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sabato 19 maggio 2012

1 may day turkey riots 2012

(http://karakok.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/1-may-day-turkey-riots-2012/)
May day to fight againts capitalism and goverment also has historical
advance since 1886 up to day has possed with loudly and colourfull protests
of antiauthoritarian and the others. Beside festive celebrations ,nervy
attack against goverment and capitalism has broken out from Istanbul, Amed,
Dersim (Turkey – Kurdisyan) to Seattle, Oakland, Montreal and Berlin.In Istanbul the preparetions of the celebration started at 7:30 am when
many groups including anarchists,parties.and other formations reached to
the way to Taksim Square . Three distinct cortege departed on sisli
location were including anarhist block,Collective Earth and Freedom, Black
and Red Cortege, Revalutionary Anarchist Action. Meeting at the entry of
the metro station there was a festive cortege created with anthems and
songs broadcasting by a sound system accompanied by drums and trumpets
including, Anarchist block, Animal liberation activists and Freedom to
earth activists behind the placard that ‘we are going to make fire of Banks
,factories, Jails,constitutions, Flags and uniforms. After the departure a
group of activist from anarchist block attacked to the targets of local and
multinational bank and companies on cumhuriyet street such Starbucks,
Burger King, McDonalds, Halk Bank, Is Bank, 2 Garanti bank branches,
Sekerbank, Kuveyttürk, Akbank, Yap?kredi, Defacto, Anadolu Insurance,
Beytem Plaza and the group making way demolishing advertisement boards and
bus stations, shouted slogans that Riot revolution anarchy, Direct action
against capitalism. Neither dictator nor democracy riot destruction anarchy
in Harbiye on the frence of military musium a placard hanged that ‘Fire to
jails freedom to prisoners,Rawin Sterk and Osman Evcan are with us” and
then activists reached the check point and burning the black flags ended
the action . As usual dominant media and liberal left media maked inaccurate
speculations against activists. The city governor declared the threat that
the activiests is going to get haviest punishments.
*Revolutionary Anarchist action*,High School Anarchist action.Anarchist
Womens, Colective 26a as previous year walked as a complete cortege and
behind them the group with name of Disobedients walked with the placard
that “Dont work, eat the boss before the demonstration” the group prepared
a sharing table and distributed manifests and sandwiches.The group walked
to the check points by slogans and by a media declaration ended the
demonstration.
*Black/red cortege* gathered in early time of morning front of the Sisli
mosque on the invitation of earth and freedom collective. After then the
group met to anarchist block and stood here for a while then got the right
side of the road.Later walked to 1 may area and entered.
*Ankara -* During the world worker’s day celebration in Ankara Tandogan
and S?hh?ye area police interfered by gas bombs.In Ankara the celebrations
were held on two distinct area.Police attacked by gas bombs to the
demonstrations of the non governmental organizations like KESK,DISK,Halk
evleri,Doctors union,in S?hh?ye.The workers assambled in early times at the
front of the train station walked S?hh?ye area.After then hundreds of
people wanted to walk to the train station and forced the police
barricade.Polices using gas bomb increased the tension.
*Dersim -* In the 1 may celebration held by unions and policial parties
masses exposed to police terror.Thousand of people gathered on different
points in the city departed to the meeting area by slogans and applause.The
police surrounded the meetin area by barriers the first celebrated may 1
for the workers after then polize wanted to monitorized the masses taking
camera and checking up.After then tension came out between the
demonstrators reacting the aplications and then police attacked by gas
bombs.Clashes broke out between the demonstrators wanted to enter the area
and police.Masses responded the attacks by stones and breaking down the
barriers entered the area.Arter the negotiations between police and
celebration comittee the incidents ended.
*Amed -* After the 1 may celebration held in diyarbakur in baglar
neighbourhood a clash broke out between police and demonstrators.After the
1 may meeting held in station square in baglar neighbourhood dörtyol and
kuru çesme district clashes broke out between demonstrator and
police.Polices interference by armored vehicles demonstrators responden by
sound bombs and molotof coctails.In additional against polices interference
by gas bombs and compressed water to the demonstrators responded by
stones.Groups disbanded at the evening hours.Because of the slogans in the
meeting diyarbak?r republic prosecution office declared to start an
investigation.
*Ankara -* Anarchists participated to 1 may as Ankara anarchy initiative
anarchist-communist collective by a associated pancarte.The cortege reached
300 people by the people who participated after seeing the cortege.After
reached the check point the group didn’t want to be checked by police
that’s why tension rised up between the group and police.The demonstrator
participated the demonstration by a pancarte that ‘we carying a new world
in our hearts and if the heart goes on to puls this fight continue.And
anarchist carried portraid and pictures quoted from many anarchist and
rebellious authors.
*Mersin -* In mersin anarchist walked by slogans iot revolution
anarchy,Neither god nor state.Don’t pray just rebel.With or without money
no education.Don’t cry because of hunger loot the markets .Break the office
free police. Police steep tea .Very low attendance 1 may left behind.
*Izmir -* Anarchist this year participated dye demonstrations by
invitation of black wind by a pancarte that’anarchy is to organize.The
group containing almost 80 persons shouted many slogans entering the area
by black red and black green slogans.
*Bursa -* Anarchist carnaval was in the street this year again by banner
that ‘When the goverment take aim at the life ,the life become a resistance
to government.Anarchist s didn’t want to be checked by police thats why
tension rised up between anarchist and police,demonstration comitee.And
then near the barricade they shouted a slogan that not to trap to the
street ‘ and disbanded.
*videos:*
https://youtu.be/7ggJhxDHwJ8
https://youtube.com/watch?v=H3A1wQK4sgE&list=PLDB5039AF17BA616F&feature=plpp_play_all
*images:*
http://imgur.com/a/WVUg1

“March of Millions” in Moscow and the Anarchists

(source: http://avtonom.org/en/news/march-millions-moscow-and-anarchists-photosvideo)
On the 6th of May, a lot of anarchists took part in almost all events which occured in Moscow. There was a peaceful march from Kaluzhskаja to Bolotnaja square, after that it became clear that the entrance was forbidden for people, protesting against the inauguration of Putin. The anarchists were in the front line, took an active part in fights with police, throwing at them bottles, umbrellas, sticks, asphalt pieces, smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails.

Following that, anarchists tented and didn’t let displace them from the square. To build the barricades the anarchists used metal cordons and even biotoilets. The most active protesters were arrested, however, some of them managed to rescue from the policemen. The both sides had the wounded, a part of whom were hospitalized.
Despite the fact that the police were able to divide 100,000 of protesters into small groups and extrude them either out of Bolotnaja Square and the opposite side of the Obvodnyj channel, many anarchists as well as hundreds of other participants were left standing on the Small Moskvoretsky Bridge and later they started a new procession down the Bolchaja Ordynka street.
The movement on the streets was stopped by the police. Media reported that a spontaneous demonstration at the beginning of the Bolchaja Tatarskaja Street and then blocked near the Tretyakov Gallery was organized by about 2 000 people.
However, about 200-300 people came to police station ‘Yakimanka” where the detainees were kept. Almost at midnight, the protesters were kicked out from there, most active of them were re-arrested.
Police apprehended more than 3 hundred people, including at least 30 anarchists.
According to preliminary data of the police, the total number of detainees rose at 450, while 11 participants and about 30 policemen wounded, including knife wounds. Law enforcement agencies reported, three policemen got a head injury, two – split chins and 7 policemen suffered from the gas sprays.
At the police stations detainees were being bitten, an ambulance took from “Meshchansky” station three participants. The interrogations of injured have been already started in hospitals.
The prosecutor’s office launched criminal cases under article “Calls for the riot” and “Violence against  representatives of authority”, nevertheless, the violence inflicted by police was legal.
All the detainees are to face Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code (disobeying a lawful order of a police officer), according to the laws, they can be arrested for 15 days. Most of the activists spent the night in police stations. It is also reported of the allegations against some protesters referring to Articles Part 3. 212 of the Criminal Code – “Calls for the riot”, and Part 1 of Art. 318 of the Criminal Code – “Violence against  representatives of authority”
According to police, “March of Millions” gathered about 8000 people. Some opposition members claim that here were about 100 thousand people. But 20,000 participants seem to be most realistic.
Let us remind that the large-scale protests started in Moscow in December after the falsification of parliamentary election results, and went on following the presidential election on March 4. The Russian opposition movement consists of several groups. On Sunday, May 6, demonstrators with (hanging) black and red flags cooperated with representatives of the Libertarian Party of Russia, and Russian Orthodox monarchists walked with people who have the portraits of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara in their hands.
But they all were united by an aversion to the perspective of Vladimir Putin’s return in the Kremlin for another 12 years.
Scared policeman on the 6th of May. His helmet was riped out and thrown away, people knocked him down and start to beat. This is the moment when he cried to his friends- “Guys, help me!” with  the fear in his eyes
more pictures at: http://avtonom.org/en/news/march-millions-moscow-and-anarchists-photosvideo

