Announcing the first issue of the new PCWC broadsheet, "The Crisis"

Governor Brewer lets out a mighty class war cry of sheer victorious glee after signing the corporate tax cut earlier this year.

So it is with the bad news that Arizona has fired more than 10,000 public school employees -- more than 6,000 of them teachers -- and the good news that one in every ten bosses who dies on the job is murdered, that we announce what we hope to be an ongoing agitational broadsheet aimed at regularly stoking the fires of opposition here in the Copper State, Phoenix in particular. We're calling it, simply enough, "The Crisis" and it is intended for hand to hand distribution in the city.

Since the last year's struggles against both the reactionary rightwing attack and the wishy-washy leftist recuperation, we have become more and more aware that no one in the state is addressing the increasingly perilous and precarious economic situation of so many workers and excluded people in Az. Lines at state social service agencies stretch for hours in the 110 degree heat, jobs have not come back, wages have fallen and the economic situation of more and more people every day seems to sit on a knife's edge.

The successful division of the working class created by the racist right has limited the ability of the class to find ways to fight back against the attack, as well as to envision new ways of organizing life that go beyond merely calling for increased intervention into poor and working class people's lives. In Arizona this is particularly an interesting question because there is such hostility to government solutions, even among the working class.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to ignore the obvious class assault that is the imposition of austerity. Vital services are disappearing. Take for instance the recent decision by the state to throw more than a hundred thousand poor and working class people off the state's health care plan.  Beyond that, people making more than $920 a month have been disqualified from eligibility, at the same time that the state weekly unemployment benefit pays out about 210 dollars a week. Given that payments in Arizona top out at $240 a week, that average means substantial numbers of unemployed people who once could count on health care while out of work no longer have it.

In addition, the state currently runs a budget surplus, largely made on the backs of the foreclosure crisis, as formerly working class folks ejected from their homes have lost the mortgage deduction, boosting income tax revenues. And never mind that the arguments for austerity coming from the political and business class were built on dire -- even catastrophic -- budget projections. Meanwhile, the state passed a corporate sales tax cut, further shifting the tax burden onto the poor and working class with a whopping $1.5 billion dollar giveaway to the rich over the next seven years.

At the same time, the legislature continues to contemplate a flat tax, which would cut taxes on the rich even more, with a resulting rise in tax payments at the bottom. And, if it couldn't get any worse, this summer the state rejected Federal money for unemployment extensions, potentially stranding thousands of unemployed Arizonans when their state benefits run out. With an unemployment rate of 9.6%, and an average length of unemployment steadily creeping up towards a year, that's guaranteed to leave some very marginalized people hanging.

As usual, we don't find these conditions depressing, we find them interesting and worthy of intervening in and experimenting with. Potential exists for some interesting organizing and possibly for a breech in normal politics. So, look for copies of the new broadsheet soon. Once more into the breach we go!

 

Reflections on a Crucifixion: the Arizona Immigrant Movement's Slow, Steady March to Oblivion

Or, "The Smartest Guy In The Movement Revealed"

As we approach the one year anniversary of the passage of SB1070, we naturally tend to look back. As I've pointed out in other articles, the year leading up and and since then hasn't been the easiest one, as we have fought off recuperators, reactionaries and straight up Nazis in the meetings, on the internet and in the streets. No one has yet written a comprehensive analysis of that period of heightened struggle, which for me stretches from the first Inglourious Basterds Bloc through the DO@ Bloc, on into the hot summer of 2010 with its student walkouts and the Border Patrol occupation, and then culminating with Inglourious Basterds II. I for one would welcome it if an anarchist would take on the job of documenting and analyzing that struggle, although I don't yet feel up to the task.

Although that larger project remains incomplete, in a recent discussion, we at PCWC decided that it might be worth tackling it in smaller, bite-sized portions -- reflections on the interesting moments, those lightbulb-going-off-in-your-head instances, and those things that weren't perhaps clear at first but became so over time. There were a lot, even for us veteran militants. The terrain of this struggle became so complicated over time that we were bound to come out of it wiser and, of course, surprised, as one always is when the working class is in motion.

In July of last year, we saw the last gasp of the mainstream migrant movement. It had marched us to death, sign-held us to death, and fund-raised us to death. Will it return? The prognosis is not good, as the political rump that remains clings to its dirty non-profit money and celebrity contacts like a Titanic refugee to a bit of driftwood.

No new or creative ideas emerge from that bottomless whirlpool, that navel-gazing vortex. All the interesting things happen outside the movement, and have for some time. The Border Patrol occupation. The resistance around the new freeway and Snowbowl desecration. Interestingly, all these actions operate within the analysis developed within the militant anti-state, anti-capitalist wing, with its assertion of "free movement for all" and "no to dislocation" as its main guideposts.

Meanwhile,"Boycott Arizona" remains the mantra of the defeated movement. This is a movement that celebrates year after year it's never-ending protest outside Sheriff Joe's office with cake, music and party favors. Another year of failure, another year of using the same bankrupt tactics to no avail. Failure, increasingly, is the goal of the movement. Implicit in the slogan is its desperate cry for outside help.

Because the movement leadership was at war with creativity and critical thought, in the end it was the Arizona Chamber of Commerce that answered that plea and stopped the march of anti-immigrant legislation. Capital re-evaluted its relationship with the reactionary white working and middle classes and blocked further regression, much as the Libertarian right had nearly scuttled SB1070 before that. The movement is a sham, and it wouldn't be so terrible if it hadn't had such terrible consequences for so many.

So it's in the spirit of reflection that I share with you the smartest man in the immigrant movement. This is a person who really understood what was going on, long before any of us did, with our flyers and our sweaty and tired participation in the mainstream miles-long marches. I mean, we came around eventually: at first we just started skipping the marches and showing up at the end to handout literature. Then we gradually returned more and more to doing our own things, playing with contradictions, fucking with the Libertarian right, provoking reactionaries and designing actions and events with ideas and composition that the mainstream leadership could not ignore. Our "fractures and fissures" theories developed in the midst of this phase of the struggle and we deployed them. And it was during this time that we organized the neighborhood assemblies, actions and marches in Tempe, for instance, a deviation that movement leaders and the sycophantic non-profiteers they surrounded themselves with found hard to countenance.

But at first, there was us, with years of showing up at these protests, supporting, holding signs, playing nice and watching movement leaders one after another peel off to the right, towards conservativism in action and thought, terrified of their own rank and file. Not that they ever had our allegiance, but one is polite at first, especially as white militants. One waits to see what develops and what can be supported, without compromising one's views, and one hands out a lot of flyers. One organizes her friends and breaks up Minuteman rallies in front of the Mexican Consulate. That's what one does.


It's hard to really remember now how before things exploded with the general strike, the rallies had only twenty, fifty, a hundred, maybe two hundred attendees. We were all opposing the early wave of reactionary laws, although we didn't know it for sure then -- it seemed apocalyptic even then. Now, with a tiny shadow of what had come before remaining, the movement leaders are surely more comfortable with a few dozen activists and non-profiteers than they ever were with several hundred thousand wildcatters waving Mexican flags, like in those early days. We know they are happier with a handful of dedicated student activists rather than the thousands and thousands of students who walked out a day earlier than their "responsible adult" leaders had prescribed, occupying the capitol lawn and finally rioting in an explosion of righteous anger when the law was signed despite their protests.

So, let me get back to this seer of the movement, the man who saw with total clarity before anyone else the purpose of those long -- many, many miles long -- hot, summer marches. Before I even figured it out, when I was just stoked at seeing so many people in the streets of Phoenix, even if we anarchists had to fight for them to be open to us. It's easy to forget the blistering heat of those marches, which repeated every so often, leaving from the same park and heading to the same, distant destination. People collapsing of heat stroke all around. The ritual of the march, the self-sacrifice of the struggle -- it all looks so obvious in hindsight, now that the excitement of the working class in motion has worn off and that same working class has been out-maneuvered, bored, exhausted and beaten down by movement leaders. But one man got it right from the get-go, from the minute we set foot to blacktop (or sidewalk, as the leadership tried so desperately -- and sometimes unsuccessfully -- to limit it).

I present to you this man.


This man showed up every time, along with others from time to time, dragging this ridiculous cross with him march after march, mile after mile. He understood that these marches were a punishment, a self-sacrifice, not intended to stop the raids, not intended to mobilize the people, but instead meant to tire them out, to discipline us like a teacher punishes a student. These marches were meant to kill the movement, literally. Where the heat couldn't do it, boredom would, as we literally took the same route month after month. It must have made filling out the permits easy as hell, as well as routinizing the police response, as the plan is put into action time after time, refined and redeployed again and again. This guy understood that he was a martyr and that, as a movement, we were marching up a hill to be crucified.

