More Banner Drops Against the Upcoming Presidential Elections

some milwaukee anarchists, 17.01.2008 15:40

On the morning of Thursday January the 17th three banners with messages reading "whoever wins we lose", "9-1-08, St. Paul, It's on!" and "let the end come: 9-1-08" were dropped on the East Side and in the downtown area of Milwaukee encouraging an anti-political perspective regarding the upcoming presidential elections.

Dear politics,

Why not vote, you ask?

Some short answers:

1) The relationship and tension of our lives being out of our control is perpetuated through voting and the idea that other people are more qualified to order them (in all areas of life). It validates our continued domination, being only qualified to reproduce it, to ask for that which imposes itself upon us.

2) Voting is inherently reformist. No meaningful change can ever come about through it. It looks as if we might be able to change some things of insignificance, but only on the terms and within the parameters of what makes voting possible. It encourages that we look at details and never the whole of our social relationships. We could never vote to end the relationship we have between us and the infrastructure that counts the votes. We could never vote to end capitalism, the state, institutions of domination, etc. "If voting changed anything it would be illegal" a wise woman once said.

3) Voting takes the place of direct participation in the ordering of our lives as it creates meaning out of meaningless choices, preserving the illusion of individual agency where there is none to be found in the difference between options that present almost identical minor alterations to the misery of society (an in so doing recuperates the desires of exploited and oppressed people into a form that can be managed and controlled by those most responsible for exploitation).

Here it is spelt out a little more clearly. A gun has been held to our heads since birth and all the say we are allowed to have on the matter regards the color of the bullet. Whether it resembles an elephant, a donkey, or anything at all does not matter in the least. And you wonder why we are far from interested in dialog. Dialog would only ever exist as a means to blur our chains, to confuse and muddle the reality of our relationship. We know full well that the slave closest to the master depends on and develops the most affinity toward them. Servitude becomes their world and meaning in life.

We are only interested in one thing regarding your parasitic relationship with us. Ending it as soon as possible.

Eight months remain until the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention and you would do well to expect resistance. Everyone can smell the shit you peddle, they've just forgotten how to act and some are starting to remember. Your end will come.

