Gentrification as Counterinsurgency and Community Rebellion in Los Angeles

The recent uprisings in June (2025) in Los Angeles against the ICE raids have proven to me that on the one hand, gentrification is a form of counterinsurgency, and the neighborhoods that have been more successful in resisting ICE have been the working class indigenous/latino and all other migrant communities not yet pacified by gentrification.

Counterinsurgency is the comprehensive political, economic, and social actions taken by the state to defeat and co-opt a rebellious people. Its objective is not merely to kill insurgents, but to dismantle the community support, culture, and political solidarity that make resistance possible. Gentrification operates with the same methodology and strategy. The "insurgency" in this context is the persistent non-conformity of communities of color and the poor:  their ways of life, their informal economies, their political dissent, and their very existence where they live. Gentrification is the state-sanctioned and capitalism-driven campaign to neutralize this insurgency and physically occupy a neighborhood.

Gentrification has brought in heightened policing and surveillance to Los Angeles. The introduction of "crime prevention through environmental design" (CPTED): better lighting, the removal of benches, the creation of easily monitored streets.  This makes spaces less hospitable to existing residents and more welcoming to new wealthier white ones. An increased police presence criminalizes everyday life, breaking up informal networks and instilling a climate of fear. The community is no longer a sanctuary; it becomes, even more than before, an occupied territory.

Gentrification creates political and economic displacement, and the ultimate goal, of both counterinsurgency and gentrification, is to replace a hostile population with a friendly one. Gentrification does this directly through skyrocketing housing costs, property taxes, and evictions. The physical removal of the existing population is the most definitive way to dismantle their power base.

From the 2020 uprisings following the murder of George Floyd to the Anti-Ice battles of 2025 (and the history of rebellion in Los Angeles from 1965 in Watts and beyond), the police repression and rebellion has always been concentrated in historically oppressed communities. The most intense and successful confrontations against ICE were in Paramount, Compton, South Central, and Bell which are communities made up working class people of color and migrants.  Downtown LA, also a historically poor area, and where many people convened in the early days against ICE, was confrontational and waged inspiring fights but police and state repression (along with neoliberal cooptation) drowned out the direct action. They are the "unpacified" zones where community ties, though frayed, remain strong enough to facilitate direct action and sabotage.  

The ICE raids are part of the overall strategy of not only terror, but counterinsurgency against communities who's very existence poses a threat to white supremacy and imperialism as a whole.  Once a whole community of people is removed, the neocolonial gentrification can replace the less desired people through a new form of settler-colonialism.  The community networks will be fractured, the rebellious population displaced with new residents who lack historical ties and lived experience of police violence that fuels that rebellion.  Even if those new residents have good intentions, and mean well, they are part of the overall pacification process.  Even gentrifiers who are left leaning - any movement that grows from them is one that leads back to protecting the status quo (i.e. DSA and electoral politics), is built on top of the displaced, and with the support of the state usually.  They may even sometimes coopt and recuperate tactics and language of the communities they displace, while removing the revolutionary aims to just stop way short of challenging the system and the institutions of power (who some may even have ties to themselves).  The tactics that are mainly promoted are ones that are passive, and where they don't have to put themselves in harm's way.

True community rebellion against gentrification and against ICE are two fronts in the same war: the defense of community autonomy against a counterinsurgency that uses detainment, deportation, the eviction notice and occupation as its weapons.  The people from oppressed communities must be empowered and supported to continue to use tactics and militancy that will be successful in stopping ICE in their tracks.  

There has been a lot of inspiring resistance, and creativity in every city being invaded by ICE.  Communities have mobilized, organized, and taken direct action to sabotage ICE raids.  While reorganization is needed, as anarchists we must think that the most effective and revolutionary organization comes from within the oppressed themselves not from the outside.  Having an organization for the sake of an organization doesn't do any good, if doesn't come from the oppressed and from the community itself.  Spontaneous rebellion and self-organization should be supported by those organizations, not hindered by or for their own opportunist aspirations.  This leads to cooptation and eventual pacification of the people because these movements tend to limit the tactics in how people fight because they have a reformist strategy or by their own proximity to institutional power.  These liberal movements alienate oppressed working class and colonized people.  The oppressed communities will erupt precisely where the counterinsurgency has failed to fully pacify the population, where the community's will to resist has not yet been priced out or policed out of existence. These uprisings are the unmistakable sound of an insurgency refusing to be silenced.

Anarchism Documentary Interviews

In the year 2010 a then young couple from South Africa set out to film a new feature length documentary on anarchism. They wanted to show anarchism's history and all its forms around the world.

Unfortunately, that was too huge a task but they managed to interview 106 anarchists on 4 continents: Africa, South America, North America, and Europe. Some of whom have since, unfortunately, passed away and others have passed on in their beliefs. But many are still very active.

In the aftermath of filming for 4 months, they realised that they didn't have the skills and even less the money to employ someone to cut the hundreds of hours of footage for them into something they could be proud of.

