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Why and How I oppose G-20
Of course, not every instance of every type of problem is directly caused by the G-20 Central Bank Governors & International Finance Ministers, but when the U.S. government bailed out the international banks (to the tune of $Trillions), this was a direct handout of of taxpayer dollars to to the elite corporate bankers -- with hardly any strings attached. It was a plain robbery of the taxpaying masses. If this money had been given in the name of the people, it would have been (more or less) socialist. However, since this money was given directly to multi-national corporate banks... it amounts to corporate socialism (fascism). By the essential definition, and in many other noteworthy ways, the G-20 group of Central Bank Governors & Finance Ministers (along with the leaders of their respective nations) are fascists. This, of course, will be denied by the leaders themselves and the masses over whom they rule, but a fascist by any other name smells as sweet (if it walks like a duck [to mix a metaphor]). The fact that most of the masses do not recognize the the type of organization which governs their lives, or the fact that they don't really care, is only a testament to the cultural indoctrination and perfection of propaganda techniques these oligarchs have utilized. They've come a long way since Goebbels and Trotsky. And those who do recognize the fascism are marginalized and generally powerless. This is a testament to the international surveillance society which Orwell's Big Brother could have only dreamed of (email is much more efficient than the memory hole). Nevertheless, large masses of determined people around the globe oppose the G-20 oligarchs. The recognized inhumanity of the fascistic national leaders unites those of every nation who value peace and freedom. The common masses around the globe have a common enemy in the G-20 oligarchs. There is no need to search for some secret cabal – the villains of our age flaunt their power and celebrate their diabolical successes publicly. They have yet to face the growing resistance. But have no doubt... with each drone missile that kills scores of civilians, with each member of the bourgeoisie who finds theirself bankrupt and foreclosed upon, with each new river that can no longer support aquatic life, with each child who dies of starvation, the resistance grows. And despite how deadly toxic much of the technology created by this system is, we suddenly (and perhaps fleetingly) have the mass communication tools at our disposal to quickly organize against the fascist G-20 oligarchs. We may not yet have the numbers to throw off our oppressors, but we must act now to draw attention to the issues and to inspire others to act. And we should not underestimate our ability to quickly rally the disenfranchised into action. One of our strengths is abundance of options available in ways protest (boycotts, strikes, cyber-protests, et cetera). But taking to the streets in large public demonstrations is essential (however, you will not necessarily have to be in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania on September 24-25 to protest). Solidarity protests will take place during the G-20 Summit in cities around the world and it is important for everyone who opposes the fascist tyranny to organize locally in that effort. And we really need some people to organize tirelessly if we want to make this protest a success – it is essential that you spread the word about this protest, in simple populist terms, through all forms of media (from radio talk shows and editorials to blogs and twitter). Ambitiously, but also perhaps most simply, the most effective form of protest can take place in the form of a general strike. Whether overtly or subtly, people can call in sick from work (with the swine flu) and withdraw their participation in the system at large (since the oligarchs are the ones who inevitably end up profiting the most from your labor). We can also withdraw our financial support from the institutions which the oligarchs profit from most directly (and towards which they show so much favor [in the form of bailouts]). These institutions are getting trillions of dollars in corporate welfare (at the expense of the common taxpayer) and deserve to face a complete withdrawal of public support. The Choice of whether or not to ignore this protest, and the issues surrounding it, is up to you. But have no doubt... we will all have to face the reality of these issues sooner or later. I urge you to use your creativity and to get involved with spreading the word about this protest. This is the revolution, a revolt at very least, and we are the revolutionaries – now is the time to act. |
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more delusional activist
more delusional activist bullshit. you are going into this protest with the wrong attitude. you are promoting this protest as if its the main event. so the "rulers" are meeting for a normal chat over coffee and donuts and you plan to make them listen or to destroy them? good luck. it all sounds like another spectacle on your part, except it's a spectacle of the slave revolt. one where you use words like "the masses" (do you speak for this non-existent ambiguous blob??) and "revolution" and then don't define them. fuck all spectacles. especially the spectacle of a cartel or ruling group of people that rule our lives--that just makes illusions to the typical Jewish banker conspiracy theory. and the spectacle of the victimized "masses" who rise up at some stupid summit. i do not support the underdog spectacle just because they are the underdog or the ruling spectacle.
you are fronting when you know you haven't a good hand to play. quit spouting your romantic rhetoric and get out of your subcultural bubble. you're fucking useless!
if anything, the continuance of the summit model pattern will continue: just a few ugly windows will get broken and then comrades will get arrested
-tuna-cake
This would be an entirely
This would be an entirely inappropriate use of spectacle, which to Debord and other Situationists who used the term defined a social relation mediated by images (specifically capital accumulated to the degree that it becomes image). Therefore people do not act spectacularly by merely coming together and doing something "spectacular", but by relating based on / in relation to their subjectivities and images under capital. Certainly all protest has it's place within the spectacle, but if we're merely protesting what's the point anyway?
