Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 10:46:38 -0500
From: Chuck0 <chuck-AT-tao.ca>
Subject: Re: Sectarianism


Jamal Hannah x342446 wrote:

> Zero-work: Yeah, work sucks.. but the zero-work people like Bob Black end
> up being so fervently anti-work that they attack syndicalists and claim
> they are part of the problem. They basicaly become anti-worker, shunning
> interest in labor struggles and such. Also, it's simply not possible to
> live in a society and have zero-work. Things need to be done... especialy
> if you still want to use your computer on the Internet.

I'm a zeroworker and I belong to the IWW. So does Len Bracken, who's
another zeroworker. From what I've read, the syndicalists have certainly
spent alot of print bad-mouthing zerowork advocates, so I guess this is
a two-way street.

Which is good, since we don't want to be slavishly following any one
ideology.

> Lifestylism: This basicaly just means a person thinks that a personal
> lifestyle change is more important than some kind of social struggle. I'm
> sure the authorities are shaking in their boots when someone decides to
> live out in the woods... not.  Personaly lifestylists don't bother me
> much.. it's just those individuals who spend all their time attacking
> class struggle anarchists who are a pain in the ass.

See, Jamal's definition shows that "lifestylism" doesn't really exist in
the anarchist movement. He's talking about people who adopt the
trappings of something like vegetarianism, but who aren't political.
Being an anarchist means that you are, by definition, political. Those
of us who get labelled as "lifestylist" ARE interested in social
struggle, only our methodology is unacceptable to class war anarchists
whose primary activity is IWW meetings and making Bakunin pamphlets.

I'm interested in making society more anarchistic, not building the
anarchist movement per se. More often these days I think that the
anarchist "movement" is more of a hindrance than a help.

Shit, even the fucking "organised" anarchists can organize a damn thing.
Us lifestylists have to cook the dinners for them at their conferences
while they whine about how people aren't more organized.

> TAZ: A Temporary Autonomous Zone isnt going to do anything to fight
> capitalism or the state... and why call something a Perminant Autonomous
> Zone instead of, say, a commune, collective, union shop, or info-shop?
> It's just a silly catchphrase to sound cool or mysterious.

Jamal, you just don't get it. The TAZ isn't a program for social change,
it's a way of describing the natural desires of people to live without
the state and hierarchy. have you ever read any Fredy Perlman? TAZ might
make sense if you read some Perlman.

-- 
Chuck0

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