Sincerely,

some milwaukee anarchists

Smell that? It's the old world burning down 17.01.2008 - 23:04 Tis truly inspiring to see such activities in different cities, and hopefully others will smell the winds of change... xheathenx> goal? 23.01.2008 - 13:21 who is a letter like this supposed to convince? wouldn't the vast majority of people on the planet read this and think that "some Milwaukee anarchists" are dumbasses? just wondering... cOnFuZeD> it's the vote, stupid 25.01.2008 - 14:19 Voting makes little difference to your privileged beings, but to some, when issues of public housing, food stamps, etc. come into play, it's a different story. I ask you, what makes a better revolutionary, is it the hungry and homeless or the wage slave? I hope you know your right-wing tactics (like harassing a poorly-paid mall security guard)and spray painting walls and dropping silly banners embarrasses and makes our job of movement building a little more difficult. You should try masturbating to Lenin sometime. Better that than marginalize the Emma Goldmans with your silly tactics. Daniel> dearest daniel, 25.01.2008 - 19:30 Qualitively speaking, voting makes little difference to anyone (even the middle class), and the little that is turned into a whole world of difference is insulting to anyone who desires something worth living for. Yes, we know many people including those we know depend on the social welfare of the state, but what voting does in comparison to actual work in the community is next to nothing. 10 people could get together and serve food for free, but it would take millions to impact how we are fed through voting (with a poverty of options in no way desirable to us). Is it the hungry and homeless or the wage slave who make revolutions, you ask. I am not interested in forcing conditions on people or debating the proper and calculated dialectical moment in history which is ripe for revolt. All moments throughout history are ripe for revolt. You make it seem as if by being critical of the social function of voting we are causing the conditions that the state and capital forced on us and others. This is quite laughable. "I hope you know your right-wing tactics (like harassing a poorly-paid mall security guard)and spray painting walls and dropping silly banners embarrasses and makes our job of movement building a little more difficult." What clever wordplay to accuse anyone of right wing tactics whenever they employ tactics that differ from yours. Sorry, but again this is logic that falls flat on its face. One could not move an inch to unshackle their chains cast on them from this society, without worry of offending that societies apologists. We would never have all of our precious labor rights if not for tactics, like wildcat strikes, sabotage, etc, that surely offended many. I also recognize that, individual agency and autonomy are principles that are at odds with your efforts to build a movement of automatons, who parrot the same liberal reformist drivel. mario buda> daniel 25.01.2008 - 21:03 I believe it was emma goldman who said "If voting changed anything they would make it illegal." !> mmmm 26.01.2008 - 15:13 Mall cop brains are tasty. Zombie> what really matters 28.01.2008 - 09:11 in challenging the issue of voting what will come in its place how do we start the radical evolutionary change that is necessary? not voting cool i get it no choices yet what do we do instead. protest is good free food is good but how does that look at a neighborhood or urban or bio regional level at a continental level let alone the planetary level.. not asking for a defense just want to know what we do instead... nicole> e-mail:: nicolerwc@gmail.com Seagulls Sing Armegeddon's Coming, But Is IT 02.02.2008 - 19:56 Recently I was making a video, and I have extreme post traumatic stress after being a federal bank examiner for the FDIC. I was almost killed afterward for reporing money laundering and murder and testing for murderers at the FDIC San Francisco and of course D.C. A regional FDIC director was killed, circa 1990 in SF CA, to make way for a money laundering horde. I believe we are in a technological conflict. I have noticed that in Alabama the cops all have the exact same accent and rythym of speech. I am now studying physics on my own to try and understand their or IT's methods. I could just be over stressed, but I doubt it. Here this video, I had toned down the seagull abit and interpreted it. It is sort of artsy, the writing is not readable, but I have put it in the description  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeoZDWW4GPE I have two accents of cops for you to compare in Alabama in two videos. The government here is like much of America toward us, the true humane humans. If we communicate with them, they say we are threatening them. They are the enemies to humane mankind. Here is a cop who came to my home after trying to enter government. He is FBI. Later he called demanding my cell phone. Do not give the government your cell phone number. Do not allow them into your home. Beware in government buildings. Beware of agents in medical capacities if you have information that would allow them or IT to subjugate us further. Note how similar the accents are on these two cops. I met another and do not have it online, but they are all exactly the same, in rythym, pacing, accent, and everything. The Southern voice machine, or maybe I just want to leave. But where?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndAT9eseRlM In this video, I was trying to film as a reporter in the Mobile Alabama government. This prompted the fed to come to my home. They were going to try to provoke me or kill me. Other banking crime informants who know about federal syndicates have been murdered.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNkzMATWxcg Kurt Brown -- Saint Ram Bone> Homepage:: http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/democracyordeath/index.html Good Question... 03.02.2008 - 13:19 Hey Nicole, that's a good question! These "anarchists" suggest you join them in not voting. This way you'll undermine the Democrats, aid in the decimation of government-funded social services (which anarchists--like Republicans--want to see disappear), and then give away free crap and food on Wednesdays in the summertime. You ask how to start the radical change that is necessary. Ask yourself why you are protesting. Why march in the streets? Is it not to influence the lawmakers of this country? Oh, wait, I forgot. You're going to all try to take over St. Paul! That's why anarchists protest. You'll be creating the havoc necessary for the police to crack down on the thousands of minorities and undocumented workers that will be marching side-by-side for real concrete issues. Right wing tactics? Yes! These anarchists aid in the abuse and destruction of all the weapons the working class have left. At least there's so few out there. And how many are working FOR the government I don't know. Daniel> waiting for the cough medicine to kick in 04.02.2008 - 01:08 >"not asking for a defense just want to know what we do instead... " Start working on projects at a local level that help build sustainable and empowering alternatives to the systems we oppose, and go from there as