P.8 issue #8 Tides of Flame Egypt Work Sucks 3continued from pg. 3 3continued from pg. 5 lence in our best interest as a movement? our grandparents, working longer and harder. As for us, we’re a Seattle anarchist paper Just as the people of Egypt at times had to resort to self de- just screwed. Buried beneath mountains of student loan or fense and property destruction to achieve their goals, there may credit card debt, making low wages, for all intents and purposes be a time in which the Occupy movement finds it to be strategic futureless: this is our inheritance. And we all know it. joy ~ freedom ~ rebellion to use these tactics as well. And we should be ready to support The plea for job growth perfectly represents the lackof them. It might be that some people have been beaten down so imagination encouraged by capitalism. I am perplexed and many times, their rage bottled up for so long, that they topple a deeply saddened when I see people my age (twenty-five) and police barricade, or fight back when the police try to tear down even younger getting excited about more jobs, green jobs, better SPECIAL OCCUPATION ISSUE our tents, or break out the windows at a bank. And we should jobs. As for myself, I have tried to get out of working as much support them, for their rage is real and dignified. That day might as possible. Instead, I spend my days searching for others like be a month from now, a year from now, or it might be this very me, waiting, chasing sparks of rebellion, printing leaflets and issue #8 | mid oct 2011 moment. Before it’s too late, Occupy Seattle should embrace a scattering them to the wind. They, like the page you’re holding tidesofflame.wordpress.com diversity of tactics. Otherwise, the movement risks losing some in your hands, are messages to the restless, to the dreamers, to [email protected] of its most passionate supporters. the worksick revolutionaries just waiting for the chance to pick a fight with the big boss... and win.

We are not in the least afraid of ruins. 1 We are going to inherit the earth. Who will revive the There is not the slightest doubt about that. violent whirpools The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own of flame world before it leaves the stage of history. if not us and those We carry a new world here, in our hearts. that we consider That world is growing in this minute. brothers? - Buenaventura Durruti, 1936 THIS IS WHAT Spanish anarchist guerilla Come! New friends: this will OCCUPATION please you. We will never work, LOOKS LIKE oh tides of flame! This world will explode. An Egyptian protester gathers stones to throw at riot police in Tahrir Square - June 29, 2011 pugetsoundanarchists.org theanarchistlibrary.org A. Rimbaud anarchistinternational.org continualwar.wordpress.com anarchistnews.org waronsociety.noblogs.org 1 continued on pg. 2 3

P.2 issue #8 Tides of Flame Tides of Flame issue #8 P.7 3 and demonstrations were planned in- evicted by hundreds of riot police and this writing, the park is still there. Athens Polytechnic University side the house. In 1999, the house was special units who landed on the roof of Exarchia is not perfect but it cer- Occupy put up for sale by the city (the official the building via helicopter. For the next tainly is special. The neighborhood is so 3 owner of the building). In response to four days, Copenhagen was engulfed in strong that when a 16 year-old anarchist this, the anarchists hung a banner from rage and chaos. Police vans were torched was killed in 2008 by a cop in the alley Buildings the roof that read “For sale along with with molotov cocktails, dozens of burn- between Exarchia Square and the park, 500 autonomen, stone throwing, vio- ing barricades blocked the streets, and the entire neighborhood rose up and narchists have been occupying space lent psychopaths from hell.” The house a school was burnt down. The famous triggered an insurrection that spread for well over a hundred years now. A was eventually sold to a christian group, statue of Hans Christian Anderson’s throughout Greece. For a month, the The same old problems keep arising but the anarchists remained for the next “Little Mermaid” was painted pink, her streets of Athens burned, igniting a whenever we do so: the police attack and eight years, not paying any rent. stone base anointed with the Gemini global economic panic in the context murder us, the middle class condemns During that time, Ungdomshuset symbol and an big circle-A. of the new recession. Were it not for us, and the capitalists starve us out. But continued to fuel rebellion on the streets On March 5th, the building was torn the occupied neighborhood of Exarchia, we keep trying even though it doesn’t get of Copenhagen. A pirate radio housed down and the demons were left without this might have never happened. any easier. If you are a regular reader of inside the building broadcast uncen- a home. But the fires of the anarchists The strength of an occupation is de- Tides of Flame, you may have gathered sored messages of defiance. A people’s were a testament to the energy that had pendent on the courage of the occupiers that anarchist history is blacked-out and kitchen fed and maintained a large com- kept the house alive and thriving for and the power of the spirit that animates nearly forgotten. In the spirit of keeping munity of anarchists, street people, free- over a century. Ungdomshuset was not them. This courage and this spirit make the flame alive, we’ll fill you in on some thinkers, and students. As always, dem- the only occupied house in Copenha- it possible for a building or a neighbor- examples and methods of anarchist oc- this would mean no longer being police. onstrations and actions were planned gen, although it was the most famous. hood to transform into a space free from cupations. The Police might be blue-collar or and often started from this building. To this day, there still exist anarchist- authority. All of us have the power to The picture on the front cover of this part of the “99%,” but they enforce the So it is no surprise that when, in 2006, occupied houses and buildings (called liberate space and to create an environ- issue is of the Ungdomshuset (Youth laws that keep the divide between the SAVE the owners announced they would tear “squats” in English) in Denmark and ment in which we can live our dreams. House) in Copenhagen, Denmark. rich and the poor intact. The police are down the building, the free people of throughout Europe. Let’s go for it, not only here in Westlake Since the turn of the 20th century, the Copenhagen rose up in revolt. Park, but in every building, neighbor- the protectors of the 1%. The police are THESE building had housed various leftist col- The evangelical christian owners of hood, and workplace in Seattle. the ones firing tear gas and rubber bul- lectives. Government repression made it the building, convinced the anarchists lets whenever a demonstration gets out difficult for radical groups to find places of hand. They are the ones who stand DATES: were under the influence of the devil, THE POLICE for meetings and so these groups built were deter- Occupy between every hungry person and the the house with their own hands. Con- mined to get ARE THE TOOL grocery shelves stocked with food, be- Anarchist General struction on what was then called the rid of the de- tween every homeless person and the Folkets Hus (People’s House) was fin- Neighborhoods buildings standing empty, between ev- mons. Be- Assembly ished in 1897, and for the next decades fore the actual OF THE 1% ery immigrant and her family. The po- it served as a hub for subversive activity. eviction, over The Police might just be doing their job lice are the ones who beat Occupy Wall October 18, 7pm International Women’s Day was created Street protestors, who gunned down 2,000 people when they eventually evict us from the @ The Vera Project at a meeting in this house in 1910. In took over the plaza, but they do in fact have a choice, John T Williams and Oscar Grant, and 1918, the storming of the Danish Stock streets on De- just like we have a choice in say whether who murdered Fred Hampton in his 305 Harrison Street Exchange was planned there. The house cember 16th, to call in sick for work or not. A ques- bed. They are the ones who once en- was located at 69 Jagtvej, and the sym- 2006. Burn- tion we should ask is: If the Police really forced segregation in the United States bol of Gemini eventually became its em- ing barricades were part of the 99%, if they were really and who back the bosses and the 1% in blem. were placed all with us, then why would they evict us? every strike. 1 In 1982, a group of anarchists took over the city, Why would they continue to just “do The Police as an institution, that is an over the house and named it Ung- police were their job”? extension of the 1%, are fundamentally March Against domshuset, signifying a new era for the attacked with The Police help the banks evict us and very concretely in the way of what historical building. At the time, an- stones, sticks, from our foreclosed homes everyday, we really want—the end of a society Police Brutality archists were squatting buildings and based on class divisions. The downtown and fireworks, This used to be a parking lot. but if they really were with us in this October 22, 2pm neighborhoods all over Western Europe and countless struggle-then why don’t they stop? This police officers might be the nicest people and the house served as a vital node in tear gas canisters were fired at the rebels. eyond occupying buildings, anar- struggle against corporate greed requires in the world, but they will still be the @ Westlake Plaza ones evicting us from the plaza. They are the network of anarchist infrastructure. When the night was over, the police has Bchists and other anti-authoritarians people giving up roles (such as the po- 4th and Pine Artists such as Nick Cave and Bjork arrested 273 people, the most that had also occupy entire neighborhoods. One lice) that are needed to lubricate the still part of that same extension. played there, along with dozens of leg- been arrested in Denmark since the Nazi such neighborhood exists in the eternal nuts and bolts that hold the status quo endary European punk bands. Food occupation. city of Athens, Greece. It is called Ex- together. This would mean for them to This means they’re not to be trusted by was given out for free, talks were held, On March 1st, 2007, the house was archia and has been an anarchist haven not follow orders from their superiors, any of us involved in the occupation. continued on pg. 64 P.6 issue #8 Tides of Flame Tides of Flame issue #8 P.3 WTO Others got jobs with NGO’s and em- institutions have to be guarded by police 3continued from pg. 4 braced a green-yuppie lifestyle. Some armed with assault rifles. In addition to betrayed their friends and themselves this, police buses filled with 25 riot cops Breaking the Myth of Egypt’s were gassed, beaten, and tortured by the while others died of heroin overdoses on are always on standby for any spontane- police, having pepper spray blasted di- the street. Some have made it out alive, ous attacks. Despite this, Exarchia re- rectly into their eyes in order to break NONVIOLENT REVOLUTION still remembering what they glimpsed mains a place full of life and activity. the blockades. Nearly fifty thousand during that time. The Polytechnic University is still ost Americans seem to as such a pure example of people were clogging to entirety of the used as a place for meeting and plan- agree that the toppling nonviolent struggle (and for downtown core. Metro stopped running M And here we are, a dozen years later, ning by anarchists and other free peo- of Egyptian president Hosni good reason), is what truly buses throughout Seattle, cars could not looking at a small park in downtown ple. On any random night, the lecture Mubarak was a non-violent spurred those millions of drive down the streets, and the psychic Seattle, where hundreds of people are halls might be filled with two hundred revolution. This is a truly angry Egyptians into action. layout of the city had changed. In the learning once again to rebel and act people, either having a GENERAL AS- mystifying phenomenon, The Tunisians’ bravery and areas between the people and the police together in defiance of the law. Let us SEMBLY or a meeting. The air will be given the facts. In reality, defiance surely proved much existed a free area, and the joy experi- not wait another decade for a chance to filled with cigarette smoke, people will Egyptian rebels confronted more inspirational than any enced in those hours of November 30th break free. Let us take this opportunity be drinking beer, and critical issues for state authority using a di- single nonviolence theorist’s was beyond description. There were no and push it as far as we can. Hopefully, the defense of the neighborhood and versity of tactics, including ideas. more laws in certain parts of Seattle and we will not restrain each other this time the anarchist space will be discussed both nonviolent and violent In case the point has not people experienced the freedom that and will instead fight together, always. with passion and intention. The walls means. And the “revolu- yet been clearly made, con- only rebellion can set loose. of the University are covered in graffiti tion” itself is far from com- sider January 28, 2011, the But, of course, the police still existed, and posters, the administration bends plete these many months Egyptian “Day of Rage.” with all of their armor and weapons, to the whims of the occupiers, and un- later. Despite Mubarak’s fall, On this day, rioting protest- and eventually began to push everyone Occupy documented people seek protection power is still concentrated in ers attacked and burned a up the hill into a still counter-cultural 3 continued from pg. 2 there. Unfortunately, sensing that this the hands of a very few—this great many police stations Capitol Hill. Once there, the residents time those of the Supreme and vehicles, often making since the 1970’s. A US-backed fascist kind of autonomous space is becoming of the neighborhood got a taste of the Council of the Armed Forc- off with arms and other use- dictatorship ruled Greece from 1967 increasingly dangerous to the status quo, force that the police use to crush any es. These new leaders are the ful equipment. The rather to 1974, and Exarchia was where the the Greek government recently allowed potent rebellion. They attacked people senior officers of the same large headquarters of the rebellion against the government broke police the ability to enter the campus, indiscriminately, pushing the crowd up military previously applaud- National Democratic Par- out in on November 15th, 1973. something that was forbidden since the to the Egyptian Theater where fires were ed for not turning their guns ty—Mubarak’s party—was The Athens Polytechnic University, massacre of 1973. lit in the street. It was not until nearly on their own people. attacked and burned as well located in Exarchia, was the epicenter The heart of Exarchia is its square. It midnight that the police succeeded in It is very important to on this day. of this rebellion, with students going is smaller than Westlake Park but has the driving everyone back into their homes. break the myth of Egypt’s To be clear, we are not on strike, barricading the campus, and same triangular shape. In the center of However, the energy of that day carried “nonviolent revolution,” interested in perpetuating building a pirate radio over which they it is a statue of three dancing children over into the next three days. But that is especially in light of the re- the violence/nonviolence transmitted messages calling on the peo- on which political posters are pasted. a story for another time. cent explosion of supposedly dichotomy. Nonviolent tac- ple to rise up. On November 17th, the Hundreds of people use the park every In closing, let it be said that the “Tahrir-style” occupations tics and more militant ones government sent in tanks and soldiers day, and it is so autonomous that young promise of November 30th vanished popping up in hundreds of both have their strengths to crush the occupation of the campus. teens commonly make Molotov cock- Burnt hull of the ruling party’s headquarters, Cairo. soon after the beginning of the twenty- cities across the US. One and weaknesses. We should The military murdered over 25 people tails in plain sight. Drinking and smok- first century. There was too much divi- stark difference between occupations throughout Egypt as burning barricades choose our tactics based on effective- that night and injured hundreds more. ing weed are common, and the square sion, too many single-issue causes, and like the one in Westlake Plaza and those lit the night sky. To insist that the Egyp- ness, not on religious adherence to non- After the crackdown, the fascist gov- is bustling well into the early hours of not enough resolve amongst the anti- in many other parts of the world is the tian uprising was nonviolent erases the violence or fetishization of violence. ernment collapsed and a new “democrat- the morning. Just a few blocks from Ex- globalization movement to make the nearly unquestioned acceptance of strict contribution these brave fighters made The problem lies in dogmatically ic” government was installed. But the archia Square is the self-managed park, commitment to throw themselves into nonviolence. to the struggle and is incredibly insult- and moralistically defending nonvio- people of Exarchia never forgot what the a former parking lot that was turned the battle to physically destroy capi- In Tahrir Square, protesters again ing. lence while decrying any use or talk of government had done to them, and ever into a garden, playground, amphithe- talism. September 11th, 2001, came, and again countered the violence of the Even worse is the tendency among violence or self-defense as the work of since those days Exarchia has been a free ater, and socializing area. Hundreds of taking everyone’s eyes off the spread of police and pro-government vigilantes certain sectors of the American left to agents provocateurs. With little debate area. Police are not welcome anywhere people gather there every night, smok- capitalism and heralding a nightmare of with both spontaneous and organized credit white American Gene Sharp’s the Occupy movement has adopted a in the neighborhood and will only enter ing, drinking, and having discussions. repression, surveillance, and paranoia. self-defense. Though many remained nonviolence theories as a major inspi- stance of nonviolence while at the same in groups, always clad in riot gear. Over In the summer people project movies, Some people from those days in the nonviolent, those willing to fight armed ration for the Arab Spring. In reality, time holding up two oftentimes violent the years, government offices, police sta- play music, and carry on until the sun winter of 1999 went off to wage a low- themselves with whatever they could a decades-long war of repression was revolutions as its main inspiration. On tions, and banks have been routinely at- rises. The park was built illegally and level guerrilla war against the destroyers find—rocks, sticks, Molotov cocktails, being waged against any who spoke the surface this is simply hypocritical, tacked, burnt, and bombed out of the has withstood numerous assaults by the of the Pacific Northwest, only to be cap- knives—and defended the occupation. or acted against the Mubarak regime. but it also brings up an important ques- neighborhood. As of this writing, these police since it was built in 2008. As of tured and destroyed by the authorities. Hundreds lost their lives in clashes The Tunisian revolt, not often held up tion. Is dogmatic adherence to nonvio- continued on pg. 84 Forgotten History Tides of Flame issue #8 P.5 Anarchists and the Battle in Seattle More Jobs? No thanks! Time is not linear and we always return from physical damage. tion would spread into the minds and to the same moment, on the verge of Later in the day, five thousand peo- mouths of non-violent activists, but the 1 I seek a meaningful life. 1 breaking out of our cages. Sometimes ple encircled the (now demolished) truth of the matter is that the police were the gap between these singular moments Kingdome and chanted for the WTO already dressed in riot gear, already had Vacant time, dead time, the exchange our time (and thus our lives) footbridge over water, connecting one can last for decades. We grow old, for- to“cancel the debt” of “undeveloped” tear gas launchers and pepper spray, and for the money we need in order to live. side of a river to the other, for their own get what it felt like, and almost lose our nations, unaware that the capitalist had received orders to clear the way for time of emptiness and fear of It’s actually quite absurd. Our lives particular reasons, and a government connection with the eternal source of all conference delegates truly did not care the delegates. The attack on the non-vi- emptiness – this is the time of are an endless cycle of work to live to providing tax cuts to private construc- rebellion. But sometimes we are lucky about them. While this was going on, olent blockaders had nothing to do with work. There will be no more work. This is why anarchists often refer tion companies who hire workers to re- and receive another chance to put all of a group of people occupied an empty the anarchists and everything to do with to work, without the least bit of irony, pair the damaged arteries of capitalism. our will and energy into another one of building near the Seattle Center in defi- the authoritarian command structure of time to fill, but a liberation as wage slavery. When one’s mind and And, make no mistake, this is exactly these moments where everything can ance of the law. The contrast between the police. The police did the job they of energy. body are subject to a system that de- what the American Jobs Act is all about. change and the promises of youth can these two events exemplifies the split were instructed to do that day. -The Invisible Committee mands time and labor in return for the Forget the feel-good patriotism and re- overflow the constraints of age. within the anti-globalization movement barest essentials; when the choice is hun- member that FDR was racist. Let go of One of these moments occurred for of the time: symbolic protest and direct ger and homelessness or all the drudgery the lies your teacher told you and recall many people for a few strange days in action. of the time-clock, work is forced, it is that the New Deal resulted in the same the winter of 1999. An activist network The next day, November 30th, was coerced, and it is very, very violent. old terrible shit: bosses and wage slaves, had planned for months to shut down the day when the squandered energy of To be against work is not to be environmental destruction through the World Trade Organization (WTO) thousands of people finally burst out against doing. An anarchist critique of projects like the Hoover Dam, and war Ministerial Conference that was to take of their bodies and invaded Seattle. It work comes from the desire for a pas- aplenty. All those heart-warming Fire- place at the Convention Center starting all started early in the morning with a sionate life filled with joy and creativity, side Chats were just the manipulative on November 30th. The day before the group called the Direct Action Network doing what is necessary and vital for sur- bedtime stories of a man whose heart conference started, thousands of peo- blockading intersections around the vival on one’s own terms. The work week, was frozen by power. ple swarmed downtown Seattle, hop- Convention Center with structures and as it stands, is unnecessarily long. Many American poverty and unemploy- ing to peacefully show the world that their bodies. These blockades began to people’s days are tied up in meaningless, ment have never been “solved” because they were against global capitalism and grow and eventually were so effective mind-numbing labor, foaming milk, the capitalists and politicians that have what it was doing to the planet. Some that delegates could not get from their pushing brooms, and standing for hours always run this country need the poor of them even dressed like turtles and hotels to the conference. in front of tills brimming with cash like they need water. They use and marched alongside trade unionists, but Anarchists also began setting up bar- that isn’t theirs. If every unhappy wage abuse us and cloud our minds with a ri- all of them were prevented from going ricades in the street, but because they slave’s time was liberated, just imagine diculous pride for the system that keeps anywhere near the delegates by a mas- were dressed in black and hid their faces, how many people would be left with all us from freedom. Luckily, more and sive number of riot police. they were chased away by “non-violent” the time in the world, looking for ways more of us are finally getting the joke. Beneath the high windows of the activists. Unable to work with the rest to re-create their lives. In this society, work is honorable. To hotels where the delegates were staying, of the protesters, anarchists and others The American Jobs Act is Obama’s not work is to be lazy, selfish, unlucky, a large group of people surrounded the marched away, lead by a mobile group of answer to Franklin Roosevelt’s New or just generally defective. What is Nike Town on Pike and 6th. Everyone musicians carrying black and green flags. Disgruntled retail workers? - WTO Protests, Seattle, 1999 Deal. On the surface, stimulating the missing from this very common analysis present detested the practices of Nike Around 10:15 PM, these people begin economy and rebuilding American in- of work is that unemployment is actual- and their use of sweatshop labor, but physically attacking buildings owned by By the afternoon, downtown was in rom droning chants of “Money for frastructure may seem like a good idea ly necessary to the health of capitalism. only a small group actually did anything Bank of America, Washington Mutual, complete chaos. Some people reported Fjobs and education/ Not for wars to many—after all, who wants another When some are out of work, the rest are with their anger. Anarchists and other Nike, and US Bank, among others. In seeing spirits dancing in the streets, oth- and occupation!” to a rally at Westlake bridge collapse? But when examined kept captives of fear—at least I have a people serious about their convictions short, these anarchists attacked the ar- ers said they saw “mythical animals” run- Plaza in support of Obama’s American more critically and from a historical per- job, some think, at least I can afford food began to bang on the windows of Nike chitects of the current financial crisis ning atop the concrete. The anarchists Jobs Act, many Occupy Seattle protest- spective, it becomes obvious that both and place to live. Unemployment also Town. This modest, feeble effort to nine years before it happened. While destroyed corporate shops in the shop- ers seem hell-bent on putting the un- the New Deal and the American Jobs serves to keep wages down and profits break the windows of a vile corporation this type of activity is nothing new to ping district, and soon enough dozens employed and underemployed back to Act were/are more about rejuvenating up. After all, if you don’t like your pay- was enough to send certain people into anarchists, it was complete heresy to the of people were looting stores and taking work. But is the problem really a lack American capitalism and shoring up check or show too little enthusiasm on a frenzy. Almost at once, people in the ideologues of dogmatic pacifism. what they wanted. The delegates and of jobs or is it the economic system— popular support for a strong, central- the job, there is always someone ready crowd began to chant “non-violence” Because the blockades were effective guests, including the Secretary of State, capitalism—itself? Will more jobs actu- ized, and authoritarian government to replace you. while attempting to physically restrain at keeping the delegates from the con- remained trapped in their hotels. Fires ally get at the root of poverty or simply than about helping people to live more Though the previous generation was the angry ones. These confused people, ference, the police began to assault the were lit on the street and people danced expand exploitation and misery? fulfilling lives. There is a big difference promised less work thanks to automa- who were rumored to dislike Nike, end- peaceful protesters. The police would to insane rhythms. Hundreds of people Under capitalism, we must have jobs between a group of autonomous indi- tion and healthy retirement funds, we ed up protecting that same corporation blame the anarchists, and this fic- continued on pg. 64 in order to get the things we need. We viduals coming together to build a cedar now see our mothers and fathers, even continued on pg. 84