aging

TotW: Don't Trust Anyone Under 30!

The other day, at an anarchist gathering, I was talking to some people, and one of them, going through this age transition, was reflection on the phrase and what it meant as an anarchist. We didn't have time to go too deep in the conversation but I thought it was an interesting topic, since some anarchists do reach, and go beyond, the age of 30.

Taking Notes: Old Age, Pandemic, and the Anarchist Movement

From Todo Por Hacer, English translation by Anarchist News

By Juan Cruz López

[T]he silence of the anarchist militancy [...] in the face of the murder of thousands of elderly men and women neglected in their residences, victims of the infamous sanitary protocols and the gerontocidal strategy adopted by the different administrations to resolve the situation of stressed health resources, speaks clearly of how ageism has permeated our belief system, showing the insufficiency of our social analysis and evidencing the narrowness, not only of our political autonomy, but of our ability to intervene in a situation of multifactorial crisis (something that, at the very least, should make us rethink the essentialist strategies that lead to the isolation of our movement and its members).

Where do old ranters go to rant?

RAMP-AGE. PENSIONER POWER

From Freedom News UK

There are a few ageing anarchists who have just given up trying to engage politically and have just chosen to isolate at home and withdraw, feeling like they’re “no use” any more and their views are worthless to the younger lot. Not in a self pitying way, but there is a tendency amongst some junior anarchists that we older lot don’t know what the fuck we’re talking about cos we’re not out there breaking into squats or living the perfect vision of an activist lifestyle, but mainly cos we’re old.

The Aging Anarchist's Cookbook

metal horns!

From The New Yorker
by Reuven Perlman

Welcome to the newest edition of “The Anarchist Cookbook.” To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of this seminal and controversial guide, we’ve updated its contents for a maturing readership of former and aging anarchists. If you were a bit of a punk in your youth but now are the same age as your parents were when they bought their second house, this edition is for you.

TotW: Watching the Drift

Some friends and I were just talking about how in their area, the only people who are doing anything, who have any inspiration or energy, are people who are not anarchists, but are close enough not to be terrible. While these particular friends are on solid ground, the conversation reminded me of previous friends who have drifted away from anarchist activity, thought, and friends, into the morass of communism and marxism. Another friend used to say that a certain kind of anarchist would become a commie when unable to find more anarchist theory to read.

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