If the mayan-calendar-apocalypse folks are right, plans for 2013 might be a bit pointless. But if the poles don’t shift on December 21, 2012, or it they do, but the Earth’s crust doesn’t crack, we really ought to be thinking about goals. High on my list would be not throwing another election-related welcoming gala for the police state, since the cost of these just keeps getting higher.
It seems like it’s time for a Call for New Memes. Maybe we want to aim for our own sort of “pole shift.” Maybe we want to hitch a ride on the prophecy train, and make our next street party a coming-out affair for that “new world” that we’re always saying is possible. Maybe we should steal all that civil defense/Great Depression rhetoric from the politicians that don’t seem to know what to do with it, and start our own Victory Gardens and perform random Acts of National Recovery (“words are weapons in the war of ideas.”)
Personally, I’ve set myself a year of historical study and local resource surveys, with whatever assistance I can round up, at the end of which I feel like I need to set some very concrete goals, beyond the usual scanning, pamphleting, informal education stuff (or explicitly not beyond that, I suppose.) For the left-libertarian and anarchist movements in general, it feels to me like time to ask ourselves (or ask ourselves again) if we can move in concrete ways towards any of our goals, if our base can either be expanded or concentrated, etc.
What are you thinking?
This comment has been removed by the author.
Viral politics with a soft mainstream message in video and graphics media (especially the creative commons variety) may “soften up” prospective audiences to the message. It’s probably important to first endear the audience to the message without them realizing they’re supposed to reject it because it’s “anarchism” (*cue scary music*)
To get as many of the necessities of life as possible without participating in the “red” economy. Start out with home-based farming. See what we can do in a 1/3 of an acre suburban back yard (thankfully, no homeowner’s association covenants). If we have some success, encourage others to do the same. Maybe start a home farmer’s collective. Seek out people who are also “going underground” in other ways and support them. Use our successes to recruit the unconverted — show them rather than tell them (I just happen to be really bad at verbal persuasion). Do all this without having to say the “A”-word.
Yes, everything after my third sentence is a pipe-dream, but in light of the current financial mess, I think it’s time to shit or get off the pot. Who cares if it might not work — cross that bridge when we come to it.
Oops … just noticed that should have said “white” not “red”.
CL