Re: AUT: Re:Sylvie and George (fwd)

[chrisjes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

friends, comrades, and police agents

	When I signed up for this list a couple months ago I was informed that I
should introduce myself, so I apologize for not doing so -- its been a very
busy time. I'm currently living in Chiapas and just spent a month back in
the US raising money and speaking on the situation down here. I probably
wouldn't have gotten around to introducing myself for another month if
curiosity about Sylvie and George's crit of the Z weren't killing me. For
reasons too dull to recount I don't have it and haven't read it. So if
somebody could please forward it to me I'd me very grateful.
	So briefly, an introduction. I'm a founding member of Love and Rage, a
newspaper and revolutionary anarchist federation with members and
supporters in the US, Mexico and Canada. For the past several years I've
been primarily involved in the struggle at CUNY, where I've been a student,
to stop tuition hikes and budget cuts and to preserve open admissions. I've
also been involved in Z solidarity work since January 1994 and the example
of the Z has had a profound effect on my politics.
	I've always been accused of being a Marxist (or worse, some sort of
Leninist) and always denied it, though I've never denied the significant
influence of libertarian and autonomoist marxism on my politics. I've never
been satisfied with the conception (or lack thereof) of the role and
organization of conscious revolutionaries within the revolutionary movement
coming from either the anarchist or autonomist marxist tradition which I've
seen as effectively self-marginalizing. At the same time I share the
fundamental criticisms of the Leninist vanguard party made by both
traditions. I've sought to salvage the lessons of value to be found in the
organizational theory and practice of anarchists such as Ricardo Flores
Magon, Nestor Makhno (and the Platformists) and the Friends of Durrutti but
find them too profoundly limiting. In this context the experience of the Z
has been important to me as an example of the possibility of escaping this
dilemma.
	I enjoy the discussions that take place on this list, but I would like to
hear more about what people are doing outside of cyberspace so I can
contextualize what they have to say with what they actually do as f2f
activists where they work, live, play, or go to school. While I'm impressed
with the power of the net as a means of communication I'm not as taken with
it as an arena for struggle as some people seem to be, though I'd be happy
to be proven wrong on this point.

in solidarity
christopher day




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