TEACH ANARCHY

On April 14, 2025, Dan Berulis, an IT staffer at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), filed a Congressional whistleblower complaint with an extraordinary and urgent claim: The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had seemingly compromised the agency’s data and appeared to be exfiltrating it out of the NLRB entirely. Additionally, Berulis claimed that mere minutes after DOGE members had accessed the agency’s data, there appeared to be login attempts from an IP address in Russia.

At the time, DOGE teams, orchestrated by billionaire Elon Musk, were sweeping across government, firing federal workers and accessing sensitive data and technical systems with no oversight and little transparency.

The following day, Berulis went public in an NPR article with his name and claims. In it, he claimed that in the lead-up to his Congressional disclosure, a threatening note had been taped to his door, including photos of him walking his dog that appeared to have been taken by a drone. Berulis was already scared that speaking out had made him a target.

In a new defamation lawsuit, filed by Berulis in a DC court on April 17 and made public this week, Berulis alleges that Musk himself made him a target of further violence by falsely stating that Berulis’ whistleblower claim against DOGE was fake. The complaint was initially filed under seal because Berulis maintains a security clearance that requires prepublication review of anything related to his work with the government.

The deal Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), opens new tab struck with its union averts a massive strike and gives its memory chip ​workers eye-popping bonuses. It also opens a Pandora's box for companies in South Korea - a country known for militant wage-bargaining.

Unionised Samsung workers voted in favour of the government-mediated pact on Wednesday, marking the first big win ‌for a Samsung union. More significantly, it is only the second time that a major South Korean company has agreed in writing to reward workers with a fixed percentage of operating profit.

With profits skyrocketing due to the AI boom and under pressure to narrow its bonus gap with rival chipmaker SK Hynix (000660.KS), opens new tab, Samsung agreed to allocate 10.5% of its semiconductor operating profit to special bonuses for chip workers. Some memory chip workers are set to receive total bonuses of $416,000.

A cap limiting special bonuses linked to a unit's performance to 50% of a worker's salary was also abolished. Moreover, the deal covers 10 ​years of earnings.[...]

Those decisions by Samsung - a bellwether for South Korea Inc - are likely to harden the stances of other domestic unions also demanding employees be rewarded from operating profit and could embolden ​more to follow suit.

"It could start a new fire at other big companies in Korea," said Kim Keechang, a professor of law at Korea University. "It might be only the beginning."

He noted that ⁠the deal goes against long-standing global norms about corporate earnings. Bonuses are normally calculated after taxes are paid and Samsung's chip workers have de facto jumped the queue in claiming their share of the company's riches. Even the country's union-friendly President Lee Jae Myung ​expressed concern ahead of the deal being struck.[...]

Business groups are alarmed.

"This agreement reflects Samsung Electronics' special circumstances and labour groups should not generalise it and spread excessive bonus demands across industry," the Korea Enterprises Federation said in a statement.

Samsung may have had no choice but to cave, with its memory chip workers furious about the bonus gap with SK Hynix and, according to its union, leaving for its rival in droves. Without the deal, which was less generous than SK Hynix's, 48,000 workers would have gone on strike for 18 days. According to media reports, ​SK Hynix allocated 10% of operating profit to bonuses last year, changing its cap on bonuses. Under its new pay structure, chip workers are said to be getting close to 3,000% of their base salary in bonus for the past financial year.[...]

The bonus dilemma, one could argue, should be limited to Samsung and SK Hynix - the primary South Korean beneficiaries of the colossal investments in AI. But other unions are making similar demands.

In a dispute at internet ‌giant Kakao (035720.KS), opens new tab, one ⁠option workers are discussing with management is apportioning 10% of operating profit to bonuses, Kakao's union said. Workers at the company and four of its affiliates have threatened to strike if their demands are not met.

Unions for telecoms firm LG Uplus (032640.KS), opens new tab and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (329180.KS), opens new tab, a major shipbuilder, have said they want at least 30% of operating profit to be allocated to performance compensation among other demands. Wage negotiations at LG Uplus are underway, while those for HD Hyundai Heavy are likely to start next month.

At Samsung Biologics (207940.KS), opens new tab, workers walked off the job for five days this month with demands that included 20% of operating profit to be given over to performance bonuses. Management has not budged and the dispute is ongoing with employees refusing to do overtime or work on ​holidays.

Any politician, organization, or activist who calls for people to restrain themselves is effectively creating the conditions for more kidnapping and murder.

If we want others to understand this murder as a tragedy, we must ourselves behave as though it is a tragedy. Otherwise, we can be sure that ICE will go on kidnapping and murdering with impunity.

As Democrat politicians talk about the supposed necessity of "maintaining order" in the wake of an ICE agent murdering a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis, remember—the movement of 2020 only spread countrywide because a police station burned, and polls showed that the movement *improved* Democrat polling.

Inside the Clashes at Delaney Hall Detention Center

A Timeline from a Mutual Aid Volunteer

https://crimethinc.com/DelaneyClashes

To our dismay, the artist and author Marjane Satrapi has passed away.

As she wrote, ordinary Americans and Iranians have more in common with each other than we do with either of our governments, which have far too much in common with each other.

Since it's been a while since I sang the praises of my favorite book 'Anarchy Works' by Peter Gelderloos: here's a reminder that there is an easy to read anarchism book out there organized around frequently asked questions and it's online for free with the authors consent. I'll copy-paste them all just to showcase how great it is:

Introduction

Anarchy Would Never Work

What exactly is anarchism?

A note on inspiration

The tricky topic of representation

Recommended Reading

1. Human Nature

Aren’t people naturally selfish?

Aren’t people naturally competitive?

Haven’t humans always been patriarchal?

Aren’t people naturally warlike?

Aren’t domination and authority natural?

A broader sense of self

Recommended Reading

2. Decisions

How will decisions be made?

How will decisions be enforced?

Who will settle disputes?

Meeting in the streets

Recommended Reading

3. Economy

Without wages, what is the incentive to work?

Don’t people need bosses and experts?

Who will take out the trash?

Who will take care of the elderly and disabled?

How will people get healthcare?

What about education?

What about technology?

How will exchange work?

What about people who don’t want to give up a consumerist lifestyle?

What about building and organizing large, spread-out infrastructure?

How will cities work?

What about drought, famine, or other catastrophes?

Meeting our needs without keeping count

Recommended Reading

4. Environment

What’s to stop someone from destroying the environment?

What about global environmental problems, like climate change?

The only way to save the planet

Recommended Reading

5. Crime

Who will protect us without police?

What about gangs and bullies?

What’s to stop someone from killing people?

What about rape, domestic violence, and other forms of harm?

Beyond individual justice

Recommended Reading

6. Revolution

How could people organized horizontally possibly overcome the state?

How do we know revolutionaries won’t become new authorities?

How will communities decide to organize themselves at first?

How will reparations for past oppressions be worked out?

How will a common, anti-authoritarian, ecological ethos come about?

A revolution that is many revolutions

Recommended Reading

7. Neighboring Societies

Could an anarchist society defend itself from an authoritarian neighbor?

What will we do about societies that remain patriarchal or racist?

What will prevent constant warfare and feuding?

Networks not borders

Recommended Reading

8. The Future

Won’t the state just reemerge over time?

What about other problems we can’t foresee?

Making Anarchy Work

Recommended Reading

It Works When We Make It Work

I have been in regular contact with Mohammed for almost 2 years now. Please help him and his family!The money will reach him quicker if you can donate through Paypal, which is managed by my friend who regularly sends the donations to Mohammed.

They want buckskin and face paint, drumming, songs in languages they can’t understand recorded for them but with English subtitles, of course. They want educated, well spoken, but not too smart. Christian, well behaved, never question. They want to learn the history of the people, but not the ones that are here now, waving signs in their faces, asking them for clean drinking water, asking them why their women are going missing, asking them why their land is being ruined.

They want fantastical stories of Indians that used to roam this land. They want my culture behind glass in a museum.