Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
This is a raw, underdeveloped reflection on why political assassinations of CEOs, politicians, slumlords, etc., should happen more often. The assassination of UnitedHealthCare Executive CEO, Brian Thompson left me spiralling in a myriad of unexpected ways, mostly around these two questions: why doesn’t this happen more often? And perhaps, why do anarchists seemingly no longer do this?
Assassinations are primarily political. They are a radical act resulting from either a political analysis of power, or a threat to the order of it. Police, state, and corporations commit assassinations but they use their justice systems to legitimate them.
I find myself so hesitant to discuss with some of my most trusted, beloved comrades. It feels so taboo. What has liberal democratic propaganda done to anarchism that makes the topic of assassination so uncomfortable to talk about it as a rationale and reasonable act? Even if we hate to admit it, non-violence has a more pervasive creep than many of us are willing to admit.
In some circles, I hear a lot of people talk about the necessity of violence, but I’m not sure if it’s anything more than a romanticized notion of it. The experience of committing violence against one’s adversary is many things, though it often comes with a rush of adrenaline, sometimes a fleeting sense of euphoria, but it can also come with nausea, shock, and the intuitive feeling that with every act of violence a piece of one’s self is forever changed.
And at the same time, what the fuck world? We’ve been shown that the legal system is a joke. We know laws are made for the most powerful. We know that politicians don’t care about systemic change, but rather, they are more invested in the maintenance of capital and state order albeit with different takes depending on the political party. We know demonstrations alone don’t work, we know breaking windows or setting an executive’s car on fire isn’t enough to deter or intimidate, so what is one left with to do? What is left to be done so that when one says, “no, this will not happen any longer,” and acts accordingly, it happens no longer?
Those who have power and shape the socio-political terrain of this world will not step aside peacefully. We are fucking delusional if we think that another petition, demo, vigil, frontline is going to change anything. While friends and comrades caught RICO charges from the Stop Cop City struggle, Donald Trump caught the same charges and became President, again!
The state uses the police to back multibillion dollar projects. We cannot win when we try to stand against them as equal opponents, even in asymmetrical attacks the outcomes are grim. But if the heads of corporations, etc were killed, one by one, think of the way their networks would implode into chaos because of the fear and knowledge that they are no longer untouchable? They can be found. I’m not saying that assassinations are the only thing left to do. I’m just wondering aloud into the anarchist universe as to why this tactic is used more by the state, the police, etc., and less by individuals who understand/ experience the harm and greed of certain individuals who just need to die.
Millions of people applauded the recent assassination of UHC CEO Thompson, they also applauded the most recent assassination attempt of Trump. We are on a precipice. I want those reading this text to seriously examine their relationship to violence. Ask yourself and trusted friends, “how far are you/ am I willing to go?” Would you know the conditions necessary for that relationship to change or intensify? Or, do you provide endless justifications as to why a tactic of accelerated violence won’t make a difference. Be honest. Sometimes we say such things because we are just afraid of the consequences of getting caught or failing. When we are honest about our fears we can make plans to move beyond them. What things would you need in place to feel like you could increase your capacity to act violently? And to that end, to commit an assassination?
Assassinations are an anarchist tactic. The following is a list of known anarchist assassins – definitely incomplete – who decided that this was a viable tactic throughout history. Wikipedia has pages on each of them:
Michele Angiolillo
Milan Arsov
Joëlle Aubron
Germaine Berton
Georgi Bogdanov
Dmitrii Bogrov
Marko Boshnakov
Gaetano Bresci
Arthur Caron
Sante Geronimo Caserio
Georges Cipriani
Alfredo Luís da Costa
Leon Czolgosz
Buenaventura Durruti
Vladimir Gaćinović
Herman Helcher
Émile Henry (anarchist)
Liu Shifu
Gino Lucetti
Luigi Lucheni
Paulí Pallàs
Manuel Pardiñas
Giovanni Passannante
Yordan Popyordanov
Antonio Ramón
Ravachol
Gennaro Rubino
Santiago Salvador
Alexandros Schinas
Sholem Schwarzbard
Oleksandr Semenyuta
Jean-Baptiste Sipido
Sergey Stepnyak-Kravchinsky
Moishe Tokar
Kurt Gustav Wilckens
Wong Sau Ying
Vera Zasulich
Bogdan Žerajić