Aspirin as the New Birth Control: The GOP War on Women Reaches New Lows
We all heard about the War on Women’s Health last year, when Tea Party-empowered state legislatures passed a record slew of anti-choice laws — including deluded bills such as Arizona’s ban on “race-based abortions” and dangerous ones like Virginia’s attempt to shut down most abortion clinics in the state. These unhinged state legislatures were joined by an enthusiastic right-wing Congress that attempted to defund the entire $317 million federal family program, tried to redefine “rape,” and ate up lies about their favorite bogeyman, Planned Parenthood.
Well, the War on Women’s Health is back — and now it’s a flat-out, all-out War on Women.
Just this week, we have seen not just the stunning spectacle of major presidential candidates coming out against birth control coverage, but Republicans in the Senate holding up domestic violence protections because they protect too many people; a potential vice presidential candidate pick poised to sign a law requiring women to receive medically unnecessary vaginal probes without their consent; a leading presidential candidate claiming that “emotions” will get in the way of women serving in combat; and a House committee holding a hearing on birth control access — with a panel consisting entirely of men.
And it seems that in the lead-up to 2012, the War on Women isn’t going to die down.
The two Republican presidential front-runners, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, have signaled that they are 100 percent on board with the anti-woman agenda of their party’s farthest-right element.
For Santorum, this isn’t news. As a U.S. senator, he championed the so-called “partial birth abortion” ban, which prevented women from making difficult choices after complications late in a pregnancy. But that was just what he could convince others to do. He not only thinks abortion should always be a crime — even in cases of even rape, incest and danger to the pregnant woman — he thinks states should be allowed to ban birth control. Why? Never mind that birth control is the best way to lower the number of abortions, he’s against it because birth control “is not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”
In a stunning statement, major Santorum supporter billionaire Foster Friess put it even more bluntly on MSNBC yesterday, saying he didn’t see why women need insurance coverage for birth control: “Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.”
As police have set up shop in schools across the country, the definition of what is a crime as opposed to a teachable moment has changed in extraordinary ways. In one middle school we’re familiar with, a teacher routinely allowed her students to take single pieces of candy from a big container she kept on her desk. One day, several girls grabbed handfuls. The teacher promptly sent them to the police officer assigned to the school. What formerly would have been an opportunity to have a conversation about a minor transgression instead became a law enforcement issue.
“Every man in my family has been locked up. Most days I feel like it doesn’t matter what I do, how hard I try—that’s my fate, too.” —11th-grade African American student, Berkeley, Calif.
EDITORIAL • Stop the School-to-Prison Pipeline
By the editors of Rethinking Schools
This young man isn’t being cynical or melodramatic [moderator's note: refer to the quote above]; he’s articulating a terrifying reality for many of the children and youth sitting in our classrooms—a reality that is often invisible or misunderstood. Some have seen the growing numbers of security guards and police in our schools as unfortunate but necessary responses to the behavior of children from poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods. But what if something more ominous is happening? What if many of our students—particularly our African American, Latina/o, Native American, and Southeast Asian children—are being channeled toward prison and a lifetime of second-class status?
We believe that this is the case, and there is ample evidence to support that claim. What has come to be called the “school-to-prison pipeline” is turning too many schools into pathways to incarceration rather than opportunity. This trend has extraordinary implications for teachers and education activists. It affects everything from what we teach to how we build community in our classrooms, how we deal with conflicts with and among our students, how we build coalitions, and what demands we see as central to the fight for social justice education.
What Is the School-to-Prison Pipeline?
The school-to-prison pipeline begins in deep social and economic inequalities, and has taken root in the historic shortcomings of schooling in this country. The civil and human rights movements of the 1960s and ’70s spurred an effort to “rethink schools” to make them responsive to the needs of all students, their families, and communities. This rethinking included collaborative learning environments, multicultural curriculum, student-centered, experiential pedagogy—we were aiming for education as liberation. The back-to-basics backlash against that struggle has been more rigid enforcement of ever more alienating curriculum.
The “zero tolerance” policies that today are the most extreme form of this punishment paradigm were originally written for the war on drugs in the early 1980s, and later applied to schools. As Annette Fuentes explains, the resulting extraordinary rates of suspension and expulsion are linked nationally to increasing police presence, checkpoints, and surveillance inside schools.
Kevin Rashid is a political prisoner and communist revolutionary in the New Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter, an organization formed within prison. We present present Rashid’s reassessment of the Black liberation movement for discussion. This piece first appeared in Right On! #19
"Revolution." Artwork Courtesy of Kevin Rashid
“[T]rue revolutionary leaders must not only be good at correcting their ideas, theories, plans or programs, when errors are discovered… but when a certain objective process has already progressed and changed from one stage of development to another, they must also be good at making themselves and all their fellow revolutionaries progress and change in their subjective knowledge along with it….” -Mao Tse-tung, On Contradiction
Introduction
Some time ago comrades of the New Afrikan Maoist Party (NAMP) expressed a desire to reconcile contradictions between their line and the line of our New Afrikan Black
Panther Party—Prison Chapter (NABPP-PC) on the question of Black National Liberation in the 21st Century. On this question, NAMP along with several other organizations—including the New Afrikan People’s Organization (NAPO), the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, the Maoist International Movement (MIM) and others promote the Black Belt Thesis (BBT) as it was set out by the Comintern (Third Communist International) in the 1920s.
The NAMP comrades are correct in pointing out that our respective organizations have a major line contradiction on this question. We have as yet not publicly fleshed out our line on this, in contrast to that of NAMP and others, so it is time we did so in a formal position paper.
In developing our line on the Black National Question in the U.S. we have applied the method of historical dialectical materialism and deepened the analysis put forward by Huey P. Newton of the original Black Panther Party (BPP). This means we do not hold dogmatically and idealistically to outmoded ideas and formulations that no longer fit the current situation. Instead we base our analysis on the study of concrete conditions in the context of their actual historical development, realizing that everything is in a state of motion and development from a lower to a higher level, and that correct ideas develop in struggle and contradiction with incorrect ones.
Indeed, the real danger of Khader Adnan’s hunger strike for the Palestinian political establishment is that he might turn out to be less of a Palestinian Bobby Sands than a Palestinian Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit-vendor whose suicide by self-immolation triggered the rebellion that has rocked autocratic regimes across the Arab world.
A Hunger Striker at Death’s Door Turns Up the Heat on Israel – and on the Palestinian Leadership
By Tony Karon
“The West Bank’s Bobby Sands” is how some in the British media have begun referring to Khader Adnan, as the 33-year-old Palestinian detainee marks Monday as his 65th day of refusing food from his Israeli gaolers. The world knew the name and face of Bobby Sands long before, on the 66th day of his own 1981 hunger strike, he became the first of ten Irish Republican Army fighters to die in a British prison after starving themselves to demand prisoner-of-war status. The IRA’s political wing, Sinn Fein, made the prisoners an international cause celebre, even getting Sands elected to the British parliament during a Northern Ireland by-election held in the course of his hunger strike. (Needless to say, he never took his seat.) By contrast, Khader Adnan’s hunger strike appears to have been a solo act of defiance by a lone detainee with no other recourse, and only as his death appears to draws near has his plight begun to register on the international radar.
Israel has not charged Adnan with any crime, but its security forces say the baker from the town of Arabeh near Nablus — who is widely reported to be a member of Islamic Jihad, the more radical Islamist competitor to Hamas that has engaged in terror strikes in Israel — had been engaged in “activities that threaten regional security” when they detained him last December. Israel deals with such cases using a legal framework based on emergency laws left over from British colonial rule to detain any suspect for six months at a time without needing to provide evidence or lay charges against them. When a detainee’s six-month spell has expired, the detention can simply be renewed. Human rights groups have urged Israel to charge or release Adnan, and a petition for his release goes before Israel’s supreme court on Thursday.
This call from Seattle is a part of a call for National Day of Action Against Chase Bank on Jamie Dimon’s birthday – the very same day five people in Seattle will go to trial for shutting down a Chase bank last November. Please read their statement at your local general assembly and call the Chief Prosecutor to demand the charges be dropped (info below).
An Seattle Occupier defends the demonstration
From Oakland to Chicago we have witnessed moves to crush our #Occupy movements. We are facing repression because we represent a challenge to the legitimacy of this system. We have openly called into the question the right of the 1% to rule.
