Now the woman who threw the pie is being held on ridiculous charges with a $250,000 bond:

On August 17, Ahlam Mohsen, a 22 year old senior at Michigan State University, hit US Senator Carl Levin in the face with an apple pie, explaining the protest was meant to “demonstrate that democrats are just as responsible for U.S. policy in the Middle East as republicans.”  Sen. Levin is the chairmen of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
She has been charged with Felony Stalking, as well as misdemeanor assault and battery, and is being held on 250,000 Bond.
Ahlam is a vegan, and is currently being denied vegan food at the county jail, and needs your help to get her dietary needs met! Call in and demand that she be given vegan food at Mecosta County Jail:
The 24 hour phone number is 231-592-0156.
The number to call between 9AM-5PM is 231-592-0157. If we call this number ask for Captain Ward or Lieutenant Erickson.

When calling these numbers, if the person on the phone claims to not be able to do anything about the situation, demand to speak to their boss!

Thanks for the support and solidarity, and is you’re on facebook check out the support group here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=143505615683519&v=info

The summer 2010 issue (#383!) is out now. Here’s what it contains:

Issue Theme: Why & What We Believe

Our essays in this issue don’t so much investigate beliefs themselves as much as belief systems, our cognitive constructions which determine our perception of reality. Beliefs can either chain us to repressive ideas or free us with visions that go beyond dominant paradigms. The entire modern era has been one of contestation as to which belief systems will rule in societies—ones that link us to submission and acquiescence to hierarchal authority, or those which rebel against them and eliminate the categories of rulers and ruled.

CONTENTS:

* “Lessons from Greece” – The Children of the Gallery

* “A Radicalization of Wilhelm Reich” – Patrick Dunn

* “Wilhelm Reich: The Emotional Plague & the Authoritarian Family” – Walker Lane

* “Conspiracy or Anarchy” – Andrew Dobbs

* “Tenth Anniversary of Bolivia’s Water War” – David Solnit

* “Anarchist Religion?” – Peter Lamborn Wilson

* “God Unplugged” – Dan LaPonsie

* “Venezuelan Anarchists See Noam Chomsky as Chavez’s Clown” – Octavio Alberola

* “Commodifying Experience: School of Tyrannical Indoctrination” – Frank Joseph Smecker

* “ ‘The Folly of Beginning a Work Before We Count the Cost’: Anarcho-Primitivism in Robinson Crusoe” – Michael Gurnow

* “Cul de Sac — Are We In A Hopeless Dead-End?” – Le Garcon Dupont

* “The Politics of Carnival” “Cuba: From State to Private Capitalism – Adios, Socialismo” – Walker Lane

* “State Violence & Cuba’s Women in White” – Walker Lane

* “Arab Surrealism Against Islam: On Blasphemy and Imagination” – Don LaCoss

* “How Once Dangerous Signs and Slogans Become Appropriated to Mean Their Opposite or Nothing” – Walker Lane

* Obituary: Mick Vranich, 1946-2010

* “Reading ‘Letters of Insurgents’ ” – Unruhlee

* Interview with Dahr Jamail on GI Resistance in Iraq Legal Updates on Marie Mason & the RNC 8

REVIEWS:

* Guy Ducornet’s ‘Surrealism & Atheism’ (review by Don LaCoss)

* ‘Myths & Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction’, edited by Margaret Killjoy (review by Cookie Orlando)

* ‘The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle’ by David Solnit (review by Marie Mason)

Another good publication on anarchism in Greece is the recently published Koukoulofori: Stories, Lessons, and Inspiration from the Greek Anarchist Movement from NC Piece Corps. The zine collects some pieces from We Are AN Image From The Future and combines them with some interesting essays on Greek anarchism from authors writing about what Greece means for anarchists in the United States.

From the introduction:

Like many US anarchists, my first interactions with the Greek anarchist movement occurred primarily through hastily translated communiques reporting spectacular attacks on banks and police stations, riots, and student occupations. Increasingly filtered through American insurrectionary discourse, what these reports often lacked in historical background or political context they made up for tenfold with enthusiasm and hilariously bad English. Encountering a movement this way resulted in a mythology; for many of us I think “the Greeks” were more or less a fantastic and strange monster, a terrible force that had found some magical alchemy of anarchy that we Americans could never get right. Though conceptualizing anarchy as an unknowable (“opaque”) monster has its appeal, creating such a mythology out of a foreign anarchist movement has its problems. Implying that there is something “special” about Greece ignores that the greeks’ biggest attribute is probably their self-confidence, not some perfect alignment of social conditions. Some of our biggest obstacles on this side of the Atlantic might be psychological as much as material in nature.

Turning the Greek anarchist movement into a mythology has also meant creating the perfect vehicle for asserting various anarchist sects’ particular platforms: syndicalists, if not dismissing Greece as in “a low stage of struggle,” focus almost solely on “workers’” actions; insurrectionaries present tale after tale of bombings and fire attacks with almost no discussion of the political context or the thousands of hours of boring, “activist” work that goes into making that context; “anarchists without adjectives” praise the ideological and tactical diversity of the Greeks without acknowledging the tremendously divisive and even violent conflicts between anarchist groups, or the substantive quality of these divisions; and so on.

This ‘zine was prompted in large part to get past these stunted narratives, to present at least some of the political background and specific organizational and tactical approaches taken by thousands of active Greek anarchists. It could never be a complete picture, of course, as it is a small publication and primarily based on excerpts from the excellent book We Are An Image from the Future. That book, a set of memoirs, analyses, timelines, and theoretical pieces depicting the revolt in December 2008, is not a “history book” but itself an incomplete text on the constantly growing and changing phenomenon of Greek anarchism. More oriented towards cautious observations and lessons relevant to those on this side of the Atlantic, I’ve included several pieces written by non-Greek authors who seem to have one foot in Greece and one foot in their home country, as I think this position offers a unique level of awareness and perspective on the situation.

By all means, check this zine out. It’s a good read.

Here is the latest update on the case;

It is with great disappointment that we share the news that our co-defendant, Erik Oseland, has decided to take a plea agreement as early as Monday, August 23rd. He has informed us that he will plead guilty to one count of gross misdemeanor conspiracy to commit riot, which is riot “without a dangerous weapon,” a charge which bears a maximum 1-year sentence. We will send out the exact date and time of the hearing as soon as we know it, for those who wish to attend.

Erik has told us that this is a non-cooperating plea agreement, and we want to make absolutely clear that *we ARE NOT treating Erik as a cooperator*, and *we ARE NOT asking people to withdraw their support from him.* We do fear that any plea agreement offered by the State has the potential to hurt the rest of us, but we are reserving further comment on the matter until the hearing has taken place and we’ve been able to review the final resolution of Erik’s case.

Erik’s decision to take a plea, while a break from the rest of us and our beliefs about the case, is not a break with the approach he has long held towards our defense strategy. We know that plea agreements are often used as a “divide and conquer” tactic by the State, and it is important to us that everyone take care to prevent this turn of events from becoming divisive and furthering the State’s strategy of undermining resistance movements.

The court system is a government tool that uses coercion and manipulation in its attempts to control all of us. It has nothing to do with truth or justice. The 7 of us remaining believe there are times when it is prudent to stand your ground and fight even if the terms of struggle are not ideal. We are fully committed to fighting this all the way through trial, as we always have been. We are grateful for the support of all of you.

In Solidarity,

Luce Guillen-Givins, Max Specktor, Nathanael Secor, Eryn Trimmer, Monica Bicking, Robert Czernik and Garrett Fitzgerald.

Lansing and Detroit, Michigan. Hip Hop and social event against racism and fascism. Solidarity & Defense members traveled to protest Midland, Michigan gathering of Aryan Nations, National Socialist Movement, and Knights Party of the KKK. Solidarity & Defense members traveled to Jackson, MI to distribute fliers against local neo-Nazi group, Battalion 14. Monday in Lansing there will be a rally and picket against SB1070 and all copy cat legislation.

Actions and events happened in a number of other places including Portland and Chicago. Read more if you are interested…

In the United States, one response to the authoritarian nature of the education system has been the starting of “free schools.” Free schools—which have their roots in the Spanish anarchist movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s (a movement which overthrew the Spanish government for a time and came close to instituting an anarchist society)—aim to radically restructure education by sharing skills, knowledge, and information without hierarchies and the institutional environment of traditional schools. Free schools gained prominence in the 1960s—often dubbed “free skools”—and have continued to be formed by anarchists as one of the many counter-institutions within the anarchist movement.

Out of this broad history of free schools comes the GR Free School, a new initiative that is working to offer “a safe space where community can teach community” and is uniting under the slogan “everyone has something to teach, everyone has something to learn.” The GR Free School emphasizes education that is “free, collective and autonomous.”

To that end, it is inviting interested folks to attend classes, teach classes, or get involved in the organizing. Upcoming classes cover topics including feminism, “knowing your rights” against police, yoga, and French.

Beyond facilitating classes, the GR Free School operates using a collective decision-making model. According to their website, this means:

The group functions on a non-hierarchical consensus-based decision making model. That means none of us have power over anyone else, tasks are rotated between members, decisions are made to at least accommodate all involved, and we all hold each other accountable to our responsibilities. Our points of unity, that is the shared values we all hold that enables us to work on a project like this, are as follows:

-A commitment to egalitarianism and non-hierarchical decision making.

-A firm opposition to, and intolerance of, sexism, racism, nationalism and heteronormativity; respect for all gender and cultural identities.

- A belief that education should be collective and autonomous, and a commitment to work on reversing and reducing the harm caused by oppressive state/private educational institutions.

For more information, check out the GR Free School website.

Far too often anarchists as individuals and groups tend to gloss over many of our internal conflicts or even go as far as to deny our struggles with oppression and relevancy. Because we are anarchists, we sometimes become absorbed in calling out oppression in the world “out there”, but fail greatly at confronting our own issues within our collectives, communities, and personal lives. The decision to end a collective can be very difficult one, but at times very necessary.

The Midnight Special Law Collective is doing precisely that, and we are grateful for their honesty and transparency.  Their lessons are ones we can all learn from.

Farewell from the Midnight Special Law Collective

Dear Friends,

Midnight Special has been engaging in months of discussion and critical analysis about the role of law collectives, both amongst ourselves and with other members of the law collective movement. We have also been looking at our own internal process as an anti-authoritarian collective. We have reached various conclusions: that we have been unable to break out of the service provider model; that we are dissatisfied with jumping from action to action, and leaving little infrastructure behind; that we often emulate the oppressive structures we seek to change; and that these problems are much harder to solve than we had believed.

Our final conclusion is that, because of the state of the movement and ourselves, Midnight Special will not be able to overcome those challenges. So it is with sadness and hope that we write to you today. After 10 years of work, we, the members of the Midnight Special Law Collective, are closing our doors.

We have mixed feelings about ending the collective. On the one hand, we have achieved so much over the last decade. We trained hundreds of people how to legal observe and thousands more how to use their rights to (more) safely agitate for social change. We provided legal support for some of the most significant protests of the last 10 years, from the anti-globalization demonstrations at the end of the Clinton administration to the anti-war protests of the Bush years to the protests against the financial and political bullying of the G8/G20 today. We are proud of the work we have done the the relationships that we have formed with you all over the years.

Frequently, Midnight Special has been called upon to travel and help out with radical legal support. While we are honored that the work we do is appreciated, we have found that other collectives and people doing similar work are overlooked, and their opinions are not heard. We recognized back in the year 2000 that it was crucial for us to spread our knowledge. Unfortunately, we were always better at supporting others than in organizing others to support themselves. Additionally, we have created an internal collective dynamic that validates macho behavior and has been unable to seriously address issues of gender and power within the collective. After many months of trying, we have not made meaningful progress in resolving these dynamics. That failure is what ultimately led to the demise of our collective. We state it here to encourage other political groups to take anti-oppression issues seriously.

