Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
Willem Van Spronsen: intentional death of an anarchist
Far from being impulsive or incoherent, the anarchist’s extreme political beliefs are sadly consistent with extreme times, writes ALEXANDER NORTON
artwork by Miles Ellingham

ONE THING is for certain — William Van Spronsen, the 69-year-old with a life-long hatred of fascism, expected to die.

His plan appears to have been to burn as many buses as possible in the car park across the road from Northwest Detention Centre in Tacoma, which are used to take detained migrants to the airport for deportation.

Although extremely risky in a country where you can be shot by police during a routine traffic stop, torching vehicles with incendiary devices is not obviously a kamikaze mission.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Female racing driver Aseel al-Hamad celebrates the end of the ban on women drivers in 2018 with a lap of honour in a sports car. Photo: JaguarMENA/ Creative Commons
Women's Rights / 25 November 2025
25 November 2025

As Saudi Arabia is hailed abroad for its ‘reforms,’ the reality for women inside the kingdom grows ever more repressive. On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, MARYAM ALDOSSARI argues it is time to stop applauding the illusion – and start listening to the women the state works hardest to silence

Press cuttings of the Angry Brigade, 1973
History / 18 October 2025
18 October 2025

With the recent release of Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie One Battle After Another, STEPHEN ARNELL gives the storied history of the British real-life left-wing urban guerillas

DEFIANT: Mexican
President Claudia
Sheinbaum
Features / 10 March 2025
10 March 2025
With trade wars backfiring, allies resisting military demands, and approval ratings plummeting, Trump’s dangerous pursuit of colonial ambitions threatens to end the ‘American century’ with catastrophic conflict, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE
PAST AND
PRESENT: Jimmy
Carter (right) and
Donald Trump
Features / 6 January 2025
6 January 2025
With a struggling economy, the US is facing a hard choice between ‘guns or butter.’ MEDEA BENJAMIN and NICHOLAS JS DAVIES see the signs that the incoming president will opt for the former