n/a

i can't believe the reaction to having a bonfire or smashing a damn window at a bank. radicals of today are not interested in sitting around chanting for peace while cops bust them over the heads. nor are radicals of today interested in ignoring the fucking everyday violence of capitalism --- which takes its form in starving people, homelessness, addiction, brutality, lifelong jail sentences, etc. and this is just right here in good ol' berkeley, where all the shining starbucks signs lull us into forgetting that right now, at this second, there are thousands and thousands in prison for nothing, rampant environmental destruction, police brutality in dark alleys, and corruption that extends from corporate boardrooms all the way to municipal politicians taking bribes left and right. and you think that if we don't kick over a newspaper stand, all of that will come grinding to a halt because of our wonderful example? i think that's fucking naive and its pretty short-sighted to think that petitions, sit-ins and email campaigns will fucking do anything. this is about force, not public opinion. for the last 20 years, those tactics have been tried, ignored, tried again, still ignored, and there's quite a few of us who are pretty sick of that old game. i don't actually participate in property destruction, but i support property destruction as a form of protest because i feel it is personally liberating, a strong message to corporations, and a way to shatter the illusion of corporate-sponsored bliss. it is not an end in itself --- organizing and building alternative institutions is the best long-term goal. but if smashing a window prevents someone from participating in this movement/revolution, then so be it. maybe you aren't as openminded as you like to think. continuing to buy into and validate the sickening idea that civil/human rights are not as important as corporate property rights is not at all part of MY protest.