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Thursday, September 30, 2021
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Manufacturing Culture
Listen to a reading of “Manufacturing Culture”:
❖
In Hollywood the Pentagon rewrites scripts about the military
to manufacture consent for a globe-spanning empire
to make US soldiers look like good guys
to make US wars look like good wars
to ensure continued recruitments
to ensure a steady supply of young bodies
to feed into the engine of a giant mechanical dragon
that is fueled by human blood.
They pipe our heads full of John Bolton brainworms
and Lockheed Martin dreams.
Our minds are colonized by shock and awe invasions
through a neighborhood in Los Angeles with no soul,
no art, no heart, no life, no love,
just cackling plastic smiles overmasking bestial snarls
and screenwriters with cocaine habits and nothing to say.
An invasive culture that is devoid of culture spreads across the globe
like the metastatic tendrils of a malignant tumor
saying “Isn’t global capitalism working out great?”
and “This is all perfectly normal and sane actually!”
and “Hey maybe billionaires are crimefighting superheroes?”
and “This is definitely the nation that should be leading the world!”
Depicting an America with no homelessness or obesity,
whose streets are clean and whose people are not hanging on
by the skin of their teeth in squalor, poverty and dilapidation.
“Politics is downstream from culture” they say
as they manufacture culture in Hollywood, Arlington and Langley.
Conveyor belt culture.
Plastic culture.
Franchise culture.
Vulture culture.
They funnel death into our minds
so on election day we will vote for death
and we will buy death from our stores
and pump death into our atmosphere
from fuel pumps made possible by orgies of death in the Middle East.
The news man teaches us how to think and Hollywood teaches us how to feel.
They pour death and plastic over our hearts like concrete
to make us more like them,
to make us dim and unimaginitive,
to make us sharp-toothed and stitch-eyed,
to drown out the song of our planet,
the song which grows the trees,
the song which replicates the cells,
the song which swims the fish,
the song which chirps the sparrows,
the song which stirs the fetus in the womb,
the song which moves the energy up the spine,
the song which opens up the eyes.
They pour death and plastic over our hearts like concrete
to sedate our terrestrial intuition,
to silence our song,
to divert our sacred sexuality,
to stifle the thunderclap aliveness of our being,
to keep the holy hominid from opening its eyes,
eyes which do not recognize the authority of the mind mages,
eyes which do not recognize the validity of mind cages.
They pour death and plastic over our hearts like concrete.
But the movement of tree roots can make cracks appear,
and from within those cracks
sprouts emerge.
__________________________________
__________________________________
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My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube, or throwing some money into my tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here.
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source https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/09/30/manufacturing-culture/
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State of War, an Excerpt from “The Nation on No Map: Black Anarchism & Abolition” by William C. Anderson
A selection from the upcoming book, The Nation on No Map: Black Anarchism & Abolition, by William C Anderson, out soon from AK Press.
Saying “stop killing us” and asking an oppressor not to oppress is not going to work. Taking the life of the system we’re up against through abolition is much more complex than simply fighting people in the streets. We need to eradicate the very structures that enable the state to continue systematically destroying our lives. Oppression tortures our existence through the forces that live comfortably in the minds of countless people they oppress. The conflicts created and exacerbated by the oppressive mechanics of the state are not evenly distributed. Some neighborhoods and some people within our communities know destruction in intimate ways that involve infighting and traumatic violence. Black women and girls—especially those who are queer, transgender, poor, and disabled—experience this in the most extreme forms, with their very right to survive called into question. “What the law designated as crime,” writes Saidiya Hartman “were the forms of life created by young black women in the city.”[1] If these women and girls defend themselves, they are criminalized for it, as abolitionist Mariame Kaba documented in the anthology No Selves to Defend.[2] Therefore, women and girls in this predicament have been a primary basis for my conception of self-defense, community, and survival amid conflict.
In As Black as Resistance, Zoé Samudzi and I touched on “Black gangs that were born of necessity and are often far better organized than those who denounce them would ever give them credit for.”[3] We also noted that these gangs had been politicized at the same time as the social struggles in the 1960s and 1970s and became part of the movement for self-defense and community control. It bears repeating that we shouldn’t ignore gangs and others who have been shunned as we think through these questions.
What does it mean, for instance, to strengthen our communities and build survival programs, when there is no functioning left opposition in the United States that could defend them against militarized police forces, fascist militias, and military assaults? Just because reactionary forces have not freely carried out the full-scale massacres of large numbers of unarmed people all at once, it doesn’t mean they never will. If (or when) that time should come—and if Black people manage to wrest real political and economic autonomy for ourselves, it will—many people will need to know how to fight back.
People imagine history’s revolutions, rebellions, and insurrections in such an idealistic way that they become fairy tales that require magic wishes more than training or planning. As our enemies stockpile, plot, and prepare, far too many act as if merely our love of liberatory ideas will save us. As it often has been throughout Black history, armed self-defense should become more of a serious consideration in the future. We will not be given a choice. Those who are most familiar with fighting in the streets are needed too, which will require people to look beyond the trauma and the stigma of “criminality.” Such transformations should recognize and center the experiences of the women, children, sex workers, and other community members who have borne the brunt of violence. This means we must also address how regularly they must protect themselves from the likes of gangs and the militaristic, patriarchal violence that creates constant clashes. Like the gangs, they know how to fight and resist and defend themselves in ways many of us can learn from.
There are many potential allies out there with the knowledge that pontificating radicals on the left lack. Those people might or might not identify as part of the organized left. We shouldn’t feed into the vanguardist binary that makes “the people” who don’t identify as leftists or radicals into masses in need of leadership. Our respective stories and different struggles will vary from community to community. No one should be carelessly left behind. We also have much to learn from revolutionaries who preceded us and were discarded at times themselves. Assata Shakur, Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin, Malcolm X, and George Jackson are just a few examples of hugely impactful people who were designated “criminal.” Their militancy or willingness to address questions of actual confrontation cannot be separated from how they understood the realities of the streets. By the same token, there are many young Black people in the streets, alienated from social movements but with needed energy for liberatory politics. There is certainly crucial organizing to be done among members of groups that get left out of the conversations of both the left and the main-stream nonprofit organizations in the process of movement building.
When we look to our families, many of us will find a history of organized self-defense there too. For one thing, many of the Black anarchists and radicals I’ve mentioned are former members of the military, including Martin Sostre, Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin, Kuwasi Balagoon, and others in the Black Panther Party. Each of them enlisted with different histories and brought back their own lessons. Balagoon, for instance, was a bisexual man in the U.S. Army. His experience—who he was and who he became—informed the militancy he later engaged in with the Black Liberation Army. There are others like him among us who also carry knowledge and understanding of warfare that we should familiarize ourselves with. Understanding this doesn’t mean embracing imperialism or the military. I am referring simply to information and strategic thinking that should be taken into consideration based on our circumstances. We are not talking about fighting for the sake of fighting; it’s about the larger political goal of achieving liberation. Recent uprisings and rebellions we’ve seen have often lacked organized self-defense components. At the same time, many of the armed self-defense mobilizations we see today are showy demonstrations of symbolic force unconnected to actual communities in struggle—parades and marches that defend nothing. The task of revolutionaries, as Lorenzo Ervin has explained, is to “push rebellions to [an] insurrectionary stage, and the insurrection to a social revolution.”[4] War is not coming. War is already here all around us, and we’re already engaged, systematically, as casualties. To change that takes planning and preparation and direct confrontation.
