Anarchist-Communists Break Through Barricades and Keep Protest Going

As the protest went through the streets of SF, many people honked their horns in support and cheered along with us. Many more people had those really loud horns for the Giants game, and we heard a lot of those. All in all, around 3-4,000 people broke away from the police-approved march.

In one incident, a republican-type gavin newsom-loving jackass decided to drive his SUV through the crowd of people. He continually insisted on moving ahead, knocking directly into people young and old. He was met with protesters jumping on his car, people hitting his car with sticks, and all 4 of his tires being deflated on the spot.

Several times, the anti-capitalist protest broke into a run, outpacing the riot cops and surging through the streets of San Francisco!!

Representing for the world's best operating system, Unix/Linux/FreeBSD/OpenBSD ... radical anti-capitalist geeks represent in the breakaway protest!

the murderers of idriss stelley and many more people on the streets of san francisco, the SFPD mobilized quickly to counter the breakaway anarchist march. they even began bringing in busses full of riot police. they also had a horse-mounted platoon on a nearby street. however, the breakaway march began running, changing direction at the last minute, cutting through parks and side streets, and generally confusing the hell out of the SFPD.

I hope this was a sign of things to come....I'd even like to take it up a few notches next time.

Thanks for the info. I thought I was the only anarchocommunist in the bay area.

All the anarchists mentioned in this post and all the closeup pics are of white men?

It makes it hard to build a real movement when its so homogenous.

There are anarchist-communist tendencies all over the world, including Korea, China, South America, Central America, etc. The breakaway march today was typically (for san francisco) diverse, along lines of gender and ethnicity. The only thing I really didnt see was any of the rich yuppie types joining us for the illegal march. But that's a kind of lack of diversity that I can go for.

the point was about the post, not the march

The real thing is ... where are the black people in that phalanx of SFPD?! in a city as diverse as SF, can there really be that many white people on the police force?!

In the picture of the crowd, the first thing I see is a middle-aged black guy and a masked-up woman. Perhaps a disgruntled IACop is ignoring this in order to downplay the most exciting part about today?

I didn't go on the "breakaway" march for several reasons, the most important for me being that I didn't know who was organizing it. I had heard rumors that it was being organized by some Left Turn people who were carrying around black flags (Left Turn broke off of the ISO, a group I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them, and seems to be heavily courting anarchists and anti-globalization movement folks). There was no public(ly announced?) dialogue about what would take place, nor were there any announcements I could find about what appropriate targets would be. So I had no idea what I would be getting into, and wasn't in a position where I could afford to get arrested this weekend.

I'm glad they chose the recruitment center, but I think next time we should try a different tactic other than the sound-system-led breakaway march with no apparent target and no flyers to hand out to passersby about why we're out there. I'm glad that indymedia was able to post announcements as things went on- I think it's a big part of what indymedia was originally formed to do.

I'd love it if we all got serious and did some preparation for future demos...

Let's form some affinity groups, and even schedule a meeting towards setting up some way for people to discuss things and work together before upcoming demos.

Let's get some anarchist-communist literature written up, maybe with something about why we're against the war and the boring tactics of the socialists, and some ideas of things people can do...

Let's think up fun things to do in the future...

And, this goes for everyone, not just AC's, let's stop focusing all of our energy on speaking to the choir. People had great costumes, signs, banners, etc, but they were showing off for the rest of the demonstrators. Imagine if people had their "blasphemous" anti-Bush/anti-war/anti-capitalist propaganda on-hand at public transit stations during rush hour, outside of sporting events, etc? People might start thinking that their kids should get out of the military, their tax dollars should stop funding bombings, and there's a lot more wrong with the world than the current Bush "regime!"

Albert Einstein was a left socialist and pacifist, not an anarcho-communist.
The link provided to the fbi files states:
"An investigation was conducted by the FBI regarding the famous physicist because of his affiliation with the Communist Party. "

Which is doubious at best, given the source. If true, an affliliation with the CP would negate any claims to anarchism! He may well have had anarchist friends or correspondents, but that, as we know, does not equal being an anarchist oneself.

for Historical Accuracy and Libertarian Communism!

