The sentiments espoused in the clip above are steeped in a dangerous, neoliberal logic of competitive, industrial expansionism, as opposed to a social logic of cooperation for ecologically sustainable democratization of productive forces for the commons.
Nothing “Left” about it.
Please see the clip below for a quick introduction to how/why the sentiments expressed in the clip featured at the top of this thread are an issue.
Also consider looking into the concepts of “hard” and “soft” power – very crucial for this specific topic.
Anarchists (Libertarian Socialists) are perceived as a threat and attacked by all sides of the political spectrum (if you will) because what all other sides have in common (Left or Right) is an acceptance of top-down hierarchy and coercive authority (even if some try to hide it).
Anarchists understand Capitalism as not only a system of exploitation, but a system of domination as well, and they understand that domination (in some form or another) has essentially existed since human beings have been around (well before Capitalism even had a name).
Anarchists believe production must be controlled by the people themselves in service to the commons, just as most self-described Socialists/Communists do.
But they have never believed that production must first pass through the hands of some bureaucratic body for this to happen.
Why is it so hard for some white Leftists (of every tendency) to stay in their lane?
Just because you know Black people who agree with you on some things doesn’t give you license to insert yourself into Black community dialogue.
This shouldn’t need to be stated in 2021.
We started our org in 2018 because it was just as clear then as it is now that we need our own institutions to cover our own history and make our own decisions about our own futures. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have our own public digital spaces for clear, uninterrupted dialogue.
So if you are white and claim to be a comrade, and see Black folks with similar views having a discussion about something online, and sense that there is a disagreement on matters that don’t necessarily concern you, it’s probably best for you to stay out of it.
Go down his timeline and peep who he retweets or is a fan of.
Tells you everything you need to know.
Also peep this interesting pic of him with some fash buds.
This is why “anti-authoritarianism” is a requirement, and especially if you’re Black.
If you’re Black and in support of top-down, paternalistic framing around “revolution” despite the fact that we are ethnic minorities in a white supremacist country, you are delusional.
“Nation-states” are deemed “just” under hierarchical, colonizer logic, but are antithetical to the freedom of those “below,” no matter how similar those “above” in these nation-states may look to those below.
This is why we must offer political frameworks that transcend statism.
Anyone who calls themselves a “Leftist” and implicitly presumes in their analyses that things like nation-states and borders must exist, or be further explored for us to be “free,” do not have an understanding of what freedom is, or simply wish to warp its meaning to control you.
We get free by building freedom in the cracks and crevices of the crumbling system as it stands now, not by caulking these cracks with the very substance of what defines the statist mechanisms or structures of domination closing in on us already.