mesapotamian internship

[terrorgore]

& what is it about the place? Is it just some kind of exoticism that has me captive? & is it utterly, lamentably unethical to chase these feelings over the plains of Turkey & in to Iraq, the one Dubya saw fit to pull from the burning wreckage for his own ends? & sign up for a fucking non-profit? Dunno, but I'm struck with the irresistable notion,

Comments

[terrorgore]

big juicy question. for all of its imperfectioins (imagine that) the spanish revolution saw three years & millions of people make a pretty resounding example of anarchism's possibilities on a mass scale. the thing about anarchism is that it IS universal, if not frequently misunderstood, & many positive practical enactments of it may not necessarily be recognised for what they are (& so many violent deeds being misconstrued as anarchism in the past). there are anarchist thoughts, thinkers, principles, practices & movements across five continents (is that how many there are? do i count antarctica? i don't know if there are anarchists in antarctica) - whether they identify as this or not.

the scary part about entertaining the idea of anarchism as practicable to, or implementable (is that a word?) by a select few is how readily it descends in to vanguardism.

& who are 'the masses'? a lot of what i guess you call european or 'western' anarchism seems to have asked itself this question of whether or not everyone out there is has enough revolutionary grit in em & come back with a "no", burrowing itself in to political ghettoes of 'lifestyle' anarchism (squat scene, freeganism, crust punk, blah blah blah). their politics are projected only on to an internal stage. this kind of anarchism becomes very inaccessible to what it's all too easy to dismiss as the huddled masses, & as long as anarchists stay in their ghettos with no motivation to leave - sometimes building the walls higher around them - the state can relax & tolerate them. they are part of the lunatic fringe, & pose no threat at all.

anarchists re-draw their own definitions of their principles & how their articulate them on a daily basis (therein lies my Ethical Wranglings re: NGO work or not). would you vote in a local election if you knew it could influence your community for the better? or boycott all representative democracy on principle? would you submit to a state security check to get a passport or enter a country? or would you boycott that country? do you pay taxes? we all live in the world of nikes & big macs & talkback radio to whatever degree, & i think as anarchists it's up to us to engage with that world rather than strengthening the 'me' & 'them' mentality with boundaries between (around) me & them. maybe i'm trying to say that i think you can still be an anarchist & wash your car. i don't know.