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Posts By Comrade Black

0 Big Brother, eh?

May 30, 2015
by Comrade Black
· Podcasts

Big Brother, eh?

Cliquez sur « cc » pour les sous-titres en Français

This week we break Bill C-51, down Klanada’s sinister new law, that would give the Canucks increased spying powers over its population.
On the break, long standing hip-hop act Onyx, returns with “Fuck The Law.” We wrap things up with an interview with Antoine, a computer security ninja, about how we can protect ourselves from surveillance.

Download • HD (630mb) • SD (128mb) • MP3 (38mb) • OGG (75mb) • Torrent • Translate

Here’s some privacy software we like. But definitely check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s website for more info.

Open PGP – Email encryption
Pidgin or Adium (MAC OSX only) for Off the Record (OTR) chats
The Onion Router (TOR) – surf the web anonymously
CryptoCat – Secure chat from your browser
TextSecure – Encrypted SMS messages for Android
Signal – Encrypted SMS messages for IOS (iPhone, iPad)

The we used for this show is:

XOC – Super Mario World – End Credits
Etheric Double Soundsystem – We Shall Overcome
Etheric Double Soundsystem – The Obvious (Etheric Double Remix)
Public Enemy – Security of the First World
Onyx – Fuck Da Law
Moby – Mission Impossible Remix
MF Doom – Change that Beat

Some of the samples we stole are from Enemy of the State, Brazil, 1984 and Citizen Four

0 Solidarity Means Tabarnak! Quebec Students Strike Against Capitalism

April 11, 2015
by Comrade Black
· Uncategorized

https://player.vimeo.com/video/124672548?color=ff0000&title=0

Cliquez sur « cc » pour les sous-titres en Français

This week we look at the student led mobilizations that have rocked the streets of Montreal and Quebec City. From large scale marches, to occupations of university buildings to direct actions, the spring 2015 coalition has re-energized radical organizing in so called Quebec. If you want some more background on this watch “Street Politics 101” our documentary on the 2012 Quebec student strike.

Released April 11 2015 • Duration 15:01
Download HD (590mb) • MP4 (114mb) • OGG (66mb) • MP3 (34 mb) • Torrent • Translate

sublogo

Playlist
1. x0c – Super Mario World End Credits

2. Le Tabarnak – L’Authentik Payzan
3. Atari Teenage Riot – Start the Riot
4. Diplo – Boy oh Boy
5. Fort Minor – Remember My Name
6. Onyx – Shut Em’ Down

7. Passi – Emeutes
8. Kelis – Milshake
9. MF Doom – Fenugreek

Some other samples from “Grin without at cat” “the Simpsons” “Game of Thrones”
Big ups to G.A.P.P.A. Madoc Studio and 99% Media and all the other video ninjas for documenting this uprising on the daily. How do y’all do it?!

Anarchy, cegep, montreal, occupy, printemps 2015, quebec, Riot, students, university

reposted from http://www.submedia.tv

1 The Rebel Spell’s Todd Serious passes away

March 9, 2015
by Comrade Black
· Columns · News · PE Web Zine · Uncategorized

It is very sad news to hear that Todd Serious, the vocalist of Vancouver’s The Rebel Spell passed away March 7 2015 in a tragic rock climbing accident.

Todd was a wonderful human being a dedicated activist, excellent vocalist, and a good friend to many people. He contributed immensely to the punk community and positively impacted the lives of everyone he came in contact with. It is always widely felt when we loose another a member of our tight knit community; and Todd was definitely a positive part of this community. His passing will be mourned by many people across the continent.

I want to take a moment to reflect on my own interactions with Todd and share those experiences. I first met Todd and Rebel Spell in about 2006. I primarily knew Todd through his band, who I worked with back when I was a promoter setting up DIY punk shows in Victoria, a west coast town on occupied Coast Salish Territories. I believe I first met them when traveling with another favorite band of mine, Leper, on a mini tour with 2 other Victoria bands, Grey Army and Blood Nasty. Right from the beginning it was Todd and Erin who were the ones I felt genuine friendship from. Todd was great at making sure that all the outcasts felt included, and had a genuineness I have rarely seen in anyone else. This was a wonderful relief from the often clique and elitist aspects that are all too common in the underground music subcultures.

The Rebel Spell has always been a band who exhibits a lot of integrity; both as a band and as individuals. Despite this they have often received more than their share of criticism from diy-anarcho punks and crusties for not sounding dirty enough, or for playing with more mainstream bands like Rancid; yet from what I have witnessed the Rebel Spell more than any other band seemed to take accountability for making sure their shows were inclusive and safe. Often Todd would make time between songs to remind people to make the pit a place everyone who wanted to could use, or to call out shitty behaviors that others would have been content to ignore. He was committed to his values, and inspired many others with his compassion for both animals and people.

