Anarchism, Jewish and African

Two things related only by an anarchist angle:

1. Alexander Schapiro, a figure from East London's pre-WWI Jewish anarchist scene, and the diasporically dispersed anti-Stalinist milieu of the interwar years.

2. Anarchist perspective on Zimbabwe.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I was following the African Anarchism in the beginning but they lost me with the emphasis on carnival, spectacle, etc. Are these people located in Africa or the UK?
It reads like some Euro-anarcho-hippy-puppetry nonsense:

“It is in the capricious moments of history when we can best see that Toyitoyi
and revolution have identical goals: to turn the world upside down with joyous
abandon and to celebrate our indestructible lust for life, a lust that capitalism tries so hard to destroy with its monotonous merry-go-round of work and consumerism. In its immediacy, Toyitoyi refuses the constant mediation and representations of capitalism. It opens up an alternative social space of freedom where people can begin to really live again.”

Refusing “the constant mediation and representations of capitalism”? Opening up “alternative space”?

Rhetoric like this is emblematic of people who are out of touch with day-to-day reality. It reminds me of the Resistance Studies nonsense I linked to a few months ago:

http://newcentrist.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/academic-silliness-%e2%80%9cresistance-studies%e2%80%9d/
This comment has been removed by the author.
Correction:

What is the opposite of Oyvavoyi?

"Toyitoyi"!!!
bob said…
Personally, I am rather partial to temporary autonomous zones, carnivals, opening up alternative space, and resisting the mediations of capital. I think that the politics of the autonomous zone, as an alternative to the dead-end road of revolution and the misery of accepting that this is the best of all possible worlds, is a resource for hope, even under the most brutal conditions.

But then there is no doubt that I am out of touch with day to day reality, and certainly African day to day reality.

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