To Change Everything

24/01/2024

Our comrades in Brazil have done new print runs of three of our books in Portuguese: Recipes for Disaster, Expect Resistance, and Days of War, Nights of Love.

20/01/2024

Seven years ago, on January 20, 2017, police surrounded and arrested over 200 people in the vicinity of a confrontational march against the inauguration of Donald Trump. Prosecutors brought identical felony charges against almost every single arrestee in one of the most dramatic escalations of state repression of the Trump era. For a year and a half, people around the United States mobilized to support the defendants and beat back this attempt to set a new precedent in repression. The J20 case was one of the most important court cases about the freedom to protest in modern US history—and the defendants won.

Now, in response to the movement to , prosecutors in Georgia are trying something similar, pressing RICO and domestic terrorism charges against dozens of people who were arrested at random. We strongly recommend reading this overview of the legal support strategy that defeated the J20 prosecution.

"We’ve Got Your Back: The Story of the J20 Defense"

https://crimethinc.com/J20legal

19/01/2024

How to Host a Haunted House

A Guide for Anarchists with a Video Walkthrough

https://crimethinc.com/hauntedhouse

In the following account, one participant describes how an anarchist social center set up a haunted house last October as a fundraiser to support defendants facing RICO charges as a consequence of repression targeting the movement to . This is an excellent example of how creative efforts can add a joyous element to political outreach and legal support.

18/01/2024

Today, we honor the memory of Tortuguita, who was murdered one year ago by mercenaries from the Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol while defending Weelaunee Forest and an inhabitable future for all of us.

Cop City represents a possible future in which ever more resources will be invested in training and militarizing massive bodies of police that will control the rest of us by brute force. For those employed in the violence industry, it represents a tremendous opportunity. The police murdered Tortuguita in order to secure the right to hoard all your tax dollars for themselves and their allies.

By contrast, Tortuguita's courageous conduct stands as an example to us all. In a time of economic desperation and catastrophic climate change, it’s up to us to show that solidarity and the desire for freedom are more powerful than selfishness and the readiness to obey.

https://crimethinc.com/AtlantaSolidarity

We call on all people of good conscience to stand in solidarity with the movement to stop Cop City and defend the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta.

18/01/2024

Participants in the Weelaunee Solidarity Collective describe their experiences at the gathering celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the Zapatista uprising, including their reflections about what the ongoing Zapatista project can teach aspiring revolutionaries elsewhere around the world.

We also share footage of the play they performed at the gathering in memory of Tortuguita, who was murdered one year ago today.

A report-back on the Zapatista encuentro celebrating 30 years since the 1994 uprising, including footage of a play about the movement to stop Cop City.

17/01/2024

The Zapatistas burst onto the world stage on New Year's Day 1994 with an uprising that established an autonomous zone in Chiapas. Thirty years later, at the opening of 2024, they hosted a gathering to commemorate those events and look to the future. In this report, our correspondent describes a series of adventures the road to this gathering, and what they found when they arrived.

A report from the road to the 2024 Zapatista Encuentro, observing thirty years since the uprising that established an autonomous zone in Chiapas.

10/01/2024

Demonstrators marching in solidarity with people in Gaza in Durham, North Carolina on the night of January 4, 2024 pass in front of the jail as anarchists project “Free Palestine—Free prisoners—We are not free until everyone is free” onto its façade.

https://crimethinc.com/I5Seattle

09/01/2024

Gaza Solidarity Actions Continue from Durham to Seattle

https://crimethinc.com/I5Seattle

As the Israeli military goes on killing and displacing the population of Gaza, people across the United States continue to take action in solidarity with Palestinians. Bold demonstrators have blockaded bridges, ports, arms manufacturing facilities, and other pressure points. We explore how these solidarity actions have evolved over the past three months, reporting on a fierce march in Durham, North Carolina on January 4 and the blockade of I-5 north in Seattle on January 6.

07/01/2024

This week, police in Berkeley, California installed a wall of shipping containers to block access to People's Park, which has served as an autonomous community space for over half a century.

The police have already murdered two people in the course of the struggle over People's Park—James Rector, killed in May 1969, and Rosebud Abigail Denovo, killed in August 1992.

In this article, we cover the history of People's Park from 1969 through 2022, and honor Rosebud, who gave her life to defend it:

https://crimethinc.com/Rosebud

Spaces like this are worth defending. 🏴

03/01/2024

Early on December 31, 2023, the Diné land defender, organizer, author, and musician Klee Benally passed away at the age of 48. A dedicated and demanding proponent of Indigenous liberation, Klee fought on a wide range of fronts, emphasizing the importance of both concrete and spiritual forms of resistance and critically exploring the possibility of an Indigenous anarchy.

