2007 FOR Conference Archive

By infomorph

ABOUT FOR

finding-our-roots-graphic1.jpg

Finding Our Roots is a conference planned in Chicago to discuss anarchist theory and action! Why should we discuss theory? Within the last several years, Chicagoland anarchist and radicals have become disconnected and disorganized. There also appears to be a lack of critical theory, leading to a situation in which possible alternatives and plans for restructuring society have been neglected. It is necessary for the radical community to understand our roots and continue the struggle. With the war in Iraq, plans by 2016 to have security cameras on every corner of Chicago, cops in military fatigues on the south side, and massacres in Oaxaca, it is essential to resist and discuss viable solutions to hierarchy. We must discuss how Chicago would operate with maximum participation from all people. This is only possible if we understand our mistakes and learn from the past. How is anarchism perceived within the general public? Anarchism as a movement has lost appeal to working people. Instead of involving community members, the movement is youth oriented and largely organized through cultural events. Lack of solidarity, respect, and support for projects contributed to the dissolution of Arsenal, A-Zone, Black Flag, Clamor, and Impact Press to an end.

This conference will be the first of a series. The goal is to allow participants to hear speakers and discuss a wide variety of radical theory and topics. This event will serve as a way to bring people together, share stories, exchange information, and discuss revolution and how to make it possible.

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CONFERENCE DETAILS

Dates
 Finding Our Roots takes place from Friday April 27-Sunday April 29. A full schedule can be found here.

Location
The conference itself will take place at Loyola University, in the Quinlan Life & Science Center, 1050 W. Sheridan, on the northwest corner of Sheridan & Kenmore. That’s in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Chicago’s far north side. The university address is 6525 N Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626. A campus map is available here (HTML) and here (PDF).

Registration
Registration is NOT necessary, but it will help us get a feel for how many people to expect. You can just show up at the conference if you prefer not to register.

Costs
The conference is free, though donations to help us cover costs will be gladly accepted.

Housing
We are not providing housing, but we can point you towards hotels and other interesting places to stay. See here.

Childcare
We have space and volunteers available at the conference for childcare.

Food
Evanston Food Not Bombs will provide lunch on Saturday, but the rest of the time you’ll be on your own. There are plenty of places to eat near the Loyola location, and we will have a handout of vegetarian and vegan-friendly spots available at the conference.

Parking
There is a parking lot at Loyola University. On Saturday, parking will cost $6 per day, no matter how long you park. Parking is free on Sunday.

Tabling
We will have several groups and vendors tabling at the conference. Tables are available for a fee of $25, free if you’re not selling anything. So far, our tablers include:

  • Anarchist Black Cross
  • Animal Defense League - Chicago
  • Charles H. Kerr Publishing
  • Chicago Community Bike Project
  • Christ anarcho-punk band
  • IWW - Chicago
  • Midwest Books to Prisoners
  • New World Resource Center
  • Sex Workers’ Outreach Project
  • Velocipede Infoshop

Questions
If you have any other questions or concerns, write us at chicagoanarchisttheory [at] riseup [dot] net or leave a comment here.

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SCHEDULE

Fri. 6-8pm Registration Begins

Fri. 6:30pm-9pm Picnic in the Park


WORKSHOPS

The following workshops will be presented during Finding Our Roots. We will also have space set aside during the conference for guerrilla workshops to come together. Each workshop will be one hour long.
A Brief Introduction to Anarchism: or, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Anarchism and Were Afraid to Ask
This workshop assumes no background knowledge of anarchism at all and covers all the basics: what anarchism isn’t, anarchism vs. the liberal and marxist traditions, different schools of anarchist theory and practice, and anarchist alternatives to capitalism and the state. I will also present a zany five-minute outline of the historical development of anarchism from time immemorial to the present, possibly involving hand puppets.

* Presenter: Jesse Cohn

The Abolition of Work, The Right to Be Lazy and the End of Wage Slavery.
In the law, even in today’s so-called more enlightened times, the employer is defined as Master and the employee as Servant. Even those who claim to “love their jobs” are still being exploited by the Master class. What we do comes to define who we are. We are put to work not only to enrich others but also to keep us warehoused and under control. Non workers are considered pariahs, bums and tramps and in the law are illegal. It’s a crime to be poor and a worse crime not to work. We sell our entire lives for the security of a paycheck that still keeps most of us one paycheck from the streets and many of us without necessities such as health insurance. Our energy and our creativity is used not to build a better world or for our own enjoyment in lazy, dreamy reverie but to create more useless junk in the best cases and harmful products and services in the worst cases. Work as we know it will be abolished in a new society. Some necessary activity will still exist, but in far different and in definite egalitarian ways. We’ve become the slave species, and we’ve enslaved animals right along with us. Change is not impossible, but easy, a matter of will. A no more masters, no more slaves workshop.

* Presenter: Gale
* Workshop Reading

Anarchism and Workplace Organizing The majority of people spend most of their waking lives in a totalitarian environment, the job. If anarchism is about resisting authority then where best to carry on the struggle then at the place where we spend at least 8 hours a day? On the job, however, individual struggle is a losing proposition, organization is key. Anarcho-syndicalism is the application of anarchist principles to the organization of the class struggle at the point of production. This workshop will examine the job as an indispensable terrain in the struggle for freedom.

* Presenter: Mike H.

Anarchist Theory of Animal Liberation
This workshop will put forward the view that anarchist theory should equally consider and include non-human animals as an oppressed group. Is a human hierarchy over non-human animals consistent (or acceptable) with anti-authoritarian/anarchist ideas? We will discuss the ethical principles and questions that relate to utilizing non-human animals for human purposes, as well as addressing concepts like anthropocentricism, speciesism, sentient/cognitive liberties, liberation vs. rights, informed consent, and empathy. Common questions, both pro and con, will be raised, including criticisms that seek to marginalize animal liberation. Animal research will be discussed in the context of good science and or bad science, and we will examine the common justifications for eating and wearing animals. I will argue that it is not acceptable to exploit one group (non-human animals) for the benefit another (humans).We will also explore the criticism that some animal rights groups do more harm then good, such as utilizing tactics that objectify women, and how such tactics can be corrosive to the broader movement’s cohesion. The animal rights/liberation movement is not homogenous, of course, and so we will also address problems such as privilege and leadership.

* Presenter: Mike D.

Anarcho-Transhumanism
This discussion will start as a presentation about the accelerating pace of technological change and how these changes will be disruptive to society. It will cover advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, cognitive science, and computer science, and how these will recursively interact and potentially lead us towards a technological “singularity.” Specific topics will include genetic engineering, longevity, communication networks, open source initiatives, nanofabrication, and the militarization of space. These technologies and inevitable changes pose many risks — both to our personal freedoms and to humanity and the Earth as a whole — but they might also provide anarchists with the tools and opportunities to undertake drastic social change *in our lifetimes*. After the presentation, we are interested in having a discussion on how pro-tech anarchists can best position ourselves to take advantage of these technologies/changes and use them to our advantage to establish a free, transhuman, post-scarcity society.

* Presenters: Sprite, Brian, and Ben
* Workshop Reading

Basic Bakunin
A presentation on the basic ideas of Mikhail Bakunin and an application of those beliefs in current world affairs. Concepts discussed will include class analysis, revolutionary discipline, Unions, the role of the state and why anti authoritarians oppose parliamentary, congressional democracy, and also the Marxist ‘worker state.’

* Presenter: Rob

Challenges to Capitalism, Challenges for the Left: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and the Three Way Fight
The “three way fight” analysis proposes that we reconfigure our understanding of global politics away from a binary opposition between “us” (good, radical, freedom-loving) and “them” (bad, capitalists, oppresive) and toward a multi-polar assessment in which capitalism attempts to maintain its hegemony by fending off insurgent movements both left (anarchists, zapatistas, etc.) and right (fascists, al-Qaeda, etc.). Michael Staudenmaier will explore the implications of this analysis, taking as his starting point the perceived tension between those on the left who prioritize the struggle against anti-semitism and those who emphasize the fight against islamophobia. His talk will address problems within the North American radical left in order to examine the broad prospects for an insurgent anti-capitalist movement that can challenge capitalism from the left.

* Presenter: Mike Staudenmeier
* Workshop Reading

The Current Condition of the U.S.
An open discussion-oriented workshop about the current condition of the United States. All societies that have experienced revolutions have had a low per capita income and a large income gap between the rich and poor. We will discuss the worsening economic conditions here in the US and ho wthey will impact our society, how the anarchist movement and American society as a whole is affected by a huge prison system and mass surveillance, and how the social justice movement here compares to movements in other countries. We will also introduce the pamplet Autonomous Self-Organisation and Anarchist Intervention written by Wolfi Landstreicher, which covers these topics.

* Presenter: Jevon

Emma Goldman in Our Time
Emma Goldman is probably the most well-known and well-loved anarchist in history. But what did she really say and believe? Many of Goldman’s ideas were ahead of her own time and considered radical even by her fellow anarchists; some of her thought is still edgy even by today’s standards (for example, her writings on sexuality). How is her theory, and the example of her life, still important and relevant for anarchists today? (Or is she simply overrated?)This workshop will explore Goldman’s body of theoretical work, focusing on some of her lesser-known writings. In particular, we will explore the tendency toward individualism in Goldman’s work, looking at the ways in which this tendency has fallen out of favor in contemporary anarchism, and how it might be redeemed from the canon and made relevant today. We will discuss the applicability of Goldman’s thought to our lives and work as anarchists, and why her position as an “anarchist hero” is (or isn’t) still warranted and relevant.

* Presenter: Kathy

Free Market Anti-Capitalism: Individualist Anarchist Thought
Individualist anarchists have provided important critique of both collectivist anarchism and government authority. Although it has recently been mixed up with the confused ideas of “anarcho-capitalism,” anarcho-individualism’s central tenet is that capitalism (and wealthy capitalists) cannot exist without the violence and monopoly power of the state.What are the “spooks” at the foundation’ sof society’s authoritarian institutions, and how can they be eradicated? What is capitalism, and how was it created? In what ways can property be “theft,” “despotism” and “freedom”? What are the totalitarian dangers of collectivist anarchist theory? Does individualism necessarily reject class struggle, social movements and revolution?This workshop will follow the ideas of Max Stirner, Pierre Proudhon, Benjamin Tucker, and Kevin Carson to explore the possibility of an anti-capitalist free markt — a world of voluntary interaction and cooperation without coercion — and the potential for anarcho-individualism to provide the contemporary anarchist movement with organizational, tactical and economic theory.

* Presenter: Daniel
* Workshop Reading

The Green Scare and Security Culture
The term “green scare” refers to the federal government’s expanding prosecution efforts against animal liberation and ecological activists, drawing parallels to the “red scares” of the 1910s and 1950s. The term has now been widely used to describe an early 2006 sweep of arrests, convictions, and grand jury indictments dubbed “Operation Backfire;” the cases of the SHAC7, Eric McDavid, and Rod Coronado; as well as recent repressive legislation such as the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which attempts to turn activists into “terrorists.” The purpose of this workshop will be to make people aware of what has been happening in these cases and how the government is attempting to dismantle the earth/animal liberation movements and how we as activists can take precautions to resist this infiltration and intimidation.This workshop will also cover the need for activists to practice security culture in order to fight against the government’s attempts to infiltrate radical movements. Security culture has many implications that need to be known by activists working against the status quo. With effective activism comes government repression and it is important that we as activists know our rights and stand united against government repression and against those who work with the government against their fellow activists. Grand juries and government informants are common tools used by the government in their attempts to infiltrate and intimidate activists into silence. This workshop will talk about how activists can adopt security culture to protect themselves against this infiltration and the need to resist grand juries and how activists in the earth/animal liberation movement have gone about doing this.These issues are particularly relevant in the green scare cases as many activists have taken deals to testify against their fellow activists, one activist wore a wire to attempt to implicate fellow activists, and at least one FBI informant was uncovered within the activist community.

* Presenters: J. Johnson and Mike D.

Haymarket
A brief talk about May 1st as Labor Day around the world and here, too, as a people’s recognition. Its history and the violence associated with labor especially in the 1800’s leading to the Haymarket Affair, an affair culminating in the criminalization and legal lynching of 8 anarchists, 4 of whom were hanged. The anarchists’ organization of labor at the time, the struggle for the 8 hour day and beyond that, worker control of production.

* Presenter: Gale
* Workshop Reading

The Horizontalist Moment
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 signaled many literal and figurative openings. Such openings afforded space for the emergence of all sorts of new concerns, from the growing global reach of capital to the consolidation of U.S. geopolitical power to the rise of religious fundamentalisms. And yet, the cold wars end marked a bright new beginning too. With Marxist-Leninist, social democratic, and liberal politics all discredited, many communities and social movements turned toward directly democratic models of politics. They began to experiment on the grassroots level, borrowing from the past and yet creating something fresh. They began to talk to each other, respectfully, forming horizontal networks of global solidarity and mutual aid. And now, despite all the repression and setbacks, these movements represent the most vibrant and humane alternative to a deadening and inhumane social order. This talk will explore the rise and innovative practices of these anti-authoritarian movements, focusing on their (and our) potentiality to forge a powerful challenge to the status quo, as well as some of the ways they fall short. Specifically, well look at the horizontal moment through contemporary examples such as the anti-capitalist portion of the global justice movement, the self-managed enterprises of Argentina, the autonomous communities and popular assemblies of Mexico from Chiapas to Oaxaca, and the Kurdish Workers Partys recent shift to a program advocating democratic confederalism.

* Presenter: Cindy Milstein

How Does Technology Affect Our Lives?
How modern technology affects our personal lives, our social relationships, our relationship to the natural environment, our emotions, the way we think. Will touch on green anarchy/primitivism, the nature of work. Some authors/theorists to be mentioned: Jacques Ellul, John Zerzan, Willem Vanderburg, Herbert Marcuse (maybe).

