The People's Record

redplebeian: thepeoplesrecord: redplebeian: pragnacious: openlayla64: anarcamus: mutualistrebel...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:22:00 -0500

thepeoplesrecord:

redplebeian:

pragnacious:

openlayla64:

anarcamus:

mutualistrebelnews:

On the real though, it’s WAY easier to condemn than create.

Let me ask a question—and with it, include a disclaimer that I don’t think party-building or newspaper sales actually constitute good praxis at all:

What SHOULD they be doing?

Like, what’s the game plan here? What’s the plan of attack? Does anyone have any idea?

Yeah newspaper sales are a joke, and a funny one at that. No, they don’t work. But what should these guys do instead?

What should ANY of us be doing?

I’m more critiquing the Socialists than anything else. They’re acting as if the revolution is tomorrow IF ONLY WE SOLD MORE PAPERS.

Like, I’m just fucking mad that they think newpapers are the only way to communicate. that they think the state is the only way to organize. That they do things simply out of tradition and not out of effectiveness.

Fuck the newspapers. Go fucking talk to union leaders. Talk to coworkers. ANYTHING BESIDES BECOMING A SUBCULTURE. The groups here are literally hang out groups. Everyone in the WIL are friends and hang out and drink and whatever. They’ll go out, set up a table, bother some people walking to class, sell a paper or two, then go back to one of their houses and hang out.

It’s a subculture, not a threat. It’s empty slogans. I just want them to acknowledge that what they’re doing isn’t working, and they need to think before they sell. Think before they act. Like, how many times do you need to hold paper sales, sell nothing, and go home, to realize that it isn’t working? They do the same thing every fucking week. It’s a routine.

I don’t know what we should be doing, I just know that we can’t keep repeating the same mistakes and same actions if they’re not helping at all.

Just because the ISO and the CPUSA are more focused on selling papers than anything doesn’t mean anything. Trots and democratic socialists don’t speak for anyone but themselves; I’m a socialist and I’m assisting in starting up a chapter of the IWW here in Dallas, I talk to coworkers, I openly criticize (and mind you, I work at a place notorious for union-busting), and I happily work with anarchists. Please don’t generalize and group all socialists together just because a couple of college frat ISO Trots think that selling newspapers are a legitimate form of starting a revolution.

Um, the vice president of the Chicago teachers union is an ISO member, as is a large proportion of CORE. This is not to mention the large number of members who are rank and file union members. One of my closest comrades is a union steward.

ISO branches are almost ubiquitously involved with Students for Justice in Palestine chapters. This is the work my branch focuses on. Comrades at my branch have been involved in Occupy, have organized for Prison Awareness Week, and have attended actions sponsored by the farm laborers’ union FLOC. That’s not even a complete list of the stuff we’ve done beyond “selling papers” and we’re a small and frankly ineffectual branch when compared to others.

I’ve interned with FLOC and have been heavily involved in prison activism for about three years now. This isn’t strictly ISO work, but I’m an ISO member who’s sure doing shit other than selling papers and the work I do is highly informed by what I have learned in the ISO.

The ISO branch in Detroit has organized and/or co-sponsored several panels in opposition to racism and police brutality. Among other events, we had a panel that included as speakers Mertilla Jones, Aiyana Johnes’ grandmother, as well as community leaders and comrades. Via local ISO events, I’ve heard former members of DRUM and the Black Panthers speak. Just in the last year, the Detroit branch has also done day schools on Rape Culture and Leninist Organizing.

Which is not even to mention the fact that the ISO puts on the biggest and best Left conference in the country every single year.

This whole “ISO thinks selling new papers will start the revolution” thing is complete and utter bullshit, and frankly that level of bullshit can only come from ignorance or willful dishonesty.

