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Indybay Feature

Early pics from anti-G8 action in SF

by imcista
via camera-phone
0708052010.jpg
§via camera-phone
by imcista
0708052010a.jpg
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by imcista
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by imcista
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by KITTY KASTRO (BIGMAMASF [at] YAHOO.COM)
WOW WHAT A NITE. MAYA AND I GOT CORNERED BY THE POLICE BUT THEN WE WERE TOLD TO BACK OFF AND GET ACROSS THE STREET WHERE THEY PUT TAPE UP BLOCKING US FROM MAKING IT TO MISSION STREET.

I HOPE EVERYONE MADE IT HOME SAFE AND I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT I WAS THERE TO BE A WITNESS TO A PROTEST THAT BROUGHT BACK MEMORIES FROM THE OLD DAYS OF WHEN PROTESTS WERE PROTESTS.

NO MOM AND POP BUSINESSES GOT HURT JUST THE BIG BUSINESSES.
by imcista
0708052128a.jpg
by Mission Neighbor
I live in the Mission. I've been here over 30 years. I've spent my life struggling for justice. Please leave us alone.

Busting up random stuff and baiting testosterone poisoned cops does not make a movement.
by trip
we don't need a movement we need a revolution
by trip
Tell us what we should do for the immigrant working class people of color neighborhood?
by disgusted
i'm embarassed for all of you idiots. your choice of setting, your poorly worded statements, your belief that these kind of actions actually make some sort of difference, all show your astounding naivety. you're gonna run around the mission breaking windows and it's supposed to mean something? who do you dumbasses think you are, the black panthers? well you're not, you're a bunch of spoiled kids with white guilt, running around with your cell phone cameras making a mess. you probably all went home and watched MTV afterwards.
by trip
are you about to have a heart attack?
by rampage
To "disgusted," your the idiot. Name me one significant social transformation, in the modern era, anywhere in the world, in which street fighting has not played a major role.

I guess it must be really easy to be a cynical asshole, slandering anyone who takes it upon themselves to combat the state. And, conveniently, this society has a set of stereotypes for every demographic group, so people like you can just repeat them, without having to think for yourself.

What if it had been exclusively poor whites engaging in the rioting? What ready made stereotype would you use here to justify your non-solidarity with the rebels? Redneck? White trash? "After the riot they probably went home and watched nascar."

My point being that people like yourself will use any ready made cynical cop-out to disparage those who have begun fighting.

In any case the action in San Francisco was marvellous, especially coming on the heels of the great efforts by anarchists in Scotland. The London bombing is no reason to slow down (although, I'm not blaming the Scotland partisans for not continuing the fighting right after the bombing) instead it gives even more of a reason to increase our resistance, detabilizing the system, until victory is achieved.

In closing, I'd like to give a big fist in the air to the San Fran rebels. Keep doing what your doing and thank you.

by mission resident
Responding to to Rampage's challenge to:

"Name me one significant social transformation, in the modern era, anywhere in the world, in which street fighting has not played a major role."

Ahem, the civil rights movement used NONVIOLENT direct action and it worked to make significant social transformation. Plus, look up Ghandi's non-violent resistance to the British, which eventually won India its independence. There are more examples, but I'll leave it to you to check out a history book from the library and look it up yourself.
by trip
india is great! there is no poor or oppressed poeple in india.
by mission resident
true, but your little window breaking event will do nothing to change a thing.

Educate yourself: still read mlk jr and gandhi anyway
by anon
"Ahem, the civil rights movement used NONVIOLENT direct action and it worked to make significant social transformation. Plus, look up Ghandi's non-violent resistance to the British, which eventually won India its independence."

If the civil rights movement just had people like MLK, Jr. it would have gone nowhere. It took H. Rap Brown, Eldridge Cleaver, the Black Panthers and the Watts riots to really get the Establishment to consider changing. It's the old carrot and stick routine - MLK was the carrot, and Rap Brown and his cohort were "the fire next time". As for Gandhi, his strategy was to make India ungovernable by the British Raj, and only met with success after the UK nearly bankrupted itself fighting World War II. The UK had to divest itself of much of its empire after that conflict, starting with India and Palestine in 1947.
by Eric
Are the real facists. These are the 10 latest posts, you've edited out a whole bunch of posts critical of your self indulgent "protest"

Trip you're good a saying what you are against, that's great. What are you for? Be concrete. Don't give me a lame platitude like freedom from oppression by the capitalist running dogs.

