DOCSLIB.ORG

Contentious Subjects: Non/Violence As Topic and Trope in the Occupy Movement

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Contentious Subjects: Non/Violence As Topic and Trope in the Occupy Movement Contentious Subjects: Non/violence as Topic and Trope in the Occupy Movement Shon Meckfessel A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2014 Reading Committee: Dr. Sandra Silberstein, Chair Dr. Anis Bawarshi Dr. Candice Rai Program authorized to offer degree: English © Copyright 2014 Shon Meckfessel University of Washington Abstract Contentious Subjects: Non/violence as Topic and Trope in the Occupy Movement Shon Meckfessel Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Dr. Sandra Silberstein, PhD Department of English Why was there such heated disagreement within the Occupy movement around the word nonviolence, and why was this disagreement so generationally marked? Why were the social movements in the 2011 global wave of unrest so suddenly disruptive, even violent, almost always involving riots? What does this have to teach us about the rhetorical power of embodied, contentious rhetorics, and what does it tell us about the characteristics of movements to come? Social movements are faced with exigencies under neoliberalism to which they often respond differently than the large-scale demonstrations of previous eras: a) protesting counterpublics often make their appeals immediately and intensively rather than extensively through mass media, b) challenging the status quo more in terms of power (in its aspects of agency, capacity, and possibility) than in claims of justice, and c) often do so in part by performing antagonism with existing institutions of enforcement: namely, police. Nonviolence discourse is inconsistent with the rhetorical strategies best suited to these conditions, although in its “strategic” rather than “principled” variants, it shares more in common with them than is usually thought: strategies, social processes enacted, goals, and the aversion to inflicting injury to bodies. Rioting has proved central to recent movements because it is exemplary (though not exclusive) of how such strategies are enacted, and bears out in condensed form their logic: necessarily embodied and risky in the discursive action of transgressing previous semiotic systems, articulating new contentious subjects through physically confronting old foci of power. Like the more confrontational aspects of the Occupy movement, future movements are likely to perform power in similar ways, fostering a complementarity of diverse, innovative approaches, broaching semiotic expectations, and not relying on the categories of victimhood and innocence which have proven central to previous generations of social movement rhetoric. Table of Contents Introduction 1 1.0 Neoliberal Exigences 38 1.1 Managed Dissent: Indirect Rule, Consumerism, and the NPIC 49 1.1a Political Institutionalization of Dissent 49 1.1b Indirect Rule 52 1.1c Consumerism 55 1.1d Institutionalized Dissent as “Civil Society” 56 1.2 Policing as a Non-Tangential Exigency 61 1.3 From Masses to Publics 71 1.3a Why Elizabeth Eckford is Still Alive 71 1.3b We Are the 94% 79 1.3c Hannah Arendt and the Direct Demos 82 2.0 The Strange Magic of Nonviolence 87 2.1 Introduction: What Happened to Nonviolence? 87 2.2 The Nonopposition of Non/Violence 91 2.3 Disavowal by Non/Definition 109 2.4 Condemnatory Equivalizing 120 2.5 Nonviolence as a Strategy of Condescension 130 2.6 Nonviolence as Conflict Aversion 141 3.0 The Eloquence of Targeted Property Destruction 148 in the Occupy Movement 3.1 Introduction 148 3.2 Forced Comparison 153 3.3 Desubjectification 165 3.4 Profanation 173 4.0 The Eloquence of Police Clashes 181 in the Occupy Movement 4.1 Disidentification 181 4.2 Disinvestment 191 4.3 Empowering Reversal 202 4.4 Backlighting 213 5.0 The Characteristics of Movements to Come 227 5.1 Who (and How) Was Occupy? 227 5.1a Who (And Which) are The People? 227 5.1b Topics and their Publics 232 5.2 After Victimhood, Beyond Innocence 236 5.2a After Victimhood 236 5.2b Beyond Innocence 246 5.3 Agency and Possibility in Defigurative Politics 252 5.3a Semiotic Transgression 256 Works Cited 263 Introduction “I have a hard time understanding what their goals are and how they intend to use these tactics to achieve these goals.” – Chris Hedges, September 15, 2012 (“Occupy Tactics” 2012) 1 “I sure wouldn’t dictate what Syrians or Tibetans may or may not do. But petty violence in public in this country doesn’t achieve anything useful.” (Solnit, in Taylor & Gessen 150) On May 1, 2012, I found myself in the glitzy downtown shopping area of Seattle, marching with several hundred protesters in the Anticapitalist Breakaway March as part of a larger Occupy Seattle May Day event. Four and a half months before, many of the marchers had been evicted from the Occupy public encampment and had not seen each other since, so in some sense the event felt anachronistic, even nostalgic. And yet, May Day was something new, a day of profound excitement, a chance to come together through collective grief and rage after the loss of what for so many had proven profoundly transformative. Banners fluttered all around; one announced in glittering, cursive pink letters, “Anything is Possible,” beside an image of a fire-breathing unicorn with a police officer impaled on its horn. Within the march of perhaps 500 protesters, perhaps 100 were indistinguishably clad in balaclavas and matching black clothes, the “black bloc” attire associated with anarchists, but adapted by a wide variety of protesters out of a wish to protest without registering themselves on surveillance for doing so, an understandable concern after the legal harassment which had attended Occupy locally and nationally. In one moment, a pronounced, moist thud echoed out, then another. Windows on each side of the street began to cascade like waterfalls, as rioters2 hurled rocks and 1 A separate Introduction Works Cited is attached at the end of the introduction. 