INFINITE ONION ten email me at 72500.2176@compuserve.com This is the e-mail version of Infinite Onion 10 and contains the text from the paper version. The paper version has much more stuff (visual) and is available for $1 postpaid in the usa, $2 elsewhere. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ One day, during a visit to Dallas; you know the city where the Ewings live, I was lounging on a couch in the house of some friends. Alone in the living room , watching the fleas hop across the pages of my book (Guy DeBord's Society of the Spectacle if I remember right. read it, it's written a little strange but well worth it). I was wondering why no fleas had bitten me yet. The house was infested with them and people were complaining about flea bites, but they never fucked with me. I had heard body odor acts as a natural insect repellant. But I had also heard it repels people too and I knew that wasn't true. I've long boasted a powerful guerilla odor that radiates from my armpits and never to my knowledge has it actually driven away people. So I doubted insects , who are much less picky about smells and dirt than humans are would be bothered by it at all. For a second or so I pondered that thought which had sufficiently distracted me from my contemplation of commodity fetishism and capitalism as to make me l ose my place. Scott walked in the door. He stopped. He looked around. He aquired a slightly puzzled expression on his face ; maybe you could call it a squint. He exclaimed:"What smells like onions?". Knowing fully well that nobody had been cooking onions, I realized it was me that smelled like onions and almost simultaneously I took on the belief that eating onions (garlic too of course) daily makes one strong and less desirable eating for parasitic insects. This , of course, fits right in with my flimsy concept of the infinite onion and cyclic (r)evolution and change. Also some people call me Dave Onion which makes even more sense to me now. One could say, I've taken another brave step towards TRUTH. Look at me! I'm gone. I left this pathetic excuse for a culture and most likely am not where you think I am for all the best reasons. Don't write me. Vanessa will probably get your letter, read it, throw it away and use any money she finds to hire a real plumber and pay off her credit card bills. The Infinite Onion is free if you find it or its given to you or itz available for one dollare postage paid within the US ( $2 elsewhere in the world) from the elves at OSMOSIS PO Box 6445 Colorado Springs , CO 80934-6445 usa Tell them Molly Ringwald sent you! or from any respectable DIY distributor So don't send me any. If you have anything you want to submit for next issue (please do), send it to Osmosis (or email me) and i'll try to get it from them when I can. But don't hassle them with letters to me that you want answered within months. I probably won't make it back here for quite some time and don't really know where I'll be when. (that's a good thing). Infinite Onion is available in huge stacks to hand out or set in stores or give away as gifts or whatnot from Osmosis. Just send as much postage as you can muster and they'll send you as many Infinite Onions as they can in return. UK and Europe people! Current and back issues are available from DS4A (SAE + 40p for UK rest of Europe send 90p , DS4A c/o Box 8 Greenleaf Bookshop / 82 Colston St. / Bristol, AVON UK) as well as from BM Active ( BM Active / WC1N 3XX / London UK). Both these distributors have some pretty impressive mail order catalogs you could check out as well. Really fun disclaimer: I don't suggest you do anything in here! If you do and get caught, you fucked up. Don't blame me. I'm completely innocent. I'm a distributor of information for the purpose of entertainment, not a fucking terrorist! CAUTION !!!! PROTECTED PRIVATE PROPERTY! This magazine remains the property of the sender unless and/or until it has been personally and materially accepted by the prisoner to whom it is addressed.In the event that the prisoner is denied direct access to this publication it must be returned to the sender with notice of the reason(s) for failing to deliver to the addressee. "Someday love will find you, break those chains that bind you."- Journey For inspiration and/or support over the last few years I hail: Vanessa, Marcie and Toast, Chris, Dan at Profane Existence, Robert Stark,the Bijou St. soup kitchen (yeah , even the people who call me ungrateful for being picky about meat content) , Mindy and the CC soup kitchen (better food than real reataurants) , FUEL cafe in Milwaukee, Downtown post office workers, Citizen Fish, Spencer, Robert Anton Wilson, Monty, Edward Abbey, Darren, Diana, Suiciety and other Dallas /Ft. Worth punks, Spitboy, Rachel, my parents, Arnie zine, Matt Duffy , Brian Circle, Sasha and Dave in Flagstaff, cool curious cats in Amarillo, Sonny , Gigi, Heather and Vi, Shireen and ken-e, Lisa, Mary, Jay, Big Mike, Mike E, Molly, Pablo and Lara, Israel Regardie, Travis, Exedra zine, P, Lorenzo, Durruti, Zapata, Goldman, Lorenzo, dave the destroyer, dee the funky homosapien, Crash Worship, Lorenzo o Kom'boa Ervin, Thoreau. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- BLERBS Last issue scared me. It looked too nice and professional. Also it was a little weird going to news print. People were patting me on the back , telling me how it looks so much MORE ACCESSIBLE. I suppose accessible is OK, but I thought it lacked a little of the personal feel of past issues. One thing I like about zines is that upon picking one up, one is instantly infused with the thought :"I CAN DO THAT TOO !!! and probably better." To me , that's what makes a form of media accessible. The knowledge that one can have access to that particular form of expression and do with it what the fuck one wants. Slick magazines do not do that to me. They give off the impression that the printed information and expression business should be left to the professionals with the appropriate degrees and experience. This issue will be layed out cut and paste with minimal use of frustrating and unecessary layout programs that crash whenever I forget to save everything every minute. Besides , computer layouts smack of legitimacy . I wrote a lot about my feelings on leaving Colorado Springs since last issue. However looking back on it now, I feel very uncomfortable printing it. A good deal of what i wrote is overly cynical and doesn't really reflect how I normally feel. I think most of this was a result of being frustrated with my living situation. I had a lot of negative feelings about being around so many politically conscious people who are completely unwilling to act on their beliefs in an outward way. I love them all , and that's probably the reason why things like that bother me so much. Also I had written some on black magick of the pigs, which I was looking forward to putting out, but I sort of wrote and thought myself into a corner. Maybe next time. There's a very liberating feeling that I'm anticipating with this move. With all the positive growth that's accompanied the increase in people I've been dealing with there's also a lot of binding "responsibility" that has kept me from aquiring the space I value to develop and grow in different directions. My unstoppable monstrous mountain of mail has taken on a life of its own. I've found myself using a great deal of time and mental energy pacifying the beast and it never seems to shrink. If I leave town to travel for as little as two weeks , I can easily accumulate over 100 pieces of mail. This is completely insane. Although most of my mail involves relatively effortless tasks such as filling orders and putting catalogs in envelopes, it does build up to steal a large chunk of energy that I used to delegate to writing real letters to people. I feel that even though I've met a lot of incredible people through the mail and have grown personally after being exposed to new things as a result of doing Neverending vegetable, most real dialogue and mail friendships have suffered. When "doing mail" , my head seems to sort of shift into business mode and I become more task oriented, so that when I finally get through the pile of orders to a letter from a friend , I find it very difficult to respond in a non-task oriented manner. In most cases my letters have probably become a lot more rushed, spiritless and less expressive of my feelings while they become more centered around what I've been up to and responding to questions. Apologies to everyone I've ditched in the past with real letters. I will also not be recieving as many zines. it may be a little strange since I do one myself and value zines as a way of destroying the idea of "legitimate media" and instead creating ones own media regardless of who approves or finances it. But unfortunately the bulk of zines I get are like literary pop songs for people with short attention spans. They have short , unchallenging articles usually addressing issues and ideas in a way t h at's been done plenty of times before and which I get nothing out of. There's really nothing wrong really with putting out a zine like that. If that's how you are and feel , then express it ! But I've gotten swamped with them and have lost a lot of the enthusiasm I used to have for them. I don't need to fill my head with clutter and at the moment I'm overwhelmed by a ridiculous barrage of information which I want to devour. But I lack the omnipotence to carry through with such a task. So after I leave, my first move will be to clear my head of clutter and relearn how to write "real" letters, devote more time to people I love and shoot myself in new directions. I'm not leaving an address where I'll be , partly because I'm unsure of how safe it will be to recieve the type of mail I do , but mostly because I want to be free of that obligation. It seems as if all my stupid court hassles are definitely over for the time being. To illustrate how much getting my summer plans of exploring the universe tied up in court dates and arrests bothers the shit out of me , I'll put it like this : If I ran into the legal system (or Amerikkka in general) while walking down the road one day, I would out of sheer hate and will power alone blow the bothersome bastard to bits probably leaving behind a sizeable crater to mark the spot and serve as a good reminder to anyone else who has ideas of fucking with my psacred pfreedom. A couple people have called me a cop magnet. I don't try to get in trouble, I just do sometimes. I know people who follow cops through the park calling them nazi pigs and just get ignored. I'm not asking for their attention. I don't think its cool to get arrested or fucked with; maybe it's cop karma. Some good did come out of my last court hassle, though. After being accused (falsely) of stealing a book by a bug eyed and high strung employee at Chinook bookstore, a place I once considered a decent place, I was coerced into taking part in a petty theft seminar where we were taught how theft really only hurts the poor and disposessed and when people are caught stealing, they wind up getting gang raped repeatedly in prison and lose all their friends and often their closest relatives won't t even speak to them out of shame of being related to a thief (as we saw on a video hosted by the sexy and highly intelligent Peter Falk). Luckily before the ordeal was over, I learned some handy tips on corporate security, met a guy who could sell me a brand new walkman for $10 and best of all got certified. Now I can walk into any store , stuff my pockets with goodies and when confronted by an employee I just wave my slip of paper in their face. "Pfuck you man , I'm certified". My KKK rally arrest as documented in last issue got dismissed. They had no point, the puds. After feeling fairly fucking free from fascists and cop trouble, I flew like a fairy to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, the biggest frat party I'd ever seen with a somewhat separatist punk contingent by the water. Unfortunately cops keep themselves busy by arresting punks for trivialities. I, as fate would have it, got hauled in as an accomplice to urinating in public. I got off easy ; since the paddy wagons were too full to take me they let me go after a couple of hours of mild torture and insults. Mary, however, ended up in jail for a couple days with impressive bruises. The fun didn't end there. Cops invaded a Crash Worship show and bashed in heads, arresting several innocent people and demanding $10,000 bail (I think) as a revenge statement for the redecoration and restructuring of one of their vehicles outside of the show. Other than the pig factor, it was a decent celebration. Osmosis , the alternative clothing and literature shop is starting to do mail order and has bought up all the Neverendingvegetable stock as well as my screens. Infinite Onion will be available through them as well. Write them for a catalog or info : Osmosis PO Box The following are news blerbs I aquired from other publications, from direct contacts, over e-mail or different electronic mailing lists. The idea here is to make news accessible which doesn't get out to people all that much as well as to encourage people to get involved in these struggles directly. What i've thrown in here is not extensive news, so by all means write to the addresses and get more information and act as appropriate. Garden of the Gods themepark: A texas millionaire named Lyda Hill put down some $2 million to build a visitors center in Garden of the Gods, a beautiful ( some people claim say sacred) area which contains incredible huge red rock formations. From what I've gathered , a small trading post inside the garden will be removed and replaced by a tourist friendly visitors center directly outside of the rocks and visible from the road. Lyda Hill's idea is, from how I understand it, to improve Colorado Springs'economy by building this vile fishing lure for tourists. Also rumors have spread of talking signs and a tram to shuttle tourists and their trash through the area(although they may be exaggerations). Needless to say, a good number of people are pissed off. Some Native Americans are not enthused about digging up and exploiting what they say was burial grounds and/or sacred to them, others don't care too much to see the area raped even more for its cash value. Funny enough though, of all the groups involved , the l ocal AIM chapter (American Indian Movement) is supporting Lyda Hill and monitoring the digging (which started before it was even voted on) to retrieve any bodies that may turn up, and on occasion attempting to chase away protestors. They've even gone so far as to declare war on CAIR (Coalition for American Indian Rights) ,a group who are suing the city, for not being Indian enough and for their position against the visitors center. According to AIM,they want to work with the city to have some say in what happens with the new building and to be able to return artifacts or corpses to the tribes they came from. The e Infinite Onion position : Anti gay nazi car salesmen are not enough to stomp out tourism in Colorado. However, an efficient program putting useless and shifty rich assholes like Lyda Hill to use via mass expropriation and redistribution of her wealth to those who need it instead of pouring it all into commodifying natural beauty with gimmicky tourist traps would be a good first step to make Colora d o unfertile ground for other rich gawkers. ((Big sentence? Oh yeah, just wait for the harcore onomatopeia)) The Pnation Of Pnin The popes of Pnin have been tearing shit up. Aside from a succesful assasination of a PRI candidate in Mexico as a solidarity action with the Zapatistas, the Pnation prompted a mass dissing of property ideals and bourgeois boringness by throwing a massive Potlatch Potluck Picnic in a local park. However the gods approved not and cursed the celebration with hail and snow. The potlatch then moved to the closest Pninian pcultural stronghold where property ownership was mocked and excellent pfood was ingested. Small bands of Pninian pguerillas are expected to plaunch attacks on your minds and linear thinking in general any day now. pViva Pnin ! pHail Eris ! Amendment 2: Shortly after last issue hit the streets, important people declared Amendment 2 unconstitutional and threw it to the birds. Does that mean we're free and sexually liberated now? The prison in Florence (FCI) has been open and housing prisoners since January 93 although it's unclear when the actual Control Unit will be open for torture. According to the pigs themselves, the prison which was built to handle 700 to 800 prisoners is currently holding about 12,000 prisoners. Obviously fed up with the miserable conditions in the prison , inmates armed themselves with makeshift tools, held off guards , carried out hunger strikes and a work stoppage and rioted heavily during the end of February. What really happened and whether anyone was injured or killed during the riot completely unclear from I've gathered from the sources I have (mostly mainstream press). There were reports of gunshots going off inside the prison , but officials deny it and nobody seems to know whether they came from prisoners or pigs. For more info on control units and activism against them contact Abolish Control Unit Torture (ACUT) , PO Box 1156, Boulder, CO 80306 The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT) is a group of people advocating that we act as earth's last generation of humans. They aren't for war or mass murder, just a sensible deep-ecology and gleefully anti-anthropocentric vision of freeing the earth of the vile parasites called humans. They're currently in the process of setting up a no-interest loan fund for vasectomies. In the past they held a Valentine's Day Vasectomy drawing and have put out some newsletters explaining their approach. Cool shit. Write to VHEMT , Les U. Knight, PO Box 86646 Portland, OR 97286-0646 graphic The Blast is a new bimonthly 24 page newspaper put out by the Agitator Index anarchist collective. looks potent. The Blast! , PO Box 7075, Minneapolis, MN 55407 NAZIS-FOLLOW YOUR LEADERS EXAMPLE! Infamous Church Of The Creator founder and author of the pathetic "White Man's Bible", Ben Klassen did himself him. He awoke one morning , gazed in the mirror and that was it. Good riddance. Ian Stuart , nazi organizer and vocalist for the white power band Skrewdriver , as well as another nazi scumbag from the group finally lived up to the name of his band and died in a drunk driving accident. So long motherfuckers! Taken from On The Prowl , a good newsbulletin put out by Toronto's Anti-Racist Action , PO Box 664 Stn C, Toronto , Ontario , M6J 3S1. After being turned down for parole , Leonard Peltier is still in prison for allegedly killing two FBI agents on Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota. Although the government admits they have no idea who killed the agents, he is still being held prisoner. There is still an ongoing effort to free him, though. The Defense Committee is back to the campaign to get Leoard out with Executive Clemency. For support or info write to The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee , PO Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044. Mike C. Diana has been charged by the State of Florida on three counts of Criminal misdemeanor. The charges include: 1) Publication of Lewd or Obscene material.2)Distribution of Lewd or Obscene material 3) Advertising for the