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Recent articles by Linchpin
No One is Coming to Save Us Nov 12 16 Press Advisory- N.Y. City Anarchist Bookfair Apr 16, 2016 Jan 04 16 Murray Bookchin— Anarchism without the Working Class Dec 03 15 Mortar, no. 3: Editorial - here we go again![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Thanks for picking up the third volume of Mortar, Common Cause’s journal of revolutionary anarchist theory. In our two previous journals, the article topics that we chose to explore and expound upon were, more often than not, grounded in our own direct experiences, such as organizing in our neighbourhoods against gentrification, navigating the dynamics of Left/activist spaces, and confronting sexual violence. Mortar, No. 3Editorial: Here we go AgainThanks for picking up the third volume of Mortar, Common Cause’s journal of revolutionary anarchist theory. In our two previous journals, the article topics that we chose to explore and expound upon were, more often than not, grounded in our own direct experiences, such as organizing in our neighbourhoods against gentrification, navigating the dynamics of Left/activist spaces, and confronting sexual violence. This time around, we’re taking a different approach and exploring topics that, although relevant and important, are less familiar to us. In this volume of Mortar we have set out to strengthen our understanding and analysis of subjects such as populism, ecology, reactionary movements, and anti-police organizing, to the end of forming coherent strategies of engagement that are both sober and considered. This was a purposeful decision, and one that we came to for several reasons. We identified a number of gaps in our own organizing and political theory, and spent our time researching and writing Mortar as an attempt to start closing them. In other words, we selected topics that we wanted to learn more about, in order to help develop our politics. We also hope that we have something useful to contribute to conversations on subjects that we are in no way experts on, but which we nonetheless see as important facets of revolutionary struggle. Common Cause is an organization with a small membership, spread across three cities in southern Ontario. We try to do our best as organizers, but at the end of the day, we have a limited capacity, and must pick our battles strategically. For many of us, our lack of involvement in particular struggles stems from a disagreement with prevailing strategies and tactics, some of which seem to us to be irreparable. We see structural problems in existing organizations, networks and activist campaigns that preclude them from revolutionary potential, because they have been built on reformist or even conservative foundations. We therefore find it to be a useful contribution to anarchist movements to put forward competing ideas about how such organizations could, and even ought to be structured. We hope that others engage with our analysis and ideas, either by testing them through practice, sharing your critiques and disagreements, or both. The writing, editing, and designing of this journal remains a collective process. Every member of Common Cause is encouraged to participate in the production of each volume, from inception to completion. Topics that we feel are worth exploring are put forward and voted on by our members. Logistics are handled by a working group formed of elected delegates from each of our three branches. Multi-city writing groups are struck, and chairs are selected to bottom-line meetings for each article. The research and writing process spans over several months, and the arguments contained in each article are vetted by two organization-wide review meetings. We believe that this process, while difficult and stressful at times, is a worthwhile experiment in collective political development, and a practical expression of our anarchist principles. This edition of Mortar begins with a discussion of the sorry state of the Canadian Left in 2015, which we view as being mired in a cycle of tawdry and ineffectual populism. Whether in whipping up last-minute support for a protest, expressing outrage designed to inflame progressive passions, or attempting to beat the Right at its own game, our over-reliance on populist mobilization strategies is a fatal flaw. Not only is populism a disingenuous and ineffectual means of garnering support – we argue that it is fundamentally authoritarian in nature. The fact that so many prominent leftists unthinkingly refer to the need to create a “base” belies a hierarchical structure in the offing. While some left-wing tendencies clearly have no issue with this sort of thing, it is patently anathema to the core principles of anarchist communism, and to anarchism more broadly. Selecting from a number of recent topical examples, the article demonstrates the capitulation of the Left to populism, and tries to chart a way forward that actually squares with the emancipatory politics we all profess. The second article of this journal contends with the pitfalls and potentials of organizing around environmental issues in Canada, with particular focus on the Energy East pipeline project. In taking a closer look at demographic data related to extractive industries, we were led to some surprising conclusions which contradict many commonly-held assumptions about just who does this sort of work. Rather than absolving, condemning, or seeking to direct these workers towards a “bright green” economy, we suggest steps towards a new approach to environmental organizing that is rooted in the communities where they live, and relies intimately on their participation. Further, we take a critical look at solidarity activism in support of Indigenous blockades, arguing that by working towards the organization of strong working-class communities, we will be in a much better position to provide meaningful assistance when the time comes. As things stand, anarchists in southern, urbanized Canada have seemingly adopted a siege mentality with regards to blockades such as the Unist’ot’en Camp. We think it’s time to open up multiple fronts, starting where we live. Next, we examine three reactionary tendencies currently festering within the Canadian working class: Islamophobia, men’s rights activism, and anti-Native sentiment. This piece seeks to better understand where these specific political currents came from, how they sustain themselves, and the role of the Canadian political and capitalist class in fostering and manipulating these divisions among the working class, to our collective detriment. The article makes the case that these three reactionary ideologies are liberal to their core, meaning that anarchists need to rethink our approach to how to confront and ultimately defeat them. Finally, we wrap things up with an article on anti-police organizing. In the midsts of swelling levels of resistance to the systemic use of racist police terror in the United States, we examine the history and contemporary development of policing in Canada as an institutional outgrowth of a colonial, white supremacist, and capitalist power structure. This article explores the incorporation of modern principles of counterinsurgency into a domestic policing framework that seeks to maintain “law and order” while preserving ruling-class legitimacy amidst an increasingly tenuous social peace. The article concludes with an argument that organizing against the police means building an oppositional culture that permeates every facet of proletarian life. As with the last two journals, the conclusions of the articles in Mortar should not to be taken as definitive positions of Common Cause or its individual members. Instead, these articles represent an attempt on our part to find sure-footing on topics that we feel deserve attention and honest engagement. You can contact us and send any feedback you may have to mortar@riseup.net. In solidarity, Common Cause"Mortar" can be downloaded in PDF format from the Common Cause website: |
Front pageFalse hope, broken promises: Obama’s belligerent legacy Primer encuentro feminista Solidaridad – Federación Comunista Libertaria Devrimci Anarşist Tutsak Umut Fırat Süvarioğulları Açlık Grevinin 39 Gününde Recordando a César Roa, luchador de la caña Prison Sentence to Managing Editor of Anarchist Meydan Newspaper in Turkey American Anarchist and Wobbly killed by Turkey while fighting ISIS in Rojava Attaque fasciste sur la Croix Rousse et contre la librairie libertaire la Plume Noire Red November, Black November – An Anarchist Response to the Election 1986-2016: 30° anniversario di Alternativa Libertaria/fdca El feminismo es cuestión de vida o muerte ¡Contra el machismo dominante Anarquismo Militante! [Colombia] El NO se impuso, ¿qué sigue? Hamba kahle comrade Bobo Makhoba (1975-2016) Where to now, Zimbabwe? Beyond the “good” charismatic pastor. Contre la loi Travail: le bras de fer continue Announcement of Nationally Coordinated Prisoner Workstoppage for Sept 9, 2016 North America / Mexico | Anarchist movement | en Thu 26 Jan, 20:48
NYC ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR - 10th anniversary As much as this pains those who have participated in the anarchist communist experience between 2011 and 2014 in the Canadian prairies, today, Prairie Struggle announces its official secession and subsequent disbandment. To this day, Prairie Struggle was the only specific platformist organization in the Canadians prairies. Though some may recall the existence of an anarchist communist group in Regina affiliated to the ACF (Anarchist Communist Federation of North America) in the 80s, organized anarchism in the prairies has had many difficulties, some of which the Prairie Struggle Project has failed to overcome. Despite its downfall, Prairie Struggle, for one last time, offers a look into the organization, its failures and its small victories.
In recent days, following the events of the demonstrations on December 1st for the presidential inauguration of Enrique Peña Nieto, during which the police forces, both of the Federal [national] and Federal District [Mexico City] forces, brutally repressed demonstrators - officials of the Federal District government, amongst whom were the head of government of the FD and the capital's attorney, have made statements declaring that those responsible for the clashes are anarchist groups.[Castellano] [Français] [Deutsch]
Announcing the Heat Index blog at www.heatindexatl.info
A post-conference report from the Workers Solidarity Alliance's 2012 Gathering in St. Louis MO In the last 5 months, some anarchists from Regina have been engaged in the difficult process of creating a revolutionary anarchist organization and debating its political influences. As a result of these meetings and debates, we are proud to finally announce the existence of Prairie Struggle Organization based in Regina. To hopefully start a dialogue with anarchists in the west of Canada and beyond, we feel it important to let you know why anarchist politics in Regina are taking this direction.