2 As an ongoing federal investigation into these events was underway at the time of research and writing, I was careful in my interviews to never ask any of my interviewees about participation in illegal activity. “Participants” in this study refers to movement participants exclusively, and never to participants in rioting. Interviews sought to 1 swung cudgels at the windows of Forever XXI, American Apparel, Niketown, and a Federal Courthouse, among scores of other targets. Police later estimated the damage done in the perhaps 15-minute period at approximately $200,000. As we ducked through gathering clouds from protester smoke-bombs and dodged falling glass and police pepperspray, everyone in the larger march that I observed apparently was gleefully cheering on the destruction. What was happening? As a rhetorical scholar, I could not help asking, “What are these people trying to say?” The issue of protest violence had already proven highly contentious in Occupy before any such event occurred; within days of the loss of the camp, the most devout Occupy Seattle participants had split with each other in intense acrimony over debates on nonviolence – belying, incidentally, the frequent claim that such conflicts are the work of “outside agitators.” Some participants insisted that the movement’s General Assembly meeting sign onto a nonviolence agreement as a sine qua non of continued participation, and could not understand how any person in their right mind might disagree with the idea. Others, generally younger, were mystified by this insistence over a term which held little significance for them; they noted that the nonviolence proponents were unable to even define their term or explain the sudden need for the agreement, given that no single act of public violence had yet occurred in an Occupy Seattle event. The events of May Day only deepened my curiosity: was this what the nonviolence proponents had feared, and if so, why had they not said so? What was it about riot that seemed indispensable to some, abhorrent to others, and unspeakable by all? understand participant subjective and affective processes, rather than any narrative of factual events. Rioters at all events for which I was present were impossible to distinguish, being masked and in rather fastidiously similar attire, so even if I were willing (I am not) to identify riot participants, I would not even be capable of doing so. 2 Scholarly Context Seattle was not alone in such expressions; as political scientists Johnston and Seferiades attest, Since [the youth riots in Greece in] December 2008, violent [though largely noninjurious] protest has broken out in such dissimilar – and ‘unlikely’ – countries as Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Iceland, France and Britain in Europe; Thailand, India and Bangladesh in Asia; Mozambique, Tunisia and Libya in North Africa; and Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain in the Middle East – and the list is obviously not complete.” (2012, 149) Since their essay, the trend toward violent protest has continued in a great number of countries, notably including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bosnia, Ukraine, Turkey, and Brazil, where, for example, the teacher’s union officially declared support for Black Bloc involvement in education protests. (“Brazil: Teacher’s Union declares”) Social movement rhetoric is becoming incontestably more conflictual, although this shift has gone effectively unnoted in most of the scholarly literature on protests and rhetoric. As Frances Fox Piven, whose work is a major inspiration for this study, states: “Violence often is a critical factor in the emergence, development and success or failure of social movements. But we have for some time not given it the attention it merits. American scholars in particular have been reluctant to acknowledge the role of violence” (Piven, 19 in Seferiades & Johnston 2012). She goes on to reprimand this tendency towards scholarly neglect, for: sympathies aside, the effort to justify political movements by ignoring the violence with which protest is associated is a mistake, because the largely unexamined axiom that movements are non-violent distorts our analysis.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Real Democracy in the Occupy Movement
    NO STABLE GROUND: REAL DEMOCRACY IN THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT ANNA SZOLUCHA PhD Thesis Department of Sociology, Maynooth University November 2014 Head of Department: Prof. Mary Corcoran Supervisor: Dr Laurence Cox Rodzicom To my Parents ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is an outcome of many joyous and creative (sometimes also puzzling) encounters that I shared with the participants of Occupy in Ireland and the San Francisco Bay Area. I am truly indebted to you for your unending generosity, ingenuity and determination; for taking the risks (for many of us, yet again) and continuing to fight and create. It is your voices and experiences that are central to me in these pages and I hope that you will find here something that touches a part of you, not in a nostalgic way, but as an impulse to act. First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Laurence Cox, whose unfaltering encouragement, assistance, advice and expert knowledge were invaluable for the successful completion of this research. He was always an enormously responsive and generous mentor and his critique helped sharpen this thesis in many ways. Thank you for being supportive also in so many other areas and for ushering me in to the complex world of activist research. I am also grateful to Eddie Yuen who helped me find my way around Oakland and introduced me to many Occupy participants – your help was priceless and I really enjoyed meeting you. I wanted to thank Prof. Szymon Wróbel for debates about philosophy and conversations about life as well as for his continuing support.