* Presenter: Derek

Introduction to Social Ecology, the theories of Murray Bookchin
This workshop will cover the basic philosophy and political strategies of Social Ecology, the philosophy of Murray Bookchin. Social Ecology believes current environmental problems developed from unequal social relations, focusing on how domination of people over people creates domination and exploitation of the natural world by human beings. The ethical philosophy is rooted in an evolutionary approach to studying social relations and founded on a belief in the possibility of intentionally-developed, rational communities. It incorporates a critical examination of social relations as they exist - a rejection of the modes of interaction currently available in society and the belief in something better. Social Ecology rejects all forms of irrational and systemic hierarchy and promotes direct democracy in local assemblies that are voluntarily linked in a confederal system. The political aspect of social ecology, libertarian municipalism or communalism, demands we retake neighborhoods and cities, states and nations that have grown beyond the scope of face-to-face interaction and create social spaces designed for active civic participation and democratic decision-making.There’s no prior knowledge of Social Ecology or even anarchism needed! There will be plenty of time for participant-suggested discussion. I hope people will wish to discuss social ecology as it relates to other forms of social anarchism and environmentalism, its plans for change, and its particular relevance to a metropolis like Chicago.

* Presenter: Sharlyn
* Workshop Reading

Insurrectionary Communism: Affinity Groups and Strategies of Popular Education
Broadly I propose an exploration of contemporary revolutionary anarchist theory. The presentation will focus on insurrection as a strategy towards the communization of society. The goal of the workshop aims to elaborate and explore several basic and advanced questions, such as: Why is the abolition of classes necessary for Anarchy? Who are more likely to be these abolitionists? What organizational forms of anti-capitalist struggle are least likely to be recuperated by Capital. What organizational forms would best abet would-be class abolitionists? How has contemporary anarchism been informed by autonomist Marxism and critical race theory? Where does a strategy of informal intervention diverge with other strategies (syndicalism, municipalism, or specific federationism) which also purportedly seek to establish a libertarian communist society? Where is there commonality amongst such strategies, and where are perceived differences largely semantic? What is the role of affinity groups in organizing campaigns? What, if any, are the differences between organizing for attack versus organizing for survival and defense?After the facilitator(s) offers some personal conclusions in regards to these questions and why it is felt they are important questions to ask, the majority of time will be alotted for Q&A / group discussion.

* Presenters: Rik and Matt
* Workshop Reading

The Jewish Anarchist Tradition
Why were so many famous anarchists, from Emma Goldman to Noam Chomsky, Jewish? What connections are there between Yiddish culture and anarchist politics? Can one be a religious Jew and an anarchist at the same time? How does anarchist theory accommodate claims about ethnic or national identity? What about the internationalism–and the anti-semitism–of key anarchist thinkers, such as Proudhon and Bakunin? How have Jewish anarchists responded to crises past and present, from the pogroms and the Shoah to the Nakba and the occupation of
Palestine? What lessons can be drawn from these experiences for anti-authoritarian organizing today? These are some of the questions this workshop will explore. All are equally invited, regardless of ethnic and religious identity.

* Presenter: Jesse Cohn
* Workshop Reading

Lessons Learned of the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil war (1936-1939) started after the military uprising, being supported by landowners, the church, and industrialist after the elections in February. The resistance against the conservative reaction was largely represented by the popular front government, months after the initial uprising on July, 19th 1936. The most militant revolutionary movement was the CNT (National Confederation de trabajo), FAI (Iberian Anarchist Federation) and elements of the UGT (Union General Trabajoderes) which fought for social revolution and for the eradication of capitalism. How far was the social revolution able to recreate Spain’s economic, and political organization, while combating Franco? I am interested in questioning how the revolution was defeated, outside of Franco and military defeats. This workshop is focused on critically questioning the CNT-FAI during the civil war, and examining errors and applications of principles within the organization.The object of anarchism is to create a society where men and women can choose how to live by their own accord, instead of a scientific solution to liberty that fits everyone, which neglects the emotions and desires of workers during everyday life. Before the election the CNT notified the International Workingmen’s Association that it would not participate in the elections. The CNT announced, “The Alternative to the voting booth was the social revolution.” Yet during the elections an increase of a million and a quarter votes since the last election of 1933 was largely credited to the anarchists. What was their motive to voting? Could the revolution have happened without socialist victory during the election?The civil war began in Catalonia, where the CNT was dominant. The CNT’s leadership was left with the question of “anarchist dictatorship” — either only allowing anarchist organization or collaboration with other elements of the popular front. The CNT leadership felt they were stuck choosing between the lesser of two evils, Franco, or the popular front which would kill the social revolution, but it would defeat Franco. Though the object of the social revolution was clear, it was the means that were debatable. If the anarchists acted right away, could the revolution have been victorious? Did the anarchists possess a strong enough force to win? Was collaboration into a national state structure necessary, or could the revolutionary movement establish new social organization?I will argue that the largest defeat of the Spanish Revolution was not the defeat of the CNT-FAI by Franco; rather it was collaboration, unaccountable leadership by figureheads of the CNT-FAI. Though much of the rank and file remained anti-authoritarian, anarchist leaders joined the government and organized institutions by what was familiar to them, the state model. This destroyed the social revolution, killing the possibilities of new revolutionary social organizations to be constructed.

* Presenters: Robert A. and Gale
* Workshop Reading

Liberation Technology: GNU/LinuxThis workshop will be a brief overview of the theory and philosophy behind Free Software and Open Source Software. We will look at some open source programs that are used. We will also look at the relationship between free software and social movements such as Anarchism.

* Presenter: Scribbler

The Need to Move Past Rights-Based Theory
This talk will examine the ideas of rights and human rights and delve into a quick examination of their historical origins and development as well as their theoretical limitations. As a historical phenomena, the idea of rights developed in opposition to the absolutism of the state, in its monarchist form. The idea of rights, generally, have developed in a statist context. This leads to several problems that shall be examined and outlined.As an alternative, a spiritual/moral perspective shall be offered as the basis for political thought and action. This will include a quick examination of the ideas of David Edwards (author of Free to be Human published in the US by South End Press as Burning All Illusions). It will be suggested that while in the short term human rights based arguments are practical and necessary, that a theoretical shift away from such thinking into one based upon a deeper humanist perspective that encompasses many ideas of compassion, human happiness, and psychology (particularly the perspectives of psychiatrist Erich Fromm) will provide an ultimately more effective theoretical language and perspective from which to achieve goals in making a more free, equitable, and just society and the path to an anarchist order. It is the hope to have considerable time for discussion at the end of the introduction to these competing perspectives, where practical applications can be examined together.

* Presenter: Todd M.

Post Colonial Anarchism
Since the second World War colonized peoples from all over the globe have been engaged in struggles for self determination, social liberation, and justice. Anarchist writers have often dismissed these struggles for land and autonomy as irrelevant to anarchist concerns because they were movements for national liberation rather than class based revolutions or sporadic eruptions of romantic nihilism. This workshop will challenge this orthodoxy by examining some of the hidden and blatant colonialist assumptions behind this colossal failure of anarchist solidarity.

* Presenter: Roger White

Prison Abolition
We aim to place the prisons in the context of the State from an anarchist perspective. We’ll explain the role prisons play, how crime is generated, anarchist alternatives to dealing with aberrant behavior, and how basic concepts like mutual aid, solidarity, direct action and free skool education are used to revolutionize prisoners. We’ll trace the history of the Anarchist Red Cross and Black Cross and how modern-day ABC activists use anarchist theory to maximize our effectiveness in the unique conditions of modern-day fascist Amerika. Submissions specific to this conference from conscious anarchist prisoners will be collected, edited and made available along with dozens of other anarchist educational zines, often written by or with, prisoners.

* Presenters: Anthony R. and Gale
* Workshop Reading

Radical Affinities
This workshop addresses the question of how the dominant system reproduces itself, how projects for radical social transformation typically fail, and how some forms of social creativity nevertheless offer great promise of breaking the vicious cycle of domination. In particular, we will discuss the ways in which small, primary communities such as the affinity group, the base community, and the intentional community can be the source of liberatory social creativity. We will look briefly at the history of affinity groups and other small primary communities, their growing importance today, especially in relation to the global justice movement, and their possible future significance. Finally, we will consider the ways in which such groups challenge any dualistic split between the personal and the political dimensions, between everyday life and social practice, and between subjective experience and objective reality.

* Presenter: John Clark

Rethinking Guy Debord and The Society of the Spectacle
Guy Debord was a French anarchist theorist and one of the founding figures of the Situationist International. Combining insights from critical theory, French existentialism, Marxism, and anarchism, Debord developed a radical critique of the increasingly technological capitalism that emerged after world War II. He explained cultural phenomena that Marxist theorists failed to fully understand, and he imagined new possibilities for revolutionary movements struggling against the capitalism of the 1950s and 60s. Debord’s thought was always connected to action, and he is typically studied in the context of the May-June uprisings in Paris in 1968. Many view his work as an impetus for that rebellion. But because of the short-lived and ultimately ineffectual nature of May-June 1968, Debord’s work is too often relegated as a footnote to radical history, and as a novel but impractical theory.In this workshop, I invite people who are interested in radical and anarchist theory to come discuss the enduring relevance of Debord’s work for our own time. I will take 10 to 15 minutes to informally introduce some themes and directions, and then move on to an open discussion about Debord’s work and associated ideas. The aim is to consider how Debord’s theory can inform both critique and political action today.

* Presenter: Richard Gilman-Opalsky

Revolutionaries Who Tried to Think: The Sojourner Truth Organization and its Legacy for Anarchists Today
This workshop reviews the history and legacy of the Sojourner Truth Organization, a revolutionary group based in the midwestern United States in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Though STO was avowedly Marxist, anarchists have much to gain from a critical analysis of the group’s trajectory. We will focus on three aspects of STO’s legacy that speak to the experience of North American anarchists today: extra-union labor organizing, direct action anti-fascism, and the white-skin privilege analysis.

