Anarchy in black and white
By Rob Los Ricos

There is no homogeneous group or community of black radicals or anarchists. I’ll not belabor this point – I’m sure most leftist pundits are aware of the diversity which exists within American society. Inevitably, some black radical groups work on issues that many anarchists are opposed to. For instance, most anarchists are just as opposed to black capitalism as they are to white capitalism. Most anarcho-activists recognize the danger of entering different communities and evangelizing there. This is elitist and can also be interpreted as being racist, since so many anarchists are white.


But there were plenty of black and brown faces in the labor marches during the WTO protests in Seattle. So why were there so few black people involved in the street battles? I think the main reason is that if there had been a large, vocal visible presence of black radicals occupying streets and fighting against the police, the SPD would have fired real bullets instead of the rubber, plastic, and wooden ones they used. As the white cop I’m in prison for assaulting is fond of pointing out, during the Rodney King riots in L.A. he “finally got a chance to shoot some of those motherfuckers.” In addition, black arrested for the same crimes as whites during the Seattle riots would likely be facing serious jail time, whereas most of the charges against the white folk are being dismissed.


Yet even with the threat of this heightened level of repression hanging over them, accounts of the WTO protests indicate that there were many black and other and other non-whites involved in the fighting from the day and on through the week. I find it quite indicative of the racist, elitist attitudes which need to be challenged and overcome by lefty activoids that white middle-class “pacifist” demonstrators beat back black and latino youth who attempted to loot Niketown, and even grabbed one or two of them to hold until police arrived to arrest them. Luckily, the liberal assholes got what they deserved and the kids escaped.


From an anarchist perspective, the “leftists movement suffers from tunnel vision. The main focus of the current white leftist movement seems to be inclusion, but the latest advancement in anarchist critique describes civilization as a global death camp. Would equal opportunities in hiring and promotion within a death camp make its continued existence acceptable? To some people it would.


The sad thing about most American “leftist” groups is that they do not even attempt to address this argument. The result of inclusion into the mainstream of industrial civilization puts black radicals in the heinous position of being responsible for the obliteration of the few remaining village community societies left on the planet – mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Not only should these societies be preserved at all cost, they should be recognized as being the ultimate achievement of human existence.
Despite the differences inherent in reaching out to and struggling alongside of people who have very different perspectives concerning their priorities in life, anarchists are coming rejecting the privileges their middle-class backgrounds offer in order to pursue a much simpler way of life. This has put anarchists into places they’ve been missing from for too long – seasonal farm-labor camps, urban drug-war zones, impoverished rural communities, and jails, right alongside their new-found neighbors.


With resources and do-it-yourself skills to share with the other downsized folks, anarchists are developing alliances with prisoner support groups, police monitoring organizations, people awakening to the concept of environmental racism, and are taking advantage of excess food production to feed hungry people. Slowly the barriers are being overcome and strong ties are being made to communities who have previously seen anarchists as just “white kids slumming.”


One thing the leftist” and anarchists do have in common is their need to get away from campuses and put their ideas into action. We could also do well by avoiding making sweeping generalizations about people, whatever community they identify with. For instance, I am an anarchist, but I am not white. I’m Mexican – not Spanish, Mexican.


Other writings and zines by Rob Los Ricos available at:

Spartacus Books
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/spartacu/

Spartacus Books
311 W. Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC
Coast Salish Territory
Canada, V6B 1H8

Phone: 604.688.6138
Email: s p a r t a c u @ v c n . b c . c a


http://www.defenestrator.org/roblosricos/ad2027.html

http://www.ricanstruction.net/lockdown.html

http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/16094.php

http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/16006.php

http://www.sleepybrain.net/vanilla.html

There are many black anarchists. You also fail to point out that there are many latino and asian anarchists too. There is nothing racist about anarchism. It's sad to see that a Trotskyist group is having such a hard time recruiting that they need to smear anarchists to bloster attention.

Peace,

I believe what the bruh was gettin at was what your attack was fueled by -- that anarchy has become a white middle-class trendy counter culture which
excludes and even refuses to overstand any other struggle outside of the immediate concerns of white middle-class rebelious youth. Unless you are
willing to overstand this then the movement will be in for a some big bouyah surprizes. ...or as Nelson Mandela once commented when when asked if
South Africa would hook up with Russia or the US, "we shall remember our friends" If you're down since day one then no problemo amigo.

Youhave not and do not know what it is like to live with a gun at your head. There is one at my and my people's head right now and our lives are going
fast. This ain't just about spray paintng a macdonalds. This is about lives -- but we always have to end up wasting time and energy, debating the issues
with the brused egos of the white middle-classes who decided to take a trip on the radical side for likkle while -- meanwhile we die, become homeless, are
harasssed, imprisoned and driven mad. I'm afraid your arguement,as jumbled as it is, is an example of the insensitivity qof those trendy kids hollerin
anarchy and clutchin texte books, meanwhile displacing the very peoples they claim to be hollerin for.


"I'd rather die a poor man in my grave/than living like a puppet or a slave"
Jimmy Cliff "The Harder they Come"

"We want freedom by any means necessary.
We want justice by any means necessary.
We want equality by any means necessary."
al Hajj Malik Shabaaz


If we now adjust the opressed and make it a class issue and not just a race issue of todays peoples then we have same situation and solution which Malik
stated.

Malcolm X and his "by any means necessary" quote: They called me 'a teacher, a fomentor of violence.' I would say point blank, 'That is a lie. I'm not
for wanton violence, I'm for justice. I feel that if white people were attacked by Negroes-if the forces of law prove unable, or inadequate, or reluctant to
protect those whites from those Negroes-then those white people should protect and defend themselves from those Negroes, using arms if necessary.
And I feel that when the law fails to protect Negroes from whites' attack then those Negroes should use arms, if necessary, to defend themselves.'...'I am
speaking against and my fight is against white racists. I firmly believe that Negroes have the right to fight against these racists, by any means that are
necessary.' from The Autobiography of Malcolm X, pgs. 373-374


" If you don't think it could happen think again my son
Be prepared for the worst that's yet to come
We want freedom, prophecies and ancient wisdom
Cataclsym, niggas be like fuck the system"
Dead Prez

http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/16520.php


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/

http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/16746.php

http://www.irn.pdx.edu/~strukn/Watts/riot.htm

http://drum.ncat.edu/~sister/davis.html

http://www.indiana.edu/~rterrill/Text-BorB.html

Riot act, this is where we really prepare
Riot act, out here we show no fear
RIOT ACT, time to protect our communities
Riot act, real criminals get immunity
RIOT ACT, eye for an eye - so yo who want it?
RIOT ACT, rushin all you cowards who fronted
Riot act, let's bring the power to the people
RIOT ACT, no justice then we gotta come see you
Gang Starr



http://www.victoria.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/16798.php

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Wake up!!! This is not a test