On December 6, 2008, in the rebellious neighborhood of Exarchia, police in Athens, Greece murdered a 15-year-old anarchist named Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

In response, anarchists and other rebellious young people rose in revolt, organizing countrywide riots and occupations that lasted for weeks. This was the first of the waves of rebellion that culminated with revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

In this classic interview, conducted a couple weeks into the insurrection, participants describe what made the uprising possible.

https://crimethinc.com/organizeaninsurrection

"You have to be ready to give your life, your time, your years in a struggle that will never end. It is healthy not to have expectations, because then you don’t get disappointed. You are used to appearing, fighting, and then disappearing again; you know how to become invisible as a person and visible as collective power; you know that you are not the center of the universe, but that any time you can become the center of your society."

With great sadness, we report that Alfredo Maria Bonanno has passed away. An indomitable insurrectionist, he challenged anarchists around the world through over half a century of writing and action.

If you only read one text of his, begin with Armed Joy, which connects the refusal of work with an affirmation of life via the project of joyous revolt.

"The search for joy is therefore an act of will, a firm refusal of the fixed conditions of capital and its values. The first of these refusals is that of work as a value. The search for joy can only come about through the search for play.

"The joy of the revolutionary act is contagious. It spreads like a spot of oil. Play becomes meaningful when it acts on reality.

"Hurry to play. Hurry to arm yourself."

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/alfredo-m-bonanno

We remember him as he described himself in The Insurrectional Project—as a comrade among comrades.

Detritus Books has published a collection of his work.

Peter Kropotkin was born on this day in 1842. An accomplished geographer, he recognized that the best way to improve the lot of humanity was not to pursue scientific research in a vacuum but to set about transforming the structures of society.

Towards that end, he advocated revolutionary politics and emphasized the importance of mutual aid. Today, the model he promoted flourishes in a variety of forms; it was one of the inspirations for Alcoholics Anonymous.

But Kropotkin was not just a thinker. He was also a fighter who fought the police with brass knuckles and spent years incarcerated for his efforts. You can read about his daring escape from prison in Tsarist Russia here:

https://crimethinc.com/KropotkinBreakout

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Today, we observe the 150-year anniversary of the birth of Lola Ridge, an anarchist poet and editor. Born in Ireland, she grew up in New Zealand and Australia before moving to the US.

You can read a book of her poetry here:

https://archive.org/details/ghetto00ridggoog

According to the Gregorian calendar, today is the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of the year—13/12, or ACAB day. It's beside the point whether all police officers are the offspring of unwedded parents: all of them sell their consciences to serve as mercenaries imposing a social order in which a few people control a vast amount of resources while others must struggle just to survive.

More on the role of police:

https://crimethinc.com/cops

Our classic poster, "The Police," is available in bulk just for the cost of printing and postage:

https://crimethinc.com/posters/the-police

You could read these two articles in today's issue of the New York Times admitting that, despite expectations that they would make police accountable, buying police body cameras has wasted millions of dollars without any real impact.

Or you could read the article we published seven years ago, arguing the same thing.

https://crimethinc.com/bodycams