325

Wasn't this the magazine project various people from the Wombles (and others) were working on? Strong anti-fascist/prison line I seem to recall.

Edit: Just realised that wasn't any kind of commment on the content.

Just quickly, would say that the wrting style is difficult, jargony etc. I'm bored after the first few sentences and I know roughly what it's on about. It's also almost entirely self-referential ('As European anti-capitalists we must'), which is fine if that and sympathetic well-educated types are the target market but not if it's an outreach tool for a projected mass consumption.

Also, quote from Debord is meaningless to anyone not already well-read on the subject (Debord who?). That's only my impression from the opening articl though.

A cursory glance at the rest of the content (so forgive any misrepresentation here) seems to suggest a strong focus on glorification of actions with little on why they were undertaken or what the long term goals are, which is fine if you are preaching to the converted, or to someone with no critical faculties, but raises more questions than answers otherwise.

Good design though, and couple of interesting bits from a personal perspective.

Fuck me, I have an erection.

Is raw or any of his wombatants involved in this shite?

because everytime i've made a criticism of their niave belief that there is some sort of outside, some sort of area autonomous from capitalism, i have been told they don't believe that.

Even at the Dublin bookfair a certain Womrade claimed I was arguing against a strawman, depsite the fact the pamphlet he was distributing on "social centres" had numerous references to creating "autonomous spaces" outside of the restrictive confines of capitalism.

Just wondering like.

Fair enough, they might be, but as that article is the first on your website to promote it, may I suggest you rewrite that if the rest of the content is different? Cos atm it is anything but accessible. As I say, I know what it's on about, and it's not saying anything especially difficult but still manages to make heavy weather of it.

I couldn't find the anti-CPE article.

I found this one:

http://www.325collective.com/autonomy_too_young_to_wait.html

And the Middlesex Declaration of the European Precariat by 'eurogeneration insurgents'

Hi Olivertwister,

No your missing the point on the "european" element. If the EU is now (or is becoming) a statist and economic power, that acts over a territory (as defined by the 25 member states) then surely it should become a target for class struggle. Policies around immigration and border regimes are discussed on a european level, so is economic policy, terrorism, international "intervention" in conflicts (proposal for a european army) and the rest of it. The Eu is fast becoming the superstate above that of the nation state and therefore becomes of particular interests to anarchists and "insurrectionists".

Though you are right in part that it is not only the anarchist that are against the EU, in the UK this space is mainly taking up by the anti-eu right. I remember quite good coverage of the anti-EU gothenberg riots in the Telegragph which seemed quite sympathetic to the rioters!

As with EuroMayday, there are a small minority of pro-EU negrists which make a point of promoting Europe as new political space which is more progressive (think gay marraiges, workers rights...etc) than the "small minded" self-interests of nation states. Though it must be stressed that these people are not "euronationalist". It still sounds dodgy but I think it comes from exploiting the changes of the structure of european capitalism and the national soveriegnty which has been undermined by the autonomy of migration and struggles.

EDIT Plus the Insurrectionists don't have much to do within the EuroMayday thing at all. Though alot of Manpower and Adecco offices get gas bombed.

raw

Actually Pete, the EuroMayday wasn't started by the Disobedienti but milan based collective called ChainWorkers in 2002. The EuroMayday Parade in Milan (now spread to other parts of Italy and 23 cities - in some places outside europe) is now the biggest far left, non-political party demonstration in Italy consisting of 100,000 people. The big base unions COBAS, CUB, RdB all mobilise and are part of this network, as well as social centres, collectives working on precarity, student collectives, groups of workers...etc.

The Disobedient are disliked in Italy and after the violence (caused by stalinists within the disobedienti) in 2005 where some disobedient attacked some comrades from Acrobax in Rome, they were pushed off the demonstration and heavily isolated. Lets just say that the Disobedienti are a small, antagonisatical part of the EuroMayday (& struggle against precarity) in Italy though they like to think themselves as influential within it.

Raw

I think you make some valid points Raw, and those are things i'd thought about. Zabalaza's propaganda has a strong focus on radicalism in (mostly Southern) Africa, and I think that's basically correct. But I think there is a tendency in the insurrectionist milieu and its surroundings to see neo-liberalism as a) something new, and b) something specifically (or especially) European. The term "European Precariat" is a great example of this.

Jef my understanding of "Euronationalism" is that it is promoted by many of the left and right parties, the right ones with their idea of "Europeans" and "outsiders" the leftists with their idea of "anti-imperialism" (i.e. us imperialism). The great majority of what passes for radical politics in America is inverted US nationalism, so it isn't hard to see similar patterns in Europe, especially in particularly European movements such as insurrectionism.

I have to clarify that the whole "european precariat" hasn't anything to do with insurrectionism in europe. They are different movements that are very antagonistical towards each other. I really think that this new "obsession" with Europe (as the EU superstate) is an organic response to power being centralised within the EU framework and less and less away from "european" nation states. It is a reaction to something which European Capital has created rather than an ambition for the movement (unless your tony negri!).

Raw

Even agreeing with the points about the growth of the power of the EU, it still seems like a step backwards to make an international event – Mayday – just a European one. Similar to if it have been renamed "BritMayday" or something. But it's only a minor thing, and this is off-topic anyway. It would be nice to split this thread into a discussion about Europe stuff, I'll have a look later to see if it would be possible/practical, or we could see if someone starts a more detailed discussion of it…

[Mode="Lazy Riser"]

Hi

"Let a thousand flowers bloom" narrowly beats "Power Corrupts" as the most counter-revolutionary phrase to be uttered by "European Anti-capitalists".

Love

Oliver

[/Mode="Lazy Riser"]

Doesn't it strike you as the utterance of a bourgeois scumbag trying to maneuver rebellious workers and youth into supporting his faction of the bourgeois state?

Give me one context in which it could possibly have a different meaning than the one Mao gave it.