France’s ‘Nuit Debout’ movement & anarchist critiques of direct democracy (+related news)

  • Posted on: 24 April 2016
  • By: thecollective

From Rable.org.uk and other sources at end

The wave of rebellion unleashed in France in response to the El-Khomri labour law has been impressive. The fighting spirit and political acuity shown by many of those blockading their colleges, blocking the railway lines, looting supermarkets and distributing the goods, attacking police stations, and disseminating tracts against work itself is beautiful. But since 31st March, a new, friendlier-looking trend has emerged alongside the riots. On that night, people responded to a call for a ‘Nuit Debout’ (night on your feet) to occupy something after the day’s demos. In Paris it led to a large and continuous occupation of Place de la Republique. People had discussions, partied, and even prevented the eviction of Stalingrad migrant camp (note: the camp at Stalingrad is populated by several hundred refugees, many of whom have fled police harassment and eviction in Calais, and it & other migrant squats in the city have has been evicted at least 18 times(!) since last June). The occupations grew in size and spread rapidly over France and into Belgium and Spain.

There Never Was a West

  • Posted on: 24 April 2016
  • By: thecollective

From The Anarchist Library by David Graeber

Or, Democracy Emerges From the Spaces In Between

What follows emerges largely from my own experience of the alternative globalization movement, where issues of democracy have been very much at the center of debate. Anarchists in Europe or North America and indigenous organizations in the Global South have found themselves locked in remarkably similar arguments. Is “democracy” an inherently Western concept? Does it refer a form of governance (a mode of communal self-organization), or a form of govern ment (one particular way of organizing a state apparatus) ? Does democracy necessarily imply majority rule? Is representative democracy really democracy at all? Is the word permanently tainted by its origins in Athens, a militaristic, slave-owning society founded on the systematic repression of women? Or does what we now call “democracy” have any real historical connection to Athenian democracy in the first place? Is it possible for those trying to develop decentralized forms of consensus-based direct democracy to reclaim the word? If so, how will we ever convince the majority of people in the world that “democracy” has nothing to do with electing representatives? If not, if we instead accept the standard definition and start calling direct democracy something else, how can we say we’re against democracy—a word with such universally positive associations?

Anarcho-Primitivism Is Not Just Another Ideology: An Interview with John Zerzan

  • Posted on: 24 April 2016
  • By: more-thought

“Are people happy with domestication, with leading domesticated lives? I think the answer is, resoundingly, 'no'.” - John Zerzan

From the site 'More Thought': http://moretht.blogspot.com (see this site for a PDF of the interview and a Czech translation of the interview)

This interview took place in December 2015, during the Ekofilm festival in the city of Brno, the Czech Republic, and was transcribed and edited April 2016.

A New Vision or a New Reformism?

  • Posted on: 24 April 2016
  • By: thecollective

From Anarkismo by Wayne Price

workers' democracy from the perspective of revolutionary eco-anarchism

There is a new approach on the U.S. Left, which rejects both capitalism and state socialism. In several ways it resembles anarchism. It has been promoted by The Next System Project, and has been critiqued recently by Sam Gindin--who makes some insightful comments, but also demonstrates limitations.

The End is a Good Start: Activism in the Context of Collapse

  • Posted on: 24 April 2016
  • By: thecollective

By Kevin Tucker from Earth First! Journal, Winter 2015-16

Let’s be honest, Earth First!. Despite the fact that the green anarchist and Earth First! worlds have always run parallel to each other, and often overlap, we haven’t always been on the same page.

Anarchy and Democracy Reading Groups!

  • Posted on: 20 April 2016
  • By: thecollective

From CrimethInc.

This month, we are publishing a series exploring an anarchist analysis of democracy, including case studies from anarchist participants in directly democratic movements around the world. As an offline counterpart to the series, we invite you to organize discussion groups about the relation between democracy and anarchy. We’re not finished thinking through this topic, and we want your help engaging with these questions. Our hope is that together we can produce new ideas and tactics that can be put to use in the next wave of unrest.

Occupy: Democracy versus Autonomy

  • Posted on: 20 April 2016
  • By: Anonymous (not verified)

The story goes that the very first gathering of Occupy Wall Street began as an old-fashioned top-down rally with speakers droning on—until a Greek student (and perhaps—an anarchist?) interrupted it and demanded that they hold a proper horizontal assembly instead. She and some of the youngsters in attendance sat down in a circle on the other side of the plaza and began holding a meeting using consensus process. One by one, people trickled over from the audience that had been listening to speakers and joined the circle. It was August 2, 2011.

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