the dirty south

From The Dirty South
May 17, 2026

Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina are actively attempting to redraw congressional lines to reduce representation of Black voters. White supremacists are more emboldened than ever to show their true colors and terrorize their Black neighbors. Confederate flags hang from their doors, their cars, and are planted lovingly at their gravesites. Each flag is a reminder that minorities are not safe in this violent settler colony.

As anarchists, we recognize electoralism as a dead-end strategy for the pursuit of our liberation. At the same time we must also recognize these redistricting efforts as the resurgence of neo-Confederacy, Jim Crow, and genocidal intent to erase Black southerners from public life. Liberals are already planning their permitted marches to express their outrage. Perhaps they will vote extra hard for the primaries. This does not threaten the white supremacists carrying out their fascist desires. We would like to propose a different form of solidarity.

Get together with your friends or your affinity group. Map out where the confederate flags, monuments, and plaques are in your community. Remove as many of them from the public eye as you can. Do the same with the american flag while you’re at it, as it represents the same horrific white supremacy. Set them all on fire, confederate and american, on July 4th! Or whenever you want.

Comments

anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/20/2026 - 08:55

"attempting to redraw congressional lines to reduce representation of Black voters"

really?

this is what anarchists are talking about?

and your little disclaimer about electoral politics does nothing to diminish the lameness here.

anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/20/2026 - 11:32

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

how is encouraging people not to vote against the politicians (or vote at all) but to do things with friends and cohorts, how is that electoral politics?
 

are you suggesting that anarchists just ignore what is happening legislatively? 

CalvinSmith Wed, 05/20/2026 - 13:07

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Helpful:

"....terrorize their Black neighbors. Confederate flags hang from their doors, their cars, and are planted lovingly at their gravesites. Each flag is a reminder that minorities are not safe in this violent settler colony."

I doubt confederate flags are very scary to southern black people...lil' wayne has one in his music video for christ sake.

anonymous (not verified) Sun, 05/24/2026 - 16:07

In reply to by CalvinSmith

HAHHAHAHAAAA very funny indeed! Lil Jon's a flaming Democrat these days and collaborated with ex-US Treasury Secretary golden boy Kabir Seghal. He hasn't been playing edgelord rapper gimmicks for over 10 years (the vid you posted is 16 years old lol), last time he was still active before that.

So yea... a pretty crap example of how Black Afro-Americans are cool with the Confederate flag, today. Also of how people promoting vandalism against this outdated racist flag are... Democrats. lol

CalvinSmith Sun, 05/24/2026 - 17:39

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

was a remnant of the nihilistic type of drug-use culture of the early 2000s, something i was a part of since i was a young adult during that time period...now i'm approaching middle age, lol. It took a second to decode, but lil' jon is calling the viewer a bitch in the chorus of that video, very suitable for that time period...black slavery symbolism AND misogynistic, very edgelord indeed! And people wonder why so many people later fell for the Trump routine...

GO3 Thu, 05/21/2026 - 11:00

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

There's 4 votes in this country, Republicans, Democrats, 3rd parties and no vote. They all have consequences and I understand that in the past anarchists have abstained from voting. If it's done as a public display like burning your draft card or your voter registration card I think it might be useful as propaganda. As bad as the Democrats are I think we would be better off right now with her instead of HIM.

anonymous (not verified) Sun, 05/24/2026 - 15:49

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

"this is what anarchists are talking about?"

But of course not! Anarchists shouldn't care about civil rights of Black people being nullified by White racist creepy statesmen. Since it's about ELECTORAL politics you're not supposed to care. SHUT UP and bow down to MAGA, anarchist!

CalvinSmith Mon, 05/25/2026 - 10:23

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

conversation: it's another "american discussion on race", the authors want me to be chasing around symbols of patriotism and history, reducing individuals to party lines and races, again, conflating the democratic party with black voters, conflating the republican party with racist white people, all "necessary" fictions...i'm so mad.

anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/21/2026 - 10:36

It is revealing that the authors of this call put the u.s. flag as a mere parenthetical to the confederate flag.

It is revealing that the continuous, unbroken, decades-long terrorism of every Black person killed or incarcerated or otherwise controlled by a cop with a u.s. flag patch on their uniform wasn't enough to motivate them to call for a popular, liberal-coalitionist attack on symbols of oppression, but some news about supreme court rulings was.

