Social War Needs Social Skills
Wednesday, April 29 2009 @ 01:32 PM UTC
Contributed by: Anonymous
Views: 1,585
Change is inevitable they say, but not all change is good. For the past few years, there has been a growing trend within the United States anarchist movement towards something called “Social War.” We’re starting to see it more and more in actions and in writings: a tendency towards violence and rupture, with no regard for the tried and true values of serious activism.
Social War Needs Social Skills
Change is inevitable they say, but not all change is good. For the past few years, there has been a growing trend within the United States anarchist movement towards something called “Social War.” We’re starting to see it more and more in actions and in writings: a tendency towards violence and rupture, with no regard for the tried and true values of serious activism.
This fad is represented by several writings and publications, including Earth First! Means Social War, the recently published online pdf Utopia//Emergency, and a French pamphlet called The Coming Insurrection. The tone of these writings is one of arrogance and disdain. Immature references are made to pop-culture, profanity is ubiquitous, and the writing is deeply alienating to people who aren’t in the know. They are flippant and rub people the wrong way, encouraging division where there should be cohesion and respect. In Martin Luther King’s speech at the march on Washington, was profanity used? Is the Zaptatista message one of division? Does Take Back the Land joke around about the struggle against oppression and exploitation? That is not how real change is made; vulgar immaturity isn't going to improve our position on matters. People need to see that anarchists are not monsters; they are real people proposing real solutions to the problems of capitalism. Don’t get us wrong, activism is fun and engaging, but what these “Social War”ists don’t realize is that real critique requires mature investigation and inquiry into social movements. It requires lengthy reflection of our actions, their repercussions and how they fit into the overall struggle of social justice movements. “Social War” actions are equally confrontational and divisive. Like the protests in Oakland around the police execution of Oscar Grant, a legitimate political event led by people of color was hijacked by these social warriors who want nothing more than to get their kicks. People of color were in the street to have their voices heard and to demand police accountability, not to be rendered invisible and silenced by the sounds of small businesses being smashed. At the 2008 RNC, a widely viewed video documents a prescient critique of the Black Block; an organizer from Funk the War shouts, “it’s being led by a bunch of agro dudes!” “Occupy everything right now” they say, but to, and for whom, do they speak? Who has the privilege to define the course of movements in this way? Where is the color in social war? The women? On these matters, they maintain a telling silence that speaks volumes. They muse about becoming a war-machine. However we know this to mean something very different: a commitment to directly democratic counter institutions that stand the test of time. Community centers, self-managed workplaces, and spaces for alternative cultural production are nowhere on their map. They don’t want to build a new world in the shell of the old; it just seems like they want to destroy the world. “Nothing is more necessary than insurrection,” they write, but what is their commitment to the community? The disciples of social war aren’t seriously committed to building long lasting radical institutions such as Food Not Bombs, which has served tens of thousands of free vegetarian and vegan meals to homeless and poor people all across the world. Where will they be in six months, after the riots, when the rest of us are doing the serious work of community organizing? We should be strategizing more along the lines of the Hope from People bloc, which was signed by prominent radical individuals from across the United States who wanted to take advantage of President Obama’s message of hope that inspired so many marginalized and oppressed people to build towards a more just world. To wrap up, until “social war” develops some social skills, we’re left to ponder what they really want. As of now it seems that these “social warriors” want nothing more than to attack and destroy capitalism –as if that constitutes some sort of totality. Maybe if they’d take the time to explain what they want, we’d see that really we want the same things. We know that all of us have hope for a better world where no one is illegal, where everyone has dignified housing and meaningful work, and where there is equality for all and true democracy. Let’s get serious and work on this together!