Milwaukee: 21 Attacks for 21 Felonies

[bcbm]

At least 21 ATMs, banks, and businesses had their locks glued or were otherwise vandalized all across Milwaukee county last Saturday night as part of a regional day of solidarity with all those facing charges stemming from the 2008 republican national convention. Targets were hit to correspond with the number of ongoing felony cases being pursued by the state.

The state cannot escape the consequences of a permanent state of repression. Targets are everywhere, and so are we.

DROP ALL THE CHARGES!



cross posted from indymedia.org

http://mke.indymedia.org/img/extlink.gif http://www.indymedia.org/fr/2008/12/917835.shtml

[apathy maybe]

You naughty little man. Don't you know that merely even posting this means that you are admitting that you did all the said attacks?

Not to mention, this just strikes me as shear RAANism. Vandalism isn't revolutionary! It's anti-worker even! (After all, workers have to clean all this mess up.)

Meh, fuck the state, vandalism is grand.

[bcbm]

I was in Chicago fool.

[Prisoner#69]

Whoever did it is a true revolutionary!

I just feel so bad, though, for all the people unable to get $1000 from the ATM to go to the Apple store and get some iPods :crying:

[KC]

This sucks about as much as the felony charges.

[Wanted Man]

Whoever did it is a true revolutionary!

I just feel so bad, though, for all the people unable to get $1000 from the ATM to go to the Apple store and get some iPods :crying:
Yeah, because only rich people use ATMs. True revolutionaries and working class people only pay with crumpled, greasy notes and the rusty old coins that they just scratched their arses with. :rolleyes:

I would be more impressed with US "insurrectionary anarchism" if their "attacks" weren't so pathetic. It would still be disagreeable, but at least the people doing it wouldn't look like complete dickholes.

[Red October]

Whoever did it is a true revolutionary!

I just feel so bad, though, for all the people unable to get $1000 from the ATM to go to the Apple store and get some iPods :crying:

Screw off, I went to the ATM last week so I can buy a fucking dinner with the money I worked for. Oh noez, digital moneyz are so bourgie!!!1!!

[bcbm]

Yeah and the working class also use banks and union bureaucracies and vote and blah blah blah so we shouldn't attack those things either, eh?


This sucks about as much as the felony charges.

Sooo, what're you doing to help?

[Red October]

Yeah and the working class also use banks and union bureaucracies and vote and blah blah blah so we shouldn't attack those things either, eh?



Sooo, what're you doing to help?

That isn't very constructive. I could shit in a bag and chuck it at a cop car as a protest, then call everyone else lazy because they didn't "do anything to help". Just because you do "something" doesn't mean you're helping anything.

If someone fucked up the ATM I usually use, then I'd either just walk the extra mile to the next one, and if that was fucked then I don't eat dinner that night. Awesome! Maybe if these people screwed them up so they gave out free money this action wouldn't seem so weak...

[Guerrilla22]

These people across the lake are always fucking up something, wasn't it an army recruiting center a little while back, actually didn't the same recruting center get hit multiple times? :lol:

[bcbm]

That isn't very constructive. I could shit in a bag and chuck it at a cop car as a protest, then call everyone else lazy because they didn't "do anything to help". Just because you do "something" doesn't mean you're helping anything.

Not that I think fucking up some ATMs and banks is a super-solid or constructive action, but I can at least recognize it for what it is in terms of solidarity and to say that it is just as fucked up as the felonies is stupid. Sure it isn't the coolest or best action but it is a form of attack against our enemies and I don't think anybody should feel bad about it happening. That it might affect working people is a non-argument... unless you think revolution is some sort of pretty business where nothing gets fucked up? Not to say this is revolution, but I'm more worried about my friends going to jail for 20 years and sending a message of resistance than worrying about somebody having some minor fucking discomfort over it.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

The problem is this isn't going to do anything for your friends.

The power of the working class needs to be unleashed to successfully struggle to free folks jailed for political activity.

History gives us some great lessons in this regard. Look into International Labor Defense (http://marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/ild.html), for one.

