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

Ever since the Brexit vote, far-right politicians have won a series of victories by falsely portraying themselves as rebels against the ruling elite, taking advantage of simmering discontent and the ways that liberals and leftists have associated themselves with the prevailing institutions.

In practice, Javier Milei's “anarcho”-capitalism involves no anarchism, but plenty of capitalism. Rather than abolishing the Central Bank as he promised, Milei’s first act was to make the former president of the Central Bank his minister of the economy. His security minister, Patricia Bullrich, says she will charge organizers and individual protesters for the cost of policing demonstrations. As the authorities will be the ones deciding how much policing each demonstration requires, this policy will enable police to shake down ordinary people in precisely the way that “anarcho”-capitalists accuse socialists of doing.

As the Argentine anarchists we interviewed put it, "It is time to insist on the necessity of a rupture."

Camera, Action!

https://crimethinc.com/CameraAction

On January 26 and 27, during the first International Gathering of Anarchist and Anti-Authoritarian Practices against Borders in Tijuana, Mexico, the Ex-Worker Podcast will present a curated series of anarchist films from around the world. In addition to showing our own published shorts and debuting some new material, we will curate a series of anarchist features, dramas, video propaganda, oddities, and experiments.

You're invited to submit your work!

Here, we present our submission parameters and review some of the precedents for anti-border gatherings like this one.