A Guide to Lock-Down-Critical Anarchist Writing

12 posts / 0 new
Last post
anon (not verified)
A Guide to Lock-Down-Critical Anarchist Writing

A Guide to Lock-Down-Critical Anarchist Writing

I am currently compiling a list of anarchist writing that is critical of the rising authoritarianism justified in the name of public health.

Please send me links and I will add them to this list. I can be reached at tenton@riseup.net

Thank you!

Kontrabandit

Canada/Quebec:

https://north-shore.info/2020/03/20/ask-a-different-question-reclaiming-...

https://mtlcounterinfo.org/no-police-based-solution-to-the-health-crisis/

https://mtlcounterinfo.org/against-the-curfew/

https://mtlcounterinfo.org/how-can-we-defend-the-freedom-of-assembly-in-...

https://mtlcounterinfo.org/thou-shalt-not-question-public-health-censors...

https://mtlcounterinfo.org/protesting-is-now-illegal-in-toronto/

https://itsgoingdown.org/against-police-covid-19-curfew-far-right/

U.S.A.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/salish-sea-black-autonomists-to-...

Romania:

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/m-e-k-a-n-estasy-in-the-time-of-...

Greece:

https://plagueandfire.noblogs.org/greece-flyer-distributed-in-athens-our...

Chile:

https://plagueandfire.noblogs.org/chile-an-anarchist-perspective-on-the-...

Italy:

https://plagueandfire.noblogs.org/interruptions/

Brazil

https://kolektiva.media/videos/watch/526e6ed9-3bb7-4722-9286-f949d0a842ae

U.K.

The most outspoken and prolific anarchist critics of lock-downs and rising authoritarianism writing in English seem to be based in the U.K.

See the archive of the South Essex Heckler for many articles:

https://thehecklersewca.wordpress.com/category/covid-19-crisis-lockdown-...

An Explainer on Our Changing Position on the COVID-19 Crisis

Part 1: https://thehecklersewca.wordpress.com/2020/06/03/an-explainer-on-our-cha...

Part 2: https://thehecklersewca.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/the-emerging-political-...

Part 3: https://thehecklersewca.wordpress.com/2020/04/27/a-sort-of-a-warning/

Also See Paul Cudenec’s Network 23:

https://network23.org/paulcudenec/2020/04/26/anarchists-against-freedom/

anon (not verified)
i hope you do a summary of these or something

think it deserves a story

kontrabandit (not verified)
Thanks! Yeah, the response

Thanks! Yeah, the response has been super positive. I've broken the ice on a topic that was taboo in some circles and it turns out that a lot of people were feeling like I was feeling...

I could post a guide to this writing if you think that would be appreciated. Here's a beginning:

In any case, here is a list of anarchist writing critical. I think some of it is actually quite amazing, really, and I really hope that it gets out to a broader audience.

Ecstasy in the Time of Cholera - (exploration of COVID-19 through the lens of biopolitics/biopower)

Anarchists Against Freedom by Paul Cudenec (very solid philosophical rejection of the false dichotomy which juxtaposes individual freedom and social responsibility)

Explainer of Our (Changing) Position on COVID-19 Crisis - by South Essex Heckler. This members U.K. collective are the most outspoken and prolific critic of COVID-19 restrictions I am aware of.

Reclaiming Autonomy of Action during the Virus - Hamilton Anarchist Critique of Technocracy

Our Dignity in Quarantine (Passionate Greek Anarchist Writing at its Finest - This is my top pick for literary value)

(see original post for links)

anon (not verified)
https://www.autistici.org
anon (not verified)
Do you know where the

Do you know where the "antilockdown.wordpress.com" author is based? On first glance looks really interesting.

anon (not verified)
No idea about that.

No idea about that.

anon (not verified)
why would you want to lock

why would you want to lock down critical anarchist writing?
plus this isn't even a guide, it's a list of articles about covid.

Eastern Tufted ... (not verified)
This pandemic forced me to consider very difficult choices

Here's one, from my direct personal experience:

I have a type of aspergers or autism (not sure which) where you absolutely have to be free to move around at any time, and any confinement sends my mind into a physically painful, "sit and spin, tighter and tighter" mode.

When the lockdowns came, I knew I could not consider compliance. I also knew that nobody knew much about this virus at that time, and I had to think long and hard about whether it was appropriate to continue in existance at all given that existing in confinement is not a viable option for me. I could not live with lockdown, yet also could not live with the price of my life being that others would die from this virus. On top of all else I have genetic lung problems and autoimmune issues and would be unlikely to survive the virus if I do get it. Thus if I could not escape the lockdown without getting the virus, I would gain nothing but others would pay the price.

The challenge became to find a way to live at all without contributing to the pandemic, and without any advice from the medical establishment whose "answer" to such questions is to lock people up. As it worked out, the way I survived was to get out of populated areas until defenses were found, and the consensus I got from friends was to keep going despite the risk. Exit the population in rejection of a pro-lockdown near-consensus, but don't exit the species. Break contact, deny them right to complain on grounds of no more risk to themselves. I held then, and I hold now that I can never be part of any social group that agrees to spend time in confinement as the price of breaking any disease, no matter how deadly. If everyone else wants to do this, I have to cut my ties to that community and exit their space.

I spent the next 6 weeks on the road as essentially a refugee from lockdown, deliberately in very remote areas that minimized the risk of either getting the virus or worse, passing it on. Think of this as the rolling or mobile quarantine that moves with you and your crew, rather than locking you in one place. I had zero prior camping experience and had a very difficult time, but I made it. While I was out, there was very nearly a gun battle in my neighborhood over stay-at-home enforcement between one neighbor and a patrolling band of do-gooders. By the time I returned to populated areas, it was understood that masks and staying outdoors when around people were effective defenses-and that lockdown enforcement had died out in my home turf. With everyone else ignoring the stay at home order, I could come back without introducing a unique hazard into the community.

A week and a half later, the cities blew. One murderous cop's knee set the match to the combustible mix racist policing added to lockdowns had created. In my town the response to this began literally on the same day the stay at home order was junked. Smoke rose over the city as two months of pent-up fury erupted into three nights of fire, tear gas, fireworks, and wierd police weapons. Fierce battles were fought day after day, and fences rose as statues fell. Due to the use of masks, we never had the expected surge in covid cases from the sudden appearance of crowds of thousands in the streets. The surges among cops after all those unmasked pro-Trump MAGAts showed up Nov-Jan later proved it was our masks that kept the virus away from us in the BLM protests. Seemingly all cases came from the jails, and did not spread back into us.

If I had lived in a place like Australia with their iron-fisted lockdown, I would not have lived to see that explosion. A failing state, remote areas, and trusted friends saved my life.

anon (not verified)
An anarchist guide to COVID Skepticism

An anarchist guide to COVID Skepticism

Hey, so I compiled a list of links to anarchist writing from around the world that is skeptical of the dominant narrative around COVID-19. Please check it out and make suggestions for things I should add!

https://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownCriticalLeft/comments/m0cdii/anarchists...

anon (not verified)
Reposted!
anon (not verified)
opposition to lockdowns, imo,

opposition to lockdowns, imo, ought to be defined by one's actions in not conforming. not in making broad statements about what others - much less the government - ought to be doing.

anon (not verified)
Cudenec points out that there

Cudenec points out that there need not be any dichotomy between individual freedom and responsibility. I strongly agree.

He also subscribes to the Great Reset "theory", which seems to require a belief that the coronavirus poses no real health threat (though the conspiratorial aspects of it require no such belief). Much of what is described in the Great Reset is obvious and undeniable; it is the way authoritarians - particularly capitalists and state actors - have always strategized and acted. The current context of human life simply makes much of it easier than ever before. Tying it to a global health pandemic is simple opportunism. Using it to deny the very real risks of the virus seems counter-productive to the max. And it is completely unnecessary regardless.

Pointing out the authoritarian nature of government - with "lockdowns" as fodder - is always a good thing in my mind. Denying the medical realities only serves to diminish the credibility of the arguments. No critical thinker is going to simply swallow the numbers coming from authoritarian institutions. Replacing those numbers with other cherry-picked ones that support one's argument is likewise dismissable by critical thinkers.

Worried about having your lungs destroyed by covid (or transmitting that destruction to others you care about)? Take precautions and use common sense. Worried about the government telling you what to do? Find ways to circumvent it. Concerned that only destroying the state will allow you to be "free"? That pretty much ensures that you never will be.

Add new comment

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
k
q
d
R
A
n
B
#
Enter the code without spaces.