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0 Don’t Hate on Soy!

July 18, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Columns · PE Web Zine

I know that people have a hate on for soy and tofu, but I honestly think Soy gets an unfairly bad rap.

In part I think it is because soy is often associated as “the vegan food” even though tons of vegans don’t eat soy, and tons of non vegans around the world regularity eat soy. None the less, people who are anti-vegan, including industry – often will attack things they deem as “vegan things.” Another example of that is articles like Can Vegans Stomach The Unpalatable Truth About Quinoa? Which was an odd article since quinoa is eaten by people around the world and vegans only make up a small percentage of those people. Never mind that most the arguments could apply to nearly any industrial crop.

Now I am not saying Soy has no problems, any industrially produced monocropped cash crop definitely does. What I am saying is that soy gets a disproportionate amount of criticism compared to other crops. Here’s the thing, most of the time when people hear you eat soy and reply with a statement like “oh you better watch out, soy isn”t healthy because…” they end up pointing out something that is common in other foods as well – foods which they eat and never think twice of. For example, Soy is known to contain Phytoestrogens… You know what else contains Phytoestrogens? Try: nuts, seeds, oils, breads, oats, grains, legumes and even animal flesh. Flax seed is actually the food highest in Phytoestrogens, and I think any nutritionist or dietitian out there would tell you the health benefits of eating flax far out way any potential disadvantages. In fact, I saw a certified dietitian speak last year who has been vegan for 30 years, and she was asked about soy, she wasn’t too concerned about it. Flax, like soy is also high in tons of important nutrients like EFA’s.

A second weird criticism is this idea that most soy is GMO. Aside from the fact this simply isn’t true – at least not where I live – it also isn’t exactly unique even if it was true. People do this thing where they cherry pick the science they will cite based on what agrees with the things they already want to believe, and I think this is what is happening here as well. I see it all the time, where people will be concerned with GMO’s in some foods, then gorge on junk food or other processed foods that are completely GMO. In the case of soy, read the package. It isn’t that difficult. Where I live most soy sold in stores is labelled GMO free and Organic; and most the soy that isn’t labelled as both is labelled as either GMO free or Organic. And for the record I don’t shop at some fancy yuppy store either.

The other direction that anti-soy rhetoric often comes from is an ecological one, in which the arguments are just as equally flawed. one common one is that soy is causing the rainforest to be cut down to grow soy crops for vegans. This simply isn’t true, the parts of the rainforest being cleared to grow soy are not for human consumption but rather to feed beef and dairy animals. Most the soy we consume here is grown in places like California. Now again I am not saying that makes it ok or there is no issues with it, but rather saying that the problems are not unique to soy. Pretty much every crop we buy from industrial farming is grown with the same problems and then shipped thousands of miles. None of these problems are unique to soy. As much as people might want someone to blame, vegans are not at fault – industry and agriculture are.

Back to the health thing, there is 2 other aspects of the arguments against soy that I find absolutely silly. One is that most the people I have met who ever try and say how unhealthy soy might be, have never actually read any of the studies about it. They are simply repeating what they have heard some where.

The second, well let me tell a short story. When I first moved to Victoria, and got involved with Food Not Bombs, I would meet these people who would tell me things like that I shouldn’t put pepper in my food cause it can be hard on the colon, Then I would see these same people go out to all night dance parties where they would consume MDMA all night, and not sleep for days. I have seen this patterns often, of people who don’t seem to live healthy lifestyles or care much about health who take it upon themselves to lecture me or others about how soy, or pepper is unhealthy. The reality is this, there are more more unhealthy things most of us do than eat soy. In fact, there are far more unhealthy things most people eat than tofu.

Aside from that, I fucking love fried tofu! I can eat an entire pack, 14 ounces, as a snack – 14 ounces is 65g of protein! You can hate soy as much as you like, but I am gonna fry some more up with Cajun spice and sesame seeds! Your loss.

By Comrade Black

1 Up The Ante to Shut Down the Stampede – No More Dead Horses: Interview with Marley and Sam from VADL

July 11, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Interviews · News · PE Web Zine · Radness

On July 4, 2 activists from Vancouver Animal Defense League locked themselves down to the inner railing of the chuckwaggon race track at the Calgary Stampede. Marley Daviduk and Samantha Baskerville used bike U-locks around their neck, in this inspiring act of civil disobedience. PE took the opportunity to ask them more about what they did, why they did it, and what they hope to achieve.

This interview with Marley and Sam was conducted by Comrade Black

PE: Why are you targeting the Calgary Stampede? It seems far away from home for a Vancouver based group?

Sam: I lived in Calgary for about 7 years and have always thought poorly of the Calgary Stampede. When this opportunity was presented to me, I couldn’t say no.

IMarley: I’ve been a horse person my whole life and my love of horses is what brought me to veganism and activism. Ever since I was young, the Calgary Stampede, specifically the Chuckwagon races, has been on my list of issues that needed to be dealt with. It came to a point where I felt that the Chuckwagon races were vulnerable and lacking public support. I hoped that an action like this would give us the opportunity to bring national media attention to the event and, for the first time, to their sponsor GMC. The Calgary Stampede may take place in Calgary but it’s an event that puts Canada in the public eye.

Sam: Being the largest rodeo in Canada, we knew that this action would raise international awareness and really enlighten people on the deaths and risk of injury during the Chuckwagon races.

PE: Was this action pre-planned, or improvised based on opportunity?

Marley: We started planning this event more than two years ago. This event was actually supposed to take place last year until Calgary was hit with a devastating flood, and much of the downtown core was under water including most of the Stampede grounds. The Stampede adopted the slogan ‘Come hell or high water’ and the show went on. We decided it would have been an inappropriate time to address this issue, the media was rightfully wrapped up in covering the devastation of the flood. There was a MASSIVE amount of planning and preparation involved with coordinating a crew of more than 18 people in 3 locations. In the last two years we have had dozens of strategy meetings, training sessions and fu VADL3 ndraising events. Sam and I had locked down to just about every basketball hoop, cat scratching post and fence post in East Van to train for this. We had to be able to get on the track, lock down and dispose of the key in less than 30 seconds, in full view of a crowd of 20,000 people. It would have been reckless to attempt this without serious preparation efforts.

PE: How did you get onto the chuck wagon track without being noticed or stopped?

Marley: All it took was a plaid shirt. Just joking. We paid for tickets to get into the venue and both Sam and I had our bags searched. Our bike locks were in our bags and we had prepared for the search by filling our bags full of tampons and pads knowing most people wouldn’t dig through them. The security guard took one look inside our bags, and basically recoiled in horror and pushed us through. Once we were in the grandstands, all we had to do was hop over one small barrier and we were on the track.

Sam: It was pretty easy. We just ran from the beer garden down the inner track and locked down. It took several minutes before security reached us.

PE: You have a lot of firsthand experience with horses, yet I have read some people are trying to dismiss you by claiming you don’t know what you are talking about…

Marley: It seems like the most common response from Stampede officials in response to opposition is that ‘these dang city folk simply do not understand the ways of the horse’. I understand horses as much as any of them, but it doesn’t take an expert to acknowledge the risk of injury and death associated with the Chuckwagon races. This years death makes it the 10th year in a row horses have died during the event. Denny was a 12 year old thoroughbred, he died of an aortic aneurism near his kidneys, resulting in massive internal bleeding.

Sam: My experience is minimal in comparison to Marley’s but I did have a horse while growing up and took lessons as a child. Regardless, when one or more horses are dying every year from an event that only lasts ten days, you know that something is wrong and change is needed.

PE: Did you have any expectations of the outcome? Were you hoping this would shut down the race?

Marley: We were hoping that our actions would get national media attention and we knew that would happen even if we got tackled before we had a chance to lockdown. It would have been great to have prevented the races from happening that night, but due to unforeseen complications we had to lock down earlier than expected which gave them more time to locate a grinder to get us out.

