All has changed yet everything remains the same. Several shocks have reverberated through society over the last years and changed our reality profoundly. At the same time, the monotony of daily life continues to impose itself relentlessly. Whether this observation is frightening or comforting speaks volumes about one’s perspective or mood.
Rather than confront the existential anxiety that this destructive society engenders, we might be tempted to carry on, as much as we can, as if nothing is happening. As the virulence of the Covid-19 virus and the states’ measures have tempered down, many seem keen to move on. Not everyone though. Some might consider it pesky but the question of proximity during those periods of lockdowns and curfews is still pertinent. Fear and repression made it impossible to meet each other, paralysing not only social struggles but social life itself. During the pandemic, the state made abundant use of (scientific) experts and the media to lay claim to rationality. Everything that diverged from the dominant discourse was labelled as irrational and quashed. Following suit with these binaries is to enter a game which is not ours to play and in which we have nothing to gain.
The initial shock of a new war in Europe has provoked the tired argument that an exceptional event merits an exceptional response. Nevertheless, many before us have been confronted with unprecedented events and have found their anarchist position. Anti-patriotism isn’t an unrealistic position: the discussion of taking sides between warring states is deceitful even in its most pragmatic form. War doesn’t turn authoritarians into humanitarians. On the contrary, strategic calculations become more ruthless. A victorious state will not be generous to anti-authoritarians even if they temporarily ally themselves with the armed forces. On the contrary, the state thrives and is emboldened by patriotic fervour. We should refuse the blackmail of kill or be killed but that doesn’t mean that we should march with the opportunists who now claim pacifism. Although the world doesn’t come back as it was before, anarchists do not start from nothing in finding our way through the perennial challenges of our days. Our hearts still beat for direct actions against war mobilization because there’s nothing liberating in being soldiers and fighting their wars.
Take care and greetings to everyone out there taking advantage of the interruptions!
Summer 2023