november 2016

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“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets…. ”

Cynthia Rylant

“November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year,” said Margaret…
“That’s the reason I was born in it,” observed Jo pensively…”
~ Louisa May Alcott

30/11/16:

France, Doubs: police commissioner’s and mayor’s cars burnt during meeting about rodeos; police commissioner and BAC cop hurt

Peru: in  San Roman a state of emergency is declared after riots; 13 night clubs torched; access blocked to city during general strike against “citizen’s insecurity”; and in Andahuaylas 7th day of strike against wage freezes, corruption and crime also blocks city It must be emphasised that these events are not at all clear, and that some are indicative of reactionary attitudes. Certainly more research is needed – and maybe it’s a banality to say this, but one shouldn’t assume that just because there are strikes and riots that the content is necessarily independent or anti-hierarchical.

Sudan, Khartoum: burning tyres on 4th day of strikes against fuel hikes

Haiti, Port-au-Prince: stones v tear gas & water cannon as the poor try to get into rich area following election result For the umpteenth time, these clashes seem to have illusions in a political party, but that doesn’t rule out an independent element amongst those trying to attack the cops.

29/11/16:

Brazil, Brasilia: anti-government protesters overturn cars, smash Agrarian Ministry windowsHere it says “Some demonstrators hurled objects at police, turning over a car and setting fire to at least two others. Windows were broken at several ministries.”

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Protesters shield themselves as police fire tear gas at their demonstration outside Congress, where senators planned to vote on a spending cap bill and the lower Chamber of Deputies was considering controversial anti-corruption legislation, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. Brazil, home to Latin America’s largest economy, is suffering its worst recession in decades. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Protesters shield themselves as police fire tear gas at their demonstration outside Congress, where senators planned to vote on a spending cap bill. Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, is suffering its worst recession in decades.

Algeria, Setif: rioters demanding reconnection of natural gas supply force closure of town hall

Nicaragua. Nueva Guinea: 6 cops injured as anti-canal protesters attack them with sticks and machetes; pathetic pacifists cancel next day’s demo “A gigantic canal project extending 174 miles (280 kilometers) from the Caribbean to the Pacific has been met with disapproval by local residents and environmentalists who warn the project will cause damage to Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America.” More hereApparently cops used rubber bullets, beat people up  and smashed up their trucks to try to prevent them marching in the capital the next day, but the goody goody professional environmentalists condemned the violence and did the cops’ work by cancelling the demo.

Sudan: government bans newspaper reports of strikes on 3rd day of General Strike More here

28/11/16:

South Africa, Durban: roads barricaded with burning tyres etc. after municipality destroy homes on squatted land

India, Manipur: banks attacked because of cash shortage “A policeman was injured in violence in one of the banks and while a mob damaged windows in another”

27/11/16:

France, Valence: new prison riot “”… several cells …were set on fire…Shortly after 12:00 on Sunday, two detainees threatened a prison officer with a “knife” , in order to steal his set of keys…The supervisor was then released and was not injured…The detainees then opened cells on the three floors of this section intended for long sentences. A fire broke out …Several cells were burned and water damage was reported but no injuries were reported “...Montpellier: Socialist Party office windows broken, anarchist tags

26/11/16:

Myanmar, Irrawaddy:  4 prisoners “riot”

Chile, a bit outside Santiago: hooded protesters occupy $1.7bn copper mine. See 16/11/16 for earlier occupation and more info.

France, Toulouse: posh cars and estate agent’s car burnt on feminist demo against state repression

25/11/16:

US, California: report of spontaneous anti-Trump demo, and previous unreported demos on November 14th

France, Paris: communique about sabotage of phone mast

UK, London: 30 schoolkids attack cops (classic Daily Hate Mail middle class horror shock journo-hack scribble)construction workers occupy HQ of large construction company “Over 100 construction workers protested against Crossrail bosses…They are angry over Crossrail’s refusal to stick to the national JIB agreement, which allows for additional “second tier” bonus productivity payments. The protest started at the Crossrail’s Canary Wharf headquarters. It then moved to Oxford Street with workers blocking the road. Protesters then occupied the headquarters of construction giant Laing O’ Rourke.”

Greece, Lesbos: refugees set fire to part of camp & attack cops after woman & child burn to death in a different fire caused by faulty gas connections

24/11/16:

China: Sony and Coca-Cola workers strike in several places

Bulgaria, Harmanli: refugees trying to escape detention centre clash with cops Post-riot reports here and here.

23/11/16:

Riseup to face prison or…?though this appears to be hype

France, Val-d’Oise: 6 cars & bus set alight after pre-trial imprisonment of 2 brothers of Adama Traoré, murdered by cops in July; 130 cops and helicopter deployed 

Italy, Sardinia: deputy chief of police hospitalised as anti-war demonstrators clash with cops (video here)

US, New York: pipeline protesters occupy Times Square, burn US flag  “In the spirit of saying ‘f**k Thanksgiving,’ we would like to acknowledge the history that has brought us here. We know that the United States is a nation of lynchers and thieves who stole African people and stole indigenous land. So we do not celebrate genocide, which is what Thanksgiving represents for oppressed people. It should come as no surprise that the federal government gave $3 million dollars in military aid to North Dakota. Some of that aid went to a concussion grenade that has blown off our comrades’ arm … We must break this allegiance to the settler-colonial state … we do this act as a symbol of breaking that allegiance.” Portland: report on anti-Trump movement

22/11/16:

Italy, Rovereto: 7 post office cars burnt in opposition to migrant deportations (post office subsidiary is Mistral Air involved in deportations)

Turkey, Ankara: 100s clash with cops on demo demanding withdrawal of law allowing amnesty for child rapists if rapist marries victim

France (Hauts-de-Seine): blockades of several high schools “An outbreak of violence this Tuesday morning in front of a middle school and three high schools…. The incidents started at 7:30 am with a gathering in Gennevilliers in front of the Galilee high school against the end of  “zones of priority” education. Around 10 am, nearly a hundred young people stood in front of the school and projectiles were thrown at the police. At 8:30, garbage cans were set on fire in Clichy, in front of the René-Auffray high school, a priori for a completely different reason: the departure of the cook and the delivery of dishes to the canteen replacing “homemade” cooking. At 10 o’clock, another garbage fire was reported this time in Colombes in front of the Moulin-Joly College, not far from the Lycée Maupassant. At the same time in Suresnes, pupils organize a blockade in front of the Lycée Paul-Langevin and set fire to garbage cans whilst others were in their classes…The reason for this last blockade…: the lack of heating, of equipment and the condition of the premises. Firemen intervened and the main entrance was blocked up, but courses were not interrupted.” It should be pointed out that the “zones of priority education” mentioned as the reason for the first conflict at Galilee school were put in place by the former president, Mitterand, as a way of controlling the schoolkids, whilst being publicised as a method of giving the possibility of obtaining better more stable jobs, etc. Whilst it gave extra money to these “priority” schools, it more importantly involved the eldest brothers of kids, who’d been to prison, going into the schools, giving advice on how not to do what they’d done, and supervising the kids, calming them down, etc.

France: Vinci (company involved in prison construction and the Notre Dames de Lande airport project) becomes the object of a fake press release, by supporters of the resistance at Notre Dame de Landes This press release claimed that there’d been 3.4 billion euros worth of accounting irregularities and that the director of finance had been sacked. It included a fake link to a site which was almost exactly the same as the Vinci site, with a phone number to the pre-paid mobile phone of a person who confirmed the report. The media publishes the information immediately and the price drops 18%. Since it is unprecedented to publish such  things during stock trading hours, and suspicions were aroused, a 2nd fake communique is issued with the sentence “Malicious people have harmed our group by diverting information that has been leaked from our offices”, which implicitly confirmed the content of the initial communique.   Just before the closing of trading, Vinci issues a very clear denial, but they still finished 4% down. The “pirates” welcomed Vinci’s stock market downturn, and attacked them for a variety of projects, notably the Notre Dame des Landes airport, whose forest “already feels its retreat under concrete”, and “the blows that this company constantly gives  to the Nepalese and the Indians who die every day on their construction sites in Qatar “.

Brazil: podcast on high school and university occupations Essentially a mainstream left discourse – a professor of anthropology talking at an “objective” political level, but saying very very little about the real movement going on. More on this movement here. And here

21/11/16:

France, Toulouse: action against Bagelstein, sexist junkfood company

South Africa, Gauteng: bus torched during student protests 

Cameroon, Bamenda: striking teachers & supporters riot Video here

20/11/16:

France, Toulouse : Eiffage Construction Van Destroyed by Flames Eiffage is a large construction company with projects including the Bretagne-Pays de la Loire high speed rail link.

Denmark, Copenhagen: van burnt in solidarity with Standing Rock

Ecuador, Amazon region: 14 cops injured as indigenous try to take over mining camp “The Shuar Indians say the recently established prospectors’ camp was built on their ancestral homeland. They are vowing to keep up their campaign until it is closed. The clashes in a remote Amazon jungle area took place over the weekend but only came to light Tuesday. Officials say they are investigating whether the Shuar were carrying dynamite in addition to being armed with rifles. Indigenous groups across Ecuador have been stepping up protests against President Rafael Correa’s plans to boost mining to make up for a decline in oil revenue.”

UK, Doncaster: “serious disturbance” at prison More here “Inmates smashed up 36 cells in the action at HMP Moorland causing fire and water damage in one of the wings.” Aberdeenshire: primary school vandalised to the tune of £200,000

US, Dakota: clashes with cops as pipeline protesters get water cannoned in below freezing temperatures. Videos here & here

19/11/16:

France: list of 6 different schools vandalised &/or torched during 5 days (14th – 19th)St.Denis: 2nd night of garbage bins set on fire in response to heavy-handed arrestsSavigny-sur-Orge: 3 BAC cops attacked with stones; cop car window smashed

US, Washington DC: white supremacist covered with his own stench More hereFlorida: 30 demonstrators block entrance to Trump clubInteresting comment on race, class and identity politics in the US here.

