666 lines
32 KiB
Plaintext
666 lines
32 KiB
Plaintext
Anarchy: a journal of desire armed. #38, Fall 1993.
|
|
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST NEWS
|
|
-includes Support Mazokopos!, The Anarchist Scene, International
|
|
Squatting interview, San Diego National Love & Rage Conference.
|
|
|
|
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
|
|
Letter from Greece
|
|
|
|
Support Mazokopos!
|
|
|
|
"Our aim is to climax our struggle at the second trial, whenever
|
|
this is appointed. We invite you to support this struggle by all
|
|
means."
|
|
|
|
Comrades,
|
|
|
|
This letter concerns the case of the anarchist fighter K. Mazo-
|
|
kopos, who, as you might already know, was sentenced to 17 years
|
|
imprisonment by the first court decision. We would like to remind
|
|
you briefly that K. Mazokopos was arrested at the hospital to which
|
|
he had resorted after an explosive mechanism had accidentally gone
|
|
off in his hands, thereby causing him the loss of his left eye and
|
|
his left hand up to the wrist. The next day (8 Nov. '90), the
|
|
police discovered guns, ammunition and printed matter in the
|
|
warehouse where the above incident had taken place. K. Mazokopos
|
|
was immediately charged with theft and possession of explosives,
|
|
explosion by negligence, as well as participation in the execution
|
|
of the psychiatrist of the Athenian penitentiary (Korydallos
|
|
Prison), on sole evidence of a pamphlet found in the warehouse, for
|
|
which the armed organisation Revolutionary Solidarity had claimed
|
|
responsibility. As was known to us and was proved later in court,
|
|
the pamphlet had in fact been mailed to the Union of Anarchists of
|
|
Athens, where Comrade Mazokopos was correspondence attendant.
|
|
|
|
Two significant developments followed upon the excuse of this
|
|
tragic incident:
|
|
|
|
(a) A "criminal hunt" was released among the anarchists and the
|
|
extreme left, resulting in the arrest and imprisonment of the
|
|
fighters Koyannis, Bouketsidis and Bergner, allegedly members of
|
|
the "Mazokopos group," who were finally reprieved after a long
|
|
hunger-strike.
|
|
|
|
(b) The enactment of the anti-terrorist Act was accelerated. The
|
|
purpose of this act is to annihilate visibly, morally, politically
|
|
and socially either those who have made the choice of armed
|
|
struggle, or those whom the police or the Secret Services
|
|
occasionally consider necessary to present as such, that is, every
|
|
time their force of social control and repression is challenged or
|
|
questioned. The latter is the least apparent but most frequently
|
|
used feature of the Anti-terrorist Act: its very endorsement was
|
|
based on constructed evidence and the inflation of facts concerning
|
|
our comrade.
|
|
|
|
It is indeed notable that since the reestablishment of parlia-
|
|
mentarism (1974-5_), respective laws and unjustified arrests were
|
|
not the outcome of tactical victories of the State against armed
|
|
organizations. Quite contrarily, they were enforced either because
|
|
the State would feel threatened by social unrest, or for the
|
|
psychopath's monomania which one of the gangs that control it would
|
|
use to distinguish itself from the rest and perform "counter-
|
|
terrorist services."
|
|
|
|
This also explains the disproportion between constructed evidence
|
|
and factual truth: In twenty years of armed struggle in Greece only
|
|
two guerrillas have become known, the revolutionaries Ch.
|
|
Tsoutsouvis and Ch. Kasimis. They were both assassinated by the
|
|
police (1985 and 1978 respectively) in confrontations that were
|
|
brought about by chance rather than preparation and plan.
|
|
|
|
As for comrade Mazokopos, the security forces charged him with as
|
|
many accusations as could be squeezed out of the warehouse in a
|
|
highly arbitrary way. In the trial, our comrade admitted having
|
|
rented the warehouse in 1983 with a forged I.D. for the storage of
|
|
an archive of anarchist printed matter. On leaving the warehouse in
|
|
1988-89, two other persons took over, the names of which he never
|
|
got close to disclosing. The unlucky incident occurred during the
|
|
last withdrawal of his own archival material.
