Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
LA Anarchists Wanted to Participate in an Anarchist Survey
Survey here
Dear friends/comrades/compañer@s,
This is a project by some friends who are interested in some of the ideas and backgrounds of modern day anarchists. We thought we would turn this into a global survey so that other people can possibly use it as a reference for studies or debates. As far as we know, such a survey has never been conducted and a lot of our ideas of anarchists are only based on assumptions. Many of us have done informal surveys on Facebook; this, however, can be a much more useful one, if we want.
As anarchists ourselves, we take your concerns of privacy very seriously. We have not asked for your name, address or anything else that can be used by the authorities and furthermore have not included any questions on illegal tactics. If you are nevertheless concerned about certain questions, just don't answer them ;-)
Having spent many years within the anarchist milieu, we also know that certain questions will be hard to answer for some of you. Who wants to admit that they / their parents are rich, for instance? We urge you, however, to fill out this survey as honestly as possible. We won't point fingers at you because we simply won't be able to: it's anonymous!
Please also invite all your anarchist friends and comrades to take this survey. The more people take it, the more useful the results will be.
The survey will take most people 10-20 minutes to complete. We will publish the results on public fora so that you will be able to use the data yourself or spread it.
Thanks a lot!
PS: We know that this survey will be biased towards English-speaking people with internet access. We also know that we can't guarantee that people will fill it out honestly or that only anarchists will fill it out. Finally, we recognize that like any such project, our survey is necessarily incomplete and, to some degree, reflects our own biases and assumptions. Nevertheless, we hope you will engage it with the spirit of camaraderie with which it was created :-)
http://anarchistsurvey.com
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Downtown LA Anarchist Cafe (Was A Bust!)
(Editors' Note: "Reader Beware - You're in for a Scare!" Though hesitant about posting this, we have yet to receive other reports on the event. In hopes of sparking debate and another side to the story, we post it. For the record, none of us attended the event and intend no hard feelings to anyone.)
To be honest, I didn't want to write this. I was hoping someone else would step up and tell it like it is. But I don't think that's gonna happen. I even thought about blocking the event out of my head - maybe we'd all forget about it, forget it ever happened. But I can't do that, I have to get this off my chest - set the record straight.
Here we go:
This past Sunday, February 28th 2010, there was an Anarchist Cafe hosted at the Smell in Downtown LA. The event was scheduled to be $5 admission, from 1 to 8 PM with workshops, activites, vendors, poetry, and music. I believe the event was organized primarily by one person, Anarcho Paparazzi.
I arrived early during the first scheduled activity - the Hatha Yoga Class. Without a mat and uninterested in Yoga, I wandered about checking out all the vendors. PM Press was there, Revolutionary Autonomous Communities, Mass Media Distro, Arte de la Tierra, Action for Animals, Scorpion Collective, Ediciones Bizarras, Vegancitas and the vegan catering service Vegan Goodies were all present. As I browsed the vendors, I noticed some were tabling in almost complete darkness. The majority of the vendors, though having access to light, were only dimly lit.
Unable to find anything to do and without an area to congregate because of the unusual small spacing of the Smell, I wandered around until I ran into some friends. We caught up and traded stories, strategies and news about the war in progress as time flew by without any announcements of activities or workshops starting or ending. Due to the awkward arrangement of the venue and no communal interactive discussions or activities, most people tended to stick to their own friends or acquaintances.
To be frank, the event continued on in this manner until about 5 PM, when I decided to leave.
After the Hatha Yoga Class there was ANOTHER Yoga Class, this time a Prenatal Kundalini one. I did not attend, I wasn't interested. Then after that there was an hour long Vegan Nutrition Class followed by a speaker on Vegan Bodybuilding and Exercise. I didn't attend either, because I wasn't interested in either. I came to the event to find other LA anarchists, see old friends, and discuss topics pertaining to anarchism (which is broad and can relate to many issues), not pertaining necessarily to health or dietary choices. Then there was an Anarchist Dating Game (did not attend) and then a study group and meeting, leading to perhaps the only slightly interesting discussion of the event, led by Anarcha-LA on planning an action around the March 20th 7th year anniversary of the War in Iraq. While I was still present in the area as this was going on, I was already on my way out saying goodbye to friends and getting ready to take off.
