Towards a Society based on Mutual Aid, Voluntary Cooperation & the Liberation of Desire #36/Spring '93 B

A Journal of Desire Armed

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Rap Cops + On Gogol Boulevard + The Iconoclast's Hammer Openers

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2 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Openers

Discontents Anarchy#36 Spring 1993 Press run: 6,500 ISSN 1044-1387 LC 88-13329

PUBLISHED BY C.A.L. Press

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Jason McQuinn Essays Departments Toni Otter

Openers EDITORIAL ADVISORY GROUP 4 Anarchy Avid Darkly Inside E.B. Funck 5 Support the Anarchist Press! A. Hacker Shagbark Hickory The Sad Truth Noa 6 Out of Control Mikell Zhan

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Freddie Baer, San Francisco, Johann Humyn Being, San Francisco,CA. CA. James Koehnline, Seattle, WA.

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Alice Carnes, Eugene, OR Wendy S. Duke, Akron, OH. Feral Faun, Portland, OR Alison Gross, Paris, France Neal Keating, Albany, 25 NY. Roles Tad Kepley, Brooklyn, NY. BY RAOUL VANEIGEM Michael William, Montreal, Quebec John :ZCrzan, Eugene, OR

34 Bisexuality CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE

BY MICHAEL wiwAM Laure Akai • Ace Backwards • Peter S. REVIEW Barker • Alex Bezizvestich • Mark

Bohnert • Bob Brubaker • R Cobb • 7 Rap Cops . Anders Corr • Mr. Fish • Manolo Gonzalez • James Koehnline • Drake 8 Holes in Condom Theo y r Scott • G.T. • Raoul Vaneigem • Damon

Voteur • R Zack Atternatlve Media Review 9 Alternative Press Review The views expressed in . the articles, 14 Encyclopedia of the American Left graphics, letters, etc. published in Anarchy do not necessarily reflect the views of 15 Alternative Press Books CA.L., or those of the editorial produc­ & 16 Anarchist Press Review tion staff.

On Gogol Boulevard Anticopyright-Anarchy may be reprinted 18-21 at willfor non-profit purposes,except in the case of individual articles, graphics and International Anarchist News other contributions copyrighted by their creators or previous publishers. 22 They have Taken the Walls 22 Latin American Contacts is indexed in the AltemativePress IndexAnarchy (POB 33109, Baltimore, MD. 21218), 41 23 The Anarchist Scene Life in Revolutionary and is part of the Anarchist Media Network Barcelona, Part 2 Columns (@net). BY MANOLO GONZALEZ 50 TheIconocla st's Hammer: Some not CA.L. Press is a member of COSMEP, Completely Aimless Meanderings the International Association of Indepen­ dent Pub-lishers (POB 420703, S.F., 46 52 Schiz-Flux: CA. The Fall of Communism, The Movement of Schiz­ 94142-0703). Flux the Society of the whirligig of time its revenges." 'The has Spectacle and Prostitution Letters -B.A.G. Fuller BY PETER S. BARKER 54-83

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 3 Openers

Space crunch Anarchy distributors As our circulation has we seem to Inside Anarchy grown, can be found at the following be suffering from an increasingly severe Anarchy bookshops and stores. We urge you to elcome to the Spring '93 issue of backlog in our letters column. This has often check out the listings for your area. W Anarchy. Although we had no spe­ been a problem for us, but even with the cific theme in mind forthis issue, we seem to 50% larger space given over to letters in this Aardvarx Newspmk have ended up with a fuzzy theme of sorts issue we've only managed to keep up the 17 N. 10th St 43 Richmond St Columbia, MO. 65201 Providence, RI. 02903 anyway. There seems to be no simple way to same late pace we've maintained for the last Bollom of Ishtar Normars express the thread of similarity, but each of fewissues. Readers' letters have always been 1027 E. Walnul St . 4211 E. 3111 Street Columbia, MO. 65201 Baltimore, MD. 21218 our fourfeature essays servesto situate types a very popular section in Anarchy, but the Cool Slut! OneTlmaeOne of personal experience in a social-historical more letters we publish the less space is left 120 S. lllh � 821 North Third Street context. Raoul Vaneigem gives us the most for our other departments and features. Let Columbia, MO. 65201 Phoenix, AZ.. 85004 (314) 875-7912 Opening Books incisive description of 'The Role" I've en­ us know how you feel about this situation. .._.,.Nook 403Pratt Avenue NE countered. For Vaneigem, the role is a con­ What kind of balance should we seek? E. Broadway HunlSville, AL 35801 BO«: sumption of power which situates every Columbia, MO. 65201 People'• Bookstore Next issues S.11 of the Eerth Records 458W. Gilman St consumer/spectator within the hierarchies of 207 S. Ninlh St Madison, WI. 53703 the spectacular organization of appearances. Our Summer 1993 issue will probably be Columbia, MO. 65201 Perennlel Boob organized around the themes of racism, fasc­ Amok POB B14 Michael William presents an overviewof the ism and nationalism. We are still enc ging 1764 N. Vermont Ave. Montague, MA. 01351 current controversies over bisexuality. He oura L.A., CA. 90027 catalog) (mailorder situates this ambiguous sexuality-which submissions on this theme (final deadline is Aulonome Dletrlbution Prlnlar'a Mark Boobhop April 15th}, though, as always, we cannot POB 7111191 30 Market Square confutes the simple essentialist dichotomy of New Orleans, LA. 70179 Knoxville, TN. 37902 hetero and homosex-in relation to the con­ guarantee that· everything submitted will (mailordercatalog) Qvimby's av.er Store flictingcurrents of the contemporarygay and make it into print. There is also a possibility lob's News • Booblore 200 1 Evergreen Ave. that the Fall issue will focus on the theme of 1619 S. Andrews Ave. Chicago, IL. 60622 feffiinist milieux. Manolo Gonzalez returns Lauderdale, 33316 Ft. FL Alllnbow Book Store with the second and final part of his reveal­ the critique of ideology & morality. We're BoundTogether Boob 426 W. Gilman St also looking for submissions on this subject. 1369 Haight St Madison, WI. 53703 ing description of "Life in Revolutionary At this point other suggestions for future S.n Frencioco, CA. 114117 Allneleaance Books Barcelona" from his personal perspective as (mailordercatalog also) 66311 Magnolia Ave. a young child in the 1930s. And Peter S. issues still include "Anarchy & Violence," City Light. Riverside, CA. 112506 "Anti-organization," "Libertarian Education," 261 Columb .. Allptillen Allcorda Barker contributes a diary of his thoughts on San Francioco, 114133 CA. • Comlca personal experience in relation to the mass "Anti-technology," "Psychiatry/Mental Ill­ Comic Allllel 403S. Broadway ness," 'Transportation," "False Opposition," 1597 Haight St. Baltimore, MD. 21231 media in 'The Fall of Communism, the "Individualism," "Free market anarchism," San Francioco. CA. 114117 Revolution Boob Society of the Spectacle, and Prostitution." Eest End Food Co-op 38 JFK St. The striking front cover collage for this "Communes & Co-ops," "Rent Refusal" and 1516 Meade Street · Cambridge, MA. 02138 "Prison Abolition." We'd be happy to consid­ Pillsburgh, PA 15208 RighiTo Exlellonce Books issue was provided by graphic artist Damon Europe Booblore 285 Pr•kness Ave. Voteur, while contributing artist Freddie er submissions concerning any of these 2406 Guadalupe St. Pamroon, NJ. 07502 subjects and more, but remember, without Austin, TIC. 78705 Baer provided the back cover collage. This is Aubyfrult Boob submissions on these topics we won't be able Everyone'• Boob 666-4 W. Ten,_ St. the fourth issue published in our new maga­ 71 Elliot SI. Tallaha.... . FL 32304 zine format and the second issue with a full­ to conjure up a theme issue out of thin air! Brattleboro, VT. 05301 S.lnt Mark'• Boobhop Fiith Eet.t. Booblore 12 St. Mark's Pl. color cover. Response has been verypositive, Other news 4632Second Ave. New York, NY. 10003 although we've heard a few grumbles of Ml. 48201 Those who contributed to our laser Detroit, Second Story Boob discontent about the cover paper. Due to the {hoUJs VSI)', ID 3302 Greenmount Ave. printer fund last year should know that we (313) 831�800cal// litst @ Baltimore, MD. 21218 increased demand, we're printing 6,500 are in the process of purchasing one which Hungry H•d Boob Talking ...... Boob copies of this issue. Perhaps we could aim 1212 Willam- St 3144 Main Street will be used in the production of upcoming Eugene, OR.117401 for 10,000 copies by next year? Wouldn't it Bullalo, NY. 14214 issues. This purchase has been temporarily laslGHp Woodsn Shoe Boob be fun to have an anarchist magazine rival­ delayed by our work on a new production 2180 Bryant Street 112 South 20lh St ling some of the more mainstream 'alterna­ San Francioco, CA. 114110. Philadelphia, PA. 19103 space which is now approaching completion. tive' mags in circulation? Maybe it never (mailordercatalog onft) Zodlec Allcords will Many thanks to all who contributed! · Laughing Horu Boob 6611 Someraet happen, but it can't hurt to try! 1322 Im 23 Harrisburg, PA. 17111 -Jason McQuinn Por1tand, OR. 117201 La Dernier Mot Oulaide North America: 31168 boul. St..U.urent Montreal, Clu'bec AK Dl9trlbu11on Anarchy wholesale distributors H2W 1)'4 3 Balmoral Place Stirling FKB 2RD Armadillo Co., Diet. HomealNdBookCompany Subterranean Records Counter Productions LallBank Boob & Scotland POB 2530 399 North Euclid 5795 West Washington Blvd. 8101 22nd Ave. NW PO Box 556 St Louis, MO. 63108 Culver City, CA. ll0232 Seattle, WA. 98107 Ber1

4 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Openers Support the anarchist press!

fter a century and more of repressi�n, isolation and defeats, the anarchist milieu in North America has grown A used to settling for minority status among radical movements.·Yet with the defeat of Soviet Marxism, the deterioration of Chinese Marxism and the total sell-out of socialists and social d�mocracy worldwide, the opportunity has returned for anarchists to participate in the reinvention of a new radical social upsurge based upon direct action, mutual aid and a strongly anarchic vision. An integral part of this process must be the reinvention of the anarchist press. The ferment in anarchist media in the English-speaking world these last few years has already contrib­ uted to a practicalself-criti que of the traditional anarchist press. New zines appear monthly. Anarchic graphic artists have become more creative and more prolific. Editorial policies are opening up a bit more. And co.ntributors are becoming less timid, more anxious t? tackl� important questions. And, of course, 1t hasn t hurt that it has become easier to publish given the changes in print technologies in the last media projects. And the spirit of mutual aid has decade (which doesn't, however, affect the 3. Why isn't there more supp�rt for permeated our "Anarchist press review" c l­ overall validity of the anti-tech. critique). at ? the anarchist press from within the Y"h umns in each issue. We may not agree with has most been lacking so far are three things: anarchist milieu? everything other publications print (hell, we practical mutual aid between anarchist media As one look at the all but unedited letters projects, a more outward looking approac , don't all agree on everythingwe print), but we column in any issue of Anarchy will show, � want everyone to have an opportunity to find and more substantial support from the ant1- there is a lot of unfocussed anger, confusion out for themselves what is out there and make authoritarian milieu in general. and naivete in the anti-authoritarian milieu. We use of it. expect libertarianradica ls to be critical and self­ 1, Where is the solidarity and mutual critical, yet what too often results is an ggres­ 2. Why isn't the anarchist press look­ � aid between anarchist media projects? sive posturing bordering on the abus1v� �nd Despite the natural feeling at times that there ing outward more of the time? self-abusive. A certain amount of skept1c1sm One of the most consistent complaints we all are many, many anarchist publication� all com­ and cynicism have their places, but misogyny peting for the same small pool of active anar­ hear about anarchist publications in general is and misanthropy, moralism, narrow-minded­ chist readers such a view is short-sighted at that they are more concerne� . ':"ith inter�al ness and even cruelty also seem to abound. best and self- efeating at worst. Defensiveness conflicts, with repetitive self-defin1t1on, a�d w_1th There is something to be said for maintaining d excluding out-groups than with communicat ng (worries about some p�bl�catio�s enc�oaching . � a somewhat higher standard of civility in the upon another publication s territory) 1s hardly to new people who might be open to libertarian anarchist milieu than that which currently perspectives if they ever encountered them. necessary when anarchist periodicals curr ntly maintains. As the situationists have often said, � Whether through laziness, through adherence only reach a tiny fraction of the NorthAm erican "Becruel with your past and with all who would to rigid principle, or just through lack of thought population as a whole. For that matter we keep you there." But don't forget to lighten u , about how to do things differently, too many p hardly even reach a fraction of the population give people the benefit of the doubt. once �n already engaged in some sort of (at least self­ anarchist projects still overlook or ignore possi­ awhile, and enjoy the pleasures of friendship bilities for outreach to new readers. Anarchy defined) opposition to capital and state. There and camaraderie sometimes, too! Contempo­ is plenty of room for any competently produced has made a consistent, if not always successful, rary rebels are all in a real sense the frac:ured attempt to reach outward rather tha� always anarchist periodical to grow right now. And w_e and demoralized products of a dysfunct1�n�I ought to be helping each other out more in looking inward, with our strong commitment to social order. But we don't need to glory in 1t order to take advantage of the historical oppor­ advertising in the wider alternative press (most quite so much of the time. I'd like to suggest tunities now begging for a littlerisk taking. This often in Utne Reader and occasionally in that more of us act on the novel ideas of soli­ isn't to say that we should attempt to put aside Mother Jones, The Nation, The Progressive, darity, mutual aid and voluntary cooperation. all our genuine differences in order to create an etc. ). We've also attempted to avoid over�y �ca­ Perhaps they could put a little more balance artificial unity. But it does mean that we shoul ­ demic, overly polemical and overly spec1al1zed into this milieu. . . � articles. And we've mounted a real effort to n 't let differences in approach, or critical atti­ I've been making excuses for anarchis.ts not tudes toward other projects to stop us from make Anarchy more attractive, diverse �nd supporting publishing projects monetarily for sharing knowledge, resources, contacts and appealing, while maintaining moderately high the last decade, but maybe it's time for me to technical skills when appropriate. The spirit of standards for coherence, intelligence and question this myself. My standard answer to . mutual aid is the main reason why Anarchy creativity in the articles we publish. We make this question has been that anarchists tend to has consistently published the list of distribu­ our extra stocks of back issues available at the be young and always broke. We tend to be tors and bookstores on page 4 of each issue. cost of postage for free distribution by other unemployed-or not very employed-to unem­ (Some new publications, not always anarchist, groups to help with their own local outreach. ployable or even inmate in priso s. And the And we're always interested in getting Anarchy � � have used these lists to great advantage.) The tendency is for every activeanarchist .to create spirit of mutual aid underlies our ongoi g magazine into new bookstores and onto new her/his own project which always requires more . � commitment to developing an Anarchist Media newsstands. As a result, you'll probably find money and effortthan any one person can ever Network (see the notice on page 8)-which has Anarchy sold in more different places r.ight no"." give. But, of course, most of us don't meet t�is so far, unfortunately, been a lost cause due to than any other North American anarchist publi­ last description, and of the rest, there remains a close to complete lack of interest from other cation. ... Continued on next page

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 5 The Sad Truth

magazines sent on credit are supposedly anarchist projects. Yet they apparently have no Support the intention of ever paying for the magazines that Out · ol Control were sent to them in good faith. anarchist press! Recently the U.S. Coast Guard, flexing Continued previous page Distributor hall of shame from its regulatory muscles, proposed a a hell of a lot of support that could be given Distributors who seem most unlikely to ever new rule that life jackets must be worn that is instead recuperated by participation in pay us include: by passengers on all boats, including unnecessary commodity exchange, in petty @ Central (POB 20298, New York, NY. canoe�. kayaks and rafts. Obviously a bickering, and in self-destructive escapes. 1 0009), which (I'm told by Chris Flash, a par­ take-off on the now well established Maybe I've been expecting too littlefrom peo­ ticipant in the @ Central project as well as ple in order to never be disappointed by what publisher of The Shadow) has since it folded seat belt laws requiring automobile they give to the overall effort required to genu­ had fundraisers to pay . off seemingly every passengers to buckle-up or face inely challenge our collective misery. creditor but us. punitive fines, the Coast Guard ruling times in the past I've personally contribut­ @Collective (1 126 Marais, New Orleans, LA. only looks out for our safety. However, edAt. to The Match!, Open Road, and the Fifth 701 16) which is listed as a member of the Love Estate, as well as subscribing to numerous Rage Network, but won't answer our letters it has also become obvious that the & other periodicals. Since beginning Anarchy and hasn't paid us since May, 1991. promulgation of new safety regulations magazine, I've put at least several thousand Ceasefire Productions (Box 10024-82 is not moving fast enough to prevent 29, dollars into this project. Otherpartici pants have Ave., Edmonton, Alberta TSE 1Z3, Canada), thousands of needless deaths and as well. And we will continue to put energy and which took over from Honkln' Dog when it injuries each year. funds into this project and other projects. ceased distributing, but has never paid for To all those who are already doing some­ anything we've sent. Those excessively concerned with thing (often already attempting too much with Dayton Anarchist Collective (POB 3316, safety issues want to know why there limited resources), I certainly appreciate your Dayton, OH. 45401), which is consistently listed as a member of the Love Rage Network, but has been as yet no rule requiring all efforts. This appeal is primarily aimed towards & all those more passive and less committed, but has also consistently refused to answer any of swimmers to wear life jackets? Cer­ thoughtful yet unsure people who haven't really our many requests for payment. tainly such a measure would reduce Freddy (POB 14932, Gainesville, FL. 32604), considered how important their supportco uld drownings significantly, and anyway, be for the renewal and resurgence of an insur­ who claims he lost his job and apparently rectionary current based in anarchist sensibili­ decided to use our magazine shipments as thos.e who drowned could at least be ties and autonomous action. may sound like unemployment benefits but won't say. cited for their disrespect of the law. I'm really down on anarchists,It and in a small Laughing Horse Books (1322 NW 23, Port­ way I am. But in general, I remain firmly com­ land, OR. 97201), which used to be a friendly Motorcyclists have, for years been mittedto this milieu, since all the other social place when we visited several times in past required by law to wear helmets in subcultures along with the mainstream culture years, but hasn't paid or responded to us since most states, even for two block trips the end of '91. Laughing Horse seems like one are so much, much worse off. travelling no more than 20 mph. Why \Nhy not support the anarchist press more? of the best possibilities for payment on this list. \Nhy not subscribe to your five favorite zines? Ubralrle Alternative Bookshop (2035 St­ are moped riders, bicyclists and roller \Nhy not check out a copy of all those publica­ laurent, Montreal, Quebec H2X 2T3, Canada), skaters exempt from the same rea­ tions you haven't yet had a chance to read? which has always had trouble paying us on somible safety requirements? And for \Nhy not write a letter, or if you're especially time, with their last payment made in April, that matter, many fewer pedestrians talented, write an essay or contribute a work of 1991. would be killed if helmets and full graphic art? \Nhy not send gift subscriptions to Primal Plunge (107 Brighton Ave., Allston, friends and lovers? \Nhy not distribute your MA. 021 34), which stopped paying near the end body armor were required before favorite periodicals in your own locale? Or start of 1990and could be out of business by now crossing major streets. your own zine? Or gather together a discussion for all we know, since it hasn't responded to us group for reading and criticizing important since then. articles or books? Or hold a benefit picnic or Rainbow Bookshop (426 W. Gilman St., In related news the federal govern­ performance? \Nhy not? There are at least hun­ Madison, WI. 53703), which hasn't paid or ment has estimated that more than dred different approaches to supporting the responded since the end of '91. Rainbow is 25,000 people were injured by the anarchist press. Certainly too many to mention another bookshop I still hope to hear from. explosive inflation of automobile air them all here. Squarehead (c/o ACT Publications Dist., & you want to play this game, now is the POB 84001, Trafalgar Postal Outlet, Oakville, bags between 1988 and 1991. Injuries timeIf to make your move! Together, we can all Ontario LGH 5V7, Canada), who moved at have included broken bones, third­ make this world a little more interesting place some point without a forwarding address and degree burns, and eye and ear dam­ to live. has not contacted us since. age. seems clear that these injuries I'd think twice before having any sort of It could be reduced if air bags were Debts that don't get paid dept. dealings with these groups. they can't carry through on their commitmeIfnts to anarchist inflated prior to the rapid decelerations On a recent day before going to press with projects, and in most all cases even refuse to otherwise known as car crashes. this issue, I checked on the state of our current answer simple requests for return commu­ Surely some government agency is financial situation. On that particular day distrib­ nication, how can they be trusted with anything even at this moment studying the utors owed us $3,403 for accounts due or over­ else? any readers happen to know some of due (not counting the issues currently on ac­ the peopleIf involved with these projects, we'd feasibility of issuing a new law requir­ count which hadn't been billed as due yet, appreciate it if you'd let them know we'd like to ing that all auto air bags be inflated which added up to $3093 in their own right). hear from them. It's possible that one or more while driving. Such a law would have Obviously, if all our delinquent distributors of the projects listed has not contacted us for the added benefit of easier enforce­ would pay up and we had the money owed us honestly mistaken reasons (in which case we'd in hand, it would mean we'd be in fine financial be happy to apologize for their listing when ment than mandatory seat belt laws, shape. Unfortunately, this is unlikely. The communications and payments resume). How­ since air baga should be visible from saddest thing is that many of the distributors ever, for the most partthes e are the cream of outside of most cars when inflated, who owe us substantial amounts of money for the cream of hard-core stiffs. making police observation effortless.

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 6 The Sad Truth

even if they are the police." Meanwhile, Ice-rs "Body Count" album containing "Cop Killer," the song which un­ Cops leashed a national uproar, has now been withdrawn and reissued without the offending Rap tune. The song contained the lyrics:

C811ing themselVIS The I got my 12-gauge sawed off Slick Boys (after a street term got my headlights turned off I for plainclothes pigs), three I'm 'bout to bust some shots off Chicago cops have declared I'm 'bout to dust some cops off ... war on anti-cop rap music by I got my stereo bumpin' forming a rap group. Sporting I'm 'bout to kill me something baseball caps and typical rap A pig stopped me for nothin' Cop killer, it's better you than me. gear, the trio has performed in dozens of elementary schools, In 8 related incident, Ronald Ray Howard, 19, is facing murder charges in the death recreational centers, and other of Texas highway patrolman Bill Davidson. Howard was allegedly listening to rapper venues, and on street corners Tupac Amuru Shakur's ''2PACALYPSE NOW" album when he shot Davidson during a in Cabrini-Green, the area they routine traffic stop. The album contains the lyrics: patrol; Their repertoire includes "If You Kill a Cop" and "Ain't It Cops on my tail, so I bail till I dodge them, a Shame," a song about joining They finally pull me over and I laugh, a gang and getting put in jail. Remembering Rodney King The cops come on with a And I blast his punk ass. soft-cop, social-worker spiel: Now I got a murder case ... " .. .If you give people jobs and a What the fuck would you do? Drop them or let them drop you? decent education, a lot of these choose droppin' the cop! problems will disappear." At I the same time they are quite Davidson's widow, Linda Davidson, has filed civil charges against Shakur and his open about who they are: 'We lnterscope Records label, claiming negligence in manufacturing and distributing music are the real police. We'll lock that incites "lawless action". you up." Adding a further twist, Ronald Howard's court-appointed defense attorney, Al Tanner, "I think with our rap music, plans to argue that the "2PACALYPSE NOW" album caused his client to shoot Davidson. we place ourselves into the 'Without the music riling him up," Tanner said, "I do not think that this incident would kids' worlds and now they can have occurred." -Michael William relate to us better," says Slick Boy member Randy Holcomb. "Before, it was a them-and-us thing. Now it's much more of an us-and-us situation." 'We were judged and hung just for being the police," add­ ed member Eric Davis.

· The scam seems to be work­ ing to at least a certain extent, according to reactions quoted in an article about the trio in the New Times. Andrew York White, 21, said, "They're good cops, not like most of them that be up here. They rap pretty good, too." Burt Walker, 13, said, "I never knew that cops could rap like that. I. really don't like the police. They be shooting and killing people. But I don't think the Slick Boys are like that." After a perfor­ mance, 11-year-old Latanya Carter said, "I think they were really hot." When informed that the Slick Boys were cops, she added, "I think they're still hot, The Slick Boys from left: James Martin, Eric Davis, Randy Holcomb.

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 7 The Sad Truth

unprotected vs. condom-protected sex with HIV. methods, not only for their efficacy in prevent­ Some retrospective investigations involving ing STD's (including HIV) in females, but how Holes in prostitutes have been inconclusive and often effective they are in protecting the male part­ misleading. ners. And our teaching programs need to There is, however, a great deal of data ava!I· include, even emphasize, female-dependent able concerning the efficacy of condoms in barriers. Most STD's, including HIV, are far condom other situations and none of it is too encourag­ more efficiently transmitted male-to-female ing. For instance, condoms haven't done so than female-to-male. Furthermore, the inci­ great preventing pregnancy-studies reportfail­ dence of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and most other theory ure rates of 7-28%, most averaging about 15%. STD's is much higher than that of HIV, especial­ A recent study found that the likelihood of a ly among women. It makes good sense then, By R. Zack women contracting gonorrhea is only 34% that women be able to protect themselves. To lower while using a condom than while using do this they deserveto be given the facts about he gurus of public health have been nothing; for trichomonas condoms were only what works, rather than being taught the con­ shouting themselves hoarse in their 30%effec tive, and against chlamydia only 3%. dom mantra. efforts to protect all the i�no�an� mem­ In this study, contraceptive sponges or dia­ Maybe it is time we started listening a little T bers of society from the inclinations of phragms were more effectivethan condoms in more carefully to those who claim to be looking their ids. Those who have taken it upon them­ preventing gonorrhea, trichomonas, and chla­ out for us. selves to shield us from AIDS are hawking mydia. condoms as vigorously as their predecessors Another study found only a 13% reduction in References sold youth extending and hair-growthoi ntments gonorrhea with condoms, while a diaphragm from the backs of their wagons. None of them Austin, H et al., •A case-controlled study of spermi· with spermicide offered 55% protection. Yet cides and gonorrhea." 1984, 251, 2822-2824. seem aware, or at least eager to admit that the another study found that condoms did not JAMA, condom theory is riddled with holes. But re­ significantly protect against gonorrhea and Bradbeer, CS, et al., "Prophylaxis against infection in Singaporean women." Genilourin Med, 1988, 52-52. search indicates that condoms are certainly not chlamydia while diaphragms offered 64% 64, very effective in preventing many sexually (against gonorrhea) and 97% (against chlamyd­ Centers for Disease Control, "Condoms for the transmitteddis eases, there is no firm evidence ia) protection. prevention of sexually transmitted diseases." MMWR, that they can protect from HIV, their extensive In view of the fact that condoms are relatively 1988, 37, 133-137. Conant, "Condoms and the prevention of use is extremely unlikely, and that other preven­ MA., ineffective against pregnancy and most sexual­ AIDS.' 1986, 256, 1442-1443. tative measures may exist that are more effec­ ly transmission is any different from th�se JAMA, tive. Why is condom the only word they seem others, it is curious that the AIDS prevention Ehrhardt, AA., "Preventing and treating AIDS: the expertise of the behavioral sciences." Bull Acad Med to know? I suspect the reason is rooted in NY community has remained so steadfast in their 1988, 513-519. sexism. This essay will explore the comparative claims that condom use is the only hope aside 64, efficacy and efficiency of condoms as well as Lazar, A., "Trichomonas vaginalis infection: incidence from abstinence. (Granted that partner selec­ with use of various contraceptive methods." Med Soc the sexism behind their promotion as the J tion, number of partners, and type of sexual 1970, 67, 225-226. exclusive preventative against HIV. , NJ, activity are included in many educational pro­ Reitmeiler, et al., "Condoms as physical and course, there is some basis for the argu­ grams). CA.M., mentOf that condoms might work. A handful of chemical barriers against human immunodeficiency Anyone who has worked in population con­ virus." 1988 259(12), 1351-1353. laboratory studies on which condoms were JAMA, trol programs can attest to the fact that no Rosenberg, et al., "Barrier contraceptives and filled with solution containing HIV revealed no matterhow available condoms are made, they M.J., leakage (in most, but not all, cases). In some of sexually transmitted diseases in women: a comparison of are not used to any great extent. One study female-dependent methods and condoms." J Public the studies they were put through motions of Am found that over 97% of couples in Africa and Health, 1992, 82(5), 669-674. artificial sex, yet under very differentconditions Latin America using birth control rely on fe­ than what exists during live sexual intercourse. Ryder, N., "Contraceptive failure in the United male-dependent methods. The most effective States." Family Planning Perspectives, 1973, 5(3). The spermicide nonoxynol 9 has also been family planning programs are those that stress Stein, Z ., prevention: the need for methods shown to enhance the efficacy of condoms in A "HIV the female-dependent methods. There are women can use." Public Health, 1990, 460-462. the laboratory setting. No studies, however, many reasons for this, most involving the Am J 80, have been done that have evaluated the risk of Zito, 1979, New dynamics of male-female relationships that go G.V., Po ulation and its Problems, York: Human Servicesp Press. beyond the scope of this paper. But while use ANet/@ Media Net/Anarchist Media of condoms among homosexual males may be increasing, heterosexual couples seem not to Network/@Net/Anarchist Network be following suit. Back issue sets is a loosely self-organized, voluntary So why are other methods ignored? Whyare international network established to en­& condoms,. which are not necessarily very effec­ Full sets of Anarchy maga­ courage and practice mutual aid, inspira­ tive in preventing transmission, especially zine back issues still in print among heterosexuals, presented as the only tion and support in the conception, pro­ (#8 thru #35) are by duction, realization distribution of anar­ means of protection available? Zena Stein of $40.00 & the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral chist media of all kinds-PRINT, FILM, 1st Class in the U.S. and by VIDEO, RADIO, POETICS, MUSIC, COMICS, Studies points out "that the HIV epidemic Surface mail elsewhere. SOUND RECORDINGS, LIBRARIES & DOCU­ restored to men the locus of control over the For Airmail to Canada or Mexico please MENTATION CENTERS, BOOKSTORES &ANAR· consequences of sexual behavior." And the add $1.00 for each copy ordered. For CHIST CENTERS, ETC. Any anarchist-iden­ condom keeps the ball on the male side of the Airmail to other continents please add tified project is welcome to join this court. A.A. Ehrhardt wrote, "The threat of HIV $2.50 for each copy ordered. network by declaring its affiliation (and infection dramatically reduces women's control. Send your cash, check or money order communicating a version of this notice if Use of a condom ...req uires the cooperation of made out to C.A.L Press (not to 'Anar­ possible). No member of the network has a male partner." In heterosexual relationships chy') at POB 1446, Columbia, MO. 65205. any specific obligations to any other mem­ HIV had returned sexual control to the male bers beyond its general adherence to the and condoms assure that control remains with spirit of this statement as interpreted by the male. The fact that the FDA is withholding that member. approval of the female condom is an example Send an SASE for an updated copy of our of the power that is being exercised. current list of members to: 1446, It is time for the scientific community to City______State __ Zlp __ _ Columbia, 65205-1446,C.A.L., or Acts POE of examine these issues. Studies need to be done MO. Resis­ Country Jones #1584, San Francisco, CA. to investigate the female-dependent barrier ______tance, 537

8 Anarchy:A Journal of DesireArmed Spring 1993 Alternative Media Review

As always, we'rehappy to exchange Plazm #3/undated (1 105 SW Wash­ publications with other 'alternative' ington, Portland, OR. 97205) 54pp. new periodicalpublishers. to list Impressively-produced art tabloid I try all & publications (of more than quarterly, featuring short essays & fic­ the 2 tion along with strong graphics pages) that we receive a timely lots of in 'dedicated to the unrestricted expres­ way, but please be aware that there sion Ideas.• This Issue Includes an are times when is impossible due of this Interview wtth Jello Blafra, 'Abortion to time and sp ace limitations. Also facts,• and a story by Jeff Studebaker keep in mind thatthe Anarchy issue Compiled by Jason McQuinn tilled 'Eclipse.' Send $4.50 for a sam­ we send for exchanges will be one ple copy; subscriptions are $21 /year. the your publication is rwiewed in, so poetry, articles, comlx, photos, etc., this of the Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta Left Green Notes unnumbered/ professionally produced magazine under the !Ille ·on the necessity of please be patient. Aug.-Sept.'92 (POB Monte Rio, -Jason needs to be seen to be futly appreciat­ vlolence.' Subscriptions are $10/year 293, 95462) Is the 24-page tabloid voice ADBUSTERS Vol.2,#3/Wlnter '93 ed. From the advertisement headlined (4 Issues). CA for the 'left-green• faction of the U.S. {The Media Foundation, 1243 W. 7th 'Free condoms' to the serialized irue greens. This Issue Includes more news Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V6H 1 B7, Cana­ story" of lhe llfe of •Jason• (a teenage Lookout! #38/Wlnler '93 (POB on the descent of the greens Into elec­ da) Is a lively and effective 84-page rent boyworklng the streets of London) 11374, Berkeley, CA 94701 ) Is a liter­ lorallsm, along wnh James Boggs' anll-adVertlslngmagazine. Unfortunate­ to the free classlfted ads at the end, ate and highly readable zlne published social-work leftist Injunction that It's ly, II takes only a superficial, slngle­ this mag Is worth every penny of Its by Lawrence Livermore, this time back 'Time to act llke citizens, not subjects.• lssue approach to criticisms, but cover price of £1 .40 for kids of any down to 32 pages. This Issue features Its Subscriptions are $10/year (6 Issues). within this narrow llmll II does a very age-1 to 99. Be sure to send extra for a couple pieces of entertaining fiction by the publlsher-'Satan Lives at the effective Job. This Issue Includes sever­ postage. Oh-Toh-Kin #2/Fall-Wlnter '92 End of My Street'. and the continuing al cover stories on consumerism as (POB 2881 , Vancouver, B.C., V6B 3X4, serialization of •once Upon A Time In 'New time religion' (shades of com­ GAUNTLET #4/1 992 (Barry Hoff­ Canada) Is an Important new 16-page man, Powell Rd., Springfield, PA The Mountains.' Recommended. Send modity fetishism!), and Kono Matsu on tabloid 'focussingon Indigenous strug­ 19064)309 Is an annual anti-censorship $1 for a sample Issue. 'The demarketlng North America.• gles and resistance since the colo­ Subscriptions are $1of6/4 Issues. Journal now scaled back to a 180- first The other Israel #S4-55/Jan.-Feb. nizers landed In the cartbbean,' pub­ pages, but still containing plenty of '93 (1.C.l.P.P.. POB2542, Holon 5812S, lished by a former editor of the anll­ meaty Information-this time on the Israel) Is a 20-page double Issue of the lmperlallst tabloid Resistance. This theme of 'Media Manlpulallon.' This consistently well-written newsletter of Issue features 'No Justice on stolen Issue Includes Ed catasso on 'Floyd the Israeli Council for lsraell-Palestlnlan land: Native peoples In the prisons of Brown's dirty tricks and the Bush cam­ Peace. This Issue describes In detail Canada. 'Recommended. Subscriptions paign,' a reactionary diatribe by Mark 'The betrayal hope' resulting from are $1 0/4 Issues. Sample copies are $2 DI lonno on 'Media pandering to Black the cowardly Decemberof deportationsof postpaid. revolullonartes," Richard Carter's 'Rod­ over Palestinians by Prime Minister ney King: No Isolated Incident," and 400 Eat My Shit #8/undaled (EMS, POB Yllzchak Rabin. Recommended. Sub­ Caitlin Barry on 'Censorship and the 12504, Raleigh, NC. 2760S) Is an al­ scriptions are $30/year (6 Issues). community press,• among many other ways readable and lntereslng 26-page pieces. The perspectives her are at zlne. This Issue Includes another In­ best llmlted to a clvll llbertles defense stallment on censorshipby the postal of free speech (and at worst confused service,a subjective piece on 'Shooting media worship or bashing), but this dope," and Interviews wtth a 'dirty old remains an important project, worth man,• a stripper and a murderer. Send checkingout. Sample copies are $9.95 a contribution for a sample copy. + $2 p&h. Earth First! Vol.13,#2/Yule '92 & SOCIETY AND NATURE #2/Sepl.­ #3/Brlgld '93 (POB S1 76, Missoula, Dec. '92 (Subscription Services, POB MT. Is a 40-page tabloid of the 637, Littleton, CO. 801 60-0637) Is a Earth59806) First! movement/organization. new 234-page academic-style Journal Issue #2 Includes an editorial on 'Earth subtitled 'The International Journal of First! and social Justice,• Jean Eisen­ FACTSHEET #46/undaled (Seth 5 Pollllcal Ecology.' This Issue features hower on 'The battle for Mount Gra­ Friedman, POB 170099, San Francisco, 12 essays divided Into the categories of ham,• Jacob Bear on 'Subpoena: What CA 941 1 7-0099), marglnal/aller­ the 'The Methodological Question,' 'Eco­ everyone should know aboUt grand nallve press networklng zlne, Is back logical Debate,• 'Deep or SOClal Ecolo­ Juries,• and 'If It's so bad, why Isn't and on track to. regain Its stature & gy?' and 'Marxism and Ecology.'· II everybody worried?' by Mark Davis. maybe become better than ever! After Includes several contributions, as one ------•;.;.;;.;_;:.;;;:;;;;J Issue #3 Includes an editorial on a couple years hiatus (under the blun­ might expect, from John Clark and bate and censorship,• along with Darryl'De­ dering stewardship of Hudson Luce) Murray Bookchln. Also represented are Chemey's critique the Center for the first issue from new publisher Seth Nozone #4/undaled (1 W. 641h of Ame Naess, Robyn Eckersley, Cor­ St. Investigative Reportingtilled 'First,they Friedman (who formerly put out Food nelius Castorladls and Ward Churchill. Apt.SB, NYC, NY. 10023) Is an unusual 1<111 your story... • Alwaysrecommended. For Thought zlne, now a column here) I haven't had time to read this Journal & nicely-done 50-page, comic zlne. Subscriptions are $20/year (8 Issues). contains an even hundred pages yet, but II promises to be worth digest­ This Issue on 'utopia/Dystopia,' In­ packed wtth over a thousand zlne re­ ing. Subscriptions are $20/year (3 cludes strips by David Goldin, Steven Challenge Vol.3,#6/Nov.-Dec.'92& views. The reviews are organized by Issues). Marcus, Russell Kristian, Jonathan Vol.4,#1/Jan.-Feb.'93 (POB 14338, Tel subject-though not always appropri­ Royce and others, along with an Inter­ Aviv 61 142, Israel) Is a 42-page 'Maga­ ately, and the sections Include: Comics esting text reviewing the history zine of the Israeli Left,' written 'by of & Humor, B-Movles, Mall Art, Spirituali­ ALSO RECEIVED: utopias tilled 'utoplascape• by Flaml­ Arabs & Jews.' Is also published In (II ty, Science Fiction, Environmental, fera. Send $S for a copy. a Hebrew-language version lllled Et· Leftist & Anarchy, Music, P1mk, Queer, Northern Sun News Vol.1S,#2/ gar. Issue #6 features Yakov Ben Efrat and much more. II even Includes an Winter '93 (2129 Riverside Ave. #A, Gnosls #26/Wlnter '93 (POB14 217, on 'Left-wing) opposition: A vanishing Mlnneapolls, MN. S5454-1340) Is a 16- San Francisco, 941 14) .Is an Index. you haven't seen this zlne, CA 88- act.• Issue #1 Includes reactions to the order oneIf right now! Samples are $4; page tabloid subtitled •Alternatives In page Journal of ihe Western Inner recent deportations of Palestinians, subscriptions are $20/6 Issues. Energy, PolHlcs and Culture.' This Traditions.• This Issue on 'Psychedelics along with an Interview with Noam Issue Includes 'U.S. repeatedly lies & The Path' features Myron Stolaroff Chomsky tilled 'This Is U.S. turf.' High­ CHARLOTTE$ MAG unnumbered/ aboutradiation danger: The Doomsday on 'Using psychedelics wisely,• Thom­ ly recommended. Subscriptions are Ocl.-Nov.'92 (POB 288, Shere, Guild­ Plan," a. collection of pieces under the as Riedlinger on 'Two classic trips' (by $30/year (6 Issues). ford, Surrey GUS 9JS, England) Is a overall title 'Palestine: A struggle for AdelleDavis and Jean-Paul sartre),and glossy & colorful 54-page 'open ac­ land' . (Includingof a short piece on a an Interview with veteran media guru Rain Vol.14,#3/Sprlng '93 (POB cess' magazine 'for the young of all subject that the mainstream media Ram Dass. Subscriptions are now 30097, Eugene, OR. 97403-1097) Is a social groups to say and show what refuses to name, the Israeli death $20.00/year (4 Issues); samples are $6 64-page decentrallslfapproprtate tech­ they want.• Full of short pieces-fiction, squads), and excerpts from the writings postpaid. nology magazine. This Issue Includes

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 9 Alternative Media Review

Collage by Johann Humyn Being (San Francisco, CA.).

Changing Men magazine because It The Nuclear Resister #87/Dec. '92 ran ads for them. Issue #2 Includes a OTHER PUBLICATIONS: (POB Tucson, 85733) Is an 43383, AZ.. cover story on 'Revolution girl style 8-page anti-nuclear, clvll resistance tab­ now,• and Includes a story announcing Radical Beauty #1/Nov.'92 (c/o loid. This Issue Includes Information on Rachel, N. Grand, Eugene, OR. 'Gathartne A MacKlnnon to represent 260 the current status of Mordechal Vanu­ Croatian, Muslim war11me rape survi­ 97402) Is a 10-page tablol(l-slzed poe­ nu, a kidnapping victim of the Israeli vors.• el!S8nllal magazine on the try/Ill paper subtitled 'Rearranging the government still mistreated and Im­ feministAA movements, showing boththeir Furniture In Your Head Through Lan­ prisoned for giving the world evidence strengths and weaknesses. Subscrip­ guage.• This Issue Includes a chapter of the Israeli nuclear weaponsprogram. n ar11cles on "Grassroots relief In the Bal­ tions are $1 9/year (1 1 Issues). from a novel titled 'Wa dering• by Subscriptionsare $1 8/year (1 Issues). O kans•, 'Plaxtla: VIiiage-organized Jonathan Joe, and editor Rachel heatthcare,• and a rather rosy look at Heresies #26/undated (POB 1306, Creager's thoughtful review of camme Artpaper Vol.12,#4/0ec.'92, #5/ Berlin titled 'From the wall to the neigh­ Canal St. Station, New York, NY. Paglia's Sexual Personae. Coples are Jan. & #6/Feb.'93 (2402 Unlversny are 1 0013) Is a beautlfuHy-produced 110- $2; subscriptions are $5/3 lsst.ies. Ave. #206, St. Paul, MN. 551 14)) Is borhood.• Subscriptions $20/year w. (4 Issues). page 'Feminist Publlcatlon on Art and a 32-page tabloid subtitled 'Art/COm­ Politics,' also subtnled 'A Journal of Pagans for Peace #57/Nov. 9992 & munlty /Cultural Activism.• Issue #5 MedlaCunure Revl- Vol.1,#5/ Feminist Post-Totalitarian Criticism.• #58/Feb. 9993 AD.A (POB 2205, Includes pieces by Louis Alemayehu Nov.-Dec.'92 (100 East 85 St., New This Is a special blllngual Russian/Eng­ Clearbrook, B.C. V2T 3XB, Canada) Is and Don Belton on the theme of York, NY. 10028) Is a relatively smart lish Issue, featuring 'Reflections of a 10-page newsletter for socially-activist membering Malcolm: Cultural mean­'Re­ (though deflnltely liberal) newsletter resistance: Women ar11stson bothsides pagans. Issue #57 Includes Deena ings of Malcolm Subscriptions are published by the Institute for Alternative of the Mir' by Jo Anna Isaak, Linda Metzger on 'Re-vamping the world: On $20/ year (1 Issues).x.· Journalism. (The also maintains an Nochlln on 'Why have there been no the return of the holy prostitute.• Sub­ O IA.I on-line computer Wire service carrying great women artists?' and Irina San­ scriptions are $10/year (6 Issues). The Fire Fly #18/0ec.'92 (Box ar11cl&s "from the Independent and domlrskaya•s Interesting account 1077, Mission, SD. 57555) Is a homey anernatlve press.') This Issue Includes 'Around Power and the magic of Uberty Vol.6,#3/Feb. & #4/Aprll 8-page newsletter from the Rosebud Peter Donald's account of 'Rush Lim­ wrnlng. • 6:Subscriptions are $23 (? Is­ '93 (POB 1167, Port Townsend, WA Reservation In South Dakota subtitled Is an BO-page, right-wing •liber­ baugh's draft record,• and Peter Brace­ sues). 98368) 'A tiny glow In a forest of darkness.' glrdle on the new Noam Chomsky fllm tarian' magazine advocating "free mar­ This Issue Includes Jon Lurle's Is the titled "Manufacturing consent.• Sub­ Open Magazine #22/Nov.'92 (POB ket" economics. Issue #7 Includes unknown• on Malcolm X. Subscriptions·x scriptions are $24/year (6 Issues). 2726, Westfield, NJ. 07091) Is the new­ Ronald Llpp's superflclal analysis of the are $5.00/6 Issues. est 20-page Issue of this pamphlet Eastern European 'Revolution be­ Off OUR bACKSVol.22 ,#11 /Dec.'92 series, with each ednlon tackling a trayed,• Leland Yeager's argument that The Madison Edge Vol.4,#1/Nov. Vol.23,#1/Jan. & #2/Feb.'93 (2423 meaty subject In a literate style. This racism Is genetically based (!) In "Rac­ 18, #2/Dec.2, #3/Dec.16,'92 & #4/ 18th St. NW, Washington, DC. 20009) Issue features Manning Marable •on ism and clvllHy,' and Wendy MCEiroy Jan.13,'93 (POB 845, Madison, WI. Is a 24-page feminist news. tabloid. Malcolm X: His meaning & message.• contributes yet another expose of 'The 53701 -0845) Is a good 8-page alterna­ Issue #10 features Nikki Craft's hysteri­ Individual pamhplets are $3.50 post­ unholy alliance' between feminist and tive communny biweekly tabloid With an cal attack on NAMBLAand .Uncommon paid, while subscriptions are $30/10 fundamentalist anti-porn activists. Sub­ emphasis on prison reportage. lssue#3 Desires, along With threats to boycott pamphlets. scriptions are $19.50/year (6 Issues). Includes Dan COughlln on Haitian refu-

10 Anarchy: A Journal Desire Armed Spring 1993 of Alternative Media Review gees In an article titled "Behind barbed The Suivlvor Vol.8,#10/undated 63156) 6-Spp. local/regional environ­ Subscriptions are $30/year (4 Issues) wire: U.S. forces HIV-positive refugees (POB 95, Alpena, AR. 7261 1) Is a mental newsletter. Subscrlptlo'hs are for Individuals & movement groups. Into concentrationcamp. • Subscriptions page survivalist catalog/zine with de­40- Included with membership In GGA at are $1 5/year. testable polttlcspublished by the author $25/year (1 2 Issues). Nukewatch Pathfinder unnumber­ of The Poor Man's James This ed/Winter '92-93 (The Progressive On Indian Land unnumbered/Win­ Bond. MSRRT Newsletter Vol.5,#10/Dec. Foundation, POB Madison, WI. Issue Includes Kurt Saxon's "After the 2658, ter '92-93 (POB 2104, Seattle, WA election• (in which he calls for ihe '92, Vol.6,#1 /Feb. & #2/Mar.'93 (Chris 53701 -2658) 4pp. 'nonviolent' anti-nuke 981 01) Is a 12-page tabloid subtitled compulsory sterlllzatlon social de­ Dodge/ Jan DeSlrey, 4645 Columbus tabloid. Send an SASE. "Newsletter of Supportfor Native Sover­ pendents, morons, criminalsof and men­ Ave. Mpls, MN. 55407) 16pp. 'so­ s., LUNO unnumbered/Nov. & Dec.'92 eignty." The Issue Includes more news tal cases"), and a reprint of an unsym­ clally-responslble'llbrarlans' newsletter. (31960 SE Chin St., Boring, OR. 97009) on Big Mountain, the Pettier case, the pathetic view "Among the Apaches" Send a 52¢ SASE tor a sample. 1 Opp. newsletterof the Leaming Unllm­ raids on the Shoshone, and the Ameri­ from an 1887 Issue of Century Maga­ The Body Polltlc Vol.2,#11/Nov.­ lled Network of Oregon. Sendan SASE can Indian Relglous Freedom Act. Sub­ zine. Subscriptions are $12/year (1 2 ls­ scriptions are $8/4 Issues. Dec.'92, Vol.3,#1/Jan. & #2/Feb.'93 for a sample copy. sues). (POB2363, Binghamton, NY. 13902) Is Incite, Information Vol.3,#6/Jan.­ an Informative 38-page zlnebllllng Itself Reclalmlng Newsletter #49/Wlnter The N- catalyst #25/Winter '92- Feb.'93 (1 507 E.Franklln St. #530, as a "Monthly pro-choice news report." '92 (POB 14404, San Francisco, '93 (POB 99, Llllooet, B.C. VOK 1VO CA Chapel Hiii, NC. 2751 4) Is a 16-page Single copies are subscriptions are 941 14) 36pp. pagan newsletter "work­ Canada) Is a 12-page "bloreglonal" $3; bulletin of "News Analysis and Com­ $1 8/year. ing to unify spirit and pollllcs." Sub­ tabloid afftllated with New Society Pub­ scriptions are $6-$25/year (4 Issues). mentary.• This Issue Includes a review lishers. This Issue Includes a "If you by Richard Kostelanetz of Herbert Mii­ N- Indicator Vol.17,#1 1 /May & can't beat 'em, sue 'em!-SLAPPs: The Outlander #4/Dec.'92 (POB gang's Dosslets In which · Vol.18,#1/0ct.28,'92 (Student Co-op Strategic LawsuitsAgainst Public Partic­ 585, Mountlake Terrace, WA KostelanetzDangerous seriously suggests privatiz­ Center, U.C. San Diego, B-203, La ipation." Free; or subscriptions lo the 6pp. prisoners' zlne. Send98043- a ing "the FBI, the CIA, and the like"! Jolla, 12-20pp. scrappy paper are Included In subscriptions to CA 92093) donation0565) for a sample copy. Subscriptions are $10/year (6 Issues). 'progressive' leftist student lablold. "Thi! New Catalyst Bloreglonal Serles" Send an SASE for a sample copy. TWlsted Image #44 & #45/Jan.'93 Uncommon Desires Newsletter of books at $25/year (2 books). (1630 University Ave. Apt.26, Berkeley, #8/0ct.-Nov.'92 (Postbus 1 000AK, Turning The Tide Vol.5,#6/Nov.­ CA 94703) 10pp. comics zlne pub­ Amsterdam, Netherlands) Is408, a very well­ Abapa Freer #4/Dec.'92 (Pat Un­ Dec.'92 & Vol.6,#1 /Jan.-Feb.'93 (POB lished by Backwards. Sample cop­ done, 16-page 'girl-love' newsletter. derhill, POB759, Veneta, OR. 97487) Is 1990,Burbank, CA 91507)8-1 2pp. tab­ ies are $2;Ace subscriptions are $20/year Issue #8 Includes pieces on "Thought an Improving, small-format, 18-page loid "Anti-Racism Newsletter" published (1 2 Issues). control from the Third Circuit: U.S. v. "aberrant assured publication arrange­ by People Against Racist Terror. Sub­ ment" publication on freer places to scriptions are $6/year (6 Issues). by Lawrence Stanley and Factsheet Vol.2,#3/Nov.'92 (An­ KnC»I" "De­ live, concentrating on MT, NH, & OR bate on Oregon referendum on perver­ drew Roller, 59605 S. Land Dr., states. This Issue Includes a very Inter­ Industrial Worker #1554/Dec.'92, sion exposes double-standard In gay Suite 331 , Sacramento, Park95822) esting statistical breakdown by states of #1555/Jan. & #1556/Feb.'93 (1 095 community.• Subscriptions are now 12pp. pedophile publlcatlon?-certalnlyCA "Where the Iconoclasticperiodicals a re• Markel St. #204, San Francisco, CA $20/year cash or undeslgnated check. a review zlne! Sample copies are compiled by the publisher. Samples are 941 03) 12-16pp. union newspaper of not$1 . Synthesis/Regeneration #5/Wln­ $1 cash. the Industrial Workers of the World. Subscriptions are $1 O/year (1 2 Issues). ter '93 (WD Press, POB 241 15, St. I Hate Brenda Newsletter #1/un­ #5/Jan.'93 (POB Louis, MO. 631 30) Is the new 52-page KaspahRllMr daled (POB 3166, Hollywood, CA 8831 , Portland, OR. 97207) Is a read­ "theoretical discussion bulletin of the 90028) 8pp. anti-Shannen Dohertyzlne. able 34-page zlne of poetry, comment, Greens/Green Party USA• II succeeds Sample copies are $2. both Green Synthesis [formerly an computer mall, dreams and often-Inter­ irregular Greens periodical) and Re­ esting graphics. This Issue Includes Republican UbertyVol.3,#5/Wlnter generation [formerly the "Magazineof "Dangerous precedents In sysop prose­ '92-3 (RLC, 1717 Apalachee ParkWay, Left Green Soclal Thought"). This issue cution• (an account of police persecu­ Suite 434, Tallahassee, FL 32301 ) focusses on "Education for Democratic tion of Munroe,OH. sysop Mark Lehrer Bpp. newsletter for a self-described Empowerment," Including a decent on bogus child-porn charges), and an 'libertarian' caucus In the Republican assessment by John Vldoli of Joel "Anti-essayon anti-art essays, or poetry Party. Subscriptions are $20/year (4 Sprlng's Primer of Libertarian Education vis a vis radlcallsm• by Carla Nadlsmo. Issues). titled "The libertarianeducation alterna­ Send $2 cash for a sample. Southam Ubertarlan Messenger tive: A discussion of Sprlng's Primer. • Vol.20,#1 1 /Mar.'92 thru Vol.21 ,#7/ Subscriptions are #10/year (4 Issues). UST OF PUBLICATIONS ALSO Nov.'92 (Rt.1 Box 52A, Florence, SC. o CRISES Altematlve Press Exhibit RECEIVED: 29501 ) 4-8pp. photocopied, right-wing catalog #4/Jan.'93 (CRISES Press, 'libertarian' news-cupping collection. Frontier Report Vol.2,#6/Dec.'92, Inc., 1716 SW Wiiiiston Rd., Galnesvllle, Subscriptions are $6/year 02 Issues). #7/Jan. & #8/Feb.'93 (POB 8481 , FL 32608) Is a 76-page catalog listing Kansas City, MO. 64114-0481 ) Is a #41/Jan.'93 (The books and periodicals participating In Photo Static nlcely-done 8-page monthly, "Indepen­ Drawing Legion, POB 227, Iowa City, the CRISES Press exhibit at the Mid­ dent, Unconventional, Non-commercial" IA 52244) 24pp. Irregularly produced, winter ALA (American Library Ass.) community tabloid. Single copies are but literate, mall art zlne. Subscriptions conference� (Anarchy magazine was 95¢; subscriptions are $1 0/year. are $1 O/year (? Issues). there.) Any alternative publishers that are serious about trying to get their WDRfWorld Domination Revl­ Beatnik Soup #5/Nov.'92 (2306 Sez Me #8/undaled (c/o John Burt, publications Into llbrarles-and willing #5/Wlnter '92-93 & #6/Sprlng '93 College Ave., Stevens Point,WI. 54481 ) 960 SW Jefferson Ave., Corvallis, OR. to spend some money on the pro­ (Larry Taylor, POB 762, Madison, WI. 40pp. "Art and Literary Magazine for a 97333) 16pp. review zlne. Send an spect- should contact Charles Wiiiett 53701 -0762) 8pp. bizarre humor • Jour­ New Generation,• primarily an art & SASE or trade. b of CRISES. Single copies are $6; su ­ nal of Amateur Paranoia• Sample cop­ poetry-zlne. Cover price Is $1 . scriptions are $12/year (2 Issues). ies are $2; subscriptions are $4/4 Is­ Jablru Tribe #6/undated (POB #239/Dec.'92, Corpus Christi, TX. 78463-3648) sues. Small Press Revl- 3648, The Crash Update unnumbered/ #240/Jan. & #241/Feb.'93 (POB 100, 4pp. "alternative paper In your town Jan. '93 (51 9 Castro St. #7, San Fran­ The Gels Letter #10/Nov., #1 1/ Paradise, CA 95967) 16pp. review of and up your street.• Send an SASE for cisco, CA 941 14) Is a 16-page zlne for Dec.'92 & #12/Feb.'93 (POB 11408, small press poetry and fiction. Sub­ a sample. "travelers who want to see the world Portland, OR. 9721 1) 8pp. personal scriptions are $20/year (1 2 Issues). and meet people along the way." This zlne of "Thought crime, Dogmaclde, Western Ravi- Institute Newslet­ Issue Includes a detailed trip diarytllled and Intellectual Heresy• from the former Alternative PresslndexV ol.24,#3/­ ter #21 /Nov.'92 (POB Chino, 91 708) 8pp. Interesting 806,newsletter CA pub­ "Crash course• by Miles Poindexter, publisher of Science Fiction Ravi-. July-ept.'92 (POB 33109, Battlmore, and M. L. Endicott's "Vagabond globe­ MD. 21218) 108pp. quarterty, llbrary­ lished by Robert Sagehorn, who Coples are $1 /Issue. also trotting.• Subscriptions are $6/6 Issues, style Index to a wide range of alterna­ has available copies his own reprint­ of or $1 4/6 Issues If you also want to tive and radical perlodlcals-lncludlng ing of Stlrner's Important anarchist The Gat-y Giwens' COmpoat· Max .receive the semi-annual Crash Directo­ Vol.3,#12/Dec.'92, Vol.4, anarchic publlcatlons like classic, The and His for $8.95 Dispatch Fifth Estate, Ego Own, ry with the addresses of members of #1 I Jan. & #2/Feb. '93 (Gateway Green Kick Over, Our Generation, and postpaid. Subscriptions are $25. It the network. Alliance, POB St. Louis, MO. Soclal Anarchism,as well as Anarchy. ••• Continued on next page 8094,

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of DesireArmed 11 Alternative Media Review

phobic, authoritarian conservative stu­ native Student Newspaper." Subscrip­ Le Monde Ubertaire #860/27 Fev. dent tabloid. Subscriptions are $5/year tions are $20/year (8 Issues). thru #891 /3 00c.'92 (1 45 rue Amelot, (? issues). 7501 1 Paris, France) is the 8-page, Camel's Eye #1 /Nov.'92 (Dr. Nor­ French-language w�kly of the anar­ Touchpolnt Vol.6,#1/Jan.'93 (POB man Ackerman, 354 Hunter St., Ossin­ cho-syndlcalist Federation Anarchiste Chloride, 86431 ) Is a 10-page ing, NY. 10562) 4pp. prisoner zlne. Fran�lse. Subscriptions are 400F/ 408,non-monogamous AZ. contact service Send a contribution for a copy. year. -:itin ued from previous page newsletter. Single Issues are $4. Brand #52/Sept. #53/Nov.'92 � Washington ReportVo l.14,#3/Mar. FOREIGN-LANGUAGE PERIODICALS: (Box 150 15, S-104 &65 Stockholm, The Sabot Times #2 thru #5/un­ '93 (Editors Release Service, POB Sweden) Is an always-lively, 32-page daled (Lois Lane, 12345 Lake City Way 10309, St. Petersburg, FL. 33733) 4pp. Klelntje Muurkrant #256/13· Nov.­ NE, Suite 21 1, Seattle, WA 981 25) Is a Swedish-language magazine, with the news shorts on Washington · •greed, '92 (Postbus703, 5201 AS, •s-Hertogen­ best photography of the anarchist lively new 2 to 6-page "Newsletter for corruption, self-Indulgence.• Subscrip­ bosch, Netherlands) 8pp. left-activist · Disgruntled Journalists• or "The Zlne of newspaper. Subscriptions are 25 guild- press, back after after going broke and tions are $25/year (? Issues). · Journalistic Sabotage,• depending on ers/year (? Issues). losing Its office. Cover price is 20KR. which Issue you read. Issue #5 In­ Katuah Journal #37/Winter '92-93 cludes a shortaccount of religion page (POB 638, Leicester, NC. Katuah Prov­ Caramba! #1/Dec.'92 (POB 11100, Sin Fronteras Special lssue/1992 sabotage at the Billings Gazettelast fall, ince 28748) 36pp. bloreglonal tabloid 5200 EC Den Bosch, Netherlands) (Rondade San Antonio, 13 pral 08001- In which the usual heading ·worship at for the Katuah region of Appalachia. 32pp. Dutch-language, •new Indepen­ Barcelona, Spain) Is a slick, 80-page the church of your choice• appeared Subscriptions are $1 O/year (4 Issues). dent music and culture magazine that magazine "Edllado por la Fundaclo Instead as "Make bloodsacrifices at the brings articles from alternative forms of d'Estudis Llbertarls I Anarchoslndical­ ApaEros #42/1 992 (John Kathe music, mediaand culture.•Write for lstes y Solldaridad Obrera portavoz de coven of your choice"! Sample copies & art, are $1 . Burt, 960 SW Jefferson Ave., Corvallis, lnfonnatlon concerning subscriptions. la CNT de Catalunya." This Issue In­ OR. 97333) 32pp. •unedited reader­ cludes coverage of the •Quinto centen­ We Are The Weird Vol.9,#2\Jan. written forum about sex, erotica and Merlin's Music Box #15/Dek.'92 ario del "descubrimlento." Cover price 25.'93 (POB 2002, Dallas, TX. 75221) relallonshlps of all kinds: het, lesbian, {Ylannls Kastanaras, Arglroupoleos 27, Is 400 ptas. 16pp. "America's only weekly fanzine• gay, bl.• Always recommended. Sub­ Alhens114 71, Greece) Is a slick, color­ of weird movies and drive-Ins. Sample scriptions are $2/lssue, but you must ful, 64-page Greek-language punk Zero In Condotta: Student! Anar­ copy free; subscriptions are $65/year also send an age statement (that you music zlne. PriceIs 500 drachmas. chic! Llbertarl #1 /Dlc.'93 (c/o Blb­ lloteca& F. Serantinl, CP 247, 561 00 (26 Issues). are over 18). l:> Die Rote Hiiie unnum ered/Okl.­ Pisa, Italy) Is a new 16-page llallan­ Seattle Community Catalyst Vol.3, Meshuggah #6/Dec.'92 (Fehl Dez.'92 (Poslfach 6444, 23 Kiel 14, language student magazine. Single #8/Dec.'92, #9/Jan. #3/Feb.'93 Press, 147 Second Ave. #603, New Germany) Is a 32-page German-lan­ copies are 1500 lira. (5031 University way NE&, Rm.2, Seat­ York, NY. 1 0003) 16pp. entertaining guage leftist magazine. Cover price Is tle, WA 981 05) Is a 16-page eco-peace­ •Journal of OddballFiction and Subver­ 2,-DM. Corre@ #21 /Enero '93 (N. Mendez, communlty tabloid. Subscriptions are sive Thought." Subscriptions are $5/5 Casilla 25, Fae. lngenleria, UCV. Ciu­ $15/year (12 Issues). Issues (checks to Fehl). dad Unlversltarla, Caracas 1 040, Vene­ zuela) Is a 20-page Spanish-language Ant Eye Ball #4/undated (Stephen Utne Reader #55/Jan.-Feb. & libertarian socialist quarterly-"the only Hren, POB 33327, Raleigh, NC. 27636) #56/Mar.-Aprll '93 (Box 1974, Marlon, libertarian publication In Venezuela,· 2-sheet mlmeo ·anllreallty maga­ OH. 43305) 160pp. Readers' Digest of founded In 1987. zlne ...about my personal Ille." Coples the left-liberals. Subscriptions are $1 8/ available for an SASE. year (6 Issues). CNT #144/Dlc.'92, #145/Enero & #146/Feb.'93 (CNT-Peri6dico, Apar­ Continued from page 17 Third World Resources Vol.9,#1/ The American Rationalist Vol.37, lado, n.g 282, 48080 Bilbao, Spain) Is Jan.-Mar.'93 (Data Center, 464 19th St., #5/Jan.-Feb.'93 (POB St. Louis, 994, the 24-page, Spanish-language news­ Oakland, CA 94612) 24pp. Informative MO. 631 88) 16pp. newsletter subtitled Rojo•• y Negro#38/0ct. #39/Nov. paper of the anarcho-syndlcallsl Con­ '92 (Sagunto 15, pral., 2801& O Madrid, •quarterly review of resources from "The alternative to religious supersti­ federaci6n Naclonal del Trabajo (Na­ T & Spain) Is the 16-page, Spanish-lan­ about the hird World.• Subscriptions tion." Subscriptions are $6/year (6 is­ tional Confederation of Workersunion). guage newspaperof the reformist anar­ are $35/2 years. sues). Issue #145 Includes "La guerra de los cho-syndlcallst C.G.T. (Confederacion agrlcultores europeos contra U.S.A" by Vagina unnumbered/undated (c/o Prison News Seivice #38/Nov.­ General del TrabaJo-a split from the Abraham Guillen, and a translation of Allie, 292 Elm St., 2nd Fir., Northamp­ Dec. '92 (POB 5052, Sin. Toronto, more traditionally anarcho-syndicallst A. "The day before yuppificallon" by Piotr ton, MA 01 060) 12pp. non-linear mlnl­ Ontario, Canada M5W 1W4) 12pp. tab­ C.N.T. in Spain). Subscriptions are Tymarczyk (from Anarchy). Subscrip­ zlne, "part of the Information Panic loid covering North American prison 1,000ptas/ year (1 2 issues). tions are 2,500ptas./year (1 2 Issues). series.• Send an SASE for a copy. Issues. Cover price Is $1 .50; the sug­ gested subscription rate Is $1 O/year (6 Perspectlel #28/Juli-Sept.'92 {Llb­ Ubera Volo #45/Dec.'92 & #46/ Global Mall #4/Jan.'93 (POB Issues). .ertalre Studlegroep, Dracenastraat 21 . Jan.'93 {A R.P., PO Box 57, Sakyo 597996, Chicago, IL. 60659) 4pp. llsllng Gent, Belgium) Is a 58-page Yublnkyoku, J-606 Kyoto, Japan) is the of mall-art shows, projects, zlnes, etc. Slug Lettuce #28/Nov.-Dec.'92 ·9000Dutch-language journal of libertarian & 6-page Japanese-language newsletter Subscriptions are $6 (? lssues)-­ {Christine, POB 2067, Peter Stuy. Sin., perspectives. This issue opens with (with Esperanto headlines) of the Fed­ checks to Soapbox June. NYC, NY. 1 0009) 8pp.contact tabloid Thom Holterman's "Een vrij verenlgd eracio Anarkiista of Japan, soon to providing free classifieds, along with Europa.• Single copies are 80Fr. plus Fehl #14/undaled (1 47 Second ti have an English-language summary punk gig p otos and reviews. Send an postage. Ave. #603, New York, NY. 1 0003) SASE or 2 IRCs for a copy. Included with each Issue. Send a con­ 54pp. unbelievably huge humorous Telegraph Vol.3,#1 O/Okl., #11 / tribution for a sample copy. & Dialogue #94/Nov.-Dec.'92 "Journal of Odious Poetry." Subscrip­ & Nov. #12/Dez.'92 (Schllemannstr. #95/Jan.-Feb.'93 (POB 71221 , New Or­ & Anares Info #36 #37 /undated tions are $5/3 issues. Benin 0-1 058, Germany) Is a 52- & leans, 701 72) 16-20pp. "Progressive 22, (Poslfach 229, CH-3000 Bern Swit­ page German-language publication 8, Great Full Circle Social Club un­ CommunLAity Journal"focussing on local zerland) is the 24-page German-lan­ from East Bertin covering the current numt>ered/Summer '92 (POB 651 2, news. Subscriptions are $5/year (4 Is­ guage newsletter of this archive and situation In Germany. Issue #10 In­ Station D, London, Ontario, N5W 5S5, sues). library. Write for more Information. cludes "Der Krieg Hat Meine Seele Canada) 14pp. newsletter of arts/cul­ Zerstort: Interviewmlt Vedrana Rudann tural club by the same name with free Institute for Social Ecology News­ Guest review Michael William: entlassene Journallstin von Radlo­ by membership. Cover price Is $2. letter Vol.11,#3/Autumn '92 (POB 89, Plainfield, 05667) 12pp. bulletin of RIJeka/Kroallen." Subscriptions are Hors d'Ordre: Bulletin de Reflex­ VT. PellcanBay Prison Express#2/un­ the Institute for Social Ecology and 34DM/year. ions Libertalres #2/Dec.'92 (Coliectlf dated (2489 Mission St. #28, San Fran­ general green organizational news. Hors d'Ordre, 407 rue Lavlgeur, cisco, CA 941 10) 8pp. prisoner sup­ Send a contribution for a sample copy. De Nar #75/Dec.'92 & #77/Feb. '93 Quebec, Quebec G1 A 1 B6, Canada) Is port/human rights newsletter. Send a (V.Z.W. De Nar, Postbus 104, B-1 210, a new French-language publication donation for a sample copy. The Alternative Orange Vol.1,#3/ Brussels 21 , Belgium) is the "only from Quebec City, with a special Issue Dec.'91 -Jan.'92, #5/April-May, Vol.2, Dutch(-language] monthly anti-authori­ on nationalism including an Introduc­ Campus Revl- Vol.8,#7/De c. #2/Nov.'92 & #3/Jan.'93 (1 26T Schine tarian newspaper." whose name trans­ tion by Nicolas Calve and articles by & Vol.9,#1/Feb.'93 (336 S. Clinton, Suite Center, Syracuse Univ .• Syracuse, NY. lates as "The Fool.• Send a contribution Serge Roy and Rejean Lemoine. Send 16, Iowa City, IA 52240) 16pp. homo- 13244) 12-24pp. well-produced "Alter- for a sample copy. $2 for a sample copy.

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Anarchy #27 (36pp., tabloid stitched) [Winter '90-91] Available back issues Special 'Free the Kids" Issue.

Back Issue prices are $3.00 for the first copy by Anarchy#28 (36pp., tab. stchd.) [Spring '91] Includes First Class U.S. mall, or Surface mall to other coun­ Charlatan Stew's 'Mythsof the anti-war movement' tries. Additionalback Issues (afterthe 1st one ordered) James Koehnline's 'Great Dismal Maroons.' & are $2.50 each for up to ten copies; further back copies (on orders of eleven or more) are $2.00 each. Anarchy #29 (36pp., tabloid stitched) [Summer '91] Full sets of back Issues still In print (#8 thru #35) are Special Issue on "The Sltuallonlsts and Beyond .... ' $40.00. For Airmail to Canada or Mexico please add Anarchy #30 (36pp., tab. stitched) [Fall '91] Includes $1 .00 for each copy ordered. For Airmail to other Laure A's 'The rebellion that never had a chance' continents please add $2.50 for each copy ordered. John Zerzan's 'The catastrophe of postmodernlsm.'& Anarchy #8 (12pp., tabloid) [Oct. /Nov. 1985] Con­ (44pp., tabloid stitched) [Winter '92] tents Include Bob Black's 'The abolition of work.• Anarchy #31 Special issue on 'Women, Gender Anarchy.• & Anarchy#9 (12pp., tabloid) [Dec. '85/Jan '86] In­ [Spring '92] cludes Gerry Relth's story 'Foreign Polley.' Anarchy #32 (44pp., tabloid stitched) Special issue on 'Libertarian Fiction.' Anarchy #10 (12pp., tabloid) [Feb. jMarch 1986] (88pp., magazine stitched) [Summer'92] Contents Include the first Installment of 'The Papa­ Anarchy#33 lagl.' Special issue on 'Abandoning Civilization.' Anarchy #34 (88pp., magazine stitched) [Fall · '92] Anarchy #11 (12pp., tabloid) [April 1986] Includes Includes Nick DISpoldo's 'Postcards from prison' Gerry Relth's story 'Winning hearts and minds.' Max Anger's 'We all hate the cops.' & Anarchy#12 (12pp., tabloid) [Summer 1986] Includes [Winter '93] 'Notes on playing for keeps' by Ail Sprack. Anarchy #35 (84pp., magazine stitched) Includes MA Jaimes' 'The stone age revisited" & Anarchy #13 (Weekly World Anarchy Issue] (20pp., Manolo Gonzalez's 'Life In revolutionary Barcelona.• tabloid) [Fall/ Winter 1986] Includes Murray Book­ chin's 'Theses on libertarian municlpallsm.' Anarchy#14 (28pp., tabloid) [Summer 1987] Includes Disarm Authority ! Arm your Desires! John Zerzan's 'Vagaries of negation,' and 'Inter­ vention In Vietnam and Central America• by Noam Anan::hyis a journal of Neither leftnor right, we're just uncompromisingly anti­ Chomsky. authoritarian. Anan::hyrefusesdesif8 armed!ideology. We criticize all religion, all spiritualism, all moralism, all a Anarchy #15 (32pp., tabloid) [Winter 1988] Includes all political ideology. Nothing is s cred, least of all anarchism. 'The realization and suppression of religion' by Ken We want to create a genuinely different alternative vision-radically cooperative communi­ Knabb 'Anarchy religion; a dialogue.' & & & tarian, ecological and feminist, spontaneous and wild-a liberatory vision free from the con­ straints of our own human self-domestication. today! Anarchy#16 (32pp., tabloid) [Summer 1988] Includes Subscribe 'My life In the porn biz' by Holly, Paula Webster's 'Pornography and pleasure' more 'Anarchy reli­ ___$3.00 for a sample copy (1st Class in U.S., Surface mail elsewhere) gion.' & & ___$12 .. 00 for six issues at the regular individual rate within the U.S. (3rd Class) Anarchy#17 (32pp., tab. stitched) [Fall/Winter 1988/- 89] Includes 'Who killed Ned Ludd?' by John Zerzan ___$15.00 for six issues delivered in plain envelopes within the U.S. (3rd Class) 'The freedom of blocentrism' by Lone Wolf Circles. ___$15.00 for six issues delivered to Canada or Mexico & Anarchy #18 (32pp., tab. stitched) [March/April 1989] ___$18.00 for six issues in plain envelopes by 1st Class mail in the U.S. Includes 'Bigger cages, longer chains' and two reac­ ___$18.00 for six issues Library/institutional rate tions to the Toronto gathering's 'Day of Action.' ___$18.00 for six issues to other continents by Surface mail Anarchy#1 9 (32pp., tabloid stitched) [May-July 1989] Special Issue on 'Children's Sexuality.' ___$36.00 for 6 issues to other continents by Airmail

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Anarchy #24 (36pp., tabloid stitched) [March-April Clty______State______'90] Includes 'Misinformation and manipulation: An anarchist critique of the politics of AIDS' by Joe Pea­ Zip Country ______� cott. PLEASE MAKE YOUR CHECKS OUT TO C.A.L (yVE CANNOT ACCEPT CHECKS MADE OUT TO Anarchy #25 (36pp .• tabloid stitched) [Summer '90] Anarchy.) All subscription rates are In U.S. dollars. Subscribers outside the U.S. please send checks or Includes 'Anarchy in Eastern Europe' by Stefan Wray money orders in U.S. dollars only. (For checks or money orders made out In foreign currencies you must 'The mass psychology of misery• by John Zerzan. & add U.S.$10.00 for conversion.) We can also accept U.S., Canadian, and English paper currencies. Anarchy #26 (40pp., tabloid stitched) [Fall '90] In­ Subscriptions are free to prisoners. Indicate here if you do not want us to exchange your address with cludes 'Take things from work' by bp ummfatik & other papers or projects we· trust. Kevin Keatlng's "The Good The Bad and The Angry.' ,

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 13 Alternative Media Review

Spain, jailed on charges of the Smith He left the party, denouncing the aging StalAct.inis ts Encyclopedia of of the Central Committee. But the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, com­ posed of volunteers who fought in the Spanish the American Left Civil War, is presented with precision and clear Reviewed by Manolo Gonzalez-Barandiaran understanding of the times, and the entry acknowledges that most of the veterans of Encyclopedia of the American Left edited by Spain left the CPUSA, many in anger. Mari J. Buhle et al (Universityof Illinois Press, years, they elected progressive mayors, influ­ There is no mention of the long and exasper· Champaign, IL, tm) %2pp. paper enced local politics and advancedthe cause of ating genuflexive attitude of the CPUSA toward $29.95 & poor farmers? These samples of grass roots 928pp. hardcover. the SovietUnion, but this sad partof the history $95.00 American radicalism were not small sects; they of the American left has been given full treat­ ncyclopedias awaken in most of us a were vast movements that involved millions of ment by Theodore Draper in American The childish curiosity. They represent our Americans. The Anti-Imperialist League is Communist Party and Soviet Union (New the E desire for knowledge, for well-organized mentioned only because some Communist York, 1960). I am afraid the history of American information provided in concise entries written functionary participated early in the century; the radical political movements still awaits histori­ by authorities of zoology, ancient Greece, the opposition to the War in the. Philippines is not ans who can eliminate the sectarian stench of pyramids, sex and other wonders. Important mentioned. The Encyclopedia follows with the Marxists' tribes and see America's political subjects are usually profusely illustrated, except meticulous interest all the curves, backtracking evolution towards a non-ideological, practical for sex, which proves to be rather boring in its and ideological jokes of the CPUSA, to the populism with deep roots in a libertarianfeder­ medical dryness. Encyclopedias have the point of irritation. alism. The failure of the American left up to this patina of time, the pedigree of the French The entry on the Black Panther . Party is moment is basically the failure of European Revolution, the assertive voice of science and treated with a similar lack of understanding, not ideology. �or the Afro-American, Garvey was reason. All very useful for solving the Sunday only of its extensive work for mutual aid in more important than Engels. For Mexican­ crossword puzzle. Oakland, but of its organizing methods. The Americans, Flores Magon evokes their struggle So I approached this new edition of the Panthers never positioned themselves at the for self-determination. For Anglo-Saxon Ameri· Encyclopedia of the American Left with great doors of factories, because it was not a partof cans, the Minutemen of 1 are more revolu­ ns interest, anxious to learn of the adventures of their ideology to look for the workers with a tionary than the Red Guards of Petrograd. my comrades in this, my adoptive country. Marxist-Leninist model. They sought, instead, to The fast decline of capitalism, with militarism The thick volume has a spartan, proletarian recruit housewives, church self-help groups, as its only solution, calls for us to clarify that cover in bellicose red and black (a good omen) alienated Blacks and unemployed youth. The there is a future in the simple refusal of the and small reproductions of appeals and posters Panthers created schools and food coopera­ people of the world to participate In another of past struggles. is fascinating to note the tives and confronted police brutality more competitive fight for markets. The consumerist It graphic artists' skill and diversity of vision as effectively than any of the CPUSA's legalistic ideology has already reached its most vulgar they express the ideals and concerns of the maneuvers. goal: Reagan, Thatcher. The kingdom of market American left. And it is nice to observe that in But where the Encyclopedia really turns selfishness Is collapsing. There is no longer.an the and the American lefthad a sense sectarian and tries to whitewash the ideological ever expanding economy. The destruction of of humor.'20s The'30s rostrum of collaborators and collapse of the CPUSA is in the individual the earth has reached the limit. The era for writers is Impressive: college professors, histori· entries of the Communists who left the party. social responsibility has arrived. The Europeans ans and the usual coterie of leftist intellectuals Nothing of the bitter struggle of Dorothy call not for a market economy but for a social who still sing "We Shall Overcome" and listen to Healey; nothing about Langston Hughes being economy. Joan Baez. shunned out of the party because he was gay. The Encyclopedia? Nostalgia ...red flags But the visual charm and nostalgia soon And some names are omitted, probably out of waving on the horizon ...old songs... a few tears. gives way to a nagging question, "What's embarrassment; names like Steve Nelson, that is what you want, the Encyclopedia is If wrong with this righteous book?" Then I notice organizer of the party In the Midwest, com­ great. As history? Well, it does give us dates of that all the entries have the same slant. Every· mander of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in events, and it is a big, heavy book. thing that happened before 1919 is nothing more than a preparation for the most wondrous of events, the foundation of the American Call for submissions Communist Party, one of Its last subdivisions is to a book of essays on the topic of called today the CPUSA. Like one of the books from the Bible, the 'Wobblies' and other union radicals are nothing more than prophets here to ·Practical Anarchy announce the coming of the real historical event. is true, the entries about American anar­ he editorial collective is dedicated to elaborating the fullest range of possibilities under It T chists are fair and abundant. Berkman, the anarchy, and to investigating new ways to invigorate the anarchist presence in NorthAm erica. hopes to collect essays, bibliographies, addresses and other resources which detail an array Flores Magon brothers, Lucy Parsons, Emma It Goldman and several other agitators are given of practical strategies and tactics and sensibilities that include but are not limited to: Food production and consumption (horticulture, community sponsored agriculture, clear, concise reviews. The Sacco-Vanzetticase + is given a long emotional entry, with sympa­ communal farming, gardening collectives, etc.) Housing (squatting, urban and rural co-ops, etc.) thetic editorial comments for the twovic tims of + the state and capitalism. Neighborhood and campus organizing, integrated strategies for local political organization + DIY art, music, and beautification (stenciling, wheatpasting, alteration, zine production, But back to the CPUSA. Under seven differ­ + ent headings, the entry starts this way, "The publication, etc.) How-to ideas on puttingtog ether a people's bank of goods services, pirate radio stations, CPUSA was the most important radical move­ + & ment ...from 1919 to 1950." Th!s generalization anarchist hostels, reading rooms, study groups, bicycle repair collectives, a free university, an will find exception with hundreds of historians. anti-racist action network, etc. Women's health and self-defense, menstrual extraction and other issues of specific concern We can forget the Marcus Garveyorgani zation, + a significant movement by Afro-Americans that to women Send submissions, Ideas, graphics, hate mall introduced black consciousness to American to: politics. We can forget the Socialist-Populist Joseph Average, c/o B@U, POB 3207, Bloomington, IN.47402-3207 or: Chuck Munson, c/o Analchy, POB 173, Madison, WI. 53701-0173 alliances in the Midwest. So what if, for many Pra;1ica/

14 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Alternative Media Review

by T. Short reviews Otter & J. Zerzan

in the control of the natural world, and locates Immunization: Dangers,Delusions and Alterna­ the "ideological origins of human bondage" in tives and Hans Ruesch's Naked Empress. animal domestication. Is the Natural Hygiene organization still Panegyric, Vo lume by Guy Debord (Verso 1 There are a few places that are a bit soft-core active and publishing, perhaps in some reorga­ Press, 29 35th St., New York, 10001-2291, W NY. to my taste, and the ending is somewhat slip­ nized form these days? so, I invite them to 1991) 79pp. If $14.95 paper. pery (though far from a complete cop-out); write Anatehyand inform readers of their activi­ In the Spirit of the Earth - . . II my life, I have seen only troubled nonetheless, is very far­ ties and whereabouts. T O JUI(} reaching, and lives up to its name. -J.Z. }:'M::times, extreme divisions in society, and immense destruction: I have joined in these troubles." So begins this short book, which is evidently the first installment of Debord's auto­ Enclosures by Midnight Notes (Mid­ biography. Anarcho-Healthcare by S. Colman (Dawn Press, The New is written in the compact style of classical POB 02936, Detroit, MI. 48202, undated) night Notes, Box 204, Jamaica Plain, 02130, 112pp. MA. FrenchIt that Racine perfected; I found its rant 8Vixll loose-leaf in binder. 1990). lOOpp. (postpaid from publisher) $15.00 $6.00 combination of precision and poetry very paper. moving. Some may consider it somewhat f you're interested in self-healing without :1:: : drugs, needles or other invasive therapies, S. he essays in this collection are arranged immodest or even pompous; Panegyric is not, ):m.;,; ··::::): around the theme of 'enclosures'. The "Old however, without humor. My favorite example: Colman's Anarcho-Healthcare is a possible source. I have much sympathy for natural Enclosures were a counter-revolutionary pro­ "Among the small number of things that I have cess whereby, after a century of high wages liked and known how to do well, what I have health maintenance, however, Colman's book is not as well-documented or convincing as it and breakdown of feudal authority, beginning assuredly known how to do best is drink. Even in the late 1 400's, farmers in England were though I have read a lot, I have drunk even could be. I also find the book repetitive at points, and Colman's style, especially in the expropriated from their land and commons by more. I have written much less than most state officials and landlords. They were turned people who write; but I have drunk much more mini-dramas with which s/he opens the book, is so idiosyncratic that I fear many people may into paupers, vagabonds and beggars, and than most people who drink." later into waged workers, while the land was Rare is the book without serious failing , rarer avoid the information presented. This would be unfortunate since Colman's intentions are good, put to work to feed the incipient international still the life that does not adjust to the domi­ market for agricultural commodities." (p.1) nant malignancy or seek to rationalize its and, at root, his/her critique of modern medi­ The "new enclosures" are similar to the old. accommodations. Debord has apparently never cine, while neither flawless nor exhaustive, has "In Nigeria, for example, people currently are sought or valued outside approval for his life merit. being thrown off communally-owned land by and thus can risk honesty in describing its main But perhaps some readers will respond troops to make way for plantations owned and features. differently to Colman's style than I do. In any managed by the World Bank." (p.1) The Mid­ Greatly overpriced, this thin volume should case, what is Colman's content? night Notes Collective maintains that "for every be shoplifted wherever possible, honoring its Though Colman does not provide bibliogra­ factory in a free-trade zone in China privatized author appropriately. -J.Z. phy or footnotes, s/he cites the following sources at various places in the text: Eleanor and sold to a New York commercial bank, or McBean's The Poisoned Needle, Herbert Shel­ for every acre enclosed by a World Bank devel­ ton's Fasting Can Save Your Robert opment project in Africa or Asia a correspond­ Ufe, Mendelssohn's Confessions ofa Medical Here­ ing enclosure must occur in the U.S. or Western In the Sp irit of the Earth by Calvin Luther tic , S. Colman's own No More Medical Bills , Europe" (p.2), and that "only if Filipinos thrown Martin (Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, MD., and the works of I. Jennings and R.T. Tral.J. In off the land could be used in 'free enterprise 1992) 157pp. hardcover. short, while Colman has problems with the zones' in Manila or as 'shit' workers in Italy $19.95 puritanical, sterile overtones of the word 'hy­ could capital reduce real wages in the U.S. or : ·::t just may be a sign that the wind is turning giene', his views on healthcare are similar to sustain chronically high unemployment in : 1'when a Rutgers professor of history writes a those of the "Natural Hygiene" school of Europe." (p.3) book (and gets it published) debunking histori­ thought. My favorite article in some regards is Peter cal time and civilization. Martin seconds the The basis of natural hygiene, or Colman's Linebaugh's "Jubilating; or how the Atlantic virtual revolution in the way pre-domesticated anarcho-healthcare, is that the human body is Working Class Used the Biblical Jubilee Against humans have come to be seen over the past self-healing if properly maintained. The natural Capitalism, with Some Success." The author of twentyyears or so. He sees gatherer-hunter life dynamic of homo sapiens is good health, but bolo' bolo, p.m., contributes "Current Land in its wholeness, bounty and non-domination of thi� dynamic is dependent upon various fac­ Struggles in Zurich or Ideas to Transform a nature, and thus locates the roots of the pres­ tors, which include: 1) natural foods, eaten in Neighborhood." A quite informative essay is ent mega-crisis not in "human nature." As he proper combination, 2) adequate rest, 3) appro­ Silvia Federici's "The Debt Crisis, Africa, and the puts it, "the problem, flatly stated, lies not with priate exercise, 4) fresh air and sunshine, 5) New Enclosures" which is complemented by Homo sapiens but with neolithic Homo: farm­ healthy general environment, 6) emotional Harry Cleaver, Jr. 's "Notes on the Origin of the ing, urban-based, and ultimately industrial poise or balance, and 7) careful use of fasting Debt Crisis." David Riker has done a thorough societies." to heal, cleanse, and rejuvenate. In this brief study of the 1987-88 strike against International In this fairly short, well-written work, Martin review I shall not discuss the finer points of Paper, "The Struggle Against Enclosures in Jay, takes issue with the deepest of culture's cate­ natural hygiene. Readers interested in further Maine." There are also essays on gories, in an effort to fathom the impulses of inquiry may go to Colman's primary sources, or Palestine/Israel, New York's Lower East Side, the terrible progress of progress. He finds, in related :?Ources. Two other works not cited by China, and options for the black community in neolithic time consciousness, a key ingredient Colman are Leon Chaitow's Vaccination and Boston. -T.O.

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journalof Desire Armed 15 Alternative Media Review

NO FUTURE #1 #2/undated (An­ on 'Educationand Anarchy,•along with thony Melder, 21a &Warley Hiii, Brent­ other pieces llke Sue Sturgis' 'Queer wood Essex CM14 5HR, England) Is a Nationvs. QueerAction ." Samplesare relentleSsly, harsh and at times Incisive $3; subscriptions are $8/4 Issues. 24-page rant-zlne. Slogans like 'Break the law,' 'Life Is a crisis,' 'We've all Alphabet Threat #1 #2/undated (3018 J St. #140, Sacramento,& been betrayed,' Is blood,' and CA. 'How much money'Pro wouldfH buy you• llne 95816) Is a new 16-page tabloid with the tops and bottoms of each page. plenty of energy and humor. The first Check this out. Send a contribution for Issue Is subtllled 'The revolution Will Compiled by Jason McQuinn not be alphabetized!' Includes Alge­ a sample copy. II nomen to confront the fascist resur­ colt's 'Voting anarchists: An oxymoron bra P. on 'Making love to myself,· and FREE SOCIETY #3/Summer 'Why I am not an anarchist' Abeyant & gence in Germany. •confronting Fas­ or what?" Also Includedare short piec­ by #4/Fall '92 (POB 7293, Minneapolis, cism' Is the cover story for Issue #1, es on 'Anarchism and history: The Aborlglnles. Issue #2 Is tilled Blcycle MN. 55407) Is now a 30-page 'Joumal lncludlng the Mayday Skins' 'Real example of the sos• by Peter Barker Threat, subtllled The revolution will lhe Youth Greens (In transition).' not bemotorized ,• and' Including pieces of skinheads areni racist,• and 'Resourc­ and 'SUPA: The peace movement on Issue #3 Includes 'The fight against es for anJl-faclst organizing,• along with campus• by Gary Moffatt. Subscriptions like 'Sex threat,• 'My firstorgasm,• and nuclear power In Minnesota• by Paul "Family's values." Send or more In Jess Grant's 'Go union! page. are $9.00/4 Issues. 50¢ O'Bannlon, •contemplating anarchy In Subscriptions arenow $9.00/year!WW" (6 ls­ postage for a sample copy. the city of angels' by Jay, a report on a sues). Wind Chill Factor #8/Nov.-Dec.'92 Midwest Eco-Anarchist Network (POB 81961, Chicago, IL 60681 ) Is a (MEAN) regional conference, and Patty Fatuous Times #3/undated (POB fat and tun-filled, ireeform joumal of OTHER PERIODICALS RECEIVED: Melt's 'Dine struggle for autonomy.• 406, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 4RN, Eng­ ideas, action, news, creativity and Artest #6/undated (1 876 Garden Issue #4 lncl1:1des "A vision of resis­ land) Is an entertaining 32-page zlne, more.• This Issue Includes a growing Drive, Vancouver, BC. V5N 4W7, Cana­ tance: A speech by Winona LaDuke, • this time with a theme on 'Maps and lettersco lumn, an Interviewwith Shariff da) Is a 16-page tabloid "yoUth arts "Green gathering '92: That's It, I quit!' Mapping.• This Issue Includes 'Fatuous of United for Peace (Which advoeates activism paper.· This Issue Includes a by Prof A. Lactlv, and 'Crushing CO­ joyriders,' 'All the lonely people... arm­ gang unity In Minneapolis), 'Fear the . piece on Indian activist John Trudell. iumbus: A guide to the lllerature of ed," "Fragments from AgainstAmnesia, " shivers of freedom• (reprinted from Send a contribution for a samplecopy. native resistance• by Pavtos. These 'The travelling salesman problem," and Clash #6), and a hundred short frag­ folks are on their way out of the green "An lmmedlallst· pollach." COples are ments, clippings, graphics, etc. Single Artflux #2/undated (c/o Profane orbit and on to more radical practice-a available for £2 postpaid. copies are $1 .50 cash or stamps; sub­ Existence, POB 8722, Mpls., MN. group to keep an eye on! Subscriptions scriptions are $8 cash/5 Issues. 55408) Is an entertaining 28-page are $10/4 Issues. Mother Anarchyand LoafersWorld comlx zlne. This Issue Includes a band #1 /undated (Laure Akal, PO Box 500 Profane Existence #18/Dec.'92- , Interview with ·cop Shoot COp.' Send Moscow 6/61 , C.l.S.) Is a 22-page 'of Jan.'93 (POB8722, Mpls, MN. 55408) $1 for a copy. random anarchistic thought produced Is a 24-page anarcho-punkzlne. This July-sopSept In . Moscow, the slack capitol.· This • 1992 Issue Includes a reprint of Kuwasl Baia­ No #6 #7/undated (POB 175, &�NISE• J l99U9 27 Issue Includes "The abollllon work In goon's "Anarchycan't fight alone" (from Liverpool, L69& 8DX, U.K.) Is the 14- OR of for daSSstrU!llJI!. � - Russia and other matters,• a couple Bulldozer #6), and an Interview with page successor to Anti Clock Wise, •• .• pages 'Stupid Russian jokes," "Indi­ membersof the collectively-run English billed as 'A Project of the Museum of [-• A� RIOTS :�::; 1l of M A LCO L M vidualism vs. Individualism,· and "Who music venue called 'The 1 In 12 Club." Modem Alienation." Issue #7, with a I TY O P POR TUN the hell Is Jerry Rubin?" Send a dona­ Single copies are now $2 postpaid; 1n1oc11:s: cover urging "Klll your Idols,• Includes E QUA L tion for a sample copy. O PPORTUN- subscriptions are $9/6 Issues. a rant against black nationalism lllled -11'1'll 'Who gives a XXXX for Malcolm.• No N Nlf:WS A D Moral Purtty #3/Samhaln 9992 Madworld Survival Gulde #8/un­ MAL'fSIS price llsted; send at least $1 or $2 for a -A (General Delivery, Lasquell Island, B.C., dated (POB 791 377, New Orleans, REVIEWS sample copy. - Canada) Is a 54-page zlne (with a great 701 79-1 377) Is now a 44-page direct­LA. LETfEAS - cover graphic) that Includes news clip­ action zlne, bigger and better than Counter Information #35/Nov­ O A S PECfS F .....u. cMIS M : pings of protest actions from the main­ ever. This Issue Includes an account of ALI S • Jan. '92-93 (PlgeonholeCl, c/o 11 Forth fEO EA stream press, as well as articles like the "Houston Anarchist Gathering• by St., Edinburgh EH1 , Scotland) Is a 4- ,t,NO MUCH -MORE "Body politics: Kiiiing ourselves with G. Netwerker, and C. Kutallk's right-too­ page direct action newssheet. Send a food" by Zabaglione, and a reprint from the-point 'Straight up against the pigs! contribution for a sample copy. Front Une News tilled 'Animal libera­ The retusal of development In LA.• Magazlneofct he ratlon tion and native �ghts• by Freebird. Send $1 cash 52¢ postage for a The Thought Vol.12,#8/Nov., #9/ munlstFede + Anarchist om Send $3.50 for a sample copy; sub­ sample; subscriptions are $5/4 Issues. Dec.'92 & Vol.13,#1/Jan.'93 (POB scriptions are $20/year (4-6 Issues). 3092, Orange, CA. 92665) Is the 24- Massive Love #1 /Sept.'91 (Resis­ page, photocopied publication of the ORGANIZE! #27/July-Sept. #28/ Ubertarlan Labor Review #14/ tance Prod, POB 426, ZUrich, Philosophers Guild. Issue #8 Includes & 8026 Oct.-Dec.'92 (ACF, c/o 84b White­ Winter '92-'93 (Box 2824, Champaign, Swlzterland) Is a 20-page family zlne part 3 of Ben Price's 'Quantum gravity: chapel High St., London E1 7QX, Eng­ IL 61825) Is a 38-page magazine of for punk parents In microscopic type! The geometry of grand unification.• land) Is the very well-written, 16 to 20- "Anarchosyndlcallst Ideas and Discus­ This Issue Includes an Interview With Subscriptions are $1 1/12 Issues. page 'Magazineof the Anarchist Com­ sion.• This Issue Includes articles on punk parents In Holland, "Chrlstmass, munist Federation• subtitled "For class "Russian syndlcallsm In transition,' and kiss my ass,• and "Vegan diet during Anarchist Age Monthly Review struggle anarchism." Issue #27 In­ an Interviewlllled "Syndicalism In Nor­ pregnancy & lactation.• Send a contri­ #24/0ec.'92 (Mutual Aid, POB 20, cludes pieces on the LA. riots and way." Subscriptions are now $12.00/2 - bution for a copy. Parkvllie 3052, Melboume,Australia) Is 'Yugo-barbarism.· Issue #28 Includes years (4 Issues). a 40-page newsletter consisting of articleson 'The Rostockriots: Bashing Mlscreance #2/Wlnter '92-93 photocopied reprints from other sourc­ the fash?'and 'Reading the detectives.• Bayou La Rose #40/Wlnter '93 (UCSC, College Eight #178, 200 Heller es, along with reprints of the Anarchlat (POB 5464 Tacoma, WA. 9841 5-0464) Drive, Santa Cruz, 95064) Is a 40- Whether or not you agree with their , CA. Age WeeklyReview. Subscriptions are pollllcs, this zlne Is deflnllely worth Is a 24-page tabloid mixing news of page zlne "dedicated to anti-establish­ $24/12 Issues. checking out. The cover price Is 50p workplace, ecological and Indigenous ment subculture ...and anarchist revolu­ subscriptions are £4/4 Issues. & activism. This Issue Includes "An out­ tion.• This Issue features "Modern anti­ A Infos #26/Sept. & #27/Oct.'92 line of Westem Shoshone history,' and warfare,• and Dave Metro's "Blah, blah, . (Humeurs Noires [F.A.J, BP 79, 59370 "Breaking unions and contract: Re­ blah: Mumble, mumble, mumble' (crlll­ Mons en Baroeul, Fronce) Is the Infor­ ALSO RECEIVED: structuring labour relations In Mexico" cal ihe obsolete left" and calling for mative 6-page French edition Qn the by E. Martinez, F. Herrera G. San­ a •nonauthorltarlanot front"). Unfortunate­ English language) of the A-Infos lnter­ Love and Rage/Amor y Rabla chez. Single copies are $2.& 50; sub­ ly, much, If not most of the writing Is natlonal"Bulletlnsd'lnformatlon'-meant Vol.3,#7/Sept.-Nov.'92 Vol.4,#1 / & scriptions remain $7.50/4 Issues. difficultto Impossible to read. Send $1 for spreading news for publication In Feb.-Mar.'93 (Box 3, Prince St. Station, for a copy. anarchist periodicals. Send a contribu­ New York, NY. 10012) Is now a 20- Kick Over #30/Nov.'92 (POB n tion for a sample copy; subscriptions page left anarchist news-bimonthly 581 1, Station Toronto, Canada MSW lnatead of a Magazine #55-56/Wln­ are $6/year (IMO payable to ALOIA). published In English Spanish. Issue 1 Is a 48-pageA. quarterly zlne. This ter '92-93 (POB 76, Shlngletown, CA. & P2) #7 has an Interesting unattributed ac­ Issue's theme Is "Did You Vote? An Is a very breezy, 74-page read­ F unnumbered/Nov.& Jan. '92 (1800 count of the relative fallure of the auto- Anarchist Debate," Including Joe Pea- 96088er-wrmen) joumal. This issue focusses Market St. #249, San Francisco, CA.

16 Anarchy: A Joumal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Alternative Media Review

941 02) ts a 10-page newsletter pub­ Muselatter #11 /Nov.'92 (Richard produced 84-page, German-language French-language review of synthetic · ' lishing news that ts •embarrassing to Helnberg, 1433 Olivet Santa 'International Journal for Libertarian anarchism· publishedby the Union des Rd., Rosa. the state,• ihOught-provoklng,• or •tn­ CA 95401 ) Is a 4-page monthly com­ Culture and Politics.• This Issue's · anarchlstes. Internationalsubscriptions splrtng. • Send $1 .50 In cashor stamps ment ztne. This Issue covers 'The anar­ theme Is 'Kutturschock:Ube rtiire Lltera­ are 80F/year (10 Issues). for a sample; subscrtpttons are $7 /5 chist tradition.• Subscriptions are $12/ tur.' Single copies are 10DM plus post­ Issues. year. age. Schwarzer Faden #45/Jan.'93 (Postfach 1159, 7043 Grafenau-1 , Ger­ The Hyperborean Vot.2,#6/Nov. Practical Anarchy #6/Wlnter '93 A.N.A. unnumbered/Agos-Out.'92 many) Is a well-produced 72-page, E.M.392 (Richard 2024 N. Man­ (Chuck Munson, 16 N. Butter St. #2, (Moesto Rebouc;as, eatxa Postal 78, German-language magazine, subtitled Gaska, 1151 0-970 CubatAo-SP, Brasil) Is a 'Vlerteljahresschrtft Fur Lust und Frei­ or Or., Erte, PA 16505) ts a photocop­ Madison, Wt. 53703) ts a 22-page ztne. 6- ied ztne 'Dedicatedto Freethought and This IssueIs on ·women and Anarchy,• page Portuguese-language newsletter heit.' This Issue Includes Jim Gamp­ Anarchism.• Subscriptions are $1 1 / Including several short reprints from subtitled 'lnformattvo da Ag6ncta de bell's 'Anllrassisttnnen erschiittern year (6 Issues). other anarchist publlcallons. Send $1 NotlctasAnarqutstas. • Send a contribu­ Toronto.' Subscriptions are 50.-DM/8 for a sample copy; subscriptions are tion for a copy. Issues. Anti-Copyright @narchy Art #1 / $5/4 Issues. undated (POB Oxford, OH. 45056) Umantta• Nova Vol.72,#28/18 Ott., El Ubert@rlo #24/Set.-Oct.'� 666, #29/1 1 Ott., #31 /25 Ott.'92 to Vol unpagtnated collectionof anarchist and Ship Of Fools #2/Juty-Sept.'92 (Brastt 1551 , 1154 Buenos Aires,Argen­ 73,#1/10 Gen. & #4/31 Gen.'93 (c/o leftist clip art reprinted without permis­ (POB2062, Westminster, MD. 21 158) Is tina) ts the 4-page, Spanish-language G.C.A Pinelli, via 48, 87019 sion. Send $1 .50 for copy. a 24-page atternattve news tabloid. This newspaperof the Federaclon Ubertarla Spezzano Albanese (CS),Roma Italy) Is the 8- Issue Includes the storyof the publish­ Argentina. Send a contFlbutlon for a page, ttaltan-tanguage weeklynewspa­ Workers Solidarity #4/Dec.'92- er's recentarrest and harassment, sample copy. the Federaztone Anarchtca ttal­ Jan.'93 (POB 40440, San Francisco, numerous news and comment reprintsand tana.per of Issue #32 Includes the first of a Le PoLnt D'lnterrogatlons unnum­ 941 40) 8pp. newsletter the Work­ from the anarchistpress. Coples are$2 CA of series of 4 to 8-page supplements titted bered/Automne '92 (Heme c/o t.S., ers Solidarity Alliance. Subscriptions each. are $7.50/6 Issues (plus one Issue of UN Lavoratorl Notlzle. Subscriptions B.P. 243, 75564 PartsCedex 12, France Ideas Action). Dlscuulon Bulletin #57/Jan:-Feb. are us $55.00/year. (doni mention the publication name In & '93 (POB 1564, Grand Rapids, Ml. the address]) ts an 18-page, French­ Dtiiturb@nce #9/undated (POB A Infos #9/Juty-Sept.'92 (c/o Int. 49501) Is a 32-page assortment of language, radical anti-tech journal. This 31261 , 10035 Athens, Greece) ts an 8- Seer. LAS, POB 61523, 2506 am Den letters and reprinted articles prtrnartty Issue Includes Heme's Interesting •une page, Greek-language tabloid, with Haag, Netherlands) Is a 3-page photo­ from the anti-market, non-stalls! radical Critique du radlcallsme ta petite se­ more news of current struggles In a copied Information buttettn covering milieu. Subscriptions are $3/year (6 malne,' along with transtatlons of (ex­ Greece. Cover prtce ts 150drachmas. recent events In the Netherlands. Send Issues). tracts from) Feral Faun's 'Les ractnes a contrtbutton for a sample copy. bourgeotsesdel'anarcho-syndtcallsme• Eklntza Zuzana: Revlsta Ubertarla Media Blitz #3/Wlnter '93 (POB (from Demolition Derby) and a re­ #1 1 /tnvterno '92 (Edtctones Argt­ of Action #3/Juty '92 (FAM c/o Anto­ 20420, London Terrace Statton, New EZ sponse to Faun by the Italian journal taraldlak, Apdo. 235, Postakutxa, nio Grozdev, 18 Nikola Stakov St., York, NY. 10011) Is a 24-page ztne Comldad. Makes me wish I was bettor Biibo, Btzkala, Spain) ts a stick,48080 ET.1, AP.6, Sofia 1463, Butgarta) Is the featuring a piecetitted 'Tetevtston the so­ at reading French. No price listed;send page Spanish-language 'llbertartan 4-page 'Information Newsletter' of the opiate of the people: A guide to a contribution. revleW' from the Basque country. This Federation of Anarchistic Youth In worship.• Send $2 for a sample copy.TV Bulgaria (FAM). FAM ts actively seeking Issue Includes a humorous 8-page to establish contacts and periodical Anlm@dverse #5/undated (POB Insertof the LSD Herald Tribune. Sub­ scriptions are ptas/year (4 tssues). exchanges. Send a contribution for a 57464, Jackson Stn., Hamilton, Ontario 800 ��!Dilll>£D0811RA sample copy. L8P 4X3, Canada) ts an 8-page ztne -····· · .. . •. ··-··· -::::.:..":"'.;"!":' featuring a cover piece on Mumta Abu­ No Nation Bulletin #13/Summer Jamal and an essay titted 'Fear of a '92 (People to People Friendship Ass., gay planet.• Send a contribution for a c/o SOren Groth, Adalen, SattA Arb. sample copy. Skola, 15 Jiirna, Sweden) ts a photocopied300 16 -page exchange of Venus Envy unnumbered/undated short letters and announcements from (POB 3542, Terre Haute, IN. 47803) Is people living on different continents. a nicety-done 24-page comlx ztne on Subscriptions are U.S.$5/year (4 Is­ fat prejudice, which occasionally sues). quotes from Naomi Wolf's Send � stamps for a copy.The Beauty Myth. Steal The Fire 2 · unnumbered/un­ dated Issues (Acts of Resistance, 537 Harmful Matter #2/undaled (POB Jones #1584, San Francisco, CA 3642, Terre Haute, IN. 47803) ts a 941 02) ts a 12-page newsletter subtitled breezy 2o-page ztne. Send 2 stamps for 'A Journal of Absolute Rage,' focussing a sample copy. 90 on direct-action resistance activities In Mutiny #1 /undated (5221 Gutten CERTA the S. F. Bay This first Issue's CMEPTb MEN ANAROU/STA M Mall, Student Center Bldg. Rm.21 1, Box UND/Al cover messageArea ts 'Nazi scum fuck off!!' 99, Detroit, Ml. 48202) Is a new 28- ...I PATlll II Includes a piece on the fall of the '!';,";. page zlne by the folks at the 404 Wiiiis KOH-cHHAHKAn GDR by Wiii Firth and an anonymous Solldarldad Obrera #231 /Sept., space In Detroit. This Issue starts off piece titled 'Anarchists fight a Fourth #232/0ct.-Nov. & #233/Nov.-Dtc.'92 with a discussion of 'Community? au­ •••.. Retch.' The second Issue has a cover L•••••••• (Ronda de San Antonio, 13 pral 08001- tonomy? or community for autonomy,' story lilted 'Anarchist railroaded,' on Obschlna #48/RoH6p'b '92 Barcetona, Spain) ts the 12 to 16-page, and finishes up with 'A brief history of the trial of Mike Lee. Send a contrtbu­ (1 29642, Moscow, a/H 16, KAC-KOP, Spanish-language regional newspaper anarchism In the Southern Ukraine, tton for a sample. C.t.S.) ts the nicely-produced, 24-page of the anarcho-syndtcattst C.N.T. In 1917-1921 .' Send a contribution. Russian-language magazineof the KAC catatonia. Issue #31 announces the @-News #1/Nov.'92-Jan.'93 (POB Certamen Anarqutsta Mundail planned FAU-IAA International News Flash (Confederation of Anarcho-Syndlcat­ 30557, 10033 Athens, Greece) Is a new #1 /Nov.-Dec.'92 & #2/Wtnter-Sprtng lsts), back after a two-year hiatus In for Aug. 21-23, '93 In Barcelona. Issue 4-page 'Informative Bulletin by 'Anar­ #232 features a cover story on 'La '93 (c/o Frank Richardson-Schafer, publication. This Issue features a piece chic Intervention'.• This Issue contains crtsts y ta CNT.• Sample copies are Kartstrasse 11, 0-3501 Futdatal 2, Stm­ on the anarchists at the barricades a chronology of the recent strike by 75ptas plus 20ptas postage. mershausen, W. Germany) Is a wett­ during the August '91 coup attempt Athens bus drivers which many anar­ (who now 'feet that they were de­ wrltten, new 6-page news bulletin. Send Gu6ngara Ubertarla#52/0toiio '92 chists supported. Send a contribution ceived'), and Includes an English-lan­ a contribution for a copy. (ISHSS, POB 1516, Riverside Station, for a sample. guage summary of articles. Send a Miami, FL 331 35) Is a 32-page Span­ contribution for a copy. ish-language journal produced by Cu­ Autonomous Feminist ProJect un­ NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE numbered/Spring '92 (c/o Institute for Le Ubertalre; Revue de Synth.. ban anarchist exiles subtitled 'A ta PERIODICALS RECEIVED: & Social Ecology, POB 89, Plalnfleld, Anarchlste #130/Nov. thru #133/Fllv. Ubertad la Ubertad.• Send a dona­ Por 05667) is a 6-page Youth Green femi­VT. Traflk #35 (Eduardstrasse 40, '93 (25 rue Dume d'Aptemont, 76600 tion for a sample copy. 0- nist ztne. Send an SASE for a sample. 4330 Miithetm 1, Germany) ts a well- Le Havre, France) Is a 4-page, monthly, ••• Continued on page 12

