Unscene Berlin

Globally, the right wing troll community is made up of people who have plenty of money, power and privilege... or a combination of all three. (Photo via DailyStormer.com) 
 Master of Sock Puppets The Alt-Right might be in the spotlight now, but its efforts to manipulate public opinion are likely overshadowed by the efforts of another group of trolls, whose mission it is to promote a slightly less offensive - but still conservative - worldview: those who work for the military and government. Many people will by now be familiar with JTRIG , China's 50-cent party , or the Kremlin’s “troll factories”. These monikers all refer to shadowy government intelligence units that are presumed to be spreading pro-establishment propaganda across Internet forums, worldwide. A number of leaked top-secret documents and budget statements over the years have alluded to the existence and purpose of such units: Reporters who have gone undercover in Moscow's troll fa...

Daily Stormer discussion circa 2016 Rotten to the Grassroots Twenty-sixteen was probably the worst year for online hate speech to date: a year when a loose network of neo-fascist trolls known as the Alt Right finally managed to overwhelm many online discussion platforms in the West, after years of trying. Posing as members of an outraged, but otherwise ordinary public, these trolls flooded Facebook, Twitter, and many major news websites with hateful posts like the ones above. It seemed clear that they were striving to mould a new popular consensus of contempt for minorities everywhere... and by extension, a consensus of contempt for any social justice movement that stood in their way.  And, to a degree, they succeeded in altering the public's perceptions about everything from the new Star Wars movie, to the Brexit, to Hilary Clinton’s state of health, not to mention the election campaign of President Trump.  Maybe it would be more correct to call their...

Throw together a building without owner, opening times without curfew, people without limits, music without definition, and you have a squat party. That pair of words conjures up more images than any two in the English language.  Crowded night buses.  Roads to nowhere. Lorries. Dogs. Queueing and smoking.  Haggling. Drinking.  Snorting.  All just a preamble to the main feature: the dancefloor, and all the subplots that spin out of control on it. A stage of pallets and speakers, set for a chemical cabaret.  The fantastical, the fanatical, the enlightened, the dejected - a lineup of gems in the rough - all take their turns and bow out.  Next up: the Old Bill. Their stony-faced dispatch enters stage right: cue first intermission break.  Floodlights glare on flattened beer cans and electrified, blinking stares.  Rolly smoke pirouettes in the air. Eventually they retreat, freeing the party. Regular scheduling resumes: heavin...

I could feel that something wasn't right.  Even though it was a crowded dancefloor, someone was bumping into me a little too regularly in time with the music, as if they were mirroring my moves. But I still wasn't prepared for what I saw when I turned my head: a little troll of a man, grinding his pelvis as close to my ass as he could get without committing an assault. But actually, he had already crossed that line a few times; it was just that the intentional nature of that assault had been camouflaged by the general mayhem happening around us. The smarmy expression on his face made it pretty clear that this wasn't just an accident, though, as did the fact that he didn't back away once he was caught - not until I 'assisted' him with a sharp shove and the suggestion to stay well the fuck away. He vanished, and I thought the message had been received.  But then, a few minutes later and just a few feet away, I saw him rubbing up against yet another woman in...

This piece was written by a member of the Reclaim the Streets collective some 16 years ago, when the term 'anti-capitalist' was still brand new.  In it, Andrew X explains his view that "real revolutionary activity is the seizing of the self" rather than the seizing of a cause, and urges readers to give up the divisive mentality that comes with the traditional 'activist' role.  Since this and the other emails posted by RTS are no longer easily accessibl e ( due to the website having been hacked ) I'm re-posting it here so that newer activists can still read it and (hopefully) be inspired by it! Photo from Messy Monday 's channel on YouTube Give Up Activism. Experts The activist is a specialist or an expert in social change. To think of yourself as being an activist means to think of yourself as being somehow privileged or more advanced than others in your appreciation of the need for social change, in the knowledge ...