cross-posted from: https://anarchist.nexus/c/anarchism/p/801616/liberalism-the-cop-in-your-head-that-kills-movements

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/39773301

The legitimacy of the party of order has its material basis in the smooth reproduction of normalcy: simple things like the logistics of food and medicine, keeping the lights on and the hospitals open, keeping homes and dignities safe from violation. Legalism flows from this, and tamang proseso from that. Experiencing the insecurity of rupture and insurrection, how else would one imagine engaging with the state other than through the legitimate processes? To break with the party of order, then, means to challenge the material basis of its legitimacy and legality—for the logic of the insurrection to answer the hard questions of how to overcome specific limits, communizing food, safety, and care.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/71102061

If you live in europe, please check in with your elderly neighbours. Hot temperatures can be deadly for old people

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/68602399

New crimethinc article just dropped

Recent weeks’ clashes between Syrian state forces and Kurdish forces have developed into a multi-front assault on Rojava, threatening open war as a means of forcing it to integrate into an Islamist state structure. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are resisting sustained attacks using drones and heavy weapons by Damascus-affiliated militias in Hasakeh and Raqqa, including near two prisons housing thousands of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters. SDF confirmed that repeated assaults on al-Shaddadi prison were initially repelled at heavy cost before the facility ultimately fell with thousands of ISIS fighters escaping, despite its proximity to a US-led coalition base that did not intervene.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/48741557

Finally some good fucking news 🏴🏴🏴

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54566460

Books, pamphlets, manifestos, you name it/whatever. Please just leave out terminally online "bread"tubers, thank you.

Ideally from a few reputable Anarchist to get a better picture. The literature doesn't have to be exclusively about authority, but should mention it in relative detail.

Edit: Since I rightfully got called out on the following sentence in another thread as being demeaning of online educators work

Please just leave out terminally online "bread"tubers, thank you.

I should maybe clarify that I meant people like Contrapoints who have delightfully little to do with any kind of leftistm, let alone Anarchism

I want to talk to you about Theo Slade, also known as Theodopodopodus, Ishkah, WildVirtue, NihilistDelight, ZonkerStout, and dozens of other monickers. He’s the person behind the Ted K Archive, thelul.org, StealThisWiki, the ActivistJournies Wordpress, the Ishkah Youtube channel, the Ishkah podcast and a giant assortment of anarchist subreddits which he has steadily seized control of over the years for reasons that this expose will make clear.

In his essays, he admits he has been infiltrating anarchist events and platforms, including going to Earth First! gatherings for years in order to “deprogram” anarchists from having “dogmatic beliefs”. For example, he claims anarchists he worked to “save” were “promoting the Cambodian genocide”, which is a ridiculous fantasy of his own concoction, but nonetheless allows him to claim a moral high ground, pretending he’s working to rid the world of imaginary genocidal anarchist tyrants who, he insists, want to create Pol Pot-style communist dictatorships to commit mass-murder.

He gains control of subreddits of philosophies he abhors, such as r/anticiv, r/EgoistCommunism and r/AnarchistNihilism in order to continue this malicious agenda, pushing his largely fallacious critiques of these philosophies and censoring topics and literature that would risk promoting them. In his many essays, he describes openly how he “trolls” anarchists by occupying our spaces, seeding them with his liberal ideology, which he explains corrects our “delusions”. He calls this self-admitted trolling a “long running joke” that he plays on us.

To be clear: He doesn’t admit openly to being a liberal. He identifies as a “big tent libertarian socialist with the expertise to build democratic institutions”, but make no mistake — every ideological position he holds completely conflicts with anarchy and aligns with the establishment.

He also squats the subreddits for Hindu anarchism, Islamic anarchism and indigenous anarchism, despite having no affiliation with those identities as a white British man. He uses his "NihilistDelight" Reddit account to spread anti-nihilist rhetoric across the several nihilist subreddits he controls, further illustrating his disingenuous entryism.

His often-repeated goal is to rid the world of “extremist” or “purist” anarchists, and his methods for achieving this include stalking them, gathering troves of data on them, surreptitiously logging their conversations and finding exploits in their websites to compile yet more data on them and their activities, which he publishes to his various websites. He then links to his creepy adventures in spycraft on anarchist platforms in order to gloat and mock us. This is quite obviously the behavior of an informant, or snitch, even if he only does it for his own amusement, which is highly unlikely given his eagerness to “expose” people he repeatedly calls “criminals”, “Satanist death cultists” and “terrorists” but who are almost always simply insurrectionist, post-left, green, egoist, indigenous, mutualist and nihilist anarchists who are guilty of nothing more than holding philosophical views he disagrees with.

His infamous one-man war against theanarchistlibrary.org and its librarians should tell you all you need to know about his unscrupulous character. He spent years logging the correspondences and activities of the librarians and then published it all on his own library, and then berated the librarians when they asked him to remove their private messages and to respect their privacy. He's been banned from their chat room countless times for his unremitting harassment and demands that they censor essays he doesn't approve of and give more space to his own sophistic essays.

He often claims to be an anarchist when he’s busy gnawing away at our defences, trying to convince us to buy what he’s selling, but in his essays he can’t help boasting about his actual inclinations. He says he sees anarchy as part of a “big tent socialism” to advocate for “workplace democracy”, but this milquetoast interpretation of anarchy is only a front for him to spread his retrogressive, establishment ideology and harass anarchists of all stripes, from hard-working mutualist librarians to elderly green anarchist writers and anyone in-between who won’t fall in line with his program to “deradicalize” anarchy.

The latest subreddit he’s added to his immense collection is r/raddle — a subreddit I made to promote the raddle.me forum I founded, before he petitioned the reddit admins to hand control of it over to him. He has refused to return it, and already it’s being used, with his jubilant approval, by a dangerous stalker to smear and harass one of the anarchists who worked on the Raddle project before being forced to leave due to said stalker.

His mission statement for the Ted K. Archive is to analyze “mentally ill” and “neurodiverse” people, including “environmentalists, anarchists, terrorists and criminals” and present them with literature he claims will act as “mental health support” and have a “deprogramming effect” on them. Yes, really.

He uses the Ted Kaczynski name for his library because he believes it gives his project some sort of pedigree, but also allows him to basely conflate anarchism with Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber. Of course, Kaczynski was ardently against anarchism and vocally advocated for an authoritarian government, but facts have never stopped Slade from pursuing his agenda.

In his essays, he repeatedly conflates multiple forms of anarchy with authoritarian constructs that have no relation to anarchy in order to attack the philosophy and present it as terroristic and criminal and the domain of “mentally ill” miscreants and “Satanists”. By depicting anarchy as a menace to society, he attempts to present himself as someone who can rescue the world from the dangerously insane anarchist criminals who “take pleasure in terrorizing people”.

He employs the same methods in the vegan spaces he occupies, cautioning that vegans risk becoming neo-Nazis if they develop violent tendencies. He works at “deprogramming vegans who glorify violence” and criticizes animal rights activists who would “take the risk to slash slaughterhouse truck tires” as he “could never condone risking injury to people”.

He says vegans “work up to taking unethical violent acts” by blocking fox hunts, which he says causes them to “gain the confidence to get into stand-offs with fox hunters”. He explains how sabotaging fox hunts is comparable with anti-fascist activists “blocking fascists marching through immigrant neighbourhoods”, asserting that both these confrontational actions lead activists down the path to fascism — his essays repeatedly strive to equate direct action and even non-violent resistance with fascism. He tells animal rights activists that instead of taking direct action against animal suffering, “you could have worked to become president and outlawed it with one signature.” This statement encapsulates his liberal ideological position perfectly.

When he convinced renowned anarchist author John Zerzan to sit down for an interview, Slade proceeded to mis-quote Zerzan in the transcript in order to tarnish his ideas. When it was pointed out that Zerzan actually said the direct opposite of what Slade had transcribed, Slade doubled down, insisting Zerzan must have misspoke and he was simply correcting the transcript to say what Zerzan must have intended to say. After much protest, Slade quietly corrected the transcript. This wilful misrepresentation, going as far as re-writing an interview transcript with an anarchist who has made his positions clear for decades, is the perfect example of Slade’s duplicity.

