CrimethInc

CrimethInc, 9 months ago to random

Elon Musk has been working with open anti-Semites this week to mobilize people against the Anti-Defamation League, blaming declining advertising sales (caused by his efforts to welcome self-declared Nazis back to Twitter) on Jewish people.

Now, in dialogue with one of these bigots, Musk is promising to do a "giant data dump" on the ADL and other groups, with the presumable goal of enabling anti-Semites to harass, attack, and kill people.

In 2022, we warned that Musk took over Twitter with the explicit goal of seizing territory for the far right, but even we didn't expect it to go so far, so fast.

Background:

https://crimethinc.com/2022/11/25/elon-musk-bans-crimethinc-from-twitter-on-request-from-far-right-troll

Death to fascism.🏴

A screenshot from X, formerly known as Twitter: Libs of TikTok@libsoftiktok. 1h BREAKING: Elon suggests he will release all the data relating to the ADL and other organizations pushing to censor and silence X accounts We need a full list of which organizations pushed for censorship and which accounts were affected! THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET WILD Please consider releasing all communications and providing full transparency on the ADL & all other organizations who have pushed to censor certain accounts on Twitter/X. Sincerely, Thousands of users who have been suspended, throttled, silenced, and shadowbanned. Elon Musk & @elonmusk. 37m ADL has pushed hard for us to shut down accounts like Chaya's, even though it has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, which is their supposed charter! Libs of TikTok@libsoftiktok 25m Elon, would you consider releasing some of the communications between X and the ADL so we can all see their true intentions? I'm definitely interested in seeing their requests to ban my account! Elon Musk X@elonmusk.2m Great point. A giant data dump would clear... Elon Musk @elonmusk. 1h Replying to @libsoftiktok That's for sure. Might take until next week, as we're short-staffed this week.

CrimethInc, 6 months ago to random

Today, as an act of protest against the genocide unfolding in Gaza,

"Protesters shut down all Interstate 80 traffic heading to San Francisco during the Thursday morning commute. The protesters stopped their cars on the bridge, east of Treasure Island Road, and threw their keys into the Bay before chaining themselves together and to the bridge, according to California Highway Patrol."
-KRON4

The fact that they threw their keys into the Bay is inspiring. If we want to interrupt the perpetual violence of this society, we have to break with our own roles within it.

Background:

https://crimethinc.com/GazaSolidarity

An aerial photograph showing traffic backed up behind a blockade on the Bay Bridge.

CrimethInc, 7 months ago to random

On the platform previously known as Twitter, Elon Musk has apparently given orders to automatically remove those who follow the account of Palestine Action US (@Pal_ActionUS). Many people have reported that after following the account, their accounts automatically unfollow it. We can confirm this from firsthand experience.

Whatever your politics in regard to Palestine, this is an important precedent. It confirms that Elon Musk bought Twitter in order to make it impossible for people to communicate except in ways that align with his personal agenda as a billionaire and racist. Relying on X/Twitter to communicate means enabling him to personally determine whom we can hear and whom is silenced.

https://crimethinc.com/TwitterCanary

For a world without billionaires or the social media platforms they control!

CrimethInc, 7 months ago to random

Should anyone claim that “ethnic cleansing” is too strong a phrase to describe what the Israeli government is trying to do in Gaza, we direct you to this document, just leaked from the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence. It explicitly recommends the forcible permanent transfer of the entire Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip to the Sinai peninsula.

This is the textbook definition of ethnic cleansing—on a scale of millions of people.

https://www.mekomit.co.il/%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%a1%d7%9e%d7%9a-%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%90-%d7%a9%d7%9c-%d7%9e%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%93-%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%93%d7%99%d7%a2%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%9b%d7%99%d7%91%d7%95%d7%a9-%d7%a2%d7%96%d7%94-%d7%95/

CrimethInc, 3 months ago to random

“This Is What Our Ruling Class Has Decided Will Be Normal”

On Aaron Bushnell’s Action in Solidarity with Gaza

https://crimethinc.com/AaronBushnell

On February 25, we received an email from a person who signed himself Aaron Bushnell, announcing that he was going to engage in an act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Shortly afterwards, Aaron set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC.

All afternoon, while other journalists were breaking the news, we discussed how we should speak about this. Some subjects are too complex to address in a hasty social media post.

Here, we share some of our thoughts about tragedy, urgency, and sacrifice.

CrimethInc, 9 months ago to random

Elon Musk bought Twitter with the express intention of destroying a platform that he regarded as an obstacle to the aspirations of far-right billionaires like himself.

Now he is announcing that the block function will be discontinued. The only imaginable reason to remove the block function is to enable bigots to make the platform uninhabitable for everyone else.

