With critical support, we went to the COP21 counter summit and found State repression, coercive pacifists and a lack of revolt. State of Repression The build-up to the COP21 set the tone for the entirety of the counter-summit. Although the recent mobilisations against global summits have been met with ever increasing repression, the increased powers
Tag: Environment
Notes from the USA: September 2015
Spying Documents continue to emerge from Edward Snowden, the former employee of the National Security Agency (NSA). Significant data was published in mid-August which detailed how telecommunications giant AT&T willingly gave the Agency access to literally billions of emails transmitted across the former’s domestic networks – conceivably every one. These included the headquarters of the
Notes From the USA: July Roundup
Environment -The protests against Shell’s plan to drill in the Arctic continue; the company’s Polar Pioneer drilling rig is moored to the south in Seattle in Washington state. In the second week of June activists used their bodies, chains, and cement-filled barrels to halt operations at the port of Seattle. This action included six members
From The Land Of Proudhon – The Battles of the ZADists
Thom Holterman writes on the emerging zadist movement and the battles it is waging with the state and capitalism. Zadist The French language has a new word: zadist. It comes from the abbreviation ZAD, Zone à Défendre, “Zone to defend”. Officially ZAD refers to a French legal instrument that is used to create big construction works, such as
Notes From America: November
Louis Further rounds up news from the USA for the months of October and November. Racism Kalief Browder was a 16-year-old high school student from the Bronx when he was accused of stealing a Rucksack by a mistaken witness driving around in the back of a New York Police Department police patrol car. Although
Notes From the US: October/ September
Education No-one ever got taller by being measured. In schools, the only tests that help are the ones that offer guidance on what’s next, not ‘summative’ ones that merely record children’s progress. Last month in Florida a kindergarten (5-year-old children) teacher took a stand by refusing to administer the state-mandated standardised test to her
Notes from the US: July
Louis Further rounds up the news from the US you may have missed in the month of July. Violence Occupy Wall Street activist Cecily McMillan, on whose imprisonment Freedom has reported recently, was freed from Rikers Island jail in New York City in July. A short time afterwards a report by the ‘New York Times’
Notes from the US: Economics, Violence and Environment
Louis Further rounds up the news from the USA you may have missed. Environment A review published in mid-June by the Associated Press found that the Obama administration does not inspect four out of every ten new high-risk oil and gas wells. It seems that The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been so overwhelmed by
Notes from the US: Racism, Politics, Violence and Economy
Monthly roundup on the state of the USA by Louis Further
Recent Articles
Marseille: Kayak flotilla blocks cruise ships
Against mass tourism, pollution and capitalism, piracy is never over ~ from Contre Attaque ~ On Saturday, September 21, 12 kayaks blocked access to the port of Marseille; three cruise ships and a ferry were blocked for hours by the flotilla, off the southern French coast.
Rethinking urban vegetation
Instead of “green space” we must build ecosystems in our cities ~ Mathieu Perchat, from Le Mouton Noir ~ Vegetation in the city, often reduced to the term “green space”, evokes a more complex reality than that of a simple place of rest or walk.
Trump has always been boring
Whilst Trump’s candidacy may have spiced things up in dramatic fashion, it’s clear that the war machine continues operating as it was meant to ~ Andrew J Boyer ~ In the past few years since taking up writing, I’ve managed to avoid tackling the topic of Donald Trump.
Viktar ‘Mao’ Žarkievič (1973-2024) — Belarusian punk legend
The frontman of Hate To State and Chaliera died less than two years after a stint of political imprisonment ~ from Naša Niva ~ Viktar became interested in punk as a teenager, during the Soviet era.
Blackbird: A howl of protest from Hong Kong anarchists
The indie band mixed diverse musical styles with an anti-establishment agenda ~ Levon Kwok ~ In Hong Kong, recent events such as the 2019 Anti-Extradition Bill Protests represent young Hong Kongers’ will to protect their freedoms — but during the 1980s and 1990s, the indie band Blackbird (黑鳥) offered a much more radical proposition.
