Some Things We Have Learned Recently...

Coming off of some interesting and precarious new developments around March 4th, we found ourselves at the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair and the BASTARD Conference. During our time in the Bay Area we learned a lot of new things. In addition, we have formed a close bond to some Greek Anarchists from the Void Network. The perspective gained from their words not only informs how we view revolutionary politics, but inspires us. Additionally, the Void Network was kind enough to link this blog on their own, when discussing their book tour through our area. Our time with some members of the Void Network along with Peter Gelderloos, who accompanied them on their tour, has left an immeasurable impact on us. Now for some ideas we would like to share:

Against the Student Identity
Universities require groups of Anarchist students in order to transform the University from an exclusionary space used only by students, to a space resembling that of a town square or social center; a space where all of the society is welcome. In order to do this we must destroy the student identity. This means destroying the ability of students to use this label to separate themselves from society. The separation of students from society means the separation from students and the social struggles which take place outside their comfortable University. Students need to bring the rest of the society into the University and open it up to other social struggles. This is not to say that student struggles do not have a unique position, students uniquely have the opportunity to radicalize other students, and break the intellectual authority of Academic elites. Breaking the student identity is needed to radicalize other students by showing them that soon they will be workers, and there is no future in that. And realizing that there is no future, no hope for where you are now, is key to putting people in the position to oppose the forces that oppress them. When students open up the space of the University to other struggles, when a particular action does take place that uniquely effect students, they have the support of the rest of society, who, ideally, or in Greece at least, will join the student opposition, come into the University and say, “What is the problem here?” Ultimately, the student struggle cannot achieve any goals unless it is part of the larger struggle against systems of oppression. Additionally, the demands of students in the struggle ought not be demands of the University, but demands of the entire society. Most important to remember about the student struggle is the notion: “We must not be revolutionary students, but revolutionary beings!” The Greek perspective on students and student life is especially important to us because Greek Universities are spaces for action toward larger goals. Further, police are not allowed in Greek Universities as a result of years of struggle in the 1980s to kick them out and reclaim the University as a public, police free space. This is a valuable goal to strive for.

Our conclusions tell us that we must not fit into neat boxes. We must, ourselves, resist the urge to categorize while simultaneously resist being categorized. Finally, in all the reading and listening we have done, we want to point out that while searching for answers we have not found any. As close as a statement or claim might look to an answer, we must be skeptical of treating them as such. To us, even in the books we read, there is no answer. Merely space opened up for us to create our own answers. Along those lines, we feel that the things we say ought not function as answers, but as the opening of spaces for the discovery of them. (paraphrased from pieces of lectures given by the Void Network; which took place at the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair, the Bastard conference, and the PCWC’s Beer and Revolution)