Author: Slingshot Collective

We completely sold out of the 2003 Organizer in January, the earliest we’ve ever run out. We’ve had to send back orders for hundreds of copies, which is a big bummer. But, we’re already thinking about the 2004 edition, which should be out in September. If you have suggestions, historical dates, radical contacts, or art work, send it to us by the end of June.

One of the most rewarding parts of working on the Organizer is all the amazing letters we’ve received containing orders. People write us poems, send CDs of their favorite bands, include stickers, glitter, photographs of their dogs and roommates and other things too strange to discuss publicly. We got a banana flavored condom, and a glow in the dark one. (In case you can’t find it in the dark?) This year someone sent us what appeared to be homemade lollipops cast into the shape of skulls. We were too afraid it was poisoned to eat it; although the possibility that it contains some excellent hallucinogen we’ve never tried might overcome our fear, if we get bored some evening. People sent so many envelopes full of glitter this year that the area around our computer is impossible to clean. Thanks to all of you for your creativity and passion — it helps us to keep going.

Slingshot is looking for a Fall intern (or volunteers in general) to help us distribute the 2004 Slingshot Organizer. We’re looking for folks who will participate with us as full and equal member of our collective, sharing all decision making, etc. We figured that some people have to do an internship for school, etc., and might want to do their time with a radical project, instead of some liberal non-profit, etc. We are an all volunteer collective, so this is unpaid. We would like to find folks any time between September – December. If this sounds cool, contact us:

Slingshot Collective

3124 Shattuck Avenue

Berkeley, CA 94705

510 540-0751 x. 3

slingshot@tao.ca

Dear Slingshot,

I have managed to wade my way through another year of material existence. I was content with the mass insanity: sell my days away for money, so that I can spend it back for the necessities of life such as food and shelter. But I can no longer live out that lie.

I quit my job. I am shedding my material possessions. We are planning a communal greenhouse. I am transitioning to cheaper rent, hopefully to become rent-free. I have turned the one small clock in my home face-down.

On New Year’s Day, two friends and I were in Atlanta at the mercy of a consumerist family with which we traveled. As they spent money we turned a 20 foot section of broken sidewalk into a non-commissioned series of rock sculptures.

The voice of freedom whispers in our ears, occasionally licking the lobes seductively. Yet the sirens of oppression blare incessantly. I believe that the whispers will be heard.

Love,

Derek

Asheville, NC

The third annual BASTARD (Berkeley Anarchist Students of Theory And Research & Development) Anarchist Conference will be Sunday, March 30, 2003, the day after the SF anarchist book fair. This year it will be held at New College, 766 Valencia St., San Francisco, California.

This year BASTARD has decided to try a theme for the conference; anarchist economics. An entire track will be dedicated to analysis of economics today, visions of future economics and theories of anarchist economics that differentiate it from market, utopian and Marxist theories of economics. Other topics will also be considered. If you would like to submit a proposal for the conference you can do so one of two ways. First, go to sfbay-anarchists.org and click on the conference proposal link. Or you can mail a proposal to BASTARD c/o Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705.

America divided; Bush in office because of nepotism; US teens on warships say the war is a crock of shit. War means certain chaos, soaring oposition around the globe. Intensified Muslim anti-western sentiment and retialiation. UN blackmailed, Afgani prisoners of war tortured.

From Europe, the setting for the evolving US attack on Iraq is clear. While the US pushes rhetoric of liberation, European English-language press consistently highlights the US imperialist, oil-driven agenda; the huge potential for a long, dirty, difficult war; and the lack of public support in the US, Europe, across the world.

It is widely acknowledged here in Europe that the US is acting on an imperialist agenda, driven primarily for the need for cheap, dependable oil supplies to fuel market growth, the US´s main imperialist tactic. The 8 European leaders who kowtowed to Bush in their letter of support for ´shared values of freedom´ are working furiously to erase the divide between Europe and the US, hoping to preserve their assumed status as the ´United States of Europe´ within US-lead capitalist world domination. As proof of US-EU power dynamics, the US has in fact offered EU membership to several new NATO states in the Balkans– without first checking with the EU! France and Germany are indeed representing the ´Old Europe´ of Rumsfeld´s pontifications, because they are unwilling to capitulate to their roles as US puppet markets and support the US war effort.

It´s hard here to forget that oil fuels the US market machine, and that Saudi Arabia, with 25% of the known oil reserves, is on the cusp of becoming an anti-US Muslim fundamentalist regime. Between Al-Queda´s Saudi roots, and the political turmoil in Venezuela, the US is forced to look elsewhere- towards Iraq, of course– to ensure continued market growth. In fact, some people are suggesting that France is hanging back from war support in order to secure better oil contracts for its companies in Iraq. Ultimately, though, it´s believed France not have the power (or desire) to block US desires within UN Security Council, because, although people wistfully talk about ´the rule of international law´, it is easy here to see the UN as just one more tool of the US. In this sense, people here perceive the US as both an imperialist and a rogue state, operating outside of and in disregards to international law.