In his memory, we present an interview that we conducted in 2009 with Klee and his siblings in the punk band Blackfire. At that time, they had already been making music together for twenty years.

In memory of Klee Benally—Diné land defender, organizer, author, musician, and anarchist—we present an interview with his punk band Blackfire.

30/12/2023

This year, war spread around the world along with ecological and economic crisis, showing what the consequences will be if we are not able to change course on a planetary scale. At the same time, a variety of inspiring struggles continue to play out, showing the tremendous untapped potential of humanity.

We review our own humble efforts over the past year, including the coverage we have provided from within social struggles and the projects we have contributed to them.

We review our efforts over the past year, including the coverage we've provided from within social movements and the projects we've contributed to them.

29/12/2023

The Ex-Worker Podcast episode #104: The Fight against Cop City Confronts Unprecedented Repression

https://crimethinc.com/exworker104

In our final podcast episode of the year, we cover the movement to across the tumultuous first half of 2023—including the historic events of March 5, when a black bloc hundreds strong marched to the construction site and destroyed it.

24/12/2023

La clandestina. Dr Atl 128 Santa Maria la Ribera. Mexico City. December 26.

Desde revuelta popular a tomar la ofensiva.

Presentado por Colectivo CrimethInc.

2020: en plena revuelta anti-political, la policía de Atlanta asesina aún un hombre negro más. Gente enojada y revoltosa se toma el negocio donde lo asesinaron y lo incendian, fundando una zona libre de policía—libre de ley—por un mes.

2021: como respuesta al levantamiento nacional por el as*****to policial de George Floyd, la ciudad de Atlanta propone y aprueba la construcción del centro de entrenamiento policial más grande de EEUU, cuya construcción require la destrucción de un bosque.

2022: ambientalistas, abolicionistas anti-policiales, anarquistas, y otrxs comienzan ocupar el bosque, viviendo ahí y creando un mundillo rebelde entre los árboles, desde el cual lanzan ataques en contra del proyecto que denominan “Cop City” (Ciudad policial).

2023: durante el allanamiento del bosque, un equipo de policía militarizada asesina le joven anarquista Tortuguita. En el balaceo, le pega una bala a uno de los policías del equipo, mientras una autopsia revela que se encuentra más de 50 balas en el cuerpo de Tortuguita. Una marcha de venganza destruyen un auto policial y varios sedes de los fundadores del proyecto. Comienza una etapa de recesión que dura hasta hoy día.

Más allá de una cronología de cuatros años de lucha en Atlanta, analizaremos los elementos, tanto de la toma del Wendys como la lucha en contra de Cop City, que han hecho que duren estas luchas y que sus rebeldes mantengan el protagonismo.

24/12/2023

On December 24, 1914, during the First World War, German and British troops stationed across from each other in Belgium concluded an informal truce in defiance of their commanding officers.

The Germans began by singing; the British responded with English carols, and both sides shouted Christmas greetings across the wasteland between them. A few soldiers stuck their heads above the fortifications and, not being fired upon, made their way to meet in the middle. Soon the enemy combatants were exchanging gifts and embraces.

The truce enabled both sides to recover the bodies of their slaughtered comrades, which had been rotting where they had fallen in No Man’s Land. Soldiers of both armies mourned the dead together. The next day, everyone gathered for a football match. We can imagine how senseless the war must have felt to them that afternoon.

By January, the commanding officers had regained control and the young men who had laughed, sang, cried, and played together were once again shooting, stabbing, and bombing each other.

It is not insubordination that is dangerous—it is obedience that is dangerous.

http://crimethinc.com/contradictionary

19/12/2023

Let’s Be Done with Waiting
A Film in Memory of Alfredo Maria Bonanno

https://crimethinc.com/BeDoneWithWaiting

On December 6, 2023, Alfredo Maria Bonanno passed away after more than half a century of anarchist activity. In his memory, we present the following short video, Let’s Be Done with Waiting, dramatizing the final section of one of his best-known works, Armed Joy.

19/12/2023

On December 17 and 18, demonstrators in Oregon and Washington shut down two Amazon warehouses and a construction site in order to impose consequences for Amazon’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza and the destruction that it is wreaking on the natural world. This is the latest in a series of solidarity actions around the region that show how effective leaderless organizing can be.

