I get them from working with anarchists. Where do you get yours, the back of a cereal box?
> Anarchists have created their own institutions for years now - more than a
> century, in fact. Collectively run presses, communes, and even directly
> democratic unions, and/or the social networks and scenes these groups
> communicate and interact through. Are these organizations
> interested in their "own
> self-preservation"? You bet they are.
Yes, anarchists have created their own institutions, but for the most part, these institutions have been failures. What Brian is conveniently ignoring is all the self-management and organic associations that anarchists form all the time for a variety of purposes. These projects may last for one action, or they may last for a few years. Most of the organizing that anarchists do does NOT have the goal of creating permanent institutions.
There are good reasons why anarchists avoid institution-building. There are plenty of writings on this subject.
>
> > Anarchist argue for organizations and forms of relationship that are
> > created by the people involved in them
>
> Exactly. And that is in no way counterposed to the idea of creating
> institutions that have an interest in their own self-preservation.
I'm talking about organic groups that have a lifespan. You are advocating a form of leftism that believes that permanent institutions are the way to achieve rdical social change. When post-leftists argue that anarchism is still plagued by leftist thinking, we are talking about the quasi-Leninism that you are advocating.
> When you say "anarchists argue for X" - as you often do on this list,
> unappointed ambassador for anarchism that you seem to be - you are
> misleading people.
No, I'm simply making an argument for my views. I never said I was an ambassador for anarchism, but I have been an anarchist for over 15 years.
Folks need to know that Brian has a extremely narrow definition of what an anarchist is, which allows him to conveniently define away much of anarchism that doesn't toe his party line. This is a typical logical evasion practiced by many hard line anarcho-syndicalists. They believe that anarchism only happens in formal groups that engage in workplace organizing.
>Maybe
> there are some bizarre kinds of anarchists arguing that "institutions
> should be avoided" where you are, but in areas of the world where there
> are forms of anarchism that trace back to those that did not have an
> anti-organizational bias, this would seem like nonsense. Some insitutions
> should be avoided, some worked with, some destroyed, etc.
Brian, perhaps you should read more anarchist literature other than Anarcho-Syndicalist Review.
Anarchists on Organization - Pro and Con: http://www.infoshop.org/activism_organization.html
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