Visit the PE web store!

PROFANE EXISTENCE has a web store filled with records, shirts, zines, tapes, patches, pins, CD's and more. Check it often as we are constantly adding new items to the list and selling out of old ones.

Visit the PE web store at:
http://profaneexistence.storenvy.com

Archive For

0 OPPOSITION RISING – DISASTER STRIKES – US TOUR 2014!

June 29, 2014
by OPPOSITION RISING
· Events · On Tour · PE Events

OPPOSITION RISING – DISASTER STRIKES – US TOUR 2014!

07/10 Buffalo, NY @ The Lair
07/11 Detroit, MI @ Trumbullplex
07/12 Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge – GOONFEST
07/13 Cherry Valley, IL @ Take 20 (2-6pm)
07/13 Madison, WI @ The Vault
07/14 Minneapolis, MN @ Memory Lanes
07/15 Fargo, ND @ New Direction
07/16 Missoula, MT @ Stage 112
07/17 Seattle, WA @ F.B.K.
07/18 Portland, OR @ Slabtown
07/19 Eugene, OR @ Black Forest
07/20 Eureka, CA @ Ink Annex
07/21 Reno, NV @ Ground Zero
07/22 Richmond, CA @ Burnt Ramen
07/23 Sacramento, CA @ The Colony
07/ 24 Long Beach, CA @ Di Piazzas
07/25 Hemet, CA @ The Wheelhouse
07/26 San Diego, CA @ The Yard At Stronghold
07/27 Tempe, AZ @ Yucca Tap Room
07/28 Flagstaff, AZ @ Taala Hooghan Infoshop
07/29 Albuquerque, NM @ The Launchpad
07/30 Denver, CO @ Seventh Circle Music Collective
07/31 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kafeneio Coffeehouse (without DS)

TOUR EVENT PAGE
https://www.facebook.com/events/651054721641985/

0 Big Day For The Struggle Against Ongoing Colonialism

June 26, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Columns · News · PE Web Zine

by Comrade Black

Today has been a big day for those interested in or involved in Indigenous resistance and anti-colonial struggle. It is also a good reminder of how much work remains to be done.

In an interesting symbolic gesture, the city council of Vancouver voted to formally acknowledge that the land which the city is built on is stolen Indigenous lands that remain unceded. This means that no settlement or land treaties were ever made for the territories; and that the city council is now recognizing the Indigenous people have never given up their sovereignty to the land which Vancouver now occupies. In many respects while this move is only a symbolic gesture, many consider it an important first step down the road to ending colonialism. Yet the mayor of the city went out of his way to make it clear the gesture was entirely symbolic and “wouldn’t effect land owners.” So don’t worry, the white supremacist colonial systems and the institution of property are still intact. I am also reminded that when the Occupy Movement was on the rise a few years back, that even this type of symbolic gesture was considered too much by many of the white activists who were occupying already occupied lands for their own struggles.

In what I hope is a more meaningful act, the Supreme Court of Canada – one of the most powerful bodies that make up the nation state -has ruled in favor of the Tsilhqot’in Nation who have been fighting for legal recognition of their Aboriginal title over their traditional lands. The Tsilhqot’in are a Indigenous nation in what is now called Norther BC in the colonial tongue. For those unfamiliar with the history of BC, colonial settlement began here in the early to mid 1800’s, and when the province became part of the Canadian nation state, there still remained almost no treaties between any of the Indigenous Nations and the colonists. This was a violation of both the British colonial laws for settlement, as well as the laws of the new Canadian nation state. In 1862 Small pox broke out through much of the territories desired by the settlers, radically reducing Indigenous populations to only a small fraction of their previous numbers, which allowed for the colonists to usurp the governance of those lands and settle areas which only months before had been inhabited by Indigenous villages. Many Tsilhqo’tin have always stated that the small pox was brought to them as an intentional act of genocide, and the recent work of author Tom Swanky appears to confirm their story. Today’s court ruling doesn’t go as far as acknowledging that the theft took place through an intentional act of genocide, but it does give a place to begin, and gives much greater legal clout to the Tsilhqot’in in future matters pertaining to their lands, waters, and any potential resource extraction. ‘It only took 150 years, but we look forward to a much brighter future. ” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip in one statement.

