Insurrectionary Anarchism

[Os Cangaceiros]

I'd like to read more about it.

I've already read The Coming Insurrection (which, while probably not specifically IA, does deal with the same sorts of themes and has been influential in IA circles) and Some Notes on Insurrectionary Anarchism by Willful Disobediance/KKA (quite good, I thought...refreshingly free of a lot of the post-modern mumbojumbo that seems to pervade a lot of the newer IA writings). Oh, and The Anarchist Tension by Alfredo M. Bonanno, which I wasn't too impressed with at the time, but I read that a long time ago so who knows what I would think of it now that my beliefs have developed a little more.

Anyway, recommend away.

[bricolage]

At Daggers Drawn; http://www.anti-politics.net/daggers/daggers.html
Armed Joy;http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Alfredo_M._Bonanno__Armed_Joy.html

I think these count.

[Os Cangaceiros]

At Dagger's Drawn seems to be a big one. I've seen that praised numerous times.

[Sasha]

i would advise you to stay far away from insurectionism but anyway:

firetotheprisons: http://firetotheprisons.angelfire.com/

[Os Cangaceiros]

i would advise you to stay far away from insurectionism but anyway:

firetotheprisons: http://firetotheprisons.angelfire.com/

Haha, don't worry, I don't plan on "converting" to IA, I just like reading some of the literature/rhetoric. Including FTTP, the latest issue of which lies on my coffee table at home. :lol:

[bricolage]

The bit about insurrectionists is the poetry.

[Qayin]

Tiqqun, The Invisible Committee, Wolfi Landstreicher

More tendencies to look into would be Post-Left Anarchism and Illegalism.

[Nachie]

Wolfi's site these days is https://sites.google.com/site/vagabondtheorist/

IA before it was "cool" was chiefly represented in the publication Killing King Abacus:

http://www.reocities.com/kk_abacus/

EDIT: In the USA, I mean.

[The Feral Underclass]

The Anarchist Tension. (http://fendersen.com/tension.htm)

[Magón]

Writings by a famous Insurrectionary Anarchist, Luigi Galleani, would be: Anarchy Will Be! Selected Writings of Luigi Galleani. Read it, had mixed feelings about it, but never the less enjoyed what it was.

[black magick hustla]

if you want to read about old insurrectionists and probably some of the first anarchist insurrections read;

http://en.internationalism.org/inter/155/magon

[Os Cangaceiros]

The Anarchist Tension. (http://fendersen.com/tension.htm)

Already read it!



Writings by a famous Insurrectionary Anarchist, Luigi Galleani, would be: Anarchy Will Be! Selected Writings of Luigi Galleani. Read it, had mixed feelings about it, but never the less enjoyed what it was.

Old school IA!

Honestly, I don't really have too many positive thoughts regarding Galleani's philosophy, at least not tactic-wise (many of his followers were dedicated & fearless revolutionary socialists who came directly from the working class, though, which is more than I can say for most people in the mileu today). His belief system in regards to propaganda of the deed seems to me to be just a continuation of the mostly disproven beliefs of the Narodnik/revolutionary socialist movement in Russia about awakening the masses through acts of violence. Of course, I suppose one could direct the same criticism towards modern IA beliefs about "social rupture", a concept that I am also critical of.

[Magón]

Old school IA!

Honestly, I don't really have too many positive thoughts regarding Galleani's philosophy, at least not tactic-wise (many of his followers were dedicated & fearless revolutionary socialists who came directly from the working class, though, which is more than I can say for most people in the mileu today). His belief system in regards to propaganda of the deed seems to me to be just a continuation of the mostly disproven beliefs of the Narodnik/revolutionary socialist movement in Russia about awakening the masses through acts of violence. Of course, I suppose one could direct the same criticism towards modern IA beliefs about "social rupture", a concept that I am also critical of.

Yeah, I'm kinda critical on some of his ideas as well, along with the more modern IA forms. But I think today, IA is much less radical than his time. I was looking at IA on Wikipedia, discovered the Bonnot Gang, which were sort of the French 1910s version of the RAF/Red Brigades. Sorta interesting, as they're considered IA too. Might want to look into them, I have, but nothing that's really caught me to read more than a paragraph?

