Introductory notes

Clearly we are living in critical times. Even from abroad, it’s clear to see that the election of Trump, coming as it does in the epicenter of Imperial power, signifies that we are at a major historical turning point. One might even say that the post-modern era is ending. All the beliefs and practices that we once presumed normal are dissolving and giving way to a social outlook that may previously have been dismissed as irrelevant.

For one, Trump’s victory totally stunned an impotent post-modern Left, but it did not really surprise any of us. To be honest, those who predicted otherwise were shocked, first and foremost, only with how out of touch they were with social reality. This is the first time in recent memory that a Western superpower has elected a head of state that represents such a clear departure from the politics of ‘business as usual’, even though this new direction is doubtlessly towards something quite foreboding. What is now undeniable is that, rather than going with a more conventional option, people are evidently calling for something much crazier.

On top of this, the rise of Trump is only one of the many symptoms of an era that seems to be defined, more than ever, by the slow-motion collapse of civilization in general. The wars are becoming ever more widespread and violent, environmental disasters multiply whilst the fish are disappearing from the oceans, and, in combination with protests that are growing ever more violent, there is ever less hope of society and its Left gaining a few more years of peace with its hypocrisy and pacifism. As things descend into chaos, leftists present themselves as skilled strategists by telling people to peacefully vote in (generally rigged) elections for thirdplace parties…

We can only hope that now the mask is off the illusions of easy solutions will also disappear. There are no more charismatic candidates to delicately conceal the dystopia that we were already living in anyway. The state and society have taken further steps toward totalitarianism shedding their few remaining inhibitions along the way. In such times the only honorable response to the state and its class of rulers can be resistance. Those invested in the existence of the state can plead patience if they want but the ultima ratio of princes and peoples is sorting from its long slumber: popular uprising is the only solution to today’s problems, the only way to end this depraved and crumbling oligarchy.

Meanwhile, with attention switching to the core capitalist states Greece seems to have drifted back to the periphery of interest. For some Leftists, the situation is an embarrassment best not mentioned. By this point few are paying attention to the latest re-run of negotiations, the government’s stage managed heroic resistance is just as boring as the next inevitable honest compromise is spineless. Those who do glance at Greece after two years of Syriza see a population demoralized, disorientated and demobilized. The great humanitarians have become the prison guards of Europe while large layers of society get ever poorer. They have done nothing but pave the way for the restoration of the old regime which waits excitedly in the wings.

However, we do not have to look far for a response to this bleak picture. We see it in the honest defiance of the political prisoners, the barricades of Exarcheia, continued resistance to austerity, and the everyday humanity and solidarity which contrasts with the government’s hypocrisy. These call us to rethink, regather our strength and continue along the difficult path of struggle that lies ahead. In these difficult times, let’s focus on pluralism, respectful disagreements, and positive acts. With that being said let’s go on . . .

Issue 2, March 2017

Contents:

A Tale of Two Cities: Paris and Athens

A Semi-Concrete Organizing Proposal

Anti-Capitalist Tactical Spectrum

A Parliamentary Dead End

An Anarchist Affection for Democracy

The Return of  Nation-State

The Conspiracy theory

Some theses on Neo-Fascism

Orchomenos

Anarcho Tourist Reviews

The Anarcho Tourist Review Issue 2

A Modest Introduction:

It’s no exaggeration to say that we are putting these essays and comments together at a time of great changes. By now it is clear that the political and economic crisis which was triggered by 2008 was no passing episode. Eight years have passed and yet still no one is sure whether the global economy is stable or about to collapse. Rather than ending, the crises seem to just shift form and multiply. Nowhere is this clearer than in Greece. The political and economic crises of 2008 and 2010 ended neither with the ‘success story’ of 2014 nor with the ‘first time left’ government of 2015. Already at the start of 2016 the consequences of increasingly aggressive imperialism are shown to be ever more chaotic and bloody, while rhetoric and practices of the unhappy 20th century are swiftly sweeping across the US and Europe, as if old nightmares were once more coming back to life.
* Truly, we live in historic times: the Left is in terminal collapse after little over a year of pathetic and predictable defeat, the new form of authoritarianism for our era is taking shape, increasing regions of the earth fall under the sway of the undeclared global civil war, while refugees continue to cross into Fortress Europe and the new normal of austerity, repression and immiseration is only set to intensify. More and more grows the sentiment that no one, least of all these authority figures from left to right, really know what to do nor what will happen next, that things will only continue to get worse, and many secretly feel this subterranean wellspring of chaos opening up, from which unexpected events must undoubtedly arrive. In such a period where all things are advancing, so too does theory need to progress to a new shape, and more is expected of it than in quieter periods. Marxism is in collapse, its practitioners and proponents discredited: their power is broken. It remains now a purely historical legacy, having no more life in it. We need something new, this horizontal and innovating promise of anarchy that all now pay homage to in a variety of fashions. * In this time of generalized societal implosion, we need greater vision to see the strange beauty of our era of ruins. Great storms lie on the horizon, and with it, the shipwreck of an entire era, of a whole shape of the world. Let’s lose illusions and abandon once and for all the fixation with the ship of state and its art of κυβέρνησις. Let’s ready our small vessels to escape, let’s brace ourselves for hazards on the sea of Freedom, setting our twilit course for the archipelago of Anarchy, these floating forms and distant shores we discern only vaguely, twinkling like far stars and half-forgotten dreams. . .

In brief:

Nothing is finished. . .
. . .everything is only just beginning!

Issue 1:ATR1

Issue 1

A few people passing through a brief period of time, in a very special city. . .
The Anarcho-Tourist Review is an anarchist split from The Barbarian Review. With that being said, it is self-evident that all political separations will have positive aspects, in the sense of proposing a different vision, and negative ones, in the sense of not sharing certain views. The real art of politics is to find a balance of openness with the existence of beliefs, and the ability to distinguish between what is truly essential and what is merely secondary. A further consideration would be the serious necessity for coherence in group theoretical work, in which it differs from larger, more necessarily inclusive ventures.
Thus a split occurred because, on the positive side, we are seeking greater political depth, more theoretical clarity, some practical accountability, and real advances in anarchist thinking. Furthermore, as negative criteria, we feel the strong need for a clear break with prior failed traditions, so here we do not tolerate leftism, its governmental practices and political parties, its outdated Marxism, nor its present-day shabbiness and obvious decomposition.
And as a final thought, we hope it will be as rewarding for the Greek and non-Greek to read, as it has been for us to collect and write down our views.

Contents:

Just When and Where are we

Comments on the Revolutionary Struggle Programme

Notes on a Tactical Development

Fragments for the New Politics

Tourist Season

Farewell to the University

Identity Politics then and now

With Thoughts of Late Antiquity

Available as pdf,

ATR1