We have entered the age of the polished tyrant. The ones who have perfected the act of control by pretending to hand over the keys. They let you vote, let you scream, let you post, let you protest, because none of it threatens their power anymore.

They know exactly how many seconds your anger lasts, and they’ve engineered the world to outlast your attention span. These are the men who wear Harvard badges and quote human rights, all while orchestrating the collapse of entire regions. They are the ones who destabilise governments in the name of freedom, install puppets in the name of democracy, and pillage nations in the name of peace.

And the most horrifying part? We’ve made them celebrities. Heads of state are now influencers. Intelligence officers are now tech consultants. Weapons dealers rebrand as security experts. And lobbyists? They are the new authors of reality. They don’t bribe politicians anymore,they are politicians. They don’t need to buy the media, they marry it, fund it, become it. They own the narrative and the counter-narrative. They fund both sides of every war. They fuel chaos and then offer order. Manufactured crisis. Controlled solution. Repeat.

Southern California Anarchist Bookfair Saturday June 7th 10am-6pm. San Bernardino, CA

I just added english subs to our first episode of Noticias Tejiendo Libertad (news weaving liberty, or something like that), for the anglos out there that would like to check it out!

https://kolektiva.media/w/7q2vzbFUvTNXoMAWhYm591

hey everyone- just wondering real quick if there's any other grad students in this community who are organizing within their university (specifically in the US). I am involved in organizing at my school as part of a researchers against war group and would really love to connect with more researchers across the country, but not sure how many of us are out there.

Looking after one's self is the key to organising, and taking action, and existing in solidarity - that much I know.

But, looking at the world, and capitalism, and the state, and the egregious actions that each take and enable day after day after day, screwing over so many people, people that I know personally, and those in the wider world who I know will be affected - I struggle to not fall into a pessimistic, anxious, angry, perhaps cynical and depressive spiral. Even something as reading the news gets me incredibly down - not great in a world where we have to stay informed.

I've never been the most mentally stable person, I suppose. I'm struggling to look after myself, and not be either unfathomably angry or depressed, amongst everything. I don't know how much more I can take, really.

How do you do it? How do you cope?

(This was posted on a throwaway account.)

moving to the Greenville area from Charleston in a month or so- on a whim, googled "anarchy + Greenville" and hit one was a reddit post in which someone discussed attempting to organize casually in the Greenville area, a la The Anarchist Bookstore in Asheville. I attempted to comment but the thread had died, so here I am. for what it's worth, the idea is solid, and I'm very much on board. what say you?

So the other day I watched a Jon Stewart interview, this one to be exact. Now, this interview is disappointing for a number reasons that I don't think I need to explain to anarchists (a number of whom, like me, were once young shit libs who liked Stewart). But it did get me thinking.

I believe it was on this sub I once saw someone declare that there are two cults in this country, one is red and one is blue. This is clear to anyone who sits outside the political mainstream and even to a great many people within it. Each cult has it's own narratives, some of which are based in reality and some of which are not.

In the interview above I believe we are seeing the crash of two nonsense narratives. The first is the obvious - the right wing in this country is now reframing the engineered global dominance of America as a kind of scam that other countries have in fact run and are still running against America. As Stewart himself points out the idea that America, the top dog, has been and still is being taken advantage of, when we have remained the world's economic and military hegemon, is nonsense. What Stewart seems to imply instead, and what I think a great many liberals are also doing, is insisting that that various actions involved in the decades long American dominance was, if not entirely then at least in part, done out of principled belief, out of a desire for "global stability", out of...the goodness of our hearts.

This is absurd, yes? America did not establish itself as the top mafioso on the planet because the American government (or even most of the American people) gives a fuck about how anyone else is doing. We did it for control, for power, for money. It isn't just that we bully people into things (remember Iraq?) but such is the presence of the American state that other nations kneel in anticipation of its demands. Such is the power of the American market that other nations will fight to achieve access to it without us even having to encourage it much. Needless to say, this is a reality that neither the conservative or the liberal want to acknowledge - it would give lie to the entire idea of America as a different country, a unique force for good.

Which of course it isn't. America is not "we're here out of a principled love for freedom and democracy", America is "fuck your workers, give us that cheap shit." Does the government provide useful and valuable aid to others? Sure, just like the mafioso gives you fifty bucks for your ailing mother. We are not Captain America, we are Oz Cobblepot. While there can be some peace when a single mob runs your neighborhood, it is always something of a tentative peace for those paying the protection money.

Now, would the end of the American hegemony be something the anarchist also wants? Sure. But one most look at outcomes - what good is it if America falls from the top spot only to be replaced by Putin's Russia? Or Xi's China? The most optimistic take here is that it ends up being a side grade.

Here is where I might have once listed what I would have wanted the DNC to do to stop this. But I have put away childish things.

Now more than ever we have to talk about internationalism, about cross border solidarity. What happened to this? Was not socialism always meant to be international? Why is it that even among socialists I find nationalist urges, paeans to their workers and never others? Why is it that among anarchists it seems there are so few who can articulate the case against borders? When the right made "global" a bad word there was an opportunity to attach that to "capital" but it sometimes feels as if that moment has passed and now the idea of an interconnected world seems less and less clear even as our technology allows to communicate more and more.

Anyway, I have a fever. Perhaps this will make more sense when my brain returns to its normal operating temperature.

Reading Bakunin and Propotkin, and it is just baffling to think that these thinkers come from such a totalitarian and imperialist country. Or - maybe it makes total sense, since they pretty much predicted much of their country’s future.

Thoughts? What do you think?

Highly recommend reading! Introduces the reader to lots of (likely) new, often overlooked info but also really makes you think critically about social programs, why they exist, what could be better, etc. A great one for turning socialists and “leftists” towards anarchism.

Weekly Discussion Thread for Black, Indigenous, People of Color

Radical bipoc can talk about whatever they want in here. Suggestions; chill & relax, radical people of color, Black/Indigenous/POC anarchism, news and current events, books, entertainment

Non BIPOC people are asked not to post in Radical BIPOC Thursday threads.

Well, thanks to Trump traffis causing yet another capitalist crisis, what's the best way to respond? Mutual Aid? community defence? Workplace occupations & expropriation? Class Education? Cooperativas to bridge the gap? All of the above? Because, I can honestly see this being worse than 2008/9. Maybe I'm scared, but if we don't start doing something now, we're going to be fucked again.

I want to get a classic red/black ancom/ansyn flag, but want to do what I can to ensure the money goes to someone worth supporting.

Anyone got any suggestions on where to buy one?

(I know the IWW sells one with the sabotabby on it, but I'm hoping to get one with just the red/black colors)

Thank you in advance for any suggestions y'all got!

Weekly Discussion Thread for Radical Women

Radical women can talk about whatever they want in here. Suggestions; chill & relax, radical trans women, anarchafeminism, news and current events, books, entertainment

Men are asked not to post in Radical Women Wednesday threads.

It seems like it's completely gone from the internet. Does a backup exist? Is it possible to get to? I'm open to discussing on signal. I know it's a sketchy topic

Such a valuable resource to lose access to. Depressing