I consider myself lucky to have known him and worked with him, Todd and Rebel Spell were alway wonderful to work with. To his family, his bandmates, his close friends and the rest of his community; we send our condolences from PE. Todd has and deserves our deepest our respect. Let’s make sure to support those who are greiving this loss and to continue his work in building community and helping animals.

RIP Todd

Posted by Comrade Black

1 The 5 Sins of Prisoner Support

November 30, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Columns · PE Web Zine

For the last few years I have been giving workshops to activists on prisoner support for movement prisoners. I believe strongly that we have an obligation to do support for people who have been imprisoned for their involvement and dedication to creating positive change in this fucked up world. Why should anyone risk their freedom if we are not going to support our prisoners who get punished by the state for taking actions that need to be taken?

People often tell me they would like to write to prisoners but that they don’t know what to say and are afraid of making mistakes. The reality is it is super simple, so in hopes of stopping any more excuses and persuading you to pick up the pen I figured I would outline the very few things you will want to avoid if writing to an inmate.

# 1 – Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep

Everyone hates waiting for a friend that doesn’t show up to meet you, or being stood up by that cute boy who promised he would call after last night. Well for people locked up behind bars, it is far worse because you may be the only contact they have to the outside world; so if you don’t follow through they become even more isolated. You may have great intentions when you write someone, so promising to write them every week or send them every book by Ursula K Le Guin seems like a sweet thing to do, but when you don’t come through you are not only failing a friend, you are also reinforcing those prison bars and the isolation they are designed to create. You would be far better off to just not promise them anything in the first place. That way when you send them a letter, it is like a lovely surprise that will brighten their day, rather than waiting for something that is never coming. Those Ursula Le Guin books then becomes Gifts, rather than making them feel Dispossessed. The short of it is, only make promises to prisoner IF you know for sure you can live up to them, and if you promise something you must follow through.

# 2 –Don’t Complain – Stay Posi

The point of writing someone inside is to help them feel connected, to help them escape; if not literally them metaphorically (If you try to hide a file in your letter it will get confiscated and the prisoner will get in shit for it). Remember why you are writing. We all have shitty days, and often want someone to wine about it to who will listen, but no matter how long you had to stand in line at the bank or be put on hold by your cell phone company – it will never compare to how much time a prisoner spends waiting in lines. Send your complaints to the editor, not the prisoner. A prisoner doesn’t want to hear about your shitty day and petty drama that they can’t effect; they would likely much rather hear about the awesome dog you played with, the rally you went to, the great book you just read, or the cute baby who beat your ass at chess yesterday. Hell, if you can’t think of anything to write, draw them a picture or cut out some photos of wildlife or cute kitties from a magazine. Some folks also love crosswords or sudokus.

# 3 – Don’t Say Stupid Shit

Maybe that sounds too obvious, but let me explain. Every letter you write to a prisoner is going to likely be read, and especially if you are using email through prisoner correspondence sites like Corrlinks which are recorded and copies are kept. So if you decide to tell Ted Kazcinski you think he is a hottie so your going to make bombs to send to people he doesn’t like, not only will you likely get raided by the FBI, but he will also end up in the hole. Yup, prisons read your letters for a reason, and if you say anything about illegal shit you are involved in or people you know are involved in, the prisoner will get punished for it and it could even be used against them in later court dates. I know this might sound like common sense and thus not need to be stated, but lets be honest here – common sense is anything but common.

# 4 Don’t Be a Creepy

I remember when my friend Kelly went to jail for G20 bullshit, she started getting these letters from some fucking creep hitting on her and telling her she was hot (from the photos the media was using of her from the riot). THIS IS NOT OK. It is not OK to be a creep, whether it is hitting on the cashier at the grocery store who is paid to smile and be pleasant, the waitress at the caffe who needs her paycheck and tips, or in this case, a prisoner. These folks are literally a captive audience unable to smack the fuck out of creeps who deserve it do to their situation. So even if you do think old Uncle Ted is the bomb, keep it to yourself. Sending a letter with uninvited sexual content is like sending them an emotional letter bomb.
If you are truly intent on having that type of correspondence with a prisoner to fulfill some sexual kink that turns you on, OK; there are actually websites for prisoners looking for a flirty pen pal or relationship. In the end it is about consent; if they want that type of contact, let them seek it out. Don’t harass prisoners who are not asking for you to objectify them while they are locked up.

