CrimethInc

CrimethInc, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago) to random

Since 1853, France has been occupying the islands of New Caledonia against the wishes of the Indigenous Kanak people. In the 1870s, the French government exiled the anarchist Louise Michel and many other participants in the Paris Commune uprising there.

In 1878, the Kanaks revolted against French oppression. Ataï, one of the leaders of the revolt, achieved several victories against the occupiers. After he was finally betrayed, the French colonizers cut off his head and brought it back to Paris. They refused to return it until 2014.

Today, colonialism continues in New Caledonia. The French government has just sent 1200 more police officers there from Paris to suppress the latest uprising.

Like Louise Michel, we support Indigenous struggles against colonialism. Get France out of New Caledonia.

CrimethInc, 6 days ago (edited 6 days ago) to random

Many people were struck by this photograph that we circulated during today's protests against the deforestation that Elon Musk's Tesla plant is inflicting outside Berlin. Some even say that it seems like a sort of metaphor.

As partisans of neutral journalism, we believe that it is important to give both parties the opportunity to tell their side of the story.

In this photoessay, the cops present their side:

https://crimethinc.com/cops

CrimethInc, 6 days ago (edited 6 days ago) to random

"Say it loud, say it clear—Elon is not welcome here!"

Defying local opposition, Elon Musk has been trying to expand the Tesla "Gigafactory" outside Berlin. Today, anarchists participated in a mass mobilization against the project. The organizers reported that some participants blocked the nearby airport used by Tesla, while 800 people reached the factory premises to actively "redesign" the Gigafactory.

The mobilization:

https://disrupt-now.org/disrupt-tesla

Background:

https://crimethinc.com/TeslaGermany

CrimethInc, 7 days ago to random

Anarchists are in the corporate news again—as usual, being vilified for expressing solidarity with the oppressed and demonstrating the effectiveness of direct action.

This could be a good time to distribute material explaining the values and proposals at the core of anarchism. 🏴

We'll gladly send you copies of our outreach pamphlet, To Change Everything, for the costs of printing and shipping alone.

https://store.crimethinc.com/products/to-change-everything

CrimethInc, 9 days ago to random

Ahead of Another Summer of Climate Disasters, Let’s Talk about Real Solutions

https://crimethinc.com/Climate2024

Peter Gelderloos explores why the strategies that mainstream environmental movements are currently employing to halt industrially-produced climate change are failing—and what we could be doing instead.

CrimethInc, 9 days ago to random

"Contrary to the promises of Israeli politicians, neither the apartheid policies of the Israeli government nor the brutality of the Israeli military have brought safety to anyone in the region. There is no way to stop to the bloodshed without putting an end to the colonial oppression of Palestinians.

"In any struggle, those who have the most power and access to resources have the most leverage in determining what form the conflict will take. The Israeli government has exponentially more arms and funding than any Palestinian group; across the course of decades, it has inflicted exponentially more casualties. Some of its staunchest supporters are Christian nationalists and neoliberals seeking leverage in the oil-rich Mideast. Any effort towards change in the region must begin by confronting their support."

You can print this poster out here:

https://crimethinc.com/posters/free-palestine

You can download a zine about how to make wheatpaste for postering here:

https://crimethinc.com/zines/field-guide-to-wheatpasting

A poster wheatpasted on a wall, reading "Free Palestine."

CrimethInc, 9 days ago to random

We have prepared a zine version of our analysis, "Why the State Can’t Compromise with the Gaza Solidarity Movement."

https://crimethinc.com/zines/why-the-state-cant-compromise-with-the-gaza-solidarity-movement

Please print these out and distribute them.

CrimethInc, 10 days ago to random

How can it be that immediately after Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Israeli military is preparing a ground invasion of Rafah? The invasion will cause the senseless deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian children. Many figures in the Israeli government have emphasized that their chief goal is to render Gaza completely uninhabitable.

"The entire Gaza Strip should be emptied and leveled flat, just like in Auschwitz."

-David Azulai, head of the City Council of Metula

"The idea that an understanding of the genocide, that a memory of the holocausts, can only lead people to want to dismantle the system is erroneous. The continuing appeal of nationalism suggests that the opposite is truer, namely, that an understanding of genocide has led people to mobilize genocidal armies, that the memory of holocausts has led people to perpetrate holocausts. The sensitive poets who remembered the loss, the researchers who documented it, have been like the pure scientists who discovered the structure of the atom... Nationalists used the poetry to split and fuse human populations, to mobilize genocidal armies, to perpetrate new holocausts."