PE: In the video, the officials with the stampede covered you with a black tarp. What’s the significance of the black tarp?

Marley: They covered us with the black tarp, which is the same black tarp they use when a horse goes down on the track. They use it so the crowd cannot see what’s happening.

Sam: I felt like we were that tragic mess that they were trying to hide from the public. Just like they do with the horses.

PE: Are you facing charges now? What are the repercussions?

Marley: We are facing mischief charges, our court date is on Aug 20th. We are banned for 99 years from the Stampede and we cannot approach within 3 blocks of the grounds.

PE: How can people help?

Sam: We need to keep this momentum going by sharing information, helping the Calgary activists, and by voicing their opinion to GMC to ask them to end their sponsorship of the Chuckwagon races.

Marley: People can help by contacting GMC the sponsor of this event, asking them to pull their sponsorship. @GMCcanada 1-800-263-3777 They can support our legal defense and the cost of this action by donating here. The cost of moving a crew of 10 people more than a 1000km’s to Calgary was pretty expensive and we were not able to find a lawyer in Calgary who was willing to do pro-bono work for us.

PE: What other campaigns are VADL engaged in? Have you had much success?

Marley: For the last 1.5 years we have been targeting Canada Goose retailers with protest campaigns (Canada Goose jackets with wild trapped coyote fur). Our efforts have resulted in 2 (out of 14 Vancouver retailers) dropping the brand and adopting a fur free policy. For a more detailed list of our campaign history please visit www.vancouveranimaldefenseleague.com

PE: Some people feel the tactics employed by VADL are controversial and too confrontational; why do you choose these tactics? Are they proving effective?

Sam: Protesting outside the venue was no longer bringing the attention that we need (although I still appreciate their efforts and encourage them to continue) so we had to amp it up a bit. And look, people are talking and the support has been overwhelming.

Marley: Sometimes I think we get more criticism for our tactics from vegans in the movement than from the opposition we target, especially when it comes to those who are involved with large multi-national organizations. We choose these tactics (pressure campaigns) because they work, and they provide achievable goals; which keeps people involved and motivated. Civil disobedience, like a lockdown, is not something we see very often within the Canadian animal rights movement, and yet actions like this have been such a massive part of AR history. We hoped to inspire activists across Canada and show them that there really is a diversity of tactics available that go well beyond vegan outreach and we hope to see more actions like this happening within our movement.

PE: Where can people get updates on your actions? Is there a way people can get involved with this campaign or VADL in general?

Marley: People can get in touch with us via facebook or vancouveranimaldefenseleague@live.ca or www.vancouveranimaldefenseleague.com

PE: Is there anything else you want people to know about the stampede?

Marley: We want other activists to know that we chose the Chuckwagon races because we felt there was a tactical advantage to isolating this race, not because we are at all okay with any other rodeo events.

Sam: While Marley and I cannot participate in direct protests against the stampede, I strongly encourage Calgary activists to continue the fight. The rodeo consists of events that cause extreme stress to the animals involved and continuous action is needed to bring the abuse to light so that more people will raise their voice against the Calgary Stampede.

PE: Any last advice for other activists?

Marley: My advice to other activists would be to pick a tactic/tactics that you are comfortable with and work at them without condemning the actions of others. I see so much public criticism of campaigns and tactics, specifically coming from people with little or no knowledge of historical campaigns and what has worked in the past. All I can ask of people is to embrace a diversity of tactics, please challenge yourselves, and finally lets learn about the history of our own movement.

Sam: don’t be afraid to push the limits a little bit, as long as it’s done safely and you are prepared to face the consequences responsibly.

6 Neo-Paganism is Not the Answer – Climb A Fucking Tree

July 6, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Columns · PE Web Zine

More and more people have begun to reject Christianity, Islam, and other monotheistic religions, and are instead turning towards what are seen as older, earth based forms of spirituality.

