Thursday, May 22, 2008


ANARCHIST MAGAZINES:
THE AUCKLAND ANARCHIST ISSUE # 3 NOW OUT:
Here's another good one from down under. Issue #3 of 'The Auckland Anarchist" is now out and about and prowling for readers. The following is the contents of this issue plus a reprint of the first article. To read more of the magazine go to the websites listed at the end.
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New Zealand, Issue #3 of The Auckland Anarchist -
AUTONOMOUS IN AUCKLAND
- Thoughts on the direction of the movement
Articulating goals is one of the essential ingredients for a healthy movement to do. We can't keep on saying "have a revolution", "smash the state", "abolish capitalism" are our goals. Why? Because they aren't things that movements aim to do but instead are the outcomes of certain ways of living, of acting and interacting with each other.


---- On the other hand goals that are quickly achieved, end up precipitating the demobilisation of grassroots activism. Witness the disappearance from the streets of protesters once the Urewera 16 were released, or the New Zealand troops left Iraq. Winning as Sam Buchanan has pointed out, is the fastest way to destroy a movement. ("Attack of the Headless Chickens").


So what goal can we use to inspire ourselves and others, beyond the shallow politics of reformist activism? I would like to suggest one here: living autonomously.


Living autonomously as one Argentinean participant in a neighborhood assembly/occupied building/social centre noted is "autogestion(self-management), self-sufficiency, weblike articulations, noncommercial exchange of goods, horizontal organizing, and direct democracy".The goal of living autonomously is to weave these ideals into our everyday lives, to "build and create different things without following the logic of the capitalist system".Autonomy is a concept of collective freedom from institutions like capitalism, consumerism,the state and patriarchy that are reproduced in our everyday lives. It is a way of relating to the world. We struggle for our own autonomy and to help others gain their own autonomy.Articulating our aim as one of living our lives as autonomously as possible, and struggling for autonomy in our basic lives we can draw the connection between our day-to-day campaigning and a vision of an anti-capitalist, participatory society.


Elsewhere in the world autonomous movements focus on gaining autonomy by seeking to strip from their day-to-day lives wage-slavery, rent/mortgages, television, cars supermarkets and live instead by building the infrastructure they need themselves: community gardens, bakeries, social centers, workshops,squats and all manner of co-operative / d.i.y,mutual aid based projects. Autonomists also place high priority on taking action in solidarity with those others struggling for their autonomy; wage workers who want more control at work, students, youth, women, communities defending their environment, indigenous people and refugees.


Lets together think of our role as anarchists not to make a revolution out there, but instead to revolutionise the way we live, instead of waiting for the right conditions we try to create the conditions we want to live in. In the next few months I hope to see a whole host of autonomous projects spring up in Auckland: community gardens, a social centre, more alternative social and educational events,workshops and more, as people begin to struggle for autonomy in Auckland.
Auckland Autonomist
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CONTENTS of The Auckland Anarchist #3
1 * Autonomous in Auckland?
2 * STREET Medics
3 * FREEDOM FIGHTING AT PRISON GROUNDS The fight for freedom on prison grounds
4 * ACORNS + RECIPE
5 * SMOKEY MOUNTAIN PHOTO SPREAD
6 * REPRESSION IN THE PHILIPPINES Philippines photos
7 * ITALIAN SOCIAL CENTER HISTORY - L38Squat: Part 2
8 * GOD BOTHERING 101 AND A RESPONSE: The case against Christian anarchy
9 * BOGUS CONSPIRACY THEORIES


Editors: Tyler, Design: Simon, Issue Coordinator: Tyler, Contributors: Gilly, MZ, Tom, Simon and Ingrid, Miriam, Horus, Tyler. The views of contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Auckland Anarchists Collective
Related
* http://www.anarchism.net.nz/theaucklandanarchist/3
* http://www.anarchism.net.nz/

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