Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit LOVE AND RAGE Electronic Edition APRIL/MAY 1993 Part 4 Part 4: Letters to the Editor, Notices A Few Words About Politics Where's AYF? Writers Wanted! New Journal on Childhood Sexual Abuse Spanish Section Synopsis Letters to Love and Rage A FEW WORDS ABOUT POLITICS Love and Rage is a bi-monthly anarchist newspaper intended to foster revolutionary anti-authoritarian activism in North America and build a more effective anarchist movement. We will provide coverage of social struggles, world events, anarchist actions and cultures of resistance. We will support the struggles of oppressed peoples around the world for control over their own lives. Anarchy offers the broadest possible critique of domination, making possible a framework for unity in all struggles for liberation. We seek to understand the systems we live under for ourselves and reject any prepackaged ideology. Anarchism is a living body of theory and practice connected directly to the lived experiences of oppressed people fighting for their own liberation. We anticipate the radical and on-going revision of our ideas as a necessary part of any revolutionary process. A set of "working papers," encompassing the current debate about our Political Statement is available from Jodi, c/o AA PO Box 10007 Columbus, OH 43201 For more information about these and other internal debates, subscribe to our Discussion Bulletin and Network Bulletin. -30- Where's AYF? If you've read Love and Rage before, you might notice that this issue has no Anarchist Youth Federation page. AYF is currently trying to develop a more-collective way to produce the page. As soon as they come up with a process they're happy with, we'll start running the page again. For more info write to: AYF Discussion Bulletin PO Box 365 New York, NY 10013 -30- WRITERS WANTED Yes you. Time to fork over your news blurbs, articles, photos and illustrations for us to print. Wimmin, people of color, young people and people in regions we don't hear from much are especially encouraged to contribute. We always want more cultural stuff - book, film, music reviews and the like - as well as more reports on positive community projects. The June/July issue will focus on strategies for anarchy. Let us know what you're up to, who you're working with, what struggles you're working around and why those things are important. Deadline is April 15. The August/September issue will focus on anarcha-feminism in theory and practice. Deadline is June 15. -30- THE JOURNAL BODY MEMORIES: Radical Perspectives on Childhood Sexual Abuse, is seeking submissions of articles, artwork, critical analysis, personal stories and poetry. "We are not just looking for a road to recovery, but also a road to revolution." (It is also a great zine doing important work. You should read it.) P.O. Box 14941 Berkeley, CA 94701 -30- SPANISH SECTION SYNOPSIS PAGE ONE: Anarchist Black Cross Included in this section are: an article on indigenous prisoners in Mexican prisons, a short history of A.B.C., and a list of past and current A.B.C. prisoner support campaigns. PAGE TWO: Represion contra Anarquistas Griegas is an article from Amor y Rabia/Mexico that chronicles some history of the Greek anarchist movement and updates the current situation there. Comedores Populares is an article from Bandera Negra (Lima, Peru) about the libertarian nature of community kitchens Peru's shantytowns. PAGES THREE AND FOUR: Queer Focus Section This section contains translations of K. Small's article Queer Killings (Asesinatos revelan la hipocresia de la izquierda) from page one and Paul Dalton's article Questioning (Queer) Authority (Una perspectiva anarquista sobre la politica queer) from page four. Also, there is an article about the situation of queers in South America (Estados sudamericanos contra las queers), as well as a list of queer contacts in South America. PAGE FIVE: Notes of Revolt The Spanish page of Notes of Revolt contains translations of various notes from the International pages of the English section. -30- Letters to Love and Rage, April-May 1993 FIGHTING WHITE SUPREMACY Comrades, I was very excited to see a copy of Love and Rage. This is the best revolutionary anarchist publication I have ever seen, including Canada's Open Road. What I especially like is that contrary to most anarchists of the 1970s and 80's, when my revolutionary pamphlets "Anarchism and the Black Revolution" was published, your group seems to understand the dynamics of white supremacy and why it must be fought. You can't imagine the kind of "cop-out" racist capitualtionism that the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) and most anarchist