This decision also sets a legal precedent that other Indigenous Nations may be able to use in their own land claims and challenges to the state; including possible avenues for those seeking to stop pipelines, mining, fish farms, and other exploitation of the land and animals by industry.

Also in the news today, two of the Mi’kmaq warriors who faced off with police to stop fracking for shale gas in their territories have been convicted of weapons charges, but were also found not guilty of many other charges including throwing molotovs and multiple charges of assault on police. In October of last year Germain Junior Breau and Aaron Francis took part in armed the standoff facing off with violent police. Both men have been remanded since October, and will remain there until their sentencing hearing on July 25 at 10 a.m. Breau also still faces another charge of obstruction a police officer.

Resistance to fracking, pipelines, and other resource extraction will only continue to grow, as will repression by the state of Indigenous land defenders and any other groups which challenge state and corporate interests in a meaningful way. We need to support those who are inprisoned for their actions to defend the land, animals, and other people. The warriors from Elispogtog, as well as other long time Indigenous prisoners such as John Graham, Oso Blanco, and Leonard Peltier need our continuing support, as do the various other movement prisoners who have risked their lives and freedom to stop this monster.

I would like to end off by posing a few questions directed towards any non-Indigenous (settler) readers; questions I have been reflecting on myself for a few years.
For those of us who do not recognize the state as legitimate and dream of a world without nation states, capitalism and industrialism; how will we engage with the history which brought us to this place?
If we ever succeed in taking down the monster, the Leviathan, in overthrowing the state will we continue to ignore the terms of settlement negotiated in the previous treaties (where they exist) as the state has done before us?
Will we continue the colonial legacy of occupation and white supremacy that the state was birthed from?
What will the treaties signed between the Nation States and Indigenous Nations mean to the decedents of the colonists who wrote them once the Nation State no longer exists?
If we were to negotiate new terms of relationship, how would we do so while still recognizing the imbalances from which those negotiations begin?
Will Anarchists return lands stolen by our ancestors and recognize sovereignty?
Will we leave a particular territory if we are asked by those who have lived there since time and memorial? Or will we continue to act with entitlement once our common enemy has been defeated?

It’s easy to call ourselves allies, and to claim solidarity in our current context – but what happens when the context has changed and the systems mutually oppress all of us have been overthrown – yet other systems of oppression that may benefit us at anothers expense still exist? If we truly seek to be in actual solidarity instead of just claiming we are, than these are questions we need to be asking ourselves and each other. It would be easy for anarchists such as myself to simply delare that since the treaties were agreements made on our behalf without our involvement by the nation state which we have denounced and declared our enemy, and that we reject their laws as well as the very concept of law – that those treaties do not apply to us. However to do so would be to continue in path set out for us by the existing the legacy of colonialism. If we truly seek to be allies, or accomplices, than we need to figure out how to position ourselves so that our actions and contributions will lead to a future that is different from our current structures in meaningful ways. A world where we don’t dictate the conditions to Indigenous peoples, or benefit from their subjugation and their displacement. Whether we are anarchists, punks, crusties, vegans, animal liberationists, straightedgers, or whatever; we need to answer difficult questions like this in order to ever hope to see a world where our resistance will actually lead to real freedom from oppression and exploitation.

0 Divided we beg 1.5

June 22, 2014
by karlthemarl
· Uncategorized

So seeing as the last article was something more along the lines of an introduction. I thought I would dive right in and give something more like a proper first. I want to lay a solid foundation, so I am going to deal with the issue of labor law right off the bat.

So the primary law governing labor activism in the United States ( the body of law I am most familiar with ) is the National Labor Relations Act, commonly referred to as the Wagner Act. The law is without a doubt intended to restrict our rights as workers especially since it was amended in 1947 by a piece of legislation known as the Taft Hartley Act. That piece of legislation was a response to a militant strike wave that threatened the ability of corporations and capitalist institutions to govern profitably. Understanding this from the outset does not mean we can realistically ignore the law, any more then it means we have to helplessly and futilely obey it. It just means knowing what we can do legally and what we are not supposed to do, as well as what your boss can and cannot do legally. But be aware, if he/she is threatened, make no mistake, your boss will be prepared to break laws to achieve his/her objectives.

So what is the significance of the NLRA? What many labor activists throughout history recognized is that the difference between slave labor and free labor hinged on the right to strike. The right to refuse work. If you are unable to refuse work then a situation exists no different then involuntary servitude. Hence the frequent reference to wage slavery by labor movements even prior to the US Civil War. But just being able to quit your job has no meaning if that means you substitute one horrible boss for another. The ability to quit work only has meaning collectively as that is the only way to effect a company or employer. The NLRA acknowledged this in law and so recognized the right to strike. It was a piece of legislation that merely rubberstamped what the workers at the time had essentially already legalized in practice, through many mass strikes. The intent was to concede just enough to prevent revolution. Just after World War II, and during, workers were striking on a mass scale again. This time Congress sought to reign that activity in by passing legislation to restrict strike activity. All of this legislation is still in effect today. Which means our strengths and weaknesses are still institutionalized in current labor law.

The key language in the NLRA for our purposes is section 7 a which states that
“employees shall have the right to self organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective-bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment as authorized in section 8 a 3 ”
The issue here is that workers with or without a union, in any workplace, has the right to organize and take actions ( strikes etc ) and cannot be retaliated against. In theory at least. But subsequent legislation and court decisions have severely restricted these basic rights. For one thing, striking in sympathy with another group of workers at a different company is not protected by law. Though many have done just this and won, it has been in spite of courts that they have had their victories. Certain picketline activity is unprotected, such as mass pickets that physically prevent strikebreakers from going to work. Though again, many have used this tactic and won. Again in spite of the courts.

Other activities have also been restricted. Deliberate slowdowns have been found by courts to be unprotected. And again, see above. Do you detect a theme here? We cannot rely on courts to protect our rights. We have to get knowledgeable about what those rights are, and vigilantly defend them against unjust laws that have amended them to the point of being meaningless.

So what are the restrictions on employers? For one ,they, by law anyway, cannot retaliate against you for participating in or initiating actions to improve wages or conditions of work. This applies to union and nonunion alike. It is known as concerted protected activities. Leafleting, meetings, strikes, demonstrations all fall within this concerted protected activities category. They cannot knowingly Institute any kind of surveillance or otherwise try to control or influence a group of workers wanting to organize. We all know that without a force capable of enforcing the law on bosses, the law goes unrespected. So on to our next topic.

What sort of tactics do employers use to squash attempts by workers to improve their lot? Number one, divide and conquer. They like to create a segment of the workforce that is loyal to management, and use that force to create fear and dissent amongst and between those that want to organize and those who are undecided. They often like to back this up with discipline against labor activists and/ or promises to improve the situation of undecided workers. One common tactic is the ” captive audience meeting “, in which the employer brings everybody together to either scare and intimidate, or to build sympathy towards management. Most employer tactics fall under the categories of the carrot or the stick.

So how do you respond to these tactics? In a word, intensifying activity. People do not organize for the sake of organization, actions organize people. A strike is not just an event, it is an organization. Actions that neutralize the employer’s ability to discipline can take the stick away from him/her. And if that carrot is too small, our actions can make the boss come back with a bigger carrot. If after a leafleting action one activist is written up for a petty offense in retaliation, a group of workers can respond with a two hour strike for instance. Making it known that retaliation will not be tolerated. This lays the groundwork for future actions. You have to judge the forces at hand, and work hard at building those forces continuously in order to pull off progressively more daring actions. But that topic is for a future article.

So in conclusion, there is law on the books that is useful, if severely limiting. But we need to know it. And we need to know how to and how not to use it. We need to be organized enough to at least defend these minimum rights if we are to advance towards bolder ones. Punks can play an important role since we are not predisposed ,on the average, to taking the bosses word for it. My next article will cover the issue of building a core organization at the workplace capable of at least enforcing minimum rights. So bear with me. Cheers and solidarity!!!

