WHAT HAVE WE DEMONSTRATED?
The events that occurred during the anti-WTO
demonstrations last year caught nearly everyone by
surprise surprise. The forty to fifty thousand
participants, the ability of demonstrators to
significantly delay the proceedings,the extent of the
propertydamage and the severity of the police response
were all unexpected and seemed to leave many in a
haze. Unfortunately this limited the level of real
significant critical discussion about the event. The
months that have followed have seen several attempts
to repeat "Seattle"--in Washington D.C., in
Philadelphia, in Los Angeles (I choose to write about
events in the United States, because the "movement"
here is the one I understand most clearly). In light
of this, I think it is time to raise deeper questions
about these events and their usefulness to an
insurrectional anarchist project.
Unquestionably, during the demonstrations in Seattle,
real acts of revolt occurred. Rage against domination
expressed itself frequently and fiercely enough to
cause significant damage. On the other hand, it must
be recognized that the demonstrations in Seattle were
essntially part of a political movement of dissent
aimed at reforming capital, not a social movement of
revolt. Were there ways to transform these events, to
take them out of the hands of leftist politicians and
out of the submissive logic of reform? Arguably, those
who attacked property did transform things to limited
extent and in a haphazard manner, but the shrewder of
the leftist and labor movement leaders were quick to
recuperate this for the political realm by pointing
out that without these attacks the media would have
paid scant attention to the protest and their own
political message would not have gotten out. However,
the best opportunities for opening things up into
social revolt came when property destruction attracted
people from poor, black neighborhoods. Anarchists were
not really prepared for this and lost the opportunity
for communication with others of the exploited. On the
other hand, the activist politicians were prepared,
and recognizing people who did not share their
political agenda, they responded accordingly. They
banded together to block access to a Nike store to
these local black youth, thus blocking any potential
for breaking out of the limits of politics, thus
further indicating how little the left has in common
with the exploited in this country In the large
demonstrations since Seattle, the political organizers
have attempted to better coordinate events with the
authorities in order to keep everything under control,
to maintain social peace against both anarchists and
unruly "outside elements"--angry local exploited youth
for example.
The "anti-globalization" movement in the United States
is not a social movement. It is a political movement,
a movement of ideologues and activists, not of the
exploited. There is no large-scale visible social
movement of revolt in this country right now. Where
such movements have existed, demonstrations have
always played a part in the ongoing struggle, but as
an outgrowth of that struggle, not as a political
imposition upon it. The demonstrations of Seattle,
D.C., Philadelphia and Los Angeles, being essentially
political, were intended to demand that power act in a
certain way. They were not--except in those specific
incidents when some individuals broke out of the
official framework--expressions of our ability to act
for ourselves.
So questions remain. Since an insurrectional anarchist
project involves the refusal of politics, since one of
its central aims and methods is self-activity, since
our strength is that of the exploited and not that of
"radical" politicians, is it really in our interest to
keep putting so much energy into and emphasis on these
political demonstrations with times and locations
determined power? Though there is not a large-scale,
visible social movement here, mostly invisible and
often unconscious revolt does exist. So then, wouldn't
we do well to develop our own daily struggles against
the exploitation we experience and, in the process,
maybe discover other hidden wells of revolt among the
exploited who are being excluded from this society and
its political games? Clarifying our anarchist projects
in this way, we can consider whether there are ways
that we can intervene in these demonstrations that
will open the situation up to revolt and the
destruction of politics, to the self-activity of the
exploited rising up against their exploitation and
beginning to take back their lives. There are many
questions to be discussed and explored along these
lines. But this much is certain: anarchists cannot
continue to simply tag along in the leftist
politicians' spectacular displays; otherwise, we will
become nothing more than the most inept of the
politicians. Instead, however we choose to act, we
must act projectually, with purpose, fully aware that
the schemes of the left are sad and pathetic compared
to the dreams of the exploited when they rise up in
revolt discovering their most dangerous passions.