groups were guilty of then. I was one of a small number of anarchists or libertarian socialists of African descent. Since I alone was not numerically powerful enough to influence events I wrote my revolutionary pamphlets on building an international social revolutionary movement, the importance of an anarchist anti-racist movement, a Black revolutionary libertarian movement, an anarchist prisoner support group (A.B.C.), and other subjects. My model for the pamphlets was "Kropotkin's Revolutionary Pamphlets," edited by Roger Baldwin. It shocks me to find that my pamphlets have been reprinted for years after I wrote them. I am now considering rewriting and updating the pamphlets, and issuing them in book form. If I can find a publisher I will push right ahead. This is an historical period that anarchists must develop a coherent philosophy to challenge the descent of Marxism-Leninism as a revolutionary ideology, and to create a world socio-political movement to challenge existing institutions. Clearly, we must create counter-institutions to propagate the new doctrine, do mass political re-education, and challenge the capitalist authorities. This is real, not just my ideas or desires. New revolutionary formations must have the germ of the new society within the belly of the beast. So what is this debate about "confrontationist" versus "gradualist" struggle really about in my estimation? It is about building larger, more representative "mass" formations on the one hand, and just mindless smallgroup protest engaged in by most anarchists. We should not become static "educational" societies, nor should we go over to street fighting/commando tactics as our primary approach. I am opposed to the sort of petite-bourgeois individualist anarchism that the north american movement is noted for; clearly we must be grounded in the working class. There is too much bourgeois scholasticism in the anarchist movement. I have always had ties with the Workers Solidarity Alliance (W.S.A.) and the International Workers Association (I.W.A.), along with other syndicalists, council communists, and libertarian socialists. So, what have I been doing since my release from prison in 1983? I have been a full-time community organizer almost since my first day on the streets. I have been the president of a small activist coalition which has been fighting racism and police brutality in Chatanooga, Tennessee for years. Our struggle has driven the Klan out of the city, forced a murderous police commisioner to resign in disgrace, and to topple the local racist government. Our tactics have included civil rights lawsuits, mass demonstrations, armed self-defense, rallies, conferences, door-to-door organizing, and any other effective tactics. We have turned this small conservative town upside-down! We've got the cops and the Klan on the run! Finally, I am writing my autobiography, and only need a publisher. If you know anybody who can do the job, let me know. Once again, I love the paper. Please send some back issues. In love and struggle Lorenzo Komboa Erwin -30- ANTI-ZIONISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM Dear Leprechauns and Roarers, Although I've tried to avoid taking part in your letter-page debates in the past, the Raven's Banner Collective's "Lyin' About Zion" letter demands a response. Their letter seems to criticize the anarchist movement in general and Love and Rage in particular, for being soft on Zionism. Throughout the letter Zionism is equated with fascism, a proposition which leads to some interesting conclusions and statements: one Jew (Rabbi Schneerson) is described as a "fuhrer," Jews are described as the ethnic community most infected by fascism, and the racist right is described as a "feeble fart" compared to international Zionism. Anarchists are criticized for not spending enough energy opposing Zionism, and it is insinuated that they spend too much energy opposing the anti-Semitic extreme right. Despite a confusing analysis, what R.B.C.'s letter makes very clear is that some anarchists lack an understanding of Zionism and Anti-Semitism, and for this reason they write letters which could (and should) be condemned as anti-Semitic. Their are four main ways in which the "Lyin' About Zion" letter distorts history or uses weak analysis in a way which is anti-Semitic. 