The notion that we’re mentally unfit to participate in society and need to be saved from our disgusting criminal ways by the great Theo Slade, is astonishingly patronizing. His attempts to “deradicalize extremists” by attracting anarchists to his various coercive projects and then persuading us to read supposedly pacifying literature that promotes passive resistance and working within the system to affect change through “democratic means” perfectly encapsulates his conservative (and highly ableist) ideas.

In his magnum opus, Slade talks about “disrupting the purist anarchist pipeline”, which he says leads to “more and more fringe ideologies”. In this essay, he talks about anarchy as a pipeline to far-right ideology, slavery and white supremacy. He equates anarchy with a thirst for blood, a “violent hatred for all things unnatural”. In another piece, he calls the egalitarian freedom anarchists pursue a “deluded” notion. He then accuses anarchists of wanting to “take away modern people’s positive liberties”, before insisting that anarchists want to “bomb society back to the stone age”. His irrational fear of anarchists is really something to behold, and he's often able to disguise it as a "critique" of "fake" or "extreme" or "violent" anarchists when he addresses an audience that isn't familiar with his history of unprovoked attacks on anarchists of all stripes.

It's always disheartening for me to watch anarchists ready to believe he's only after the “bad” anarchists and would never inflict damage on them when he uses emotive phrases like “conspiracy nuts”, “terrorists”, “deranged lunatics“ and “criminals” to describe many of the good people he targets.

Further down in the Purist Anarchist Pipeline essay, he claims to support a “libertarian socialist revolution” while opposing “a vulgar anarchist insurrection”, which he illustrates with a crude diagram showing his opposition to violence towards police officers, the movie Mad Max, people who wish to live in “small communities” (??) and people “terrorizing symbols of technological progress”, by which I assume he means Apple Stores, banks, Amazon warehouses and Tesla dealerships.

These can only be seen as the ravings of a frightened conservative who is willing to pour years of his life into “reprogramming” anarchists so we stop resisting the cruel systems of authority that surround us and instead work to preserve the status quo that obviously serves him so well.

He then proceeds to attack the brilliant anarchist essay “bolo’bolo” for being opposed to “humanist, liberal and democratic laws and the state that enforces them”. Yes, this supposed “libertarian socialist” won’t tolerate anyone writing against states imposing their rule of law. He insists an anti-state philosophy would “terrorize whole regions or continents, as the Huns or Vikings did. Freedom and adventure, generalized terrorism, the law of the club, raids, tribal wars, vendettas, plundering — everything goes.”

These statements are honestly indistinguishable from a Fox News commenter trying to spread panic about Antifa, but here we are. He goes on to tarnish the anarchist proposal for Temporary Autonomous Zones, claiming they enable “fascist creep” by rejecting “humanism, the Enlightenment tradition, and democracy”. He decries the “racist position of Stirnerism” (egoism) and condemns the “nihilist and insurrectionary theories” of post-left anarchism, then in a further attempt to associate anarchy with fascism, quotes Bonnano saying “Hurry comrade, shoot the policeman, the judge, the boss”, insinuating this is the definition of fascism.

He then condemns an Italian anarchist group for calling for “fires against capital everywhere”. Finally, he chides an anarchist he says attacked a nuclear CEO, saying the anarchist was “spreading fear” and sabotaging that corporation’s ambitions, before defending that industry. These ideological statements couldn’t be clearer — he’s so disgusted by the idea of violence against the system because he is the system. Part and parcel. This is not someone who only hates “lifestylists” or “individualists” or people he deems “anti-democratic”. This is a man who abhors anarchism in all its guises and has seemingly dedicated his life to eradicating it.

It’s quite an accomplishment that this person has taken control of 200 (!) subreddits, that he operates multiple online libraries that purport to be set up for anarchists by anarchists, but instead strive to debunk anarchy and promote his demonstrably conservative views.

