The Coming Insurrection by the Invisible Committee

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Coming Insurrection by the Invisible Committee BOOK REVIEW The Coming Insurrection By The Invisible Committee Reviewed by: Chris Graham of taking the o ensive, is more to be Mullen acknowledged to CNN in 2010 he Coming Insurrection was rst feared than to be desired.” e committee that “ e most signi cant threat to our Tpublished in French (La Fabrique, 2007), 1 writes, “Even more than to actions, national security is our debt.” Debt then in English (Semiotexte, 2007) and is we must commit ourselves to their related instability has been witnessed attributed to “ e Invisible Committee.” coordination. Harassing the police means around the world. Western governments e book discusses seven topics. e that by forcing them to be everywhere that are a few steps deeper into their committee describes: individuality, own debt debacles than the United relationships, work, economy, geography, States have already experienced civil the environment, and civilization. disorder. Socialist provocateurs, anarchist e book prescribes the formation of adventurers, and others have rioted in communes and revolutionary struggle Greece, Spain, Ireland, England, France, around the world that will attack in Italy, New York and elsewhere. moments of crisis ( nancial, political, Will the combination of elastic and environmental) to support an currencies and human nature encourage anti-capitalist revolution. Insurrections the de cit spending crises of Western envisioned by the Invisible Committee governments to accelerate until revolve around “the local appropriation catastrophe? Maybe and maybe not. of power by the people, of the physical Obviously, we hope that political leaders blocking of the economy, and of the will choose to reverse this trend, but the annihilation of police forces.” world is already witness to signi cant e writers attempt to motivate instability. It is reasonable to anticipate paci sts with the statement, “An the possibility of social friction in your authentic paci sm cannot mean refusing jurisdiction or area of operations and weapons, but only refusing to use them. they can no longer be e ective anywhere.” it is always prudent to be operationally Paci sm without being able to re a shot e writers observe, “An insurrection prepared to uphold your oath to defend is nothing but the theoretical formulation triumphs as a political force. It is not the Constitution and protect the lives, of impotence.” It is unclear if the idea of impossible to defeat an army politically.” liberty, and property of citizens. communist power acquisition without ey also state, “ us, wherever the e Coming Insurrection may sound like killing is self-deception, or deception economy is blocked and the police are the stoned ramblings of a euro-student’s targeted at the reader. neutralized, it is important to invest as Che Guevara fantasy, but it is a valuable e revolutionaries provide an little pathos as possible in overthrowing read. is book provides insight into unexpected acknowledgment of the the authorities.” ideology and techniques that have been deterrent qualities of competent e committee’s strategy is recently witnessed in riots around the combatants. “From a strategic point unsophisticated, requires only tiny world. Much useful information can be of view, indirect, asymmetrical action quantities of “o -the-shelf” technology obtained from this book. • seems the most e ective kind, the one and little strategic vision, but it provides best suited to our time: you don’t attack the ability to cause signi cant damage to 1http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-27/ an occupying army frontally. at said, property, injury to citizens, and possibly us/debt.security.mullen_1_pentagon- the prospect of Iraq-style urban guerrilla the manipulation of public policy. Joint budget-national-debt-michael-mullen?_ warfare, dragging on with no possibility Chiefs of Sta Chairman Adm. Michael s=PM:US accessed 10-10-11 44 The Counter Terrorist ~ December 2011/January 2012 CTDECJAN11 FINAL.indd 44 10/25/11 1:33 PM.
Recommended publications
  • Libertarian Marxism Mao-Spontex Open Marxism Popular Assembly Sovereign Citizen Movement Spontaneism Sui Iuris
    Autonomist Marxist Theory and Practice in the Current Crisis Brian Marks1 University of Arizona School of Geography and Development [email protected] Abstract Autonomist Marxism is a political tendency premised on the autonomy of the proletariat. Working class autonomy is manifested in the self-activity of the working class independent of formal organizations and representations, the multiplicity of forms that struggles take, and the role of class composition in shaping the overall balance of power in capitalist societies, not least in the relationship of class struggles to the character of capitalist crises. Class composition analysis is applied here to narrate the recent history of capitalism leading up to the current crisis, giving particular attention to China and the United States. A global wave of struggles in the mid-2000s was constituitive of the kinds of working class responses to the crisis that unfolded in 2008-10. The circulation of those struggles and resultant trends of recomposition and/or decomposition are argued to be important factors in the balance of political forces across the varied geography of the present crisis. The whirlwind of crises and the autonomist perspective The whirlwind of crises (Marks, 2010) that swept the world in 2008, financial panic upon food crisis upon energy shock upon inflationary spiral, receded temporarily only to surge forward again, leaving us in a turbulent world, full of possibility and peril. Is this the end of Neoliberalism or its retrenchment? A new 1 Published under the Creative Commons licence: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works Autonomist Marxist Theory and Practice in the Current Crisis 468 New Deal or a new Great Depression? The end of American hegemony or the rise of an “imperialism with Chinese characteristics?” Or all of those at once? This paper brings the political tendency known as autonomist Marxism (H.
