Grand Rapids Anarchists

Last month, we posted a bit about anarchist protests at the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change summit (officially called UN COP15). The protests were pretty uneventful, despite a lot of hype coming from both anarchist and more traditional left sectors.

In the weeks following the summit, a really good critique of the both the COP15 actions and the so-called “climate justice” movement was published. Titled “The Dead End of Climate Justice” the critique takes to task the NGOs and environmental groups that have attempted to make the “climate justice” movement the second coming of the anti-globalization movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

However, in doing this, the authors of the critique point out that the NGOs and professional activists have missed some of the biggest components of the anti-globalization movement and are instead pursuing capitalist solutions (that prop up the state’s power and human domination over nature), are rejecting militant tactics, and are promoting a variation of North-South imperialism. Moreover, the entire process was largely akin to lobbying, relying on NGOs, and cozying up to power.

From the article:

“In Copenhagen, the movement was asked by these newly empowered managers of popular resistance to focus solely on supporting actors within the UN framework, primarily leaders of the Global South and NGOs, against others participating in the summit, mainly countries of the Global North. Nothing summarizes this orientation better than the embarrassingly disempowering Greenpeace slogans “Blah Blah Blah, Act Now!” and “Leaders Act!” Addressing politicians rather than ordinary people, the attitude embodied in these slogans is one of relegating the respectable force of almost 100,000 protesters to the role of merely nudging politicians to act in the desired direction, rather than encouraging people to act themselves. This is the logic of lobbying. No display of autonomous, revolutionary potential. Instead, the emphasis is on a mass display of obedient petitioning. One could have just filled out Greenpeace membership forms at home to the same effect.”

Much of this could have been avoided had the self-proclaimed leaders of the demonstration learned from the past:

“As we grapple with these many disturbing trends that have arisen as primary tendencies defining the climate justice movement, we have no intention of further fetishizing the antiglobalization movement and glossing over its many shortcomings. Many of the tendencies we critique here were also apparent at that time. What is important to take away from comparisons between these two historical moments is that those in leadership positions within the contemporary movement that manifested in Copenhagen have learned all the wrong lessons from the past. They have discarded the most promising elements of the antiglobalization struggles: the total rejection of all market and commodity-based solutions, the focus on building grassroots resistance to the capitalist elites of all nation-states, and an understanding that diversity of tactics is a strength of our movements that needs to be encouraged.”

Read the rest of “The Dead End of Climate Justice.”

This year, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver—held on unceded indigenous land—will take place from February 12-28. In what will culminate several years of intense organizing by indigenous and anti-capitalist groups, there will be a two-week convergence that will confront the Olympic games with a variety of protests. The protests will focus on indigenous issues, environmental destruction, gentrification, and other issues as they relate to the Olympic games (see No2010.com for more background information).

Already, protestors across Canada have blocked the Olympic torch numerous times as it makes its way across the country while others have used property destruction (against the Olympic clock, banks connected to the Olympics, and other targets). Other tactics used by anti-Olympics protestors have included “traditional” protests, squatting, and street theatre.

Protest trailer:

8 Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics:

Earlier this week, historian and anarchist Howard Zinn passed away at the age of 87. Zinn was a radical historian who published over twenty books, including his well-known A People’s History of the United States. Moreover, Zinn has a long history of involvement in social struggles, perhaps most famously with his involvement in the Civil Rights movement and his work against the Vietnam War. Until his death, Zinn remained committed to the struggle for equality and justice.

For readers of this blog, it is noteworthy that Howard Zinn was an anarchist, and indeed through the writing of A People’s History and frequent speaking engagements, Zinn was a visible proponent of anarchism and one who’s voice will be sadly missed. Zinn always told his audiences that social change and revolution comes from grassroots efforts directed against those in power and provided a constant reminder that frequently those forces win.

In light of his passing, we are reprinting a portion of a recent interview in which Zinn discusses his vision of anarchism:

Ziga Vodovnik: From the 1980s onwards we are witnessing the process of economic globalization getting stronger day after day. Many on the Left are now caught between a “dilemma”—either to work to reinforce the sovereignty of nation-states as a defensive barrier against the control of foreign and global capital; or to strive towards a non-national alternative to the present form of globalization and that is equally global. What’s your opinion about this?

Howard Zinn: I am an anarchist, and according to anarchist principles nation states become obstacles to a true humanistic globalization. In a certain sense, the movement towards globalization where capitalists are trying to leap over nation state barriers, creates a kind of opportunity for movement to ignore national barriers, and to bring people together globally, across national lines in opposition to globalization of capital, to create globalization of people, opposed to traditional notion of globalization. In other words to use globalization—there is nothing wrong with idea of globalization—in a way that bypasses national boundaries and of course that there is not involved corporate control of the economic decisions that are made about people all over the world.

ZV: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon once wrote that: “Freedom is the mother, not the daughter of order.” Where do you see life after or beyond (nation) states?

