Tag: Anarchism

Banksy’s Balloon girl Self-Destructs after $1.3m Auction.. mocking Art Speculators

Going, going, gone! A piece of art by Banksy self-destructed immediately after being auctioned off  at Sothebys in London.

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The balloon flew away.. The elusive world-famous British street artist Banksy has reportedly pulled off one of the greatest art heists, allowing his own painting to self-destruct, just moments after ‘Girl with a Balloon’ had fetched over £1mn at auction.

Art lovers and collectors appeared shocked the moment Banksy’s Girl with a Balloon shredded itself into ribbons immediately after hammering a record of £860,000 (£1.04mn or $1.37mn with buyer’s premium) at a Contemporary Art Evening Auction at Sotheby’s London on Friday.

The 101cm-by-78 cm canvas in an artist’s frame, annihilated in front of the auctioneers by a mechanism apparently hidden within the base of the frame, with just strips left to admire from the 2006 masterpiece produced by the famous-yet-anonymous British artists and attendees at the event appeared to be in “complete confusion” the moment an “alarm inside the frame started going off as the gavel went down,” Robert Casterline of Casterline Goodman gallery told Hyperallergic.

 

While some tried to figure out what just happened, others reportedly noticed an elusive man dressed in black sporting sunglasses and a hat “scuffling” with security guards immediately after the fiasco. This led some to speculate that Banksy might have personally carried out the stunt.

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“We’ve just been Banksy’d,” said Alex Branczik, senior director at Sotheby’s, according to The Art Newspaper. “He is arguably the greatest British street artist, and tonight we saw a little piece of Banksy genius.”

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The unusual heist of the artwork is completely new for the art world and, while the piece was lost forever, the scraps and remnants could now be worth more than the original intact masterpiece itself. “You could argue that the work is now more valuable,” Branczik said. “It’s certainly the first piece to be spontaneously shredded as an auction ends.”The auction house is now trying to figure out what to do next. “We have talked with the successful purchaser who was surprised by the story. We are in discussion about next steps,” Sotheby’s said in a statement to the Financial Times.

 

Girl with Balloon was one of the “most widely recognizable images” ever painted by the anonymous British icon. The spray paint and acrylic on canvas that was mounted on board depicted a small girl in black and white reaching out towards a red, heart-shaped balloon attached to a string.

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“Unlike the other editioned iterations of this famous motif, the present work is a rare unique painting that was given to the present owner by Banksy in 2006 following the artist’s warehouse show, Barely Legal, in Los Angeles,” Sotheby’s said of the lot.

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 copies of Banksy’s work on sale for $60 each

READ MORE: Kissing Trump & Netanyahu mural appears on West Bank wall

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Rojava, Uber, Patriarcado ..Entrevista con el Antropólogo Anarquista David Graeber en Madrid

David Graeber: “En Rojava saben que no te puedes librar del capitalismo si no te libras antes del patriarcado”

La mutación del capitalismo, la uberización del empleo, el poder del feminismo, la lacra moral de la deuda o el origen de la desigualdad son algunos de los temas que trata en esta entrevista el antropólogo estadounidense David Graeber, que visita Madrid para participar en un evento en apoyo al pueblo Kurdo y la revolución de Rojava.Image result for rojava and the spanish revolution

Como un proscrito ideológico, este antropólogo y activista da clases en la London School of Economics, tras ser expulsado de Yale y ser rechazado de todas las universidades de su país, Estados Unidos, por declararse anarquista. Fue uno de los líderes del movimiento Occupy Wall Street, aunque él odia definirse así.

Su libro En deuda: una historia alternativa de la economía (Ariel, 2012), marcó un antes y un después en los estudios antropológicos y ha hecho temblar la concepción y todo lo dicho anteriormente sobre el dinero, la deuda y la evolución de las relaciones humanas en un plano económico y moral.Image result for fall of us imperialism 2018

Recibe a El Salto con el pelo despeinado y lamparones en los pantalones. Tiene prisa porque quiere ir a visitar una exposición sobre la Guerra Civil —su padre fue voluntario en las Brigadas Internacionales en defensa de la República Española en 1937— pero se toma con calma responder a las preguntas. Continue reading “Rojava, Uber, Patriarcado ..Entrevista con el Antropólogo Anarquista David Graeber en Madrid”