Here's the backstory on how Twitter became a battleground:

https://crimethinc.com/TwitterBought

We are in a war with the forces of oligarchy and bigotry. We have to build communications infrastructure that they can never take over.

An image of the Twitter logo as a dead canary in a cage.

CrimethInc, 9 months ago to random

Today, we remember our friend and comrade, David Graeber, who passed away three years ago.

To honor his life, you could read this text he published with us:

https://crimethinc.com/ShockofVictory

Or visit these projects set up in his memory:

https://museum.care/

https://davidgraeber.institute/

But the very best thing you can do is to continue his legacy of anarchist critical thinking. That's what David would have wanted.

A screenshot reading: David Graeber @davidgraeber it's kind of disorienting when you realise that most of the people you'd most wanted to impress in your life are already dead. 1:32 PM · Aug 16, 2020

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

Just a reminder that there is such a thing as anarchism, which is to say, opposition to all forms of oppressive power—there is such a thing as capitalism, which is to say, a system in which a few people accumulate oppressive power over everyone else through a process of market competition—but there is no such thing as "anarcho"-capitalism, whatever the Wall Street Journal or some wingnut capitalist who has just become head of state in Argentina might have you believe.

https://crimethinc.com/podcasts/the-ex-worker/episodes/18

The newly elected president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has described himself as an "anarcho-capitalist." He praises Trump, opposes abortion, and plans to accelerate neoliberal austerity to nightmare proportions.

Anarchists have always opposed capitalism and all politicians. As the Ex-Worker Podcast argued in episode 18, so-called "anarcho"-capitalists take advantage of popular resentment of state power to justify inequalities of wealth. No "liberty" is possible while the rich call all the shots and the vast majority of people struggle to survive.

A powerful Argentinian anarchist tradition has organized against capitalism and state power for well over a century. We echo their call from the streets in the 2001 uprising:

Que se vayan todos!

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

Police around the country are beginning to crack down with brutal violence on students demonstrating in solidarity with Gaza. This video from Chile shows how to extinguish tear gas canisters quickly, safely, and easily. Please circulate it widely!

To deal with tear gas canisters, take a water jug with a wide mouth, pick up the canister with protective gloves, drop it in the jug, and shake the jug while covering the top with your hand just enough that the gas doesn't get out.

It can help to put a little baking soda, dish soap, and/or vegetable oil in the jug of water—3 tablespoons of each to 1 liter of water.

Don't seal the bottle. You don't want it to explode.

You can consult a wide range of similar resources here:

https://crimethinc.com/actionresources

CrimethInc, 8 months ago (edited 8 months ago) to random

The Israeli military has dropped more bombs on Gaza this week than the United States military dropped on all of Afghanistan in the years 2014-2016.

They have already killed more people in Gaza than the number of Israelis killed in the attacks of October 7. They have rendered hundreds of thousands of people homeless—in what was already one of the most crowded places on earth. With the exit routes blocked, those refugees have nowhere to go, and the bombing continues.

The casualties in Gaza include several hundred children who bear no responsibility for the events of October 7. Far more children will die in these bombings than died in the attacks of October 7.

Taking revenge in this way will not bring back the people killed on October 7, nor will it halt the decades-long cycle of bloodshed that led to this tragedy. It will only lead to more deaths and concentrate more power in the hands of militarists and bigots.

Tonight, in demanding that 1 million people leave the northern half of Gaza, the Israeli government is signaling that it intends to carry out genocide on a much larger scale.

Countless Israelis know that this is not in their best interest and are saying so. Read our interview with one of them:

https://crimethinc.com/Palestine2023

CrimethInc, 9 days ago to random

People in Atlanta have been without water for five days now because of infrastructure collapse.

Meanwhile, the city government is channeling more than $90 million dollars towards Cop City, just one of several ways that they are militarizing the police.

This makes their priorities clear enough. They're robbing you blind to pay the salaries of the mercenaries who impose this order on you. They don't care if you die of poverty or thirst, but they'll give you RICO charges or even shoot you if you try to do something about it.

https://crimethinc.com/AtlantaRICO

#StopCopCity

CrimethInc, 5 months ago to random

As the first trial in the RICO case in Atlanta gets underway, both Attorney General John Fowler and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are spreading outrageous falsehoods—for example, alleging that “The International Workers of The World... issue instructions on anarchy [sic] and committing crime.”

There is no organization called the "International Workers of the World." Fowler is presumably referring to the Industrial Workers of the World, an aboveboard labor organization that—contrary to this cartoonish AJC article—is not run by the legal support workers that Fowler is absurdly charging with violating the RICO act.

From Donald Trump's claims about the 2020 election to this trumped-up court case, intentionally spreading lies is an integral part of the authoritarian strategy. Never take anything they say at face value.

https://archive.ph/RKu2o

#StopCopCity

A photograph of Georgia Attorney General John Fowler.