He is a devious little man who has spent untold hours harassing anarchist librarians and publishers, which includes compiling and releasing troves of their private correspondences against their will. He’s a proud informant who takes pleasure in violating the privacy of dedicated volunteers and publicizing these logs for all to see, obviously including law enforcement.

He’s a coercive manipulative creep who works tirelessly to destroy the security culture of anarchists around the world. He's an entryist who possesses such an ego that he can’t even bring himself to deny his intentions and gleefully describes how he bamboozles people into consuming his propaganda in an attempt to "rescue them" from dangerous radical thought. He sees anarchists as mentally ill criminals and terrorists in need of de-radicalization. He perceives the state and its laws as the only obstacle separating Western civilization from barbarism. He defends the police and CEOs, he co-opts marginalized identities to colonize their spaces, he sabotages and hijacks anarchist projects and claims ownership over other people's hard work.

There’s no reason to ever entertain his games, contribute to his projects or enable his attacks on anarchy. He is, in every sense, a snake in the grass. Don’t fall for it. Don't let him lie to you and convince you his long list of projects are meant to promote anarchy or any kind of subversive, radical thought. Don't let him use our spaces to concoct his nasty campaigns against good people. He is not an anarchist in any way, shape or form.

Follows is a list of some of the subreddits he controls with his many reddit accounts (WildVirtue, IshkahYT, ZonkerStout, etc) so you know I’m not exaggerating.