Anyway, looks like a fun march. glad to see no one was injured or busted. The comrade in the "on organizing" comment gave excellent suggestions for next time..

Hi,
no, Albert Einstein wasn't part of the communist party, but that would still be entirely consistent with the idea of his being an anarcho communist because they can be very anticommunist too. The key difference is the issue of authoritarianism and vanguards - communist countries, in all cases, had violent leadership of the country that would kill or imprison dissenters. Anarcho communists don't support this. This can be a bit complex because even though anarchists always criticize 'sectarian groups' of communists that each have less than 20 members who all want to be the worker's vanguard, anarchism has quite a few flavors too, and some don't get along well.
For instance, yesterday one of the speakers in front of the recruiting center espoused some 'primitivist' ideas - saying "civilization must be brought down". Many anarchists disagree with this philosophy most famously described by John Zerzan and Eugene green anarchists. Also, I know an anarchist in Seattle who is affiliated with the IWW and suffered quite a bit in the south for this over the course of his life, and he's with the Leonard Peltier defense committee etc., and I observed him to flip out when someone used the red & black flag to describe his IWW position (red & black is supposed to be the flag for either anarcho syndicalists, or anarchists who emphasize unions and worker issues, while black&green is for enviroanarchists etc.) because he was very adamant that anarchosyndicalism and communism are completely completely different and that communists are just as much the enemy of ordinary people as capitalists are (sort of true).

I didn't go on the "breakaway" march for several reasons, the most important for me being that I didn't know who was organizing it. I had heard rumors that it was being organized by some Left Turn people who were carrying around black flags (Left Turn broke off of the ISO, a group I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them, and seems to be heavily courting anarchists and anti-globalization movement folks). There was no public(ly announced?) dialogue about what would take place, nor were there any announcements I could find about what appropriate targets would be. So I had no idea what I would be getting into, and wasn't in a position where I could afford to get arrested this weekend."

--------------
I asked one of the three major 'leaders' with bullhorns if they were with left turn, and they said they weren't. One of the other people has been affiliated with BAMN at UC Berkeley, but I don't know about left turn. There were several ISO people within the crowd. And there were several dozen people who hadn't heard about this ahead of time who thought it looked interesting and so they went along.

einstein may have been responsible for America getting
thebomb, but he was also deeply against violence.

i must admire your spirit but your actions i do not
see how they are going to do what you wish

The focus on violent action, military leaders and famous men (when there are also many famous anarchist women) seems a little testosterone centric?

Yeah, I guess mentioning our homogeneity is race baiting or whatever but it’s a real problem. A mass movement that is based off a white middle class base is bound to end up representing the interests of the white middle class (just look at Critical Mass). A lack of diversity colors the issues we focus on not just out of self-interest but also since we may never hear of local issues in communities that we are not connected to.

I think the breakaway march was good (and of course 90+% of the people in it didn’t consider themselves anarchist-communists) but we have to be careful that we have real goals and that our tactics come from our heads. I’m not opposed to property destruction but we always need to look at the results of our actions (sometimes getting more media attention or directly interfering with the war machine helps, sometimes violent action can be used by the right and the property is fully insured so there is no direct effect). Far too often male leaders emerge on the radical left and their real motives are questionable. Sometimes they fail to realize this themselves. Men all too often fool themselves into violent action solely out of the desire (taught to them as kids) to be soldiers (some women act like this too but its more rare). A focus on flags, ski masks etc.. is sometime a sign of this.

This action seemed good, but if there are more radical actions like this planned, its something to watch out for. And, I think there should be a real debate about emotional riots that destroy property vs. well planned actions that do the same. If people had rioted and destroyed the recruiting center would that have been better or worse PR wise than the attack in San Jose?

um, hello....

I just wanted to clear up some confusion. As one of the folks who made the flyers, got the sound system, and basically facilitated the breakaway march, I was kind of bothered by the claim that the march was the work of Anarchist-Communists.

Now I'm an anarchosyndicalist, and most of us (not all) self-identify as anarchists, but the march that we put together was not intended to be taken as a march in favor of this or that political ideology. The breakaway was designed to pull as many people as possible - not just anarchists - out of the crowd and hopefully introduce some more mainstream folks to RTS - style unpermited action.

Our group (anti-war action) was about 10 people and we were not affiliated with any other group, organization, or with any political ideology. A week and a half ago I was hanging out with some friends talking about the rally and mentioned that I really hoped there would be more then a rally because rallies won't stop the war (the usual radical shit-talkingthat we all do, you know how it is). The difference is that this time we decided to do somethign about it. we made some phone calls, had a couple meetings, with some of our friends, picked a target, printed flyers, got the sound system, and all of a sudden we had a breakaway march. I think the fact that we got such a great response is proof that there was a real hunger for something more militant.

Our main objective was - quite frankly - to get people out of the park. having 50-60,000 people sit around in a park and listen to marxists, progressives, and politicians tell them that the best way to exercise their power is to give it away was not our idea of an empowering experience, or an effective tactic for that matter. The breakaway march was designed to show people that there are alternatives and that there's absolutely no reason why we should bother asking the police for permission to exercise our right to assemble.

An of course we were glad to have those big beautiful red and black flags with us - The long-term goal is after all total liberation, something that (in my opinion) can only be accomplished by complete abolition of capitalism and the state; but as I said before several members of our group do not feel comfortable aligning themselves with any particular ideology, and I personally have some serious issues with the ideology of anarchist-communism as it's usually presented.

So basically it was rather irresponsible and quite frankly kind of silly for whoever posted this article to claim responsibility for an unspecified group of anarchocommunists without bothering to find out the facts. please don't be so hasty to stick your label all over other people's work next time....

oh, and by the way, albert einstein was a socialist, but a state socialist. In fact, if you read his work he actually advocates for a one-world-government based on a 'socialist' safety net but with a fully function (though highly regulated) capitalist marketplace still in place. Once again, please do your research before posting up silly things. You make us all look uninformed when you do that kind of thing.

It is interesting that SF Indymedia highlights this article so much. Is SF Indymedia now an anarchist-communist front group?

hello all, thanks to the organizers of the breakaway march, and for the clarification that it wasn't in the name of "anarchist communism." also, please know about this upcoming action stated below.

the all people's coalition agrees with the criticism mentioned throughout this thread one of the contradictions of the "peace movement" is that it is dominated by white people.

i'm interested that nestor makhno is described as a leader of this ideology described here. i don't know much about him, but i do know that someone who uses that name as an email address has taken to sending me nasty, ugly, insulting emails, for supporting reparations to african people and being part of the uhuru movement. i'm assuming he or she (most likely he) got my email and a sense of my ideology from my participation in these discussion boards.

anyway, hope you all can come out on tuesday:

Civil Dis of Bush and the War!!
No Business As Usual!
On Tuesday, October 29th at 4pm on
Montgomery and Market Streets in San Francisco
Stand with the Iraqi People!

What:      Rally and Civil Disobedience Against Bush's  War on Iraq
Where:      Montgomery and Market Streets, San Francisco
When:      Tuesday, October 29, 2002, 4pm
Media Contact: Wendy Snyder, (415) 348-7797

The All People's Coalition to Stop US War and
Occupation invites all concerned individuals, groups,
students, peaceniks, priests, rabbis, ministers, union
members, war veterans, parents, grandparents and
anti-war organizations to join us in a sit-in on
Market Street at Montgomery on next Tuesday, October
29th, gathering at 4pm.

Following up on the big demonstration this weekend in
San Francisco, we will wear headbands and clothing
declaring our solidarity with the Iraqi people, and we
will have a huge banner that says, "No Business As
Usual! Stop the War on Iraq!"