If we’re waiting for the worst to happen every time, we should expect defeat. In fact, we’re beating ourselves. Our advancement requires a proactive effort to abolish the violent institutions of the white supremacist state. Black anarchism reveals to us that revolution and war are about killing concepts that do us damage, the forces that many of us face every day when we go outside. We’re at war with white supremacy, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and more.
So, if we understand history and the possibility of warfare in front of us, we’re required to respond. This means, yes, as many of us as are willing need to be prepared to learn about weapons and be prepared to use them to defend ourselves if or when it becomes necessary. But we have to understand security at every level and learn how to avoid and protect ourselves from every attack. Liberation begins in our communities: if we cannot protect them at the ground level, our work and our efforts will collapse. Masses of people do not need to be squeezed into one specific soldiering role: some people caretake, some cook, some organize, some clean, some make art, some teach, and so on. However, we do need many who are training and preparing consistently with whatever tools they have. The alternative is our demise. Unless we’ve given up, we have work to do.
1. Saidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals (New York: W. W. Norton, 2019), 236.
2. Mariame Kaba, No Selves to Defend: A Legacy of Criminalizing Women of Color for Self Defense (self-published, 2014), noselves2defend.wordpress.com.
3. Zoé Samudzi and William C. Anderson, As Black as Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Liberation (Chico, CA: AK Press, 2018), 53.
4. Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin, Anarchism and the Black Revolution, theanarchistlibrary.org/library/lorenzo-kom-boa-ervin-anarchism-and-the-black-revolution.
photo: Colin Lloyd via Unsplash
by Anonymous Contributor via It's Going Down
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Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Pompeo Effectively Admits To Assange Allegations
Listen to a reading of this article:
❖
In the process of issuing another not-really-a-denial about a Yahoo News report that the CIA plotted to kidnap, extradite and assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 2017, former CIA director Mike Pompeo said that the 30 former government officials the report was based on “should all be prosecuted for speaking about classified activity inside the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Here are some quotes from the exchange on Pompeo’s recent Megyn Kelly Show appearance courtesy of Mediaite:
Kelly asked Pompeo about the claims.
“Makes for pretty good fiction, Megyn,” said Pompeo. “They should write such a novel.”
He added, “Whoever those 30 people who allegedly spoke with one of these reporters, they should all be prosecuted for speaking about classified activity inside the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Pompeo called Wikileaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service” that is “actively seeking to steal American classified information.”
“You deny the report?” asked Kelly.
“There’s pieces of it that are true,” said Pompeo. “We tried to protect American information from Julian Assange and Wikileaks, absolutely, yes. Did our justice department believe they had a valid claim which would’ve resulted in the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States to stand trial? Yes. I supported that effort for sure. Did we ever engage in activity that was inconsistent with U.S. law?… We’re not permitted by U.S. law to conduct assassinations. We never acted in a way that was inconsistent with that.”
Fmr. CIA Director Mike Pompeo calls for mass prosecutions of sources who spoke to Yahoo! News reporters about plans to kidnap or kill Assange.
"Whoever those 30 people [are] who allegedly spoke with one of these reporters, they should all be prosecuted"https://t.co/UWNgmFAvUX
— Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) September 29, 2021
Pompeo’s point that “We’re not permitted by U.S. law to conduct assassinations” is not especially convincing considering how the Trump administration openly assassinated Iran’s top military commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike last year, a move which Pompeo supported and defended.
“President Trump and those of us in his national security team are re-establishing deterrence, real deterrence, against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pompeo gushed in support of the assassination at the time.
Pompeo’s pseudo-denial is of course further undermined by his position that the former officials who spoke to the press should all be prosecuted for “speaking about classified activity inside the Central Intelligence Agency.” Is it false or is it “classified activity”? It can’t be both. The two things Pompeo admitted to, trying to “protect American information” and working to extradite Assange, are not classified information. The classified information he wants them prosecuted for is therefore something else.
After a lot of flailing and humming and hawing Pompeo does eventually make what sounds like a concrete denial with the curiously-worded phrase “I can say we never conducted planning to violate US law.” But even this wouldn’t be a denial of the claims in the Yahoo News report, because the report is mostly about the intelligence community and the Trump administration trying to find legal loopholes that would allow them to take out Assange.
For example, this quote from the Yahoo News article: “A primary question for U.S. officials was whether any CIA plan to kidnap or potentially kill Assange was legal.” This would in no way be contradicted by Pompeo’s claim that “we never conducted planning to violate US law.” It would mean that there were discussions and plans about assassinating Assange amid conversations and debates about whether it would be legal to do so. The fact that they didn’t plan to violate US law doesn’t mean they didn’t plan to assassinate Assange if they could find a legal loophole for it.
There's no actual denial here. https://t.co/Drj417XJfd
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) September 28, 2021
This follows an earlier non-denial by Pompeo of the exact same nature in an interview with conservative pundit Glenn Beck. Pompeo points out that one of the article’s authors was a Russiagater and says of the former officials cited in the report that “those sources didn’t know what we were doing.” But he doesn’t actually deny it.
If Pompeo had not been involved in plots to kidnap, rendition and assassinate Julian Assange, he would have just said so. He wouldn’t have engaged in all kinds of verbal gymnastics to squirm his way out of a difficult question, and he certainly wouldn’t be calling for the criminal prosecution of his accusers for “speaking about classified activity inside the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Mike Pompeo is a literal psychopath. He chuckles about lying, cheating and stealing with the CIA. He defends murderous sanctions and openly admits to using them to foment civil war in empire-targeted nations. He defends assassination. He strongly implied the US would interfere in UK politics if Jeremy Corbyn became Prime Minister. And yet somehow he escaped the Trump administration the mass media so despised with nary a scratch of media criticism on him.
This is because Mike Pompeo, as full of centipedes and demon spawn as his enormous head may be, is highly representative of the mainstream US power establishment. He is the embodiment of the empire’s values. He’s just one of its less-subtle representatives.
__________________
My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube, or throwing some money into my tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here.
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source https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/09/30/pompeo-effectively-admits-to-assange-allegations/
This Week in Fascism #120: Neo-Nazis No Shows in Texas; J6 Rallies Flop, Neo-Nazis Build Coalition with Proud Boys; Epik Leaks
photo: @EFJBGC
Welcome fellow antifascists!
We have so much to cover this week. In Texas, neo-Nazis and KKK groups were a no show, while in DC, a much hyped pro-J6 rally was a total dud. Despite this, Proud Boys activity across the US has been steady, as the far-Right has maintained a constant presence within anti-vaxx, anti-mask, and anti-lockdown currents. At the same time, the far-Right took a huge blow with the release of massive amounts of info from Epik, a far-Right internet hosting service, while trolls like Andy Ngo are starting to actually lose advertisers.
We’ve got a lot to talk about: from action reports, news updates, and doxxes – so let’s dive in!
