TOTW: Travel vs. Tourism

What does anarchist travel look like? Is it possible to be a traveler without being a tourist? Is it possible to be a traveler and an anarchist?

I have been 'abroad' for over three months now and feel very at home in my new lifestyle. I still work on my projects (in the digital world), sometimes in the wild and sometimes in hostels with other travelers. I've connected with friends formerly only known online and made others along the way. But I haven't been in contact with many other anarchists and the biggest reason is simply that I feel like too much of a tourist.

I know anarchists are around. Their graffiti is everywhere. I also know that a lot of anarchists feel like we can only really 'do anarchism' when we put down roots and engage in local face-to-face autonomous community building. So in this sense is travel is more 'tourism' or 'vacation' than a legitimate anarchist way to experience the world?

What are your thoughts about traveling as an anarchist? Is anarcho-nomadism possible, or does it just amount to anarcho-tourism? Have you had experiences traveling that have shaped your anarchism?

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Back in da' day when I penned Evasion while I was CrimethInc. spokes-council representative, I touched on a lot of the above points. As I lurked behind local bagel dumpster hangout, my lifestyle flashed mobbed before my eyes and eventually got me purged from anarchy land. Nowadays, instead of riding bikes with affinity dumpster rebellion and playing washboard in CrimethInc.istan and other xhardxcorex shite like that, I soley rely upon sales of my bookie wookie (shout out to my dawg Russel Brand) so no more travels, trains, or punk rawk because now I'm chilling drinking a 40oz with someone I just met last month, they call themselves Doctor Bones and we are waiting out the hurricane while listening to Against Me! Sink Florida Sink. We were both wondering, is it cool if I come back to anarchy now?
feeling cute, might delete la8r.

https://evasionbook.com/travel-crime-freedom

Just wanted to say hello to my old friend Bones.

How bout them apples? Watchu think of that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUg0jFO7NTo

Brave Dave's disclaimer for impressionable kids:

"FREIGHT HOPPING IS DANGEROUS, ILLEGAL, DIRTY, SMELLY, FRUSTRATING, EXHAUSTING, AND STUPID. AND YOU SHOULDN'T DO IT.
Let other people do it instead, and watch them on YouTube from the comfort of your own home"

(Would be impressionable kid? https://twitter.com/kylpb)

There's also URBAN EXPLORING:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Fl12h_Ipo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWF3IDk9Gek

If you don't record it and post it online it's like you never even went there, right?

Also, sidenote, although I'm not posting a video for example: In lot's of "paranormal" channels where they're supposedly visiting scary hauted places, it's funny to see tons of trash and graffiti evidence that people partied there and weren't afraid to hang around, and it's not uncommon to see circled a's around, though they're less common than dicks and pentagrams.

Haha, keep doing you.
Travel all you can, live however you want.
Try to reach out more to @‘s where you happen to be if it’s not too risky, just don’t abstain out of “tourist” guilt.
Share your story! Write memoirs!

Anarchists should always promote the idea of travel and free association. Exploring differing ideas and concepts. Although at the moment or at least at it's height last year tourism became a means of economic exploitation.

Oftentimes you have to address the individual instead of the petty capitalist making a buck. Otherwise nothing changes. Or rather address them both. In Exarcheia we have quite the problem with political tourists and their liberalism. It makes it hard for anarchists and people who are genuine and traveling.

I see it as temporary.

Aren't you only a tourist when you're in the clueless phase? Maybe it's just the difference between being anywhere for a few days or weeks compared to when you start to build relationships. Like, are you still a "tourist" after you've visited multiple times?

Anyway, the bigger issue is about capital imo, another way of saying that relatively poor people can probably travel without being "tourists" in the worst senses of the term. How much can you possibly be "displacing" the locals if you don't have considerably more power than they do?

Semantic distinction to make you groan:
Travel is the duration of your flight, Tourism is what you do once you get there.
Don't hit me.
Tourism sounds funner than daily commute, which is Travel.
Hiking as recreation can be both, either or neither! Depending on specifics.
Some forms of Tourism are considered a form of extractivism, some forms of Travel are reliant on exctractivism for parts and fuel.
Controlled fire is a form of tourism.

"What does anarchist travel look like?"

Illegal migration, border crossing, document forgin, no passports, toll fare skipping, train fare skipping, train hopping, hitchhiking, ride-sharing?

"Is it possible to be a traveler without being a tourist?"
Yes; fishes, fishers, logistics people, drivers, pilots, birds, spirits, planets, comets, galaxies, etc.

"Is it possible to be a traveler and an anarchist?"
Is it possible to be an anarchist? What's that like? It's possible to be a traveler.

You know, being a good host and a good guest is appreciated; hospitality can be appreciated and enjoyed by both parts.
The problem is the miserable service industry, inconsiderate visitors, etc. Not the same to receive a friend at your home and show them around, than to have to serve people who think they own you because they might tip you if they like you.

or spring break or whatever tht franco film was, on theanvilreview that talked about definitions of tourism. something about when the only people to get hurt are the ones who live there? i don't know. i liked it when i read it though.

theanvilreview <3 <3

Do they still do a print edition does anyone know?

I lived what could be described as a Westernized version of the wandering Hindu Sadhu, without all the religious/god baggage. It was a very liberating non-materialistic Stirnerian journey hitchhiking and making friends all over the country, getting some wòrk here and there, a meal and shelter for doing chores. It was how I came to meet and live with psycho-culturally defined natives and become a more humane and civilized individual as a result of this contact.

far out, dude

Theres a small subset of "don't travel here" exarchia kids who are pretty much hipsters for anarchy

Hipsters for anarchy, my guess is your line of thinking is going straight to feral roots, oogle futures but I'm curious, what makes up this hipster anarchy?

How can they be anarchists if they dont even have trains to ride in europe?

Haha. I actually witnessed a western european someone do the oogle let me have a sip of your beer tactic the other night and was like wtf is happening. Am I in New Orleans?

Riding them for free is just not a thing there like it is in North and Central America. You know...history and context and stuff. There are zines of American freight riders' experiences with European freight train travel though if interested.

And obviously there's a passenger train system in Europe that is light years ahead of anything in the United States. Riding passenger trains for free in Europe is often referred to as "black riding". Why get lost, hurt, and dirty when you can subterfuge your way across countries this way...no hobo romance i guess...

Travel? LSD panther has not jumped in yet to talk about trips?
D M T
vs
Ayahuasca tourism.

doesn't this end up in like, a poverty-as-virtue type of cul-de-sac tho? like, what if I'm disabled or travelling with someone who for whatever reason, isn't cut out for hardcore hobo camping? are we automatically categorized as tourists by judgy oogle kids? also, why should I fukin care?

think I'll just stick with - fuck you, I do as I please - mixed with - I ain't rich so I'm not the main problem

as if punk shaming a few hundred anarchotourists will turn the tide of gentrification

PS love wild camping tho, didn't mean to shit on your suggestion

Disabled ppl or those who cannot endure the hardships of hoboing should know their limitations and travel accordingly, but without becoming smug capitalist puppets following the carefully prepared journey through endless clichèd turnstiles and ramps that have been prepared for them in dreary comsumerist resorts.
Many are frightened of throwing caution to the wind, safe in their little motel rooms, just like all the other cells they have spent their whole life inhabiting, quivering with fear, just a 5 second cell phone call away from a 911 cop rescue, like snivelling weak good little righteous citizens, who drive past the starving children on the side of the road because compassion has never been on their life's agenda, especially whilst on another holiday, to another overseas mall, to meet other Western capitalist tourists and talk about banal holiday adventures tasting wine and looking at the crumbling grey cathedrals and palaces of dead empires and corrupted perverse kings and queens.

WEW

Here's a Le Way gem: I bring up some basic ableist shit and you end up at "snivelling weak good little righteous citizens" within a few sentences and later, you'll wonder why people don't seem to like you. Blowhard jackass as always.

there you go with your "I've got friends of that identity so I'm not a jackass according to me!". Except you are tho ;)

"doesn't this end up in like, a poverty-as-virtue type of cul-de-sac tho?"

HaaaaaHAHAahahHAHAAHhhaha!

...no.