* Presenter: Mike Staudenmeier
* Workshop Reading

Rockin’ With Kropotkin
Who was Peter Kropotkin? What were his contributions to anarchism? This workshop will be a brief introduction into the life and ideas of the famous Russian anarchist. It will look it how his writings and life are relevant to society and anarchism today–in particular how his concept of mutual aid serves as a basis for anarchy in theory and practice.We will begin by exploring the theory of mutual aid as it has evolved in anarchist thought, going back to Proudhon and to Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, published in 1902. How has this theory been central to the development of anarchist thought? How has it been put into practice, historically and today? How has the concept been modified, expanded, and re-envisioned over the past century? How does mutual aid offer us a conceptual and practical framework for putting anarchist ideas and social relations into practice in our daily lives; how can we use the idea of mutual aid to create anarchy here and now?The workshop will focus on how the theory of mutual aid can be put into practice, as a way of creating anarchy in our own worlds. Participants will be asked to offer examples of how mutual aid functions in their lives and communities. We will share ideas, experiences, and dreams toward creating anarchy and living anarchistically based on mutual aid.

* Presenters: Kathy and Scribbler
* Workshop Reading

St. Louis Anarchist History
We will present an anarchist history of St. Louis (and the surrounding area), dealing with the General Strike, Emma Goldman’s time here, Regeneracion and the Magon brothers, the Cable Car Strike, strikes and IWW activity in nearby mining towns, etc. We will also discuss what is happening in St. Louis now, particularly with regard to the trial of Kevin Johnson.

* Presenter: Brendan

Surrealist Women, God & the State
Women in the surrealist movement have been notable for their antireligious attitudes as has the surrealist movement itself. I would give some examples, read some texts and discuss with the attendees the relationship between religion and social control historically.Concerned above all with “resolving the contradiction between dream and waking life” and “realizing poetry in daily life,” surrealism also was an antiwar and anti-western civilization movement from the start; and early manifestoes were titled “Open the Prisons! Disband the Army! To Your Kennels Curs of God!” Though critics have portrayed the movement as all-male and all-white, women have been active in surrealism in 30 countries-from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and the U.S., and from 1924 to today.Surrealism enables us to see ourselves and the world in new ways. Antimilitarist, anti-Eurocentric, anti-racist, anti-religious and ecofeminist, surrealism is a kind of playful anarchism of the Marvelous. From Australian Mary Low’s first-hand account of women in the Spanish Revolution to Iraqi-born Haifa Zangana’s critique of work, there is plenty of food for thought for activists.Militantly pacifist are Leonora Carrington’s appeal to women to “refuse war,” and a post-World-War-II declaration by Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins, which says in part: “liberation is synonymous with peace, not a stagnant peace … but a dynamic peace. It is a wrong belief, too frequently shared, to think that only war is dynamic. There is a dynamic peace, a creative peace, the peace through art … Art is liberation … It is by art that we must rebuild this shattered world … Art is the most solid basis of peace.”

* Presenter: Penelope Rosemont, author of Surrealist Women: An International Anthology

What Anarchists Can Learn from Marxist Theories
My workshop will be an oral presentation of the points in Marxian theory that I think are useful for anarchists to know. My main contention is that the dialectical materialist method of investigation is useful, in that using its approach, one can deconstruct even the doctrines of Marxism itself. My area of expertise allows me to see the holes in what has been called Marxism, using the very approach Marx himself claimed to use. Dialectical thinking allows us to see the errors of Lenin and Trotsky, their privileging of “revolutionary intellectuals” and the disregard they had for the real spontaneity and creativity of the workers, which after all came to revolutionary consciousness very much of their own accord and by their own means, long before any “Marxists” attempted to direct them. My main point here is that, using dialectical materialism, as well as paying attention to the real history of workers’ struggle, one arrives closer to Rosa Luxemburg’s ideas than Lenin’s, about the worth of the soviets, the unions, and other working people’s free associations, which flourished for a time in Russia and elsewhere, before the communists took them over or dissolved them. But even Rosa Luxemburg does not go far enough; the ultimate conclusion one comes to in the application of dialectics is anarchy. I believe I can demonstrate this in succinct, logical argument. And I think its useful when relating to those of various “communist” activisms, to know their method, and to use it in a way more honestly and effectively than they themselves many times do. I find it puzzling that dialectics as a science has been so distorted by those who claim its ascendency, and yet anarchists, who have every reason to use this science, and critique Marxists by using it, remain largely ignorant of it. The simple fact is that only anarchists are in a position to really make use of dialectical materialism, for the so-called Marxists have abandoned it, replacing free investigation of social problems with various doctrines and dogmas. These are easily refuted and disproved–using the very method that proportedly was used in their formulation. I think it would be highly advantageous to anarchists generally to be able to understand and utilize this method of thinking, in order to prove our position better, and to truly understand Marxist ways of thinking, pointing out exactly where they go wrong. It would help us in debate with Marxists to know better their logic. And it would strengthen our own theory, by broadening the scope of our investigations. During this workshop, I will trace the workers’ revolutionary movement, and show how using dialectics, honest people like Rosa Luxemburg concluded such things as the general strike was not an abberation, but in fact the very direction of the movement so many of her fellow socialists claimed to represent, but instead condemned. I will also use class theory to introduce the concept of bureaucratic collectivism, showing how the bureaucracy is a middling layer under capitalism similar in ambition to the bourgeoisie under feudalism–a rising class which uses communism and statist socialism to bring itself into power, on the backs of the workers’ movement, similar to the way the bourgeoisie used parliamentary democracy as its ideology to dupe the peasants during revolutions against aristocracy. I will also critique Marx himself, using dialectics, to attack his linear conception of social change, showing that although bureaucratic rule is a possible outcome of revolution against capitalism, it is not “ordained”–just as the rise of the bourgeoisie was not ordained in the leaving of feudalism. Peasants could have risen without them (so I will argue). Class theory, liberated from marxist ideology, can be a very useful tool. Just as dialectics, too, can be very useful, if so liberated.

