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Modesto: Appropriated Food Distributed in Working Class Neighborhood
Communique from the Robin Hoods
People of the Valley,
Everywhere the desert of capital expands – we offer an oasis to drink from.
We, the Robin Hoods, take credit for providing the massive amounts of free food that was left in the Airport District park of Modesto California last week, early in the morning. The food we left ranged from rice, beans, and other staples, and was available free of charge to anyone who wished to take it. To make our intentions for the action clear, we left behind a banner at the scene which read, "Resist the Recession! - ROB THE RICH!" The food was appropriated from various capitalists - and was thus free (and very easy) to obtain.
We chose to distribute this food free of charge because the Airport District is one of the neighborhoods hit the worst by the ongoing recession. Our communities are suffering from homelessness and foreclosure, poverty and job layoffs, police brutality and environmental pollution. Let this act be just a note in the chorus of resistance that will soon bring this system down.
We believe that solidarity others means attack against common enemies. We have thus carried out this action not only to attack the capitalists directly and distribute food free of charge to our friends and neighbors, but also to denounce the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, which recently voted down a needle exchange program that would help stop the spread of HIV and Hepatitis and give direct aid to those addicted to various drugs. This decision directly affects those living in the Airport Neighborhood, as it is an area with a high amount of heroin use. We were also inspired to carry out this action by the recent case of Turlock man, Danny Armenta, 48, who was arrested after attempting to walk out of a store with over $100 in groceries. They can get one of us, but they can't get all of us. As the recession heats up - so must our resistance. From the ongoing job layoffs in the valley to the recent closing of Teel Middle School in Empire due to budget cuts, if we don't start fighting directly - soon we will have nothing left to fight for.
In solidarity with those from the streets of Greece, China, Iceland, Mexico, the United States and beyond who are fighting this monster we call capitalism.
The Robin Hoods
Everywhere the desert of capital expands – we offer an oasis to drink from.
We, the Robin Hoods, take credit for providing the massive amounts of free food that was left in the Airport District park of Modesto California last week, early in the morning. The food we left ranged from rice, beans, and other staples, and was available free of charge to anyone who wished to take it. To make our intentions for the action clear, we left behind a banner at the scene which read, "Resist the Recession! - ROB THE RICH!" The food was appropriated from various capitalists - and was thus free (and very easy) to obtain.
We chose to distribute this food free of charge because the Airport District is one of the neighborhoods hit the worst by the ongoing recession. Our communities are suffering from homelessness and foreclosure, poverty and job layoffs, police brutality and environmental pollution. Let this act be just a note in the chorus of resistance that will soon bring this system down.
We believe that solidarity others means attack against common enemies. We have thus carried out this action not only to attack the capitalists directly and distribute food free of charge to our friends and neighbors, but also to denounce the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, which recently voted down a needle exchange program that would help stop the spread of HIV and Hepatitis and give direct aid to those addicted to various drugs. This decision directly affects those living in the Airport Neighborhood, as it is an area with a high amount of heroin use. We were also inspired to carry out this action by the recent case of Turlock man, Danny Armenta, 48, who was arrested after attempting to walk out of a store with over $100 in groceries. They can get one of us, but they can't get all of us. As the recession heats up - so must our resistance. From the ongoing job layoffs in the valley to the recent closing of Teel Middle School in Empire due to budget cuts, if we don't start fighting directly - soon we will have nothing left to fight for.
In solidarity with those from the streets of Greece, China, Iceland, Mexico, the United States and beyond who are fighting this monster we call capitalism.
The Robin Hoods
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this was fucking brilliant, good work modesto!
i hope to see more of this
i hope to see more of this
This type of direct action is something that i can get behind! However, strategically it falls in line with all of the other "in the middle of the night" crap that's been going on in the anarchist movement lately. If we ever want to be a big enough movement to fight the police in a real way (and not have to run away like we do now), to seize space and defend it (rather than have to keep squats secret), or even size lines of distribution and production (so we wont have to nervously rob stores and leave food somewhere in the middle of the night), then we need to get to work on some larger social projects that coincide with these direct actions.
I understand that folks think actions like these can be empowering, fun and exciting - but we must realize that the fact that we have to resort to cloak and dagger tactics is a sign of our weakness of a movement.
I understand that folks think actions like these can be empowering, fun and exciting - but we must realize that the fact that we have to resort to cloak and dagger tactics is a sign of our weakness of a movement.
weakness as a movement? fuck theoretical weakness, a movement can only get as far as its people can march on an empty stomach. Pull up the people, pull up the poor.
I'm not talking about theoretical weaknesses. I'm saying that if tactically we have to resort to hiding/evading/scamming/trickery/hit-and-run-in-the-middle-of-the-night kind of stuff like a lot of anarchists in the U>S. have been doing, that just shows how weak we are in the sense that if we actually had numbers and support in our movement, we could do these things openly like anarchist movements have done in the past (Spain in the 30's, Paris in the late 60's, Germany in the 80's, Greece in the 2000's).
It'd be Nice to have our own Durruti column, but...
We don't. Yet. So we do what we can. We hide in shadows. Because as we just learned in the Bay, when you don't, you get arrested. For stupid ass shit. So the shadows will be our safety, until we do build more power. These two things are not mutually exclusive.
We don't. Yet. So we do what we can. We hide in shadows. Because as we just learned in the Bay, when you don't, you get arrested. For stupid ass shit. So the shadows will be our safety, until we do build more power. These two things are not mutually exclusive.
Why to go guys! Awesome message, I love everything about it! I miss you!
Nice work Robin Hoods. Have you discussed getting a squatting movement going? Perhaps establishing networks for resisting the police when they come to evict people?
I agree with 'collective': this is indeed an awesome action, but "under the cover of night" can only take us so far. e.g: if this action were to continue on a daily basis for years (which is one theoretical way to makes this more real practice and less propaganda--both of which are valuable, fyi) sooner or later the robin hoods would be caught... several times, and would incur stricter and stricter punishments. This kind of action, by itself, is not sustainable revolutionary strategy. This is a fucking rad start, but we need to work on building our capacity too, in a myriad of different ways. Sometimes it seems like US anarchists rely on these kinds of covert direct actions rather than organization. This is not to devalue any of those actions--there are all important--but, in the historical perspective of anarchism's potential, we should aim a lot higher.
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