Translation to English: Lera Ivanova

(for assorted video, check original at http://anarcho-news.info/news-629)

venerdì 18 maggio 2012

Caracas,Venezuela: Movilizan tanquetas frente a la Planta

Caracas, Venezuela: Continúa el enfrentamiento armado entre los presos y los militares en la Planta

Un grupo de presos que se niegan a desalojar La Planta, una cárcel de Caracas que el gobierno ordenó clausurar, iniciaron el jueves un nuevo tiroteo que obligó a las autoridades a desplegar a las fuerzas del orden para proteger la zona, tras la muerte la semana pasada de un vecino, reportó la agencia AFP. Desde “hace aproximadamente una hora están enfrentados y estamos protegiendo a la población” que vive en la zona aledaña, informó al canal oficial VTV la ministra de Asuntos Penitenciarios, Iris Varela, excluyendo una toma por la fuerza de la cárcel. La ministra explicó que dentro del penal hay “presos de presos” y que la mayoría “está sometida por un grupito muy violento que no acepta ningún tipo de razonamiento”, aunque aseguró que su despacho mantiene el diálogo. 

Caracas, Venezuela: Imagenes sobre el enfrentamiento que se produce en estos momentos en la Planta

Caracas – Sommossa nel carcere La Planta, pesanti scontri armati.


Giovedì, 16 maggio, nel carcere La Planta di Caracas si è verificata una sommossa carceraria, con detenuti armati che hanno iniziato a dar fuoco a dei padiglioni. Le notizie sono discordanti. Fonti del regime bolivariano tendono a minimizzare la protesta, parlando di scontri armati tra bande rivali, con detenuti presi in ostaggio. Altre fonti parlano, invece, di scontri armati con agenti della Guardia Nacional, intervenuta anche con blindati. Mentre gli scontri sono durati per ore all’interno del penitenziario, all’esterno i familiari si sono scontrati con le forze antisommossa. In queste ore sta avvenendo il trasferimento dei prigionieri da La Planta ad altri penitenziari venezuelani. Le fonti ufficiali non ancora riescono ad avere un quadro preciso della situazione, lasciando intendere che all’interno del carcere ci sia un certo numero di detenuti deceduti.
Proponiamo un comunicato diffuso da parte dell’Anónima Solidaridad Anarquista che spiega meglio il contesto in cui s’è verificata questa sommossa.
Maggiori approfondimenti sui blog anarchici venezuelani:
_________________
Anónima Solidaridad Anarquista – De la falsa concertación bolivariana al Conflicto Social
Este jueves 16 de mayo, hemos sido testigos de la ruptura oficial de un mito que adeptos y simpatizantes del comandante Hugo Chávez han tratado de vender en el mercado de favores en que se ha convertido el mercado de izquierdas mundial, el de la paz social. Las prisiones en Venezuela como en el resto del planeta, están atestadas de personas provenientes de los estratos bajos del complejo entramado social que coexiste en este territorio. La Casa de Preeducación y Trabajo Artesanal del Paraíso, mejor conocida como “La Planta” no es la excepción. Ubicada en una de las principales arterias viales de esta horrible ciudad, La “Planta” es un monstruo de concreto que se alza y nos recuerda a todos sus habitantes el destino incierto de aquellos que deciden ir contra el contrato social, sus agujereadas paredes han sido testigo y cobijo de infinidad de presos, desde policías, yuppies vinculados al “terrorismo financiero”, cubanos anticastristas, delincuentes comunes y hasta algunos encapuchados de los 90´s en sus mal olientes pasillos ha pasado y convivido de todo. Este deposito humano y la decidía que los rodea dio paso a una forma de organización jerarquizada en la cual los mismos delincuentes no solo explotaban a sus compañeros de reclusión sino que gestionaban la coexistencia entre ellos; siendo proveedores, señores feudales y agentes de festejo para el resto de la población recluida, claro esta con una previa y jugosa indemnización de aquellos que querían disfrutar del banquete. Esto genero que la prisión se convirtiera en un gran negocio capitalista, donde todo tenía un precio y valor, sin darse cuenta los reclusos de la Planta que vivían en el lugar más costoso de la ciudad, y en algunos casos hasta el más cotizado. Este negocio capto la atención de las autoridades siempre dispuestas a disputar cualquier lucroso negocio, sino que también les quemaba la manos, el que la organización de los presos los terminar desplazando en la gestión de la prisión, así como al egocentrismo bolivariano como un factor de estabilidad. Es por ello que el novísimo Ministerio para Asuntos Penitenciarios decidió ponerle manos al asunto. Ante un intento de retomar el control de la Planta, los presos han respondido con fuego. No solo se han atrincherado en una clara demostración de desafío a la autoridad sino que han ido más allá y han desatado una guerra de baja intensidad contra el aparato represivo de la Quinta Republica. Aunque nos pronunciamos contra del abuso empleado por los pranes (jefes del penal) y el empleo abusivo y capitalista de sus practicas, también entendemos que son un subproducto del sistema y de un empleo discriminatorio de la renta petrolera. Nuestra solidaridad es con sus familiares y allegados que sufren a las afueras del penal y contra la prisión como pena en esta sociedad desigual. Sin duda alguna con los sucesos de la “Plantan” dejan al descubierto la ficción de la presunta “paz social” de que se jacta el oficialismo y deja entrever que en tiempos de falsa igualdad social, que todavía se respira el germen de la Guerra Social Solidaridad con los familiares de los reclusos Una muerte en prisión es un crimen de estado
ASA (Anónima Solidaridad Anarquista)