None of this is to say people shouldn't fuck up the Confederate Memorial Region of the United States, but that the political horizons of this particular call are unimpressive & so likely will be the motivations of at least some potential vandals.

Dirty South has published more interesting things in the recent past.

anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/21/2026 - 21:15

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Except the Confederate flag is quite literally the flag of White supremacy. That's the Confederacy the KKK have been seeking to bring back to life, partly through the use of this flag.

The claim that the US and Confederate flags amout to the same White supremacy is dogshit denial. While the Union has had racism issues (but also, where did the Civil Rights Act and the ao-called DEI policies come from?), the Confeds are 100% for bringing back American non-Whites to chattel slavery, or to Africa.

And, huh yea, huh... Fucking Lil Wayne. He who speaks for the entire population of Black people in the US. Riiite... Fake clown, and Trump lapdog.

anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2026 - 08:21

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

"but also, where did the Civil Rights Act and the ao-called DEI policies come from?"

It is revealing that you treat these acts as somehow counterpoints to, or "less" white supremacist (really, anti-Black, but obviously the distinction is irrelevant to you) than, neo-confederate politics.

Who does it benefit to claim that the flag which some (not all!) chattel slave states fought a 4-year war to defend is "quite literally the flag of White supremacy"—as if there's only one—but the flag under which Black people were legally enslaved under for 90 years is only representative of mere "racism issues"?

The answer is white liberals ("progressives") & anarchists who can't admit their racial politics are no different. A demographic that's long existed in this slaver-colony, but has only gained influence among wannabe radicals with the anarcho-liberal resurgence of the last few years.

Frost (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2026 - 10:31

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

"the Union has had racism issues"? You mean like the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Three-Fifths Compromise of the original Constitution? And the last but not least grievance in the Declaration of Independence about "merciless Indian Savages"? Just some small, slight issues, yeah, no biggie, you liberal nationalist moron.

anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2026 - 16:29

In reply to by Frost (not verified)

"You mean like the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Three-Fifths Compromise of the original Constitution? "

Yeaaa. And these clauses were nullified by 13th & 14th amendments. Fucking bravo you Rightard.

Frost (not verified) Sat, 05/23/2026 - 09:13

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Oh cool, I didn't realize that being forced to amend your Constitution by a slave rebellion and civil war retroactively makes the original Constitution non-racist. That's quite useful for white liberal Americans. Also hearing that Reconstruction went well, no problems with white supremacist vigilantes or the federal government being unwilling to stop them. When was the Declaration of Independence amended to nullify the anti-native sentiment? Anyone who opposes anti-black and anti-native racism must be right-wing. I am very intelligent.

anonymous (not verified) Sat, 05/23/2026 - 19:15

In reply to by Frost (not verified)

"Oh cool, I didn't realize that being forced to amend your Constitution by a slave rebellion and civil war retroactively makes the original Constitution non-racist."

Now what a fucking idiot...

YES, that previous Constitution was racist. The whole fucking point is that this old version no longer avails! It was amended several times. Which means "updated". So that former Constitution is void.

Frost (not verified) Sun, 05/24/2026 - 08:08

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Are you too fucking stupid to remember the original line that started this: "the Union has had racism issues"? The whole point was that it didn't just have some "issues", the original Constitution was outright racist, it entrenched slavery. The fact that this had to be later amended because it was so racist and people fought against it doesn't mean it originally just had some "issues." Nobody is confused about what "amended" or "updated" means. You're just another moronic liberal troll further polluting an already polluted anarchist site.

anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/21/2026 - 15:32

Waow already some dumb ass yankee doo dats in the comments here already. As an anarchist in the "U S" south, the SOP is and has been to fuck up confederate flags, monumenents, and any vehicle flying gadsden/back-the-blue/fascist shit for a long time now (they're like rolling loot-crates). If electoral nonsense is prompting fascists to look more fascist, yeah we should go ahead and target them at every opportunity. It's really fun, and it upsets the police and other boot swallowers. Sorry if there haven't been enough communiques and "reportbacks" published about every keyed truck, smashed window or bucket of paint. Maybe we'll all start filming it POV, We know you love to watch...

anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2026 - 08:28

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

The problem isn't that the "SOP" (yet another phrase showing how being an anarchist in the u.s. is more about conforming to anarcho-norms first & resisting being governed somewhere lower on the list) includes anti-confederate action. It's that it *doesn't* include anti-liberal, anti-colonizer, anti-society action.

