Author: Slingshot Collective

Put This Paper Down

The sad state of the world over the past few years — the increased concentration of power — spiraling environmental destruction — the Iraq war and occupation — Bush’s naked attempts to create fear — stepped up attacks on privacy — is creating a deeper level of popular opposition to the structures of power than has been seen for quite some time. Increasingly, huge numbers of folks who used to think of themselves as “mainstream” are having to face the fact that the systems of power they believed were justified, reasonable and legitimate are instead threats to freedom, peace, stability and life itself. There are opportunities for something positive to come out of a very scary situation.

The question is, how can folks in the activist community promote this transformation? And assuming more people are willing to take action against the system, what actions can we take?

I haven’t heard very good answers to either of these questions and I wish the activist community would think about them carefully and seriously. In such dangerous times, the activist scene appears to be going about business as usual, which means that it is celebrating its own marginalization and impotency, rather than trying to figure out how to attack the system.

If we’re going to help people decide to reject the system, we have to be willing to talk to people who aren’t already involved in the activist scene. This means people of different ages, races, backgrounds. On the most basic level, it means that we shouldn’t write-off so many folks because we think that they are too mainstream to ever oppose the system. We have to give people some credit that they’re not stupid. We need to stop rejecting people who aren’t young and pierced.

It’s true that ultimately, people must transform their own consciousness and political understanding, but there is a role for political outreach. Outreach doesn’t mean that we should all become preachers of a radical faith — we need to realize that thinking or behaving as if we have the “truth” just sets up a new hierarchy.

What I mean is that activists can encourage dialog and discussion — questioning authority. We should also realize that the system maintains power by keeping people isolated from each other and breaking down common spaces and moments when people can interact outside of realms organized by the market. We ought to be about creating these types of free spaces — and not just for ourselves and our friends, but for people who are isolated from discussion about political issues and isolated from political action.

At a time like this, we need to stop spending so much of our activist time organizing endless conferences or events primarily meant for people already involved in “the scene” — anarchist picnics, anarchist soccer teams, etc. Even a lot of actions seem mostly directed at folks who are already involved — basically, we organize an action by trying to “organize” those who are already organized and in the activist community, rather than by organizing society. The idea of organizing means organizing society, not just organizing the could-be organizers.

The forces of power spend huge amounts of energy on media propaganda and public manipulation. We need to figure out a grassroots response, and more than that, a way to go beyond responding and communicate a positive alternative agenda.

Day to day life in advanced capitalism can be grim — living alone, working a meaningless job that takes up most of your time and energy. There is a hunger for community and finding some kind of meaning or hope for a better future. If our process and actions empower people, provide meaning, and are based on community and connection, they will be powerful because they will fill the gap that the current top-down society creates.

I hope the activist community will make a New Year’s Resolution to start taking itself more seriously. Far too often, we get distracted by single issue campaigns because we assume that our efforts are incapable of addressing the biggest, systemic issues. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy — we make our own resistance irrelevant when we assume it can’t succeed.

Once upon a time I thought that polyamory was a radical act, and when I finally came out last year as a poly person, I realized that it’s not always a choice. I last about a month in a monogamous situation–it’s stifling for me–so I’ve begun to consider poly as I see other non-dominant sexual preferences, as conscious radical choices or natural urges. It’s also helped me understand that monogamy works as well for some people as poly works for me.

Coming out has been a bit painful–telling friends one at a time, finding a supportive community that understands–but rewarding. I’m developing my own ethic for intimacy, since I don’t believing extending a monogamous framework to many partners is sufficient. My influences have been anarchism, Buddhism and the wisdom of my community. Principally I’m working on overcoming physical and emotional scarcity, practicing full disclosure, and seeing love as a gift exchange.

My vision of functioning polyamory is to become my own primary partner. As I discard the residual morality of monogamy, having a primary relationship seems less necessary. As I understand my own completeness, I can honor intimacy without prioritizing, and practice honesty with partners instead of getting permission to be poly from them.

The need for fidelity is changing as I depend less on others’ approval for my self worth. Just as I would be delighted over my best friend finding a new lover, I find delight in my lovers’ new joys. Cheating, per se, is not about sex, but about emotional dishonesty and breaking commitments. If a lover of mine had unsafe sex, broke a date to fuck someone else, or lied about what level of intimacy they wanted, I would be hurt enough to need the issue addressed. However, everyone has different triggers, and we can only know by discussing them.

The biggest downfall of being poly for me is the amount of time it consumes. I could spend the next 50 years happily dancing, cuddling, talking, fucking and processing and never do another minute of justice work, but it would be a life less than fulfilling. Knowing that my love is not finite but my time and energy are will form the most concrete boundaries of my relationships. If only orgasms could overthrow the government.

I firmly believe in non obligatory relationships. Love is a gift exchange and in order for intimacy to be healthy, I must give and receive. While I can’t know what joy is coming, I expect it, as well as some pain. Growth often comes from such discomfort.

As I stray farther from monogamy into my own definitions of intimacy, I find more gratification. I know that I’ll be grateful for lovers and at other times retreat to my own self-satisfaction. Either way, I’ll know that I’m loved.

Everyday in developed areas, people generate tons of global warming gasses when they burn fossil fuels to take showers. Personally, I’m not against showering every once-in-a-while. In fact, when I go to action gatherings, etc., I sometimes think we would have an easier time getting out of the activist ghetto and connecting with regular folks if a few of us showered a bit more often. I grew up with the “shower every morning” ritual. But with increasing evidence that the burning of fossil fuels is the biggest human threat to the environment — the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science just released a study indicating that up to 37 percent of the world’s species could go extinct by 2050 because of human-cause climate change — I started questioning my upbringing.

First, I started showering less — every 2 or 3 days is really sufficient even when you do physical work and sweat a lot like I do.

But I still didn’t like the thought that my getting clean meant I was connected to a natural gas drilling rig ruining some natural area — and global warming. If you take a 5 minute shower 3 times a week and your shower head puts out a typical 1.6 gallons per minute, you’re using 24 gallons of heated water a week, or 1248 gallons a year. When you figure that heating a gallon of water with gas releases 1 ounce of carbon dioxide, and you multiply by the billion or so people who have developed standards of living sufficient to allow them to shower, you can see that our little showers have a big environmental impact.

It turns out, there is an excellent, non-polluting and abundant alternative to fossil fuels for heating water — low tech solar power. You can use solar power to heat your shower if you have 1-2 hours of sun, which means that folks living anywhere can greatly reduce their use of fossil fuels for water heating by switching to solar. Even if you can only use solar in the summertime, it will change your perspective on using energy. For many folks in the southern part of the country, you can use solar hot water most of the year. If millions of people switched, it wouldn’t be the revolution, but it would help. In fact, since my vision for the revolution is that we would learn how to live in a more sustainable way, switching to solar is a tiny way to begin living the revolution now, instead of waiting for some far off future event.

DIY solar shower design

There are fancy ways to use the sun to heat residential water, but they’re pretty expensive and unless you own where you live, you probably can’t get solar hot water the fancy way. Basically, they involve circulating water through black piping enclosed in an insulated glass-topped box. Sun shines into the box which acts as a greenhouse and gets super hot, heating up the water flowing through it. You need a circulating pump (which can be run by solar electricity), a huge storage tank to store the heated water until you need it, and a lot of pipe from the panels on the roof to the storage tank. Even if you do it all yourself, you’re looking at $2,000 or more just for materials! I think it would be great to install a lot more of the fancy solar hot water heaters, but until then, you can rig up this do-it-yourself system.

Ingredients (get these at any decent hardware store for about $30)

4 1/2 feet 3 inch diameter black ABS pipe

2 3 inch 90 degree black ABS pipe fittings with 2 female ends

2 3 inch 90 degree fittings with 1 female and 1 male end

1 3 inch T fitting with 2 female 3 inch ends and 1 female 2 inch end

1 3 inch T fitting with 2 female 3 inch ends and 1 1.5 inch end

1 2 inch male to 2 inch female threaded fitting

1 2 inch threaded plug

1 1 1/2 inch male to 1/2 inch threaded female fitting

1 1/2 inch ball valve with 2 female ends

1 1/2 inch male to male threaded fitting

1 1/2 inch 45 degree male to female fitting

1 un-restricted, high flow shower head (I use a plant watering can attachment — a hose fan spray attachment would also work — a low flow showerhead won’t work because it requires high water pressure to work, which this system won’t create)

Two bike hooks for your shower stall

Multi-purpose plastic pipe cement

You cut the section of pipe into 2 14 inch sections and 2 12 inch sections and then connect all this stuff together with the plastic pipe cement as show in the diagram. Don’t glue any of the threaded joints — the one on top is for filling and the one at the bottom is so you can remove the shower head assembly for cleaning, etc. What you have at the end of the process is a square of black pipe that holds about 2 gallons of water — enough for a 5 minute shower.

You fill the shower with a garden hose, etc., through the threaded 2 inch hole, and then screw down the threaded plug. Then set it out flat in the sun for 1-2 hours, depending on the air temperature. The black pipe absorbs the sun’s energy and the water inside will get super hot! Then, you screw the two bike hooks into your shower stall (or if you like outside showers, onto the side of your house, etc.) so that you can hang the shower on the wall. Put the hooks high enough so that the shower head will be above your head, but not so high that you can’t actually hang the shower on the wall. Put one hook in slightly above the other, so the thing will hang a little diagonally, with the shower head at the bottom for full draining, and the filling plug at the top so it won’t leak when full.

It will weigh about 20 pounds when full, which might seem heavy at first but you’ll get used to it (and build upper body strength!) I suggest sort of sliding the thing up the wall and then over the hooks.

Before you take your shower, you have to loosen the filling plug at the top so air can get into the shower as it drains. Then, get naked, stand under the shower, and turn the ball joint. The water will run out the shower head and make a really nice shower running just on gravity.

You can fill it in the morning and leave it out all day for a shower in the afternoon or evening, or if you have a good spot that gets morning sun, you can generally put it out the night before and take a mid-morning shower. If you leave it out all day, the water will get too hot to use, so you’ll have to put it in some shade so it can cool down before you use it.

By the way, the shower saves water as well as fossil fuels — about 2 gallons instead of about 8 for a comparable shower. You also save water because most piped in showers require that you run the water while you wait for it to get hot. My shower at home wastes almost as much water waiting for it to get hot as the solar shower uses for the whole shower!

Best of all, having a DIY shower really makes you think about where your shower is coming from, which eventually makes you think about all the energy you use. During the winter when there isn’t any sun, I usually still use the DIY shower. I put a 2 gallon pan over the pilot light on our gas stove overnight and by morning, the water is hot. Have fun getting naked.

Cuando yo estaba sentada en el NICU (Centro de Vigilancia Intensiva Neonatal) en el hospital y di el pecho a mi hija por primera vez, yo supe en una manera visceral que mi vida se cambió para siempre. Lo sentí en mis huesos (no mencionar el útero y los pezónes).

En hablar del tema de ser madre/padre, mucho ya es cliché. Y tantos de los clichés son la verdad. Yo nunca he sido tan enamorada con, ni cometida a nadie como estoy a mi hija. Tampoco yo nunca he sido tan cansada como estaba en los primeros tres meses de su vida. Ser su madre me ha hecho mirar el mundo de una manera completamente nueva.

Mis padres pensaban que podrían cambiar el mundo por cambiar su manera de vivir, y así que ellos se retiraron y “regresa a la tierra” (o sea, regresaron a la tierra a vivir la vida sostenible—en ingles la expresion es “back to the land”). Yo pensé que para cambiar el mundo, hay que enfrentar y intervenir directamente, y así que dejé la tierra y “regresé a la ciudad.” Aca es donde me quedo, y espero que el mundo está cambiando, pero es dificil saber seguramente cuánto cambia y/o si el cambio mejorará el mundo.

Todavía yo opino que el mundo necesita la confrontación y la intervención para ser cambiada, pero ademas se necesita un cambio de la manera de vivir — y que como criar a nuestros hijos está incluido en ese cambio. Sigo pensando que nosotros, los padres podemos cambiar el mundo. Sigo pensando en que una cultura capitalista, blanca-supremacista, patriarcal, y estatizada influye y forma a nuestros hijos. Sigo pensando en que a que estan criados en esta cultura llegan a ser adultos que perpetúan las mismas estructuras y los sistemas. Pienso en cómo romper es ciclo..

Me vacilo a hablar de cómo nuestras estrategias de criar a los hijos afectan nuestro mundo, porque la idea que nuestros problemas provienen de nuestro método de criar a los niños puede colocar la culpa de todos los problemas en los hombros de los padres que ya son sobrecargados. Pero los psicólogos y otros “expertos” que utilizan su posición como “expertos” a presionar los padres en métodos desnaturales y separados de ser padres. Pero tanto de quienes somos como seres humanos puede ser rastreado a nuestras experiencias infantiles—entonces vale la pena de considerar que como una sociedad piensa en el trabajo de ser padre/s influye esa misma sociedad.

