as we anticipate and prepare for March 20th, it's worth looking back to the protests we were having a year ago in LA, and it's worth asking ourselves about corporate structure and the effect that it can have when we find it within our own protests and within our own organizations. on 3/20, when we find ourselves once again lined up and staring upwards at a podium, listening to our values via loudspeakers, and following booming orders broadcast from a big truck.... think about structure and about possibilities for the future.... for April 24th, for Mayday, for late August and early September....

the truck
trying to discuss alternatives
advocating complexity ex.1
advocating complexity ex.2
resisting complexity management
structure and process at la-imc

see also:
"product demos"
call for a summer


.orig.

yeah, the heirachary of these anti-war protests is bullshit. so all us anti authoritarians should show up and ignore the speakers. instead, dance to whatever drum or horn moves you (hopefully you brought your own).

these protests are about numbers, everyone is a body to be counted. the speakers are there because "we" expect them to be there. ignore them. it's time for a dance party bloc! i guarantee more people will show if we're having fun.

Think about how much better it would be if we had absolutely no leaders, spokespersons, organizers, platforms, or even permits for the march. My fancy chart clearly shows how desirable and superior this form of non-hierarchical, anarchist, free form ballet can be! I say we just all march in different directions in our anarchy t-shirts... yeah, that'll really have an impact!

My next fancy chart will show the advantages of non-hierarchical, anarchist, free form jump roping and it's relationship to the state's budget crisis. That's gonna be some chart.

March 20: Marching Against War – For Awareness and Solidarity?

Will our footsteps drown out the Drums of War? Or interfere with our education?

As you go marching along in your new Nikes looking for the road to peace, try and stretch out your perspective. Try and stretch it to every location where there is war – especially US-sponsored war. This requires you to stretch around the world where you will find 10 million people marching outside the US. In London, Paris, Athens, Sao Paulo, Islamabad and Bogotá they will be marching against specific US crimes such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia and the FTAA/WTO. While you are marching in the US imagine what it means that peace groups outside the US protest in such greater numbers and for clearer reasons: they understand who to blame: the US and all the greedy capitalists.

Maybe this difference is because globalization and war threatens many more people outside the US. Maybe it is because they know better where war leads. Maybe they protest the US because only one country has ever killed large numbers of civilians with a weapon of mass destruction: 200,000 at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the firebombing of Tokyo (100,000), Dresden (50-60,000) and Hamburg (40-50,000) (the latter two with US bombs and UK-Canadian help). Remember that only two countries have used chemical weapons outside their borders to devastating effect: the German Nazis (3 million) and the US in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Colombia (600,000 – 1 million dead from chemicals and many millions of people and rich biological resources injured or contaminated forever, in a war that killed 3-5 million since 1945 and resulted in millions more dying from hunger and disease). And the deaths and birth defects continue year after year, generation to generation. [1]

Only one country has ever had such a great air force, army or navy – or so many foreign bases.

Only one country has ever locked up so many of its people. Ponder, if you please, that the US is the least sustainable country in the world and has one of the most questionable democracies. John Kennedy got us into Vietnam and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba; Johnson cruelly escalated the war; Carter was involved in the Indonesian massacres in East Timor, instigated the covert terrorist invasion of Nicaragua, and set the tone for US relations with Islamic regimes that Bush builds his war on; Clinton started the war with Al Qaeda and Afghanistan when he bombed Sudan and Afghanistan with hundreds of cruise missiles and authorized assassinations – oh and Clinton signed the Salvage Rider and thought-up the Plan Colombia toxic spray program that he knew would turn into another US intervention in a civil war.

Now our – “choices” - are John Kerry ready to increase military spending and Hillary Clinton ready to re-institute the military draft!

The elite in nearly every country – that one percent or so that control most of the lands, factories and military (and its industrial complex) – they call the shots and control whoever is elected. There really can’t be democracy as long as there are rich people – as long as there is gross inequality of resources, education and incomes.

Only one country has ever polluted so much, built and maintained so many nuclear weapons or funded so many death squads.

The US is the only wealthy country of significance that refuses to sign on to the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty, The International Criminal Court, the Land Mine Treaty and many more international agreements.

