Constructive Criticism Please! : Anarchism for Drunk Punks

I don't think that this is because of the weakness of the UK anarchist movement but more to do with the strength of the UK AR movement. There are a good proportion of anarchists that are vegetarians/vegans and they often aren't your typical AR types. This is because anarchists are generally caring people who think about the world and how they affect it. Anarchists have always been linked to social progression and have been at the forefront of the struggle to achieve equality on the grounds of race and gender. Personally I think given enough time, the way animals are treated today will be viewed by society as a whole, much how we now view slavery (apart from that bitch on Shipwrecked!). Some anarchists, rightly or wrongly, extended their values to the animal kingdom. I'm not suggesting you include a section on animal rights or anything but I don't think you can categorically say anarchism is not about animal rights just because you don't think it is. To be honest I think you should get rid of that whole "what anarchism isn't" section. I know it is tempting because you're wanting to set people straight on some crap you've heard from them but you can always put them right in person and the guide can be further reading. I reckon it should be much like a regular introduction to anarchism but with a greater relevance to punks.

Hell yeah!

Anarchism and animal rights aren't the same thing. That doesn't mean that it's necessarily opposed to animal rights, or that many anarchists aren't involved with it, but the truth is that other than tending to attract many of the same people, AR has nothing in common with anarchism and there is nothing in your post that shows that it does. Anarchism is, and has been, a system that concerns humans.

And I think the what anarchism is not list is one of most important parts. There are so many people who talk shit about what they think anarchism is. Perhaps underneath there could a be a sentence saying something like: "Although these things are not essential to anarchism, it doesn't mean that some anarchists don't support some of them." Although that might be a little confusing underneath a list that has things like chaos and capitalism on it.

Nah, keep the bit about spain. It's important because it has the potential to show how anarchism actually has worked, therefore increasing it's credibility as a viable political system. Saying that though, the part about spain could be better. I think it needs more information about how society changed. Include more about how the changes affected the everyday life of the workers and so on. The whole section on spain seems a bit lacking at the moment.

>but I guarantee that the punks will pick up on them and
>view you as a politician looking for converts.
That's because I am!

Liberal my bollicks, it was more along the lines of politicians one and all, up against the fucking wall, and the definition of politicians as being parasites who claim to represent other people for their own benefit.

I think this is a great resource, How about having the stuff that's only relevent locally being on a seperate page to everything else. So (for example) we could replace South Wales Anarchists info on that page and make up a load ourselves.

Also.....
Whilst i agree that some of the language could be simplified, i think often people are more enthusiastic about ideas if the had to a certain amount of thinking to understand it.
Handing stuff to people on a plate is to far in the other direction (compared to confusing them)

You could spend hours making it simple, but if people are interested by it and they have to look up "fascism", "strike", "the spanish civil war" on wikipedia...then they're pretty much at a meeting!
Choi

Is this in pdf format?

Good, but I still would like the norwich one aswell

it's only awful if it involves promising one thing to one audience and a mutually exclusive one to another in the populist style. writing a leaflet aimed at wage workers focussing on the problems of wage workers, and one aimed at dole queues focussing on the problems of unemployment etc is just good communcation skills.

Something we've discussed in Brighton is the large number of people involved in single-issue activism vs libertarian communism. we obviously think it's impossible to address climate change, crime and punishment, border controls etc except as part of a wider struggle against capitalism, a struggle which can't be waged simply by adding anticapitalist rhetoric to activist forms of organising (as per 'give up activism'). So were looking into a series of pamphlets giving an anarcho-syndicalist perspective on such problems and the solutions we propose.

a lot of people have the impression anarcho-syndicalism is just like activism, only we chose workers as our oppressed victim of choice instead of Palestinians, lab animals, starving Africans etc. Obviously that's a complete misunderstanding of what class analysis and class politics entail, but it's a widespread misconception some clear, short pamphlets could help remedy. I don't see why in principle this can't apply to other subcultures such as drunk punks, as long as it's understood as targetted propadanda at particular sections of the class, rather than a subcultural orientation per se.

Shit! This site is fucked then!

I find sans serif to be more readable, they are essential on computers.
In print i think its just a matter of style, i think sans serif is more modern looking, but most books seem to use serif fonts.

Wow, fonts...

Joseph I think the leaflets you suggest, offering a syndicalist analysis of single-issue campaigns might be quite useful. It is clear many of the issues involved are symptoms, and tackling symptoms rather than the direct cause does not cure. (The climate change issue is rather immediate though and despite being a single-issue it potentially affects everyone, and very soon.)

Yes Banpen the Zapatistas might be a useful illustration of direct demoracy (however the national liberation aspect is still a reality).

there's a reason stuff designed/laid out by professionals or experienced amateurs is generally better than everything else though; they know what they're doing. seems like music to me, the rules can be broken to creative effect, but they exist for a reason (and just like musicians, great designers may be unaware when they're following or breaking rules, but for the rest of us not blessed with instinctive talent, studying them can help a lot).

over-analysis is my forte

Joseph, that series of texts seems like a very good idea.

I'm not sure if you were part of the group when we started the everyday manifesto:
http://libcom.org/everyday-manifesto

Because that sounds like something which could dovetail with that quite nicely. The manifesto was something we thought about doing as a collaborative thing with other groups/individuals. With the impending general election next year it could be something worth relaunching, possibly as part of a general "don't vote, organise" type propaganda campaign.

Nah, you are talking pure bollox. Lay out a large body of text on a page in a sans and its instantly noticable (to anyone with half an eye for aesthetics) how poorly it looks/reads. There are always exceptions, like with all rules and internet forums are not print publications.