SOCIAL CONTESTATION

a chronology of contestation against cops, the crazy Coronavirus crisis and other clashes with capital in multiple forms of expression

This replaces what was previously called NEWS or News of Opposition for the period 2013 up until the present.

(information about Hong Kong before 24th March and after 24th June 2020 is here. From 24th March to 24th June it’s in the months listed above)

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or

“Reading the morning newspaper is the realist’s morning prayer. One orients one’s attitude toward the world either by God or by what the world is. The former gives as much security as the latter, in that one knows how one stands. ”

– Hegel

The insufficiency of putting up something like this is obvious. The enormity of the attack by this anti-social society demands something better than this. Even in the very limited terms of writing something on the internet, this is clearly not enough.

See also Covid1984 for the latest information about the unprecedented attacks on social life under the pretext of a health crisis

“The aim of terror, and of its implementation, is to extort from human beings a total adaptation to its very principle, so that they recognize at the very end only one goal: self-preservation. The more, and unscrupulously, humans have in mind their survival, the more they become psychological puppets of a system whose sole objective is to stay in power.
– Leo Löwenthal, 1946

2021

2017

2014

2013

“What is everywhere repressed in this society is history: one’s own, with others, that of the whole, and above all, the mediations among the three.”

This section is mostly full of links to various (often mainstream) articles giving information about certain aspects of independent opposition to this society throughout the world, including some which might have escaped the notice of other sites claiming to oppose capitalism. What I automatically exclude here, given the attempt to focus on ”independent opposition”, are clashes in which either ethnic or religious or sport team or political faction fights seem to dominate. Admittedly, some of these bits of information here are more spontaneous symptoms of opposition than developing struggles. There’s no pretension that this information is at all definitive – doubtless loads of things will be missed out. For one thing, I rarely put up reports from places that have had constant clashes with the state for several years now – and often on a daily basis – places such as Palestine/Israel, Kashmir and Bahrain. Which is in no way to diminish those aspects of the struggles there that have some independent aspect to them. It’s merely that there are other sites that focus on them better than mine and, besides, detailing constant conflicts like these would unnecessarily inundate the site and involve too much largely pointless effort. Equally, there might be things put here which on further investigation do not prove to have anything independent about them. Nor does this part of the site pretend to necessarily constitute an analysis of these struggles: the intention is simply to inform people of things that they might otherwise have missed, although some elements of analysis are often included. Putting these events here all together doesn’t mean that these very different events in very different situations are simplistically equivalent, obviously. In addition, I have not mentioned many of the union-initiated strikes because valorising the role of representative and the politics of such a role goes against the grain of what I want. Nevertheless, some are mentioned if only because, despite the fundamental complicity with hierarchical power that’s intrinsic to unions, many official strikes have been initially instigated by “ordinary” workers, those with no bureaucratic position.

cartoon from 1969

And this should be made very clear: the fact that throughout the world people, in a variety of different ways, at times seem to be increasingly fighting back against the powers-that-be, does not mean in any way that we should be simplistically optimistic. Some of this optimistic sense has been here before – e.g. in the post-1968 world, or before that in the world of 1917 and after. However, the current situation is rife with a terrible pessimism. Hopefully some of what’s written here will contribute to a more developed social opposition than clashes provoked by the cops because the state has deemed virtually all social life such as parties a danger to health under the pretext of Covid-1984.

Pessimistic determinism replaces optimistic determinism, but both virtually see history from some external God-like point of view. Determinism either way is a total waste of time and thought. Pessimism in the face of increasing totalitarianism is useless and self-fulfilling, whilst optimism suppresses critique of the contradictions in struggle, ignoring the limitations and weaknesses for fear of being put down as a negativist. It’s always a question of what risks people are prepared to take so as to contribute to furthering and clarifying these very different struggles, and helping the world advance towards a genuinely liberatory future.

Sysyphus: both an individual and collective project – inseparably

I hope people reading this will also add more insights into these events, and also provide interesting information that is not included here.

PLEASE NOTE:

8 compilation videos, about events in November & December 2013, and January, February, March, April, May and June 2014 – loosely based on some of the information on this site, are available here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/m0bi/videos

They were put together by a friend totally independently of me and are taken from mainly mainstream media sources. He shows them at a get-together with a meal as a catalyst for discussion, called “Food for thought”. They are also included on this page at the beginning of each relevant month.

Also note:

The updates on these events can sometimes include things that have happened a week or even several weeks ago that I missed, so it might be worthwhile for those interested, to scroll down to check out if there’s anything new.

2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013

a chronology of contestation against cops, the crazy Coronavirus crisis and other clashes with capital in multiple forms of expression

Either

or

“Reading the morning newspaper is the realist’s morning prayer. One orients one’s attitude toward the world either by God or by what the world is. The former gives as much security as the latter, in that one knows how one stands. ”

– Hegel

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