Jackass

by history buff
>the civil rights movement used NONVIOLENT direct action and it worked to make significant social transformation.

Black people never got a shred of respect in this country until a significant portion of them, mostly young, made it abundantly clear that if they didn't, they'd burn the place down around our ears. It wasn't just about CD and freedom rides. It was about fighting in the streets of places like Watts, Detroit, Newark and our own Hunter's Point.

If you don't believe that, read the Kerner Commission report.


>Plus, look up Ghandi's non-violent resistance to the British, which eventually won India its independence

Like the *very limited* social transformation brought about by the Civil Rights movement, the (political, but not economic) independence of India was brought about by a combination of violence and non violence.Independence was preceded by literally centuries of armed struggle against the British empire.

Government schools teach you that the African American progress was the result of the NAACP and not the BPP, and that it was the Congress Party and not the diverse resistance of the *people* of India who brought about independence (such as it is), because that's what they want you to believe. It's brainwashing. Don't fall for it. Do your own research. Read some other versions of what happened. Then draw your own conclusions.
by Gramsci's Child
To the point about Black people not getting any respect in this country until the rhetoric of Black Power - really? You have to remember that King's work on the Kennedy and Johnson administrations was necessarily slow-going and that he was barely getting a start when he was cut down, and he was cut down when he started hitching civil rights with class consciousness. The struggle -- real struggle - takes time. "Smash the State?" Give me a flipping break, kids! I've read Lenin and frankly, the guy really hadn't thought it out - it's one of the biggest head-scratchers to come out of a considerably brilliant body of work (Marxism), and to think that 20-year olds are taking that to Valencia Street is silly, distressing and a bit sad.

The point about the necessity of street violence and non-violence? It seems that when street violence has erupted, it's done so after all other methods have neen exhausted and people have seen desperately, absolutely no other recourse. And isn't it pointless to compare organic, home-grown ongoing struggles to the actions of a few window-smashers in the wealthiest nations in the world?

Instead of idealizing and emulating Huey's raised fist and May 1968, why not turn your anger, frustration and disenchantment into something really useful that will help the people whose fates you claim to be tied to? (For starters, not letting the sound-bite version of history win, which only give us the fist-and-gun Black Panthers and completely erases their good, community-promoting work in neighborhoods like mine in Oakland, serving healthy breakfasts to little tykes before school).

Haven't we had just about enough violence? From the violence enacted on the entire world by the brutal and callous selfishness of the Bush administration, to the random senseless violence of terrorists - can you not turn your backs on destruction and dare instead to be truly creative and productive?

What would that look like?


"Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will."
-- Antonio Gramsci
by lotu5
the civil rights movement? are you saying teh black panthers had no effect? actually, MLK Jr. even said he couldn't have won the gains he did without haivng the black panthers there to be more radical than he was.

Ghandi? Ghandi's philosophy of Ahimsa is about respect for life, not for windows.

Social change? Are you so opposed to the women suffragists who smashed windows in London to get the vote?

We're actually fighting the state. The least you could do is show some appreciation if you're not going to join in.
by lotu5
to gramsci's child...

how the fuck do you know what we do with our time? some of us actually spend as much time as a part time job creating alternatives to this fucked up system. doing some property damage one night doesn't prevent us from working on other issues all the time. what are you spending your time creating?
by .
Yes. It seems clear that the police will really be ready to kick the ass of Anarchist-Action. So the logical next rally will be to look up a defense contractor somewhere in the region, particularly in the South Bay where a lot of those are located, and it's also on a train line. California is really a wealthy state, and much of our overbloated military budget flows not to soldiers but to contractors, and those aren't located in San Francisco except for Bechtel. Chevron moved to San Ramon. Anyway, pick a nice Silicon valley town with high powered corporate office parks for an informational rally, other than Palo Alto again, and that is not a traditional protest spot that will be ignored such as San Francisco or Berkeley or Oakland. Richmond/Martinez is also bad because rallies there tend to end badly and be ignored. Make sure to make it fun and not break any laws including entering the crosswalk when the red light blinks, and you will be sure to get a wonderful media coverage per unit of effort or number of attendees.
by .
Here are some examples of defense contractors that make tons of money, are situated in the South Bay, in areas that aren't traditional protest grounds. It's a great spot for a legal mobile walking dance party.

A General article about subject
http://www.memtech.com/News_CCT.html
My lord, defense contractors are all over the place - 900 of them in the SF Bay region (but none in the Mission, darnit)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/03/23/BU261967.DTL


Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale and Santa Cruz - that's a big one. They make more income than Sketchers even. It's near Caltrain, sort of.
http://www.google.com/local?q=lockheed-martin&near=Sunnyvale,+CA
General Dynamics does multiple defense projects
http://www.google.com/local?q=general+dynamics&near=san+jose%2C+CA

United Defense in Santa Clara. High income. It does Bradley Fighting vehicles
http://www.google.com/local?q=united+defense&near=santa+clara%2C+CA

Missile and Space - in Sunnyvale. Their title is self-descriptive
http://www.google.com/local?q=missiles+and+space&near=san+jose%2C+CA

TRW (a military contractor with undescriptive name. would have to do more research)
http://www.google.com/local?q=trw&near=san+jose,+CA

The Western Development Laboratories - tank hardware in San Jose (Sunnyvale and San Jose have the bulk of these defense companies)
http://www.google.com/local?q=Western+Development+Laboratories+&near=san+jose,+CA

Rockwell collins - San Jose and other spots. Makes jet aircraft displays
http://www.google.com/local?q=Rockwell+Collins&near=san+jose%2C+CA

Bechtel is in San Francisco by Blue Cross, but is also around the area:
http://www.google.com/local?q=bechtel&near=san+jose,+CA

Raytheon aerospace in Mountain view!
http://www.google.com/local?q=raytheon&near=san+jose,+CA

Northrop. Another big contractor.
San Jose and Sunnyvale
http://www.google.com/local?q=northrop&near=san+jose%2C+CA

General Electric. That is a multifaceted company that does a lot, including big defense contracts
http://www.google.com/local?q=general+electric&near=san+jose%2C+CA

Kaiser electronics- San Jose
http://www.google.com/local?q=kaiser+electronics&near=san+jose,+CA

Halliburton just got an additional $5 billion contract on top of its earlier $9 billion Iraq contract - where they have not even rebuilt the water supply and the local people are constructing their own electricity supplies from generators and spare pieces that they assembled themselves. $15billion is like California's state debt right now. But they don't have any local offices.

That article said that Quantum 3D has developed graphics programs and training modules for troops
http://www.google.com/local?q=quantum+3d&near=san+jose%2C+CA
by Ben
I vote for Sunnyvale!
by tear shit up
smash the war contractors
by chris
Hey Gramsci's child,
I'll tell you what that would look like: ________________
did you see anything?
No?
well that's what it would look like, because there are tons of dedicated people working everyday on the local and international level to bring about nonviolent change and radical reform AND THEY ARE IGNORED BY THE MEDIA.
It only suits the biggies to put anarchists under the lense when they are engaged in "violence". I am not saying don't do things "society" frowns upon but please clue in to the big picture and understnad that your "news" comes through so many filters you'll never get the grounds in your coffee - all unpleasentness has been purged other than what is served up as the concern of the minute and you can take that as being either time or small!
by whatsup?
No preachy self-righteous fingerpointing here, just some questions. Fill in your own answers, make some new ones up,decide for yourself.

Did the action have a goal?

Did the action get the movement closer to whatever that goal was?

Was it directed at the forces that cause whatever misery was being rallied against?

Did it help to (even temporarily) stop the war machine, end or stop the process of exploitation? If the answer is no, then is it really direct action?

Did it leave your side stronger or weaker than before?

Who felt the consequences of the action, those who caused the misery or someone else?

Through preparations for this action was there an attempt to have dialogue with people who have not yet made up their mind about anti-capitalism, anti-war issues?
by deanosor (deanosor [at] comcast.net)
One answer is to read te communique by Anarchist Action which at this moment is on the top of the Local newswire on this website. Their opinion is one opinion of the event. It has good insight. It also doesn't explain everything that happened in an autonomous demonstration, as it says.
by jackass aka trip
What are you for? Well I know my answer will just piss you off even more (that why I’m writing it) but here goes.

I’m for free housing for free food free health care. For that to be true we would all have go without certain things like bosses landlords and government.

ps I’ll see at the next protest warrior meeting
by joseph
as other people have posted in other pages, we should probably remember that Anarchist Action didn't organize or take part in any illegal actions, but just organized a protest. The protesters who attended the event made a choice to take certain actions.
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