Action Report
Neo-Nazis and KKK No Shows to Their Own Rally; Antifascists Hold Successful Event
Despite the cops fortifying the block and painting us as a threat, we were able to collect and deliver three full buggies of food and life supplies to the women's shelter in Longview today. pic.twitter.com/Bf23IfAJMO
— Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club (@EFJBGC) September 25, 2021
Members of the so-called “Aryan Freedom Network,” the same tired collection of Ku-Klux-Klan groups and remnants of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), failed to show up to their own rally after spending lots of money getting around a dozen members out to Longview, Texas. Despite the city putting up barricades across the downtown and playing up fears of counter-protesters, antifascist groups still held a counter-event, holding space and collecting donations for a local women’s shelter.
Antifascists Rally in DC as Pro-J6 Protest Fails to Draw Crowd
The community really came together today to show solidarity and love to our amazing city. We love your support for our mutual aid efforts, but remember to love and support your fellow comrades that fight fascism each day.
— Total Liberation Collective (@tlcollectivedc) September 18, 2021
Antifascist and anti-racist groups held a small counter-rally in DC, along with mutual aid groups providing support for people on the ground, while a large scale neo-fascist rally in support of those arrested during the J6 attempted pro-Trump coup failed to draw the large crowd that had been hyped-up in the media.
Saw this dude today. https://t.co/xq3lQ48QFg
— Daryle Lamont Jenkins (@DLamontJenkins) September 18, 2021
Daryle Lamont Jenkins from One People’s Project filed this report:
Last weekend’s “Justice for J6” rally in Washington, DC planned for 700 attendees demanding that the insurrectionists that stormed the U.S. Capitol just over nine months earlier be released. Instead, most of the 400 that came out were either those opposed to them or media outlets with the few that turned out for the rally itself most likely not even half that number. If the numbers were disappointing last week for Look Ahead America, the group that organized the event, they were absolutely abysmal this weekend as rallies they sponsored across the country turned out paltry numbers at many of them.
Ventured out to the Free the Insurrectionists rally in Trenton, NJ today, which started off with a guy named Ray Dijon who without irony or shame had the audacity to sing a song titled "Respect is Called Upon" which just came off as some off-key projecting. Apologies in advance. pic.twitter.com/qLfiLm5Jzx
— Daryle Lamont Jenkins (@DLamontJenkins) September 26, 2021
Other rallies across the US in support of those arrested on the 6th were also small, with crowds of only a few dozen gathering in most cities:
The rally held in Trenton, New Jersey was only able to muster just under twenty persons, but they were met by counter-demonstrators who were there early on. Despite how rally organizers have repeatedly stressed that they were defending non-violent protesters, the placards on display featured violent Proud Boy members as “political prisoners”, and the organizer of the rally read letters from those in prison for their roles in the insurrection, including that of Alan Byerly of Pennsylvania who was arrested for assaulting Capitol police officers with a taser. There were some acts of aggression, particularly from men participating in the event who tried to snatch phones away from the women recording them. Eventually police moved those countering the rally away from the event.
Local movement journalists Chuck Modi and Black House News were both on the streets for the counter-rally which DC Food Not Bombs reported went off without any major problems.
Thank you to all those who showed up today! The fash rally was a total dud – meanwhile we had a great crowd and an amazing distro 🥰#SolidarityNotCharity #WeKeepUsSafe pic.twitter.com/OITYezSC4v
— Food Not Bombs DC (@dc_fnb) September 18, 2021
“We gave them the streets [in Nov/Dec]. We said, ‘come back anytime’. DC became a Sundown Town. You can’t let the nation’s Capitol be a place when any time neo-Nazis come, we have to stay inside the house.”@blackhousenew back in DC from NYC to oppose #JusticeforJ6 Rally pic.twitter.com/dzEdXj7nQK
— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) September 18, 2021
News
Epik Leak Fallout is Delicious and Insightful
BREAKING: hacktivists with Anonymous release a second round of data from the Epik hack. A security researcher who was able to verify the extent of the leak to me described it as "a complete own." At over 300 gigabytes worth of data, this leak is larger than the first.
— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) September 29, 2021
The fallout from the #EPIKFAIL leaks has been, in a word, epic. Names, addresses, passwords, credit card information and other interesting details about the people behind some of the internet’s most heinous websites have come to light. Suffice to say, it’s a rough time to be an Epik client.
Since the leaks dropped, everyone from CNN to the Washington Post to techcrunch and arstechnica have reported on the incident. The leaks show that everyone from self-described “patriots,” Trump supporters, QAnon believers, neo-Nazis and serial harassers of journalists, antifascists, and left-wing activists used Epik’s services as a way to avoid losing domains due to hate speech, targeted harassment, and the spreading of disinformation. The Washington Post spoke to an Epik spokesperson who stated:
Our long-held policy of content neutrality has made our platform appealing to some in an increasingly polarized landscape,” the spokesperson said. “We do not endorse or condone any one particular ideology, and we feel uncomfortable with calls to censor those who use our services.
Epik’s notorious CEO, Rob Monster, got on a three and a half hour “prayer meeting” video call where he invited journalists and Epik customers to have a conversation about Epik’s policies and the leaked data. Notable moments during the call were when Rob took down far-Right troll Joey Camp’s website, after Camp doxxed Steve Monacelli for reporting on the leak. Another surprise was the presence of infamous hacker and neo-Nazi, Andrew Auernheimer aka weev. He made sure to flash his giant swastika tattoo before dropping anti-Semitic messaging in the chat box.
The Washington Post also reports:
The data includes internal memos describing apparent subpoenas from law-enforcement agencies for information about Epik-registered websites, including two domains, Thedonald.win and Maga.host, in the weeks after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. The notes do not include details of the subpoenas’ targets, the investigating agencies or any alleged crimes.
One of the internal notes, which appeared to have been written by an Epik employee, mentions a grand jury subpoena, a request to preserve records for 90 days and a nondisclosure order — a court-approved document that law enforcement can secure to prohibit tech companies from telling customers what information they’d shared as part of an investigation. “DO NOT tell Registrant,” read the note, which did not include further details of the investigation.
As researchers continue to comb through the data, there are likely many more consequences coming down the pipeline for those Epik clients who have used Epik’s services to host their dangerous, violent ideology while leading double lives.
Rise Above Movement Founder Robert Rundo is Coalition Building with Proud Boys and American Neo-Nazi Groups
New:
Robert Rundo is trying to establish coalitions with groups like Patriot Front and the explicitly white supremacist wing of the Proud Boys, in pursuit of a decentralized "Active Club" movement for white nationalist men. https://t.co/1RqZ3FjkZg
— Tess Owen (@misstessowen) September 27, 2021
American neo-Nazi Robert Rundo, co-founder of the MMA-centered Rise Above Movement, has been busy networking from eastern Europe, according to a new VICE article. Rundo, who was expelled from Serbia several months ago and who’s current whereabouts are unknown, has been building coalitions between his new project Will2Rise, and other American neo-Nazi and white nationalist formations such as Patriot Front and sections of the Proud Boys.
Combining slick graphic design with somewhat vague appeals to hyper-masculine, nationalist, MMA-styled fighting, Rundo has been able to continue building new brands even after the destruction of the Rise Above Movement. As VICE reports:
Through his new organization, Will2Rise, Rundo has sought alliances with more-established outfits like the Proud Boys and Patriot Front by appealing to their glorification of masculinity, youth, white nationalism, and violence.