# 5 – Have No Expectations

I started writing to prisoners a few years back now, and I have been lucky to get a few really good pen pals out of it, and to form real friendships that I believe will outlast their prison sentences. I have had prisoners send me artwork, poetry they wrote, books they wrote while inside and of course many letters. However I have also written many letters to which I have never seen a reply – and that is totally OK. The reality is that prisoners have far less access to resources than we do. Even if you are poor as fuck like me, and run out of money every month, or work some minimum wage shit job, you will have far more money than most prisoners. In the colonial nation state that calls itself “Canada”, an average prisoner makes around $2-$3 a day… Yes, you read that right, per day, not per hour. Unlike prisoners south of that imaginary colonial line, all stationary, toiletries, and personal care items must be purchased using what the prison labels “earned income.” What this means is that for a prisoner to write you a letter they must use their prison wages to buy the paper, pen, envelope, and stamp; at whatever price the prison canteen sets for these items since there is not competing businesses inside a prison. On top of that, time might seem like something a prisoner would seem to have an endless supply of, but really from people I have known who served ‘time’, it doesn’t seem to feel that way when you are on the inside. So what I am saying here is when you write a letter to a prisoner, have no expectations. Teat it like you are sending your words on the wings of angels, and if you do get a reply, remember how much that person had to give up in order to return your correspondence. Often many of us tend to take our relationships for granted, you simply can not do that with someone who is a captive of the state.

Beyond that remember the basics, your letter will need to have a return address (I often write my return address on each page in case the prison decides to fuck with them by “loosing” a page, It is also a good practice to number your pages for this reason), as well as the prisoners legal name (and number in the US) needs to be on the letter. Don’t put stickers, stamps, perfume, glue or glitter, on the pages or the prison may confiscate the letter or deny it. A less obvious one is that most prisons do not allow you to send blank paper, art supplies, or extra envelopes or stamps – demanding instead that the prisoner purchases those from the prison itself.

by Comrade Black ColumnHeaderComradeBlack

You can find lists of movement prisoners along with their mailing addresses on any of the following websites:

Eco-Prisoners
Anarchist Black Cross
Earth First!

8 The Hidden Cruelty of Sustainability

November 13, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Uncategorized

With the rise in popularity of the ideas of urban gardening, deep ecology, and permaculture amongst activists, anarchists, and subcultures such as punk often questions of ethics seem to have become simplified to the equation of SUSTAINABLE = GOOD. Yet often all kinds of cruelty can be hidden behind the veneer of that buzzword sustainable.

The unfortunate reality is that simple fixes rarely offer much beyond false hope and easy ways out. Perhaps they help people to ease their personal guilt by assuming they are not part of the problem (everyone else is), but is this any more than a self serving delusion?

https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/p417x417/270848_10151423231148549_2132240944_n.jpg?oh=84644c7e34e2093f6ceeaead85954973&oe=54DB3CD5 — The farm I grew up on near Kitscoty Alberta. This picture looks out the window of my mothers bedroom over the garden and barnyard

I grew up on a small family run farm in Alberta, 10 miles north of a town you have likely never heard of, with a population under 700. My mother grew up on that same farm with her two brothers. Her dad and his family lived there for many years, they had immigrated up from Nebraska where the family had farmed for a few generations since their original migration from Scotland, where again they had been farmers. It would be fair to say that farming is in my blood, so to speak (or perhaps I have just been reading too many Vampire The Masquerade books as of late?) Either way, I feel at least semi-competent to write about some of the ‘sustainable’ realities of small scale farming, drawing on my personal experiences.

I have many memories from growing up on the farm, from playing in the garden and eating carrots straight out of the ground with the dirt still on them, to collecting eggs from the chicken house, or chasing the turkeys for fun, being chased by the turkeys (which wasn’t so fun), or moving cattle from one pasture to another by horse back. There were some great memories too; picking saskatoon berries, wild raspberries that grew in the coolie, or building forts and campfires in the bush by the ravine. However, there were also just as many memories that were not so wonderful to look back on. Branding cattle with a hot iron as they screamed, or castrating steers — many city folks don’t realize you do not eat cows, and you do not eat bulls, you eat a male who had it’s nuts cut off so the flesh will taste better. All of which could be argued as sustainable.

Now I recognize that not all this is relevant to the popular trends I see amongst self styled alternative people over here on the west coast, as most of the folk punks are more into having pet goats and living on boats rather than farming beef or dairy cattle for auction. So I will try to keep more focused on the aspects of small scale farming that would be more of interest to the DIY crowd with their fantasies of farming and sustainable farming.