Only one country has committed so many crimes with so little justification. If people in the US contributed as much in foreign aid as the people in Denmark, the Netherlands or Norway, then almost all of the world’s problems could be quickly solved [2]. One forth of the US defense budget could save 40 to 80 million lives who are lost each year to easily preventable causes. [3]

( Note – USE this or Don’t) Hispanics in the US send almost twice as much foreign aid back to their relatives in Latin America as the US government spent on foreign aid for the whole world. [4] And most US foreign aid is to high income countries like Israel, for military assistance or what is called tied aid where the recipient country has to use the aid to buy US products. This kind of aid is not aid at all.

Don’t stop Marching. Start marching in sync and solidarity with a whole wounded world that wants much more than the absence of war – they want sustainability and greater equality. And they are watching our steps with anticipation and with some fear.

Notes
[1]. (UK Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,923715,00.html )

[2]. http://www.guardian.co.uk/theissues/article/0,6512,669450,00.html; and http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp#GovernmentsCuttingBackonPromisedResponsibilities; and http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/jul98/23_13_097.html

[3]. http://borgenproject.org/Issues.html

[4]. http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031124-103208-4335r.htm


[5] Misc. trivia: US and Kissinger involvement in Argentine terror and torture activities in 1976-1983: http://www.foreignaidwatch.org

http://print.indymedia.org/news/2004/03/1738.php

http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2004/03/16389.php

hey old commie friend (bastard),

i see you're pettling your organizations nonsense here on LA IMC's site again. for the newbies around, indymedia is organized as a decentralized, anti-authoritarian network. read: anarchist.

anyways, don't bother with Mr. Head. He is probably buying fresh trashcans from Home Depot to collect your money at the march. let's bring out a bullhorn and yell back at those ANSWER fuckers if they start asking for money from their goddamn truck.

in the meantime, visit this site to read up on these authoritarian thugs:

http://authoritarianopportunistswhocozyuptogenocidaldictators-forpeace.org/

000

i love the internet. i wonder how IAC and ANSWER feel about the way their beloved China despises the internet, and locks people up for using it against the state.. hmmmm. i bet Kim Jong II uses it for internet porn!

000

error

Listen you sniveling little anarcho wanna be's... I'm NOT a member of ANSWER, I'm NOT a marxist, I'm NOT an old commie... and I've never even belonged to ANY organization.

But I AM a critic of fools who think that by dressing up in black bloc halloween costumes and running around screaming about anarchy, they they are going to influence people. Yes... ANSWER and other organizations put together the March 20th protest marches. If you don't like it... go organize your own damn protest marches.

The efforts of ANSWER will bring out tens of thousands of people... and I think THAT'S what troubles you so much. Because if you and your little anarcho buddies attempted to do the same only 50 people would show up. I'M I WRONG?.... SHOW ME THAT I'M WRONG! I defy you to organize a mass protest in L.A. that will bring out tens of thousands of people against U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East!

All you are capable of doing is to stand around the sidelines and snipe at ANSWER for being "commies." Yeah... you do Bush's work for him! You and all the right-wing fascist trolls that hang around this site should get together and hold an anti-communist rally... you and "Bush Admirer" deserve each other!

Someone named "000" (an apt name for an empty head), wrote: "indymedia is organized as a decentralized, anti-authoritarian network. read: anarchist." Man, what a crock. You like to think that Indymedia is an anarchist playpen... but there is MUCH divergent opinion here... and EVERYONE who contributes to Indy is part of Indy. Your so-called "anti-authoritarianism" is just another form of DICTATORSHIP. Anyone who disagrees with you or dares to criticise your hallowed anarchy claptrap is declared an "enemy of freedom."