[Ravachol]

While I'm not a big fan of IA myself, I do tend to enjoy their writing, if only for the dense, poetic aesthetics :p

I recommend "Introduction to Civil War" (http://www.mediafire.com/?jifjirevlil6vo3) by Tiqqun.

Also, Letters Journal (http://www.lettersjournal.org/home.html) and the writings of Mr. and Frere Dupont (http://libcom.org/tags/monsieur-dupont) are worth a look.

All of these are not strictly IA (they're more related to the positions espoused by the post-Autonomist French "Ultra-Gauche" of The Coming Insurrection) but are related to the insurrectionary point of view. Core influences here are Michel Foucault, Nietzsche, Giles Deleuze & Felix Guattari, Carl Schmidt and Giorgo Agamben.

[ZombieGrits]

I'm not a big fan of IA myself

Funny, considering your username :p

I'm not very familiar with insurrectionist theory, or anarchist theory for that matter; I've only read a little bit of Kropotkin. Thanks for all these good links guys :thumbup1:

[ContrarianLemming]

I'd like to read more about it.

I've already read The Coming Insurrection (which, while probably not specifically IA, does deal with the same sorts of themes and has been influential in IA circles) and Some Notes on Insurrectionary Anarchism by Willful Disobediance/KKA (quite good, I thought...refreshingly free of a lot of the post-modern mumbojumbo that seems to pervade a lot of the newer IA writings). Oh, and The Anarchist Tension by Alfredo M. Bonanno, which I wasn't too impressed with at the time, but I read that a long time ago so who knows what I would think of it now that my beliefs have developed a little more.

Anyway, recommend away.

I discourage you from joining revolutionary lifestylists :(

[bcbm]

325 (http://325.nostate.net/) has pdf copies (http://325.nostate.net/?p=443) of the old paper "insurrection," which was a starting place for the dissemination of bonanno texts, etc in english. 325 itself is good, too.

i'm not sure where you can get copies of "a murder of crows" these days but it was a good insurrectionist journal from a few years back.

beyond that, i'll definitely second the stuff from killing king abacus and wolfi/feral faun and "at daggers drawn" without a doubt.

[Ravachol]

325 (http://325.nostate.net/) has pdf copies (http://325.nostate.net/?p=443) of the old paper "insurrection," which was a starting place for the dissemination of bonanno texts, etc in english. 325 itself is good, too.

i'm not sure where you can get copies of "a murder of crows" these days but it was a good insurrectionist journal from a few years back.

beyond that, i'll definitely second the stuff from killing king abacus and wolfi/feral faun and "at daggers drawn" without a doubt.

While the original website seems offline, there still is a myspace (http://www.myspace.com/amurderofcrows1) and a mirror (http://xerxes.bndhost.co.cc/amurderofcrows1/) online listing a few interesting articles.

And here (http://www.mediaisland.org/en/anarchy-activism-and-insurrection-conversation-murder-crows) is an interview with the 'A Murder of Crows' crew.

Dissent #2 (http://www.batko.se/en_dissident.php) also dealt with IA, some articles worth reading are:

- Insurrectionary Organization (http://www.batko.se/en_issue2_ch4.php)
- Insurrectionary Practice and Capitalist Transformation (http://www.batko.se/en_issue2_ch9.php)
- Anti-Mass: Methods for organizing collectives (http://www.batko.se/en_issue2_ch11.php)
- Autonomous Movement of the Turin Railworkers (http://www.batko.se/en_issue2_ch12.php)

From the latter article the (partial) influence of Autonomist theory on Insurrectionism becomes clear. While there are huge differences (the core being that Autonomism is still rooted in Marxism, some strains still arguing in favor of 'building the party', albeit not in a traditional leninist sense, for example) there is some cross-fertilization between the two.

[The Douche]

I also reccomend "From Riot to Insurrection" which was a core piece of reading that lead me in the jump from red anarchism to IA. Other than that you're being reccomended most of the things I read.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I discourage you from joining revolutionary lifestylists :(

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd213/Zebruh/fuuuuu.jpg

I'm not planning on becoming an insurrectionary anarchist! I just like reading their bullshit! I read Lenin and crap like that, too...