    [Show full text]
  • Human-Computer Insurrection
    Human-Computer Insurrection Notes on an Anarchist HCI Os Keyes∗ Josephine Hoy∗ Margaret Drouhard∗ University of Washington University of Washington University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA Seattle, WA, USA Seattle, WA, USA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT 2019), May 4–9, 2019, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. ACM, New York, NY, The HCIcommunity has worked to expand and improve our USA, 13 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300569 consideration of the societal implications of our work and our corresponding responsibilities. Despite this increased 1 INTRODUCTION engagement, HCI continues to lack an explicitly articulated "You are ultimately—consciously or uncon- politic, which we argue re-inscribes and amplifies systemic sciously—salesmen for a delusive ballet in oppression. In this paper, we set out an explicit political vi- the ideas of democracy, equal opportunity sion of an HCI grounded in emancipatory autonomy—an an- and free enterprise among people who haven’t archist HCI, aimed at dismantling all oppressive systems by the possibility of profiting from these." [74] mandating suspicion of and a reckoning with imbalanced The last few decades have seen HCI take a turn to exam- distributions of power. We outline some of the principles ine the societal implications of our work: who is included and accountability mechanisms that constitute an anarchist [10, 68, 71, 79], what values it promotes or embodies [56, 57, HCI. We offer a potential framework for radically reorient- 129], and how we respond (or do not) to social shifts [93]. ing the field towards creating prefigurative counterpower—systems While this is politically-motivated work, HCI has tended to and spaces that exemplify the world we wish to see, as we avoid making our politics explicit [15, 89].
    [Show full text]
  • Syllabus for Activism: Engagement and Resistance
    1802804 : Activism: Engagement and Resistance Syllabus Spring 2018 Login Course Syllabus Syllabus Dashboard Courses Activism: Engagement and Resistance Calendar Sunset with burning building Inbox Help Semester & Location: Spring 2018 - DIS Copenhagen Type & Credits: Elective Course - 3 credits Major Disciplines: Communication, Philosophy, Sociology. Faculty Members: Jesper Lohmann Program Director: Neringa B. Vendelbo - [email protected] Time & Place: Monday & Thursday, 14.50 - 16.10, N7 - C24 Course Description: This course offers a broad introduction to the concept of activism, focusing on the challenges and opportunities activists face in contemporary society. In the course we will be reading theoretical articles on activism as well as analyzing specific examples. Classes will rest on a combination of empirical and theoretical discussions. We will be looking at different topics of activism (Occupy Movement, Internet, Labor, Human Rights, Feminism, Environment, Global Justice) and different forms/tools of activism (Social Media, Hacktivism, Strikes, Boycotts, Demonstrations, Gate-crashing, Culture Jamming…). The variety of cases, topics and forms will help us understand how and why some forms of activism might be more efficient than others in specific contexts. Several of the cases will be from Denmark or other European countries. This focus will give us the opportunity to discuss potential differences and similarities between European and American examples of activism. In short, by looking at multiple cases, our ability to analyze specific cases will be strengthened. This broad perspective will help us decide how to create our own activist projects – in this course as well as in our future lives – that are suited for making a difference in the world we are living in today.
    [Show full text]
  • Anarcho-Surrealism in Chicago
    44 1 ANARCHO-SURREALISM IN CHICAGO SELECTED TEXTS DREAMS OF ARSON & THE ARSON OF DREAMS: 3 SURREALISM IN ‘68 Don LaCross THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF WORK 19 Penelope Rosemont DISOBEDIENCE: THE ANTIDOTE FOR MISERABLISM 22 Penelope Rosemont MUTUAL ACQUIESCENCE OR MUTUAL AID? 26 Ron Sakolsky ILL WILL EDITIONS • ill-will-editions.tumblr.com 2 43 AK Press, 2010, p. 193. [22] Laurance Labadie, “On Competition” in Enemies of Society: An Anthology of Individualist and Egoist Thought (Ardent Press, San Francisco, 2011) p. 249. The underpinnings of Labadie’s point of view, which are similar to those of many other authors featured in this seminal volume, are based on the assumption that communitarian forms of mutual aid do not necessarily lead to individual emancipation. Rather, from this perspective, their actual practice involves the inherent danger of creating an even more insidious form of servitude based upon a herd mentality that crushes individuality in the name of mutuality, even when their practitioners intend or claim to respect individual freedom as an anarchist principle. [23] The Invisible Committee. The Coming Insurrection. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2009. [24] Anonymous. “Taking Communion at the End of History” in Politics is not a Banana: The Journal of Vulgar Discourse. Institute for Experimental Freedom, 2009, p. 70. [25] Anonymous. Desert. St. Kilda: Stac an Armin Press, 2011, p 7. [26] Ibid, p 68. [27] James C. Scott. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. [28] PM. Bolo Bolo. Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia, 1995, pp 58–60. [29] Richard Day.
    [Show full text]
  • Agrarian Anarchism and Authoritarian Populism: Towards a More (State-)Critical ‘Critical Agrarian Studies’
    The Journal of Peasant Studies ISSN: 0306-6150 (Print) 1743-9361 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fjps20 Agrarian anarchism and authoritarian populism: towards a more (state-)critical ‘critical agrarian studies’ Antonio Roman-Alcalá To cite this article: Antonio Roman-Alcalá (2020): Agrarian anarchism and authoritarian populism: towards a more (state-)critical ‘critical agrarian studies’, The Journal of Peasant Studies, DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2020.1755840 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1755840 © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 20 May 2020. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 3209 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 4 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=fjps20 THE JOURNAL OF PEASANT STUDIES https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1755840 FORUM ON AUTHORITARIAN POPULISM AND THE RURAL WORLD Agrarian anarchism and authoritarian populism: towards a more (state-)critical ‘critical agrarian studies’* Antonio Roman-Alcalá International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands ABSTRACT KEYWORDS This paper applies an anarchist lens to agrarian politics, seeking to Anarchism; authoritarian expand and enhance inquiry in critical agrarian studies. populism; critical agrarian Anarchism’s relevance to agrarian processes is found in three studies; state theory; social general areas: (1) explicitly anarchist movements, both historical movements; populism; United States of America; and contemporary; (2) theories that emerge from and shape these moral economy movements; and (3) implicit anarchism found in values, ethics, everyday practices, and in forms of social organization – or ‘anarchistic’ elements of human social life.
    [Show full text]
  • Diverging Roots: the Coming Insurrection╎s Situationist Lineage
    Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal Volume 4 Issue 2 Article 4 July 2017 Diverging Roots: The Coming Insurrection’s Situationist Lineage Timothy Fitzgerald University of Minnesota, Morris Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/horizons Part of the Other Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Fitzgerald, Timothy (2017) "Diverging Roots: The Coming Insurrection’s Situationist Lineage," Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal: Vol. 4 : Iss. 2 , Article 4. Available at: https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/horizons/vol4/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal by an authorized editor of University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Fitzgerald: Diverging Roots Fitzgerald 1 Tim Fitzgerald HUM 3043 Final Paper Diverging Roots: The Coming Insurrection’s Situationist Lineage Over the past 60 years, there has been a resurgence of anarchism in Western Society. The revolutionary spirit has very much returned to the consciousness of popular culture, if it ever left at all. This ‘comeback’ of anarchist ideology has become progressively louder in the past decade, with the rise of cyberterrorist/hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and Lulzsec, the proliferation of political and governmental distrust following the 2008 recession, and the vocal increase in anti-fascist, anarcho-capitalist, post-left anarchism, eco-anarchism, and insurrectionary anarchist groups and activists such as The Invisible Committee. But many of these ideas haven’t been pulled from thin-air, or ancient ideological tomes that have gone out of fashion.
    [Show full text]
  • 02955 the Aesthetics of Violence OA
    Violence and Other Unpolitical Acts in the New Cycle of Protests Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen For us, ultimately, violence is what has been taken fom us, and today we need to take it back.1 Tiqqun, Introduction to Civil War Within three decades they [the Social Democrats] managed virtually to erase the name of Blanqui, though it had been the rallying sound that had reverberated through the preceding century.2 Walter Benjamin, “Teses on the Philosophy of History” It is now becoming generally accepted that demonstrations, marches, spectacles and shows don’t lead anywhere… . Te methods of struggle therefore must be put through analysis because they present an obstacle to the creation of new modes of action.3 Jacques Camatte, “Against Domestication” 61 the aesthetics of violence Afer a 30-year long period of one-sided neoliberal counter- revolution, the last ten years have been characterized by the return of universal disgust against the political status quo. So- cial movements, assemblies, occupations, multitudes, uprisings, riots, and revolts have moved discontinuously across a world united in distrust or outright hatred toward a corrupt political class. Millions of people have taken to the streets, occupying squares, or rioting to protest the austerity and corruption of local political regimes. Most of these protests have been directed at the state, not the economy; it has been the state’s crisis manage- ment that has been the object of resentment and critique. People are disobeying and rejecting the state and its exercise of power. Te threat of a situation of “double power” forces the state to react, and in most places, from Egypt to Hong Kong to France, the state has responded aggressively.