Chicken Squawk

One of the more popular trends amongst the urban radicals is having back yard chickens, to collect and eat their eggs. Where I live, in the Cascadian bioregion, it has become almost as cliché to have 6-10 birds pecking around your back yard of your community house as it has to wear Carhardts, have a large dog, and all black clothing, or to play banjo. Unfortunately, I also live in an area where one thing that is not popular is sticking around. The radical community here tends to be quite transient in nature, with lots of college kids, traveler punks, and others folks who often didn’t come from here and even more often don’t have much intention of putting down roots. This is a common frustration to those who are part of long term projects propelled by volunteers, but none the less, it has its pros and cons. However for the chickens pecking the dirt and laying those golden eggs, it is a much bigger problem. An average chicken may live up to 8 years, which is far longer than the school term, or even a bachelors degree. A quick peruse of Craigslist at the right times of year will give you a good indication of just how expendable these animals are to many of the people who are excited in September (at the beginning of the school term) to build a chicken coop for their back yard. But even for those who don’t intend to go traveling or tree planting soon as the summer hits, few want to care for a chicken until it dies naturally of old age. You see, chickens only lay a lot of eggs when they are still fairly young, as they get older they will produce less and less. For many of the urban agriculture enthusiasts, a chicken that doesn’t lay eggs is just work with no pay off.

But the plight of the urban chicken doesn’t end there — or more accurately; it doesn’t begin there. You see, chickens don’t just appear, and they are not brought by the stork to deserving families, they come from somewhere – or in other words, someone breeds them. Few of the breeds of chickens people farm have any resemblance to wild breeds, and wild chickens are pretty rare these days due to our destruction of wildlife habitat for cities and farm land; never mind that there was chickens, like Europeans, are an invasive species to this part of the world. So most of the domesticated birds come from a hatchery; either directly – or indirectly.

I remember how exciting it was for me as a kid to order chicks. We would get a catalog in the mail, with pictures of the full grown birds, and you would select them by recording the order number of which breeds you wanted to buy. A few weeks later, you would get a large cardboard box in the mail which would be chirping. Upon opening it, you would see it packed full of fluffy yellow chicks, divided and layered with cardboard dividers so they could fit more into each box. Every so often a couple would die while in the mail, so you would get a few dead ones in every box.Kinda like two scoops of raisins, right?

An important thing to note is, that they also were separated not just by breed, but also gender. See chicks are born about half females and half males, but most people don’t want to order males. Roosters don’t lay eggs for one, and for two, if you have more than one (or maybe two) roosters, they will kill each other. So the chicks are bred, the females are sold through mail order and the males are killed. Yup, right into the wood chipper. When people get back yard chickens, they often order from a breeder or hatchery. I know some get “second hand” or even call them “rescues”, but where do you think those birds came from before you got them? Buying chickens is putting money into the industry that breeds them for profit. This is the industry of commercial chicken breeders, and they are often the same places that supply big farms, as well as small farms and your average urban gardener with their new found interest in permaculture. And I didn’t even talk about the forced insemination.

Permanent Agriculture?

The study of words can reveal a lot. If you look at the etymology of the word Garden, we discover it is related to the German word for guard, and to words for walled, or closed lot. It doesn’t take a lot of thought to begin to see the relationship between these terms. As anthropologist Layla AbdelRahim explained in Wild Children – Domesticated Dreams, domestication requires the domesticator to control access to food and land. When you begin to garden a space, you must control what other species have access to that land or you will likely not have much of a crop to harvest. Whether we are talking about other non-human animals that might desire and easy lunch, or even competing plant species, insects, or other humans – gardening requires us to control what species are able to access the space. On an even more basic level, gardening usually begins with removing undesired plant species to prepare the land so we can plant seeds of the species we desire.

It has always amazed me how uncritically many Green Anarchists, Vegans, and Primitivists seem to embrace and support permaculture. Yet permaculture is in its essence another system of domestication rooted in anthropocentric desires. In other words, permaculture might be presented by its proponents as being sustainable (and therefore ethical) and based in local ecology, but in fact it is once again about human wants and needs. As well revered permaculturist Erik Ohlson explained in his interview in the book Tangled Roots: Dialogues Exploring Ecological Justice, Healing, and Decolonization, “Permaculture, which could be permanent—agriculture or permanentculture is about designing human culture that is beneficial to both the land and to human at the same time.” That might sound great on the surface, but look at it a bit more closely and it follows all the same old patterns; humans are in control, Erik posits us as the managers and designers, and in the end it is about human needs first and foremost. Animals are not even acknowledged in this relationship, even though you would be hard pressed to find a permaculturist who doesn’t argue that domesticated animals are needed in order to maintain a healthy closed circuit. The implicit goal of permaculture is to make this human domination of wildlife spaces, plants and animals – sustainable and thus permanent.

