Documentary Stream
Human Resources explores the rise of mechanistic philosophy and the exploitation of human beings under modern hierarchical systems. Topics covered include behaviorism, scientific management, work-place democracy, schooling, frustration-aggression hypothesis and human experimentation.
Sources:
Anarcho -- Anti-Capitalism or State Capitalism?
Beissinger, Mark R. -- Scientific Management, socialist discipline and Soviet power
Chang, Iris -- the Rape of Nanking
Cockburn, Alex and St. Claire, Jeffrey -- Whiteout: The CIA, drugs and the press
Gatto, John Taylor -- The Underground History of American Education; Dumbing Us Down
Goliszek, Andrew -- In the name of science
Klein, Naomi -- The Shock Doctrine
Kohn, Alfie -- What does it mean to be well-educated?; No contest: the case against competition
Lemov, Rebecca -- World as Laboratory: Experiments with mice, mazes and men
Noble, David -- Forces of Production: a social history of industrial automation
Ritzer, George -- The McDonaldization of Society
Shepherd, Harold & Herrick, Neil -- Where Have All the Robots Gone?
Smith, Sharon -- Subterranean Fire: A History of working class radicalism
Szulc, Tad -- The CIA's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
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Showing posts with label Anarchism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anarchism. Show all posts
Taylor Sparrow: Thinking More Than The State Allows -- Radical Politics In These Troublingly Quiet Times
Thinking More Than The State Allows: Radical Politics In These Troublingly Quiet Times
by Taylor Sparrow
People of Color Organize!
What is in a life?
How can a life be understood, as you continue to make meaning along the way?
Stories. Hints. Scraps.
Little bits of evidence that lead in possible directions.
Our lives are made up of all the choices that we make, or do not make. Choices made visible, but not chosen. Choices made, but not understood, or not re-evaluated later, or regretted and carried like a weight.
The work of studying history is – whatever else historians might claim — quite simply the study of human choices. We learn from other people’s life choices so that we can choose how to live.
Our lives are quite messy, and perhaps even more so if we are living in opposition to an established order, against armies and ideas that try and constrain us. We do not really live our lives ‘in order,’ so the attempt to make a clean chronology from the outside is futile and pointless. We live our lives more in the form of a collage — or multiple collages layered on top of each other — rather than in a simple linear progression from birth to death. We are constantly connected to ideas and people and places and memories and dreams and plans, in an endless web that has a coherent logic only if enough of the connecting threads are visible at once.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
by Taylor Sparrow
People of Color Organize!
What is in a life?
How can a life be understood, as you continue to make meaning along the way?
Stories. Hints. Scraps.
Little bits of evidence that lead in possible directions.
Our lives are made up of all the choices that we make, or do not make. Choices made visible, but not chosen. Choices made, but not understood, or not re-evaluated later, or regretted and carried like a weight.
The work of studying history is – whatever else historians might claim — quite simply the study of human choices. We learn from other people’s life choices so that we can choose how to live.
Our lives are quite messy, and perhaps even more so if we are living in opposition to an established order, against armies and ideas that try and constrain us. We do not really live our lives ‘in order,’ so the attempt to make a clean chronology from the outside is futile and pointless. We live our lives more in the form of a collage — or multiple collages layered on top of each other — rather than in a simple linear progression from birth to death. We are constantly connected to ideas and people and places and memories and dreams and plans, in an endless web that has a coherent logic only if enough of the connecting threads are visible at once.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
Labels:
Anarchism,
Autobiography,
Framing,
History,
Meaning,
Memory,
Narrative,
Race,
Radicals,
Resistance,
State,
Taylor Sparrow,
Thinking,
Time
Protestors Breakdancing In Wisconsin State Capitol Building
Emma Goldman in her 1931 autobiography Living My Life:
At the dances I was one of the most untiring and gayest. One evening a cousin of Sasha [Alexander Berkman], a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he were about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway. It was undignified for one who was on the way to become a force in the anarchist movement. My frivolity would only hurt the Cause.
I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business, I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement should not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everyboy's right to beautiful, radiant things." Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world--prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own comrades I would live my beautiful ideal.