|
|
|
|
For his outright stance and his refusal to become a traitor, the
|
|
court convicted him for a devastating 17-year prison sentence. He
|
|
was nevertheless discharged of the accusation of the psychiatrist's
|
|
murder and the three were completely acquitted, as Mazokopos had
|
|
also asked for in court.
|
|
|
|
We, as friends and comrades of K. Mazokopos, do not accept any of
|
|
the accusations against him and continue our support (a significant
|
|
part of which is financial, political and moral). Our aim is to
|
|
climax our struggle at the second trial, whenever this is
|
|
appointed. We invite you to support this struggle by all means.
|
|
|
|
We believe that this case should become known in a wider radius
|
|
than we could handle, for K. Mazokopos is one of the purest and
|
|
most honest Greek fighters for Anarchy. There is also need for his
|
|
financial support, given the conditions of his health and his
|
|
proletarian background. Moreover, we should coordinate our actions
|
|
in such a way that the issue of solidarity to K. Mazokopos acquires
|
|
international status. We will inform you about the date of his
|
|
second trial at the Appeal Court (around which our struggle will
|
|
reach a peak), as soon as we know. Greek consulates and embassies
|
|
are some of the sites where internationalist Anarchist Solidarity
|
|
can be demonstrated.
|
|
|
|
If you wish, you can contribute financially to the following
|
|
account number: National Bank of Greece 251/940054-08
|
|
With comradely regards,
|
|
Anarchist Initiative
|
|
of Thessaloniki
|
|
POB 11251
|
|
54110 Thessaloniki
|
|
Greece
|
|
|
|
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
|
|
_The_anarchist_scene_
|
|
Compiled by Jason McQuinn
|
|
|
|
RADIO FREE DETROIT is a new pirate radio "Voice of Rebellion"
|
|
broadcasting from Detroit's Cass Corridor at 106.3 FM from 8PM to
|
|
11PM "on whatever day we feel like it."
|
|
LEFT BANK DISTRIBUTION's "Summer 1993 Update" lists about a
|
|
hundred new arrivals to the incredible selection of anarchist and
|
|
related books and periodicals. Updates, as well as the main
|
|
catalog, are free, although donations of $1.00 or stamps are always
|
|
appreciated when asking for the catalog. Write to Left Bank
|
|
Distribution at 4142 Brooklyn Ave. NE, Seattle, WA. 98105).
|
|
THE VANCOUVER ANARCHIST BLACK CROSS "dissolved as a collective,
|
|
anti-authoritarian project a few years ago. As of January 1993 it
|
|
officially no longer exists at all. [Former members] will try to
|
|
answer the correspondence that's been received to present. [They]
|
|
ask people who still want prison solidarity/abolition contacts to
|
|
pursue other projects that are active. Check the anarchist
|
|
press...."
|
|
BLACKOUT BOOKS (POB 20181, Tompkins Square Station, New York, NY.
|
|
10009) is a new all-volunteer anarchist book collective operating
|
|
out of the alternative community space ABC No Rio in New York. The
|
|
collective hopes to open a storefront in later this year. Check it
|
|
out.
|
|
THE POWER AND THE PROPHET (on the Waco massacre) is the latest BAD
|
|
Broadside (#9) from the Boston Anarchist Drinking Brigade (BAD
|
|
Brigade, POB 1323, Cambridge, MA. 02238).
|
|
THE HARRISON AND TURNER BOOK CO. (404 S. Washington St., Olympia,
|
|
WA. 98502; phone 206-754-2151) has allotted three shelves for a
|
|
collection of anarchist books for sale on consignment by local
|
|
anarchists.
|
|
"PERMANENT TAZs" is the title of a new broadside from Hakim Bey
|
|
by way of Dreamtime Village (Route 2, Box 242W, Viola, WI. 54664).
|
|
I'd suggest sending a SASE or a contribution for a copy.
|
|
TEATIME ANARCHY get-togethers are now at 7 PM on the 1st & 3rd
|
|
Tuesday of the month at 317 Union Ave. #1, Olympia, WA. 98501;
|
|
phone 206-534-9588.