Years passed and life happened. They live on different continents and follow different goals.

This is their attempt to show the anarchist community some of the material that they have gathered, the amazing people that they met and the interesting things these people have told them.

Here is an interview a comrade and I did for this documentary:

You can find the rest of the interviews on here:

https://kolektiva.media/c/anarchism_documentary_channel/videos

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1pAyKjcv77U8Lz7czugjIYsiOTaEXAgn

https://kolektiva.media/w/p/p1wEN1MKxk57d6BmPnCKov?playlistPosition=1

Resistance and Sacrifice

 

Rest in power Aaron, salute your sacrifice. I also salute the resistance and sacrifice of the Palestinian people who choose to fight. In the words of Huey P. Newton, "we have such a strong desire to live with hope and human dignity that existence without them is impossible. when reactionary forces crush us, we must move against these forces, even at the risk of death,"  and if we must go, lets make sure we take some of our enemies with us. Solidarity. 

Against Eco-Fascism and White Supremacy

 Ted Kaczynski was and Eco Fascist and his Manifesto was Racist

The internet has given rise to many weird political trends recently: from tankie politics, to weird political cults. You can see the rise of cult of personalities in Q-Anon to people ironically or unironically praising Ted Kaczynski (TK). After reading his manifesto, I wanted to point out mainly the racism in his writings, but you can also see the political short-comings of his ideas, which are innately eco-fascist.

It is very similar to a rant from an incel, blaming cancel-culture and political correctness, all the while wanting to maintain his power as a white man in society. When I see someone who's white, especially, complain about identity politics or political correctness it's usually because they want to be able to say and do oppressive things without being challenged, and TK was no different:

“The leftist wants equal opportunities for minorities. When that is attained he insists on statistical equality of achievement by minorities. And as long as anyone harbors in some corner of his mind a negative attitude toward some minority, the leftist has to re-educated him. And ethnic minorities are not enough; no one can be allowed to have a negative attitude toward homosexuals, disabled people, fat people, old people, ugly people, and on and on and on.”

“The terms 'Negro,' 'oriental,' 'handicapped' or 'chick' for an African, an Asian, a disabled person or a woman originally had no derogatory connotation. 'Broad' and 'chick' were merely the feminine equivalents of 'guy,' 'dude' or 'fellow.' The negative connotations have been attached to these terms by the activists themselves. Those who are most sensitive about 'politically incorrect' terminology are not the average black ghetto-dweller, Asian immigrant, abused woman or disabled person, but a minority of activists, many of whom do not even belong to any 'oppressed' group but come from privileged strata of society.”

His manifesto goes deeper into his believes on genetic superiority, white supremacy:

“Leftists are antagonistic to genetic explanations of human abilities or behavior because such explanations tend to make some persons appear superior or inferior to others.”

“These are docile types who would have been happy as plantation darkies in the Old South. (We don’t mean to sneer at the 'plantation darkies' of the Old South. To their credit, most of the slaves were NOT content with their servitude. We do sneer at people who ARE content with servitude.”

His manifesto is also a misogynistic and trasphobic rant:

“We aren’t the first to mention that the world today seems to be going crazy. This sort of thing is not normal for human societies...It is true that not all was sweetness and light in primitive societies...transexuality was fairly common among some of the American Indian tribes.”

“Thus an advanced industrial society can tolerate only those small-scale communities that are emasculated, tamed and made into tools of the system.”

On top of the white supremacist, and fascistic views, what TK gets wrong is no different than other primitivists and rugged-individualists. Their politics, to me, are by nature white-supremacist, and if not, just white. They tend to get it wrong in many ways. From not being able to have an anti-colinial, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist analysis, it tends to be white people romanticizing certain things about their own histories. TK hasn't been the only primitivist holding views that are questionable and problematic, from John Zerzan writing about “Rank-and-File Radicalism within the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s” (https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/john-zerzan-rank-and-file-radicalism-within-the-ku-klux-klan-of-the-1920s), to Deep Green Resistance transphobic and terfy politics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Green_Resistance#Anti-trans_views), TK follows suit :

“The kind of revolution we have in mind will not necessarily involve an armed uprising against any government. It may or may not involve physical violence, but it will not be a POLITICAL revolution. Its focus will be on technology and economics, not politics.”

“Revolutionaries might consider favoring measures that tend to bind the world economy into a unified whole. Free trade agreements like NAFTA and GATT are probably harmful to the environment in the short run, but in the long run they may perhaps be advantageous because they foster economic interdependence between nations.”

So it's strange to see leftists and anarchists champion someone like TK. I think part of the appeal was that he took action, and in a world where we are facing the reality of a climate apocalypse brought on by capitalism, folks are looking for heroes. The reality that we have to face is, that the only way we can win, and where we have a chance for any future, or at least have a resistance movement worth anything, is one where we organize alongside indigenous people in the front lines defending their territories/taking back their lands (not just the celebrity activists/influencers, but the grassroots). There is no way around the fact that we have to organize our communities. Allies have to organize in their own, where the fascists are recruiting, instead of just moving to city where you can start a project with other like minded people. Anyway, there are better heroes and examples to look to for inspiration.

Critical Analysis of the Left (audiobook)

I recently found out that an older essay I wrote was made into an audiobook :) 

Revolutionary Audiobooks · Critical Analysis of the Left | Joaquin Cienfuegos | Audiobook

Autonomy vs. Neo-liberal identiy politics

"Isn’t it interesting how progressive whites seem to have a direct line of communication with black leaders, while everyone else in the street fails to suffer from the same delusion..."

-We Outside Collective

It's always some white guy talking about how identity politics "divides the class." These divisions are not being created subjectively. These divisions exist and have existed in this settler-colonial state. This is how capitalism developed here: it was through colonization, genocide, sexual violence, and racialized slavery. 

Neoliberals appropriate strategies and tactics used by the oppressed to liberate itself.  The 1960's and '70s saw a revolutionary situation where colonized and oppressed people were organizing autonomously while building coalitions and alliances with others.  This was a strength and build real unity, not a liberal notion that you build unity for the sake of unity (all while white people position themselves to lead and take over the Organizational leadership over and over again - leading us down a reformist path). White supremacy is the corner stone here, so much that even the white left benefit from this.  Giving up on that power for them is a leap so many of them still aren't willing to take. They rather have a better form of capitalism that still benefits them at the end (i.e. democratic socialism and reforms).

Fast forward to neoliberalism AND neocolonialism today.  They prop up fake leaders who might look like oppressed and colonized people, but their intentions are to steer rebellion and revolt towards a white supremacist reformism.  They've used these tactics in the so called third world for decades as well.  They buy-off the movement leadership,  prop off puppet leaders who look and act like colonized people, and kill off the ones they can't jail or buy-off. 

Malcolm X once said you have to follow the money/funding of a movement and so-called leader to see who's really pulling the strings. If most of these BIPOC's support is from white liberals, then that should definitely raise questions and suspicions of the intentions and validity of a movement.  We should analyze critically their goals and how they want to get there.

Democrats in particular pride themselves in putting forward politicians who might look like us and might even use grass roots language and rhetoric from time to time.  We all have seen them, especially, lead generation after generation of young people back into bourgeois democracy and electoral politics.  All while the empire continues to grow, the planet continues to be destroyed, and our communities continue to be occupied by police, and gentrified.  We continue to be pushed into prisons and into tent cities and shanties.

The point I want to make is that there is a difference between Neo-liberal identity politics or neo-colonialism (where reformists and the white left in general tell us who to follow), and building autonomy and solidarity.  We want to have self-determination as oppressed and colonized people to build our own infrastructure, process, strategy and tactics, that comes from within.  We can choose with which sections of other colonized communities we agree with (each community has their own internal struggle against their own sell-outs), so we can finally free ourselves, humanity, the planet, and return the land to its rightful care-takers everywhere once and for all.  

Abolish the united states

 Policing and white supremacy is part of the fabric of this settler-colonialist country, that Abolishing the police and white supremacy will have to mean we also Abolish the united states. https://t.co/hHxKi3V8KO

A Point on Gentrification

 Gentrification plays out in so many different ways.

It doesn't matter if you are an anarchist, communist, or well intentioned.

Sometimes by moving to a city and working class neighborhood with history of white flight, you can perpetuate Gentrification and settler-colonialism in a way.

Your collective and whatever project you think benefits the community,  at the end of the day makes that neighborhood more desirable to developers and gentrifiers.

Individual action is not enough to stop it, as well as performative clout chasing movements.

Creative direct action will always be a good start.

For those who open up or start a "project" in a community that is an obvious target of Gentrification, ask yourself, who is this for, and if the people who historically lived there don't make up the people in the collective or who come to the space, then you're probably a gentrifier.

Land Back!

 The goal is to return all lands to indigenous people. 

As a guest I want to assist in destroying colonialism, and to change our relationships to earth and all living things.

Cities as they exist today represent imperialist-capitalism to its fullest, and eventually there would be no divide between rural and city, because there would be no need.

A strategy of creating bases to operate from and live that is land based is what I want to spend more time developing with comrades (you can call it "building community" but to fight from), as well as connecting to the movement all over that includes the urban. 

Eventually all lands should be returned to original caretakers of those places. In the mean time fight alongside those communities fighting to free themselves and to decolonize. I hate paying rent on stolen land to settlers though.

Free Palestine

 

Almost 20 years ago now,

I was 19 and in the West Bank, during the second intifada.

I saw the courage and fearlessness in the Palestinian people as a whole but in the youth especially.  A 6 year old was able to articulate their oppression, their situation and that he was fighting for freedom for himself and his people.

I was always amazed at the humility as well, because they knew I was there to support them, they would try to feed me and befriend me (which is all they could give).

I saw war being waged on them by settler-colonial israeli state first hand. Explosions,  gun fire, hundreds of tanks destroying ancient villages, curfews, check points and terror all to try to crush them and commit genocide against a people.

The Palestinian people never backed down.

That has always stayed with me, I was arrested and deported from the occupied land eventually. The Palestinian people will always have my solidarity and I will live my life to help bring down the empire that is one the main reasons their land continues to be occupied.

✊🏽

In Support of Uprisings -- On to Revolution. The Role of Organization in Rebellion

Hey I wrote this before I got caught up for a few days and wanted to share it with yall

Let me know what yall think

 In Support of Uprisings -- On to Revolution. The Role of Organization in Rebellion


The Minneapolis Uprising and rebellion for George Floyd has inspired other cities to rise up in solidarity for the countless police killings that have happened throughout the U.S. Empire.  Let’s get this clear—what we are witnessing is history and moments like these is rare.  Black youth are at the forefront along with other people of color, supporters, and allies.  We should celebrate this moment and these uprisings especially in the time we are living in where capitalism and fascism has put the market above all human life, and police and military are encouraged to continue to murder us by those in power.

Uprisings are spontaneous reactions by the people to the injustices they experience and witness.  We've reached a point where we are angry and the only way to express our anger is to be in the streets and show our indignation towards the police and the system.  It's an explosion in a historic timeline.  I've seen uprisings before, but this is something I've never seen before and it's a good thing.

Activists who are used to marches and protests usually organized by professional leftists and non-profits might not know how to plug in or how to support these rebellions.  One thing is clear, it's not your role to police how people choose to "protest."  I've seen too many times where instead of joining in and helping the youth in rebellion, activists just get in the way or actually help throw salt and water over the fire of the people in the street.

As someone who's goal is liberation, I want to see this energy sustained.  Usually, you have police repression and then you have professionals and sell-outs come and try to calm the people in press conferences calling for "peace."  Next, the promise of some reformist concessions and then eventually it's back to business as usual.  The police will continue to kill us.

The question for revolutionary anarchists at the moment is what is our role and how can we support and help sustain this resistance?  In my opinion, the only way to move to the next stage of rebellion is revolutionary organization.  I'm not an authoritarian leftist, so I feel this comes from within the struggle—within the communities in resistance—not from outside like from communist vanguard parties.  Us with some experience as organizers, can help—not in a paternalistic way—but share from experience so we don't repeat mistakes or tactics/strategies that have been tried and have failed or have been compromised.  We need revolutionary organization that helps build momentum and can respond to attacks, misinformation by the media, and to all opportunists that seek to destroy the organic nature of rebellion by coopting or policing the resistance.  Revolutionary organization can help escalate rebellion and connect locally and with other regions where we can learn from each other and share resources.

After talking to folks and comrades from different places, many asked what can we do either as individuals or collectives.  While I'm not claiming to know all the answers, these are just ideas that come from my own experience.  Hopefully others can add to these ideas and we can create some discussion around these.

The things to do now as individuals or collective groups of anarchists and organizers to support the rebellions:

First, if you're able to get together a group of friends you know and trust, do so and begin discussing forming a collective/affinity group or organization.

The basics of organizing and action (can be applied to any escalation in actions):

1. Make plans

2. Carry them out to the best of your ability

3. Debrief (in my opinion this is the most important part—this is where collective knowledge and experience happens—we fight during the day and study at night, we learn from our mistakes and see how we can grow, what went wrong, what went right. You better believe the police and law enforcement agencies debrief on our tactics and discuss how to better contain and counter our actions)

4. Make New Plans


Not everyone needs to be in the streets, especially if you're at risk or you have other responsibilities, but you can help by other means such as:
-Raise funds for bail and other legal fees for people out in the streets
-Research
-Offer support to the youth in the frontlines (solidarity means to fight alongside them while not trying to police the way people choose to fight against injustice)

-Show some more advanced tactics in action, security, and self-defense (either through examples or have print outs of literature on advanced protest tactics, self-defense, and security)

-Use and show tactics that have been effective around the world in mass uprisings against police

-Share resources with them (these can be gear, funds, masks, gloves, anything you can and have)

-Spread information with them and revolutionary literature (on organizing, history, analysis, tactics)  Obviously should be right time and if you have some time to engage people, do so.

- Recruit people into the movement (not necessarily an organization) -  this is a process for most, and it doesn't happen overnight, but we can start by planting ideas and seeds into the people into the rebellion we encounter

-Study collectively (this is where we democratize our knowledge and understanding).  Study history, theory, and tactics and strategy together.  There are many resources out there online, too many to link on here, but we can begin creating a list to check out

-Build our Self Defense Tactics (to defend ourselves and our communities from the police and all white supremacists and fascists

Just some ideas.  Long live the Rebellions for George Floyd and all other lives stolen from us by this system.

Call to Support Land and Self-Determination Projects in the Pacific Northwest

One thing this pandemic has made clear is that all we have is each other and the State will never come save us. We have seen a lot of great grassroots and autonomous mutual aid projects throughout different communities. Some of us feel there is a need to become self-determined as communities by connecting to the land, growing our food, and being self-sustainable. We want to stop relying on capitalism as much as possible and start creating infrastructure for a radically different world.

The basis for all life is land, water, and the air we breathe; which is still being destroyed by this system, and there is a bigger crisis we are yet to fight and prepare for.

We are putting out a call to folks in the so-called Pacific Northwest to build land projects and support people who are working to do that now:

At the moment we are collecting seed donations, tools, or any other resource you can donate.


We understand this is all stolen indigenous land, and we want to work alongside indigenous people who are fighting to take back the land from this colonial capitalist imperialist system.

To donate you can contact

infospace_eugene@yahoo.com (Eugene)

Joaquincienfuegos@gmail.com (western and Central Washington) 

Mutual Aid to Self-Determination

Mutual Aid to Self-Determination

-Joaquin Cienfuegos



In a crisis is when the ruling class shows its true nature. The one thing capitalists care to safeguard in these times is its system and market above all else. While people die from a pandemic we have not seen in our lifetimes, and people get laid off and are unsure of how they will survive and feed their families -- the state shuts down most means for poor people to survive trying to control the virus. All this comes at no surprise, but these class contradictions become magnified during times of crisis. With all that is happening it is clear what is to blame for the ills plaguing humanity and our planet has always been capitalism.

There is no safety net for those at the bottom. Only the rich can afford to take weeks to months off from work, have jobs that give them a salary to work from home, or have savings to fall back on. Majority of people don't have basic health care to even get tested for COVID-19. Yet the state expects us to fall in line with whatever mediocre plan they have to control disease. They expect us to stay home if we do not serve in jobs that are needed to keep their system running, or are healthcare workers. We are expected to pay rent on stolen land, as well as self-quarantine and just buy groceries or get them delivered. They are cutting public transportation and many service jobs. The economic and health care plans that are being offered to us is not enough for us to survive and it seems like a band aid solution to a problem that has no cure, which is this system.

All this, while their media spreads fear instead of educating the public. This is the norm though: keep the people afraid and while they over-consume out of panic. Even then, who is able to afford buying and stocking up on supplies, when most people live pay check to pay check and in poverty. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but one thing in history has been clear, that in times of crisis, the fascists have used the opportunity to consolidate their power, as well as implement repressive laws they can use to target communities and people they wish to eliminate and subjugate; in example, homeless, people of color, migrants, elderly and others.

The question is what can we do? I wrote something a few years ago I want to re-share, that is relevant today, titled, “Beyond Survival.” Capitalism is the crisis, and the state will not save us. All we have is each other, and we can see this with all the mutual aid projects popping up or that have been in place for years (https://itsgoingdown.org/autonomous-groups-are-mobilizing-mutual-aid-initiatives-to-combat-the-coronavirus/ ). The challenge before us, is that we need to have infrastructure in place so we are not just reacting when crisis happens. At least for me, that is not strategic, and is short sighted.  Our tactics also get coopted by the right and liberals alike, and other opportunists with their own agendas. Our goal should always be a better world.

Infrastructure, means building within our communities and beyond, so we can truly be self-sufficient. We can provide what we need eventually for each other (basic needs like food, clothes, shelter, healthcare, and “work”), and not rely on the system. It means working with indigenous people and learning to be on the land. That also means fighting to protect the water, and the people.  It will mean changing our relationship to the land. Otherwise we will always be at the mercy of capitalism and every crisis created by it.

We Can live in a world where people can truly feel involved in solving a crisis like the one we are living under now. Where we can work together to feed, house every one and have health care for every single person. Where people can take time off and and be guaranteed a livelihood (not just professionals). Those things are possible, but not under capitalism, and it won't come from democrats or republicans. WE have to fight to make it a reality, and it will take an actual revolution to bring this about, nothing less.


"My intent is not to spread panic, panic is detrimental. I want to promote the proactive approach of preparedness for our people. I want to strongly encourage our people to truly value and take responsibility for our lives (meaning to rely less on the government and more upon each other),  become more proactive and learn about these strategies and skills related to them. Then determine which one works best for your situation and start to plan, prepare and execute your plan."

-Sakej Ward



Beyond Survival

http://joaquincienfuegos.blogspot.com/2012/06/beyond-survival.html?m=1

“No queremos sobrevivir, Queremos Vivir” “We don't want to survive, We Want to Live”

By Joaquin Cienfuegos


 The question of survival can mean many different things to people.  In the movement, it has come to mean what Huey P. Newton meant when he said, “survival pending revolution.”  It has also come to mean, learning to live off the land and break one's dependency on this system of colonialism and capitalist-imperialist white supremacy.  While I am not trying to undermine anyone's struggle here, I feel that the movement places more energy on the former, fighting to survive within a racist/sexist oppressive genocidal society.  I want to discuss mainly what we intend to do, and hopefully get to a situation where we are not just surviving, and we can actually live.

 In the major cities in the u.s. Empire, oppressed people are forced into a situation where we are existing in a state of crisis.  We are always just trying to survive, because we do not have any resources that are our own, we are not self-sufficient, self-determined, or sustainable whatsoever.  We are dependent on the system and those in power for our basic needs we need to live: food, clothes, shelter, jobs and education.  For anyone striving to be free, this is an unfavorable position to be in strategically.   It forces us into a situation where we are reacting, and to those in power, this will always give them the upper hand.

 This is not to say that fighting for better living conditions isn't necessary, it definitely is.  Collectively we need to figure out how to connect these struggles to a larger vision, so we don't get bogged down in a reactionary relationship to our oppression and our struggle for freedom.  What we need to deal with is the professional activists, opportunists, and politicians/political careerists who wish to keep us in line with a form of struggle that is safe and keeps their non-profit or opportunist/political aims safe and payed.  They wish to keep us resisting in a non-threatening way.  This speaks to the cooptation of of the “survival programs” or the “serve the people” programs of the Black Panther Party and other revolutionary organizations of the 60's by corporations/Non-Profit Industrial Complex, due to the effectiveness of those programs.  The fact that J. Edgar Hoover and the Counter Intelligence Program, saw the Free Breakfast Program as the “largest threat to national security” speaks to that.  The difference, however, between the BPP (Black Panther Party), and these Non-profits or other organizations who claim to JUST provide services to people, is that the BPP at least for a long time had a revolutionary program/strategy that connected their programs to a larger vision of a different world.

 Later the BPP leadership went down a reformist path and turned “survival pending revolution” programs into just survival, thinking revolution was too far off in the future.  Today many organizations feel the same way, if they even use revolutionary rhetoric, some are straight up open about reformist aims, or just careerist goals as well.  While some might have good intentions in providing services to the people, many just hope to serve themselves or their pockets.  These folks benefit from the fact that survival not only is a necessity but people's nature is to fight for survival, so this struggle is inevitable.  They act as a cushion for the boot of those in power to prolong our rebellion.  This is part of the privilege of living in the first world, or in the belly of the empire.  There has to be this this facade, that the people are being fed, and are being taken care of, if not by the government, than by their middle-men, the NGO's (and others like them).

 So this type of survival, is one that is controlled, and when we become comfortable, then we build a dependency on this system.  This is very common in the empire.  People get into this unconscious (or conscious) way of relating to the state, without it they will not be able to live, and some will even fight to protect this way of life.  Other comrades subconsciously get caught in this cycle of just reacting to the state, and what it brings down on our communities, and get involved only in this activism.  Many people are stuck in this phase, and can't seem to get out of it; nothing gets built, and nothing really changes.  Our communities, really just struggle to get by... to survive.

 We have to learn how to be human again, this battle is one where we not only decolonize ourselves and our minds, but decolonize our condition, working with all indigenous people to do so.  Recognizing again that we are on stolen land, and work with the rightful keepers of the territory we are on.  This is a different type of survival, and it doesn't just mean doing what is sufficient for our people to live, but doing what is necessary to ensure the next seven generations, and prepare the ground so our children can do the same.  It means that we have to fight, not just to survive, but to drive the colonizer and its system out of this continent and get rid of their way of life.  This will mean learning the “survival” skills that are necessary, these are the valuable warrior skills that will connect us back to the land and our culture.  This is how we will learn how to live, how to be human, and how to live outside of this system.  This is a necessary step for the survival of not only indigenous way of life but humanity as a whole.

 We will not fight to replace this system with another set of oppressors, who also represent the colonizer way of life.  We have to build autonomy, which for that you need land, and you need to have a relationship to it and those who are the rightful caretakers of it.  Having a relationship to the land means many different things, along being able to protect it, because it gives you life.  Fighting for autonomy means going beyond just surviving, but being truly independent of the state and the system.  The only way to go beyond just fighting to survive, and actually live, is to build autonomy while destroying this system and driving out their colonial rule.

That's just bad analysis and politics, in my opinion

I'm not one to "call out" people online but do think we should call out wack analysis and bad politics.

Blaming another oppressed people for your own oppression is just lazy. Yea there are fucked up thinking in all our communities but not putting the blame on imperialism will not only not get us where we need to be it can make matters worst. Narrow nationalism on all parts is not revolutionary,  and is liberal and opportunist in the end.

While there are internal contractions in our communities that we should address daily, we need to work towards uniting to get rid of all oppression once and for all.

Mexico is a colonial state with puppet regimes that serve only u.s. interests, as Central American governments that create the conditions where our families and people have to flee our homelands, lets start from there and build. If we can.

