Author: Slingshot Collective

Sounds, stated desire, anticipation

Some people say that all sex is individual taste, thus you cannot teach “better sex” techniques, but I disagree. Kids in American schools are taught how to put a condom on a banana, and then told to go on their way. Where do we learn better sex technique in safe and open environments, where experimentation is accepted and applauded? Most feminist websites have a whole section dedicated to “sex abuse,” yet I see very few feminist websites with a “sexual pleasuring” page, which is truly sad and quite telling. Additionally, it is illegal for women to go topless in most cities, yet you can buy a magazine of a woman without her top on at any 7-11 store. So, you can sell breasts, but you cannot wear breasts, in America. The way Americans learn about sex is very sheltered, full of Christian taboo, distorted by corporate porn and the media, and too many people are having bad sex due to this. It is time we openly discussed all aspects of sex from its power dynamics to its physicality. If you are not comfortable talking about safer sex precautions before and during sex, for example, then you should not be engaging in sex. If you cannot talk about safer sex, then you probably cannot talk openly about your sexual desires either, so it is never too early to start opening your sexuality up for more sexual responsibility and freedom, and less sexual dogma. The purpose of this article is to get people thinking creatively about sex. To get folks to start using logic with their sex, and to cut down taboos, so more pleasuring can occur in responsible sexual environments.

There are several things that can make sex better across the board, for most people. One of the most obvious, yet most often overlooked, is SOUND. Little is more stimulating than your lover audibly overcome with rapture. I think the sound of sex is what is appealing to many about porn, honestly. I know in group sex environments, once you hear one voice overcome in pleasure, things loosen up for the whole room and people want to be more sexual immediately. I recorded myself orgasming (for real, not faked) for the background track on a musical recording I did once. I noticed that the recording made everyone in the studio squirm when we played it. I gave it to my lover, and it drove him crazy with desire. The idea was to hear myself, to explore myself, and thus, I purposely made tapes of just me orgasming, not me and another together, as in a couple having sex on a tape. We would hit “record” on a tape recorder and the whole lovemaking session would focus on me and be recorded, and all you could hear, purposely, was me orgasming and plateauing repeatedly. I found it interesting not only to compare tapes over the period of years and how they changed, but also it was interesting to hear myself in animal-like sexual passion. Usually I am too involved to hear myself, so it is intriguing to hear yourself in that way. And it is ridiculously hard to NOT go have sex after listening to yourself, or your lover, wildly sigh and squirm and release and build with voice, but no words, during sex on audio tape. Letting out sound is incredibly liberating during sex.

You can learn how to have more passion in your freedom to make noise during masturbation, just as one learns other things through masturbation. (I had one friend who suggested making love to yourself in a full length mirror once, just for the experience. This same person recommended orgasming while looking in your own eyes while masturbating to learn how to be more present in sex). I have noticed that women, more than men, have learned how to be quiet in sex. I know for me, I was taught through Christian brainwashing that was very subtle, that feminine women did not show pleasure during sex, as crazy as that is. You were supposed to be a complacent and submissive vehicle for men to masturbate in, basically! But I found out with experience, that lovers liked women who were rowdy and alive and passionate and craving sexual fulfillment too, much more than silent women who would lie in bed like a dead catch.

The second better sex tip is to take responsibility for your own desires and learn how to VERBALIZE YOUR DESIRES OUT LOUD. Too many women, when asked what they would like sexually, say, “Whatever you want is fine.” THAT IS NOT AN ANSWER. Too many women do not experience sexual fulfillment because they have no idea what gets them off sexually. And how would they know if they have just been experiencing sex as a silent receptacle? The first step is to get honest and to assess what actually excites you, and then, the big step, I think, is to learn to VERBALIZE YOUR DESIRES. This is much bigger than people realize. Saying OUT LOUD to a sexual partner, what you actually want, is ridiculously difficult and requires a large amount of mutual trust. The tricky part in expressing your desires, I have found, is in finding someone you can trust enough to tell them what you DO NOT like sexually, as it is happening, without them becoming defensive, and freaked out as if you expressing your desires is a rejection of their sexual technique. (One exercise around this is to offer two different things to a lover, and have them choose one…do this over and over to learn what they like without risking the whole rejection as it happens thing…) Likewise, if you are not comfortable saying what you do not like in sex, during sex, it makes sense you cannot say what you do like. But if you can find safe people to explore with (oft times it is just a matter of asking close friends, they are sluttier than you may think, in all reality), you will find that you can exponentially increase your sexual pleasuring, if you can learn how to shed taboos and say what you want and like. Which requires you learning what you do like. And this translates into the actual lovemaking session too. Say out loud, “that feels really good” as it is happening, during sex, to become PRESENT in your lovemaking, and to guide your lover. Allow yourself and your lover to acknowledge your pleasure and joy. It is okay to experience pure physical joy openly.