Meanwhile we live in a society where 90% of the old growth forests have been cut, as the world around us becomes increasingly synthetic, polluted, and urbanized. In response there has been a growing interest in European polytheistic religions as alternative to the hierarchies of the church with it’s gnostic abstracted concepts.

However these polytheistic religions are often just as problematic as what is being rejected. There has been a lot of revisionism, presenting many of these patriarchal religions where male war gods dominate as though they are anything but – where godesses are now talked about as though the original practitioners were matriarchal and the males gods were just minor characters. Ignored also is the inherent heterosexism of these religions where often female goddesses are all based around fertility.

Yet the bigger problem lies deeper. In a blog post I just read about Asatru (Odin worship) the blogger pointed out that these “old” religions developed through “the Iron Age up through the Viking era – that is, a few centuries BCE up through about 800-1200 CE. ” (I acknowledge the problems in using these anthropological stages as markers of ‘progression’). This is preciously my point. The old polytheistic religions of Europe were still religions that developed during a period of violent conquest, early colonization, war, and long after the rise of agriculture where people had moved into dominating the land and living a sedentary lifestyle rather than nomadic or semi-nomadic ways based on relationship and ecology. To then call these polytheist religions ‘nature based’ is like calling Christianity in it’s current context ‘community value based.’

The reality is that before there was polytheistic religions that worshiped symbolic gods of the harvest, war, fertility, or death, there was an older non-theistic religion based in place. If you want to worship nature, you don’t need a sunwheel, pentacle, or a godess to do so – go out and climb a fucking tree, sit in it’s branches, learn ecology, listen to the wind rustling the leaves through the branches, watch the squirrels, strip naked and swim in the river as the sun sets. Then do whatever it takes to stop those fuckers who wanna cut that tree cause all they see is dollar signs. You don’t need a european god or goddes to tell you life is sacred.

by Comrade Black

0 Surviving Memories

July 5, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Columns · PE Web Zine

I was 16, had just turned. It was my second time on the streets that year. Edmonton Alberta, living in a squat house just off Whyte avenue, 107 st. Now a Condo sits where the abandoned house we called home use to sit.

There was about 7 of us living in one room, the youngest was a kid named Small Fry who was 13 and on crutches. I liked him. I had only been at the squat a few days, or maybe a week; a guy I hardly knew named Justin had shown me the way there a few nights before and I stayed. I crashed hard that night, sleeping through everything that was to happen

Devon wasn’t a very popular guy, in part cause he was one of those guys who can be hard to like. In part cause he was openly bisexual in a very homophobic place. A case of wrong time, wrong tastes. I liked him though, as he was nice to me. About an hour or so after I fell asleep, Devon came ‘home’ quite drunk and ready to pass out. There was a young girl visiting us, I can’t recall her name, but she had a home yet would come to the squat to hang out with the street kids. Everyone liked her. She was drinking with the others when Devon came in. She was using the pallets he slept on as a chair. This is what lead to the argument. I slept through it all, so all I know was from what i was told after I woke up.

When I woke up, people were practically celebrating, partying and bragging about how fun it was to kick the shit out of Devon. They told me “you missed all the excitement!” Glad I did. I was told that Devon had pushed the girl to get her off his bed after she refused to move, and so Justin attacked him, and everyone else jumped in to help in the assault; everyone that is except me and Small Fry of course. They bragged about how he had “turtled like a coward”, and drank in celebration of their assault. They pretended that they beat him for “pushing a girl”, but the real reason was more a mix of homophobia and a desire for violence.

I asked where he was now, and was told quite gleefully how after beating him unconscious, they had drug him outside into the alley way. They left him there then walked to the near by Mack’s store and claimed to the worker that they had found a guy beaten badly in the alley way. They left before the cops got there.

Months later I heard rumor that Devon had been in a coma for a few months, and when he woke up he had no memory of what had happened. I never saw him again, and can;t verify if it was true or not

I feared Justin, and no one dared to stand up to him after that. None the less every so often he would find an excuse to attack someone, turn on someone.A few months after the assault on Devon, Justin beat another kid into a coma for breaking a alcohol bottle in the park and refusing to pick up the glass. He justified it by saying that people bring their dogs there and the dogs could step on the glass.