La cultura occidental, y la cultura dominante de los Estados Unidos en particular, adora la individualidad y la autogestión al punto tan extremo que esperamos que nuestros niños sean autosuficientes antes que aprender a hablar. El método del corriente principal, o el método convencional a cuidar, valua la independencia sobre el apoyo, la compasión, y la interdependencia.

Como padres, estamos advertidos interminablemente a no servir a las necesidades de nuestros bebés porque quizás siempre esperarán que sus necesidades serán satisfechadas. Por responder a las necesidades de nuestros niños como si fueren necesidades frívolas, les enseñamos una incapacidad a distinguir entre las necesidades y los deseos, y perdimos la abilidad de distinguir la diferencia nosotros mismos. La filosofía convencional de criar dice que el deseo de bebe a ser abrazado y aliviado es manipulativo, mientras un método compasivo dice que es una necesidad válida. Nuestros niños aprenden cómo relacionar al mundo por la manera que los tratamos, y cuando somos irrespetuosos, desdeñosos, crueles e indiferentes a nuestros niños como una manera de hacerlos fuertes, ellos llegan a ser adultos irrespetuosos, crueles e indiferentes. Tengo la convicción de que si la compasión fuera valuada en los métodos de los padres, gradualmente llegaría a ser más valuado en la sociedad.

Siempre he amado el concepto de construir el nuevo mundo al mismo tiempo que destruimos al mundo viejo. Crear mientras destruimos, formar mientras derrocamos. Esto ha formado mi concepto de criar radicalmente. Por una parte, necesito seguir a enfrentar el mundo dominante y malo, y agregar mi energía y mi fuerza a la lucha para derrocar el capitalismo, la supremacía blanca, el patriarquia, y el estado. Por otro lado, yo quiero criar a mi niña como si el mundo que deseo ya existiera. Me gustaria criar a una niña quien rechaza y lucha contra los sistemas de dominación y opresión, pero a la vez puede funcionar en el mundo. Quiero ser una madre excelente.

El método de cuidar excelente parece distinto a las personas distintas. A mí el método es poner el bienestar de mi hija en frente de mis propias conveniencias. Significa que yo no pongo la culpa en ella cuando es dificil ser madre. Significa que tengo que cuidarme a mÍ misma. Más concretamente, significa que la sigo tratando con respeto, apoyando sus esfuerzos a autodeterminarse, y asegurando su seguridad. Significa que tengo que aprender cómo criar a una chica asignada con autoestima fuerte y quien puede sobrevivir y tener éxito en una cultura patriarcal. También significa que tengo que modelar selecciones y conducta con principios. Significa hacer investigación y pensar críticamente en cómo ser madre y escoger los instrumentos y técnicas que son correctos para nosotros. Significa reconocer que la necesidad para el amor es tan importante como la necesidad para el alimento. ¿Puede significa más?

Tengo esperanzas grandes, pero expectaciónes realisticas. ¡Quizas mi hija sea o no sea una revolucionaria, pero soy determinada a prepararla con la capacidad!

La utopia anarquista será determinada por las personas que la componen. Creo que incluirá el respeto y la reverencia para todas las personas y criaturas. Pondrá su énfasis en la interdependencia y el colectivismo sobre el individualismo severo. El respeto para la autonomía no ganará sobre el apoyo mutuo y la libertad de asociación. En la utopia anarquista que yo deseo, todos esperarán que todas las necesidades sean acomodadas, y gritarán como el infierno cuando no son satisfechadas. En la utopia anarquista, la gente será apacible con la otra gente a pesar de la edad—o cualquier otro factor.

El construir el nuevo mundo en la cáscara del viejo implica que tenemos que vivir como la utopía anarquista ya estuviera aca, y incorporar los valores, sistemas, y métodos del mundo ideal tan como es posible en el mundo actual. Por eso yo vivo colectivamente, y utilizo el proceso colectivo a hacer decisiones cuando puedo. Sigo explorando como aplicar este método en ser madre en maneras que son excelente.

No voy a decir que el acercarse al tema de criar a los niños de este manera va a generar una revolución, pero es uno de los componentes necesarios para el cambio social radical. Quién es mejor para empezar este enfoque que la comunidad ararquista/radical (definida ampliamente)? Vale la pena a hacerlo porque el proceso de explorar estas ideas desafía y profundiza mi análisis y compromiso política constantemente. Y vale la pena porque es una manera buena de criar a un(a) niño, y también vale la pena ser buena madre/buen padre.

