Best of the worst

Introduction to Best of the worst

A selection of articles with deeply flawed politics. Both from authoritarian and misguided libertarian points of view.

The distraction of class, 2002 - AYN discussion

An article written by one member of the Anarchist Youth Network in its more lifestylist wing. It is reproduced here as a useful example of the attitudes of this individualist trend in the organisation against class analysis, with a response to it.

The response was by one of the class struggle anarchists in AYN. A long debate on the open email list (hence the informal style) ensued but only one response is included, as none of the points in it were really accepted by the author, T, and the disagreement over class lasted right up until the end of the organisation, and rendered it basically useless within that time.

Paedophilia and American anarchism - the other side of Hakim Bey

An article about the paedophilia of lifestylist, mystic, individualist "anarchist" Hakim Bey, aka Peter Lamborn Wilson

Harbinger #5 - CrimethInc.

Issue 5 of CrimethInc.'s newspaper Harbinger. The article Déclassé War on page 5 lays out the basis of their politics in drop-out culture, and their utterly flawed idea of dropping out as revolutionary strategy.

They blame all non-drop-outs as being complicit in the system

PDF Format (1.53Mb)

"Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness" - washing... and brainwashing - CrimethInc.

A quite ridiculous article by lifestylist American anarchist group CrimethInc., with a tirade against personal hygiene followed by "Eight Reasons Why Capitalists Want to Sell You Deodorant."

"The remaining noticable characteristic of 'Che' is his filth. He hates to wash and will never do so. He is filthy, even by the rather low standard of cleanliness prevailing among the Castro forces in the Sierra Maestra. Once in a while, "Che" would take some of his men to a stream or pool, in order that they might wash.

So As Not to Die Stupid... AIDS - Communism #8

A quite hysterical article by the ICG containing numerous factual inaccuracies in which they attempt to claim that HIV was engineered by some business or government agency.

Amongst the numerous errors and falsehoods is repeated reference to the "Aids virus," when in fact there is no such thing. Aids is a set of symptoms caused by the virus, HIV. We reproduce the article for interest only. libcom.org

AIDS, pure product of science !

Beyond the Future

Spoof press release for an activist event which appeared on the libcom forums in the run up to the G8 summit in Scotland.

Unfortunately it's very close to reality, with some of the workshop descriptions lifted word for word out of programmes for recent activist events. We include it here for reference:

Beyond the Future
A carnival of resistance and revolution
January 8th 2005, Venue to be confirmed

The Middlesex Declaration of the European Precariat - Beyond ESF 2004

This somewhat bizarre declaration put out by the "eurogeneration insurgent" participants of the Beyond ESF event of 2004. Beyond ESF was the anti-authoritarian fringe event which took place alongside the European Social Forum in London.

manarchy #3 - response to the responses

Our article from a few weeks ago entitled, "Stick It To The Manarchy" generated a lot of response and enthusiasm. We have a response to the criticism, clarifying a few points along with our analysis of the dialogue.
MANARCHY RESPONSE, FROM THE AUTHORS

Manarchy #2 - response

STUCK IN THE MUD OF IDEOLOGY:
A Response to "Stick It to the Manarchy"

Manarchy #1

Stick It To The Manarchy

by Maggie, Rayna, Michael, and Matt
The Rock Bloc Collective
Bard College
rm479@bard.edu

http://nyc.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=2566

Leaving out the ugly part - Hakim Bey/Peter Lamborn Wilson

Leaving Out the Ugly Part: The Interview with Peter Lamborn Wilson, appearing in The Brooklyn Rail (July-August 2004), by Robert P. Helms.

This article is an exposé or Hakim Bey, aka Peter Lamborn Wilson's paedophilia. A fact which many commentators conveniently brush under the carpet. <--break!-->

Top ten worst things done in the name of anarchism

We had a hard time whittling it down, but now we at libcom.org are proud to present the top ten worst things ever done in the name of anarchism.

10 The Anarchist Cookbook

9 CRASS - not just terrible music, but terrible pacifist music

8 Primitivism

Read our critique of primitivism