Stating the obvious

Anarchism’s greatest potential is as a mass movement based on the desires and effort of a broad range of people. As a political idea it seeks to democratize power and divide it fairly amongst people.

Freedom is the ability to freely consent, without coercion. Consent is based on free and open communication. So why would anarchists do anything other than finely hone their skills to communicate with all types of people?

Anarchists who work hidden away behind pictures of angry cops, masks and alienating cliques marginalize themselves and limit how effective they can be in the process of building real democracy.

Being a revolutionary means working with people who make you uncomfortable, it means making the effort to reach out to them even if they are not going to make that effort back right away. Because smashing the state and fucking the pigs is only one small part, it is just the coup d’etat. Those are only revolutionary acts when there is a strong people’s movement to take advantage of the power. Lacking that, such actions are at best ineffective and alienating, at worst scary and dangerous for those of us not born steeped in privilege.

Scared of government

toothpastefordinner.com

toothpastefordinner.com

toothpastefordinner.com

I Fight Like A Girl

Posted by rogue to a forum. Of unknown origins.

I fight like a girl who refuses to be a victim.
I fight like a girl who is tired of being
ignored and humored and beaten and raped.
I fight like a girl who’s sick
of not being taken seriously.
I fight like a girl who’s been pushed too far.
I fight like a girl who offers and
demands respect.
I fight like a girl who has a lifetime of
anger and strength and pride.
pent up in her girly body.
I fight like a girl who doesn’t believe in
fear and submission
I fight like a girl who knows that
this body and this mind are mine.
I fight like a girl who knows that

you have only as much power
as I grant you.

I fight like a girl who will never allow you
to take more than I offer.
I fight like a girl who fights back.

So next time you think you can distract
yourself
from your insecurities by victimizing a girl,
think again
She may be me and

I fight like a girl.

Rules for radicals

I just finished reading a really good book and I thought I would share. Rules for Radicals is a rare gem—a book about radical politics and community organizing written not by academics who have studied these but by someone who lived and breathed organizing for decades. Wikipedia says briefly:

In the 1930s, Alinsky organized the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago (made famous by Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle on the horrific working conditions in the Union Stock Yards). He went on to found the Industrial Areas Foundation while organizing the Woodlawn neighborhood, which trained leftist organizers and assisted in the founding of community organizations around the country.

The book is written for the rebels of the 60s and some of the simple points are driven in hard page after page. The prologue sets the tone for the rest of the book:

These rules make the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one who uses the tired old words and slogans, calls the police “pig” or “white fascist racist” or “futher mukkers” and has so stereotyped himself that others react by saying, “Oh, he’s one of those,” and then promptly turn off.

This failure of many of your younger activists to understand the art of communication has been disastrous. Even the most elementary grasp of the fundamental idea that one communicates within the experience of his audience - and gives full respect to the other’s values - would have ruled out attacks on the American flag. The responsible organizer would have known that it is the establishment that has betrayed the flag while the flag, itself, remains the glorious symbol of America’s hopes and aspirations, and he would have conveyed this message to his audience. On another level of communication, humor is essential, for through humor much is accepted that would have been rejected if presented seriously. This is a sad and lonely generation. It laughs too little, and this, too is tragic.

For the real radical, doing “his thing” is to do the social thing, for and with people. In a world where everything is so interrelated that one fells helpless to know where or how to grab hold and act, defeat sets in’ for years there have been people who’ve found society too overwhelming and have withdrawn, concentrated on “doing their own thing.” Generally we have put them into mental hospitals and diagnosed them as schizophrenics. If the real radical finds that having long hair sets up psychological barriers to communication and organization, he cuts his hair. If I were organizing in a orthodox Jewish community I would not walk in there eating a ham sandwich, unless I wanted to be rejected so I could have an excuse to cop out. My “thing,” if I want to organize, is solid communication with the people in the community. Lacking communication I am in reality silent; throughout history silence has been regarded as assent - in this case assent to the system.

As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be - it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be. That means working in the system.

A chapter is also devoted to what could now be called diversity of tactics, although going through this book the word diversity is truely emphasized in the stories that come up. From using proxy votes from company stocks to ruckous protests to fart-ins, any tactic that will achieve the desired results is fair game.

What are Alinsky’s desired results?  He gives no political description of himself.  Not Anarchist nor Socialist nor Democrat.  He desires simply that power be more democratically distributed and that the people who now wield power be personally equipped to deal with that. All actions and ideas described in this book are geared towards achieving one or both of those.

A website about PR advises businesses to read the Rules to get a better grasp of what community groups are up to and why they are successful.  Noting “Some of these rules are ruthless, but they work” the page lists the basic rules given by Alinsky.

I got this book from Exile’s new lending library.  It’s available there and I believe also at Ottawa’s public library for anyone who wants it.

Creating new category “Funny to me” if no one else.

Anarchism is a political ideology and philosophy of action which advocates self management of communities and economies. It seeks to identify coercive power structures where they are found and break them down, replacing them with equitable distributions of power.

This has long been true in the Anarchist tradition. It is a huge task, to be sure. I do not expect to see the project looking anything like complete in my lifetime.

But I often wonder what my comrades are thinking. Given that Anarchism seeks to be a mass movement and there are probably many-fold more people in bridge clubs than Anarchist organizations, you might think the movement would be concerned.

Do you ever watch South Park? have you ever seen the one about underpants gnomes? The Gnomes have a plan for profit.

I don’t know if the creators of South Park were thinking of anarchists when they wrote this show. I doubt it since we are pretty marginal and not many people think of us ever except with regards to black bloc and punk rock. Sometimes is seems to me like the broad Anarchist streatgy is something like this:

Phase 1: “Resist capitalism” by fighting any battle we are certain to loose.

Phase 2: ???

Phase 2: The free society.

Really? OK the plan is actually a bit more detailed than that. It also involves:

• Wearing weird clothes to demonstrate being anti consumerist.
• Being vegan.
• Putting up pictures of scary, vicious cops absolutely fucking everywhere.
• Creating anarchist community so we can have friends like us.

Here is a secret about me: I only say this shit because I hope someone can prove me wrong.

One year plan

Things to do by Spring 2008

My health

• Play soccer on a regular basis.
• Push my body to be stronger and healthier.
• Take the time to feed myself well.
• When I am missing something, take the time to find a source of it.
• Do something about my teeth.
• Learn and practice breast self-exam.

School & healing practice

• Complete with a B average the next semester in school.
• Continue commitment to healing self, others and planet.
• Stay on the good side of my teachers unless there is a reason why not to.

Home & personal economics

• Move to a house I find less cramping.
  • Have a bed room which is pleasant for me to be in.
• Keep my cat’s little box clean.
• Hold down my job.
• No debt from next semester of school.
• Don’t let any part of my house get gross.

Activism and organisation

• Active involvement in local project(s) which promote community, workplace or other forms of self-management.
• Finish bulk of the two wobbly websites I have embarked on and train others in how to update.
  • Learn enough PHP that I can build simple modules for drupal.
• Keep honing my skills in print/web design, accessibility, layout, colour schemes and information architecture.
• Anarchy Means Order:
  • Layout, print and sell my agendas. Also distribute design for free on the Internet.
  • Give the Organize the Organizers workshop a few more times, at least once out-of-town.
  • Improve it.
  • Train at least one more facilitator.
• Keep useless ranting to a minimum.
• Shut up sometimes and listen so people will talk.
• Have confidence in myself and talk so people will listen.
• Learn how to use real page layout software.

Personal

• Go back to Scotland.
• Visit London, On at least twice.
• Learn to be less arrogant.
• Practice the banjo regularly. Learn to play a few songs. Perhaps even learn to improvise.

Three-to-five year plan: Things to do by 2013

• Learn how to make my own shoes/boots.
• Add more workshops to AMOC Ottawa.
• Play an active part in maintaining a garden of some sort.
• Take art class(es) to learn some basic principals of art.
• Work as a nurse.

Making spaces accessible

I wanted to learn about how to ensure a space is accessible. I looked around a bit and didn’t find much that was too useful. So I asked Kelly F, she sent me towards Access On, a site maintained by the Ontario government about complying with provincial laws. I found their information about accessible spaces vague, with phrases like “adequate headroom” and “wide enough” not giving me what I really need, which is numbers.

The Association of Brethren Caregivers has a more concise and to-the-point list of considerations for congressional accessibility. The list is appropriate to many other situations.

The ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities provides an extensive list of suggestions for making physical spaces easier to get around. I found some of the info I was looking for here, particularly regarding hallways, which I was wondering about:

4.3.3 Width. The minimum clear width of an accessible route shall be 36 in (915 mm) except at doors (see 4.13.5 and 4.13.6). If a person in a wheelchair must make a turn around an obstruction, the minimum clear width of the accessible route shall be as shown in Fig. 7(a) and (b).

Look at the great pictures referred to in the above:

Fig a:

Figure 7(a)

Accessible Route
90 Degree Turn

A 90 degree turn can be made from a 36 inch (915 mm) wide passage into another 36 inch (915 mm) passage if the depth of each leg is a minimum of 48 inches (1220 mm) on the inside dimensions of the turn.

Fig b:

Figure 7(b)

Accessible Route
Turns around an Obstruction

A U-turn around an obstruction less than 48 inches (1220 mm) wide may be made if the passage width is a minimum of 42 inches (1065 mm) and the base of the U-turn space is a minimum of 48 inches (1220 mm) wide.

Video: Interview with Metro Lighting worker

I just came across a decent, concise interview with wobbly Gabe Wilson. In it he discusses the tactics they have used in the strike, what the employers have done, their reasons for the strike etc.

Design for anarchists

OR

How to stay in the anarchist ghetto

by Crusti O Freemyn

I have been meaning for years to write something for anarchists about the basics of design. But I felt that there are already such copious materials out there that if anyone cared to look there’s no reason why anything I wrote would be too special. I figure the problem is more with people not caring. So knowing that anarchists don’t tend to like to do as they’re told I am employing a bit of reverse psychology… oops I gave away the trick before the show.

Anyway as a disclaimer I’ll say that this might not make any sense to non-anarchists, or folk who have not been around anarchos or others on the left. It’s intended largely for internal use!

Do use clip art from Paris 1968 and the Spanish Revolution.
Reason: Other anarchists will recognize and respect how you relate contemporary struggles to past revolutionary movements.

Don’t let any whitespace creep into your work if at all possible.
Reason: Whitespace gives the impression that you do not have anything to say and you are just wasting precious trees.

Do use red and black as much as possible.
Reason: It shows your political purity.

Don’t drop your literature anywhere you weren’t going to go anyway.
Reason: Your friends have seen the fliers “everywhere” so you must be doing a good job

Do use punky perzine-style cut-outs, scribbles and collages.
Reason: People who aren’t in your scene will know they aren’t cool enough to participate and you won’t have to deal with normals showing up.

Do use pricing terms like “pay what you can” in your advertising without a suggestion of how much is expected.
Reason: Everyone in the world knows that $2 is the price of a vegan meal and $1 is what’s usually needed to cover the cost of the room and $5-20 is what you should give someone who’s come in from out of town and needs to cover gas.

Don’t let your material look anything like the Corporations or State would produce.
Reason: The media is the message and since their message is subservience and ignorance you must avoid associating yourself in any way with that to fight back against tyranny.

Don’t use correct or consistent capitalization or grammar.
Reason: Anyone who is worth it will try to figure out what you mean anyway.

Do distribute materials which are designed with the assumption that the audience is already familiar with the goals, history and current debates within anarchism in random public places.
Reason: If people know there is a dynamic anarchist community they are more likely to join the black bloc at the next anti-war demo.

Don’t put much effort into publicizing events which are not related to direct, militant confrontation with the violent arm of State and Corporate hegemony.
Reason: We don’t want to get confused with whiney liberal passivist types.

Do use three or more fonts with variety of sizes, alignments, weights and styles.
Reason: Using many different style of text conveys the freedom and fun that are the very core of everyday Anarchist revolution.

Don’t use hierarchical text formatting styles in longer pieces of text.
Reason: Anarchists are against hierarchy, duh.