Friday, September 4, 2009

Van Jones on rioting

The right-wing politicos have been having strokes over this Obama appointed 'green jobs' adviser for his alleged participation in Rodney King protests and riots in San Francisco. A Fox news smear piece on Jones quotes him on the riots:

"Our moment had finally come! We were righteous, fired up, weren't takin' no more!" Jones wrote. "We were one thousand strong on Market Street, with the Bay Bridge shut down in rush hour traffic and the grounds around the state building swarming with angry mobs! Our rallying cry was for justice; our demand was that the System be changed!"

Jones continued, "Yes, the Great Revolutionary Moment had at long last come. And the time, clearly, was ours! So we stole stuff. Y'know, stole stuff. Radios, tennis shoes. Well, not everybody, of course."

Jones go on to make some valid points on the place of riots, that is, amongst a larger organized movement for social justice.

In his 2007 reflection on the aftermath of King's beating, Jones said he was among those who chanted "no justice, no peace" during the "understandable, unavoidable, even necessary" riots.

"These riots were not revolution; without revolutionary values and revolutionary organization, they were merely sharp outcroppings of the systemic chaos that social injustice breeds," Jones wrote. "But flashpoints of rage can never substitute for radical social vision or grassroots coordination."

I am happy to see a man like this in our government, let there be a 1000 more like him.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Riot Fun


Tough financial times lead to...the smash and grab.





Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Anti-Pollution Riots In China

The Cost of Capitalism...

"Up to 10,000 Chinese villagers have clashed with police in eastern China in the latest incident in a wave of social unrest caused by fears over industrial pollution.

The riot in the eastern coastal province of Fujian comes a week after two high-profile cases of lead poisoning involving more than 2,100 children raised public concerns over the environmental cost of China's headlong rush for economic growth.


Read more, and still more

Monday, August 31, 2009

Riot Art


Riot - Stelios Faitakis



Riots Work! artist unknown



After the Riot - JJ Hines