Burning River Anarchist Collective

5/9/1800

What happened at Kent State on today's date 54 years ago is especially relevant today. With protests and encampments sweeping college campuses across the country; with those in power unleashing the violence of the state on students who dare to dissent; with calls once again for the national guard to occupy campuses - it's vital for us to learn from our history.

Being located in NE Ohio, May 4th has always had a special meaning for us. It was on this day in 1970 at Kent State University that the National Guard opened fire on an anti-war protest. They fired indiscriminately, shooting not only the students involved in the protest but also students who were just trying to make their way to class. In the end 4 students were killed, and 9 were injured.

We have walked those sacred grounds many times. There are still scars present from that day such as the bullet holes left in a sculpture. We've been present for the memorials that happen every May 4th. We've spoken to and worked with those who survived that horrible day in 1970.

We spend this day honoring those murdered on this day : Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, William Schroeder

We hold in our hearts those who were wounded: James Russell, Douglas Wrentmore, Joseph Lewis, John Cleary, Dean Kahler, Thomas Grace, Robert Stamps, Alan Canfora, Donald MacKenzie

We remember Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green who were killed at Jackson State on May 14th, 1970, along with those wounded that day: Fonzie Coleman, Tuwaine Davis, Climmie Johnson, Leroy Kenter, Gloria Mayhorn, Andrea Reese, Patricia Ann Sanders, Stella Spinks, Lonzie Thompson, Vernon Steve Weakley, Fred Wilson Jr., Willie Woodard, Gladys Dinkins Johnson and Gaylia Porter.

We also remember Samuel Ephesians Hammond Jr., Delano Herman Middleton, and Henry Ezekial Smith who were killed at the Orangeburg Massacre on the South Carolina State University campus on February 8, 1968 along with the 27 people who were injured: Herman Boller Jr., Johnny Bookhart, Thompson Braddy, Bobby K. Burton, Ernest Raymond Carson, John Carson, Louise Kelly Cawley, Robert Lee Davis Jr., Albert Dawson, Bobby Eaddy, John H. Elliot, Herbert Gadson, Samuel Grant, Samuel Grate, Joseph Hampton, Charles W. Hildebrand, Nathaniel Jenkins, Thomas Kennerly, Joe Lambright, Emma McCain, Richard McPherson, Harvey Lee Miller, Harold Riley, Cleveland Sellers, Ernest Shuler, Jordan Simmons III, Ronald Smith, Frankie Thomas, Robert Watson, Robert Lee Williams, and Savannah Williams.

May 4th is also the day of the Haymarket Massacre, where in Chicago in 1886 police murdered several workers and wounded dozens. We hold those unknown workers in our hearts as we also remember the Haymarket Martyrs: Albert Parsons, August Spies, Louis Ling, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Adolph Fischer, Samuel Fielden, and Oscar Neeb

What happened on May 4th in Kent has had a profound impact on this collective and has helped shape who we are, both personally and politically. The events of that day exposed to many the true nature of the State. It is not some benevolent entity but rather an entrenched power structure based on violence that will do whatever it can to maintain it's control.

‼️ALL OUT TO CASE WESTERN‼️

Case Western Reserve University students have launched their Gaza solidarity encampment! We call on all students, Palestinians, and people of conscience to support the students!

Case Western students have been on the receiving end of one of the most repressive campus administrations. We stand in solidarity with them as they join the movement by students all over the world.

FROM CASE TO COLUMBIA, FROM COLUMBIA TO GAZA! WE WILL NOT REST, UNTIL EVERY UNIVERSITY DIVESTS!

We are at Punk Rock Flea Market Lorain County today! Come check out our stuff and the dozens of other vendors today Noon til 5 PM!

31515 Lorain Road North Olmsted

If you're in the Pittsburgh area this weekend, we highly recommend you check out both this talk on Anti-Racist Action and the Oi! Against Racism show.

Donate to Black Book Distro, Free Anarchist Library Nepal, organized by Tracy Fehr Namaste, my name is Anuj Chudel and I am one of the founders of Black Book … Tracy Fehr needs your support for Black Book Distro, Free Anarchist Library Nepal

Strong work! Bosses need us. We fu***ng dont need them!

https://m.startribune.com/some-uber-and-lyft-drivers-say-theyll-start-their-own-rideshare-co-op/600355084/?utm_campaign=star_tribune&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0G5Q0CeOqt1Tqcug3xkPmQrsDzB9gsa8y69leOFdAZYnPypf9wI5GSNPg&clmob=y&c=n&clmob=y&c=n

Minneapolis Uber and Lyft drivers say they’ll start their own rideshare co-op Based on a Co-op Ride in New York, the driver-owned rideshare campaign announced Friday is among a parade of ideas to fill the void if Uber and Lyft leave Minneapolis.

We got a bunch of new books for our lending library! We currently have 2,358 books and pamphlets in it. Folks from Greater Cleveland can borrow from it. Here's some of newest titles:

The link to check out the lending library is: https://www.libib.com/u/burningriver

The catch is that you need to be a Patreon supporter of Red Triangle CLE. If you're unfamiliar with Red Triangle, it's a 501c3 non-profit that's goal is to create an activist community center in Cleveland that the leftist activist community can use to organize from. We need to get this massive library out of the private residence it's currently stored at, so we need to get Red Triangle a physical location. Patreon tiers start at just $5/month. Some of the tiers allow you to get swag like stickers, mugs, t-shirts, tote bags, and hoodies.

The link to Red Triangle CLE's patreon is: https://www.patreon.com/redtrianglecle

If you don't want to become a patreon and have access to the lending library but still want to support the work of Red Triangle (they put on the great annual Building Bridges Summits locally) then you could donate directly from this post, through their page or help by liking their page and engaging with their posts.

We're excited to announce the next event in our Organized Anarchism Discussion Series. On April 7th we are hosting a delegate from the Federación Anarquista Uruguaya (FAU).

Register now to secure a spot! More information, background links, and registration link in the announcement on our website (linked in comments).

The FAU is widely known for its illustrious history of activity–from militant labor and student organizing, to high risk actions carried out by its armed wing during the height of Cold War anticommunist repression. Be sure to join us for what is sure to be an exciting discussion.

We have a lending library that currently has 2,337 books and pamphlets in it. Folks from Greater Cleveland can borrow from it.

Here's some of newest titles, including a bunch of union contracts that were donated:

The link to check out the lending library is: https://www.libib.com/u/burningriver

The catch is that you need to be a Patreon supporter of Red Triangle CLE. If you're unfamiliar with Red Triangle, it's a 501c3 non-profit that's goal is to create an activist community center in Cleveland that the leftist activist community can use to organize from. We need to get this massive library out of the private residence it's currently stored at, so we need to get Red Triangle a physical location. Patreon tiers start at just $5/month. Some of the tiers allow you to get swag like stickers, mugs, t-shirts, tote bags, and hoodies.

The link to Red Triangle CLE's patreon is: https://www.patreon.com/redtrianglecle

If you don't want to become a patreon and have access to the lending library but still want to support the work of Red Triangle (they put on the great annual Building Bridges Summits locally) then you could donate through their page or help by liking their page and engaging with their posts.

Images for International Women's Day

Words and image borrowed from Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)

Lucía Sánchez Saornil was a militant anarchist, feminist & le***an who during the Spanish revolution was one of the founders of Mujeres Libres ('Free Women") and served in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista (SIA).

In 1919 working under a male pen name, she was able to explore le***an themes at a time when homosexuality was criminalized and subject to censorship and punishment. In 1931 when working as a telephone operator she participated in a strike by the anarcho-syndicalist labor union, Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), against Telefónica. The event was a turning point in her life, serving as an entry into political activism.

In 1933, Lucía was appointed Writing Secretary for the CNT of Madrid, producing their journal in the run up to the Spanish Civil War. In May 1938, she became the General Secretary of the Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista (SIA), an anarchist aid organization similar to the Red Cross.

Writing in anarchist publications such as Earth and Freedom, the White Magazine and Workers' Solidarity, Lucía outlined her perspective as a feminist. Although quiet on the subject of birth control, she attacked the essentialism of gender roles in Spanish society. In this way, Lucía established herself as one of the most radical of voices among anarchist women, rejecting the ideal of female domesticity which remained largely unquestioned. In a series of articles for Workers' Solidarity, she boldly refuted Gregorio Marañón's identification of motherhood as the nucleus of female identity.

In 1937, while working in Valencia as the editor of the journal Threshold, Lucía met América Barroso, who would become her lifelong partner. With the defeat of the Second Republic, Lucía and América were forced to flee to Paris here Lucía continued her involvement in the SIA. With the fall of France to German forces, it was soon necessary for them to move again and they returned to Madrid in 1941 or 1942.

In Madrid, Lucía worked as a photo editor but quickly had to relocated again after being recognized as an anarchist partisan. She and América moved to Valencia where América had family. Due to the rise of fascism and Catholic moralism, their le***an relationship now put them at significant personal danger and was maintained in secrecy. During this time, América worked in the Argentine consulate while Lucía continued her work as an editor until her death from cancer in 1970. During this time, her poetry demonstrates her mixed outlook, embracing both the pain of defeat and the affirmation of struggle.

The following excerpts are taken from her article, “The Woman Question in Our Ranks,” originally published in the CNT paper, Solidaridad Obrera, September-October 1935 ).

* * *

It is not enough to say: “We must target women with our propaganda and draw women into our ranks;” we have to take things further, much further than that. The vast majority of male comrades — with the exception of a half dozen right-thinking types — have minds infected by the most typical bourgeois prejudices. Even as they rail against property, they are rabidly proprietorial. Even as they rant against slavery, they are the cruellest of “masters.” Even as they vent their fury on monopoly, they are the most dyed-in-the-wool monopolists. And all of this derives from the phoniest notion that humanity has ever managed to devise. The supposed “inferiority of women.” A mistaken notion that may well have set civilization back by centuries.

The lowliest slave, once he steps across his threshold, becomes lord and master. His merest whim becomes a binding order for the women in his household. He who, just ten minutes earlier, had to swallow the bitter pill of bourgeois humiliation, looms like a tyrant and makes these unhappy creatures swallow the bitter pill of their supposed inferiority...

Time and again I have had occasion to engage in conversation with a male comrade who struck me as rather sensible and I had always heard him stress the need for a female presence in our movement. One day, there was a talk being given at the Centre, so I asked him:

“What about your partner. How come she didn’t attend the talk?” His response left me chilled.

“My partner has her hands full looking after me and my children.”

The translation is by Paul Sharkey, read on at http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/lucia-sanchez-saornil-the-question-of-feminism

Words and image borrowed from Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)

Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza was an anarchist and feminist Caxcan Indian from the state of Durango, Mexico. She was a typographer, journalist and poet who translated the works of Peter Kropotkin, Mikhail Bakunin, and Pierre Joseph Proudhon to Spanish. She attacked the clergy in Guanajuato and wrote against foreign domination in Mexico.

At the age of 22, she began writing for several newspaper columns that defended the rights of miners. In 1907 she created a group of over 300 women called "Las hijas de Anáhuac" This group fought higher wagers, better working conditions, and equality in the work place for women.

In May 1901 she found an anti-Díaz newspaper called Vésper. She also wrote against the Díaz regime and criticized Díaz for not carrying out the requests and needs of the people. As a result her newspaper was confiscated and she was also put in jail several times by Díaz between 1904 and 1920. She established a new newspaper called El Desmonte and continued her writings.

The Council of the Caxcan Indians was formed in the 1920s by Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza, a Caxcan from Durango. She also published Alto!, a book which stressed Mexican Nationalism through indigenous roots and, even after the alleged extinction of the Caxcan people, is quoted as saying "We do not recognize the right of any race to impose its civilization upon us" as a way to promote indigeneity

Even though she was intimidated throughout her life, she continued writing and educating the public on the injustices the different governments brought upon Mexico. Even at sixty she founded a new radical newspaper, Alma Mexicana, saying she could not retire, find a peaceful corner and ignore what was happening around her.

Words and image borrowed from Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)

Fumiko Kaneko was born in the Kotobuki district of Yokohama during the Meiji period in Japan. Her parents were Fumikazu Saeki, a man from a samurai family, and Kikuno Kaneko, the daughter of a peasant, and because they were not officially married, Fumiko could not be registered as a Saeki. Her grandmother introduced her to visitors as a child she had taken in out of pity from some people she barely knew and her grandmother and aunt treated her like a maid.

Fumiko was subjected to extremely poor treatment under her relatives in Korea. Despite their relative wealth, she was only provided with the bare minimum in terms of clothing and living circumstances, and was frequently beaten and deprived of food as a punishment for perceived wrongdoing, sometimes so badly that she contemplated su***de. Her time in Korea also allowed her to observe the mistreatment of the native Koreans by her relatives and other Japanese occupiers.

Experiences in Tokyo
When Fumiko arrived in Tokyo in 1920, she initially lived with her great uncle, but soon managed to get a position as a newspaper girl. SHer job introduced her to a number of groups, most notably the Christian Salvation Army and members of the socialist movement who advocated their philosophies on the street. However, the job was difficult, her employer exploited his workers and was immoral in his personal life, and she hardly had any time to keep up with her school work, so she eventually quit.

She then briefly maintained a relationship with the Salvation Army group, but she was not compelled by their beliefs and was abandoned by her one Christian friend after a time because he believed the feelings he was developing for her were threatening to his beliefs. While she hoped to escape the hypocrisy she saw in this group by joining the socialist movement, she found that socialists could also behave in ways that seemed to contradict their beliefs, and she eventually abandoned them as well in favor of a more independent activism.

Fumiko was able to attend school on and off in the midst of these life developments, and the major shift in her thinking, from socialism to anarchism and nihilism, began in 1922, when she met Hatsuyo Niiyama at her night school classes. In her memoirs, Fumiko calls Hatsuyo her “closest friend,” and mentions that she introduced her to foundational nihilist thinkers like Max Stirner, Mikhail Artsybashev, and Friedrich Nietzsche.Around this time, Fumiko was also introduced to a Korean activist named Pak Yeol, who shared many of her ideas, and when she finally abandoned the socialist movement, she worked with Pak to attempt to accomplish her vision.

Fumiko Kaneko and Pak Yeol
Together, Fumiko and Pak published two magazines which highlighted the problems Koreans faced under Japanese imperialism (though they were never directly a part of the Korean independence movement) and showed influences of their radical beliefs. The articles Fumiko wrote for these publications were probably her most obvious activist activity. Sometime between 1922 and 1923, they also established a group called “Futei-sha (Society of Malcontents),” which Fumiko identified as a group for direct action against the government.

These activities soon brought Pak and Fumiko under government scrutiny. In September of 1923, the hugely destructive Great Kantō earthquake led to massive public anxiety, with many people concerned that the Koreans, who were already agitating for independence from Japan, would use the confusion to start a rebellion. The government therefore made a number of arrests, mostly Koreans, on limited evidence, and among those arrested were Pak and Fumiko.

After lengthy judicial proceedings, Fumiko and Pak were convicted of high treason for attempting to obtain bombs with the intention of killing the emperor or his son. They confessed to this crime, and it appears that at least Fumiko made herself appear guiltier than she actually was, possibly with the intention of sacrificing herself for her cause. During the trial, Fumiko wrote the story of her life as a way of explaining “what made me do what I did,” and this memoir is the main source of information about her life, along with court documents.

Pak and Fumiko, who had been romantically involved for most of their time together, were legally married a few days prior to their sentencing, which historian Hélène Bowen Raddeker identifies as a move to “underscore the obvious irony in the fact that the Japanese state had united them legally in life before uniting them legally in death.” Pak and Fumiko were initially given the death sentence, but an imperial pardon commuted that sentence to life imprisonment. Instead of gracefully accepting this pardon, Fumiko tore it up and refused to thank the emperor for his kindness. While Pak survived his time in prison and was released years later, Fumiko committed su***de in her cell in 1926.

The anarchist cause that she eventually followed was supported ideologically by her rejection of nationalism and the idea of the emperor, as well as a pessimistic belief about the nature of revolutions. In her testimony at her trial, she explained that she and Pak “thought of throwing a bomb [at the emperor] to show he too will die like any other human being,” and rejected “the concepts of loyalty to the emperor and love of nation” as “simply rhetorical notions that are being manipulated by the tiny group of privileged classes to fulfill their own greed and interests.”

Initially, this rejection of the emperor system may have led her to believe in an alternative political system, but after seeing the way members of other groups behaved, she came to believe that any leader, whether the emperor, or other government officials, or a completely new government under socialists, would equally abuse power dynamics and oppress the people. For her, “[revolution] simply means replacing one authority with another,” and since she believed that no system of authority could or would operate without oppression, it is logical that she eventually directed her activities towards abolishing all authority. Though she believed, in line with nihilistic thought, that it was not possible to cure the evils in the world, her actions as an anarchist reflect her belief that “even if we cannot embrace any social ideals, every one of us can find some task that is truly meaningful to us. It does not matter whether our activities produce meaningful results or not… this would enable us to bring out lives immediately in to harmony with our existence.”

While Fumiko did not formally associate herself with any sort of women’s movement, she clearly held strong beliefs about the need for equality between men and women. When her great-uncle repeatedly tried to persuade her to abandon the idea of education and “marry a working merchant,” she insisted that she could “never become the wife of a tradesman.” Though she does not appear to have fully verbalized her reasoning to her great-uncle, she states in her memoir that she wanted to be independent, “no longer… under the care of anybody.” Fumiko also expressed concerns that schools specifically for women did not provide equal opportunities, and committed to pursuing her own education only at co-ed schools.

Finally, some of the hypocrisy she was most concerned about in the socialist groups had to do with their treatment of women in general, and her in particular. For instance, she broke off a relationship with a fellow socialist, Segawa, after he brushed off a question about the possibility of their relationship leading to pregnancy. She “expected him to take some responsibility,” and saw that she “was being toyed with and taken advantage of.”

Within this context, she challenged the double standard that allowed men to participate in casual relationships without repercussions while women were expected to bear full responsibility for the possible consequences. Additionally, she saw this behavior as further evidence that these men were not truly committed to the ideas they espoused, as real socialism would require a greater level of equality.

Words and image borrowed from Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)

Elena Quinteros was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on 9 September 1945. She trained as a teacher at the Artigas Teacher Training School where she began her activism in the student union. In 1966, aged 21, she graduated as a teacher and found work at a school in Pando in Canelones. At that point she joined the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU) as well as the Student-worker Resistance (ROE), becoming active in the latter. Her activities were in the trade union field and she was part of the Socio-pedagogical Missions, an initiative launched by the lecturers from the Co-operative Rural Education Institute.

On 16 November 1967 she suffered her first arrest but was released the next day. In October 1969 she was arrested again, tried and sent to prison, remaining there until October 1970. In 1975 she was dismissed from her post by the dictatorship. On 26 June 1976 she was abducted from the gardens of the Venezuelan Embassy and taken to the quarters of 13th Infantry Battalion before being moved from there under heavy es**rt on 28 June to prevent any contact with her organisation.

Whilst under es**rt, she suddenly jumped over the Venezuelan Embassy’s wall, calling out her name and asking for sanctuary: the embassy staff made to help her but her es**rt managed to stop them helping and thwart the escape. There followed a tug-of-war between the embassy staff and the military personnel who finally dragged Quinteros away to an armoured car. Her leg broken in the escape attempt, she was taken back to the 13th Infantry where the Uruguayan dictatorship had installed a torture centre. And that was the last news heard from Quinteros.

The Venezuelan ambassador to Uruguay, Julio Ramos, telephoned the Uruguayan Foreign Affairs ministry and made a complaint to under-secretary Guido Michelin Salomón since the minister, Juan Carlos Blanco, was not at the ministry. This grew into a major diplomatic incident that culminated in Venezuela’s cutting off diplomatic relations.

In October 2002, Judge Eduardo Cavalli found former minister Juan Carlos Blanco primarily responsible for the disappearance of Elena Quinteros and had him arraigned on charges of deprivation of liberty:

This is how Elena is remembered by her comrades in the FAU: “She said she was persistent. Persistent in her class outlook. She despised social climbing, reformism or electioneering … She fought for a people’s revolution, with the people in pride of place, for people’s justice and not for any cobbled together solutions. She was never for authoritarian or exploitative solutions that have been extensively tried and generally been such disasters for the workers (…)” “Not to mention her impeccable moral outlook. Her sisterhood and selflessness were also part and parcel of this comrade who shall be part of us forever.”

Words and image borrowed from Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)

Leah Feldman was one of the ordinary men and women who rarely get into history books but have been the backbone of the anarchist movement.

Born in Warsaw in 1899, as a schoolgirl she became interested in anarchism. She said that her mother used to hide her shoes so that she could not attend meetings, which were then illegal in Poland. Finally she ran away to her sister in London where she earned her living at the sewing machine.

Working in the sweatshops of the East End she became active in the Yiddish-speaking anarchist movement that flourished at that time. When the Russian revolution broke out in 1917 the overwhelming majority of Russian male Jewish anarchists returned home. Many of those women whose husbands and lovers died at the hands of the Tsarists or the Bolsheviks, remained in England. The Jewish (in the sense of neither racial or religious but Yiddish-speaking) anarchist movement gradually dwindled and ended with Leah's death in January.

Leah, however, had made her own way to Russia. Upon arrival she saw the reality of Bolshevik rule and was not impressed. As a working woman she could see the effects of their dictatorship in a way that visiting intellectuals could not. Before leaving Moscow she attended Kropotkin's funeral, the last permitted anarchist demonstration until the collapse of Stalinism. (In a great display of self-discipline all of the anarchist political prisoners who were paroled for the funeral returned to jail, in the hope that the Bolsheviks would give parole to others in the future).

Leah travelled south to the Ukraine and joined the anarchist Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army led by Nestor Makhno. The Ukranian anarchists fought Tsarism, foreign intervention and then the Bolshevik dictatorship. Though she did not actually fight (some women who could ride horseback did) she joined the train that followed the army and prepared clothes and food for the orphans and strays they picked up everywhere.

When they were defeated in 1921 she got out of the country by changing her nationality through a marriage of convenience to a German anarchist. They did not meet again. She made her way to Paris and then back to London. There she acquired British citizenship by another marriage of convenience, this time to a derelict ex-serviceman who was paid £10 for his services. They did not see each other until many years later Leah received an official communication that he was in a geriatric hospital. She used to visit him with presents of tabacco.

Before World War 2 she travelled to Poland and Palestine, working her way to both places. In Palestine she organised a federation of anarchists. One surprise was meeting her old friend Paula Green, who had been pressurised into marriage in Russia, so had chosen an atheist zionist with whom she was in love. Paula knew he was active in Labour politics but thought it impossible that he would ever be in government as he thought her ideas impossible.

Green changed his name to Ben Gurion and became the first prime minister of Israel. His wife did not leave him but she never once took part in any public functions with him. She remained a still believing, if passive, anarchist.

When Leah returned to London at the end of 1935 she helped raise money for the German sailors who organised an anti-nazi resistance group in the 1930s. She also did tremendous work for the Spanish anarchist movement when the civil war broke out.

Leah was a member of a working group of immigrant anarchist women in Holborn ever since 1939. How, with the confusion of tongues - broken English, Yiddish, Polish, French, Catalan, Spanish, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot - they understood each other was a mystery to many. But they managed.

Leah had to give up work when her eyesight went after an operation. She was completely blind in one eye thereafter and increasingly so in the other. She used her free time to help the movement she had given her life to. In the 1960s she smuggled arms into Spain for the fighters who had continued resisting the Franco regime since 1939. The Catalans, who are prone to giving nicknames, christened her "la yaya Makhnowista" (the Makhnovist granny).

Her last years were sad. Not only were all her family and her early friends dead, there was nobody left with whom she could talk in her own language. But she never gave up. She still supported anarchist meetings and always attended the annual London Anarchist Bookfair when her health permitted.

Our movement has been built by working women and men like Leah. It is right that we do not forget their contribution.