On December 17 and 18, demonstrators in the Northwest shut down two Amazon warehouses and a construction site in solidarity with Palestinians and in protest against ecological destruction.

18/12/2023

On January 26 and 27, during the first International Gathering of Anarchist and Anti-Authoritarian Practices against Borders in Tijuana, Mexico, the Ex-Worker Podcast will present a curated series of anarchist films from around the world. In addition to showing our own published shorts and debuting some new material, we will curate a series of anarchist features, dramas, video propaganda, oddities, and experiments.

You're invited to submit your work!

Here, we present our submission parameters and review some of the precedents for anti-border gatherings like this one.

We're hosting a selection of anarchist films at the International Gathering of Anarchist and Anti-Authoritarian Practices Against Borders on January 25-27, 2024 in Tijuana, Mexico.

15/12/2023

Argentina: “So-Called Neoliberalism and Its False Critics”

http://crimethinc.com/2023Argentina

Following up our earlier coverage of the election of far-right economist Javier Milei as the president of Argentina, we present an interview with anarchists in Rosario, who discuss the decades of social struggle and economic restructuring that created the conditions in which Milei came to power.

Ever since the Brexit vote, far-right politicians have won a series of victories by falsely portraying themselves as rebels against the ruling elite, taking advantage of simmering discontent and the ways that liberals and leftists have associated themselves with the prevailing institutions.

In practice, Milei's “anarcho”-capitalism involves no anarchism, but plenty of capitalism. Rather than abolishing the Central Bank as he promised, Milei’s first act was to make the former president of the Central Bank his minister of the economy. His security minister, Patricia Bullrich, says she intends to charge organizers and individual protesters for the cost of policing demonstrations. As the authorities will be the ones deciding how much policing each demonstration requires, this policy will enable police to shake down ordinary people in precisely the way that Milei accuses socialists of doing.

As the Argentine anarchists we interviewed put it, "It is time to insist on the necessity of a rupture."

13/12/2023

According to the Gregorian calendar, today is the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of the year—13/12, or ACAB day. It's beside the point whether all police officers are the offspring of unwedded parents: all of them sell their consciences to serve as mercenaries imposing a social order in which a few people control a vast amount of resources while others must struggle just to survive.

Our classic poster, "The Police," is available in bulk just for the cost of printing and postage:

https://crimethinc.com/posters/the-police

12/12/2023

Over the past two years, the movement to and defend Weelaunee Forest has become one of the fiercest struggles in North America. Opponents of Cop City have repeatedly destroyed equipment and forced contractors to withdraw from the construction project, while the authorities have killed one forest defender and pressed outlandish racketeering charges against 61 more, including the members of a legal support collective.

In the latest installment of our comprehensive history of the movement, we trace its trajectory from the City Council vote last June to November's Block Cop City mobilization and its aftermath, exploring how the movement has sought to maintain a participatory and confrontational character even under tremendous pressure.

We trace the trajectory of the movement to Stop Cop City from the June 5 City Council vote through the November "Block Cop City" mobilization.

11/12/2023

As seen on the Brooklyn Bridge on December 9 during a march in solidarity with Palestinians facing US-funded ethnic cleansing. The same sticker appeared in Minneapolis around the burnt husk of the Third Precinct in 2020.

https://crimethinc.com/policesticker

10/12/2023

As so-called “anarcho-capitalist” Javier Milei takes office as president of Argentina—fulfilling the dreams of hardline capitalists who celebrate the military dictatorship that killed thousands—we present an audio version of our analysis of the situation:

https://crimethinc.com/exworker103

This is an in-depth look at the history of center-left rule, military dictatorship, and neoliberal austerity that resulted in the powerful popular uprising of 2001, and a detailed assessment of the economic challenges, disillusionment with the political class, and failures of the left that facilitated Milei’s rise.

09/12/2023

Peter Kropotkin was born on this day in 1842. An accomplished geographer, he recognized that the best way to improve the lot of humanity was not to pursue scientific research in a vacuum but to set about transforming the structures of society.

Towards that end, he advocated revolutionary politics and emphasized the importance of mutual aid. Today, the model he promoted flourishes in a variety of forms; it was one of the inspirations for Alcoholics Anonymous.

But Kropotkin was not just a thinker. He was also a fighter who fought the police with brass knuckles and spent years incarcerated for his efforts. You can read about his daring escape from prison in Tsarist Russia here:

https://crimethinc.com/KropotkinBreakout

"Either the State for ever, crushing individual and local life, taking over in all fields of human activity, bringing with it its wars and its domestic struggles for power, its palace revolutions which only replace one tyrant by another, and inevitably at the end of this development there is… death!