sale of Lewd or Obscene material. The material in question are his zine Boiled Angel issues #7 and #8 which boast a threatening circulation of nearly 200 copies. If Mike is found guilty and convicted, he faces 3 years in prison and $3,000.00 in fines. Write Mike C. Diana, PO Box 5254, Largo , FL 34649-5254 MAY 9 is the International Day of Action Against Immigration Control and Anti-Immigrant Violence !A Desemblar ! Tear Down The Borders ! PO Box 3606 , Oakland , CA 94609-0606 Kieran Frazier , an anti-racist activist is facing two counts of felony assault. At an anti-fascist demonstration on October 22 a member of the fascist Northern Hammerskins attacked kieran with brass knuckles and Kieran defended himself against the shithead. The state surprise, surprise, is unsympathetic and wants to put kieran in prison for ten years and fine him $20,000 ! Kieran needs people from the region to come and support him in court on April 11-12. Get more information from the Anti-fascist Defense Committee at (612)825-9953, or write: Minneapolis ABC , PO Box 7075, Minneapolis MN 55407, or via e-mail at : jolson@polisci.umn.edu - Love and Rage A women's Info-shop in Zagreb is working on providing information on women's issues and is working to revive the feminist movement in war-torn Croatia. Write them at Zenska Infoteka, Berislaviceva 14, 41000 Zagreb , Croatia or via email at ZENSKAINFO_ZG@ZAMIR-ZG.COMLINK.DE - Love and Rage Little Rock Reed who published the paper Iron Drum, and among other things was a legal consultant for the Aboriginal Ute Nation (which in an act of ethnic cleansing , the U.S. government "terminated" by an Act of Congress) , has been forced to go underground. Because of Little Rock's struggle for Native American prisoners rights and the exposing civil and criminal of the Ohio prison system, the Adult Parole Authority tried to force him back to prison for another 15 years. In prison , many people believed he would have been murdered as was his co-writ-writer and activist for Native prisoners rights Dennis Weaver. Dennis was found beaten to death after the Lucasville riot. The only ones who had access to his cells were prison guards and officials. For more info: Deborah Garlin, PO Box 53, Whiterock , UT 84085 - from Bayou La Rose Autonomous Network: Last summer , Love and Rage members chose to continue in the form of a more organized and structured Federation instead of a Network. In an attempt to increase communication and contact between anarchist groups , there has been a call for an Autonomous Network to go in effect. For more information, get in touch with Wind Chill Factor , PO Box 81961, Chicago ,IL 60681 Among other things, the Western Shoshone have had their land invaded by BLM agents who stole Shoshone lifestock, have had sacred sites and burial grounds desecrated, have had to deal with nuclear testing and nuclear waste storage on Shoshone lands (in violation with the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley) and are subject to general government abuse and constant violation of the Western Shoshone as a sovereign nation. Clifford Dan , a Western Shoshone rancher arrested while attempting to defend his livestock from BLM agents, has been released from prison although he still has two-years probation to do and a $5,000 fine. There is a letter writing campaign going on to: Janet Reno, U.S. Attorney General , The Justice Department, 10th Street and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington , D.C. 20530. Demand that Clifford Dan's non-jurisdictional conviction be removed from record! For more info : Western Shoshone Defense Project, General Delivery, Crescent Valley, NV 89821 Animal Liberation Front: As part of the grand jury investigation of the ALF and the successful raid on Washington State Universities animal research labs in 1991, Deb Stout and Kim Trimiew have been imprisoned for refusing to testify in the case. Deb and Kim say they will never talk, though federal law allows incarcerating them without charges until the grand jury expires in sixteen months. The jail put Kim in solitary confinement as a result of a separation order by the judge. Anthony Miller is another imprisoned animal rights activist who was sentenced to ten years in 1990 for setting loose 250 wild horses captured by federal and state agencies. Anthony managed to plea bargain his sentence down from 130 years to 10 and it looks mighty unlikely that he will be coming up for parole. He is trying to remain active from inside of prison , but is having a hard time getting cash for even mailings. Anthony can be reached at : Anthony D. Miller #40351 , POB 1059, Santa Fe , NM 87504-1059. Both Kim and Deb can be r eached at Spokane County Jail, W 1100 Mallon, Spokane, WA 99260- Earth First ! Journal , PO Box 1415 , Eugene , OR 97440 Coming soon, By Pass is the review and listing service for zine and pamphlet producers - a UK based "Factsheet Five". Send your publication in. Review is guaranteed and in return you get a free issue with your review inside. By Pass c/o 21 Cave St., Oxford OX4 1BA, UK The trial of the Chattanooga 8, a group of people arrested for protesting the murder of a black trucker by seven white cops , finished on February 23 with only two of the eight found guilty of "violating a public meeting". Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin and Clifford Ebehard face up to six months in prison. Write to the judge in protest of these convictions and demand that no prison time be given to Lorenzo or clifford. Judge Steve Debil / Criminal Court 600 Market St. / Chattanooga , TN 37401 #################################################################### The following article is an example of what we distribute from this account. If f you would like to receive our articles, a few per month at most, send us a message with "distro" in the subject line. You could also find them in the usenet newsgroup "alt.politics.radical-left". NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN NEWS FROM ZURICH SWITZERLAND WOHLGROTH SQUATTED SOCIAL CENTER EVICTED ************************************************************ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ News from Zurich: Wohlgroth evicted Window breaking demos downtown Occupation of Limmatstrasse 28 Against the solutions dictated from above One bitter cold morning in Zurich, on Tuesday, November 23, 1993, the Zurich pigs accompanied by helicopters, water cannons, and a Tact team evicted the Wohlgroth-Areal, which has been squatted for two and a half years. Sixty squatters, who were still in Areal at the time of the eviction, left the house "voluntarily" when given an ultimatum by the police. Two o people were carried out by police. Resistance to the eviction was practically nonexistent. Even n the conservative daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung wrote: "Wohlgroth surrendered by squatters without a struggle." About 200 supporters stood outside behind police barricades and followed the process of the eviction with loud yells and boos. At t one point the demonstrators were attacked with water cannons and responded with a volley of bottles and stones. After charges of trespassing had been brought by the firm Oerlikon-Buehrle, which wants to erect office buildings there, the pigs forced their way into the Areal. Huge e excavators broke through the barricaded entrances. The way was opened using welding torches and chain saws. Employees s of the utility companies bore holes in the asphalt and cut gas, water and power. A fence was erected around the squatted Areal. The e pigs systematically searched the property and made it unlivable. Windows were broken, furniture and stairs demolished. A A case of ready to use molotov cocktails and two shopping carts of small cobble stones were unfortunately left unused. Posters with the photos and names of Zurich police adorned the walls. "Learn n to recognize them, before they know you, from the photo album of the Zurich police." *!@#%&|*!@#%&|*!@# # Shatter Shatter r %&|*!@#%&|*!@#%&|*!@#% ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ After the eviction, around noon, display windows of 12 downtown stores were broken out with hammers. The e amount of damage inflicted by this action was set by the police to be around 48,000 Franks ($33,600). That evening around 10:30 pm another 4-5 windows were destroyed. In addition to the 120 people who lived in the Wohlgroth- Fabrik there was a giant concert room, a Jaz club, a cafe, a library, a movie theater, a volx kitchen, a flea market, etc. The e inner houses were connected with various wooden and hanging bridges. (reminiscent of the Lubbi) The outer walls were covered with wild, colorful wall murals and sculptures such as a paper mache tiger head and walrus teeth. Until just before the eviction, Starne Profi, an illegal, but ingenious pirate radio station was broadcasting its radical left and provocative program on 101.8 FM. Wednesday, November 24, 1993, the Limmatstrasse 28 was squatted by recently evicted Wohlgrothers and supporters. The e house is owned by the city of Zurich which gave it over to the Social Welfare Office to use. They ran a day center for the homeless (Taro). However r the center was discontinued after the closing of Platzspitz, a park for the homeless. So far it hasn't been evicted. On Thursday, November 25, two days after the eviction, things heated up, finally! Around 6:30 pm 200 masked demonstrators took off from Bellevue chanting "Wo-Wo-Wohlgroth", and "rebellion, resistance, there is no peaceful hinterland." One e hundred activists who had gathered at Pestalozziweise later joined the others, in order to be more of a fighting power. Shortly before 7 pm the fun began: dozens of display windows were shattered, above all gambling parlors, boutiques, bars, and rich stores. Many y demonstrators came prepared with backpacks full of small cobblestones, which now came in handy. Construction places were also scavenged for stones. Store e owners barricaded their businesses and lowered the curtains. This didn't stop demonstrators from climbing up a McDonald's and breaking out unprotected lights. Barricades s were set up at Limmatquai. A scaffolding crashed into an expensive sports car, yeah. Even cars and taxis had to take it seriously, some of them were turned over. Finally y the cops came an d were welcomed with stones and beer bottles. Subsequently tear gas and rubber bullets were used by the police. Around d 7:25 pm several apparently uninvolved pedestrians happened into the stone throwing. A 57 year old man was hit hard in the head with a stone (according to NZZ). Should it be that this 57 year old man was injured by activists, this is to be condemned. Such h a thing mustn't be allowed to happen. People must pay better attention to unclear situations. That t is our political responsibility which we take on. A public apology would be worth considering. The Niederdorf area offered a picture of great destruction in several places. Alleys s were strewn with glass shards and stones. Store displays, toppled dumpsters, and garbage bags lay on the street. The damage was estimated at half a million Franks ($350,000). Let's spoil the dirty Christmas business for the bigwigs and capitalists. They y gotta know it - the chant goes: "We're all staying - or there's going to be riots." Thirty nine people in all were arrested, including 2 from West Germany, after they used rubber bullets, teargas and surrounding maneuvers. Those e arrested are being charged with disturbing the peace, property damage and participation in an unlawful demonstration. Early Friday morning in solidarity with the former squatters of the Wohlgroth 2 mollotovs were thrown at the private security firm, Protectas which is securing the Wohlgroth- Areal until its final destruction. Several days before the eviction, on Saturday November 20, 1993 there was a big solidarity demo for the Wohlgroth, which couldn't change anything however. Three thousand five hundred people took part in the demonstration, which actually had a really good spirit. The e planned demo route was changed by the pigs a couple times - we weren't allowed to go through the Nobelgasse. A side mirror was kicked off a Ferrari - the demo ended in front of the houses. On Sunday evening, the Wohlgroth plenum decided, to our disappointment, in expectation of an imminent eviction, to voluntarily leave the Wohlgroth without a fight. Other r opinions were dismissed, such as those that still saw hope in building giant barricades in front of the Wohlgroth or right near it on the street to save the threatened houses (barricades as a negotiating piece in exchange for the continuation of an agreement to not evict for example) or to raise the political cost of eviction. Such ideas "didn't make sense, we would wind up arrested and ID'd... it was useless." In n fact we would have been unprepared for a militant defense. In addition, many were already resigned to the eventuality of the eviction. "The e Wohlgroth is dead already." The atmosphere was characterized by a mixture of resignation, fear, hopelessness, lack of courage and perplexity. In the end, all items of value were removed such as the P.A., musical instruments, mattresses etc. About t 5 am Monday morning after everyone had left, the doors were locked. Several dimwits had previously tried to set the Wohlgroth on fire by throwing 10-15 tires onto a campfire in the inner courtyard. Luckily the squatters and their supporters were able to get the fire under control without it spreading to the building. After everyone had left the Wohlgroth-Areal and a couple small fires and barricades had been built the pigs didn't show and the mood sunk to an all time low. We e didn't understand it either. Two months before the houses had been protected by thick barricades, and now the Wohlgroth was to be given up without a struggle? If f the pigs had come then, they would have found no one there. We couldn't have done them a bigger favor. This s was reason enough for us to leave Zurich 8 am Monday morning. Monday evening after the pigs hadn't come everybody moved back in. Tuesday, , the pigs came. The Buehle corporation bought the houses, had them demolished and wants to build there. Who o is this corporation? The Oerlikon-Buehrle Holding AG is a group of companies who own among other things a weapon contractor. This s weapon contractor sells the famous Pilatusporter PC 7 and the new PC 9 to governments such as Guatemala, Turkey, Bolivia, South Africa, Burma.... These planes are used by the governments in power to bomb popular uprisings, liberation movements and the civilian population from the face of the earth. Buerhle Senior emigrated from Germany to Switzerland in 1924. The e Buerhle corporation sold powerful weapons to the German Nazis in the 2nd World War. The company is known in Switzerland for its unfair labor practices. Mr. . Widmer, general manager of Buerhle fired 12,000 workers within the last two years from a total workforce of 27,000. Wohlgroth Wohlgroth h is dead - the idea lives on! We We demand a new, but much bigger and better Wohlgroth! No No No No No god, no state, no finance capital! No No No eviction worldwide - Hafenstrasse remains! Berlin, 30 November 1993 ----------------- Translated from Interim, Weekly Berlin Infos, 9 Dec. 1993 Infoshop berkeley \o/ \o/ 3124 24 Shattuck Ave \o/ \o/ / Berkeley, , CA 94705 U$A \o/ \o/ \o/ resist@burn.ucsd.edu u \o/ \o/ \o/ / fax: : 510-845-8816 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX PAUL-X Dave: In which way has prison changed you the most as a person/your world view ? Paul: To be honest, I didn't give a fuck about prison or people 'til I got in this mess. being in the joint forced me to look at the big picture from a new vantage point, i surrendered to the truth of what i saw about myself and other people and i'm stronger because of it. Most convicts develop a very foul attitude about themselves and life in general but the reverse is my case. I don't believe it could be any worse , so I had to make it better. hate/self hate is part of the programming process the screws use, and we use on each other. Dave:You use X as your last name. Where do you stand with the NOI? (not that this necessarily affiliates you with them) Paul:X is a mathematical term implying an unknown state, and in my opinion we are all in this state. my beingness isn't constructed on physical/material things, I may never find what i'm looking for, but I'm content with the search. As far as the N.O.I. is concerned, I'm not a supporter. I'm not a "religious" person, but I have my own spirituality, and any religion that doesn't embrace the sister/brotherhood of the human race. The N.O.I. are one of the more opinionated and discipline orientated islamic muslim groups in prisons, and I've never met a member of any religious group in the joint who is being real about their faith. As far as how they affect the structure, they have a heavy intimidation factor, but any gang is like that, fight one and you fight all - a no win situation (but why fight just to win ?). D:In what way has prison changed you positively? P:prison has forced me to live to put it simply. My choices are limited, conform to the convict point of view or the administration point of view. I didn't consider those to be "choices" , so I had to create an alternate for myself. my "choice" isn't popular. i'm at odds with most of the prison, the convicts consider me an "Uncle Tom" for not being part of the norm , and the screws consider me to be a "subversive uppity Nigger". Oh well, never could do what was expected of me. . . D:Do you have any spiritual beliefs? P:My spiritual beliefs are simple and complexed at the same time. I never bought into the "Father God" shit, and I don't waste time contemplating the nature of God. I'm a bit of a pantheist, i consider God to be the sum total of all things and that in our own ways we are all gods ourselves due to our creative aspects. I have no evidence of my beliefs except the faith that it is so. I study religions from a socio-intellectual point of view. All I've found is the words of mortal man justifying our actions with pseudo mysticism. . . D:You publish"We Never Sleep". What problems have you run into with this and the prison? P:Shit man, I caught the flux for doing WNS! Verbal Harassment, shake downs, "lost property", mail tampering. Last year i was beat up in the hole, and i just finished six months in the hole because of a frame up by my "fan club". I take it with a stronger attitude, just means I'm doing something right. The screws don't like it when we think for ourselves. D:Do you have a sex life? What sort of pressure exists as far as this is concerned? P:Do I have a sex life ? hell yes! but not while I'm in the joint. I don't have a hang up about sexuality but i don't like the rationalization for homosexuality in the joint. Dark hued convicts outnumber others 3 to 1 in here , so you get a lot of homosexual predators trying to squeeze smaller white guys for sex and justify it by sayin' they're doin' it cause of what they done to "our people"(whoever they are). I'm not defending the underdog in this situation, if "white" dudes (God I hate that word!) were the majority there would be a lot of black dudes fuckin' right now (to me it looks like a lot of black people are in prison exactly because white supremacy is fucking them in the macrocosm of society - ed.). Its stupid, if you're getting fucked, you're a "punk"(fuck-boy, sissy, fag, etc.) but if