-Fredy Perlman, Jewish anti-Zionist and anarchist, one of the few members of his family who survived the Holocaust

https://crimethinc.com/GazaGenocide

CrimethInc, 10 days ago to random

We, Too, Remember Aleksei Sutuga: The Life of a Russian Anarchist and Anti-Fascist

https://crimethinc.com/Socrates

Aleksei Sutuga grew up deep in Siberia, in Irkutsk—the city to which Mikhail Bakunin was once exiled, not to mention many other Russian rebels. Known to his friends as Socrates, Aleksei became involved in the Russian anarchist and anti-fascist movements. His life is the subject of a recently published book.

The interviewees recount how anarchism reemerged in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Sharing their memories of Socrates, they explore the relationship between hardcore punk, straight edge, veganism, anarchism, anti-fascism, and a variety of other forms of activism. They describe how Socrates and his comrades became locked in a brutal conflict—first with neo-Nazis, then with the Russian authorities.

At the invitation of our Russian comrades, we have contributed an introduction to this book, exploring why his story is important for people outside Russia.

A photograph of Socrates appearing via video link on a television screen from Butyrka prison at a hearing, 2012.
A photograph of Socrates in 2017, after his release from the penal colony in Angarsk.
A photograph of police harassing protesters who were supporting the defendants in the Network case after they were sentenced to between six and eighteen years in a penal colony apiece, taken on February 2, 2020.

CrimethInc, 11 days ago to random

The Encampments Spread to Mexico

https://crimethinc.com/encampmentUNAM

On May 2, students from a number of schools and student organizations across Mexico City launched a Palestine solidarity encampment in the heart of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), within view of the Okupa Che, a 24-year-running anarchist squat that once served as the UNAM’s largest auditorium. They established the encampment as an expression of solidarity with the wave of university encampments taking place in the United States against the Israeli state’s genocide in Gaza. By the end of the encampment’s first day, it already involved fifty tents, a free kitchen, and the visual redecoration of the space around it with messages of solidarity with Palestine.

We conducted this interview in person with a well-connected participant.

A photograph of a banner at the Palestine solidarity encampment at UNAM. In Spanish, the text reads “Until what is essential becomes visible,” a reference to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, and likely to graffiti that appeared during the uprising in Chile in 2019 depicting the Little Prince with the inscription “What is essential is invisible to the state.”

CrimethInc, 13 days ago to random

Why the State Can’t Compromise with the Gaza Solidarity Movement—And What That Means for Us

https://crimethinc.com/Encampments2024

On April 17, students at Columbia University initiated an on-campus encampment in solidarity with Gaza. After the administration called in the New York City police department in a failed attempt to evict the encampment, students across the country established encampments and occupations of their own.

Why are the police being so heavy-handed? Why are the media contorting themselves into increasingly bizarre contradictions to condemn the protests? Why are the Democrats and the Republicans united in opposing these protests? And how is it that, in their haste to crack down, university administrations, politicians, and police appear to have forgotten the basic principles of protest management?

In this analysis, participants in the movement explore the strategic questions it confronts today.

CrimethInc, 14 days ago to random

We've prepared a zine version of the statement we received from participants in the now-legendary occupation of Cal Poly Humboldt in solidarity with people in Gaza. They explain why they set up a tree occupation to defend the space, exploring how the struggle for the liberation of Palestine is connected with many other struggles.

https://crimethinc.com/zines/from-redwood-trees-the-view-of-a-new-world-being-born

Please print these out and distribute them!

“We are not just working to destroy the nightmare of the world as it currently exists—we are also defending the seed of the world to come, defending a life worth living and sharing with others.”

CrimethInc, 14 days ago to random

Not only did the police fail to protect the 19 elementary school students and two teachers who were killed in a shooting in Uvalde—now the police are the ones carrying out shootings at schools themselves.

https://crimethinc.com/TheirGuns

CrimethInc, 14 days ago to random

We've prepared a zine version of our text "Defending the Camp," describing the experiences of participants in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Gaza solidarity encampment.

https://crimethinc.com/zines/defending-the-camp

Please print these out and share them!

You can find over 100 more zines on a variety of subjects in our zine archive.

CrimethInc, 15 days ago to random

Happy May Day! 🏴🏴🏴

For a short history of this day of celebration and resistance across a century and a half:

https://crimethinc.com/MayDayHistory

CrimethInc, 15 days ago to random

For May Day, we have translated part of a text published today in Russian by the anarchist project akrateia.info.