http://culmine.noblogs.org/2012/05/18/caracas-sommossa-nel-carcere-la-planta-pesanti-scontri-armati/#more-15364

giovedì 17 maggio 2012

Broome: 600 people protest at police station as riot police come to town


May 13: MORE than 600 people have gathered outside Broome police station in the Kimberley in a showdown with authorities over a proposed gas hub.
An estimated 250 police with riot gear started arriving in the coastal town on Friday night in what residents say is a pre-emptive move to clear protesters from the controversial James Price Point gas hub site 60km north of town.
Residents said they feared police would move in as early as Monday morning to physically remove protesters from the Woodside Petroleum site, as a Wednesday deadline looms for a Broome Shire move-on notice to clear camps in the area.
“The community is feeling like they’re in lock-down here,” a Broome resident, who did not wish to be identified, told AAP today.
“We’re expecting a showdown tomorrow morning.
“It could be tomorrow, Tuesday or Wednesday, because the Shire has instructed one of the protest camps to be removed by Wednesday.”
The resident said police with riot gear continued to fly or be bussed in from Perth and regional centres, with another 60 arriving on Saturday – bringing the estimated total to 250 officers
He said the heavy police presence in the normally quiet tourist town was “unprecedented since the Noonkanbah dispute”, referring to the violent clashes of the 1970s and 80s between WA police and protesters near Fitzroy Crossing, when oil company AMAX was given state approval to drill on an Aboriginal sacred site.
The James Price Point dispute has many parallels with Noonkanbah, with the WA government locked in battle with conservationists, local Aborigines and other Kimberley residents over plans to compulsorily acquire the site for a $30 billion liquid natural gas (LNG) processing plant.
Lead developer Woodside has argued it will inject much-needed funds into the local economy, while those opposed claim the site is culturally and environmentally significant with better alternatives, such as existing gas plants in the Pilbara.
WA Premier Colin Barnett claimed on Friday some of those now picketing the site were “professional protesters”, but another Broome resident, Anne Poelina, said most were locals who did not want the project to destroy their pristine environment or disrupt the town’s unique way of life.
“We are the families of Broome residents, we are not professional protesters, and we are concerned about what is coming,” Ms Poelina told AAP.
“This is going to be the biggest industrial precinct in the world, and it will have an impact on the families and the environment.”
While many of the 600 who gathered outside Broome police station this morning left flowers and gifts for the riot squad officers “to give to their mums on Mother’s Day”, some were not happy police did not go outside to meet with them.
“The sergeant on the desk said he didn’t even have five minutes to come and speak to the community of Broome and take (a prepared) letter,” Mitch Torres said.
A Broome police spokeswoman said the crowd had gathered peacefully outside and had started to disperse by early afternoon.
She would not comment further.

http://disaccords.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/broome-600-people-protest-at-police-station-as-riot-police-come-to-town/#more-491

The New Repression: May Day 2012, Berlin

From Crimethinc On May Day 2012, anarchists around the US succeeded in precipitating clashes on a larger scale than in previous years. But it’s important to strategize ahead of our immediate problems, in order to be prepared for the subsequent challenges we will face when we succeed. This report from the May Day 2012 mobilization in Berlin offers a cautionary tale, showing how the commodification of rebellion, the influence of accommodating movement leaders, and the rhetoric of creating safe spaces have been used to neutralize a popular tradition of resistance. If revolt continues to gain momentum in the United States, we can expect to see some of these strategies employed here as well.

