State Terrorism from Atlanta to Oaxaca (2005)

Oftentimes what separates the revolutionary from the merely progressive citizen, is the recognition that instances of oppression are linked (rather than existing as exceptional moral outrages). Accordingly, in our propaganda the Capital Terminus Collective has sought to make connections between the various issue campaigns we endorse. For example, in the following article (from an older issue of Anarchist Atlanta, but which describes ongoing campaigns in a context, and with an analysis that remains valid) local police brutality is connected to military support for authoritarian regimes abroad.

Some things never change

In the month of November, the Capital Terminus Collective will participate in two distinct, but related, events. The first is the “March Against Police Brutality and Excessive Force” organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Gwinnett in response to the rising number of Black and other people who have been killed by cops with taserguns. The second is the annual vigil to shut down the School of the Americas, which is for nascent Death Squad captains what Harvard School of Law is for a hopeful judge.

What these demonstrations have in common is that they are both reactions against state terrorism. This state terrorism has two main, complementary purposes: first, to disrupt any self-organization on the part of the working class; and second, to maintain the oppression and exploitation of entire nations of people by attempting to put them in a constant state of fear about demanding their rights.

One of the main places where modern day Death Squads operate (they still act the same but these days it is hidden under the veneer of democracy) are the three largely indigenous southern Mexican states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Guerrero. Over one third of the Mexican federal army is in Chiapas alone. Repression against indigenous and working-class people in that area has always been severe, just as here. However, they continue to fight for their autonomy and freedom.

Many are familiar with the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) in Chiapas and their struggle. However less well known is the CIPO-RFM (People’s Indigenous Council of Oaxaca - Ricardo Flores Magon), named after RF Magon, the influential anarchist from Oaxaca who was murdered in Leavenworth prison. Despite repression, the CIPO-RFM continues to fight for the liberation of the people. This is necessary and it is the only way we can end the “excessive force” (as if they’ve ever used anything but) of the police. So in November the Capital Terminus collective hopes, among other things, to bring the message of the CIPO-RFM to the people who come to the demonstrations in Gwinnett and at Fort Benning.

Power to the People.

Originally published in Anarchist Atlanta #3, November of 2005.
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