1 00:00:09,780 --> 00:00:15,720 Modern industrial civilization is an astonishing testament to the power and capacity of organization. 2 00:00:19,420 --> 00:00:24,460 The world that we inhabit today is the product of countless generations of planning, innovation 3 00:00:24,460 --> 00:00:29,130 and collective human activity, harnessed and channelled towards the ceaseless pursuit of 4 00:00:29,130 --> 00:00:30,960 productivity and growth. 5 00:00:33,500 --> 00:00:38,600 Every day, the global economy structures and coordinates the labour of billions of people. 6 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:44,010 A dizzying array of commodities are engineered, manufactured, transported to regional distribution 7 00:00:44,010 --> 00:00:49,200 centres and shipped out to retail outlets and people’s doorsteps all around the world. 8 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:54,000 International supply chains cut across borders and continents, connecting garment workers 9 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,280 in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam to Wal-Mart shoppers in Scottsdale, Arizona. 10 00:01:00,500 --> 00:01:06,280 Within this interconnected system, each metropolis forms a teeming hub of activity made up of dozens of 11 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:11,080 neighborhoods. These distinct regions are linked together by an intricately designed maze of 12 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:13,280 transportation and telecommunication 13 00:01:13,290 --> 00:01:18,080 infrastructure, as well as the electrical, water and sewage grids that help ensure the 14 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,240 sanitation and daily survival of millions of people. 15 00:01:21,860 --> 00:01:26,130 And yet despite all the meticulous planning and the vast quantities of human skill and 16 00:01:26,130 --> 00:01:32,280 toil marshalled towards its execution, more than a billion people live in squalid, overcrowded 17 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:38,660 slums, favelas and makeshift refugee camps – many of which lack basic access to electricity 18 00:01:38,670 --> 00:01:45,040 or running water. This growing population draws little benefit from the way society is organized. 19 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:50,380 And this is by design as their impoverishment and desperation is integral to the machine's 20 00:01:50,380 --> 00:01:56,640 smooth functioning.To the architects of progress, they are the grease that keeps the gears moving. 21 00:02:00,220 --> 00:02:04,990 The same could be said, to varying degrees, for the entirety of the global working class, 22 00:02:04,990 --> 00:02:10,250 particularly migrant labourers and all those working in the informal, low-wage sectors 23 00:02:10,250 --> 00:02:17,060 of the so-called “gig economy”. Because this world is not organized around the principle 24 00:02:17,060 --> 00:02:21,840 of satisfying people’s needs, but around the endless accumulation of capital. 25 00:02:23,060 --> 00:02:28,890 This organizational imperative is firmly rooted in ruling-class institutions and in the ideologies 26 00:02:28,890 --> 00:02:35,829 and structural violence that underpin them. This dynamic means that sweeping social transformations 27 00:02:35,829 --> 00:02:41,249 are contingent on political crises that can shake and ultimately uproot the entire social 28 00:02:41,249 --> 00:02:48,139 order. Yet even when this sort of revolutionary change may seem far off, it’s always possible 29 00:02:48,139 --> 00:02:55,079 to change our conditions for the better. This is where autonomous, grass-roots organizing comes in. 30 00:02:55,079 --> 00:02:59,329 Over the next thirty minutes, we’ll take a closer look at what this sort of organizing 31 00:02:59,329 --> 00:03:04,180 looks like for anarchists. Along the way, we’ll talk to a number of individuals as 32 00:03:04,180 --> 00:03:08,879 they share their own experiences of bringing people together, coming up with strategies, 33 00:03:08,900 --> 00:03:13,100 hitting the streets... and making a whole lot of trouble. 34 00:03:41,100 --> 00:03:46,780 When we're talking about organzing, we're essentially talking about weaponizing human 35 00:03:46,780 --> 00:03:50,980 relatonships. The relationships that you and I and people in our broader community that are 36 00:03:50,980 --> 00:03:54,779 affected by things, that live together, that work together, that go to school together.. 37 00:03:54,779 --> 00:03:59,209 Weaponizing those relationships, and then using those relationships to go out and do 38 00:03:59,209 --> 00:04:04,779 something and figuring out how people can physically put themselves together as material force. 39 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,420 With that in mind, it's important to understand 40 00:04:09,420 --> 00:04:15,960 that this takes time, it takes a lot of trust, a lot of love, a lot of passion. It takes 41 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:21,680 time for folks to kind of come together and to start pinpointing what are the issues, 42 00:04:22,180 --> 00:04:25,200 what are the struggles here within my neighborhood, within my community? 