[Living My Life (New York: Knopf, 1934), p. 56]
Labels:
Anarchism,
Autobiography,
Dance,
Emma Goldman,
Protests,
Public Employees,
Quotes,
Social Movements,
Video,
Wisconsin
Anarchism: Peace and Confict Studies Archive
AK Press [Oakland, CA: "AK Press is a worker-run collective that publishes and distributes radical books, visual and audio media, and other mind-altering material. We're small: a dozen people who work long hours for short money, because we believe in what we do. We're anarchists, which is reflected both in the books we provide and in the way we organize our business. Decisions at AK Press are made collectively, from what we publish, to what we distribute and how we structure our labor. All the work, from sweeping floors to answering phones, is shared. When the telemarketers call and ask, "who's in charge?" the answer is: everyone. Our goal isn't profit (although we do have to pay the rent). Our goal is supplying radical words and images to as many people as possible. The books and other media we distribute are published by independent presses, not the corporate giants. We make them widely available to help you make positive (or, hell, revolutionary) changes in the world. As you probably know, the stuff we carry is less and less available from the corporate publishers and their chain stores."]
Anarkismo ["Anarkismo.net is the product of international co-operation between anarchist organizations and individuals ... . It is intended to further communication, discussion and debate within the global anarchist movement. Our intention is to build this site into a resource that is truly global and multilingual. ... Anarchism will be created by the class struggle between the vast majority of society (the working class) and the tiny minority that currently rule. A successful revolution will require that anarchist ideas become the leading ideas within the working class. This will not happen spontaneously. Our role is to make anarchist ideas the leading ideas or, as it is sometimes expressed, to become a "leadership of ideas". A major focus of our activity is our work within the economic organizations of the working class (labour organizations, trade unions, syndicates) where this is a possibility. We therefore reject views that dismiss activity in the unions because as members of the working class it is only natural that we should also be members of these mass organizations. Within them we fight for the democratic structures typical of anarcho-syndicalist unions like the 1930's CNT. However, the unions no matter how revolutionary cannot replace the need for anarchist political organisation(s). We also see it as vital to work in struggles that happen outside the unions and the workplace. These include struggles against particular oppressions, imperialism and indeed the struggles of the working class for a decent place and environment in which to live. Our general approach to these, like our approach to the unions, is to involve ourselves with mass movements and within these movements, in order to promote anarchist methods of organisation involving direct democracy and direct action. We actively oppose all manifestations of prejudice within the workers' movement and society in general and we work alongside those struggling against racism, sexism, [religious] sectarianism and homophobia as a priority. We see the success of a revolution and the successful elimination of these oppressions after the revolution being determined by the building of such struggles in the pre-revolutionary period. The methods of struggle that we promote are a preparation for the running of society along anarchist and communist lines after the revolution. We oppose imperialism but put forward anarchism as an alternative goal to nationalism. We defend grassroots anti-imperialist movements while arguing for an anarchist rather than nationalist strategy. We recognise a need for anarchist organisations who agree with these principles to federate on an international basis. However, we believe the degree of federation possible and the amount of effort put into it must be determined by success at building national or regional organisations capable of making such international work a reality, rather than a matter of slogans."]
Another World is Possible (Boston, MA: Anarchist podcast that focuses on collective resistance and social justice issues.)
"The Art of Politics: A Primer for Community Self-Defense." Rolling Thunder #1 (Summer 2005)
The Authority Smashing! Hour ["The Authority Smashing! Hour is a daily anarchist radio show hosted by a group of AUTHORITY SMASHERS"]
Chomsky, Noam. "Activism, Anarchism and Power." Conversations with History (March 2002)
---. "Anarchism." (1976 interview with Peter Jay posted on YouTube)
The Coming Insurrection Another World is Possible (Originally Published December 2008: this is a 4 part audio version available online).
Cornell, Andrew. "Anarchism and the Movement for a New Society: Direct Action and Prefigurative Community in the 1970s and 80s." Institute for Anarchist Studies (2009)
Crass: There Is No Authority But Yourself (Netherlands: Alexander Oey, 2006: 70 mins)
CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective ["Greetings, dissident. History is not something that happens to people—it is the activity of people. In every moment, in every decision and gesture, we make our culture, our life stories, our world, whether we take responsibility for this ourselves or ascribe this power to executives, politicians, pop stars, economic systems, or deities. In a society which glorifies their power and our passivity, all thought which challenges this passivity is thoughtcrime. Crimethink is the transgression without which freedom and self-determination are impossible—it is the skeleton key that unlocks the prisons of our age. CrimethInc. is the black market where we trade in this precious contraband. Here, the secret worlds of shoplifters, rioters, dropouts, deserters, adulterers, vandals, daydreamers—that is to say, of all of us, in those moments when, wanting more, we indulge in little revolts—converge to form gateways to new worlds where theft, cheating, warfare, boredom, and so on are simply obsolete. This webpage is one of many manifestations of the underground network through which we work to realize these daydreams, to take the reins of our lives and make our history rather than using the same energy to insist we are being made by it. If you have illicit ideas and intentions of your own to share, you're invited to join us here."]
Crow, Scott and Mike German. "FBI to Expand Domestic Surveillance Powers As Details Emerge of Its Spy Campaign Targeting Activists." Democracy Now (June 14, 2011)
"Fighting in the New Terrain: What's Changed Since the 20th Century." CrimethInc. (2010)
Green, James. "Death in the Haymarket." We Are Many (June 17, 2010)
"History of the Paris Commune." Marxists Internet Archive (Archive)
Human Resources: Social Engineering in the 20th Century (USA: Scott Noble, 2011: 119 mins)
Institute for Anarchist Studies ["Anarchism emerged out of the socialist movement as a distinct politics in the nineteenth century. It asserted that it is necessary and possible to overthrow coercive and exploitative social relationships, and replace them with egalitarian, self-managed, and cooperative social forms. Anarchism thus gave new depth to the long struggle for freedom. The primary concern of the classical anarchists was opposition to the state and capitalism. This was complemented by a politics of voluntarily association, mutual aid, and decentralization. Since the turn of the twentieth century and especially the 1960s, the anarchist critique has widened into a more generalized condemnation of domination and hierarchy. This has made it possible to understand and challenge a variety of social relationships -- such as patriarchy, racism, and the devastation of nature, to mention a few -- while confronting political and economic hierarchies. Given this, the ideal of a free society expanded to include sexual liberation, cultural diversity, and ecological harmony, as well as directly democratic institutions. Anarchism's great refusal of all forms of domination renders it historically flexible, politically comprehensive, and consistently critical -- as evidenced by its resurgence in today's global anticapitalist movement. Still, anarchism has yet to acquire the rigor and complexity needed to comprehend and transform the present. The Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS), a nonprofit foundation established in 1996 to support the development of anarchism, is a grant-giving organization for radical writers and translators worldwide. To date, we have funded some sixty projects by authors from countries around the world, including Argentina, Lebanon, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Nigeria, Germany, South Africa, and the United States. We also publish the online journal Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, organize the annual Renewing the Anarchist Tradition conference, and offer the Mutual Aid Speakers List. The IAS is part of a larger movement to radically transform society as well. We are internally democratic and work in solidarity with people around the globe who share our values."]
Katsiaficas, George. The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life. (AK Press, 2006)
Manufacturing Consent (USA: March Achbar and Peter Wintonick, 1992)
Moynihan, Colin and Scott Shane. "For Anarchist, Details of Life as F.B.I. Target." The New York Times (May 29, 2011)
NEFAC [Northeastern Federation of Anarchist Communists: "NEFAC unofficially began over the summer of 1999 as a loose network between English-speaking anarcho-communists from New England and French-speaking anarcho-communists from Quebec who shared a mutual dissatisfaction with the state of the anarchist movement on both sides of the border. In April 2000, NEFAC was officially launched at a conference in Boston, MA. The federation is organized around the "platformist" principles of theoretical coherence, tactical unity, collective responsibility and federalism. Our membership is composed of collectives, affinity groups and individuals throughout the region. Our activity (either directly through the federation, or autonomously through our participation within larger grassroots coalitions) has included work in the anti-globalization movement, anti-war activism, international solidarity, prisoner support, workplace and community organizing, anti-fascist struggles, and anti-poverty work. The purpose of the federation is to connect this local activity to a larger strategy of social revolution, and, ultimately, a vision of a libertarian communist future. NEFAC is a directly democratic and federalist organization. We are also a membership organization, with dues and certain obligations to one and other. We have a straightforward constitution and members are expected to abide by it. Major decisions are made at bi-annual conferences where every member has one vote and no one has any more say than anyone else. Smaller decisions in between conferences are made by a Federal Council, a delegate council composed of representatives from each NEFAC member collective (supporter collectives are entitled an indicative vote). All delegates are directly accountable to their respective collective. Open debate is encouraged; we have no party line or party bosses. We are organized in this way because we believe that the structure of our federation should reflect the kind of society we want to live in: democratic, participatory, accountable, and anti-authoritarian."]
Occupied London [From 2007: Eighteen years have passed since Fukuyama proclaimed the “End of History” and his arrogant statement never fails to deliver a good laugh. When did history end? It certainly did not go up in the flames coming out of the Parisian suburbs last year. It was not trampled under the feet of the Latin American populations rioting against president Bush’s visit to their continent last week. It did not disappear in the fields of the Chinese rural populations constantly uprising against their masters, nor did it collapse along with the twenty-four year old now evicted Ungdomshuset social Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark – an eviction only made possible after seven hundred youths were arrested, spectacularly marking the end to the country’s social consent model. How could history end? Capitalism’s contradictions, it’s very own integral accidents make for a promising future. We live in exciting times: gone are the depressingly quiet nineties, ours could truly be an era of resistance and revolt. And yet, for all his injudiciousness, Fukuyama can ostensibly gain hope by gazing at very specific parts of the globe and London would probably be one of his favourite places to do so. Non-abiding to the physics law that action brings reaction, our city is one of the most tightly controlled and repressed urban spaces in the world yet resistance seems to be scarce. But how did we even get here? The capital city of the Fallen British Empire knew only too well how to go down in style, just like the fallen empire itself: Timely retreat and careful absorption of colonised populations into the ‘homeland’ have made sure that exploding suburbs remain a spectacle to be seen just on the other side of the English Channel. Centuries of experience gained by colonial rule guaranteed that when the colonial process was to be internalised and applied to the homeland’s own populations and cities it would be done so at utmost perfection. Contemporary Britain boasts the most advanced and widely applied surveillance technology systems in the world; control encroaches all elements of the everyday lives of what seems to be a spectacularly apathetic population. Voices of Resistance from Occupied London was born some 10,000 km away from the British capital, in rural South Africa. One of the oddest things about London is how it is always easier to understand and interpret some of its most striking features from a safe distance. Indeed, the view of our city from afar dictated a need for a strong anarchist presence: If we can do London, we can do any place, we can do all places! …and most places are not even like London at all. Live here for too long and it becomes only too easy to forget that this condition is an exception, not the rule. Luckily, this is a fact constantly reminded to us by comrades and friends arriving and leaving the city in an endless flux, in turn comprising one of the city’s most promising features. One of the journal’s main aspirations is to use itself as a medium to facilitate the exchange of such experiences and ideas, galvanising links between us here and our friends and comrades ‘abroad’. In the process of interpreting what it is that represses us in the city we have sought and received the most welcome help of contributors not necessarily abiding to our own ideas and principles. This is an anarchist publication aspiring to offer space to all people from the wider spectrum of the antagonist social movement."
Price, Wayne. "The Ecological Crisis is an Economic Crisis; the Economic Crisis is an Ecological Crisis." NEFAC (July 8, 2010)
Revolution by the Book (AK Press Blog/Oakland, CA: "The purpose ... is to inform people about anarchist publishing in general and AK Press in particular. We will post interviews with AK authors, reviews of and excerpts from AK books, and reports on the events at AK. We will also post news about other anarchist publishers and booksellers, translations, interviews with activists behind other projects, and lists of relevant conferences. We will use video and audio whenever possible."]
"Sex Tips for Restless Youth." CrimethInc.
Slingshot [Berekely, CA: "Slingshot is a quarterly, independent, radical, newspaper published in the East Bay since 1988 by the Slingshot Collective. We also publish the annual Slingshot Organizer radical calendar planner. We are an all volunteer, non-profit, tax exempt project of the Long Haul. Editorial decisions about Slingshot are made by the collective, but not all articles reflect the opinions of all collective members (i.e. we have no "party line.") We welcome debate, constructive criticism and discussion."]
Anarkismo ["Anarkismo.net is the product of international co-operation between anarchist organizations and individuals ... . It is intended to further communication, discussion and debate within the global anarchist movement. Our intention is to build this site into a resource that is truly global and multilingual. ... Anarchism will be created by the class struggle between the vast majority of society (the working class) and the tiny minority that currently rule. A successful revolution will require that anarchist ideas become the leading ideas within the working class. This will not happen spontaneously. Our role is to make anarchist ideas the leading ideas or, as it is sometimes expressed, to become a "leadership of ideas". A major focus of our activity is our work within the economic organizations of the working class (labour organizations, trade unions, syndicates) where this is a possibility. We therefore reject views that dismiss activity in the unions because as members of the working class it is only natural that we should also be members of these mass organizations. Within them we fight for the democratic structures typical of anarcho-syndicalist unions like the 1930's CNT. However, the unions no matter how revolutionary cannot replace the need for anarchist political organisation(s). We also see it as vital to work in struggles that happen outside the unions and the workplace. These include struggles against particular oppressions, imperialism and indeed the struggles of the working class for a decent place and environment in which to live. Our general approach to these, like our approach to the unions, is to involve ourselves with mass movements and within these movements, in order to promote anarchist methods of organisation involving direct democracy and direct action. We actively oppose all manifestations of prejudice within the workers' movement and society in general and we work alongside those struggling against racism, sexism, [religious] sectarianism and homophobia as a priority. We see the success of a revolution and the successful elimination of these oppressions after the revolution being determined by the building of such struggles in the pre-revolutionary period. The methods of struggle that we promote are a preparation for the running of society along anarchist and communist lines after the revolution. We oppose imperialism but put forward anarchism as an alternative goal to nationalism. We defend grassroots anti-imperialist movements while arguing for an anarchist rather than nationalist strategy. We recognise a need for anarchist organisations who agree with these principles to federate on an international basis. However, we believe the degree of federation possible and the amount of effort put into it must be determined by success at building national or regional organisations capable of making such international work a reality, rather than a matter of slogans."]
Another World is Possible (Boston, MA: Anarchist podcast that focuses on collective resistance and social justice issues.)
"The Art of Politics: A Primer for Community Self-Defense." Rolling Thunder #1 (Summer 2005)
The Authority Smashing! Hour ["The Authority Smashing! Hour is a daily anarchist radio show hosted by a group of AUTHORITY SMASHERS"]
Chomsky, Noam. "Activism, Anarchism and Power." Conversations with History (March 2002)
---. "Anarchism." (1976 interview with Peter Jay posted on YouTube)
The Coming Insurrection Another World is Possible (Originally Published December 2008: this is a 4 part audio version available online).
Cornell, Andrew. "Anarchism and the Movement for a New Society: Direct Action and Prefigurative Community in the 1970s and 80s." Institute for Anarchist Studies (2009)
Crass: There Is No Authority But Yourself (Netherlands: Alexander Oey, 2006: 70 mins)
CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective ["Greetings, dissident. History is not something that happens to people—it is the activity of people. In every moment, in every decision and gesture, we make our culture, our life stories, our world, whether we take responsibility for this ourselves or ascribe this power to executives, politicians, pop stars, economic systems, or deities. In a society which glorifies their power and our passivity, all thought which challenges this passivity is thoughtcrime. Crimethink is the transgression without which freedom and self-determination are impossible—it is the skeleton key that unlocks the prisons of our age. CrimethInc. is the black market where we trade in this precious contraband. Here, the secret worlds of shoplifters, rioters, dropouts, deserters, adulterers, vandals, daydreamers—that is to say, of all of us, in those moments when, wanting more, we indulge in little revolts—converge to form gateways to new worlds where theft, cheating, warfare, boredom, and so on are simply obsolete. This webpage is one of many manifestations of the underground network through which we work to realize these daydreams, to take the reins of our lives and make our history rather than using the same energy to insist we are being made by it. If you have illicit ideas and intentions of your own to share, you're invited to join us here."]
Crow, Scott and Mike German. "FBI to Expand Domestic Surveillance Powers As Details Emerge of Its Spy Campaign Targeting Activists." Democracy Now (June 14, 2011)
"Fighting in the New Terrain: What's Changed Since the 20th Century." CrimethInc. (2010)
Green, James. "Death in the Haymarket." We Are Many (June 17, 2010)
"History of the Paris Commune." Marxists Internet Archive (Archive)
Human Resources: Social Engineering in the 20th Century (USA: Scott Noble, 2011: 119 mins)
Institute for Anarchist Studies ["Anarchism emerged out of the socialist movement as a distinct politics in the nineteenth century. It asserted that it is necessary and possible to overthrow coercive and exploitative social relationships, and replace them with egalitarian, self-managed, and cooperative social forms. Anarchism thus gave new depth to the long struggle for freedom. The primary concern of the classical anarchists was opposition to the state and capitalism. This was complemented by a politics of voluntarily association, mutual aid, and decentralization. Since the turn of the twentieth century and especially the 1960s, the anarchist critique has widened into a more generalized condemnation of domination and hierarchy. This has made it possible to understand and challenge a variety of social relationships -- such as patriarchy, racism, and the devastation of nature, to mention a few -- while confronting political and economic hierarchies. Given this, the ideal of a free society expanded to include sexual liberation, cultural diversity, and ecological harmony, as well as directly democratic institutions. Anarchism's great refusal of all forms of domination renders it historically flexible, politically comprehensive, and consistently critical -- as evidenced by its resurgence in today's global anticapitalist movement. Still, anarchism has yet to acquire the rigor and complexity needed to comprehend and transform the present. The Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS), a nonprofit foundation established in 1996 to support the development of anarchism, is a grant-giving organization for radical writers and translators worldwide. To date, we have funded some sixty projects by authors from countries around the world, including Argentina, Lebanon, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Nigeria, Germany, South Africa, and the United States. We also publish the online journal Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, organize the annual Renewing the Anarchist Tradition conference, and offer the Mutual Aid Speakers List. The IAS is part of a larger movement to radically transform society as well. We are internally democratic and work in solidarity with people around the globe who share our values."]
