| dr wooo on Mon, 3 Apr 2000 05:28:03 +0200 (CEST) |
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| [Nettime-bold] Fwd: [spanet] (Fwd: Anarchist Unity) (fwd) |
... > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 00:45:35 -0500 > From: Edmond Caldwell <[email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [spanet] (Fwd: Anarchist Unity) > > This development in the USA is interesting in itself, but I think also has some > practical relevence to the discussion on the nature of class taking place here. > ****** Forwarded Message Follows ******* > > ________________________________________________ > A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E > http://www.ainfos.ca/ > ________________________________________________ > > Endorsing the Call for a Revolutionary Anti-Capitalist Bloc > > Recently a number of anarchist groups issued a call for a Revolutionary > Anti-Capitalist Bloc for the upcoming "A16" demonstrations against the > International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C. Not restricting themselves to > organizing an anarchist black bloc, these activists extended a hand to > autonomists, "anti-state libertarian marxists," anarcho-syndicalists, and > council communists to form a common front, organized separately but acting in > concert as a revolutionary and anti-capitalist pole of attraction within the > larger movement against "globalization." As adherents of council communist > political perspectives, the publications Collective Action Notes, Red & Black > Notes, and The Bad Days Will End endorse this call issued by our anarchist > friends. We do so not as representatives of membership organizations, and still > less as "leaders" of any kind, but rather as individuals who represent > publications with modest circulations. > > The "A16" actions are intended to build on the momentum from last years > anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle. In the growing resistance to > "globalization" and global financial institutions such as the WTO, the IMF, and > the World Bank, some are now heralding the emergence of a "new movement" and > even a "new anti-capitalism." These protests certainly demonstrate that > globalization is not the inevitable juggernaut that the capitalist bosses and > bureaucrats say it is. But the "new anti-capitalism" that was on display in > Seattle was a mixed bag, containing, it turned out, a lot of the old reformism, > in the form of the AFL-CIO bureaucracy, the Sierra Club, the National Lawyers > Guild, Ralph Nader and his ilk, and assorted "NGOs." These elements see the > movement against globalization simply as a way of putting pressure on the > capitalist state to curtail or revamp international financial institutions or to > replace "free trade" with "fair trade." This reformist perspective brings with > it an ugly nationalist protectionism, where what is needed is thoroughgoing > international solidarity. Tensions between some among the reformists and > radicals surfaced in Seattle, where "peacekeepers" willingly acted as adjuncts > for the state and its brutal cops in trying to keep radicals "in line." As the > movement builds for A16 in Washington, so does the need for political > clarification. > > On a whole host of questions, the call for a Revolutionary Anti-Capitalist Bloc > takes the road of class struggle rather than reform. The call declares that the > reformist message of "fair trade, not free trade" and of "pruning" and "fixing" > global capitalist financial institutions is unacceptable. The call rejects the > narrowness of "single-issue" organizing and opts instead for a total > revolutionary critique of capitalism. The call repudiates the protectionism and > nationalism that infect much of the anti-globalization movement, agitating > instead for the abolition of nations. The call rejects the participation in the > movement of so-called "peacekeepers" and insists on the right of groups and > individuals to organize and act autonomously within the larger movement against > globalization. All of these things are not only supportable, but are necessary. > > The anarchists call for a Revolutionary Anti-Capitalist Bloc is not a call to > split the movement. It is a call to strengthen and concentrate a political > pole of attraction within the anti-globalization movement which advances the > understanding that, to be against globalization, you must be against capitalism, > the state, and the nation. This opposition necessitates a proletarian > perspective: To be for the working class and for the working class > revolutionary self-organization through workers councils. > > This idea is not the stale "old left" or Leninist dogma in which only the > factory proletariat, organized in the trade unions, is allowed to be the "real" > subject of history. Globalization itself has meant the de-industrialization of > large segments of the U.S. workforce. At the same time, modern capitalism has > made of society as a whole a "social factory" in which we are all workers. As > the British journal Aufheben wrote in a recent editorial on the J18 > demonstrations in London, "if we are fighting capital then we must constitute > ourselves as the proletariat." Through this union of the working class and its > essence, we forge the basis of a genuine international unity, which will one day > lay the basis for the abolition of capitalism, wage slavery, and work itself. > Its with this perspective in mind that we support the call for a Revolutionary > Anti-Capitalist Bloc. > > Signed, > Curtis Price / Collective Action Notes > Neil Fettes / Red & Black Notes > Ed Caldwell / The Bad Days Will End > > March 2000 > > Contact addresses: > > Collective Action Notes > POB 22962 > Baltimore, MD 21203 > USA > <[email protected]> > > Red & Black Notes > PO Box 47643 - 939 Lawrence Ave E > Don Mills, ON M3C 3S7 > Canada > <[email protected]> > > The Bad Days Will End > c/o Merrymount Publications > PO Box 441597 > Somerville, MA 02144 > USA > <[email protected]> > > > > > > --- from list [email protected] --- > > > ******** > ****** The A-Infos News Service ****** > News about and of interest to anarchists > ****** > COMMANDS: [email protected] > REPLIES: [email protected] > HELP: [email protected] > WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/ > INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org > > -To receive a-infos in one language only mail [email protected] the message: > unsubscribe a-infos > subscribe a-infos-X > where X = en, ca, de, fr, etc. (i.e. the language code) > > _______________________________________________________ Get 100% FREE Internet Access powered by Excite Visit http://freelane.excite.com/freeisp _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list [email protected] http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold