Anarchist news dot org - News for anarchists and their friends

The goal of anarchistnews.org is to provide a non-sectarian source for news about and of concern to anarchists. It is also to provide a location for discussion about such news.


09/02/2010 05:45 AM
Anarchy, government, and social services
Many have wondered if there is a fundamental contradiction between day to day work demanding services like public housing and heath care, and the anarchist goal of overthrowing government and/or capitalism.

I will posit that no such contradiction exists, as "government" can be bifurcated into the law enforcement/military/corporate support primary component, and the social service components the capitalists have allowed to exist since the last Depression in an effort to buy peace from the lower and working classes. I will posit later in this essay that in supporting these programs we are demanding restitution for capitalism's crimes, so there is no contradiction in supporting any and all social services.

Years ago, GOP scumbags of the Ronald Reagan era proposed to "starve the beast" in an effort to destroy social programs. the plan was to use combined increases in military spending with huge tax cuts to make social spending unaffordable. The plan fell apart at the end of the Cold War-and because at the Federal level the government can literally create money out of thin air with changes in banking "reserve ratios," by borrowing, or just plain printing more.

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09/02/2010 04:19 AM
Surge in Government Repression: FBI Visits, Warrants, More

A roundup of recent FBI visits, subpoenas, and other government assaults on the animal liberation movement in August:

From Voice of the Voiceless

New AETA 4 DNA warrant

This week, Joseph Buddenberg of the AETA 4 was the target of a warrant for his DNA. A quote from the agent who authored the affidavit: 

"I believe probable cause exists that Buddenberg was involved in the February 24, 2008 altercation at the L.H./J.R. residence in Santa Cruz.... The samples from the bullhorn found in Khajavi's vehicle will yield evidence that Buddenberg was involved in force, violence, and threats involving animal enterprises, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 43 & 371"

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09/02/2010 03:20 AM
The Evolution Will Not be Televised: A Green Anarchist Reply to James J. Lee
Yesterday an unusual story arose out of the usual static emanating from the news media. A middle-aged man stormed the Discovery Channel headquarters in Maryland, USA and took hostages. A standoff ensued between the man and police, ending when the police killed the man, Jason J. Lee. Not long after the situation was brought to a head, Lee's manifesto came out. Evidently Lee held some very singular views regarding civilization, and demanded the Discovery Channel air programming elaborating his views.

Lee has already been stuck with the dismissive label of insanity by those who wield unseemly degrees of control over common discourse—the very capitalist media he targeted. Doubtless Lee was possessed of an unstable psychology. In the coming days the capitalist news media will thoroughly flesh out his psychological profile, and use this as an excuse to avoid examining his odd philosophy. Soon the news cycle will move on to some other events and Lee will leave the common consciousness as quickly as he appeared.

Before that happens, I have decided to seize the moment and compare the theory and actions of James Lee to those of Green Anarchism. Though clearly the work of a troubled, desperate and erratic mind, Lee's manifesto raises many important points too often excluded in common discourse. His manifesto bears many similarities to Green Anarchist thought, yet is obviously uninformed by the rich theoretical tradition that has developed within the Green Anarchist milieu in the past few decades. In this essay I will attempt to demonstrate that, though Lee's personal views do not appear to have been coherently processed in his own mind, that they are but one manifestation of a trend which is quickly growing in ranks. I call this trend the anti-civilization movement.

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09/01/2010 02:37 PM
Chop From the Top
From Occupy LA

Today, several students decided to take back control of their university from big business and little bureaucrats, reclaiming a single building of University of New Orleans’ campus for they, the tuition-payers, themselves.

Despite what benevolent administrators, politicians (student or otherwise), or the police may say, we know that this financial crisis is not ours, and that we will not pay for it. We know that this “depression” effects us disproportionately and we refuse to allow those who are already hurt to be injured any further. If there will be cuts, they will be from the very top.

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09/01/2010 12:46 PM
September 2010 Anarchist News Digest

Welcome to another month. Hope this one brings good tidings to you and yours. One amazing thing that we have noticed this year is that there is a striking uptick in the amount of traffic starting in the middle of August (with a corresponding downtick in the quality of some of the comments). If you are new to the site please note that there are few rules here. You can comment freely and anonymously. We do not track your IP information. We appreciate all the help we can get with submissions of content and lack of submission from the readers of this site.

We publish a monthly digest of the most interesting (aka the best) content from the site. It is called Anarchist News Digest. Here is the issue for September.

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