I used to go to women-only erotic massages with my lesbian lover/partner I lived with. The massages involved about 20 women, and 4 massage tables. We would each get 20 minutes on the table, in groups of 5. So that would mean about 2 * hours of massaging, but mixed with taking rests, snacking, socializing, it was a day’s event. We would meet at one woman’s house, we would all take off our clothing, and the groups would then put one woman on the massage table, in each group, with 4 around her to attend to her, and ask her what she wanted sexually. I remember my first time, I said, “anything will be fine.” These women would not have that. They said, “do you want us to touch your genitals?” I said “okay.” Now, come on! I was at an erotic massage. Obviously I wanted to interact with genitals, but these women taught me to SAY IT! OUT LOUD! They taught me that it is alright to say, “YES! I DESIRE SEX! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, LIKE THIS,” and what is wrong with that?! After my lame passive shit my first time on the massage table, saying “whatever is fine…”, the next woman was on the table, and asked what she wanted. She said specifically what she wanted. She said “I want someone to make out with me, while someone else plays with my nipples, and I would like hand sex with my vagina and then after a while, I would like this dildo to be used, and in this manner…” I was STUNNED and envious as hell! Here I had been given 20 minutes to ask for whatever I wanted, and I wasted it on a nice little massage, but it was not sexual, really. And who was my uptight bullshit serving? Now this woman was going to leave sexually fulfilled, instead of sexually frustrated like I was. I wanted to become her.

My lesbian partner and I were very envious of the women who openly could ask for what they wanted like they did. Even though she and I were obviously working on learning about our sexuality if we were a
ttending erotic massages, we still were working through decades of sexual brainwashing. Just becoming open lesbians had been a big change for us. And then to now learn how to reclaim our sexuality as ours, and to redefine it, was a huge task. We both agreed that the next erotic massage we would ask for what we wanted sexually. Yet, the next massage we still were intimidated and did not ask for what we really wanted. I mean, it was not every day we had access to 8 hands at once like that! We regretted not using those situations to their full advantage each and every time once we got home. We thought we would try practicing asking for what we wanted out loud at home, and even that was hard! But that was how we worked on it, by practicing saying it at home! So I encourage you to say OUT LOUD, alone at home, WHAT YOU WANT SEXUALLY. Practice that interaction! Practice those words. Learn how to SAY what you want, learn how to SAY IT OUT LOUD. Of course, that involves learning what you like sexually, and that is another article entirely.

So, we have discussed two tips, using SOUND, and learning how to STATE YOUR DESIRES OUT LOUD (which involves the subtext of learning what you do like). The last tip that this article can hold (due to length restraints) is the use of “ANTICIPATION.” This one tool can drive one mad with desire and explosive ecstasy when used properly. There are a million applications for this when you think about it. Much of BDSM sensation play is based on withholding ecstasy until one finally has anticipation built to a fantastic level (but that is also another article). Playing with intense, teasing foreplay, and reeling one in through incremental stages of excitement is not time wasted, when mind-blowing pleasure is achieved as the result. Speed is an effective means of anticipation, and can be used in many ways. For penis play, for example, you can start with a few light strokes for about 4 seconds on the shaft and head. Then stop and go to something else for a minute or two. Then return, and stroke the shaft and head for 8 seconds. Then leave and do something else, so they think that you have moved on. But then, again, in another minute or two, return to the shaft and head, and this time, stroke lightly a few seconds, then go down on the shaft with mouth or hand. Then go to something else, then in a few minutes return. And intensify it a little each time. Until they are anticipating the increments and you can then start adding speed to the mix. Start getting intense, but slowly. Then you can make the movements faster with excitement and as one gets more enthralled.