But although US motives for war are clear, there is much fear here that the war will not be a clean, quick war for the US, like in Afganistan. There´s much discussion of the potential for a long, dirty war, complete with destruction of Iraq´s already decaying oil infrastructure (despite publicized US plans to immediately protect the oil fields upon attack). The press here is less willing to assume that America´s might will easily quash any opposition, and that a coup within Iraq will come easily at US prodding. The press here entertains Saddam´s many strategic options, including forcing the war into cities (maximizing civilian death), into the desert (minimizing press coverage opportunities), and using friendly foreign pressure to keep the war away from Bagdad. Importantly, Saddam has apparently installed around 10 media outlets underground, to prevent a repeat of US-dominated war images during the Gulf War. Although commentators entertain the possibility of a quick, clean war, necessary for further US imperialist aims, people lean more towards the sad prospect of a world completely destablized by a difficult war, expensive oil prices, and intensely inflamed Islamic anti-western actions.

Even within the European corporate world, concerns about the war run deep, in comparison to the ever-bouyant optimism of US multinationals (particularly that of US oil corporations, who just might drown in their saliva as their Bush admin. cohorts prepare Iraq´s oil fields to be carved up). While war fears have driven the the Dow Jones industrial down since Jan. 1, markets in western Europe have also taken severe falls, up iron. Is the war truly Bush´s ecomomic stimulas plan, people ask?

With the exception of Britain, it´s hard to find a public in Europe that supports the war. People are strongly against a war without UN support, and even with UN backing, public support is scattered. Moreover, people here know that there´s a strong anti-war movement within the US, and that even though US public support grew after Bush´s State of the Union address, it´s quite possible that, like during Vietnam, public support will quickly wane. But it´s also popular here to portray the US public as hopelessly addicted to cheap gas and MTV, happily oblivious as the US marches towards the mirage of cheap oil and the European public watches in horror.

Here in Barcelona, even people in the comfortable upper middle classes are vocally not only against the war but against the capitalist system. People can point directly to capitalism as the cause of world environmental distruction and hollow lives. But what is there to do about it, they say, besides be nice to people and live comfortable lives?

Thus, several things are clear: well-informed people across the world don´t go for US imperialist shit, but frequently national governments don´t give a damn. The downfalls of capitalism are blindingly obvious, and people are ready to work towards change. But they don´t know where to start!

Revolutionary thinkers need to articulate ways of radically changing the capitalist system, and lives within the system, actions that people across society and the world can grasp. The anti-war movement is strong within the US and Europe, and can be a tool for refocussing the anti-globalization movement into an anti-capitalist movement. This war is proposed for the sake of the US market, which, if you believe the Business section, has been primarily supported over recent months by that catchphrase, ´consumer confidence´. If growth is what the US government is after, we must stop growth in order to stop the war. To be more than a newspaper article and a global moral boost, anti-war movements must adopt tactics to force economic slowdowns while at the same time providing infrastructure that would be lost on days off work and out of stores. Consumer confidence, the willingness of people to purchase and consume, is a giant force. To stop the war, world environmental destruction, and US imperialism, we must replace consumer confidence, essentially the American way of life, with confidence in the power of people to provide for ourselves.

By the time you read this, it appears likely that the US government will be at war with Iraq. It’s is hard to believe this could happen — that the US could fight such a bald war of aggression.

We have been born here on the most beautiful planet filled with light and colors and creatures and wonder. Our bodies, our voices, our minds offer so many opportunities for joy, pleasure, creation and love.

But somehow, amid all the beauty of life, the most violent, most hateful men have risen to power. All our human intelligence and creativity over the centuries has given these hateful men terrible weapons. These men rule the world’s richest, most powerful land.

What went wrong that they are driven to kill, destroy and hate? What went wrong that they would use lies and fear to justify the unjustifiable? How can these men be so self-satisfied, so smug, and so comfortable in their business suits while they order murder?

You don’t need to be a moral scholar to be against this war. Its something you learn when you’re 5 years old on the playground: you don’t hit first. You don’t start a fight against another kid whose not trying to fight you. You don’t make up lies about what the other kids is doing to justify hitting first, and then hit first. You don’t go across the world to hit a kid first in his front yard when that kid can’t get to your neighborhood.

Yes, things seem more complex to Bush in Bush’s world — this kid has oil.

Is this merely a psychological defect in a small number of rich, white, powerful men? Were they denied breastfeeding? Were they punished for masturbating?

