Anti-Capitalist Conference Reportback & SF Plans

An organizing collective is being established in the Bay Area to organize a similiar conference in late 2002 or early 2003. See comments for more information or email salim [at] iww.org.



The Post-Capitalist Academy
by Salem McCarron, member OCAP

After the anti-G8 mobilizations in Calgary and Ottawa and in the midst of the largest municipal strike in Canadian history a hundred regional anti-Capitalist activists have gathered in Toronto to discuss and reach consensus on some of the issues affecting anti-Capitalist organizing. A first, perhaps, in several decades in an attempt to map out some of the core values that are defining the germinal anti-Capitalist movement, which I refer to as Post-Capitalism. Since the formation of the Montreal anti-capitalist CLAC in 2001 several anti-Capitalist groups have appeared on the scene with an Anti-Capitalist Convergence in Washington, DC; Chicago, and Seattle there is a new impetus toward not simply reforming subtle incongruities of the capitalist system but for a new and different basis of society along anti-authoritarian and post-capitalist structures. The emphasis of this new post-capitalist structure is laid on the foundation of direct democracy rather then representative democracy and with a new theory of value, labor, freedom and ownership based on shared resources and multi-valence responsibility. What the participants in the conference are discussing under the facilitation of the anti-authoritarian socialism from the bottom approach of the New Socialist Group, which is tolerant of other anti-capitalists such as Anarchism (Left Libertarianism) yet decidedly against Leninist-Trotskyist-Stalinist Marxism, are such issues as Queer Liberation, Feminism, Labor Organizing, Community Activism and other topics which manifest a earthy communal approach rather than a platformist hierarchical approach as the horizontal diversity of each issue is explored and new understanding and critiques of the issues are brought forth in a synergistic dialogue amongst conferees.
The conference was opened on Thursday evening, July 4th, by a plenary which was comprised of three voices from the Palestinian community, Claudio Katz from the Argentinian Piquetero Movement, and Majaly San Martin of the Latin American Coalition Against Racism. Each spoke of how capitalism was affecting their communities. Claudio noted how the different classes were uniting in Argentina as the lower class and middle class now are working together for change. He contrasted this working togetherness with the the struggle in Venezuela where the supporters of Chavez largely come from the lower class and working poor only. He also noted the importance of having a space for all people to gather and discuss issues affecting their neighborhoods in the Neighborhood Assemblies. Such a mechanism for communication of various issues plagueing society does not yet exist in the North American communities. Perhaps, such organs as Food Not Bombs public food shares could be transformed into such a meeting point as the reliance on the internet is diminished as people still depend on face to face conversation to accomplish real dialogue.
The first day of forums addressed such issues as the Canadian Security State, Crip Politics which addresses the systematic oppression of persons with disabilities, Cross Border organizing, the Palestinian Intifada, Protest Tactics and Movement Building, Queer liberation and Feminism. Of the two workshops I personally attended: "Grrrl Power" (Feminism) and the "Commodification of Queer Space Under Neoliberalism", brought up many important issues. Anti-Capitalists noted that although anti-patriarchy and anti-homophobia is noted in most anti-capitalist organizations as a goal that the old patterns of homophobia and patriarchy have not been evaded by anti-Capitalists. Womyn noted that they still are an under-represented group when it comes to positions of influence in decision making and in tactics formation. While queers noted that they do not feel a great deal of understanding toward queer activists within anti-capitalist circles aside from lip service (no pun intended), perhaps the most affected group are transgendered people where all too often anti-capitalists speak of gender in binomial ways rather then recognizing the significant role transgendered people have in our circles. In terms of the capitilization of both issues it was noted that increasingly the capitalist use womyn's liberation and queer liberation as marketing tools to sell products, such as the Spice Girls for Grrl Power and Gap for marketing to queers as new markets to be exploited.
That evening a plenary forum was held on the recent anti-G8 protests. Representatives from the Toronto Mobilization for Global Justice, the CLAC and David McNally of the New Socialist Group each presented different perspectives on the anti-G8 actions in Calgary and Ottawa. Most agreed that the Calgary protests had some difficulties due to various factors while the Ottawa protests while not as confrontational as people believed they would be did exceed expectations for a regional mobilization. The Mob4Glob representative attended the Calgary protests while the local organizers did a respectable job given their very limited resources and the overwhelming conservative nature of the community most problems appeared to have been generated by the "out-of-towner" summit hoppers. I have heard this complaint over and over again from protest organizers and it seems to have it's source in an highly zealous group of activists from the Bay Area storming into town without fully consulting the local organizers on how they would like the protests to unfold. Here, in Canada, we have spent more time making up ground and trying to explain what an "Earth People" is and why nude people were standing in front of the GAP then the issues related to the G-8. While on the other side of Canada in Ottawa the widely successful "No One is Illegal" March brought out a convergence of many different strata of Canadian society rather then "freaky" looking folks doing "creative" protests. The draconian and US influenced immigration policies being put forth by the Chretien government threatens to set back the Canadian reputation as an multi-ethnic state open to immigration. Immigrants joined, anarchists, socialists, first nations (known as native americans in the US), a queer bloc and others in a march through the capital city. This was viewed as a success by Canadians due to the nature of the constituents that took part in the march. It appears that there is a ground swell for these types of community focused protests where the local is linked to the international. Preceding the "No One is Illegal" march the day before over 3000 took part in a snake march which economically disrupted the business as usual routine of the federal government in Ottawa. During the snake march a squat was opened and the issue of housing for the less economically advantaged was maintained in the public media for over a week until the squat was forcefully closed by riot police.
