october 2020

“My favorite color is October”

– C. Krette

“October proved a riot, a riot to the senses and climaxed those giddy last weeks before Halloween.”
Keith Donohue

2020 2019 2018   2017  2016  2015  2014  2013

September 2020 hereNovember 2020 here

Please note that constantly updated information about events related to the Coronavirus madness is here

31/10/20:

Germany: cops attacked in Frankfurt and Darmstadt

 “In Frankfurt and Darmstadt officials were attacked with bottles, eggs and firecrackers. There were numerous arrests, and a 17-year-old was imprisoned. For the second night in a row, police officers were attacked in Frankfurt. After a police patrol had been attacked on Saturday night, stones, bottles and eggs were thrown at a police car on the Zeil shopping street late on Saturday evening, on Halloween. Afterwards, 500 to 800 people gathered at the main guard “without complying with the Corona ordinance”. There bottles and eggs were thrown at other police officers …On Saturday night, more than 20 young people attacked police officers in downtown Frankfurt with stones, bottles and pepper spray. A 27-year-old policeman was injured and had to retire….Police officers were also attacked in Darmstadt-Eberstadt on Saturday. There, residents had reported several people in the afternoon who set fire to firecrackers. When a patrol arrived there, according to information on Sunday, they found a large group of young people who obviously violated Corona requirements. When the officers spoke to the group over loudspeakers, firecrackers flew onto the police car. A total of around 100 young people were on site. The police therefore called several patrol cars for reinforcement, whereupon the attackers spread out in smaller groups in the residential area….The Hessian Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) was appalled by the attacks. “I condemn these cowardly attacks on our police,” he said. Dozens of chaos would have accepted serious injuries to the emergency services. “The violence against the police, fire brigade and rescue workers continues to increase.” Beuth demanded a minimum sentence of six months. “In future, the following must apply: Whoever attacks emergency services does not get away with a fine, but goes to jail.”…The attacks on police officers were also condemned by the opposition in the state parliament: “No understanding and no tolerance for attacks on security forces,” tweeted the chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, Nancy Faeser, on Sunday. “Only one thing helps: the full rigor of the rule of law.”

France: Halloween “incidents” in 19 towns and cities

Switzerland: Halloween “incidents” in 8 towns and cities

Spain: clashes in 14 towns and cities over Covid restrictions

Italy, Rome: sit-in ends with clashes with cops

Algeria: riots in 4 towns, ballot boxes smashed, referendum result cancelled, as turnout is just  23.7%

The vote was on presidential term limits and on creating a new anti-corruption body, but opponents say it falls short of fundamental reform, as it keeps key powers and appointments in the hands of the president. More here “If passed, it will be “the most authoritarian constitution in the entire Mediterranean”, said constitutional researcher Massensen Cherbi of Sciences Po Université in Paris. State media had campaigned for a resounding “yes” vote to usher in a “new Algeria” with the “no” camp banned from holding meetings. Tebboune on Saturday urged Algerians to vote for a “new era capable of fulfilling the hopes of the nation and the aspirations of our people for a strong, modern and democratic state”. The 74-year-old is hospitalised in Germany amid reports of COVID-19 cases among his staff. Few details have been released on his condition.”

US, Portland: riot during “Capitalism is scary” march

“…demonstrators smashed the windows of businesses and threw projectiles at cops.  The damage was caused during the “Capitalism is Scary” march that began around 7:15 p.m. Saturday from Irving Park, Oregon Live reported. But as the group marched south to Portland’s convention center, some of the protesters smashed the windows of buildings, including a bank, a real estate agency, two phone company stores, a hotel and a Starbucks, the outlet reported. The AT&T store’s windows were vandalized while a worker was inside…No arrests were made, but the acts of vandalism are under investigation”

30/10/20:

US, Washington State: clashes with cops after they kill another black guy

Italy, Florence: clashes against Covid restrictions, curfew etc.

“…as has already happened  in Naples, Rome, Turin and other cities, a protest against the government for anti-covid measures and the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus was taken hostage by groups of violent people who tried at all costs to clash with the police. For the historic center of Florence it was an evening of violence. At the beginning of the evening, several people took to the streets: “We are workers of this city…this city is dead, where is the money promised by the government?”. An unauthorized demonstration, but which peacefully expressed the discomfort of those left with nothing …. It did not last long: in a short time, first at one point then at another and then at another still, scuffles broke out. Near Piazza della Signoria the police intervened after the throwing of bottles and firecrackers. The street has become a battlefield. Then in Piazza del Duomo, at least two hundred demonstrators who lit smoke bombs. The procession then moved in several directions. There have been other offices near Piazza della Repubblica. Here the demonstrators overturned baskets, threw planters and stones. According to witnesses, the attack on the police was the work of hooded boys, mostly very young; a confirmation of the fear that the demonstration was infiltrated by activists from the far right or from violent social centers. Some officers were injured, hit by throwing stones, bottles and Molotov cocktails. Overall, according to a first estimate of the police, there are over a thousand people who participated in the protests, moving in small groups that  scattered around the historic center. …

Spain: anti-lockdown riots in Barcelona, Burgos and Santander

Burgos: cop cars beat a hasty retreat

Chile, Santiago: clashes as protests continue on lesser scale after irrelevant constitituional reform

About a thousand people gathered this Friday in Plaza Italia in Santiago, on a new afternoon of protests and unrest, five days after the approval of a constitutional reform at the polls….Part of the protesters faced the Carabineros (military police), who  had kept hundreds of agents and dozens of tanks mobilized since the morning. Protesters threw stones at the police, who responded with jets of water, in a crackdown that left several injured due to chemicals mixed with water released by the tanks, which cause skin irritation and respiratory complications, which made some people vomit. “Chile has woken up and there is no going back,” said elementary school teacher Elena González, 29. Part of the protesters called for the release of those arrested during more than a year of street protests, the vast majority still in preventive detention and without verdict. The protests that started in 2019, which left 30 dead, as well as thousands of injured and detained, originated in a demonstration against the increase in the price of the Santiago metro, and ended up denouncing the high levels of inequality.