* Presenter: Sid

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WORKSHOP RESOURCES

This page lists out bibliographies, books, articles, pamphlets, websites, and other references that are relevant to each particular workshop. If you’re interested in attending a workshop, we encourage you to do some reading and research from the material before. The more prepared we all are, the more productive our conversations can be!
The Abolition of Work, the Right to be Lazy, and Wage Slavery

* The Abolition of Work, by Bob Black
* The Right to be Lazy, by Paul Lafarge,; Charles H. Kerr
* Surrealist Subversions; Autonomedia

Anarcho-Transhumanism

* Anarcho-Transhumanism blog — features a number of links in the sidebar.
* Transhumanist Declaration
* Transhumanism Wikipedia Entry
* Transhumanist FAQ

Challenges to Capitalism, Challenges for the Left: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and the Three Way Fight

* Three-Way Fight blog

Free Market Anti-Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism
The Ego & Its Own, by Max Stirner
The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand, by Kevin A. Carson
A “Political” Program For Anarchists, by Kevin Carson
Proudhon and Anarchism, by L. Gambone
Individualism Reconsidered, by Joe Peacott
Free Trade is Fair Trade
Minorities Versus Majorities, by Emma Goldman

Haymarket

* Haymarket Scrapbook, Charles H. Kerr
* Lucy Parsons, Charles H. Kerr
* Haymarket Journal May 1986 Special Haymarket Centennial Issue

Introduction to Social Ecology: The Theories of Murray Bookchin

* Bookchin in the Libcom library
* Bookchin in the Anarchist Archives

The Jewish Tradition

* Messianic Troublemakers: The Past and Present Jewish Anarchism

Insurrectionary Communism: Affinity Groups and Strategies of Popular Education

* Dissident magazine — Insurrection and Anarchism issue
* Eclipse and Re-Emergence of the Communist Movement, by Jean Barrot and Francois Martin

Lessons Learned From the Spanish Civil War

* 1936: The Spanish Revolution, by The EX; AK Press
* A Day Mournful & Overcast, AK Press Pamphlet
* Anarchy Archives — Spanish Civil war section

Prison Abolition

* Clarrence Darrow, Crime & Criminals; Charles H. Kerr
* Catherine Baker, “Against Prisons!” Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed, Fall/Winter 1994-95
* Corrections News
* Christian Parenti, Lockdown America
* Northwestern Criminal Justice Seminar, 1998

Revolutionaries Who Tried to Think: The Sojourner Truth Organization and its Legacy for Anarchists Today

* Sojourner Truth: Notes Toward a History blog

Rockin’ With Kropotkin

* Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution

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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

SATURDAY–Neala Schleuning: Whatever Happened to Anarchist Theory? Babies, Bathwater, and Big Ideas.
We’ve been at it over 100 years. Railing at the government, protesting the chokehold of capitalism and the consumer culture that is destroying our planet, raising alarms over the centralization of power in every facet of our lives, and demonstrating against the abuses of the corporation, of war and empire.

Anarchists have dedicated their lives to pointing out the enemy on every front and taking direct action. But what inspired these efforts in the past, and what will shape the vision for the future?

There are two parallel theoretical traditions in Anarchist theory—a tradition based on individualism (the libertarian tradition), and a tradition grounded in cooperative participation (communist anarchism, social anarchism, syndicalism). These two traditions are not mutually exclusive, but are in dialectical tension with one another. Sometimes the pendulum swings one way, sometimes the other, and our grand tradition and our beautiful vision gets thrown off the track.