    [Show full text]
  • Faint Signal the Student Occupations in California and the Communiqué from an Absent Future
    NEWS Faint signal The student occupations in California and the Communiqué from an Absent Future From 24 September to 2 October 2009, students from Arts in Vienna, and garnered statements of solidarity the University of California, Santa Cruz occupied and from the Greek anarchist collectives based in the blockaded the University’s graduate student commons: Exarchia district of Athens, we are still looking at a nominally in protest against the cuts in education very small movement in numerical terms. Its seemingly spending in the UC system, more generally against global scope belies its localized marginality. the entire educational machine and the meagre job At the same time, it is easy to miss turning points, prospects awaiting graduates who will be saddled or the co-implication of political concepts with even with tens of thousands of dollars of debt. It is not relatively marginal political acts. The cynical response surprising that these protests should originate in that the way the word ‘communism’ has of late re- California. The state is bankrupt, with some even emerged from the ghetto of dwindling Stalinist and speculating on it being the country’s first failed state. Trotskyite party politics is just a new gloss on anarcho- However, although the occupation movement was syndicalism doesn’t take the power of words, or our born from these circumstances, what differentiates historical-political situation, seriously enough. To get a it from the more conventional protests and rallies feel for the novelty of the way the word ‘communism’ on California’s campuses is the way it has sought to is being claimed by the occupation movement – one use this issue as a rallying cry to re-energize a more that would otherwise be considered simply anarchist radical, universal opposition to the prevailing state – it is thus worth considering, by way of contrast, the of affairs.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    LA REVUE EN SCIENCES INFIRMIÈRES • THE NURSING JOURNAL Vol.1,21 Numéro13 1/Vol.1,1 Issue 1. ISSN:13 1918-13451 P Sommaire/Content 6 15 26 36 46 69 46 69 2636 615 ARTICLE 1 E BEAUNOYER, V DESGROSEILLIERS, N VONARX & B ROY PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY HEALTH THROUGH VITALISM IN CANADIAN COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS ARTICLE 2 KM SMITH & T FOTH TOMORROW IS CANCELLED: RETHINKING NURSING RESISTANCE AS INSURRECTION 2021: Vol.13, Numéro 1/Vol.13, Issue 1 1/Vol.13, Numéro Vol.13, 2021: ARTICLE 3 T GOODYEAR (RE)POLITICIZING HARM REDUCTION: POSTSTRUCTURALIST THINKING TO CHALLENGE THE MEDICALIZATION OF HARMS AMONG PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS ARTICLE 4 Éditorial/Editorial J AVANTHAY STRUS & V POLOMENO CONSENSUAL NON-MONOGAMOUS PARENTING COUPLES’ PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS DURING THE TRANSITION TO PARENTHOOD ARTICLE 5 C FRENOPOULO UNDERLYING PREMISES IN MEDICAL MISSION TRIPS FOR MADIHA (KULINA) INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON ARTICLE 6 H POLIQUIN SIGNIFICATIONS ET REPRÉSENTATIONS DU PRENDRE SOIN DE SOI À LA CONFLUENCE DE L’INTERSUBJECTIVITÉ, DES TECHNIQUES DE SOI ET DE LA GOUVERNEMENTALITÉ DES VIVANTS Éditorial/Editorial To the Editor: We read with great interest the important paper on “Nursing Voices during COVID-19: An Analysis of Canadian Media Coverage”[1] and commend the authors for undertaking this study. It’s an important addition to our understanding of nurses’ voices in news media. As the lead researchers on the Woodhull Revisited Project, we want to share a correction and some additional thoughts. First, the 2017 replication of the 1997 Woodhull Study of Nurses and the Media did not fi nd that nurses’ representation as sources in health news stories decreased.
