From: Wikihow

Anarchism is not kids throwing rocks through windows and causing chaos. It is practical, contrary to popular belief. There have been hundreds of thousands of Anarchist societies throughout history – including most indigenous societies. Compared to hierarchical authoritarian societies they typically were and are much more stable and afford their members dramatically higher standards of living. Anarchism is self-organization and direct democracy, created by consent and mutual association, without coercion. It is not mob rule, statism, or tyranny. (more…)

From: The Wall Street Journal
Death in the Haymarket
By James Green (2006)

A century ago the “anarchist bomb-thrower” was a widely feared specter in American politics. In “Death in the Haymarket,” labor historian James Green explores the reality behind the image. Delivering a gripping account of Americans’ first major encounter with anarchist violence. On May 4, 1886, a bomb exploded when Chicago police tried to disperse a labor demonstration in Haymarket Square. In the explosion and riot that followed, seven policemen were killed, sparking national outrage. Green vividly recounts the ensuing trial, in which eight anarchists condemned to death (four were eventually hanged) essentially for their beliefs—though the actual bomb-thrower was never found. The book’s greatest value lies in its evocation of Gilded Age class conflict, showing how the bombing emerged from, and ultimately shaped, struggles over labor policies such as the eight-hour day. Though the context could hardly be more different, “Death in the Haymarket” touches on issues still at the heart of the debate over terrorism, including civil liberties, immigration and free speech. (more…)

From: Chaos Marxism

Chaos Marxism aims to be a technology of ecstacy – or, more importantly, integration of ecstacy into the Real World of Horrible Jobs, of inner and outer worlds – which has always been the goal of mystical paths and dialectical materialist praxis. Capitalism generalises alienation, in which work is turned against the self; and, in the modern era, a “Chinese Wall” is erected between production and consumption, with the ideological apparatus of society actively encouraging a “split personality” (the dutiful worker always pushing for greater productivity suddenly transforms into a raging, impulse-buying party animal and sexual tyrannosaurus after 5 pm and on weekends).

In this sense, you could even make an argument that the Stalinist and fascist party-states had a slight edge, whereby officially promoted ecstatic states (generally in the form of leader worship, eg North Korean “mass games”, or “compulsory social solidarity” events) were closely integrated into the daily grind of routine labour. “It’s very chaste, but everyone has a good time,” as James Church’s Inspector O put it. Recent advances in the “creative workplace” in the capitalist countries are catching up, though – they’re trying to integrate fun into work, but in such a way as to subordinate fun to work. (more…)

From: WALB.com
By Wainwright Jeffers

ALBANY, GA (WALB) – A group of Albany business owners are trying to figure out why their stores were targeted by vandals Saturday.

Police were called to at least three businesses on Albany’s east side where windows were shattered, causing thousands of dollars in damages.

RuBo’s manager showed us where vandals damaged his compressor and broke two front windows at the Clarke Avenue store.

A church a few doors down had its door broken.

One street over on East Broad at Albany Pet Partners had their front door shattered with a rock.

“Any damage is serious because to replace the glass is $200 plus the aggravation,” Dr. Fred Freeland, Albany Pet Partners.

“I found both windows busted out, a couple of pipes were lying on the ground that were used to do it,” said William Phillips, RuBo’s Manager.

Phillips says he wants to see more frequent police patrols in the area. If you know anything about the weekend vandalism, call Albany Police.

©2010 WALB News. All rights reserved.

From: Redanarchist.org
By Nachie

09.15.2010

“Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration – that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There’s no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we’re the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather.” – Bill Hicks

This is a really tough one to write, y’all. It’s tough because it’s been a long time coming, and I’m going to really just put myself out there. It’s tough because I’m not sure if anybody’s ever thrown around the ideas I’m about to throw around like this, and there’s a good chance that a lot of people are just going to call us batshit insane. On the other hand, this has been pretty easy to write because it’s all that I have left to say. It’s easy, because this is all I can ever talk about anymore, and I’d be lying to myself if I claimed that I was willing to go on with any level of involvement in the radical milieu without first coming to a firm understanding of what all this means. Of course, I’ll always be a communist – a true communist. I can “feel” communism every time I make someone smile, or help a friend accomplish something that was important to them. Communism is sharing time with children, finding moments of perfect silence, and thoughtfully preparing a delicious meal. Communism is present in our lives whenever we ourselves choose to be present in our lives; whenever we “lose our mind and come to our senses”. But do I need to keep “trying” to be a communist? Is there some set of motions I can go through that will actually enhance the revolutionary content of my life and those of others, or is it all just a distraction that keeps me chained to the endless cycles of radical politics? (more…)

From: Lebanon Daily News

PITTSBURGH—The Pittsburgh Columbus Day Parade Committee is offering a $1,000 reward for information about whoever defaced the city’s statue of Christopher Columbus.

Guy Costa, who heads the group, says someone painted the word “Butcher!” on the bottom of the statue and drew and anarchy symbol above it sometime early Wednesday.

The statue was also vandalized in April by someone who painted the explorer’s hands red and wrote “Death of civilization” on the statue, and again in June.

Costa says the vandalism is “very offensive to Italian-Americans.”

City public works crews had cleaned the statue by mid-afternoon Wednesday. It was erected in 1958 with money raised by Italian-American groups.

From: Principiadiscordia.com

By Cain

Discordianism as Perfect Nihilism.

It’s funny, but the more I read about Nihilism, the more I think Discordianism is one possible antidote to it. I know this seems to contradict the title, so perhaps I should explain my terms a little, before I get ahead of myself.

Nihilism is a word that is thrown around a lot. As such, it is often misused, and open to abuse. Its very nature often makes it derogatory, though perhaps not unjustly, which also helps obscure the meaning. However, it does refer to a very real and precise phenomenon. Although the word itself dates back to Jacobi, in his attacks on Kant’s “critical philosophy”, the meaning by which it more usually understood goes back to Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. (more…)

From: NY Daily News

Authorities hunting bus depot vandals believed to be disgruntled workers

Saboteurs struck at two bus depots in recent weeks, vandalizing and disabling more than two dozen buses, authorities said Monday.

In the stealth attacks – which officials think were carried out by disgruntled workers – the vandals filled fareboxes on 29 buses with construction foam, which expands and solidifies, NYC Transit confirmed. (more…)

From: Brooklyn Eagle

By Ryan Thompson
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

JAY STREET — The self-proclaimed “Prince of Darkness,” John S. Katehis, appeared in Kings County Supreme Court Tuesday with his lawyer, who claimed his client killed newsman George Weber in self-defense. (more…)

From: Anarchist News

This particular group of RAANistas is positively over-joyed at the fact that someone has taken the time to write a critique of RAAN. As far as we know, this is the first attempt by the larger anarchist scene to articulate or critique the beast that is the Red & Anarchist Action Network. This is not an official reply by the Network itself. The authors of this piece come from both the West and East coasts. This collaboration is for the purposes of explaining RAAN as we see it, and pointing out where the original critique is off. (more…)