Never have I identified more with a stance on world affairs. Thank you for continuing your work, and truly wishing you the best of luck with your treatment 🙏🏻
Hi Peter, could you please elaborate a bit more on what you mean and envision in this section: "A revolution needs to enact solidarity between all people, but people need to be honest about where they are coming from. People who bear a middle class culture need to unlearn it, as it manifests in a politics of comfort: building informal social power, flattening contradictions, and avoiding conflict. Currently, its crusade is to destroy practices of transformative justice—and the difficult experiences those practices come from—in favor of the kind of attitudes (simultaneously fragile and vicious) that flourish on social media." ?
Hi, sorry for taking such a long time to reply, things have been rough lately.
So I think it's a fairly common analysis that people who grow up within systems of power and oppression learn and reproduce certain ways of being that can invisibly support oppressive power dynamics, do damage to movements, or harm those around them. One of those dynamics is the behavior that (upper) middle class people typically learn with regard to conflict. If they don't unlearn it, we can see a huge entitlement to space, a belief that they are entitled to zones of comfort, and a belief that people are disposable. This is related to growing up farther away from the frontlines of the prison system and without much daily violence, and with the privilege of not having to rely on imperfect people or damaged relationships for their survival.
This practice of treating people like they're disposable means giving up on relationships that are no longer convenient. Ironically, that often means being quick to cancel those who have caused harm but ALSO ghosting people who are suffering from trauma, marginalizing differently abled and crazy people, or vaguely labelling as "problematic" people who make them uncomfortable (and it often turns out their discomfort stems from class or race privilege).
And then at the end of the part you quote, I'm just talking about how all these behaviors are really favored and encouraged by social media.
Hey Peter, I appreciate your writing as always <3. Thinking of you often in your treatment and hoping it is going well and you are able to find times for comfort during it.
Question because I can't seem to figure out how to ask this in a better place: are you still considering topic requests from subs? If you are, and you haven't written about it already, I would love to hear your thoughts on (in?)effectiveness of "nonviolent" protest surrounding the AIDS crisis in the US during the late 80's/early 90's with ACT UP, etc. I am just beginning to research and learn about it myself (the HIV/AIDS and C0V1D-19/LongC0v parallels keep increasing as more and more C0V research comes out), and find myself wondering what Peter G would think about the tactics and "wins" the nonviolent movement claims. Perhaps this is an extremely broad topic to ask you to examine, but even your analyses on smaller parts or actions within that movement would be greatly appreciated!
So every claim I've ever come across for a revolutionary victory for nonviolence has fallen into one of two categories: either the victory was a reform that made the system stronger without resolving the underlying oppressions; or the victory was achieved by a movement using a diversity of tactics that gets sanitized and partially erased. The latter is the case for ACT UP and the struggle for survival during the AIDS crisis. It was not an exclusively nonviolent movement, though a large proportion of their actions were civil disobedience. However, the more radical voices and the more forceful tactics, as usual, were thrown into the memory hole. This is a common pattern, and generally people who participate in radical movements can climb the social ladder if they either denounce the movement or claim that it was a victory for nonviolence (read: no need to struggle because we already won, but if you do struggle, use nonviolence because that's what works).
I asked someone who knows a lot more about ACT UP than I do about some good sources for more research, and she recommends the Sarah Schulman book on ACT UP, the documentary "United in Anger," and the Act Up oral history archives.
"Democracy is facing a crisis, but it still poses the biggest danger to us: spreading this awareness more generally might have saved some of our most powerful movements—in Chile and in Greece—from falling into fatal strategic dead ends."
I'm curious: what "fatal strategic dead ends" do you believe anarchists under the chilean & greek states fell into? & how do those anarchists assess the present condition of the movements there?
Hi Asker, I'm sorry for being so late in responding! I'm moving at a slower pace lately.
The dead ends I'm referring to are the referenda held in Greece and in Chile. Each promised to break with the ruling practices of neoliberalism and, in the case of Chile, also with the state's ongoing colonial practices. Both were referenda that were only offered in the face of movements that had grown powerful enough to potentially overthrow the government, and movements that were largely seeking radical social transformation. In both cases, the failure of each referendum fed directly into widespread exhaustion and feelings of betrayal in the movements, and into the growth of the political Right.
In each country, only some of the anarchists supported or participated in the referendum, and those who did were really immobilized in the wake. Many of them I lost touch with, others acknowledged it was a mistake, and I've heard of one or two looking elsewhere to cast the blame. I don't know of anyone from the movements and uprisings who thinks they turned out to be a success.
hi Peter, just finished translating this article to greek hoping to publish soon and was hoping to check with you about this part, in light of the election results in France and Italy recently. Are these exceptions that justify the rule, or unexpected developments? 'Fascists are not close to taking over: they are primarily a danger for people at the street level and in the way they push the center rightward in terms of acceptable policy for a democratic government to enact.' Many thanks! best wishes for your treatment.
Hi Peter, another question: can you elaborate and clarify about the latest Stalinist cults with robustly defined organizations, a carefully curated prole machismo, but no actual engagement or relevance to social conflict? Is this about the states or you have examples from Europe and the rest of the world too? thanks
I'm trying to find the Ozlem Goner, “Internationalism beyond the Geopolitics of States and Solidarity in ‘Complex’ Situations” article you mention but it only brings up various versions of this article, where can I find it?
Can you clarify 'Abolition already happened'? I suspect you mean prisons have been reformed but incarceration / the state still exists, but would you like to elaborate a bit? I'm not up to speed with the details but I've heard prisons are getting overpopulated with the increase of zero tolerance / minority exclusions / reduction in mental health benefits, etc (?)
Never have I identified more with a stance on world affairs. Thank you for continuing your work, and truly wishing you the best of luck with your treatment 🙏🏻
thanks so much, on both counts! That's really kind of you
Hi Peter, could you please elaborate a bit more on what you mean and envision in this section: "A revolution needs to enact solidarity between all people, but people need to be honest about where they are coming from. People who bear a middle class culture need to unlearn it, as it manifests in a politics of comfort: building informal social power, flattening contradictions, and avoiding conflict. Currently, its crusade is to destroy practices of transformative justice—and the difficult experiences those practices come from—in favor of the kind of attitudes (simultaneously fragile and vicious) that flourish on social media." ?
Hi, sorry for taking such a long time to reply, things have been rough lately.
So I think it's a fairly common analysis that people who grow up within systems of power and oppression learn and reproduce certain ways of being that can invisibly support oppressive power dynamics, do damage to movements, or harm those around them. One of those dynamics is the behavior that (upper) middle class people typically learn with regard to conflict. If they don't unlearn it, we can see a huge entitlement to space, a belief that they are entitled to zones of comfort, and a belief that people are disposable. This is related to growing up farther away from the frontlines of the prison system and without much daily violence, and with the privilege of not having to rely on imperfect people or damaged relationships for their survival.
This practice of treating people like they're disposable means giving up on relationships that are no longer convenient. Ironically, that often means being quick to cancel those who have caused harm but ALSO ghosting people who are suffering from trauma, marginalizing differently abled and crazy people, or vaguely labelling as "problematic" people who make them uncomfortable (and it often turns out their discomfort stems from class or race privilege).
And then at the end of the part you quote, I'm just talking about how all these behaviors are really favored and encouraged by social media.
Does that make more sense?
Thanks for asking!
Hey Peter, I appreciate your writing as always <3. Thinking of you often in your treatment and hoping it is going well and you are able to find times for comfort during it.
Question because I can't seem to figure out how to ask this in a better place: are you still considering topic requests from subs? If you are, and you haven't written about it already, I would love to hear your thoughts on (in?)effectiveness of "nonviolent" protest surrounding the AIDS crisis in the US during the late 80's/early 90's with ACT UP, etc. I am just beginning to research and learn about it myself (the HIV/AIDS and C0V1D-19/LongC0v parallels keep increasing as more and more C0V research comes out), and find myself wondering what Peter G would think about the tactics and "wins" the nonviolent movement claims. Perhaps this is an extremely broad topic to ask you to examine, but even your analyses on smaller parts or actions within that movement would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you for everything! Cheers.
Hey, so sorry for the wait!
So every claim I've ever come across for a revolutionary victory for nonviolence has fallen into one of two categories: either the victory was a reform that made the system stronger without resolving the underlying oppressions; or the victory was achieved by a movement using a diversity of tactics that gets sanitized and partially erased. The latter is the case for ACT UP and the struggle for survival during the AIDS crisis. It was not an exclusively nonviolent movement, though a large proportion of their actions were civil disobedience. However, the more radical voices and the more forceful tactics, as usual, were thrown into the memory hole. This is a common pattern, and generally people who participate in radical movements can climb the social ladder if they either denounce the movement or claim that it was a victory for nonviolence (read: no need to struggle because we already won, but if you do struggle, use nonviolence because that's what works).
I asked someone who knows a lot more about ACT UP than I do about some good sources for more research, and she recommends the Sarah Schulman book on ACT UP, the documentary "United in Anger," and the Act Up oral history archives.
Greatly appreciated Peter, thank you so much :)
"Democracy is facing a crisis, but it still poses the biggest danger to us: spreading this awareness more generally might have saved some of our most powerful movements—in Chile and in Greece—from falling into fatal strategic dead ends."
I'm curious: what "fatal strategic dead ends" do you believe anarchists under the chilean & greek states fell into? & how do those anarchists assess the present condition of the movements there?
Hi Asker, I'm sorry for being so late in responding! I'm moving at a slower pace lately.
The dead ends I'm referring to are the referenda held in Greece and in Chile. Each promised to break with the ruling practices of neoliberalism and, in the case of Chile, also with the state's ongoing colonial practices. Both were referenda that were only offered in the face of movements that had grown powerful enough to potentially overthrow the government, and movements that were largely seeking radical social transformation. In both cases, the failure of each referendum fed directly into widespread exhaustion and feelings of betrayal in the movements, and into the growth of the political Right.
In each country, only some of the anarchists supported or participated in the referendum, and those who did were really immobilized in the wake. Many of them I lost touch with, others acknowledged it was a mistake, and I've heard of one or two looking elsewhere to cast the blame. I don't know of anyone from the movements and uprisings who thinks they turned out to be a success.
I've been sick for a week! Sorry for not responding yet! I will as soon as I can.
hi Peter, just finished translating this article to greek hoping to publish soon and was hoping to check with you about this part, in light of the election results in France and Italy recently. Are these exceptions that justify the rule, or unexpected developments? 'Fascists are not close to taking over: they are primarily a danger for people at the street level and in the way they push the center rightward in terms of acceptable policy for a democratic government to enact.' Many thanks! best wishes for your treatment.
Hi Peter, another question: can you elaborate and clarify about the latest Stalinist cults with robustly defined organizations, a carefully curated prole machismo, but no actual engagement or relevance to social conflict? Is this about the states or you have examples from Europe and the rest of the world too? thanks
Great posting and substack, would be interesting to assess collaborative opportunities .. we are making our live geopolitical investment risk table available this week - https://cedarowl.substack.com/p/cedarowl-live-geopolitical-risk-table
I'm trying to find the Ozlem Goner, “Internationalism beyond the Geopolitics of States and Solidarity in ‘Complex’ Situations” article you mention but it only brings up various versions of this article, where can I find it?
Can you clarify 'Abolition already happened'? I suspect you mean prisons have been reformed but incarceration / the state still exists, but would you like to elaborate a bit? I'm not up to speed with the details but I've heard prisons are getting overpopulated with the increase of zero tolerance / minority exclusions / reduction in mental health benefits, etc (?)
Thanks so much Sofie (and sorry for the late reply!)