Arsonist's Pra er

The horror- that we may not live We m a yn o t l i v e I To seethe walls lall from between us Between andthe world for which thesesongscry oli us -'J a h still lives- to contest, mark ofshame uponcertainfor' ilill remainan offeringuntothe dead:illegible.irrelevant ! t ' ln ofdefiancebeforequr own n into priestll'statues poses And rvewill be shaped love rvar,a lukewarm ofa To softly,safelysingthe pratses disarmed risk all we haveto risk So lestwe fall out oflust tbr life, Iet Lrs bearone hundred And if I had one hundred hearts would throrvthem all before I th# B e l o r e ' d s e l la sr n g le n eto wie ld .th e ir o we r . I o p ., -1 So lestwe fall our of love with life. lcr us give all we havft' For only a fool wouldcling to this world -i IAutumn - the leaves fell, -' Thenthe trees
Became fences and

EE.

lr ,lrl

iifn,

:;i' 'l l r 'l

#
-lJ.J
d.

fr O (a

=
bn nofre or ice, their absences srffice, The nightsnow will be long and cold,with a silence like you've nevel And you'll shakein it, cry out at it, but it will wrapyou in its spider's you'll stareinto that blankness Perhaps until it peers backintoyou And both ofyou seenothing- and it will wrapyou in its spider's That blessed the wombsthat arebarren are Blessed the branches bearno lruit are thal Blessed the riversrun dry are For we to the end ofthe world

Now rvinteris Let 'sput t h eh e a to n

o z.

,,l i

So die - die and become perish,let go and be done I With all the tangled rhreads that keepyou tied to husksoffalse hopes, tb If theseyearsstill wait for thosewho will be moremerciless than history To burn the chaffandmakean end,to makethe fields fertileonceasain Then break- brerk the skint[I-

o;;;:;;"il;;:;iliffFs

5i:::J::l::n'.'.',"'ii::![!JJ::i[i::ff' 8,, W
T*ix[fi::T::lfj:l]#:fl'#i#:frK, 4,,.
As the moonmovesthe sea,we could mote these mountains As comets drop to eanh.so mighrempires q4d ,: .j ,'.As old sunsexpiode ratherrhai rail ro,iurt7fiillb

And draw the nerves taut to play a songuponthosetlght strings Ano oraw tne out our Dlay sons uDon !.!ght Suchas this world hasneuerheird-11$[ 5l ; Let it be drrge,hymn,or dance, vomit or tears, absolving snowfallor acid ra Summerthat setsfire to the harvest, ice agethat,thawing,blossoms or cnmsonpt Pleasure death, or splendor rust,flashnood or droughtthat tumsjunglesto crust or

.l;

#
i,i:d'i, rl,iiirtli
Illl

lir

The uproarofriot, the hushofnrghtfall,or srrens announcingihid66fr-ofusatt The triumphoffailureswho foughtat all costs, despair or ofderelictdreamers who lost Silenceand space- hungersto be - momenraryetemilies .. 4y'

Letussteal andpaywith ourlivesif we mustflf :Clf,t tire Forif allthisworldisCod's, mana mere playhing laws and of and
Then why not razeit all, and in destroying sail on borrowed set win Anythingotherthanwhat we haveknown Strikethe match,takea breathnow - the hour To dancethe resistance, teachtied tongues sing: to Thi s is t heendo f t h ec a l e n d a r h e La srL o o se n ir r g r !1 . t,

Around and insideyou, the violenceyou fear-

or againstit, it's

It tbrged cordrhatbound you to thegroqnd it builtthese the walls

LET'SBURNTHEM DOWN

bur ar. s on . i i r / s a n ) , n . L u w . th e ma ,l i cious ning of another ' s house or property, or in some statutes, the burning of one's olyn house, as for revenge, to collect insurance, etc. [< A f d,rs- (.T'drd(ere) to OF < LL drsi6n- (s. drs'i6)a burninr: p tp . su ffi x) + -i D n -_ -roxl - ar lson.ist, n. b u _ rq ; - l ( u s )

Stolenfrom / inspired by:

Fight Bock: Feminist Resistanceto Male Violence- various
(l rcprinted heavily frorn this, becauseit's so awesorneand also so out ofprint and obscure).

NHENI GRO\\I UB I hJAt'I]T) BE A RADICAt GRROR.\ST

brd

Zine ,fiuArson winter 2004,#^ first communiqu6:

b",(
We havealwaysknown what it will taketo ruly change this world: love.But we've beensingingsongsand holding handsfor decades, our and enemies havehappily ignoredus - somehowit seems moral high-ground our is perhaps of little useagainst cultureof murderers thieves. a and then,our love must take a differentform. Perhaps must love the Earthand our desirefor we freedomas we love our children,parents, friends,lovers. ..unconditionally. Fiercely.Perhaps must respond the patriarchal we to conditioning that so damages all andthe near-annihilation our land baseas we would respond us of to the attemptedrape and murder of a loved one.. . Quickly. Decisively.perhaps love will finally conquer whenwe let it guideour everyaction... all

Thepeoplewhoprofit,from our pain havenames and addresses. institutionsthat hold this culture of death in place The have buildings in everycity, everytown.
In an upside-downworld of death and slavery fighting it all to the last breath is the only way to live and be free: The only true creation is the destruction of that which destroys.Better to die defendingwhat you love than live with having stood by and let the worst happen. Better to be ashesfor eternity than a slave for one more fucking second.

Womanand Nature - SusanGriffin A Language Older Than lYords - Derrick Jensen The Culture of Make Believe - Denick Jensen I4thatGoes Up (draft) - Derrick Jensen Do or Die issueI0 - various SASSelf-Defence-Barry Davies Crimethlnc Anarchist Cookbook (draft) - various Underload zine Gr eenAnarchy magazin:e Disorderly Conduct zine www.coalitionagainstcivi lization.ors Slug & Lettucezine www.infoshop.org Off The Map - Chellis Glendinning www.anarcha.org Hunter/Gather zine www.crimethinc.com Willful Disobediencezine Blood on the llattle - Bruce Elder SCUM Manifesto - Valerie Solanas Lipstick Traces- Greil Marcus Beneath the Paving Stores - various Shootthe ll/omen First- Eileen Macdonald Silent Spring - RachelCarson at lovers fromtheradical are of Some which available com "#;* H;; Press: beatinghear'tsp'ress wuw

All un-creditedauthors (and someof the creditedonestoo) ire contactable through:

l.com itsalreadyhere@wildmai
a zineabout NextuP:Reclamationof "-'-and Piactice Politics 'n" all kindsof theft. And another issue oflrson
when I feel like it.

XXX Fo r A . I wouldnr t have m a d e it without Y ou. XXX

Thanksfor readins.Now it's time for action.

The change ol

vr l n d :s

co n l n g . fo r th e b i g ch a n g e - g e t r e a d y'
is al l v e

B r a c e yo u r se l f

T h e F l r e C r e a to r fo r Ju stl ce i s a w o ke n .:Th e p o w e r o l th e fi re th e fl r e o f th e sp r r l t. a n d r n o v i n 6 a n d r e kl n d l l n g , T b e t l n e h a e co m e to cu r e th e e vl l ., r l g h t th e w r o n g s.

c a m e th e l v rOnS w a y.
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l vasIon aII w e,Y e s een 1g Sini-iia papef ana-oppiessl cn. :ii :l; r..i...iJ",,ioffi-rftftiii.{di,,;;;: . $ ;.j$ trulwehi:"'i,l9mL1,:.}?"q.:'our-an|:.erift<no*rTastri -: :i -- ;' l; ..;i iffi

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The Redfern Uprising

Insurrection in the streetsof Sydney
On thenightofFebruary 15'h, Sydney the the inner-city suburb ofRedfemexperienced probably the mostdefiantandsuccessful urbaninsurrection within recentAustialianhistory.It wascentred roundan areaknow as'TheBlock',thesiteofathrivingAboriginalcommunity. Aroundl50Aboriginalyouthengagedinadirect conflict with police, injuring around andfightingbackwaveafterwaveofoFensive tttecJps. 40, by Theresult is a political crisisthatcould, hopefully, to a slowlygrowing add waveofunmediated resistance to thathas marked.the of 2004. start Theinsurrection sparked systematic was -apital by racistbrutality thepolice by against indigenous people in tle alla, in the deathof l7-year-old Hickey.TJ died afterhe wasimpaled a fenie pole.His friendsargue TJ on thatTJwasfleeing police thetime,a charge the copsdeny. the at that Since insurrection the there been has something a political of crisis th_at gripped country, it is'unclear we canconnect has the and how with anddeepen therevoltthroughout social the body. Theroots ofthe rebellion obviously the inheritance lie in ofgenocide. invasion The ofthe Australian continent theBritishEmpire, thetransformation the landintoiasically jail, mine,andmilitary by and of a base (whichin part_remains global the function Australia of today), involved protracted a campaign extermination of against indigenous the population a longseries and of"borderwars".Thelndigenous populaiion faced extreme aftempts shatter to theirsocial bonds pushthemoffthe land.Thistook boththeformofviolence and and exclttsion, alsoforcible brrt integration liberal into andchurchinstitutions. Indeed children werestolen fromtheir families raised foster and in homes orphanages and through mostofthe nventieth century. However, countering is a hidden this history ofAboriginalresistance, whic-h in indigenous people have struggled against both theiroppression haveworked and hardtoieinforce maintain and social ind culiural links. TheBlockin Redfern sucha spotandembodies successes difficulties is the and ofthis orocess. people haveIivedon theBlockin Redfem over60 years for (notbounting thousands the . Aboriginal of years priorto invasion). Since least1968, at various state authorities have peopie ofthe Block triedto relocate out intootherareas ofsydney. Theearly1970s a waveofsquatting thearea. thetimetheBuilders saw in At Labourers Federation, whichwasquicklybecoming mosimilita;t unionin Australia, goingbeyond the was the constraints oftradeunionism wasengaging "Green and in Bans". This meant theBLFers that refused work on to projects thought they wereenvironmentally iociallydestructive triedto save or and cheap housing theinner in city.Goingwell beyond tenainoflegalitytheywouldoftendestroy workdoneby scabs made the the and alliances with_many struggle. in Indigenous people theBlockandtfieBLF andradicai in plumbers worked to transform houses a liveable the into condition, theAboriginal and Housing Company become offrcial the landlords. ofcourse This happened thecontext in ofthe waveofsocialfeirent tiratiharacterised epoch. the However, thelate1970s, BLF hadbeen by the destroyed unionmachinations manysocial by and alliances amongst multitudewerebrokenby the strategies incorporation isolation LabourFederal the of and the govemment to implement used neo-liberalism throughout l9g0s. the TheAboriginal Housing Company nowlargely is estranged thecommunity theBlock(which from of hasformed Aboriginal the Housing coalition), hasparticipatedin demolishing 70 out of the90 total and the of demolished houses thearea. in Thisis symptomatic oftire effeitiveness ofsocialdemicracy recuperating in a layer-ofofficial leadership ofoppressed groups helpwith harmonious to social management. Indeed both..sides" of official politics,TheAustralian LabourPartystategovemment, the Coalition6pposition and champion the AHC "redevelopment" (thatis,demolition) an altemative. plan as AII this alsohappens withinthecontext political ofthe changing geography ofSydney. Sydney is quicklybecoming capitalof Capital the withintheregion. Couise, of since Capital'is social a reiationshii has it no true"home", manyconcrete yet functions ofboth thefinancial workings cultural production and ofand for Empire thePacific in takeplace Sydney. in Thismeans manypeople that flockto Sydney find work(ofa total to Australian population of20+ million,approx. millionlive in thegreiterSydney 5 aiea). ihit hr" ledto a process ofde/reterritorialisation Sydney previously in poor inner-cityur"-as transfo-rmed far morea*p.nriua as ur. into locales, a surge theconstruction and in ofhigh-density powers housing muchofthe localeconomy. Block The thenstands a thornin thedevelopment as ofpotentially veryexpensive land.In thelastfew montlis economists

t { J e a v e b e e n t h r o l v n c u t o f s t a t e parliaiilr.:nt house h a n d tb a n n e d f o r 1 1 f e r l t h i - l e o u r ccmrade6 IJ]3y0d s p in t h e b o t t l e o n t h e f ' o o t p a t h out$ide. -t

I

,1
F.

;ilf:

roads lea.di'ng wo h a v L c o v e r e d \Yhatever olse v lit h r o c k s a n d !V9 have kicked and wet ched over

lVe

roadblock police cculd lift.

sffill"*r,{
fences records

to6ether".
at free
rvtttl

fitElfi-ave*S1ffii- our f avourl t o

faces of llght up.

pa
vuv ^rr +

"3i(
J '.h 411u

We h a v e r e s c u e d I ' o o d f r o m h e i n g
had foaets

hh.r#*sra@F

Eoulmet

breao

and deslsner

cli$$,

tHFk"".ll;;];;'sffisss6fi6x**rl]ou::."t5:"h:,:i-,::"i,,:t" *i":i:""?";"iil';:"i;ril; v{ehavesat for T;;ffifid ;;-i"t tr,'"'tr'ortis r16;ht juCIt :

s o -ie -c a n Publlsh our oun stuff'
value
.rffiw.--.aaD:GiltlUlr

of watching TV fVe havo clltnbe d treos lnstead declded to selze the ciay b a c h f r o : l t h e b r ' l n k . and

We refuse

their
i. I

e e l f lsh e m p t y i d e a l s 1|/etalk tual}Y s{c ln t h o di s t a n c e '

vanitYt sYstoll]$ of stYler t fucking nothing. of ewee

w 1""-- iuu shinmering;

A

fh c f'uture

-anrl

theY

/
!.1
.,"1, \
lr
[L

{,-sj-

,Fs.,fffii;

dr o .
We harre k* hug6ed on t h in parks and let each o t h n o t fo16otten
g

EF4
^1 &l

{l", ;\dti.t'ir*'
in ;reet8, know that

{: 'lg

lrarel)ou6es t\, theY are .{.fr

irilit i::iijli

We h a v e t a k e n , a p p r o p r i a t e d o r j u e t wh a t w e n e e d t o , n h e n w e n e e d t o :
we are takin our

stolen
live6 back.

Durned violent. Ttxlrrslrnclsof prolesters hit fer( $Fffi,.,, rrurr.Lr ''"'-rlresh.eeLs cha '.['ext '''"'' tal<en/appropriatecl/stoleu in ilre rnosL rnititanl "I

l'/e have stood to6ether in the o ltflcee o f Immi6ratlon lri tlr cluct tape on our :nouths holdin6 plctures of r)eon]_c.in detentlon l-n Nauru. I ,r.il it ll i; 14 p '|{.$l 1'1 r r .{ :i il , .*-,r 1 , i,.: ' u,ith sound eystems \Ve have utopped thd'city ii i anci our bodiee , dravin on the ros.cle with chelk to let us lLve there the streets 1iP end barrlcaded - i, f or t fel hours, \trhere before there were ca.rs.
i"

' [ / e h avc co n fr onted

Iiili,

l h , t-d |t

ri l t+.ti a

ri tfl ttr t' r !

,,- .- r n,r r lt

I.,r r r q,r

L- .- ,

homophobes on t h e s t re e t

v/ith a {r platter.

tho de se rt Vio have .stood i-n neuf and con$ off oul: friends, i3IF -qF-{"* drlnltlng daln together iVe havc sat up untll out 6tenc1lst cuttlnfi laughlng, tall<ing;, cryin6, of our days. scrawlln{$ on pads the Etoriea
rryru.*sr.o". --'-.ryr.#,S{hagp'

fo ge ther 6 n d p u lle
teat

havestarted predicttiat the buildingeconomy to will (to usetheir term)"overheat" and go into recession. Access to this land therefore becomes increasingly importantfor Capital. Sincethe night ofthe insurrection aftermath beentelling conceming conditionof the has the Australianpolitics. Whilst therehasbeensomesupportofthe revolt,it hasbeenunable go beyond to simple protest and symbolism matchthe insurgent and ferocityof the revoltiiself. We shouldnot be too pessimistic. Indeed willingness the ofpeople publiclysupport sympathise directconfrontation thepolice to and with with is quite advanced Australia.What it doesshowthoughis two things:the containment revoltwithin theworld for of of thepolitical andthe very realdivisionsof powerand identitythat chainthe rnultitudein Australia. Disscntin Australia(with a few exceptions) remains largelystuckin the world of the politicalprotests, petitions, Left - andrarelymatures the into a realsocialclash.We couldcontribute generally the this to effectsofneo-liberalism thdt havelargelydecomposed morecombative the sections ofthe class war. It alsoarises from the inability to develop newmethods articulate to and actualise antagonism Capital.We remain our to largely stuckin out-dated conceptions ofsocialrevolt. Theveryrealmoments ofrevoltandmicro-networks of solidaritythat do form arelargelyisolated from eachother.This is in part dueto the divisionsofpower and segmentations withintheclass. Capital restructured multitude has the withinAustralia a waythataccentuates in divisionsofpower. The nrostobvious tool is race.The machinery ofthe system workedhardto accentuate has feelings.ofracial division, through championing whiteracialist the ofa ideology, privilege by institutional and ghettoising people through multi-culturalism. ' The insunection Redfemshowed in both our potentialstrenglh our weaknesses.highlighted and It the lack of practicalsolidarityamongst multitude- something mostwork to dealwith; the question the wc remains how?How canwe avoidthe pitfallsofthe Left or a fetishfor buildingorganizations, still weave yet realsocial bonds? Thereis no clearanswer. suggestion My would be that we startfrom the perspective circulating of struggle.We work hardto spread experiences ideasof individualrevoltsthroughout class the and the more broadly,and maybein the networks create, will create morepractical we we a resonance revoltsagainst for the globalorderof Capital. - DaveAntagonism

ha 'r Ve ve ventured out viith hu n d re d s o f p o e t e rs a n d n ile s of tape, returning h o me wlt h e mp t y

bags and happlly
w,**eryw-w--*&erae-.,,.

achlnci arrns.
*i

.fo, '*

We have altererd

or

damaged blllboards

as they

stand

there
at

sile n tl y
our
r(

sc reanlng

their
..*d{F'

marke t in 6 I n e s s a g e s

cornflunities.

e have oc cupied ernpty buildlngs and iurned t h e m ln t o barrl cacled ca6tles full of creatlvity and p o s s lb ill t y .
q,. "a# rtY

mn**'ffiif:t*',ffi,," .ilfi, $ffi-rW,W;**n:

deni

cops i11 the face as t h e y d r' a g lVe liave sta.r'oci foderal tho P:!ne Gap spy b a s e ln us off tho roaci out$lde

Clashes: officer An

Late that nigbt a train pullcd into the stationby the squat. First hb heard the scrcechof straining mctal, thcn a grcrt, decp, thunderousrumbling. as if somc disrurbcd ancicnccvil was rousingitsclf in hcll: it was thc sound of forestsbeing hewcd down, lcaving muddy morasses, fcllcd recs pushed into a consuming fiery thc mourh---of Earth being split open and coal and oil sitckcd from rhc corc of thc rock and lit aflame. It rias thc soundof thc hcavcns.once & starry sea that crowncd all beiags by night, filling slowly with black and canceroussmokc. With a sNvcr, hc realized rhar this train was a lncrc dinosaur,s prchistoric beasrthat had tenorizcd its time but was nouialmost an.anachronism, not yet cxtinct; its offspring, on the othcr hand-very if current and reproducingin swarms-wcrc fu more tcrriblc. And lhe infemo that powercdthcsamonstcrs,from whcncc did it comc? Hc imagined the fust encountcrs bctwcen Ns spccicsand fire: for millcnnia, beforc thcy had lcamed to sparkit ihcmsclvcs,carly huruanshad bccn forccd to run through lighming stonns inro forcst fucs to obtain the impcrious clemcnr, had carried ii everburning with them lcst thcy losc it again for gcnerations,had bornc blazing branchcsof it ovcr Eountain chainsto prcscnt to distanrneighbori as the most priccless of gifts. Ir was a currency that rcproduccdi$cll abundanccin actioni it was a master that would scwe willingly, but only to do its own bidding. For them, those fl.aroeswere thc vcrv hcart of thc univcrse, the sun manifcstcdon canh. Now fuc was a slavc to 0rc machines,like evcryrhing clse: it wa! the genic in rhc bottlc, heating legions ofapartmcnt complexcs,waiting in missilc siios to be unleashcd upon cncmy nations.And dcspitcthis, or perhapsbecauseof it, no onc evcr saw fuc ru"rl't evenlegal to'walk down thc streeron Hallowecn holding a tcrrch! gyTol.:-i! Might it be that fuc, itself a slavc,could join in a slave rcvolr? He rurncd thiiover in his mind latc into thc nighti until thc fu56!6gms of lhe sun shjned off rhe tracks ' outridc. and ttrcn hc formcd a plan.

rt/.e frwtf't
.,,, A
'tlW

/4f

HOW TO BAKE AN

AFFINITY GROUP

stopped my streetanyrnore on and hassled the police.But all that shit is still going down right now, by i nal otofpl a c es My c i rc ums tanc es w erenots pec i al oranaberrati on.They w erei nherentf' eatures ofa culturebuilt on oppression, persecution, objectification and punishment. is fundamental remember, It to ifwe are serious aboutchangingtheseconditions, that the mechanisms that maintaintheseconditions are not abstract ideologies, are they only presentwithin the institutionalised nor bodiesof power that are the governingmanifestations ofthese ideologies, that they are alsopresent but within our perceptrons, behavioural practices,our differentiation and the a(iculation ofour own experiences.I am not trying to cultivateguilt, I am not talking aboutguilt but ratherneglect.I think insulation a dangerous is thrng.I think it resultsin particularforms ofhierarchy and prejudice.I'm not talkingaboutattempting to change the behaviour ofthe policethroughlobbyingand meetingwith their upperstrata's, nor am I sayingwe shoulddo this with govemments, if theseruling bodiesdeserve as compassion the awfuljob they for mustdo, Iargelybecause seethat as a wasteoftime and because find thosehierarchical I I relationships inherently problematic and alienating. Rather I am talking about attemptingto find ways ofconfronting and eradicating classism, the sexismand racismthat are within our own communities and movrng beyond those boundaries.one aspectofthis change must take place on the personallevel; our perceptions and relationships of with thosepeopleand things aroundus, immediately and peripherally. I may not live in a community that is leashedby a heary drug addiction anymore,you may never have, but you and me and thejunkie all havestakesin finding a way out ofthis culture;and political a and classanalysisthat still results in an abstractedand objectified junkie, indigenousperson or woman is not a sufficient way out. This is not to say that particular communities that have formed around a specific if they are to contribute to the changing ofconditions for other people as well as themselves,need to communicate and act with others who may not have the same immediate goals and interests, blt are nevertheless interested change. in Likewise it is not to say that politicalanalysisis not ofvalue, but ratherthat it loses value if it is not simultaneouslyinformed by, and resulting in dialogue with those ii presumesto be analysing. There is, I thinlq in spite of the inheritors of History, a small hope that remains. That privilege was not my only meansofescape, that it was arso the rove and support ofa community of many, is something.That I cared enough about myselfand those around me, and that those around me cared enough about themselvesand me to move beyond the perpetuationofa lifestyle that would kill us is something.That we still carc is something.That there are so many more peopre, living and acting from within conditions that I couldn't fathom, and doing it with passionand determination is even more. common intercst are illegitimate and should disband, but rather that thesecommunities,

M at eria l s : A circle of friends Trust Consensus Secrecy A good idea Plans for di{Ierent scenarios Structures to respond to unexpected scenarios A little courage(may be optional,but should be on handjust rn case.) Action! Subsequent discussion

l s t hc af f in i t y g r o u p a p c r n t a n e n (r r r ln g cn r cn t? No. an allin r l v g r o u pt si t s t r u c l r .ilcl e L r r r r r e ct' .!- \' crm u ta b lc.a sse nrtrl ccl the pool ol i utcrcstud 0 cn n l i crnr ancl pc tr us (ed o p l et b r t h c d u r a t i o n il sr \,cnp r o .je ct. cc a sscm tr le d . is groupnraychoosc(o be cl oscl l ."i l ' ol' On th s ec urit rdrc t a t e s 'h a t i s , w h a t e VcI { ) e s ) r lr vith r nth c tr o u p is n e ve rsp ol ten 'outsi de t. evenal l cr al l i ts othcr t g { i ol ac t i\ it ic sar c l o r t gc o m p l c t e cA ir a r ticL r la r n rca n r ct to g cth e r ve r a nd o\rcras au afti ni ty group.but thc l. tca o ntcntbers can also panicipatciu otlrc| uilinitv groups.breali up into snralleraflinity groups.and act oLrtsicle thc af linrt r,qro t l D t n r c t u r e . s

In my estimation therewould have beenat least30 police in bulletproofvestsand helmetswlth some guns surroundingthe house,more normal lookingpoliceand a sfeet fillcd with fancy looking rnachine lheir cars.On this occasion when they came rn. insteadof herding us into the loungeroornwhilst they searched lrouse, the they madeus put our handson our headsand walk out the front, to about l0 police aiming directlyat us, all ofus down to my l0 year old brother,and down to the streeton the edgeofthe block two houses away from ours,whilst they 'secured' our house.This I found incrediblyhumiliating, standirtg the streetafter beingwoken up and guardedby a handful ofpolice, and incrediblyridiculous on given the long history ofthe local police's relationship and unnecessary with our farnily.I was l6 by now, and had developed lnore controlledreactionto thesesort ofsituations,and dealt with the police a not with screaming and tears,but ratherjust as I saw them and the situation, entirelyridiculous,pathetic and contemptible, hatredand condemnation the police at this point of my life was almostbeyond my of my own control. The lead up to this, and the tirne during the court case of my mum's robbery chargeswere extremelyintense. Our plronewas tapped,and the police would set up roadblocks either end ofour at street,and somctimesat either end ofour block, and stop and interrogateeveryone thalwalked through. My friends received fines for defective cars, my stepfather was strip searchedin the back ofa cop car out the front ofour house.This happencd everyday,for weeks at a time over the courseofa numberof tnontlts. It was unbelievable.My brother rang up sick from school and had to be picked up. I walked up to meet him and on the way home we were stopped by a detective and a regular pig and interrogated. They contactedthe school to make sure we weren't lying. My brother dealt with this much the sameas I had a few years earlier, screaming and cursing at them before breaking down into tears. I tried to just get us hotne before they got my brother to tears, where I got angrier and more righteous. Eventually they had to let us go, after about I 5 rninutes ofschool checks and police checks. These conditions lasted a long while. My mother was sentencedto fwo years gaol this time, very good for robbery really, and we continued to live in what was a microcosmic police statefor a short while after.Whilst mum was in prison the dealingeventuallysropped.

