinations by the working class continued, as did land seizures and local insurrections in the coun... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
This essay explores the rise of populist demagogues and the economics of their regimes. Rather than marking a clear break with neoliberalism or a direct tie to early twentieth century fascism, these figures historically connect to the regime of Augusto Pinochet and illustrate a growing trend of authoritarian-neoliberalism.
The phrase “never forget” bears a particular significance in the twenty-first century, recalling immediately images of the 9/11 attacks on the centers of global power; Wall Street, the Pentagon, and the White House. When one considers that these attacks justified the global war on terror, which has in turn led to the rise of the Islamic state in regions destabilized by the chaos of war, it becomes clear... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Having abandoned her worthy husband for a toy boy, a young woman dies of a heroin overdose, accompanied only by her traumatized 3 year old daughter. The reaction of mid-50s Daily Mail readers, a demographic not known for their tolerance of druggies and single mothers? Fascination, almost adulation — certainly celebration of the woman that died. Of course, she wasn’t just any single mother, she was Paula Yates, a celebrity.
Perplexed by this double-standard on behalf of my then-colleagues, I asked what was it Paula Yates was famous for anyway? They seemed pretty vague about it, despite knowing an alarming amount of biographical detail about a woman I’d have thought they had almost nothing in common with. Was it her p... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
We know we can't win on our own or with the few friends we know, there's just not enough of us, we would never be able to make any great impact. Fighting alone was always preferable to surrender, no doubt about that, but we want to see more fuzes being lit in insurgent hearts... So we write.
We aren't asking you to join us, that's ridiculous, why should you? You don't know who the fuck we are! You have your own boundaries and territories, your own limitations.
Maybe you're one of the people (one of many) who doesn't need anyone to tell them that there's something profoundly wrong with everything that makes up modern life. Something uneasy, unhealthy, unnatural, that just won't stop creeping in at the edges, regardless of what ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
This past May, the Italian state began another round of repression against anarchists. The more sporadic state harassment anarchists had experienced over the past few years gave way to what is clearly a more focused attack. This reflects the growing repressive reality around the globe, the needs of the Italian state in the present circumstances and its attempts to find ways to strike the anarchist movement and all anti-institutional movements of resistance and revolt in their totality. Thus, these events demand more than news and calls for solidarity; they require an attempt to analyze the situation on several levels in order to develop meaningful and substantial forms of active solidarity.
The May arrests
Perhaps it would be most... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Sometimes there are no answers. Conflicts can not always be resolved peacefully; someone “wins” and someone loses. So it may be with humanity (the industrial experiment) and its unwilling opponent, biodiversity. In our present numbers and with the dominance of the consumption system, there is little hope for a healthy natural environment or the millions of species which will be forced into extinction before most of us die. For we inhabit a world in which the growth of industrial culture and its technologies and mechanisms of control is accelerating at an evil pace. With every passing day, the cancer of industrial “civilization” extends and reinforces itself — so that yesterday’s most frightening corporate... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Comiso in Sicily became a prime place on the NATO nuclear armaments map, having been chosen to house 112 cruise missiles. A prosperous commercial and agricultural center, it is characterized by poverty and unemployment, a situation that prevails among Sicilian peasants and manual workers. In contrast to what was being said by the Italian government — that the missile base would bring wellbeing and jobs to the area — some local anarchists (comrades in Ragusa and Catania) decided to give a more realistic picture based on the social and economic effects that such a base would have, along with the organizational proposal to form self-managed leagues in all the area, which would coordinate to occupy and destroy the base.
The a... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Once upon a time a people lived happy and free. They practiced no agriculture, made no pottery, wore no clothes and were as gentle and content as the other wild animals they lived with.
Then the civilizers came. And within seventy years all the native people of Tasmania were wiped out. It was called the “The Black War of Van Diemen’s Land”, the official campaign of extermination begun in 1803, which decimated the native people of Tasmania in the usual brutal civilized way.
“The Tasmanians were by missionaries and friends of man civilized under the earth.”
— German anthropologist, Hellwald.
By 1830 the few remaining Tasmanian natives were rounded up and imprisoned on Fl... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
This article is inspired by the Geek Mafia series, thanks for giving us hope. It is dedicated to the anarchist hackers who have faced or will face the cold steel bars.
A few years ago a simple book came out by the name of “Recipes for Disaster” came out. It had everything in it from how to paint billboards to sexual consent and more. By the end you felt you had a new tool belt to combat the forces of capitalism and the state.
But not once in the hundreds of pages did it seriously consider technology and its impacts on the anarchist movement. And how could they? No good anarchist tactics text has. It seems that anarchists as a whole have a great grasp of how to riot but when it comes to technology and electronics we... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
“Our lives are at stake and we will not renounce any weapon that we can use as our own.” — Anonymous
In regards to the brief history of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an organization which has brought much inspiration to the North American context and drawn significant media attention, I would like to present a few points in order to critique, clarify and highlight the ways the ELF can be understood as a methodology instead of as an ideology. At the end of this piece, a proposal is drawn out for anarchists to develop their own actions separately in cells, groups or any informal structure they see fit whether or not these are aligned with the “ELF guidelines”.
Obviously this is something th... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
On 30th October, The Guardian/Observer published the news that the state of Thailand “has begun a search for people deemed to have defamed its monarchy in the wake of the king’s death, investigating 20 new criminal cases and seeking to extradite suspects from abroad” (here). The following article published in French a week ago puts this in context.
The King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX alias) has died. More than a king, he was the Devaraja, the God-King of Theravada Buddhism, the state religion of Thailand and of the historical monarchies of Southeast Asia (Siam, Burma, Laos, Cambodia) which established their centers in the rice plain regions. Having ascended to the throne there seventy yea... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
The following article, completed in December 2005, is based on the experience of a relatively short stint living in the rural West Country. This will account for some of its limits. For example, conditions in different areas will vary. It is for others who know what is missing here to fill the gaps, for themselves and others, in their own ways.
the theming of the countryside...
...coming home to roost...
Notes on rural gentrification and class relationships in the countryside: the future of rural living
There is an ongoing debate about the future of the countryside; it is going on both in the media and behind closed doors in the corridors of power. Vested interests of all kinds have much to say on the way ahead: ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
“All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary.” — J. Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known
“Having realized that we can depend on no outside authority in bringing about a total revolution within the structure of our own psyche, there is the immensely greater difficulty of rejecting our own inward authority, the authority of our own particular little experiences and accumulated opinions, knowledge, ideas and ideals. You had an experienc... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)