you're fucking then you're a real man. YEAH RIGHT! What's the difference? Punks get no respect, but punks don't have to do it, they let themselves get manipulated into it most of the time. I ain't got no hang ups ab out sexuality, I'm bisexual by nature but hetero by choice. I don;t like what is going on in here but I'm only one dude, i'm not stupid ... Paul-X #205398 Chippewa Regional Correctional Facility Kincheloe , Mi 49784-0001 KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK KLANBASHING IN PERU Of the various interesting things i found posted on the anarchy list on Internet, I found this worth printing : Subject: anecdote from indiana's klan history To: anarchy-list@cwi.nl i thought some of you might t be rather amused by this anectdote from indiana's klan history. first something general about this history: in n the late 1910s and through the 1920s, indiana was virtually a klan state. the klu klux klan, one of the most powerful national klan groupings, was headquartered on the circle in downtown indianapolis, one block from the state capitol. the e governor at the time was a klansman, as were both US senators, and numerous congressman. perhaps most ominously, however, was the fact that the mayors of most major cities and the sherrifs of nearly all counties were klansman. (the e exception seems to be fort wayne.) this constitues a ruling elite of 500,000 individuals, a fair portion of indiana's population at the time. it is also worth recalling that the primary targets of the klan in indiana--and throughout the north, was not blacks, but german catholics, who were suspect of sympathizing with their home country during world war one. this s hatred then extended to catholics generally--not a puzzling idea in a country that is deeply anit-catholic, and finally jews and other eastern and southern europeans. fanatically anti-communist and anti-anarchist, the klan in indiana was dedicated to "law and order" and "family values and morality", not unlike most sectors of the religious right today. but there was not uniform approval for the klan in indiana. as s there were so few blacks in the state apart from gary and the region, to whose factories southern blacks had migrated in search of industrial work during world war one, resistance was mostly piecemeal and white-based. notably, most quakers--apart from some renegade sects--were thoroghlly opposed to the klan, and expelled members whom they found "consorting with satanic klansmen." one particularly interesting story concerns "heightened highram" bayers, a native of peru, indiana (formerly hapsburg, but renamed during the conflict with germany). highram m was an ex-marine who had served in cuba in 1896, the phillipines in 1898 (where he won the medal of honor), and in germany in 1917-18. to date--1923--he had seen the worst fighting and misery that modern regimes were capable of. he e moved back to indiana to farm, and became a quaker and pacifist. one day in 1923, the klan assembled for a march down the main street of peru. as s elsewhere, they required no permit, and in fact the county sherrif who would grant such a permit was donning his hood that day. "heightened hiram" was incensed that the klan was marching through his town, and so he decided to take action. revving g up his jalopy, he drove as fast as he could down the middle of main street, scattering the klansmen into the muddy gutters. when the klansmen grabbed him from the car and began beating him, highram yelled "i've seen the ugliest fighting in places you fools would be scared to look at on a map!" with h that he broke free, grabbed a wrench from his car, and started braining klansmen left and right. local residents watched for a few moments in disbelief, and were faced with an important decision. do o they supprt the klan, composed of secretive and arcane rituals and powerful leaders of the county and region? or do they support their neighbor, "hightened highram" bayers in his assault against the klan? well, history is full of tragic stories that make you deeply question the foundations of the society and political order in which you live. this, , however, is not one of them. the townspeople joined together with highram in REALLY beating down the klan, and to this day there have been no klan marches or rallies in peru, indiana. joseph average BLOOMINGTON ANARCHIST UNION PO O BOX 3207 BLOOMINGTON, IN 47402 2 ******************************************************************************** INCREASE THE PRESSURE! Anti-fascists dig in as state tries to jail Kieran Frazier Knutson On April 12, a demonstration organized by the Anti-Fascist Defense Committee was held at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis to protest t the wrongful prosecution of longtime Twin Cities anti-racist/anti-fascist activist Kieran Frazier Knutson. Kieran n is facing up to ten years and $20,000 in fines for defending himself against a neo-Nazi i skinhead attack at an anti-racist demo at the University of Minnesota last October. Over er 120 people attended the loud and boisterous demo, demanding that the charges against Kieran be dropped and that the state of Minnesota stop spending g time and money supporting white supremacists. Speakers from organizations s such as Jewish Activist Minyan, Welfare Rights Committee, Committee Seeking Justice for the Minnesota Eight, Progressive Student Organization, , Anti-Fascist Defense Committee, M.E.Ch.A-Minnesota chapter, Women Against Military Madness and Kieran's mom all spoke out against the ludicrous s charges and in support for the years of wor k Kieran has done fighting racism in the Twin Cities. April il 12 was the day jury selection was to have started for Kieran's trial; however, the trial has been delayed until June 20 due to "scheduling conflicts." " This is disappointing in that Kieran and all of us would like to o get this thing over with, but it is also good in that it gives us another two months to organize in support of Kieran and to put the pressure on the Hennepin n County District Attorney's office to drop the charges. The State vs. the Anti-Racist Movement On October 22, 1993, the Progressive Student Organization held an anti-racist rally to counter an announced demonstration by neo-nazis at the University y of Minnesota. Over 100 anti-racists rallied for nearly an hour when n two neo-nazi skinheads decked out in white power gear (patches, etc.) showed up, probably looking for their nazi pals. Several al anti-racists approached the nazis. Suddenly one nazi, Daniel Simmer, , lunged into the crowd with brass knuckles. A scuffle broke out between n the demo's security team and the nazis. Several people were hurt. The he cops brought Simmer down with a flying tackle and arrested him for possession of an illegal weapon (the brass knuckles). Strangely, y, six weeks later the state decided to bring felony charges against Kieran. He e faces two counts of felony assault, based almost entirely on statements from Simmer and his fiance Amy Foreman (the other bonehead at the demo). . The charge carries a minimum sentence of 36 months and could land Kieran n in prison for much longer. Ten years and $20,000 in fines is the maximum m sentence. But this is not just an attack on Kieran's right to defend himself. The e state uses opportunities like this to attack radical movements, forcing activists s to spend all of their energy and finances fighting bogus charges against innocent people like Kieran when there is so much other work to be done. . What it also means is that the state is making African-Americans, Jews, , American Indians, Chicanos, Asian-Americans, queers, and everyone else who works in the state of Minnesota pay for a neo-nazi skinhead's prosecution n of an anti-racist activist. Kieran Frazier Knutson Kieran, 22, works part time at United Parcel Service and is a member of Teamsters Local 638. He e graduated from South High in Minneapolis in 1989 and has been strongly involved in the anti-racist and anti-fascist movement in n the Twin Cities and nationally since he was 14. Kieran is a member of the e Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation. Kieran n is a great person and it would be a complete tragedy if he were to go to prison. However, , the movement in support of Kieran is not a "cult of personality" nor is it being undertaken just because Kieran is a good guy. The he fact of the matter is, the attack on Kieran is also an attack on the anti-racist/anti-fascist movements in general. If f it didn't happen to Kieran, it would have happened to someone else. Because e the prosecution of Kieran amounts to an attack on the movement as a whole, it requires a massive, , organized response; in defense of Kieran, yes, but also in support of all peoples' rights to defend themselves from neo-nazi attacks. After all, , fighting racism is not a crime! The Anti-Fascist Defense Committee The AFDC is a loose group of organizations and individuals from diverse political backgrounds who are committed to fighting these ludicrous charges. In In addition to organizing the April 12 demo, the AFDC has also organized petition drives, postcard drives, and a phone zap to County Attorney Mike Freeman's s office demanding they drop the charges against Kieran and stop harassing the anti-racist movement. The e AFDC has also organized several public forums and fundraisers to help organize around the case and to financially y support lawyer Keith Ellison and the Legal Rights Center, who have agreed to defend Kieran for free. Increase the Pressure The support for Kieran's case has been truly inspirational. Anarchist, socialist t and anti-racist organizations from all over the world, as well as supportive individuals, have sent letters of protest, signed petitions, made phone e calls, sent money, and done local organizing around the case. Not only y is all this activity shocking the District Attorney's office, who had no idea we could gather this much support for the case, it is also turning public c sentiment against the state and for Kieran. However, , we need to continue fighting these bogus charges! We now have until l June 20 to increase the heat on Mike Freeman's office and to get the word out to the larger public on the injustice of this case. That's s why we are urging all concerned organizations and individuals to keep on sending letters s of protest and petitions to the D.A.'s office, calling up their office demanding charges be dropped, organizing locally around the case, and sending g financial support, if possible. If you need any more info on the case, or petitions, postcards, info pamphlets, etc., please contact the AFDC at the address below. When n you do send letters into the District Attorney's office, please send a copy to us, too, , so we can document all the resistance to these charges. There will be another r demonstration in support of Kieran on June 20; if you would like to come up here to support Kieran and sit in during the trials, please let us know w and we can arrange accommodations for you. Whatever you can do, please do o it. We can't let the state take Kieran away from us, and we can't let the e state intimidate the anti-fascist/anti-racist movement! Send letters or phone calls of protest to: County Attorney Mike Freeman C2000 Hennepin County Government Center 300 S. 6th St. Minneapolis, MN 55415 612-348-5550 Write to the Anti-Fascist Defense Committee at: PO Box 7075 / Minneapolis, MN 55407 email: jolson@polisci.umn.edu u -joel/AFDC @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ [by boog highberger. This s originally appeared in *The Gentle Anarchist* #15, Fall 1987] What is Money? by boog Thinking hinking about money in this society is like being a fish wondering about the nature of water. We build our lives around money, we live money, we breathe money, we swim in it like fish in the sea. Millions of people spend (so to speak) 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year doing nothing but playing with money--printing it, minting it, counting it, recounting it, taking it from here, sending it there, juggling it, smuggling it...sitting in offices in huge buildings making phone calls and shuffling bits of paper, adding & re-adding endless columns of numbers to make sure that they come out exactly the same...yeah, but... What is MONEY? "I don't know what money is today, and I don't think anybody at the Fed does either." Richard Pratt, Chairman of the Board of the Federal Home Loan Bank, 1982 Money is Inevitable Money is not an accident. Neither was it the "invention" of some particularly progressive culture or clever individual. Money in various forms has arisen independently, in different ages and on every continent, wherever the local economy has evolved beyond the level of subsistence. Wherever there is surplus, trade inevitably follows, and primitive barter economies progress almost inevitably to money economies, as certain articles of recognized usefulness slowly come to symbolize wealth and are accepted at a fixed value. In an area where cattle are the common form of wealth, money is born when a cow comes to have the value of 1 cow, regardless of its size, weight, health, or other physical characteristics. From there the process of abstraction continues: cattle come [to] be represented by tokens bearing pictures of cattle, the tokens evolve into coins symbolizing value in general, and on down to our own day where value is symbolized by marks on paper and the magnetic configurations of silicon wafers. And the inevitability of money is clear even in the present day. Wherever national governments have attempted to impose worthless currencies as the means of exchange, black markets dealing in "hard" currencies have arisen. This phenomenon perhaps reached the peak of absurdity in the 1970s in Communist Laos, where the official money of the country was the "kip", but the only money accepted by the Laotian government was the US dollar. * The Soviet Union is the only country in the world where counterfeiting is a capital offense (so to speak). Money is Inequality John John hn Locke thought that money arose before society, and that by its use people have consented to class society: "it is plain, that Men have agreed to disproportionate and unequal Possession of the Earth, they haying by a tacit and voluntary consent found out a way, how a man may fairly possess more land than he himself can use the product of, by receiving in exchange for the overplus, Gold and Silver, which may be hoarded up without injury to any one, these metalls not spoiling or decaying in the hands of the possessor. This partage of things, in an inequality of private possessions, men have made practicable out of the bounds of Societie, and without compact, only by putting a value on gold and silver and tacitly agreeing in the use of Money [emphasis s added]." Georg Georg g Simmel, writing two hundred years later, was not nearly so naive about the nature of money and society. Simmel recognized that money is "entirely a social institution", and said that "When barter is replaced by money transactions, a third factor is introduced between the two parties: the community as a whole, which provides a real value corresponding to money." Those who become "rich" are those who manage to monopolize big chunks of the social wealth for their own ends. Far from being a tacit agreement, this is done despite the sometimes violent resistance of those whose share of the social wealth is being taken away. The division of labor in society depends on a money economy. And so does capitalism. It's very hard to extract surplus value in a system based on barter exchange. The growth of the state has gone hand in hand with the growth of the money economy-- the emerging nation-states imposed taxes payable only in money, replacing taxes payable in kind and driving more and more people into alienated labor and the money economy. Like S. Herbert Frankel says, "a trustworthy, disciplined monetary system is indispensable for the free unfolding of the extended division of labor on which the growth of world economies depends... A reliable standard in which long-term debts can be expressed is indispensable for the growth of capital." So capitalists didn't invent money... but perhaps we can say that money invented capitalism. For once money has s been born into the world it quickly begins to recreate the world in its own image. * Chrematophobia: : Fear of Money. * * Money Is Midas Like Like ke King Midas, money turns everything it touches to gold, or at least into commodities that can be exchanged for gold. Unique living beings become standardized things. "Trade is the reduction and quantification of the world to commodity equivalents, the leveller of quality, skill, and concrete labor to numerical units that can be measured by time and money, clocks and gold." Murray Bookchin And And And as money itself becomes more abstract and divorced from concrete reality, so do the society and people that use it. As Simmel puts it, "The increasing replacement of metal money by paper money and the various forms of credit unavoidably react upon the character of money--in roughly the same way as in personal relations when somebody allows himself to be represented by others, so that finally he receives no greater esteem than is accorded his representatives...The idea that life is essentially based on intellect, and that intellect is accepted in practical life as the most valuable of our mental energies, goes hand in hand with the growth of a money economy." Money Is What Money Does Featured eatured on the back of the Swiss 1000-franc note, the highest valued item of currency in regular circulation in the world, is a figure of the Grim Reaper. Money Is the Secret Name of All Things In In In n many ancient cultures, to know the name of something was to control it, to have power over it. In the Christian Bible, Adam is given authority over the animals of the world when God allows him to name them. In the underworld of the ancient Egyptians, the dead had to pass through a series of gates to reach the Kingdom of Osiris, the Land of the Blessed. The key to passing through each gate was to know the secret name of the gate and the secret name of the gatekeeper. Today y everyone and everything has the same secret name: MONEY. Money Is White Sugar "What we call the primitive is a mature system with deep capacities for stability and protection built into it. In fact it seems to be able to withstand everything except white sugar and the money economy trading relationship; and alcohol, kerosene, nails, and matches." Gary Gary y Snyder Money Money y is electricity: power stripped from its context and refined to its purest form. We have created elaborate networks for its circulation. We have devised ingenious instruments and mechanisms to let it do our work for us. It jumps through hoops at our command but it is no longer clear who is the master... Money Is A Pyramid Scheme It's It's 's highly appropriate that there's a picture of a pyramid on the back of the US dollar bill, because money is the original pyramid scheme. Here's how it works: You go to work to help make something for the boss. At the end of the week you get a few pieces of paper that are a promise that somebody else will give you some stuff you want. So you worked all week for the promise of a promise. But where did the boss get the money to pay you? Well, either he sold the stuff that you had already made for him (and pocketed his share), or he "borrowed" it. And where did this "borrowed" money come from? From a bank. And where did the bank get it? From somebody like you, who had some money to save, who wanted to wait a while to cash in their promises. So the bank gives the money to the boss, who gives it back to you. And all this works just fine, most of the time. The only problem is when everyone wants to cash in their promises all at once and they find out there are more promises than stuff. Every pyramid scheme eventually crashes, and when a pyramid scheme crashes somebody always gets burned. Guess who? Money Is Shit Freudian psychoanalysts equate money and feces. Ernest Bornemann says that "according to ancient Babylonian doctrine, gold was referred to as the 'feces of hell', and Theodor Reik mentions that the Aztecs used to call gold the 'feces of the gods'." Freudians also make a connection between money and guilt. Again according to Bornemann, "capital accumulation and indebtedness are as closely related as feces accumulation and feelings of guilt." Unfortunately Bornemann uses this sound base of symbolic insight as a jumping off point for some painfully goofy flights of imagination, as when he speculates that "there is no reason to assume that a desire for the private ownership of the means of production would have to persist in a socialist society with appropriate weaning and toilet training." "Money is like muck, not good except it be spread." Francis rancis Bacon The phrase "money doesn't smell" was coined by the Roman Emperor Vespasian who had taxed the collection of urine because the ammonia it contained was used by the Romans to do their laundry. The Roman Emperor Tiberius feared that he was made of feces, and forbade Romans to enter public toilets with rings or gold coins showing his portrait. Money Is A Disease A 1972 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found 21 different disease-causing microorganisms living on samples of paper money. 