|
|
A FEW BACK ISSUES OF ANARCHY: A Journal of Desire Armed (C.A.L.,
|
|
POB 1446, Columbia, MO. 65205-1446) are still available in bulk for
|
|
free distribution at the cost of postage & packaging. We now have
|
|
extras of several issues including #19, #20-21, #25 & #31, along
|
|
with a very few extras of other issues. For those living in the
|
|
U.S. we suggest you send about 15=9B to 25=9B each (depending on the
|
|
size of the issue[s] requested and your distance from Missouri) for
|
|
50 to 150 copies. (Unless you live in the Midwest=FEwhere postage
|
|
will be cheaper, send a minimum of $7.50, and make any checks out
|
|
to "C.A.L." only. Those outside the continental U.S. need to send
|
|
much more to cover the higher costs of postage.) All copies will be
|
|
marked "FREE" on the covers. To order bulk copies for resale, see
|
|
the terms listed in the box on page 2.
|
|
If you have announcements concerning anarchist gatherings, new
|
|
publications, or other anarchist activities or projects which our
|
|
readers might find of use, you can send them to: Attn. Anarchist
|
|
Scene, c/o C.A.L., POB 1446, Columbia, MO. 65205-1446. Please
|
|
remember, for more information, or for ordering materials listed in
|
|
this column, you must write to the addresses given above and not to
|
|
C.A.L.
|
|
|
|
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
|
|
International Squatting: An Interview with Pixie and Miranda
|
|
Compiled by Anders Corr
|
|
|
|
Anders: What have your experiences with squatting been?
|
|
|
|
Miranda: I broke a squat twice. Once I got away with it and once I
|
|
got caught. I have had other people break a squat and then just
|
|
lived in it with them. I have lived in about three squats. In
|
|
Berlin, Pixie lived in a squat and I did for awhile as well. We
|
|
have been squatting all around the world, but not on a long-term
|
|
basis.
|
|
|
|
A: What are the different places that you squatted?
|
|
|
|
Pixie: Chronologically, I came over to Europe from South Africa,
|
|
and went directly to Berlin where I started to live in a squat, and
|
|
then Miranda went to London and her and some other South Africans
|
|
broke a squat in North London, which was quite amazing because it
|
|
was six or seven women, all very powerful women, and we were all
|
|
from South Africa where you can't squat. It is impossible because
|
|
there is no extra housing because the population is so high. People
|
|
don't even know about squatting. They were squatting in London, and
|
|
I and another girl were in Berlin living with punks in a squat. I
|
|
came over, and there was space in that squat. We stayed there and
|
|
then broke another squat. The squats were quite short-lived. You do
|
|
have rights. It was a council house, which was quite a sound thing
|
|
to do if you are living in a council house which is unoccupied.
|
|
|
|
LAWS AGAINST SQUATTING
|
|
|
|
M: Except now there is a law going through which is going to make
|
|
squatting illegal because at the moment it is a civil offense and
|
|
not a criminal offense to squat in England. Along with taking out
|
|
the sites and cities for travellers and their vehicles and making
|
|
parking your vehicle on public land illegal, they are trying to
|
|
bring through a law which makes squatting illegal.
|
|
|
|
P: If you are travelling or have no fixed abode, they are just
|
|
clamping down. Before you had rights as a squatter. You had rights
|
|
to be on land. We lived in a vehicle for awhile. Now they are
|
|
passing through these laws which make it impossible.
|
|
|
|
M: They will introduce these slowly. The law will go through and it
|
|
will be illegal. They obviously can't put all 70,000 squatters in
|
|
London alone into jail.
|
|
|
|
P: There is a huge amount of people squatting.
|
|
|
|
M: They will leave people there, but slowly but surely tighten the
|
|
law, so it will not be a radical thing, but squatters are going to
|
|
be squeezed out. It is historical as well, going right back to the
|
|
vagrancy laws in England.
|
|
|
|
P: It is completely iniquitous because there are so many homeless
|
|
people and there are places that are derelict that people have left
|
|
because the mortgages are too high to pay for their land, so they
|
|
abandon their house. You can go around to certain areas and all the
|
|
houses are boarded up, so if you are squatting, you can be chucked
|
|
out anytime. You always have a couple of squats in mind that you
|
|
can break in a night. They can get you for stealing electricity or
|
|
water before they can get you on occupying the house. The best
|
|
squat is if you get a house with hot water and electricity, then
|
|
you are fine. In one house we had electricity upstairs and only
|
|
cold water. You can make do though. It was in winter. It is really
|
|
exciting.
|
|
|
|
M: The electricity man comes around and you can't deny him entry
|
|
because he has to be able to look at the meter. Although the police
|
|
cannot evict you, the electricity man can come in, then he can say
|
|
to the police "They are stealing electricity." and then the police
|
|
have an entry right and can kick you out.
|
|
|
|
P: So they have a way around it. They have a squatters manual which
|
|
squatters and anarchists have put together. There are organizations
|
|
that you can go to that help you legally, so that if you get
|
|
evicted or get shit from the land-person, then you know what to say
|
|
in court and how to put eviction off.
|
|
|
|
BREAKING THE SQUAT
|
|
|
|
P: We got evicted from this house and there was another squat down
|
|
the road. When you break a squat you should go one or two, change
|
|
locks, occupy it and then you are fine.=20
|
|
|
|
[You stay in the house. =FEM]=20
|
|
|
|
There were quite a few of us, ten, we made a bit of noise and the
|
|
woman upstairs freaked out. "No way are you squatting here, I have
|
|
had enough..." She wouldn't talk to us. We said "We don't want to
|
|
bother you, we're gonna live here quietly." She went and called the
|
|
police, but meanwhile she put her washing machine drainage outlet
|
|
through the floor, and we were squatting underneath, and it just
|
|
flooded, a huge, huge waterfall. It must have been three or four
|
|
upstairs. She must have been completely crazy.=20
|
|
|
|
[And messing up the house, you can't live there. =FEM]=20
|
|
|
|
And then the police came. We had changed the locks and said "We
|
|
know what our rights are, you can't come in, etc., etc." and the
|
|
cops just started to kick the doors down with their boots, these
|
|
boots kicking, kicking. There is nothing you can do. Supposedly you
|
|
can take it in to court, but you can't. They are doing something
|
|
that is uncivil, unjust. The same night we got chucked out of one,
|
|
then chucked out of another, then we went back to the first squat
|
|
and suddenly we were surrounded by cops again. Flashlights ev-
|
|
erywhere, there must have been six or seven cops. Then the land
|
|
person was there and they let us stay a bit longer in that one.
|
|
|
|
M: We made an agreement with the person who was in charge of the
|
|
house. Basically what is happening is squatters are being evicted
|
|
and then someone else moves in and re-squats. That is what happened
|
|
with that house. It was a really easy house to squat because
|
|
someone had squatted it and been evicted when we moved in. When we
|
|
spoke to the owner, it was like, "You guys can stay here, but will
|
|
you leave when we ask you to?" We said, okay, we will leave when
|
|
you ask us to, and that will be about three months time. He said,
|
|
"Yeah, in three months time." We struck up an agreement with him,
|
|
which he broke.
|
|
|
|
P: You can't trust them, and you can't extend it in the court by
|
|
saying "We don't have our legal evidence together, we want another
|
|
week or two." Basically that was a done-house, so we left.
|
|
|
|
BRIXTON AND ACRELANE
|
|
|
|
P: We knew people in Brixton, which is South London. Certain areas
|
|
of London are squatting scenes. The info-shop is in Brixton, it is
|
|
anarchist, there are animal rights people, and a lot of squats
|
|
because it is relatively low-echelon economically. There are a lot
|
|
of derelict houses, but a lot of very together people. There is
|
|
also a squatting organization and people helping you out, living
|
|
for skiffs [dumpsters]. We met these people who were squatting a
|
|
clothes shop, and a whole lot of people had been living there for
|
|
awhile. We were welcome to stay there. That place got evicted, but
|
|
it took three or four months so they had their home all that time.
|
|
|
|
M: Every squat has a different story. There was a big development
|
|
in Acrelane, with thirty-seven people living there. The police
|
|
raided the place, they were completely out of their legal rights.
|
|
They kicked everyone out, you had to pick up your stuff and go. If
|
|
you weren't there and didn't have a friend there, they chucked your
|
|
stuff out on the street.
|
|
|
|
P: It was obviously housing a lot of illegal people from
|
|
Czechoslovakia and South Africa. We weren't illegal, but that is
|
|
the cover, the police come and want your identity.
|
|
|
|
SOLIDARITY
|
|
|
|
P: There is a very good feeling in London, the Brotherhood and
|
|
Sisterhood of squatters. If you get chucked out and need a place to
|
|
stay and there is a squat, it is an open house, a home, and people
|
|
respect it as their home. With squatters there is a really tribal
|
|
feeling about them.=20
|
|
|
|
[squatting was amazing from that perspective. =FEM]=20
|
|
|
|
If you met a squatter you knew you had something in common. You are
|
|
fucking the system and you are going to look after each other.
|
|
|
|
M: It was a really positive thing because you are bringing life
|
|
into a house that is being left dead and taking people off the
|
|
streets. We did a lot of planting vegetables, and cleaning and
|
|
painting the house, cleaning up the garden, a lot of really good
|
|
things in one squat.=20
|
|
|
|
[Except that we trashed it afterward. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
Then we were evicted so we trashed it.
|
|
|
|
P: We didn't do it personally, but it got trashed because there
|
|
were black fancy fireplaces and light fixings. There were about
|
|
fourteen of us living in one squat. It was a semi-detached house
|
|
that we knocked through, so it was a really big house. All over
|
|
Brixton there are these big houses with communities living in them.
|
|
It is really an amazing feeling that you get from the whole thing.
|
|
There is a big difference of feeling from squatting there and in
|
|
Amsterdam or Berlin. In Berlin the biggest squats are more
|
|
established, and they are very politically active, as much as
|
|
London, but London was smaller. The one I stayed at in Berlin was
|
|
thirty-six people. They were hardcore punk anarchists, they weren't
|
|
politically active, except for beating-up fascists. I suppose that
|
|
is active. We had just arrived and didn't speak the language, when
|
|
we met them on the street they said, "Come, stay in our squat." We
|
|
lived there for a couple of months. We had never squatted before,
|
|
having just come from South Africa, but they were really good to
|
|
us.
|
|
|
|
POLICE REPRESSION
|
|
|
|
P: It was crazy, us coming from white South Africa and how we were
|
|
treated by the law. In South Africa you could do anything really
|
|
and you were still kind of protected. When you squat in London,
|
|
suddenly you were given the same prejudice that we have seen the
|
|
white South African police force give the black people. Treating
|
|
them like scum. We have black cops chasing us into our squat and
|
|
arresting us for nothing and treating us like complete shit. The
|
|
cops know where your squat is. They know who is doing what and who
|
|
is not abiding by the laws.=20
|
|
|
|
[Especially in Brixton, because it is very political. =FEM]=20
|
|
|
|
Yes, and the cops are really quite hardcore. One time we went for
|
|
a drink at the pub, but we weren't drunk or anything, and the guy
|
|
who was driving wasn't drunk. The cops were circling around the pub
|
|
and once he went around the corner we jumped into our car and drove
|
|
off to our squat. When we got there a cop was waiting for us, and
|
|
then they called back-up and suddenly there were eight or nine
|
|
police and riot cars. We just drove home from the pub. Then their
|
|
sirens carried on, basically riling us and everyone came out of the
|
|
squat and wanted to know what the fuck was going on, why we were
|
|
being treated like this and then they were making us angrier and
|
|
angrier so they would push us, then they arrested us. They took us
|
|
somewhere and dropped us off and we had to walk home at four
|
|
o'clock in the morning through one of the most dangerous areas of
|
|
London. They were playing with us.
