We
are deeply saddened at the loss of our comrade and friend Josh on
Saturday, many of us knew him through the anti-fascist work he did or
got to know him fighting against Isis with the IFB in Syria. He was a principled
and committed revolutionary who was striving to win a better world,
doing it with a warmth and humour that drove people to kindness and
cooperation. He was an example to all of us to do better both as people
and comrades.
This is not just a crushing loss for those who
knew him or worked with him, it’s a devastating loss for the whole
labour movement. He will be dearly and deeply missed.
The garden lasted a few months. Then, an agent of the town’s housing authority found out about it and told my mother it was against the rules. “But no one’s using the land,” I remember her arguing. “The kids in the neighborhood play there.” The response was clear: Get rid of the garden or be evicted. Here was another one of those impossible choices of poverty. This was what my classmates would never understand, as they earnestly debated welfare fraud and the grasping desperation of the undeserving poor.
My mother stopped tending the garden and the next weekend a maintenance worker came and poured something onto the soil that made all the plants die and turned the grass brown.
On this day, 2 October 1766, the Great Cheese Riot of Nottingham, England began. Angry at the excessive price of cheese, a mob formed who seized it and began wheeling or carrying the cheeses away. The mayor attempted to restore order but was knocked down by a cheese.
Two or three of the crowd were arrested, so then the crowd attacked the building housing them until they were released. The army arrived the next day, but rioting and expropriations continued and were only put down the day after that.
Pictured: contemporary illustration of another food riot
Tag a friend in the comments who you think would riot for cheese! https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1543755709142907/?type=3
Y'all I just want you guys to know that at the protest tonight in Rochester, cops keep gassing the Frederick Douglass statue on the sidewalk because they think he’s a protester who isn’t leaving
You cannot MAKE THIS SHIT UP
Start setting up mannequins and cardboard cutouts everywhere, hopefully they’ll waste all their time and resources
Ah yes, the “Straw Boat Borrows Arrows“ trick (~250 AD)