As we break with this system, we find ourselves confronting the dual threats from Democratic party operatives and their defenders. On the one hand, they attempt to cajole us into the ranks of electoral politics in order to both neutralize us and reinforce their system. Meanwhile, Democratic mayors continue to unleash the repressive apparatus of the state in the form of police attacks in the streets and legal intimidation in the courts, attempting to sow fear and confusion. #Occupiers in Houston are facing felony charges for blockading the port, and hundreds are facing charges from #occupy actions in Oakland and dozens of other cities. To counter these attacks, we must build national solidarity efforts.
In Seattle, five #occupiers are facing charges for their participation in a Chase Bank occupation. On November 2nd, JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon came to Seattle. He was confronted by massive street protests that began when 5 Occupy Seattle participants chained themselves together inside a Chase Bank branch. Hundreds of protesters arrived and encircled the bank; it was shut down for the day. That evening, hundreds blockaded a hotel where he was accepting a “business leadership” award.
The Chase 5 Trial begins on March 13 – Jamie Dimon’s bithday (!). As he roams free, the Chase 5 will be in court facing trespass charges that carry a maximum sentence of one year in jail. Concurrently, #occupiers in Atlanta are calling for nationwide actions against Chase Bank on March 13 to “celebrate” Dimon’s birthday.
Chase Bank is a part of a terminally flawed system of legalized bribery, corruption, exploitation, and injustice. It is a system that makes outlaws of those who have the audacity to rebel.
Not one banker has been arrested for destroying the lives and livelihoods of millions of people and entire nations.
Not one banker has faced criminal charges for forcing countless thousands of families into the streets.
Not one banker has been criminally charged for financing the destruction of our planet in the name of profit.
Let’s build national and global solidarity with those struggling for a new world – and against the attacks on the movement. Support Seattle’s Chase 5 and show our determination against the logic of the system as we declare our own legitimacy.
Drop the Charges Against the Chase Five and all #occupiers in Seattle. Call and email the Chief Prosecutor, Craig Sims: 206-684-7771, Craig.Sims@Seattle.Gov Organize others to call in.
Read The Chase 5 statement, released on November 2nd, at your local #Occcupy.
Forward Chase 5 press releases on to national and local press wherever you are.
To its credit, The Black Power Mixtape did show the Black Power movement in a more positive light by demonstrating how a people could be moved to (and rightfully so) pick up arms and defend themselves from police brutality, and by highlighting the lesser known programs that were beneficial to the black community’s survival like free breakfast programs for children. Where the film fell shortest was in its inability or unwillingness to connect this extraordinary moment in history to the injustices we face today.
‘The Black Power Mixtape’: Who’s Telling You Your Stories?
By Naima Ramos-Chapman
I was dopily excited to hear about this doc via Danny Glover on Democracy Now way back when he was still shopping it around the Sundance Film Festival. The Black Power Mixtapeis a compilation of never-before-seen footage of the Black Power movement shot by Swedish journalists in the 1960s and 1970s. Left neglected in a Swedish TV station’s cellar for 30 years, it was discovered by documentary filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson who conceptualized the linking of the sparse and seemingly incohesive material of the movement with amazingly shot intimate b-roll of children playing in defunct playgrounds, commentary from Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, John Forte and other “socially conscious” artists, looped to a sweet soundtrack crafted by none-other than ?uestlove… what was there not to love?
How about everything I just described minus the soundtrack?
Kasama received the following statement from Greece’s Communist Organization (KOE):
The intensified crisis of the political system is an opportunity for the promotion of a social and political front that will put a stop to this illegal regime and set the country in a different course, materializing what the people want and claim for. A social and political front which will pave the way for the salvation of the people and the country: Real Democracy. Independence. Productive Reconstruction. Stop the payments NOW – Not one more euro to the loan sharks. We can break the chains, the fight continues!
The fight against the new occupation’s regime continues
The Communist Organization of Greece salutes the hundreds of thousands of people who swamped Athens yesterday and protested throughout Greece, resolutely opposing the new bonds that the IMF-EU-ECB troika imposes. The Greek people proved their advanced readiness for combat, and showed increased endurance and courage facing the ruthless attacks of the “special police” forces. Despite the state terrorism and the blackmails of the establishment, the fighting spirit of the people against the new occupation and the tyranny is raging.
The new Bailout Agreement is imposed entirely as in a coup, by an illegal government, and “approved” by a parliament that has lost any legitimacy. The Papadimos’ puppet government, the three bourgeois pro-Agreement parties and the politicians who voted for and supported the new disastrous Bailout Agreement are continuously violating their own Constitution and the country’s sovereignty. Their whole political system is hence entirely illegitimate. They have definitively taken a divorce from the people, and must leave immediately. Read the rest of this entry »
This was posted in Viewpoint Magazine. H/T to Jim Weill for bringing this to our attention.
The obsession over the black bloc in the past few months is a distorted reflection of the very real predominance of this tactic in contemporary struggles … But while the tactic’s geographic reach is somewhat localized, its presence in the movement’s collective imagination has grown to immense proportions.
But it’s precisely the continued obsession with this single tactic that prevents us from seriously interrogating the necessary other term in this relationship: strategy. The discussions over the so-called “diversity of tactics” indicate the problem: by focusing all our energies on disputing the merits of a tactic, we end up neglecting strategy altogether. A “diversity of tactics” has little to do with strategy; in fact, it seems to replace strategy with liberal pluralism. The question isn’t whether to pursue a “diversity of tactics,” but rather: what kind of strategy allows us to effectively incorporate a diverse range of tactics?
The “internecine ultra-left argument of the moment,” says the Wall Street Journal, is the debate over the “black bloc.” And if this debate has led the WSJ to talk about “ultra-leftism,” it’s clearly a debate we have to address.
In a report called “Activists and Anarchists Speak for Themselves at Occupy Oakland,” Susie Cagle reminds us that the recent major instances of street-fighting, which have been cited by liberals critical of the black bloc, force us to abandon the stereotype of ski-masked vandals breaking windows. She writes:
The buildings Occupy Oakland marched toward were not targeted for destruction, but for squatting, for organization and for political and community building. And the protesters who came armed with plastic, wood and metal shields, who both moved on and defended others from the police, were not a bloc, were not dressed in black and did not move as one unit.
“Black bloc is not a lifestyle choice, but a tactical one,” Cagle argues. She points out that the only recent manifestation of the black bloc was during the November 2nd “general strike,” when bank windows were smashed, “STRIKE” was spray-painted on a Whole Foods, and the Travelers Aid Building was briefly occupied, all by a group clad in black.
This comes from a report released today by the NYCLU.
NYCLU Analysis Reveals NYPD Street Stops Soar 600% Over Course of Bloomberg Administration
February 14, 2012 — The NYPD stopped and interrogated people 684,330 times in 2011, by far the highest total since the Police Department began collecting data on its troubling stop-and-frisk program in 2002. This represents a 603 percent increase in stop-and-frisks since that year, the first year of the Bloomberg administration, when there were only 97,296 stops.
Of those subjected to NYPD street stops in 2011, nearly nine out of 10 were completely innocent, meaning they were neither arrested nor issued a summons. About 87 percent were black or Latino.
“Last year alone, the NYPD stopped enough totally innocent New Yorkers to fill Madison Square Garden more than 30 times over,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. “It is not a crime to walk down the street in New York City, yet every day innocent black and brown New Yorkers are turned into suspects for doing just that. It is a stunning abuse of power that undermines trust between police and the community.”
Under the Bloomberg administration, the NYPD has conducted more than 4.3 million street stops. About 88 percent of those stops – nearly 3.8 million – resulted in no arrest or summons.
“These numbers make clear that illegal stops-and-frisks have become an epidemic in New York City,” said Darius Charney, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is currently litigating Floyd v. City of New York, a federal class action lawsuit challenging the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices. “And the only antidote is meaningful, independent oversight of the Department.”
“I have been stopped, questioned and frisked four times,” said Joseph Midgley, a Picture the Homeless civil rights leader. “Each time I was standing in a public place, committing no crime. Each time, I was asked for an ID, my pockets were searched and I was asked if I had anything illegal on me, which I did not. Each time, the police found nothing illegal, and I was not charged, nor given a ticket. It made me feel profiled, pre-judged and judged. Now that I am homeless, the police harassment has only gotten worse. This form of discriminatory policing is an outrage and should be stopped now.”
Militant South Bronx march shows the power, and anger, of the people
Justice for Ramarley Graham, Free Jatiek Reed!
