So I dont derail that other thread... What ever happened to SPARK? Is there any analysis of them or anything. It was pretty much my first political group, and I want to know quite how bad they were. There was a guy who used to come up to Manchester called "Richard" who I think was a big shot.
I remember hearing about loads of wierd little groups around the AYN/ StopThe War movement. Anyone got any interesting stories about them?
A copy and paste from the
A copy and paste from the thread where this first came up:
Fall Back
I just remembered what we rearranged the letters to say - it was "krap".
Yeah, "Rich" was the leader who fall back used to phone. IIRC he said something in a gravelly voice like he was going to bum him.
Spark were a youth group that the SWP tried to set up to rival Workers Power youth group Revolution, and possibly the AYN, but they never had any luck and it died a death.
Yeah, there was a kid from
Yeah, there was a kid from Spark at my school (his family were/are THE local SWP family) and I picked on him unfairly for a long time as a result. I think a significant part of the Anarchist Youth Network's activity was probably picking on young Trots you knew at school.. 'We Are Winning'! We were basically the last word in revolutionary organisation since, like, the CNT probably.. :)
This is probably all the surviving evidence from the mighty Anarchist Youth Network.
wish some Trots went to my
wish some Trots went to my school :-(, we were too busy bullying one and other over whether or not you listen to korn of 50 cent....
Ah, politically motivated
Ah, politically motivated bullying. Me and some mates once covered our faces and beat an outspoken neo-liberal over the head with copies of the communist manifesto and Marx for beginners from the school library. The whole capitalist class trembled in their boots after that.
I was in transition during my
I was in transition during my school days. I attended the Marxist forums for a while, only to be massivley disillusioned, after what I thought was a grand day out "stopping the city" only to end up after a while being hauled before some comitee. I ended up in Manchester AYN towards the end, taking part in the "giant turtle zine" and going to the marble arch gathering, witnessing the much maligned "red vs green" debate. The only trots (paid up) in my school were two gay kids, so my whole identity politics conflict constrained my independent class action. Naive days indeed.
You were at the Marble Arch
You were at the Marble Arch gathering? That was pretty terrible… Which one were you then? Do you know who the rest of us lot are?
And whatever happened to Lucy 82,captainmission and beanis from Manchester?
Matt_efc, you wouldn't have
Matt_efc, you wouldn't have formerly been known as a_spies or something, would you?
Yeah, the Marble Arch AYN gathering was probably the worst political event I've ever attended (though I've attended a lot of shit stuff so maybe not) and put me off speaking to anarchists for years.. that said, it's to be expected when the name of your organisation doubles up as your aims and principles.. :(
Ed wrote: Matt_efc, you
Ed
ha ha, that was a great discussion, wasn't it?
"Well, like, we're anarchists, yeah, we're youth, and we're like, in a network"
And yeah, I remember a spies was the best of that lot that I remember. I think the rest of them put him off though! IIRC his real name began with "B"
Yeah that wasnt me. I was the
Yeah that wasnt me. I was the youngest MAY member, didnt really know anyone that well, no idea what happened to Captainmission (rob?) and Beanis (huw?). Last thing I heard of them, they had locked on to a gate, something to do with the arms trade I think. It might be fair to say that AYN pretty much stopped my radical politics for a while, not in terms of thought, but going to meetings etc... MAY were very much "green" ;) and coming from a union family they were kind of like hippies to me (probably unfair looking back). Lots of EarthFirst etc...
I probably do know some of you by face, but I cant really remember too many names, other than the guy from Bristol who headed the "green" camp. A couple more from Bristol who were younger than me and rkn. I used to be on the enrager boards maybe as something like "blackmasks" :bb:
Blackmasks and gasoline! I
Blackmasks and gasoline! I remember you, although not in person.
MAY were a bunch of dirty hippies, that's totally fair.
Yeah, the only decent class
Yeah, the only decent class struggle types were a proletarian faction within Anarchist Youth Network London - South Essex Xtension (AYNL-SEX - fuck me, the more I remember the more I regret.. the worst part is that it was a member of said 'proletarian faction' - Fall Back - that came up with the name!)..
:oops: :oops: :oops:
Yeah, it pretty much put me
Yeah, it pretty much put me off most radical politics for a good 3 or 4 years. Which was nice in a way, I never fell into the trappings of Manchester Uni student politics, which in an anthropology department probably wasnt a bad Idea. It always suprises me there wasnt a bigger anarchist presence here.
Having done my MA at goldsmiths and meeting some of the lovely SLSF I have a rejuvenation, and a lack of hippys. Anyway thats not the point of the thread.
There were some weird hangers on to the AYN, I'm sure one guy became a zionist just before the Marble Arch gathering? How many of the AYN are still around in a non mental form?
Yeah, Gary 224, that guy was
Yeah, Gary 224, that guy was mental. He was also a sexist freak, who said he wanted there to be free love, after the revolution, so he could get laid. He got the boot from the Birmingham group when it became clear he was crazy.
Spartacus here was the leader of AYN in the Stroud Valleys, half of us admins were in AYN London. Posi was not in AYN, but lived at that Marble Arch squat, you may remember him. I bumped into R*** who was in AYN, on our local government 2008 strike demo, she was on strike as well. Where's my shoes from Bristol is now in Liberty and Solidarity.
Cock Ben was one of the weirdest hangers on, don't know what happened to him. He was a member of the Adam Smith Institute. And tried to impress my then-girlfriend (who wasn't an anarchist) by boasting to her at a party that he lived in a squat and ate out of bins, which she thought was gross. When actually he lived with his parents.