After I left the Guerrilla Queenz played, then there was a round of poetry, then Subsistencia played, another round of poetry, then In Lak Ech, another round of poetry, Aztlan Underground, and then one last round of poems.
Where is the horse and the rider?
Where is the horn that was blowing?
It has passed like rain on the mountain,
Like wind in the meadow.
The days have gone in the west,
Behind the hills,
Into shadow...
How did it come to this?
Where is the horn that was blowing?
It has passed like rain on the mountain,
Like wind in the meadow.
The days have gone in the west,
Behind the hills,
Into shadow...
How did it come to this?
-Theoden of the Rohirim
To be honest, I didn't want to write this. I was hoping someone else would step up and tell it like it is. But I don't think that's gonna happen. I even thought about blocking the event out of my head - maybe we'd all forget about it, forget it ever happened. But I can't do that, I have to get this off my chest - set the record straight.
Here we go:
This past Sunday, February 28th 2010, there was an Anarchist Cafe hosted at the Smell in Downtown LA. The event was scheduled to be $5 admission, from 1 to 8 PM with workshops, activites, vendors, poetry, and music. I believe the event was organized primarily by one person, Anarcho Paparazzi.
I arrived early during the first scheduled activity - the Hatha Yoga Class. Without a mat and uninterested in Yoga, I wandered about checking out all the vendors. PM Press was there, Revolutionary Autonomous Communities, Mass Media Distro, Arte de la Tierra, Action for Animals, Scorpion Collective, Ediciones Bizarras, Vegancitas and the vegan catering service Vegan Goodies were all present. As I browsed the vendors, I noticed some were tabling in almost complete darkness. The majority of the vendors, though having access to light, were only dimly lit.
Unable to find anything to do and without an area to congregate because of the unusual small spacing of the Smell, I wandered around until I ran into some friends. We caught up and traded stories, strategies and news about the war in progress as time flew by without any announcements of activities or workshops starting or ending. Due to the awkward arrangement of the venue and no communal interactive discussions or activities, most people tended to stick to their own friends or acquaintances.
To be frank, the event continued on in this manner until about 5 PM, when I decided to leave.
After the Hatha Yoga Class there was ANOTHER Yoga Class, this time a Prenatal Kundalini one. I did not attend, I wasn't interested. Then after that there was an hour long Vegan Nutrition Class followed by a speaker on Vegan Bodybuilding and Exercise. I didn't attend either, because I wasn't interested in either. I came to the event to find other LA anarchists, see old friends, and discuss topics pertaining to anarchism (which is broad and can relate to many issues), not pertaining necessarily to health or dietary choices. Then there was an Anarchist Dating Game (did not attend) and then a study group and meeting, leading to perhaps the only slightly interesting discussion of the event, led by Anarcha-LA on planning an action around the March 20th 7th year anniversary of the War in Iraq. While I was still present in the area as this was going on, I was already on my way out saying goodbye to friends and getting ready to take off.
After I left the Guerrilla Queenz played, then there was a round of poetry, then Subsistencia played, another round of poetry, then In Lak Ech, another round of poetry, Aztlan Underground, and then one last round of poems.
*********
Okay....I tried to keep that as objective as possible without throwing in any overt personal biases but that was HELLA hard and I know they still crept in. I also completely acknowledge this isn't a good report given that I didn't attend ANY of the scheduled workshops and activities. Trust me, it would be way more descriptive if I did.
Anyway, shit, where to start?
I want my $5 back. The Anarchist Cafe's I used to go to at Windchime House were fucking dope and FREE, even though, yeah I'll admit it - they ended up a little subcultural because of the attendees but shit man at least they were NON-vegan POTLUCKS and had FREE FOOD. Everything here was for sale the moment you walked in and paid your $5 billz.
The only thing enjoyable about this event was catching up with old friends, hanging out with them during and after the event and...that's about it. Fuck, only ONE 30 minute discussion on anarchist feminism and I don't think that even happened. I think they ended up just having the meeting to plan the March 20th action.
I really hope the PM Press guy made some dough that night during the show because it DID NOT look good when I walked by during the day. The fool came all the way out from Oakland to table. At least he got a spot near the light, some other vendors weren't so lucky. Homies looking all sad in the dark, no one touching their shirts or books for sale. That shit was depressing.
