Transcribing the Past

  “How does one hate a country, or love one? Tibe talks about it; I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain plowland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it's not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That's a good thing, but one mustn't make a virtue of it, or a profession... Insofar as I love life, I love the hills of the Domain of Estre, but that sort of love does not have a boundary-line of hate. And beyond that, I am ignorant, I hope.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

    Expropriation An Essay by Kropotkin  Published in La Revolte in 1886  Translated by Henry Glasse  No Social problem is more important for Revolutionists than that which deals with the expropriation of the rich in favour of the people, and the appropriation of all wealth by the latter. We invite all our comrades to study this problem under all its aspects, and to disenss it unceasingly, in view of its realization, which must sooner or later force itself upon us, as the definite success or temporary failure of the Revolution depends upon the manner in which this expropriation is applied. As a matter of fact, no Socialist can doubt that any revolutionary effort is condemned in advance if, it does not correspond with the interests of the great majority, and find means for satisfying its requirements. It is not enough to have a noble id al: man cannot live on great thoughts and lofty discourses alone; he requires bread; the stomach has more rights than even the b...

    Statement by Iran Labour Confederation - Abroad / کنفدراسیون کار ایران - خارج از کشور on the Ongoing War and the Urgency of Revolutionary Action  Statement sourced from  here The killing of Ali Khamenei, alongside a number of senior figures from the IRGC and the ruling apparatus, is an exceptional development in Iran’s current trajectory. It is a decisive blow to the heart of the repression machine and the backbone of the Islamic Republic. For millions in Iran, the death of a man who for decades symbolised massacre, suppression, poverty, militarism, and rule through blood has triggered a moment of release — a mix of long-contained rage and explosive relief. People’s presence in the streets and the broader social reaction reveal the depth of hatred that years of crime and slaughter have accumulated inside society. This is not joy in war. It is not joy in bombardment or in the killing of children. It is not joy in foreig...

  From Hunter S. Thompson’s ESPN page 2 column one week after 9/11.    We are At War now, according to President Bush, and I take him at his word. He also says this War might last for "a very long time." Generals and military scholars will tell you that eight or 10 years is actually not such a long time in the span of human history - which is no doubt true - but history also tells us that 10 years of martial law and a wartime economy are going to feel like a Lifetime to people who are in their twenties today. The poor bastards of what will forever be known as Generation Z are doomed to be the first generation of Americans who will grow up with a lower standard of living than their parents enjoyed. That is extremely heavy news, and it will take a while for it to sink in. The 22 babies born in New York City while the World Trade Center burned will never know what they missed. The last half of the 20th century will seem like a wild party for rich kids, compared to what's com...

  START TO FIGHT SERBIANS.  Montenegrins said to have declared a Holy War. LONDON, Feb, 22, A wireless message from Berlin today says that, according to Swiss reports, the Montenegrins have declared a holy war against the Serbians. Two Serbian regiments have occupied Cettinje[sic], Montenegro, and the situation is grave, the message says.    Published 23rd of February 1921 in the New York Times.  Thus reads the above news clipping. I was not familiar with this period before reading this news snippet. In the aftermath of the First World War it was decided to build a Kingdom in the Balkans uniting Croats, Serbs and Slovenes, which in 1929 would become known as Yugoslavia. The Montenegrins independent before the war were also absorbed into the Union. It was not a peaceful union, as this report from the New York Times makes clear.  In 1919, tensions between the pro Serb union and the federalist Montenegrins laid to a failed uprising in Christmas 1919 with ...

       From the Montreal Star, February 4, 1939:  𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗲𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝘆 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶-𝗡𝗮𝘇𝗶 𝗪𝗶𝘁  Comedians Banned For Humorous Remarks on Leaders  BERLIN, Feb. 4 (U.P.) When Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels yesterday blasted Germany's cafe society, he called it "society rabble and intellectual snobs," for laughing at comedians who make Nazi leaders the butts of their jokes.  Goebbels turned his anger upon the "society rabble" after announcing that five German actors had been banned from the stage for publicly ridiculing Nazi party and state functionaries.  He denied that there was any lack of humor in Nazi Germany, but said that it must be kept "good-natured, decent and clean."  "There is plenty of humor in Germany, more than enough," he said in a three and one-half column editorial in the Nazi party's newspaper Voelkischer Beobachter . "But we do not permit ourselves to be ridiculed."  Th...