Far-right politician Jacob Rees-Mogg gets home-visit by Crazed Anarchist Vandals

Posted on: 7 August 2018    By: thecollective   Shared from … /anarchistnews.org     via 325

How many people would love to tell Jacob Rees-Mogg to go and fuck himself? Well, last night we did so in joyful fashion. We paid a little visit to the countryside just outside of Bristol, to his mansion called Gourney Court in the quiet village of West Harptree.Image result for greatest mass killings of british empire, meme

For those of you who are reading this and do not know who this man is, he is one of the most detestable members of parliament ever, and fuck me they’re a bad bunch. Other politicians claim he is the one truly ruling this country from behind the scenes. Here are some of his charming characteristics…

He is extremely wealthy, staunchly Roman Catholic, a clear friend to fascist groups and has his eyes fixed on being the actual political leader of this fucking prison island (after May decomposes fully).

He was raised by his nanny. After prep school he attended Eton college and then Oxford university (for the poshest people in the country).

Him and his wife have a 100 million quid together, they just bought a new house in London for 5 million, he makes 168,000 pounds a year from his partnership in a hedgefund business called Somerset Capital Management that is worth 7.5 billion pounds (apparently it invests in tobacco, mining and oil and is based in offshore tax havens, for those who care about such details). He proudly claims he has never changed a nappy in his life despite having 6 kids.

He uses his religion as an excuse for his xenophobic views. He is opposed to same sex marriage and contraception, he is against feminism, LGBTQI people and specifically gender re-assignment.

He is opposed to abortion in all circumstances including cases of rape.

He has argued for the abolition of environmental protections and for fracking, he is pro fox hunting and has also argued for the Conservative party to be almost entirely white skinned.

He is opposed to immigration, he supports zero hours contracts and loves the equally charming DUP (Northern Irelands right-wing Democratic Unionist Party) and the Conservative governments billion pound deal with them.

He fucking idolizes Margaret Thatcher and we’re not even done yet… Continue reading “Far-right politician Jacob Rees-Mogg gets home-visit by Crazed Anarchist Vandals”

Pola Roupa gets life plus 25 years jail accused of blowing up Greek Central Bank without victims.

Pola Roupa, a member of Greek urban guerrila group Revolutionary Struggle, has been sentenced to life and 25 years imprisonment over the bomb attack on the Greek National Bank and the offices of the IMF in Athens in April 2014.

The attack destroyed the front of the National Bank. Nobody was hurt, as people who conducted the attack took precautions and informed the authorities before the blast, allowing enough time for evacuation.

According to the prosecution, the attack could have been much more damaging if not for the security guard who managed to lower the metal shutters at the Greek National Bank before the evacuation, hence preventing the total collapse of the building. Should the building have collapsed it would likely have  resulted in the destruction of Greek banking system and massively damaged the Greek economy. Continue reading “Pola Roupa gets life plus 25 years jail accused of blowing up Greek Central Bank without victims.”

Occupied Centers Resist Summer Evictions in Barcelona

 from La Directa, translation TheFreeOrg , en Catalá cap a baix
Self-managed and housing projects built in squatting areas such as Ca La Trava, Armadillo or the Expropriated Bank are threatened with eviction in the Gracia barrio suffering the pressure of tourism and the increase in prices in the purchase and rent of housing

In the neighborhood of Gràcia 2 occupied social centers have a threat of eviction Ca la Trava and the Expropriated Bank (El  Banc Expropiat),  separated by a mere 500 meters, they are different projects in the fight against the progressively imposed model where  traditional neighborhoods and businesses still struggle to coexist  in the face of real estate investors, promoters and tourists.

A second hand flat  Gràcia costs € 4,379 per m², the average rental price was € 856 per month in 2017, there are 1,081 hotels, hotel-apartments and pensions in the District.

Ca la Trava or luxury apartments


In December 2016, a group of students, workers, etc occupied the buildings located at numbers 154 and 156 of the Travessera de Gràcia in Barcelona. The first block was called Jahnela and hosted the ‘Gràcia Housing Office’ occupied project. Next door is Ca La Trava. “We organized ourselves at the Housing Office of Gracia, a group that offers solutions to the various housing problems, either by stopping eviction, defending neighbors in cases of real estate harassment, or by helping to squat to guarantee everyone access to decent housing, “they explained to their founding manifesto.