Katsiaficas, George. The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life. (AK Press, 2006)
Manufacturing Consent (USA: March Achbar and Peter Wintonick, 1992)
Moynihan, Colin and Scott Shane. "For Anarchist, Details of Life as F.B.I. Target." The New York Times (May 29, 2011)
NEFAC [Northeastern Federation of Anarchist Communists: "NEFAC unofficially began over the summer of 1999 as a loose network between English-speaking anarcho-communists from New England and French-speaking anarcho-communists from Quebec who shared a mutual dissatisfaction with the state of the anarchist movement on both sides of the border. In April 2000, NEFAC was officially launched at a conference in Boston, MA. The federation is organized around the "platformist" principles of theoretical coherence, tactical unity, collective responsibility and federalism. Our membership is composed of collectives, affinity groups and individuals throughout the region. Our activity (either directly through the federation, or autonomously through our participation within larger grassroots coalitions) has included work in the anti-globalization movement, anti-war activism, international solidarity, prisoner support, workplace and community organizing, anti-fascist struggles, and anti-poverty work. The purpose of the federation is to connect this local activity to a larger strategy of social revolution, and, ultimately, a vision of a libertarian communist future. NEFAC is a directly democratic and federalist organization. We are also a membership organization, with dues and certain obligations to one and other. We have a straightforward constitution and members are expected to abide by it. Major decisions are made at bi-annual conferences where every member has one vote and no one has any more say than anyone else. Smaller decisions in between conferences are made by a Federal Council, a delegate council composed of representatives from each NEFAC member collective (supporter collectives are entitled an indicative vote). All delegates are directly accountable to their respective collective. Open debate is encouraged; we have no party line or party bosses. We are organized in this way because we believe that the structure of our federation should reflect the kind of society we want to live in: democratic, participatory, accountable, and anti-authoritarian."]
Occupied London [From 2007: Eighteen years have passed since Fukuyama proclaimed the “End of History” and his arrogant statement never fails to deliver a good laugh. When did history end? It certainly did not go up in the flames coming out of the Parisian suburbs last year. It was not trampled under the feet of the Latin American populations rioting against president Bush’s visit to their continent last week. It did not disappear in the fields of the Chinese rural populations constantly uprising against their masters, nor did it collapse along with the twenty-four year old now evicted Ungdomshuset social Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark – an eviction only made possible after seven hundred youths were arrested, spectacularly marking the end to the country’s social consent model. How could history end? Capitalism’s contradictions, it’s very own integral accidents make for a promising future. We live in exciting times: gone are the depressingly quiet nineties, ours could truly be an era of resistance and revolt. And yet, for all his injudiciousness, Fukuyama can ostensibly gain hope by gazing at very specific parts of the globe and London would probably be one of his favourite places to do so. Non-abiding to the physics law that action brings reaction, our city is one of the most tightly controlled and repressed urban spaces in the world yet resistance seems to be scarce. But how did we even get here? The capital city of the Fallen British Empire knew only too well how to go down in style, just like the fallen empire itself: Timely retreat and careful absorption of colonised populations into the ‘homeland’ have made sure that exploding suburbs remain a spectacle to be seen just on the other side of the English Channel. Centuries of experience gained by colonial rule guaranteed that when the colonial process was to be internalised and applied to the homeland’s own populations and cities it would be done so at utmost perfection. Contemporary Britain boasts the most advanced and widely applied surveillance technology systems in the world; control encroaches all elements of the everyday lives of what seems to be a spectacularly apathetic population. Voices of Resistance from Occupied London was born some 10,000 km away from the British capital, in rural South Africa. One of the oddest things about London is how it is always easier to understand and interpret some of its most striking features from a safe distance. Indeed, the view of our city from afar dictated a need for a strong anarchist presence: If we can do London, we can do any place, we can do all places! …and most places are not even like London at all. Live here for too long and it becomes only too easy to forget that this condition is an exception, not the rule. Luckily, this is a fact constantly reminded to us by comrades and friends arriving and leaving the city in an endless flux, in turn comprising one of the city’s most promising features. One of the journal’s main aspirations is to use itself as a medium to facilitate the exchange of such experiences and ideas, galvanising links between us here and our friends and comrades ‘abroad’. In the process of interpreting what it is that represses us in the city we have sought and received the most welcome help of contributors not necessarily abiding to our own ideas and principles. This is an anarchist publication aspiring to offer space to all people from the wider spectrum of the antagonist social movement."
Price, Wayne. "The Ecological Crisis is an Economic Crisis; the Economic Crisis is an Ecological Crisis." NEFAC (July 8, 2010)
Revolution by the Book (AK Press Blog/Oakland, CA: "The purpose ... is to inform people about anarchist publishing in general and AK Press in particular. We will post interviews with AK authors, reviews of and excerpts from AK books, and reports on the events at AK. We will also post news about other anarchist publishers and booksellers, translations, interviews with activists behind other projects, and lists of relevant conferences. We will use video and audio whenever possible."]
"Sex Tips for Restless Youth." CrimethInc.
Slingshot [Berekely, CA: "Slingshot is a quarterly, independent, radical, newspaper published in the East Bay since 1988 by the Slingshot Collective. We also publish the annual Slingshot Organizer radical calendar planner. We are an all volunteer, non-profit, tax exempt project of the Long Haul. Editorial decisions about Slingshot are made by the collective, but not all articles reflect the opinions of all collective members (i.e. we have no "party line.") We welcome debate, constructive criticism and discussion."]
Labels:
Anarchism,
Archives,
Peace-Conflict
CrimethInc: Sex Tips for Restless Youth
Sex Tips for Restless Youth
CrimethInc.
Do you experience sexual problems? Do you have trouble getting aroused, or having sex that is fulfilling, or simply meeting the right partners to share that aspect of your life? Chances are you do—just have a look at the magazine rack in any grocery store, and it's clear from all the advice columns and feature articles just how sexually lost and frustrated modern men and women are. Unfortunately, these magazines only offer symptomatic treatment (otherwise, they wouldn't have to run the same articles over and over every month!), no real, radical solutions. And to date, few people have really dared to be open about their troubles, thanks to the social pressures to be "successful" in all affairs. So, in keeping with our general program of providing aid wherever it is needed, we offer some tips:
--Stop trying to make your sexuality serve in your efforts to be a good citizen (responsive lover, macho man, etc.)—it won't, it will just go on strike. Better to serve it, if serving must be done.
--Stop trying to make your sex life (or romance, or anything else, for that matter), by itself, provide you with qualities that should be intrinsic to every moment of your life. It is not the role of your sexuality to be your sole source of excitement, or intimacy, or pleasure—it is the role of sex to be just that, to be sex. If you feel trapped or insecure or bored everywhere else, you will probably have a hard time shaking off those feelings in bed.
--If your idea of seventh heaven is having perfect sex with a beautiful partner, dispel it. Heaven cannot be an isolated moment of life; it has to be a complete way of living, or else it will be just another barren myth to denigrate and impoverish the moments of our real experience. Better that we find ways to make every moment of life as exciting as great sex can be (and believe me, it can be done!), considering that we can't have sex all the time—such a thing would get boring, anyway, since living has so many facets we must not neglect! You can feel and share passion as deeply while building puppets for street demonstrations together, sneaking onto rooftops for late night conversations, or stowing away on ferryboats. Most people just haven't had the chance to be free and wild together anywhere outside the bedroom yet—and consequently, it hardly comes naturally between the sheets.
--Rescue your sexuality from the definitions and delineations slipped around it like a noose by external forces: the leering billboards and romantic comedies, the expectations of your friends and parents and paramours, the television programs and other social programming devices that would dictate desire and limit the erotic to the strictly sexual. The powers that be have everything at stake in keeping your sexuality emaciated and confined to the specific act of physical intercourse, to one routine and one partner and one ghettoized category, so you won't discover in it the freedom that you could be living around the clock, outside their control, beyond their target markets. But one step outside the lines, and the world is yours.
--And that means throwing out your pornography. Pornography isn't obscene because it's sexual, but because it's not—replace the representation with the real, in every instance, for maximum possibility. Masturbation is a beautiful thing, but don't let the pornography industry buy out your libido. A two-dimensional woman, no matter how trangressively posed, will do exactly what you command her and no more: that means she can never challenge you with her own needs or perspectives, never open new doors to you, never assert her selfhood. That refusal to be challenged is a rejection of the vast expanses of freedom that can only be reached with others. We should be wary of giving our fantasies such slaves to rule over, lest we learn to fetishize the violence of domination implied by such one-sided sex—and end up living in the sterile, determinist world of control mania. Do you want to explore, to reach unimaginable climaxes, to try out things you've never seen in movies? Do it with other people—they are out there. Let them know you're ready.
