Strategies for the Subversion of the Metropolis (draft chapter)

This post contained an draft version of a dissertation section. A more recent version is now available on the works page.

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No writing today…

on account of an article rejection. Anyone have a venue for a paper on comparative materialisms v/v Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of “the virtual” and communism?

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Propaganda by the Deed, original documents

Paul Brousse, “Propaganda by the Deed,” 1877:

Of what do the masses consist? Of peasants, workers, most of the time toiling eleven and twelve hours per day. They make their way home worn out from fatigue and have little inclination to read socialist pamphlets or newspapers: they sleep, they go for a stroll or devote their evenings to the family.

Well, what if there is a way of grabbing these people’s attention, of showing them what they cannot read, of teaching them socialism by means of actions and making them see, feel. touch? .. When one resorts to that line of reasoning one is on the trail that leads, beside theoretical propaganda, to propaganda by the deed.

Propaganda by the deed is a mighty means of rousing the popular consciousness. Let us take an example. Prior to the Paris Commune, who in France was conversant with the principle of communal autonomy? No one. Yet Proudhon had written magnificent books. Who read those books? A handful of literati. But once the idea was brought out into the open air, in the heart of the capital, onto the steps of the City Hall, when it took on flesh and life, it shook the peasant in his cottage, the worker at his fireside, and peasants and workers alike had to reflect on this huge question mark posted in the public square. Now that idea made inroads. In France, right around the world, for or against, everybody has picked his side …

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“Everybody talks about the Weather… We Don’t”

This post contained an draft version of a dissertation section. A more recent version is now available on the works page.

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Disemboweling the Metropolis (complete)

This post contained an draft version of a dissertation section. A more recent version is now available on the works page.

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Conclusion to Disemboweling the Metropolis

This post contained an draft version of a dissertation section. A more recent version is now available on the works page.

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Vein 4: A System of Compulsory Visibility

This post contained an draft version of a dissertation section. A more recent version is now available on the works page.

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Existence 2: Empire is management

This post contained an draft version of a dissertation section. A more recent version is now available on the works page.

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Escape: A Talk

This following talk was presented last week at the 2012 North American Anarchist Studies Network conference. The Q/A period was perhaps more interesting than my talk. If you look around, you’ll find the videos.

Today, I will do three things:
1) Sketch a model of the State
2) Outline our terrain of struggle
and 3) Fill your arsenal with a few political weapons

This paper is a gloss of my current writing project, which is entitled Escape. Like many, I love stories of leaving it all behind, whether those are tales of fed-up employees quitting their jobs, restless romantics hitting the road, or the enraged laying waste to the civilization around them. Yet my thinking about escape originated from an academic interest that began after reading a curious comment early on in the popular book on “running to the hills,” James C Scott’s “The Art of Not Being Governed.”

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NAASN 2012

Landed in New Orleans last nite. My crew’s rolling deep. We’re gonna take this city by storm.

This wonderful conference has been well organized and has an action-packed lineup. I’ll post my paper on Saturday after it’s presented.

If you’re also around, holla at me.

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