"Mayday is an international distress signal in radio communications, similar to the SOS signal in telegraph communications. This is an approximation of the French phrase 'm'aidez,' a shortened version of the phrase 'venez m'aider'(meaning 'come to my aid,' 'help me'). On this day, we offer to come to each other’s aid (what Peter Kropotkin called 'mutual aid').

"We appeal to you: wherever you are—under fire, in a hospital, in prison, in a foreign country, trying to find a way to earn money, in your native country where you risk becoming a victim of torture by the authorities—we want to remind you that you are not alone. We want to be with you in spirit, no matter how difficult it may be right now.

"Anarchism never died. Throughout the bloody history of the 20th century. it survived and developed. If you are reading these lines, that means you are also involved in our great cause. How many times have anarchist periodicals addressed their readers on May 1? How many times have anarchists feared that anarchism might die and totalitarian countries and fascists would win?

"We will continue, as our predecessors did. We will not give up because we are coming to help each other."

CrimethInc, 15 days ago to random

Defending the Camp

A Report from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Gaza Solidarity Encampment

https://crimethinc.com/UIUC

All around the United States and now in Canada, Australia, and several European cities, students have established encampments protesting the bloodshed taking place in Gaza. Over the past few days, more than a thousand people have been arrested in police raids targeting these encampments. Yet despite the high-profile assaults on Columbia University and other occupations, many encampments have managed to stand their ground, even in the face of repeated police attacks. In this report, participants in the Gaza solidarity protest encampment at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recount their experiences learning to hold their ground.

Protesters equipped with multicolored umbrellas line up to defend the encampment at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

CrimethInc, 16 days ago to random

Thousands upon thousands of police are surrounding Columbia University and raiding the building occupation there now, determined to crush the movement in solidarity with those experiencing genocide in Gaza.

Every time a mercenary puts on an NYPD uniform, selling their capacity to inflict violence to the highest bidder, they are committing treason against humanity.

We salute the courage of those occupying the university. This struggle is far from over.

Background on the movement at Columbia:

https://crimethinc.com/Columbia2024

A video of police using an armored vehicle to enter a second-story window of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University campus.

CrimethInc, 17 days ago to random

If you are participating in protests, encampments, or occupations, you should understand how to dress to minimize your risk factors.

Most importantly—if you wish to protect your privacy, you will need an outfit that conceals your identifying features. You should change into it in a location that is not under surveillance, wear it for the entire duration of the activity, then change out of it in a location that is also not surveilled. You should not be seen with any elements of the outfit before or after.

Consider reading these short instructional guides:

Fashion Tips for the Brave

https://crimethinc.com/fashiontips

The Femme’s Guide to Riot Fashion

https://crimethinc.com/riotfemme

CrimethInc, 17 days ago (edited 17 days ago) to random

In response to threats from the university administration, demonstrators at Columbia University have occupied Hamilton Hall, the campus’s main administrative building, to call for an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Several hundred people are surrounding the building, cheering exuberantly. From within it, the occupiers are leading chants: "Free, free Palestine!" And the crowd around the building repeats: "Free, free Palestine!"

Background on how the encampment began at Columbia:

https://crimethinc.com/Columbia2024

CrimethInc, 17 days ago to random

From Redwood Trees to Olive Groves, the Commune Grows

A Statement from the Tree Occupation at Cal Poly Humboldt

https://crimethinc.com/CalPolyTreesit

An inspiring message from participants in the occupation of Cal Poly Humboldt in solidarity with the people in Gaza, which has held its ground against a massive police mobilization for a week now.

This report includes a photoessay documenting the occupation of Cal Poly Humboldt and an audio recording of an audio presentation that one participant made via telephone to an encampment on the other side of the country last night.

A photograph of blockades around the occupation of Cal Poly Humboldt.
A photograph from below of the tree occupation at Cal Poly Humboldt. The bottom of the tree platform reads "Free Gaza, end empire."

CrimethInc, 19 days ago to random

Rhetoric about "outside agitators" is really intended to cut student protesters off from the one thing that could enable them to stand up to the authorities, which is connection with the off-campus community.

If student protesters want to have any bargaining power in their efforts to express solidarity with people in Gaza, they will need alliances with non-students, many of whom have more experience and less to lose.

Remember, students, the administrations also have off-campus allies, and they do not hesitate to deploy them against you.