Page 339 – Toward Freedom

Pssst. Want an unregistered semi-automatic handgun, some heroin and a way to make a 1,400 percent profit?

First, the gun. You can legally buy it through a “private” sale at a gun show, yard sale, online or from a dealer. Doesn’t matter if you’re a convicted murderer with a history of mental illness and a restraining order for domestic abuse. Anyone 16 or older with $600 can, for example, go to Armslist.com and arrange with a “private party” in Arlington, Vt., to pick up a “Zastava M92 PV 7.62 x 39 cal. semi auto pistol that has a 10 inch barrel, comes with 2 each 30 round clips.” The Serbian assault weapon is, the ad notes, the “very cool … pistol version of the AK-47.” read more

A Heart That Never Dies: Swaziland’s Democratic Struggle

Peter Kenworthy July 15, 2015 Peter Kenworthy

A new film describes the fight for democracy and socio-economic justice in the tiny sub-Saharan country, located in the continent’s southeast, through the eyes of Bheki Dlamini, a young activist and leading member of Swaziland’s largest banned political party.

Killing by Committee in the Global Wild West

Pratap Chatterjee July 15, 2015 Pratap Chatterjee

The myth of the lone drone warrior is now well established and threatens to become as enduring as that of the lone lawman with a white horse and a silver bullet who rode out into the Wild West to find the bad guys. In a similar fashion, the unsung hero of Washington’s modern War on Terror in the wild backlands of the planet is sometimes portrayed as a mysterious Central Intelligence Agency officer.

Anarchism could help to save the world

David Priestland July 15, 2015 David Priestland

Source: The Guardian Unlimited

State socialism has failed, so has the market. We need to rediscover the anarchist thinker Peter Kropotkin

Ed Miliband’s late-night pilgrimage to Russell Brand’s loft apartment, days before the last election, was seen by supporters as a canny bid for the youth vote, and by critics as a cringe-worthy attempt to harness the Shoreditch Messiah’s charisma. Yet neither view captures its real significance as a sign of the profound weakness of mainstream social democracy and its desperate efforts to co-opt the energies of the most dynamic element of today’s left: anarchism. In their eagerness to ridicule Brand’s “ramblings”, commentators have ignored his strong identification with the left-anarchist tradition. For among the works he has recommended to his followers is a collection of writings by another charismatic figure who sometimes lived in London, the father of anarchist communism: Prince Peter Kropotkin. read more

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Letter to My Son

Ta-Nehisi Coates July 15, 2015 Ta-Nehisi Coates

Source: The Atlantic

Son,

Last Sunday the host of a popular news show asked me what it meant to lose my body. The host was broadcasting from Washington, D.C., and I was seated in a remote studio on the Far West Side of Manhattan. A satellite closed the miles between us, but no machinery could close the gap between her world and the world for which I had been summoned to speak. When the host asked me about my body, her face faded from the screen, and was replaced by a scroll of words, written by me earlier that week. read more

Disaster Capitalism and Outrage in Post-Coup Honduras

Adrienne Pine July 10, 2015 Adrienne Pine

Washington continues to interfere in the internal politics of Honduras six years after the coup. On June 28, 2009, School of the Americas-trained general Romeo Vásquez Velasquez led the military coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. A lot has happened since that fateful day six years ago.