Submitted by jouissance in Anarchism
I was wondering if any of y'all knew of any texts that really dig deep into the shortcomings of the ideological tendencies of Tiqqun, the Invisible Committee, and the numerous offshoots it has inspired.
Also, if you have personal beef with these things, post about it here.
Sorry for my off-topic reaction on one text:
Did not read all of that and just started aith Anti-Tiqqun. First I'd like to say I'm also not a big fan of Tiqqun.
But do you think the text is good? It starts of with communziation, and I ask me why since quite some branches of communization theory would rather exclude tiqqun or invisible committee and such. Also the explanation of what this theory is about does, at least in my view, not get the point. For example the point on the proletariat; in communization theory this is actually what they are talking about: dissolving the classical proletariat and turning to surplus proletariat. And in the end dissolving the proletariat during communization in total.
To me it seems they try to take opposition to communization without thinking what they have in common with them (and it seems they have quite some things in common).
I don't wanna hijack the post but can someone point me how many "currents" we have for Communization theory? Tiqqun, Troploin, even Bookchinites have called their theory "Communization" even if they mistaken it for communalism.
Bookchinites talk about communization? Okay I think I get what they mean by that but still it's a completely different theory.
To your list, I would add theorie communiste at least in Europe it feels like they have most impact (beside Dauve) on the field. There are also quite some smaller groups going in this direction not identifying themself with communization but also rarely giving new impulses to the theory. For reading I would mention Endnotes and SIC.
I think your objection to the use of the word communization says more about your own insecurity about being outmarketed by the Committee than anything about the author lol
Anti-Tiqqun is the most anti-academic of the bunch, but I think their critique of Tiqqun's appeal to everyone (proletariat) is fine.
To me it seems they try to take opposition to communization without thinking what they have in common with them (and it seems they have quite some things in common).
Ok but that's obviously the trap Tiqqun sets that is exactly what anarchists should be critiquing. They say everything and nothing in order to subsume everyone into their Party. Pretty easy to see yourself in marketing slogans, that's the point of them.
My main reason for posting this is of rumours I heard of Appelistes basically taking over huge sections of the ZAD, some of who mobbed and beat up a green anarchist, among other awful things.
My username comes from one of Tiqqun's older texts, and I still have some positive feelings towards a bit of what the collective wrote about two decades ago, but the longer I go in the more I've come to realize how culty their writing can be.
will needs sauce
If I had a better handle on the French language I could probably find you a decent source, instead of what I've anecdotally heard.
There were reports on @news and on zad.nadir.org of a conflict around the time the airport project was canceled. A minority felt that airport or not, La Zad should continue as an autonomous zone as an end in it's own right. Given that the initial alliance supporting La Zad included land owners who wanted to be able to continue farming and people from the nearby city of Nantes who just didn't want planes flying over them all the time. Some parties (Appelistes/Tiqqunists) were keen to deal with local government, land owners to try and transition a portion of the land into socially acceptable projects in an effort to retain some territory. Many thought that it was likely they would see a complete eviction of the site without the broad public support offered by apposing the airport.
I can't seem to find the reports on either site anymore but they included Appelistes/Tiqqunists turning up at the homes of no-dealers in the night, breaking in, pepper spraying them and abducting one person who was later dumped at a hospital with a broken limb.
I wasn't there, so I've really no idea what actually took place but that's the story.
later dumped at a hospital with a broken limb
He was not dropped for treatment in front of any hospital, but as additional shaming in front of a psychiatric facility.
Appelistes/Tiqqunists turning up at the homes of no-dealers
And evicting some of those homes. Most notably the squats on the "Route des chicanes" which the authorities wanted to evict in order to divide the ZAD in two places they could better control (the road crossed the ZAD and had been barricaded for years).
Appellists forming militias to evict comrades from a land occupation to please the police was definitely a turning point in the struggle, and as predicted led to police having strategic advantage during the battles a few weeks later.
It was said and really open from the appellists at the time of evicting anarchist squats that they were in direct communication with the prefecture. They even promised the anarchists they had just evicted that they would relay their concerns about wildlife conservancy to the prefecture.
There's also strong, coinciding reports/testimonies of active sabotage of the barricades of the ZAD by the appellists during the evictions led by the police.
On a more personal note, the last appellist i met was proud they had an undercover appellist high within the ranks of the military. Notwithstanding the failure to disclose to a complete stranger such supposedly-secret information, the fact he was proud of having "infiltrated the State" says a great deal about that kind of mentality. I believe appellists are really similar to trotskyists in such matters (entryism).
Yes take everything I say with a large fist of salt, It's just hazy memories from reports that have now been deleted/lost.
Its shocking to me that this is the practical application you'd come up with from reading things like 'the coming insurrection' or 'to our friends' but I guess they are so general and meandering that they function like a rorschach test.
I guess they are so general and meandering that they function like a rorschach test.
There is definitely something like that to appellist litterature. It's very poetic romance that can be appealing to a lot of folks, without centering discourse on what is oppression and privilege, mostly due to being written by a bunch of higher-classes white men.
Its shocking to me that this is the practical application you'd come up with from reading
Yes, that is sad. But to be honest i believe it's less a problem with the book and more a problem with the imaginary party not being so imaginary after all.. and having very concrete strategies for entryism in social struggles with a concealed agenda. Already before the evictions, the appellists on the ZAD had constituted a very secret group called CMDO to seize control of various collective infrastructure (including meetings), and they insisted for quite some time this group did not exist if my memory does well.
I think my main gripe reading their work is just that they loads of unconnected world events as being part of a coherent project, which happens to be their project. Sounds very grand but I'm not convinced things are going in the direction they say they are.
Though, maybe it's better to read them as a type of utopian fiction / alternative history. I certainly like some of the scenes they paint that are more reminiscent of the dysco-knots in bolo'bolo. The sharing of skills and resources between people in different trades and occupations to create a parallel society with different underlying structures.
lastfutures wrote (edited )
Here are the texts that come to mind at the moment:
To the Customers
Has the insurrection come yet? My arm is getting tired... - A Cartography of The Coming Insurrection, Tiqqun, and their Party
Anti-Tiqqun
A Sales Pitch for the Insurrection
I'll add more if I remember any others.