HZ: Beyond the nation states? (laughter) I think what lies beyond the nation states is a world without national boundaries, but also with people organized. But not organized as nations, but people organized as groups, as collectives, without national and any kind of boundaries. Without any kind of borders, passports, visas. None of that! Of collectives of different sizes, depending on the function of the collective, having contacts with one another. You cannot have self-sufficient little collectives, because these collectives have different resources available to them. This is something anarchist theory has not worked out and maybe cannot possibly work out in advance, because it would have to work itself out in practice.

ZV: Do you think that a change can be achieved through institutionalized party politics, or only through alternative means—with disobedience, building parallel frameworks, establishing alternative media, etc.

HZ: If you work through the existing structures you are going to be corrupted. By working through political system that poisons the atmosphere, even the progressive organizations, you can see it even now in the US, where people on the “Left” are all caught in the electoral campaign and get into fierce arguments about should we support this third party candidate or that third party candidate. This is a sort of little piece of evidence that suggests that when you get into working through electoral politics you begin to corrupt your ideals. So I think a way to behave is to think not in terms of representative government, not in terms of voting, not in terms of electoral politics, but thinking in terms of organizing social movements, organizing in the work place, organizing in the neighborhood, organizing collectives that can become strong enough to eventually take over —first to become strong enough to resist what has been done to them by authority, and second, later, to become strong enough to actually take over the institutions.
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The RNC 8—eight anarchists arrested and charged with felony conspiracy charges for their role in organizing surrounding the protests against the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC)—have released a new letter to supporters that looks at state repression against the anarchist movement. It’s well-written and underscores the need for anarchists to support each other:

January 2010

Dear friends, families and supporters,

The last time that we wrote, we were only weeks beyond the 2008 RNC, and still figuring out how to navigate our case with a sense of collectivity and integrity. Now, more than a year after the fact, we find ourselves in a sort of limbo. Day to day, we don’t feel the intensity of repression that we did in the weeks surrounding the RNC, yet the trial looms somewhere in the distance and we’re not really free to move on. We return to court on February 2nd, and may come out of the hearing with a trial date certain. While it’s hard to remain upbeat about the prospect, we hope to make the final push towards trial energizing for ourselves and our supporters alike, and we feel certain that a strong show of court solidarity will make a huge difference in the outcome of our case.

The past year has been difficult, both in dealing with our own situation and in watching as State attempts to subvert and disrupt anarchist movement gain steam, following well-established patterns of repression against dissident political movements throughout history.

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In the past week, the horrible earthquake in Haiti has been a prominent topic in the local news. And with good reason: thousands are feared dead and pictures of the devastation are heart wrenching—to say the least.

As is usual the case with these kinds of disasters, there is a lot of talk in the news about how poor Haitians are and how we in the United States should be generous and donate money to the victims of the earthquake. News coverage has in many cases focused on the superficial—the use of Facebook to get news from the island or Pat Robertson’s ridiculous assertions that the island was essentially being punished for practicing voodoo—while avoiding the realities of just why Haiti is so poor. Haiti isn’t the poorest country in the northern hemisphere because people are lazy (or any other variation of comm. Racist myths), but rather because of U.S. and Western imperialism. For decades, the U.S. has either overtly occupied the country or propped up rightwing dictators. Of course, why would the news talk about this? In many cases, they have supported the same dictators. Infoshop News has a continually updated list of articles on Haiti that examine some of this deeper history of the island.

With images of the devastation proliferating in the news and on the Internet, many folks are giving to a variety of aid and charity organizations to help folks in Haiti. Various Christian ministries, international aid organizations, and even the U.S. government are pledging to aid those affected by the earthquake. This has prompted radical journalist and author Naomi Klein to warn that government and corporate interests in the U.S. may use the disaster as an opportunity to rebuild a more corporate friendly Haiti.

As an anarchist, I have always been skeptical of these big international aid organizations. Consequently, I was excited to see that Miami Autonomy & Solidarity put out  a statement calling on anarchists to support grassroots workers in Haiti who have been organizing in Haiti to improve their conditions. The organization writes:

There is a strong and beautiful desire to do something, to help others in this time of need. Our actions are strongest when we organize ourselves, and make a concerted effort in unity. Right now we can have the deepest impact by committing ourselves to act in solidarity with the autonomous social movements of Haiti directly. They present the best possible option for the Haitian people, and are in the greatest need. At the same time, we are in the best position to help them out our common interest as people engaged in struggling against a system that works to exploit us all. We are calling for solidarity people-to-people engaged in common struggle. It is not only a question of money for AID but also an autonomous and independent act of international solidarity that illuminates the bankruptcy of the occupying forces, multinational corporations, and Haitian elites that are primarily responsible for the decayed state of Haiti. There will be aid flowing and money given as a form of charity until the next disaster. Our act of solidarity should, in no shape or form, be solely an act of humanitarian aid. It should not be an apolitical act, and we shouldn’t give the green light to those that wish to capitalize on the suffering of others. It should be an act of solidarity to the struggling people of Haiti and their organizations while at the same time rejecting the totally inept Haitian elites and their state apparatus for bankrupting Haiti. The earthquake is a natural disaster, but the state of Haiti, the abject poverty of the masses and the vile injustice of the social order, are unnatural.

