I've never been able to find an anarchist milieu. I've always been a lone wolf anarchist without any comrades.

Orpheus (a famous musician) and Eurydice fall in love and get married. After the wedding, Eurydice decides to get some fresh air. She takes a walk through nearby Berkeley, partying and laughing with her bridesmaids.

The lustful hotdog vendor Aristaeus surprises Eurydice. He's pretty hot for her, and he chases her down a nearby backalley. Desperate to avoid his sexual advances, Eurydice stops looking where she's going and stumbles into an anarchist infoshop. Surrounded and entranced by reams of such persuasive literature, she stays.

Orpheus is obviously overcome with grief at his wife's disappearance and ideological conversion. And just like any good musician, he expressed himself by singing the blues. Fed up with his depression, Orpheus decides to take action. His plan? Travel to the infoshop and ask the anarchists to let Eurydice go. Seems straightforward enough.

As he enters the shop, Orpheus uses his music to charm the spirits and monsters who live there. Ever get serenaded by a cute guy with a stringed instrument? Hard to resist, right? Even animals love him. Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards the entrance, stands motionless and lets Orpheus pass. Everyone else is moved, too: the grotesque Furies weep, Sisyphus stops moving his rock, Morgan LeFay stops applying his mascara, the vulture stops pecking at Tityus' liver, and the souls of dead illegalists gather to hear him play. So yeah, guess he chose the right song.

In any case, Orpheus finds Aragorn and Bob Black, the King and Queen of the Milieu. Now the convincing begins. He makes a grand speech and plays his lyre to try to persuade these two to let Eurydice leave the milieu. His strategy? He reminds Aragorn that he fell in love once, too (with Bob).

Orpheus' eloquent speech melts the hearts of Aragorn and Bob. Surprise, surprise. And – success! – they agree to free Eurydice.

But there is a small catch. Aragorn says Eurydice must walk behind Orpheus as they travel back to Walnut Creek – Orpheus is forbidden from looking back at Eurydice until they have passed the last BART stop. Doesn't seem too tough, right? So Orpheus agrees, and the couple begins their journey.

Orpheus can hear Eurydice's footsteps behind him and before long, he can see the BART sign. He carries on past it for 100 yards, and is so excited to have gotten his wife back! But due either to excitement for having succeeded or concern for his wife, Orpheus totally forgets about Aragorn's warning and turns to look at Eurydice.

Eurydice is just on the verge of passing the BART sign, but she hasn't quite made it past. At that moment, three loud noises echo throughout the entire Bay Area, signaling that something is very, very wrong. Orpheus and Eurydice lock eyes for a split second. Eurydice just barely manages to say "Farewell!" before she is sucked back to the milieu.

Orpheus reaches for her – but he's grabbing at air.

Our guy is stunned. What should he do? He tries to enter the infoshop a second time, but this time the guard dog won't let him pass.

Now it's time for more wallowing. For seven months, Orpheus sits weeping on the banks of Suisun Bay.

I've, maybe not left, but distanced myself from what gets called anarchist where i'm at (libertarian socialism and/or anarcho-marxism). All they want to do is jerk off at how syndicalist they are, celebrate minimal, meaningless strikes (associated with the syndicalists union ofc) and read the usual leftist literature - and anyone who diverts from this line has no place there.

fuck milieus! be anarchic, have trusted relationships.

Anarchist milieu... where? All I see is a buncha punk rock scenesters who're okay with rape and property (as long as you're in the in-crowd, ya know) and some suspicious bougie Leftists who are as much polite as they are superficial.

if it's a bad scene, it's everyone's fault.

quite often milieu's lose sight of the prize and become concerned only with themselves.
don't become a milieu? keep your eyes on the prize?

radicals/anarchists/revolutionaries/whathaveyou don't just exist.
they're "made", "created", "unlocked", "radicalized", "found". not by people.
but by subversive moments, situations, ruptures, etc...

don't give up

desiderata.riseup.net

in fascist amerikkka milieu leaves you

There is no such thing as a milieu, only individuals and their families.

Milieu is a spook, a name on a map, a wheel in your head. Nothing outside your own ego is real.

http://youtu.be/Ft_N-skpXRs

Ha! great discussion in the middle of the biggest black uprising since the 60s.
Worthless losers.

I have never considered myself part of the local scene but have been around it for like 15 years. Anarchy is my life and people do not impact that. If you let people impact you (no matter what you are doing) to the point where you stop you weren't really wanting to do it anyhow. Right now I encourage anarchy outside the scene and it is absolutely fulfilling and successful. Seeing people side with the anti-authoritarian movement even if only in name and never even dealing with the bullshit is more important than I could ever imagine.

That said, this does not make the milieu happy, for obvious reasons. I get attacked maybe one every two weeks for the past long time.

Through innuendo, rumours, and public discrediting that a hostile environment was created in which individuals gathered others to willingly, or unwillingly, participate in continuous malevolent actions to force members out of the scene/organization.
What was happening was that these identity politicians were manufacturing an offence, throwing a tantrum and then using the backlash to play the victim.