Anarchy, smanarchy. Grow up. Read some books.

ugly laughter

a reaction to 'black bloc head' and some more links:

this is not about "black blocs". ridiculing the discussion is disingenuous. this is a general discussion of tactics and structure - a discussion that always happens in any political movement. in fact, general discussions about organizational structure happen wherever groups of people are serious about "getting things done" - in business schools for example. there is no question that such discussions can be worthwhile. the real area of disagreement is around the question "who will participate in the discussion of tactics and structure?" and the still more contentious question - "who will participate in decision making about tactics and structure?" - 'black bloc head' evidently hopes that very few will. that is a standard authoritarian preference, something that business schools, Stalinists, Nazis, Corporatists, cops, military leaders, and all the assorted managers and bosses in our lives can agree about.

fortunately, not everyone objects to the very idea of confronting corporate structure and discussing decentralized alternatives to corporate structure. in fact there is a lot of constructive discussion about these very issues on NYC-IMC right now as the city tries to limit the power of the decentralized antiwar movement:

Groups Accuse City of Stifling Protest
NYPD to Use Containment Pens on March 20
letter to Newsday editor re: anticipated police use of steel pens
what they are practicing for: 1,000 arrests/day in August
Analysis of the NYPD's Use of Demonstration Pens

this issue about metal barricades, crowd management, "free speech zones" and "protest pens" is extremely important right now and it is likely to become more and more important as protests continue, and hopefully grow, this spring and summer - April 24th, Mayday, DNC July 26-29, RNC Aug 29 - Sept 4, and beyond. the police and other servants of the corporate military machine are understandably doing their best under the black cloud of such a calendar to force this movement into the most manageable and least effective shape - and they may succeed. but a lot of people are thinking about ways to prevent the neutralization of the movement. in fact even the main national organizing group for March 20, United For Peace and Justice, is facilitating the organization of many "feeder" marches, partly in order to prevent the police from forcing protesters into subdivided crowd control areas.

at this point it is widely recognized by antiwar activists that if we do not use our freedoms, we will lose our freedoms. if we do not use our freedom of movement, we will lose our freedom of movement. and if we do not plan to mobilize in more complex ways, we will be that much more easily contained, herded together, isolated as a body, and neutralized. use it or lose it.

there is always a zone of intersection between contending political spaces. that is the space of maximum contention. that is the place between the passive consumers and the "demonstrations" of dissent. on the one side it is risky to oppose the bosses and their wars. we hear ugly laughter. on the other side it is risky to question the goals and strategies of the main "protest organizers". we hear ugly laughter. on one side we suffer one tyranny and on the other side we suffer a lesser but more avoidable tyranny. the ugly laughter stops where the spaces overlap and sincerity becomes visible. that intersection of overlapping political spaces is where people's minds can change. that is where we achieve meaningful communication. our legislatures and halls of so-called democracy are supposed to be such spaces but fail to be. we find ourselves in the streets. our media is supposed to be such a space but fails to be. we find ourselves in the streets. surely the streets cannot fail to become such a space when other institutions have failed us. but although our achievements in public demonstration are precious and significant, we often fail there too, even when there are thousands of us. it is the great challenge of popular movements against tyranny to become and remain visible, to realize the potential for constructive spaces where the ugly laughter stops and contending viewpoints are engaged by minds that can change and bodies that can act. these spaces can be anywhere - in our legislatures, in our media, in our streets, but wherever they are they embody the ultimate threat against tyranny and that is why all such contested political spaces are immediately filled with police. wherever you find a line of police - that is exactly where such an overlapping political zone is being repaired. time after time we see the urgency of such situations for the police. a buffer zone between contending political spaces must be re-established as fast as possible no matter how much force is required to do so. cops, trolls, agents, and AM radio loudmouths all know what kind of space they are looking for and what to do there. they have exactly one message for you: leave this area. we win when they can't control us. we win when we find effective ways to organize our activity - new strategies, old strategies - strategies that identify or create intersecting zones at the boundaries of our political spaces, some already known to the cops but some as yet unknown - so that we can make contact and achieve change and reclaim and defend such spaces as they multiply.

link

"Noticer" wrote:

>> who will participate in decision making about tactics and structure? "black bloc head' evidently hopes that very few will. that is a standard authoritarian preference, something that business schools, Stalinists, Nazis, Corporatists, cops, military leaders, and all the assorted managers and bosses in our lives can agree about.<<

"Noticer" doesn't seem to notice much.

I'm all for a wide discussion of tactics and structure. However, I'm opposed to groups arbitrarily imposing their vision upon others. Where was the mass discussion, debate, consensus and VOTE that places the so-called "anti-authoritarians" at the lead of the ANSWER march, ready to launch an illegal "break away" protest? Did the many groups under the ANSWER umbrella consent to your tactics? Or are you simply expressing open contempt for the multitude of student, labor union, religious, third world, and peace and justice groups who you wish to impose your strategies upon?

"Noticer" accuses me of being like the grey suits in business schools, or the control freak Stalinist, Nazi, or corporate types. I'm accused of thinking like a cop or military leader.... and all because I dared to challenge the silly notion that "anti-authoritarians" could... or should, take over the March 20th antiwar march in Hollywood.

Like it or not, ANSWER and like minded organizations put together the March 20th protests (which by the way are international). THEY organized it, THEY did the promotion, THEY put together the roster of speakers, THEY negotiated the permits from the city. THEY have sunk endless hours and expense into making the day a successful protest against the insanity of war and U.S. foreign policy. And by consensus, THEY decided the march and rally would not have a civil disobedience component. Moreover, ANSWER did NOT organize March 20th in order to soapbox on the glories of North Korea or the "correct line of Stalin."

Noticer and other so-called "anti-authoritarians" suggest that the upcoming March 20th march should be appropriated by those opposed to authority in any form. A multitude of stupid suggestions have been made on Indymedia about gathering all "anti-authoritarians" at the front of the ANSWER march and then leading a break away march. This is an action guaranteed to bring down harsh police repression ON THE ENTIRE MARCH that can only end in violence and arrest. My critique of this alleged "strategy" is that it only puts in danger the thousands of people attending the march who DO NOT want to engage in such activity. A break away march puts children, elderly, disabled, and people with babies in harms way... it is unacceptable.

As I've stated previously... if you want to organize your own march, go right ahead. Announce in your flyers that civil disobedience is part of the plan. Those who show up will be ready and willing to place themselves in harms way and suffer arrest. And since you lambaste and insult ANSWER for having a hidden agenda... make sure your flyers identify the organizers of your campaign as "anti-authoritarians" who do not believe in government, permits, cops, or hierarchical leadership (or leadership of any kind for that matter).

Since before the invasion and occupation of Iraq, some "anti-authoritarians" have been snipping away at ANSWER for being a bunch of commies... yet never have these very "anti-authoritarians" organized their own national or even regional mass demonstrations against the war. What's wrong anarchos? Do you lack confidence as to the validity of your position? Are you uncertain that you can actually implement your theories in the community? Are you afraid no one will follow your "superior" line? Can't get your act together enough to organize yourselves out of a wet paper bag? Or is it that your actual role is to malign, dismiss, undermine and subvert the efforts of other earnest activists? I challenge you... put your theories to the test... let's see you organize your own mass community protests.

three simple points

1. no serious commentator would make the assertion that int'l ANSWER did all or even most of the work to organize the March 20 protests. anybody can easily discover that such an assertion is absurd.

for example, more than 60 organizations have been working with United For Peace & Justice to put together the March 20 protest in New York - and that's just NY. UFPJ lists more than 200 March 20 antiwar events in the USA. they say there will be protests in more than 50 countries. more than 500 organizational endorsers work in solidarity with United For Peace and Justice. it is also very important that the participatory structure and process of UFPJ is stated openly on its website. friends of int'l ANSWER should absolutely demand equal accountability from ANSWER. that is just elementary.

constructive criticisms of int'l ANSWER are by no means confined to an anarchist fringe within the antiwar movement. The Nation, Z net, and many others have all raised similar issues, usually evoking reactions from ANSWER supporters that are much like the reactions from 'black bloc head' in both tone and content.

2. all antiwar activists, even int'l ANSWER, share the concern that repressive police crowd control actions threaten to damage the effectiveness of the March 20 protests.

for example, Brian Becker (a prominent ANSWER spokesperson) stated recently: "The police hope that if they can get the word out about their intended obstructions, they can discourage and frighten people from joining the opening rally, or cause a boycott of the demonstration. This blockading of streets is a political act by the police department exercising an illegal and unfettered authority that fundamentally negates the First Amendment."

the notion that "joining the opening rally" is the principle intention of protesters may be a pitiful fantasy but in this statement Becker certainly seems to understand the problem with protesters being penned in and herded around like cattle. indeed it would be hard for ANSWER to deny such an understanding given the amount of discussion about freedom of movement that is occuring around these upcoming protests. even mainstream media outlets are talking about it.

