Margins of Reality - Episode 2 - Post-Left Anarchy

from https://margins.noblogs.org

The second episode of MARGINS OF REALITY - a podcast by and for unmenschen. This episode concerns the current state of the phenomenon called post-left anarchy. We read Wolfi Landstreicher's "From Politics to Life - Ridding anarchy of the leftist millstone" and Jason McQuinn's "Rejecting the Reification of Revolt".

Listen here: https://archive.org/details/podcastpla_202103

The crew for this episode was:
Nev Ferox
John Henri Nolette
Big Kat
Jason McQuinn

music:
The Tuss - Last Rushup 10 M
No Security - Vansinne

Send all comments and criticisms to marginals [at] riseup [dot] net

There are 24 Comments

Does Post-Left Anarchy mean anything to anyone other than a very small number of individuals who like to call themselves Post-Left Anarchists?

isn't that enough? would you prefer it if it was a global brand? is that how you measure theory, by how many people have heard the word?

Yes, mocking people for having real needs that they want to be addressed by your tendency, such an awesome go-to move, (snark). While it may be a lack of imagination to cling to the minimal care a health provider offers, it is understandable why a person would stick with it when the alternative is to have the man at the head of the room mock you for wondering how your needs might be met otherwise.

On canceling; of course there are those who use this to advance their own agenda. But really when you say you should be able to say all the racist etc, words and not suffer consequences it merely sounds as if you don't care at all about how other people wish to be spoken to or about. If we are engaged in a shared creating of our world does it not follow that words matter? I think caring enough about others to not absent-mindedly insult them is just showing respect.

is that how you measure theory, by how many people have heard the word?

The weaselly narcissism of this scene is a lockstep loyal expression of the narcissism of the larger society around us.

Wow I may no longer be a post-leftist , listening to this conversation lost me a few brain cells im sure, i guess you needed a laugh track because you know no one is laughing on their own with this

why are these wise anarchists recording this and for whom? to convince people?

if you want to be left alone to live your lives, dear egoist-anarchs, making podcasts for [reasons] might not be the best way to accomplish that.

you don't want your post-left anarchism reified on the [bad] internet by [ignorant] people? don't put it on the internet.

"Let's get some fuckin' post-left memes out on the internet and tear everything apart."

One of the main problems with this podcast is not specific to this podcast, but is a problem with the form in general. That is, the inside-joke/jargon aspect. Of course when you get together with two or three or four of you buddies you've already established a rapport and a conversational style that promotes a certain amount of self-referential themes/phrases/assumptions. For those who aren't part of the general tendency (in this case, post-left @), it can sound gratuitously snarky, smugly dismissive of your rivals (leftists and left-anarchists), and preemptively annoyed at the possibility of being called on your conclusions. I am quite sympathetic to the broad post-left @ trajectory, and I found myself wondering who these assholes were who use "identity politics" with the same vitriol and hostility as the talking heads on Fox News? There was no acknowledgement that most people who rail against IdPol are racist scumbags. There was no attempt to acknowledge that using "leftist" as a smear has a more accepted history among reactionaries than among anarchists. If you're going to introduce the topic and bring the ideas up to the present, then you need to start with something earlier than "there was this one issue of the magazine"... For example, WHY did Bob write Anarchy After Leftism? WHY did Jason publish it? WHY was it important to solicit essays from a wider range of authors to explain and expand on the problems of leftist idiocies derailing actual anarchist theory and practice? It felt like the podcast began in the middle of the conversation rather than at the beginning. Do better next time, please.

Using words means you are comparable to anyone who uses the same words!! Explain the world through everyone elses world before you reject a specific one! I! Am! An! Angry! Leftist!
... if you don’t get it you don’t get it homie
Most people who rail against the state are libertarians, maybe look a little deeper?

I HIGHLY doubt that. In actual fact there are a significant number of black yellow brown two legged and other ID associated demographics who are outright sick of IdPol. The racists represent a notable margin of this rejection but they are NOWHERE near the majority. You have a whole alt-left(warts and all) along with the radical center(IDW) as well as other tendencies like the radical sense making currents(which actually has some crossover into post-left anarchic ideas).

Rejecting IdPol ain't racist by any means.

once again SE showcases his insular bubble. no, rejecting IdPol doesn't make you racist, but just like when people like you claim to be anarchists, those of us who find your style of anarchism tiresome and obnoxious need to say "yeah I'm am anarchist, but not like that dipshit SE." since I despise identity pimps I have to say "yeah, I'm against IdPol, but I come at it from an anarchist position that has nothing in common with racist discourse. And here's why..."

The original point was that most who rail against IdPol ARE racists. The charactoral make up of someone like me is not even the issue against the original point. Anarchy has a long history of assholes who happen to be right.

Yeah, like Chomsky and his determinist theory on the relationship between language and free consciousness.

academic obtuseness: "The charactoral make up of someone like me..."

a simple alternative: "my character..."

Is this...

1- privileged neoliberal "anarchists" trying to sound very smart with words that barely even exist, as they ran out of their collection of obscure synonyms for words everyone uses

2- fluffy social media windbags who're straight up becoming illiterates

Your pick.

Q: is the discussion of SE's phrasing a type of anti-technocracy critique? Or nah? Is it merely aesthetics? Or some back-handed advice for getting on in the world? Anything of the sort? SE doesn't seem to be phased by any attempts to boooooo them off the stage. Other anarchists' attempts at such jeering indicates a subliminal fear of it imo. These days, with all the trolls and online state workers, an anarchist ought (no offense) to second guess these offenses (if had at all). Maybe I'm just a Libra.

PS: do y'all place the punctuation mark before or after the closing parenthesis in a sentence?

Just currious.

yeah, all hate is just fear or whatever maaan. you're at the george lucas level of psycho analysis, congrats!

Sooo true SE, omg those syndicalists are borderline fascists in their ideology of compulsory membership and participation.

Episode 2 so soon on the heels of episode 1: what's the rush?

the funny thing to me is that a group of 4 self proclaimed nihilists/egoists/individualists somehow managed to agree on every single thing they all said for over an hour of conversation. How is that possible? How is that any different than any of the shitty podcasts on the channel zero network where all the hosts and guests constantly agree on every subject and no topic is discussed in any actual depth or messiness. These guys all wanna pretend they are done with leftism but it still exists in their actions, tendency toward group think, and inability to discuss any of these ideas in a truly personal way. The conversation is always abstract and philosophical and none of the 4 people manage to challenge each other at all, it's a big agree fest. Just FYI, this critique is coming from someone who has no interest in leftism/activism/socialism/politix, etc.

would anybody with an affinity for post-left anarchy ideas that found this podcast to be rubbish be able to share what they would consider worthwhile post-left anarchy writings/podcasts/etc.

The Immediatism podcast would be a great place to start. It’s a one stop shop for a wide variety of post left perspectives. You could start with the all time top ten episodes. The Brilliant is another good option. Start at the end and work backwards. It’s not necessarily what folks on @news call post left, but if you’re into philosophy then Machinic Unconscious Happy Hour is worth a listen. Unfortunately the Ego Book Episodes are painful and I’d recommend avoiding them. The recent Libidinal Economy episodes are much more interesting from an anarchist perspective and the convo is less bro”ish”. For books Little Black Cart is the obvious starting point and after listening to some of the podcasts above you’ll have some familiarity with the titles to get you started. Hope that helps.

So, how come an egoistic populace disappeared and was replaced by one predicated on a socialistic tendancy? Was it due to population increasing? Was it due to 'technology?' Or... ?
What would be Mcquinn's life if he had his wish for an individualistic life as he appears to already have some idea of what it would look like?
Union of egoists agree to rob a bank. They do it. They each snitch on the rest hoping to avoid jail. Perhaps it is a truism to NEVER trust an egoist as they probably will snitch on you.... because that's their freedom and their autonomy folks. Today, the egoist says they wouldn't snitch; tomorrow, is another day and given 'flakyness' of egoism, would there be any reason to trust an egoist?

because non-egoists have never snitched. not ever. checkmate, egoist sneetches! your sneetch philosophy is inferior to the socialist philosophie which has never sneetched!

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