Resources for Radicals

Aiming to be a "blog of the gaps" to cover things that other radical blogs often miss — what we want, our journey there, and issues along the way. To help you searching the blog, I use the following tags to categorise posts: theory - ways of structuring the world strategy - plans to achieve the theories tools - specific ways to (help) achieve the strategy tips - advice that could help you in your life and action examples and analysis of existing campaigns For more info, see the about this blog page. Please send in your own blog posts, links, comments, or article ideas either as a submission or an ask - always welcome. "if you don't have a strategy, you're part of someone else's strategy." – a. toffler "What can we do today, so that tomorrow we can do what we are unable to do today?" – Paulo Freire I also run a more scatter-shot blog full of incoherent rants and tumblr arguments. Sorry about that.

[resourcesforradicals]

An apt post to share here. tl;dr = critiques of ~identity politics~/privilege theory are often shitty straw men with no teeth. See more on her twitter https://twitter.com/JuliaSerano/status/967295899868135425

[resourcesforradicals]

Nuance for and against common forms of identity politics 💜💛

[resourcesforradicals]

"This anti-Identitarian fable is a profoundly idealist, and as such is an anti-Marxist, analysis of the history of the last sixty years."

[resourcesforradicals]

Acknowledging the ways that emotional labour goes unseen and uncredited is important. We need to name the exploitation and devaluation of this important work. At the same time, the acknowledgement that emotional labour is frequently exploited has translated into a belief that emotional labour is inherently exploitative. As a femme who frequently performs emotional labour, both in my personal and professional life, I do not appreciate my important, needed, complex skill set being framed as something that is necessarily oppressive to me. I do not appreciate the suggestion that I am somehow being tricked into doing the hard and necessary work that is deeply important to me.

“Three Thoughts on Emotional Labour“, by Clementine Morrigan

[resourcesforradicals]

"In some cases, relatively strong left-wing parties can help extra-parliamentary politics, as long as there are personal contacts, respectful collaboration and an understanding that they are the parliamentary representation of broader struggles. If we take the example of Die Linke in Germany, there is no doubt that it strengthens extra-parliamentary socialist politics through grants, access to infrastructure and information, the influence it has on public debate, etc. As I said before, there is always the danger of co-optation, and radical activists need to be aware of that, but to assume that co-optation is inevitable is not only wrong but also assumes a position of weakness. It is wrong for empirical reasons. If we use the example of Germany, I know many folks doing radical work with the support of Die Linke without being compromised in what they are doing, both because they are aware of the potential pitfalls and because segments within Die Linke see supporting them as an obligation. It assumes a position of weakness because it reckons that any collaboration with less radical forces will necessarily weaken the radical ones. This is a big problem for the advancement of radical politics. While there are historical examples -- and certain organizations on the left -- that make such a position seem plausible, there is no natural law dictating any such outcome. Whether more or less radical forces will gain from such a collaboration will be determined by taking on the challenge. This is often the only chance for radicals to spread their ideas and gain any broader influence. The alternative is sectarianism and self-marginalization."

[resourcesforradicals]

How do you be non-hierarchical and still acknowledge that some people have more knowledge and/or experience about certain subjects?

Great question! I’d say the two – scepticism of hierarchy, and centring of the right knowledge and experience – go together quite naturally, but others may not agree.

The phrase “non-hierarchical” implies an absence of hierarchies, or at least a desire for it.

I’m a descriptivist when it comes to grammar though lol, so: in practice, it’s often used more to mean a desire to minimise all unnecessary hierarchies.

As the word ‘minimise’ implies, there’s an idea that hierarchies are things you can limit, not things you can eliminate. There will always be hierarchies between people as long as there are differences between people. For this reason, some people prefer the term “anti-hierarchical” to “non-hierarchical”.

As the word ‘unnecessary’ implies, not all hierarchies are ones you want to remove. Some types of harmful hierarchies:

Those that reinforce societal oppressions. The harm here is clear, hopefully!

Those that concentrate knowledge in a few people. The harm here may be around security (e.g. because knowledge concentration can become power concentration which is a risk given infiltrators) or lack of growth (centralised knowledge means less skilling up) or group resilience (if the knowledge-holder goes on holiday/burns out, are you screwed?)

Those that provide no benefit. Hierarchies often fundamentally are about limiting autonomy, and that needs to be done for a good reason.

Basically, being against hierarchy is about an analysis of how power in our groups.

This is where your question comes in. In short, often the answer is “with good non-hierarchical structures” – as structure is the key to combatting ignoring valuable knowledge/experience, rather than hierarchy. Some examples off the top of my head:

A lot of knowledge about oppression is concentrated at the bottom of power gradients e.g. with people of colour, with working class/poor people, etc. This is often a hierarchy you want to work with. When talking about combating a form of oppression that affects a particular group, you may want to centre the input of that group e.g. people of colour around white supremacy. How this happens depends on your group and what you’re trying to do, it could involve: prioritising certain voices in a discussion but allowing everyone to take part in decision-making, giving autonomy to certain groups (e.g. a working group, a liberation caucus) to make certain decisions, taking guidance from and being accountable to other groups, etc.