    [Show full text]
  • Difference Between Anarchy and the Academy
    The Difference between Anarchy and the Academy Peter Gelderloos 2009 I recently had the opportunity to participate in the international academic con- ference, “Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations,” put on by the Rus- sian Academy of Sciences, in Moscow. I was on two panels focused on building alternatives to hierarchy and current state repression of social movements. I find this amusing because I am a college dropout: I didn’t even finish three semesters of university, I generally dislike academics, and I believe the academy is one of the institutions of power that need to be abolished. Of over a hundred participants, I think I was one of only two who were not a PhD or a PhD candidate (and the other lowbrow was on the same panels as I) and the only one without any university de- gree. It would have been funny and worthwhile if I had scammed my way there — in fact university credentials are easy to forge, so radicals who want to be teachers need not waste five years of their lives getting the right papers. But in thiscaseI was invited by the panel organizers, who also have their criticisms of the academy and wanted to put together panels without so great a theoretical remove from the actuality of social movements and repression. If I were an anthropologist I could write quite an ethnology about that queer tribe of academics. But from my vantage as an anarchist I can find even more to say. It would be as easy as dogma to point out that the academy is one of the rul- ing institutions, therefore it’s our enemy, and that’s the end of it.
    [Show full text]
  • The Student Voice, SNCC Newsletter, 1962-1963
    - THE STUDE Vol. 3, No. NT 1 Issued by the Student VOI Nonviolent Coordinating CE Committee,197 1/2 Auburn Ave., Atlanta 3, Ga.April, 1962 TALLADEGA PROTESTS I Student Group Moves After Negotiations Fail TALLADEGA, ALA. - Be­ By Bob Zellner ginning with a march of 400 students and faculty mem­ TALLADEGA, ALABAMA - bers, Talladega Collegetook The stimulus for leadership a giant step toward freeing and effective social change their city of segregation. at Talladega College is found The march followed fruit­ in the Social Action Com­ less negotiation with Talla­ mittee (SAC) a group found dega Mayor J . L. Hardwick within the framework of the TALLADEGA STUDENTS PROTEST - Talladega College on April 5. The students ask­ college's Student Govern­ s tudents s taged a protest march against segregation on ed the Mayor to present plans ment. As the movement at April 6. Joined by some teachers from the school, the stu- 1 for integration of public faci­ Talladega has grown, the dents paraded around the Talladega Courthouse bearing lities in the city, and when concept that every student signs reading "We Want Open Libraries" - We Want Equal no plan was forthcoming, the at the college is a member Opportunity." Social Action Committee Chairman Dorothy group marched in protest. of SAC has grown also, and Vails is on the right, above, being inte rviewed by a re- The march was peaceful, and the original smaller com­ porter. Photo by Zellner. Mayor Hardwick praised the mittee is thought of a plan­ students and the Talledega ning group. SNCC Con-ference Slated I community for their c alm- Dorothy Vails, a native of J ness.
    [Show full text]
  • Militarization and Peaceful Protest
    Seattle Journal for Social Justice Volume 14 Issue 2 Fall 2015 Article 14 4-27-2016 Living Under the Boot: Militarization and Peaceful Protest Charlotte Guerra Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj Seattle University School of Law, [email protected] Part of the Administrative Law Commons, Agriculture Law Commons, Arts and Humanities Commons, Banking and Finance Law Commons, Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Commercial Law Commons, Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Consumer Protection Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Disability and Equity in Education Commons, Disability Law Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Energy and Utilities Law Commons, Family Law Commons, Fourteenth Amendment Commons, Health Law and Policy Commons, Housing Law Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, Immigration Law Commons, Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons, Insurance Law Commons, Intellectual Property Law Commons, International Trade Law Commons, Juvenile Law Commons, Labor and Employment Law Commons, Land Use Law Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Law and Psychology Commons, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, Legal History Commons, Legal Remedies Commons, Legislation Commons, Marketing Law Commons, National Security Law Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, Other Education Commons, Other Law Commons, Privacy Law Commons, Property Law and Real Estate Commons, Secured Transactions Commons, Securities Law Commons, Sexuality and the Law Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, Social Welfare Law Commons, Transnational Law Commons, and the Water Law Commons Recommended Citation Guerra, Charlotte (2016) "Living Under the Boot: Militarization and Peaceful Protest," Seattle Journal for Social Justice: Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright by Judith A. Thomas 2012
    Copyright by Judith A. Thomas 2012 The Thesis Committee for Judith A. Thomas Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: Live Stream Micro-Media Activism in the Occupy Movement Mediatized Co-presence, Autonomy, and the Ambivalent Face APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: Karin Gwinn Wilkins Joseph D. Straubhaar Live Stream Micro-Media Activism in the Occupy Movement Mediatized Co-presence, Autonomy, and the Ambivalent Face by Judith A. Thomas, BFA Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2012 Dedication For my husband, inspiration and co-conspirator, Rob Donald. (Photo: The First Adbusters’ Poster for Occupy Wall Street, September 2011. Acknowledgements The work of Manuel Castells on autonomous networks and communication power has had a profound impact on this scholarship. The breadth of his vision and theoretical analysis is inspiring and insightful. I hope this work contributes to the continuing critical cultural discussion of the potential of citizen micro-media in all contexts but especially the international uprisings of 2010-2012. Most especially, my sincere thanks to the following University of Texas at Austin professors whose knowledge and curiosity inspired me most: Joe Straubhaar, Paul Resta, Shanti Kumar, Sandy Stone, and especially my generous, gifted and patient supervisor, Karin Gwinn Wilkins. I will miss the depth and breadth of debate we shared, and I look forward to following your challenging work in the future. v Abstract Live Stream Micro-Media Activism in the Occupy Movement Mediatized Co-presence, Autonomy, and the Ambivalent Face Judith A.
    [Show full text]
  • Chuck Wooten
    JANUARY 2012, VOLUME 39, NO. 1 DONATION $1 San Diego police haul off Occupy San Diego protesters as they remove tents and structures from the Civic Center Plaza in San Diego. photo/ GreGory Bull, AssociAted press INSIDE: Breaking Corporate Grip 2 Detroit Under Seige 4 DEMOCRACY Ohio Repeals Anti-labor Law 4 Occupy Wall Street 6-7 UNDER ATTACK BY West Coast Port Shutdown 8 Santa Clara Immigration Victory 10 CORPORATE POWER Benton Harbor School District Takeover 12 Read Story on Page 3 An economic system that doesn’t feed, clothe and house its people must be and will be overturned and replaced with a system that meets the needs of the people. To that end, this paper is a tribune of those struggling to create such a new economic system. It is a vehicle to bring the movement to- gether, to create a vision of a better world and a strategy to achieve it. Labor-replacing electronic technol- ogy is permanently eliminating jobs and destroying the founda- tion of the capitalist system. The people’s needs can only be met by building a cooperative soci- ety where the socially necessary means of production are owned by society, not by the corporations. We welcome articles and artwork from those who are engaged in the struggle to build a new society that is of, by and for the people. We rely on readers and contributors to fund and distribute this paper. The People’s Tribune, formerly published by the League of Revolu- tionaries for a New America, is now an independent newspaper with an editorial board based in Chicago.
    [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]
  • In Seattle, Solidarity with the 'Occupy'
    FREE EACH VOLUME 30 MONTH ISSUE 11 A community-based newspaper serving the Puget Sound area since 1981 November 2011 Articles translated into six languages TheTheThe newspaper VoiceVoice of Neighborhood House In Seattle, solidarity with Don’t forget to vote by Nov. 8 This year’s general election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8, but registered voters the ‘Occupy’ movement don’t need to wait that long to cast their vote. Washington state has adopted a vote-by- BY VOICE STAFF mail system. If you are registered to vote in Washington, you should have received a “We are the 99 percent.” ballot in the mail last month. Complete your The rallying cry for the “Occupy” protest movement first ballot and follow the instructions printed appeared in New York, on Wall Street — what many see as the on the envelope to prepare it for mailing - epicenter of America’s now years-long recession. don’t forget to include a first-class postage The movement’s slogan refers to economic disparity in the stamp! United States, where the wealthiest 1 percent control more than Want to save a stamp? The King County 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. Elections Office operates drop-box loca- In the weeks since Occupy Wall Street first took root in mid- tions in Seattle and around King County. September, offshoots of the movement have sprouted around The Seattle drop-box locations are at the the country and worldwide, with demonstrations both large and King County Administration Bulding (500 small being held on every continent of the globe — including Fourth Ave.), Magnuson Park (6344 NE Antarctica.
    [Show full text]
  • HOW BLACK IS BLACK METAL [JOURNALISMUS] Nachrichten Von Heute
    HOW BLACK IS BLACK METAL [JOURNALISMUS] nachrichten von heute Kevin Coogan - Lords of Chaos (LOC), a recent book-length examination of the “Satanic” black metal music scene, is less concerned with sound than fury. Authors Michael Moynihan and Didrik Sederlind zero in on Norway, where a tiny clique of black metal musicians torched some churches in 1992. The church burners’ own place of worship was a small Oslo record store called Helvete (Hell). Helvete was run by the godfather of Norwegian black metal, 0ystein Aarseth (“Euronymous”, or “Prince of Death”), who first brought black metal to Norway with his group Mayhem and his Deathlike Silence record label. One early member of the movement, “Frost” from the band Satyricon, recalled his first visit to Helvete: I felt like this was the place I had always dreamed about being in. It was a kick in the back. The black painted walls, the bizarre fitted out with inverted crosses, weapons, candelabra etc. And then just the downright evil atmosphere...it was just perfect. Frost was also impressed at how talented Euronymous was in “bringing forth the evil in people – and bringing the right people together” and then dominating them. “With a scene ruled by the firm hand of Euronymous,” Frost reminisced, “one could not avoid a certain herd-mentality. There were strict codes for what was accept- ed.” Euronymous may have honed his dictatorial skills while a member of Red Ungdom (Red Youth), the youth wing of the Marxist/Leninist Communist Workers Party, a Stalinist/Maoist outfit that idolized Pol Pot. All who wanted to be part of black metal’s inner core “had to please the leader in one way or the other.” Yet to Frost, Euronymous’s control over the scene was precisely “what made it so special and obscure, creating a center of dark, evil energies and inspiration.” Lords of Chaos, however, is far less interested in Euronymous than in the man who killed him, Varg Vikemes from the one-man group Burzum.
    [Show full text]
  • World Behind Bars: the Expansion of the American Prison Sell
    The Anarchist Library Anti-Copyright World Behind Bars: The Expansion of the American Prison Sell Peter Gelderloos and Patrick Lincoln 2005 Peter Gelderloos and Patrick Lincoln World Behind Bars: The Expansion of the American Prison Sell 2005 Scanned from self-published pamphlet Edited by Peter Gelderloos from materials compiled by Patrick Lincoln and Peter Gelderloos. Signalfire Press, 2005 theanarchistlibrary.org Contents What is prison? ....................... 6 Prison in the media ..................... 6 Why is it important to talk about prison? . 9 Not your typical prisoners . 10 Who is going to prison, and for what? . 11 Judicial Racism ........................ 12 Conditions in prison ..................... 15 Prisoners’ stories ....................... 21 How prison authorities maintain control . 23 Control in higher security and jail . 26 Control in minimum security . 30 Prison on the outside .................... 32 The Prison-Industrial Complex . 33 Violent and Controlling Intervention . 42 Repressing Dissent ...................... 48 Peddling Fear, Selling Security . 52 Breaking Down Walls: Anti-Prison Organizing and Movement Building . 56 Policy Activism v. Power Activism . 57 Reform vs. Revolution .................... 59 Sustaining Activism ..................... 59 Academic Activism ..................... 60 War at Home ......................... 60 Morality of the State ..................... 61 Post Script: December 10, 2005 . 62 Recommended Resources . 64 3 NW 80th St. #148, Seattle WA 98117) a newsletter written forand founded by prisoners. • www.jerichony.org/prisoners.html • www.prisonactivist.org • www.breakthechains.net • www.anarchistblackcross.org • www.abcf.net • www.november.org • www.famm.org • www.criticalresistance.org Support Prisoners: Write Them! A great list of political prisoners, with descriptions, is available from the Anarchist Black Cross Federation. You can find it online at www.abcf.net/abcf.asp?page=prisoners# Or find “normal” prisoners from your area and write them or visit them.
