Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 22:54:30 +0200 (CEST)
From: Birgit Bock <birgit.bock-AT-student.uni-tuebingen.de>
Subject: Re: AUT: fun ... Re: Re: Re: IMHO, You Both Are Wrong (Chris & N&L)


Commie,
You are discribing the experience I was hoping to have last saturday in
SF.

On Fri, 5 Oct 2001, commie00 wrote:

> Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 02:02:52 -0400
> From: commie00 <commie00-AT-yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> To: aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> Subject: AUT: fun ... Re: Re: Re: IMHO, You Both Are Wrong (Chris & N&L)
>
> on the topic of fun, i just wanted to talk a little about what we just did
> in west virginny.
>
> starting yesterday at noon until today at 3.30 we staged a 27 hour "vigil"
> in front of the student union at the local university. and while, in many
> respects, it was fairly typical, the best part about it was getting to hang
> out with and get to know the people i work with. at no point did anyone say
> we should be more serious, in fact, the whole time, we were goofing off,
> eating and generally curousing.
>
> this had an incredibly positive effect on the people who came around to
> discuss issues and all...with everyone hanging out, anyone who had planned
> on being mean were quickly taken in, given some vegan pesto with bread and
> had a great time talking and goofing off with us. even the far-right wing
> (tho anti-racist) minister was laughing his arse off and being silly (as
> well as having a fruitful and interesting discussion with us).
>
> and while people may wish to insult this, and say its not serious political
> work, i promise you that the people who came by yesterday and today who were
> for the war left with a lot of food for thought that they might never had
> been open to if we'd not been fun.
>
> another positive aspect was that all the supporters who came by were not
> only relieved to find that they were not alone, but were also drawn into
> joyfully celebrating their dissent.
>
> the model we used for all of this might be understood as a "temporary
> autonomous zone", esp since it operated not only joyfully but consensually
> and with no sense of ownership (everything was shared). but there was no
> conscious effort to make it this, which is maybe why it was so successful.
>
> these kind of actions build off of other things we do, such as: eating
> together occasionally, just hanging out, not taking organizing meetings too
> seriously, etc.
>
> so, in a sense, i think i'm disagreeing with an aspect of what chris said:
> tho it is easy for groups to become insular, they don't have to be. part of
> the reason we were able to pull a lot of this off with such success was due
> to the affinity we all feel for one another and our conscious ability to
> bring "outsiders" in to enjoy the space and time.
>
> the problem, i think, arises when people see themselves as activists or
> militants and start, perhaps unconsciously, being vanguardist. instead its
> important to keep in mind that we're just people with ideas. and so is
> everyone else.
>
> might sound kinda silly or trite, but its just true. and until we can
> realize this and put it into practice... well, you know...
>
>
>
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