"Summer of Rage" and the G20

Police in Britain are preparing for recession riots this summer and aggressive protests against the meeting of the G20, which they are calling a "summer of rage". Well said.

...middle-class individuals who would never have considered joining demonstrations may now seek to vent their anger through protests this year.

...banks, particularly those that still pay large bonuses despite receiving billions in taxpayer money, had become "viable targets". So too had the headquarters of multinational companies and other financial institutions in the City which are being blamed for the financial crisis.

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Also, check out the local response to the coming rebellion: Preparing the military to restore order.

Our Riot History: Watts

The Watts riots where the first major black riot of the 60's. Sparked by rumor of police brutality, it opened the flood gates to decades of anger and longings for freedom. While most in the establishment saw Watts as the "dregs of society gone out of control", the participants and politically astute saw it as a political protest and tactical guerilla warfare.

What we don’t remember, what many of us never really considered, was that this was a mass political action that had no leaders, no apologists, no internal critics. The Watts riot was a spontaneous act of a people who had been oppressed, emasculated and impoverished for too long.

The riot was a rebellion, a naturally formed revolution, an unconscious expression of a people who had lived entire lives, many generations, in a state of enforced unconsciousness. It was about people who were poor and undereducated, people who had no motherland or mother tongue or even a history as far as most of them knew. (From "What We Forgot About Watts" below)

The result was too many dead and arrested, but also worldwide publicity to the problems of blacks in inner-cities, local empowerment and politicalization, and immediate local government action to address grievances.

Please read more:

What We Forgot About Watts

Here is a synopsis of the goings on.

White French guys chime in

The Watts Rebellion at 40

Also go see the documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America. It has some great first hand accounts of the riot and commentary on its connections to modern day L.A.

Update: Guadeloupe

With fear that the militant protests in Guadeloupe will spread, French President Sarkozy offers concessions to the rioters. The people of Guadeloupe and the French disenfranchised don't play. The threat of riots are real and not uncommon, and provoke a quick response from the government. We'll see if this gesture is taken as a significant step or petty nod. [read more]

Guadeloupe Rebellion against Neo Liberalism

The Caribbean Island joins the growing fed up masses (read about these militant badasses), and their brothers and sisters in Paris march in solidarity with them. Lovely.

Recession Will Lead To Rioting!

I didn't say it, this is from the mouth of former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, and while I couldn't care less about this man's opinion it is quite amusing. Zbigniew went on to add that America's rich people should start giving their money to America's poor, or else. Well done. [the link]

"Violent Extremism" in the Homeland

The new Director of National Intelligence has recently stated that the U.S. economic crisis is a bigger threat to national security than Al Qaeda. A deepening financial collapse could trigger, he said, a return to the “violent extremism” of the 1920s and 1930s. [read more]

Ooh, the prospects!







Let us give thanks to those terrorists of yore, to all the workers that gave their lives for eight hours of labor, eight hours recreation, and eight hours of rest, for dignity, and a life worth living. May we make such radical strides when our time comes, and snatch so much more out of the hands of the power wielders...no, tear it out of their hands.

Laying it On the Line Worldwide

German riot police pushes back left-wing protesters during a demonstration against a far-right march in Dresden


Anti-government protest in Madagascar have turned deadly as police opened fire on protesters killing scores


Protesters throw stones at riot police standing behind an armoured personnel carrier during a protest in Istanbul