Kasama received this debate unfolding within the movement in Atlanta. It mirrors debates happening everywhere: are NGO assumptions about organizing a basis upon which Occupy should continue itself? Are the police part of the 99%? Can collaborating with them help occupy? Take Back the Block offers a thorough and resounding “NO.”

“OOHA’s reliance on this model, most importantly, leaves behind so many people from dispossessed black and brown communities. Narrating these stories perpetuates a culture of victimization – not a culture of collective resistance. The message is always, “I did everything right, I was an upstanding member of society and then extenuating circumstances hit and I am in deep water.” The underlying logic: “good” people deserve housing- it is counter to the society we are fighting for that housing is a privilege, not a basic necessity that we must provide for each other. It is important that OOHA does more than proclaim that housing is a basic human right; w must always demonstrate that in our work as well. The “exceptionalism” of each case doesn’t demonstrate that.

A culture of collective resistance would be one which stresses the agency of communities to actively fight against the banks, the state that bailed them out while our bank accounts hit negative, and the police who enforce their will. When we victimize ourselves and then rely on enemy forces we are immediately weakening our position as active agents against our own oppression.”

OOHA DEFENDS THE COPS; WE DO NOT

The intention of this article is both to clarify our position on the police, and to engage in principled dialogue about tactics and strategy in the anti-eviction movement. Take Back the Block realizes that we have made some of the same mistakes that we now see in the movement. In order to build a strong movement, we must constantly examine ourselves and others, pushing each other forward always.

“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains,” wrote Rosa Luxemburg. The true nature of police, the enforcer of chains, is less clear for the majority of the population during low movement times. This has never been the case for black men, immigrants and homeless people who feel the clarity, the mandate of the cops every day through bruises on their bodies and the threat or experience of imprisonment. This wall was broken for a few months when a mostly white, disillusioned section of the population poured into underused parks that were quickly surrounded by police in cars, on motorcycles, on bikes and horses, with the single intent of crushing peaceful gatherings and encampments. While the police trampled on tents, waving batons and laughing at us for demanding jobs and healthcare, they left shoppers alone who were camped out on sidewalks all day and night to buy discount deals on Black Friday. The police force under the orders of the mayors could not maintain the façade of contradiction: their essential role is to keep us subjugated and intimidated and to protect the rule of the rich (despite the often referenced basic duties of police, like traffic control).

While the newly active people in Occupy were painfully discovering the role of police, the Atlanta area police continued their killing spree of unarmed black youth. This led to frequent marches steaming with rage, pouring into the streets of downtown Atlanta, with chants ranging from “Fuck the police” to “Hey pigs, what do you say, how many kids have you killed today?!”. Joetavius Stafford, a 17-year-old high school student who was gunned down by police officers in a MARTA station on his way home from homecoming, was on everyone’s minds. Then there was Ariston Waiters, another unarmed youth, who was murdered by a police officer behind a shed, out of sight from witnesses. His family began to attend marches and rallies calling for justice, which they continue to do today, unwilling to be forgotten as another casualty of white supremacy. Personal experiences were creating an understanding across racial and class lines, obliging solidarity between the more privileged occupiers who were experiencing police repression for the first time and those that experience police terror daily.

Things in Atlanta exploded even more when news of Trayvon Martin’s murder reached the city. The Atlanta public packed out rallies again, speaking out against racism and police brutality. During these months, many Atlantans were openly disillusioned with the APD and the institution of policing. Though the diagnosis and solutions varied, many people were taking a stand. Some were standing up against police brutality or the racism of individual officers, and others were against police altogether. As the last remnants of the parks were cleaned out by police and the steam evaporated from the national popular demonstrations, most of us were forced to go back to normalized routines. The “moment’ of exposed contradictions–the small rupture of clarity we experienced–is now just a memory and we are still trying to make sense of it. The APD successfully broke up resistance and continues its murderous practice. Even the mildest reforms to humor the public haven’t been taken–APD has not fired its officers who were directly implicated in the high-profile murders, nor stopped their practices of harassing and targeting black and brown people.

How does Occupy Our Homes Atlanta (OOHA) tell a different story? Read the rest of this entry »

It was hard to miss. Yesterday’s New York Times featured a front page editorial, gloating that the holocaust being carried out against the people of Palestine was not about “Hamas rocket fire,” but about a test run for a U.S./Israel invasion of Iran. Make no mistake: this attack comes after secret Israeli bombings of Somolia, and is perfectly timed to take place after the elections so that these events would not affect the election of Barack Obama who they have carefully planned this invasion with. We are reprinting that editorial here for our readers.

For Israel, Gaza Conflict Is Test for an Iran Confrontation

By DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKER

Gaza, November 21, 2012. photo credit: paltoday

WASHINGTON — The conflict that ended, for now, in a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel seemed like the latest episode in a periodic showdown. But there was a second, strategic agenda unfolding, according to American and Israeli officials: The exchange was something of a practice run for any future armed confrontation with Iran, featuring improved rockets that can reach Jerusalem and new antimissile systems to counter them.

It is Iran, of course, that most preoccupies Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama. While disagreeing on tactics, both have made it clear that time is short, probably measured in months, to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.

And one key to their war-gaming has been cutting off Iran’s ability to slip next-generation missiles into the Gaza Strip or Lebanon, where they could be launched by Iran’s surrogates, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, during any crisis over sanctions or an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Michael B. Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States and a military historian, likened the insertion of Iranian missiles into Gaza to the Cuban missile crisis.

“In the Cuban missile crisis, the U.S. was not confronting Cuba, but rather the Soviet Union,” Mr. Oren said Wednesday, as the cease-fire was declared. “In Operation Pillar of Defense,” the name the Israel Defense Force gave the Gaza operation, “Israel was not confronting Gaza, but Iran.”

It is an imprecise analogy. What the Soviet Union was slipping into Cuba 50 years ago was a nuclear arsenal. In Gaza, the rockets and parts that came from Iran were conventional, and, as the Israelis learned, still have significant accuracy problems. But from one point of view, Israel was using the Gaza battle to learn the capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad — the group that has the closest ties to Iran — as well as to disrupt those links. Read the rest of this entry »

What follows is a brief analysis of the on-going general strikes in Argentina, along with a tactical and strategic program, by the Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina. We offer this piece as an initial contribution to understanding recent rapidly moving events in Argentina. Thanks to Joe M for the translation. Original Español here.

The key right now is to work with audacity, among the larger workplaces and among the masses, to prepare a great national strike.

…

Preparing the national strike and joining the PTP are not opposing tasks. From now up until the strike, the entire membership drive must be built by demonstrating the need and importance of the strike, and calling on people to join the PTP to become a part of preparing the strike. And these new members should join the PTP membership drive, to bring more people in for preparation of the strike.

The PTP membership drive must base itself on the masses and have a mass line. And the dedication and willpower to turn the PTP and PCR into forces of the masses. Building up strength in the economic struggle and the political struggle, including in elections, to pave the way for the Argentinazo.

Editor note: “Argentinazo” refers to the general revolutionary strategy of the RCP of Argentina, which is a preparation for a national mass-insurrection, based on factory occupations, mass militancy, broad class alliances, and theoretically modeled after the Cultural Revolution in China.

***

Now, an active national general strike

Working for the strike, the unity of the people’s forces, and the PTP membership drive

[trans.: The PTP is the Party of Labor and of the People – the electoral front of the PCR of Argentina]
Author: Ricardo Fiero
Hoy #1445, Nov. 14, 2012

1. 8N [November 8th] Read the rest of this entry »

This makes a simple, basic radical assertion — that we need to promote and explain at every turn.

At the same time it is surprisingly controversial — certainly among the non-political and liberal who have illusions about this system. But also among leftists for another reasons: because some people confuse relative privilege with actual power.

photo credit: Olga Palma

This post first appeared at radioautonomia. Thanks to Ryan S from advancethestruggle for sharing this.

Recordings from panels at the event “Our Lips Are Sealed- Grand Jury Defense” which took place Sunday November 11, 2012 at The Holdout Social Center in Oakland, California.

From the Event Page: “Considering that recently, over half a dozen people in the Pacific Northwest have received Grand Jury subpoenas in the last few months, houses connected to OWS organizers have been raided, and many of our comrades down here are facing very serious charges, folks have put together a Grand Jury panel/discussion that is going to be very focused on how we (the collective Left in the Bay Area) can protect ourselves and each other in the case of heightened repression.

This full day event features short presentations from folks with Grand Jury experience — Kristian Williams (author of Our Enemies in Blue), Richard Brown from the SF8, and others.”

* Only the panel presentations were recorded. The discussions and Q&A are not included here.

(Click on the Panel Title to hear the audio)

Panel 1: Legal Rights with Megan, Dan, Sami

Panel 2: Grand Juries Past & Present with Dennison, Kristian, and Richard

Panel 3: Media Strategies with Claude and Kristian

Panel 4: Family Matters, Self Care & PTSD with Mona and Mickey

The following was a part of the “Fuck the Army” tour during the Vietnam War, touring the world and encouraging refusal to fight and even mutiny among U.S. soldiers. Thanks to Solidarity for pointing it out.

A riot police officer was engulfed in flames after a petrol bomb was thrown by protesters outside parliament. Photograph: Dimitri Messinis/AP

Anger in Athens as Greek austerity measures passed

It came after a night of rain, tear gas and clashes. But after four months of tortuous negotiations and a rancorous parliamentary debate, the Greek parliament finally announced late on Wednesday night that it had passed the most draconian package yet of austerity measures needed to keep Europe’s weakest economy afloat.

Following heady scenes inside and outside the 300-seat house, 153 MPs supported the €13.5bn (£10.8bn) package in a vote that will be remembered as perhaps the most electrifying in the history of the three-year Greek debt crisis.

Approval of the spending cuts, tax rises and labour reforms was given with a weakened majority – seven rebels voted against the measures – but on trade markets around the world there were signs of relief. Mandarins in Brussels said the ballot would pave the way to the release of €31.5bn in EU and IMF sponsored rescue funds – desperately needed to keep bankruptcy at bay.

“Greece today has taken a big, decisive and optimistic step. A step towards recovery,” said prime minister Antonis Samaras after the cliffhanger vote. “I am very pleased,” he told reporters before emphasising that the “next step” was passage of the 2013 budget in a vote on Sunday.

With Greece’s future within the eurozone resting on the result, the conservative leader had implored wavering lawmakers to back the legislation as 100,000 protesters braved sporadic downpours to scream “Fight! They’re drinking our blood” and other anti-austerity slogans. Read the rest of this entry »

Today in Greece.

The following is a statement from the Communist Organization of Greece. Tens of thousands of people were in the streets today as part of a 48-hour general strike against austerity and Memorandum 3, a third round of relentless austerity to be imposed on Greece by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

The stakes are high. Greece is, once again, threatened with economic isolation and devastation by powerful imperialist powers if these austerity measures do not pass. The whole of SYRIZA has called for general strikes aimed at toppling the ruling regime of Greece, and KOE within that is articulating a particular road to the radical transformation of Greek society.

It is time for the people to speak up! (6/11/2012)

INFO from GREECE (read below the statement of KOE)

Today, Tuesday 6 November, starts a new 48 hours general strike and a new round of popular mobilizations against the pro-troika government of Mr. Samaras, PM and leader of the right wing “Nea Dimokratia” party. Two days ago, Alexis Tsipras, addressing the Parliamentary Group of SYRIZA, called the people in a united non-violent revolt in order to overthrow the illegitimate government that sells-out the whole country, serving the interests of the IMF-EU-ECB troika and of the bankers. The three parties that support the actual government (Nea Dimokratia, PASOK and “Democratic Left”) have duped a part of the Greek people in the last elections advancing a program of “renegotiation” with the troika, which they never attempted. Instead, they have accepted without any “renegotiation” even new and more catastrophic measures imposed by the troika in the form of “Memorandum 3”.