29/10/20:

India, Bihar: police superintendent office and local government office vandalised, several vehicles torched, after cops kill 22-year-old

Spain/Basque Country, Bilbao: riots against curfew etc

Argentina, Buenos Aires: clashes between cops and settlers as cops evict illegal land squatters

28/10/20:

US, Washington DC: 2nd night of clashes after moped “accident”

Cyprus, Limassol: riot against Covid restrictions

“Anti-mask groups who don’t want to wear the required protection against COVID-19 threw rocks at police during a demonstration in Limassol on Cyprus, protesters also upset over corruption and 5G technology. Nearly 1,000 people gathered in anger against the government’s latest round of health measures …A group of 100 broke away… and threw flares and fireworkers, set trash cans on fire and became raucous as organizers pleaded with them to be peaceful but failed… police officers …were beset upon by people in hoods who threw rocks and other objects at them, the paper said. A Molotov Cocktail was thrown as a police car, setting it on fire, forcing the officers inside to scramble to get out in fear for their lives while other patrols cars and private vehicles were also damaged in the melee. Police said fire fighters trying to put out the trash can fires were stopped by a burning vehicle in their way and them also became targets of the protesters, one firefighter said to be seriously injured…Reports said multiple chants were heard during the demonstration, including “Burn down the Parliament brothel” and “put all House representatives in jail,” in apparent reference to a burgeoning scandal in which two leading politicians were accused of trying to facilitate the sale of Golden Visa residency permits and passports to someone who told them he was a criminal on the run from China. Another sign also criticized police over arresting youths for graffiti recently “instead of going after those responsible for piling up the country’s debt,” the report added, while others said they didn’t want 5G mobile phone antennas on the island.”

France, Yvelines: clashes between young people and police in two separate estates, as youths attack cops with heavy duty fireworks

27/10/20:

US, Philadelphia: fury after cops kill black guy armed with knife in the City of Brotherly LoveVideo of cops on the run here…a lot more here

most of the injuries to officers that occurred overnight are reported to be the result of being struck by projectiles, such as bricks and rocks. One officer, however, a 56-year-old Philadelphia Police Sergeant, was struck by a pickup truck in the area of 52nd and Walnut streets around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday. Officials said she sustained a broken leg and various other injuries. She has been admitted to the hospital in stable condition.The 29 other officers have reportedly been treated and released from area hospitals. Looting was captured on on video Tuesday morning. Chopper 6 was overhead as people could be seen running from a Foot Locker store…Hours after the shooting, a group broke windows and vandalized vehicles along 52nd and Pine streets in West Philadelphia. The group is also believed to be responsible for broken windows at a number of buildings in University City, including a police station and a Starbucks. In West Philadelphia, dumpsters were set on fire as police struggled to contain the crowds late Monday night. More than a dozen officers, many with batons in hand, formed a line as they ran down 52nd Street chasing protesters away from the main thoroughfare…At least 10 ATM machines were damaged late Monday and early Tuesday in Philadelphia, police said.” 

Washington DC: clashes with cops after young man dies in moped “accident”

Brief Crimethinc election text “Everybody Out!”

France, Valence: 10-12-year-olds attack cops with stolen fireworks

About fifteen young people from the Fontbarlettes district in Valence (Drôme) stoned a bus and fired fireworks rockets in the direction of police cars on Tuesday afternoon. A scene that has been repeating itself in several districts of Valence and Romans for several days…. garbage cans are set on fire. The young people prepared for their afternoon action by going to steal the stock of fireworks from the local hobby shop….For the past week, different districts of Valence and Romans have been the sites of provocations from young people aged 10 to 12, during these school holidays. There were no injuries and no arrests….A mobile gendarmerie squadron arrived in Fontbarlettes as reinforcement around 6 p.m. on Tuesday. At the request of the prefect, about sixty mobile gendarmes arrived in reinforcement in the department since Monday following the urban violence which has taken place in recent days, at the request of the prefect.

26/10/20:

Nigeria, Abuja: mass looting of warehouses during anti-cop uprising

Although most of these reports claim that these were  selfish acts against a government warehouse, the state aiming to distribute stuff for those immiserated by Covid and its regulations, an earlier report said that these warehouses had been stocking this food for sometime without any distribution whatsoever.informative but Leftist report here

Italy: riots spread from Naples to Milan and Turin in the North

Articles critiquing the dominant  media characterisation of rioters as being only fascists:

State of resuscitation 

” A post-consumerist capitalism, in which the old produce-consume-drop-dead, has been reduced to the binary process: produce-drop-dead. In this system women and men of flesh and blood are only useful if they are able to work.”

