|
|
|
Anarchists' open letter to Occupy Philly
Anarchist authors have posted an open letter to the various 'Occupy' movements
Anarchists' open letter to Occupy Philly
Anarchist authors have posted an open letter to the various 'Occupy' movements on the website Crimethinc.com. It's an interesting read.
Here's a sample. Full text at Crimethinc. Follow me for more Occupy Philly here and on Twitter.
Dear Occupiers
A letter from anarchists
Support and solidarity! We’re inspired by the occupations on Wall Street and elsewhere around the country. Finally, people are taking to the streets again! The momentum around these actions has the potential to reinvigorate protest and resistance in this country. We hope these occupations will increase both in numbers and in substance, and we’ll do our best to contribute to that.
Why should you listen to us? In short, because we’ve been at this a long time already. We’ve spent decades struggling against capitalism, organizing occupations, and making decisions by consensus. If this new movement doesn’t learn from the mistakes of previous ones, we run the risk of repeating them. We’ve summarized some of our hard-won lessons here.
...
Police can’t be trusted. They may be “ordinary workers,” but their job is to protect the interests of the ruling class. As long as they remain employed as police, we can’t count on them, however friendly they might act. Occupiers who don’t know this already will learn it firsthand as soon as they threaten the imbalances of wealth and power our society is based on. Anyone who insists that the police exist to protect and serve the common people has probably lived a privileged life, and an obedient one.
...
To have a diversity of participants, a movement must make space for a diversity of tactics. It’s controlling and self-important to think you know how everyone should act in pursuit of a better world. Denouncing others only equips the authorities to delegitimize, divide, and destroy the movement as a whole. Criticism and debate propel a movement forward, but power grabs cripple it. The goal should not be to compel everyone to adopt one set of tactics, but to discover how different approaches can be mutually beneficial.
...
Don’t assume those who break the law or confront police are agents provocateurs. A lot of people have good reason to be angry. Not everyone is resigned to legalistic pacifism; some people still remember how to stand up for themselves. Police violence isn’t just meant to provoke us, it’s meant to hurt and scare us into inaction. In this context, self-defense is essential.
Assuming that those at the front of clashes with the authorities are somehow in league with the authorities is not only illogical—it delegitimizes the spirit it takes to challenge the status quo, and dismisses the courage of those who are prepared to do so. This allegation is typical of privileged people who have been taught to trust the authorities and fear everyone who disobeys them.
...
Thanks for reading and scheming and acting. May your every dream come true.
Cindy Milstein HAS ALREADY attempted to siphon funds by attempting to divert monetary donations to Occupy Philadelphia sent to her organization the IAS.
They espouse a bankrupt philosophy that embraces “direct democracy” and “transparency” when it suits their needs and goals – yet they remain highly secretive and exclusive and have turned away numerous people who have attempted to join their working group that now meets away from City Hall… What happened to the mantra of “Everyone is welcome to join ANY working group” that is constantly drilled by many of the facilitators?
The majority of its adherents are political dilettantes who delight in theories and abstract concepts but shun practicality in thought and deed. To some, the very word “practical” is anathema. Combined with their inability to grasp the lessons of history, the result is the occasional scheme to run off to live apart together… or kind of together. But not as a collective or a commune or anything; just all anarcho-capitalists. No trespassing. Unfortunately, this one keeps bumping its pointed head up against the Immovable Object of practicality. Not constituting anything like an Irresistible Force, anarchy gives way in short order.
— Jah_Kitsch- Cindy - Your 2nd and 4th paragraphs make my argument for me and for the rest of us - you just shot yourself in the foot.— Jah_Kitsch
- You're an ignorant fool, Jah_Kitsch. Quit inciting paranoia and spreading misinformation. You need to get a clue. Really.
Cindy Milstein is not siphoning anything--that is complete and total B.S.— cashonlyplz - Been following some of the recent accusations against Cindy and if they weren't so bitter, they would be funny. Especially because Cindy has made it her issue to insert a practical and thoughtful element of direct democracy into popular movements for well over a decade. Her pamphlet "Democracy is Direct", for instance, gets into the differences between the authoritarian "democracies" we might be more familiar with and directly democratic forms of decision making we've been experiencing at Occupy Philly. http://zinelibrary.info/files/democracyisdirect.pdf
The bit about siphoning money is complete bullshit.
But more funny than whatever slander is out there is that Cindy never wrote that piece above. This was put out by crimethinc, a prolific author who many anarchists involved in social movements, including Cindy have been very critical of in the past (though this piece seems pretty spot on).
As for the facilitators working group, while meeting spots may shifts, the group is open and should be. i recommend folks who get involved (as with anything) come with an attitude of solidarity and respect. this always helps.
Otherwise, Mr. Kitsch, what you write is nonsense.— multilectical
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
