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this is a politics side blog
@rrrrragsy - main blog / personal blog (tw)
Is your landlord invading your privacy? Is your apartment heated inadquately? Do your utilities keep getting shut off because your landlord isnât paying? Have you been trying to get them to repair your dishwasher for five months and they wonât replace the spray arm part even though itâs visibly broken?
Youâve heard of employee unions using collective bargaining to force the bosses to provide better pay and better working condiditions. But did you know if you rent an apartment in an apartment complex, you can do something similar?
Itâs called a Tenant Association, and itâs basically a union for renters.
Hereâs an overview of the why and how of forming a tenant association
Hereâs a more thorough organizing manual
When it comes down to it, you and your fellow tenants are the ones paying your landlordâs salary. Go remind them of that.
I need this study
It looks like it's Anarchist Direct Actions: A Challenge for Law Enforcement. It was published in 2004
It's worth pointing out that cops in the US adapted to these problems through using grand juries to cast wide nets and do punitive fishing expeditions in the wake of any serious suspected left-wing actions.
Here's how it works:
Someone starts a fire at an army draft office.
The cops look through their files for anyone who might be in the political orbit of someone who'd want to do that. People picked up at protests, for drug charges, vandalism, anyone who is already on their radar. They look into their known associates, anyone they live with, anyone they drink with.
Then they start subpoenaing these people for a grand jury summons. They give you immunity (but only for the matter of the grand jury!) so that you can't exercise the fifth amendment against self incrimination. If you say nothing, they can imprison you almost indefinitely for contempt of court. If they catch you in a lie, that's criminal perjury.
They'll ask you for information on everyone you know. Obviously they'll ask about their involvement in any crimes, but they're casting a wide net. Who knows who, where do they hang out, who talked to who about what and when. They'll ask you to spill interpersonal stuff, whether anyone is cheating on someone, whether people have substance abuse problems or embarrassing personal issues, if anyone is closeted, anything they consider dirt. Anyone you name is gonna get subpoenaed and they'll be asked for all this information on everyone they know, including you, and although you have immunity from your own testimony, you don't get immunity from each others.
Assuming you didn't personally do anything they can prosecute you for in the matter of the grand jury, they'll go after you based on what they know. The cops will arrest you on any little thing they have suspicion of, even if they know they can't prosecute you, just so that they can keep you in jail for a few days while you miss two shifts at work and your friends have to scramble to raise bail. They'll leak any embarrassing info that comes out, to your boss or your family or even the local press. Whatever they can do to make your life a little harder.
They will lean fucking hard on anyone who is involved in the scene but had second thoughts or felt like they were dragged into something they never wanted to do in the first place by their friends. The cops will say 'do you want to get your life ruined by people who did something stupid over something you barely even believe in' and sometimes that's a very compelling argument! If people have dependents or kids who they think won't be looked after if they go to prison, there's a lot of pressure to cooperate.
It's important to note two things:
1) Based on the ratio of actual prison sentences to maximum possible sentences for the charges, it's better for people not to cooperate with the jury both individually and as a group. People who talk still get sentenced, with the information they helped provide.
2) These aren't surgical strikes, they're an artillery barrage designed to destroy infrastructure and send people running for cover. Cops don't want you to have friends, they don't want you to hang out and have fun, they don't want you getting or providing food or shelter through anything you can't get fired from. They don't want committed direct-action people swimming freely through a sea of friendly people. They're not scared of the flower, they're scared of the soil that grows it.
http://grandjuryresistance.org/
https://cldc.org/grand-jury-interview
image description: image from the original post is a screenshot of a tweet from Aayla @ TovAayla. tweet features a screenshot of the study mentioned above and reads: Financing. Given anarchists' opposition to capitalism and enterprise the question of how they fund their operations is intriguing. Anarchists typically lead a simple and inexpensive lifestyle. Many are vegetarian or vegan and are accustomed to a communal life where food and other resources are shared. On a daily basis, most anarchists have jobs (typically low paying service jobs). They often travel by shared rides in cars, but many have become proficient at hopping trains to travel long distances. A series of projects throughout the country known as "Food not Bombs" often provide collective food for the anarchist community (the food is not necessarily only consumed by anarchists). Therefore, it does not require much money to facilitate subsistence and travel. Many of the higher level (text cuts off). Aayla's tweet reads: People post that screenshot of the study saying that cops have difficulty infiltrating anarchist groups because there's too much reading, but another one of my favorite parts is "We don't know how to cut their funding because it's just a bunch of anonymous poor people". end tweet.
the first image added in this reply is a poster with a simple black and orange color scheme on white background. depicts a row of houses slamming doors shut in front of a shadowy figure labeled F.B.I. overlaid text reads: Build a wall of resistance. Donât talk to the F.B.I.
the second image added in this reply is a poster in high contrast black and white, depicting what appears to be two detectives walking away from viewer down a flight of stairs. text in the top left reads: Imagine the situation of an activist who has agreed to testify against her former comrades. All the experiences that made her an anarchist, from childhood on, come back to haunt her as she betrays her own values and commitments, siding with the bullies, the rapists, the snide executives and sadistic police. Whatever tremendous feats she has accomplished, whatever personal qualities she took pride in, now she will be remembered as a [sic] informant and must live with the knowledge that she is one. text at the bottom of the image reads: Don't talk to the police or the FBI. No matter what, it can never help you. They wouldn't ask you in the first place if they didn't need your help to ruin your life and the lives of others. REMEMBER: "I am going to remain silent. I would life to speak with an attorney." Don't talk to the police or the FBI. FREEDOM AND SAFETY ARE FACTORS UNDER OUR CONTROL, not external circumstances. Freedom is not a matter of how many fences happen to be around you, but of following the dictates of your conscience no matter what. Safety is not the condition of being temporarily outside the grasp of your enemies, but of trusting yourself enough to know that your friends will never come to harm because of you, that you will never become something which you despise. ecoprisoners.org greenscare.org fbiwitchhunt.org If you have been contracted by the FBi regarding environmental activism and need legal advice, call 1-888-NLG-ECO-LAW www.crimethinc.com Crimethinc. Ex-Workers' Collective. end text. in the bottom right corner is the crimethinc handprint logo.
end image descriptions.
"The 1990s saw an explosion in self-organised, militant anti-capitalist activity. This was made possible by squatting and the dole - without which the left has been fundamentally changed."
The 1990s saw an explosion in self-organised, militant anti-capitalist activity. This was made possible by squatting and the dole - without
The 1990s saw an explosion in self-organised, militant anti-capitalist activity. This was made possible by squatting and the dole - without
made a flier, please steal and share widely if u feel so moved! intended it to be printed 6 copies per page, double-sided, but u kno do what u want. ^.^ im not going to ask for input on the design bc thats just where im at rn lol, but lmk if you want the file in any particular format to mess w.
put it in the coffee shop, put it in the library, put it on ppl's cars, stick it to streetlamps, follow your heart. đ€
when printing, i had to use Short-Edge Binding under Layout, otherwise the back-side would be upside-down (or was it the front that was upside-down all along⊠đ€đ€đ€)
made some more fliers for printing and handing out/leaving around your hometown. ^.^ i'd recommend printing 4-6 per page but like always do what you want. steal them! spread them all over! if you aren't able to donate, get these in front of some rich dudes faces!
Thank you @malabadspice for the info about arab.org! [link to her post: https://www.tumblr.com/malabadspice/731246340336697344]
Link to Boycott Israel Flier: https://www.tumblr.com/anarchodingbat/736345761447641088
From the makers of "this meeting could have been an email" we present: this universal moral dictum could have been a personal boundary
Intro to Anarchist Individualism & Egoism
Foundational
Anarchist Morality, P. Kropotkin
Man, Society, and Freedom, M. Bakunin
The Child and Its Enemies, E. Goldman
The International Anarchist Congress: Third Day
Stirner's Critics, M. Stirner
Basics
Revisiting âThe Relevance of Max Stirner to Anarcho-Communistsâ Two Years On, M. Thomas
To Change Everything: Start by Reconciling the Individual and the Whole, Crimethinc.
Not Your Mom's Trans 101, Asher
You Don't Have to Love Your Body [Comic], i have no teeth
Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power [Audio/Video], A. Lorde
De-essentializing Anarchist Feminism: Lessons From the Trans Anarchist Movement, J. Rogue
Extrapolations
The Right to be Greedy: Theses On The Practical Necessity Of Demanding Everything, For Ourselves
Insurrectionary Anarchism, Reader [PDF]
Accomplices Not Allies, Indigenous Action
Every time someone says that Japan doesn't have marriage equality, I think they should be required to add "despite polling indicating that a majority of the population supports same-sex marriage, implementing it is politically unfeasible due to the wording of the US-imposed postwar constitution". I just think they should be required to add that.
Ad blocking in Melbourne
For educational purposes only, obviously.
With a budget nearing $1 billion, Frontex is the EUâs best-funded government agency. [...] including by helping Libyaâs EU-funded coast guard send hundreds of thousands of migrants back to be detained in Libya under conditions that amounted to torture and sexual slavery. In 2022, the agencyâs director, Fabrice Leggeri, was forced out over a mountain of scandals, including covering up similar ââpushbackâ deportations, which force migrants back across the border before they can apply for asylum.
[...] EU hopes to extend Frontexâs reach far beyond its territory, into sovereign African nations Europe once colonized, with no oversight mechanisms to safeguard against abuse. Initially, the EU even proposed granting immunity from prosecution to Frontex staff in West Africa. [...] 26 African countries have received taxpayer euros aimed at curbing migration through more than 400 discrete projects. Between 2015 and 2021, the EU invested $5.5 billion in such projects, with more than 80% of the funds coming from developmental and humanitarian aid coffers.
[...] Besides the surveillance tech the DNLT branches receive, migration data analysis systems have also been installed at each post, along with biometric fingerprinting and facial recognition systems. The stated aim is to create what eurocrats call an African IBM system: Integrated Border Management. [...] no European countries maintain databases with this level of biometric information.
[...] In Niger, for instance, the EU helped draft a law that criminalized virtually all movement in the north of the country, effectively making regional mobility illegal.
The European Union is militarizing Africa's internal borders to curb migration, with little regard for human rights.
"We have always lived in slums and holes in the wall. We will know how to accommodate ourselves for a time. For, you must not forget, we can also build. It is we the workers who built these palaces and cities here in Spain and in America and everywhere. We, the workers, can build others to take their place. And better ones! We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing this minute."
Durruti
Im starting to think that the world might not be in a good place rn. What is to be done?
find your friends
Find Each Other
Establish Hubs
Become Resilient
Share a Future
Bring the Fight
Expand the Network
Build Autonomy
Destitute Infrastructure
Become Ungovernable
https://inhabit.global/read
image description: orange text in a calligraphic sans serif font that reads âWe need fighters, makers, thinkers -- creativity, and ingenuity. We need builders, healers, farmers, designers, and engineers. We Need You.â end image description.
âHow is it to be Done?â by Tiqqun â Void Network
The Transmetropolitan Review A Complete Idiotâs Guide to the Imaginary Party An Overview and Exploration of Both the Ideas and Applications
âbut because between this world and the one we desire, they will always be an obstacle.â
"The Rojava revolutionâs economic plan is called a âPeopleâs Economyâ to differentiate it from traditional market and socialist (i.e. state) economies. But though it posits itself as an alternative to the dualism of capitalism and communism, it is really not a fully formed model as of yet. There are three major concepts in the Peopleâs Economy: commons, private property based on use, and worker-administered businesses. The Rojava economic experiment is less an implementation of a single concept than a jury-rigged system that must respond to the needs of a war and a crippling economic embargo....
