Topic:	Calling Cornish Anarchists
Fulub-le-Breton Posts: 4667 Posted: 13.Apr 2008 - 17:40	Quoteby Lynx There’s been a lot of fuss in the last few years about attempt to merge nationalism and Anarchism, specifically third-positionist / post-fascist nationalism and anarchism. Groups that advocate such a move are a fringe of a fringe of a fringe, to say the least, but they’ve got their own wikipedia entries nowadays and at least a few websites. Calling themselves “National Anarchists” they advocate what is essentially an anarchist political system (radically decentralized and local with no central state) but generally hold onto private ownership of land and advocate monoculture communities based on “voluntary” racial and ethnic segregation in the name of “biodiversity;” one of the scariest examples I can think of of evil bastards appropriating rhetoric and using it to mean something totally opposite of what it actually means. Scary shit. I’m not going to link to any of their websites because, frankly, I don’t want to send them any traffic. But if you’re really interested just google ‘national anarchism’ and prepare to be horrified. Now as I write this I can hear some of you out there in Internet land scratching your heads and saying to yourselves “but Lynx! Isn’t CelticAnarchy.org essentially the same thing - just another attempt to fuse nationalism and anarchism?” My answer is: “not even close.” Here’s the thing, the key differences between the politics of these post-fascist creeps and the folks (including myself) who came together to start CelticAnarchy.org: First of all we are totally opposed to the concept of Race itself, let alone Racism which seeks to use the fiction of Race to separate people. If anything, our perspective is that as colonized peoples who are still grappling with the implications of hundreds of years of imperialism, we have a natural affinity to other oppressed peoples around the world and a responsibility to stand up for ourselves and for them and oppose racism and white supremacy anywhere and everywhere they manifest themselves. Secondly, we are not nationalists, never have been, never will be. The key defining feature of Nationalism is the belief that in one way or another the Nation - that is to say the ethno//cultural//linguistic group - should be the primary political unit in society. So-called National-Anarchists want to do that by creating a ‘nation’ composed of racially and culturally homogeneous communities; destroying the diverse and explosively creative fusion of cultures that is the basis of everything from Appalachian music to Jazz to Hip Hop (and a lot of other things too… I’m a musician so music examples are the first to spring to mind but there are many others). Personally, I can think of very few things that would be worse for humanity - cultures have always blended, fusion is a fact of life, and the interchange between cultures is an essential ingredient in any recipe for real peace on a global scale. Learning to see the world through others eyes is the first step towards any meaningful understanding between peoples. and with thousands of cultures on one small planet we simply cannot afford to not understand each other. One of the only things, in fact, that I can think of that would be as bad as (probably not worse, but equally horrific) then the National-Anarchist vision is the traditional anarchocommunists line, dating from Kropotkin on, that nations should be destroyed entirely right along with States and be supplanted by a single global culture, a single global language. While this view may have (thankfully) become a minority one within the global anarchist movement in the last fifty years, it was not so long ago that Anarchists in China were busily setting up Esperanza schools and preaching for a global monoculture. Little wonder then that when push came to shove China’s stateless nations threw their support behind the Maoists who (early on at least) promised them full cultural autonomy within a communist China rather then the Chinese Anarchists who -despite all of the beautiful organizing work they did - promised to consign the unique languages and customs of the national minorities to the “dustbin of history”, right alongside Capitalism and the State. The Tibetans - and many others with less charismatic representatives on the world stage - have learned the hard way that Marxist vanguards can’t be trusted to keep promises made to coalition partners. But the fact remains that when push came to shove anarchists offered a global monoculture and China’s ethnic minorities said “no thanks.” China is hardly an isolated example either, it just happens to be the one that I’ve done the most reading on. That should tell us something. Just as it should tell us something that our strongest successes as a movement have come in times and places where Anarchist revolution became the vehicle for stateless nations seeking independence and freedom to be themselves without the tyranny of State power - Catalonia, the Ukraine, Bavaria, and (to a lesser degree) places like Mexico and Poland. History is very clear on this. The cold hard fact is that the Nation-State is a myth. And not a myth in the Joseph Cambell “power of myth” sense, but in the same sense that santa clause and the tooth fairy are myths. As my good friend Roger White points out in his excellent pamphlet Post Colonial Anarchism, there are less then a dozen true “nation-states” on the world stage - that is places where the territory claimed by the state exactly corresponds to a Nation. The vast majority of the 5,000 or so Nations on this planet are stateless nations - peoples whose language, culture, and identity are constantly suppressed by the languages, cultures, and traditions of the dominant group within whatever State claims their land. Nationalists within these various stateless nations want to “solve” this problem by breaking up existing States and replacing them with their own new States - a process that is typically violent and often results in massive population shifts as people who are suddenly minorities flee to escape the newly created state. And, for all that violence and bloodshed, nothing gets solved. Because even in places like Kosovo where 90% of the population of a newly minted State are members of the same ethnic Nation, you’ve still got 10% who are not and who are dramatically disenfranchised by the enfranchisement of others. State power is, after all, a Zero-sum game. The security of any State is predicated on the insecurity of others. In a Stateist system in order for the Albanians to exercise their fundamental right to self-determination they must deny that right to the Serbs, Roma, and others with whom they share their country. And I’m sorry, but that’s just not good enough. So what do we propose? Speaking personally, I see Anarchism as the solution. Not the bogus “national anarchism” of the far-right that seeks to appropriate our rhetoric and then stain it with their hatred nor the universalist global-monoculture anarchism of traditional anarchocommunism. I’m looking for an anarchism where all states are abolished, where communities are self-governing at the local level, and where ties of mutual aid and solidarity bind together a global community of communities based on diversity and mutual respect. An anarchism where the Kosovars and Serbs can both speak their own languages and practice their own religions without either needing to disenfranchise the other to make that happen. Where all the thousands of small local languages, from Irish to Scots Gaelic to Euskera to Lakota that are currently being pushed into extinction are revived and can once again become the primary languages of the local communities that have kept them alive despite all odds, and where their futures are safe because local languages make sense in a political system and an economy based on local control. An Anarchism that recognizes that Nations exist and makes no attempt to suppress them but at the same time doesn’t bow to the demands of extremists for supremacy over their neighbors. An anarchism where State borders and boundaries that currently forcibly separate people are erased but where no Nation ever again has the ability - or even a real motive - to move in and wipe out another, and where attempts by larger ethno-linguistic groups to repress the rights of minorities to be themselves are met with swift fury and withdrawals of mutual aid and support from everyone else in the global community of communities. An Anarchism where diversity and mutual respect are the norm - not just empty cliches in the mouths of liberals who see nothing wrong with imposing their own values on everyone else around them. That is the anarchism which I’ve been working for, fighting for, and advocating for almost 10 years now. It is the animating vision behind all of my songs, all of my poems and the thing that motivates me to keep fighting no matter how many times I get arrested or beaten up by the police who serve a system based on divisions and hierarchy. And if that also happens to be the kind of Anarchism that you’d like to see, join us. Post in the forums, send in an article (We need more writers!), and then get back out in the streets where we all belong. We’ve still got a revolution to win out there, and it’s not going to build itself. Celtic Anarchy: http://celticanarchy.org/ The Cornish Democrat The Breton Connection
piskey6 Posts: 386 Posted: 13.Apr 2008 - 19:29	deleted. edited by: piskey6, Apr 13, 2008 - 07:44 PM
Lovelorn Posts: 174 Posted: 13.Apr 2008 - 23:11	We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn't obey the rules - Alan Bennett
morvran online Posts: 1442 Posted: 14.Apr 2008 - 01:14	You are hereby appointed acting deputy assistant anarchist-in-chief. (In a strictly non-hierachical sense, naturally. Believe me it really is like that -- I've been there, I know ) More seriously, the sad truth is that most people most of the time are willing to let others tell them what to do and how to live their lives. This is partly because of lazyness, but also because trying to make everyone responsible for everything means that you end up spending most of your life in meetings. That's OK for some, but they'll probably become politicians anyway. The other point is that everyone wants to be well off, or at least will hang on like grim death to what little they have. Only those on or very near the breadline (or at least benefit levels) will share freely. This is why people like an unequal society, they kid themselves that it's a ladder they can climb. It's like the lottery, everyone thinks they can have a big win, but if you do the statistics you see how pointless it is (rightly called "a tax on the stupid" ). In reality people are not equal. If you pool your resources then the pool will be drained by the pushy, the confident, the selfish. If you pool decision making, then decisions will be made by the eloquent, the devious, i.e. the natural 'politicians'. And as always the weak go to the wall and are exploited. All you end up doing is recreating a microcosm of wider society, but with less resources because the rich aren't gonna join whereas the needy with nothing to lose will. No, I don't know the answer either. "Answers on a postcard ..." as they used to say.