Night of revolt against the state of emergency

The preconditions are perfect for a disaster

25/10/20:

Nigeria: more on the anti-cop uprising

” Nigerian security forces are struggling to contain increasing cases of looting on government-run warehouses across the country, in the latest incident of unrest following widespread, youth-led protests against police brutality….Amid rising tensions, criminals this week vandalised public buildings and damaged property while others took advantage of the unrest to attack the warehouses holding food items and other supplies. On Saturday, police officers in the capital, Abuja, shot sporadically into the air and used tear gas to disperse residents who had approached a warehouse. It was a different scenario in the southern city of Calabar where security forces were unable to stop the ransacking of homes of local politicians, where the attackers suspected some of the COVID-19 relief materials were being kept. In Ilorin, in central Kwara state, security officers faced difficulties in containing attacks on a government facility in recent days. The state governor has declared a 24-hour curfew to prevent further escalation of violence. Authorities in Adamawa state, in the country’s northeast, also imposed a round-the-clock curfew on Sunday after looters attacked a large food warehouse…”  Delerious put-down of movement by mainstream rag here

US, New York: clashes during election rally; protestors throw eggs at Giuliani’s car More here

You can’t make a troublesomelette without breaking eggs. “Videos showed the activists ripping flags off of cars in the convoy led by Giuliani, and throwing red paint and punches as they faced off with President Donald Trump’s supporters”.

Chile: small clashes with state in various parts of country as irrelevant plebiscite on constitution is voted on See also this

Belgium, Brussels: 71 arrested at anti-curfew protest

An invitation to the demo, which is relatively good

Quick Google translate: “We refuse the curfew.

We refuse to pay with our lives the aberration of the rulers.

We refuse to endure the resentment of power over what remains of joy in our lives.

We reject the twisted paradox of preventing ourselves from living in the name of “life”.

We refuse to allow any government to claim to mistreat us “for our own good”. No one knows what is good for us better than us.

We refuse to allow the state to appropriate under the guise of “solidarity” or “collective” what relates to the bond between beings.

We refuse to let ourselves be led like children by a bunch of diploma gogols.

We refuse to ignore that any government has only control over the population, and that the curfew emanates from a “defense council.”

We refuse to see the taste for power as anything other than a sinister perversion. Whoever uses power abuses it. It’s known.

We refuse to see a presidential pervert obscurely enjoy “tightening the screw” and “hitting the spirits”.

We refuse to believe that a state which has let industry poison us for ages, which reintroduces neo-nicotinoids, which imposes 5G, which shambles protesters without qualms, which leaves the poor starving, which rationing care and caregivers, which has always covered all the abuses of the nuclear mafia, which plans under the guise of “green recovery” the devastation of the countryside by industrial wind power, claims to care less about our health.

We refuse to allow an epidemic to be used to produce the citizenship that a society that goes into the wall can no longer command.

We refuse to live to work.

We refuse to live for the economy, the disaster of which the whole earth attests.

We refuse to allow the police to step forward wherever the consent of free will recedes.

We refuse the blackmail between freedom and discipline.

We refuse to have to choose between the delirium of government propaganda and that of conspiracy.

The curfew is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. You have sought to push your advantage a step too far. Stop counting on our cooperation. You have given the full measure of your malfeasance. You will find us on your way with every new step in government insanity that you take. Take back your prefects, your ordinances, your states of emergency, your journalists, your managers, your ministries, your cops, your grand inquisitors, your experts and your politicians. We are no longer playing the game. The rules will change. We are going to take our lives back in hand. You are no longer worthy of getting involved.

We will come together, with or without torches. We will walk the streets of OUR cities to the foot of YOUR palaces.

Until your dismissal. Until we can finally breathe free air. “”

24/10/20:

Belgium, Brussels:  several demos in front of the Guinea embassy
 against the election results there

There were lots of arrests and about 200 Covid19-related fines (usually 250 Euros each). Mind you, a few months ago, during the first lockdown, there was a protest/assembly of musicians and the like in Parc du Forest in Brussels with a great amount of people and in violation of the measures – when the police came, not one single fine was handed out.

23/10/20:

Nigeria: a total of 69 killed in uprising so far, almost all of them non-state forces

“Initial demands made by the protesting youths were met by the government, including the disbanding of the police unit notorious for extra-judicial killing, torture, maiming, and other misconducts, the president noted. “Unfortunately, the protesters refused to call off the protest and engage the government to address their grievances. Instead, they became emboldened and gradually turned violent,” said Buhari, who on Thursday called on the young people to discontinue the demonstration and constructively engage the government in finding a solution. At the meeting, each of the former leaders commended the president for steps taken so far to restore calm and order to the country and also applauded the presidential broadcast of Thursday as “detailed and soothing to the country”. The former Nigerian leaders at the meeting unanimously urged the young protesters to pursue peaceful means, in seeking redress through engagement with the government”

Poland, Warsaw: clashes over new repression of women’s rights over their bodies

See this interview with women involved (from November 2020, added 21/11/20)

Italy, Naples: clashes as people demonstrate and riot against curfewMore here

Sample quotes from 1st link (pretty excellent take on the situation insofar as I can  tell not living in Italy, nor being familiar with the details of the situation there): “…The problem is that every time there is an autonomous phenomenon of wider social conflict these days, whether it is the “movement of the pitchforks” or that of the yellow vest, it appears in undesirable, ambivalent and contradictory forms. We often find people on the street who, at least in theory, are likely to have opposing interests, and even more often these contradictions are fought out on the street. So it is much easier to characterize them as a fascist phenomenon just because Roberto Fiore tries to become part of it with a tweet from his comfortable armchair in Rome, or as actions coordinated by the Camorra (it is not clear with what aim), than to try to understand them and participate in them in order to contribute to their development…” More here: “…Many have also spoken of infiltration by organized crime and the willingness of the far-right to try to lead the mobilizations. Meanwhile, even during a demonstration promoted this afternoon by workers in the entertainment industry, precarious and unemployed, there have been charges by the police…all of the economy linked to recreational consumption, clubs, nightlife and precariousness, only partly skilled, which comes from weaker social classes, has been affected. It is clear that the measures to contain the pandemic have a very strong impact on these realities and produce a protest that, beyond ideological readings, is clearly a mixed, spurious, transversal protest. Inside there is the small entrepreneur, the manager of a local shop, of activities that are now on the verge of closure, there is a large segment of unsecured precariousness, of undeclared work, which in view of the closures is not covered by any social shock absorber. Last spring the first effect of the closures was already the firing and the setting aside of the entire black, informal, precarious workforce, because many of the managers of premises had to downsize their business. On the other hand, there is also the dealer who made money in this period, speculating on nightlife and tourism, which at the first difficulty fires its employees. In short, “all together passionately” and confusedly protesting against a real suffering, a break that this situation creates, and especially against the nightmare of a lockdown announced without any social parachute….”

22/10/20:

Nigeria, Lagos: prisoners torch prison as demonstrations and riots  against cop brutality continue outside prison walls despite state-imposed curfew; several police stations also torched

The situation is still tense in Nigeria. After violence that killed dozens of people on Tuesday, a prison was set on fire on Thursday, October 22, in Lagos…..The sprawling Lagos was still under curfew on Thursday, October 22, its streets deserted and its shops closed, in the aftermath of a day of violence that erupted after the bloody crackdown on peaceful protests in the Nigerian megalopolis. Several shots were fired and thick black smoke billowed from the roof of Lagos Central Prison on Thursday. “They are attacking the prison,” said police stationed nearby. At least 38 people were killed across Nigeria on Tuesday, including 12 protesters in Lagos, where the army and police fired live ammunition at two rallies…Since the youth protests began two weeks ago, 56 people have died across the country……the police and the army, implicated in these killings, … deny any responsibility. “I cannot say who is involved in this shooting, certainly not the police,” Police Minister Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi told British radio BBC on Wednesday morning. “The soldiers have already spoken, they deny being responsible,” he added….Videos of the Lekki shooting, showing soldiers firing live ammunition above a crowd waving flags and singing the national anthem, had been widely shared on social media as early as Tuesday evening. These images, particularly shocking, had sparked anger among hundreds of young people Wednesday. Several police stations, the headquarters of a television station and the port authority and a bus terminal were set on fire. Violent clashes between security forces and young people also erupted in different parts of the city. Nigeria has been shaken for 15 days by an unprecedented protest, born on social networks at the beginning of October, which then won the streets of the main cities of the country.More here and here“…some hoodlums overpowered officials of the prison, in an attempt to free inmates. It was gathered that the Hoodlums set the prison on fire while several scamper for safety. According to online reports, inmates are trying to break out of prison as there are gun shot been heard in the area.”

21/10/20:

Nigeria: banks and shopping malls looted, TV station and police stations burnt (written in pidgin English) See also this

“In the uprising that began with the call for the abolition of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police force in Nigeria, revolutionaries have burned police stations, government buildings and banks across the country. Revoluitionaries have also taken actions allowing prisoners to escape to freedom in the states of Ondo and Delta. The High Court on Lagos island was also set ablaze on Wednesday. Goods that had been confiscated by the court were expropriated, and the blaze lasted long into the night. A major Nigerian TV station with links to a ruling party politician was also torched, while the palace of the most senior traditional leader in Lagos was ransacked. Despite the 24 hours curfew ordered by the Abia State government, EndSARS militants on Wednesday, set ablaze the Aba town hall housing the secretariat of the Aba South council. The officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), a paramilitary group, had fled before the arrival of the protesters. Militants also attacked threes first generation bank as well as a mall at Etche road area of the city. The revolutionaries had on Tuesday, razed the Dragons Squad police station and killed two policemen at the facility. They had earlier attacked the Eziama police station along Aba- Ikot Ekpene road…” Dreadful anarcho-leftist language here – projecting their own self-definitions as “revolutionaries” and “militants” onto rioters and protestors, but informative.

Police station burning in Orile Iganmu, a suburb of Lagos

“The Lagos State Police Command yesterday disclosed that at least 10 police stations across the state have been burnt. The spokesman of the command, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement issued yesterday, .. said at least 10 stations had been set on fire across the state since violence marred the #EndSARS protests. However, he did not include police station in Ikotun, which was reportedly said to have been burnt yesterday afternoon. The Igando and Ikotun Police stations were said to have been set ablaze after security operatives failed in their bid to repel the attacks on the stations. “The violent and criminally-minded hoodlums descended on police stations/facilities and gruesomely murdered two policemen on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 and Wednesday, October 21, 2020, while others were critically injured. They looted the affected stations and carted away some valuables. Some of the other affected police stations include Idimu, Igando, Layeni, Denton, Ilenbe Hausa, Ajah, Amukoko, Ilasa, Cele Outpost under Ijesha, disbanded SARS officer under Ajegunle, Ebute-Ero Mushin (Olosan) where two policemen were shot by the hoodlums, Ojo and Ajegunle where 2 patrol vans each were set ablaze. Similarly, the hoodlums attacked three (3) new generation banks on Tuesday 20th October and Wednesday 21st October, 2020, respectively, and carted away unspecified amount of money while some parts of the banks were set on fire before they were dislodged, and some of them were arrested with the loots from the banks, including arms and ammunition. At Ajegunle Area, they burnt the Secretariat of Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Council and some valuables including cars; and some other private medical and commercial centres were attacked.”   – here

19/10/20:

Chile: riots continue in 4 cities on 1st anniversary of uprising

See also Chile, October and onwards, 2019 – 2020

 

18/10/20:

Chile, Santiago: the church goes to hell

Above: protesters inspire, priests perspire

Below: God’s former representative on Earth shakes hands with the  State’s former representative in Chile

See also this

10/11/17:

“Hooded activists in Chile have burned a bus and scattered pamphlets in protest of an upcoming visit by Pope Francis to a southern region claimed by the Mapuche indigenous group as its ancestral territory. …The pamphlets read: “Fire to the churches. Pope Francis: You’re not welcome here in Araucania.”

Belarus, Minsk: clashes continue, as they do every weekend

Critical review of protests in Belarus in last 2 months by the anarchist group Pramen

Assessment of: Working movement, Protests in the regions, Drivers and the Armenian scenario, Women’s marches, Anarchists, anti-fascists and soccer fans, self-defense groups, MIA/KGB, Neighborhoods/districts and an attempt to speculate on what might happen next. This – as far as I can see from a relatively ignorant position – seems a pretty good text, and not banally  anarchist as so many anarchist texts can be . However, at the end it says “The radicalization of the protest itself will come sooner or later. There are no doubts about it. It will most likely come not from the appeals of anarchists or other radical groups. But it will come because of violence on the part of cops against the people.” Whilst for an anglophone outsider like me it’d be impossible to assess how much influence anarchists or other radical groups have, it’s pretty determinist to say “The radicalization of the protest itself will come sooner or later. There are no doubts about it.” – particularly as the rest of the article says that the current situation is only contestatory in the regular weekend demos in Minsk, and points to various weaknesses elswhere. It seems as if it’d be necessary for other towns, for women, for workers, for all the other sections of the population to understand the limits of the protests and the constraints on struggle produced by the elements of separation between such sectors. But of course, I’m not there and obviously such a comment by me is  limited by this fact.

US: the idiocy of liberal gun control advocates

X writes:

Interesting how these avant garde of domestication types always remind us of the right-wingers who have guns, and only mention, without drawing the obvious implications, that the fascist sheriffs, cops, ICE, Bureau of Prisons’ Special Forces, etc. – all in Trump’s camp, all supporters of the right wing white’s/macho guy’s rugged individualism, are all heavily armed, and all protected by the state.

The only counter-balance to this is an armed citizenry, as was evident in Louisville – this was the only thing that kept the right-wing would-be murderers at bay. And that’s where things stand now.

The interviewee never mentions the times when armed workers fought to defend themselves against both government and mercenary gunmen, as they did again and again during the 19th and 20th centuries, at Homestead Steel in 1892 and Ludlow in 1913, and elsewhere. Without an armed population supporting the strikes and occupations back then, the toll of working people would have been far higher, and the hired gunmen of the companies and their friends in government would have been far freer in their brutal repressions. We should not for a minute forget that at the same time the militias of Max Holz and Karl Plattner were bravely fighting their rearguard actions against the rising tide of Social-Democratic sponsored proto-nazism, and the last protagonists of the Russian revolution were fighting their unequal struggles at Kronstadt and in the Ukraine, the redneck miners were marching on the mine owners and their backers at Blair Mountain in this country – and were being attacked, like their class siblings in Germany and Russia, with all the weapons of modern warfare.

The interviewee in this article, whether he says so or not, wants to see us disarmed, helpless and dependent on the slender reed of politicians like Biden, who make their livings lying to us, imprisoning us, and to overseeing our subjection and impoverishment.

This one-sidedness in the service of social pacification is service for the cause of slavery.

***

This, from Black Flag 1997, about the Albanian uprising seems relevant in this context (thanks to SK for pointing this out):

 Holidays in Albania

The one and only authority: guns

In the whole southern region of Albania, there is no police, no army, no jails, no courts, not a sign of state or governing authority. The power of weapons is prevailing everywhere. Everyone is armed, driving around in cars with the kalashnikovs at hand, walking in the streets carrying automatic weapons, revolvers, Chinese TT (always at least two of them and ready to use) in their belts or inside their jackets. It’s impossible to estimate the accurate number of these weapons. Some say they are over four million.

What we know for sure is that all police stations, all army storehouses, all factories where weapons were constructed or assembled have been looted (one of these factories, a kalashnikov construction unit in Polytsa, was one of the first). The question that immediately comes to mind, how people got hold of all these guns, is a bit complicated to answer. It is a fact that there have been no massive attacks or well organised violent acts. A characteristic example of what happened is the case of the police station in Saranda. In the afternoon of May 1, a few people started throwing stones against the police station, inside which there were about one hundred well armed policemen. Their commander repeatedly called the minister, in Tirana, for instructions. The answer was “we’ll let you know”. The instructions never came, so the police force abandoned the station, leaving behind most of their arsenal. The about fifty members of the secret police -SHIK- had left much earlier. About the same thing happened with the navy station in Saranda. The commander called Tirana as soon as he learnt of the attack and was told that “you’ll receive orders”. The orders were never given and as a result almost all the weapons were abandoned and carried to a place in the open, where anyone could go and pick up anything he liked to. A navy map of Albania, labelled “top secret”, was found a few days later by two French reporters who happened to pass by the area. A notebook with records of army equipment circulation, was found torn amidst looted army tracks with flat tires inside a destroyed and looted army camp in Dropolis.

The gun, at least in the south of Albania, dominates everyday life, in fact it IS everyday life. An ordinary person sees, hears, touches, uses a gun -i.e. it occupies one’s senses- as often as the cigarette would in another society. It is the centre of life; it’s an amusing toy for the kids (school’s out, anyway) and, very often, a sport for the adults. You can see groups of people going for target practice, some were shooting at the cross of the Saranda church in the middle of the day, joking at each other, some other -a dozen of well dressed Albanians- had set up a roadblock with Mercedes and jeeps in the highland road between Vouno and Cheimara, and did target practice, not having in mind that some car might appear from the side of the road they were shooting at. Those less involved in guns just use them for self defence. They don’t show them off and most of them keep them at home, just in case of a robbery. However, the Albanians were armed and well acquainted to guns in the past, too. The revolt just gave them the opportunity to replace their guns with more modern ones.