Not long ago tonight I retumed home from a Pagesto Prisonersmeeting. This is the first thing I have done that has had any real positive relevance to prisoners.Tonight, the night before this will be published, after more than halfmy life has been lived with prisoners,within a neighbourhoodwhere prison is not strangefor a lot ofpeople there, and it is only now that I have done anlthing directly related to prison, and not much at that. I think this says a lot about me, the way I've dealt with my past and alsoour broadersocialfunctioning,including within punk and radicalcommunities. a lot ofways In I have classjumped. Now I am a white male universitystudent.Ifyou had askedme four yearsago ifl would be at university at any time in the future I would have said no way. But I am, as I have been afforded the opportunity and took it. This isn't wrong, nor do I think hypocritical, but it does say something aboutprivilege.I don't have a heroin addiction,I'm not a woman,I'm white and I no longer walk into the houseknown as the dealers'houseby the public and the police.My place in the cotnmutrity heroin usersis gone,I still see someof them aroundbut dreydon't remember of me. I'm not

t'hances .c \ c n i fv orr hav cnc v c rl rec ni nr ol v c tl rn ri l re,tti tc ti onbel arc .c r c tt tl l l ti : rs thc l rrs t arc pro\c i l that radi ci tll ert ),ouhav cev el ' c nc oul rl c red. v ou are al l c ac hl l rl t ol an al l i ni tv group--thes truc l urc ol l l ost di l coti ve1brg uerl i l l aac ti v i ti c s ' al l k i nds .A n al fi ni tv group i s s i nrpi ya c i rc l eol -l i tc rtdsrv l i o.i i nri ui np. anc u,eal . al a and eacl t()thcr's stfeu_qths . \nc s s es . l i l c hi s torrc sanc l rav i ng. rc adl c s tabl i s hc d c orrrrtrrtl i rngLrauc i a Ircal tl i l i nl cnraidvn anri c s .c t\ ()ulto ac c ourpl i s h goa)or s c ri esol goal s . s ,\l fi ni t1gro upsc an bc prac ti c al l v i nc i bl c '.l -hc _rannotbe i nl l l tl ated.bc c aus c l n.i c rrbc rs l ral c rnv c al s ol nc l hi stol r and i nti mac vu' i tl rc ac hothc r.anc no oue outs i dctbr' grtl rrp c d l i e i rtforrued thc i r pl ansrJ f n' 1-' t() t c t l acl i \ i tl cs I hcVal e rrrorc l i l c i entthdnl hc r' nosprofc s s ronal ri l rtarr orc c :the1,6ra a" ac l al lto au! thcv nccdnol pas sthc i r i l c c j s rous oughan1c i )nl pl i c atc d thl c si tui rti ou. 1)Iodesofrati l i c ati on.al l rndi ri dLurl s i i l s 'l u' y to act and rcacti nstan tl v i thuutrv ai ti ngl br orders . c t rv i th u c l eari deaol \\4rat c \pc c t l i ol n onc anothc r..-he l al to l. nrutLral a thev thL' nr nl os trnrpos s i b)e c i c nrol al i z c u adnri rati on nd rrrs tr.ri l atron are l dundc cupon nrak c s S tarIi e0l 1traS tto c api tal i s t.|as c i s t.artdc t.l ttttrrtttri s tS trtl ol Ll Ic s .1hc )' l i rtl c ti tl ttrv i t]l otttanr,neoc l l brl ti c l .arc l l \ parti ci pa ti on an afl i ni tv groupc .rnbc fi nr as rv el i as c l ' l l c ti v c .Mos t i nrportaul ' ai l . thc r urc in ol cocrci orr. and Io!al tr,. herthi rnp|ofi t. duty . oI anl ' othc rc orl l pens ati orr abs trac ti on:mi rl l ral or ntotrV atcd tl 'uta ,ttl es i rc b1' s t groupsartrtc cr.v ttlortl t thc tc l tf s as l pol w oncl cr.rvholsrl ua c lol -r' i ot i c c hav c bc c n hc l c lat ba)' b) s nral la1l i ni t1, c s caui sters shot at thc nr. c on rnodc l :dec i s i ons mac l c oi l c c ti v c l r' l.ras c d l hc nec .i s arc ou A ti rni tl ,groupsoperate thc ool rs c ns us v oi i and dcstrcs 'cvcrl i ndi v rdual nv ol v c rl .I)c nroc rati c o1esi.n rv hi c hthc nraj ol i tygc t thetr tr' ar and thc groups :i 1 a g|oup i s to l utrc ti ous nrootl tl rand hol d to . nri nori tyntust hol clthei rtonguesarc i i l al hc r)ra al -l i ni ty of ol i . togcthcl .cr cry rndi v i drralnv ol v ednl us t be s ati s fi c (lIn adv anc c ' any ac tl ou.thc nrernbc rs i group for l and ool l c c ti v cgoal sare.i v hat tl tc i r readi uc s s ri s k i s (as i rdi r r.l ual s establ i shegctheru 4ratthei r pers onal thcl, lirfrlulatc a ol'cach othcr are 'l-hescnrattcrsdctcnnntccl. and as a group). and what their expectatror)s pl au. . and S i nceacti ons l tuati ons al r,r' a!s are unprc di c tabl e pl ansral c h c onrcotTasunti c i patc cilurl l l i ni tr group usual l \ hasa dual approac h prepari ng br thes e. thc one hand.pl ansafc nl ade l i rr di l l e:.ent l to On o/' ve'll rnlbrnt eoch r.tthet .\'nreottsrutcl.stt ttclt to ltlun I), il )'tnatLn.s il bt scenarios: .'l happetts. arc is corntnLtntcation iapossible, we ll reconvettc,tt .tite Z at Q o clOtk. Orr thc othcr hand. st|Ltcturcs lllrl lr'l ir atc pl accthat ra,rlbc us efulc v en i fw hat happens s c nrbl es l rc nonc o1' thci nragi ned c c rti rri osntentalt' ol c s s ct (such as t\\,c)-\\/a), radios,ol coclcdphraseslbt conr cr ing scer systenrs divided up. gomnrunications (l s c . al i nforrnati on i nstruc ti ons oud)are c s l abl i s hc d. nerals trategi es br nrarntai ni ng onrpos urck c c pi rtg.i ght or ec ex ; . ofone arrol hern conl us i ng i env i l onmc nl sor bl oc l i i ngpol rc cc hargc sto uanrcs ()nrc antpl esal c prc l )l fc d. . Aficr an acliolt. ll routcs are chartcd.lcgal support is rcadredirr cascanl,onegcts an'estcd. enlergenc),escape w gro . shl cw d affi ni t.v up w i l l mec t (agai n.i f uc c es s aryi 'n a s ec urcl oc ati on)todi s c us s hat \\' ontrv c l l .uhat could have gone better,and what conrssncxt. ai A n al 'fi ni tyg roupans w efs i ts el l ' al one-thi s i s onc ol ' i ts l i rc ats trc ngthsA l f i ni tl grorrps e rt,rt to . ac pl the s by bLrl tl cned the pro c edural otoc olol ' otherorgaui z atrons , di tfi c Lrl ti co1' rc ac l ti ng oordaurongs tfi ul gc rs of' to or l argernunrtrel s ' peopl e, the l i mrtati ous ans rv eri ng a body not url nc di atc l vj nl oh,c d i n thc ac ti on. ol or n,i A t thc si i ntetrni c..i us as tho mel nbers ' an al ' (i ni ti ,group tri v c tbr c ons c ns us th eac l tother.eac hafl i ni ty " t o{ s . groupsl i oul dstrrvel br a s i ni i l arl yc ons i dera(e l atrons hi p i th tx hc l i ndi v i dual s rc w and groul .rs -or' at tl tc v c r\/ r r l east, courpl eurc nt c to others 'appl oac hes ,l rc rc r' cpos s i bl e. v c n i fthes c ol hersdo not l c c oeni z cthc V al ucol ' I ol thei r contri buti on. )c opl e l roul dbc thri l l c d aboutthc parti c i pati on i ntc rv enl i on afl l rtrtr' s l rLrl )\ rol s or groirp modcl. anclso contc Loappl), resentor ftar thcm: thel,slrould conreto rcoogniz-o \/ahleo1'thcaflinit_vIl]c it theurselves, lionr seeingit succeed arld liolrl bene{rtirtglront thirt sLlccess. is callccla clLrstcr'. An al'finity group cali work tosethcrl,ith other affinitv eloups. in r.vhat sonretinrcs 'l -hccl usterl 'ornrati on rv a enabl es l argernunrbc lot' i ndi v i dual s ai .)t i th thc s anrcadv antages s rngl ca11tni tr.' a to gror"qr ahcadol'tinrc. rltlrcl.tl.xur called lbr. represenlalives ofeach group cau r1rcol has. lfspeed or secrocy'is s the the enti l etyofal l groups :i fc oordi nati oni s ofl he c s s c l l c e, groupsor repfc s ontati v cc au anangcnrc l hods aflinitt' through the heatofthe action. O\/er yearsolcollaborating togcthcr. drll'cr.ent lor ctrnrurunicating groups can conreto know eachotlrer as rvcll as they l(now thcmselves. and beconreaccordinglvmorc funable and capabletogether. corrr When severalclustersofaffirrity groups necd to coordinateespeoiallvnrassiveactions--lbr a [rig for meeti rtg. thi s author' shuurtrl e x peri enc cthc In c . denrol rstrati on. ex ampl e-they oanhol d a s l l ok c s -c ounc i l arc iu nrost effective. constructivespokes-councils thosethat linrit tlienlselvcsto ploviding a lcrrLrnr r,r,hich groupsand c l us ters an i nl ' onr one anothei(to \\hal e\' !' r' L-\t!-ul ui s c )of' thc i r i ntc ntl ons . ls c di fferentafl ni t.v', i i ratherthan sceki ngto di rec tac ti v i q,or di c tatepri nc i pl esfor al l . S uc hl l r unw i s l dv l ' ornrats i l l -s ui tecto l are i l engthydi scussi on.c t al onedebal c . and rv hatc v er dec i s rons nrade. l i nri tati ons nrpos c d. ,s uc h or by a ' l ' hc i ndc pc ndc nc anc i u,i l tl c s pontauei tr spokes-councrl ll i nev i tabl )' tai to reprc s c nt rc u,i s hes al li nv oh.,ed. o1' pror"ides ouf grcatcstadvanta.aes conrbatu'rtlr an cncnrr that has all thc othcr are in that decentralization arryu'a-v-rvhysacrifi cc these'? advantages,

'l hc a f ' l ' i n i t r r o u pi s n o t tln l_ a ve h iclc fb r ch a n g in gth e ' ,vo r ld -l i ke any good anarchi st practi cc. t i s i g v irlsoa nrodel lirr altenrativcrvorlds.and a seeclltonr rvlrich such rvorlds can glorv. ln an anafchistecoltont\'. ofrvorker drones.aflinilv clccisions not nradc by boardsof'difectors.nor taskscanied out lry nrasses arc lndeed.the affinitr groups.crrclcso1'liiends'"vho sirarccorlrnou nccdsand interests, dccide and act togethcr'. group/ c lu: j t e r i s p o k c s - c o u u oo d e lis sir .n p ly n o tlr e r ca n r a tio n f th e communcs dw otket.'s ari counci l s n r il a in o ( rv hielr{orm e dt h e L r a r : l i b o n ec a r lie r su cce ssftllh o r ve ve r o r t- live d) l sh anarcl ti stevol uti ons. of essenti alY otl . Not o n l y i s t h e a l f i n i t y glo u p th e b e st l' o n r a t tir r g e ttin gth in g sdone.rt s practi cal l y shoulclalrviivsilttcud atlv cvent that might nrovc crciting in an affiuitv grouD-nol to mention the onesthat w \\'o n r Lreolh c r r v i s eW i t h o u th str u e tu r c a t e n co u r a g eid ca sto lkr $ ' into acti on,$,i thotl tl i i sncl s i tl i w horn l th . s cut to brairrstorrrr barlstornrand bLrildup r1r(nnentunr. arc paralvzecl. clffliont rnuoh of vour o,'vn ancl 1,ou ' iv p ot c nt ial: it l rt h e n r . v - o u c n r u ltip lie cl v tcn . o r te r lth o u sa n cllNcve r doLrbt b that a snral lgroupol 'thoughti ul . _ ar "it' pc S t a conrnrit t c c i o p l eo a no h a n g c h c r vo r lcl." s M a r g a r e tM o a cln ' r ' tr tc: s the onl y thi ng that cvcr has.'' he rvas the rv r o rcl Lrring. l r c t l r cs h ck n c r vt h e .ja r e o n r n o t. to a ffin ity g r o u p s.l l cve r y i ndi vi duali n even,acti ouagai nst rvould be over as stiitcand sratusquo particlpatecl part ol'a tight-l(nrt.dedicatcdaffinit-vgroup. tliis revolLrtion y l l l a lc \ \ ' s lt () n c a r s . \"iru clon'tneecl fincla lcrolutionary organizationto.join to get active-i/or-r and lour liiends alreadv to what s golng to hafpcn. or r'vhynothing's conrpriscrrncl 'l oqether. vciuoan changcthc rvorlcl.Stop rvonclcring punl ( protest, v sh h appc nirrg.n . ls t a r tc l e c i d i n g h at Itll lu p p e n .D< tn ' t.ittst o u ,u p a t the next denronstrati on. a Get ir sl r orv t raf 'lic . j a no,r d a v a t \ . v o rl( l p a ssr ve e cta ton lo d e .\\a itin g t0 b e tol d w hat to do or entenai ned. i n . t sp r orazyicleas about \vhat should happenat thescevents-and of maliing those ideasrealityl the hatritol tracling or cl r\ n al l i n i t v g r o u pc o u l c l e a se r vin g cle ,a b icyclc n r 0 in te n a nce l ecti ve. a tral 'el i r.tg ou'n cir ool b troLrpe c oL r l c l c o u r e t o g e t h er lb fcp u lp o sco fsta r tillg a Io ca lch a p te ro1'IroodN otB ombs.di soovennghorv i1 th througha cal cftrl l t, l out to trulr ir hic v c l ei n t o a r e c o r dp l avcr .o r lb r cin s a r n u ltin a tio n aco r p o r a ti on of busi ness gardens, p r coni nruni ty bttmed orc llc s t f lt c d r o g r a no f s a b o t r g c r \ l lin itl g lo u p sh a !c p la u tcda n d d e f'cnded progranrsand rvildcatstrikes, builclings. clon,uancibuilt a:id sqrLattcd organizedueighborhoodchilclcare g r r i ndir rdualal i r n i t - v r o L r prs u t i n e lvin itr a te e vo lu tr o n sn th e visu a la n s anclpopul armusi c.Y our favol i te o of the bancf-thcl rvcrc an alflnitv group lt u,asan affinitl group that inventccl airplane.Anotltcr. corrtposed w n in Ad cn su d i s grurrt lcN i e t z s r . : h c t h u s i a sts.e a r .lv cce e d ccl a ssa ssin zr tin q ol ph H i tl er duri ugthe secorrd orl d d \\/ar.

problems and whetherthey helpedus out, and how funny it would havebeenifthey did. Similar things Once during happened our street, criticismwas levelledat us kids for beingthe offspringof users. on as a Halloweentrick or treatmy youngerbrothers and sistersknockedon the door ofa houseup the street, and were told to leavewithout lolliesas they didn't deserveany and were only going to end up like their parents. This cdused a greatamountofanger and to decideto smashtheir windows with rocks.I me neverdid though, Once againthe expectation ofthese conditionsofliving comingto a changefell away as the traffic continued through our house.In fact the period ofthe next three yearswas the worst, bcithat homeand in the conditionsoft[e dealinghierarchyofwhich I knew nothingat the time. Again the role ofthe prisonas a politicaland economicinstitutionwas apparent. Nothing in our conditionshad changed in terms ofeither ofmy parents' habit, and they did try - my mum spent 3 months in a real rehab centre in between sentences. Instead,my stepfatherwent to prison with responsibility for the court costs as well as the debt ofwhat he had illegally acquired how ever many years before. These debts were still being paid offthis year, nearly ten years after the charges. In someinstances In supplyingheroin can be a reasonably lucrativepractice. our case however, the habit ofusing got in the way ofprofit, and led to some pretty serioustrouble. The habit of using that my parentshad meant that they realistically shot up what profit they would have made throughsellingin the first place.My mum had immenseguilt over this, and aftempted make up for it to as bestshecould.This meanta greatdeal of shoplifting,and spendingmoney- that in realitybelonged to someone the dealinghierarchy on her children.On my sister'sbirthdayshe was gettingdinner up -

Let.live .girls ancl ho1,.1 ,,,un,trho are resolre(l to the lightning of'actio,1rather thdn the cluiel ttgon, of .trrrt'bal Ji'ont tlrul tnoment. despair ends crncl tacti(s hegin.

for the party, which was a chicken from a chicken shop. She had no money so parked out the front, ordered and ran out and drove off with my sister and friends in the car. This is a minor, minor example of the lengths she would go to meetour at times unreasonable demands. yrell offduring this time. We would fluctuatebetween being really quite poor and reasonably This was due to mum spending this for moneyshewas meantto give to her dealeron us, Shemaintained quite a while, but it eventually caughther up. The dealinghad intensified a ridiculouslevel to throughout this period,and the spending ofthe moneyshe was gettingput her into debt with the dealers basedin Sydneywhom she had been working for. She was well respectedin this circle, and the head dealerwould buy us kids presents and stuff, but this relationship prettyquickly deteriorated the debt as accumulated. The resultofthis was that mum had continuedsellingbut gottenfurtherand further in debt to the point where she was being threatenedby people higher up than her. A meansto recti! this situationwas obviouslydesperate. The meansshe cameup with was to rob banks.I think she successfullyrobbed four banks; this relieved the pressurefrom those she worked for, but not the police. I don't know much detail about how she went about it. I know the chargeswere dropped from armed robberyto just robbery. This had to do with the inabilityof the policeto provetherewas a weapon beyondthe allusionto it. At this point policesurveillance reached level that I found quite unbelievable. a We were raideda numkr of timesdue to this. On one occasion, which was by t'arthe worst the police brought what must have been nearly a whole swat team At about 7am both our front and back yards

AUTONOMY,COMRADERIE,ENGAGEMENTALL POWER THE AFF'INITYGROUPS! TO

were full ofpolice, as were all the surrounding yards.This time they were heavilyarmedand protected.

people in the house lf it has not neighbourhoodwith only my mother and myself as the dominant I was a terrified child and early adolescent becomeapparentyet I will boldly statethat in many regards w it hregard s t o v i o l e n c e , j u d g e m e n ta n d th e p o lice _ a n d th iso n lyg o tw orsew hi l stmystepfatherw astn pris on. ourn e i g h b o u r h o o d w a svio le n tin so m e wa ys,wh ich fu e lle d myfear,andl hadagoodenough unders t and i n g t o k n o w t h a t p e o p le in n e e d ' in clu d in g a d d ictio n ,witlandi nmanycasesshoul d,dow hat i s nec es s ar y t o m e e t t h a t n e e d .In m yh e a d th ism e a n tth a twe live d in dangerofbei ngrai dednotonl yby th epolic eb u t a l s o d e s p e r a t e h e r o in a d d ictswh o co u ld n ' tp a y' In so mew aysl thi nkl w asri ghtasw edi d sp ends om e n i g h t s i n f e a r , a s t b r e xa m p le ,o n e tim e th e ke yswe n tm issi ngfromi nsi dethehousedurtng they had been taken for a particular end' lt was one ofthe busier periods oftraffrc, leading us to assume o nc eagain , h o w e v e r , t h e p o l rce wh o ca u se d th e m o sttr o u b le .T h e oneexpE i enceofthepol i cethat ch angedm y b e h a v i o u r f o r a b o u tth e n e xtth r e e ye a r so ccu n e d d u r ingthi sti me.Mumhadconti nugdto us eanddea l w h i s t m y s t e p f - a th e r wa sa wa yso th e p o lice a tte n tio n hadbeenmai ntai ned,andthei r gaol' and with more seriousconditions had annoyanceat not managlng to get both my parents in in my mother's room, all six of us At about increased.one morning before school we were all sleeping was in that early morning woken-up 5:30am we were all awoken to huge banging sounds.Everyone l tw assoonapparentthati t daz e, s oit t o o k a c o u p l e o f s e co n d sto r e g iste r wh a te xa ctlywa sg o ingon police,open up!" had sunk in. But as we were all asleep was the police.The by now familiar"it's the b ec aus et h e s u n h a d n , t c o m eu p ye t,we d id n ' th e a r th e m .Aswe d id n'tgetuptohumbl yl etthemi n' they proc e e d e d t o t a k e a s l e d g e h a m m e r to th e b a ckd o o r a n d b r e a kthei rw ayi n.soat5:30w eaw aketo processwhat is going on and actually our housebeing broken into by the pigs, as we try to cognitively house.This ofcourse filled us all with an let them in before they completely destroy the back ofour I was never able to contain my emotlons immenseamount of anger, with much abuseof the police. of it yet. I usually ended up yelling and , whilst we were raided, and this had been the worst experience This was no and embarrassment' screamingat them before l startedto cry with anger, hopelessness ex c ept ion , o n l y a l t t t l e w o r s e .Pa r to fth e r e a So n wh yth iswa swo r se,notonl yi nthei rbehavi our'but als oint erm s o f p o s s i b l e r e p er cu ssio n s,wa sth a tifth e ych a r g e d m umw i thsomethi ngthatw oul dseeher into gaol, then both our parentswould be in gaol' F o l l o w i n g t h i s l w asu n a b le to sle e p th r o u g h th e m o r n in gs.Foraboutthenextthreeyears, nearly ev e r y d a y , I w o u l d w a ke u p with th e su n a n d co n tin u a llylo o k outmybedroomw i ndow w henl not to, I could not stop doing it, even after my heard a car to see if it was the police. As much as I tried in the past' my main method of dealing with all stepfathercame home lt continued. As had been the case no matter how much I persistedwith this it this was denial. It had however becomemore apparentthat and most everyoneknew at school' and was futile and pointless rn terms of my own development' ev ery one o n m y s t r e e t k n e w,a n yva y' T h e b e stlh a d m a n a g e d wa stobeabl etotal kabouti tw i thsome somewhatconnectedanFvay, like my peopleoutside my immedlate group of three friends. These were friend whose dad sometimescame to buy off my parents' A s m o r e p e o p l e c a m e to kn o wa b o u tm ylife ,Ib e ca m e th efocal poi ntforsomeofthei r jok es . P e o p l e r v o u l d m a k e j o ke sa b o u tm yh a vin g d r u g a d d icte d a nddeal i ngparentsw how enttogaol . Army had for families dealing with drug They also madejokes about the programsthe Salvation

Industrial Capitalism continued has civilisation's : age-old attack on the wild and free-resulting in i unparalleled biological cultural and meltdown. The i decimation wild peoples of (cultural meltdown) and i the devastation ecological (biological i of diversity meltdown) now reaching are trulyapocalyptic r proportions. : . BiologicalMeltdown : "lndeed, the indications that we are all are i standing the opening at phaseof a mass extinction : eventthat will be comparable scaleto the fjve in i greatextinction episodes that havetaken.place in I the historyof life on earth,the most recentbeing ; the loss of the dinosaurs some 65 million years i ago. Impending extinctionrates are at least four ' ordersof nragnitude than is foundin the fossil record. Tnat tneansin the orderof 1O,OOO tinres greater, frightening a prospect say the least.lf to ,

allowed continue currentextinction to the episode, couldwell eliminate between third and two thirds a of all species... lwithinthis] century."l 0ne third to two thirdsof all specieson earthGONE! Stop a while,attemptto conceptuatise the magnitude the moment. of Nothing the historyof humankind in has prepared for this appalling us event,but OUR generation probably will witnessthe djsappearance of a third to one half of the earth's rich and sub|e forms of life, whichhavebeenevolving billions for o f ye a r s.In th e e a r l y1 9 9 0 s M i ch a eSo u l e , l founder the Society Conservatron of for Biology, madethis chilling assessment the status of the of e a r th 'sb i o sp h e r e : "Forthe first time in hundreds millionof vears of signrfrcant evorutto'lary cha'lgetn Inost htgl.ter o r g a n r sm ss co n r i n g a scr e e ch i nh a l t... i to g Vertebrate evolution may be at an end."2Souleis

! I ; ; t ! | 'rt 1 , : ha l t h u n t a n i l y 3 ,.l r :i rL lD ttr,.f- ,,l llr c

has and profound {.rnvtronrrent been50 systematic pr In a t : t has halte dtl"esarrena tur al oc es s eshat t we everything knowinto existence, havebrought our an i n c l u c iing veryb od ies d rrin ds .

A CriticalMoment

from prisonhowever,she returnedto changeofopinion) raisingfive childrenetc. Upon her release church only to receive suchjudgement and treatnent that causedher to leave that church, tlre wrath of' god'sjudgementnot suflicing for thesesoul-saving practitioners. When she came home it seemedas though things would be 'normal' for once, and were for a sociowhile, but not long.The allegedfunctionofprison as socialrehabcentrenotwithstanding, lead of unchanged, economicconditions and an addict with addict acquaintances back to the Iifestyle user/dealerfor my mum and stepfather.The continuation ofdealing obviously meantthe contrnuationof police surveillanceand scrutiny. The next three years saw an increasein dealing and police intervention. This meant an increasein my communication with both usersand cops, and as I was getting older my perceptionsofthese situationsslowly becameclearer.The formulations ofmy perceptionsand the judgementsI made were clear and simple from the start.No matter how much I hated the subsequent traffic through our house and the implications of it, no matter how pathetic I found someofthe people that camethrough our house,no matter how much I hated my parentsusing and going on the nod and going to gaol, I nevertheless respectedthem and a number ofthe usersI met as people.The feeling that this situation was at leasthuman, as well as painful, sorrowful and a strugglefor everyone involved gave it a reality tha! whilst it could never really be enjoyed, must at least be understoodin as many ways as it could. On the other hand the intervention ofthe police into our spacealways felt like an invasion of sorts.I found every police ofiicer and detective absolutelypathetic and loathsome.I found, even from an early age, their methodsofdealing with our situation, which I soon extendedto their treatmentofother situations,to be violent, problematic and as a contributing causeto the perpetuationofaddiction and poverty. Later as my political and classanalysisdevelopedthis made completesense,however at ten or so and dealing for the first time with an overt intervention from the state into my life, this was a little harder to fathom. The police continued to searchour house in searchofdrugs and a meansto put my parentsin gaol properly. After a number ofunsuccessful raids ofour house they came up with evidenceworthy of another gaol sentenccAlthough this was not directly related to drugs, they found past documentsof income that showed that my stepfatherhad been working and on the dole at the sametime, this ofcourse I constitutesincome fraud, and being a member ofthe lower-working class,results in a gaol sentence. was fourteen when my stepfatherwent to gaol. After three years of increaseddealing and unsuccessful attemptsat imprisonmentby the police, they finally managedto get a nine-month sentencehanded down. I am not entirely sure how my parentsalways avoided mor6 frequent and longer gaol sentences, I know that when they did get caught for something one ofthem would take all the blame but so one could stay at home. During the legal proceedingsthis time around, we were all informed as to what was going on, and what the likely outcome would be. As such, despite this all being painful we were nonetheless better preparedfor it. I remembervisiting him in the hplding cell in Nowra the night he was sentenced

Meltdown Cultural
, 1 1 s ten"pt r nwh en'a cin gth rss c aleof doomt o g ec a th i n kof human ity s an intrin sic ally oc idal let A or g a nrsm. po xon th e ea rth.Thishowev er s us and our society-cityculture-off the hook. havedeveloped cultures a Numerous and s wit su s t ainable ha rmon iourela t ions hip h t heir to the the !Kung, surroundings: Mbuti,the Penan, chosenot to namebut a few.Thesesocieties nature.In the larger historyof dominate they are the norm and we are the humankind, exception. periphery, someof thesewild 0n civilisation's peoples on. Theirveryexistence a serious is live simplyin the fact that they threatto city culture; outsideour world. showthat there is a reality the Defending their autonomy-and landof which rheyare a part, theyare the best protectors of someof the earth'swridest olaces. and Justas wild natureis beingdenuded domesticated, too is wild humanity. This century so will probably the last for manycultures be ages old.Civilisation aimsto wipeout their otherworlds. Menof moneyand men of god conspire. these lf tribesare wipedout by our culture, will be the it firsttrmein mlilions yearsthat no human of communities with nature. havelivedin harmony gold,god and diseases Guns, couldmake Homo Sapiens extinctin our lifetime. whenthe last For gathererhunters hunted are down,all that will be leftof humanity be in the entrails will of Levlathan-having potential life but unliving. for the 'Land, the motherearthfrom whichwe are born a n dt o w hichwe d ie, on wh omo ur liv esdepend, lnrough whichour spiritual waysremainintact.To 'nrpose cnanges this ancient on orderwouldserve :o destroy dignity our and identity lndigenous as teople.Without the land,the peoples are lost. peooles land is lost.'the '\itnoutthe Indigenous ueclaration lndigenous of Peoples, 1987

It is in this context that we must see oursetves. : \ ot s r m p|y aS r e b e | s a g a i n S t e m p i r e , | i k e S o m a n y Defore but rebetsat the most critical r,s, moment n hum anhis to r y . Ourgeneration likelysee the decimation will of rernaininB ecoiogical/anarchjc cultures and the naemorrhaging of the earth'slife supportsystems. reformist strategies are relevantbut (r)evolution is not onlvunlikelv but a so takestime.Thts has oftenbeenacknowledgeo Ly radicals the past, in Goldman her last in .Emma . v r o[ ' I n a t S n e0 e l r e v e d n a r c n ya S t O O ] r a / edr 3
hlr oe an t( lc^ for hc r adF tO m ov e tO i n One SteO.

She lookedto futuregenerations, seeingin them hopefor the spring. Her feeiings echothat of manv overthe aeons.Looking back.an example arises from the ashesand war cries of arsonand insurrection early19th centuryEngland. in One rebelanthemsungwith gusto at the time resonates. ''A hundred years,a thousand years, We'remarching the road. on Thegoingisn't easyyet. We'vegot a heavyload The way is blindwith bloodand sweat, And deathsingsin our ears. But time is marching our side. on We will defeatthe years.'3 Theyfought,but like many beforeand after, land.Yettheytook failedto get to the promised solacein believing their path was rightand others wouldfollow, reaching wheretheyhad not.Their futureof possibility. in beliefin an almostendless progressive marchof humanity the unswerving through and with time gavehopeto the weary. 'tWe no longer havethat luxury. Today on time is not marching our side.but We againstus. We must fightall the faster. cannot pass the gauntlet defending wildto unborn the of generations. is that wildnessand thoseunborn lt generations are in periltoday. Whatwe do in that our lives,in this moment,is of utmostimportance. has of Forno othergeneration the weight the futurerestedso heavily the present. on

Ihe E arth ls

not our6 .

and going home without him. My indoctrination to the idea of men as protectorsand providers became very apparent this time, ifnot well or at all analysed, I found myselfscared living in our at of as

lV e are of the B arth.

would always,without any deviation,exceptingone ofthe more friendly peoplewho liked or cared aboutus kids, go alongtheselines,"hey is your mum or dad there?"'l,eah,I'lljust get them", and then one ofus yelling out or makingthe extra effort to walk to their room to get them up or to pick up the phonein their room when therewas one. This would happeneveryday, throughuntil the evening.The mornings before school were thus characterisedby the chaos ofgetting {ive kids ready for the day, my parentsneeding to get to the methadoneclinic and the people who would come around this early to score.There were times, sometimesbefore school but mainly on weekends,where I think my parents' responsibilityand respectfor our space in the house slipped. These were the times when the kitchen might be taken up by peopleusing, whilst we were all still around and using the spaceofthe house.The samething happenedwith the bathroorn,and it was not that uncommon for one of us to walk into these rooms and see people preparing needlesand so on. This made me more angry than usual when it would take place when I or my sistersand brothers had friends over; I still had a huge feeling of sharnerather than understandingat this point. Not that long after moving to this house was the first police raid that I remember.It happened while I was at school, so when I came home my mum was at the police station.At this point not all my siblings were at school, so the younger ones and my stepfatherfilled me in. The housewas fairly tom apart, not broken,just all our shit everywhere. This fair freaked me out, and one ofmy major concerns, after that ofwhether mum was going to come home and the possiblerepercussions was, again, whether I could avoid public scrutinyover this. In spiteofthe raid the dealingdidn't stop. One of the greatershocks of my life came as a result and not long after this police visit. My parentsrnust have decided that it was best not to tell any of us what was going on with legal proceedings.This was probably becausethey thought we were too young to understand,and were also probably hoping nothing would happen.But as it happenedI came home from school one afternoon with my sister to find thaf our mum had gone to gaol. She had received a three-monthsentencefor the supply of heroin. Admittedly, three months isn't really that long, but at ten years of age it felt like a big deal to me. The visits to the prison were somewhatscary and felt like they were somehowbyond reality. The change in the proximity of prisons in my life from television cop shows,the news and movies, to visiting my mum there was a bit shocking. We rarely owned a car, so we mainly caught the train and the bus. The trips there were always lonely despite being with the rest of my family, and leaving to go home was even worse. My method of dealing with theseissueswas still denial. On the first day back at school after this had happenedI was asked by some people ifmy mum had gone to prison, as they heard it on the radio, but Ijust said no she hadn't, it must have been someoneelse. The publicity ofthese events always frightened me, as I continued to hope they would go away, rather than confront them. The covers ofnewspapers and small TV coverage ofthis small event unsettledme no end. I did however learn something ofcompassion, support'and understanding,and their position in the church during this period of my life. My mother was a faithful Christian and attendedchurch regularly. The father ofthe church had actually said she was a model mother (interestingly,a newspaperheadline read Model Mother Gaoled for Drugs, running the original commentsby the priest, and subsequent

AgainstCivilization
. . . and its consequences.
I.can'twrite a righteous manifesto, furiouslyyet eloquently denouncing everyevil civilization and inciting readers take up armsandjoin the anariho-prirnitiviit struggle. to -of Not today. Sometimes feel like I don't havethe right or something.I know very well that it's I a conditioned response think to myself'Calling for the destruction to ofcivilization? How dareyoul what right do you haveto call into question you've everknown?' (what could all be morecivilizedthanthe inability to question civilization?), thardoesn'tmakelr al.ly but easier shake. mean,I'm just a white boy who fell into anarchist to I politicsthroughpunk rock' Sure,nowadays anarchist the politicsmeana hell ofa lot moreto me than tf,epunk rock, but I still live the easysubculture lifesfyle.I don't know militant,desperate struggle. ca.n't I intellectualizeand dazzleyou with cutting-edge theories.I haveno real conneciio-n the to naturalworld, havinglived in urban/cityenvironments sinceI was an adolescent... But I know how I feel.And while I'm still questioning discovering at I will and wh do, I know what I won't do. I-won't shutup. I won't stop questioning. won't stip wanting I somethingmore.I won't shuffle inconvenientfacts- like the inherenlly destructiveand completely unsustainable natureof industrialism ofall kinds- to the backofmy brain,or out of it entirely. I won't stop loving, or caring. Two nights ago,I had a dreamthat horrified me more than any other I've ever had. It was long and complicated, it culminated scenes will neverfoiget as long as I live. but in I Everybodyhad beenconscriptedinto the a'ny. Everybody,apparently, i*r.pt ,'., It was my job to observe. was assignedto a General,who was to showme what had become I ofa new batchofPrivates- peersofmine who hadjust beenforcedtojoin up. He took me from placeto place- all ofthem military settings, suchas insidea tank,or in the rniddleofa war zone- to introduceme to the Privatesone by one. Every single one ofthem had taken a gun, put it insidetheir mouths,and pulled the trigger. The Generil was unfazedbv this he seemed expectit. But therewas sornethingelse:not one of the Privateshad diei. 'l-hevwere to all still alive, andconscious; bullet, in eachand every case,having freakishly ripped the throughtheir heads without havingkilled them,leavingthem insteadlnagony,unableto call for help, and unableto lift the gun again and put themselves of theiniir.rv. Th"r" ** out always blood and brains and gore. Everywhere.Dripping down the wall they were slumped against,and pooling beneaththem. The inside ofthe Privates' skulls were frequentlyvisible. The Generalwould crouch down next to them, and speakto them gently, lovingly. He would tell them that they had every reasonto live. He would tell them that life is beauiiiul. ttrat hardshipsand despairwere worth strugglingthrough, because was all there was, zurd life despairwas part of living. Sometimes woutd take their face in his hands,in order ro stare he deeply into their eyesas he was speakingto them. Eventually,they would all comearoundto what he was saying.Understanding would breali like dawn acrosstheir faces,and they would smile slightly and croak,"l want to live". Then the Generalwould tell them that it was too late,that they had madethe ultimate mistakein attemptingto destroythemselves, and now there was no going back. He would impressupon them savagelythat death is the end - that nothing_awaited them but a gaping, empty void. Every single piivate understood this, and sobbedbitterly, with indescribable regretand misery, as they died. The Generalwould stand and look contemptuously down at the broken,lifelessbeingat his feet, soakedin blood and teaxs, and then take me with him to repeatthe process elsewhere.

I lived throughthis scene dozentimesor morethat night. Sufficeto say I awoke a deeply disturbedand desperate meaning.But the dream had upsetme and traumatizedme for in such a way that I could barely standto think about it, let alone draw out deep-seated meaningfrom it. Well now I have describedit for you, in as much detail as I could bear. Here is what I think it means. We arekilling ourselves. our senseless savage In and destruction ofthe planet, rvhichwe are,needless say,completelyreliantupon,and in our socialand economic to systems that allow us nothingbut polite slavery, areengaged suicideon the installment we in plan. I think the dreamis a clear indication that I have finally taken into my being the understanding that civilization is killing theplanet, that civilization is killing us. The dreamalso spells out bluntly a fear that accompanies this understanding: the fear that we will not seethe error of our ways until it is too late. More than that, thatperhaps it is already too late. Perhapswe have driven one too many species extinct; or clear-cuta million too many trees,or introduced a hundredthousandtoo many poisonsto the natural world, dnd the trigger has beenpulled. The humyn race is about to go extinct, and may take the entirenaturalworld with it. Now we'rejust slumpedagainst wall, and it doesn'tmatter the ifrve cometo understand what has happened not - it's too late and we're deadanyrvay. or I don't vocalize this fear nearly as much as I vocalize my understandingabout how inherently and catastrophically civilization is. Partlybecause a deep-seated it's destructive fear,and I've beentaughtso well not to discussuchthings.But mostly the reason that I is don't think it matters.Maybe the humyn race has doomed itself - whether it has or not changes nothing about the way I feel and the way I feel we must act. The humynracehasdrastically overshot carryingcapacityofthis planet.Even if the civilization camedown tomorrow. and we all immediately startedworking on settingup sustainable hunter/gatherer communities,severalbillon peoplewould starveto death.This I know. But I alsoknorvthat civilization will collapse sooner later,whetherwe takeit down or or not - it hasto. It is built on processes that take (and destroy)more than they give. A lot more.We live on a finite planetthat can only give so much.One day, if we continueto take (and destroy)more than we give back, it will have nothing left to give. It is also clearto me that the longer we wait, the messierthe collapsewill be, for many reasons, leastthe not rapidly increasingamountof damagewe are doing to the earth, i.e. how much of the natural vorld is still left. That the humyn race may alreadyhave pulled the trigger on itself is somethingI am preparedto live with, honifing dreamsnotwithstanding.As much as I long for the generations cometo have a future - for my nephewsto live full, happy lives and be able to to considerhaving children oftheir own - I cannot changewhat may have already happened. What I am not prepared live with is the distinctpossibilitythat we will takethe entire to natural world with us. I am not going to let that happen.I am not preparedto resignmyself, or this earth,to an apocalypticfate I had no part in choosing.Ifall ofus and everyhing we know are to perish at the handsof this twisted, senseless culture, it will not be without afight. For every species driven extinct, for every indigenousculture annihilated,for every womyn raped, for every river poisoned,for every desiredenied,for every life wrecked- this culture will pay a penalty. Total and utter destructionofthis entire planet and everything on it is what this culture wants- this we have leamed,as this is what it pursuesso fervently. This is what we must makesure it doesn't get. We know what is at stake.We know who and what we are dealingwith. In time,we rvill dancearoundthe smoldering ashes an empirethat wouldn't of listen reason... to

how long it took for I heroin.Here my mum found anotherjob,as did my stepfather. can't remember it wasn't that long. It got to the point things to start resemblingthe way things were in Sydney,but the police more where they starteddealing as well as using. Over the years our houseswere raided by but in and I don't know ifour housewas searched Sydney, I think now that timesthan I can remember, was acrossthe road from the high school, and it must have been becauseour first house in Bomaderry l al thoughIw asn ' tathi ghs c hool y etIw as terri fi edofbei ngrai dedbec aus eofri di c ul efromotherk i ds being knew we were living with a secretand canied a profoundsenseof shamedue to this. I remember and my stepfathersaying to both ofus that told as much once with a friend ofmine who had come over, noticed' what happenedin this house stayedwithin the house,as something had happenedthat we both parentsin any Before I go any further I want to make clear that I am not writing this to bad-mouthmy taught me a lot about way whatsoever,who for their faults and vices are amazing and loving people'who how to treat peoplewell and fairly. Thek now l edgeofw hatw as happeni ng,butal s othel ac k ofk now l edgeas totheprec i s e for no meaningsand causesofwhat was happeningweighed heavily on me, and often lead me to tears It did apparentreasonto anyonebut me, and I never saidwhy I was upset,or at leastnot the real reason. I get to the point once where I told mum that I wanted to talk to her, my stepfatherand dad about rvhat had comeround driving aroundwith my dad, who was feeling.This was when I was nine. I remember and felt Iike I was and being incrediblyfrightenedofactually voicing my feelings, after schoolto talk, people who had otherwise taken such good care of accusingthem ofsomething and being ungrateful to what was me. I endedup just blurtingit out after I don't know how long ofjust crying. Dad kept asking to cry' up and what it was I wanted to talk about, so I just said "yous are on drugs", and then continued what it was I meant when I said drugs, He tried to reassureme and to try and understandfor himselfjust was more that is did I mean bongs or somethingmore. I meant bongs and something more l knew there was to it than bongsthrough finding syringesat home and knowing their use. I think this situation would not continueto do ofusing drugsand sayingthat they throughmy parents'admittance resolved so. Anyone who has ever dealt drugs of whatever sort or lived with someonewho does will know that the amount of!.affic that goesthrough the house,or at leastthe phone, is a pretty sure giveawayof the fact that there is dealing going on. When we moved from the housethat was across not from the school to one thatwas slightly more secluded,I was relieved at the prospectofour siruation to being so obvious to so many people.As it happenedthough, the intensity ofthe siruation seemed the increasenot long after'we moved. It was over the course ofthe next number ofyears that things were worst for our familY. earlier' areaI explained in This housewas situated the centreof the housingcommission in a lot of There was a massiveamount of kids on the neighbouring blocks, which was pretty awesome problem got pretty hearry,and got worse over a ways. Soon the deatingaspectofmy family's drug ofour house somefluctuationat times,A briefdescriptionofthe atmosphere numberofyears despite yearswould go like this:the phonewould startto ring at about7:30-8:00in the morning' during these and it would alwaysbe one of us kids that would answerit as we would be up first Thesephonecalls

So we had ta try somethingelse.

of The Sounds Panic

Growing up with crime, pigs & imprisonment
share be a meansby which I could explore and I guessthe original idea for this piece was for it to influence my childhood had on my politics parts of my life I rarely talk about, and to talk about the andwor l d . v i e w . C l e a r l y i t wo u ld h a ve b e e n in cr e d ib lyse lf- in d u lgent'Il ropenow thati tmayS ti l l to contribute to discussionsand actionsthat will help function as originalty planned, but alSo,humbly, to free our lives from hierarchy, oppressionand prejudice'

lt doingwhat a involves becoming forceof nature. meansphysically I thinktakingdowncivilization dreams, forceit is) wish,hope,see in ourwildest destructive as who perceive civilization the purely we (humans physical lt structures. civilization's in worldwillaccomplish termsof removing fear and intensely thatthe natural (andpartsof the grid,blowing dams,dismantling destroying rnachines and up meanstakingoutlhe power space,demolishing foodto exploring fromgrowing usesfor everything machines) humankind that (andpersonnel), ruining and transportation plants, permanently equipment disabling military all manufacturing thingthatcouldpossibly networks devices, takingout any otherphysical and and communication worldin the process moreof the humanor nonhuman its end to allowcivilization postpone inevitable or destroy or thosein power containing killing humans whodo suchthings, helping hiding and lt of itscollapse. alsomeans placesyou can. whatever to whatever actionis necessary best protect them,andtaking whothreaten (or a that becoming forceof naturemeanswe shouldalways -l **t to be clear.l'm notsaying the We abandon. shouldbe smart.We shouldrespect factthatwe are oneway (outof ever)act withrecktess pathetic that fallacy-to believe thinksandacts.lt's a fallacyof civilization-anutterly many)thatthe planet humans, and 'reckless with The the planetis in someway mindless. planetis highlyintelligent, or without to world.Ultimately, nof act to protect l've trait is abandon' moreof a civilized thananything seenin the natural abandon lt thingimaginable. is to recklessly ls world(and,in so doing,ourselves) the leastintelligent the natural placein the universe, this planet, our ownbodies. in on one'snatural
grei_lriil/&{r t

I , m n o t r e a l l y s u r e h o wto sta r tso th ism a yn o tco m e o u tchronol ogi cal l y,notthati treal l y mat t er s . , W h a t l w a n t t o t a lka b o u twith r e la tio n to m ylife a n d ch ildhoodi smyexperi enceofgrow i ng upwit h h e r o i n , t h e p o l i c e an d g a o l,a swe lla sso cia lstig m a ,a sp ermanentreal i ti esformyfami l y.l ti s this experiencewhilst very painful was important to note that I am a white male, and as such bearableand easierto escapethan it was sprinkled with certain privileges that made it more nevertheless conditions but with different coloured skin and/or for others who I knew who llved with thesesame area' so in caseyou don't know what this gender.My neighbourhoodwas a housing commission poor, indigenous peoples,stuggling migrants and generallymeans,it is a neighbourhoodofthe working ot hers o n t h e f r i n g e o f t h e u n d e r cla ss' Assu ch ,q u e stio n so fr a ce/i sm,cl assanddrugabusew ere who lived in my neighbourhood'and as said everydayrealities in one way or another for everyone were not nearly the worst off' earlier, all things consideredmy life and my farnily M y m o t h e r h a sh a d p r o b le m swith h e r o in a d d ictio n si nceshew asi nherl ateteensandhas at intervals, usually when she was pregnant' and never been able to stop using for more than year or so t heim m e d i a t e t i m e a f t e r ' ]a m th e e ld e sto fh e r five ch ild r e n .M yParents'separatedw henl w asB bout one'a n d m y u r o t h e r h a s be e n with h e r cu n e n tp a r tn e r sin ce lwasabouttw o.Iamnow 23.Ihavetw o who grew up with me in this place' sistersand two brothers,born within sevenyears, I t h i n k ] b e c a me a wa r e o fth e p r e se n ce o fd r u g sin o u rl i vesw henl w asaboutstxorseven ev en t h o u g h m y m u m a n dste p fa th e r d id n ' tu se in fr o n to fu skid s,yeti tw ascl earl ymoreobvi ousthan grasp all the implications or the gravity that this my mum would of hoped. obviously I didn,t really was something that affected the mood, behaviour and reality potentiallyentailed,but I knew that there at mo s p h e r e o f t h o s e a r o u n d m e a n d o fo u r h o u se .Id o n ' tr e a lly know how l coul dhavebeensosure' gotten a bit older and have had the opportunlty to sge and correct, about what was going on, but as I've that we are incredibly perceptiveofour surroundings other kids deal with particular situations it is clear it involves those we love, from a very early age' and particular social dynamics,particularly when my parentsI am referring to my mum and my of Despite my awareness my parents' (when I say s t ep f a t h e r , a n d w i l l r e f e r to m yd a d wh e n n e ce ssa r y) d r u g h a bi tsl hadnoi deahow toconl ronti t'northe go away' and as such treated it as a taboo hoping it would courageto do so any'rvay' B y t h i s t i m e we h a d m o ve d fio m syd n e yto Bo m a d e r ry,atl eastpartl yasanattemptbymy parentstoescapetheciroleandherointheywereinvolvedwiththere,anattempttostartoverwithout

that the annihilated uncivilized we needonlylookin a has of areso manyexamples howcivilization successfully reallylie in doesn't So, to in book,outsiie in our backyards, ourownrelationships see what'works.' the problem rid in whatto do,we'veall beenwell-trained getting of whatwe don'twantto dealwith.The not knowing and is on intothe hierarchies whlchcivilization founded, we at all prgblem ihat we'vebeenalsowelltrained is iimesmakesureto onlyharmthoselowerthanwe are in the hierarchy withis not so muchwhereor I too. Timingis a hugeproblem, The question struggle consensus coordinated it's not certainly why (l'vegot thatone down), when.lf thereis no communicated, will to ihosewiiling risktheirlivesto take it down,howwill I knowthat my efforts be partof a grander among why to givingcivilized humans one moreexample showcase suchactions effortind havesomeeffectbeyond do actually moreharmthangood actions if wonder isolated I sanenorpartof a solution? sometimes are neither has it because certainly needsme to believe, civilization iause. Thismaysimplybe something to the overall We longer. needto civilization me ffectof keeping fromactingand in thatway has preserved hadthe (desired) at and directions, keephitting it, untilit different hit hit at the system, it hard,hit it in manywaysfrom.many worldhas wholebunchof time rerr' don'tthinkthe natural ceases to destrov the planet. I don't tnlnk the natural worlo nas a wnole ouncn oI tlrneleft fromthe moralstructures up set nature alsomeansremoving oneself entirely lt whennecessary and because theirpurpose to preserve is suchsocieties. meanskilling any civilized society, worldand mourning those whennot: lt meanstrulyempathizing the natural with appropriate not killing and people with withinthem.lt meansreconnecting other one lovedwhowerecivilized not whatwas civilized but a u/ith place,a community, is nothumanbeing-based-or single I any species and appreciating bonding and a that lt lt moreresourceful shattering ideaof 'resources.' meansreminding I and the being-based. meansbecoming waysto live,but no one rightwayto live.lt t futurehumans thattheraretrulyshameful eachotherandteaching thatbasictruthto live.And it likely I means,at the veryleast,not helping humans who don'tgraspand practice years'worth t several thousand meansnot allowing themto. I understand it mightnot be possible remove that to (or in but of domestication indoctrination a singlelifetime evenseverallifetimes), I thinktherewrllbe lines I and the and andthatwe can andwillchooseon whichsideof Inem to stand.vve can between natural the unnatural I mat We Can ano Wlll CnOOSeon wnlcn Sloe oI themlo S{anO. We Can I lies dictate and forceas wellas a physical rell force,andwhereour loyalty willtrulyrri^r'tau'h'r I be a psychological spiritual '*-'-',what we are andwhatwe do. '--,| of after,or because the crash.But I thinkmost I humans changebefore, will whether We candiscuss truly lt who survivechange. seemsthatwhennature thatthe humans won't.And,truly,it onlymatters simply when thanlivedon this continent therewillbe far fewerhumans field,whichwillhappen, levelsthe playing firstset footon it. We haveusedup, tornup, and fuckedup too muchof it to expectit to support Whitepeople freefromfurther time to recover without someserious manner very manyof us in anysustainable

asqal't . (unnatu{af)

that may of Andthen,we mustneveragainforget:it is onlythe survival this planet

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The Liberation Army

of the Free Papua Movernent (TPN/OPM)
We are not terrorists! We do not want modernlifel We refuseany kindsof development: groups, agencies, governmentq! religious aid and organisations rjustLeave Alone,Please! Us
Histo ri ca a nd P olit ic al l Reasons Fighting for Wewereinvaded forceand by manjputation Indonesia by under the UNandUSsupervision with Logical reasons for fighting
,j . r

drsastrous vestedinterests theiri in p ot itics;

englneenng activitjescarriedouti by the lndonesian government I underthe supportof the Worl.d Bankand other internationat aid agenctes and envjronrnentat

Fighting back is the natural reactionto the intoterabte kitlings, disappearances, torture, " . '"..oppt"rrion,and intimidation

,ji,ri nlgnting Uict< necessiry this' [*,1 ii in I brutat, 4'11" inhuman, destructive, : ignorant terrifying and ,, 'exploitative, Fighting backis important the for ' verysurvivat tribatpeople of on i thisplanet, by lobbying, by not not
persuasion, by diptomacy, not not

disturbance force and terrorists even thoughwe are fightingfor our own environment, our own rights, ano our own people;

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Fighting back is the right thing to do againstthe fightingfrom the Indonesian army, strongty ri - s up p o r t e do y e m p t y 'a n d 'meaningtess' so-calted democratic

opmsg@eco- orq action. OPM Support Group pacific c/o Solidarity South Wewitl no I ld55r'ii\rtJ.{

tetters
bearJ
t t.. E take t'd claritvrhisevening probably . . r,

tv with sr :t gt'"',,''f;]r*il".:'trijru w g."ut., do we tormenlourselvgs uy[rB [;:J::ti.,!l uy my was ll my bralnwasfunctioning . . .rf brain IunstrulrrrtBrr[ Erwq!!'| but you up on fiercelyanddeeply ' don't auo.t, lovingothers

just as wrrte it instead,althoughthat's rare too' and lt to me occasionallypeoplewlite it to me' You \ Tote and it madi me iry, I was movedby it, moved away I away from that spacewhere. constantly ;;o; ;tr"li

from to tomonow yellat -ourselves messy to iE! iiU..uut. I'm going Canbena iryingto remove always tt^'n"' T this r. presiOentoon't*ant to blemish 'r (l by involvement saying a"";i t"n*, r don'imatter', fucking .-, that ;l;dtv nlt ;;;in;l,n.r.ior. ouri.tution*yi:::i::I".llX1. |25 nu*.i, ,"ii'r,'io *o ir' ."ii.ip.,i;; is f-^t i.n., the 1ru^ "l which do. aiready, protest knowthafthey Crossing *; rhoughve il;c;;Jll.*poin.ring ) ,* .*tt, even * a (I was friends dothistoo),always The .*id ou-r v pr.CO.pressing. spiceof protest suqh r;ii; A'['r Tryingtomakeour ^ frustratingtf,ingaunngtie*ui,'unauOiuiti*u'utt$ o.. holdingourselvesback * ^F l i 0( il;';;';:.ui'"frJuvilr..orporatemedia- ..__-, , 'acceptable' spill,using .^ T* them the within conventions) 1 '.luiioirt'ipr'fit'withall.iheothernanowroutines than rather lening (keeping ' prorest )- t *.:ie for.edinro, { the lie oflove of i"" ' rne iott" arru errsl6) vr rwr to crack walls" , energy ittt forceandenergv love tt'e lorse ."0 u"'u...piuur.ittt nr^t ui.Jtit"*tpiluit tn. oia'Jauttlue about n*t "il,i:l5jr":"':]}?::j, "nd . o^!''i , .j as ifit was so clear-cut violence/non-violence, *" r ' ,'tv rr't.i.:rsomethinginoneofmyoldzinesaboutthis'I lDl D ' gvw'
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" can't remember aun;, t.tember

ttt**j:,1,::: n.u.iu...piinelr9wltr1;imnll{:E i".ri1"*"i:it'.plrot.rironeihatyou,wroteaboutin"' we''" .r h*'[ aloy, butthat ,li"i.i'i" v.v oaf. timttrinklng ffii';il,; ;.r. |;,;t,il;"ion't'love'oursetves',

even or we sive detairs andpossibrv are rhere rirms can you B:lj:::Tiffit:iLnJ::. town doa taik be to from in someone sSP nr.iirii. *ourJ able o toy:' l?,ll?li?.i?l -t-;:9:*,::t^t"^Y pin

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t'l Harass the Attackers is is system. Australia the basefor many of Genocide and ecocide rootedin the globalindustrial in involved The SSP websitelistscorporations organisations responsible and the organisations localtargets. Make sure to tell us and searchcan usuallyidentify the destruction a quickinternet you (preferably or anonymouslyl) any actions demonstrations do - we willpass it on to the of peoples Newsof even smallactionscan reallyraisethe spirits. Pacific concerned. ft.{^qfl,iill;1il\:-5-U *fNWa['lSil0sLY;uWffi,ElSXlEH*U{flI$]EI
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takingthe that tlie tenor of knownhappiness, fearof .

wrure' Jurrrlurrrrs qulle wnat quite what I wrote, something

about

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...do you sometimes hate places so much that

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- - '* o'bu* odt he'ru lhaveto constiuct o th modesofwh e r e :\tiu nU in g a *a yiste m pti ngasa.realoption. Remnants of t n inorqi ,suilly it is not an oP ti on9^-^, . .r we reallvdo e s i o f p r o t e s t i n new e sp a ce th.at to a' I " b"huuiour. think l've only everexperienced , ra< today. My mind floods foggy 3ll 91.9:s ^--,_

r'? ' '"* liSil;#T"?XlT$"',"':,1:".il".l"."',::Backin'd ..1 i:Hn:,111',"$;;ffiff:?A'i:ifff:lii,rd i, \.q '* " iiil*ii,i''""."i".ii."..'n.,u",t'.Jl:J',":::"'*n"'f with warmth and g:::1"^*:,,*::,lllg:*n.J,"ffi,i;iJ'"' I - 6utside my body inflates werealso of brief moments elation, / Droviding " sensuality.Inspiringthis in me, it makes you so . i/| -. shockof not The Lro, 'to t i".r.JiUf"vtraumatizing, absolute
do. . ^'" "'" rgot or wherea^d:::il*:"r:::?,", t z ib knowingwhatto i-Gtterrrom 4 pregnant , 't ' una in is , who livine rasmaniu i' rou'rnonths to start far and so close'

RaiseFunds or stalls, simplydonateto one of our directaid funds Any money fundraising organisebenefits, postalorders be willgo direct- none-will takenout. Chequesor (for more anonymrty) reciived along Group'and sent to the SSP addressin England, shouldbe mide out to'Agta Support notesaying you whereVouwant the monevto
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had and told she'd a chilcl, she me 1 ' \ ;i; ;.; rirsi i., rit uuou, nishtmare r'uu,ng:iinl'ioiir-i"g:"ii'r' ' . vital vital ..\ tr il"l'ri. *ii" ttrut i.ur"edshe done *l X i.,i'"i. *oi. rtrut i.utiredshe done has hai rtl. irt.
. bl: governm.."jt .t not maybe stopping things, !1rl

* .tlrnxii,i";ilffiIruff:ilLlT:t,in"ilt* ,*ql"t "* :i:u::ll',xl!:?T$','3:?::fiEi,il";.1.

,gj a.F i'q v ' ' fi:":"tl'.filff":T,Xii:JHi'fii'i.lndtha, theyaie, so easilypresentingitself 't+ti{ is -n;i:::',]?$5;:i'::;",Tr::'iT"::![ii?.,, my life,andthatit ) . ;;; of *her" ir"i"""aiv ."ri.rtedandinfluenced 11 I ' ritualof polluted .. city'sunialtering thing. ihecruciai ^\ bound are Pain love socloselv and be why I wonder it must so, and together sometimes ,p*1n" orangu' ..
f

i:d"Pi*,li,lli"* ttteiacrt pathetic,I!:.11.^':.: Jff $Ui: il;;iilftt';i F to let -tF not lights chan.ging -." F ihe bi ie"rsound. green Ft t*i -r' a if,iiJnano, oistricttuL r noonego.I wish nao'a of of fl.irtiness driving tne the r o mind,to-express passingdrivingflirtiness . .*t ,f;, to r n mind. exoress passing - t;'dt t me -r-3 i to*n. likethis.lt caresses andspitson me.

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^" l,}t ::"ll*,::l[]":::::Tll*::'i"':"1:'::i*l ;' Rndif v ou w e r e h e r e r i g h t n owlwo u ld tr yto co n ve y,
o '\ -I F '$ , * so wants under much thrt crossme, as rt ;;Jt;i;nJ staysas yourfingers . r repr;ssrons putsuch despair? ' into rur\ I pressure. revolution alienated uarping r.|ut. ff.r"'0""p warmflisn that shocks , ;:il I me howhas A thought juststruck howrarelY 5, ." iiij.'J t*"iOi Oil Vor. as I remember . - _* I l ;t(r o , \ sar' ' tlotelo u'to lnlb od l. or hav eit s aidt om e "! . n i r *" n a e r n b *y o u f e e l . w a n t t o g i v e v "r la"r youneedandyet lwantto .-* wq\ou\ w\ youatlthespace y\rtc) | e.atr^' \ l^",'.r rlt vour\oace.I wantmureand more r r ltco u ld b e atrap. as much tn lesswordsu""J.ot. g.,,u"', io tt't *hu' This is future past and present all at. *-d how do we begrntf ,o . .i right in heartand head.. but t'eels lt is you. it iS the imprint others have made. once. arru and anophysicaland sc^u4r , The Dlaceswe've Oeen.The wet that slowly trom .r.up"-from all the emotional escape alltheemotlonal pnyslsar sexua'' we'vebeen.Thgwet that slowly The Dlaces :o*$

bu1thenl oftenthink that all we can do is takethese two thrngsin their proximityand usethemas the .

f Y My mind.;;;.:-"*.,n", ".n {or for someone, o, dr$ recorded laterbe remembered,

The rn-or-tiiOur to inow never to pass this way. of ilr" i"iiO" here could be the entire contentsct

littleeffort Pressuring courts,policestationsand prisonscan have a real affect,with rglatively is Pidginor Filipino; English fine- thoughwe can send You do not needto speakIndonesian, adventurous. you a listof handyphrasesif you'refeeling Prisoner Suppo( List'email: To get put on the urgentaction'Papuan il.com upport@xsma koteka_prisoner_s in for and theirfamilies West Papuacan be sentto the addressin England Donations prisoners For and postalordersshouldbe madeout to'Koteka'. support cheques For Papuanprisoner shouldbe sentto the same addressbut madeout to 'AgtaSupport support cheques Philippines
Gr nr r n'

we and howto the moreabout struggles support

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involved,

and oit'-bres discontent'4 nn erectricitv '^ ' '*p'n'"

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Send donationsto: Solidarity South Pacific, c/o SDEF!

ronrae,\;.i,; U:::*runtifi,lJ.,l',li':ill"[n" )*r ",* warhvr^crr-,, withyoureyes ' withyou rightherein the middle,
r. l^qt | qlrt r . r ( ct c\a4For-t ? '. smoothand so here I am safe' soft spelling

BN2 2GY, UK Place,Brighton Tilbury Prior House,

Where The Wild Things Are

Solidarity for South Pacific Indigenous Struggfes
As hard as it is to imaginefrom the concretestreetsof a city, there are placesIefton yet rs The of doesn't havea stranglehold. des$uction wildness not yet earthwherecivilization respectful Tribalpeoplehidein cornersof theworld,livingin sustainable, complete. relationships the landthat raisedthem.Thereare areasof landwherebiodiversity with still exists. have theirway, thesepockets of missionaries governments and But,if the corporations, won'texistfor much longer. The forcesof darkness are cultural and ecological diversity for Thesepeople don'tsee the assemblrng theirfinalassault the earthand her peoples. on peopleriseup forest, Everything fallsbeforeprofit. Acrossthe planet, theysee the timber. manyof us realise costof Whether'primitive' or'civilized', the against deathculture. the who livethere of and the cultures the wild people of destroyrng theselastpockets wild nature, ancient eco-systems beinglostthatwe can neverregain are Speciesare beingmadeextinct, The timeto act is now.

rd d ) -L-s-Kf , r* , F .scJ;c T f l*ge ^: ilT t $ 1E j,"",:,:Tffi;*:t*r';"1r",1";",,u r {iie; j,f i{ i"s 9 ) 6 *

hav coDol.udertrblob f tblnk le t veguely retevant to you. !1ret up, , tbe uncoDdltlonaL ray 1n rhlch yiu .t herd on to ne aad tbe sad enpatiy tn I vour 6y8 ras xbat I nened. f aonon-to g-9-9. bor nuch roy ) :::1:u I beart ras breaklngEgnt tben, ti tbo holllssneee I felt rlgbt { = +91 thn, antt r tblnk you illo. you I dltlnrt_do Yhs,t Dost loopl ao rblob to took at paople rbo openly : s r 1dlsplay all tbolr enotlons i"li"rr. ; etd./or to try to srltob tb6r0ao1vs ! off to lt because tbey aronlt rann.a b rposil to thoso type of d I fe11D'ga. You tlldntt do tb cursory i 'tbere there, ila tuen vrgu r wouil u o s t . ! 6 o!1 e fo r e r , 1 n b e tr e e n ] llli: , ic a n bfs .a l n on a o bs o - rv rtb a i le 1 n g 1 t no.l s Idtl rl s, . oro ha rhe n \ re larDeal? f bavo larot tbat x (by 'r' f neen all of uB, our . >t frlntls, eto) are at1 a oontratllotory neag of ldas atrd -iiiiul" _

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S 1;;;" aod to tov a! your ab111ty to acspt tbe 6 ;;;i";: bstf,en tbe F ,i"""-i"r"r1onsb1p tbe ideas. aocl I like f i""ii"r"-r"o you ssrD, l-lk x0, to bave d ;;;-;;; or transceadeat F Bon6 k1od of r6B!ot to bellve 1n love r od I for all of tb18 p11" ft -got Dow, r an reerrne rlght U" "g"ral:l_ ^. o! i" cor never bavlng tour F.;"|;-lt o n d &y tb o r s."l l l _ ::- :^ u &yb s L ) to ve . , or rnaJbe' n, in.raoe for us (ne snall) ' bad 1t and tbat ls :;:-;;r;-"ri"riy i I nL the transleooe of Glve t ! """"ro. r_ !vry fucklDg tblng every t11":,. ,-' (bal) .- --love alrays. troep ibe faltb t ., i :s ; I D J S- -

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peopleare not of to Contrary the propaganda the multi-nationals, all indigenous into that assimilation the dominant and for'development' 'progress'Many realise clamouring globalculture oftenmeansdeathfor thenrand the landthat is sacredto them.The SouthPacific and of savageswho have tastedthe fruitsof cilivilization decided is rifewithexamples so-called who exampleis the peopleof Bougainville, shut down the ! they'dratherlivewithoutit. A striking kickedout the multinationals took their land back and ull. i mineon theirisland,

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Pacific was set up by activists the UK to supportresistance this in in importance, regionof primeecological focusingon West Papua,the Philippines and prisoner We for Bougarnville do fundratsing indigenous activists, supportand solidarity actions againstcompanies that haveofficesin the UK Peoplesupporting in struggles the Pacific have petrolstations, picketed blockaded embassies, raidedmissionary offices, smashedthe windows pr ma o f timberm ercha nts, dep honec allst o I ndones ian is ons th e m i d d l eo f t h e n i g h t . .a n d in . filledout endless fundraising applications, in defenceof wild nature Directfinancial all aid,while not particularly sexy,is one of the most rmportant thingswe can contribute overseas to fundeda tribe struggles moneygoes furtherin poorercountries. example, as For SSP recently patrol, in the Philippines buy equipment to such as bootsand torchesfor theiranti-logging which logging defendsthe forestfrom illegal
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them throughour actionsis even better l and showing them is alsoimportant, resrsting alongside firmssell us their the countries, logging haveofficesin our'civilized' The miningcompanies have train and gatherin our citiesand governments the missionaries timber, rainforest lf and ecocide. it in ,1 These peopleare participating genocide that can be targeted. embassies what wouldyou do? was your landtheywere destroying,

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At t e r n p t ed sto r m in g of UTS (Untverslty o f T o c h n o lo g y t syd n e y ) cha n ce lle r y Ln protest of rale e d s E c s f e e e u n a t t r * r l dlcu lo u e ldea that people s h o u L d ! 3 L t o h a v e t h e tr sp lr ltsbr o kenbyanoxiour.patrtarch a la (rlgtrt? ) l n C I t l t utl on llke a unlverelty 2004. S Y -attuY r-Ma rc hls t , ] --.,

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Thc war ln th. OomocratlcRopubllcof Congo, rvhlchhar b.cn 8olnd on rlncr Augu3t 1998 ha3 rcrultod in at lcart 2.5 milllon d.ath! and 2.3 million rctugc... Thlr undcr-reportod confllct is Afrlca'3Fl6t World War.Oxlam ha! callcd it 'the dl3a3tor." wortd'sblESc.t humanlta?lan the conflictis coltan (colombotantalite), Fuelling a rare mineral used in almost all cell phones, pagersand many other electronicdevices. laptops, fte huge expansionin mobile phone use has valuable. The world's madethis minetal incredibly burthlargest coltan reservelies under the tropical of rainforest the Easterncongo and the rival in factions the war havebeen competingto control it, re$lling in huge numbeG of deaths and destructionto one of the most ecologically massive .hportant areas in the world. ' According a UN Securlty to Councilreport, Arncricanproxie3 Ugandaand Rwandaha\ been .Fotingtie Eastern Congowith most of th .FocreOs golng to the West, Companles like Sony, ,!lokla,Erlccaon,and Intel increasedthair demand ,Iorthe mining of coltan in the Congo in the tate if.990s and Rwandaand Ugandatook control of the araas. Th Rwandanarmy made $20 miilion Slnlng .iar month mining coltan in 2000. Both Rwanda lrd Ugandahave ben rewarded by Western 'iorumments and by the World Eank for thir" 'firassirl human rights abuses, massacres, torture rtnd rapes wlth Increasedaid and debt relief. I' Coltan is being illega[y mined in th KahuzF BiegaNatlonal Park and okapi Wildtife Reserve, World Hdtage sites in the Eastern ;both UNESCO ;Congo.over 10,000 miners have moved into the ;psrksand are chopping down the forest and killing ,|ljewild animal!. Th numbersof lowlandgorillas, .,okapis, and elephantshave significantly dropped. *.lhcgorillasafe very rare and may be on the brink extinction, Also the indigenous Twa and Mbuti i9f .l,pygmies belng killod, raped, kidnapped and arc lnnibalised by the rebel factions,primarilybacked by Uganda. accurate ilithin a few metres. All the information to phonecalls made and receivedand on everyone's mobilephone locationdata is retainedand can oe accessed5y the authoritiesat will. Thegov ernment now al s o fundi nga s ec i .el is s urv ei l l ancprogramme al l ed C el l dar' hi c h us es e c w mobi l ephonemas ts to al l owthe s urv ei l l anc e of anyone,at any time and anywhere there is a phone signal,whetheror not lhey themselveshave a phone.The technology detects the shapes made when radio waves emiRedby mobile phone masts meet an obstruction.Signalsbouncedback by immobileobjects,such as walls or trees. are filteredout by the receiver. This allows anytbing moving,such as cars or people,to be Vacked 'in real time'. The system, used alongsidetechnolos/ whichallows individuals be identiJied their to by mobile phonehandsets,will mean that individuals can be locatedand their movementswatchedon a screenfrom hundredsof miles away,Researchers are worklngto give the new equipment 'X-ray vision'-the capabilityto 'see' throughwalls and look into people's homes.

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'fhe doorrattles kids openandrhetwo courageous whojust took tumskicicingit dowt Soqtl F+ '; Group- protestpolice]and . ' pissed-off TRG's [TacticalResponse into ,:harging the crowdof seriously tothe ground Theyiomehowmakeit throughandarepromptlywrestled on copiwa-iting theotherside. . t1l andanestedtherestofusmeetthepigshead-oninthedoorway.fnetRG'itrotdusoffbykeepingtheir f], on armsstraightandtheir hands ouichins. The kid nextto me is geftinghis neckbroken,asthecrorryd Ftpushinghis I by hiri (now beingattacked copsfrom the otherdirection, later foundout) keeps behind S q trying to brinSmV I pushinghis headback.I am desperately bodyfonvardandthef,ig in front bfhim keeps u.r, up, which arepinnid by my sideby the swarmingcrowd,in orderto try andmakesurethis kid = off, doesn'igethis headsnapped but as I startto squirmI seea cloudin front ofmy eyes.ln the split t A Thecloudhitsmycyes Y) chilliJtakes???' secondbeforeithitsmelthink'Wlatthefuckisthat?Arethose spray,withoutwarning,in a are get Pepper spray.The f,uckers usingpepper andI instantly my answer. Ct) The t'hat tiny enclosedspace is crammldwith peoplewho canbarelymove,let alonedisperse. pain is !i ou way out of the crushin the doorway,and forcemy My excruciating. eyesclampshutandI somehow - \r( lt that I canbarelystand- feelslike my The I to theside. find a wall a few feetawa;v. pain is so intense I are eyeballs melting.I canfeelthefluidporrringdownmy face.I canhearmyselfsobbing. still can't l-T that I In that op.n rny eyes. a-moment is nothingshortof an epiphany, remember I havea smallbottleof , f-t I pour itover.my i to waterin my backpocket.I takeit out and,trying unsuccessfully forceopenmy yes, 5 and only aslong asthewateris flowing pastmy eyes.I still can't face.Therelief is miniscule lasts:for ^I and behindmy eyelids, that I will be^ are thatmyeyeballs disintegrating openthem.I am now certain 6 the biind for life. I leanagainst watl with all my*eight andtry not to passout.The fight tages a few. \ l-.;!. _on Somebody\ deafening._ are feetaway,andthe criesof pain,thebarkedordersandthe distantchants almost DI and putsa handon my shoulder says"More water- keepwashingit out", puftinga waterbottleon the ?t f pick up the bottleI am so and hoo. ne*t to me.The voicepromptlydisappears as I reachdownto try and = in panicked another, muchLarsher,-voicedirectly front ofme thatyells "Grabthatone" that I manage 5 by back,out of the doorway =, just intime to seethat the copshavepushed everybody my io ,urench eyesopen l!, me' towards anddownthe hall, andi havebeenleft behindenemylines.A TRG anda cop areadvancing by ( D theyhavejust beengiven.I am so enraged theburningpain that I can clearlyaboutto follow the.order ye11nbtiringmoreintelligitilctlran..No!''and..FUCKoFF|''astheygrabmebythewrists.They-yankand me in the directionofthe crowd.It doesn'toccurto me to be thankfulthat I'm not gettingarrested, I f 't ! q makeit hardfor them.Thetiled floor is wet with the waterI wastrying to washout my eyeswith andI that to slip.The pigslet go of mejust in time for me to go crashing the floor. I hit my headhardenough - ,,Ft s t a n dingbaiku pa ga ind oe sn ' t f eelv iable. I openm y ey es jus t f a r e n o u g h t o m a k e o u t t h e l a r g e b o u l e o f < \ me need on watertiiat I so d-esperately standing the othersideofthe copswhojust dumped on the floor. I "Water! I needthatwaterbottle!" Oneof themwalls overto it, looksat me, themsaying crawltowards the Seeing only thing thatwill evenslightlyrelievethe agonyI am \' l'-( andkicks it hardin the otherdirection. a l-. behindme manages immediately in go flying out of reachall I cando is whimper"ro... " Somebody pig." I hearthevoicecallingfranticallyfor _ f-h. "You fuckingpig. You fuckingbastard *uih *ore sensible out they l i/Ti ) water,andwithin 30 seconds havegivenme two largeboftlesto keepwashing my eyeswith. I and"although sr r rrtrrlr. ofgratitudel wltlt everyounce tIlgIIl thankthemwith c v c ly uullgE ul Er d l r l u u g I' canlmnster.I am still on my knees, r * e r h r ve b r i I amjust I naK ){ tl \ b a r elyableto op en mye ye s,thepainhas not abat edev ens ligh t l y . F o r t h e n e x t 5 o r l 0 m i n u t e s ! . t u {. . . t l !| to the downon thefloor, leaningagainst wall, constantlyirying washout the poisonthat stilt t crouched A try I feelslike,it is meltingmy eyeballs. am still sobbing my tearductsunashamedly to help pushout
the pain that is so determined not to leave. I think about yon and everyrthingthat's

Hsalth
And to top it all, there is serious concernover the healthetfects of mobile phones-they are pulsedat the same frequencyas the cells in your body use to communicato (the 'bioband"--s.40O Hz) and sclentific studies have proven that radiatlon from mobile ohones causes biochemical changesin the brain which could pose general rtsksto health and increasethe risk of brain tumours.The 2OO0governnientStewart Inquiry concluded that radiationfrom handsetscould c aus e"s ubtl ebi ol ogi c al hanges ". c Therei s al s o an increased risk to childrenand teenagers,whose thinnerskulls and still developing nervous sysiem make them all the more receptiveto the effects of mobilephone radiation. Eventhose who don't have a mobile may be at risk from the radlationproducedby mobile phone masts. Thereis a current government enquiry into whethermobilo phone masts can cause brain cancerand leukaemia,promptedby the eruptionof 'cancerstreets' across the countrywhere clusters of peopleare livingnear to mobile phone base stations.Thereis consistentevidenceof headache, sleep disruption,impairmentof shortterm memory,nosebleedsand, more seriousty, an increasein the frequency seizuresin some of childrenalreadysuffedngfrom epilepsyin people livingnear to mobile phone masts.* What morc rea3on do you need? Dltch that gorlll*klll? statc tracklng dcvlcel www.mastsanity.org ,^nyw.theecolo(ist.or{

Survelllance
. Your mobile phoneis not only responsible the for tlaughter endangered of wildlifeand thousandsof people is also the most widespread but tracking ..a.td Surveillance dcvice ever to be introduced. ,l'tobilephone ceil locatlon survei[ance was officiatlyacknowldgedseveralyears ago. By p.8$ngthe base stailon used by th handset to connectto tie nctwork, thc authodtiescan locate lls ownerto the accuracyof a few hundred metres n cities whenevrr th phone is switched on, even if lJri rs 6s1makinga call. WithinWo years,with new J'u technolog,all mobilephoneswill have satellite Dcating device3built into them whichwill be

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repressiop My life is a structureof denial and despair,alienationand abstraction, and fear and minute after minute after minuteof wastedfucking and loneliness for that haveno respect me, my loved tirne.I am beholdento forcesand systems for we all rely - that haveno respect anythirlgreal or ones,the land baseon which they have and destruction and the structures alive.Theseforcesand systems, and now rely upon, can be called Civilization,and in fact denialand spawned

.---

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and and repression loneliness fearmakeup its and alienation abstraction, despair,
I foundations. am truly civilized.

rtnging. with my head colneharderandfaster.I'm sorryto saythat at that moment on my knees aud at uncontrollably my helplessness thesheer sobbing and surroutded chaos pain andutterdefeat, by just a few daysearlierwhenyou hadn't in agonyI'm in, almostperfectlyminoring the scene my bedrooln you pepper me needed sprayto reduce to crying on the floor - I equate with the pigs to someof the arormd room.I am hugelyrelieved see I Eventually standup and surveythe scene at-tached my lriendswavingandthe kid who wasnextto nrein the doorwaywith his headstill sontcltow ,'o'hi, body.A kindly cop("obviouslya new recruitif he hadn't leamthow to be a totalpig yet", a friend at he (- of mine saidlater)holdingthe line in front of rne,clearlyshocked the camage finds himself - '..1 Jl/ I \ enforcing, cyes swollen, red-rarv audsay t t r ny I asks if l've been me sprayed. glareat him tluough wincing, mate, "Right in thefucking and eyes". tellsrrre go outside find a medicrightarvay "1'm serious He to genuinely and concented, I'nt still it's reallynastystuff Go andmakesureit's all out." He seems to enough try anlthing that might evenslightlyrelievethe pain,so I sayI will. I noticenty hat desperate I on the floor behindhim, in the comerI had foundafterI'd first beensprayed. askhim to grabit for mehis perhaps afraidthatif hetumshis backI'll grabhis gunandshoot him. He refuses, it's rightbehind a boss,standingjust few feetawayandlookinglike the kind ofsadistic fuck who wouldorderkids of pepper-sprayed with no waming andwith no chance e;cape. mercilessly about Maybcnexttime. it. Yeah,I thought

No longer. head This willbe unbowed, heart ueat trris *itt affiirrF

shakinghandswill fight to the bitter end, for I havecometo;ealise that in a world of deathand slavery,there is onry one way to live and be free; that in an upside-down world ihe only true creationis the destruction of that which destroys.

I n a d . p ro p c t o t h e k l d who grabbeo the copr6 pepper 6pray I \Y c&n and, 1 1 t e r a } l y t gave them a taste uf theLr o
nedlci

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THOSE WHOMAKE A REVOLUTION HALVES BY ONLY DIG THEIROWN GRAVES.

{l::'

DerrickJensen
[:,.xtracts his fbrthco'ri'gbook'Endgame: collapse fiom The o1 'Cliviliza tion theRebirth Commu n it v ' and of

lxE
. ..tsutdoes someone's indoctrination prior mean theyneed bestopped? not This I know:Indigenous peoples haveentirelydifferentrelationships eachotherandto the land, to _ based perceiving on "natwe" asconsisting beings (includinghumans) enterinto relationship of to with, not objects be exploited. to This I know,too: thoseworkingto protectland they loveareworkingto protect land theylove,andthosedestroying landmustnot love it, or surelythey would not destroy the it. Partofwhatl'mgettingatisthatthosewhovaluethingsandcontroloverlifecanbemorelikelytokill . to gainthingsor controlthanif these values werereversed. Obviously:theyvaluethingsandcontrolmore thantheydo life. As we see. the otherhand,if we valuelife overiontrol or things,-we're likely to kill On less evento defend life. As we alsosee.Whengroups holdingthesedifferentvalues comeinto conflictthii functional difference makes a grotesquely for uneven contest, if you will allow me the language, or battle. Th_ts trueof theplotsagainst was Hitler. Many plottersargued overwhether kill Hatler he blithely to as _ caused millionsto die. EvenduringtheJuly 20,1944coupattempttheplotters merelyarrested Hitler's henchmen. Whenthecoupfailedthatnight these same henchmen didn'i hesitate kill theplotters, at least to or theluckyones:others theytortured beforekilling. We'veseen same this disparitytime and-again interactions in between civilizedandthe indigenous. the Wecanreadaccount afteraccount the indigenous of welcoming civilizedasguests, the showering themwith gifts,givingthemfood,keeping themalive,andwe canreadaccount afteraccount ofthe civilizedkilling, dispossessing. enslaving indigenous. the YearsagoI heardan account ofthe Indianwriter Sherman Alexie saying ivished wouldhavebeenalivefive hundred he he yearsagoto greetChdstopher Columbus. Alexie described whathe wouldhavedoneto columbuswith a bow andarro*, or hatchet, rxe, or gun,or or chainsarv, concluded saying, then by "No, I wouldn't havedonethat. I would haveinvitedhirnin andfed him dinner, because that'swhatmy people do.,' This is whatmanyIndiansdid. Somein time learned their generosity kindness not only that and was . misplaced, in this case but suicidal.SomeIndiansofcoursehavefoughl back.And whentheydo?..ln war theyshallkill someof us;rveshalldestroy of them."[Thomas all Jefferson] we seethis same thingtoday,everymomentof everyday.Thosewho.un gouem-entsand corporations routinelylie, steal, cheat, murder,imprison, torture,dispossess, causetodisappear. Theymake anduseno endof weapons. on theotherhand,makereallycool papier-mAchd We, masks pittrysigns. and Some usevenwrite reallybig books.We try to acthonorably. of Thereis of course nothingwrongwith actinghonorably, with havingempathy. and Thoseareboth goodandimportant things.These qualities supposed guideour lives.But what do we do whenfaced are to with people who arsthemselves honorable, who lack empathy? not and Partofthe problem that in general is abusers know whatthey wantar\dknow whatthey'll do to get it. Theywanttocontroleverythingtheycananddestroywhattheycaft.They'll doanythingtoachievethit. We,on theotherhand,for themostpartdon't evenknow whatwe reallywant,andin anycase we're not sure whatwe're willing to do to accomplish it. I know what I want-[ wantto live in a world with morewild salmon everyyearthantheyearbefore,a world with moremigratorysongbirds everyyearthantheyearbefore, world with moreancienf a forests every yearthantheyearbefore, world rvith lessdioxin in eachmother'sbreast a milk evervvearthanthevear before, world with wild tigersandgrizzlybears greatapes marlinsandswtidfish. I wantio live on a a and and Iivable planer. And I know whatI'll do to getthere. The question: Will youjoin theeffort?

us through aII the hours , ev ery day , k eepj .ng us f ro m e a c h - even if stj.ll re s p o n s e t o t h e w o rl d thj,nk that it i s a v a l j -d quiet. p ri v a t e . sadness, it i s i nter i o!, I believe that w e mu s t n o t d i s mi s s to c o me a ro u n d m us t not w i s h i t we love will eventually away or hope that those pur s ui t . gives fi ghti ng o f h o me , t h e s t o ri e s sadness us space for t ru e s t o ri e s just p e rs o n a l , w e r efer re a l l y , t ru e only to our own to as s ma l l , b u t a re n ' t w e c a n s h a re and in the need for ex per i enc e. as mu c h a s I b e l , i e v e t ru t h s w e mu s t that w e c an g a t h e r a ro u n d , I also believe s tor j " es a n d d e ri v e h o p e f ro m, with we can flnd and c a re f u l l y , a L } t h e c o mp a s s i o n a n d re a s s u ra n c e - s l ow l y to te.l".l- each s peak of the s a d n e s s between u s . w e mu s t f i n d ways of being able sadness i s w ha t drai ns
y et I other . and

other

that

w e fi nd

the w orl d

too muc h, our hi s torj .es

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too

fri ghteni ng.

r''SEF.i;: Mfl&tli\illlt l]itli,.., l:ffiVffiilffiitM'Uflr' evi ng that the w orl d c an be made ov er i s

] ry l'Wtr 4f,lr !F& [, l argel y w hat k eeps me al i v e, but

tnogt day s I c a h o n l y believe it i n a v e ry a b s t ra c t sense. a s s o me t h i n g too far i n the futur e to expect. mo s t d a y s I re a l l y don.t think all t h e s t ru g g l e that par ti c i pate we i n i s g o ri n a c h a n g e a f u c k i n g thing. and I think we need that m ol e ti m e and s p a c e t o s a y t h e s e things, t o v o j -c e d o u b t and a n d t i re d n e s s .to s ay t h a t gr i ef, p o w e rl e s s , we do feel n o t e mp o w e re d , and that naybe all this s .c r eam i ng at t h e s k y i s j u s t ma k i n g u s s a d d e r, when it only s e e ms t o g o hur tl i ng i nto silence. and when 1 say that I believe that can be t h e w o rl d c hanged I onl y me a n i t p a rt l y i n t e rms power o f re v o L u t j -o n , i n t e rms o f l a rg e s tr uc tur es to b e d i s ma n t l e d . I me a n i t mo re a s a n e v e ry d a y p ro c e s s , o r l e a rn i n g to l i s ten to e a c h o t h e ! in ways which will h e l -p , a n d l e a rn i n g each to love w i thout other s u c h p a ra l y s i n g , d e s t ru c t i v e s e l f -h a t re d . I be.L.ieve a n d t h e t i me s j -n t h e ' r nos t i n our ab i l i t y t o c h a n g e t h e w o rl d a re t h e t i me s when I betieve peopLe I Lov e, thei! re s i l i e n c e and beauty a n d w a rmt h . when I am a n d t h e t i me s s addes t a!e- th o s e t i me s when I feel, cut off f ro m a I I when I feel o f t h e m; as if people not one of tho s e w h o m I w o u l d t ru s t with my t i f e I in a battle, could tr us t w i th the s h e e r ra w e x i s t e n c e o f my g ri e f a n d b e w i l d . e rme n t . and when we c an onl y . c on.fi d g in each other (c o mu n a l , e n o u g h t o s p e a k o f s t ru g g l e a b s t ra c t , hel oi c ) , (a l o n e n e s s , but n o t o f s a d n e s s in this mi n u t e , e v e ry fucking d a y ), then w e hav e n o t d o n e e n o u g h , w e a re n o t d o i n g enough for e a c h o t h e r. s

l i berati on.

I c oul d fee,]'so s ay tha t a c h a n g e d w o rl d w o u l -d b e a -p l a c e w h e re w e d i d n ' t all p u rp o s e s , s ad, and m ay be t h a t would be so. but I believe has its that sadness and l ts r oots in thlngs e n t i rg l y t o o p e rs o n a l , too elusive a n d w o rd . L e s s t o e v e r j.s loss, di s appgar . w he re v e r will be t h e re a n d t h e re will t h e re always be loss, gadnes s . and w h a t t e rri f i e s me i s n o t t h e i d e a live, am living, as I will that w e a re a pel s on al w ay s sad, but that I ftust keep it because entilely t o my s e l f , al l taught to t h i n k t h e w o rl d . that sadness'is not a valid w a y o f e x p e ri e n c i n g passive, as i f it w er e e n t i re l y and a n i mp e n e t ra b l e cloud between thought ac ti on. and eve n t h o s e of o f u s w h o h a v e w e l l -w o rn c ri t i q u e s about t h e t y ra n n y l egi s l ated honest, c on g u me rrh a p p i n e s s still do not see sadness as being t ru e , v al uabl e, effec t l v e , o r a s p re v a l e n t a s ri g h t e o u s a n g e r. ..

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enersv o: 'inl::.I?ll r do nor haveenoush :? ;' ;i;- r iti' ;;;;.ord, ,".;;";'o
^v "xiit th t "Io "tte ""

o ften r f e e ] through feeling

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I've beenbashing hopefor manyyears. Frar*ly, I don't havenruchofit, andI think that's a sood tltittg Hopeis partly what keeps encharned the system. us to Fiist thereis the falsehopethatsuddenl-y sotnehow system the may inexplicably change. technology saveus.Or theGreatMother,Or beings Or will fronl AlphaCentauri. Jesus Or Christ.Or Santa Claus.Atl of thesefalsehopes-all of this rendering our of power-leads to inaction,or at leastto ineffectiveness: how, for example, would philip Beniganhaie acted hadhenot believed-hoped--Godwould bail him out? Onereason motherstayed my with my fatherwasthat therewereno battered women'sshelters the in fifties andsixties,but another wasbecause ofthe falsehopethat he would change. False hopes, I,ve writtel as elsewhere, us to unlivablesituations, blind us to real possibilities. bind and DoeJanyone reallybelieve that Weyerhaeuser goingto stopdeforesting is because asknicely?Doesanyone we realiybelieve that Monsalto will stopMonsantoing because asknicely?If only we get a Denocratin the Whiie House, we this line of thoughtruns,thingswill be okay.If only we passthis or that pieceof legislation, thingswill be okay.If only w} defeatthis or that pieceof legislation, thingswill be okay.Bullshit.Thingswill noi be okay.Thiy are already okay,andthey'regettingworse. not Oneof the smartest thingsNazisdid to Jewswasco-optrationality,co-opthope.At everystepof tlie way it was in theJews'rationalbestinterest not resist:manyJewsnaainenoie-and this hopewas to cultivated theNazis-that if theyplayedalong,followedthe ruleslaid down'bythosein power,that their by liveswould getno worse,thattheywould not be rnurdered. Would you ratherget"an card,or wouldyou ID rathorrsistandpossiblygetkilled?Wouldyou rathergo to a ghetto(resewe, ieservation, whatever) oiwould you ratherresistandpossiblygetkilled?Wouldyou ratherget on a cattlecar,or wouldyou ratlier resistand possibly killed?Wouldyou ratherget in the showers, get oiwould you ratheiresistandpossiblygetkilled? But I'll tell you something important: Jewswho participated the Warsaw the in Ctt"tto upiirurg, ittcludingthosewho wenton whattheythoughtweresuicidemisqions, a higherrateof survival had thal thosc who wentalong.Neverforgetthat. It isn't merelyfalsehopes thatkeepthosewho go alongenchained. is hopeitsell It Hope,we aretold, is our beacon the dark.lt is our light at theendofa long,darktunnel.lt is the in beamof light that against oddsmakes way into our prisoncells.It is ou, ..usoir.fo,perseverlng, all its our protection against (whichmustat all costs, despair includingthe costofour sarity andthe world, be avoided). How canwe continue ifwe do not havehope? We'veall beentaughtthat hopein somebetterfuturecondition-like hopein somebetterfuture . heaven-is andmustbe our refugein currentsonow. I'm sureyou rernember storyof pandora. was the She givena tightly sealed box, andwas told neverto openit. But, curious,shedid, andoui fl.* plagues, sorrow, andmischief,probably in that order.Too latesheclapped not down the lid. Oniy onething iemained the i1 box:hope.Hope,the storygoes, wrls"the only goodthe casket held among manyevils,andlt relnaurs the to this daymankind'ssolecomfortin misfortune." mentionhereof actioi beinga cornfortin misfortune, No or of actt lly doings,omething alleviate eliminate to or one'smisfortun (Fortunel from Latinfortuna, akinto e. Latinfort-,fors, chance, luck: this impliesof course the misfortune that thathopeis supposed comfortus i1 to isjust damnbad luck, andnot dependent circumstances canchange: th. pr"t# case, on we in I don,tseehorv badluck is involvedin the wretched choices eachrnakedaily in alloi,ing civilizationto contrnue destroy we to theearth.) The moreI understand hope,themoreI realize that instead hopebeinga cornfort, of that all alongir deserved be in thebox with the plagues, to sorrow,andmischief;that it iervestte needs thosei1 powlr as of surelyasa belief in a distantheaven; hopeis reallynothingmorethana secular that versionof the sarne old heaverVnirvana mindfuck. Hopeis, in fact,a curse, bane. a I saythis not only because ofthe lovely Buddhist saying,"Hope andfearchase eachother'stails,'. withouthopethereis no fear-notonly because hopeleads iway from thepresent, us away{iom who and wlrerewe areright now andtowardsomeimagurary futurestate.I iay this beiause vhat hope is. oi More or lessall of us yammer moreor lessendlessly on abouihope.you wouldn,tbelieve-or maybe you would-how manyeditors_for manymagazines how havesaidthey**t n'r.to write abouttlie apocalypse, enjoined t6 "rnakesureyou leavereaders then me with a sense hope."But what,prccisely, of is hope? atalk I gavelastspring,sorneone At asked to defineit. I couldn't,andso tumedthe question me back

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on the audience.Here's the delurition we all came up with: Hope is a longing for a future condition over lvhich you have no agency.It means you are essentially powerless. Think about it. I'm not, for example, going to say I hope I eat something tomorrow. I'll just do it. I don't hope I take another breath right now, nor that I finish writing this sentence.Ijust do them. On the other hand, I hope that the next time I get on a plane, it doesn't crash. To hope for some result means you have no agencyconcernlnglt. So many people say they hope the dominant culture stops destroying the world. By saying that, they've guaranteedat least its short-term continuation, and given it a power it doesn't have. They've also stepped arvay tiom their own power. I do not hope coho salmon survive. I will do what it takes to make sure the dominant culture doesn't drive them extinct. If coho want to leave becausethey don't like how they're being treated-and who could blame them?-l will say good-bye, and I will miss them, but if they do not want to leave, I will not allow civilization to kill them off. I vill do \uhatever it takes. I do not hope civilization comes down, and that right soon. I will do what it takes to bring that about. When we realize the degreeof agency we actually do have, we no longer have to "hope" at all. We simply do the work. We make sure salmon survive. We make sure prairie dogs survive. We make sure tigers survive. We do whatever it takes. Casey Maddox wrote that when philosophy dies, action begins. I would say in addition that when we stop hoping for external assistance, when we stop hoping that the awful situation we're in will somehow resolve itself, rvhen rve stop hoping the situation will somehow not get worse, then we are finally free--tnrly free-to honestly start working to thoroughly resolve it. I would say when hope dies, action begins.

for top. i went limp. igritted my teth,hesitated a moment and then tried tc gather the strength from all the corners of my body, but my legs their energyto the struggle. would not relinquish my body seemedunableto act as a whole force -_ it cowered and heard voicestellingit to sit still. sit stilll the power of your body is the power of passive. the power of how your chest grows . women's traps and strengths are breasts . lay silent.men hunt, women lay in waiting. down. sit still. my brother will respect me for my breasts.he'll see i am a woman now, i thought.i don't have to push him off. my body went limp. "come on," he said to me. "try and get up" "i don't want to fight anymofe." the fight knocked out of me i began not to recognize the battles. already, i have watched becca's desire to take risks slip from her. i have seen her cry anxiously over the places her own creativ energies are taking her to. a pit to be fallen into and i have always loved the night. i have always loved the night from afar. it is the same relationshipi have with my anger. but i have told becca many times - it is okay to be angry. if someone hits you, you hit them back. don't just stand there. for heaven'Ssake, don't just stand therel the boys have left the swing set. they are over in the grassy glass area to my right, survivingwhile the other boys climb on top of them. it seems good practice for life. in the distance,across the play area, there is a figure by a street light. i what iam to rememberwhy iam here.i rehearse

the do - call his nameas he approaches park. let him see clearly that it is anothr woman, a concerned mother of a girl-childand then i will run for the phone. thomas lucinda, i will say. thomas lucinda. you have passed this dark pit onto another generation. you will teach rry daughter to waik with her head ciorvn.you r,vili make her hesitantto trusf or venture,constantiy looking down for all the holes little girls can fall into. the man has come into the park. he is walking directly toward me. i want to look down. he gets so close that i can see the featureson his face he is walkingstraighttoward me. i stand up and call "thomas lucinda,thomas lucinda.you . . . ." and he turns slightlyfrom his course and rnovesfrom me, crossingtoward a group of bushes.instead of moving to the telephone i quickly follow, picking up a rock as it get behind him. i raisemy arm and bring the rock to the back of h i s h e a d ."th o m a s l u ci n d a ,"i sa y, "i a m u n l e a r n ' lna. i did not stop at that. he stumbled,stunnedat the hard, sharp rock and i swung again and again.he fell and i kicked him with everythingihad in rne, him: this is for my mother, to repeating myself/tcj one is for becca, this is for myself, this one for pam, this is for ail the mothers, for betty your wife, this is for the woman raped up the street who dreamsit everynight,this is for allthoservho watch nights from behind glass. sweaty and keenlyalert, i turn to walk away. he lies on the ground,making no motion or sound'

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['m sure by norv we've all heard the clich6 about how eskimos have something like ninety-seven rvordsfor snow. It endsup that's kind ofbullshit. First, they're not eskimos,but Inuits. Second,the translations their words for snow aren't all that exciting, kind of like "fluffy snow," "hard snow," "cold for snorv,"and so on. The reasonthey have so many words for snow is that they don't have adjectivatforms exactly like in English. Along theselines, though, I do think we need more words in English for violence. It's absurd that the same rvord is used to describesomeoneraping, torturing, mutilating, and killing a child; and someone stopping that perpetrator by shooting him in the head. The same word used to describe a mountain lion killing a deer by one quick bite to the spinal column is used to describe a civilized human playing smackyface with a suspect's ohild, or vaporizing a family with a daisy cutter. The same word often used to describe breaking a rvindow (the ELF and ALF are consideredby the feds the number one domestic "terrorisf'threat, yet they've never injured anyone: their "violence" is that they destroy property) is used to describe killing a CEO and used to describe that CEO producing toxrns that give people cancer the world over. Check that: the latter isn't called violence; i t' s c alledp r o d u c t i o n . Sometimes people say to me they're against all forms ofviolence. A few weeks ago, I got a call from a pacifist activist who said, "Violence never accomplishes anything, and besides,it's really stupid." I asked,"What typesofviolence are you against?" "All rypes." "Horv do you eat? And do you defecate?From the perspective of carrots and intestinal flor4 respectively, those actions are very violent." "Don't be absurd,"he said."You know what I mean." Actually I didn't. The definitions of violence we normally use are impossibly squishy, especially for such an emotionally-laden. morally-charged, existentially-vital, and politically-important word. This squishynessmakes our discourse surrounding violence even more meaninglessthan it would otherwise be, rvl.rich saying a lot. is The conversationwith the pacifist really got me thinking, first about definitions of violence, and second about oategories.So far as the fbrmer, there are those who point out, rightly, the relationship befween the rvords violence and violate, and say that becausea mountain lion isn't violating a deer but simply killing it to eat, that this would not acnrally be violence. Similarly a human who killed a deer would not be committing

feet the misht of (r)evolution-the , governmentattack.As the graffiti illustrates, ii' ,,olitics of the peopte-needs armed struggle to survive.

