Plutocracy: Political Repression in the USA

Scott Noble of Metanoia Films has released part I of an important video history of class struggle in the US. Combining historic photos and video with reflections drawn from a range of historians, the film covers uprisings and revolts most of us never heard of in our history classes. As Deep Green Resistance emphasizes, a successful resistance movement must learn from the history of what has and hasn’t worked for others. Plutocracy is an excellent introduction to the mass movements of the working class in American history.

Noble describes his work in more detail:

Part 1 of the series focuses extensively on the ways in which the American people have historically been divided on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex and skill level. This the first documentary to comprehensively examine early American history through the lens of class.

Although the sub-header is “Political Repression in the USA”, Plutocracy is as much a tribute to the courage and tenacity of the American working class as a condemnation of its ruling class.

Learn more: sources for Plutocracy

Donate to the film maker to support him in making parts II and III of the series.

Delta en Revuelta – Piratería y Guerrilla Contra las Multinacionales del Petróleo

“Deja nuestra tierra o morir en ella!” Este es el mensaje del Movimiento para la Emancipación del Delta del Níger (MEND) para la industria del petróleo. La historia, las acciones y tácticas del MEND son el foco del libro publicado por el Observatorio Petrolero Sur (OPSur) titulado, “Delta es Revuelta. Piratería y de guerrillas contra las Multinacionales del Petróleo”.

Podría decirse que MEND es uno de los movimientos de resistencia más eficaces contra la industria del petróleo—el MEND es responsable de un recorte de casi un tercio de la producción de petróleo de Nigeria entre 2006 y 2009. Esos son números que el movimiento ambiental contemporánea sólo puede soñar.
Como organización sobre el suelo, Deep Green Resistance utiliza la acción directa para privar a los ricos de su capacidad para robar a los pobres y los poderosos de su capacidad para destruir el planeta. También argumentamos a favor de la necesidad de un moviemento clandestino que puede apuntar a la infraestructura estratégica de la industrialización, al igual que el MEND está haciendo en el delta del Níger. MEND ofrece un ejemplo de cómo estratégica, la resistencia específica puede confrontar a los que están matando a nuestro planeta. Aprende sus maneras, apoya su causa, y toma acción!

“En Nigeria, todas las esperanzas en la democracia y en el bienestar suscitadas por la independencia y el descubrimiento de petróleo, naufragaron en los pantanos del Delta del río Níger, hundidas por la explotación salvaje de multinacionales como Shell, Agip y Chevron, y por la corrupción de los gobiernos locales. A la sombra de un cielo contaminado y de un mar sin peces, un joven del lugar afirma, la gente ha empezó a pensar: «Tenemos que armarnos si no queremos morir ». La violencia engendra violencia. Y cuando una persona pierde la esperanza, se siente destrozada y acaba diciendo: «O combato o más vale morir».

Así, sobre rápidas lanchas, con pasamontañas, fusiles automáticos y kalashnikov, los rebeldes del Delta pasaron al contraataque, saboteando a la industria del petróleo. Son la voz armada de una población entera, agotada por decenios de saqueo de recursos y por la represión militar que intenta truncar sus protestas con todos los medios disponibles. Luchan por el fin de la contaminación de sus tierras, para la indemnización por los daños sufridos y para la restitución del control de los recursos a las comunidades locales.

Este libro es un homenaje a su batalla.”

Lee todo el libro en…

Delta en Revuelta – Piratería y Guerrilla Contra las Multinacionales del Petróleo (PDF)

Rang De Basanti: a modern inspiration for direct action

Review by Parag Dalal / Deep Green Resistance

Spoiler alert: important pieces of the movie plot revealed below.

Rang De Basanti opens with a British officer in pre-independence India walking along prison cells and finally entering one. The man inside, reading a book, instructs “Wait a moment, Mr. McKinley, one revolutionary is meeting another.” Thus are we introduced to the legendary Bhagat Singh, engrossed in a book by Lenin. Singh rises calmly, ready to be escorted to the gallows. Mr McKinley, with sadness on his face, says “Sorry it has to end like this.” Bhagat Singh replies unwaveringly with a smile on his face “But this is not the end, Mr McKinley. There will be many more who will follow.” He starts walking and we see tears in the eyes of Mr McKinley.

Rang De Basanti goes against the regular Bollywood (Hindi) fare of romantic movies. It is a powerful commentary on the state of Indian politics and a call for direct action. Its ultimate clearance by the Indian Censor Board, albeit with a lot of controversy, delays, and reviews, is nothing short of surprising. The music by the Oscar winning A.R Rahman is visceral and evokes feelings of anger, rage and of freedom fighters and Indian independence.

