US Bank Window Broken in Santa Cruz

"and well within us"

Of course, the other reading implies that your actions spring from your privilege.

But then, if there is unmitigated joy and gamesman/gameswomanship in privilege, does that justify its exercise?

Does consistency even concern you? Or are you as comfortable with your hypocrisies, as They are?

So your action to defeat the NAFTA superhighway and ultimately the new world order is by using violence, which is then ultimatly what the police state uses as an excuse to bring in more big brother laws and crush dissent. Brilliant!

I suppose the broken window is behind the plywood.

Thanks for breaking the windows of banks in solidarity with an action that has caused much strife in the activist community in Olympia. The overwhelming majority of even the (A) types is that the action was a mistake. Maybe send some funds to Olympia if you want to provide real solidarity.

Thank you for acting rather than spewing bile like other Olympian 'anarchist activists'. Your action means a lot to those who were innocently targeted.

They posted the same comment on Seattle Indymedia. Either they really want you to feel discouraged (something the government would want as well) or they don't have anything better to do.

Ding ding ding, we have another idiot.

"So your action to defeat the NAFTA superhighway and ultimately the new world order is by using violence, which is then ultimatly what the police state uses as an excuse to bring in more big brother laws and crush dissent." -

That's right! Because those who resist obviously are to blame for the repression being forced upon the world. If only those Jews would have been more passive there never would have been a holocaust! Maybe if slaves in the US would have revolted less slavery would have ended earlier. And so on. Those who resist aren't to blame for repression - those who sit on their asses and do nothing and complain about those actually doing something are. The more ungovernable we are, the more space we can create for not only our lives, but also a revolutionary movement. The State will always be repressive and will always crush dissent, no matter the 'democratic' disguise, because the State is a monopoly of violence and force that exists to protect the interests of an elite class.

Also, since when is smashing a lifeless object the same as violence against people, war, prison, wage slavery, and everything else that this system is based upon?

Which window is the one broken in the photographs?

Crudo says:

"That's right! Because those who resist obviously are to blame for the repression being forced upon the world. If only those Jews would have been more passive there never would have been a holocaust! Maybe if slaves in the US would have revolted less slavery would have ended earlier. And so on. Those who resist aren't to blame for repression"

I didn't say you shouldn't resist, you are just not doing it in the right way. What you should be doing is helping build a real movement to oppose the NAFTA superhighway, not breaking windows like some punk kid. The reason they are currently getting away with this highway is because the public at large does not know about it. Try getting a dvd burner and make copies of the Alex Jones film "Endgame" and passing them out to everyone. Knowledge is power and the more people who know, the more people you will have on your side to affect real change.

Random acts of violence and vandalism accomplish nothing politically constructive, and have zero impact on the global corporate capitalist elite's economic wherewithal or its thinking. At best, they irritate and annoy minor functionaries, at worst, they create additional uncompensated work for maintenance workers and inconvenience random individuals.

I won't deny that "violence" against property can occasionally have a political impact, when the global ruling class sees it as a manifestation of dissatisfaction that is widespread enough to threaten the stability of the social and economic order; but even in those circumstances, the negative effects typically have a vastly greater impact on members of less privileged classes in the area where it manifests itself. You only have to look at the lasting negative impact of various "riots" on the neighborhoods where they occurred in the 1960's.

NICE!
Posted by: OLY (A) at Aug 02, 2008 11:54

I live in Olympia and I just want to say ya'll did a fucking sweet job! Your solidarity is much appreciated, and keep it up, that shit was hella filthy yo!

"I didn't say you shouldn't resist, you are just not doing it in the right way." -

Sounds like you're making a moral argument now. Sabotage on corporate property is bad, handing out burned DVDs of Alex Jones is good. This is problematic because 1.) who determines which tactics are "the right way"? You? Alex Jones? The central committee? 2.) It assumes that you can't do both. Why not smash windows and hand out DVDs on why people are smashing windows? A diversity of tactics are needed to get more and more people involved in destroying class society. We must push these isolated actions from the individual into the collective.

"The reason they are currently getting away with this highway is because the public at large does not know about it." -

So, the public not knowing about I 69 is bad, but smashing a window to bring attention to it is a bad way of getting the word out? Seems a backwards thought process.

"Knowledge is power and the more people who know, the more people you will have on your side to affect real change." -

Spreading ideas is great. But I think our ideas should away point to actions that people can take as individuals and as groups that can aid in the overthrow of this system.

"Random acts of violence and vandalism accomplish nothing politically constructive, and have zero impact on the global corporate capitalist elite's economic wherewithal or its thinking. At best, they irritate and annoy minor functionaries, at worst, they create additional uncompensated work for maintenance workers and inconvenience random individuals." -

That's problematic because this attack isn't random - it was carried out for a specific purpose. Surely, breaking one bank window or even a thousands or a million won't change the world, but I don't think that this is the point of the action. I think that when people do small actions like this they show that the property of Capital is actually open for assault and capable of being damaged; we can actually impact our surroundings that are forced down our throats everyday in ways that make sense to us. I think that the people or persons who carried out this action probably feel good about what they did; they feel that they have power enough to act and get away with attacking capital - albeit on a small scale. Furthermore, they seem to have given hope to their comrades in the Northwest, one of the reasons for the action. Lastly, they have spurred discussion on the validity of direct action and attacks against the State and Capital, which seems to be what they set out to do (or at least from what I can infer from my computer screen.) I also think this action is meant more to be part of a conversation and ongoing dialog - not a definitive statement on 'what should be done.'

Does this mean that if we simply break more windows or carry out small actions like this things will change - of course not. But I think actions like this are great because they give us something to smile about and show people that resistance on the streets of America (and everywhere) is alive and people are still thinking, acting, and fighting back - even if people like myself really have no desire to carry out similar style actions. But, this is reason to smile and give cheer - and also raise our voices in support of actions like this that are combative towards class society.

Also, as someone who worked as a janitor for several years, I hate it when people make the argument that by breaking windows, etc, you are creating more work for workers. Shit workers have to do shit work no matter what. Whether its someone shitting in a urinal or someone breaking a window, it really doesn't matter; when you're clocked in life sucks. I think the best thing we can do for people stuck in jobs is to attack and organize against the world of Capital and wage slavery; hopefully making connections and comrades along the way. This doesn't mean that we should not be conscious of how our actions will be perceived in the minds of possible comrades.

"but even in those circumstances, the negative effects typically have a vastly greater impact on members of less privileged classes in the area where it manifests itself." -

This assumes that sabotage and political violence is by and large undertaken by those outside of the 'less privileged classes,' which flies in the face of social reality. Who steals from work, sabotages machinery at work, pisses in police officers' food, riots against high food and fuel prices, goes on wildcat strike despite union orders, shoots at cops, squats foreclosed homes, goes on rent strike, etc. The rich and the middle class? I think not. The rich and the middle classes are largely the ones bleating out on the streets for us to vote for Obama and buy green products; basically anything that is removed from attacking and organizing against the material conditions of our lives in a direct way.

I think a greater question would be, how can we spread the ungovernability of our attacks as far as possible and keep the spaces that we open up with our actions under our control.

"You only have to look at the lasting negative impact of various "riots" on the neighborhoods where they occurred in the 1960's." -

Can someone please bring in the fire - we've got a straw man to burn.

The lasting impacts of the riots of the 1960's were an increased militarization of the police force in communities of color, the growth of 'community policing,' and the creation of paramilitary units such as SWAT teams. These things are bad of course, but they were the State's reaction to the projected power of the working class as it resisting racism and class society.

The inner city riots of the 1960's rocked the US, but also showed that regular people were capable of holding off the police and army for several days in some cases. They also radicalized many people as they showed the possibilities of mass action against the State.

To say that these riots were negative misses the point. They created a reaction by the State because the State was pushed up against a wall; it reacted with more repression, which is a natural move from the perspective of the State. Thus, your argument is basically the same as pdog. Those who resist bring repression on themselves - especially when they do so in a manner that seeks to totally attack and combat the power of the State and Capital, as opposed to the more gentle route I infer - of working within it. As I've already stated, I think this is bullshit. We know that the State will always respond to working class power with repression and recuperation; the task is to learn from the past and hopefully not make the same mistakes as last time. Working class power in the form direct action and confrontation is not something to be feared; its something that needs to be on the street, out on the front lines, and constantly fighting and spreading itself outward as it attacks.

"The inner city riots of the 1960's rocked the US, but also showed that regular people were capable of holding off the police and army for several days in some cases. They also radicalized many people as they showed the possibilities of mass action against the State. "

And look at how awesome the inner cities are now!

The riots didn't cause ghettos, they were a response to them. In my opinion, a positive one, although of course they were/are not the ONLY component in taking on and destroying class society.

Can you tell me what positive changes have been affected by rioting in the U.S?

Look at all the race riots, that ironically, have been full of racism, and also generally cause the greatest amount of damage to minority owned businesses (Rodney King riots).

No, just like the twits smashing ATM screens, rioters use violence as a cover to justify their crimes -- reall change is achieved via hard work and sacrifice (and a bit of time). But that's no fun, especially not when I can get some free electronics out of my heroic fight for social change.