tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167528762024-03-23T10:45:48.462-07:00A Phoenix Journal of Revolutionary Ideas and ActionPhoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.comBlogger220125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-45688038483328593682009-02-02T16:21:00.000-08:002009-02-02T16:32:08.889-08:00

I've been spending most of the last year doing things other than writing. Having spent quite some time posting here rather lengthy piece sometimes several times a week, I suppose I needed a break. Well, the holiday is over and I'm back to writing again, only this time I'm doing it at another site. Most pieces will be in the same format as the others but I'm hoping to do some collaboration and

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-38111233268867216972008-04-26T09:41:00.000-07:002008-04-26T09:46:05.791-07:00

Hardly a newscycle goes by these days without two seemingly contradictory things happening: a police officer praises the “less lethal” TASER as his savior in a tight spot; and, someone gets killed or seriously injured by a TASER. It isn't unusual for this second case to occur in circumstances that shed considerable doubt on the first case, whether because of the nature of the victim (young, old,

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-39124842419245607502008-03-19T07:06:00.000-07:002008-03-20T18:48:29.440-07:00

In the process of getting ready to write something new about the anti-war movement here in Phoenix, I re-read my past writings on the topic. Looking them over, I realized, why bother? Nothing has changed. Ritual and ineffectiveness still dominate the movement, as do activists who need the war to justify their management of others (to get votes, to build organizations or just to massage their

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-101672674128401752008-03-13T06:11:00.000-07:002008-03-13T07:03:02.429-07:00

The Chicago Times reported last week that the city has linked up all the high school surveillance cameras into a network that feeds into the city's 911 headquarters, forming a network of 4500 cameras. Already, the city's transit cameras and some private business cameras have been similarly routed to police headquarters.Here's the thing about this article: the real news isn't the cameras being

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-68426919003454090602008-02-02T10:11:00.000-08:002008-02-04T21:13:51.137-08:00

Montel Williams was interviewed on Fox about Heath Ledger's death and he threw a fit because the media was fawning over Heath while ignoring the deaths in Iraq. But which deaths did he mean?Montel Williams: "How many people have died in Iraq since January one? "Fox Host: "It's about 20"Montel Williams: "No its not about, it is 28"But, in fact, if Montel, a former Naval Intelligence officer, had

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-75310772443416461592007-12-14T15:28:00.000-08:002007-12-14T23:17:51.418-08:00

So, weapons designer Anh Duong has developed a mobile lab (it's inflatable!) chock full of high tech identification gear, such as a retina scanning devices, computers and a satellite uplink to Washington, DC. She hopes to make more efficient the decision-making process that soldiers go through every day: "Do I let him go? Keep him? Or shoot him on the spot?" Those are her words.While the

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-79389492940281569732007-12-11T18:42:00.000-08:002007-12-12T15:25:11.969-08:00

Over at BLDGBLOG earlier this week there was an interesting article on the environmental impact of servers. It's something most folks don't think about (and neither do IT people, apparently, since a huge majority of them expressed stunning ignorance of their industry's contribution to climate collapse).The writer at BLDGBLOG cites a recent piece from the New Scientist that revealed, among other

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-6391298971277080232007-11-22T17:07:00.000-08:002007-11-23T12:13:13.804-08:00

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-76543391664584674282007-11-17T11:03:00.000-08:002007-11-17T11:26:42.191-08:00

Plenty of evidence has linked the CIA and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies to drugs trafficking over the years. Most people in the US don't remember Burmese warlord Khun Sa. Sa was the CIA's longtime heroin pusher in Southeast Asia. He was the guy who used to run heroin during the Vietnam War in conjunction with the CIA's infamous Air America Airlines. In that particular

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-84053851821982666162007-11-16T19:45:00.000-08:002007-11-16T20:23:22.630-08:00

I generally support striking workers, and I'm quite sympathetic to the position of the writers on this one, especially since this appears yet again to be a case of the elite using technology to upend workers power on the job not least by attempting to cut workers out of the profit they are due by redefining the means of distribution. In essence, these new technologies have been applied as a

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-82788490189699560792007-11-12T16:44:00.000-08:002007-11-12T17:53:56.235-08:00

Having visited Mexico a few times in the last year and having met up with the Other Campaign twice in Magdalena (most recently in early October), I have become more and more interested in the Zapatistas and revolutionary struggle in Mexico. I certainly have followed and supported them over the many years since their 1994 uprising brought them to my attention, but revolutionary organizing in

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-68263561472001407172007-10-31T13:27:00.000-07:002007-10-31T17:37:05.321-07:00

This may not seem like the kind of question you would expect discussed here at Phoenix Insurgent, but bear with me for a moment. Why is it that despite the self-confident promises of the techno-philiac transhumanists, the constant reassuring of better things to come from our technology-loving elite and their scientist cadres, not to mention the treated-as-inevitable prognostications of the

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-18321016762362534632007-10-31T09:05:00.000-07:002007-10-31T10:00:05.582-07:00

The fires in California put lives at risk as immigrant workers stay away from shelters out of fear of deportation.Evacuations raise deportation fearsFlames were only one worry for some illegal immigrants in the fire zone. Equally scary were the crowded roads and evacuation centers, heavy with law enforcement officers, including U.S. Border Patrol agents. Some wondered if they would be deported

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-79269644683269735222007-10-26T20:18:00.000-07:002007-10-26T20:30:23.792-07:00

I took a bit of an unannounced hiatus for a few weeks to work on some other projects and to support and then participate in the Continental Indigenous Encuentro organized by the EZLN (among other groups) that took place in Magdalena, Mexico a few weeks ago. I'm back now and a little more free in terms of time, so regular updates will proceed as normal from here on out. I may be forced to do

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-47578092508306902992007-09-22T15:06:00.000-07:002007-09-22T15:43:49.478-07:00

This is a special edition of the news roundup dedicated to police. As the city gets set to have another public beatification ceremony for another dead cop, let's take a second to remember what cops really do in a day's work. And this is just what they've been up to recently!Officials fire Alton police chief accused of sex assaultAlton's chief of police has been fired weeks after the South Texas

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-90098323142796903932007-09-20T22:23:00.000-07:002007-09-20T23:30:33.080-07:00

Another Phoenix cop has been killed while executing a racial profiling stop (jaywalking!?). The media has been so busy focusing on the fact that his killer was undocumented that it has completely missed the racist motivation behind the initial police contact. As police in Arizona have increasingly become enforcers of immigration laws, they have surged to the front lines of the battle over the

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-83919157098064202942007-09-15T11:40:00.000-07:002007-09-16T18:21:09.737-07:00

In a week where bin Laden has yet again shown up, conveniently-timed, curiously-bearded and denouncing capitalism, today's Wall Street Journal article on the Red Army Faction in Germany couldn't be better timed to shed some light on the murky world where terrorism and intelligence services come together. Spurred by the mysterious murder of Deutsche Bank Chairman Alfred Herrhausen, the article

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-51683720627051637332007-09-15T10:42:00.000-07:002007-09-15T11:29:59.088-07:00

A lesson in the way bias for the invader's point of view can subtly be transmitted through the language and perspective of a piece of journalism. Consider this excerpt courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor: 'Sheikh's death threatens US success in Anbar Province'Sheikh Abu Risha's death, which was the result of a roadside bomb explosion near his home in the provincial capital Ramadi, comes at

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-60193388168634200602007-09-13T20:47:00.000-07:002007-09-13T21:19:30.595-07:00

(1) "The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history." -Buenaventura Durruti Global Warming Impact Like 'Nuclear War'Climate change could have global security implications on a par with nuclear war unless urgent action is taken, a report said on Wednesday.The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) security think-tank said global warming would

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-55211471647934012802007-09-11T17:58:00.000-07:002007-09-11T18:04:43.576-07:00

9/11 is the myth that the elite of all political parties have selfishly used to coerce and convince us into supporting wars of aggression, handing over our already too limited freedoms and looking the other way while a massive security state is built and then unleashed on the world and us. They've reinforced it at every cynical turn. Whether you believe the government's story of the events of

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-22522331658048757312007-09-10T18:32:00.000-07:002007-09-10T22:21:28.664-07:00

I recently became aware of a very good anarchist journal out of Britain called Voices of Resistance from Occupied London. In it they cover a wide range of topics and their first issue has a lot of interesting stuff in it. In this issue, there's a great interview with the always interesting Mike Davis about surveillance and security in the modern city. To the question, "Why aren't cameras being

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-56491558813074684222007-09-08T09:53:00.000-07:002007-09-09T09:46:47.168-07:00

Comedians from the Australian TV show "Chasers War On Everything" were arrested yesterday for accomplishing what so far the actual protesters of the APEC summit have been unable to do: puncture the high security surrounding the event. Riding in an official-looking caravan, flagged as Canadian (because "they thought Canada would be a country that might not be too closely scrutinised and might

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-58604634546130461352007-09-05T19:20:00.000-07:002007-09-06T00:10:35.138-07:00

Congratulations to the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) today for going out on strike against the installation of GPS in their vehicles, despite opposition from the city and even rival taxi organizations, some of whom have been actively intervening against the NYTWA with leafletting and other tactics, including deploying "dozens of volunteers to taxi stands at the city's airports and the

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-63954926269297037512007-09-04T15:48:00.000-07:002007-09-04T15:59:24.970-07:00

If you like the hilarious clip below, consider reading John Taylor Gatto's awesome, "An Underground History of Public Education". The whole thing is online for free and I highly recommend it. Also, if you have an mp3 player, a great radio show called Unwelcome Guests has been airing readings of chapters from the book, so you can effectively 'read' it as an audio book if you want.In modern

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16752876.post-46515177642488229302007-09-04T13:10:00.000-07:002007-09-04T13:42:21.097-07:00

Yet again, we have the ugly face of imperialism hidden behind a facade of human rights. The heat ray will be more humane, we are told. A more humane way for the elite to impose their will on the world? I'm not buying it and every day the new weapon is kept out of the hands of soldiers, the better. Note that some officers have "asked for the system as part of a broader weapons package on

Phoenix Insurgenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07312328294843841459noreply@blogger.com0