The ten
questions you
raise are all
right on the
money,
especially
starting with
the question of
what is
organizing? and
ending with the
question of how
to develop
strategy. I
loved most of
your
discussions,
especially the
one about the
three types of
stances that the
old people take
and also the
brilliant
discussion of
the difficult
and tense dance
between
militancy and
movement-building.
There's so much
else: the
recognition of
the difficult
state of
international
struggle, the
question of how
to do
anti-racism and
solidarity, all
of it.
Thanks so much
for raising all
these issues.
I have just a
few questions:
1. Why is there
no discussion of
electoral
strategies?
These seem to me
most popular
among young
people, though
not those on the
left
necessarily.
The League of
Young
(Independent,
Pissed-Off)
Voters bases its
whole strategy
in elections,
and at least in
Albuquerque,
these people are
not that
different from
the Student
Socialist
Coalition (we
have no SDS) and
other
activists. I
consider them
all of the
Left, such as it
is.
Is it the case
that as
anarchists you
don't
participate in
elections, or
even discuss
them?
Public opinion
is manifesting
itself right now
in an electoral
turn toward the
Democrats,
though they, of
course, don't
deserve anything
at all. That
indicates
something,
though, about
elections as
natual responses
to discontent,
sort of like
water flowing
downhill. But
people think in
terms of
elections, and
I'd hate to see
the left lose
out on this
tendency for
some purely
ideological
reason.
I keep raising
with people the
example of the
Rainbow
Coalition of the
eighties, that
was grass-roots
based, led by
people of color,
and was a true
coalition. It
got Jessie
Jackson an
amazing 6.5
million votes in
the Demo primary
of 1988. Of
course it was
dissolved by
Jessie in one
moment, at the
behest of the
DLC, which
showed its
weakness, but
that's not the
point.
2. Environment
and race, as I'm
sure you know,
are intimately
connected. Did
you find much
organizing going
on around
environmental
justice? Here
in New Mexico,
some of the most
vibrant work is
such community
based EJ
organizing.
(Not
incidentally,
that's what
Marla and I are
up to).
When we talk
about
anti-racism,
solidarity,
etc., the
formulations are
not theoretical,
they're
concrete, like
EJ and
immigrants'
rights.
3. Related, are
Katrina and the
loss of New
Orleans central
to young
peoples'
thinking? It
strikes me that
Katrina was so
monstrous that
almost any smart
19 year-old
would be
thinking about
how the
government can't
be trusted. This
is a perfect
example,
also, of
environmental
degradation
(including
global warming)
coming together
with
institutional
racism.
4. I'm not sure
I understand the
Build Dual
Power/Confront
State Power
formulation,
except in a few
concrete
examples you
refer to. Are
you saying that
one without the
other is
useless? Is
this a guide to
the development
of strategy? At
another point
you refer to
goals of ending
the war and
making
fundamental
changes in
society. Is
that the same as
Dual
Power/Confront
State Power? Or
is it something
else, more
liberal?
Perhaps there's
a better way of
phrasing the
Dual Power/State
Power dichotomy.
Speaking of
which, you use
the phrase
"revolutionary
movements" in
your
introduction.
Do you mean this
literally? It's
the only time
the word
revolution
creeps in, but
somehow I think
it's there all
along. Is that
why elections
got no mention,
because they're
not
revolutionary?
If the goal is
still
revolution, is
it wise to be
out trumpeting
it, since most
young people
would draw a
complete blank
and refuse to
even consider
it. Is
revolution a
strategy? Is it
a goal? Is it
even on the
table for
consideration?
Thanks, Dan and
Andy, for taking
the time to
report on your
trip, and thank
you, Doug, for
sending it to
me. I learned a
lot.