|
|
|
|
M: Recently just before we left the squatting scene, because of
|
|
this law, there has been a blitz going on with the coppers. When
|
|
our last squat was evicted at the same time there were five or six
|
|
of our friends in different squats all being evicted at the same
|
|
time. It was really hardcore.=20
|
|
|
|
[It was a surge. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
Evictions are going on more and more, they are not being done
|
|
legally either. The cops are tired of playing the squatters' rights
|
|
game because it goes through the courts and everything. So they are
|
|
being more and more illegal about it, forcing there way, making it
|
|
look like the squatters are being disruptive and then evicting
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
ANARCHISTIC ATTITUDES
|
|
|
|
P: One has to consider that most of the squatters are anarchistic,
|
|
fucking the system.=20
|
|
|
|
[What percentage are anarchistic? =FEA]=20
|
|
|
|
All of them.=20
|
|
|
|
[All of them. =FEM]=20
|
|
|
|
Maybe not terminology-wise, but definitely in London none of them
|
|
are towing the line in terms of the system. They may not call
|
|
themselves anarchists. A lot of them are into petty-crime, nothing
|
|
that we would have thought of as crime. We used to live a lot out
|
|
of skiffs, you call it dumpster diving. We had a skiff behind one
|
|
of the shops. It is illegal, they can get you for shoplifting if
|
|
you take food that has been thrown away. People are caught for
|
|
that. We lived out of the skiffs, because you got no money. Then
|
|
they tell you you are living off the system because they are giving
|
|
you the dole, and you should stop fucking them over. Meanwhile they
|
|
are making you apathetic and giving you the dole and then making
|
|
you angry and then silencing you. It is a continual political
|
|
struggle. I definitely found in London the squats are much more
|
|
friendly than in Holland or Germany. In London they take you in
|
|
immediately. I have heard quite a few people say that the
|
|
solidarity of squatters in London is quite amazing.
|
|
|
|
WITCH'S SQUAT
|
|
|
|
A: You were talking about the house you moved into with seven
|
|
women. How did you meet together and decide to squat?
|
|
|
|
M: There were five women and ourselves. They were South African
|
|
girls and I didn't know them in South Africa.=20
|
|
|
|
[We went to the University together. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
I didn't know them, but because we were all in the university
|
|
together, I knew someone who knew someone and we met because we
|
|
were South African ex-pats in London and got together to see each
|
|
other. We got along really well. I chose to hang out with them
|
|
because I could identify with them. There was a lot to learn from
|
|
those girls. It was an excellent squat. It was really nice to see
|
|
women getting it together and doing it and breaking into the house
|
|
and changing the locks, holding the fort. When the squat was broken
|
|
and all the locks had been changed, because it was an enormous
|
|
three story house, we were all exhausted and really scared. It was
|
|
a dark and dingy house. We all went into one bedroom and laid down
|
|
and went to sleep. We hadn't been asleep for more than half an hour
|
|
when we heard this banging on the roof and scampering around. We
|
|
thought, "Oh, God, who is here?" What has happened in the past is
|
|
heavies have come in, bashed down the door, beat you up and ejected
|
|
you. Who knows who they are working for and why they are doing it.
|
|
That is a danger. We didn't know what was happening and we sat
|
|
upright and there was a guy on the other side of the door who
|
|
happened to be squatting the house completely alone, a lone ranger.
|
|
We spoke through the door, negotiated, and agreed to let him into
|
|
his own home which we had taken possession of. We ended up living
|
|
with him, which was really cool because he was a Londoner and he
|
|
knew the ropes.=20
|
|
|
|
[He was a real squatting-man. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
He had been squatting for years and years. He has five squats going
|
|
at a time because he is on the run from the cops. He has different
|
|
homes to go to, so he was delighted to have one of his homes
|
|
brought to life. It was a really good community. He taught us a lot
|
|
and we taught him a lot and we were really busy with womanly
|
|
workshops and spirituality in the house. It was nice.=20
|
|
|
|
[What kind of stuff? =FEA]=20
|
|
|
|
We explored the Gnostics at the time, we were going to a workshop
|
|
in a place in London and we were trying as a group to apply what we
|
|
heard.=20
|
|
|
|
[All philosophical readings, Tarot, I-Ching, Crystal reading. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
Exploring lots and lots of things.=20
|
|
|
|
[Things that we didn't have access to in South Africa. There was
|
|
more reading matter and people working in London. South Africa is
|
|
a bit behind. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
We didn't interact with men at all.=20
|
|
|
|
[We used to draw on the walls and play together. We were right next
|
|
to a park and we played tennis, showered and danced and went to
|
|
Stonehenge together, yoga. It was actually brilliant. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
Wasn't it wonderful? All women.=20
|
|
|
|
[Yea, it was completely wonderful. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
It was really nice because there was no one to tell us how to do it
|
|
except Stan-the-man.=20
|
|
|
|
[He didn't really have much to do with it. I think when men came
|
|
there they were quite intimidated. It really felt like a clan of
|
|
witches. The energy in the house was very witch-like. This is our
|
|
space. It was nice. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
Bloody nice.