Also, what's with all the vegan and yoga workshops? And the anarchist dating game? Seriously, I almost wasn't going to go when I found out about that but I was sadly optimistic. Reminds me of what someone said I think about anarchist events in the Pacific Northwest(?) "VEGAN BIKE BIKE VEGAN VEGAN". How subcultural can we get? How 'bout we have some discussions about why there's NO anarchist movement in the Los Angeles Area and why friends stop being friends because they aren't VEGAN like he or she is? I'm glad this site exists cause people need to get their shit called out on. FUCK. At least there's the bookfairs, that shit's dope and at least folks from Windchime House are still putting on monthly anarchist events where they live. I guess that's "some" movement. I haven't been to their new events yet, but I'mma check out the Sierra Madre Anarchist Picnic on March 13th. Fuck the SF Bookfair. (Also proud of the UC Irvine kids throwing down last week. Dopeee)
Anyway, I'm getting way off track. The Downtown LA Anarchist Cafe = anarchist (as in vegan, trendy, hipster) identity for SALE. Epic Fail.
Please post this LA Anarchist Weekly,
Anonymous
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
To a Los Angeles Anarchist
(Editors' Note: This is a Call that was posted on LA Indymedia last year. It was sent to us to be posted on this blog and we have decided to post it because we feel it is still very much relevant to the current situation of the anarchist movement in Greater Los Angeles)
To an LA anarchist
and to those in LA who still dream and scheme.
May we continue to stay afloat in this concrete sea...
Disconnected and disembodied
gridlocked in a social prison.
For years we've aged and lived here, forged in the fires pushed around and tossed about in the blazing heat of Southern California. Waiting, watching and hoping for something to change, for something to happen. Before us and in us we felt isolation and alienation - where were our comrades? Where were the anarchists?
It seemed in the US they only existed in rumors on the evening news or elsewhere - Santa Cruz, San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest, or New England.
Once a rumor and invisible
slowly growing inmpenetrable
The Coming Anarchy, The Coming Community,
The Coming Insurrection.
As the years passed and whatever tattered remnants of anarchism in LA lay to rot, far and wide it bloomed. Anarchism seemingly on the upsurge. Yet here for what seemed forever, yearly anarchist gatherings rehashed the same perspectives, the same tactics, the same workshops. Round and round in circles we went to gatherings designed to create converts rather than meet, greet and scheme.
Disfigured, we must grow
we must take shape and form
How is to be done?
How to find one another?
We cannot wait any longer. There is and will be no Messiah. There is no use in trying to convert as missionaries. We exist and we are of all ages and backgrounds. We must find each other. We must create events, spaces for us to meet monthly, bi-monthly. To meet, greet and scheme. To find commune. To break the lack of age diversity and the dress code. In spaces of neutrality, spaces of comfortability, spaces where we can come out and find each other. From there, all else begins and can begin.
One step at a time... Forward we wade... Towards a new direction.
To an LA anarchist
and to those in LA who still dream and scheme.
May we continue to stay afloat in this concrete sea...
Disconnected and disembodied
gridlocked in a social prison.
For years we've aged and lived here, forged in the fires pushed around and tossed about in the blazing heat of Southern California. Waiting, watching and hoping for something to change, for something to happen. Before us and in us we felt isolation and alienation - where were our comrades? Where were the anarchists?
It seemed in the US they only existed in rumors on the evening news or elsewhere - Santa Cruz, San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest, or New England.
Once a rumor and invisible
slowly growing inmpenetrable
The Coming Anarchy, The Coming Community,
The Coming Insurrection.
As the years passed and whatever tattered remnants of anarchism in LA lay to rot, far and wide it bloomed. Anarchism seemingly on the upsurge. Yet here for what seemed forever, yearly anarchist gatherings rehashed the same perspectives, the same tactics, the same workshops. Round and round in circles we went to gatherings designed to create converts rather than meet, greet and scheme.
Disfigured, we must grow
we must take shape and form
How is to be done?
How to find one another?
We cannot wait any longer. There is and will be no Messiah. There is no use in trying to convert as missionaries. We exist and we are of all ages and backgrounds. We must find each other. We must create events, spaces for us to meet monthly, bi-monthly. To meet, greet and scheme. To find commune. To break the lack of age diversity and the dress code. In spaces of neutrality, spaces of comfortability, spaces where we can come out and find each other. From there, all else begins and can begin.
One step at a time... Forward we wade... Towards a new direction.
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