In an interview with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the writer, director and co-producer of the film said that when Aamir Khan heard the script, he immediately agreed to star in it. This is a telling fact since Aamir Khan, one of the biggest names in Bollywood, has since directed and starred in some of the most controversial Bollywood movies, bringing some very deep seated and taboo topics of Indian society to light. Amongst his films are a satirical comedy about the farmer suicides in India (Peepli Live); a story about Mangal Pandey, an Indian soldier who led a violent revolt against the British Rule in India in 1857 (Mangal Pandey: The Rising); and a story of a dyslexic eight-year old child which brought awareness to dyslexia in India (Taare Zameen Par).

Rang De Basanti is a story of four regular college going young men who are completely apathetic to Indian politics until they find themselves at the receiving end of the corrupt system. Before the main events in the movie, they are cast in a documentary about five Indian freedom fighters – Chandrasekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Ashfaqulla Khan, and Ram Prasad Bismil. The choice of these specific freedom fighters is significant. While all of them were key in achieving Indian independence, all of them used all means necessary, including violence against the British empire. Four of them were hanged, and the fifth shot dead in a conflict with the British. While there is no way to ascertain the truth, story has it that as they were escorted to be hanged, these men wore gentle smiles, looked their executioners in the eyes, and were confident they did the right thing and were inspiring hundreds of Indians to do the same. History proves the last part was definitely true, not only during the independence struggle but also today.

In the movie, an ace air force pilot friend of the actors is killed during a practice run in a MIG-21 crash. The government closes the investigation concluding that it was the pilot’s fault, covering up the true cause: a politician bought cheap spare parts for the MIGs in return for a bribe. The young men and their community hold a rally and vigil, but the police violently disperse it, brutally injuring their friend’s mother. With peaceful protest not an option, and at their wit’s end as to what to do, they decide to kill the politician involved in the deal.

The parallels between the modern protagonists and the freedom fighters they portrayed are reinforced repeatedly with cuts to black and white clips of them playing their older versions. This vividly highlights similarities between the modern power structure and British rule. One of the most inspiring poems written during the Indian independence ― Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna by Bismil Azimabadi ― which to this day inspires countless Indians and brings up visceral feeling, is featured in the movie at key moments.

सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

देखना है ज़ोर कितना बाज़ू-ए-क़ातिल में है

which loosely translates to:

The desire for revolution is in our hearts

Let us see what strength there is in the arms of our executioner

The youth carry out the assassination, but the elites spin the news to paint the corrupt politician as a martyr in the media. So the modern freedom fighters take over a radio station to reveal the entire truth and their reasons for killing the minister. The police declare them terrorists and kill all of them, the scenes moving back and forth between the deaths of the historic freedom fighters and those of the protagonists.

The movie had a noticeable impact on Indian society. Internet bloggers increased their criticisms of corruption and bureaucracy in the Indian Government and intense political discussions were common after the movie’s release. Young people took to streets protesting many contemporary issues and injustices, most notably the 1999 Jessica Lall Murder Case, in which the court acquitted the accused which caused intense civil protests for his re-arrest. One group of demonstrators carried out a candlelight vigil similar to that in the movie. In another instance, large rallies were organized in India and the US in response to the Priyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder case. A survey revealed Rang De Basanti as the cause of this sudden increase in Indian people’s political involvement.

The movie is revolutionary in its subject matter. The audience, especially youth, are not only sympathetic but even identify with the protagonists, average college going men. The sympathy does not wane even after they assassinate the corrupt politician and take over the radio station at gunpoint to deliver their message. The message is clear: violence is not only justified but required in certain situations. The politicians and the police force are depicted in a negative light, something almost never seen in any media, Indian or Western. The movie inspired a generation of Indian youth to take direct action and continues to inspire people to this day.

Rang De Basanti is available in the US for rental from Netflix, or purchase at amazon.com

Chris Hedges on Resistance Radio

Chris Hedges, one of the great intellectuals of our time, opens this important interview with two quotes. James Baldwin says of the rebel and the artist that it’s not so much that they have a vision, but that they’re propelled by it. Hannah Arendt writes of people who resist that “It’s not those who say ‘This shouldn’t be done.’ or ‘We oughtn’t to do this.’ It’s those who say ‘I can’t.'”