3. it is trivially obvious that a stationary, condensed, and passive audience is more easily isolated, contained, and controlled, than a mobile, expansive, and active public multitude. many people have proposed that this simple observation can inform constructive changes in our protest tactics. but naturally there is resistance to any such change. it is significant that those who are most hostile to any discussion of alternative tactics are themselves silent concerning solutions to the problem of repressive crowd control by police, even though they do not deny that there is a problem. naturally, advocates of tactical discussion and change have not been silent.

Richard K on NYC-IMC writes: "Feeder marches are key. This gives people flexibility in dealing with the police. Since the police will be controling access to the pens, if you don't arrive as a group then you won't be able to find people or even choose a reliable meeting location. If the police are limiting access like on Feb 15, then people in feeder marches can stay together and wait for the march to begin. Basically if everyone just forms feeder marches and stays out of the pens then the police will have to quit using this tactic."

Luke from DC writes on NYC-IMC: "Pens didn't work on F15, they won't work next week-and the won't work on the RNC protests. Why? Because as we saw at F15, enough people WON'T enter the pens that the protest will spread out and jam traffic in a larger area than originally intended. As for me, I always refuse to enter pens..."

why not now? writes on NYC-IMC: "Leslie Cagan gets some credit for making this an issue. But she wouldn't have made it an issue if activists hadn't gotten in her face about it. ANSWER would never have confronted the NYPD about the barricades.

However, Cagan has yet to send out an announcement calling for activists to REFUSE TO ENTER THE BARRICADES. This is the next step and it's going to happen eventually. Why not now?"

link

"Noticer" wrote:
>> no serious commentator would make the assertion that int'l ANSWER did all or even most of the work to organize the March 20 protests. anybody can easily discover that such an assertion is absurd.<<

That was never my assertion. However, which one of you "anti-authoritarians" accepts the leadership, or even leadership style of the above mentioned 60 groups? It's odd that you even bring it up as some type of defense of your position since there isn't a SINGLE anarchist group listed among the 60 groups, and all of them practice what you constantly denounce as hierarchical leadership! The Black Radical Congres, the Brecht Forum, the Baptist Ministerial Alliance Peace Ministry, AFSCME DC37, and the other groups listed would all insist that "anti-authoritarians" are crazy for even suggesting a break away march. All of the 60 groups listed have agreed to march with ANSWER because it has been agreed that the march will be legal, peaceful, and respectful of laws and individuals.

But "Noticer" and the other "anti-authoritarians" have STILL not answered my basic question. Why have YOU not organized YOUR OWN mass demonstrations based on your principles of non-hierarchical anarchist "leadership"? Why is the only role you play one of constant undermining of efforts brought about by other organizers?

I'm "organizing" (if you can dare to call it that) a Smiths/Morrissey marching group for March 20th. I would call myself anti-authoritarian but I don't feel like I'm undermining ANSWER at all. (Well, this comment might undermine ANSWER, but the LTB project doesn't. LTB will exist and walk only within the larger march. The goal of LTB is not revolution, but to increase the diversity and accessiblity of the event.)

As for organizing marches, Anarchists have done a lot of them. We're also here and there helping out with demonstrations, and calling demonstrations. We work within other groups, as well as with other anarchists... but generally, the sense I get is that Anarchists don't go for big public marches.

Instead, they do things like Food Not Bombs, operate community spaces, run websites, and other sustaining projects that seek to create the new society within the current society. If you get into *any* grassroots project, the anti-authoritarians, anarchists, radical democrats, democratically inclined socialists, people of faith, and other likeminded people outnumber the hero-worshipper types attracted to the IAC and Ramsey Clark (former Attorney General).

Ask yourself this: Where is the next society going to arise? In a mass march, or within these smaller organizations?