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Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00 AM

Bomb the middle class

In an era of wealth and excess, 19th century French anarchists introduced terrorism as we know it. Can a fascinating new history help us understand our own violent times?

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Friday, February 27, 2009 10:32 AM

@Captain Xark

I wonder if Obama isn't the worst case scenario for anarchism.

Not really, "anarchism" is no more or less a worn-out upper-middle-class cliche now than it was under Bush.

A nice multicultural facade for wage slavery,

Actually, "slavery", which exists in many places now and existed in America for centuries, means working without wages.

If you think people deserve higher wages, Obama is not the worst case scenario.

If you have some obsessive principle against earning wages, subsistence farming is perfectly legal. You can also deliberately injure yourself and qualify for disability payments.

class domination,

Can explain specifically what this means?

global banking hijinx

True, this won't be eliminated by Obama.

and blind militarism.

Hopefully this will be reduced by the Obama administration. Again, I have to hand it to you, this won't be going away any time soon.

Would not be surprised if there came to be surprises from Anarchy in the next few.

I would be very, very, very surprised, whatever time unit you intended to put after "few".

Friday, February 27, 2009 10:33 AM

Seems like we're still making internal enemies as fast as France was

A new one every few years, with a lot of fear in-between that tars all dissidents with the stigma of real murderers.

Friday, February 27, 2009 10:38 AM

"...it's all right, we told you what to dream..."

...Blandon began selling high-powered weapons to Ross and his friends in 1984, courtesy of his spooky friend Ronald Lister, the ex-cop..."Ollie started buying guns...one day, he tells me that Danilo was gonna get him a grenade launcher. I said to him, 'Man, what the fuck do we need with a grenade launcher?'"...

Gary Webb, Dark Alliance, p.190

Link through Google books--

http://books.google.com/books?id=CwijfdYbkC0C&dq=%22dark+alliance%22&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=SDCoSd3xC4nKtQOut5z2Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA190,M1

[URL linked at my signature, "cabdriver"]

Friday, February 27, 2009 10:54 AM

Stunning!

What a brilliant article, neatly tying together the seemingly loose strings that time forgot. This should be a must read for any American -- espcially those who pander and those who otherwise read "all sources" of popular news.

Friday, February 27, 2009 11:05 AM

@Scomo_Oregon

In 9/11, we lost 3,000 lives, a significant chunk of GDP and the dissolution of the farce of security Americans through they enjoyed.

In Guantanamo, we lost America's reputation overseas while engaged in two difficult wars.

9/11 set us back two years. Guantanamo set us back a decade or more. I speak as a NYer.

Friday, February 27, 2009 11:07 AM

typo

through = thought.

Friday, February 27, 2009 11:34 AM

Not the same thing!

Ravachol was acting against his own government in order to change it from within. For that reason, only the comparison to McVeigh is apt. Lindh was not acting against the US from within. For all intents and purposes, he had renounced his loyalty to the US. For that reason, he should not be considered a terrorist but rather an enemy combatant.

Comparisons to bin Laden made implicitly by the letters section are even more off the mark. Bin Laden's aim is not to change the US government (although he may benefit from certain changes) but to expel US forces from Islamic countries.

I think Peter Ustinov’s remark sums up that situation best: “Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.”

Friday, February 27, 2009 11:47 AM

What goes around comes around

The following letter, from the World Trade Center bombers, appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News, March 28, 1993:

"The American people must know, that their civilians who got killed are not better than those who are getting killed by the American weapons and support. ... The American people are responsible for the actions of their government and they must question all of the crimes that their government is committing against other people, or they--Americans--will be the targets of our operations that could diminish them."

In 1986, 4 veterans fasted on the Capital steps in opposition to President Reagan's brutal war against the peasants of Nicaragua. Their slogan: "We are not worth more; they are not worth less."

Have we waked up to the fact that we Americans are not history's ultimate achievement? It's too early to tell. The neocons are still out there.

Friday, February 27, 2009 11:51 AM

the idea that terrorism "doesn't work" is part of our mythology, like how we never negotiate with terrorists ....

the terrorism of the Beruit baracks bombing got us out of Lebanon in the 1980's

09/11 got our installations removed from Saudi territory which was one of Al Qaeda's top demands

Terrorism made Yasser Arafat the voice of the Palestinian people

Terrorism is a tactic -- not to be confused with any specific movement or idiology.Terrorism sends a message that "we're serious" and "we're capable" --- fear us, respect us, acknowlege us.

Gilles Keppel has a new book out that I haven't seen but have read some reviews of (amazon link on my name). His theses a few years ago was that the influence of Jihad and Radical Islamic Fundamentalism were waning and would continue to wane UNLESS they succeeded somewhere, anywhere, to match or exceed their success in Afghanistan with the Taliban. That the popular appetite for terrorism and martydom would wane without tangible broader "results."

Keppel, who is French, writes from a European/French perspective. He believe the "war on terror" is subtefuge for more mundane American global ambitions and that Al-Qaeda's terrorist act are intended to promote their greater ambition of unifying and strengthening global Islam (against the infidel), unfortunately Islam remains factionalized and in internal war.

The anarchists could not unify sufficiently to create a broader movement/mandate either.

Trivializing or scoffing at terrorism as a tactic is a big mistake ... As various American militias are being called back into being and Hannity polls opinions on "revolution" ... Remember Oklahoma City, remember Waco and remember the Weatherman, the Symbionese Liberation Army ... and even Rev. Jim Jones and Jonestown. Remember the Haymarket Riots, the Pinkertons and the Ludlow Massacre ...oh, and COINTELPRO.

The tactic of terrorism is hardly confined to "insurgent factions" -- the establishment uses it often enough.

Keppel's book sounds fascinating -- link on my name

Friday, February 27, 2009 12:14 PM

The reign of terror began in Europe a thousand years ago.

The Dominicans set up the Inquisition to prosecute all opposition to the autocratic rule of the pope. They put merchants to the stake & confiscated their possesssions. They prosecuted Galileo because he discovered with his telescope that the heavenly bodies, the planets including earth rotated around the sun. The pope did not like that because he knew that the earth was flat. 'The Holy Office' also put many protestatants & women to the stake. Midwives were offent targeted because they were wise about women's business & presented a significant challenge to priests & the church because they knew about herbs & the way the natural world actually is. If you really want to know the truth about terrorism read "The Inquisition, Michael Baigent & Richard Leigh." The Spanish Inquisition was set up specifically to eliminate Jews & drive the Moslems out of Spain & take over their properties. Free-thinkers of all kinds were burned at the stake. Joan of Arc was BBQed because she 'heard voices' they said she must be a witch. Joan was simply a gifted freedom fighter. The Roman Catholic church still owns a lot of property that was paid for with the blood of the innocent. The Nazis just carried on that legacy. The Inquisition still exists as 'The Congregation for the doctrine of the faith' so be afraid. The Christian faith is based on fear. People raised in nominally Christian countries have be brought up to belief they are sinful & only god can forgive them but there are other options out there.

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