Re: AUT: Fwd: It's official: struggle is healthy (Part I?)

["Richard Singer" <ricinger@xxxxxxxx>]

Chris Wright wrote:

> > >I have always thought it was no
> > > accident that the 90 yearl old CP types I knew were active and
> > vigorous in
> > > ways that no other older folks I knew were.
> >
> > They were probably the ones who had really found their religion, at
a
> > time when the captial-C Communist religion actually had some power
over
> > people.  But even those types are extremely rare.  Most people drop
out
> > of activism a lot younger than 90...
>
> This is simply mean.  It also happens to include a lot of old
activists I
> know who were/are 'labor movement' or civil rights movement folks.
They
> have a tremendous energy and vitality connected with struggle.  No,
getting
> tear gassed and such is not healthy, but you guys all have this very
Charles
> Bronson/Steven Segal idea of being in the struggle.  Sure, that's a
part of
> it, but the important stuff is really not the violent clashes with
cops.
> Its the sense of solidarity, community, of creating a different way to
live
> because you are living it and trying to share it with other people.
Stop
> thinking only in terms of class struggle as 'fighting'.  Its a bad and
wrong
> habit that turns people away.

I couldn't agree more with what you said above, in the sense that the
important stuff is really not the violent clashes with the cops.  I'm
working much more right now, with my collective and with other groups,
to try to find ways to build more of that solidarity and community, and
I would prioritize community organizing, anti-poverty work, building
solidarity and/or reistance on a day-to-day basis (whether it's in the
workplace, in housing situations, on the street, in public spaces, in
environmental struggles, in (anti-)consumer movements, etc.), and
creating alternative communities and institutions above any violent
clashes with the cops.  I also would say that the best part of my
experience of the anti-glob protests when they were at their peak here
in the U.S. (which was basically during 2000, with a month or two added
on each end) was the TAZes, the democratic workshops, and all the
experimentation going on outside of the clashes with the cops.

However, the article focuses specifically on protest, and the picture is
just not as rosy as the article makes it out to be. Never mind the
immediate physical hardships; I've seen and experienced
awful infighting, and I've seen that organization by "anarchists" often
involves awful power struggles among big egos, and that a lot of people
bring the same authoritarian tendencies, competitive tendencies, and
general undemocratic tendencies to protest and resistance as they've
been taught all their lives to bring into everyday life.  I apologize if
I seem a bit cynical here, but my experience has told me that a lot of
work needs to be done among all of us before we can seriously think that
we are creating ideal alternative communities or building true
solidarity in our protests or the related groups.

> As for being young, if being a communist doesn't keep you feeling
young,
> then you're doing something wrong or you have the wrong communism.
For all
> the crap I have put up with, including haveing my phone bugged,
followed by
> goons in black Ford sedans, hassled by reactionaries who want a fist
fight,
> hit by cops, etc. all of it is minor compared to what I get out of it
and it
> is certainly no worse than my friends who are not communists have
faced,
> since most of them have done serious jail time, been stabbed and/or
shot,
> had serious addictions, get followed by the cops all the time just for
> having the wrong skin color, can't walk through a store without being
> followed by store security, get pulled over in rich suburbs for
driving an
> old beater car, etc.  What you're talking about, Richard, is kinda
what most
> of my friends deal with everyday.  And they could deal with it better,
IMO,
> if they were in a mass struggle rather than feeling isolated and under
siege
> with no hope for the future or confidence in anything but themselves
and
> maybe, maybe, some family and friends.

No argument here...  I grew up dealing with some rough neighborhoods and
rough schools in The Bronx during a turbulent time (I was a child in the
'60s and early '70s), I've lived in all kinds of urban neighborhoods
since then, I've been pushed around plenty by bosses, and I also have
experienced plenty of prejudice simply for not fitting in or for being
poor at times...so I have had a taste of all of that, though I am aware
that in a lot of places, if I had a darker skin color, the
situation would have been worse.

Anyway...  I think life probably would be much worse had I not developed
a kind of awareness about collective struggle and the inclination always
to be involved in the struggle as actively as possible.  However, I have
also developed enough skepticism to think about all these collective
activities and endeavors (especially protests) somewhat critically (and,
once again, please forgive me if  that skepticism occasionally turns to
cynicism -- I know that's not the most endearing quality :-).

Regarding communism making one feel young...  I don't know if my ideal
objective would be to feel young.  Right now, at the age of 41, I am
feeling some consequences of ageism (which is actually very strong in
supposedly egalitarian circles, whether we're talking about liberal
nonprofits who blatantly look for younger people to hire or radical
protest groups that form cliques based on a culture of youth).  However,
I remember having a much better time at the age of 33, say, than at 23,
and childhood and adolescence can be hell.  If you discount a little
slowing down of the metabolism, a gradually increasing fragility of
health, and the prjeudices that our society inflicts on older people...I
don't think getting older is all that bad.  It's actually very nice to
acquire some perspective and experience over the years.

 I might have more to say regarding Chris' message, but I'll
probably save the second half for a later time (maybe answering other
points raised on this thread as well).


Richard








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