From: nyt@blythe.org
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 93 14:53:25 EDT
Message-Id: <gate.qBe65B1w165w@blythe.org>
Subject: Love&Rage_6/93-3
To: nyxfer@Panix.Com
Status: RO


 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit


                          LOVE AND RAGE
                Revolutionary Anarachist Newspaper
                        Electronic Edition

                        Volume 4, Number 3
                         June/July, 1993

                           Part 3 of 3


           A GOOD YEAR FOR THE KURDISH RESISTANCE

Nineteen ninety two was a decisive year for the Kurdish liberation
struggle, particularly in Northwest Kurdistan.  The Workers Party
of Kurdistan (PKK) and the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan
(ERNK) have been instrumental in developing this struggle, and
their strength and ability to achieve this is a measure of support
they have from the Kurdish people. One of the clearest examples of
this occurs during the celebrations of the Kurdish New year --
Newroz -- every March. This year, like many before it, saw Newroz
celebrations in many Kurdish cities and towns turn into militant
demonstrations in support of the PKK and the struggle to free and
reunite all parts of occupied Kurdistan. The Turkish state
responded with brutal attacks on the Kurdish people -- dozens were
killed and thousands were detained under martial law for many
days.[...]

The Special War Means a "Scorched Earth" Policy

The attack on Sirnak was a turning point in the war for national
liberation, as repression by the Turkish state has clearly shifted
from its "Special War" counter-insurgency operations to all-out
war. This escalation has manifested itself in a 'scorched earth'
policy which has seen the razing of towns and cities such as Kulp,
Varto, Hani, and Cizre and others. The second and even more brutal
attack on Sirnak in August has been by far the clearest example of
Turkish atrocities against the Kurdish people. Starting Aug 18,
1992, Turkish forces blocked all roads in and out of Sirnak and
went on a three-day rampage, claiming that the town was controlled
by 1500 ARGK guerrillas (the People's Liberation Army, the
military wing of the PKK).  [...] Seventy percent of the city was
destroyed and many people were left homeless and destitute. There
were no guerrilla units in the city. At present the city is
devastated and many of its inhabitants have become refugees.
Rebuilding efforts are under way but due to the continued Turkish
presence and repression those efforts are proceeding slowly. 

While the army has been carrying out a full-scale warfare, it has
also continued to carry out a variety of counter-insurgency
operations. Contraguerrillas have been organized to assassinate
sympathetic journalists and politicians, PKK militants and the
supporters of the Kurdish liberation struggle. This has included
the assassination of writer/journalist Huseyin Deniz and of Musa
Anter, who was a journalist with the progressive newspaper Ozgur
Gundem and a noted writer considered by many to be the "grand old
man of Kurdish culture." He was the fifth journalist from this
newspaper to be assassinated in 1992. In an obvious show of
contempt for their deaths, Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel stated
that "these are not the journalists you think they are. They are
all militants." In other words, in the view of the Turkish
government, their deaths were justified. On June 11,
contraguerrillas took 15 Kurdish patriots off a bus which was
returning from Hizan and executed them. [...]

Arbitrary detentions and mass arrests of Kurdish militants and
activists continue to be used to quell dissent and support for an
independent Kurdistan. On Sept 25, 11 members of the People's
Labour Party (HEP) were arrested on the orders of the National
Security Council -- which includes the Prime Minister, Army chiefs
and certain cabinet members. The HEP is a progressive political
party which supports Kurdish rights; in the 1991 elections, it
elected 22 Kurdish MPs to parliament. The arrest of the HEP
members was based on the view of the National Security Council
that it would take "legal measures against those democratic
institutions and media which support separatism and work against
the unity state structure and thus have no constitutional or legal
basis."[...]

Kurdish Collaborators with Turkish Colonialism

In Iraqi-occupied Kurdistan the two leading political forces in
the region, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the
Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iraq (KDP), have consistently shown
themselves to the be the enemies of an independent Kurdistan. They
have arrested, tortured and killed PKK supporters and members,
turned them over to the Turkish military, and passed on
information about PKK activities to Turkish and imperialist agents
who they allow to operate in south Kurdistan. In response to this,
the ARGK imposed an embargo on the border trade at the
Turkish-Iraqi frontier on July 29. This was not aimed at the
Kurdish people in the south but against the joint trade carried
out between the Turkish state and the KDP. Instead the PKK wishes
to forge better economic, social and political ties between the
people of north and south Kurdistan without the interference of
the Turkish state and its KDP-PUK collaborators.

The KDP-PUK retaliated by coordinating with the Turkish military,
an offensive against PKK/ARGK bases in south Kurdistan in October.
Heavy clashes occurred between ARGK guerrillas and KDP-PUK
peshmergas (Kurdish name for "guerrilla") in Lolan, Sheranis,
Batufa, Zakho, Haftanin and other areas. When the fighting began
many peshmergas refused to fight against their own people and a
number went over to the ARGK side. Also, splits began to occur
within the KDP-PUK forces with the resignation of ministers from
both parades who stated that the "clashes only helped the Turkish
state." On Oct 22, the PKK was able to prove conclusively that the
collaboration was taking place between KDP-PUK forces and the
Turkish military. In an ARGK raid on a meeting of KDP-PUK
commanders, seized documents confirmed that a trilateral committee
existed which directed the operations of the peshmergas. This
committee was composed of one PUK commander, a KDP commander and a
senior Turkish military major who had direct access to the Turkish
High Command who were directing military operations.

