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FIRE TO THE PRISONS Issue 6//Summer 09 An Insurrectionary Quarterly *WE ALL WANT SATISFACTION “If I win, I’m gonna buy a huge and strive so painfully to live that house and let all my friends live we compromise every moment in it.” to the future satisfaction money promises us one day. Images of “If I win, I’ll travel the world.” happiness surround us, our fami- lies and friends and destroy our “If I win, I’ll never have to work capability to dream. Is oppor- again.” tunity and ambition something that can only be determined and *You probably won’t win the lottery. granted by money? Is the rotting but subtle disappointment we ur understanding of oppor- O feel in our hourly wage or wrong tunity is limited to the amount lotto numbers worth the patience of money we have. Going from we have with the “opportunities” making $8-10 an hour, being the we are forced to accept? Some only person in a dry town with people rob banks, some people weed for sale, the ten seconds sell drugs, some people sell their between the first and last number bodies to evade a few of the hours called for the 90 million dollar they need for money. Money lottery: these are moments for steals from our lives, but money which we feel closer to satisfac- is still the origin of these fore- tion. We feel closer to comfort, seen opportunities. Still money stability, more possibilities in determines the potentiality of life, more freedom. So we ig- dreams becoming reality. What if nore our frustrations temporarily we never get a salary? What if we and return to the ever deceiving never lose a rich relative? What if faith we are taught to have in we neverwin the lottery? the economy and in the success and ambition we are forcefully Will we forever accept our lives taught to appreciate in this soci- in poverty? ety. We work so hard to survive *WE ALL WANT INSURRECTION *YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GO TO HEAVEN, AND EVEN IF YOU DID, WOULD IT BE WORTH IT? Heaven or hell? God’s approval or my approval? The present sucks so I hope for a better future. This is the fuel to most of the god-fearing religious folk of the world. We ac- cept normalcy and routine in our lives because the morality of some alleged god tells us that if we are not to accept such a way of living, then we will be punished eternally. On the other hand, if we accept such a life, we will be rewarded an after-life of satisfaction and glee. The moment is worthless, because “god has planned your life”. It’s as if our lives are incapable of being good without god’s plan. Some may say that is kind of sad, or even pathetic. When something good happens, were told that it’s a miracle, a grace of god. How- ever, when something bad happens we are told it is part of god’s plan to give us good things later, or we question if there is a god, until something good happens again. When things get hard, we are taught to pray, to never assume complete responsibility for the moment or the experience, never assume complete responsibil- ity for our lives because we are all part of god’s plan. The church is one of the most praised institutions by the state. Religion is a tax-free enterprise that unlike the police, serves to enforce the normalcy of govern- ment controlled everyday life on a non-physical level. God, similarly to the state is something we don’t see, but something that determines our lives nonetheless. We fear questioning god because the stories we are told of hell. We fear to question the state, because of the stories we are told of prison. If we are to assume responsibility for our lives, we must question every- thing that exists with an inherent intention to control them. Whether or not this means atheism or burning churches and killing priests, the sooner we are rid of god, the closer we are to experiencing a fuller and free life. Fire to the Prisons-Issue 6-We All Want-2 *JUST BECAUSE YOUR’RE POOR DOESN’T MEAN YOUR’RE SUPPOSED TO BE. the bad neighborhoods are every- middle class people? Is the Middle When a cop shoots a “poor” thing else. In the globalized eco- East supposed to accept murderous black kid, you generally only hear nomic world, the stable nations are control by the west because it’s the about it if the killing was caught on the white ones (Western and North- way things are supposed to be? If video or unusually performed (un- ern Europe, North America), the you were born poor or non-white, usual being when the person was impoverished ones are everything are you supposed to accept that either shot in the back or 50 times). else. Again there are exceptions, the your life might be harder before the When white or rich people die it ruling class of India and China may economic coercion of modern sur- becomes a news story. The econ- propose this argument, but gener- vival because it’s the way things are omy is only bad when rich people ally speaking, we all privately rec- supposed to be? Why accept this? are losing money. A bad neighbor- ognize this. Is this not offensive? Is Because really, if we got our shit to- hood means a non-white, non-rich this something to accept? Will heav- gether and reclaimed our livelihood neighborhood. A safe neighborhood en be different? How do we ratio- as healthy communities working for means the opposite. White people nalize this to ourselves? Seriously, ourselves and those we care about, are expected to be rich, the other rich what the fuck!? do you think that the ones who are people are praised for being rich, 9/11 was a big deal because it hap- comforted by this set up would sup- and they are recognized as proof of pened on American soil. Never mind port that? The bottom of the pyra- social opportunity. Whether or not the fact that the part of the world mid is always bigger and it holds there are exceptions, whether or not the attack is accused of from stem- the whole thing up. there are rap and basketball careers, ming from has been under the mili- straight A’s, or modeling, everyone tary pressure of western nations for We should stop blaming ourselves, knows how the social geography of decades prior, reaching death tolls and start blaming the things sepa- the modern world is maintained. In far beyond 9/11. Will Smith, Jay-Z, rate of ourselves that control us. If American cities, the nice neighbor- Barack Obama: this is the evidence we keep blaming ourselves, we are hoods are the rich and white ones; to opportunity for non-white born accepting a system that does not ac- cept us. Fire to the Prisons-Issue 6-We All Want-3 * POLICE ARE cowarDS Police are cowards. They front like they’re If I knew that I could fight a police officer with- tough, but really they are cowards. Anytime you out the concern of legal consequence, just the cop stand up to the police, no matter if you were beat- backing him or herself up, I would probably have en, beat them, were arrested, or got away, you are my daily planner set up for the next year. No- ALWAYS tougher. They’ll chase you and run red body who matters likes the police; they protect lights, beat the shit out of you (generally if you the property of the rich, the normalcy of every- are handcuffed or on the ground), hop fences, and day life and the fear that mediates our relation- shoot. But they are taking no risk, their pamper- ship with the world around us. If we had the back ing parent-the state- will always protect them. that they had, we would destroy them, humiliate When you run a red light, when you choose to them and eliminate the hand that feeds them: the fight back you are taking a risk. When the police state. If we had the back we would get our re- beat or kill people they do it while assured of no venge on these cowards. Because that is what the pre-determined consequence, they are basically police are: cowards. Our back will be the rage beating a blind and paralyzed 7 year old (they they produce. They are traitors to our humanity. probably do sometimes). They front like they’re All cops will always be. Nice or not; its inherent tough, but they ain’t shit. When they fight, they to their position. All cops are bastards. They are attack with the tank that is the state. When we the untouchable bully children of the State, but if fight, all we have is the tank that is our hearts, our we were to man up, we could be the uncontrol- sense of self-respect. lable children of their demise. Fire to the Prisons-Issue 6-We All Want-4 YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A PUNK, DEVIANT, DORK, OR CHILD OF A *SUBURBAN DIVORCE TO BE RADICAL, TO stanD UP FOR YOURSELF ON A BIG LEVEL. Smelly hippies, prissy college students, punk rockers power) of normalcy and patience, not through action and sleazy college professors make up the face painted and struggle without compromise.

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