0 So if this is the situation, what can we do about it? Divided We Beg #1

June 22, 2014
by karlthemarl
· Uncategorized

Over the past twenty years a lot has happened in the world of work, and by extension the labor movement. We can use the passage of NAFTA as a convenient marker to assess where we are at currently, since the Zapatistas wisely understood that things would never be the same. I won’t be going over the history since that event, but will merely give a brief overview of some issues that have developed since then that directly affects the punk community and why I think punk and labor issues are related, thereby (hopefully) justifying why a punk labor column is needed.

Firstly, all the avenues the punk scene had created for itself to refuse wage labor, or at least provide a basis for struggling to resist the worst aspects, have one by one been narrowing or closing all together. From the institutional schemes ( unemployment benefits, welfare, student grants etc.) to the autonomous DIY ones ( labels, bands, squats etc.), “the scene” has been torn apart and restructured just as much and in parallel ways to industry and society as a whole. So the punk scene is being forced out of it’s enclave ( an enclave not without it’s problems ) and into the labor market. That is not to say that punks were not “in” that market before, but if many a song were any indication, it was obvious that a job was a necessary evil at best, and one to be avoided if it were possible at all. And many found ways. But neoliberalism has changed the game on us. From a potentially liberatory file-sharing phenomenon, Napster ,through the courts had become a means of attacking one of the pillars of our communities’ infrastructure. The independent labels. Once central institutions capable of coordinating ( along with zines, clubs etc ) our activities, today it is more and more difficult to financially sustain them, with the predictable effect of less new labels being formed on the old models, and more existing ones being either driven out or coopted. New, effective models have yet to be found to counter and overcome these attacks.

Secondly, punk has always had a militant direct action strain that the labor movement could sure as hell learn something from if it wants to actually achieve any of it’s goals and demands and not just sit atop it’s rhetoric. It is clear that the capitalists have no interest in negotiating with a “partner” or loyal opposition, so that route is a dead end from the start. Labor leaders who try to sell negotiations and compromises are already obsolete. What we need to look to are models like Earth First!, the old IWW and direct actions today that are providing models of how to win, by any means necessary. What strike tactics are effective in shutting down production? How can a small group of workers on a job make the greatest impact in slowing production to a trickle? How can we build solidarity with groups outside our workplace, in the community, so we are a political ( not in terms of elections, but in terms of the power to make sure all hell breaks loose if we are screwed ) force. These are questions we need to be asking if we are to build the kind of world we want to live in.

So with that said, I’d like to move on to a more positive note. Obviously, it’s not all doom and gloom. People ARE resisting. Maybe it hasn’t reached the point of critical mass on the social level, but there are plenty of local examples right now to point to. One of the most significant, in my opinion, are the recent waves of fast-food strikes. Really taking off in 2012, these strikes are momentous for what they signify. One section of the working class that has been used as a threat against the established and more powerful sectors of the class ( “Don’t lose your factory job or you could be flipping burgers” ) has increasingly been refusing to play that role any longer. This signals to the corporations that the old game won’t work any more. If nothing would be the same for us after NAFTA, then nothing would be the same for them after these strikes. Several companies have acknowledged that they have been effective, and though none have actually achieved the demand of “$15/hr and a union” yet, several cities have been forced to consider giving in by raising the minimum wage. And the movement does not look to be withering anytime soon. These developments directly involve the punk scene since no doubt some of our brothers and sisters will have been involved directly or indirectly, and so we should be keeping our eyes on expanding and supporting their efforts, as well as initiating more of our own.

So, in the future I will be writing some articles on practical nuts and bolts issues for punks who want to organize at work. Topics such as how to organize to win specific grievances. effective tactics and structures. Legalities and theory, etc. Hopefully my writing will improve with time. I would greatly appreciate any correspondence and feedback going into this. Cheers and Solidarity!