Two centralized Telegram channels for Will2Rise and “Active Club” gives Rundo and other leaders in the movement the platform to tout their highly-stylized, neo-fascist aesthetic through propaganda videos and images, many of which are generated through their own “media outlet” Media2Rise.
The main “active club” channel cross-pollinates propaganda from nationalist fight clubs around the world, such as images of muscled white men with their faces covered, doing pull-ups, boxing, or graffitiing white nationalist slogans or symbols. The channel also helps direct subscribers toward smaller, locally-focused channels that facilitate real-world meet-ups.
This morning: a 🧵on the Indiana Active Club, an emergent neo-Nazi group and an offshoot of Robert Rundo’s Rise Above Movement and Revolt Through Tradition.
CW: conspiracy theories, antisemitism, racism. pic.twitter.com/aMSxVWOKW7
— No Space for Hate Btown (@nsfhbtown) July 21, 2021
Previously, Rundo used stickering, flyering, graffiti, and flag/banner dropping as a way of recruiting for various groups; tactics inspired largely from European neo-Nazi groups, which have since been adopted by the American far-Right and are currently being used by Proud Boys, Patriot Front, and NSC-131:
For years, Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, has been a mainstay of the far-right in Europe, and Rundo’s made no secret of his admiration for key players in that scene. He’s close friends with Russian neo-Nazi football hooligan Denis Niktin, who co-runs Media2Rise and owns a neo-Nazi lifestyle brand “White Rex”. The two men record a podcast, broadcasted via their outlet, in which they cover “the highs and the lows, from underground MMA events to FBI house raids.” (When authorities searched Rundo’s home in 2018, they found a large framed portrait of Adolf Hitler.)
Experts say there’s reason to be concerned about Rundo’s new strategy. He appears to have learned from some of the mistakes made through the Rise Above Movement (RAM), a white supremacist street-fighting gang that he founded in 2016 in Southern California. Like “Active Clubs,” RAM was building on the European far-right’s emphasis on physical fitness and hyper-masculinity. Members of the group traveled at least once to train with the neo-Nazi–aligned Azov Battalion in Ukraine.
In a blog posted to Rundo’s site, he explains that his intent is to create a “brush-fire effect,” by encouraging his followers to create their own Active Clubs and white power coalitions in their respective communities. With the Rise Above Movement still holding a lot of influence within what remains of the post-Charlottesville white nationalist movement, we expect to see Rundo’s reach continue to grow within the formations that exist outside of the pro-GOP Groyper scene.
We have also linked Anthony to an upstate New York "Active Club". Active Clubs, designed by Rise Above Movement founder Rob Rundo, are designed to be small regional groups of neo-fascists who train and operate much in the same way RAM did
15/ pic.twitter.com/vXamrwwhxg— Garfield but Anti-Fascist (@AntifaGarfield) August 3, 2021
As VICE writes:
For example, Rundo has been playing to the punch-happy, explicitly white supremacist wing of the Proud Boys [the Proud Goys, led by Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman] who seem to be growing increasingly frustrated with their leaders’ obsession with optics and hunger for political legitimacy. Though, on the face of things, the Proud Boys have remained very active by inserting themselves into local politics, one large Telegram hub that’s linked to the Proud Boys, “Western Chauvinist,” has been promoting “Active Club” content and meet-ups.
For those of us who have been following Rundo, this move to bridge gaps between himself and other violent far-Right and white nationalist groups is deeply concerning and a situation worth paying very close attention to. Check out the VICE article for more information.
Trans Person Getting Lunch Attacked At Proud Boys Rally Outside of Portland, Oregon
Proud Boys attacked trans person in Gresham, Oregon, during rally in parking lot. Person who had stopped for lunch and suffered "concussion, sprained jaw, extensive car damage and verbal assaults. 'They nearly killed me,' they said." https://t.co/tGJqdT6YqP
— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) September 28, 2021
A trans person stopping for lunch in a parking lot where a ‘flag-wave’ rally of about 30 Proud Boys was happening was brutally attacked after that took photos and yelled, “Fuck you, fascists, go home.”
According to the Los Angeles Blade:
[Juniper] Simonis says they survived a gang assault of about 30 perpetrators in Gresham, Ore., a suburb outside of Portland. The Oregon resident encountered the group for only minutes but suffered a concussion, sprained jaw, extensive car damage and verbal assaults, they said.
“They nearly killed me,” they said.
Simonis said they turned into a parking lot to pick up lunch in Gresham, Ore., and stumbled upon a rally that included several members of the Proud Boys — a far-right, ultra-nationalist organization known for its anti-LGBTQ, anti-feminism and neo-fascist ideologies.
There was a “Flag Ride” right-wing rally in a parking lot earlier that day. Simonis was under the impression the event had ended after checking reports on Twitter. After pulling into the lot, originally to look for lunch options, Simonis saw a large gathering still in the lot.
Simonis decided to take pictures of what was happening to post online to warn others and was intentional in keeping their distance, they said. As Simonis was preparing to leave the area, they yelled from inside the car, “Fuck you, fascists, go home.”
“I did not expect this to escalate into violence,” they said.
The attack itself only lasted about three minutes, Simonis said. Simonis was quickly surrounded by several people and physically blocked from leaving the lot. People stepped in front of the parking lot exit, then a car was moved to barricade Simonis. People began to shout homophobic slurs at Simonis, they said.
“I’m in serious trouble now and I know it,” they said.
Simonis was then punched while inside their vehicle and was briefly knocked out. They regained consciousness a few seconds later, and a cinder block was thrown at the car and shattered the back window of their car inches away from their service dog, Wallace.
New Memo Show Trump’s Outline for Coup on J6
A new memo written by John Eastman, formally a Trump lawyer, has been exposed by CNN. According to Mother Jones:
In six concise bullet-points, the memo outlined a process by which Vice President Mike Pence could use his powers on January 6 to throw out the electors from seven states that President Joe Biden won in the 2020 election. The plan counted on Republicans in those states to submit competing sets of electors, based on the false and fabricated premise that Trump had somehow won those states.
The memo’s author, John Eastman, is a lawyer—at the time, he was even a tenured professor at Chapman University School of Law—but what he created is not a legal document. It is by its nature extra-legal: It is a blueprint for a coup.
Eastman anticipated the possibility that some people would be mad. “Howls, of course, from the Democrats,” he predicted in bullet-point four, immediately following the line, “Pence then gavels President Trump as re-elected.”
The memo shows the degree in which Trump loyal Republicans were clued into the attempts by Trump to launch a coup; an effort that was coupled with Trump calling on the far-Right to storm the capitol on January 6th.
Bay Area Sheriffs Leave Force After Connections to Three Percenters Exposed
According to the Vallejo Sun:
Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara withdrew from a security contract with the Solano Community College District after the college president raised concerns about some of his deputies apparently showing support for the Three Percenter anti-government militia group, according to email records obtained through a public records request.
College President Celia Esposito-Noy raised the concerns following an investigative report in February that revealed that two sergeants and a deputy had openly displayed support for the Three Percenter movement on social media. Ferrara has declined to investigate those deputies, saying they told him they only intended to show support for the Second Amendment.
The college is currently working on developing its own campus security. Withdrawing will cost the sheriff’s office budget nearly $1 million per year when the contract expires at the end of 2021. Ferrara and Esposito-Noy did not respond to interview requests.
