storytelling

From Anarcha Semiyah
February 22, 2025

Watch video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gHC1veigug

When a white supremacist mass shooter, rich politician-turned-tech-executive, and anonymous anarchists all release public declarations to the media in the same week, perhaps there’s reason to pause and reflect on the form. Whether you call them manifestos, communiqués or marketing campaigns, there’s a patterned reliance on rhetoric to complement provocative deeds.

The Transmetropolitan Review by Barabule Cuterescu

An Anarchist's Tale

I’ve been meaning to write this for a long time. I put it off because I’ve generally got better things to do than write in English for the dogshit Americans who still think they rule the world. But since some of them are my friends, and I love them very much, I will proceed to tell you the true story of how two anarchist degenerates made the US Empire swallow its own tail.

A recent TOTW got me thinking about what I see as Anews’ purpose. I’ve heard people say that humans are a storytelling animal and, generalizations on human nature aside, I ultimately see Anews as a storytelling platform. I see Anews as a place for people to share a variety of stories about both those people who call themselves Anarchists and those people who are simply acting anarchically.

By now we’ve all heard John Zerzan’s weekly sermons on the dangers of post-modernism lambasting the lack of stable truth and values in our lives. The obviously ideological nature of JZ’s position makes it seem simple enough to disregard for those of us who find no appeal in Truth, he fits the image of mad-eyed (or at least bloodshot) prophet well enough to cause most non-true-believers to avoid his camp. Yet, I think more anarchists agree with at least part of his position than would like to admit, on some less-than-conscious level I might as well.

Anarchy is a story. The ways that we tell it, the characters we emphasize, diminish, or omit altogether shape the way that we relate to it, the way we relate to the world and the way we relate to each other.

What are some narratives (personal or grand) that anarchists tell themselves about the past? How do they weaken or strengthen us? How do you tell a story about the past that strengthens rather than weakens, and how much of that is on the storyteller versus the audience?