Womyn and transfolk in APOC are putting a zine together that focuses on decolonizing our diets. Food is political; what we eat and how we eat affects land, animals and us.  It is also a tool that can be used for struggles. That being said here’s what we are looking for:

Confessions, recipes, testimonials, images, dilemmas, struggles and poems about food and health.
500-1,000 words
No later than March 7, 2009
Email to anixtla@yahoo.com
You must identify as a person of color.
This project is open to womyn and transfolk , but we are also looking for men to contribute through submissions.

Some of the Topics that we are looking for are listed below. They are meant to be used as a guide but definitely not inclusive so please feel free to expand and express:

1. Food and Sexism: Attitudes to consuming meat and possessing female bodies.
2. Commodification and the selling of traditional indigenous diets such as “super exotic foods”
3. Health and fast food’s genocide of people of color
4. Healthy multi-cultural recipes
5. Food traveling: local vs non local, foods that are mistaken as indigenous to a region and a people.
6. Diets people eat influenced by colonization and imperialism. Idea that western diet is superior.
7. Men’s relationship to food and their division of labor
8. Nurturing and taking care of our bodies.
9. Vegan diets and the way dairy and meat is consumed.

Recipes or entries do not need to be strictly vegetarian, but since this is about decolonizing our diets we are trying to keep it healthy and as harm free as possible. We understand that not everyone is ready to be vegetarian so we welcome recipes that include healthier ways to consume meat and dairy.

Anarchist womyn and transfolks of color, come be part of the editorial collective!! email at anixtla@yahoo.com for next meeting info.

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A poster of this statement is available here.

Dear Oakland,

The night of January 7th we were with you, you were with me, when we saw a glimpse of the future: we smiled and embraced as we lit fires, stomped in windows, destroying real estate, both big and small business as usual. We shared tips on makeshift face masks, we rested together on the sidewalk to catch a breath, we reminded ourselves to “stay calm! don’t run!” when the cops gassed us or when they did their sorry shuffle: charging a little, pushing a little, running a little. We disbanded and came back together time and time again and realized we could make the city into anything we wanted.

We flew through the night, always outrunning the twin monstrosity of police and liberal politics– both who call for passivity– staying close to familiar faces, but always defending a stranger. Here we write this letter even while we know that where our words so often fail, only our fires emerge victorious. But let this letter be a word of encouragement. Let this letter be comfort in the courtroom when you stare up back at the judge, when they call you a criminal. We do not silently watch as they disappear us into their prison dungeons, their service industries, or when they feel free to wave guns at us and shoot us. Let this word be with you.

The early morning of January 1st was no accident, just as the fire lit night of January 7th was no accident. There are those who left early on the 7th who decry destruction and only want the specificity, the precision of a planned action with a planned target. They don’t know that our plan was to rebuild our humanity and that the target was the city. They expose us to their legitimacy litmus. They are afraid of our wild ambitions, they have a smug disdain for our free humanity, they are torn between their boring critiques of capitalism and how they don’t want to think we’re mongrels– but in their hearts, they do. We see them all the time: little conquistador Napoleons who want to mastermind a charge and lead a loud megaphone chant. Don’t let them guilt or shame you– if it helps, let this word be with you.

They do not know that our power does not have to look like neighborhoods of small businesses that cater to the middle road, businesses that employ us to work unending hours for them, all the while suspecting of us one perversion or another. Not now, or not ever, but especially not now when we live in a world where no one bats an eye when they kill us, imprison us, humiliate us each day. There is no human rights delegation to our daily lives– there are only capitalist gate keeper service agencies and liberals who think they know what’s good for everyone. No flashy car, no Obama/Biden bumper sticker, no “mom and pop” can prevent us or sell us the betrayal of our own experiences. We don’t grieve for a car window, or a nail salon, or liquor store, just as we don’t grieve for a McDonalds or a bank. We grieve that we are choked each day and we celebrate that just past the tear gas we finally caught a breath of reality. We finally found humanity, together.

It’s cause to walk with a lighter step this week, to burn this memory into our histories, to remake our dreams for the future. We are reminded of what’s possible: to be tender and patient with one another, and save our rage and distrust for those who destroy us. A heartfelt congratulations to you.

