May 11, 2011

Between the Zeal of the Young and the Patience of the Old: Reflections on Seattle’s Recent Upheavals Against Police Brutality

The following comes form friends at the Black Orchid Collective. While the article is particular to recent concersn and questions of orgaizing and strategy in Seattle, teher are broader dimenersions relevant to a range of the varied autonomous and radical anti-system organizing, including approaches to anti-racist and anti-fascist activity.

From the article,
"On February 15 2011, Seattle Police officer Ian Birk was let off the hook for the murder of Native carver J. T. Williams. On August 30 2010, officer Ian Birk had shot the partially deaf woodcarver 5 times within 4 seconds of ordering him to put down what was a closed, legal 3 inch carving knife that Williams used to produce his art. While Ian Birk wisely resigned from office, he will not be charged with murder. The news spread fast among the people of Seattle reaching network after network, individual after individual...

The 6 pm rally Facebook call was initiated by an anonymous individual, but it soon went viral with thousands of people invited. When someone asked who was leading it, an organizer responded, 'At this point, everyone'...

Questions run the gamut: Should we organize multi-racially and if so, how? Is leadership necessary, and if so what kind? What is the role of organization(s), if any? How do we build and maintain movements that can ensure killer cops don’t get away scot-free, and how does this relate to goals of bringing about revolutionary change? Should our actions be violent or non-violent? No one has perfect answers, but we are all learning fast by struggling with these questions."

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