October 2024 – Muntjac Magazine

Anon – Fight, No Compromise!

Posted on 26/10/2024 - 26/10/2024 by muntjac

Taken from an A6 Flyer handed out by a Global Majority anarchist at todays annual A-to-B procession hosted by the United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC)

Fight, No Compromise!

Today people are gathering to once again demand ‘justice’ for loved ones slain and brutalised at the hands of the British state. Many people will speak with pain and passion as they grieve together and desperately seek some form of accountability for their loss. Families and supporters will walk respectfully from Trafalgar Square to Downing Street where a delegation of members of members of the United Friends and Families Campaign (UFFC) will hand in a petition / letter through the gates for the attention of the Prime Minister. The route is carefully managed and choreographed.

Each year there are speeches which focus on condemning the ‘rogue’ elements within the police and other state agencies which lead to the killings that are remembered here. “If only the police and others did what they’re supposed to do and didn’t go rogue”….

This week Martyn Blake, a metropolitan police officer, was acquitted of the murder of Chris Kaba. Another fatal police shooting with no apparent consequences for the assassin, and and another family devastated by state violence.

The actions of these monsters are outrageous who anyone who conscience of their own. But martin Blake and those like him are trained killers. They did not ‘go rogue’. He did exactly what he was trained to do.

We need to take a very critical look at the causes of these atrocities. The power of the British state has been built on devastation and destruction, here and around the world. It relies on using authority to oppress and further humiliate people. The ‘Justice System’ exists solely to keep this power and control in place.

A conviction would be seen by some as a ‘victory’. But if we are interested in dignity and freedom then the state is out enemy. And we mut never be satisfied by any form of recognition, apology or compensation granted to us or decided by those who inflicted the brutality in the first place.

No kind of ‘justice’ can ever be gained form any dialogue with the state. No letter, petition or negotiation can ever bring any oppressed person closer to freedom. If we want to show solidarity in the face of injustice, we must fight and act without compromising.

We each have a personal responsibility. We cannot delegate this to anyone else – whether it be the state, community leaders, elders, anyone.

Look around you today and there is an accepted and agreed peace with the police. This is intolerable. They, and the system they protect, are in conflict with us. We must remember this and ensure our words and actions are aligned. One without the other can only perpetuate the status quo.

ActForFreedomNow – France June-July 2023, Chronicle Of Attacks After The Murder Of Nahel M.

Posted on 22/10/2024 - 16/11/2024 by muntjac

PDF Pandaemonium (screen)

Here is a great youtube video on the topic; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvTUWFjpiXQ

In metropolitan Paris, in the suburb of Nanterre, on the morning of 27th June 2023 another French young person of Algerian origin, 17-year-old Nahel, is shot dead at close range in his car by a cop.

The official narrative would be failure to comply witha traffic stop and self-defence by the cop on duty. But the existence ofa video froma bystander left no room fortheparrots in the system to once again spew their racist filth abouta dangerous criminal. Not of course that they do not attempt this through thevoices of the media, the interior minister or the “independent citizens” who give the necessary social legitimacy to the escalation of repressive brutality and nationalist politics.

The violence, racism, humiliation and killings by the cops especially towards the residents of the working class, poor and racialised neighbourhoods of Paris/ Ïle-de-France are daily and normalised.

The state assassination is immediately responded to with wild clashes in the streets, which go on fordays. The streets of towns and cities all over France are filled with the anger of the demonstrators who don’t stick to the script of civic protests. Burning ofstate buildings, and armed attacks on cop5, infrastructure and vehicles are the reality of the next several nights, despite the curfews. The state’s response: brutal repression, arrests, chemicals, plastic bullets. Nothing surprises us anymore. The police are loyal to the state and are ready to kill to defend their bosses.

The murder ofNahel is not an isolated incident, it is not a ‘French disease’ it is the tangible expression of the racist state, the nationalist social imaginary and the entrenched chauvinism in all corners of the globe. No matter how many kilometres separate us on the map, ourhearts burn with those who fight for the ultimate dignity, to walk freely. Our hearts clench intoa fist sendinga tiny signal of solidarity. Everybody to the streets…

State, cops, judges, bosses are murderers.

Let’s not let another murder slip through the cracks. In memory ofNahel and all those who have perished too soon.

Your Local Black Queers – How To Deal With A Cost Of Living Hike

Posted on 21/10/2024 - 21/10/2024 by muntjac

This tiny A6 zine was distributed anonomously at various anarchist infoshops in London in 2022. It is a guide to Squatting, Shopliftin’, Bunkin Trains & Bussess in London and Hackin’ Elecric Meters to lower costs using the power of magnets

It is (from what we can tell) only online/in print elsewhere in A Black Autonomy Reader, edited by Mutt. (however, he did make a typo in the title of the zine, bless him) published earlier this year, which can be downloaded for free here;

https://seditionist.uk/distro/readables/books/a-black-autonomy-reader-incomplete/

THE COST OF LIVING IS RISING
THE GOVERNMENT IS FUCKING US OVER YET AGAIN
NO SURPRISE

People are in outrage. Gas prices are soaring in British households. Councils are upping their tax bills. National Insurance [Ed. An additional income tax, spun as being used to pay for Welfare for workers] is increasing. Interest rates are doubling. Inflation is at its highest rate in 30 years. The price of consumer goods is experiencing a surge. Altogether are going to be spending much much much more on basic necessities. But don’t worry, the chancellor (now Prime Minister) Rishi Sunak plans to alleviate it all with a “generous” £200 gift. Oh, did I say gift, I meant compulsory loan. The government wants to dress up the Hike in prices as unavoidable due to the financial cost of the pandemic, when, in reality, it would rather squeeze every last bit of our already crumbled stability. Meanwhile, companies like Shell and BP continue to make disgustingly large profits without paying any tax on their North Sea operations.

