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“He had never liked October. Ever since he had first lay in the autumn leaves…and heard the wind and saw the empty trees. It had made him cry, without a reason. And a little of that sadness returned each year to him.”
– Ray Bradbury
“There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir: We must rise and follow her, When from every hill of flame She calls, and calls each vagabond by name.”
– William Bliss
(September 2019 here…November here)
All references to the situation in Hong Kong will not appear here, but in “HONG KONG latest!”
References to Chile will appear here
References to Iraq and Lebanon will appear here
“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
31/10/19:
France: halloween “incidents” in 12 towns
Panama, Panama City: 3rd day of clashes as state embeds any possible leglisation of gay marriage within country’s constitution
“Protesting students, who were trying to go to the National Assembly in the capital of Panama, launched rockets against the police who fought back with pepper spray and made several arrests. Subsequently, incidents broke out at the University of Panama, where students erected barricades and threw stones at the police.“
France, La Reunion: about 40 fires over 14 municipalities, as part of riotous clashes with cops
Greece, Athens: clashes as state withdraws use of University as sanctuary from cop invasions
Haiti: brief leftist report summarising situation
“The masses in Port-au-Prince, and the other major cities in Haiti like Gonaïves, Cap-Haïtien and Jeremie, are living on the edge of famine, as the protests have disrupted all kinds of deliveries, including food. Many people aren’t working. Water and health care are scarce. Most schools have either never opened after the summer break or closed since…A sign at the demonstration, composed primarily of youth, read: “The voice of the people is the voice of liberty and welfare.” Of course, over the last few decades, US-installed or other presidents have come and gone and things have got worse. It’s banal and obvious that a mere change in the personnel of the state hasn’t changed anything, and cannot change anything. It’s like getting rid of Dr. Frankenstein but not his monster.
28/10/19:
Haiti: clashes in 3 towns (videos and links)
Australia, Melbourne: climate change protesters clash with cops at mining conference (videos and links)
Congo, Kinshasa: bus torched after cops kill motorbike-taxi driver
Croatia: new billboards for tourists
27/10/19:
US, Washington DC: Trump gets welcomed at the World Series
“As the fourth inning began, the crowd initiated a “Lock him up!” chant, a throwback to Trump’s campaign trail chant directed at Hillary Clinton in 2016.”
25/10/19:
France, Yvelines: cops use flashballs, seriously injuring youth, in banlieu ambush
Iraq – see this
Lebanon – see this
US: UAW goes through the motions of ‘democracy’, proclaiming strike victory
X writes: “Acute bureaucratic stench as the UAW jams through a bad contract to see to the resumption of business as usual, even before the votes are counted, which shows just how perfunctory the whole exercise was in the first place. When the bureaucrats had had enough, the contract was “approved” before the fact. The system of tiers is intact, by mutual agreement of union and managment, the payments and promotion schedules have been jiggered with a little, and that’s a “victory” for labor.”
24/10/19:
France. La Reunion (French controlled island): 20 vehicles at car dealership destroyed during smallish riots in 2 towns as Macron visits island (videos and links)
US: the rise of “civil war” rhetoric
X writes: “After yesterday’s invasion of the Congressional inquiry, it is clear that in their desperation, the neo-fascists in this country are more and more betting on the goon tactics of the SA.”
21/10/19:
Chile: see this
Lebanon & Iraq: see this
20/10/19:
Malta: migrants riot, burn 5 staff cars, at detention centre
19/10/19:
Chile: protests spread to Valparaíso (where curfew was also imposed), Coquimbo, Concepción and Temuc
Chile, Santiago: State of emergency declared as youths riot in response to cops getting heavy over mass fare dodging against massive fare increases
“The latest protests follow grievances over the cost of living, specifically the costs of healthcare, education and public services. Unsatisfied by partial reforms following widespread education protests in 2011, the metro fare rise has proved the spark that has awoken Chile’s formidable student body…The entity that controls the Santiago Metro network has already confirmed that there will be no service over the weekend, and the Chilean student federation has called a nationwide strike for Monday.”
Fare-dodging, 2019: Santiago
…More here “ as night fell, the Enel utility building and a branch of Banco Chile, both in the city center, were set on fire. … no employees were injured…A nearby supermarket was also looted and several metro stations were attacked with Molotov cocktails…Before the metro stations were closed, calls to get on the trains without tickets had circulated, protesting against the increase in the price of metro tickets, from 800 to 830 pesos (about $ 2) during rush hour , after already a first increase of 20 pesos last January. “The entire network is closed due to riots and destruction that prevent the minimum security conditions for passengers and workers,” the metro manager said on Twitter, after attacks against almost all 164 stations where many gates and turnstiles were destroyed. …The Santiago Metro, the largest (140 km) and most modern in South America, which carries about 3 million passengers per day, is expected to remain closed this weekend and could reopen gradually next week. Many Santiago residents have had to walk home, sometimes traveling long distances, resulting in scenes of chaos and despair. In various parts of the city, protesters erected barricades and clashed with police, who used water cannons and tear gas, the most long-standing street battle scenes in the Chilean capital…President Sebastian Pinera called the protesters delinquents. “This desire to break everything is not a protest, it’s criminal,” he said in a radio interview. Thursday, 133 people had been arrested for damage in the metro stations, where the damage amounted to 400 to 500 million pesos (about $ 925,000)”.… More here“The campaign erupted when secondary school students began to jump barriers in groups following a fare rise on 6 October, which put Santiago’s metro among the most expensive in Latin America at 830 pesos ($1.17) during the rush hour. Bus prices also climbed as part of the changes…The demonstrations have spread across the city, leading to violent clashes between protesters and police, who have used teargas to disperse crowds on concourses and platforms. Protesters have vandalized barriers and electronic turnstiles, and pulled emergency brakes on trains, affecting the more than 2.5 million passengers who use the metro each day. Police have made dozens of arrests and two officers were reportedly injured.”
18/10/19:
Honduras: rioting and looting in different parts of country as people demand president resigns after his brother is found guilty of drug trafficking
“Looting of household appliances and clothing stores was recorded at some six small businesses in Comayagüela…Also at a state grocery …. Fierce protesters blocked with stones and tires numerous points on the main roads across the nation’s territory and prevented the passage of vehicles in nine of the 18 Honduran provinces. A police transport truck was set on fire in the busy Suyapa Boulevard in this city….A gas station in the San Miguel neighborhood, east of Tegucigalpa, and another in Kennedy, to the south, were attacked by people who also damaged road and commercial signs in different parts of the capital.“
17/10/19:
Lebanon: clashes on anti-austerity demonstrations throughout country
“Protesters in the capital blocked the road to the airport with burning tyres, prompting a heavy deployment by security forces. Near government headquarters in central Beirut, violent confrontations broke out between protesters and security forces as demonstrators tried to storm the building. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters, after the Internal Security Forces (ISF) said clashes wounded 40 of its members. Protesters also sparked a large blaze near the Mohammad al-Amin mosque in Downtown Beirut…Besides the capital Beirut, protests erupted in the southern city of Sidon, the northern city of Tripoli and the Bekaa Valley, before spreading to other areas..Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Choucair said that the government had reversed its decision to tax calls on messaging apps following the unrest.”
Haiti, Port-au-Prince: cops kill protester as riots continue (videos and links)
16/10/19 :
Spain, Catalonia : an example of the confusions of this epoch …Videos and links about 4 towns (mainly Barcelona, but also Gerona, Tarragona and Lerida)
See Homage to Catatonia, on this site (from 2 years ago) See also this from 15/10. And this from 14/10. Apparently those protesting in Catalonia have been influenced by Hong Kong – Hong Kong is exporting its protest techniques around the world. But there are significant differences between the mentality of youth and local history in the 2 places beyond the obvious. Catalonia has had a rich history of proletarian struggle against austerity as recently as 2014, and that’s apart from having been the area of the world of one of history’s most advanced revolutionary movements (1936-37). Hong Kong has no equivalent history and for this reason they could be forgiven for their naivety about democracy and for their localist nationalist ideology (which, is not to ignore the enormous problems such attitudes pose), which has the merit at least of being partly understandable because of the threat posed by the world’s most totalitarian state, which reinforces illusions in ‘independence’. Catalans have no such excuse and the fact that some people who called themselves anarchists have now taken on a regionalist independentist ideology is unforgiveable.