Depending upon our numbers, some of us will safely and peacefully block Market Street prepared to receive
arrests.  We need hundreds of others to bear witness
and to support this action on site. We want this
action to resonate as loudly as possible to express
our outrage at the United States' utter disdain for
the Iraqi people in their willingness to devastate
their country for so many years and to once again go
in with a direct military attack. We want to show the
world that we, as the people, are ready to challenge
the government's arrogance assumption that the oil and
resources in the Middle East and the world belong to
the United States and will be acquired at whatever
human cost deemed necessary.

The time is now for us to act for our future, the
future of our children, and the future of the world's
people! Contact the All People's Coalition at (510)
569-9620 or allpeepsco [at] yahoo.com


THE ALL PEOPLE'is made up of organizations and
individuals coming together to oppose the current U.S.
escalation of violence in the Middle East and other
parts of the world, justified by the so-called "war on
terror." Our actions are guided by the principle that
the any struggle for peace must have as it's
foundation, social justice for the world's oppressed
people -- both inside and outside the U.S.!

There is a guy who used to do anti-gentrification work in the Mission district under the name Nestor Makhno. He did really good work fighting gentrification but he is a little on the looney side so I wouldnt hold any email he might be sending you against anarchist-communists or any other group (he doesnt get along well with people and tends to work on his own).

Here is info on him:
http://www.onecity.com/pirate/pe6/YEP.html
http://www.infoshop.org/myep.html
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/1999-06-09/columns2.html
http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/macchron.htm

b4 you get excited by anther 'ism' check out the comments by " anonymous person =) "

i mean, Einstein was an "Anarchist-Communist" puhleeease....

looks like a great march, great effort, and great people... just a pity about morons who insist on using words like "Makhnovist Support Apparatus of the Einsteinist Tendency"

What is needed is the leadership of an uncomprimising revolutionary party that will seize control of the movement and give it REAL direction, as opposed to more bourgois liberalism (pseudo-fem homosexual posturing and do-nothingism) for and anarchist property destruction (macho heterosexual posturing and do-somethingstupidism).

"politcal power grows from the barrel of a gun"--Mao

What is needed is the leadership of an uncomprimising revolutionary party that will seize control of the movement and give it REAL direction, as opposed to more bourgois liberalism (pseudo-fem homosexual posturing and do-nothingism) for and anarchist property destruction (macho heterosexual posturing and do-somethingstupidism).

"politcal power grows from the barrel of a gun"--Mao

Not to be a nit picker but I don't think Einstein was an anarcho-communist, although he is well known as a union supporter, and vegetarian.

well in sf.indy there tend to be alot of "anarcho-communists" most of the folks are anarchists and it functions on those principles so if you are irish and see an irish group protesting maybe you tend to focus on that more then other things. so yae, we had fun at the breakaway march and it shows and kudos to the organizers of it. then again i'm not an anarcho-communist i'm an libertarian eco-communist. ;-)

and if sf.indy really were a front group we wouldn't even mention international answer.

At first I thought this post was just a joke, supposed to make anarchist communists look like moronic jerks in the style of Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Trotskyist-Maoist manipulators (not that a few aren't), but if this post was really meant by its author to be taken seriously, I suggest that s/he try learning a bit more about anarchy, anarchist communism, and simple truth-telling before posting stuff with fake claims, spurious history and empty more-radical-than-thou attitudes.

Fuck the cops! Criticize conservatives and liberals everywhere! Break-out from every possible tame, scripted-in-advance demo as long as you can get away with it! Tell the world that capitalism sucks and that we can organize ourselves to destroy capital and state if we really try! But leave the manipulative, sectarian, ideological tactics to the political left. They're a lot better at it, but it isn't stopping their slide off the stage of history one bit.

