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Why I Broke Up with the Anarchist Community
As time went on and I became more vocal in the community, even more tiresome things kept happening: people continued to insinuate that my mama comrades and I were expecting a handout when we suggested they offer free childcare at events, somehow white men always dominated the discussion and organizing efforts and succeeded in drowning out the voices of those they did not agree with, and in one surreal instance, I was publicly compared to Andrea Dworkin, of all people, for standing up in defense of a fellow woman organizer. Too often I felt misunderstood and marginalized. All the evidence started to add up that, as much as I loved my community, it was not the right spot for me to do my work. Realizing that I was perpetually on the verge of a giant rant, I decided that if my anarchist community refused to grow up, it didn’t mean that I had to do the same. So I dropped out, and started many humbling years as a just-scraping-by community organizer, trying to create human-scale neighborhood solutions aimed at solving some of the problems in places I lived. But I never stopped considering myself an anarchist, even though that affiliation would make as much sense to many of my current friends and neighbors as “card-carrying Martian”. In fact, I am a die-hard anarchist. (This, even, from a person who refuses even to describe herself as “feminist” because she has too many disagreements with what most people consider feminism.) The one label, other than mother, that I use with comfort is “anarchist”. I fucking love the ideology of anarchism. Even if I find it hard to connect with the theory of crusty old Russians–possibly more relevant to male industrial revolution-era workers than to poor mothers of the 21st century–I will always be passionately convinced that each person deserves access to all the necessary tools to make her life what she wants it to be. That we don’t have to go knocking on some rich, educated person’s door, or tug on our congressman’s coat, to ask politely for some solutions. That everyone on earth deserves justice, and to experience the richness of human life, now, not later, and that people should be held accountable for the messes we’ve created. That is my anarchism. I just didn’t want to spend my life arguing with the people I thought should have my back. Let me ask a question. What percentage of anarchist events, without being asked, provides childcare? Are there any anarchist communities in the US that provide elder care? There are uncountable ways we could address these simple issues, but for some reason we’d rather read about how they did things in 1930’s Spain than develop a nuanced and sustainable plan for a truly new society in the shell of the old. Hey, I love reading about the Spanish Civil War, too, but something is off when we’d rather talk at each other about times long past until we’re blue in the face because it is so much less risky to talk than to do the hard work of making things better. Often, we ghettoize ourselves in our comfort zones, to a point that anyone that doesn’t fit the anarchist “description” feels as out of place as a fat woman in a fashion magazine. Hell, almost every anarchist meeting or event I went to with my kid, I was given the side eye. It gets old. One guy at the infoshop refused to pass off the keys to me because he didn’t “trust” me. Well, I guess he was right, I didn’t fit into his version of anarchism: a white boys club that holds endless geekout sessions about whether the police qualify as “workers”. Count me and my kid out, thanks. Often, our concept of what is revolutionary is not really a mature concept of true revolution. If you’ve ever thrown a rock through a window, you know what I’m talking about. It feels good, but ultimately, someone just comes and fixes that window. It would be nice to really dismantle something, or really create something lasting. We need comprehensive solutions-based thinking, because these are some big-ass problems we’re dealing with, and when the going gets tough, daddy is not going to drive up in his SUV and solve them by throwing some money around. Neither is the government, which is being eaten alive by a corporate cancer and outsourcing more and more of its most basic functions, going to be able to deal with the reality of the situation in a few years. Will we be ready the day that no water comes out of the tap, that the light switch does not make the electricity come on? Katrina was just a dry run for some of the awfulness that could happen. And not enough people see it coming. It’s time to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Another question: how much does a white-centric infoshop in a poor neighborhood of color really accomplish? What is the average lifespan of an anarchist infoshop anyway? I apologize for my bluntness, but please, don’t have the self-important illusion that you are really fomenting the revolution or helping anyone. Get your ass to community meetings, town hall meetings, listen, talk to people outside your comfort