Alternatives to Police

I don't like cops. The fact that the government assumes we need armed thugs to prod and coerce us into conforming to societal and accepted norms and traditions is, to me, absurd. To paraphrase Michael Parenti, the idea that police keep 'order' and fight crime are simply not true. The true use of a police force anywhere is social control (to force us to conform to aforementioned societal norms) and protection of property (i.e., keeping the property and capital in the hands of the rich elite). The vast majority of police aren't out to protect the working class from anti-social, violent people. Instead, they are out to "protect" the minority (the rich, elite, and authoritarian upper class) from us, the disenfranchised and oppressed majority.

Still, some people assume that a world without police would degenerate into a violent free-for-all, with every person out to kill, rape ans steal. I don't think that this is the case. In fact, I think that society could function very well without police in the commonly accepted traditional sense of the word. I will now highlight some things that we can do as anarchists to demonstrate to the populace why we could very well live without police, and how this perceived impossibility is far more realistic than many assume.

1) Observe and Respect Natural Laws: This should be self-explanatory to the anarchist, but might need explained to those who are unaware of what it means. Natural Laws are common and almost axiomatic things that are "right." The right to free-speech, free-thought and free-expression are natural laws. The right of non-coercion and personal choice are natural laws. The right to live peacefully and defend your health and freedom in the face of violence is a natural law. In essence, following the golden rule and living in communion with your community
sum up what Natural Laws are.

2) When Conflicts Arise, Solve them Internally: Instead of letting a dispute escalate into violence (where most people assume that police would be needed to detain the persons and mediate the argument), don't let it go that far. Work on developing mutual respect for others and practice conflict-resolution without the aid of a guy holding a gun. Being able to talk out a problem and then hammer out a compromise would undermine much of the perceived need for police. Above all, never resort to violence during a petty dispute, no matter how tempting.

3) Move Towards a Tight-Knit Community: Knowing your neighbors and interacting with them will greatly diminish confrontations altogether. they will obviously still happen, but having an active participatory role in your community lessens the chances of alienating disputes between two or more indifferent citizens. Tighten community solidarity by working together as a whole, and being personable. Make friends, share in the labor and fun that go hand-in-hand with communities, and be respectful. When the community is tight-knit and unified in happiness, problems won't arise nearly as often.

In short, live the revolution you want in your everyday life, and we can show the pigs that we don't need them or their "protection."

Happy Birthday to Me.

I'm 18 years old now, an adult in the eyes of the state. I don't feel any different really. If anything, I feel a little tired and at the moment have a quasi-headache that fades in and out of existence.

There were few presents for me, but that is how I wanted it. A $50 from my aging grandmother who loves me unconditionally. A pack of smokes, a lighter and a dimebag from my younger brother (both of which we indulged in soon after the gift giving between us was done). A knitted coffee-mug cozy from my little sister. $28 in cash from my friends, as well as a multi-tool pocket knife, two ballpoint pens and a notebook, as well as high fives and a free lunch today at the caf. Add to this some congratulatory 'dark-as-fuck' coffee and cookies given to me by my boy at the coffee house that I haunt so frequently, and you have my birthday. My parents, besides busting their balls working for tuition at Penn State, have promised me a lap-top computer by the end of the summer along with most of the first year costs paid for. I've tried to gobble up as much grant money as possible, as well as independant scholarships, but school is just too expensive.

I like to think that new chapters are opening for me as I push myself further and further out on my own, into the world. I also like to think, though, that I have done more, seen more, and participated in more things conducive to a happy and exciting life than a lot of other kids my age. I'm proud of this.

Part of my personal philosophy, bound within my concept of Anarchy, is the idea that I want to make every single moment of my life worthwhile and profound. I hate idleness and inaction. I feel like those things are squandering the time we have to live, to enjoy, to feel.

As I treat myself to a Red Bull and sip at a coffee gone cold, I have a lot of people to thank, and a lot more to meet. I'm so ready for life, ready for life my way.



wrench

Update

Hi all. I have been uber busy with finals lately, but will return soon to blog away. Trying to get some of these writing assignments done so that I can forget about them and...write some more stuff on here!!

I hope all is well.


Wrench

The Recession and 401k's

I haven't talked about the Recession for a reason--it's been talked to death by people who (at least think...) that they know more about economics than I do... Also, as this recession is a cyclical thing, it's not as though it jumped out from behind a bush and seized us by the balls. In a Capitalist economy, we should be ever ready and even expectant of a recession. Like the economists say, 'It's how the system works,' after all! 'Don't you all see? Suffering is an integral part of the system, a necessity!' they say in their 20 room mansions, laughing behind stacks of money.

The thing that I find most incredulous, most absurd and most infuriating is the fact that the working people, the people grinding the gears and doing the labor, did NOT get us into this recession. Still, with bankers, brokers, investors and CEO's at the top, not wanting to topple from their thrones built on our labor, it is only the working people that suffer. Sure, Bill Gates, Pickens, etc. will take a hit, but in the end, they will still be billionaires while the working people shuffle to the bread lines. The bosses got us into this mess, the bosses and their investors, the bosses and their lust for meaningless green paper, the bosses and their greed.