At first I thought this post was just a joke, supposed to make anarchist communists look like moronic jerks in the style of Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Trotskyist-Maoist manipulators (not that a few aren't), but if this post was really meant by its author to be taken seriously, I suggest that s/he try learning a bit more about anarchy, anarchist communism, and simple truth-telling before posting stuff with fake claims, spurious history and empty more-radical-than-thou attitudes.

Fuck the cops! Criticize conservatives and liberals everywhere! Break-out from every possible tame, scripted-in-advance demo as long as you can get away with it! Tell the world that capitalism sucks and that we can organize ourselves to destroy capital and state if we really try! But leave the manipulative, sectarian, ideological tactics to the political left. They're a lot better at it, but it isn't stopping their slide off the stage of history one bit.

Dear Mr McQuinn:

The only thing sliding off the stage are the half-baked dirty slobs that you contend are "real anarchists"

The above is written half in jest (about makhnovist tendency, etc) but leave it to an anally-retentive anti-organizational hack to not take a joke.

Sorry Jason. The anarchobohemian movement was in the 80s. You are behind the times. Go back to 1985 when nothing good was happening!! And you can talk about how great it is that nothing is happening!

And the white, black-masked, linux using computer anarcho-geeks will be the salvation of us all...

The best is when the anti-organisationalist pseudo-anarchists, triumphantly proclaiming the superioity of their correct thought and boldly advocating "TAZ's", voluntary illiteracy, and bombing SUV's dealerships as a means of changing social relationships, somehow equate the successes of the anarchist movement with their ideology.

Hello?

Maybe they've failed to notice that every broad anarchist movement to every have an impact in history was adamantly opposed to their lifestylist, dillusional conceptions. In fact, their movement has no history to speak of - except the bullshit they make up from butchered anthropology [reminds me of German archaeology circa the late 30's]

In fact, isn't this the same jason mcquinn who said, in one issue of his pathetic little rag, that the holocaust was an inflated account?

Come on now, this joker has no right to speak for "the anarchist movement", he's not a part of it -, historically, contemporarily, or otherwise.

And that would be....

there was a big movement in Spain before Franco, but since Franco did take over was that really a "big impact"

I just wanted to commend the organisers from Anti-War Action who put the break-away "direct action" march together.

We need more autonomous organisations like Anti-War Action. Being an Anarcho-Syndicalist myself, and coming from San Diego with other Anarcho-Syndicalists, we had low expectations for yet another international ANSWER demonstration; which is really an excuse for the Workers' World Party to get money from those trash cans at the end of the rally.

However, the Anti-War Action "direct action" march was refreshing, and it gave us more of a reason to raise our red & black flags high and profess our anti-war sentiments to the people, on the streets, in their cars, and against the police intimidation that was so overt.

I read a little article on A-Infos that said an "SUV was left all smashed up with 4 flat tires" when it tried to run protestors over. This is not true, as far as I could see. It was a red van, not an SUV, and the pigs got there to protect property (as usual) before the vehicle could be destroyed. The closest thing to destruction insofar as the van was its roof being bent inward due to an activist jumping on top of it and hitting it with a stick.

Did anyone else see some SUV that got fucked up? Just curious. I figured it was some reactionary anarchist posting a glorified, exaggerated version of the action. Not surprising.

Anyway, cheers once again to the Anarchists and others involved with the Anti-War Action endeavour. That freestyle hip-hop artist was great as well, and it's too bad we couldn't do more harm to the recruiting office. Oh well, there's always next time. Let's make this "break-away" action a regular practise.

Cheers and Solidarity!
--Anarchist Freethink Movement, San Diego

As an Anarchist, I have to completely agree with Jason McQuinn here. This opportunistic article which somehow equates Anarchist Communist participation in this march with the need for a history of Anarchist Communism (?!) is completely crass. There are much easier ways to talk about Anarchism besides hi-jacking the IMC front page.

Regarding anti-organizationalism, anyone who actually wants to read some great critiques of "organizers" and their parasitic ilk, "activists" can check out http://www.geocities.com/kk_abacus which asserts affinity over ideological unity, a perfectly reasonable revolutionary response.

