From Sachio Takashima (facebook)

Clarissa Rogers
Nov 12th 1967-March 17th 2024

Friends and loved ones of Clarissa,

On this day, she has made her transition. And her work lives on!

Two years ago, due to long Covid, Clarissa fell into a coma. She awoke, but with no memories. She later described this time as akin to a process of writing a detective novel of her own life. She started to remember in bits and pieces, looked through old photos, found out more and more by researching her own life. Accompanying this process was an eerie feeling of all of these events happening to someone else, but that someone else was her.

She remembered friends, and asked to find out who they were. She remembered tastes, re-discovered that she was a foodie, and investigated which foods excited her. She came across a picture of herself at the Opera! She remembered advocating for a friend years ago, saving them years from a prison sentence. She found out she loves writing, and that she's a poet! She found out she loves photography, that she has a camera and a collection of serene nature pictures and pictures of little wild creatures. She learned that she loves the Simpsons, and especially loves using episodes to talk about anti-capitalism.

She remembered she’s a working class anarchist, involved in supporting workplace struggles, and the struggle against racism, and ultimately found out that she's involved in the world’s oldest Anarchist International! Perhaps most meaningfully, her detective skills revealed a whole community across the country, and around the world that supports her and adores her.

She remembered more and more, and figured out quickly that in her own hospital experience as a poor working class woman, she witnessed the health inequities shaping her own journey. While still hospitalized, she took up Disability Rights of working people as a central part of labor organizing. She started to regain her capacity for organizing and theory, so she started what became an international reading group of Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid. And she facilitated the first meeting from her hospital bed at the Critical Care Unit! Her comrades were inspired by this, called her their hero for this, and will always remember this remarkable commitment to the movement.

As her memories and capacity increased, she found herself right back in the thick of the movement. Like a Phoenix, she found herself, miraculously, at the height of her achievements. She recovered her abilities not just for writing, but for editing, and even contributing to theoretical conversations about what anarchist editing ought to be. She was working with authors again, providing help and guidance for their articles. She started a series of interviews and a possible book, giving it the SO Clarissa title: “From Comma Girl to Coma Girl and Back Again.”

She came to facilitate one of the most difficult meetings of her life, and did so brilliantly. In this meeting she helped bring about a feminist revolution within the country's oldest Anarchist-Syndicalist national organization.

Clarissa Rogers–lover of puns, connoisseur of wacky adventures, fiercely loyal friend, quirky builder of community–we love you! Coming from so many walks of life, our collective support has poured through for you from our hearts, as we feel a profound gratitude for all you have given us. Clarissa, you have made your transition, and we will carry on your work, for…
the wacky adventure continues!

Long live the planarchy!
Clarissa, rest in power!
We love you!

--------------

From Philly Metro Area WSA

Clarissa Rogers: Working Class Theorist
By Rebecca Croog, An interview series with Sachio Ko-yin.
May 4, 2024

“In order to have a society where workers manage themselves collectively, we need all of our best group process skills. To have a culture that values all voices and all people equally in decision-making, we need to practice ways of working together that don’t reproduce oppression. Deliberation takes practice!” Clairssa Rogers

On March 13th, 2024, our dear comrade Clarissa Rogers, longtime anarchist organizer and theorist, made her transition after a hard-fought battle with Long COVID. To honor her and as a service to the anarchist movement, we are sharing a series of interviews we did together about Clarissa’s anarchist theorizing and research. Our hope, as was Clarissa’s, is that her ideas and her overall journey as a working class theorist will inspire and galvanize other working class people to seize intellectual power and pursue collective education as part of liberation struggle.

The question of “who is the working class?” heavily motivated Clarissa’s theory work. As an anarcha-syndicalist, Clarissa brought an intersectional lens to this inquiry, meaning that she was committed to hearing and theorizing with the vast number of women, queer people, Black folks, and other non-white workers that make up the working class–groups that traditional anarcho-syndicalism largely ignored, to the great detriment of the movement itself. With this framework always at the fore, Clarissa developed a number of specific concepts, which we explore in detail throughout these interviews. These include: the philosophical implications of anarchist decisionmaking tactics, small group sociology of anarchist communities, anarchist pedagogy and worker self education, working class intellectualism, critical theory of anarchist group processes, and many more.

In Part One of this series, we set the scene, through a discussion of Clarissa’s arrival to Philadelphia in the late 90’s , a golden era of West Philly Anarchism.

We want to offer a disclaimer about the imperfection of memory as it relates to this project. Many of the experiences and conversations that Sachio recounts in these interviews happened decades ago, and these first interviews were conducitd while Sachio was arranging for Clarissa’s memorial and literary estate. We are well aware that many other comrades had the honor of participating in Clarissa’s intellectual journey. We invite plenty of space for corrections, additions, and clarifications. This is a first draft, a living project, as Clarissa herself remains a living memory to us all.

Part One: Setting the Scene – Clarissa in Anarchist West Philly

Rebecca: I thought it could be good to start very broadly, by asking you to tell me the story of how you and Clarissa first met. I know it was in 2003 in West Philly. Where exactly were you and what do you remember about that initial interaction?

Sachio: Alright so to provide some context, I’d come to Philly right as the anti-war movement was ramping up. I remember that there was a meeting of this nice United Nations group, Earth Charter Citizens. And they had on their agenda to talk about the possibility of building a coalition for the anti-war movement in Philly. So I don’t know if they really intended for that meeting to be a coalition meeting, but I jumped on the opportunity. I was new to the city, but I called up all of the Philly organizers I had met so far, and everyone who knew anyone who was doing anti-war work. I wanted to find anyone who might be interested, and to try to get as many groups as possible into that Earth Charter Citizens Group meeting. So we ended up with this giant–these poor Earth Charter Citizens–this giant room full of the Philadelphia left, pacifists, anarchists, Stalinists, free market republicans, and assorted quirky people. So that started the ball rolling of me doing facilitation in Philly. For about two or three meetings, I was trying to facilitate discussion about how the organizers were going to build a coalition.

So it was after one of those meetings that I was on the 36 trolley, the one that goes into West Philly, riding right along Baltimore Ave, and along that route, someone came up, and it was Clarissa Rogers! I’d never met her before and she came right up to me and said, “you were at the meeting last night. YOU are a good facilitator!” And I said, “thank you so much!.” She told me that facilitation was her main thing, and said, “you probably know my friend Daniel Hunter” and I said “oh yes Daniel Hunter!” so we ended up making a connection.

Rebecca: Wow, so if facilitation was Clarissa’s main thing and you were newer to it, her compliment must have felt like a high honor! What happened next?

Sachio: Yes, exactly! So what happened next is that Clarissa invited me over to her place to discuss a bunch of projects that were coming out of that coalition. The Coalition, by the way, came to be known as PRAWN (Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network), a very funny acronym, but that’s what we were–we were PRAWN. And so that work, that was my first experience of radical West Philly! And there were so many things happening at once at the time, so much excitement. So, I of course took Clarissa up on her offer, and went right over to her place, and it turned out to be one of this group of anarchist houses that existed at the time.

Rebecca: Ooh cool! As you know, I am so eager to talk about the geographies of West Philadelphia and anarchism as part of this interview, especially because you, me, and Clarissa all share a love of critical geography. Take me into that world!

Sachio: So Clarissa was living in one of these anarchist houses, and hers was called “the Cindergarden.” The name was like, ya know if you take cinder blocks and turn them into a garden you have Cindergarden… Cindergarden was right down the street from another anarchist house called “Not Squat.” It was called that because squats don’t have permission to exist, but all of these houses were actually part of the Land Trust that was left over from the Movement for a New Society. So it was “Not Squat” like “THIS IS NOT A SQUAT,” but it was like a squat, it was like a squat where they had permission. So right there was Cindergarden, there was Clarissa, and there was a whole giant community of these punk anti-globalization activists running all over the place working on projects, living in community, having all sorts of personal drama, and sitting around strumming the guitar late at night. These were my first impressions… the walls were crumbling down and when you took a step on the floor, I remember, you may just have to be careful that you don’t fall through the floor. That was my recollection.

So Clarissa meets with me there, she introduces me to a bunch of people, and we’re sitting down and we’re working on something related to peacekeeping. More specifically, what we were working on was helping out the peace keeping trainer Dion Loreman. For some context, Dion Loreman was a member of the Movement for a New Society back in the 80s, which was this giant nonviolent anarchist organization in Philly that prefigured a lot of anarchist history that came later after that–I mean obviously anarchism in Philly goes all the way back to the 19th century…

Rebecca: How did the rest of the West Philly anarchists feel about the peacekeeping trainings?

Sachio: Yes, this whole idea of ‘peacekeeping’ seemed controversial in the West Philly scene. Clarissa was helping me navigate some of this controversy, because she felt that when you have a giant demonstration, the more we can be coordinated and in communication with each other, and deal with conflict on our own, the more we can keep the police from having an excuse to jump in and try to mediate our conflicts for us. So, some folks in the West Philly movement were very skeptical about this, they called us the “self appointed peacekeepers.” Clarissa was so crucial at that time in really helping me understand the local culture and helping me reach out to the West Philly activists.

And of course I had tons of history questions, about how this whole anti-authoritarian community in West Philly had come into existence. I had just come from Central Pennsylvania, where I did two and a half years for an antinuclear weapons protest. And when I was there, there was this guy named Eric from Williamsport, a fellow anarchist, who was moving to Philly at the time, and said something like “Sachi, you gotta come to Philly. All the anarchists are moving to Philly, from all over the place, it’s really happening!” So I had already gotten some idea that there was a really big burgeoning new infrastructure of a very DIY antiglobalization movement.

Rebecca: This is SO you and Clarissa, to be diving right into all of these questions about the culture and structure of an activist community you were a part of, figuring out how to build coalitions and accomplish goals amidst various internal conflicts and tensions.

Sachio: Right, exactly! So in my first conversations with Clarissa about Cindergarden, I had so many questions about … what is going on here? What does anarchism mean here? How do you guys make decisions? And Rebecca, you and I of course have had so many conversations about infrastructure anywhere we go, infrastructure in a region, of course, because we are critical geography partners… well oh boy I had questions about infrastructure in this very specific anarchist West Philly area! So those questions took up much of our conversation, and Clarissa was very happy to map it all out for me, she was very excited to talk about it. So that was my first experience with Clarissa, and it was immediately clear to me that Clarissa and I would become comrades in anarchist organizing, but also someone I could do anarchist theorizing with, and later, social science with. And as you point out, this initial conversation fits right in with everything that was to come.

Stay tuned for our next piece in this series, which begins with a discussion of Clarissa’s quirky coinage of “planarchy” and how it relates to her thinking around social anarchism, anarcha-syndicalism, and anarchist tactics.

Comments

anon (not verified) Fri, 05/17/2024 - 07:53

Cindy Milstein's farewell to Clarissa:

It feels like time is now marked by daily losses rather than calendar dates or things one looks forward to, and yet some losses feel extra significant, taking someone from this imperiled world who continually did so much to mend it.

I first met Clarissa Rogers many lifetimes and even decades ago in the 1990s in Vermont at an anarchist summer school and immediately felt a kinship. It wasn’t just her big heart—though that has always struck me. Or ability to adeptly facilitate—which stood out too. Or dedication to and imagination around processes that might actually allow us to self-determine, together, the kinds of liberatory social relations and social organization that we rebels fight for and dream of—even if that never ceased to amaze me as well. Or the substantive ways that Clarissa lived out solidarity, weaving bonds with all sorts of freedom seekers, including those behind bars—although those practices also continually inspired me. Or even her playfulness and spirit of adventure—another thing of beauty about Clarissa. Nor even that when I was at my lowest at a few point over the years, Clarissa not only stuck side by side with me but also blanketed me with precisely the kind of care, friendship, love, and trust I needed to journey upward again.

It was definitely all that and more, ranging from long conversations over food to time shared in bringing life to the A-Space in Philly, to the sound of her laughter, to grappling together with painful moments or dilemmas, to finding insight and bravery, silliness and joy, in reading Clarissa’s novel’s worth of stories on social media.

Yet when I think back on our initial connection so long ago, it was that Clarissa was seen by some closed-off manarchists at the time as being “trouble.” She didn’t keep quiet when she saw wrongs being done, even within our anarchist circles, and yet always offered constructive ways forward. I have a fondness for people who speak uncomfortable truths and are seen as those kind of troublemakers—the good and necessary kind if we truly aspire toward liberation and freedom for all.

Today when I heard the news that Clarissa had transitioned from the plane of this existence, I didn’t want to believe that she’d become an ancestor, and I still don’t. She had so much more to gift to this world, and at a time when humanity is in such need of Clarissa’s kinds of gifts, and it seemed there was so much more she wanted to do. She should still be here, were it not for a social order that causes so much unnecessary loss due to classism, patriarchy, ableism, and other structural violences that to my mind, are the “cause of death” in Clarissa’s case. And I also have the sense, from her words and spirit, that she knows we’ll all carry on her work of striving to lessen such losses and open up possibilities for lives worth living, because she made that work—that good trouble—seem exactly what it means to be wholly, vulnerably, lovingly human.

Rest in power, dear Clarissa.
May your memory be a blessing and spark blessed social transformation.

anon (not verified) Sat, 05/18/2024 - 08:17

In reply to by anon (not verified)

i'd say it's because it's an expression of internal, individual empowerment as opposed to external force. And you need that internal force to fight the negative, external ones. So, I would say that Rest In Power means that person had something inside of them that was powerful enough to overcome a myriad of awful things in this world trying to suppress that.

I'm currently reading Lame Deer Seeker of Visions, 1972:
"That smoke from the peace pipe, it goes straight up to the spirit world. But this is a two-way thing. Power flows down to us through that smoke, through the pipe stem. You feel that power as you hold that pipe; it moves from your pipe right into your body. It makes your hair stand up. That pipe is not just a thing; it is alive. Smoking this pipe would make me feel good and help me get rid of my fears."

lumpy (not verified) Sat, 05/18/2024 - 11:09

In reply to by anon (not verified)

where did this notion that you can be for or against "power" even come from?

even a very lazy reading of the anarchist position is more clear than that, it's unjustifiable hierarchy, not "power"

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