This week:
1. No cops allowed in Occupy Vancouver
2. W.T.F.W.J.D.
3. Ninjas?
4. Bahrain battles SUVs
5. Justice, Syria style
6. #Jan25
7. Is this a revolution?
More context on Occupy Oakland here
17 thoughts on “Is This a Revolution?”
Comments are closed.
My Dear Stimulator,
As someone who has supported you, both financially and otherwise, who has proudly displayed the Submedia logo, I have to respectfully say that you don’t know shit about Oakland.
I live in and fucking love this city, but it is plagued by crime. It has an astronomical murder rate, a hella high crime rate, and plenty of empty tagged/ruined buildings in Downtown and elsewhere.
The mass-televised tear-gas flash-bandattack by popo on my people was horrible, infuriating, depressing. But the Black Bloc, many of who are not actually from my city, come here and smash it up some more, spray shit everywhere, and in general increase the depressing blight that surrounds us, and physically attack anyone who tries to stop them, affects many of us the same way. I don’t see how this helps the revolution.
Smashing the windows where a bank is is fucking old, unoriginal, and stupid. The bank doesn’t even own the motherfucking building. IT IS NOT EVEN ATTACKING THE BANK.
Occupy Oakland has been well-organized and a positive force here. The General Strike was an amazing, beautiful thing. I saw no cops around and everyone was there: all ages, and sizes, shapes, and colors. Basically, the diversity that makes Oakland so great. I have never been to such a large protest and seen NO COPS. 15,000 people successfully marched to the Port and shut it down. PEACEFULLY.
So it was hella depressing to get up the next day and see shit and broken glass everywhere. I fail to see how further fucking up a city with no money and hella crime helps the goddamn movement. Here in Oakland, we need to build things, we need to create things, not fuck it up further. Destruction is not going to help us here.
I hate the fucking police. To me a bunch of guys shoving people out of their way to smash shit doesn’t seem better. Just seems The Patriachy all over again.
This city needs love, not blood.
Monkey fucking liberal, indeed.
– The Nerger
Hey Nerger,
Thanks for your comment. As someone who has been watching my fuckin show for a while, you know what the tone of it is. Did all the the previous riot porn not offend you, or was it because it wasn’t in your town? Yes local context is important, so your perspective is valuable. But I have many peeps in Oakland as well and all of them were excited/inspired by the anti-capitalist contingent.
That said, this is an old debate and one that consumes us every time someone smashes a window. Watch this for reference about halfway in.
http://submedia.tv/stimulator/2010/03/08/occupy-vancouver/
My understanding is that the anti-capitalist contingent was separate from the port action and it was well announced. When these actions are planned there is usually an agreement of separation of time and space, so that those who do not want to smash windows, can resist in other ways. I believe this was the case in Oakland.
That is not to say that BB tactics are beyond critique or that the BB is appropriate at all times, but to call the mayor and the cops on comrades who are fighting for the same thing, but choose a different way to express it is unacceptable.
Solidarity is a two way street and like it or not the BB are in solidarity with and are part of the Occupy movement.
the #s are in from egypt:
“What shifted the balance away from the regime were four continuous days of street fighting, January 25–28, that pitted the people against police all over the country.”
“By the end of the street fighting, preliminary estimates were that 365 citizens had died and some 5,000 had been hurt. On the police side, there were 32 deaths and 1,079 injuries, while 99 police stations and 3,000 vehicles had burned. Al-‘Adli stayed bunkered inside the Interior Ministry until January 31, when he was transported out sitting huddled in an army tank. In a six-hour interrogation by the prosecution, on charges of responsibility for the deaths and injuries, al-‘Adli shunted blame upward and downward. He accused his four top assistants of providing him with false intelligence, and demanded that Husni Mubarak be held accountable for the decision to fire on demonstrators, in his capacity as head of the Supreme Police Council. But he did concede defeat.
The situation was beyond imagination. The faces of the demonstrators showed how clear they were in challenging the regime and how much they hated it, how willing they were to resist with their bodies all attempts to divide them with truncheons and water cannons and all other tools. They outnumbered security forces by a million or more, a fact that shocked the Interior Ministry leaders and the president. Those government officials all sat at home watching the demonstrations on TV. Not one of them devised a political solution to what policemen were facing — confrontations with angry people and indescribable hatred of the government. All of us were astonished.”
http://www.merip.org/mer/mer258/praxis-egyptian-revolution
wonder what a world wide black bloc contingent would look like…if the “whole thing” needs to go down in flames, its going to need to get started. of course the mainstream majority is going to hate it–they still think democracy/capitalism can be reformed–that it is the best system out there, despite its many failings. of course, any truly effective black bloc will most likely not be public. Its will take cyber-insurgency to really bring the institutions that oppress us to its knees, while physically halting the operations of corrupt business.
nice to see there are people in america still willing to do more than picket, but the black bloc is going to need to maximize its effect, and that means doing more than breaking a window and painting the side of the building.
windows can be replaced. My liberty and freedom cannot be replaced with a commodity driven consumerist white fascism . BLACK BLOCK 4 love of OAKLAND. stay strong.