For Anarchy and equality,

Sk!

wow all the dirty slobs have crawled off of their armchairs to comment on this article huh? the king of anarcholifestylism at anarchy magazine and his west coast court jester of anarchoincompetence have both reared their particularly ugly heads on this thread. interesting. like someone else said, your days of equating nakedness and lethargy with anarchism are over. welcome to the new days where your irrelevance grows bit by bit each second that passes...

without leaving lifestylism behind. Lifestylism is important. If we are to survive, we must build a strong and appealing culture.

But lifestylism alone is not enough. Not only is only trying to build a decent life for ourselves alone an extremely selfish, self-centered, bourgeois indulgence, it’s also not possible. We do not exist in a vacuum. Like it or not, you are as much in and of the world as any other people. Your fates are inexorably intertwined with theirs. No matter how high you get, or how hard you dance, in the morning, the party’s always over. Write another check. You’re still paying rent like the rest of us. Inhale. That’s Chernobyl you’re breathing. And unless we unite with others who oppose this war and actually force an end to it and soon, sooner or later, it will kill us, too, just as dead as it kills the statists.

Yeah, yeah, I know. We anarchists know how to party better than anybody. And I’m not saying don’t party. I’m saying don’t *only* party. Sitting around some infoshop, complaining about the one we have, even in the most erudite of all possible jargon, will never make the new world come to be. There’s real work that needs to be done. The world wont save itself, you know. And it wont save you, either. So get off your lazy, loaded, egghead butts and do something with anarchist theory besides jerking your brains off over coffee and beer. Sweat a little. Get some dirt under your nails. Build the world you want with your own hands.

Stop thinking small. Play to win.

Hmm, if we're white, we can't be a "real movement"?

We're here, we're white, get used to it!

Firstly , i would like to comment on the "breakaway march"/after march. I liked it. It had a rhythm and militancy to it, and was a good alternative to listening to speeches.. It could have been planned slightly better. Even tho i liked the recruitment station target, I think a closer target would have gotten less people to drift away. If people want to work on future actions of this type and discuss other militant activities in the Bay Area please write me: resist [at] infinex.com.

There is a direct action called for at 7am on November 18th by a good group of diverse activists. It is beginning at Market and Sansome, by E-trade and can "hit" different targets in the financial district depending on what affinity groups want to do. I personally would like to go after a military contractor that has its west coast office in the area. Write me if you want to work on this.

On the other hand, for the Uhuru nuts and their lame-ass Coalition to call their stupid and counter-productive "civil dis" in this same category as the breakaway or November 18th is disgusting. I watched the parody event from across the street where 5 people went into Montgomery St. and blocked it for maybe 30 seconds, with a leaflet that claimed it was historic and would punish the Bush adminstration. They make International Answer look good. At least they get numbers.

As to "chairman bob": Get a life. You seem to be an asexual asshole who has something bad to say (out of context, of course) about both homosexuality and heterosexuality. Even the RCP with its Chairman Bob has gotten over that bugaboo. There are militant and pacifist gays and not everyone who advocates "macho" positions is a heterosexual.

Now onto Einstein. He was a contradictory politically, with, as others have pointed out here, a generally pacifistic socialist-one world government take on things. I find it silly that people have to bolster up good ideas by referring to a person who was very smart in one area and not do smart in others. And you don't have to be an Einstein to see that anarchism (and the freedom that no state and no exploitaiton will create) is the best way for the world to go.

As to McQuinn and his detractors, stop the backbiting! There is a place for all of you in any realistic anarchism. Jason has done a lot to popularize anarchist ideas and build a free society, as has even John Zerzan. A lot of his ideas are are also self-defeating. Anarcho-communists has done a lot to show anarhcists can be organized, altho some of them and their groups look and work like the states and parties they want to replace. Let's welcome everyone and criticize their ideas not their humanity or credentials

Thanx for reading this long posting.
Deanosor