1. A routine comparison of Zionist atrocities to Nazi atrocities. It is common practice for people who want to belittle the experience of oppressed peoples to imply that they have no right to claim to be oppressed and to compare them to their opressors. Who hasn't noticed how many anti-feminist men get off talking about mothers abusing their children, or how many white people like to talk about the miserable, violent, and patriarchal nature of pre-contact Native peoples? If you've never noticed this, just read some stuff from V.O.C.A.L. (Victims Of Child Abuse Laws), or that Revolutionary Communist Party position paper on Native culture (reprinted in ''Marxism and Native Americans'', edited by Ward Churchill and published by South End Press). And have you ever noticed how straight white men will simultaneously criticize the Gay mens movement for being sexist and the Wimmin's movement for being homophobic? Unfortunately, some leftists engage in this same parctice when it comes to Jews: Jews are the most racist and sexist, Zionism is genocide, Israel is a fascist, even a Nazi, state. Transference (the mechanism of transfering the percieved sins of one's own community onto others) is at work once again. Historically, European communities were full of religious, economic, and child-rearing practices which contradicted the Christian ideal, and anti-Semitism was one way that these tensions could be transferred, if only symbolically, outside the community. Social mobility was occurring and small-scale capitalism was developing within a Christian culture which had previously opposed rising above one's rank and had a vested interest in a feudal social system, so Jews became known as greedy, usureres, etc. In communities which had historically practiced infanticide and child abandonment, Jews were suspected of kidnapping Christian babies and making matzoh (unleavened bread) out of their blood. In Christian communities uneasy with fresh memories of natural religions and the worship of nature deities (many of which had horns and goat legs, such as Satyrs), Jews were rumored to have horns hidden under their hats, to practice witchcraft, and to enter into pacts with a satyr-like devil. The list goes on and on, and lets just say that it is not surprising in a world which recently witnessed the burning of millions in what was essentially an anti-Jewish phenomenon of unprecedented proportions, Jews are accused of doing the same things to Palestinians as the Nazis did to them, Zionists are compared to Nazis, Rabbi Schneerson is described as a fuhrer . . . 2. Zionism = Fascism. Besides the above analysis of why so many people of Christain descent might want to equate Zionism with Nazism, there is a valid question of whether or not 20th century Zionism is racist, and whether or not Zionists are fascists. The above explanation of why so many might wish it were so does not refute the basic claim. i.e. that Zionists (and thus the majority of Jews) are fascists. But first what is Zionism? Zionism is no more and no less than the political project of securing a land base in Israel for world Jewry. Prior to the Holocaust it was a minority tendency amongst Jews, but having European Jewish society destroyed, along with an estimated six million Jews, many former non-Zionists had a change of heart. The strategy of cohabitation, long the majority tendency amongst European Jews, had left them vulnerable to a catastrophe which effectively destroyed their society. Those who survived the Holocaust often languished in Displaced Persons camps for months or even years. Those who managed to return "home" were often met by anti-semitic violence, such as the pogrom at Kielce in Poland, where several hundred Jews were murdered in 1946. At the same time the "civilized" victor nations remained just as adamant after the War as they had during it to keeping out Jewish refugees. Even the Soviet Union, which had tried to act as a haven for Jewish refugees during the war, was quick to embark upon an anti-Semitic campaign against so-called "rootless cosmopolitanism." Under these circumstances, is it fair or even humane (in the broadest sense of the word) to equate the many Jews who left post-Nazi Europe for Israel with the Nazis who had butchered their loved ones, or even with "respectable" anti-Semites who continued to block their emigration to America, Canada, and so many other countries? It has been said that it was easier for a Nazi to enter America after the war than it was for a Jew. Indeed, the factors which can lead a Jew to identify with Zionism are very different from those which have lead white Gentiles to become Nazis. Is Zionism inherently racist? Zionism is certainly racial, inasmuch as Jews are a race (I won't bother to quibble with R.B.C.'s semantic problems with the word "race"), because it seeks to secure a landbase for Jews. Zionism does not racialize matters any more than various other nationalisms though, be they Irish Republicanism, New Afrikan, or Puerto Rican nationalism. That is, Zionism is not racist per se. It would be