Author Archives: Lara

“Sleep Now in the Hole” (2000), by the American band Rage Against the Machine, is a denunciation of the commodification of democracy. The song, produced by Rick Rubin, was recorded in October 1999 amidst growing global unrest: weeks before the Battle of Seattle erupted and the IMF imposed draconian austerity measures on 42 countries. The music video, directed by Michael Moore, was filmed in January 2000 at the New York Stock Exchange. It was an act of calculated civil disobedience: … Read more

The Battle of Seattle, which took place between November 30 and December 3, 1999, during the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, marked a turning point in the struggle against global capitalism. The mobilization brought together more than 50,000 activists and militants from unions, environmental movements, student groups, and anarchist organizations in an unprecedented convergence that paralyzed the city. The objective was clear: to dismantle the myth of neoliberal inevitability through creative direct action. The origin lies in the accumulation of … Read more

Global technology companies sustain structures of oppression in Palestine through million-dollar contracts with Israel. Meta (USA), Google (USA), Microsoft (USA), Amazon (USA), and NSO Group (Israel) stand out for financing, facilitating infrastructure, data, analysis software, or cloud services to enable the location, selection, and tracking of individuals. This makes these corporations key direct actors in state violence, as they facilitate systematic human rights violations. Meta promotes asymmetry in content moderation: between 2021 and 2023, it removed 90% of pro-Palestinian posts … Read more

The documentary This Is What Democracy Looks Like (2000), directed by Jill Friedberg and Rick Rowley, captures the essence of the protests against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Seattle in November 1999. Filmed on location with cameras provided by activists, the film compiles first-hand accounts of demonstrations that brought together more than 50,000 people from all walks of life and backgrounds (from trade unionists to environmentalists, from First Nations groups to anarchists) in what was a key turning point … Read more

The power structure has historically sought to associate protest and dissent with violence by using different concepts as synonyms, thus equating violence with dissent and non-violence with reformist processes. Five key concepts will therefore be distinguished below: Violence. Violence is understood as the deliberate use of physical or psychological force against individuals, groups or communities with the intention of causing harm. Galtung distinguishes between three levels: Direct violence. Explicit acts involving actions that cause physical or psychological harm to individuals … Read more

We are not spectators! We are responsible for what happens in the immediate reality around us! We are the organized resistance against a system that devastates communities, plunders ecosystems, and strips human life of dignity. Every day we must walk together, guided by the idea that only continuous, organized, and united action will stop the abuses of the predatory machinery of transnational corporations, which are so well protected by the actions or complicit passivity of state governments and international organizations. … Read more