May 22, 2008
(Mass Graves)
"The commission estimates at least 100,000 people were executed, in a South Korean population of 20 million. That estimate is based on projections from local surveys and is "very conservative," said Kim. The true toll may be twice that or more, he told The Associated Press."
In 1945, as the Japanese Empire finally went into retreat, the Korean people were left without an occupational authority for the first time in decades. In that brief moment something amazing happened. The Korean Anarchists, long the champions of the resistance struggle, came out of the woodwork and formed a nationwide federation of village and workers councils to oversee a massive project of land reform. Korea graduated from feudalism overnight. Aside from some struggles with the Socialists and Nationalists, the peninsula was at peace.
When WWII concluded, however, the "responsibility" of securing peace and order in Korea was assigned to the Americans and Soviets. By all accounts in this instance the US actually had no imperialist intentions. While the Soviets moved quickly to deploy their forces and occupy the North, the Americans took their time showing up, and were largely content to let the South Koreans manage themselves.
The Koreans, culturally steeped with anti-authoritarian values, were fond of America and openly despised the Soviets. While a few socialists fled North hoping that the Soviets would give them a hand against the Anarchists, they were overwhelmed in numbers by a mass migration south. Everyone assumed the Americans would assist or at least respect their autonomy.
This did not last.
The Americans Military commanders who eventually arrived had trouble understanding or dealing with the anarchy they found. They had no protocol for dealing with regional federations and autonomous communes. So they helped the dispossessed aristocracy form a military government. In order to make the map "simple." In order to "get things under hand."
Most importantly they did not understand that the Korean Anarchists and Anti-Authoritarian activists that saturated the countryside were different than--and in fact vehemently opposed to--the Communists, going so far as to organized and launch insurrectionary attacks on the Soviet Occupation before the Americans arrived.
The Americans couldn't understand "anarchists". But "leftists", they knew, meant Soviets. And they had the gall to ignore or resist their puppet military government. So they started killing them.
By the start of the Korean War, the slaughter was in full swing. Having arrested every anarchist organizer or sympathetic peasant they could get their hands on, they started executing them en masse.
The Korean Anarchist movement was, historically, one of the strongest in the world. It survived half a century of brutal occupation and economic exploitation. It survived a three way assault by the Chinese, Japanese and Soviets. It has survived many, many massacres and exterminations. It is even still around today. So strong that in the last few years they've been known to evict the police from the streets. But the worst injury it ever suffered was initiated and orchestrated by the United States military. In a single campaign so horrific it borders on genocide.
This was truly, objectively, one of the worst things the US has ever done. And there are some big fucking contenders.
Most north american papers ran front-page stories this Monday about the latest mass graves being uncovered while I was riding the "Empire Builder" from St. Paul to Portland. I found a copy wedged between Amtrak seat cushions. And there was an ancient photo of piled corpses as far as the eye could see. The papers euphemistically used the term "leftists." But I know the history, I did the research.
They were almost all anarchists.
However lovely America may be. Remember, the US government is not our friend. It will never be. It can never be.
"The commission estimates at least 100,000 people were executed, in a South Korean population of 20 million. That estimate is based on projections from local surveys and is "very conservative," said Kim. The true toll may be twice that or more, he told The Associated Press."
In 1945, as the Japanese Empire finally went into retreat, the Korean people were left without an occupational authority for the first time in decades. In that brief moment something amazing happened. The Korean Anarchists, long the champions of the resistance struggle, came out of the woodwork and formed a nationwide federation of village and workers councils to oversee a massive project of land reform. Korea graduated from feudalism overnight. Aside from some struggles with the Socialists and Nationalists, the peninsula was at peace.
When WWII concluded, however, the "responsibility" of securing peace and order in Korea was assigned to the Americans and Soviets. By all accounts in this instance the US actually had no imperialist intentions. While the Soviets moved quickly to deploy their forces and occupy the North, the Americans took their time showing up, and were largely content to let the South Koreans manage themselves.
The Koreans, culturally steeped with anti-authoritarian values, were fond of America and openly despised the Soviets. While a few socialists fled North hoping that the Soviets would give them a hand against the Anarchists, they were overwhelmed in numbers by a mass migration south. Everyone assumed the Americans would assist or at least respect their autonomy.
This did not last.
The Americans Military commanders who eventually arrived had trouble understanding or dealing with the anarchy they found. They had no protocol for dealing with regional federations and autonomous communes. So they helped the dispossessed aristocracy form a military government. In order to make the map "simple." In order to "get things under hand."
Most importantly they did not understand that the Korean Anarchists and Anti-Authoritarian activists that saturated the countryside were different than--and in fact vehemently opposed to--the Communists, going so far as to organized and launch insurrectionary attacks on the Soviet Occupation before the Americans arrived.
The Americans couldn't understand "anarchists". But "leftists", they knew, meant Soviets. And they had the gall to ignore or resist their puppet military government. So they started killing them.
By the start of the Korean War, the slaughter was in full swing. Having arrested every anarchist organizer or sympathetic peasant they could get their hands on, they started executing them en masse.
The Korean Anarchist movement was, historically, one of the strongest in the world. It survived half a century of brutal occupation and economic exploitation. It survived a three way assault by the Chinese, Japanese and Soviets. It has survived many, many massacres and exterminations. It is even still around today. So strong that in the last few years they've been known to evict the police from the streets. But the worst injury it ever suffered was initiated and orchestrated by the United States military. In a single campaign so horrific it borders on genocide.
This was truly, objectively, one of the worst things the US has ever done. And there are some big fucking contenders.
Most north american papers ran front-page stories this Monday about the latest mass graves being uncovered while I was riding the "Empire Builder" from St. Paul to Portland. I found a copy wedged between Amtrak seat cushions. And there was an ancient photo of piled corpses as far as the eye could see. The papers euphemistically used the term "leftists." But I know the history, I did the research.
They were almost all anarchists.
However lovely America may be. Remember, the US government is not our friend. It will never be. It can never be.
May 15, 2008
i hate my flower, he said, so he punched it and it blossomed
But this is not the beginning. When we hacked into the blog account we had no idea.
They sit in sleeping bags, talking. But they're so close, he said, I can feel it brimming on the edge of every word. Birds who clip their own wings in protest of airline food. Hidden there, an entire passage rhapsodizing on the development of flight, while they grunt shallow slogans against it.
You better watch out, she said, they'll hobble you too.
I'm not afraid of the bourgeois, their penny souls are worth too much to sacrifice.
Days earlier. he's becoming one of them, did you see. All pretty pictures, smudged toner and anthemic quips.
I'm already corrupted, as he buried deeper into his cocoon.
cocoon! cried the English majors. for shame! they drank the drying ink. Art projects spread out like the broken bones of assault rifles that will never be fired.
But if I made millions on a graphic design project I know I'd start a scenester publishing house. And I, too, would fuel your pretensions of conspiracy with my own silence. But we are not these clones of ourselves. and who will do the dirty work of hating them?
How can you tell a ninja that his secrecy is a sword pressed against your neck?
Yo. Somebody put CrimethInc's latest book online.
But this is not the beginning. When we hacked into the blog account we had no idea.
They sit in sleeping bags, talking. But they're so close, he said, I can feel it brimming on the edge of every word. Birds who clip their own wings in protest of airline food. Hidden there, an entire passage rhapsodizing on the development of flight, while they grunt shallow slogans against it.
You better watch out, she said, they'll hobble you too.
I'm not afraid of the bourgeois, their penny souls are worth too much to sacrifice.
Days earlier. he's becoming one of them, did you see. All pretty pictures, smudged toner and anthemic quips.
I'm already corrupted, as he buried deeper into his cocoon.
cocoon! cried the English majors. for shame! they drank the drying ink. Art projects spread out like the broken bones of assault rifles that will never be fired.
But if I made millions on a graphic design project I know I'd start a scenester publishing house. And I, too, would fuel your pretensions of conspiracy with my own silence. But we are not these clones of ourselves. and who will do the dirty work of hating them?
How can you tell a ninja that his secrecy is a sword pressed against your neck?
Yo. Somebody put CrimethInc's latest book online.
May 12, 2008
(Finally)
While on the one hand I'm not convinced that any interaction between NASA's bureaucracy and the market can have positive effects, on the other I spent most of high school secretly justifying the state in the short term on the grounds that the brutal enslavement of humanity was clearly a lesser evil than failing to get our asses moving.
Either way, this decision--like the fall of the Berlin Wall--is indicative of broader, underlying momentum. After four decades we are finally getting somewhere.
While on the one hand I'm not convinced that any interaction between NASA's bureaucracy and the market can have positive effects, on the other I spent most of high school secretly justifying the state in the short term on the grounds that the brutal enslavement of humanity was clearly a lesser evil than failing to get our asses moving.
Either way, this decision--like the fall of the Berlin Wall--is indicative of broader, underlying momentum. After four decades we are finally getting somewhere.
May 06, 2008
(A Desperately Needed Note To Anarcho-Capitalists From The Poor)
Guys, the more y'all make taxes the center and end-all of your critique the less we give a damn. Some of us don't make enough to pay them. And some of us have never bothered paying them anyway, especially in states without sales tax. What are they going to do, audit us?
Taxation is simply not on our radar.
The more it matters to you, the less you matter to us.
Guys, the more y'all make taxes the center and end-all of your critique the less we give a damn. Some of us don't make enough to pay them. And some of us have never bothered paying them anyway, especially in states without sales tax. What are they going to do, audit us?
Taxation is simply not on our radar.
The more it matters to you, the less you matter to us.
