A Letter to the Northwest

From Puget Sound Anarchists

Dear friends, comrades, enemies and those to come.

By now I’m sure many of you have heard about the call for autonomous action to disrupt the defense summit in Seattle on the 12th. I want to urge you all from around the region to come out, and come out hard.

Let’s be real for a minute. We’ve been weak and in retreat. Gentrification, overdoses and suicides, the rapid expansion of policing and the general misery this world thrusts upon us as an unpayable debt for the audacity to be born has taken its toll on us all. But slowly we’ve be getting back on our feet, helping our friends and comrades back onto theirs, fighting old wounds to extend a hand to new friends, accomplices and comrades. We stumble forward, awkwardly, trying to regain our footing. We’re rusty and out of practice, trying to take our time to cautiously rebuild our power.

Unfortunately, time and caution are not on our side. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you all the worsening state of the world, I’m sure that like me much of your free time is spent scrolling through the horror – the Palestinian people trapped and starved facing massacre after massacre on a historic scale, the collapse of revolution into civil war and brutal ethnic cleansing in Sudan, new forces of reaction across the globe, more violence by police as they increase their stranglehold of power, new climate disasters and unpredictable changes in weather patterns, cost of living going up and up with no signs of stopping.

You know it, you hear it and see it all the time, but do you feel it any more? Have you shut off your heart and your terror and your rage just to make it through the next day? Have you tamed the burning desire to go to war against this wretched order just to be able to look at yourself in the mirror? Have you let the fear take over and bind your actions so you can stay “safe” and “stable” while your friends and comrades and the rest of the world burns? But what kind of life is that? At that point, I think we’re already defeated and dead, just waiting for our bodies – and the police – to catch up.

I feel it too, I am so scared and dreading the future. But as I see it my options are either live up to what my professed beliefs and desires for anarchy demand of me, or promptly kill myself to no longer be accomplice to the bloody death machine of the state and capitalism which we all have a hand in making run.

I still have a fighting spirit left in me, I hope you do too. I still want to destroy the united states – and all states, I hope you do too. I still want the dangerous freedom of anarchy rather than the submissive humiliation of order, “safety,” “stability,” “normality,” I hope you do too.

If you do, I hope you will answer the call for autonomous action on the 12th. I hope to (not) see your beautiful black-masked faces and embrace you in struggle.

Why the 12th? Why not any other day? Because it’s an opportunity to fight. Because some people will be there who deserve to feel the fire they rain down upon millions around the world.

Think of Tacoma, think of Boeing, thing of all the conversations we’ve been having in the streets with strangers? People, who are not us but who are maybe much more like us than we think, want to fight. They are looking for an opportunity.

And what of you? Of us? At what point are you willing to fight? What risks are you willing to take, to not take, and why? No one will fight for us, fight in our place, and while we come up for reasons why it’s not the time the situation will get worse and worse and it will get harder and more risky to fight. Will you wait til the guns come out? Will you wait until it personally affects you? Will you wait until more and more of your old friends and comrades disappear? Will you wait until it’s too late?

Let’s give them, and ourselves, that opportunity to fight. Whether or not they take it is up to them, but let’s not wait until we’re assured to win or to have the backing of thousands to fight. We’ll be waiting forever.

Tepid, cautious actions are no longer serving us.

So makes plans, come prepared, and fight well.

(A)

Comments

if anarchist (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 13:52

"But as I see it my options are either live up to what my professed beliefs and desires for anarchy demand of me, or promptly kill myself to no longer be accomplice to the bloody death machine of the state and capitalism which we all have a hand in making run."

The fallacy of all or nothing thinking, false dichotomy, self-imposed blinders, impoverishment of imagination.

I do like this part: "So makes plans, come prepared, and fight well."
Put on a good show! Good luck! Have fun! Live to tell the tale!

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 13:57

"autonomous action" is a code phrase for the biggest excuse to not even organize a basic anarchist bloc. Like all you need is a call to action, anarchist bloc meet at place/time for demo. And even if you don't think you mean it this way or you actually want people to show up to the demo you can't deny that calls for autonomous action generally lead to zero.

It's lazy and the exact thing you are criticizing in your initial paragraphs.

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 14:20

In reply to by anon (not verified)

any time you hear someone say that we should not have an organized response and should instead defer to "autonomous action with your crew" or some variant of that: nothing is going to happen. this is what unserious and sheepish anarchists always say, often with that implied tone of like "i'm a badass, are you? " we get it. nobody can ask you if you plan to actually do shit because of security culture. then you dont have to be responsible for the fact that nothing happened, because nobody can securely say "wtf man why didnt you throw some paint on something" or whatever. it's kind of pathetic. and the same ppl have the nerve to denounce and cajol people who actually organize serious destruction and anarchy as "closet authoritarians" because they are willing to like....have a meeting with people or plan the actual route. pure snowflake mentality

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 19:59

In reply to by opsec (not verified)

Yeah buddy. Keep telling yourself that, you definitely arent just afraid to do the bare minimum to organize *a part* of a protest.

It's a joke bro.

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 14:07

Repeatedly call for demo then no-show, inflation of anything toward anarchism and then toward the glorious synchronized global ultra-radical revolution, writing for it's going down like an unpaid intern doesn't grow jackshit. It makes you look like a member of a strugglismo cult, radioactively decaying remnant of an uprising, which is precisely what you are. Try doing something bold first then write communique. You'll look less weak if nothing else that way.

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 14:36

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Thing is they aren't even calling for the demo, they haven't gotten that far. They have suggested that there is a demo in a call to action. But it's unclear what anyone should do other than "autonomous action."

Seriously, wth happened to anarchists in the USA.

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 15:14

In reply to by anon (not verified)

there are the people participating in and learning from the cop city movement, and then there are the people who arent. the latter group find increasingly complex rationalities for their abstention and upturned noses, and the former have been doing the most crazy shit for 3 years

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 17:44

In reply to by anon (not verified)

so you finally show your bare ass as to where your coming from in this thread commenting 4 times in a row.

anarchists aren’t a monolithic cadre. in fact, calls for autonomous actions are made as such to accommodate and be inclusive to people who aren’t anarchists. so an explicitly anarchist bloc, although excluding of commies like you, would be more like what you’d like to see than this amorphous open for anyone that wants to come approach, which is what is preached, but not practiced, by composition strategy cop city participants

aggie (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 18:05

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Don't have a dog in this silly sectarian fight, but I will say that as someone who lives in the PNW, but not near the major cities, I'd be far more likely to come into town if there was a specific anarchist bloc called. As another commentator has pointed out, this 'autonomous action' nonsense basically means that if you don't already have a clique of self selected friends (using that word deliberately) to go out with, then you're left completely in the dark without any way to plug in. In other words, there's no reason for me to make the hour plus trip that this silly little writeup is demanding of me.

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 18:18

In reply to by aggie (not verified)

lol, what would make your hour plus trip worth it? covering your gas and promising snacks? lol. no one needs to go. you can do ineffective symbolic actions wherever you are. it’s just like praying

anon (not verified) Sun, 03/03/2024 - 20:04

In reply to by anon (not verified)

No I'm the original commenter here, defer to my Twitter if you need to put an actual username to the comment. Already talked shit on there as well.

Anyhow, congratulations on making your point which is one jumbo sized excuse. 4 people putting out a call to actually do something is being a communist. Honestly, are you slow? 14? Confused? Smoking PCP?

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 11:51

In reply to by anon (not verified)

“Seriously, wth happened to anarchists in the USA.”

What a great question! I would say that post-2008 as the western world entered its most socially turbulent phase in half a century, most anarchists seem to have sorted themselves into either PC liberal careerists or attached themselves to an ideology where any form of organized activism at all is disavowed as authoritarian…. Both of which tend to self sabotage any potential impact on the unfolding polycrisis.

I don’t want to romanticize what was happening before, I remember a lot of issues, but I do find myself thinking about it. How there wasn’t perceived to be such a contradiction between building and fighting. Between ourselves and wider currents of discontent. How anarchists led the way in shutting down cities when the Iraq war started, and now it seems like a lot of us can’t even quite figure out whether to be against the US imperial war machine or for it. I don’t know… it seems like the moment our prophecies of collapse started coming true a lot of us started finding reasons to basically get out of the way and stay out of trouble. Summit hopping was bad because it’s spectacular. Militancy is bad because it’s macho. Punk is bad because it’s subculture. Organizing is bad because it’s leftist. We sorted ourselves into little boxes while we got sucked into the internet like everyone else.

Sorry, as an elder millennial your question really triggered me to ramble because I’ve asked it to myself not a few times.

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:05

I don't think it's solely being lazy or even afraid of putting yourself barely out there. Even though in a lot of cases it is.

Think about all the times the past few years "autonomous action" has been called. What ends up transpiring is the same 35-40 people who are barely not in the worst cult ever show up to block like a driveway somewhere. A dozen people get arrested anyway.

Whereas you call for an actual protest, even just participating in one. 200+ anarchists and interested show up. Shit gets wild, people connect, want to do things get inspired etc. Cause that is what happens.

Now...why would a cultish group not like this option?

O.P.P. (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 07:41

Stop whining they’re not organizing and start doing it yourself, if you want it so much.

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 09:36

In reply to by O.P.P. (not verified)

You assume we aren't or haven't. This is a comment section, people criticize things.

"Autonomous action" is clearly something not criticized at all or enough considering the response here and elsewhere.

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 09:44

In reply to by anon (not verified)

what’s the opposite of autonomous action? hierarchically organized, top down, march in a line, wear color coded jumpsuits where each color represents one specific action? sounds like a joke, but it happened in atlanta and it was really embarrassing.

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 10:15

In reply to by anon (not verified)

You are purposely missing the point here.

Isn't the irony that your criticism of Atlanta (I wasnt there no idea what actually happened) have inspired more people to become and act as anarchists around the USA than literally anything done by a small anarcho cult every few months?

Your accusations, that do sound silly sure, have still done more than calls for people to "act autonomously" have in years!

The people on the other end of this argument in this conversation come across as totally confused/unhinged and in a shit in a park to protest COVID way not a good one.

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 10:18

In reply to by anon (not verified)

And one more thing, if you actually want to encourage autonomous shit for a reason guess what happens when you actually have a large healthy anarchist presence in an area and not what is present in pretty much every city in the USA?

Shit actually happens. Crazy how that works.

anon (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 10:31

In reply to by anon (not verified)

the opposite of calling for 1-3 ppl to glue some locks together and 1 group ends up actually doing it is just like building up the capacity to get a few hundred people together so you can break windows and burn barricades out in the open, maybe throw stuff at the coppers if you are lucky. getting people into a popular army to coordinate decisive action at a large scale in order to actually destroy capitalism and end global imperialism is not what people on this site believe in, so there is no need to make commentary about it.

Comintern (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 11:18

In reply to by anon (not verified)

The Executive Committee of the Comintern disapproves of this autonomous action! We’ll never achieve global communism in this way! Unity in coordination, comrades!

anon (not verified) Thu, 03/21/2024 - 08:36

this is the same old hyperbolic rhetoric from the puffed up insurrectos now rebranding themselves as combative anarchists. nothing new here, and nothing new to come from here. yawn. let's play revolutionary, even easier if we have a trust fund.

anon (not verified) Thu, 03/21/2024 - 09:12

In reply to by anon (not verified)

it's comments like yours that remind me that "it's boring" or "it's been done before" are empty critiques, as meaningful as they may seem to us when we're frustrated. everything has both been done before and hasn't been done before (never the same river twice). and things are boring if we're refusing to listen and learn from them. that's as much on the audience as the actors.

tldr: your comment is boring and has been done before. lol.

anon (not verified) Thu, 03/21/2024 - 12:00

"refusing to listen and learn from them"

this sounds like the idiots who say you can't critique something unless you were there or apart of it, which leads to a self-referential circle-jerk of myopic echo-chamber stupidity and back patting... going nowhere and reproducing the same thing over and over, as presented above. ok, boring is too soft. fucking idiotic performative players.

The world is ending and people are playing the same predictable games over and over....

anon (not verified) Thu, 03/21/2024 - 12:37

In reply to by anon (not verified)

kk, let me clarify. just saying you don't like something (and calling it names) is not criticism. it's not critiquing anything. there's no meat to just repeating words that are just different ways of saying you disapprove. criticism involves more detail and digging into the substance, not necessarily giving alternatives, but certainly not just using various words that all mean "bad".

this is an issue with people who talk mostly to people who agree with them. there's not much incentive or pushback to get people to be clear about what they mean, since everyone around them accepts some level of common ground, meaning both that people can think there's more agreement than there actually is, and also a lack of clarity about what exactly someone is talking about.

anon (not verified) Thu, 03/21/2024 - 12:43

In reply to by anon (not verified)

an exmple of criticism would be people's frustration with the montreal bookfair in previous years because (for example) they banned people who have legs in anarchist communities, and they are open to extremely liberal and or non anarchist presentations and presence. those practices imply a vision of anarhcism that is not big umbrella but actually a misleadingly and boring small umbrella (that is, neither reflecting the breadth of anarchist thought, nor pushing anarchy in any interesting, challenging direction)... and yes, then we might get into what interesting and/or challenging means, since clearly those are words i'm just using to mean "good."

but that's a point too. meaningful feedback doesn't really happen in hot takes, as much as we all wish we were good at haiku. it requires some explanation and exploration.

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