User loginNavigationAnarchist Events
Action!Donation |
Open Letter to Food Not Bombs
All yall white "anarchists," claiming to fight oppression, should I come to see "anarchism" as your code word for an insistence on hiding privilege? Your cowardly lack of self-critique? Check yourself. You cling to your resources, power, and privilege and you crush my right to self-determination and self-liberation. Your constant craving for credit and your fixation on taking up space violate real people and real possibilities for meeting needs. If you want to use your privilege and dumpster dive, fine, but respect that other people use those dumpsters too, people who may not share your experience of the practice and its risks; and if you really want to "help," once you've dumpstered or made arrangements with a food distro, give up that food and power over its distribution to the community and let people of color decide what happens to it. Accept no credit and be fucking reliable. Seriously yo. Food Not Bombs should die. Only in a world where white supremacy is sustained and maintained is there room for FNB. Take your crust, your punk, and your supposed anarchism and shove it. You are no ally of mine. To all those who feel even remotely as I do, we must join forces and resist. The so-called movement must no longer be defined and characterized on the terms of white supremacy. Resist! My poc comrades, we can no longer wait for white "radicals," "anarchists," "progressives," etc. to show respect and stop taking up space. We must assert the power of our communities, our determination, our strength, our vision(s), and we must claim space for ourselves. No longer should white groups, convergences, conferences, gatherings, and movements go unchecked. We must unseat them from their comfort and unveil the oppressiveness they hide behind their nominal politics and rhetoric. To those white people who might claim to agree: I don't care what you claim. I doubt you'll ever be a consistent ally, but if you want me to consider you as such for even a second, remember this: the only true white ally is a race-traitor. That's right, if you can't walk the walk, shut the fuck up. - Kilwaii aka KW (kay-dub) queer, trans, autonomous, anti-authoritarian, anarchist, black, brown, and mad as hell. |
PollNews commentsRecent blog posts
SearchCheck out the Anarchist News newsletter. |
Am I the only one who loves
Am I the only one who loves how crazy this is? Seriously, I used to be annoyed by APOC but they keep going completely bat-shit insane. So cool!
"To those white people who might claim to agree: I don't care what you claim."
Love it!
as a poc, i used to want to
as a poc, i used to want to be apart of apoc, but i keep just going WTF and wanting less and less with what they want to do...keep marginalizing your self instead of actually organizing POC folks to be apart of the anarchist movement.
Why "they"? APOC didn't do
Why "they"? APOC didn't do that shit in Pittsburg. Someone calling himself APOC did it with a few other people.
Philly APOC Is NOT
Philly APOC Is NOT APOC!!!.
Go here for background:
http://illvox.org/2009/07/smack-a-white-boy-round-two-crimethinc-eviction/
As a S.W. APOC who has been taking part in the internal dialog regarding the FoodNot Bombs and Smack A White Boy 1 2 fiascos, I promised my self that I would not comment on this shit storm. For the most part I feel that what is internal should remain internal, but this is driving me crazy enough that I want to leave you with
these following facts.
1) Philly APOC is not APOC! Philly APOC is just ONE collective and does not represent or speak for other APOC collectives.This collective has quickly become the pariah of the movement. The majority of we who have been inside this story as it unfolds want NOTHING to do with those 4 or 5 idiotic eighteen-year-olds in Philly who runaround trying to play revolutionary. The grand majority of the sentiment coming from the other collectives in the U.S. condemns the Pittsburgh action.
2) This was an action that was not done under any sense of consensus. The majority of we who consider ourselves to be sane, stable and disciplined organizers heard nothing of the Crimethinc action until we read the “SAWB Two” report back statement on the Internet. And YES, we were all embarrassed as shit at this stupid, childish, poorly written, self congratulatory document. Not to mention the action itself.
3) This is NOT about sucking up to white anarchists. This is about distancing ourselves from crazy APOCs. Oppression by white anarchists is not on our radar much. Seriously. We have other interests aimed at the ruling elite and such.
Please repost this as often as you like.
PHILLY APOC IS NOT APOC!
Thanks, feeling guilty as shit, but just had to post this.
Can everyone get it straight
Can everyone get it straight that one anarchist person of color that says or does something does not magically have the full support and shared views of every other APOC?!!! Do you all see yourselves going from reading something by one person and ascribing it to *ALL* APOC in the world like they're some sort of monolithic borg-like entity? Please!! A little maturity in the responses!!
This happens to white people
This happens to white people all the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
It's funny that APOC and
It's funny that APOC and Kevin Tucker don't get along because they keep digging themselves into deeper ideological holes that no one wants to follow them down.
i am a "poc", and i think
i am a "poc", and i think this letter is ridiculous. im not a huge fan of fnb but this letter is seriously crazy
apoc remind me of murray bookchin: instead of calling non bookchinite anarchists
"lifestylists" they call non-poc anarchists "white supremacists".
"To those white people who might claim to agree: I don't care what you claim. I doubt you'll ever be a consistent ally"
this alone should dismiss the letter as completely irrelevant
I liked the letter, but I
I liked the letter, but I didn't get that far because it started getting repetitive.
oh I thought this was
oh I thought this was satire!
"for controlling the
"for controlling the underground food supply."
seriously?
who really controls the food supply?
i still don't see how me picking bread out of a dumpster challenges your self-determination...
"give up that food and power over its distribution to the community and let people of color decide what happens to it."
So by being light skinned, you aren't a part of a community? hmm..... and how do we challenge oppression by just transferring power to another group?
Food not bombs is an
Food not bombs is an organization of people of all colors and class coming together to both share and serve food, whether or not dumpstered, stolen, paid for etc. FNB is a great thing and promotes a more conscious lifestyle through many factors, such as vegetarianism and working with the local community, clearly by the means of, as you say, "clinging to our resources".
FNB has nothing to do with white supremacy, and your argument that it does doesn't hold any water, to say the least. In fact, your argument is in a sense racist. Youre stereotyping against those who SHARE and not STEAL. I am white and I happen to be priveledged, so therefore I use this as a means to work with those who are not (and sometimes are) priveledged, and now there are lunatics like you who say that the FNB movement is racist. It seems like you are more apt to consider 'white people' the enemy, when you should instead consider the large gap in your logic.
Well said. I've met both
Well said. I've met both founders of FNB; it has NOTHING to do with white supremacy or the "privileged class."
thankyou!
thankyou!
Teach a man 2 fish... AWWWW
Teach a man 2 fish... AWWWW fuck it, just arm the the homeless!!! but remember even armed revolutionaries gotta eat... It was so eazy all along: EAT the RICH!!! FNB feeds hungy people!!!
The motherfuckin truth: Oppression sees no color, It fucks us all. Pay no attention 2 the devide and conquer; Onward 2 the day when there are no more fucking dumpsters.
Food Not Bombs sux you fake
Food Not Bombs sux you fake hippy anarcho-capitalist! White charity is not revolutionary! I'm tired of the whole fucking FNB franchise! McAnarchist bureaucrat! Go watch a crimethinc video and jackoff! What we need is a real revolutionary perspective and action program. You middle class jerks will never lead anything revolutionary.
This entire paragraph is
This entire paragraph is absolutely flawed, just like the article. What, it's not revolutionary because you're middle class? Are you saying the only way to revolution is for the poor to help the poor? That's ridiculous, and will only create a society where everyone is helping themselves.
damn this is the only
damn this is the only legitimate comment i've read so far, y'all have a LOT to learn if you think this article is crazy
I am a POC, and I think this
I am a POC, and I think this article is 100% pure essence of horse-shit.
I can definitely understand how frustrating it is working with white anarchists. The most frustrating thing is the whole anarcho-scene cred rubbish. I think more than anything else, this scenester-ism will be the most difficult thing for us POCs to expose and confront.
I know what its like to be
I know what its like to be marginalized by anarchist scenesters. I travelled from Louisiana to Pittsburg, arriving there two weeks before the convergence. I knew no one there and had decided to go based on the fact that I felt it a way to get involoved and meet people, not to mention that I identified with alot of what I found on crimethinc's website. When the day came for the convergence to begin I did not have internet acccess (i was home-bumming it this whole time), and could not remember where the meeting spot was. No big deal, I figured I'd find a library and get online to find out. I ended up meeting up with some people later that evening who stopped me on the street, and presumabely making judgements about me based on my wearing a "class-war" shirt, asked me if I was in town for the convergence. When they told me that they themselves were I was elated, and asked them if they could please let me know where it was. Their response was, "Well you could be a narc so we can't help you, good luck". I felt devastated and disillusioned after a similar incident occured the very next day. These two people went so far as to tell me the police raided the space and the organizers were not allowing any new people in! I was disheartened enough by these untruths, and apprehensions to not attend the convergence at all.
Kay Dub There are alot of
Kay Dub There are alot of charlatans, everywhere. Can you tie FNB volunteers to racists groups that we can all understand? Anarchist can't even keep Narcs out of their ranks much less racists. Your anger is palatable.
daed
"If you want to use your
"If you want to use your privilege and dumpster dive, fine, but respect that other people use those dumpsters too..."
