Constructive Anarchy: Building Infrastructures of Resistance

214 Pages·2010·3.12 MB·English

by  Shantz

Constructive Anarchy
Building Infrastructures of Resistance
Jeff Shantz
ConstruCtive AnArChy
To Saoirse and Molly
Constructive Anarchy
Building infrastructures of resistance
Jeff shAntz
Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Canada
© Jeff shantz 2010
All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Jeff shantz has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be
identified as the author of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Wey Court east suite 420
union road 101 Cherry street
farnham Burlington
surrey, Gu9 7Pt vt 05401-4405
england usA
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
shantz, Jeff.
Constructive anarchy : building infrastructures of
resistance.
1. Anarchism. 2. Protest movements. 3. Political activists.
4. Anarchism--Case studies. 5. Protest movements--Case
studies.
i. title
322.4’4-dc22

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
shantz, Jeff.
Constructive anarchy : building infrastructures of resistance / by Jeff shantz.
p. cm.
includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-0402-6 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-0403-3 1. Anarchists--Political
activity 2. Anarchists--Political activity--north America. 3. Anarchism--north America.
i. title.
hX833.s448 2010
320.5’7--dc22
2010027239
ISBN 9781409404026 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409404033 (ebk)
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Foreword by Richard J.F. Day ix
introduction: Constructive Anarchy 1
1 organizing Anarchy: Debates and Directions 19
2 “seize the switches”: Media and Anarchy 39
3 Whatever it Takes: The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty 65
4 Anarchy at Work: Developing Workers’ Autonomy 91
5 Building Bridges: Anarchism, Borders and resistance 113
6 Anarchy Goes to School: The Anarchist Free Skool 135
7 Re-Thinking Revolution: A Constructive Anarchist Approach 153
Conclusion: “Quiet revolutions”: Constructive Anarchy and Mutual Aid 175
References 187
Index 195
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Acknowledgments
A work of this nature owes its development to the generous and supportive efforts
of many. I want to thank all of the anarchists, rank-and-file workers and community
organizers with whom I have worked, shared, and discussed ideas and issues over
the years. I would particularly like to thank P.J. Lilley for ongoing conversations
and debates. A special thank you must go to Natalja Mortensen of Ashgate for her
vision, support, and assistance, and her informative and communicative approach.
My greatest thank yous go to Saoirse and Molly Shantz, my wonderful and loving
best pals. Time to work is an amazing gift. This book is dedicated to them. Finally,
thank you to all who are building the infrastructures of resistance every day in
myriad ways.
This page has been left blank intentionally
foreword
i am writing this foreword in the aftermath of the 2010 G20 summit in toronto. At
the protests i danced with toronto rhythmic resistance, laughed at the signs and
chants, felt the live power of the people, or at least a certain sort of that power. But
i also felt the hatred, misogyny, racism, and fear that drive those who become riot
cops, crown prosecutors, and judges, the affects that allow them to shut down so
much of what makes them human beings, to become the faces, arms, shields and
minds of dead power. Several friends spent days in jail, many more were beaten
quite senselessly, and one of my students remains in custody, facing a charge of
‘conspiracy to commit mischief’—that is, he supposedly talked with other people
about what they would do when they went to a demonstration. We are all reeling
from this massive repression, well planned and prepared, that took many people
by surprise, because this time it affected relatively rich white people with ‘good’
parents, not just the indigenous, not just the Muslim, not just the poor.
As I try to work my way through all of this, as I try to do what I can to get people
facing charges off more lightly, to find the music that will lull the bloodthirsty
multitude of ‘good citizens’ so expertly conjured into existence by the current
Prime Minister of Canada and his many highly-paid minions, Jeff shantz is one of
those people who gives me hope. That’s because this book takes our attention away
from where the mass media direct it, and focuses it instead on where it belongs,
i.e. at the heart of the many people, groups, theories, practices, and tactics that
compose the global anarchist movement. it brings us to the part of anarchism that
is much more frightening, for the dominant order, than burning a few police cars
carefully left unattended for precisely that purpose. the part that shows us how
to work for ourselves, to elude rather than confront, to build, to enjoy … to live
as human beings have lived for many thousands of years, prior to the invention of
capitalism and the state form, as many of us still live, to some extent, and as many
more of us, undoubtedly, will live, again.
those of a more academic inclination will be pleased to discover that
Constructive Anarchy is radical sociology at its best. it was written by someone who
has been closely involved in various anarchist groups, practices, and tactics over
many years, but who is also able to take a step back from the mess of ideological
and personal commitments that such a life entails, in order to critically reflect upon
it. Shantz deftly skirts the two greatest dangers of movement-based theory, that is,
the tendency to over-academicize, thereby alienating those who primarily ‘do’, as
well as the trap of refusing to theorize, which makes analysis impossible. It shows
us that analysis must not be left to those who only think for a living, just as action
must not be left only to those who find themselves compelled, in various ways, and