Gracias a los padres radicales y a los aliados a los padres quienes han ofrecido su aviso, sugerencias, y apoyo. Se puede escribir a Rahula Janowski en anarchakittyoriseup.net.

Alguna vez pensé que la polygamia era un acto radical, pero cuando finalmente el año pasado me convertÍ en polygama y me di cuenta que no siempre es una opción. Yo duro aproximadamente un mes en una relación monógama. Para mí esta relación es ahogante-opresora. Entonces he comenzado a considerar la polygamia, pues es otra preferencia sexual que no es muy común, considerarla como otra preferencia radical o urgencia natural. Esto también me ha ayudado a darme cuenta de que la mongamia funciona bien para alguna gente, como la polygamia fuciona para mí.

Ha sido un poco dificil, decirles a mis amigos uno por uno que soy poligamo y encontrar una comunidad que apoye y que entienda pero vale la pena. Estoy creando mi propia ética para la intimidad, pues yo no creo en alargar la relacion monogama para muchas parejas, es suficiente…Mis influencias han sido el anarquismo, el budhismo, y la sabiduria de la comunidad. Principalmente estoy trabajando en salir a flote con lo físico y lo emocional practicando la comunicación abierta ademas de ver a el amor como un intercambio de regalos.

Mí visión de como funciona la polygamia es llegar a ser mi propia pareja principal asi como me deshago de los restos o sobrantes que aún quedan de la moral que rodea la monogamía. Pues tener una relacion primaria parece cada vez menos nesesaria. Cuando más entiendo lo completa que soy, puedo venerar la intimidad sin pensar en ella como cosa principal y ser honesta con mis parejas en vez de pedir permiso.

La necesidad de ser fiel está cambiando pues cada vez dependo menos de la aprobación de otros, para ser yo misma. Yo sería tan feliz si mí mejor amiga(o) encuentra una nueva pareja como si una pareja mia tiene nuevos placeres. La infidelidad no es acerca de sexo, si no más bien acera de deshonestidad emocional y las promesas rotas. Si uno de mis amantes no usara protección al tener sexo, rompiera un compromiso para ir a hacer sexo con otralo o mientiera acerca de que clase de intimidad quisiera me dolería lo suficiente como para confrentar el problema. De cualquier manera todos tienen diferentes puntos de vista que solo podriamos saberlos si hablamos de ellos.

La parte más dura de ser poligama es la cantidad de tiempo que esto lleva, pues yo podriá pasar los proximos 50 años bailando, dandonos caricias uno a otro, hablando, haciendo el amor y no hacer ni un minuto de trabajo para la justicia social. Pero eso seria una vida menos productiva. El saber que mi amor es infinito a causara las mayores limitaciones para mis relaciones de parega… pues si tan solo los orgasmos pudieran sacar al gobierno.

Creo firmemente en las relaciones sin obligaciones. El amor es un intercambio de regalos y para que la intimidad sea sana, debo dar y recibir. Mientras que yo no puede saber que el placer vendra lo espero, asi como el dolor también. La madurez usualmente proviene de la incomodidad.

Así como cada vez me alejo mas de la monogamía, y me acerco mas a mis propias definiciones de la intimidad, me de a más gusto. Sé que estaré agradecida de mis amantes y otras veces me retiraré a mi propia satisfacción. De cualquier manera sabré que soy querida.

Hundreds of organizers, activists, artists, families, workers, piqueteros — members of asambleas, unions of the unemployed, and self-managed collectives — gathered in a reclaimed warehouse for the Ronda de Pensamiento Autónomo (Round of Autonomous Thinking) January 8-11 at Roca Negra, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As part of Enero Autónomo (Autonomous January) the gathering sought to discuss and expand upon the concept of autonomy and horizontal practices and movements. From many countries and struggles they gathered to build upon the practices of direct democracy, horizontalism, autonomy, and struggle that unite the many fibers of people and practices into a fabric of passion and hope for bringing the new world in our hearts into existence. Here is the space where these shared stories and dreams meet, where rage meets pragmatism in fruitful dialogue and strategizing.