That line; “This whole “ISO thinks selling new papers will start the revolution” thing is complete and utter bullshit, and frankly that level of bullshit can only come from ignorance or willful dishonesty.” needs to repeated everywhere. I’m so fucking sick of that silly baseless piece of nonsense. Seriously, if someone actually thinks that, that all we do is sell papers, then you clearly have never actually met any of us or worked with any of us. The extent of our work is pretty goddam broad, significant and diverse, there is no way to sum it up. And even then, it always bugged me how some Anarchists put so much on putting zines and the like, but if you do the exact same thing but call it a paper, then there’s something wrong with you (also the IWW has a paper too, you know).

There’s definitely some mis-characterization here but there’s also alot of truth to the criticism. I just think selling papers on the corner is destructive organizationally, and I think there is a cultural problem within some organizations that doesn’t allow the sort of criticism that would change that to really be dealt with in the organization.

Like, I’ve seen it brought up many times in different groups, and the response is always pretty dogmatically in ‘defense of a revolutionary paper!’ I think selling papers on the corner is a big turn off for people who might be sympathetic to your political views otherwise, especially if you have a kind of really weird/outdated looking website. I think it’s one of those ‘elevation of tactics to the ideological level’ things that I hear lots of socialists level as a criticism against anarchists.

I don’t have a dog in this race. I’d love to see some cooperative broad synthesis between what I see in alot of Trotskyists and what I see among anarcho-syndicalists. I think Richard Wolff and others have started to do lay the ground work for framing this sort of strategic union. I think there has to be some broader identity for leftists who are devoted to making communism happen and can see multiple paths, who are not married to any one strategy and don’t believe there is some pre-written answer based on completely different circumstances 100+ years ago. And that doesn’t mean just throwing in the line ‘There is no pre-written answer,’ in your talk right before you start announcing the definitive historic lessons of far-gone revolutions. I think newspaper sales are self-destructive for the organizations that utilize that as an ‘important/valued’ strategy. Have a paper, maybe spend some money giving it away. It shouldn’t be a highly valued tactic.

Most of the issues I see both in groups of socialists and anarchists are issues regarding the culture of the groups, not necessarily the ideology they reflect. I seen no practical reason why newspaper sales should be held onto so rigidly. Neither would I recommend bands of anarchists selling zines on various corners, coming to rallies that others have spent alot of energy organizing and trying to focus on selling zines. It fosters discontent for your organization. It is not constructive. I also would like to see more emphasis on stuff that isn’t Russian/Bolshevik specific. I don’t mean ignore the history, but allow a culture to develop in your organization that reflects society today, use terminology that is relevant. If there isn’t a practical use for emulating Bolshevik words all the time, stop. It can be distancing for people who are new to your politics. Allow the culture of the organization to breath a little.

These are real criticisms. There are real problems in these organizations. And I love you all so much. I want to see you grow, flourish, succeed and become wildly popular. I want a broad, strong, mighty left. I want a communist future. But I think there’s a lack of seriousness/maturity dominating the culture of certain groups, and I think there is a knee-jerk reaction to suppress, dismiss and ignore criticism rather than really consider & engage with it.

-Robert

I think there is an ass-backwardness to a lot of the criticism that is both dated and missing what is really being argued about here. The paper is just a tool. Its not the reason for setting up tables on street corners by any stretch of the imagination. The purpose is to set up tables on street corners and wherever else to engage with people in discussion. To talk politics in the public area and in the community. Thats it. Thats what you are all on about. The paper can be a usefull tool in doing that at times, conversation starters and such, but sometimes a petition works better, or just handing out fliers, or something else. We’re not married to the paper. We don’t even call them “paper sales,” they’re called “Tablings” cause that’s the purpose. And I can’t imagine anyone who’d have an issue with that, of trying to engage with the public, of getting socialist ideas out there, of trying to break through the corporate media sound barrier with radical politics, by just talking and relating to people. Thats all it is.