UK, Birmingham: cop car windows smashed

Iraqi Kurdistan, Sulaimani: Kurdish teachers etc. clash with cops over unpaid wages

18/11/16:

US, Minneapolis: 3000 block all lanes of motorway on anti-Trump demo; left-liberal stewards collaborate with copsWashington state: anti-fracking rail blockade violently destroyed by cops (interview with participants here)

UK, Salisbury: arson attacks on several car dealershipsUK, Devon: report of hunt sab on Guy Ritchie’s estate

Peru, Lima: anti-Obama protesters clash with cops

17/11/16:

France, Créteil: a dozen youths attack cop car with stones during arrest

Greece, Athens: polytechnic occupied on 43rd anniversary of overthrow of colonelsMore here “Dozens of anarchists occupied the National Technical University complex, site of the failed pro-democracy revolt, and attacked police with petrol bombs, flares and stones. Riot police responded with tear gas and stun grenades as street battles lurched outside the university in the densely-inhabited Exarcheia district, away from the embassy. No arrests or injuries were reported.”

16/11/16:

Chile, 40 miles NE of Santiago: copper mine occupied “The mine was occupied by protesters during an industrial dispute involving contract workers. Barricades were set up and set alight…contract workers are fighting for the restoration of normal working conditions, in line with what permanent full time miners have. “Temporary and subcontracted workers in the copper industry are the slave labour of the 21st century. Lacking rights and social protection, they are vulnerable and defenseless,” …Chile is the world’s number one copper producer and the metal is the country’s principal money earner. The industry has also been used as an experimental ground for steeped up neoliberal economics. Deregulation of the workforce by means of the uncertainty of short-term contract labour has seen wages go as low as $300 a month, leaving miners in poverty. “For instance, at Minera Escondida (the world’s largest private copper mine, owned by the Anglo-Australian company BHP Billiton), 200 workers share four showers, and they sleep according to the ‘warm beds’ system (several workers sleeping in turn in the same bunk)…The industry is rife with industrial disputation and the chances of a general strike are very real.” More here“Anglo American has denounced a “violent” protest in Chile that has resulted in 100 hooded protesters seizing parts of its Los Bronces copper mine. The company blamed a group of contractors and “unidentified people” for setting fire to barricades and seizing outbuildings and trucks.”

France, Marseilles: cop car window smashed by  youths during car pursuit

Peru, Cusco: report of indigenous arson attack on fracking mine 

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fracked off in Cusco: massive destruction of mine infrastructure

Greece, Chios: refugees set fires, loot stores etc. “…they smashed a fireworks store and started displaying them into houses and residents, smashed cars and shops around the place. The significant part of the camp has burned.” Not at all sure if the fire in the camp was a fascist attack or one committed by refugees themselves, the latter being what the article says happened – though this, covering the 16th & 17th of November, says the former.

Ivory Coast, Neamoue: villagers kill 2 cops after cops kill 2 villagers …More here (in French) “For some time, clashes between populations and police forces have occurred in several cities of Côte d’Ivoire, including Bouna, Katiola, and Yamoussoukro. In the latter city, clashes broke out between the youths and the police during the night of 16-17 November….The clashes between young people and the police, which lasted several hours, involved some damage – the police station of the 2nd borough of Yamoussoukro was even surrounded, tree trunks and tires erected as barricades. It was only late at night, thanks to reinforcements and tear gas, that the police were able to regain control of the situation….At the beginning of the week, in the Bouna region, in the north-east of the country, a gendarme control degenerated into clashes and left 4 dead. In early October, the city of Katiola in the center of the country was burning.”

Brazil, Rio: clashes with cops on anti-austerity demo More here: “…authorities acknowledged that the situation is “ungovernable.” The riots began when teachers, police and doctors, along with militants of leftist parties, tried to invade the Legislative Assembly where a plan of adjustment was put to vote. A journalist on the UOL portal was assaulted while law enforcement fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water against public employees who rejected wage cuts and reforms in the pension system.”Brasilia: parliament occupied by 60 protestersSeems that they have some mad delusions that the army can save them from the right-wing government.

15/11/16:

Germany : an update from Hambach forest

UK: fires etc. at 3 prisons as screws complain about how unhappy their lot is “Six fire engines were called to Channings Wood on Tuesday after a fire started inside the building but the blaze was out when they arrived….An inmate at HMP Featherstone near Wolverhampton contacted BBC WM on a mobile phone which he said had been smuggled in to say the the jail was “totally out of control”. He said inmates were unaware about the protest being staged by prison officers, a claim the Ministry of justice (MoJ) denied. …There were also reports of a small fire in a cell at Norwich Prison on Tuesday which the fire service extinguished.”

US, Dakota: train tracks blocked with branches and truck in anti-pipeline movementWashington DC: high school & middle school students walk out of class, shut down Lincoln memorialNew York: cops force professor to have psychiatric evaluation after having critical discussion about Trump etc.