Each tradition has its own theoretical foundations. I will argue, however, that they are not of equal weight in the grand scheme of political thought. In recent decades, we’ve gone down the individualistic pathway—a function of several factors: the influence of the dominant culture and the consumer economy which celebrates individual consumption; a narrow reading of the principles of democracy, the free and independent spirit of our own tradition of protest and rebellion, among others. As a “movement” of individuals, we have become enamored with the romance of the self, of the individual, of me.

There is the other pathway, the social anarchist pathway. It, too, has suffered at the hands of the dominant culture’s incursion into its theoretical foundations. Did the collapse of socialist experiments fail because of theory? Or because of pressures from non-democratic forces in the cultures involved? We are told that Marxism is passé, that the new field of battle is something called “culture,” that democracy has become consumerism. How do we organize ourselves, after the demonstrations and protests are over?

My workshop/presentation, will discuss the principle theoretical elements of both traditions, and see how we can save the “baby” of anarchism from the bathwater of the assaults on both traditions. Some of the old will have to be jettisoned, some will have to be revived, and new pathways will have to be forged and new work undertaken. All we have to lose is our relevance.

SUNDAY–Cindy Milstein: The “New” Anarchism
Over the past few years, anarchism has emerged as one of the most compelling currents within today’s anti-capitalist milieu. With its emphasis on participation and prefigurative politics, anarchism has contributed to diverse experiments in horizontal organization as well as social power, alongside or in solidarity with a variety of anti-authoritarian movements worldwide. It has also brought a refreshing wave of utopian thinking to a tired Left. And perhaps for the first time in its own history, anarchism is all that much more relevant and even workable in this era, variously labeled the network society, the information age, or simply globalization. This talk will explore the outlines of what’s been called “the new anarchism,” including whether it’s new at all, against the backdrop of the present moment, in an attempt to capture some of the vibrancy and even innovations of–and tensions within–contemporary anarchism.

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BIOS

Gale Ahrens, aka Jane Doe and Uma Kafka, has been active in the Chicago Surrealist Movement for over six years, becoming acquainted with this movement at Bughouse Square where she soapboxes frequently. Surrealists seek a world worth living in through the use of the unfettered imagination and through subversion by means of art and poetry, among other things. In the 1980’s the state made her an anarchist and now she is a prison and punishment abolitionist. She found her own jail time for activism very enlightening. In the 1990’s she took an anarchist tour of Spain. She lives in Chicago and speaks frequently here and in other cities as well in various forums and has some done some radio and television appearances as well. She has a Journalism Degree from the University of Missouri at Columbia, which she finds useful as raw material for collages. She edited and wrote the introduction to the book Lucy Parsons, Freedom, Equality, and Solidarity; Writings & Speeches, 1878-1937 and has contributed to many surrealist publications, including the book Surrealist Subversions. She currently maintains the website chicagoabc.org.
Jesse Cohn is an English professor at Purdue North Central, where he teaches interpretive methods and courses on contemporary fiction, poetry, and popular culture. His first book, Anarchism and the Crisis of Representation, came out in October 2006 from Susquehanna University Press. He is currently working on a number of translation projects aimed at bringing vital pieces of anarchist knowledge, past and present, to the English-speaking world. He lives in Valparaiso, Indiana with his two main raisons d’être, Darlene and Rosa.

Mike H, aka Irving da Naile and Millard Whitney, has been involved in the anarchist movement since his days in SDS in 1968-69. He’s been a member of the IWW since 1972 and served as its General Secretary-Treasurer from 1978-1980 and helped edit the IWW’s newspaper, The Industrial Worker, for 10 years. He’s also been a member of the editorial collective of the Libertarian Labor Review/Anarcho-Syndicalist Review since 1986.

Richard Gilman-Opalsky is professor of political philosophy at the University of Illinois-Springfield. His Ph.D. is in Political Science and his MA is in Philosophy, both from The New School for Social Research. Gilman-Opalsky’s teaching areas and research interests include the history of political philosophy, continental and contemporary political theory, socialist philosophy, globalization, critical theory, feminist theory, and social movements. Gilman-Opalsky teaches Marxist and anarchist theories, from Kropotkin, Marx, Bakunin, and Gramsci to Malatesta, Castoriadis, Debord, and Bookchin. Gilman-Opalsky understands theory as a tool for developing a critique of existing society, evaluating what ought to be done, and revealing obstacles to and possibilities for social and political change.

Roger White is a criminal justice researcher and writer in Oakland, California. He’s been an racial and economic justice organizer/activist for over ten years.

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Conference Description

Finding Our Roots is a yearly conference in Chicago to discuss anarchist theory and action. The next conference is planned for April 18-20, 2008 and will focus on "Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest."