The Hour Is Still Drawing Near November 26, 2020
Posted by Summerspeaker in Uncategorized.Tags: anarchism, Diné, Native liberation, Navajo
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“The armed uprising of the Navajo Indians of New Mexico denying the authority of the United States has all our applause.” – Antonio de P. Araujo, December 27, 1913
By the time the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) published this statement of support, the so-called Beautiful Mountain Uprising was over. The small band U.S. officials wanted prosecuted had accepted that fate a month earlier, on or around Thanksgiving Day. This supposed revolt involved conflict & coercion but no serious injuries.
Many media reports sensationalized the incident as a full-scale rebellion. Familiar with the Yaqui people’s tenacious military resistance to colonialism, Araujo apparently let these exaggerated news stories & eir hopes persuade em something similar was happening. While Aruajo’s account is largely fanciful as far as I can tell, I’m sharing my translation of it here in deep sympathy with eir dreams of Native liberation. That’s what I’m thinking about today. The dramatic decolonial reckoning Araujo yearned for in 1913 wasn’t as close as ey thought, yet I still believe it approaches.
Araujo’s article:
THE HOUR IS DRAWING NEAR
The armed uprising of the Navajo Indians of New Mexico denying the authority of the United States has all our applause.
The Navajo Indians have given their cry of freedom from Yankee domination, although in truth, nearly five hundred of the tribe have never recognized the authority of the Americans.
Since Mexico lost the territory of New Mexico as a result of the American invasion of 1847, the Navajo Indians have been going through a long torment under North American domination and although many times they have resisted by means of arms the invasion of their lands by the barbarians, and have waged battles with the soldiers in yellow that Republican like Democratic presidents have dispatched to fight them, the conquerors have persisted in peacetime in imprisoning their men and raping their women.
The Indians have awakened to their right, and some revolutionary propaganda that our comrades in New Mexico have made among them has been successful.
Our Indian brothers have been in arms since last September 17, a fact that the capitalist press has made known until now that it is impossible to hide the truth.
Fifteen hundred Indians are fortified in the Beautiful Mountains in the northwestern region of New Mexico, and they refuse to surrender some Indians whom the bandit marshals of the United States are trying to capture. The first platoon of henchmen that left Santa Fe for Gallup and the Ship Rock Agency, in Indian territory, returned to their barracks full of fear when they saw the attitude of the Navajos. Later, the government of Professor Wilson, the “democrat” servant of the interests in Washington, ordered the troops in yellow that garrison the Mexican border to leave for New Mexico to subjugate the Indians, but seeing that the situation in Texas is highly compromised by the attitude developed there by the Mexican comrades determined to take action in the event that the state perpetrates the assassination of Rangel and comrades, revoked the order and instructed the forces that garrison the state of Nebraska to march to defeat the Indians.
The Navajos have declared that in case they are attacked by the soldiers in yellow, they will resist until the last moment, burn down the Ship Rock agency and kill those in their charge.The Indians are not upset by the dispatch of troops and respond to the pacifist agents through the mouth of their leader, Black Horse: “We will not surrender, we will fight.”
The true Americans of the continent are right, because the pureblood Indians are the true Americans. And as they are well armed, well provisioned and encouraged by some of the most notable of the tribe, they will carry to the last their desire to live free in the beautiful mountains of the northwest corner of New Mexico, or perish in defense of their right trodden by the white-skinned bandits, the henchmen of Wall Street who want to subjugate every man they calculate is of “inferior” races.The act of the Navajos to deny the law and the announcement of punishing any Indian traitor or friend of the American exploiters, are to be commended, and that the situation is truly serious for the Yankee government is evidenced by the following dispatch that one has made public. of the members of Professor Wilson’s cabinet, and which comes from a Major of the army in yellow who once tried to dupe the Indians: “This recalcitrant gang has been defying the authorities since September 17 and has been called to the ordered by Chee Dodge Peshlaky and Mitchell, the most influential men in the tribe, and also by most other Navajo chieftains, but to no avail. To besiege their camp requires 500 men, and in my judgment they cannot surrender out of hunger. They have threatened the lives of friendly Indians and merchant Walker. The Indians have also threatened to burn down the Agency and the Wood Mill that is six miles from their camp and kill the ‘white’ men employed there. The Navajos have been defying the law for months. Delaying their arrests longer will mean they get reinforcements from those who are now friends of the United States.”
Ah! What a beautiful awakening of the North American Indian! The adventurers’ atonement is not far off. The hour is drawing near.
ANTONIO DE P. ARAUJO
Y en español:
LA HORA SE ACERCA
El levantamiento armado de los indios navajos de Nuevo México negando la autoridad de los Estados Unidos, tiene todo nuestro aplauso.
Los indios navajos han dado su grito de libertad de la dominación yankee, aunque en verdad, cerca de quinientos de la tribu jamás han reconocido la autoridad de los americanos.
Desde que á raíz de la in invasión americana de 1847 perdió México el territorio de Nuevo México, los indios navajos han venido pasando un largo calvario bajo la dominación norteamericana y aunque muchas veces han resistido por medio de las armas la invasión de sus tierras por los bárbaros, y han empeñado batallas con los soldados de amarillo que presidentes republicanos como demócratas han despachado para combatirlos, los conquistadores han persistido en tiempo de paz en encarcelar á sus hombres y violar á sus mujeres.
Los indios han despertado á su derecho y alguna propaganda revolucionaria que nuestros compañeros de Nuevo México han hecho entre ellos ha tenido éxito.
Nuestros hermanos indios están en armas desde el 17 de Septiembre último, hecho que la prensa capitalista ha dado á conocer hasta ahora que es imposible el ocultar la verdad.Mil quinientos indios están fortificados en las Montañas Hermosas en la región noroeste de Nuevo México y se rehúsan á entregar á algunos indios á quienes los bandidos marshalls de los Estados Unidos tratan de capturar. El primer pelotón de esbirros que salió de Santa Fé para Gallup y la Agencia Ship Rock, en territorio indio, lleno de miedo regresó á sus cuarteles al ver la actitud de los navajos. Después, el gobierno del Profesor Wilson, el “demócrata” sirviente de los intereses en Washington, ordenó que las tropas de amarillo que guarnecen la frontera mexicana salieran para Nuevo México á subyugar á los indios, pero viendo que la situación en Texas está altamente comprometida por la actitud que desarrollan ahí los compañeros mexicanos decididos á entrar la acción en caso que el estado perpetre el asesinato de Rangel y compañeros, revocó la orden é instruyó á las fuerzas que guarnecen el estado de Nebraska que marcharan para batir á los indios.Los navajos han declarado que en caso de que sean atacados por los soldados de amarillo, resistirán hasta el último momento, quemarán la agencia de Ship Rock y matarán á aquellos que estén á su cargo.
Los indios no se inmutan con el envío de tropas y responden á los agentes pacifistas por boca de su jefe Caballo Negro: “No nos rendiremos, lucharemos.”
Tienen razón los verdaderos americanos del continente, porque los indios de raza pura son los verdaderos americanos. Y como están bien armados, bien provisionados y animados por algunos de los más notables de la tribu, llevarán hasta el último su deseo de vivir libres en las hermosas montañas del ángulo noroeste de Nuevo México, ó perecer en defensa de su derecho hollado por los bandidos de piel blanca, los esbirros de Wall Street que quieren subyugar á todo hombre que calculan que es de razas “inferiores.”
El acto de los navajos de negar la ley y anuncio de castigar á cualquier indio traidor ó amigo de los explotadores americanos, son de encomiarse, y que la situación es verdaderamente grave para el gobierno yankee se evidencia por el siguiente despacho que ha hecho público uno de los miembros del gabinete del Profesor Wilson, y que proviene de un Mayor de ejército de amarillo que en otros tiempos trató de embaucar á los indios: “Esta recalcitrante banda ha estado desafiando á las autoridades desde el 17 de Septiembre y ha sido llamada al orden por Chee Dodge Peshlaky y Mitchell, los hombres de más influencia en la tribu, y también por la mayoría de otros jefes navajos, pero sin resultado alguno. Sitiar su campamento requiere 500 hombres, y á mi juicio no pueden rendirse por hambre. Han amenazado las vidas de indios amigables y la del comerciante Walker. Los indios han amenazado también quemar la Agencia y el Molino de madera que dista seis millas de su campamento y matar á los hombres ‘blancos’ empleados en el mismo. Los navajos han estado desafiando á la ley durante los meses. El retardar sus arresto más tiempo, significará que obtengan refuerzos de aquellos que ahora son amigos de los Estados Unidos.”
¡Ah! ¡Qué bello despertar del indio de Norte América! La expiación de los aventureros no está lejana. La hora se acerca.
ANTONIO DE P. ARAUJO
Regeneración 170, December 27, 1913, page 3.
Are Tankies Fash?: Musings on Values & Trauma November 13, 2019
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism.Tags: anarchism, fascism, Marxism, trauma
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I reject the “tankies are fash” discourse, at least when cast broadly at all state commies/socialists & folx who ever support supposedly socialist or anti-imperialist states.
Obviously *some* tankies do amount to fash, but same holds for some (people who claim to be) anarchists.
Lots of the folx anarchists call tankies hold decent values & support oppression (they’d say imperfection) as a pragmatic measure. From their perspective, they’re being proper consequentialists. Equating this with fascism confuses the issue & stands out as excessively harsh.
Fascists, especially white ones in the U.S. & other western countries, tend to hold profoundly different values. They’re not trying to achieve nice things for all or to fight oppression, but rather to maintain & enhance their ingroup’s dominance.
Many fascists, along with certain tankies & a disturbing number of nihilist anarchists, have a “might makes right” worldview & are cynical abusers. In the abstract, I’m more opposed to this worldview than I am to disagreements about how to achieve shared goals.
Both anarchists & tankies love to cherry-pick, finding the worst of the opposed group to discredit them all. Fascists, racists, rapists, etc. exist under each banner. The overall contours matter, & can’t be easily assessed or conveyed.
Perhaps all conflicts do boil down to anarchism versus fascism in the end. I’m compelled by this claim while simultaneously skeptical of stark binaries & “you’re either with us or against us” bullying.
Even if so, we don’t have to flip ahead to the final page.
Denouncing most everyone as the worst sort of oppressor & trying to fight them suits my traumatized psyche. That’s my go-to response, even with other anarchists. I respect the approach. I feel it in my bones. But it’s not strictly rational or accurate. I doubt it’s optimal.
Anarchism Has Never Taken Ableism Seriously March 22, 2019
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism, Despair, Transhumanism.Tags: ableism, anarchism, anarchy, disability, eugenics
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Woman no longer wants to be a party to the production of a race of sickly, feeble, decrepit, wretched human beings, who have neither the strength nor moral courage to throw off the yoke of poverty and slavery. (Emma Goldman, “Marriage and Love”)
Anarchism, Anticolonialism, Immigration March 18, 2018
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism, Anti-imperialism, Decolonization, Transhumanism.Tags: anarchism, anticolonialism, Irish, national liberation, Saint Patrick's Day
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During a one-on-one conversation the other day after talking about New Zealand’s immigration policy, I said I hoped we could all agree that at least Europe has no claim whatsoever to excluding immigrants on the ground of nationalism or self-determination. I extended this to colonized European groups like the Irish and Basques.
Yesterday, I went to a Saint Patrick’s Day event on the Irish national-liberation struggle and international anticolonialism/anti-imperialism.
While I consider purist anarchist arguments against oppressed nationalisms overblown, sometimes I can’t help but feel disturbed at how similar national-liberation rhetoric sounds to alt-right rhetoric. “Ireland for the Irish” can be anticolonial if targeted against British occupation, but “Sweden for the Swedes” serves as a fascist rallying cry. That’s goddamn confusing.
I support oppressed nationalisms in the current historical context so long as as they don’t mirror dominant nationalisms with their militarized borders and aggressive contempt for outsiders. I don’t have or want a homeland myself. If I went “back” to the lands my ancestors come from in Wales, England, Scotland, and France, I’d agitate for abolishing nations and borders there. I’d have no sympathy for using violence/coercion to preserve Welsh/English/Scottish/French culture.
According to prevalent left norms, it’s not my place to tell colonized peoples how to organize, what to do in their lands, and so on. This presumably includes colonized European groups. After all, I’m not Irish (except maybe a tiny bit ancestrally), Basque, etc.
In addition to present solidarity/alliance against common enemies, I’m curious about the possibilities for future coexistence between anarchists who don’t believe in homelands and Indigenous nationalists. Some of my dissertation looks at the Partido Liberal Mexican and its support of Yaqui self-determination for insight and inspiration on the subject. I plan to write a longer blog piece on this theme at some point.
I don’t know how it’s all going to work out. Perhaps we transhumanist anarchists will have to take to the seas and/or stars. For the moment, I’m happy to be fighting colonialism/imperialism with so many fabulous comrades.
On Markets, Meetings, and Social Value October 23, 2017
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism, Feminism, Queer politics, Transhumanism.Tags: anarchism, communism, markets, meetings, transhumanism
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No political tendency offers much to unpopular/unlovable folks. Some queer, feminist, and disability radicalisms make an effort. Communisms at least theoretically want equal material nice things for everyone.
In actually existing communism to date, of course, force & attractiveness (in its various modes) tended to determine access to resources. Party insiders at every level ruled the roost.
Popularity mechanisms such as markets and meetings necessarily exclude those of us who can’t compete, who can’t please other members of the species. They’re no good for freaks, outcasts, queers, losers, etc.
For the long term, transhumanism promises the satisfaction of all desires if only via virtual reality, the ability change or eliminate one’s desires, and the ability to copy whatever the successful folks have.
If I thought I could personally win the popularity game and didn’t care about those who couldn’t, then maybe I’d be a market anarchist.
Markets and currency might constitute the lesser evil temporarily and I’m grudgingly okay with that, but only if combined with attention to those excluded and attempts at correction.
When Anarcho-Transhumanists Attack: Cyborgs vs. Tanks July 2, 2017
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism, Transhumanism.Tags: Albuquerque, anarchism, communism, PSL, socialism
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Bizarrely enough, my presence at a protest of the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL) here in Albuquerque has sparked rumors that “anarcho-transhumanists” connected to the Center for a Stateless Society (C4SS) “fucked up” a PSL office.
For the record, I only showed up to the protest. I didn’t organize it. I’m not connected to C4SS beyond knowing William Gillis and liking some C4SS content.
It’s challenging to succinctly describe what went down because lots of us continue to debate it locally. I attempt an overview here.
For context, the PSL has been operating in ABQ for some years now. Various radical and progressive groups and individuals have had issues working with them. Earlier this year, the Red Nation broke with the PSL and published a statement accusing the party of anti-Indianism and sexism.
The protest on June 23 was called by various community members. They billed it as “Shut Down PSL” on Facebook. The PSL event in question was a Juneteenth event, which the protest organizers described as part of the PSL’s pattern of exploiting marginalized communities. There were no black speakers physically present at the event and few or no black folks in attendance.
I was with the protesters as they walked up to the PSL office. It quickly turned into a verbal confrontation. Eventually the PSL folks withdrew into their office and locked the doors. The police showed but didn’t do much beyond hanging around and talking with some people. Certain protesters did offer water to police and invoke them against the PSL (“they said you’re wack too!”). The PSL has tried to use this police interaction to discredit protesters.
Later on, after police left, a white neighbor came out holding a pistol and threatened protesters. This neighbor had apparently called the cops because eir nine-year-old son was scared Black Lives Matter was holding people hostage across the street. The neighbor shouted anti-BLM right-wing talking points. Medics ducked behind a car and prepared for the worst, which thankfully didn’t happen. Protesters managed to deescalate the situation.
Thursday, June 29, the PSL published a statement denouncing the protesters and saying somebody broke the windows to their office the night after the protest.
Debates on social media have been raging since then. It’s all a mess; for better or worse that’s how community is. I don’t agree with a fair amount of what the anti-PSL protesters did or said but I tend to believe the allegations of abuse from the Red Nation and others. I support calling out and confronting oppressive behavior.
Of course, as an anarchist, I additionally have a ideological axe to grind against the PSL and all other Leninists.
Over the course of debating this protest on social media, a PSL fan has threatened to contact my employer in order to silence criticism of the PSL.
Threats to give an employer public information are curious, but I assume I should be quaking in my rocket boots.
Pride 2017 June 10, 2017
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism, Anti-imperialism, Decolonization, Queer politics.Tags: anarchism, LGBT, Pride
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I took this during Pride events in Albuquerque today. Let’s simultaneously oppose antiqueer violence, borders, and xenophobia.
In Washington, DC, radicals disrupted the Pride celebration with banners calling attention to various forms of oppression: the police, colonial oil pipelines on Native land, and deportations.
I’d love to see more actions like this. I wish there’d been one here. There was an alternative Pride event calling out the main Pride event for being corporate. A few radicals marched in the main one, myself included, but it wasn’t like what went down in DC. We didn’t disrupt. It’s usually correct to disrupt.
Unlike last year, I refrained from disruption. I put up anarchist stickers and mostly kept my mouth shut. Despite all the hype around Donald Trump’s election and what you’d hope would be an era of intensified resistance, life goes on. Everyday concerns remain dominant for most of us.
Here’s to ever-increasing queerness in all the senses of the word. Expect the future to be even weirder than the present. If you think we’re freaks now, just wait!
Happy Anarchy Day May 1, 2017
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism.Tags: anarchism, C4SS
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Anarchist Super Bowl Ad February 5, 2017
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism.Tags: anarchism, anarchist
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Does Truth Matter When Fighting Evil? January 22, 2017
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism, Transhumanism.Tags: anarchism, antifa, punch, Richard Spencer
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So this image has been making the rounds on social media. It attributes a Colin Liddell quotation apparently advocating black genocide to Richard Spencer. That’s sloppy but arguably fair enough because Spencer was editing the site where Liddell’s piece appeared. However, Colin Liddell claims eir critics are misreading the piece, that ey used the figure of black genocide to highlight genocidal language supposedly used against white South Africans. I’m certainly not suggesting any of this is remotely acceptable or that it negates the case for punching Spencer, but accuracy still matters in times of war. Justifying physical violence against the outgroup via misattribution of a quotation taken out of context isn’t okay.
Queering the Singularity 