|
|
|
|
SEXISM
|
|
|
|
A: What is the sexism within the anarchist squatting movement? What
|
|
are your experiences with that?
|
|
|
|
M: It differs from place to place.
|
|
|
|
P: Mostly we were involved with people who were completely correct.
|
|
In London there was very little sexism within the squatting scene.
|
|
You were a woman and you were a man. It was just a gender thing.
|
|
|
|
M: I never felt sexually harassed by any squatter. Never, ever.=20
|
|
|
|
[No. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
I think we may have harassed some boys once or twice.=20
|
|
|
|
[Feminism was just a basic given, an understanding. =FEP]=20
|
|
|
|
Since I have come here I have been amazed at the sex workshops and
|
|
how they have been received with such awe. "We need this and we
|
|
haven't spoken enough about this." In England it was easy, though
|
|
they were just the people we were involved with, there is obviously
|
|
still a lot of sexism in England itself.
|
|
|
|
WHO THE FUCK CAN OWN THIS TREE?
|
|
|
|
A: How do you feel about the abstract concept of ownership of land
|
|
and property in land?
|
|
|
|
P: I think the craziest thing capitalism ever has done is to allow
|
|
people to buy and sell land. I think it is completely sinful and
|
|
evil. Who the fuck can own this tree?=20
|
|
|
|
[Who put a price on anything? It is completely elitist that land
|
|
belongs to some people and not to others. =FEM]=20
|
|
|
|
There is so little you can do about it because you just get hurt
|
|
every time.=20
|
|
|
|
[Everyone can walk across a piece of land and just by walking
|
|
across it you surely own it. =FEM]
|
|
|
|
ARREST AND SOLIDARITY
|
|
|
|
M: If someone goes to prison or gets nicked for something by the
|
|
cops all the people are with him completely. They go to the jail
|
|
and wait. The Earth First!ers call it an "affinity group." If a
|
|
person is in trouble, you're completely there for them. If they get
|
|
nicked for shoplifting or anything, immediately someone gets the
|
|
word out and it brings the energy and they work with the people.
|
|
Two weeks before we left, which was about a month ago, they were
|
|
having a party and there were a lot of French and Hungarian people
|
|
there illegally. The coppers came and tried to break in. We said
|
|
"You can't break in, we're having a party. We'll turn the music
|
|
down if that is what you want." They called back-up and stormed the
|
|
house and hectically beat up the squatters. They arrested about
|
|
eighteen of them and kept eleven in custody. They beat up the
|
|
squatters and then accused them of assault. They had to stay in
|
|
prison and then give them two thousand pounds to get parole and
|
|
they had to check in every single night at the prison to sign on.
|
|
They weren't allowed out of the Brixton area. They were fucking
|
|
with these people with laws.