And apparently they're all poc? Nothing racist about that. I'm mixed race and I considered attending an APOC conference once when there was one in town, but after reading a few of the posts they put out on websites like this I was sure I would be chased out for looking to pale.
"No longer should white groups, convergences, conferences, gatherings, and movements go unchecked."
Yup those guilt-ridden college kids who admit they come from privileged backgrounds which they openly criticize really are a huge threat to POC in America. My question is what exactly does one have to do to become a "race-traitor?" I'm really genuinely curious what a white anarchist would have to do for kay-dub and many other members of APOC to consider him a "true white alley?" Beat up some asshole at a country club? Disrupt a punk rock gig? I took a piss on some white guy in a suit downtown, am I traitor enough yet? Since when did allegiance to a race have anything to do with anarchism?
To me APOC is perhaps the clearest example of what identity politics leads to. You can see it in some anarcho-feminist circles as well. Fetishization of victimization based on gender, race, and class do NOT strengthen groups they just attract bitter people looking for payback. Sorry, most of us (including POC) have bigger goals in mind than tribalism and blaming others for the identities culture foists on them at birth. The most effective anarchist groups to me are the ones without prefixes in which men and women, people of various ethnic backgrounds, and people of different economic backgrounds can work towards common goals instead of just gathering with more of "their own" to bitch about other activists, who most people don't give a shit about anyway. Seriously, these "identity" groups are useless. Think about it, who are you appealing too? Got a problem with racism, go do something about it. There's no use appealing to other marginalized activists to come suck your cock for being born a POC.
not much else to say after
not much else to say after that, but as a mixed race person myself, i have seen the error of identity politics. yes, many privileged people come & go from our movement & i do see the paradox of the middle class anarchist. but this is all diversion. fakes weed themselves out, there is no need to be OCD about who belongs & who doesn't. try some solidarity! i personally know some FNB guys, in their 30's, all but one are white. they are the furthest thing from white supremacists...thats a heavy accusation & it should not be thrown around.
*resist*refuse*revolt*
"Since when did allegiance
"Since when did allegiance to a race have anything to do with anarchism?"
This reply was well said as a whole, and this quote pretty much sums it up. I have, however, been known to be longwinded, so I won't let that hold me back.
Does racism exist? Certainly. Does it exist in some activist and anarchist circles? Yes. Is race an issue that needs to be addressed? Indeed. But using further separatism and racist statements does nothing to solve those problems - on the contrary, that actually reinforces them.
I think this KW got into an argument with some crusty kid and decided to take it out on the whole of the Food Not Bombs movement, which by the way has active groups offering warm vegetarian meals to the homeless and hungry on every continent except Antarctica! Keith McHenry personally helped start the first chapter in Africa (and the very first chapter in Cambridge too for that matter). I baked bread with him in solar ovens outside of the White House this past July 4th in support of, amongst other things, Universal Healthcare and World Peace. There is not a racist bone in his body.
I am a part Cherokee, mostly white mutt who is a hard working wage slave, which makes me moderately privileged I guess and far from being anything close to "crusty". I helped start the West Palm Beach chapter of Food Not Bombs with two of my best friends, a Jamaican and a Korean. To this day, there are people of all colors and origins that help with our chapter.
Does that sound like a white supremacist group?
Whatever your race, culture, or origin, we have more in common than we do different. The enemy is the system and the wealthy elite class that control it which works to keep people ignorant, disenfranchised and preoccupied with trivial things that do not matter. Playing into these distractions furthers your own oppression. It is time to stop looking for people to blame and start working on practical solutions to the vast amount of injustice and suffering happening all over the world.
What are those practical solutions?
Community building - creating access to the resources people need to make their lives what they ought to be. First and foremost that is food, medicine, and a bed. This can be done now by fighting for Universal Healthcare, support community farming projects and homeless shelters/resource centers. Beyond that is education - educating the masses on politics, economics and anarchist alternatives. But moreover, we must strive to set up a system that provides a broad base of human knowledge to everyone - math, reading, writing, science, history, literature, philosophy, culture and an inclusive world view that includes proper sexual education. We need to work towards a massive non-violent social revolution that seeks to change how everyone views the world around them, taking responsibility for their lives and the choices they make. No one exists in a vacuum; we are all in this crazy mess together. Together is the only way out.
It does not matter if you are black, purple or magenta, if you are willing to fight for a just future, then you are a comrade.
Peace, Love, and Justice to you all,
Jordan Hunt
myspace.com/rhadaghast
I'm a person of color /
I'm a person of color / colored person / curry-munching sand nigger / whatever they're calling us these days, and I'm from a privileged background and I like doing Food Not Bombs for the sole purpose of feeding hungry people. I like that hungry people get food. It is good for them. I don't care whether or not it "counts" as revolutionary. No amount of protesting and pamphlets can guarantee the impact I have when I give hobos food. I know and can see some obvious change. Guy was hungry before, now he's not and also he has socks. Yay.
So yeah, where do I fit in with APOC? Do I not count as a "POC" because my family is wealthy? If I am a "POC," am I screwing up my own liberation by feeding hobos?
Also, is the fact that I can afford my own food not more reason to trust that if I steal food from dumpsters (or just cook it myself as I am used to) I have no interest in monopolizing it and will freely give it away as opposed to "taking control" or whatever?
Kay-dub, you are a mindless misanthropic little shit and you're a racist to boot. The shite in this post about "race-traitors" is the same nonsense avowed anti-Semites give to Jews. That the "only good Jew is one that hates himself," etc (and no I'm not even talking about Zionism, don't get me started). Go fuck yourself and die so we can start making sure food doesn't get wasted on loud-mouthed self-righteous pricks who could care less about the homeless and everyone else who benefits from bottom-up food distribution. You are not pro-working class and you sure as hell aren't speaking in my name you racist fool.
anarquia hey, so totally
anarquia
hey, so totally agree with you, about the fact that apoc should not be a pissing contest of who's the most oppressed (dictatorship of the propleterait much??) and that a lot of shit that has been said under the name of APOC is alienating to ALOT of apoc.
and that because we exist in a capitalist ssociety, where it is damn near impossible not to contribute to the fucked up isms . and if we want an inclusive movement of all (and not just the most 'hardcore' self-identified anarchists) then we have to realize that not everything in our movement is black and fucking white. yeah i can have a job and hate capitalism. and i can hate white supremacy, and charity, and still hook people up with food every sunday, and do communtiy outreach for it.
KW i think a lot of your concerns are legit, and worthy of discussion- but burning projects down because they are flawed makes way for a pretty lonely ass movement excluding a lot of people y'all claim to be in soildairty with.
and ps to everyone else- race is a social construct! so being a race traitor to white supremacy doesn't mean self-hate. k thanks.
To "I'm a person of color/"
To "I'm a person of color/" who is wondering if being from a wealthy family makes you not "POC" enough for APOC- no worries. The vast majority of people involved in APOC come from economically privileged sections of the working class ("middle class") and quite a few upper-class folks as well. The vast majority have advanced degrees, come from the suburbs, and have little to no experience with class-based organizing, poverty, or class oppression. Basically, they are a very privileged sector of the POC communities. A few people within APOC have made this observation/criticism and been shut down. People will have more success organizing with people they agree with politically than people with whom they share one identity.
Also, I might add: It was
Also, I might add:
It was this identity politics bullshit and everything that came with it, specifically APOC and its racial separatism and ardent anti-white ally attitude that spawned support for the National Anarchists in the Bay Area. Had APOC not been busy trying to segregate people Andrew Yeoman would never have felt alienated and started BANA. This was straw that apparently broke his back.
It isn't APOC's fault that Andrew Yeoman is a racist but if groups like the National Anarchists are getting support amongst pissed off white youth who feel alienated everywhere else it shouldn't be surprising considering shite like this is ever so common.
Given APOC's stance, I'm not
Given APOC's stance, I'm not sure white separatist national anarchism would really seem like a bad idea to them, as long as it was in that crushy 'pan-nationaist' sense.
and more horse shit
and more horse shit
Oh really? You want to tell
Oh really? You want to tell me about conversations you've had with people involved with APOC about national identity and the place of white people and poc's in a anti-oppressive world? Because cultural/national isolation is certainly one of the topics that has come up, and not all of them disagree with it. So fuck off until you've actually talked with these people.
Maybe we are talking to
Maybe we are talking to different people? My comrades, whom I have spoke about these issues with include but are not limited to: Harjit Singh Gill, Joaquin Cienfuegos, Sara who hosts “Ecos de Libertad” on KillRadio, and many others.
I can not see any of them finding common cause with National Anarchists - weather or not they see a case for cultural isolation or not.