Hazy Shade of Criminal: Antisec, Police and the Media, or, "'Fuck the Police' Means 'Fuck the Police'"

This most recent, third (and, I hope not final) attack on DPS by Antisec has revealed that Arizona cops share racist jokes, endorse torture, cover up stalking in their upper ranks, worship American militarism, make light of lethal violence against migrants and regularly massage their public image through the development of PR campaigns with cutesy names like "Cops, Kids, and Christmas".

In addition, the leaked emails serve as a testament to their pathetically crippled senses of humor. In the errant communications, the traditionally far right police organizations find themselves dumbstruck by the fact that their steadfast and reliable support for the Republicans has been paid back in budget cuts and layoffs. And, though cops are not known for their highly developed sense of irony, at least some of those cops then boasting about securing their emails after the first attack must be appreciating a little bit of it now that their electronic boasts of infallibility are public record thanks to these persevering anarchist hackers. Pride before the fall, as they say.

Antisec replaced the front page of several police organizations with its press release and a video for the Public Enemy song "Hazy Shade of Criminal"

Past releases over the last couple weeks via Antisec and its predecessor, Lulzsec, have revealed similar content, including that state cops and Border Patrol were aware of armed US Marines patrolling the border on private contract for ranchers and that the Minutemen had contemplated shutting down a freeway as part of their anti-immigrant crusade. Likewise, captured internal anti-terrorism newsletters highlighted copwatch events and other clearly not terrorism related organizations and actions in their "upcoming events" section, reflecting the mission creep of policing in Arizona and the US by and large under the logic of the war on terrorism. At her always interesting website Censored News, Brenda Norrell has continued to provide excellent coverage of some of the highlights that have emerged. Because of that, I feel no need to go over the specifics of the emails. My interest in the Antisec attacks goes beyond just the details of piggy internet messaging.

Because, as is obvious from the data revealed, cops are pretty much cops. Despite the slack-jawed and gape-mouthed looks of shock and awe on the faces of the plastic TV news anchors, is anyone really surprised that cops are racist? Or that cops are a miltaristic bunch? That they cover up their crimes? Let's hope not. Least of all us at PCWC. In two past articles, "Officer Down: The Phoenix Media and Cop-Killings", and the follow-up piece, "Exhuming the State's Avenging Angels: Revisiting 'Officer Down' in Light of Recent Revelations About the Phoenix PD", I have previously written about the police as an institution and the way it is portrayed in the media.

The role of the police and the kinds of people that are recruited to do police work are so obvious to almost everyone in society that the entire propaganda apparatus of the state and capital gets enlisted in the hasty cover up work whenever the thin veneer of respectability threatens to wear off in the slightest. "Fuck the cops" remains one of the truly universal sentiments in American society that at the same time is completely unspeakable within mainstream "responsible" dialogue. The Mesa Fraternal Order of Police, its website a target for Antisec, has a facebook page with only 314 friends in a city with 440,000 residents. Surely an institution with deep support within the community could do much better than that! Hell, there are over 750 sworn officers in the department alone! Perhaps people remember the Mesa Fraternal Order of Police's staunch defense of its officers in the police murder of 15 year-old Mario Madrigal.

The lonely Mesa FOP has no internet friends!

It is common to hear the refrain, "People become cops because they were picked on in school", but we know that's not true. Cops become cops because they are bullies. Occasionally a well-meaning one may slip through, but they don't last long, and their road is an extremely difficult one marked by job stagnation and lack of promotion. Policing, like any other job but even moreso because of its relationship with power and its own criminality, demands fealty to the thin blue line. Loyalty over all else.

Now, in expressing what may seem like cynicism about the content released through Antisec's attacks on the cop computers, that is not to say that I oppose them. Quite the opposite. Unlike some in the alternative media, who question whether the right target was chosen, preferring an attack on Sheriff Joe and MCSO instead of DPS, or a hit on the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association over the Fraternal Order of Police, I'm quite content with the idea of hackers targeting the police generally, whatever organization. Though some may find it lacking, an attack on DPS has its own merits beyond their particular flaws as a law enforcement institution, and to understand that you neither have to forget that DPS will be enforcing SB1070 along with all other police in the state nor ignore that DPS was the subject not that long ago of a blistering report by the ACLU which pointed out deep and systematic racial disparities in vehicle stops and searches.

These welcome emails reveal among other things internal rivalries and things said behind others' backs. Careers could very well be in jeopardy. And, yes, as Antisec itself points out, the hacks turn the tables on the cops, making them feel the vulnerability we all suffer daily under their constant watch and often violent enforcement regime. Perhaps some cops will stop being cops. And police computers off line, with information and investigations compromised, means more freedom for those of us that suffer police oppression. Some will wring their hands if "criminals" escape prosecution because of these attacks, but not me, and not anyone who has experienced justice as delivered by the cops. We know the real villains, the ones who do the most damage, are the bosses, politicians, generals and cops of this world. Those interested in justice must first oppose the justice system.

It is precisely in the queries from the media and the responsive demands of DPS for increased spending on militarized information systems that we see the failure to understand the fundamental relationship of policed to police. Beefing up cyber-protections for the cops only makes their attacks on us, on the rest of society, more lethal! Note the rise in deaths at the hands of police that has followed the deployment of "less lethal" technologies as a point of comparison. When governments give the police more power, they do not use it less.

Any demand for security must first appreciate that the security of the cops comes at the expense of the security of the rest of us. Remember, more protections for police computers means we know less about what they are really thinking and doing. It means those racist emails don't come out. Consider for example the fact that the Tempe police had and perhaps still has kept tabs on individual anarchists, making notes about political affiliations on police reports drawn off police databases. This is what police security really means, and arguments for increased police powers to protect their information means at the same time power to protect this particular kind of information. Make no mistake about it, we at PCWC, like Antisoc, are anti-police. Their demand for "a world free from police, prisons and politicians altogether" rings true with us.

DPS: Cut backs in the mustache department.

Indeed, this lack of discrimination between police agencies hearkens back to the analysis issued by the Din矇, O'odham, anarchist/anti-authoritarian bloc in January 2010. And the discussion around the Antisec attacks mirrors precisely that dynamic, of good cops and bad cops, which surrounded the events of that time. The Phoenix PD, even though their arrests result in more deportations than Sheriff Joe's MCSO, were held up as the good guys by leaders in the pro-migrant movement, even to the point of permitting police liasons in organizing meetings for the main liberal event, as they had been at marches before that. Taking this line let the sheriffs off the hook, allowing the PPD to do the day's dirty work, and thus the mainstream organizers were able to push for the further isolation of anti-capitalist and anti-state militants when the police attack came down. In framing their opposition to the MCSO in those terms, the leaders of the movement had become the racist PPD's biggest defenders.

As I pointed out before, this flawed view of police and policing echoes in the writings of movement sympathetic journalists who half-heartedly denounce Antisec's choice of targets. Consider Stephen Lemons' recent post on the subject in his New Times Blog, "The Feathered Bastard", practically lamenting what he sees as the so far squandered opportunity to hit what he considers legit targets, while at the same time offering up his own modified target list. Consider his comments on his most recent article: "[T]here are far worse police organizations in state to pick on than AZ DPS or the FOP. I mean, the FOP is no PLEA (Phoenix Law Enforcement Association), for instance. Everyone in this state knows that PLEA is an outright nativist, anti-Hispanic police union. By contrast, the FOP has a pretty good reputation. Similarly, DPS is no Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, with Hispanic-hunter Joe Arpaio as the jefe."

Offering up his correction, however, Lemons is quick to back off. He provides us this weak-kneed, wink and a nod disclaimer: "Of course, I'm not suggesting anyone hack anyone. Nor can I or would I condone such outrageous criminal activity." But will he read the emails? "Natch." He asks us, finally, "What's the point of going after cops who may just be doing their jobs?" Well, it turns out, that is precisely the point. It is the every day functioning of the police that is the problem, not the aberrations. And individual police do not escape this logic. Indeed, to the rare extent that they are not the state and capital's willing accomplices, they remain prisoners of this logic. They cannot be the "good cop". It is impossible.

But, perhaps, as Lemons suggests, Antisec is not familiar with Arizona politics enough to know the slight differences between our various racist police forces. Not knowing who they are, we naturally have little to go on. However, it's entirely possible that, as they say clearly in their own press release, they don't care. Maybe they are not interested in making distinctions between various kinds of racists and degrees of racism in Arizona police departments and organizations. After all, it took only the release of a handful of emails from just a few FOP members and DPS officers to reveal that laundry list I opened the article with, begging the question of what remains to be found. Does anyone really think that's all there is? If that sort of racism and worship of state and vigilante violence is acceptable enough to share via email with one's cop comrades, in broad daylight so to speak, what is too dangerous for it? What is said only behind the safety of the thin blue line?

Antisec is right not to split hairs when it comes to Arizona's myriad racist police. All of them, together and individually, are enemies of freedom, worshipers of authority and an obstacle to the demands of people for dignity and the ability to organize their own lives as they see fit. As we have seen in the past, the elevation of one cop gang over another does not protect from repression and police attack. So that means opposition to those institutions of repression must necessarily be anti-security, just as it is anti-police.

One final note for 2010

In these final hours of this year I'd like to recollect on some of the notable events, the highs and lows we experienced, and to share one last victory before hitting the town tonight.

2010 was defined by the struggle against racist legislative attacks (SB 1070, 287(g) secure communities) and the militarization of the border, so it was fitting that we kicked off this year with the force of the DO@ (Dine', O'odham, Anarchist) bloc. This contingent in the streets at January's anti-Arpaio march was a blueprint for the possibilities of solidarity between anti-authoritarians/anarchists and indigenous people after years of dialogue, action, and building trust through struggle and support. It is both a critique of the limitations of the movement and the marginalization of radical and indigenous voices, and a presence in the streets against the attacks on Latino, immigrant communities, and indigenous people across the state. The only response the state could muster was to attempt to isolate and silence those who resist by mounting a vicious attack on that section of the march.

Anarchists holding a banner at an anti-SB 1070 demo in May. Hacks (organizers) from the mainstream immigrant movement attempted to eject the comrades for bringing the "radical" message against the border.

Much of 2010 was spent in the defense of our comrades who were arrested at that march and faced a variety of penalties, but rather than let the authorities intimidate our movement into silence, we organized and pushed back. Anarchists across the valley continued to be a force at immigrant marches, even if the conservative immigrant leadership made it clear that anarchists and allies were not wanted.

Indigenous comrades and anarchists created a presence at the state capitol through out April, May, and June. Markers, paint, posters, and banners were made available for all who wanted to bring their own statement to the frequent immigrant rallies held at the capitol. This small camp came under frequent threat of removal by mainstream immigrant leaders, occasionally with implied arrest by state capitol police. Although one man tried to cut down the banners, the comrades stayed put, maintaining an anti-authoritarian presence through out the rallies leading up to the passage of SB 1070

Valley anarchists kept things interesting in the lead up to SB 1070 with unpermitted night time marches, a counter-rally with music, food, and free literature at a Phoenix park (that was forced out by dozens of Phoenix cops), hitting the streets with self organized copwatch patrols during the frequent immigrant sweeps carried out by Sheriff Arpaio and the MCSO, and through projects of solidarity supporting indigenous people and communities of color fighting back against repression and controls from the authorities.

We were inspired by the comrades from Tucson who blocked the highway to Mexico; there were those outside the state who dropped banners, locked down, and took to the streets in solidarity with those struggling here; and by those actions of the unknowns and disobedients who spray painted walls, left messages on the capitol, and confronted the wave of racism in their communities with night time actions and spontaneity. I know we at PCWC, were especially inspired by all the Latino and non-white youth from Arizona who walked out of class, attacked the racists and the police at the capitol, and confronted the system over the ethnic studies ban and the criminalization of their communities. These were truly some different days here in Arizona.

Indigenous, latin@, and anarchist allies shut down the lobby to the Tucson Border Patrol HQ in May. The comrades called for an end to the white supremacist and colonial attack on border communities through the laws, IDs, checkpoints, racial profiling, raids, deportations, and border militarization.

This was a banner year for Phoenix anarchists in so many other ways, we were fortunate enough to have a grip of speakers and presentations come through town, I know some of my favorites were having the Greek anarchists, John Zerzan, and Lawrence Jarach for their respective appearances at Beer and Revolution. I also admired all of the writing projects, art projects, and hard working distributors getting their hustle on in town.

The Tempe march against SB 1070. Door to door organizing initiated by anarchists and joined by their neighbors, resulted in community discussions, a march, and attempts at leveraging the city to take a non-enforcement stance on the anti-immigrant law.

Perhaps the finest moment of the year was the response to our call for a second Inglourious Basterds bloc to confront the small number of nazis from the National Socialist Movement who came from across the country to march against immigrants and in support of SB 1070. While the
nazis only made it to the federal court building because of the massive police presence and their liberal use of chemical weapons, it is widely agreed upon to have been a victory for Phoenix anarchists, anti-fa, anti-racists, and haters of nazis. However, it is in these final hours of this year that we claim one more win from these nazi chumps.

From the Feathered Bastard blog:

NSM "captain" Charles Wilson has informed me that the NSM may be back for another round in December.

Well, they didn't come back. They wanted to pretend that they weren't phased by their latest trip to the valley of the sun, and they threatened to march again a month later to prove it, which would have been sometime this December. They didn't. Something to keep this in mind if you're nursing a hangover tomorrow: we won, again.

Happy new year to you and yours!

Two events in Arizona this week: Liberate Earth Day, and Police alternatives teach-in

We wanted to give a shot out to a couple events that some friends are hosting this week! With all of the attention given to SB1070, and the inspiring resistance that manifested, it's good to showcase some of the other projects of resistance coming up in our city and state.


Tomorrow, our friends in Flagstaff at the Taala Hooghan Infoshop are hosting the second annual "Liberate Earth Day: End Corporate Greenwashing & “Green” Capitalism." Coming with a perspective that both shuns the false alternative offered by the reform based environmental groups (non-profit industrial complex), and orients the struggle against ecological destruction on anti-colonial and anti-capitalist terms! Below is the schedule for tomorrow!

"The Taala Hooghan Infoshop & Youth Media Arts Center is very excited to present our 2nd Annual Liberate Earth Day Event for an end to corporate greenwashing & “green” capitalism. An anti-capitalist/anti-colonial event for healthy and sustainable communities!

Second Annual LIBERATE EARTH DAY! End Corporate Greenwashing & “Green” Capitalism!

Sunday, April 25th 3:00PM – 10:00PM – FREE
At Taala Hooghan Infoshop
1700 N. 2nd St. East Flagstaff, Arizona

Workshops and discussions on:
• Abolish Profit Farming & the Importance of Autonomous Agriculture
• Green Consumerism: The Misguided Discourse on Sustainability
• Eco-Feminism
• Derrick Jensen: The Problem of Civilization and Resistance (online video discussion)
• Defending Sacred Lands – Intersections of environmental and social struggles for justice
• Direct Action: Tactical training and discussion Free food by Flagstaff Food Not Bombs"

Click here for a full schedule and description of workshops.


Some comrades in Phoenix have organized an anti-police event this Friday in downtown, this event will be a great opportunity for anarchists and anti-authoritarians to gather and create the possibilities for a world without police.

Police Alternatives Teach-In April 30th 5pm @ Civic Space Park

Come meet other members of the community to discuss alternatives to using police as a means to conflict resolution.

Learn about successful alternative models already established around the United States as well as reasons why relying on armed strangers rather than neighbors or friends only increases the possibility for unnecessary violence to occur.

Every day laws are being passed that legitimatize the police as the armed enforcers to racist policies.

Every year at least 600 people are killed by on duty police officers, with Arizona being the state with the 3rd highest rate of unarmed suspects being murdered by police.

By creating safe autonomous communities, it is possible to prevent these murders by making the current police system obsolete.

Arizona: A State of Emergency

Below is a draft of a text that was originally written for an anti-racist blog. I was approached and asked to contribute a piece about the dire situation in Arizona for a national audience, unfortunately this never saw the light of day due to their objections over the centrality of the border and indigenous struggles to the immigrant movement.


By Jon Riley
Phoenix Class War Council

What’s left to be said about Maricopa County? What can I tell you that you don’t already know? Need I mention the racial profiling by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), the “crime suppression” sweeps targeting immigrants and communities of color, the living conditions in tent city jail, the harassment of rival political figures, the courting of radical anti-immigrant groups, and, of course, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s appetite for the limelight?