zone. Organize. Get yourself out of the anarchist ghetto. Only the hard work of making things better will dismantle the current society by making it outdated and obsolete. Current “solutions” have already been obsolete for many of us: I haven’t had health insurance for 13 years. My food stamps were canceled this month. Folks, we need whole systems thinking and entire structures of mutual aid that are accessible to people who may not have social networks or anarchist caché. Where is the anarchist federation of time banks that organize community health care? Where are our anarchist restaurants with free food for poor single parents, disabled veterans and the homeless, locatable to all in the yellow pages? When the landlord raises the rent, again, where are our anarchist sanctuaries with safe, clean and cheap roomshares that are child-friendly? We’re not doing good enough. We are too complacent. But I never stopped considering myself an anarchist (and I can’t deny that I will always have a huge soft spot for even the most closed-minded black-flag scenesters who may not grow out of calling me a breeder). I believe, now more than ever, that anarchist principles are the answer. Every single anarchist needs to be a kick-ass community organizer–-we need to spread decentralized solutions-based thinking before it’s not too late, and fascist corporate capitalist “restructuring” solutions take over when disaster hits (like New Orleans, where I hear all of the public schools have been privatized, housing projects shuttered, and neighborhoods left to rot). We need to proactively empower our communities and brace for the coming disasters. The tidal wave will come, and we can carry on with our infoshops and punk shows, which are really comfortable, after all, or we can create accessible solutions that provide resilience for our families and our communities. We can grow up and do more of the work that makes things better: creating community-based health care, organizing child and elder care systems of mutual support, opening intergenerational democratic free schools, turning unused properties into peoples’ art museums, planting permaculture gardens and food forests, organizing free transportation, sustainable community housing, public safety programs, anarchist conflict resolution and mediation centers, taking part in rituals that bind our community together. The possibilities are endless, and we’ve all imagined them. Perhaps the best first step is to look for folks that have been doing this work in our communities for ages. Maybe that’s the person standing next to you at the punk show. And maybe it’s not. |
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The problem with the
The problem with the anarchist movement isn't the 'anarchist' part, it's the 'movement' part.
It's really shitty that you had to deal with that.
I don't plan on having kids myself, but I do plan to get old...
no kids for me either. the
no kids for me either. the only real reason to have them is to have someone to take care of you when you're old. and when i get that old, im going out harold and maude style.
except in stead of a cliff i might have to drive my el camino into some more worthwhile target... perhaps in a car full of explosives...
sorry, I don't buy that
sorry, I don't buy that reason for having kids. the ONE reason I can see for having kids is so that YOU have some real, tangible input into the future. You raise and influence a child before letting them go into the world. and if you do it right, there will be at least one less moron in the world of tomorrow. if we let THEM procreate and continue this downward spiral, then things WILL continue the way we fear. not having kids and raising them to live outside of this system is selfish and cowardly.
an anarchist future without kids is pathetic.
very well said. and if you
very well said. and if you believe in having less people on this globe, why aren't you taking that idea to its logical conclusion and advocating mass suicide?
strange idea? well, being anti-child makes about as much sense as advocating mass suicide.
WTF? Mag's point takes the
WTF? Mag's point takes the conversion narrative to its most extreme level. Have a kid so you can make them a proper anarchist! Cmon everybody, make hella babies and the future is ours!!! Sorry , but the Mormons are WAY ahead of us there. Anyway, you can always adopt.
And your thinking about how me not wanting to have kids means I must want to kill everyone else and their kids, including myself (before I'm way decrepit)... WTF are you smoking?! Put down the bong son cause that shit don't make no sense.
Not everything is about lifestylism, moral purity and proselytization for some of us ya know.
No, the critique is not
No, the critique is not against those who choose not to have children, but against those who harshly judge those that choose to have children, and call them hateful things like "breeder".
And against people who take this attitude to the extreme and become anti-child, uncomfortable around children and resentful of them.
no one is saying that here.
no one is saying that here.