The People Rebel

According to Fire and Flames, a book recounting the history of the German Autonomen, the first May Day riots in the Kruezberg area—on May 1, 1987—came as a surprise to everyone. A simple street party became a major conflict involving many sectors of the population, forcing police to abandon the district for hours. From that night of freedom sprang a tradition of mass confrontation, a yearly day of rioting in downtown Berlin.

Rioters in 2000

May Day 2012

May Day 2012 occurred in a context of resurgent revolutionary movements seeking to project their strength. There were many signs that it would be exciting and combative: unexpectedly confrontational actions during the previous year, a call for insurrection days the weekend before, new attempts to squat housing, and efforts to expand the conflict zone to other areas of the city—not to mention, this was the 25th anniversary of the first Kreuzberg May Day riots.
Walpurgisnacht, the traditional anti-capitalist gathering the night before May Day, was moved to Wedding, a residential area seeing gentrification for the first time. This attempt to extend the conflict zone met a suffocating police presence that tightly controlled the actions of the 5000 participants and prevented almost any action outside the route previously registered with the police.
On May 1, for the first time, the traditional revolutionary May Day march attempted to march to the center of the city. Perhaps expectedly, the police surrounded the gathering of 20,000 after some small incidents, declared the march illegal, and steadily broke down the crowd.
Special semi-autonomous snatch squads charged violently into the gathering to extract individuals, making the majority of arrests during the march. Here’s how these work: one cop selects the target and runs forward full speed with the rest of the squad in a compressed line behind. The group flows around the arrest site to form a circle, picking the target up and running, the entire operation usually accomplished in under 20 seconds. People were targeted for wearing masks and showing some sign of fight towards the police.
The suffocating numbers of police caused people to leave so as to avoid being trapped. Later that night, most people had returned to Kreuzberg but were unwilling or unable to precipitate further clashes.

The protests have been received within the radical scene as a bit of a letdown, while the state and establishment view this as a victory. Papers were splashed with headlines such as “May Day Passes Relatively Smoothly” and “May 1st Demonstrations Largely Free of Riots and Violence.”
The reduction of confrontation on May Day is not a result of decreased social momentum. To understand what’s happening, we have to look at the state’s strategy for undermining successful mobilization.
A large movement with thousands of militants can’t be ignored. Millions of euros are spent on the security operation to ensure that the events of May Day do not call the power of the state into question. Officials’ careers can be advanced or ended by the perception of how May Day goes. Media coverage is extensive. The language around the necessity of using force, and against whom, mirrors the US government’s description of “surgical” drone strikes and bombing campaigns against those with whom negotiation is impossible.

Myfest Is Not Your Fest

In 2003, Myfest was created by an alliance of do-gooder liberal types, small capitalists, and neighborhood-watch-style initiatives. The festival, now attended by tens of thousands, was designed specifically to occupy traditional gathering sites of overt political action in Heinrichplatz, Kottbusser Tor, and Mariannenplatz, remaking them as depoliticized zones of cultural activity, commerce, and partying. Through the joint public-private efforts of Myfest and the state, this scheme is intended to achieve complete spatial occupation and psychological control of the population of Kreuzberg.
The control extends from the big picture—about 10,000 police and private security—to minutia: the smallest aesthetic detail of your presentation can determine whether you are allowed to pass dozens of arbitrary entrance and exit controls.

Massive security operations in the US, such as those seen at political conventions and international summits, have carved out artificial spaces in cities for the elite to gather. This security model is designed to shut down all aspects of normal life in a particular zone by establishing an impermeable demarcation between the normal and the special. This is the use of crisis.
Berlin’s May Day, on the other hand, is the mapping of total state control onto the everyday lives and experiences in a specific geographic area. In the festival zone, control is about the creation of fixed continuity and normality where nothing besides a festival can occur above all because everyone knows that nothing besides a festival can occur. The crisis model at least acknowledges a state of exception and increased violence.
To neutralize Berlin’s history of active resistance, Myfest imposes its own convergence on the area. This starts with the branding of the event as a safe space for families, immigrant business people, and anyone wishing to participate in a political May Day event without conflict. “Protest leaders” play an essential role in legitimizing and enforcing the idea that this is not a space for confrontation.
Two dozen stages physically occupy gathering sites; music monopolizes the aural space. Artifacts of resistance are offered for consumption, wielded as weapons against any potential for resistance. You can watch bands under anti-Nazi banners railing against police and fascists. At night, there is a movie showing on the history of the protests.