You’ve read the condemnation from national news sources, such as the New York Times editorials, and in the constant stream of articles on anti-racist websites and blogs. It is clear that the situation in Maricopa County, and throughout the state, is increasingly hellish for anyone concerned with human freedom. We recognize that the situation on the ground is untenable for organizing. Communities are constantly on the defensive, racist lawmakers are on the legal offensive, and our movement is tired of losing.

For us to resist this state of emergency the movement will have to change.

The desperation is ever present in Maricopa County. Local activists devoted to challenging the racism oozing from the local state legislature and county sheriff are exhausted. The years of symbolic protest and moral appeals to the white citizen majority have failed. Even when Arpaio’s numbers slipped in the polls (he currently is seeing some of his highest poll numbers state wide), support for anti-immigrant ballot initiatives remained at 80%. Other activists and lawyers have sought the intervention of the federal government, and while the Department of Justice has sent a handful of observers to the county to little affect during their 20 month stay. The situation has only grown worse, more families are broken up by MCSO workplace raids, more immigrant workers have been deported, and even more have “self-deported,” fleeing the state that was their home.

Was it just four years ago that we saw the “huelga general,” a real general strike that happened here in Maricopa County. In downtown Phoenix hundreds of thousands of workers marched and rallied for protection from the coming onslaught of anti-immigrant legislation and popular white hysteria that was reaching a fever pitch. Now we’re lucky to see a few thousand marching for immigrants and calling for the end of the era of racialized policing. The dwindling numbers are of no surprise to many of us, for years organizers have stonewalled and marginalized radical voices and tactics, preferring symbolic and moral appeals to power, especially as the demands of the movement are in retreat. Gone are the “somos America, we are America” slogans, now the signs read “We are human,” a plea to the white citizenry to recognize, at the very least, that immigrants are also human beings.

Anarchists in the valley- and more specifically those who have for years resisted and organized against the Sheriff, state politicians, and local laws- are trying new methods in this struggle. We’ve seen the failure of the movement's moral appeal to white citizens, whites are engaged in a political alliance with the elite, one that rewards them with white skin privilege, over solidarity with other working class people of color. Why don’t we redefine the debate by hitting at the system’s contradictions instead? The same Sheriff deputies white people believe protect them from the “evils of illegal immigration” will also be the same agents of the state evicting them from their foreclosed home. Indeed, indigenous people are also facing forced relocation from their traditional lands, in northern Arizona the Din矇 resist the corporations seizing the land for resource extraction, while down south the Tohono O’odham are harassed by the Border Patrol, and removed from their lands for the construction of the border wall. The state dislocates immigrants, American families, and indigenous people from their homes, why aren’t we building a movement that addresses this?

Like the mainstream movement, we too want an end to the racial profiling and the attacks on immigrant communities, but we don’t want to enter a one sided debate with those in power over who can come, who can go, and who stays. Free people, need to move and live freely, we say no deportations, no foreclosures, no relocations!

Safeway and Fry's workers threaten strike: Some thoughts on the coming fight.

Phoenix Insurgent

The Arizona Republic reports that 20,000 Fry's and Safeway employees have voted to enable the strike option in case negotiation with the companies don't result in an agreement. This is great news. The ruling class wages its class war and it's time to fight back. In all likelihood the vote is a bargaining maneuver in the eyes of the union bosses, and workers should expect to get some resistance from their leadership if the rank and file press the strike to move forward.

Basically, the union bosses may have allowed this to move forward for reasons other than actually engaging in a strike. This is how it goes, of course, with them. While the boss is there to exploit you, the union is there to manage you. This becomes clear when strike actions are threatened or take place, and Safeway and Fry's workers should prepare themselves for this sellout by their leadership. At the end of this piece I have some suggestions for workers about to engage in this struggle.

However, before I get into that, some things strike me initially when looking at this story. First of all, when I look at the comments section on the article, never have I seen such reactionism against the efforts of workers fighting to better their conditions. Commenter after commenter expresses downright reactionary positions.

Predictably, the Republic article missed some key points, framing the article in such a way that definitely tends to provoke these anti-working class politics. However, while the Republic piece makes a point of mentioning the health care cost increases that the union is fighting, it is left to Fox News of all places to give us the meat of the matter:

Safeway employees say they have not received a raise in 8 years. For example, an all-purpose clerk makes $7.25 an hour and it would take 10 years to earn $12.05 an hour.

"We want better wages, better pensions and better health care benefits," says Sean Owen, a Fry's worker. "I believe companies turn a profit... we deserve a share in that."

The company is trying to get employees to pay partial payments per week per person for union dues and health insurance.

Safeway owns their own health insurance policies, but the company is attempting to give raises to top employees only.

This broader view contrasts sharply with the Republic's shoddy coverage.

Still, the posts in the comments section of the Republic article are just to the right of Adolf Hitler and represent a general tendency of many workers to replace their class consciousness with the reactionary politics of the capitalist. As such, posters on the thread can be seen roundly and almost universally denouncing the workers in their struggle against the boss.

The first comment, posted by Tom5635 misses the point entirely, but reflects a general failure represented on the thread: "What greedy idiots I pay over 3 times that amount per week. They should be glad to have jobs at all these days. I hope they do go on strike and the stores simply replace them. If they strike I will buy 100% of groceries at Fry's."

Rather than seeing his own exploitation mirrored in and related to that of Safeway and Fry's workers, he denounces them and exalts in the domination of the boss. His position, instead of being one of solidarity, amounts to a rationalization of his own exploited status. "I'm screwed so therefore so should you be" sums up his pathetic position. Tom5635 can't imagine that defending the status of other workers might aid his own fight (by raising the bar and challenging the capitalists).

Paralleling this position is the pro-scab arguments that populate the thread. Says Doug9311, "There are a LOT of people that would gladly take their jobs if the current workers are that unhappy. Where can I apply? Heck, I'll fire off an online app right now !!!" This again reflects the poor development of the class consciousness of the Arizona working class. Likewise, it points to the way that capitalism can use crisis to undermine our solidarity, pitting us against each other. While the reasons why someone may express this position in these economic times are obvious, such opinions must be met firmly with a no-compromise attitude. The struggle of the workers on strike is one that will benefit all workers in the end, and so opportunistic scabs and pro-scab rhetoric cannot be tolerated.

Another tendency common on the thread centered around bourgeois and ruling class "criticisms" of unions as backward, useless or even bad for workers. This is a weak argument that again represents the logic of the boss. A poster going by the name GOLDMENTOR sums this up, "UNIONS S U C K!! They destroy everything and everyone in their path!!!" Various other shades of this argument appeared frequently in the thread.

Are unions bureaucratic? Yes. Are unions in most ways well-integrated into the larger capitalist system of exploitation? Yes. Are unions populated by petty politicos who count on the rank and file for a paycheck? Yes. Are unions another layer of management? Yes.

But what commentators keep getting wrong on this thread is that none of those things means that workers struggle is therefore necessarily invalid or bad. Exactly the opposite, in fact, is true. Because the union is a poor tool for class struggle in the current era means we must look to other tools to supplement our power as workers in struggle, such as workers councils, affinity groups and sabotage, amongst others. The bankrupt and backward nature of many unions means that workers struggle is all that much more important, because we cannot count on the union to protect us. We need to use this information to prepare ourselves so we aren't surprised by the almost inevitable sell-out that will come in the struggle.

The lack of class consciousness, combined with the general right wing libertarian (and therefore pro-capitalist) bent to many Arizonans has left them unable to devise a theory for confronting the boss. Instead, their arguments lead them back into the circular logic of defending the boss' attack on their fellow workers and, inevitably, themselves. That's a guaranteed trip to a forced downsizing vacation if I've ever seen one.

Moving on from the disappointing reaction to the article, I'd now like to make some quick suggestions to any Safeway or Fry's workers that may happen upon the blog. First, PCWC will certainly support any strike, particularly one from which emerge true workers democratic forms, such as workers councils. The sooner workers form councils, or elect their own leadership apart from the union politicians the better.

Further, I would advise them that, rather than strike, what they ought to do is occupy the stores. Lockout the bosses. When you seize the store, they can't do business. Once you have the store, destroy the automatic checkout lines. These are the number one enemy that you have right now. They are being used to undermine the value of your labor and to subvert your power at the shop floor. Further, if you do strike, they will be used against you to keep the store open since managers can keep the checkouts open with reduced labor, and if they can sell, then they can keep making money. The point of a strike is to prevent the boss from making money. This may seem extreme, but as workers we are in a life and death struggle against these capitalist parasites. We should act accordingly as we resist the boss and struggle to make our own lives the way we want them to be.

In your negotiations, be prepared to speak out against your own leadership if they seem to be selling you out (this will be easier to do if you have already elected independent workers councils), and demand that the automatic checkouts be removed from the store. This should be a primary demand. You should not wait for them, however. Dismantle or disable them immediately, if only on the way out of the store as you walkout. You'll be glad you did and any further negotiations can be about whether they will be re-introduced, not whether they will stay. This gives your position power and increases the chance that you will win.

Further, make as many connections to the community as you can. Your struggle needs to be seen as everyone's struggle. Remain isolated and you will fail. Finally, look at other recent struggles and learn their lessons. The more prepared you are, the more likely it is that you will win. Resist reactionary tendencies and demand the most you can possibly imagine for everyone. As you get into the fight, you may find that you struggle not just for yourselves, but for others as well. All power to the imagination! Remember: this is a time of capitalist crisis, which means that while we workers are under attack, it's because the capitalists are weak. They fear us. Concerted action, especially when rooted in broad solidarity (sympathy strikes, anyone? General strike, anyone?) can extract real concessions from them.

I encourage you to consider the role of technology in undermining your power at work. In the computer age, technology represents another pathway through which capitalist power flows and attempts to regulate, re-organize and de-skill us. Incorporate that knowledge into your critique of how power operates at your work. I'm sure once you start looking, you'll find it everywhere. Below I have linked some articles that I have written in the past that you may find useful in your fight.

Good luck and solidarity!

(1) Arizona's ever-watchful eye: moving towards a maximum surveillance and deterrence society

(2) GPS and the attack on worker autonomy and unregulated space

(3) One union wakes up to the threat of technology at work

(4) Taxi drivers strike against techno-tracking!

(5) Wi-Fi's Golden Promise and the Jackboot of the State

(6) The anatomy of a typical article on GPS

(7) Future's Past: Technology and the Class War by Other Means - Revisited

UPDATE:

In case you need more proof of the importance of the self-checkouts in this fight (or more proof of the reactionary nature of many Arizonans) check out the short discussion on the Arizona Cardinals fan forum of all places. This should clear up all doubts.

Link below:
Fry's, Safeway Employees May Strike @ Forums.azcardinals.com

Opposition builds in the borderlands, from the checkpoints to the wall: Who participates, who sits on their hands

by Jon Riley

Day by day news seems to grow worse from Arizona's southern border. The federal government's plans for increased militarization and technological policing is outpacing the ability of immigrant advocates, critics of the policies, and all of us who want the total abolition of the border to fight back.

I took a day trip with some of our allies from the O'odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective down to Green Valley, a farming town in southern Arizona that rests 40 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border line. Our intent was to travel down south to hear and observe the American Civil Liberty Union's (ACLU) forum on the constitutionality of the border patrol checkpoints and the "100 mile constitution free zone," to get some perspective on the situation.

Phoenix Class War Council has been particularly interested in the dissent coming from Green Valley, as well as near-by city Tubac, in regards to the temporary border patrol checkpoints becoming permanent stations. In addition to the discontent from further south, there's been the development of an anti-checkpoint movement from groups in the Valley, most notable would be the Ron Paul supporters from camerafraud.com and 4409. These groups have created a series of videos documenting their protests of the check point on the Interstate 8. There are considerable differences between the two groups and their motivations in challenging the checkpoints which I'll explore below.

A renewed white citizen activism in Arizona is the legacy of the anti-immigrant groups that have dominated the debate on immigration, policing, and movement controls in state politics for much of this decade. These groups, which range from special interest groups influencing public policy to vigilante formations patrolling the border, essentially fought for a total militarization of the borderlands by criminalizing nearly every aspect of daily life for undocumented workers. Their victories were won though the polls, legislation, and in the streets. They galvanized white working people, who feared an erosion of their "way of life" and privileges, into giving the state carte blanche to terrorize communities of color in the hunt for "illegals." What's happening in Green Valley/Tubac is a sign that the anti-immigrant fervor had gone too far, even for those who support "securing the border," or the more reactionary "deport them all" line. One thing seemed clear from the comments at the ACLU gathering, many residents yearn for the days when the border patrol stayed down at the border.

Many of the residents who came to the ACLU forum last Thursday (as well as the previous night's community meeting in Tubac, which we did not attend) vocalized their frustration with the growing presence of the border patrol outside of the realm of enforcing border security and detaining migrants. Many that spoke at the forum described the border patrol as a general crime-fighting tool for the state that not only hunted and detained migrants, but that also acted as an auxiliary police force, carrying out dubious searches on Green Valley and Tubac residents' vehicles with drug-sniffing dogs. Other complaints revolved around the checkpoints pushing smugglers and "illegals" into the towns along the interstate. In addition, many at the forum saw the check points as invasive to the 4th amendment right defending against search and seizure, as well as their ability to move freely.

A hard line group of residents there were not only vocal in their support of the border patrol. In addition to interrupting the legal advice from the ACLU lawyers, they also yelled at other residents who supported excessive border security, but who did not support the border patrol checkpoints. This had a polarizing effect on the discussion, making any criticism of the border patrol as an institution nearly impossible. The only exception was when our O'odham comrades spoke. They were the only speakers not talked over or shouted down by the pro-checkpoint radicals.

Like the Camerafraud and 4409 groups, the anti-checkpoint sentiment at the Green Valley meetings came from a nearly entirely white audience. While sharing his own story of racial profiling by the border patrol, one Latino man ended his talk by noting the almost complete absence of any people of color at the forum, and how valuable their perspectives would be when shared with the other attendees.

Camerafraud and 4409 have made their names from their presence in the streets and on the internet, largely as a result of their participation in the anti-speed camera movement in the Phoenix metro area. Camerafraud has functioned as an organizing umbrella for a core of activists with backgrounds in the constitutionalist and Ron Paul grassroots presidential campaign a couple of years back. 4409 has produced a number of videos on the speeding and red light cameras, and more recently on the anti-checkpoint protest.

They recently demonstrated against the checkpoints a few weeks after a Tempe pastor posted a video on youtube describing his violent arrest at a border patrol checkpoint on the I-8 after he refused to comply with the standard citizenship question on the grounds of the 4th amendment. Unfortunately, in a more recent video post, Shelton, one of the members of 4409, defends the anti-checkpoint protests, but seems to be making his case on his heels, at times saying that the protest wasn't about "Mexicans, or illegals, or any of that," but that it was instead a demonstration in defense of the 4th amendment. He also makes the case that the checkpoints are not actually intended to find "illegals," rather they exist as a means for the state to "condition the American people to accept this kind of invasion of their privacy." He goes on to remind viewers that, of course, he opposes illegal immigration -- he just wants the border patrol at the border, not miles inland asking drivers their citizenship status, or with expanded police powers to detain drivers for non-citizenship related investigations.

I agree with the core arguments of 4409 and the citizen formations in southern Arizona, perhaps summarized best by this: that the temporary checkpoints are clearly a threat to a freedom loving person's ability to move as they please, and that potential permanent stations will continue to represent a gross privacy intrusion by police agencies. However, our commonalities end there. Despite their differences, the anti-checkpoint crowd maintain a pathetic position best described by one Green Valley forum attendee's t-shirt slogan: "Secure the border at the border."

Our O'odham friends managed to subvert this dialogue in Green Valley by talking about two things neither the constitutionalists from Phoenix, or the residents of Green Valley are discussing: the effect the militarization and surveillance has had on the area's indigenous people and people of color. Being a people who transcend the border line, the Tohono O'odham are separated from their relatives and the preservation of their way of life by the border wall . Some of the crowd scoffed at their words, but many others seemed in awe, as if the entire language of the border debate had changed in an instant. Could this be a tiny victory? Can we count on the big talk of the pro-militarization and pro-checkpoint residents to continue to drown out the moderate and dissenting voices?

We at PCWC see it like this: we believe in the free movement of people, all people. We oppose all controls on migration, be it a border wall, a checkpoint, or a retinal scan and a passport. As long as these white groups opposing the checkpoint offer no aid or solidarity to communities of color who are also suffering from the growing policing in the region (in a much greater and total manner than the residents of Green Valley or Tubac, or the constitutional activists of 4409), then these movements are in essence fighting for the freedom of mobility for white people alone. Meanwhile the racial profiling, the border patrol invasions of Tohono O'odham villages, and the oppression of the border wall will persist for others. Yet, the possibility of these communities and activist groups finding commonality, and even creating a spirit of solidarity, with the indigenous people of the borderlands creates many more potentialities for freedom, and perhaps could even give way to a social force that could undermine the ideology that allows the border wall and the accompanying controls to grow by the day.