So the main problem I have with this is that the good people, the gears that make this world go around, the people that give us electricity, water, fix the cars, build EVERYTHING we use, are getting blasted because of the greed of millionaires. Doesn't that sound absurd to you?! Why should people with so much money be greedy at all? What facilitates this endless thirst for money, for numbers on a sheet of paper? Surely it's not a survival instinct--they can survive and more, they can live in lascivious, hedonistic luxury. All the while, unemployment rises, people go hungry, and the urban populace turns to drugs to combat the hopelessness.

Great.

Again, to reiterate, because I find myself more and more often falling into rants, the bosses made this mess, we have to clean it up. That being said, I do believe there are ways that we could stall this machine, and one big one is by not agreeing to pool money into a 401k.

I think that 401k's are the biggest racket the government has going. We pay them a portion of the money earned from our labor (and don't get me started on how meager this sum is to begin with...), and we let them use it to prop up their stock-market and make ends meet when some investor fucks up on his guesstimations about what that market will do. We give them this money in hopes that we will have some extra when we're ready to retire. We do this because we want some extra crumbs from the table when we're too old to toil. But what happens when the government is left in charge of directing our investment choices? Well, in Capitalism, a recession happens, and then we're left in the shit-storm. I know various older people, not yet retired but getting there, who are now looking around desperately for second jobs to fill the difference so that they can retire on schedule, on their terms.

401k's, in my opinion, are just a way for the government to squeeze more money out of us and prop up an economic system that chronically fails and breaks down. It is a more up-front form of extortion, a psychological shakedown, that we comply to because it is portrayed as being in our better interest. Stop listening to everything the politicians say!! Think for yourself, do some light economic research, beacause KNOWLEDGE REALLY IS POWER!

Don't be milked like cattle, don't be manipulated by a game piece.

The Capitalists and Politicians will sedate us with words and quick-fix solutions just long enough for the system to right itself, and then we will forget about the hardships that many had to endure and be 'thankful' that it's over. We will neglect to look to the future until it comes.

I can only hope that with each recession, the strength of the proletariat and the people affected by the economic downturn will come together in solidarity. I hope, most truly, that a sense of unity among working people will come about as a result of what the bosses got us into.

Read books, Cultivate yourself!


Wrench

A Million Dead Fascists

Racism, intolerance, a fascist, one-party state, xenophobia, hatred, militarism. These are the principles of the numerous hate-groups that populate America. These organizations, focused on committing violence against ANYONE who thinks differently than they do, are growing in number, and this is a disturbing and infuriating fact. This could be due in part to the election of a man of color into the Executive Office, which probably got all those 'on-the-fence-fascists' to go all the way and throw in their lot with these groups....

More so than our President, I think that the increase in hate-group membership is due to the fact that the modern day fascists see the world progressing to a more accepting, tolerant and freedom-based place (though this progress seems agonizingly slow to me, personally, I still think it is happening). This fact has hardened the radical zeal of the hate-groups already functioning in America, and they are in a membership push, to increase their numbers and size. They do this because of the inherent fear that they have of their way of life becoming extinct in a changing world.

But what do we do? Do we let these hate-groups gather strength in numbers? Should we not oppose them through a diversity of tactics? I think so. An Anarchist Free Market or Free Food Day in a poor rural Southern town could have just the right effect. Giving direct aid to those who need it, regardless of color, could oppose these groups appeal to the people in the same situation (poor young whites, most of the time lacking much of an education). Through discourse and demonstration of Anarchist values, we can rip off the veneer of 'patriotism' and machismo surrounding these organizations and expose them for what they are.

Still, there remains the disturbing reality that these groups arm themselves with guns and explosives, making them a literal danger to the people that they subjugate. Sometimes whole shooting ranges are rented out for bi-monthly 'Weapons Awareness' courses set up by KKK Dens, Neo-Confederate 'Militias,' and White Nationalist clubs. They preach a mastery of weapons and a knowledge of violent tactics, and why wouldn't they? They so glorify militarism that they would sooner train their own little soldiers than have to serve in a minority-rich US Army or Marine Corps. Again, this knowledge of how to use weapons for destructive purposes against their perceived enemies makes them literally dangerous to everybody.

Many Anarchists I know preach tactics of strict non-violence, using civil disobedience and sabotage to practice Direct Action rather than insurrectionary property destruction or police confrontation. Still, others I know are hardcore insurrectionists, trained in demolitions and guerrilla tactics. My question to my fellow Anarchists is this; Can we afford to be unprepared? In other posts I have theorized that the first stormtroopers that will attempt to crush us will be these hate-groups. They will lead the attacks against us should we realize a social and political revolution simply because we are the antithesis of what they stand for.

Am I justifying violence? No. I am justifying a diversity of tactics to use against these organizations centered on blind hatred. I don't think we can sit idly by while these fools prepare themselves with knowledge to be used solely for committing violence against innocent people. If anything, we Anarchists should learn about weapons use for literal self-defense. I stand by the assertion that I would rather know how to use a gun and never have to use it than need to know and be unprepared.