CrimethInc, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago) to random

Hundreds of Jewish protesters and their supporters have occupied the Congress of the United States, chanting "Ceasefire now!" in reference to the ongoing slaughter of people in Gaza.

Video from Jewish Voices for Peace:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyjQqr4g9kc/

Background:

https://crimethinc.com/Galilee

https://crimethinc.com/Palestine2023

CrimethInc, 6 months ago to random

This week, Elon Musk explicitly endorsed the anti-Semitic "replacement theory," talking about Jewish "hatred against whites." But a few hours later, all it took for the the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League to thank him for his "leadership in fighting hate" was for Musk—a white South African—to identify "decolonization" with genocide.

War is peace. Free speech is censorship. Decolonization is genocide.

Advocates of the genocidal policy currently pursued by the Israeli government are prepared to make common cause with bigots who hate them—on the shared platform of endorsing colonial violence. This says a lot about the future that Christian nationalists, proponents of a Jewish ethno-state, and capitalist billionaires wish to create.

As we have been saying for a long time—abolish Twitter. Destroy capitalism, white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and fascism. This is our only hope to live together in peace. 🏴

CrimethInc, 3 months ago to random

Today marks two years since Russia initiated the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.

https://crimethinc.com/AntiwarRussia2022

The invasion would never have been possible if Putin’s regime had not spent the past decade crushing every social movement in Russia—using torture to extract false confessions from arrestees and imprisoning or assassinating countless people. But this is not limited to Russia alone.

Everywhere on earth, governments are relying on more and more repressive and invasive policing to control restless populations. The war in Ukraine is part of a story that is familiar in Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Sudan, Palestine, and elsewhere. It represents the same strategy that governments around the world are employing within their territories, expanded to the scale of geopolitics: the recourse to brute force to suppress resistance and extend control.

Wherever we fight against state repression, we are fighting against a future of war.

In this picture, anarchists march today in Vilnius.

CrimethInc, 7 months ago to random

For years, fascists have tried to use entryist strategies to establish a foothold in anti-war movements. Now they are ramping up their efforts, seeking to capitalize on the sequence of tragedies that has unfolded in Palestine since October 7.

We have to shut them down everywhere they rear their heads. This flier is from Atlanta in 2020, but unfortunately it is even more relevant today.

https://itsgoingdown.org/neo-nazi-groups-are-attempting-to-worm-their-way-into-rallies-against-the-war-on-gaza/

CrimethInc, 1 month ago to random

After the police raided the Gaza solidarity encampment on Columbia University campus last week, arresting over 100 people but failing to suppress it, they conceded that the demonstrators could stay if they didn't put up tents.

https://crimethinc.com/Columbia2024

Today, the demonstrators put up tents again.

What is really happening here is a generational clash between those who benefit from a world order founded on colonial violence and those for whom it is unconscionable.

CrimethInc, 5 months ago to random

On December 24, 1914, during the First World War, German and British troops stationed across from each other in Belgium concluded an informal truce in defiance of their commanding officers.

The Germans began by singing; the British responded with English carols, and both sides shouted Christmas greetings across the wasteland between them. A few soldiers stuck their heads above the fortifications and, not being fired upon, made their way to meet in the middle. Soon the enemy combatants were exchanging gifts and embraces.

The truce enabled both sides to recover the bodies of their slaughtered comrades, which had been rotting where they had fallen in No Man’s Land. Soldiers of both armies mourned the dead together. The next day, everyone gathered for a football match. We can imagine how senseless the war must have felt to them that afternoon.

By January, the commanding officers had regained control and the young men who had laughed, sang, cried, and played together were once again shooting, stabbing, and bombing each other.

It is not insubordination that is dangerous—it is obedience that is dangerous.

https://crimethinc.com/contradictionary

CrimethInc, 6 months ago to random

How They Stopped Work at the Raytheon Facility

https://crimethinc.com/Raytheon

On November 13, demonstrators in southern California blockaded a defense contractor facility in solidarity with the Palestinians on the receiving end of the bombs that it produces.

This report explores how they used the element of surprise to surround it and shut down work for the day.

Demonstrators blockading the Raytheon facility with a banner that reads "Raytheon workers: stop arming genocide."
A map showing the location of the blockades around the Raytheon facility.
Demonstrators outside the Raytheon facility carrying a banner reading "united against colonial occupations."

CrimethInc, 9 months ago to random

Today, it has been 96 years since the execution of the anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Anti-immigrant bigotry played a significant part in determining the outcome of their trial. The court case became a rallying point for thousands around the world.

"Not only am I innocent of these two crimes, not only in all my life I have never stolen, never killed, never spilled blood, but I have struggled all my life, since I began to reason, to eliminate crime from the earth...