We will continue to explore the contradictions that exist in the white responses to the checkpoints and to find the possible points of congruence that their position shares with those indigenous and communities of color who are struggling through the daily terror that the checkpoints and border controls present. We believe that these forces have the ability to challenge state power independently, but that this will have little consequence as long as the social and political order remains dominated by white groups that continue to deny the humanity of the folks on the reservation, and those on the other side of the border just so that white folks can maintain their privilege to travel without the same intrusion from the authorities.

Release them all! Stop jailing migrants!

This is the second text printed on the fliers that PCWC members distributed on the May Day/May 2nd immigrant solidarity march in Phoenix. This piece was by our good friend and comrade Sallydarity, "Release them all! Stop jailing migrants!" is yet another valuable contribution of hers to the understanding of the situation facing immigrants in Maricopa County.



by Sallydarity
http://chaparralrespectsnoborders.blogspot.com

We've heard the stories: Undocumented immigrants are getting kidnapped and held for ransom, and perhaps found in drop houses if the police get a tip. The migrants are vulnerable targets because they have been criminalized by the state. Something we don't hear too much about is that the biggest armed gang in the country is kidnapping migrants and holding them against their will. They're not holding them in drop houses; these uniformed kidnappers are handcuffing the migrants and incarcerating them in jails and detention centers.

If we feel that it is tragic when traffickers do it, why do we let the police get away with it? Whether they are "rescued" from traffickers, stopped while driving in one of Arpaio's sweeps, or confronted with the ridiculous charge of conspiracy to smuggle themselves, migrants get caught up in the US prison system for no other reason but crossing a man-made line in the sand.

Arpaio, taking pleasure in humiliating brown-skinned people and getting cheers from racists, stands out as the villain of Maricopa County. But the other police departments are acting in similar, more quiet ways. While migrants and activists wait to hear what the federal government will do to save us from Sheriff Joe, the Department of Homeland Security is holding hundreds of thousands of people- triple the number of people in detention just ten years ago- in detention centers. If they end 287g they will only replace it with something more tasteful; something called "Secure Communities" which will target our "criminal alien" population. Meanwhile our legislature is coming up with new ways to criminalize migrants.

Migrants have been criminalized for who they are and where they are from- not for doing harm. If anything is harmful, it's punishing people for trying to survive the results of colonialism, capitalism, and globalization (which most US citizens enjoy the benefits of). When it is nearly impossible to make a living and nearly impossible to migrate legally, anyone would travel to where they have more opportunities. Why then would advocates for immigrants' rights legitimize the arrests of undocumented immigrants by complaining only about the "legal" people who get caught up in the racial profiling sweeps? We mustn't buy into the efforts to divide us! We need to bring down the walls between us, as well as the physical walls- the border walls, the jail walls, and the walls of the detention centers.

It should be a crime to imprison people for trying to survive!

March was a month on the move!

Phoenix Class War Council(ers) are back in the valley after a month of travels, adventures, and politics.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. March has been a month of movement for us here at PCWC. Collectively, we put out our newspaper (email us for a copy at firesneverextinguished[at]gmail.com for a copy) and distributed the shirts we printed. Aside from that, much of the month was taken up with travels and scheming.

***

Phoenix Insurgent was in Europe again, drinking and touring, and meeting up with anarchos there. France and Spain were mostly occupied with forgetting politics and integrating into the much more laid back French and Spanish lifestyle. A return visit to the great bookstore Alternative Libertaire produced a copy of an biography of Durutti in Spanish, French and English. Ample opportunities to practice French, especially at the bars, led to some great conversations about French politics and, especially, the role of minorities from Brittany to Algeria (you can email PCWC in French, English or Spanish, by the way).

Moving on to London via train, PI met up with some folks from the great journal Occupied London, threw back some beers and Turkish pizzas, and got some great conversation and a better picture of politics in that neck of the woods -- especially the revolutionary green sense of the word. That part of town is slotted for that combination of building boom/demolition/expulsion/colonization that accompanies the Olympics wherever it goes (London 2012), and work is already steadily underway with all the usual characteristics (new sports stadiums, extension of subway lines and the clearing out of old -- or even not so old -- buildings for new ones dedicated to the new capitalist enterprises).

On the other end of town, PI met up with some folks at Freedom Books and then got a great political/historical tour of Whitechapel and the Whitechapel Anarchist Group space. Apparently a political history pub crawl had just taken place recently, sparking all sorts of ideas for similar projects here in Phoenix, especially downtown. PCWC has been reading Bradford Luckingham's very interesting histories of Phoenix lately, revealing just how much we have to learn about our own town and how Capital and politics has shaped it.

As for the WAG space, the Valley would be doing great if it had a space like that here. In what they call the London Anarchist Resource Center, they boast what is probably the biggest anarchist library publically available and have room for meetings, movie showings and an area for the construction of the various accoutrements of protest and struggle, such as signs, banners and the rest. Also, for those that don't know, WAG puts out a great broadsheet in the Class War style (i.e., snotty, uncompromising and graphically appealing). Apparently it gets quite decent distribution, which is a hell of an accomplishment given that the neighborhood they're in is undoubtedly the most conservative Muslim neighborhood in London.

While in London, and searching for pubs that didn't close at eleven (!), PI had some time for seeing the sights, including a trek to Marx's grave. Most notable about the grave are three things. First, and obviously, the head.


Apparently, the sheer and quite ridiculous size of it was even controversial amongst Marxists when it was built. Secondly, it was so big it was impossible to get a decent photo next to it without looking silly. Thirdly, even though communists the world over have declared their opposition to private property (but is it really not private property if the new landlord is the State?), some of them obviously knew vaulable real estate when they saw it, because surrounding Marx's grave are the final resting places of at least a dozen notable communists.



Also, while in London, that trademark British sense of humor was evident in the weirdest of places:


Irony outlasts empire every time.

A walking tour of Notting Hill, following the directions from a Class War pamphlet, revealed George Orwell's house while a meandering tour through the financial district and the surveillance geography of the "ring of steel" put an exclamation point on it. Cameras there cover all entries and exits, and one certainly gets the feeling not only that one doesn't fit in, but that one is at least potentially tracked at all times while in the vicinity.

In terms of tactics and issues that anarchists are having in London, I came away with a warning on "kettling" and police Forward Intelligence Teams. Kettling, not an unknown phenomenon here in the US (PCWC members encountered it as early as 2000 in LA during the Democratic Convention), has become widely known now thanks to the recent G20 protests in London. Kettling basically involves the police attempting to hem in anarchists -- to follow them with massive force and to pen them up, preventing any action to take place. This often leads to violence and detention.

FIT, however, may be less known. FIT teams gather information of event organizers, leaders and other important information, for the purpose of disrupting actions. Apparently, they can be quite intrusive as well, not being satisfied to gather data passively from a distance. As a result, something calling itself FIT Watch has emerged to counter the increasingly intrusive presence of the police at protests. According the London FIT Watch's blog,

Fit Watch are a fluid group of people who have come together to resist and oppose the tactics of the Forward Intelligence Teams (cops who harass protesters).

We aim to act in solidarity with each other, supporting campaigns by being at meetings and protests, making it harder for the police to film and gather intelligence.

We hope to encourage a culture where their presence is not acceptable and to act when we see people being followed and harassed.

We aim to make it harder for them to photograph and intimidate us by getting in the way of their cameras, taking photos and publishing as much information as we can about them on our blog.

Such tactics, by both the police and anarchists, have made various appearances in Phoenix in the past, especially during the height of the May Day protests in the early 2000's. Nothing particularly matching FIT Watch in terms of aggressiveness and specific aim emerged, however, to counter the cops. Copwatch, of course, routinely documents protests and police activity at them, and so, occasionally, do the ACLU. But neither of these seeks to actively disrupt the activities of the police. As things heat up here in town, we'll surely see the return of the "red squad" to anarchist events, and when that happens, we may look to our comrades in London for some ideas about how to deal with them.

As for kettling in Phoenix, there were attempts during the May Day protests to surround anarchists, but they were often thwarted by going the wrong way down one-way streets, which prevented the po-po from following us with their cars and wagons. In Tempe (which doesn't have one way streets downtown), however, the police brought in bike cops and were more successful in keeping us in place, at least the second time May Day was organized there (after they had received training from the Eugene police department). At the most recent immigration protest in Phoenix, cops did attempt what looked like a proto-kettling operation, but it was foiled by staying in the streets, the sheer numbers and the medians in the streets.

The rest of the European vacation eventually moved to Spain and was aimed primarily at accomplishing two main tasks: (1), relaxing in the sun, and (2), successfully driving a car through southern Spain. Both were accomplished, to varying degrees, with driving coming in a distant second given the insane driving conditions in Spanish cities. Fortunately, driving in Mexico provides preparation to a limited degree for the "devil may care" attitude of Spanish motorists (although it made Mexican drivers look quite sane by comparison).

One thing that is always apparent when traveling in Europe is the total lack of working class Americans. International travel in the US is almost exclusively the domain of five groups of people: the rich and upper middle classes; students (mostly coming from those classes); traveler kids and musicians; retirees; and the military. Almost nowhere does one find folks in their thirties and forties from working class backgrounds that aren't in the military. This is a great tragedy. While recognizing the destructive nature of air travel, it would surely be worth everyone's while to find a way to correct this deficiency. Certainly first class would make a great spot for an open bar, if we could prevent the business class from flying.

***
Collin Sick's been busy as well, traveling across the state, as well as venturing into the Bay Area, and making a trip down to Quitovac, Mexico. March began with the benefit show for the Unity Run that our O'odham friends organized, and Collin was able to help out with. The show raised hundreds of dollars for the run, and collected a sizable amount of flour, coffee, and rice for the runners. Highlights included the spray can artists going to work on massive panels outside, Dumperfoo doing live art, and DJentrification, Optimal, Shining Soul, and The Insects killing it during their sets.


The next weekend saw some frequent flier miles thrown down for the annual excursion to the Bay Area for the 14th annual San Francisco Anarchist Bookfair and the 9th annual BASTARD Conference. This is the fourth yearly trip from Phoenix to the Bay, and sadly the first without PI attending, although to be fair he was in Europe having a wonderful time of his own.

The trip was split between political fun and vacationing with friends, as many old comrades had come down from Portland just for some good ol' fashioned drinking and trouble making. Social highlights included the free admission to the last half hour of the Simian Mobile Disco show, being taken out by the greatest radical queer ladies for a stop at the worker owned Lusty Lady peepshow, and a night out with our homeboy Crudo that saw us hitting up a warehouse party in Oakland and finishing the night at Zeitgeist in the City.

Politically, the trip was full of highs, the annual anarchist cafe was seemingly full of familiar faces. Lots of good discussions that began that night carried over into the next two days, with Saturday's Bookfair, and the BASTARD on Sunday. Although the bookfair has extended to a two day affair in recent years, the trip to Berekely for the BASTARD conference is worth skipping the second day.

The day at the bookfair was great, more reunions with old friends; chatting about politics; buying a grip of new books, pamphlets, and magazines; and sharing laughter and gossip on the scandal of the bookfair, the dumping of water on the literature/propaganda of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). The RCP had shown up to the bookfair in a typically sectarian manner, they had not reserved a table space, they demanded to be given a space on the property, and when refused by the bookfair organizers, they continued to protest while their propaganda and materials were moved by attendees to a spot outside of the San Francisco County Fair Building (the space where the bookfair is held). Sometime after this a comrade had heard enough of their complaining that their authoritarian Maoist communist group was barred from tabling, so the person did the sensible act, or maybe just did something that should have been done long before, and took a gallon of water to their propaganda.

Folks gathered outside the bookfair to continue the discussion from Doug's "Importance of Intentions in Anarchist Actions."

Unfortunately the chat ended abruptly when a few "comrades" from the RCP came back to confront the person who allegedly dumped water on their propaganda. Most folks seated leaped to the alleged water dumper's defense and told the RCP off, the RCP responded by retreating, but were later seen wandering around asking bookfair attendees to sign a petition denouncing the water attack. Sadly, a few anarchists actually went ahead and signed their petition, a truly pathetic show of solidarity with one of the worst authoritarian commies groups. PCWC wants to make it clear, we stand behind the person(s) who took action against these Maoist jerks, and share the sympathies of other comrades who have voiced their support for the action.

The BASTARD was a great time as well, Jason McQuinn, the former publisher of Anarchy Magazine did two fantastic sessions, one on Post-Leftism, the other on Max Stirner. Both were really engaging, a note to the organizers of the SF Bookfair: Give this guy a session next year, he's a great speaker.

It was back to Arizona for Collin, with the next weekend paying a short visit to the Dry River in Tucson for a discussion on networking and future statewide meetings with other Arizona anarchists.

The next weekend saw a 4AM wake up call for the drive down to Quitovac, a Tohono O'odham village in Sonora, Mexico. For the second time in two years, the O'odham of Quitovac are resisting plans for a toxic waste dump on the ceremonial lands near the village, they have again been joined by other O'odham and allies from across Mexico and the United States. The O'odham Solidarity Project, in cooperation with O'odham people on both sides, worked to get the word out that last year's victory in shutting down the dump was a temporary win, and that the traditional ceremonial land is in peril once again.

PCWC members have worked in solidarity with local O'odham youth for a few years now (before the PCWC was even kicking), and fully support the O'odham people and their fight to preserve their Himdag, their way of life, both in the Phoenix area as well as in southern Arizona and northern Mexico. O'odham people are struggling not just against the environmental racism and destruction that indigenous people across the Americas are fighting, but also the racism that comes with being a people whose land is divided by the U.S/Mexico border.

This most recent meeting in Mexico produced a resolution calling for support for the O'odham, and demanding the state of Sonora and the government of Mexico respect environmental laws and put a permanent end to this toxic dump. The Phoenix contingent had also brought down clothes, blankets, and school and medical supplies for the village school. The time spent with the kids was a fantastic experience, and PCWC looks forward to continuing to support this community in resistance.

Below are some of the snap shots of this trip, with a few notes.


Blockading the highway outside of Quitovac for traditional O'odham song.


Walking back to the village from the highway, an elder and children from Quitovac joined with those from the other side of the border.


The youth! These kids were great, at one point there was even some beat boxing and a freestyle session. The kids love hip hop!

Saying goodbye. The kids line up at the gate to say good bye.

Back on the other side of that goddamn reinforced line.

"That's one tall cactus on that hill..."(AKA) Camoflaged border patrol spy vehicle.


***

Future projects:

*Be on the look out for a PCWC sponsored anarchist pub night! Taking a cue from New York's turn of the century German anarchist movement, we will be hosting a regular social outing for anarchists & anti-authoritarians at a local bar. Official announcement and more details to follow.

*A new flier and essay are in the works, there's more t-shirts on the way, and a ton of new stuff for tabling. On the way, a new order of books from AK Press and crimethinc.

*Catch us at the Marquee Theatre on Sunday, May 24. We'll be tabling at the Propagandhi show, make sure to come out and support one our favorites acts, and stop by the table and say hi and grab a pamphlet or shirt.

*Look for a return to regular blogging as well.

And, as always, if you want to contact us, hit us up at firesneverextinguished@gmail.com.

A Venue of Vultures: Where Now For Anarchists and the Immigrant Movement?

By Phoenix Insurgent

Last Saturday’s anti-Sheriff Joe march was truly a very exciting moment in recent Arizona and anarchist history. Especially given the statewide anarchist meeting that happened the following day, which was attended by fifty or so people by my count. There was a real feeling of excitement that I haven’t felt in some time and it was good to see a lot of new and familiar faces in attendance. Further, I think the discussion about tactics and politics was productive and interesting. It showed a broad and sophisticated understanding of both our politics and the political situation –tactical and strategic – in which we find ourselves these days. In that spirit, I think a few things are worth noting about the march and recent political events.

For one, this was one of the first occasions in some time when a relatively large group of Arizona anarchists came together in the street. Indeed, the march moved into the street not because of sheer numbers or because the organizers planned it that way (as was claimed after the fact – despite the obvious discomfort our actions caused them at the time). The throng moved into the street because anarchists actively pushed into the street and held it until enough other people (who obviously likewise wanted to defy the organizers’ silly and humiliating sidewalk march) joined us. The police backed down and we took the street, opening it up for everyone else.