By Danny Shaw
Feb. 7th, 2012
“Our Streets, Our Blocks — Jail All Killer Cops!” On Feb. 4, the 13th anniversary of the murder of Amadou Diallo, a militant march responded to two new incidents of police violence that have rocked the Bronx.
The New York Police Department’s brutal beating of Jatiek Reed and the cold-blooded killing of Ramarley Graham brought hundreds of angry protesters, mostly young people, into the streets and in front of the 41st and 42nd Precincts. A spontaneous march then developed down 3rd Avenue, which the police could not contain.
In one the central arteries of the South Bronx, 149th and 3rd Avenue, the crowd took the entire intersection, detaining traffic for 15 minutes as community activists read off a list of youth slain by the NYPD. The crowd responded “Presente!” after every name. In the 13 years since Diallo’s murder, at least 204 people have fallen at the hands of the police.
In the brutal police beating of Jatiek Reed, four officers repeatedly struck him with batons and kicks as the unarmed 19-year-old lay on the ground trying to protect his face. Left black-and-blue, Reed required staples in his head and arm. His friend captured the beating on his cell phone camera, and the video spread virally throughout the city. Nonetheless, Reed remains incarcerated, falsely charged with assaulting an officer.
Greek Protests Continue As Lawmakers Pass Severe Austerity Measures
by Derek Gatopoulos and Nicholas Paphitis
ATHENS, Greece — Greek lawmakers on Monday approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the debt-crippled nation from bankruptcy, after rioters in central Athens torched buildings, looted shops and clashed with riot police.
The historic vote paves the way for Greece’s European partners and the International Monetary Fund to release $170 billion (euro130 billion) in new rescue loans, without which Greece would default on its mountain of debt next month and likely leave the eurozone – a scenario that would further roil global markets.
Lawmakers voted 199-74 in favor of the cutbacks, despite strong dissent among the two main coalition members. A total 37 lawmakers from the majority Socialists and conservative New Democracy party either voted against the party line, abstained or voted present.
Sunday’s clashes erupted after more than 100,000 protesters marched to the parliament to rally against the drastic cuts, which will ax one in five civil service jobs and slash the minimum wage by more than a fifth.
At least 45 businesses were damaged by fire, including several historic buildings, movie theaters, banks and a cafeteria, in the worst riot damage in Athens in years. Fifty police officers were injured and at least 55 protesters were hospitalized. Forty-five suspected rioters were arrested and a further 40 detained.
As the vote got under way early Monday, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos urged calm, pointing to the country’s dire financial straits.
“Vandalism and destruction have no place in a democracy and will not be tolerated,” Papademos told Parliament. “I call on the public to show calm. At these crucial times, we do not have the luxury of this type of protest. I think everyone is aware of how serious the situation is.”
The Stockholm Syndrome of Occupy (or yet another comment on Chris Hedges to get it out my chest)
Recently, Chris Hedges wrote a piece in truthdig called “Black Bloc: The Cancer in Occupy” in which he condemns what he refers to as “Black Bloc anarchists.” In the wake of the police attack on Occupy Oakland and the following debates over strategy and tactics in the Occupy movement, Hedges’ arguments have generated much controversy. We are posting one response below because it touches on the key contradictions raised by Hedges’ piece. It was originally written as a note on Facebook.
By SKS
I do not want to repeat what many have said, more eloquently or timely. Any repetition will either be unconcious or inevitable – but I do try to bring some fresh perspectives, or at least accents. So bear with me.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Ever since the Oakland Commune came into national conciousness with their successful strike in November, liberals who initially became infatuated with OWS as a possible liberal Tea Party have been launching increasingly virulent attacks against OWS, and in particular, its most militant element.
Naomi Wolf was perhaps the first notorious salvo of the liberal commentariat, when going all in with her arrest cred called OWS protesters against NBC (a corporation) “fascists”.
While debate is healthy, and diversity of opinions and views is both inevitable and one of the refreshing things of OWS as a movement – the interventions from the liberal camp have been increasingly totalitarian, undemocratic, and full of factual and historical inaccuracies.
They have moved from honest, concerned, disagreement within the movement, to dishonest hit pieces worthy of the worse dirty politics.