Yeah, I understand that that’s the intent. But you must be aware of how it is perceived. In a society where print-media is increasingly not a preferred means of information, to have people walking around asking for a $1 for a paper, breeds suspicion and distance. When you use it to start conversations, and then say, would you like a copy, it’ll cost $1, that’s really weird, it can make people really uncomfortable, and (I believe) does a disservice to you strategically.It feels like the same format as a sales pitch.

If it is a tool, then do what you would do with an ineffective tool, throw it away, pick up another tool, try something else. That’s what I’m saying - try something else. Put energy into paperless tablings. Try and come up with creative alternatives. Try LOTS of stuff. I’ve been to ISO & other tablings in several cities. I’m sorry but I see the same kinda-weird stuff over and over, and the same reactions by people who feel like they are being asked if ‘they’ve heard the good news’ or if ‘they can spare a bit of change’ because the interactions are very often more like that than a lively political discussion.

It’s intention & ideal execution are not the problem. It’s the reality of what actually happens, and how it is perceived by people who could be very turned off. I mean, ask yourself, how would you know when paper sales became ineffective? Do you believe there will come a time when print media digestion has dropped to a point that paper sales won’t be the best tool for having a political conversation? How will you know when you get there?

U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of FirmsJune 15,...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:28:26 -0500

U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms
June 15, 2013

Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said.

These programs, whose participants are known as trusted partners, extend far beyond what was revealed by Edward Snowden, a computer technician who did work for the National Security Agency. The role of private companies has come under intense scrutiny since his disclosure this month that the NSA is collecting millions of U.S. residents’ telephone records and the computer communications of foreigners from Google Inc (GOOG) and other Internet companies under court order.

Many of these same Internet and telecommunications companies voluntarily provide U.S. intelligence organizations with additional data, such as equipment specifications, that don’t involve private communications of their customers, the four people said.

Makers of hardware and software, banks, Internet security providers, satellite telecommunications companies and many other companies also participate in the government programs. In some cases, the information gathered may be used not just to defend the nation but to help infiltrate computers of its adversaries.

Along with the NSA, the Central Intelligence Agency (0112917D), the Federal Bureau of Investigation and branches of the U.S. military have agreements with such companies to gather data that might seem innocuous but could be highly useful in the hands of U.S. intelligence or cyber warfare units, according to the people, who have either worked for the government or are in companies that have these accords.

“Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence.”

This begs the question why corporations should get clearance to access to “classified” intelligence…

Submitted by http://dashielsheen.tumblr.com/

“I’m a Verizon customer. It doesn’t bother me...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:27:00 -0500

“I’m a Verizon customer. It doesn’t bother me one bit for the National Security Administration to have my phone number.” (x)

“…NSA provides Congress with a special immunity to its surveillance.”
(via Edward Snowden Q&A with Guardian readers)

Submitted by: http://dashielsheen.tumblr.com/

The People’s Record coming to Portland the 20th, leaving the...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:25:55 -0500

The People’s Record coming to Portland the 20th, leaving the 23rd!

Need recommendations for groups, activists, community leaders etc who would make good interviews that we can reach out to ASAP.

Also need housing offer. We may or may not having something worked out…waiting to hear back. If not, then we have a pretty narrow period of time to find housing for the nights of the 20th, 21st and 22nd. If you can house us for any/all nights, please don’t hesitate to reach out. There are two of us, friendly, easy-going, not-too-weird! Pets are fine, 420 friendly, etc. Really, we’re not fussy at all. The closer to transit the better.

Also looking for recommendations for Seattle interviews!

Email: thepeoplesrec@gmail.com

UPDATE:

Thanks for the recommendations so far. Looks like we have housing for the 21^st. We need housing for the day we come in, the 20^th. Please reblog if you don’t mind, especially if you live around the Portland area or have a lot of friends who do. Feel free to ask around on our behalf.

By Suzy K

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:14:00 -0500

By Suzy K

Breaking: Hung jury in case of Detroit police officer accused in...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:51:18 -0500

Breaking: Hung jury in case of Detroit police officer accused in 7-year-old Aiyana Jones shooting - The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case of Detroit Police officer Joseph Weekley who was accused in the death of 7-year-old Aiyana Jones.

