First, a few days ago Autonomous Action updated and clarified our
position on the war in Ukraine - our position as anarchists andlibertarian communists. You can find it on our website in the "No to
War" section. It is clear that the position of AD is most likely clear
from our materials, but we still decided that some kind of "official"
text is needed. ---- I think this is an important enough text to include
it in this issue of "Trends" in full. So.
Read here. https://avtonom.org/nowar
This is Autonomous Action's position. Of course, we will be happy to
answer any questions on this matter.
It is important to note that our main audience is still in Russia and we
are focused on it. We want as many people in Russia as possible to
understand that the Kremlin is simply using them in its war machine. You
could say it's crushing them, just like a few days ago a tank with drunk
soldiers crushed an elderly agronomist in his own car in the Belgorod
region. The more such understanding, even passive resistance, there is,
the easier it will be for Ukraine and other countries threatened by the
Kremlin's imperial ambitions.
James Scott, an anthropologist and anarchist, has died
Secondly, on July 19, 2024, James Campbell Scott, a world-famous
anthropologist and anarchist, died at the age of 87. We have published a
memorial text on our website.
It lists Scott's most important works, including the book "By Good
Intentions of the State: Why and How Projects to Improve the Human
Condition Have Failed," in which he demonstrates that the state is not
the highest form of civilizational development for humanity, but on the
contrary, leads it down the wrong path.
In addition, as the author writes, "James accomplished a lot in his life
as a scientist, and invested this knowledge in anarchism as a science
that will serve as a practice capable of leading humanity out of the
endless circle of wars and violence. No matter how bitter it is to part
with such a thinker, you understand that he lived a long, long life." At
the same time, another of our comrades, also an anthropologist and
anarchist Dmitry Petrov, nicknamed "Ecologist", died in the prime of
life and did not have time to do much. He died because of the war
started by Putin.
In general, it is interesting that in the academic environment, it is
among anthropologists that there are so many anarchists. James Scott,
Dmitry Petrov, David Graeber, and others. Why? Maybe because it is
anthropologists who better see the real existence of alternatives to
state and capitalist societies? They work directly with these
alternatives, they know about the endless variety of social structures.
In his first book, An Introduction to the Anthropological Theory of
Value, David Graeber summed up the Marxist (and generally leftist)
attitude toward alienation and invented hierarchies very well:
"Humans are creators. The social (and even much of the material) worlds
we live in are ones we have created ourselves, and we are constantly
remaking them. Our problem is that we constantly forget this, and so we
fail to really take matters into our own hands. Instead, people end up
believing that their own creations have power over them."
That is, we invent social constructs, and then we call them gods, kings,
presidents, "laws of the market," and so on, and we begin to worship
them, instead of using them as tools and remaking them as needed. In
principle, the essence of anarchism is precisely to stop doing this and
take our lives into our own hands.
Self-organization in Argentine factories
By the way, about ending the worship of fictitious gods. The Doxa
publication, together with our comrades from the Antijob project,
released an excellent short documentary about workers and workers from
the Argentine ceramic factory Zanon
Now this factory is called "FaSinPat" - short for "factory without
bosses". 25 years ago, in 2001-2002, the factory owners stopped paying
wages, and then began firing everyone in a row, because the workers
demanded better working conditions. Unexpectedly, the workers simply
refused to leave the factory and essentially squatted it. They got back
the means of production, speaking again in Marxist language.
The factory is still operating, producing tiles, paying for itself and
even expanding, the workers receive equal wages and decide issues at
general meetings. Since 2009, FaSinPat has been a completely legal
cooperative and does not owe anything to any bosses, even from a legal
point of view.
It is interesting that the workers simply wanted justice and to get
their wages paid, and so they questioned all imaginary authorities like
the so-called "owners" or "police" or "laws". And in the end they were
supported by the population of the surrounding areas: as Murray Bookchin
would say, there was a unification of people both on the professional
and territorial basis. The former Zanon became a classic example of
self-organized production. Now many other enterprises in Argentina and
beyond are following the example of FaSinPat.
What is the moral of this? It is very simple. Do not be afraid to act
and do not attach too much importance to social institutions that we
ourselves have invented. Simply put, if someone commands you, it does
not mean that he has the right to command you. It means that this
someone has convinced you that he has such a right. But you can always
question this state of affairs. And this is definitely something to
think about for all those who are now killing Ukrainians under the flag
of the so-called "Russian Federation".
Well, that's all for today! We remind you that in "Trends of Order and
Chaos" the participants of Autonomous Action and other authors give
anarchist assessments of current events. Listen to us on YouTube,
SoundCloud and other platforms, visit our website avtonom.org, subscribe
to our social networks and e-mail newsletter.
The issue was prepared by Mani
Support the work of Autonomous Action
https://avtonom.org/news/vydumannye-bogi-trendy-poryadka-i-haosa-epizod-168
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