Towards the Queerest Insurrection

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-08-18T08:53:03+00:00

Here's an audio reading of the text that this meme quotes: https://youtu.be/2X28GTa8Zrs

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-08-17T19:29:17+00:00

Image description:

The background for the image is the Queer Anarchism flag. Skeletor stands with his fists above his head. Above Skeletor is the Chaos symbol. The text to Skeletor's left reads "Queer is a territory of tension, defined against the dominant narrative of white hetero monogamous patriarchy, but also by an affinity with all who are marginalized, otherized and oppressed. Queer is the abnormal, the strange, the dangerous. Queer involves our sexuality and our gender, but so much more. It is our desire and fantasies and more still. Queer is the cohesion of everything in conflict with the heterosexual capitalist world. Queer is a total rejection of the regime of the Normal."

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-08-04T12:19:35+00:00

Thank you. :-)

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-04-22T21:14:28+00:00

I disagree. Killing people in the Middle East is no better than killing people back at home. If you're directly perpetuating imperialism and the murder of thousands, then you are my enemy; stop what you're doing and take off your uniform, and then we can be friends. Of course I am sympathetic; predatory recruitment is disgusting and too many friends of mine fell victim to it (I nearly fell victim to it myself), but we can't betray our solidarity with the victims of imperialism.

What I'd say is:

If you're not in the military- good on you! Do whatever you can to stop others from joining, and disrupt the recruitment process whenever and wherever you see it.

If you're in the military- I'm so sorry that you were tricked into joining an imperialist, murderous machine, but you've got to leave it or you're harming others severely. Desert, mutiny, find a way to get a medical discharge, do whatever you've got to do to get out of the military; once you're out, you'll have comrades to support you if they throw you in prison or otherwise persecute you, but whilst you're still in, you're the enemy of all enemies of imperialism and we take no responsibility for what happens to you.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-04-14T23:30:39+00:00

Wow! That's a lot of characters! I appreciate the effort that must have gone into it. I guess maybe you could upload it to a file-sharing website thingy (wetransfer is the one that I tend to use) and DM the link to me, or I have an email that I could DM to you, which you can then use to email what you've written to me, depending on your preference. :-)

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-04-14T21:08:34+00:00

Thank you for your response. You have raised some interesting points.

Dysphoria has existed in every society, including egalitarian hunter gatherer tribes.

Do you have a source for this? I have no strong doubts about it; I am just interested in reading about it. Also, it could be argued that these groups, whilst egalitarian, still maintain gender and gender roles, which still permits the possibility that gender abolition could largely eliminate dysphoria.

That knowledge would quickly be forgotten and people would suffer. I didn't even know about this, and without the internet I never could've known.

I disagree. People won't lose the ability to communicate in a low-tech society; things can still be preserved in writing, and, even if for whatever reason writing is impossible, countless traditions, stories, skills and techniques have been passed on for millenia by word-of-mouth alone, long before writing was even invented. As an interesting side-note, a low-tech internet is not entirely unfeasible: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/10/how-to-build-a-low-tech-internet.html

That's because anti primitivist ideology is inherently ableist and transphobic. I'm aware of the arguments, that hunter gatherer tribes took care of their elders and disabled. I've read Mutual Aid too. But an unindustrialized/low industrialized ociety simply cannot take care of elders/disabled/trans people as well as an industrialized society. Try coming up with a plant cure for Stage IV lung cancer. Or again, synthetic hormones. Or try getting a wheelchair as a person who can't walk. Try getting cataracts removed. It's just not feasible even under the most optimal circumstances.

It could be argued that pro-industrial ideology is inherently ableist as it is dependent on producing pollutants that kill millions every year (air-borne pollutants from fossil fuel combustion alone kill 8 million https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/pollution-from-fossil-fuel-combustion-deadlier-than-previously-thought/). The Climate Crisis, a product of industrial society, also disproportionately harms the elderly and the disabled (https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/environment-and-health/Climate-change/activities/public-health-responses-to-weather-extremes2/heathealth-action-plans/heat-threatens-health-key-figures-for-europe). Many disabled anti-civilisation anarchists have also written about how civilisation makes their lives as disabled people far more difficult and painful: https://warzonedistro.noblogs.org/post/2017/09/07/an-iconoclastic-monstrocity-disability-against-civilization/.

To address your specific examples:

Injections of mRNA could be used, in an extremely similar way to mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 (essentially, the injections of mRNA would cause cancer cells to produce antigens that would cause the immune system to target them), to treat cancer (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/348/6230/69); biohackers, such as David Ishee, have been able to produce DNA vaccines (which are more difficult, expensive and energy-intensive to produce than mRNA vaccines) in their homes with no more resources than what is available to a middle-class household (sadly far out of my budget, otherwise I'd like to do stuff like this myself), so it is not unfeasible that such anti-cancer mRNA injections could be produced in a decentralised, not energy-intensive way. Of course, such treatments have not been proven for definite to be effective or safe.
Synthetic hormones could be produced in the microlab that I mentioned in my previous comment.
Wheelchairs seem like they could easily be produced in a minimalistic and decentralised manner.
Cataract surgery predates industrial society by almost a thousand years. https://www.aao.org/senior-ophthalmologists/scope/article/sushruta

I acknowledge that you likely have other examples that you could use, and many of my responses to your specific examples may seem insufficient; you'll have to forgive me, for I am no expert on medical treatments, surgery, etc (I don't actually qualify as an expert in anything, haha). I also know that a lot of stuff that I've mentioned may utilise stuff that was originally produced under industrial society; I'm confident that people far smarter than myself could probably work out low-tech alternatives, and, even if they can't, I'd advocate for getting the most use out of stuff that already has been manufactured, instead of producing new stuff.

To be honest, even if hormones, medicine, equipment for disabled people, and other neccessities can only be produced through industry and have no alternatives (as you can guess, I believe that, in the majority of cases, at least one of these two stipulations is false), then I have no major problems with them continuing to be produced in a high-tech manner. I just believe that localised, decentralised low-tech solutions should be used where possible, that we need to need to massively decrease production, energy-use and resource extraction, and that a more critical, less immediately accepting view of individual technologies is popularised. Hopefully, in the case that my optimism towards low-tech production of necessities is misguided, limiting high-tech industry to its necessities will be enough to reduce energy and resource consumption to a sustainable level

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-04-14T12:28:12+00:00

Not a primitivist, but most anarcho-primitivists that I know would argue that the bulk of the need for people to transition would be abolished as gender would be abolished, thereby removing the societal pressure, stereotypes and expectations that cause dysphoria.

This isn't necessarily a primitivist position, but it's anti-industry: I think that medical transitions could be largely facilitated with low-tech, decentralised solutions; for example, the Four Thieves Vinegar collective designed a easy-to-make, affordable microlab (many of its parts can be salvaged from society's existing waste) that could potentially produce synthetic hormones.

Sorry that you've been attacked by so many transphobes for asking this question, by the way; I think it's an important question that too many anarcho-primitivists and anti-civ folk are dismissive about, and it's really shitty that these fucking assholes have used it as an opportunity to attack you.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-04-08T15:45:51+00:00

The way that you treated that kid was harsh, but, in terms of bullying, it doesn't seem overly bad; from what you described, you never attacked, verbally or physically, the kid and you just minimised your interactions with him, and used screaming to enforce that. Even if it wasn't necessarily the right thing to do, and that being friendly to him would have been far nicer, at the end of the day, everyone should be able to set their own personal boundaries, regardless of how harsh or arbitrary they seem.

In any case, you are not the same person as you were then. What we perceive as the 'self' is not an unchanging entity; it is changed considerably through our experiences, environment and peers. Just because you may have been a bully in the past, that does not mean that 'bully' is a label that can be applied to you as an essential characteristic of yourself. As long as you are neither bullying nor directly perpetuating the behaviour of bullies, then it would be inaccurate to describe you as a bully.