• r/OrderOfTheGoodDeath
• r/DebateSocialism
• r/andykaufman
• r/LeftAnarchism
• r/AskAMortician
• r/Vegans
• r/classwar
• r/AnimalRightsActivism
• r/SolarPunkAnarchism
• r/DebateAMeatEater
• r/AileenWuornos
• r/CringyAntiVegans
• r/IndigenousAnarchism
• r/EarthFirstNetwork
• r/IntelexualMedia
• r/Reducetarianism
• r/veganPhilosophy
• r/Yippie
• r/LibraryInfoExchange
• r/DudeistPhilosophy
• r/Platformist_Anarchism
• r/abasleciel
• r/ExExVegan
• r/Makhnovism
• r/AntiCiv
• r/AngelaDavis
• r/IndependenceAnarchism
• r/MinimalistAnarchism
• r/LeftRothbardianism
• r/PhilosophicalAnarchy
• r/ContemporaryAnarchism
• r/PragmaticVeganism
• r/AnarchistLibrary
• r/Classical_Anarchism
• r/PopCultureDetective
• r/VeganvsMeatEater
• r/SaintAndrewism
• r/AntiColonialAnarchism
• r/AnarchistLibraries
• r/WorkersInternational
• r/AnarchismPlusNihilism
• r/Raddle
• r/TaraMooknee
• r/AbsurdistAnarchism
• r/CommunalistLibrary
• r/AnarchoIndependentism
• r/AntiReligiousAnarchy
• r/VeganPurists
• r/VeganAdvocacy
• r/Bookchin
• r/RadicalLibraries
• r/HinduAnarchism
• r/IslamicAnarchism
• r/AntiVegans
• r/RadicalAnthropology
• r/AfterDeathLegalReform
• r/IAF
• r/AtheisticAnarchism
• r/BreadBooks
• r/AnarchistFederation
• r/InsaneVegans
• r/ShitCarnistsSay
• r/ZoeBaker
• r/TheGrayzone
• r/EiselMazard
• r/VegansofFreegle
• r/excarnists
• r/ExAntiVegan
• r/ExCarnist
• r/ToastTube
• r/UKFreegans
• r/Bordigism
• r/CaptainHotknives
• r/Ishkah
• r/HousingCooperatives
• r/LateStageCivilization
• r/ShaunVids
• r/AntiCivilization
• r/Appropedia
• r/BoycottMeat
• r/BreadBook
• r/CommunalistAnarchism
• r/DialecticalNaturalism
• r/HobbyPublishing
• r/IndustrialAnarchism
• r/KenLoach
• r/LeftistVeganism
• r/Mexie
• r/NeoLuddism
• r/StealThisBook
• r/TheFinalStrawRadio
• r/VeganGateKeepers
• r/AnarhijaLibrary
• r/MarxistAnarchism
• r/Municipalism
• r/PuristAnarchists
• r/Reducetarian
• r/TheBlackInternational
• r/TolstoyanAnarchism
• r/AndreGorz
• r/AntiVeganOutreach
• r/AskYourselfCommunity
• r/BoycottAnimalProducts
• r/CringyAntiVegan
• r/CringyVegan
• r/CringyVegans
• r/DebateAVoter
• r/DebateCivilization
• r/DigitalFreecycle
• r/DigitalFreegle
• r/DigitalRequests
• r/EcoExtremism
• r/EcoExtremists
• r/ExExVegans
• r/Extinctionist
• r/FileExchange
• r/ForHarriet
• r/HistoricalMaterialist
• r/HumanExtinctionists
• r/InformationExchange
• r/InformationHighway
• r/InsaneAntiVegans
• r/InsaneVegan
• r/InternationalCongress
• r/IntFedAnarchistes
• r/LoompanicsUnlimited
• r/MarxistArchive
• r/MaterialistDialectic
• r/PlantBasedNews
• r/PossibilistAnarchism
• r/PragmaticAnarchism
• r/PsychoanalyticAnarchy
• r/RightWingAnarchism
• r/TheLUL
• r/Touchpaper
• r/UltimoReducto
• r/Veganarchist
• r/VegansVsMeatEaters
• r/VoteLesserEvil
• r/AgainstCollapse
• r/AnarchistPossibilism
• r/AnarchyInternational
• r/AnimalRightsDoneBadly
• r/AntiTheisticAnarchism
• r/AntiVeganExtremism
• r/BigTentAnarchism
• r/BigTentVeganism
• r/BlackRoseAnarchistFed
• r/Cantonalism
• r/CarnivoreOutreach
• r/CommunityDirectory
• r/CringeyAntiVegans
• r/CringeyVegan
• r/CringyAntiAbortionist
• r/CringyAntiFeminists
• r/CringyAntiSemites
• r/CringyAntiSJWs
• r/CringyClimateDeniers
• r/CringyNeoNazis
• r/DavidKaczynski
• r/exprim
• r/FedAnarchicaItaliana
• r/FedAnarquistaIberica
• r/FederationAnarchiste
• r/ImpossibilistAnarchy
• r/LifeoftheMind
• r/NeoLudditeHub
• r/PhilosophicalVegan
• r/PoliticalPossibilism
• r/Possibilism
• r/raddledotme
• r/SubRosasLibrary
• r/TextDebate
• r/TravellerRights
• r/TravellerSolidarity
• r/Veganism101
• r/VeganTube
• r/Wildist
• r/ZelfromAshdod
• r/OpenDistro
• r/TheLudditeClub
• r/TheModernMortician
• r/UnconventionalLives
• r/anarchistlib
• r/DoctorAvi
• r/IntersectionalVegans
• r/NihilismNow
• r/VeganGainsCommunity
• r/ARplusIO
• r/EgoistCommunism
• r/FolkPsychology
• r/FriendCollectors
• r/LeftMarketAnarchism
• r/LostInModernity
• r/MictheVegan
• r/UnnaturalVegan
• r/AmuseWiki
• r/anarchistnihilism
• r/DeepConnections
• r/DeepExperiences
• r/ExperienceCollectors
• r/ImmyLucas
• r/intentionalfriendship
• r/VeganYouTube

Sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20221105015650/https://www.thetedkarchive.com/library/theo-slade-disrupting-the-purist-anarchist-pipeline

https://anarchistnews.org/content/thoughts-discussion-between-left-anarchist-and-bio-primitivist

https://raddle.me/f/lobby/177748/the-ted-k-archive

https://web.archive.org/web/20230325163248/https://www.thetedkarchive.com/library/a-text-dump-on-jay

https://web.archive.org/web/20240209032709/https://www.thetedkarchive.com/library/theo-slade-responding-to-claims-i-ve-been-attempting-anarchist-and-or-anticiv-entryism

https://web.archive.org/web/20231115003438/https://raddle.me/f/anticiv/138355/a-friendly-reminder-not-to-get-lost-down-the-eco-purist

https://web.archive.org/web/20220812194744/https://shows.acast.com/ishkah/episodes/the-bizarre-case-of-vegan-neo-nzis-deprogramming-vegans-who-

https://raddle.me/f/Anarchy/197192/-

https://raddle.me/f/Anarchy/210263/theo-slade-a-snake-in-the-grass/comment/433044

https://web.archive.org/web/20230616060722/https://old.reddit.com/r/veganarchism/comments/i5dxdf/the_bizarre_case_study_of_vegan_neonazis_why_we/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37239269

I fear that if we (anarchists and fellow travelers) cannot explicitly articulate the need for action, within the context of upending daily life as it is currently lived, the horrors that are the existent world will continue along with it. Even when protests become riots, if we find ourselves continuing to inhabit the position of waiting for specialized locations of resistance to make themselves known we will fail to meet the moment at hand, perpetually stuck in a reactive cycle of prairie-dogging into moments of rupture only to fall back in line when the tides subside. If we truly desire the end of this world of death machines, we cannot afford to wait and take action only once ruptures become clear. We must embody the constant state of rupture. But to do that, we need to recognize why we so often wait.

by Colin Denny Donoghue

While it’s true many people are wrapped up in a consumer-corporate lifestyle and think trying to change the world is a naïve or impossible task not worth even trying, many other people are more actively compassionate and are giving a lot of time and effort to try and make this world a better place. Some of those engaged in this productive work, like The School of Living, have a better vision than others on how to achieve the goal of a healthier and more just society; from its founder Ralph Borsodi’s book Flight From the City, along with the later Decentralism by Mildred J. Loomis, to current vegan homesteading projects like Ahimsa Village, I find the ideas and praxis of philosophy toward achieving a sustainable society to be very on-target. Unfortunately many others do not yet see how crucial it is for people to be connected to the Earth in a more direct, natural and free way in order for there to be global social-justice, and in order to restore our environment, health, and sanity.

In “close-but-no-cigar” fashion (i.e. missing the crucial point), modern conservationists, scientists, sociologists and radical activists give key ideas for stopping and reversing the destructive ecological & health crisis we face, namely: we need much more decentralization of power, localization of organic food production, and we need much less environmental destruction, pollution, waste and radiation. As good as these ideas are, the critical problem with them is that their version of decentralization, localization and sustainability only go to a certain limited extent (limited within corporate/statist/monetary systemic restraints), and are alternatives accessible only to a relatively narrow segment of the world population. Here I will argue that the decentralist/localization/sustainability movement absolutely needs to go further, i.e. all the way to the universal individual level, in order for us to achieve the significant positive change the world needs. This “extreme” decentralization, localization and sustainable living would not only be more effective, but is in fact the only way to a globalization of equality and personal/environmental health. And it leads to a clear and specific destination: communities of sovereign zero-waste veganic homesteads. That way of life produces none of the environmental/health/life-destruction that is dominant now, and also fosters human equality, well-being and flourishing; more on why this is the real solution will be explained shortly.

The difference in perspective between what most people are offering as solutions and what’s offered here is fundamentally a difference between inside & outside-the-box thinking; the former is limited within the socioeconomic box (the box that is actually the main source of the problems), looking for within-the-system top-down solutions from State policies and programs (or the International Monetary Fund, etc.), rather than bottom-up solutions from autonomous individuals & the Earth’s ecology. This can also be looked at as a collectivist versus individualist way of thinking, though the former is often mistakenly equated with community, and the latter with a selfish isolationist perspective. In reality, collectivism means forced assimilation into a social-system while individualism has the ethical superiority of valuing individual sovereignty, self-responsibility, and voluntary relations.

archived (Wayback Machine)

To embrace veganism and forgo the consumption and utilization of animal products is not an end, but a beginning; a new start affording the practitioner an opportunity to see everyday realities in a different light.

However, to speak of the suffering of non-human animals and the benefits of a vegan lifestyle is often a disheartening situation to the vegan, for typically the first reaction of her audience is to disagree. Opponents of veganism say that the way vegans view human-animal relationships (i.e. radically) is wrong, and that, looming on the horizon, is a severe cost for such blatant societal insubordination. Ultimately, they prophesize, the error of veganism will become obvious and, eventually, the idea thrown away.

In a strange way, however, veganisms’s critics are correct.

Not until one realizes what makes veganism “unreasonable,” will the individual realize the true reasoning behind what it means to be vegan. Not until one questions what it is that depicts veganism as “wrong,” in the eyes of non-vegans will one gain the ability to adequately address the wrongs driving their refusal to accept humanity’s violent and unwarranted treatment of non-human animals. Not until the principles of veganism are applied to the rubric of injustice as a whole will one understand the need for veganism at all.

They are correct because veganism in isolation defeats the purpose for which it is intended.

And so it goes, for the alienation experienced as an effect of breaking social conventions is often enough to make one “question” her commitment to veganism.

As a philosophy, veganism stands in defiance to ideologies touching the core of Western thought. Opposed to the irrational belief systems which establishment institutions socialize people to “accept,” the principles of veganism challenge individuals to confront the dogma they are issued and to construct new ethics and values based on the premises of compassion and justice.

Confronting the existing belief systems, however, is a frightening concept to a society that has voluntarily conscripted itself to the dominant social paradigms of the state. However, as Brian Dominick so skillfully illustrates in the following essay, it is precisely this confrontation that we must agree to make if we are honest in seeking a true assessment of what social liberation has to offer. In the totality of this process, veganism is but one element in the compound structure of social revolution. It is in this light that Brian’s essay shines its brightest. Animal Liberation and Social Revolution is a compact framework designed to assist us as we embark on the endeavor of recognizing what roles compassion, critical thinking, and rationality (ought to) play in our simultaneous deconstruction and transformation of society. Relentless in his quest to set the proverbial wheels of this transformation in motion, Brian presses us to confront the oppressive ideologies we harbor within ourselves and to uncover their linkages to the injustice that pervades every sphere of our existence.

It is Brian’s belief that each of us has been given the tools to draw these necessary conclusions. It makes no difference if you are an anarchist approaching veganism, a vegan approaching anarchism, or neither of the two. All that is required is the willingness to roll up your sleeves, sharpen those tools and start drawing, in a concerted effort, to challenge humanity’s myopic vision of what constitutes a just society.

—Joseph M. Smith

November, 1995

archived (Wayback Machine)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/19135787

from the new-breed-of-surveillance-statists dept

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/22955142

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22488576

Free Territory of Ukraine (1917)

Tue Nov 27, 1917

Image: Two soldiers next to a Makhnovian flag, reading "Death to all who stand in the way of freedom for working people" in Cyrillic. Unknown date and location [Wikicommons]

Makhnovia, also known as the Free Territory of Ukraine, was an anarchist society established on this day in 1917 with the capture of the Ukrainian city of Huliaipole.

The Free Territory was an attempt to form a stateless anarchist society during the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917 to 1921, during which time "free soviets" and libertarian communes operated under the protection of Nestor Makhno's Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army (flag shown above).

As Makhnovia self-organized along anarchist principles, references to "control" and "government" were highly contentious. For example, the Makhnovists, often cited as a form of government (with Nestor Makhno as their "leader"), were ostensibly organized to serve in a purely military role, with Makhno himself functioning as more of a strategist than commander.

The economy of Makhnovia varied by region, from "market socialism" to anarcho-communism in character. Where money was used, production was often organized in the form of worker cooperatives.

The Bolsheviks were openly hostile to the Free Territory. On November 26th, 1920, less than two weeks after the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army assisted Bolshevik forces in defeating the White Army, Makhno's headquarters staff and many of his subordinate commanders were arrested at a Red Army planning conference to which they had been invited by Moscow, and executed.

Makhno himself fled the region several months later, settling in Paris, France.

• Date: 1917-11-27
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org