42% of the bills tested carried one or more of the pathogens. In medieval Russia, there existed silver coins so small that it was impossible to take them by hand from a table. When transactions took place, the buyer emptied his purse on the table, the amount to be paid was separated out, and both parties then picked up their share of the coins with their tongues and spat them into their respective purses. Money Is Freedom, Money Is Slavery; Money Is Community, Money Is Alienation Yeah, Yeah, , and money is a paradox...What money gives on one level it takes away on another. Money frees us to realize our wildest desires--money is pure choice--but at the same time it binds us to a system of wage slavery in which we have to sell our time to survive. Money strengthens our connections to our fellow human by tying us into a system of production that makes us all mutually dependent... but at the same time it cheapens and destroys even the most intimate of our interpersonal relations by reducing them to the level of commodity exchanges. Locke celebrated the fact that "money... replaced the utter dependence on nature by a new dependence, a dependence on other individuals and on society." Locke looked forward to the promise of such freedom with an optimism that seems naive from our jaded 20th century perspective. As Frankel explains it: "Today we have more freedom but are unable to enjoy it properly; money makes it possible to buy ourselves not only out of bonds with others but even out of bonds with our possessions. We develop a rootless search for ever new things because money is our only nexus with them. Money's abstract power to command anything ultimately seems to command nothing." And again with the paradoxes: while money as an institution may threaten our freedom and our sanity, in the short run certain forms of money work greatly in our favor. In particular, banknotes and metal money are a protection against the people who want to monitor our every motion. Consider this serious proposal from a lawyer who had a friend whose wallet had just been ripped off: ABOLISH H PAPER MONEY AND ELIMINATE MOST CRIME Paper Paper r currency is the lifeblood of crime and corruption in the United States. Without paper money it would be virtually impossible for criminals and corrupt officials to profit from illegal activities. If all substantial transfers of money were recorded in bank transactions, nobody could conduct profitable illegal activities without creating highly visible permanent evidence of the illegal activities or of income tax evasion or both. With the chances of profit from illegal activities so slim, it is difficult to visualize large numbers of persons running the risks of imprisonment. Crime would be reduced dramatically to the point where today's police forces could effectively control it. Fortunately, technology has advanced to the point that today there is a substitute for paper money: a 'payment card' system keyed to bank accounts. Each person wishing to spend money other than coins, which would remain in circulation, would be required to have a bank account. The bank or federal government would issue to each depositor a U.S. payment card similar to plastic credit cards. In addition to the necessary codings, each card would contain the photograph and fingerprint of the depositor...Every business establishment, including taxicabs, would be equipped with a terminal in which the payment card could be inserted...(and) make a visual display of the charge so that the customer could see the exact amount being deducted from his bank account. . . In the event the customer did not have the amount in his account the terminal would so indicate... O O O Brave New World that has such people in it! Money Is Faith, Money is Power Non Non Non aes sed fides: not by iron but by faith. This s inscription formerly found on Maltese coins sums up a very important truth about money: that the value of every kind of money, including metal money, rests on trust. Money cannot be enforced, and money is accepted only when people exchange it for a certain amount of real stuff at some point in the future. This is perhaps an important point to remember in times of impending economic crises. In n the face of short term economic upheaval, conservatives are correct to insist on accepting only gold and silve as "real" money, since they are relatively rare and can't be manufactured out of common materials by the government. But ultimately the value of gold and silver as money rests on faith and trust in the future, just like paper currency does. When n the real crunch finally comes, it may be useful to remember that there are more calories in paper than in silver or gold. And here we come to yet another of the paradoxes of money: while money depends on trust at the personal level, that trust ultimately depends on the power of the issuing authority. Our currency is backed not by the gold in Fort Knox but by the guns in Fort Knox. The e value of money, whether gold or paper, ultimately rests on faith, and the value of the US dollar rests on the faith that the US domination of the world economy is backed by the US Army, Air Force, and Marines. For several hundred years economists have recognized that our money has value "to the extent of our faith in a viable tomorrow." Thus s it seems surprising that no economist has drawn a connection between the dawn of the nuclear era and the chronic inflation that has characterized the post-war economies of the industrial nations. Perhaps this can also help explain the willingness of both liberals and conservatives in this country to rack up huge federal deficits--what's so bad about stealing from tomorrow when there's not going to be a tomorrow? ********************************************* MONEY Money, get away Get a good job with more pay and your O.K. Money it's a gas Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash New car, caviar, four star daydream, Think I'll buy me a footbal team Money get back I'm all right Jack keep your hands off my stack Money it's a hit Don't give me that do goody bullshit I'm in the hi-fidelity first class travelling set And I think I need a Lear jet Money it's a crime Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie Money so they say Is the root of all evil today But if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they're giving none away ******************************************** Money Is Information Money Money y is information--the only problem is that it's not very much information. Money talks, but it doesn't say much. In n the wonderful world of capitalism, everything--and everyone--has a price, and that price is the only information that matters in the marketplace. For the marketplace to work, reality has to be simplified and standardized. As s our everyday life becomes more and more characterized by exchnages, by buying and selling, many of the facts and observations about the objects in our lives become irrelevant and are no longer valued. Commodities have no history. There e are no tenses in the lenguage of money--prices are always now. Interest rates, stock prices, and commodity index futures all provide information about the economy and provide clues as to how to most efficiently organize society's resources. But as with prices, lots of information is lost in the translation of daily life into economic indicators. Countless facts about millions of people doing millions of different things get reduced to a few bits of data which are interpreted by economists like Chinese mystics prophesying from the pattern of I Ching sticks--all economics is voodoo economics. Through their interpretation of the magic signs, the best allocation of economic resources is determined--but best for who? Priests who prophesy against their masters usually don't have much job security... This development is an inevitable consequence of the increasing abstraction of money. When money becomes intellectualized, intellectuals control money and the economy. And, as always, the intellectuals are controlled by the governments and corporations that sign their paychecks. And thus the productive forces of a society are organized to maintain the existing power relations of that society. Simmel again: "Money is thus one of the great cultural elements whose function it is to assemble great forces at a single point and so to overcome the passive and active opposition...by this concentration of energies. We should think of the machine in this context." Welcome to the machine... Money Never Sleeps The speed of electricity approaches that of the speed of light, and today the speed of money is the speed of electricity. Every day billions of "dollars" race the sun around the globe. As one financial market closes, the dollars rush on to the next so that not a moment is wasted. "Knowledge owledge - Zzzzzp! Money - Zzzzzp! - Power! That's at's the cycle democracy is built on!" Tennessee nnessee Williams What Can I Do? Raoul Raoul l Vaneigem says that "a truly new reality can only be based on the principle of the gift." And many anarchists have argued the need for the abolition of money. But history has shown that money cannot be abolished before people's need for money has been abolished. Until we have created a society of the gift that is no longer built on a system of commodity exchanges, money will be necessary or perhaps even desirable. So what we need are some practical short term strategies that will move us in the direction of the type of society we want to see, and at the same time we need to create new monetary institutions that will reduce some of the more destructive effects of money in the meantime. Burning money is always good theater, but until we have provided ourselves with a permanent non-money means of sustenance, doing very much of it will be counterproductive. Removing as much of our daily lives from the arena of commodity exchange seems important, since that's how the new reality will be created-- by individuals consciously removing themselves from the old, destructive system. So freely giving and receiving as much as possible seems like a step in the right direction. And while money is still with us, we need to place limits on the money we use. Instead of passively accepting ever expanding and accelerating forms of money like they were divinely commanded by some all-powerful god, we need to raise the awareness that money is essentially a social relationship and d as such we have the right to collectively determine the nature of that relationship. Some anarchists in the past have argued for placing time limits on money, such as issuing money that expires and has no value after a certain date. What seems more practical is to create new forms of money that are spatially limited-- regional, decentralized currencies only good in a specified area. This may seem impractical, too, but experiments like this have worked in the past, and one such project is in progress right now in the United States. Part of the benefit of regional or local currency comes from the fact that a banknote essentially represents an interest-free loan to the central government. In the Isle of Man in the early 1800's, citizens there replaced all the English money on the island with their own local currency, invested the English money, and in a few years had earned enough interest to finance the construction of a new public hall. In the Berkshires area of Massachusetts, the SHARE (Self Help Association for a Regional Economy) program is currently making loans that encourage greater regional self-sufficiency in the production of basic necessities, and plans to soon issue a regional currency called "Berkshares", with a value based on the value of cordwood. Berkshares are designed to meet the criteria for an appropriately scaled currency proposed by Robert Swann of the E.F. Schumacher Society. Swann n says that the new local currencies should be: 1) consistent with customary practices (i.e. taking the form of cash and checks and being compatible with common accounting systems); 2) redeemable in some form of real everyday value; 3) based on local production but tied to a universal measure of value; and 4) controlled by the community, perhaps through a non-profit bank. It's too early to evaluate the success of the Berkshares program, but in its first stages it seems to be a short but firm step in the direction of local autonomy. Closing Benediction and Words of Inspiration Capitalists talists understand far better than the rest of us what money does, but with rare exceptions they seem to have little idea about what money is. It's the same with computers--often the best programmers have little idea of how their machines are built. And Beethoven didn't know how to make pianos. But here is where our opportunity lies. Only y those who understand their tools can really control them (what happens to Beethoven when his piano is broken?), and only if we understand the tools that are used to control us can we fight back effectively. So, by coming to understand the reality behind the shell game & light show of the current world economic system, perhaps we can learn to build the hardware for a new way of organizing our productive activities that will build community instead of destroying it and will empower us as individuals rather than enslaving us and reducing us to cogs in an incomprehensible and uncontrollable machine. boog boog og "Go "Go "Go out and fight so life shouldn't be printed on dollar bills." Clifford Clifford Odets And So, For Further Reading Regional Currencies For a packet of information on the SHARE program, write to SHARE, PO Box 125, Great Barrington, MA 01230 [editor note: this address has probably changed since this article was first published]. For a copy of the Robert Swann paper "Community Survival in the Age of Inflation" (which lays out the ideas behind the Bershares program) send a buck or two to the E.F> Schumacher Society, Box 76, RD 3, Great Barrington, MA 01230. Some Books About Money The Brotherhood of Money, Murray Teigh Bloom, BNR Press, 1983 The Psychoanalysis of Money, Ernest Bornemann, Urizen Books, 1976 Money and Liberty, S. Herbert Frankel, American Enterprise Institute, 1980 The Phenomenon Money, Money and How It Gets That Way, Henry Miller And For The Intellectual Masochists Among Us The Philosophy of Money, Georg Simmel, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ INSURGENTS DECLARE WAR IN CHIAPAS While many of the major newspapers in Mexico awaited the count down to the initiation of NAFTA, on Jan. 1st a group of combatants stole the headlines. Hundreds s of campesinos naming themselves the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) declared war against the Mexican government and the national elite (see their manifesto, opposite page). In the state of Chiapas, EZLN devised & executed the occupation of five towns, then soon took 2 more. In n one bold stroke the Zapatistas, for the most part indian peasants, jarred the conscience of millions around the world to the problems of the poorest sectors of Mexico. Close to 2000 well-armed guerrillas are believed to be involved in the uprising. The e rebels occupied government offices, the headquarters of the ruling PRI party, and sacked government archives, throwing deeds and bank records of the land-robbers into the street. In Altamirano, 25 guerrillas took sledgehammers and destroyed the government building, piece by piece. The e Zapatistas also took over a state radio station, broadcasting their demands and music. In San Cristobal the rebels stormed a local prison and freed 179 prisoners wrongly jailed over land disputes, then left the prison to be sacked by local townspeople. Major r roads were blocked with cars and trees, and "war taxes" and sometimes cars were collected from passing journalists and the wealthy. The guerrillas also captured several landowners, including Absalon Castellanos, a brutal retired general who ruled as Chiapas' governor during the death squad campaigns of 1982-88, who will now face "revolutionary justice". Rebels s besieged the army base at Rancho Nuevo several times, and have shot several military aircraft. For years the Mexican government has not only repeatedly ignored the problems of many of its poorest people, but also has repressed the popular movements for social justice. In n the state of Chiapas alone the population, especially the indigenous population, suffers from the highest cases of death, malnutrition, illiteracy, underdevelopment of agriculture, lowest salaries, and crowded housing. Cultural and economic discrimination against the indians is constant and institutionalized. This s uprising against the rich land owners and corrupt government was timed to coincide with the enactment of NAFTA, viewed as the latest step in government attacks on the peasants' ejidos communal system. NAFTA has been described as a "death sentence" for indians. Said one Zapatista, "There is no work, no land, no education. There e is no way to change that in elections." After the initial declaration of war was issued, the Mexican Army belatedly recognized the threat and started to move into the area. Over r 12,000 troops were sent into the area, with on-site direction from the Defense Secretary. Immediately there were reports of severe human rights violations. On n Tuesday, Jan. 4th, the municipalities of Acala and San Cristobal were indiscriminately bombed, killing hundreds of civilians. Journalists have also reported evidence of mass executions and torture. After r heavy fighting in Ocosingo, captured rebels were lined and shot in the head; many corpses have also been left in the open deliberately to rot as a warning. The Central Independiente de Oberos y Campesinos (CIOAC) has issued a statement claiming the local and federal government have "lost control over the army and that the situation was worsening in the areas of conflicts". The e Mexican Army has once again shown its readiness to abuse its people. The government continues to cloak their actions by refusing to a llow the press and human rights organizations in to monitor the activity in the areas of conflict. As one clergy member stated, "the civilian population is more scared of the Mexican Army then with the presence of the Zapatistas." Although the EZLN has been driven out of the towns and into the rainforests and mountains, blowing up bridges and blocking roads to hold off troops, they continue to attack the army. The e conflict even appears to be spreading outside Chiapas. Electric power pylons have been destroyed in two states, and at least one car bomb has been set off in Mexico City. The Mexican government is protecting its international image by claiming that it is open to dialogue with the Zapatistas but continues to bomb civilians and deny access. Many y respected figures of Mexican society have called for a stop to the bombings and human rights violations and demanded the withdrawal of the army from Chiapas. We too must make this call. We e on the northern side of the imposed border must take actions to put pressure on the Mexican government to cease its blatant violations of human rights and implement the just demands of the Zapatistas. There have already been actions a dozen cities, including Chicago where the Mexican Consulate has been visited twice, with some interesting redecoration done. The EZLN takes its name from Emiliano Zapata, the uncompromising leader in the Mexican revolution of 1910. Zapata a took back lands stolen and sold to sugar plantations that had one time been communally held by indigenous people. We fully support the EZLN and their refusal to have their land taken, their culture & language destroyed, obediently playing into the role of NAFTA refugees. As s Zapata said, "It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees." Viva La EZLN! Tierra a y Libertad! (portions of this article were blatanly plagiarised from other radical sources. Information wants to be free!) taken from WIND CHILL FACTOR bulletin 9.2 January-February 1994 Jose Standing in a complete daze watching Spitboy, trying to get people checking out my box of zines and records to sign the petitions (they usually don't), trying to say hi to all the people I only see at shows and catch the eye of the people I only see while they're on tour with someone or other, remaining mildly paranoid of the maniacal moshers who are convinced that to have fun everybody in the place needs to mosh (or get moshed), while trying to find change for people buying stuff and enjoy myself at the same time, I meet Jose ,Tit Wrench's drummer. He reveals to me that he had just come back from Chiapas where he had helped do a documentary on the Zapatistas. Wow, what a thing. Someone whose actually been there . It exists, the people are revolting! Immediately I decide to interview him, but as luck would have it there was no appropriate device in the neighborhood so I did it by mail. Jose seems pretty busy. He goes to college, plays drums in Tit Wrench, Swing Kids, Mesa Jazz Band and does shit w. Mecha as well as work a job and more of which I'm unaware. Onion: I'm assuming you had the chance to interact with locals in Chiapas. What do you feel is the general feeling people hold towards the uprising ? Is it really a popular uprising ? Jose:From what I could see , the Chiapas uprising was something that has been welcomed by most of those in Chiapas who dream of a different future. A future in which most of the population don't live in poverty and hunger. It is interesting to point out that while many innocent children starve in Mexico, Mexico produces 60% of all fruits and vegetables that are imported to the US. As you might see the conclusions : Four out of five children (in rural areas) will not achieve normal weight and height due to malnutrition (For a more extensive research on Mex/Latin America see : Raymond Lotta "America In Decline"). So why do these things (and more) occur? I don't have all answers but I will tell you they are out there. So go out there and do the research, expose yourself , expose the problem and with that, you might see a solution. While some comrades in Chiapas have said that negotiating with the system (which the EZLN is doing with Pres. Salinas) is a dead end, the EZLN uprising (in my eyes) has been one of t he most important uprisings this century. The old Chinese proverb rings true here :"where there is oppression , there is resistance." Just like many people in this country were suckered into labeling the LA rebellion into just some "individualist act of violence," people in Mexico (mainly amongst the middle class) have opposed the uprising in Chiapas. So you can see many people falling out in different views. One thing is clear though, history has been made, i.e., the Chiapas uprising has demoralized the myth that Mexico is a "stabile country". The stability of the US "backyard" is very important and we can see in the newspaper article (Washington Post, March 2, 1986) that put it this way:"A Mexican upheaval holds unthinkable implications for the world economy , ... for the role of the dollar, for NATO, for the ability of the US to project military power elsewhere in the world ... It could alter world history for a generation." And these sisters and brothers , who were the product of 500 years of f resistanc e , are now the "nobodies" who were forgotten by society are today the ones who have risen up guns in hand; and this I wholeheartedly welcome! I've read reports (in the capitalist press) of certain communities which have come across as pretty fearful of the EZLN hitting their villages and having to choose a side between the army and the rebels. Did you notice any of that among people ? This question kinda reminds me of the accusation by the "United Left" in Peru (along with Amnesty International and even groups like the Peru Support Group here) have argued. It is true that people are "caught in the middle" between the state and the guerillas (particularly the EZLN). From what I could see , it is the Mexican government (along with US military support) that has massacred people in their homes, shot guerilla prisoners in jail, bombed whole villages etc. etc. For those who want more specific sources on this, write me. I have several reports by the mainstream "capitalist press" to various human rights groups who have documented on this question. What do you feel are their biggest obstacles? While I'm not an "expert" on the EZLN, I think I have a pretty good idea of their program / agenda. I have read many of the beautiful and powerful statements by Commandante Marcos. While he speaks out against oppression and Dictatorship of the Mexican government over the people there, I would never see negotiating with the system as the solution. Here , I see the importance in stating my position: Because Mexico is a country that is oppressed by US imperialism, (a country which has been penetrated by institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank ; see Noam Chomsky, "The Masters of Mankind" , the Nation , March 29th ,1993), who suck dry the resources and economies of Mexico; it would take more than just rebellions or uprisings to resolve the situation. I see that a revolution is inevitable. How are the guerillas organized? At this point I don't think I should comment on this question. One, because I'm not so sure myself and two, because ... well many reasons. I will say that many of the guerillas are women . This is something of great importance, because not only must these women deal with the "three mountains" that oppress the masses 1) the semi-feudal system of landlords 2) the corrupt bureaucratic capitalists who control the national government , and 3) the international imperialist powers who continue to rob and strangle the Mexican economy; but also , they must deal with the "women question." That is to say, fighting patriarchal views amongst some of the "guerilleros". Talk about the video There are two videos that can be purchased for $20 each. They were done with the help of the people in the group : the Center for Constitutional Law (in N.Y.). If people want more info on how to purchase it, or other info, write me for the address! Do you know of ways to directly aid the Zapatistas? Uhh . . . .. again, I wish not to comment on this for now. But I will say this: Living here in "the belly of the beast" (as they used to say in the 60s) people in this country have a big responsibility to oppose US imperialism (in any form) and to side with those waging struggles against US imperialism (whether militarily or in the case of Mexico: economically, the US has historically and up to this minute has robbed its natural resources. While we may not see the US intervene (militarily) as it did in Vietnam, or Iraq etc.; we see in Mexico that US twisted the Mexican economy to serve US capital, turning everything it touches into profit, but untold misery and extreme poverty for the people. What affected you most from your visit? Any other heavy stuff to get off your chest? I guess I could say that for me, the uprising in Chiapas spoke to what I could call "historical possibilities". I guess I would say that out of all this, the uprising represents enormous challenges and opportunities. To paraphrase Lenin; (eeeeeek- ed.) whether these opportunities (of turmoil) are seized upon or not, has everything to do with the possibility of uprooting imperialist domination over Mexico once and for all. What would you say is the punk to poser ratio inside the EZLN? Punk rock.?!? Jose Palafox 8540 Wade St. San Diego, CA 92114 EZLN DECLARATION Here are excerpts of the declaration from the Lacandon jungle by the Zapatista National Liberation Army: "TODAY WE SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO: MEXICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS: We are a product of 500 years of struggle: first against slavery, then during the War of Independence against Spain led by insurgents, then to avoid being absorbed by North American imperialism, then to promulgate our constitution and expel the French empire from our soil, and later the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz denied us the just application of the Reform laws and the people rebelled and leaders like Villa and Zapata emerged, poor men just like us. We have been denied the most elemental preparation so they can use us as cannon fodder and pillage the wealth of our country. They don't care that we have nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no work, no health care, no food nor education. Nor are we able to freely and democratically elect our political representatives, nor is there independence from foreigners, nor is there peace nor justice for ourselves and our children. But today, we say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We are the inheritors of the true builders of our nation. The dispossessed, we are millions and we thereby call upon our brothers and sisters to join this struggle as the only path, so that we will not die of hunger due to the insatiable ambition of a 70 year dictatorship led by a clique of traitors that represent the most conservative and sell-out groups. They y are the same ones that opposed Hidalgo and Morelos, the same ones that betrayed Vicente Guerrero, the same ones that sold half our country to the foreign invader, the same ones that imported a European prince to rule our country, the same ones that formed the "scientific" Porfirsta dictatorship, the same ones that opposed the Petroleum Expropriation, the same ones that massacred the railroad workers in 1958 and the students in 1968, the same ones the today take everything from us, absolutely everything." Their plan: "First: Advance to the capital of the country, overcoming the Mexican federal army, protecting in our advance the civilian population and permitting the people in the liberated area the right to freely and democratically elect their own administrative authorities. Second: Respect the lives of our prisoners and turn over all wounded to the International Red Cross. Third: Initiate summary judgements against all soldiers of the Mexican federal army and the political police that have received training or have been paid by foreigners, accused of being traitors to our country, and against all those that have repressed and treated badly the civil population and robbed or stolen from or attempted crimes against the good of the people. Fourth: Form new troops with all those Mexicans that show their interest in joining our struggle, including those that, being enemy soldiers, turn themselves in without having fought against us, and promise to take orders from the General Command of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. Fifth: We ask for the unconditional surrender of the enemy's headquarters before we begin any combat to avoid any loss of lives. Sixth: Suspend the robbery of our natural resources in the areas controlled by the EZLN. To the People of Mexico: We, the men and women, full and free, are conscious that the war that we have declared is our last resort, but also a just one. The dictators are applying an undeclared genocidal war against our people for many years. Therefore we ask for your participation, your decision to support this plan that struggles for work, land, housing, food, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace. We declare that we will not stop fighting until the basic demands of our people have been met by forming a government of our country that is free and democratic. JOIN THE INSURGENT FORCES OF THE ZAPATISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY. General Command of the EZLN 1993" NGNNGGHNGHHNGNGNNHGGNNNGHNGNGNNGGHNGHHNGNGNNHGGNNNGHNG IF TREES COULD SPEAK Michael Przystas Have you been to a museum or park somewhere, and seen a cross section of a big tree, with dates and captions of historical moments and whatnot tagged onto different annual rings ? Thinking about all the crazy , traumatic , and heart racking events around us today, it's so ironic to think that at some future date it will be diminished to captions on annual rings. Ponder for a moment. Don't you think this is representative of mankind's general attitude toward it's history? Ideally , we want to think we created history-keeping to learn from our mistakes and improve life for the next generation. Throughout history, idealists have popped up from time to time, scanning history for clues , groping for answers to our vexing questions of government and war. Despite an elaborate and impressive networking of history-keeping, for all practical purposes its value is only in the hoopla itself. It's relatively little more than a way of keeping track of time. Perhaps someone locked up their whole life in a dungeon needs to record the passing of time. The prisoner embraces history-keeping as an illusion of control with the only thing he has in this helpless situation -- time. But time passes on unfettered as always. Governments rise and fall, following the same paths as governments preceding them. Despite the holocaust of Hitler's day, we have learned nothing of all that bloody history and here before our eyes its happening again. And we watch like zombies , like we're strapped to our chairs. Fuck! What's happening! You u scream. We're all screaming. Why? I don't think I know anything, but here's what i think : We, (mankind) are prisoners of our own diseased intellect. We're beating our own heads, screaming to be free , but we can only temporarily pacify ourselves with artificial controls. Government , no matter how powerful, tyrannical, or good it appears without a trace with the handful of generations that created it . Because e it's artificial. Even America, this great optimistic and resourceful empire - I don't thrill on basing on Uncle Sam - but look ! It's showing all the typical signs of collapse that was evident in the final days of the ancient democracies of the Romans and the reeks. Around the time the Declaration of Independence was signed, Alexander Fraser Tytler (1748-1813) wrote a book about the collapse of the ancient Athenian Republic. He wrote :"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government . It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benef its from the Public Treasury with a result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years .." Despite this painstakingly recorded historical trivia, it all means nothing as Americans selfishly follow their own noses into the rising tide of economic and moral collapse. One should not be perplexed at this, the human life span is unbearably short. Our capacity for true awareness dies before it's ever realized. A year ago I left my familiar urban lifestyle. I heard of an experimental community hidden in a canyon in Washington State. Drawn by words like utopia & peace & love - like a fish on a hook, answering a call that I'd like to think exists in every man's heart though how so repressed, forgotten , or by chance remembered. I arrived at the tail of the communities "blossoming" period. Desolation was all around . Indeed, the idealist rose yet again from the abyss, touching this canyon, trying out great philosophies, trying to o turn history around. Although later assessing many successes (like creating a wonderful world for a few dozen children , now all grown), it seemed painfully evident that the true victors in the Utopian experiment were the termites, the moss, the multitudes of bacteria. Before my eyes the great Order of nature continued on without blinking at the human endeavors, seen as sinking ships digesting into the earth. That night , the milky way shown as it has for billion of years, the coyotes screamed and howled and echoed in the canyon depths, as they did for generation after generation. The beavers deforested and created fresh fertile meadows. Older meadows gave in to fir saplings , and in the dense forests, branches fell with no one to hear the fall. I preceded one night by full moon up a side canyon to a spring surrounded by moss and raspberries, couldn't help but imagine I was approaching a shrine. Water, Life. Balance. Order. And me: Fear. Corruption. Confusion. Disorder. It's almost thinkable that humans are really extraterrestrial. I doubt it, yet one can't help but notice that the perfect order running nature is not running the humans. A number of individuals throughout history have found a measure of happiness by attempting top sync with nature. I say attempt, because on the road to being in this perfect harmony with the universe , on reaches a barrier. What is it? I can feel it, but I can't explain it, or define it. mankind, no matter how it tries, can only look at the natural universe, as through a glass vile with sick eyes of a subject of some animal experiment. At some point, long ago we became our own scientist, groping with the theory that we can give up and deny the balance of our inherent equality to rule ourselves, create a plastic reality through dominance. violent centuries have passed. In this cruel experiment on ourselves, we the scientist inevitably dove head first into a vile of our own poison, to