Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 09:59:56 -0500 From: Chuck0 <chuck-AT-tao.ca> Subject: Re: Geov Parrish on anarchists Well, my opinion is that this is one of Geov's poorer pieces. I generally like his stuff, but he's just dead wrong on this one, like Michael Albert. Chuck0 KaZpar wrote: > > i agree with many of this persons perspectivies on the events in seattle - > and ideas > > how ever i find this to be "not a true anarchists" point of view ...... > as i believe there is no ideal anarchist , no rules - mould or form whatso > ever.. > > i find it too nit picky - shouldnt we be fighting a common enemy and > helping ourselfs along > > not dividing our selfs > > "these people are not true anarcists..." hmmmm > At 06:57 PM 12/8/99 -0800, you wrote: > >>From this week's Seattle Weekly: > > > >http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/9949/features-parrish.shtml > > > >- joshua h > > > >Anarchists, go home! > > > >BY GEOV PARRISH > > > >Hey, Eugene punks, stay away from my revolution. > > > >I KNOW THE FOLKS who transformed a remarkable, peaceful show of power > >against the WTO into a media-characterized "riot." At least some of the > >vandals and looters who took advantage of the cover of the most > >significant mass direct action in Seattle history were from the group of > >Eugene anarchists I went down and interviewed last summer. Their > >spokesperson, anarchist author and theoretician John Zerzan, and I have > >kept in touch since then; we were to meet during the WTO. We didn't. If > >we had, I would have spit in his face. Consider this the written > >equivalent, and I hope he reads it. > > > >An agreement was in place between the loosely knit group of West Coast > >anarchists that "organized" for the WTO and the Direct Action Network to > >respect the nonviolence code downtown during the day of November 30. I > >don't consider property destruction violent in and of itself--I consider > >property violent, actually--but that's beside the point. November 30th's > >shutdown of the WTO was designed as a protest that a broad cross section > >of our society could support--and that meant no property destruction. > > > >Obviously, our Eugene friends intentionally disrespected their agreement > >to abide by the protest's nonviolence code. That makes them liars, and > >it makes their word for any future political alliance less than > >meaningless. All sides calculated, correctly, that even the breaking of > >a few windows would overpower months' worth of organizing work and the > >concerted efforts of thousands of people in the media, and public, eye. > > > >The anarchists' enemy here was not the state, nor corporate America. > >Those windows cost a few bucks; the expenses will be picked up by > >insurance companies. The real damage was done to the integrity of an > >action that was successful enough to shut down the most powerful > >organization on earth. That reality was lost in the overreaction to > >property damage. However unfairly, and to whatever degree it exposes an > >ugly truth--to most people, it doesn't--America cares more about > >property than it does about democracy in action. The Eugene anarchists' > >actions were a calculated attack not on the corporate state, but on the > >resistance to it. > > > >For 25 years, I have considered myself an anarchist. I believe in the > >power of self-government because it speaks to the best in people, > >because it is the only practical path to a nonexploitative world, and > >because mutual aid kicks ass. The direct action that shut down the WTO > >was the genuine anarchism in action last Tuesday. The glass-breaking and > >graffiti was, however unwittingly, abetting the state. > > > >In the face of this attack, there were some heroes. One story I heard > >was of Peace Action's Fred Miller, who, along with his daughter, held up > >a banner to protect the windows of NikeTown against the predations of > >the anarchists' hammers. Fred wasn't protecting NikeTown--or more > > >accurately, their insurance company--he was protecting the integrity of > >thousands of dissidents' hard work. Despite the efforts of Fred and the > >overwhelming majority of protesters who deplored the vandalism, a few > >thugs carried the day. In the future, in our trainings and preparations > >for such actions, we will unfortunately have to learn to do more of > >that. We will have to learn to protect ourselves and our actions from > >being hijacked by small gangs of cowards who won't take risks and can't > >organize their own revolution, and so find themselves--much like the > >sectarian left they despise--using other peoples' work for their > >purposes. > > > >It's bad enough having to confront the awesome power of the police > >state. That was brought down in nearly full ugly force for the rest of > >the week not because of the vandalism, which largely hadn't happened > >when the first tear gas flew at 6th and Union at 10:05am, but because > >thousands were nonviolently effective. But the public approved of police > >tactics--pepper-spraying people on the ground, shooting fleeing > >protesters in the back with rubber bullets, and denying constitutional > >rights to freedoms of speech and assembly--thanks to our "anarchist" > >enemies. That was the true violence of the week, not the shattered > >glass. > > > >Let's be clear. These aren't anarchists, and they are certainly not > >interested in building their movement. True anarchists--as with the > >Seattle General Strike of 1919--work through mutual aid, not through > >taking their most likely compatriots, some of whom also self-identify as > >anarchists, and kicking them in the teeth. That's the state's job, and > >the Eugene clique helped out admirably. A few minutes of glass-breaking > >was far more effective than months of police infiltration would have > >been--sad, but true. Now, the question is: How do we deal with it in the > >future? > > > >Possibly the most significant mass action I'll ever see was a lot less > >effective in its global message than it could have been thanks to a few > >dozen people. The revolution we are trying to create didn't and doesn't > >need these parasites. It's not the property destruction we resent--it's > >the deliberate sabotage of our work. To John Zerzan, Brenton Gicker, all > >you other little punks in the Eugene clique, and their cohorts, fuck > >you. Fuck everything you stand for. And stay the fuck away from our > >revolution. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >Email this story to a > > > > >friend! >> > > > > > > >Send a Letter to the > > > > > >Editor about this > > > > >story. > > -- Chuck0 Mid-Atlantic Infoshop http://www.infoshop.org/ Leonard Peltier Freedom Month Executive Clemency For Peltier! http://www.freepeltier.org/lpfreedommonth.html Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Now! http://www.infoshop.org/gulag/mumia_idx.html "A society is a healthy society only to the degree that it exhibits anarchistic traits." - Jens Bjørneboe
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