TOTW: Anarcho-gifting

Regardless of your spiritual practices or lack thereof, this is the time of year when a substantial portion of the world is giving and receiving gifts. Many people, anarchists included, will expend their time, energy and credit, sometimes far over what would be considered reasonable most other times of the year, to give of themselves to others, sometimes including complete strangers.

And yet, as Neal Keating reminds us in a passage worth quoting at length from their essay Rioting and Looting: As a Modern Day Form of Potlatch, “...because of the nature of human interactions in the context of modern economies which prevail during the rest of the year — these efforts are usually consigned to either the paltry exchange of commodities, or the rather painful realization that there is very little intimacy possible in the given circumstances. People may mean well when they engage in reciprocal gift exchanges at this time, but all they are really exchanging are images of reciprocity.” Personally, I’m not as negative about gift giving occasions, and I think they underestimate the significance of commodity exchange, but the point stands that it’s small potatoes (and at worst, a mockery of the potatoes themselves) when compared to the gift economies they’re comparing it to.

But for us, there has to be something in between gift economy, disappointing workplace secret santas, and occasional looting, right?

What distinguishes anarchist gift-giving from its more mundane forms? What are examples of this you’ve heard of or experienced? What’s the best gift you’ve gotten related to anarchism? What’s the best you’ve given?

This doesn’t have to be something physical!

(image source)

There are 5 Comments

Arson, the perfect gift for every occasion.
A heartwarming gift.
Revenge is an act of reciprocity.
Fireworks are festive.
Home is where the hearth is.

just for all the symbolism, i'm not a pagan, i'm not a christian, and it can be a beautiful time of the year. I usually just buy people gifts if i run across something that seems like the person would like, obligatory gift giving makes me stressed out. Saying merry christmas is like a free dopamine hit, nothing particularly archist about that until you bring in the expectations and the morality.

i'm just curious, i was thinking about this because was in a bad mood the other day and stole all this stuff for my mom from a department store, she's never going to know about it, but it cut a little bit of stress out of my day. It literally had nothing to with any merry holiday thoughts.

i guess i'm invoking old crimthinc. here, with their "steal stuff from work day".

Several decades ago I participated in a few groups where gifts were restricted to:
1: Having cost less than $5 and preferably less than $1 and/or
2: Homemade with materials worth under $1 and/or
3: Stolen

These restrictions encouraged people to design gifts tailored for each recipent's personality, maximized the creativity and fun of the process,
and discouraged obsessing over trinkets and gew-gaws.

Gifts were creative to say the least:

Tampon applictors painted dayglo orange and green, An alligator clip was then glued to the end of the tube and they were given as roach clips.

A huge collection of Juhn Birch Society Propoganda phamplets was given wth the idea that the pamphlets scattered on the cofffee table and around the apartment. That way, when the police raided they would think they were in the wrong apartment and leave.

The keys to a Porsche. The keys were lifted from tjr owner at a bar
so there was no idea where the car was or even if it was a Porsche.
Nevertheless, find the car and drive it away!!!!!

Paintings, collages and massages were among the more traditional gifts.

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