Anarchy Alive

My friend and comrade Dan Sieradski gave the following remarks last night at a joint Yom HaShoah commemoration for several brownstone Brooklyn synagogues held at Congregation Mt. Sinai in Brooklyn Heights. He was preceded by his grandmother Peska, a Shoah survivor, and hsi mother Jeanette, a Holocaust educator, in offering an intergenerational view of Shoah survival. I reproduce his words here for their clarity and compassion.

The most pronounced element of my heritage as a descendant of Holocaust survivors is the intergenerational transmission of trauma.The trauma of the Shoah today looms whether one has any relatives who perished in the war, and thanks to the pop-culturfication of the Shoah, whether you’re even Jewish or not.

For better or worse, the Holocaust has been canonized in such a way so as to make it the legacy of the entire Jewish nation and the world as a whole, as opposed to being the sole legacies of the actual victims and perpetrators themselves. Certainly many nations bear responsibility for their culpability and non-intervention in the Nazi genocide, and that merits repetition as the world stands idly by, time and again, as brutal genocides unfold all about our tiny planet, as the victims, perpetrators and bystanders of the last genocide, and the last one before that, assert in memorials and remembrances, “Never again.”

However, it is also worth noting that, as a result of this canonization of the Shoah, that as a Jew today, regardless of my own family history, I am more likely to feel as though the Holocaust happened to me, than I would that I had been a slave in Egypt, as the Torah instructs me. I am inclined to reflect upon the implications of that perception.

I find it telling that the defining act for which Avraham earned the inheritance of Israel, that act for which he was promised a nation, was that of traumatizing his son Isaac by binding him to a sacrificial altar and nearly striking him dead. Or that our national symbol, the Menorah, recalls surviving our near-total destruction as a people. And that our entire culture has been summed up in the aphorism: “They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat.”

Our historical and religious narratives — that which we tell ourselves — perpetuate a legacy and expectation of persecution: Each day one should view himself as though he had been a slave in Egypt; the Amalekites shall rise up in every generation to destroy us; pogroms, Crusades, expulsions, Inquisitions; 6 million innocents perished in the fires of Europe; we must defend Israel, no matter how morally deficient we may find its actions, lest another Holocaust befalls us.

As Shalom Auslander wrote recently in Tablet magazine, “I was raised on a steady diet of Holocaust films, books, newsreels, and stories. By ‘never again,’ it was clear that my teachers meant ‘again.’ They meant, ‘Bet on it.’ They meant, ‘Hide some cigarettes in your underpants, you can trade them for bread.’”

The primary characteristic of Jewishness itself has become the affectation and expectation of trauma. Jewish identity is no longer about loving Hashem, or loving your fellow — dvekus, limmud, chesed, tzedakah. It is living in fear and suspicion of the other. It is knowing that the whole world has your number and is waiting for the right moment to put the knife in your back.

This undercurrent of suspicion and distrust, this paranoia and in some cases blatant racism, has come to pervade Jewish thinking. While not historically unfounded, it has spiraled well beyond the realm of excusable and understandable defensive posturing. We have come to ignore our power and privilege in the 21st century, and our responsibility as survivors, and — like the Reichstag fire — use the Holocaust to justify any and all actions that can be frenetically cast as necessary for the preservation of the Jewish people, no matter the cost to humanity.The true causes of the Shoah — ethnic and religious hatred, unchecked government power, endless warfare against an amorphous enemy, the eradication of civil liberties — have become instruments in the prevention of the next Shoah.

The result is a cheapening of the memory of the victims and an evincing that we have learned little if anything. The Holocaust and antisemitism are now meaningless political slurs invoked against the enemy of the moment.

Never again, we say. Never again to us. But to the next guy? To hell with ‘em.Case in point: Rabbi Jack Wertheimer’s recent editorial in Commentary magazine impugning the American Jewish World Service for operating in Darfur while there are still Jews in this world who suffer.

I hate to break it to you, but if assimilation, intermarriage, and Israeli emigration rates are any indication, this is not an effective sales pitch for Jewish identity, peoplehood or statehood. In an age of heretofore unknown Jewish acceptance and affluence marked by unparalleled choice and opportunity, why should one willingly choose a trauma-based identity? Is it for this that my grandparents survived? What is the merit of our survival if we sacrifice our truest essence in the pursuit of that survival?

