-<strong>There are perhaps four large categories of American thought which provide definitions of the fifty years of Castro rule: 1) the right-wing which views the island as a totalitarian, communist police state where starving people live under daily repressive rule, and the government is involved in drug trafficking and terrorism; 2) the center through to the liberal left which agrees, perhaps in the mode of Michael Moore’s movie, Sicko, that the Revolution has provided good social services for the poor and resisted U.S. hegemony in the hemisphere, but needs to install more democracy and private investment; 3) the organized left which sees very little wrong with the island and views all criticism of it as aid to the U.S. empire, and 4) the anarchist view which, indeed, sees the island as a police state needing a second revolution to install workers democracy, but has no use for calls for returning to private forms of ownership or foreign investment.</strong>

-** Back from the Mountains

-In typical fashion, almost a month late - over the last weekend I triumphantly finished reading <em>Letters of Insurgents</em>. This was my second reading of it, as I had read it the summer before as well. I don't think, I will read it next summer, but perhaps sometime years from now, again - certainly. It is a really tremendous book (what is a book though?). Fredy Perlman is one of the greatest story tellers and writers to have graced the professions. Example:) When was the last time you started crying after reading a book? Never?

-

-A note about the writing part: I'm kind of amazed at how much some people managed to write [others participating in the discussion] - and even though I haven't really looked over everyone else's thoughts or some of the discussion of the forum, I did manage to read a few + plan to read the in the future. Often times I avoided the discussion, because I was behind in the reading (surprise, surprise) and didn't want to read that far into the <em>letters</em> yet (even, if again). I guess an eight-hundred and thirty-one page book deserves a good lengthy discussion - or at least a major blockbuster movie to be made about it? So, who is going to make the <em>Letters of Insurgents</em> movie?

-

-*** tête-à-tête

-

-In no specific order:

-

-On being neighbors: Mr. Ninvino (spelling error? I have to look his name up in book again...) is the neighbor of Yarostan and Mirna. Doesn't it suck when the people you live closest too are not that friendly? Or turn out to be complete assholes? This has been an ongoing experience in my life, living next to people, who you try and be friends with - but, they turn out not to be that friendly. Not that my family and my friends are hard to get along with, we're really not. I think it is fair to say, that yes - <em>some people just plain suck.</em> Fortunately, I've had and continue to have some really awesome neighbors in my life - and if you can't make it happen with your neighbors, then how are you living?

-

-<quote>

-If I hadn't been exchanging letters with you for the past months, I would have reacted to those headlines the same way they did. And I realized there's no such entity as a human species, or rather that it doesn't recognize itself as such; it possesses no faculty of community. Either it never had such a faculty or it lost it. The beings I was among, including me, were not species-beings but closed compartments. Maybe what we've just experienced on both sides of the world shows that the faculty of species-being is something still to be created, and that it's not the abstract "community" I've always envisioned but something very concrete, as concrete as Mirna's "excursions." Maybe it's nothing but the willingness to touch, feel, look at and listen to each other.

-</quote>

-<quote>

-- Sophie [<em>you</em> say Sophia]

-</quote>

-

-<em>On work</em>: I really appreciate the many takes <em>Letters</em> offers in regards to the subject of work. All the way from not working (CrimethInc.), to factory jobs (NEFAC) and anti-civilization (Green Anarchy), to being a student and/or teacher (Institute for Anarchist Studies), or being into politics (RAAN) (plus more). As mentioned before, one attraction of this book is that it appeals to me, in part, because of shared experiences and the discussion that revolves around them. While at times it may not be large, often the little things can have the most impact, after all isn't that what chaos tells us?

-

-<em>On friendship:</em> Pretty much the entire book is about the relationships experienced throughout living. All different, if you will, kinds of friendship and relations are developed throughout the book. Some are quite beautiful and others not so much, but the efforts to explore these kinds of questions is something I feel relevant to my life.

-

-When I first read the book, it simply amazed me how someone could write such long beautiful letters to one another. It kind of made me jealous that this stuff happens no matter, and I wondered what it would take for me to write a letter to one would sign <em>with love</em>? In the age of e-mail and instant messages, these kind of letters seem less and less common.

-

-*** Dreams are realized only during vacations?

-

-On that note, my <em>vacation</em> into this book isn't over - I don't think it ever will be - but, I'm going to spend some time in other places. Perhaps, I will add some more thoughts in the near future and as I read more of the other posts that have come from this reading of the book create a list of my personal favorites and edit all of this mess here.

-

-Until then, besitos and a very strong hug,

-

-

-** haiku the world

-

-

-

-<strong>The story of a month told through the form of haiku.</strong> Some years ago, a challenge of writing everyday was made. Below are the results from one such participant, writing haikus, about nothing and everything in general for one month. Some parts have been redacted for privacy (locations, names, etc.)

-

-

-*** October 1st

-

-october is here

-let us rage all night and day

-till november rain

-

-*** October 2nd

-

-fall saturday night

-sunny outside with leafs delight

-coffee at the ____

-

-*** October 3rd

-

-doing dirty dishes downstairs

-i would like to make dinner but

-all the dishes are dirty

-

-*** October 4th

-

-some people are really friendly

-some other people are not so much

-they hide their feelings

-

-*** October 5th

-

-living your free life

-spending your money on bad things

-are you always right?

-

-*** October 6th

-

-dogs fucking rule hard

-_____, _____ and ________

-_______, new york fall

-

-*** October 7th

-yesterday things felt

-different, i was not sick

-today i slept long

-

-*** October 8th

-

-dear friends, i love you

-please don't break too many hearts

-isn't that a Lawrence Arms song?

-

-*** October 9th

-

-newspapers arrive here

-almost daily reading them

-war, death, destruction

-

-*** October 10th

-

-beautiful fall day

-warm breeze and leafs changing tone

-salmon run upstream

-

-*** October 11th

-

-holiday today

-yes and no depends on view

-monday means no school

-

-*** October 12th

-

-birthdays and best wishes

-apple picking and cider drinking

-snow falling very soon

-

-*** October 13th

-

-sun rise waking up

-look out the window to see

-the town and cityscape

-

-*** October 14th

-

-skype chatting with friends

-video, text, and dance party

-then walking to class

-

-*** October 15th

-

-raining all day long

-something about it feels great

-inside, outside, hey!

-

-*** October 16th

-

-making hard cider

-all that sugar looks like coke

-we are fucking rich!

-

-*** October 17th

-

-some funny drawings

-guitar strings and empty rooms

-beautiful sunday

-

-*** October 18th

-

-up, early morning

-walked outside, lovely cool breeze

-street lights shed the night

-

-*** October 19th

-

-writing all day long

-stuck inside my room upstairs

-wishing i was free

-

-*** October 20th

-

-days spent doing nothing

-guitar, computer, Internet

-leafs really change quick

-

-*** October 21st

-

-society grabs you unaware

-people give you the blank dead stare

-it makes me wonder

-

-*** October 22nd

-

-philadelphia

-never ending roads to nowhere

-waiting to meet friends

-

-*** October 23rd

-

-dreaming of Tiqqun

-my brother wearing the bloom

-light bleau shirt with print

-

-*** October 24th

-

-driving back home

-valleys, bring colors and trees

-gas stations fill up

-

-*** October 25th

-

-hiding in the back

-day dreaming beautiful things

-time, love, anarchy

-

-*** October 26th

-

-theory of making

-some family traditions of

-vegetable chili

-

-*** October 27th

-

-beautiful sunshine

-ever lasting days of your youth

-feelings so very strong

-

-*** October 28th

-

-staying up all night

-riding around ______

-working all the time

-

-*** October 29th

-

-writing all day long

-getting tired of explaining

-it all over and over

-

-*** October 30th

-

-saturday night party

-dressing up like skeletons

-with misfits playing

-

-*** October 31st

-

-first snow of the year

-only brief but still brings the cheer

-winter is so near

-

-

-** Review: One Hundred Years of Solitude

-

-

-<strong><em>Authors intro: Please don't read this review if you are concerned with spoilers, as this review is more of a recounting of the story and contains plently of information about the book that could ruin it for you. Having said that, please do read the review if you are curious about reading the book or have already read it. At risk of defeating myself from the very beginning, I will also add that this is not my best writing. The review in its idea and original state is over ten years old and it's painfully obvious to me that my writing was pretty poor back then, not that it's any better now - but I'd like to think so. What I did do is go through the text and edit many parts of the original, to come down to what we have here. I haven't read the book in a few years and I always wanted to come back to this review and make it something wonderful after re-reading the book again, however I don't imagine that happening anytime soon. It's one of my all time favorite books and deserves the justice of a proper review, although it is also so popular and read around the world that there have been thousands before. I wanted to put down something meaningful about the book that perhaps hasn't been said (much) before and for the moment, this is it. Perhaps some day I will turn into one of those authors who deletes and burns all their old work, until then cheers.</em></strong>

-

-The book <em>One Hundred Years of Solitude</em> written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a story of success and failure, dreams and reality, traditions and change, enemies and friends, love and revolution. It is the story of the Buendia family and its evolution over decades of time; frozen and shifting. From the creation to the destruction, to destiny vs. free will, the family traverses solitude exploring the limits of human knowledge. This brief incomplete review relates to how the novel references critical moments in the history of what has come to be known as América Latina.

-

-Marquez was born in the small town of Aracataca, Columbia in 1928-2014. It was rumored that he grew up forever retaining the ability of viewing and describing life through the eyes of a child. In time he became a journalist publishing some short stories in the 1950s. In 1967, <em>One Hundred Years of Solitude</em> was published and popular hysteria began to grow around Marquez and the book, eventually earning him the Noble Prize for Literature in 1982. He's credited with inventing the style of “magic realism” in the novel and also went on to be a large figure in what has been called the “Latin Boom” - an increase in the popularity of writing from Latin America during the 1960s – 70s.

-

-The events that took place in Marquez’s life are mirrored in his writings, often referencing situations experienced as a young child while at the same time expressing the possibilities of love, sadness and the isolation of solitude that can only be achieved through the passage of time (desolation / hope).

-

-Shortly after the story beings you meet Melquiades or a traveling gypsy. Melquiades and his group of fellow traveling gypsies are the harbingers of knowledge and the fortunetellers of the future. Meglquiades dress was described as a “large black hat that looked like a raven with widespread wings, and a velvet vest across which the patina of the centuries had skated.” They bring with them magnificent devices, which eventually help expand the scientific knowledge of the Buendia family.

-

-Through these exposures the Buendia family and town of Macondo are first exposed to modernization, technology and the globalization that would soon ravage their small town. Melquiades brought with him magnets, telescopes, magnifying glasses, ancient texts, Portuguese maps, instruments of navigation (astrolabe, compass, sextant) and an alchemists laboratory, which was later used for many purposes including the production of photos and little gold fishes. Melquiades tells the Buendia family, “Science has eliminated distance… In a short time, man will be able to see what is happening in any place in the world without leaving his own house.” Just as Jorge Luis Borges alluded to in the <em>The Aleph</em> Marquez also foreshadows the creation of networks such as the Internet, the development of cell phones, radios, and television that all aid in the increasingly intertwined proximity of the world.

-

-After his encounter with Melquiades, Jose Arcadio Buendia one of the founders of the town of Macondo begins to spend vast amounts of time in the constant quest for knowledge. In many ways, this is the creation of their destruction, as great desires go astray. For instance, his “will to power” brought him to contemplate for hours on end formulating ideas on how to create the perfect weapon. Later on, he creates a notion of space and is able to travel across oceans and vast uninhabited territories without ever leaving his study a la the Internet. It is his idea of non-existent time, by the formation of self-awareness through the passage of time. Jose Arcadio Buendia also finds that the earth is not flat, like the one dimensional lifestyles everyone had thought, but rather round like an orange, which everyone in Macondo deems as insanity until Melquiades returns to Macondo to inform its inhabitants that it is true, the earth is round. Melquiades the eternal traveler and technological innovator, soon succumbs to a number of rare diseases that he contracted from the sickness of the world to eventually pass on the dunes of Singapore.

-

-In the beginning, the town of Macondo is an example of people living in an anarchistic state with one another, without the rules or knowledge of government and the constraints of the church. However with time these institutions of power and authority all encroach on Macondo’s blissful state. At first, Jose Arcadio Buendia sets up the houses in a way that allowed everyone to walk an equal distance when fetching water from the river and positioned the roads in a certain way that no house received more sun than other houses during the hottest hours of the day. The community provided for itself and had an egalitarian approach to daily activities, without any assistance from outside institutions like the government. With time, the government in the town strengthens due to choices made by certain inhabitants and soon everyone becomes more dependent interdependent on the government, reverting and causing chaos to many of the alternatives they had once practiced.

-

-Jumping back a bit, when the “founders” of Macondo where traversing the earth looking for a place to call their own, they came across a Spanish galleon that had been abandoned and was covered with moss that was nowhere near the ocean. Growing next to the galleon was a field of poppies, alluding to the colonization of the land and the cultural influence that came with it. During this exploration, Aureliano Buendia (yeah, it's difficult to keep track of all the names, I know) was born with his eyes open and a stern intensity that drew upon seemingly unlimited amounts of inner strength. His inner dynamism makes his parents believe that he was born a revolutionary, yet as another infamous figurehead once said, “Revolutionaries are not born, they are made.”

-

-One of the most important items that the gypsies bring to Macondo is that of ice. The ice greatly aided in the ability to chill foods and other related tasks, however it also hastened the downfall and eventual end of the Buendia family. As the business of ice grew in Macondo, the need to expand and continue profiting brought fourth the construction of a railroad that in turn would eventually lead to the development of other areas. One such company was the United Fruit Company, which went on to exploit Macondo for everything it had. After viewing the ice, Jose Arcadio Buendia foresees a future where Macondo is colder and the houses are built of ice blocks, foreshadowing the climate change brought about by industry and civilization.

-

-In another aspect, and with the passage of time, as everything related to in this book – the Melquiades tribe disappears and a new tribe of gypsies appear. This new tribe doesn't bring with it knowledge as Melquiades tribe had, but instead travels only to bring entertainment. Upon questioning where Melquiades tribe has disappeared to the Buendia family is told that his tribe became extinct because they exceed the limits of human knowledge. In a similar twist, this quest for knowledge and the limits of humanity soon lead to the end of the Buendia family - destroyed by their will to learn and experiment.

-

-After the disappearance of Melquiades tribe Jose Arcadio Buendia decides to look for the philosophers stone in his eternal quest for knowledge and to appease his desire to understand; while his two sons Aureliano and Jose Arcadio constantly take refuge in solitude, in order to escape the outside world. Jose Arcadio Buendia states that “If you don’t fear God, fear him through the metals,” yet in the end of his search for the philosophers stone and knowledge, he comes to the conclusion that all he really needs and desires is the love of his wife, Ursula.

-

-Progressing through the book, the town of Macondo is soon striken with a plague of insomnia. With the insomia comes the loss of memory and all things blur together with the past, present, and future all becoming the same. This leads Jose Arcadio Buendia and Aureliano to start writing inscriptions on all the objects in their house and over town. Soon a sign appears on the street that says “God Exists”. During this time of forgetfulness Jose Arcadio Buendia decides to invent a memory machine, which in many ways allude to the future of computers, calculators, and other devices used to aid in recalling information. He conceives this apparatus to be a spinning dictionary that rotates on an axis, which teach the things deemed to be the most important aspects of life, perhaps even similar to the machine used in the movie <em>The Matrix.</em>

-

-As the story develops, Melquiades returns from death, because according to him he was not prepared for the solitude, which engulfed him. Melquiades tells Jose Arcadio Buendia that in the future their family will not exist and that Macondo will be a place of glass houses. In yet other turn of events, Jose Arcadio Buendia begins his search for God using the camera, only to later conclude that God doesn’t exist or at least that he couldn’t capture it on film. His quest for knowledge and often the blasphemy that comes with it, eventually causes the town to believe that his antics are a sign of lunacy. Soon they tie him to the great oak tree outside of town for the rest of his life, where he continues speaking in the language of Latin instead of his native tongue.

-

-In the end, the story recounts the struggles and experiences of Buendia family through their marriages, children, wars, revolutions, and a plethora of other events. The story is one of sadness, with the departure of the family and the seemingly lack of hope for the town of Macondo after one devastating tragedy after another. On the other hand, one can view many of the experiences with a glimmer of hope for a different future by learning from the past. Yet for Jose Arcadio Bandai and Aureliano; they find out later in their lives that all time is the same: the past, present, and future all revolve around each other and in the end time makes no difference to them.

-

-<em>One Hundred Years of Solitude</em> is a novel in regards to love and the desire to constantly seek knowledge through many different outlets. It recounts the story of civilization and it represents the struggle of humankind within the area of love and solitude and the clashes that one family experiences in living as we know it.

-

-** Wall Street and Blade Runner: Luddites & Cyberpunks

-

-<strong>Unfortunately (for some, not all) <em>Wall Street</em> is not the dystopian image of a far off future created by rich white men, but actually a rather exaggerated depiction of the capitalism during the 1980s. When I say “rather exaggerated”, I mean that the movie does portray the world of Wall Street in a some-what informative, yet overly romanticized way. Ultimately, it's just a movie and not a documentary of 1980s stock trading, although reality is never too far away. On the other hand, the movie <em>Blade Runner</em> is a dystopian movie released in the early 80’s about the not so far off future of 2019. While these two films are very different they both have similar aspects to them that suggest or lead the way for one to speculate that the influence of technology over human life is growing and that this relationship can be very unhealthy for them and the environment, which leads to the exploitation of technology by the powerful in order to maintain the status quo. Both of these narratives are heavily rooted in the techno-cyber transformation experienced during the 80s and afterward – the ideas of alienation, disease, isolation, and capitalism are all expressed.</strong>

-

-In <em>Blade Runner</em> technology is at the very heart of those who maintain control over the population. The Tyrell Corporation has transformed genes into corporate property, managing and providing these resources as commodities. In this world, capital is in charge and nation/states have been completely broken down by the capitalistic monstrosity. “Replicants” are the very human-like robots the Tyrell Corporation creates in order to tame the harsh environment of other planets and other perilous activities. According to the movie, these Replicants are “more human than human” (Rob Zombie anyone?) and do the dirty bidding of the elite until it is finally time for them to self-destruct into a pre-programmed death, in order to save the creators from the created, as the older Replicants began to show signs of rebellion.

-

-In the 1980s the technology of Wall Street was quickly becoming more advanced and the implementation of computers, the internet, databases, and other electronic devices became more wide spread. Through the movie one obtains a look inside the financial district of the Lower East Side of New York City. There, the limits of greed and plunder know no borders in order to make a profit, as the few with a vast supply of capital, control and make the choices for those they have never met, or even care to meet.

-

-This is the brutal world of the stock market where "white men with grey hair in black business suits" use technology in order to gain monetary profits over each other. Many believe that capitalism is the all answer truth to every problem, especially in the area of technology. Technology is manipulated and in turn buys businesses, corporations, and other financial estates in order to make profits at any cost. In reality, leaving the decisions that effect everyone up to a small, closed group of people.

-

-During the 80s the Internet was mainly limited to educational and governmental institutions, sharing delicate information over the web. As time went on the Internet soon became another marketplace for consumerism and capital, turning the Internet into a public mass market of sorts, which has only continued to develop.

-

-<em>Blade Runner</em> is considered to belong to the “cyberpunk” genre, which many consider to be one of the best expressions of post-modernism. Nathan Cobb, in his work "Cyberpunk: Terminal Chic” says that cyberpunk:

-

-<quote>

-“[I]s now more commonly a handy term for combining the related cadres of techno-bohemians-primarily hackers, crackers and phreaks – who populate the computer underground. But the word is also used to describe the trappings of this cantankerous, decentralized, and antiestablishment subset that have surfaced in popular culture."

-</quote>

-

-Thus, while some think cyberpunk is dead, many believe that cyberpunks are the new mass monks of our worldly ghettos filled up as “trash dumps with gas pumps”[4]. If one considers those who use technology as a means of resistance to the dominant system, like computer hackers then it seems cyberpunk is still alive and well; the only thing that died was their old 1980s computer.

-

-<em>Blade Runner</em> and <em>Wall Street</em> suggest that our future will be driven and controlled by those with the mastery of technology. Mary Jenkins in her essay, The Dystopian World of Blade Runner: An Ecofeminist Perspective writes:

-

-<quote>

-“Mastery within nature is where ecological problems lie: in the domination and oppression of non-human nature by humans, and of humans by other humans who are unable or unwilling to recognize relationships and interconnectedness.”

-</quote>

-

-While the powers that seek to maintain business as usual and profits at any cost, there is always a resistance that is a brew. Retracing out steps from the 1980s; if one were to buy (or obtain by other means) Captain Crunch Cereal, one might have found a Captain Crunch whistle that when blown produced the frequency of 2600 Hz, which could be used to access phone networks for no charge. This is one of the earliest examples of “phreaking” or exploiting telephones through the use of technology. I point this out because there is an enormous world-wide culture of hackers, as seen in the recently organized Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) Conference #6 (Summer 2006), which was largely organized by the folks over at the magazine, 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. [re: yes, this text is from 2006 and hacker culture has exploded since then, forgive me for this brief dusting of the surface. A lot has changed since then, only years ago – ie, Wikileaks, anonymous, Lulz Boat, anarchist super hacker Jeremy Hammond with Strafor, etc, etc]

-

-A growing number of anti-authoritarian movements throughout the world have mobilized and used technology in order to disrupt business as usual, a famous example being the Battle of Seattle in 1999 during the World Trade Organizations conference. These “cyberpunks” armed with desire managed to successfully surprise attack the very things that Wall Street romanticized, the world trade of capital and the forces of globalization. In this sense, it is like the neo-bio-forms of <em>Blade Runner</em> have come back to haunt <em>Wall Street</em>, however it also seems that the world of <em>Blade Runner</em> is ruled by a more extreme and ruthless form of capital than the 1980s Wall Street.

-

-<em>Blade Runner</em> seems to suggest a sort of resistance to technology through its ecologically destroyed, dark, polluted environments, in a sense relapsing to the dark ages, yet at the same time promotes what Scott Bukatman in his book Blade Runner calls, “decadent sleaze with decadent opulence.” This is the future as suggested by them.

-

-The future that is represented in these two films is one of computers, corporations, and capitalism. Globalization, urban/sub-urban sprawl, deforestation, pollution, crime, destruction, and everything that is the end of the world seem to be rooted in the general themes of these movies. Society is one large garbage bin, which no one cares to take out because they are too busy caring about themselves and those who might have more altruistic tendencies are already too busy, fighting for their lives. It is the dream of capitalists everywhere to live in a world without financial borders or laws that cut back their profits similar to the world of <em>Blade Runner</em>. The movie seems almost prophetic, yet is the world of <em>Blade Runner</em> the desire that is what the stock traders’ of <em>Wall Street</em> hope for?

-

-<em>Blade Runner</em> and <em>Wall Street</em>, while two entirely different movies, have a lot in common with each other in a way that might lead one to think of the world of <em>Wall Street</em> eventually leading to the dystopian world of <em>Blade Runner</em>. In both movies, technology is manipulated by some in order to seek the profits of capital, which in turn leads to a large disparity between “those who have, and those who have not.” While, <em>Wall Street</em> is not a dire warning against the evils of technology, it can be seen as a movie that exemplifies what can be done when technology is in the wrong hands, or as the luddite might say in any hand at all. <em>Blade Runner</em> shows technology in its most human like form and to many this is extremely dangerous, as these “Replicants” sometimes “malfunction” after learning the ways of the world. The Tyrell Corporation is the symbol of the technology corporations of the present that are traded daily on the stock market.

-

-Over time these computers, corporations, and capital take a strangle hold over the populace as the city begins to appear everywhere. The present-day-Luddites, anarchists, and other critics of technology have said a lot about the effects of technology upon humans. Just last year, someone died from playing video games for days on end and daily people are sat down behind computer screens in order to perform certain tasks that will allow them to eventually garner capital, in order to survive within a self-destructive, yet so far some-what sustaining capitalist system (depending on your viewpoint of course: is the ship sinking or still afloat in the storm).

-

-[1] There is some debate where the location is, Los Angeles, CA or New York, NY

-<br>

-[2] “Ideas are bulletproof” – V for Vendetta (ideas change, ideals remain)

-<br>

-[3] Philosophy has shown that there is no such thing as truth

-<br>

-[4] Deltron 3030 – Virus from 3030 album

-<br>

-[5] The term hacking is often loaded, Black Hat, White Hat, & Grey Hat are more concise

-<br>

-[6] What the fuck?! Sorry for making you read this footnote, footenote champion. Also sorry about all the commas, period. also srry for note actually having footenotes.

-

-** Emma Goldman and Upstate, New York

-

-<strong>Emma Goldman was born in 1869 in Kaunas, Lithuania and later died in 1940 in Toronto, Canada. During her life, Emma was a constant target of state repression and was notorious as “a sponsor of anarchy, of violence, free love, and revolution, she was vilified in the press as “Red Emma”, “Queen of the Anarchists”, “The most dangerous women in America,” yet her name would also appear on the list of the some of the world’s most influential women like Jane Adams, Annie Besant, Hellen Keller, Harriet Tubman, and Madame Curie to name only a few. In <em>Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America</em> by Paul Avrich, (p. 45) Emma Goldman is described as a propagandist and organizer for:</strong>

-

-<quote>

-“women’s equality, sexual liberation, and birth control to labor activism, liberation education, and artists freedom. Strong in her opinions, not in her sympathies, she was a powerful orator who toured the country restlessly, incessantly, selling vast quantities of radical literature and raising funds for the anarchist movement, of which she was a leading representative.”

-</quote>

-

-This is the story of Emma Goldman and the events that surrounded her while in Upstate, New York. In 1885 at the young age of 17, Emma Goldman emigrated from Lithuania to the United States of America eventually settling into Rochester, NY. In Rochester, NY Emma worked at the Garson Co. textile factory and soon married a fellow worker by the name of Jacob Kersner. In 1886, Emma credits the Haymarket Riot as a life changing event of vision and inspiration, of which she first heard of from the German socialist Johanna Greie at meetings organized in Rochester. Emma later wrote that “the decisive influence in my life” was the Haymarket Riot and death of the Chicago anarchists “which brought me to life and helped to make me what I am.”[1]

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-In 1889 Emma found herself unhappy with her marriage and moved to New York City(NYC) where she was introduced to more radical activities. As we shall see a little further on, it is important to note that Emma never legally divorced Jacob Kersner. One such influence, was that of Alexander Berkman also-known-as Sasha, of whom Emma first met in NYC. According to my research (largely taken from The Emma Goldman Papers); Emma didn’t return to Rochester until August of 1901 when she spent a month visiting her sister Helena. After her visit in Rochester, she traveled on to Buffalo where the Pan-American Exposition was taking place.

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-On September 6th, 1901 President of the United States of America William Mckinley was shot and killed by self-proclaimed anarchist Leon Czolgosz. The government would soon charge Emma Goldman with responsibility for this assassination for supposedly influencing Czolgosz, but the charges were soon dropped and Emma got some of her first on hand experience and taste of state repression. Recently, I stumbled across some old family records from 1901 - a scrapbook of their journey from Albany to Buffalo to see the Pan American Exposition. Part of the entry on September 6th reads, “On the way we heard that our good President McKinley had been assassinated at Buffalo.” The scrapbook includes an old President McKinley pin and various Pan American Exposition articles, stamps, admission ticket, and some discourse about everyday life. In reference to the anarchists, Uncle Hank’s, quote from <em>Around the “Pan” with Uncle Hank</em> also published in 1901 seems to sum up the general sentiment towards them:

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-“Them Anarchists is like rattlesnakes; fust they rattle dangerous warnin’s and then they strike a deadly blow. No civilized community ez safe while they’re about. It’s high time they waz exterminated; jes’ make it high treason when they rattle on’ about removin’ rulers; an’ let ther strong arm of ther law grasp ’em around th’ neck an’ strangle ’em tew death before they hev time tew coil an’ strike. Naow ye see th’ danger ov ’lowin’ ther scum of Europe tew cum inter th’ country. Yer quarantine yaller fever, but ye never think ov quarantinin red anarchy, which is a sight more dangerous diseese. . . .”

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-For Emma’s perspective of the situation take a look at the article she wrote: Tragedy at Buffalo. You can also check out Emma Goldman’s book written in exile Living My Life (whereas Chapter 24 is about Buffalo, NY). After the assassination, the State of New York passed on April 3rd of 1902 the Criminal Anarchy Act, Chap 371. Part of the document reads, that any person who advocates for criminal anarchy is one who:

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-2. Prints, publishes, edits, issues or knowingly circulates, sells, distributes or publicly displays any book, paper, document, or written or printed matter in any form, containing or advocating, advising or teaching the doctrine that organized government should be overthrown by force, violence or any unlawful means; or,

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-In 1903 the United States Congress went on to pass an anti-anarchist immigration act, thinking that all the anarchists were coming from across the Pond.

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-Later on, in 1904 Emma spoke in Rochester before fellow garment workers on behalf of the Free Speech League in solidarity with John Turner against the anti-anarchist immigration law. Later on, Congress rules against John Turner that it has “unlimited power to exclude aliens and deport those who have entered in violation of the law, including philosophical anarchists.”

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-In the March of 1906 the first issue of <em>Mother Earth</em> was published. Soon afterwards, Emma began her national lecture tour, which included among the stops Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, and Buffalo where the police tried to disrupt the event.

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-In the March of 1909, Emma found herself back in Rochester. On April 8th, the US Court in Buffalo invalidated the citizenship of Jacob A Kersner, who was Emma’s claim to US citizenship through marriage.

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-In the January of 1910 a free speech battle erupts in Buffalo with Emma in the middle. A large amount of discontent with anarchy seemed to be prevailing through Buffalo after the assassination. Back in Rochester, Emma holds three different discussions. In March, an amendment is made to the Immigration Act of 1907 which forbids the entrance to the United States for criminals, paupers, anarchists, and persons carrying diseases.

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-In 1911 Emma spoke at the inauguration of the new Ferrer School in New York City also-known-as the Modern School, of which she was instrumental in its foundation along with many other notable anarchists.

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-The Modern Schools, also called Ferrer Schools, were American schools formed in the early 20th century around the ideas of educator and anarchist Francesc Ferrer I Guàrdia and modeled after his Escuela Moderna. They were an important part of the anarchist, free education, socialist, and labor movements in the U.S., intended to provide education to the working-classes from a liberating, class-conscious perspective. The Modern Schools had classes for children during the day, and lectures were given to adults at night. [wikipedia]

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-On January 6th Emma began her lecture tour in Rochester. Over the next six months she would travel to 50 different cities in 18 different states, delivering over 150 lectures and debates. On January 8-14, she spoke in Buffalo with poor attendance. On April 7th the Free Speech League was incorporated in Albany.

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-In August of 1914, World War I officially begins and on December 20th Emma delivers a speech on war to over 1,800 in Rochester that was organized by her niece Miriam Cominsky. Two years later, in 1916 Emma lectures again in Rochester on the subjects of education, Russian literature, birth control, sexuality, and anarchism.

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-In the February of 1917 the Alien Immigration Act is passed by the US government allowing the deportation of undesirable aliens “anytime after their entry.” In 1918, Emma lectures again before her imprisonment for US military draft refusal. The US intelligence agencies soon begin collecting the names and addresses of over 8,000 <em>Mother Earth</em> subscribers. On September 27th, 1919 Emma is released from imprisonment to mobs of reporters, friends, and niece Stella Ballantine, who accompanies Emma back to Rochester.

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-On November 25th, 1919 the Department of Labor ordered the deportation of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman. At dawn on December 21st Berkman and Goldman set sail on the SS Buford, bond for Russia. Later on in 1920, US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, working with Justice Department agent J. Edgar Hoover and immigration commissioner Anthony Caminetti ordered the arrest of approximately 10,000 radical aliens. In 1923, Emma Goldman’s mother, Taube died in Rochester.

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-Upon her arrival in Russia, Emma was at first enthusiastic about the Russian Revolution of 1917, but soon became a critic. She was stunned by “the wholesale arrests of Russian anarchists, the dispersal of Makhno’s guerrilla army in the Ukraine, and the conversion of the local soviets into instruments of party dictatorship, rubber stamps for a new bureaucracy.”

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-In 1939, Emma Goldman passed away in Toronto, Canada and her grave soon afterwards was set to rest in Chicago. Emma Goldman from what is known as Upstate, New York: one of America’s most celebrated radicals and an anarchist at that!

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-<em>Upstate, New York Emma Goldman Links:</em>

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-Emma Goldman on Rochester Wiki

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-Emma Goldman texts on The Anarchist Library