gasp And heave in our own artificial creations until the la st breath. Then , only then, we cry for help ... Meanwhile , how many more of us will be victims of prejudice, rape, and all sorts of other physical and mental abuses? How many will lose loved ones to senseless murder? Ever so often the victims are innocent, defenseless and minorities. This is because in mankind's quest to rule itself, the disease mentality that resulted not only affects governments and wars. How about the men "reconditioned" to no longer be just free individuals, but instinctual war tools? War is the training and proving ground for dominance disease. The soldiers discover shocking and uncontrollable truths of their reconditioning. Suddenly upon the battlefield they can penetrate a village, suddenly they're murdering , raping, mutilating ... After the war they bring the trauma and reconditioning home and practice it on their wives , children and others. In society, the family unit is the most sacred, fundamental order. Yet, so common is there mental and physical beatings in these microcosms of humanity. the great dominance disease penetrat es the home, where the young are initiated. And it just spreads like plague. It's really something governments can likewise take 'free' people break them , use them ... . like giant parents of humanity, governments subject us to beating sessions, - wars. Like a child loosing its dignity with each molestation, the soul and spirit of humanity is slowly eroding. So if history should teach us anything, it should tell us to give up the control. Earlier i mentioned, the road to perfect unity with natural order is obstructed by a barrier. once all forms of government collapses, becomes too helpless to function, or is consciously eliminated, my guess is the road to natural order will be open to us all the way. What can you and I do here now? Revolution! So o often we hear the cry. We really just hear a lot of inflated words. It takes a lot of energy to incite change on society, too often (if not always) the wounds infected in the process undermine even the best ideologies. My message is save that energy, and give it to those closest to you, to your family or gang. Realize that love as you know it and feel it, is a glimmer of the natural order of the universe within you. A real revolution begins at home in your own little microcosm of humanity. Give your group all your heart and strength. Raise kids like what they are - the next humanity. NOT POSSESSIONS ! Take note of your impulses to control others. How about if you have no family? It's OK, because our part in the scheme of things is to just hang on to our own absolute freedom and equality with all life. Don't give your soul to anything that history keeps trying to tell us is artificial and temporary. Bono, in U2's "WAR" album snag it perfectly :"If others need your time, say 'it's time to go', it's your time." I look out my window , the old firs dominating the yard have stood through generations, witnessing all the crazy human dramas that played out in this very canyon. if only trees could speak . . . However , closer I become in tune with its natural rhythms, i sense something faint like distant wale calls miles below in the most forbidden ocean depths. But felt , not heard. Michael Przystas Route 3 Box 72 Davenport, WA 99122 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% " . . . to achieve Anarchy we have to unite, and fight together . . ." ZAPO In the beginning (3-4 years ago) we were a small group of punx who, in spite of drinking, smoking grass, listening to loud music and other hedonistic activities, got the idea of changing the normal life and existing system , which we thought was going to ruin our world . . . In the first time, we did A.L.F. (Animal Liberation Front) actions, because the meat and fur/leather industry kills much more animals than they have to. we concentrated our activities on fur/leather shops, because still live off meat (quite unnecessarily I would have to add - ed.) , but fashion stuff made of fur and leather are completely unnecessary. Our activities were small diversions, like breaking shop windows , glueing locks, writing anti-fur/leather graffiti , and so on . . . In time , after the elections, it became obvious that war is imminent, if someone doesn't do anything against it. We decided to organize ourselves into a kind of organization which would connect ideas and principles of Anarchism and Pacifism (we are not pacifists by all means, but there was a lot of violence and destruction around us) because we thought that was the best idea for the following time. Other reasons , not less important was to educate people on the real meaning of anarchism. For that reason , we made a few posters, just to tell people to start thinking with their own minds. By that time, war in Slovenia started, and we decided to organize a demo-meeting. We asked for a permit to organize it , but we didn't get one. Even though we didn't get it, we went on. First it was to be meeting against war, army , politicians and nationalism, but we spread it to an anti-police demo. It was a small meeting (around 30 people showed) but pretty successful. We made common people interested in our work. There were few police officers , but they didn't cause any problems for us, except some private security guards did. A month or two later , the war erupted in Croatia. It forced us to stop our work for a while (frequent air alerts and weeks of black-outs). Till August 1992 we didn't do a single thing (we are ashamed of it) but then we decided it was enough "sleeping". In August we published the first issue of "Comunitas" zine, in which we described Anarchism (roots, aims, etc.), Pacifism (history, ... ) and in opposite nazism and racism. That first helped us contact people of Anti War Campaign. They let us work in their office and also use their equipment. At first , our work was collecting anarchist literature and publications, making contacts with other anarchists all over the world, and of course, further work on "Comunitas" zine. After we got possibilities to work in better conditions, we finished a new issue of "Comunitas" zine Nr. 2/3. Most of the copies we've sent by mail to individuals and organizations, or just have given to other people. Only few were sold. That's a bit of a problem cos we don't have constant money income (the situation in Croatia is very bad and members cannot give money for expenses of printing, because they don't have enough money for basic living needs) and the only money we've gotten was fro our comrades from Italy (around 500 DEM) and from comrades from Germany (100 DEM), which was mostly spent on last issue. We have about 250 DEM left, which we'll spend on the new issue. It'll probably be also a double nr. 4/5. The new "Comunitas" will be on A4 format, and written in both English and Croatian language, because of big interest in other countries. At the moment we plan our further activities. We plan to write a pamphlet on our stands about the war which is lasting in ex-Yugoslavia (relations of this war with New World Order Connection and international capital which use ex-Yugoslavia as an experiment). We'll write it also in English/Croatian version. Our work is pretty slow 'cos we make our decisions by consensus and not by false parliamentary, like outvoting. This is our short story about ZAPO. If you can or would like to help our struggle in any way contact us! FAX: available 24 hours a day +3841/335-230 PHONE: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays after 8:00 PM +3841/422-495 Z.A.P.O. PLEASE NOTE ! We're not begging for money, but small donations would be very helpful. For further information, contact us. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANNOYING THE ESTABLISHMENT After many inspiring and usually very funny tales from Dave the Destroyer the Employer Annoyer, as he likes to call himself, I've found that even if practising petty yet purposeful and sometimes powerful , political and often quite poetic pranks (perhaps pulled by pantheist punks) on putrid poultry poking politicians, power figures and their preposterous pawns may not cause complete social revolution, it does drive some of the pigs out of their pea sized minds, as well as provide great interactive entertainment for the dispossessed and the bored. We are their karma. No more yawning and complaining about malicious and mean motherfuckers that make more money off murder and war and exploitation in a minute than you will ever see in a millennium. No, instead mobilize to mock , missile , mine and monkeywrench their machine to a million molecule size morsels. Drug Tests * some over the counter drugs which supposedly almost always give false positives during drug tests are listed here with the typical period of time can be detected by conventional drug tests : Vicks Formula 44 (1 day), Triaminic DM (1 day), Primatene Mist (1-3 days), Dexatrim (1 day), Co-Tylenol (1 dat), Benadryl (1-2 days), Midol (1-3 days) , Premasyn PMS (1-3 days). So if you get called in for a drug test for any reason take some of these the night before and/or before going in and let them know you did. The results will come out positive whether you did or didn't use the "illegal" substances. Also the breath mint "Nu-Breath" supposedly masks alcohol on ones breath, and supposedly can also foil less sophisticated breathalyzers. How To Sabotage Hunts * Go into the woods the day before hunting season and try to drive wildlife away from commonly hunted areas. Play loud radios and recordings of wolf howls, and walk with dogs on leashes. Such tactics are particularly important for younger animals who have not yet had the traumatizing experience of being hunted * Place the stuffed animal toys around commonly hunted areas. Hunters often don't take the time to determine if an animal is real. Better to have a hole in a cotton rabbit than a real one-- and the noise of the gun going off will help scare away real animals. * To break potentially dangerous wildlife habits, place deer repellent (available at feed and hardware stores) along deer tracks, which hunters use to stalk them. This will encourage the deer to move away. or, just scoop a bag of human hair from a barber shop and hang handfuls of it in little mesh bags about two or three feet from the ground, along the deer track. * Plaster the floors of hunting blinds with cow dung, rotten e ggs or other unpleasant substances. tear down tree stands. * If hunters use dogs in your area, try to get hold of a female dog in heat and lead her, on a leash through heavily hunted areas. Horny male hunting dogs will get wind of the female and lose their enthusiasm for chasing rabbits, foxes, or deer. * Soak garlic cloves in water or make a lemon juice solution and using a spray bottle , spray leaves and trails to throw dogs off the scent. * Hunters often like to ambush animals by setting out food and then hiding in blinds. Piles of apples or other "bait" are set out a few days before hunting season to encourage animals to linger in a certain area. To thwart this, remove the food piles a few days before hunting season. If there is too much food to carry away, spray it with deer repellent or human urine, and spread human hair clippings all over the area. * During the actual hunts, assemble a group of people early in the morning and use airhorns and whistles to warn animals into hiding. Groups of noisy peopl e are very effective in disrupting hunts of all kinds. * Funny thing: I've been getting Hunting magazine in the mail. They offer a free introductory issue with subscription n that you can cancel when you feel like it. However, if you don't cancel you continue receiving the piece of shit. There is a chance that a lot of people get their business reply cards out of hunting magazines found at a store and send subscription of them to other equally disrespectable murderous fuckerz. Thus causing mucho disturbance and hopefully financial grief to the exploiters of sport murder. DISABLING BMWs , COP CARS AND ECORAPE EQUIPMENT * Jam door and ignition locks with slivers of wood, super glue and/or silicone rubber sealant * Sugar and syrup are ineffective in gasoline or diesel fuel tanks or oil reservoirs. At best they merely clog the filter. A handful or more of sand in the fuel tank is much more effective and much easier. You also don't have to carry around incriminating items with you like sugar or a bottle of Karo syrup. * Pour a gallon or more of water or brine into the fuel tank * Pour dirt , sand, salt or a grinding compound (like Carborundum) into the oil filler hole * Pour water into the oil filler hole. Amount depends on engine size - at least 2 quarts for a V-8. The point is to make sure to use enough, so that the oil pump will draw only water. the water should maintain oil pressure while not lubricating at all * Slash tire sidewalls. Sidewall stabs cannot be effectively patched, whereas tread stabs can be. On some tires, cutting the valve stems is an easy way to flatten them * Smash fuel pump, water pump, valve cover, carburetor, distributor or anything else except for the battery (for your own safety) or brake system (for their safety). Use a sledge and a steel bar for precision blows * Pour water and/or dirt into the air intake (the big hole usually right under the air cleaner). The more , the better * Pour gasoline or other fuel into the oil reservoir. It will break down the oil and the oil filter will not remove it * Put battery acid or some other corrosive into the radiator * Put Carborundum or other small abrasive particles in the gearbox * Pour a box of quick rice in the radiator. Stolen stinky steaks sell smoothly to supermarkets * I read somewhere or other about a guy who would steal the most expensive slabs of meat he could get ahold of at the supermarket , let them sit out in the sun for a few hours until they began to stink like the rotting corpse they are and then return them , completely disgusted for a refund. After the mere thought of consuming that vile smelly thing that passes as food, the criminal could no longer continue as a carnivore. Always pull up survey stakes Koffee krazed Kaos krushes ComPuTers that Kill * There's so much one can do to computers that help organize and plan such things as Real Estate sales, court dates, a security company's database or keep mailing lists for say, Christian right wing organizations that attempt to keep ordinarily quite natural and enjoyable things secret and taboo. For instance an easy way to damage important and expensive equipment is to drop it, preferably from somewhere high like an elevator shaft or window (the window should be at least a couple floors up, otherwise you might as well hand it out the window to an accomplice and use it to put out magazines like this) * a disk covered with Shoe goo or liquid plastic may cause interesting results when inserted in the disk drive * water may be squirted into the innards of a computer (beware:pissing into a computer while it is on may cause you damage) * it isn't too hard to reformat (read erase) a hard drive or individual disks * try (de)constructively altering important information * a magnet rubbed against a disk most probably will cause strange and unpredictably altering effects to information stored on it (this can be done pretty discreetly) * good computers are very easy to sell for decent cash * Aside from theft or physical damage, it may be a clever accomplishment to just alter information going out. Not overtly noticeable but cleverly orchestrated to cause chaos to capitalists cash schemes. Like drastically undercharging or overcharging customers, altering, adding or removing key addresses in databases (or switching databases). Inserting creative prose into boring information will probably also liven up someone else's dreary life as well as your own. Poetic terrorism knows no bounds How To Build Your Own Underground Television Transmitter 13-Jun-88 Outlaw Telecommandos 01-213-376-0111 yes, for some time now it has been possible to construct a clandestine television station, which you can operate from your Telecommando Lair, or modify for Mobile Media Guerilla campaigns. We have named this device the Snow Box, due to its cool nature, and the snow seen on blank television channels waiting to be commandeered. To put together a TV station , you will need this stuff: A VCR or Camcorder with video or RF outputs -A ham radio six meter Band Linear amplifier (this boosts the RF signal from the VCR for broadcasting) The Linear Amp should have a bandwidth of 6 MHz for best results. A cable television RF distribution amplifier may also be used. - Coaxial cable with UHF connectors (Connects the Linear Amp to the antenna) - A cable TV patch cable with an F-connector and a UHF connector (to connect the RF signal to the Linear Amp). F-connectors are the small ones used with cable TV. UHF connectors are the large ones used for Ham Radio. -If your VCR does not have RF outputs: An external RF modulator (converts video to channel 3, 6, 12 etc.) a cable with RCA connectors (a standard stereo chord is OK) - a six meter Ham radio antenna. If you don't have a pre-made 6-meter antenna, get ahold of about twenty feet of strong wire, 3 ceramic antenna insulators and another UHF connector. Likely places to get the linear amplifier, connectors and cables is a Ham radio swap meet, a Ham club newsletter's classified ads, a buy-sell-trade paper like the Thrifty Nickel, or at a store specializing in Ham gear. RF modulators are available at specialty video stores, or major VCR dealers. Setting up the Transmitter: Using a VCR with RF out: (VCR/RF)F--------U(Linear Amp)U--------U(Antenna) weak ak RF Power r RF Using an External RF Modulator: (VCR)R--R(RF Modulator)----U(Linear Amp)U----U(Antenna) video deo weak ak RF Power RF Diagram Symbols: U UHF-connectors (Ham radio) F F-connectors (cable TV) R RCA connectors (stereos) --- coax , cables, wires () devices (name of device in brackets) ceramic insulator (the kind with a hole at each end) Building the Dipole Antenna: wire wire ire --------------------++-------------------- | | | | | | | Short coax | | | | | | (U) (U) (U) UHF connector The antenna is set up much like a clothesline with the wires tethered straight out horizontally. the outer insulators are used to isolate the antenna from the tether lines, which should be rope or nylon chords for good results. The inner insulator isolates a gap between the two long wires of the antenna. The length of the wires used for the antenna is critical. Look up the length in feet for the channel you want to use in the table below and make each of the two long wires that length. As a rule of thumb, a wire half-wave antenna's length is equal to 468 divided by the frequency in MHz. VHF television channel data insert table from Iron Feather Journal For further information : Look in the ARRL Handbook published by the American Radio Relay League for detailed plans and theory for antennas, transmitters and linear amplifiers. The info in that book can be used for setting up an underground Am or FM radio station. Public Education: Make a videotape of each step in the process of constructing your transmitter. Show this tape in your broadcasts, "For informational purposes only", of course. Short-burst zipping: From a fixed or mobile base of operation , show short snippets of graffiti like computer graphics, quick subliminal messages, images and suggestions, or brief phreaker manifestos. Commercials are an opportune time to break into TV broadcasts. Live call in shows: Using a cheese box or other device for receiving untraceable phone calls and a video camera, do a live call in show. Encourage people to call in using Red, Blue and other phreaking boxes. Cable TV Piracy: With modifications it may be possible to feed the power RF signal directly into a cable TV system, overiding cablecasts or commandeering unused channels. Mobile operation:Using storage batteries and a 110-volt inverter the transmitter may be modified for mobile use to avoid detection by the FCC during long broadcasts. Battery operated mobile linear amps and portable camcorders are also available. (I stole this article from an old issue of Iron Feather Journal, PO Box 1905, Boulder , CO 80306 usa. I haven't heard of anyone whose done this or used these instructions, so I don't know if it really works. Oh yeah, I wouldn't actually advocate doing this, these detailed instructions with tips on how to use them are only for informational purposes, not to unleash your imagination or anything.) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> PUNK TRAVEL 101 Hitchiking: There's a lot of scary stories about hitchiking and how dangerous it can be , but I'd say most of those stories come from parental types. And yeah, I suppose it can be dangerous , and it does include taking chances, but if you've taken your RDA of street smarts, you'll be OK. Some tips for those considering hitchiking: When a car pulls over , be sure to ask them where they're going before just jumping in. You may want to be somewhat picky about rides. For instance if you're at a good spot with lots of visibility , lots of traffic and where its easy for cars to pull over , you don't want a ride that will take you a mile down the road to a shitty spot. It helps to have an atlas or map handy to show drivers where you're going. Avoid: Big cities .Try to get rides through cities , not to them unless that's where you're headed already. Cities are the worst place to get picked up, since most cars are only going down a couple exits , its very difficult to pull over and cops are in full force. Standing on the road. Keep off the actual highway, stand or walk next to it, it may sound stupid but people do get hit by cars while standing (often ignorantly) in traffic's way. Keep to the side, but in good visibility. Dehydration. Trying to get picked up at night. Not that its impossible or even unfavorable to travel at night, but its a lot harder than during the day. I think drivers tend to be a little wary of dark figures on the roadside. It might be easier to just find a place to crash and leave early in the morning. Losing your bearings. Once while trying to get home from Carbondale, which lies deep and high in the mountains , I got a ride who took me on a side road (with all the best intentions , I'm sure) and got me stoned out of my mind , leaving me in the woods guessing which way to walk to the the highway. When I finally found the highway, I couldn't figure out which direction Denver was. I sat by a clump of trees laughing to myself and drinking water until i could figure out which way was up costing me a good half hour of daylight. Counting cars getting pissed off at people waving at you and speeding by ID:It may be smart to have an ID. Cops have regularily hassled me while on the road. Hitchiking is illegal in some states and they may (they have before) haul you in if you don't have ID. If you don't have warrants , they'll most likely send you on your way after kicking you off the interstate. Be prepared to have all your material possesions stolen by cops. Truck stops: It's often pretty easy to get rides with truckers. If you get dropped off at a truck stop, just ask drivers walking to their trucks , and you'll most likely get lucky. There is however a traveling prostitute scene which caters to truckers. If you're a woman you may want to make it very clear where you stand in this respect, your ride may expect some things from you which you aren't prepared to give. There are a lot of companies which don't allow their drivers to pick up hitchikers, but they frequently will anyway. Some truck stops have anti-hitchiking policies which may lead to grief and/or anxiety/anger. Hippies: I've counted cars and VW buses covered with grateful dead and hippy stickers by the thousands over the years and have only been picked up once as far as I can remember by these "sharing , caring , loving" advocates of peace. Sometimes I feel we're vaguely on the same side of the fence, but not on the road. Hippies don't give a shit about hitchikers. Women: Although its really easy for women to get rides, it's also quite dangerous. I suggest carrying a large threatening sheath knife on your side, to show you are not vulnerable. Also try to go with a partner who is somewhat on the ball. Common sense will save your ass if it comes down to a strong come on or confrontation. Sexual favors: It's up to you if you want to or not, although I've never chosen to myself. Everyone who has propositioned me before has reeked of sleaze and has come across to me as quite undesirable. I just say I'm not interested and it usually is left at that. Occasionally someone will get extremely pushy and then I just have them drop me off, but its usually no big deal. I've also only been asked for sexual favors by men, usually in their thirties to late fourties. Never by younger men or women. Not that it never happens, just never to me so far. I've heard countless stories of rides getting very pushy with women though. As I said before, speak firmly and carry a big knife (and a partner). Signs: I usually make a fairly large sign that looks pretty. I make them clear with big letters and usually put something cute on them like flowers or mountains when I'm heading back to Colorado. It's probably a good idea to out the closest big city or destination you're headed to next, or one that you would think would take you the right directions. Finding a place to sleep: If you're in a city, meet people on the streets, ask around be friendly and make it known you need a place to stay for the night. Punks can usually lead you to a friendly punk house or squat that might put you up. Treat everyone with respect that helps you out, no matter how grumpy you're feeling. Nobody owes you shit; what help you find traveling comes from the goodness of others (people have been incredibly generous to me on the road for which I'm very grateful) and its wise to show them how much you appreciate their help. I usually try giving something in return like washing their dishes or cooking them some food. If you're in the boonies and can't find shit, be creative. Abandoned cars, dumpsters, highway overpasses, rooftops and bridges all make great shelters. Food: I always try to leave home with lots of foodstamps and they've always been a blessing. When I run out or if I'm in a foreign country where my stamps don't count, I find myself stealing food regularily. Ask for soup kitchens or food banks when you get into an urban area. Of course, dumpster diving is an obvious source of food even at home. One has to be quite stubborn and very stupid to starve in this here country. Again , just ask the first hobos or punks you see where the action is at and you're set. The Spike Anarky network (as Lawrence Livermore would call it): There's a good number of train hopping, hitchiking punk squatter types who travel around , act very punk rock and are constantly fucked up. They of course hate authority and break 40s after drinking them. It's nice to meet people who know people you know from different parts of the world , but I could care less about stumbling through the world drunk, so I try to find more interesting things to do. Germany is hitchiker friendly as fuck. People are incredibly trusting and quick with rides plus there is no speedlimit on the Autobahn, so you'll get places much faster than you would by train or bus. Switzerland , however is not friendly, nor is much of the old East block. RESOURCES The Crash Network is a network of different people offering their homes as a crash pad for travelers on the network. There's a very reasonable "crash code" , sort of a code of conduct for participants that goes along with it. If you're interested in becoming part of the list write to Crash / 519 Castro #7, San Francisco, CA 94114 USA or email : crash@barn.com. They also do a zine called Crash which is quite good and has fun travel stories. Send them your travel stories and I'm sure they'll be delighted and possibly print one. Airhitch: If you are trying to get overseas, this will get you across the great pond for less than $200. You sign up at one of their offices, give them a few preferable destinations , pay the $, give them a number you can be reached at and wait till they find you an empty seat on a plane. I know someone who tried this and it sounds like a decent cheap way to fly. Write for information to AIRHITCH, 2790 Broadway , Suite 100 / NY, NY 10025 (212) 864-2000 UniTravel advertises $199 one way tickets to Europe (800)325-2222 The Airline Passenger's Guerilla Handbook is supposedly a great guide to finding cheap ways overseas, although I've never seen it. Freer Places describes 20 areas having fewer taxes and restrictions, more tolerance, much cultural variety etc. Plus practical tips for living freer most anywhere. 40+ pages(some shrunk). If what I got was what they are advertising, it's neat ,but not all that practical for traveling but nevertheless you can get a copy for $1 from Apaba Freer , PO Box 759-IO, Veneta OR 97487 Book Your Own Fucking Life is a great resource for traveling punks. Its basically a punk directory of the world (but mostly North America). It lists record stores, bands , labels, activist groups, crash pads, good places to eat veggie food, and whatever else people feel like sending in. It's done by a different group every year , I think the latest was compiled by Rocco Publishing and is available from the for $3 from Rocco Publishing -- 2427 So. 58th Ct., Cicero, IL 60650 Let's Go. Every young tourist I met in Europe had a copy this book. Carry it around unconcealed and you automatically label yourself a lost tourist. Except if you are a lost tourist this book will make you not so lost. I had a copy of Let's Go Europe which contains every halfway large city in Europe with listings of where to get cheap, vegetarian food, good places to hitchike out of, Youth hostels and cheap places to stay, bars, tips on currency exchange , contacts for rape crisis centers, gay centers , some usefull information and tips relating to the country's cultural and political situation and of course what sights to see , but I pretty much ignore that. Be sure to get a current copy, I found my copy to be pretty out of date (and it was only a year old). Money: I personally lug around a stack of patches and zines to sell and always do well. Patches are easy to sell cuz they're cheap and they don't weigh much. Some people actually make ungodly sums of money selling simple jewelry and others make fortunes selling drugs, although if you get caught with drugs while traveling you are basically fucked. There are plenty of money scams you can do on the road, some of which are in back issues of this zine. Panhandling is an obvious default for some people. Otherwise you can look up traveler's aid, hit up churches with your sob story, apply for emergency food stamps if you're staying somewhere a few days, sell stuff you steal etc. I know there's more, but for now that's all ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SILENCE = DEF (note: in the paper version , this article has gajillions of little clippings pasted throughout that came from my notebook which I used to converse with people during this week) It was Tuesday night at a coffeeshop , the conversation was centered loosely around communication and I decided to stop speaking. The little girl in the movie The Piano had boldly and arrogantly told the people frustrated with her mute mother that "most people only speak rubbish anyhow", I agreed fully. Especially now when the conversation I was taking part of really only consisted of people trying to push their own points, not really listening to anybody or even feeding back to people who had said anything that seemed important at all. People using their vocal chords to put up a front, to create a mask of verbal nonsense in order to shield themselves from any real interaction or showing themselves as how they really are, using empty cliches to put up an acceptible wall of complete shit which keeps others outside, and themselves comfortably isolated in their shell. Talking alot of shit, never listening , never interacting, never learning , never feeding off others, but nevertheless always loud , always talki ng and always immersed in this verbal static that makes us feel comfortable. We were touching on these ideas in our conversation. Someone brought up how some Indian tribal elders pause for exceptionally long periods during a conversation before speaking and then speak with incredible clarity and power in their words. I realized how much empty shit I talk and how much I use devices such as sarcasm or cutting others down to hold my ground. How I can babble on without saying shit and how I try to rush myself into what I'm trying to put into words so fast that I have incredible trouble formulating my feelings or thoughts verbally and come off extremely inarticulate and often a fool in the process. I despise doing this and decided right then I would not speak for a week. That night was Matt's 21st birthday, so we took him out to a new bar which brews their own beer. Matt does not believe in the natural forces of chaos. Chris and I do. Here is part of what I contributed to the conversation: Eventually Matt got both frustrated with my definition of chaos and my refusal to speak. At times he was down right pissed off at me for my silence. And a couple other friends too, just about blew me off entirely and told people how annoying this experiment of mine had become. I don't really understand this even now. It doesn't take that much patience to wait for me to put my replies on paper. It almost felt like people were frustrated because I wouldn't do something that people are just supposed to do. One of my room mates told people how annoying I had become ; other friends snapped at me to "just fucking say it!". I pulled some humour out of the situation, where I pretended to almost speak and then instead make peculiar odd noises with my throat instead , although I probably only entertained myself doing this. Some interesting observations: People reading over my shoulder tend to finish my sentences for me. I have a lot of half written sentences in my notebook. Does this prove how predictable my dialogue becomes, or how superfluous my speech is? Does it matter? My handwriting sucks. I usually need to rewrite keywords in my sentences for people to understand . Some people couldn't catch on at all to what i had to say and needed an interpreter to read my writing. Most people respected my silence and didn't view it as strange. This took me by surprise. The first couple days I was constantly on guard for smart ass comments or mockery. But I got relatively little shit. A new guy at the liquor store by our house thought I was mute and treated me with a sort of peculiar respect which seems like it's usually reserved for handicapped people. I didn't feel at all like I was becoming quieter. I actually felt like I was much louder than normal. After writing someone a note, they take extra time out to read it and let it sink in. A lot of speaking can just go in one ear and out the other, often not registering at all. In this way I've had some really good conversations with people where a lot more was said and where we would listen to each other instead of just playing verbal ping pong or whatnot. I occasionally caused near accidents while giving directions or just chatting to the driver of a car. The only time I got genuinely frustrated not speaking was when I nearly lost my temper was at Floyd (a dog) after he ate my walkman headphones (I paid good foodstamps for that walkman). After I cooled down some, I wondered to myself how I would talk my way out of a fight while walking down the street, or how I would respond to someone stepping out of line at my house. For instance when a visitor bounces the words cocksucker, faggot , nigger etc. around my house in an insulting or degrading manner I snap at them and tell them to shut the fuck up or get out. I've physically kicked people out of my house for invading my space with their sexist, gayhating , racist shit before, but how would I have the patience to write all this down on paper and then expect them to read my literary retalition while I'm still angry. I'm taking this as a sign that I need to work out my feelings before I shoot someone in the face with them. I DON'T KNOW Words tend to both reflect how one is and how one defines oneself. My frequent use of "I don't know" to conveniently end sentences , I've decided is hella unhealthy and I feel needs to end. It makes it much to easy for me to truncate my sentences without really forming a solid idea . As a result I'm probably developing vague and very open ended methods of thinking and developing my ideas. By saying "I don't know" to finish expressing my thought when it becomes difficult to express , I in effect stop challenging myself mentally to figure out just what it is I'm trying to get at or what the solution to the problem I'm verbally monitoring is. In conversation it's easy to step out mid sentence when the point proving get's too strenuous by trailing off with an "I don't know" and letting other arguers jump in till I mold my thoughts into language comprehensible enough for others to get a grasp of. This never happened on paper , I had the time to formulate my thoughts more solidly as I wrote. So when I would make m y statement or reply , it was there as I wanted it. The grasping for words and language was silent. By cutting out the "I don't know"s I'll be forced to develop my ability to construct my thoughts immediately instead of resorting to verbal crutches. In a similar way , I'm trying to eliminate "like" and "you know", however I feel completely different about my frequent use of "fucking". After about a week and a half I felt like I was getting less out of it. I chose to start speaking again. For some reason I felt a strange apprehension about speaking again. Everybody I deal with regularily had gotten more or less used to my silence and in a way I was not looking forward to dealing with people's reactions and jokes to hearing my voice again. Also , I had "told" a bunch of people that I probably would never speak again and hopefully would forget how. In fact i think i "told" so many people this that I nearly convinced myself of it. I hadn't uttered a word in a week and seemed outright peculiar to start again. When I did though, it seemed completely normal and I only got a standard remark from each person. I seem to make things into what they aren't . Funny. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The Incompatibility of capitalism and information by Jim Davis A central prop in Star Trek is Computer. Computer is capable of replicating almost anything the crew needs. Picard and company regularly request food, new machine parts , clothes, and other necessities from this remarkable machine. Could a society with those capabilities tolerate homelessness , starvation , illiteracy, and preventable diseases ? Four centuries separate the crew of the Starship Enterprise from today. But technologically , the distance is not that great. Even today, the NeXT factory in Fremont can produce $1 billion worth of computers a year with eight workers. Bioengineers deploy bacteria to produce plastics in a vat - no need for the labor that goes into oil exploration, drilling , building pipelines, transporting the crude, processing it , or for that matter, sending armies overseas to claim and protect it. From raw materials to finished product, less and less labor is required to produce more and more with robotics, biotechnology, "smart materials," computers, digital telecommunications, and new technologies on the way. In today's high tech production, raw materials, capital and labor are replaced with refined information in the form of computer programs, designs formulas, compression algorithms, DNA sequences, and so on. One could measure the changeover in a number of ways: the shrinking size of production runs that represent more design per unit; the rise in embedded "intelligence" in ROMs in products; the increase in education required to contribute in any given field; the percentage of design effort vs. duplication effort in a product; or the mushrooming percentage of people employed in information-related work (one study estimates that by 2000 , two thirds of those employed will work in education or information related jobs). This move to an information based economy is upsetting the social applecart. Toffler observed at most ten years ago that "(I)f you use a piece of information , I can use it too. In fact , if we both use it, the chances are improved that we will produce more information. We don't "consume" information like other resources. It is generative . . . That by itself , knocks the hell out of conventional economic theories." To put it more bluntly, production based on information intensive technology just isn't compatible with traditional forms of ownership and distribution. The incompatibility develops because information , the growing core of all products, can be reprocured and distributed at a tiny fraction of the efforts of the original. Contemporary production is more a matter of replication than manufacture. Economists noted 100 years ago that the value of an older machine (or really , any commodity) falls as cheaper but equivalent versions become available. This is equally true of computers, steel mills , toasters or corn. And so it is with information. A copy of PageMaker that costs $500 has the same value as an unauthorized copy made using a few floppy disks and and a couple of minutes of PC time. Once information gets out and about, its value drops to the cost of its duplication. For products like music , books, databases , computer programs, and films , that point is already approaching, because more and more manufacturing processes are becoming information based, whether it be digital production , or molecular level manipulation, or genetic code modification. To quote Toffler again, "Second Wave industries used brute force technologies -they punched, hammered , rolled , beat chipped and chopped , drilled and battered the materials into the shape we needed or wanted. . . The Third Wave industries operate at an altogether deeper level. Instead of banging something into shape, we reach back into the material itself and reprogram it to assume the shape we desire." As this situation continues to ripen, what with molecular electronics, nanotechnology and desktop manufacturing - to name a few new technologies - in the pipe , how can traditional forms of distribution hold ? How does one price something that effectively has no value (because its duplication cost approaches zero)? Much less profit from it ? If products (as various formations of information) face virtually no limits in their replicability, why not have copies of whatever for everyone who needs it? In a recent issue of Intertrek , the author Bruce Sterling ,made some particularly observant comments about information economy : "Information does want to be free - it doesn't want to be $5 a baud. There's something stupid about that . . . The idea of information as a commodity is just wrong. People say , 'if you could go into Sears and steal chairs , they wouldn't stay in business.' Well if you had a device that could make infinite chairs for free Sears would never have come into existence." Sterling's observation that Sears (read capitalism, and one might add socialism) belong to an era of scarcity raises an important question: Can capitalism co-exist with the information age? And can the information age co-exist with capitalism? Certainly, as even its most ardent critics have observed, capitalism drives forward the technology by demanding a constant revolution in the way things are made. But squeezing the square peg of information into the round hole of the industrial-era of economy shears off many of its benefits in the process. In the information economy , the old structures start to get in the way. For example, if duplication becomes trivial, and anyone can do it, the only way that value can be propped up is through the rigorous enforcement of "intellectual property" laws - erecting artificial monopolies to protect the patent or copyright holder. That is , only by keeping it in its myriad forms from reaching its full potential by forcing it through a narrow channel of the market, can money be made from it. So, as design and software - information and knowledge - become larger and larger proportions of goods, the economy moves onto the thin foundation of "intellectual property law". The precariousness of this kind of economy was evident last summer when Advanced Micro Devices , maker of 386 clone chips , received an infavorable jury verdict in its interminable copyright war with Intel. In one day its stock dropped by 37% - losing almost one half billion dollars in value. Paperback Software declared bankruptcy after losing a copyright case with Lotus. And the future Microsoft Windows was intertwined with a judges decision on arcane copyright principles. Problems emerge not just at the distribution end , but all up and down the line, starting with the most basic production decisions. When profitability becomes the determining factor in the knowledge production (research and development) and information distribution, society loses something. If information can't turn a profit, it won't be developed or stored , regardless of its social value. The president of commercial database vendor was quoted in 1986 as saying "We can't afford an investment in databases that are not going to earn their keep and pay back their development costs." When asked what areas were not paying their development costs, he answered "Humanities". And our universe shrinks in the process. Pharmaceuticals (information products) comprise perhaps a more dramatic example - for instance , a 1991 World Health Organization report lamented the fact that development of new tuberculosis fighting drugs all but stopped 25 years ago (even though three million die every year from the disease) because t he drugs are "not a big profit maker." If humanities suffers, so does science. Competition breeds secrecy, and information not shared is information robbed of its potential (because of the synergistic, "generative" effect of combining bits of information). This is especially true in scientific research. As corporate funding of university research grows (estimated at $1 billion in 1989) , "the information that is produced in the labs and studies of the faculty is no longer available," UC San Diego Professor Herbert Shiller wrote recently. "It goes to the sponsoring company . . . it is no wonder that Science magazine finds it necessary to publish articles that inquire, ' Data Sharing : A Declining Ethic?' and to comment that , ' Commercial pressures and heightened competition (in the universities) are testing the notion that scientific data materials should be shared." The strict adherence to "intellectual property" concepts constricts information production in other ways. The "legal" production of new intellectual products (i.e, products which do not violate other patents or copyrights) become increasingly difficult. Richard Stallman , a League for Programming Freedom founder, has gone so far as to argue that a person who enforces a copyright is "harming society as a whole both materially and spiritually . . . Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as breathing and as productive." Through sharing of ideas and code, newer and better products develop more quickly. " Arrangements to make people pay for using a program , including licensing copies,"he continues, "always incur at a tremendous cost to society through the cumbersome mechanics necessary to figure out how much (that is which programs) a person must pay for.And only a police state can enforce everyone to obey them." Under such circumstances, only large organizations , with the requisite rea l resources can bear the risk of such a development effort. Or, in the struggle to conquer markets, companies needlessly duplicate efforts to develop new technologies. in addition , the fruits of competitive research efforts are often products that are incompatible with each other, wasting learning time, complicating the flow of data, and adding to the overall economic overhead . Choosing among, say, competing incompatible database management products means that users are effectively forced into a product ghetto and handicapped when communicating with others who use different products. Once the products make it to market, information companies behind the barricade of copyright and patent protection, may demand prices far in excess of the cost of research, development, and production. This pricing prevents their wider distribution and use. Explaining why product piracy is so widespread in the Third World countries, an economic professor noted, "A typical piece of computer software costs about as much as the anual earnings of an average Chinese person. An advanced textbook would cost a middle-class Indian a month's income." At the same time , the private corporate control of information challenges the democratic tradition. Through corporate ownership of most publishing , broadcasting, telecommunications, computers, software, and so on, "the corporate voice , not surprisingly is the loudest in the land," writes Shiller. "Institutions such as public libraries and the public educational system, which have provided free and open access to information and knowledge, are being brought into the corporate sphere, either through financial dependence or the transformation of information into a salable good. In either case, the erosion of equal access to equal access to information in this country progresses." The above examples suggest that capitalism has not been entirely kind to the information age. At the same time though, one could argue, the information age will not be too kind to capitalism. For bigger problems emerge than just how to control and price goods that have a growing information content. As more and more production is replaced with digitized forms of human effort and hyperproductive science, the information economy challenges the most basic assumption of our economy. The industrial era system of capitalism is based on the notion that people work in exchange for wages. These wages are then spent to purchase back things. the circulation of goods requires money. But if the cash nexus is broken - because jobs, and hence wages, are no longer available - the circle is broken, and the system goes into a tailspin. And this is what has happened . We have the awful contradiction of an incredibly productive economy, and at the same time at least six million homeless Americans, alarming illiteracy rates, and entire sections of society consigned to a life of permanent unemployment , drugs and prison. In the Third World the situation is much worse. The typical argument against this line of reasoning is that as old industries fade into historical oblivion, new ones rise to absorb the displaced workers. But , as Tom Forester notes in High Tech Society, high technology will not absorb the numbers of people cast out of industrial manufacturing. And as for the hopelessly optimistic government figures for the future of employment in, say the software industry, even that industry has been hit with stagnation and retrenchment over the past few years. Improvements in object oriented programing techniques and computer aided software engineering (CASE) are targeted at reducing labor-costs in software development. And the globalization of the labor market, sped up by computer technology and digital telecommunications, is hitting software production as well. Edward Yourdon speculates in his new book, The Decline and Fall of the American Programmer, that the US programmer will go the way of the US auto worker of the 1970s. Citing the rise of high skilled , low wage technology centers in places like India and the former Soviet Union, the once privileged American programer must now compete with fellow engineers overseas earning a fraction of American salaries. So even for work that does not lend itself to easy automation, or remains beyond the scope of current technology, the American worker must compete in the global labor market. Corporations seeking the maximum advantage are driving down wages to the world level. (Overall wages in the US have been falling for the past fifteen years.) At the same time though, they are pushing more and more of their goods beyond the reach of the shrinking paycheck. And the unavoidable compulsion to push up return on investment demands that companies throw even more technology at production , to drive down costs further ("raise productivity"). This only makes the problem worse. Nor is this to say that there aren't plenty of things that could be done: for example , environmental reclamation, care for our aging population, education, or the million different paths to cultural exploration. It's just that these areas will not generate a profit unless they can be converted into commodities; and if so , are pulled into the vortex. The problem certainly isn't, as democrats and Republicans alike have argued in the recent election campaign, one of productivity or "national competitiveness." Productive capacity well exceeds the market. Farmers are paid not to grow food, apartments sit empty (the national vacancy rate is 7% , far exceeding the number of homeless), and almost one quarter of factory capacity lies idle. The problem is not "productivity". The problem is the inability top distribute the wealth of the economy to those who need it because the old model breaks down in the face of new technologies. A 1990 San Francisco Examiner article reported on the work of computer scientists Hans Moravecof Carnegie Melon University and Kalman A. Toth, of Silico Magnetic Intelligence Corporation. They described a future where robots and other technologies have lifted the standard of living, and will have replaced most human labor. The article then asked , with typical newspaper understatement:" But if robots indeed are able to take the place of human labor, critical questions arise . . . First , how should the wealth produced by enterprises operated with robot labor be distributed to those who don't work or who work part of the time?" In more and more neighborhoods in the U.S. this question is by no means an academic one. Communities like South Central L.A., or San Francisco's Tenderloin, or Cabrini Green, or Detroit, or hundreds of rural towns are inhabited by those expelled from production (or never even given a chance to participate). Capitalism as a system not only offers them nothing, but stands in the way of their survival. These communities are the advance guard of a future which many of us will share, if we do not resolve the "critical questions.' The notion that big changes in the way a society produces things is somehow related to social organization is common currency among economic historians. And societies historically have reconstructed themselves (not automatically, and certainly not without some struggle) to correspond to new technologies - whether it be around the development of agriculture, the water wheel, the steam engine or the programmable chip. We straddle such an historical cusp today. Our challenge is to envision and struggle for social forms that cannot only accommodate new technologies, but can also unleash them for the benefit of all. What might these social forms look like> Project Gutenberg , the Free Software Foundation, and the thousands of public domain and free software authors suggest some of the possibilities. But whatever specific shape they might take, they would emphasize cooperation, sharing and diversity, because these qualities spark more information - social wealth. They would emphasize education, because education builds the infrastructure for creating new knowledge. And they would acknowledge the requirement that the social wealth be distributed on the basis of need, because the enormously lowered cost of production eliminates scarcity and wages. "Computer: Earl Grey tea. Hot." The author wishes to thank Michael, Eric and Judy for help in putting this piece together. Jim Davis is the Western regional Director for Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. This article typed up and reprinted without permission from Lumen Times June 1993 who reprinted it with permission from Jim Davis and Intertek Volume 3.4, 13 Daffodil Lane, San Carlos, CA 94070. two issue sub is $8 a couple comments to The Incompatibility of Information and Capitalism While typing in this article it is really sinking in how much hype there is here concerning technology. After all he is a computer programmer . My reason for printing this is to put out a solid and powerful case for plagiarism and mass distribution of information. It does want to be free , not just software but all information. A large part of each Infinite Onion is plagiarized and some of it is reprinted elsewhere. That's great. There's so much information out there that selecting what one chooses to take in can be a mindboggling task. But it easily becomes a mindnumbing pastime when one lets the corporate media pick and choose what information they will feed you. I'm convinced that if the spread of information and access to creating the information put out over the media were democratized and made more accesible (omni-accesible), people would choose to take an active role in their world and their communities instead of passively and hopelessly watching it drift by. But, I also firmly don't believe in letti ng increased technology become such a big factor in our lives. Although I use this computer often and value it for its efficiency and the information I have access to, I am not reliant on it or its functions. I see a lot of the First World's infrastructure becoming more and more vulnerable as it appears to be getting more and more omnipotent because of the same technology. Our potential as humans lies in our spirits and hearts , no fucking technology can replace that part of us as much as its pushers would love that. that's all, be an animal ! ====================================================================================================================================== the end . stealing articles from here is mandatory