The block of Ca La Trava is property of the ‘ Inmobiliaria Mar SL’, also owned by the huge developer and construction company ‘La Llave de Oro’. ” It was in disuse for a long time and when we entered, we found it deliberately damaged to make  it uninhabitable” assure the occupiers

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Negotiations with the City Council and property began  Ca La Trava. After the first attempts to get the council to buy the blocks, in a process that delayed the order of eviction and finally did not fructify, the fate of real estate goes through the eviction and fell through they were scheduled for demolition to build ‘luxury homes. “ We are now facing a ”precautionary eviction” through criminal law, against which we will resist “, affirm the residents.

Banco Expropiat, six years and three threats

After the last eviction of the old bank the group of the Expropriated Bank liberateded a new space at the extinct ‘Center for Primary Health Care (CAP) of Quevedo Street and kept the same name. Continue reading “Occupied Centers Resist Summer Evictions in Barcelona”

Feminists Rebel As ‘Wolf Pack’ Gang Rapists Freed By Political Court

 CNT calls for rebellion against the Patriarchal State and its courtsImage result for CNT contra la manada

The anarcho-syndicalist trade union shows its indignation at the judicial resolution adopted in the case of “La Manada”  the self styled ‘wolf pack’.

”The CNT union has shown its absolute “dismay and disgust” before the performance of the Navarra Court that has decreed the provisional release of the members of “La Manada” .  “We share the anger and call to turn indignation into a permanent struggle against the patriarchal system that the State carries in its genes,” said the anarcho-syndicalist organization.Image result for CNT contra la manada”Being Afraid is gonna Switch Sides.. Feminist Self Defense …Platform for Free Abortion and Sexuality’‘

In the same way, the CNT has warned that what happened around “La Manada” once again puts in focus an unquestionable reality: “for what and for whom courts and prisons are made”. “That same judicial system is the one that pursues and ruins the lives of eight young people of Altsasu thanks to a police assembly, or also the one that persecutes rappers and criminalizes social protest,” the union stressed.

“Justice is nothing other than injustice, and the State is nothing more than a gigantic macho, violent and patriarchal apparatus,” they said. In this context, the CNT has also called for a “reflection” on the current system, “a system that breeds monsters like the members of La Manada and places in the courts of ‘injustice’ machista and misogynist judges.”

Sign/Share this Petiition ‘WE DON’T WANT THE WOLF PACK IN OUR STREETS’  firma esta petición … 750K signed so far!

The anarcho-syndicalist union showed its ” support and affection” towards all the militants of the feminist movement that today take to the streets “to shout against this injustice and defend their rights”. “You, sisters, are essential and indispensable to build another model of society, freer and more human,” they remarked.People show a banner reading 'It is not sexual abuse, it is rape' as they attend a protest against the judiciary sentencing on the trial of five men accused of gang raping an 18-year-old during San Fermin fiestas.‘We are the wolf pack’

Protests as Spanish court releases ‘wolf pack’ rapist predators

Five men who were convicted only for sexual assault after a gang rape of a woman at a Spanish bull-running festival have now been released on bail pending appeal, sparking fresh protests.

One of the accused is a Guardia Civil (Franco’s military police) and another was in the army. Several are far right “ultras” who support FC Sevilla.

Protesters have taken to the streets of Spain after a court ordered the release on bail of five men sentenced to nine years in prison for sexually abusing a young woman at Pamplona’s bull-running festival.‘Hitting a Guardia Civil gets 13 yrs jail. A Guardia Civil and 4 friends rape you and walk free’.

The men, who called themselves “the wolf pack” in a WhatsApp messaging group, had been accused of stalking, abducting and raping a woman, then 18, at the entrance to an apartment building in Pamplona on July 7, 2016, at the start of the week-long San Fermin festival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors.