The banner reads, “Welcome to the police-organized MyFest 2012: get drunk, stuff your face, shove.”
Heading towards the festival zone, the police presence becomes visible a full mile away, increasingly steadily until you reach the actual checkpoints where bags are searched for bottles and weapons. The police officers who serve as bouncers courteously move aside to let in the right people, but sternly grip their weapons as they tell other individuals to fuck off. At one line, you may not be allowed to leave due to a pierced ear or a political t-shirt, while at another you have no issues. It’s the kind of arbitrary repression that says, “We do what the fuck we want.”
The zone itself is closed to all vehicular traffic, ceded to pedestrian commerce in order to avoid the possibility of people trying to occupy the roads for anything else. Groups of 30-60 plainclothes police with earpieces monitor the crowds; additional groups of “Anti-Konflikt-Team” police work to “reduce tension.”
As the night progresses, the proportion of radicals begins to rise and police visibility becomes more suffocating. Small autonomous groups of riot police snake through the crowd seemingly at random, looking at individuals or standing near smaller groups they wish to intimidate. Sometimes they deliberately shoulder people to emphasize that there is nothing anyone can do in response. It’s a difficult tactical environment, a fact recognized by those who want to continue contesting space and by those who believe it’s better to stay out of the way.

Putting Down Roots, Escaping Plateaus

All this is not to say there is no future for May Day confrontations in Berlin. Many avenues for experimentation suggest themselves: shifting to decentralized actions around the periphery, attacking the checkpoints themselves, precipitating conflicts at new flashpoints via squatting or occupations. This is not the venue for a complete evaluation of the options. Rather, we should focus on what May Day in Berlin can teach US anarchists.
Many US cities have been known as anarchist hotbeds over the last decade, and at least one seems in the running for a repeat championship. Yet successful outbursts of activity have often been followed by escalating police repression and movement fragmentation, locking anarchists in cycles of confrontation with the state (and each other) that have been difficult to disengage from.
What’s astounding about Berlin’s May Day is not just that the authorities have been successful at limiting people’s ability to riot; it’s also that each year thousands of people keeping trying despite the odds. The ability to regularly manifest a collective desire to publicly attack our oppressors is missing throughout the United States. This failure speaks to the problems anarchists have had at rooting themselves anywhere from which they can consistently struggle—be it workplace, school, neighborhood, or margin. We’ve gotten better at gathering for occasional storms, but haven’t yet broken through to creating permanent sites or traditions of confrontation—Oakland’s admirable recent attempts notwithstanding.
Throughout the year, rioting and acts of sabotage occur regularly in Berlin—click here to see a partial map of car burnings between 2008 and 2011—but they exist in the context of a movement that still holds significant space from which it can continually gather, regenerate, and attack. Social spaces and housing and the intimacy and support such spaces generate go hand in hand with the ability to weather repression. The constant flurry of activity at social spaces and their function as default social gathering points enable them to bring new people into the movement on an ongoing basis.
Yet movements rich in numbers and space and steeped in the history of specific tactics often have a hard time adapting and experimenting with new approaches. Owing to the sheer weight of resources being directed within them and against them, shifting strategy often requires a large movement buy-in that is difficult to achieve. If US anarchists are to consolidate recent gains, we’ll need to sink the deep roots our German comrades have, while retaining the unpredictability and dynamism necessary to push beyond plateaus and impasses.

It’s also important to strategize ahead of our immediate problems, so we will be prepared for the subsequent challenges when we succeed. The cooption of Berlin’s traditional May Day rioting via Myfest is an important cautionary tale, showing how the commodification of revolt, the influence of accommodating movement leaders, and the rhetoric of creating safe spaces can be used offensively to suppress outright resistance. On May Day 2012 in Seattle, a few dozen anarchists may have accomplished as much damage and unexpected disruption as occurred in all Berlin. If this kind of combative activity continues, we can expect to see some of the strategies exemplified by Myfest employed in the US alongside straightforward policing. Let’s be ready to identify and counteract them immediately.

--video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6SU9Vxj4x4&feature=player_embedded