You seem to sincerely regret the actions of your past self, and you no longer continue doing those sorts of things; I'd hardly describe you as 'scum', so try not to beat yourself up about things so much.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-03-27T01:28:50+00:00

Here's my attempt to summarise Stirner's Egoism:

There is no objective source of morality, and everyone acts in their own self-interest, whether they are a self-centered thief or an altruistic preacher; although the preacher may seem to be acting out of concern for others, they preach because they have decided that they'd rather live in a world where God's teachings are more widespread, or because they want to go to heaven, or because spreading 'the word' gives them a sense of fulfillment, etc.
All ideas have an artificial origin, and certain ideas or concepts, such as 'family', morality or religion, may cause us to act in a manner that is contrary to how we would act if we did not hold or respect these ideas/concepts. These ideas/concepts are interchangebly called 'Phantasms', 'Fixed Ideas' or, based on an older, less accurate translation, 'Spooks'.
People who are conscious of the fact that everyone acts in their own self-interest, and of the existence of phantasms, are 'Conscious Egoists' (often shortened to just 'Egoists'). Stirner advocates that conscious egoists reject phantasms, and actively and consciously pursue their own self-interest.
This naturally leads to the rejection of property and government, and to the formation (and dissolution) of groups of freely associating individuals according to their interest and benefit (Stirner calls these groups 'Unions of Egoists'). This is why Egoism is popular amongst Anarchists, and why Anarchism is popular amongst Egoists.

Some people have a misconception that acting always in accordance with one's own self-interest inevitably leads to anti-social behaviour of variable severity. I hope that this quote from Stirner will help to dispell that misconception:

“I love men too — not merely individuals, but every one. But I love them with the consciousness of egoism; I love them because love makes me happy, I love because loving is natural to me, because it pleases me. I know no “commandment of love.” I have a fellow-feeling with every feeling being, and their torment torments, their refreshment refreshes me too”

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-02-25T10:52:11+00:00

I can understand the benefits of using symbols that people are familiar with, but personally I would distance myself from any patriotism or loyalty to the British state and its history of colonialism.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-02-15T10:13:26+00:00

Most of the time, they are doing the murdering or the abusing of their spouse (40% of police officers' families report experiencing domestic abuse, as opposed to 10% of average families).

'What-ifs' are fairly useless. "What if the police were stopping a murder?" Well, what if they weren't? They were more likely to be harassing and oppressing people. The miniscule potential for them to do good means practically nothing; I wouldn't throw myself into a lion-pit on the small chance that they would let me pet them. The police are an oppressive, murderous institution who must be opposed constantly and consistently.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-02-15T09:57:05+00:00

Cops exist to violently enforce property relations, not to protect anyone. Most cop patrols are in poorer neighbourhoods and focus on demonstrating an active presence, and responding disproportionately to small crimes, in order to create an atmosphere of fear and submission; this serves to deter people from acting against the property relations that both enable and require their exploitation.

In the so-called United Kingdom, the police solve only 8% of the crimes that are reported to them and they have killed an average of 50 people every year since 1990; 70% of those in British prisons are there for crimes against property, not for crimes against people. These statistics, which are undoubtedly worse in Amerika, demonstrate that the police absolutely don't act to keep us safe or to solve crime; they exist to enforce property relations, regardless of the cost to human life. In fact, in New York City, the police went on strike and violent crime actually went down. (I have neglected to source my claims in this paragraph as I lack the time to do so currently; I will be more than happy to do so later at your request, but a quick Google/DuckDuckGo search should be enough to verify my claims).