43 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:33,440 44 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,340 Organizing is, it's a process of building 45 00:04:38,340 --> 00:04:43,340 up your collective strength and your collective power 46 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:47,840 The first step of organizing is to sort of 47 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:54,180 break through that social barrier and isolation that divides us and often this can be as simple 48 00:04:54,190 --> 00:04:58,390 as getting a bunch of people into a room together and starting to talk about the things that 49 00:04:58,390 --> 00:05:03,890 we have in common, the problems that we share, and from there through the course of talking 50 00:05:03,890 --> 00:05:08,200 about these things we start to come to the realization that by working together we're 51 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:15,330 in a better position to change things. Organizing is a process that should be transformative. 52 00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:22,100 During the process of organizing new bonds of solidarity are formed through 53 00:05:22,100 --> 00:05:23,560 the course of struggle. 54 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:29,840 I think the first thing is to find a group of people, 55 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:32,400 a community, 56 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:35,360 or people in your area 57 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,180 that have a conflict in common. 58 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,860 And based on that conflict, 59 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:49,000 to agree to organize among these people to achieve an objective. 60 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:58,420 Organizing is more of an approach to engaging in struggle 61 00:05:58,420 --> 00:06:04,500 People talk about organizing and being an organizer more related to building relationships with 62 00:06:05,100 --> 00:06:11,340 people and focusing on specific groups of people, it could be tenants or students or workers. 63 00:06:11,340 --> 00:06:14,340 But in this case the central focus is more on building those relationships 64 00:06:15,460 --> 00:06:21,700 Rather than just on one singular issue and often working to like build power with those people 65 00:06:23,780 --> 00:06:30,400 "After every anarchist attack, a wordy communique - Anarchist graffiti - A Greek anarchist group has attacked 66 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,240 - an anarchist group - anarchist community - these are anarchists!" 67 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:40,100 I think there are a variety of different characteristics that differentiate anarchist organizing from other 68 00:06:40,100 --> 00:06:45,830 types of organizing. I think some of them entail the scope of the type of organizing 69 00:06:45,830 --> 00:06:51,620 anarchists engage in. I think by default of being an increadibly diverse politics that has 70 00:06:51,620 --> 00:06:59,340 a critique of domination and systems of power that is so total, means that anarchists focus 71 00:06:59,340 --> 00:07:05,340 on a very broad range of different issues and organize amongst many different people. 72 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:13,420 What distinguishes anarchist organizing primarily is the goals of that organizing. So, it's 73 00:07:13,420 --> 00:07:20,420 the type of world that anarchists are trying to bring about. Anarchists oppose states and 74 00:07:20,420 --> 00:07:28,960 capitalism and all forms of illegitimate authority. So, the process of anarchist organizing is 75 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:35,310 one that builds opposition to the insitutions, groups and individuals that reproduce these 76 00:07:35,310 --> 00:07:37,920 forms of hierarchy in society. 77 00:07:39,060 --> 00:07:41,440 Anarchists engage in a really wide spectrum 78 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:47,790 of different types of activities. From things that are illegal to things that are very legal, 79 00:07:47,790 --> 00:07:52,160 things that are very like non-violent to sometimes things that could potentially be violent. 80 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:56,920 Constructive, destructive, that sort of thing. I think, part of what makes anarchism unique 81 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:02,180 is there's no assumption that legality equals morality. 82 00:08:04,580 --> 00:08:07,280 Any party based organization 83 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:10,700 from the most left-leaning to the furthest right-wing 84 00:08:10,700 --> 00:08:17,300 utilizes a hierarchical structure in its form of organizing. 85 00:08:18,340 --> 00:08:23,500 They also form part of the political circus, 86 00:08:23,540 --> 00:08:25,940 the spectacle. 87 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:33,160 There's just a lot of people that are fed up with politics as usual. They're fed up 88 00:08:33,169 --> 00:08:38,669 with the economic system that really just is ringing them out to dry. They're fed up 89 00:08:38,669 --> 00:08:40,580 with elections. 90 00:08:41,820 --> 00:08:46,900 In the face of capitalist catastrophe, in the face of the capitalist devastation, 91 00:08:46,900 --> 00:08:48,840 it is necessary to have this energy. 92 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,680 There are those of us who can't 93 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:58,900 - there are many people who can't stay calm and continue life 94 00:08:58,900 --> 00:09:00,460 in this "normality" 95 00:09:00,460 --> 00:09:08,480 when it is evident that they are exterminating our future. 96 00:09:21,199 --> 00:09:27,290 In popular discourse, the word anarchy is commonly used to describe the absence of organization. 97 00:09:27,290 --> 00:09:33,640 It’s the spectre of chaos that fills the vacuum formed by a sudden breakdown of order. 98 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:38,300 A violent free-for-all, where the strong take advantage of the absence of rules to prey 99 00:09:38,300 --> 00:09:44,340 upon the weak. This vision of anarchy has long been a useful projection for the ruling 100 00:09:44,350 --> 00:09:49,399 classes, and every paranoid authoritarian unwilling to distinguish between order and 101 00:09:49,399 --> 00:09:55,920 submission. But it’s a far cry from what anarchists actually believe in, and the world 102 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,100 that we’re fighting for. 103 00:09:59,260 --> 00:10:04,800 The reality is that anarchists take many different approaches and hold a multiplicity of views 104 00:10:04,809 --> 00:10:10,759 when it comes to the role of organization and its relationship to struggle. This lack 105 00:10:10,759 --> 00:10:16,200 of orthodoxy has historically set anarchism apart from other revolutionary traditions, 106 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:21,199 such as Marxist-Leninism, whose multiple competing schools of thought generally agree on the 107 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:26,880 need for a centrally-organized party... just disagree about who should lead it. 108 00:10:27,420 --> 00:10:33,380 For more than 150 years, anarchists have experimented with a wide range of different organizational 109 00:10:33,389 --> 00:10:39,019 forms – from syndicalist trade unions with over a million dues-paying members, to informal 110 00:10:39,019 --> 00:10:44,850 networks of small affinity groups; from federations, committees and assemblies, to tightly knit 111 00:10:44,850 --> 00:10:49,560 cells and loosely-structured associations of autonomous individuals. This process of 112 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:52,860 experimentation continues to this day. 113 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:14,860 One of the beautiful things about Anarchism is that there's not one set blueprint. It's 114 00:11:14,860 --> 00:11:19,160 a tension and it's striving towards freedom. 115 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,280 Anarchists hold a lot of different views on 116 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:29,519 organization and the role that organizations play in struggle. I think this relates to 117 00:11:29,519 --> 00:11:34,910 different positions people hold and things around thinking things happen more spontaneously 118 00:11:34,910 --> 00:11:39,720 to folks who want a higher level of coordination. 119 00:11:41,300 --> 00:11:44,140 The main split within anarchism over this 120 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:51,640 question is between individualist anarchists or egoists and collectivists. Individualist 121 00:11:51,649 --> 00:11:59,269 anarchists oppose most forms of organization, their focus is on building up the autonomy 122 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:04,020 of the individual. and they basically see organizations as a hinderance on individual 123 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:12,100 autonomy. And then collectivists basically believe in organizing collectively and organizations 124 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,340 are often a big component of that. 125 00:12:16,180 --> 00:12:18,340 This also goes hand in hand with different 126 00:12:18,340 --> 00:12:24,040 opinions on the basis of how people are organizing and interacting with each other with some 127 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:31,329 anarchists being in favor of more formal organizing and organizations that sort of have a clear 128 00:12:31,329 --> 00:12:36,920 and defined membership usually specific sort of bylaws or different things that like govern 129 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:45,339 them. Other anarchists can be quite critical of organizations and prefer more informal 130 00:12:45,339 --> 00:12:50,350 organizing methods sometimes this can entail still having organizations or groups but having 131 00:12:50,350 --> 00:12:56,780 them form for only one specific purpose or one specific type of activity then having 132 00:12:56,780 --> 00:12:58,200 them dissolve. 133 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:01,160 There are obviously pluses and minuses with 134 00:13:01,170 --> 00:13:06,269 both formal, so for instance federations or labor unions and informal things like affinity 135 00:13:06,269 --> 00:13:11,800 groups and cells and stuff like that. But I think that there are also really key questions 136 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:16,730 for anarchists in the 21st century, how we interact with the public and how people come 137 00:13:16,730 --> 00:13:22,040 into anarchism beyond this supposed dynamic of formal vs informal. 138 00:13:23,420 --> 00:13:25,000 There are different positions. 139 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,420 So from more anti-social tendencies, 140 00:13:27,420 --> 00:13:29,080 more insurrectionary, 141 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:33,520 there isn't really much of a call or direct invitation 142 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:37,820 for people to join up or to start believing in anarchist ideas. 143 00:13:37,820 --> 00:13:39,460 More than being convinced, 144 00:13:39,460 --> 00:13:43,660 those groups have participants because of their own ideas and feelings. 145 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:50,420 But there are comrades whose political work is more social, 146 00:13:50,420 --> 00:13:53,220 more based in people-power, who believe in organizing from below 147 00:13:53,220 --> 00:13:54,780 and neighborhood organizing. 148 00:13:55,540 --> 00:14:00,920 During the insurrectionary period in the United States from like 2008 and 2009 on, a lot of 149 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:06,790 us kind of glommed on to this idea that quality is better than quantity, which I would fundamentally 150 00:14:06,790 --> 00:14:12,329 agree with, but at the same time, we need to find a way to actually meet people where 151 00:14:12,329 --> 00:14:17,050 they're at, engage them and bring them into our projects and our movements so we actually 152 00:14:17,050 --> 00:14:23,139 can grow. You know in the past couple decades, people were coming into anarchism through 153 00:14:23,139 --> 00:14:27,559 things like punk rock or other subcultures or from different movements such as like animal 154 00:14:27,559 --> 00:14:32,320 rights and things like that. And in the post anti-globalization era, anarchists have also 155 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:36,009 - at least in the United States, have really depended on kind of new cycles of struggle 156 00:14:36,009 --> 00:14:40,100 to bring people in. So there's the anti-war movement, you get a new generation of anarchists, 157 00:14:40,100 --> 00:14:44,769 there's "Occupy" there's the Furgison rebellion, you get a new generation coming in. We can't 158 00:14:44,769 --> 00:14:50,480 always depend on something popping off and then benefiting from that wave of new people. 159 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:55,160 I think here in Chile, we've had a chance to experience 160 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:59,280 a broad range of anarchist and anti-authoritarian practices and tactics. 161 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,820 Between territorial assemblies, between affinity groups, 162 00:15:02,820 --> 00:15:06,180 between liberated spaces and squats, 163 00:15:06,180 --> 00:15:09,440 between labor unions, between independant workers, 164 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:14,540 among professionals and among people who live on the streets. 165 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:22,000 Anarchism happens in subtle ways all the time. And we may not think of it that way because 166 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,100 like it's not the concept that we're used to thinking, but it's still anarchism. When 167 00:15:26,100 --> 00:15:32,880 people think of anarchism they have this Eurocentric idea of what it is, the word itself, it hasn't 168 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:37,460 been around for that long but if you go by the textbook definition of what anarchism 169 00:15:37,460 --> 00:15:42,580 is, indigenous people have been practicing anarchism and mutual aid for fuckin thousands 170 00:15:42,580 --> 00:15:44,240 of years. 171 00:15:47,100 --> 00:15:54,760 In these territories we are fortunate that many, many of us have Mapuche ancestry. 172 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:56,860 We also have that duality, 173 00:15:56,860 --> 00:16:00,840 or that ability to position ourselves politically like this. 174 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:02,620 From the point of view of anarchists 175 00:16:02,620 --> 00:16:05,580 - but at the same time not forgetting that we have our own history. 176 00:16:05,580 --> 00:16:07,660 That we have our own individuality. 177 00:16:07,660 --> 00:16:09,140 That we are from this territory. 178 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:11,920 That we come from a colonized territory. 179 00:16:12,500 --> 00:16:16,257 That our history and our practices and our visions of anarchism 180 00:16:16,260 --> 00:16:19,400 aren't going to be 100% the same as the anarchist comrades 181 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:23,800 from Palestine, Rojava, or Europe, 182 00:16:24,340 --> 00:16:27,280 or from other parts of Latin America. 183 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:33,160 You know when people are faced with really horrible things in their everyday life, whether 184 00:16:33,170 --> 00:16:37,739 it's eviction, watching people be deported, stuff that's happening on their job, a pipeline 185 00:16:37,739 --> 00:16:42,360 going through their land... We really want to have people know that there's a community 186 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:46,939 of people in revolt that they can turn to, that they can then organize with to fight 187 00:16:46,939 --> 00:16:51,449 back and to really hurt their enemies to the point at least where they're not able to do 188 00:16:51,449 --> 00:16:53,140 what they're trying to do. 189 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:07,080 A good organizer has many tools in their toolbox. The trick is to know which tool to use when, 190 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:13,260 and to replace them when they stop working. This applies just as much to anarchists as 191 00:17:13,260 --> 00:17:19,440 it does any other type of organizer. The main difference is what we’re trying to build. 192 00:17:20,060 --> 00:17:25,740 Anarchism is based on the principle of self-organization. This is directly connected to the type of 193 00:17:25,740 --> 00:17:30,500 world that anarchists seek to create. A world in which people can come 194 00:17:30,500 --> 00:17:37,100 to collective decisions and take action autonomously, without waiting for orders or permission from above. 195 00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:43,280 Anarchist organizing begins with the fostering of self-directed struggle. It involves agitating 196 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:48,380 and encouraging people to to take action directly to solve their problems. Without appealing to those 197 00:17:48,380 --> 00:17:51,780 higher up the social ladder. From this starting 198 00:17:51,780 --> 00:17:56,840 point, there are many different paths that you can take. Wherever you decide to go, the 199 00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:59,460 most important step is your first. 200 00:18:04,780 --> 00:18:10,200 Strategy and tactics are intimately connected, yet separate things. 201 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:16,030 You start off with a specific goal or a vision. Something that you want to accomplish, or 202 00:18:16,030 --> 00:18:21,540 achieve, or want to challenge. And then your strategy is your plan of how you want to achieve 203 00:18:21,540 --> 00:18:27,900 that goal. And then the tactics would be all the specific actions, activities and approaches 204 00:18:27,900 --> 00:18:31,210 that would sort of come together to help you in meeting that goal. 205 00:18:31,460 --> 00:18:36,360 The strategy that you choose will determine the type of activity that you engage in. When 206 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:41,910 your tactics are successful, or if they repeatedly fail, go back and make adjustments to your 207 00:18:41,910 --> 00:18:45,830 strategy. Once you’ve made those adjustments to your strategy, you will then try to come 208 00:18:45,830 --> 00:18:47,600 up with different tactics. 209 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:52,230 These things have to reinforce each other, and we have to also constantly be evaluating 210 00:18:52,230 --> 00:18:53,560 back and forth. 211 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:58,980 You have to just do it. You gotta do it. You gotta kind of be there on the front lines, 212 00:18:58,980 --> 00:19:00,960 putting in that work. 213 00:19:00,900 --> 00:19:05,140 On the one hand, we visualize, theorize, develop our politics, 214 00:19:05,140 --> 00:19:07,640 basically thinking on what it is we want - what we're seeking. 215 00:19:08,100 --> 00:19:10,500 On the other hand, we start taking action 216 00:19:10,500 --> 00:19:14,120 and we see how specifically we can make those ideas real. 217 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:23,500 We're all individuals. But everyone has their role. 218 00:19:24,020 --> 00:19:26,240 In Chile we're lucky, 219 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:28,080 somewhat ironically, 220 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,340 that we have a history full of conflict. 221 00:19:30,340 --> 00:19:33,000 A history of political persecution 222 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:34,400 and of riots. 223 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,351 So conflicts and objectives have always been present. 224 00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:40,940 The strategies and tactics that have been used in general 225 00:19:40,940 --> 00:19:42,660 have been pretty broad. 226 00:19:43,340 --> 00:19:47,219 The tactics that are winning these days can be inspired by other struggles. 227 00:19:47,220 --> 00:19:53,160 For example the tactics inspired by the conflict in Hong Kong. 228 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,000 The idea of using lasers 229 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,780 and of using water jugs to put out tear gas cannisters. 230 00:19:58,780 --> 00:20:03,660 These are internationally used resistance and street fighting practices. 231 00:20:03,660 --> 00:20:06,080 Then there's blocking the street. 232 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,820 There are barricades - different kinds too. 233 00:20:08,820 --> 00:20:11,560 There's barricades of fire, or barricades of stones. 234 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:17,200 There are comrades who rescue and help those who are injured. 235 00:20:32,580 --> 00:20:38,370 The world that we live in, how we engage with things, even how we come to think about things 236 00:20:38,370 --> 00:20:45,060 is going to necessarily be influenced by the material conditions that we exist in. 237 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:54,340 The kind of classic Marxist quote: “People change history, but not in the conditions of their 238 00:20:54,340 --> 00:21:00,790 own choosing.” That it is these conditions, these material realities, that impact not 239 00:21:00,790 --> 00:21:07,130 only people’s lives, but also their consciousness. And that you can’t just think your way outside 240 00:21:07,130 --> 00:21:11,260 of those things–or that there is no outside of it. 241 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:17,740 Capitalism is constantly changing the face of work, of social life, of the way people 242 00:21:17,740 --> 00:21:21,900 are alienated from each other. So we need to be constantly kind of reevaluating, y’know... 243 00:21:21,900 --> 00:21:26,820 ‘what is life like?’ And what are the possibilities for revolt against the kind 244 00:21:26,820 --> 00:21:29,500 of lives that we’re forced to lead? 245 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:37,780 How can we really get to the nitty gritty of, like, alright... what’s going on here? 246 00:21:37,780 --> 00:21:39,410 How are we gonna fix it? 247 00:21:39,410 --> 00:21:45,240 People change the world around them through their actions. And so we can have an effect 248 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:51,450 on our material conditions, and we can change them—through struggle. The flip-side to 249 00:21:51,450 --> 00:21:58,440 that is that the state can change conditions in order to remove the fuel for struggles. 