That doesn't mean the
That doesn't mean the anarchist community is not rife with people like that.
let me clear things up:
let me clear things up: breeder is used by some of the more ignorant primitivists as a pejorative term, yes i have heard it used this way. no, no one has been saying that here.
while "breeder" may be used
while "breeder" may be used by some people as a pejorative, to me it is a useful term to de-mystify and de-romance-ify the hoopla that surrounds humans giving birth.
as usual, whether people hear it as a derogatory term or as one that connotes an interesting critique is up to them.
gay men were using the term
gay men were using the term "breeder" decades ago, referring to straight men (and possibly women). i usually heard it in joking/sarcastic situations, where it was in fact derogatory - but sarcastically so.
-yly
Breeders a sort of harmless
Breeders a sort of harmless word, not like inbreeder,,,now that is twisted, verified by genetics, the proof is in the pudding.
Calling someone a breeder is
Calling someone a breeder is a bit much, but I think anyone who has kids is an idiot. To me it's ot being anti-children, but anti-adding to the problem. Like others said, you can adopt.
i don't understand how you
i don't understand how you can adopt children but not have children. if you adopt a child, *poof* you have a child. people who give hostile attitude to those with children don't generally pause first to clarify how the person got the child. AND adoption aside, with the state of reproductive freedom being what it is (or rather, isn't) in most of this country, AND with the state of sex ed being what it is (or rather isn't) in most of this country, AND with sexual assault being what it is - i don't see how anyone could jump to conclusions about how a woman ends up with child.
it is not "well said" in
it is not "well said" in fact it is fucking idiotic. anyone who thinks that raising a kid (bio or adopted) equals baking a cake (this much flour and that much chocolate and you get a good anarchist), has spent no time paying attention to children.
thank fucking whoever that kids are not programmable like that. otherwise, presumably you wouldn't be the people you are, right? or are you all ready to go back to whatever your parents are doing with their lives?
I actually resemble my
I actually resemble my biological parents quite closely, even though one of them didn't raise me. I resemble my in-laws more than my adopted/step-parents, though.
Mmmm,,there is ofcourse the
Mmmm,,there is ofcourse the remote chance that your inlaws are also your biological relatives,the geneology having been lost or unrecorded.Not that I'm infering that you possess a genetic anomoly from inbreeding (there's that beautiful word again),just that your post hinted at this inheritance of genes,underlying the behavioral similarities,which can also be inherited.
Doubt it. The similarities
Doubt it. The similarities between us are clearly due to sharing a common culture, while the similarities with blood relatives are more temperament/personality.
",while the similarities
",while the similarities with blood relatives are more temperament/personality."
Yeah,these personality traits as genetically inherited,,well,,one has to have children to grasp the significance of the DNA interplay,the first-hand experience of the phenomena really broadens the perception of the influence of physiological types.
But Dawkins extremist view becomes boring,as is most genetics,when it immerses itself in some futuristic utopian vision.He should have elaborated on the selfish gene premise,its evolution from clan environments,and that in defining selfishness as inevitable,thus nihilistic,he neglected the nuances of non-biological mutualism,and left an ammoral vacuum in his wake.He is all about cellular symbiosis and me me me.
Yea, because we all turned
Yea, because we all turned out like our parents wanted us to, right?
So you go through 9 months of labor, at least 18 years of stress just to have some "tangible input into the future"?
WTF?
What about having discussions with people? How about writing? What about struggle? Occupations? Riots? Expropriations? Or even having a fucking book club can help.
Is THIS really why people breed so much?
Look, I ain't bashing y'all who have kids, I'm bashing THESE REASONS.
Oh and, I'm past 30 and still don't see this as a decent world to bring kids into.
yea. what "anon" said.
yea. what "anon" said.
i knew the word "breed"
i knew the word "breed" would eventually come into this.
Speaking as someone who with
Speaking as someone who with a confusing combination of biological and adopted parents, I can say with absolute confidence that I resemble my biological parents. Politically and personality-wise, I most closely resemble my biological father, who didn't raise me. Culturally, though, we are nothing alike--culturally I most closely resemble my in-laws. I received very little from my adoptive/step parents, other than some short-term childhood interests.