    [Show full text]
  • Draft, Please Do Not Cite. 1 Civilization and the State—Scott Vs. Kropotkin
    Draft, please do not cite. 1 Civilization and the State—Scott vs. Kropotkin Steven Williamson (WPSA 2018) This paper aims to put the work of James Scott in dialogue with Peter Kropotkin in the hope of teasing out the relationship between civilization and the state. Scott is not generally thought of as a political theorist, though he is well known by some social scientists. Recently however, Scott has begun to write about anarchism.1 He also has a long-standing interest in the perspective of the weakest members of society—people often overlooked, he argues, in mainstream social science scholarship.2 His more recent work applies an anarchist “squint” to various forms of state domination and what he describes as local, vernacular knowledge, or mētis.3 In one of these works, The Art of Not Being Governed, he argues that states present themselves as the bearers of civilization, and non-compliant people sometimes intentionally reject the trappings of civilization in order to avoid the state. In his most recent work Scott asserts that he equates civilization with the state “tongue in cheek”, but in doing so he suggests an underlying connection between the state and civilization. Scott's anarchist viewpoint is therefore inherently suspicious of claims about civilization.4 Though Scott's ironic tone suggests either that the state's claim to be the bearer of civilization is problematic, his insistence on drawing the connection suggests a deep symbiosis between the two concepts. Meanwhile, Kropotkin provides a useful counterpoint to Scott's treatment of civilization, as Kropotkin suggests that the state's relationship to civilization is partly 1 Scott, Two Cheers for Anarchism; Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed; Scott, Against the Grain.
    [Show full text]
  • Abahlali Basemjondolo, Black Beyond Bolivaria Consciousness and More
    AUGUST 2013 • www.bolobolo.co.za/it • ISSUE #1 • PRICE: R10 - R20 according to means INCENDIARY TIMES THE PETIT-BOURGEOIS ANARCHIST COUNTER-REVOLUTION YOUR MOTHER WARNED YOU ABOUT in·cen·di·ar·y: (a device or attack) designed to cause fires, e.g., ‘incendiary grenades’ / tending to arouse strife, sedition, etc., e.g., ‘an incendiary speech’ / tending to inflame the senses, e.g., ‘an incendiary extravaganza of music and dance.’ In this issue Walking Featured interview: Reflections on the state of We talk to Biko Mutsaurwa, activism in Cape Town. an anarchist from Uhuru Network in Zimbabwe. We can’t educate our way out of inequality + Writing on: radical What would a truly radical environmentalism, education look like? capitalist realism, Abahlali baseMjondolo, black Beyond Bolivaria consciousness and more. A critical look at the fetishising of South + Creative writing | poetry | Art | Events | Book reviews American socialist leaders Radical/anarchist views by the South African left. from around the world Anarchists: basically just a bunch of wild-eyed, angsty teenagers... A love letter from Walking some anarchists. The bolo bolo collective contemplate the state of political activism in Cape Town in 2013, exploring the attendant class Welcome to the very first edition of Incendiary Times, a joyous labour of love undertaken by and race divisions and asking how best we can move forward. the bolo’bolo collective and collaborators. Before you read any further, it’s only fair to warn you of something: we’re anarchists! In boldly stating this we realise “Comrades!” and down along the sidelines of the away and, after a couple of final aluta that we’re jumping in the deep end; although anarchism march, tirelessly photographing the continua‘s, the buses begin their long has been around for over 160 years now (and much longer, proceedings and stopping now and drive down the highway while the if radical anthropologists are to be believed), it has received The cheap sound then to make important calls.
    [Show full text]
  • Final, Culp, Escape
    Escape Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Andrew Curtis Culp Graduate Program in Comparative Studies The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Eugene W. Holland, Advisor Philip Armstrong Mathew Coleman Copyright by Andrew Curtis Culp 2013 Abstract This work reimagines autonomy in the age of spatial enclosure. Rather than proposing a new version of the escapist running to the hills, “Escape” aligns the desire for disappearance, invisibility, and evasion with the contemporary politics of refusal, which poses no demands, resists representation, and refuses participation in already-existing politics. Such escape promises to break life out of a stifling perpetual present. The argument brings together culture, crisis, and conflict to outline the political potential of escape. It begins by reintroducing culture to theories of state power by highlighting complementary mixtures of authoritarian and liberal rule. The result is a typology of states that embody various aspects of conquest and contract: the Archaic State, the Priestly State, the Modern State, and the Social State. The argument then looks to the present, a time when the state exists in a permanent crisis provoked by global capitalist forces. Politics today is controlled by the incorporeal power of Empire and its lived reality, the Metropolis, which emerged as embodiments of this crisis and continue to further deepen exploitation and alienation through the dual power of Biopower and the Spectacle. Completing the argument, two examples are presented as crucial sites of political conflict. Negative affects and the urban guerrilla dramatize the conflicts over life and strategy that characterize daily existence in the Metropolis.
    [Show full text]