Oh The Waste
I am so angry and frustrated about what's happening in the Twin Cities this week. Not at the cops - obviously it's horrible what they're doing, but they're just doing what's to be expected of them. If you're surprised by their response to the protests, you've been deluding yourself about the state of civil liberties and freedoms in this country for the last 4 years, at least.
No, what I'm irritated about is all the wasted energy and resources and passion being spent by activists and independent journalists. Imagine all the other places and causes that could be aided by all that attention and effort. Not only protesters and reporters, but all the other 'support' for the protesters. For instance, this fragment from an indymedia report about some street medics from Portland who went to the DNC and RNC protests:
"...we treated hundreds of injured people and took into our care an unexpected number of activists with additional health concerns, both related and unrelated to the events, plus tended to people with various illnesses as well as some difficult cases with chronic conditions.
We treated injuries from pepper bullets, pepperspray, beatings, strangleholds, clubbing, cuts, scrapes, bruises, handcuff injuries, exhaustion, dehydration, heat illness, exposure to the elements, asthma attacks, psychological emergencies, and some serious medical emergencies.
That's so sad. It's great that those medics were around, but all of those injuries could have been avoided! They're all completely pointless problems caused by the decision to be out there on the streets getting beat up by cops.
Dammit, what if those activists, medics, and indy journalists all descended on a place that really needed their help, like Juarez for instance? They could escort women at risk of rape and murder to and from work, give medical care to them and their children, and make news reports about what they see. They could act as human shields when the police or army show up to abuse citizens. They could refuse to smoke any pot that comes from Mexico and they could form a posse to take down small time narcos and document the violence of the cartels.
That is just one example. They could also be in New Orleans helping people there in the aftermath of Gustav. There are numerous projects and causes available.
But instead these people go somewhere where they'll make absolutely ZERO positive difference. None of the people there for the convention, the replublican delegates and what not, are going to have their minds changed or swayed. Others out in the world might be, but they'll never see it because the mainstream media will never show it. And just as many might be swayed the opposite way, with all the reports of caltrops in the streets and broken windows. More bad press for anarchists and activists in general. So these people are not only doing no good, they also CREATE their own crisis because the cops of course respond as usual with extreme force, and then the activists expect to be helped and supported. Selfish, privileged dimwits, why didn't you people stay home so the medics wouldn't have to waste their time bandaging your meaningless wounds? So the videographers wouldn't be wasting tape on your sorry asses?
It's just so sad and maddening. And many saw it all coming. It wasn't rocket surgery to predict.
- 559 reads
- Printer-friendly version
Comments
You obviously don't see the
You obviously don't see the disconnect in what you say....
The crisis Juarez will not improve by babysitting the poor underprivalaged citizens. Their lives are a symptom of the illness that these protesters rail against.
How do you stop crime (drug smuggling, prostitution, etc.)? You stop poverty. How do you stop poverty? You empower the people. How do you empower the people? You call out and change the people/political structures that exploit them.
No doubt that humanitarianism and service are needed, but the heavy lifting needs to get done for real change.
as someone involved with the
as someone involved with the movment - I could not agree more
here we go again
A debate over proper use of our limited time, energy, and resources is all well and good, but lets try to avoid holier-than-thou pronouncements, huh? Sometimes people need to express themselves by hitting the streets, and your article is shifting blame for the violence from the cops onto the anarchists.
I personally do not partake in property destruction or streetfighting because i think being confrontational and nonviolent is more effective (i know property destruction isn't violent per se, but you know what i mean), but i'm not going to get on peoples cases if they chose to do engage in those tactics. I'll do my thing and let them do theirs.
besides, in reality there are plenty of the projects you want to see already being worked on. For example, I returned from a summer in Colombia with a number of NGOs doing human shield work and the leadership of say, Witness For Peace, for example, was early 30s anarchists who did their work via consensus and twinkle-fingers
The Catholic Worker community is a good example of anarchists (albeit christian anarchists) feeding and housing people everyday, but the community also supports its members who chose to commit nonviolent civil disobedience like crossing the line at the SOA or whatever.
along those lines, we shouldn't being doing THIS over THAT, but a little of BOTH, nah'mean?
We need a military wing and a social services wing. Just look at the Black Panthers or Moktada Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. They stand up in the streets and feed people, and its the combination of both that made their movements effective.
RE: Here we go again
If someone damaged my belongings, I'd consider it violent. Why is it different if the property that is damaged is public or corporate?
The way to dismantle the corpratists state is not to engage in petty street fights.
It is to organize as a political movement. Street anarchy will not attract more than .001% of the public...ergo it will not be a movement for change.
It is better to be planning the systems that will replace the unsustainable world we live in now. I find permaculturists being involved in riotous street actions to be really odd!
Yes, we need to vent our rage. But why get clubbed, gasses, tazed and stuffed in jail for it!!
i hear what you are saying
i personally do not believe property destruction and streetfighting to be all that effective either, but the same argument can be made for permitted protests and nonviolent civil disobedience. People are going to do what they are going to do.
as for getting our asses beat....look at MLK and how those dudes would show up to the lunch counters in suits and ties to protest nonviolently and then when they took the assbeating, people saw how fucked up it was, how the group that was supposed to be acting crazy was calm and dignified and the people that were supposed to be superior were acting like assholes.
thats why i think a nonviolent approach is better.....stay confrontational and then if we get our asses kicked at least it exposes the police state without anyone twisting it as "protest turns violent when anarchists throw teargas back at police" you know?
and as i stated in my original comment....we need a militant wing and a social services wing....combine both approaches.
and definitly build a political movement through grassroots organizing and educational campaigns and things of that nature, too.
This should Work
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 3 DOJ-RNCC-charge
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A 23-year-old Michigan man was charged last week in federal court for illegally possessing Molotov cocktails, which he allegedly intended to use at the Republican National Convention.
Matthew Bradley DePalma, Flint, Mich., was charged Aug. 30 with one count of possession of firearms that were not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. DePalma made his initial appearance yesterday, and his complaint was unsealed today. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday in Minneapolis.
According to the criminal complaint, DePalma knowingly and intentionally possessed Molotov cocktails from Aug. 22 through Aug. 28.
"The FBI, in close cooperation with our law enforcement and government partners, is working diligently to identify, investigate and respond to threats directed at the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area during the Republican National Convention," said Ralph S. Boelter, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Minneapolis Office. "Any criminal activities aimed at disrupting the convention or acts to harm persons or properties in violation of federal law will be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted, as appropriate."
DePalma was arrested without incident Aug. 30 at approximately 6:15 a.m. by agents of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force at a residence in south Minneapolis.
According to a FBI affidavit, DePalma became known to the FBI in July 2008, when DePalma attended the CrimeThinc Convergence near Waldo, Wisc. During this event, DePalma allegedly stated his intention to travel to Minnesota to attend the RNC, and also expressed his desire to "make some bombs" and "blow up" things during the RNC.
The affidavit states that DePalma discussed with a FBI source his desire to make Molotov cocktails, describing in detail the use of ingredients that would make the flammable liquid more viscous so that it would stick to a target and burn longer and hotter than an ordinary gasoline-based Molotov cocktail.
The affidavit states that DePalma went to the Hennepin County Library on Aug. 18 and spent 90 minutes researching recipes for explosive devices. DePalma produced a handwritten list of items he would need to construct "special" Molotov cocktails that would stick to people and other targets.
DePalma's conversations, recorded on Aug. 20, described a plan to place a bomb near the Xcel Center during the RNC in an effort to disrupt the convention. The plan involved entering the tunnels near the center and using either Molotov cocktails or a chemical bomb to destroy electrical cables and cause a power outage. DePalma, the affidavit states, also described a related plan to use napalm-filled Molotov cocktails on the streets against police officers stating, "I will light one of those pigs on fire."
The affidavit states that DePalma obtained supplies for making Molotov cocktails on Aug. 21-22.
On Aug. 22, DePalma allegedly manufactured two jugs of a homemade napalm-like substance for use in Molotov cocktails. He created a flammable gelatin, and described to another the proper technique for throwing a Molotov cocktail to obtain the best explosion. DePalma continued to discuss his desire to make a bomb for use at the Xcel Center on either the convention's first day (Sept. 1) or last day (Sept. 4).
According to the affidavit, DePalma stated that if he could bomb the center on Sept. 1 they might call off the convention. He added that a "power outage would say a lot" and that it was his "main purpose." DePalma also said that he would like to bomb the Xcel Energy Center on Sept. 4 so that the convention would "end with a bang."
DePalma was observed traveling to a remote location in Rosemount for the purpose of assembling and testing Molotov cocktails. On Aug. 25, DePalma went to a remote location in Roseville for the purpose of experimenting with chemicals for a chemical bomb.
The affidavit states that DePalma manufactured three additional Molotov cocktails in a Minneapolis apartment on Aug. 28, where he was arrested. The affidavit states that DePalma possessed a total of five Molotov cocktails between Aug. 22-28, which were not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, as required by law.
If convicted, DePalma faces a potential maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. All sentences are determined by a federal district court judge. This case is the result of an investigation by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice
lessons from other resistances
a sincere, useful analysis I hope you will bother to read non-text from aged radical, it takes a minute-
There are differences between tactics and strategy. We do need to celebrate our humanity by taking into serious concern the physical/emotional cost against the effectiveness of an action. We must ask
what works, for whom, when, how it will be understood or not, whether they can get support from those with whom they disagree, what costs are next, how do you follow up, did you increase your numbers,who benefits, and so on.
So I am trying to talk to those of you who felt insulted by the former message to remind us that huge divisions about tactics take place in every revolution, and are resolved by clarification of the strategy, and, then, what would follow.
A huge division historically (1967-73, 69 sds split convention) was "violent" vs. "peace" , which are false terms to start with, but those of us discussing these "tactics" did say,strategically, either,"we are the home front and act now", or "stop the anti-people attacks that randomize the destruction and fear to the whole people rather than the true enemies, the violent practice of capitalism and its beneficiaries." It is not the masses of people that are the problem, they are the solution. Their information comes to them as 'windows smashed' not as 'people smashed'. where i agree strongly with "oh, the waste" is that there is no knowledge about the people smashed and people jailed and homes raided and..the support needs to come from those who think that this undermines their protest, and fears the random violence themselves. So, who is the enemy? what are we saying tactically, strategically? Do people need to get hurt; hurt now, here, and maybe, hurt their cause?
Many fronts
I agree with the author that we need people doing mutual aid work all over the world. The problem is we will always need bandaids and other mutual aid until we get rid of this fuckin' system. The actions in St. Paul are an attempt at putting a nail in the coffin fo this system. There are many fronts iin the war against the state and capitalism. There are times when you try to to bring the muthafucker down and times when you need to do mutual aid. Thank the goddess that Hurricane Gustav didn't do more damage, so that the medics could help our freedom fighers.
If you don't want to be an offensive soldier, don't do it. But don't put those who are trying to create more freedom in the world. They are fighting for you too.
explain to me how anything
explain to me how anything happening in the twin cities this week is "putting a nail in the coffin fo (sic) this system." I don't see it.
Post new comment