No. Life on this planet left to itself is full of beauty and love. But somehow, human society has become diseased. It promotes death, not life. It organizes suffering, not joy. Most individual people know this, but aren’t sure how to escape the structures we have built around ourselves like a prison. Like a grave.

Out of the killing in Iraq and beyond, let us hope enough people see what power and authority has done. Lest we all be destroyed.

People in the US are now in a very uncomfortable position. The government of the territory we live in is preemptively attacking other countries. It has accumulated the largest military on earth. It appears bent on empire and total world domination. It is ruled by a group of men who are very skillful in their use of fear, nationalism and lies to sway the population. These men aren’t accountable to anyone — if they want to order war, they are free to do so and no one can stop them.

But those of us living in the US don’t have to cooperate with this madness.

Those of us living here, in the heart of the aggressor, are in an uncomfortable position because we have to choose — are we Americans, or are we human beings on the planet Earth? If we’re human beings, we need to stand with the rest of the World, against America. Against this aggressor nation. We need to refuse to cooperate. We need to actively prevent the empire from killing our people — the people of the world. We need to join the war, and fight on the side of the people of the world, and against the USA.

This is a profoundly uncomfortable position because if we stand with the people of the world, our lives are at risk. We may be shot, blown up, tortured — killed by the aggressor American empire. If we stand with America, then we are already dead, for we have lost our soul and our humanity to ally ourselves with a monster of murder and domination.

Our position is uncomfortable because you can’t avoid making this choice. To remain silent, to go about our business while the US empire slaughters our people — this is to choose to be an American — to support the empire. Your work, your participation, your money, your silence makes the murder possible.

Now is not the time to be a good American and cooperate, even passively, with military aggression and murder.

If you think you can just wait this war out because it’s against someone else far away, think again. While the US has been building up its troops in the Middle East, the government has been proceeding with plans for a vastly expanded domestic surveillance and security state. In the same way that the US regime seeks total world military domination, the regime must also seek total internal military domination.

The US may be able to attack and defeat Iraq. But history has never permanently rewarded those who use naked military aggression. America’s war is going to unite the entire world against the American empire. When those of us here fight America, we join the rest of the world. And we ultimately struggle for our own liberation, because in seeking total power, the US empire must first defeat and destroy its own people.

You know all those groovy forest names all the Earth Firsters! are always using? Well, somehow they just don’t seem appropriate for us urban activists. I mean, calling yourself Butterfly or Lichen or Moss or Mushroom when you hardly ever venture beyond the streets that connect your apartment to the subway to work to the cafe to the laundry-mat — where’s the Lichen?

But there are good reasons to use something like forest names. In this time of increased domestic repression of activists — when almost any expression of protest can get you labeled as a terrorist or even an enemy combatant — it might be a good idea to be a bit vague about who you really are. I mean, if you’re planning on going to a million person anti-war march where people may storm the Bay Bridge or the local army base or oil refinery, best not to bring your drivers license ID. And because the government has undercover cops spread out in every crowd, because there are fancy listening devices installed around the city and the video cameras can read your lips, don’t let your friends holler your real name in the heat of the riot.

Here are some good urban names that we thought of that more correctly express the reality of modern urban activism. These are the wonderful things our urban industrial world brings us, just like the forest activists name themselves after the wonderful things provided by the natural world. Feel free to send us your own ideas: Asphalt, Barcode, BART, Biohazard, Boxcutter, Cinder Block, Concrete, Cubicle, Drain, Exhaust, Gas pump, Girder, Gridlock, Gutter, Jackhammer, Latté, Loft, Lugnut, Methle Bromide, Overpass, Parking Lot, Pesticide, Roadkill, Sawzall, Sewerpipe, Shingle, Shopping Mall, Skid, Sludge, Smog, Squalor, Tire, Trashcan, 2X4, Turnstile, Urine, Workstation, ECT.

The Tongass National Forest, located in southeast Alaska, covers 16.7 million acres and is one the last virgin coastal rain forests still relatively untouched by industry. That’s over twice the size of, say, Connecticut. These forests are currently under siege by the timber industry, and an influx of direct action activists is needed to save them.

Thirty percent of the intact coastal temperate rainforest in the WORLD is right here in Southeast Alaska in the Tongass National Forest. Much of the Tongass is rock, ice and muskeg; the ”productive” forest — sitka spruce, western hemlock and yellow cedar — is only one third of that 16.7 million acres. Over half of the high volume old-growth has already been removed; by contrast only 10% of the low volume timber has been removed.

This year marks the centennial anniversary of the Tongass. The National Forest Service’s “celebration” consist of special publications, talks, presentations, and other forms of congratulatory fanfare. But while the confetti settles, the timber industry is just getting started.

In 1980, Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act. This protected 5.4 million acres of the Tongass, most of it conveniently rock and ice. Right now the rest of the Tongass is under a Resource and Land Management Plan (TLMP) which was originally released in 1997. This plan utterly fails to protect 44 wild and scenic watersheds, which are believed to contain half of the salmon-producing streams in the Tongass. It also leaves open to development 18 high value community use areas. Forty percent of the families in the area get a quarter of their yearly food supply off the land in these community use zones and most are outraged by their potential destruction. The plan also fails to protect marbled murrelets, Alexander wolves and Queen Charlotte goshawks, among other species.

In 1997 the TLMP release was immediately met with thirty-three separate appeals from various environmental organizations, commercial fishers, and individuals living in the Tongass area who depend on it for their inspiration and livelihoods. The appeals resulted in a new TLMP released in 1999. This revised TLMP comprehensively protected those 44 wild scenic watersheds as well as the 18 high value community use areas. So comprehensively in fact, that the tinder companies were forced to challenge the 1999 TLMP and succeeded in reinstituting the original 1997 version in January of 2003.

Currently, the Allowable Sale Quantity stands at 267 million board feet yearly. In 2002, the Forest Service managed to sell only 180 million board sq. feet of Tongass wood. This is despite having prepared for the sales of the full 267 million. It seems that the Feds are desperately pushing Tongass timber on a world market which does not even want or need it.

Southeast Alaska is a land where the mountains jut right out of the ocean and where grizzly bears wander around downtown. The Tongass is home to the largest convention of bald eagles in the world. Surprising to some, the average winter temperature is just above freezing and driving your gas-powered automobile from town to town isn’t even an option. The main public transportation is the ferry.

The largest protected wilderness complex in the world (27 million acres, the Glacier Bay, Wrangell-St.Elias, Kluane UNESCO World Heritage area) is in my back yard. There is no place as wild as this in the lower 48. You may think that the difference between 1 million acres and 27 million acres of wilderness is negligible, but you would just be advertising the fact that you have never breathed deeply of the air coming off of a glacier which extends into wild land further than you can really comprehend.

The Tongass is threatened. While there are many mainstream enviros working hard for “safer legislation,” there is no EARTH FIRST! movement to get in the way. No crusty ferals lurking in the woods with fire in their eyes, scheming to save these trees and forests, watersheds and wild wolves, brown bears and goshawks. Where are the critters that have devoted their lives to ending the age where Homo Sapiens rape and plunder the natural world in the name of “progress?”

We need you to be here. You need to be here. What are you waiting for?

Agents of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), accompanied by about a dozen armed U.S. marshals in full SWAT team regalia, raided Berkeley Liberation Radio (BLR — 104.1-FM) December 11. This was to serve a *sealed* arrest warrant on our equipment (not on our programmers — so far). They carted off our transmitter and associated gear, antenna, CD players, tape machines, turntables, computer, etc., all of which took years to accumulate. The FCC stated we were in violation of the law, as we had no license to broadcast at that frequency.

At the time that BLR began broadcasting, there was no license class available for BLR’s low power transmission. BLR broadcasts 40 watts of power that nicely fit within a small opening in the FM dial and reaches a few miles from the transmitter to serve the local community. Obtaining an FCC license would have required a higher powered transmitter that would have served a different purpose/community (and also required additional thousands of dollars in fees and testing data — beyond the means of a truly community based radio station.)

The new LPFM (low powered FM) licensing class that is now offered by the FCC (in response to the pressure from activists and unlicensed broadcasters such as BLR) was gutted by the National Public Radio and National Association Of Broadcasters lobbied Congress before any new stations hit the airwaves. Congress amended the new LPFM law so that stations could be licensed only if there was an unused gap in the FM dial roughly the size of a Cadillac, or in other words only in a situation that will arise in your average deep south rural town.

Despite the raid, as of press time, BLR is Back On The Air with a different transmitter. BLR has voted to begin broadcasts over the internet. Should the FCC return to seize the new transmitter, internet broadcasts would likely continue, which could begin a cat and mouse game with the FCC, as numerous people not associated with BLR picked up the internet feed and rebroadcast it with their own transmitters from shifting locations.

BLR, which took over 104.1 FM from Free Radio Berkeley which was shut down by an FCC injunction in 1998, has broadcast news and commentary as well as music and spoken word for three years. The station gives youth and others not usually represented in corporate media a chance to learn radio broadcasting skills, to exercise their rights to free speech and discuss issues of community interest.

At the time of the raid, BLR’s lawyers were in communication with the FCC about the pending licensing matter. Thus the sudden raid appears to be part of the new climate of repression of civil liberties that is accompanying the recent rush to war. In such times, it is more vital than ever to preserve every citizen’s right to free speech and inquiry and to keep all channels of communication open.

For more information, contact BLR at PO Box 5044, Berkeley, CA 94705, berklibradio@juno.com.