A lot of skills are concentrated at the top of power gradients e.g. with white people, with wealthy people, etc. This is often a hierarchy you want to undo. When needing a particular skill to do a task, one classic way of breaking down hierarchies is skill-sharing e.g. doubling up people doing tasks so that a less versed person is paired with someone with more knowledge, to build in structures of knowledge flow down hierarchies.

tl;dr = there are always some experiences/knowledge you want centre and some you don’t, and non-hierarchical organising tends to suggest using power as the deciding factor.

[resourcesforradicals]

Last Thursday, as social media posts began circulating calling PWR BTTM’s Ben Hopkins a “known sexual predator” and accusing the singer and guitarist of alleged sexual assault,...

Some practical tips for our spaces and communities to build counter-power against abusive people and structures.

Times like these require nuance and sensitivity. It is impossible to know what true accountability looks like until it is determined by survivors. But there are ways for communities to process experiences like these while respecting that reality — ways in which we can open ourselves up to learn and grow, and to work at fostering a culture that better understands sexual abuse, consent, and accountability.

<3

[resourcesforradicals]

Why we need mass anti fascism, rather than "squad vs squad" scuffles - and why black bloc shouldn't always be our tactic.

[resourcesforradicals]

by DiDi Delgado, Black Lives Matter-Cambridge

Don’t agree with all the piece, but this quote really nailed it for me:

If there’s one thing white people DON’T need, it’s more spaces reserved for their comfort at the expense and exclusion of people of color. I understand there are white folks eager to openly dismantle racism and flex their social justice vocabulary without burdening POC. To those people, I’d suggest focusing on pre-existing white spaces: their homes, their office buildings, their college campuses, their financial institutions, their health care facilities, their shopping centers, and every other space designed exclusively with them in mind. By creating bubbles within white supremacy where it’s “safe” to practice anti-racism, we’re implying there are places where racism can remain unchallenged.

[resourcesforradicals]

Rules, how we use them and why they might not be as helpful as we think they are.

The really key part of this for me:

Rules need to be accompanied by an awareness of power If the same dynamics that led to the power imbalance in the first place are still active, then something deeper is needed. Hand signals, group agreements and safer spaces policies can be great aids to help us participate in groups and access shared spaces. And, to make them more effective, they need to be accompanied by a collective awareness of how power flows amongst us in groups. I think that would help us create more sustainable, resilient & vibrant groups who have a genuine understanding of, and respect for, their own diversity. 

I’ve seen so many people who critique power relations in other spaces just ignore the ongoing power dynamic issues in meetings. Watch yrself <3

[shutdownld50-blog]

Grassroots campaign shuts down far right art gallery!

The Shut Down LD50 campaign can happily disclose that the landlord of the LD50 Gallery has asked the tenants, Lucia Diego and Alexander Moss, to vacate the premises. The gallery sign has been taken down from the building at 2–4 Tottenham Road, Dalston, London, and there is no indication that any future events will be taking place in the space. As of April there will no longer be a racist cultural centre operating in Hackney.

Shutting down the gallery is the result of sustained campaign work by many political and community groups, Hackney residents, cultural workers and journalists. We thank everyone involved for their dedication. At the same time we have to recognise that this is only a first step. More needs to be done both to prevent LD50 and its organisers from restarting their project elsewhere, and more generally to ensure that our communities and cultural institutions are kept free of the influence of the far right.

We urge people inside and outside of the art world to refuse to work with Lucia Diego and Alexander Moss. They have actively supported the development of a fascist culture in London. The speakers they hosted often promote mass violence against oppressed peoples and political opponents. The LD50 representatives have done next to nothing to disassociate themselves from such views. There is every reason to believe that they will attempt to resume their public promotion of racist ideas if given the opportunity. Not giving fascism a platform or a voice is an effective non-violent means of stopping them.

It is also important to learn lessons from our activity up until now. As a loose affiliation of friends and associates the Shut Down LD50 Campaign worked collectively alongside established community groups. We have worked mostly anonymously in order to protect ourselves. This was especially necessary after Lucia Diego published the personal details of opponents for potential use by the online far- and alt-right (including open advocates of political murder). When we oppose fascists we need to protect ourselves from their tactics of intimidation.

We must continue to think about how to oppose racism and fascism more broadly. Whilst some of the events at LD50 were openly fascist, it is clear that the space also took inspiration from the more everyday forms of political authoritarianism that have proliferated during the last few years, including Trump. Shutting down fascists in the long term requires that we transform the culture in which they can begin to gain popular and institutional support (and the art world is not the neutral space it often believes itself to be). We need to be able to ask larger questions, such as how to oppose Britain’s own violent border regime.

One way is by working in and alongside the many groups who helped to support our campaign. All of these different organisations are doing exceptional work in the fight against racism, fascism and oppression. Their struggles are becoming increasingly necessary, and we encourage you to get involved with them. To that end, we include a list of groups who have supported us below.

Shut Down LD50

56a Infoshop, Anti-University, Artists For Palestine UK, Arts Against Cuts, Autonomous Centre Edinburgh, BARAC / Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, Base, BDZ Group / Boycott Zabludowicz, Black Lives Matter UK, Boycott Workfare, Cleaners and Allied International Workers Union, Cops Off Campus, Digs / Hackney Private Renters, Disabled People Against the Cuts, DIY Space for London, Goldsmiths UCU (University and College Union), Independent Workers Union of Great Britain,  Jewish Socialists’ Group, Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants, London Anti-Fascists, MayDay Rooms Staff Collective, Movement for Justice, Mute Magazine, Novara Media, PCS Union Culture Sector Group, Plan C London, Radical Housing Network, Roots Culture Identity Art Collective, Scottish Radical Library, Sisters Uncut North London, South London Solidarity Federation.

[resourcesforradicals]

🔥👊🔥✊🔥👊🔥

[resourcesforradicals]

You’re so tireless, which I admire so much. Do you get tired? Do you have a self-care regimen, or think about resting in a formalized way?

I kind of cringe when I hear the term self-care, for lots of reasons: the way that it’s been commodified, the way it’s a form of compulsory action. People do a lot of “are you doing self-care?” and it becomes, like, it’s own work. People have made self-care a labor. To me that’s really not useful, and for some people it’s actually oppressive. It becomes it’s own job. I’m interested in collectivizing our care. I’m interested in community care. We should take care of each other and help each other out. It’s not an individual pursuit. Everything in this county is so fucking individualistic and so rooted in capitalism I can’t stand it. Like, do I have hobbies? Yes. I knit. I watch dumb movies. I go out to dinner with people I love. I love to do lots of different kinds of things, and I don’t see it as some special time that I’m carving out. I just see it as my life. Just like organizing is my life, and part of the rent that I pay to live on this planet.

I understand, though. I hear a lot of conversations around self-care and healing. I’m so happy that they pay attention to those things and try to center them in their own lives. On the one hand, I’m grateful to them for making sure they pay attention to that. In my generation this was not something that people focused on doing. But I have to admit to being super concerned by a lot of the language and how people are trying to operationalize and actualize self-care within capitalism. I also worry that it is going to become a new labor for people to undertake. So when you are in a position where you can’t “self-care” the anxiety of not being able to do it becomes its own thing. I just think it shouldn’t be that. I also think that struggle and organizing are also joys. It’s not taxing labor all the time, and if it is you’re probably doing it wrong.

[resourcesforradicals]

The recurring problematic when it comes to formulating a left-populist political strategy is whether it is possible to do this without reproducing paradigms – like the nation – that are historically embedded in the xenophobia we seek to challenge. Any ‘left-populist’ strategy must acknowledge the profound difficulty of such a task, and recognise that if new, radical articulations of ‘the nation’ are even achievable, they will be products of long-term counter-hegemonic struggle, not short-term political campaigns. The scale of the challenge might mean we are better off expending our limited time and energies into different discursive strategies that aren’t as clearly susceptible to making things worse if unsuccessful.

4 Reflections on Left Populism

A much underrated point, tbh. We can’t just will new meanings into being.

[resourcesforradicals]

I rag on Waging Nonviolence a lot, but the advice in this piece about keeping your head above water is pretty sensible ✊

[resourcesforradicals]

Violence begets violence, true, but violence properly directed can also beget joy...However, we must recognise that our capacities for confrontation do not come from nowhere, but are sustained by a variety of affective and reproductive labours, that must be performed communally.  We must attune ourselves to the varying capacities, needs, risks and limits of the members of our communities so that we might develop a praxis that is effective and sustains rather than diminishes our capacities for antagonism. 

A Brief Theory of Queer Violence

[tooyoungforthelivingdead]

prison an obscure word footnoted in dictionaries scholars say it was how the ancients wrote “we are not yet ready” on their wrists every morning

Alexis Pauline Gumbs, “An Archeology of Freedom” (via tooyoungforthelivingdead)

[resourcesforradicals]

26 Ways to Be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets

This list is designed to celebrate all the ways that our communities can engage in liberation. For a range of reasons, there are and always have been folks who cannot attend rallies and protests but who continue to contribute to ending police and state violence against black people. People seek justice and support liberation in an array of ways, yet their bodies, their spirits, and their lives may not allow them to be in the streets. We believe that we will win. And we need the presence of everyone in the movement to do so. We affirm that all contributions are political, militant, and valued. By and for those in our communities who can’t be in the streets, we offer a list of concrete ways that we are in the movement, and that we are supporting liberation every day. We see you. We are you. See you in the struggle.

A bit America-centric for the first few, but most the suggestions are pretty reasonable!