250 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:05,960 I think it’s important to understand how power is organized, and the specifics of how 251 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:07,740 it operates. 252 00:22:09,180 --> 00:22:13,290 The kind of world that we want doesn’t exist yet. It can only be built on the ashes of 253 00:22:13,290 --> 00:22:19,830 this one. But at the same time, we’re trying to create new ways of relating to each other. 254 00:22:19,830 --> 00:22:24,090 New ways of solving problems, new ways of engaging in action, new ways of carrying out 255 00:22:24,090 --> 00:22:31,440 things like work that look towards the possibilities of new forms of life that don’t exist yet. 256 00:22:32,380 --> 00:22:37,940 If you want a future society that is free form hierarchy and domination, if you want 257 00:22:37,940 --> 00:22:43,790 a future society where people have autonomy and are treated equally, how you’re engaging 258 00:22:43,790 --> 00:22:47,320 today has to reflect these values. 259 00:22:48,940 --> 00:22:54,120 Sometimes we kinda have to take these chances and these risks, and try these alternative 260 00:22:54,140 --> 00:22:55,600 ways of doing things. 261 00:22:55,740 --> 00:23:01,940 Follow conflicts around the world that can also serve as inspiration. 262 00:23:01,940 --> 00:23:05,740 So that we can have new experiences. New ways of attacking. 263 00:23:05,740 --> 00:23:09,980 New forms of resistance within the territories in conflict. 264 00:23:12,220 --> 00:23:21,020 To the extent possible, revolutionary movements should be creating a counter-society and removing 265 00:23:21,020 --> 00:23:24,360 themselves from state and capitalist institutions as much as possible. 266 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:32,400 Basically what we can do is orient our efforts towards building competing centres of legitimacy 267 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:38,360 that are communal. That exist in opposition to the state, to the police and to capital. 268 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:43,780 We wanna prefigure the world that we wanna see and the relationships that we’re building. 269 00:23:43,790 --> 00:23:47,720 Both in terms either of, y’know, building some sort of dual power or autonomous power 270 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:52,020 from the ground-up to meet our everyday needs, but also in terms of the struggles that we’re 271 00:23:52,020 --> 00:23:56,000 engaging in. You know, those relationships should prefigure a different kind of mode 272 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,970 of life. And also, y’know, bring people into new ways of engaging with each other, 273 00:24:00,970 --> 00:24:07,160 new ways of talking, new ways of solving problems. Insurrection and dual power of course need 274 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,350 each other. As the saying goes, ‘the force of insurrection is social, not military.’ 275 00:24:11,350 --> 00:24:15,350 And to create a social force requires, y’know, real infrastructure and space that we can 276 00:24:15,350 --> 00:24:19,200 call our own. And the ability to use that space in order to fight back. 277 00:24:28,230 --> 00:24:34,380 On December 1st, 2019, a 55 year old resident of Hubei province walked into a hospital in 278 00:24:34,380 --> 00:24:39,760 Wuhan with an apparent case of pneumonia. This was the first documented instance of 279 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:45,730 COVID-19, a novel strain of Corona Virus that has since swept across the globe and turned 280 00:24:45,730 --> 00:24:48,640 daily life upside-down for billions of people. 281 00:24:51,120 --> 00:24:53,200 At the time these words are being written, 282 00:24:53,210 --> 00:24:57,830 we appear to be at the precipice of a mass social and economic breakdown on a scale not 283 00:24:57,830 --> 00:25:04,910 seen in the past century. If nothing else, this pandemic has exposed the myth of capitalism’s 284 00:25:04,910 --> 00:25:11,530 infallibility and laid its weaknesses bare. It has also demonstrated the need to be able 285 00:25:11,530 --> 00:25:17,560 to quickly adapt our strategies and tactics to confront rapidly changing realities. Slowly 286 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:24,830 at first, and then all of a sudden, our mobility and ability to associate have been curtailed, 287 00:25:24,830 --> 00:25:30,360 and time-honoured tactics such as rallies, marches, door-knocking and even handing out 288 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:32,420 flyers have been taken away. 289 00:25:33,860 --> 00:25:39,370 But as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. In times of social and political 290 00:25:39,370 --> 00:25:44,760 upheaval, hold fast to your principles. Rid yourself of dogmatism. Keep your eyes on the 291 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:49,660 prize. And brace yourself to meet whatever challenges come your way. 292 00:25:53,780 --> 00:25:59,340 Anarchism is a beautiful, amazing thing and has done a lot of great things historically. 293 00:25:59,340 --> 00:26:06,600 Also, it's often something that fails. And, I think failure is okay, and there is often 294 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:11,140 a lot of value in things that I’ve come to take away even in times there has been 295 00:26:11,140 --> 00:26:16,580 big failures or struggles. Saying you’re anarchist, and you’re getting involved in 296 00:26:16,580 --> 00:26:21,830 anarchist organizing and struggle, whatever that looks like, you are declaring yourself 297 00:26:21,830 --> 00:26:27,700 to be very openly against many of the things that currently exist, like the state, the 298 00:26:27,700 --> 00:26:33,130 police and capitalism. And, you should just realize from the beginning that that sometimes 299 00:26:33,130 --> 00:26:35,100 has consequences. 