By David Graeber - February 9, 2012

...[T]he first reaction I normally get from pacifists is along the lines of “...Of course I’m not in favor of attacking anyone!...I am merely calling for non-violently confronting such elements and excluding them from the group!” The problem is that in practice this is almost never what actually happens...[W]hat it has actually meant in practice is either a) turning fellow activists over to the police...or b) actual physical activist-on-activist assault...There have been physical assaults by activists on other activists...by purported pacifists against...anarchists who adopt tactics someone else thinks are going too far.

By KEVIN CARSON - Counterpunch Weekend Edition

In the official narrative, the question always concerns whether anyone and everyone but the state should engage in violence...That’s a shame. The state is not a mystical entity, a sum greater than the human beings making it up. The state is simply a group of human beings cooperating for common purposes...And violent actions by an association of individuals who call themselves “the state” have no more automatic legitimacy than violent actions by associations of individuals who call themselves “the Ku Klux Klan” or “al Qaeda.”

By PETER GELDERLOOS - February 09, 2012

The medical language of Hedges’ title, referring to the anarchists as a “cancer,” should immediately ring alarm bells. Portraying one’s opponents as a disease has long been a tactic of the state and the media to justify the repression. This language was used against the Native Americans, against the Jews, against communists, and many others. Recently the police and the right wing used this same language of hygiene to talk about the occupations around the country as health threats so as to justify their eviction and generate disgust and repulsion.

By RANDALL AMSTER - Counterpunch

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone on the American Left who has not either benefited from or been influenced by the writings of Chris Hedges. His is a singular and potent voice of progressive journalism, combining the best virtues of diligent reporting and unabashed advocacy for a better world...All of which makes his latest piece so disturbing...Hedges calls out the anarchist-influenced Black Bloc as “the cancer of the Occupy movement,” and in the process vilifies with a broad brush an entire class of activists and anarchists...accusing them of “hijacking” and/or seeking to destroy Occupy and other progressive movements.

January 6, 2012 - Toronto Media Co-op

On December 20th 2011, a member of the G20 Investigative Team came to his home at Sagatay Men's Residence to serve [Ryan Rainville] with an appeal of his sentence. The implication of this action is that his sentence is too light. It is clear that Ryan’s pride in his convictions and anarchist values have led them to target him in an attempt to send a clear message to other anarchists, that our politics and bodies will be criminalized if we do not fall in line.

January 2, 2012 - Vancouver Media Co-op

In the early hours of dusk on New Years Eve, anarchists marched on the Burnaby Youth Detention Centre to show those on the inside are not forgotten by those on the outside...As the screws looked on smirking, our chant followed: "SCREWS, PIGS, MURDERERS!"

By Joshua Holland - December 30, 2011

A protester associated with Occupy London was barred from boarding his flight home to Malaga [Spain] for Christmas because he was carrying "anarchist" literature...The demonstrator was kept off the flight because the pilot worried that he would distribute literature and "upset" other passengers.

By Charles Sullivan - Dissident Voice

On November 11, 1887 four great men, all of them anarchists, were hanged from a gallows erected inside Chicago’s Cook County Jail...The Haymarket martyrs...were accused of inciting violence against the Chicago police force that, acting at the behest of prominent businessmen, frequently beat and murdered unarmed strikers with impunity. No police officer was ever tried, much less convicted, for their crimes against workers attempting to democratize the workplace. This theme should sound a familiar refrain to modern protesters.

By KEVIN CARSON - Counterpunch Weekend Edition

...[I]t’s [Occupy Wall Street's] lack of specific demands that gives them strength. Despite op-ed jabbering to the contrary, it’s hard to miss what their main focus is: Hatred for Wall Street, for the concentration of wealth, for crony capitalism, and for the unholy alliance between Big Business and the state...That common set of values is the basic operating platform of the movement. Beyond that, the specific agendas built on that platform are beyond counting.

In our new video-interview, author Victoria Law builds upon her earlier prison abolitionist critique by discussing practical alternatives for effectively confronting gender violence without using the prison system. She cites many success stories where women, not wanting to work with the police, instead collectively organized in an autonomous fashion.

Thursday, September 1, 2011 - Linchpin/Common Cause

Common Cause wishes to extend our solidarity to the six defendants of the so-called “G20 Main Conspiracy Group” who made the difficult decision to plead guilty to trumped up counseling charges in an effort to see the charges of eleven of their co-defendants dropped...The six comrades now facing imminent incarceration were targeted because of the threat they represent to the capitalist class, their liberal democratic puppets and the bloated state security apparatus that does their bidding.

Saturday, November 12, 2011 - Infoshop News

After the events of November 2nd and 3rd we have seen the government, the corporate media, and even some of our comrades within the Occupy Oakland camp make "anarchists" the scapegoats for actions they disagree with, and we've heard that “anarchists” take advantage of the Occupy movement without “being a part of it.” However, many essential aspects of the Occupy movement are based on anarchist principles and build upon years of anarchist organizing.

November 5, 2011 - Americans Against the Political System

Truth be told, the whole day went by pretty peacefully until the cops arrived. The main event at the port of Oakland was peaceful all through the day...Things took a turn for the worst only when the cops showed up in riot gear to antagonize, and the response to this was a very mixed bag with activists turning on activists and fighting with each other instead of against our common foe…and this is what concerns me the most, not that a few windows got broken, but that solidarity and cooperation is breaking down as we fight among ourselves.

Friday, November 04 2011 - Infoshop News

After the successful national day of action and general strike in Oakland...we see the topic of violence and non-violence growing within our movement and within the voices of corporate media networks. Obviously this is a result of certain actions that individuals and groups within the movement decided to partake in. Unfortunately we are hearing a great deal of slander, and nonsense at the forefront of this discussion...I feel it's necessary to confront this.

Wednesday, September 21 2011 - Infoshop News

The Communist Party of Cuba's VI Congress has just closed with an endorsement of the liberal reforms (“to each according to his labors”) promised in the realm of the economy: but along with these come cuts in social services and an increased presence for the military and for technocrats in the machinery of government, with a reduction in the presence of intellectuals and workers.