Well, obviously, as with the
Well, obviously, as with the way Debord writes, there's PLENTY of room for misinterpretation.
It's more that people
It's more that people appropriate language they both don't understand or critically engage with.
so every word one uses has
so every word one uses has to follow the historical usage? I could use the word "spectacle" to say that some event is just for show. It's an absurd caricature of reality, but claims to be meaningful. It is, yes, something is mediated by an image.
tuna-cake
Well it could be constructed
Well it could be constructed into a Situation if there is a good deal of radical participation and near by spectators receive a reversal of perspective a la the Situ analysis of the Watts riots.
Did you really read the
Did you really read the comment, and more importantly, did you really read Society of the Spectacle? I find both hard to swallow by your response. The G-20 riots pitting the "masses" against the "massuhs" is a delusional attempt at creating a media spectacle that is subverting the reality of the actual state of the "masses," which are, for the most part, scared, oblivious, and drunk.
It's always a shame when a
It's always a shame when a counter-revolutionary troll gets the first comment. Nevertheless... I suppose the obfuscation has to be responded to. It's disgusting the way the commenter equates "the spectacle" with any sort of uprising or revolt or protest against it. My reading of Debord does not have the same post-modernist, "why bother", conclusions. I can only imagine similar statements to this current comment being made on a slave plantation in early 19th century Kentucky. As if it's all just the spectacle and the master might beat some of us if we rise up against him and the prevailing order -- and none of the other plantations are likely to join us anyway. Seriously, this comment might as well have been paid for by some sort of G-20 PR shill group. I'm not saying it was (I think it was probably written by someone who is just too cool to revolt or approve of anything like it), but honestly... subcultural bubble? What subculture is that, the one trying to overthrow the system? Is that the subculture you want me to abandon? Instead... why don't you go fuck yourself? You Nazi-sympathizing apologist pieces of shit should go down with the other fascists as far as I'm concerned. You offer nothing except admonitions and chicken-shit warnings. Isn't there some nice liberal or libertarian site you could troll? You'd probably find more spectacle there because this article and this site really isn't focused on things like healthcare reform or a tea parties (which might more easily be classified as part of the spectacle). So you can name drop or use anarchist terms all you want but... if you oppose revolt and revolution your anarchist credentials might suffer a little bit.
Anyway... I hope others reading this article saw something in it beyond the typical summit-hopping proposal and see the potential for revolution spreading from a successful revolt.
http://twitter.com/nihilozero
http://nihilo0.blogspot.com
So what exactly were the
So what exactly were the solutions offered by Debord in Society of the Spectacle?
"They perpetuate an economic
"They perpetuate an economic system which should properly be called fascism (corporate socialism) and destroy large numbers of people along with the environment."
No, I think it's called capitalism. Let's not pretend like political activists don't use the word 'fascism' to describe the socio-economic organization of society because of it's emotional and historical power either. To say that fascism has somehow superseded or surpassed capitalism ignores that capitalism utilizes (whether consciously through the ruling class - an occasional reality - or simply apart of it's functioning) pre-capitalist forms of repression. The state, class society, etc, all predate capitalism, but they play an important part in it's continuance. So fascism is no different (seeing as how it's a direct product of capitalism). Fascism definitely isn't what governs life -- capitalism is.
This 1% crap is ridiculous. The ruling class is not solely responsible for perpetuating capitalism. In fact, it could be said that the proletariat - no matter how generalized of a condition it is - has more to do with perpetuating capitalism, as it's sole function is to reproduce the material and subjective conditions of capitalism through it's exploited labor. I'm not playing devils advocate, though. I just like to know what the fuck I'm talking about (or at the very least, attempt to know what the fuck I'm talking about). That other 99% is just as capitalist as those bankers and whatnot. Maybe not in ideological terms, but certainly in their function. Your populism is shit.
"Elites vs. the people" stuff is leftist masturbation. They're probably gonna need a hell of a lot of tissues after this summit...
=P
y'all makin these comments
y'all makin these comments need to get out a little bit. take a breath of air away from that screen a little bit. it's outgassing some stupid gas into your heads. while you're playin around with words and slangin shit all over the place some folks are tryin to organize a little anti-party to the corporate party. what's wrong with that (unless you're a part of the corporate party)? take a little of that anger your slangin at nihilo zero and bring it in pittsburgh why dont ya, eh? ok, fine; fuck the breakaway march if you want and the slogans and the rhetoric. but bring something of your own to share in pittsburgh. otherwise i think you're just a little pukey ass troll turd or a computermasterbator. put a little machismo where your mouth is, in other words, since you come on like such warriors. otherwise, how about shut the fuck up?
here here!
here here!
It's actually "hear,
It's actually "hear, hear."