300 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:44,320 Take yourself seriously. Once you declare yourself an enemy of the state, the state 301 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:48,740 will take that very seriously as a threat. Jail sucks and once you have a criminal record 302 00:26:48,740 --> 00:26:53,680 it makes things more difficult for you in the future, so you should take adequate steps 303 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,390 to try to protect yourself and avoid unnecessary arrests. 304 00:26:58,380 --> 00:27:01,960 What are the major things going around that you could actually impact with people that 305 00:27:01,970 --> 00:27:05,710 you're close to, that you have a relationship with. And whether that’s at your workplace 306 00:27:05,710 --> 00:27:08,780 or that’s at your school, whether that’s in the neighbourhood, you know something going 307 00:27:08,780 --> 00:27:12,980 with the police, something going on with massive amounts of gentrification, whether there’s 308 00:27:12,980 --> 00:27:17,300 a resource extraction project happening on the land base that you’re on. From that 309 00:27:17,300 --> 00:27:22,130 understanding that analysis, then going about how would you begin to organize and bring 310 00:27:22,130 --> 00:27:26,930 people together and begin to act and begin to engage in such a way that begins to push 311 00:27:26,930 --> 00:27:32,310 back that, you know, puts your own interest forward and starts to attack those of the 312 00:27:32,380 --> 00:27:33,980 dominant class. 313 00:27:35,540 --> 00:27:39,360 The Police 314 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:42,760 The Judges 315 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,180 The State 316 00:27:46,180 --> 00:27:50,260 The President 317 00:27:50,260 --> 00:27:57,560 The oppressive state is the rapist 318 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,020 The rapist is you 319 00:28:05,340 --> 00:28:11,200 Certain groups want to assert their power and ownership over you, and over your body, 320 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:17,680 what you have to say. This is not about ownership, this is not about who owns the revolution, 321 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:21,500 or who owns the struggle, like were all in this shit together. And if somebody is not 322 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:25,060 willing to struggle it out, like let’s say you’re calling them out on patriarchy or 323 00:28:25,060 --> 00:28:29,840 whatever the fuck it is, if they’re not willing to struggle it out with you than that 324 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:35,500 shows that obviously that individual or that entity or whatever… like, they don’t give 325 00:28:35,500 --> 00:28:42,340 a fuck. If people are truly invested in the struggle than when shit comes about you’re 326 00:28:42,340 --> 00:28:47,460 going to be able to struggle it out. Even if it takes time, even if you have to stop 327 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:51,380 organizing for a bit until you work shit out. 328 00:28:53,840 --> 00:29:01,000 I would invite fellow anarchist comrades 329 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,460 to realize that we have the potential to organize ourselves, 330 00:29:04,460 --> 00:29:09,420 to hold positions and politics that are intersectional 331 00:29:09,420 --> 00:29:13,360 with people who may not necessarily be anarchists. 332 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:18,120 To those who embrace anti-speciesist ideas. 333 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:20,560 To those who embrace anti-patriarchal ideas. 334 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:22,620 To those who embrace ideas and spirituality. 335 00:29:22,620 --> 00:29:29,080 To those who rescue some of the ancestry lost to these centuries of colonization 336 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:36,100 that European, western, white hetero-patriarchy has imposed on us 337 00:29:36,100 --> 00:29:37,220 - has snatched. 338 00:29:37,740 --> 00:29:41,460 You’re saying you’re against all these things, and you’re going to be fighting 339 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:45,880 against all these things. Obviously, sometimes, there’s pushback, and there’s difficulties 340 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,720 and stuff in your life that you’re going to have to push through. 341 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:53,180 After you do an action, you know, take some time with your comrades and sit down and reflect 342 00:29:53,190 --> 00:29:57,190 critically on what you did well, and what you could have done better. And then, try 343 00:29:57,190 --> 00:30:01,730 to incorporate the lessons you’ve learned through your own experiences into your future 344 00:30:01,730 --> 00:30:02,730 organizing. 