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 17 On Gogol Boulevard

·an Gogol Boulevard" formerly appeared In the too are IREAN mem­ and Rage newspaper. background on why Love For bers here. we're no longer there send $1 .()0to the NENW for a Several of them have photocopy of the exchanges In their Discussion met with foreign Trots Bulletin. We ask that people subscribe to them as they will continue to carry some East from us: (including Mandel [Er­ $9 third class, $13 first class, $13 lntematlonal,news free to nest, famed Belgian prisoners Gls (POB 3, Prince St. Station, NYC, NY. Trot economist)), have 1001 2). & gone to their conferenc­ Anarchy has no where near the lntematlonal es and they continually circulation that and Rage has, Including the key hold actions in conjunc­ Love Neither East Nor West contacts In the East/Third tion with them. The World. Anarchy wtll mall us a bundle to make up for CNT/ AIT flag (the some II. But we needa subsidy for the malllng. of Tax· Spanish anarcho-syndi­ deductible contributions made out to the Aspect calist National Confed­ Foundation for the malling (plus our other work) should be sent to: Neither East Nor West, 528 5th St., eration of Workers/In­ Bro<>l

18 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 On Gogol Boulevard

holding up Reagan, and not saying anything, groups and organizations all over the world. Russia. just standing there with Reagan. you would like to, please send us your periodi­If One of the things the meeting agreed on is And on the 8th of Nov. there was a concert cals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, the publication of an information and coordina­ to celebrate the birthday of Nestor Makhno. booklets, badges, cassettes with alternative tion bulletin for the East and. was agreed that It music and other anarchistic materials. the Initiative of Revolutionary Anarchists-Mos­ NO TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS! Our new address (temporary): cow (IREAN) would form the first editorial Sendero Verde can't go home FAM c/o Antonio Grozdev, 18 Nikola Slavkov group. They'll produce 4 issues, each issue in Street, ET. 3, AP. 6, Sofia 1463, Bulgaria Russian and English. Orlando Polo and Mercedes Paez are activ­ Send your materials and letters about the There will be no editing or censorship of the ists and members of Cuba's only green/anti­ problems of the anarchism to our country. contributions from participants. IREAN will print authoritarian opposition group, the Eco-Pacifist and distribute the bulletin. The first issues will (ATTENTION! Destroy our old address: Todor Movement "Sendero Verde" (Green Path). After be funded by the IWA Secretariat. The name of Rlznlkov, Boul. Tr. Kostov 4 4, Sofia touring the U.S. the Cuban government refused the bulletin will be A.S. Info: Open Bulletin Please don't send any letters to thiset. addr ess.) them permission to return to the island. Neither From Friends of the IWA ('A.S.' as in anarcho­ East Nor West-NYC (NENW-NYC) launched a syndicalist). The first issue will be free. Later Greetings, letter writing campaign on their behalf, and issues will be sent to subscribing contributor Luben Handjiev-Coordinator for FAM because of that Cuban officials met with the organizations for postal costs. The following is from the newletter ACTION Green Pathers. But permission to return is still To submit text write: Dmitri Kostenko, #2 4/20/92 published by F.A.M. (Federation of denied, so another round of letters is being 105215 Moscow, UI. Parkovaya 9-aya, Dom. Anarchist Youth) in Bulgaria: called for. Please write letters demanding that 55 Kv.60, Russia Orlando and Mercedes be allowed to return THE ANARCHISTS IN OUR COUNTRY DON'T To continue the work started in Berlin it was home, and address them to the Cuban Interest SHAVE THEIR HEADS agreed that a furthermee ting will be held in the Section in Washington D.C. Mail them to Summer of '93 in Zaporozie, East Ukraine, to NENW-NYC who'll get them to Cuban officials: The newspaper Bulgarska Armia(" Bulgarian be hosted by the Confederation of Independent Neither East Nor West, 528 5th St., Brooklyn Army") in its issue 215 from March 27, 1992, Unions of Zaporozie. This meeting will examine NY, 11215, U.S. (Tel: 718-499-7720) regarding the appearance of 1st issue of a the progress of anarchist unionism in the East, newspaper Action, the newspaper, with hidden and the development of coordinated activities BULGARIAN ANARCHIST NEWS satisfaction, quotes that "in the countryside the and the bulletin. (Contact NENW if you want ideas of anarchy are, on a small scale, popular more information on the Ukraine meeting.) A October 4, 1992/Sofia, Bulgaria with the youth. The national anarchists express new editorial group can be chosen for the Hello friends, anarchists, dismay at the receptivity of the young people bulletin at this meeting, as there should be In the FEDERATION OF ANARCHIST today to nationalistic, neofascist, racialist, anti­ rotation of this responsibility. YOUTH/FAM in Bulgaria we member over two semitic and other monstrous ideologies" an­ The eastern region of the FAU (in the former hundred people from a few localities. Our nounces the national military semi-official Communist GDR) announced that they have federation was established in June 1990. Here organ. formed an East European Working Group to are the highlights of our actions in the last three help with East-West coordination. This working Materials were prepared by Stanil Yotov years: group will meet regularly to check on progress Translated Georgi Nikov 1990 in the East, exchange information between -June 11-18, barricades in the streets of Sofia Eastern and Western groups, publicize Eastern Other Addresses For Contacts In Bulgaria: against the election manipulations from the anarchist union activities in the West, and Elena Tzaneva, UI. Skobelev 31, Kazanluk political forces. supportgr oups in the East where possible. 6100 -July 3-August 5, participation of "City of the Contact them at: A Laden, Rathenowerstr. D-1 000 Berlin 21, Germany (FAX: 030/ Truth" against the Communist president Petar Mlhall Stefanov, UI. Vasil Levskl 89, Stara 22, Mladenov. Zagora 6000 3948447) (Info thanks to the U.S. Workers Soli­ -November 7, demonstration by the monument darity Alliance) of Lenin, marking the anniversary of the begin­ Dimltar Georgiev, Kv. Petleshev, Bl. 146, VH.6, AP.2, Varna ning of the Bolshevik terror seventy years ago. - 9000 November, participation in the demonstrations Svetoslav Chenkov, UI. "lzar Samuil," Bl. against the Communist government. ''Zora" 2, Et.4, Ap.13, Pleven 5000 AA 3APABCTBYET 1991 -January, demonstration at the USSR embassy ! against Soviet violence against Baltic countries. EAST-WEST ANARCHISTS MEET PEBO/\l-0Ult1R Ao11oi'I !itopoKparoe M KanMTa11Mcroe! -May 1st, meeting with over of three hundred on ''The Prospects for Anarcho-Syndicalism Ao11oi'I aHTMHSPOAHOe npaeMre11bCTBO Ellbl.IMHa participants. In Eastern and Central Europe" - npaBMTellbCTBO HMU.\eTbl M pocra 1.1eH ! -June 2nd, procession in Sofia to the monu­ BetweenNov. 25-29, '92, anarcho-syndicalists Ao11oi'I ece ment of Christo Botev, the first Bulgarian anar­ 4>opMbl chist and national hero, perished for the libera­ (anarchist unionists) from several countries met in Berlin. Delegates from anarchist unions and npMB8TM38l,IMM, tion of Bulgaria from Turkish power in 1876. :t cnponpMMpyeM groups came from Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, K -June 26, picket at Bulgarian OS (State Securi­ CT8pb1X M ty) for Radionov and Kuznetzov-two young and Ukraine to be the guests of the Free Work­ HOBblX rocnoA! Russian anarchists who were arrested in Mos­ ers Union (FAU) Berlin local. Also present were AOllOH WOBMHMCTOB, BHTMCBMMTOB, cow in February 1991. members of the FAU from different parts of H8l,IMOH81\MCTOB M 4>&WMCTOB! Germany and the current Secretary of the Bceo6U4ytocra'IK Y -October 19, demonstration at British embassy Aaewb in Sofia and presentation of a petition with International Workers Association (IWA). Guests - aaxear npeAnpMRTMH TPYARU.\MMMCR! request to release all poll tax prisoners. from other organizations were also present at Her KBnMT81\M3My, HeT CT81\MHM3My! Mbl nOMHMM OKTSl!ipb 17-ro! 1992 various times, including a delegation from the Swedish Central Workers Organization (SAC), CMepTb KBnMTBlly, CBO!iOAY TPY AY! -May 19, anti-military rock concertat the Minis­ 80HH8 XMlt

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 19 On Gogol Boulevard

ANARCHISTS IN the Central and CZECHOSLOVAKIA Eastern Europe­ an countries?

A-Kontra is · a Czech anarchist What women's paper with international reporting as ' networks already well. It isn't just limited to coverage of exist and what anarchists. It sees itself, rather, as a new ones are medium for various left and Romani needed? What ('gypsy') initiatives. (A Romani paper should the priori­ is also produced in the same offices.) ties of an inde­ It's emphasis is on anti-fascist work, pendent wom­ as well as the struggle against the en's movement unsocial politics of the conservative be? How does right government. each group plan Through the demagogic anti-com­ to cope with new munist and anti-left propaganda of threats to repro­ the right wing parties, the general ductive rights? public supports nationalist and racist These ques­ currents. Even militant fascists receive tions are even recognition, sympathy and often more urgent a direct supportfrom the population. year later. And At times there is the feeling of a the energy from pogrom against Cubans, Asians and that weekend above all, Romanis. There have been has blossomed a number of deaths. Leftist groups into many pro­ are under massive pressure from all jects across the sides. region. That A-Kontra, as an important part of summer, the the counter-publicity is under pres­ Networkfi nanced sure. The newspaper's office has the opening of h g been destroyed a number of times Allk Ollsevlc visitin Athens, Greece In 1990. OGB photo. the Curriculum and the people threatened. Center and Li­ A-Kontra/Ramad, Bubensk6 1, 17000 Praha, further service. Additionally, they've had break­ braryfor Gender Studies in Prague, which now Czechoslovakia ins, their phone line is o�en cut, and their has a library, hosts consciousness-raising neighbors have been warned about them. groups, and publishes an occasional bulletin of ALIK IS BACK Please help by mailing protest letters to: news, essays, and reviews. The Network's The People�s Courtfor Buykan Sector, Mol­ ultimate goal is to have at least one women's Recently Love and Rage and Neither East davia, Klshlnev-1, ul. M.Vlstyazul, d.2, Attn: center in every country in the region. Nor West have received mail from Ukraine's Alik President of the Court The Network has perceived interest among Olisevich. Alik was a member of Lvov Trust women from the former Soviet Union as well. Group who were famed for writing a solidarity Ministry of Justice, Moldavia, Klshlnev-12, ul. Preliminarycontacts have been made in Mos­ statement for A "US out of El Salvador" block­ Stefan cheu Mare, d.73 cow which include the Moscow Center for Gen­ ade at the Pentagon on Oct. 17,'88. Their der Studies and Transfiguration. Above all the writings appeared in On Gogol Boulevard, Parliament, Moldavia, Klshinev•1, ul. Stefan cheu Mare, d.105, Attn: Secretariat of the Network aims to create dialogue across nation­ Rage, Star Route and All Ways Free. After Moldavian Parliament Human Rights Com­ al boundaries about feminism and help Central, being out of touch for a while Alik is back with mission Eastern European and former Soviet feminists a big project: The Europeanwee kly newspaper begin their own projects that will respond to distributed in 1 50,000co pies throughout the ex­ President, Moldavia, Klslnev-1, pl. Velikogo local issues, from employment, wife beating USSR. In a recent issue they ran an appeal Natlonalnogo Sobranlya, d.1, Mircha Ion and rape to gender studies in the university and mailed out by Love and Rage for Peruvian Snegur politics. anarchist political prisoner Andres Villaverde. Sonia Jaffe Robbins/Ann Snitow, U.S. co­ Alik wants anarchists and others to send the NETWO.RK OF EAST/WEST WOMEN coordinators Network of East\ West Women, Europe•n your zines, leaflets etc: Departmentof Journalism, NYU, 10 Washing­ Allk Ollsevlch, c/o European, Lvov, The Croatian Dubrovnik hotel. lobby was dim 2900 ton Place, New York NY 1 0003. Tel. (212) Unlversltet ul. Slchevyh Strelzov dom 16, afterthe bright Adriatic sun as women from all 998-7966 (Fax: 212-995-4148) Ukraine (Tel: 79-47-53, 72-88-76) over Central and Eastern Europe gathered for the first conference of the Network of East/ Postscript: On Dec. 20th, the NYC chapter of STOP REPRESSION OF ANARCHO­ West Women in June 1991. For three intense the NEWW held a 50 strong picket at St. Pa­ SYNDICALISTS IN MOLDAVIA days, 55 women-feminist activists, studems, trick's Cathedral protesting against a proposed union organizers, lawyers, professors, journal­ anti-abortion law in Poland that could land a Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalist mem­ ists, and writers-from all the countries of the Polish women and her doctor in jail for 10 bers Tamara Burdenko and husband Igor region mel with feminists from the west. We years. Members of Neither East Nor West-NYC Hergenreorder are suffering under the ex-USSR were there because20 even with the great chang­ have joined NEWW and highly recommend the Moldavian regime. Bothhave published a.rticles es of 1989, there was little discussion of wom­ group. denouncing the government's authoritarianism en's issues in the newly emerging civil societ­ Also recommended is Women and Earth , a and nationalism, as well as the growth of fascist ies. Women were losing abortion rights and continuation and expansion of the famed ideology. Tamara was fired from her job April suffering high rates of unemployment; they Women and Russia Almanac, founded in Russia '92. Igor was questioned and physically were not being represented in the new govern­ in 1979 by Tatyana Mamonova (who was then 29, threatened by the KGB July 22. On July 24 an ments. As our keynote speaker, journalist forced into exile). Women and Earth is bilingual, unknown person rang their bell and gave Igor Slavenka Drakulic from Zagreb, put it, "In the biannual, and free to Easterners. $10 will get a sack that contained a severed dog's head. On new democracies, women's position should not yoµ a copy and cover the cost of one to the July 25 Moldavian news warned of those get worse." East: Women and Earth, 31 Tamarac Rd., TV "creating anarcho-syndicalist groups." Soon In Dubrovnik, we began an intense conversa­ Westport U.S. Outside of U.S.: GPO Ct.,06880, after Tamara and Igor's lawyer refused them tion: What is happening to women in each of 4528 Melbourne300 1, Australia Box

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Sprtng 1993 20 On Gogol Boulevard

RUSSIAN ANARCHIST PRESS The Organizing Committee of the Moscow terroristic organizations, both foreign and AGENCY FORMED Union of Homosexuals, Moscow 109180J- domestic."' 180, Box 11, Editors of thenewspaper ''Tema" So it turns out that Solidarity after having AN-PRESS is the information publishing settled all problems of the workers is ready to The Organizing Committee of the Russian center of the Anarchist Democratic Union deal with fascists and anarchists. Police will Organization for Lesbian Rights, (Moscow (ADU). Founded in November 1990, AN-PRESS fight fascists and at the same time support Tel: 177 24 28 (Sveta], 153 90 35 (Genia]) created a large information system in Russia them in fighting us. Sympathy to groups like and in the other parts of former Soviet Union­ The organizing Committee of the "AGRO" the Anti-Nazi Front, which, as they fight against Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Siberia. AN-PRESS is Association, Moscow 129224, Box 157, Edi­ fascism, will be targeted by police. is interesting how the deputies are going to the unique all-anarchist information agency in tors of the magazine "Risk" It the USSR. fight terrorism. Probably by disconnecting Staying with the position of so called "united The Organizing Committee of the "Nevskaya phones when kids who don't like their tests will anarchism," AN-PRESS gives in the pages of its Perspectlva" Association, Saint-Petersburg by phone inform that there is a bomb laid 191 186 D-186, Box under the school. Bulletin AN-PRESS (which it publishes two 108 times a month) information about the activity of The chances are that the third assortmentof The Editors of the "Slblrsky Variant" newspa­ activists, who remained in Solidarity, went down anarchist organisations of many trends: anar­ per, Barnaul 656054, Box 763 cho-democrats (ADU), anarcho-syndicalists (the to the level of the jailer nicknamed 'Dekiel' Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists), anar­ The Organizing Committeeof theAssociation (Note: A comical sounding term in Polish, it cho-communists (the Initiative of Revolutionary for Equal Rights to Sexual Minorities, Latvia, means 'cover' or 'lid' as in keeping the lid on Anarchists, Anarchist Radical Youth Union, Riga 226001, Box 460 prisoners.) expressing his attitude to anarchy in Anarchist Communist Revolutionary Union, (Reprinted fro m Information Bulletin SMOT the following way: "Anarchists?!! All you need is etc.), and anarcho-individualists (the association #6) Hitler! Then we would have democracy." of Anarchist Movements). Thereby, AN-PRESS (From �ny Magazine #6 '92, of the Polish AnarchistFederatio n.) helps to unite isolated anarchist organizations. ANARCHISTS, FASCISTS, AND Understanding the necessity of comprehend­ THE NEW POLISH STATE ing the theoretical legacy of international anar­ HOW DO THEY LIVE BEHIND Terminator Ill, or the final solution of the chism, AN-PRESS publishes booklets about the anarchist question THE BORDERS? opinions of anarchist theorists. We published booklets about Russian anarchists M. Bakunin The Communists did not manage to elimi­ In Lithuania the fascist tendencies are getting and P. Kropotkin, and also about one of the nate anarchists in public life. In spite of the stronger. It began with a statement that Lithua­ anarchism's creators W. Godwin. We plan to standard set of repressions, our leaflets and nians have more rights to live in Lithuania than publish materials about P. Proudhon, B. Tucker, magazines appeared; manifestations, pickets people of other nationalities and grew into M. Stimer, L. Tolstoy and others. and happenings occurred. Alas, the new block­ moral and physical terror against differently AN-PRESS publishes the irregular newspaper heads don't like us either. In the Polish daily minded people (explosions at the meeting of ADU Free Agreement ("Svobodny Dogovor"). GazetaWyborcza in the text "Senate Lustrates" the ex-Communist Party, violent actions of Being short of publishing equipment and (Note: 'Lustration' is the term Easterners are right-wing activists at meetings organized by money, AN-PRESS appeals to anarchists all using to refer to the naming of and removing of leftists). The political unions of the left unfortu­ over the world with great resources asking to Communists from power.) one can read: "Soli­ nately remain passive. In Shauli we still have render us help. We can give you information darity deputies do not propose to remove old the power to fight, but just in Shauli and only about anarchist movements in the countries of partyfunc tionaries, but they want to eliminate yet. East Europe and former USSR. in public life members of 'fascist, anarchist, and Now a bit of social problems. The average You may set up contact with the information earnings of people is only about publishing agency AN-PRESS through the 20-30% of the necessary mini­ executive editor of Bulletin AN-PRESS, P. Ges­ mum. The government destroys kin, and the agency's secretary, A. Maishev. the economy with huge taxes. The addresses: The whole social system starts 199048 USSR St. Petersburg, 9 Llniya dom falling apart. The fear of being 78, 13, P. Geskln called a commie is spreading in kv. the society. The politicians, ex­ 194018 USSR St. Petersburg, pr. Parhcomen­ cept rightists, don't have any ko dom 33, kv. 76, A.V. Malshev strength to oppose this situation. There is a will to resist among GAYS IN EX-USSR the workers, but the majority can't deal with present condi­ To answer many Western readers' questions tions and therefore help the pro­ about the situation of sexual minorities in the fascist state propaganda. The ex-USSR, I would like to indicate that it is other reason which won't let relatively difficult even to raise that question them to release this will is the within the workers' movement, since the majori­ absence of unity among them­ ty of workers are relatively conservative on this selves. After the Workers Union point (they would often agree with the actions showed its opposition to the of the Soviet government in the 1930-1 940s, government the stream of new and of Germany in the years 1933-1945). powers arrived. But in general, In Russian law, just as before, there is an the Workers Union is a pro-gov­ article of the Criminal Code, which punishes ernmental organization, which voluntary homosexual contacts (with prison slowly degrades. Last month sentences of up to 5 years, or 8 years in special they had a goal to isolate the cases) , but only for men. Women cannot be workers' leaders, who had an op­ prosecuted in Russia for having homosexual posite viewpoint. But even relations. though the idea of giving up the Addresses for more information: Workers Union membership is The Group for Psychological Aid to Sexual getting stronger, our organiza­ Minorities, Moskow, ul. Malomoslovskaya, 4, tions aren't ready yet for any "Medicine and Reproduction," N.Oleynlkov Comix from the zine Mura. independent actions.

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 21 International Anarchi st News

They Have Taken The Walls {& The Bricks ...)

onday 7th December at 6:30am state · an instrument of Self-defence it was neces­ Spreading self-determination in continuous · army troops invaded devastated the sary to verify this in practice. That& morning the revolt. & house squatted in Piazza dei Siculi, whole zone remained in a state of siege for This is the communique translated from M San Lorenza, Rome. The squatters,on more than 3 hours with teargas and various Italian which was issued from the squattersthe permanent night guard after an attempted objects flying. day after the eviction of the squat "Toto", Piazza eviction the week before was repelled, had The next week the conditions, also in terms dei Siculi in Rome. decided to leave by the service entrance so as of tools of self-defence, had been declared Some news: not let themselves be found inside. The insufficient to confront Rambo2 the revenge, Saturday 19th Dec.92 as a consequence of the pewterto soldiers, not finding any human flesh, so we left beforehand, managing to bring to& eviction from Piazza dei Siculi we have squat­ took it out on the rest, so to satisfy their state safety part of the collective gains built in these ted a house in the same district but this house & of excitement they not only destroyed all the years (the library, the anarchive centre of docu­ is much smaller than Piazza dei Siculi and so material they found inside the squat (personal mentation, some of the musical instruments). only some of us will be able to remain here, effects, musical instruments, video photo­ Squatted& on the 2nd June 1990, we trans­ But is will be used as a base for expansion graphic equipment, etc.) but, being& clever formed the rotting ex-pharmaceutical laborato­ other squats. to assholes, they also devastated the adjacent ries into working space for expressive research We invite every group or individual who local committee offices in Viadei Salentini, and daily life. Home to roughly 20 persons, the considers self determination as Liberation or & beat a member of the FOCSI (an organization squat of Piazza dei Siculi has had approaches growth to pay a visit. to aid foreigners) who was disturbed from his relations with hundreds of friends, comrades, The Squatters "Toto" Via Tiburtina 161, San sleep. & guests. Lorenzo, Rome. & Monday 30th November. Armed with our We do not squat as a profession, we are To send material for our info shop or to get desires we succeeded to resist their attack, also subversives for the passion. in touch with us write to: ToTo c/o Rosso E because we intended to reaffirm resistance as Disarm authority, arm your desires. Nero, via Del Plcenl 39, 00185 Rome, ttaly.

Latin American contacts

Members of the Centre International de Montevideo, Uruguay: Arquivo Punk, Centro de Cultura Social Recherches sur l'Anarchisme (CIRA, Avenue de Caixa postal 10,512 Beaumont 24, CH-1012 Lausanne, Switzerland) Comunidad 03097 SAo Paulo, SP were recently in Latin America, where they met Millan 41 13 Brasil with a number of comrades and groups. All of Montevideo Uruguay Fanzine/Folha da Fossa the groups are eager to get information from Caixa postal 3204 other countries. Most of the groups are in hard Opci6n Libertaria/GEAL 01060 Paulo, SP sac financial situations. Publishing houses are able Casilla de correo 141 Brasil to publish very little. Periodicals have a low 11000 Montevideo frequency and a limited circulation, and the Uruguay editors are often unable to afford the postage to send copies to other countries. CIRA urges Sao Paulo & Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Sustaining Contributors international groups to send periodicals, books, Thanks for your support! and brochures, which will be read with interest, Centro de Cultura Social . circulating among different readers since ar­ Caixa postal 10.512 Our current list of sustainers include: 03097 Paulo, SP chives are well kept. Audio and video tapes sac Brasil J.M., T.0., S.H., E.F. & C.A. of Colum­ may also be of interest. bia, MO.; A.H. of New Braunfels, TX.; Plinio Coelho, Ed. lmaginario A.G. of Paris, France; L.A. of Chicago, Buenos Aires, Argentina : rua Gen-Jardim 228, conj. 11 IL.; P.K. of San Francisco, CA.; T.D. of 01223 Paulo, SP Biblioteca popular Jose lngenieros Brasil sac Manhattan Beach, CA.; J.J. of Union Ramirez de Velasco 958 City, CA.; C.R. of Glenolden, PA.; 1414 Buenos Aires oecio Mello K.M. of Oakland, CA.; R.S. of St. Lou- Argentina rua Pageu, 139 Saide is, MO.; B.K. of Canoga Park, CA.; S.6 Federaci6n Libertaria Argentina (FLA) 04139 Paulo, SP of Darwin, Australia; M.E. & N.B. of Brasil 1551 Brasil sac New York, NY.; R.C. of Boulder, CO.; 1154 Buenos Aires J.M. & M.W. of Montreal, Quebec; Argentina Edson Passetti Fae. de Ciencias Sociais, PUK R.R. of Grove City, OH.; J.A. of Port­ Federaci6n Obrera Regional Argentina (FORA) rua Montalegre, 984 land, OR.; N.N. of Gilroy, CA.; C.M. of Coronel Salvadores 1200 Knoxville, J.V. of Desert Hot 05014 Paulo, SP TN.; Buenos Aires, CF Brasil sac Springs, CA.; and A.A. of Newark, DE. Argentina COB-AIT More thanks to all of you for your extra , Libreria El Aleph (Ed. Altamira) Caixa Postal 7597 support! Without it we'd be hard 1134 Corrientes 01064-970 Paulo, SP pressed to continue publication in our 1043 Buenos Aires Brasil sac current form. Sustaining contributors to Argentina Libera ... am ore mio (GEL) - Utopia - GAJO Anarchy donate $60 to $120 per year­ La Letra A Cx postal 14576 which includes a First Class subscrip­ Casilla de correo 31, succ. 27 2241 2-970 Rio de Janeiro, RJ tion! We can always use more support! 1427 Buenos Aires Brasil Argentina

22 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 International Anarchist News

The anarchist scene Compiled by Jason McQulnn

THE GAP MEDIA PROJECT (1 415 Birch St., ECO NETWORK AND COALITION (Christy Hen­ FOOD NOT BOMBS (3145 #12, San Geary Yellow Springs, OH. 45387; phone (51 3] 767-2224) shaw, 3907 MacCorkle Ave. SE #301 , Charleston, Francisco, CA 941 18) has published a 128-page 'Is dedicated to ...lncreaslng the circulation of the 25304-1668; phone (304) 925-9750) Is a net­ book available for $1 0, that Includes •steps for WV. alternative press. We the anernatlve press as a work to 'link everyone Interested In ecology, from starting and maintaining a food recovery program, see general news source, a resource for developing already established eco-groups to you, the lndiVtdu­ 30 vegetarian recipes for feeding 100people and community through Increasing accessibility.· al. • Send an SASE for Information. logos, flyers and letters you can reprint.• Pro­ activities Include: (1 ) a subscription service posed Is 4-page 'A AN INTERNATIONAL MEETING of Anarchist and a fulfillment service, (2) library promotions, (3) WAR & PEACE IN TIE BALKANS publishing a magazine promoting the anernatlve Resource Gulde on Ex-Yugoslavta" publishedby the Artists Is being organized for October 1st through press, etc. Send an SASE for more Information. War Resisters League (339 Lafayette St., NYC, NY. the 1oth In Naples. For Information contact: l.M.AA 10012) Including listings of relevant books and c/o C.S.L. "Louise Michel" (vlco Montesanto 14, COLLECTIVE CHAOS DISTRIBUTION (c/o periodicals, along with anti-war groups In the U.S. 801 35 Napoli, Haly; phone/fax 81 -549-6062 7pm to WCF, POB 81 961 , Chicago, IL. 60681 ) has an and In the area formerly comprising Yugoslavia. 9pm Mondays and Wednesdays). updated catalog of over 70 anarchist and radical Single copies are 10¢each. booklets/pamphlets (most photocopied), as well as FLATLAND (POB 2420, Fort Bragg, CA 95437- periodicals, music, stickers and more available for NO SATORI #2 (c/o Conspiracy of Equals, POB 2420) has published a 32-page, Fall 1992 small a29¢ stamp. 3391 , Qakland, CA 94609-0391 ) Is a broadside press catalog that's really a magazine In Itself, critique of the left In very small print available for an complete wlth some well-written reviews! This Issue SIUD AKLATAN (POB 187, N. Hollywood, CA SASE. of the catalog, focussing on "Conspiracy," Is avail· 91 603) Is an anarchist mallorder lending library able for $3. which has released a new Dec. '92 catalog listing INSTEAD OF A MAGAZINE and Its publisher quite a few bookswhich can all be borrowedfor the Lysander Spoonerhave a new address at POB76, AK DISTRIBUTION (22 Lutton Place, Edinburgh cost of postage. Send a 29¢ stamp for a copy of the Shlngletown, CA 96088. EH8 9PE, Scotland) has released a giant new 64- catalog. page 1993 catalog of anarchist, punk & related THE MIDWEST ECO-ANARCHIST NETWORK books, pamphlets and magazines, Including all THE FRENZV ANARCHIST CONFERENCE Wiii (MEAN, POB 751 1, Minneapolis, MN. 55407) Is a from Freedom Black Rose, South End take place from Thursday July 29 through Sunday books Press, loose grouping of anarchists, radical environmen­ Press,Verso, etc. A comic on just aboutevery page August 1, 1993 In Vancouver, British Columbia 'A talists and autonomous greens publishing a bi­ makes It great fun to browse! Free, but send a variety of workshops wlll be held every day ... and monthly networking bulletin. MEAN Is planning a o couple bucks to help with postage. bands wrn play during the evenings ... Some h using conference In mid-April '93 set In Minneapolis, MN. and means wlll be provided." The organizers •are Write for more Information on the bulletln or confer­ L.A. FREEDOM '91 Is a video of a series of looking for help with Ideas, Information, speakers, ence. panel discussions Involving anarchist publishers that bands, advertisement and support.• For more were organized at the end of the summer In 1991. Information contact The Frenzy (POB 122, 1895 THE NATIONAL WAR TAX RESISTANCE Participants Include Mike Gunderloy (former pub­ Commercial Dr., Vancouver, B.C., V5N 4A6, Cana­ COORDINATING COMMITTEE (POB 774, Monroe, lisher of Factsheet Five), Ryam Nearing (publisher da). ME. 04951 ) has Information on federal tax refusal of Loving More), Robert Shea (No Governor), and on redirecting your taxes io meet basic human SOUDARIDAD OBRERA (Ronda de San Anto­ Robert Anton Wiison, Jay Kinney (Gnosis), Susie needs." nio, 13 pral 08001 -Barcelona, Spain) has an­ Bright (formerly of On Our Backs), Michael Zleslng nounced plans for a Certamen Anarqulsta Mundlal (Instead of a Magazine), and others. Topics In­ THE SUNDATA ACOU FREEDOM CAMPAIGN on August 21 thru 23, 1993 In Barcelona, organized clude technology, cops, sex, communes, alternative national office (POB 5538 Manhattanville Station, media, religion and more. Here's your chance to gel by the CNT, the FAI of Catalonia, Mujeres Llbres Harlem, NY. 10027) has organized a campaign for and the Juventudes Llbertarlas. to ·know a little bit more about these successful the release on parole of this former Black Panther publishing activists. For a copy send a check for AN INTERNATIONAL SQUATTERS NETWORK who has spent 20 years in prison and 13 years In $1 7 made out lo TADCO to C.AL. (POB 1446, (1 237 Richards St., Vancouver, B.C. V6B 3G3, lsolatlon, segregation and/or lockdown. Write for Columbia, MO. 65205-1446). Canada) Is being formed with goals Including: to Information. keep squattersaware aridorganized, to raise aware­ A FEW BACK ISSUES OF ANARCHY: A Jour­ THE INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ECOLOGY (POB ness and educate the public, to provide legal help, nal of Desire Armed (C.A L., POB 1446, Columbia, 89 Dept.B, Plalnfteld, 05667-0089; 454- MO. 65205-1 446) are still available in bulk for free and to producea newsletter. VT. (802) 8493) Is now accepting applications for ns summer distribution at the cost of postage & packaging. We BOSTON ANARCHIST DRINKING BRIGADE program. Information on Its '1993 Programs and have extras of several Issues Including #17, #19 & (POB 1323, Cambridge, MA 02238) has Issued an Events'-lncludlng courses on "Design for sustain­ #25, along with a very few extras of other Issues. updated version of the old Fifth Estate antiwar able communities' and 'Women and ecology," as For those living In the U.S. we suggest you send poster which begins wlth 'NO WAR" and ends with well as the "3rd Annual Conference on Social. about 10¢to 25¢ each (depending on the size of 'NO FOLLOWERS,. as well as a new BAD Broadside Ecology: Reconstructing Urban Society" to be held the issue(s) requested and your distance from #8 tnled 'Voting anarchists: An oxymoron or what?' In Los Angeles this May-ls available on request. Missouri) for to 150 copies. (Unless you live In 50 Send an SASE for a copies. THE ANARCHIST ARCHIVES PROJECT (POB the Midwest-where postage wlll be cheaper, send a minimum of $7.50, and make any checks out to 1323, Cambridge, MA 02238), •established In 1982 HAYMARKET INFOSHOP AND COMMUNITY "C.AL." only. Those outside the continental U.S. for the purpose of collecting and preserving materi­ CENTER (2049 W. North Ave., Chicago, IL. 60622; need to send much more to cover the higher costs als documenting the history of anarchism ...has phone (31 2) 455-0707) Is a new autonomlst space of postage.) All copies will be marked "FREE" on the catalogued approximately 7,000 Items, Including opening which opened last December. Besides covers. To order bulk copies for resale, see the over 700 (and) 350periodica ls." AAPprovides distributing literature and music, Haymarket wlll hold books terms listed In the box on page 2. a variety of events Including wlmmln's and queer­ research assistance and low cost photocopying on only nights, video showings, forums, punk shows, request. Anarchist publishers are asked to donate youhave announcements concerninganarchist ff and much more! Stop In or call for Info. subscriptions and books. Others are asked to make gatherings, new publications, or other anarchist monetary contributions and/or to send old anarchist activities or projects which ourreaders mightfind of WIND CHILL FACTOR ZINE (POB 81961 , literature (don't throw ii away!)-postage wlll be use, can send them to: Attn. Anarchist Scene, reimbursed If requested. Chicago, IL. 60681 ) Is soliciting scene reports for Its c/o C.youA.L., POB Columbia, MO. new Midwest scene report section. Send Info on Please remember,1446, for information,65205-1446. or for @ ERNEST MANN of Lmle Free Press Is back with activities, events, cool places, zlnes, contacts, etc. to ordering materials listed moreIn this column, must a clever 1m1e 8'12l<1 4 poster titled "Portals to Para­ help facilitate networking, communication, and writeto addresses given above and youto C. A.L. dise." Send an SASE or a stamp for a copy. solidarity In the mldwestern U.$. 29¢ the not

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 23 ··•·. ;: ··· .. · ··· �'

' ! .·· j

:· �-\, .., . -·�. • e t - ·--­ · ' ?111ffir!� 24 . ·· The by Revolution Raoul of Everyday Life Va neigem

The impossibility of realization:

Power as sum of seductions ur eff:rts, our boredom, Where constraint breaks people, and mediation makes fools of them, the seduction of power is our defeats, the absurdity what makes them love their oppression. Because of it people give up their real riches: (a) for a O cause that mutilates them (chapter twelve), (b) for an imaginary unity that fragments them [chapter of our actions-all stem thirteen], (c) for an appearance that reifies them (chapter fourteen], (d) for roles that wrest them most of the time from the imperious from authentic life (chapter fifteen], (e) for a time whose passage defines and confines them necessity in our present situation of (chapter sixteen]. playing hybrid parts, parts which appear to answer our desires, but which are really antagonistic to them. "We would live," says Pascal, "according to the ideas of others; we would live an imagi­ nary life, and to this end we cultivate appearances. Yet in striving to beautify Roles and preserve this imaginary being we Stereotypes are the dominant images of a period, the images of the dominant spectacle. The neglect everything authentic." This was stereotype is the model of the role; the role is a model form of behaviour. The repetition of an an original thought in the seventeenth attitude creates a role; the repetition of a role creates a stereotype. The stereotype is an objective form into which people are integrated by means of the role. Skill in playing and handling roles century; at a time when the system of determines rank in the spectacular hierarchy. The degeneration of the spectacle brings about the appearances was still hale, its coming proliferation of stereotypes and roles, which by the same token become risible, and converge crisis was apprehended only in the inhib­ dangerously upon their negation, i.e., spontaneous actions (1,2). Access to the role occurs by itive flashes of the most lucid. Today, means of identification. The need to identify is more importantto Power's stability than the models identified with. Identification is a pathological state, but only accidental identifications are officially amidst the decomposition of all values, classed as "mental illness." Roles are the bloodsuckers of the will to live (3). They express lived Pascal's observation states only what is experience, yet at the same time they reify it. They also offer consolation for this impoverishment obvious to everyone. By what magic do of life by supplying a surrogate, neurotic gratification. We have to break free of roles by restoring them to the realm of play (4). A role successfully adopted ensures promotion in the spectacular we attribute the liveliness of human hierarchy, the rise from a given rank to a higher one. This is the process of initiation, as manifested passions to lifeless forms? Why do we r:iotably in the cult of names and the use of photography. Specialists are those initiates who succumb to the seduction of borrowed supervise initiation. The always partialexpertis e of specialists is a component partof the systematic attitudes? What are roles? strategy of Power, Power which destroys us even as it destroys itself (5). The degeneration of the spectacle makes roles interchangeable. The proliferation of unreal changes creates the precondi­ Is what drives people to seek power tions for a sole and real change, a truly radical change. The weight of inauthenticity finally provokes the very weakness to which Power re­ a violent and quasi-biological reaction from the will to live (6). duces them? The tyrant is irked by the duties the subjection of his people im­ poses on him. The price he pays for the why some agree so readily to be gov­ residue of separation, it strives to con­ divine consecration of his authority over erned. Wherever it is exercised, on every struct a behavioural unity; in this aspect men is perpetual mythic sacrifice, a rung of the ladder, power is partial, not it depends on identification. absolute. It is thus ubiquitous, but ever permanent humility before God. The 2 moment he quits God's service, he no open to challenge. longer 'serves' his people and his people The role is a consumption of power. It .In a restrictive sense, the expression are immediately released from their locates one in the representational hier­ "to play a role in society" clearly implies obligation to serve him. What vox popu­ archy, and hence in the spectacle: at the that roles are a distinction reserved for li, vox dei really means is: "What God top, at the bottom, in the middle-but a chosen few. Roman slaves, medieval wants, the people want." Slaves are not never outside the hierarchy, whether this serfs, agricultural day-labourers, prole­ willing slaves for long if they are not side of it or beyond it. The role is thus tarians brutalized by a thirteen-hour compensated for their submission by a the means of access to the mechanism day-the likes of these do not have roles, shred of power: all subjection entails the of culture: a form of initiation . It is also or they have such rudimentary ones that right to a measure of power, and there the medium of exchange of individual 'refined' people consider them more is no such thing as power that does not sacrifice, and in this sense performs a animals than men. There is, after all, embody a degree of submission. This is compensatory function. And lastly, as a such a thing as poverty founded on

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 25 exclusion from the poverty of the specta­ For brief moments his daily life must lies in its facility in enforcingboth actual cle. By the nineteenth century, however, generate an energy which, ifonly it were separation and false union.) The time­ the distinction between good worker and not recliannelled, dispersed and squan­ less moment of the role may be ·com­ bad worker had begun to gain ground as dered in roles, would suffice to over- pared to the cinematic image, or rather a popular notion, just as that between - throw the world of survival. Who to one of its elements, to one frame, to can master and slave had been vulgarized, gauge the striking-power of an impas­ one image in the series of images of along with Christ, under the earlier, sioned daydream, of pleasure taken in. minimally varying predetermined atti- mythic system. It is true that tudes· whose reproduction the spread of this new idea constitutes a shot. In the case was achieved with less effort, of roles reproduction is en­ and that it never acquired "The role is a consumption of sured by the rhythms of the the importance of the mas­ power. It locates one in the advertising media, whose ter-slave idea (although it power of dissemination is the was significant enough for representational hierarchy, and precondition for a role's Marx to deem it worthy of achievement of the status of his derision). So, just like ' hence in the spectacle: at the top, a stereotype (Monroe, Sagan, mythic sacrifice, roles have Dean). No matter how much been democratized. In­ at the bottom, in the middle-but or how little limelight a given authenticity is a right of man; role attains in the public eye, never outside the hierarchy ...." such, in a word, is the tri­ however, its prime function umph of socialism. Take a is always that of social adap­ thirty-five-year-old man. tation, of integrating people Each morning he takes his drives to love, of a nascent desire, of a rush of into the well-policed universe of things. car, the office, pushes papers, has lunch in sympathy? Everyone seeks spontaneous­ Which is why there are hidden cameras town, plays pool, pushes more papers, ly to extend such brief moments of real always ready to catapult the most pedes­ leaves work, has a couple of drinks, goes life; everyone wants basically to make trian of lives into the spotlight of instant

home, greets his wife, kisses his chil- · something whole out of their everyday fame. Bleeding hearts fill columns, and dren, eats his steak in front of the TV, life. But conditioning succeeds in making superfluous body hair becomes an affair goes to bed, makes love, and falls most of us pursue these moments in of Beauty. When the spectacle battening asleep. Who reduces a man's life to this exactly the wrong way-by way of the on to everyday life takes a pair of un­ pathetic sequence of cliches? A journal­ inhuman-with the result that we lose happy lovers and mass-markets them as ist? A cop? A market researcher? A what we most want at the very moment Tristan and Isolde, sells a tattered dere­ socialist-realist author? Not at all. He we attain it. lict as a piece of nostalgia, or make� a

does it himself, breaking his day down * * * drudging housewife into a good fairy of into a series of poses chosen more or the kitchen, it is already way ahead of less unconsciously from the range of Stereotypes have a life and death of anything modern art can dream up. It dominant stereotypes. Taken over body their own. Thus an image whose magne­ was inevitable, perhaps, that people and consciousness by the blandishments tism makes it a model for thousands of would end up modelling themselves on of a succession of images, he rejects individual roles will eventually crumble collages of smiling spouses, crippled authentic satisfaction and espouses a and disappear in accordance with the children and do-it-yourself geniuses. At passionless asceticism: his pleasures are laws of consumption, the laws of con­ any rate we have reached that point­ so mitigated, yet so demonstrative, that stant novelty and universal obsolescence. and such ploys always pay off. On the they can only be a facade. The assump­ So how does spectacular society find other hand the spectacle is fast ap­ tion of one role after another, provided new stereotypes? It finds them thanks to proaching a saturation point, the point he mimics stereotypes successfully, is that injection of real creativity which immediately prior to the eruption of titillating to him. Thus the satisfaction prevents some roles from conforming to everyday reality. For roles now operate derived from a well-played role is in ageing stereotypes (rather as language on a level perilously close to their own direct proportion to his distance from gets a new lease on life through the negation: already the average failure is himself, to his self-negation and self­ assimilation of popular forms). Thanks, hard put to it to play his role properly, sacrifice. in other words, to that element of play and some maladjusted people refuse What power masochism has! Just as which transforms roles. their roles altogether. As it falls apart, others were Count of Sandomir, Palatine To the extent that it conforms to a the spectacular system starts scraping of Smirnoff, Margrave of Thorn, Duke stereotype, a role tends to congeal, to the barrel, drawing nourishment from of Courlande, so he invests his poses-as take on the static nature of its model. the lowest social strata. It is forced, in driver, employee, superior, subordinate, Such a role has neither present, nor fact, to eat its own shit. Thus tone-deaf colleague, customer, seducer, friend, past, nor future, because its time resem­ singers, talent-free artists, reluctant philatelist, husband, paterfamilias, view­ bles exposure time, and is, so to speak, laureates and pallid stars of all kinds er, citizen-with a quite personal majesty. a pause in time: time compressed into emerge periodically to cross the firma­ And yet such a man cannot be entirely the dissociated space-time which is that ment of the media, their rank in the reduced to the idiotic machine, the of Power. (Here again we see the truth hierarchy being determined by the regu­ lethargic puppet, that all this implies. of the argument that Power's strength larity with which they achieve this feat.

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 26 j Collage by Johann Humyn Being (San Francisco, CA.).

Which leaves the hopeless cases-those represses. The results enable the psychi­ The cyberneticians can certainly supply who reject all roles and those who de­ atrist to draw up an instinctual profile of the missing co-ordination and rational­ velop a theory and practice of this refus­ his patient which helps him decide ization-if they are given the chance. al. From such maladjustment to spectac­ whether to discharge him or send him to At first glance the main thing would ular society a new poetry of real experi­ the air-conditioned crematorium known seem tn be the choice of the "consum­ ence and a reinvention of life are bound as a mental hospital. able image." The housewife-who-uses­ to spring. The deflation of roles precipi­ Consider now the needs of consumer Fairy-Snow is different-and the differ­ tates the decompression of spectacular society, a society in which man's essence ence is measured in profits-from the time in favour of lived space-time. What is to consume-to consume Coca-Cola, housewife-who-uses-Tide. The Labour is living intensely if not the mobilization literature, ideas, emotions, architecture, voter differs from the Conservative and redirection of the current of time, TV, power, etc. Consumer goods, ideol­ voter, and the Communist from the so long arrested and lost in appearanc­ ogies, stereotypes-all play the part of Christian, in much the same way. But es? Are not the happiest moments of photos in a gigantic version of Szondi's such differences are increasingly hard to our lives glimpses of an expanded pres­ test in which each of us is supposed to discern. The spectacle of incoherence ent that rejects Power's accelerated time take part, not merely by making a ends up putting a value on the vanishing which dribbles away year after year, for choice, but by a commitment, by practi­ point of values. Eventually, identification as long as it takes to grow old? cal activity. This society's need to mar­ with anything at all, like the need to consume anything at all, becomes more 3 ket objects, ideas and model forms of behaviour calls for a decoding centre important than brand loyalty to a partic­ Identification . The principle of Szon­ where an instinctual profile of the con­ ular type of car, idol, or politician. The di's test is well known. The patient is sumer can be constructed to help in essential thing, after all, is to alie1;1ate asked to choose, fromforty-eight photo­ product design and improvement, and in people from their desires and pen them graphs of people in various types of the creation of new needs liable to in­ in the spectacle, in the occupied zone. It paroxystic crisis, those which evoke crease consumption. Market research, matters little whether people are good sympathy in him and those which evoke motivation techniques, opinion polls, or bad, honest or criminal, left-wing or aversion. The subject invariably prefers sociological surveys and structuralism right-wing: the fonn is irrelevant, just so those faces expressing instinctual feel­ may all be considered a part of this long as they lose themselves in it. Let ings which he accepts in himself, and project, no matter how anarchic and those who cannot identify with Khrush­ rejects those expressing ones which he feeble their contributions may be as yet. chev identify with Yevtushenko; this

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 27 should cover everyone but hooligans­ Power's point of view, of confining dan­ solely in order to find one's way again: and we can deal with them. And indeed gerous rivals while at the same time the pleasure of the derive. ln this way it is the third force alone that has noth­ supplying the spectacle with needed roles also lay under contribution the ing to identifywith-no enemy, no pseu­ negative stereotypes. For bad examples reflex of identity, the desire to find the do-revolutionary leader. The third force and their exemplary punishment add richest and truest part of ourselves in is the force of identity-that identity in spice to the spectacle and protect it. If other people. The game ceases to in­ which everyone recognizes and discovers identification were maximized through volve play: it petrifies because the play­ himself. There, at least, no one makes increased isolation, the ultimate false- ers can no longer make up the rules. decisions for me, or in my The quest for identity degen­ name; there my freedom is erates into identification. the freedom of all. Let us reverse the perspec­ "There is no such thing as tive for a moment. A psychia­ * * * mental illness. It is merely a trist tells us that "Recogni­ tion by society leads the indi­ There is no such thing as convenient label fo r grouping and vidual to expend his sexual mental illness. It is merely a drives on cultural goals, and convenient label for grouping isolating cases where identification this is the best way for him and isolating cases where to defend himself against identification has not has not occurred properly. Those these drives." Read: the aim occurred properly. Those of roles is to absorb vital whom Power can neither whom Power can neither govern energies, to reduce erotic kill, govern nor it taxes with nor kill, it taxes with madness." energy by ensuring it perma­ madness. The category in­ nent sublimation. The less cludes extremists and mega- erotic reality there is, the lomaniacs of the role, as well more the sexualized forms ness of the distinction between mental as those who deride roles or refuse appearing in the spectacle. Roles-Reich and social alienation would soon become them. It is only the isolation of such would say 'armouring'-guarantee orgas­ individuals which condemns them, how­ clear. tic impotence. Conversely, true pleasure, ever. Let a General identifywith France, At the opposite extreme fromabsolute joie de vivre and orgastic potency shatter with the support of millions of voters, identification is a partiCular way of putt­ body armour and roles. lf individuals and an opposition immediately springs ing a distance between the role and could stop seeing the world through the up which seriously seeks to rival him in one's self, a way of establishing a zone eyes of the powers-that-be, and look at his lunacy. Horbiger's attempt to invent of free play. This zone is a breeding it from their own point of view, they a NaZi physics met with a similar kind of place of attitudes disruptive of the spec­ would have no trouble discerning which tacular order. Nobody is ever comple.tely success. General Walker was taken actions are really liberating, which mo­ seriously when he drew a distinction swallowed up by a role. Even turned on ments are lightning flashes in the dark its head, the will to live retains a poten­ between superior, white, divine and night of roles. Real experience can illu­ capitalist man on the one hand, and tial forviolence always capable of carry­ minate roles-can x-ray them, so to black, demoniacal, communist man on ing the individual away from the path speak-in such a way as to retrieve the the other. Franco would meditate de­ laid down for him. One fine morning, energy invested in them, to extricate the voutly and beg God for guidance in the faithful lackey, who has hitherto truth from the lies. This task is at once oppressing Spain. Everywhere in the identified completely with his master, individual and collective. Though all world are leaders whose cold frenzy leaps on his oppressor and slits his roles alienate equally, some are more lends substance to the thesis that man is throat. For he has reached that point vulnerable than others. It is easier to a machine for ruling. True madness is a where his right to bite like a dog has escape the role of a libertine than the function not of isolation but of identifi­ finally aroused his desire to strike back role of a cop, executive or rabbi. A fact cation. like a human being. Diderot has de­ to which everyone should give a little The role is the self-caricature which scribed this moment well in Rameau's thought. we carry about with us everywhere, and Nep hew-and the case of the Papin sis­ which brings us everywhere face to face ters illustrates it even better. The fact is with an absence. An absence, though, that identification, like all manifestations 4 which is structured, dressed up, pretti­ of inhumanity, has its roots in the hu­ Compensation. The ultimate reason fied. The roles of paranoiac, schizo­ man. Inauthentic life feeds on authenti­ why people come to value roles more phrenic or psychopath do not carry the cally felt desires. And identification highly than their own lives is that their seal of social usefulness; in other words, through roles is doubly successful in this lives are priceless. What this means, in they . are not distributed under the label respect. ln the first place it co-opts the its ambiguity, is that life cannot be of power, as are the roles of cop, boss, pleasure to be derived from metamor­ priced, cannot be marketed; and also or military officer. But they do have a phoses, from putting on masks and that such riches can only be described utility in specified places-in asylums and going about in different disguises. Sec­ according to the spectacle's categories as prisons. Such places are museums of a ondly, it appropriates mankind's ancient intolerable poverty. In the eyes of con­ sort, serving the double purpose, from love of mazes, the love of getting lost sumer society poverty is whatever cannot

28 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 be brought down to terms of consump­ inauthenticity, that gets us high on iden­ easier it is to achieve lightness of move­ tion. From the spectacular point of view tification. ment. Comrades care little for forms. the reduction of man to consumer is an Survival and its protective illusions They argue openly, confident in the enrichment: the more things he has, the form an inseparable whole. The end of knowledge that they . cannot inflict more roles he plays, the more he is. So survival naturally entails the disappear­ wounds on each other. Where communi­ it is decreed by the organization of ance of roles (although there are some cation is genuinely sought, misunder­ appearances. But, fromth e point of view dead people whose names are linked to standings are no crime. But if you accost of lived reality, all power so attained is stereotypes). Survival without roles is to me armed to the teeth, understanding paid for by the sacrifice of true self­ be officially dead. Just as we are con­ agreement only in terms of a victory for realization. What is gained on the level demned to survival, so we are con­ you, then you will get nothing out of me of appearances is lost on the level of demned to "keep up appearances" in but an evasive pose, and a formal silence being and becoming. the realm of inauthenticity. Armouring intended. to indicate that the discussion Thus lived experience always furnishes inhibits freedom of gesture but also is closed. For interchange on the basis the raw material of the social contract, deadens blows. Beneath this carapace of contending roles is useless a priori. the coin in which the entry fee is paid. we are completely vulnerable. But at Only the enemy wants to fight on the Life is sacrificed, and the loss compen­ least we can still play "let's prete.nd" terrain of roles, according to the rules of sated by means of accomplished presti­ -we still have a chance to play roles off the spectacle. It is hard enough keeping digitation in the realm of appearances. against one another. one's phantoms at arm's length: who The more daily life is thus impoverished, Rosanov's approach is not a bad one: needs 'friendships' which put us back on the greater the attraction of inauthenti­ "Externally, I decline. Subjectively, I am the same footing? Would that biting and city, and vice versa. Dislodged from its quite indeclinable. I don't agree. I'm a barking could wake people up to the essential place by the bombardment of kind of adverb." In the end, of course, dog's life roles force them to live-wake prohibitions, limitations and lies, lived the world must be modelled on subjec­ them up to the importance of their reality comes to seem so trivial that tivity: then I will 'agree' with myself in selves! appearances become the centre of our order to 'agree' with others. But, right Fortunately, the spectacle of incoher­ attention, until roles completely obscure now, to throw out all roles like a bag of ence is obliged to introduce an element the importance of our own lives. ln an old clothes would amount to denying the of play into roles. Its levelling of all order of things, compensation is the only fact of separation and plunging into ethical distinctions makes it impossible thing that gives a person any weight. mysticism or solipsism. I am in enemy tO take seriously. The playful approach The role compensates for a lack: ulti­ territory, and the enemy is within me. I to roles leaves them floating in the sea mately, for the lack of life; more imme­ don't want him to kill me, and the ar­ of its indifference. This accounts for the diately, for the lack of another role. A mour of roles gives me a measure of rather unhappy efforts of our reorga­ worker conceals his prostration beneath protection. I work, I consume, I know nizers of appearances to increase the the role of foreman, and the poverty of how to be polite, how to avoid aggrava­ playful element (TV game shows, etc.), this role itself beneath the incomparably tion, how to keep a low profile. All the to press flippancy into the service of superior image of a late-model car. But same, this world of pretence has to be consumption. The disintegration of every role is paid for by self-injury destroyed, which is why it is a shrewd appearances tends to foster distancing (overwork, the renunciation of 'llixUries', course to let roles play each other off. from roles. Some roles, being dubious or survival, etc.). At best it is an ineffective Seeming to have no responsibility is the ambiguous, embody their own self-criti­ plug for the gaping wound left by the best way of behaving responsibly toward cism. The spectacle is destined eventual­ vampirization of the self and of real life. oneself. All jobs are dirty-so do them ly for reconversion into a collective The role is at once a threat and a pro­ dirtily! All roles are lies, but leave them game. Daily life, seizing whatever means tective shield. Its threatening aspect is alone and they'll give each other the lie! it has to hand, will establish the precon­ only felt subjectively, however, and does I love the arrogance of Jacques Vache ditions for this game's never-ending not exist officially. Officially, the only when he writes: "I wander from ruins to expansion. danger lies in the loss or devaluation of village with my monocle of Crystal and 5 the role: in loss of honour, loss of digni­ a disturbing theory of painting. I have ty, or (happy phrase!) loss of fa ce. This been in turn a lionized author, a cele­ In itiation . As it seeks to safeguard the ambiguity accounts to my mind for brated pornographic draftsman and a poverty of survival by loudly protesting people's addiction to roles. It explains scandalous cubist painter. Now I am against it, the compensatory tendency why roles stick to our skin, why we give going to stay at home and let others bestows upon each individual a certain up our lives for them. They impoverish explain and debate my personality in the number of formal possibilities of partici­ real experience but they also protect this light of the above mentioned indica­ pating in the spectacle-a sort of permit experience from becoming conscious of tions." My only responsibility is to be for the scenic representation of one or its impoverishment. Indeed, so brutal a absolutely honest with those who are on more slices of (private or public) life. revelation would probably be too much my side, those who are true partisans of Just as God used to bestow grace on all for an isolated individual to take. Thus authentic life. men, leaving each free to choose salva- roles partake of organized isolation, of The more detached· one is from a , tion or damnation, so modern social separation, of false union, while com­ role, the easier it becomes to turn it organization accords everyone the right pensation is the depressant that ensures against the enemy. The more effectively to be a success or a failure in the social the realization of all the potentialities of one avoids the weight of things, the world. But whereas God appropriated

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 29 Collage by Johann Humyn Being (San Francisco, CA.).

human subjectivity in one fell swoop, the self, and the antidote for it, humour). that measure equally distributed within bourgeoisie commandeers it by means of I possess badges of power, therefore I each group. It is a long way, in hierar­ a series of partial alienations. In one am. In order to be someone the individ­ chical terms, from the boss to his work­ sense, therefore, there is progress here: ual must pay things their due. He must ers, from the star to his fans, or from subjectivity, which was nothing, becomes keep his roles in order, polish them up, the politician to his supporters. Some something; it attains its own truth, its enter into them repeatedly, and initiate groups have a much more rigid structure mystery, its passions, its rationality, its himself little by little until he qualifies than others. But all are founded on the rights. But this official recognition is for promotion in the spectacle. The illusion of participation shared by every bought at the price of its subdivision conveyor belts called schools, the adver­ group member whatever his rank. This into components which are graded and tising industry, the conditioning mecha­ illusion is fostered through meetings, in­ pigeonholed according to Power's nisms inseparable from any Order-all signia, the distribution of minor 'respon­ norms. Subjectivity attains objective conspire to lead the child, the adolescent sibilities', etc. The spurious solidarities form as stereotypes, by means of identi­ and the adult as painlessly as possible maintained by such expedients are often fication. In the process it has to be bro­ into the big family of consumers. friable. This boyscout mentality is fright-. ken up into would-be-absolute fragments There are different stages of initiation. eningly pervasive, and it throws up its and pathetically reduced (witness the Recognized social groups do not all own stereotypes, its own martyrs, he­ Romantics' grotesque treatment of the enjoy the same measure of power, nor is roes, models, geniuses, thinkers, good

30 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 niggers, great successes-e.g., Tania, him the illusion of power, but the anar­ in a neighbourhood, town, country, or in Cienfuegos, Brando, Dylan, Sartre, a chy is such, the clash of contradictory the world has a powerful fascination. national darts champion, Lin Piao. (The competing interests so violent, that he Charted statistically for any given time reader is asked to assign each to the must eventually realize how powerless and place, this information would supply appropriate category.... ) he really is. Just as heads of state with a perfect relief map of Power. Can the collectivization of roles suc­ the power to unleash thermonuclear war Historically, however, the degenera­ cessfullyreplace the quondam power of contrive to paralyze each other, so spe­ tion of roles goes hand in hand with the the old ideologies? It has to be remem­ cialists, by working at cross-purposes, increasing meaninglessness of names. bered that Power stands or falls withthe construct and (in the last analysis) oper­ The aristocrat's name crystallizes the organization of appearances. The fission ate a gigantic machine-Power, social mystery of birth and title. In consumer of myth into particles of ideology has organization-which dominates them all society the spectacular exposure of the produced roles as fallout. The poverty of and oppresses them in varying degrees name of a Bernard Buffet serves to power now has no means of self-con­ according to their importance as cogs. transform a very ordinary talent into a cealment aside from its lie-in-pieces. They construct and operate this machine famous painter. The manipulation of The prestige of a film star, a head of a blindly, because it is simply the aggre­ names fabricates leaders in the same family, or a chief executive is not worth gate of their crossed purposes. We may way as it sells shampoo. But this also a wet fart. Nothing can escape the ef­ expect, therefore, that in the case of means that a famous name is no longer fects of this nihilistic process of decom­ most specialists the sudden conscious­ the attribute of the one who bears it. position except its transcendence. Even ness of such a disastrous passivity, a The name 'Buffet' does not designate a technocratic victory preventing this passivity in which they have invested so anything except a thin�and a pig in a transcendence can only amount to the much effort, will eventually fling them poke. It is a fragment of power. condemnation of people to meaningless all the more energetically in the direc­ I laugh when I hear the humanists activity, to rites of initiation leading tion of an authentic will to live. It is also whining about the reduction of people to nowhere, to unrewarded sacrifice, to predictable that others among them, ciphers. What makes them think the enrollment without roles, to specializa­ those who have been longer or more destruction of men complete with tion. intensely exposed to the radiation of tricked-up names is any less inhuman The specialist is, indeed, an adumbra­ authoritarian passivity, will follow the than their destruction as a set of num­ tion of just such a chimerical being, cog, example of the officer in Kafka's Penal bers? I have already said that the ob­ mechanical thing, housed in the rational­ Colony and perish along with the ma­ scure antagonism between the would-be ity of a perfect social order of zombies. chine, tormented to· the end by its last progressives and the reactionaries boils He turns up everywhere-among politi­ spasms. Every day the crossed purposes down to this: should people be smashed cians, among hijackers. Specialization is of the powerful make and unmake the by punishments or by rewards? As for in a sense the science of roles, the sci­ tottering majesty of Power. We have the reward of celebrity, thanks for noth­ ence of endowing appearances with the seen with what results. Let us now try to ing! eclat formerly bestowed by nobility, wit, imagine the glacial nightmare into which In any case, it is things that have extravagance or wealth. The specialist we would be plunged were the cyber­ names nowadays, not people. To reverse does more than this, however, for he neticians able so to co-ordinate their the perspective, however, it makes me enrolls himself in order to enroll others. efforts as to achieve a rational organiza­ happy to think that what I am cannot be He is the vital link between the tech­ tion of society, eliminating or at any rate reduced to a name. My pleasure is niques of production and consumption reducing the effects of crossed purposes. nameless: those all too rare moments and the technique of spectacular repre­ They would have no rivals for the Nobel when I act for myself afford no hand­ sentation. Yet he is, so to speak, an Prize, save perhaps the proponents of hold for external manipulation of what­ isolated link-a monad. Knowing every­ thermonuclear suicide. ever kind. It is only when I accede to thing . about a small area, he enlists the dispossession of my self that I risk * * * others to produce and consume within petrification amidst the names of the the confines of this area so that he The widespread use of name and things which oppress me. This is the himself may receive a surplus-value of photograph, as in what are laughingly context in which to grasp the full mean­ power and increase the significance of referred to as 'identification' papers, is ing of Albert Libertad's burning of his his own hierarchical image. He knows, if rather obviously tied up with the police identification papers. Such a� act­ need be, how to give up a multitude of function in modern societies. But the echoed much later by the black workers roles for one only, how to concentrate connection is not merely with the vulgar of Johannesbur�s more than a rejec­ his power instead of spreading it around, police work of search, surveillance, tion of police control: it is a way of how to make his life unilinear. When he harassment, torture and murder incor­ giving up one name so as to have the does this he becomes a manager. His porated. It also involves much more pick of a thousand. Such is the superb misfortune is that the sphere within occult methods of maintaining law and dialectic of the change in perspective: which he exercises power is always too order. ·The frequency with which an since the powers-that-be forbid me to restricted, too partial. He is like the individual's name or image passes bear a name which is-as it was for the gastro-enterologist who cures a stomach through the visual and oral channels of . feudal lord-a true emanation of my but poisons the rest of the body in the communication is an index of that indivi­ strength, refuse to be called by any I process. Naturally, the importance of the dual's rank and category. It goes without name, and suddenly beneath the name­ group which he holds in thrall can allow saying that the name most often uttered less I discover the wealth of real life,

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 31 inexpressible poetry, the antechamber of and the realization of art, of philosophy, revelation lay within each individual: the transcendence. I enter the nameless of man. As the sign of a reified world, seeker would travel the world seeking it forest where Lewis Carroll's gnat ex­ the blank space is incorporated into the in himself, seeking it in far lands, until plains to Alice: "If the governess wanted canvas at the crucial spot; the implica­ suddenly it would surge forth, a magical to call you for your lessons, she would tion is that the countenance is no longer spring released by the purity of a ges­ call out 'Come here-', and there she part of the representational universe, but ture at the same place where the ill­ would have to leave off, because there is about to become part of everyday favoured seeker would have found noth­ wouldn't be any name for her to call, praxis. ing. The spring and the castle dominate and of course you wouldn't the creative imagination of have to go, you know." The the Middle Ages. The sym­ blissful forest of radical sub­ bolic theme here is plain: jectivity. "My pleasure is nameless: those beneath movement lies im­ Giorgio de Chirico, to my mutability, and beneath im­ mind, also has an admirably all too rare moments when I act mutability, movement. lucid knowledge of the way fo r myself afford no handhold for Wherein lies the greatness to Alice's forest. What holds of Heliogabalus, Tamerlane, for names holds too for the external manipulation of whatever Gilles de Rais, Tristan, Per­ representation of the face. ceval? In the fact that, once The photograph is the ex­ kind. It is only when I accede to vanquished, they withdraw pression par excellence of the into a living God; they identi­ role, of the pose. It imprisons the dispossession of my self that I fy with the demiurge, aban­ the soul and offers it up for risk petrification amidst the names doning their unsatisfied hu­ inspection-this is why a pho­ manity in order to reign and tograph is always sad. We of the things which oppress me." die under the mask of divine examine it as we examine an awe. This death of men, object. And, true enough, to which is the God of the im­ identify oneself with a range mutable, lets life bloom un­ of facial expressions, no matter how One of these days the incomparable der the shadow of its scythe. Our dead broad a range, is a form of self-objectifi­ wealth of the decade between 1910 and God weighs more heavily than the living cation. The God of the mystics at least 1920 will be clearly seen. The genius of God of old; for the bourgeoisie has not had the good sense to avoid this trap. these years, however primitive and intu­ completely disposed of God, it has only But let us get back to Chirico-a near itive, lay in the fact that for the first contrived to air-condition his corpse. contemporary of Libertad's. (Power, if time an attempt was made to bridge the (The Romantic attitude was a reaction only it were human, would be proud of gulf between art and life. I think we may to the odour of that corpse's putrefac­ the number of potential encounters it safely say that, the surrealist adventure tion, a disgusted wrinkling of the nostrils has successfully prevented.) The blank aside, nothing was achieved in the peri­ at the conditions imposed by survival.) faces of Chirico's figures·are the perfect od between the demise of this vanguard As a class rent by contradictions, the indictment of inhumanity. His deserted of transcendence and the inception of bourgeoisie founds its domination on the squares and petrified backgrounds dis­ the situationist project. The disillusion­ transformation of the world, yet refuses play man dehumanized by the things he ment of the older generation which has to transform itself. It is thus a move­ has made-things which, frozen in an been marking time for the last forty ment wishing to avoid movement. In urban space crystallizing the oppressive years, as much in the realm of art as in unitary societies the image of immutabil­ power of ideologies, rob him of his that of social revolution, merely rein­ ity embraced movement; in fragmentary substance and suck his blood. (I forget forces this view. Dada, Malevich's white societies change seeks to reproduce who speaks somewhere of vampiric square, Ulysses, Chirico's canvasses-all immutability: "Wars (or the poor, or landscapes; Breton, perhaps.) More than impregnated the absence of man re­ slaves) will always be with us." Thus the this, the absence of facial features seems duced to the state of a thing with the bourgeoisie in power can tolerates to conjure up new faces, to materialize presence of the whole man. And today change only if it is empty, abstract, cut a presence capable of investing the very the whole man is simply the project offfrom the whole: partial change, chan­ stones with humanity. For me this ghost­ which the majority of men harbour ges of parts. Now although the habit of ly presence is that of collective creation: under the sign of a forbidden creativity. change is intrinsically subversive, it is because they have no one's face, Chiri­ also the main prerequisite to the func­ 6 co's figures evoke everyone. tioning of consumer society. People have In striking contrast to the fundamental In the unitary world, under the serene to change cars, fashions, ideas, etc., all tendency of modern sculpture, which gaze of the gods, adventure and pilgrim­ the time. For if they did not, a more goes to great lengths to express its own age were paradigms of change in an radical change would occur which would nothingness and concocts a semiology on unchanging universe. Inasmuch as this put an end to a form of authority that is the basis of its nullity, Chirico gives us world was given for all time there was already reduced to putting itself up for paintings in which this absence is evoked really nothing to be discovered, but sale as parcels of power: it has to be solely as a means of intimating what lies revelation awaited the pilgrim, knight or consumed at all costs, and one of the beyond it-namely, the poetry of reality wanderer at the crossroads. Actually costs is that everyone is consumed along

32 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 with it. Sad· to say, this headlong rush authentically is a function of the dialec­ management of any kind. Only by starv­ towards death, this desperate _and tic of appearances itself. The refusal of ing the revolutionary masses of joy can would-be endless race deprives us of any inauthenticity triggers a near-biological one become their master: uncontained, real future: ahead lies the past, hastily defensive reaction which because of its collective pleasure can only go from disguised and projected forwardin time. violence has a very good chance_ of de­ victory to victory. Meanwhile it is al­ For decades now the selfsame 'novelties' stroying those who have been orchestrat­ ready possible for a group dedicated to have been turning up in the marketplace ing the spectacle of alienation all this theoretical and practical actions, like the of fad and fancy,with the barest attempt time. This fact should give pause to all situationists, to infiltrate the political to conceal their decrepitude. The same. who pride themselves on being idols, and cultural spectacle as a subversive is true in the supermarket of the role. artists, sociologists, thinkers and special­ force. Individually-and thus in a strictly The system is confronted by the prob­ ists of every kind of mise en scene. Ex­ temporary way-we must learn how to lem of how to supply a variety of roles plosions of popular anger are never sustain roles withoutstrengthening them wide enough to compensate for the loss accidental in the sense that the eruption to the point where they are detrimental of the qualitative force of the role as it of Krakatoa is accidental. to us. How to use them as protective a existed in the pre-bourgeois era. This is shield while at the same time protecting a hopeless task for two reasons. In the * * * ourselves against them. How to retrieve first place, the quantitative character of the energy they absorb and actualize the According to a Chinese philosopher, roles is a limitation by definition, and illusory power they dispense. How to "Confluence tends towards the void. In inevitably engenders the demand for a play the game of a Jacques Vache. total confluence presence stirs." Alien­ conversion into quality. Secondly, the lie · If your role imposes a role on others, ation extends to all human activities and of renewal cannot be sustained within assume this power which is not you, dissociates them in the extreme. But by the poverty of the spectacle. The con­ then set this phantom loose. Nobody the same token it loses its own coher­ stant need for fresh roles forces a resort wins in struggles for prestige, so · don't ence and becomes everywhere more to remakes, to transparent mummery. bother with them. Down with pointless vulnerable. In the disintegration of the The proliferation of trivial changes titil­ quarrels, vain discussions, forums, de­ spectacle we see what Marx called "the lates the desire for real change but bates and Weeks for Marxist Thought! new life which becomes self-aware, never satisfies it. Power accelerates When the time comes to strike for your destroys what is already destroyed, and changes in illusions, thereby hastening real liberation, strike to kill. Words rejects what is already rejected." Be­ the eruption of reality, of radical change. cannot kill. Do people want to discuss neath dissociation lies unity; beneath It is not just that the increasing num­ things with you? Do they admire you? fatigue, concentrated energy; beneath ber of roles tends to make them indis­ Spit in their faces. Do they make fun of the fragmentation of the self, radical tinguishable, it also triturates them and you? Help them recognize theoiselves in subjectivity. In other words, the qualita­ makes them ludicrous. The quantifica­ their mockery. Roles are inherently tive. But there is more to wanting · to tion of subjectivity has created spectacu­ ridiculous ..Do you see nothing but roles remake the world than wanting to make lar categories for the most prosaic acts around you? Treat them to your non­ love to your lover. and the most ordinary attributes: a chalance, to your dispassionate wit. Play certain smile, a chest measurement, a With the weakening of the factors cat and mouse with them, and there is a hairstyle. Great roles are few and far responsible for the etiolation of everyday good chance that one or two people between; walk-ons are a dime a dozen. life, the forces of life tend to get the about you will wake up to themselves Even the Ubus-the Stalins, Hitlers or upper hand over the power of roles. and discover the prerequisites for real Mussolinis have but the palest of succes­ This is the beginning of the reversal of communication. Remember: all roles sors. Most of us are well acquainted perspective. Modern revolutionary theo­ alienate equally, but some are less de­ with the malaise that accompanies any ry should concentrate its efforts on this spicable than others. The range of ste­ attempt to join a group and make con­ area so as to open the breach that leads reotyped behaviourincludes formswhich tact with others. This feeling amounts to to transcendence. As the period of cal� barely conceal lived experience and its stage fright, the fear of not playing one's culation and suspicion ushered in by alienated demands. To my mind, tempo­ part properly. Only with the crumbling capitalism and Stalinism draws to a rary alliances are permissible with cer­ of officially controllable attitudes and close, it is challenged from within by the tain revolutionary images, to the extent poses will the true source of this anxiety initial phase, based on clandestine tac­ that a glimmer of radicalism shines become clear to us. For it arises not tics, of the era of play. through the ideological screen which from our clumsiness in handling roles The degenerate state of the spectacle, they presuppose. A case in point is the but from the loss of self in the spectacle, individual experience, collective acts of cult of Lumumba among young Congo- · in the order of things. In his book Mede­ refusal-these supply the context for · Iese revolutionaries. In any case, it is cine et homme total, Solie has this to say development of practical tactics for impossible to go wrong so long as we about the frightening spread of neurotic dealing with roles. Collectively it is quite never forget that the only proper treat­ disorders: "There is no such thing as possible to abolish roles. The spontane­ ment for ourselves and for others is to disease per se, no such thing, even, as a ous creativity and festive atmosphere make ever more radical demands. sick person per se: all there is is authen­ given free rein in revolutionize moments complete textof Raoul Va neigem's Revolu­ The tic or inauthentic being-in-the-world." afford ample evidence of this. When tion of Everyday Life is available from C.AL. The reconversion of the energy robbed people are overtaken by joie de vivre (POB 1� Columbia,MO. 65205-1446)for $11.00 by appearances into the will to live they are lost to leadership and stage postpaid.

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 33 I I 1sexua 1

Review by Michael William

''There seems to be some sort of war going on that I'm not invited to, but everyone wants me to take a side." -Alyx J. Shaw

e first appeared in print primarily in special­ apparently were generally welcomed. Theorists such ized medical and psychiatric texts. Then, dur­ as Paul Goodman and Allen Ginsberg actively ing the seventies, a brief, media-generated promoted bisexuality; Gore Vidal, anarchist sexolo­ "bisexual chic" phase took place. Elton John gist Alex Comfort and others proposed that all and David Bowie were in the spotlight; gender people are bisexual. From point in the seventies a bending was in. on, however, being bi became decidedly uncool. But as Gary North notes, in the nineties "bisexu­ Carol Queen "got more grief from my lesbian ality is not chic-not in this age of AIDS." A per­ familyfor coming out as bi than frominy heterosex­ ception that the disease is spreading to the het ual one when I came out as a dyke ...." Anne Schnei­ population from us is most people's single impres­ der comments: " ...no bi woman I know has escaped sion of bis. Invisible, except as propagators of a fatal the pain of being ostracized by some elements of disease-a more sinister reputation is hard to imag­ the lesbian community." Surveying 400 participants ine. at a woman's event, Paula Rust found that, as well, Invisible to others, "We are just becoming visible fully one out of three lesbian identified women to ourselves," in one bi's phrase, and in the last few questioned believed that bisexuality does not exist, years several anthologies edited by bis have been giving responses like the following: changing the ways we see each other and the ways ... I think either you're a lesbian or you're straight. others see us-Bisexuality: A Reader and Source­ ... I was born [homosexual]; some are born het­ book; Bi Any Other Name; Closer To Home. I erosexual. I find it hard to believe that people can devoured these books, like many other bis no doubt. be bisexual. Appropriately, many of these pieces are personal ... It does not exist. histories and coming out stories. Some are the Some were prepared to accept the existence . of "Gore double coming out stories of people who came out bisexuality, but only as a transitional stage: initially as gays or lesbians and subsequently as ... I feel people who think they are bisexual are Vidal , bisexuals. There are also longer, theoretical pieces, confused about it or in transition . ni anarchist which are foundmainly in Closer To Home . .Person­ ... My experience of wo en who define them­ al experiences are interwoven in some of these texts selves as bisexual suggests that bisexual women sexologist as well. are either (a) really 'lesbian' but using the bisexu­ Alex Com­ Most bi activists and writers are women, and the al label to preserve their heterosexual privilege in new bi milieu/movement on the whole is specifically society, or (b) on their way to becoming lesbian fort and queer and specifically feminist. Outlooks in the bi and using the bisexual label as a 'safe' transition women's milieu can be outlined and contrasted stage, or ( c) experimenting with lesbianism but others pro­ much more readily, in effect, than in the compara­ not in a serious way. posed that tively intangible and less theoretically developed Some did not hesitate to classify bisexuality as a men's milieu. mental illness: all people Many bi texts discuss the often-tense relationship ... Bisexual is still heterosexual unless it is patho­ are between bisexuals and the lesbian and gay milieux. logical. In the ferment of the beginnings of the Gay Libera­ It is hardly surprising in this kind of climate that bisexual.'' tion Movement in the sixties, bis participated and some gays and lesbians are banking on science for

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 34 1 13 � "The gay rights movement has been plagued in recent years by a focus on issues such as the 'right' of gay, lesbian and bisexual people to serve in the military/police or to get married, refusing to face the basic repressive nature of such institutions, and the role they have played in keeping sexual minorities repressed." -Liz Highleyman

the ultimate proof of the non-existence of bisexuals. tors." Bisexuality, in Paula Rust's description, "There ain't no such animal, as I'm confident will becomes a "badge of political cowardice, and social be finally proven by the study of genetics," accord­ pressure is brought upon those who identify as ing to an anonymous letter-writer in response to an bisexuals to 'make up their minds'." article on bisexuality by Michael Szymanski in Eridani controversially contends that ariti-bi Genre. sentiment in the gay and lesbian milieux is an Brenda Blasingame outlines accusations she "almost exclusively female phenomenon." encountered, and which have frequently been "In 1990, the organizers for the annual gay pride directed at other bis: " ...that I am sitting on the celebrations in Northampton, Massachusetts, added fence, that I am experimenting, that I am not really the word 'bisexual' to the event title. A group of gay but straight, that it is wrong for me to want to lesbians packed subsequent meetings and voted to be with a man, or that it is just a phase." Rebecca remove it. A similar fight against adding 'bisexual' Schuster lists other common perceptions and accu­ to the New England Association of Gay and Lesbi­ sations: "profiteersof heterosexual pr.ivilege, indeci­ an Psychologists was led by women. In San Francis­ sive, untrustworthy, exotic, incapable of committed co, when the Bay Times added 'bisexual' to its relationships, promiscuous, and responsible for the masthead, all the letters objecting to the new title spread of AIDS. [Bisexuals are] accused of harbor­ were from women. Why is it that women, and not ing loyalty to the enemy, or worse, of being trai- men, think that the gay community is being contam-

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 35 inated by the presence of bisexuals?" 'you don't exist' means 'I do exist.' they suppressed. A clear difference in In Carol Queen's opinion, gay men And, too, the rejection as a group ('go the prevalence of sexual orientations is "seem more likely to cite personal antip­ form your own communities; you're apparent here. Who ever heard of a athy or simple stereotypes about bisexu­ not welcome in ours') is a way for heterosexual male who decided to be­ als as a source of " come gay on the their chagrin," grounds that he whereas the reaction didn't like being of lesbians has been around women most more a question of of the time? Men an ideological rejec­ like this become tion, an outlook batterers and rapists echoed by Eridani. instead." According However, there is to Eridani, "It is clearly considerable mainly lesbians with­ hostility to bis in the out sexual orienta­ gay men's milieu, as tions who are hostile accounts in Bi Any to bisexuals as well. Other Name and The old standard elsewhere make 'any woman be a can clear: And in an lesbian' is true for article in the Jone the large number of

'92 "Queer Issue" of • women who don't the Village Vo ice, have sexual orienta­ former OutWeek tions. Therefore editor Gabriel Ro­ becoming a feminist tello demonstrates implies to some that he's no slouch women that, on when it comes to ethical grounds, laying the theoretical w omen should basis of a new, more choose to have a sophisticated anti-bi relationship only agenda which dis­ with women [ ...] I tances itself from "Butterfly." By Alex Bezizvestich (L vov, Ukraine). don't see how this the more outrageous attitude differs from bi myths while erecting even more wa­ lesbians and gay men to claim a group that of Phyllis Schlafly, who thinks that tertight barriers between bis and the gay identity, to say 'we exist, not just as I should choose a heterosexual relation­ and lesbian milieux. individuals but as a community'.'' ship in order to be a good Christian Eridani, on the other hand, links her reactionary." According to Eridani, "The Bi phobia contention that biphobia is more wide­ phenomenon of 'hasbians' in the eight­ spread in the lesbian milieu to what she ies, i.e. women who first became aware Bis have offered a variety of theories believes are fundamental differences of their sexuality in the lesbian-feminist to explain biphobia. For Brenda Blas­ between men and women. Basing her matrix and later took up with men, ingame, "Biphobia emerges from the analysis on Kinsey studies and other indicates again that there are a lot of belief in the dichotomy of gay and observations she inverts the usual identi­ lesbian feminists who really don't have straight, with no in-between. Therefore ty-as-an-affirmation stance, positing that sexual orientations.'' Eridani's provoca­ bisexuals are not seen as part of the gay "women, compared to men, tend not to tive formulations are not without their community but apart from the commun­ have sexual orientations.'' Therefore,she internal coherence, but ultimately leave ity.'' Gabriel Rotello's alarmed comment continues, "most women have some me wary. When a couple of people who that bis challenge "the most cherished degree of choice about their sexual had read the article mentioned it among assumption of the lesbian and gay move­ orientation and most men don't." This some local bis, those present did not ment: that it's by and for homosexuals" thesis, for Eridani, helps to explain the seem to have definitiveverdicts. Perhaps is an illustration. Amanda Udis-Kessler 'political lesbian' phenomenon of the readers would like to comment? sees biphobia as part of a deeper identi­ seventies, as exemplified by the state­ ty crisis: ment "feminism is the theory; lesbianism Gender and Identity "Lesbians and gay men have been is the practice," a quote cited and react­ able to define themselves as other ed to many times in these books. "Many Central to many of these texts are

than heterosexual; bisexuals challenge of the women who preferredthe solidar- · questions of identity, a concept which that definition regardless of our inten­ ity and support of the new women's "bisexuals have alternately clung to and tion to do so. Behind the painfullesbi­ communities/' Eridani continues, "did shrunk from," in Kathleen Bennett's an and gay biphobia which we have not have sexual orientations. A few even words. Many bis locate themselves on a experienced is a poignant cry for self; had heterosexual orientations, which continuum between straight and gay. A

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 36 point which, for some, is not fixed: dur­ same as everyone else in this regard." Beth Elliot to ruefully remark, "unlike, ing a lifetime one's same or other sex Transsexuals add another dimension presumably, her bisexuality." These attraction can increase (having gone to questions of gender and identity. For identity clashes are typically set out in from het to bi in middle age, this has John, a pre-operative bi interviewed for the contrast between Sheela Lambert's been the case with me). This fluidity is an article published in Tapestry and On statement: "I feel that everyone should itself seen as threatening by 'essentialist' Our Backs, "It's my genitals that are have the right to define their own iden­ outlooks which are common in the gay dishonest. The truth is that I am a tity'' and Elizabeth Rebe Weise's ap­ and lesbian milieux, theories which posit man." proach: "You've got Rita Mae Brown, identity as an innate, unchanging essence For Karin Baker, because "bisexuality Jan Clausen, Jill Johnson, Holly Near, from which many of us are said to be blurs the supposed duality of sexuality'' June Jordan, pillars of the lesbian com­ alienated; to become whole, we must it "has the potential to go beyond gen­ munity, who all turned out to be bisexu­ rediscover our lost essence, our true der." If homosexuality explodes the al, however they choose to define them­ identity. Concerning sexual orientation complementarity of "opposite sexes," selves." For Vo ice writer Gabriel Rotel­ this easily leads to dismissing 10 years of bisexuality furtherchallenges institution­ lo, this kind of attitude represents an pleasurable het sex as a state of false alized gender polarization itself-opening �'Invasion of the Orientation Snatchers" consciousness. the door to a more androgynous mix which will "decimate the ranks of gay Some bis say that they are not part , which could even abolish the male/fe­ history." straight and part gay but "all bi." Others male split as we know it. But the exam­ refer to distinct straight or gay sides of ple of John and others cited above indi­ Bis and other themselves, or like Victoria Woodward, cate that, even when considerably bent, to "my lesbian self' and "my heterosex­ gender categories easily spring back to Sexual Minorities ual self." For Rebecca Schuster, on the resemble familiar male/female forms. other hand, bis are "100 percent lesbian Baker acknowledges, undermining the In a seventies-eighties lesbian feminist or gay and 100percent heterosexual...we "beyond gender" thesis, that some bis climate in which "the personal is politi­ are simultaneous full members of both "are attracted to women for the quali­ cal" was often interpreted in the most groups." In Dvora Zipkin's experience, ties culturally associated with this gender literal way-no "sleeping with the ene­ however, "many bisexual women share a and to men for qualities identified as my''-bisexuality inevitably challenged general sense of not belonging to either masculine." Clearly, bisexuality does not orthodoxies which proposed that, in the lesbian or heterosexual world." automatically challenge gender roles. Stacey Young's description, "desire can Personally I feelapart from and a part Rebecca Kaplan's warning: "If we wish and should be subordinated to a narrow­ of both the straight and gay milieux. to deny that women are 'innately weak', ly-defined, politically correct version of Also coloring questions of identity are we cannot also say that women are sex." "But desire will out," as Elizabeth divergences between bis for whom a 'innately peaceful"' highlights problem­ Rebe Weise puts it in her introduction dichotomy of genders doesn't seem to atic essentialist assumptions which are to Closer To Home: "We chose to ac­ exist, or is secondary, and those who see also present in some bi discourses. knowledge our desires and then find a differences between the sexes as funda­ The meaning of the often politically way to live with them as feminists and mental. For Karin Baker, "Women and charged word lesbian and how bis relate as thoughtful human beings." In a clash­ men are actually more alike than differ­ to the question of lesbian identity has between-desire-and-PC-sex sense, bisex­ ent, and most of our differences are also been complex. "Is being a lesbian uality is linked to the trajectory of other social creations." For Alyx Shaw, in an about being attracted to and falling in sexual minorities and to what has be­ article in Angles, "Love is not a gender­ love with women, or about not being come known as the "sex wars" which oriented experience." In a letter to Gay attracted to and falling in love with, or began in the late seventies over porn, Ottawa Info , Cathy Moreau says, "After at least getting involved with, men?" S/M, butch/femme, transsexuals, using all, I not only fall in love (and lust) with asks Elizabeth Rebe Weise. For some, dildos, etc. Accusations of being dupes a person's body, but, more importantly, becoming bi signifies leaving behind the and traitors levelled at bis in effect are with his or her beliefs, attitudes and label lesbian. "I fellin love witha man," strikingly similar to accusations other behavior. In short, the person as a says Lani Kaahumanu, "and that did not sexual minorities have encountered. In a whole. And what is a body, anyways? make sense to me as a lesbian." Stacey letter to OUT/LOOK, Lyndall Mac­ Just a carrier forthe brain and/or soul." Young calls herself a "feminist and Cowan says, "I was glad to see the 'Bi­ Anne Fox, on the other hand, de­ formerly-lesbianbisexual woman." How­ sexuality Debate' in your Spring '92 scribes her relations to men and women ever others retain a lesbian identity, issue. The articles and the cover art as "simply (and complexly) different." using the term "lesbian bisexual," for made a connection for me that, as a For Karen Klassen, "there are parts of example. Kinsey scale 5-1/2,1 I'd never consid­ myself, ways of being which I just don't Though sleeping with men, others ered. The fears embedded in experiencewith men." Diane Anderson reject a bisexual identity, raising the biphobia-that 'some lesbians' are really states, "I don't think a man can match recurring question of a disparity be­ straight, or might be contaminating les- the depth and intimacy that you can find tween identity and behavior. Holly Near, with a woman." And in Susie Bright's for example, says she "doesn't feel like 1. Kinseyscale: a scale from 1 to 6, with 1 repre­ opinion, "Intellectually, we always favor a bisexual," and that her lesbianism is senting complete heterosexuality and 6 represent­ those of our own sex, even if they're not "linked to [a] political perspective" ing complete homosexuality. our sexual partners. Bisexuals are the rather than "sexual preference"-causing

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 37 bian space with heterosexual values-are eighties. In 1985, the East Coast Bisexu­ explored further. Rather, organizers some of the same accusations and fears al network was formed. Bi contingents typically exhort bis to execute "theoreti­ that have been directed at me as a in gay and lesbian pride marches were cal tasks" or to "take on liberation femme for twenty years." For John, the organized, newsletters and journals work," putting forth a dreary, sacrifice­ pre-op transsexual, "the lesbian commu­ appeared, and in 1990, Bi Pol, a political oriented approach which is exhausting in nity is the only place where itself as opposed to poten­ * * " I encounter hostility. They , " tially liberating. Talk of

think I'm a woman, so they · leadership, unity, 'tasks', role '� think I'm a traitor." And in models, programs-all the feminist Robin Morgan's reactionary bric-a-brac of unforgettable accusation, a , 'progressive' and national lesbian S /M practitioner is liberation movements "a lesbian copy of a faggot abounds in the new bi mi­ imitation of patriarchal lieu. But there are also backlash against feminism." critiques of identity politics Some bis are enthusiastic and victimization approach­ about the appearance of a es, and attempts to learn broader, more inclusive from the mistakes of nation­ 'queer' milieu in which bis al liberation movement and other sexual minorities ideology. (I should add that, can more easily claim a in attempting to outline bi space without having . to viewpoints, this text has constantly justify their exis­ taken on something of a tence. However, other bis victimization coloring it­ are less comfortable with self.... ) the queer concept or relate Despite the eclectic nature primarily to the het world. of the milieu, some bis are Ultimately, the relationship proposing a false unity. For between bis and other mi­ Rebecca Gorlin, "Recogni­ norities such as butch/ tion takes a strong and unit­ femme or transsexuals re­ "Zeppelin." By Alex Bezizvestich (Lvov, Ukraine). ed.bisexual front." "Unity Is mains unclear. As well, Our Bi-Word" was chosen many bis and presumably most anar­ action group, sponsored the first nation­ as the theme of the bi contingent in a chists would have problems with S /M, al Bisexual Conference. As bis come out San Francisco gay and lesbian pride day with its array of accoutrements, dun­ of the closet what has been termed the march. Unity usually implies leaders to geons and dominator/ dominated roles. GBD (Great Bisexual Debate) has rip­ crystallize a representation racket. And For anti-authoritarians, S/M no doubt pled through the gay and lesbian press. there is no lack of talk of leadership in raises a variety of thorny questions con­ In Genre, a new upscale publication these texts. According to the editors of cerning power, consent, and the limits of which bills itself as the "gay Esquire," Bi Any Other Name, "we must nurture desire/reappearance of PC sex. bisexuality was recently labelled "the all the leadership potential of our com­ most controversial issue of the nineties." munity." Calling for a "liberation pro­ As it takes shape, however, a number gram," Rebecca Schuster exhorts bis to The Bi Milieu/Movement of problematic aspects of the new bi "claim our homes among lesbians and milieu/movement have become appar­ gay men and heterosexuals and rapidly If a vocal bisexual milieu has indisput­ ent. First, there is the diversity noted by take our place with them as powerful ably surfaced in the last decade, the Elizabeth Rebe Weise in an assessment leaders of all people." This craving for extent of the existence of a movement is of a 1988 bi conference: "We are Com­ leadership is complemented by the more a question of debate. Susan munists, Socialists, Anarchists, Demo­ media's need for leaders in order to Sturges, in a letter responding to Gabri­ crats, Republicans, Libertarians, and feed the spectacle. In his anti-bi article el Rotello's Voice article, speaks of a probably some who want to see the in the Vo ice, Gabriel Rotello deftly "surging bisexual movement"; in OUT- monarchy re-established." In other integrates the leadership phenomenon, . /L OOK, on the other hand, bi theorist words, a sprawling mess: a shared sexual playing off bi leaders whose discourse Amanda Udis-Kessler is considerably orientation becomes the only glue pre­ supports his thesis against others he more hesitant: "Each group has a differ­ venting things from disintegrating into feels threatened by. That a leadership ent sense of where a movement-if there cacophony, underscoring the familiar, has solidified as far as the media are exists a movement-or where a commu­ limiting focus endemic to single-issue­ concerned appears evident for example nity (god knows if there is a community) based groups. in the letters printed and choice of par­ might be going." Although many bis talk of selecting ticipants in a round table on bisexuality Bi groups began to spring up in a friends and partners as individuals as which appeared in OUT/LOOK in re­ number of North American and Europe­ opposed to members of gender catego­ sponse to a feature section on bisexu­ an cities in the late seventies and early ries, this individualist thrust is rarely ality in the previous issue: three were

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 38 editors of books on bisexuality and left unchallenged; on the contrary, un­ and gays, whether we are formally ac­ another was Amanda Udis-Kessler, who derlining the feminist credentials of the cepted or not. As Carol Queen notes, appears to be the most referred-to bi new queer-bi milieu becomes a priority. "It won't help to vote whether bisexuals theorist. But there are also texts which Although there are critiques of lesbian should be let in: we are in." At the same stress a non-hierarchical approach or separatism (the tendency which has been time some gays and lesbians have made which questipn leadership. Kathleen the most hostile to bis), much of the it clear that, for them, bis will never be Bennett, forexample , cautions that "The writingin these texts · is similar to main­ accepted; they will remain "heterosexual bisexual movement must not yieldto the stream lesbian currents. Speaking about transgressions into our entrenched, yet faulty thinking of 'vanguardism' just members of the Seattle Bisexual Wom­ ftin, little world," as Ara Wilson put it, because of our potential to have a spe- en's Network who encountered problems or in Sandy Dwyer's blunt phrase: "They cial perspective on dualism." when they attempted to organize a are merely opportunists." Along with cheerleading forleadership workshop at the Northwest Lesbian Merely opportunists?!? are equally strong but somewhat differ- Conference, Elizabeth Rebe Weise ent calls for role models. (Personally it states, "in fact,many of us were indistin­ Antholog ies has always escaped me why people want guishable from the lesbians in that Bisexuality; A Reader Sourr:ebook to model themselves on someone else, group in our politics and lives." and anyway) . Lacking a bi milieu, or often In Closer To Home; Bisexuality and edited by Thomas Geller (Times Change Press, Box 1380, Ojai, California 93023, even someone to share perceptions of Feminism, bisexual men are rarely men­ 1990) 184pp. $10.95 paper. bisexuality with, it is no doubt under- tioned beyond a couple of accounts by standable, if unfortunate, that the role women who were involved with bi men. Bi Any Other Name; BisexualPeople Sp eak model exerts such an attraction for so One is left to wonder what the relation­ Out edited by Lorraine Hutchins and Lani Kaahumanu (Alyson Publishing, 40 Plympton many bis. For Gary North, "the problem ship (if any) between the bi women's Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, 1991) is, we don't have many role models." and men's milieu is (if there is a men's 416pp. $11.95 paper. Dianne Anderson, upon moving to LA., milieu), though there is clearly some Closer Home; Bisexualityand Feminism "found few bisexual role models and interaction in certain local bi groups and To in planning regional and national events. edited by Elizabeth Rebe Weise (Seal Press, even fewer that I could relate to." For 3131 Western Avenue, Suite 410, Seattle, Beth Elliot, a cultural hero-a Malcolm Beth Elliot notes, "Many of us take part Washington 98121, 1992) 320pp. $14.95 X-becomes the solution to the question in bisexual women 's groups without paper. of the bi message not getting out. Com- necessarily feeling part of a larger (and paring Holly Near, who rejects the label co-ed) bisexual community." In a review A new anthology, of which at least half will be by women of color, will soon be e FrighU!n the Hors­ bisexual, to Gretchen Phillips (a young of Closer To Hom in available from Sister Vision Press. Write to: out bi musician), Elliot says, "Still, it is es, Carol Queen comments that "Many Bisexual Women's Anthology, c/o Sister Holly Near and not Gretchen Phillips of the book's contributors seem to feel Vision Press, P.O. Box 217, Station E, To­ who has the credentials to be a spokes- that they've found practically the only ronto, Ontario, Canada M6H 4E2.

person or role model attractive to seven- man worth relating to ...." ties lesbian feminists and the younger There is little specifically anti-statist Journals women who identify with their left-ori- sentiment in bi texts, or, indeed, men­ BiWomen (East Coast Bi-Network, 338 tion of the state at all. One is left to ented community.... " What is needed, in Newbury Street, Second Floor, Boston, Elliot's opinion, is "a Holly Near-type/ wonder what kind of state is being pro­ Massachusetts 02115). Bi-monthly. $15.00/ era bisexual feminist role model to go posed, no doubt a question better left year. along with the Gretchen Phillips-type/ unasked. There is also little profound North Bi Northwest era bisexual feminist role model." One questioning of technology, industrialism, (P.O. Box 30645, Greenwood Station, Seattle, Washington individual representing an era would or the economy, giving the impression 98103-0645). Bi-monthly. $12.00/year. seem aberrant, but no stranger than that the status quo, or something close, representation itself to those of us who is acceptable to most of these writers Organizations wish to be represented by no one. and activists. the Bisexual Network of the Also problematic is the concept "bi To date, bi visibility and achieving BiNet USA, pride." If bi pride functions as an under- formal recognition in the gay/lesbian USA (5584 Castro Street #441, San Francis­ standable reaction to homophobia and milieu have constituted the narrow focus co, California 94114). A quarterly newsletter is available. No fee, but $35 donation is biphobia, it rapidly tends to become a of most bi organizing efforts. Like Susan requested. broader, in one bi's phrase, "I am fine Trynka, some bis feel that the "queer Phone 617-247- the way I am" outlook which promotes women's communities are probably a lot East Coast Bi Network. complacency: if everyone stays exactly more responsive to bisexuality now" 6683 in Boston. the way they are, the chances of radical than in the past. Certainly some of the (P.O. Box 10436, Oakland, California 3x.1 change are mighty slim.... more absurd myths, such as the non- 94610). Bisexual People of Color-political, Mirroring the new bi movement, the existence of bisexuality, seem to be support, and social group. editorial focusof these books is feminist. crumbling. The word bisexual is more Directory Thus some of the many feministinsights and more visible in gay and lesbian are incorporated, and dismantling the journals and events. And as long as In ternationalDirectory of BisexualReso urr:­ patriarchy becomes a focal p9int. B�t .�L ,_�_(lme-sex attr(lctionscontinue to bring us es (The Center, 338 Newbury Street, Second the same time feminism itself is largely together, bis will interact with lesbians Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02115) $6.00.

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 39 A Spanish street fighter takes aim from a doorway. Photo thanks to Freddie Baer.

40 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 �Its . PolJJicd. o//j � Life in Revolutionary Barcelona By Manolo Gonzalez

lthough the events in dynamics. I hung two maps on the wall "Lenin of Spain." Juan Lopez, Juan May had rattled the of my room. One of Spain and another Peir6, Federica Montseny and Juan nerves of the FAI­ of Catalonia-Aragon. Pins with minia­ Garcia Oliver, people of long libertarian CNT, 1 the movement toward the collec- ture red and black flags covered "our tradition, succumbed to the imperatives tivization of the economy of Catalonia territory." The fascists were yellow ar­ of the civil war. They got a bitter disap­ and Aragon continued to develop in rows. All the south of Spain was yellow. pointment when they realized that Largo 1937. It was the result of many years of My mother was still grieving the mur­ Caballero's inclusion of the CNT in his study, indoctrination and the power of der of Federico Garcia Lorca in Grana­ cabinet was a ploy to cover up the cow­ the people in arms. The Republic since da. During the early years of "La Car­ ardly and precipitous escape of the 1931 had done very little to transform reta," the roving theater company orga­ Republican government from Madrid to Spain into a modern society. The Com­ nized by Lorca, she had worked as a Valencia .. The Republicans, experts in munists' most immediate concern was to stage hand and a puppeteer. political ambushes and chicanery, used uphold the interests of the Soviet Union. My fathervisited us whenever he had the presence of the CNT to prevent the The Comintern line of the Popular a furlough, or when called back into creation of a federalist libertarian re­ Front had some electoral successes in Barcelona by the FAI-CNT. "Ah! it is so public they though might be installed in Spain, France, Chile and, in a minor good to be here," he used to exclaim. retaliation for their embarrassing gallop­ role, in the U.SA. But as a force for "There is still the joy of an equalitarian ing. Later the Communists manipulated social and political change it was obvi- society, and optimistic vision of the the resignation of the CNT. And of . ous: the Comintern was nothing more future. In Madrid all is salutes, milita­ course they kicked out Largo Caballero than an extension of the foreign policy rism, intrigues and politics. Goddammed and brought in Negrin. of the USSR. A shocking revelation was politicians! Even some anarchists who Stalin's support for the hoodlums ·of should know better are in the Cabinet The Collective Economy Chiang Kai-shek and his mafia in . the now!" He was referring to the inclusion Kuomintang, although there were among in the Catalonian government of a CNT My father's feelings about the climate the International Brigades several Chi­ trio, Francisco Isgleas, Diego Santillan, of solidarity and the temporary abolition nese volunteers, recruited in France. As and Pedro Herrera. The participation of of class animosity was due to the ener­ fate would have it, at this same moment the CNT people · was severely critici�ed getic implementation of the anarchists' in history Mao and his Liberation Army among the FAI cadres. The POUM2 was program for the collective economy. were in the middle of the Long March. excluded from any position in the gov­ Many industrialists decided to stay in At my age, though, I was more inter­ ernment. their enterprises and continue produc­ ested in the military operations in Spain Of course my father's indignation was tion under the workers' control. Many than in worl� politics and economic rather disingenuous. The CNT had years later, historians like Hugh Thomas Part One of Manolo Gonzalez's. personal compromised its integrity by participat­ and Ronald Frazer would note that the account of "Life in Revolutionary Barcelona" ing in the Republican government of industrial output of Catalonia lost very appeared in Anarchy Premier Largo Caballero, the so-called few hours of production under the col- #35.