Hedges uses these quotes as a launching point into an important conversation with Derrick Jensen about rebels, revolutionaries, and revolt. How do people willing to defy power develop, and what contributes to their success or failure in fighting injustice? Are such people born with a unique spark required for them to stand up against those in power? Can this impulse be cultivated in them, or in those willing to follow the rebel? What conditions need be present in society to launch a larger movement of resistance? Can these conditions be cultivated? What are the differences between rebels working for the good of others vs abusers who call themselves victimized rebels? What are the dangers of using violence in a struggle for liberation?

Jensen and Hedges discuss the difficulty of getting a radical or even progressive message out to people in these days of society in decay, spectacle, and unwillingness to hear uncomfortable truths. Between the entrenched political parties shutting out any discourse critiquing power, the control of mass media by corporations carefully filtering what gets through, and even the erosion of intellectual freedom in universities, the process of building an opposition to business as usual is painful and deadly slow. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, we must work harder (and smarter) than ever to break down these corrupt structures, restore local decision making, and rebuild healthy communities.

Hedges believes the system is irredeemable, and any attempt to work with or within it is a waste of precious time we don’t have. Everything we do now must be oriented towards overthrowing the system and corporate power. If we don’t overthrow it soon, we’re faced with the extinction of not just the human species, but all others as well.

Hedges has many insights into our current crises of political, economic, and moral systems; and into what is necessary to correct our course. Listen to his June 21, 2015 interview below, download mp3, or listen on our Youtube channel. For more of his brilliant analysis, read his latest book Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt or any of his many other books.

Download mp3

Browse all of Derrick Jensen’s Resistance Radio interviews.

Robert Newman’s History of Oil

Geopolitical history, though critically important to understanding real life today, is generally pretty boring. Stand-up comedy, though highly enjoyable when done well, is generally pretty meaningless. Robert Newman’s genius is in combining the best of both worlds on the subject of oil: “the terrifying 100-year history brought to life.”

In a scant 45 minutes, Newman covers a lot of ground. He starts by highlighting British and US adventurism, interference, and warmongering from WWI, through the 1953 CIA replacement of Iran’s democratic government with a dictator friendly to the US, to the present occupation of Iraq (sold by governments and corporate media to the public with a straight face and no apparent shame as “bringing democracy to the middle east.)

He also touches on peak oil, its implications on our food production, and the fact that “there is no way out.” His coverage of the problem is good, though he concludes with a plea for society to pursue widespread implementation of green technologies and renewable energy. (See the Deep Green Resistance presentation “False Solutions of Green Energy” to understand the problems with that as a solution.) It’d be great to see him instead work the strategy of Decisive Ecological Warfare into his pitch.

Though you may already know some or much of what Newman presents, he probably has some surprises for you, too. This is a very pleasant way to brush up on history, even for those who consider themselves apolitical and normally uninterested in this sort of thing. Share with your friends and family!

Radical analysis of the war in Iraq

The March 25, 2013 episode of Liberation Radio focused on the war in Iraq, in commemoration of the 10 year anniversary of the US invasion. Alla Baker shares her perspective moving from Iraq to the US and feeling shocked by the ignorance people displayed of conditions in Iraq, and especially of the effects of US imperialism in other countries. Kevin Baker (no relation) describes some of the horrific aftermath in Iraq, and presents the March Forward campaign to help active service members resist deployment.

Mike Prysner, a veteran of the initial 2003 invasion, provides an outstanding analysis of the war. He begins by recapping the lies, now well known, about the US mission in Iraq, fed to young service members and citizens in general to justify the invasion. Less often heard is the story of radicalization of soldiers on the ground. The reality of serving on a violent occupation force and the daily contradictions with the official US story led Prysner and others to the understanding that Iraqi resistance is fully justified. From there, they came to realise that this invasion was not a mistake led by a specific administration gone mad, but that the entire system of capitalism depends on such wars, and that the US soldiers sent to secure foreign resources and markets for American interests have more in common with the Iraqi people than they do with those who direct and profit from the invasions.

Though this is an old episode, it has a lot of value in its retrospective analysis. Listen below, or browse all Liberation Radio episodes.

Download mp3

Videos recommended by Deep Green Resistance

We’ve compiled lists of videos we recommend to those learning about radical history and resistance, from presentations by DGR members to fictional films. We have two sets of lists. Enjoy!


Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel features resistance videos with Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Aric McBay, and other DGR members. You’ll also find non-DGR films and music videos with anti-civ analysis and themes of resistance.

  • Trailers for upcoming DGR films
  • DGR Workshop Presentations
  • DGR Presentations at PIELC (Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, OR)
  • DGR Authors (Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay) giving various presentations
  • Other DGR members on various speaking tours
  • Radical Feminism
  • Resistance & Anti-civilization Films
    • Resistance – Contemporary
    • Fictional Resistance & Anti-Civ
    • Resistance – Historical
    • Indigeneity
    • Civilization: The Problem
  • Resistance Radio: audio interviews by Derrick Jensen
  • Music videos

We also have a set of Deep Green Resistance IMDB lists. These don’t include any actual video clips, but do provide more information on the films, including reviews by other people.

  • The Problem of Civilization – Big Picture
  • The Problem of Civilization – Specific Issues
  • Resistance – Contemporary
  • Resistance – Historical
  • Resistance – World War II
  • Resistance – Fictional
  • Indigeneity
  • Feminism
  • Historical & Political Documentaries
  • Restoration & Nature Documentaries
  • Animal Rights
  • Fictional anti-civilization films

Deep Green Resistance East Coast Roadshow videos

We reported a while back on the summer 2012 East Coast Roadshow. We recorded the presentation at the final stop in Washington, D.C. View the videos below (English subtitles available), or browse all our Deep Green Resistance youtube videos or Deep Green Resistance member appearances.

Sam Leah

Sam Leah gives a crash course in what civilization is, how it works, and why it can’t continue.

Rachel

Rachel analyzes environmental activism to date, including an explanation of liberal vs radical approaches.

Xander Knox

Xander Knox looks briefly at what we can learn from past resistance movements. Unfortunately, the recording cuts off before he describes the resulting DGR strategy of Decisive Ecological Warfare.

Stand with Indigenous Peoples, Stop the Pipelines

Moccasins on the Ground workshop where participants
are trained in the skills, tactics, and techniques
of nonviolent direct action.

Will Falk, a Deep Green Resistance member in San Diego CA, highlights the front-line struggle of indigenous communities across North America against ecocide in its many forms. Despite the impression given so many of us from school and history books, genocide is not just a thing of the past; it continues every day in the present. Falk calls on all those who benefit from settler culture to step up and stand alongside indigenous people fighting for justice and for the future of all of us.

I used to imagine that I could go back in time and offer my help. I would learn how to shoot and offer my rifle to Crazy Horse or learn how to ride and ask Chief Joseph if he could use my help. As I listened to the rhythmic thump of soldiers’ boots marching on where they thought my friends’ village was, I would imagine approaching a fat officer in a powdered horse-hair whig with a smile coming from my white face. I would tell the officer I knew where the Indians were, only to lead him on a wild goose chase while he trusted me because I was white.

I have grown up now. I realize that there are wars being waged against the land and those who would protect the land. I realize that I can work to stop the black snakes that are being built to slither through this land, to choke her original people, and to wring the last few drops of oil from her.

Read the rest of Stand with Indigenous Peoples, Stop the Pipelines.

You Don’t Have to Reinvent the Wheel- What Occupy Can Learn from the Populists

Introspection, retrospection, and learning from past movements like the Populists of the late 19th century could propel the Occupy Movement to new heights. Some strategic framework based on the lessons of history could open a world of possibilities, but the movement must first begin to challenge some of the patterns and assumptions that have defined it thus far.

Occupy Albany protesters moving their info tent
as they’re evicted on December 22, 2011

Reposted from Truthout

Excerpt from article by Ashley Sanders:

…[T]he Populists came within an inch of changing the entire corporate-capitalist system. They wanted a totally new world, and they had a plan to get it. But as you may have noticed, they didn’t. And now here we are, one hundred years later, occupying parks where fields once stood. We’re at a crucial phase in our movement, standing just now with the great Everything around us—everything to win or everything to lose. It’s our choice. And that’s good, because the choices we make next will echo, not just for scholars and bored kids in history class, but in the lives we do or don’t get to have. The good news is this: the Populists traveled in wagons and left us their wheels. We don’t have to reinvent them. We’re going in a new direction, but I have a feeling they can help us get there.

Occupy has done a lot of things right, and even more things beautifully. But strategy has not been our forte. That was okay at first, even good. We didn’t have one demand, because we wanted it all. So we let our anger grow, and our imagination with it. We were not partisan or monogamous to one creed. That ranging anger got 35,000 people on the Brooklyn Bridge after the Wall Street eviction, and hell if I’m not saying hallelujah. But winter is settling now, and cops are on the march. Each week we face new eviction orders, and wonder how to occupy limbo.

It’s time for a plan, then, some idea for going forward. This plan should in no way replace the rhizomatic-glorious, joyful-rip-roarious verve of the movement so far. It can occur in tandem. But we need a blueprint for the future, because strategy is the road resistance walks to freedom.

Read whole article here.