Besides, not all insurrectionaries are bad. I think that Alfredo Bonanno is actually a very admirable figure.

[Os Cangaceiros]

While I'm not a big fan of IA myself, I do tend to enjoy their writing, if only for the dense, poetic aesthetics :p

I recommend "Introduction to Civil War" (http://www.mediafire.com/?jifjirevlil6vo3) by Tiqqun.

I was lent that at one point, but I couldn't really get into it/understand it.

[The Douche]

I was lent that at one point, but I couldn't really get into it/understand it.

Yeah I've been reading it off an on for like two months. I'm not sure how its supposed to be read.

[black magick hustla]

one of the reasons why i dislike insurrectionism is that people who write that shit are too full of themselves and do not know how to write to normal people

[black magick hustla]

i guess those are french hipster communists. american insurrectionary journals arent that obscure

[Ravachol]

Yeah I've been reading it off an on for like two months. I'm not sure how its supposed to be read.

I think it's supposed to be read as a series of short comments first elaborating on some concepts (e.g. 'Bloom', 'Civil War', 'Hostis', 'forms-of-life', 'Imaginary Party') and then proceeding to explain Tiqqun's view of the revolutionary process, which in turn consists of first explaining their view of the current state of post-fordist Capitalism and Empire (using a lot of terminology borrowed from Foucault and Schmitt) with concepts such as Biopower and the Spectacle and the nature of civilization and the expansion of the 'police' to include society as a whole through the principle of panopticism, for example. Then they proceed to expand on the nature of community, which according to them doesn't exist as such and only 'community that circulates' exists. This is in fact a form of association which, according to Tiqqun, is the reduction of 'hostis', i.e. the 'social distance' between 'forms-of-life', i.e. the whole of subjectivities formed by our daily experiences. This reduction of hostis means we become friend or foe with the given form-of-life. Then, following Schmitt's notes on the nature of 'Civil War', the friend/foe principle is elevated to the highest intensity to produce 'Civil War'.

Do note that this is how I understood it and I can't guarantee that that's what Tiqqun meant. All in all 'Introduction to Civil War' is very,very jargon-dense with heavy post-modernist and poetic influences but worth a read as it contains some very interesting ideas on community, the nature of 'war' and the 'ethics'. Although I do have my criticism (mainly regarding the almost moralist, idealist position Tiqqun espouses and the condensation of conflict to a struggle between forms-of-life which de-privileges class to an extend i'm not willing to go to) it's a good read.

I think a study group would be in order.

[bcbm]

one of the reasons why i dislike insurrectionism is that people who write that shit are too full of themselves and do not know how to write to normal people

i'm not sure why it would be expected that philsophers(for lack of a better term) would be writing for "normal people" in their own philosophical journal? tiqqun is dense but its meant to be dense. their more "mass appeal" texts like call and the coming insurrection are much easier to understand.

insurrectionism a la bonanno or kka is pretty straight forward.

[Ravachol]

i'm not sure why it would be expected that philsophers(for lack of a better term) would be writing for "normal people" in their own philosophical journal? tiqqun is dense but its meant to be dense. their more "mass appeal" texts like call and the coming insurrection are much easier to understand.

insurrectionism a la bonanno or kka is pretty straight forward.

Well, that is if The Invisible Committe and Tiqqun are the same people (although I think they are), which isn't officially confirmed at all, TIC might as well be a group influenced by Tiqqun.

Also, I've always considered 'dense' and 'theoretic' language used in tracts, whether political or scientific, serving the purpose of easily communicating a complex concept in a single word or set of words. Imagine, for example, having to explain what 'the spectacle' or 'biopower' (in the case of politics) or what isomorphy is (in the case of science) is in 'normal' terminology each and every time one discusses it.

[bcbm]

Well, that is if The Invisible Committe and Tiqqun are the same people

its probably not all the same people but i will eat my hat if there is no overlap.

[Cane Nero]

Some nice insurrectionary journals, in my opinion of course...

Machete (great anti-work criticism):
http://sites.google.com/site/anarchyinitaly/machete
Diavolo in corpo:


http://sites.google.com/site/anarchyinitaly/diavolo-in-corpo

Canenero:
http://sites.google.com/site/anarchyinitaly/canenero

[Agent Ducky]

Woah, zombie thread much?

[Comrade Crow]

I don't know why everyone is hating on IA, I dig it.

[Cane Nero]

I don't know why everyone is hating on IA, I dig it.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-obXJ2-uJuZw/TbwvoorA14I/AAAAAAAAB4M/7zfB7mw6VuY/s1600/02_Haters_Gonna_Hate-s600x433-62658-580.jpg

[Cane Nero]

There is a interesting insurrectionary movement in south america too, especially in Chile:
https://conflictividad.wordpress.com/

[Rafiq]

Not all insurrwctionists are libertarian, btw. The RAF were badass insurrectionists...

[nuisance]

Not all insurrwctionists are libertarian, btw. The RAF were badass insurrectionists...
Well it depends on what you mean by insurrectionary, since insurrectionary anarchy is a distinct thing. I wouldn't understand the RAF to be insurrectionary in outlook, since they, armed strugglists, generally look at themselves as some sort of vanguard, opposed creating signals of disorder.

[Rafiq]

Read about Andreas Baaders training experience in Jordan. Then tell me they opposed disorder. Also, his escape from prison was fucking hardcore. He was an idiot, but still...,

[nuisance]

Read about Andreas Baaders training experience in Jordan. Then tell me they opposed disorder. Also, his escape from prison was fucking hardcore. He was an idiot, but still...,
Insurrectionary praxis isn't escaping prison or loving disorder, so.....

[Rafiq]

Yeah, I never said it was :cursing:

You said he opposed creating signals of disorder... That's fucking bullshit. Eat your fail.

[nuisance]

Yeah, I never said it was :cursing:

You said he opposed creating signals of disorder... That's fucking bullshit. Eat your fail.
no, you just don't know what signals of disorder are in the sense of insurrectionary thought. tip, it is not running around as part of a specialised armed gang.

[The Douche]

Yeah, I never said it was :cursing:

You said he opposed creating signals of disorder... That's fucking bullshit. Eat your fail.

You don't know what signals of disorder are.

http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/A._G._Schwarz__Signals_of_Disorder__Sowing_Anarchy _in_the_Metropolis.html

[Cane Nero]

Not all insurrwctionists are libertarian, btw. The RAF were badass insurrectionists...

Dude, they were Leninists...

The insurrectionists has no intention of representing the proletariat and not even of taking political or economic power.

Bonanno criticizes these groups in the "armed joy", for example...

[Red And Black Sabot]

I'm not allowed to post links yet but I have to add The Institute for Experimental Freedom because I don't think anyone has mentioned them yet. They definitely have been putting out some pretty sweet and critical stuff lately.

Their blog is at politicsisnotabanana dot com

My fav texts by them are Early Spring For The Badger (on Wisconsin)
and Intoduction to The Apocalypse

Also the book plus two zines called Politics is not a Banana are out there on the internet to be read.

[The Douche]

PINAB requires grad school level education to understand.

[Rafiq]

Hmph, now I feel stupid. Cmoney, what is PINAB?

[The Douche]

Hmph, now I feel stupid. Cmoney, what is PINAB?

Politics is not a banana, its an IA/Tiqqunista group. I find it really dense and difficult to understand.

[Rafiq]

Looks like trolls to me

[o well this is ok I guess]

I would actually recommend you do some reading into Foucault and Negri before tackling Tiqqun or IC in their entirety.

Not really necessary, but you get an understanding for where they're coming from.

[bcbm]

i didn't think pinab was that bad some of it is hard, a lot of it didn't seem to be i thought it was easier than tiqqun, i could read all of "pinab 2" for example but not all of tiqqun 2. its a lot more focused on sex too

[Cane Nero]

i didn't think pinab was that bad some of it is hard, a lot of it didn't seem to be i thought it was easier than tiqqun, i could read all of "pinab 2" for example but not all of tiqqun 2. its a lot more focused on sex too

Looks interesting...:cool:

[The Douche]

i didn't think pinab was that bad some of it is hard, a lot of it didn't seem to be i thought it was easier than tiqqun, i could read all of "pinab 2" for example but not all of tiqqun 2. its a lot more focused on sex too

Its probably relatively easy for people who are plugged in to anarchism as a modern movement.

I live in an area where there hasn't been any activism since probably 2007. And its a place where there hasn't been an organized anarchist presence since the last group I was a part of fell apart in 2008.

Even when groups did exist we were in no way connected to larger groups outside of our area (well, since probably 2006, that was the last time we had a group which was in contact with other organizations and doing bigger things).

There was pretty much never a focus on theory, and since we were not connected to the larger anarchist movement we missed out on a lot of the cool new tendencies. And none of us are college educated, so it never even occurred to any of the people who have ever been involved in anarchism here to pick up somebody like Foccault. Hell, I'm pretty sure most of the people who have come and gone through the various anarchist groups we've had in my town haven't read a single piece of anarchist or communist literature. Which, I think, is a big reason why none of the formations have 1) accomplished anything of note 2)lasted a reasonable amount of time.

So yeah, PINAB is a lot for me to take in, cause I don't hang out with anarchists, so that language is foreign to me, and I don't hear whats cool to read or check out, so the theories they're building on are things I've never heard of.


So yeah, Tiqqun, PINAB, Dupont, I know these are all things I'm supposed to be into since I'm into IA, and they're floating around my apartment right now, but none of it makes a bit of sense to me. And now apparently the new cool thing is Stirner.

Shit, I'd be happy if I could get the people around here who consider themselves anarchists/have interest in anarchism to just read the FAQ.

[nuisance]

Wolfi Landstreicher and all that KKA, and riselikelions shit is better and far more accessible imo.

[The Douche]

Wolfi Landstreicher and all that KKA, and riselikelions shit is better and far more accessible imo.

This is the stuff that made me an insurrecto.

I found Bonnano understandable, and I also read Fire To The Prisons regularly.

[nuisance]

the shit coming out from elephant editions also deserves a mention.

[Cane Nero]

Actually you are not alone, cmoney...

Basically all my knowledge about anarchism and insurrecto shit comes from the internet...

And this new "hipster" stuff is not easy at all for me too bro...

At least you know some folks in your area. I'm probably the only one in my area, as far as I know...

[The Douche]

Actually you are not alone, cmoney...

Basically all my knowledge about anarchism and insurrecto shit comes from the internet...

And this new "hipster" stuff is not easy at all for me too bro...

At least you know some folks in your area. I'm probably the only one in my area, as far as I know...

All the people in my area who have been involved in the past aren't down anymore. Like I said, I think it has a lot to do with them never reading any theory, so it was like "yeah, the state and capitalism is fucked" and then some spraypaint, some talk about maybe a community garden or something, and then everybody quits.

I have always been the only person who has ever read shit, and the only one who ever really went to bigger cities to meet anybody/get involved with planning big demos. Its demoralizing because no demos or real actions ever happened here where we live.

I'm currently working with about 5 new people to try and do a study group. Hopefully we'll get that going for a month or so, meeting every week and from there we can slowly build some projects. There has been some interest in critical mass rides, so thats at least something.

I'd like to organize something that is consistent, so that we always see each other regularly specifically for the purpose of the revolutionary project. Even if it is doing totally inconsequential things like talking about theory or riding bikes, at least that makes it part of your life, keeps it on your mind, and allows it to be present, even if there are no actions going on.

[nuisance]

I'd like to organize something that is consistent, so that we always see each other regularly specifically for the purpose of the revolutionary project. Even if it is doing totally inconsequential things like talking about theory or riding bikes, at least that makes it part of your life, keeps it on your mind, and allows it to be present, even if there are no actions going on.
squatted socials/parties innit. a crew that plays together stays together!

[The Douche]

squatted socials/parties innit. a crew that plays together stays together!

I live in a town with probably 8,000 total people, and maybe 15,000 in outlying areas (pretty spread out). If you squated a building here, it would last for maybe a week, and everybody would get royally fucked on the charges.

[nuisance]

I live in a town with probably 8,000 total people, and maybe 15,000 in outlying areas (pretty spread out). If you squated a building here, it would last for maybe a week, and everybody would get royally fucked on the charges.
only need it for a night ;) though tbf i don't know the squatting laws over there. either way, the rhyme still works!