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The white supremacist colonial school system was explicitly designed to violently impose Christian and capitalist values to produce productive members of the civilized order. These violent military and Christian institutions of separation, forced assimilation, and extreme physical and sexual abuse were so effective, the strategy was replicated by other colonial forces, including so-called Canada to "Australia" and beyond.

The system that settler invaders designed to annihilate Indigenous knowledge and replace it with their own is still in operation. We used to be forced to go to the colonizer's schools to learn their ways and participate in their project of civilization. Today we go willingly into its halls, sit in its classrooms and further our social status in the capitalist colonial order.

Though proclamations are made to "decolonize" academia, we have Indigenous scholars who continue to fulfill the dreams of colonizers such as Pratt. The institution of colonial higher education is designed to produce an elite managerial class within Indigenous communities that shapes and subdues cultural knowledge systems to fulfill colonial economic and political expansion. This is the curse of the song "Go My Son" (an infamous composition that's occasionally performed at Indigenous graduations) that was written by Mormons to encourage auto-assimilation through neo-colonial education systems.

— No Spiritual Surrender by Klee Benally (Page 48)

There are many attempts by colonizers to define sacred sites in legal, anthropological, and sociological terms, but their nature remains elusive and unintelligible to Western understandings. This illiteracy of the sacred is not for lack of equivalent references or study, it is in the cosmological dissonance that is of a way of unbeing of materialism that is rooted in domination, control, and exploitation.

While Indigenous Peoples can say the whole Earth and existence is sacred because there is a spiritual relationship with creation, we can also identify specific locations or areas (mountains, waterways, burials, features, etc.) that are places of spiritual distinction.

While Indigenous contexts are diverse regarding what constitutes a sacred place, most specifically they are places (a region including viewscapes) or specific sites of emergence, home of deities, offering site(s), a place where herbs are gathered that can't be gathered elsewhere, home or origin to certain species, and much more. They are places that figure centrally in the relationships that Indigenous Peoples have with creation. Most often they are places of healing, guidance, and renewal.

The defense of lands held holy by Indigenous Peoples are the frontlines in the struggles for our existence. If we desire to exist, we must continue to defend the sacred and liberate Mother Earth. Defending the sacred means fighting back to protect Mother Earth, which is to say existence itself.

— No Spiritual Surrender by Klee Benally (Page 40 - 41)

Civilization is socially constituted violence against the Earth.

Civilization has always been the mission of colonizers. It is carved deeply throughout the text of their laws and into our flesh. The imposed literacy of settler violence is the way we learn to read and tend to the scars that track this chronology of colonial conquest named history. These are the unhealed and partly healed wounds spreading in all directions that map the specter of abuse that are documented as the progression of religion, capital, democracy, and civilization. It is unwritten in cultural knowledge buried in a shallow boarding school mass grave located in the vacuous space between mythology and sin. This literacy is what sanctions the destruction and desecration of the sacred. It declares, "I'm wearing this headdress because I appreciate your culture." It declares, "The wastewater we're spraying on your sacred site is clean enough to drink." It insists, "That was in the past, I'm not responsible for the actions of my ancestors." It admonishes, "They're on the street because they're lazy." It contemplates "poor and angry Indians contrasted with respectable ones." It declared utopia while slaughtering and enslaving millions. It wrote in blood and pus, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian." It declared, "Tradition is the enemy of progress." It shifts phrases and dresses the meaning in newly ironed clothes that smell of starch, piss, and appropriation.

— No Spiritual Surrender by Klee Benally (Page 24 - 25)

The characteristics crow identifies as setting community defense apart are fundamental, touching on questions of ideology, strategy, and organization. Ideologically, he says, "the liberatory framework is built on anarchist principles" such as mutual aid, direct action, solidarity, and "collective autonomy (community-self-determination)." Strategically, the objective is not "to seize state power" but to defend the social space in which communities may develop relationships and exercise power outside of the state's control. Organizationally, crow recommends "maintain[ing] a balance of power, [by] rotat[ing] all armed tasks and training among all those willing to participate." Likewise, the armed work needs to be integrated within the larger political project: "All firearms training needs to include dynamic and evolving liberatory ethics and practices in addition to how-to and safety." It follows too that violence ought never to be given primacy, either to the internal politics of the movement or in its relations with the broader society: "Those engaged with guns should hold the same power as others involved in other forms of community defense or self-sufficiency. Carrying arms should be seen as... [having] the same importance as childcare, growing food, or taking out the garbage–and not more." Even in narrowly defensive terms, the military capacity should not be the defining approach to political problems: "Arms are not the first line of defense and are only taken up when other forms of conflict resolution have been exhausted." In every respect–ideologically, strategically, and organizationally–military capacity, while necessary, must always remain secondary to the political project. Perhaps the most important element of "Liberatory Community Armed Self-Defense" is community. (Armed should be the least important.) However liberatory the ideology motivating it, to the degree that the group bearing arms understands itself as a distinct and sepаrate entity, there are likely to be problems–elitism, vanguardism, authoritarianism, machismo, and the myriad ills they produce.

— Gang Politics by Kristian Williams (Page 118 - 119)

We should take seriously Charles Tilly's observation that gangs and states belong on the same continuum. Whatever their ultimate purpose or aims, this continuity and the resemblances it suggests are, I think, better understood by both gangsters and cops than either would like to admit. It has a special significance, however, for insurgent social movements. Insurgents may be forced to operate outside the law yet must resist the tendency to drift toward venal criminal enterprises. Similarly, they may have to use coercion and violence to achieve their aims yet must avoid reproducing the dynamics of the state. Insurgent groups may not be able to renounce violence without also surrendering their political objectives; but equally, to preserve their liberatory politics, they cannot allow violence to become their central feature. The challenge for the revolutionary left for any liberatory movement is to break with the form of the criminal state, to establish our politics on an entirely new basis.

Too often on the left, debates about violence are simply debates about tactics, considered either from a moral or a pragmatic perspective. Pacifists renounce violence on principle; liberals denounce it hypocritically; and militants justify it on practical terms. The popularity of these various positions has tended to ebb and flow, but the debate itself is in stalemate. None of the arguments produced by any side seem likely to affect the position of the others, in part because they address themselves to different questions. The pacifist is mainly concerned with morality, the liberal with legality, and the militant with efficacy. With this debate always in the foreground, what receives less consideration is the question of how we organize violence: What types of groups engage in it? What norms govern it?

— Gang Politics by Kristian Williams (Page 117)

For more than thirty years, the American antifascist movement has sought to maintain a militant edge while moving away from the gang model-first in the jump from the Baldies to ARA, then in the shift from ARA to Antifa. Nevertheless, though it is in no way the only or even the main source or influence shaping antifascist organizing today, the gang element has left a deep imprint. It shows up in some relatively benign cultural signifiers, like laurel-wreath imagery, the use of tattoos as markers of loyalty, and a greater-than-average enthusiasm for soccer and ska. It also shows up in some minor tactical choices, such as the use of graffiti to "mark space as antifascist or reclaim it from fascists."

It is important here to acknowledge the inherent attractions of the gang as a social unit, the very real needs it can fill in the lives of its members, and the advantages these can bring for political action. Looking back over his long experience with antiracist organizing, Mic Crenshaw concludes: "I think what made us strong is that we were friends and we loved each other, and we approached the struggle and the activity from that basis... When you take away the overt political ideologies and the violence, it was really about friendship. When I founded the Baldies, that was the first time I really felt at home."

— Gang Politics by Kristian Williams (Page 107 - 108)

Gang violence decreased during the Black Power era. But the defeat of the Panthers triggered a subsequent drift into a new kind of gangsterism, epitomized by the rise of the Crips and then, shortly after, the Bloods. Mike Davis explains: "[The] decimation of the Panthers led directly to a recrudescence of gangs in the early 19705. The Crips, however perversely, inherited the Panther aura of fearlessness and transmitted the ideology of armed vanguardism... [albeit] shorn of its program."

As the Crips set about aggressively expanding their territory, their smaller, neighborhood-based rivals began to affiliate in a defensive alliance under the banner of the Bloods. With these two supergangs competing for the same territory and control of the associated markets - all the factors necessary for decades of fratricidal warfare fell into place. Under the counterinsurgency model, that result was predictable and even desirable. The US. Army's Counterinsurgency field manual (FM 3-24) states frankly: "Throughout history, many insurgencies have degenerated into criminality. This occurred as the primary movements disintegrated and the remaining elements were cast adrift. Such disintegration is desirable; it replaces a dangerous, ideologically inspired body of disaffiliated individuals with a less dangerous but more diverse body, normally of very uneven character."

— Gang Politics by Kristian Williams (Page 63 - 64)

Seeking to expand on the success of the Rainbow Coalition, the Panthers' Fred Hampton approached the Rangers' Jeff Fort with a plan to unite all of Chicago's gangs. The idea was based on some earlier successes. In addition to the alliance with the Young Lords and the Young Patriots, a Panther chapter founded by former Disciples had already merged with Hampton's group. And the Rangers, Vice Lords, and Egyptian Cobras all attended a "Free Huey" rally in October 1968 where one of the speakers described the various gangs as the "warriors we need" and urged unity." A few weeks later, a coalition met to organize protests against the government's treatment of the Panthers; present at the meeting were representatives of the P Stone Nation, the Conservative Vice Lords, and other gangs, as well as more prominent figures like C. T. Vivian and Jesse Jackson...

... Merging the two groups would have doubled the size of the Panthers nationally. The FBI naturally sought to prevent any alliance. The Illinois field office suggested a rumor campaign that would lead Fort "to exact some form of retribution" against the BPP. They sent him an anonymous letter: "There's supposed to be a hit out for you." This tactic was designed, as the FBI explained in a memo, "[to] intensify the degree of animosity between the two groups and occasion Fort to take retaliatory action which could disrupt the [BPP] or lead to reprisals against its leadership. Consideration has been given to a similar letter to the [BPP] alleging a Ranger plot against the [Panther] leadership; however, it is not felt this would be productive primarily because the [BPP] at present is not believed as violence prone as the Rangers to whom violent type activity-shooting and the like is second nature." The ploy failed. Fort was never inclined to believe the phony letter. In fact, he recognized it as a transparent attempt at manipulation and merely found it amusing.

Eventually the police resorted to more direct measures. On the morning of December 4, 1969, at 4:00 a.m., fourteen police armed with submachine guns literally shot their way into Hampton's apartment. The police fired ninety-eight rounds, killing Fred Hampton and Mark Clark (head of the Peoria, Illinois, BPP) and injuring three others. Hampton was shot five times - three times in the chest and then twice in the head.

Two thousand Stones made a brief but dramatic appearance at Fred Hampton's funeral. And even after Hampton's death, Jeff Fort continued to dream of an alliance. In a 1970 editorial, he called for unity between the Panthers, Disciples, Vice Lords, and Rangers, writing: "The greatest and wildest dream of the fathers and mothers, men and women, sisters and brothers in the Black Chicago community is that we settle our differences and truly come together. Our unity is also the thing that [is] most feared [by] our oppressors. This is obvious from all the foul schemes our oppressors have used to keep us divided."

— Gang Politics by Kristian Williams (Page 58 - 60)

Civilization - A crime against nature; despite Gandhi's quip, a bad idea;* the tendency of pedestrians to stop walking when they step onto an escalator

*Asked what he thought about Western civilization, the Mahatma famously responded, "It would be a good idea."

— Contradictionary by CrimethInc. (Page 47)

It is obvious that if the wages-system, which is the chief coercive force compelling men to work at their present jobs today, were to break down, the following situation would arise. A large number of people would be liberated but disorientated and they would immediately take the attitude of, "From now on it's spiv and live for me only mugs work!". This is to be expected. Domesticated Pussy when first turned loose in the woods looks around for another house to sponge off; she does not immediately take on a natural feline way of life. It is this situation that most social revolutionaries are afraid of, and they seek to set up authoritarian machinery to substitute political coercion for the economic coercion of capitalism. It is true that political coercion is not always easy to apply to the productive processes; under Lenin's dictatorship it was largely abandoned for the economic coercion of the New Economic Policy. However, if coercion is still resorted to after the breakdown of capitalism in order that men will still work, the "spiv and live" attitude will be preserved as a permanent social attitude.

— Never Work by Herman J. Schuurman, André Thirion, George Woodcock, and 2 others (Page 34)

For a gang to create a revolution, it is also necessary to revolutionize the gang.

— Gang Politics by Kristian Williams (Page 53)

"The ideal allies for a government implementing control are, in fact, nonviolent members of the community the would-be insurgents seek to mobilize... If regimes can infiltrate - or, better yet, cooperate with - mainstream groups they are often able to gain information on radical activities and turn potential militants away from violence."

Broadly speaking, counterinsurgency offers two approaches to dealing with opposition, and they must be used selectively. Some adversaries, especially moderates, may be co-opted, bought off, and appeased. Others, the more recalcitrant portion, must be forcefully disorganized, disrupted, deterred, or destroyed. The balance of concessions and coercion will be apportioned accordingly.

Some adversaries win new posts - offices in a "reformed" administration or jobs in "responsible" nonprofits, labor unions, or progressive think tanks. They gain access, inclusion, or representation in exchange for working within the existing institutional framework. The others will face harsher outcomes including, for example, imprisonment, exile, or assassination. Whatever the approach in a particular case, the important thing is that the opposition is neutralized rendered harmless, made controllable, and exploited as either the object or the tool of state power.

— Gang Politics by Kristian Williams (Page 35)

Socially the clock had a more radical influence than any other machine, in that it was the means by which the regularization and regimentation of life necessary for an exploiting system of industry could best be attained. The clock provided the means by which time - a category so elusive that no philosophy has yet determined its nature - could be measured concretely in more tangible forms of space provided by the circumference of a clock dial. Time as duration became disregarded, and men began to talk and think always of "lengths" of time, just as if they were talking of lengths of calico. And time, being now measurable in mathematical symbols, became regarded as a commodity that could be bought and sold in the same way as any other commodity.

— Never Work by Herman J. Schuurman, André Thirion, George Woodcock, and 2 others (Page 25 - 26)

Marines train with cops to prepare themselves for the work of managing a military occupation, and, at the same time, military lessons are battle-tested overseas and cycled back into the homeland.

Beginning in February 2009, combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan served as advisors to police in Salinas, California, with the stated aim of applying counterinsurgency tools to local anti-gang efforts. Along with their expertise, advisors from the Naval Postgraduate School arrived with software, including a computer program to map the connections between gang activity, individual suspects, and their social circles, family ties, and neighborhood connections.

This police-military partnership occurred simultaneously with a renewal and expansion of the Salinas Police Department's community policing efforts. The new community focus (encouraged by the naval advisors) included Spanish language training, an anonymous tip hotline, senior citizen volunteer programs, a larger role for the Police Community Advisory Council, parenting classes taught by officers, and youth programs. The SPD took control of a community center in the Hebbron Heights neighborhood and stationed two officers there, assigned to perform foot patrols and focus on minor quality-of-life issues. More important than the direct police presence, however, were the coordination and intelligence-sharing between various nonprofits, government agencies, and the police.

The police actively sought to build a coalition including "the faith-based community, all the social service agencies, educational institutions, the library, recreational services, community organizations, [and] county and state agencies," in order to "establish a sense of trust" and "ultimately receive more informa- tion about community activity." The thirty-four members of the "cross-functional team" (CFT) of the Community Alliance for Safety and Peace met regularly to share information, discuss emerging problems, and plan a coordinated response. As a report from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) explains, the CFT first sought to "identify youth in Hebbron Heights most at risk for being victims or perpetrators of violence" and then "work[ed] to provide these youth and their families with as many protective factors as possible to reduce their risk of violence." To make their assessments and draft their plans for intervention, team members "collect[ed] a variety of data about each client, including basic demographic information; school discipline data; probation/police data; and client connections or relationships with other CFT clients, local gangs, and extended family members." Twice each month, "CFT members collaboratively review[ed] the cases of targeted youth and their families in detail in order to determine the services and actions that [could] best provide support." In principle, this process made additional services available to at risk youth, but, equally, it enlisted social workers and teachers to help identify suspects for police investigations.

Alongside their community partnerships, Salinas police were also coordinating with other local, state, and federal law enforce ment agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms), the FBI, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The most spectacular product of these collaborations was a set of coordinated raids April 22, 2010, on codenamed Operation Knockout. The raids-coming after months of investigation mobilized more than two hundred law enforcement agents and resulted in one hundred arrests, as well as the confiscation of forty pounds of cocaine, fourteen pounds of marijuana, and a dozen guns.

Operation Knockout was intended not only to disrupt the targeted gangs but also to serve as a warning to others. Deputy Police Chief Kelly McMillin said: "We're going to follow quickly with call-ins of specific groups that we know are very active... We are going to tell them that what happened on the 22nd could very well happen to them."

The combination of social services and coercive force achieved a kind of coherence under a strategy called Operation Ceasefire. As the NCCD report explained: "Local goals of the program are to use data and intelligence to identify individuals at highest risk for committing firearms violence, then bring customized resources to those individuals to lead them away from violence; or, alternatively, to ensure these individuals are aware that if they choose to continue their violent tendencies they will be selected for rigorous law enforcement scrutiny and ultimately arrest and incarceration to ensure the community's safety." In other words: behave and receive services, or misbehave and go to prison. The police came wielding both a carrot and a stick.

— Gang Politics by Kristian Williams (Page 24 - 26)

Look at him leaving the shop floor, the coolie who works twelve hours a day in Shanghai, the laborer who has just spent nine consecutive hours in a Paris factory, and compare his heavy steps to the light stride of the idle man. He thinks of one thing only: to return to his home and sleep. It is amazing that workers have children; they have so little time for making love! Thei dullness, their stale dullness, never leaves them. In this way we anesthetize their revolt.

— Never Work by Herman J. Schuurman, André Thirion, George Woodcock, and 2 others (Page 19)