    [Show full text]
  • TAZ, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism.Pdf
    T. A. Z. The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism By Hakim Bey Autonomedia Anti-copyright, 1985, 1991. May be freely pirated & quoted-- the author & publisher, however, would like to be informed at: Autonomedia P. O. Box 568 Williamsburgh Station Brooklyn, NY 11211-0568 Book design & typesetting: Dave Mandl HTML version: Mike Morrison Printed in the United States of America Part 1 T. A. Z. The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism By Hakim Bey ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CHAOS: THE BROADSHEETS OF ONTOLOGICAL ANARCHISM was first published in 1985 by Grim Reaper Press of Weehawken, New Jersey; a later re-issue was published in Providence, Rhode Island, and this edition was pirated in Boulder, Colorado. Another edition was released by Verlag Golem of Providence in 1990, and pirated in Santa Cruz, California, by We Press. "The Temporary Autonomous Zone" was performed at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, and on WBAI-FM in New York City, in 1990. Thanx to the following publications, current and defunct, in which some of these pieces appeared (no doubt I've lost or forgotten many--sorry!): KAOS (London); Ganymede (London); Pan (Amsterdam); Popular Reality; Exquisite Corpse (also Stiffest of the Corpse, City Lights); Anarchy (Columbia, MO); Factsheet Five; Dharma Combat; OVO; City Lights Review; Rants and Incendiary Tracts (Amok); Apocalypse Culture (Amok); Mondo 2000; The Sporadical; Black Eye; Moorish Science Monitor; FEH!; Fag Rag; The Storm!; Panic (Chicago); Bolo Log (Zurich); Anathema; Seditious Delicious; Minor Problems (London); AQUA; Prakilpana. Also, thanx to the following individuals: Jim Fleming; James Koehnline; Sue Ann Harkey; Sharon Gannon; Dave Mandl; Bob Black; Robert Anton Wilson; William Burroughs; "P.M."; Joel Birroco; Adam Parfrey; Brett Rutherford; Jake Rabinowitz; Allen Ginsberg; Anne Waldman; Frank Torey; Andr Codrescu; Dave Crowbar; Ivan Stang; Nathaniel Tarn; Chris Funkhauser; Steve Englander; Alex Trotter.
    [Show full text]
  • Anarchist Solution to Global Warming
    The Anarchist Library Anti-Copyright An Anarchist Solution to Global Warming Peter Gelderloos 2010 If the Green Capitalist response to climate change will only add more fuel to the fire, and if government at a global scale is incapable of solving the problem, as I argue in previous articles12, how would anarchists suggest we reorganize society in order to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and to survive an already changed world? There is no single anarchist position, and many anarchists refuse to offer any proposal at all, arguing that if society liberates itself from State and capitalism, it will change organically, not on the lines of any blueprint. Besides, the attitude of policy, seeing the world from above and imposing changes, is inextricable from the Peter Gelderloos culture that is responsible for destroying the planet and oppressing An Anarchist Solution to Global Warming its inhabitants. 2010 Nonetheless, I want to outline one possible way we could or- Retrieved on 24 November 2010 from anarchistnews.org ganize our lives, not to make a concrete proposal, but because vi- sions make us stronger, and we all need the courage to break once theanarchistlibrary.org 1www.counterpunch.org 2news.infoshop.org and for all with the existing institutions and the false solutions they offer. For the purposes of this text I’m not going to enterinto any of the important debates regarding ideals — appropriate levels of technology, scale, organization, coordination, and formalization. I’m going to describe how an ecological, anti-authoritarian society could manifest itself, as it flows from the un-ideal complexity of the present moment.
    [Show full text]