Fulub-le-Breton Posts: 4667 Posted: 14.Apr 2008 - 15:34	I tend to agree with you Morvan and your philosophy of power but I am open to debate and I certainly do think that syndicalism has its place even if only limited. I have often posted about industrial democracy, a Cornish workers union, local currency and alternative government structures which, in my opinion, are all ideas that Cornish activists should keep as options. Secondly if there are individuals in Cornwall who would like to marry their love of Cornishness and an interest in anarcho-syndicalism then they might be interested also. The Cornish Democrat The Breton Connection
morvran online Posts: 1442 Posted: 15.Apr 2008 - 05:50	The problem is getting from where we are to where you want to go. That basically involves massive cultural change. You would have to start small and grow. But that means you generally attract 'marginal' people, because most people in the West right now don't do all that badly, and/or are so bound up with the system that they can't contemplate trying anything else. So you'll get mostly young, radical, anti-this-and-that types. There are several problems: 1. Your people will mostly be inexperienced, they'll learn but it will take time. 2. Many will be genuine outsiders and suffer from the 'brave loser' syndrome. So if your venture starts to take off and actually grow and begin to make a difference, they'll panic, because to them "big is bad". 3. Any vaguely utopian scheme has to protect itself from being 'looted' by the outside world. This means you have to put up barriers of various sorts to membership, and the more radical your ideals, the higher the barriers have to be. So then you end up with a sort of exclusive club, and before long someone will come up with the 'brilliant' idea of charging people to visit. Within ten years you'll be part of the tourist industry -- really this happens over and over. 4. Many of your recruits will just be going through a stage of their lives where quite naturally they want to try everything and experiment. But this doesn't last forever. And most ventures take years to really become established and take-off. You might for example have to spend years paying off loans before you can seriously expand, or improve your living standards enough to attract the average person. By the time you reach that happy state your young radicals will be middle-aged folk with kids to think about, who will have quietly reverted to the values of mainstream society. Anyway please go and read The Dispossed by Ursula leGuin, because it's a really good book by an excellent writer and to me really gets to the bottom of Anarchism. I'd give you some choice quotes but someone seems to have liberated my last copy
Fulub-le-Breton Posts: 4667 Posted: 15.Apr 2008 - 08:33	I think much of what you write above could be applied to the Cornish nationalist scene. We suffer from our fair share of marginals. The Cornish Democrat The Breton Connection
Allister online Posts: 605 Posted: 15.Apr 2008 - 10:31	QuoteIt's like the lottery, everyone thinks they can have a big win, but if you do the statistics you see how pointless it is (rightly called "a tax on the stupid" ). I think everyone who plays the lotto understands that they are extremely unlikely to win, but every week, some one, some where, wins. Everyone goes in with equally poor odds. I'd rather pay for my chance than not pay and have no chance. I am awake at 4am to the terrifying undeniable truth that there is nothing I can do to stop the monster
Fulub-le-Breton Posts: 4667 Posted: 15.Apr 2008 - 17:34	Allister QuoteIt's like the lottery, everyone thinks they can have a big win, but if you do the statistics you see how pointless it is (rightly called "a tax on the stupid" ). I think everyone who plays the lotto understands that they are extremely unlikely to win, but every week, some one, some where, wins. Everyone goes in with equally poor odds. I'd rather pay for my chance than not pay and have no chance. Much like conspiracy theories the lotto replaces religion for many. It fills your week with a bit of hope and therefore you avoid taking any responsibility for yourself. Conspiracy theories do the same but in a reverse manner in that they reassure people by providing a 'plan', even if it is a malignant one it still helps people ignore the senseless void, the reality they cannot face. The Cornish Democrat The Breton Connection
Allister online Posts: 605 Posted: 15.Apr 2008 - 18:35	Quotetherefore you avoid taking any responsibility for yourself. Can you elaborate on this because I don't follow your logic. I am awake at 4am to the terrifying undeniable truth that there is nothing I can do to stop the monster