For women, there is a move called “ringing the doorbell.” You push the clitoris lightly, like ringing a doorbell, very casually, and with proper finesse, then move on to other things, as if you did not ring the doorbell. Then after a minute or two, go back and casually, and lightly, ring the doorbell again, etc. A bit of this and most women I have played with, and myself, want you to quit just ringing the doorbell and to come inside for a spell of more bell ringing and other fun. There are a ton of ways to build anticipation, and the category of anticipation is one worthy of research and development among sexual skills. So there you have it, three things you can work on today for better sex. Making more fabulous sounds while lovemaking, learning about your sexual desires and learning how to verbalize them out loud, and lastly, get creative in your applications of anticipation in your lovemaking.

Slingshot is an independent, volunteer-run, radical newspaper published in the East Bay since 1988.

Issue #83 is definitely an exciting one. It’s been a hectic time, as always, for us here at Slingshot, with a lot of movin’ and shakin’. We have five new volunteers helping out and bringing a lot of new energy. Fresh ideas and excited faces are always welcome. Most of the collective was also in New York for the RNC, implementing their own special brand of radicalism. The S/M street theatre was a big hit with certain authorities! This is also our first issue back from our summer hiatus, through which we were working diligently on getting the organizer out and about.

We hope your lives have been as full and energetic as ours. It’s good to keep busy with such noble endeavors; but the movement suffers if you run yourself into the ground. Remember, there’s a reason we’re organizing, fighting, and striving: because we believe in a society that’s better than this one. And what better way to embody this ideal than taking a bike ride for the sake of the ride, or sneaking into a movie, or browsing your favorite book store dumpster, or doing whatever makes you feel refreshed and ready to keep toppling the system that keeps you from that feeling everyday. Even we at the Slingshot have to hop in the hot tub every once in a while.

This year we’re hoping to put out five issues of the paper, thus making the jump from a quarterly to a “quintorally” issued newspaper. It’s quite the advancement and we hope to be up to the challenge. Speaking of challenge, you’ll notice there are no Spanish language pages in this issue. Our sincerest apologies. We hope to bring back the bilingual paper for issue #84 and if any of you would like to and can help us translate articles from English to Spanish, or just want to submit an article, please don’t hesitate to contact us or simply come to the new volunteer meeting (see below).

As always, editorial decisions are made by the Slingshot collective, but not all the articles reflect the opinions of the collective members. We welcome debate, constructive criticism and discussion.

Slingshot New Volunteer Meeting

Volunteers interested in getting involved with Slingshot can come to the new volunteer meeting October 24 at 1 p.m. at the Long Haul in Berkeley (see below).

Article Deadline and Next Issue Date

Submit your articles for issue 84 by November 19, 2004 at 3 p.m. We expect the next issue out in early December.

Volume 1, Number 83, Circulation 12,000

Printed September 30, 2004

Slingshot Newspaper

Sponsored by Long Haul

3124 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705

Phone: (510) 540-0751

The Draft

Dear Slingshot,

As a person who joined the Armed Forces out of economic desperation, I favor the draft reinstatement that’s before Congress this year over the de-facto draft we have now. It is too easy for Joe Public to get behind acts of aggression against other nations when they know, in their hearts, that it won’t be their clean-scrubbed college students coming back with a prosthetic leg. I look at the fear-mongering this White House attempts every time Kerry nudges ahead in the polls, and I know this is only an effective tactic because the middle class knows their kids are safe. I support a draft, not because I want to see more kids put on the firing line, but because I believe nothing less will wake America up about what goes on in the world.

Sincerely,

SGT Daniel Reasor

2nd Battalion, 265th Air Defense Artillery

Currently stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Chainstores

Dear Slingshot Collective

Hi! I’m the inventory manager at the [omitted to protect privacy], CA Borders Books & I was wondering if you guys distributed your Slingshot day planner to major book stores? One of my supervisors got ahold of your planner & we’d love to carry it! If at all possible, we’d only like an inital order of 10 planners (& maybe up it from there), & we can pay by credit card if that’s available. Please let me know so we can sell your amazing item!

Thanks!

[omitted to protect privacy

Inventory Manager, Borders, [—], CA

Our Response

Dear [—]:

Hi. Thanks for your email. We’re sorry, but our collective has decided not to sell the book to chain stores.

take care, love, slingshot

Dear Slingshot,

I am writing to request a bulk number of copies of the Slingshot newspaper, current and past issues. I live in a fairly rural area, turning into a rather nightmarish suburbia, and despite this terrible fact, there is an upside. A growing number of youth (like myself) are looking to more radical outlets of expression. More and more we are going beyond rebellion against our parents and looking at the larger system of oppresion. The problem is we are in a rural area and information is very limited. We receive many things from other places, mostly anything that comes in bulk, is close to free, and contains valuable information. We are trying to bring different aspects of radical culture to the youth so that they can get into radical politics through many means. Anyway, if you could please send some bulk copies of Slingshot it would help build radical culture in our area.

