While it is fairly evident that the size and organisation of a centrally managed police force have no bearing on the level of crime, it is just as pertinent for me to discuss the police in the abstract.
R.I.P George Floyd: An indictment of police
Tag: Black Lives Matter
“Anarchism” is just a name- a review of Anarchism and the Black Revolution and The Nation on No Map: Black Anarchism and Abolition
Anarchism and the Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin Pluto Press The Nation on No Map: Black Anarchism and Abolition by William C. Anderson AK Press, publication date 22 April 2022 In Summer 2017, as white nationalists prepared to march on Charlottesville, Virginia, the FBI announced its intention to tackle a new and growing menace
Moving statues and perverse verdicts
The Colston Statue puller-downers have been acquitted. This is patently a GOOD THING. But what does it mean for future defendants? There have been cases in the past where Juries have defied Judges. John Lilburne was twice acquitted by juries during the Commonwealth but Oliver Cromwell locked him up anyhow. In 1833 a Jury recorded
Movements First, Solutions Later
Netpol’s Kevin Blowe argues that Britain’s nascent abolitionist movement needs to focus its energy into long-term grassroots organising, not top-down academic debate. Ever since the rebirth of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, it has been far from clear that the demand to “defund the police” will resonate in Britain as it has in
Understanding psychic numbing: can we grow numb to trauma?
2020 has been so far a year marked by an endless succession of issues; it would be hard to take them all into account, as each deserves a great deal of attention and should be discussed separately to be fully understood. However, we can focus on the psychological effect of two major problems that for
BLOOD AH GO RUN
1981, 2017, 2020 In the 39 years since Menelik Shabazz documented the Black People’s Day of Action in the aftermath of the New Cross massacre, in his seminal documentary ‘Blood ah go Run’, what has changed for Black British people? Black and brown people still perish by flame; as we witnessed in the abject events
International Non-Binary People’s Day and the Struggle for Wider Revolution
International Non-Binary People’s Day fell on Tuesday 14th July this year, and much like all days and weeks and months for the queer community, social media sites were flooded with colourful illustrations and impactful personal reflections relating to the non-binary experience. It wasn’t my initial plan to write about this day, but as I realised
Keir Starmer isn’t a sellout.
It may be an odd headline for an anarchist to write about a Labour leader, but hear me out. There’s been a couple of incidents in the last few days which have left people using the dread word to refer to the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. In the first instance there is his
Urban environment and racial segregation
The current protests led by the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA have brought forward worldwide the problem of racism, with a strength and clarity that has made it impossible for most of us to ignore the racial issues that are still present in most countries and communities around the world. We are all
Bristol: city council seeks prosecution of slave trader’s statue-topplers
The Bristol City Council have formally reported the toppling of the slave trader Edward Colston’s statue as criminal damage, triggering a police investigation into the matter. Today, the cops released images of individuals they wish to speak with in relation to the direct action from 7th June, when, during a Black Lives Matter protest, the
Recent Articles
“Don’t Pray – Go Gay”: Confronting the fundamentalists in Zurich
Activists in Switzerland storm the stage at the homophobic and anti-abortion “March for Life” event ~ from Barrikade ~ As they do every year, this September too, the fundamentalists crawled out of every hole of their contempt for humanity to Oerlikon (Zurich, Switzerland) to demonstrate against the basic human right to a safe abortion.
Fire and passion: The life of Ukrainian anarchist Maria Nikiforova
On the anniversary of Maria Nikiforova’s execution at the hands of the White Army on September 17, 1919, we present a translation of Anatoly Dubovik’s biographical sketch of this unique Ukrainian anarchist ~ Anatoly Dubovik, translated by Malcolm Archibald ~ Maria Nikiforova is perhaps the most famous female anarchist who operated on the territory of the
Museum of Neoliberalism closes as building knocked down for luxury flats
The anti-capitalist tourist attraction played with the perceived factual authority of a museum ~ Gavin Grindon ~ After five years as Lewisham’s premier anti-capitalist tourist attraction, the Museum of Neoliberalism closed its doors for the final time on 15th Sept, as the building is being sold to a developer.
Billionaires in space
Elite tourism is not ‘paving humanity’s way to the stars’, but elites’ escape from a dying planet ~ Andrew J Boyer ~ Jared Isaacman has become the first billionaire to space-walk, in a successful Space-X mission titled Polaris Dawn.
Disruption and police aggression at Melbourne arms fair
Up to 100 protesters injured by police during Disrupt Land Forces picket on 11 September ~ Gabriel Fonten ~ The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre was surrounded by confrontational anti-militarist protests between 8–13 September; 42 people were arrested in connection with the protests, and human rights groups have condemned the excessive use of force.