Roca Negra (Black Rock), as the space is known, is a former chop shop in Lanus, an area on the outskirts of greater Buenos Aires that was reclaimed by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. It is a fitting a space as any, a place that was formerly used for the operations where those screwed by economic conditions would steal from others to survive – a place that is now used for the growing of vegetables and raising of livestock to support the members of the unemployed worker unions that have called for this international gathering.

The hundreds gathered in this space come from many locations and struggles, from the Unemployed Workers Movements (MTDs) and neighborhood assemblies to indigenous communities of the Mapuche and Guarani and activists from the US and Europe. There are members of countless autonomous collectives and self-managed workplaces, including Mujeres Creando (Women Creating) from Bolivia, the Landless Peasants Movement (MST) from Brazil, Autonomista Socialista de Suecia (Sweden), the Worcester Global Action Network (from the US) and Cooperativa La Asableraria (Italy). Coming from many places and experiences the discussion is united by many common features: struggling against the corporate globalization of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, building and sustaining cooperative projects and community organizations, fostering independent media and sources of information, confronting the many varieties of oppression that exist worldwide.

International encuentros such as this one reinforce and make clear the need to build common projects, genuine solidarity, and connections of mutual aid between radical organizations. Through many discussions any emphasis was placed on how solidarity must go beyond fundraising to genuine political support and working together, common projects and work beyond piqueturismo (activist tourism) and fetishizing militant chic. When funding from NGOs, grant making foundations, government sources, and religious charities come with questionable strings attached, the building and maintaining of truly autonomous movements necessitate webs of support that enable the maintenance of dignity and self-determination. Poverty pimping and paternalism don’t magically disappear when the situation becomes international.

While it is important to appreciate the beauty and resistance displayed by organizers in Argentina, Brazil, and everywhere, it is also important to not overly idealize such movements or to forget the situations they face. For instance, while the work of MTD La Matanza and Solano is amazing and encouraging (and largely responsible for bringing together this gathering), these unions represent only a small portion of the unemployed workers who are involved in such organizations, many of whom are being co-opted and bureaucratized by the Argentinean state as it continues to repress the more radical organizers. Many of the community asambleas neighborhood associations that formed after the December 2001 financial crisis have since fallen apart as things have become more stabilized and the middle class has been bought back into the system, even if slowly.

The point of such observation is not to deny the validity or importance of such organizing, but to realize that if we as activists and organizers want to understand, support, learn from, and from with organizations not just from Argentina but anywhere in the world, it makes little sense to try to do so without gaining a fuller understanding of the political situation. Building common projects and forums of understanding means interacting with the situation as a whole, and not just the organizers whose politics and practice comes closest to the kinds of organizations that we find most desirable.

There is much to be gained by the formation and maintenance of such networks and spaces of dialogue, passion, and autonomous thought, strategy, and action – but also much to lose if idealism prevents seeing the situation in full view and acting upon such. Imagining new worlds cannot blind us to the harshness of the existing world, or to overlook the inevitable growing pains as words from the heart and social creativity expand to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Enero Autónomo: www.eneroautonomo.org.ar

Being at the FTAA protest in Miami in November was both amazing and brutal. Besides proving to me that the anti-authoritarian movements in the US must continue networking to increase the efficacy of public confrontation, I saw incredible community built by locals and transplanted activists. It was a great lesson that being radical, and being effective, isn’t about attacking the fence.

I was one of the protesters who showed up at the FTAA convergence space on Wednesday at noon, with a little bit of jet lag. So I’ll first give a huge thank you to the people who got there days or weeks early and made food, sleep, outreach and media arrangements and to those who stayed late to do legal support.

Before I arrived, lots of people had said that “Miami” didn’t want us there, that there were no radical people, that there was no support. Rumors even circulated that some people were paid to protest. While it’s true that the resistant infrastructure could use some love, the people we met were generous, supportive, and scared of what FTAA might do to their families in the States or in Latin America. Knowing that police brutality is a regular occurrence for many residents, I don’t blame them for not showing up with rocks or molotovs.

There are three reasons why I go to large protests: to participate in public resistance, to join a temporary autonomous zone, and to smash the state. Usually, I feel success on the first two, and Miami was only different in the degree of brutality inflicted on protesters. If anyone needs proof that the police state is thriving in the US, Miami demonstrated it. Police Chief Timoney, who orchestrated the paramilitary repression of protest, is one psychotic MF.

The Food Not Bombs operation at the space was one of the finest I’ve seen. With at least 4 food pickups a day, and so much food left over that we gave some back, the generosity of local grocers and distributors was incredible. Meals were served downtown and at the convergence space, with approximately 2000 people fed per sitting.

The community garden, which I never actually saw!, left a living reminder for Miami of what the protest was about. Clean air, green space and drinkable water are essentials–and FTAA will make them all scarcer. It will leave a more permanent mark than anything else we did there, in noticeable contrast to the low-wage, dead-end jobs that FTAA will usher in.

As far as confrontations, transportation (spotty) and the weather (sticky) definitely gave a home-team advantage to the police, and Miami is a town without alleys or public parks. Even the churches downtown were locked.

Tactically, Miami was a beating in the streets. From Sunday to Sunday, police rounded up protesters, arrested pedestrians, conducted illegal searches and gassed or beat crowds. By my best estimate, 10% of non-union protesters were arrested and many more subject to police violence. Buses holding thousands of protesters were blocked from entering Miami Dade County. Far from being provoked, the police was pro-active in its oppression and violence.

While I was downtown on Thursday night with friends feeding homeless people, we were stopped and illegally searched by a troop of bicycle cops who claimed that “God was in charge” and threatened us with “fifty thousand volts of electricity” from a tazer for waiting on a corner to cross the street. One cop asked why “a girl like you would shave her head” and I told him I had cancer. Which is totally possible–I haven’t seen a doctor since I lost my health insurance. He took it like a kick in the balls and I had the “privilege” of a less-than-thorough (illegal) pat down. It felt good to get one direct hit. When I found out later that queer people had been assaulted and tortured in prison, a knot tied up my intestines. I feel for those folks. It could have been me.

After more than 150 arrests on Wednesday and Thursday, for “offenses” as egregious as breathing, there was a fabulous jail solidarity march and rally in front of the prison. With drums and signs and our lungs, we let those on the inside know that we were grateful and working toward bail. Although no one outside knew at the time, some friends in prison told me that our presence helped them do solidarity and make demands for lawyers and food and release. And then, there were riot cops. Timoney (or someone) had arranged for the protest to be surrounded on three sides by riot cops armed with everything but AK-47s. Police negotiators told the press, before they told protesters, that we had three minutes to disperse or be gathered illegally. While the street spokes council kept talking, affinity groups took to the sidewalk. If I hadn’t walked home through the projects (where police know better than to go), I probably would have been rounded up like dozens of other people who left peacefully.

If anarchism or radicalism or anti-capitalist resistance is ever going to dismantle capitalism and its tools, we need to learn from international movements and drop our fears. As long as we depend on the state and capitalism, for education, food, transportation or housing, they will continue to oppress us. Two delegations that were noticeably absent from the action were indigenous people and small farmers–both under assault in this country since Roanoke and the Great Depression, respectively. The people I met in the Miami projects loved what we were doing,

but didn’t join us. People with skin and social privilege must find a way to minimize risk for those people (people of color, immigrants, queers) who are most targeted for police brutality so that they can participate in resistance without additional oppression.

About three blocks from the convergence center on Friday afternoon, two Latino men in a pickup truck stopped to talk to me and a friend, both dressed in black with bandannas. “Watch out for drug dealers in this neighborhood,” one told me.

“I’d rather meet any dealer than any cop in this town today,” I replied.

“Well, I’m glad you all came down here. I didn’t think any white people gave a shit about me. But my family in El Salvador needs clean water and it doesn’t look good,” he said. “We’ll have to keep working on this.”

Yes…we will.

Operation Canadian Freedom

Washington DC — October 1, 2008 — With just weeks remaining before President Bush’s historic run for a third term, the Bush Administration announced that the first ground troops had crossed the Canadian border, beginning Operation Canadian Freedom.

“Coalition forces from 64 nations have begun the battle to liberate the Canadian people, who have suffered under years of tyrannical free health care and legalized gay marriage,” commented Bush in a nationally televised address from the Oval Office. “We know that some of the terrorists who attacked us on September 11 came to the US from Canada. Canada is a clear and present danger to the freedoms that we Americans hold so dear,” said Bush.

Reporters embedded with the Third Infantry Division reported only slight resistance, with three soldiers injured when their Humvee struck a moose.

Bush went to war after Canada refused to turn-over its weapons of mass destruction, although Canada denied having any such weapons and repeated inspections by United Nations weapons inspectors had found no weapons. “We know that Canada must have weapons of mass destruction, because they have repeatedly denied having weapons of mass destruction — what are they trying to hide?” Bush told the nation.