Oath Keeper Linked to Popular Qanon App that Pushed for J6
The Daily Dot reports that a founding member of the Florida Oath Keepers, a far-Right militia that promotes conspiracy theories and calls for a civil war every five minutes, Kenneth Rucker, is responsible for the QAlerts app. According to the #EPIKFAIL leaked data, it was discovered that Rucker is the owner of the QAlerts domain.
According to Daily Dot:
On Dec. 21, 2020, QAlerts, an aggregator of drops from the anonymous poster known as Q, called on his tens of thousands of followers on Gab to head to Washington, D.C. to protest the 2020 election.
On that fateful day in January, both the QAnon and the militia movement in this country converged in a massive spectacle, breaching the U.S. Capitol as far-right forces across the country merged in an attempt to overthrow the election.
What people watching couldn’t see though, was that the movements had crossed over long before. QAlerts, which helped spread the gospel of QAnon far and wide as the conspiracy was being purged from the internet, is connected to a founding member of the Florida chapter of Oath Keepers.
Proud Boys “Afghan Refugee Hunting Permits” Stickers Found at University of Michigan
A mock "Afghan refugee hunting permit" attributed to the Proud Boys was found across the University of Michigan campus. Michigan is resettling hundreds of Afghan refugees across the state. https://t.co/o73yO6Kb7G
— Malachi Barrett (@PolarBarrett) September 15, 2021
Students at the University of Michigan discovered that the West Hall of their campus had been covered in Proud Boys stickers that read “Afghan Refugee Hunting Permits” on September 12th. The stickers, featuring the far-Right, pro-Trump gang’s signature black and yellow branding, appeared on light poles around campus. Newsweek reports that Alex Williams, a University of Michigan student, discovered and took down around a dozen stickers and notified campus security. The stickers are a reference to the recent departure of the U.S. military and subsequent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
As Newsweek wrote:
The sticker lists the permit number as 09/11/01, an apparent reference to the September 11 terror attacks, along with the words “no bag limit—Tagging Taliban not required. May hunt day or night with or without dogs.”
The stickers were apparently advocating for the murder of Afghans as tens of thousands of refugees are to set to be housed in the U.S. after they were evacuated from Kabul in August, prior to the Taliban retaking the country.”
The SPLC-designated hate group is known for their virulent Islamophobia and reactionary violence toward immigrants. Many members of the Proud Boys have openly embraced neo-Nazism, white nationalism, and open anti-Semitism, and the group has a long history of open collaboration with white nationalists. Other stickers found on campus use language about reclaiming America and “RWDS,” or “Right Wing Death Squads,” a popular acronym used among members of the far-Right. Stickering is a familiar tactic of branding and recruitment that has been adopted by Alt-Right, neo-Nazi groups like Patriot Front, NSC-131, Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement, and the Rise Above Movement (RAM).
Proud Boy Whisperer and Far-Right Disinfo Troll Andy Ngo is Losing Advertisers
Andy Ngo's @TPostMillennial lost three more advertisers today, the latest in a mass exodus of advertising partners fleeing the hate rag.
The Post Millennial allows their featured author Jack Buckby to platform neo-nazis while blaming deadly far-right terror attacks on leftists. pic.twitter.com/YtFOBE1DVr
— Chad Loder (@chadloder) September 28, 2021
Far-Right conspiracy theorist and disinformation troll Andy Ngo is losing advertisers for his far-Right publication, The Post-Millennial – and crying about it to his followers.
According to The Daily Dot:
[S]ome of his critics have begun a pressure campaign to convince companies to stop advertising on the Post Millennial. It’s working. Over the last several weeks, five companies have stopped doing business with the Post Millennial, according to tweets and interviews.
Neither Ngo nor the Post Millennial responded to request for comment sent Wednesday afternoon.
In some cases, convincing a company to stop advertising on an arguably objectionable website is as simple as informing it that its ads are there. Companies often outsource ad purchases to intermediaries and thus don’t always know where their ads are displayed.
Nandini Jammi told the Daily Dot via Twitter message that she’s convinced several advertising tech companies to stop running ads on the Post Millennial.
“I got Kargo (an SSP), Next Millennium Media (a sales house) and now OpenWeb (an ad platform) to drop the Post Millennial,” said Jammi, an activist and co-founder of Check My Ads, which helps brands avoid association with “fake news, disinformation, and hate speech.”
Proud Boy News Roundup
- Proud Boy associate Aaron Simmons was arrested by the LAPD for hitting a reporter across the head with a bludgeon earlier this summer at a counter-protest to a far-Right, anti-trans rally in Los Angeles. After the attack, Simmons ran into a waiting van which was driven by Sarah Stephens, a far-Right Republican who ran for Governor of California during the failed recall attempt against Gavin Newsom.
- A Proud Boy from a midwest chapter who turned informant to the FBI back in 2020 was texting his handler in real-time about the movements of the group and the pro-Trump mob as they entered into the capitol, new reports show.
- Proud Boys in Newberg, Oregon showed up in opposition to protesters waving Black Lives Matter and Pride flags. According to Raw Story, “The protest came after an education assistant showed up to Mabel Rush Elementary earlier this week in blackface to protest the “segregation” of workplace vaccination mandates. Lauren Pefferle was fired from the Newburg school system soon after.” Pefferle told a radio host, “I feel segregated because I am unvaccinated,” and likened himself to Rosa Parks.
Doxxes
Adam Stelmack, NSC131 member from Bangor Maine
Let's welcome an extra special Nazi to New England!!! Everyone say hello to Adam Stelmack, a neo-Nazi from Orange Park, Florida who just moved to Bangor, Maine! Adam is a brand new recruit to a local neo-Nazi group so let's show Adam how we welcome Nazis to town!!
1/ pic.twitter.com/ffrmFjH30q— Garfield but Anti-Fascist (@AntifaGarfield) September 14, 2021
Adam Stemmack is a neo-Nazi superfan of Christopher Polhaus. Polhaus is a propagandist who has been trying to get his Nazi brethren to move to Maine en masse to turn it into a white enthno-state. Adam is one of the dumbfucks who actually bought into this plan and recently relocated from Florida. He began working at JS Woodhouse in Fairfield Maine. Contact information is available in the linked thread!
Matthew Cole Noorda, Desert Nationalist from Salt Lake City, Utah
UPDATED: Meet Matthew Cole Noorda, 32, of Salt Lake City, Utah–the person behind the infamous "Mormonger" account. Cole Noorda is a queerphobe who has used his DezNat account to spread homophobia, defend racism, and to tell racist jokes.@Ch_JesusChrist pic.twitter.com/duduzZekPg
— DezNat Exposed – Deseret Anti-Fascist Action (@ExposeDezNat) September 13, 2021
Matthew is the individual behind the DezNat “MorMonger” account. DezNat, short for, “Desret Nationalist” is a Mormon movement that seeks to establish a theocracy in Utah. Noorda used his platform to post extremely homophobic and transphobic propaganda and advocate for racist DezNat policies. He was reportedly followed by Mitt Romney’s sock account. Cole works at Podium. Consider contacting them to let them know a fascist propagandist is in their midst
Roy Moore (not that one) Proud Boy from Boise, Idaho
"Introducing Boise's Proud Boy Problem"
In this article, we identify and breakdown where and when these Proud Boys were spotted in the Treasure Valley, who the eldest is (and where he works), and our expectations of them. https://t.co/KYJ7Jx2uv1 pic.twitter.com/QhwaWlKwRV
— Redoubt Antifascists (@RedoubtAFA) September 20, 2021
New crew Redoubt AFA come to us with intel regarding the Boise area Proud Boys and their president Roy Moore. The group seems to have a minor presence in Meridian, ID and has recently harassed healthcare workers. Check out Redoubt AFA’s blog here.