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 41 Insurgents defend a barricade in the streets of Barcelona in 1936. Photo thanks to F. Baer. lectivized system. many cases there were a large number A Valley In Spain But where the collectivization was of vouchers, local "people's Pesetas," called Jarama most successful and created a true cli- that were accepted for all the essentials mate for social justice was in the agri- of everyday life. A friend of mine, a On November the 7th of 1936 the culture of Catalonia and Aragon. Ironi- young refugee from Zaragoza, had a frontal assault of the fascists to capture cally, to the later chagrin of the Com- handful of "proletarian money." We Madrid was defeated. I moved my red munists the decree of October 7 of 1936 decided to try it in a cooperative shop to and black flags a few inches away from issued by Communist Minister of Agri- buy molasses and stalks of sugar cane. Madrid. The Republic decided to coun­ culture Vicente Uribe gave legal basis To my surprise it was gladly accepted. terattack to avoid cutting offthe capitol for the peasant unions of the CNT and The shopkeeper had business with the from the rest of Spain, especially from UGT3 to expropriate the land. Literally village that issued the revolutionary Valencia where the government had hundreds of years of exploitation and currency. But we were politely turned moved. misery were erased by the insurgency of down when we offered to pay for our The arrival of arms from the Soviet the peasants in arms. Dozens of small cinema tickets with the symbol of the Union, the formation of the Internation­ towns and villages were in control of rural revolution. al Brigades and the highly motivated committees of share-croppers and itiner- Although salaries still were basically militias of the UGT and the CNT made ant farm workers. Once the priests and the only income of the Catalonian work­ up a powerful military force that would the landowners were expelled or execut- ing class, their standard of living went be used by the council of defense of ed all kind of experiments started, blue- beyond their income. New benefits were Madrid. Two professional army men, prints for a new society. Marriages were implemented like free education, health Rojo and Miaja, gave the necessary recorded by the husbands and wives insurance, and for the first time in Spain technical advice to the People's Army. themselves. The mayor and civil register a system to compensate for industrial Although the fascists had been re­ clerk as representative of the State were accidents, including death benefits for pelled in the streets of Madrid, the eliminated. Money was abolished and in widows and orphans. capitol was still in danger. Franco's

42 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 artillery reached most of the city, and of planes and tanks. He had serious doubts course the Nazi and Italian planes about the military expertise of Gal and Repression and bombed the civilian population almost Copic, but was pushed by the presence Counterrevolutlon daily. of several British officers with direct By June of 1937 the NKVD-prede­ It was decided to attack the fascists in instructions to proceed with the attack. cessor of the Russian KGB-had moved the area near the Valencia highway. Amid contradictory orders the Ameri­ in force into Barcelona. June 16 Andres Battalions were assigned to specific ob­ cans were sent to the battlefield. Nin was arrested and moved to a secret jectives near Casa de Campo and Jara­ Several months later my fatherrelated jail in Madrid. On instructions of Stalin ma. At that time the volunteers of many the disaster to a group of Catalonians. I he was asked to 'confess' crimes and to nations were positioned in ways to was reading Catalunya a newspaper in be a fascistagent. Tortured to death, his strengthen the young Spaniard recruits Catalan. Castillian was still hard forme. body was never found. After Nin most and the rather green workers' militias. "Palitos, come here you have to learn of the leadership of the POUM was The Europeans had military experience, this," said my fatherwhile narrating the jailed, executed or forced into exile. especially the Austrians, Poles and Ger­ plot against the Americans. "And to the mans. But the Americans were still in attack they went. Oh! the gallant boys. George Orwell, a member of the training. They called themselves the They attacked the enemy. They charged POUM militia, barely escaped arrest Hom­ Lincoln Battalion, under the command with bayonets and grenades. They con­ and had to leave Spain. His book of Robert Merriman, a young professor fronted death singing songs of freedom, age to Catalonia was one of the first to from the University of California at and died with their fists high in a last denounce the Communists' role in the Berkeley. gesture of defiance, certain of the final betrayal of the Spanish revolution. On February 17th Merriman was victory." My fatherknew the price of all Among my parents' friends and the alerted to be ready to go into battle. He that gallantry. Of about 450 Americans, FAI-CNT a wave of indignation helped had time only to train his men in the 160 were killed. Bob Merriman was mobilize militias, the press and interna­ use of their rifles. The weather was wounded. Gal and Copic escaped be­ tional public opinion against the crimes miserable; rain pelted the young volun­ hind the lines. In a finalirony, they were in Catalonia. I heard about the murder teers. It was freezing cold. The Ameri­ recalled to Moscow and shot. After of Camillo Berneri, an Italian anarchist cans were moved closer to the front in World War Two Marty was expelled philosopher; he was arrested in a hotel, trucks. Slowly they moved near enough from the French Communist party. taken to the subway near Lacayetana to hear the din of combat. The Ameri­ A few years later in France I found a and gunned down. A few days later in cans together with the British and Cana­ collection of songs from the Spanish the Urquinaoa Square a boy, grandson dians were assignedto the counterattack Civil War. Among them there was a of the anarchist educator Francisco of the Loyalists. In charge of planning remembrance of Jarama. Ferrer, was murdered. A friend of my the operation were General Gal and "There's a valley in Sp ain called Jarama father, Domingo Ascaso, brother of Colonel Vladimir Copic, a couple of It's a place we allknow too well Paco, a Commander in the Madrid Soviet mercenaries. Merriman was told For 'twas there that we wasted our man- front, was killed in jail. The most terri­ his attack would be supported by artil­ hood, ble crime of those days was the execu­ lery, tanks and the 24th Brigade of the And most of our old age as well" tion of about thirty members of the regular Spanish Army. But behind the The music was "Red River," an old "old Libertarian Youth. They were shot at military plan, was one of those Byzan­ west" American tune. the Moncada cemetery, and left in an tine plots, probably concocted by Andre In March of 1937 a new offensive on open grave. Marty, the paranoid head of the Interna­ Madrid was initiated by the Italian fas­ The central government in Valencia tional Brigades, a soul brother of Stalin. cists. They based the attack in Guadala­ not only wanted to stop the collectiviza­ "Copic disliked Bob," remembered jara, about 25 miles from the Capital. tion, but also to comply with the direc­ Marion Merriman, wifeof the American This time the fascists confronted the tives of Stalin to annihilate the Trotsky­ Commander, "Copic was arrogant, 14th division, along with other shock ites. It was part of the price exacted stubborn and politically immature. I troops of the Republic. Cipriano Mera fromSpa in forthe military aid. The gold disliked him intensely. He was a prima was the CNT commander of the central reserves of the country went to the donna of a soldier. He strutted around forces. A great organizer, disdainful of Soviet Union. in high polished boots, wore a pistol on the military 'experts' and wise to the The militias were abolished and many his hip, carried map and binocular tricks of the Communists, he announced battalions incorporated into the People's cases." Besides the animosity of Marty, that his troops would decide the mo­ Army. Women were not permitted on and probably Stalin, toward the Ameri­ ment of attack, He wanted to avoid the battlefield. My mother stayed at cans, Merriman was not a Communist. another carnage like Jarama. When home now; she hid her rifle, pistol and Commander Bob Merriman would later Mera saw the Russian tanks advancing ammunition. disappear on the Aragon front, under and Lister and El Campesino launching The government moved to Barcelona strange circumstances. their attacks, the anarchists in an irre­ at the end of 1937. In March of 1938, The battle had been going on for ten sistible charge terrorized the Italians. Barcelona was bombed by German and days when the Americans were ordered Many anti-fascist Italians, anarchists Italian planes. to move. The promised support never and socialists, fought in Guadalajara, By the middle of 1938 a negotiated arrived. Copic insisted on the attack; among them Pietro Nenni, futurePrime peace agreement, in which the Republic Merriman was awaiting the support of Minister of Italy. could either save territory or be part of

.Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 43 . ------��· ...... -�··���-.-•,...... 't"7"'"71

j @Ii .. ' Refugees from Spain in a camp at Aix-en-Provence in southern France. Photo thanks to F. Baer.

a transition government, was the most September 1938. It too failed for lack of Django Reinhardt. We also managed to we could hope for. The animosity be- war materiel. collect phonograph records. Eventually tween the central government and au- The trials of the old Bolsheviks had we accumulated about a hundred 78s. tonomous regions of Catalonia and started in Moscow. Hitler and Stalin My parents' tastes were toward Stravin­ Aragon was deepening, mostly on the were soon to seal their friendship in a sky and Flamenco, and they frequently issue of a strategy to end the war. pact. Negrin decided to appease the demanded I tone down the record play- The western democracies, already western democracies by removing the er. alarmed by the presence of the Red International Brigades from Spain. He Army in Spain, were now repelled by hoped this would pressure the Nazis and Into Exile the repression and the assassinations of Italian fascists to stop their intervention. the leaders of the POUM. Barcelona gave an emotional farewell to I lost all interest in the conflict when Still all during 1937-38 the Republic the Internationalists. On November 15 I realized we had lost the war and the confronted the superior forces of Fran- of 1938, in a last parade through the revolution, just as my father had predict­ co, the Moroccan mercenaries and its streets of Barcelona, under the colors of ed. I folded my maps and replaced them other allies, the Nazis and Italian fas- many nations the volunteers left Spain. with photos of jazzmen and Libertad cists, in a series of battles: Brunete, But not all. About 6,000 Germans, Aus­ and me in the Ramblas, on the beach Belchite, Teruel in which the flower of trian, Czechs and other men without a and in the May 1st parade. the Spanish working class was decimat- country to return to stayed to "die in The childcare center had now become ed. All Republican offensives had to Barcelona." I made an entry in my a refuge for many adults who were stop due to the lack of ammunition, diary. "Went to say good bye to the disgusted by the repression in Barcelona planes and tanks. The Soviet Union 1.B.'s. Threw geraniums. I went with and who wanted to dedicate time and doled out its military aid on the exaction Libertad." effort to their families. My mother was of political payment: atrocities against Libertad was my friend. We shared a seriously involved in the theatrical activi­ the opposition to Stalin. passion for cinema and American jazz. ties of the center� My father was moved The last offensive in the Ebro cost the We satisfied our addictions with French to the front of Aragon, a rather quiet lives of about 18,000 Loyalists. The movies and the radio transmissions of area but soon to explode in the final battle was fought between July and Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and offensive of General Yagiie, the fanati-

44 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 cal Catholic ally of Franco. Barcelona, elegant of movement and so fascina­ fight back, kill the bastards!" Slowly my city, would fall to the fascists at the tingly ambivalent, so enraging to Ham­ Hamlet died in the arms of Horatio, end of January of 1939. The revenge on let. The King, never a doubt in him, although he had time to exhort every­ Catalonia was horrific. In the first week lustful, crude, voracious for wine and body to the barricades and overthrow of occupation the fascists executed over food.We children relished his jokes and the monarchy.

· 10,000 men and women. Mostly anar­ jeered at Hamlet's brattish ripostes. Our little puppets. How passionately chists. Every nuance and sarcasm was en­ they had loved. How nobly they had

Quietly my parents decided to go into hanced to our intense delight. In Polon­ · died, even as their little bodies con­ exilein France and then to Latin Ameri­ ious, idiotic, sentimental, senile we rec­ vulsed with pain. ca where we had relatives. Other anar­ ognized the delusions of the European The final scene mobilized the people. chists, writers and intellectuals, already middle classes: the same platitudes, the Union banners, miniature cannons, signs on the death list of Franco and the same wisdom of selfishindividualism we proclaiming workers' unity, a contingent Communists, agreed to a plan to escape. had been brought up to despise. When of FAI-CNT and, finally, Hamlet, cov­ But before leaving, the people in the Hamlet is asked by Polonious "What are ered by a red and black flag. We chil­ childcare collective decided to offer a you reading, my lord." He answers: dren stood up, we raised our arms and program never to be forgotten. For a "Words, words, words." We roared and clenched our fists high above our heads. couple of weeks, while our curiosity screamed with pleasure. "My lord" was It was a furious, solemn homage to the reached rare level of expectation, my one of the many nicknames given to the hero of the people. a mother and other puppeteers were re­ President of the· Republic, Azaiia, an In December 1937 the childcare hearsing, writing and trying voices. A erudite, but pompous and overblown closed. The ex-nuns, through the influ­ finely handcrafted array of puppets was orator. "Words, words, words" was how ence of the Quakers, were given asylum created out of vats of papier-mache. we ridiculed his speeches. The casual in England. Many children were sent to Collections of miniature weapons, lances killing of Polonious symbolized our Sweden. Nobody in our center wanted to and swords were accumulated. contempt for the bourgeoisie. send their sons and daughters to the On a certain Saturday a neatly printed The puppets were magically alive. Soviet Union. My parents told-me, "We program announced the presentation of Such ease, such individuality; The solilo­ stay together. To the end. We live or a four-act production of Hamlet. The quy was recited as the inner metaphysics die, but we stay together!" program included a summary of the of anarchism, our contradictions and The "fifth column," automobiles with plot, and notes about the lights and concerns with moral issues. We children armed fascists, started to roam Barcelo­ stage. The stage was new and the tech­ and adults alike were immersed in the na, shooting people, attacking unions nical accomplishments were an achieve­ anguish of this hero puppet, dressed in and offices of the leftist press. Priests ment of great pride. black, a fragile reminder of our own again were seen lurking here and there About two in the afternoon people pain at the threshold of exile. For all of around Barcelona. started to arrive. All the puppeteers and us in that moment it was our truth: " ...to I invited Libertad to tea in my house. voices were already out of sight. We be or not to be?" We all had our an­ She came with a jar of plum jam. My children were given the front rows. We swer. I, too. I wanted to be. I wanted to mother made us tea and served some could almost touch the mystery and love. cakes made of rice flour. Then we excitement. After a short musical intro­ The tension grew unbearable. Then, played records. We sang along to Elling­ duction, performed on two guitars and a surprise� there was an intermission. The ton lyrics and cried to "Solitude." When drum, the hall was darkened and simul­ children ran to get snacks of bread and Armstrong sang "I can't give you any­ taneously the stage was illuminated, molasses. I had to look behind the stage. thing but love," we held hands and knew provoking exclamations. Soft white My mother was exhausted. She waved much about love. Rataplan, my cat came lights, subtle colors and contrasting and threw me a kiss. to play with us, and bestowed his favors shadows enhanced the proscenium. We rushed back to our seafs. This with unusual impartiality. We went out And very slowly, as though moved by time my friend Libertad was next to me. to the patio. The weather was already a breeze, the curtains opened to reveal Now we were back in the conspiracy, cold. My plants were ready for hiberna­ the castle of Elsinore. The audience was the malevolence, the deals. But Hamlet, tion. Some swallows, flying low, made mesmerized when amid the thinnest of the good tribune, noble, generous, pro­ passes over our heads. Night was com­ bluish veils the ghost of Hamlet's father claimed justice and revolution. Horatio ing and we knew we had only a little appeared above the esplanade. We were cried out the moral conscience of the while to say good-bye. caught up in the illusion of the supernat­ people. Now we hated· the King, he had Libertad's father arrived to escort her ural. Hamlet, that solemn, neurotic to die. home. The streets were dangerous now. Prince of Denmark, revealed himself a When the final duel came, we He had a pistol under his arm in a sling revolutionary hero, a defender of the screamed ferociously for Hamlet. The like a gangster and a revolver in the people, a challenger of hedonistic and clash of the swords was real, sparks pocket of his jacket. venal rulers. But this Hamlet too gradu­ jumped between the duelists. The voices For a last few moments my friend and ally convinced us of his love for Ophelia were excited, full of power. I were alone together in a corner of the and we were drawn into the inexorable A cry of horror arose when Hamlet house. "Palitos, don't look so gloomy," perfidy of the politicians who would was stabbed with the poisoned sword. she told me. "We a:re alive, we will sur­ betray both of them. "Treason ...treason," we shouted. "He's vive." Then she kissed me. First on my Gertrude the Queen, sensual of voice, faking ... he has to get up ...come on!...... Cont inued on page 53

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 45 The Fall of Communism, the Society of the Spectacle and Prostitution

Collage by Johann Humyn Being (San Francisco, CA.).

46 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 By P e ter S. Barker

"Considered in its terms, th� specta­ "The attitude which it demands in princi· own cle is the aff"irmation of appearance and ple is passive acceptance which in fact it affirmation of all human life , namely social already obtained by its manner of appear­ life, as mere appearance. But the critique ing without reply, by its monopoly of which reaches the truth of the spectacle appearance." -Guy Debord exposes it as the visible negation of life, as a ne ation of life which has become visi· g Pebl'U&l'J', 1998: ble." -Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle n the month following, I rode to work on the streetcar I watching out the window at the Sherbourne stop as scruffy men trooped out of the Salvation Army hostel each January, 1998: morning to line up at a temporary employment agency in the he Devil's Dictionary definesthe state of being freeas hope of receiving work and cash at the end of the day. Around T:one in which the price is concealed. For millions of the corner, both sexes wait in front of a chu.rch offering free Russians who woke on New Year's morning of 1992 to food and �lothing. Their resemblance to the queues for food discover the price of even the most basic foodstuffshad tripled in the Russian Republic is only superficial, I am told. But it is or quadrupled under the market system, the hidden costs of near enough to leave me with the vague sense of deja vu socialist freedom, the freedom of the workers to direct their experienced while watching an old movie forgotten some own economy, were revealed in the concrete reality of bread twenty years after the original viewing. The scenes are and cheese. Socialist freedom had been based on a lie which familiar, but I can't remember how the story ends. had forced party bureaucrats to dress up as workers and play I am not disturbed by the content of the CNN report, but by the role of the proletariat directing a socialist revolution. With my readiness to accept the image of reality it presents and the advent of capitalism, the old freedoms were momentarily exclude the evidence of my own senses. The knowledge that exposed as a massive theatrical performance. the CNN report is being watched by thousands of other North A Russian widow interviewed by CNN reporters remarked Americans implies some sort of consensus on its version of that nothing had changed. If she had formerlywaited in line events. Was anyone but myself bothered by the report? No fordays to buy a piece of sausage fromthe bare shelves of the one I knew raised a challenge to the interpretations of CNN state-run butcher shop, she would now wait at home until she commentators. All the news sounded as if it had been written had saved enough to buy the same piece of sausage from a by the same committee of ten. In the light of the apparent privately-owned shop. The queues are gone and it is necessity consensus, my qualms about curiosities like the comments of -instead of bureaucratic indifference-that keeps her waiting. the Russian widow or the queues forfood and work in Canada But the reality of waiting to be fed remains. She misses the must have been private, matters of merely personal opinion, conversations she had with her neighbors while standing in having no bearing on the objectivity of CNN's reporting. line. The sense of deja vu persists, though, colored by Marshall As presented by the western media, the Russian trauma McLuhan's observation that freedom of speech, in a society took on the character of a giant morality play or a modernized where the means of access to public opinion is in the hands of version of Israelite historiography. The Russians had strayed the few, is a fool's freedom. It is the freedom to say whatever to alien gods, to Lenin and Stalin, and were suffering the you like within the confines of your own home but, in the wrath of Yahweh for their apostasy. The mighty are fallen. public realm, it amounts to no more than "the freedom to put The offices of the KGB are ransacked by common citizens up and shut up." The individual who relies upon his experi­ seeking the truth. Tearful mothers wait in line for milk they ence for knowledge about the world knows that the odds are can no longer afford and cry out against the men who had against him. Without thought or analysis, he resigns himself their way with them and left them destitute with hungry unconsciously. Even the revelation of deliberate campaigns of mouths to feed. The unemployed march on the streets disinformation, such as that perpetrated by the military during demanding bread. the Gulf War, does not alter his confidence in the basic To make these momentous events more �ccessible to the objectivity of the media. Hadn't the media honestly reported dull-witted capitalist masses, the complexities of social change that the truths they had been repeating throughout the war in Russia were given a Manichean cast. Seth, the god of had turned out, on closer examination, to be a pack of lies? socialism, is cast down by Amon-Ra, the god of capitalism. Lacking the means to compare reality and fiction, substance After an eclipse of eighty-five years Ra's light shines again on and myth, true and false, the viewer has no choice but to the Russian Republic. During the subsequent victory parade, accept an occasional falsification as the price of freedomfrom the atrocities of the former regime are paraded across the the responsibility of finding out for himself. television screens of all nations. Where the spectator's personal experience provides no point The voice of the Russian widow is lost among the hoots and of comparison against which the validity of televised news can whistles of western news commentators. The anomaly of her be measured, the distinction between public information and waiting to be fed, regardless of the political system that holds public entertainment vanishes like a coin in the hands of a sway in Russia, inspires no analysis. conjurer. News of the far-away and exotic, unlikely to affect

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 47 any but the few, is as significant as coverage from the play entirely and sits in the wings sional administrators of state and corporate of local events having a direct bearing upon trying to pare his fingernails out of existence. bureaucracy have taken charge of all signifi­ the life of each citizen. Clowns, geeks, The drama being enacted for the specta­ cant social activity. dwarves, bearded ladies, strongmen and tors gives the illusion that the events of the Market researchers and advertisingexecu­ other sideshow marvels flicker across the drama have a life of their own. The autono­ tives manage consumer demand and public screen while the machinations of entrepre­ mous economy expands and contracts, in­ opinion, human relations specialists direct neurial bureaucrats enlarging their domains flates and deflates,moves form manufacture the lives of workers on and offthe worksite, or the card tricks of fm ancial wizards to services and back again, out of all control social welfare agencies negotiate rights and flensing a company of assets needed for a of the workers, consumers and investors duties within the family, the state allocates plant expansion go unreported. Throughout, whose decisions it represents. The autono­ jobs according to quotas set by interest the public assumes the character, in the mous political process sees voters select one groups, and urban planners and developers words of McLuhan, "of a kept woman whose political party after another which, once in tum public thoroughfares into shopping role is expected to be one.of submission and power, make the same speeches about re­ malls the better to control-through floor luxurious passivity." straint and the need to stimulate investment layout and security regulations-the move­ ments of the public in-public places. The recasting of public information as as their predecessors. All attempts of the When his own powers have been alienated sideshow diversion is so complete in the end electorate, every four or eight years, to veto and are represented back to as belong­ that the selection of items for the network the process by switching to another party, him ing to an autonomous spectacle, the individu­ news is made by the entertainment director. fail. The endless game of musical chairs al has no choice, if he is to retain his dignity, On a night when a made-for-TV movie played by the candidates is shown on televi­ but to resign himself and slip into interior about child abuse is being aired, the number sion year after year, while on the streets of monologue and fantasy. The tendency of of reports of child abuse shown on the eve­ the nation, nothing changes. ning news triples. The blurring of the line individual citizens to assert their desire for As the spectacle invades the lives of all between fiction and reality befuddles the respect exclusively in the realm of the imagi­ citizensin a democracy, it melts their former more stupid politicians. The Vice-President nation has made public image the main rights and freedomsinto air and brings them accuses television character Murphy Brown commodity produced by the autonomous face-to-face with their real powerlessness in of contributing to the Los Angeles riots. economy. Lifestyle advertising lias replaced relation to their own kind. Freedom of Meanwhile, the program's heroine issues usefulness, as a determinant of a product's speech and freedomof information are made fictional news reports about an imaginary value, with signification. The value of a pair meaningless by the citizen's lack of access to Vice-President of the United States named of jeans or a bottle of shampoo is measured, the public and by the absence of information Dan Quayle. No dissenting voice, no merely on a ratio of ten-to-one, by the designer relevant to the public's needs. Freedom of private experience, disturbs the spectacle of label, or the elaborate packaging, over the choice in the marketplace is spurious when public debate long enough to initiate a product's applicability to the task of covering the consumer is manipulated by advertising critical revieW of intelligence from the front. the buyer's ass or washing his hair. The and limited to choosing between fifty differ­ preference for a million-dollar home or a ent brands of breakfast cereals, but not "The spectacle, grasped in Porsche has little to do with anything but a between the production of breakfast cereal desperate desire to possess the respect nor­ its totality, is both the result and the creation of housing for the homeless. mally accorded to images alone. Under these and the project of the existing Freedom of association cannot be exercised conditions, the real consumer of products, or mode of production. It is not a in an intellectual climate dominated by an political policies, is a consumer of images supplement to the real world, ideology that discourages anything but the and illusion rather than one whose needs are and additional decoration. It individual pursuit of gain, an economy that met by the goods being delivered. disrupts freely-associating communities and is the heart of the alism In the society of the spectacle, daily life unre a morality that provides no illustration of the takes on the character of an immense oper­ of the real society." -Guy Debord principles which, at other times in history, atic performance. Theaudience takes part by April, 1998: bound individuals together. The decline of singing from a script in a foreign language unionism in those industries, like the Post he condition of chronic spectatorship none of them understands. Theyare ignorant Office, where management has deliberately develops when social reality is ac­ of the purpose of the performance and have T moved the factory away from the neighbor­ cepted as a given rather than as the end lost the directions that would have told them hoods and the drinking establishments in result of the efforts of particular social ac­ how to return to the real world. They wan� which their workers congregate, is one of tors. Television viewers take it as a given der the stage aimlessly, overhearing snatches countless examples of the calculated demoli­ that 'news' will not be information relevant of the arias sung by other characters in the tion of freely-associating groups occurring to their immediate lives-oblivious to the play. They exchange scripts only to find that censorship imposed by elite control of the throughout society. the story line of each character is much the media. Singles take their isolation from A corollaryto the undermining of individ­ same. A choir of workers with hammers meaningful human relationships for grant­ ual freedoms is the concentration of all keeps the economic tempo of the perfor­ ed-unaware of their power to change the power in the hands of those who alone claim mance going, while prima donnas dressed in situation. In both cases, the impulse towards the right to wear the costume of the com­ business suits or the polka-dot pants of action is redirected, by the ostensible inflexi­ mon citizen and play the role of the people politicians shriek the lyric line over the heads bility of the social world, into the realm of directing a freesociety. As Alexis de Tocque­ of other singers. All voices unite in a chorus the imagination. ville predicted, unrestrained individualism of pathos and inevitability. The feature which most differentiates the and passion for equality has led to an admin­ The occasional phrase heard in the ca­ contemporary society of the spectacle from istrative despotism of those who govern on cophony of voices hints at the sense of unre­ human societies of the past is the margin­ the strength of real or imagined political or ality being felt by all the actors. A traveller alization of man the creator, and his idealiza­ economic mandates. Whether appointed to at the Holiday Inn remarks, "This is the life, tion, God the Creator, in the social drama. their posts to carry out the will of the peo­ eh?"- more in. doubt than as an expression His place at center stage is usurped by the ple, or raised to them by the economic vote of enjoyment. The survivors of a plane crash narcissistic spectator, while God is withdrawn of consumers in a free market, the profes- are interviewed on television telling how "it

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed · Spring 1993 48 was just like in the movies." They know no short. To have survived on the street for tional goods. A cartoonist with a shop on the other reference point to bring home the years, she had to be self-sufficient and tough main street sketches greeting cards for . resi­ reality of their personal tragedy but that and this reminder of her dependent status dents, paints signs for local businesses, provided by a Hollywood For a mo­ tells her she is not tough enough. I'm glad makes decorations and sells T-shirts in ftlm. wall ment, private life is revealed to be more she is embarrassed, though, and wants to the local clothing outlets. In any other part unreal than the life described in fiction. avoid the topic of her boyfriends. In the past, of the city, he would have to get a 'real' job. Somewhere, the audience knows, hidden in she would simply have denied giving money The critique that reaches the truth of the the orchestra pit, or disguised as one of the to anyone, or reasserted her illusion that society of the spectacle aligns itself, with Sir performers, lies the directorwho dreamt these men really do love her and mean to evil Philip Sidney and John Milton, firmly on the up this melodrama, but to find is more keep their promises. The frankness means I him side of man the artist. As artist, all his cre­ difficult than ridding the Beirut streets of have gained her respect. ations, from his tools to his relations with his terrorists or the American Senate of adulter­ She has quite a few bad habits: She is kind, are contrived. Man's unnaturalness ers. The crowd accuses first one person and slovenly. She runs up the telephone bill. She arises from his ability to shape the world in then another, and still the performance refuses to look forwork or go to school. She which he lives, from a vision of what could continues as before, its tempo unabated. parties at after-hours clubs until six in the be and should be, instead of surrendering to morning with hooker friends. She borrows the natural would of instinct and necessity. ''The spectacle does not real­ money without returning it and ruins my The critique that reaches the heart of the ize philosophy, it philos�phiz­ sweaters or trades them with her girlfriends spectacle rejects fatality and the utilitarian for other clothes. Her male friends steal es reality. The concrete life of viewof man, rejects expediencyand econom­ things from my home. ic efficiency, and reveals that no other pow­ everyone has been degraded I am not paid to be a social worker and er, but the willingness of people to blindly into a speculative universe." do not consider myself terribly good at it. I follow their instincts and let others make -Guy Deb�rd suffer the aggravation of neighbors angry at rational decisions for them, enslaves the the noise, visits form the police and being K.a.7, 1998: citizenry of the modem state. Such a critique met by strangers when I come to the recognizes that the contemplation of images, uring the summer, I put the news door-to say nothing of financial losses. My illusions and ideologies alienates the individ­ on the back burner. My immediate friends think my actions are self-destructive D ual from his own powers when these are concernwas for Cheryl, a streetkid who had or lunatic. They worry about my 'self-es­ separated from social action and human returned home after an absence of four teem'. Co-workers suspect me of sleeping relationships. Nothing more is needed for months. Since she was fourteen, Cheryl had with the girl. the individual to win back his freedom than been using my apartment, off and on, as a My neighbors, on the other hand, are a willingness to stop trying to discover self­ safe haven from pimps and others to whom more forgiving. The practice of deferring respect in images and objects and start she owes money. immediate gain in order to achieve a higher undertaking the creative action which gives I dread her visits because of the demands quality of community life comes more natu­ man his dignity. Failing to do so, the modem she puts upon me. She ties up the telephone, rally. They ignore prices and patronize local individual is nothing more than a sophisticat­ rarely picks up after herself and has friends merchants, frequentlypersonal friends, over ed rat in the behavioralist's maze. Unable to over at inconvenient hours. On her side of the chain stores downtown because the local fend for himself, reassured that he is free of the fence, I know, she would not be putting merchants contribute to their children's the responsibility of making his own deci­ up with the constant nagging unless the sports teams. They habitually pick up litter sions, taught to squeak in unison with the alternatives, offered by the Children's Aid found lying on the ground in local parks. others, "I'm an individual, yes I am," the Society or by her pimps, were worse. Most They know t}).e names of their children's trained rat is lead through the social mazes adults with whom she has contact do not classmates and their parents. They take an created by his own stupidity on the promise tolerate her independence. She has made it interest in local gossip and read the local of a bit of cheese if he reaches his goal. In fairly clear, though, by repeatedly running weekly to find out what acquaintances met at the light of his voluntarycompliance with the from her mother or from the group homes in the bar are doing. They adhere to an unspo­ maze-maker's specifications,there is little the which the CA.S. regularly places her, that ken code of behavior, and idea, that holds social critic can say that will liberate him. she values her freedom. If she is to be influ­ the community together but ostracizes those Words are not enough. enced by an adult at all, it will have to be by who consistently break it. Helping out street­ example and through the strengthening of kids, even when it brings a dubious, and ''To effectively destroy the her ability to make rational choices of her potentially 'criminal', element into their own. She sees no point in obeying rules neighborhood, does not violate the code. society of the spectacle, what simply because they are there. I shouldn't make too much of small devia­ is needed is men putting a We talk about her future. She would like tions from the general rule, but I am encour­ practical fo rce into action." to have her own apartment and be able to aged that the community in which I live has -Guy Debord travel. She has been promised these things begun to extricate itself from the society of often enough bypimps who know more than the spectacle. The accessibility of the local June-August, 1998: her about travel agencies, shuttle buses and paper !ind of gossip in neighborhood pubs n total, Cheryl stayed with me forthree allied subjects and who are old enough to gives each one of its members access to a I more months, until her eighteenth sign the leases. I point out that many people larger public than that provided to those birthday. During that time, she continued would be willing to help her if she would who rely oh the· established media for their much as before, but took advantage of an only save her money long enough to pay the information.A tendencyto take into account offer by her mother of airfare for a visit to rent at the end of the month. When I relate factors other than price when shopping, such the east coast where the mother had moved. her failure to save her own money to the fact as benefits derived from keeping money in It was the first time in four years that she she is leaving herself open to manipulation the community, has generated a somewhat and her mother got along. In Toronto, a by those doing the saving for her, she re­ independent local economy. With this sup­ month later, she was working the streets members there is a program on television port from their neighbors, local artists and again. She seemed more confident of herself she wants to watch and cuts the conversation artisans make a living producing unconven- ... Continued on page 53

Spring 1993 Anarchy: Journal of Desire Armed 49 A Columns

frustrating to see my attempts to express anarchist in this sense and have not an explicitly amoral, anti-economistic been since 1981. But we've all heard of - critique being interpreted as the oppo­ pianists, cellists and guitarists-so why site. not be an anarchist in this sense, one Language often frustrates me. Every who plays anarchy? Let me explain. The language that exists in the civilized simplest definition of anarchy is "no world developed within the context of authority." Where there is no authority, authoritarian relationships. Those of us a myriad of possibilities that cannot exist - who wish to challenge such relationships under authority suddenly open up. If Some Not Completely and express the possibility of free relat­ authority is the entire system of relation­ ing outside the context of authority can't ships that produces, reproduces and is Aimless Meanderings help but twist, contort and play with the society, then to "play anarchy'' is to language we use. In a sense, we create a create situations in which this system t's time to think about writing anoth­ new language, a language which we breaks down and to extend such situa­ Ier column. There are a lot of topics hope expresses the possibilities the old tions as far as circumstances allow so worth examining-topics to which I language tends to suppress. This is that possibilities outside of structures of have given a lot of thought and which bound to lead to some misunderstand­ authority can be discovered and played are fundamental to understanding and ings. I know that most of the readers of with. I want to do this for no other opposing authority. But I have no desire my writings are either anarchists or reason than that it gives great pleasure to put energy into examining these top­ anarchist sympathizers. I also know, and expands my life. ics right now. There are times when I from extensive interaction with anar­ Several years ago, a friend of mine, know exactly why I'm writing. I get a chists, that most anarchists 'think' and who was not well-read in radical theory, real pleasure out of making my explora­ talk in the terms of discourse created by but who knew she was fed up with the tions coherent enough to express them society, by the system of relationships rules and moralities anarchists tended to

to others. I look forward to the possibili- · and roles that is authority. They are make for themselves, said to me: "I'm · ty of stimulating and challenging dis­ anarchists because they hate the govern­ not an anarchist! I'm a me-ist!" Kind of . course ...But at the moment, this isn't the ment, the state, all bosses and hierarchy, sad that, even among those who claim to case. Not I don't want to express myself but they haven't conceived of the possi­ oppose authority, it seems necessary to coherently or be involved in challenging bility that authority may run much deep­ make an 'ism' out of living, doing and discourse. But, at the moment,· I'm not er than this-that it may be the entire rebelling fo r oneself. But with all the convinced that my recent writings are system of relationships and values that is moralistic drivel that passes itself off as doing that for me. society as we know it, a system into anarchism, it is necessary to keep on Recently, I was at an anarchist gather­ which we were all integrated to one harping on the fact that for me this ain't ing in Long Beach, California. There extent or another... and that it may be a question of 'good' and 'evil', 'right' and was illuch that could be criticized about the very language which we've been 'wrong', 'justice' and 'injustice'-though the gathering, but I got involved in sev­ taught to use to speak ... about everything. I may chose to play with some of these eral intelligent, humorous and challeng­ So I guess I· shouldn't be surprised that concepts if it pleases me; it's a matter of ing discussion-even ·in the context of my attempts to twist this language how I want to live .... Even freedom is of workshops! Due to a lack of p.c. and against itself, into a language that can value to me ·only because the fewer process fetishists, it seemed much easier express rebellion and the possibility of restrictions there are on me as I pursue to get to the heart of what was being real life, a language that is my own, the possibilities I want to pursue, the discussed, and most people did not take should be misinterpreted. It's probably fuller and more wonderful my life can offense at passionate expressions of far more surprising that anyone else be. If my egoism is expansive, it is be­ differences. But, around this same time, ever understands what I write, even cause your pleasure gives me pleasure­ I learned that articles I had written were partially. But I'll try to clarify things a not because I'm an altruist. being thoroughly misunderstood. I came bit more by reiterating things I've said a But what about greed, selfishness and across responses to my pieces which de­ million times as plainly as possible, wealth? One of the most banal falsifica­ scribed my writings as 'Marxist', 'econo­ which is to say, now I'm really gonna tions of moral anarchists is their attempt mistic' or 'moralistic'. This reminded me rant .... to explain the economic realities of of the time when a reviewer described There are people who are anarchists capital in terms of individual "moral two pamphlets I'd written as attempts to .in the sense of being believers in anar­ failings." The only problem with greed "create a new religion" when I was chism. Their anarchism consists of a as it exists in this society is that it isn 't trying to reclaim for myself what reli­ moral and/or social system which they greedy enough! The capitalist, the corpo­ gion usurps and places in the realm of wish to create and expand into a world­ rate executive and the power monger the 'spiritual'. Although much of this wide system of relationships. This ideal merely take a huge chunk of the impov­ misinterpretation of my writings can be forces them to morally oppose those erished reality offered by society, and attributed to projections of some peo­ aspects of this society which are in con­ mete out smaller portions of the same ple's ideological blind-spots, it is still tradiction to their values. I am not an to everyone else. In the process, they

50 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Columns lose themselves by becoming nothing more than their roles and destroy the wealth they could enjoy by making it into resources and capital. Their 'greed' is much more the desperate addictive need of those who know they have be­ come nothing-the need to make every­ thing into nothing. I pissed off at am them, not because they are greedy, but because the limited and impoverished nature of their greed is destroying the world of real wealth for which I am greedy. You see, I want the universe to be mine. I want to encompass every­ thing, every passion, every desire, every being into myself-I have a boundless greed! But no economy can make this possible. In economic systems, things can only be ownedas property. Property means limited ownership of limited things. What is one's property is always far less than what is not one's property, so property always means poverty. Wealth can only exist where there is no property and where no economic rela­ tionships exist-where I can make every­ thing my own and you can make every­ thing your own-and included in what I make my own is your pleasure in mak­ ing everything your own. In economic systems, greed is small, petty and con­ tractive and generosity appears to be altruistic. But beyond economic relation­ ships, greed is expansive and wants to have and enjoy the other's enjoyment, and generosity is the greatest form of selfishnessas your pleasure becomes my pleasure. So my writing, like everything I do, is an attempt to express an expansive selfishness-to get something I want. I haven't the least interest in winning people over to the cause of anarchy, nor of winning other anarchists over to my opinions. What I'm interested in is par­ ticipating in a challenging discourse that can be part of a radical practice that challenges society in its totality by creat­ ing an expansive, anti-economic selfish­ ness. I am arrogant enough to say that such a discourse requires a certain mini­ mal understanding to be truly challeng­ ing and that I'm not the least bit inter­ ested irtwasting time arguing with those without that understanding. These meanderings touch on some of these matters. I'll be using this column to expand on this in the future.

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 51 Columns

dom, amounting to "preemptive coloni­ lines for Inscription into work and zation" of infants. Carnal knowledge school heading down the pavement, starts and stutters on the ruler slapping blood flowing out to the hands and the hand of the masturbating child, heart to where the pavement ends. Flees penis cut in birth trauma of patriarchy, to the nature zones to escape the toxic bit/byte-size chunks of desire regurgi­ culture and it's thoroughly conditioned - tated in the family porno machine. Spiri­ 'counter-culture'. Materializingzones for The Movement tual darkness, emptiness. quiet, screaming, chasing, listening, Schiz-Flux moves a collective enuncia­ loving and getting in touch. Hearts can of Schiz-Flux tion of desire. In Madison we are invited surely undo the debris. to parties by host(esses) who, same as at At the Bloomington anarchist gather­ here is a movement abreast, a any other party, want us to do some­ ing I give a playshop on the sleeping thigh, a leg, torso, a murmured thing outrageous, so they followsu it. bag-covered floor of a university class­ can Tbreath away, tuggingat the sleeve Schiz-Flux catalyzes movement toward room. The tape by Debbie Moore that of your heart, encouraging you to abol­ an a-signifying sensuality. We might I play has us lay down & rock, put on ish your ''critical distancing," your cus­ dress in drag, :maybe strip & strut, dis­ blindfolds and touch (half of us are tomary 'safe-space' panic button ...and play homo-erotic touch, dance and hol­ naked). A man is passively resisting. He come crawl into this (our) coey cocoon! ler; or we'll split the scene and effect a is haunted/conditioned by his past. I Here pullulating parts re-birth each moving situation through the streets, search entrance to his trust and find other as fragments/entireties by mutual give guerilla 'performances' on the li­ closure. The others are mixing in a and transitory interfacing,configurations brary mall forthe drunk.en students. We primordial sea. Finally someone finds of flesh folded upon flesh. Here we en­ aim at the replacement of poor, defense­ him. ter "the place of each other, beyond less, guilt ridden, puppets in internal There is always Fluxuation, dementa­ surface walls of cold and ice, the place straitjackets with free non-Oedipalized, tion .from other dimensions. We are all of [post-] art-making and love making." uncoded individuals. Thereis no morality like little children trapped away and Movement toward the other is natural here boys and girls. Only mutuality and inside by deep drifts of snow, waving attraction (and repulsion), a focalized consent. Call it the revolution of every­ and calling from our distant houses, nowness courting elation on the edge of day life, the construction of situations or snowbound. We can sail over the snow­ experience, bursting through the freeze temporary autonomous zones-these banks through each other's bodies. We frames of interpretive holds on our f/uxuations flowfrom the source of one's can ride down hills of wonder and enter unconscious, finding the unfettered, the own predisposition-desire becoming into the games and spells and hidden unclogged but uh jagged material (re­ until fruition-and other becomings treasures of each other's personal, sen­ scheduled) for release. But when??? which destratifythe social arena and de­ sual, even forgotten ways. And from all What is the point of the orphan heart center its subjects, opening onto a of this letting in and more letting in we playing hide-and-go-seek? smooth space, a plane of (in)consistency are finding the wisdom of the free and Everyone always fantasizes about the offeringpost-graduate degreesin schizo­ clear. Like the waving children, snow­ party where everybody gets naked, danc­ version, Anti-ism and advanced idiotics. bound, our bodies beckon, and our in' up a storm, touching people freely We protest against any interference in heartfelt bodies can find answers be­ within parameters of negotiated trust. the free development of delirium. tween us through our touch (Moore). Surely our forebears spun homegrown Schiz-Flux is materialist psychiatry, Pseudo-filing away at the adult world jams of corporeal intimacy around fires anti-matter pilots careening out of con­ (mature destruction), frolic (frau lick), in caves in the woods on beaches or by trol, (mis)behavioral artistic derelicts and frenzy (friends y puta sagrada). rivers. But the thread of experience unlocking accustomed patterns, breaking Nomadic fluxuation and the ability to connecting us to these delectable prac­ the codes, delving into the molecular fully, deeply grieve makes the trampled tices is frayed and come apart, loose unconscious, that biolectic substratum of heart jump right back. Traversing moun­ ends hanging the heads in the spectacle desire, imbedded, inseparable in/from tains and valleys of love, searching for of passive consumption of the represen­ mental/physical/total. Setting up altered the primitive and a tribal nexus of con­ tation of fulfillment. Post-mortem sui­ environments, environments to alter nection: Nomad is mad, is madder than ciety continues the carnage wrought by emotions, psycho-geographical effects thou who is stationary. Infinite stopped­ Cartesian thinking, the university heads where instinct meshes with conscious up brevity, hasteful glimpses/somer­ mired in text. The spinal cord dangling, control. sauhs-irito-each others lives. No perfor­ cut away from the body-the machine Jack-of(f)-all-trades, each Schiz-Flux mance, just sharing, briefly, hardly fully subjugated to Ideology and its member carries with them the official touching, looking for entrance cues into institutional mechanizations. Oedipaliz­ rules of (mis)conduct, realizable only others inner unclogging the utter black ation: the process whereby the instincts through unwriting. That is, one exits the hole of smoke-darkened lungs, grief are surgically removed-play, fun, spon­ cage of head and its myriad altars of center entirely numb. taneity and love are crushed and re­ text. Seized as if from the bush, a true Worlds. Seek, salk, sulk, sage. Rattle, placed by conformity and fear of free- alien in the city, by passing the waiting cuddle, nibble, widgely, tirage. Throw

52 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Columns

out Oedipus, throw out Sophocles. Hide ping off social appendages & fixtures daddy, the shrink, the cop, the professor from concrete establishment my hard­ which have become attached to the and priest. For this we caution initiates ened cock at the library, cute blond with body, channeling it's breaks and flows to unhinge themselves gradually, letting the wet pussy. [escuse (sic) that burst of into holistic quarks, triggering a-signify­ the psyche re-con-stitute itself at its own phallo-centric semen which interrupted ing processes. Sometimes Schiz-Flux pace. my text!] I rocking my bosom. movement is too fast, and the flow re­ The Schiz-Flux movement is a pas­ am Schiz-Flux is not art is post-art is not verts to the paranoiac, the paralythic. tiche of plagiarism. Notions lifted from mail or male art or sex art or just sex. Passing too many stages too quickly situationists, neoists, existential phe­ Art thou? It is quickly geared for chop- sometimes leads back to mommy and nomenology, PRAXIS, Frank and Deb­ bie Moore, Feral Faun, permacult, onto­ Barcelona. So now a plan to restore the logical anarchy, Deleuze and Guattari, Life In old neighborhoods was in full swing. anti-Oedipus, post-structuralism and Our house was still more or less intact, post-Toasties. More than left-brained, Revolutlonary but the street was full of porno shops nit-winged word games issuing from a Barcelona and 'American' bars. Cars were parked yakkity-yak empty bravado, Schiz-Flux is Continued page 45 in claotic clusters everywhere on the the dance of life with open and crazy from sidewalks. arms. cheek, then on my lips. I responded the The veterans of the Lincoln Battalion Individuals are being born again and best I could. Her father came to help I am glad, glad, glad as if spring were her with her coat. "See you in France, visited some battlefields. I met Steve Nelson, the Commander of the right burgeoning again in the earth. Were I Palitos," Libertad turned and gave a wing in the attack on Brunete. We took alone in feeling it, the entertaining folly little wave as she walked out the door. of having desired to conquer death while In the · middle of January of 1939 my an air conditioned bus looking for the town. It was a hot, dry summer day. liberating every desire from, would parents and some other friends man­ remain. aged to capture two G.M. trucks. Every­ Brunete had a new highway, and auto­ body carried a weapon. My mother mobiles of European tourists speeded Schiz-Flux can be fo und on any street through at fullblast. Steve guided me to comer or wilderness enclave. Seek them lurk­ carried her old pistol. We leftBarcelona ing in the bathroomsof Greyhound stations or in the dark, at a furious speed. Far away the streets where the battle had been the worst, where hundreds of men fell unexplored caves, or simply write: Schiz-Flux, we could hear the rumble of artillery. At c/o Box Naa/ehu, 28, HL 96772 every turn of the road we found people in hand to hand combat. Steve pointed out a field near an old wall. "There is moving toward France. The trucks Prostitution climbed the Pyrenees slowly and with where Oliver Law died." He was the Continued from page 49 Captain of the Battalion, the first Afro­ great difficulty. The road was icy, slip­ than she had been in the past. Her boy­ American to lead white men into battle. pery. We walked the final trek to the friends were different. For one thing, they border with France. The French had Seated in an open cafewe had French were not the pimps with whom she usually sodas, bread and chorizos. We talked stationed Senegalese troops to control went out. She had givenup believingin their about America, when suddenly Steve phoneypromises. the refugees. I liked the guards with said: "You guys," meaning the anar­ She asked me to save her money for her. their black faces and red colonial kepis. chists, "were so full of fire, so full of Everynight, at one or two in the morning, I An entry in by diary ready: "January 29. would meet her downtown and take the passion. You had such a rare nobility. It We crossed the border. Cold but sunny. night's earnings before her friends started Can't walk much, frostbite." Spain was took me a couple of years in an Ameri­ pressuring her to buy them drinks or loan can jail, the confessions of Kruschev and behind us now. them money. I could tell fromthe amount of a broken heart before I finally left the police surveillanceI was attracting that I was After W.W.11 I came back to France coming perilously close to being mistaken for to attend university. I met Libertad Communist Party. Ah!, but Spain ...Bar­ celona ...the FAI -CNT ...that was life. The a pimp myself. By the end of the month, she again. We had survived. romance of my youth� Nothing has ever had enough for her . own apartment. In July of 1986 I returned to Cata­ Cheryl shares the apartment with a girl­ touched it. I would not have missed it lonia. It was the 50th anniversary of the friend from her school days. Because she is for anything in the world." Civil War. Barcelona had changed. The attractive and articulate, she found it fairly infamous Mayor Josep Maria de Por­ easy to get a job as a receptionist in the e�st Notes end of the city. When I visit her, we talk cioles, a Franco favorite who probably about what she can do to free herself from hated Catalonia, had destroyed the most 1. TheFAI -CNfwasthe Iberian Anarchist Feder­ dependence on her employer and the rut of interesting views in the city and left ation in alliance with the anarcho-syndicalist a nine-to-fivejo b. Her plan is to open a used developers from Madrid free to con­ National Confederation of Workers. furniture store to recycle the furniture her struct modernistic buildings without boyfriend keeps bringing home on trash The POUM was the Workers Party of Marxist character or elegance, just simple greed. 2. nights. She may have to go back on the Unification, a small revolutionary anti-Bolshevik streets for a while to raise the capital. Stu­ Industrial slums, blocks of apartments party allied with the revolutionary anarchists. pidly, on hearing this, I offered to lend her like the sad, grey projects of Moscow, ' 3. The UGT was the Socialist-controlled General as much as I could. had been erected in a period of twenty Union of Workers, a non-libertarian and less I just know I'm going to lose my shirt on radical rival of the anarcho-syndicalist years. Franco had managed to degrade CNf. this deal.

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 53 Letters

tobacco addiction and trying to is Sergei. I'm Ukrainian. I was prove that Ritalin really doesn't born on 25th October 1963 year. Have something to say? Write us! work. I was on it for 2 school Now I live in the village of quarters, then stopped for a Novonikolaevka. M hobbies­ W y e would like to encourage you to write us in order to quarter and my grades went up, photo, tourism, music, travel by continue this dialogue, whether you are sympathetic or critical of not that grades matters. I also car, collection of foreign bank­ anarchist theories and practices. All letters will be printed with the felt better physically. Anyway, notes, stamps, postcards, maga­ author's initials only, unless it is specifically stated that her/his full kids-doctors can be drug push­ zines, discs, etc. I know English, name may be used or that s/he wishes to remain anonymous, or ers too. "Learning stimulants" Ukrainian and Russian. I send the name already appears in Anarchy-as in the case of an author are just speed. They fuck up answers to all peoples, who of an essay or creator of artwork published here. your metabolism, buzz you up, wanted to have pen friendswith We edit letters that are redundant, overly long, un­ and eventually can drive you to me. Please help me. will readable or excessively boring. (Ellipses in italicized brackets {. ..] depression (as they did me). Yours sincerely, indicate editorial omissions.) Limit length to four double-spaced, Well, enough I think. Will Sergei Naydonov typewritten pages. Address your letters to C.A.L., POB 1446, subscribe as soon as I got bloody Ostrovskogo St. 28, Columbia, MO. 65205-1446. We look forwardto hearing from you! money. vii. Novonikolaevka Pissed Peoples of the Planet Melitopolskij Rajon Unite! Zaporozhskayaobl. A.D. (no address by request) 332375 Ukraina Keep us posted the seeds of tomorrow! Water them; water them with the past, Dear Compafteros/as: the now, the future. Yet be Looking Remembering Thankyou for sending me the aware that they, the wild seeds, Bob Brubaker Summer '92 issue of Anarchy. I will sprout and grow with or Dear Anarchy, gleaned so much from it that without you. The land is so rich, I have received #33/Summer Cherubic cheeks now I'm wondering what I've freedom is so intangible, pain '92. I have paid what I could sweet smile across his small missed out on in your back is­ and frustration are so felt, why affordfor it, $2.00, and you were mouth sues [... ] I am also interested in then such passiveness? kind enough to send it to me. I clear eyes reading some of the original Sigamos luchando am a Wisconsin prisoner. I got full-chested hugs writings of Proudhon, Kropotkin, y apprendiendo, your address from ApaEros Bob's fatalasthma condition is Bakunin, and Ricardo Flores Jaime Enrique Baxter which belonged to a friend. This something I don't remember him Mag6n. I have already read the #88410-012 F.C.I. capitalistic system holds me discussing much with me during few watered down books avail­ 8901 S. Wilmot Rd. back. I am in the hole.(seg) and the short time he lived in San able from the Tucson Library Tucson, AZ. 85706 shall be till at least 1993 (July). Francisco. Running together in through an outside prison library I am requesting the free prison­ Golden Gate Park, I remember er subscription you advertise. I service, however, TCN ibrary State-produced dust Bob always looking fit; from doesn't have any of the original would continue to pay but they Japan he wrote of his pleasure writings that I seek, and it seems Dear @ friends, have taken all my money forso­ running regularly. He also hiked that TCN Library has never I have just moved into a dorm called 'restitution'. I also request up Mt. Fuji where he was struck heard of Proudhon or Kropot­ at college-I'm a freshman here. that you trade my address with by the myriad of lights from kin. Any material sent to me Brought my collection of Anar­ any othe� papers or projects other hikers' lanterns. Bob's (paperback and not more than 6 chy mags and believe me, I have especially sexually-oriented pa­ words painted a picture reminis­ of anything) will be perused by thoroughly read and re-read pers, mags, projects, etc. My cent of a scenen by the Japanese many more than myself. them. This is a Methodist col­ release date is August 25, 1995 ... 19th century artists Hiroshige Also, keep us posted on Os lege full of mindless assholes. Also I was wondering if you and Hokusai. Cangaceiros. Perhaps, an article My roommate "didn't get" a could like publish my address in Bob grappled with his writing, giving your readers a historical short fiction story I wrote for a your mag so someone writes to which he felt was inadequate. picture of this kind of activity, friend about the day our gov't me. I am a 19 year old male This self-criticism followed him where the citizens of the world starts charging money for people who loves women! Of all shapes, from Detroit, where he worked sizes, and colors!. . am looking Fifth Estate in their respective geographical to breathe air. He told me it was .! on the to Japan, areas have taken it upon them­ 'unrealistic', and when I asked for females to write, also please where he continued to read and selves to sabotage or to bring him what he thought about pay­ add I request photographs. Well, write, nevertheless. Bob loved to down the walls, will inspire la ing for food (another necessity thank you, komrades! write letters fullof lucid descrip­ gente to a new pastime. of life) he told me that was Anarchy in the U.S. tions, critiques, reviews. These Well my friends, I have Ru­ 'different'. Amerika Awake! could easily have been compiled dolf Rocker here in my cell Anyway, I love your mag. I Jayson J. Strieter #186727 to create publishable pieces, but explaining to me his Nacional­ was an anarchist in 8th grade Greenbay Correctional Inst. he wasn't easily convinced of ismo Cultura. It's sad how Green Bay, WI. 54307-9033 this. y due to my dissatisfaction w / some of us have wasted so much school, but after I was thorough­ Some of Bob's friends in the time and blood fighting amongst ly put down by my relatives and Pen friends wanted U.S. didn't understand or accept ourselves for the impoverished busted for my beliefs (making his living in Japan. I believe he streets of our barrios, ghettos explosives from science-room My dear friend, was nurtured by his exile from and gangs that don't even be­ chemicals I stole) I was brain­ I very much want to have pen the frustrations of living in the long to us. But, as it recently washed by a shrink and almost friends in your country. Please U.S., including the problem of became obvious to the world in caught shoplifting. I decided to help me, if you may. I will be tryingto exist in more of a polit­ May, the pain soaked walls and lay low, and my mind collected veryglad if I will have friendsin ical vacuum than any of us had the land steeped with blood and state-produced dust. your country in the future.. I'm a experienced in the late '60s or sweatare veryfertile; fertile with I'm currently trying to kick citizen of the Ukraine. My name early '70s. In 1986 he wrote from

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 54 Letters On Virtual Reality Commentary by Bob Brubaker · The following commentary is excerpted froma personal letter in Frith assertstha t "only the modern generation of children brought TV which Bob Brubaker evaluated articles published in Sect Notes up on a diet of fast-cut commercials •.rap id-fire news and increasingly fr om the Tokyo Underground by Jonathan Seidenfeld and7: Andy larger amounts of compressed information can relate to this information Frith. The articles included "State of the cyberpunk nation" in issue overload." But is it really true that the post-1970-born "technologically literate" are more able to "keep up" with the information explosion than #1 and "Passive media, interactive media" & "Severin's dekapitation their parents and grandparents? I would guess that the situation is komer" from issue #2, and may still be available from Sect 7 precisely the opposite. Consider the example of information overload (Nagareya, Masukopo-Takadanobaba 1-D, Takadanobaba 1-25-5, which Frith cites: "one CD-ROM disk made by Encyclopedia Britannica Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan; or 640 Polk St. #302, San Francisco, [which] contains a 26-volume encyclopedia with over 32,000 articles, CA. 94102, USA). thousands of color pictures, animated subjects, including a world atlas, RITH'S AND SEIDENFELD'S PIECES ON COMPUTERS, MEDIA, 60 minutes of famous speeches, music and sounds, a complete and "virtual reality" were simply revolting. These aren't critical dictionary and a scientific glossary that pronounces words." So who is analyses in any sense of the term-they're advertisements,pr omo most able to ."keep up" with this facet of the information explosion, the pieces for the information age. This isn't the place to go into all modern generation of children" or their "technologically illiterate" F parents and grandparent"TVs? Considering the relevant evidence, from my objections to their technophilia; suffice it to say that Frith takes for granted one of the biggest intellectual frauds to be foisted upon the falling SAT. scores to rising rates of illiteracy among the young, it seems obvious that it is the allegedly "technologically literate" public since the advent of behaviorism: the crude reductionist notion TV that the mind is at bottom simply a highly sophisticated "information children who are failing to "keep up'." processor," or in the words of computer scientist Marvin Minsky of MIT, Indeed, many youth have dropped out of the race altogether, and for "a computer made of meat." Frith reduces complex societal develop­ the very reason Roszak mentions: Lost among shapeless heaps of ments to a single factor, information, and simply assumes in a information, unable to make sense of the welter of data, factoids, caricature of abundance, "the more information the better." As he puts images, and sound-bytes with which they are bombarded every day, it: "The human eye is capable of scanning gigabytes of information many young people are simply overwhelmed, to the point of exhaus­ every second, but by relying heavily on the written word as our major tion, numbness, and finally indifference. Frith simply ignores this information source we are restricting ourselves to the kilobyte range. If "falling rate of intelligence," as it has been called, in his inappropriate a picture is worth a thousand words, then a 3-D representation of that euphoria over the information explosion. In fact, he and his accomplice picture is worth a million, and a 3-D spatial environment that I can Seidenfeld wish to bypass the mind altogether, to propel us directly move around and interact with is worth a billion." into the world of "virtualrealit y," a world of total simulation in which the Frith's words may make glib advertising copy, but they will scarcely mind, normal perception, thinking, and the written word are supplanted serve as an analysis of the relationship of humans to information. If the by a programmed total information environment. In the VR world of human brain really were merely an information processor, then Frith 'cyberspace', as Seidenfeld names it, information is literally injected would be right. Why operate an information processor at less than full into the brain via various types of VR hardware so that "the user feels capacity? But as the above quote demonstrates, Frith merely assumes as if he or she is actually walking around inside a three dimensional that humans should be 'scanning' as much information as possible. But computer graphics display." According to Seidenfeld, cyberspace is the why? Just because we are 'capable' of it? ultimate experience, "Mysterious faces, people with no past, a bizarre Herein lies the danger of the reductionist metaphor of the brain as fantasy for some, an adventure escape for others, and always a an information processor: by abstracting from concrete human constant parade of the outrageous, the bizarre. Visitors are linked by experience, this metaphor recasts humanity in the image of a machine. modem from their offices and work stations all over the world." What is lost sight of here is that the human mind exists not only to take Actually, Seidenfeld's futuristic euphoria notwithstanding, VR is little in 'information' but to think. And as Theodore Roszak persuasively more than the latest designer drug, a banal escapism, a cybernetic argues in his book The Cult of Information: The Folklore of Computers Disneyland for jaded yuppies and computer geeks. (The motto of and the True Artof Th inking (a book Frith and Seidenfeld would do well cyberspace, to be posted at every portal and entranceway, should read: to read, that is if they don't mind 'restricting' themselves to the kilobyte "Abandon Thought, All Ye Who Enter Here.") It's no accident that range for a few hours), "the mind thinks with ideas, not with information." Seidenfeld describes his envisioned "cybertropolis" as "a marketplace (Roszak's emphasis). Indeed, some of the mind's richest and most of goods and services" where "hotshot programmers [show) off their fruitful ideas-what Roszak calls "master ideas," "the great moral, reli­ latest creations" and "everything is payable by electronic bank transfer gious, and metaphysical teachings which are the foundations of or by credit card." VR is capital's world, and the corporate elite who culture"-take shape in a context in which the importance of informa­ manufacture the hardware and software aren't going to let you forget tion and its means-computer data banks, CD-ROM disks, mass that fact for a second. media-dwindle to insignificance. Roszak spends considerable time VR is capital's world in another, more sinister sense, too. Capital discussing these ideas because "they bear a peculiarly revealing would like nothing more than for people to turn their back on the real relationship to information ...Master ideas arebased on no information world and its problems-the world of social misery and ecological whatever (Roszak's emphasis). I will be using them, therefore, to destruction, the world of political and social struggles and their emphasize the radical difference between ideas and data which the cult repression by the forces of power, the world of critical thought and ' of information has done so much to obscure." utopian dreams-for the VR world, a world of escape, fantasy, and Roszak points out that ideas, not information, are at the center of simulated 'solutions'. In this respect, 'cybertropolis' is quite similar to every culture; in fact a culture "survives by the power, plasticity, and the futuristic world depicted in the movie Bladerunner. a city of pure fertility of its ideas. Ideas come first, because ideas define, contain, and artifice, of technological perfection, controlled and policed by giant eventually produce information. The principal task of education, multinational corporations and off-limits to the poor and working therefore, is to teach young minds how to deal with ideas: how to masses, an elite world built upon the burnt-out, polluted, rottingcarcass evaluate them, extend them, adapt them to new uses. This can be of old Los Angeles. For Frith and Seidenfeld, VR may portend ''the done with the use of very little information, perhaps none at all. future," but for most of us VR is no future at all, just another form of certainly does not require data processing machinery of any kind. AnIt escape, accessible only to those who can afford it, while those who excess of information may actually crowd out ideas, leaving the mind cannot watch as the real world quietly goes to hell. (young minds especially) distracted by sterile, disconnected facts, lost Thanks to Richard Evanofffo r permission to publish this letter. among shapeless heaps of data."