Flag waving TV reporters were present at Niagara Falls as tens of thousands of American troops, and hundreds of thousands of private contractors from the nation’s top multi-national corporations, crossed the border. The Army’s newest weapon, the $46 million mobile McDonalds attack restaurant, saw its first combat with an early morning Big Mac attack. The invasion force also included troops from the 63 other coalition countries — 6 foreign troops in all.

After the president’s address, the President’s spokesperson dismissed protests from members of the international community. “We have the mutherfucking nuclear weapons — so shut the fuck up! You’re next!” He also denied that the invasion had anything to do with the upcoming presidential election. The election will be the first time a president has sought a third term since the 22nd Amendment was repealed in 2005.

As soon as the invasion was announced, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it was increasing the nations’ threat level to Red — banning all public assemblies of 5 or more people for fear that terrorists could attack public gatherings. Citizens were advised to stay indoors and monitor television programming for further instructions. All sports events will proceed as scheduled.

As the Slingshot collective celebrates 16 years since publication of the first Slingshot zine, we’ve been discussing where the project should go now. We would like to expand our focus from just publishing this zine and the Organizer to include new publishing projects — posters, pamphlets, stickers and maybe even books. We also hope to improve our website so it can offer updates, articles, columns and additional information that won’t fit into the paper.

As part of this effort, starting with this issue, we’re going to try publishing more frequently — every 2 months instead of quarterly. To make this experiment a success, we need to locate a lot more writers — folks who can either write something regularly or just contribute something now and then. We’re excited about finding writers from all over the country and the world so we can enlarge our focus and cover stuff going on all over. If you know of anyone who might be interested, point them our way! A list of publication dates and deadlines is below.

We would also like to find folks in the Bay Area who can spare one day per issue to help with our increasingly massive mailing (over 6,000 copies.). Of course we’re always looking for folks to join the collective and participate in everything our project does on a day-to-day basis — editing, layout, design, art. Come to a new volunteer meeting to plug in.

ISSUE #81

New volunteer meeting: February 22

Deadline: March 27

Back from printer: April 8

ISSUE #82

New volunteer meeting: May 2

Deadline: May 29

Back from printer: June 10

Also, Remember to put note about matching grant program into the Slingshot box:

Thanks to everyone who ordered a Slingshot Organizer, which helps pay for this paper and everything else we do. We’re using some of the proceeds to help support Prisoner Literature and Books to Prisoners projects around the country by offering matching grants. If you work on such a project, contact us for details. Also, if you work with any activist group in the Bay Area that is looking for a way to raise funds, we will match dollar for dollar up to $50 money you raise at a cafe night dinner at our headquarters at Long Haul. Contact us for details.

Slingshot is a quarterly, independent, radical newspaper published in the East Bay since 1988.

We can sometimes sense whether the activist scene is expanding or contracting by how many articles get turned in each issue. This issue we were flooded with articles, and after cutting a bunch, we just barely squeezed them into these 20 pages. So maybe 2004 will be a good year for the resistance — it’s about time!

Spring in Berkeley makes us think of new projects and new possibilities. We don’t have to put up with the way things are — a world based on violence, consumerism, fear and power — we can build a new world based on cooperation, simplicity, sustainability and love.

We are constantly reminded of how fragile our lives, our health and our minds are. We all need to take time to care for ourselves even while we redouble our struggle against the system. And we need to live in the present. Living our lives must combine resistance, expression and joy each day.

As the issue comes out, tens of thousands of Southern California grocery workers are still on strike. We express solidarity with them in their struggle to maintain decent benefits and pay.

Thanks to everyone who ordered a 2004 Slingshot Organizer, which helps pay for this paper and everything else we do. We got so many decorated letters and insane gifts with the orders: earrings, shirts, buttons, stickers, even a feather decorated mock missile. All the creativity really made the huge volunteer effort of shipping 15,000 books fun. We’re using some of the proceeds to help support Prisoner Literature and Books to Prisoners projects around the country by offering matching grants. If you work on such a project, contact us for details. Also, if you work with any activist group in the Bay Area that is looking for a way to raise funds, we will match dollar for dollar up to $50 money you raise at a cafe night dinner at our headquarters at Long Haul. Contact us for details.

Slingshot is always on the lookout for writers, artists, editors, photographers, distributors and independent thinkers to help us make this paper. If you send something written, please be open to editorial discussion.

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.