An Anarchist Journal of Dangerous Living

Rolling Thunder issue number two / winter two-thousand six / a skirmish of the CrimethInc. ex-Workers’ Collective an anarchist journal of dangerous living The system runs on the blood and sweat of our hijacked lives; the more we invest ourselves in surviving according to its terms, the more difficult it is to do otherwise. Seizing back our time and energy from its jaws is the essence of and the precondition for any real resistance. The paralyzing commonsense notion that everyone, even the most radical of the radical, plays a role in the status quo hides the subversive possibility that all of us—even radicals— can refuse our roles. “From the perspective of the slave who rebels, power is both the bosses’ orders and the obedience of the other slaves who carry them out.” –Jean Weir The persistent ones “ table of “finish in the hands of the terrorist state; the terrorist but passive Contents ideologues and terror- inspired masses keep First of All… away from danger 3 The Important Thing while applauding 4 Glossary of Terms, Continued these isolated Letters fighters, never ready 7 Lockdown in Virginia! 8 Regarding the Police—Do We Fuck Them, or Kill Them? themselves, these shy Commentary inhibited ones, to 10 Dropping Out: The Most Stereotypical CrimethInc. Motif of All Time, take direct part in the Considered in Its Theoretical, Strategic, and Psychological Aspects struggle. Testimonials ” 22 I Was a Gender Dropout -from Solideridad 25 The Black Pearl: Squatting as Community Service in the Heartland of Obrera, an America underground There is a boy who 28 Report from the Shopfloor: How Unions Lost Their Teeth lives in a world of gas 32 Cycles of Abuse and Survival paper in Paris in stations and factories, under what Brand News 1952; reprinted in he calls capitalism. He calls himself an 37 New Orleans: Preview of the End of the World—or Interruption of It Sabate: Guerrilla anti-capitalist, and it’s true: if you look into his 40 Anti-Summit Mobilizations After the End of the World: Opposing the G8 Extraordinaire eyes, you will see anti-capitalism. You will see: anti-men and in Scotland and San Francisco anti-women, taking buses—anti-buses—through anti-streets, to 48 Anarchy in the Coalfields: Resisting Mountaintop Removal go to work in anti-factories, and the buses stop for anti-gas at anti- Old News stations. Anti-aircrafts fill the air, anti-heroes swallow antidepressants, 52 Jane: An Underground Abortion Service in the Days before Abortion Rights and under their arms is antiperspirant; every life form 55 Phoolan Devi, Bandit Queen is antibiotic. Antifascists walk the streets after 58 Love is a Battle: Squatting, Sabotage, and Counterculture in Amsterdam dark, anticipating trouble. Anti-authoritarians and Copenhagen hold sway, waging anti-war on behalf of Music the anti-statist, anti-imperialist struggle. 67 On Bread Alone: A Folk Song for the Bread Army Faction (Better Dead Anti-intellectuals debate anti-matters of than Bread!) consequence. Recipes for Dinner It is truly an anti-empire. 70 Mes Nouveaux Copains: Making Bread and Breaking It Recipes for Disaster 72 Communications Technology for Direct Actions Fiction But the end of the old order will mean the end 78 The Guitarist of the old opposition, too. If-Only-It-Were-Fiction 86 I Lie to You: A Confession of Behalf of All Liars, with a Plea for Understanding Poetry 90 Featuring Rita Mae Brown, Jorge Borges, and a Disgruntled Conference Attendee Games 91 This Just in from Our Young Comrades in the Nation’s Capital: Bankball! 92 Scraped Knees, Winded Lungs, and Stolen Flags: Capture the Flag and Street Tactics Reviews 96 Featuring Kazik: Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighter And Still More Fun! 101 Crossword Puzzle: Test Your Sex and Health Knowledge! 102 Pop Quiz and Ballyhoo 104 What We Want from You INFLAMMABLE MATERIAL light here INFLAMMABLE MATERIAL The important thing is not to point out that the government is corrupt, Or that poverty and racism are disasters more catastrophic than any hurricane, Or that most children see more animated cartoons than flesh-and-blood animals, Or that millions upon millions of people rely on antidepressants to cope with the tedium and injustice of modern life; Everybody already knows all that. The important thing is to show that something can be done about this— You can make the guilt of politicians public by pelting them with pies and paint bombs wherever they appear, You can establish childcare and homeschooling collectives to raise your children in healthy environments, You can protect protests with mobile shield walls made from wooden pallets with banners stretched across them, You can learn to communicate with your lovers, and offer community resources to those who need to escape from theirs, You can still have glorious adventures and accomplish great feats, even in the synthetic wasteland of the suburbs; You can fight the forces you hate, and protect the ones you love, And wield power without oppressing others. Start by smashing capitalism and overthrowing hierarchy in your own life, And seizing all the means of production you can get your hands on; The next steps, and the ones with whom you can take them, Will be clear from there. Rolling Thunder is a semiannual publication of the CrimethInc. Global Underground, a front group for a worldwide conspiracy of maniacs and mystics hell-bent on the destruction of hierarchy and apathy and the preservation of everything else. For the love of whatever is still precious in this topsy-turvy world, won’t you loafers please send us: -testimonials detailing your adventures and misadventures bailing out of the crashing jetliner of capitalist society -interviews with deserters hiding out from the U.S. military -recipes for vegan delicacies complete with gratuitous tell- all anecdotes from your daring sex life -operational diagrams for improvised noisemaking devices that can be hidden in schools and workplaces -photographs of your most unlawful inspirational public murals -and other writing and artwork, not to mention material for review, so we can throw together a third issue of this haphazardous periodical before the net closes around us for good. In return, we’ll continue stepping up our efforts to make subversive magazines like this one obsolete. not working and getting a lot done— CrimethInc. Labor Union of the Unemployed P.O. Box 2133 Greensboro, NC 27402 former United States of America www.crimethinc.com www.crimethinc.net 4 : Rolling Thunder Rolling Thunder : 5 Glossary Abstractions—Those who cannot directly Iatrogenic—A medical term indicating of Terms, 1 seize the power over others they desire an ailment caused by a cure , such as Morality—No forbidding allowed. Protection Racket—A scam in which a are drawn to concepts such as God, the impotence induced by antidepressants, gang, institution, or social system of- Future, History, and Nature that are Continued addiction to prescription painkillers, or Paranoia—In suspicion we trust. fers you protection—for a price, of so infinite that they can only be con- unhealthy dependence on indoor heat- course—from dangers to which it ex- ceived of when they are cut down to ing and air conditioning. “There was an Practicality—A fool’s virtue, usually in- poses you. (see Higher Education, Insur- a manageable size—for example, when old lady who swallowed a fly…” voked by those with stunted imagi- ance, National Security, etc.) they are framed in a certain way by a nations (or, worse, those who have a representative. As many are anxious Innocent Bystander—A contradiction in stake in others’ imaginations remaining Puppet Government—A redundancy. about these matters, such representa- Complicity—Domination is a relation- terms. stunted), that places more value upon When power itself pulls the strings tives are generally in high demand, and ship, not a condition; it depends on the reacting to the world as it is perceived and competition reigns supreme, no can wield great influence over others participation of both parties. Hierar- Loyal Opposition—The tacit tolerance to be than on exploring routes to more one can determine his own destiny, not through the selection process of what chical power is not just the gun in the existing between two camps that pres- Courtship desirable worlds. Even in the most os- even the king. As every tyrant learns too they include in their frame: “The Lord policeman’s hand; it is just as much the ent themselves as opposing poles while tensibly radical circles, a false pragma- late, there are no rulers—only slaves, created Man to be the custodian of His obedience of the ones who act as if it maintaining a conspiracy of silence re- tism that is more about accepting the and free human beings. creation,” “women are innately intui- is always pointed at them. It is not just garding any other options or ways of status quo than transcending it can tive,” “the history of civilization is the the government and the executives and framing the subject. Popular examples masquerade as simple common sense2. Radical Art—Oh please. Less avant, more history of the class struggle.” So it is the armed forces: it extends through include democrats and republicans, ter- In an insane world, the approach that garde! that for God we have priests, for His- society from top to bottom, as an inter- rorists and warmongers, capitalism and seems the most outlandish and quixotic tory historians, for Nature scientists, locking web of control and compliance. communism, marriage and adultery is often the most realistic and sensible. Systematic—Every individual and situa- for Revolution theorists—though ev- Sometimes all it takes to be complicit (see Monogamy), puritanism and de- tion is unique, but it can be useful to ery human being possesses in his or in the oppression of millions is to be a bauchery, individualism and collectiv- Progress—The process by which those look for common threads.

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