Bash Back; Fight Back

So blogger.com put my site on probation like a naughty child. It seems citing my sources and linking to other articles made me a "spam" blog - right. Let's all just pretend like my first amendment rights weren't violated and that the FBI isn't after me....

Anyway, I'm not the only one pushing back -

About a week ago the gay-anarchist group Bash Back came into internet spotlight with a Nov 9 stunt. After the passing of the controversial anti-gay marriage propositions and amendments in California, Florida, and Arizona, the pink-clad group protested outside Mt. Hope Church in Lansing, Michigan.

It was not a "peaceful" protest - it was boisterous, to say the least. You can read the devilish details in the article links below.

The first source to report the story on my Google Alerts was RightMichigan.com
Now the name itself is an alarm that coverage of the event might be politically skewed...fine. However, the article, written by someone identified only as "Nick," was filed under "news." Nick decides he's so important he can write a news article in first person, and then goes on to inform us about some email correspondence of him with a friend (who cares?).

He then goes on to claim Bash Back performed "public, sex acts," which no other article or evidence sustained. He flounders in proving the group are hypocrites because they "drive on roads" and "wore clothing." Yikes. In defense of Nick's intelligence, he also grouped Bash Back with all of Michigan liberals... oh, wait, did I say "defense"? Adjectives like "disgusting" and "repulsive" also pepper the article, just in case it wasn't flashy enough!

Alright, enough of this "Nick." On November 11, Lansing's City Pulse released the story, written by Nathan Harris who was actually with Bash Back when the protest occurred. This is a balanced, properly composed article. Scott Thorn, from MLive.com also offers a clear-headed critique of the event's coverage.

Tom Blumer, from NewsBusters.org lamented the scarce mainstream media coverage of the event, and David Shelton on ClarksvilleOnline.com nicely claims Bash Back have shit-for-brains and begs readers not to confuse the anarchists' action as part of the gay civil rights movement.

*

Its not surprising that the NYTimes or LATimes aren't losing their breath to catch this story. It's a fringe group performing a cooky political act in nowheresville, MI.

However, what appeared to be a one-time stint proved a repeat offense. On Nov 17 the Bash Back reported on their news site glued the locks of the Church of Latter Day Saints and spray painted anti-anti-gay (fun word) messages. Life Site News covered the story on the same day; and if you thought "anti-anti-gay" was a crazy word, wait until you read Kathleen Gilbert's opening line:

"Homosexualists are continuing to vent their rage against Mormons for supporting true marriage in California, and are issuing increasingly hostile threats to accompany a steady stream of vandalism."

Homosexualists? How about, homosexualaphiles? Homosexualtronics? Homosexualiaganis?

*

Bash Back is a relatively new group in the anarchist scene, having formed only in 2007 but already having 7 chapters on both coasts. Most are centered in big cities, although NYC is missing from the list (having a pro-gay group in the this city would be like having a pro-sand group at the beach), there is a chapter for upstate NY.

What's surprising is that while most anarchist groups are content to their meetings and listserv arguing over what anarchism means or how their groups should be structured, Bash Back is about action. Anarchists always tout the word "direct action," but Bash Back isn't waiting for another Republican/Democratic National Convention or Seattle protest to perform illegal acts of sabotage.

This is a group to watch out for -- I'm sure it won't be long before they show up again in this blog. That is, if my linking-mania doesn't get me suspended...

Are Anarchists Just Nader Fans?

In Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Raoul Duke awakes in a hotel room after eating, sniffing, inhaling and digesting every drug known to man and some only know to select scientists. Wearing a a dinosaur tale and hung-over delusions, he notices the walls are smeared with blood --- no, wait. That's ketchup. 

Tennessee Democrats had that same revelation Thursday morning, the 23rd, when walking into the Murfreesboro campaign HQ. After probably assuming their offices were the scene of a midnight massacre, the Demos called the cops, only to find the smell was more burger joint than slaughterhouse. 

It seems after likely raiding every fast food establishment in town to loot the ketchup packets, a group of happy vandals smeared the walls of the Lefty offices. According to WSMV Nashville website (wsmv.com), this happened only one night after a brick with an anarchy sign went flying through a window of the Republican's HQ in the same city.  

Whether this is actually the work of anarchists remains to be confirmed. While a true believer in non-hierarchical forms of community organizing would equally hate the Republicans as much as the Democrats, why not vandalize the two HQs on the same night? And why stop at petty bricks and ketchup? You already broke into the office, why not take some money, light some fires, really muck up the place and your eventual criminal charges? 

It seems some violent Democrat is using a member of the "unwashed masses" as a scape goat. When the cops got hot on the trail of the Obama-loving, brick-throwing, abortion-inducing, blame-America-first lefty, the criminal started a ketchup fight in their own office to divert attention. I mean, what sane Democrat would smear perfectly good condiments in their own command quarters? 

On the other hand, my imagination could be running away with me... to Thurston County, Washington, where according to The Olympian, "someone throw a couple of marbles through a small window and spray-painted graffiti at the Thurston County Democrats' headquarters" (theolympian.com). The article went on to state the child-like pillagers (my guess: from Peter Pan's Neverland) left messages, including: "No More Rulers" and "I Want Freedom." 

OK, so we've got ketchup in Murfreesboro and marbles in Thurston County. What's next? Anti-establishment pillow fights? Perhaps anarchists can really stick it to the two-party system with strawberry ice cream and sprinkles: imagine, entire campaign headquarters overwhelmed with ants attracted to the sticky stuff. 

If this is truly the work of proponents of the big "A," then it can be safely said the ideologies of anti-consumerism and pro-environmentalism are being expressed in stranger and stranger ways. It's a melding of Dadaism, or the anti-art art movement, with Anarchism, the anti-politics political movement. 

Dadaism arose during WWI as a dissent against war and capitalism. It's no surprise anarchist actions would arise now, during elections, when the US is simultaneously conducting two wars (although the media barely covers the carnage), and undergoing an economic recession. Desperate times call for desperate measures, the saying goes, and if you could call the present "surreal times," then what better weapons than ketchup and marbles? 

*Photo from NYPL Digital Gallery