If you think the case for ethnic nationalism or "tribalism" is the only thing that sets National Anarchism apart from anti-authoritarian anarchism you need to do some research yourself.
horse shit
horse shit
If APOC did have a food
If APOC did have a food distro... This letter would be alot more realisitic. If it does in fact have a set up distro for communities of poc, whatever - I think there could really be some truth to calling out white anarchists for choosing fnb instead... When there is indeed that choice. So if they start one, which maybe this was a preface to, this may become an issue. But the obvious has been pointed out in this letter. Scene cred in punk culture and such is very racist in it's assumptions about conformity.
I think APOC can do some great things for liberation. Structurally, not as it is being represented here though. APOC or something should seize space for themselves. It's shitty to feel charity when you would be autonomous and independent by choice. Especially when that charity comes from an Identity that limits that choice, monopolizes cultural spaces that exist, create norms that contradict the norms of ones own identity, etc. This stuff is all real... FNB has cultural norms and such to comment on. This isn't the first person I have seen trying to fight for their Identity in an anarchist/activist culture with plent of hegemonic norms and even standards.
-Squee
r.a.c.
r.a.c.
There is nothing more
There is nothing more entertaining than an angry 15 year old with internet access.
"That's right, if you can't
"That's right, if you can't walk the walk, shut the fuck up."
So Kay-dub, what do you do for your community that allows you to stand on such a pedestal?
It's utterly beautiful to
It's utterly beautiful to watch APOC destroy itself.
Word. :)
Word.
:)
seems maybe (some of) APOC
seems maybe (some of) APOC is having issues with separatists. There are groups of color similar to the White phenomenon of "Nationalist Anarchists" who are racist as fuck and the nationalist separatism usually stems from that. See the so-called "New Black Panther Party" ( http://www.newblackpanther.com/ ) (see There Is No New Black Panther Party: An Open Letter From the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation: http://www.blackpanther.org/newsalert.htm )
There are of course well-meaning NBPP members, just as there are well-meaning (yet misguided) people organizing for WCW and yet have no idea who the RCP is, let alone that the WCW is a front group for them. we were able to recruit many of their younger ranks into our blocs at the DNC in Denver, and were able to talk to them about front groups and fucking shitheads like the RCP.
anyways all i'm sayin' is i guess APOC would be a logical target for infiltration by separatist nationalist (and yes, racist) POC.
Here is the catch. You see
Here is the catch. You see APOC as being likely target national separatists to infiltrate, right? We can all read back over the history of - and talk to the founders of - the APOC movement and see it as an authentic organic response to the north american anarchist setting it was founded within.
On the other hand, if you bother to read the articles on the International Third Position's SYNTHESIS web zine, it is plain to see that BANA, and other National Anarchists groups are as a whole, from their very foundations, an attempt at White Nationalists to engage in Entryism into the north american anarchist/leftist milieu.
White people sure do get
White people sure do get defensive in a hurry, and the shit that many of you are spouting is absolutely disgusting.
I don't see one ounce of validation for the critiques that are being brought up here, just bitter defensiveness.
Fuck yeah kay-dub, thank you for bringing your perspective.
validation? the author
validation? the author explicitly said they don't want my validation or care what i think. and sure, white people do dumb and fucked up things. all the time. but what kind of critique is this:
"Did it ever cross your mind that people of color cannot do as you do? Did it cross your mind that dumpster diving is a practice that comes with risks for people of color you know nothing about? And quit fucking up the dumpsters."
Yes, these things have more than crossed my white mind. And I hate folks that blow up dumpsters too. but it doesn't make any goddamn sense to chastise folks for invalidating experiences and then respond with the exact same behavior. white, black or brown, i'm not especially interested in engaging with leftists or essentialists.
lovely how you've ignored
lovely how you've ignored the influx of people coming in and saying "I'm a POC, and this is bullshit."
Just stupid essentialist platformism, with an american twist.
I am a POC, and this the an
I am a POC, and this the an anonymous internet posting, so maybe I am not a POC, maybe anyone can say they are anything on teh interwebz?
I see, so if anyone who
I see, so if anyone who claims to be a POC disagrees with you, they must be a white liar, because that's categorically impossible. Goddamn you are a racist piece of crap! I don't even think most skinheads would claim that POC are incapable of at least some diversity of opinion.
No, their just "Race
No, their just "Race Traitors," apparently.
I see you can stick your
I see you can stick your head as far up your ass as they can. go team anarchy!
"team anarchy"? No, sorry
"team anarchy"? No, sorry your a part of team "POC folk socialism." Why dont you people just come out as nationalists and be done with it?
Does teh interwebz make
Does teh interwebz make people retarded, or does it just enhance the retarded that is there to began with? Maybe the anti-civ douchebags do have a point after all.