We believe that the radical possibilities of total liberation from authority are far more transformative and intoxicating than any steps to a revolution as prescribed by any so-called revolutionary chairman. Take their stance on Arizona as an example, one of their demands “No more troops! Demilitarize the border!”, this is not only a conservative stance amongst revolutionaries, but it shows that once again the people are ahead of their revolutionary “leaders.” The RCP, like many on the left, are afraid to state the obvious, that millions of people have already disregarded the legitimacy of the border line, they have to move across it every day, regardless of the law. Further more, by solely opposing the militarization of the borderlands they join in a colonial tradition that attacks the indigenous people of these occupied lands, as tribes are indeed separated by the border wall. By holding the legitimacy of the state over those of the individuals and communities struggling to preserve their ways of life, the RCP become de facto ideological enforcers of the border.

— The “Revolution” we really, really DON’T Need…

in these situations, there is only so much futility a person can take before their rage can get the best of them and a burning cop car or a smashed bank window starts to look pretty appealing. yes, these are futile acts, but what do we expect people to do when they are treated like shit and the justice system does nothing to intervene on their behalf?
sure, ideally we could all rise above it and aim for a perfect, superhuman state of restraint. sure. and yes, ideally i too would prefer the demonstrations were strictly peaceful (for strategic reasons mainly) and that other, more polarizing means of demonstration and protest and disruption occurred outside of these public gatherings (where they would be more effective).

— Cop Car Burned! All Criticisms of Global Capitalism Rendered Moot!

Immediately posted to my Facebook page, naturally.

— anon commenting on Facebook: between commodification and representation

Holding each other accountable also means getting used to letting each other know- in a comradely way- when commitments and obligations aren’t being fulfilled. This is a practice that must be built through an organizational culture where comradely honesty and constructive criticism replaces competitive and individualistic passive-aggressiveness or talking behind people’s backs. The flip side of giving comradely feedback is learning how to receive it, using it to help you and your organization grow and becoming more self-disciplined. This is difficult sometimes since the vast majority of the times we’re being called to task for something, it is coming from top-down relations; but the practice of holding others accountable and being held accountable is fundamental to learn, practice and promote if we want to destroy and replace these top-down relations with horizontal and egalitarian relations. And of course, ideally these practices would increase self-discipline in carrying out tasks that group members commit to. When holding each other accountable it’s important to come from a place of love and respect that avoids being patronizing, competitive, egotistical or dishonest in any way. And when being held accountable it’s similarly important to cultivate an appreciation for comradely criticism and renew our commitment to self-discipline. However, that doesn’t mean we should allow our dignity to be trampled on or ourselves to be disrespected. When criticism isn’t comradely, we should defend ourselves and demand respect as an equal even when we’ve failed to fulfill our obligations. But it is essential that comradely anarchist accountability and self-discipline as a practice needs to be developed, encouraged and cultivated within our organizations. Without self-discipline and horizontal accountability, groups revert back to dominating and oppressive top-down relations and/or involve stagnation, demoralization and ineffectiveness.

— Anarchist Accountability

Interestingly enough, it seems like a large part of the reason that makes it so difficult for a disruptive response to occur is, paradoxically, the history of revolt in Detroit. In Detroit, working class conflict has entirely reconfigured the urban landscape. The riots of the 1960s were a catalyst for white flight and the subsequent loss of business investment and decline in home equity. The factory struggles of the following decade were followed by years of deindustrialization and unemployment, as factories moved to areas that lacked dedicated and confrontational workplace movements. In short, Capital responded to the popular struggles of the past decades by transforming Detroit into a desolate landscape of empty streets and abandoned buildings. In this environment it is difficult to imagine many places for people to spontaneously congregate, because people are spread so far apart, separated by blocks and blocks of vacant lots and foreclosed homes.

— Detroit, Do You Mind Dying?

It lets me know that the individual(s) that have done this have too much free time. They aren’t involved in the community and it lets me know one of two things: 1. that just some kids have come through and did it or 2. that they are individuals that actually support this group that want to scare tactic me and so on to try and get us from the viewpoints that we hold that or and (sic) they just don’t like anybody that’s against it. I really don’t know,

—

Pastor Joe Gutierrez of the Church on Fire, quoted in Bash Back! Strikes queer-hating church — Fort Wayne, IN

Seriously, “someone must have a lot of free time” as a way of minimizing someone else’s opinion/action is so obnoxious. And so what? Why is the idea of having free time such an insult anyway? I wish I made better use of my free time, and had more of it.

Burning condos may slow the progression of gentrification, but (though it may be extremist and exciting), it will not STOP it. Moving out of a neighborhood that’s being gentrified is akin to social change through “lowering your carbon footprint” (expensive lightbulbs, shorter showers). Personal action does little but wipe away white guilt (although, personal action for self, such as healing, can go a long way in friendships). It also allows us to remain dishonest with ourselves about how close we are to anything different. Why stop at moving to another gentrified neighborhood when there is so much else you could feel self-important and in the right about? Even if you were never born, these communities would still undergo gentrification and it would be happening at the same rate.
If an insurrection happens it won’t be brought about by us, and if it is we are sure to crush it ourselves. In our impotence of fighting and the rarity of even negligible positive changes, we attack each other and/or ourselves. We are our own cannon fodders.
The life we are handed is our inheritance and includes ten thousand years of destruction and appropriation. For me, it is like being born into a family that I never wanted. We witness millions of crises that avert the final crisis. Civilization changes and adapts, absorbing all as potential sources of growth, and finds places to divert its destruction. We inherit an amalgamation of the ideologies that have sprung forth through time. Which, to me, means we should be critical of even the politics and actions we have been handed. Many anarchist beliefs and actions seem extremely Christian to me. One ponders the situation and disposes of certain parts but keeps others, in the same way Marx accepted industrialization. I’m not saying that we should throw out everything, but we should think critically about everything, including ourselves. This doesn’t mean waiting and watching for fuck ups, but thinking critically and reflecting on our experiences.

— Dear Chicago Inquisitors…

Adequate medical care has been a constant concern of anti-primitivists. They have decided that a desire to scale back the intrusion of industrial medicine equals sentencing thousands—if not millions—of people to death, either from lack of any medical care, from starvation, or both. In terms of the medical issue, who are the people whose lives would be in jeopardy in an anarcho-primitivist future? People in renal failure without access to dialysis? People who have to be fed through gastric tubes? People who can’t breathe without being attached to ventilators? Those who are dependent on other interventionist medical procedures like organ transplants? What about the nearly two-hundred thousand who die annually through misdiagnosis, incorrect drug therapy; through negligence or by accident in hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing homes (etc); from botched operations and/or exposure to contagious pathogens? Is there really no decent anarchist critique of the pharmaceutical-industrial complex, with its reliance on LD-50 protocols, animal experimentation, a plethora of injurious or deadly so-called side effects and other unintended results?
It is implied by anti-primitivist anarchists that infections (acne and sepsis?) are inevitably and invariably fatal—an annoyingly typical canard. Those who make this allegation have no understanding of healing techniques among non-civilized humans or the continual use of plant medicines by rural and urban dwellers, not to mention the documented 4000 year-old history of Traditional Asian Medicine. Studies of ethnobotanists and anthropologists overflow with examples of the long-standing use of plant medicines to treat everything from headaches and insomnia to hemorrhages and, yes, infections. Archaeologists have found skeletal remains of early humans who’ve clearly been seriously injured and who survived for years after.
Anti-primitivists who fear life-threatening medical issues also have no comprehension of the history and practice of allopathy—mislabeled Western Medicine by those who share the assumptions of Euro-American colonialism. Aside from being a relatively recent innovation, allopathy as a healing modality allopathy derives many of its successes specifically from military medicine, especially in trauma care. Allopaths tend to be authoritarian, basing their ameliorative treatments on perhaps the strictest division of labor of modern civilization, that between healer and patient. Allopathy is expansionist; its practitioners and protectors continually strive to supplant and/or suppress all other healing modalities. And it is infantilizing; patients are removed from the knowledge and ability to decide upon the course of their own treatments. Allopaths are certainly successful; thousands of their patients are healed, and lives are extended. But is the quantity of those extra years, months, and days in various kinds of debilitating treatments (like chemotherapy or dialysis among others) comparable to the quality of an unalienated, unmediated life—however short(er)? Health concerns seem paramount to most anti-primitivist anarchists, yet there also seems to be no concurrent analysis of the mainstream medical establishment and its inherent and attendant institutions of social control.
By way of contrast, Native American, African, Asian (Traditional and non-traditional), and European herbal healing has a much longer tradition, and is based on empirical progress through trial and error of both practitioners and those with ailments. Probably beginning with observing other animals in their environs, humans have had an extensive plant-based pharmacopeia for almost as long as we have been around as an identifiable species—and some paleo-anthropologists argue that the use of medicinal foods, like the use of fire, has been an integral part of hominid prehistory.

—

Why I Am Not An Anti Primitivist

While there are certainly many horrible things about biomedicine, it seems really exotifying to assume that all of these other medical systems are equally efficacious with none of the downsides. All medicines/biologies have upsides and downsides.

But then, the author would probably classify me as anti-primitivist (i mean, just start with the name on the list of problems) anyway, so obv I would find fault in this reasoning.

So, Glenn, we’re guessing that’s why you’re so afraid of us. We don’t fit neatly into your black-and-white formula. You simply borrow some of the best ideas from our 150-year-old anti-authoritarian tradition. We take those same ideas and not only run with them, but improve on them. We follow the logic to its ethical conclusion. And we include corporate media moguls like you in our Hall of Infamy.
But we’re reasonable folk. We understand that you find it scary to think about what will happen when ordinary people realize that they actually have the power to make their own decisions and take control of their own lives. So, here’s what we suggest:
Just admit you’re afraid of us. Admit that your passionate and convoluted rants are a nervous dance around your inability to support real freedom (anarchism) over unbridled power (Communism and capitalism). And then use your massive wealth and power for the forces of good.

—

An Open Letter to Glenn Beck [via]

THIS IS SO GOOD..

We also recognized that at the heart of the conservative reactionary wing of even the anti-immigrant front is a pretension to libertarian, constitutionalist values. Values that are almost never lived up to when they come in conflict with whiteness. So, we said to libertarians: will you defend your rhetoric or your whiteness? Will you stand up against fascism or find yourself in the camp of the NSM? If you stand today against fascism we will stand along side you. It’s important to note here that such calls were not disingenuous. We meant it.

—

High Noon is Too Late for Tea: Seeking Ways to Engage and Oppose the Tea Party Movement

I’m still pretty enamored with the Phoenix Class War Council/Fires Never Extinguished. Makes me wish I could have engaged with them when I was in AZ. Increases my interest in going back to the desert.