Greece, Athens: molotovs v tear gas during demo against visit by Obama Video hereThis seems to have been dominated by anti-imperialist ideology, and included the wretched consistently counter-revolutionary Communist Party, though it obviously included others (see here) not at all compromised in this way. See also this anarchist “welcome” to Athens [SF]

Spain, Murcia: attack on cops in migrant detention centre; at least 9 prisoners escape

Dominican Republic, San Domingo: students clash with cops during demo over allocation of resources “Demonstrators, some with their faces covered, threw stones at police officers and vehicles passing through the nearby streets, as well as blocking roads with different objects. The incident originated when the police prevented a march of dozens of students who were heading towards  Congress”

New Zealand, Aukland:  protesters against weapons conference break through cop barricades and stage sit-in

14/11/16:

US: anti-Trump high school students walk out of class in several states

Iran, Tehran: residents clash with cops during state destruction of their houses and cars

France, Toulouse: cops and firemen stoned during incident at squat

Serbia: migrants clash with cops on Croatian border

Chile, Santiago: striking public sector workers clash with cops

13/11/16:

UK, Staffordshire: arson attack on Amazon warehouse  

Australia, Melbourne: prison riots again “Windows were smashed, walls destroyed and security doors, weighing hundreds of kilograms, ripped down. Hammers, chisels, screwdrivers and lumps of wood were seized from a tool storage area as staff beat a retreat.  The 20-bed Eastern Hill unit was flooded after inmates smashed the sprinklers using stolen tools. An angle grinder — used in a metal work program — was then used to cut through locks on several doors and breach restricted areas. Other children, frustrated they were forced into lockdown most of the weekend, began pulling sprinklers in their cells to cause flooding….computers and game consoles were smashed and litres of paint splashed around. Inmates from the West Gate unit later joined in, smashing expanses of ceiling, destroying locks and doors, tearing away electrical wiring and ripping out state-of-the-art security cameras. Some teenagers smashed through the ceiling of an inmate who did not want to take part and beat him. The nightmare for staff was compounded when, at one stage, they had to change their communications channel because they believed inmates had got hold of a radio and were listening in.”

12/11/16:

Mexico, Veracruz:  police car, municipal palace, Civil Register offices with all their documents burnt, house of mayor and several businesses looted, after priest is kidnapped

Australia, Perth: riot in juvenile prison causes at least $350,00 worth of damage “The latest violent incident at Perth’s juvenile detention centre – the 10th in less than two-and-a-half months…The youths barricaded themselves in, removed bricks from walls and threw them at staff, broke every reinforced glass window and pulled panelling and cabling out of the ceiling”…Melbourne: and an even bigger riot in a prison for young “offenders” causes $2m worth of damages “Rioting inmates have destroyed security cameras and ripped ceilings and walls apart, causing an estimated $2 million in damages at Melbourne’s youth detention centre. About 20 inmates at the Parkville facility were left without beds on Saturday night after their cells were trashed. The riot came as an inmate at another prison facility attacked four prison officers, inflicting a serious neck injury….the sprinkler system was also severely damaged after the group broke into one of the buildings and found a sledge hammer and shovel. Computers were then thrown through the windows before the group climbed up on the roof and demanded junk food and a phone…The disturbance is believed to have been started by the same youth who triggered another riot on Thursday at the centre….In September, inmates and staff clashed for three consecutive nights and several juvenile offenders threatened staff and took control of part of the centre….In the separate prison incident on Saturday night, four Port Phillip Prison officers were assaulted during a cell search, with one suffering a suspected serious neck injury.” 

US, Indianapolis: 2 cops injured by rock-throwing anti-TrumpersBerkeley: anti-Trump march attacks bank and poice stationsomewhat voluntarist online call for General Strike for Trump inauguration day

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New York Times 1932:

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Sweden, Stockholm: clashes between Nazis and counter-demonstrators during fascist anti-migrant march

Italy,  Campania: 3 phone masts sabotaged in solidarity with imprisoned anarchists

South Korea, Seoul: clashes with cops on massive anti-government demo

11/11/16:

France, Essonne (Paris banlieu): 30 youths chuck metal bars at copsTours: 5 cars burnt after cops attacked following arrest during rodeoNevers: high school set fire to

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Nevers

Brazil, Rio: union one day strike and demonstration against austerity and increasing attacks on workers ends in clashes with cops

Egypt, Giza: anti-austerity protests

Guatemala, San Marcos: motorbike-taxi driverssmash windows and doors of municipal HQ in protest against further bureaucratic restrictions

US, Portland: protester shot “…If Trump’s appeal is truly to the “angry white workers” and is based on some sort of appeal to “righting” the US economy, how can the bullshit about reducing taxes, eliminating regulation, etc. be THAT appeal, since that’s been the mantra for 40 years, and been the “cover” for driving down wages and living standards, asset stripping, etc. etc? Is the “white” working class that stupid?…The fact is, it’s impossible to disentangle the so-called “economic fears” from the racism that has been so essential to the composition, and organization, of the US working class….I don’t think Trump appealed to anyone’s “hope” for a solution to economic problems. I’m not sure that the Trump voters, no matter what their class, want solutions. They want victims.” – from here….burning projectiles thrown at cops… Video of situation in Portlandabout $1m worth of damageLos Angeles: cops get stoned, squad car tagged, fireworks thrown (this on the eve of the 50th anniversary of a far bigger riot in LA)

10/11/16:

France, Yvelines: a dozen youths attack cops with stones and fireworks; cop car damaged 

US, San Francisco: thousands of high school students walk out to march against Trump Brief eyewitness account here….Portland: business windows smashed on anti-Trump demo “…at least 19 cars at Toyota of Portland were vandalized…business windows along Northwest Lovejoy Street and elsewhere were smashed….Flash bangs and rubber bullets were reportedly being used in an attempt to clear protesters, and arrests are being made. Police report officers were “taking projectiles.” As Thursday became Friday, the standoff continued, with Oregon State Police officers also being deployed at Southwest Yamhill Stree and 4th Avenue. Flash bang and less-than-lethal rounds were being deployed as officers advanced to clear the crowd….Protesters set up a makeshift barricades of newsstands….”New Orleans: unusual mix of anti-Trump graffiti on war memorial; bank windows smashed “Die Whites Die”, “we are ungovernable” (with an anarchist circled A), “Black Power”, “Kill Trump” and “Dismantle White Supremacy” – clearly the first is idiotically (and very unstrategically) divisive, since probably a majority of whites do not support Trump, even in the USA.…Some comments on the US election can be found in the comments boxes below [SF]

Guatemala, Guatemala City: street vendors protest against prohibition from working during holiday season  turns into riot; over £100,000 worth of damage “A protest that started with street vendors’ discontent over the prohibition of marketing their products during the holiday season on the Paseo de la Sexta ended with the destruction of traffic lights, Christmas kiosks, sculptures and other things.”

9/11/16:

UK, South Shields: anarchist arson of council vehicle

Democratic Republic Of Congo, Kinshasa: students clashing with cops over exchange rates for fees win partial victory “…the Director General of ISTA, Kasengedia Mutumbe, announced the downward revision of the exchange rate. “In the name of social peace at ISTA, we have lowered the rate to 967 Congolese francs to the US dollar,”…more than a hundred Congolese police had surrounded the university premises in the morning and fired tear gas to classrooms. Two vehicles were burned while several shops were damaged. Later in the day, the Minister of Higher and University Education, Théophile Mbemba, decided to suspend Kasengedia Mutumbe from office “for investigative reasons”

France, Marseille: report of all of  Vinci (involved in prison construction) office windows being smashed 

Italy, Trento: nine vehicles belonging to company involved in migrants’ deportations set on fire 

US: many high school students walk out in protest against Trump “Thousands of protesters blocked traffic in downtown Portland, Ore., Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, with some torching flags. Demonstrators in Oakland smashed windows at five businesses and ignited trash containers and tires…In downtown L.A. early Wednesday, a crowd gathered near City Hall and property was defaced, including a fence scrawled with graffiti insulting the incoming commander in chief.”.

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Oakland

Flags also burnt in New York and TexasMotorway shut down in LA. More here. And in other parts of California also. And in PortlandShould point out the additional insanity of this election: so far Clinton has got 60,275,264  votes, with Trump getting 59,937,885 votes  – ie over 330,000 more than Trump (votes are still being counted, but the more they’re counted the bigger Clinton’s majority). But this has  some of the better comments on the election – from Indians in Dakota: “I don’t think anyone here votes,” said Julie Richards, an Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. “We’re all like, fuck the government, fuck voting, and fuck the people running.”…Archambault is not interested in choosing the next elected leader of one of his enemies. “I don’t want to have a say in government,” he said. “I guess you could call it trauma. I don’t have faith in government, so I don’t want to have a say.” The “trauma” Archambault speaks of lies heavy over the encampments that have arisen on the windswept banks of the Missouri River. Generations of war, massacres, broken treaties, discrimination, police harassment, and poverty have resulted in a general feeling of distrust, disillusion, and disinterest in mainstream politics among the Native Americans gathered at Standing Rock. And historical traumas have only been compounded by the militarized police response to unarmed protesters, who have been met with Mace, rubber bullets, Tasers and sound weapons.”Nebraska: anti-Trump graffiti on State Capitol buildingOakland: city hall windows smashed.  More complete list here

Most delerious headline of the day: “US WAR ZONE: Millions riot across America in Donald Trump election protests” “Journalist: a person without any ideas but with an ability to express them; a writer whose skill is improved by a deadline: the more time he has, the worse he writes.” – Karl Kraus. When you compare what is described as a riot nowadays (eg a couple of bins burnt) with, say, the situation in the 1960s when Watts rose up and something like a thousand buildings were set alight and stores looted to the degree that 2 years later some people still had their garage half-full of crates of whiskey etc, one can see the enormity of the counter-revolution and the terrified/terrifying domestication of people. Compare also the 1964 election, with both candidates arguably to the left of both Trump and Clinton, when the nuclear trigger-happy Republican – Barry Goldwater – lost to Johnson with a margin of 22.6%  [SF]

This is an interesting reflection.