During daytime, the kalashnikov shots are rather scarce. They shoot from the paved with stones Saranda coastal road towards the sea, they shoot from the hills around, they shoot from the slope of Gjirokaster, from the small hill at the side of the Greek consulate, from the port of Vlore, here and there all the way to Fieri.

After 6 -7 p.m. every night, it looks like Greek Easter [when traditionally there’s a lot of fireworks]. The bursts of gunfire light the sea, they get more frequent or stop without apparent reason, sometimes some passer by gets shot or a hotel glass is broken. We are sitting inside the “luxury” hotel by the seaside of Vlore staring at the spectacle of shots and flashes which is rather a festival of joy to the participants in it.

It’s really hard to believe that the fear and terror inflicted by the gun which means death at the hands of an “official” of some “established” authority has become an ordinary and inseparable element of “life” in the Albanian communities, that the gun has become fun and source of an absurd pleasure.

See also Upheaval in the land of the eagles about this almost forgotten uprising.

17/10/20:

US, Portland: cops use CS gas against protesters at ICE building on 126th night of protests

CS gas has particularly long-lasting effects. In 1977 I  went out with a woman who’d been CS gassed in Paris in 1968, and over 9 years later she still had eye problems that affected her focus in a way that glasses couldn’t rectify. However, an American friend has said he was subjected to CS gas recently and the effects were only immediate. So either they’re diluting it or using a different type of CS gas or the woman I knew was particularly sensitive to it or attributed eye problems following her being gassed in ’68 to CS gas when the problem merely coincided with the teargassing.

San Francisco: fascists get thumped

“At about 1 p.m., Anderson took the stage. He was quickly greeted by a barrage of plastic water bottles and glass bottles thrown over the barricade. “You knocked my tooth out, but you’re saying Black lives matter,” said Anderson, who is Black. “I love America and I love this country, but I want free speech.” At least one Trump supporter was taken from the rally in an ambulance after being attacked by a counterprotester. His condition was not immediately known. The speech ended after about 15 minutes, and counterprotesters were left confronting a line of riot-gear-clad police…“… It’s not our job to be peaceful. You don’t get justice, you take justice.”

France, Lyon: a few hundred demonstrate despite ban on demos and  despite heavy policing

Demo schdeduled to begin at 13.12 (ACAB, according to the position of the letters in the alphabet) included yellow vests, BLM and antifa, protesting against Covid1984-inspired  9-6 nightime curfew and commemorating anniversary of the the nazi Papon-instigated massacre during the rein of  the great anti-nazi de Gaulle. Nowadays, the 1961 prohibited demo that nevertheless drew a crowd of 30,000 illustrates how horrifically different things are today: no need of a massacre – people have become too terrified, domesticated, colonised by ideology & confusion …for the moment.

UK, London: man gets cross

16/10/20:

Chile: demonstrations and riots in several towns in anticipation of anniversary of last year’s uprising

15/10/20:

Trump boasts of summary execution of antifascist

“Trump bragged about Reinoehl’s killing at a rally in North Carolina on Thursday, getting cheers for a description that sounded like a summary execution by the state.“We sent in the U.S. marshals, took 15 minutes and it was over,” Trump said. “They knew who he was, they didn’t want to arrest him, and 15 minutes, that ended.””

14/10/20:

South Africa, Gauteng: clashes as vocational students march over poor infrastructure, funding, outdated curriculums, and accommodation   More here

13/10/20:

Indonesia, Jakarta: more furious clashes with 12,000 cops and military personnel over deregulation of work conditions & wages, as  cops suspend all bus services and  close several major roads

See entry for 8/10/20 below.

“On Oct 8, Jakarta police detained more than 1,000 rioters, mostly students and young people, a large number of whom did not seem to know anything about the law. Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria in a statement earlier said that the demonstration and rioting on Oct 8 had resulted in the loss of property and public facilities worth more than Rp55 billion (USD3.7 million).”

12/10/20:

US, California: statue of instigator of brutality against indigenous Americans who refused to convert to the usual brutality of monotheistic religion torn down on Columbus Day

On 17th October there was this report about the Archbishop of San Francisco performing an exorcism to cleanse the site of the protest.

X writes:

This is quite funny: an exorcism to drive evil spirits away, supposedly to protect the memory of a monster who set up a system of prison camps running the length of central and southern California in which to practice the doctrines of the Spanish Inquisition. No accident that the Native Americans burned the biggest one down. The richest line comes at the end of the article where the priest tells the reporter that “the experts in the field tell me that Latin is more effective against the devil because he doesn’t like the language of the church.” The Devil doesn’t like the language of an institution that murdered and tortured and burned books all the way across Europe and around the world? The language of Cato the Elder and Julius Caesar, of Caligula and Nero? The Devil doesn’t like it? A language steeped in the deaths and enslavements of millions before the barbarian Christians with their burning hatred of any knowledge that they couldn’t control or use to manipulate those whom they had subjugated, had even got their hands on it?

On July 16th the city had apparently decided to take down the statue but we can assume a Higher Being (Mel Gibson? Bono? Lady Gaga?…anyway, some Catholic or other) intervened.

South Africa, KwaZulu Natal: local community join taxi drivers to shut down town,  as roads are blockaded all night, bus torched, cop and private cars stoned, after cops murder taxi driver

Chile, Santiago: Mapuche-initiated clashes on Columbus day

11/10/20:

US, Portland: Oregon falsification of history society building smashed a bit, Lincoln and Theodor Roosevelt knocked off their pedestals by demonstrators celebrating Indigenous People’s Day

The eve of Columbus Day – Portland, Oregon – Lincoln loses his base:

Lincoln’s final resting place for those who here risked  their freedom that humanity might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that they should have done this. It is for us those struggling to live, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced (a reference to  this).

Under Lincoln’s presidency, soldiers captured hundreds of Dakota men and interned their families. The men had been driven to war by US treaty violations causing  increasing hunger and hardship among the Dakota. The largest mass execution in United States history   was the hanging of 38 of these captured Dakota men,  December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota. The “Dakota 38” tag on the base of the statue refers to this state murder.

“When it was proposed to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, which did not have the rights of a state that was directly under the jurisdiction of Congress, Lincoln said this would be Constitutional, but it should not be done unless the people in the District wanted it. Since most there were white, this killed the idea. As Hofstadter said of Lincoln’s statement, it “breathes the fire of an uncompromising insistence on moderation.” Lincoln refused to denounce the Fugitive Slave Law publicly. He wrote to a friend: “I confess I hate to see the poor creatures hunted down . .. but I bite my lips and keep quiet.” And when he did propose, in 1849, as a Congressman, a resolution to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, he accompanied this with a section requiring local authorities to arrest and return fugitive slaves coming into Washington. (This led Wendell Phillips, the Boston abolitionist, to refer to him years later as “that slavehound from Illinois.”) He opposed slavery, but could not see blacks as equals, so a constant theme in his approach was to free the slaves and to send them back to Africa. ..in Charleston, in southern Illinois, Lincoln told his audience: “I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races (applause); that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people.. . .And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.” Howard Zinn, here.  Whereas Lincoln’s Gettysburg address contains this  well-known quote: “…a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…”

 Below:

Also 11th October 2020 – Portland, Oregon – Theodor Roosevelt  gets a rough ride

The odor Roosevelt –  always near the top of the tiresome lists of “America’s Greatest Presidents.” On Mount Rushmore he functions as a permanent reminder of America’s historical amnesia—forgetting his racism, his militarism, his love of war. He wrote, in 1893, “No triumph of peace is quite so great as the supreme triumph of war” and in 1897, “In strict confidence . . . I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one”. When a mob in New Orleans lynched a number of Italian immigrants, Roosevelt privately wrote to his sister that he thought the lynching was “rather a good thing”. Roosevelt even congratulated an American general who, in 1906, ordered the massacre of 600 men, women and children on a Philippine island. But he is seen as a “progressive” because as well as establishing the National Park system,  he implemented certain regulations on unfettered capitalism, such as controls on trusts, on  drugs and  on food ingredients.

More here (explanation of what happened, why and how by a participant – well worth a read!)

“…The crowd then moved their sights on the Portland State University campus police station. This is the home base for the PSU campus police station, a campus police force that has killed two men, Jason Washington and Richard Barry, while ironically calling themselves “security forces”. For years activists and friends of Washington had tried to get the college to abolish its police force. I’m confident that there was a widespread feeling of justice and satisfaction when the police building’s windows were smashed out. A US military themed and police supporting restaurant also had its windows smashed. Any liberals/peace police had long gone home by then. Since the police were preoccupied with a shooting, there was still no presence of them. The crowd then took the opportunity they saw and began marching through downtown, smashing up the banks and corporate storefronts which had recently removed the boards from the windows after thinking the riots in May had long settled. Eventually, after the window smashing failed to cease, the police sent their riot cops after the march. The crowd, feeling accomplished, saw no reason to continue the march and dispersed almost immediately instead of trying to foolishly stay in an attempt to fight off the militarized overfunded police forces…”

Los Angeles: forbidden street celebration of basketball team win turns into riot; bottles, stones thrown at cops, businesses vandalised

This was forbidden by City Hall for the standard reason nowadays – Covid1984.

Belarus, Minsk: further clashes

10/10/20:

France, Val-de-Marne: police station attacked relentlessly with fireworks by about 40 youths; several cop cars damaged, police station door smashed…More here

Heavy atmosphere in lots of places in France at the moment. In the centre of Montpellier, near where I live, riot cops have been patrolling the streets  openly carrying machine guns since  1st October, supposedlyto calm things down”, though what is not calm has so far not  been made apparent. This report claims 30-35 riot cops, but in fact there are a lot more. From midnight 17th October there’ll be a nightime curfew from 9pm to 6am, supposedly as a crackdown on Covid.  There’s only been a yellow vest demo of 300 people since the beginning of September, with the filth being heavier even than normal – chucking teargas under terrace bar tables and chairs, pepper-spraying individuals taking photos, but witrh virtually no “violence” on ‘our’  side. Certainly nothing to warrant what comes over as a state of siege.  I hypothesise that the reason for this is the building up of intensified hostility towards government policies, including crackdowns using Covid as a pretext, such hostility being expressed in social media (though not so far in the streets or workplaces, high schools etc.) and noted by the state. This may well include hostility being expressed towards the difficulties people are finding just getting previously taken-for-granted basic social services, like pension problems or health insurance problems, partly caused by the draconian suffocation of life under Covidiocies. State-initiated terror “for our protection” in order to nip in the bud possible independent opposition.  This in a region where Covid-related fatalities are exceptionally low – about 28% compared with the deaths in the region from flu about 4 years ago.

9/10/20:

Germany, Berlin: heavy clashes as cops evict legendary squat

France, Yvelines: cops attacked by  10 or so youths in 2 different places within the same hour

8/10/20:

Indonesia:  riots  on 3rd day of national strike against deregulation of work conditions and wages

“Clashes between rock-throwing demonstrators and riot police broke out near Jakarta’s presidential palace as police tried to disperse the protesters, including workers and high school and university students….Police fired tear gas at the protesters from several high schools and universities as they tried to approach the palace compound, turning roads into a smoke-filled battleground. The protesters hurled rocks and bottles. As night fell, some protesters set fire to a subway shelter in downtown Jakarta, causing the area to turn an eerie orange color. Demonstrators also burned road barriers, several cars, a cinema and damaged several government offices…Similar clashes occurred in large cities all over the country, including Yogyakarta, Medan, Makassar, Manado and Bandung.”

