The Anarchy Project

In The Democracy Project: A History, A Crisis, A Movement (Spiegel & Grau, 2013), David Graeber’s engaging new book on Occupy Wall Street, the author writes of the dismal culture in Washington during the summer of 2011, a few months before the occupation of Zucotti Park:

    Republicans were threatening to cause the US government to default in order to force massive cuts in social services intended to head off a largely imaginary debt crisis…President Obama, in turn, had decided the way to appear reasonable in comparison and thus seem as his advisors liked to put it ‘the only adult in the room’ was not to point out that the entire debate was founded on false economic premises, but to prepare a milder, ‘compromise’ version of the exact same program—as if the best way to expose a lunatic is to pretend that 50 percent of his delusions are actually true…. This is how a ragtag group of anarchists, hippies, unemployed college students, pagan tree sitters, and peace activists suddenly managed to establish themselves, by default, as America’s adults in the first place.

Anarchists in the boardroom

Anarchists in the boardroom
by Liam Barrington-Bush
(Concrete Solutions ,2013;)

'The Left' has a funny relationship with the world of management.

On the one hand, it can be a dirty word; something the 'bad guys' do, a tool of 'the system.'

There's good reason for such associations.

Since its birth, the management field has largely served to reinforce the social and political status quo, manipulating the vast majority of those who fall victim to it, to work ever-longer hours and give up any sense autonomy, as well as both literal and symbolic ownership over the fruits of their labour.

Leah-Lynn Plante and Portland's Anarchist Grand Jury Resistors

On May 1st, 2012, an initially peaceful march in Seattle turned violent when dozens of black-clad protesters brandishing sticks, poles, rocks, paint bombs, and homemade incendiaries joined the demonstration. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn declared civil emergency that afternoon, and by the end of the day, the clash between police and protesters resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in damage to private and city property and multiple arrests for assault, pedestrian interference, and vandalism.

On July 25th, 2012, the FBI raided three houses in Portland, Oregon. According to one search warrant, officials were looking for black clothing, sticks, flags, diary entries about the protests, and “anti-government or anarchist literature or material.” In the wake of those sweeps, members of Portland’s anarchist community including Leah-Lynn Plante, Dennison Williams, Katherine “Kteeo” Olejnik, and Matt Duran were subpoenaed to testify in front of a federal grand jury about their knowledge of the May Day action.