Richard Vallejo's blog

Someone asked today what my thoughts were regarding where activists and organizers should be focusing their time and energy. It can be easy to get caught up in the day to day, and just continue to do things the way we’ve been used to for years. It can also be easy to feel like our efforts only continue to be futile despite long, hard fought struggles and victories. Regardless, conditions have been changing in the US and across the world since 20, 30, 50 years ago. We have seen many victories, have felt many losses, and have watched many of our victories not fully realized.

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This is a call to all Autonomous / Anti-authoritarian / Anarchist People Of Color across North America to begin assembling APOC formations in your hoods, communities and regions!

A small but nationwide listserv is in the early stages of planning a national APOC gathering in the coming year. APOCistas on the conference list are encouraged by APOC gatherings that have taken place recently at anarchist bookfairs, conferences and convergences across the country, which have been spurred in part by conversations occurring on a national level.

Link to My Word is My Weapon blog below.

Its interesting looking at the timeline of events and government/military activity throughout the Zapatista struggle for land and dignity. Talking specifically, the events from December of 2007 to earlier this month.

Back in December, Subcomandante Marcos announced amid looming government repression that the EZLN would cease public and media appearances to prepare for the war on the horizon. As in the past, the Zapatistas chose silence as their word.

It doesn't take much to realize that most of (I'm being conservative here in my language) the anti-immigrant position is based on a racist and irrational fear. And, it doesn't take much more to realize the hypocrisy in a lot of the arguments used by anti-immigrant groups, often trying to cover up this racism...as if middle class white communities would actually be willing to sacrifice some of the comfort provided to them by their social standing only to realize that yes, dark skinned people are nothing to fear.

Steps to imposing a dominant culture and force assimilation in the context of a racist, oppressive, colonial order of society.

1. Define a dominant culture and promote all facets of that culture as desirable and most advanced in the quality of human life
2. Lump all people who fit a certain, "secondary culture" criteria together and neglect the possibility of individual differences in hobbies, interests, political leaning