wrong to pretend that the State of Israel has not acted in an incredibly racist manner, but so has every other State that has existed since I was born. And I don't want to be unfair or cynical, but many of these States were the result of national liberation movements which were strongly supported by the left of my parent's generation, and there is no reason to believe that any states created by today's national liberation movements will be much better. It is the nature of a State set up by a liberation movement identifying itself with one or a few particular ethnic groups to be racial in nature, if not racist. However, when the alternative is death and business-as-usual-imperialism, it takes a peculiarly alienated person to equate these nationalisms with the racism of W.A.S.P.s, or to oppose them simply because they have not transcended the racial and national oppression from which they are born, even though this must remain the ultimate goal. So yes, Zionism as practiced by the State of Israel is racist. There is a Zionist left wing, which is similar to the Cabadian, or American left wing: not revolutionary, but not quite as bad as it is sometimes described by anti-Semites. Contrary to what R.B.C. says, there is a section of the Zionist left which fights for a two-state solution to the Palestinian national question, a solution which would not amount to Palestinian bantustans. The equation of Zionism with racism, or fascism, is only valid if you're willing to apply these terms to all nationalist movements. In that case why even bother singling out Zionism, why not just express it as many anarchists do, as a problem stemming from all nationalisms, not just Jewish nationalism? Too often, it seems, people support the right to self-determination for nations, but then play word-games and insist that Jews (as well as other "loser nations") are not a "people," but merely an "amalgam of ethnic communities and individuals." 3. Anti-Semitic stereotyping. Throughout "Lyin' About Zion" Zionism is described as insidious, molding public opinion, and as the most stealthy fascist movement worldwide. Although no expert on the subject, it does cross my mind that all of these characteristics are traditional sterotypes used to vilify Jews. Whether or not various claims about Zionism are true, we should all be aware of the power of stereotypes and racist images, and should try to refrain from using them in our diatribes. 4. Anti-fascists should pay less attention to fighting the Gentile racist right, and more attention to fighting Zionism. The claim is also made that American Jews do not constitute an oppressed community, ostensibly because they have too much money. Firstly, many American Jews live well below the poverty line, but even if they didn't, class alone does not automatically stop someone from being oppressed (queer people are oppressed, despite the fact that gay men as a group are well represented in the middle and upper-middle classes). German Jewry was generally well-to-do, but I challenge anyone to show me how dying in a concentration camp, or surviving but being the only one in your family to do so, is an example of anything but oppression. And for those of you who feel that anti-Semitism is a German, or old-fashioned, ideology, please consider the folllowing: - Pat Buchanan, amongst other prominent Americans, has denied the existence of the Holocaust. So has David Irving, a man whose books on World War II are required reading in many universities. - Anti-Semitic attacks are on the increase in every province across Canada (I'm afraid I have no statistics for the U.S.A.). - Most left wing groups which support the right of nations to self-determination make a point of insisting that Jews are not a nation, they are either a religious group or a people-class, both of which which would be abolished in a secular, classless, socialist world. The Gentile racist right, far from being ineffective, has more clout that either the left or the anarchist communities in many parts of the world. In Montreal, two gay men were murdered by homophobic gangs last December. One of these gangs has been linked to the German N.S.D.A.P./A.O. (the self-styled heirs of Hitler's N.S.D.A.P, or Nazi Party). Since New Years, almost ten Synagogues have been vandalised, as has a centre which helps African immigrants. All of this in a city of three million in one of the provinces with the lowest amount of reported hate crimes in Canada. On your side of the border, Colorado has passed homophobic legislation following a reactionary Christian crusade to save the straight world. Police forces in L.A. and elsewhere are infiltrated by neo-Nazi and racist organizations. The U.S. war machine is aiding, abetting, and occasionally instigating genocides across the globe (many of which we are probably ignorant of), often with the support of the majority of white Americans, and often in collusion with fascist and anti-Semitic groups in the U.S.. (Remember Civilian Military Assistance and Don Black's Klan sending fascist brigades to fight in Nicaragua alongside the Contras). To turn our energy from fighting these forces, in order to concentrate on fighting Zionism as a fascist movement, would be to ideologically disarm ourselves in the fight against neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism, and could also lead to sections of our anti-fascist movement falling within the orbit of the extreme right. If you think this is far fetched, just read the recent self-criticism of the Revolutionary Cells, which describes how anti-semitism and authoritarianism influenced their anti-Zionist actions (Arm The Spirit #12, March-May 1992). There are much worse examples, though, for instance firebombings of synagogues, cooperation with "third position" fascists, Holocaust revisionism, and much more, all of which have been undertaken by "left wing" or "anarchist" groups eager to justify and act upon their opposition to "Nazi Israel." Given the history of anarchism and leftism in North America and Europe, it is particularly important that we all come to terms with anti-semitism in all its various guises. Many of the figures we may identify with (such as Bakunin and Marx) were anti-Semites, and many of the organizations within the Left and anarchist scenes have been influenced by anti-Semitism (for instance, the Social Revolutionary Anarchist Foundation, la Vielle Taupe in Paris, David Crowbar's Popular Reality, etc.). At the same time. a deeper understanding of anti-Semitism can make our critique much stronger. The historic similarities between the persecution of Jews, queer people and heretical movements (which were often anti-statist and sometimes anti-authoritarian) by Christian Europe are many. The development of genuinely non-chauvinistic, anti-authoritarian and anti-racist (as opposed to anti-Semitic) critique of Zionism, and of all ethnic nationalisms, would also strengthen our movements and our understanding of racism. I feel that, instead of following R.B.C.'s advice, the anti-fascist movement should instead try and incorporate a greater understanding of the different forms of racism and the various contradictions in European history. Anti-Zionism has it's place within the field of anti-nationalism, not anti-Semitism, and Palestinian support work is a matter of anti-imperialism, not of fighting Jewish Nazis. R.B.C. would do well to rememer this. This said, I should point out (for those of you who don't know it already) that there are extreme right wing Zionist groups. The Kahane (Rabbi Meir Kahane was a Jewish fascist ideologue responsible for setting up the Jewish Defense League and the racist Kach party in Isreal. He was assainated a few years ago.) Chai movement and the J.D.L .(as well as various splinter groups) are operating across North America. These groups are virulently rascist and right wing, and when not engaged in paramilitary acts against Palestinian support activists and Arab diplomats they spend their time trying to spread their hatred throughout the Jewish community. They are examples of how nationalism can lead to fascism, but to claim that Jewish nationalists are more prone to this kind of fascism than nationalists of other cultures betrays a certain naivet‚ about modern nationalist movements. It also betrays a certain ignorance about the internal working of the Zionist state itself: after all, while Bo Gritz, Lyndon Larouche, Pat Buchanan and David Duke all get to play at electoral politics in the U.S.A., the Israeli Kach Party has been outlawed for promotong racist hatred in supposedly fascist Israel. Indeed, to claim that the J.D.L., etc. represent the purest expression of Zionism (which they would if it was a genuine version of fascism) conveniently avoids the question of why so many Jews, eager to fight the Klansmen and Nazis of the nineties, will wind up in these Jewish hate groups instead of in the anti-fascist movement. Could it be because the anti-fascist movement, like the Left from which it has gotten most of it's ideological baggage, has such an inadequate understanding of anti-Semitism, Gentile chauvinism, Zionism, and the Holocaust that it alienates many of these young fighters? A question that should be dealt with at greater length, perhaps some other time . . . I also feel that an explaination would be in order as to who P.A. Ward, and what R.B.C., is, and what their