A Return to Leftist Self-Defense

Communities targeted by escalating right-wing violence are learning from their own histories how to keep each other safe.

“In moments where I have seen [community defense], it’s always been something that has been asked for explicitly,” says Snow. [Yellow Peril Tactical] YPT formed in 2020 amid a slew of anti-Asian hate crimes. Organizers from around the U.S. met through activist networks and began supporting each other not just in learning self-defense and firearms skills but also in creating more visible networks of care and connecting their ideas about community empowerment to international struggles such as supporting anarchists fighting Russian aggression in Ukraine. 

A Return to Leftist Self-Defense

Related:

California Gun Control: How Ronald Reagan and the Black Panthers Started a Movement

Leftist Case For Gun Rights – Racism & Gun Control

The racial and class question

The racial and class question

Virtually forgotten due to the discourse of Ukrainian unity and the general lack of interest in analyzing the nuances of events, the racial and class question is going virtually unnoticed in this war. If the Donbass conflict had a proletarian aspect that the press mocked in the first weeks of the DPR due to those Soviet-looking press conferences of workers and academics, in the current context, there have not even been any such comments. Presented as a war of national liberation, no aspect other than nationalism has deserved much mention in the Western press or in academia. Volodymyr Ishchenko and Ilya Matveev, who have sought to study the class aspect in the outbreak of the conflict, are the rare exception. To Ischenko’s surprise, RFE/RL published an article last September that dealt, albeit in generalities and without great depth, with the increase in inequality that war implies, an aspect that is, on the other hand, perfectly evident. “As the war drags on, the gaps in Ukrainian society are widening,” the American media headlines.

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Germany uncovers major Russian disinformation campaign on X + Disinformation Is No. 1 Threat As Elections Approach

Germany uncovers major Russian disinformation campaign on X: Report

A common theme was the accusation that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government was neglecting the country’s own population in favor of helping Ukraine in its war against Russia, according to Spiegel, which said it has seen excerpts of the analysis.

Related:

Disinformation Is No. 1 Threat As Elections Approach, WEF Report Finds

Disinformation is often blamed for swaying elections – the research says something else

For Some Reason, LA Drug Cops Received Intelligence, Training On ‘Muslim Extremists’ From The Israeli Military

For Some Reason, LA Drug Cops Received Intelligence, Training On ‘Muslim Extremists’ From The Israeli Military

What is clear is that several US law enforcement agencies are working closely with pro-Israel groups and participating in seminars that encourage surveillance of Muslims — ones performed not by law enforcement agencies but rather the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), a pro-Israel non-profit group.

Emails preserved in BlueLeaks show various agencies promoting ADL training sessions for law enforcement officers, including a January 2013 session on “screening of persons by observational techniques” and a seminar at the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center on the “evolving nature of Islamic extremists”.

ADL staff are shown as registered attendees at events run by fusion centers, offering bios that advise the organization that “we facilitate workshops for law enforcement on extremism, hate crime and (in Washington DC and Israel) counter-terrorism”.

Related:

[2018] US and Israeli Police Are Sharing Violent and Repressive Tactics

Democrats Beg for Calm in Chicago Over Escalating Israel-Hamas Protests

CHICAGO — Chicago has long been held up by Democrats as a blend of diversity, progressive policies and a union stronghold, which made it a natural host city for the party’s 2024 presidential nominating convention. But escalating tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas are disrupting the city and dividing Democrats as they prepare to show unity in nominating the president to a second term next summer.

Israel-Hamas protests disrupt life in Democrats’ convention city

Previously:

Israel’s War on American Student Activists

For years the Israel on Campus Coalition—a little-known organization with links to Israeli intelligence—has used student informants to spy on pro-Palestinian campus groups.

Israel’s War on American Student Activists (archived)

Looks like those microgrants are for more than just attending pro-Israel protests.

Previously: