> ditto. why you had to find disagreement is, i suppose, your problem. i
> said i didn't disagree. i spent considerable amounts of time defending the
> seattle anarchists. so give it a rest; you don't have to convince me. i'm
> not a boomer either so please save that for someone else too. i think
> smashing windows has very little value, symbolically. don't give a rat's
> ass about the betrayal issue either. i'm talking about use symbolism in
> different ways, in ways that can be just as unexpected and
> dangerous--particularly if you take something of "theirs" symbolically
> speaking.
Oh, OK. I'm not sure I understand your point, though, about the symbolism.
> >I think this is why the Seattle actions disappeared from the screen and
> >papers of the boss media so quickly. They could have easily spent weeks
> >demonizing the anarchists and street occupiers as backward anti-American
> >elements. They didn't do this. Why? Does the ruling class understand the
> >threat that Seattle poses to their ruling ideology, the one that say
> >that history has ended and that capitalism is the logical outcome of
> >eons of human history?
>
> i doubt that it's because they were afraid of it. rather, i think it's
> more likely that everything passes pretty quickly when it's only value is
> that of the Spectacle. if all anyone wants to do is get attention rather
> than building community and the technical, networking, resource
> infrastrucutre that's needed to sustain a long term struggle then i wish
> you lots of luck.
I've been pretty involved in the struggle to build community and the infrastructure. After all, I do publish a zine called Practical Anarchy, which focuses on these things. My web activism has also been geared towards these goals and methods.
But once in a while you need to do something spectacular to get attention, even if it only gives hope to those who have been struggling.
Yes, the spectacle is pretty good at recuperating its opposition pretty quickly. This is why we see the Eugene anarchists profiled in Spin magazine, as well as Glamour magazine asking around for women anarchists. But at a certain point, the capitalist spectacle can't digest a radical anti-capitalist message. Seattle was hopefully the first burp in a long belch fest.
-- << Chuck0 >> Homepage: http://flag.blackened.net/chuck0/home/ Mid-Atlantic Infoshop: http://www.infoshop.org/ Alternative Press Review: http://flag.blackened.net/apr/
Free Leonard Peltier! http://www.freepeltier.org/
"A society is a healthy society only to the degree that it exhibits anarchistic traits."
- Jens Bjørneboe