Sexuality as art—now there's a start. But more art "about" sexuality? It's doubtful that the world of images will ever belong to us again . . . that's just another diversion of our attention to that domain from this world, where we should be practicing doing, being, feeling with one another, not with the dangerous safety of an object. Make love and speak about your best kept secrets, your blackest needs, the demands the culture of fear places on your sexuality, held hostage as it is (never fear, you're not the only one who thinks you have things to hide—your secret's safe with all of us!) . . . We can get out of here, together, but first we have to be honest to figure out where the fuck we are!
To find indulgences that simultaneously satisfy and subvert our programmed, poisonous desires, and thus remake ourselves—that is the key.
Link to the Text
CrimethInc.
Do you experience sexual problems? Do you have trouble getting aroused, or having sex that is fulfilling, or simply meeting the right partners to share that aspect of your life? Chances are you do—just have a look at the magazine rack in any grocery store, and it's clear from all the advice columns and feature articles just how sexually lost and frustrated modern men and women are. Unfortunately, these magazines only offer symptomatic treatment (otherwise, they wouldn't have to run the same articles over and over every month!), no real, radical solutions. And to date, few people have really dared to be open about their troubles, thanks to the social pressures to be "successful" in all affairs. So, in keeping with our general program of providing aid wherever it is needed, we offer some tips:
--Stop trying to make your sexuality serve in your efforts to be a good citizen (responsive lover, macho man, etc.)—it won't, it will just go on strike. Better to serve it, if serving must be done.
--Stop trying to make your sex life (or romance, or anything else, for that matter), by itself, provide you with qualities that should be intrinsic to every moment of your life. It is not the role of your sexuality to be your sole source of excitement, or intimacy, or pleasure—it is the role of sex to be just that, to be sex. If you feel trapped or insecure or bored everywhere else, you will probably have a hard time shaking off those feelings in bed.
--If your idea of seventh heaven is having perfect sex with a beautiful partner, dispel it. Heaven cannot be an isolated moment of life; it has to be a complete way of living, or else it will be just another barren myth to denigrate and impoverish the moments of our real experience. Better that we find ways to make every moment of life as exciting as great sex can be (and believe me, it can be done!), considering that we can't have sex all the time—such a thing would get boring, anyway, since living has so many facets we must not neglect! You can feel and share passion as deeply while building puppets for street demonstrations together, sneaking onto rooftops for late night conversations, or stowing away on ferryboats. Most people just haven't had the chance to be free and wild together anywhere outside the bedroom yet—and consequently, it hardly comes naturally between the sheets.
--Rescue your sexuality from the definitions and delineations slipped around it like a noose by external forces: the leering billboards and romantic comedies, the expectations of your friends and parents and paramours, the television programs and other social programming devices that would dictate desire and limit the erotic to the strictly sexual. The powers that be have everything at stake in keeping your sexuality emaciated and confined to the specific act of physical intercourse, to one routine and one partner and one ghettoized category, so you won't discover in it the freedom that you could be living around the clock, outside their control, beyond their target markets. But one step outside the lines, and the world is yours.
--And that means throwing out your pornography. Pornography isn't obscene because it's sexual, but because it's not—replace the representation with the real, in every instance, for maximum possibility. Masturbation is a beautiful thing, but don't let the pornography industry buy out your libido. A two-dimensional woman, no matter how trangressively posed, will do exactly what you command her and no more: that means she can never challenge you with her own needs or perspectives, never open new doors to you, never assert her selfhood. That refusal to be challenged is a rejection of the vast expanses of freedom that can only be reached with others. We should be wary of giving our fantasies such slaves to rule over, lest we learn to fetishize the violence of domination implied by such one-sided sex—and end up living in the sterile, determinist world of control mania. Do you want to explore, to reach unimaginable climaxes, to try out things you've never seen in movies? Do it with other people—they are out there. Let them know you're ready.
Sexuality as art—now there's a start. But more art "about" sexuality? It's doubtful that the world of images will ever belong to us again . . . that's just another diversion of our attention to that domain from this world, where we should be practicing doing, being, feeling with one another, not with the dangerous safety of an object. Make love and speak about your best kept secrets, your blackest needs, the demands the culture of fear places on your sexuality, held hostage as it is (never fear, you're not the only one who thinks you have things to hide—your secret's safe with all of us!) . . . We can get out of here, together, but first we have to be honest to figure out where the fuck we are!
To find indulgences that simultaneously satisfy and subvert our programmed, poisonous desires, and thus remake ourselves—that is the key.
Link to the Text
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