Congratulations to the demonstrators who shut down the Vuelta a España in Madrid on September 14 in solidarity with Palestine. The Israeli government is perpetrating genocide on a massive scale right now. We have a responsibility to interrupt every effort to normalize this. image
From our Brazilian correspondents: Jair Bolsonaro and his allies have been convicted of attempting a coup after losing the 2022 elections. This is the first time those responsible for a coup attempt in Brazil have been convicted in a country that has suffered more than a dozen. Modern autocrats have learned how to rig democracies in order to remain in power, as Orban, Putin, and Erdoğan have done and Trump is attempting to do. That's why the president of the US has imposed economic sanctions on Brazil and on individual judges to push for an amnesty. The punishment of the coup plotters may suggest that it is still possible to stop these dictatorial plots via the courts. But Bolsonaro's greatest crimes were sabotaging health measures and using the pandemic as a weapon against the population, all of which remain unpunished. Neither the preservation of the democratic system nor having the left in power actually solve our problems. In the state of Bahia, for example, governed by the Workers' Party for 20 years, police kill more people every year than they do in the entire United States. The fascism that Bolsonaro and his allies represent won't be stopped by imprisoning him. Other forms of authoritarianism remain on the streets and in public office. We have to break this cycle from below. image
A second drone strike has occurred targeting another boat in the Global Sumud Flotilla. Not only is the Israeli military intentionally committing genocide on a mass scale against Palestinians in Gaza, it is showing that wherever possible, it intends to carry out violence targeting those who express solidarity with Palestinians. If you believe that Palestinians deserve to be treated as human beings, the Israeli military has you in its sights. Behave accordingly. image
The judge in the #StopCopCity case says that he is likely to toss out the RICO charges on the grounds that they were improperly filed. That will not be the end of the ordeal, but it is an important step. Background on the charges: Background on the movement itself: image
Insurrections occur in waves. We can trace the trail of sparks in Southeast Asia from the toppling of the president of Sri Lanka in 2022 to the 2024 uprising in Bangladesh to the revolt in Indonesia last month. Now the momentum has spread to Nepal. Whatever happens next, this revolt should give pause to politicians and police who imagine that they can pillage and terrorize with impunity. Today, the money you obtain may insulate you from the consequences of your actions—but tomorrow? None of these revolts have yet achieved all of their aims, but we can study all of them to see how they might. Likewise, the complicity of the Communist Party of Nepal in the massacre that catalyzed this revolt should remind all aspiring revolutionaries that even if you have "communist" in the name of your party, you won't be able to solve the problems of capitalism simply by wielding the violence of the state. Background on the uprising in Sri Lanka: Why you can't use the state to abolish capitalism:
Tonight, the Israeli military carried out a drone strike targeting a civilian vessel hundreds of miles away, solely on account of the passengers' intention to symbolically challenge the blockade that Israel is using to starve Gazans to death. Although the Tunisian National Guard initially denied that a drone strike occurred, the Global Sumud Flotilla posted both video footage and eyewitness testimony that appears to confirm that the boat was, indeed, struck by a drone. It seems most likely that, once again, the denial of the Tunisian National Guard simply indicates the complicity of international institutions in the perpetration of genocide in Gaza. The Israeli military has attacked every single flotilla protesting the blockade around Gaza since 2010. The violence of the Israeli state is systematic, indiscriminate, continuous, and targets anyone who could interfere with their program of ethnic cleansing. Backed by Christian Zionists, they perpetrate this violence right up to the limit of what they can get away with. In addition to the tens of thousands they have murdered and the millions they have displaced, rendered homeless, tortured, terrorized, and imprisoned, this also makes life more dangerous for Jewish people everywhere. There is no excuse for Zionism.
Nothing could be more naïve than to imagine that Donald Trump's effort to put the military on the streets of US cities has anything to do with "fighting crime." He himself is very clear: this is an act of war against the part of the population that does not support his autocracy. No political party is going to protect us. We must build the capacity to defend ourselves through grassroots initiatives or watch powerlessly as his mercenaries come for our neighbors one after another until they finally come for us. Gather the people you trust and discuss what kinds of action you are prepared to take together. The fascists are not in a position to triumph over us unless we remain passive. Get organized. 🏴 image
Today, we are remembering David Graeber, who passed away five years ago. “Nothing could conceivably be more violent than to tell us—and particularly our young people—we are forbidden to even dream of a peaceful, caring world.” image
Keep the pressure on them! Border Patrol recruitment events in September: -9/3 Laredo, TX (Job Fair) -9/5-7 Big Bear, CA (Tough Mudder) -9/5-7 Scottsdale, AZ (Rodeo) -9/6-7 Glen Jean, WV (Spartan Trifecta) -9/6 Philadelphia, PA (Spartan Stadion) -9/10 Devils Lake, ND (Job Fair) -9/12 Charlotte, NC (College Career Fair) -9/12-13 Greensboro, NC (Rodeo) -9/12-14 Queen Creek, AZ (Gun Expo) -9/13-14 Snohomish, WA (Spartan) -9/15-16 Provo, UT (Law Enforcement Expo) -9/16-17 College Station, TX (College Career Fair) -9/17 Indio, CA (Job Fair) -9/18 Shalimar, FL (Job Fair) -9/18 El Paso, TX (Veterans Job Fair) -9/18 Tampa, FL (Law Enforcement Hiring Event) -9/19-21 Huntington Beach, CA (Fitness Festival) -9/19-21 Loudon, NH (NASCAR Race) -9/24 Houston, TX (College Career Fair) -9/26-28 San Diego, CA (Air Show) -9/27 Fort Carson, CO (Tough Mudder) -9/30 Corpus Christi, TX (College Career Fair) -10/7 Amarillo, TX (Job Fair) -10/8 Houston, TX (College Career Fair) -10/15 Boise, ID (College Career Fair)
President Grover Cleveland made "Labor Day" an official holiday in order to sap momentum from May Day, the day of revolutionary resistance that anarchists established in 1886. But efforts to reform capitalism have failed. The gulf between the wealthy few and the rest of us is wider than ever today. We need a revolution. Let's not simply ask for more crumbs from the table—let's fight for the abolition of capitalism and work itself. "When we say anti-work, we don’t mean an abstract political position disapproving of work; we mean a practice that actively abolishes the necessity to work, the way that anti-matter annihilates matter. In other words, an activity aimed at doing away with all the mechanisms that serve to concentrate power—from debt to intellectual property rights and the prison-industrial complex. All the things that force us to keep putting our noses back to the grindstone when there are so many other things we’d prefer to be doing." image