Race, Anarchy, and Punk Rock
Otto Nomous | 31.03.2001 02:12
The following essay was the handout for the workshop of the same title at the SF Bay Area Anarchist Conference 2001 in March, which was added due to the fact there wasn't a single workshop/discussion on the issue of race/diversity in the schedule of the conference. 
http://www.infoshop.org/rants/race_punk_rock.html
http://www.infoshop.org/rants/race_punk_rock.html
Otto Nomous
e-mail:
soydog@hotmail.com
Homepage:
http://www.infoshop.org/rants/race_punk_rock.html
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Talk about anarchy!
31.03.2001 07:16
MARCH 30
FRANCISCO GOYA
Politically persecuted painter of the disasters of war.
1282 - Sicilian Vespers Massacre: Sicilians launch a
successful revolt against the French occupation with a riot
at a Palermo church, killing 2000 on the first day.
1746 - Spanish painter Francisco Goya lives.
1844 - Poet Paul Verlaine (“Bonheur; Elegies”) lives, Metz,
France.
1869 - Anarchist writer/activist Emma Goldman lives,
Kaunas, Lithuania.
1880 - Sean O'Casey lives. Irish playwright renowned for
realistic dramas of the Dublin slums in war & revolution,
in which tragedy & comedy are juxtaposed.
1900 - Nicolas Faucier lives, in Orleans. French anarchist,
trade unionist & pacifist. Ran the bookshop "La librairie
sociale," & with Louis Lecoin formed the "Comité pour
l'Espagne libre," (later the SIA [solidarité internationale
antifasciste]) & did a couple stints in prison for his
anti- war activities. See “Anarchist Encyclopedia” page,
1915 - Francisco Sabate (El Quico), Spanish anarchist
guerilla extraordinaire, lives, in Barcelona.
See “Anarchist Encyclopedia” page,
1919 - India: Closure of shops in protest against Rowlatt
Bills begins, New Delhi.
1928 - Carl Solomon lives, Bronx, New York.
“who threw potato salad at CCNY lecturers on Dadaism &
subsequently presented themselves on the granite steps of
the madhouse with shaven heads & harlequin speech of
suicide, demanding instantaneous lobotomy ..."
---From 'Howl (for Carl Solomon)' by Allen Ginsberg
1930 -- US: Price of "Progress"? The New-Kanawha
Power Company breaks ground on the Hawks Nest
Tunnel & Dam, part of the New River power project,
with an estimated 800 men employed.
Over the next five years, at least 476 workers,
mostly migrant blacks from the South, die from
silicosis. Some of the dead are buried in a mass
grave to hide the actual number of casualties.
1934 -- US: Native Rights activist Janet McCloud lives,
Tulalip reservation in Washington state.
Descended from the Chief Seattle family.
The Tulalip comes from fishing people &
their legends are linked to salmon.
Salmon to the Tulalip are like corn to the
Iroquois, or buffalo to the Sioux. She
became a political activist for threatened
Native Fishing Rights.
1945 - Ezra Pound is turned over to the American Army by
Italian partisans.
After being imprisoned for several weeks
in Genoa, he is transferred to solitary confinement in an
outdoor wire cage near Pisa. Meanwhile the US
government is reahabbing Nazi's (especially police & spies)
all over Europe & helping others escape to South America
& the US with new identities.
1967 - Australia: Gurindji people occupy part of Wave Hill
Station, Northern Territory.
1968 - Italy: Independently conducted Fiat strike of all
100,000 workers leads to new forms of independent struggle
nationwide in '68-'69.
1970 - After years of struggle and a nationwide boycott,
the United Farm Workers sign the first table-grape contract
with two of California's largest grape growers.
1972 - Great Britain imposes direct rule on Northern
Ireland.
1978 - Philippines: 10,000 demonstrate against Marcos.
1980 - Henry Poulaille dies.
French author, anarchist, director of éditions Grasset,
where he published proletarian authors, & the journal
"Le nouvel âge littéraire," promoting worker literature
& gained him the enmity of the Communist Party.
Founded "Le musée du soir", for reading, meeting &
debating. Jailed for signing Louis Lecoin's
anti-war leaflet, "Paix immédiat". Founded the proletarian
review "Maintenant". Wrote numerous novels, often
autobiographical, “Le pain quotidien” (1931); “Les damnés
de la terre” (1935); “Pain de soldat” (1937); “Seul dans la
vie à 14 ans” (1980), etc.
1982 - West Germany: 80,000 demonstrate against nuclear
power, Wackersdorf.
1991 -- NY Times editorial today claims:
"America's victory in the Persian Gulf war...provided
special vindication for the US Army, which brilliantly
exploited its firepower & mobility & in the process
erased memories of its grievous difficulties in Vietnam."
Black poet June Jordan, like many other Americans,
thought otherwise:
"I suggest to you it's a hit the
same way that crack is, & it
doesn't last long."
1996 - First annual Bay Area Anarchist Book Festival held.
1996 - US: 500 march in Sunnyside, Washington in a
United Farm Workers-sponsored commemoration of
Cesar Chavez.
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If we feel the least degradation in being amorous, or
merry or hungry, or sleepy, we are so far bad animals
& miserable men.
-- William Morris
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