celticwarrior Posts: 198 Posted: 16.Apr 2008 - 01:59	Allister Quotetherefore you avoid taking any responsibility for yourself. Can you elaborate on this because I don't follow your logic. easy.. don't give the lottery your pound every week save it up...stick it into a savings account and leave it there and then you will have your own hand made windfall becuase the chance of winning the lottery are in there billions ...its a false hope fed to people who believe that money will solve all there problems. Thats why on Saturday evenings its turned into a cabaret act
Allister online Posts: 605 Posted: 16.Apr 2008 - 10:27	It may, in reality, be a false hope but I don't mind gambling one pound a week for a chance to win a few million pounds. I think it's foolish not to play. I am awake at 4am to the terrifying undeniable truth that there is nothing I can do to stop the monster
jezza Posts: 275 Posted: 16.Apr 2008 - 10:58	What a load of old nonsense.
Fulub-le-Breton Posts: 4667 Posted: 17.Apr 2008 - 11:00	From a well wisher: QuoteI'll certainly give it a hard think and see if I can come up with something! The most obviously relevant issue is that, to paraphrase James Connolly, political independence is a sham without economic independence. Economic independence can only follow two routes -- totalitarianism (as in, say, North Korea) or libertarian (as in revolutionary Spain). In the meanwhile, you might find these websites of interest: Anarcho-syndicalism 101: http://www.anar...et/index.php Mutualist.Org: http://mutualist.org/ QuoteI disagree with some of the stuff on Mutualist.Org, but it contains a powerful (and, I think, practical) economic vision that has relevance to the struggle of any oppressed people. So anyway, I'll see if I can cook something up on "national liberation and syndicalism" and it's relevance specifically to Cornwall. Best wishes, The Cornish Democrat The Breton Connection
Fulub-le-Breton Posts: 4667 Posted: 23.Jun 2008 - 17:29	Libcom.org: http://libcom.org/ Well after plenty of insults and accusations of me being some kind of far right national anarchist (yes apparently they are a bastard mix of far right nationalism and anarchism) I have obtained the following remarks from the world of anarcho-communism. QuoteAnarchism proposes a self-managed communist society. There would be no national curriculum in a self-managed communist society. Like I said, people in their (multi-"cultural", multi-racial) self-managed communities would make the decisions. A self-managed communist society would necessarily involve the destruction of any fetters tying workers to the ruling class, leading to a world culture which would be infinately varied and mixed. But how would a self-managed communist society manage to somehow crush a "minority culture" - which you have only defined as nations? They're changing all the time anyway - Cornwall now and Cornwall 500 years ago clearly aren't the same entities, only the magic of nationalism makes them that. Are you afraid of cross-cultural influences? If not why bother worrying about cultures in the first place? The Cornish Democrat The Breton Connection
Cawsando Posts: 540 Posted: 23.Jun 2008 - 20:49	In terms of practical "anarchism", who has some good designs that they can put on the net that could form the basis of a graffiti stencil? I remember you said you had some design ideas Fulub? KERNOW DOES'NT BOW TO LONDON
Fulub-le-Breton Posts: 4667 Posted: 24.Jun 2008 - 17:38	CawsandoIn terms of practical "anarchism", who has some good designs that they can put on the net that could form the basis of a graffiti stencil? I remember you said you had some design ideas Fulub? All I have to say about peaceful direct action is here: http://www.corn...pic-3370.htm The Cornish Democrat The Breton Connection
Fulub-le-Breton Posts: 4667 Posted: 30.Jun 2008 - 17:19	The Anarchopedia: http://anarchop...rg/Main_Page Some thoughts from some Breton Anarchists: http://www.cbil...forme_gb.htm QuoteDue to their specific culture, their History, their languages, their feeling of common belonging, Bretons indeed are a people. Every people has a right to exist as such. We are therefore for independence of Brittany, in order to take our future in hand, to develop our languages and our culture and to repair the damage done by French colonialism : loss of our culture, of our languages, total dependence to the state… We want to be actors and actresses of our own History. France as it is presented to us does not exist. Its national conception eclipses our identity, in spite of the principles it is supposed to be based on. It is a political project leading to standardisation, subservience of peoples and centralisation of competencies. In Brittany and elsewhere, the French state has always behaved as a colonialist state : - economically (fisheries management, agriculture, industries, …) - socially (job centres, unemployed people forced to accept unfair contracts under the threat of cutting off of their unemployment benefit,…) - politically (centralisation of power and decision-making structures in Paris, without local consultation,…) - as regards military affairs (JAPD, planned repartition of occupation forces, …) -as well as in all other fields (energy sources and production, education, …). We are internationalists … and therefore we stand by other struggling (either socially or for national liberation) peoples and are conscious that fighting for an anarchist Brittany can only be conceived in the framework of a battle fought at world level. With this aim, the Breton fight constitutes a spark which can induce others, in particular as regards emancipation struggles which are a potential pool for radical social changes. As regards languages, the Breton people as a whole, due to the French language-killing and standardising policy, now speaks French. We are therefore not against the French language, but Breton and Gallo now must take again the place they lost in society, education, the media,.. We are in favour of a multilingual society, in which all languages brought here by immigration will have their place, without exclusion. Anarchists Our struggle is in the continuity of the social emancipation movement born with the Industrial Revolution. For us, national liberation cannot be achieved without a collective and individual liberation. Nevertheless, we do not favour any struggle more than another. The state, in spite of what it pretends, is a tool that works inevitably against peoples and individuals. Taking care of one’s affairs means not leaving anyone else (elected people, cops, prefects, ..) decide in our place. Whether for social, economy, international relations, ecology…or for everyday life in which laws are repressive tools which prevent the individual from deciding what is good for him / her. We are therefore in favour of a functioning which starts from the people : village, commune, group, country assemblies, which make it possible for every individual can express him / herself and for every idea to be debated with all to reach a consensus, in order to take everybody’s interests into account. So far, all models which were imposed on us failed (capitalism, Eastern socialism, electoral democracies, …). It is consequently time to imagine and build a new society on human, collective, non-speculative and non-authoritarian bases. An anarchist Brittany is resolutely against capitalism, authoritarianism and fascism. Because the law of markets is only beneficial to a handful of individuals who exploit the rest of the population and natural resources, we are against all forms of patronat and for the re-appropriation of production tools by those who try to set up self management and produce only what is necessary. Let’s break the productivist logic, which only aim is profit !The cultural standardisation of people answers the needs for standardisation and control of consumption of exploiters. This logic leads to intolerance. For us, independence means opening towards the others. We won’t erect frontiers and reject the other. Brittany is multiple and multicultural and we are conscious that it is through this cultural diversity that peoples go forward. We stand against every form of chauvinism. Be Breton does not mean being born in Brittany or bearing a Breton name. Be Breton can mean choosing to participate in Breton collective life, in initiatives and decisions, being present in the assemblies. The Cornish Democrat The Breton Connection
Cawsando Posts: 540 Posted: 1.Jul 2008 - 17:08	What happened to those Cornish not English stickers. I know loads of good places for them, and others, such as Kernow a gas dynnargh stickers. KERNOW DOES'NT BOW TO LONDON
Fulub-le-Breton Posts: 4667 Posted: 1.Jul 2008 - 17:15	Ask the league, the website is still up and running but it needs some work. The Cornish Democrat The Breton Connection
Cawsando Posts: 540 Posted: 1.Jul 2008 - 18:02	Will do, will see them tomorrow for Tony Leamon's solidarity session outside Camborne police station. Hopefully An Gewer will be good... KERNOW DOES'NT BOW TO LONDON