I was organizing with a group of (mostly) anarchists today. In my experience every anarchist I’ve organized with in real life is cool af and takes their praxis very seriously with major time commitments focused on improving the lives of workers and lumpen. They are usually hotter than any other tendency too shrug-outta-hecks. No whining about “tankies” or Kronstadt, just showing up to meetings, finding creative solutions and putting in the work.

Despite our nominal non-sectarian rule, I feel like there is still general derision towards anarchists here so I just wanted to remind everyone that these internet anarcho-Atlanticists on [insert dunk_tank instance or subreddit here] are just an online phenomenon and not real life. (Have I met those guys IRL too? Yes, but not in real organizing just in book clubs etc and they are tedious but there’s still more to work with than than a lib.)

So here’s to our anarchist comrades maduro-coffee keep keeping it real

  • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    19·
    5 months ago

    In my experience there are two main types of anarchists - the ones who are out there getting shit done and the ones who spend their time online engaging in ideological pissing contests or in echo chambers.

    They are wildly different in their disposition and their politics.

    Active anarchists are generally easy to get along with and want to get shit done - whether it’s making life materially better for people who are oppressed or whether it’s wrecking shit up for reactionaries.

    The other type of anarchist is mostly concerned with purity of ideology and praxis, and in finding ways to justify their support for NATO and shit like that. These are often the people who presume that because they personally do not engage in any practical application of their politics that therefore their ideological opponents do not either and they’ll challenge you to describe what action you have been involved in recently (Bruh, I ain’t gonna dox myself and I sure as hell ain’t gonna dox myself in an attempt to impress some dork whose praxis starts and ends with sharing memes.)

    I know I can be a vocal critic of anarchists sometimes but I sincerely appreciate the grass-toucher anarchists because they are a staunch lot. It’s the terminally-online types that rub me up the wrong way though.

    • Nakoichi [they/them]@hexbear.netMEnglish
      16·
      5 months ago

      Trust me, us grass toucher types fucking LOATH the terminally online types (of which I am sort of one but only cuz I help hold this crazy weird little corner of the internet together out of love for yall).

      • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        10·
        5 months ago

        I reckon you would know it as well as I do - there are plenty of anarchists who do spend a lot of time online (shit, some of them are basically engaged full-time in online activism doing critical work like surveilling and doxing fascists) but they still aren’t of the terminally-online variety, and as soon as they encounter the terminally-online type they get the ick.

    • Gaia [She/Her]English
      12·
      5 months ago

      I honestly struggle sometimes with seeing myself as an online anarchist at this point. I was raised Mennonite Brethren, and used to do all kinds of work on the ground to help people, but since I’ve become more politically educated I realized I had to transition for my own mental health, which resulted in a loss of any ability to do what I had previously. I can’t get a “normal” job anymore, so I can hardly help others materially, though I still do. I’m thankful to my family for housing and feeding me but I can’t help but feel so useless. My whole life I’ve been taught to help others around me but I can’t even help myself anymore.

      Hopefully having an associates will help with the employment discrimination.

      Sorry if this wasn’t welcome.

      • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        7·
        5 months ago

        Nah, it’s welcome. I appreciate you sharing your experience and being honest about how you feel.

        So I got dealt a pretty shit hand - a really horribly abusive childhood, plenty of mental illness that comes with that, and then being autistic and ADHD on top of it all. (Hooray!! 🎉) If I bothered listing all the diagnoses it starts looking a lot like alphabetti spaghetti.

        What that means is that I’m not nearly as capable of engaging in IRL activism as I wish I was able to, so I have a lot of sympathy for the people who find themselves in a similar situation. I know how hard it can be when you’re acutely aware of the injustice in the world and how fucked up everything is but it’s even harder when you feel like you aren’t capable of doing anything about it. It’s a kind of suffering I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.

        I guess what I’m driving at here is that my comment wasn’t meant to slag off people who spend a lot of time online in radical spaces but it was taking aim at a particular type of person who spends basically all of their time online and is never involved in any efforts to put their politics into practice, even in the small ways, but instead they are just a political dilettante. The ones who treat their politics as a fashion parade and who pick out a bespoke political orientation because they feel that it’s most flattering on them. That sort of thing. (And tbh there are Marxists who are definitely guilty of the exact same problems too.)

        I know there are plenty of comrades who are facing dire circumstances with regards to housing, employment, family, and health situations. The harsh truth is that you aren’t going to be of any use to the revolution if you aren’t taking care of yourself and so I have nothing but love for the people who want to be more engaged in enacting their politics but, due to circumstances, they are unable to. This also goes for people who live in remote locations or who are living somewhere so hostile to socialism and organising that it’s borderline impossible to achieve anything in their communities.

        • Gaia [She/Her]English
          5·
          5 months ago

          Thank you for helping me internalize that I should consider my self a “to each” instead of a “from each”.

          I didn’t see your comment as slagging off on my type, I guess I just really wanted to vent. Thank you for being a part of one of the few days where I’ve felt accepted whole cloth by the people I’ve talked to. I am grateful to you for easing my suffering.

      • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        10·
        5 months ago

        The good thing is that type of anarchist doesn’t go outside, and certainly not to engage in activism, so you’re pretty safe.

        This type of anarchist is courted by NAFO chuds and they tend to take people like Vaush, Dylan Burns, Animarchy, Destiny, and Keffals seriously.