We all live inside a stinking carcass, which swallows up all living things in order to power its phoney movement. The state will never be on our side: it’s just a board of gluttonous fools that seek
delight in moving the dial further into the pit of austerity. We cannot rely on them. Not now, not ever. They are the ones that rely on us to power their oppressive machine. How do you stop the machine? You break its machinery through direct action. This is anything that attacks the vulnerability of a system, small or large scale.

Right now, with people already unable to pay rent, get basic food or afford travel, we thought it necessary to share some ideas on how to live a more frugal lifestyle. Whilst writing this, we do also want to acknowledge that certain things we have included can be more difficult for people such as those with an unstable immigration status, those that are differently-abled, those that have previous convictions or those that already have a “suspicious” skin-tone. Be confident, be careful, but also, take things at your own risk.

RENT’S TOO HIGH?
SQUAT THE LOT

Squatting is the act of occupying empty buildings and land which removes the need to pay rent, meaning that you can have a home for absolutely no cost. Sounds like a dream, right? The UK currently holds over 600,000 unused buildings, a testament to the waste that spills from this wicked system. These buildings can usually be accessed through open windows, easily penetrable roof hatches or by a simple crowbar to the door, among a multitude of other creative ways. Be Careful though as criminal damage is a punishable offence. The law in the UK states that trespass is currently a civil matter, meaning that the property owner must take you to court to get you out which can be a long and expensive process, but only on commercial buildings. Squatting a residential building is a criminal matter. There are loopholes to this such as occupying a building for protest, but if you’re looking for a more stable building (although you still likely will have to move around a lot) then commercial properties such as pubs, warehouses, banks, shops etc. are a safer option. If you’re interested in getting involved or learning more, get in contact with ASS
(Advisory Service for Squatters https://network23.org/ass/), based in Freedom Bookshop in Whitechapel, London but who also have a phone number and email on their website; you can
also pick up a copy of the Squatters Handbook from here.

Be aware that the squat community can be a very white space, but there is an all-black squat in London and BPOC squatters around so ask about them. Also, if you have certain accessibility needs, squatting can be difficult, but this all depends on how the building is set up. There are so many great empty buildings out there, so fuck off your landlords, grab a crowbar and unsettle private property owners!

THE ART OF STEALING

You can steal most things. A lot of it is about confidence. I have a friend who walked out of a store once with a gigantic octopus plush toy that she didn’t pay for, and no one said a thing. If you act like what you’re doing is normal, then you can usually avoid getting caught. Whilst saying this, there are obviously systems in place which mean that certain people are already automatically suspicious i.e if you have dark skin, so it’s important to be aware of this and take things at your own risk. However, as a Black person with many darker-skinned friends, it has been a very successful method for us.

So, what’s the method? I’m personally a fan of the “stealing bag” approach. This means getting a large bag (bag for life type thing), putting something in it to fill it out a little – like a t-shirt – and then using that bag to put items in whilst you’re in a shop. The more nonchalant you are, quickly sliding things in without breaking face, the less attention you draw, but to be honest, I am
sometimes bait as fuck and it still works. After you’ve filled your shopping bag (maybe arrange the t-shirt so it sits on top of your items if you’re feeling nervous), then you can exit the shop. Usually if I’m doing this, I’ll pay for a couple cheap items like some bread and bananas which makes you look less suspicious. You can also just use your pockets if you have large ones or, if you’re feeling more confident, just walk straight out with items in hand (hidden in plain sight). Stealing is great, it can allow you to get food, toiletries, wavey garms and much much more for virtually no cost. Although do be aware of items with security tags. They will often be quite obvious, however, stores like Decathlon are stocking up with RFID tags which are hidden in products and track the movement of the product around the store. This can make things trickier, but the main thing is to act like you should be there. One of my mates got stopped with an RFID tag in their bag and they managed to get away with it by saying that they had bought it ages ago. You can also try to rip tags out of things (carry some scissors with ya). Finally, while cameras in the store can be daunting, a lot of the time security aren’t looking at every single camera so don’t let this deter you, they’re just trying to do up a panopticon vibe.

BUNKING TRAVEL*
*We’ve just provided a small explanation of this, for more info check out @fthefares on Telegram (t.me/fthefares1312)

This is usually more possible with automated travel such as taking the tube or bus in London, or national rail, but you can try it in other environments. If you’re taking the tube, simply run behind someone who’s tapping their card in or shove your way through the barriers (it’s not as difficult as you may think). London has made it harder to bunk buses since a lot of buses stopped opening the doors at the back, but you can try and get in if there’s a crowd of people. Likely the worst thing that will happen is they won’t let you on the bus. Bunking national rail can be successful a lot of the time as well, as long as there’s no ticket inspectors on the train. Everything is a risk but a lot of the time it can pay off. Beware of the British Transport Police though, who can sometimes be hiding undercover. Check out “fthefares” for more.

FUMBLING WITH ELECTRIC METERS

Word on the street is that if you put a magnet to an electric meter, it will reduce the amount of energy usage on your electric meter. I looked into it and found some very detailed instructions on a website. Find them below. However, do be careful as there is a risk of getting done for illegal abstraction.

“You can save money if you can slow down the spinning of digital electric meters (such as smart meters and old electromechanical ones) with a neodymium magnet. The faster the meter spins, the higher your energy usage will be displayed on your bill, so slowing it down for a few seconds here and there might reduce the total amount you pay. This is because the smart meter will adjust its speed to match your average daily usage.

Here’s how to do it:
1) Locate the magnet which controls the switching of the meter from “read” mode to “standby” mode. It might be hidden behind a panel, so check all sides and the top of the meter. Also, remember that sometimes meters are insulated from the outside world by metal housings, so even if you located the right switch it might not work.

2) Attach the magnet to the outside of the meter, as close as possible to this switch (you can use tape or even sellotape if you like your gadgets to be permanent)

3) Now every time you want to slow it down, just wave this magnet near the meter and wait till the 7-segments display starts blinking; now you know that the current speed is 0.0 and the meter is in “standby” mode.

4) Wave again after a few seconds to turn back tinto “read” mode because the power company might start detecting malfunctions. If you do it too often – the power company will detect speed changes and will send someone to investigate what’s on there. It happens more quickly with old electromechanical meters (which are also more reliable when attacked by EMP).

5) Wave again to slow it down, etc. Repeat this five times, and you will get 1W usageage on your bill instead of 2-3 like in the example above. If you wave the magnet three more times (total of seven) before the power company gets suspicious, you’ll get 3 W instead of 7. The bigger the magnet is – the better for slowing meter; in most cases, even a very big one won’t be visible from the inside of your home unless your electric meter is located near where people can see it from outside through the window or similar opening. Also note that if your meter spins too fast, users might get suspicious because nothing in their home uses so much energy.”

NOTES TO END

As has been said, be careful, but have fun! Try and build up networks of solidarity with people that live close to you or who you feel comfortable with so that you can notify each other if you get in trouble or update each other when gas providers, landlords, bailiffs etc. are snooping around your local area. Also, be mindful that this is not a complete list. Have further chats with people you trust or do your own searching to discover new ways of getting your basic needs met whilst breaking the system intent on upping our bills and emptying our pockets.

xxx

MerriCatherine and Kiksuya Khola – An introduction to the 4th world: Does ‘working class’ mean the same thing for all races?

Posted on 20/10/2024 - 26/12/2024 by muntjac

[Stolen from; https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/merricatherine-and-kiksuya-khola-an-introduction-to-the-4th-world ]

An introduction to the 4th world

Does ‘working class’ mean the same thing for all races?

Introduction to the 4th World

First is first, we need to talk about the 4th world because without the understanding of this term, the whole point will be lost and skewed. “Fourth world” is an extension of the three world model, and can be defined as “Subpopulations existing in a First World country, but with the living standards of those in a third world, or developing country.” While following the three world models classification of nation-state status, the fourth world is not spatially bound. The term itself even screams “unity,” as it was first coined by a Tanzanian diplomat on a trip to Canada Mbuto Milando, referring to the treatment and living conditions of the First Nations. Milando stated that “When native peoples come into their own, on the basis of their own cultures and traditions, that will be the fourth world.” Dr. M. P. Parameswaran, takes this idea a little further in his book “The Fourth World” where he envisions a world based on decentralized democracy and economic production that is detached from consumerism (these ideas earned him a boot from the local Marxist society he was a member of for 33 years). Of course, this term was coined to describe conditions of Indigenous peoples of America, but it can also easily describe that of the conditions that black Americans live in today as well. For example, project housing, income inequality, lack of adequate resources be they educational or for furthering careers, rampant unemployment, hardline policing, and redlining that lead to the segregation of whole neighborhoods.

Black Lives in the 4th World

Black people in the West have been rendered placeless through systemic violence that destroyed entire ethnicities, completely erased sovereignty, prevented access to geopolitics and the politics of ethics. — for even the ghetto is moved from place to place with gentrification. Black people are directly tied to biopolitical oppressions, as evident through the disproportional percentage of the Black population making under a living wage. The American market, and therefore the interests of the capitalists who in turn heavily influence or are directly involved in the American politician ecosystem, determines the placement of the Black ghetto. The Black ghetto, ranging from brown bricks stacked church-high in the Bronx, to flats no taller than the town churches in Tuskeegee surrounded by rubble called “sidewalks”, to the ghastly Victorian-style “homes” of Newburgh, New York is a cesspool of allostatic load that murders: emotional and physical illness, poverty, drug addiction, and violence stemming from the need to survive are consistently enforced even as nearby neighbourhoods of white people enjoy the spoils of chattel slavery and colonialism; resources Black people need are made scarce, usually permanently tied to a working-class existence by their very ontology and further enforced by anti-black pogroms led by non-Black murderers— politicians, their protection, the white betrayers of the “working class”, and of course, the bourgeoisie. We can walk north from Soundview to Co-op City in the Bronx and smell the difference, or take the ferry from Newburgh to Beacon and taste it. Regardless, Black immigrants and natives thrive in their own cultural superstructure: music, food, and the “cool” within these third world conditions are distinctive enough to render the ghetto a nation of its own. But being that the ghetto is placeless, like Black people, the Fourth World is the only nominal representation these societies can have; third-worldists often times hold disdain for these Fourth World societies, having never visited, believing everyone has running water and a home, completely ignoring the police state that arrests many urban Black people who dare to find themselves past the red line and in a green, grassy neighbourhood in Riverdale, or walking through the mansion-zoos in the corners of Newburgh. Neither does the Fourth World fit into the liberation theology of Marx’ development theory where centralized “dictatorship of the proletariat” is essential due to the inherent differences between communities in New Orleans ghettos and that of The Bronx. Because Black people are not monolithic, our liberation calls for a consensual confederate democracy, not a single state of unified ideals. The narrative is simple: Black people are oppressed because of things Black people can not change about themselves: abstractions based upon phenotypes. Black people are also often oppressed through economic disparity, evident in the allostatic load in Black lives. Whether Black people live in a First World country like America or a Third World country like Dominica, there are ghettos to avoid and drive past— for many, they are unable to be avoided because they live there. “There” is the Fourth World— juxtaposed against the bourgeoise and nonblacks of the American first world, and the bourgeoise and nonblacks of the Third World. To be more accurate: there are Fourth Worlds within these oppressed populations where the systemic hatred of ostracized identities acts as prototypical pogrom to the homogenizing nature of fascism. These words are made of people with disabilities, people who are not straight, people who do not conform to gender roles that enforce gender-specific oppressions, the very young, and the elderly. It must, therefore, be said that the Fourth World isn’t a single nationalized entity, but a compass that directs our liberation strategies toward permanently bettering the existence of the subaltern of subaltern populations. It is the science behind bottom-up liberation theory that centers those who need liberation most desperately and permanently, and thus, with the liberation of these groups, frees us all.

Indigenous Lives in the 4th World

The life of an indigenous person in the Americas is rather similar to that of his black cousins, while holding different but also the same oppressions. The country’s 310 Indian reservations have violent crime rates that are more than two and a half times higher than the national average, according to data compiled by the Justice Department, while at the same time unemployment rates have skyrocketed to be around 50 percent of the reservation populations. These “open-air prisons” may offer isolation from the rest of the world, but the hells inside them tell us a story of cyclical poverty and utter hopelessness. We see this manifest in the number of suicides now happening in these communities, where it has now reached an even higher point at 27%, that means 1 in 4 indigenous males between the age of 15 to 24 will commit suicide. These problems haven’t just manifested themselves over the last ten years at the fault of “community planning” or “bad personal investments,” this is completely intentional and by the design of our colonial conquerors, to prevent the revitalization of the indigenous world. But how can we be expected to recover from this when our women and daughters are murdered or kidnapped, and our sons are either locked in prison or murdered on the streets? Why is it that even the minimal programs and benefits we do have, are so decrepit and obsolete that many can’t even gain access to them? This is the essence of the 4th world, living in the systems and places designated and designed to oppress, to keep us down and to keep us out. From the trail of tears to the marches of round valley, we have been whipped shot and starved so that our relocation would go smoother. Even after slavery was officially outlawed, we saw indigenous peoples from all over being subject to those the same conditions time and time again, at the whim of private enterprise as well as colonial government as evident with the Pomo peoples forced servitude at the hands of cattle ranchers. We see this same gate-keeping towards investment etc that we see in the black communities, where when we move in, whites move out, or when we ask for loans we are almost always denied. Native peoples aren’t a monolith and our languages and cultures have fared much better than our bodies, leading to a strong sense of tradition in said communities that has led to the shunning of advancement. But why not, when advancement has always been at the cost of our ways of our bodies and of our minds. Yes, you can say we are “working class” but look at these major differences between the white working class and that of the brown. Not only do we make significantly less and are employed less, but our businesses are subject to intense scrutiny and oversight. In some instances, legal marijuana grows on reservations have been raided by feds multiple times in a single year while just outside the reservation white grows remain untouched and profitable. Yet the eradication and enslavement of native peoples has directly lead to their inclusion in the 4th world with their black cousins, as they were denied (and still are) the ability to set up any basic structures for their future generations, thus not allowing the cycles of poverty to be broken.

A Call For Understanding and Unity

The only logical conclusion of these statistics is that “working class” doesn’t mean the same thing for black and brown bodies as it does white ones. The evidence shows us that even with the same jobs, we are more likely to be homeless, and on the way home, there is a good chance we will be killed just for existing. Because of the intentional segregation by the government, our cultural, spiritual, and economic lives have diverged dramatically in comparison with that of the white American. The 4th world is where we live every day, the 4th world is unique and separate from the “working class” and therefore we cannot simply be deemed “working class.” This may come to be a thorn in the ideas of “no war but class war” but in reality, it needs to be a sign of needed solidarity. Accomplices need to use their privilege to help us remove ourselves from these cycles, as well as understand and center our messages. The black and indigenous peoples of the Americas unite as well, as 4th world peoples, and challenge the notion of “working class v bourgeoisie,” as the exclusive white and colonial concept that it is. Reality shows us the truth, reality shows us its not “rich vs poor” its “black and indigenous poor vs white poor vs white rich,” and unfortunately if the understanding doesn’t come, if the minds don’t change, there is a good chance “working class” will always and forever, be white.

Anon – An Incomplete Chronology Of The August [2011] Riots

Posted on 14/10/2024 - 14/10/2024 by muntjac

PDF FOR PRINTING AUGUST 2011 Deco-booklet SCREEN READING PDF AUGUST 2011 Deco

“Books don’t make revolutionaries. I contend that the Black people who burned down Watts and Detroit don’t have to read. These cats have lived more than the intellectual has read. So they are political by having learned from their existence. Oppression made these cats political.” – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin

This chronology of the riots that followed the police murder of Mark Duggan, a Black man living in London, was first produced by a French anarchist publication ravage editions and later translated by English insurrectionary anarchist project Dark Nights.

ravageeditions.noblogs.org // darknights.noblogs.org

Before August.

In the months before august, small groups of masked rioters caused extensive damage in central London during the protests against budget cuts. During the November 10 (2010) demonstration against education fees an active minority of anarchists and other combative marchers moved in to attack the Conservative Party Headquarters, and many from the formerly passive march occupied and trashed the Milbank building in scenes of joyous destruction broadcast around Britain. From this point on demonstrations in London (such as the ones on November 25 and December 9) got markedly wilder and more riotous and drew in youth from London’s ghettos whose boiling rage was a sign of things to come. Again, on the March 26 (2011) trade union demonstration a large and fast-moving ‘Black Bloc’ roamed around the posh West End, attacking and outmanoeuvring police, smashing and paintbombing banks, shops, a car showroom and luxury hotels including the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly. In July (2011) the City of Westminster police’s “counter terrorist focus desk” called for businesses and members of the public to take part in anti- anarchist repression stating: “Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. Any information relating to anarchists should be reported to your local police.”

How much the scenes of carnage in London contributed to the August insurrection can only be guessed at.

Thursday, August 4.

29-year old Mark Duggan is executed by armed police in Tottenham, London. Police then tamper with evidence, including planting a gun on their victim, shooting a police radio to suggest their victim had fired on police, and moving the vehicle from which they dragged their target. Police then boast of their killing of the Broadwater Farm estate resident in the media.

Saturday, August 6.

– In the afternoon, around a hundred residents of Broadwater Farm march to and demonstrate outside of Tottenham police station calling for “justice” for Mark Duggan

– 20:00 BST, a 16-year-old girl approached them and may have thrown a leaflet or a stone. Police swarmed the girl with shields and batons, causing head injuries. At about 20:20 BST, members of the waiting crowd attacked two nearby police cars, setting them on fire.

– A double-decker bus and several vehicles are burned, shops looted, smashed ATMs, and many shops are devastated by fire.

– A BBC vehicle is targeted.

– A photographer from the Mail on Sunday is beaten and several teams of journalists have to escape the Violence.

– The cops are attacked with stones and petrol bombs – 26 are injured and 8 are hospitalised that night.

– 71 people are arrested.

Sunday, August 7.

Around 3 am, hundreds of people loot the shopping centre in Tottenham Hale, located less than 1km from the epicentre of the riots which began a few hours earlier.

– Fire-fighters are called to 49 arsons between Saturday night and Sunday in this area. In mid-morning the police still face a mob.

– Members of the family of Mark Duggan call for calm but seemingly go unheard.

– In the early evening, incidents break out in other parts of London, including Brixton (where 3 policemen are injured), Waltham Forest, Walthamstow, Islington, Ponders End, Chingford Mount, Oxford Circus (in downtown) and Dalston and Enfield (north), where shops are vandalized and looted, and a police car is destroyed.

– 9 policemen are injured, including 3 hit by a car.

– In Brixton a large sporting goods store is destroyed by fire and looters rob another store. The windows of McDonald’s and KFC restaurants are smashed and graffitied.

– In Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, rioters attack 2 police cars and 2 jewellers in Waltham Cross High Street at around 21:50. A specialist public order unit is sent to the area, along with sections of the

Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Police Dog Unit.

– In Morlanwelz, Belgium, two luxury cars are set on fire and politicians and the media say the arsons were inspired by the riots in England.

Monday, August 8

– In the late afternoon, the riots have spread throughout the capital, including Hackney (near the site of the Olympic Games of 2012), as well as Notting Hill and Clapham and Peckham (south), Lewisham, Camden, Newham, Bethnal Green, East Dulwich, Croydon (where a Sky News satellite truck is attacked, and several journalists are beaten), Woolwich, Ealing and the periphery (where police vehicles are destroyed, and a supermarket is burned down), and other cities. Many shops and vehicles are looted and burned, and several underground stations are closed in London.

– In Bristol some 150 rioters attack shops.

– There is rioting in Leeds and Liverpool and arson attacks in Luton and Oxfordshire.

– In Nottingham a police station is attacked by rioters and a barricade of car tyres is ignited in the St Ann’s area

– In Medway rioters burn cars and confront the police in Gillingham and Chatham.

– In the posh neighbourhood of Notting Hill, London, a luxury two Michelin-starred restaurant and its customers are attacked. A horrified wealthy tourist later reported:

“Around the fourth dish of the tasting course, there were loud bangs outside. The restaurant staff was yelling at us to get away from the windows. Before I knew it, the front door, a solid piece of glass shattered and people came crashing in with hoodies, masks, and random weapons.” The rioters relieve the rich bastards of cash, jewellery and mobile phones.

– A restaurant in Birmingham belonging to Jamie Oliver, media chef, was also ransacked.

– Downing Street announces that David Cameron is cutting short his vacation in Italy and returning to London in a military plane.

– The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announces that he will also cut short his vacation and return as soon as possible.

– 6000 extra cops are deployed in London.

– RIM, the manufacturer of BlackBerry phones, announces that they will fully cooperate with British police if anything is asked of them.

– 334 people have been arrested since the beginning of the riots.

– In Denver, Colorado, USA, a cop car is smashed and the action is claimed in solidarity with the riots in England.

Tuesday, August 9.

– In the early hours, a massive Sony media corporation warehouse in Enfield is looted and torched.

– “It was like a war zone. It was total anarchy” according to a resident of Ealing (a green residential area of West London) commenting on the events of the day. A rioter in Hackney says: “It’s us versus them, the police, the system. They call it looting and criminality. It’s not that. There’s a real hatred against the system.”

– Early in the morning, a riot van is set on fire at a police station in Bristol. The action was claimed by anarchists in a statement.

“We rejoice the uprising of many State-brutalised, marginalised youths as they establish a new relationship to their surroundings, and whatever other insurgents who have chosen revolt across England. To all the disgusted ‘citizens’ who can only see the daily class violence, inherent in this society, when the tables are turned – what did you expect? We see a new decade of urban war forged anew by various shades of social combatants within that our role as revolutionaries and anarchists being to constantly push forward our trajectory and ideas, spread destructive attacks to new areas and levels of engagement, find accomplices through the clashes (where and when our desires correlate), and maintain and expand an international informal network of comrades.

Making this action, in our minds was everyone killed by the cops, arrested in the rioting, the anti-fascists imprisoned in this country.”

– In the morning, the London police arrest 3 people suspected of “attempted murder” of a cop. They allegedly tried to run over a police officer who tried to stop their car on the night of Sunday to Monday,

suspecting them of involvement in looting a store nearby.

– Emergency meeting of the Government, after which David Cameron announces a meeting of Parliament on Thursday and more police on Tuesday night. He promises he will do “everything necessary” to restore order in a strategy of zero tolerance for rioters, after four nights of looting and arson throughout England.