Eventually nearly everyone was on the street and Central Avenue was shut down for a couple hours. Had we not been there, given the omnipresent though perhaps somewhat well-meaning internal protest police actively working to contain the protest (paralleling the efforts of the cops to do the same thing), the odds are that the march would have continued along the sidewalk for four pathetic miles. How sad! This is important to note, I think, not leastwise because it reveals the gulf between the organizers’ conservatism and the much more radical desires of the base. This is a space that can be occupied by anarchists. I’ll come back to this later.

The Movement Vampires Rise Again!

Second, it’s also worth noting that the celebrity of this event drew all sorts of folks, including many people I haven’t seen out in some time, like families and older people. Unfortunately, it also drew the vultures, eager, as they are, to feed on the corpse of a movement for their own petty benefit.

For instance, ANSWER, weakened from the recent death of its previous host, the anti-war movement, and which anarchists here have driven out of town every time they tried to set up shop here returned for the march and were handing out their silly literature. Anarchists confronted them and they seemed a pathetic bunch indeed. The chapter in attendance was obviously from LA and I can remember breathing a sigh of relief that we don’t have to deal with the alphabet soup of leftist cults that other big cities have to.

On that note, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) was also spotted in attendance near the ANSWER banner, hoping no doubt to bore yet another movement to death with its leftist machinations and cult of Che. Also, some people from Bring the Ruckus (BTR) were out as well, hoping to attract the unsuspecting and earnest to their front group the Repeal Coalition (and then to secretly recruit from within that pool). As usual, though, they brought no actual “ruckus” with them and they were largely invisible both in terms of effect and presence.

To the extent that these opportunistic groups remain marginalized, the hope for self-organization remains alive. Anarchists would do well to maintain the marginal status of these groups and, if possible, to shut them down before they can get their skeletal hands on what’s left of the movement. Surely if the leftist parasites have their way the small break we forced last weekend will be the last and things will quickly return to boring, ineffective business as usual.

The Dead Shall Walk the Earth!

The real problem is, however, that the immigrant movement is dead. It had a chance but the dead weight of its own tepid, middle class leadership and the forces of reaction suffocated it practically at birth. The leadership seems to have gotten scared after the first series of really big events here in town and quickly acted to contain things. After the vigorous explosions of the first couple megamarchas, it’s almost as if the bosses of the movement were more comfortable with a smaller, more manageable movement. So they downsized and ran from their base. But this had the unfortunate effect of opening them up to attack. Since that sad retreat anti-immigrant ballot initiatives have passed with overwhelming majorities (over 70 percent in almost all cases), essentially criminalizing all undocumented people in the state. So, while some may be tempted to hail Saturday’s march as a rebirth, in fact it was a wake.

And as I said, a corpse attracts vultures and the movement is dead. What we see now is an attempt to defend the last vestiges of dignity and to draw a line in the sand, perhaps too late, beyond which we all hope the reactionaries will not cross. Said another way, the immigrant movement has lost the initiative and has become a rearguard action. While I don’t think it’s impossible that the movement could revive, in a hopefully more militant, radical and truly democratic form, in order for that to happen the failed leadership must be toppled and replaced by more creative people from the base.

As far-fetched as that may seem, it’s not impossible. It’d be hard to imagine a situation in which the bankruptcy of the leadership could be any more obvious. After all, hundreds of thousands of immigrants have been deported or have “deported themselves” from this state in the last couple years as the hammer and anvil of state and reaction came down ever harder on them. This sent politicians scrambling to appease the demands from large segments of the white working and middle classes for action on their cross-class alliance with the ruling class. No political force proved up to the task of challenging the attack, not even the Federal government, and as a result the ideas of the extreme reaction to immigrants now dominate the debate in Arizona. That sounds like total failure to me. Meanwhile, the leadership has in many ways carved out for itself a cozy position as chief mediator of the movement with regard to the rest of Arizona society. Certainly there is ample cause to challenge the current leadership as well as good cause to abandon the legislative tactic.

Circle A’s in the Air!

However, returning to the march, I’m proud that Arizona anarchists pushed the tactics a little bit. Anarchists from the Phoenix Anarchist Coalition (PAC), Central Arizona Radicals Opposing Borders (CAROB), Phoenix Class War Council (PCWC) and various affinity groups have been involved locally in the immigrant movement here for many years and it was good to see business as usual downtown disrupted on Saturday. Such reactionary policies must have consequences after all – and the marches even a couple years or so ago took the street quite regularly, even if it was permitted (unlike this most recent march – a new tradition that should be defended). To have stayed on the sidewalk would have been to accept another in a long string of retreats for the movement and would have stood some distance from the heady days of the huelga and megamarchas of 2006. Further, pushing the march into the street put the conservative leadership of the march into an awkward position, which was perhaps revelatory to many participants. I certainly heard many positive comments from non-anarchists once police finally conceded the streets to us.

Perhaps where Arizona anarchists fell off was in the literature department. Our position on the border is in reality the position of the base of the movement, which by definition has rejected that arbitrary line between Mexico and the US, and flyers explaining would have been useful. I had some, but with a march that big, they go fast. Indeed, our position is an easy enough one to defend given that the immigration issue itself centers on the rejection of the border by so many people. This should be the starting point for all our arguments. It’s likewise a good argument for ferreting out the conservative positions of the movement’s leadership.

It’s a sad commentary on the leadership of the immigration movement that they have actively distanced themselves from this obvious fact. Given the congruity between the base and our position on movement and the border, anarchists would do well here to make our politics more prominent, especially if we are going to continue to push the envelope in the street. Lacking that, we do at some point risk being labeled as hooligans or worse, especially since our actions necessarily challenge the leadership of the movement. One of our goals should be to keep the pressure on and hope it opens space for new leaders and tactics to emerge by adhering to this obviously true but, within this context, fanatical position: free people need free movement.

Further, there are opportunities for us given the anti-fascist nature of the campaign against Joe. Indeed, ‘anti-fascist’ in the singular sense, since it seems very narrowly oriented towards Arpaio alone. For instance, when Mesa PD chief Gasc籀n was butting heads with Arpaio, much of the leadership of the movement rushed to his side, despite the fact that he was using anti-gang task force to round up and harass people leaving anti-Arpaio rallies in his jurisdiction.

As anarchists, we can critique this narrow view and make both pragmatic demands as well as provide a revolutionary framework. We can demand that there be firm standards for whoever takes Joe’s job once he’s out (if that ever happens, which is in question given his broad support in Maricopa County). We can demand the closing of the camps, the end of segregation, a return to three meals a day and the termination of the everyday project of humiliation and murder that Joe pushes in his jails. At the same time, we can point out that no matter who comes in after Arpaio, that person will still be a sheriff and he or she will still be prosecuting a war against the poor and working class. We can say that no one will be free until those prison doors open and the demolition crews knock down the last wall. And the immigrant camps are a great example to advance the anti-prison argument. After all, if we can get people to see that immigrants are unjustly held then perhaps we can make similar analogies about the status of other prisoners.

Keep an eye on the right!

Turning to our adversaries on the right wing, there is a real contradiction between the acceptance of camps for immigrants and the fear of them being used by FEMA during the declaration of martial law or some other, perhaps false flag, emergency. These are legitimate fears. An argument that camps for one type of person – especially when they are run under Homeland Security – can just as easily serve as camps for gun owners resisting confiscation or ‘patriots’ resisting Wall Street bailouts can go a long way towards undermining the right wing’s faith in the ICE and affiliated detentions.

Many right-wingers, especially the Alex Jones/Ron Paul set, already recognize the dual and duplicitous nature of the many drills being run by the government across the country, and are deeply suspicious of the creation of proto-martial law formations like NorthCom and the deployment of military forces for domestic operations. This is true even while they may at the same time support such forces acting on the border. Likewise, if foreclosures continue to mount, as they surely will, it will also put the sheriff in a politically uncomfortable position. In addition, rumblings against freeway and other cameras open up other potential linkages to ideas surrounding control over movement. These are all potential fault lines in whiteness that might be exploitable by anarchists who are astute and in tune with the characteristics of that movement and can be bold enough to assert them.

All said, there are plenty of opportunities within what is left of the immigrant movement for anarchists. The question has become, what forces are at play within it and what forces are coming to bear on it? Will the vultures get their hands on it? Will the movement leadership hang onto its position despite (or perhaps because of) its failure? What will the economy mean for the movement? Is it too late? Has the struggle moved out of Arizona to greener pastures?

Time and struggle will reveal the answers to these questions.