0 Dirty Kid Discount!!! Featured on Newnoisemagazine.com

June 19, 2014
by jaycrash666
· Uncategorized

Dirty Kid Discount!!!! Featured on Newnoisemagazine.com

http://newnoisemagazine.com/photos-dirty-kid-discount-rats-wall-slabtown-portland/#!prettyPhoto

1 Blown Away: Guns & “Random” Mass Shootings – An Interview With John Zerzan

June 13, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Uncategorized

In recent weeks there have been a number of mass shootings throughout North America which is becoming increasingly normalized in modern society. John Zerzan has written and spoken extensively about the phenomenon of shootings, never shying away from the difficult subjects and questions that many others actively avoid.

Interview by Comrade Black

John Zerzan (right) with PE writer Comrade Black (post-Left)

PE: I remember you once saying on your radio show that when the media talks about mass shootings they use a set of buzz words and often present it as though these acts are incomprehensible. Can you explain what you meant and why this is problematic?

Zerzan: First, let me say that my focus has been on the unprecedented rise in what are commonly called “random” multiple shooting; those that, as you say, are presented as incomprehensible. Of course they are not incomprehensible and speak to the nature of modern mass society. They are deeply symptomatic of the growing isolation, a product of the disappearance of community. Society becomes rapidly more technological and – contrary to the propaganda claims of the tech agenda – people are ever more adrift and lonely. With less and less to hang on to unspeakable things happen.

PE: Often mass shootings get blamed on mental health, yet many of these killers had no history of known mental illness?

Zerzan: Yes, most of the shooters have no history of mental illness. More often one reads what has become a kind of cliche description: ‘he was the quietest guy, very nice, never missed work or made trouble, etc’

PE: A while back there was an article about kids being bored by mass shootings. Do you think they have become part of the spectacle? Or are they the cracks?

Zerzan: It’s possible that as these multiple homicide acts become almost daily occurrences events they are tuned out or even become boring. Think what else is routinely tuned among the common horrors of civilization…

PE: I saw a feminist blogger recently write that all these shootings have one thing in common, that the perpetrators are all men. What’s your take?

Zerzan: Not all the shooters are male. A horrible part of of the phenomenon in recent years has been family slaughters, including mothers murdering their children.

PE: I have heard you say that mass shootings are a phenomenon that appears to be unique to both the modern times and certain parts of the world? What is the connection between privilege and this type of violent act?

Zerzan: Roughly speaking, these rampage killings happen in the more technological societies and are spreading from the US to other technologically advanced countries. Thus one wonders how ‘advanced’ or ‘privileged’ these places really are. In terms of individuals it is less often poorer people committing theses acts, more likely white suburbanites, with some exceptions.

PE: Ever since Chris Dorner opened fire killing a couple cops, more people are beginning to target the police. As an anarchist, what do you make of this?

Zerzan: Police brutality and the militarization of the cops seems to be increasing. So, not a big surprise that more folks would strike back.

PE: Another interesting aspect of the more recent shootings, starting with Dorner – is that the killers used facebook or other social media to post statements before committing their killings. I am certain this will justify increased profiling and surveilence. What’s your thoughts on this?

Zerzan: Social media usage is of course extremely widespread so we see more use of it by shooters e.g. the Isla Vista killer recently.

PE: Layla AbdelRahim writes about how politeness and manners are a form of civilized violence that helps to hide the violence of our society. We live in a horribly violent culture that pretends the violence doesn’t exist; what do you make of these outbursts of very public violence in the spectacle of polite society?

Zerzan: Layla refers to how domestication represses the violence, if less effectively these days, eh? The violence is less hidden than ever but denial reigns and the ‘solutions’ put forth are very superficial. For example, gun control laws which miss the basic reality. That is, guns have always been very prevalent in this country, since colonial times in fact. But the shooting rampages as a common phenomenon is quite recent historically. A year before Adam Lanza killed twenty-some children at a school in Connecticut he called Anarchy Radio to tell of a chimpanzee who attacked its owner. The chimp had been dressed in human clothes, fed human food, provided with TV – and snapped because of the degrading domestication it was subject to. The bitter irony was that Lanza himself snapped and killed two dozen people about a year later.