Thanks,

Steve

Pylesville, MD

Slingshot offers this Infoshop update every issue to update the list of radical contacts in our Organizer, but also because we love Infoshops. Infoshops take many forms ranging from radical cafes or bookstores that pay their workers to a spare room in a shared house hosting a zine library and Food Not Bombs meetings. They share a common function — providing a publicly accessible place where people who want to plug into the radical scene in a particular place can go to find out information about upcoming events, radical projects, and alternatives to the dominant society. Such places are great when you’re traveling, and they’re great because they can help radicals avoid the anarcho-ghetto — getting trapped in a closed social scene that only communicates with folks who are already part of the scene. Each Infoshop scattered across the globe represents a lot of hard work and a community coming together to create a space outside of corporate control where people can envision a new world. If you’re part of an Infoshop out there somewhere, thanks! Send us corrections, suggestions, and info on any new Infoshops that open up.

Iron Rail Bookstore – New Orleans

Iron Rail is a collectively run radical bookstore and lending library, that also sells records and street art supplies. They have a lending library with over 3,000 titles, many of them radical or hard-to-find books. They have been open 6 days a week since December, 2003. 511 Marigny St New Orleans, LA 70117 504-944-0366

Irregular Rhythm Asylum – Tokyo, Japan

IRA is an anarchist infoshop that just opened in Tokyo. They feature radical literature, punk rock stuff, music, books, zines, t-shirts, buttons, posters, videos and a chance for community for those who don’t fit into what its founders describe as the often conformist Japanese culture. They plan to organize music events, art shows, and discussions and they recently helped organize International Women’s Day in Tokyo. Before starting IRA, its founders helped create a DIY publishing collective, U-Do-Sha. (“U” means “play” or “frolic”, “DO” means “take action” and “sha” means‚ “collective” — “U-DO” together can also mean something like a Nomad.)

One organizer commented, “I hope people who visit our shop know that we can do anything without nations and corporations. And I hope we can support each other with autonomous people all over the world.” Check them out 1 – 8 p.m. at 1-30-12-302 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo-to, Japan 160-0022. Tel: 03-3352-6916 (domestic); +81-3-3352-6916 (from abroad)

Catalyst Bookstore – Prescott, AZ.

The Catalyst Bookstore, Coffee and Infoshop opened in May. It distributes radical literature, sells political books and hosts a reading room, as well as a free skool. They are open late at night and provide space for meetings, films, studying, and general socializing with the explicit intent of taking down the man. In their parking lot they have a free bike space. 109 North McCormick Street, Prescott, AZ 86301 (928) 443-8525.

Uprising Books – Toronto, Canada

Ooops – we left Uprising books out of the 2005 Organizer because they moved and we couldn’t figure out their new address. Right after we went to press, they emailed us their new info: 6A Kensington Ave. Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2J7 416-604-5254

Blank Generation – Little Rock

If you’re in Little Rock, check out this live music venue/radical book/skateboard/comics/music store. 608 Main Street, Little Rock, AR 72201

New Octopus Bookstore – Ottawa

An independent shop featuring local authors, small presses, radical and revolutionary voices, and writers from a variety of countries and cultures. 116 Third Ave. Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1s 2K1. 613-233-2589

Turning the Tide – Saskatoon

A new radical bookshop way up North. 525 11th St. East, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 0G1 (306)955-3070

Santa Cruz, Calif. Anarchist Infoshop gets the boot

The folks at the Santa Cruz Infoshop got evicted from their space at the end of July by their liberal landlord the Resource Center for Nonviolence, which claimed that the Infoshopper’s smell was interfering with other tenants. Undeterred, they are hoping to find another space for their lending library, meetings, etc. soon. If you have any ideas for a new space, email them: infoshop@hushmail.com.

Infoshops listed in the 2005 Organizer that no longer exist:

* Sixth Street Books, San Francisco. RIP.

* Ecolibrium Environmental Shop, Burlingame, Calif.

Other Infoshops that are gone:

* Devil’s Claw Collective in Tucson.

