Of war and revolution: Ukraine

And without wishing to linger further on the Marxist debate around war and revolution, anarchists were historically confronted by the very same dilemma. For some, anti-militarism was a categorical imperative – as it remains now – while for others, wars of resistance against domination were an obligation. And if the “theory” seemed to be clear in its opposition, anarchist practice always revealed a more complex political reality. In the three “great revolutions” of European anarchism – the Paris Commune, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Revolution –, anarchists never acted alone. They were always part of broader fronts of actors who did not share the anarchist vision, but which by itself did not prevent them from engaging militarily. But then this was the failure of the anarchists, some contend; a judgement whose soundness rests only on the clarity of ideology and hindsight.

Farewell to Life, Farewell to Love… Ukraine, War and Self-Organisation

from ddt21.noblogs.org by Tristan Leoni, May 8, 2022.

What is to be done… under the bombing?

We experience neither the life of the Ukrainians, nor the situation of anarchists or communists living in Ukraine. We do not know what must be done there, we cannot pass judgement on their activity, because, whatever we think, we do not know how we would react in their place. With historical hindsight, it may seem easy to assess a situation because we know how it unfolded and ended. But it is truly impossible to know what “internationalist” stand we would have taken in August 1914 or June 1940. That said, should our Ukrainian comrades be immune from criticism just because they are the ones involved ? What they do is of course their own concern; but the way they understand and justify their activity, their discourse which is echoed abroad by other groups, that at the very least warrants discussion.

We Outside: The Washington Square Parties of 2021

from It's Going Down

A look at how resistance to park curfews in Washington Square Park in the summer of 2021 continued the spirit of the George Flroyd rebellion.

A year after the riots and mass marches of 2020, the spring and summer of 2021 belonged to kickback flash mobs, generator punk shows, raves, and other guerrilla gatherings. The focal point of the trend in New York was the bluetooth-PA dance parties in Washington Square Park. Lured by meetup maps posted to Instagram, restless youth logged off Zoom class and traveled to Manhattan to enjoy the weather, drink, get high, dance, and look for trouble.

The Invasion of Ukraine

from It's Going Down by Peter Gelderloos

Anarchist Interventions and Geopolitical Changes

The current war in Ukraine is difficult to grapple with and not only for those of us with friends and comrades who are over there, fighting or surviving, or who have already fled and now find themselves homeless, many of them for a second time, in the case of the many refugees who had taken shelter there over these last several years.

Warpilled

from It's Going Down

Anarchists are lucky: we don’t need to understand the intricacies of history or follow the follies of foreign policy to deplore a war and condemn the actions of a state. War bad, states bad, borders bad, simple as. Nationalists, pro-state communists and “liberals,” by contrast, have to make believe that the disgusting institution of war– a phenomenon, like slavery, specific to our species — has some serious purpose, some nobility, some validity. We under the black flag are spared telling ourselves or others such hateful and dangerous lies.

Make Anarchism Great Again

From Freedom News UK

If we succeed in clearing the soil from the rubbish of the past and present, we will leave to posterity the greatest and safest heritage of all ages.” – Emma Goldman, 1910

Humans are an extraordinary result of evolution. It is a great power to be the most highly evolved creature in our conceivable knowledge and, in that, each one of us has a great responsibility.

Belarus: “When We Rise”

From CrimethInc.

A Critical Analysis of the 2020 Revolt against the Dictatorship

In August 2020, a revolt broke out in Belarus, nearly toppling Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator who has ruled the country since 1994. In the following analysis, anarchists who participated in the revolt discuss the ways that it succeeded and how both the regime and its liberal opposition were able to undermine the movement before it could topple the dictatorship. The result is an invaluable resource for those seeking to understand the mechanics of revolution, repression, and cooptation, not to mention post-Soviet politics in the region.

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