As for our kids, we have them because they are wonderful people and we enjoy their company. I see many things in them which they clearly inherited from us, from mundane food preferences to overall temperament. And I do think they make the world a better place by being in it.
I'm not passing any judgment on your own decisions re: kids. Just saying that, yes, people do turn out a lot like their parents.
>> Just saying that, yes,
>> Just saying that, yes, people do turn out a lot like their parents.
i don't disagree, some people do. but my experience is that at least as many people turn out NOT like their parents, and usually by very conscious choice.
-yly
There are a lot of things to
There are a lot of things to critique about a lot of the anarchist communities. I also prefer to venture outside radical circles and try to agitate and listen for how we can get out of this mess.
But let’s not fool ourselves either, we haven’t succeeded yet, but all the failure doesn’t just belong to us.
In the context of a minority of the population trying to change the world, all the blame cannot fall on our shoulders only.
You ask:
“What is the average lifespan of an anarchist infoshop anyway?”
And that question reminds me of a quote that always comes back to me:
“Underground presses cannot survive in capitalist society… they are created only *in order to destroy* capitalist relations.” – Fredy Perlman
You said that
“we need whole systems thinking and entire structures of mutual aid that are accessible to people who may not have social networks or anarchist caché. Where is the anarchist federation of time banks that organize community health care? Where are our anarchist restaurants with free food for poor single parents, disabled veterans and the homeless, locatable to all in the yellow pages? When the landlord raises the rent, again, where are our anarchist sanctuaries with safe, clean and cheap roomshares that are child-friendly?”
And I agree, we need it to. And there are some trust fund anarchist kids out there, but overall – we do not have access to that kind of support systems either, and that’s part of the problem.
That’s why we lash out *to the extent that we can*, because we are ultimately still just as powerless in this society – but WE want more too.
I can barely make rent most of the time, and in my spare time I read and dream of a different world, sometimes scamming copies to share these ideas with others.
Also, alternatively, where is the public who share the same problems we face when our houses get raided pre-emptively, when we face police brutality, when we are harrassed and kept under surveillance?
We can continually blame ourselves constantly, or realize that there is a very complex problem that leaves us all feeling powerless in the end. So I am continually asking myself, how can we let other people recognize that we all share these same problems and that we can fight together, and at the same time how can we build more power for ourselves and our communitities, how can we take more from the rich bastards to sustain ourselves, and keep it?
There isn’t a single answer, many projects must be undertaken to rob from the rich and sustain ourselves, but perhaps me and you should also march back into those anarchist circles and speak our minds and not let our voices be silent, because hey, these days our never coming back and I don’t want to die in a capitalist society either.
thanks for this post. very
thanks for this post. very well said.
Yes, sure. It's hard to live
Yes, sure. It's hard to live under the capitalist heel. But if you're going to put your time in one project, should it be an infoshop, or should it be a project that works to build power so we can take back our lives?
I'm thinking infoshops are great and all, but I've never seen an infoshop expropriate any resources or come close to furthering the revolution. These thinga are achieved by organizing and building grassroots power. Infoshops seem to be best at generating massive drama, not dual power.
dual power is such a sucky
dual power is such a sucky word: communisation!
For me the turn-off was
For me the turn-off was ageism. 99% of activists -- anarchist or otherwise (e.g., environmentalist) -- are 20 years old. When the gray hairs/whiskers begin to appear, as they've begun to on me, there's a change in the air that's hard to describe but impossible to miss. I don't bother showing up anymore. Let the kids have their fun. That seems to be what it's all about for most of them anyway.
maybe you're really the only
maybe you're really the only greying anarchist in your area, but how will you know if you don't have some kind of public face?
greying anarchist lurkers come out! out into the light!
;)
here here!
here here!
doesnt sound like the issue
doesnt sound like the issue is that hes the only grey. sounds like its the 'tude he got from the anarcho-toddlers. issue is them not him. ive seen greys get side looks myself so i believe him. me personally i prefer the company of elders ive never liked the company of my peers. theyre too shallow and image conscious mostly. elders have more to talk about and its more interesting. my honest opinion. but ya i agree grey guy keep reaching out and youll see not all youngs are like that some are like me and will enjoy your company.
so you dumb fuck kids can
so you dumb fuck kids can try to 'educate' us??ha!!
Outstanding article. As
Outstanding article. As someone once said 'Anarchy is too important to be left to the anarchists'
We should try to make it a
We should try to make it a point to not generalize people. Ya know, like, if you have a problem with someone or a group of people, you call them out. Right there when they're doing stupid shit. I don't know how many times I've been at an anarchist gathering and someone has stood up and made a complaint about how they know sooooo many white anarchist males that are always slacking off or being douche bags. And then I'm standing there like "wtf" because I'm wondering what being white or male has to do with someone being a lazy asshole, and why this is a continual problem (as in, why aren't people confronting these assholes?)? Less than half of the group I'm involved with is white and male, and none of them are slacking dickwads.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe we should be creating spaces where when you do or say something a filter isn't put on you based on the way you were born.
This isn't to say that I think racism is a minor issue that can just be ignored. But does anyone really believe that we can create a world that doesn't see race by continuing to generalize people based on their race? Yes, white privilege exists, but why does it have to exist within the anarchist "movement?"
Kyle
MILK TOAST CREW
Anarchism = white
Anarchism = white privilege... yeah, maybe we should be talking about elitist-college-kid privilege, or people-who-use-words-like-reification-and-deconstruction prvilege. Of course, after a while it just gets boring, and people don't put up with it, so the anarchist clique continues until they graduate at which time the infoshop or whatever implodes, having never made any kind of contact with the surrounding community.
oh, the "privileged"
oh, the "privileged" "use-words-like" folk... You mean Bell Hooks. Fuck racist, classist anti-intellectualism. I know plenty of homeless who go to libraries to keep a good brain in their head. They aren't all white or black or anything. Some are poets, some ex vets, some whatever. But people of all status have a right to study whatever the fuck they want and to then use that knowledge as a means to their well being. If you don't have a concept of something like reification, fine - your analysis of institutionalized behavior may be missing a glaring aspect to it. But don't complain that people will dedicate the time and energy they spend understanding the world to anarchist theory. No, let them go be marxists so we can continue the dumb-anarchist/smart-Marxist dichotomy and all the negative stereotyping that goes with it
-Squee
"...people-who-use-words-like
"...people-who-use-words-like-reification-and-deconstruction..."
Edward Said? Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak? Homi K. Bhabha? Ooo oh oh oh! Is it Ernesto Laclau, that sneaky post-Marxist?
try Slavoj Žižek
try Slavoj Žižek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavoj_Žižek)
True, but he tends towards
True, but he tends towards meta-narratives, he engages with deconstruction, but isn't really a deconstructionist. He certainly does concern quite a bit of his analysis with reification.
"We should try to make it a
"We should try to make it a point to not generalize people. Ya know, like, if you have a problem with someone or a group of people, you call them out. Right there when they're doing stupid shit. I don't know how many times I've been at an anarchist gathering and someone has stood up and made a complaint about how they know sooooo many white anarchist males that are always slacking off or being douche bags."
Listen, I know it can be debilitating to deal with the guilt of being a white male. Sometimes I see white men grasping at straws to they can claim some sort of badge and join in with the oppressed ranks ("it's so hard--I'm white, I'm middle class, I'm male--don't I get anything??"). But, in the end, you have to deal with the fact that you are a white man. Accept this reality. This makes a difference in the world. Things happen to all of us because of the way we're born. All of us have to deal with bullshit limitations around the issue of identity. If you are at peace with this, your work, your relationships and your community will really benefit from it, because you'll be one less person trying to escape from reality. And that's powerful.
Anarchism is often dominated by the agendas and personalities of white men. This is a major weakness. It's just the truth, and it needs to change.