Traditional âprivate propertyâ was abolished in late 2012, meaning all buildings, land, and infrastructure fell under control of the various city councils. This did not mean people no longer owned their homes or businesses, however. The councils implemented an âownership by useâ sovereign principle, a principle that could not be overturned by any council. Ownership by use means that when a building like a home or a business is being used by a person or persons, the users would in fact own the land and structures but would not be able to sell them on an open market. Ăcalan wrote that use ownership is what prevents speculation and capital accumulation which in turn leads to exploitation. Aside from property owned by use, in principle any other property would become commons. This abolishing of private property did not extend to commodities like automobiles, machines, electronics, furniture, etc. but was limited to land, infrastructure, and structures.
The commons encompasses land, infrastructure, and buildings not owned by individuals but held in stewardship by the councils. Councils can turn over these public goods to individuals to be used. Commons are conceived of as a way to provide both a safety net for those without resources and a way to maximize use of the material resources of the community. Commons also include the ecological aspects of the region including water, parks, wildlife and wilderness, and even most livestock. According to Dr. Ahmad Yousef, an economic co-minister, three-quarters of traditional private property is being used as commons and one quarter is still being owned by use of individuals. The PEP posits that the commons are robust enough economically that there is no need for taxes, and since the beginning of the Rojava revolution there have been no taxes of any type."
- A Mountain River Has Many Bends
This was written 9 years ago and aged horribly.
âRojava fails to be even communalist. By its structure, it's just a pseudo-liberal democracy. Here's why Rojava is capitalist. First, Article 41 of its constitution protects the right to private property. Indeed, Rojava has actually not removed any of the properties owned by capitalists and corporations prior to the Civil War. It has actually maintained them. Furthermore, the economy of Rojava itself is thoroughly capitalist subsisting off of small capitalism, the selling of oil, and black markets. Cooperatives are only a very marginal part of its economy and the administrative body which is supposed to fund them doesn't for some reason (likely out of nepotism). Even then, cooperatives are capitalist businesses and are governed directly by the government (by law they can even remove the owners) so they aren't autonomous either.â
Okay, it's that serious. I agree. So considering those things are not happening...... Are we allowed to actually do something? or are we going to wait for the political process to.... revolution? elect a leftist? (or a moderate socialist who will *checks notes* hold rich people accountable..... Oooooookay....)
I've got a few ideas on ways we could deal with this. First step is stopping further damage.... right? I've got a few ideas.
Various Authors Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching 1993 A note from the web-publisher: I put this up to make ecodefence informatio
For those of you who feel that trying fossil fuel execs for crimes against humanity is maybe a little extreme, remember that as early as 40-50 years ago, internal memos at these companies were acknowledging the reality of climate change.
They had clear proof that they were destroying the planet and chose to embark on a massive disinformation campaign to bury it all, because they decided that they liked money more, that they preferred our extinction to the loss of their jobs.
LOL, WE DONT TRY PEOPLE FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY UNLESS WE WANT TO INVADE THEM. THE RICH WILL NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE BY ANYONE BESIDES INDIVIDUALS THAT MAKE THAT HAPPEN
it seems so strange to me that the only people it is socially acceptable to live with (once you reach a certain stage in life) are sexual partners? like why canât i live with my best friend? why canât i raise a child with them? why do i need to have sex with someone in order to live with them? why do we put certain relationships on a pedestal? why donât we value non-sexual relationships enough? why do life partners always have to be sexual partners?
My grandmother and grandfather more or less adopted my grandmotherâs best friend back in the 50s. After my grandfather died (before I was born, back in 1968 or so) they continued to keep house together, platonic best friends, and they hung together until they died, a few months apart, in 2007.