Dear Stim,
Thank you for your thoughtful response. Although we disagree on several points, I’ll just address two.
I concede I reacted differently to riot porn of my own city than to other riot porn I have watched on your show. But I believe that is basic human nature to reacted differently to something with which you have a close relationship. Let’s take the example of regular ol’ porn. What if you were enjoying a sexy vid, then suddenly realized that it was your own sister you were watching? Wouldn’t be the same, would it?
I cannot describe the love have for this flawed yet beautiful city, but seeing it further trashed, no matter what the political impetus, is just fucking painful.
And as for the Black Bloc, I do not discount them or feel they cannot be part of the movement. But, with all their energy and intelligence, can’t they come up with something more original and engaging? They’re smashing shit up and and tagging shit in a place that already has shit smashed and tagged. It’s redundant as fuck.
Yours,
The Nerger
Awesome work, as usual, stimulator!
very funny this time.
for more fire-extinguisher graffiti, watch out here: http://kidultone.com/?page_id=848
can I know from what movie does the ninja kicking-cop-asses came from??
Thanks!
Congrats on a great show discussing the great ninja riot of Oakland. I wanted to ask if on the next show you could give a shot out to our comrades in Chapel Hill, NC on your next show. After a successful day of talks and meeting new comrades we marched to a nearby building that’s been abandoned for a decade or so with the intention of reclaiming it or the community and opening up a social center in solidarity with the occupy movement. The pigs responded with their usual sense of restraint and a SWAT team raided the space brandishing assault riles, pointing them at protesters and bystanders, arresting 8 activists. I, rather thankfully, wasn’t there at the time, but needless to say it’s a rather fucked up response, and there’s been a call out for solidarity actions against the pigs/for occupation of buildings to use for community spaces.
Link to initial story here: http://trianarchy.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/this-building-is-ours-chapel-hill-anarchists-occupy-downtown-building/
Link to ensuing insanity here: http://anarchistnews.org/node/17902
Blac Block Rocks!
whats the name of the song at 5min?
#Jan25 search it on youtube
Thanks! What is the name of the Ninja movie? I want it. I need it.
Ninja 3
Found it, thanks! Ninja III: The Domination. I will use it only for good as an evil ninja possessing an innocent woman’s body to avenge my own death.
Hoo-Rah for that!
I meant to this:> “…but to call the mayor and the cops on comrades who are fighting for the same thing, but choose a different way to express it is unacceptable.
Solidarity is a two way street and like it or not the BB are in solidarity with and are part of the Occupy movement.”
Hey Franklin,
I love the riot porn ,from all over the world. I view the showing of this global resistance to be totally empowering. The mainstream media though blacks out our true political perspectives other than some of this warrior behaviour. But the real functioning of a daily life within our chosen social construct goes on as a mystery to the mainstream. What are the solutions modern or ancestral that people have/are/were coming up with all over the world? We align ourselves with a broad and diverse range of cultural societies and we should celebrate these and ask how could some of these solutions be used today? Our political form survived the test of time that goes back to the stone age. globally civilians are now helping to undergo a renewal of horizontal organising. Today Horizontal organising or direct democracy is not something people are confused about any-more. Anarchism our history and positive gains of Anarchism through time are though. People I know think of anarchism or black block as only a bunch of unruly teens breaking things and not wanting to get a job etc. We know better, but who is setting the record strait? We have a long rich history full of positive empowering and hopeful visions of what our world COULD look like. We once chatted about Alex Jones and I have raked my brains about what it is he is doing that would equate him to a counter revolutionary? I think it is in his powerful bombardment of the dark idea that these conspirator characters ( and I do believe we are up against such people) have been ONLY successful at all they have done.He bombards us with these ugly “truths” so overwhelming and dark that those of us without iron constitutions are frozen in fear and just do nothing but curl up in a fetal position and are rendered no threat to any power. The reality is more about chaos theory that these 1% are playing with when there is too many factors to predict a outcome they often have unexpected results.Capitalist vampires are predators and are quick on their toes. and they make the best of those outcomes whatever they might be predicted or un predicted. Our public is slow and far too receptive to the myths created often even after the fact. They willingly go back to fetal position to hide in the vicarious life of a fiction. I would like to ask you when your “End Civ” tour is over to please go back to ending your shows with stories of people doing something to make the world better. Don’t stop with the warrior or funny stuff either. Remind us more of what we need to keep defending. Show more the good that still exists in the individuals that are struggling hard among us. People setting an example of tenacity and inspiring others to keep on fighting to build and create. Also what strategies worked for the warriors? IE in Cancune WTO the macho cops had a hard time hitting pretty girls fingers so the girls volunteered to go up and cut the fences and got through most of the fences etc. History is our memory we are bombarded by poor quality fiction good quality history pulls people in because true stories are so much better than some fat rich kids imagination. I love the music you find and really enjoy that element of your show as well. Over all Franklin I’m proud to have met you and turn people on to you I hope to see you when you are in Seatown. You have mad skills brother.
Steve from pepperspray