April 27, 2008
(Turing GPA)
Is anyone else starting to find themselves failing captcha tests? It's really obnoxious. And embarrassing to my ego as a sentient being.
Is anyone else starting to find themselves failing captcha tests? It's really obnoxious. And embarrassing to my ego as a sentient being.
April 25, 2008
(Elegance)
As an anarchist I often find beauty in the composition of evil systems the same way as a physicist I find beauty in the composition of material systems. I want to frame this one and put it on my wall.
"Qom may have become a prostitution hot spot due to the abundance of shrines. Young female runaways with no shelter come to the city knowing they can take refuge at holy sites by sleeping in rooms intended for pilgrims. They have no way of making a living, so after awhile they get involved with the sex trade. The city's young theological students and transient tourists form the main clientele."
As an anarchist I often find beauty in the composition of evil systems the same way as a physicist I find beauty in the composition of material systems. I want to frame this one and put it on my wall.
"Qom may have become a prostitution hot spot due to the abundance of shrines. Young female runaways with no shelter come to the city knowing they can take refuge at holy sites by sleeping in rooms intended for pilgrims. They have no way of making a living, so after awhile they get involved with the sex trade. The city's young theological students and transient tourists form the main clientele."
April 21, 2008
(And We're Back)
"Because we have derived so much benefit from our associating with one another, most of us have no doubt expected that bringing people together into institutional collectives will foster greater social unity. But this has not been the case. Our expectations have failed to materialize because we have failed to distinguish between those spontaneous, unstructured organizations in which people come together for their mutual interests, and the structured institutional systems that mobilize people, inducing them - through intimidative or coercive means - to sacrifice their individual interests in favor of the alleged collective good. But on close examination, what is purported to be the collective good ends up being on the narrow good of the institution itself. One of the consequences of our being pushed together by institutional pressures has been an increased social isolation, a pulling away from one another."
Butler Shaffer, via Jeremy. This is quite possibly the most elegant and concise anarchist passage I've ever read.
"Because we have derived so much benefit from our associating with one another, most of us have no doubt expected that bringing people together into institutional collectives will foster greater social unity. But this has not been the case. Our expectations have failed to materialize because we have failed to distinguish between those spontaneous, unstructured organizations in which people come together for their mutual interests, and the structured institutional systems that mobilize people, inducing them - through intimidative or coercive means - to sacrifice their individual interests in favor of the alleged collective good. But on close examination, what is purported to be the collective good ends up being on the narrow good of the institution itself. One of the consequences of our being pushed together by institutional pressures has been an increased social isolation, a pulling away from one another."
Butler Shaffer, via Jeremy. This is quite possibly the most elegant and concise anarchist passage I've ever read.
March 31, 2008
March 30, 2008
(Frankly, I Love It When The Upper Class Devours Their Own)
"The other day, when I accidentally saw ten minutes of CNN, they were running a profile of a two-earner couple who are now living at a public campsite after losing their big cushy house, featuring the wife wistfully talking about the granite countertops, and whining about how the bank hustled her and her husband into signing onto the ARM and how they were "lied to" by the bank."
From Stop Me Before I Vote Again, which sums up the mild bemusement of everyone I know regarding the AMR bubble and the frantic arm-waving horror of bourgeoisie pundits. Recession? If you say so. Things are exactly the same down here. By the way, those are some plush campsites. (via Commie Curmudgeon)
"The other day, when I accidentally saw ten minutes of CNN, they were running a profile of a two-earner couple who are now living at a public campsite after losing their big cushy house, featuring the wife wistfully talking about the granite countertops, and whining about how the bank hustled her and her husband into signing onto the ARM and how they were "lied to" by the bank."
From Stop Me Before I Vote Again, which sums up the mild bemusement of everyone I know regarding the AMR bubble and the frantic arm-waving horror of bourgeoisie pundits. Recession? If you say so. Things are exactly the same down here. By the way, those are some plush campsites. (via Commie Curmudgeon)
March 22, 2008
(Damn, But Nickelodeon Knew How To Craft And Market Mary Sues)
By chance I've happened to catch myself simultaneously watching old episodes of The Wire and Space Cases. That mash-up is pretty much the purified essence of nine-year-old me. I wanted to shoot me some punk-ass bitches and live happily ever after with Jewel Staite on a starship.
...Actually, come to think of it. Not much has changed.
By chance I've happened to catch myself simultaneously watching old episodes of The Wire and Space Cases. That mash-up is pretty much the purified essence of nine-year-old me. I wanted to shoot me some punk-ass bitches and live happily ever after with Jewel Staite on a starship.
...Actually, come to think of it. Not much has changed.
- The author does not recognize or accept the legitimacy of any law relating to the regulation of information.
Neither is any copyright or pretense to 'intellectual property' assumed by the author in the slightest nor will any degree of capitulation be wrestled from the author in regard to another's presumptions of authority on matters of supposedly illegal speech. 100% anticopyright
