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Practical Revolution Conference - an anarchist response
workshops, speakers, hors devours!
this year's conference will take place when we...um...get our act together.
Location: smouldering ruins of a shopping mall.
this year's conference will take place when we...um...get our act together.
Location: smouldering ruins of a shopping mall.
WORKSHOPS:
"Activism as a hobby"
Some folks like model airplanes, others enjoy bowling. Come learn how to become an activist through purchasing buttons and stickers online to represent any physical action you've considered taking.
"Conscious non-consumption"
It's true, we all have basic needs that require consumption - food, clothing, toilet paper, etc. But what happens if our physical needs can only be acquired through working for wages in order to purchase mass produced products? What if the laborers who produce these products are paid "livable wages" but remain dependent on the capitalist wage system and not in control of the means of production? How many pairs of (insert disposable item here) do we need to be happy anyways? We'll try to address these difficult questions by dropping acid and diving into dumpsters in order to create our own items, strictly for use value. Fuck recycled big gulp holders.
"Breaking the Abstraction of Westernized Education"
Rather than sit in a classroom under artificial light connected to the power grid, listening to domesticated humans with many college degrees and tons of debt, talk about compartmentalized issues, we'll take off our shoes and walk amongst the trees and grasslands, and try to experience directly the divinity of living wild and free. Leave/destroy your ipods/ringtones, we'll make up our own songs, and sing them as one, loudly, and without fear. Guest speaker, some girl dressed as a bear with fairy wings.
"Television culture, Corporate power, the 2 ruling parties, and the Facade of American Democracy"
Coke or Pepsi? Democrat or Republican? Who's got a prettier face? From keeping out 3rd party candidates from the debates, to polling candidates on their "electibility" (as opposed to ideas), if there's one thing the 2 ruling parties and the 4th estate can agree on it's that they have no intention of sharing power w/ any other entities and will destroy any attempts to reform our deeply flawed system. Come learn about how all governments exist to facilitate and regulate the flow of commerce through the monopolization of violence and concentration of power into the hands of the few. Guest speaker - Ralph Nader mannequin.
"Recognizing the Sacred"
There are 4 elements that all living beings need in order to exist - water, air, earth, and fire. These things are sacred. To commodify, process, or deny anyone these things is to deny the birthright of all living creatures. We'll discuss how Western civilization is fundamentally against these principles due to its belief in private property, and how we can decolonize our minds from it. Guest element - the San Lorenzo River.
"Practical activism for the practically minded...what we really need are revolutionaries"
Liberation cannot be taught in a classroom, it is something that can only be understood through direct experience. Institutionalized forms of resistance can only scratch the surface, but more likely, only pave the way for future generations of technocrats and check book activists. It is the difference between watching a documentary on Oaxaca versus organizing a non-hierarchical revolution here at home. Single issue campaigns are important, but in the long run, creating a culture less dependent on authority, profit, and technology are the only ways we will free ourselves.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER (via telepathic channeling): Assata Shakur.
"Activism as a hobby"
Some folks like model airplanes, others enjoy bowling. Come learn how to become an activist through purchasing buttons and stickers online to represent any physical action you've considered taking.
"Conscious non-consumption"
It's true, we all have basic needs that require consumption - food, clothing, toilet paper, etc. But what happens if our physical needs can only be acquired through working for wages in order to purchase mass produced products? What if the laborers who produce these products are paid "livable wages" but remain dependent on the capitalist wage system and not in control of the means of production? How many pairs of (insert disposable item here) do we need to be happy anyways? We'll try to address these difficult questions by dropping acid and diving into dumpsters in order to create our own items, strictly for use value. Fuck recycled big gulp holders.
"Breaking the Abstraction of Westernized Education"
Rather than sit in a classroom under artificial light connected to the power grid, listening to domesticated humans with many college degrees and tons of debt, talk about compartmentalized issues, we'll take off our shoes and walk amongst the trees and grasslands, and try to experience directly the divinity of living wild and free. Leave/destroy your ipods/ringtones, we'll make up our own songs, and sing them as one, loudly, and without fear. Guest speaker, some girl dressed as a bear with fairy wings.
"Television culture, Corporate power, the 2 ruling parties, and the Facade of American Democracy"
Coke or Pepsi? Democrat or Republican? Who's got a prettier face? From keeping out 3rd party candidates from the debates, to polling candidates on their "electibility" (as opposed to ideas), if there's one thing the 2 ruling parties and the 4th estate can agree on it's that they have no intention of sharing power w/ any other entities and will destroy any attempts to reform our deeply flawed system. Come learn about how all governments exist to facilitate and regulate the flow of commerce through the monopolization of violence and concentration of power into the hands of the few. Guest speaker - Ralph Nader mannequin.
"Recognizing the Sacred"
There are 4 elements that all living beings need in order to exist - water, air, earth, and fire. These things are sacred. To commodify, process, or deny anyone these things is to deny the birthright of all living creatures. We'll discuss how Western civilization is fundamentally against these principles due to its belief in private property, and how we can decolonize our minds from it. Guest element - the San Lorenzo River.
"Practical activism for the practically minded...what we really need are revolutionaries"
Liberation cannot be taught in a classroom, it is something that can only be understood through direct experience. Institutionalized forms of resistance can only scratch the surface, but more likely, only pave the way for future generations of technocrats and check book activists. It is the difference between watching a documentary on Oaxaca versus organizing a non-hierarchical revolution here at home. Single issue campaigns are important, but in the long run, creating a culture less dependent on authority, profit, and technology are the only ways we will free ourselves.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER (via telepathic channeling): Assata Shakur.
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
This is a very clever
and
creative
kind of presentation to bring people's attention to the
obvious
and not so obvious
steps necessary
to be taken
to advance to the next level
of
practical revolutionary living
In this transitional phase.....say the next... maybe 5 years( who know for sure)
while the old world order of greed and fear and exploitation etc....
slowly starts to fade away
and before new systems of Co-operation
sharing
sustainable living
earth affirming
soul affirming
small is beautiful
locally produced
attunement to Love
begin to emerge........... a plan,a map, a users guide may be helpful
"Without a vision the people perish "THE PROPHET OF OLD was heard to say
Maybe this time we are to become the change that we are advocating....
and
creative
kind of presentation to bring people's attention to the
obvious
and not so obvious
steps necessary
to be taken
to advance to the next level
of
practical revolutionary living
In this transitional phase.....say the next... maybe 5 years( who know for sure)
while the old world order of greed and fear and exploitation etc....
slowly starts to fade away
and before new systems of Co-operation
sharing
sustainable living
earth affirming
soul affirming
small is beautiful
locally produced
attunement to Love
begin to emerge........... a plan,a map, a users guide may be helpful
"Without a vision the people perish "THE PROPHET OF OLD was heard to say
Maybe this time we are to become the change that we are advocating....
fuck yeah, this is one of the few worthwhile pieces of writing i've seen on indymedia in a while.
Listen now:
Interview with David Rovics about Anarchism
JH: You have a pretty sizable following among anarchists across the world, but although you're obviously sympathetic to the aims and ideals of anarchism I've never heard you explicitly align yourself with "the anarchists" as a group, or other political or ideological movement for that matter. It strikes me that there's probably a very good reason for that. What is it?
DR: Yeah, I have a more sort of populist orientation in terms of my understanding of reality and history. I have lots of respect for people who want to use the term 'anarchist' to describe their politics, or 'socialist' or 'communist' for that matter, but I think that if you start attaching labels to your way of thinking most people have no idea what you're talking about. I think that if you use terms like that you end up pigeonholing yourself and marginalising yourself, and people don't know what you're talking about and you have to explain yourself every time you use the word.
Sure, it's efficient shorthand for people who already understand each other and understand where they're coming from - maybe then they can use terms like 'oh he's an anarchist', 'he's a Trotskyite', he's whatever, but once they get outside of their circle, even among other left-wingers, most people don't know what they're talking about.
I think that basic anarchist views are totally commonsense and held in common by huge numbers of people, and I just don't feel the need personally to sort of pigeonhole myself by calling myself an anarchist and then have a large block of people discount my perspective as a result of my having chosen to attach that label to my viewpoint. I just want people to read my essays and listen to my songs and see what kind of political conclusions they get to from that.
But I think that so many of the things that I'm writing about are basically talking about anarchist principles, but are they not socialist principles as well? I certainly wouldn't want to say that, because a lot of anarchists (by many people's definitions of anarchism, whether they're anarchists or not), have definitions of anarchism that I think are just ridiculous. On the other hand, other people have very sensible definitions. But the same can be said for socialism, and communism for that matter, although I have real issues with most people who call themselves communists - I have real issues with their perspective because you tend to find that if they call themselves 'communists' and not 'socialists', it often means that they have a real reverence for Josef Stalin, which I don't share. That's not always the case of course, and I think I have a lot in common with some of the anti-Stalinist, antiauthoritarian elements within the group who like to describe themselves as 'communists' or 'socialists'.
Depending on one's definition I would certainly either be a communist or an anarchist or a socialist; I've just never found it helpful to pick one of those things and reject the others because I think the lines are all too blurry.
JH: Anarchism of course is, and has always been, one of the most singularly misunderstood of all political ideologies. There is this common perception of anarchists that there are plenty who are to tell you what it is they want to get rid of, but fewer who are capable of telling you what they would put in its place. In other words, although anarchism does present a coherent idea of post-capitalist society, its followers often come across as being all about what they're against, rather than what they're actually for. It seems to me that a lot of people who call themselves anarchists these days don't actually do much to remedy this situation.
DR: Yeah, absolutely; there's a real element, particularly among anarchist youth, of simple, mindless rebellion and antiauthoritarianism, or people who don't like their parents or don't want to go to school or whatever. All of that is a perfectly understandable reaction to living in a relatively authoritarian society with values that are all messed up, and people have to go through these phases, but hopefully they come out the other end with some kind of analysis of what kind of world they'd like to see.
Rebelling against the world they don't like is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, but at the same time, naturally, growing up in a basically conformist sort of society, anarchists are actually also quite conformist, often very dogmatic as anarchists, and this can get very scary. Conformist, stylistically means, you know, wearing black or having the right kind of tattoos and facial piercings - nothing wrong with any of that, but often you'll find that there's a real dogmatism about it, and a real fear of straying from the party line, even though technically there isn't any party line.
I think that's why a song like I'm a Better Anarchist than You tends to go over really well in the anarchist community, because most people within that community, with very, very few exceptions, are all thinking the same thing - they're all thinking "yeah, I really like the anarchists, and if I'm going to be in a community anywhere this is it... .but jeez they're dogmatic". They're thinking these things, but at the same time they're thinking 'maybe I shouldn't say them, because I want to be like these people too, and I don't want to get criticised for being bourgeois or something'. But when you actually say it, when you say look, come on, just fucking relax, people really appreciate the sentiment.
JH: I imagine you play that song in some places and you'll get a few uncomfortable looks...
DR: Yeah! Yeah, that's the best part! Most everybody loves it, but then you get a couple of people who are looking like, "uh-oh, he's talking about me, and I know everybody else is thinking he's talking about me".
Better Anarchist than you
By David Rovics
i don't drive a car
'cause they run on gas
but if i did
it'd run on biomass
i ride a bike
or sometimes a skateboard
so fuck off all you drivers
and your yuppie hordes
sitting all day
in the traffic queues
i'm a better anarchist than you
i don't eat meat
i just live on moldy chives
or the donuts that i found
in last week's dumpster dives
look at you people in that restaurant
i think you are so sad
when you coulda been eating bagels
like the ones that i just had
i think it is a shame
all the bourgeois things you do
i'm a better anarchist than you
i don't wear leather
and i like my clothes in black
and i made a really cool hammock
from a moldy coffee sack
i like to hop on freight trains
i think that is so cool
it's so much funner doing this
than being stuck in school
i can't believe you're wearing
those brand new shiny shoes
i'm a better anarchist than you
i don't have sex
and there will be no sequel
because heterosexual relationships
are inherently unequal
i'll just keep moshing
to rancid and the clash
until there are no differences
in gender, race or class
all you brainwashed breeders
you just haven't got a clue
i'm a better anarchist than you
i am not a pacifist
i like throwing bricks
and when the cops have caught me
and i've taken a few licks
i always feel lucky
if i get a bloody nose
'cause i feel so militant
and everybody knows
by the time
the riot is all through
i'm a better anarchist than you
i don't believe in leaders
i think consensus is the key
i don't believe is stupid notions
like representative democracy
whether or not it works
i know it is the case
that only direct action
can save the human race
so when i see you in your voting booths
then i know it's true
i'm a better anarchist than you
JH: You have a pretty sizable following among anarchists across the world, but although you're obviously sympathetic to the aims and ideals of anarchism I've never heard you explicitly align yourself with "the anarchists" as a group, or other political or ideological movement for that matter. It strikes me that there's probably a very good reason for that. What is it?
DR: Yeah, I have a more sort of populist orientation in terms of my understanding of reality and history. I have lots of respect for people who want to use the term 'anarchist' to describe their politics, or 'socialist' or 'communist' for that matter, but I think that if you start attaching labels to your way of thinking most people have no idea what you're talking about. I think that if you use terms like that you end up pigeonholing yourself and marginalising yourself, and people don't know what you're talking about and you have to explain yourself every time you use the word.
Sure, it's efficient shorthand for people who already understand each other and understand where they're coming from - maybe then they can use terms like 'oh he's an anarchist', 'he's a Trotskyite', he's whatever, but once they get outside of their circle, even among other left-wingers, most people don't know what they're talking about.
I think that basic anarchist views are totally commonsense and held in common by huge numbers of people, and I just don't feel the need personally to sort of pigeonhole myself by calling myself an anarchist and then have a large block of people discount my perspective as a result of my having chosen to attach that label to my viewpoint. I just want people to read my essays and listen to my songs and see what kind of political conclusions they get to from that.
But I think that so many of the things that I'm writing about are basically talking about anarchist principles, but are they not socialist principles as well? I certainly wouldn't want to say that, because a lot of anarchists (by many people's definitions of anarchism, whether they're anarchists or not), have definitions of anarchism that I think are just ridiculous. On the other hand, other people have very sensible definitions. But the same can be said for socialism, and communism for that matter, although I have real issues with most people who call themselves communists - I have real issues with their perspective because you tend to find that if they call themselves 'communists' and not 'socialists', it often means that they have a real reverence for Josef Stalin, which I don't share. That's not always the case of course, and I think I have a lot in common with some of the anti-Stalinist, antiauthoritarian elements within the group who like to describe themselves as 'communists' or 'socialists'.
Depending on one's definition I would certainly either be a communist or an anarchist or a socialist; I've just never found it helpful to pick one of those things and reject the others because I think the lines are all too blurry.
JH: Anarchism of course is, and has always been, one of the most singularly misunderstood of all political ideologies. There is this common perception of anarchists that there are plenty who are to tell you what it is they want to get rid of, but fewer who are capable of telling you what they would put in its place. In other words, although anarchism does present a coherent idea of post-capitalist society, its followers often come across as being all about what they're against, rather than what they're actually for. It seems to me that a lot of people who call themselves anarchists these days don't actually do much to remedy this situation.
DR: Yeah, absolutely; there's a real element, particularly among anarchist youth, of simple, mindless rebellion and antiauthoritarianism, or people who don't like their parents or don't want to go to school or whatever. All of that is a perfectly understandable reaction to living in a relatively authoritarian society with values that are all messed up, and people have to go through these phases, but hopefully they come out the other end with some kind of analysis of what kind of world they'd like to see.
Rebelling against the world they don't like is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, but at the same time, naturally, growing up in a basically conformist sort of society, anarchists are actually also quite conformist, often very dogmatic as anarchists, and this can get very scary. Conformist, stylistically means, you know, wearing black or having the right kind of tattoos and facial piercings - nothing wrong with any of that, but often you'll find that there's a real dogmatism about it, and a real fear of straying from the party line, even though technically there isn't any party line.
I think that's why a song like I'm a Better Anarchist than You tends to go over really well in the anarchist community, because most people within that community, with very, very few exceptions, are all thinking the same thing - they're all thinking "yeah, I really like the anarchists, and if I'm going to be in a community anywhere this is it... .but jeez they're dogmatic". They're thinking these things, but at the same time they're thinking 'maybe I shouldn't say them, because I want to be like these people too, and I don't want to get criticised for being bourgeois or something'. But when you actually say it, when you say look, come on, just fucking relax, people really appreciate the sentiment.
JH: I imagine you play that song in some places and you'll get a few uncomfortable looks...
DR: Yeah! Yeah, that's the best part! Most everybody loves it, but then you get a couple of people who are looking like, "uh-oh, he's talking about me, and I know everybody else is thinking he's talking about me".
Better Anarchist than you
By David Rovics
i don't drive a car
'cause they run on gas
but if i did
it'd run on biomass
i ride a bike
or sometimes a skateboard
so fuck off all you drivers
and your yuppie hordes
sitting all day
in the traffic queues
i'm a better anarchist than you
i don't eat meat
i just live on moldy chives
or the donuts that i found
in last week's dumpster dives
look at you people in that restaurant
i think you are so sad
when you coulda been eating bagels
like the ones that i just had
i think it is a shame
all the bourgeois things you do
i'm a better anarchist than you
i don't wear leather
and i like my clothes in black
and i made a really cool hammock
from a moldy coffee sack
i like to hop on freight trains
i think that is so cool
it's so much funner doing this
than being stuck in school
i can't believe you're wearing
those brand new shiny shoes
i'm a better anarchist than you
i don't have sex
and there will be no sequel
because heterosexual relationships
are inherently unequal
i'll just keep moshing
to rancid and the clash
until there are no differences
in gender, race or class
all you brainwashed breeders
you just haven't got a clue
i'm a better anarchist than you
i am not a pacifist
i like throwing bricks
and when the cops have caught me
and i've taken a few licks
i always feel lucky
if i get a bloody nose
'cause i feel so militant
and everybody knows
by the time
the riot is all through
i'm a better anarchist than you
i don't believe in leaders
i think consensus is the key
i don't believe is stupid notions
like representative democracy
whether or not it works
i know it is the case
that only direct action
can save the human race
so when i see you in your voting booths
then i know it's true
i'm a better anarchist than you
For more information:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/06/3...
Bring Da Ruckus (I'm a Better Folksinger Than You) by Tom Frampton
Well I go from town to town
Just me and my guitar
You can see me at all the protests
Up on stage I'm such a star
But when the cops start charging
You can find me at the back
I'll be keeping safe my fingers
While all you kids' skulls get cracked
And afterwards I'll write songs poking fun at your whole crew
I'm a better folksinger than you
All this time spent traveling
It gets lonesome on the road
And you know I can't stand these rockstars
But I've got these seeds to sow
Why should I consider the power and privilege I possess
Baby when I get nervous up on stage, how 'bout I picture you undressed?
Save your talk of patriarchy, I'll go out and screw
I'm a better folk singer than you
And why eat dumpstered food that at Whole Foods could be bought?
And why wear patched up clothing when there's new clothes from sweatshops?
Your cultures of resistance are just silly and passe
Unless, of course, those cultures support gigs for me to play
Trite exaggerations of anarchists are cool
I'm a better folksinger than you
Well I go from town to town
Just me and my guitar
You can see me at all the protests
Up on stage I'm such a star
But when the cops start charging
You can find me at the back
I'll be keeping safe my fingers
While all you kids' skulls get cracked
And afterwards I'll write songs poking fun at your whole crew
I'm a better folksinger than you
All this time spent traveling
It gets lonesome on the road
And you know I can't stand these rockstars
But I've got these seeds to sow
Why should I consider the power and privilege I possess
Baby when I get nervous up on stage, how 'bout I picture you undressed?
Save your talk of patriarchy, I'll go out and screw
I'm a better folk singer than you
And why eat dumpstered food that at Whole Foods could be bought?
And why wear patched up clothing when there's new clothes from sweatshops?
Your cultures of resistance are just silly and passe
Unless, of course, those cultures support gigs for me to play
Trite exaggerations of anarchists are cool
I'm a better folksinger than you
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