Indy Media Watch

BC Indymedia is promoting a Free E-book: Anarchist Stories for Children (PDF). It's the perfect gift for the child who wants to learn how to topple governments, distrust police and shoplift. Some extracts:

Chapter 6 - "I Pledge Allegiance to No One".

"Hi," she said. "I'm Elizabeth. I'm in your class."
Amy turned and smiled. "Hi, Elizabeth. I'm Amy. Did you wait
here for me to come out of detention?"
Elizabeth blushed, "Well, um, yeah, I was, well I was wondering
about, you know, the pledge and why you didn't say it."
...
"Elizabeth," said Amy. "Do you know what flags are for?"
"Flags are about war," she continued. "Flags are about blindly
rallying to the call of murder. My father blindly rallied to the
call of murder, behind that very flag, and now he's dead. I
won't let them program me in to following like a lemming over
the cliff."

She was silent for a time.

Can't imagine why. Bearing in mind this is intended as a children's book, it gets better:

Amy continued, "Look at the President. Are his daughters
fighting in the war? Have you heard of the son or daughter of
any wealthy corporate man that has died in the war? Have you
seen any soldiers living well and enjoying the things the rich
enjoy? You haven't because they are not rich. The republic
belongs to the rich and it is paid for with the blood of the poor.
It is not your republic and pledging allegiance to it is like a
slave pledging allegiance to her master or a rape victim
pledging allegiance to her rapist.

Mommy, what's a rapist?

Chapter 10 - "Shoplifting"

This is a story of two boys, Juan and Gustavo. They've never met, but they share something in common. Both have shoplifted.

Terrific. No need for those lucky children to wait for Santa Claus, especially since Chapter 8 of the book tells them Santa Claus is really a corporate myth.

Chapter 11 - "Faggot" is by far the most kid-friendly

The school bell rang. It was the end of the day and Andres was looking forward to going home. When the school door opened, he joined the flow of students exiting the Junior High School.

He carried a large stack of books in his arms. The wind was chilly and the frozen grass crunched beneath his boots. Andres was a day-dreamer and today was just like any other day. His mind was on something, out there, beyond this world
while he crossed the school yard. Suddenly, out of no where, he felt a heavy blow to the back of his head. His vision was temporarily replaced with a splash of white sparkles and then darkness. He fell to the cold ground and lay motionless for a
few seconds, unconscious. As he came back to consciousness, a loud ringing filled his ears and the pain in the back of his head was intolerable. He was confused and disoriented, not sure where he was for a few seconds, when he heard the voice of one of the school's bullies taunt, "Faggot!"

He rolled onto his back and as he started to get up, a foot kicked him in the face. Blood ran out of his nose. His hand went to cover his nose when another kick connected with his throat. For what seemed like a whole minute he was unable to
breath. The kick caused his throat to swell instantly and air could not enter. He knelt there, holding his neck, blood dripping from his nose, gasping for air.
...
These attacks happened nearly every day. Andres was a sweet boy. He was gentle. He didn't like sports. He didn't like to fight. These daily attacks were robbing him of his self-esteem.

Gosh! What will young Andres do? Will he tell his parents? Will he confront the bully? Will he speak to the School Principal?

He went home, opened his closet and made a noose out of some rope. He climbed up on a box in the closet, slipped his neck into the noose and just before he kicked the box out from beneath himself, he thought of his cat and how lonely she'd be without him.

Feel the love.