Quote reblogged from The American Bear with 48 notes
In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday the country’s interpretation of the Constitution will ‘have to change’ to allow for greater security to stave off future attacks. ‘The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry,’ Mr. Bloomberg said during a press conference in Midtown. ‘But we live in a complex word where you’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.’
Bloomberg Says Interpretation of Constitution Will ‘Have to Change’ After Boston Bombing
Here we go.
Most immediately, this incident will greatly strengthen the military-security apparat in the United States and Russia, helping further demonize Muslims in general for the American apparatchiks and Chechens in particular for the Russians — especially all those opposed to the brutal rule of the Kremlin and its satrap in Chechnya. But every political power structure that feeds on fear — and which ones do not? — will benefit from the crime spree in Boston, whatever its origins.
For over a decade, Americans have been told that terrorism poses a threat that cannot be addressed by the existing legal system; that a new domain of law must be constructed to handle this new threat. What has actually been created is a new domain of pseudo-law where the roles of law making, law enforcement, and judiciary, are rolled into a single political authority. Even if there has been no coup d’etat, nor extended imposition of martial law, this is nonetheless the dawning of an insidious and piecemeal form of fascism. It does not impose itself with an iron fist but grows upon us slowly, so that painlessly freedom can be lost as it is gradually forgotten.
Nothing - nothing - that was done domestically after 9/11 to expand the national security state and chip away at once sacred civil liberties prevented this attack, nor will a further expansion of state power prevent a possible future attack. Terrorism, if that’s what this was, is a tactic, and, unmentionable in our present discourse, our aggressive militarism abroad - invasions, wars of choice, murder, displacement, drone strikes, bombings, civilian casualties and “collateral damage”, death squads, torture, terror tuesdays, kill lists, renditions and indefinite detention as but a few examples, and all done with impunity and focused primarily on Muslim populations - practically guaranteed that tactic would be used again.
As if to prove my point, while I was writing this, the Washington Post reported that U.S. aggression overseas was a motivating factor for the Tsarnaevs:
The 19-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has told interrogators that the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan motivated him and his brother to carry out the attack, according to U.S. officials familiar with the interviews.
… the officials said, the evidence so far suggests they were “self-radicalized” through Internet sites and U.S. actions in the Muslim world. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has specifically cited the U.S. war in Iraq, which “ended” in December 2011 … and the war in Afghanistan … .
What Bloomberg and others are suggesting is that we ignore the root cause of terrorism against the United States, namely our participation in it, and instead go all in with more wiretapping, more gps tracking, more cameras, more email snooping, more patdowns, more social media monitoring, more databases, more drone surveillance, more militarized police forces, more informants, more mosque crawling, more border security, more security lines, more TIPS, more “see something say something”, more fusion centers, more “non lethal” weapons, more entrapment, more people on “no-fly” lists plus a change in how we “interpret”, what? The 4th amendment? It’s already been trampled. What is he suggesting? Home searches with no warrant? Disappearances? How far does he want to go to keep us “safe”?
What I see in that list is a massive expansion of power. An end in itself to a man like Michael Bloomberg who has already created a Muslim-monitoring Stasi is his own city and unleashed the full power of the National Security State not on “terrorists”, but on Occupy. On dissenters, activists, and others challenging his power and the power of his friends. No doubt a further loosening of the rules would stifle even more dissent.
I bring up this quote all the time, but it still applies. This is Senator Russ Feingold (WI) in 2001. He cast the only “no” vote when the Senate passed the PATRIOT Act (96-1):
There is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country that allowed the police to search your home at any time for any reason; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to open your mail, eavesdrop on your phone conversations, or intercept your email communications; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to hold people in jail indefinitely based on what they write or think, or based on mere suspicion that they are up to no good, then the government would no doubt discover and arrest more terrorists. But that probably would not be a country in which we would want to live.
But we do. We have for almost 12 years.
I’d rather we put an end to our post-9/11 temper tantrum than give our dear leaders any more power.
(via theamericanbear)
Photoset reblogged from LIBERATION OR STARVATION with 51,698 notes
Indigenous people of Brazil trying to prevent their eviction from an old indigenous museum which they have been living in for the past 7 years.
On March 22nd all of the inhabitants and their supporters were forcibly removed or arrested.
The building is being destroyed to make a parking lot :(
“Preserve a rich cultural heritage living in our modern world? Nah, bro, we totally need somewhere to put our cars.”
…dicks.
Source: rainwood
Link reblogged from SIGNAL LOST with 10 notes
SIGNAL LOST: anneboyer: “They speak together of the threat they have constituted... →
“They speak together of the threat they have constituted toward authority, they tell how they were burned on pyres to prevent them from assembling in future. They were able to command tempests, to sink fleets, to destroy armies. They have been mistresses of poisons, of the winds,…
Source: anneboyer
Photoset reblogged from Venus Babe Trap with 337,340 notes
Collecting these because no one understands their genius. They make me want to go to school.
my favorite one: That is Mahogany!
This will be my child!!
Source: glitterbites
Photoset reblogged from ERIN K WILSON with 30 notes
So, here’s my two page break-down of the BP oil spill. This is going to be inserted way back in the book (right in the beginning.) I did it because a person read my book so far and said “why are you so upset about the bp oil spill? It wasn’t really that bad”.
And my response… is to add these two pages to my book. Because what the fuck. Wasn’t that bad my fucking ASS.
In the past year, a shrimper in Barataria bay caught 400 pounds of shrimp with no eyes. Not just no eyes- no eye sockets at all. Multiple reports as far as Alabama concerning whole hauls of crabs with soft shells, or hundreds of crabs born without any arms. This shit is not over, and won’t be for a long time.