Earlier Tuesday, the jury told the court they were having trouble reaching a verdict in the case and the judge ordered them to continue deliberations.

Hours later the court announced that there was a hung jury.

Weekley was charged with Involuntary Manslaughter in the death of 7-year-old Aiyana Jones during a raid on her family’s home on May 16, 2010. Aiyana was shot during the raid, which was caught on tape by crews filming for the reality show “The First 48.”

Aiyana’s family has endured continued harassment from the Detroit PD, including when police in riot gear invaded the family’s new home after her death.

Family members said they were struck, shoved and called racist and sexist names as police officers, some in plainclothes, forced their way into the home on Detroit’s far east side.

Five children were there at the time, including a one-month old baby, a two-year-old toddler, and a five-year old.

“I was just sitting here watching my grandson,” Mertilla Jones, Aiyana’s paternal grandmother said. “Four cop cars pulled up and then they were coming from all over. They tried to grab Bobbie (Aiyana’s cousin), but he came in the house and me and Lakiya and R. J. [Rafael Jones] went out on the porch. The Black cop hit me in the mouth with a flashlight, and pushed and shoved me.”

Last week, members of New York City’s Warrant Squad,...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:32:43 -0500

Last week, members of New York City’s Warrant Squad, assigned to find people with outstanding warrants and bring them to court, were spotted wearing T-shirts that compared their job to hunting animals. The photo at right was sent to SocialistWorker.org by someone who works in the court system. As the photo shows, on the back of the officer’s shirt is a quote from Ernest Hemingway:

There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.

What you can’t see is that the front of the T-shirt has the words “Fugitive Enforcement NYPD,” and what appears to be an official department insignia.

The People’s Record coming to Portland the 20th, leaving...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:38:00 -0500

The People’s Record coming to Portland the 20th, leaving the 23rd!

Need recommendations for groups, activists, community leaders etc who would make good interviews that we can reach out to ASAP.

Also looking for recommendations for Seattle interviews!

Email: thepeoplesrec@gmail.com

22 arrested, demanding Obama keep his promises on climateJune...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:00:24 -0500

22 arrested, demanding Obama keep his promises on climate
June 18, 2013

Twenty-two environmental activists who staged a sit-in to protest the expansion of the Keystone XL Pipeline that would bring crude oil from Canada to the United States were arrested as part of a planned protest this morning outside the State Department offices in the Loop, police said.

About 8:30 a.m., a group of about 30 demonstrators from various environment groups gathered at the Metcalfe Federal Building at 77 W. Jackson Blvd., which also houses the State Department, police said. Chicago police said 12 women and 10 men were arrested and cited with criminal trespass for blocking the entryway to the building. No one was hurt and the protest was peaceful, police said.

President Barack Obama is under pressure from environmental groups to veto the northern section of the proposed $5.3 billion pipeline, which would take crude from the Alberta tar sands in Western Canada to refineries in Texas.

Obama is expected to make a decision on the pipeline late this year. The southern half of the pipeline, from Texas to Oklahoma, is more than halfway built. The northern section needs State Department approval because it crosses an international border.

Environmentalists say the pipeline will speed up development of the oil sands, where extracting crude from the oil-rich bitumen uses much more energy than does regular oil production.

One of those arrested was 33-year-old Elijah Zarlin, a senior campaign manager for CREDO, one of the groups that organized today’s event. When asked what is wrong with the proposed pipeline, he said: “Everything.”

But Zarlin, of Oakland, Calif., said his group’s biggest issue is that the pipeline will lead to the production of tar sands, which he calls “one of the biggest pools of carbon on the planet,” and will essentially lead to “environmental devastation.”

Spillage of diluted bitumin, which Zarlin described as a “toxic substance” is also a concern, he said.
“This was the first action, our pledge of resistance against Keystone XL,” Zarlin said. “So far over 62,000 people have pledged to commit peaceful and dignified civil disobedience as we did today.”