No business as usual, not ever, always towards humanity,
Barbarians,
Criminals,
POC Anarchists,
the dignified.
With a friendly nod to the day to day realities in Chiapas, the anarchist and the Arab in Greece, the civilian and the militant in Gaza, the suggestion of New School, the anarchist and the radio and the barricade in Oaxaca, the prisoner in Atenco, the legacy of Watts, the day laborer in Osaka, the uprising in St. Petersburg, the Burmese anti-fascist, the uprising in Cincinnati, the dignity of Benton Harbor, the dignity of suburban France, the farmer in Afghanistan, the Chinese in Milan, the young of Ungdomshuset, the militant’s Chile, everywhere where our dignity overpowers our shame, where our strength proves itself collectively, where our emotions manifest publicly and collectively, where such basic humanity is born and breathes, where there are those who adhere to a human decency no culture can destroy– which fortunately, is everywhere. Onwards!

For those who unfortunately were arrested, we’ve heard that there is friendly legal support from the National Lawyers Guild: 415 285 1011.

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Long-time New Afrikan Anarchist Prisoner of War, Ojore Lutalo was set to max out after 26 years of imprisonment at New Jersey State Prison and had an exit interview and receiving a release date of December 25, 2008. Ojore is now being told his release date is October 23, 2009! They did two sets of calculations for his work credits/good time, going back to his earlier conviction in 1970’s., which he was paroled from but violated in 1982. Bonnie Kerness said that Ojore was really optimistic about getting out this year given that he had the release date on paper and the exit interview but that he’s a realist about the NJ DOC and how they operate. While his new release date is now October of 2009, he can continue to earn good time/work credits and get it down to an August 2009 release date.

“Here we remain, yesterday’s urban guerillas, abandoned in captivity” – Ojore Lutalo

Ojore Lutalo is locked down is prison for fighting for the people and for revolution. It’s our revolutionary duty to ensure Ojore has all the support he needs when hits the streets! We must support him and we must continue the struggle for freedom for all of oppressed and disenfranchised people of color.

Philadelphia Autonomist / Anti-Authoritarian / Anarchist People of Color (APOC) are calling on all APOC and all oppressed and disenfranchised people of color who want to be free to show our love and support (and raise a little money) for our brother Ojore Lutalo this February 2009. We’re calling for the month of February, traditionally known as “Black History Month,” to be Black Liberation “Month”. APOC and other like-minded radical people of color are encouraged to organize a month of political education, revolutionary events and benefits for Ojore Lutalo and Black Liberation in your hoods, communities and regions.

Event and benefit ideas can include but are not limited to: revolutionary poetry and music shows; political movie screenings; black liberationist speakers; banner drops, stencils, wheatpasting, graffiti in solidarity with Ojore; community potlucks and discussions; and much more.

All funds, by check or money order, payable to TIM FASNACHT, can be sent to:

Philadelphia ABCF / P.O. Box 42129 / Philadelphia, PA 19101

For more ideas on events and actions for Black Liberation “Month” and to support Ojore Lutalo email APOC-Philly [at] riseup.net

ALL POWER THROUGH THE PEOPLE

*Please Forward Widely! Please Act Now! *

From:http://abcf.net/prisoners/lutalo.htm

Ojore Lutalo is locked down in Trenton, New Jersey, for actions carried out in the fight for Black Liberation.

In Ojore’s own words, he is “serving a parole violation sentence (we received 14 to 17 years) stemming from a 1977 conviction for expropriating monies and engaging the political police in a gun battle in December 1975 in order to effect our departure from the bank, and to ensure success of the military operation…”

“After my parole violation term terminated in December 1987, I started serving a forty year sentence with a twenty year parole ineligibility (I was paroled in 1980, and I have been back in captivity since April 20, 1982) that I have received in 1982 for having a gun-fight with a drug dealer. The overall strategy of assaulting a drug dealer is to secure monies to finance one’s activities, and to rid the oppressed communities of drug dealers.”

Ojore was originally arrested with New Afrikan P.O.W. Kojo Bomani Sababu, and was struggling with comrade Andaliwa Clark up until the point that Andaliwa was killed in action within the confines of New Jersey’s infamous Trenton State Prison after he shot two prison’s security guards in the repressive Management Control Unit (M.C.U.) on January 19th, 1976 when they tried to stop him from escaping from captivity.

Ojore was a comrade of the late Kuwasi Balagoon, a New Afrikan anarchist P.O.W. “I’ve been involved in the struggle, the war against the fascist state since 1970. I’ve been an anarchist since 1975 without any regrets. Prior to my involvement in the struggle, I was just another apolitical lumpen (bandit) here in Amerika.”

“I was… influenced and highly motivated by the Black Liberation Army (B.L.A.) here in Amerika. These sisters and brothers were New Afrikans just like me from the streets of the ghettos who took the initiative militarily, to start assassinating members of the state’s security forces who were murdering black people in our communities. From the inception of all revolutions, I feel that the people need armed combat units to check state sponsored acts of terrorism by the government’s security forces. In addition, I feel that these armed combat units are necessary to show the people that fascist acts of state-sponsored terrorism… will be responded to militarily. In 1975 I became disillusioned with Marxism and became an anarchist (thanks to Kuwasi Balagoon) due to the inactiveness and ineffectiveness of Marxism in our communities along with repressive bureaucracy that comes with Marxism. People aren’t going to commit themselves to a life and death struggle just because of grand ideas someone might have floating around in their heads. I feel people will commit themselves to a struggle if they can see progress being made similar to the progress of anarchist collectives in Spain during the era of the fascist Bahamonde…”

Ojore is presently locked down in an M.C.U. in Trenton. “I’m encased in a cage of steel and concrete surrounded by by high prison walls topped with gun towers and rows of razor wire while being watched by sadistic fascist pigs. Nevertheless, I’m not complaining because I have accepted revolution, which is an armed struggle for me, and I have come to terms with the prospects of death and captivity… The vast majority of the Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners now being interned here in the concentration camps of North Amerika aren’t receiving any assistance (e.g.: being liberated, assistance in liberating ourselves, financial assistance needed to obtain food packages, winter clothing, reading material and postage stamps) from the so-called progressive revolutionary organizations, groups and individuals here in Amerika. With our talents, we have been abandoned here in the state’s numerous concentration camps and our M.C.U.s by those out there in what we call minimum custody…” We don’t need moral support because we have purpose. We don¹t need anyone to tell us to stay strong because we are going to remain stead-fast anyway, because we have come to terms with the prospects of death and captivity.”

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We want first of all to say a collective yes! to the uprising in Greece. We are artists, writers and teachers who are connected in this moment by common friends and commitments. We are globally dispersed and are mostly watching, and hoping, from afar. But some of us are also there, in Athens, and have been on the streets, have felt the rage and the tear gas, and have glimpsed the dancing specter of the other world that is possible. We claim no special right to speak or be heard. Still, we have a few things to say. For this is also a global moment for speaking and sharing, for hoping and thinking together. . .

No one can doubt that the protest and occupation movement that has spread across Greece since the police murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos in Athens on 6 December is a social uprising whose causes reach far deeper than the obscene event that triggered it. The rage is real, and it is justified. The filled streets, strikes and walk-outs, and occupied schools, universities, union halls and television stations have refuted early official attempts to dismiss the social explosion as the work of a small number of “young people” in Exarchia, Athens or elsewhere in Greece.

What remains to be seen is whether the movement now emerging will become an effective political force — and, if it does, whether it will be contained within a liberal-reformist horizon or will aim at a more radical social and political transformation. If the movement takes the liberal-reformist path, then the most to be expected will be the replacement of one corrupt party in power by its corrupt competitor, accompanied by a few token concessions wrapped in the empty rhetoric of democracy. These would almost certainly be the smoke-screen for a reactionary wave of new repressive powers masquerading as security measures. Only radically democratic and emancipatory demands, clearly articulated and resolutely struggled for, could prevent this outcome and open the space for a rupture in a destructive global system of domination and exploitation. As we count ourselves among those who experience this system as the violent negation of human spirit and potential, we could only welcome such a rupture as a reassertion of humanity in the face of a repressive politics of fear.

Observing events in Greece and the official and corporate media discourse developing in response to them, we note the emergence of what begins to looks like a new elite consensus. The “violent unrest” in Greece, we are told with increasing frequency, is the revolt of the “700-Euro generation” — that is, of overeducated young people with too few prospects of a decent position and income. The solution, by this account, is to revitalize Greek society through more structural adjustments to make the economy more dynamic and efficient. Once all people are convinced they will be welcomed and integrated into consumer reality and rewarded with purchasing power commensurate with their educational investment, then the conditions of this “revolt” will have been eliminated. In short: everything will be fine, and everyone happy, once some adjustments have made capitalism in Greece less wasteful of its human resources.

We have seen this strategy before, in response to the uprisings in the suburbs of Paris and around the CPE “reforms” in France several years ago. Indeed, since the 1960s this has been the perennial, preferred strategy of power to all uprisings that show themselves unwilling to disappear immediately. Its functions are crystal clear: to channel the movement in a neutralizing liberal-reformist direction and to provoke divisions by means of lures and promises. Those who don’t take the bait are left isolated and can be safely targeted for repression.

We hope those in the streets and all those who sympathize with and support them in and outside of Greece will see through this strategy and expose and denounce it. We’re sure that there is much more at stake, and much more to be imagined, hoped and struggled for, than will be on offer in this neo-liberal sleeping pill. And we hope that, in the space opened up by the real rage and courage of people who have left passivity and hopelessness behind, this social movement will now organize itself into a durable political force capable of scorning such recuperative enticements.

In light of the above, we declare openly that:

1) We are moved by the courage and humanity of those who have repeatedly filled the streets and are now occupying schools and university campuses in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, and cities across Greece. Our solidarity with them will not be shaken by official attempts to divide the movement into “good” protesters and “bad.” In the face of the police murder of a 15-year old — only the most recent in a long series of such murders by state officers — and in the face of the grinding inhumanity and relentless militarization of everyday life under the capitalist war of all against all, the destruction of private property does not upset us. To be clear: We’re not endorsing violence blindly; in fact we’re heartened to see that actions are becoming more selective, more political, with each day. But we know how divisive fixation on the “violence” of protesters can be in moments such as these. And so we refuse to go along with attempts to isolate certain groups. Those who play along with that script allow themselves to be used in a way that delivers others to direct repression.

2) We call for the immediate liberation and unconditional amnesty for all those arrested for participating in the uprising — more than 400 people at this writing.

3) We reject all attempts to trivialize this uprising by reducing it to the revolt of an overeducated “700-Euro generation.”

4) We categorically reject any attempt to smear this uprising with the label of “terrorism.” The only terror it is appropriate to speak of here is the ongoing state terror inflicted on the autonomists of Exarchia, on immigrants, on the poor and vulnerable, and on all those who refuse to conform and submit to the bleak and violent givens of capitalist normality. We condemn any attempt, now or in the future, to apply draconian “anti-terrorism” laws and measures against those participating in this movement.

Brett Bloom (Urbana)

Dimitris Bacharas (Athens)

Rozalinda Borcila (Chicago)

Peter Conlin (London)

Alexandros Efklidis (Thessaloniki)

Markus Euskirchen (Berlin)

Nathalie Fixon (Paris)

Bonnie Fortune (Urbana)

Kirsten Forkert (London)

John Fulljames (London)

Jack Hirschman (San Francisco)

Antoneta Kotsi (Athens)

Isabella Kounidou (Nicosia)

Henrik Lebuhn (San Francisco)

Ed Marszewski (Chicago)

Jasmin Mersmann (Berlin)

Anna Papaeti (Athens)

Csaba Polony (Oakland)

Katja Praznik (Ljubljana)

Gene Ray (Berlin)

Tamas St. Auby (Budapest)

Gregory Sholette (New York)

G.M. Tamás (Budapest)

Flora Tsilaga (Athens)

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The election is over. Barack Obama will become the next president of The United States. The news of Obama’s victory resulted in spontaneous celebrations across the country. The energy was infectious and everywhere conversations seemed to contain a positive outlook that people in the U.S. have not known for many long years. Words like change and hope are being used, and it seems widely assumed that the election of Obama will herald a new age of social justice, an end to the wars, and significant reduction in the racism the plagues U.S. society. But as the energy and media spectacle dies down, we would like for you to consider the election from a different perspective. It is our belief as Class Struggle Anarchists that elections in a capitalist society in fact can never bring true justice and security to the average working person. We do not believe that such elections can with any degree of permanence prevent wars, or deal effectively with racism, sexism or environmental degradation.

We stand in solidarity with the hopes for profound change of the millions of people who voted for Obama. However, we also recognize that the capitalist system is in a serious crisis which is dragging down all working class and oppressed people and which even the best-intentioned high office-holder is incapable of solving. The aim of this piece is to provide a perspective on the crisis and an outline for solutions.

The presidency of George W. Bush has been by almost any reasonable standard a complete disaster. Lies, wars, a financial crisis and deep recession, and the building up of a police state are just a few of Bush’s dubious legacies. Some of these were already obvious two years ago as the electoral season opened and the liberals and reformists began their campaign against these issues. However, glaringly missing from their attacks was why these problems existed in the first place.

It is our belief that economic inequality, war, racism, sexism and environmental destruction are inherent in any capitalist society. Consider for a moment the vast wealth that our society creates,everything from crops to advanced medicines. However, the access to this wealth is unequally divided, determined by supposedly free markets. It is assumed by the politicians and corporate media that these supposedly free markets are a natural part of life. Markets, however, are set up by people; they can also be modified or undone by people. As anarchists, we believe that the production and distribution of society’s wealth should be decided democratically, by people, and not by a market mechanism which in fact is controlled by a few.

Democracy:

Anarchists are absolutely for democracy. The concept that people should come together and make decisions is the backbone of our ideology. However, we do not view the U.S. system of democracy as being representative of those ideals. The Republicans and Democrats exist as two rival factions battling over our consent to be ruled. Both promote rhetoric of common interest with ordinary people, but we feel this is an illusion. The politicians in this nation exist to provide a stable platform for the rule and exploitation of the majority of working people in America by the minority of capitalists; that is, the owners of the property on which we produce the wealth. We build, guard,clean and work in the offices and plants , we transport the goods, and we sell them, but the capitalists own them them and pocket the profits. The interests of these two groups are not the same. The boss class wants to get as much from the workers as it can. They want to pay us as little as possible and sell us everything they own as dearly as they can. Unchecked these conditions have led to uprisings. Don’t believe it? Look at our own history! The abolition of slavery, 8-hour day, the right to form unions, overtime pay, child labor laws, the end to legal segregation, the right of women to vote and to choose, and the right of gay and transgender people to be themselves was won not at the ballot box, but by people organizing, striking, boycotting and taking to the streets. The liberals in elective office passed the laws in response to the movements and to head off what could become a revolutionary upsurge.

Implications of the Election

Without a doubt this election has been historic. We see two reasons. A Black man has been elected to the highest office in the U.S., a country founded on the mass kidnapping of Africans and the theft of land from the Indigenous people who already lived here. Second, Obama’s campaign was marked by some of the most widespread mass organizing in years.

The US is a nation deeply scarred by racism, and despite what some pundits might believe, it is clear to any working person that racism is nowhere near dead. Racial oppression is a complicated issue, and we do not mean to simplify it. However, a discussion of why racism and white supremacy have been so intractable in US society would have to consider how race has consistently been used as a wedge by the ruling class in its rhetoric and its policy decisions to keep the working class divided along racial lines, and so prevent the class from realizing its full potential as a force capable of self-organizing and overcoming its oppression. The election of a Black man to the presidency of the US represents a real shift in the attitudes of Americans, and we applaud this. However, racism is not just about attitudes. It is integral to the system of exploitation of working people. This systemic racism is what leverages the advantage of the ruling class, and with the increasingly evident magnitude of the economic collapse we are heading into, the ruling class will be aggressively seeking opportunities to defend its advantages. The way forward is for working-class people to organize in their own interests and to champion the aspirations of those who are oppressed by racism. We see social justice movements, neighborhood associations and cop-watch as examples. These sorts of bottom-up movements stand in complete contrast to what will be the top-down efforts of even an Obama administration to address social problems. Such efforts may alleviate some of the symptoms but they will leave the root causes of the problems untouched.

The other significant element of the election was the unprecedented grassroots mobilization that supported Obama’s campaign. Under a banner of change and social justice many thousands of people volunteered,donated money, and did the labor of making the campaign run. We view this trend with great excitement. Imagine what could be gained if that focus on grassroots organizing was taken into the communities we lived in, into direct action on our on behalf instead of appeals to power.

We urge for this energy and creativity to go into movements independent of politicians. We encourage the support of unions, neighborhood democracy, resistance to police brutality, support for political prisoners, models for mass education, and also a movement with teeth. Above all, we must struggle for what we need, not what the system is willing to give us.

In addition, we must all be on the watch for expressions of racist hatred and organized fascist movements in the months and years following the election. The truth is that many white Americans are still openly racist, and there are groups that will exploit this, and real anger of social issues, to create violent movements. The news of a Black church burned in Springfield, MA just hours after the election was not surprising, and we must use all means necessary to stop such movements.

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