[Wanted Man]

Yeah and the working class also use banks and union bureaucracies and vote and blah blah blah so we shouldn't attack those things either, eh?



Sooo, what're you doing to help?
Of course it's not wrong to attack banks, union bureaucracies and voting in general. But it's really lame to just fuck up a few ATMs, just like it would be lame to graffiti the house of some union kingpin, or sabotage a few voting machines. What are you trying to prove? It's like Bart Simpson writing on the chalkboard: "At least I'm doing something to help."

At least try to do something that actually hurts those fuckers. Oh, wait, if you do that, actual working class people might get hurt, and then suddenly the "insurrectionaries" do care about the workers, instead of criticising "workerist dogma". In other words, they're chickenshit: they don't want to take any actual risk (except maybe a fine or some community service, to prove that you're hardcore :cool:), it's just some harmless fun. So just say so, instead of dressing it up politically.

"Insurrectionary anarchism" always looks stupid because it comes across as a bunch of people who just want to relive their inner child, and give some sort of political justification for it.

Yeah, I think I'll go out to the police station and piss in their mailbox, or throw some firecrackers through a bank window, and post about it on RevLeft. It's in solidarity with Greece, man. And don't you fucking criticise me, what the fuck are you doing to help? :cool:

[KC]

Not that I think fucking up some ATMs and banks is a super-solid or constructive action, but I can at least recognize it for what it is in terms of solidarity and to say that it is just as fucked up as the felonies is stupid. Sure it isn't the coolest or best action but it is a form of attack against our enemies and I don't think anybody should feel bad about it happening. That it might affect working people is a non-argument... unless you think revolution is some sort of pretty business where nothing gets fucked up? Not to say this is revolution, but I'm more worried about my friends going to jail for 20 years and sending a message of resistance than worrying about somebody having some minor fucking discomfort over it.

It's not really an "attack" on anyone. It's just vandalism they are attempting to disguise as political action. Now I like breaking stuff just as much as anyone else, but I wouldn't try calling it political.

[Pawn Power]

This sucks about as much as the felony charges.

Oh, come on the felony charges are a bit worse. Just a little bit?

[bcbm]

The problem is this isn't going to do anything for your friends.

No, but that wasn't really the point so much as showing the state that people still aren't afraid of it and their attempts to intimidate us off with scary charges won't work, or so I understand it.


The power of the working class needs to be unleashed to successfully struggle to free folks jailed for political activity.

History gives us some great lessons in this regard. Look into International Labor Defense (http://marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/ild.html), for one.

Obviously, but its a bit difficult to pull something like that off in the middle of some charges. It would've been useful to start something more coherent prior to anybody being charged but we didn't think it would come out this bad and so...


Of course it's not wrong to attack banks, union bureaucracies and voting in general. But it's really lame to just fuck up a few ATMs, just like it would be lame to graffiti the house of some union kingpin, or sabotage a few voting machines. What are you trying to prove? It's like Bart Simpson writing on the chalkboard: "At least I'm doing something to help."

Vandalism has always been a political tool and it presents a message if nothing else. Its also something easy and reproducible, allowing those in areas with a weak movement to contribute something. It certainly isn't the end-all, be-all and nobody is suggesting that.


At least try to do something that actually hurts those fuckers. Oh, wait, if you do that, actual working class people might get hurt, and then suddenly the "insurrectionaries" do care about the workers, instead of criticising "workerist dogma". In other words, they're chickenshit: they don't want to take any actual risk (except maybe a fine or some community service, to prove that you're hardcore :cool:), it's just some harmless fun. So just say so, instead of dressing it up politically.

Who said anything about insurrectionary anything here? I agree that many insurrectionary anarchists and so on focus too much on meaningless action but thats really only a small part of the scene... many have a different concept of "attack" and are working on it.


Yeah, I think I'll go out to the police station and piss in their mailbox, or throw some firecrackers through a bank window, and post about it on RevLeft. It's in solidarity with Greece, man. And don't you fucking criticise me, what the fuck are you doing to help?

Ironically those in the actual insurrection in Greece have called for exactly those types of things (and more, of course) this upcoming Saturday. What does that tell us?