“Liberation from Oakland to Palestine,” Bay Area marches connect the dots of US state violence

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Little girl holding up a sign chanting ” Hands up! Don’t shoot! rest in peace Michael Brown” (image courtesy of Minister Finishes: twitter @federal_flashes)

(by: Nicholas García)

On the weekend of August 15th, organizers in the Bay Area led two major demonstrations: the Friday Ferguson Solidarity march from Downtown Oakland to Berkeley, and the Saturday “Block the Boat for Palestine” march from the West Oakland BART station to the Oakland Port. These two marches could have been separate, focusing on their own single issue demands for justice in Ferguson or in Palestine. Rather, their demands, rallying cries, and frameworks intersected and crossed together. Continue reading →

Riots Work: How Riots in Ferguson, Missouri, Were Able to Transform the Discourse of an Entire Nation

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(by: Daniel Gutiérrez)

The images are brutal. From armored personnel carriers, to sniper’s perched on rooftops, clouds of tear gas billowing down streets, the sudden sparks of flash-bang grenades — it is no wonder that the web is in an uproar and drawing the immediate response that Ferguson has become a war zone.

In less than two weeks, an unknown blip on the North American map has become the central debate of a superpower. One that thought it answered the question of race decades ago (at least, for those that are white).

While sociologists and government analysts are most likely scrambling to formulate theories as to why the killing of this unarmed black male created such uproar, the elephant in the room is quite clear.

Riots work.

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BRICS and the New Axis of Expansionist Capitalism

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BRICS

(by: Bruno Lima Rocha. Translated by: Daniel Gutiérrez)

The BRICS alliance — a bloc of countries formed by the meetings of their leaders and without any formal documentation — has once again caught the world’s attention for trying a new hand in global power politics. The premise of the relationship between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa is based on the economy and the potential of sharing a common destination point. Culturally, Brazil is most similar to post-Apartheid South Africa, and proportionally we carry a similar weight to Latin America, as does South Africa to sub-saharan Africa.

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The global power of finance capital – the effects in Brazil

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(By: Bruno Lima Rocha)

This article is the part of a series dealing with macro-economic structures and their effects in Brazil. Here I describe the visible effects of a rentier logic in the country. Rentiers are those that live on dividends and profits, and not through direct work – in other words, those who live by exploiting the labor power of others. For a class to enjoy the status of rentiers, there must be a consistent and reliable mechanisms of class power able to extract rents from the productive economy – from the working class. Continue reading →

About the problems posed by the concrete class struggle and popular organisation

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(By: José Antonio Gutiérrez Danton, first published at anarkismo.net in 2005)

A former member of the Chilean OCL deals, in general, with the problems posed by concrete class struggle and popular organisation for anarchist communists. It aims to raise a number of questions – in an orderly and systematic fashion – that are important and necessary to think of a revolutionary alternative in a concrete place in a concrete time.

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Against Slander and Insult – We Need Strategic Concepts to Strengthen an Open and Respectful Discussion and Conflict Culture.

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(By: Heinz-Jürgen Voß, first published at: dasendedessex, translation: Antje Dieterich)

[A short background information at the bottom by: Antje Dieterich]

Some days ago, I released an appeal for solidarity for a collegue of mine, who was insulted in such a drastic manner I could not have imagined just some years ago. Now, I am getting the answer. The right-wing author Akif Pirinçci is now attacking me too, with slander and crude insults. Continue reading →

Chile: Neoliberal Paradise for a Few, Capitalist Hell for the Majority

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(By La batalla de los trabajadores; translated by Pablo Pérez)

Chile is one of the OECD countries where the actual wage of the workers (i.e. the difference between the received wage and the level of the prices) is the lowest. Although both the prices and per capita income statistics (which are around $1,300 per month) are close to those of a first world country, they hide a terrible reality for the working class. Continue reading →

The Brazilian World Cup in the Age of the Commodity of Images

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(credit: Agencia Brasil)

(credit: Agencia Brasil)

(by: Dijair Brilhantes and Bruno Lima Rocha)

Below, we explain examples of the advancement of the market logic within the World Cup Brazil 2014, and how this mode of operation influences within the game, and as always, more of the same regarding the arbitrariness of FIFA. Continue reading →

Bread and Games: Day One into Life After the World Cup

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(credit: Agencia Brasil)

(credit: Agencia Brasil)

(by: Daniel Gutiérrez)

It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Yesterday Brazil was dealt a crushing blow not only to its football selection, but to its entire national identity. The Brazilian selection was defeated in a humiliating bout against the historical giant of Germany. Photos of the many gapping Brazilians are an accurate depiction of reality: one walks away without words from such a spectacle.

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