What Kind of Revolutionary Organization Is Useful Today?
The multiple problems facing the world today require a revolutionary response. The troubles faced by the oppressed—especially people of color—exist not because the promise of liberal democracy is yet unfulfilled throughout the globe, but because of inherent contradictions within liberalism and capitalism itself. Because capitalism requires the many to work for the profits of the few, modern society cannot provide full freedom for all.
The Historical Failure of Anarchism by Chris Day (1996)
Implications for the Future of the Revolutionary Project
by Christopher Day
In the Spring 1996 issue of Workers Solidarity (journal of Ireland's Workers Solidarity Movement) there is a review by Conor McLoughlin of Ken Loach's excellent film on the Spanish Revolution, Land and Freedom. The review concludes that:
The Zapatista Dream: Part 1: from 1983 to 1993
El Sueño Zapatista (The Zapatista Dream) is a collection of interviews by Yvon Le Bot in collaboration with Maurice Najman with Subcomandante Marcos, Mayor Moises, and Comandante Tacho of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). It has been published in French by Editions de Seuil and in Spanish by Plaza & Janés (Enrique Granados 86-88, 08008, Barcelona, Spain). It details the history of the EZLN, and its political development. We hope that these excerpts will generate interest in publishing an English edition of the book.
First Pity Then Punishment: The History of Women and Welfare
By Reb
The welfare state is a product of capitalism - not an alternative to it - yet many leftists, including communists and anarchists, are currently involved in struggles to defend it. Is this a contradiction? At the same time, many opponents of welfare are often described by some as anti-government “anarchists” because they’re generally against “government intervention.” Of course there’s no real puzzle here: The people posing as “anti-government reformers” or even “anarchists” are actually two groups: the leaders are old style “robber-baron” capitalists who don’t want the government to interfere with freedom of profit, and the others are fed-up tax payers whose “anti-government” ideas against welfare, taxes, and social programs might be better described as a revolt against communal values in general. This group doesn’t want scant resources being spent on “other” “less-deserving” people.
Women: Targets of Global Exploitation. Let’s Fight Back!
By Suzy Subways
Two-thirds of all the work in the world is done by women. Women in the Third World sew the clothes, put together the stereos, and produce the food for people in the First World. But a hard day’s labor is still considered a masculine thing. It is the invisibility of women’s labor, along with women’s isolation from each other, that keeps the exploitation of women going. Patriarchal exploitation has fed the expansion of capitalism for hundreds of years. On top of the work women do to support themselves and children, women do unwaged work like cooking, cleaning, and taking care of kids. This work makes it possible for themselves, husbands and boyfriends, and future generations to go out and work. Bosses profit from this unwaged labor but women remain economically dependent on men.
Black Power, Student Power: An Interview with Black Radical Activist Bill Sales
by Meg Starr
During the 1960s Bill Sales was a radical student activist. His experiences show how the Black student movement was shaped by the overall Black liberation movement, and how Black students in turn helped shape the white student movement.
It is interesting to compare Bill’s version of the early stages of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and the Columbia Strike (an important occupation of buildings at New York City’s Columbia University by Black and white students in 1968) with more mainstream and white-centered accounts of the same period. His stories also bring to life the incredible radical diversity and power of the Black Liberation movement. Readers interested in learning more should read Bill’s latest book, From Civil Rights to Black Liberation: Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro-American Unity (South End Press, Boston, 1994).
Anarcho-Pantherista
by Ashanti Omowali
In the Black Panther Party, when someone said, “Power to the People!” the response would be “ALL Power to the People!” After many years of political imprisonment, employing the easy-to-use Malcolm-Eldridge Educational Super-charger, that call/response would take on more anarchistic meaning. This is about my experience in the Now as an anarchist (a baby one) within a generally hierarchical Panther formation.
It was just this year, Jan. 1995, that I decided to publicly identify myself as anarchist. In playing around I came up with a term to identify me fully: @narcho-pantherista (thinking about the word Sandinista, ha!). Though, just in fun, I decided to keep it. It’s me. Silly, anarchistic, for real.
United Front Builds then Shuts Down Bridges
by Suzy Subways
On Apr. 25 a diverse group of activists successfully shut down four major New York City bridges. Traffic was blocked, during rush hour, from 15 minutes to an hour at each location. The locations were divided between 4 groups: ACT-UP and neighborhood groups protesting Medicaid Cuts and hospital closings; CUNY (City University of New York) students and public school teachers protesting budget cuts in public education; and groups opposed to police brutality and racist and homophobic violence (including the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, the Congress for Puerto Rican Rights, and families of those killed by police). 185 people were arrested.
We Shut ‘em Down: Nazis Routed in St. Paul
by joel
A neo-nazi skinhead concert scheduled to take place on May 20 in St. Paul was cancelled after the combined efforts of Anti-Racist Action (ARA), various independent activists, and community members of West St. Paul forced the police to cancel the show.
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME
Members of ARA were tipped off about the show in mid-March and began organizing against it immediately. Because nazis know the public will shut their shows down if they know about them, they have to keep the address of the gig a secret until the day of the show.
They discreetly distributed fliers telling fellow white supremacists to meet at Mounds Park in St. Paul between noon and 6:00 P.M. to pick up tickets and a map to the hall where the gig would take place.