This reproduction of 3 texts about the situation is informative but also full of wishful-thinking that the movement could somehow transform itself from Catalan nationalism into a general anti-capitalist struggle. Everything could, of course, but without an explicit attack on self-determinist ideology confronting the cops etc. does not – through some activist fantasy – lead to anywhere other than becoming the ‘violent’ wing of Catalan nationalism. Fascists also fight the cops in certain situations, and often in “horizontalist” ways, without obvious leaders (eg some of the most violent participants in Maidan in the Ukraine in 2014). Just as you cannot fight alienation with alienated means so the opposiote is also true. “Anarchists” who uncritically join this movement cannot fight capitalism whilst hiding their aims under what is a capitalist content. The whole history of class struggle internationally over the last 100 years or more show that form and content cannot be separated. How you struggle cannot be separated from what you struggle for. Whilst independent action could lead to a perspective where proletarians throughout Spain recognise themselves in such independent action it can only do this by asserting as publicly as possible such an aim against localist nationalism. Without this it could equally lead to another method of intensifying the divisions amongst proletarians.
Colombia, Bogota: cement truck partly unloaded to block road during student riots (videos & links in Spanish)
15/10/19 :
France, Paris : heavy clashes between cops and firefighters More links and videos here.
14/10/19:
Zambia, Kawama : riot following cop murder of smuggler
12/10/19
Extinction Rebellion protests throughout world For critiques of Extinction Rebellion see this post on this site
France, Yvelines : estate youths ambush cops in 3 different areas
11/10/19 :
Haiti: clashes continue in capital…in Saint-Marc & Pationville also
Greece, Athens: clashes with cops as students demonstrate against education reforms Colombia : student unrest in 17 cities
10/10/19:
Indonesia, Pandeglang: top security minister stabbed
Ecuador: from now on see “Ecuador – October 2019”
Colombia: Students clash with cops in 5 cities during demos for more funding and against university corruption More here
9/10/19:
Ecuador: 1st day of possibly indefinite general strike
…whilst some indigenous leaders (though certainly not all) condemn “vandalism and looting”…clashes in Guayaquil, where government has moved to …More here Videos and other links here. See “Ecuador – October 2019”
Honduras, Tegucigalpa: clashes between cops and protesters angry over president’s receipt of millions from drug lords
8/10/19:
Ecuador, Quito: anti-austerity riots etc. force Lenin Moreno’s government to relocate outside of the capital after state ends fuel subsidies, sacks some public sector workers, threatens privatisations
“Images from Quito showed protesters hurling petrol bombs and stones, ransacking and vandalising public buildings as well as clashing with the police in running battles late into the night… The president faces a stiff challenge from indigenous groups and others who blocked some roads for a fifth day from Monday morning with stones, tyres and branches. Indigenous-led protests brought down three presidents in the years before Correa’s rule. Rioters in Quito forced their way into the comptroller general’s office and vandalised the assembly building on Monday. It followed days of violence in which protesters burned military vehicles, destroyed dozens of rose farms, a dairy and an oil production facility. The outnumbered security forces have been unable to prevent much of the destruction… prices rose overnight by about a quarter for petrol and double for diesel. A state of emergency was imposed on Thursday. Lorry and taxi drivers forced a partial shutdown of Quito’s airport and roadblocks have paralysed trunks roads across the country. ” More here “The South American country of 17 million people appeared to be at a dangerous impasse, paralyzed by a lack of public transport and blockaded roads that were taking a toll on an already vulnerable economy. Violence has persisted since last week, when President Lenín Moreno’s decision to end subsidies led to a sharp increase in fuel prices. Protesters seized some oil installations and the state oil company, Petroecuador, warned that production losses could reach 165,000 barrels a day, or nearly one-third of total production, if insecurity continues. The government declared an overnight curfew around key state installations and government buildings as well as vital infrastructure such as airports and oil refineries. Earlier Tuesday, protesters broke through police barriers and some entered the empty congress building in Quito. Police fired tear gas and forced them to retreat. Indigenous protesters occupied two water treatment plants in the city of Ambato, south of the capital, raising concern about supply to residents, according to municipal authorities. On Monday night, hundreds of people rampaged through the Duran area near the port city of Guayaquil, looting pharmacies, electronic appliance stores and other buildings. In another part of Ecuador, police abandoned an armored vehicle to protesters who set it on fire. In multiple areas, rioters smashed car windows, broke into shops and confronted security forces...”…and here (videos and links).See also entries for 7/10, 5/10 & 3/10 below.
7/10/19:
Ecuador: movement grows and strengthens (videos and links)
Below: proletarians show Lenin what is to be done
Haiti: video report; at least 18 have died in uprising
US to let Turkish forces move into Syria, dumping Kurdish allies Now there’s a surprise! Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, despite having been an outspoken defender (and frequent golf partner) of Trump, said that abandonment of the Kurds would be “a disaster in the making”, and “a stain on America’s honour”. As if the Kurds (that time it was Iraqi Kurds) hadn’t been abandoned by the US before, at the end of the ’91 Gulf War – a very obvious stain on “America’s honour” (an inherent oxymoron) – see Kurdish uprising (1991). Mind you, this (in French) quotes Trump as saying that he hasn’t abandoned them: “… accused in his own camp of casting aside US allies, President Trump reoriented his speech Monday saying it “would completely destroy the economy of Turkey” if it “exceeded certain limits”. “We are leaving Syria, but we have absolutely not abandoned the Kurds who are a great people and wonderful fighters,” he said Tuesday in a tweet. “We help the Kurds financially (and by providing them with weapons)”. But he also pointed out that Turkey is an “important trading partner” of the United States and announced that he would welcome Mr. Erdogan to Washington on November 13. According to the Turkish daily Hürriyet, an operation could begin in the coming days, the Turkish staff waiting for the withdrawal of US forces present in this area is completed. Turkey plans to first take control of a strip of territory 120 km long and deep about thirty km from the cities of Tal Abyad to Ras al-Ain, according to Hürriyet. On Monday evening, the Turkish army dispatched reinforcements, including tanks, on its border with Syria. A senior State Department official said Monday that US forces, who control the airspace in northeastern Syria, had closed it to Turkish aviation. “We do not intend to change this in the near future,” he said. “ Of course, with Trump you never know what he means, the appearance of confusion being essential for his popularity (as Karl Kraus said, “The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are clever as he” ). And this shows that, as usual, he will contradict himself from one moment to the next (thus mirroring the vast majority of spectators not searching for any logic in their lives and their understanding of the world). Meanwhile, the representatives of the Kurds in the region have vowed to form ‘human shields’ to fend off Turkey’s looming push. Will Erdogan, whose book-burning policies aimed at attacking anything linked to Fethullah Gülen (the Muslim cleric it blames for 2016’s so-called attempted coup) has resulted in an arbitrary scattergun approach to the destruction of over 300,000 books, care one little bit?
Back in November 2016, shortly after Trump’s election (remember how incredibly shocked everybody with a splinter of sense was?), the state of Rojava congratulated the American people for electing a new president of the USA: “In the name of Democratic Syria Council, we congratulate the American people who elected a new president and we deeply respect the free and democratic choice [sic] of the American people , we also hope that the new administration stands by the oppressed people in the world, undertakes its role in bringing about global peace and security, advances in fighting terror, impose crackdown on the dictator regimes and we are looking forward to more collaboration on all levels in fighting terror in Syria and reach a settlement of the Syrian crisis and we hope success and prosperity for the American people and the new administration” (here). All those who support the statist policies of Rojava invariably justify this past support for Trump on the part of the Stalinists-turned-Bookchinists in terms of realpolitik, as if political relations of rivalry/complicity are somehow “realistic”. For those who strive to oppose capitalist social relations, realism doesn’t involve digging ones own grave by cheering ones’ future gravediggers, any more than it involves rivalrous/complicitous relations with ones’ friends.
Some call what is happening to the Kurds in the region “genocide”, but the estimate of about 150 killed is roughly the same as the amount of people killed this month in Iraq, and nobody calls this genocide. For a good analysis of Rojava and its history, see the kurdish proto-state.
6/10/19:
Iraq: clashes continue (videos and links)
5/10/19:
Ecuador: blockades and clashes throughout country following massive rise in fuel prices (videos and links in Spanish) – some show soldiers “arrested” by part of the indigenous population.
Iraq: death toll reaches 100 as clashes continue in Baghdad and southern part of country…this says 8 soldiers amongst those killed “On Saturday morning the curfew was lifted in Baghdad, where over a dozen demonstrators were killed, and 40 more were wounded. Focal point Tahrir Square remains closed to cars. A witness claimed that army units tried to stop police from firing on protesters, but the military eventually retreated. Masked gunmen attacked several media outlets, including the offices of NRT, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hadath, Fallouja TV, Al-Ghad Al-Araby, SkyNews Arabia, Al-Sharqiya and Dijlah TV.“…HQs of 6 political parties torched “The mainly young, male protesters have insisted their movement is not linked to any party or religious establishment and have scoffed at recent overtures by politicians. On Saturday, demonstrators in the southern city of Nasiriyah set fire to the headquarters of six different political parties. Thousands also descended on the governorate in the southern city of Diwaniyah” See also this chronology of events from November 2018 back to July 2018 . See also this “Iraq’s wobbly democracy relies on the support of the Shia majority. The protests, though, have erupted in Shia areas and attracted the support of mostly young Iraqis, many of whom are unemployed. They are fed up with the government’s perceived incompetence and corruption. Despite increased oil revenues and relative peace after years of civil war, jobs are scarce and services are poor…There have been big protests before. In 2016 thousands of Iraqis stormed the then-fortified Green Zone, the seat of government in Baghdad, and demanded political reforms. The current protests are more spread out. There have been rallies in provincial capitals across the south and smaller, more violent protests in the suburbs. They are too numerous for the security forces to control. In Baghdad young men have cut off the airport road and set fire to the offices of the ruling Shia parties. The Green Zone, which was opened to the public in June, has been resealed. The timing of the protests seems to have caught the government off-guard. Normally they take place in the summer, when water and electricity are scarce. But the rains this year have been good and electricity production is at a post-war high. The government’s coffers are fairly flush thanks to record oil production. Still, it has been unable to deal with high poverty rates, and with youth unemployment that stands around 25%. The anger intensified after the security forces beat up new graduates seeking public-sector jobs last month. Scenes of them destroying homes built without planning permission further inflamed public sentiment… Masked men have smashed the offices of anti-Iranian satellite-TV stations that aired protest footage. Hundreds of activists have been arrested. Others have been killed in their homes. The government is also in disarray. Mr Abdul-Mahdi has unveiled a raft of measures aimed at calming the protesters, such as land distributions and increased welfare payments. But the speaker of parliament, Mahmoud al-Halbousi, has broadcast his own list of measures, including financial support for over a million low-income families… protesters… have… ignored appeals for calm from the chief Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who also warned the government that it must heed the demands of the protesters or things will get worse. Iraq’s young democracy, no stranger to tumult, may be facing its most dangerous moment yet. ”
Bangladesh, Mohammadpur: “stranded Pakistanis” beat up local councillor, clash with cops because of electricity cuts
India, Mumbai: clashes in resistance to tree-cutting
France: yellow vest clashes in 3 towns Video of female cop apparently tripped up by protester in Toulouse, partly censored by Youtube, here
4/10/19:
Haiti, Port-au-Prince: official opposition try to stop anti-cop, anti-business anger. Video here. More here “At least two people were shot on Friday as police in riot gear blocked the main entrance to the airport and fired tear gas at the crowd, which threw rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails. Early Saturday, police said that eight people, including two police officers, were injured by gunfire in protests held Friday in Haiti’s southern and western regions.”
3/10/19:
Ecuador: state of emergency declared as riots develop alongside transport strike following massive increase in fuel prices (videos and links)
France, Chenove: about 50 youths stone cops, burn bins etc.
Iraq: death toll rises as state shuts down internet on 3rd day of protests More links and videos here
UK, London: Extinction Rebellion try to cover Tresury with fake blood but bloody themselves
Re. Extinction Rebellion, see this (from 15/4/19): interesting initiative – an alternative to Extinction Rebellion’s jail-fodder actions “Our main route consisted of visiting and blockading various locations with functional significance for capital and resource transactions in London – the Stock Exchange, the Bank of England and the Metal Exchange. Along the tour we also stopped off at other points of interest – banks, courts, the church of Scientology – either chosen by particular comrades in the moment, or by the police who, due to not having any idea of our plans, kept running to protect buildings we hadn’t previously considered trying to get into.” The flyer they produced for their march-cum-blockade, however, is a typical lowest common denominator of correct line anarchism which doesn’t even begin to try to confront the contradictions of ecological ideologies and movements – perhaps for fear of being unpopular. More about them here. Meawhile, this shows clearly the capitalist nature of the leadership of Extinction Rebellion. And this shows how their phoney legal advisers are a danger to anybody getting arrested on their arrest-fodder demos. And this is a good critique of the Green New Deal.
2/10/19:
Iraq: 10 dead, including 1 cop, as riots against corruption, lack of electricity, water & work spread to 8 different towns (videos and links) “A curfew is in effect in the Iraqi capital Baghdad after a second day of clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces. The restrictions will remain in place until further notice. Curfews had already been declared in three other cities as protests over lack of jobs, poor services and corruption escalated. The violence has left at least seven people dead and hundreds wounded. Social media platforms and internet access have been blocked in some areas. The nationwide protests, which appear to lack any organised leadership, are the largest since Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi took office a year ago.– here. More here. Video here explaining situation.
Indonesia: movement looks like spreading, as workers begin protests against labour, wage and health insurance regulations See entries for September 30, 26, 25, 24 & 23
1/10/19:
Greece, Athens: excellent intervention by anarchists on Municipal Radio; later, participants were attacked by cops “… a counter-information intervention took place at the municipal radio “Athens 9.84”. The intervention was organised by the open assembly of squats, collectives, immigrants, internationalists, and solidarians with the participation of 30 comrades. The comrades entered the studio after coming into agreement with the employees, and the intervention lasted half an hour. While on air, the intervention made a speech about the squats, immigrants, and the general oppressive and impoverished conditions that prevail. Next, a recorded message which ridicules the regime of terror they are imposing, was broadcast. To set the record straight, we have to inform that during the intervention there was no conflict with the employees of the radio station. Whoever listened to the intervention on air understood what was the mood, and we expect from the employees to weigh in against the fabrications of the Greek Police and the Mayor of Athens. As expected, the intervention was removed from the archive that gets uploaded on the radio’s website, in an attempt to conceal the political content of the intervention and its characteristics. After the intervention, the comrades left in array towards Kerameikos tube station where they were attacked by police forces that scattered the body of the intervention through force and violence. Afterwards, 8 arrests took place in the nearby area. 7 female and 1 male comrades got apprehended, 2 students among them. One of them got sexually harassed by a cop in the police vehicle. Consequently, the arrested got transferred to the Hellenic Police Attica Headquarters. There was a solidarity gathering until midnight. The riot police attacked the gathering with chemicals, and pushed the comrades back to the Ampelokipi tube station.”
Iraq, Baghdad: 1 killed in protests against corruption, lack of water, of electricity and of work (videos and links)
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