Seattle - anarchist

Chuck0 chuck at tao.ca
Tue Dec 7 20:49:48 PST 1999


I usually have alot of respect for Geov's writings, but he is wrong on this one. Articles like this are only dividing the anti-authoritarian movement. It also distracts people from the great things that were accomplished last week. It's so sad to see more and more activists lapse into finger pointing so quickly.

Chuck Munson Co-editor, Alternative Press Review

Christine Peterson wrote:
>
> This is from Geov Parrish, of Seattle Weekly, Eat the STate, Nonviolent
> Action Community of Cascadia, War Resister's league etc.
> Gives a more pacifist viewpoint.
>
> >
> > Here is a pre-copy-edited version of the Seattle Weekly
> > "Impolitics" column for Dec. 9, 1999. This may be used as a
> > regular story rather than a column due to our section of WTO
> > post-mortems, and there was no column last week, also
> > because of special WTO coverage. If anyone is interested in
> > seeing WTO stories that I have written outside of the
> > Impolitics columns, contact me at
> > gparrish at seattleweekly.com.
> >
> > If you know of others who might be interested in receiving
> > these columns, pass it on!
> >
> > Peace, love, & sabotage,
> >
> > Geov Parrish
> >
> >
> >
> > Possible pull quote:
> >
> > The Eugene anarchists' actions were a calculated attack not
> > on the corporate state, but on the resistance to it.
> >
> > On "Violence" and "Anarchists"
> >
> > I know the folks who transformed a remarkable, peaceful show
> > of power against the WTO into a media-characterized "riot."
> > At least some of the vandals and looters who took advantage
> > of the cover of the most significant mass direct action in
> > Seattle history were from the group of Eugene anarchists I
> > went down and interviewed for the Weekly last summer. Their
> > spokesperson, anarchist author and theoretician John Zerzan,
> > and I have kept in touch since then. We published two of
> > their essays in our WTO issue, and we were to meet during
> > the WTO. We didn't. If we had, I would have spit in his
> > face. Consider this the written equivalent, and I hope he
> > reads it.
> >
> > There was an agreement in place between the loosely-knit
> > group of West Coast anarchists that organized for the WTO,
> > and the Direct Action Network, to respect the nonviolence
> > code downtown during the day of November 30. I don't
> > consider property destruction violent in and of itself--I
> > consider property violent, actually--but most of America
> > does, and the nonviolence code agreed to by participants in
> > the November 30 direct action reflected that. It was a
> > protest that, with exposure to the totalitarian nature of
> > the WTO and transnational corporate rule, a broad cross-
> > section of our society could support.
> >
> > Obviously, our Eugene friends intentionally disrespected
> > their agreement. That makes them liars, and it makes their
> > word for any future political alliance less than
> > meaningless. All sides calculated, correctly, that even the
> > breaking of a few windows would overpower months' worth of
> > organizing work and the concerted efforts of thousands of
> > people in the media, and public, eye.
> >
> > The anarchists' enemy here was not the state, nor corporate
> > America. Those windows cost a few bucks; the expenses will
> > be picked up by insurance companies. The real damage was
> > done to the integrity of an action that was successful
> > enough to shut down the most powerful organization on Earth.
> > That reality was lost in the overreaction to property
> > damage. However unfairly, and to whatever degree it exposes
> > an ugly truth--to most people, it doesn't--America cares
> > more about property than it does about democracy in action.
> > The Eugene anarchists' actions were a calculated attack not
> > on the corporate state, but on the resistance to it.
> >
> > For 25 years, I have considered myself an anarchist. I
> > believe in the power of self-government because it speaks to
> > the best in people, because it is the only practical path to
> > a non-exploitative world, and because mutual aid kicks ass.
> > The direct action that shut down the WTO was the genuine
> > anarchism in action last Tuesday. The glass-breaking and
> > graffiti was, however unwittingly, abetting the state.
> >
> > In the face of this attack, there were some heroes. One
> > story I heard was of Peace Action's Fred Miller, who, along
> > with his daughter, held up a banner to protect the windows
> > of NikeTown against the predations of the anarchists'
> > hammers. Fred wasn't protecting NikeTown--or more
> > accurately, their insurance company--he was protecting the
> > integrity of thousands of dissidents' hard work. Despite the
> > efforts of Fred, and the overwhelming majority of protesters
> > who deplored the vandalism, a few thugs carried the day.
> >
> > In the future, in our trainings and preparations for such
> > actions, we will unfortunately have to learn to do more of
> > that. We will have to learn to protect ourselves and our
> > actions from being hijacked by small gangs of cowards who
> > won't take risks, who can't organize their own revolution,
> > and so find themselves--much like the sectarian left they
> > despise--using other peoples' work for their purposes.
> >
> > It's bad enough having to confront the awesome power of the
> > police state. That was brought down in nearly full ugly
> > force for the rest of the week not because of the vandalism,
> > which largely hadn't happened when the first tear gas flew
> > at 6th and Union at 10:05 AM, but because thousands were
> > nonviolently effective. But the public approved of police
> > tactics--pepper-spraying people on the ground, shooting
> > fleeing protesters in the back with rubber bullets, and
> > denying constitutinal rights to freedoms of speech and
> > assembly--thanks to our "anarchist" enemies. That was the
> > true violence of the week, not the shattered glass.
> >
> > Let's be clear. These aren't anarchists, and they are
> > certainly not interested in building their movement. A true
> > anarchist--as with the Seattle General Strike of 1919--works
> > through mutual aid, not through taking their most likely
> > compatriots, some of whom also self-identify as anarchists,
> > and kicking them in the teeth. That's the state's job, and
> > the Eugene clique helped out admirably. A few minutes of
> > glass-breaking was far more effective than months of police
> > infiltration would have been. Sad, but true. Now, the
> > question: how do we deal with it in the future?
> >
> > Possibly the most significant mass action I'll ever see was
> > a lot less effective in its global message than it could
> > have been thanks to a few dozen people who hate global
> > capitalism. Well, here's a big news flash: a lot of us do.
> > But the revolution, the movement to reclaim our humanity
> > that for at least a day kept the leadership of the global
> > corporate state cowering in their hotel rooms, didn't and
> > doesn't need these vitality-sucking Oregon parasites. It's
> > not the property destruction we resent--it's the deliberate
> > sabotaging of our work. To John Zerzan, Brenton Gicker, and
> > all you other little punks in the Eugene clique, and their
> > cohorts, fuck you. Fuck everything you stand for. And stay
> > the fuck away from our revolution.



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