We have a relationship with one organization, Batay Ouvriye, and are putting our resources and time into helping Batay Ouvriye to help rebuild from the catastrophe and maintain the struggle for a better Haiti and a better world. Batay Ouvriye is a combative grassroots worker and peasant’s organization in Haiti with workers organized all over Haiti, especially in the Industrial sweatshops and Free Trade Zones. We have set up a means to send money to Batay Ourviye. If others wish to send money to Batay Ouvriye, please email miamiautonomyandsolidarity@yahoo.com

Yesterday, we posted an anarchist analysis of the Afghanistan War that came from a class struggle anarchist perspective. Not surprisingly, the analysis argued that the best strategy for stopping the war in Afghanistan is to organize working class resistance to the war, both in and outside of the military.

While there is certainly a place for such organizing, we obviously aren’t going to be able to organize the working class overnight. Consequently, there are a number of different approaches that can be tried. One way of educating and agitating against the war is spreading propaganda about the war. A great way to do this is to put up posters (using wheatpaste for example) around town. This is an action that can reach many people, is relatively low risk, and can be done with only a few people.

The Friendly Fire Collective out of the Bay Area has a great poster that can be used for this purpose (download it here):

Of course, you can also make your own posters.

As always, our capacity to resist is limited only by our imaginations.

Last month we posted an anarchist analysis of the U.S. escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Recently, another anarchist group—the Workers Solidarity Alliance—has issued another statement on the escalation. Of course, statements won’t stop wars, but they do offer ways of developing specifically anarchist analyses of current events (which is important so that we don’t have to rely on the mainstream media, liberals, or authoritarian leftists).

The statement provides a good overview of the situation in Afghanistan and comes out—as would be expected—strongly against the U.S. policy in the region. They write:

On December 1, 2009, President Barack Obama announced that he will send tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, escalating the war in central Asia. Obama claims to want peace while he orders more war and death for poor and working people. He claims that the US fights for freedom and democracy, but he allies himself with tyrannical Afghani warlords. He does this with the backing of both Democrats and Republicans and the corporate interests they serve. None of this is new or unusual for the United States Government and its NATO allies. The only thing “new” is the person issuing the orders today: Obama, the “Candidate of Hope” was elected promising “Change.” Now in office, he delivers more of the same—using the US military to install pro-capitalist governments in countries around the world in order to maintain and expand access to raw materials, cheap labor and consumer markets for Western corporations.

The statement does a good job of arguing that the only way for the “liberation” of the Afghani people is to allow them the autonomy to decide their own futures. Of course, this means not buying into the lie that the U.S. is “liberating” the people of Afghanistan and not propping up the Afghani elites and warlords that seek to oppress large portions of the population.

For anarchists opposing the war in the U.S. and outside of Afghanistan, the Workers Solidarity Alliance suggests a deeper focus than what has been pursued by many antiwar activists:

As an organization of working-class militants rooted in the traditions of anarcho-syndicalism, libertarian socialism and class struggle, we are convinced that militarism can only be defeated by the rank and file of working people, in common struggle against the class of bureaucrats, politicians and capitalists who profit from the slaughter of war. Only through a mass struggle against all bosses and the overthrow of capitalism and its supporting political structure will war and imperialism ever be definitively ended. While we firmly support anti-war protesters, we know full well that news-grabbing marches by a small crew of professional activists are no substitute for the kind of mass working-class resistance that wreaked havoc on the US war effort in Vietnam: rank-and-file refusal, sabotage and mutiny, social upheaval in the ghettos and working-class communities from which the soldiers are recruited, and so on.

As always, the question is what to do. For the Workers Solidarity Alliance, this means focusing on “growing resistance in the lower ranks of capitalism’s armed forces” and undermining the capacity of the state to wage war, while standing in solidarity with groups in Afghanistan—like the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)—that are pursuing liberation.

Of course, there are a number of strategies that can be pursued (not just the Workers Solidarity Alliance’s class struggle focus)—but at the core, they are certainly right: the goal must be to abolish capitalism and build our capacity to do so.

Developers in Northern Michigan are proposing a wind farm for a ten square mile area in Lake Michigan. The site—located off the coast near Pentwater, Michigan (pictured above)—would be visible from the shore. Of course, thus far the majority of opposition to the project has been about property values—not the fact that wind farms are simply a desperate attempt at maintaining an economic status quo that is inherently unsustainable. Moreover, wind farms come their own negative environmental impacts including deaths of birds and bats. Sure, wind power is better than other so-called alternative sources of energy like bio-fuels and “clean coal”, but a belief that we can “fix” our way out of global warming—whether with wind or any other source—obscures the fact that massive changes in our collective lifestyles are needed.