Monthly Shaarli
March, 2014
“I’m just simply baffled by the idea that people can be without shelter in a country, and then be treated as criminals for being without shelter.”
"The U.S. Embassy in Haiti worked closely with factory owners contracted by Levi’s, Hanes, and Fruit of the Loom to aggressively block a paltry minimum wage increase for Haitian assembly zone workers, the lowest paid in the hemisphere, according to secret State Department cables."
See also The Nation's reporting on the same, "WikiLeaks Haiti: Let Them Live on $3 a Day: The US Embassy aided Levi’s, Hanes contractors in their fight against an increase in Haiti’s minimum wage." (http://www.thenation.com/article/161057/wikileaks-haiti-let-them-live-3-day)
The link to the Wikileak cables in question is broken in both articles. A working link is: http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/06/09PORTAUPRINCE553.html
I think Wikipedia editors have done a fine job of summarizing these movements. There's also a separate "Timeline of the Arab Spring" article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Arab_Spring
"A protest group called “Occupy Denver” that used to protest in downtown Denver and in public areas has now reverted to a different tactic — descending on a quiet Denver neighborhood every Sunday afternoon and protesting outside the private home of a Denver business leader whose organization supported Denver’s urban camping ban"
"The barbarity of US immigration and deportation policy has led to the reemergence of mass border crossings."
"This shift toward more radical actions points to the ticking time bomb that is our deportation machine. Around six hundred people get deported to Tijuana every day, a great number of them ending up on the streets, with nowhere to go, often without a peso in their pockets and with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Under such a barbaric immigration and deportation regime, it should be little wonder that mass migrant actions are making a comeback."
The weblog of Jeremy Weiland. I like his writing.
A popular introduction to anarchism in the Guardian's Comment is Free (from 2011). I can't help but think the subtext of these sorts of articles is always "Anarchism: It might not be quite as stupid as you first thought it was."
The hunger strike has spread to another GEO Group facility in Texas, while only two prisoners remain on strike in Tacoma:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/03/19/3105791/hunger-strike-down-to-2-detainees.html
An insider reflects on the Waco standoff. "And the lesson of Clive Doyle’s memoir—and the battle of Mount Carmel—is that Americans aren't very good at respecting the freedom of others to be so obnoxiously different. Many Mormons, incidentally, would say the same thing."
“What’s Left?” features Lefty's more or less monthly columns written for the punk zine Maximumrocknroll.
I just discovered this weblog. I've read several of the essays. They are written by an ex-anarchist (slash ex-left-communist) who seems to write a lot about how they wish anarchism was better so they could still be an anarchist. It's good stuff!
This was a day after I was arrested. There was a big demonstration in Denver with DPD shooting kids out of trees with pepper balls and everything.
The Westword's coverage of Denver's October 15:
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/10/occupy_denver_denver_largest_gathering_police.php
Apparently The Denver Post Editorial Board thinks it is okay to harass and arrest the propertyless for sleeping, but rent-seeking CEOs should be left alone. Good thing The Denver Post is keeping an eye on the situation, otherwise who would lookout for the interests of the rich and powerful?
This is a long video, but I thought it gave a good idea of how Trotskyists (well, at least this one) relate to anarchism.
This kid's one-man protest ended up stopping the bison slaughter for at least the rest of the year.
Spooner's "The Unconstitutionality of Slavery" was published in 1845:
This right of a man “to keep and bear arms,” is a right palpably inconsistent with the idea of his being a slave. Yet the right is secured as effectually to those whom the States presume to call slaves, as to any whom the States condescend to acknowledge free.
Under this provision any man has a right either to give or sell arms to those persons whom the States call slaves; and there is no constitutional power, in either the national or State governments, that can punish him for so doing; or that can take those arms from the slaves; or that can make it criminal for the slaves to use them, if, from the inefficiency of the laws, it should become necessary for them to do so, in defence of their own lives or liberties; for this constitutional right to keep arms implies the constitutional right to use them, if need be, for the defence of one’s liberty or life.
Al Jazeera's The Stream did an episode on "the anarchist movement"! I've read Crispin's book. It was surprisingly compelling for a book on political philosophy. It was so good I will probably read it again. I've also read the first third of Cindy's book. I remember it being surprisingly boring for a book about anarchism. I may have to give it another try.
The episodes web page: http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201403172248-0023558
The Anarchism section of marxists.org: "Resources on the theory and practice of anarchism and the unity and conflict between Marxists and Anarchists over the past 150 years."
"The bullies had to prove that they could control World Vision, because controlling World Vision helps them pretend that they can control the Bible."
World Vision (US) took another look at their copy of "the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God" and discovered that they ARE supposed to police the personal/family lives of their employees after all. Oops.
In 2012 Boulder's city council made sleeping in public a non-jailable offense in an attempt to exclude the accused from jury trials. But now that a judge has ruled the homeless are still entitled to a jury, the city council has voted to increase the penalty to include jail time again.
As someone only peripherally involved but who followed along with the news, I thought Kelsey Whipple did a great job reporting on Occupy Denver.
See also the impressive "List of Occupy movement protest locations": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Occupy_movement_protest_locations
(I read revision 590841297: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Reactions_to_Occupy_Wall_Street&oldid=590841297)
"The ban makes it illegal to camp on public and private property in Denver. The City Council voted 9-4 to pass the ban in 2012."
"A controversial ordinance banning urban camping may increase vulnerability to trafficking in the state of Colorado. The ban was passed by the Denver City Council in May 2012 and essentially criminalizes homeless individuals sleeping on the streets."
"Global Uprisings is an independent news site and video series dedicated to showing responses to the economic crisis from around the world."
'With ticket prices so high and labor costs rivaling those of a Cambodian sweatshop, how much money does SXSX Inc. actually make? “As a privately held company, SXSW doesn’t release any financial information,” said spokesperson Elizabeth Derczo when I called her up.'
It would seem Qatar is being built by slaves. Except obtaining slaves isn't gratis and they don't make their own travel arrangements, so owners actually have to worry about keeping them alive.
Direct link to the Amnesty International report:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE22/010/2013/en
This website is dedicated to making the case for open borders. The term “open borders” is used to describe a world where there is a strong presumption in favor of allowing people to migrate and where this presumption can be overridden or curtailed only under exceptional circumstances.
A bunch of book reviews by some person named Scott Neigh. I've read a few. They were helpful.