PE: When Ted Kazcinski was arrested as the Unabomber, you wrote him letters and visited him in jail; how do his acts of violence differ from these others? Is it simple a difference in ideology?What can we learn from “Uncle Ted’s” actions?

Zerzan: Kaczynski’s acts were in no way random. They were part of an exclusively anti-technology campaign.

PE: Is there a connection between how we as a society treat animals and the land with this type of violence?

Zerzan: I think it’s quite reasonable to see the mass cruelty of industrialized agriculture – to use a big example of how animals are treated – as cheapening life in general and thus contributing to these explosions of violence among humans.

PE: I remember when the Columbine shooting happened which seemed to be one of the first; followed by another highschool shooting in Taber Alberta not far from where I grew up only a week or two later. As a kid in a highscool that was tormented and bullied nearly to the point of committing suicide myself; having a couple kids pick up guns and shoot back was something I paid close attention to. But things didn’t seem to get better in the aftermath, rather kids like me were treated like we were all potential psychopaths and nothing else really changed.

Zerzan: Bullying is one triggering factor in some of the mass killings. But bullying is nothing new whereas there is something unprecedented going on as mass society shows such pathologies. I went to a rough high school where, in addition to beatings by some of the priests, there was a fair degree of bullying. No-one brought a gun to school and started blowing folks away.

PE: Fredy Perlman described civilization as a monster that keeps growing and consuming, while telling the story of people who either resisted by running away until the monster caught up to them or by fighting back – often becoming more like the monster they resisted in order to stop it until it collapsed and they took it’s place as the new monster. How do we resist without becoming recuperated into the machine we seek to destroy?

Zerzan: Civilization must be attacked at a deep enough level to hit its target. Activism that lacks critique, lacks a qualitatively different vision or paradigm is doomed to be quite limited in my opinion. This means, among other things, that we must not shrink from embracing property destruction, which is hard to co-opt.

PE: You have argued that technology alienates us further. Are these shootings a symptom individualism? Capitalism? Lack of nature? Or something else?

Zerzan: It’s all these things even if technology is major – and generally overlooked. Domination is a totality and needs to be seen as such to avoid single-issue reformism.

As Adorno put it, in terms of causes: “It is idle to search for what might have been a cause within a monolithic society. Only that society itself remains the cause.”

PE: You have written about hope, where as the trend seems to be moving towards nihilism. Where do you find hope in times like these?

Zerzan: I am hopeful because I see the energy of resistance alive in many places. It has not gone away. And because I think that the system of domination is actually quite hollow and weak. It is plainly losing the allegiance of many on many levels, has no answers to the myriad problems it has created.

Cover of _Origins: A John Zerzan Reader_, 2010 Cover of _Future Primitive Revisited_ Cover of _Twilight of the Machines_, 2008 Cover of _Running on Emptiness_, 2002 Cover of _Future Primitive and Other Essays_, 1994 Cover of _Against Civilization_, 1999 Cover of _Elements of Refusal_, 1988

If you are interested in more of John Zerzan’s work check out his radio show Anarchy Radio, live every tuesday at 7pm PST. You can also read many of his writings at: http://www.johnzerzan.net/articles/

0 Doomed Society Radio #91 Is Here

June 10, 2014
by damieninbred
· Doomed Society · PE Web Zine · Podcasts · Radness

doomedsociety91

I’m back in Calgary after an excellent trip to California. And since I’m back, I decided it was time to bring forth a brain-spankin’ new episode of my crappy podcast, Doomed Society (which you can catch streamin’ every Sunday at 4pm EST over at Brutal Existence Radio!)!

And lemme say… this might be my favorite episode yet. I’ve got a wide variety of filth for you. A “Celtic Crust” set, a post-punk set, an East Coast 90s set, plus the usual crust and anarchopunk you’ve come to expect.

So please! Have a look, and download the latest episode! Oh, and tell all of your friends… especially those who hate punk. I find that sort of thing funny. Tee hee.

Love,
Damien

GO FORTH AND GET IT HERE

2 From Cow Shit to Capitalist Pricks : Business of Abuse as Usual in the Dairy Industry

June 10, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Columns · News · PE Web Zine

by Comrade Black

I don’t know why everyone is claiming to be “so shocked” by what was found in the recent Mercy For Animals investigation into the dairy industry. There is nothing shocking going on, all of this is standard practice in industrial farming.

It also bugs me that the employees are being scapegoated; I mean, I am not defending what they did but I hear person after person on the radio saying how they should be charged and we need more harsher animal welfare laws. Yet there is nothing unique about what they dd it is common practice in animal agriculture .

There were open sores on the animals, and yet the owners of the farm claimed to also be shocked and not know what was going on. I mean, I guess if I was the owner, I would probably tell the media that too. But lets not be stupid here, they knew. So the employees are fired, and might be charged – but the industry continues milking on, the owners continue to profit from this, and the cattle will still be milked tomorrow. The employees were fired, how will them being charged help the animals they abused?

They keep saying we need more animal welfare laws, stricter laws and more punishment. But we have animal welfare laws right now which clearly don’t work as one investigation after another, in one animal industry after another shows the same patterns of abuse. How will having more laws make a difference when people just ignore them anyways. This is a standard response; when the thing they refuse to question is proven to not be working, the response is to call for more of that thing. More laws cause the laws don’t work. More people jailed, and of course it isn’t the owners of the farms sitting behind bars, it never is. Meanwhile in the USA industry has been trying to lobby politicians to pass Ag-Gag laws that would criminalize this type of investigations to hide their abuses even more.

I grew up on a small family run beef and dairy farm in the prairies. This goes far deeper and is far more wide spread than 8 workers at one farm in BC. This is not about a couple bad apples, it is a bad industry.

When they say we need more animal welfare laws, stricter, what they are saying is the first priority is making sure the dairy industry can continue to use animals for capitalist gain. Never question the existence of the institution, only the minutiae of how it works.

0 La Armada official Release show this saturday 6/14

June 9, 2014
by armadahardcore
· PE Events

Not skipping a beat since being back from tour “La Armada” is hosting their Release show for the “Crisis EP” this Saturday the 14th at Prosper Skate Park with some south side Chicago Staples like Sin Orden, Animalia, Brick Assasin and new comers Foreign Policy. Don’t be an asshole, go support if you’re in the area.

0 Rise of the Fit Punks…Will

June 6, 2014
by stinkbot
· Columns · Features · Uncategorized

P.E. How long have you been lifting weights?

Will: Well I’ve been going to the gym regularly since I was about 17 and my routines always involved some kind of weight training but I did not focus primarily on serious lifting until four years ago.

P.E. How did you get into fitness?

Will: Honestly? Poor body image. Like a lot of punks, I was something of a misfit throughout grade school and middle school. I ate poorly, never left the house and primarily just wanted to play video games and be left alone. I was pretty big in middle school and drank and partied a lot through high school. I knew I was entering the prime of my physical health and I just hated the way I looked with my shirt off; I had to change something. Switching to vegetarianism helped quite a bit but I was embarrassed to go to the gym. I thought it would be very “un-punk” of me. But once I got over myself and started doing something personally rewarding, it slowly became a larger and larger piece of who I am.

Page 1 of 2

The legendary crust classic is now available once again!

We are happy to announce our next new release

WILT – “Self Titled”

Here is a track from the upcoming LP

“Sermon for the Bootlickers”

STORM OF SEDITION – “Decivilize” LP

Are you prepared to brave the storm?…

Comes with a 12 page booklet containing lyrics, notes, and song explanations.

-CLICK HERE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION-

STORM OF SEDITION WILL TOURING THE WEST COAST THIS SUMMER!!!

Keep you eye’s peeled for a list of tour dates soon!

Listen to the song “Disconnect” here…

Living a domesticated existence
Starves people of meaning in their lives
Everyone feels the void beneath the surface
Of everyday activities and routines