– Since the beginning of the riots, more than 450 people have been arrested in London.

– The friendly football match England – Netherlands scheduled Wednesday, August 10 at Wembley Stadium in London is cancelled.

– A 26 year old man, shot in a car Monday night during the riots in Croydon (London), dies of his wounds.

– In Salford (Greater Manchester), rioters attack police with stones, many shops are looted and burned. A BBC cameraman is assaulted. 46 people are arrested.

– In Nottingham, several police stations, including those of Canning Circus, Meadows, Oxclose Lane, Bulwell and St Ann’s are attacked. A police car parked outside the Meadows police station is set on fire. Police cars patrolling the streets are hit with bricks and other projectiles.

– In West Bromwich and Wolverhampton many vehicles are burned and shops are looted, while some form barricades.

– In Toxteth, Liverpool, 2 fire trucks and police cars are burned. About 200 people face the police and ransack shops. The police arrest 37 rioters.

– In Gloucester an abandoned building (a former art college!) is set on fire. Vehicles and bins are torched and youths attack police with stones and bottles.

– More riots in Birmingham, Luton, Cambridge, Birkenhead, Leicester, Milton Keynes… In Cambridge youths gather to loot the shopping centre and attack police – 2 cops are injured and 5 rioters arrested.

– On Canvey Island, in the Thames estuary, eleven arson attacks are reported with the targets ranging from rubbish bins to vehicles.

– 80 people confront police at Salford Precinct. A library is set alight and there is looting. A mob of up to 200 youths raid an off-licence and the main shopping precinct in Salford. The Lidl supermarket on nearby Fitzwarren Street is looted, trashed and set alight by rioters.

– In Derby, over 20 cars and a local shop are damaged in a series of overnight disturbances in the Campbell Street, Allenton and Brighton Road, lvaston areas. A pair of 15 year olds were arrested afterwards, according to the police.

– An event described as an “incident of disobedience” is reported at a young offenders’ institution in Ashfield, Bristol.

– During the riots in Bristol a van of the energy company Eon and a BMW are set on fire in the St Pauls neighbourhood by ‘Informal Anarchist Federation / Eco-anarchist Insurrectionaries’ “for Eons total disregard for the natural ecosystems” and in solidarity with those arrested that night by the police.

Wednesday, August 10.

– In Birmingham, 3 vigilantes patrolling to protect shops are hit by a car and die soon after. Three suspects are questioned on Friday by police in connection with the homicide investigation.

– New clashes between police and rioters in Eltham (South London).

– During the day, the Metropolitan Police announce that 768 arrests have been made in London and reported 111 injuries in its ranks.

– PM Cameron gives police authorisation to use rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the rioters.

– In Enfield, Eltham and Southall, citizens and traders form vigilante groups to stop the spread of rioting. Members of the nationalist ‘English Defence League’ are involved. Police say that these groups “hinder its operations.”

– In Madrid, Spain, two trucks of the company GDF-SUEZ are burned. A communiqué claiming the action says:

“the attacks will continue against all that which enslaves us; also for our sisters in England who, having understood that the misery in your lives is caused by the world of commodities, have fiercely launched yourselves to destroy them — from here, strength in your struggle, and may the insurrection that these days ravages England spread everywhere. FREEDOM FOR BILLY, SILVIA, COSTA AND MARCO! FREEDOM FOR THE ANTI-AUTHORITARIAN PRISONERS INCARCERATED BY THE GREEK STATE! To Mark Duggan, never forget, never forgive”

Thursday, August 11.

– In Bristol, the local newspaper the Evening Post is targeted by anarchists. Office windows are smashed and the facade is paintbombed resulting in damage estimated as £20,000. The communiqué that is later released states:

“The media demonises those who choose to resist and fight back, opening the way for more repression again us all. They attempt to divert our attention away from the real everyday thugs and looters – the cops and capitalists, who routinely get away with large-scale theft and murder. This is part of the divisive strategy of rulers to get us fearing and fighting each other and taking sides with authority against rebels. This action was made by people who are not fooled. They do not understand our anger as an unstoppable force that will not be stopped by batons or bullets – we fight with all means for a future of complete liberty we have yet to know. When the gloves come off and the social war has never been clearer, the class enemy reply on corporate media to be used as just another weapon against us all who want something better for our own lives and those yet to come. Let’s see the bosses and politicians scrabble to be seen with Brooms on the streets – it’s their mess come back to bite them, the lines are drawn: this is what Big Fucked Society looks like.”

A man’s DNA is found at the crime scene later leading to a raid on a Bristol squat by ven-loads of police (plus Bristol Evening Post journalists!). The wanted man, Huw “Badger” Norfolk, is not found by the cops, but the police seize material (including computers and phones) to continue their investigation.

– The police open a murder investigation after the death of a 68 year old London man, who was hospitalised by rioters after attempting to put out flames in industrial bins on August 8.

– In the evening, incidents break out in Banbury (Oxford) and Dunstable (Bedfordshire), where shop are burned.

– Shorty after midnight, a transmitting antenna of the BBC is set on fire in Bedminster, Bristol. The action is later claimed by ‘International ELF-FAI’ dedicating the action to those captured and in prison and those fighting the cops in the streets.

– David Cameron announces the 30 million pounds will be made available to help traders to repair the damage. He mentions the possibility of a curfew and deployment of the army if the riots continue.

– The presence of at least 16,000 cops on the streets of London until the weekend is confirmed.

– 922 people have been arrested in London alone, 401 charged.

– 50 photographs of suspects captured by surveillance cameras, are exposed to plain view on a giant screen mounted on a van, which from 7 am to 9 pm will drive around the centre of Birmingham.

– Faced with the unexpected influx of defendants, judges of the courts of the capital and other major English cities sit up all night to try and imprison the rebels.

