A Victory for the Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

In the last week of January, members of a group that calls itself the Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians started to reside in an unoccupied mansion owned by a Russian oligarch in London. The group earned a legal reprieve today.

Since the group took over residence a legal case has proceeded through the court system to evict them from the premises. At different times, police have been called to attempt to take advantage of any moments in which the residence might be empty—lines of moving vans have been assembled outside to and the group has posted photos—and on several other occasions “groups of fascists” (as A.N.A.L. has described them in posts online) have been employed to take over the several doorways to the mansion and block entry to the property.

The group outwitted the blockade by erecting ladders from the sidewalks to the second-story windows.

The group at times numbers activist Lauri Love among its fellowship, whose legal case has been documented on this website. He faces extradition to the United States to face unspecified hacking charges and if he is sent to the U.S. and is convicted, faces multiple sentences that could add up to 99 years in prison.

A post from one hour ago (6:00 p.m. EST February 13) on the group’s Facebook page reads in part: “… the possession order was strictly for the land of the address, not the building itself, which effectively means they don’t have any power.”
Read More

A Valentine’s Day Disaster

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

It was as if every wish I had made in childhood for a hole in the ground to open up and rescue me had been answered in reverse …

* * * *
I bear a scar from the first Valentine’s Day that I had a reason to celebrate as Valentine’s Day, as a part of a couple.

Until my last relationship, my romantic history was a long walk alone in an empty field, punctuated by moments in which I interrupted someone else’s walk, attempted to try a relationship, and discovered that I try people’s patience instead. (All the women I have dated are brilliant and accomplished and I was lucky to get to know them; I was stuck at age 15 for an astonishingly long time, however.)

My love right now, my soul mate, Jen, is quite brilliant and accomplished, and for the first time in my life, four-plus years now, I am an equal partner and have opened myself up to having an equal partner. Not too bad for a 48-year-old 15-year-old.
Read More

Putting Help on I.C.E.

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

“When Will We Know?”—an ongoing series

* * * *
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed on February 10 that ICE agents this week raided homes and workplaces across the nation in an immigration enforcement crackdown code-named “Operation Cross Check.”

The Washington Post reported that the search for undocumented immigrants became “unusually intense” this week and listed the locations as: Vista, Pomona and Compton, California; Austin, Dallas, and Pflugerville, Texas; Alexandria and Annandale, Virginia; Charlotte and Burlington, North Carolina; Plant City, Florida; the Hudson Valley region of New York; and Wichita, Kansas.

(I live in the Hudson Valley. The local media has not yet identified the location of any ICE raids that took place in the Hudson Valley.)

ICE does not usually release statements about its activities before a mission is completed, but many rumors proliferated about Operation Cross Check, so an ICE official, Virginia Kice, reported that any numbers of arrested individuals that the bureau might announce are “preliminary given that the five-day operation concluded only hours ago”—which confirmed that the raids were taking place and that the operation was finished—and that more would be revealed on Monday.

Kice told The Daily Beast that thirty-eight were arrested in the Los Angeles area on February 9 alone, and multiple sources report that as many as 160 individuals (one source old me the number is “200+”) were arrested in the operation. Also detained by ICE and its affiliates this week was any ability to get help to those being held, as several human rights activists have learned.

Here is that story:
Read More