As for Trump’s style: “The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are clever as he.” – Karl Kraus

8/11/16:

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7/11/16:

South Africa, Western Cape: more student – cop clashes “Clashes broke out between police, campus security and University of the Western Cape (UWC) students on Monday afternoon, with a campus vehicle being overturned and graffiti spray painted on buildings. Exams started at four off-campus venues on Monday morning, but when shuttles arrived to transport students to these locations, protesters tried to stop them from leaving. Police and protesters on Monday afternoon faced off at the student residences, with protesters throwing rocks at authorities. A number of windows at residences were broken, bottles and rocks lay scattered in the vicinity, and messages in red and black spray paint were scrawled across the walls.”

Algeria, Algiers: 5 cops serious hurt in riot resisting evictions

Brazil, Rio: residents clash with cops during eviction; molotov thrown next day

Nigeria, Lagos: indefinite bus strike called, roads blocked, 12 buses vandalised, as state bans buses from specific route

UK, London: pretty rare, corny, classic yet wonderful escape from famous Caledonian Road prison It is understood the pair used diamond-tipped cutting equipment to break through their cell bars before scaling an outer perimeter wall….the runaways had folded bedsheets into the shape of mannequins to fool staff into believing they were still asleep… the two men escaped through a cell window on the fifth floor…it was rumoured they had used bedsheets to lower themselves down.” Almost 300 years after Jack Sheppard’s famous escapes and so far modern totalitarianism has yet to find ways to suppress the beautiful innocence of tried and tested proletarian inventiveness. Tempted reflexively to say “Thank God!” –  but “Thank the Human Spirit!” is  far better.

Greece, Athens: students demanding more education funding attack cops with molotovs and rocks, burn bins, blocking major roads

Vietnam, Hanoi: cops fire teargas at drug addicts trying to escape compulsory rehab

US, Washington DC: anti-pipeline graffiti put on stupid war memorialMinnesota: arrested woman escapes – in police car! (video)

6/11/16:

Bangladesh, Gobindaganj: indigenous man killed by cops as they evict people from land; 9 cops injured by arrows

UK, Bedford: up to 300 prisoners riot, forcing guards to flee “Reports say “hundreds” of inmates are reportedly causing chaos at the category B jail after “ransacking” guards’ offices and arming themselves with knives….A man claiming to be an inmate said cops have swarmed the prison, with up to 300 prisoners involved in the riot. He told Mirror Online: “We’ve got control of the prison.  Prisoners are walking around with knives and coshes. They’ve nicked mobile phones out of the office, everything’s been smashed.”… prisoners ripping up toilets and causing mass damage. Guards are said to have fled the prison” More here “…inmates carrying blades are ransacking guards’ offices, setting small fires and stealing medical supplies.”

Peru, Lima: clashes between anti-bullfight protesters and cops

France, Doubs: small clashes with cops after 2 cars are set alightHaute-Loire: Socialist Party office windows attackedBesançon : night action in solidarity with migrants

5/11/16:

Italy, Florence: clashes with cops as PM visits city (video here)

Greece, Athens: about 80 attack cop riot unit with molotovsXanthi: anarchists clash with cops over opening of Golden Dawn HQ  “Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd of around 300 anarchists who tried to break through a cordon to attack the Golden Dawn premises, launching Molotov cocktails and vandalizing shops after being thwarted.”

US, Florida: pipeline construction stopped by protesters

Cyprus, Nicosia: civil defence car burnt

France, Champigny: youths attack pigs with stones & cans at pig fair

4/11/16:

France, Dijon: 15 attack cops and firemen with molotovToulouse: 3 cars belonging to prison construction company destroyed by fire

US, Atlanta: railtracks barricaded for at least 6 hours in solidarity with anti-pipeline movement

Chile, Santiago: burning buses & barricades as workers fight private pension poverty “Protesters set fire to at least two buses, forcing passengers to flee, and blocked some two dozen streets with burning barricades in the capital Santiago on a day of nationwide demonstrations…. the system has left the 10 million Chileans enrolled in it with deplorable retirement benefits far short of the Pinochet regime’s promise of 70 percent of workers’ last paychecks. The average pension is less than the minimum wage in Chile. The protests came on the same day as a strike by public sector workers demanding a raise, adding to the pressure on center-left President Michelle Bachelet. Protesters disrupted the morning commute in Santiago by blocking off streets and attacking buses with Molotov cocktails.” anarchists intervene in struggle and block Panamerican highway (a communiqué in Spanish)

chile-bus-burning-3-11-16

Video here Also clashes in Valparaiso, Arica, Viña del Mar and Concepción (list of links in Spanish) 

3/11/16:

Spain, Madrid: metro hallway’s posters removed and replaced with solidarity information with comrades repressed in “Operation Ice”

Germany, Dresden: vehicle belonging to arms company destroyed in arson attack

US, Pennsylvania: migrants right group occupy Clinton’s campaign officeDakota: anti-pipeline protesters sit-in at Capitol building 

Eire, Limerick: billonaire’s mansion gutted by arson attack

Sweden, Vasteras: report on migrants’ attitudes to burning cars “…a young migrant has explained how boredom and racism has driven him and his friends to violently vandalising property for amusement. …one of a group of these migrants described as wearing black hoods and loitering outside a recently burnt-down shopping centre, was blunt when he said: “Some feel good to burn cars”. The unnamed male identifies disappointment in society and harassment by police as the main motivations for the arson. Another young man tells the paper by email — he refuses to meet the journalist in person — that he and his friends feel pre-judged by native Swedes, and are discriminated against. Complaining that when locals witness acts of violent damage they don’t stop to consider the reasons behind it, he remarked: “When a car burns everyone here thinks [the perpetrators] are animals and idiots. People don’t know how young people are discriminated against every day… We only get noticed when the cars burn. I think young people are using it as a cry for help.”

2/11/16:

France, Loire: mast for researching wind potential for wind energy sabotaged

wind-turbine-france-november

Kenya, Nairobi: clashes with filth in protests against corruption

US, Dakota: more pipeline clashes (video here)

Taiwan, Taipeh: students occupy governing party’s HQ in protest against large reduction in national holidays

1/11/16:

Italy, Genoa : several ATM’s sabotaged in solidarity with anarchists on trial and in prison

South Africa, Johannesburg: bus drivers on wildcat strikeLimpopo: maths exam subverted 

France, Chambery (Savoie): car and bins burnt by about 30 youths 

Australia, Brisbane: protesters occupy roof of immigration ministers offices

Comments

3 responses to “november 2016”

  1. Sam FantoSamotnaf avatar

    11/11/16 – received this email:

    “What the fuck just happened? America has elected a reality TV show host as President, the guy that can listen to our phone calls and watch all we do on the Internet and drop nuclear bombs on people and shit. A racist, rapist, misogynist. He’s George Bush on PCP.

    But don’t let that scare you too much, right?

    Trump said during the race he could shoot someone in broad daylight and he’d still get elected. Guess we should have listened. The media bares massive responsibility, the investigative stories were glossed over. They took him seriously from day one. Gave him a chance. What’s good for News ratings may be bad for Americans but who cares? Not CBS news.

    Trump is an idiot and a failure. And a criminal. He’s notorious for not paying people who he owes money and bankrupted a casino of all institutions. Nevertheless, outperformed both McCain and Romney with African-American and Latino voters, and Hillary Clinton with white women.

    Things are polarized in the States. Like, really polarized. The social climate has become more and more toxic as the election has progressed, and many people have stated it’s set to continue or get worse, as if the election never finished! To the more sensitive and less conscious it must seem nightmarish. But even for the (semi?)conscious it’s hard not to also feel some sensitivity when confronted with things like this: https://twitter.com/i/moments/796417517157830656.

    The bottom line right now is to not allow ourselves to become demoralized. Yes, the American proletariat has been getting their butts kicked for 40 years (aka many’s whole damn existence on earth) by the ruling class, but it isn’t emotionally and motivationally defeated, at least completely…There is evidence for this; 13 million for Sanders. 10 million more (mostly white) Americans than Trump had voting for a Black junior Senator with an African Muslim background to be President, all the art and culture it has still managed to produce during this time, and I don’t mean the crap that reinforces bourgeois ideology, the youth and others who have marched out already against the phrase “President-elect Trump”.

    Some people are angryscared. They are running around doing leftist activism. They’re more critical of democracy and the American way than ever. But on the other hand—there are some parts of almost 60 million Americans who see a vote cast for Trump as a middle finger to the establishment, as essentially pro-worker. Boy are they about to be proven wrong. Paul Ryan said just today the Republicans will go after not only “Obamacare” but aim to privatize Medicare and social security itself.

    One of the main messages here that can’t be ignored is that of patriarchy. There was tons of shit like “a woman isn’t fit to be President” during the elections. How much change can the straight white American “bro” tolerate? This “swing to the right” is a pure reaction to the polarized social climate of the last 8 years. The climate where the far and alt-right nutters have grown maybe three or four fold. Men’s rights, white power, etc. etc.

    Yes, part of it is also racial backlash from whites after the perceived racial progress taking place over the last 8 years. A BIG part of it. They wanted to say: “Fuck the system (but the cops are OK). Soros and Black Lives Matter are part of that system because obviously white lives matter, too.” When they remember to take their anti-depressants they might say instead “All lives matter!” but it’s all the same crap.

    Let’s just accept that half the American working class (hopefully less) are idiots who are prone to fascism and white supremacy so we can move on. I mean seriously what else can we do? Everyone is concerned with the rise of the far-right, the support it’s receiving from the ever-shrinking petty bourgeoisie. But the American left is not going to stand idly by while we start a war in Syria or Libya or somewhere else in addition to the 5+ wars the US is already in. The Republicans control the government completely. The streets are the only opposition for everyone now, not just the “far and fringe left”. How can Trump handle the pissed of Clintonians, plus Black Lives Matter, the Sanders people, the anti-pipeline movement, immigrant workers, a prison strike, etc. on top of everything else?

    There was so much misinformation during the campaign, especially on social media, Facebook. We live in a post-factual hyper-reality, a cyberpunk dystopia more sleazy and corporate than even William Gibson couldn’t imagine. Don’t believe me? http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/11/09/09/3A329DCC00000578-3918754-As_many_as_40_projectors_set_up_three_blocks_away_beamed_his_fac-m-16_1478684205902.jpg

    There’s also the astounding irony of all the claims of a “rigged system” during the election cycle. Well, yeah, it’s called the Electoral College. For the second time in four elections the rigging has been committed by the Electoral College against Democrats. So basically a group of corporate shills have picked the president twice in the past decade and a half, despite of the popular vote. With an arrangement like this, why would the bourgeoisie risk that advantage on fascism haha? The so-called “Founding Fathers” of the US were open about arranging the federal government against the class interests of the poor, the very same people who fought and died for them in the war of independence.

