Revolution

At Least 17 Killed In Protests On Anniversary Of Egypt Uprising

January 26, 2015 Maggie Fick and Shadi Bushra, www.reuters.com Resist! Egypt, Protests, Revolution

At least 17 people were killed on Sunday in Egypt's bloodiest protests since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was elected president, as security forces fired at protesters marking the anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Gunfire and sirens could be heard in Cairo into the night as armoured personnel carriers moved through the centre of a city where security forces had once again used lethal force against dissenters. A Health Ministry spokesman said at least 17 people had been killed at protests across the country. The anniversary was a test of whether Islamists and liberal activists had the resolve to challenge a government that has persistently stamped out dissent since the then-army chief Sisi ousted elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

On Being A Rebel

January 13, 2015 Sam Smith, www.prorevnews.blogspot.com Resist! Rebellion, Revolution

The words revolution and rebellion attract unjust opprobrium. After all, much of what we identify as peculiarly American is ours by grace of our predecessors' willingness to revolt in the most militant fashion, and their imperfect vision has been improved by a long series of rebellions ranging from the cerebral to the bloody. There is not an American alive who has not been made better by revolution and rebellion. In fact, the terms sit close to what it means to human, since it is our species that has developed the capacity to dramatically change, for better or worse, its own course without waiting on evolution. No other creature has ever imagined a possibility as optimistic as democracy or as devastating as a nuclear explosion, let alone bring them to fruition.

Six Concepts For This Movement’s Continued Political Education

December 26, 2014 Danny Haiphong, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! Imperialism, Language, Mass Incarceration, Revolution, Socialism

Much of my work for Black Agenda Report has focused on an analysis of US imperialism and its relationship to oppressed people in the United States and abroad. Black Agenda Report covers many issues and topics, including the significance of the Obama era, the privatization of education, the Black Mass Incarceration State, Washington's imperialist policy in Africa, and much more. The primary function of independent media is to challenge the dominant narrative promoted by the ruling system around the issues that shape the lives of the oppressed. In this article, I define six revolutionary concepts for organizers, activists, and people struggling against exploitation of man by man. It is my hope that these concepts become popularized through our collective participation in the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the broader struggle for liberation that Black Agenda Report covers weekly.

Revolution A Distant Memory As Egypt Escalates Repression

December 15, 2014 Orla Guerin, www.bbc.com Resist! Egypt, police brutality, Revolution, Wars and Militarism

If you want to know what became of the revolution of 2011, which electrified Egypt and swept then-President Hosni Mubarak from power, you could talk to its leaders. Or try to. Some are in exile, and others in jail. The award-winning liberal activist Asmaa Mahfouz is still at large, but far from free. She was recently banned from leaving the country. "The regime is hostile towards the revolution," she says, "and is trying to erase it from history." Many here share that view. Almost four years on, she says the situation is far worse than during the three decades of his rule. "When we protested under Mubarak we were beaten in the streets," Ms Mahfouz says. "Sometimes we were tortured. But now people are being killed, in the most brutal way."

Is Greece On The Verge Of Another Social Explosion?

December 7, 2014 Jerome Roos, www.roarmag.org Resist! Greece, Revolution

The hunger strike of an anarchist prisoner and the reaction on the streets are rekindling long-standing conflicts in Greek society going back to 1944. The Greek streets have been relatively quiet of late. After four years of devastating economic depression and continued state repression, the revolutionary zeal that once animated the spectacular mobilizations of the early years of the crisis has since given way to a widespread sense of despondence. This may now be changing. Students and anarchists have been mobilizing in force in recent weeks to show their solidarity with Nikos Romanos, the anarchist prisoner who has been on hunger strike since November 10. Both Nikos’ struggle and the response on the streets are laden with symbolic significance and historical resonance.

Why We Need Professional Revolutionists

November 25, 2014 Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com Strategize! History, Revolution

No revolt can succeed without professional revolutionists. These revolutionists live outside the formal structures of society. They are financially insecure—Vladimir Lenin spent considerable time in exile appealing for money from disenchanted aristocrats he would later dispossess. They dedicate their lives to fomenting radical change. They do not invest energy in appealing to power to reform. They are prepared to break the law. They, more than others, recognize the fragility of the structures of authority. They are embraced by a vision that makes compromise impossible. Revolution is their full-time occupation. And no revolution is possible without them.

Changing The World Without Taking Power

October 26, 2014 David Bollier, www.blog.p2pfoundation.net Create! Capitalism, Commons, Neoliberalism, Revolution

John Holloway, a sociology professor in Mexico, recently gave an interview with Roar magazine suggesting how to introduce a new social and economic logic in the face of the mighty machine of neoliberal capitalism. Holloway’s idea, recapitulating themes from his previous book and 2002 thesis, is to build “cracks” in the system in which people can relate to each other and meet their needs in non-market ways: “We have to keep building cracks and finding ways of recognizing them, strengthening them, expanding them, connecting them; seeking confluence, or preferably, the commoning of cracks.” This strategic approach has immediate appeal to commoners, it seems to me — even though some engagement with state power is surely necessary at some point. Below, Holloway’s interview with by Amador Fernández-Savater. It was translated by Richard Mac Duinnsleibhe and edited by Arianne Sved of Guerrilla Translation.

Occupying Russell Brand

October 17, 2014 David DeGraw, www.daviddegraw.org Resist! Occupy, Revolution, Russell Brand

Russell wanted to dedicate his fame to espousing our message. He was tapped into the source flow and aware enough to know where the zeitgeist was going. We were vibrating on the same frequency. We were both riding the same wave of transformation. He had a taste, he bit into the forbidden fruit, just as all of us in Liberty Park did. Freedom was in the air. Russell knew what he had to do. We’re all in the cosmic movie, everyone has a role to play. He was ready to become our Trojan Horse; a glitzy glittery sexy (Russell made me add in “sexy”) famous actor/comedian, our irresistible gift to the gods of mass media. BrandRevolution-BookWe couldn’t have found a more charismatic mate than we found in the mysterious man in the garbage bag. In interview after interview, he’s been lovingly eviscerating mainstream pundits and spreading the revolution meme. He turns the spectacle on itself. We are now inside the machine.

Russell Brand & Naomi Klein: Climate Change And Revolution

October 16, 2014 Asa Bennett, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk Strategize! Climate Change, Naomi Klein, Revolution

Russell Brand and the author Naomi Klein have called for a "revolution" that could potentially see oil giants like Exxon Mobil dismantled. Speaking to Brand as part of a podcast exclusively shared with The Huffington Post, Klein agreed with the comedian's call for a political and economic revolution, but warned: "It's not going to happen in the right way if we don't talk about the distribution of resources." The pair zeroed in on multinational oil giants such as Exxon Mobil, referring to them as companies that were "addicted to stupid money", with Klein arguing that the world could convert from fossil fuels to renewable energy within 15 years. "What the hell's going on," said Brand. "Is there no money in it? Why don't people do it? They could still make money out of windmills couldn't they?"

World Ignoring Revolutionary Kurds In Syria

October 13, 2014 David Graeber, www.theguardian.com Educate! Revolution, Syria

The autonomous region of Rojava, as it exists today, is one of few bright spots – albeit a very bright one – to emerge from the tragedy of the Syrian revolution. Having driven out agents of the Assad regime in 2011, and despite the hostility of almost all of its neighbours, Rojava has not only maintained its independence, but is a remarkable democratic experiment. Popular assemblies have been created as the ultimate decision-making bodies, councils selected with careful ethnic balance (in each municipality, for instance, the top three officers have to include one Kurd, one Arab and one Assyrian or Armenian Christian, and at least one of the three has to be a woman), there are women’s and youth councils, and, in a remarkable echo of the armed Mujeres Libres (Free Women) of Spain, a feminist army, the “YJA Star” militia (the “Union of Free Women”, the star here referring to the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar), that has carried out a large proportion of the combat operations against the forces of Islamic State.

35 Years Since The Triumph Of The Sandinista Revolution

July 26, 2014 Chuck Kaufman, www.upsidedownworld.org Educate! CIA, History, Nicaragua, Revolution, Sandinista

July 19, 2014 marks the 35th anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. On that day, the Sandinista troops led by the nine commanders of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) entered the capital city of Managua where they were greeted by hundreds of thousands of jubilant Nicaraguans. The triumphant guerrillas found a country in ruins. The previous ruler of the country, dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, had bombed the cities during the final offensive. When he fled the country two days earlier, he took not only the caskets containing his parents’ remains, but all the money in the national treasury as well. The Sandinistas were left with no money and a $1.9 billion international debt. Despite these handicaps, the Sandinistas set up a nine member National Directorate and five member Junta de Reconstrucción as the executive branch, and a Council of State which included political parties and popular organizations as the legislature. They launched an ambitious and revolutionary political program.

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