– In Zurich, Switzerland, eight windows of a bank are broken and the messages “Londres partout” (London everywhere) and “Liberté” are spray-painted.

Friday, August 12.

– Courts in London, Birmingham and Manchester remain open for the second consecutive night to deal with those captured by the State.

– The Prime Minister and the Mayor of London propose to evict tenants of social housing in the event of direct or indirect participation in the riots.

– The Metropolitan Police announce that 1051 arrests have been made and that there have been 591 indictments in London in the wake of the riots and looting of recent days.

– In total, authorities say that more than 1,500 people have been arrested in connection with the riots throughout Britain.

Saturday, August 13.

– Cameron mentions the possibility of installing William Bratton (former chief of police in the American cities of New York, Boston and Los Angeles) as special advisor.

– A communiqué is published anonymously claiming the attack with bricks in the early evening (7:30pm) on 3 unmarked police cars at Trinity Road police station in Bristol, and the smashing of windows at two banks several days earlier (the night of Tuesday 9 to Wednesday 10, August) on White Ladies Road in Bristol as well. The claim says: “both actions were in solidarity the uk’s latest resistance. keep the flames burning till the cites turn to ash”

Sunday, August 14.

– Scotland Yard estimate that there have been 2140 arrests since the beginning of the revolt, and about 1000 people charged.

– In Battersea, London, a group of people attack an RBS bank with stones, and spray the messages “SOLIDARITY TO THE REBELS” and “FIRE TO THE PRISON”, claiming the action in solidarity with rioters and the Antifa England prisoners.

– In Berlin, Germany, the windows of the Sparkasse bank in Heinrich-Heine Straße are broken and “brennt UK” (UK burns) is spray-painted on the bank. A communiqué claims the action in solidarity with the UK riots.

Tuesday, August 16.

– In Portland, Oregon, USA, the Police Station 47th & SE Hawthorne Street has its windows broken. The action is later claimed in solidarity with the UK rioters and is signed “a few anarchists.”

Thursday, August 18.

– In Fresno, California, USA, petrol bombs are thrown into the underground parking lot of a police station where police department vehicles and cops’ personal cars are parked. Two cars burn, a communiqué claims the action in solidarity with the UK rioters.

Saturday, August 20.

– RIM, maker of BlackBerry phones, complain of cyber attacks on its site and its databases. A hacker group, ‘TeaMp0isoN’ claim responsibility and threaten to publicly release sensitive information stolen from the company if RIM continue to disclose information to the police about the rioters.

– West Midlands Police release pictures of rioters shooting at police officers in both Birmingham and Wolverhampton. A police helicopter was shot at in the Newton part of Birmingham.

Sunday, August 21.

– About 30 people march from a police station to Brixton prison against the cops and in solidarity with those arrested during the riots. At the prison the anarchist demonstration exchange shouts with the prison the anarchist demonstration exchange shouts with the prisoners including “Freedom Now!” “The passion for freedom is stronger than any prison”, “Cops, pigs, murderers”, “no justice, no peace, fuck the police”.

Thursday, August 25.

– Following Facebook and RIM (BlackBerry), the social networking business Twitter is will the meet with the Home Secretary Teresa May about the riots.

Monday, September 12.

– In Athens, Greece, two incendiary devices made of gas cylinders explode in the entrances to a Marks & Spencer and a Benetton store, avoiding danger to passersby. This action is claimed in solidarity with the UK rioters, as well as Chilean anarchist combatants, and criticises the leftist-anarcshit group. ‘North London Solidarity Federation’ for collaborating with the police-media language of repression.

Monday, September 19.

– In Bristol, a Tesco and Lloyds are attacked, their windows broken and ATMs sabotaged. The action was claimed a few days later, in solidarity with those arrested during the riots.

Saturday, September 24.

– In Hoveton, a small Norfolk village, a local authority 4 x 4 vehicle is set on fire outside the police station.

– In Bristol, 2-3 unmarked vehicles are hit with paint-stripper at the CID’s Serious Crime HQ for the South West. A communiqué by ‘(Thorn in your side) Splinter division’ states: “Why not look at the frustration caused by poverty, when the only vision is bleakness, mickey mouse crimes being trumped up to heavy charges an no way out of the ghetto, sure we disobey and do it for the kicks, what else is there? Window shopping and crack, and they leave us feeling hollow. We are never going to make it in your fairytale world [Chief Inspector] William [White], so we’ve chose to back a dead cert, the one your having difficulty catching, the odds are in our favour, he runs fast, the evening post smasher.” This is a reference to the anarchist attack on the Bristol Evening Post and the Bristol police’s inability to catch those responsible.

Sunday, September 25.

– New series of raids in London, forty suspects are arrested following investigations by Scotland Yard on virtual “social networks”.

– The City of London is on standby and more than 10,000 policemen are mobilised in anticipation of possible rioting before the new Notting Hill Carnival after the petrol bomb attack by masked men on a police van (with cops in) in Edmonton in the north of the capital. The cops were not injured.

– A subsidiary of Lloyds TSB in Fishponds, Bristol, is attacked, all its windows broken. Action claimed in solidarity with the rioters and looters who face judicial repression, and those who escaped its clutches.

Inquilab – Muhammad Kamran Ashiq Lives Forever

Posted on 08/10/2024 - 08/10/2024 by muntjac

Repost from: https://inquilab.noblogs.org/post/2024/09/30/muhammad-kamran-ashiq-lives-forever/

On September 18th Muhammad Ashiq was detained by Greek police for resisting arrest and property damage. What the media tells us about Muhammad Ashiq are the basic tick box statistics about his life – He was 37 years old. He was a delivery rider born in Pakistan. He’d been in Greece for more than 20 years, he’d arrived as a teenager. The reality of his life – what he loved, what motivated him, what went on in his dreams – the statistics have no interest in. The reason we know his name is because he went down fighting, defending himself constantly over a period of several days until his body could no longer sustain the injuries being inflicted and his spirit escaped to fight on.