|
|
|
|
P: One British person and eleven people from Czechoslovakia and
|
|
France were kept in the system. The British person was set free,
|
|
but he has to sign in at the Brixton police station every day,
|
|
which means you can't leave London at all, Because you can't go
|
|
anywhere in one day. You aren't allowed out anyway. All the others
|
|
had a thousand pound bail in order to come out. The court case was
|
|
set for six months time. They were going to be held in remand for
|
|
six months if they didn't get a thousand pound bail. We knew only
|
|
a few of them personally. We squatted only with the one guy, who
|
|
was a really good friend of ours, but he is chased by the police
|
|
everywhere he goes. The other people we didn't know so well, but
|
|
everyone in the whole area was pooling. There were benefits every
|
|
weekend. The people we were squatting with wrote up pamphlets and
|
|
passed them around at demos. The amount of money raised was
|
|
unbelievable. At every festival they sold beer or cider and profits
|
|
were donated. Suddenly all their energy went to saving their
|
|
people, all ten of them.=20
|
|
|
|
[Ten thousand pounds was raised by people who have nothing. =FEM]=20
|
|
|
|
If they had wanted to go travelling, they wouldn't have made the
|
|
money because they wouldn't have had the passion to do it. They
|
|
didn't do it for themselves, but they suddenly put out all this
|
|
energy and got the people out of prison, which was absolutely
|
|
phenomenal. They have one set of clothes, don't have cars or
|
|
houses, but they have money to get people out of jail. I am feeling
|
|
very positive now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
|
|
San Diego National Love and Rage Conference
|
|
By Mark E.
|
|
|
|
The 1993 Love and Rage Network met in San Diego at the Che Cafe
|
|
from July 7-11. The Che Cafe is a dynamic vegan collective, meeting
|
|
area and place where bands play. During the conference volunteers,
|
|
fully enjoying themselves, cooked yummy vegan meals (and lots of
|
|
green beans) three times a day. Many people slept in the cafe's
|
|
tree/plant sanctuary or on the nearby beach.
|
|
|
|
The Love and Rage Network has primarily consisted of a national
|
|
newspaper produced in New York and Mexico City and of loosely-
|
|
affiliated groups around North America, and has coordinated some
|
|
national actions.
|
|
|
|
Amidst discussions friendly but divisive controversy surrounded
|
|
the interest of some in a membership category within Love and Rage.
|
|
Membership would include: 1) receiving Love and Rage publications
|
|
2) a negotiable $25 fee to pay for this communication 3) some
|
|
representation in Love and Rage decisions (through council
|
|
delegates). Approximately one half of the group supported this
|
|
proposal to build a national organization for future coordinated
|
|
national actions. The other half in attendance wanted to maintain
|
|
the loose network and thus thought a membership category would be
|
|
too much "politicking" for them. Ultimately the anti-organization
|
|
people (about 15) left to allow the pro-membership group to succeed
|
|
in their proposal. Many anti-membership folks said they would
|
|
continue to work with Love and Rage but not be members.
|
|
|
|
Opinions varied with this non-consensus membership decision. Some
|
|
saw it as the first step in building a stronger, more organized
|
|
anarchist movement and felt fully justified in
|
|
ignoring the consensus process in favor of continuing the work of
|
|
building an organization into which they had already placed much
|
|
time and energy. Several viewed it as the latest in a series of
|
|
Love and Rage dissenters being frustrated and pushed out of the
|
|
network and newspaper production group. Many production group
|
|
people have left because of "backroom politics" and because a small
|
|
group was always forcing its agenda, according to several confer-
|
|
ence participants. Others accused Love and Rage of "party-building"
|
|
and "top-down organizing" because the "exclusionary elitists got
|
|
their agenda as usual." Further the Neither East Nor West group
|
|
stated they would not petition for the reinstatement of "On Gogol
|
|
Boulevard" in the Love and Rage newspaper because of other outlets
|
|
for "OGB" and because of Love and Rage's instability and "leninist
|
|
strain."=20
|
|
|
|
Love and Rage is attempting to counteract these accusations of
|
|
vanguardism by acknowledging this centralism and by shifting many
|
|
network function to the Bay Area (POB 3606, Oakland, CA 94609).
|
|
|
|
With the pro-network people leaving, the dozen or so left at the
|
|
meeting decided not to choose permanent council delegates and to
|
|
change the name of the network to the Love and Rage Revolutionary
|
|
Anarchist Federation. Earlier the group decided to concentrate on
|
|
working against anti-immigration sentiment and continuing anti-
|
|
racist actions. Mexico City anarchists will continue producing Amor
|
|
y Rabia. Political prisoner campaigns, poster printing, the May 9,
|
|
1994 action against immigration controls and phone trees are the
|
|
latest work of the post-conference federation.
|
|
|
|
|