Support Our Prisoners
Anti-fascist Eric King faces an additional 20 yrs behind bars for, lawyers argue, defending himself against a prison guard. New filings claim the BOP destroyed video evidence, misrepresented facts to the FBI and tortured him. my latest @motherboard https://t.co/ATxwJBA7Qj
— Ella (@EllaFassler) September 29, 2021
- Support those arrested during the ongoing rebellion! Check the In Contempt column on It’s Going Down for a list of prisoners.
- Support Gage Halupowski! Currently serving a six year sentence. There is currently an outbreak at his prison, so please step up and support! More info here.
- Support Dan Baker! Currently facing federal charges for posts online in response to armed far-Right rally at the capitol building in Florida. More info here.
- Support Eric King! Anarchist and antifascist prisoner who has been targeted by the State and neo-Nazi inmates for being ‘ANTIFA.’ More info here. Donate here.
- Support J.W. and TC! Antifascists arrested in San Diego following rally against far-Right and white supremacists. Donate here and here.
- Support Scottie! Facing charges steaming from altercation with far-Right Trump supporters in LA. More info here.
by This Week in Fascism via It's Going Down
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Eric King’s Trial Postponed!
Update on anarchist political prisoner Eric King’s trail, which has currently been rescheduled.
Eric’s pre-trial conference and trial has been rescheduled.
First, there will be an evidentiary hearing regarding Eric’s motion to suppress. More details to come.
Judge’s order:
ORDER as to Eric King (1): With respect to [114] Defendant Eric King’s Amended Motion to Suppress, the Court finds there are disputed issues of fact necessitating an evidentiary hearing on that Amended Motion.
Based on that conclusion, the four-day Jury Trial currently set to commence on October 12, 2021, and the Final Trial Preparation Conference set for October 1, 2021, are hereby VACATED and will be reset upon resolution of Defendant’s Amended Motion to Suppress.
The Amended Motion automatically excludes time from the Speedy Trial Clock so no additional motion seeking this relief is necessary. The Court will set the suppression hearing by way of separate Order. SO ORDERED by Judge William J. Martinez on 9/28/2021
Follow the Anarchist Black Cross Federation for more updates.
by Anarchist Black Cross Federation via It's Going Down
Transmissions Part Two: Relationships
sub.Media.Tv presents the second part in their mini-series focusing on inter-generational relationships amongst anarchists.
A four part mini-series focusing on the various dimensions of inter-generational relationships amongst anarchists. Part Two focuses on relationships. Hear from Helen Hudson, Ann Hansen, Cee, Vanessa Bolin, Mandy and Ashanti Alston. You’ll likely walk away from this episode with a lot to think about.
To view part one, go here.
by submedia.tv via It's Going Down
Mountain Valley Pipeline Protesters Lock To Equipment, Block Construction In Lindside, WV
Report from Appalachians Against Pipelines on recent action to stop the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in so-called Lindside, West Virginia.
Early Tuesday morning, two Mountain Valley Pipeline protesters locked themselves to construction equipment at a construction site in Lindside, WV. A rally of nearly a dozen supporters gathered nearby. Banners at the site read, “PIPELINES STINK,” “SOLIDARITY WITH STOP LINE 3,” and “AIN’T SCARED.”
By 11:30 AM, both protesters had been extracted and arrested after preventing construction at the site for nearly 5.5 hours. They were each charged with 3 misdemeanors, including obstruction, trespass, and tampering with a vehicle. Bail was set at $3,000 each. They have since been bailed out.
Those locked down stated, “A better world isn’t just possible, it’s necessary. As we write this, wildfires rage and major cities are recovering from unprecedented flooding. We’re not running out of time to address global climate change, we’re already out. We’re out of time for ‘transitional fossil fuels.’ We’re out of time for green washing by extraction companies. We’re out of time for a permitting process that calls projects that will increase gas consumption by two billion cubic feet a day ‘carbon neutral.’ We are out of time for the company and the courts’ bullshit. Every day of this fight, the movement against extraction grows. We are here to stay, we won’t back down, and no amount of intimidation from the courts or anyone else will stop us from doing what’s right.”
Construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline has been ongoing since 2018, but the company is still wading through the regulatory process and seeking permits required for construction. Last night in Rocky Mount, Virginia, the VA Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) held the first of two September hearings on the project’s certification under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The DEQ hearings allow the public to give comments in person to the State Water Control Board, which is also accepting written comments until October 27th.
Opponents to the pipeline point to the over three hundred and fifty water quality violations and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines that the project has already racked up, and say the DEQ should reject it outright.
Wanda Buchanan, resident of Linside, WV, added, “I feel the pipeline has proved that it is not needed. MVP stated that they were going to have it flowing at least four years ago due to the urgent need. The need has decreased since then. They tore up the beautiful countryside and mountains, and now spend unbelievable hours re-seeding the weeds and trying to stop the erosion. If they can’t handle the easy part, I do not trust their work on the pipes, stream crossings, etc. This needs to stop!”
Roger Crabtree, resident of Lindside, WV, stated, “The process that allowed MVP to take land for private profit is outrageous. Also outrageous were the promises to boost local economies long term. Not happening. Most importantly, the effects of this pipeline on Mother Earth, her water, and the future of her residents are all negative. Stop MVP!”
The second DEQ hearing takes place tonight, in Radford, VA, at 6 pm. The DEQ declined requests for a virtual hearing option, where residents could give oral comments remotely.
The protesters locked to construction equipment today, who identified themselves as Loam and Spit, also stated that they “are in solidarity with Indigenous water protectors fighting to stop Line 3 and share outrage for the heinous charges being placed on them and on No DAPL protestors 8 years later.”
Line 3 is a tar sands pipeline extension, currently under construction in parts of Canada and extending into Minnesota and Wisconsin by Enbridge Inc. The Indigenous-led resistance to the project is facing mass felony charges in Minnesota courts, and pain compliance tactics that have left protestors with Bell’s Palsy, a condition causing partial paralysis of the facial muscles, according to the Giniw Collective’s recent social media posts.
Loam and Spit continued, “we are also in solidarity with the Zapatista communities in Mexico. They are Indigenous and non Indigenous people who have been standing up for autonomy, their basic rights to life and self determination, and against extraction in Chiapas since 1994. In doing so, they have faced far greater repression from the state and corporate interests than we ever will. Just last week, two members of the Good Government Council in Chiapas were kidnapped by members of a paramilitary group aligned with the Mexican state. To this we say hands off the Zapatistas! Hands off Indigenous land! Land back!”