understand the electric dream current in our brain, are already Luirhus. we enter a dreom and know that an euil mon has let't the scenea t'ew hours before, soying he would soon return ond euen though we were no where bet'orewe stood in that empty room ol dream, all the lacts that deline that indiuidualdream mare ore KNOWN. /his preuious "knowledge" guides us, ollou.rsus fo ossess backwords and t'orwards, sfepping simultoneously. that knowledge allous us fo oct in dreams becouse uisibilifyis endless.i con soy, knowingly: it is co/d in here and territ'yingbut (i know) all i musl do is go in the next room and look behind the hung clolhes and there willbe a stairway leading to a warm room with huge rrindoLi.rsthat i con seefrom. i just know that th{s is u,,hot r must do. the air does not cool quickly in the city as the evening comes. evening just settles down in between the heat and thg dark. when isee him, i will call his name. shocked,he will turn around and he will see who has discovered him and run and then i will call the police.neverwill he suspect that it was his wife who gave him away, never will he suspect that ii was the woman who vowed faithfulness. the air does not cool quickly in the city as the evening comes. evening iust settles down in between the heat and the dark and waits. there are boys on the swingsstill. they are loud and take little caution with their voices or bodies, three or four of them tangledonto one swing, arms and iegs having lost their proper torso. some legs pump the swing and the masses of Iimbs higher and they fall to the ground with tumbling battlecries.they laugh and scramble and roll, then get up and brush their dusty brown faces off with dustv brown hands.becca is their age, i know, but she does not move like this. rhe night is a pit to be fallen into and the bench i wait on is splintered. the wood is rough and stabs the back of my thighs.it is too dark to feel comfortabie sitting in this park with no obvious purpose or companion. the boys continue to wrestlethe swing set. they slither up the silver-covered metal frame, their

arms pulling, their legs sustaining their new position.up, up, pull up, then let looseand slide, whooping to the ground. they do not seemafraid of fallingto the ground from the top of the swing set. they do not seem afraid of falling into the darkness. no one has repeated the words to them over and over: keep your head down when you walk the streets, be careful who you talk to, don't take chances,don't get dirty, nobody likes little girlsthat run around like that, you sit stillso nicely. pee wee told me to act as if i were attacking the pole, wrap my legs around it and clench my thighs. he told me to extend my arms above my head, fingers spread, sealed. "now pull yourself up with your arms, try and bring your head to your hands. that's it. loosenyour legsa bit, not too much. your head. no, pull up with your arms." the pole was raw on my uncovered legs,my skirt pushed up, gatheredat my waist.istretched my arms but they seemedso inadequatefor the task. i remained. straining. the cold metal hooked betweenmy legs.icouldn'tmove. ithought it was a trick; i thought that pee wee had purposely left out the essenceof the skill. that there was some secret that could never be mine. "practice," pee wee said to me. "it only takes a few times. icouldn't do it the first time either." i didn't believehim. i felt foolishwelded to that pole, gripping my hands raw,.unableto collect the strength in my muscles to propel myself upward. but i was more afraid that it was a signof what wds to comei watched the ability to act slip away as my brother and i wrestled.i had the smallestbits of breasts and i kept one eye on them the entire time we pushedand rolled.hisarms were pinned. i remember i had his shoulders firm to the floor, the weight of my body stretchedacross his. he gritted his teeth, breathing hard with his face puffed, he hesitated for a moment. withdrew nte then thre'.v and climbedon frorn the situation,

an actof violence, long asthepredator, this case human,did not violatethe fundamental in the so predator/prey thenassumed responsibility the for relationship: otherwords,so long asthepredator in would comeonly with thebreaking continuation theother'scormnunity. violation,andthusviolence, of The of that bond.I like that definitiona lot. "An Here'sanother definitionI like, for differentreasons: act ofviolencewould be anyactthat inflicts physical psychological on another." like thisonebecause inclusiveness harm I its reminds ofthe ubiquity us or violencea bit. So,you sayyou oppose violence? Well. in thatcase of violence, thusI think demystifies and you oppose life. You oppose change. question all The important becomes, Whattypesofviolencedo you oppose? Whichofcourse leads theotherthingI've been to about: ofviolence. lfwe don't thinl,iing categories nri.rrd beingabit ad hoc,we canpreftyeasilybreakviolence into differenttypes.Thereis, for exarnple, the between unintentional intentional violence: difference distinction and the between accidentally stepping a on Thentherewould be fte category snailanddoingso on purpose. violence: ofunintentionalbut fully expected whenever drive a car I canfully expectto smash I insects the windshield: kill this or thatparticular on to moth is an accident, the deaths somemothsareinevitable but of considering what I'm doing.Therervouldbe the distinction directviolence, that I do myself,andviolence between that I orderdone.Presrunably, George Bush (the hasn'tpersonally thottled any Iraqi children,but he hasordered their deaths orderingan invasion by deathoftltis or that Iraqi child may be an accident, the deaths somechildrenareinevitable but of considering what he is ordering be done).Anotherkind of violence to wouldbe systematic, therefore and oftenhidden: I've long knownthatthemanufacture ofthe harddriveon my computer an extremely is toxic process, and givescancer womenin Thailandandelsewhere to who assemble them,but until todayI didn't krow thatthe (520pounds fossil fuels,48 manufacture the average of computer takesabouttwo tonsof raw rnaterials of pounds chemiials,and3600pounds water;four pounds fossil fuelsandchemicals 70 pounds of of of and of just a singletwo gramnremory waterareusedto make chip).My purchase the computer with it of carries those hidden formsofviolence. Thereis alsoviolence omission: not following the example GeorgElserandattenlpting by By ol to removeHitler, goodGemrans wereculpable the effectsHitler hadon the world. By not renroving for damsI am culpable their effectson my landbase for Thereis violence silence. will tell you somethingdid,or rather by I I didn't do,thatcauses more me shame thanalmostanything haveeverdoneor not donein my life. I waswalkingonenightseveral I yearsago out ofa grocerystore, manwho was clearlyhomeless A andjust asclearlyalcoholic(andinebriated) me for approached andasked money.I told him, honestly, I hadno change. respectfully that He thanked me anylvay, wishedme a goodevening. walkedon. I heardthe mansay sonethingto whomever behind and I was rne.Then I heardanother man'svoicesay,"Get the fuck awayfrom mel" followedby thethudof fist striking flesh.Tuming back,I sawa youngish manwith slick-backed blackhair andrvearing business a suit pummeling homeless the man'sface.I took a steptowardthem.And then?I did nothing.I watched the businessman strikethis othertwice more,wipe thebackof his handon his pants, thenwalk away,shoulders squared, his car.I took another to steptowardthehomeless man.He turnedto faceme.His eyes shorved he felt nothing.I didn't saya word. I wenthome. If I hadto do it again,I would not havecommitted violenceby inactionandby silence. would this I havestepped "lf ben.veen, I would havesaidto themanperpetrating directviolence, you wantto hit and the someone, leasthit someone will hit you back." at who Thereis violence lying, A few pages I mentioned by ago thatjoumalistJuliusStreicher hanged was at Nuremberg his role in fomenting Nazi Holocaust. for the Hereis what oneof the prosecutors abouthim: said "lt may be thatthis defendant lessdirectlyinvolvedin thephysicalconmissionof crimesagainst is Jews. Thc submission theprosecution that his crimeis no lesstheworsefor that reason. govenmrent the is of No in world . . . couldhaveembarked uponandput into effecta policy of massextermination withouthavinga people who would backthemandsupport people, producing them.It wasto the taskof educating murderers, educating poisoning and themwith hate,that Streicher himself.In fte earlydayshe waspreaching set persecution. persecution As tookplacehepreachedextermination andamrihilation. [T]hese . .. crimcs.. . couldneverhavehappened it not beenfor hin andfor thoselike him. Withouthim, the Kaltenbrunners, had the Himmlers. . . wouldhavehadnobodyto carryout their orders."The sameis trueof course todayfor the press atrocities role of the corporate in cornmitted govenilnents corporations, by and insofarasthsreis a meaningful difference. For yearsI've beenaskingntyself(andrny readers) propagandists-comrnonly whetherthese called journallsts-are or sfupid. vacillate by day.MostoftenI thinkboth.But today corporate capitalist or evil I day

I'm thinking evil..Here's why. You may have heard ofJohn Stossel.He's a long-termanalyst,now anchor,on a television program called 20/20, and is most famous for his segment called "Give Me A Break," in which, to use his language,he debunks commonly-held myths. Most of the rest of us would call what he does "lying to serve corporations." For example, in one of his segments,he claimed that "buying organic [vegetables] could kill you." He statedthat specially-commissioned studies had found no pesticide residues on either organicallygrown or pesticide-grown fruits and vegetables,and had found further that organic foods are covered with dangerousstrains of E. coli. But the researchersStossel cited later stated he misrepresentedtheir research.The reasonthey didn't find any pesticides is becausethey never tested for them (they were never asked to). Further, they said Stosselmisrepresentedthe tests on E, coli. Stosselrefused to issue a retraction. Worse, the network aired the piece nvo more times. And still worse, it came out later that 20/20's executive director Victor Neufeld knew about the test results and knew that Stossel was lying a full three months before the original broadcast.This is not unusual for Stossel and company. I recently spoke with one environmentalisVteacher who was interviewed by him who said, "lt was nothing but a hit piece. He sliced and diced the interviews with me and the grade schools students to make it seem as though we'd said things we hadn't, and as thor.rgh hadn't been able to answer questions that we had. He edited the piece to make the we children look stupid." Another called him "the worst motherfucker on the planet," which is saying quite a lot. And norv I've got another Stosselstory to add to the evidence when hejoins the ghost of Streicher in the docket. I got a call a rvhile ago from one of 20/20's reporters, who wanted to talk to me about deforestation. The next "my'th" Stosselis going to debunk, she said, is that this continent fNorth America] is being detbrested.After all, as the timber industry says, there are more fees on this continent today than there lvere seventy years ago. She wanted a responsefrom an environmentalist. I told her that 95 percent ofthis continent's native forests are gone, and that the ffeatures who live in these forests are gone or going. She reiteratedthe timber industry claim, and said that Stossel was going to use that as the basis for saying, "Give me a break! Deforestation isn't happening!" I said the timber industry's statementhas two unstated premises, by and remindedher ofthe first mle ofpropaganda:ifyou can slide your premises people,you've got them. The first premise is the insane presumption that a ten-inch seedling is the same as a two-thousand-year-old tree. Sure, there may be more seedlingstoday, but there are a hell of a lot feweq ancient trees. And many big timber corporations cut trees on a fifty-year rotation, meaning that the treeswill never eyen enter adolescence so long as civilization stands.The second is the equally insane presumption that a monocrop of douglas firs (on a fifty-year rotation!) is the same as a healthy forest, that a forest is just a bunch of the same kind of trees grou'ing on a hillside instead of what it really is, a web of relationships shimmering amongst, for example, salmon, voles, fungi, salamanders,munelets, trees, ferns, and so on, all working and living together. Pretty basic stuff. But, she asked, aren't there more ofsome types ofwildlife today than ever before? I responded by telling her that one of the classic lies told by the Forest Service and the timber industry is that becausethere are more white tailed deer now than before, that means forests must be"in better shape.The problem is that white tailed deer like the edgesbetween forest and non-forest, so more white tailed deer doesn't mean more forests: it means more edges,which really means more clearcuts. To say, I continued, that more white tailed deer means more forests is simply another lie. I talked to her for more than an hour, and by the end she seemed to really understandthesepoints. I made clear that the only way you can make Stossel's leap-from saying that therc are more trees today than there were seventy ypars ago, to saying that deforestation isn't happening-is if you're either ignorant of these premises or you're lying. As George Draffan and I wrote in Strangelv Like lltar, "To even imply that a tree farm on a fifty-year rotation remotely resemblesa living forest is either extraordinarily and rvillfully ignorant, or intentionally deceitful. Either way, those who make such statementsare unfit to make forestry decisions." She understood that. We sent her a copy ofthe book. She said they might have me on the pro$am. They didn't, which is fine. But here's the point. Stossel went ahead with the program anyway. Further, he explicitly said that an indicator that deforestation isn't happening is that white tail deer are increasing. He had been made fully aware that his statementsare untrue. Helas made fully aware ofthe facts. These facts-that seedlings are different than ancient trees, that monocrops oftrees are different than forests, and that increasing numbers ofwhite tailed deer are not an indicator that forests are increasing-are neither controversial nor cognitively challenging. They are not opinions. They are facts as clear as water is wet and fire is hot and ancient trees are ancient. This means he no longer had the flrst excuse, ignorance.Stosselmay or may not be stupid. I have no experience with that. But in his case I now know the answer to the other half of that question. Like Streicher, he is committing violence by lying: violating the tmth, violating the sacrality ofwords and discourse, violating our psyches, and paving the way for further violation ofthe forests. Like Streicher, it may be that he is less directly involved in the physical commission of crimes against the natural world than are people like'Hurwitz. But my submission is that his crime is no less

the street, on fire escapes- city apartments eat light and dark alleYseat lives. there are mothers who keep their children home and those who give their children ten minutes to arrive from school and panic at fifteen. never before have my neighborssmiledand welcomed police cars into the neighborhood.the efficiency granted to drug busts is spared on rapists and child molesters. for a week this man has been loosed on our children and the police look at us as if to ask: why don't you just move to a better neighborhood?as if we shouldn't be angry, as if - if you get hit by a rock, you should have ducked. they think our anger is like pampers, or paper toweling. i wrap my armslaround becca, her shoulders are tucked under me. her mouth flaps tiny teeth and tells tales of boys at school, the kickball game, a math test, movies, books, neat socks. "you know pam at school, don't you mom? she got hurt by that man yesterday." i thought we were talking about neat socks. but pam is no stranger to me. she ate egg salad with becca and me last week. "do you know what happened?" "no, cause i iust heard cause pam wasn't in school today and of course they told us not to talk to strangers. but pam knew that. mom, he just can't keep going around hurting children, can he?" there are hundreds of answers tb that question: yes, bqcause there is ,little we can do; yes, because another will teike his place after he is caught; yes, bcausewhen it is not done in the streets,it is done in the home; yes, becausewe feelpowerlessin the face.of all; yes,becausewe it leave it up to the forces'which usually jail our children and take them away from us.

"i 'm su r e p a m w o u l d l i ke th a t ve r Y m u ch . . ." there is a knock at the door. betty lucindastandsvery stillas i open the door. she standsin the frame of the door like a bride who thinks marriageis posed by a photographer synonymouswith paralYsis. "come in betty, what can i do for yor-r?" "i need to talk with someone.you." are she glancestoward becca to test whether r've within hearing distance.becca is busy with her face in the juice glass. i guide betty into my bedroom and close the door behind us. the woman who sits herselfdown on the chair by my to bed is beginning shake,her rnouthis stuttering air. she is tellingme that it is her husbandwho has at the childrenin the playground. been molesting first i am angry with her; insideme iask why she didn't call the rrolice,tell someonesooner, who was she protecting - why protect this dangerous man? but i must not scream before i l i ste n ,scr e a m ,n o l i ste n .scr e a m .l i ste n . yesterday washim. if it "ihadn't known r"rntil i told the policeand they came to whereilived he would kill me. he wo0ld know it was me and the surelykill me. but icannot separate man who fondles children from the man who comes home to dinner with me every night. he would kill me if he findsotrt i told, but, so no one must know that you know from me." "you are sure it is him?" "how funny, i too feel guilty, ashamed like the mother of a rapist or the shootinginstructor of a snipermust feel.the wife of a man r,,ho. . . ." "betty?" her sobs becamesilent."i wiil wait for him tonightin the park. iwill not fearhim. he is just thomas lucinda, a neighbor rvho pushes my molests my chidlren in car in winter and " spring. somelimeswe enter our sleepswith ottr dreonts alreadvf or aheodol us.charactershat'eentered somehoruthot are and long gone, but LLte aLuare need in order to they haue been present..foctsu-,e

"no, becca,he can't keep hurtingchildren." wnen becca and i get home, we have jtrice together.becca looks distressed and asks if she can call pam.

The Night is a Monster

WENDYSTEVENS

the worse for that reason.No government or corporation in the world could have embarked upon and put into effect a policy of mass extermination of the forests without having a people who would back them and support them. It is to the tasks ofeducating people, producing those who countenanceand even call for deforestation, educating thern and poisoning them with a hatred of truth and a hatred of the natural world, that Stosselhas sct himself. Deforestation could not happen were it not for him and for those like him. Without him and others like him, the Hurwitzs, Weyerhaeusers,and others like them would be stopped fron:l destroying our landbases. Thittgs are actually worse than I said. Would you like to know what other myths Stossel was debunking during that same program? I carmot do better than to simply quote 20l20s online promo, to reveal tlre level ofdisrespect accorded deforestation: "Do slrange things really happenvhen there's afull ntoon? Is svtimming after eating dangerous? Are SUVs safer than cars? 20/20 yiewers sent in questions to ABCNEWS.con, asking us to Jlnd out what the experts have to say about some popularly hettl betiefs. In a special 20/20 airing Monday, March 22 at I0 p.m. ET, John Stosselchecks out I0 more "myths." Here are some of the questions Stosselwill be tackling in Myths, Lies & Dovtnright Stupidity. Have psychics solved lots ofcrimes? Does shaving cause hair to grow backfaster and thicker? Are we destroying ourforests? Does a more expensive skin cream always work betlerT Are you safer driving an SLIV than a car? Tune in tl,londay, March 22, at I0 p.m., to see ifyour anstuers match those of the experts." All writers are propagandists.That doesn't mean we're all liars. Some are liars. Some are not. I have never met John Stossel,but I hate hirn. I hate him for what he's doing to the forests, and to the world, and for what he is doing to discourse. I hate him becausehe's a liar. I hate him becausehis lies hann those I love. I probably shouldn't pick on Stossel.He's not the only liar. The entire culture is basedon lies, fronr the nost intimate and personal to the most global. The smartest lines I ever wrote were in I Language Older Than Iltords: "It order for us to naintain orlr way of living, we must lpll lies to each othcr, and especially to ourselves. It's not necessarythat the lies be particularly believable, but merely that they be erected as barriers to truth. These barriers to truth are necessarybecausewithout them many deplorable acts would become itnpossibilities. Truth must at all costsbe avoided." Members of abusivefamilies lie to eachother and to themselves in order to protect the violent perpetrators (they convince themselves-and are convinced by the perpetrators and by the entire family structure-that they are protecting themselves), and to keep their violent social structures intact. Members of this abusive culture lie to each other and to themselves in order to Drotect this culture's violent perpetrators,and to keep this culfure's violent social stmctures intact. We tell ourselves we can destroy the planet---or rather, for those of us who care, allow it to be destroyed-and live on it. We tell ourselves we can perpetually use more eltergy than comes in from the sun every year, We tell ourselvesthat a 90 percent decline in large fish in the oceansmay not be unreasonable.We tell ourselves that ifwe are peaceful enough that those in power will stop the killing. We tell ourselves that civilization is the most desirable form of social order, or really the only one. We tell ourselves things are going to be okay. Stossel is not the only liar. There are other types ofviolence. There is the necessaryviolence ofkilling to eat, whether we are killing salmon or salsi$r. And of course we can make a distinction in this violence, between that done to animals, that done to plants, that done to fungi. We can differentiate behryeen eating a carrot, rvhich kills the plant, and eating a lettuc leaf, which does not. There is metabolic violence, the violence done by my body, to the food I digest, to the bacteria I excrete, to the invasive germs my white blood cells destroy. I presume there are no pacifists anywhere so stringent they would object to these forms of violence. There is violence done to humans. There is violence done to nonhumans. There is violence done to rlvers, morxltains, oceans.There is violence done to the earth. There is, sonre say, violence done to huuranmade inanimate objects. There are others who say there is no such thing as an inanimate object (but it's important to note that those who objected to members of the Black Bloc breaking windows at Starbucks were attempting to defend the corporation, not the windows). There is violence done to human psyches, and violence done to nonhuman psyches. There is violence done to discourse. There is violencedone with consciousmotivations.And there is violerrcedone with unconscious motlvatlolls.

The night is a monster my mother would say.

a pit to be fallen into,

the children come inside at the first sign of dark. They have no choice for they are given their mother's terror even if they won't take it. my neighbor's three childrerrfight and protest - it has only begun to get dark, we have only begun at our games,there is nothingon television this hour. i hear, as i walk up the street to retrieve becca, the sounds from radios turned outward by open windows, making music for those sitting on stoops. i guide becca down the street to our apartment. i know she does not understand why i have begun to guard her like virginity. it is not fair to share my fear with her. she will learn soon enough that the world expects her io cross her legs, soon enough she will unlearn how to make a fist, her fingerswillforeverremaindiscouragingly polite. the night is calm from behind closed windows no terror within full view until it decidesto come through your window. when terror comes in my window, i have thought, i will stab him with a scissors. i will not pretend i am dead, asleep, polite. discouragingly but fear is in the playgroundwith my daughter. do,'vn to fear is dressedlike a man,well'disguised his pressedpants arrdshinyslip-onshoes.fear is in the playground with rny daughter and her friendsand so i wrap her in my arnts and escort h e r honre. as if m9'p resenc : e r lor t e t v er e protection.

when beccawas six she climbedtrees with and hung at fervor;she wrestledthe branches confused but theiredges. nowat eightsheseems and she doesn't tackle as to her boundaries her to she trees, although continues climbthem. her she cautionis self-conscious; watches arms and her legslike a youngwomanbalancing'in heels. and i think: she is hardlymine to wrestle with anymore.those who deny their children the twinkieswill havechildrenwho eat twinkies i restof theirlives- alongwith her education, too havebeentaughtmy limits. there is a man who followsyounggirl-children on homefrom the park.he doesn'tforcehimself them, childrenhave been taught to respect adults;it is not fear they feel,they havealways this way. it is not the violence been handled which first shocks them, but the intimacy, bodies of contextout embarrassment, me,littlegirl,i havelostmy book.it looks excuse it's exactly like this one. my eyesight, bad, perhapsyou could help me find it? over here wherei wassitting. somewhere thesebushes in look and the manhasa saddened on hisface.he to him.he he like doesn't thischild hasasked help to they doesnot likegirl-children. arepowerless itell him,whimpering weak- andwhatshall and my childaboutthisman;who he is,whydoeshe do these things?i have many answersbut i cannotshare thiskind of terrorwith her. there in monsters shadows thecloset' and are boogie and to in the frankensteirrs hallway thebathroom out menwattitlg on irr menclinrbing yourwindow,

'fhere is offensive violence, as in someone attempting to tofture you to death, and there is defensive violence,as in you fighting back. There is violence done for hate, and there is violence done for love, There is violence done tbr pity. There is violen-cedone for greed. There is violence done for fear. There is violence done for power. There is violence done for anger.There is violence done for survival. There is violencedone for toxic mimics of manv of these. There is violencedone alone,and there is violence done collectively. There is personalviolence-violence done by or to me or you sp"cifically-and . there is impersonal violence,like being poisonedby pesticides your iood, pesticid;s John on Stosseisays aren,t there. It is absurdfor someone say he or she doesn't bilieve in violence.thafs iike to saying you don't believe in death. Certainly one can say that one doesn't want to participate in certain formi oiviolence,.lust like one can say that one doesn't want to cause certain forms ofdeath. But violence, like death, is simply a part oflif'e, no larger nor smaller, no more nor less important than any other. In factit's inseparablefrom the others. we all participate in violence daily. The only questions are our degree ofawareness, and what we do that awareness. "vith

tf,I

"*Stlllil*

Contents
introduction
I

i rheProblem
Er r o r a a wa r e f vio le n ce o Co n fid e n ily ryo u fse lt a sse l Un d e r sta n desitu a tioin a d va n ce ..... th n .. yo An a lyse u rd a ily o u tin e r

19 20 22
)1

An underground rape squad in the Sacramento area allegedly castrated one rapist a month co a d u r i n g 1 9 7 4 fte r th e y r e se a r ch e d u r t r e co r d s police reports. First, they cut off the and testicles and dressed the wound' then they routinely dumped each man on the steps ot a m e d i ca l ce n te r .

Wh ois, a n dwh a t 0 tiva te y0 u ra tta cker?25 m s.

,i l

t-

.{;rls.Ii",

OUR I{ATURE
\vH,.\T IS S1'ILL IVILD

IN

US

I think I know a rapist.

just centre,oJall places- aboutlhe My partner andI had a conversation the otherday - in a shopping predominance menwhoactivelyvieldabusivepoiuerovervomyn.Shetalkedaboutthentenwho of overwhelming (having withjust their eyeseverywhere goes.I told her the little I understood she makeherJeeluncomfortable to about only had it summarised meby a closefenaleJriend) ValerieSolanas'SCUMManifeslo.ll'e theorised of SoonI found the viability of Solanas'idea. Ile wereboth very deeplyemotionallyinvolvedin the conversation. and myse$ at the very brink of tears,quietlydeclaringthat I would diefor a v,orld that wassafe my sisters, I for meantit. Business continued usualall around us.I{e sat thereand held ontoeacho&er and hopedwith all our as in h.earts oneday v'e'd bothseethat vorld. Thenbusiness usualstepped lo remindusjust hoto au,ay that as far that world is - hro guyssittingjusl hro or three about 'girls' feet awayfrommypartner slartedup a conversation So Ihat v)asso misog/nistin toneand contenlthal all we could do wasstandup and valk atuay. thal vtaswhat vte did. pointin their are at As a friendof minehaspointed out,if 25% of womynin our culture raped some are lives,anda further19%of womynwill fendoffa rapeattempt, thenan awfullot of menin thisculture rapists. jusl theguysthatleer It's It's notjustoneguy who'sreallybusy. notjustpsychopaths darkalleys. not even It's in in the street creepyou out on the bus.'Ordinary' meneverywhere rapists...Everythere. or are our relatives, That scene'.It could Thatincludes friends, acquaintances, co-workers. includes'the even(gasp)include'the community'. considering fact - that I almostcertainlyknow, in someway or another, rapist- has Seriously this a with my head. reallyfucked Afterall, if I'm aspro-feminist, arrti-rape I sayI am,shouldn't do sontething as I about this? l4that fuck shouldI do? the I haven't come close arriving an answer thatquestion, I canalready to to the at but sense defensive proclamations sarcastic and asides from people whowouldn'thaveanyalternative sliggestions... Sometinres I people's takingthese saroasm literally: we tlrinkabout nraybe do need witchhunt.'Maybe sloaldjust expel we a (fromthe'scene'/'community'/'movement'/our everynrale lives) aboutwhorn thereis Justa rumour'- afterall, predominance rapeand sexualassault, rumour,isalmostcertainlytue. Sure,a considering statistical the of the groupof (along with an infinitely wholebunch wouldprobably falsely larger ofpeople be accused expelled and people who wereno, accused falsely). .. But wouldthat be so bad"!LI/e're talkingabouttuomyn's liveshere What . ! 'deserve' Speaking it?! thefuck does matter few guysarekickedout ofthe scene it ifa who don't necessarily for from anysocial wouldfeelsafer without myself, wouldgladlywithdraw I circleI'm partof if thewomyninvolved me. It would actuallybe a reliefto finally be ableto do something help the womynSround feel safer- even to me myselffrom their lives. if all I coulddo wasremove All thisassumes 'expulsion' a fiffingpunishment rapists, that is for which,whenyou think aboutit, is quitea silly idea. is Expulsion oftentalkedabout a waythatpost-revolution as anarchist communities mightdeal with people who refuse respeot to othersin the community. This makes sense me- thethreatof expulsion to from (and,presumably, a healthy, vibrant, sustainable self-sufficient and beingprevented fromjoining community wouldbea genuine another suchcommunity) from anti-social behaviour. we don'thavehealthy, But detenent yet. vibrant, sustainable self-sufficient and communities We have, best, at social clubs. Social clubs thatmay to vocalize opposition capitalist State and hegemony, arestill,sadly, but verymuchcomplicit. Expulsion from club,then, wouldhardly theendofthe world.It wouldinconvenience rapistinto finding sucha social be the another social club- preferably with no priorknowledge one ofhis actions, at least willingness overlook or the to themas 'rumours'. themor disregard Expulsion, then,is a woefullyinsufficient in communities, in any detcnent rapists radical to or communities. a bareminimum.How tragic that we hesitate perform eventhis basictaskto ensure It's womyn's to safety. It is,ofcourse, entirely inaccurate talk about to rapein blackandwhitetemrs, especially considering privilege am writingfrom.A guy I know,whoI thinkwouldcallhimself whichsideof thefence patr.iarchal of I pro-feminist, likesto saythat all menaremisogynist, menthat claim they aren'tarelying. I disagree. and The
tne ' Ifyou'll pardon expression.

_rf

Nr)ru L-e will let the blood of our mother sink into this earth. This is Lulmt tce wiII rlo uith our grieaing. We uill coter h.:r u'ounds u:ith mutl. \\/e lcill tear leaxesantl brunche.s fron tJv trees artd together pile thetn ottr lrcr borlry. Tl'resky uill no longer sec her fiilIen thus. We uiII pull gra.ss by the roofs. trVetcill cLtrerlrcr. Tlru,s, rca rlo this, rce try rn knott lrcr botly rcill nek arcaq.And. t>nLy ht:r bone,s u:ill renain. But theseLceuill tukc. Stillfeelingher obsence, will cradle lvr tusksin te our tntnks, and carnl thern to another ground. Artd thu,stcill this soil be absoh:ed hcr d.eath, of antl the place of her tlyingbe innocentagain, und tlru,sher bone,srcill no longer be cluffid bt1 the ciolencedone there. But tlnugh ttll traces o-flu:r canish, tce uillnot forget. In our Iifetinwsrce u:ill not be able to Jbrget. Her uound.s uill fester in us,\\'e tcill not be tlrc gunu. The sce of lte.r killer is ,tnorun to tts nou. .\\'e nt 'fi cannr.>t tun"t (trLrbuck.s the tt'rongnotnent. \Ve ntust knou; rchento at trunpet and clnrge, wlvn to recedainto denserforest, when to turn and track the hrtnter Wefecl tlte ntcessityttf theseact,s u.s.We uill in pas,s ,feeling to ortr young, t() those ulu follor in our footstelts, this rclto talk unclerour boclies,tcho,fbel safe in rtur presence, oho dicl ve not tL'(t"rt tlrcnt, dkl oe not teaclr tltcnt tlti.sscent,ntight apy:roachthis enerruttaith crrriostttl. Wln intitute iltr nrotenLents antl rehl ottrour knotlt'dge: ve rcill not ullorc tlrcnt to upproaclt their enenties easily. They ctll l.t'urnfeor. And rcl'rett uttack in their defense.they t'ill rce tt:ttclt tLnl leorn tlils tt'n. Frcnt us. tlrcy riII beconv fierce. And s() a deatlt likc thi,sdattlt oJ'our ttutther rill not corneeasily to tlrcn. This. i.r rc/rafoe taill do ucithour gr{eoing.Tlrcq will.know uhttm to beware. und rchon to fcur ,\nrl this lntred tlut began to grou in us then u'e ,rrrrr' /r,'r body ftill tuill beconu: their JntrcrL antl no man oill approach thentsafclu. \o rnan u:ill corneneaitten ,trul[itb.\l;,; rill noi und tlti,sment(>ryrcill protect tlrcnr. What tluy hate learnet!front us, to all tlr.at lnte taught thentso tlmt they can sun:ice,h,orc wckupt ue uatur into tlvir tnrnks, hott' to prill d.oun leaccs J'rom treas,lttttcto lift u:ith tht:ir tusks,anrLr)ig llolcslty tlte riser rcith their Jt:et.all this tlwy otL, will, renrcnr]ter scent tlrc uill pu.ss ond generotiott itfter ge.nerutittn is of this enenty.T/'li,s /rorr,long our grieDing tuill last. Anclonly if the thi.s y,tung of our young ()r tlrc yout'tgof thtir young nncr kno:..:' odor long as they in th.eir li.fetinc, onlq if wt lrunter approachcsthenr,Lts allenqtt.s capturc them, or usethem' to Iiw, atl no ont LLithlhi.sscer:'l onltl then dll, the tnenlory of this deoth pa.ss to his purTto.sc. J'rornour

of hide.Only then uill thoseuith tl'tescent her killerbc absolued, as

of tha ,soilis absolaed, ltcrbktod. OnIy then, tahen no trace i.tleft of thx I n*:lrutru in tts.uil] Luesae uhat Lcecan be u:ithout thi.s fear, wi thi.sonenry,rchat ue are

,Su,tun Criffin

dictionary I have to hand here definesmisogyny simply as "hatred of women". I don't hate womyn. At all. Almost all of the people I love most on this earth- the people I would die for, the peopleI wouldn't want to live lvithout - are womyn. I find it infinitely easierto relateto and generallycommunicatewith womyn than with men. Consequently vast majority of my friends are womyn. I only know one or two peoplepersonallythat I would the say do hate womyn (not including the guy who says all men are misogynist) - for the most part, I'm fairly successful my aim to only associate in with peopleI can relateto and respect(that is womyn, and men who love and respectwomyn). I am a little suspiciousabout this kind of logic - that all men are misogynist- coming from a man associated with feminist politics, because just a little too convenient.The implication is that pro/feminist it's awareness, discussionand action amongstmen is a wasteoftime, as we're powerless escapethe clutchesof to patriarchalconditioning. We hate womyn. That's just the way it is. Oh well, I guesswe may as well go back to watching TV/playing in bands/talkingabout records. .. I disagree, becauseat the same time as the rape rates show us that an awful lot ofmen are rapists they also show, on the other hand, that an awful lot ofmen are nol rapists.Despitebeing brainwashed since birth and all but destroyed by a pathological culture, many men are attempting to deprogram themselvesand have begun to fight back againstpatriarchalconditioning and practices- this has always,in my experience, come about through listeningto and leaming from womyn. This is proof, as ifany were needed,that patriarchyis a social condition, and not a biological function, as apologistsfor rape have argued,and as the logic that 'all men are misogynist' comesdangerously closeto arguing.The fact is that patriarchy is learnedbehaviour- albeit deeply ingrainedand can thus be unleamed when we have the commitment to try. As angry atheists have been known to say of God'.if we invented him, we can kill him. There is, on the other hand, an aspectofthe logic I agreewith. Patriarchalconditioning is certainly virulent and affectseverybodybom into this culture. Misogyny, in its many forms, is certainly an epidemic - any number of billboards will tell you it's downright commonplace.I don't think it's as all powerful and all consumingas the 'all men are misogynist' logic implies, but I do agreethat it's everywhere. we see(or not) As rvith rape. We seerape culture played out everywhere in movies, advertising,TV. But we don't really see it. At the sametime that we're bombardedwith imagesof womyn reducedto body parts on billboardsand dominatedby our action hero's on the movie screen,actual rape as it happensto millions ofwomyn every single day becomes invisible.It getsa mention here and therewhen it can be used for a purpose- tojustif, inner city ethnic cleansing or to terrify womyn into staying indoors at night - but it's realitiesare known, and for the most part discussed, only by womyn who have lived rhrough it. This has to change. We are all, in some way, caught up in rape culture. We know womyn who have beenraped(even though we may not know it). We know men who rape (even though we almost certainly do not know it). We pass billboards everyday that incite rape through the denigration of womyn, and we allow them to standunscathed. We have people in our midst who are damagedand hurt, and we allow them to continue unsupported. We have peoplein our midst who have damagedand hurt, and we allow them to continue unchallenged. lfhen I vas I7, I initioted sex v,ith my girniend while she vas asleep. She woke up and ve continued to have sex. I tuould like to say that itvas my intention that she wake up, but in truth I don't remember. I would like lo say that I would have stopped if she had not voken up soon after I began, but I'm not sure that I can swear to that either. She mentioned it in passing the next day, and seemedfine, sowe never discussed it. AJter our relationship had ended, I got in touch v,ilh her wanting to discuss some things about our relationship that troubled me. I had come lo realise lhal it v,as a problematic relationship in a lot of ways - that I had been very domindting. Understandably, she didn't vant to talk about it. She was happy that we werefriends, and she didn't see the point in going back through the problems of the relationship. I realise now that I will never know i/ she had really vanted to have sex lhat morning. I tell this story hereto illustratethe virulent, complex natureofrape culture,and also in order that I may take responsibilityfor the role I have played in it. My requestfor consent,my aftemptto ensurethat I not vtolate and dishonoura loved one, was much too little, far too late, I must now try to truly appreciate the consequences my actions,and act to ensurethat I never make such a mistakeagain.As a movement,despitethe of bestefforts ofa few, we have achievedlittle in our war againstrape culture.For so many ofour sisters,we are alreadytoo late. Can wejusti! silenceand submissionany longer?

.7C..t

G.A

Tltty raoukl lnoe \\4t Bri ue tll not tlerty our L)oices. ore disortlerfu. \\/c lmcl rrsperish. hate o.ftend.isttrrbedthe peace. lndecrl, Qe studtl chaos-it points to f ontoftglr.ecan rc.adt:[isttrclcr. vttttt an(l u)ise,et the fiirtre. The olclest on the chonce crac:ks o tortoi''e tlrerur*, or the rrtter(unesoJ'rnodness, the shell, frtrtr.ttvile$l.opeso.fleattcsttf tcn, tlw fatefu! arrangeiluitlti of oJ'uscan lwul' \\/e cun read lt'xlies w; o(Lr(ls, cail tell tlrings. Artds<rnrc puth' \\/e re(td the eaftl,, find u)ater, troL:e groDitq's orff lutttd,s, 1L)ith (t{:oitlstotwtlrc'r' (nvl htnoto ltalant.:e otut thi'tg krtotorulrd groLos Mrt,,q ,,J'irsu)lto Praclicetl tltese(trts L1ttre Pti ott trial' We 3tottd ut of rilnrtgr;, lnft tltose ulto.itulged lts Qere rlrokl'.,'l'lrcq the goies 'I'ltot1 tr's tt'ouLdlrttoe luttl ull <t-l' t;lrinrul thi i,gtt to orrlt:r tlrc J'Lttttre. Ilyisis tlu: p(,LL)er orr.IJcuutst: di(l.I)rtt sune kt:\tt ond mosto.l't.s perish, 'o.l'stulr u)( lc(pt A',1()rL)_-lr,tt .lltlin(tltruttglt tlv ni''1lJ, k('l).1 thhry$ttsr{)c ttttitrttt['; tD(,t\:slill .fitttilitu rt'ilh ttrtr tilt ,nrr ,lt'ai,ilitLg, rlttru:irtg.7L)Lt (tlttu)slt(' (t tilouglt u)ou)erellruttLttwtl Loitlt firc (til(l tlu,ttglt tL)(t(.)(r(' rl uon;nt Lntrned. Arul cuun if oxcr our bo(l.i(,rthtnl lur.ae!rtut's-litrttrr we s(ul, ilrc tnLth' is, to tlris ddt1,u'totnt:rt 'stilldr':unr' t,hisearth,

fa,tt,: (n'fn,,,i, , &t {'(r' # e-

learningit's not our fault.so we sufferinnocently. christian or jew, christ has not been a healthy model for oppressed people. one step up from martyrdom, we support our right to defend ourselves.we organize,attend, in and try to extend to other women classes selfdefense.we focus on dislocatingknees. we try not to think about differencesin size, weight, fightingskills,betweenan averageone of us and average one of them. we are anxious not to escalateviolence, so we rarely carry weaponsor know how to use them. this subject-of women organizingto do violence to men-makes us uncomfortable. we are the life-support system of the universe. we birth, nourish, and repair. how should we not shrink from committing violence? -are we more comt'ortable as uictims? -is fishtingt'or our own people a guilty act? when we try to envisionourselvesusing violence, we crash against the unthinkable, a taboo. when we feel ourselves up against a taboo, we should ask ourselves: iuhy is this horrible? why do we want to reject fhis? if we find no reason, only vague feelingsof awfulness,we want then to think about ihis awfulness. as long as a rule, commandment, behavior cowers in the unthinkablecorner of our brain, we have no way of knowing whether the rule is ours or theirs, in our interestor theirs. if using violence against men in an organized fashionis in our interest, and if we havereactions of discomfort, repulsion to the idea of fightingfor our own peoplethen maybe we need to struggle with our discomfort. men don't take us seriously because they're not physically afraid of us.

service performed for all women by those who resist is the fact that each resisterhas sufferedfor performing this service: at best, a painful and exhausting struggle in the courts; at worst, prison or death. as the death penalty is reinstated or its use is extended,we need to think about t his . the questionarisesinevitably: if we need men to know that committingviolence against us is dangerousif the use of violence is acceptable in an emergency, as a desperate choicewhy wait for the next emergency, for the next woman in danger to choose self-defense great at cost to herself? why not create our own emergencies??? imagine: every day in the paper, insteadof a story about a woman who was attcked, raped, beaten, tortured and/or murdered -inJormation which certainly has its ef. fects on us-there were a story about a ropist or batterer who was beaten, shot, stabbed-euen public humiliationwould be better than nothing. how long would it take woman-haters to get scared?

Battered and Raped

The PhysicaVsexualAbuse of Wornen
JANET HOWARD

RAPE The violenceknown as rape is increasing, and alreadythe number of reportedrapesis sraggering; the records suggestthat a woman is raped everythree minutes.But reportedrapesare only a very smallpercent(the official estimateis 10o6) of the number of rapes actualiyoccuring.It is impdssible estimatethe real nurnberbecause to rvornen who are rapedoftenchooseto keepquiet rather than face further aitacks from famiiy, policeand ihe rapisthimself. Also, the definition of rape is very differentdependingon who you talk to. The statedefines very narrowJy terms it in of penetration and presence semen,as if rape of is something that happens to a vagina,not a wholewolnan..{ rvomanexper:ences rape e\..ery tirne a man forces her into performinga sexual act againsther lvili. "Force" takes many forms: actual physicalforce, the use of weapons.the threar oi iosirrga job or being de;toried. rhe rhreat of deaih. lvlanywomen experience"soft rape"-emotional coercion(ir ,,vili larerbe called seduction)thar does not inciLrde obi,iousphvs. lcal force bur nonerheless resr-rlts a woman in performinga sexualact againsther rvili.Some i.vomenare "garrgbanged" L.ya gror_rp men of rvho take turrrsrapingher. A rape altack always carries with it the threat of serious physicai injury, or death. and often the threat becomes real.

As you are reading this first sentence,a woman somewhere is being beaten until she is bloody and halfconscious,not sure if she is aliveor dead. By the time you finishthis page,ten more women will have been beaten, and at least one other womanwill be achingwith the pain and terror of rape.

one thing is clear: whatever any of us choosesto feel, think, or do about women fightingabusive men, wonrencon. tinue to fight. increasingly, question then is the not, shou/d this happen?-it is happening. the question is, hou,,do ichoose to relote to thist'act ol uomen's resistance? and if this resistanceheartens us with each new appearance, inspires and empowers us, the questionshifts again: how can i take part in this resistance?

Violence against women: injury, abuse and de. struction directed against and experienced by women. In this country and in many countries around the world women are the object of a violence wide-ranging so and so much the result of interlocking oppressionsthat to untangie the vlolentweb and understandthe different strands wiiltake a long,long time and the collective work ot many people.Women are owned,bought and sold, paid uniivablewages, forced to work hard and provideservices no money at for all, lockecl away,sterilized, used to sell every producr thar makesa profit, burned alive, drowned at birth. toootomized, deniedbasic human riqhts . . . Somewhere alongthe listof grievances come we phvticul abuse of individualwomen bv ll,]1.. Indlvidlral rnen-the isolated,raw vioienceof a rrrrnagainsr,-r specific woman,or r group i?":ltl. ,:r>lr:c)llc rnen Jgirilrsrr specificwomarr. Au r \ r r r - l ( : r i ,;r:l, . , e r : c .: :h ,r t r e p e a tsi tse l fa g tr n :n ci d$nin11.l llec;rnte krrrci mass of violence. -t

we gloss over the fact that most successfr.rl resistance involves some kind of eoualizer:a weaDon. rve recognizethat women who fight back fight back for all of us. but in contradiction to the

the implications what i'm sayingdo not escape of m e. i am frightenedto write abor-rt them openly: there is danger in fighting. there is also danger in not fighting.

frc ne imside
pacola I can'trvrn befEva how lha luck rt krrpt hrpgcnhg; wakingup to som.oncthcy knowlouching lh?m.How |,hctrl crn anyone il is ok to Inioat? witi somaonwhois shrpilg?Do lhinx scx lhcythintabout abusr hhtorics? wG our 0rthafrct thet can't 'm' say whcn wa'rc dclensa systant aslep. lheyunderstand 0o ourcompLr and howwlnerabh lcrrificd might waling tolNr arsn L wc fccl up and ot Mavb r!d t00 nlw wotdslor whanour lrlrndsor tcquaintancls wt ganners latyou | wrs assaultorfmr us,onGwotdtodarcrlbG'l bccaus? ha[ protccthg about to rls!.'onrhat'r'l wasslcl ol arqulng i,'on? this?0o thcytiink al ail? ,ndtootired doany{hing o!rsclve3. lhly thinl about 0o you poplc's loo. want waylo! talttomc,'onclor'l told I didn't Areyou is, lo bcds ,or.'lt's luc|(cd and !p scarythr rcading Th6 lhis? truth I uscd crawlin prascnt you anymor!,' lor 'w! onc it. I it to doth.at,' lor'!hy didn't notlccwasn'l onr I thoughl wai ok. I lhouqhl coursa guyswanled I ne'44 of all lor'YousaidllI didn't ityou'd do i had aqr0ncntyouwouldprotection,'on? But an usc coosidered factlhatI might crpabl!of assaull. ol coorsr the bo topromisct0 slcps lak! did am. lotolur Are seeinglhis?willyou a are. you havcmc.What choicc I havt?' ass:ult laxual and and (like wienyourc Mayba need n0wwords trlkaboutrapa sexual we 100 to to nevef it again? dont getinbedwithsomeone do ol lor words t slriousnoss whalls beinddonc wasted unsura cxcuses menipulation: lhu spcak aboutha ct:r or aboutyourintcnlions. Stopmaking need yoursell. and to ourbodies. maybc trlcf,ds acqullntanccs partner! lo haYc our rnd 0r Lookatyourlilelor feal.) how to raped or'lhatwa! lssault.'(l stillbanlyrv?rusa mc', happening. t Stand oncn I can lhecourage haar'You I amsickof howit allkoeps I know n00nchas people mesomelhinglik.thb'l hirn. that inthcnigit.$aljurr words bac.usr know baotlash I th6 consaqucnctl. told carly lhesa lefi tordmil they gening Thcy don'lwant afa I thecouragc h$rthrlraclions tb dltlnldthalwry. wr drunllogothr t mean wantrd luck didn lo bcause wefe you'andthcn axists that and lrl!r ol Thly capabl rapo assault. don\waillo rdmltthatpakiarchy or him. soecilically 'l don'twant havrsexwith I said to gtves Thcy don't wanl I'va heard it thlm thGod Strh 96ntid rilhtsto dothrscthing3 and this bwas of,me. 0owecall rape?'0rhowmanytlmes iust They lt mlw. ot itrckactlons. wantto blow al| 'l didnl saynooutrighl, I lridto make clar." lhere 3[ lo lool al th. physical polilicd and it And ale but lor 0ll. They havra million dltlercnt rlasons whattheydid.) ortind theirams. and lhtimesw co'nlortsomeons comlonin trylo slutl thcydidto mc rboutscxual that timc to wanL lrustplopleand We Evsry l'v?vlld lo talkto somcon tlrey think aninyilatioo dowhatthey it's it frantlcally) lo rxplain away. try (or want, hcirlkstGactiof, to (utually is the betrteln emo- thatI didn't they don't undersland care?) about ditlefenft Thly wantmelo srG ll Th?y to tho want story bcdilfrrcntthan onr l'm llling. hr and ifwere lionalopennessserualdesire.0rhowithappens,!lult/cr lhry pople werc open game. re rashyihey thelr sry'8ut | ttouOhl." say'l ncwr il throuoh ryls andrbsolve $cm. Thcy ll think s ! iorn flirty lhrnk justneed bepersisient wouldhave,'evcn'No,tiat'snotwhathapprncd.'(aslltheirexprlenccwasthc lhey inoressuinq Tl'is Ns and to otflirt fally lham only onc.) They trytomakr outas m! cruy.Thry!ayI amblamino forlhlnos gamtis notaMays lungame a'lol us lor a thatarr rcally stondupkommyprst girl Yeslerday nol sex ol said'lhave had consensJal all lust a lough ffiend mine patriarchy allSyslems and and 0l p?oplc knewwho I amnolcruy. I amrwrrclhatcapitallsm year.'The befor0 I hea(d we had day lriendslaudhinq aboutlwo tht I knowthat ol lhr cortrol deoend lhednial both oppnssorrnd opprrss?d. on itwas been wrestiinq one had thoughl untllllroliar and ofthem iust camaradrria patiarchy too ol person...and valucs ovu motion, lhrt'loo much'!molion, strcng loglc rnd il ls laughing thestory at becauseis a boyboystorywhich everyooe rlpccially considcr?d ar! will cn:y r rcsponsr, hbelyoucrary; thatwomcn and whcrc g I dont ihink funny all.The belorc I wasreadingline. is at day that she a 'That assaull. to lotsol thetimc. rrc notcrary: Wr What happrns us is r,al.Allthi anOmpts lo says was assholc!' altheenc the but ol cailing scmeone She out 'l paqe 5ays. know should lought.' thls silnc! won'tchangr rcality. us it I hare 'well, youdidn wanlil. whydidn !0u say and t carry withmea wholrhlrtory srrualabusr. so domostol us.Each ol rl t | I amsick people ol saying. it as acl nol a md I neverwould had (orwhateve0 you wilh ill'd known.'I am serual does eristin vacuum l'm sict ol poplc116atingil il do!s. somethrng. have sex whydldn'lyou me?" slop I want I nverwanl a0aln. had taken l0hearbe lucrJn! words'Well, sickot tle blaneandselfblame. havc practically We aver\4hing :way '0h mygod, sosorry'and w3ntthrmt0 want hear raot. l0 my l'm then I lromu5rndcan always not And kind world webuilding. are to hear spiak. whal ol 'l it's I responsibility I wantthem askwhat donc mc.asklor my slory. wantthcm babh lo Why to to it's to still seen our 3s responsibility something. isnI rllheir tosay then l0r and and ll to ask. ,{alch si0ns signals, askagain? anc tolakeil inslead askino pity. I telllh?m luckoll andl.avemcalone, ol lor responses iignt two of You(nowhowthere sup00sedly instinctusl Jre want th.mto hold so mr I wanlthem r.spect ll it'ssomcontlovi,I might lo that. I in tnnaturc treeze cah itvrywhle especrally I cancry.Il it s someonhrtr, I wa+ to bc ablelo punch lligit? lhere also You sa Well, s thcmwithout | tha deer, communily underconslantatlack. ilac0uqafislryingl0geta Likeder, animalsthatare hit saying'dude, soluckad Sha him!" that's up! il il, will down treeze. hean slots.lt s lt's bal right and belorecalches thedeer lay you. l'v! this I halrwhal I want allolthsm say'lleli?vc I'mtaking scrlously. to thls. don l fi goinO chan0c. loln9to commlt A ot tall! ll's riqid. an brealh. muscles ll wonl move inch. lriend mine meabout mysell recommit (or mysel0 I'm and to Froien. tolooking inside whfe tfe can She iays'kozen. soul qosomewhere it wonl beiouched mybchavior, lookln0 and rtthisworld olmysell changinq and deep qet it il maybelcesnl will rt maybe cougaf justpass by Fro:en.it does klled. lhe l'm lo m andwhatit's make in to, andlt's my tlspontibility. oolng tale thls in netoous iaugh: Pluslt s because I believ soul? do I you to to s?riously. Thank lor having couragt teI mc.I'm going worl a3hard thc ,hunasmucn.' lauqh. alwayshvnoretlybadthelrmeSl'vebeenassauliedandorrapedwhillrolen to mlkesurtI nav( thallo anyonG agaln,' iwhy aspossible cver do r Why tl why they didn I dosomeihinq? didn'l nolice? didit happen all?) it, through. th?m saylhat. lcll il rnd mcan andlollow to and | | want 'oneol thedillerences ts the ih us lyiy krnd betwen and deer. 0nce says iie tind thv and is and shake snake,-ocl danQer!asl.thedee( lhe[ lamily then lrauma ol tfieir sale. lamiV out bodies. somewhere wilhtheorctective arou^d Where wegetlhat re,rrt. rnOruopont' do 'Al theounk I show?"saY 'Come now. ' on really shelays and co!6eit islrue il is notthesameShe ol never r napiaceolsaler y' s ay s ,' W e Ci0 n t su 0 p o (rn d re i e a se '/V ear ealmosf ge qffihof ol l)olrsztnc'ihe irJoma in us Welree:e ouf vcrces. bodies. rn builds Shesays. ouf ',\r Ctttoyr:'l'' ':':"-...., ,'irh.: rvorltltli|tlrrgti ' t" "'' I'olerInsrde becore . avnillt'lcin tlttsPittt rt it Jnd Shelhinks rs inslincl c!n!re I lhrnk rs syslemalic oppression Jnd tl t stt u gatriarchy. somelimes 3lone my room, slrake I shake I in ncw 8!t I ind and Motrnttrclie-t

0oSrry kmwthat it wcgoalong [ atr, wr rila up. wi6 onca cv.n noclssarily w! wanlcd Wa cornpb: to? haw rrys doesn't mcan

Maldonado c Julia Parker Price c Bernesfine Taylor o Darlene Lisc Virginia Tierceo'Elizabeth Mae Fulmer t Glorio Timmons o Euelyn G raham o Jenna Kelsie o Roxonne Goy o ps55 ie Woodsc Shir/ey Martin c Alta Bryan o Patricia Euons r Cathy Thomas c Barbara Jean Gilberto Janice Painter o Donna Ferth o Noncy Stilson o Barbara Carpenter c Judy Wagner o Georgra Wondel o Nodo Alayoubi r Christino Pratt c Shoron Crigler o Lorilyn Allan t Janet Billey o Barbara Eacret o ldalio Mejia o Sondra Lowe o Janet Hortwell o Eva Mae Heygoodo Betty Jean Corter c Lea Murphy o Beuerly lbn-Thomas c Mary Melerine t Maxine Waltman o Eua Diamond these are the names of resistance fighters. the names of women whose attackers did not get them are dead. away with it. the men who abrrsed the list continues lo grow. some of these rvomenare in prison, along with

hundreds of others whose names i don't know. each of their history is our history of resistance. them has helped enlarge the possibiiity of resistance. only as women choose to resist men's violence change.rvhenmen are will men's consciousness afraid of us, there rvill be a material base for changingtheir consciousness. or at leastwe will be on terms of equalityof fear. when women are as ready to stand up to men as mn are readY to knock down women we can begin to talk about our common humanity. not before.

i am talking about r'vomenarrd violence.most violence sotlething done as often rveexl:erience to us. lve l<nowit's horrible;rvehave learned'are

today's paper (november 2): in portland, a 32 year old woman getting off work in a department store, going for her car in the city center parking structure, got grabbed in the elevator and raped yesterday. one story. according to statistics,yesterdayin portland between 2-20 women got raped. be' tween 6-60women got beaten.the same thing will happen today. of course these are only average counts. every day in this country a woman gets raped every minute. 3 women get beaten every minute' these are also average counts. what am i counting if not casualtiesof battle? why then don't we admit we are at war? every man: has probably raped or beaten a woman; or enjoYed raPe fantasies; or threatened a woman with physical force, explicitlyor with gestures-steppingcloser, raising his voice; at least a man he works with or socializeswith, who he thinks is an ok type, has raPed or beaten a woman' very woman: fears rape, or lives inside limits imposed by that fear: no late night walks, no living alone, no hours of solitude by the river. if she relatesintimately to men, the threat of violencehas probably sufficed to keep her in line. if she is a lesbian,her comfort is that the threat probably comes from men she is not intimate with. sinceibegon writinQthis,L-, acloset'riend,has been raped. she corries a knit'e,has fought men, fhough shet smoll-and he uos big, quick. she was afraid to use her knife. now she hos on infection ond might be Pregnant. in sum: if you are a woman' You have probablybeen rapedor beatenor will be;at least a woman you love has been raped or beaten or will be.

and batterersare the militaryarm of patriarchy

to stop violence against women we have to a changeschools,laws, systemwherea few white men make a profit off our labor; almost all films, the records,record jackets,tv, toys, advertising, iunk we get sold in paper cartons at the and over' livingsituations supermarket,isolated crowded living situations:every difficult edge of this culture contributes directly or indirectly to violence against women' meanwhilethere'sanother simpler fact: men rape women because theY can' men beat women because theY can. the only place where rape is considered a act is in prison-by other prisoners contemptible -not becauseit's cruel, hateful and viciotrs,but because everyone knows rape is a chicken'shit crime, a crime any fool can get away with. in fact, few rapists land in prison' white skin, professionalstatus, money: these are buffers, protecting rapists as they protect other criminals. as for how batterersare treated in prison-who knows? they are arrested, prosecuted and convicted even less than raPists. cops, iudges, district attorneys, and legislators are (mostly) men who don't take women seri' ously.