"Or the destruction of States, and new life starting again in thousands of centers on the principle of the lively initiative of the individual and groups and that of free agreement.

"The choice lies with you!"

-Peter Kropotkin, The State: Its Historic Role

🏴🏴🏴

07/12/2023

On December 7, 2005, the FBI carried out a crackdown on environmental activists that became known as the Green Scare.

Even after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the FBI focused on ecological activists as their #1 priority. As catastrophic climate change intensifies, remember—people tried to resist the destruction of the environment, but they forced this nightmare on us at the end of a gun.

https://crimethinc.com/zines/green-scared

This zine explores the lessons of that wave of repression.

06/12/2023

On December 6, 2008, in the rebellious neighborhood of Exarchia, police in Athens, Greece murdered a 15-year-old anarchist named Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

In response, anarchists and other rebellious young people rose in revolt, organizing countrywide riots and occupations that lasted for weeks. This was the first of the waves of rebellion that culminated with revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

In this classic interview, conducted a couple weeks into the insurrection, participants describe what made the uprising possible.

http://crimethinc.com/organizeaninsurrection

"You have to be crazy and enthusiastic, to feel that you can do incredible things—you have to be ready to give your life, your time, your years in a struggle that will never end. It is healthy not to have expectations, because then you don’t get disappointed. You don’t expect to win. You are used to appearing, fighting, and then disappearing again; you know how to become invisible as a person and visible as collective power; you know that you are not the center of the universe, but that any time you can become the center of your society."

06/12/2023

With great sadness, we report that Alfredo Maria Bonanno has passed away. An indomitable insurrectionist, he challenged anarchists around the world through over half a century of writing and action.

If you only read one text of his, begin with Armed Joy, which connects the refusal of work with an affirmation of life via the project of joyous revolt.

"The search for joy is therefore an act of will, a firm refusal of the fixed conditions of capital and its values. The first of these refusals is that of work as a value. The search for joy can only come about through the search for play.

"The joy of the revolutionary act is contagious. It spreads like a spot of oil. Play becomes meaningful when it acts on reality.

"Hurry to play. Hurry to arm yourself."

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/alfredo-m-bonanno

We remember him as he described himself in The Insurrectional Project—as a comrade among comrades.

Detritus Books has published a collection of his work.

06/12/2023

According to the United Nations report "Children and armed conflict," in the year 2022, a total of 2985 children were killed in the world's major conflict zones, including Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

In less than two months, the Israeli military has killed well over twice that many children in the Gaza strip alone.

Why have they killed so many children?

The Israeli military is one of the most sophisticated military forces in the world, equipped with cutting edge technology. They could have taken a variety of measures to avoid killing children. They intentionally chose not to.

Whatever their rationale, slaughtering thousands and thousands of children will not make Israeli citizens safer. Even wholesale genocide will only increase the amount of violence that future generations in the region will have to endure. Israeli politicians are escalating the violence for their own political benefit, with no consideration for those who experience the consequences.

The United States government is apparently prepared to sign off on any amount of bloodshed in order to maintain its foothold in the oil-rich Mideast. Now that the ceasefire has come and gone, it is clear that the only hope to limit the number of casualties is for us to block the flow of arms.

http://crimethinc.com/GazaSolidarity

01/12/2023

Today, it has been 24 years since anarchists and other protesters successfully blockaded and shut down the summit of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, catapulting the movement against capitalist globalization onto the world stage.

At that time, the greatest challenge was to rupture the apparent consensus in favor of the reigning order. Now, the capitalist triumphalism of the 1990s is a thing of the past. The capitalism of the 21st century no longer makes any pretense that everyone will benefit from the economy and the state. We have to demonstrate means of fighting that can be of use of a wide range of people as they struggle to survive.

From the movements of the turn of the century, we can learn the value of joyous, affirmative, and creative action in building networks of resistance.

http://crimethinc.com/wtoepilogue

30/11/2023

Henry Kissinger has died. Just this week, we published an article from Argentina quoting his justification for backing a coup in Chile in which tens of thousands were tortured and murdered:

“The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.”

http://crimethinc.com/Argentina2023

Tonight, we listen to "Preguntas por Puerto Montt" by Víctor Jara and commit ourselves once more to fight against the murderers of humanity, against both those who pull the triggers and those who give the orders.