Anarchoblogs

Spring is about over and to close it out I took one last trip before my next hospital visit. If all goes well I will emerge from this visit healthier, stronger, and without the absolute need for bi-weekly medical visits (and insurance). I am getting nervous about abandoning these golden handcuffs but can’t wait to have time again to think outside of the 40 hour a week monotony.

Last weekend I was in the Olympia-Tacoma area giving a presentation at the Northwest Anarchist Conference which was a small event funded by the Evergreen and attended by around 50 people over the course of the weekend. I wish I could say that it was a swimming success but I am pretty critical of my own presentation (which I’ll dig into) and am not sure how convinced I am that this kind of a conference is worth the time and energy put into it. That said I continue to really enjoy the people who live in the NW and look forward to the possibilities of further collaboration with them.

Check out http://tan.anarchyplanet.org to see many of their projects advertised.

I am starting to think about taking a bit of a different approach to presentations. I have, for years, started every presentation with something like a “postion paper” in mind. I prepare, more-or-less from scratch, every presentation with the goal being the writing of some sort of 2500-3000 word essay. I spend a few days mulling the implications of what I want to say and the framing of the presentation to a different/new audience. I try to be contextual. I always take on a far bigger speculative project than I am capable of presenting honesly in a limited period of time and never make enough time to write enough words to share a document of my ideas. This is bad and neither benefits an audiece as much as limited essay writing would OR take advantage of my own conversational skills as much as I’d like.

Sucks.

I was somewhat inspired by the presentation Magpie did around his Mythbreaker and Lawbreakers tour. He goes for cutsey a bit more than I think is necessary but I guess it fits into his style. I do think I would benefit a lot from the kind of presentational logic that Magpie used. Even though there is a war against it.

This feed entry uses the hCalendar calendaring format.

Further 5/2 UPDATE: VOCAL has issued another communiqué, calling for a massive solidarity caravan to be organized to break the paramilitary siege of San Juan Copala and warning against a possible paramilitary attack against the town. 

As well, it appears now to be fairly certain that the Mexican army, while perhaps in the region, has not entered San Juan Copala or the site of the ambush. Apologies again for the incorrect information. However, please keep an eye on developments as the issue has certainly not been resolved and the situation in San Juan Copala continues to be dire and demanding of solidarity and action.

5/2 UPDATE: Questions have been raised regarding the accuracy of the claim that the army has entered the area. The only source for this has been the below mentioned professor. I'll post more info when it's available. My apologies if it turns out to be inaccurate.

Demonstration in Oaxaca on April 30.

News has come in that the Mexican army has entered the site of the ambush of the Solidarity and Support Caravan outside of the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala. La Haine writes,

According to a statement made a few minutes ago by Francisco López Barcenas, a researcher from the Autonomous University of Mexico working with the Triqui people, an hour ago the army entered the site of the murders under the command of Rufino Juárez, leader of the paramilitary organization UBISORT (Union for the Social Well-Being of the Triqui Region, sic), which has strong ties to the PRI and to the governor Ulises Ruiz.

On Thursday, Bety Cariño's funeral was held in Huajuapan. Jyri Jaakkola is being brought to Mexico City. As a compa shared with me, "Yesterday we planted Bety, we did not bury her." Compañerxs, you will not be forgotten, you will continue in the struggle with us, just as all the fallen do, in our hearts and in our clenched fists.

Some further updates and information:

• VOCAL's follow-up communiqué is available in English and Spanish on El Enemigo Común. They also released a short follow-up to that (along with the above photo) which reads:

FOLLOW-UP COMMUNIQUÉ

Regarding the armed attack on the Caravan of Support and Solidarity with the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala, Oaxaca.

We wish to report that DAVID VENEGAS REYES is with us and in good health, and that NOE BAUTISTA JIMENEZ is hospitalized at IMSS and that he has been harassed and his relatives and friends intimidated when they go to take care of him. We denounce these physical and psychological attacks being carried out against our comrade.

Regarding the APPO mobilization and denunciation in the city of Oaxaca.

At the march convened by some comrades of member organizations of the APPO, we marched with pain, rage and indignation on April 30 a little after 5PM, departing from the Seven Regions Fountain, supporting the process of building autonomy in San Juan Copala, demanding punishment for the murders committed by the paramilitary group Union for the Social Well-Being of the Triqui Region (UBISORT).

This march was carried out with the intention of making public our demand that today Copala requires justice and the those responsible for the brutal ambush of the Caravan of Observation and Support of the autonomous municipality have dealt a blow to the autonomy of the people, we cannot allow the repression to continue as it occurred in 2006 and earlier on when the people organized themselves and fought to create ways of self-governing, with autonomy, dignity and peace with justice, while the governments enjoy complete impunity.  Other demands issued in the march were punishment for the murders of our comrades Alberta Cariño and Jyri Antero Jaakkola.

WE WILL NOT FORGET, WE WILL NOT FORGIVE, WE WILL NOT SUBMIT

JUSTICE NOW

PARAMILITARIES OUT OF THE AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITY OF SAN JUAN COPALA

OAXACAN VOICES CONSTRUCTING AUTONOMY AND FREEDOM

VOCAL

• On Friday, Movement for Justice in the Barrio in NYC released a strong statement of solidarity.


• You can listen to a radio interview in Spanish with three compas from VOCAL regarding the attack here.

You’d think that if someone were going to make a whole movie about piranhas, they’d at least bother to find out how to pronounce the name of the damn fish.

HUMOUR:UTOPIA AND ANTI-UTOPIA: Now for something a bit off the beaten path. The following mini science fiction story is from the British LibCom site. I admit it’s something of an in joke, and non-anarchist readers of this blog (the vast majority…

Continue reading at Molly'sBlog …

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The Moscow Times has a hilarious article about the trials and tribulations that joggers face in Moscow. It starts with an anecdote about a foreign correspondent in Moscow in 1981 who was trailed by the KGB because his jogging routine aroused suspicion, but here's the best part of the article (especially the last paragraph):

Greg Walters, a former Moscow Times reporter and now a guitarist in Brooklyn-based indie rock group Red Wire Black Wire, used to jog in Chistiye Prudy when he lived in Moscow.

“If I ran through after 2 p.m., I’d get heckled by groups of men drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. A couple times, some of them sarcastically jogged along with me, laughing uproariously. They thought I was hilarious,” Walters said in an e-mail.

The woman who answered the phone at the Russian Athletics Federation simply sneered. “We have nothing to do with people who just run around outside for exercise. We have athletes, professionals who run in competitions.”

Now that I think about it, I never saw people jogging when I lived in Bucharest.

...and I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Moscow Times is a great paper.