Zarlin, who said he worked on Obama’s campaign in 2008 at their Chicago headquarters, was cited with trespassing and is scheduled to appear in court in Chicago in next month.

“I certainly never thought that I would have to come back to be arrested in order to send him the message that he needs to make good on the commitments he made … on climate change.”

Source

Unions give lift to Turkish protest movementJune 18,...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:55:00 -0500

Unions give lift to Turkish protest movement
June 18, 2013

Turkish labor groups fanned a wave of defiance against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authority, leading rallies and a one-day strike to support activists whose two-week standoff with the government has shaken the country’s secular democracy.

Riot police again deployed in Turkey’s two main cities, and authorities kept up their unyielding stance against the street demonstrations centering on Istanbul’s Taksim Square. But Monday’s police sweep was less forceful than in recent days, with only scattered firing of tear gas and water cannon on pockets ofprotesters.

After activists were ousted from their sit-in in adjacent Gezi Parkover the weekend, two labor confederations that represent some 330,000 workers picked up the slack Monday by calling a strike and demonstrations nationwide. Unionists turned up by the thousands in Ankara, Istanbul, coastal Izmir and elsewhere.

The turnout defied Turkey’s interior minister, Muammer Guler, who warned that anyone taking part in unlawful demonstrations would “bear the legal consequences.” But one analyst called the rallies a “legitimate and a lawful expression of constitutional rights.”

“People are raising their voices against the excessive use of police force,” said Koray Caliskan, a political science professor at Istanbul’s Bosphorus University. Demonstrators, he said, were showing they were no longer cowed by authorities, and “the fear threshold has been broken.”

In a sign that authorities were increasingly impatient, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc floated the prospect that authorities could call in troops to quash the protests.

Erdogan’s opponents have grown increasingly suspicious about what they call a gradual erosion of freedoms and secular values under his Islamic-rooted ruling party. It has passed new curbs on alcohol and tried, but later abandoned its plans, to limit women’s access to abortion.

Source

This should be the role of unions in movements - support, solidarity, militant organizing.

Enough is enough! Hundreds of thousands flood streets in cities...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:45:54 -0500

Enough is enough! Hundreds of thousands flood streets in cities across Brazil
June 18, 2013

In some of the biggest protests since the end of Brazil’s 1964-85 dictatorship, demonstrations have spread across this continent-sized country and united people from all walks of life behind frustrations over poor transportation, health services, education and security despite a heavy tax burden.

More than 100,000 people were in the streets Monday for largely peaceful protests in at least eight big cities. They were in large part motivated by widespread images of Sao Paulo police last week beating demonstrators and firing rubber bullets into groups during a march that drew 5,000.

There was some violence, with police and protesters clashing in Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte. The newspaper O Globo, citing Rio state security officials, said at least 20 officers and 10 protesters were injured there.

Monday’s protests come after the opening matches of soccer’s Confederations Cup over the weekend, just one month before a papal visit, a year before the World Cup and three years ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The unrest is raising some security concerns, especially after the earlier protests produced injury-causing clashes with police.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic hub, at least 65,000 protesters gathered Monday at a small, treeless plaza then broke into three directions in a Carnival atmosphere, with drummers beating out samba rhythms as people chanted anti-corruption jingles. They also railed against the matter that sparked the first protests last week — a 10-cent hike in bus and subway fares.

Thousands of protesters in the capital, Brasilia, peacefully marched on Congress. Dozens scrambled up a ramp to a low-lying roof, clasping hands and raising their arms, the light from below sending their elongated shadows onto the structure’s large, hallmark upward-turned bowl designed by famed architect Oscar Niemeyer. Some congressional windows were broken, but police did not use force to contain the damage.