=Mister Grumpy
LMAO YOU PEOPLE ARE THE BEST
LMAO YOU PEOPLE ARE THE BEST
The person flying mud on to
The person flying mud on to this call for active rebellion should be ignored simply put but I've got a scratch that's just achen to be itched. You just don't know who this guy is or who he's working for. He could be working for the government trying to use his forceful words and intimidation to make us feel less inclined to stand up against the G20 and burn cities all across the United States. I don’t know whose side you are on buddy but this insurrectionary anarchist is not on yours. If you're really a anarchist and believe in the down fall of the U.S. government and all hierarchical systems you better start getting real and recognize the potential we have for revolt in this country. We've got real people who don't just want to burn trash bins and break windows with a bunch of kids and go home after alright. Stay home if you’re so afraid of what might be going down. We've got people who have no home to go to and no job and that have lost custody of their children and went to jail and so on and so forth. There are people that want to destroy all over the country and you want to discourage us from that. What kind of a fuckin anarchist are you? You know the more you prolong the violent upheaval the more violent it’s gonna be when it all explodes and you think using catchy words have any effect at stopping any of it? You've got a lot to learn. Don't work against the resistance. Encourage mass disobedience and violence against the system. If you believe in self-governance and egalitarianism, you want the burning and looting to begin today. You want the street battles with police. You want the shootouts with ar15s against the boys in blue. You want the bank of Americas to go up in flames. You want the federal buildings to be blown to kingdom come. You want the end of capitalism and government all together to usher in a new era of freedom. You want insurrection and if you don't then wtf are you doing here and why don't you just the military to try and stop us rather than trying to sound smart on your free time off work with nothing constructive to write about?
-tuna-cake asshole
-tuna-cake asshole
Seconded.
Seconded.
"The person flying mud on to
"The person flying mud on to this call for active rebellion should be ignored simply put but I've got a scratch that's just achen to be itched. You just don't know who this guy is or who he's working for. He could be working for the government trying to use his forceful words and intimidation to make us feel less inclined to stand up against the G20 and burn cities all across the United States."
now your jacketing? are you fucking for real? this is the internet buddy, the same thing could be said about anyone including yourself! how would you like it if i called you anna or something? hey everyone, i think anna is trying to fuck with the anarchist milleu by getting us to all go fuck shit up in broad day light while surrounded by police...
...now to be more serious I AM NOT jacketing you, just so you know, i am making a point about your parinoid rehtoric and it's logical conclusion, and no, i am also not saying trust everyone, which is equally absurd if not more so (personally, on these matters, the ones that go beyond rehtoric, i would only be trusting those who were actually in on the deed with me and otherwise keeping my fat mouth shut about it but that is just common sense procedure for most illegal things).
one more thing: i am not staying home because i am scared...i am staying home because i just so happen to be a vetran of these kind of stunts from my past and i see that they lead exactly nowhere as a rule, exceptions do not invalidate this as a rule.
So what is this all going to
So what is this all going to accomplish? How will it bring us closer to a classless society free of coercive social relations? Can we really attain such a shift in society by coercion? If you can make a case that rioting in the streets is not coercive, I would really love to read it.
"So what is this all going
"So what is this all going to accomplish? How will it bring us closer to a classless society free of coercive social relations? Can we really attain such a shift in society by coercion? If you can make a case that rioting in the streets is not coercive, I would really love to read it."
rioting in the streets is not some be all end all, it is one of many forms of social war so welcome to the real world (hey, we didn't start the social war, and actually no one currently alive did, it has been raging for thousands of years now ya know?). now can you make a case for how working to plant seeds in peoples hearts and minds, passive resistance, or droping out is going to negate class society and give us control of our lives (this has been being done for years, we are still wage slaves)? you know, i would love to hear a valid argument about this, it is not as if i want to see people get hurt, i just want this shit to end, all of it, whatever must come to bring this about. of course i also don't know that these are your ideas, i am guessing, you didn't state you ideas, which is fine. at any rate we live in a situation of conflict: when someone strikes you in general it is time to strike them back tit for tat. it is always nice when you can reason with your opponent, of course, but this is the rarest of possiblities. so whats left? either you defend yourself or let yourself be stepped on, that is what is left. i love the humanity of so many pacifists, it is a very nice and reedeming trait, don't get me wrong, but you know what they say about the best of inentions and in our atmoshpere such attitudes happen to be the most ineffective of all, even more than a black bloc!
i'm all out of bullshit, can
i'm all out of bullshit, can i borrow yours?
thanks for the binary with-us-or-against-us sentiment and the call for machismo.
some of us might have played this cops vs. protesters game too many times to get wet about it any more. straight up, everyone i know in PGH is stressed about crimethinc and G20; it'd be better if everyone focused on the AWESOME PGH anarchist community, rather than just going there to smash windows so people in power can arrest some kids (because that's all that will happen).
don't get me wrong, i'm all about gettin wild, but let's do it somewhere that the cops and feds haven't been monitoring and building fences for months. let's stop letting them write the script.
- DBC
Lol, where else did you have
Lol, where else did you have in mind? Stop trying to control what should be individual revolt. We (and I) will do as we please, thanks very much. And that may or may not include the smashing of windows. I'm fucking sick of these hipster-anarchists who only want to protect their cutesy little scenes instead of thinking about the majority of the working poor who are the real ones affected by the hierarchies. and stop talking down to people, like you know a better way to be an anarchist.
FAST FORWARD THE REVOLUTION
“Fire Fire Fire” How
“Fire Fire Fire”
How many calls have there been made already for fire and action nation wide coinciding with the G20 SUMMIT?
I would love to see anarchists taking autonomous actions all across the United States w/ in their own communities not just to confront capitalism but to show the world how tired of it we truly are.
I have total respect for a diversity of tactics.
(-A-)
"Lol, where else did you
"Lol, where else did you have in mind? Stop trying to control what should be individual revolt. We (and I) will do as we please, thanks very much."
you're a complete idiot. how is point out the stupidity of summits controlling? how is disorganized individual revolt going to create social change? do as you please, by all means, but that doesn't mean the rest of us won't point out how ridiculous it is.
"Lol, where else did you
"Lol, where else did you have in mind?"
you should have read the post all the way to the end. this is what i had in mind:
"don't get me wrong, i'm all about gettin wild, but let's do it somewhere that the cops and feds haven't been monitoring and building fences for months. let's stop letting them write the script."
- DBC
I've got to agree with the
I've got to agree with the last commentator.
well, i am all for
well, i am all for individual or group revolt, personally, yes. honestly, i wish those trying to cause insurrection at the G-20 well, why wouldn't i? but at the same time, it is ridiculous. how many times must we continue to bang our heads into a wall and fall flat on our face doing the same damn thing? seattle basically died in seattle (and seattle didn't make things any less capitalist either, it was a flash in the pan really, people have done bigger things well before any of us were breathing), our social enemies are not stupid as a rule (some of them are probably very dumb individually i am sure but i am thinking in a more collective vein): they base their tactics off of what we do and where we go and look for our weaknesses? should we not do the same thing? i hate to have to paraphrase such disgusting scum as lenin but i think if we want to do revolution/insurrection whatever right we should learn a little more about chess. try and think as many moves ahead of your opponent as you can and that is your best hope of winning.
Exactly. Do you think
Exactly. Do you think they're expecting us? Do you think they're prepared for 10 Seattle Riots happening concurrently? God damn right. That said, they do sleep. I prefer a sleeping fascist in a onesie to one in riot gear. It's all about picking your spot.
"Exactly. Do you think
"Exactly. Do you think they're expecting us? Do you think they're prepared for 10 Seattle Riots happening concurrently? God damn right. That said, they do sleep. I prefer a sleeping fascist in a onesie to one in riot gear. It's all about picking your spot."
fascism is merely one form the social enemy takes and the term, i feel, is way over used to the point of hiding what it really means. other than that though i am glad to see that someone get's my point. indeed, it is more effective to strike where the opponent is not expecting the blow. anyone who has ever wond up in a garden variety fight can tell you that much and it applies that much more to a social war.
"Lol, where else did you
"Lol, where else did you have in mind? Stop trying to control what should be individual revolt. We (and I) will do as we please, thanks very much. And that may or may not include the smashing of windows. I'm fucking sick of these hipster-anarchists who only want to protect their cutesy little scenes instead of thinking about the majority of the working poor who are the real ones affected by the hierarchies. and stop talking down to people, like you know a better way to be an anarchist."
FAST FORWARD THE REVOLUTION
yeah, cause all anarchists have evvvvvvvvver came up with was summit hoping, oh, and of course any anarchist who doesn't agree with this model, oh yeah, definitly a hipster bike co-op drop out kid wanting to protect their cutesy middle class scene so, ya know, just write em' off and make the next announcement and be sure to include the meet up space in that. fuck (takes another HUGE swig from bottle etc....).
"y'all makin these comments
"y'all makin these comments need to get out a little bit. take a breath of air away from that screen a little bit. it's outgassing some stupid gas into your heads. while you're playin around with words and slangin shit all over the place some folks are tryin to organize a little anti-party to the corporate party. what's wrong with that (unless you're a part of the corporate party)? take a little of that anger your slangin at nihilo zero and bring it in pittsburgh why dont ya, eh? ok, fine; fuck the breakaway march if you want and the slogans and the rhetoric. but bring something of your own to share in pittsburgh. otherwise i think you're just a little pukey ass troll turd or a computermasterbator. put a little machismo where your mouth is, in other words, since you come on like such warriors. otherwise, how about shut the fuck up?"
are you even reading what your critics are saying or just getting flustered about it? if you were actually paying attention people are pointing out that none of this is effective (and, yes, the nature of social control does most certainly not add up to a group of men puffing cigars in a back room somewhere, there are plenty of these of course but there is also plenty more too it like, i dunno, the ways institutions have perpetuated themselves in our conditioning over years and years and years). do the last conventions ring a bell to anyone? was this not enough humiliation? why don't you take some of that anger to your everyday life and add a little bit of calculation to it, you know, study your surroundings, search for the proper spot in the under belly to lay the knife for fucking crying out loud? you know, instead of doing it in plain view after making an anonucement about the matter. i hate to say shit like that sounds this trite, especially since i am repeating myself again, but use your imagination...for once, please, just try it once. and before anyone asks, no, i do not have a handbook, wouldn't want tuna cake to come and arrest me (i am just kidding tuna cake, i get what your saying, don't see you as a pig).
You all are some of the
You all are some of the funniest people ever. I guess I came in a little bit strong in my comment, but I am only expressing my frustration with the idiocy of most anarchists these days. And the stupidity of feeling like we have to DO SOMETHING...ANYTHING! because shit sucks. This breeds stupid actions and theory. I have no desire to control peoples idea of revolt, but I dont have to support certain tactics or hide behind the usually abstract idea of having a "diversity of tactics"--which usually serves to ignore the ineffectual nature of many of our tactics. I egg on for your hostility because I want the same back. I feel that everything in anarchy land is absurd and I want to see disruption of our habits and tactics.
Most people who are actively or consciously trying to overthrow the system have a bloated sense of self. They quote figures as if we don't already know. They try and prove their case logically. They posit that there is some kind ruling class of bankers to destroy and than all will be free. They are my enemies just as much as Capital and the State are my enemies. They speak for some kind singular We and I feel they really want to control revolt more people are claiming that I do. They tell those who question the summit protest model that they are fucking Nazi-sympathizers, leading me to think that they have no real understanding up the nature of capital and the state. Or they feel that they are in some kind of impenetrable subcultural bubble that is immune to criticism and state repression. They punch walls they can't break and they continue to do it over and fucking over. I can see trying and experimenting with the ways we fuck shit up, but I am not insane enough to try things that have failed over and over. Summit protests sound like a good opportunity to fuck shit up or maybe build capacity to destroy, but it's not gonna fuckin start a revolution. You all seem to exaggerate your importance and your numbers. I have a strong desire to see all the shit around me be destroyed. I am tired of paying rent. I am tired of lots and lots of things, but I don't feel like going to a spectacle (the summit) will actualize my desires. You are a spectacle because you fight on the terrain of capital. You are more likely to fight when they hold summits.
You are making some serious accusations when you call me a Nazi-sympathizer. Or that I am some kind of government agent. Also I don't claim to be some kind of insurrectionist anarchist because that's another abstraction. Insurrection is a moment in time. It's an uncontrollable moment when the state and capital lose social control. I dont define it. Black Blocs are not insurrection. I am for such things, but I do not feel that one can consciously create one. To form an ideology around that is another boring example of how stupid the anarchist mileu is.
cant write anymore.
tuna-cake
<3 laozi
<3
laozi
Everything is on the terrain
Everything is on the terrain of capital...
Everything needs to be critiqued, but we who critique also need not be sloppy in our language.
The Summit should not be a model. There are merely opportunities for us to develop our fighting strength and times when many are together and relatively on the same page seem like a good time to experiment (at least in absence of other proposals, which are in dire need).
The question is always, when can we get together and DESTROY EVERYTHING?
yes, you are right. but a
yes, you are right. but a summit is definitely a different degree. it's a hyper militarized zone.
word em up, well put. a
word em up, well put. a riot doesn't mean i won't have to pay rent next month. and it'll probably my friends in jail, and take lotsa money and hours and concern for a fucking symbolic protest.
- DBC
Anarchy is not lack of order
Anarchy is not lack of order - its lack of ORDERS
' Who wants to join the LAST revolution?
The one to take down ALL of the states.'
Jim Bell
Are you seriously out now
Are you seriously out now Jim? I heard Sept. 09, but I guess it's September now.
"...Most people who are
"...Most people who are actively or consciously trying to overthrow the system have a bloated sense of self. They quote figures as if we don't already know. They try and prove their case logically. They posit that there is some kind ruling class of bankers to destroy and than all will be free. They are my enemies just as much as Capital and the State are my enemies. They speak for some kind singular We and I feel they really want to control revolt more people are claiming that I do. They tell those who question the summit protest model that they are fucking Nazi-sympathizers, leading me to think that they have no real understanding up the nature of capital and the state. Or they feel that they are in some kind of impenetrable subcultural bubble that is immune to criticism and state repression. They punch walls they can't break and they continue to do it over and fucking over. I can see trying and experimenting with the ways we fuck shit up, but I am not insane enough to try things that have failed over and over. Summit protests sound like a good opportunity to fuck shit up or maybe build capacity to destroy, but it's not gonna fuckin start a revolution. You all seem to exaggerate your importance and your numbers. I have a strong desire to see all the shit around me be destroyed. I am tired of paying rent. I am tired of lots and lots of things, but I don't feel like going to a spectacle (the summit) will actualize my desires. You are a spectacle because you fight on the terrain of capital. You are more likely to fight when they hold summits.
You are making some serious accusations when you call me a Nazi-sympathizer. Or that I am some kind of government agent. Also I don't claim to be some kind of insurrectionist anarchist because that's another abstraction. Insurrection is a moment in time. It's an uncontrollable moment when the state and capital lose social control. I dont define it. Black Blocs are not insurrection. I am for such things, but I do not feel that one can consciously create one. To form an ideology around that is another boring example of how stupid the anarchist mileu is.
cant write anymore."
tuna-cake
sigh...you too eh (big swing of the bottle, spits acid, rolls eyes)? same page.
People can do damage in
People can do damage in different states while the G20 is meeting to show them how unwelcome they are not just in Pittsburgh but the United States and anywhere in the world for that matter. I don't see how that would be impossible. I think it's a brilliant idea to let them and their associates know where we're comin from. Damage doesn’t have to be done just in Pittsburgh alone you guys. Anarchists living in different parts of the country can form their own affinity groups and carry out a quick and unannounced action. It’s been done before small scale. If the word is spread out long enough and is well organized it might not be so small. Think of it like this. Pittsburgh get’s hit really hard while little actions are popping up all over the U.S. I can already see the NEWS headlines “Corporate America Under Siege?” lol
"People can do damage in
"People can do damage in different states while the G20 is meeting to show them how unwelcome they are not just in Pittsburgh but the United States and anywhere in the world for that matter. I don't see how that would be impossible. I think it's a brilliant idea to let them and their associates know where we're comin from. Damage doesn’t have to be done just in Pittsburgh alone you guys. Anarchists living in different parts of the country can form their own affinity groups and carry out a quick and unannounced action. It’s been done before small scale. If the word is spread out long enough and is well organized it might not be so small. Think of it like this. Pittsburgh get’s hit really hard while little actions are popping up all over the U.S. I can already see the NEWS headlines “Corporate America Under Siege?” lol"
yes well and good...but the point is this: why wait for a summit when every single day is another nightmare and there is so much worthy of destruction?
Is anyone saying that there
Is anyone saying that there should only be protest during summit meetings and only in the city where that summit is taking place? This article didn't suggest that. However, that said, these summits provide an easily understood focal point for why a revolution is needed. The people meeting at the G-20 do, in fact, make policies which ruin the world. They think of themselves as leaders, and so do many other people. These summits therefore give as an opportunity to let them know exactly what we think of their leadership. Also, while I'm in favor of year round action, when we protest during a summit of this sort it's more clear in terms of who and what we are protesting against.
I try to look at this pragmatically and would love if people clearly understood every action against corporate control -- but isolated actions on any random day are more easily distorted by the media and are less understood by those who have little idea that any resistance even exists. So these summits provide the opportunity for all of us who would resist to know that our actions will more likely be seen as a revolutionary movement -- rather than merely the actions of a few small fringe groups. And again... a primary point in the article was that people SHOULD protest in solidarity with the Pittsburgh actions while that protest is happening there. Another point is that we should perhaps be a little more populist about this because most people across the political spectrum oppose the worst aspects of oligarchic greed. These troubling times are when we should be trying to present alternatives to the current system while working to bring it down. At some point, and at some level, I think a general strike can and should be organized (on a global scale).
The importance of mass demonstrations has been shown historically to bring about change if not merely attention to the problems at hand, and so I support such protests. Of course summit protesting is not all anyway should ever do (nobody is suggesting that), but it has and can be an important element of revolution. Instead of fear mongering and whining about how it's hopeless, perhaps if more effort were put into supporting the protest more people would show up and behave more boldly. And even if they do have a good security plan, there is no need to directly confront them at their most fortified points. Cities are large and locals have some idea of the terrain as well, so there is no need to act like it is the G-20's city or that they will have every square inch of it locked down. Be creative with your actions, be bold, and try not to get caught. That's about all a revolutionary can do. Yes, some people will go down and that's truly a shame. But we're all getting screwed anyway by the system these G-20 types are coordinating so... at least if we have to go down we can go down struggling rather than in our sleep. There is still time to promote this protest, and the broader revolution surrounding it. So, instead of all the counter-revolutionary discouragement, why not try to make something happen and stop working for the system? We have the tools, we have the numbers, we have clear examples of the havoc being wrought by the fascist system. All we need now is a little hope and courage.
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honestly i don't really
honestly i don't really think people are saying that protesting is the only thing to do...it is the weight given to it, and the weight that has been given to it ever since i have been involved in things up to present, this has been my main experience of the american anarchist milleu: it seems people either fetish protests or they fetish small carved out niches. i will confess my own "guilt" here: i used to be one such person, in fact back in the day when i was at my start doing this i was going on and on about how anarchist federations were the greatest thing since sliced bread (though that really isn't so great, too much processing). then i actually made contacts with said federations, saw how the consensus process really played out (i have gone on about it in numerous other posts), and this disillusioned me though that is beside the point...i also attended plenty of protests, always waiting for the one that exploded into a riot. i am not some fear monger nor is it merely my cyncism (which i will admit) speaking and calling things hopeless: i am speaking from experience of seeing how easy it is for the pigs to route these things. i will grant, i missed one protest, that i hadn't even heard about, not till after the fact, that i was later told did turn into a riot (this would be in toledo, ohio...a mere attempt to push the demonstrating nazis out of town turned into street warfare with the pigs but, i might add, the next time this same thing happened the pigs were prepared, it was lock down, and people were immidately met with force when arriving for the event).
as to the media what do you think the media exist to do? they will distort what we have to say no matter what it is we are doing, they are not our audience, the media is another part of the social enemy, an institution that, like even the most well meaning ones (for example, charity) just maintains the present order ultimately. two things on the media there: on the one hand i don't care what they have to say other than to disect its purpose, and, on the other hand, i have no illusion that the media is going to be a very worthwhile aid in negating the present order. another confession: i had a time where i tried to influence "hearts and minds" with letters to the editor and all that crap but those days of niavete are long dead for me (i am not saying you harbor such delusions or don't, i don't know you, i am giving you my experience).
as to leaders and the ruining of the world this is nothing new. it is built into civilization itself. this is why us anarchists could not bring about meaningful anything if we decided to try and meld with these institutions and push them in our own direction, it isn't the purpose of these institutions, those of capitalism, to make our lives good beyond how this effects making us work harder (like say certain ideas of managment which tries to make working a pleasurable expeirence, the benevolent velvet glove as opposed to the iron fist of tryranny, tyranny doesn't just come in one form). i would say the same for all institutions of mass society, even anarchist counter institutions that would try to keep mass society without all it's alienating consequences (i am convinced this can't be done, watching the consensus process in motion has etched this into my brain). the only way an anarchist could effect meaningful change through an institution is to fuck it up beyond repair. it is only in negating civilization itself, i feel, that we are ever going to have any possiblity of meaningful selfhood or community. i have given up on what i used to believe in when i began this and moved in a new direction as far as currents of anarchist thought and deed, for lack of a better way to word that, are concerned, not without plenty of heart break but this is what it came down to.
as to the general strike if it happened that would be awesome, at least if the aim was to abolish the present social order rather than simply to turn it into the pipe dream of self management that i feel would come back to the same thing. people have also been talking about the general strike, even on a global level, for long before we have been breathing, and it never has materialized, at least not this great and sweeping unbeatable general strike that grinds all industry to a halt that is. it is somewhat akin, in it's way, to those who long so much for collapse that they sit on their hands waiting for it to come or the type of drop out that thinks he/she can goad the entire population into leaving their jobs. it sounds pretty awesome but it never get's beyond well meaning talk. heads nod in agreement: "yeah, that would serve em' right" but then nothing is done to follow up, just talk about how sweet it would be. i will say this: if there is any hope of that sort of pipe dream ever working better talking points would be needed then "eating trash is free" (which people already do anyway thanks to the economy) and even then i wouldn't have much faith that this (or any one thing) would be enough.
what most people mean by populism, by the way, is the idea that we all have the same interests. we don't all have the same interests, this is impossible among thousands let alone billions and it is questionable even as you get up there into the hundreds. that and the idea that this amorphous "people" is some sort of infallible entity (no, all of us, even those of us posting here, have a hand in our own slavery, we are all damaged goods, fucked over and fucked up by capitalism. this is not to place blame, what good does that do? it is to ackonwledge the conditioning, and especially the social inertia, built into all of us but those in the most intolerable of situations, the most brutal situations in other words, in this whole mess, who themselves can be kept in place by fear of the death squads but who are more likely to strike out, there being nothing to lose for them). it isn't as simple as "these people are leaders" and "these people are slaves", the leaders themselves, whatever their motivation and however contemptible (and they are, to me, the most contemptible chunck of humanity, the greatest of scum) are not the root of the problem, it will not go away simply be ousting or killing them: the leaders themselves come to us from the very institutions that produce such leaders, should one rebel (or be offed, or ousted) there are plenty willing to take their place (and they can be drawn from anywhere in society, by the way, just they are more likely to be from the wealthy or the middle class). if all we wish to do is stick it to leaders, much as we might want to, we haven't even gotten past the notion of a coup to actual upheaval. so even leaders are slaves to institutions, even ones who know this have to play along with the rules they have created in order to fuel their own greed and sense of entitlement that they "worked hard and earned" being able to live in a mansion while most people starve (what poor vision and desire too! and, yes, on the part of some we have ideals that they know what is right for everyone, i am all to familiar with these types, their are benevolent dictators as well you know...and it comes to the same thing).
i don't have all the answers, no one does...i am just letting you know the things i have noticed over the years of my experience. i will say that whatever it takes to bring this society down, let it come crashing down...and the sooner the better. but protests aren't a very likely vehicle, not from my expeirence. whether they go on in one place or many places. i think a much better tactic, personally, as i have been saying, is to find as many ways to strike, and on as many levels of thought and deed as one can, with as many trusted associations as one can find, in everyday life. how this looks depends on the context and target and even here there are no guarantees but i feel it is the best option we have. also, these are not things to do just do do them. fetishing of thought is certainly a waste of time and energy but so too is fetishing of the deed itself.
