Our good friends from Patchanka will be celebrating the release party for their upcoming album, „Normalize This,“ this Friday at „Global“ in Copenhagen. Not only did we not want to miss the party, which will also include several DJs and surprise special guests on stage, but we have also done our part to make the evening even a little more special.
So once again, as was recently the case with Konecho, designed by „Corte“ and Powered by Fire and Flames, we present to you the new Patchanka designs…
Stars
(Also available as so called „girls cut“)
Finally, small yet cute…
The shirts actually arrived in Copenhagen before we did, and clearly the excitement amongst some of the band members and their friends was big, as the following picture documents…
We leave you with some sounds. Not new, still good.
PS Weve had the pleasure of hearing some songs off the new album yesterday, and its excellent. A little teaser…
*You win some you lose some…Is what comes to mind when seeing this picture of someARAB banners at a recent demonstration…
On the one hand, definite demo style and content points for
a. the fabric of the upper banner
b. the old school but not for that any less accurate slogan reading „In the Belly of the Beast“ (or in German, the heart, but same idea)
c. the graphic they used, of which we are clearly also fans…
On the other hand, somebody needs to please, please explain to us what on Earth „Anti-capitalista Real Ya“ is supposed to mean, because as a native Spanish speaker…I dont have the slightest idea.
*As an anarchist, I find myself surprisingly obsessed with the Greek elections. In all honesty…I even stayed up all night following the vote tally being updated during last months elections. As far as the coming elections, so many questions…
Will SYRIZA really win the elections? If so, is this good or bad? Will they be able to form a government? Will SYRIZA move sharply to the right and simply become a renewed PASOK? Will the KKE continue its sectarian position and refuse to even meet with SYRIZA to discuss possible coalition prospects? What would a SYRIZA/KKE government look like? Is this something we want to see? Will Golden Dawns increased post election campaign of anti-immigrant terror (the latest example…) lead to their percentage of the vote significantly shrinking? Are they really so thuggish and stupid that they couldnt control themselves, or was this calculated strategy to show themselves as a real fighting force separate from the „political class“?
Questions upon questions…
*Speaking of crisis, in the Spanish state, a minin town and its youth resist the effects of the crisis:
*More than a few of you were not fast enough to order the „Hardcore is More than Music“ DVDs from the Czech Antifas before they sold out. Here is the full video on the web….
*Finally, this weekend, you can find us at the Stockholm anarchist bookfair!
Should this be a little too far North for you, Goettingen offers the Antifee festival this weekend, with the particular highlight of the Roter Buchladen soliparty…
„Der seit 1972 bestehende Rote Buchladen, von einem unabhängigen Kollektiv betrieben, ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Göttinger linken
Szene. Lange Jahre in der Roten Straße ansässig, befindet er sich mittlerweile am Nikolaikirchhof und lädt zum Stöbern in einem kleinen, aber feinen Sortiment linker Literatur, Belletristik, Sachbüchern, etc. ein. Außerdem bietet der Rote Buchladen die Werke der „Büchergilde Gutenberg“ an und kann alles – vom Lehrbuch bis zum Comic – meist in 24h bestellen.
Neben dem Offensichtlichen, nämlich dem Verkauf von Büchern, bietet der Rote Buchladen vielen Gruppen Postfächer und ermöglicht es dadurch anonym politischer Arbeit nachzugehen und so das Risiko von Repression zu verringern. Durch merkwürdige Gesetzgebung unverschuldet in eine finanzielle Schieflage geraten, benötigt der Rote Buchladen Unterstützung in Form von Geld. Wenn wir in Zukunft nicht nur die Wahl zwischen Buchhandlungskonzernen und Internetversand haben und einen wichtigen Teil linker Strukturen in Göttingen unterstützen wollen, muss jetzt gehandelt werden. Es gilt einer der wichtigsten Institutionen linker Politik in Göttingen unter die Arme zu greifen! Deswegen heißt es:
Solidarisch feiern! Linke Strukturen unterstützen und erhalten!
Daher laden wir euch ein, am Samstag den 16.06., nach einer wundervollen Zeit auf dem Antifee, mit uns gemeinsam im Stilbrvch für einen guten Zweck zu feiern!
Musikalisch wird das ganze begleitet von Maria Terror (BREAKBEAT UNIVERSE), Djane Tralala und anderen.
Special bis 1 Uhr: Bring 5 Deutschlandfahnen zur Theke und erhalte ein Getränk (außer Cocktail) gratis!
Unterstützt von:
Antifaschistische Linke International – FEMKO – Gruppe Gegenstrom – Grüne Hochschulgruppe – Grüne Jugend Göttingen – Jugend Antifa Göttingen – Rote Hilfe Ortsgruppe Göttingen – Schöner Leben Göttingen – YXK“
Nothing brings out the authoritarian opi in me like the German volksmob going wild in the streets.
Its late, Im tired, hungry, and in a hurry to get home. Unfortunately, a gang of black/red/yellow flag waving monkeys has decided to step out of their cars and have some sort of epileptic seizure in the middle of the street. The idea of getting out of the car, telling them to fuck off out of the way, and possibly while at it serve myself to a flag is quickly discarded because…well, its like 50 of them against 1 of me. Confrontation discarded, all I can think of is: where is the police? Why is there not a horde of cops imposing law and order through brutal violence so that the good citizens of Goettingen can get to their homes in peace?!
Anyways…the great catalogue update shows no mercy and will apparently never end. The next round….some music with which to hopefully drown out the drunken, nationalist party hordes outside, is outlined below. Otherwise you can just head directly to the music section of our website…
*As was the case last month with their LPs, we have now finally re-stocked most of the entire back catalogue of Banda Bassotti releases on CD! So, for those of you who still understand music as something existing outside of the realm of the purely digital, here you go…
(Btw…if you are wondering why the LPs suddenly became more expensive…the first batch we were able to get through trade, unfortunately the second batch we had to buy. So it was either for a few Euros more, or taking them off the site. We thought this was better than nothing).
*Also classic, much loved and hence for the last few months no longer available…Non Servium CDs. Long story short…all three Non Servium releases are again in stock!
*Finally, in the new release category, Redskas latest production in LP format, and the latest release from Duesseldorfs finest United Struggle:
No, this isnt like with South Africa, Fire and Flames is not going to Poland or the Ukraine. As should be obvious, its not futbol we like…its Atlanta, Racing, and every four years, when the bug bites, Argentina in the World Cup. And with the exception of Argentina, what Racing and Atlanta do on the field unfortunately rarely has very much to do with what most of you would recognize as futbol. This in part why this blog has suddenly gone so quiet as far as futbol is concerned…its just been very depressing lately (the other part is simple lack of time). Atlanta, with three games to go, is fighting desperately to remain in second division, while Racing has been the source of one absurd scandal after the other, even one including a player drawing a firearm in the locker room.
Anyways, what we mean with „Fire and Flames Goes EM“ is our contribution to keeping you all part of the „in“ crowd as far as the mass insanity of the moment is concerned. So, for the occasion we have re-printed the great „Hate Germany“ shirt. Other suggested items of the moment…
No explanation needed.
For decorating your surroundings…
And finally, a bit of something to read about how much different of a form futbol and that which surrounds it can take…
Tonight, at exactly the same time as Germany – Portugal, but much more strongly recommenden, our beloved Atlanta has a life or death game in the struggle to avoid relegation to third division. So, if those in Göttingen hear wild shouts of celebration, even though on your screen no goals have been scored, you will know why. It wont be the first time…Racing won the relegation match 2008 at the same time as the last Euro final, leaving many in the Rote Strasse wondering why people were wildly yelling „goool“ when nothing was happening on their screens.
(If you are looking for even more altenative entertainment, Argentina vs Brazil is also taking place parallel to the Germany game…)
We leave you with a video from a coming sensationalist „documentary“ on Argentine barras in which Atlanta is very prominently featured…
A resounding 10 of the 20 new titles can beclassified in the general category „memoirs/biography/autobiography.“ At the risk of sounding needlessly arrogant…Ive read 6 of those 10, and they wouldnt now be online if I hadnt found them positive / informative / educational / inspiring.
While the 70s and 80s might have been times of intense activity for radical and autonomous movements in Europe, the late 70s and especially 80s were very much times of retreat for radical activists in North America. Yet there were those who chose to continue struggling, many of them choosing the path of armed struggle, usually in solidarity with struggles taking place in other parts of the world. There stories are unfortunately usually those of much sacrifice, isolation, and often long prison sentences. They are at the same time the life paths of brave and committed men and women who refused to accept defeat and stood true to their ideals until, and often through, the very last consequences. We as militants and activists of the present day should at the very least learn about their times and struggles, and see what lessons, if any, we can take from their experiences.
The first such book, is „Love and Struggle“ by David Gilbert. Gilbert, an ex-member of the Weather Underground who continued in armed struggle through the 70s, was imprisoned following a failed armed action in 1981, carried out together with members of the „Black Liberation Army“. He has been in prison for now over 30 years, and is serving a 75 year sentence. He refused to participate in his own trial, denying the state the authority to try him (in contrast to the sentence handed to Kathy Boudin, who pled guilty and was released on parole in 2003).
Not new, but equally inspirational and moving is „Arm the Spirit: A Womans Journey Underground and Back“ which recounts Diana Blocks experience living underhground in the USA in the 80s, as a woman, an anti-imperialist, a mother, and a revolutionary.
„In a perfect demonstration that the personal is political, Diana’s memoir offers insights into efforts to build homegrown clandestine resistance to US imperialism. With emotional depth and a poetic style, the book brings a woman’s perspective to a subject typically dominated by heroic, male discourse. It also traces Diana’s political development on either side of her period underground, offering a history of the culture and politics of the 1960s and 1970s-especially the decisions that led many to take up arms against the US government—and an analysis of the political terrain of the 1990s, when she resurfaced and tried to reintegrate into a very different world.“
„The Vancouver 5, or Squamish 5, were five Canadians convicted in the early 80s of (successfully) bombing a hydro-electric power sub-station, the Litton Systems plant in Toronto, where components for Cruise Missiles were being made, and several Red Hot Video stores, accused of selling violent pornography. Now, finally, twenty years later, Ann Hansen, who served seven years for her involvement, tells the true gripping saga of an anarchist guerilla group.“
Staying in the same time period and still over in North America, but with a very different slant, there is„Bad: The Autobiography of James Carr,“ which I havent read, but from the description promises a lot:
„James Carr started fighting when he was very young and never gave it up. A child prodigy of crime in the streets of the L.A. ghettos and scourge of half a dozen boys‘ homes, his career in armed robbery was quickly cut short by arrest. In prison, he fought harder than ever and became one of the most notorious rebels in the seething California Penal System.
Linking up with George Jackson in Folsom, they led the notorious Wolf Pack, which quickly fought its way to a position of strength in the prison race war. Separated from George, Jimmy transformed himself from an openly rebellious con into a cunning thinker who manipulated the authorities and ultimately engineered his own release.
Carr relates the story of his life with a cold passion, powerfully illuminating the horrors of daily life on the streets and in prison—race riots, murders, rape, and corruption—from the standpoint of one who has overcome them.“
Leaving the subject of armed resistance in the 70s and 80s, but staying with inspiring life stories…
-„Jules Bonnot: Without a Glimmer of Remorse“is, according to the description „an affectionate, fast-paced, but historically accurate account of the life of the extraordinary Bonnot – worker, soldier, auto-mechanic, driver to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – a man with a long cherished dream of absolute freedom, and the first bank-robber to use a getaway car; an anarchist who felt it his duty to lash out at bourgeois society, staking his all. A tragically romantic hero..“ I agree with every word. A book that will move you to tears, inspire you, and have you swearing vengeance on our enemies, all at the same time.
-„Beggars of Life“ takes place in more or less the same historical period, but over in North America, and recounts the adventures of a hobo in pre-World War 1 USA. „If Jim Tully were a Russian, read in translation, all the professors would by hymning him. He has all Gorky’s capacity for making vivid the miseries of poor and helpless men and in addition he has a humor that no Russian could conceivably have.“ —H.L. Mencken
An older title, which sparked much controversy upon its release. It is however certainly a „hands on“ account of militant antifascism in the UK from the mid 70s to the mid 90s, certainly in the category entertaining and informative.
Written by the Occupied London collective and published by AK Press, this is an excellent book analyzing the revolts and struggles taking place in Greece over the last few years. For those interested in the subject, „We Are an Image from the Future: The Greek Revolt of December 2008″, is also available again.
In times of particularly acute capitalist crisis, a title on the much ignored subject of anarchist concepts and visions of economics seemed very timely, as is also true of „Occupy Everything,“ analyzing the causes, consequences, and directions of the current global uprisings and movements of resistance.
