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In the Streets

May 30, 2007 - 9:24am -- autonomedia
News
In the Streets

Prelude to the G8: Tearing it up in Hamburg

Anti-G8 Action Faction

May 28th 2007


On their way to block the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, anti-capitalists
from all over Germany and the world stop in Hamburg to confront the
Asian-European Meeting (ASEM).


Finally, something was happening.


We were on the move again. It's been a while and we're a bit out of
shape, but it's all coming back now. After linking arms in flanks for
five hours straight in a huge, permitted march, we were getting antsy.
As the first major demonstration in the lead up to the G8 summit in
Heiligendamm, everyone wanted to start it off right. The city of Hamburg
needed to send a message to the world that they have the "violent
demonstrators" under total control. The cops must maintain discipline
and it will all go smoothly. The protestors wanted to tear the city
apart, to show the G8 leaders that they are not welcome here, and anyone
who tries to host them will have to pay. With a thousand black clad
anarchists in the front and thousands of others behind, the tension was
thick. Screaming "fight the system, fight the state, fight capitalism,
fight G8," the demonstrators were not willing to comprise either their
vision or momentum. But who would provoke who first? Would the cops use
the water canons? Would the anarchists break through the lines and go
off the script?

May 9, 2007 - 1:02pm -- autonomedia
News
In the Streets

Police Reportedly Search German Anti-G8 Projects

Gipfelsoli Info Group


Since Wednesday morning 8 AM a wave of searches is taking places against
left structures throughout Germany. Targeted are social projects and
private persons that are organizing against the coming G8 summit — or
suspected to do so.


In Berlin at least seven flats and office spaces are being searched,
amongst which two offices in Bethanien, a social centre in Kreuzberg,
Berlin, and the Fusion shop in the same district. The latter is a space
used by an antifascist organization and the Interventionist Left.
Moreover, a bookshop in Mehringhof and the office spaces of several
alternative media projects in Lausitzer Straße have been searched.

May 6, 2007 - 2:38pm -- stevphen
Announcements
In the Streets

40 Years is Enough!

Six Days of Action against the Occupation of Palestine - June 6-12 2007

Global Day of Action - June 9 2007

Kibush 40 coalition

The second week of June will mark forty years since the occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six Day war. This is now the longest
enduring military occupation in the world. While the Israeli government
evades negotiations that would end the occupation and lead to a just
peace, the lives of Palestinians continue to be crushed daily by closures
and economic strangulation, their land confiscated for settlements and
their communities made into prisons by the Segregation Wall.

At the same time, violence in the region continues to supply ideological
fuel for the G8 governments in their ‘War on Terror’, explicitly
declared as a never-ending, pre-emptive global war which justifies
erasing civil liberties, supporting oppressive regimes, and attacking
refugees and migrants. We are all victims of this war: in Palestine and
Israel, in Iraq and in Colombia, in Germany and in the U.S.A.

April 12, 2007 - 5:44pm -- stevphen
Events
In the Streets

Anarchist Networking Assembly

Sunday April 15

New School 65 Fifth Avenue, NYC - 4-8 PM

Announcing the Anarchist Assembly, to be held to coincide with the first NYC Anarchist Bookfair, to build on the work of the Praxis initiative, the experience of DIssent! in the UK
and now Europe as a whole, and to follow up on proposals
brought by anarchists in Oaxaca

Why a Network?

In North America, there have been, effectively, no such
large-scale actions since Miami, and the limited actions
in New York against the RNC. In part this is due to
repression and the flight of our earlier allies. Yet the
national mood has changed. In the rest of the world, the
post-911 slump has long since begun to reverse itself. The
Dissent! Network formed in the UK for the G8 meetings in
Scotland in 2005 and now functioning in Germany for the G8
2007 has proved that anarchistic networks can take the
lead in organizing effective direct actions in this day
and age. At the same time, in the US, interest in such a
network keeps sputtering along without anything actually
coming together.

This is a crisis we feel for two reasons. First of all,
because existing informal networks have proved clearly
inadequate for large-scale direct action mobilization.
There are hundreds of young people enthusiastic about
organizing new actions and initiatives but with little
experience in how to do so, and hundreds, if not
thousands, of direct action veterans scattered around the
country with years of skills and experience, and almost no
way to bring them together effectively. New generations of
activists literally don’t know who to call. It seems to us
high time we recognize our responsibility to one another,
as a community.

Second of all, a new round of struggle has begun in deadly
earnest in Mexico, most dramatically with the Zapatista’s
Otra Campaña and the uprising in Oaxaca. You don’t have to
be an anarchist to realize that the borders between the US
and Mexico are becoming increasingly artificial and
meaningless (except as a means of oppression).
Increasingly, Mexican anarchists need to able to easily
communicate with American counterparts who may not have
personally done work in Mexico. Like the younger activists
in the US, it is difficult outside the US to know who to
call in some events. There was much talk of this,
particularly from anarchists from Mexico, at the last
Zapatista encuentro in January. European and Asian
activists often voice similar complaints. It seems time,
then, we think about our responsibilities to the global
community of which we are a part as well.

March 30, 2007 - 9:22pm -- stevphen
Announcements
In the Streets

THE ‘BLOCK G8’ CAMPAIGN CONCEPT FOR A MASS BLOCKADE OF THE G8 SUMMIT IN
HEILIGENDAMM

On June 6 2007, we want to – and will – massively and effectively blockade the
opening of the G8 Summit, the meeting of the heads of government of the
world’s
8 most powerful states, in Heiligendamm, near Rostock in Germany.

With blockades of civil disobedience in which thousands of people from
different
political, social and cultural backgrounds can participate, we will express a
unmistakable “NO!” against the G8. A radical “NO!” which cannot be ignored. A
public, offensive and practical expression of the lack of legitimacy of the G8
and their policies of neoliberal, globalised capitalism; of wars; of social
and
racist exclusion; and of environmental destruction. We will actively disrupt
the
G8, occupying and blockading the streets required by the diplomats,
translators
and supply vehicles to reach Heiligendamm. We want to practically and
effectively stop the Summit and cut it off from its infrastructure.

The central expression of our blockade will be to show that thousands of
highly
diverse people have decided, together, to personally – and with their bodies –
blockade the Summit. Many will announce their participation in the blockade
publicly, showing their names and faces. Regardless of how and where we arrive
at the camps and on the streets around Heiligendamm, we have a common project:
One mass blockade with diverse cultural articulations. Those not organised in
groups – and without blockading experience – will also be able to participate
and receive the solidarity of others. There will be no limits to our
creativity. We see the connection between the functionality and political
articulation of the mass blockade as important. The ‘Überflüssigen’ (i.e. ‘The
Superfluous’ – a direct action group who have been visible in many of the
social protests in Germany over the past few years) with their red sweatshirts
and white face-masks have already announced their intended presence, rebel
clowns will also be there, as will samba drummers. Colourful does not mean
black, but black belongs to colourful.

March 14, 2007 - 3:40pm -- autonomedia
Events
In the Streets

Anonymous Comrade writes:


"Precarity":
A series of video vignettes on struggles in Europe and beyond


Screening as part of This Is Forever: From Inquiry to Refusal

A Discussion Series Dedicated to Understanding the Current Composition of
Political Movements and Struggles Using the Lens of Autonomist Thought

All events are held at:

Bluestockings Books, Café, and Activism Center

172 Allen St. Lower East Side, NYC

Bluestockings

‘This is Forever’ presents an upcoming event in the series:

Monday, April 16th @ 7PM — $5 to $10 suggested donation

Film:
"Precarity": A series of vignettes on struggles in Europe and beyond


“MayDay! MayDay! We are the precarious. We are hireable on demand, available on call, exploitable at will and fireable at whim. We have become skilful jugglers of jobs and contortionists of flexibility. But beware! We are agitating with a common strategy to share our flexfights...” From the occupation of abandoned factories in Argentina, to the interruption of the French prime time news and the devotion to Saint Precarious at the Mayday Parade in Milan, this series of presentations is advertising a new brand of labor activism. A compilation of 17 videos documenting on the rebellion of precarious flexworkers across the continents; selections from the 197 minutes multilingual (English subtitles) will be shown, with discussion to follow.



Series information:


‘This is Forever’ – this is for the future. What we will in the present cracks open the actually-existing to unleash potentials for the yet-to-come. What we affirm now will return to us, accumulating a set of powers and virtues into a body capable of refusing command and of claiming its own irreversible destiny. This is an inquiry into the current composition of political movements and struggle, which seeks to understand acts of refusal that are taking place on the terrain of everyday life and on the level of planetary antagonisms. This is the attempt to theorize from these positions toward new ways of life, and new ways of organizing society.



‘This is Forever’: From Inquiry to Refusal is a series of discussions dedicated to an inquiry into class composition: into the current political composition of movements and struggles particularly in the United States, and generally across the planet; the technical composition of the imposition of work and under capital, in both productive and reproductive spheres, and its changing nature in capitals neoliberal phase; the myriad of mechanisms which capture, overcode, divide, and suppress our desires and creative capacities; and the ways in which act of refusal and resistance are in exodus from the relations of power that define capital and the state-from, as well as the gender binary, heteronormativity, race, legal status, and other socially constructed divisions and power relations.



Series website: WarMachines

March 8, 2007 - 10:57pm -- stevphen
Analysis & Polemic
In the Streets

Ungdomshuset and the Copenhagen Youth Rebellion

Nikolaj Heltoft

From workers stronghold to social center, placed in the neighbourhood of Nrrebro historic, Ungdomshuset has been the epicentre of political contestation and social protest in Copenhagen. Today the
Youth House is no longer. It was first evicted the torn down. The kids
and their supporters hit the streets.

History crashing down

The house from 1897 which stood in the centre of the conflict,
originally named Folkets Hus (the People's House), was the result of
the early workers movements. In 1910, The Second International and
the German Socialist Clara Zetkin declared March 8 an International
Women's Day of Struggle from the house. Vladimir Lenin and Rosa
Luxemburg spoke there and in 1918 the great demonstration against
unemployment when workers stormed the Danish Stock Exchange started in
the house. After the war, the house gave shelter to German refuges for
a while, but as the Socialist movement's social texture in Copenhagen
changed, the house was abandoned in the 60's and stayed that way until
a group of young squatters from Nrrebro decided to squat the empty
building as a part of their year long campaign for a self managed
youth house in Copenhagen. In 1982, the mayor of Copenhagen Egon
Weidekamp gave the house for the young use and the house was named
Ungdomshuset (the youth house). "They get a house, and we get some
peace", the mayor said before handing over the keys. Those words were
to become very significant 25 years later.

February 17, 2007 - 9:43am -- autonomedia
Announcements
In the Streets

"New Movement in the Making?"

Penelope Rosemont

Saturday, February 17, 2007 the founding convention of the Movement for a Democratic Society will take place. Students for a Democratic Society was reestablished this last summer. The following statement is by Penelope Rosemont, Co-pres/mds.inc:


In 1969 we didn’t realize what an important thing we had in SDS. SDS was a national organization of young people, FOR young people, and run BY young people.


It had its national office in Chicago on West Madison Street in two substantial suites of rooms. Ten to fifteen, sometimes more young people worked year round to keep the office going. Nearby we had two SDS Staff Houses, where the staff and numerous travelers stayed. SDS was unique in that it was NOT run by an adult organization as a youth group, but was a self-governing organization. It is thanks in a large part to Al Haber that SDS was independent.


SDS had its own newspapers––New Left Notes, the Movement and many other local papers all over the country. It had its own theoretical and cultural journal, Radical America, edited by Paul Buhle. It had community organizing programs like the one Michael James developed in Chicago’s Uptown.

SDS had great student strikes at universities—Columbia, Berkeley, San Francisco State, Harvard, etc. Under National Secretary Michael Klonsky the National Office organized demonstrations around the 1968 Democratic Convention and the whole world watched.

February 2, 2007 - 9:15am -- autonomedia
Analysis & Polemic
In the Streets

African People's Solidarity Committee writes:

Diamond Industry Reps Scurry to Defend Profits
African People's Solidarity Committee

Earlier this week Martin Rapaport, President and CEO of diamonds.net and the Rapaport Diamond Report, issued a special statement concerning the ethical issues surrounding the diamond industry. This comes just a few days before representatives of the international diamond industry descend upon New York City for the 4th Annual Rapaport International Diamond Conference.

In Rapaport’s letter he admits that, “Over one million artisanal diamond diggers in West Africa are at grave risk in places like Sierra Leone, where 28% of children die before the age of 5 — the highest child mortality rate in the world. Many of the people mining our diamonds are so poor they cannot keep their children alive.” This is a startling confession from one of the most powerful figures of the diamond industry, an industry that previously claimed that they were beneficial to the people of Africa.

In the face of a mass movement and boycott against their industry, the diamond cartels are offering to self-regulate the brutally exploitative industry. They promise to set up non-profits and charities to build schools and create medical care for the diamond workers.

The African People’s Solidarity Committee rejects this public relations ploy. They are calling for nothing less than all of Africa’s resources under the control of the African working class itself. Africa is the richest continent on earth. Africans don’t need charity; they need control over their own land.

On February 5th, human rights activists will demonstrate at the New York City Hilton Hotel during the 4th Annual Rapaport International Diamond Conference. Protest organizer Robert Notowitz of the African People’s Solidarity Committee declares, “We have the responsibility to shut down an industry that ravages the land and labor of Africa to benefit the white world. For white society, the diamond is promoted to represent the ultimate expression of love. For Africa, the diamond trade has its origins in colonialism, with African people forced to labor on their own land under slave-like conditions for pennies a day. All diamonds are blood diamonds!”

Then in the evening of February 5th, a forum will be held at the Church of the Village, with speakers from the Uhuru (African Freedom) Movement, including Diop Olugbala, organizer of the Sean Bell Justice Tribunal, and Penny Hess, author of “Overturning the Culture of Violence”. Physicist Aisha Fields will discuss the Uhuru Movement’s clean water and sustainable electricity projects in Africa. The Church of the Village is located at 201 W. 13th Street in the West Village.

For more information visit www.boycottdiamonds.net

January 30, 2007 - 12:29pm -- autonomedia
Announcements
In the Streets

yana writes:


Legalize Dance in New York City
Feb. 9, 2007

On Feb 9–10, 2007 Metropolis in Motion is creating a 24-hour Dance Marathon to raise awareness about Cabaret Laws.

Check out web site: here>

Metropolis in Motion was founded in 2006 by New York City residents who believe that our right to dance should not be restricted.


Ever since NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani created the Nightclub Enforcement Task Force in 1997 to enact his "Quality of Life" campaign, the city has been waging a war against nightlife culture and industry. The most lethal weapon in the city's arsenal aimed against nightlife are Prohibition-era laws known as the "Cabaret Laws".


As clubs, bars and lounges are fined, padlocked and shut down, citizens lose places that foster social interaction and artists have fewer places to express themselves. The city is losing a vital part of its cultural identity and an economic engine that fuels a variety of city businesses.


We are fighting to legalize dancing in New York because:

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