Wide array of unconstitutional tactics alleged in suit over chilling round-up that hit peaceful protesters, journalists, and anarchists alike.
When black-clad marchers began smashing windows in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day, the city’s police force — reputedly the best in the country at upholding protesters’ rights during disruptive demonstrations — went nuclear.
We are persuaded by the Situationist belief that all good critiques can be boiled down to a slogan. Those for our issue? “All Cops Are Bastards.” “Fuck The Police.” “Off the Pigs.” “Fire to the Prisons.” The job of the police is to put everything and everyone in its proper place. On its face, such a description sounds rather clinical, reminiscent of the boring work of an accountant preparing tax filings. But is this not how policing describes itself? Judges, lawmakers, and good citizens say it the same way – good policing happens with a smiling face, whistling a tune, and chatting with neighborhood kids. Like a game of cops and robbers, they attribute any resulting violence to ‘the bad guys.’ Always childishly pointing their fingers at someone else, as if to tattle on ‘the ones who started it.’ If slogans like ‘ACAB’ or ‘FTP’ belong to a larger political horizon, it is one that has also been articulated in slogan form: une autre fin du monde est possible [Another End of the World is Possible]. The aim is to usher in an end to this world other than the looming catastrophe of capital by reiterating that the police act as the guarantors of a perpetual present. It is within this context that this issue of Hostis seeks to embolden slogans that single out the police as a true enemy. If the police are an enemy, then it is because enemies are not to be fought simply through negation but to be abolished completely. The lesson we draw from this: the enemy is the one whose existence must be abolished without qualification.
A first-hand account of an unpermitted march by the cops in Paris
For the past four days, the police have been illegally protesting in the streets of Paris each night. On Wednesday (October 19, 2016), their meet-up was set for 9:30pm in Republic Square. Some friends decided to go down and show their opposition to the gathering. First off, we were very few, at most fifty, and not nearly enough to confront the growing crowd of police, from 200 to a thousand. Here’s the story of a strange night caught between the state of emergency and the scent of mutiny.
The atmosphere was strange, there in Republic Square, where on one side a rally of Colombians was wrapping up, while on another a Jewish celebration was being held, and where a skatepark has sprung up in the same place where the General Assemblies for Nuit Debout were held this spring.
All the police cars that we watched arrive weren’t there to monitor the march, but rather to take part. Then the mobile gendarmerie got their riot gear out and made several attempts to encircle anyone who looked like a counter-protester.
Massive show of strength as anarchists, antifascists and anti-authoritarians took to the streets of Exarcheia against drug dealing mafias and police. The demonstration was guarded by comrades armed with openly displayed guns (who can be seen on the video from 01:53), something that has not been seen at demonstrations in recent times but was deemed necessary due to the serious threat posed by the heavily armed drug mafias who work in collusion with the police.
As Anarchist Radio Berlin we documented a presentation about the topic "Undercover for State and Capital".
As Anarchist Radio Berlin we had the opportunity of documenting a presentation organized by the magazine Cilip in Berlin with the title "Undercover for State and Capital". Therein, Kate Wilson talked about her relationship to Mark Kennedy and Eveline Lubbes about the spying of multinationals and the Undercover Research Group. Unfortunately, due to technical problems, we could only record the first part of the presentation where Kate talks about her experiences. The presentation was held in English.
Reportback on the Weekend of Actions Against Police Weaponry, Pont-de-Buis, October 2015
This reportback originally appeared on Lundimatin.
Translated, with minor additions here and there, by Ill Will Editions.
An English version of the callout is here
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We arrive together, we leave together.
[note: a more readable version of this text, with footnotes, photos, and a glossary, is here: http://illwilleditions.noblogs.org/files/2015/10/NOBELSPORT-CALLOUT-READ...