Although I fear jinxing
Although I fear jinxing it... I just wanted to say thanks to the Anarchist News crew for maintaining this site AND for always putting up these awesome graphics with my articles. This "too big to fail" image with the Death Star is absolutely perfect. I think it speaks to the economics of the current system, the militarism, the general evil, and also the vulnerability of the system if we are brave enough to confront it. Anyway, yeah... thanks.
http://twitter.com/nihilozero
http://nihilo0.blogspot.com
Pittsburgh Summit
Pittsburgh Summit
You can help the
You can help the g20resistance by amplifying the message of anti-capitalism through direct action in your own community non-violently or violently I don't give a fuck. Do what ever you feel is necessary to bring attention to the cause.
Nihilo Zero makes a very goo point:
"I try to look at this pragmatically and would love if people clearly understood every action against corporate control -- but ISOLATED ACTION ARE MORE EASILY DISTORTED BY THE MEDIA AND HAVE LITTLE IDEA THAT ANY RESISTANCE EVEN EXISTS. So these summits provide the opportunity for all of us who would resist to know that our actions will more likely be seen as a revolutionary movement -- rather than merely the actions of a few small fringe groups."
Get a group of people together to decide on a target and scope out the place and wait till the 24th-25th to take action. HELP AMPLIFY THE MESSAGE FOR OUR CAUSE -A-
NO. NO MESSAGE, NO
NO.
NO MESSAGE, NO CAUSE.
Again, people adapting "insurrectionary" (whatever the fuck that means) rhetoric, but all they fucking have to offer is more bullshit messianic idiocy.
During the RNC there was a media report that was saying anarchists were causing rampant destruction, "without cause or ideology". That's the only time they should ever be right about us.
Are like some kind of hippie
Are like some kind of hippie who doesn’t believe in violence or what?
There was a time when I used to think insurrection was the goal of every anarchist but thanks to people such as you self I have come to learn otherwise. If sabotage/direct action and violence isn't the key to getting rid of government wtf are we to do and have we been wrong this entire time? I suppose you think Greek anarchists who blow up buildings and set fires and have street battles with cops are just as idiotic if not more? And "no cause"? Wtf do you mean by that dude? It sounds like you're purposely trying to get in the way to get others to rethink what they instinctively want to do which is to revolt. What's up with this divide in tactics in the anarchist community? What do you stand for? Other anarchists around the world would probably laugh their asses of if they ever read this debate and they'd probably say “stupid Americans don’t know how to stand up for them selves” and I would agree with them. The government in France fears the people because there are less pacifists like you over there; just another reason to add on to why I hate this country so much. The people here are fucking pathetic. All they do is read literature and have intellectual conversations over some coffee but don't do jack shit about the state of affairs we’re living in. You're fucking useless.
Cheers~
i am inclined to agree with
i am inclined to agree with you, this is what i have been going off about: american anarchism is a pathetic joke. while not trying to immitate them like it is some kind of model we really do, in our own context, need to think more like the greek anarchists. as for their being "no cause" i agree with this, there is no one cause, well, for me beyond the fact that my only immidiate "cause" is seeing the destruction of what is in it's totality (but there is so much to destroy at this point in history, things have gone that far...). as to the right way to approach this, there is no one right way, even people not inclined to violence have their place here but it isn't taking a shit on those who speak of social war because doing so they only prove to serve social control, if ignorantly and with the best of intentions that they truly believe are to the contrary (all to common...fuck good intentions as surely as greed and malevolence! sigh). as to what people do or do not do this is website, theory and critique (sometimes of practice, sometimes of theory, sometimes of both) and news happen here. you don't know what i or anyone else does outside of this place, i will tell you that, and if i or anyone else did do anything big wouldn't be talking about it here, i do not have a hankering for prison (well, i can't speak for others but i am not a stupid fool). that being said though i repeat myself: you are basically correct, sadly, about anarchism in america.
"NO. NO MESSAGE, NO
"NO.
NO MESSAGE, NO CAUSE.
Again, people adapting "insurrectionary" (whatever the fuck that means) rhetoric, but all they fucking have to offer is more bullshit messianic idiocy.
During the RNC there was a media report that was saying anarchists were causing rampant destruction, "without cause or ideology". That's the only time they should ever be right about us."
it is truly a sad spectacle indeed. disillusioned activists get a hold of IA theory (and no, i do not consider myself such though i do have my points in common with them...then again i do not consider myself any one simple thing, closest thing is a nihilist and even this is just another label) and their first thought is: awesome, this can amp up the protest scene...so IA get's absorbed into that milleu when it's entire point, for whatever it's worth, was that this milleu itself is useless and we should be taking social war (yes another label but bar with me, language has it's limits) outside of this milleu where it isn't expected and prepared for. a sad day in anarchist thought but then, welcome to the U.S. of A...most domesticated place on earth.