Muhammad Ashiq’s body was found in Agios Panteleimonas police station on September 21st and identified on medical records as deceased, in circumstances to be investigated. As news of the circumstances of his passing and photographs of his injuries, evidence of torture spread around Athens, the spirit of resistance has been growing among the masses. Delivery riders unions have gone on strike, the student movement has come out in force and in Exarcheia fires blaze. Muhammad Ashiq went down fighting against a system that has no right or need to exist, through our actions his ability to fight back is carried on.

In July the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture said that during a visit to Greece in 2023, it “again received several credible and consistent allegations of deliberate physical ill-treatment of detained foreign nationals by police officers in certain police stations in Athens”. Agios Panteleimonas police station has a long history of abuse and collaboration with far-right groups.

These accounts, coupled with the European Court of Human Rights’ repeated condemnation of Greece for its failure to address ill-treatment by police underscore the need for action. Across Athens and worldwide resistance to the fascists on the street and the fascists in uniform is spreading like wildfire.

In London comrades from the Anti-Racist Defendants and Prisoners Solidarity Network held a vigil for Muhammad Ashiq and a banner drop outside the Greek Embassy last Saturday. We gathered in support of the uprising in Athens and to demonstrate against police brutality and racism across Greece. But we also gathered in London because the British ruling class hold their share of the responsibility. They dress in suits and keep their hands clean while trying to hide their connections to the police and street fascists who throw the punches, this is what we are exposing and mobilising to resist.

The British government fund Frontex and Fortress Europe in the billions, from paying for tear gas shells fired by the CRS at refugee children in Calais, to push backs by coast guards and drowning of migrants off the shores of Greece. If a wealthy thief was to rob all your wealth that you needed to survive, and take it into his mansion, you would be breaking down his door to take it back, and this is exactly what is happening right now. Money provided by the British government fuels the hostile environment which migrants in Greece face. The fascist street thugs, the police, the border guards and racist politicians work together for the same interests.

As natural resources are extracted and looted and the working class are exploited for profit across the Global South, wealth is drained to centres of finance capital in the Global North. Migrants follow the flow of capital to survive, to support our families and to take back what’s being stolen. Our countries are not poor, our cultures and our eco-systems are rich and the land is rich in natural resources. We are being made financially poor through neo-colonial economic robbery, our migration to the Global North is one way we take back what’s being stolen from us. Reparations aren’t to be asked for or begged for because the ruling class will never let go of their wealth and power freely, reparations must be snatched out of their hands.

The British East India Company and then the British Empire first colonised the countries today known as India and Pakistan. In 1857 the people rose up in rebellion and fought the first war of Independence. Among the leaders were Bahadur Shah and the Rani of Jhansi, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs rose up in unity. Eventually the uprising was defeated with the help of collaborators. In response the British Empire put in place a system of divide and rule, buying the support of selected princes and leaders and turning people against each other on lines of religious faith. This system was modelled on sectarianism stirred up in Ireland and Scotland by the British aristocracy to divide and control the working class.

The British Empire has been overthrown but it’s legacy remains for us to dismantle. Today the British government, City of London corporations and the trilateral commission work closely with Bill Gates to buy up land in Panjab. The agenda here is to replace diverse ecosystems with mono-culture, cash crops, genetic modification and terminator seeds. Short term profit is persued without regard for long term desertification, when the farmers rise up in rebellion they come under attack from police and drones sent by Narendra Modi’s fascist government. The BJP claim to be nationalist, but Hindutva politics represents the continuation of the colonial game of divide and rule, the BJP’s support for the buying up of land stands testament to their role as collaborators in neo-colonialism. Muhammad Ashiq was in Greece because his homeland continues to be impoverished and colonised, responsibility lies with the ruling class in London so we’re taking the resistance to them.

In London we live away from the land, out of touch with nature and in a metropolis built for the sole purpose of sustaining the concentration of wealth and power into the hands of the ruling class, exploiting and draining energy from the rest of us in the process. Our location in close proximity to the centre of global capital provides us with the capability to target cracks and weaknesses in the belly of the beast.

Beyond our physical bodies, wherever we are thought about, spoken about or the effects of our actions are felt, how we come to exist in the collective consciousness represent extensions of who we are. Material bodies have a limited time span on this planet, but ideas, memories, legacies and the consequences of actions live forever, we make the spirits of all those whose actions live on in their name immortal.

Anarchist anti-racist comrades are among those calling for a sustained escalation of resistance to accelerate the collapse of capitalism, the dispersal of power and energy from the ruling class and the taking back of land by the people who live off and on the land in harmony with nature.

We need to be using a diversity of tactics to halt the rise of fascism and to bring down the fragile fascist structures already in existence. Fascism is a deadly system of total war, designed to keep the ruling class and the capitalist system alive through it’s dying breaths, breaking the natural bonds that exist between people through race hate and division and infecting minds with false pretences of patriotic glory and anti-globalism.

The planetary eco-system is in crisis, while never ending growth, space colonialism and imagining artificial intelligence and not ourselves to be our saviours, are the fantasies of the super rich. For the rest of us the stars are the realm of our dreams and Mother Earth is the realm of our waking lives to be preserved for future generations. The future isn’t promised but it can be fought for and won, we are all free in every moment we strike.

Comrades from the Anti-Racist Defendants and Prisoners Solidarity Network are calling for abolitionists and anti-racists across London to gather again at the Greek Embassy, this Saturday 5th October 6pm, for a vigil and banner drop.

1A Holland Park

W11 3TP

London, England