in addition to the academic/ngo industry factor, we also are living in a time where socialism is really "in" in america, culturally. popular understanding of global events deepens the divide between socialist, anarchist, and any other perspectives (to the detriment of any rigorous specificity in understanding) as people cling to branded and reenforced narratives of what is even the problem/what is the solution. i particularly appreciate how tirelessly you've written about this phenomenon in regards to climate discourse, and also wars.
socialist and communist dismissals of '"""mutual aid""""' (said with a sarcastic/dismissive tone always) and anti-state anti-capitalist projects of all kinds is becoming more common in my immediate life, including from voices who used to never engage in that. i have thought a lot about the micro-reasons and affective textures involved in this trend (aside from the obvious question of what words can get you a salary or grants). in particular, i see more and more people who i used to consider overly dogmatic anarchists become disillusioned as their lives get worse and they feel that "mutual aid" fails to give back to them, and watch them transform into dogmatic communists with a vengeance. Or (if male) even into redpilled alt-right people, tragically. I am locally experiencing a gradual but definite abandonment of an anti-state perspective in a lot of areas, taking a lot of forms. That's why I think it's partly a cultural trend and not just an academic one.
the more betrayed and let-down people feel by their aging lives, the more likely I think they are to feel that anarchist perspective "is just a subculture", "only works for privileged people," "is just a mutation of american anticommunist propaganda/was always a psyop" "is too small and unrealistic to be relevant to anything", "has no positive vision for the world". my criticism of this is usually that the people who make this turn usually had, in my opinion, unrealistic and unexamined emotional investments in an anarchist perspective to begin with, and in the first place had inflexible/fragile dogmatism about what "anarchist" ideas even meant.
maybe i should take peoples ideas more seriously but i have never known how to do so--i just set my watch and wait for people to become dissilusioned with socialism next. I give it like 5-6 years. in the mean time I plan to just keep on plugging away at whatever.
for myself, i feel insulated from this trend because as insane as it might feel to oppose something immeasurably huge, or attempt to fight it while being tiny and unimportant, it clearly seems even more delusional to act like you found a universal "science" that will explain "how history works". my experience is that people are irrational and chaotic, no amount of formality or assertions of universality ever changes this.
and practically--who in my city gets people food, housing, medical care, education, childcare, etc? it's only ever been the anarchists doing all that. some socialists changed some brake lights in 2016 and good for them but to my knowledge that was all they did. shrug
Yeah, I see the same thing happening and I agree with much of how you frame it. This kind of reactionary/heartbroken "retirement" from the struggle comes up a bit in my last book, on lack of continuity and loss of memory in our movements. Thanks for this.
I am certain I can speak for all of us here in Bremen when I say that we're glad you took the space to rest when you needed it. We were so engrossed discussing "the solutions are already here" until late that I almost missed the solidarity bar. Wishing you a good recovery and good times.
I also had to stop watching one of the panels on abolition at the #Socialism2024 conference, when it started to make me scream at my screen, just before i started to insult them as reformist shills of the state.
But, there were also other panels, that i thought were worth watching. The one by Death Panel, offering a wider context on health and abolition, and the one with Sarah Jaffe, Kelly Hayes and especially Eman Abdelhadi, with a focus on grieving.
"Anyway. I’m wishing death to those who profit off misery, but I’m also sick with so much hostility."
I so hear you. But how can we square this particular circle?
Increasingly i am convinced that the split between the so-called "left" and "right" is just as fundamental and insurmountable as the one between horizontalists (anti-authoritarians) and verticalists (statists).
Thanks for sharing this. Klee wrote a bunch in “No spiritual surrender” about the non profit industrial complex. Glad to see you taking it on as well. Andrew Lee also posted a great article on substack today about representation in politics that I think would be a great supplemental piece for this.
Sorry to hear about all the health stuff you and your partner are going through. This is world is full of pain and misery sometimes, and your country doesn’t help with your extremely garbage health care system. As far as your friend in Virginia, have you reached out to Certain Days collective? I’m sure you’re aware of them, but if not they do a lot with incarcerated political prisoners and help them get set up a bit when they get out. I hope it all works out for them. Solidarity Peter.
I really wish we could have helped Klee somehow, to have him with us for many decades more. I got his book into our local distro and have been recommending it a lot, but it's such a poor substitute.