“This is a communal cry saying: ‘We’re not satisfied,’” Maria Claudia Cardoso said on a Sao Paulo avenue, taking turns waving a sign reading “#revolution” with her 16-year-old son, Fernando, as protesters streamed by.

“We’re massacred by the government’s taxes — yet when we leave home in the morning to go to work, we don’t know if we’ll make it home alive because of the violence,” she added. “We don’t have good schools for our kids. Our hospitals are in awful shape. Corruption is rife. These protests will make history and wake our politicians up to the fact that we’re not taking it anymore!”

Protest leaders went to pains to tell marchers that damaging public or private property would only hurt their cause. In Sao Paulo, sentiments were at first against the protests last week after windows were broken and buildings spray painted during the demonstrations.

Source (Article & Photos)

Keystone XL Activists Labeled Possible Eco-Terrorists in Internal TransCanada Documents

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:38:14 -0500

Keystone XL Activists Labeled Possible Eco-Terrorists in Internal TransCanada Documents:

dentonsocialists:

purplegem:

Documents recently obtained by Bold Nebraska show that TransCanada - owner of the hotly-contested Keystone XL (KXL)tar sands pipeline - has colluded with an FBI/DHS Fusion Center in Nebraska, labeling non-violent activists as possible candidates for “terrorism” charges and other serious criminal charges.

Further, the language in some of the documents is so vague that it could also ensnare journalists, researchers and academics, as well.

TransCanada also built a roster of names and photos of specific individuals involved in organizing against the pipeline, including 350.org’s Rae Breaux, Rainforest Action Network’s Scott Parkin and Tar Sands Blockade’s Ron Seifert. Further, every activist ever arrested protesting the pipeline’s southern half is listed by name with their respective photo shown, along with the date of arrest.

It’s PSYOPs-gate and “fracktivists” as “an insurgency” all over again, but this time it’s another central battleground that’s in play: the northern half of KXL, a proposed border-crossing pipeline whose final fate lies in the hands of President Barack Obama.

The southern half of the pipeline was approved by the Obama Admin. via a March 2013 Executive Order. Together, the two pipeline halves would pump diluted bitumen (“dilbit”) south from the Alberta tar sands toward Port Arthur, TX, where it will be refined and shipped to the global export market.

So naturally -we’re- the bad people for, you know, trying to not have people poisoned.

The police at this tree sit/Hayes Valley Farm/Gezi Gardens are trying to now say that they are ‘protecting’ the hummingbirds from the environmental activists. Of course, they didn’t know about the Allan Hummingbird or that it was at risk at that space until one of us called their contacts in parks & forestry.

‘Eco-terrorists’, ‘an environmental insurgency’, and other stupid terms & phrases are thrown around recklessly to label anyone who stands in the way of the profit motive, against the destruction of our only planet.

artoftransliness: Kye Allums has started a new queer advocacy...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:08:15 -0500

artoftransliness:

Kye Allums has started a new queer advocacy project called IMEnough to help support LGBTQ individuals. Check out his video and his website for more information.

[DG:“made from an alphabetical list of NSA programs”] Submitted...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:32:51 -0500

[DG:“made from an alphabetical list of NSA programs”]

Submitted by: http://afieryflyingroule.tumblr.com/

thepeoplesrecord: Black Panther Reverend Annie Chambers...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 15:01:00 -0500

thepeoplesrecord:

Black Panther Reverend Annie Chambers Interview
Trigger Warning: Rape, violence, racism, abuse

This is an interview we did with Reverend Annie Chambers back in 2012 about being a black panther, about her political development, personal tragedies and experiences in the racist United States.

We’re going to start uploading various interviews & videos from actions onto our Youtube Channel, so subscribe if you’re interested.

We hardly prompted her with any questions. We just let her talk & she had so much to say.