345 00:30:02,730 --> 00:30:07,640 And we really got to think about, like, “okay, when we do this, how do we actually win? 346 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:16,140 Like, we wanna actually be able to do damage against people that are hurting us, we wanna be able 347 00:30:16,140 --> 00:30:21,320 hit back in such a way that expands our influence, our confidence, you know, the spaces that 348 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:26,460 we hold. We need to actually find ways of intersecting with people that are interested 349 00:30:26,460 --> 00:30:30,710 and then bringing them on board, involve them in struggle, and have them be forced to pick 350 00:30:30,710 --> 00:30:36,400 a side that literally supports illegal, anti-capitalist modes of action, and gets people thinking 351 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,740 about the possibilities of what they could do if there was a movement behind them to 352 00:30:40,740 --> 00:30:43,600 better their own lives and conditions. 353 00:30:53,640 --> 00:31:00,010 We live in a time when despair comes easily. A steady flow of bad news keeps us constantly 354 00:31:00,010 --> 00:31:06,330 on edge. Massive fires ravage Australia for months on end. Police departments outfit their 355 00:31:06,330 --> 00:31:13,250 body cameras with AI-driven facial recognition software. A family in Idlib freezes to death 356 00:31:13,250 --> 00:31:19,620 after their makeshift refugee camp is bombed. Emergency ordinances outlaw all public gatherings 357 00:31:19,620 --> 00:31:26,140 of three or more people. Confronted with all this, there’s no shortage of reasons why 358 00:31:26,140 --> 00:31:32,020 any rational person might feel viscerally discouraged and utterly depressed. And that 359 00:31:32,020 --> 00:31:37,309 is especially true for revolutionaries who consistently find our hopeful idealism swallowed 360 00:31:37,309 --> 00:31:40,690 up by feelings of bitter resignation and defeat. 361 00:31:40,690 --> 00:31:46,460 But when this despair comes, it is important to remember that we are not alone. That there 362 00:31:46,460 --> 00:31:51,290 are many other people who share our sense of grief, anxiety... and most importantly, 363 00:31:51,290 --> 00:31:57,210 outrage. That we are part of a long and proud lineage of struggle. And that victories are 364 00:31:57,210 --> 00:32:02,850 still possible. Armed with this knowledge, and conscious of our own capabilities, opportunities 365 00:32:02,850 --> 00:32:08,920 and limitations, we can turn our attention back to the task at hand, which is, as always, 366 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,850 to build our collective power, and increase our shared capacity to resist. 367 00:32:13,460 --> 00:32:17,100 So at this point, we’d like to remind you that Trouble is intended to be to be used 368 00:32:17,100 --> 00:32:22,090 as a resource to promote discussion and collective organizing. Are you interested in stepping 369 00:32:22,090 --> 00:32:26,510 up your organizing game? Looking to launch a new initiative, but not quite sure where 370 00:32:26,510 --> 00:32:31,840 to begin? Consider connecting with some comrades, organizing an online viewing party of this 371 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:34,560 film, and discussing where to get started. 372 00:32:35,420 --> 00:32:39,620 Interested in running regular screenings of Trouble at your campus, infoshop, community 373 00:32:39,660 --> 00:32:45,220 centre, or even just at home with friends? Well don’t! We appreciate the support, but 374 00:32:45,220 --> 00:32:50,140 that’s probably not a great idea right now. Instead, why not set up a discussion group 375 00:32:50,140 --> 00:32:54,480 with some friends, each watch the episode on your own screens at home, and then go through 376 00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:59,540 the online screening kit on our website for links to additional resources, and some questions 377 00:32:59,540 --> 00:33:01,560 to help frame your conversation. 378 00:33:02,900 --> 00:33:08,260 Also just a reminder that here at subMedia, we depend entirely on donations from our viewers 379 00:33:08,260 --> 00:33:12,740 to keep things going... so if you’re able to pitch in to help support us, please do 380 00:33:12,740 --> 00:33:19,141 so at sub.media/donate. If you can’t afford to support us financially, no worries! You 381 00:33:19,141 --> 00:33:25,560 can stream and/or download all our content for free off our website: sub.media/trouble. 382 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:32,220 This episode would not have been possible without the generous support of Josh, Murph, 383 00:33:32,220 --> 00:33:36,730 Sam, Tal, La Conxa, and the good folks at IGD. 384 00:33:36,730 --> 00:33:40,680 Lastly, we’re sad to announce that this will be the last episode of Trouble for the 385 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:45,610 foreseeable future. It’s been an awesome run, but the subMedia crew has decided that 386 00:33:45,610 --> 00:33:50,120 it’s time to move onto new projects. And to make that possible, we’ve decided to 387 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:55,960 pull the plug on Trouble. Given that we can’t meet up in person for the foreseeable future, 388 00:33:55,960 --> 00:34:01,290 it seems like the perfect time to make this change. We want to assure all you Troublemakers 389 00:34:01,290 --> 00:34:05,900 out there that we have some exciting new plans in the works that we think you’re going 390 00:34:05,900 --> 00:34:10,950 to love... so stay tuned! And to everyone who has organized screenings, sent us ideas 391 00:34:10,950 --> 00:34:15,639 for show topics, constructive criticism or positive feedback about the show... thank 392 00:34:15,639 --> 00:34:20,740 you from the bottom of our hearts! Your support has been truly humbling, and we hope that 393 00:34:20,740 --> 00:34:24,920 the 24 episodes that we’ve cranked out will continue to serve as useful organizing tools 394 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:26,210 for years to come. 395 00:34:26,210 --> 00:34:29,300 Now get out there…. and make some trouble!