On The Street With The Invisible Ground.

        Across the world anarchist put together leaflets, zines, pamphlets, etc., and work towards getting them out on the street among the less informed members of society, in the hope of bring about change. Though I see a place for the "social media" avenue of communication, I still believe we abandon the paper and the street at our peril. The street is the place to meet people you have never met before, to influence that stranger, to make that new connection. The paper "thing" in your hand, transferring it to a living person, is so much more alive than sitting at a screen spouting your thoughts. So I always plug magazines, leaflets, flyers, etc.. Though no longer able to do my bit on the street as I used to, I still hunger for that human connection between me, my ideas on paper and a complete stranger.

      So here is an extract from my pick of an April zine, The Invisible Ground, that could be freely printed out and taken to the street.

Fascists ARE the State

        States uphold their own authority by maintaining a monopoly on violence. The state, through its police and military apparatuses, is considered the only actor that may legitimately commit violence. Fascism is a bargain struck between the state and certain privileged groups; that members of these groups may enact violence which is then legitimized by the state. As long as the violence serves the state’s desires and ultimately upholds its authority, the state will not interfere.
       Historically, when a state (especially capitalist states) finds its authority is in jeopardy it will commonly employ campaigns against an ideological “Other” in an attempt to reunify an increasingly skeptical population under its mythological authority and ensure its continued existence.
         20th and 21st century fascism are examples of this practice, as is the colonial concept of whiteness itself.

The myth of the Legal Society

        There are many myths that are crucial in upholding behaviors that ensure the public’s continued participation in, and identification with the nation state. Few of these myths are as pernicious as that of the Legal Society; the notion that the actions of the state are bound by a code of laws, and not simply motivated by the state’s desires.
     State atrocities committed through the police and military throughout history and in recent memory have proven the ideal of the free and legal society is a myth.
       How many lived through the evictions of Oceti Sakowin and Sacred Stone Camp? How many more watched via livestream? How many injustices must we witness before we admit that the state is limited in action only by its own ability, and driven only by its own desire!
       It doesn’t matter if we believe our actions will be considered “legal”. When the state feels threatened, legality becomes difficult to define.

Download free as a PDF HERE:here 

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Lost My Smart Phone, How Can I Live!!

       It may be strange to use social media to ask, is social media playing to dominant a part in our lives? Are we being shaped by social media rather than our own experiences? By sitting and responding to what we are fed on social media, we actually believe we are doing something, we feel we belong, we are involved, but the world is still out there made up of real people doing real things. I personally still believe that on the street handing out your paper or leaflets is the best way to reach people, you are meeting people who are outside your own little circle. Perhaps I'm old fashioned.

Thought this was an interesting article from It's Going Down:

        In the 90s, there was a kind of rowdy spirit of anarchism that I often felt like Profane Existence kind of typified. Building through the late 90s that started to transition towards this Crimethinc. styled personal revolution. I feel like that kind of paved the way towards blogs and social media: a focus on the individual over the ideas. That flows directly into what praxis looks like and action falls by the wayside.

         In hindsight, it almost looks like this master plan: channelling this voracious, rowdy movement into online posturing. Whether that was the goal or not, who knows, but it echoes through civilization at large. There’s unquestionable intention in creating the social media world but I don’t want to sound convoluted in thinking it was aimed at anarchists, it just turns out that it worked out the same. No doubt something that would be considered an added bonus from the eyes of the State.
        So you have the interplay of two things: the rise of repression and the rise of social media. In my eyes, it was the combination of the two that really decimated this milieu. In some regards, it could very well die on Facebook. Everything becomes so absolutely personal in nature and so tied to the individual that we lose the ability to even think about these ideas as existing in their own merit. You don’t have arguments: you just have reactions. So you go round and round with the same argument, but it doesn’t matter. What is being said matters less than who is saying it.
        That opens the door for a ramp up in oppression politics to further those divides. The ideas and the drive are what suffer. Arguments replace discourse. Praxis becomes impossible. So when everyone who laid low in the mid-00s started coming back around and saw what the “anarchist milieu” currently looks like, they just kept moving. Why wouldn’t they? We’ve just opened ourselves up to external influences to the point where repression, by and large, isn’t even complicated. A couple Facebook profiles and the State can just undermine anything.
       So long as we use social media as the platform for communication, then we have no ground to stand on. No traction, no hope for meaningful dialogue and certainly not any kind of engagement. Having a critique of technology or capitalism doesn’t make you exempt from its consequences. Get off of social media is definitely my weakest call to action, but it’s sadly a necessary one. If we want to move forward, we have to recognize this.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk