Posted by gak on August 24, 1999 at 04:04:18:
I transcribe and forward this editorial from a recent edition of
the US
journal, "Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed". Now seems to be a
time of
"taking stock" for this list, which is what the editors of
"Anarchy" seem to
have been doing too.
This piece is about the current [1998] state of global capital &
the radical
oppositon to it. I found it quite useful. It also contains
threads of some
of the Situationist / Nationalism & How to Communicate ideas
DEBATES that
have engaged some of late.
I can't find this piece on-line anywhere, so if folk wanna post
it to an
archive?
Sorry for any typos
It's a New World
Over the course of the last ten years or so the anarchist milieu
has been
rife with attack and counter-attack, both defamation of character
and of
sexual prowess. Not that this is anything new. Since well before
Bakunin
lambasted Marx for being an authoritarian Prussian, there has
been a high
level of in-fighting, back-biting and mud-slinging amongst
radicals of all
types. This isn't necessarily unhealthy, since sometimes nothing
clears the
air like a good split (to borrow from a famous dictum of
Bordiga's). What is
surprising however, is where some of this sound and fury is
originating. One
expects abuse from powerless, frustrated activists and armchair
theorists
who have nothing better to do. What is surprising to us right now
is that
even fairly respected, major theorists and activists have joined
the fray
with passion. Does this reflect something of the current state of
frustration and confusion in the insurrectional milieu?
A number of things have changed over the last three or four years
that
haven't been firmly placed in context. Anarchists, who once
attempted to
forge a third way between capitalism and communism, now find
themselves in
the unenviable position of being virtually the sole opposition to
the global
hegemony of capital. Puny in number, relatively bereft of
resources, and
almost hopelessly outmaneuvered by capital, are anarchists
turning on each
other to escape facing more crushing responsibilities?
The development of spectacular domination is an accomplished
fact. The
internet, technology careening out of control, and a working
class that
thinks it's a middle class are symptomatic of just how far and
fast capital
has been able to extend its control over the human animal. Not
only in the
industrialized and post-industrial world, but also in developing
countries
the triumph of capital has been realized and reaffirmed. The
anarchist
milieu has been split between those who want to resist and those
who want to
embrace spectacular media and technological advances in
production.
With this has also come the end of the traditional working class,
at least
as regards national boundaries. The fifty year old dream of
having low paid
workers in other countries assembling cars and radios and toys
has been
realized, leaving the US with a singularly service-oriented
economy based on
the rapid production and distribution of ultimately worthless
information
and cultural commodities. GATT and NAFTA, have facilitated the
flight of
blue collar jobs into Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines, etc. In
twenty
years Mexico may well be moving these jobs further south as its
own working
class becomes service-ized. Right now, these countries have
become the focus
of capitalist plunder as their economies and cultures move
rapidly toward
the spectacular phase of capital's development. Significantly,
their
populations wait with bated breath as the juggernaut pushed their
levels of
commodity consumption higher and higher. And yet, a significant
number of
anarchists still fantasize about organizing the working class
into
syndicalist unions, still fantasize about proletarian revolution,
and still
fantasize about rationalizing capitalist production in ways which
demand the
same integration of workers into the commodity exchange nexus
that capital
has already been preparing.
The end of any substantial meaning to value under capital, an
outcome
Camatte has been predicting for decades, has been accomplished.
Without any
significant general equivalent, not gold, not paper, but simple
value as
expressed in the movement of thousands of bits of information-the
flow of
electrons to and fro around the globe, it's impossible for anyone
to log who
owns what, when, or where. To say that capital has broken free of
the law of
value is to mis-read the current situation. The only real
question left is
whether value exists at all, or whether it is simply numbers in a
vast game
of virtual monopoly? Is this vanishing of value reflected in a
parallel
trend towards a vanishing of critique? Where, is the insightful,
brilliant
and slashing discussion that lays bare this insanity once and for
all? Where
is the critique that can inspire authentic opposition from the
operators of
the global machine?
In this context how can anarchists become more effective? By
accusing
radical rivals of harboring fascist, racist or sexist sympathies?
By
inventing more complex theoretical systems, which only the
originators can
ever hope to master? By calling for a return to some sort of
anarcho-fundamentalism that only exists in the books of
historians who never
knew-nor could understand-the fertile creativity of anarchic
movements? Or
by searching out ever more disgusting terms of denunciation and
abuse to use
against those who disagree?
Or could it ever make just a little more sense to give people
with other
perspectives the benefit of the doubt for a change, to present
our own ideas
in honest contrast to others? Personal attack, rumour and
innuendo all have
their place, not, however, within our milieu and not among our
comrades.
There is a time for aggressive, unrelenting contestation within
the limits
of theoretical discussion. There are points upon which none of us
will ever
agree. (We certainly don't want anyone to agree with everything
we write or
present in the pages of "Anarchy".) But save the personal,
scathing abuse
for those who defend and apologise for the system we are seeking
to destroy.
After the fall of Eurocommunism, with the continuing triumph of
capital on a
global scale, anarchists are the only oppositional milieu left
standing.
It's going to take serious investigation, criticism and creative
modes of
contestation to spark an effective, global response. Trash talk
won't do it.
Anti-copyright, The Editors, "Anarchy: A Journal of Desire
Armed", volume
16, number 1, Spring / Summer 1998. C.A.L. Press, POB 1446,
Columbia, MO.
65205-1446, USA. Back issues / Sample copy $6.