Almost immediately, she begins talking about the Virginia State Supreme Court justice who raped her.
At about 10 minutes in she talks about how that experience fostered hate toward white people & how she overcame that hate.
At about 20 minutes in she begins talking about her grandsons who were murdered by the police, one accidentally because he looked like the other. She goes on to talk about various police harassment she has experienced.
At about 30 minutes in she mentions that (from her 25 children) she has 180 grandchildren, 82 great grandchildren, and 26 great-great-grandchildren.
At 33 minutes in she mentions various racist incidents of police murder in their community.
At about 37 minutes in she begins talking about her experiences as a Panther & some strategies they utilized.
At 40 minutes in she talks about the FALSIFIED charges against Panther leader Eddie Conway.
43 minutes in she starts talking about human unity against imperialism & crisis & the beginning of global revolution.

This woman is incredible. If you have a few minutes, watch the video, learn about the horrid tactics of the Baltimore PD & the remarkable life of Reverend Annie Chambers.

EDIT: & sorry about the abrupt ending; our ancient flip camera died. The interview ended just after.

Black Panther Reverend Annie Chambers InterviewTrigger Warning:...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:03:00 -0500

Black Panther Reverend Annie Chambers Interview
Trigger Warning: Rape, violence, racism, abuse

This is an interview we did with Reverend Annie Chambers back in 2012 about being a black panther, about her political development, personal tragedies and experiences in the racist United States.

We’re going to start uploading various interviews & videos from actions onto our Youtube Channel, so subscribe if you’re interested.

U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’ Goes Into Effect: Pentagon...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 02:19:39 -0500

U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’ Goes Into Effect: Pentagon Unilaterally Grants Itself Authority Over ‘Civil Disturbances’
May 14, 2013

The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the nation a window into the stunning military-style capabilities of our local law enforcement agencies. For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the United States have benefitted from the government’s largesse in the form of military weaponry and training, incentives offered in the ongoing “War on Drugs.” For the average citizen watching events such as the intense pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers on television, it would be difficult to discern between fully outfitted police SWAT teams and the military.

The lines blurred even further Monday as a new dynamic was introduced to the militarization of domestic law enforcement. By making a few subtle changes to a regulation in the U.S. Code titled“Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies” the military has quietly granted itself the ability to police the streets without obtaining prior local or state consent, upending a precedent that has been in place for more than two centuries.

Click here to read the new rule

The most objectionable aspect of the regulatory change is the inclusion of vague language that permits military intervention in the event of “civil disturbances.” According to the rule:

Federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances.

Bruce Afran, a civil liberties attorney and constitutional law professor at Rutgers University, calls the rule, “a wanton power grab by the military,” and says, “It’s quite shocking actually because it violates the long-standing presumption that the military is under civilian control.”

A defense official who declined to be named takes a different view of the rule, claiming, “The authorization has been around over 100 years; it’s not a new authority. It’s been there but it hasn’t been exercised. This is a carryover of domestic policy.” Moreover, he insists the Pentagon doesn’t “want to get involved in civilian law enforcement. It’s one of those red lines that the military hasn’t signed up for.” Nevertheless, he says, “every person in the military swears an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States to defend that Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.”

One of the more disturbing aspects of the new procedures that govern military command on the ground in the event of a civil disturbance relates to authority. Not only does it fail to define what circumstances would be so severe that the president’s authorization is “impossible,” it grants full presidential authority to “Federal military commanders.” According to the defense official, a commander is defined as follows: “Somebody who’s in the position of command, has the title commander. And most of the time they are centrally selected by a board, they’ve gone through additional schooling to exercise command authority.”

As it is written, this “commander” has the same power to authorize military force as the president in the event the president is somehow unable to access a telephone. (The rule doesn’t address the statutory chain of authority that already exists in the event a sitting president is unavailable.) In doing so, this commander must exercise judgment in determining what constitutes, “wanton destruction of property,” “adequate protection for Federal property,” “domestic violence,” or “conspiracy that hinders the execution of State or Federal law,” as these are the circumstances that might be considered an “emergency.”

“These phrases don’t have any legal meaning,” says Afran. “It’s no different than the emergency powers clause in the Weimar constitution [of the German Reich]. It’s a grant of emergency power to the military to rule over parts of the country at their own discretion.”

Afran also expresses apprehension over the government’s authority “to engage temporarily in activities necessary to quell large-scale disturbances.”

“Governments never like to give up power when they get it,” says Afran. “They still think after twelve years they can get intelligence out of people in Guantanamo. Temporary is in the eye of the beholder. That’s why in statutes we have definitions. All of these statutes have one thing in common and that is that they have no definitions. How long is temporary? There’s none here. The definitions are absurdly broad.”

The U.S. military is prohibited from intervening in domestic affairs except where provided under Article IV of the Constitution in cases of domestic violence that threaten the government of a state or the application of federal law. This provision was further clarified both by the Insurrection Act of 1807 and a post-Reconstruction law known as the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (PCA). The Insurrection Act specifies the circumstances under which the president may convene the armed forces to suppress an insurrection against any state or the federal government. Furthermore, where an individual state is concerned, consent of the governor must be obtained prior to the deployment of troops. The PCA—passed in response to federal troops that enforced local laws and oversaw elections during Reconstruction—made unauthorized employment of federal troops a punishable offense, thereby giving teeth to the Insurrection Act.

Together, these laws limit executive authority over domestic military action. Yet Monday’s official regulatory changes issued unilaterally by the Department of Defense is a game-changer.

Source

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Just a reminder that 166 Guantanamo Bay detainees have been on...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 01:57:00 -0500

Just a reminder that 166 Guantanamo Bay detainees have been on hunger strike for more than three months now, & 43 are being force-fed in what doctors have just called “a medical ethics-free zone.”

GITMO cartoon by Matt Bors

Daily Kos: Which Democrats Just Voted Against Closing Gitmo?

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 01:49:20 -0500

Daily Kos: Which Democrats Just Voted Against Closing Gitmo?:

dailykos:

Name and shame time: Who are the 21 Democrats that cried, “Long Live Guantanamo Bay Prison”?

Find out at the link.

-Daily Kos user Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees

Shameful.

Bulgarians outraged against wealthy media mogul overseeing...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 01:38:00 -0500

Bulgarians outraged against wealthy media mogul overseeing security state
June 16, 2013

Thousands of Bulgarians protested in central Sofia on Friday against parliament’s election of a media mogul once accused of corruption to oversee the state security agency service. Delyan Peevski, a lawmaker representing a small ethnic Turkish political party, was the only candidate for the job, which includes supervising police units fighting organized crime.

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Mr Peevski, who runs Bulgaria’s biggest newspaper and television group, was investigated for alleged corruption while serving as a deputy minister in a previous government, but was reinstated after the charges were dropped. He denied wrongdoing.

“Out, out!”, and “Resign!” shouted the mainly young and middle-class protesters. Some waved Bulgarian flags and placards saying “Dans” – the agency initials – topped with a picture of an Ottoman-era fez, a reference to Mr Peevski’s leading role in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. Similar protests were reported in 15 other cities.

Mr Peevski was nominated by premier Plamen Oresharski who heads a coalition between the socialist party and the MRF. He was elected unopposed and without any debate after the center-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (Gerb) party walked out of parliament in protest.

The protest was the first indication of popular discontent with a new government that took office last month after an inconclusive general election. The previous Gerb-led administration under premier Boyko Borisov resigned in February after violent protests prompted by stagnant growth and wages, the lowest in the EU, eroded by rapidly rising heating bills.

“There’s been a significant shift in attitudes, Bulgarians have become much less tolerant of their politicians,” said Ognian Shentov, head of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, a Sofia think-tank.

President Rosen Plevneliev cancelled his participation in an infrastructure ceremony in protest against Mr Peevski’s election. He urged parliament to retract Friday’s decision, saying: “It will have long-term negative consequences for Bulgaria,” including the possibility of international isolation.

Source