Because they hate us and want to kill us?If that’s all you’re selling, thanks, but no thanks.

If the Jewish people are to not just survive, but to thrive, we must move beyond our trauma and work not only to secure a better world for ourselves, but to ensure better world for everyone. We must offer a Jewish narrative not rooted in mere survival, but in our and the world’s redemption.

This discussion paper was drafted by a working group at the Climate Justice Action meeting in Amsterdam in February 2010. Its purpose is to collectively explore the concept of climate justice in the context of Europe.

Through providing this discussion paper as both incomplete and unending, we hope it will be useful as a tool in linking the diverse struggles throughout Europe and elsewhere, and strengthen the collective movement towards our visions of the future.

In choosing Europe as the terrain of this discussion, we are not separating ourselves from those struggling elsewhere in the world. On the contrary, through asking what the basis of climate justice is in on our own doorstep, and discovering how we go about implementing it, we are fighting for a better world for all.

The abject failure of governments to provide a political solution to the climate crisis in Copenhagen was unsurprising to those who, from the outset, understood the UN as an institution whose interests lie in extending the legitimacy of global capitalism and the nation-state. Those who placed their hope in the COP15, due either to naivety or necessity, left with a sense of disbelief. More and more are now coming to the realisation that it is social movements, not governments, that have the power to make the necessary changes to solve the climate crisis.

Linking with social struggle

The solutions to systematic repression, exploitation, and the climate crisis are the same. Climate Justice means linking all struggles together that reject neoliberal markets and working towards a world that puts autonomous decision making power in the hands of the communities. We look towards a society which recognises our historical responsibilities and seeks to protect the global commons, both in terms of the climate and life itself.

Solidarity

From the shanty towns of the Americas to the precariats of Europe, the global south is all of those, whether resisting or not, who suffer the impacts of the relationships of capital and domination. It is important to recognise that the marginalised in the geographic south are also the front line of the struggle for climate justice. Solidarity is the realisation of the common struggle. It is realising that the geography which divides us is insignificant compared to the strength of the values that hold us together – our shared affirmation of life and liberty in the face of exploitation and oppression. Solidarity means fighting for our own autonomy at the same time as we struggle against corporations and the relationships of capital that exploit people everywhere.

The EU

Europe, including the EU, is historically responsible for climate change and social and environmental exploitation world wide. The EU as a political institution serves only to extend the interests of the wealthy and the powerful. Its Lisbon Agenda, and the more recent 2020 Agenda, looks to increase the dominance of European based corporations and extend the rule of capital into every sphere of our lives. Its pursuit of the Emissions Trading Scheme has pioneered a system that serves only to profit from our ecological crises, its Bologna process turns our universities into ‘sausage factories’, whilst the EU trade strategy looks to control access to natural resources and cheap labour for European corporations, continuing its historical legacy of colonialism through different methods. Overcoming institutions that override the autonomy of communities through tying us to capitalist growth is essential if we are to move towards an ecologically and socially just world.

Food and Agriculture

Climate Justice is closely linked to breaking the circle of industrialised agricultural production perpetuated through WTO and European policies. Speculation on food as an industrial commodity and the domination of long unsustainable production chains by international capital threatens the biosphere and the lives of billions of people. This attack on food sovereignty and the planet must be met with a social struggle for food production defined by the needs and rights of local communities. This means redefining, re-localising and re-appropriating the control of our food and agricultural systems through engaging and acting in solidarity with existing struggles.

Military

In Europe, as elsewhere, the military-industrial complex is one of the key actors in maintaining business as usual in the current dominant economic political system. Under the false promise of ensuring ‘security’ and in the ‘war against terror’, huge and ever increasing budgets are being spent on military and policing infrastructure. Often military ventures are thinly veiled attempts at securing access to foreign resources and ensuring vast profits for the arms industry. The real security threat we face cannot be addressed by armed force and social control. Social exclusion, poverty, loss of biodiversity, ecosystem collapse, and increasingly scarce resources leading to an escalation in conflicts and resource wars, are posing a far bigger threat than the ghost of terror, or any other imaginary foe created to mask the social conflicts that exists within and between our societies. The struggle for climate justice is about highlighting another concept of sustainable ‘human security’, which a military and policing force will never be able to guarantee. In practice by resisting changes in our global systems, the military and police apparatus is endangering security, not increasing it.