The next set of forums dealt in great part with the issues affecting the labour struggle in Canada. The Municipal workers of Toronto are currently on the largest general strike of workers in the industry of municipal works in Canadian history. With over 24,000 workers on strike it has left the city in disruption as garbage piles on the sidewalks. The core issue is again capitalism. The city administrators under lobbying from various capitalist ventures plan to open up city services to outside contracting thus undermining the job security of city workers and creating capital for private businessmen that will hire low wage replacement comprised largely of economic refugees from the global south. The day's forums covered such things as "Alternative Socialist Economics in Argentina", "Anarchism, Squatting and Urban Struggles", "Reform and Radicalism in the Canadian Labour Movement", "Labour Activism from Below", "Rhythm Activism: Music and Revolution", "Beyond 'Anti-Capitalism': Marx's Critique of Capitalism". Of the two workshops I attended: "Fighting to Win and Socialism from Below", and "Colours of Resistance: Anti-Racist Community Organizing" presented more important issues for reflection and action.
The "Fighting to Win" workshop reviewed the tactics of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (http://www.ocap.ca) of which I am a member. OCAP's dictum "Fight to Win" was reviewed and it's historical underpinnings in the Labour movement and it's distinction from other protest strategies were reviewed by young socialist members which reminded me of my college comrades when libertarian marxism was all the rage in the early '90s, it was interesting to see my contemporaries speak to these issues. "Fight to Win" is a strategy based on the idea that you want total victory. If you are on strike you don't want to go on strike to get a partial set of demands met in some reformist agenda you want all the worker demands met, so fighting to win means get what you want and not settling for a liberal reform. This was an interesting workshop as the presenters opened up space for others to speak especially on the issue of "Socialism from Below" a horizontal development towards socialism rather then a vertical hierarchical top-down "Socialsm from Above". Many different tendencies were able to speak including anarcho-communists, eco-anarchists and other interpretations of marxism. Credit should be given to both the presenters a man and a woman, perhaps it is a generational issue which has given them a somewhat more open approach to socialism, nonetheless the workshop was very worthwhile.
The "Anti-Racist Community Organizing" workshop was probably the only workshop which actually worked as an actual workshop. This workshop was facilitated in more of the anarchist way then any other flavor of anti-capitalism. The facilitators three young womyn from Asian backgrounds, Arab, Pakistani, and East Asian presented a well thought out workshop on the issue of anti-oppression organizing. A small break out session was held. I participated in the "media" discussion group. A large part of the discussion in our break out was focused on breaking down the white domination in Indymedia. We discussed how we perceived much of Indymedia to be dominated by white male techies rather then inclusive of other peoples and how this inbalance in representation impacts Indymedia's ability to report all facets of resistance usually focusing on points of conflict usually between middle class white kids taking on working class policeman. We also discussed how this inbalance in representation prevents more non-white participation taking for example an Indymedia office in a Latin dominated district where all regularly participating members are white. We discussed how a deeper understanding of the stated goals of Indymedia should be understood by members and that saying your anti-racist is just one step in a process of breaking down inherited racist tendencies. We also discussed how regular workshops not just on anti-racism but also feminism and queer liberation would benefit all members of the Indymedia collectives. The facilitators have put together educational materials which can be downloaded at http://www.tao.ca/~colours/can.html or you can reach them at the Heads Up Collective 416-760-3483.
The after the final days of workshops a final plenary was held which was facilitated by a man and a women. The participants mapped out some key areas on which to focus energies such as:
--More interactive discussion within the movement
--addressing marginilization and division
--building frameworks and coalitions, highlighting the importance of the Ontario Common Front, a coaliton of coalitions based on direct action principles and social justice.
--organizing around labour issues
--community based organizing, developing a broad based support for the Pope Squat that OCAP is planning.
Again and again in communities around north America I see the same issues popping up, womyn do not yet have the same respect and status as men, queers are still pushed to the fridges and non-whites are still the "other". However, there is an honest movement within the movement to change these problems. The ability of anti-capitalists to come together and discuss these issues is a great step forward. With the formation of the New Socialist Group, a libertarian Marxist group, it now gives honest Marxists a place to organize within the broader anti-capitalist movement. A group that is not reformist like the U.S. Democratic Socialists, European Greens or the Canadian New Democratic Party. It gives revolutionary libertarian Marxists a voice without having to go to an authoritarian Marxist grouping such as the WWP or ISO, as an eco-anarchist I think all anti-capitalist anti-authoritarians should welcome this new formation of socialists. Although undoubtedly the conference had problems it was a success in it's ability to set up a space for anti-capitalists to come together outside of an either us or them environment as is the case with most Socialist or Anarchist conferences. We should build more conferences like this and try and rekindle the early First International where all anti-capitalists were working together for a brave new world based on social justice.

Salem
member of OCAP
Indypendent Media Correspondent

[Note: Audio from the workshops will be available sometime in the future at http://media.iww.org/radio.php]