And this is something we predicted – we knew that the primary contradiction within this movement would be the need of liberals and the Democratic Party machine to turn this movement into a huge astroturf to counter the successful cooption of the Republicans of the Tea Party – of sheer importance if Obama is to be re-elected.
This piece is written by Black Orchid Collective in Seattle, with contributions from members of Advance the Struggle in the Bay area, members of Hella 503 in Portland, as well as friends in various other cities.
The authors write:
“We have all been deeply involved in Decolonize/ Occupy Seattle, Occupy Portland, Occupy Oakland, and Occupy Wall St., including the Dec. 12th West Coast Port Shutdown. We have worked to build solidarity between the Occupy movement and the rank and file workers of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). This piece presents our critical reflections on these struggles so far. We welcome criticism and discussion.”
Longview, Occupy, & Beyond:
Rank and File & the 89% Unite!
Table of Contents:
1) Longview and Occupy: a warm autumn on the West Coast
2) Birth of the hip hop picket line: the Dec 12th West Coast Port Shutdown and the precarious proletariat.
3) From Dec 12th to Jan 6th: attempts at coastal solidarity, and divisions in Seattle
4) Our response to Socialist Worker newspaper’s article
5) Workers’ Committees : a stronger fightback under capitalism, pointing toward revolution
6) Solidarity is a Two Way Street
7) Critiques of existing union structures
a) Question of Bureaucracy
b) Partial worker self-management under Capitalism, or Territorialism?
c) Labor Law as a Broken Truce
“The challenge is not to complain about the inarticulate state of others, but ourselves to articulate. If we can succeed in articulating strategic thoughts — that are revolutionary, creative, convincing and have a genuine organic element — we (speaking of communist revolutionaries here) can play a constructive (even unique) role.”
“A radical movement (with vitality and forward motion) will be more like a living ecosystem than a herd of cattle.”
“The diversity of ideas and tactics in the current Occupy movement is both ‘immature’ and necessary.
“It is immature because (so often) people are newly awakening to political life — and so often ideas and plans are raised that have (previously) not worked out well. And in many ways, a new generation has to go through the learning for themselves, together. It is often not a particularly sophisticated process at the beginning — and (in all real and living movements) there is a lot of silliness and madness mixed in. (And so what?!)”
“And the development of strategic articulation is not something that we need to demand (in some mechanical “telling” of the unwilling). It will happen, it always happens, because people are trying to think through what they are doing (and, more, why they are doing it). And through that process, many people will move and grow — they will shift their assumptions.
“When I talk about communist work: I am talking about developing a strategic sense of what people (of many kinds) should be doing in the United States — and then how we (as revolutionaries and communists) bring together people with a significant diversity of ideas and purposes in an alignment to a front of struggle that actually confronts the system and minimizes cooptation (especially in an election year!).
“Alongside that, communist work contains strategy and planning (for communists themselves) to regroup the still scattered, to develop communism as its own branded organized force, and to refine (contemporize) both our communist ideas and our mode of presentation.”
“The movement is currently in a lull. Everyone looks forward to spring, but there is no need to cling to escalation in period of quiet. No need, because it is precisely the time to expand, to engage in the less dramatic work of growing and incorporating the diffuse energies of the working class.
“Reformists urge coalition building, as though the union bureaucracies could somehow lead a radical movement. While some purists refuse coalitions, the revolutionary response is infiltration and invasion. When we approach the unions we don’t seek their guidance; we seek to introduce class antagonism into those institutions, to construct a broad class power, menacing and inescapable for the bosses just as it is irresistible to workers who spend each day on the defensive.”
The following piece is from Viewpoint Magazine, a new communist theoretical journal. Thanks to Joe for suggesting this.
As always, when Kasama posts an essay (like this), this represents the views of its authors (and does not represent our endorsement of its assertions or verdicts). We are sharing it because we think it is of value for common revolutionary reconception and regroupment. Minor excerpts are marked by ellipses (“…”) .
* * * * * * * * *
by Asad Haider
“Don’t fuck with the Oakland Commune.”
Words which will live forever in history, to be remembered and repeated at every glorious defeat inflicted upon the heroes of the future by mayors, police officers, unions, churches, and children. A letter, signed by the Occupy Oakland Move-In Assembly, promised to respond to the inevitable eviction of an illegal building occupation by “blockading the airport indefinitely.”…
The following article appeared on the Huffington Post website.