They add, “we are part of a global movement against extraction and exploitation. If you’re reading this or watching us, we want you to feel capable, not hopeless. If we want to get to the world we need, it will be through the work and struggle of many different groups in many places. We would love to see folks inspired to take action against the Mountain Valley Pipeline. We also love to see folks taking a stand for what’s right wherever they are, whatever the context. Find each other, learn from each other, organize. Don’t back down. We’re in this together and our time is now.”
by Appalachians Against Pipelines via It's Going Down
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
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There Is No ‘Good’ Form Of Capitalism: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Listen to a reading of this article:
❖
Don’t side with the powerful against the less powerful. Just don’t. Don’t side with police against protesters. Don’t side with the US against the targets of western imperialism. Don’t side with Israel against Palestinians. Siding with the powerful means you’ve taken a wrong turn.
❖
It sure is a strange coincidence how all the US government’s grave concerns about Julian Assange endangering national security all manifested in ways that just so happen to look exactly the same as the world’s most powerful government persecuting a journalist for telling the truth.
❖
May all the journalists who helped manufacture consent for Assange’s persecution one day look in the mirror and see someone who helped the most powerful government in the world torture an autistic person for doing their job better than them.
❖
Watching TV when you’re not used to it is like a nonstop machine gun punch-in-the-face reminder of how completely unsustainable capitalism is.
❖
Q: What is capitalism?
A: Capitalism is a system of transferring blame for society’s problems from the people who cause those problems onto the people who are hurt by them.
❖
The CIA used to have to infiltrate the media. Now the CIA is the media. Much of what the agency used to do covertly is now done overtly, because it has been sufficiently normalized and consent has been adequately manufactured. https://t.co/s4lL2Y3p2Y
— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) September 27, 2021
❖
Q: What is democracy?
A: Democracy is getting to choose between a political party who doesn’t think the abuses of capitalism are excessive enough and a political party who thinks the level of abusiveness is just about right.
❖
There is no “good” version of capitalism. Any system in which human behavior is driven by profit will necessarily see a steadily mounting rise in exploitation, inequality, ecocide and militarism, because all of those things are profitable. We need to end the profit motive itself.
❖
Conspiracy theorists would have you believe that wealthy and powerful people would manipulate global affairs in all sorts of immoral ways over a paltry trillions of dollars.
❖
Indie media figures who spend a lot of time sniping at and talking shit about other indie media figures do so solely because their interest in social climbing and sectarian tribalism grew to exceed their interest in the values which brought them to indie media in the first place.
Nobody really talks about the way you get pulled into different factions once you start gaining a following in indie media, but it’s very much a thing. You get added to group chats, people cozy up to you and amplify you and ask to be amplified, then before you know it you find yourself involved in agendas and sectarian spats that have nothing to do with your values. Takes a lot not to get drawn in.
❖
Remember when CNN staged a scripted interview with a seven year-old Syrian girl to have her explain that Assad was responsible for a recent sarin gas attack and drum up support for US military interventionism?
I think about this a lot. She’s plainly either reading or reciting from a script, which means CNN’s Alisyn Camerota necessarily had the other half of that script. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
❖
“Why don’t you talk more about Covid and vaccines, Caitlin?”
Yeah why don’t I spend my life trying to explain a nuanced and evolving perspective about a hot-button issue to hysterical people on the internet who are all determined to misinterpret the words I’m saying, sounds fun.
❖
People say Marx was smart but I’ve read his stuff and he barely spends any time at all yelling about Jimmy Dore.
❖
AOC’s habit of word-salading on difficult issues is what you get when you have news media driven by access journalism who politicians know will never try to pin them down on their answers and say “Yeah nothing you just said makes sense. Please explain what you meant by that?”
Politicians of a certain level understand that as far as the media are concerned it doesn’t matter so much how you answer as that you answer. If it’s a difficult question you just keep your mouth moving without actually saying anything until the question goes away.
This is why it always feels like you’re being lied to when you watch presidential debates. Candidates understand how to keep their mouths moving and word salad about freedom and American democracy and whatever without actually giving a concrete answer to a difficult question.
They do it because they know it works. And they know it works because they know the plutocrat-controlled media are driven by empire apologia first, ratings second, advertisers third, and holding the powerful to account somewhere near the bottom of the list.
❖
Democratize the media, free the internet, end government secrecy, end corporate and financial secrecy, end patents, establish centers for psychedelic use and consciousness expansion, eliminate most laws and thereby most police and prisoners, govern in rotating shifts like jury duty, eliminate mass-scale manipulation including advertising, build systems for collaboration with each other and our ecosystem, end all war and militarism, get mothers all the material support they need to raise mentally and physically healthy children, end wealth inequality, give everyone enough, make shelter, water, food and air inalienable human rights.
_______________________
My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube, or throwing some money into my tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here.
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source https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/09/28/there-is-no-good-form-of-capitalism-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/
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Report on Ongoing Hunger Strike Inside Texas Prison
Report from prisoner led formation Tx TeamOne, about ongoing hunger strike happening inside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Originally published on Abolition Media Worldwide.
On August 21st, 2021, over 60 imprisoned persyns in TDCJ’s Allred unit, Restrictive Housing Unit, declared a hunger strike in protest of the continued conditions, and existence of long term and indefinite sensory deprivation. Since these brave individuals, anchored by Tx T.E.A.M.O.N.E. (a revolutionary prisoners’ formation) began their strike, they’ve experienced various forms of petty retaliation tactics from prison officials/guards, and medical personnel.
Furthermore, after declaring that they would continue the hunger strike until they received an audience with executive director Brian Collier and regional director David Blackwell, the inmates have been completely ignored by the administration. Their communications have been unacknowledged.
This experience of the prisoners here has shown that the state cares not about its most oppressed internal population. These inmates are systematically alienated and upon seeking recognition of their humynity, have been completely ignored, not even worthy of acknowledgement.
And what do these inmates want that is SO extreme or far fetched?
They’ve demanded phones be installed in the housing area, which will allow for the 15 minute calls allowed each persyn not in solitary. They’ve asked for rehabilitation, and educational opportunities. They’ve asked for the opportunity to socialize with each other via a small group recreation.
Are these things so far fetched? And if they’re too much for the administration to handle, these prisoners demand to be released from the continued torture that is extended isolation.
Below, we’ve listed a few, not all of the retaliatory tactics taken by the administration since this strike began on the 21st:
- During the first week, administration denied inmates opportunity to call home, an attempt to prevent news from leaking out.
- During the first weekend, medical refused to see any strikers the entire weekend, which is against hunger strike management policy G-53.3, which states that each day, strikers should be seen by medical after they’ve missed 9 meals.
- Administration has been purposely interrupting strikers and inside supporters’ sleep, keeping us over 20 hours, as they come in the wee hours of the morning to inventory the items in our cells.
- One Tx TEAMONE committee member was ordered to show his anus if he wished to see medical; when he refused and asked to speak to a ranking official, he was placed on strip cell status, or property restriction, which means ALL his persynal, as well as the state’s property was taken from him, and he was made to remain naked in a cold and isolated cell, simply for not submitting to the inhumane measures of a search.
As of the date of this writing (9/5/21), these prisoners are still on hunger strike. The only thing that has come out of their sacrifice is more repression from the state, along with a small token of a 1 hour increase in COVID restricted visitation, which was part of the strikers’ nine minimum demands.