"I am suffering because I am a radical and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I was an Italian, and indeed I am an Italian; I have suffered more for my family and for my beloved than for myself; but I am so convinced to be right that you can only kill me once but if you could execute me two times, and if I could be reborn two other times, I would live again to do what I have done already."

-Bartolomeo Vanzetti, addressing the court at their sentencing

CrimethInc, 9 months ago to random

Understanding the RICO Charges in Atlanta

A Sweeping Indictment Seeks to Criminalize Protest Itself

https://crimethinc.com/AtlantaRICO

In indiscriminately lumping together scores of arrestees, many of whom have ostensibly never met, into a fabricated conspiracy case, the prosecution is attempting to criminalize protest itself. This case should be of interest to anyone who is concerned about civil liberties such as the freedom to protest, the freedom to advocate against police brutality and authoritarianism, and the freedom to advocate for preserving the environment.

The indictment does not seem to indicate that prosecutors have any previously unreleased information at their disposal indicating the existence of a conspiracy, in the sense that the word is ordinarily employed. Rather, they have brought new charges against those whose names they already had as the result of previous arrests, and are now clumsily endeavoring to frame them as participants in a cohesive criminal enterprise.

#StopCopCity 🏴

CrimethInc, 4 months ago to random

Today, we honor the memory of Tortuguita, who was murdered one year ago by mercenaries from the Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol while defending Weelaunee Forest and an inhabitable future for all of us.

Cop City represents a possible future in which ever more resources will be invested in training and militarizing massive bodies of police that will control the rest of us by brute force. For those employed in the violence industry, it represents a tremendous opportunity. The police murdered Tortuguita in order to secure the right to hoard all your tax dollars for themselves and their allies.

By contrast, Tortuguita's courageous conduct stands as an example to us all. In a time of economic desperation and catastrophic climate change, it’s up to us to show that solidarity and the desire for freedom are more powerful than selfishness and the readiness to obey.

https://crimethinc.com/AtlantaSolidarity

#StopCopCity

A photograph of a photograph Tortuguita smiling, placed on an altar to them in the forest.

CrimethInc, 4 months ago to random

Seven years ago, on January 20, 2017, police surrounded and arrested over 200 people in the vicinity of a confrontational march against the inauguration of Donald Trump. Prosecutors brought identical felony charges against almost every single arrestee in one of the most dramatic escalations of state repression of the Trump era. For a year and a half, people around the United States mobilized to support the defendants and beat back this attempt to set a new precedent in repression. The J20 case was one of the most important court cases about the freedom to protest in modern US history—and the defendants won.

Now, in response to the movement to #StopCopCity, prosecutors in Georgia are trying something similar, pressing RICO and domestic terrorism charges against dozens of people who were arrested at random. We strongly recommend reading this overview of the legal support strategy that defeated the J20 prosecution.

"We’ve Got Your Back: The Story of the J20 Defense"

https://crimethinc.com/J20legal

A poster wheatpasted to the base of a light pole in downtown DC reading "The J20 Prosecution: Trumped up charges" with a picture of Donald Trump brandishing a gun and the website defendJ20resistance.org.
A design reading "Solidarity with J20 defendantss—Drop the charges—color coordination is not a crime"
Two people in full black bloc pose with a banner reading "Sip some henny, we beat Jenny! Lay these charges in their Kerkhoffagus! xoxo, your favorite sea of black" after the defeat of despicable prosecutor Jennifer Kerkhoff in court.

CrimethInc, 9 months ago to random

Quoted in the New York Times, a constitutional law expert says that the RICO case against alleged #StopCopCity activists seems to be as much an indictment of an ideology as a description of actual criminal activity.

This is an old story. After the Haymarket riot in 1886, seven anarchists were sentenced to death, despite the fact that most of them had not even been present at the riot. The governor eventually pardoned and released the ones who had not already been executed, but by then, the state terror campaign had achieved its intended effect.

The Georgia Attorney General hopes to drum up irrational fear of anarchists and use that to secure convictions regardless of the facts of the case. If he succeeds, it will have implications for protesters of all stripes.

Solidarity with the defendants.

https://crimethinc.com/AtlantaRICO

CrimethInc, 4 months ago to random

Police in Atlanta executed three house raids this morning and have announced that they are charging one arrestee with arson in connection with the movement to #StopCopCity.

This is a good time to review best practices in the event of a police visit to your own home:

https://crimethinc.com/posters/when-the-police-knock-on-your-door-your-rights-and-options

This primer covers what to do if representatives of any law enforcement agency visit your home—including questioning, searches, warrants, subpoenas, and more.

Whoever you are, whatever you're doing, it's always a good idea to brush up on this stuff.

You can also review this primer about what you need to know if federal agents approach you to answer questions:

https://crimethinc.com/InformantFAQ