More research shows once again that compassion, empathy and mutual aid, and an instinct toward cooperation, are innate in human beings, confirming what the great Russian biologist and anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin had already amply demonstrated over a hundred years ago, in his monumental work, Mutual Aid. My but our
Continue readingTag: Anarchism
Molly'sBlog: What is Anarchism: An Introduction
WHAT IS ANARCHISM: AN INTRODUCTION By Donald Rooum, Freedom Press, London 1993 ISBN 0 900384 66 2 It has been many years since I have read a non-historical introduction to anarchism. There are a great number of them, and to my mind they should live up to certain criteria.
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: What is Anarchism: An Introduction
WHAT IS ANARCHISM: AN INTRODUCTION By Donald Rooum, Freedom Press, London 1993 ISBN 0 900384 66 2 It has been many years since I have read a non-historical introduction to anarchism. There are a great num…
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: What is Anarchism: An Introduction
WHAT IS ANARCHISM: AN INTRODUCTION By Donald Rooum, Freedom Press, London 1993 ISBN 0 900384 66 2 It has been many years since I have read a non-historical introduction to anarchism. There are a great number of them, and to my mind they should live up to certain criteria.
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Imagine common sense
John Lennon, Imagine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRhq-yO1KN8 Think about how widely loved this song is. Then think about the lyrics and what they say – this is a song that is urging anarchist communism. And the people love it. That says a lot. In fact, it would be hard to think of a
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: You Aren’t Sufficiently Critical of the #Media
You need to trust the media less. Almost a year ago, and before the last US presidential election, Gallup determined that there has been a stunning decline in citizens’ mistrust of the media [see below]. It crossed over from mostly trust to not so much trust around 2004-2005. If you
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Why Do They Want Us To Shut Up?
If we were harmless, the riot cops would stay home. It’s Friday. It’s been a long week. Like most weeks. We are taught to fit in and obey. We are told that individuality and the search for social justice will get us in trouble, either by government surveillance or social
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Canada’s Evolving Soft Fascism
Things are bad under Prime Minister Harper. They’re getting worse, even since the last time I wrote about Harper’s soft fascism. But how do we measure it? It’s so…subjective, unless you have some kind of benchmark for totalitarian political behaviour. Luckily we do, at least these three: This powerful graphic
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Young People Are Teaching Us About Empathy
Click the chart to see more inspiring charts! Descending/increasing lines indicate less/more concern among different generations of high school graduates for the various ideas. I have so much hope for the future. Sometimes I get bogged down by negativity, but that’s usually just circumstantial. It passes. Much of my hope
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: New, Better Jobs Building a Green Energy Infrastructure
Let’s go post-carbon and transform Big Carbon jobs into green jobs! We are so addicted to carbon-based energy: oil, gas, coal, LNG plants, fracking, pipelines, tanker spills. It gets so discouraging sometimes. But something that the post-carbon energy infrastructure advocates are missing out on, I think, is promoting more of
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Why Don’t People Respect Canada Anymore? Reason #766, Egypt
A huge crowd of protesters stretched along an avenue near the presidential palace in Cairo on Sunday evening If you ever wondered why Canada is losing international respect, here’s a shining example, #766 in fact. The “Harper Government” [sic] is fully addicted to neoliberal economic 1%-ism. Egypt, as we’ve seen
Continue readingArt Threat: Butch Dykes: A Herstory told in zines
At the recent Montreal Anarchist Bookfair, where another (better) world of incredibly inspiring, provocative and boundary-pushing art and media is on display each year, I stumbled upon Eloisa Aquino and her wares – a series of zines on awesome butch dykes, appropriately called The Life and Times of Butch Dykes.
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Toronto Mayday 2013 – Photo set 4 These two photos from the 2013…
Toronto Mayday 2013 – Photo set 4 These two photos from the 2013 International Workers Day march in Toronto are of the front and back of a Rebel Time Records “United Colours of Antifa” T-shirt — the black flag of anarchism and the red flag of socialism united against fascism.
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: http://issuu.com/randalljaykay/docs
http://issuu.com/randalljaykay/docs: The above link is to an archive of various scanned articles and newsletters from the 1980s and 1990s that are related to topics such as anti-fascism, radicalism, socialism, anarchism, prisoners’ rights, anti-imperialism, First Nations rights and anti-racism, They are interesting historical documents, and many of the issues they discuss
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: GroupThink ReSpun: The Death of Hugo Chavez
Hugo Chavez died of cancer on March 5, 2013. He represented an ideological pushback against neoliberal globalization. He pursued a progressive hemispheric trade agenda. He raised oil royalties dramatically to improve the social capacity of people in and around Venezuela. He revolutionized and democratized Venezuela’s constitution. He attracted the ire
Continue readingSketchy Thoughts: Patriarchy and the Movement: Current discussions and organizing against patriarchy in Portland, Seattle, and Oakland
Join comrades from Seattle, Portland, and (via Skype) Oakland to discuss together the current confrontations with patriarchy within the movement. The dialogue around patriarchy in the movement has fired up recently on the west coast, myriad anti-patriarchy groups have formed, feminists have written several statements in the post-occupy climate, and
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: There’s an over-used, often-modified, bullshit slogan…
There’s an over-used, often-modified, bullshit slogan along the lines of “If you are not a socialist at the age of 20 you have no heart; if you are still a socialist at the age of 40 you have no brain.” This pearl of supposed wisdom gets a lot of people’s
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2012-07-23 00:45:00
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:NOTES FROM THE BALTIC ANARCHIST GATHERING: Impressions from the Baltic Anarchist Meeting 2012 Impressions from the Baltic Anarchist Meeting 2012 Almost two months have passed since the Baltic Anarchist Meeting (http://www.bam2012.org/) was organised in Tallinn of Estonia 25th-27th of May, but only now I had time to write
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Anarchist right vs anarchist left ideologies
I don’t much care for the ideologies of either the so called anarchist right (libertarianism) or the anarchist left (a hodgepodge of post- and proto-communist, syndicalist, participatory economic, and other ideologies more common in Europe today). More generally, I don’t much care for ideologies period, especially those determined by a
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Government and Human Wretchedness
What is government if not a living reminder of our human wretchedness, of the fall made secular, of the post-lapsarian world and the prison house of procedure and law that outlines and structures our existence? Our political institutions are decorated with the heritage of Christianity and Western civilization, and no
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