Bumped into Squealer Andy a couple of times on demonstrations but not seen him in years.
One animal rights guy in the group invited rkn to his house once, and showed him his collection of nun chucks, knives and hand grenades. We didn't invite him to anything else.
Have I forgotten any good ones? It was quite a long time ago now…
Cock ben rings a bell? Was
Cock ben rings a bell? Was his family Chinese? Is that the guy I'm thinking of. Wheresmyshoes is the younger one I was talking about I think. Yeah the weird side of AYN was pretty weird. I only really met non MAY people at that gethering, and it was all it bit of a blur really, my first political gathering etc..
I remember being slightly suprised when after leaving the gathering to go home, we ended up in the flat of a brother of one of MAY, where it was clear that this guy was fully fledged "made in chelsea" type. It might have been half brother, but it was a slightly surreal, and politically poignent moment.
Quote: Where's my shoes from
Ugh. What a shame.
Yeah, that's Cock Ben. I
Yeah, that's Cock Ben. I believe he tried to pull the old 'oh I'm so hot, I better take my shirt off' routine on a girl at Marble Arch and got chased out by her wielding a skate board..
Some other goldies:
The American millionaire primmo girl ("it's all in property though") who could tell the future with her dreams..
Geoff "What?!" - someone descended from some aristocrat or another, decided to become a squatter (and really liked it that people hated squatters). Super posh, always said "What?!" after anything you said in the way people do when they're taking the piss out of posh people.
Animal rights guy (another one) who burnt all the copies of the national gathering agenda and smashed a light in the squat leaving live wires dangling.. A sensible person declared: "that could hurt someone you know"; "Good. I hope they die" was the reply. It was then that I could really see the new world forming in the shell of the old..
Dunno what happened to most of them. Steven's pretty much covered what we know. To be honest, had I not met the people who then formed libcom, I probably would have dropped out of politics as well..
If there's one good thing to come out of the AYN though is that it provided a modern example of synthesist organisation and just why it's a load of old shite.. :)
This is quality stuff, lmao.
This is quality stuff, lmao. It sounds so terrible it is funny.
Generally though I find it interesting reading about people recollections of groups, initiatives etc they were involved in.
Ed, well remembered! Cock
Ed, well remembered!
Cock Ben got chased from the building by where's my shoes.
I'm not sure that American girl was a primmo, she was just more into identity politics bullshit.
I remember her telling me that she could tell the future in her dreams, then she started shouting "stop laughing at me!".
I saw her years later at a New York anarchist meeting arguing against membership dues being put up because she couldn't afford higher ones as she adopted an African family.
Geoff - nice one for remembering him! He only showed up close to the end, he was related to animal rights crap as well. He was the poshest person I have ever met! "WHAT?!"
That other animal rights guy, he was a disturbed individual.
Gay P**** I ran into by chance one day - he was training to be a probation officer!
The animal rights girl with the pink hair works for some animal charity now, I often see letters from her in Metro's letters page, complaining about their animal stories. One amusing one was they had a picture story about coloured rubber claw covers for cats, and she wrote in saying it was cruel.
Joe Maguire here was in one of the AYN groups - was it Manchester?
If you fancy old school AYN lulz, you could do worse than check out this old thread, which followed an AYN gathering I didn't go to in Birmingham, which sounded like just about the best/worst thing ever:
http://libcom.org/forums/archives/what-does-solidarity-really-mean-for-the-anarchist-movement
Do stick with it to read at least the first four pages!
Just for the historical
Just for the historical record "AYN:L SEX" was a joke from one meeting. In reality we went with the far more embarassing "Essex Youth Resistance". :oops:
Steven. wrote: I remember her
Steven.
she obviously didn't see that coming!
Steven. wrote: That other
Steven.
The one that got obsessed with rkn and used to sit and watch him sleeping, and then went nuts and graffed his name all over the staircases, a bit like a crazed murderer in a film might? Yeah. I remember.
That place was awesome fun, such a shame it got evicted so soon, we might have, you know, organised a revolution or something. Either that or someone would have fallen off the roof.
Gay P**** getting rounded on by someone from queeruption was good, they wanted to have a party at the squat and then told us that we'd all need to leave the building if we weren't queer, Gay P**** asked why, and was told that "we can't have people getting upset just cos another man grabbed their balls". Gay P**** said he probably would be upset if a stranger grabbed his balls, and he was then berated for his homophobic attitude. What larks.
Quote: captainmission and
Last I heard beanis was involved in putting together a bike repair shop, circa 03/04. And they were both heavily involved in the Manchester's 'The Basement' which suspiciously got flooded when there was a building fire to one of the adjacent buildings.
[youtube]8E21Q0eivow[/youtube]
Ed wrote: Yeah, the Marble
Ed
Omg, the horror and the memories...
MannyCalavera wrote: Ed
MannyCalavera
so, who were you then?
I just found this thread
I just found this thread again, looking for something else, a tear came to my eye. Oh for the follys of youth/
Steven wrote: If you fancy
Steven
Thread gone, which I'm sure is a shame.
petey wrote: Steven
petey
I think that one would need some heavy editing to make it back in
jef costello wrote: petey
jef costello
I have resurrected it for reference, maybe we'll take it back down in a bit…
BTW on the cleverly detourned Spark stickers, clearing out my flat in an old box I found this:
