A note from our friend Mark Van Steenwyk at the Mennonite Worker in Minneapolis: Here are 10 ways to support the struggle for justice in Minneapolis.

1. Add your voice to this list of demands from Reclaim the Block and Black Visions. 2. Support the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a widely respected bail fund for those arrested in protests against oppression. 3. Support George Floyd’s family on GoFundMe.  4. Support the Black Visions Collective, a grassroots organizing group intent on improving the Cities for black communities. 5. Donate funds to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. They are directing funds as need. When asked to choose a fund, select “Other” and simply type “Justice.” 6. Support the North Star Health Collective, who is providing street medics during this uprising.  7. Support Reclaim the Block, a group focusing on shifting municipal budgets away from the carceral state and towards needed social services. 8. Support MPD 150 a police abolition group working to support the ongoing institutional struggle to defund/abolish the police in Minneapolis and beyond. 10. Give food, supplies, and funding to CTUL, which is collecting (and giving out) food, formula, masks, household/cleaning supplies, and more. For a no-contact dropoff, leave resources at the door. 3715 Chicago Ave Minneapolis.  Besides these things, join your local protests to add your voice to the cries for justice. And pray, sharpen your compassion, and remain vigilant.   Peace and Resistance, Mark Van Steenwyk Director, the Center for Prophetic Imagination

tired of the news? listen to a fresh perspective on the John Zerzan raido show: https://www.johnzerzan.net/radio/

On Willem Van Spronsen & His Final Statement

By CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective -July 14, 201920637

Statement from CrimethInc. on the recent death of Willem Van Spronsen, who was killed by Tacoma police after attempting to set fire to buses at the Northwest Detention Facility in Tacoma, Washington. Includes a written statement from Spronsen.

On July 13, Willem Van Spronsen was killed by police while apparently taking action to disable the fleet of buses that serve the Northwest Detention Center, a private immigration detainment facility. His final statement, reproduced below, conveys that he was acting in response to the continuous raids and deportations carried out by Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). His action occurred on the one-year anniversary of a hunger strike inside the Northwest Detention Center and an encampment outside. You can read a list of other acts of resistance that have occurred inside the Northwest Detention Center here.

We understand why Willem Van Spronsen decided to give his life to interrupt the violence that is perpetrated against undocumented people in the United States every day.

It is not hyperbole to say that the ICE raids are targeting our friends and neighbors, people who have lived and worked alongside us for years or even decades. The vulnerability of long-term undocumented people as a hyper-exploitable class has helped billionaires like Donald Trump to profit even more than they could have by legal means. To put the icing on the cake, capitalists then turn to the other workers they are exploiting and tell them that the poverty and misfortunes they experience are the fault of those who are poorer and more oppressed than them. It’s hard to imagine a more cynical strategy.

The disparity in rights between the documented and undocumented is a construct—just as the disparity in value that the Nazis constructed between Jewish people and gentiles was a construct. Both are mere inventions; they have no intrinsic existence except as a means for a powerful group to justify violence against a less powerful group. Those who justify obedience to the law as a good in itself stand alongside the Nazis whose laws condemned millions to the death camps, not to mention the racists who passed the Fugitive Slave Act and the Jim Crow laws in the American South.

Laws are just constructs. They have no value in and of themselves. They often serve to legitimize injustice that people would otherwise take action to oppose.

The further that the proponents of racist violence are permitted to legitimize invented concepts like slavery and citizenship, the more violence they will perpetrate—up to and including roundups, concentration camps, and mass extermination. We have seen this before, in Nazi Germany and elsewhere, and we are seeing it again today in the United States. The thousands of deaths that take place in the borderlands and the thousands murdered by police are just a foretaste of what is possible.

In this regard, the Jewish people who are carrying out blockades against ICE are engaging in rational efforts to prevent the recurrence of the same unthinkable injustices that were perpetrated against their ancestors—just as Willem Van Spronsen, who grew up in the wake of World War II, made the rational decision that the time had come to fight the rise of fascism just as people did in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

If more people had chosen to take action to fight the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany, the Second World War might have been averted, and with it millions upon millions of lives would have been saved. Let no one say it is “violent” to attack the infrastructure of ICE and the mercenaries who maintain it. The real violence is the complicity of the Good Americans who do nothing as their neighbors are disappeared, just like those Good Germans who choose to ignore what was being done to their neighbors in the 1930s.

Every day, mercenaries around the world risk their lives in service to the agenda of the rich and powerful, obeying orders thoughtlessly, squandering their capacity to think rationally, to feel compassion, to take responsibility for their actions. Millions of people kill and die every year simply to increase the wealth and power of the tyrants who manipulate them. Willem Van Spronsen chose to think for himself. He took personal responsibility and did what he could to put an end to what he recognized as injustice. He did not use the Nuremburg defense to excuse his actions the way that every police officer and prison guard does.

In those regards, what he did was heroic.

We recommend the statement about Willem Van Spronsen’s action posted by La Resistencia, a grassroots collective led by undocumented immigrants and US citizens based in Tacoma, Washington.

“ANYONE WHO IS DETERMINED TO CARRY OUT HIS OR HER DEED IS NOT A COURAGEOUS PERSON. THEY ARE SIMPLY A PERSON WHO HAS CLARIFIED THEIR IDEAS, WHO HAS REALIZED THAT IT IS POINTLESS TO MAKE SUCH AN EFFORT TO PLAY THE PART ASSIGNED TO THEM BY CAPITAL IN THE PERFORMANCE…

IN DOING SO THEY REALIZE THEMSELVES AS HUMAN BEINGS. THEY REALIZE THEMSELVES IN JOY. THE REIGN OF DEATH DISAPPEARS BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

–ALFREDO BONANNO

Willem Van Spronsen’s Final Statement

Audio manifesto: thesuper8.bandcamp.com

There’s wrong and there’s right.
It’s time to take action against the forces of evil.

Evil says one life is worth less than another.
Evil says the flow of commerce is our purpose here.
Evil says concentration camps for folks deemed lesser are necessary.
The handmaid of evil says the concentration camps should be more humane.
Beware the centrist.

I have a father’s broken heart
I have a broken down body
And I have an unshakable abhorrence for injustice
That is what brings me here.
This is my clear opportunity to try to make a difference, I’d be an ingrate to be waiting for a more obvious invitation.

I follow three teachers:
Don Pritts, my spiritual guide. “Love without action is just a word.”
John Brown, my moral guide. “What is needed is action!”
Emma Goldman, my political guide. “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be in your revolution.”

I’m a head in the clouds dreamer, I believe in love and redemption.
I believe we’re going to win.
I’m joyfully revolutionary. (We all should have been reading Emma Goldman in school instead of the jingo drivel we were fed, but I digress.) (We should all be looking at the photos of the YPG heroes should we falter and think our dreams are impossible, but I double digress. Fight me.)

In these days of fascist hooligans preying on vulnerable people in our streets, in the name of the state or supported and defended by the state,

In these days of highly profitable detention/concentration camps and a battle over the semantics,

In these days of hopelessness, empty pursuit and empty yearning,

We are living in visible fascism ascendant. (I say visible, because those paying attention watched it survive and thrive under the protection of the state for decades. [See Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States.] Now it unabashedly follows its agenda with open and full cooperation from the government. From governments around the world.

Fascism serves the needs of the state serves the needs of business and at your expense. Who benefits? Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Betsy de Vos, George Soros, Donald Trump, and need I go on? Let me say it again: rich guys (who think you’re not really all that good), really dig government (every government everywhere, including “communist” governments), because they make the rules that make rich guys richer.
Simple.
Don’t overthink it.

(Are you patriots in the back paying attention?)

When I was a boy, in post-war Holland, later France, my head was filled with stories of the rise of fascism in the ’30s. I promised myself that I would not be one of those who stands by as neighbors are torn from their homes and imprisoned for somehow being perceived as lesser.
You don’t have to burn the motherfucker down, but are you going to just stand by?

This is the test of our fundamental belief in real freedom and our responsibility to each other.
This is a call to patriots, too, to stand against this travesty against everything that you hold sacred. I know you. I know that in your hearts, you see the dishonor in these camps. It’s time for you, too, to stand up to the money pulling the strings of every goddamn puppet pretending to represent us.

I’m a man who loves you all and this spinning ball so much that I’m going to fulfill my childhood promise to myself to be noble.

Here it is, in these corporate for profit concentration camps.
Here it is, in Brown and non-conforming folks afraid to show their faces for fear of the police/migra/Proud Boys/the boss/beckies…
Here it is, a planet almost used up by the market’s greed.

I’m a black and white thinker.
Detention camps are an abomination.
I’m not standing by.
I really shouldn’t have to say any more than this.

I set aside my broken heart and I heal the only way I know how—by being useful.
I efficiently compartmentalize my pain…
And I joyfully go about this work.
(To those burdened with the wreckage from my actions, I hope that you will make the best use of that burden.)

To my comrades:
I regret that I will miss the rest of the revolution.
Thank you for the honor of having me in your midst.

Giving me space to be useful, to feel that I was fulfilling my ideals, has been the spiritual pinnacle of my life.

Doing what I can to help defend my precious and wondrous people is an experience too rich to describe.

My trans comrades have transformed me, solidifying my conviction that we will be guided to a dreamed-of future by those most marginalized among us today. I have dreamed it so clearly that I have no regret for not seeing how it turns out. Thank you for bringing me so far along.

I am antifa. I stand with comrades around the world who act from the love of life in every permutation. Comrades who understand that freedom means real freedom for all and a life worth living.

Keep the faith!
All power to the people!
Bella ciao.

Don’t let your silly government agencies spend money “investigating” this one. I was radicalized in civics class at 13 when we were taught about the electoral college. It was at that point that I decided that the status quo might be a house of cards. Further reading confirmed in the positive. I highly recommend reading!

I am not affiliated with any organization, I have disaffiliated from any organizations who disagree with my choice of tactics.

The semi-automatic weapon I used was a cheap, home-built unregistered “ghost” AR-15, it had six magazines. I strongly encourage comrades and incoming comrades to arm themselves. We are now responsible for defending people from the predatory state. Ignore the law in arming yourself if you have the luxury, I did.

“The temple bell stops
But the sound keeps coming
out of the flowers” -Basho

The earth is wild. The earth is like the one we covet. If only we could learn to pay attention we could hear the music of the heavens in every blade of grass under our feet. But if you don’t have time to watch the grass grow I’m sure you at least have some time to listen to some really good concerts that are coming up this month. Yes it is a very busy end of spring around here. Amidst gathering cattail shoots, restoring damaged landscapes, and birthday parties we are trying to play some music too.

The full band will be at the Divine Pine Gathering this Saturday June 15th. This is a festival you don’t want to miss put on by good friends in the Irish Hills.

As a little pre-game to the fest on Thursday June 13th Jeremy will be playing a house show in Manchester. With the Natalie Mae Trio from New Orleans, and local legend Billy King. Call for details 517-435-6079.

Also Jeremy will be hosting an open mic (and teaching a class) at the 6th annual Great Lakes Foragers Gathering June 20th – 24th. This is also in the Irish Hills and also something you don’t want to miss!

There will be lots more to come so stay in touch…!

Winter tour has come and gone. To California and back strumming my “meal ticket” as Guthrie used to call it. Adventure, ups and downs, new friends and old. Thanks to all for food, shelter, conversation, a place to share my songs, everything! Truck stops, mountains, the Gulf of Mexico, little towns, big cities, the desert, the Pacific Ocean. Sun rises in the east, sets in the west. Starts over again.

Suddenly I found myself winding down my old road again, Irish Hills Michigan outside the city gates of Jackson. The sap is flowing. The Red Winged Black Birds are calling from the cattails. Spring is irrevocable now though still the freeze and thaw go back and forth.

Experiment # 4, Part B has been distributed around the country one old fashioned disk at at time. But if you didn’t get your copy yet, no fear, there is plenty more at headquarters. And although you can hear it on bandcamp, if you donate for the hard copy you get a fine looking lyric booklet with original artwork and interesting liner notes. And a sweet picture of a red cedar in flames, on the disc, which i took while doing one of our prescribed burns. So email me at theillalogicalspoon@gmail.com and I’ll send it to you. (You can also request a copy of the new zine I’ve been working on with folks in our community: Leaf Litter: Notes on Restoring and Reinhabiting the Great Lakes Bioregion)

Experiment # 5 is currently being written here and there in the midst of all sorts of other work. Actually i’ve been writing it for several years now, and have previewed some of the songs on these last tours. But there is still more to write. And then i have to bring the songs to the band and let them work their wonderful magic. So don’t expect a new album anytime soon, but know that the songs are steadily growing. Developing their underground roots, seeking nutrients from the soil and rain from above. The working title is “Us and All Our Lovers”. It is rooted in a study of the Biblical Song of Songs and the plants and animals of Michigan. It meditates upon love and loss, presence and absence, romance, friendship, the mystery of God, reawakening our senses to wildness, the destruction and restoration of the earth, the failure of technology, the beauty and melancholy of spring.

When it is complete it will form a sort of trilogy with Experiments #3 and #4. I’ll be doing some writing about how they all fit together in the coming months.

Stay tuned for more shows this summer. One we are particularly excited about: The full band will be playing the Divine Pine Gathering in the Irish Hills in June. See you there if not before!

Sincerely,
Jeremy

P.S. I have recently joined in with some friends in my community to start a nature education/traditional skills learning project called Open Grown School. Check out the website for a list of spring classes and more info as to what it’s all about.

Thank you, Thank you to all who participated in this event in any way. It is such a meaningful, beautiful, good thing for folks to come together like this in the winter. They say nobody reads anymore, but I don’t think that’s true about you, so I’m going to type away…
Over 100 people, from all over the country, including many children, met up in the cold Irish Hills for the 14th annual Winter Gathering. We braved the icy ground. We were warmed by each other and by the fires within and without. Crisp and refreshing air woke up new desire for life, breathing it in and out opened pathways for new ideas as we learned things we didn’t even know we didn’t know. Winter cleanses you know. Kills the mold in old houses where we’ve stored too much junk over the years. Our natural senses revive. Yes, the more we gather together like this the more we come to our senses. We are restoring not only these acres along Iron Creek, but restoring relationships with each other, and with the earth. Becoming again the defenders, healers, and friends of life that we know we are. We feel it in our bones.
We stood quiet in the wind chill to hear the little chirps of sparrows in the tall grass prairie.A great horned owl ate from our hands as we tried to commune with another species.We laid our hands on an ancient chestnut tree and listened for her pulse. She’s not dead yet! We seemed to hear her say, “Fight for your lives, for all of our lives!”We sang our hearts out around the brush fire, during the concerts, at the kids open mic. There are very few places left these days where public singing is common. In the Irish Hills we sing in public.We added fuel to the fire, each stick representing the unique gifts that we each have to share with the community as a whole.We planted the seeds of native wild flowers and the seeds of resistance in our souls.We honored the waters in ceremony and played on the frozen waters of the pond. We played in the fields, the trees, the upstairs of the mansion, sliding down the steps shouting for joy and worrying the old folks.We tracked wild animals through the snow. Tracked the course of our lives as we spoke of old times and dreamed of new.
We learned the story of Manoomin (wild rice) in Michigan. Our appetites were whetted. We cooked over the open fire, and over the closed fire, and ate and ate until all were full. Yes, sharing – food, love, clothes (see lost and found list below), and even that necessary root of all evil: MONEY. The old donation bucket was passed around and not only were we able to give our speakers and bands a little something for their work, we also were able to send a donation up to the Water Protectors trying to shut down Enbridge’s pipeline 5 in the Great Lakes at Camp Anishinaabek.Once again we dunked our heads in the freezing waters of Iron Creek and made promises to ourselves to make the most of 2019. Let’s help each other follow through!
You made it happen. All who were there and all who could not make it in person, but were there in spirit and who sent greetings, well wishes, encouragement, donations, and prayers. Keep up the good work. This is Anarchy at it’s finest. We are in the midst of building a long term community of resistance.
Not that we couldn’t do better. Mistakes were made. Needs were overlooked. Things didn’t always work out as planned. If you want to help make it even better next year contact us and get involved with the planning. Or at least email some feedback on what you liked and what you did not.                                                                 *******************Some of us left some things behind we might want to have back. Contact us if you lost something. We may have found it. ********************************************************
There are other events happening in these Irish Hills this year that you may be invested in:Trillium 5k (fundraiser for restoration work on the property. May 18th. contact Silas: bialecki.silas.1@gmail.com)Great Lakes Foragers GatheringDivine Pine GatheringHoller FestWomen’s Gathering in the U.P. (contact Colleen about this: perriacol@gmail.com)

Traditional skills and ecology classes. Another issue of our zine Leaf Litter (consider contributing some of your writing or art)And much more, seriously…..

Catch you on the flip side.