All five were convicted only of sexual abuse in April and  were acquitted of the more serious crime of sexual assault, which includes rape, as the court did not consider that the victim had been subjected to intimidation or violence, sparking nationwide protests.Image result for manifestación manada barcelona

Coming shortly after the first ever feminist General Strike the verdict by a politicized Spanish Court is seen as direct repression and yet another example of patriarchal approval for the rampant neo fascist mentality and impunity for a far right gang including a paramilitary police officer who boasted of their crime on Whats App and mocked their victim.

Photos of some of the Demos around Iberia

Manifestación en Pamplona en protesta por la puesta en libertad bajo fianza de los cinco miembros de ‘La Manada’.

 

Concentración contra la puesta en libertad de ‘la manada’ en Cuenca.

Manifestación en Madrid contra la puesta en libertad de la manada.

Cientos de personas se concentran en Sevilla contra la puesta en libertad de los miembros de la manada.

Manifestación en Murcia, en la Plaza del Cardenal Belluga. El movimiento ha logrado movilizar de nuevo a miles de personas a través de las redes sociales.

Manifestación en Pamplona por la puesta en libertad de la manada.

En Valencia, el movimiento feminista avisó de que tomaría las calles. Y así lo ha hecho.

La imagen ante los Juzgados de Bilbao ha sido también la de un clamor multitudinario

 

Protesters hold a banner reading "There is no one who judges our word - It is not abuse, it is aggression" in Pamplona.

Spain: self styled  ‘wolf pack’ gang rapists freed by far-right political courts

Women’s rights groups immediately took to social media to call for protests on Thursday night with the slogan: “If the pack hits the streets, we will as well.”

Around a thousand people marched in Pamplona, some shouting “Enough macho violence”, and there where also rallies in neighbouring Basque cities Bilbao, Vitoria and San Sebastian.

Hundreds also marched in Barcelona, some holding a banner that read: “In the face of patriarchal justice, feminist self-defence.”

“It is a shame, these scoundrel rapists get away so easily. It seems they want to release them so they are ready to start again on July 7, the day of San Fermin,” said 66-year-old protester Carmen Roman.

Another protest is scheduled to take place on Friday evening outside of the justice ministry in Madrid as well as in the southwestern city of Seville, the hometown of the five men, and other cities.

Demonstrators hit the streets of Pamplona, Spain. Demonstrators hit the streets of Pamplona, Spain.

Prosecutors had argued during the closed-door trial last year that the men’s victim was subjected to “serious intimidation and it prevented resistance or flight”.

They had asked for each of the men, who have been in custody since 2016, to be jailed for 22 years and 10 months.

One of the accused is a Guardia Civil policeman – currently suspended– and another was once in the army. Several are “ultras” who support FC Sevilla.

Rapists Freed as Impunity reigns in Patriarchal Spain

The five men jailed for sexually abusing an 18-year-old woman at the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona two years ago are to be released on bail of €6,000, according to reports.

The case, known as the “wolf pack” trial because of the name the men used in their WhatsApp group, caused a national outcry after the defendants were acquitted of rape.

The case was widely seen as a cross-examination of the 18-year-old woman rather than the men who attacked her. The proceedings were criticised after the judges accepted into evidence a report compiled by a private detective hired by some of the defendants. The detective had followed the woman over several days and produced photographs of her smiling with friends.

This was used to suggest she had not suffered any lasting trauma, prompting hundreds of women to demonstrate outside court holding signs reading: “We believe you, sister.”

Defence lawyers claimed the woman had consented and had let one of the men kiss her. They also said that 96 seconds of video footage from the men’s phones – showing the woman immobile and with her eyes shut during the attack – constituted proof of consent.

The prosecution said the victim had been too terrified to move. Al final de la manifestación, decenas de manifestantes han protagonizado una sentada frente al Congreso de los Diputados en Madrid.

“The defendants want us to believe that on that night they met an 18-year-old girl, living a normal life, who, after 20 minutes of conversation with people she didn’t know, agreed to group sex involving every type of penetration, sometimes simultaneously, without using a condom,” the prosecutor Elena Sarasate said.

The verdict was criticised by many senior politicians, including Pedro Sánchez, the leader of Spain’s socialist party who recently became the prime minister.

“She said NO,” he wrote on Twitter at the time. “We believe you and we’ll keep believing you. If what the ‘wolfpack’ did wasn’t group violence against a defenceless woman, then what do we understand by rape?”

News of the men’s release prompted women’s groups to call protests in cities including Pamplona, Madrid, Zaragoza, San Sebastián and Barcelona on Thursday and Friday.

Laura Berro, the equality and LGBTI councillor at Pamplona’s city council, said the court’s latest verdict was proof of the patriarchal nature of justice.Cientos de personas se concentran en Madrid al grito de “Tranquila hermana, aquí está tu manada”.

“It’s shocking,” she tweeted. “But we will not shut up or be paralysed.”

Sign/Share this Petiition ‘WE DON’T WANT THE WOLF PACK IN OUR STREETS’  firma esta petición … 750K signed so far!

Animal Rights from an Anarchist Perspective

from  Red Black Green,  shared with thanks.

”Ultimately though it is class struggle that drives change and that means we will not see the end of capitalism and human and animal exploitation until the vast majority embrace it”.

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…  In my view animal rights needs libertarian ideas more than ever before. In the recent years the movement in Britain has suffered unparalleled repression. This country is not unique in this either – as animal liberation has across the world, so in its wake has followed a state and corporate backlash.

Anarchism – with its critique of power, hierarchy and capitalism – can help us understand how repression works and how we can work to resist it.

see also .. Animal Liberation and Social Revolution | The Anarchist Library

Related imageThe threat of far right and racist infiltration has grown as well. Attempts in the past to use AR as a vehicle for fascism failed. Now thanks to the internet, social media, low morale and  fragmentation – and the naïve belief some hold that fighting for animals takes precedence over everything else- extreme right wing groups are trying to gain a foothold.

These problems don’t affect animal rights alone. Anarchism and the libertarian left also face them.  The Earth First Journal published an article entitled “The New Face of the Radical Right” about Anarchist Nationalism. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn’t it? But some on the so-called radical right are suggesting building alliances with groups such as Earth First! to spread an anti-state but also nationalist/fascist agenda.12729321_1507503332890712_6185680978061315320_n.jpg Continue reading “Animal Rights from an Anarchist Perspective”

Fraguas: Occupiers of Abandoned Village resist Eviction, Fines and Prison

    #Fraguasrevive ”Justice” condemns the re-occupiers of Fraguas to a year and 6 months of prison, eviction and 50,000 euros fines.

sign petition: NO To EVICTION OF FRAGUAS  *74,000 so far!

Pancartas de apoyo a los okupas de FraguaIf we’re not kicked out there’ll be a Ziccini Garden

  • The defendants fear their entry into prison for not being able to pay the 50,000 euros in fines imposed by the judge
  • Failure to comply with the sanctions translates into three years of imprisonment for each of the defendants
  • The defense will argue in its appeal for the ‘legitimacy’ of the project and the possibility of resolving it by administrative means


first part by Raquel Gamo  @gamopascual    06/08/2018 –

Fraguas1

Continue reading “Fraguas: Occupiers of Abandoned Village resist Eviction, Fines and Prison”

Anarchist Reading group #1 .. review and download

Anarchist Reading group #1

London Anarchist Federation held their first reading group looking at two chapters in volume 1 of ‘Anarchism, a documentary history of libertarian ideas’, edited by Robert Graham. We read chapters 8 ‘Anarchist Communism’ and 9 ‘Anarchy and anarchism’.Below we present some of the talking points during the discussion, hastily jotted down as notes by one of our members.

A pdf of the texts (vol.1) can be found over at libcom: click Anarchism – A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas .

Parts of the texts are strikingly modern (particularly Kropotkin) and seem readily applicable to situation the working class finds itself in today. Has anything really changed, then? The texts speak of the coming automation of labour and the need, therefore, to make sure workers are in control so this can be a post-scarcity utopia rather than a high unemployment, high exploitation dystopia (hello Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work 2016).

Within this Cafiero acknowledges that many jobs could already be automated but it’s cheaper for capital to exploit labour, so we are condemned to drudgery (hello Bullshit Jobs, A Theory 2018). Although the texts on anarchist communism mainly focus on work and production, there is also an acknowledgement of the impossibility of valuing work and the need to consider mental health, social work and other functions of society which fall outside capitalism. Continue reading “Anarchist Reading group #1 .. review and download”

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