relationship to the Love & Rage Network is. Are these people anarchists, leftists, or some other variety of political animal? And what is their basis for regarding Jewish nationalism as such an omnipotent and fascistic force? Yours in revolutionary anti-fascism, another bisexual friend of Roman Catholic descent -30- TO THE NETWORK FROM OGB So were we only a novelty? And now the excitement with us is over? --Agnes Hochberg, Hungarian anarcho-feminist We protest the authoritarian and chauvinist (to the easterners) manner in which the On Gogol Boulevard (O.G.B.) page (produced by Neither East Nor West-NYC (N.E.N.W-N.Y.C.) in conjunction with easterners) was canceled in Love and Rage at Love and Rage's Atlanta Nov 1992 conference: with no prior consultation with N.E.N.W-N.Y.C., nor with any easterners, nor with the effective representation necessary of N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C. in Atlanta (N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C.'s O.G.B. coordinator was too ill to attend). (Readers, please understand, WE DID NOT QUIT, as some abroad are interpreting it!) N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C. is a popular and well known group of longevity and substance. Among our mandates are to print the activist oriented text of alternative radicals in Communist/ex-Communist countries. The east is still very much the east and no less relevant. Now suddenly the rug has been pulled out from under us disrupting our unique work. (And the technical and political problems that arose with our text in the first Love and Rage without OGB proper (Vol. 4 No. 1) underscores our need for autonomy. See end of article to get our take on it.) The opposition to this is substantial and visceral. Many other publications have come forward to ongoingly/temporarily fill in the gap (Profane Existence, Anarchy, Fifth Estate, the Anarchist Youth Federation Bulletin). But we want our proper place back in Love and Rage (whom we helped found and who have the activist bent and international distribution relevant to our work). We're seeking support for our demand of restoration of our autonomous section, and will ask that this be put on the agenda of this summer's Love and Rage Network gathering. In the meantime we're collecting signatures of individuals/groups supporting us (please send them directly to NENW-NYC). And we need a subsidy to mail the other publications carrying our news to the east/third world, none of whom have the type of foreign circulation that Love and Rage has. Checks can be made to On Gogol Boulevard, or tax-deductible contributions can be made to: the Aspect Foundation (and again mailed to us). For $1 and an S.A.S.E. we've a much longer and detailed version of this letter (votes in the Production Group were going against it, so we pulled it), plus a lengthy criticism of the Atlanta decision by an individual N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C. member. We also have available petitions supporting our case in English and Russian. The members of Neither East Nor West-N.Y.C.: Matt Lore, Mary Shelly, Ivo Scoric, Eldon Garcia, Neil Farber, Agnes Hochberg, Tom Mauer, Bob McGlynn, Alexandre Rubchenko, Bill Weinberg, Mike Harris, Polina Mograchyova, Malgorzata Tarasiewicz, Adam Jagusiak (In our present membership are reps from Croatia, Russia, Hungary and Poland who've moved here, are here on extended stays, or visit often) Neither East Nor West, 528 5th St., Brooklyn, NY 11215 Tel (718) 499-7720 -30- @ _Love & Rage_ is a Revolutionary Anarchist newspaper produced @ by the Love and Rage Network. The Love and Rage Network is a @ continental network of groups and individuals in Canada, Mexico, @ and the United States. Subscriptions to the newspaper cost: @ $13 for first class (fast, envelope), $9 third class (slow, no @ envelope), $13 international (outside of United States), free for @ prisoners, GI's, published bimonthly. @ @ Please write to us at POB 3, NY, NY 10012 @ email: lnr%nyxfer@igc.apc.org @ or: loveandrage@igc.apc.org @ @ Electronic Edition subscriptions are available for e-mail @ delivery to your mailbox. e-mail subscriptions are free, but @ we would appreciate a donation to help us and the NY Transfer @ News Collective to continue this service. @ @ Send your e-mail address along with a $10 suggested donation @ in US dollars payable to: Blythe Systems @ Attn: Kathleen Kelly @ NY Transfer News Collective @ 235 East 87th Street @ New York, NY 10128 @ e-mail: lnr%nyxfer@igc.apc.org @ -end Part 1 of 5- + Join Us! Support The NY Transfer News Collective + + We deliver uncensored information to your mailbox! + + Modem: 718-448-2358 FAX: 718-448-3423 e-mail: nyxfer@panix.com +