* Cascadia Rising Infoshop, Portland, OR

The stated purpose of the Berkeley Public Library is free access to information. The model is that all walks of the public life can use it. Yet recently, with the all pervasive state budget crisis, libraries have had to fire employees, tighten new material spending, and shorten hours. The result, of course, is that working people in the commuter/9-5 lifestyle will not be able to access the books (as if the monotony of today’s working life lends itself to inspire bookish folks anyway). Also, students seeking to hunker down with the ever increasing work load of schools will have less time to study for free. Though the cutting of these library services are only a small blow to our progressive/sensible community repository, the whole picture looks rotten.

Thank crom they rebuilt the main branch library a couple of years ago. Trying to manage money issues during such a Republican coup as we currently live under would be hard to imagine. Still, the library is one of the most endeared public resources of our city. Well, that is, until one contemplates the transformation of a public resource in the age of privatization. I think the public library issue points to the root of this problem: we are treating every public space as if they were businesses. The top brass have a penchant for large salaries, at a time when pay cuts for them would mean more jobs and more services for all. Berkeley’s development trend has followed a model of everything-new-and-sanitary, that is, a shopping mall model. This model has been replicated with the San Francisco and Oakland libraries. In fact, one wonders if this style is a majority of American libraries. I know some would bemoan any criticism of cleanliness and order, but the ugly repercussions of such policies are akin to when San Francisco threw away hundreds of thousands of books. It wasn’t until they were in the process of moving into their new building that many openly wondered how little shelf space there was. Like S.F., Berkeley remodeled its old building so that it has an open feel to it. The problem is that it has yet to be fully staffed as the old building was.

Another side effect of treating information as a product is an emerging technology called Radio Frequency I.D. These tiny chips will be embedded in every book…and we don’t even know if they work correctly yet!

This whole endeavor will be costly while the whole library is under staffed and struggling for money. There are those who fear these chips were being geared for placement in every product and hence making our private lives traceable to people who would normally creep you out. This technology, already ushered in at the S.F. library, is set to appear in Berkeley in an eye’s blink. The question is easy for library managers: the primary concern of libraries is book theft (that is, if you can steal them before they get thrown out!). And I can relate to this, as I’ve seen both sides: being a hateful, heavy metal amoral teen who saw libraries as a part of the alienating environment, and (now) identifying as a lover of rare information and print. I know how few some documents exist, how fragile they are. Once gone, they’re not even a memory. Also, the radio chips are cited as being useful in cutting down on repetitive motion employees make. Eventually, they could replace the workers with self check-in and check-out, cutting perceived budget drains such as workers comp. Aldous Huxley wrote that the new fascism would be clothed in the guise of efficiency! What happens when bureaucracies are run by machines?

Local librarians assure privacy to a paranoid public who complain about possibility of privacy invasion. They claim that the chips will only activate information on the book itself with no patron data. They say they can be made this way, unlike consumer chips, but this is not a given. It is possible that the R.F.I.D.s will be as incompetent as much of the world’s modern technologies are. At least one could hope they are capable of being subverted. Is there a way to block the signal much like some places can block cell phones?

The whole battle taking place with the public sphere troubles me. Libraries around the world are small spaces that people liberate themselves in. Many of the lands that America plunders, sorely need the breadth of mind that a place like the Berkeley Library holds. But with the T.V.’s leaders chanting never ending war, libraries are more likely to burn. A real example of this plunder is the burning of Iraq’s library, erasing a people’s memory. This is a step in genocide or forced submission to live like the West wants them to live. In American cities today the war pigs don’t exert their death technology like they blatantly do to rouge states. But it is a devastation nonetheless. Albeit slower and not as obvious, its motivation is still money.

In June of 2004 ex-president Bill Clinton came to Berkeley for a book signing. Shame on Berkeley for welcoming him, the war criminal, to Telegraph Avenue. I showed up outside Cody’s Books at noon sharp and slick willie was yet to arrive. The young student/berkeleyite/ street people/yuppies from the hills/visitors from the valley crowd was 100% Berkeley. A thousand or more, both rich and poor, all waited in quiet anticipation for a world leader who is not sophisticated enough to have illicit sex outside of government buildings or with anyone other than his own staff.

It was a lovefest to say the least. As far as the crowds reaction to criticism of their beloved bubba, I have heard infinitely more intelligent counter-comments from pro-war pro-Bush crowds. At least their comments are sometimes rational. The hatred that I got from the Berkeley crowd was seemingly from Mars. I displayed a big sign reading “IRAQI HOLOCAUST -by BILL CLINTON NOT WELCOME WAR CRIMINAL” and addressed the crowd with unhappy news about the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who perished under Clintons’ policies, the bombing of Sudan, the bombing of Yugoslavia, and more generally unpleasant topics of conversation for this crowd that could have been mistaken to be at disneyland or a baseball game.