I am fully aware that not every radical out there agrees with the anarcho-primitivist critiques of domestication, which sees domestication as not only the control of the wild, but also as the root of many other systems of domination such as patriarchy. It took me a long time myself to come to a place where I was open to those conclusions and the difficult questions they lead to. However there are many lenses to view the question of ‘sustainable farming’ through. From an animal liberation lens, another set of problems presents itself in that permaculture like other forms of gardening for human consumption involves turning wildlife habitat into farm lands that are exclusionary to certain wildlife, and even further permaculture also uses domesticated animals.

This is where it really becomes a problem for me, as it perpetuates the use and domestication of non-human animals for human benefit. But due to the SUSTAINABLE=GOOD formula, we choose to not see its implications for animals: both wildlife and domesticated. Often when I have presented these arguments to proponents of permaculture design, the response I get is akin to the lesser of two evils. The same argument often used to justify voting for shitty, racist, business friendly politicians.

I am by no means arguing that permaculture is worse for the land than monocropping, factory farming, or industrial agriculture, rather I am arguing that it is not the be all end all simple fix that many seem to desire it to be. Permaculture still means wildlife habitat is destroyed and used for human benefit that does not allow wild species full access and use of the spaces. Permaculture still involves captive breeding and continued domestication of animals for human consumption, whether it be chickens to scratch and turn the soil, or goats, pigs, or other species. Many of those animals will be from commercial breeders, and the care of those animals will continue to support industries that profit off of animal agriculture. Many of those animals will also still be killed in the end either so humans can consume their flesh and bodies, or because they have quit producing at the rates desired by the domesticators. Most of those animals will also be of breeds that simply did not exist in the wild, did not exist until humans interfered with their reproductive strategies to cause them to develop traits deemed more desirable. Did you know that wild pigs were never pink skinned, that sheep didn’t produce a harvestable amount of wool for hundreds of years after domestication, or that cattle bred for meat are different breeds than the cattle bred for dairy production? Wild cattle don’t produce as much milk, the animals we farm today are the product of thousands of years of selective breeding.

It is indisputable that modern industrial agriculture is anything but sustainable as it depletes the infrastructure of the landbase for higher temporary crop yields. Such a system by definition is incapable to sustaining itself indefinitely and would eventually lead to a collapse as once fertile croplands become less and less able to produce, due to nutrients in the soil being depleted. Technological fixes such as fertilizers may increase yields in the short run, but only work to deplete the health of the land in the long term. Permaculture on the other hand aims to be sustainable, which may be its most insidious trait. It seeks to make permanent the ability of humans to dominate the wild, and thus maintain industrial civilization. Advocates often argue that permaculture can allow us to use less land in order to grow crops to feed our populace (which is a population of not just humans, but also of the animals we domesticate for our use). However, promises of abundance aside, we live in a society of exponential growth. Capitalism is an economic system that requires such growth, both in profits and in populace which will consume the products of the capitalists. Permaculture does nothing to challenge or disrupt this growth, and in fact may allow it to continue far beyond the limits of industrial agriculture in its current form.

Capitalism kills animals. Industrialism kills animals. Civilization as we know it is based on the domestication of animals and destruction of the wild. I have no doubt that permaculture may live up to its promise of sustainability, I would even go further and suggest that many older practices of agriculture (such as crop rotation and choosing crops based on soil conditions) can also allow long term sustainability, yet like permaculture these techniques do nothing to challenge the relationship of human dominance, capitalism, growth, or cruelty to animals. The system always seeks to recuperate easy reforms in order to maintain itself. If we do not actively work to disrupt these power relations and include questions of ethics, sustainability will just become another way of hiding our violence and rationalizing our domination of other species.

At the very root of agriculture is the domination of other living beings by humans. At the very core of ethics is the question of domination and hierarchy. For me, any system that perpetuates these historical patterns is a system based on violence. I am always reminding myself that agriculture is a relatively new invention in the timeline of human existence. The world I would like to work towards in one that encourages and fosters the growth of wild species and habitats, not the subjugation of them.

I don’t know what the solution to all of this is, but I do know that if we hope for total liberation it can not perpetuate the oppression of others.

For those of interested in finding alternatives to these oppressive systems we need to consider more than simple solutions. Directness of our relationship to our food, and sustainability of our practices is only one part of the question we need to be asking. Another key question is, what is the outcome for non-human animals and for other species? Do the ‘alternatives’ we are promoting make any difference to the chicken in the cage? How about to the Wolf? the Trout? The Orca? Or Mycelium? Are they better off because of our actions? Or does our liberation continue to come at their expense? How can we begin to foster relationships that benefit wildlife? And how can we imagine our relationships to other species in ways that have the potential to be liberating and symbiotic?

by Comrade Black

2 Humans Are NOT the Problem

October 22, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Uncategorized

‘Humans’ are not the problem.

Many humans all around the world live in ways that are sustainable and respectful to the land they live on, and through most of human history that was how we all lived. The last couple thousand years is a blip in the time humans have been on this earth.

Constantly I see people who live in urbanized, industrialized places, within a colonial country, and have learned those ways – will turn around and say that it is just human nature and will go on to compare humans (as a totalizing group) to parasites trying to kill their host. This kind of misanthropy is a dead end and a trap that naturalizes colonialism and destruction and by making it simply part of who we are it creates the illusion that we can not be anything else. That we will always destroy, always kill, and always colonize, so we may as well not even try. The argument is not only a self prophesying dead end, that nullifies other possibilities it is also an ahistorical argument.

Giving up is the easy way out. It is escapist and removes all and any responsibility. Meanwhile, there is animals being vivisected and slaughtered, there is burial grounds being built on, old growth forests being clearcut, pipelines being pushed through sensitive ecosystems, women (especially native women) going missing or being found dead, more prisons being built, and all kinds of other shit going on that needs our energy and demands we take responsibility. Things some may personally benefit from do to our privileges but that future generations of humans and other animals as well as plants will need – and may not be able to live without if we don’t do something about this shit

Humans are not the problem

by Comrade Black

0 Thanks For What? And at Who’s Expense? Some Food For Thought on Why Giving Thanks is Not Cruelty Free

October 14, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Uncategorized

For those of us living north of the colonial imaginary line that divides the power one nation state claims over stolen lands from the power another nation state claims over stolen native lands – today is the day many will celebrate by eating a butchered bird carcass with their families. With stuffing and a side of canned cranberries of course.

What astounds me though is that for many in the animal rights and vegan community, who are rightfully concerned for the hundreds of thousands of turkeys who will be killed for todays celebratory feast; many seem to think that simply having a vegan thanksgiving is somehow cruelty free.

Let me be clear in what I am saying, colonialism is a system based in racist violence, and colonialism is ongoing today. So celebrating a holiday based in colonialism is a therefore a celebration of violence.

It has become popular in leftist circles, and amongst activists, as well as pagans (who’s religion is based in agriculture), to try instead to create a revisionist version of these colonial holidays that removes all acknowledgement of colonialism and instead claims to be “celebrating the harvest.” Yet if we think about this, not only is it a racist framing to act like this holiday has nothing to do with Indigenous people or this history of how the decedents of the first settlers came to be on this land; but further the very concept of the harvest itself brings us right back to colonial dispossession and settlement by Europeans. What we call agriculture is itself a colonial idea and its results for the plants, animals, and people who have lived on this land since time immemorial are clear – a loss of habitat as they are displaced so that the crops of the settlers can replace them. Is this really Cruelty Free?

Even if we were to look at this from an animal rights lens alone, European agriculture means the destruction of wildlife habitat and native ecosystems. Monocropping means killing all competing species, through the use of pesticides, herbicides, and agricultural techniques such as plowing the fields to prepare them for the planting of the crops we wish to later harvest. Anthropologist Layla AbdelRahim takes this further in Wild Children – Domesticated Dreams; explaining that domestication is based in the control of another species access to food, and control of their reproductive strategies. Whether we are talking about artificially inseminating a turkey or heifer to use for food, or taking the seeds of crops and selecting which ones we want to use for next years harvest, we are talking about violence. Controlling how and when another breeds is not Cruelty free.

Now I know that many of us have struggled for what little we have – to make a life for ourselves – and

A great image that has been going around, I did not create this image, I do not want to appropriate it either

that many of us struggle day to day still to keep afloat in a world that seems to want us to drown so someone else can make it rich. So I realize people might take issue with me complaining about the idea of giving thanks for what little we have. But who are we thanking? And where did the stuff we are consuming come from? Or maybe I should be asking who should we be thanking? Do we even think of who has been harmed so we can have what we have? Again, this brings me back to how we got where we are today – colonialism, genocide, dispossession and settlement.

Today we live in a society where many Indigenous peoples no longer have access to their traditional foods, and are very limited in the access they have to spaces where their communities and families have harvested wild foods and medicines for generations. These lands are being paved over to make way for grocery stores, housing or condo developments, and parking lots, and plowed for crop lands. Meanwhile invasive species continue to push out native plants and animals, and people who were once nomadic or semi-nomadic are no longer able to move over their traditional lands.