The political crisis is deepening, penetrating even the three pro-troika parties, with some of their MPs already abandoning them and declaring that they will not support Memorandum 3. The international dimension of this crisis is revealed also by the contradictions now publicly expressed between the imperialist forces, with the USA and Germany quarreling about the “appropriate solution” for Greece. At the same time, the social catastrophe takes unprecedented dimensions, with the unemployment rate over 25% according to the official statistics (over 55% for the youth) and a quarter of the population trying to survive below the poverty line.

Hundreds of thousands of households are now unable to cover their basic needs (payment of electricity bills, supply of heating oil, and even food…). Schools, hospitals and other social services are shut down or “functioning” without the minimum necessary personnel and supplies. The national sovereignty is shred apart, with the troika personnel dictating to the “government” all the resolutions and requesting the control of the public funds in order to “pay back the creditors”. The repressive mechanisms, together with the fascist gangs, are trying to terrorize the people with mass “preventive arrests”, torturing in the police stations and attacks against the left and progressive people.

The Communist Organization of Greece (KOE) calls our fraternal parties and movements, all the friends of the Greek people who is bravely fighting for Democracy, Independence and Emancipation during almost three years now, to express their solidarity in any possible form!

Follows a Statement of KOE published on 2 November 2012:

Memorandum 3 must be rejected, the government must be overthrown:

It is time for the people to speak up!

The tripartite pro-troika government of Mr. Samaras is faltering under the load of its criminal subservience to the Memorandum policy. Its humiliation during the voting of the bill for the sell-out of public wealth, where the government block did not manage to gather the absolute majority that it supposedly has in the Parliament, the continuous retractions and the theatrical manipulations about the measures, including their supposed “negotiation” with the troika, the continuous parliamentary coup with the “fast-track procedures of voting” and the repetitive violations of the regulations, the deepening decomposition of PASOK and the intensive internal turmoil in the “Democratic Left”, the references to the possibility of a military coup, the silencing of the dissent by the mainstream Media and the censorship incidents, all show clearly that: The pro-Memorandum block is trembling due to its alienation from the will of the vast popular majority. Read the rest of this entry »

The following piece originally appeared on Salon.com.

The progressive case against Obama

Bottom line: The president is complicit in creating an increasingly unequal — and unjust — society

by Matt Stoller

A few days ago, I participated in a debate with the legendary antiwar dissident Daniel Ellsberg on Huffington Post live on the merits of the Obama administration, and what progressives should do on Election Day. Ellsberg had written a blog post arguing that, though Obama deserves tremendous criticism, voters in swing states ought to vote for him, lest they operate as dupes for a far more malevolent Republican Party. This attitude is relatively pervasive among Democrats, and it deserves a genuine response. As the election is fast approaching, this piece is an attempt at laying out the progressive case for why one should not vote for Barack Obama for reelection, even if you are in a swing state.

There are many good arguments against Obama, even if the Republicans cannot seem to muster any. The civil liberties/antiwar case was made eloquently a few weeks ago by libertarian Conor Friedersdorf, who wrote a well-cited blog post on why he could not, in good conscience, vote for Obama. While his arguments have tremendous merit, there is an equally powerful case against Obama on the grounds of economic and social equity. That case needs to be made. For those who don’t know me, here is a brief, relevant background:  I have a long history in Democratic and liberal politics. I have worked for several Democratic candidates and affiliated groups, I have personally raised millions of dollars for Democrats online, I was an early advisor to Actblue (which has processed over $300 million to Democratic candidates). I have worked in Congress (mostly on the Dodd-Frank financial reform package), and I was a producer at MSNBC. Furthermore, I aggressively opposed Nader-style challenges until 2008.