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Group claims to strike a blow for workers' rights by smashing Upper Crust windows

New windows. Photo by Douglas McGregor.New windows being installed on Newbury Street Monday. Photo by Douglas McGregor.

An anarchist group is taking credit for smashing windows at three Upper Crust restaurants on Sunday. According to a posting on Boston Indymedia:

Early on the morning of May Day, Boston anarchists smashed the windows on three Upper Crust Pizzerias. This chain was targeted because the owners of the chain have been making millions of dollars while exploiting their immigrant employees. ... This action was done on the morning of May Day to both stand in solidarity with Upper Crust workers as well as celebrate the international day of worker and immigrant rights and struggles, which are still going on today.

This struggle is a result of the inherent oppression within the capitalist system and will not end until this system is dismantled and replaced.

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Comments

Great, now illegal and exploited immigrant glass workers will be used to replace the broken windows. THE CYCLE CONTINUES!

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...get to wear cool berets too?

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Fight the Power!

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Glaziers of the world, unite.

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1. Would anarchists be in favor of American companies not hiring non-americans just because they are non-americans?

2. Does Upper Crust really lose any money by these windows being broken? Or are insurance companies just going to pick up the tab and all commercial stores might see a raise in their permiums?

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The latter. They probably only need to pay their insurance deductible, and yeah premiums for everyone would go up. Not to mention they can pay the victim now that they've been vandalized.

The real way to protest is to vote with your wallet....organize a boycott against the chain place with exploitive labor practices, and go to the mom& pop place on the corner instead.

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I think anarchists, or most anyone, would be in favor of paying the people who work for you what you agreed to pay and what they are entitled to receive, regardless of where they are from.

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but anything that ruins Jordan Tobins' day is OK in my book

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Seeing these feebly damaged windows has convinced me that capitalism doesn't work. Time to dismantle the entire economic system.

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...but yeah, clearly Boston's current crop of anarchists are total fucking pussies. You call that window-smashing? A two-year-old with a half-full sippy cup could do more damage!

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The purpose of propaganda of the deed is to draw attention to issues of concern. In this sense the window smashing accomplished its goal cause it got a notice in the media reminding people of Upper Crust's alleged oppression of their workers.

From a vandalism standpoint the window smashing is also fairly effective cause whether they put dents in it like they did here or smashed the whole thing to splinters UC still had to replace the entire window.

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Is there any reasonably informed person in the Boston area who doesn't already know about the Upper Crust issue? The Globe's done a very good job covering it, including that really long piece back in December.

All this does is remind me of Otter in "Animal House:"

I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!

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It got you to put another post about it on the web site, including a statement of purpose from the group. While this is certainly lower ambitions than the golden age of anarchist terrorism, it's not really the nihilist jack-assery that you would like to pretend it is here.

I'm not an anarchist, and certainly the accusation that a lot of modern anarchist spouting folks are over privileged kids who have read too much has more than a grain of truth in it. But it's also incredibly self serving to claim that it's just about random smashy smashy akin to drunken Sox fans celebrating a game. And it's rather indicative of the poverty of our current political discourse that we can't get a serious discussion of the place of violence in the political realm even to disclaim its use.

Also, any public policy which is based on "doesn't everybody..." do something or other is inevitably problematic. Assuming that people know something is almost inevitably going to be wrong. In the case of Upper Crust, a critic could argue that enough people DON'T know because there still seems to be no shortage of customers for the chain.

Not that I actually agree with their actions. I do think it's a little juvenile and the choice of Upper Crust as a target for worker rage seems a peculiar one. But the accusation that anarchist violence is nothing more than nihilistic vandalism has been leveled at the movement since at least Johan Most and it's an off target criticism since their violence, whatever you think about the morality and efficacy of it, is not nihilistic or random in nature but is, or is at least meant to be, directed and purposeful. I might add that while the anarchists were the most zealous advocates of the propaganda of the deed they were not the only movement to use violence and vandalism to make their point. Indeed, window smashing was far more emblematic of the British women's movement of the turn of the century which used violence for similar reasons to protest unequal treatment, draw attention to issues of concern, and demonstrate their non compliance with a political system which excluded them.

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Now we're talking! Johnny Most's grandfather, best remembered for his famous 1920 call of Braintree vs. North End.

"Parmenter is putting the payroll into the truck. He gets it in AND SACCO STEALS THE PAYROLL! Over to Vanzetti! It's all over! It's all over! Sacco stole the payroll!"

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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OK, looks like I finally have to knuckle under and install one of those rate-a-comment thingees.

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Of course, I'm now thinking about a group of dumb-ass vandals, and thinking that I might like some Upper Crust pizza. I don't take well to people trying to influence my behavior with stupid stunts.

As you can imagine, I just love political adverts...

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I stopped buying from Upper Crust because their pizza went down hill once they began expanding. There are plenty of other pizza shops around that deliver and make better pizza. I don't condone vandalism as a form of protest. In light of that, I might just head over there at lunch time for a slice.

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when this town had REAL anarchists. These guys are litterbugs compared to the folks who used to run the North End.

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I guess they were on break from finals at massart and bu.

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The Globe did some good reporting on Upper Crust, and Upper Crust came out looking like real assholes. And arrogant too, even trying to force employees to pay back settlement money that UC was ordered to pay them.

I've been boycotting Upper Crust, not that it matters except in principle.

If these 'anarchists' were interested in anything other than doing drugs and being smug yet mentally retarded, they would publicize the evils of Upper Crust, picket, and organize a boycott that put Upper Crust out of business. That would also send a message to other local employers.

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Organize and smash the plate!

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They were freegans just pissed that they could not dumpster dive for food.

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This was really City Inspectional Services. Boccalo better watch out.

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Wait! Didn't I hear on the news around this morning's pier fire that in addition to the law office, there was an also Upper Crust on the site?

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According to this report... http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/boston/12...... the building is connected to the headquarters for Upper Crust Pizza....

..... hmmmmmm....

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Just because Upper Crust's policies are lousy, that's an excuse for people to go around smashing things? Oh no...I don't believe that. If one wants to change a business's policies, that's one thing--but one has to figure out more rational ways to do it. Vandalizing and destroying property's not the way to go.

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I don't understand why anarchists would do this. Wouldn't anarchists be like "cool, you can do that if you want, it's legal, etc"?

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I'd think that true anarchists would be against the government (ANY form of government) and its law (such as labor laws, minimum wage, etc.)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism

Don't just spout ignorant bullshit about anarchists.

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....with 150+ citations, and raise you the primary definition by Merriam Webster:

Definition of ANARCHY

1
a : absence of government

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Anarchists! The terrorist threat of the '10s!

1910s that is.

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I believe the Andelman brothers were seen repairing the windows before taping a new Phantom Gourmet commercial, I mean review of Upper Crust!

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