2020 – Page 56 – The Free

America’s Toxic Empire is Falling Apart !! Chris Hedges rings in the Doom

A brilliant summary of genocidal and ecocidal US decadence with a stab at psychological and philosophical explanations .. but Chris has no recipe here to save the planet beyond ”the chants by the crowds in Lebanon calling for the wholesale removal of its ruling class”.

America’s Death March

Regardless of the outcome, the US election will not stop the rise of hypernationalism, crisis cults and other signs of an empire’s terminal decline.

The terminal decline of the United States will not be solved by elections. The political rot and depravity will continue to eat away at the soul of the nation, spawning what anthropologists call crisis cults — movements led by demagogues that prey on an unbearable psychological and financial distress.

These crisis cults, already well established among followers of the Christian Right and Donald Trump, peddle magical thinking and an infantilism that promises — in exchange for all autonomy — prosperity, a return to a mythical past, order and security.

The dark yearnings among the white working class for vengeance and moral renewal through violence, the unchecked greed and corruption of the corporate oligarchs and billionaires who manage our failed democracy, which has already instituted wholesale government surveillance and revoked most civil liberties, are part of the twisted pathologies that infect all civilizations sputtering towards oblivion. I witnessed the deaths of other nations during the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and later in the former Yugoslavia. I have smelled this stench before.

The removal of Trump from office will only exacerbate the lust for racist violence he incites and the intoxicating elixir of white nationalism. The ruling elites, who first built a mafia economy and then built a mafia state, will continue under Biden, as they did under Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, to wantonly pillage and loot. The militarized police will not stop their lethal rampages in poor neighborhoods. The endless wars will not end. The bloated military budget will not be reduced.

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Anarchist Struggle in Rojava

Robert Graham’s Anarchism Weblog

Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas

Here are excerpts from an interview between the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (Federacion Anarquista Uruguaya – FAU) and member(s) of Têkosîna Anarsîst (Anarchist Struggle), a group of anarchists supporting the Kurdish resistance in Rojava. I included material from Kurdish anarchists and Democratic Confederalists in Volume Three of Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas. The complete interview, including the English translation, can be found at the FAU website.

Explain the formation of the Battalion of libertarian comrades and their links with the Kurdish resistance?

Since the beginning of the Rojava revolution, especially following the resistance in Kobanê in 2015, international volunteers have come to confront the Daesh (ISIS) and defend the revolution. In the early years most of the international volunteers came in coordination with YPG and YPJ, the Kurdish self-defense militias. Given the anti-state character of the political project of Rojava, anarchists from different continents joined the struggle in defense of the revolution, often arriving in a disparate and disorganized way.

In 2015, in addition to internationalists in YPG and YPJ, the IFB (International Freedom Battalion) was organized, uniting international militants and Turkish revolutionary organizations in a common organization. Within the IFB the first anarchist brigade was formed under the name of IRPGF (International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces), which operated for approximately one year during the Tabqa and Raqqa operations.

Têkosîna Anarsîst (Anarchist Struggle) was created at the end of 2017 after the liberation of Raqqa. We seek to not only participate in the struggle against the Daesh, but to learn from the Kurdistan freedom movement while building bridges with libertarian movements around the world. As anarchists, we see the importance of taking up arms against the theocratic despotism of the Islamic State, but also against the fascistic oppression of the Turkish State, the Syrian State, the various imperialist powers and the myriad Islamic fundamentalist groups fighting in Syria.

The reality of the war is very complex, and sometimes it plunges us into a sea of contradictions about our role here. Inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts converge with a proxy war of regional and geopolitical powers, where imperialist and colonial influences set the pace of a Middle East bathed in blood and oil. But the Kurdish resistance is an emblematic example of revolutionary organization, and Rojava’s social and political project is certainly inspiring. After some years working here we saw good sides and also bad sides of the revolution, and our commitment with it is based in a frame of internationalism and critical solidarity.

The implementation of democratic confederalism, a stateless society based on women’s liberation, ecology and direct democracy, is an example for those of us who believe in a world free from capitalism and patriarchy. This is what led us to Rojava, but what now? A large number of internationalists who come to Rojava participate in defending the revolution for a few months and then return home to their previous lives. Is that what we want? Is this our idea of internationalist solidarity? No, we want something else.

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#Belarus: Call for solidarity actions with the uprising against the Lukashenko regime – 14 August

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#Belarus: solidarity actions against Lukashenko regime – 14 August 2020

A call by Anarchist Black Cross Belarus for transnational solidarity actions with the uprising in Belarus.

Originally published by Anarchist Black Cross Belarus.

For the first time in the history of Belarus, people across the country rebelled against the dictatorship. Many thousands of demonstrations are held not only in the capital, but also in small towns. People take to the streets and not only peacefully protest against the authorities, but also fight against the state apparatus – they help friends and comrades and clash with punishers.

August 10, barricades appeared in the streets of Minsk for the first time, while protesters began using molotov cocktails. Some enterprises and firms went on strike.

In recent days, standing shoulder to shoulder, we have felt what the energy of the people means. We have realized that together we can overthrow a tyrant!

The blockage of the Internet could not stop the news flow. People all over the world have learned that the Belarusian dictatorship is ready to drown the population in blood just to stay in power. In three days, police and internal troops detained more than 5000 people, hundreds suffered from cop violence. At least one person has been killed.

How did the Belarusians come to rebellion against the dictatorship

Now more than ever, international solidarity is important in the fight against Lukashenko. Therefore, we call you all to join the international day of actions in solidarity with belarusian people! In what format can you express your solidarity? You can hold rallies and demonstrations at Belarusian embassies and other institutions of Belarusian power in your country. Take collective photos. Take part in direct actions. Any, even the smallest solidarity can support the fire of rebellion that will tear down the dictatorship in our country!

Send your reports to belarus_abc@riseup.net or post on social networks with the #Belarus hashtag.

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