Expand your conscousness, brotha. Free your mind. Making your coffee on a beer can stove in some unused shack perched on a pass across the Alps, with the unbelievable view of the mountains and the mist of morning is a pleasure that even billionaires can dream of, yet it requires zero penny.

Just avoid miserable spots and go for wealthier hot spots when you travel on a penny... that's much more fun, comfy, safe, and lotsa opportunities to loot, loot, loot. Nothing bad with traveling poor... it can be loaded with awesome experiences if you focus your interests out of poverty. This is coming from someone who's learned the hard way while traveling in Europe. I did my biggest, longest trip there landing with 120 bucks in my pockets.

Sigh. Seems like you missed my point fauve. I'm not "interested in poverty"..?! Nor do I think travelling poor is "bad"? I did plenty of it. I was talking more about this other idea of passing judgement on how other people travel and/or visit places.

Dear senile pen pal,

You might have misunderstood the part about me misunderstanding that part of your comment duly quoted above concerning travelling on a penny being some kind of miserabilist cul-de-sac, which in itself unless you have re-read it, you might notice as a heavily deprecating judgement passed on them poor street travelers.

So in reponse I opposed the very fact that there are ways to travel poor that don't fit this miserabilist cliché and go way beyond anything normies can conceive within their social cages. That counts especially for them (unadmitted please) anarcho-nihilist travelers who don't give a fuck and are their owo private pirate armies. We don't need to wait wait wait and work work work organize to have it our ways. Some people with the herd mentality maybe can't, but that's not me and maybe you (the reader, and senileoldtroll).

Bye bye, chaps... ur mildly fun to bicker with.

Now off to the spa... *doin giant fat smug face*

Holy crap Fauve … that's not what I said?! AGAIN, I'VE BEEN EXTREMELY POOR AND TRAVELED AND ENJOYED IT A GREAT DEAL.

I was talking about making snap judgements about what other people do and why, as in gentrification narratives, etc.

Are you trolling or is your reading comprehension actually this bad? If trolling, good job! Consider me trolololoed

it’s not trolling, that’s just the way you both interact.
call it “chemistry”

<3

My own experience with travel and overall nomadism confirmed a principle that my cousin, a life-time world traveler, has told me when I was very young. There's two ways to travel: the money way, and the DIY way.

Money will, say, afford you the means to get to point A to point B with a sense of certainty, according to your schedules if needed. Hitchhiking will get you there, but you never know how long it'll take. Tho it's more likely to make you meet some very interesting people, and also have a different quality of relation with them, than if you're carpooling or (worse) paying for the bus or train.

So you either go with the safe choices that only money can afford, yet these are the most boring and will likely keep you away from all the experiences and meet-ups you can get through the randomness of the latter. That randomness if an essential part of what I call "freedom".

DIY looks scary and tough, like landing in some squeezed busy city and not knowing where to go, yet when you realize at some point that there's nothing to lose and that you are the master of your own fate, everything's left to your wits... creativity... intuition... analysis of what's around. In other words, it's all up to your personal and not financial resources. This is where it gets really interesting.

I think this is also where a tourist cannot be confused with traveler. Tourists go with the program just as they do in their daily lives. They follow some guidelines or routes set up by others, because they're just fucking normies, obviously, lol.

Travelers are adventurers. They accept the random, the freedom, even if that can mean going through some hardships for a while, not eating and/or sleeping well for a few days. But adventure also has its own science; you can learn to avoid the choices that make you go into misery, then you dare going for the stuff the rich have, without the need to use money. It's reality hacking, basically.

reality hacking? as opposed to fiction hacking? a wordsmith?

i once cut in line. #LifeHack

jk, pls don't arrest me fbi

i never cut in line

i cut at home

cw:

Time travel and space travel!!!!!!!!!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
Woohooooooooo!!!!!!
Yipeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Oh boy...that's really something. Huh.

My brief stint at being an oogle was a helpful and eye opening experience. I did feel free while it was happening but I also was very aware of how I was surviving off the excess of others. It was a good opportunity to see the country for cheap and we rolled through some beautiful wild places. I don’t think it was a particularly revolutionary experience but that’s not what my anarchism is about. As an anti political anarchist I think you should move towards what makes you happy and feel free. Like with everything in life just don’t be a jerk on your travels and be somewhat self reflexive. People who live in a place will call you on your shit but from experience if you’re genuine you’ll get by fine. New experiences and new people are important for growth. Self flagellation serves no one.