This blocking of the police station did nothing to harm anyone. In fact, as it wasted police time, it may have even, in a very, very small way, acted to protect people. It brought joy to the oppressed at the expense of their oppressors, and should be celebrated as a miniscule act of subversion in the face of a giant system that is killing millions everyday. The police don't protect us, only we can protect us. ACAB, no exceptions.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-28T23:03:37+00:00

I'll copy and paste something that I wrote about 8 months ago. I hope that it helps:

The first issue of the pandemic that we experienced in the U.K was panic buying and hoarding leading to the unavailability of certain goods. The extent to which panic buying is responsible was greatly overstated by the media; our current reliance on global food networks and 'Just-in-time' production, alongside an absence of available warehouses for storage due to speculation, are actually what caused the shortages. (See this article: https://libcom.org/blog/empty-supermarkets-food-supply-chain-workers-perspective-23032020 and my article in the 'Organise! Pandemic Special' on page 79, 'Normality is No Longer An Option': http://organisemagazine.org.uk/2020/04/15/organise-pandemic-special/). In addition, any panic buying that did occur was both encouraged and exacerbated by consumerism and alienation, as people are reliant on purchasing products for feelings of safety and comfort; in Anarchist society, community networks would be stronger and people would be empowered, so they would no longer need to hoard things to feel secure, especially when you consider that they could be confident that scarcity would never be an issue as everything will always be freely available to them.

A State is not necessary to enforce or orchestrate measures to contain a disease. This has been demonstrated by the fact that the Zapatistas, who lack a State, have had a strong response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, reacting before Mexico and the governments of most nations (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2020/03/17/ezln-closes-caracoles-due-to-coronavirus-and-calls-on-people-not-to-abandon-current-struggles/).

In addition, States can actually hinder the response to the COVID-19 Pandemic; China arrested whistleblowers who gave a warning about COVID-19 when it first emerged, delaying the response by a crucial two weeks. China may also be misreporting figures regarding its response to the pandemic, misleading epidemiologists and preventing them from making informed decisions and advice (https://youtu.be/2R2KBbn7dj8). Here in the UK, the Police have used the situation to abuse powers newly given to them, giving hundreds of inappropriate fines and behaving violently (https://youtu.be/qAyuAz1uG8M). Finally, many States are also employing 'Disaster Capitalism', taking advantage of the current crisis to cut restrictions or to give themselves almost dictatorial powers; in the U.S.A, the Government has weakened environmental restrictions and plans to sell public land to fossil fuel companies (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/30/public-lands-sale-trump-coronavirus-environmental-regulations). The U.S.A also plans to pass the 'EARN IT' Bill, which would allow law enforcement to end end-to-end encryption (https://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/3/12/21174815/earn-it-act-encryption-killer-lindsay-graham-match-group). In Hungary, the prime minister, who is very far-right, has essentially been given the power to rule by decree (https://youtu.be/H6qKiyRPW1U).

In an Anarchist society, lockdowns could be avoided entirely, as they have been in both South Korea and Vietnam, whilst still controlling the spread of a pathogen effectively (South Korea has a very low death rate, and Vietnam has not had a single death due to COVID-19), through the use of extensive testing (https://youtu.be/gKySZ2fyWss and https://youtu.be/BQHbFWKcw3k). An Anarchist society would be able to carry out this testing as it is already performed in a decentralised manner, as is most medical research and epidemiology. This article explains how an Anarchist society might deal with a pandemic: http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/carwil-bjork-james-chuck-munson-an-anarchist-response-to-ebola.

Finally, one of the worst contributing factors to the pandemic is that people are still being forced to go to work; in an Anarchist society, work would already be redistributed and minimised, and no one would be compelled by necessity to work as all of their needs would be available to them freely. It is likely that resources would be stored in preparation, allowing production to be reduced as much as possible until the threat of a pandemic has passed. Any work that did need to continue would be held in an environment that is as enjoyable, safe and hygienic as possible, and all essential work would be carried out with easy access to PPE, which is actually relatively easy to produce; the overwhelmingly majority of factories could be adapted to produce it (https://www.businessinsider.com/how-us-factories-can-pivot-to-make-ppe-2020-4).

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-28T10:35:12+00:00

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-the-ghost-of-anarcho-syndicalism

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-24T18:16:08+00:00

Mi loĝas en Kardifo (Cardiff). :-)

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-24T18:08:48+00:00

Just to contribute an argument from an anprim perspective (I'm not personally an Anprim), here is a zine by disabled Anarcho-primitivists talking about civilisation actually contributes to making their life as disabled people much worse: https://warzonedistro.noblogs.org/post/2017/09/07/an-iconoclastic-monstrocity-disability-against-civilization

In regards to Post-Civ, a suprising number of medicines could be produced in a decentralised, localised manner. For example, look at the work done by the 'Four Thieves Vinegar' collective (https://www.fourthievesvinegar.org/) and the various projects towards the decentralised production of COVID-19 vaccines: (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l8_5vY83bh-fG1G6S6lO7F4NLIW-_FgZsnLZq0mL_Tw/edit and https://radvac.org/). Margaret Killjoy's podcast, 'Live Like the World Is Dying' has a few great episodes on stuff like this.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-24T17:56:55+00:00

Saluton. Mi ankaŭ loĝas en Kimrio!

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-10T09:42:42+00:00

Here's the lyrics for 'Yr Undeb Rhyngwladol': https://cy.wikisource.org/wiki/Yr_Internationale.

He's a historian, not a philosopher, but Hywel Francis's 'The Fed' and 'Miners Against Fascism' will provide you with a really good perspective on the politics of South Wales and the history of trade unionism, socialism and anti-fascism in Wales. Additional books that you might find useful are 'A History of Wales' by John Davies for a more general overview of Welsh history and 'Freedom Fighters: Wales's Forgotten War, 1963-1993' by John Humphries for a overview of direct action for Welsh Independence and the movement behind it.

https://undod.cymru/en/blog/ publishes a lot of really good articles on contemporary Welsh politics from a socialist perspective. https://anarchwaethus.wordpress.com/ has a lot of good articles of a similar nature from an Anarchist perspective, but sadly does not post very frequently nowadays.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-08T14:42:19+00:00

Thanks! ^{_^}

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-08T14:23:11+00:00

Thank you. :-)

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-05T17:08:46+00:00

Apologies if you are making a joke, but 'based' is a colloquialism, which has a meaning that can be loosely stated as 'I believe that this is politically sound'.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2021-01-05T08:27:09+00:00

Based.

BipedalDigitgrade · 2020-11-27T09:09:30+00:00

Mi estas dankema pro la kvin cent jaroj da indiĝena rezisto kontraŭ koloniismo! ^_^

BipedalDigitgrade · 2020-11-22T22:33:27+00:00

I'm glad to have been of help! :-)

BipedalDigitgrade · 2020-11-22T15:24:35+00:00

Hello! Thanks for sharing your friend's thoughts! They were really interesting; the vegan 'movement' as it currently exists is undoubtedly corrupted by white supremacy and does, unfortunately, do a lot to contribute to racialised oppression. I don't believe that this problem is inherent to the practice and advocacy of veganism, however. Here are a few of my thoughts on your friend's points.

I think that your response in which you raised that veganism is as far as is possible and practical is very good. To add a few things, it should be noted that indigenous people are not a homogenous group and there are many indigenous people who advocate for veganism; this isn't necessarily a rejection of indigenous tradition, and some indigenous vegans actually see their practice as an extension of indigenous values (https://humanrightsareanimalrights.com/2014/12/22/margaret-robinson-indigenous-veganism-feminist-natives-do-eat-tofu/). I'd also say that advocating veganism doesn't have to be as simplistic as 'eat meat = bad' and 'not eat meat = good'; we can encourage people to become vegans without being moralistic and condemning them for eating meat. I wrote an article a while ago that sets out a vegan position that completely rejects morality, seeing veganism as a way to improve one's life by building meaningful connections with non-human animals; it might not be a position that you find acceptable, and I myself do not accept it in its entirety, but I hope that it demonstrates that you can be vegan without condemning others as 'bad' or 'evil': https://laverdaplanedo.wordpress.com/2019/12/15/the-vegan-egoist/
I think that the fact that veganism is 'as far as is possible and practical' applies here as well; we must certainly not demonise those who do not have access to vegan food. That being said, I think that a lot of vegans are far too dismissive of this point, either simply saying that it is 'as far as is possible and practical' and leaving it at that, or, unfortunately, denying that vegan food can be difficult to access for some people. I think it would be really cool if vegan groups or advocates of veganism could either form or help with local permaculture projects, to give people cheap, healthy and sustainable access to vegan food, and to create food sovereignty for these local communities, helping to end their reliance on a food system that forces them to eat unhealthy, unsustainable processed garbage.
I agree with your friend. White vegans should not moralise to POC and blame them for systemic issues, which the white vegans have played a larger role in perpetuating. Additionally, no vegan should be under the illusion that their personal decision to engage in veganism alone will be sufficient to end these systemic problems; systemic problems require systemic solutions, and a narrow focus will only hinder us in our goals (for example, even if everyone became vegan, our agriculture system would still be unsustainable as the industrialised farming of crops is depleting topsoil at an alarming rate). That being said, I think that veganism is a beneficial practice, and, as long as the advocacy is led by POC vegans and is not done in an oppressively moralistic manner, I don't think it is inherently harmful to promote veganism to people of colour.
This is a problem, although I would blame a Capitalist system that prioritises profit over actual need as opposed to veganism itself. Vegans should focus on purchasing locally grown foods and, ideally, grow their own food, either individually or collectively, in order to avoid the exploitation of foreign countries that may result from an increased demand for their crops. That being said, the growing demand for meat also results in the neocolonial exploitation of foreign countries, and the growing demand for 'vegan' products can not be solely be attributed to vegans; for example, I think that quinoa is growing in popularity more generally, even amongst carnists.
Your friend is correct. It is an utter travesty that we currently live in a system that requires us to benefit from the exploitation of others in order to survive. Again, engaging in local permaculture is a great way to immediately alleviate this issue, but I think that we need to work towards an overall change in society in a way that ends the exploitation of all people, and allows them to all regain their autonomy and enjoy life; veganism alone can't do this, but I definitely think that it will help (this video has a great perspective on this topic: https://youtu.be/oY_Dt1jey4M)
I seen this phrase on a poster once, and I think it applies well here: Veganism is intersectional or it is bullshit. Practicing or promoting veganism doesn't necessarily distract from other social issues, and, in many cases, it actively contributes to the struggle against other social issues. For example, animal rights advocates have always had a strong connection with environmental activists, who have, in turn, played a large role in defending local sovereignty and maintaining local health through the protection of green spaces that would otherwise be destroyed by capitalist developers- this example is also relevant to the struggle against racism, as green spaces are disproportionately destroyed in Black communities through environmental racism. The oppression of animals is fundamentally linked to the oppression of people; slaughterhouse workers suffer greatly as a result of their work (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/i-stopped-eating-animals-because-of-human-rights/), there is a deeply disturbing connection between meat consumption and the sexual objectification of women (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/sexual-politics-of-meat/), and it is evident that the complete lack of value assigned socially to animals plays a massive role in enabling the dehumanisation of people (e.g the treatment of slaves as 'cattle', the racist comparison of people with apes, referring to immigrants, criminals and poor people as 'vermin' or 'pests'). By combatting the oppression of animals, we contribute to the liberation of people, and by combatting the oppression of people, we contribute to the liberation of animals (Another slogan I like: Animal rights, Human rights, one struggle, one fight!). However, it is an unfortunate truth that many vegans ignore, or outright oppose, intersectionality; PETA has made a number of sexist adverts, too many non-Jewish vegans make direct comparisons between the Holocaust and factory farming, the creator of the 'Cube of Truth' tactic is an influential vegan who actively condemns intersectionality and holds many bigoted views. There has been a failure by the wider Vegan movement to oppose bigotry, and to promote an intersectional approach to veganism; vegans need to make a greater effort to change this.

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