Bloc Party: Even Lie About When They Die

Originally posted to It’s Going Down

As we mentioned last week, we are moving to a weekly format. You can expect to find a rotation of repression news from around “North America,” and updates from political prisoners and general prison struggles mixed with some of that bad kid analysis we’ve been cultivating around the Bloc. We will be switching it up each week with a focus on what’s going down on the outside and what’s going down on the inside. Here’s all that shit from the Bloc this week:

This week, the sassiest party on the block goes to, somewhat surprisingly, Anonymous and their Million Mask March. Not only has Anonymous started the process of releasing the names and information of about 1,000 KKK members, but they threw down hard over this past week for their annual Million Mask March. It seems like London got the rowdiest, with police cars torched and windows smashed. In Denver, things also got a little out of hand, with a rowdy crowd of about 200 people being attacked by cops at the end of the march. Family and friends of Paul Castaway, a Lakota man murdered by Denver police in July, were present at the Denver Anon march. Paul’s elderly mother was shoved and thrown to the ground by police, resulting in injuries including a broken foot. In the melee, a close family friend was arrested, along with 9 others. Two were charged with felony assault on an officer, possession of a deadly weapon, and inciting a riot.

The pull of Anonymous on November 5th is something perhaps to examine a bit closer. Many attendees at these marches across the U.S. and Europe are young, white and poor. Anonymous seems to have struck some kind of chord with the white working class youth. The same youthful nihilism and disenchantment with the impoverished spectacle that has become our daily lives that we’ve seen grow across the world these last few years, erupting in insurgencies from Tahir to Ferguson, feels like it is at the heart of these kids in Guy Fawkes masks. It can take on inspiring formations, this youthful nihilism, though perhaps those of us who’ve been around the Bloc a bit longer could offer something here. Because it doesn’t seem a far leap to think that some of these disenchanted white kids could be wrangled into a more fascistic direction. We don’t have a clear direction in which to take this, but would encourage the conversations to be started amongst your own crews on the Bloc.

We know, we’ve been hitting the Right Wing shit show pretty hard here lately. Sorry, not sorry. These fools are just all over the damn place as of late. Just this week news hit of the FBI raiding a house in Chesterfield County, VA, arresting three white supremacists allegedly conspiring to shoot up and set fire to several Black churches and Jewish synagogues. Chesterfield has been a hot bed of white supremacist activity in the state for years now, but mainly limited to the the occasional canvassing of neighborhoods with racist fliers, racist graffiti, and recently some confederate flag related confrontations. This is the first time recently we have seen a headline that explicitly labels people planning to carry out racist attacks as “white supremacists.”

One potential reason is that as the mainstream flirts ever more with blatantly white supremacist ideas, they need a scapegoat to differentiate themselves from the more direct action oriented elements, while still benefiting from the terror and hysteria that they generate. Y’all, how convenient for the state to foil a “white supremacist plot” to bring some legitimacy back to the state apparatus, as doubt lingers in more and more people’s minds about who’s side the state is really on.

We urge friends and potential friends not to forget that while the threat posed by any number of white supremacists is growing, the brutality and power of the state is far greater. If we allow the conversation to be shifted away from millions of deportations, thousands of police murders, millions incarcerated, and entire nations conquered and exploited, we lose ground. Stayed vigilance is vital on all sides of this bullshit.

Narratives are important. Framing a conversation is sometimes more important than winning out on the details, and our enemies know this. The recent attempt to discredit anyone that might be associated with Black Lives Matter or other anti-police activity by conservative pundits and police unions, while proven to be statistically false, was still effective at galvanizing support for police across the country, casting fear and doubt on anyone who criticized police power, including celebrities. Luckily, cops tend to be pretty fucking dull. It has recently come out that four of the recent “attacks” on police have been proven to be fake, as cops are taking advantage of the skepticism to cover up their own transgressions.

Illinois Police Officer's Death 'to Be Ruled Likely Suicide' https://t.co/g8Q6VlObpF Maybe unintentional suicide staging fake attack?

— The Murloc King (@skunkwerks16) November 4, 2015

The most high profile is that of a cop in Illinois who called in being ambushed by three men, and was found dead at the scene. A gigantic manhunt inside, until weeks later, the investigation determined it to be a suicide. Turns out this heroic defender of law and order was laundering massive amounts of money from his department. Classic. Unable to deal with the shame, he came up with an elaborate scheme to save his name, discredit an entire social movement, and still get his family some of that pension moneeeeeeey. Keep it classy, brah.

Monday morning, Keith LaMar (Bomani Shakur) began a hunger strike. Last month, he lost what could very possibly be his final appeal. Lucasville Amnesty has provided a few ways to support the hunger strike, and we definitely recommend reading “In Defense of Keith LaMar” published just a few days ago.

Montréal Counter-Information recently published a reflection titled “The Economy of Power” written during the imprisonment of the ‘5E3‘ who were arrested for allegedly attacking a Nissan dealership in Mexico City. Check it out!

Next week we’re back with some more in depth news and analysis from those on the inside as well as those who are fighting to bust down those prison walls. Before we sign off, we feel we would be remiss to not send a loud and clear FUCK YOU to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in regards to their decision this week to allow the state of Louisiana to retry Albert Woodfox a third goddamn time. Seriously, FUCK YOU. While we are never surprised to hear the courts have sided with some hateful, racist, totalitarian and torturous bullshit, it was a painful blow to our comrade Albert and his supporters.

Send Albert some loving solidarity this week, okay friends?

Albert Woodfox #72148             

West Feliciana Parish Detention Center

PO Box 2727

St. Francisville, LA 70775

Until next week let’s keep turning up and throwing down. For Albert. For ourselves. For all our friends we love on the inside and all the friends we have yet to make on the inside. We can’t say it enough…Prisons are for fucking burning.