I was never able to meet him, although I find his writing and his podcast quite inspiring and thought provoking. Also that board game he created “Burn the Fort” is very cool. I watched a video of him and his partner playing it and it makes me wish I had folks to play it with. I have a friend who lives in so called Arizona who knew him. Klee put a show on for him and he said Klee was a genuinely honest person.
in addition to the academic/ngo industry factor, we also are living in a time where socialism is really "in" in america, culturally. popular understanding of global events deepens the divide between socialist, anarchist, and any other perspectives (to the detriment of any rigorous specificity in understanding) as people cling to branded and reenforced narratives of what is even the problem/what is the solution. i particularly appreciate how tirelessly you've written about this phenomenon in regards to climate discourse, and also wars.
socialist and communist dismissals of '"""mutual aid""""' (said with a sarcastic/dismissive tone always) and anti-state anti-capitalist projects of all kinds is becoming more common in my immediate life, including from voices who used to never engage in that. i have thought a lot about the micro-reasons and affective textures involved in this trend (aside from the obvious question of what words can get you a salary or grants). in particular, i see more and more people who i used to consider overly dogmatic anarchists become disillusioned as their lives get worse and they feel that "mutual aid" fails to give back to them, and watch them transform into dogmatic communists with a vengeance. Or (if male) even into redpilled alt-right people, tragically. I am locally experiencing a gradual but definite abandonment of an anti-state perspective in a lot of areas, taking a lot of forms. That's why I think it's partly a cultural trend and not just an academic one.
the more betrayed and let-down people feel by their aging lives, the more likely I think they are to feel that anarchist perspective "is just a subculture", "only works for privileged people," "is just a mutation of american anticommunist propaganda/was always a psyop" "is too small and unrealistic to be relevant to anything", "has no positive vision for the world". my criticism of this is usually that the people who make this turn usually had, in my opinion, unrealistic and unexamined emotional investments in an anarchist perspective to begin with, and in the first place had inflexible/fragile dogmatism about what "anarchist" ideas even meant.
maybe i should take peoples ideas more seriously but i have never known how to do so--i just set my watch and wait for people to become dissilusioned with socialism next. I give it like 5-6 years. in the mean time I plan to just keep on plugging away at whatever.
for myself, i feel insulated from this trend because as insane as it might feel to oppose something immeasurably huge, or attempt to fight it while being tiny and unimportant, it clearly seems even more delusional to act like you found a universal "science" that will explain "how history works". my experience is that people are irrational and chaotic, no amount of formality or assertions of universality ever changes this.
and practically--who in my city gets people food, housing, medical care, education, childcare, etc? it's only ever been the anarchists doing all that. some socialists changed some brake lights in 2016 and good for them but to my knowledge that was all they did. shrug
Yeah, I see the same thing happening and I agree with much of how you frame it. This kind of reactionary/heartbroken "retirement" from the struggle comes up a bit in my last book, on lack of continuity and loss of memory in our movements. Thanks for this.
I am certain I can speak for all of us here in Bremen when I say that we're glad you took the space to rest when you needed it. We were so engrossed discussing "the solutions are already here" until late that I almost missed the solidarity bar. Wishing you a good recovery and good times.
Thanks so much! That means a lot! And it was really helpful for me to take a break, though I guess I spent the break writing a rant!
Thanks for this rant, dear Peter.
I also had to stop watching one of the panels on abolition at the #Socialism2024 conference, when it started to make me scream at my screen, just before i started to insult them as reformist shills of the state.
But, there were also other panels, that i thought were worth watching. The one by Death Panel, offering a wider context on health and abolition, and the one with Sarah Jaffe, Kelly Hayes and especially Eman Abdelhadi, with a focus on grieving.
"Anyway. I’m wishing death to those who profit off misery, but I’m also sick with so much hostility."
I so hear you. But how can we square this particular circle?
Increasingly i am convinced that the split between the so-called "left" and "right" is just as fundamental and insurmountable as the one between horizontalists (anti-authoritarians) and verticalists (statists).
And yes, i ofc meant to circle this square.
Thanks for sharing this. Klee wrote a bunch in “No spiritual surrender” about the non profit industrial complex. Glad to see you taking it on as well. Andrew Lee also posted a great article on substack today about representation in politics that I think would be a great supplemental piece for this.
Sorry to hear about all the health stuff you and your partner are going through. This is world is full of pain and misery sometimes, and your country doesn’t help with your extremely garbage health care system. As far as your friend in Virginia, have you reached out to Certain Days collective? I’m sure you’re aware of them, but if not they do a lot with incarcerated political prisoners and help them get set up a bit when they get out. I hope it all works out for them. Solidarity Peter.
I really wish we could have helped Klee somehow, to have him with us for many decades more. I got his book into our local distro and have been recommending it a lot, but it's such a poor substitute.
I was never able to meet him, although I find his writing and his podcast quite inspiring and thought provoking. Also that board game he created “Burn the Fort” is very cool. I watched a video of him and his partner playing it and it makes me wish I had folks to play it with. I have a friend who lives in so called Arizona who knew him. Klee put a show on for him and he said Klee was a genuinely honest person.
https://open.substack.com/pub/instruggle/p/on-representation?r=2ldef4&utm_medium=ios
Keep it up, Peter. Looking forward to your new book. Get well soon.
Thank you, I appreciate that
Dental pain is wretched - sorry to read that.
Yeah, it does have a special way getting under one's skin, doesn't it? At least that's been my experience with it.
If things are feeling scarce over there, please don't worry about the 5e, but in the meantime, I appreciate it immensely.
I like Mühsam's sensibility, and I've only been to Bremen once, but I liked it too, the smell of the sea in the air. Hopefully I'll get back.
Damn, this is a hell of a list! I'm snagging this for my anarchism course! Thanks!