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 55 Letters

Japan: weeks to release buried fear & do.� 1"' a mi r ror "It is a fascinating place. It is, A pain, & regressing 100s of times of course, very industrialized, + Y j h q Oh Eve. 's I s since; my awareness of the caus­ verymodem and people are very r e �ve es & effects of birth, emotions middle class (consumer oriented) & our energy . changes keeps Wh �h 5h� >5 '<\ 0 + in their interests, so the exoti-, growing here. I'm still meeting cism that some foreigners are my parents & children who had looking for is largelyabse nt. But /have more bonding than older it's sufficientlydifferent fromthe generations. But parents still U.S. to be continually intriguing have hidden-abuses that twist (in my opinion), and I've found into projections of fear, trusting­ people to be very friendly and illusions & getting sick without kind. I've been invited into peo­ knowing why or how to prevent ple's homes, and have quite a it naturally. So our forgotten few good friends here. There are birth-trauma, child-abuse & frustrations and difficulties, too, neglect ,make us lame, fear na­ and not all Japanese people are ture & in-conflicts stemming kindly disposed toward foreign­ from the family-war we excuse ers. Overall, my experience in with a ton of good-memories, Japan (and Heidi's, too) has hateful-blame & depending on been verypositive ." doctors to know our body better When Bob thought of return­ than we do how to balance it all. ing, he considered Eugene be­ These Primal (energy) causes of cause of the ease of living with­ love & problems are mostly out a car, as well as the opportu­ denied now because: nity to work with John Zerzan 1. Memoryblock-Most adults and others. Recently he had were abused & neglected, but considered moving to Columbia, don't/can't recall it, doubting it's Missouri to work on Anarchy. evenpossible to remember birth. But he kept going back to Japan 2. Child-abuse-is usually hid­ after his visits to the U.S. And den in private rooms in homes he kept staying, even through (incest at nite) & hospitals of break-ups with lovers. nice & clean (nazi) business, I will remember Bob as a since the peace movement warm friend, as a person who stopped public beatings for stood firm against this deadly good. system, and especially as some­ 3. Legal-systems-usually pro­ one who took pleasure in resis­ tect abusing-adults by denying tance. When Bob recounted his legal/civil-rights of due-process antics against authorities, he'd of law to abused children. get this impish grin.As I live in 4. The true causes of crime­ the wake of Bob's death, I hope are blamed by 'experts' onto his rebellious spirit will continue poverty, genes, frustration, to kindle my own. drugs, racism (not pain & need). Melen Lunn 5. Medical health-(lab) scienc.e San Francisco, CA. does (must) deny all causing of birth-trauma & illness, to sell its The fa mily war of hi-tech treatments, of numbing child abuse & neglect therapy (insured for the rich) trusting experts knowing our Dear Anarchy, bodies mechanically, but denying Ye s! I totally agree with & dig by Mr. f,"Sh nature's power. the Positive Evidence for adult­ ®1993 Fish M�. 6. Deep fears-of emotions, child sex, tho i don't do it. You threats & internalized-taboos in repressed adults customs of freelove, guilt-for-abuse, pain, are courageous to print it, as is most-civilizeci-people. In indus­ normal separations of: nursery child's-innocence & raw-nature Featherstone for writing it in trial-nations most all babies are bed, crib, carriage, hi-chair, car­ keep us indoors for safety, and dangerous times. He balances neglected (except the wholistic seat & play-pens keep us apart rationalized,like parents punish­ his advocating freedom-of-choice families) of great needs for af­ from nature & intimate touch­ ing children, "for their .own & mutual consent while admit­ fection, touching & play within ing. These all make us fussy, good!" (see Alice Miller's books ting vast child sexual abuses are nature from birth on. This has mad, needy-suckers, crying for on this). happenin'. But still now these created our public-schools & love. "Oh no! Martha, give'm a 7. 100.000s of us into radical­ are both secret, because of anti­ violent-sports because we missed bottle, pacifier, a toy. or sweet," therapy-& Nature-spirit are find­ sexual laws & order/the walls­ the natural homebirth & bond­ (tit-sub) fix-fast to-shut 'em-up ing memories of childhood of-fear blaming-the-victims of ing (need) period lasting our mom, say tense relatives. abuse & neglect (even birth), hate. first 1-3 years or more in the­ During 21 yrs of daily-soul­ naturally-healing it by regressing, Now lets get deeper into family-bed. So us hospital-born­ research starting with Primal breathing & emoting, & becom­ child-abuses causes & effects of babies with drugs (early start) by screaming (therapy) alone for 2 ing more sensitive, instinctual &

56 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed . Spring 1993 Letters

creative lovinglife, while also ing is forbidden, like parents So the deeper into prehistory, accurately the kind of civiliza­ feeling the shit of growing-up. hiding-their-sexfrom us children. the more naturalism-and Anar­ tion-the statism , the c/assism , The subconscious unwinds the If we missed nursing & bonding, chism. Having said all that, I'd the strict monogamism, and the energy-blocks we had to be the damage can be healed. like citing one more bit of pre­ 6000-year taboo on that which clean, nice & good. For me rebonding with a history-and naturalism-the rela­ dawn folk had no problem with So it's no wonder that the nursing-loving mother in the tionship of the sexes. We today, -fre e love. libertarians & anarchists don't family-bed when I was 40 years we of 6000-year civilization, take S.C., Detroit, MI. seek or know the deep causes of old, with Rebirthing was healing forgranted the male chasing the normal-massive: fear & hate, like lovenergy can be anywhere female, the male showing the Pedotopia body-stress, suicides, illness, it's felt-all-over is ecstasy. This initiative. Yet in prehistory, drug-dependence/wars, cops & revolution is the absolute-free­ more emphatically dawn days, Editors, robbers, pollution & destruction dom of natural-homeducation. it's the reve�e! At that time is Re: J. Featherstone's article, or nature, burying us in shit. So So I'm starting the LCPCA: . the fe male chasing the male ... "Positive Child-Adult Sex: The most adults waddle or jog ( & Local Center for Prevention of when, that is, she's in heat! And Evidence," & related letters [see sleep) thru life or consuming, Child-Abuse & neglect naturally when she is, she looks like what Analchy 1133/S umrner '92 p.60] . secretly carryingyears of pain & now to learn, heal & create love today's sexually aggressive male Even if the anecdotes in the fear from being threatened, instead of the compulsorystress­ looks like. article were more widely known, punished & abused in childhood, es of competitive life. Perhaps We sometimes say just that they wouldn't make his 'case' for pretending they're OK, better, like Sweden, our most aware "He chases her till she catches him. Why did the children initi­ best or bad. The consensus-of­ states can pass non-punishing him." This jest should offer a ate these contacts? "Wanting to denial =the illusion-of-state-de­ laws forbidding child-abuse & hint of what once-upon-a-prehis­ make a man happy" is consider­ mocracynow. So we must evolve promoting all natural & cooper­ toric-time really had been! An­ ably more sophisticated than out natural-systems at home. ative solutions to training chil­ cestral memory! infantile sexplay, & one wants to Some great sources for under­ dren in life. Giving children: Today is the female still at­ know not only where a 7-year­ standing this are RD. Laing's respect, choices & civil-rights tracted to the male, still this old learns the desire, but just books on mental health: Th e solve most of the problems naturalness. Except that she, how fellatio happiness are will & Politics of the Family & Sanity, we have in family & education 'thanks' to the civilizational, related in her mind. Are these Madness the Family that ex­ wars now. Victorian & new-Victorian con­ anecdotes to suggest that more & plain the causes of insanity are Mycall Sunanda ditioning, has to suppress this children (of what social class? of at home blaming-the-victim of LC PCA, show of attraction, or even the what temperament?) would want (parents'-problems) abuse & POB. 28 fe eling of attraction, at least until sex with adults if taboos did not neglect for seeking-freedom, Naalehu, HI. 96772 marriage or mating. She then, exist? (breaking rules), equality (re­ not surprisingly, sometimes Few of the children could spect), touching & access to Anarchism is naturalism (maybe more than sometimes) continue . their relationships; nature-spaces, locked indoors. becomes a "bedroom comman­ traumas followed discovery;even The legal-games cover-this-up Anarchy friends, do," if but fromher nature-given barring discovery, & given plea­ with the age-of-consent laws, What is Anarchism but natu­ capacity at orgasm at many­ sure & affection, what if the ageism/ seniority, punishment ralism ! many times that of the male. adult dies? or contracts HIV? or (abusing) to train all youth to Naturalism, I'd put it, is that The male, meanwhile-astonish­ faces some other disaster? Do obey, consume & depend on big­ which precedes this 6000-year ing evento himself-findshimself children have the emotional adults to supply essentials is civilization we're all enmeshed in the role of the sexual passivi­ strength & the support of really hip-market-distractions in. What precedes it is the 2- ty! friends & family to cope with fromNature, abuse pain & free­ million-year prehistory. But early Yet' those latter roles are the these matters? dom, & need to scream about prehistory, or dawn days, the natural roles, the dawn-time 'Consent' needs re-thinking. It the hate, fear & pollution. Ha­ pre-hunting& fm itarian era. The roles. involves more than acquiescence waii just passed a law allowing later prehistory sees, at least on So should we all go back to or pursuit: one who consents, as & justifying more "Use of fo rce" the part of the male, the hunting dawn-time? Why not! Except we the word implies, has the same & punishment to control-youth & killing of other species. Hunt­ retain our technology (like a fe el for the whole of an issue in in the same categorywith incom­ ing, meateating, isn't quite natu­ beaver retaining its dam), but a common with another. In the petents, prisoners & mental­ ral. We by-nature are not carni­ technology no longer hooked to best case, adults solicit the con­ patients. So kids are like animals vorous. Not our teeth, not our the capitalism or statism. sent of children by teaching to dominate & punish, exceptby jaws, not our essential human Males, thus-to be more natu­ them what the whole involves, extreme damage. So reversing disposition. We happen to be ral about matters-ought quit seruring, not token expressions this trend of more control & less fmgivorous. (Even vegetarianism chasing the females, ought rath­ (specific to the issue) of a pre­ respect for children's civil-rights is a later-prehistory phenome­ er stay put and let the fe males existent, well-developed feel for is greatly needed for a peaceful non.) do the chasing (about the way the whole. of life, but rather the community of family love. Pun­ Prehistory precedes that for­ Ms. George Sand was doing terms according to which that ishment-creates-violence & fear­ mal, impersonal, artificial struc­ toward Chopin). Of course most capacity is extended or trans­ ful people; while natural plea­ ture known as government, or today's females won't do the formed. A parent, teacher, or sure & cooperation come from the state. Prehistory likewise chasing, what with the 6000-year guardian has a feel for the affection, nature & freedom of precedes that which is hooked to conditioned passivity. So the whole of a child's capacities, self-regulation. It appears that the state, to wit, class. An eco­ males might have a long-long interests, history, temperament most-sexual-problemsare caused nomic elite. Private Property. As wait before being courted. & so on-worlds away from by fear & rules against intimacy of the emergence of agriculture So it's a problem! How have bourgeois conventions of seduc­ from-birth-on, when bonding & and domestication of animals. or bring back natural sexual tion (gifts, games, fun), which nursing are needed! Kids-sex Along with domestication of relationships! But the realprob­ recognize no individuality. becomes stress/needs if explor- women & children. lem is civilization itself, or more If children, like women, have

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 57 Letters

been oppressed in their desires, children, adolescents, & adults hearts.(Ditto for another French Action," printed in your Sum­ then children will have to re-ima­ that have positive psychological, film, L'Adolescente.) Or we mer, 1992 issu�. gine themselves as women have social, economic, philosophical, could recall how, in 1794, the Coinmunism in the Soviet done, transforming consent, political or spiritual significance, 22-year-old German poet Union was totalitarian, and com­ & erotic or romantic relationships, society willhave to be re-invent­ philosopher Novalis spent 15 munism in modern Cuba is fas­ self-consciousness, &community. ed. minutes with 12-year old Sophie cism. Both political ideologies Wouldn't that child begin to be Unless pedophiles make ba� & conceived a passion for her are right-winged, or radically free who could not only desire hies & rear them in pedotopia, that changed his life; among the consetvative, the latter much stimulation or coitus (with adults theywill always be dealing with community of people who com­ more than the former. or other children), but appreci­ other people's children: that mented on the betrothal, even In the former Soviet Union, ate the spectrum of erotic & means kinship structures, educa­ . Goethe thought the girl remark­ wasn't all political power, includ­ romantic relationships as social tion, money & social relations able. Aren't there other stories ing decisions involving the & historical fields of imaginative are involved. The 'morality' of that exemplify neither pederasty means of production, invested in play & .spiritual evolution, fanta­ those relations is no more in nor pedophilia, but show adults its government? If the Soviet size about ideal & possible part­ question than a pecJophile's who exp�rience the love of a Union had truly been commu­ ners, assessing family members, resentment of prejudice-onlythe child as a personal revelation? nist, wouldn't the opposite have friends, teachers, acquaintances, work of imagination & the actu­ On the strength of these sto­ been true? consider & discuss initiating al effects of newly imagined ries & of my questions, I feel In Cuba, all political power is relationships, turning to friends, relationships in society. Mr. Featherstone has an enor­ invested in a dictator, Fidel parents, mentors, or even books What, for instance, are the mous amount of work to do Castro. All dictatorships are to clarify feelings & ideas, & possibilities of adults serving as before he can address the ques­ fascist, are they not? Is free and express dissatisfaction & · end sexual mentors to adolescents tion of pederasty and pedophilia independent thought ·permitted relationships? who risk pregnancy & disease? as being possible fields of libera­ in Cuba? Were I Cuban, could I C.D. of Sometville says he How could adults who desire tion, not only because the names publicly criticize the government isn't afraidto look anyone in the adolescents keep them away themselves speak only of the without being arrested or even eye & say he loves boys. So from predators who are looking desire for children, but not he killed? what? Does that help a child for'clean' prostitutes? Are other desire of children, but because According to the author(s), discover the possibilities & re­ radical & healthy options possi­ he is willing to cast people in "What she (Ms. Avila, a WBAI sponsibilities of "fully armed" ble? general as narrow-minded vil­ radio producer) found (in Cuba) desire? He & Mr. Featherstone There is a moving French lains, when they are guilty of was a system held in place by think people won't consider the film, Sundays Cybele, about a what most members of the status political repression and govern­ & idea of child-adult sex (a more 30-ish amnesiac & a 12-year-old quo are guilty of: a lack of imag­ ment informers, repressing not accurate term than the barba­ orphan girl who fall in love. She ination. It is unforgivable that a just gays ...., but also those who rous "intergenerational consen­ has conventional ideas {when person who wants to espouse a had attempted to work within sual sex," which could just as she's 18 they'll marry), but, hid­ revolutionary cause is unable to the system to create a socialism well apply to Harold Maude), where freedom of speech and & ing her real name, clearly con­ understand this. but there is no such 'idea' out­ scious of her power & her feel­ Omar Bozeman criticism of bureaucratic mis­ side of social & historical reality. Quint Avenue #JS management and elitism were ings, negotiates her childlikeness . 28 Pointing to ancient Greece or Allston, 02134 not a crime." & growing womanhood with MA. other archaic societies in which great charm. The muted eroti­ "She saw numerous cases of the sexual initiation of children cism of their friendship makes . Cuba is not leftist . repression," including "a Marxist is integrated into the political, the tragic end a symbol of fear scholar who was imprisoned for philosophical, or spiritual feeling -but alerts us to responses, Anarchy, writing a criticism of elitism in a people has for itself will do no thoughts, hopes, desires, for this I'm responding to the OGB the upper echelons of the Com­ good-if community is to include couple, that could be the begin­ NewsService's article '"Peace for munist Party." These passages sexual relationships between ning of a work of infonned Cuba': The Repressive Left in certainly answer my questions.

WH'r''D TH£ CHIClS A REASON WHY? JO S'f DO IT!!

®1992 by Ace Backwards (1630 University Ave. Apt.26, Berkeley, CA. 94703).

58 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Letters

This is remlfilscent of Nazi oners to imitate him, to surren­ necessary credibility in order to for a wage they can't live on. Germany. Since Nazi Germany der weapons (often they kicked re-enter the real revolutionary Their wives, however, will work is referred to as fascist and radi­ him out!). movement through the window, eighty hours a week to earn cally right-winged, why isn't These are some of his dirty after they were thrown out of enough money for a new car or Cuba? tricks that are public knowledge, the door a long time ago-and some other frivolity. Therefore, It irritates me whenever coun­ so you can imagine the hidden maybe, by the way, plugging the statistically, women earn less tries like Cuba are referred to as rest. After these preliminaries, last book written! than men. It's not a patriarchal leftist (I only used the Soviet we would say that we don't We as anarchists, though with conspiracy. It's simple econom­ Union as a further example of mean to judge the choices made strong and still continuing criti­ ics. A Feminist needs to blame what I consider ''TheCommunist a long time ago by many ex­ cisms of the political organiza­ her materialistic sisters who put Misconception"). The left is revolu tionaries, withdrawing tions like the Red Brigades, their kids in day care to keep up liberal, the right is conservative. from the fight and criticizing keep on appreciating the digni­ with the Joneses. I always considered referencesto their own former political activi­ fied silence of the fighting mili­ Her second point about por­ modem communism as left­ ties; everybody is master of his tants who did not sell themselves nography is equally invalid. Men winged or leftist a fallacy. Theo­ own existence-yes, but of his to the enemy. And that is with­ just like to have pretty pictures retical or pure communism own existence. out considering all the prisoners, of women to look at while they (which has never existed) is left­ When this "self-criticism" is who weren't members of any masturbate. I know. I'm a man,

winged, but modem communism addressed to the judges, in order dictatorial organization, that· are she's not. Anti-pornography laws is not. to get some benefits, or, and it's still in prison. are just the precedent needed to Sincerely yours, worse, when one tries to involve Many pages have been written suppress other publications, like John Galliers all the movement in his own about this matter, and many Anarchy magazine. Boynton Beach, giving up-making up alibis and others might be written. We Sincerely, FL. a newlife, useful especially when hope that these pages would not A Masculinist, Raleigh, NC. Alberto Franceschini has one is set free-this is an oppor­ be written by ex-revolutionaries no credibility tunist and rotten attitude that and betrayers. New Art Riot we can't accept and justify. The For now, we point out that an Dear comrades of Anarchy, aim of these hired people is to anarchist journal, or any other Anarchy, We cannot get out of sending represent the new political rank, revolutionary journal,· can't so Hello? Is everyone out there you this letter, after we have between prisoners before then lightly help to give credibility to listening to The Manic Street read in issue #32 [Spring '92] an and in the movement, and they surrender, whatever may be the Preachers yet? Please print this interview with Alberto France­ are hired by power in order tq reasons to do it. please tell your readers to & point out the potential revolu­ It's very important to think schini, which previously appear­ , start with New Art Riot. Every­ ed-as you said-in the French tionary focus. In this way they about the damages that doing so thing else is just brain dead. journal Le Brise-G/ace. help power to prevent and re­ causes to the struggle and to us. Love, We don't know if you are press potential uprisings. Hoping that our bad English A Terrorist, NYC, NY. aware of who this person is and We don't understand how it is doesn't cause incomprehension, what his role has been inside the that the opportunist criticism of we send you our anarchist re­ Talking to men Italian revolutionary movement. dictatorial organizationsmade by gards. Franceschini co. are of inter­ M.S. S.M., Milano, Italy Otherwise, you must know & & Dear Anarchy, that: est to anarchists. This is more of a short-after -he is an ex-leader of the Red Innumerableanarchistwritings A masculinist response reading Feral Faun's response Brigades (and this is well­ have been made about "fighting to "A Feminist" (Fall '92)-than a letter. Look known ); parties," in Italy and elsewhere. mate: I can't vouch for other -he denied his organization, These writings criticized all the Dear C.A.L., women, but this is what I want armed struggle (in the wide "fighting parties," that always I preferred your new Summer -tell me my mind is beautiful, sense of the term), and the revo­ choke off the anarchist side of '92 format to the old format. woo me with poetry, learn how the movement, hampering its Your magazine is great source to seduce, wear eyeshadow. I am lutionary movement a long time a ago; propagation. And this happens of enlightenment. talking to men out there-if you -in order to get personal benefits not because these organizations The letter from "A Feminist" wanna get the girl, celebrate her (as his release from prison, as are 'fighting', but because they annoyed me. Like many femi­ ability to think. it's occurred-many of his former are 'parties': i.e. dictatorial, spe­ nists, she seeks to blame white Sincerely, comrades, who also denied cialist, completely cut off from males for her unhappiness. This Slashing for Dignity, NYC, NY. armed struggle, did not get the the rest of society-whatever Mr. viewdivides men against women. same benefits, evidently because Franceschini may say about it. Her chief complaints are that Huffy about porn there was not much they could We don't want to enter upon women are underpaid and that offer to the justice system) he the interview because we don't pornography is the theory of In your Summer '92 issue of collaborated with judges and want to give credibility to such a rape. Anarchy some person got all various prelates. And he had the person, even if we think what he Women are underpaid be­ huffy about pornography {see nerve to despise the collabora­ says in the interview is doubtful, cause they will accept lower p.70, "Porn is the theory.. :] . While tors, look who's talking! without considering his 'remem­ wages. When women floodedthe i myself look at the track record -he pointed out the hiding-places brances' with police informer job market, the supply of labor­ of porn with a critical eye; i am of weapons and munitions to the effects. ers grew faster than the demand able also to understand that authorities; If one wants to do an analysis for labor. That caused the price pornography is only a method of -when he was a prisoner, the of that period or to criticize a of labor to go down. communication or/and art. State sent him along to various kind of organization, please Men have to support families. By the examples i have been Italian special prisons in order don't resort to such people Even today, they are the primary allowed to see, i've noted what to persuade other political pris- whose only aim is to gain the bread winners. They won't work looks like exploitation, and what

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 59 Letters strikes my conditioning as nega­ or feelings.. .i think that's only block that pesters justice and sell a book, forwhatever reason, tive. At the same time, upon 1st half of the story, and emotionally 'freedom', but the mindsets and then she/he need not sell it. I and 2nd hand experience, i've I want to scream righ t back as i attitudes within them. Blame recommend Atlas Sh1Ugged, by seen what the need to make a can list all the constant talk solves no problems, but enlight­ the incredibly dumb Ayn Rand, TV profit does to communication shows, magazine articles, news­ ened cooperation in a mutually for an understanding of this and/or art. But porn in and of paper stories, letters to editors, beneficial arena does. aspect of capitalism. (I'm think­ itself has no mind, it is only a etc., etc. which speak, speak, C.D., "somewhere in Portugal" ing here of character Hank tool, like a gun or water. Only bolster and speak about Victim­ Reardon's treatment of those on another force can wield it to do ism (oh no, not another 'ism'). Valuable time his property who spoke things he harm. But i catch myself; those are didn't approve of.) Significant questions should pretty superficial and centered Dear editor, Then there's William on bicy­ instead be delivered, i think (i.e. on sensationalism and money It seems Anan::hy, the journal cling. Perhaps we'd best not do should porn come under some squandering ... but i put my nose of desire armed, has decided to anything to attempt to alleviate kind of restrictions?). Reason­ down when victimism (that vic­ join forces with the rest of the pollution. After all, cycling is able questions towards useful­ tim-hood which is socially recog­ mainstream media in its vilifica­ oppressive. Right. ness instead of towards emotion­ nized as able to be a victim) tion of political correctness. This Then there's Zerzan on the al either/ or tendency. thinks it can have the entire is the only thing that can explain origins of civilization. Note that Basically, i think pornography picture all by itself; that it, the exceedingly stupid 'advertise­ a not-so-careful reading reveals is an art form. And in America alone, is entitled to understand­ ment' which parodies politically that our weirdest avant-gardist it is similar to much of the more ing ...while those also victims (but correct use of language in the isn't able to get any anthropolo­ tolerated art in its purely topical not at this time fittingwithin the anti-civilization issue. What do gist to corroborate his most interests. Should we blanketly . acceptable boundaries)-such as you suggest we do? Either you interesting theses, namely, that prohibit all porn or judge it on the silenced prisoners of consen­ call people by how you value language and time are oppres­ an individual basis? sual intergenerational sex-can them or you call them by how sive. This is probably because, as Myself, i am able to visualize be damned for all the fuck you others call them. The others a cursory glance would reveal, that so-called "child pornogra­ care. Such unfashionablevictims, which the parody seemed to these are part of human nature phy" could evolve away from its underage minors as well as agree with are those who call and if, as Zerzan's essay indi­ adult porn norms and become adults, who've been sentenced blacks niggers, because they lack cates, the human brain is the not only a depiction but a meth­ by today's dogma to lives of status, and women fu cks, be­ same now as it was in primitive od towards imagination, ideas, suffering that have no place to cause they're sex objects. Con­ times (as it may or may not be), experimentation, and human be heard. Yet you with your gratulations on your integrity. then the primitives would have analysis-as form of artistic dis­ mainstream spotlight speak of As for the rest of the issue, I language and time. Also, anthro­ not having enough .... covery.... remain unimpressed. Anti-civism pologists have yet to unearth a The author's main tactic But what ground is being is plainly stupid. There is no way culture which lacks these funda­ against porn as a whole, proba­ gotten by our finger-shaking to feed all the people of Earth, mentals of being human, at least bly didn't realize how easily oth­ parades? For you to know my if we are to go back to the trees. as Zerzan presents his case. And er words could fit into their anger may enlighten your tunnel Either you wish a massive die­ I guess Zerzan goes ahead and monologue (or did they?). Use vision, but the more important out, and you're a Nazi and we begs the question and says "See 'art' in the space: "art is not thing is that we can join as angry know how to treat you, or you what a corrupting influence about expression-it's about pow­ people together. wish people to receive their due, civilization has?" It's explained . er. How can you tell it's about By realizing that porn in and and primitivism goes out the by Douglas Kellner's Jean Bau­ power? It's about who gets to of itself is not an evil, and as window. drillard that what Baudrillard is look at who's bodyparts without well that it is the mindset behind Michael William's two essays, doing is science fiction. I would asking; it's about who gets to the method and not a people, is one a straw man and the other suggest that this is what Zerzan decide the dominant images in to find a cooperative and con­ just plain griping with no solu­ is doing and I would also sug­ our society-about who controls structive solution to what ails all tion. The first, on the incredibly gest that he either write for the art industry (guess which of us. bad art-work of a local artist and science fiction magazines, and class?); who it is created for (art Blame only perpetuates ex­ the politically correct reaction to give up on anarchism, or he fol­ magazines are for investors tremes that swing a pendulum it, was a straw man against the low his own ideology and shut aren't they?). Ask anyone what from one side to another. The feminists who saw fit not to up. theythink art is; they'll probably 'evil' that blocks us is not, i show it. The beef of these wom­ I read Perlman's whole book tell you one thing but leave out believe, made up of tools (por­ en was not against only primitiv­ once already and I found it in­ the part about artists who suffer nography, guns, or water) but of ism (what William focusses on) teresting. But, as I see it, there depressed alcoholic lives ...." thought processes which i call but primitivism and stereotypes ain't no way to get that kind of A blanket, emotion-grabbing mindsets. The same mindset together. Then he contradicts society without a mass die-off. judgement can be questioned process is i believe behind the himself by basically implying that Thank you for your valuable quite easily if thought about a 'solution' that allows war to these feminists were censoring time. little. And while individuals' perpetuate, racism to function, the art-work by not showing it. Sincerely, negative experiences should not or kids forced to attend piano According to this same 'logic' G.T., Point-Claire, Quebec go silenced, nor should they be lessons. William's favorite local book­ more equal than individuals with As mindsets aligning with shop, La Librairie Alternative, is Fundamentally evil positive pornographicexperienc­ anarchist freethought, we should censoring Marx and Hitler by es. be among the first ones to come not selling (at incredibly low Dear friends, The author goes on to say forth from the mudslinging with prices, admittedly) Capital and [. ..} There's this old but persis­ things about how they have a ray of hope. Groups of people Mein Kampf. tent objection to anarchy: who's 'nowhere' to go for a mutual who can't help not fitting into Plainly, in a capitalist society, going to build the sewer system? respect of their insights, analysis, today's social dogma are not the if a book-seller doesn't want to And what's to stop some neigh-

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 60 Letters borhood bully setting himself up as a warlord, or racist gangs just hang­ ing people, etc. These objections rely on the assumption that once released· from an elab­ orate written law code enforced by violence or the threat of violence, people will naturally refuse to perform the less glamorous tasks, and instead go around loot­ ing and killing. There's the assumption that human nature is funda­ mentally or at least evil, selfish, hence we need a strong law system to force people to restrain their destructive impuls­ es. Some anarchists take a more optimistic view of human nature, sug­ gesting the less that (official) morality is imposed by violence, the more that innate human morality will manifest ''View from my yard. Wish you were here." Photo by G.T. (Big Pine Key, FL.). itself. I'd like to agree with this latter view, but it does the fiction of governmental (but shallow) anti-establishment never do anything so idiotic as require a leap of faith, consider­ worldviews, just as they recog­ postures. And in the end, have an A/P job (electronic A/P ing the current state of affairs in nize the merely expedient nature no answer when someone says: processing, processing all the the world. of dogma. They may or may not "Anarchy? But what would stop salesmen's reports, photocopy­ So I think to meet this com­ be 'politically' active in a con­ people from killing each other?" ing, and filing, and who knows mon objection, to overcome the ventional sense. E.R., Goleta, CA. what else) for $6/hr. I did thank problem it represents, is going to I guess I'm mainly saying that, them for making it understand­ require something like a pro­ hidden within some strands of What's wrong with able to me how Dane County found re-orientation in the some religious traditions, there capitalism? has a 3.2% unemployment rate. minds and lifestyles of the ma­ are physical and mental tech­ Of course it is true that the jority of humans, so that we niques which have the effect of Question: What's wrong with weak and disorganized here are become accustomed to the exer­ demonstrating at all levels of capitalism? letting this type of corporate shit cise of our own self-generated consciousness the pure arbitrari­ Answer: An accounting temp. take advantage of them, and morality. In fact, the transforma­ ness of all the personal and agencyjust called me. They had that's how you get a meaningless tion required is such that I could social paradigms which limit and an accounts payable assignment figure like a 3.2% unemploy­ call it spiritual (in a non-Theistic control, even define, our sense for me. They called the bus ment rate. sense). How do we go about all of freedom. For me, Anarchy is company to make certain I could This example fromreal life is this? The anti-religious tone of the attempt to break free of get there. Theygot an OK from being sent to you in the hope some of your cartoons, articles, limiting paradigms. Also, for me, the company so they could pay that it will encourage you and and especially letters seems to spiritual practice is the attempt me $7/hour. They double­ your friends to destroy what is stem from that process of in­ to break through limiting para­ checked with me to be certain I left of global criminally insane tense symbolic repudiation so digms. I realize this might come would be happy with all this. I corporate monoculture, and get characteristic of people still across like New Age babble, or assured them I just got a haircut back to life here as it was in­ struggling to . break free of the like I'm trying to sell something, yesterday, have suitable attire tended to be lived, in balance. influence of some (usually insti­ but I'm not. Only suggest. The (includes white shirt, shined Do it! tutional) aspect of religion. It's a conscious mind is only a small shoes and necktie), and would C.S., Madison, WI. pity that religion (institutions, part of what we are, and I sug­ be on time Monday morning. doctrines, prescribed answers) gest that we have to derive Theycalled the company back to Deceived mentally gets mixed up with spirituality. strength from deeper within let them know all was set, and In my years meandering in Asia, ourselves in order to pit our­ some greedyasshole at the com­ Dear Anarchos, England and America, I've met selves against the intimidating pany decided they didn't want to To those of you that are a few (a very few) people of weaponryof the current incarna­ pay the rate, and wanted to anarchs & trying to be spiritual advanced spirituality, and with­ tion of the capitalist system. know if I would do the job for and/or into new age thought/ out exception I have found them Otherwise, many · of us will de­ $6/hour. Aside from the fact I metaphysics you might run to be, in their personal mental spair, give up, grow bitter, or usually get $10/hr. for this type across a book called Lion Th e lives, true anarchists, recognizing become addicted to obsessive of work, I told them I would either on your own or Path ,

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 61 Letters

mentioned in a book called Lin­ dered to be a "security risk," and around within their respective Don't the essential areas porn da Goodman 's Star Signs. If you a threat to the institution, be­ groups, my would be a deals with suggest that it is con­ life are not psychic (don't have vi­ cause I'm totally dedicated to whole lot better in here. I might structing a kind of sexuality sions, etc.), then I would say get smashing the state-any way I even be able to have something whose major theme is power? Is on it, it's the quickest way up to can! I refuse to 'work', refuse to of a 'Christmas'. Moral support power OK if it can be classified a better world. If you are psy­ 'program', cooperate, submit to is greatly appreciated as weII, as erotica? chic, I must warn you: you'll be urinalysis testing, or anything and your correspondence, flyers, Is porn harmless fantasy? Or, very possibly attacked/deceived else they expect us to conform photocopied articles, etc., are does it tie dominance to plea­ mentally, physically & spiritually to. Theypersecute me because I most welcome; I will definitely sure? Aren't women (and chil­ by an evil entity (the worst au­ have very strong spiritual, ethi­ write back, but need stamps to dren) sexually objectified by thoritarian you'll ever wanna cal, and personal convictions do so. I am a veteran convict, porn? Doesn't objectification meet), yes they exist. I know. It's that come from the heart, and I and have a wealth of knowledge mean having a social meaning why the world is the way it is. If will not violate. I believe in the to share with others, especially imposed that sets the stage for you choose it, do everythingyou Old School principles, which when it comes to "an ounce of sexual use? can to guard yourself. An excel­ they are trying to eradicate prevention,"i.e. security, helping If anarchists can see through lent book that deals w /this sub­ through insidious psychological people avoid making needless the state's legitimized coercion ject is called Psychic Self- Defense operations-by breeding a 'snitch' mistakes and getting themselves being rationalized as consent, by Dion Fortune. There are mentality in the new breed, busted. isn't there a parallel with porn? other books I'm sure but I have­ racial discord, disinformation, I would also appreciate any Is it sexuailyundominated wom­ n't run across them yet. I've etc. Divide and rule. Unfortu­ information, addresses, resourc­ en that are consenting to make been attacked by the garbage for nately, the majority of these so­ es, and contacts that may be of porn? Is the appearance of con­ 21/2 years now, & most intensely called 'convicts' in this prison use to me to get something go­ sent concealing the reality of for the last 7 months. I can an­ systemare so damn ignorant and ing for myself and generate my force? Do women (in the male swer any questions you might stupid that they actually do The own income. I would really like dominated society) control ac­ have, if any. Man's job for him. They even to pull my own weight and earn cess to their bodies? If they do, Thanks for listening. Please help build new prisons, to lock my own way if at all possible. If why is abortion a social prob­ print my name w/the address. more people up, for slave wages. anyone can help me to help lem? Chris L. Moore Creature comforts, selfishness, myself, please write ...or just Why do normal men viewing 316 E. Locust #2 and egotism have replaced ideol­ write to just write! porn become more aroused to Bloomington, IL. 61701-3155 ogy in here. Gregory Waleski #47190 scenes of rape than to scenes of I'm all alone out here, and am Arizona State Prison explicit, but not expresslyviolent I'm all alone out here doing "hard time" so to speak. I POB 4000 sex, even if the women are have virtually no one that I can Florence, AZ. 85232 shown hating it (MacKinnon, Greetings and salutations relate to in terms of ideology, p.144, note 51)? Doesn't this anarchist comrades! I'm an anar­ and all of my dealings with my Anti-porn questions observation support the notion chist fromthe San Francisco Bay fellow prisoners in here are "porn is the theory of rape?" Area, being held a P.O.W. in fairly superficial. I have no fami­ Questions for the Editors and Why do victim's reports of rape this prehistoric, fascist, racist ly, and am totally destitute; the readers of Anarchy: look a lot like what porn says is Arizona police state. I'm doing state saw to it that I lost all of Power, here, means exercising sex? Is this porn-rapeconnection 15 calendar years for burglary my worldly possessions. These a relationship where one (some) because men are inherently dis­ because I refusedto turn"state's pigs don't provide us with any­ is (are) made to comply to an­ posed to sex-power; or are social evidence" and send my cohorts thing, and make us purchase other (others). constructions involved? Is it to prison (take the "easy way whatever we need with our own Many of the following ques­ male anarchist desire armed that out"). So I became the "enemy money. I'm having a hard time tions can be credited to C. Mac­ prefers the depictions of porn to of the state," and theygot immu­ just getting basic necessities for Kinnon's analysis in ''Toward a those of love and affection? nity from prosecution in ex­ myself, let alone being able to Feminist Theory of the State." Can't porn be about power, change for their 'cooperation'. I mail-order any literature to (Don't panic over the word state not about (mutual) sex and still was only 18 years old at the study and better myself with, or [by which she seems to imply be about sex (the eroticization time, and didn't know they could buy some food from the com­ only social structure]. She says of domination)? If porn were convict you on the uncorroborat­ missary here. I am a strict vege­ feminists don't currently have a recognized as a form of social ed testimony of an accomplice. I tarian, and believe me, that's no theory of social structure, only power that needed to be defend­ learned the hard way. smaII feat in prison, when you that it should not dominate life. ed against, because of its de­ That was in 1982, and I've don't have the food that you There's a good chance that many structive effects on women, need available to you. anarchists will find this very would it be 0 for women to been learning ever since. Aside K froman 18-month 'furlough' that I am hoping there are some radical book enlightening.) seek legal protections, just as I took as an escaped fugitive, people out there who care Isn't anarchism an ideologyin anarchists do when absolutely I've been locked up in this red­ enough to help me out. Dona­ that it has at least one tenet: necessary? neck wasteland of a state all this tions of stamps and/or money power should be opposed? What does Bob Black have time. I'm something of a "man­ orders-even five dollars or so­ Why is porn,essentially male? against radical feminists in gen­ agement problem" to these peo­ would be greatly appreciated, Why does porn show women eral (caIIed know-nothings) and ple, and they've got me perma­ and used primarily to furthermy bound, women battered and MacKinnon in particular (de­ nently housed in their supermax­ 'subversive' educational endeav­ defiled,women killed. Even soft meaned as a Popess)? imum-security control unit, in ors and to purchase personal porn shows women accessible, Isn't it possible that anti-femi­ virtual solitary confinement. I necessities, writing materials, etc. have-able, wanting to be taken nist anarchists suffer from blind haven't seen any daylight for 2 If a handful of people were to and used by men? Isn't this spots as a result of their (unwit­ years now, and my release date help me out with just a few inconsistent with mutuality in ting?) enjoyment of sexual pow­ is November 1998. I am consi- dollars a piece, or pass the hat society? er? Doesn't understanding porn

62 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Letters

have to get past liberalism's le­ chist men "just don't get it?" Is the fact that women do not Here are some questions for gal tradition of neutralization Maybe antifeminist anarchists seem very interested in anar­ you: Whyare anti-porn activists so through abstraction from the are hiding in a privatizedliberal­ chism, just possibly, due to its afraid of sex and depictions of realities of power, a tradition . ism when it comes to pedophilia failure to support (wholeheart­ sexual activity? Why is it that that has authoritatively defined and porn-scared to tell other edly) women's recognition of the though the vast bulk of porn porn as not about women but men what they can and cannot social destructiveness of sex as a shows unbound, unbattered, unde­ about sex,hence about morality, have sexual access to,. because division of power? Isn't ideologi­ filed human beings, anti-porn zeal­ and as not about acts or practic­ (in the typical liberal rationaliza­ cal .normalizing involved in anar­ ots insist that virtually every sexual es, but about ideas? Isn't it radi­ tion) if you do not let them have chist antifeminism? depiction in our culture shows the cal feminismwhose concernwith theirs, they might not let you W.B., Edgewood, opposite? Why don't anti-porn IA. power is first political, not mor­ have yours? fanatics ever note that women are Jason wonders: al? If pedophilia can't be con­ Isn't it more difficult to dis­ depicted bound, battered, tortur­ Anti-anti-porn questions demned morally (as Jason says cern sexual freedom against a · ed, humiliated, degraded and there are no universal moral background, a standard, of sexu­ defiled far more frequently in mur­ For your information, most anar­ laws), does this mean it can't be al coercion than antifeminist der mysteries or Hollywood mov­ chists, I would guess, don't op­ condemned at all, even by a anarchists are allowing? Why is ies than they are in mainstream pose 'power' itself (in the usual power analysis? it, for example, that what femi­ porn? Is it because this would senses of the word). They oppose Do antifeminist anarchists nist politics identifies as central prove incompatible with the bi­ hierarchical poWer, in order that support the liberal argument in women's subordination-the zarre anti-porn dogma that "porn that pornis free speech? Isn't it eroticization of dominance and the general populace might em­ is the theory of rape"? possible, in a society of inequali­ submission-a genre of anarchist power itself, rather than remaining relatively powerless. Isn't there something insane ty, that free speech doesn't help morality findsrelati vely harmless about thinking that there is a 'par­ discover the truth so much as it or defends as affirmatively valu­ Though I haven't read her work, I find it impossible to believe that allel' between depictions of sexual allows the powerful to impress able as freedom? What, specifi­ bodies and how-to-rape instruction cally is being defended in the C. MacKinnon doesn't really mean their view upon a despairing manuals? If not, should we also antifeminist positions as higher the state when she says "the acquiescence providing the ap­ consider the parallels between pearance of consent even as than the efforts of women to be state." I'm assuming you're speak­ depictions of people eating food speech (in power) is using that rid of male dominance? Can ing of the infamous anti-porn femi­ nist who has attemptedto impose and cannibalism how-to-manuals? · power to make its vision into sexual freedom extend to sup­ Should there be laws against de­ reality, which then passes, objec­ port for the union of children to her censorious, authoritarian views picting people eating on the tively, for truth? Doesn't porn, have children when clearly they on the rest of us through the en­ grounds that all such depictions as free speech, thus silence the are not up to the responsibili­ actment of repressive laws in sev­ symbolize ritual cannibalism? radical feministpolitical critique ties? eral states and Canada! What's of porn as power-sex? Do anarchists have to allow she going to have to say to anar­ Why do a portion of the wide If no empirical evidence can social power to exist, because chists? Go out and get more laws variety of pleasurable sexual expe­ undermine the position in power the alternative would be censor­ passed to restrict people's ability riences look so often like what (because what can count as evi­ ship-an interference with free­ to communicate even further, to porn depicts? Does this observa- . dence is prescribed by the pow­ dom? Are all rules (structured give the cops even more excuses tion support the notion that "porn erful), isn't an anti-power change relationships) archist? What to crack down on sex-positive is the theory of sex"? (As if sex in consciousness necessary and about structure that reflects radicals, and to enforce the narrow needed a theory!) Is the pleasure­ isn't this more than an individual voluntarily shared values in a sex-negative views of anti-porn porn connection because people undertaking? Isn't such a change communal social consciousness? feminists? Give us a break! Her are inherently disposed to take the kind of thing dissidents Does social freedom mean one convictions have as much in com­ pleasure in sex and depictions of (feminists, anarchists) might community can justifiably decide mon with anarchists as Phyllis sexual bodies? Is it anti-porn mas­ undertake communally without to dominate another? Can com­ Schlafly's do. Your enthusiasm for ochism that prefers playing the being condemned as ideological? munities of shared values justifi­ feminist charlatans like Mac Kinnon victim to living freely and pleasur­ Isn't it possible that some anar- ably ostracize? makes me wonder. ably? Is this why anti-porn repres-

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Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 63 Letters siveness engenders anti-erotic, Lawlor, which presents a picture the use of scare tactics. not forget that situationism, hierarchical power? anti-porn of symbol,ritual and myth being Try reading the IWW's Pre­ whatever insights it might have, If legislation were recognized as a used very consciously to avoid amble, which outlines the orga­ was a development from ultra­ form of hierarchical power that any contamination of the tradi­ nization's goals. As the Pream­ left marxism, not anarchism. needed to be defended against, tional hunter/gatherer lifestyle ble indicates, behind the slogan Anarchist consumers of these because of its attacks on human as it had been practiced for of "One Big Union" are two theories should take them with a sexuality, would it be OK for peo­ more than 100,000 years, accord­ concepts. The first is the notion grain of salt. ple to ridicule it and flaunt it? ing to aboriginal account. This of industrial unionism, that all JeffStein, Champaign, IL. Is the anti-porn position depen­ work has reinforced my own workers who have the same Jason comments: dent on misrepresenting itself as view that the dreamtime of the employer or work in the same the only feminist position on por­ aborigines parallels the ideas of industry should not allow juris­ Union members beware nography? not, why do so many David Bohm, Karl Pribram and dictional boundaries, i.e. the If WhileI can appreciate that you anti-porn spokespeople insist on others concerningthe holograph­ craft and trade divisions of the feel a certainamount of defensive­ misleading or lying about the fact ic nature of reality. APL, get in the way of their ness at my criticisms-considering that the feminist movement has It seems to me time the tradi­ common fightwith the employ­ you're a long-time IWW member, been split in two by the explosive tional hostility of radical politics ers. The second, is that the I wish you and other syndicalists conflicts between sex-positive and toward all aspects of the spiritu­ workers should organize as a would examine the practice of the sex-negative (anti-porn) perspec­ al should be put aside so that class to overthrow the wage sys­ IWW organization from a little tives? Is the fact that the anti-porn this fundamental part of human tem. That's it folks, no deep more self-critical perspective. It is movement has failed to attract a nature can be allowed to unfold dark conspiracy, just the basic largely because rank and file significant following in the anar­ and enrich the vision of our principles of revolutionary memberships so frequently allow chist milieu, just possibly due to . return to a simpler and more unionism. I realize that Anarchy their de facto leaderships to get its failure to support (even half­ natural life. does not agree with these princi­ away with manipulative practices heartedly)wo men's, children's and I'm veryinterested in working ples, but let's criticize them for that routine manipulation, decep­ men's aspirations for sexual free­ with others to develop a func­ what they are, not make things tion, internal hierarchies and spec­ dom? Is the pretense of anti-porn tioning post-industrial communi­ up. tacular representations have be­ activists speaking for all of "femi­ ty based on the premise that it is Jason just gives no evidence come the rule in leftist organiza­ nist politics"-as if all feminists possible to reclaim our primitive to back up his claim that the tions. In fact, the less naive and agreed-any less reprehensible birthright, re-establish the partic­ IWW is a political racket. So ip ation mystique, without blindly what if the IWW prints a news­ idealistic leftists (like all straightfor­ than the pretense of the U.S. pres­ ward liberals and conservatives) ident speaking for all Americans sacrificing everything that has paper? If that makes them part been learned by this strange of the 'spectacle', what does that usually seem to expect such ma­ when he announced that there nipulative practices to be the fa­ was no resistance movement journey into the mass insanity make you? Just because Collu we call civilization. I would like and Cammatte say all leftist vored mode of business-as-usual! during the Gulf War? We all know doesn't do any of us much to correspond with anyone who organizations are political rack­ It what the president was trying to good to blame the critics of oppor­ shares an interest in this goal. . ets does not make it so. Their hide; what are the anti-porn femi­ tunistic and manipulative organiza­ nists trying so hard to hide? Sincerely, thesis isn't even all that original. William Andros Robert Michels said pretty much tional practices for pointing them Why do so many people write POB 47 the same thing in his book, Po­ out. Would we all be betteroff if letters to anarchist periodicals McCleary, WA. 98557 liticalParties, at the beginning of anarchists withheld such criticisms which advocate authoritarian and the century. Michels claimed in order to portray a self-deceived, repressive courses of action? Is it but 'united' front? Or does it make Scare tactics there is an "Iron Law of Oligar­ because they want to be able to chy" which makes all organiza­ more sense for anarchists to be in complain about being victimized Dear Anarchy, tion bureaucratic. the forefront of organizational criti­ by the inevitable critical respons­ Judging fromJason 's response Let's assume this thesis, or cism, especially where organiza­ es? Is there some reason why anti­ to the letter from an IWW Collu and Cammatte's rehash of tions with anti-authoritarian pre­ porn dogmatists can't try thinking member in issue #34 on pages it, is true. Where does that leave tensions are concerned? One look for themselves for a change? Or 68-69, your editorial policy us anarchists? Social life is im­ at the fatal historical experiences are they just too worn out from amounts to the slogan, "Never possible without organization. of the anarchists who allowed restating their puerile dogmas give a syndicalistan evenbrea k." Whether it involves putting out themselves to be manipulated by again and again and again and While I can agree that the IWW a newspaper, or even running a the collaborationist informal lead­ again and again and again ... ? and Earth First! do not share simple hunting and gathering ership (the so-called "leading mili­ enough common ground to form community. If decentralized, tants") of the Spanish anarcho­ Participation mystique a political alliance (the IWW self-managed organization can­ syndicalist CNT during the 1936 calls for a balance between in­ not exist without degenerating revolution should be enough to Dear Anarchy, dustry and nature, whereas into bureaucracy or a 'racket', convince us to closely examine I've just received my first copy Earth First! is a wilderness su­ we anarchists are hopeless the actual practice of any syndical­ of Anarchy (#33) and wonder premacist organization), Jason is dreamers. Perhaps just carping ist organizations currently hunting how I've not encountered you totally off the wall when he about the injustices of the 'spec­ for cannon fodder for their very earlier. I was particularly intri­ claims that the IWW is an op­ tacle' without any possibility of own "workers' struggles." If the guedwith John Zerzan's "Future portunist "political racket" with making real social changes is the IWW is not only less than a fully Primitive." totalitarian aims. His interpreta­ best we could ever do. This is "decentralized, self-managed Mr. Zerzan'sarticle may have tion of the slogan "One Big Un­ not anarchism, however, it is an organization," but also requires been written before the publica­ ion" as a desire by wobblies for anti-anarchist theorythat accepts patriotic members to attack critics tion earlier this year of Vo ices of world domination, is a smear the same basic assumptions while papering over manipulative the First Day: Awakening in the and an attempt to tum anar­ about politics as the bourgeois union practices, doesn't this sug­ Aboriginal Dreamtime by Robert chists away from the IWW by liberals and the marxists. Let us gest that it may not have much

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 64 Letters genuinely in common with anar­ world history which has never chist concerns for transparent been achieved by a nation as of communication and association? yet! Feel free to print my ad­ Or should we all go out and uncrit­ dress & number. I would be .ically join existing organizations happy to receive feedback from because you say there is no other komrades out there or from realistic choice? That's a pretty people who hate me because of lame response to highly pertinent my words in this letter or be­ criticisms of specific organizational cause of whatever. shall All practices. receive a reply but for a real Whatever the l'NVl/'s 'preamble' quick response send an (em­ may say (and I don't usually judge bossed) SASE. I am very inter­ leftist organizations by their fine . ested in others ideas on revolu­ print, any more than I judge politi­ tion. I have been reading Feral cal partiesby their platforms), the Faun's articles and I must say I l'NVl/'s spotlighted message isn't truly admire her writings. Well "Join the self-organized struggle please send me what I asked for. against the wage system." So I hope my letter did not make don't blame me for pointing out you too mad to do so? the totalitarian-sounding implica­ Peace through revolution! tions of its "Join the One Big Un­ J!lyson Josef Strieter #186727 ion" slogan, which has been re­ Green Bay Corr. Institution peatedly displayed in the POB 19033 Industrial Poster at the Sept. 1991 Mexican Anarchist Conference In Cuerna­ and elsewhere for years. vaca. reads: "Enough of the torturers; fear to free provokes Green Bay, WI. 54307-9033 M>dcer It the be ('Totalitarian', by the way, usually the desire slaves." Photo by Mark Bohnert (Austin, TX.). designates groups characterized to be In defense of play about what is to replace it. I nothing is truly achieved by by attempts to uphold an image of want a Dictatorship of the Prole- holding hands and singing! monolithic unity, not groups desir­ (Dear Lev, tarian! You want a system of No Does anyone truly believe While on a recent trip to ing "world domination"!) Hell if I'll Law, No Authority, No Govern- anyone cares if a group of peo- ever join "One Big" anything, what­ Seattle, and· after finding myself ment (I believe?). We need not pie stand around in the fucken with a dearth of decent reading ever it wants. I may choose to be enemies. I do not hate any- snow singing? Does any one work in autonomous local groups material I stumbled into Left body truly. I very much dislike thinkthat the Russian bourgeois Bank Books to purchase a few which seek and maintain ties with the bourgeois American system. would of been overthrown if the evil screeds that might amuse people in similar groups in other I believe anarchists are very workers all stood around singing me. I innocently enough pur­ locales. But I absolutely refuse to good at expressing their beliefs a few fucken songs. Does anyone chased a copy of Anarchy #34 join any membership organization and not allowing the American not remember Adolf Hitler? Did and after returning to my room . which seeks to substitute its own establishment to cow them as he care when the German Kom- and reading about two pages of pre-arranged organizational forms McCarthy scared the shit out of munist Party· was peacefully letters I came across a personal, (and centralized bureaucratic hier­ socialists. Well I have my distributing literature? No! By obnoxious (and wholly unde­ archy) for the initiative and activi­ thoughts on dealing with people 1934 the German Kommunist served] attack launched by ties of local rebels. Is this really all like Sen. Joseph McCarthy. But Party was dismantled. Alright Mitchell Halberstadt at my "Sev­ the better we can do? I sure hope I guess this is why the bourgeois granted that violence is not al- en Theses on Play." {Note: see not. have locked me in their galag! I ways the best way, but I believe Anarchy #23, p. 11 for the 'Sell9n know a lot of my fellow kom- even with peaceful demonstra- Theses' and Anarchy #34, p.73 for Proletarian dictatorship rades anarchist or socialist alike tions (which can help a little) Halberstadt's letter] The last thing are a little bit upset by my letter. there should be sabotage taking M I recall of that evening is phon­ y Komrades! Now I believe that socialism place somewhere for the same ing room service and demanding Hello [. ..] I write to request failed in Soviet Russia for now, cause. I do not dislike any anar- more cognac and a paste made back issues of Anarchy #8-15 and of course EasternEurope chists really, actually I believe if in of Mitchell Halberstadt's liver and #33. I have passed along as well, but I do not believe both anarchists and socialists and brain. I remember getting Anarchys the rest of the you socialism is dead. I know many came together for a common the cognac and being informed have sent after I finishedreading anarchists out there are appalled cause it would be very produc- as to my order that "some things them. Also since you review a by my belief system?! But all I tive. Well you are probably won- you just can't get in Seattle." magazine called On Our Backs can say is socialism failed due to dering where I have been forthe And so, by way of self-defense, I and Caught looking, I can not Stalin's gross distortion of true last 40 years? Well let me tell offer the following letter.) afford to pay forsuch magazines socialism, with his "socialism in you I am not even 40 years old! which I am sure want money. So one country" shit, or with his Plus I shall tell you that I do Afterhaving found and read a this is why I ask you for like a "one Soviet tractor is worth realize that in the USSR & in copy of Halberstadt's Anarchy back issue which you have al­ more than 10,000 foreign com- most of Eastern Europe was a and Civilization, a number of ready reviewed. {Note: Not avail­ munalists" shit! Now our beliefs deformed workers state! But first impressions came immedi­ able from us, any readers out there on certain issues are the same people do not realize that this is ately to mind. Foremost of these who have a copy they want to such as... absolute equal rights because of Josef Stalin's twisted was the verypersonal impression send?] Politically you would not for our female komrades. And thought process. It cannot be that M.H. had inadvertently agree with 'me. Politically we of course as stated before our denied that Leon Trotsky would lumped me together with Zer­ both want America's bourgeois American governmental corrup- of lead the Union of Soviet zan, Bradford, the Fifth Estate system dismantled. But we differ tion. I do believe that almost Socialist Republics to a place in Crew and the Earth First! mani-

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 65 Letters ac brigade. I admit to a certain I avoided the use of the term ally ambivalent activity, ever . tantly, my contribution wasn't amount of respectfor these mal­ pre-history in the thesis fo.r the climb a tree and fall; ever climb even intended forpublication. It contents (in decreasing propor­ specificreason that next to none a tree and not fall? The out­ was an excerpt from a personal tion, by mention) but in no way of the research I base it on is of come of play is always an un­ letter I'd written to a (then dis­ consider myself an exponent of 'pre-historic' groupings. Thus, known quantity; the outcome of tant) friend. I tryfor a bit more either primitivism or biocentr­ M.H.'s contention about the work sure as hell better be a consistencywhen I'm writing for ism. Second was the overriding ambiguity of pre-historymay be check that clears. Clearly, the strangers, and with fewer local sentiment that I had just read valid, but not to my thesis. Pre­ two conceptsare mutuallyexclu­ references. the script for a half hour "info­ agricultural societies did not just sive and not dialecticallyrelated. But I guess Jason knewwhat mmercial" sponsored by IBM or die out some time around 2,000 Theyco-exist now as theydid in he was doing in printing it. So Apple. For instance, the state­ BC, there are numerous exam­ pre-history, the real question is, few of Zerzan's articles get the . ment that "our role as conscious ples in the historical record of which one is given primacy? I thoughtful response they de­ beings is to handle information," such cultures and more impor­ know where I stand, and I think serve. Probably because his es­ I consider as an affront to every­ tantly, of the primacy of play in Halberstadt's position is pretty says draw upon such a formida­ thing I give a damn about in my such cultures. easy to infer. ble accumulation of knowledge own human-ness. Personally, I M.H. goes on to state that my M.H. ultimately rejects the that one feels it a bit churlish to would much rather play with my claim that in pre-agricultural entire "anthropological argu­ question to his conclusions. three year old daughter, or fuck societies play was the common ment" on the basis of it's being Mind you in my case I have like an animal with my wife than denominator of all activity is inapplicable to post-industrial no difficulty in reconciling my play video games or access some tantamount to intellectual dis­ societies. It is here that M.H. 'postmodernism' with my anar­ Burmese data base. But to each honesty.He continues bymaking makes a real mistake. First, he chism. The two coexist quite own. Finally, for all M.H.'s the assertion that it would be assumes that I'm positing a re­ happily in side my head. Occa­ his whining about the misplaced just as truthful to claim that turn to hunter-gatherer society sionally they even talk to one sense of nostalgia that the primi­ was the common denomi­ as a 'solution' to the ills of mod­ another in what I like to think worlc tivists and biocentrists seem to nator of all activity, because {he ern society. Dead wrong. I har­ are bouts of dialectical thinking operate under, M.H. demands says) I assume that there is no bor no illusions as to such a or conceptual complementarity. the return to the Enlightenment distinction between the two possibility. I used pre-agricultur­ But it's probably more due to project of the rational search for activities in pre-agricultural soci­ al society as an example, or the fact that the debate entered the "perfect society." Disregard­ eties. Dead wrong. I never set rather as a paradigm of how into by John Zerzan is now long ing utterly that the current dom­ the two activities into such a play has been integrated as a exhausted (which explains the inant culture is part and parcel dialectic tension, nor would I. foundation in a social totality. limp ending to my letter). of the realization of this very Work is an activity that only Further, I am certain that the Here in the depressed '90s project. begins to acquire a concrete, creation of such a society, where there are new concerns which As to defending the "Seven general meaning with the onset play is given primacy over work, will probably inspire new theo­ Theses on Play," in M.H.'s essay of agriculture, because it is only is still possible. Why? Because ries. In Australia the cultural he compares my second thesis to then that food-generating activi­ I'm an anarchist, an egoist, a commentators are once again the Old Testament description of ty becomes coerced; via the dreamer, and goddammit, I want talking morality. But as usual it's the Garden of Eden and then potential negative of a poor har­ to play! just talk, talk designed to mask chastises both myself and Moses vest and hence privation. Alter­ Finally, M.H. states in his the same old manoeuvering for for failing to footnote our re­ natively, pre-agricultural group­ letter to Anarchy #34 that my positions of privilege. spective writings. Then he goes ings were (are?) relatively im­ essay is "silly, fatuous and un­ Of course there is a problem on to state that, "Actually, con­ mune from privation, if a hunt original." Unoriginal? Certainly. my postmodern anarchism has troversy and uncertainty... have fails, there's always tomorrow, if Nothing really new has been never been able to solve. With long characterized our knowl­ the group exhausts the potential written in the last century, in­ so much good reading around edge of pre-history."First I must for gathering in one area, they cluding M.H.'s Anarchy and it's hard to find the time for say that I was writing theses and move on. Note that these con­ Civilization . Silly? Fatuous? doing. And you're part of the was making statements without clusions are not based on specu­ Hardly. M.H. spent two sections problem John Zerzan. (How's feeling the requisite need to lation but on observations (by in his essay and an additional that for a cryptic compliment?) provide "hard documentation." contemporaries) of the move­ paragraph in his letter attempt­ Yours in non-oppressive But as documentation does exist ments and activities of indige­ ing to critique the thesis. For all individuality and equality, for the conclusions I reach in nous peoples of the Great his effort, he failed. It just goes Steve Charman the second thesis, let's do it. I Plains. Finally, let's assume that to show, that before you go out Balwyn, Australia would direct M.H.'s attention to work and play are dialectically to play, you have to do your {Editors'note: We had no idea that the work of Stanley Diamond, In related to each other (as M.H. homework.... this letter was not intended for Search of the Primitive, to Mar­ does). Th.en, in theoryat least, a Paul Z. Simons, Brooklyn, NY. publication. Readers,please, you if shall Sahlin's book Stone Age synthetic activity should arise writeletters not intendedfor publi­ Economics, to Huizinga'sHo mo that would include elements of Reply to Zerzan cation, always make this explicitby Ludens, or to any anthropologi­ both work and play, yet given spelling out 'Not for publication.• cal or historical article on the the centrality of coercion to G'day, Otherwise we have no way to be Kwaikiutl potlatch cultures of work this activity must in some You're dead right John Zer­ surewhat yourdesires are.-Jason] the Pacific Northwest or the way be a coerced activity, and zan. My letter (Anarchy #34, horse cultures of the Great hence, not play. Also, note that Fall '92) Wasn't so much a cri­ More prison censorship Plains. Note also, that with the the concept of work necessarily tique of your article (''The Ca­ exceptionof Sahlins, none of the implies remuneration, either via tastrophe of Postmodemism," Dear Sir: sources I used for the second the wage, a good harvest or Anarchy #30, Fall '91) as a gen­ A publication titled Anarchy, thesis are based on research into whatever. Play on the other eral defence of my postmodern­ #34/Fall 1992, addressed to the 'pre-historic' groupings. Indeed, hand is almost a paradigmatic- ist worldview. But more impor- above named individual, an in-

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 86 Letters

political principles. Theyare you to help us defend ourselves. Anarchist Contacts content to pat themselves on We have spent $20,000 so far, the back for being voluntary but this is a long struggle and This is a listing of addresses of groups and individuals who would like victims of the state. we especially need financial to see the growth and development of anarchist practice of one form or Yes things are escalating help, just a buck or two. another. The list may help those participating to make regional contacts in Berkeley. For over a year For more information on and intercommunication links based on their self-defined perspectives. you'd like to see your address added to this listing Just write to us and we'll we have defended our com­ other ways you can help, drop a IncludeIf your name, address, and a short (20words or less) description of your munityfrom the rich parasit­ line or two. MCS bring your ass perspective,practice and/or desires. Each contact address will be run In two succes­ ic landlords, and the U.C. out of Oakland and help build sive Issues. Now a federal interstate the barricades. Note: We are only complllng this list, we arenot endorsing the positions of ( those who have asked to be listed.) flight warrant has been is­ Michael Lee sued for Carol "Blue Sky" 537 Jones #1584 Justin S. Debratz Allen Moller #80432 John Cline #71 101 Johnson who was convicted S.F., CA. 94102 7659 Adrian Drive Arizona State Prison AS PC-Perryville Rohnert Park, CA 94928 POB POB3300 earlier for having played a •... wouldlike to establish Good3300year, 85338 Goodyear, 85338 stinky practical joke on the / More prison censorship contact, Informationshar­ 'Mist, /oolclngAZ..tor people 'I'd like toAl.. c orrespond Berkeley City Council. Sur­ ing, and allegiance with with anarchist views to with anarchist poets, prise the Feds have shown! Publication Denial Notification anti-authoritarians/ write and/or publish . my lyrlc/sts and artists to Additionally a month ago otherllberals/ non-contormlsts/ attempts at freedom.• trade off our labors of Title of publication: Anarchy anarchists.• love and wit.• the authorities murdered Fall 1992 N34. Fatuous Times Anarchist Rosebud and our The above publication has Laure Akal POB 406 Unru C.l.S. 107061 Stoke-On-Trent POB 10096Lee city is occupied by almost been reviewed and denied in Moscow B/61 ST1 4RN Olympia, WA 98502 100 cops patrolling Tele­ accordance with Section 3.9 of PO England •oreaming of regional graph Avenue on the week­ Box500 the TDCJ Rules and · Regula­ communitarian networks ends. Not content with that, Pete Greg Waleskl #47190 tions for the reason(s) below: ...hundreds creatingatter­ the U.C. as a tool of the POB 12182 Arizona State Prison natives to rent, A specific factual determina­ Santa Rosa, CA 95406- POB 4000 education/s cience;work, also ruling class has escalated its tion has been made that the 2182 Florence, 85232 companions tor cross­ civil, legal, and covert at­ publication is detrimental to Publisher of "Working onAl.. the uff/mate Paid at No country and wilderness tacks against two local Anar­ prisoner's rehabilitation because which 'wishes to about prison.. . adventure." putRelrln,an end to allmanifes­ bookSupermaxl mum INsecu­ chists myself and Bob it would encourage deviate crim­ tations of hierarchy,.... • rity." Ben Brucato Sparks. Bob has survived inal sexual behavior. Thomas Dr. three covert attacks on his Remarks: Page 80 contains sex Kim Ken Daniel May #165482 990 & Ashland, OH. 44805 life and his conviction for with a child. (Qualifies for clip­ Box 402074 MECC 1-B-4 'A narchic/agnostic musi­ Austin, TX. 78704 18701 Old HWY. 66 cian, poet, artist, and attacking the volleyball ping. Page 80 [1 page V2 ].) "Wehave a world of plea­ Pacific, MO. 63069 writer. Stronglyanti-racist, courts with a chainsaw is If there is a desire to appeal sures to win... two anar­ "25 old professional yr. anti-superiority and anti­ currently on appeal. For the rejection of the aforemen­ chist vagabonds male seeking correspon­ 'pecking-order'.• myself, I am facing several companions and placesneed dence with anyone inter­ tioned publication, this may be to stay tor cross-country ested In pedophilia, chil­ criminal charges and am now accomplished by writing to: adventure.• dren's rights and sexuali­ in danger of having my pro­ Director's Review Committee ty.• bation revoked which would POB 99 result in 810 days a as a Huntsville, 77340. mate confinedat this institution, of that publication for 15 days, guest of the state. Both Bob and TX. is being rejected for the reasons after which time, unless an ap­ I are members of The Gang of Behind enemy lines outlined in the attached memo­ peal is noted, the publication Four which the U.C. has named randum addressed to the inmate. will be returned to you. as principle defendants in a civil Boy howdy, [Note: The accompanying memo­ Sincerely, lawsuit commonly known as a Thanks for the complimentary randum states that 'Pursuant to E.J. Brennan, Warden StrategicLawsuit Against Public Summer Issue. As a P.O.W. in Bureau of Prisons' Program State­ U.S. Penitentiary Participation (SLAPP). A the "War on Drugs" (I refused ment 5266.5, and specifically Insti­ Lewisburg, PA. 17837 SIAPP suit's main goal is not to give any other information tution Supplement LEW 5266.5 monetary, but to silence the other than age, number of acid datedSeptember 9, 1991, a publi­ Support SLAPP victims oppositional movement. On trips, and estimated amount of cation may be rejected de­ if 'It Sept. 18th, the U.C. dragged us still active brain cells) currently picts, describes, or encourages A Chara, back into court claiming we were being held deep behind enemy activities which may lead to the Just going through the letters in contempt of an injunction lines, it's gratifying to findpubli­ use of physical violence or group section of issue #34. MCS, Oak­ granted in March. Our crime cations such as yours that give disruption.' Specifically, on page 4 land, CA. is incorrect when say­ why two of us (David Nadel and enough of a damn about prison­ 'Inside Anarchy', the Fall 1992 is­ ing that "most of Berkeley radi­ Carol Denney) wrote in chalk er� to provide freesubscriptions. sue's central theme is devoted cals were in Santa Rita during anti-U.C. slogans on their prized Interesting reading, too. When I to'Crime and Criminalization. "] the rioting and looting." Most volleyball court. I defended first entered the prison system, I You may obtain an indepen­ were in S.F. paying back the myself from a physical attack by was told I needed drug treat­ dent review of the rejection by state. Those that stayed in the a provocateur. David and I were ment. Long as I could pick the writing to the Regional Director, East Bay helped folks bust stuff found innocent, but Carol re­ drugs I'd treat myself with, I Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Customs up with only a couple of arrests ceived three days in Santa Rita. told 'em it was fine with me. So House, Second and Chestnut none from the Direct Action, Bob was uncharged. far no treats have been forth­ Streets, 7th Floor, Philadelphia, Anarchist, Radical community. To the North American and coming. We live in hope, PA. 19106, within 15 days of The folksthat MCS refers to are International Anarchist commu­ though. Now take my psychia­ receipt of this letter. the whine and snivel liberals nity: Two comrades are under trist, somewhere else!! We will maintain possession who have absolutely no moral or attack from the state. We ask But seriously folks, just a few

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 67 Letters days ago as of this writing, the the emotional and 'conclusive' Wisconsin courts just gave some.. judgments of hundreds (if not one a natural life (life without thousands) of visiting "friends of parole) sentence on a drug young people" has proved. By charge. Other states have been Klaus' angry position on self­ doing this for years. I'll admit claimed 'anarchists' and "sex the current dope scene is pretty radicals" i can assume that in his awful, but Draconian laws such experience, such persons took as this are only going to create the easier route of dis-associa­ more violence. People are going tion, anti-crusade, and even to keep on getting high; the only hate; some turned to violence thing screwball laws do is to when in a Berlin action during drive already outrageous prices the fallingof the wall a rumor of evenhigher, causing more thefts "sexual abuse" was put around and armed robberies (and shoot­ by visitors and resulted in Klaus ings) which create more statistics getting beaten up and thrown for Der Staadt to use in justify­ out of a commune he had ing the notion that drugs cause helped start-interestingly, the crime, giving the green light to young girl named in the 'abuse' more oppressivelaws, round and is still a regular activist today. round, ad nauseam. Here, i'd like to pose signifi­ Whew, that took a lot out of cant statements/questions to the me. Anyways, please keep me on still emotional-laden: you'd con­ your mailing list; please publish demn the lndianer commune for any portion of this here you all their anger and cursing (most might find useful as space...filler which emanates fromstress), but or whatever. Anyone who'd like would you condemn all other to write letters, send Red Cross passionate directives who must packages, what have you(?) soak up harassment from all please contact me at: sides? In all these years hasn't Dfl!lWeik #42019 the lndianer learned anything? F.L.C.I. Box 147 In all these years hasn't parent­ Fox Lake, 53933 hood learned anything? Hasn't WI. Drawing by Mark Bohnert (A ustin, TX.). the anarchist movement learned On the Indianerkommune sion from others who've been escape-the only one 'allowed'. anything? How about that we're there (or have read any German And a nonconstructive escape it all imperfect! Experimental liv­ Hello (aka Jason) and ev­ arguments) and work for prog­ was. Others might leave (freely) ing on the edge of ideology is Lev eryone, ress in the anarchist ideology of but be harangued when they the biggest Bush, George Bush, When i left the lndianer com­ young people's liberation and returned because of their 'fail­ we ever faced. We are so nearly mune in Nurnberg, Germany justice. And, with twenty years ure' to stay around when 'need­ perfect violently-after centuries [Note:see the shortdescription in of activism, i think the lndianer ed'. of bloodshed, yet we are so Ana/Chy #22/Nov.-Dec. '89, p. 17] commune (an anarchic experi­ The over-riding group-think primitive when it comes to facing this past summer i was deter­ ment in itself, i think) deservesa seemed to further revolve ourselves and our needs. mined not to bow down to the more fair and· analytical ap­ around an "all or nothing" atti­ In his book Out of We akness, emotionalism that had been my proach than it has possibly re­ tude-a symptom, i think, of Andrew Bard Schmookler states reaction to living for five nights ceived. activists who put "the cause" and that we are warlike out of weak­ there. In my memories haunt the I saw in the volunteers in the "survival of self' together. If ness. And i say that those among most confrontive member of the Indianer a passion that was will­ there was a continued 'failure' of the Indianer commune who re.. commune, Klaus, whose words ing to put the communal goals the adult members to keeptheir main are among the most coura­ had been carvedand eaten away before the personal. True, this activism going without rest, then geous among we who may name and shaped by.pre judicial and passion included what looked the ,demise . of "all they had ourselves youth activists. Instead · non-empathetic experience of like high levels of emotional and worked for" was immediately at of working to destroy bridges past visitors. And i felt that he physical self-abuse and could hand and nothing ever again between us and them out of our was attempting to categorize me conveniently be swept aside as could be activated to "save the weakness to identify our own into that "enemy population"­ 'cultist', but there was commit­ children." But in their stress, conditioned and emotional reac­ one filled to the brim with 'anar­ ment in it-and front-line activ­ theywere blind to see that their tions, we should find the cour­ chists' as well as "radical youth ism, which in reality as we may mindset was the actual problem, age to arrive at an understand­ liberationists," in which he-while understand includes outsider and that they were aiding their ing. Then again, the Indianer certainly an anarchist himself, harassment of many forms. The own demise (ideological and does not need, shallow gifts of had been conditioned into de.. 'fanaticism' which others might even physical) by their vows of intellectuality-it is a current spising. I have no interest here proclaim upon the lndianer was, duty to "the children." (The action needing a helping · hand in submitting to this categoriza­ instead, i believe, due to high word 'children' further evidences from those of us most commit­ tion simply · because i fled, dis­ stress gone unchecked and over­ the emotion with which the ted to the freedom and justice of sented, and questioned. looked. activists succumbed to in their the young. More significantly, i choose At least one other member narrow focus). There are young people who not to pass judgment, but in­ (adult) agreed with me that But they aren't alone in this go voluntarily to the Indianer stead, seek opinions arid discus- sleep had become our only insidious mindset business, as commune. And it is verypower-

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 68 Letters

ful, i believe, that they remain "Howls from the hole" think your intellectual articles formed us that the rioting con­ even during situations of high help to support anarchist move­ tinues in the land of the free(!) stress; the tenured young were Anarchy, ments? Do you think that you The capitalist media put a wet not intimidated (as i, only a I just received #34/Fall '92. I even have a chance to change blanket on it of course, with its visitor was) and even kept trying completely agree with conditions on this planet? The insidious lies and distortions. As Ann to push in their ideas (tho they Howe's article "Howls from the improbability of of the con- · a result even some people who any ought to be given a bullhorn in HoJe." Being locked up myself I cepts that you write about com­ should have known better start­ order that the adults learn hu­ have seen many other brain ing to live is vecy high, ed to believe it was just mindless mility) into the conversation. If washing techniques used by the >99.999%. Reality is power. thuggery and black racism theyremained silent, they did so 'officers' here in the Arizona Nonreality is anarchy and myself. against whites and Koreans and at close quarters to the always system. Please do not write any more "stupid black people burning hyper Klaus, posing significant I myself have found that there articles that imply that this age down their own neighborhoods." ideas later when they had a are many ways around their is coming to a new end. Please But the insurrection was so huge more equal resonance. Sure, techniques. The prisoner has to let John Zerzan know that his and widespread that these dis­ they fell to emotionalism, just find a way to distract his mind ideals are nice on paper but that tortions were only partially suc­ like· Klaus, but we are all so fromthe surroundings. That way he fails ·to accept that these cessful. The message was clear imperfect! he/she can escape not in a phys­ ideas willnever be implemented. except for those who didn't want I want to say that i have more ical sense but in a mental one. I truly support people who write to hear it. Next time we'll take it of a positive feeling about such As for myself I'm a self-pro­ about alternatives but I kn<>W beyond borders, we hope. But stressed-out (but nonviolent) claimed artist and I tty to that this New World Order has we have to learn how to orga­ tension done amidst interactive 'escape' with my drawings. its reins pulled hard. I am sure nize ourselves. A lot of work living where all concerned are I use my drawings to combat you are aware of this, as any needed there. Continue to resist. conscious of their ideology, than the 'system' but even then you anarchist action will send you S.6, Darwin, Australia i do for those who work along can still see that my surround­ straight to the Fed. Pen. for the the calculated lines of 'intelli­ ings deeply influence the things rest of your life. Not pessimistic. A good gang-bang gent' discussion in radical publi­ I draw. Many of my fellow in­ Not optimistic. Realistic is the cations. Those actually openly mates feel that I should sell my word here. Anyway, please Dear editor, living evety day in such situa­ drawings to magazines and such broaden my horizons with your I just picked up Anarchy #34 tions tend to be more loudly but what they fail to realize is I mag. (first time I eversaw your maga­ honest about their feelings and draw to escape not to make Thank you, zine) and I'm impressed. You experiences, while authors of money or help someone else. E.G., Camarillo, CA. really do have the guts to stick words can be saying things that My "Anti System" drawings up for what anarchy really they don't really feel-and do so and . comic strip, "A Hart of Best issue so far means, from defending the 'loot­ in order to alignf'lead' a particu­ Gold," have been in numerous ing' in LA. to attacking age-of­ lar ideological agenda. underground magazines, and it Greetings Anarchy, consent laws. L.C. hit the nail on The lndianer commune daily has put me in the hole lots of I reallyliked #34. I reckon it's the head (page 66), drug laws, treads on the novel, the new, the times. That only shows me that about the best issue so far with vandalism laws, age-of-consent uncertain-the virgin ground, and I'm doing something with my all the articles on the April-May laws, it's all just laws against should not be so easilyjud ged as talent and something they don't U.S. riots, prison, crime and freedom. negative and categorized as want me to do! But their 'own drugs. I much prefer to read The only thing I don't get is 'fanatic' or 'cultist'. The fact that law� state that they cannot stop about these sorts of day-to-day the attitude about rape (mostly no one else (the Indianer or i me from having contact with the problems resulting from the in the letters section). Why know of) on Earth is dttempting 'outside'. Therefore they can capitalist reality, and how they aren't "anti-rape laws" on L.C.'s such a challenge as continually never stop me! can be overcome, than about list? After all, in a real anarchist accepting of new-comers; can be They can lock me up physical­ abstract intellectual issues like society, there wouldn't be laws evidence enough for a reworked ly but they will never be able to postmodernism. Maybe I'm against anything, right? If looting and more thorough analysis. lock up my mind! Enclosed you wrong but I'd say most people is OK, why isn't rape? It's the Imperfect but in action and will find a couple of my draw­ are too busy working out how same principle. You see what ttying, and that's a lot more than ings and I hope you could use they're going to sui;vive next you want, you go for it, and if most of us probably have even them. week and next year to worcy the 'owner' doesn't want to let the guts to contemplate. Respectfully, about that kind of stuff. Some­ you have it, too bad for them! If there are people willing to Allen Moller, Goodyear, AZ. times it is interesting and worth­ Rape is a vecy empowering obtain a perspective into the while but I would like to see thing for men of the suppressed Indianer they can write to them Improbability high more down-to-earth material underclass, especially racial mi­ to obtain their English-language about resisting authority and norities. That kind of man is zine (reviewed in Anarchy #34); Anarchy, taking back control of our lives. surrounded evecy day on the Klaus said that we should keep Thanks for the fine mag. It's The letters pages are always a street by yuppie (mostly whites) letters to one page. Plus, i would nice to see someone has a brain good read. women who do all they can to also recommend learning Ger­ left in this world. Please send The massive U.SA. riots in look as classy and tantalizing as man if contemplating a visit. But me a full set of your back issues April-May sent rays of hope and possible but would never in a they're mostly looking for seri­ #8-#33. Enclosed is $45 to cov­ inspiration around the world. million years consider letting a ous persons who can commit at er all costs. A small price to pay Even in this little town people "social inferior" fuck them, just least three months. Be fore­ for good reading. were getting excited and spray­ like he's surrounded by ads and warned, it may be one of the Why is it that the Fifth Estate painted messages of support for store windows flauntinggoods at most challenging mental adven­ is never mentioned in your mag­ the uprising appeared on walls. him that he knows he'll never be tures of your lifetime. azine? For several days we were en­ able to afford. Check out the C.D., Boston, A personal question. Do you thralled as the mass media in- lady the collage on page 47. MA. in

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 69 Letters

Could she use a good gang-bang sively critical of left platitudes, to show her what it's all about, p would stoop to the kind of non­ Q.c:t

cheer the guys on? The real 0 To begin with, the reviewer b J '1 y e.. 5 • , revolutionwill mean "open sea­ e.. assumes a ridiculouslyuntenable son" on:overprivileged, sheltered 'neutrality' towards the whole women like her. Even better, if subject of Holocaust Revision­ an anarchist society gets rid of ism, accepting the author's high-tech, they won't be able to clailnsthat the nature and extent get abortions afterward! "Fear of of Nazi atrocities are fabrica­ a Tad Planet" had the right idea: tions. This is like a science jour­ "selective forced miscegenation.". nal giving credence to the basic As I said, you've got a good, premises of Creationists' argu­ gutsymagazine here, but I think ments. The mistake in both you need to be a little more cases is confusing the formwith open-minded about this particu­ the content. Thewriters of both lar subject. Holocaust Revisionist and Crea­ Sincerely, tionism tracts have learned that A.I., Berkeley, CA. mimicking the form and presen­ tation of academic historical or Jason aka L.C. responds: scientific publications lends a Genteel racism cachet of seriousness and respec­ tability to their work. At base, There will always be cunning however, neither are interested opponents of revolution posing as in advancing knowledge, but genteel supporters of the status only in promoting crackpottheo­ quo. Such people wil always ig­ ries with no factual basis. Either nore the results of the enforced evolution happened or God has misery of the system they defend. a strange sense of humor, be­ Instead, they exploit racism, fear cause when I get up in the of the underclass and the fear of ®1993 by Mr. Fish morning, unshaven and with a M\"'. f; Sh freedom to further their agenda of (2 Cricket Avenue #5, Ardmore, PA. 19003). hard-on, I look a hell of a lot mass repression and mass murder like an ape. Either the Holo­ in the pursuit of profit...and in the church here two days fromthem. these atrocities. caust happened or my grandfa­ name of a hundred imaginary ther went on vacation to Poland Acting quickly, we reproduced I hope this helped your cause ideals, including the defense of in a German train and liked it an edited version of the account a little if not put a little pressure upper-class women from the so much he stayed forfifty years. of brutality and got together a on the old boy at least. threat of underclass rapists. Common sense tells you most of couple of friends and went to Good luck with your struggle Though, it's not too often that we what you need to knowin decid­ the service on Sunday. There for Freedom. get such articulately reactionary ing these questions. wasn't enough time to organize Splatt and friends, letters as the one above. A.I. To continue, the reviewer a media event or protest but we A Better World sounds like he would have been states that it is "undeniable that did give this flyer to members of POB 1834 quite at home as a propagandist 'The Holocaust' has [his empha­ the congregationand confronted Albany, NY . 12201-1834 on the staff of Alabama governor sis] been magnified into a larger them about this brutality by the George Wallace or any KKK local Ps. letter was sent to a few than life tale of historical racial government. This back in the sixties. He earns my people in Greece. persecution-largely in order to complete contempt and I invite Although we did not get to justify the continuing atrocities him and other would-be racist speak to the consul himself we Non-thought by Zionists in the racist state of got to argue the points with demagogues to fuck off. and race hatred Israel." This one sentence is so some of his big men security. loaded with shit that I am nearly They were quite surprised and Greek Orthodox protest Dear Anarchy, unable to dig myself out in order very nervous anyone showed up Q. What do Nazis (Neo and to respond. First off, the litera­ Greetings from us at @.B.W.!!! at all. Theyconstantly told us his Paleo), Larouche zombies, ture on the Holocaust is primari­ On October 25th I flipped trip here was not political and to Marxists and now, apparently, ly made up of two types of ac­ open the new issue of Anarchy. go away. We told them that be­ anarchists, have in common? counts: the personal narratives The first thing that angered me ing a consul is verypolitical and An insatiable desire for the of authors such as Primo Levi, A. was the repression update writ­ to let us in to speak with him destruction of Israel. I'm not Elie Wiesel, Jorge Semprun (a ten by a fellow .from Greece. I and generallyju st had fun giving talking about the dismantling of non-Jewish Spanish leftist), and have read past reports here and his men a hard time. the State of Israel; I mean dead many others whose works are, there as the main news s9urces Hopefully we reached out to Jews-the more the better. Re for the most part, attempts to do not print info on this subject. inform the congregation that your review of Confessions of a unburden themselves of the I then flipped open the local these acts of police state are Holocaust Revisionist in Anarchy horrible · memories and guilt paper here in Albany, NY . to taking place and prombted an #34, I'm disappointed that a feelings they experienced in the find that the General Consul, issue here Albany as well as publication such as yours, which camps, and to tryto make some in Stratos Doukas was going to letting the consul know there are I have generally found to be sense or derive some meaning speak at a Greek Orthodox others all over that know about both refreshingly free and inci- from the fact of their own sur-

70 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Letters vival. To have read any of these simply redundant. Either way, tation in Israel (compared, you Jason responds: stories and believe that theyare the information content is nil. It got to be kidding, by the review­ Anti-semite-baiting propaganda requires a truly is of course just possible that the er to Nazi Germany as "another is despicable deranged mind. reviewer intended only to refer of the most powerful and ruth­ The second type of Holocaust to that part (a too powerful less states the world has ever The massive hypocrisy of J.R.'s literature consists of academic minority) of the Israeli polity known"), but rather is nothing letteris truly breathtaking·. He tells and popular historical accounts. that believes in "Greater Israel" but the same tired old Marx­ us in a serious tone that the pur­ I ignore the popular ac­ (i.e. no return of land to Arabs) ist/Arab call for the destruction will pose of his letter "is to encourage counts-films like Holocaust­ and promotes hatred of Palestin­ of the Israelis as people. After contributors to Anarchy to avoid since they are intended to sell ians, or to a specific govern­ all, Jews are if they are OK bandying about hate-charged deodorant. As forthe academics ment's military policy of repres­ powerless or better dead; it's code words and phrases." Yet his (e.g. Dawidowisc), they have sion of Palestinian political activ­ those nasty ones with guns and aim throughout this same letter is been benefitted by the German ity. This is not at all evident and typewriters and politics that get to consistently and insistently predilection for 'efficiency' and I suspect that the revieweris less so annoying. Yah, there are claim that any criticism of the holy bureaucracy; two pursuits that interested in informing or ana­ racist Jews, greedy Jews, even state of Israel can only come from require infinite amounts of doc­ lyzing than in sloganeering and cruel Jews in Israel and every­ 'anti-Semitic', 'Jew-baiting', 'race­ umentation and records. The Jew-baiting. where else our presence has hatred' requiring "a truly deranged simple fact is that we know not Israel is a di1erse society, been tolerated; but only Marx­ mind." course, no evidence for Of only that millions (not "hundreds where despite the burden of ists, Nazis, Arabs and their sym­ any of these baseless charges is of thousands" as your reviewer military press censorship, there pathizers attempt to use this to ever given-onl�' a piling on of ingenuously asserts) of Jews, is a broad spectrum of ideas justify elimination of a people. epithets, non-sequiturs and self­ gays, gypsies, communists and being discussed, an active peace Finally, it is ironic that your righteous defensiveness. anarchists were ·killed in the movement working toward rec­ reviewer claims so vehemently Charges of anti-semitism are death camps; we also know their onciliation with the Palestinians that Israel uses appeals to the wearing thinner and thinner nowa­ names, their cities of origin, and (some of their publications are Holocaust to bolster its racist Anarchy), days precisely because they have how and when they died, be­ reviewed in and a policies at a time when the cause the Nazis(not the victims) degree of self-criticism not possi­ so often and for so long been changing demographics of the thrown around with such abandon wrote everything down. What ble elsewhere in that part of the countryleave it populated large­ one chooses to do with this world (Palestinians who reject whenever anyone anywhere has ly by Jews whose parents were the indiscretion to question or information is irrelevant to the the party line of 'rejectionism' not refugees from Europe. The fact of its existence. are frequently killed as collabo­ criticize the Israeli state for its racism-or at least great distrust behavior and its policies. And The fact that the Holocaust rators). -towards Arabs by these people has been so frequentlyanalyzed, I might mention Yoram J.R.'s anti-Semite-baiting is as stems from the direct or re­ despicable as these charges discussed, and thus generally Binur's My Enemy, Myself, as an counted experience of abuse and come. become part of the common example of Israel's attempt to humiliation as second class citi­ cultural knowledge of the West understand its dilemma with zens in racist Arab countries The real facts are that: is due in part, then, to the Nazi regard to the occupation o( such as Yemen and Syria. It is (1) In my review I never once questioned the existence of the penchant forrecord keeping. Pol Gaza and the West Bank. Binur rarely mentioned that the 1948 Pot probably never generated a (an Israeli Jew) followed the war resulted in an exchange of Nazi death camps, nor did I ques­ tenth of the papeiwork of example of Black Like Me and, refugees between Israel and tion the fact of the massive impris­ Himmler. The other reason is posing as a Palestinian Arab, Arab countries. These Jews onment and effective elimination that Jews tend to analyze, dis­ worked as a menial laborer for don't need the Holocaust to be of Central and Eastern European cuss and write about things that Jewish employers. His account reminded of the fragility of their Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, are important to them. Only of racism and humiliation cuts existence; the proximity of their communists, anarchists and oth­ recently have American Indian, deep into Israelis' self-concep­ old 'hosts' is enough, and SCUD ers. As anyone with a shred of Cambodian and Armenian docu­ tion that they are tolerant and attacks only serve to drive the integrity will note, my review was ments relating to their genocides lacking prejudice. The point is point home. critical of Bradley Smith's Confes­ been made generally available or that thinking Israelis, like think­ sions of a Holocaust Revisionist been written. I hope for these ing people of all countries, are My purpqse in this letter is to precisely because "from a few peoples' and the world's sake willing to look at the undesirable encourage contributors to Anar­ examples of exaggeration .. ., of that more is written and dissemi­ aspects of their national behav­ chy to avoid bandying about baseless anti-Nazi propaganda nated. ior and willing to attempt hate-charged code words and stories, and of Zionist prevarica­ So, let's talk about those god­ change. phrases which serve to obfuscate tion in the service of Jewish na­ rather than clarify complex is­ damn 'Zionists' and their "racist As for the "racist state of tionalism, Smith jumps to the con­ state of lsrael." If we understand Israel," does the writer intend us sues. A publication which sees slusion that the Jewish holocaust that a Zionist is someone who to understand that the state itself as dedicated to cutting never happened and that the Na­ believes in a national homeland apparatus of Israel, like that of through the enslaving rhetoric of zis have been unfairly taken ad­ contemporary mass society in Israel for the Jews, then all Canada and Belgium and every vantage of in the annals of popu­ Israelis are Zionists, and there­ other state in the world, is guilty should be wary of the special lar history." (The quotation is from fore, according to the reviewer, of perpetrating and encouraging lexicon (some of it pointedly my review.) As I went on to say in all are guiltyof committing atro­ racism? I don't think so. The anti-Semitic) that Marxists, Fas­ the review of the book, "what pur­ cities. This is clearly a ridiculous essential message conveyed by cists, Stalinists and their ilk have pose is really served by a cam­ statement. If, on the other hand, terms (as used here) like Zion­ historically used to crush individ­ paign to completely dismiss the the term Zionist as used here ism and "racist state" has noth­ uality and discourage free actual suffering of hundreds of equates to the U.N. and Arab ing to do with an anarchist cri­ thought. thousands of people at the hands world's definition of Zionism as tique of the state as such, or Sincerely, of another of the most powerful racism, then the sentence is even with its particular manifes- J.R., N. Hollywood, CA. states the world has known? Un-

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 71 Letters fortunately, the sappy writing in the current and continuing mas­ well as extensive housing and Teresa Thornburg, committee Confessions.. .is not just sloppy sive list of atrocities perpetrated income allowances, while at the chair, and protest this censor­ 'revisionism', it even fails to con­ by the U.S. and Israel, as well as same time the native Palestinians ship, and perhaps request your vincingly 'confess' why the author by the former USSR, China and who were driven from their land readers to xerox copies of arti­ has made it his 'job' to mount a other powerful states. are denied re-entry, and those still cles fromAnarchy #34 and send one-man anti-holocaust crusade (4) Lenni Brenner has noted in within the Israeli borders are in­ them to me as I enjoyexpanding As on college campuses. Save your Zionism in the Age ofthe Dictators, creasingly denied participation in my mind. five bucks. This is a pamphlet "Zionism is not now, nor was it all facets of society. For those in By protesting this censorship, worth missing." ever, co-extensive with either Ju­ the occupied territories, treatment I subject myself to the harass­ h (2) "The Holocaust" has been mag­ daism or the Jewish people ... is rivals t at dispensed by the Nazis ment of the department, but lt nified into a larger-than-life tale of . scarcely necessary to add that all to ghetto residents during World when I believe the "keepers of historical persecution-that's why attemptsto equate Jews and Zion­ War Two. the human zoo" have over­ in popular Western terms it is al­ ists, and therefore to attackJews For readers unfamiliar with the stepped the bounds of their fas­ most always referred to as the as such, are criminal...." In the history leading to the current situa­ cist authority, I do protest, and absolute epitome of evil, rather same fashion, attempts to equate tion in Israel and the occupied this is only one of the battles I than as one particular episode Jews and Zionists, and therefore territories, I highly recommend two have waged over basic human amidst a number of other epi­ to attack anti-Zionists as anti-Se­ books for a firm grounding in reali­ rights. sodes of similar scale and horror­ mitic, are disgusting as well. Zion­ ty instead of ideology: Noam Please allow me to say, keep like the genocidal European con­ ism is an explicitly racist, settler­ Chomsky's The Fateful Triangle, fighting, and someday we may and Lenni Brenner's Zionismin free Mother Earth. quest of the Americas, the Stalinist state ideology. The fact remains the terror, the Armenian genocide, the that a significant, if minority, por­ Age of the Dictators. In addition, I Mitakuye Oyasin. U.S. annihilation of the Vietnam­ tion of the Israeli population re­ highly recommend subscriptions Paul "Medicine Bear" Bosch #170455 ese, the genocidal U.S. Israeli­ mains anti-racist and thus anti­ to two Israeli · periodicals which & M.C.C. supportedd eath squads in Central Zionist, despite J.R.'s illogical cover the current situation: Chal­ P.O. }lox7 3A678 South America, etc. In common contortions attempting to prove lenge (POB 14338, Tel Aviv 61 142, & Israel) and (ICIPP, Moberly, MO 65270 with this magnification has been otherwise. For example, Israel The OlherlstaBI the romanticization of the 'idealis­ Shahak, a retired professor at POB 2542, Holon 58125, Israel). tic' Zionist resistance (despite the Hebrew University and a survivor Check the "Alternative press re­ Capitalist anarchism fact that the Zionists were effec­ of the Nazi terror, wrote in 1977, view" in this issue for details. Dear Mr. Price, tively Nazi collaborators-see Lenni "By any standard the State of Isra­ · I read your review of Laws of Brenner's Zionism in Age of el must be considered a racist Missouri censorship the the the Jungle {see Anan:hy#34,page Dictators, especially the chapter state. Afteral l, citizens of this state Dear People, 15} with great interest and would "German Zionism Offers to Collab­ fall prey to a perfectly legal and I was notified 9 /29 /92 that like to make a few comments on orate with Nazism") and the cre­ firmly institutionalized discrimina­ Anarchy #34, was confiscatedby it. But first I have to apologize ation of the 'heroic' Israeli state on tion, depending on nothing but the mailroom and censored by for my overly free use of the the corpses of its genetically-de­ their ethnic origins. Far from being the "censorship committee" (all word anarchist. When I wrote fined enemies. marginal, this racist discrimination asst. superintendents) because the book, I was only vaguely affects the most basic needs and (3) In regard to excessive military the publication "advocatesarmed aware that calling myself an an­ vital interests of its victims. In my power and its ruthless employm­ disobedience and criminals as archist might provoke some hard view originates with the Zionist ent, Israel is certainly now playing it heroes." I was then asked to sign feelings among people who feel ideology. Consequently, the Zion­ in the same league with any other a "Covenant Not To Sue" which that they are the only true anar­ ist movement organizations, acting modern state except for the U.S., I refused to sign. chists. It befuddles me when in concert with the state authori­ Russia and possibly China. Al­ It appears that at Moberly some anarchist insults another ties, are the primary carriers of ready by 1982 the London-based (MO) Correctional Center by casting doubt on his anar­ racism." International Institute of Strategic (M.C.C.) we are not allowed chism or excommunicates him Studies estimated that Israel's (5) The obvious reason that the freedom of thought, and if we from the great church of anar­ military power was exceeded by institutionally embedded racism of have any hopes or dreams then chy. My definition of govern­ only the U.S., the USSR and Chi­ the state of Israel is so often sin­ we'd better keep them secret ment is that group of people na. While Israelis themselves gled out by world opinion (often before Big Brother confiscates who hold the generally accepted ranked themselves higher, describ­ comparing it to South African them as contraband as well! I monopoly on the use of accept­ ing Israeli power as lagging be­ apartheid), is that it is so obviously was not given a .chance to rebut able violence. That's what I'm hind only the U.S. and USSR. Giv­ expressed in Israel's brutal dis­ their decision nor to receive against. You conclude your re­ en the massively increased fire­ placement and bloody suppres­ even the articles in the issue view by characterizing my ideas power developed since World War sion of native Palestinians. There theydid find acceptable. on anarchy as "Chauvinistic, II (especially in the last decade), is no humane justification for such What I find most absurd is conservative, stateless, but cer­ this clearly puts modern Israel in a treatment, only the racist, expan­ that in the local college at the tainly not anarchy." By my defi­ position to have overpowered a sionist justifications of the Zionists. prison, of which I am a gradu­ nition, statelessness is anarchy. 1939 Nazi Germany should one I'm sure J.R. is aware that Israel ate, Civil Disobedience and Th e Perhaps we disagree. I hope I wish to imagine such a contest. was founded on an explicitly racist Declaration of In dependence can put the first two adjectives Thus there is every reason in my basis, though he will not admit were required reading! White in a little more perspective. review to describe Nazi Germany this. When the officially Jewish and Black supremacy magazines Anarchocapitalism is an unfor­ as "another of the most powerful state was founded, it proclaimed are allowed in. Of course, Anar­ tunate choice of label. I do and ruthless states the world has the "Law of Return," a law which chy and publications by Native come from that tradition but I known," rather than demonizing allows pedigreed Jews from any­ American groups such as A.l.M. don't think I ever used the word only the Nazi state in order to play where in the world to assume are targeted for censorship. itself. For now, let's call these along with the media cover-up for automatic Israeli citizenship as I hope your publisher will call people Libertarian Party Anar-

72 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Letters

would be horrified by stateless collectivism and some might evendisagree with my definition. But most LPAs mean economic anarchy when they speak of capitalism. You rightly say that I "fail to challenge the underlying hierar­ chical assumptions of capital­ ism." I'm only interested in re- . ducing and eliminating the state; the whole social and economic structure can be left as it is. If there's something wrong with that s)'stem, it's up to the people in it to change it to their liking, not mine. I've even suggested a method for destroying govern­ ment's monopoly without touch­ ing anything else. (My] essay, "Biarchy," outlines a method for turning the Republican and Democratic parties into private enterprises that compete for tax dollars. When I talk about what will happen without a state, I only predict. Your magazine prescribes. I predict that some verylarge businesses will contin­ ue to exist without a state. If I tum out to be wrong, I'll admit I was mistaken. At least, I'll try to weasel out of my prediction. If Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed's prescriptions are not followed, you will simply pro­ nounce, "stateless, but not anar­ chy:" I've tried not to make too many predictions about the shape of anarchy because I'm afraidthat my predictions willbe taken as descriptions or even prescriptions. You might label me "propertarian" since I believe that current concepts of property ownership will persist without a Collage by Johann Humyn Being (San Francisco, CA.). state; but I'm sure that other forms of ownership will also chists (LPAs). The LPAs I know economic systemwithout govern­ think most LPAs have that vi­ exist. They do now. You have a use the word capitalism in a ment intervention. To him, it's a sion in mind. They certainly nice paragraphy linking anarcho­ specialized way that probably sort of tautology. I suppose that believe that there's a place for capitalism · to Reaganoinics; and misleads many people. To an he uses the label to comfort large businesses in anarchy. But I can see how you wouldn't want LPA, capitalism is any economic people but he often misleads let's say that an LPA came to leave it out. But I think activity· without government in­ them. I know that anarchocapi­ across some people. living in you're a little too eager to brand tervention of any kind. To the talists have written books show­ stateless syndicalism. I don't me an anarchocapitalist so that modem English speaker, capital­ ing how the functions of the know if you would permit them I can fit your attack. When I ism is the American economic state can be taken over by capi­ to call themselves anarchists but predict that nearly everyone system. When an LPA calls him­ talistic enterprises. But even the that's what the LPA would call might accept "No trespassing" as self an anarchocapitalist, many most utopian of these writers them. Furthermore, the LPA a single law that everyone might listeners hear anarcho-fascist would not deny the possibility would call their economic ar­ accept, you seize on the predic­ because the American system is that other economic systems rangement anarchocapitalism tion and chide me for codifying substantially that partnership of could exist in anarchy. Nor because there would be no gov­ the status quo. If the workers state, capital, and labor celebrat­ would their existence distress ernment intervention in their seize all the industrial property ed by Mussolini. The LPA un­ them. I did not paint a picture economy. I kn<>W it sounds stu­ and set up a stateless commu­ derstands an anarchocapitalist to of large corporations taking over pid but that's what LPAs mean nism, I wouldn't be disturbed a be an anarchist who favors an the state's functions and I don't by capitalism. I suppose some bit, as long as they did not form

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 73 Letters a state to prohibit other eco­ religious anarchy are not athe­ too, wishwe could finddifferent you come from the 'tradition' of nomic systems. To me, the prob­ ism or even the destruction of words to describe ourselves but anarchocapitalism, and you sug­ lem is the state and its monopo­ hierarchical religious assump­ just have to keep calling gest we "call these people Liber­ I'll ly on violence. Once that is tions. I can't think that Anarchy myself an anarchist because tarian Party Anarchists (LPAs)." gone, we probably have is pleased with the strength of there's no other word in English If LPAs want to call themselves will economic systemsthat neither of many American religions. Could for what I believe. anarchocapitalists or anarchists, us imagine (or perhaps approve it be that total anarchy will not I thankyou foryour attention fine. If at the same time they of). Maybe I misunderstand your deliver the economic system you to my book. You must have want to say they oppose govern­ suspicion of a "No trespassing" have in mind? Just as religious found parts of it excruciating. ment coercion, I think they are agreement. Would it be OK for anarchy has allowed people to And I would also like to thank being disingenuous, if your rep­ a group of capitalists to seize the seek religious gratification in you forgiving me the opportuni­ resentation of their point of view communists' property by force? different (and sometimes bi­ ty to write three pages without is accurate. If you mean "Everyone may zarre) ways, so anarchy would once answering the question, Rather than continue to dis­ trespass," I understand and free them to find social and "Yeah, but what if someone agree over the definition of agree. But ifyou have a certain economic systems that they find killed your wife?" terms, let's settle forsome of the class of people in mind who may agreeable. Will it break your Best wishes, definitions you propose in your trespass with impunity, we al­ heart if a lot of people choose Allen Thornton, Vermilion, OH. letter and then see if there's ready have that. We call it the something like the status quo? anything consistently anti-coer­ state. Will you then long fora benevo­ Ben G. Price responds: cive in what you promote, by I've heard Libertarian Party lent despot? You refer to my Who'd believe it? whatever name: members suggest that a benevo­ "muddled form of anarcho-capi­ 1) "My defi nition of govern­ lent Libertarian despot would be talism." If you understand how Mr. Thornton: ment is that group of people very desirable. Such a tyrant most Libertarians use the word Your critique of my review of who hold the generally accepted would limit government to na­ "capitalism," you see that anar­ your book is laced with misinfor­ monopoly on the use of accept­ tional defense and the protec­ cho-capitalism is, by its nature, a mation and/or misunderstand­ able violence." tion of life and property. I dis­ muddled mess. It's just like the ing. To clear up a few of the You say, "this is what I'm agree with these people. They American religious system. most glaring examples, I am against." But this eminently ac­ think their own conceptions of There is no American religious writing this response. ceptable definition seems to get ownership are self-evident and system. People do what they First, Anarchy is not 'my' flushed away as you continue to don't realize that theywould be want to. Is this chaos bad? I magazine, and when I write that discuss the meaning and implica­ using the state to uphold their don't think so. Personally, any your book prescribes ('predicts', tions of the form of 'anarchy' unexamined system. No one in religious consensus would scare if you insist) a society that is promoted in your book and America could believe that there me to death. "stateless, but not anarchy," I am defended in your letter. Let's is one obvious religion that ev­ I don't doubt that the writers in no way demanding that your have a look at your next defini­ eryone would naturally subscribe of Anarchy are passionately ideas should adhere to some tion: to. We have something very committed to a host of positions. agenda that you suggest is being 2) "By my definition, stateless­ close to religious anarchy in But this very fervor is a problem promoted by the publishers of ness is anarchy." America today: the state has for me. Can't a racist be against Anarchy . I do not speak for Admitting that your book fails only a minimal influence over the state? Can't the rich man them. I have never met them. I to challenge the underlying hier­ religion and that is waning. But inherit the kingdom of Anarchy? write reviews that they either archical assumptions of capital­ even as the last vestiges of state I don't know anyone who agrees publish or reject, based on their ism, you go on to suggest "eco­ control over religion are being with Anarchy on every issue. own criteria. Now, if they only nomic anarchy" as the definition destroyed, religion and religious Let's say we both agree that publish the reviews I write with of capitalism acceptable to fanaticism are stronger than slavery is wrong and ought to be which they agree, I continue to LPAs. In other words, capitalism ever. We see that the results of ended. You tell me, "We have to express my point of view in without "the state." You say, own challenge the hierarchical as­ each instance. You will necessar­ "I'm only . interested in reducing sumptions that lead to slavery ily get a rather one dimensional and eliminating the state; the Anarchy subscribers and the wage slavery we call view of me, if that's the case. whole social and economic struc­ Don't lose us! capitalism." I reply, "Uh?" You But I am not a magazine. I am ture can be left as it is." This elaborate, "Slavery and capital­ not Anarchy . I speak for myself. stance defines our difference, If you don't let us know well ahead of time when you move, ism are really the same thing; I'm not even sure I qualify for and it is the essence of my scep­ your subscription copies won't it's futile to destroy slavery and the term 'anarchist'. ticism about your opposition to reach you. you are receiving a But if you want to call your­ government, as you define it. If leave capitalism intact. Master­ 3rd Class bulk mall subscription less, yes, but hardly free." I self an anarchist you won't be My criticism doesn't come (and most of you are), the Post Office won't forward your copy to would certainly be convinced offending me. Your point is a from a preference for collectivist a new address. let us that you were against capitalism good one, that people who iden­ coercion (a preference you seem Pleaae know at least 4 weeks before you but I would doubt your serious­ tify themselves as 'anarchists' to impute to me). I focus on the move so that you don't miss an ness about ending slavery. From spend an inordinate amount of kind of corporate coercion you Issue. Due to our low subscription your point of view, I have failed time and energy arguing over seem loath to admit exists be­ prices and non-profit operations we simply can't affordto send out to come to terms .with the real ·who. is the "only true anarchist," cause it is germane to a discus­ extra copies at non-bulk postal economic issues and so have as you put it. From my point of sion: in which one party pro­ rates when subscribers miss apologized for the present sys­ view, what you are is defined motes unfettered capitalism. I'm copies because they didn't notify tem. From my.point of view, you more by what you do than by all for your definition of govern­ us of changes of address! Please have yoked a political platform . what label you volunteer to ment, so let's stick to it. The us know when you move! let to the simple idea of stateless­ wear. Labels are a formof social 'state' may embody the monopo­ CAL. POB14 46, Columbia, MO. 65205-1446 ness and so have turned anarchy camouflage. ly on acceptable violence in this into your personal property. I, You say in your letter that historic era of nation-states. But

74 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Letters

if nation-states were to be swept arguing that when Union Car­ archy'. defined terms seem to Open discussion on this issue Ill away, would the monopoly on bide's poison inadvertantly kills be the order of the day. is not usually allowed. Since Mr. violence go with it, or would the off hundreds of people with You say that I have "yoked a Featherstone has started perhaps power to 'govern'be assumed by gases it intended to sell to states political platform to the simple the first real dialogue on the the more powerful entitites in who would then use the poison idea of statelessness and so have issue as a psychotherapist I the social and economic struc­ to intentionally kill offthousands turned anarchy into (my) per­ would like to continue it. ture you wouldn't mind preserv­ of people, that we should like to sonal property." I was going to The present professionalstand ing? see the disbanding of the states, object, but on second thought, on child-adult sex is not one that 3) "Anarchofascism... that part­ but not the corporation that why not agree on this: although has been developed by profes­ nership of state, capital, and profits from its activities. I find I have not advanced anyone's sionals. Judges, politicians and labor celebrated by Mussolini." myself pondering how hard it is political platform, I do, in fact, legislatures have dictated a law You say that when you talk to be for a brand of anarchy that claim anarchy as my personal that professionals must follow. about anarchocapitalism many promises business as usual. property! Isn't that the whole The age of consent was set polit­ people confuse it with an image If "that state" functioned the point? I'm saying that my life, ically by government authority of'anarchofascism'. Your 'clarifi­ way history's travel brochures, my lifestyle, and the governance not by professionals who re­ cation' of the issue is unsettling: the world's heap of national of my affairsbelong to me! Any­ searched or understood the "The LPA understands an anar­ constitutions, say they are sup­ one claiming to be an anarchist, subject. In fact so little open chocapitalist to be an anarchist posed to, we migh; have a better supporting the notion of a state­ discussion has been allowed to who favors an economic system opinion of the institution. We less society, but willing to abide be presented that fear and not without government interven­ might say that what we 'like' coercive hierarchies in a techni­ reason has prevailed. Lack of tion." I'll bet that really success­ about the state are the regula­ cally stateless society, just lost open discussion and legal inter­ ful anarchocapitalists wouldn't tions it imposes on others more his claim to owning a piece of ference have prevented profes­ mind getting rid of government powerful than us so that theydo the kind of anarchy I claim as sionals (or anyone) from openly intervention in their business not use violence and coercion my personal possession. And the exploring the issue. enterprises. Yes, Ronald Reagan against us. But in real life, the kind of system he promotes isn't In an attempt to join withMr. and his cronies, forinstance. But things we hate about "the state" what I think of as anarchy. But I Featherstone in serious consider­ isn't that the "partnership of are when it uses violence and certainly wouldn't dream of ation of the subject I would like state, capital, and labor" you coercion against us. The reason depriving him of his right to call to relate more information that talked about when you defined we dislike government probably himself an 'anarchist'. So far, I is rarely considered on this topic. the term 'anarchofascism'? If isn't because it prevents us from can still get away with calling Since this information comes in any social entity, be it state, using coercion and violence him what I think he is, and the form of my personal experi­ church, corporation, guild, un­ against others. We dislike it that's all I really ask for. But ences with being a consenting ion, mob, army, etc., can super­ because it claims to protect us, now that I've had my say, here's child many years ago I will not cede your will, dictate your be­ then overtaxes us to insure that an excerpt from the review of sign this letter. I am sure that havior, and coerce certain social 'protection', but instead victimiz­ your book I could have written: most people will understand the interactions, whether personal or es and extorts "protection mon­ "A fantastic, intellectually emotional pressures that make economic, does this not consti­ ey," that it turns around and stimulating and objective romp this necessary. tute a government, by your defi­ gives to our oppressors. through the coming stateless The issue of consenting chil­ nition? And in the presence of Getting rid of the state would society! Predictions of utopian dren is close to me because I such a coercive monopoly, can probably change the method of peace and harmony that are once was one. more than con­ l anarchy, by any definition, be collection, but I don't think demonstrably the natural out­ sented to having sex with adults, argued to exist? getting rid of the state and keep­ growth of capitalism, freed from I seduced adults of both sexes. I I suppose you could argue ing the social and economic the bondage of government! A continue to think lovingly of my that, unlike'states', corporations structures intact will do much to philosopher's tour de force! A adult partners from my child­ don't control a monopoly on enhance anyone's life. It would statesman's recipe for social hood. I enjoyed every sexual violence, since there are so many finishthe task of freeingfascistic renewal! It's morning in Ameri­ contact I had with adults when I corporations competing against capitalism from public account­ ca!" was a child. Still there is a hitch each other. There are also quite ability. Absent the state, the IRS Nah. Who'd ever believe a that I feel must be considered. a few states competing against might not be the tax man to line like that? As I am now a psychothera­ each other. So perhaps at issue whom you answer, but I have pist I must consider the issue of is the size of the social arena in little doubt that some function­ Consenting child sex with children very seriously. which coercion and violence take ary of the surviving hierarchy I know that I must take a posi­ place? A state practices a mo­ will collect a 'tithe', a tax, or a Dear Editor, tion that will protect children nopoly on violence within its plain payoff at regular intervals. I write as a response to Joel from psychological harm. I do borders and its colonies. A cor­ I fall back on the description of Featherstone's excellent article not allow myself to be influ­ poration practices coercion and this arrangement I used in my in the 1992 Summer edition of enced by panic peddlers on the violence only insofar as its lob­ review of your book: Feudalism. Anarchy which he titled, "Posi­ issue especially since my own byist can cajole and buy govern­ Ah, the good old days! tive Child-Adult Sex: The Evi­ experiences give me a unique ment influence, and in the offic­ Just what kind of economic dence." perspective that cuts through es of its domain, where it can system "total anarchy," as you I have long wanted to hear blind fear. As a political person dictate everything from dress put it, would deliver I don't the pro side of the argument on I understand the long range codes to party affiliations, life­ presume to say. When you use this subject. I thank him for ramifications of the positions I styles to random drug tests. Of the phrase "total anarchy" it has · presenting it eloquently and I take. I also see the slanting of course, some corporations are overtones that ring like the word thank Anarchy for printing it. this issue by professionals who larger than some nation states, 'chaos'. In common parlance, One side in this argument has are closed minded. I try not to so the argument gets rather chaos suggests rudderless may­ too long dominated (and slant­ be closed minded. I consider blurry. We could find ourselves hem. So too does the term 'an- ed) the issue. both sides and I hope Mr. Fea-

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 75 Letters

therstone find more public dangerous because I knew that hood was so different and diffi­ will 'Racism' is not formats so we can consider some adults who have sex with cult that it left me with many all a bad word the issue from a completely children are abusive. I was very scars. educated position. careful. When I could seduce an So you see the factor of con­ Dear Anarchy, I would like to tell you my adult they were usually quite senting children is not the whole Well, I have criticized the story because it illustrates normal people who were without issue. We know from studies anarchists for their nit-picking, own many points that I feel are ini­ a partner and would not have done in the Pacific Islands that endless feuds and pedantics, but portant. I am a male from· the chosen a child if they had a consenting children can have here I am replying to a reply to baby boom generation. I was choice. I could see afterwards healthy sex with adults. But can my letter in Anarchy #33. lovingly fondled sexually while that they felt very guilty for our society protect consenting I am enraged because the nit­ still a small infant by my mother breaking the rules and having children at this time. My child­ picking pedantic named Law­ and grandmother. In the case of sexwith me. I loved the sex but hood was ruined from my con­ rence wrote in a letter to Anar­ my grandmother this continued it was often hard to make them sent as was part of my adult life chy that "the crackers who take until I was about age six. This repeat it because of their guilt. ruined frmo the aftermath. Per­ up arms against what theysee as had a powerful psychological Sometimes I felt that I was bad haps it would be better to say I an occupational government effect on me that I feel is perti- because I had manipulated them was ruined by the aloneness of should be P.0.W.s too." Well, . nent to the issue. What hap­ and theyregretted what theyhad rarely having anyone to consent old buddy, you were saying that pened has been revealed to also done. At about 12 I was able to with.After an adult woke up my Karen Eliot listed only 'leftists' have happened to others whom find more frequent but still not sexuality the society around me and that was why she listed only I have given therapy to. ' regular sexwith male pedophiles could not handle a sexual child blacks, Puerto Ricans, etc. and At the age of six I came to ( ok in a pinch but I would have and so punished that child and no whites. Then, are you saying understand the enormous conse­ preferred females). Sometimes I forced a cruel isolation on that there are no white leftists? him. quences that would occur if my felt guilty, bad or dirty because I felt beauty and love while Further, there are many white grandmother and I were ever that is how I was treated on the having sex with adults when I loyalists who are not 'crackers'. caught. For that reason I occasions that it was discovered was a child but the aftermath 'Crackers' refer to people from stopped consenting to the sexwe that I had a fully awake sexuali­ was hell. the state of Georgia who in the had been having. We nevermen­ ty. I came to hate myself due to Actually the aftermath could early days of the nation cracked tioned it again and I believe she bei�g rejected for my sexuality have been worse. Once a child whips over the heads of the oxen died thinking that I had forgot­ and also because of my homo­ withhis sexuality open begins to as they traveled into Florida to ten it before I reached adult­ sexual acts and desires. seek sex what he find? I settle. It has been used in the will hood. The issue however did You see while my sexuality found some loving sex but also past in a derogatory manner to into end there. My mother and was awake all of my reasoning rejection from narrow people refer to all southerners. grandmother had woken in me a powers were not. In the absence who did not want children to be Thisis really a sneering-down­ deep love for sex. This is in fact of a supportive group of gays sexual. I was lucky I did not seek the-nose by Lawrence at white the classic pattern. Since the sex which an adult would find I was sex so hard that I found sick loyalists and sou�herners as well. we had was very loving I associ­ unable to fight off the criticism people who hurt children. If this He places himself on a pedestal ated sex strongly with love. that homosexuality (or my bisex­ had happened I may never have of snobbishness unparalleled by When I stopped having sex I no uality) was bad. I was only a recovered instead of only spend­ anarchist pedantics anywhere. longer felt loved. My mother child but I had to fight adult ing 10 years recovering. Think Actually, many white loyalists beat me quite oftenbecause she authority. In the absence of a hard about this. Look at the are Californians. was raised to believe that she support group to tell me that it increase in drug use and vio­ It was the northerncapitalists should not spare the rod. Her was ok to be sexual I believed lence. What does a sexual child that ran roughshod over the demonstrations of love were people who told me I was dirty, findif he uses a child's restricted agrarian southerners, laid waste sporadic at best. My love and bad and abnormal. I often hated judgment to find a partner. A the land, the country and starved my sensitivity had been opened myself for being sexual but I child does not see the warning many women and children as up with the very powerful tool couldn't stop. I would even hate signs of drug use or psychosis, well as the military. I myself am of sex and then the love was myself for desiring sex while I he seeks only love. He may find a northeasterner, but I side com­ turned off. The emotional pain was abstinent. a nightmare. pletely now withthe southerners, after I had first been opened up Theworst pain of all was that As a person who was once a the 'crackers', the 'redlegs', the was very severe. it was so hard to find partners consenting child I agree with 'rednecks' if the author wishes to I began to seek sex at the age who could keep the secret. I Mr. Featherstone that child/ continue the nomenclature of of six because without it I did often went months without sex adult sex can be beautiful. But the men who got out and fought not feel loved I went to my because partners were hard to can we protect children from the to protect the white race in the peers for sex and was rejected find. I can't tell you how much possible dangers in this obvious­ Second American Revolution of because no one had turned on this hurt. Without sex I had ly sick society? We are a much 1983-1985 in the northwest, their sexuality as mine had been trouble feeling loved. The con­ moreviolent and abusive culture while the anarchists talked and turned on. As a sexual six year stant desire for sex hurt a great than the Pacific Islanders who talked and talked and talked. , old my peers only considered me deal when I couldn't get it which have sex with children. Unlike What have the anarchists done weird and avoided me. I became was most of the time. I was them we can not protect the lately? Write and talk and feud . more isolated because I was isolated socially because I was children from the extreme rami­ and bullshit in my view. different. Makeno mistake chil­ sexual, also I felt emotionally fications that may result. If you See my reviewof the anarchist dren who are as sexual as adults abandoned and rejected when I must have sex with children go publication, Demolition Derby , in are a minopty and will be treat­ did not have a partner. Most of to the Pacific where a whole TheRational Fe minist, Summer, ed different. my childhood was painful be­ culture will protect the children, 1992. (Sample $3). Rejected by children who did cause of these things. When I in America the dangers are sim­ In addition, 'racism' is not a not yet have a sexuality I turned finally became an adult I had to ply too great. bad word. It is a word brain­ to adults for sex. I knewthis was seek therapy because my child- New Reader, somewhere in IL. washed into the American pub-

76 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Letters

lic's mind by the ethnic oners of war, should media masters of the have been enough to nation as a pejorative get your danger lights word. Anybody with a flashing. The fact that brain in their head is a Ms. Gill has already racist: He loves his/her been exposed (by one own race and wishes to of your regular contri­ live among his/her own butors, no less) in In­ race rather than in a stead Of A Magazine as mixed jungle of 'inte­ a White Supremacist grated' cultures which infiltrator makes your all hate each other but neglect the more all won't admit it. galling. Look around the This entire situation world today and see makes us sick. We hate what enforced integra­ fascists, and we hate tion of cultures, as well those who knowingly as races, has done to help them. We are the world. This bullshit <: assuming your brains about pretending that were on a holiday, and we are all equal is un­ that this won't happen historic, stupid as hell again. If we are mistak­ and hypocritical. The en, and you actually white race, or the Euro- · sympathize with Ms. pean culture is the one Gill's brand of bullshit, which conquered the world and tionalist Movement," putting worst had Ms. Gill kept her then please let us know. dominated it forcenturies and is these on a par with Black, Puer­ sympathies to herself, though. As an anti-authoritarian book­ now being given a guilt trip to Rican or Native American For her game over the past shop we have a policy of not about it and saying it isn't nice. nationalist prisoners. These sug­ several years seems to be to supporting racism. For this rea­ That is the line of the lowest gestions come at the end of a pose as a Leftist, or an Anar­ son some members of the .collec­ common denominator who are letter fullof praise for anarchists chist, or a Feminist, in order to tive felt very strongly that issue out and want to get in. May the and Anarchy magazine, and Ms. make contacts with genuine #33 should be pulled from the white loyalists triumph ever­ Gill signs "Novice Anarchist Leftists, Anarchists and Femi­ shelves. Everyone else agreed more, and to hell with pedantic Researcher," attempting to give nists. Once contact has been that if this kind of thing were to bullshit artists. the impression that she is an established she will start trying happen more often, Anarchy Most sincerely, anarchist. to convince these people of a would clearly no longer belong Molly Gill The editors of Anarchy chose Jewish world conspiracy, the in the bookshop or in the anar­ Editor, The Rational Feminist to publish this letter in a promi­ evils of race-mixing, or of the chist movement, but most peo­ Apt. #2002 nent position (it was the first of necessity of stand[ing] by White ple feltthat publishing this letter 10200 - 122nd Av. N. almost twenty pages of le.tters Racist prisoners. Her 'zine is an was an oversight. Because Anar­ Largo, 34643 included in that issue) and with­ eclectic mix of articles taken chy is the kind of magazine lots FL. out any response challenging this from Marxist-Leninist, Anar­ of people want to read and that A fucked decision association of White National­ chist, Feminist, anti-Zionist as we always get requests for, and ism, Molly Gill and Anarchism. well as White Nationalist, neo­ because of interesting articles An Open Letter to Anarchy If we didn't know better (or N aziand Third-Positionist sourc­ elsewhere in issue #33, the col­ Magazine, perhaps if we weren't hiding our es. She has published poetry by lective decided not to remove it. This letter is being stapled in heads in the sand?) we might one particular "White Nationalist It should be stressed that this all copies of Anarchy #33 (Sum­ take this as an indication that POW" who was convicted of was not an easy decision, and mer '92) sold at Librairie Alter­ Anarchy sees no apparent con­ killing a Jewish talk-show host that certain collective members native Bookshop (Montreal's tradiction between White Na­ and of having belonged to the were still uncomfortable selling anti-authoritarian bookstore), tionalism and Anarchism. Per­ neo-naziPosse Comitatus. it. and is being mailed to Anarchy haps it should be taken to mean It is difficult to know what The compromise was this magazine where we, the mem­ that Anarchy also supports effect her work has on those letter: we have let you know that bers of the Alternatives collec­ White Nationalist POWs, such movements which she attempts we think your printing Ms. Gill's tive, hope that it will be pub­ as those connected with the to infiltrate. What is clear, how­ letter without any response was lished. We also hope for an Aryan Nations, whose letters ever, is that she is particularly a fucked decision. We have let explanation from the folx at and poetry Ms. Gill has previ­ interested in infiltrating the . your readers know that your Anarchy. ously published in her own 'zine anarchist movement and that the tolerance of such bullshit is not What is bugging us is the (TheRational Feminist,previous­ editors of Anarchy, bypublishing accepted everywherein the anar� publication of a letter from ly The Radical Feminist). We with no reply her letter (as well chist movement. We hopefully Molly Gill, a white supremacist honestly don't understand why as her contact address!), have have helped expose Ms. Gill, so and anti-semite, with no re­ the editors failed to call Ms. Gill failed miserably to resist this that her projects of infiltration sponse or disclaimer from the on ·her racism, seeing that they infiltration. and disruption will be slightly editors of Anarchy . In her letter often take time to write detailed And you should have known less effective in the future. Ms. Gill calls on us to support responses to other letters. Mere better: seeing a sympathetic We wish this letter had not political and prisoners of war oversight? mention of "White Nationalism," been necessary. We also hope (POWs) from the "White Na- It would have perhaps been particularly in reference to pris- that next time you print racist

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 77 Letters drivel in your letters section that That Gill's letterhappened to be and fundamental interests of its specific content until after it you take the time to respond. published at the beginning of the Capital, according to the circum­ was sent. The letter expresses In the hopes that you get your letters column in issue #33 was stances. " -Jean Barrot the views and personal agenda shit together, the Alternative related to the time it was received, Fascism/Antifascism of its author more than those of Bookshop Collective. and not any desire of ours to dis­ the collective as a whole. Nei­ Librairie Alternative play it "in a prominent position." Dear comrades: ther he nor they signed it, pre.. 2035 Boul. St-Laurent We generally try to publish letters I am writing to you as a read­ ferring to denounce Anarchy Montreal, Quebec H2X in the order in which they are re­ er and supporter of Anarchy. anonymously. Zf3 Canada ceived. (In practice this usually Recently, I learned about a let­ What makes me angriest translates to their being published ter mailed to you by the collec­ about the letter is its dishonesty Jason comments: in the order in which they are tive of the AlternativeBookstore and manipulativeness.Under the Fuck white nationalism, typed, with some consideration in Montreal, concerning a letter pretext of denouncing a (non­ fuckMarxist obfuscation given to how they fit on the pages you printed by Molly Gill. I am existent) fascist infiltration of during layout.) a member of that collective, and the anarchist movement, it I have to wonder why it is that, Apparently you are also un­ have been for most of the past makes what can only be a con­ if your letterwas supposedly writ­ aware that I have already 'expos­ twelve years. Because I am a scious attempt to discredit a ten and stapled to copies of ­ member, their letter supposedly major libertarian review its Anar ed' Gill's racist and fascist proclivi­ in chy#33 for sale, we only received ties in a past issue of Analchy(see speaks forme. It does not. I had pages. The grosslyinsulting a copy from you in December­ nothing to do with its content or own issue #30, p.7, where I quote from tone of the letter, its rhetorical after Analchy #35 was already ·one of her more obnoxious white­ · the decision to write it, which overkill and crude insinuations printed and being sent out supremacist rants and list some of wa:smade without my knowledge about the motives of Anarchy 's through the mail? Was it to ensure the unsavory articles she's pub­ or consent. editorial staff make this clear, I that we 90uldn't respond to your lished). This would have made The letter itself is a perfect think. The letter is an attempt to a slimy ccusations-made behind another exposure redundant, es­ illustration of how not to write create an artificial scandal far our backs-in a more timely man­ pecially when her ill-conceived to fellow libertarians; in one out of proportion to the actual ner? game was obvious for all to see. short page it manages to be hos­ threat represented by Gill's basi­ In case you've never noticed, tile, contemptuous, insulting, I feel so intimidated by your cally insignificant letter. At this each issue of Analchy invites read­ self-righteous and fatuous. It threat to pull Anarchy "from the point, a disinterested reader ers to write for the letters column contains severalthreats directed shelves" of Librairie Alternative might wonder why this is so. To whether they "are sympathetic or against Anarchy. It also insinu­ over a single letter written by a answerthis question, it would be critical of anarchist tendencies and ates that Anarchy tolerates or is lone loony racist that I can hardly useful to examine the current practices. All letterswill be printed sympathetic to fascist ideas, situation at Alternatives. keep from laughing. As readers with the author's initials only, un­ which is ridiculous, as anyone who checked out our "Distributor Alternative Bookstore is the less it is specifically stated . that who reads the paper knows. hall of shame" at the beginning of longest lasting continuously run­ her/his full name may be used ...." The letter refers to Gill as an this issue will have noted, Librairie ning anarchist project in Mon­ This should answer two of your "infiltrator", which is not the treal. It opened for the first time Alternative Boqkshop appears questions: We published Molly case. infiltrator is someone in the fall of 1974, and has been there because we have had re­ An Gill's letterbecause she sent it to who insinuates her or his way peated problems getting paid for open for almost twenty years. us to be published, and we includ­ into a group in order to achieve Such a statement . might leave issues sent. In fact, we didn't send ed her whole name and address goals that run directly counter to people with the impression that copies of issue #33, nor did we because she wanted us to do so. its own. Red Warthan is a nazi­ Alternatives is a stable and se... send copies of following issues, We publish an open letters col­ fascist who really did infiltrate cure project. Nothing could be precisely because of this (and we umn. This mean� that we don't anarchist groups in North Amer­ further from the truth: that the still haven't been paid for issues refuse to publish letters just be­ ica:. Molly Gill, on the other bookstore even exists is due to as far back as Summer, 1991!). cause we disagree with them, If hand, has infiltrated precisely the enormous effort put into it it weren't for another anarchist in even if they are written by racists, nothing. At worst, she has writ­ over a period of several years by Montreal stocking the bookshop, fascists, liberals, authoritarian ten a few letters to anarchist a small number of people, in there would have been nothing Marxists, or other.enemies of free­ papers, three of which have been spite of the isolation and poverty there for you to censor. As it is, dom. Sure, we could have refused published. The only fault the that has always dogged it, and your threat to join other reaction­ to publish Gill's letter, but what editors of Anarchy can be ac­ which has almost snuffed it out ary bookshops which refuse to would this have proved? That we cused of is that of being too on more than one occasion. carry Anarchy rings. hollow when don't trust our readers to recog­ generous to someone who has All of the founding members you already refuse to pay us. At nize an inept attempt at white cynically used their paper to of the project have gone their the same time, it only brings dis­ supremacist propaganda? it was spread fascist ideas. Even in this own separate ways, and of the If credit to you for its petty-mind­ so obvious to you, how much case, it is gpod that because of current collective, only one edness. more obvious must it have been to Anarchy, people know Molly member has been there for our anarchist readers? Gill's name and address, and more than fiveyears. The collec­ is also true that we could have Artificial scandal something about her politics. tive has a high rate of turnover It responded to that particular ob­ Although the author of the in its membership, and this situ­ noxious letter,jus t as it is true that "Revolutionariesdo not denounce bookstore's letter received a ation is related to that of the we could respond to every letter antifascism for not 'making the mandate from the collective to anti-authoritarian milieu as a with which we disagree. However, revolution ', but for being power­ write it, the letter itself was not whole. There are probably sever­ our general policy is to only reply less to stop totalitarianism, and brought to a meeting for approv­ al hundred people in Montreal to letters which question, argue for reinforcing, voluntarily or not, al before it was mailed, despite who identifywith anti-authoritar­ with, or attack us in some fairly Capital and the State... Th e fa scist the fact that it supposedly spoke ian ideas in some way, and some direct way. This Gill did not do, and antifa scist ideologies are for the whole collective. So most of them are socially active. How­ unlike you. each adaptable to the momentary members weren't even aware of ever, these people generally

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 78 Letters keep within their immediate between '89 and the summer of conclusion that the personal and that there is nothing there. circle of friends and act together '91, a protracted and vicious political divisions in the book­ Alternatives has a budget of with them, in their everyday internal dispute over the politi­ store made any real improve­ several thousand dollars a year, lives. Most anti-authoritarians cal orientation of the project led ment in the project unlikely. rent-free space to operate from here are unaware of or only to about ten people either leav­ They were deeply dissatisfied and a volunteer staff, so some of dimly aware of what the others ing it or being denied member­ with the collective's political the pressures experienced by are doing. This diffusenessis not ship in the collective. This incoherence. and the back-biting regular bookstores don't apply necessarily a bad thing, but it amounted to a killing haemor­ there, and decided to leave. there. Although the bookstore is does make the exchange of rhage, and the bookstore is now Their assessment was that the poor and isolated even within news,ideas and mutual aid more a different project because of it. bookstore was dead as a political the anti-authoritarian milieu difficult.In spite of this, it would To make a long story short, a project. For them and for me, here (and I'm not trying to ig­ be absurd to expect the milieu tendency sympathetic to leftist the bookstore's decline was nore this or minimize its impor­ to focus around a single project. politics and the most retrograde summed up in an incident that tance) it still has the money and The bookstore project, which and reactionary national libera­ occurred at a special meeting of resources it needs to be an ex­ was once specifically libertarian, tion movements coalesced in the the collective in mid-'91, called cellent anarchist bookstore. The arose out of a diffuse and politi­ collective and sought to re-de­ to define the bookstore's politi­ sorry state of the anarchist sec­ cally fragmented milieu, and the fine the bookstore's politics, by cal orientation. A particularly tion is the result of a deliberate bookstore's problems should shifting its anti-authoritarian repulsive piece of abuse by the policy decision made by the always be seen in this context. criteria to include Maoist and leftist sympathisers resulted in a current collective, which has If the bookstore project isn't Trotskyist literature, the official woman named Anna Delso be­ used thousands of dollars of the dead yet, it has gone into a co­ organ of the Popular Front for ing excluded from this meeting, bookstore's funds to buy a wide ma on two occasions already: the the Liberation of Palestine on the groundsthat she "was not variety of sometimes interesting first, in 1979, was caused by the (PFLP), and Basque nationalist a member". She left in tears, but basically reformist literature. gradual departure of the staff, literature, among others. One humiliated. Anna has been an The anarchist section has been leaving Dimitri Roussopoulos in bookstore member even invited anarchist revolutionary for more systematically neglected, and control. The bookstore was re­ a Maoist newspaper to bring a than fiftyyears. She took part in with it all the history and theory collectivized in 1982 and broke stack of their papers in for dis­ the Spanish revolution and of the revolutionary movement. with Roussopoulos permanently, tribution, which was delivered by risked death as a courier for the There is no attempt to stock for political reasons (Rousso­ one of their militants. An oppos­ French resistance. She has been libertarian literature systemati­ poulos is infamous here for his ing group in the collective an active anarchist in Montreal cally, and no sign yet that the continual abuse and manipula­ sought to defendthe bookstore's since her arrival (due to exile: situation will improve. tion of others; he is also a busi­ specifically libertarian content, the Franco dictatorship would This is a political problem, nessman, with all that that im­ and re-establish it as a project have shot her) in the early '50s. and it requires a political solu­ plies). This re-collectivization based on a coherent and revolu­ ·Her involvement with Alterna­ tion. I would be happier if the was accompanied by an upsurge tionary critique of this world. As tive goes back to its founding, bookstore collective would direct in anti-authoritarian activity, a result, they advocated a firm and she is a former member. It its energies toward a re-appraisal including the founding of at refusal of statist, capitalist and is worth noting the treatment of its own activity, instead of least three newprojects, and by nationalist ideologies, and a the current collective, including venting its frustration on frater­ a split between Dimitri's aca­ corresponding refusal of that the author of their "collective" nal projects. demic coterie and the active kind of literature. This group letter, reserved for this anti-fa s­ My warmest wishes to you all, anarchists. Fortunate circum­ was mostly composed of franco­ cist. Doug Imrie, Montreal, Quebec stances in '82 and early '83 al­ phone comrades, two of whom Previous collectives have at lowed anarchists to complete the were ex-members of the La least tried to keep a broad range Censorship disturbing purchase of the building that Sociale bookstore (a revolution­ of libertarian literature in stock, houses the bookstore, giving the ary project that I participated in despite the bookstore's small Dear Anarchy: project some measure of securi­ with them) and were all aware income. This is no longer the I worked at Alternative Book­ ty. The building is still owned by of anarchist, situationist and left case. The situation of both the shop from 1982-84 and during a non-profit organization found­ communist theory.These people English and French-language 1986-87. I find it very disturbing ed by anarchists. The bookstore are friends and comrades of anarchist sections can only be that some members would have closed in the fall of 1985 for mine, and I sided with them in described as desperate. The censored Anarchy and that, in renovations, as the building was the bookstore dispute. They shelves are almost empty, with the bookshop's single-minded on the verge of collapsing and wrote three documents outlining only a couple of dozen books in zeal, the question of censorship was actually unsafe to be in. The their perspective, which con­ each half of the section. In a is not even discussed in their cost of the renovations was so tained criticisms of the project, a predominantly French-speaking letter, nor did it assume much enormous that the comrades discussion paper for a collective city, the situation of the French­ importance in conversations I who managed the building came debate about the bookstore's language section is especially had with members. This sign of within a hair's breadth of shut­ political orientation, and a pro­ bad: not a single book there was the authoritarian bent the book­ ting down the project, but they posal for a full overhaul and re­ ordered less than two years ago, shop has taken concerns me managed to secure a mortgage founding of the bookstore pro­ and the selection is awful. This personally, since I had two arti­ that solved the problem. When ject. These papers were given to also holds true for the periodi­ cles in the issue in question, one the store re-opened in 1986 I collective members and shown cals. Moreover, this situation has of which, my "Femme aux was still with the project, but to other comrades in 1990 and gone on for over a year and a Bananes" piece, dealt with a most of the collective of '82 had early 1991. They make interest­ half now. All of the libertarians local situation not dissimilar to left, and the store was basically ing reading, and offer some who used to visit the bookstore the present one. Since the book­ founded again. I re-joined the insight into the bookstore's de­ regularly either don't come any shop had not made it a priority collective in early '89 (having velopment. By mid-1991, these more (and there are many of to pay Anarchy, and no copies of been absent for two years), and three comrades came to the them) or do come, and remark the "Abandoning Civilization"

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 79 Letters issue were available, when the lar contributor." In fact,Anarchy following issue came out I took would have been hard put to be five extra copies I had of the aware of the piece in question "Abandoning" issue down for the since it doesn't even exist! This bookshop to distribute. CE N S O R SH I P entire paragraph of the book­ Also, the reference to infiltra­ store's letter is false from start tors by the letter's author, Karl to finish. Levesque, is too provocative not Now that he's too old to run a to respond to: this guy has prob­ FUCKING youth-lib operation, Levesque ably done more of a wrecking says that the major focus of his job in the anarchist milieu than activities is anti-fascism. Howev­ all the North American fascist er, with so-called anti-fascism it infiltrators put together. SUCKS. is always necessary to peel away Levesque arrived in town in the masks to revealwhat it is for his mid-teens in the mid-eighties. as opposed to taking at face He first worked at Cafe Com­ MY'. f; 5h ® value what it claims to be mune, and only joined the book­ 1993 by Mr. Fish (2 Cricket Avenue #5, Ardmore, PA. 19003). against. In practice, people fo­ shop later, when I was working cusing on anti-fascismtend to be at La Sociale, another anti-au­ The shit really hit the fan leftists. leftists, often Leninistsor Lenin­ thoritarian bookshop. Initially when Levesqueordered in a pile The most startling aspect of ist sympathizers. In line with calling himself an ,anarchist, of MIM Notes, a Maoist/Stalinist Levesque's denunciation of Gill their vision of a preponderant Levesque soon embraced the journal, to give out in the free as an infiltrator is his resem­ role for the state, they predict­ state, broke with an anarchist section. The issue in question blance to what he disparages. ably concentrate on petitioning outlook and began supporting contained a letter from an ex­ Although he again said that he the cops to be more vigilant and Leninists and various national Maoist and an editorial response is not an anarchist in a recent the state to ban neo-nazi activi­ liberation movements. I (and saying Stalin was 70% correct! conversation, Levesque passes ties. At one local anti-fascist others) had some of the most When bookshop members viru­ himself offas one when he finds event, a couple of dozen neo­ convoluted conversations of our lently objected to the arrival of it convenient (in the present fascists showed up outside and lives, as Levesque continued to the Stalinist paper and those of unsigned diatribe but at other started to raise a ruckus. The call himself an anti-authoritarian other organizations wishing to times as well). Gill's crackpot anti-fascists cowered inside and despite his support for Leninists take power, Levesque threw a blend of white nationalist, ex­ called the cops. Then came bit­ and the state. Not only were his tantrum, went "on strike," and treme left and anarchist influ­ ter complaints to the media brains on a vacation, Levesque threatened to leave the project ences is also not dissimilar to about the cops not getting to the was permanently out to lunch, ("on strike for Stalin," someone Levesque's nationalist totalitar­ scene fast enough-the same and I attempted to ignore him if quipped). Around this time a ian/Leninist sympathizer-with­ racist cops who are beating and he ranted at me when I dropped member who had been in Paris an-anti-authoritarian-cover ap­ shooting people of color on a by the bookshop. for close to a year returned. A proach. With people new to the daily basis, and who touched off Ultimately, Levesque's out­ couple of other people were local scene, Levesque has been the Oka crisis by firing indis­ bursts began to take on a more interested in joining, and the known to use Bakunin's nation­ criminately at Mohawk men, specifically anti-anarchist bent. thought that Levesque might alist tendencies as a bridge to women and children. As a result When a person interviewing a leave and that the project might suck them in towards his author­ of the influence of Stalinism, prospective bookshop member start to get back on track made itarian approach. Like Gill's Maoism, Castroism etc., militant said that no real anarchist milieu me interested in re-joining. Al­ letter in Anarchy, Levesque can "anti-fascism" has a long history though had worked there for be deceptively friendly (if you had coalesced in Montreal, I of homophobia and racism. The Levesque interjected "tant four years, and people who had tolerate him, he'll be friendly to virulently homophobic Maoist mieux" ("all the better"), as he worked with me in the bookshop you). "Your paper looks great," Sendero Luminoso (Shining went out the door. When I and La Sociale wanted me to Gill said in a gushy note to De­ Path), a group supported by brought up a piece he did in his come in, the leftists used a bu­ molition Derby, before I wrote a MIM Notes, is massacring native now-defunct Yo uth Lib Zine reaucratic formalism to keep me nasty letter which she printed in people who object to their hege­ about an Anarchist Youth Fed­ out, saying that because I had her journal with an evasive re­ mony. In the jungle town of eration gathering in Ottawa, he formally resigned (as opposed to sponse. In her own publication Pallpa, the rival Peruvian gueril­ was quite in calling his being on leave, or whatever, like Gill distances herself from anar­ la organization MRTA '"execut­ frank piece an "anti-anarchist rant." the person in Paris), I would chists; similarly, with local hard­ ed' seven gay men in one of the These sound bites remained have to wait to get back in. The core anti-statists, Levesquedrops streets as part of their 'cleansing etched in because I other people were kept out as the anarchist pretence, unleash­ of undesirables' actions" (Angles, my memory was shocked and dismayed by well, and one recently returned ing a constant stream of abuse December '92). "The Irish Peo­ how hostile his outlook had to Ottawa after being unable to against anarchists, situationists, ple's Liberation Organization become. At this point, or earlier, get into the project for three desire politics, Anarchy maga­ (IPLO), an offshoot of the Irish Levesque should have realized years. Exasperated with dealing zine, Jason, etc., etc. Like Gill, National Liberation Army, fire­ that he was in the wrong project with leftists and national libera­ Levesque apparently is prone to bombed a gay bar in Belfast on and left. In a more normal situa­ tionists and feeling that the conspiracy approaches. Instead September 19, 1992. As three tion, he would have simply been project was dead in the water, of bothering to find out what men hurled the device and a ej ected. But friendship factors most of the hard-core people Anarchy had actually said about fuel canister into the Waterfront and a leftist bookshop faction began to leave. Today, the main Gill, he fabricates a scenario, Pub, one shouted, 'We have a which was becoming encrusted criterion for working in the berating Anarchy for not react­ bomb for this queer pub"' (Xtra , in the project made this a far bookshop is the ability to toler­ ing to a piece in Instead of a November 13, 1992). from ordinary situation. ate Leninist sympathizers and Magazine by an unnamed "regu- In France, the once-powerful

Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 80 Letters

French Communist Party has ground-an anti-nationalist post­ necessity of stand [sic] by White haps he doesn't any more-so always fancied itself the soul of er of mine was censored there, Racist prisoners." who can tell? anti-fascism. In the nineties, the so this is not the first time I've To begin with, the 'open' Levesque's communique is Banlieu Rouge (the "Red Sub­ had to deal with these people: I letter was written by collective fortunate because it brings to urbs"-a belt of working-class certainly do not intend to trust member Karl Levesque after he light the hitherto obscure forces neighborhoods surrounding Par­ them concerning such matters! was given a blank-check impri­ at work ruining the Alternative is) are becoming riddled with Instead of taking orders from matur from some of the other Bookshop. Levesque has de­ brownshirts, as Communist Party coilfusionist reactionary jerks members. It is important to clared his support for "national members desert the party en like Levesque,why not find out understand that not all the liberation" rackets. In his letter masse in order to join the ex­ whether we're really being infil­ members besides Levesque even he complains about Gill's putt­ treme right National Front. trated by neo-fascists? Since saw the letter before it was sent. ing "White Nationalist Move­ From a left totalitarian state to Anarchy is widely distributed, Before I start my comments ment" political prisoners "on a a right-wing equivalent, forfolks perhaps anyone aware of such on Levesque and his letter, I par with Black, Puerto Rican or like this, is a short jump. The incidents could write in to in­ have to point out that I agree Native American nationalist same people who once counted form the milieu. with some small part of what it prisoners." In other words, he on the state to solve the "fascist Michael William has to say. Surely it would have has problems with white righ t­ problem" are now calling on the C.P. 1554, Succ. "B" been better for you to have wing nationalism, but he has no state to solve the "Arab prob­ Montreal, Quebec mentioned that Gill has been problem with nationalism so lem" with mass expulsions. Canada H3B 3L2 denounced-in your pages as long as white leftists like himself own As anti-authoritarians and well as elsewhere.I admire your and oppressed non-whites have a anarchists, we're anti-fasciststoo. A sham of a mockery policy of printing radically dis­ monopoly on the con. It's that But we need to develop our own senting opinions and for that sort of idiocy that has conspired analysis of fascism (and anti­ Dear Anarchy, reason I don't think you should to render "Montreal's anti-au­ fascism). Anti-fascist leftists As a resident of Montreal, have censored the letter, but a thoritarian bookstore" all but sometimes have access to useful I've already had the opportunity disclaimer of some sort would void of the rich variety of anar­ information. At times, we may to read the "Open Letter" ad­ have been to the point. chist literature available today, fight . alongside anti-fascists dressed to you by the "Alterna­ Still, I doubt anybody besides while stocking its shelves with against fascists in the streets. At tive Bookshop collective" and Levesque took ·Gill's letter so not particularly anti-authoritari­ times, we will have to fight stapled into copies of issue #33 seriously. His semi-literate hyste­ an leftist books and magazines against 'anti-fascists' to prevent on sale there, and I'd like to ria indicates how hastily he that are also available elsewhere. them from manipulating us, respond to it. The letter should wrote his denunciation, and its There are anarchist books there, putting us in prison, or up be richly ironic to anybody who offensive, insinuating, and au­ but not many in comparison. A against a wall. has been in the bookshop re­ thoritarian tone speaks volumes glance at the Left Bank cata­ I agree with the bookshop cently, and I hope after reading about the author. That Le­ logue shows how incredibly that publishing Gill's missive is my response you will see why. vesque's response is so comically much the bookstore doesn 't

problematic. I am uncomfortable · What ostensibly prompted this out of proportion with what have. The glaring lack of anar­ with the thought of Anarchy rant was your publication-with­ nominally provoked it should chist lit is partially a matter of becoming a bulletin board for out-comment in issue #33 .of a make any reader-even the ones budget restrictions but mostly a neo-fascists. But if fascists are silly letter bycrypto-fascist Molly unfamiliar with him and his matter of skewed priorities. trying to infiltrate the milieu, I Gill and the inclusion of her gripe with Anarchy and anar­ There is money to buy books­ want to be aware of what they mailing address, which, for the chism-wonder what really made there are plenty of books in the are saying. I have no intention author of the collective's decla­ him so mad. bookstore-but not, apparently, of relying on the interpretations ration, constituted a major What I feel compelled to ask anti-authoritarian books. A of professional 'anti-fascists' like breach in what ought to be your Levesque is, if Gill's 'infiltration' bookstore is only as good as the Levesque. It is also important to eternal vigilance against nazi is as ham-fisted as what he de­ people who control the purse­ put this affair in context. 'infiltration'. The author de­ scribes, why would any "genuine strings and do the ordering, and Levesque was unable to name a scribes Gill's attempts to worm · anarchist" feel at all threatened? in the case of the 'Alternative' single neo-fascist other than Gill into various people's confidences If all Gill does is write unctuous, priority seems to go to books who is attempting to infiltrate and berates Anarchy for either overtly white-supremacist letters about sexual politics, animal the anarchist milieu. And in a not knowing about them (he's to people and conduct 'infiltra­ rights and various other things letter in the feminist porn jour­ unaware of earlier denunciations tions' in order to read Mein which might be offensive to nal Eidos Gill whines that "it is of Gill in Anarchy) or not caring. Kampf to leftists and feminists... some particular authority but the anarchist-oriented writers He can't seem to decide which is What, me wony? more often than not lack any and presses that have been the worse or which he'd rather insin­ Levesque is not himself an general rejection of authority as most ·hostile"-so she doesn't uate: were your "brains on holi­ anarchist, but he has no qualms such. I would be interested to seem to be getting anywhere day," or do you 'tolerate' fas­ about donning the mask when it see what the bookstore would be fast. cism? He tells the sordid tale of serves his purpose. He talks like if it actually stocked anti­ As well, Anarchy 's open forum how Gill "poses as a Leftist, or about "genuine anarchists" and authoritarian literature as per its letters policy is extremely pre­ an Anarchist, or a Feminist, in Anarchy 's fitnessfor membership supposed mandate. But that cious and any attempt to tamper order to make contacts with in the "anarchist movement," would require an honest and with it I find very dangerous. genuine [sic] Leftists, Anarchists while rejecting anarchism in his magnanimous effort on the part When two of the three core and Feminists [why the capi­ own case for reasons too stupid of the controlling interests, an bookshop members were work­ tals?]. Once contact has been to merit discussion. He has effort they seem disinclined to ing at Cafe Commune-another established she will start trying called himself an 'anti-statist' make. once-antiauthoritarian project I to convince these people of and 'anti-authoritarian'. But he Levesque doesn't mention it, a worked at which also degenerat­ Jewish world conspiracy, the has also called himself a leninist but the very issue of Anarchy ed into a leftist stomping evils of race-mixing, or of the at different times-though per- that caused this brouhaha was

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 81 for a long time unavailable at of two shams of a little gaggle of bozos the bookshop because he and moCkery. posturing in blaCk ninja his comrades weren't willing to pay No matter. Re­ suits, and 'crumbling' at for it. It only became available gardless of whether the first sign of police there when the subsequent issue the 'collective' de­ response to their petty (#34) was already out. If the cides to censor street theater-as a bookshop collective wants to ban Anarchy, against the genuine threat to estab­ Anarchy, theyknow from experi­ will of some mem­ r n.Wi!!!!� . lished order. ence exactly how to do it! In bers and despite the The thread of over­ fact,Anarchy is one of maybe fact that it's "the weaning arrogance six anti-authoritarian zines even kind of magazine snaking its waythrough irregularly available there, and it lots of people like the whole of Bregman's has shared table space in the to read and that we reportage ties itself into past with the organ of the RCP­ always get requests a tidy little knot of front Vietnam Veterans Against for," it will continue blatant racism with his the War (Anti-Imperialist), the to be available at snide little commentary Maoist International Movement other magazine on Indians "banging on Notes (both of these have been stands in Montreal drums." This leads to a removed) and assorted leninist (alternatives to the suggestion: maybe next literature. Levesque even men­ Alternative?). And I time, rather than bur­ tions Instead of @ Magazine, for one buy my dening himself with the will which has JtOt, in the thirteen copies somewhere tedium of napping months I've been going there, where they aren't through political work, been available at the Alternative enhanced with Cor­ this writer might want Bookshop. rect Thought sta­ to just stay home watch­ But even if they made anar­ pled-in by the Cen- Collage by James Koehnline. (Seattle, WA .). ing Wayn e's Wo rld. chist literature a priority, the tral Committee. Let He'd undoubtedly find bookstore is run by a. gang that Levesque fantasize that guys like federation parade through North such a pursuit far more edifying denies membership to anarchists him determine who 'belongs' in Beach halted as well-something in the long run, and it's clear who wanted to volunteer/join, the anarchist movement. As we managed in Denver in both he's no constructive ally, not to has effectively forced the resig­ Camatte and Collu put it, 'To 1991 and 1992-this was never AIM, and probably not to any­ nations of others, and generally belong in order to exclude, that articulated as part of AIM'sBay one else either. comports itself in an obnoxiously is the internal dynamic of the Area agenda. Hence, even in Sincerely, cliquish and authoritarian man­ gang." TheBookshop's overseers Bregman's telling, AIM accom­ Ward Churchill, Colorado AIM ner. The "open letter" is a case may not care whether real-life plished what it put forth as ob­ Denver, CO. in point. In every collective I've anarchists go along with their jectives in that locale. ever been a member of, any asinine blackballing, but doubt , It should also be noted that I Chooseyour poison! joint statement that wasn't joint­ they've cared what anybody Bregman makes no mention of ly composed was, at the very outside their party thinks for having tried to organize anything Women, least, submitted to all members some time now. They have bet­ at all with which to confront the I have only 1 thing to say & for comments which were incor­ ter things to do, like smoking North Beach parade. Rather, he that is who would you rather porated into the text prior to out the fascist sympathizers appears to have 'dozed', as he sleep with-a man who writes publicly issuing it. In this case, hiding behind well-ki:iown anar­ himself puts it, through the hard article after article about how Levesque was given permission chist magazines and increasing and 'boring' work of organizing, wonderful pornography is, or by some collective members to steadily the speed with which and then simply showed up at one who writes about issues write a letter, which he wrote, leftist mediocrity sucks their the event, hoping to glom on concerning why women are which was stapled into the book­ bookstore into its vortex. somebody else's efforts and raped every six minutes & bat­ store's copies of issue #33, and Sincerely, whining to high heaven when it tered every three? which was sent to you. Other Larry Deck, Montreal, Quebec didn't work out the way he pre­ Sincerely, members of the collective, at emptorily decided it should. L.T., New York, least one of whom objects NY. No constructive ally I'm not at all sure of the de­ strongly to the letter, found out tails concerning why the San Josephine Geurts here in the following week, by which Dear Editor, Francisco parade wasn't targeted time the thing was in the mail. Concerning Adam Bregman's by AIM. What I am sure of is Hey, What do you say about an 'open' polemic on AIM's Columbus that AIM has been able to sus­ Anyone who wrote Josephine letter that is isn't even open to Day activities in San Francisco tain itself through an extended Geurls in Austin and letter was criticism from the collective? If (Ana rchy No.35, pp.24-5), a bit series of confrontations, all of returned,sorry, 4 months of mail this is how an 'anti-authoritarian' of perspective is in order. Con­ them of far more intensity and got mishandled. Write me here group operates, I'd like to know cerningCalifornia AIM's alleged duration than anything Bregman at Box Naalehu, HI. 96772. 28, what the 'anti' signifies. Le­ "lack of militancy" on October suggests-orhas likely participat­ Or better yet cum over and hang vesque is careful in his letter 12, the organization's stated goal ed in-precisely because it has out-too many mystical yuppie/ never to call the Bookshop an was to prevent the symbolic consistently selected foritself the hippies. Not enough schizover­ anarchist bookstore; that he and reenactment of Columbus' land­ time, place and terms of such sives. his cohorts maintain the pre­ ing, scheduled to occur that combat, and has never treated Yours truly, tence of its being anti-authori­ morning in the harbor. While I struggle as some sort of game. Josephine Geurls, Naalehu, HI. tarian is, as WoodyAllen said in myself would have preferred to This, perhaps, is why the status Ps. I esp. like photos of ecofemi­ Bananas, a sham of a mockery have seen the Italian-American quo tends to treat AIM-not a nist lesbian sex orgies!

82 Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed Spring 1993 Letters Travelling Autonomous Zone In his book Hakim Bey most nations. The opportunities for organizational mayhem are Temporary Autonomous Zone, suggests that we not worry about changing the world, but incredible in the open sea: pirate radio, clandestine landings, instead take charge of our own lives whenever possible. He disrupting whaling and other mammalian massacres by commer­ I reminds us that, even though such insurrections as the ones cial fishers, not to mention ferrying outlaw activists to places of in Paris and during the Spanish Civil War were ultimately relative safety. The only times the ship would have to come into 1871 crushed militarily, they at least achieved a period of autonomy for contact with nations would be to stock up on supplies (fresh a portion of their lives, which is more than many of us can say. water, food, medicine, etc.), and the necessity of such contact One recurring argument that comes up with Anarchists I could be reduced by a resourceful crew. In times of bad weather discussed TAZ. with regards the word 'temporary' . "I'm not so a harbor would be a desirable place to be. sure I agree with his flippant attitude towards permanence," wrote On land, a bus or small caravan of vehicles could transport South Dakota prisoner Phil Smith. "I am interested in changing TAZ. from one area of liberation to another as time and necessity the world to the extent possible, and it seems that Bey is willing dictate. The members could transport materials from region to to accept these temporary autonomous zones flickering in and region (things like 'zines and other literature, clothing, small trade out of existence while capitalism abides. Fuck that! want more!" items, etc.). I 1ndeed, we all want more, but the point is that we are nowhere This would be an extremely valuable resource for the anarchist near the point that we can overthrow capitalism. Should that community, as it might lend itself to more secure distribution prevent us from creating oases of liberation whenever and (though somewhat slower) than the U.S. mail. Also, it seems that wherever possible? Certainly not! nomadic bands are more naturally resistent to hierarchy than To put things in another perspective, think of time in a stationary communities. Several such rolling communities could geological sense. Ten thousand years is merely a bat of an eye expand for events such as national or regional gatherings, and when discussing epochs of geological history. Ten thousand would also create propaganda merely by passing through rural years ago, much of the Americas was under immense sheets of areas that have little experience beyond their own communities. ice or was the floor of shallow oceans. Of course, these were Of course, this visibility would also be a danger, as it might only temporary conditions which have changed radically since. attract the attention of unwanted, watchful eyes. Still, it would be In a historical timeframe, human beings have only been better to travel in numbers than to do it alone. recording their doings for five thousand years. Capitalism has In areas where there is not a strong squatting movement, the only been around a minute fraction of that time, and it will squats could move from one place to another as their presence eventually disappear, just as the era of Assyrian or Babylonian became more noticeable than is comfortablefo r the squatters. By empires passed. moving from one campsite to the next, anarcho-campers would In the meanwhile, why not ditch the system now and again to be difficult to keep up with, even in the anarchist community. make something different? These problems are easily overcome by using available technolo­ Though I initially gy, such as radios or shared Phil's senti­ cellular phones. ments about the term All in all, 'tempo­ 'temporary' , now I've rary' or 'travelling' come to understand autonomous zones that nothing is perma­ can easily be created nent anyway, certainly by people with the will not on this planet. to do them. In this However, also want way, a clear demon­ I more than an after­ stration about how noon of liberation or a non-state communi­ few months in a ties could fu nction squat. I have a fasci­ would do more to nation about nomad­ educate people about ism that led me to mutual aid and coop­ scheming about Trav­ eration than almost elling Autonomous any other vehicle for Zones. the promotion of an­ Perhaps the great­ archist ideas. It's one est example of a Trav­ thing to think/talk/ elling Autonomous write about your be­ Zone would be an liefs, but it is much ocean-going one. A more meaningful to sixty-foot long yacht actually enact them! could easily contain a Let's get busy, ya' ll! commune of twelve "Travelling Autono­ people. The ship mous Zone" originally could spend most of appeared in its time in international (504 24thImminent #81, waters, beyond the AuStrikestin, TX 78705)W . laws and borders of Collage by Johann Humyn Being (San Francisco, CA.).

Spring 1993 Anarchy: A Journal of �sire Armed 83 Collage by Freddie Baer (SanFrancisco, CA.).

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