Since May 1, 2006 we have seen a slow opening up of mass struggles on a scale not seen in recent memory, amplified by the silent economic crash in 2008. From the massive day without an immigrant to the historic Arab Spring; the Wisconsin workers uprising to the prisoners strikes in Georgia and California; Occupy Wall Street to the rallies for Justice for Trayvon Martin; General strikes of students in Chile and Quebec and of workers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. People committed to real change cannot help but feel the wind in our sails. People are rising and refusing, struggles are igniting, common ground is revealing itself, we are beginning to feel and take back our power, everywhere.
The 6th Annual NYC Anarchist Book Fair will be held on Saturday April 14th, 2012 @ Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, New York City with workshops continuing through April 15th This issue is on Ecology, Industry, Crisis and Alternatives: bell hooks on Intersectionalism, Transit Organizing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City; Indoor Fish Farms, Solar Power, Green Building, "The Vegetarian Myth", Ecological & Economic Crisis, and more... Mayday is not only a time to remember the sacrifices of so many before us who fought against all authority – capitalism and the state, patriarchy and white supremacy, empire and ecocide – but also a time to reflect on and celebrate the achievements of our movements today. In recent months the world has again been changed by the actions of masses of ordinary people. more >>
Across the US, from cities to rural areas, it is imperative that anarchists and anti-authoritarians strive to build organizations to battle the emboldened far right, to advocate through militant action the needs of working-class communities, and to combat state repression.
The following points represent a brief statement of priorities, an outline of some of the perspectives our organization has decided on to help guide our thinking and actions in the coming period. We do not want to overstate where our organization is at in our analysis and organizing, nor are these points a substitute for the hard discussions our organization still must have. These points developed out of reviews and discussions of the nature of the current period, the continuing wave of social protest domestically and abroad, and how we as a small and specific group of anarchist revolutionaries can participate in and help build those movements for dignity, justice and freedom.
Anarchism and the philosophy of pragmatism can add to each other. Pragmatism is explained as a philosophy of active experience and experimental naturalism. Pragmatism advocates radical, decentrlized democracy and industrial self-management, which is very close to anarchism. However pragmatists have often opposed reformist perspectives to revolution. The case for revolution is presented.
This essay is slightly expanded from one which was rejected by a US anarchist magazine for political reasons. It deals with a disagreement among activists: Should we propose that the movement raise a program of demands? I think that anarchists should, but with a more libertarian-democratic version than the liberals and state socialists. The essay is followed by a response to the political points raised by the editors of the anarchist journal.
This essay is an argument for moving towards national organization in the United States. It explores the limitations of political organization today, recent positive experiences, and possible ways to build on the present to push forward. more >>
NYC ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR - 10th anniversary
As much as this pains those who have participated in the anarchist communist experience between 2011 and 2014 in the Canadian prairies, today, Prairie Struggle announces its official secession and subsequent disbandment. To this day, Prairie Struggle was the only specific platformist organization in the Canadians prairies. Though some may recall the existence of an anarchist communist group in Regina affiliated to the ACF (Anarchist Communist Federation of North America) in the 80s, organized anarchism in the prairies has had many difficulties, some of which the Prairie Struggle Project has failed to overcome. Despite its downfall, Prairie Struggle, for one last time, offers a look into the organization, its failures and its small victories.
Announcing the Heat Index blog at www.heatindexatl.info
A post-conference report from the Workers Solidarity Alliance's 2012 Gathering in St. Louis MO
Since May 1, 2006 we have seen a slow opening up of mass struggles on a scale not seen in recent memory, amplified by the silent economic crash in 2008. From the massive day without an immigrant to the historic Arab Spring; the Wisconsin workers uprising to the prisoners strikes in Georgia and California; Occupy Wall Street to the rallies for Justice for Trayvon Martin; General strikes of students in Chile and Quebec and of workers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. People committed to real change cannot help but feel the wind in our sails. People are rising and refusing, struggles are igniting, common ground is revealing itself, we are beginning to feel and take back our power, everywhere. |