More here.

Germany: totalitarianism intensifies

6/10/20:

Chile, Puente Alto: police station attacked after protester dies

4/10/20:

US: very interesting article from Gelderloos on the various strategies round the election

“…The military brass generally dislike Trump and they roundly oppose an interventionist domestic politics. Historically, military coups are rarely airtight secrets in their preparatory phase, and over the last four years the military has shown itself willing to leak information that is harmful to Trump. In this case, we can read the lack of evidence of coup preparations as evidence that no such preparations are taking place. On its face, this means that a coup is not in the cards, if we are going to use that word with any precision. Without the military, and with existing paramilitary organizations lacking anything near the level of strength and coordination they would need pull something like that off, we have to turn our attention to other kinds of power plays that can be equally dangerous but that function in completely different ways. The neutrality of the military, however, bears examining, as many in the center Left have already misinterpreted it. Many Democrats have predicted that the military will frog march Trump out of office if he tries to seize another term, but this is a grave misunderstanding, both of how the military view their neutrality and of exactly what kind of power grab Trump is planning. The brass have openly stated that they will make no interventions into the electoral process, and in this case I think we can believe them. And as we shall see shortly, it is actually the Democrats’ strategy, and not Trump’s, that relies more on a military intervention…

… though Democrats are indeed stupid, not everything they do is an effect of their stupidity. If we take a calm view of the situation, they actually constitute one of the most dangerous sectors in the upcoming electoral unrest, and they are probably the group that most anti-fascists have thought about least. This is another chief disadvantage of prioritizing the framework of anti-fascism: it often means privileging the left and obscuring its true historical role. Actively or reluctantly, Democrats will encourage a peaceful, symbolic protest movement in response to Republican machinations to steal the election. Such a movement will represent an explicit break with the tactical intelligence and collective self-defense that has repeatedly overcome the police and the far right over the past few months. That experience of revolt—that know-how, determination, and solidarity—is one of the only things that can keep people safe through the coming turmoil. It’s also one of the only things that can change the outcome of the crisis. In specific cities, people can kick out the far right—and just as the George Floyd rebellion forced the state to begin dismissing and even arresting police officers, similar actions might stop courts and legislatures from throwing out uncounted votes. Generalized unrest might compel large segments of the government to conclude that Trump and his Party are just not worth so much destabilization….The historic role of the left is to institutionalize and thus strangle emancipatory movements. This only works because so many people in the rank and file of the left are sincere in their desire for change—but all the same, they are roped into a chain of co-optation that stretches from the center to the margins. The movement will be strongest if it understands itself as a continuation of the Black-led, anti-police rebellion that broke out once more after the murder of George Floyd. 

This text, by the way, links to an article that says Christine Lagarde declared, about 18 months ago, that, because of the dangers posed by climate change, right-wing populism, and trade wars, capitalism might not exist in 20 years’ time. Since it might take about 10  minutes to scroll down to the relevant bit, I’m putting it here: “…On capitalism, a key theme of the event, Lagarde had a more ominous prognosis. The system as we know will be threatened if rising inequality isn’t curbed, she said. And for the planet, things are even worse. “We will not be talking about [capitalism] in 20 years time when the planet is completely gone,” she said.”.  For more on Lagarde, see this.

Israel, Jerusalem: orthodox Jews clash with cops

Egypt, Luxur: clashes on 3rd anti-government demo in 2 weeks after “security forces” kill brother of suspect . See entries for 30/9, 25/9  and 20/9 here  See also this Wikipedia entry and this Guardian report

Belarus, Minsk: clashes continue

3/10/20:

France, Calais: 8 riot cops hurt as migrants trying to build camp clash with filth preventing them

Israel: illegal protests throughout country despite lockdown

See also this longer article on the Israel protests

Germany, Berlin: fights as cops prevent antifa from clashing with Nazis on 30th anniversary of German re-unification

2/10/20:

Mexico, Mexico City: clashes on anniversary of 1968 massacre

Chile, Santiago: man in grave condition after cops drive him into river during demo against  inequality

1/10/20:

Greece, Athens: cops fire tear gas at students protesting overcrowded classes amid COVID-19 outbreak

Comments

2 responses to “october 2020”

  1. anti-capital avatar
    anti-capital

    Yes, all those things about Lincoln are true– he bit his lip; he endeavored to accommodate the border states; he more than hesitated, he resisted, arming Afro-American soldiers and deploying them in combat; he delayed, inexcusably, declaring the end of slavery. However…. eventually he did arm Afro-Americans and deploy them in combat; he did instruct the officers of the Union Army to NOT return escaped slaves to the slave-owners; he did declare the slaves, not just forfeit– a property relation– to the slaveholders’ rebellion, but free human beings. Lincoln was not a socialist revolutionary. Clearly. However, what the article neglects to cite, and the reason Lincoln’s record as a “humanitarian” is more than suspect, is his consistent position and policies for dispossession and destruction of the indigenous peoples.

    The Union Army in the West, after the earlier roll-back of the Confederacy’s gains spent the remainder of the war, and the post-war period, dispossessing, and destroying the indigenous people of New Mexico, Arizona,etc.

    While an argument can be made that Lincoln deserves a bit of charity in the historical mirror, no such argument can be made for T. Roosevelt, a scumbag from top to toe

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