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.
“Native Detroiters are literally ready to rip our door off the hinges,” said Lou Goldhaber, co-owner of the Chicago Leo’s Coney Island. “It’s a total built-in customer base.”
This is funny/sad. So many michiganders out of michigan! We should just all be at home.
Urban Landscape. Chicago, IL.
We back the Police State. Chicago, IL.
Swine Flu Fever. Chicago, IL.
![Division and Hoyne, Chicago, IL (see the rest of the mural here, here, and here.) [via]](http://29.media.tumblr.com/aPwPAzkM5ouk03heEfgkyRklo1_400.jpg)
Chicago, IL.
I’m certain that no other city in America attracts hipsters from the Netherlands and from Germany to soak up an electronic music festival, as we do. I’m also certain that no other city lures young, well-to-do, bored college students to live in its abandoned houses in search of authenticity. I admit that all Chicago does is attract everyone else from everywhere else.
Do we really care what those flyover snobs think? Actually, we do, which is why we hate New York, and why we are about to hate Chicago.
In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day’s work from and after May 1, 1886. The resolution called for a general strike to achieve the goal, since legislative methods had already failed. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly, despite the indifference and hostility of many union leaders. By April 1886, 250,000 workers were involved in the May Day movement.
The heart of the movement was in Chicago, organized primarily by the anarchist International Working People’s Association. Businesses and the state were terrified by the increasingly revolutionary character of the movement and prepared accordingly. [via]
Helter Skelter Chicago, IL
anthropophagous
Archive Audio Images RSS FeedThis is just a collection of things I think are neat.
A general overview of 'things I think are neat':abandonment/the post-industrial midwest, anarchism (syndicalism, insurrectionalism, etc), race/ethnicity (esp. defining/constructing the boundaries of whiteness), gender, class (talking/thinking about class generally seems to be an underrated activity), health care (access to, the experience of obtaining, etc), art, science fiction, punk music, conservative talk radio and anthropology (which probably incorporates almost everything else about people).