we expand those alternatives and the networks that come with them. Build connections with other struggles and support them. Obviously we can't enact change overnight, and I personally always preferred the "Don't Just Vote" idea to simply not voting. Sure, voting can have some short term benefits, especially in areas of social policies, but the underlying economic ones will remain relatively unchanged and that's where the real problem is. So whether we vote or not, we need to be fighting to undo all of this. >"These 'anarchists' suggest you join them in not voting. This way you'll undermine the Democrats, aid in the decimation of government-funded social services (which anarchists--like Republicans--want to see disappear), and then give away free crap and food on Wednesdays in the summertime." If you're worried about things undermining the Democrats, perhaps you should be more concerned about the strategies employed by the religious right to convince working people to vote for Republicans because of a handful of social issues than some anarchists suggesting that voting alone isn't going to solve anything and that we should work on projects with more immediate impact in our own communities. Are we where we need to be at this moment? No. But your bullshit isn't helping anybody, now is it? Or did poverty and all that go away last time we had a Democrat in power? >"You ask how to start the radical change that is necessary. Ask yourself why you are protesting. Why march in the streets? Is it not to influence the lawmakers of this country?" So because a condition exists that we occasionally must accept and deal with in order to achieve some goals, we should accept it completely? We march in the streets because its a convenient way to draw attention to issues that may otherwise be ignored and has been for quite some time. >"Oh, wait, I forgot. You're going to all try to take over St. Paul!" Shut it down enough to delay or stop the convention, actually. There's a bit of a difference. >"That's why anarchists protest. You'll be creating the havoc necessary for the police to crack down on the thousands of minorities and undocumented workers that will be marching side-by-side for real concrete issues." I think shutting down the convention of the party that's doing most of the racist immigrant bashing, gay bashing, economy fucking and social-service slashing is acting on some pretty concrete issues. And if you would've bothered to read any of the strategy that has been developed over the past six months in regards to that goal, you'd know that havoc endangering "thousands of minorities and undocumented workers" is not on the agenda and, in fact, the strategy developed will make that possibility very, very unlikely. >"Right wing tactics? Yes! These anarchists aid in the abuse and destruction of all the weapons the working class have left." If voting and begging the government for crumbs are the weapons the working class has left, the working class is fucked. I think direct action, organization, solidarity, strikes, sabotage and confrontational protest are far better suited to help people get ahead. Daniel> bored and sick> Dear Daniel. 08.02.2008 - 13:50 "Hey Nicole, that's a good question!" But Daniel, that was a very ridiculous response. 1. "This way you'll undermine the Democrats, aid in the decimation of government-funded social services (which anarchists--like Republicans--want to see disappear)" Yes, in fact, we do want to undermine the Democrats, but not to "decimate social service". No, we want to undermine them because they have been entirely complicit in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, in the unyielding ecocide waged against the natural world, in defending the economic system that keeps people hungry and cold, in torture, in rape, in gay bashing, in transbashing in police brutality, in surveillance, in corporatism and war profiteering. The democrats were swept into power on promises of ending the occupation of Iraq. But what they really offer is more of the same. Two heads of the same beast; a beast well-worthy of decimation. 2. "And then give away free crap and food on Wednesdays in the summertime." Yes, actually. Anarchists and many other people are involved in many amazing projects that give food and clothes to those utterly abandoned by the political party championed by "Daniel". But no, its not merely something that happens on Wednesday in the summertime. Food Not Bombs serves regularly, even (and especially) in winter. Milwaukee Network for Social Change has has winter "free van" projects bringing winter clothes and food directly to those who need it. There are people working on Free Schools and Free Stores in this city (and everywhere). If its your desire to see a world that doesn't demand slavery in exchange for food and shelter, you will discover that this system and those who defend it (see: Democrats) have nothing to offer you. 3. "Ask yourself why you are protesting. Why march in the streets? Is it not to influence the lawmakers of this country?" The lawmakers of this country have no interest in being influenced. They have no interest in marches and protests. If it were true that mass marches meant anything, this war would never have happened. On February 15th of 2003, there were mass protests against the impending war in Iraq in over 800 cities throughout the world. The Guinness book of world records marks it as the biggest anti-war mobilization ever. Yet on March 20th the United States, with the full support of both Democrats and Republicans launched its "liberation of Iraq". Five years later, in the face of protests the world over, that war continues. Democrats haven't stopped it; marches haven't stopped it. We need something new. If you desire is to influence those in power, you have assigned yourself to a roll of complete submission. Rather than acting in an attempt to influence others, we need to act directly to achieve the change we want and destroy that which destroys us. Barack Obama isn't going to do it for us, neither is Hillary Clinton. 4. "Oh, wait, I forgot. You're going to all try to take over St. Paul! That's why anarchists protest. You'll be creating the havoc necessary for the police to crack down on the thousands of minorities and undocumented workers that will be marching side-by-side for real concrete issues." Please take the time to actually read the strategies proposed for the RNC. They involve Red, Yellow and Green zones specifically to protect those who are unnarrestable while still allowing for a diversity of tactics. And yes, we are fighting for quite concrete issues. Daniel, your mischaracterizations are really silly. 5. "These anarchists aid in the abuse and destruction of all the weapons the working class have left." No, sir, it is you who aims to limit the weapons of the working class. Direct action offers a world of possiblities to combat the social order; a world of possibilities outside of the stale and stagnant politics you offer. 6. "And how many are working FOR the government I don't know." I think any rational person would agree that supporing politicians and only "resisting" in ways that they allow is exactly how one works for the government. Daniel, stop being such a goof-ball Basil Beardsley>