There are many other ways in which colonialism continues have effects; from the appropriation of Indigenous cultural traditions and spirituality, to the multitudes of missing and murdered Indigenous women who disappear every year, or the rates of addiction and suicide amongst First Nations communities in the wake of the residential schools. Yet these cultures still survive through it all. If Vegans and animal activists want to build a world free of violence, than we need to also engage with the violence that is colonialism so as to not perpetuate it. Humans are animals too, and colonial settler occupation is anything but cruelty free. Colonialism hurts both animal people and human people alike.

We must work decolonize ourselves for animal liberation to ever be a movement that will challenge the systemic violence this culture is built on.

by Comrade Black

0 How Do We Begin To Tell A Different Story? ‘Indian’ Burial Grounds, Developers and the standoff around Grace Islet

September 24, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Columns · PE Web Zine · Uncategorized

There is a story we never hear. It is the story of the wealthy developer who procures a piece of land to build on, and then upon finding out the land is sacred to local Indigenous people and has heritage sites on it, chooses to not build go ahead with construction. Instead the developer chooses one of many other paths open to them, they try to find other ways to get money back out of their investment or perhaps they go after the previous land owner for not disclosing this information previous to sale. Or maybe they even try to find ways to return at least a portion of that land to the Indigenous.

Yesterday I sat in on the Grace Islet injunction hearing; where an injunction was being sought by a wealthy land owner named Barry Slawsky against protesters – specifically Indigenous people – from being allowed near the site where he is constructing his dream home on top of a native burial ground.

I find that nearly every time discussion comes up about this conflict; someone (generally a white person) will inevitably make a joke that the developer clearly has never read a Steven King novel or watched a horror movie. For the most part I find the joke seems rather tasteless and insulting given that it is easy to joke about for people with nothing at stake, but if it was their own families graves they wouldn’t likely be making bad jokes about it. Yet there is a reason why these classic stories have become such a genre cliché; and the reason is simply because there is such a long history of rich people metaphorically shitting on the sacred sites of Indigenous people. If developers didn’t so routinely say “fuck the Indians,” King and others wouldn’t have made a career out of stories involving people getting terrorized by ghosts for doing precisely that. Perhaps those books should be through of more as wishful thinking…? Or perhaps it’s time to write a new story?

Yet todays court proceedings had more parallels to fiction and TV dramas. The lawyer for Barry Slawsky lived up to every negative stereotype of a lawyer in court today. He came off as utterly despicable, slimy, and dishonest. He was such a caricature he seemed almost like a real life version of the blue haired lawyer often seen representing Mr Burns on The Simpson’s.

His tone was repeatedly condescending, his arguments were colonial and racist, and on a number of occasions he was accused of presenting his speculations as accepted facts. He began by trying to undermine any claims to Aboriginal Title or Treaty Rights and asserting it was simply a case of private property rights and trespass. He was also caught for misrepresenting his own evidence at least once, and on another occasion for trying to cite as evidence a media article quoting unnamed people who were claiming the Cheif’s said something, as proof. In the end he even tried to accuse the judge of bias because the judge lives on Salt Spring Island, where the protests have been taking place. At another point, he claimed that the entire defense was a red herring because if they were trying to stop damage to the burial site – and damage meant work being done – it was a mute point cause the work had already been started. but the one that really got me was when he tried to claim the injunction was necessary for the protection and safety of the protesters who might get hurt…. Yet he was also exceptionally dull to listen to, to the point that I saw two people sitting near me fall asleep. The defense council were far better orators and had a strong case that more time was needed as they presented numerous thick affidavits that had just been filed or were still coming in.

In the end, the judge ruled in favor of adjournment; that the defendants (which included 2 First Nation Cheif’s amongst others) would have 4 weeks to prepare arguments before the injunction hearing moves forward. Many people including myself will be watching to see what comes of this. I am by no means an expert of any sort in the matters of law, nor in the traditions and practices of any of the local indigenous peoples, I presume from my limited knowledge of other supreme court cases that this will be a long and drawn out process, and todays court hearing will be one of many. I also would presume this won’t be the last of the protests, which I hope will continue until work is permanently stopped. It is an interesting time though, with recent court rulings that acknowledge the land as being stolen and sovereignty never having been extinguished which may influence the outcome of this case. While I remain cynical that a court system of a state built on stolen native lands and a history of genocide and ongoing colonization will suddenly rule in favor of Indigenous lands rather than capitalist development; It is only my hope that we as a society can choose to write a different story than the cliché ones we have been enacting for so long.

These are just my observations as an interested and concerned outsider. If you want to learn more about this conflict, the court case, the lands it is taking place on or the history, I highly suggest checking out the Grace Islet facebook page where the people organizing to stop this shit have been posting updates. I am sure that they will be needing support, which can come in many ways

by Comrade Black

0 Ferguson: Chronicle of an insurrection – Latest Sedition of Submedia.tv

September 22, 2014
by Comrade Black
· PE Web Zine · Podcasts · Radness · Uncategorized

An in depth look at the events that unfolded in Ferguson, Missouri following the police murder of Michael Brown, a black teenager. Also features an exclusive interview with former Black Panther, Ashanti Alston, about the state of black “America”, abolishing penile power and taking care of your peeps in the muthafuckin resistance.

More analysis on the Ferguson insurrection here.

Download HD (777MB) • SD (170MB) • MP3 (48mb) • Translate • Torrent

0 5 Simple Tricks to Great Vegan Cooking

August 10, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Columns · PE Web Zine

Cooking a good Vegan meal is really fucking easy, yet often people seem completely confused as to what to do to make a Vegan meal. When you are new to anything it can be baffling, even though once you know your way around it will seem so stupidly simple. So here is some simple advice that I hope will help you out so that you don’t have to feel stupid, whether you are a new Vegan, or if you have friends or family who are Vegan and you want to have them over for dinner. Or perhaps that cute boy who you want to impress with the Animal Liberation Front back patch

Start Simple – Most Vegan meals follow this basic format: Choose 4 or 5 vegetables, chop/prep them, boil, fry or bake them, add spices or sauce. There is really nothing difficult about that. Often simpler is better.
You Don’t Need Processed Specialty Items – Stores are full of all kinds of over packaged and over priced “Veggie” items such as fake meats, cheeses, and dairy alternatives. The simple reality is that most Vegans don’t eat that much of this stuff, and if they do it is only now and then. You don’t need it. Stick to vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and legumes and you will be better off than with some heavily processed fake meat wrapped in plastic.
Be Open To New Foods – Often when someone is considering going Vegan people will think that it means you are cutting stuff out of your diet and being restrictive, yet in reality the opposite is what normally occurs. There are tons of foods you may have never heard of that are totally worth trying, such as Chia Seeds, Nutritional Yeast, Quinoa, Hemp Hearts, etc. Experiment with them, be open. There is nothing weird about these foods, most have been eaten by people around the world for thousands of years before the word Vegan was even coined. They are only new to a boring western diet.
Use A Recipe or Ask A Vegan – Especially when baking, it is good to use a vegan recipe at first rather than trying to modify a non-vegan recipe. That’s because baking is all about formulas; mix your dry ingredients, add your fats & sugars, then mix in liquids. But if you don’t understand what certain ingredients do on a chemical level, you may find the baking doesn’t come out quite how you were expecting. For example, in a omnivorous diet recipe, eggs work as a binder. You can easily replace the eggs with other binding ingredients, such as bananas, apple sauce, or boiled flax seeds; however, you may find your baking seems dry or doughy. This is because eggs don’t just bind the ingredients together, they also cause a chemical reaction with other ingredients such as baking powder. If you don’t use eggs, the baking powder won’t respond like normal and your cake might seem heavy. Most vegan recipes compensate for this by adding other ingredients that replicate the reaction that animal proteins usually create – such as adding an acid like vinegar or lemon juice which will cause the baking powder to react as it would with milk or eggs. My recomendation is to either use an already Vegan recipe if you are just starting out, or ask a Vegan for advice. Guess what, most Vegans know how to cook Vegan food.
You Already Know How to Cook Vegan, You Just Didn’t Realize It Till Now – Thats’ right, and here’s why. Pretty much everyone on the face of this earth already eats Vegan foods every single day; they just don’t think of them as “Vegan Food.” Think about it; ever ate falafle? Pakoras? Dahl? Hummus? How about beans and rice? A fruit salad? A Veggie wrap? Bean salad? Corn on the cob? Or pasta with tomato sauce? A pear? Bananas? Grapefruit? Guess what, all these foods are typically Vegan (unless you are doing something really fucking weird with that grapefruit). You don’t need to do anything fancy, stick to what you know. Mashed potatos can be done vegan super simple too, just use olive oil instead of butter. Or the most basic of all deserts, an apple crumble. You can make home made granola or oatmeal Vegan super easilly, all fruit smoothies, etc. This is so easy I am going to stop talking right now.

By Comrade Black

Comrade PE

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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”

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https://player.vimeo.com/video/124672548?color=ff0000&title=0

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0 Thanks For What? And at Who’s Expense? Some Food For Thought on Why Giving Thanks is Not Cruelty Free

0 How Do We Begin To Tell A Different Story? ‘Indian’ Burial Grounds, Developers and the standoff around Grace Islet

0 Ferguson: Chronicle of an insurrection – Latest Sedition of Submedia.tv

0 5 Simple Tricks to Great Vegan Cooking