Photoset reblogged from From theory, action. with 42 notes
pictures from sussex university national demo #Mar25
Source: queertone
Quote reblogged from DYSAETHESIA AETHIOPICA with 198 notes
Look at the murder rate in this city. He’s murdering schools. He’s murdering jobs. He’s murdering housing. I don’t know what else to call him. He’s the murder mayor.
Karen Lewis on Rahm Emanuel after the announcement of 54 school closures from DNAinfo.com.
Ouch. That actually hurts. And talk about #badlooks: he’s on ski vacation in Utah with his kids who go to private school right now.
(via toasterwaffles)
but democrats are better than republicans!!!1!
/sarcasm
(via so-treu)
Source: dnainfo.com
Photo reblogged from Underworld Dreams with 42,338 notes
one of the best things i’ve ever seen on the internet
Source: joala
Photo reblogged from Can Dialectics Break Bricks? with 161,253 notes
A random ball pit is set up in the middle of a city
And this is what happens as people approach it.The video is so precious and cute <3
This is SO sweet!! Please watch the video. <3
oops i cried.
Source: rotfuenf
Photo reblogged from Bradical Mang! with 66,959 notes
thatstraightedgechickfromjersey:
I would put this on my wall.
My jaw literally just dropped. THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN.
!!!!!!!!!! oh my god
Source: ashtrayb
Link reblogged from cornbread con frijoles with 42 notes
FEDS & NYPD Fearing their Politics Violently Raid & Evict Rebel Diaz Artistic Collective →
Upon hearing about the Feds and NYPD coming down and violently evicting Rebel Diaz and the Artist Collective from an abandoned space in the South Bronx, that they painfully transformed into a first class community center is beyond angering. It’s beyond frustrating..These folks did everything we say we want the ‘youth’ in our community to do.. They did everything we say Hip Hop is supposed to represent.. They didn’t wait around for a savior, Rebel Diaz saved themselves.. They brought the community in who also saved themselves.
The RDACBX is a space in which damn near everyone in that South Bronx neighborhood where it’s located can lay claim that they had hand in helping build it.. I recall Rodstarz explaining how folks who were homeless, but had various trade skillz, were inspired to clean themselves up and proudly put in work. Local youth who were being attracted to the lure of the streets, flipped their lives around and partook in the various workshops and programs put on by Rebel Diaz.. many of those youth eventually became part of the collective and put on workshops themselves..
Instead of waiting around to be invited to yet another showcase or music convention that left them dissatisfied, RDACBX put on their own landmark convention South By South Bronx and invited the pioneers of Hip Hop to speak. The RDACBX is where they had former members of the Young Lords, Black Liberation Army and political prisoners speak to standing room only audiences about Black Brown unity… This space was home to countless book readings, movie screenings and epic showcases.
But as you build community in a city and space where they are trying to keep you marginalized, you can bet that outside forces will try their best to shut it down..You can count on those who find politicized Black and Brown youth doing for self to be something not celebrated but crushed..Now that the South Bronx has been lovingly transformed, developers, the city and others wanna come on in evict, co-opt shut down and take over.. This is a pattern we see happening from Coast to Coast From the Art Murmur in Oakland to whats going in the South Bronx. It’s the same predictable playbook..
However this time is different..a building is not the movement.. A building is not community.. It never was.. It’s the people and the love and respect they have for one another that makes this space so special.. Rebel Diaz will not go out or be shut down.. you best believe that.. We should all be aware of whats going on, support them in the best ways we can.. and continue to build and re-strengthen our respective local communities.
-Davey-D
RDACBX Shut Down by Federal Marshals and NYPD. Rally Today 3/1 at 6pm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
South Bronx community center Rebel Diaz Arts Collective (RDACBX) shut down by Federal marshals and NYPD. Rally to be held denouncing lockout and forced eviction.
March 1, 2013- After a violent daytime raid yesterday, Thursday, February 28, 2013, on the warehouse turned arts space at 478 Austin Place in the Bronx, members of Hip-Hop community center RDACBX are denouncing their forced eviction at a rally to be held at 6pm today in front of their locked out building.
The building landowner, local commercial developer Marc Pogostin of Austin Property Corp., had for months stalled negotiations on a new agreement with the RDACBX after the group’s original lease expired this past November. Despite diverse support for RDACBX from local politicians, churches, and community organizations in the area, Austin Property Corp. eventually refused to renew the lease, citing concerns about the group’s political murals, and prompting the surprise eviction yesterday.
“The violent actions taken yesterday are an attack on young people, artists, and Hip Hop culture,” says RDACBX co-founder RodStarz. “In a time where budget cuts, stop and frisk, and gentrification are affecting our communities, it’s a shame we are being treated like criminals. There is no justification for this eviction.”
Karen Louviere, 19, a past participant in RDACBX youth programs, expressed her disappointment at the violent shutdown of the space. “They came in with armed officers into what is supposed to be a safe space for the community. A space that has served as an alternative for young people in the area, helping develop their talents in a positive way.”
The internationally renowned RDACBX, host to weekly cultural performances and educational workshops, had recently announced plans for the creation of the Richie Perez Radical Library, as well as the continuation of their widely recognized Boogie Mics open mic series, and the SxSBX Hip-Hop Festival.
“Despite the violent removal of RDACBX from its space, RDACBX will continue to work on its development, as it strives to be a resource for the community. There is a need for this organization to exist in The South Bronx,” says Claudia De La Cruz, a member of the collective.
What: Press Conference/ Rally to Defend RDACBX
When: Friday, March 1st, 2013 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: 478 Austin Place, Bronx NY 10455Contacts:
Gonzalo “G1” Venegas
(646) 431 – 7037
Rodrigo “RodStarz” Venegas
(646) 250 – 4405
Source: aunty-fascist
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