The identity fiends will not stand any revolution if it is not primarily about them and their needs for attention and power.

It all happened sometime back in 1991-1994. Counterculture did a great, gigantic sell-out of historical, cosmic proportions. Anyone who was not younger than teenage in the '90s knows this. It was so big in repercussions that I guess even an embryonic metalhead scene in Estonia or Kazakhstan felt the tremors from it, and the outcome is still in effect today, more than two decades later. The epicenter of it was a defunct band called "Nirvana", who took garage sludge punk to new levels, which was then called "grunge" music and lifestyle. They got really big commercially, and turned the "underground" inside out. Loolapalooza and shit. The cover picture of the album "Nevermind" was of striking symbolic irony, looking back at it.

But grunge doesn't matter here... what matters is what happened with the teenage subcultures that were thriving in the schoolyards in the years leading up to this unavowed social cataclysm/cultural revolution.

And here's my sociological statement: All the dominant subcultural categories you have today through the Western mass culture are roughly continuation of these embryonic teenage schoolyard identities. Save the rockabillies, who were still very present in the early '90s but since then have went somewhat to the background. Subcultures have not evolved, at all, but only grown up, and spread far and wide. The punch line is that, even though it is contradictory to the basic tenets of some of these subcultures (especially punk rock and hippie), they ALL have become the new way to FULL social conformity.

I left the nihilist book fair milieu because I was so bummed out by id pol and my podcasts being dissed. I went to Rojava for a while to see what was up there and now I'm floating around Mexico scalping civilians indiscriminately with ITS. I feel much better now and I would highly recommend that others follow my lead. There is no future in NA @ism.

If you're reading or posting on this thread, you haven't left the milieu, but you should (me too)

Strickly political relationships are weak. They have a hard time surviving stress or conflict.
They mean you are hanging out with people for a reason other than you love and enjoy them.

Key here is home groups. Most everyone has a crew of close friends and maybe family,discuss important ideas, issues and plans with them, then work outwards.
This will help your life in balance.

This is also the basis for democratic autonomy and that democratic confederalism confederaliam in Rojava.
Or anarchist federalism if far flung places aren't your thing.

Start at the family then work outwards.

Quality relationships based on love and affinity never cause burn out because they are part of who you are. They don't sap your energy overall they make you stronger.

Relying on a group of strangers is a sketchy idea. I think not a very anarchist one.

Public offices and libraries, public organizing work can be treated in a professional way. Put your game face on and let a load off when you get home.
Revolution is work. In fact if it is organized well some jobs can be paid work. That ensures your new institutions will be reliable and the commune will grow.
The movement will feed the family/home group and visa versa.

Working with your group that is part of groups of groups that makes for explicit agreements and balanced relationships of solidarity.
*Needing to be alone sometimes doesn't constitute burn out. Take a breather, take care and get back to doing what needs to be done.

I was "kicked out". I still remain an anarchist, but don't show up to anything 'cause I don't want the hassle of being intimidated by people looking to use my presence to build up their reputation within the Milieu.

I do sometimes wish that I could talk with some of the people who used to be my friends, but I have enough self-respect not to.

When I was rolling up to the computer I saw "leaving" and accidentaly thought it said "keating". I was like, yeah, keating like a motherfucker. Leave the milieu and establish communism with people that are willing to do something. It is here anarchy will grow. It won't grow in the critics corner. That is where losers go to sulk.

Pretty much all the people who stick around in anarchy after age ~25 are insane.

Is there a milieu to leave? I was involved in the NA @ scene ~2000-2008 ending in somewhat of a 'mutual breakup'. Towards the end my friends and I (or whoever these people were I thought of as friends) were talking about how the next steps should be about seizing space and resisting policing, which sounded like science fiction apparently to a lot of people at the time. Now it's become banal. @ stuff seemed to be everywhere during "#Occupy(TM)" but that was it. now it seems like there's nothing but citizenism.

We've entered an age of general meltdown; perhaps the movement has been swallowed up by the chaotic emergence of direct struggles. Perhaps the failure of the political has become all too clear to anyone with a genuine desire to change everything.

If you reduced my views now to their political aspects I guess they would look similar. But this is flattening out one part of a much richer stance toward life and I would consider resisting such a reduction even more crucial to expressing 'what I'm really about' than picking an ideological label.

In any case maybe it's just as well, but it's a bit lonesome when I want someone to talk radical philosophy with, ride trains with to an indigenous resistance camp, eat some vegan mush in a park or whatever.

The fact that it is a milieu/scene.

Vague one-liners make me feel so brilliant gotta masterbait see ya

I never really had anarchist friends, although i consider myself an anarchist. I'd show up to bookfairs alone -- never really could connect with ppl -- they were just too subcultury.

Now i dont really read political stuff -- every article just says the same thing, nothing new.

I've generally given up on the idea of revolution or at least an anarchist communist one.

If it happens great, if not I wont be surprised.

I think the reason anarchy can't make it is because of the subculture. I dont see this ever getting resolved.

IDK I think anarchy as a project won't happen. i dont feel like I gave up ... just not willing to use energy on tasks I think are a waste of time.