“Every year thousands of feelings disappear for lack of a concrete form. ||
Feelings demand living space.”
–ISODORE ISOU
Since last September, thousands of people across America have built communities that serve to address our collective needs and desires. The “Occupy Movement,” having brought an incredible number of people together, has provided a breeding ground for Anarchist and Communitarian thought and praxis by cultivating spaces in which the free exchange of ideas is encouraged.
Granted, we have our critiques of this “movement”–do we ever!—but we believe that Occupy constitutes a useful first step in developing a sustained anti-capitalist/anti-fascist project predicated on mutual aid and cooperation. There is definitely cause for celebration within Occupy—a move towards breaking down patterns of isolation, building a network of solidarity, hundreds of successful direct actions—it has never been more urgent to take the initiative to elaborate ever more effective tactics, to formulate a generalized critique of past efforts and methods of organization, and to discover new ways of pushing the movement forward.
We observe, within Occupy, a tendency to recuperate imagery from anarchist and popular struggles and inject them into a middle-class reformist agenda. We observe that class distinctions are dissolved in the slogan of the “99%”—with the bottom 43% only possessing less than 1% of the wealth—and that this sort of aesthetic allegiance, this false-solidarity, needs to be combated via constant discussion and intense critique. We stand in opposition to all the workerist rhetoric of job-creation and the privileging of “growth” and the “economy” over the planet and human life.
Our enemy is not simply the “1%”
but all those who stand in complacency with the subjugation of the the planet, global poor, people of color, women, and queer/trans folk of all orientations. We refuse to censor ourselves for fear of “dividing the movement,” having been told countless times that our calling-out of privilege/bias was fomenting alienation. Are enemies are those within the movement who have attempted to arrest us and turn us over to the police for petty vandalism.
We acknowledge that without an escalation of tactics, without an informed refinement of theory and praxis, without the momentum that Anarchists within Occupy have contributed, we risk relapsing into another period of stagnation wherein activist circles will drift back into isolated activism and the potential for a national network may be lost for years.
We are calling for an Anarchist Assembly and Anti-Summit during the National Gathering to provide a space for this elaboration and refinement to take place. The opening discussion will be centered around security culture in the afterglow of the NATO Summit. Other discussion/planning groups will be focused around developing effective ways to agitate and shift the dialogue within Occupy towards a more anti-fascist/anti-capitalist position, while building our own independent networks of mutual aid. Still yet will be discussions on the Commune projects nationwide, and how we may achieve a nationwide network within the next year.
We will collectively flesh out the details of this gathering in the weeks leading up to it.
To take part in coordinating this event, please email shibboleth@riseup.net .
For transportation, check out the Occupy Caravan
For those who cannot wait…
(A)GITAT(E)
-Shib Boleth