During the initial offensive, ARGK forces were on the defensive,
facing heavy attacks in many areas. Despite rumours by the media
of a withdrawal and surrender, the ARGK/PKK did not lose any
ground, and, towards the end of October, were able to mount an
offensive. In early November the PKK announced the lifting of the
embargo on border trade after a political settlement with the
forces of the KDP-PUK. Terms of the settlement allowed the
ARGK/PKK to continue to operated freely in south Kurdistan --
clearly showing the inability of the KDP-PUK/Turkish military
forces to achieve their desired goal.

The Struggle Moves Forward

Despite massive repression by the Turkish state of the Kurdish
people, the liberation struggle continues to grow.  On a military
level, the ARGK continues to carry out many effective and
sometimes spectacular actions against the Turkish military and
police forces. For example, on Sept 29, 1250 ARGK guerrillas
simultaneously attacked three Turkish military garrisons in the
Semdinli region.  The attack, which lasted for over seven hours,
completely destroyed the garrisons as well as killing close to 500
Turkish soldiers. They also shot down a helicopter and captured
numerous weapons while suffering minimal losses. On Nov 10, they
attacked the main military garrison in the town of Hani. The 200
ARGK guerrillas who used rockets and mortars during the attack,
completely destroyed the garrison when they hit the ammunition
dump. When military reinforcements entered the town, they were
attacked by the guerrillas who destroyed four tanks and two
armoured personnel carriers.  Once again the ARGK suffered minimal
losses while over 100 soldiers and police were killed during the
attack. Their most recent action, on Dec 14, saw a raid on the
Special Forces headquarters in Diyarbakir which resulted in the
death of 27 police officers. At the same time an ARGK unit
ambushed a military convoy on the road from Hani to Diyarbakir.
[...]

Future?

As the situation intensifies in Northwest Kurdistan, support for
the PKK and Kurdish liberation struggle increases correspondingly
to growing Turkish state repression.[...]

After the Gulf War and the break-up of the Soviet Union, Turkey
has set its sights on becoming the major power in the Middle East
as well as extending its influence throughout the region. While
denying that it plans to annex the Turkish-speaking republics of
the former Soviet Union, Turkey is making economic and political
overtures to, among others, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.  [...]

As the world situation increasingly shifts to a "North/South"
confrontation, Turkey assumes the role of a frontline in
imperialist domination. Clearly then, the Kurdish liberation
struggle poses a serious obstacle to the implementation of
imperialism's "New World Order." The formation of an independent
Kurdistan would not only seriously disrupt -- and perhaps even
destroy -- the Turkish state but it would also destabilize the
entire region as uprisings by Kurdish people in Iran, Iraq and
Syria would most likely be occurring at the same time.  Further,
the liberation of the Kurdish nation would be a powerful example
and signal for the other colonized people in the region,
particularly the Palestinians. Of course, Turkey and its
imperialist allies cannot allow this to happen and will use any
force necessary to crush the Kurdish liberation struggle.

For us, concrete solidarity with the Kurdish struggle means
building resistance here in the imperialist centers and opposing
its aggression by any means necessary.

Excerpted from Arm The Spirit No. 14/15 Aug-December 1992

                               -30-


KILLER COPS

Late this spring over the space of a week, three people in France
were shot in the head by the Police. In the early hours of March
31, A 17 year-old Zairian was detained in Paris after allegedly
stealing two packs of cigarettes from a bar. During questioning,
an inspector took out his gun (supposedly to "frighten" the teen)
put it to the suspect's head, and shot him. Authorities assured
that the inspector would be "sanctioned".

The following sunday an 18-year-old French youth died in the town
of Chambiry (Saboya) after being shot in the head by the cop who
was handcuffing him.

On Wednesday, the 7th of April, another 17 year-old was shot and
seriously wounded in the head by the cops who were pursuing him in
Wattrelos. 

                               -30-

THEY GOT IT GOING ON IN CZECH REPUBLIC

The Black Hand Foundation is a non-profit, independent
organization established to promote alternative culture and
responsible social values.  They suport non-profit social
organizations, provide an opportunity for alternative cultural
activities, provide drug abuse prevention and education focusing
on helping and rehabilitating; suport anti-racist, anti-classist
and anti-discrimination organizations, vegan lifestyles and
anti-vivisection groups; support family planning, sex education,
children's rights, and the fight against sexism.

The Prague-Dejvice Center is the first social center established
by the Black Hand in the former Czechoslovakia.  It was
established in a former school located in Prague. Other cultural
ceters in other parts of the country are planned.

A repressive, Communist-era riot law is currently being used
against Czech animal liberation activists.  The law states that if
you hurt or injure anyone while disrupting a public meeting or
ceremony, you're engaging in riot, and can be sentenced to up to
two years. 

On Oct 11, 1992 there was a big protest against horse racing in
the town of Pardubice, where horse racing is a tradition going
back 100 years, in which many horses have died. Last year was the
biggest demonstration against racing ever, with over 700 people
taking part. The protestors were pushed out of the stadium and
hunted in the forest on horses with dogs.  Seven high police
officials were fired, but almost all of the witnesses are now
charged with riot. This is just one example of the use of riot
charges against activists. 

If you can offer support contact:
Petr Bergmann c/o Black Hand, 
Kafkova 9, Praha 6-16000 / Czech Republic

                               -30-


               STRATEGY:  MOVING TOWARDS REVOLUTION

strat `e gy -- n. 1. the skillful employment and coordination of
tactics; 2. artful planning and management-- Webster Dictionary

We put out a general call for articles relating to "strategy." We
were interested in hearing about why people do the work they're
doing and how it fits into their conception of strategy for
bringing about revolution.  What are people's goals? Long term,
short term?  What is strategy? Where do we get one? 

The following articles are a sampling of written works by
individuals and collectives in the anarchist movement.  Two of the
articles were reprinted from Free Society's Special Strategy
Issue, which contains many other contributions to the discussion
as well. We hope to run more articles in the future on this
subject. But in the mean time here's a few to chew on. Hope you
like em!

                          -- Towards Revolution, 
                             Dema and Gene of the Production Group              
        

                   PITCHFORK: PLANS WITH PRONGS

AWOL is an anarchist activist collective working in Mnpls. Many of
us were members (as well as initiators) of the Youth Greens, (YGs)
which is now defunct. The YGs, the majority of whom identified as
eco-anarchists and/or Social Ecologists, were organized around
democratically written principles such as anti-capitalism,
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual liberation, anti-racism and ethnic identity,
(social) eco-feminism and others. Being a local of the YGs allowed
us to have a certain amount of political coherence from the
beginning.

The following is a strategy we've developed over the two-and-some
years we've been working together. There are four key elements:
Direct Action, Study, Internal Democracy/Identity Politics and
Counter Institutions.  These are four prongs of the PITCHFORK
we've used to jab the booty of power. While we don't consider this
to be a coherent, mapped out program, we do see it as an active,
democratic process by which we can contribute to the development
of a long term, viable revolutionary strategy. 

DIRECT ACTION 

At every stage of social struggle, direct action plays a crucial
role. Even reform within the system has always come from below.
All the gains of the labor movement in the 1930s were made
possible by a movement of militants who carried out strikes,
walk-outs and occupations. The struggle for freedom of
African-Americans, women and queer people were ignited in the
streets by courageous people who were going to make the system
deal with them on their terms.  In movements of total social
upheaval,such as the Spanish Revolution, people have taken not
only the streets, but the factories, armories, communication
centers and other critical sites to keep power out of the hands of
the state and private capitalists. Direct action has and always
will be an essential part of all social movements.

However, this idea of demonstrating in the streets can, like
anything else, turned into safe, liberal and ineffective
expressions of "first amendment rights." We've probably all been
to boring demos, in which we were herded around by a bunch of
liberals and/or commies, forced to listen to some really
uninspiring people, and then sent home when our "resisting" was
done. This can be one of the more disempowering experiences anyone
can have. 

But direct action can be an extremely imaginative process or event
and doesn't have to be like the model above.  Any action -- be it
street theater, a puke-in, a big demo, or anything else -- can be
organized around non-hierarchical and democratic principles. In
this way it gives us the chance to practice and experiment with
ideas we have about what a free society looks like, and at the
same informing and transforming those ideas. 

Action also shows that there is resistance. This is important not
only because it tells the powers that be that we are here, but it
tells the average citizen that there are alternatives. A small
street theater piece can convey ideas (not only about life but
art) to a lot of people. 

Autonomous action should be encouraged by groups and individuals
within demonstrations so that a more spontaneous situation will be
created by participants.  While planning actions, discussions
should take place about what affinity groups are (small autonomous
groups that take action and watch out for each other) and how not
to alienate people who are new to this kind of demonstration. In
actions or marches called by other groups, anarchists should
participate in planning or participating as anarchists, using our
creativity, making a new world on the streets.

STUDY

Revolutionary social movements must be informed by understandings
of history, of present conditions and ideas about, what we want
for the future. An anarchist movement especially needs to inform
itself of how power operates; how it shapes society; and how it
has affected our own understanding of the world. In this way,
theory is the process of self-education. For radicals, this
education is not for the production of knowledge for its own sake,
but knowledge in the service of changing the world. As it is, the
prevailing ideas in this society are the ones that justify
capitalism, patriarchy, the nation-state, racism and in fact the
whole structure of a brutally hierarchical and anti-ecological
society. These ideas are so deeply entrenched in our own psyches
that they are not always obvious, even to those of us who claim to
be for revolutionary change. Part of our role is to do the often
difficult intellectual labor necessary to expose ways of thinking,
while providing new ideas that we attempt to work out in practice.

In this process of education we must be self-critical and willing
to let our understanding evolve. Precisely the moment we think we
have it all figured out is the point at which our ideas become
rigid dogma and our strategies a stale blueprint. Forms of
oppression and new identities will always emerge that will
challenge our basic assumptions, the way social movements such as
Black liberation, second wave of feminism, Lesbian/Gay liberation,
ecology and others challenged traditional ways of leftist ideas
between the late 1950s and early 70s. Just as important, the
nature of domination itself is always shifting and changing forms,
leaving us with no easy explanations of how, for instance,
capitalism in the late 20th century works and what is the best way
to intervene.

AWOL's approach to all of this is to do collective study, both as
an educational component of our meetings and in independent study
groups. Sometimes we have chosen ideas to peruse, other times
circumstances have forced them on us. Often it is really hard to
figure out how to approach a subject, find the time to study in a
committed way, and to deal with different levels of theoretical
knowledge, gender and class issues and other problems.  What we
are up against is a society that attempts to keep everyone
uncritical and save theory for a privileged group of white males.
However, by trying to work out those things, we have demystified
theory ourselves and achieved a much greater democracy as well as
intimacy in the group. We think it is equally important to get
ideas out into the world, so we write propaganda as a group, or in
twos and threes, which gets read and critiqued by the group before
going out (like for instance, this article). In this way, no one
person or small cadre controls knowledge production or AWOL
strategy.

INTERNAL DEMOCRACY & IDENTITY POLITICS

Any time radicals work in any kind of diverse groups, subtle and
overt forms of domination are going to play themselves out. This
is the inevitable outcome of living in a hierarchical society. But
that doesn't make it acceptable or insurmountable. Fortunately,
for those of us on the short end of the oppression stick, our
privileged comrades are supposed to have a commitment to ending
all forms of hierarchy and domination, including their own
behavior. This is one of the real beauties of anarchism. Unlike
the traditional authoritarian left, oppressed people can't be
asked to subsume their needs and issues to the "greater good."

Take, for example, sexism. In AWOL, for a while men were doing
most of the mental labor. Once this is noticed as a problem it
seems like the solution is for women to just participate more.
That is where the whole thing can become completely destructive
and threaten the stability of the group. First of all it assumes
that women want and are able to participate "just like men."
Secondly, it assumes that complex and dynamic conflicts can have
bureaucratic solutions, ie every flyer must be produced by a man
and a women. (This kind of solution doesn't deal with the
particular dynamic between these two people and the way they have
been socialized to interact.)

What it boils down to are questions of power. Who has the power,
why and how they got it and how those without it can get some.
Women aren't going to participate if they haven't empowered
themselves to do so. They will not want to be a part of something
that doesn't incorporate their experiences and ideas. At the same
time, men must be willing to relinquish the roles they are used to
playing. We've been working on these problems in AWOL from the
very beginning, it is an on going project and a satisfying
process.

Beyond our individual groups, we should also support other social
movements that are identity-based and help them in their
struggles. Instead of asking others to join us, we should show our
support as anarchists in their struggles. We have to address the
needs of people who are marginalized if we want a movement that
substantially includes them. Anarchists (purists by definition)
don't have the easiest time working in coalitions or building
long-term, principled alliances, but that is what we have to do.
In that process, our ideas will inevitably change, as we further
confront our own racism, homophobia and sexism. And at the same
time we learn about struggle from people who have different
experiences with power, and different ideas with what they want to
do about it.

COUNTER-INSTITUTIONS

If we are going to take on this project of reshaping society, we
are also going to have to reshape ourselves, our social
relationships and our communities. Expecting to smash all forms of
hierarchy and domination and then have egalitarian social
structures magically pop up in their place (because humans at
heart are just darn good people) is not a strategy that is going
to work. 

By creating and sustaining radical collectives and institutions
such as food co-ops, bookstores, day care, community gardens,
theaters, cafes or anything else, we create institutional space
that is much more on our own terms. These places become public
space where we can begin to practice democracy. Often these
institutions require us to deal with the marketplace or some state
regulation. But we can use them to advance other kinds of
oppositional practices, such as worker self-management, community
control, direct democracy and commitment to serve social movements
and help enfranchise oppressed communities and individuals.

It is crucial that such places don't become counter-culture
hangouts in the marketplace that cater to eco-consumers, yuppies
who like organic food. The idea is that counter-institutions
counter the onslaught of a market economy and an increasingly
authoritarian society. This means both an attempt to relate to the
communities around us, and to confederate with other
counter-institutions to take part in building a popular counter
power.

There may have been many revolutionary moments in history where
people have taken direct, democratic control over their lives from
which we can learn and get inspiration. From the Paris Commune, to
the communal peasant forms of organization in the Russian
Revolution, to the industrial and agrarian collectives during the
Spanish Revolution. There are also more recent examples to draw
from as well. The co-opt movement of the early 1970s in Mpls and
St Paul, built the largest number of worker-controlled cooperative
ventures in the US. This movement did not live up to its ideals
because of internal factionalism, pressures from the marketplace
and the turn away from politics to lifestylism by many people.
That doesn't negate the importance of that movement. What it does
do is give a realistic picture of the inherent limitations and
pitfalls of this kind of strategy.

People in AWOL have been involved in a couple of different
counter-institutions, the Powderhorn Co-op, a worker-managed,
community owned grocery, and the Emma Center, an anarchist
community space, both in South Mpls. Each of these spaces has its
own unique problems and take an enormous amount of energy to keep
going, but both give anarchism a public face in Mpls and allow us
to work out new relationships with each other while we also
counter the outside world. 

CONCLUSION

For the sake of explanation we have broken these things down into
their little packages. But in actuality it's a much more dynamic
process. For instance, we are never just studying. We see a study
group as a counter-institution to the formal education system. We
may be studying the strategy and tactics of the Black liberation
movement of the early 1960s and 70s, and how they may be of use to
us today. While we are doing this we will be watching out for and
trying to overcome inequalities due to gender or class. All of
this helps to inform our decisions on where to take action and
when.  Through trial and error, it is what we have collectively
arrived at. In this way the pitchfork has had a certain amount of
organic development.  -- edited From Free Society, Winter 1993

                               -30-


                     ANARCHY, PUNK AND UTOPIA

To many readers of Profane Existence it must seem like the only
strategy the PE collective has is to sell our records and to
glorify violence against the state, and hell, it's partly true.
These activities are important parts of our diabolical attempt to
overthrow all systems of oppression and replace them with a world
of free punk gigs, unlimited supplies of home-brew and, er, oh
yeah, nonhierarchical and voluntary forms of political and
economic organization. However, there's also a bit more to the
reams of newsprint with the smudgy ink, the thousands of records
bought and sold, and the endless trips to the post office. The
output of Profane Existence (the magazine, the records, the
shirts, the distirbution, etc) and the way PE itself is organized
(as an anarchist collective) reflect two key parts of an anarchist
strategy we feel is necessary in the struggle to create a free,
equal and just world.

I. Collectives

Most people have a somewhat legitimate gripe when they say,
"Anarchy's a great idea but it will never work." Anarchy won't
work now because people still need to build the political and
historical conditions that make an anarchist society possible.
Despite our dreams, we don't believe that revolution will happen
overnight. Call us cynical. The Spanish Revolution didn't just pop
out of the sky into Spanish workers' and peasants' hands; they
built the revolution for over sixty years. Key to their struggle
was the formation of collectives. We see the formation of
revolutionary collectives as one of the best ways to create the
necessary bridges between the totalitarian society we live in
today and the free society we are working to build tomorrow.

There are two reasons why collectives can help build the necessary
historical and poliitcal conditions that make anarchist revolution
possible. First, collectives are small, efficient means of
organizing that provide practical examples of
counter-instituitions that are egalitarian, voluntary and
anti-authoritarian. Collectives work and they prove that anarchy
works, and that's one of the best weapons we have against both
captalism and the Marxist-Leninoid version of revolution.
Collectives demonstrate that people can organize their lives
together in democratic ways that do not oppress or exploit anyone
and that encourgage the full and free participation of people in
things that affect their everyday lives.

To smash capitalism and turn a rebellion (like LA's) into a
revolutionary struggle you have to show people an alternative to
the life they live now, an alternative that makes people willing
to give up what little they have for the possibility of a new
life.

You also have show people an alternative that encourages them to
organize their lives themselves instead of by some party or cult
figure.

The way we see it, any anarchist struggle will be a three cornered
fight among those who support the status quo, authoritarian
revolutionary types (socialist, Leninists, and other stateist
stooges), and anti-authoritarian revolutionaries who don't want to
liberate the masses but want the masses to liberate themselves. PE
places itself firmly in the third camp, but for this type of
strategy to succeed you have to present working alternatives to
capitalist and authoritarian Marxist forms of organization,
alternatives that people can build themselves instead of join or
follow. We think collectives are one of the most important
alternatives anti-authoritarian revolutionaries should present.

However, we don't want to advocate just any kind of collective.
China and the Soviet Union had collectives, but they were either
created or taken over by the state. In the Soviet Union, people
were forced to collectivise, and if they didn't, Stalin starved
them. That's not the kind of collectivization we're about. We're
about anarchist collectives -- collectives that are voluntary,
non-hierarchical, egalitarian, directly democratic, encourage the
full participation of all collective members, and engage in acts
of mutual aid with other revolutionary collectives. We're not
vanguardist. We fully believe the punk ethic of Do-It Yourself
(DIY) is a revolutionary ethic. If you want a free society, you
have to DIY. You have to form your own collective; don't join
ours. You have to work with other collectives while maintaining
your autonomy instead of being recruited into a party.  Mass
struggle must be built from the ground up in a non-hierarchical,
democratic manner. Collectives are an excellent way to build this
kind of revolutionary anarchist struggle.

This brings us to our second point. As important as collectives
are, it's not enough just to build a collective and work within
it. To be a revolutionary collective you have to work with other
people, other networks and other collectives. In any anarchist
strategy, working with other collectives has to be seen as just as
important as work within the collective itself. If we all just
work alone, we are isolated and weak . If we all just join
together under the banners of "unity" and "mass struggle," we lose
our individuality and become just another head to count.  However,
if we work together as tight-knit autonomous collectives that form
networks, federations and coalitions with other collectives,
communities, individuals, networks and federations, we are
powerful on a mass level while still retaining our identity. 

Working with other collectives is important not only for building
connections that strengthen the anarchist movement, it's also
important because it helps break down the internal patterns of
racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other hidden hierarchies
that can develop within a collective without members even
realizing it. Working with other collectives and/or people of
different backgrounds challenges us and the way we live and
organize within our collective as well as outside of it. When you
get together and work with other collectives, federations, etc.
all parties involved walk away changed. Coalitions aren't just the
sum of the number of groups involved, they alter the interests of
the groups themselves. Because the communication involved forces
people out of the protective shell a collective can develop if it
doesn't talk with other collectives. When something is so subtle
within your collective that no one recognizes it, getting a
perspective from the outside helps a lot.

II. Propaganda

Obviously, another key to anarchist strategy for Profane Existence
is propaganda. Propaganda helps spread our ideas to people who
might not have ever even considered them before. For example, one
important part of the magazine is to challenge dogmatic beliefs
that serve to strengthen the present power structure, beliefs such
as "fascists deserve free speech and freedom to assemble too," and
"some cops are good, some cops are bad," and other such liberal
nonsense. We don't expect our articles, essays and rants to change
anyone's mind overnight, but we do want people to know that these
ideas aren't god-given or "natural," and that there is a struggle
going on about beliefs like these that most people take for
granted. "Not everyone buys into the ruling class ideology; we
just thought you should know," we say. 

Further, propaganda also helps the collective because the
criticisms we receive from stuff that we publish or distribute
challenges us to defend our views and change them where necessary.
PE has become a lot stronger due to the feminist and anti-racist
critiques that revealed the straight white male attitude that
often prevailed (and still creeps in, despite our best efforts) in
the magazine.  Propaganda inevitably breeds criticism; the
collective uses that criticism to grow and change.

A lot of people criticize the magazine because they say we
romanticize violence and that we exaggerate the struggles we
cover. They are right; we do romaniticize violence against the
state and the ruling class, and we do sometimes exaggerate
peoples' struggles against injustice.  However, we also have a
reason, for romaniticizing this sort of stuff shows people --
especially people who live in places that are generally isolated
from revolutionary activity -- that people are struggling against
unjust forms of power all over the world, and that sometimes these
people win. An anarchist movement needs that. We need to know that
victories against hierarchy are possible and that they do happen,
even if they don't lead us straight into a revolutioary situation.

Romanticization also challenges the media's claim to "objective
truth" in reporting. We believe that the idea of objective truth
is bullshit. History happens, but the belief that you can describe
or interpret history exactly as it happened is a lie. Those who
are in power are also those who usually get to define what is
"true." By romanticizing events we not only offer an alternative
interpretation to the "truth," we also challenge the ruling class
and the mass-media's claim to a monopoly on truth.  We say our
interpretation of politics and history is as good as theirs and
that if you're going to believe one pack of lies you might as well
believe ours!

Lastly, like collectives, propaganda shows that anarchy can be a
part of everyday life. It's not just a theory, it is a
multifaceted, thriving, practical and just way of living your
life. Propaganda documents our culture of resistance and
legitimates it. Counter-institutions like collectives exist within
counter cultures like punk, anarchist, feminist, Queer, etc. We
can't expect the mainstream media to cover these counter cultures,
nor do we want them to. Again, we gotta do-it-ourselves. By
documenting our culture of resistance and adding a bit of spice to
it here and there, our propaganda hopefully inspires people within
and without the revolutionary anarchist movement to get active and
take control of their own lives and to realize that we can fight
the status quo and win.

III. Anarchy as Struggle

At PE we have high hopes for people and this world, but we also
try to be realistic. We don't expect everyone in the world to join
a collective. Some people just have to work by themselves, and
that's fine. More important in terms of anarchist strategy,
though, some people will actively oppose the formation of
collectives and our attempts to build a free society. This is why
we see the revolutionary anarchist process as a process of
struggle.

For us, an anarchist society will develope out of a long and
perhaps bitter struggle betweeen those who would maintain the
status quo (the ruling class, the state, cops, racists, upper and
some middle class people, etc) and those who want to overthrow it.
It will also be a struggle within the revolutionary movement
between those who want to lead the revolution (ie socialists,
Leninists, Maoists and other power mongers) and those who want the
revolution and the post-revolutionary society to be
anti-authoritarian. (We could call it the struggle between the
DIYers and the "We'll-Do-It-For-You-Or-Else"ers.) This is why
anarchy is about revolution to us, not about "evoluton."
"Evolution toward anarchy" is a crock of liberal shit. If
anything, humanity has devolved from a prehistorical state of
relative freedom and autonomy to one of serfdom and slavery.
Making the world anarchist by evolution is about as likely as
humans developing a tail, and it would probably take about as much
time to "evolve" even if it was. To change the world you have to
act on it; You have to DIY, and that means revolution.

Viewing anarchy as a struggle involves keeping collectives alive
and thriving, keeping revolutioanary ideas alive and thriving, and
not loving everyone; some people are responsible for the way this
world is run today and they must then be held accountable as much
as any abstact "(Fuck the) System" should. At PE, our anarchist
atrategy is to organize and propagandize against the powerful and
for the creation of a new world built from the bottom up by the
powerless. This requires collective forms of organization, intense
propaganda campaigns, a comittment to direct democracy and against
hierarchy, and a revolutionary demand to strip the power from the
ruling class, by force, if necessary. It also requires that we
have a lot of fun and laughs (and beers). We wouldn't have it any
other way.  --edited from Free Society, Winter 1993

                               -30-


                 CONSCIOUSNESS AND COUNTERCULTURE
                         By Scott McRott

I am a 17 year old atheist student who sings and plays guitar in a
New York City anarchist, Punk/Ska band called No Commercial Value.

The two major events that led to my current free-thought are two
things that many kids encounter, one way or another. One was my
realization when I was 13 (right after my Bar Mitzfah) that I did
not believe in or care for one word I spoke during my Bar Mitzfah
ceremony. In fact I was saying and learning what everybody else
wanted me to say and learn. The religious "turning point" was
during my freshman year at the Bronx High School of Science, where
Biology was more than stressed.  Although I failed my Bio class, I
learned a lot about evolution and scientific theory. That made me
realize that things actually could be proven to be true and not
just be written and strung together in a "testament" that made it
automatically true. This realization about religion just led to
more questioning of things taught to me and of the people teaching
them. 

The second important thing that happened was at the new high
school I flunked to, a kid traded me a tape for my Ramones tape
(which I was becoming quite sick of). His tape was the Dead
Kennedy's Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death, which made me
question authority and society in general. 

This is why in NO Commercial Value we play songs about police,
religion, the government and abortion, anarchist style. I just
hope some kid hears it and likes it and actually listens to what's
going on in his or her world.


                       HOW THE BAND FITS IN
           [Ms. Tommy Lawless interviews Scott McRott.]

T: How do you see the work you do with your band fitting into a
strategy for revolution?

S: Besides the obvious, preachy lyrics in our songs (anti-fascist,
anti-cop, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, anti-capitalist,
anti-racist), we also try to convey our messages by using
stickers, "doctored" advertisements, and stencils. And when all is
said and someone will see or hear our work and think more
criticall about our society and the people running it. 

T: You mentioned the anti-capitalist side to your music.  How do
you see the DIY music scene as a whole fitting into strategy?

S: Well put it this way, if every band in the whole world all of a
sudden agreed to boycott the music industry and form DIY
collectives, the music industry would topple, along with their
greedy business practices and their censorship. Let's say a type
of music that is quickly becoming this countries most popular
music; Punk, and see how many of these bands are saying "Fuck you"
to the music industry, and staying DIY. Of course this could
easily result in the destruction of the music industry. This would
never happen because there are too many naive bands out there that
are ripe for exploiting and there are always going to be a few
bands who betray their scene and sell-out (Green-Day, Nirvana,
Flipper, etc.). But these bands can easily serve as channels to
turn people on to cooler, lesser known DIY bands. And, if instead
of going to the local mall, every kid has an Alternative Tentacles
Catalog, (alternative record labor put out by the DKs), or a
Lookout catalog, then they can experience good music first-hand
without being poisoned by the music industries corporate
Amerikkkan censorship.

T: I know you do benefits. What types of causes does your band
support?

S: So far we have yet to get payed for playing. Our first show was
at ABC No Rio (a collectively run communty center in NYC) with
Bushman, Opposition and Black Medicine, and that was a benifit for
the Native American Community house here in NYC. We recently
played a benifit at ABC No Rio with Huasipungo and Summer's Eve
for the Black Hand Collective, and another one for NYC Riot Grrrl.
We just played at a benifit for C-Squat and Glass House squat
(which is currently in danger of being evicted by the city, which
would leave about 45 people homeless).

No Commercial Value is Olivia-vocals, Scott-guitar, vocals
Alec-Bass, Mike-drums And remember: who needs friends when you
have No Commercial Value?

                               -30-


                  ZEN AND THE ART OF REVOLUTION 
              by Richard Van Savage and Dema Crassy

There is a Tupamaros saying "Theory = sectarianism, statement of
principles and drafting of programs = inactivity and inability to
get anything done." In many ways our movement has accomplished a
lot, and yet for all of it's ambition, one is sorely tempted to
ask why so many people have been alienated from it. Part of the
answer would seem to lie in overcoming sectarianism: not through
compromise of our revolutionary ideals, but rather through direct
action, and respect for different approaches for creating a new
society. 

We as anarchists all share a common politic; we want to create a
society that is free from all types of oppression.  Since we have
different visions about how to get there, it doesn't make sense
for us to sit around and argue about which is the "right" way we
all have to go. Different tendencies should work in ways they see
fit, according to their community, and their experience. Clearly,
we should talk about our ideas, and learn from one another's
mistakes. But that doesn't have to be in the framework of all
encompassing "political unity." In fact, to be effective, we have
to be doing all types of work, and trying all kinds of methods of
doing it. Respecting diversity and learning to work together
within that framework is crucial. In terms of a large scale
revolutionary situation, none of us are expecting that 2 million
people are going to have political unity. So why do we focus so
much on unity as we struggle to build our movement? 

Obviously, at some point lines about where we respectively stand
on various issues will need to be drawn. That's healthy. But the
definition of politics must arise out of a need to define them.
The CNT (the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist union) had to"define"
where they stood in terms of armed struggle when some groups began
participating in it, and some groups opposed it.  They needed to
define their position when determining what concrete action they
would take, noy in a void.

On another level, it is through our actions that we can unite. For
example, when there isn't much going on, we have time to squabble.
But in times of crisis we tend to focus more on what we have in
common, rather than how we're different. 

So direct action, to us, means going directly to what it is we
want. That doesn't mean acting without thinking about it, but
rather, to figure out what works by actually getting our hands
dirty and doing it. Political consciousness comes out of doing
work collectively, thinking critically about it, and being
challenged. It is through the success of our actions that we lend
credibility to, and develop, our politics. To a certain extent the
means becomes the end toward which we strive.

To quote Regis Debray on the Uruguayan Tupamaros: "By establishing
a series of intermediate forms of membership and areas of
collaboration, a network of linked and interlinked activities on
all fronts of popular interest (political, electoral, trade union,
university, cultural, newspaper and so on), the Tupas have brought
to an end the fatal tradition of underestimating and
under-utilizing the classes, sectors and individuals outside the
armed organization, the mistake by which so many revolutionary
movements have contributed to their own isolation. They absolutely
reject the dichotomy between combatants and non-combatants, those
who are active and those who are passive, the subjects or objects
of the historical process, the vanguard at the top and the
undifferentiated masses below." 

As a strategy, we're advocating the creation of an infrastructure,
based on collectives, that would be the foundation of an anarchist
society. This infrastructure would be the means for providing the
basic needs of self-determination in any community. Things like
food, shelter, clothing, meaningful work, health care, security
and info shops for networking are just a few of the things that
come to mind. We need to be able to point to concrete examples in
order to answer the "what if" questions that non-anarchists always
seem to ask. 

The process of building an infrastructure would eliminate such
dichotomys as armed struggle vs non-violence, as the same
infrastructure would assist either, depending on the necessities
of whatever crisis we're facing. For example, solving the homeless
crisis is a form of sanctuary for the poor and in wartime could
also be a safehouse sanctuary for combatants. The same would go
for food distribution, health care and everything else.
Idealistically, there would be no need to fight, as we could
simply transform the communities in which we live. Realistically,
however those with power will fight to hold on to it, when they
realize that it's being challenged.  It's naive to think we can be
successful without suffering the need for self- defense against
the state. 

Security is a crucial element, not just to protect individuals in
our communities from other individuals, but to protect our
communities from the organized terror agencies of the state and
other institutions. The skills and discipline required to fight
misogynists, racists and homophobes in our communities are merely
the first steps to defending our communities from organized hate
groups. The zen aspect is that in order to overthrow the state, we
must feed the homeless. We cannot successfully feed the homeless
unless we are prepared to defend ourselves. The more successful we
are, the more prone we are to repressive measures from capitalist
food-distributors and growers and the state that protects them --
likewise for all struggles. If the state and capitalists aren't
taking repressive measures, it's probably because we aren't
effective enough yet at what it is we're doing.

The creation of any infrastructure must focus locally in small
collectives and affinity groups, yet continuously network with
other locales around general themes in order to stand any chance
of survival. To use the Paulo Fierre method, we must first see
what problems we are faced with. Next, we must analyze both
immediate causes and root causes, and finally we must act. We
mustn't allow ourselves to get bogged down in any one part of the
process. Any movement for self determination must be able to
handle the tension of respect for diversity while maintaining
political solidarity in an anti-authoritarian, undogmatic way. 

                               -30-


                            ORGANIZE!
                            by Jacinto

Revolution, to me, is more about the development of my awareness
and potentials than the donning of a balaklava and rampaging in
the streets. The freedom I desire is the freedom to create and
exist without having to constantly fight.

I've found that my own evolution exploded as I became involved
into the Baklava Collective, and then with the Chaos Collective
loft, which together brought about an increasing commitment to
developing the skills I feel are necessary to create change.

My experience working for a not-for-profit community organizing
training center gives me a certain clarity of sight in the
discussion of revolutionary organizing strategies. Community
organizing, in its evolution over the past thirty years
especially, has become both an art and a science. The ability to
develop leadership in people through concentrated organizing has
proven to be one of the most effective methods of creating
positive change.

Community organizing has a lot to offer the discussion of
revolutionary organizing. Leadership development, the training of
organizers, the ability to move an organizing campaign through an
issue to victory and then on to the next campaign -- these are all
taking place rather haphazardly now in the anarchist scene. A lot
of it is the lack of resources (another discussion altogether),
but also time and energy constraints limit our ability to create a
viable framework within which we can learn to be effective
organizers and leaders.

The most basic element of community organizing is the development
of leaders. In a very real sense this is our semantical equivalent
of personal liberation. The potential within people, and the
expression, through experience, of these potentials is the
fundamental tenet upon which community organizers thrive.
Revolution, to me, is just another way of saying that we want a
society wherein our potentials do not lie dormant, that our
expression is limited only by our imaginations.

What do we want after all but a COMMUNITY in which we feel
accepted and free? That's what community organizing is all about
-- emphasis on local decision-making, community control over
community resources, and the health and well-being of all
community residents.

The development of collectives, like the Baklava Collective that
brought me into the whole anarchist scene, is a wonderful method
for building the structures that will hopefully bring about
positive change. But we need to be able to assist the formation of
these collectives across the country that in itself will prompt
the growth of networks like Love and Rage. Collectives organized
around projects, politics, living spaces -- all of these
contribute immensely to the sense of community so important in our
lives.

I think that the integration of community organizing and
revolutionary strategies is necessary. We can learn how to
organize and develop leaders within the anarchist scene, but in
order to get ourselves to this point we must begin the educational
process which like all others must be connected to direct
experience.

For myself, working with low-income community residents in their
struggle to create viable healthy communities, is one of the
greatest educational tools available to anarchists. By
volunteering or working for community organizations, we can be
training to organize and therefore gain those organizing skills so
indispensable to social change on the level only seen in our
visions.

The opportunity to struggle alongside low-income community
residents, and feel the urgency of their fight, has changed me in
so many ways. My vision of revolution encompasses the necessity of
experiencing and communicating with people, real everyday people,
who will be an integral part of any positive social change. As
anarchists, especially those of us who feel that organizing
autonomous communities is going to play a significant role in this
revolution of, yes, everyday life, we must be connected to the
neighborhoods in which we live and the people with whom we will
need to struggle.

Building collectives, learning to organize and lead, and
connecting ourselves to our neighborhoods and communities -- these
are the strategies for revolution that I see as essential if we
are to realize our visions. 

                               -30-


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