To Kill a Rapist
(o'e last extractfiorn Derrick Jensen's forthcomi'g book ' l i n d g a n r e.., ' )
. .I've thoughtaboutthis a lot in termsof tacticsfor women(andmen)who arethreatened with rape. Now, first, I needto saythat anyone that situationcando no wrong:no onecin ever in complainat anythirg shemay or may not think or sayor do,nor at any attitudeshemay or-may assurne. not Havingsaidthat, though,I needto saythat something hashelped that soto. *o*.ri, both astheyarebeingthreatened or assaulted' thenafterwards, beento redefine relationship and has the theysuddenly find ihemselves The first in. stepin this redefinitionis to change perception her ofthe relationsirip fiom onebetrveen rapistard a victinr a to_one between rapistanda survivor,that is, to beginto perceive a hirselfnot asa victim wrth no choices (although may recognize.that she h.l^tltg: of choices may havebeenat leasttemporarily diminished because of the circumstances findsherselfin throughno fault of her own) but ur ro*J*. *iro she is goingto usea'y available means chooses orderto survivethis encounter not, asshe,onceagain, she in (or chooses). some For womenthis choosing be a survivormay thenleadto themsu6mitting ttrerapisti ptrysica to to dema'ds, allowinghim to haveher bodywhile her soulremains own. (This ii oneortne points her I think BertoltBrecht wasnrakingin his fableabouta manwho livesalonewho onedayhearsa knock oir his door.Whenhe answers, sees he outside The Tyrant,who asks, "Will you submit?"The mansaysnothing.He steps aside. The Tyrantenters home.Themanserves his him for years, until The Tyrantbecomes from food poisoning, sick anddies rerumsto his home,closes doorbehindhim, alld lilmly the Tl. yq wrapsthe body,takesit outside, allswers,'No.")For otherwomenthis may meanfighting to.the'death, preferably stltt others-many his. others-do not consciously makethe choiceto rnovefroin victim to survivorin that mo'rentof violationtheyaretoo busysirnplysurvivingto think aboutlabelingthemselves ru*luorr-Uui * makethatchoiceover tirne,in the months, years, decades follow, asthiy metabolize and that what wasdoneto thenl,andtheir responses' of course others. And yet choose different approaches: thereareasmanyapproaches this question to ofchangingfrom identi8ing oneselfas victirn to identifyingoneselfas survivor a a iJth... *. poteutial victims,potential survivors. The next stepthat at leastsomewomenpursue this process changing in of their circusrstances to is attempt getthe manto no longridenti$ himselfasa rapisi,bur assometh;lg"else,-one to hopes a not ururderer. example An may clari!. Onemorningirr themid- 1970s, sisterwL r.uOing, bedwhen rny suddenly felt a man'sweighton her backanda knife at hertluoat.Themansaid she lie wasgorngto rapehcr. Shesaid,"You cando that ifyou'd like, but I haveto tell you thatmy husband andI arebeingtreated for syphilis.I don't know ifyou wantto risk catching oui motherhudul*uy, told her it." !o keepa prescription bottleby her bedside, exactlythis contingenc!. for (And what doesit sayaboutour culturethatmothers need to prepare their daughters this possibility, really,giventhe ratesoi rapein our culture, for or t6is inevitability?) Forhrnately, mandid not look clositylt *te bottle,or lre wouldhavelearned the tharthe originalprescription several was yearsold, for medicines designed atleviate sister;s to my migraines, that a'd the bottlewasnow full of aspirin.He told herthat it wasn'tworth the risk, andthat instead wartedall of he hermoney..She twentydollarsin herpurse,-and gavehim five. (Ifthere's had she onething I car sayaboutmy sister,it's thatshehasovaries, whatever fe-rnale or the equivalent baliswould be.; He teit. Thepoint is that of my sisterhadcaused manto longeridenti&,himselfasa rapist,but asa robber, the andto acton that _no identification- effectivelykilledlhe rapist.Sometimes, She whenmensfongly id.";ifi,; rapisrs, is nor it possible kill the rapistwithoutkilling theman.So be it. to

men.abuse us because they can get away with it. our task then is to make abuse of women more and more risky, somethingmen con't get arvay with.

'

it's easy after saying this to think of men and women as separatespecies'one preyingon the o t h er. . the srateof tvar wagedon all women by men who dre overtly violent gives all men power. rapists

o lnez Gorcia . Joan Little o Yuonne Wanrou Jennifer Patri o Claudia Thacker o Shoron McN earney c Euelyn Ware o JonrceHornbuckle o Hazel Konfos o Lenore Coons o Carolyn c McKendrick o Morgaret Prott o Wanda Carr c Dione Douis o Agnes Scott o Francine Hughes o Gloria Morlene Roan Eagle o Miriam Greig

EfE

Women and Violence

to FeministResistance Male Violence
MELANIE KAYE

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men don't take us seriously because they're not physically afraid of us. EIIenWillis, 1968

this why we cleanso furiously-to haveone place where we are in control?i do dishes, rocking betweencontradictory voices: -you exaggerate the danger, he's a cowardly wimp -you underestimatethe danger,you got him mod, you don't know what You're playing with 3 weeks ago i shouted "shut your t'ucking mouth" to a drunk man cursing me, mY mother-there were 5 of us-and suddenly besidethe car, a second man materializes he smashesthe car window, grabbingmy hair as i drive away. to be prepared-in any instanceof confrontinga man-for violence. to-be prepared to defend myself-or to keep my mouth shut: adjustto his noise, stomach his insults,accept hrs power. these are our choices. last night i dreamedi was walkingto get the car, up stark to 20th, but the street was not a street, with machirres food, for stark was a wind-tunnel, alongthe walls. haif-open doors printingshadows i am trying to run against the wind, and think, suddenly:this is dangerous my bod'- is the criminol the fault my bodl""sspirit i offer thesewords to explainthe danger,thoughi as don't believethem. but the danger persists. if they rvere true.

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w, t

SERVES DIE. TO

The eyes are the most vulnerable points in the body. rtr" u".t *uy to attack the eyes are with the fingers or thumbs. Stiffen your fingers, part them slightly, and drive them.THROUGH your attacker's eyes. Drive your finger THROUGH HIS HEAD . . . Never believe a promise that you will not be harmed if you cooperate. once gaining control over your life for even a few minutes, your attacker may decide to exterminate you. He is not consideringyou as a human being with a right to exist-don't considerhim one. DESTROY HIM beforehe de. stroysyou. Never feel sorry for someonewho attacks you or feel you asked for it. Anyone wlro dares to threaten your safety and well being DE_

J-a
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the upstairsneighbor.if i keeptyping,ican't hear his sneeringvoice,i can check the anxietyrising: will i have to deal with him again-or swallow myseli, absorb his blaring stereo, his endlessly chords stupid thrummingthe sameout-of-whack on the electric guitar. practicing,no doubt, to be the next dylan (dylan, who beat his wife). last time i asked him to turndown the volume, he snarled, "why don't you & your friend moue out?" "why don't you shut your mouth," i shout "whydon'tyoumakeme? back, and he screams, you're supposed to be the man in this relationship." later i hear him bellowingfrom upstairs, "i'll fuck her ass." is in the morning my car'swindshield gooeywith spit; pinned to my door is a picture of fancy condoms;a poster with my nameon it. tapedup in the hall, is crumpled,destroyed. i got off easy. (from my journal, october 30) just doing dishes, afraidi'd misssome i r,vas informativesound. had to keep turning off the water to listen.the rnan upstairshates m m e b e c a u s ei 'm q u e e i ; i s th r e a te n r n g e . for so i do dishes,checl<irrg sounds.at the r:rdering same tinre. the fanriliar act, rvash. ing dishes.hands in hot rvater. calmsnre.is

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Back - Use elbow to ribs, solar plexus or groin. Use fist to strike or hands to grab groin. Stomp on instep,scrape shins. Twist out at first opportunitY. Rear attacks- Try to determine the motive of the attacker. lf it is rape, he may have to change givingyou a betterchanceto positions, escape. Grabs If a person grabs your wrist, YOU

pain quickly. You may be having more of an effect than you think. ON WEAPONS The best weapon you've got is one which doesn't look like a weapon. Whatever weapon you use,you run the risk of the attackergettingit away from you and using it againstyou. Have weapons availableand know what to do with inem . Try nor to call attentionto your weaponsso he doesn't suspectyour intentions. rolled up A magazine or corner of a book look innocent, for example, but can deliver an effective blow against the throat, temple or lace. Boiling woter yet can deter an assailant be in the form of coffeefixings. House keys held between the fingersof a fist can be used to strike the face or throat. Practice looking for weapons around you. in This week, make some changes your environment or behaviorthat contributeto your safety. Put in that lock; replacethat lightbulbin the hall; label your keys.

part ol the body V ul nerabl e Tl rc b,rrhhasmanvvul nc rabl e ,rrr:as ,r.hi c h rnak c ui tabl e ,...n s targcts n vour tl ci cncc . i Thc di agram horr.r,ht, n poi nts s mai rvht'rc "rur stri kcs ,ou i dbr:tl rrc c tc rl . l sl

Ears Neck

Solatplexus

STILLHAVETHE RESTOF YOU tryingto FREE.Do not wastetir'ne

break loose uniessa quick twist against you. Kick to his thumb works to release the knee and use strikes as described above. Whateverstrikesyou use,repeatthem as necessary. Remembertoo that men often do not show

Keys
\l os t pc opl ec rrrr r bunc hofk u,,. LIs c nrbr thc l ;rv i ng thr, k rr-tuh i rrthc p.ri trr - ,,Ltr .,l rr rth thc i c r. ,t hl ;r,;,r;j ;"* bc trrL:en Bollles r.ourfi ng.,r.s . stbrms ,rrc rr c i fc c ti rek nuc k l e Thi duster.Dircct r our lrlLr\s aqain:rthc , ital For an enrergency, most designs coukl havebecn madc {br prcssurcpoints of fighting.Do not try to snrash cnd of thc bottle of[, u51l;5 the head anc] the nt'ck . nol rrul l yl esrrl tsi rrl l rrl rottl t' rl i s i nl t' gr' .rti ngal togr,tl rc r't;I s e i .U asyou rvoukla cl ub antls tri k c l i rr thc hc arl and tc nrl ;l c s',l ' he bodyj oi nts,sucl r thc cl l l rw andk nc ec a;r, e parti c ul arl y i as al goo(lti rgcts to hi t w i th anybottl t:.

Pen
Mos t ty pesol ' pc nhav e poi nterl p, rv hi r:h a ti nrrans thatthey w i l l pc netratc s k i n i l ' u,i c dn a punc hi trg thc i ruannc r. ol rl I.l thc pc n asi f i t w ere a k ni l c anrlus ci t agai nsanyc x pos ed t part ol ' ' thc as s ai l ant' s body ,s uc hasthe nec k ,rv ri s ts anrltenrpl c . l ' he hartl c ry ou ;l untl r rv i ththc pc n ti r..l rerterth,.res ul ts .

Broom
Attacksin thc lrousct:arr l't'nrlcri by usingany typc ol' bc oli broom. A largc, woorlen-heade<l can be uscrlrnut.hlikc a onc nral t:t,anr tl rc l rri st t'sc anl x ' tl ri v t:ni nto the as s ai l arrtl hc c . l 's I l

and .r Scissors screwdrivers

S Ll ltt i tc rrrsrt' tu be l i rrutrln rrrrs Il rrrrrt.sl.l i s ert.rr r.g.rl l i l trr c rl ry s c :i s s ors y our harrrl l rag, a s t.r.trv rl r.i rr:r r orrrror i rr .rntl isa i l t' ttti tt anl r' ,tr.l ' ht,1, t, l rts t rrs rl l i rr.j .rl rl ri rrg,rrrtl rbi rrl . ar t s t.rl I Iol d antl us ethc rl rl s 1,ou ouJ tl k ni l i ' , rv a

lealing withaggressive drunks )t urrks rlsolre.r t,.rrr nuisJn(.c:lt partics tiiscos, fbr arrtl altrl
-t i n )r ' | ('iljr ) r )t l r t ' y l i k t' 1 0 l rrrrg .rr0 rrrtrl yo rrr r r et,k. ' l.lr e,v ctn cr s. lrt rlis p o s e r lo l l r y tl rt, l i rl L rrvi n g stcp s.

W ilh hedrunk 'ar0t r o u l d 0 u r e c kp l a c e u r e a r .sid e l s a y n , yo n lcg l )eh i nld df unk b e l w e eh i sl e 0 s . he anrl n

ampl), take precautions before entering blindlY. 13. Know where there are obiects in your house which could be used as weapons. Keep a specialone by your bed. I ransDortQtton 1. Do not enter or stayin an empty subwaycar if you can avoid it. 2. If you havea car, aiwayscheck the back seat getting in. Have your keys ready as you approachit. In many placesit is a good idea to keep doors locked and windows up (or quickly closed)whiledriving.Attackersmay
lu,

Get a number where they can be reached a n d th p n ca l l u o r r r fr i e n d . Some Bosic Weapons and Targets Weapon Your voice is one of
t rnr rr mn<l imnnr-

Target

tanr weapons. YELLI

2 Knees 3 Elbows
4. Head (to butt) 5. Teeth for biting 5. Feet/legs -lnstep -Ball of foot -Heel

Genitals,ribs, kidneys N o se , ch i n . j a w ; r i b s, solar plexus Face of someonegrabbing from behind

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bJ r Pkceyuttr 8lb0w r ,i l h) tr l s Ll ttsdtl l l l l l l 5l r U l w ,l r tl s ( pi c2) l

fheknee also used can be to good effact adoubled.up on tttacker, asa lollow-an e.g. ;lrikelroma blow 'o hisstonach 0r grotn

3. If you are driving alone and another car signalsfor help, go to the nearestphone and get help for them rather than stopping. If someone signals.that something is wrong with your car, try to get to a safe spot before checking it out. Be aware and follow your intuition basically. 4. If you are being hassledon public transportation and others are around, SPEAK UP. Men who paw women on buses and subways seek the safety of the crowd; bringing attention to them is usually devastating to them. The Phone 1. Have the number of police and fire departments readily available. 2. Do not give out your number indiscriminately.When in doubt, get the number of the other person and call them instead. 3. If you get an obscenephone call, hang up immediately blow into the receiverwith a or policewhistle. 4. Never give out personal information about yourselfor others to a strangeron the telephone.You needn'tansweranyone,and this includesthe F.B.l.This is not alwaysas easy as ii sounds.For example,if someonecalls and immediately asks,"who's this" or "ls this 482 8876?"if you are not aware, you rvillgive them information before you knorv it. [f someoneyou don't know callsfor sorneone elseyou live with, do not give them all kinds of informationabout where the person is.

I esllcts

Kn e e , sh i n Instep,shin,or knee of someonattacking from behind Throat, eyes Face Chin, nose, temple -bridge of nose, ribs

7. Fingers
-to jab -to scratch

8. Base of palm
fist and punch)

9. Fist (learna proper Solar plexus, temple,

THROAT,GROIN, EYES. MAJORTARGETS: KNEES

Common oftocks Choke -Bock or t'ront - take a deep breath and tuck your chin to Protect Your windpipe. Your Front - His lrandsare occupieC. arms. legs, and feet are free. Use fingersto eyes or hollow of throat. Use knees to groin or solar Plexus. Use feetagainstshins,kneesor instep. and pull. Grab testicles Use hands against eardrums or to scratch face.

r T wi st ur yu hudy ar0u i l ! r s el a l l s v e r a ctwa r d s de ith ewa lk d h 0 b r an : r w ay i l rt r: c c s s lkr c k r n i i l l l r f l 0 s l r c l e s. 0r t iy l

. \!i l h y uIr l ]J i ) r i s l tl l * di i s w I rl 0t u rrrd I t d i Y su ! l (p l c l ) l .

edges of books. Have them in your handnot at the bottom of a pocket or bag. Be weaponson the street. awarealsoof possible 3. If you carry a purse, keep it tucked under your arm. Never count money out on the st reer. 4. Map out a route you often walk. Know where telephones are as well as places to run to, stores open late, neighbors likely to help. Know also the danger spots so you are following a conscious route. Have safe spots always in mind-don't wait for the time when you are in trouble to think of them. 5. If you think you are being followed,try to find out first. Look behind you. Use shadows or store windows as mirrors. Change your pace or cross the street to see if they follow. However, do not walk around looking obviouslyfearful;this will mark you fora victim. Once you are reasonablysure you are being followed, there are severalthings you can do' Walk near the curb and if practical, into traffic to attract attention.Go to the nearest"safe spot," but do nof go home. You do not want the attacker to follow you into your house or know where you live. If you run, YELL as you run and You may decideto confront run to a destination. them. If an attack is imminent, this is a good move. You will be facing them insteadof giving them your back. An assertive response may discouragethem. If you are followed by a car, walk in the opposite direction.lt will take the car longer to turn. and 6; Walk near the curb away from buildings alleys. Be aware however of not walking too close to parked cars. Be aware of cars passing start lookingfor an alterrepeatedly; native route or safe spot. on 7. Bewareof conversations the street.If you don't wish to have a conversation with someonewho initiatesone, tell him politely but firmly that you do not wish to talk to him. Beware of answering back to each of his questions statements lest you get "stuck" or with him. This is a common in a conversation ploy. Do and sayonly what you wish. If your is intuitiontells9ou something wrong trust it. Practicerhrssceneif you havetroublewith it.

Home It is important to be able to get into your housequicklysincemang attackstake piace at the door. Always have your key ready. Mark your key r.vitha notcl'r or colored plastic cover so you can find it quickly. If someone is behind you. do not go home unlessno other option is avaiiable. accostsyou in your home or in a. lf someorre the lobby or hallwayof a building,yell FIRE rather than Help! to attract aid. Be aware of placesthat attackerscould hide Nlakesure there in and around your building. is adequatelighiingat the erltrance. 4. If you surprisean intruder in 9or,r home, do not corner him. Make sure he knolvs the door is free. Have one or two good locks for each door. Springlocks are usuallynot adequate.Make sure the door itself is secure. Vulnerable windows should also have locks. It is alsoa good idea to hang wind chimes or a similar object in front of windows and/or door to alert you if someoneis coming itr. 6 . Do not keep your keys with arry identification. If they are lost or sioien and there is identificationwith them, have your locks changedat once. 7 . NEVER open the door without knowingwho is there. Do not be embarassed to ask questions,check ID carefullyor call a company to verify an unexpected package or person checking your meter. or Do not giveout your addressto strangers put your full name with your unconsciously addressin ads, notices,etc. 9 . Do not leave keys in obvious places-like under a door mat. Intruders have thought of these too. Do not leavecluesin the fornr of notesas to whet h e ry o u a r e o u t , w h e n 9 o u ') lb e c o m i n g home, if you'll be alone. Do not let a strangerrn behrnd you as you enter a building.It is difficuitto refusehim admittancebut make rt a policy.if he haslegi' timate businessthere, he wili get in without y our n e l p . 12. lf sonrerhingseems rvrong rvhen you go home (a door is not double'iockedfor ex'

l l . U ti i r Ua r 00l l n0, hv i s ti l l U 'l y p Brr0 v c rt t u t ts,w i n gl t o rt rl h e h t p s (p s dr i v i r ! y 0ur el bow i nl 0 y 0uf a l t u c k e r' s l o rn a c h i c 2 ) t . F 0l l 0wthr 0u{J lw i th a l ) ac kh c i l d -l } t l t0 r b a c ki l l s l e pl 0 o l s l a n l p t

.0nr :e fr ee- k i c k , br uakai l d n l l l .

Attucl<s

theFrortt

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I n so rlc cl s r . s , y ( ) u t .l ttJ( k('t rrr.r1 ,l rl o i ,k 1' or rtg,tir r st ,r r r ,r ll.r r xl r v ait a le lv s c t u n r l s bcti rre h rvi n { a g o i t )ou. Shoul< llour t l .t . rc k t r'. r t r r r 1 ' l i r r r t .l rrr.rt,rrl l ri rrrst'l l si (lf onlo) ,( ,u,( ) t.\' ou( .ltt r l lrno e u v r ( . r o u r s c l l i n to th i s p o si ti o rr, takc the lbllowir r g l ('t ro n .

llolvMenCanHelp
Jlcnmustrealise that manylvomenbecomcnt rvouss,hc tho'arcalonc,cspecially a srrange in cnvrronnlcnt. . Try t0walk close n0t t00 l)ehindwonlan a dark a 0n night in an 0r is olaled . s pot 0on'l looclose put,lic nsp0 lateatni sil 0n lra rl 0ht.

Some Facts on Self-Defense

NADIA TELSEY

'

Gra bt h e c r 0 r \ , [0 l l r i sh a i r a n d p Ul lh i s h e i l l lsltar plylack.

, Th iswi ln0t0t lly ) h a l a r yru l t a l l i l u h eb utv,iill lp 0 se isth r 0 a t. l Ut t B r r, e h . y0 rlrrwr n h v r Ir b ' Br inq ur. lis l or t 0 i sw i n d p i ple i l l o n e a r d lo w. , l lyouc0[liilileopul l r , l c k w a r d sr u r a t l ackEr sh 0 uo p th e y' , t d r ldl0 ; ;i g r ouno. , ll your attacker nohairto gi@ has a lhi sn os s ey esl,0 i c i f l g i sh e a d a c k wa ftls. and h b , 0n ce e ic k ,brea a t l d t n . fre *k k n

. lfy ou ee wom a nnl r o u b l e , 0 s a i g t 0h e ra i d ,0 rq e th e l p . r Talk to the womyn in your life aboutself'-protect Shareknowledgeyou may have. Encourage, support, and,mostofall, listen. a u th o r i tyo n th e p a r t o f a n a tta cke r .A m a n m a y the he try to enter your house,clainrirrg rs fron-r phone company or with sQmeother legitimate and impatientlyrf businessattd reactinggrr-rffly you refuseto let him in o| tal<etire tirneto check some lleople it out. This tone is enoughto ti-t.ll<e Don't be intimidated. give up their car-rtior,. professionals, rren in uniformswill try Relatives. to of to use their positiorrs .ruthority'- intirnidate arrcljucgrnent you. Act or1!'oLrr olvn llercepttons "Children like to role play' irt rhese sifucrlions' goocJ one for them Intinidation is on especiolfi"' to tuork on. REACTIONS TO ASSERTIVE BEHAVIOR Whenever r.ve resrsr a lllo9 rlr contront io rve sorneoneabout their l'eh,r,"'ior. are likel-''get a negative re.rction. We nllght Lre c;,lleci cr a zy, p a r a n o i d . o r a "l e .:zi e " j n a n e ffo r t to r-rs. thel or confLlse punisi't Exp'ect responselt ivill then l'raveno effct. PR EC AU TION S On the Street 1 . D o n o t o ''e r i o a d vo u r se l f w i th ;l a cka g e s, purse, books. If vou are carryirrgpackcrges and are attacked.drop thern or throw thern at your attacker.Tney are not more valuable than you are. Ernptyingthe contents of a af carr distract ,,rrr pLlrseor L.agsLrddenly feelicr :rnclgrv('u,)ll :ir:relo rttll :tetls yctr cilrrv liral: 2. Get rcqulintecl '.viti-l --4.g. l<eyshelci .ts cotrld be r,rsecl !!'o.tllolls het''veerr;ire iirrgcrs. a lightec cig.lr{-lttP,

COMMON PLOYS Attacks commonly begin with requestsfor directionsor the time. The assailantuses this time to find out what kind of vjctim you would you make. It is important that you be assertive; do not need to be unfriendlybut should be on guard.A strongresponse this point willstopan at attack before it gets going. Gui/t The game here is to try to errlist your sympathyor help with some matter or to make you feel guilty for being assertive.Beready for this ploy. It is one of the rnost common and is very effectivein getting women to open their d o o r s . s t o p t h e i r ca r s. o r o th e r w i se g e t i n to trolLble.lf 9,9uara uncertain about rvhethera person really is in need of help. think of an alfernative puttingy'ourself in way to helpwithor.rt jeopardy. FIatterlt This takesmany forrnsas well. lvVe are not onl".," flattered about our looks but about our britinsrtr lalentsas peopiewho Be ',vell. carefuiof c()nreto the door with unexpecteci ilowers ,rr packages vou. Not only is thisflattering, it for but arouses our curiositytoo. Also,bewareof phone c a l l st h a t s t a r t. " Y o u h a veb e e nch o se n. . ." Th i s is ,t cc)mmonbeginrrirrg an obscenephone: for r:ali

I\I' I}IID ,\TION

i rl ttttt ftrr;i i s, l i k e w c apops , l 1L 3[' .' i c l 1s . Other torrl s i l r," r,,e s ternnes s or ,r tr.rne of ol