He left the squat, luckily, and I lived there until police busted it some months later when the parents of a girl named Sarah who had been kicked out decided to claim she had run away because she wouldn’t stay in the shelter where her parents had left her. So they came to find her, apparently knowing for months that we were squatting there. A while after that I was in a car accident, along with that girl, and had to return ‘home’ to Kitscoty do to my injuries. Her parents refused to take her back and told her on the phone from the hospital “It’s just like you to get yourself in trouble.” So she moved in with me and my mom and after she healed enough she went to school with me in the town I had tried so hard to run away from. The town where I had been bullied nearly to suicide.

A year later I heard Justin was convicted of attempted murder after pulling a knife and trying to stab a Sikh guy in Gazebo park.

I was 16 then. I am 33 now.
just over half my life ago.
This is how I remember it. There is not a single person from that scene I have talked to in over a decade. But I remember most of that year like it was just weeks ago.

by Comrade Black

0 New ROAC LP Fucking Destroys! (Interview.)

July 2, 2014
by xbencrewx
· Interviews · PE Records

DSCN1438

ROAC hail from Denver, Colorado and feature several contrubutors from Profane Existence magazine as well as members Denver’s longest running crust band, THE CLUSTERFUX. This is ROAC’s debut LP and they offer up a heavy dose of doom laden mid-tempo darkness with hints of early AMEBIX, CELTIC FROST and DEVIATED INSTINCT while creating a sound all their own. Lyrically they rail on the horrifying imapct humainty has imposed upon our environment and eachother through unjust laws, war, greed and trechery. The cover features killer artwork from “Bam Bam” and helps make this one solid epic split release by the band’s own LESS ART RECORD LABEL and PROFANE EXISTENCE!

PE: Who plays what and why?

Josh – Dean plays drums because he is a drummer and has some drums. I play bass because we needed a bass player and I wanted to be in the band and Justin plays guitar because we couldn’t find a guitar player that wasn’t already in several other bands. Justin also does the vocals because he wanted to try vocals.

PE : How did you guys get together? Two of you were in the Clusterfux, was this band started during the Clusterfux? How did it start?

Josh – The idea for the band was planted the night Justin and I decided to disband Clusterfux. We tossed around the names of some dudes that would be fun to jam with and Dean was on that list. It really started out with a much different vision musically. At one point we did have a guitar played and Justin only did vocals. We were called Apex for a while but as our sound developed we dropped that name.

Justin- I knew I wanted to keep jamming with my brother but was kind of over writing guitar riffs. After 16 years in the Clusterfux and writing 90 % of the music I was burnt out. I really wanted to be a singer but that only lasted so long before I had to fill guitar hot-seat again. Then when I did I couldn’t write the way I used to. It made me physically ill to even think about it.

PE: In a city of amazing Grind Core bands and Ska Punk bands, how did you guys find yourselves playing low and slow.

Josh – I like some Grind Core but I am not a grinder really. I listen to a lot of metal and crust. Actually in our early conversations about the band we talked about a two vocalist punk band somewhere between Aus-Rotten and MDC. Very political and aggressive hardcore. Probably more like what World Pain is. But once we started jamming we let our sound kind of go where it wanted and not force anything. We are all huge Black Sabbath and Amebix fans so it kind of just ended up going in that direction. Like you said this is Grind City, I don’t think some people get what we’re doing. More people are getting tuned in but Denver hasn’t really had a heavy crusty-metal band like this, that plays slower…But really that’s what I am into personally…Misery, Axegridner, War//Plague, Neurosis, Black Sabbath, Celtic Frost, Amebix, Deviated Instinct…You get the picture.
Justin- I even remember talk of doing a D.R.I. cover band for a sec., hahaha. When I became the guitar player and chief writer of Roac I just couldn’t play fast like the Clusterfux. I was always pretty good at writing thrashy punk riffs even helped write a Hirax album but I was done with it and was feeling something different. I sit around jamming Killing Joke, Amebix, Joy Division and Sabbath all day. What I was writing was what I wanted to be listening to. Our sound and music happened totally organically. We didn’t plan on being super crusty it was just the way the energy of the universe pulled our sound together. I am also a drummer and I play drums in some other bands like World Pain and the now defunct Dripfed. In those bands I play fast and hard for the most part but once Roac started playing I just knew it couldn’t be like those bands, I was feeling something different, I think we all were.

PE: In a time of extreme materialism, where consumerism is considered a virtue and plastic and pollution threaten to push the planet into extinction how do you cope and survive?

Josh – I ignore it. Commercials don’t work on me, its bullshit. I don’t relate to anyone in ads. They are the sheep. We are all consumers, you really can’t escape that but you can be smart about where and how you consume as well as what you do with the left overs. You vote with your dollar. You can eat at the locally owned establishment or some chain shit hole. Life is full of choices, anyone can buck the system and make better choices. Recycling is so easy these days, most cities have free recycling centers, its too easy to not toss shit into a landfill anymore. You make a choice, the trash or the recycling can. Make better decisions and pass that on to others. I have kids, this stuff will just be natural to them when they are older I hope. With that my son watches VHS tapes I get from the thrift store, sure I’ll cough up cash and by a new release if it’s something worthwhile like the LEGO movie (which by the way has a very strong anti-police state / New World Order message). We don’t succumb to every new product or advancement in technology. I finally got a new phone only because the old one died, not because I have to have the latest stuff. I pack up the kids’ old clothes and give them to friends or donate them. Again, that message is handed down to the kids. We help others as much as we can, we donate whenever we can and I explain to the kids why. They get it.

Justin- I have a hard time with it. The way people act is appalling. Greed runs amok through every single level, angle and facet of the planet and its resources. It’s easy to recognize the faults of others but soon you have to point the finger at yourself and realize those same truths are in your own existence. Then you have to discover how to overcome those and better yourself and help those around you instead of using honesty a means of hurting someone and making yourself falsely feel better. Instead of inanely bragging about ourselves we need try to reach out to others and better their lives.

PE: Over the years I have met people who have been “awakened to the big picture”. Meaning they thought, for the most part, what they learned in school was somewhat true just to have that idea shattered to its very core. Everything including Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Monoliths fling around our planet that Tesla tried to talk to, world banking systems hell bent on enslaving the human race, Anunnaki and Adamu , fake gods and their followers, 9/11 has been exposed. Was there a certain moment that awoke you guys?

Josh – My Dad was a hippy and raised us to question everything, don’t trust the police and don’t trust the government. We grew up listening to punk and metal and have always questioned authority but for me the defining moment really was 911. That was like putting on the glasses in ‘They Live’. I haven’t looked at the world the same since. It was from there that I did a lot of research on my own and starting reading books and hitting sites and getting as much info as I could. I have a much clearer understanding of the world now. Once you really wakeup it’s so liberating. The thing is that what used to be considered “conspiracy” is now main stream news. Drones for example, I first started reading about them on the conspiracy sites years ago, then it was on other media outlets like RT and finally they hit the mainstream. People from all walks of life are waking up and putting aside their petty differences to recognize that we’re all being lied to and mislead. Its too easy to go online and see that a presidential candidate is getting his financial backing from the same banks and corporations as his opponent. It’s too easy to research who the cabinet members are and see that they came from Monsanto. These are scary times, but exciting too. The revolution is fully under way and it’s all about information, exposing the phony wizard behind the curtain for all to see. Every meme your share or video clip is a shot fired.Like I said in the previous answer their tricks don’t faze me much anymore. I don’t have anything that I believe I have to measure up to except myself, there is no “keeping up with the Joneses” type bullshit to take from my happiness. I still have bills and I still work too much, I am still an economic slave in that sense but I have no debt and I live for furthering my cause. Not pay for crap that I can’t afford. My house is small but it’s affordable, I am not chained to an enormous mortgage and I am more free to spend my money on things that are more fun and fulfilling. I know people that put their entire vacations on plastic, they are 10, 20, 30 thousand dollars or more in debt. They live in McMansions that they cant afford and live way outside their means just to uphold an image. They will leave their children with debt when they die. I may not have a lot to leave my kids but there won’t be a pile of debt for temporary shit that isn’t even around anymore. I’ll be able to leave a house that is paid for. And a killer record collection!

Justin- A guy named Matt Easterly turned me onto it in the late 90’s. He introduced me to Alex Jones, David Icke and a bunch of other “conspiracy theorists”. That’s where I learned about Bohemian Grove, Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg Group, Carlyle Group and the Illuminati and New World Order in general.

PE: What do you guys sing about, partying or politics or is it a mix?

Josh – Social / Political stuff, awareness and being awake. Justin writes most of the lyrics and his style is more poetic than how I write. But we don’t write party songs, I don’t have time for empty messages. We were watching a band the other night and their lyrics were so empty and devoid of meaning. You have to ask if it was even rebellious or just an excuse to dye your hair. We saw SoCal punk legends D.I. the other night too. A guy actually said to me that he didn’t like D.I. because they were “too political”! Really? Well at least you look cool. For me punk was supposed to mean more. Our lyrics aren’t all doom and gloom either, there are moments of hoped weaved into them. Justin could probably elaborate more.

Justin- I write about the shit going on around me. I don’t write about partying and trying to get laid but I don’t try to bum myself out through all of it either. Like in the song Blast the Opportunists… “ my friends and family rejoice in their sense of community” I write a lot about trying to survive mentally and physically in this world amongst so much greed puked out by lost souls.

PE: What the hell is a Roac and how do you say it?

Josh – Look it up!

Justin-Rowuck with two syllables

PE: Now that the LP is out what is next for the band?

Josh – More releases. We have several songs already written and would like to get in and record them by the fall. I’d like to get a cassette out or even a 7” or split in the not too distant future. We’ve got several out of town weekend shows in mind. We were just down in Colorado Springs last weekend and hope to go back soon and a few weeks ago we were at OC Cruststock. Then maybe we’ll get up to Cheyenne, Rapid City, and beyond. Now that we have a record out a tour in the fall would make sense too.

PE: Closing comments?

Josh – Thanks to Dan, Ben and Profane Existence and to Bam Sickos for the killer artwork. He really did some cool stuff for us. Here is his FB link > http://www.facebook.com/BamSickosArt

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 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 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.

1 June 11 SOLIDARITY WITH LONG TERM ANARCHIST PRISONER

June 5, 2014
by Comrade Black
· Columns · Events · PE Web Zine

by Comrade Black

June 11 is coming up, the international day for solidarity with long term anarchist prisoners. I want to take a moment to encourage all of you to consider showing support for long term anarchist prisoners and earth defenders.

Prisoners need our support, it keeps them alive and strong. These are people who are in jail for their dedication to movements for social change, whether they broke into labs to free animals or were framed by law enforcement, their involvement in activism is why they are now sitting behind bars. If we believe we can create a better world on the ashes of this one, we need to step up and support those who have become captives for trying to put into action those very same beliefs. In the words of Resist and Exist “It’s important that we Support political prisoners. Because if we don’t One day you might be a political prisoner and there will be no movement to support you“

There are many ways you can show solidarity, but remember solidarity isn’t a word, it’s a relationship. that means solidarity is more than words, it requires action! But action can be as simple as writing a post card or letter to a prisoner, or sending them a book to read. Action can mean a lot of things depending on what you are willing and able to do. Here are some ideas of actions you can take to support prisoner:

Send them a book or magazine. When you are in jail there is one thing you have a lot of, time. Books and magazines can keep prisoners from boredum, keep them informed on what’s going on outside so they will be more up to date when they get out, and sometimes give a much needed escape. They also can help keep the brain sharp. Many prisoners actually have wishlists on amazon.com, so if you don’t know what to send them you can buy a book directly off their wishlist and soon as you pay for it it will be sent directly to them. Even better, instead of giving money to corporate amazon, many anarchist and radical publishers like AK Press or Ardent Press will send books to prisoners at a discounted price, some will even send books to anarchist prisoners for free. Similarly, many magazines like Earth First! Journal, Iconoclast, or The Fifth Estate will also give free subscriptions to prisoners. Do note that while in the USA you can easilly send books to prisoners, in some other countries such as the colonial nation state that calls itself Canada, you can not send books directly to prisoners. However in Kkklanda you can send photocopies of books 15 pages at a time.

Write a letter or post card – Prisoners have very limited connection to the outside world. Imagine going from having a large social network of friends to seeing the same 6 prisoners and 3 guards every day, and being locked in a cell for up to 14 hrs or more. This is the reality for many prisoners. Sending a letter can keep people sane, and brighten their day. If you don’t know what to say, make it easy, send them pictures of your cat, or even cut out photos of wild animals. Send them your favorite poem, lyrics to a song you are writing, or some article or short story you really love, a Sudoku or crossword puzzle. It doesn’t have to be hard. Many prisoners are happy to just hear about your day and the wonderful dog you played with river you swam in or tree you climbed. You can also tell them about activism going on so they will know stuff is still happening outside. It can be easy.
NOTE – a few things to avoid: don’t send creepy shit. I hate to have to say this but a female friend of mine who served time for black bloc actions had men send her letters hitting on her. that is NOT ok. On another note, don’t complain about shit. I know, life can suck some times, but no matter how shitty your drama is or how annoying dealing with the cops or government beirocracy, or school can be, it doesn’t compare to sitting in a cell and being strip searched and yelled at daily. remember the point is to cheer them up and build relationships, not to emotionally puke on them and use them for therapy. Lastly don’t tell them about illegal shit you have done or are thinking of doing, This might sound obvious, but it happens. Often if you tell them about something illegal, they can be punished. It si also just bad security culture.

Another way to send support is to donate money through their support committees. Often the support website will have a pay pal account to help make this easier. Money is important to help prisoners get many of the basics of life we take for granted, such as toiletries, pens paper and envelopes, phone cards for calling your loved ones, and especially decent food. This is particularly important for many animal lib prisoners who are Vegan, as the prison food is often quite inadequate for a healthy diet. Having a healthy diet is important to maintaining mental and physical health, which often suffers when one gets locked into a concrete box the size of your bathroom.

There are many other types of actions one can do, such as organizing a protest, a banner drop, graffiti in support of the prisoner, making posters, t-shirts, writing a song about their case, or setting up a punk show as a fundraiser for them. Be creative, think about what would mean a lot to you if you were in prison? For many movement prisoners, continuing the work they care about while they are jailed can also be one of the most effective forms of solidarity

Also remember these people will be in jail long after June 11. While June 11 is a good day to start, especially if you have never done support work before; I do hope you will continue to support our captives long after. Prisoners also need support to continue when they are released, this can happen in the way of helping them find work or other income, places to live and community supports such as counseling if they need it. It can also mean just being there if they need someone to have lunch with; as well as not expecting them to want to hang out. It can be a hard transition from living in a box to living in a society of boxes, and often people need to slowly move back into socializing.

I hope this will encourage you to get involved, it is easy to make a difference. You can find lists of prisoners, anarchists, ecoprisoners, animal liberationists, and indigenous land defenders on sites such as ecoprisoners. There is also groups like the Anarchist Black Cross which are dedicated to doing prisoner support for movement prisoners. You may want to check if there is an ABC chapter in your city and get in touch.

Your support is needed. Your support can make a difference

Page 6 of 74

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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0 Big Day For The Struggle Against Ongoing Colonialism

0 Doomed Society Radio #91 Is Here

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

0 Rise of the Fit Punks…Will

1 June 11 SOLIDARITY WITH LONG TERM ANARCHIST PRISONER