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On this day, 13 July 1977, a two-day blackout began in New York City, during which many residents took advantage of the situation to expropriate goods from shops.Following multiple lightning strikes on power lines, the lights went out in all five boroughs by 9:40 PM. Amidst a financial crisis, and widespread cuts and layoffs, unrest broke out especially in working-class Black neighbourhoods like Bushwick and Harlem.Residents looted supermarkets, using the shopping trolleys to fill with food, while elsewhere people broke windows of closed stores to steal goods. Arson attacks also occurred.One young teenager, Jalil Muhammad, recalled to Ramsey Khalifeh and Amanda Rozon of Gothamist:"What tends to happen, especially in an economic depressed area, you live among the 'have-nots'... You see things and you want it, and this is the opportunity to go and get it."Before the power came back on on July 15, over 1600 shops had been damaged, over 1000 fires had broken out and around 4000 people arrested.More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/12574/new-york-blackout * If you enjoy our social media posts be sure to check out our podcasts. In our flagship longform podcast, Working Class History, we speak with participants in social movements about their experiences, and our daily mini podcast, On This Day in Working Class History, has one of our anniversaries each day. We also have a website and map containing thousands of our stories with full sources. All of our work is funded by you, our readers and listeners, on Patreon. To learn more and support us check out our links in our bio.

Good Idea: a city that is cultivating mindfulness

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZALPV9wZVIg

pictures: https://www.dailybhutan.com/article/all-you-need-to-know-about-gelephu-mindfulness-city

text: https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/gelephu-the-worlds-first-mindfulness-city-is-in-bhutan/

Bhutan is known for having the "happiest people on earth". They structured their society around the happiness index and not the GDP.
Now they are trying to blueprint the way a modern city could work. Meet Gelephu.
Powered with renewable energy, spotted with social spaces that do not impact the surrounding ecosystem, walkable and designed for humans.

Opportunisten ermöglichen Faschisten: https://www.srf.ch/news/international/us-wahlen-2024/trumps-vize-kandidat-trumps-designierter-vize-heisst-j-d-vance-ein-portraet

The shooting at Donald Trump’s rally took place just in time to maximize ratings for the Republican National Convention. The Democrats already seem to be accommodating themselves to a future in which they will be the junior partners in an even more authoritarian reboot of state power.

In response to the shooting, politicians across the spectrum have decried “political violence." But political violence is fundamental to all government—not least the US government. The key to Trump’s appeal is that he is explicitly promising to direct this violence against undocumented people, poor people of color, women, queer and trans people, anarchists, and other scapegoats. Everything that centrist politicians do to pave the way for his return renders them complicit in the bloodbaths ahead.

Anarchists already participated in the round of social unrest that ultimately blocked Trump’s ambitions in 2017-2020. We know that voting, court cases, and liberal op-eds will not protect us.

https://crimethinc.com/TrumpYears

Poster seen in Pullman, Washington

Media
On this day 14 July 1789, during the French revolution, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille, a notorious prison, and a symbol of power and the old order.As a huge crowd attempted to gain access to the prison, the garrison station within started to fire cannons onto people in the streets, killing and wounding many.This caused outrage. Russian revolutionary, Peter Kropotkin, who wrote a groundbreaking grassroots history of the revolution, recounted what happened next:"As to the people, as soon as the news of the firing spread through the town, they acted without any one’s orders, guided by their revolutionary instinct. They dragged the cannon which they had taken from the Hôtel des Invalides to the Hôtel de Ville... "The firing by this time had been going on for more than three hours. The people, not in the least dismayed by the great number killed and wounded, were maintaining the siege by resorting to various expedients. One of these was the bringing up of two cartloads of straw, to which they set fire, using the smoke as a screen to facilitate their attack on the two entrances, the greater and lesser drawbridges. The buildings of the Government Court were already in flames."The cannon arrived just at the moment they were wanted. They were drawn into the Government Court and planted in front of the drawbridges and gates at a distance of only 90 feet. It is easy to imagine the effect that these cannon in the hands of the people must have produced on the besieged. It was evident that the drawbridges must soon go down, and that the gates would be burst open. The mob became still more threatening and was continually increasing in numbers."The moment soon came when the defenders realised that to resist any longer was to doom themselves to certain destruction."You can get a new edition of Kropotkin's history here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/the-great-french-revolution-1789-1793-peter-kropotkin To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio then click this photoPic: Painting of the events by Jean-Pierre Houël

Just like school