Is this a revolution?

Published on 2011/11/09 in the fuckin show. 16 Comments


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This week:

1. No cops allowed in Occupy Vancouver
2. W.T.F.W.J.D.
3. Ninjas?
4. Bahrain battles SUVs
5. Justice, Syria style
6. #Jan25
7. Is this a revolution?

More context on Occupy Oakland here

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16 Responses to “Is this a revolution?”

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  • The Nerge
    2011/11/09 at 2:05 pm

    My Dear Stimulator,

    As someone who has supported you, both financially and otherwise, who has proudly displayed the Submedia logo, I have to respectfully say that you don’t know shit about Oakland.

    I live in and fucking love this city, but it is plagued by crime. It has an astronomical murder rate, a hella high crime rate, and plenty of empty tagged/ruined buildings in Downtown and elsewhere.

    The mass-televised tear-gas flash-bandattack by popo on my people was horrible, infuriating, depressing. But the Black Bloc, many of who are not actually from my city, come here and smash it up some more, spray shit everywhere, and in general increase the depressing blight that surrounds us, and physically attack anyone who tries to stop them, affects many of us the same way. I don’t see how this helps the revolution.

    Smashing the windows where a bank is is fucking old, unoriginal, and stupid. The bank doesn’t even own the motherfucking building. IT IS NOT EVEN ATTACKING THE BANK.

    Occupy Oakland has been well-organized and a positive force here. The General Strike was an amazing, beautiful thing. I saw no cops around and everyone was there: all ages, and sizes, shapes, and colors. Basically, the diversity that makes Oakland so great. I have never been to such a large protest and seen NO COPS. 15,000 people successfully marched to the Port and shut it down. PEACEFULLY.

    So it was hella depressing to get up the next day and see shit and broken glass everywhere. I fail to see how further fucking up a city with no money and hella crime helps the goddamn movement. Here in Oakland, we need to build things, we need to create things, not fuck it up further. Destruction is not going to help us here.

    I hate the fucking police. To me a bunch of guys shoving people out of their way to smash shit doesn’t seem better. Just seems The Patriachy all over again.

    This city needs love, not blood.

    Monkey fucking liberal, indeed.

    - The Nerger

    • stimulator
      2011/11/09 at 3:06 pm

      Hey Nerger,

      Thanks for your comment. As someone who has been watching my fuckin show for a while, you know what the tone of it is. Did all the the previous riot porn not offend you, or was it because it wasn’t in your town? Yes local context is important, so your perspective is valuable. But I have many peeps in Oakland as well and all of them were excited/inspired by the anti-capitalist contingent.

      That said, this is an old debate and one that consumes us every time someone smashes a window. Watch this for reference about halfway in.

      http://submedia.tv/stimulator/2010/03/08/occupy-vancouver/

      My understanding is that the anti-capitalist contingent was separate from the port action and it was well announced. When these actions are planned there is usually an agreement of separation of time and space, so that those who do not want to smash windows, can resist in other ways. I believe this was the case in Oakland.

      That is not to say that BB tactics are beyond critique or that the BB is appropriate at all times, but to call the mayor and the cops on comrades who are fighting for the same thing, but choose a different way to express it is unacceptable.

      Solidarity is a two way street and like it or not the BB are in solidarity with and are part of the Occupy movement.

      • Magnus McTavish
        2011/11/10 at 1:56 am

        windows can be replaced. My liberty and freedom cannot be replaced with a commodity driven consumerist white fascism . BLACK BLOCK 4 love of OAKLAND. stay strong.

      • The Nerge
        2011/11/13 at 4:53 pm

        Dear Stim,

        Thank you for your thoughtful response. Although we disagree on several points, I’ll just address two.

        I concede I reacted differently to riot porn of my own city than to other riot porn I have watched on your show. But I believe that is basic human nature to reacted differently to something with which you have a close relationship. Let’s take the example of regular ol’ porn. What if you were enjoying a sexy vid, then suddenly realized that it was your own sister you were watching? Wouldn’t be the same, would it?

        I cannot describe the love have for this flawed yet beautiful city, but seeing it further trashed, no matter what the political impetus, is just fucking painful.

        And as for the Black Bloc, I do not discount them or feel they cannot be part of the movement. But, with all their energy and intelligence, can’t they come up with something more original and engaging? They’re smashing shit up and and tagging shit in a place that already has shit smashed and tagged. It’s redundant as fuck.

        Yours,
        The Nerger

      • Blacquejacque
        2011/11/21 at 4:47 pm

        Hoo-Rah for that!

        • Blacquejacque
          2011/11/21 at 4:48 pm

          I meant to this:> “…but to call the mayor and the cops on comrades who are fighting for the same thing, but choose a different way to express it is unacceptable.

          Solidarity is a two way street and like it or not the BB are in solidarity with and are part of the Occupy movement.”

  • boomboom
    2011/11/09 at 4:19 pm

    the #s are in from egypt:

    “What shifted the balance away from the regime were four continuous days of street fighting, January 25–28, that pitted the people against police all over the country.”

    “By the end of the street fighting, preliminary estimates were that 365 citizens had died and some 5,000 had been hurt. On the police side, there were 32 deaths and 1,079 injuries, while 99 police stations and 3,000 vehicles had burned. Al-‘Adli stayed bunkered inside the Interior Ministry until January 31, when he was transported out sitting huddled in an army tank. In a six-hour interrogation by the prosecution, on charges of responsibility for the deaths and injuries, al-‘Adli shunted blame upward and downward. He accused his four top assistants of providing him with false intelligence, and demanded that Husni Mubarak be held accountable for the decision to fire on demonstrators, in his capacity as head of the Supreme Police Council. But he did concede defeat.

    The situation was beyond imagination. The faces of the demonstrators showed how clear they were in challenging the regime and how much they hated it, how willing they were to resist with their bodies all attempts to divide them with truncheons and water cannons and all other tools. They outnumbered security forces by a million or more, a fact that shocked the Interior Ministry leaders and the president. Those government officials all sat at home watching the demonstrations on TV. Not one of them devised a political solution to what policemen were facing — confrontations with angry people and indescribable hatred of the government. All of us were astonished.”

    http://www.merip.org/mer/mer258/praxis-egyptian-revolution

  • joe the terrorist (@JoeTheTerrorist)
    2011/11/09 at 4:19 pm

    wonder what a world wide black bloc contingent would look like…if the “whole thing” needs to go down in flames, its going to need to get started. of course the mainstream majority is going to hate it–they still think democracy/capitalism can be reformed–that it is the best system out there, despite its many failings. of course, any truly effective black bloc will most likely not be public. Its will take cyber-insurgency to really bring the institutions that oppress us to its knees, while physically halting the operations of corrupt business.

    nice to see there are people in america still willing to do more than picket, but the black bloc is going to need to maximize its effect, and that means doing more than breaking a window and painting the side of the building.

  • Bear
    2011/11/14 at 6:28 am

    Awesome work, as usual, stimulator!

    very funny this time.

    for more fire-extinguisher graffiti, watch out here: http://kidultone.com/?page_id=848

    can I know from what movie does the ninja kicking-cop-asses came from??

    Thanks!

  • anon
    2011/11/14 at 9:23 am

    Congrats on a great show discussing the great ninja riot of Oakland. I wanted to ask if on the next show you could give a shot out to our comrades in Chapel Hill, NC on your next show. After a successful day of talks and meeting new comrades we marched to a nearby building that’s been abandoned for a decade or so with the intention of reclaiming it or the community and opening up a social center in solidarity with the occupy movement. The pigs responded with their usual sense of restraint and a SWAT team raided the space brandishing assault riles, pointing them at protesters and bystanders, arresting 8 activists. I, rather thankfully, wasn’t there at the time, but needless to say it’s a rather fucked up response, and there’s been a call out for solidarity actions against the pigs/for occupation of buildings to use for community spaces.

    Link to initial story here: http://trianarchy.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/this-building-is-ours-chapel-hill-anarchists-occupy-downtown-building/

    Link to ensuing insanity here: http://anarchistnews.org/node/17902

  • Anny Mous
    2011/11/16 at 6:44 pm

    Blac Block Rocks!

  • shawn
    2011/11/16 at 7:14 pm

    whats the name of the song at 5min?

  • upthewolves
    2011/11/20 at 8:49 am

    Thanks! What is the name of the Ninja movie? I want it. I need it.

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