I hate violence, and this is a fact. But sometimes defense is needed, of ourselves and our loved ones, not to mention our freedoms. There may come a time when we need to defend ourselves from these people, and I want to at least be realistically ready. It's not enough for me to despise them and their philosophy of hate. It's not enough to wish that they would change their ways, because the vast majority WON'T. I can pray that Fascism will die, along with all of its proponents, but that won't happen tomorrow either. In the meantime, I won't allow myself to be a sheep should the wolves approach in the distance.

I live to see a day when hatred will dissolve. I want peace more than anything, but I love myself and my freedom enough not to be crushed under a Nazi boot-heel as well.

We do what we can, to educate, to slowly pull people away from racist and sexist ideas, and this is right. Keep on trying, and maybe someday you and I will wake up and evil will be extinct, along with all of those who violently pursue its realization. What a utopia that would be!!

With Peace and Love to all my Friends

Wrench

Squatting

I can think of no Direct Action more conducive to Anarchist Ideals (well...few...) than Squatting. Squatting is the re-appropriation of unused public space by a group of individuals for living communally, and without having to pay rent or adhere to strict tenant standards.

Squatting provides an environment for like minded revolutionaries to gather and feel safe, a place where you can come and crash or live for a damn long time (some old heads have lived and died in their squat). Community being one of the integral parts of Anarchist Philosophy, squats are focal points where community and communal living work concretely, for all to see. Squatters often take buildings that are trashed to say the least, and rebuild them slowly, through work and labor that they organize themselves.

As I said, the re-appropriation of space is a great way to concretely show others how self-organization can work, and how people are capable of achieving success without a manager or a boss. Every squat that gets built up from the bottom turns into a haven for people (like myself) who want to live off the greed and out of the system. The friendly atmosphere I've found in every squat I've ever stayed at is conducive to making new friends. I've had monumental political discussions that have refined my own theories. I've eaten great food, got my hands dirty, put shingles on roofs, and hauled toilet water into the basement in the middle of the night.

Squatting seems profoundly correct and good to me, and to others that find it disconcerting that we have a growing homeless population and thousands of buildings sitting empty and decaying. Is squatting illegal? Yes, in most cases (though squatters are gaining rights of their own in Europe!!). But you have to ask yourself sometimes if every law is right and just. I don't think it's right for people to freeze to death and sleep on park benches and under cars when they could lay their head down in a condemned building and be warm(er). For landlords to only think of the profit that they can make on their real estate and turn a blind and ignorant eye to the homeless is revolting.

For all of those people who think that collective labor can't work en masse, check out some of the noted US and Euro. squats that do exist and do function. They are beacons of hope for the Anarchist cause. Start a squat!!!


Wrench

An Anarchist Academy

What would an Anarchist Academy look like? How would it operate? What would the benefits be of having one?These are allquestions that I will explore in this blog. I see this as a necessary follow-up to my short critique on education. Anyone can critique, few can offer viable alternatives. I feel as though simply pointing out society's problems is far too easy for the Anarchist Theoretician--we need alternative methods as well!

An Anarchist Academy would consist of open campuses that one could come and go freely from. No restrictive bell schedules or bus-route planning are needed. A student would receive a schedule of all classes and workshops offered, and what times the professors were going to be around to teach them. No lengthy scheduling process or credit amount is needed to 'graduate,' because the simple fact that you want to cultivate yourself through learning is graduating from ignorance!! Teachers would set their own schedules, work their own hours, and offer a variety of classes, diversified in not having to adhere to a code of what must be taught (imposed by the government and college boards).

An Anarchist Academy would demonstrate Free Association in action, and to its fullest extent. You don't need to stay and you don't need to go, but if you do stay, you'll be a better, more cultivated and learned person. An Anarchist Academy would be filled with affinity groups and collectives that could offer various services to the vagabond student passing through in their demonstration of Direct Action. In this way, goods and services would be offered to everyone, creating other reasons and attractions for would-be students to get involved and learn.

This community created among and around the Academy would be very fruitful for the entire society. Students could fully realize their creative potential while making the world a better place. That's what Anarchy is about for me, and these Academies would promote Anarchist Ideals to their fullest extent, getting the message out there. Subjects you ask?

Philosophy (East, West and More)
Political Science
Mathematics
English and Creative Writing
Engineering
Architecture
Chemistry
Gardening and Home Agriculture
Music
Art
Sociology
History
Culinary Arts
Mechanics
Communications (Radio, Television and Internet Media)
Self Defense
Personal Fitness

ANYTHING!


An Anarchist Academy seems to me an integral first step towards achieving a better society. As I said, the communities that would almost necessarily spring up around these students and their affinity would be ideal, as well as enabling the traveling student to take what he/she has learned elsewhere and implement it again, to spread the word. The possibilities and benefits of an Anarchist Academy are astounding, and hopefully one will turn out where squatting is the norm. I guarantee you that I would be the first to sign up.

Education and Knowledge are the keys to freedom!!


Wrench