While ending a 10 year project is never easy, this does create opportunities that did not exist before. We are now free to use what we’ve learned through Midnight Special in other work for social justice. We hope that the lessons we have learned about anti-oppression will be taken up by other projects and organizations, and into our future work. Each of us continues to believe that the movement still needs democratic and accountable legal support, for everyone who protests for social justice. Your support, as much as our work, has made that possible, and we are excited to see how legal support will grow from here. Thank you.

Yours in struggle,

The Midnight Special Law Collective

We saw this piece of anarchist street art the other day while walking around Grand Rapids. Street art and graffiti (and especially stencils) have traditionally been used by contemporary anarchist movements as a way of getting their message out quickly and effectively.

For examples, see the websites Media Dissent, Just Seeds, and Not My Government (also check out an interesting interview with the folks who do that site about graffiti and anarchism).

An exciting new blog from The Earth First! Journal launched recently to fill this gap. The Earth First! Newswire is “an online source for news and information about the global biocrisis and creative responses to it, particularly involving direct action.” In practice, this means that there are nearly daily updates about environmental news, protests, and the like.

Recently, the blog has reported on a lockdown against a wind power farm in Maine, recent oil spills other than the BP spill, recent militant actions in defense of animals, and much more.

What else would you expect from Earth First!—a group with a 30 year history of taking direct action in defense of the Earth?

Anarchists Smash Windows at a Toronto American Apparel Store During the G20

The recent anarchist protests against the G20—complete with televised scenes of police cars on fire and smashed corporate property—have struck another public blow against the world’s rulers. While the actions on the streets of Toronto may not directly challenge the G20’s legitimacy, it shows that there is widespread opposition to the G20 and its agenda. Moreover, the protests have once against eclipsed the actual meeting of the G20, as has been the case with recent anarchist protests against the G20 when it met last year in Pittsburgh and London. There seems to be more interest in what the black bloc is than whatever new scheme the G20 has devised to keep the majority of the world’s populations oppressed and obedient.

Since our first post on the G20 protests last week, a lot more has come out about what exactly happened in Toronto. There have been statements from organizations involved in planning the protests, eyewitness accounts, videos, and photos circulating on various anarchist websites.

One of the best reports to come out has been the “Toronto G20: Eyewitness Report (or Riot 2010, Part Deux)” as it looks at the anarchist organizing that went into both the protests in general as well as the black bloc actions on Saturday. Aside from providing a good account of what anarchists did, the report also does a great job of raising tough questions about strategy and goals and how to expand militant conflict with capitalism:

“After an entire financial district has been wrecked by the black bloc, after police cruisers have blazed mere blocks from the razor-wire security fence, after cell phones and running shoes have been stolen from the windows of corporate outlets, the time has come to ask ourselves: what next? We cannot be content with these small victories, however spectacular and inspiring they are. This weekend sent a clear message to our enemies that they cannot host a G20 summit without anarchists smashing the symbols of capitalism at every corner. Downtown Toronto came to a standstill Saturday, the subway system was shut down, and even the most naïve liberals uttered the words “police state.” We must begin to ask the difficult questions, as some have begun, about how these situations can escalate towards our goals of abolishing hierarchy and domination more generally. We must look to towards the next convergence of anarchist forces not as a theater where the same routine can be played out again, but where we can press onwards with the momentum created in Toronto to intensify these ruptures and open up a space to realize the anarchist desire for freedom in all of its possible forms.”

Some additional pieces worth reading on the G20 include:

• G20: Shut Doors = Broken Windows
• In “Carnage” We Find Beauty
• Total Anarchist Triumph?
• Statement From SOAR in Defence of Our Comrades