identity politics

From Nasha Niva

I listen to a podcast by American anarchists. And the anarchist movement has always positioned itself as international, transnational. And so a girl in the podcast says: we don't recognize Bakunin and Kropotkin and are not going to read them because they are white men. I listen and understand: she calls herself an anarchist, I call myself an anarchist, but for me, what she says is absolute savagery.

From MTL Counter-info

On March 9th, 2011, in Midan El-Tahrir in Egypt, the Egyptian military arrested an estimated 18 women. They tortured them and carried out “virginity tests” to be able to prosecute them for “prostitution” – a charge any unmarried woman who is not a virgin faces in most of the Arab world. In Egypt “prostitution” carries a punishment of up to seven years, and obviously social and cultural death if not an honor killing by the families. Women faced persecution for taking part in protests and various occupations of the square because of this case, combined with horrendous sexual assaults by security forces in the Midan. This story on its own reflects the severe consequences of conservative society. Conservatism is anti-insurrection, developed and encouraged by states to control ‘the crowd’ and ‘the people’.

From Nihilistic Violent Extremist Blog

insurrectionists, nihilists, and queer anarchists are constantly railing against the identity politics endemic to liberalism, which has wormed its way into anarchism by way of the would-be-revolutionaries who view anarchy simply as an intensification of liberal goals. but, most of the time, arguments against idpol focus on the nonsensicality and indirectly oppressive nature of identity itself…and with few concrete examples ever offered of the material harm idpol can do, it’s easy to get the impression that we complain about it simply because of the abstract ways in which an identitarian mindset and praxis can lead to reinforcement of oppressive structures.

From Debate Me, Bro by mk zariel & Hayden R.

a reader asked how we handle conflict in anarchist spaces. so Hayden R. and i are co-editing a series of guest posts on this topic—specifically your stories. tell us about your messiest affinity group drama, your transformative justice process, who’s cancelling who on Mastodon, how you deal with it when every anarchist you know is upset at each other, and the times when conflicts have been resolved and helped you come back stronger and freer.

From Ill Will by Athena

In the summer of 2020, we saw the largest uprising in America’s history. Its racial character was undeniable: in a landscape of unfrozen civil war, the negro question once again took center stage. Among those most eager for destruction was the black working class, which made short work of police cars, cops, and storefronts. Looking back on these events, part of the reason the uprising died down was that it hit upon both technical and social limits.

From FIAKA 2024

FIAKA 2024 (Veracruz, Mexico)

This is the schedule for the International Anarchist Agitation and Kulture Fair 2024. There was a change with the location of the fair, now it will be in Tlaltetela, Veracruz. Ask for information on how to get there. This is an alcohol and drug-free meeting space with only non-animal plant foods)

from Warzone Distro

au·thor·i·tar·i·an·ism
Noun: the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.

We decided that a fun way to kick off the new year would be to encourage a more critical and confrontational examination of authoritarian elements within anarchist spaces.

From Les Fleurs Arctiques
July 22, 2023
Original .pdf in French here: https://lesfleursarctiques.noblogs.org/files/2023/07/texteBAB.pdf

An instructive little tale of a collective's trip to the Balkans

From libcom.org

I have written about how the far-left anarchist circles in Burma have been absorbed by the woke left, identity politics, political correctness, western-backed educational institutions, and the cancel culture. As a result, the Maoists, social democrats, and western-backed NGOs and CSO organisations essentially dominate the majority of the left-wing movements in Burma.

Topic of the Week: The discussion around Cultural Appropriation seems to be, lately, very much settled. It seems, thanks to the Trump-scare, Democrats won! And Cultural appropriation, or any other more delicate issue, has no space in radical discussion.