You're a poor traveller or an oogle. You wanna enjoy your trip. Why wasting your self in some poor neighborhood where the dumpstering/looting opportunities are low and the cops are preying all the time? Go in the fancy petty-bougie neighborhoods and rest easy in abundance of everything, as you are contributing to rewilding these areas with your crustiness...

Tourism...travelism....whatever. I enjoy it all. From city to city I soak up the experience. Sometimes commit a few crimes and dip out on an intermodel... I am currently writing an essay about my experience. I will probably piss off Mack Evasion with it too.

This thread (shared by Nettle, posted by Federación Anarquista Gran Canarias) is good for discussion of TOTW, so I’ll translate it
https://twitter.com/FAGC_Anarquista/status/1169614463735074818?s=20

“Now that we’ve survived august let’s talk a bit about the type of tourism that a great part of the left does not question: “revolutionary tourism”. In Gran Canaria we’ve suffered it a lot, to the point of having to become “unpleasant” [read “rude”].

A lot of people from the [Iberian] peninsula, from England, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Greece come each summer to the island to “meet us”. Is it to see how we work, share ideas, assist to an assembly, chat for a few hours? A minority. The rest come for something else.

A lot show up without warning, they send us an email or a message through the web and they tell us, without knowing us at all, “we’re here”. The first thing they tell us is “In which community are you going to lodge us”. It costs us a lot to explain to them that we’re not real estate agents.

If we explain that our “squatting” model is a different one, that the socialized housing is for those without resources, they tell us “you don’t have anything for travelers?”. In some occasions we’ve ceded, but never more...

They’ve even told us “Don’t you have anything more centric or closer to the beach?” that “don’t you have houses with a terrace?” (100% real) The attitude in the communities has not been much better.

The communities that FAGC and (https://mobile.twitter.com/InquilinasGC) has helped us raise are not “by anarchists, for anarchists”. They are communities of neighbors, each with their own ideas, that make a living however they can and experiment with
self-management for its effectiveness, not for its doctrine.

A lot of “tourists” visit the communities with a spirit of “safari”. They’re scandalized when they see neighbors making their lives, chilling in an assembly, watching fútbol beer in hand, and not living in an idillic Arcadia. And worse is when the tourists preach to us...

Humility, getting rid of prejudices, not judging, is sometimes not carried in their luggage. “Eurocentrism”, “moralism”, “class privilege” remain intact. They criticize what people eat, how they live or speak, and leave a terrible “libertarian” [read anarchist] image.”

It goes on, i got tired of translating, rest is not essential to TOTW, more details.

Interesting to remark how during the protests in P.R. various cruise ships were redirected and did not make a stop there, while at the same time the first arrest of a protester that was made was from a tourist from Portland I think.

Thanks for posting this for me. I suck at internet. :P
"Do you have anything with a terrace?" about sums up the thread.

^this is more what I was trying to talk about earlier. the anarchist narcissism of small differences type shit. people whose main analytical mode is sanctimony, it's an easy habit to fall in to and it makes you oh so boring and useless

Communities are always in flux especially in larger cities because of economic forces. This is a fairly widespread phenomena. I’ve met a lot of anarchists though who religiously want to commit to a neighborhood and “community” though. Generally those able to stay within the often gentrifying neighborhoods have the economic means to buy property. Those anarchists in my opinion are more interested in keeping in tact their sub cultural scene as opposed to holding together the local community. I do think it’s important to build relationship to our spaces but I think there’s a million ways to do that. You can learn the plants, animals and landscape of your region. We don’t have to be rooted completely in one place or religiously adhere to a mission of saving our neighborhoods to build real connections.

Humans are overrated, especially in big cities, just as money, dating and dressing up, that are all part of these transactional (consumerist) endeavours. You'll feel much saner at a distance from them, and closer to the other animals. Nothing wrong fundamentally with the (sub)cultures we develop; it's just the social molds we're being served with in most developed capitalist countries that make people become terrible strangers to themselves. Not saying the social capitalist nightmares like China are any better, of course.

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