Migration

Climate change is exacerbating factors which force people to migrate; lack of access to land or livelihood, failing agriculture, conflict and lack of access to water. The tiny proportion of those displaced who attempt the expensive and dangerous journey, are met with militarised border controls if they reach ‘Fortress Europe.’ Labelled ‘illegals,’ they are denied basic human rights and struggle to live in dignity, whilst providing a neat scapegoat for a range of social problems. The historical development of capital accumulation, colonialism and carbon emissions, means that Europe has a unique responsibility to act in solidarity with those who are displaced. In our free market system only those with certain papers such as an EU passport and capital and commodities are free to move around the world. Those seeking a better life or moving to survive are increasingly denied this option. As well as fighting for the conditions for people to be able to stay in their homes and communities, we must also defend the principle of freedom of movement for all as one key aspect of climate justice.

Energy

The need for constant economic growth also means an ever increasing thirst for energy. While there is sufficient energy in Europe we see that despite producing more and more energy, due to inefficiency and inequality, millions of people in Europe do not have access to affordable energy and are unable to heat their homes. Moreover our energy policy within Europe directly results in huge amounts of dangerous waste (nuclear and other), and vast levels of emissions which are rapidly destabilising the global climate. We must ensure that everyone in Europe has access to sufficient levels of energy which is produced in a way that does not damage or endanger people or the environment. We need to radically transform our ways of producing, distributing and consuming energy. This means leaving fossil fuels in the ground, democratising means of production and changing our attitudes to energy consumption. Energy resources should be in the control of communities that use them, and this means challenging the power and ownership of energy companies.

Production and consumption

Europe has some of the highest concentrations of wealth in the world and consumes enormous amounts of resources, yet there are stark inequalities. Production and consumption should be based on values other than profit; this means changing the way we structure our social, economic and political relationships, and ensuring democratic control of the means of production. This will require expropriation and conversion not only of climate damaging companies and industries, but all spheres of life that operate according to the logic of capital. We need to challenge individualism in society and stop allowing ourselves to be defined as consumers, a de-humanising and restrictive identity. Social values must be based on human needs and not on ever increasing consumption, economic growth and competition.

Climate Justice in Europe

Climate justice means recognising that the capitalist growth paradigm, which leads to over extraction, overproduction and overconsumption stands in deep contrast to the biophysical limits of the planet and the struggle for social justice. The historical legacy of European expansion/colonialism is a root cause of the current geopolitical inequalities, in which the global North is consuming the global South. Climate justice means addressing the inequalities that exist between and within countries, and replacing the economic and political systems that uphold them. The status quo is maintained through unequal exchange via unjust trade policies and unequal access to technological capacity. On a global level Europe is a centre of capital accumulation and thus socio-ecological exploitation of the South, however, internally in Europe there are huge inequalities in terms of race, gender and class. These are crucial issues that need to be addressed in the struggle for climate justice on a European level.

We hope that this discussion paper has helped to explore the concept of climate justice in the context of Europe, and we invite your comments to further this discussion. Fundamentally, we believe that we cannot prevent further global warming without addressing the way our societies are organised – the fight for climate justice and the fight for social justice are one and the same.

email: info@climate-justice-action.org (please put ‘CJ in Europe discussion paper’ in the subject line), this discussion paper will also be posted on the CJA website: http://www.climate-justice-action.org. We welcome offers of translation

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Members of the “black bloc” defended their actions and explained their motives in a press release aimed at denouncing the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

On February 12th and 13th, 2010, thousands of courageous individuals came together to resist the 2010 Olympic police state and to attack the corporations plundering the land and deepening poverty. We write this communique as participants in and organizers of the black bloc presence at these demonstrations, known as “Take Back Our City” and “2010 Heart Attack.” On February 12th, the Vancouver Police Department pacified us with a force of mounted police. The next day during 2010 Heart Attack, they deployed riot police armed with M4 carbine assault rifles. They claim this was necessary in order to stop the march from “jeopardizing public safety” – yet the only threats to public safety were in their own hands. Participants in the demonstration only undertook strategic attacks against corporations sponsoring the Olympics and did not harm or attack bystanders.

The media are now busy denouncing the political violence of property destruction, such as the smashing of a Hudson’s Bay Company window, as though it were the only act of violence happening in this city. They forget that economic violence goes on daily in Vancouver. People are suffering and dying from preventable causes because welfare doesn’t give enough to afford rent, food or medicine, and because authorities routinely ignore the medical emergencies of poor or homeless individuals. This economic violence has gotten worse as we lose housing and social services because of the Olympic Games.

In response to this assault, thousands took to the streets, hundreds joining what is known as a black bloc.

The black bloc is not a formal organization; it has no leadership, membership, or headquarters. Instead, the black bloc is a tactic: it is something people do in order to accomplish a specific purpose. By wearing black clothing and masking our faces, the black bloc allows for greater protection to those who choose active self-defense. The majority of people involved in the black bloc do not participate in property destruction. However, in masking up they express their solidarity with those who choose to take autonomous direct action against the corporations, authorities and politicians who wage war on our communities.

Participation in the black bloc is an act of courage. With only the shirts on our backs and the masks on our faces, we took to the streets against Canada’s largest ever “peacetime” police force. Protected only by black fabric and the support of our comrades, we stood in front of anti-riot cops armed with assault rifles, pistols and batons. We proved that $1 billion of “security” couldn’t prevent us from clogging the heart of downtown Vancouver and crashing a party of 100 000 people — and getting away with it.

You won’t ever know who was in the black bloc this weekend, but you do know us. We are the people who organize community potlucks, who dance during street festivals, who make art, defend the land, build co-ops, bicycles and community gardens. When we put on our black clothing, we are not a threat to you, but to the elites.

Whoever you are, one day you will join us. As long as government and corporations attack our communities, we’re going defend – and that means attack.

Signed,

Two organizers and participants in the anarchist presence of the “Take back our city” demonstration and “2010 Heart Attack” street march, February 2010, Coast Salish Territory

The German translation of Anarchy Alive! (by Sophia Deeg) has been completed, and should see print on February 24 from Nautilus publishers in their “Flugschrift” series. Here’s the promo text they just put out:

Uri Gordon
HIER UND JETZT
Anarchistische Praxis und Theorie

Deutsche Erstausgabe Aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Sophia Deeg
Broschur, ca. 256 Seiten, ca. € (D) 18,- sFr 32,90 / € (A) 18,50
ISBN 978-3-89401-724-8

Was ist eigentlich heute unter Anarchie zu verstehen? Wer beruft sich auf diese antiautoritäre Tradition und wie haben sich Theorie und Praxis in den letzten Jahren international entwickelt? Der israelische Friedensaktivist Uri Gordon gibt einen Einblick in die aktuelle politische Kultur des Anarchismus.

Uri Gordon berichtet von Netzwerken, Graswurzelbewegungen und Organisationen und den dort geführten Debatten. Über das Verhältnis dieser Gruppen zur Gewalt, zur Natur, zum technologischen Fortschritt, und darüber, wie die politische Kultur in der Praxis aussieht und welche Konzepte ausprobiert werden. Er beschreibt antikapitalistische Zentren und ökofeministische Höfe, Basisorganisationen auf Gemeindeebene, Blockaden internationaler Gipfeltreffen und alltägliche direkte Aktionen. Außerdem stellt er die ungeheure Menge an anarchistischen Publikationen und Websites vor. All diese Netzwerke sind dezentral, horizontal und konsensorientiert organisiert. In Sozialzentren, Gemeinschaftsgärten undKooperativen bildet sich eine Revolution im Hier und Jetzt heraus. Viele verschiedene Vorstellungen von Anarchie leben imHerzen der globalen Bewegungen, die dabei sind, durch ihre Aktionen eine andereWelt zu schaffen …

Uri Gordon, Jahrgang 1976, promovierte in Oxford über anarchistische Politik und lehrt heute am Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Ketura, Israel. Er hat mit verschiedenen anarchistischen und radikalen Bewegungen zusammengearbeitet, etwa Indymedia, Dissent!-network, Peoples’ Global Action oder Anarchists Against the Wall.AlsAktivist vor allem in Israel und Großbritannien tätig, hat er an Straßenprotesten gegen internationale Gipfeltreffen in der ganzen Welt teilgenommen. Er schreibt für diverse anarchistische Medien, aber auch für große israelische Zeitungen wie Haaretz oder die Jerusalem Post.