Now more than ever we can unite and build real solidarity  as oppressed people (indigenous and other oppressed allies) to bring down not just borders but the systems that keep them in place.

Ijs.

Statement on My Arrest March 25th

Statement on my arrest

On March 25th,

A group of about 100 or more pro-trump demonstrators marched down Hollywood Blvd, with no counter-demonstration whatsoever.

After a confrontation, the police came and detained me and a trump supporter.

They arrested me after finding brass knuckles in my pocket, then releasing the trump supporter and shaking his hand. Even through it didn't surprise me, it still angered me.

They took me to Wilcox Station and charged me with possession of Brass knuckles, which is a felony.

My bail was set at 20,000 (2,000) and ended up bailing myself out because of responsibilities like work, son, and thinking I had to move my car before it got towed, on an instalment plan. Luckily, a close comrade and other comrades had my car towed to safe place so it wouldn't get towed and accumulate charges.

My court date is on April 19th.

Honestly, what went through my mind the whole time, was these racists cannot march down Hollywood in Los Angeles, without anyone challenging them. I wasn't planning to get arrested, and wasn't planning to do anything, until I was attacked by the trump supporter who claimed I took his "Make America Great Again" Hat, so I defended myself against him and two other trump supporters who hid behind their protectors the Los Angeles Police Department.

I just wanted to put my story out to friends, comrades and family.

#DesdeAbajo: “Muchos de nosotros no tenemos papeles pero vamos a luchar y a pelear a lado de ustedes”

​

Rodolfo Montes de Oca 

Desde abajo, es una serie de entrevistas que busca abordar las inauguración presidencial de Donald Trump en USA bajo una óptica distinta, haciendo énfasis en los movimientos sociales y los grupos de base que no se ven representados en este gobierno. En esta entrega hablamos con Joaquín Cienfuegos, activista comunitario, miembro de CopWatch Los Angeles y ex-promotor de la Feria del Libro Anarquista de esa ciudad.

• ¿Cómo ves la elección de Donald Trump?, ¿Su elección representa a la población norteamericana?

En mi opinión la elección de Donald Trump representa la situación en que estamos en los Estados Unidos y el resto del mundo. Estamos entrando en una época donde el fascismo esta haciéndose más fuerte. En mi opinión el fascismo nunca murió y especialmente los fascistas siempre se han estado organizando y reclutando gente. Estamos viviendo en un mundo donde hay crisis en todas partes y fascistas usan estos momentos para crear popularidad a su movimiento y ideas racistas. Han estado ganando por el mundo y empezó con Brexit en Inglaterra y Trump en los Estados Unidos.

Los fascistas han visto que pueden ganar y ha motivado a ellos, para ser abiertamente racistas y xenofóbicos en sus partidos políticos y plataformas. Les echan la culpa a musulmanes, especialmente refugiados de Siria; y en los Estados Unidos a migrantes de México y también a movimientos de Africanos/Negros contra la brutalidad de la policía. Países imperialistas, con ideología de supremacía eurocéntrica, muchos anglos, que tienen privilegios adentro de estos países, sienten su poder en peligro, los fascistas han podido agarrar apoyo de esta gente.

• ¿Cuál crees tú que serán las medidas en materia de inmigración de Donald Trump?

En este momento no sabemos que va hacer realmente Trump, y que leyes intentara realizar. Los republicanos en general están al control de gobierno en general y sabemos que las cosas se van a poner más difícil para los 11 de millones de indocumentados que viven en los estados unidos en este momento, y para más refugiados que vienen del sur. Realmente no importa que partido este en la Casa Blanca. Obama, que muchos piensan que era el presidente más progresista que ha tenido este país, a deportado a mas personas que cualquier otro presidente en la historia. Los dos partidos iban a seguir militarizando la frontera y seguir deportando a gente. Especialmente Hillary Clinton que muchos miraban como otra política vendida, apoyaba pólizas del libre comercio y neo-liberalismo que hace que muchos tengan que migrar de sus tierras para sobrevivir.

• ¿Cómo ves las movilizaciones anti-trump?, ¿desde anarquista hasta demo-liberales?... ¿Es posible aprovechar ese descontento para avanzar en un desarrollo distinto?

Pienso que los anarquistas deben estar al frente. El fascismo es el enemigo histórico  y la lucha va ser larga. El 20 de enero podemos inyectar ideas radicales en movimientos sociales y populares. En mi opinión, los liberales quieren usar este momento para promover el partido demócrata. En este momento de historia tenemos que combatir contra ideas liberales también, ellos son culpables también.  Hay diferente mundos posibles, y todo depende en quien gane, por eso es importante confrontar fascistas donde quiera que estén.

• Para cerrar… ¿Qué te gustaría decirles a todos los latinos sin papeles que viven hoy en USA?