CalvinSmith Fri, 05/22/2026 - 10:01

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Representative for many groups of people...i was only commenting on how the article is putting the entire southern black population in a box politically, which to me is racist.

And if you go around fucking up confederate flags, and you think it's good strategy to leave the U.S. flags alone because it's somehow less evil...then you are fucking dumbass, sorry.

anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2026 - 10:22

In reply to by CalvinSmith

US flags are "less evil" in the way that they are clearly less racist. You can't fool around pretending that the US and ConfedeRat flag are the same.

Is this strategy appealing to progressive liberals? Yea.

CalvinSmith Sat, 05/23/2026 - 12:04

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

dumb. Just because someone doesn't admit to being racist, does not mean they are not racist...so you think Christianity has nothing to do with the U.S. as a nation state, just because there's no cross on the flag? Part of the depressing and interesting thing about racism in the U.S., to me, is the fact that people tend to shape their own racists views based on the more popular ethics of the time. And FWIW, people in general are racist in different ways.

"You can't fool around pretending that the US and ConfedeRat flag are the same."

no, and you weren't reading very careful if you thought that's what i was doing. The confederate flag is/was the symbol of southern succession in the civil war. I feel overall this conversation is very much like talked to the those confederate flag supporters who say "the civil war was not about slavery". It wasn't ENTIRELY about slavery, but yes, THE PRIMARY DRIVER OF THE WAR WAS SLAVERY, MORONS.

but unlike the identity politicians, i do believe stupidity is not a permanent condition...you can fix it immediately! For some of you, it might take years of work to fix your stupid brains, but i believe each person can achieve this hopeful vision of the future.

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Sat, 05/23/2026 - 16:22

Calvin Smith does not distinguish between white fascists, who wave the U.S. flag *consciously* as a symbol of white supremacy, and other "Americans" who wave the flag as a symbol of democracy and freedom, which they think (wrongly!) the USA embodies.

This reminds me of a picture I once saw, shortly after 9/11, of two crowds of young men, each waving a flag at the other. One was a gang of white "Americans" who meant their flag-waving to signify nativism, super-patriotism, nationalism, and white supremacy. The other was a group of Muslims and supporters who meant their flag waving to signify freedom, justice, democracy, and inclusivity. Then they sang the national anthem together, apparently confused.

I am not saying that the Muslim youth and allies were "correct" to wave the flag and sing the anthem. But neither do I sneer at them. These are the people we anarchists are most likely to reach first. They have good values. Without our waving any flags other than the black or black-and-red ones, we are on the same side and want them to know it.

CalvinSmith Sun, 05/24/2026 - 08:56

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

This is another thing that needs to be addressed: people don't all wield flags for the exact same reasons. For example: can't you imagine some southern kid buying a confederate flag t-shirt because of the way it looks, or their parents giving them the t-shirt...and who would they be to reject it? Their parents payed for it either way.

Now, how do you think they're probably going to respond if some you come along and shames them for it? Do you think they're gonna be like, "Oh! This is a symbol of white supremacist slavery, i'll never wear this again!"...no...most likely they'll be on the defensive, "it's not hate! It's heritage!".

Some people who wield confederate flags are racists, and they wield the flag for that purpose primarily, but you would have to be drinkin' some very strong kool-aid to think the confederate flag means exactly the same thing culturally as it did during the civil war and the direct aftermath. As for me, i reject both the confederate flag and american flag as symbols of fascism, both have racist overtones...but that doesn't mean i confront people about their use of either one. Me not adorning myself is enough of a statement IMO, as much of a statement as i need to make.

anonymous (not verified) Sun, 05/24/2026 - 11:34

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

Well said because Wayne (as he often does) takes the mask off the reality that anarchist values are, for many, liberal european enlightenment values—just further extended than those of representative democrats.

Liberal state-nationalists who support slavery & colonialism are fundamentally good, though misguided. Conservative state-nationalists who support slavery & colonialism are enemies. People who aren't "already" anarchists & couldn't give a fuck about flag waving (in Wayne's world) don't exist, are irrelevant, are asterisks to be debated upon only after someone else brings them up.

anonymous (not verified) Sun, 05/24/2026 - 15:35

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

"Liberal state-nationalists who support slavery & colonialism"

Where? USA 250 years ago? Today the people who're supporting this stuff are the Far Right and other conservative authoritarians like MAGA and Islamists.

anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/25/2026 - 11:23

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Oh, you're one of those people who believes slavery & colonialism no longer exist & aren't facilitated by modern nation-states. Very, uh, anarchist? of you.

anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/25/2026 - 16:31

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Where did I say that? I only said you're wrong that the current trends are due to Elightement liberalism... where in fact it's retrograde authoritarian conservatives usually pushing for slavery and and colonization.

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Sun, 05/24/2026 - 16:27

Calvin points out, “People don’t all wield flags for the exact same reasons” ? How true, if platitudinous. Do you think that this contradicts my example of two groups (one racist and one for their own civil liberties) waving the American flag? I said the second group was closer to what we anarchists believe and probably easier for us to reach. Do you-all disagree? (I was not even discussing those waving a Confederate battle flag vs. those waving the U.S. flag, incidentally.) Why Calvin thinks I am for “shaming” anyone is beyond me.

Well Said writes I expose myself and all those supposed anarchists but really liberals, whose “anarchist values are, for many, liberal european enlightenment values—just further extended,,,,”

I suppose WS means my reference to demonstrators who believe in (internationalist) “freedom, justice, democracy, and inclusivity.” Apparently WS does not believe in such values. Perhaps they believe in tyranny, injustice, dictatorship, and exclusivity? I hang my head in shame for believing in freedom, democracy (self-management), justice, and inclusivity, which cannot be won without a revolution which overturns capitalism and its state (unlike the very many on this site who do not believe in a revolution by the working class and oppressed).Shame on me for agreeing with thousands of anarchists who have gone before us.

Other topics might be raised, such as the difference between bourgeois liberal democracy and fascism, or the value of trying to build a movement instead of being satisfied with the small number of existing anarchists and anti-fascists—but that would take too long.

anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/25/2026 - 09:17

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

Ok you already had your broken clock moment above, Wayne. Now back to business-as-usual BS. If there's a flag anarchists wave, it'd be the black flag. I don't see any reason why to *forcefully* include the Red, because "reasons".

"which cannot be won without a revolution which overturns capitalism and its state (unlike the very many on this site who do not believe in a revolution by the working class and oppressed)"

That's another place where you repeatedly fail, just like the Anarcho-Left for decades. And why is it in fact a reactionary position:

1- it cannot be won without an eventual mass revolution of the Working Class (which is not the same as a revolution of the oppressed, as far as the holy Working Class is taking an active part in this oppression... of the poor, the non-Whites, the migrants and other minorities).

2- so any attempts to create rupture with the capitalist *society* or to bypass it, in the HERE and NOW, is irrelevant or pointless.

3- then work work work toward the mass proletarian revolution... which'll happen in a few decades, if we're lucky enough or humanity hasn't vanished already (or got completely taken over by AI).

4- i.e. bow down, OBEY and collaborate with your fellow proletarian comrades so maybe maybe we'll get to organize the Rev at the weekend BBQ or the dive bar with full-body tattoo hipsters raised on The Walking Dead...

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Mon, 05/25/2026 - 15:00

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Anonymous OK You is unclear. So you are *not* for a goal of an eventual "revolution of the working class and all oppressed," as I put it. Are you then for "a revolution of the oppressed,...of the poor, the non-Whites, the migrants and other minorities..."? as you put it (including most of the world's working class, incidentally, or hadn't you noticed?).

Or do you seek to leave the state alone, to ignore it, and "to create rupture...to bypass it." This is the reformist approach of many anarchists (going back to Proudhon). Unfortunately the capitalist state is not likely to let the "oppressed, the poor," etc. take away their wealth and power by "bypassing it." Not without fierce confrontation and resistance. That the international oppressed and poor are workers gives them an advantage, since they can stop the economy from running or start it up in a new way.

anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/25/2026 - 19:39

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

I hate to break it to you... but your revolutionary subject is ugly. The Working Class are oppressing minority people, where even most of the "rich" wouldn't give a damn. But that's also how they're treating the poor that sleep under the overpass. That's why we have cops and petty bureaucrats like the HR despots, and the KKK as well, who're mostly working class types.

So until these bigoted people get better educated about the need to abolish the state and capitalism through a mass revolutionary movement, I'll prefer having my own revolution. As my life is short and you're still not giving us the trick to immortality, bruh.

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Wed, 05/27/2026 - 14:28

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

According to Anonymous 19:39, the "rich" (put in quotation marks for some reason) is not the enemy. The enemy is the (ugly) Working Class which oppresses the poor and "minority people" (you don't notice that the poor and most "minority people" are a large part of the working class). The working class needs to get educated about oppression (I agree here, except I would add that they need to also be educated about the nature of their own oppression). Meanwhile, for you, the goal of an eventual "mass revolutionary movement" is not to be fought for. Instead, you want your "own revolution." A logical conclusion.

In brief, you are not for an anarchist revolution, and not for building revolutionary anarchism as a popular movement. I think I can take criticism from such as you without distress!

anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/27/2026 - 19:38

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

You are not a revolutionary or an anarchist, Wayne. Not a revolutionary because you are seeing the revolution as a kind of political position, and not a human project that is alive and real, and that you are taking part into.

You are not anarchist as you have thrown anarchy under the bus in favor of national liberation bullshit, which carries no liberatory ideal for humans in general, but only for the partial liberal of some politically-defined groups from a larger, hostile political constituency. This has nothing of the oppression of refugees at the borders, including those who have been chased by the Ukrainian state and its many racist lapdogs to freeze into ponds on the border of Belarus and Poland.

Revelutionary anarchism does not and cannot support any national project, as defined by a state.

CalvinSmith Mon, 05/25/2026 - 16:41

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

don't you see that he's been doing this same crap now, for many years, on this website? Apparently the anarchist position is to back the U.S. military and NATO...and oppressed people's need a nationalism culture as a midway point to true revolutionary anarcho-socialism. Doh!

The real issue is that this site has no choice but to perpetuate idiotic characterizations, because that's what the mainstream news does anyways. At least @news doesn't publish shit like "how to remove the pubes from your anus" or "here's why nobody likes you"....or "you may be an emotional vampire if"...like you see on the internet constantly.

The problem with most free services is you do have to pay a price: you have to read infuriatingly stupid bullshit. Why the fuck is Wayne Price calling me in again? He clearly needs a great deal of control in conversations he has with "other anarchists"? I'm not going to read that crap. I have no advice for people struggling with this crap writing. It's fodder for satire and nothing else.

I'm down with "burn american and confederate flags", but only if they stay burnt, this kind of shit just recuperates the same dumb racism dynamics...even if the exact Jim Crow era won't ever be what it was before. "You can't step in the same river twice". If you want to be strategic iconoclast, the american flag has to go first, because that was the basis for the "rebel yell"...."we're rebels, we want slaves! We want slaves!", what a fucking joke!

And here's another thing i've learned: even when black rappers tried to "reclaim the confederate flag for their heritage", it often bit them in the ass later, and fucking Kanye West is a retarded colorblind activist.

anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/26/2026 - 06:48

In reply to by CalvinSmith

Yea, I see that he's being like a broken record most of the time, if not a "Left" troll. Problem is that he's fronting for a narrative that's still widespread in "anarchist" milieus starting with the bookfair/infoshop crowds, so due to this he's more than just some irrelevant schmuck. So it's worthy attacking this badly-outdated populist view, but let's not give too much importance to the guy.

I ain't the only one who needs a real job... but at least I admit it.

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Wed, 05/27/2026 - 14:40

In reply to by CalvinSmith

Calvin Smith is either unable or unwilling to answer my arguments on the topics raised by this discussion. So he leaps to previous debates over the Russian-Ukrainian war.

He summarizes my views in this way: "Apparently the anarchist position is to back the U.S. military and NATO...and oppressed people's need a nationalism culture as a midway point to true revolutionary anarcho-socialism."

The slightest reading of my views would show the falsity of this summary. It is more than a distortion, it is a lie.

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Sun, 05/24/2026 - 16:36

Should anarchists support the "right" to vote? Historically this was an issue for African-Americans and, separately, for women. Blacks right to vote is being attacked again, and some on the far-right have stated that women shouldn't be allowed to vote!

The issue is not simply that of voting. As a strategy, in the US, it means channeling popular movements into the Democratic Party and subordination to the state. But more is involved. Having the right to vote is being a full citizen, not a subject, being equal to every other adult citizen. Certainly anarchists should be for it, so long as we live in a bourgeois-democratic liberal-democracy.

But we expose the limitations of voting, and the fallacies of a strategy geared to putting in Democrats instead of Republicans. We have our own strategy , based on direct, self-action, by the masses of people.

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