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Renewing the Anarchist
Tradition
Archive: Summer Conference
2002 ..... page 2
Saturday, August 17th
- 8:30-9:15 a.m.: Breakfast
- 9:30-10:45 a.m.: Morning Presentations
Unschooling
and Anarchism: A Discussion
Camy Matthay
The society in which we live is
entrenched in forms of parenting and schooling that are authoritarian,
coercive, and prohibitive. It largely fails to support the human
conditions (love, empathy, and freedom) necessary to promote
the moral development that instills abiding concern for human
dignity, fraternity, and planetary ecology. Can the hope of building
a "free society of free individuals" be realistic when
the huge majority of youth are being compelled to fulfill a "destiny"
dictated by the state? Given that anarchist theory favors voluntary
association and localized self-management as well as bottom-up
strategies for social change, unschooling should be central to
the revolutionary project. Grounded as it is within the smallest
of social units (our families and households), it is a practice
that shirks the whole notion of "education" as a designed,
coercive process. The question, then, is how strenuously should
freedom in childhood be protected, and what can be done to encourage
more youth and adults to work together in the present to create
a life worth living and work worth doing? |
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The Development
of Autonomous Thought
Dana Ward
This presentation will focus on
cognitive, affective, and moral development in relation to political
institutions. Those factors that enhance or retard the development
of an autonomous thinking will be addressed. The structure of
political reasoning will be a central theme. |
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Anarcho-Communism,
Platformism and Class Struggle (in Theory and Practice)
Members of Northeastern Federation
of Anarcho-Communists
From the Dielo Trouda Group's
"Organizational Platform of Libertarian Communists"
to present-day anarcho-communist federations worldwide, members
of the Northeastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists (NEFAC)
will discuss the politics and tactics of class struggle anarchism
and revolutionary organization, their continued relevancy, and
how they apply to the contemporary anarchist movement. |
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What's Wrong
with the American Anarchist Movement?
Ramsey Kanaan
This presentation will touch on
class, race, academia, punk rock, class, culture, primitivism,
activism, Judaism, yet more class, and probably a little more
. . . and will likely antagonize everyone in a relatively short
period of time--making for what promises to be a lively discussion. |
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- 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Morning
Presentations, Second Round
Processes
Not End States
Richard Gilman Opalsky
In capitalist political society,
the prospects for radical social change cannot be assessed and
understood as they have been in the past. If there is to be any
relevant political action by people rather than governments and
wealthy institutions, such political action must be thoroughly
reconceived. In this presentation, Richard will help think through
political action according to four categories of action: educational
projects, cost- benefit ultimatums, immediate relief work, and
reformist initiatives. For anarchism to remain a relevant politics
today, its proponents must replace their definition of anarchism
as an end state with an activist idea of anarchism as noninstitutional
political processes that pursue the radical political initiatives
defining of anarchism. After determining how it is possible to
facilitate radical social change, we will confront the problem
of anarchism as an end state and determine the roles it can play
in the process of creating a different world. |
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Science,
Ideology, and Intervention
Lee Worden
Scientific models are often used
by those in power to give authority to their ideological biases.
Kropotkin's classic Mutual Aid was a fiery condemnation of an
attempt by T. H. Huxley to use Darwinism to justify the worst
abuses of British industrialism and imperialism. As these abuses
continue, so does the abuse of biological models in the service
of the propaganda needs of elites. "Evolutionary Psychologists"
claim that rape and child killing are natural and inevitable;
sociobiologists make similar claims about war, inequality, and
even capitalism; and game theorists use (strategically?) oversimplified
models to make mutually assured nuclear destruction appear inevitable
(and to justify the existence of the state). One hundred years
later, clearly there is still a need for Kropotkinesque interventions
into this construction of a biased "scientific" mythology
of human interaction. Lee will discuss "countermodels"
presenting alternate conclusions from similar models, and hopes
to facilitate a good conversation about when or whether such
reductionistic models can be useful in really understanding anything
about human interactions. |
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Bridging
the Chasm: An Anarchist-Communist Analysis of Environmental Destruction
Christina and Stas
In recent years, the anarchist
movement has bound itself breaking into two camps: traditional,
class struggle (red) anarchists, and more recently, environmentalist
(green) anarchists. This talk is designed to provide an anarchist-communist
perspective on issues of environmental devastation and the movements
that have developed to combat them. We intend to situate environmental
damage within the capitalist system of production/consumption
and provide a brief vision of an anarchist-communist alternative. |
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Tragedy
of the Commons: Markedness and the Creation of Mundane Tragedy
Stephen Shukaitis
and Rachel Lichtenfeld
Every day we are confronted with
images of tragedy, suffering, and torment. Yet paradoxically,
as violence and atrocity become more integrated symbolically
into the imagery of daily life, they are less visible in the
conscious vision, they are hidden in plain sight. How and why
does this process occur? In a world where the information and
images available vastly outnumber the amounts previously there,
why are we increasingly immune to the realities with which we
are presented? Through the presentation of tragedy runs the subtext
of power: the power to determine what is within the sphere of
moral relevance, what is of concern, what is within the realm
of action, and even what is perceived by those who observe it.
Conversely, the nature of the presentation of tragedy can render
an event or image as unimportant or morally irrelevant. This
presentation will elaborate on the presentation of tragedy in
the media, how something is determined to be morally relevant
or irrelevant, and the motivation behind these determinations. |
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- 12:45 - 1:45 p.m.: lunch lunch
lunch
- 2:15-3:30 p.m.: Afternoon
Presentations
Toward Anarchist
Cultural Theory: Deconstructing the Revolution in The Matrix
Sandra Jeppesen
Gil Scott-Heron tells us that
"the revolution will not be televised," but he's wrong.
Hollywood and U.S. film-goers love a good revolution, they love
a good rebel army like the one led by Luke Skywalker in Star
Wars, or just a good rebel like Tyler Durdan in Fight Club. They
hate the evil empire, they cheer when the U.S. banks go up in
flames, and then they go home and live by the law. How is revolution
commodified and co-opted in U.S. pop culture? Can we read U.S.
pop culture films through the lens of an anarchist cultural theory
and practice? In the Wachowski Brothers' film, The Matrix, about
a futurized revolution of humans against the AI machines that
enslave them, there are several moments of aporia or internal
contradiction, particularly moments involving the character Cypher,
that reveal cracks in the film's (and Hollywood's) dominant ideology.
Although the film seems to lead to a reification of the one truth
and the fetishization of leadership in "the one," the
character Neo (played by Keanu Reeves), this presentation will
deconstruct these superficial master narratives through an examination
of several self-contradictory moments, to attempt to discover
two things: a way to read Hollywood films about revolution that
does not render them apolitical; and a way to use films about
revolution to conceive of a new type of postmarxist anarchist
cultural theory. |
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The U.S.
Anarchist Press of the Vietnam Era and Today: Comparative Commentary
and Criticism
Justin Jackson
In recent years, we have witnessed
not only a limited rebirth of the U.S. anarchist movement but
a flourishing of anarchist print media as well. Few anarchists
today, however, are familiar with the anarchist print media of
the 1960s and 1970s that formed a small yet influential part
of the vibrant and significant underground and alternative press
of that period. This presentation will compare and contrast the
anarchist press of the Vietnam era with that of the current anarchist
"movement," by looking at newspapers and magazines
not only in terms of their politics and messages but also in
relation to their content, style, art, poetry, design, organizational
structure, and form. In addition to reading selections from the
anarchist underground press of the 1960s and 1970s, Justin will
propose criticisms, commentary, and suggestions for today's anarchist
press based on the failings and successes of Vietnam-era anarchist
publications. |
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The Logic
of Domination: An Anarchist Reading of Dialectic of Enlightenment
Peter Staudenmaier
The magnum opus of the Frankfurt
school tradition of critical theory, Dialectic of Enlightenment
by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, explores the interrelationships
between forms of instrumental reason and systems of social domination.
The book unfolds a critique of three mutually reinforcing varieties
of domination: the domination of internal subjectivity, the domination
of humans over humans, and the domination of nature. Rejecting
both Habermasian and poststructuralist readings of the book,
the presentation will attempt to draw out the anarchist implications
of this comprehensive critique of domination. While neither of
the authors was an anarchist and indeed both were hostile toward
what they saw as the anarchist tradition, the theoretical tools
developed in the book can be taken up by anarchists as we try
to formulate a dialectical understanding of the intertwined forms
of domination that mark our time. The presentation will assume
some familiarity with Dialectic of Enlightenment and the work
of the Frankfurt school. |
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Cooperative
Economics
Stacey Cordeiro
Our vision of a new social and
economic order is based on production and decision making on
a cooperative basis, rather than the competitive basis that characterizes
the capitalist economy. How does this translate into real life?
Should we be creating worker cooperatives? Consumer cooperatives?
Or community ownership of economic resources? This presentation
will discuss already-existing examples in the United States and
abroad, as well as what could be. |
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- 3:45-5:00 p.m.: Afternoon
Presentations, Second Round
Poststructuralism,
Identity, and Globalization
Todd May
Poststructuralists have raised
questions about the nature of human identity. In particular,
they have argued that we are not the kinds of self-contained
unitary subjects that modern thought has made us out to be. Our
identities are more dispersed than modernism would have us believe.
This workshop will discuss the dispersion of human identity and
ask about its implications for struggles against globalization.
Specifically, we will raise the question of whether anti-globalization
struggles should be seen as a single, unitary struggle, or in
a manner more dispersed, in accordance with poststructuralist
thought. |
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Strange
Bedfellows: Anarchists and Their Allies
Jessica Lawless
What does it mean to be an ally
as an anarchist? If models of affirmative action and multiculturalism
are liberal platforms, what are the organizing models for breaking
down the systems of power that are inherent in our social structures
as they now exist? Should affinity groups work for diverse representation
among themselves or should they work in coalition with a diverse
range of other groups? How does working as an anarchist ally
in issues of race, gender, sexuality, ability, and other areas
of identity differ from issues of working as allies with liberals,
socialists, communists, or other groups organized around political
ideology? If we prioritize other aspects of our identity equally
with being an anarchist, what does that mean in terms of having
other anarchists, or other folks we work in alliance with, serve
as our ally? This workshop will be a facilitated discussion about
working as and with allies from the position of an anarchist.
Please bring your stories of, and lessons learned from, successful
and unsuccessful campaigns, projects, and collaborations. |
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Local Scenes
and Global Networks: The Anarcho-Punk Scenes in Barcelona and
Mexico City
Alan O'Connor
This presentation examines theories
of cultural globalization and postmodernism by Appadurai, GarcÌa
Canclini, and George E. Marcus. Using the example of the punk
scenes in Spain and Mexico, Alan will argue that theories of
global cultural flows are greatly overstated. The notion of a
local scene is still important. A concrete examination of links
between the two scenes shows these contacts are not random flows
but are socially organized. There are issues of unbalanced and
uneven exchanges of punk bands and recordings, even between explicitly
political musical scenes that have a commitment to internationalism
and share a common language. A case is made for the continued
validity of Bourdieu's notion of a habitus and for concrete studies
of cultural exchanges between different parts of the world. This
talk is based on participant observation of the anarcho-punk
scene in Mexico since 1994 and on research in Spain in 2002. |
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- 6:00-7:00 p.m.: dinner
- 7:30 p.m. -whenever: PARTY!
Sunday, August 26th
- 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Brunch
- 10:30-11:45 a.m.: Morning
Presentations
Human Biotechnology:
Genetic Reductionism, Capitalism, and the General Interest for
Revolutionary Social Change
Ben Grosscup
Agricultural applications of biotechnology
have provoked intense debate, but only recently have biotechnology
critics begun to understand and articulate the implications human
genetic engineering--or what Richard Hayes calls, "techno-eugenics"--would
entail. In what ways does the techno-eugenics vision, and the
current practice of biotechnology, differ from the extractive
industrial capitalist mode of production? Most leftist class
analyses as well as environmentalist notions of sustainability
are based only on this older mode of production. Biotechnology
is already forcing the commodity relationship onto the genetic
makeup of bacteria, plants, and animals--a hitherto unprecedented
event. Techno-eugenics, however, threatens to extend this same
logic to the biology of human society. The development of biotechnology
in the advanced stages of capitalism should lead us to rethink
certain assumptions about sustainability and market-based individual
choice. Toward reversing the commodification of life, anarchists
must be able to articulate an ethically grounded vision that
counters the disastrous and irrational developmental path in
which biotechnology and more generally, advanced capitalism,
is currently leading humanity. |
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Personal,
Social, Political: A Developmental Approach to Revolution
Treesong
In this presentation, Treesong
proposes a new framework for understanding revolution--namely,
through a developmental analysis of the interrelations between
the personal, social, and political spheres. One of the greatest
strengths of this analysis is that it offers a new understanding
of the relationship between "lifestyle anarchism" and
"social anarchism." This analysis also allows us to
recognize and embrace the central role of self-transformation
in each individual's revolutionary effort while maintaining that
this personal empowerment should not be taken as the final goal. |
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Fighting
to Win: Sufficient Strategies for Moving Forward
Rob Augman
This discussion will look at present
strategies used by the anticapitalist movement and consider what
kinds of strategies are sufficient in meeting our goals of a
free and directly democratic society. Particularly, we will consider
the work of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), a direct
action antipoverty organization, as a successful organization
that is currently inspiring and informing the movement's direction.
We will consider how accurate such strategies put our political
ideas and visions into tangible forms and practice; whether such
practice adequately builds toward and brings us closer to our
long-term vision; how such practice does so; whether our strategies
are oppositional or reconstructive; whether our strategies are
holistic or piecemeal; and more. We will try to build on the
efforts of anticapitalist strategies and make them more reflective
of our long-term political goals. |
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Program schedule for Thursday
& Friday
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