No less than a constant stream of Telegraphs local nutpies showed up five feet behind me to try to yell me down with entirely nonsensical statements, mostly about George Bush and some other generally absurd and incoherent ranting. The horror on the faces of the middle-aged middle-class Berkeley women when they saw my sign was enough to make my day. I never knew Democrats were so sensitive to criticism of their presidents or candidates. I did hear that Al Gore’s activist group beat a guy up outside of a Las Vegas showing of Fahrenheit 911 for saying that Republicans and Democrats are the same. I calmly tried to respond to every insane person who came up to me to ask me why I was not attacking George Bush. Several ladies could only yell over and over ‘what about george bush?’, ’what about GEORGE BUSH?’ I replied to all alike “I have attacked George Bush for the past 365 days nonstop, and now everyone’s doing it, there’s even a major motion picture, but Bush didn’t have the balls to come to my neighborhood, Clinton did, he’s got a big hand in this war too, the American led aggression on Iraq has not ceased for the last 13 years, it has continued, and so I gotta let Mr. Clinton have it. No comfort for the terrorists, right. No welcome for the war criminals, not if you call this the home of the free speech movement.”

I was within a stones throw of Peoples Park and the mural of Mario Savio and I was attacked by countless liberals and locals for pointing out the obvious and egregious crimes of Bill Clinton. Many people were clearly puzzled by any criticism of Bill in light of Bush who they think is satan, but most intriguing to me was the handful of people whose concern was that this thing be pulled off without a glitch, with no evidence of protest or opposition. There were middle-aged ladies walking around with John Kerry clipboards and blocking camera lenses from catching my sign, people were asking the police ‘can we file a noise complaint?’, and the police were lecturing back over and over again ‘free speech is protected’. I have never experienced as much distraction or so-called ‘running interference’ in any demonstration ever. If that is what it takes for them to pull this bullshit off then it makes me happy. I am one person and I feel like my voice had an effect on people and on the authorities.

I reminded a lot of people that this man participated in a massive amount of death worldwide, a fact that many of them had simply conveniently forgotten. I just wish more lefties would get creative together and shame more of these politicians, and confront those who need to be confronted and speak intelligently in public in spontaneous ways and continue to use all of our energies when possible to continue to speak out against this BULLSHIT! What liberal Berkeley and liberal America have failed to come to terms with is the fact that liberal politicians suck so much that they can in fact be worse than the clowns that the Republicans put into office, and they invariably end up killing more people globally, all the while lulling the world and the american public into a deep sleep.

After two years of war and occupation in Iraq, the senseless loss of both American and Iraqi lives continues on a daily basis, and it seems hard to imagine any action the people of the world can take to stop the madness. Despite our uncertainty, now is the time to redouble our efforts to end the occupation, because it increasingly appears that those in charge have no idea what to do about the present situation, either. Bush’s rhetoric about Iraq has increasingly retreated into a fantasy world — every day he makes glowing statements about the liberation of the Iraqi people, how Iraq is becoming a stable democracy, how America will prevail, and how the Iraqis are about to elect their leaders. Back on planet earth, things look a bit different.

We must assume that someone in the Bush regime knows what is actually going on and that the absurd statements coming from the White House are sort of like a cry for help — a sign of profound weakness and impotence in the midst of a war spiraling out of control. In short, while it sometimes appears to those of us in the street as if there is no way to stop the war and the occupation, we may be watching it all collapse from the inside, brought down by its enormous weight and internal contradictions, together with the efforts of the insurgents.

More than 1,000 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq so far, perhaps 15,000 Iraqi civilians and an unknown number of Iraqi combatants — the US regime refuses to keep track and no one in Iraq really to knows. This war, like most wars, has a way of acquiring its own internal logic — the US rulers must continue to fight so that those killed so far have not died in vain. What is the point, or are there only justifications left?

Bush first claimed the war was to seize weapons of mass destruction or stop terrorism, but with these excuses exposed, he switched to saying the war was to liberate the Iraqi people from a brutal dictator.

What is most striking now is how life under the US puppet Iraqi regime is beginning to look as bad as life under Saddam Hussein. After at first disbanding the Iraqi army, the occupation forces have increasingly been working with former members of Saddam Hussein’s regime in order to reorganize Iraqi security forces and “maintain order.”

Interim Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi, who was the head man for Hussein’s Bath party in Europe before he split with Saddam and worked for the CIA, has cracked down on Iraqi freedom since taking office. In August, he closed the Baghdad offices of Arab TV network al-Jazeera in a move widely seen as an attack on press freedom in Iraq. Falah al-Naqib, Iraq’s interior minister, explained “They have been showing a lot of crimes and criminals on TV, and they [send] a bad picture about Iraq and about Iraqis and encourage criminals to increase their activities.”

Allawi supported reinstating the death penalty, has formed a new secret police force reminiscent of Saddam’s secret police, has reportedly recruited former torturers to serve in the new secret police, and has threatened to declare martial law to quell unrest. The supposed liberation of Iraq, like the grounds for the war, is a fraud.

This is hardly surprising — the US is always happy to support a tyrant as long as he is our tyrant and so long as fundamental US interests — in this case access to oil supplies — are at stake.

The other point repeatedly pushed by Bush is that Iraq is the front-line in the war on terrorism. But terrorism is a tactic, whereas wars must be fought against a foe, or perhaps an ideology. How can any physical location be a front-line in a war against a tactic? Terrorism is essentially the use of violence by a powerless group, whereas identical violence used by the state is considered “legitimate military action.” 3,000 people died in the Twin Towers attack — how many times that number of equally innocent civilians have been killed by the US in Iraq? None of these killings by either side are justified — we must stand for a world in which all senseless killing is unacceptable.

The Iraqi people are struggling against an occupation of their homeland by a foreign power. If the occupation were to disappear, the conflict might not end totally, but its character would shift dramatically from an occupation to perhaps a civil war. Iraqis would have space to determine their own fate and could get about the business of reconstructing their society. Increasing the US military pressure will only increase the resistance and the waste of lives. As understanding of this reality expands, including amongst US troops stationed in Iraq, Bush’s ability to continue the occupation will increasingly be threatened.

Folks in the United States must continue to demand an end to the occupation and an end to the senseless violence — employing whatever powerful and creative tactics we can devise. The people of Iraq and the people of the world are depending on those of us within the belly of the beast, for we are the most able to strike against the US war machine. Bush’s patriotic claims must be exposed as a lie — he is callously sending American troops to their death for nothing other than his own pride. In these times when the occupation looks the most desperate, we must remember that the darkest hour comes just before the dawn.

Somewhat secluded in the green central highlands of Chiapas is a small community named Jechvo, where being a Zapatista means that the water that you drink must fall from the sky. Jechvo is one of four communities in the municipio, or county, of Zinacantan, along with Elambo Alto, Elambo Bajo and La Paz, where a decision was made last December to deny a small portion of their residents, namely those which identify themselves as Zapatistas, all access to the town’s communal water source. The decision to do this was made under extreme pressure exerted over non-Zapatistas by behind-the-scenes advocates of two powerful political parties, the PAN and the PRD. The people who affiliate with these two parties were told that they had to “deal to the Zapatistas” and that an assault on their water source would be a good way to discourage “unpopular” political beliefs.

On my way to Jechvo to be an International Human Rights Observer for two weeks, I noticed signs and posters throughout Zinacantan about the recent alliance between these two parties. This obviously political maneuver didn’t strike me as particularly fair, but its real implications didn’t sink in until after I arrived. During my first day in Jechvo I learned that in this community of at least a 150 adult non-Zapatistas, there are a mere 41 Zapatista adults (about 30 families) left. Compare this to what it must have looked like 6 or 7 years ago, after the ë94 uprising, when practically every person in Jechvo was a Zapatista. The steady and, unfortunately, steep decline that followed is directly the result of cutbacks, threats and unfair economic policies posed by other political parties deliberately designed to undermine Zapatismo. From the way I heard the story told by people in Jechvo, most families didn’t have the nerve or the perseverance to continue in the struggle to the present day; but it was largely because they feared that they wouldn’t be able to make it economically, or that they would be putting themselves and their families in danger, not because they didn’t want to. Now the remaining few are collecting rainwater in large plastic rotoplas as their only method of survival, their children aren’t allowed to go to school, and if you don’t think that’s bad enough, after April 10th of this year it got a lot worse.

Being a Zapatista in Jechvo means making a lot of sacrifices. They live surrounded by enemies who were once their friends. But being a Zapatista also means that when a situation goes down, like the one in Jechvo.Öyou are never alone. When it became clear that this conflict wasn’t going to be resolved easily, the Junta de Buen Gobierno (Good Government Committee) in the regional headquarters or Caracol of Oventik, organized a march on April 10th to San Cristobal to protest and make public the blatant inhumanity of people trying to parch their own neighbors into submission, as if thirst alone could make them stop living for what they believe in. But luckily, water falls from the sky, and so do Zapatistas. Three thousand people marched that day, they came home exhausted but it wasn’t time to rest yet. They came home exhilarated but it wasn’t time for celebration. Nothing happened when the marchers passed Zinacantan, nor the neighboring Pastel, but there were rumors, and when the march entered Jechvo, literally hundreds of “enemies who were once friends” from Jechvo, Pastel and other local communities, were waiting to attack them. The people of the PRD/PANista alliance blocked the road so that the marchers could not enter, then they threw loud and dangerous fireworks at their feet to frighten and disperse the crowd. The aggressors were armed and ready to “acabar (put an end to) los pinche Zapatistas.”

The result was 36 wounded, and 446 Zapatistas had to flee immediately to the mountains to hide out. A young man of 12 that I got to know during my time in Jechvo told me that at the time of the attack his leg was still hurt from falling off a horse months before and his uncle and his father had to take turns carrying him the whole way. No one had time to bring food, blankets or any provisions and many of the wounded went without care. They waited for 3 to 4 days “under the trees” before other Zapatistas could find them. Then 11 more days followed, in and surrounding an abandoned shack, doing the best that they could to make tortillas on the cold, impassive rocks.

I asked my friend’s father if he didn’t sometimes think about taking the bribes and cutbacks that the corrupt political parties had to offer, if he didn’t ever think about giving into the pressure, the danger and alienation and joining the majority in his community. I asked him how his wife, who spoke no Spanish and could not answer me herself, felt about it. He said that they would never give up the fight, that he warned his wife long ago that it would be hard, but that they were never going back to their old ways (as Pristas). “My youngest sons have been Zapatistas all of their lives,” he said, “they are very proud.”

The local elections are coming to Zinacantan in October, the PRD and the PAN have high hopes that their joint candidate will win. During winter months in the U.S. it is dry and hot in the highlands of Chiapas. The people in Jechvo and the surrounding communities aren’t sure what they will do when their water runs out. This, coupled with a state-wide decrease of “peace campers,” as some like to call us, over the last couple of years, is making a lot of Zapatistas in Zinacantan pretty anxious. The Junta de Buen Gobierno (Good Government Council) in the local Caracol has promised that when the rains stop, there is no way these Zapatistas are going to be forgotten; but specifics as to how water relief is going to be brought to these communities have not yet been disclosed.

At the end of the 15 days in the mountains, when the 446 refugees returned to their homes, they were greeted by much destruction. They were also greeted by reporters from all over the world eager to hear their story, by members of civil society (including six peace campers) as diverse in color and form as the corn that they themselves grow. The people of Jechvo feel safe because they know they are not alone, that the future that they struggle to obtain may not be “popular” amongst those that seek to destroy it, but that it is popular nonetheless to people all over the world who share similar struggles and will not fail to turn their heads in the direction of Zinacantan when there is trouble in the air.

Please contact the Chiapas Support Committee if you are interested in traveling to Chiapas in the form of an International Human Rights Observer. We have been offering trainings and certifying people since 1998. Email us: cezmat@igc.org or call 510-654-9687.

500,000 people protested the Republican National Convention — its wars abroad, assaults on the environment, and crackdowns on workers — in New York City in late August and early September. From the massive, mellow march the day before the convention to hundreds of confrontations in which small groups hassled delegates, to the 1,800 arrests, was the week of protests a success? The RNC underlined the limits of protest. Outside of New York, news about the protests was hard to find. Massive police presence in New York curtailed our ability to disrupt the delegates’ work.

Yet the protests made it much harder for Bush to use New York as a prop for his war on terrorism message. Things would have been worse if he had come to New York and no one had hit the streets. The protests showed that not all Americans are united around Bush and his agenda of fear and violence.

In deciding to hit the streets, you can never be sure that it will be “worth it” — that it will help promote change. But you can always be sure that if you decide not to hit the streets, you’ll loose a chance for progress. It’s up to the opponents of the system to make the effort to show up wherever those in power gather if there appears to be any chance it could make a difference.