And if I hear ONE MORE PERSON say that white men are being PICKED ON by this type of essay, I am going to absolutely bake some motherfuckin lemon creme pies and you better make sure you're not around when I start throwing them around.
Enough of this shit. It's time to do better.
How do you know I'm white
How do you know I'm white and male? Oh wait, there's another generalization!
For the record, I am white and male, and I'm not ashamed or guilty about it at all. My skin color, and what is between my legs, does not define who I am, even if all of you assholes want it to. And when did being white and male automatically make you middle class? I've been working shitty jobs since I was fifteen, and I am currently on food stamps because the jobs here are hard to come by. And I'm wondering how I'm ever going to finish school because of the fee hikes in California.
I find your argument to be extremely weird coming from an "anarchist." I am fully aware that identity is restrictive and oppressive. I am aware that this is the reality of the current world. Isn't that the same logic people use when we argue against work or capital? If identities are restrictive and oppressive, why aren't we all attempting to destroy them? Why are you wanting to recreate and further these oppressive identities?
You didn't address my main point. Why are we allowing these identities to further divide the anarchist movement? We are fully capable of creating spaces where privilege doesn't exist.
"Why are we allowing these
"Why are we allowing these identities to further divide the anarchist movement? We are fully capable of creating spaces where privilege doesn't exist."
This essay addresses, head on, how difficult it is to create spaces where privilege does not exist within many anarchist communities. The spaces become oppressive, so very often, because of who starts them and their politics.
White men often see identity politics as limiting, because identity takes the question of privilege head on.
I do not think you should be limited or restricted by your skin color or your gender. Clearly, no one should be. However, most white men have yet to take responsibility for the position they are in. Until that happens, it is still valid to remind you that yes, you are white. You are a man. Please work on your collective shit.
"However, most white men
"However, most white men have yet to take responsibility for the position they are in. Until that happens, it is still valid to remind you that yes, you are white. You are a man. Please work on your collective shit."
how does one "take responsibility" for a historic and social fact? that is not, in fact, any individual's responsibility? what is some (white, male, straight, middle class) one supposed to do beyond acknowledge that yes, they are privileged? how helpful is that acknowledgment, even?
working on "collective shit"? i don't want to get into another flame war. i do believe that there are differences and that people who don't recognize those differences are usually really fucking obnoxious.
but the smugness of that last paragraph is also obnoxious. just rhetoric, especially when it's online to someone you don't know.
"how does one "take
"how does one "take responsibility" for a historic and social fact? that is not, in fact, any individual's responsibility? what is some (white, male, straight, middle class) one supposed to do beyond acknowledge that yes, they are privileged?"
there are a million things you can do, starting with, don't deny that white men as a group cause a lot of shit and have a collective responsibility to right some wrongs.
you could work towards community reparations, education about these issues, call other men on their shit when you see them doing something that isn't ok, start a men's group to talk through stuff (there was a great one for a while in minneapolis and i'm sure other places), organize childcare trainings, do the work that is maybe not the sexiest most revolutionary-seeming work like cleaning.
don't try to tell people that you, personally are not to blame. stop shouting down other people and insulting them.
all these things are helpful.
Racism comes in soooo many
Racism comes in soooo many forms, don't pretend yours is justified.
Guess what, I'm White, I'm Male. I'm also in poverty and have been all my life, I've been homeless, I've gone hungry, thankfully, I live in Canada (Maybe we should create "Canadian Privilege" to add to the infighting?) so my healthcare is taken care of, and we have some form of social assistance to be able to live off of.
Where's my privilige? Or are the sins of my race as a whole mine? Sorry, I'm not going to accept that, and I'm not going to allow you to try and push that on me. The answer to racism isn't to turn things around, so all the white people are second class citizens. The answer is to (within the community) ignore skin colour.
We all want to get rid of whitey(when it comes to the white people in power) But when it comes to Anarchist communities, we SHOULD do our best to ignore it. I'm not going to feel bad, and I'm not going to let enyone try to make me feel bad about being white, or that less white people should have a say in what's going on. You want less white people to have a say, then maybe instead of creating your own little racial anarchist groups we could come together in solidarity, then the balance of white to other races wouldn't be so extreme. When 80% of the group is white, 80% of the say will be white. I don't go to APOC and complain about under representation of whites.
Just so this comment doesn't
Just so this comment doesn't go without being called out--the above is a classic example of racism in the anarchist movement.
Years ago, a longtime organizer told me why the white anarchist community (in a very multi-racial city) was seen as such a joke by the rest of the radical left, especially people of color--and it's because of backwards attitudes like the above. This kind of talk simply does not fly with anyone who is doing serious work. Saying shit like this, you might as well be hoisting a huge a red flag that says "Stay far away--we are completely intolerant"
"I'm not going to feel bad."--you see this over and over again, when people of color tell a white man to quiet down and let someone else have his or her say. White men calling reverse racism, saying they are the persecuted ones. This is a clear sign to pack up and run--you don't want to work in a community, when you hear these sorts of comments (unless you are interested in creating a white male separatist movement, LOL).
"You want less white people to have a say, then maybe instead of creating your own little racial anarchist groups we could come together in solidarity."--again, this is completely racist. Many groups of color exist form precisely because "regular" anarchist spaces are so often inhospitable and clueless.
If you're looking to hang out with a bunch of other people who are exactly like you and will not question you, so you can consider yourselves the center of the political universe, then, by all means, continue with this nonsense. Your crowd will become narrower and narrower and have more in common with a white power rally than the diverse liberation movements happening around the world. If this is anarchism to you, I don't think most people would want a part of it.
Reverse Racism does not
Reverse Racism does not exist, Racism's opposite would be anti-racism!
'Many groups of color exist form precisely because "regular" anarchist spaces are so often inhospitable and clueless. '
What do you mean by "regular"??
Reads like another way of saying "You people".
Why exactly should a white person "quiet down and let someone else have his or her say."?
Reads to me like "Their white,so I don't have to hear what they are saying, white,must not be important".
Must be nice to have a "privilege" of ancestors done wrong historically (We will just ignore the capitalistic tribes of the same racial makeup that sold others of the same racial makeup to those hated white devils)!
"If you're looking to hang
"If you're looking to hang out with a bunch of other people who are exactly like you and will not question you, so you can consider yourselves the center of the political universe, then, by all means, continue with this nonsense."
"Many groups of color exist form precisely because "regular" anarchist spaces are so often inhospitable and clueless. "
I find this so hilarious. I don't want a group of white domination. Why should any racial group want to dominate talks as well? I also laughed at the idea of people of all races joining together being racist. Where do you come up with this shit?
Can I join APOC? If I can, can I complain about the under representation of white voices in APOC and whine and complain about how I feel marginalized? You know how ridiculous that sounds?
No one wants a white only anarchist group. But it's not a group of white Anarchists fault of people of colour would prefer to cut themselves off and make their special no whites allowed clubs. Like I said, white people wouldn't dominate the conversation if more people of colour joined up with them instead of creating divisionary groups. No decent Anarchist group, except the fake ones like BANA etc. would look down at someone because of their colour. I think a lot of this is just delusion. This idea of people feeling unwanted. Of course they never say anything to make that known, because they WANT to feel unwanted, they want that segregation because it makes it easier to break off and form your own little racist groups. If anyone in a decent anarchist group looks down on any person, it's because of their words and actions. This is just more bullshit, placing blame on some silly idea because it's easy, instad of manning up and working together like we have to.
I personally am not to blame
I personally am not to blame and I don't owe any reparations to any group of people due to historic events!
I do call people out when I hear offensive shit, but the strange thing is, when I call people of color out for it they get defensive, like they were born with an entitlement to it.
Racism is taught, mostly unconsciously by well intentioned parents.
It is an easy excuse for an individuals own resentments instead of asking self, "Self, what part do I have in this problem?".
I refuse to be guilt ed into submission, so yes I am going to have problems with others; but that does not make me a racist no matter how much someone yells it at me.