Reach out to these comrades behind the walls at:
Tx TeamOne/ 113 Stockholm, #1A/ Brooklyn, NY 11221
Also, see their ‘Tx TeamOne Primer’: https://www.amwenglish.com/articles/texas-team-one-primer/.
Tx T.E.A.M.O.N.E. is already looking forward to advancing their struggle against the Tx state prison system through a statewide campaign which they’ve already began organizing for June 2022…
Tx T.E.A.M.O.N.E.
COMMITTEE
photo: Hédi Benyounes via Unsplash
by Abolition Media Worldwide via It's Going Down
Anarchist Think Tank Locked Out of PayPal
Statement from the The Center for a Stateless Society (C4SS), on their PayPal account being permanently disabled.
Auburn, AL – The Center for a Stateless Society (C4SS), a left-wing market anarchist think tank and media center, has had its 16-year-old PayPal accounts permanently disabled. It is unclear at this time why PayPal has disabled these accounts. C4SS financial coordinator, James Tuttle, is working with the rest of the coordinator team to try and right this situation as quickly as possible, but we have yet to hear back from PayPal.
This is an absolutely devastating loss of service for us, made worse by the complete lack of transparency and communication around why our account has been frozen and what can be done to rectify the situation. We are currently discussing alternative payment platforms to use in the future.
Not only does this mean we will be unable to pay writers and translators on time for September contributions, we’re not sure when or if we’ll be able to access our funding on PayPal at all. Our store and publishing operation also operate on these funds and so we’re unable to fulfill orders or refill stock for the C4SS Counter Economic Store until this is figured out.
As a point of clarity and transparency: C4SS operates as a 501(c)3 nonprofit media organization under the name of its parent organization, The Molinari Institute and previously used this PayPal account for almost all transactions. We are fully compliant with regard to tax documentation and 501(c)3 status.
photo: Jason Blackeye via Unsplash
by Anonymous Contributor via It's Going Down
Monday, September 27, 2021
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How Is The CIA Still A Thing?
Listen to a reading of this article:
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Citing “conversations with more than 30 former U.S. officials,” a new report by Yahoo News has confirmed earlier allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency not only spied on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his associates, but also drew up plans for kidnapping, renditioning, and assassinating him.
These plans were reportedly made in coordination with the Trump White House as then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo and then-Deputy CIA Director Gina Haspel raged over WikiLeaks’ 2017 Vault 7 release which revealed that the CIA had lost control of an enormous digital arsenal of hacking tools. These included tools which enabled the surveillance of smartphones, smart TVs and web browsers, the hacking of computerized vehicle control systems, and the ability to frame foreign governments for cyber attacks by inserting the digital “fingerprints” of the hacking methods they employ for investigators to find. It was the single largest data leak in CIA history.
Normally we have to wait decades for confirmation that the CIA did something nefarious, and then people absurdly assume that such things no longer occur because it was so long ago, and because changing your worldview is uncomfortable. But here we are with an extensively sourced report that the agency plotted to kidnap, rendition and assassinate a journalist for publishing authentic documents in the public interest, just four years after the fact.
Journalists for Yahoo! News finally confirmed a narrative around Mike Pompeo and the CIA's war on WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, which I outlined back in October 2019. It's an important report.
Thread. https://t.co/MLrNvv3bnV
— Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) September 26, 2021
Which is about as spectacular a violation of virtually every value that western society claims to uphold. Particularly the assassination bit.
The authors of the story (who for the record insert their own flimsy spin insinuating ties between Russia and WikiLeaks) say it’s not known just how serious the assassination plans were taken at Langley. But they make it abundantly clear that such plans were made:
“[A]gency executives requested and received ‘sketches’ of plans for killing Assange and other Europe-based WikiLeaks members who had access to Vault 7 materials, said a former intelligence official. There were discussions ‘on whether killing Assange was possible and whether it was legal,’ the former official said.”
And that, right there, just by itself, should be reason enough to completely abolish the Central Intelligence Agency. Just the fact that this is an institution where such conversations even happen and such plans even get made, to say nothing of the obvious implication that they wouldn’t have such conversations and make such plans if they did not act on them from time to time.
I just can’t get over how this claim was openly confirmed by a mainstream journalism investigation and the public response has been “Oh wow what an alarming news story,” instead of, “Okay well the CIA doesn’t get to exist then.”
I mean, is it not out-of-this-world bizarre that we just found out the CIA recently drew up plans to assassinate a journalist for journalistic activity, and yet we’re not all unanimously demanding that the CIA be completely dismantled and flushed down the toilet forever?
I’m seriously confused at the people who are opposed to abolishing the CIA?
Is the argument that they are doing good work?
How can anyone hear about the history of the CIA and what they do and be like, “I approve”
— Nick is a Fred Hampton Leftist 🥋 (@SocialistMMA) September 27, 2021
This would after all be the same lying, drug-running, warmongering, propagandizing, psychological terrorizing Central Intelligence Agency that has been viciously smashing the world into compliance with its agendas for generations. It is surely one of the most depraved institutions ever to have existed, comparable in terms of sheer psychopathy to the worst of the worst in history.
So why does it exist? Why is there still an institution whose extensive use of torture has reportedly included “Rape, gang rape, rape using eels, snakes, or hard objects, and rape followed by murder; electric shock (‘the Bell Telephone Hour’) rendered by attaching wires to the genitals or other sensitive parts of the body, like the tongue; the ‘water treatment’; the ‘airplane’ in which the prisoner’s arms were tied behind the back, and the rope looped over a hook on the ceiling, suspending the prisoner in midair, after which he or she was beaten; beatings with rubber hoses and whips; the use of police dogs to maul prisoners”?
I am of course being rhetorical. We all know why the CIA still exists. An agency which exerts control over the news media with ever-increasing brazenness is not about to start helping the public become more well-informed about its unbroken track record of horrific abuses, and if anyone in power ever even thinks about crossing them they have “six ways from Sunday of getting back at you.”
The date of the absolute last time the CIA ever did anything evil keeps getting moved forward. The CIA just casually had plans drawn up for the assassination of Julian Assange in case they decided that was something they wanted to do, but you’re a crazy conspiracy theorist if you think they might be doing other bad things right now.
The reason the latest Assange story isn’t getting more traction and causing more people to think critically about the CIA is because the US government making plans to kidnap, rendition and assassinate a journalist for telling the truth is so incomprehensibly evil that it causes too much cognitive dissonance for people to really take in. Our minds are wired to reject information which disrupts our worldview, and people who’ve spent their lives marinating in the belief that they live in a free democracy will have worldviews that are resistant to information which shows we are actually ruled by secretive power structures who laugh at our votes.
So to recap, the CIA made plans to kidnap and rendition Julian Assange and to assassinate him and his associates. The CIA also spied on Assange and his legal team, and a notoriously untrustworthy key witness for the prosecution in his case has admitted to fabricating evidence. And yet the CIA is not being burnt to the ground and its ashes scattered to the Langley winds, and the UK is still somehow proceeding right along with the US appeal to extradite Assange.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: as much light as WikiLeaks has shone on the dark inner workings of the powerful over the years, the persecution of Julian Assange by those very same power structures has revealed far, far more. The more they seek to persecute him the brighter that light shines on them, making it easier and easier for us to see who they are, what they do, and how they do it.
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source https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/09/27/how-is-the-cia-still-a-thing/