    The Sanders people are also saying the system is rigged, remember. And the claim the FBI swung the election is a valid claim, outside the realm of alt-right conspiracy nuts due to the controversy over whether or not to charge Clinton. It could still be investigated in an official capacity before the current government exits.

    One last point. Trump was supported most in the corporate realm by Big Oil and the banking sector. He wants to frack and pump it all, denies climate change, and is supposedly going to appeal banking regulations and end the Fed. That ain’t good.

    Closing out, I have to wonder how much of the vote was reckless protest. People were saying, “Vote Trump! End the system quicker.” How much of that could come true, or is? There is a massive protest aiming to shutdown DC and the inaugration. That’s going to be the biggest direct confrontation between leftists and the State since at least the early 2000s or before.

    I think we anarchists and communists have some bonus effectiveness in our critiques of democracy, electorialism, leftism, populism etc. during the coming era of Trump. There’s no other route, even for liberals, for at least four years. I’m left wondering if the US could somehow have a Tahrir square moment? Not the first, but the one that ousted Morsi. Who knows what the end result of that would look like.”

    1. Sam FantoSamotnaf avatar

      What do you mean by being positive about “all the art and culture it has still managed to produce during this time”? It’s a very very long time since art and culture has contributed to any subversive understanding of this society, at least in the USA.
      “Pussy Riot punk artist Nadya Tolokonnikova called on those angered by Republican Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election to follow her example and channel their frustrations into art.” – http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/588310/lifestyle/artandculture/turn-trump-anger-into-art-says-pussy-riot-member

      This seems like the coward’s way forward, which is to be expected from the section of Pussy Riot (the others denounced them) that has fallen in love with TV appearances and all the shit of fame. Whilst in Russia there was something subversive in what they did (and their refusal to show their faces at that time was partly a refusal of the spectacle, at least in the form of celebrity), in the USA “rebel” culture is part of the dominant culture – it can be quite funny or interesting but it just anaesthetises the rapid drift of Titanic Earth towards the iceberg. Channelling “frustration” (a word that minimises the scary situation) into art is typical cultural ideology, the kind of bourgeois crap advocated by Freud.

      Also what do you mean by being positive about the election of Obomber? – I presume that’s who you mean when you say “10 million more (mostly white) Americans than Trump had voting for a Black junior Senator with an African Muslim background to be President”.

  2. Sam FantoSamotnaf avatar

    Re. the US election – this, which I wrote over 10 years ago, has some connection to the rise of “fascism”:

    “…daily life is overwhelmed by crazy behaviour on an unprecedented scale, a result of the implosion following the repression of the explosions against this society. The most obvious symptom of this is what might be called the “fascism of everyday life”, which is very far from classical fascism.

    For example, nowadays there are an increasingly significant number of 15 year olds (mainly male) whose idea of rebellion is to scare the shit out of their elders by playing around with handguns or other ways of being psychotic. There have always been psychos in the working class, but in situations of some margin of independent community psychosis was more tamed, and often evaporated pretty quick in times of mass struggle. Known paedophiles (though not those in the family circle) would get a thumping and that would be the end of it: none of these crazy murders of kids to cover up their sick ‘sexuality’ or these crazy vigilante groups attacking some crazy guy who just touched a kid (when often worse abuses of kids are quite legal). Highly tense blokes, over-jumpy explosive minefields of stress, would direct their aggression towards the right enemy – the cops etc.- in situations of class conflict, their generous human side also bursting through to those on their side. But nowadays madness manifests itself in switches from power-mad notions of individualist dignity to a vicious identification with a gang, a nation, a family, an ethnic grouping or whatever.

    There have always been gangs, scenes, cliques, milieus, Organisations, but in the past, in the 60s, 70s, 80s, these scenes had a far greater openness and fluidity between them. After all, there was a margin of freedom that had been won by 150 years or more of class struggle. In that margin separate from the immediate exigencies of work and money you could at least breathe a bit. You could find some ways to experiment independent of external authority. And you could recognise others because you and they were fighting for yourselves against the forces of external authority. The miners strike, for example, embraced people from all over – it was a crossroad of connections from squatting scenes, blacks, politicos, suspicions having been broken down in the practice of solidarity. But in the last ten years there’s been an atmosphere of being mopped up after a rout. The full implications of this rout have only sunk in, like a rock to the bottom of your soul, in the past 5 years or so: the mad world of the commodity is driving everyone mad.” (here: http://dialectical-delinquents.com/articles/class-struggle-histories-2/so-near-so-far-a-history-of-the-british-miners-part-2/ )

    In connection with this, see also this, written today: https://libcom.org/forums/north-america/2016-us-presidential-election-05032016?page=15#comment-587633

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