A-Infos (en) US, Boston, Anarchist newsletter BAAM #15 - "Green Coal" and Dirty Handed Banks

"Green Coal" and Dirty Handed Banks ---- On Friday, November 14, members of 
Rising Tide Boston set up "Green Coal" marketing tables outside branches of Bank 
of America and Citibank to highlight these banks high-risk investments in coal 
power and mining. Emulating the coal industry's marketing pitch of "clean coal," 
activists handed out samples of "green coal" while informing fellow citizens not 
to expect "green coal" to be clean, safe, or affordable. ---- Rising Tide Boston 
held this event as part of the Day of Action Against Coal Finance, joining over 
50 cities across the country to protest Citi and Bank of America's investments 
in the coal industry.

    "Although we've spent a lot of time and
resources researching ways to make coal en-
vironmentally friendly, or "clean and green,"
the only way to do it is to wash it off and paint
it green," said a representative of the group.
While some onlookers claimed they already
had "environmental destruction" accounts,
many were skeptical, noting that even though
the coal had been washed, remnants of black
dust were still evident on the bankers' hands.
Despite the greenwashing that occurred on
Friday, many people walked away with newly
acquired knowledge regarding whose inter-
ests these banks really serve.

 From the Mouth of Zinn by Morrigan

On Friday November 7, Howard Zinn spoke on the
relevance of the case of Sacco and Vanzetti to
the current political discourse of today. He
drew on the many parallels between the
treatment of immigrants, poor people and
radicals in the day of Sacco and Vanzetti
and today, particularly on the systematic
racist and anti-immigrant analysis that pre-
vails in U.S. criminal justice system. Zinn's
point was less about Sacco and Vanzetti be-
ing the beginning of State harassment and
persecution of immigrants and radicals and
more about the case being part and parcel
of a criminal justice system that acts as a
tool to maintain a balance of power.
    Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco
were two poor Italian immigrants, a fish
peddler and a factory worker. They were
also Anarchists. In May of 1920 Sacco and
Vanzetti were arrested and charged with the
robbery and murder of two payroll clerks in
Braintree, Massachusetts. When they were
interrogated, the police asked the two men
if they were communists, anarchists, and
citizens. In the trials that followed, the pros-
ecution used Sacco and Vanzetti's political
views and immigrant status to discredit the
two defendants. In a time of patriotic fer-
vor around World War I, the government
was able to paint the two anarchists as anti-
American and unpatriotic.
    In a trial that has been thoroughly dis-
credited and was even pronounced unjust
by Massachusetts Governor Michael Du-
kakis in 1977, Sacco
and Vanzetti were con-
victed and sentenced
to death.
    People the world
over were outraged.
Many felt the convic-
tions reflected not evi-
dence of a crime but
the State's determina-
tion to target Sacco
and Vanzetti for their
political beliefs and
their immigrant status.
On the day of their death, a quarter of a mil-
lion people marched from the funeral home
to Forest Hills Cemetery where the bodies
of Sacco and Vanzetti were cremated.
    Zinn's lecture was thought provoking,
for in so many respects, little has changed.
The law still works to protect the rich over
the poor and targets people of color and im-
migrants. The law also targets radicals...
but that is where I began to think of things
that have changed.
    In the time of Sacco and Vanzetti the law
and the state feared anarchists and radicals.
What is more, anarchists and radicals were
not working in communities to organize
them, but were part of communities they
were working within. To clarify, it was a
time when identity was much more closely
tied to the community (Italian immigrant,
Irish immigrant, factory workers, fishers,
etc.) one came from and lived in. Also, im-
migrants often brought more of the social
struggles from their countries of birth with
them to the US. Tactics, like those used in
the Sacco and Vanzetti's case, have been
used over the years by the state to slowly
degrade the identity of immigrant commu-
nities, communities of color and of work-
ing class communities
    Today there is less and less cohesion
among the many communities that make
up our cities and towns. Among anarchists
it is (in my experience) almost as if to be
an anarchist is to make a discovery about
government, decide it's bad and decide that
the only solution is to overthrow it and then
poof...that's it, you are an anarchist. Then
it is about analysis and processing the op-
pression around you. But you are never a
part of it, affected by it. You are not part of
a legitimate community that you can orga-
nize in and with to reach your goals. Others
are the working class but they are not you.
This disconnects anarchy from everyday
life and turns it into a theory and lifestyle.
    Over the years we have seen a great many
fellow radicals taken down by the State. But
in these high profile cases, particularly in
the past seven years, targeting of radicals has
been detached from the State's assault on
immigrants and Muslims. It is not too
far-fetched to believe that many of
those being rounded up may hold anarchis-
tic beliefs. But that is not necessarily the
primary reason the state has targeted them.
There things have changed from the time
of Sacco and Vanzetti, though the State's
tactics remain the same.
    It was good to hear Howard Zinn talk
about anarchy in such simple, straightfor-
ward words. He spoke of Sacco and Van-
zetti as anarchists as one would speak of
the color of someone's hair.
    I would encourage everyone to read
about Sacco and Vanzetti. It's an amazing
piece of radical history in the US and one
that can inform our analysis of today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacco_and_Vanzetti
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://ainfos.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en