How I got here: A short tale about teenage rebellion

Im feeling euphoric tonight. With against me! playing in the background I cannot help but to think of how I got to where im at. Never once did I suspect I would be here, writing this piece. Never once did I think I would be an enemy of the state, of capitalism, of the current social order. growing up in a poor neighborhood I thought I would grow up and be someone, a CEO maybe, something. It all changed in 7th grade. WHen I gained the understanding that I will go nowhere, that because of how I was born, and my living situation. I could not escape.

It all changed though one night. Febuary 6th 2012. For folks in portland, you all know what night I am talking about. The Fuck The Police march. That night changed my life.

It all started with me meeting my friend, I'll call him david. We met up before hand at the church close by. We talked and decided to get going.We heard about this march. We knew it wasn't hosted by occupy portland, but by anarchist. It was exciting! I heard of these anarchist, because I was one. I was, and still am, a baby anarchist. My ideals at the time were weak and pretentious, but I didn't care. Adrenaline was rushing!

We knew we were close to the march when we ran into a whole squad of motorcycle cops. They were heading to the same place as we. A helicopter was also above and that's how we found the march. I was so excited! We approached the march and put on our anarchist attire, AKA, blocced up. I had such a shitty mask and general bloc it was horrible. I still laugh at myself. A black bandanna and a beanie. Good lord was I an idiot but who cares? This was a night of rebellion!

People were shouting "All cops are bastards ACAB!" and it roared! Oh how my teenage angst came through that night. That's when everything changed. The marched approached a yuppie bloc on belmont and I saw someone run up to a window. Looking back it's as if everything slowed down. SMASH SMASH SMASH! Hearing the glass shatter as the person ran away from the scene of the "crime" Hearing the liberals shout "OH MY GOD!" and hearing the march roar with praise. I only thought one thing. THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME. That person gave no fucks, and decided to take a swift individual action!

The march continued on. Some folks ran up to a dumpster to drag it into the street. I did not think that night, just acted. I ran up with them and helped them out. That's when a tall white liberal dude tackled me and started punching me. He was literally yelling "Non violence only man!" as he punched my face several times. How ironic was he?

After some folks got him off me I tagged with them. They were as excited as I was and chuckled at my over excitement. The march kept going but all of a sudden we see a riot van pull up infront of us and riot officers jump off as the truck is still moving. The fuckers got a running start. They charged us and we took a swift right up a hill. One of them clubbed me in the back but I kept going, choking on my own laughter.

The march took a left after that and we snuck around back onto the street. That's when the bike cops showed up. They came out of nowhere and cut the march off. Just before they did I jumped infront of them to help my friend david. He was tackled and being beaten. I wasn't thinking that night and attempted to tackle the officer off of him. Before I could I felt something hit my side really hard. A cop straight up football tackled me. He tackled me onto the pavement and yelled at me to stop resisting. This was fight or flight! All of a sudden I felt 3 more officers on top of me. It felt like over 1000 pounds was on my back. They picked me up and threw me into the paddy wagon.

That was the end of my night, I could still hear the march yelling at the police. Telling them to kill themselves and other things we say to the filthy cops. How quickly the night passed, and how much it changed me. That's when I knew what I wanted to know all along. I would constantly ask myself "What can I do about this?" and that night I figured it out.

I can be free.

Iconclastic Individualism and youth: Why are youth always rebellious?

In this day and age, and throughout history youth are always depicted as uncontrollable and hostile towards authority. A main "critique" of anarchism is that "It's a bunch of edgy teenagers" but have we thought about why that is? Alot of leftist will say because of the "violent window smashers and punks" or that "Because youth are the stupid ones." Besides the obvious ageism, everyone I described so far is wrong. Youth are the iconclastic individuals, the ones that cannot and will not be controlled, but why?

Anthropologically speaking, before civilization existed all forms of human existence were the closest thing to anarchy and true egalitarianism. You're probably wondering why I pulled that out. I did so because youth still retain those natural instincts of anarchy. Before we reach adulthood we are still groomed by society and molded, and the process isn't complete until we reach adulthood. So before that our natural instincts resist the authority of all those around us. Youth are the true iconclastic individuals who will bring about the apocolypse.