Todos tenemos que luchar en este momento. Muchas organizaciones no-gubernamentales tratan a latinos sin papeles como personas sin poder que tienen que hablar por ellos. En realidad, ello/as vienen de movimientos sociales, guerrillas y luchas en sus países. Podríamos aprender de las experiencias de ello/as. Me gustaría decirles que nadie puede hablar por ti, ningún político, ninguna organización, y ningún revolucionario; Tienes que hablar por ti mismo, tienes que organizarte, autogestionarte, autodefenderte, y crear tu propia lucha en este momento cuando el sistema capitalista y el Estado, los ve como enemigo/as. Nosotro/as como anarquistas somos también enemigos de los Estados. y muchos de nosotros no tenemos papeles pero vamos a luchar y a pelear a lado de ustedes. En solidaridad.

________________________

Rodolfo Montes de Oca

Bitácora personal: http://rodolfomontesdeoca.contrapoder.org.ve/

Twitter: @romontesdeoca

On Solidarity

In terms of building real solidarity and how that looks like, if we are going into a community or land that isn't ours or our ancestors' then we must take a step back and not impose our own ideas or ways of doing things,  but rely on revolutionary/ warrior elements that exist already within for leadership and allow for the natural internal struggle to be pushed forward.

Doesn't mean we can't have ideas or opinions,  we can and should,  in example, in my opinion regarding the Standing Rock struggle, I think if you look at history, the reason why the Lakota people exist today is because they fought and won battles. Obviously the colonizer doesn't forget either and has systematically oppressed indigenous nations in that region. In any popular uprising there will always be different agendas struggling for direction and influence.  As a supporter I hope to side with the radical elements that align with my own vision as well but don't want to impose or get in the way of the natural internal struggle that will and needs to take place within the nation for their overall  fight for land and freedom.

This is how I approach solidarity as I take the fight back to where I'm at and for decolonization as a whole.

My two cents

Of course I'm an anarchist

Something that really influenced me growing up and becoming politicized was meeting a big Chicano  homie who had gotten out of prison and was working with a community organization when I was about 15 or 16.  He had a bunch of anarchist prison tats and when he was asked about his politics he responded, "I've been in the system my whole life, of course I'm an anarchist."

That resonated with me, having been pushed out of school even though I was in honors and gifted programs. Having been harassed and arrested by police over 7 times and on probation and in juvenile hall already. I felt like this system was designed against me growing up and found out it was.

So those words made a lot of sense to me:

"I've been in the system my whole life, of course I'm an anarchist."

On Fake Posturing

A problem I see in the "left" is that we give up our power and voice to celebrities.

Also we hype up and promote people who are just all TALK and posture.  People who have never been in any battle or real fight, but are quick to take up the spotlight.   I feel people who are real warriors and guerrillas don't want the spot light, but they continue to prove themselves in fighting and self-sacrifice, they also have different roles, more in popular education and building our communities skill sets (to be independent and autonomous which is also low key).

Personally I feel people are smart enough to see through the talk and posturing eventually  but it's the professional activist and white leftists who continue to give power to those folks,  who seek celebrity status and other things.

These structures of imposed fake leadership isn't even something that is native to non-european people, we practice consensus and direct democracy.

Just because someone talks and postures like they're down for the fight (and it might sound good and all), doesn't mean they really live their life that way.  Let's build trust with each other through real struggle  (also internally).

In my opinion the more we democratize knowledge and build our skills the more stronger as peoples we will be and won't need these folks that are imposed on us by the mainstream liberal left and other opportunists.

Anyway #justanotherrant

Let's talk through our actions and show examples to our communities and future generations, how it is to build something, and how we can have victories won by fighting.

"Itsïri K´uinchekua" New Documentary about Purépecha Water Ceremonies.

New Documentary about Purépecha Water Ceremonies.

by Juan Jose Estrada Serafin

https://vimeo.com/172364371

"Itsïri K´uinchekua"

A documentary about the water festivals and rituals, which has a very high cultural value for the inhabitants of Purépecha indigenous communities, just because there is a very scarce resource, but because it is sacred and divine character is reflected in myths, rituals and existing celebrations. In addition use practices and water management reflect this worldview, water is life.

Juan Jose Estrada Serafin

Indigenous Purhépecha photojournalist specializing in media. He has also worked in photography for documentary; graphic reports and graphic chronicles. His video work has revolved around social events, political, cultural and documentation; It has deepened in the Purepecha communities of Michoacán and in other indigenous regions such as the Coastal Region Nahua, Lakeside, East Michoacan and has fully covered the region of Tierra Caliente. He has worked as a correspondent for Cuartoscuro Agency and worked on national reporting process and international magazines such as Vice News Latin America. His photographic work on violence, indigenous groups and social movements discussed about the Mexican republic in different printed news agencies and online.

If you are interested in organizing a screening of this film in your community or school please contact acha.turifilms@gmail.com

The film maker is also available to skype in for the screening.