Itâs quite recently, as far as I can tell, that living arrangements like that have stopped being regarded as normal.
Itâs absolutely a new thing to find this stuff weird, and it has a lot to do with media pretending that the nuclear family and marriage are the only reasons to live with other people.
Iâve lived in a 3 adult household my whole life. My parents and their best friend. This was never weird to me, even though everyone my age thought it was because the media never portrayed these kinds of housing arrangements. As far as i was concerned, I just had an extra non-blood parent.
According to my parents, it was very common in the 70âČs-80âČs to buy houses with your friends, because it was financially smart to do so (so long as you were certain they were close friends who wouldnât fall out with you and fuck everything up). Houses and house payments are much more manageable when you split the bills 3-4 ways instead of just two.
Millenials arenât the first to think itâs a great idea to just shack up with friends. Thatâs housemating without the hastle of living with strangers. Itâs still a good idea to shack up with people youâve known a long time so you know how youâll get on living together, but still. In the current economy, itâs pretty much now our only option for affording anything.
I think, and Iâm not researched on this, but I think conservatives probably tried to suppress images of non-nuclear families because they likely thought it would encourage ideas of polygamy, polyamory, open sexual relationships with or without marriage, as well as other relationship types they thought of as un-christian or unsavoury. I could be wrong, but that shit wouldnât surprise me.
(And i want to make a note that thereâs also a disturbing amount of asexual denial around that makes people go âif theyâre living together they HAVE to be banging because why wouldnât they?â and that shit both creeps me out and annoys me no end. People can be in relationships without sex. People can live together without sex. Sex is not the be-all and end-all and people being taught to think it is really need to stop).
Donât let the media fool you into believing you can only live with a sexual partner or blood family. Someone somewhere has an agenda for making these seem abnormal, when really itâs just practical.
A lot of people acted like it was super weird when two of my brothers decided to move states with me when I started my postdoc. I got really used to giving a little canned speech about it because it seemed to bewilder people so much. (Their leases happened to be up! We could share rent! They wanted to try somewhere new!)
The notable exception was my grandma, who was just like, âoh, yes, when we were young my sister and I decided to move cross-country together and it was lovely.â
More of this kind of thing for everyone, pls.
The implication that close sibling relationships must also be a warning sign for incest also peeves me off; what kind of society are we living in anyway
#my momâs a historian#does a lot of research#one of the main takeaways from the census data of literally every US census since the beginning#is that the nuclear family has never been the actual norm#nobody really ever lived like that#and a lot donât now#and itâs clearly artificial and not ideal for most people#every household in the census had at least a grandma#usually a cousin#some rando#someone living in the house who wasnât mom or dad or kid#always someone#usually several someones#some uncles etc.#unmarried aunties#that sort of person#but often unrelated friends#weâve never really lived alone#thatâs not how families work#thatâs not how humans work Â
tags by @bomberqueen17
Having a multi-adult household unit also just makes a shit-ton of sense, tbh. Much easier to split not only the bills, but also the housework and child-rearing responsibilities. Communal living ftw.
Itâs also super a capitalism thing.
With only two working-age people in the house, itâs very difficult to make ends meet without one of them (or increasingly, these days, both of them) working away the vast majority of their waking hours to earn enough money to support the household. The other person, if they arenât also working similar hours, is there to support that working person, full time, with unpaid labour.
The end result of this is that nobody has any time or energy to spend together properly, and they just end up tired and miserable and shackled to their work, throwing money at their problems because itâs all they can do. Itâs very easy to convince tired, miserable people to spend their money in the ways you want them to, and itâs also very easy to manipulate and oppress people who donât have the energy or the means to fight for their rights. Convince a whole nation that this is the way the world is supposed to work, and youâll be well away.
Death to the cancerous myth of the nuclear family.
this is exactly the type of thing us aros and aces are referring to when we talk about amatonormativity