Anti-War Movements feat. Andrew

I mean, there's so many things happening across the world right now, it's really difficult.

has the full unabridged Anarchist Encyclopedia. So with a bit of shaky online translation magic and managed to pull its definition of militarism as well. Miltarism is a system that consists of having and maintaining military personnel. It's essential and avolt goal is a preparation for war, the recruitment of a standing army, in the organization of the cajuris of reserve army, the accumulation, the putting in place, the maintenance in a state of service of ever more modern, more

perfected war material. In short, it is the preliminary organization of war. What are the implications of that, Well, all over the world I think we can see, you know, the consequences of statism, the might makes right, pursuit of conquest, the fighting wars abroad at home for the strategic interests,

ideological commitments, resource claims, whatever the case may be. The rivalries within the rule in class, and how that pleas out, and how it's that that blows back on all of our faces, you know, the profits the military industrial complex which keeps this whole system chewing on, you know, the blood of innocence, of course, the longstanding consequences and continued work of colonialism. And of course, the way is that militarism gets turned inward with this suppression of strikes, of activism,

of popular unrest. When the now militarized police aren't enough, they often bring in the military itself and reports with militarism you also have the narrative component, you know, the building of patriotism that so plans the seed of fascism. States can survive without military is true. The state typically to ends upon some effort or some attempt at monopoly on the legitimate use of violence within the territory by

some definitions. But the states which do not have militaries often can do so because they've outsourced their military functions to another state, and or because they have other systems in place to control descent, to develop a certain degree of social condition and pacify the population.

is a distinct thing. People in the Marshall Islands have seen the horrors of war very closely and also the dangers of militarization, right like, the United States nuked the Marshall Islands a country with which it had no quarrel with which it was not at war, just to practice in case it needed to innuk a country with which it did have a quarrel. I guess the legacy of that is very obvious and continues to this day there.

But if marshal Ly's people wish to join a military, they can join the US military, and the US guarantees their security and theory that it's it's yeah, it is a distinct. For instance, if you joined the US military in the Marshall Islands wish to access your veterans benefits, the easiest way to do so is take a five

hour flight to Hawaii. Like, they don't have any any any benefits for actual veterans there, So I guess in that case, like maybe it does give people a different relationship to like state violent.

the regime of the armies. So abolition militarism looks like material relief from the oppression military violence, the redirection of resources that go toward military toward instead things that actually benefit the lives of everyday people, you know, the reduction of pain and suffering throughout the world, the abolition of borders, which so often are the motivating force behind military exercise.

And while no anarki so deny that armed strugglers necessary for defense, it's not the same as having an imperialistic or hierarchical ambition towards you know, power, over towards dominating our populations of people.

a like standing army. Beyond you had affinity groups, right, and then you had like defense committees of six six to eight people, and those people like took on the role of organizing for a potential violent like in order to defend the community, right, like to use violence to defend the community against violence. But even as it became clearer and clearer that Spain was like spiraling towards conflict, they resisted the idea of establishing and I think more militarized than that.

times past. You know, we're not in World War times anymore. Yes, you know, the strategies and the discussions and the approaches that may have worked back then, it doesn't work.

post nine eleven. You know, back in the day, people thought putting pressure on the elected officials through protest for being a and you know, there's a the b to be had to the extent to which that worked for situations like the Vietamo. But as we've seen with this song and Dance again and again and again, the protests are not hitting like they used to. You know, the response to the protest has been so it's routine at

this point. You know, you just send the police to bash some heads in or a bat to get the military because the movers and the shakers on the people who can actually be reached with these protests, you know, and no matter how peaceful we proclaim our protests to be, we're talking about moneyed interests here, you know, a military industrial complex that has to have line go up. You know who who doesn't have to give a damn about

some people walking on the road. You know, the system has grown since the nineteen tens, the nineteen fourteen is it has grown in such size and complexity to the point where you know, you don't have to care necessarily about a single movement, but about a single action and a protest.

the same as the Islamic State because Palestine Action undertook it in non violent direct action, right, But it's ludicrous to suggest that that that was terrorism and that it doesn't mean any reasonable definition of the term. But yet we're in a stage now where governments can declare anyone the enemy without any particular oversight. And that's the logical conclusion of two decades of this.

who die in the wars. Right, it's indeed people of a different class in a way that even in a distinct way from the era of the World wars, right when and when large numbers of people of the middle class, especially maybe not the very privileged people that like did die in those wars. And I think like the memory of the First World War probably did have some impact on like the reticence of some politicians to dive into the second one. But we don't really have that now.

is and it's always been labor. Right, not to say that labor and labor struggles to be all and all of our politics, but it is to say that if we want to make a significant impact, that is what we have the greatest control over our labor. And so when I talk about things we can do to affect change, I always had to take it back to the ongoing process of social revolution. The things you do to oppose and of things you do to propose, you know, on

the opposing side of things, that includes counter messaging. You know, even though we may not have the resources of mainstream media or government communications, we have weight of mouth, we have trust between ourselves, and we have alternative media that can be, especially in this day and age, just as powerful if sparked right, Especially considering the fact that the general sentiment, the populist sentiment, has, whether coming from a

leftist direction or a right dist direction, the general sentiment has been moving toward anti establishment politics. The anti establishment sort of momentum is what's growing right now. And the issue of course being that sometimes that anti established and momentum can be hijacked, such as what Trump did you know to get himself elected the first time he rode that wave and you know, this whole Epstein situation, we may see that foundation of his base potentially crumbling.

think one of the better ways to do so. Yeah, you know, wherever you see it, it needs to be out there, you know, on social media or through other avenues calling out the ridiculous Cassius bellies used to manufacture consent for you know, to be wary of potential forced flags can be used as a justification for military action to consistently poor calls in the narratives that have allowed you know, nationalists and and xenophobic sentiments to become the

force that they have become today. And of course even engaged in that messaging. Of course, try not to let campus on infect your counter message in either. Yeah, you know, that's how you get people who are you know, they gung, who are about a free Palestine, and then they start when they ask them about Ukraine all of a sudden, it's actually really complicated. It's actually the fault of the US and the EU and need to and not Russia, even though Russia is the one who actually invaded and is

actively killing people and this strial infra short as we speak. Yeah, right, I mean there's conversation to be had about the US and what's the EU, and about NATO obviously, but it's very clear.

what irritates me so much. The right wing sets the conversation. Yeah, you know, you have people they say, oh, we want to talk about critical race theory, and then everybody's talking about critical rais theory because they talk to where they want to target trans people, and all of a sudden we have to scrabble to respond to all their erroneous

and ridiculous claims about trans people. Yeah, that comment message is an important, is important, but it cannot be all that we do, right Yeah, and this is a bit how to that feel. But you know, of course I'm not the one who is partiality liketoral approaches. But you can see some of that not just counter message in but also actively messaging taking place with Zora Mum Danny's strategy. Yeah, you know, when you look at how he speaks, how he addresses some of.

despite you know, my concerns about the vestment of energy and electoral strategies.

around war. It's like I've spent some time in the Anes and what people call Java, and like one of the framings that I've consistently seen, and it's mostly in like the Libleaning mass media, I guess, is that people went to Rajaba to fight against Is or Dash or Isis, whatever you want to call it, right, and like in doing so, that is how the revolutionary Jarba is not understood by most people, right, and they have taken the power away from it in their framing of it, because

people didn't just go. Some people did go justify I right that there they went because they saw what I was doing. They understood its inhumane and they wanted that to stop, and that's admirable. But people also went because they saw what people were building in Rajava and they thought that was beautiful and they wanted to defend it,

and that's admirable too. And sometimes the messaging around specifically ra Java, Mia and Mar to an extent right their international volunteers there too, and of course that like folks from the AMMA who have picked up weapons who never thought they would, and they didn't just do it to oppose the hunter. They did it because like in there, despite all the horrible things about war then and like

it should be avoided at all costs. In the conflict, they have built liberated spaces and they've experienced freedom and they have experienced how that feels, and they've built a revolution that is beautiful in spite of the war, not

because of it, and they want to defend that. And I think that's a messaging that we should we should consider, right, because the messaging that everything has to be against something bad always sort of it presupposes so that there can't have been something good, and in some cases there has been something good, and like we won't fully understand what was happening there unless we understand that, and I think we should push back on that messaging what we see it,

especially in the great legacy media.

not enough to just oppose the system. You have to build something else, and you could be part of that building something else, you know, swim a message and you want to be able to readirect people's energies to the actual frustrations and interests, you know, to re center the conflicting the lens on the actual divisions of society, such

as class, to make moneyed interests known. And you know, even though it's never been easy to be anti war, you know, especially in the center of empire, and in many ways technologies is today have empowered much greater repression. You know, in Russia, individual and mass protests are met with severe oppression, massive finds, geo sentences, et cetera. In the US you can face police brutality, censorship, even deportation.

And in Israel, I haven't seen or heard anything from the Israeli populus in terms of resisting what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. But I know that those who do stand against the mandatory conscription do face jail time for their refusal. So it's not easy to be anti war, especially in militarized and empire building territories. I get that stress and that worry that opposition is still necessary, but there's other things.

used to. It's become like a pressure valve or a tool of path it that could be tolerated for a time and then met with repression the moment it's time to wrap it up. And they have a couple of reasons why protests are not you know, able to do as much. You know, they have the moneyed interests. You know, they can end up being divided according to various arguments

of a strategy. And I'm sorry to say this, but protests as of late it haven't accomplished very much besides getting people mutilated or jailed or worse in the past few years. And in fact, a lot of the resources that could be spent you know, building alternatives are being spent instead on you know, paying people's bonds and getting people out of jail, prison relief, that sort of thing. Not to say those things are not necessary, you know,

don't don't leave your comrades to trot and jail. But I think we need to consider the free data that we've basically been giving away to through laying class in the form of pictures, names, addresses, identifying data that they can be used to repress or just erupt or infiltrate protesters and protesting organizations down the line, as James Herod

and s another James. As James Herod wrote in the Weakness of our politics of protest, we have been getting some of these critiques of protests from He says, thus, instead of powerfully concentrate in our mental and physical energies on solving this problem, to eliminate this obstacle to defeating capitalism, we are taking to the streets once again merely protested, merely incasion of what is basically mindless activism. Later, he says,

it's easy to agree on what to protest against. The list of things that needs to be stopped on the capitalism is long, so long, in fact, we don't even.

You know, as he says, it has a low barrier to entry. You just have to show up. And in a society that has been so deliberately atomized were mass collective action as we made so difficult, protests has become pretty much a very easy avenue to get those things done. Yeah, and you know, protests can work in Sydney instances for them and any goals, but I think that those uses are diminishing day by day in the cost benefits analysis.

proposed an alternative. It just said it pointed to something. It said bad, something I've tried not to do in my journalism. Right, It's very often we do this a journalists too. We point something and say bad, and we don't look for the waste that it could become better. And so like protesting can become such an identity for

people like you see it. I'm just thinking of like every time I get sent a link to Instagram, right, which is a platform I don't really participate on, but I will look at things and they'll be like, oh, San Diego protest news, san Diego protester, so Cow protester, and like, I think we should resist that being an identity because we want to build something beautiful as well as oppose what is bad. And if we don't have something beautiful to propose, what do we do out there?

away people. You know, there's other stuff you can do as well besides protests that I keep alluding to, because you know, sadly the media is no longer you know, a safe space to share things in depth in some cases. But just remember that the key is actual disruption. You know, the media will not be with you, it'll be trying to manufacture consent on everything that you do. Manufacture consent against any action taken on the things that you do. And the only way to counteract that is to maintain

relationships on the ground, to maintain actual local solidarity. Because once you have those local relationships, in that local solidarity, there's no amount of things that the media can do the media could stir up that can vent the people who see that you're on their side, see that you're stand up for them.

what it used to be. And with the rise and spread of AI, you know, you have to ask yourself how long will strike since ITTA in fields be effective anymore. You know, I have my doubt that EI will ever reach a point where it can replace people. But honestly, for a lot of these companies, they don't necessarily care about whether it's capable of replacing people or not. They

will still try and use it to replace people. So we have to be cognizant of the fact that this is the direction they're pushing things in, and we have to be able to stand up against that before we reach a point where between AI and you know, the nature of temporary work of the gig economy, it becomes harder and harder to organize ourselves.

are terrified of crossing. Every I has to be dotted, every ts to be crossed, and so the things that would actually make union action the most effective after the things that unions nowadays will refuse to do, sympathy strikes, general strikes. And so what can we do if we are in an industry where the union is collaboration with management, with union is utterly reformist to the union refuses to actually step up and represent the people are supposed to

represent it. And this is where historically wildcat illegalist strikes have had to come into play. Strikes that do not depend upon legality, that do not sit back and wave permission, that carry far more risks, of course, that are far more difficult to organize, but are going to be necessary if we want to liberate ourselves from this constant capitulation toward the machine. In the article Striking against the Work

War Machine by Jeff Schantz and PJ. Lily, they said, quote wartime strikes and sabotage partly because their illegal and unsanched of nature bring rank and file workers together outside of union structures. Workers have to make crucial decisions about for this strike directly in face to face meetings or

on the picquet lines. Bureaucrats who are left to their fundamental role of broken with the bosses can be relegated to this sidelines and such situations in Germany in nineteen seventeen, illegal strikes help us sweep the union structures right out of workplaces. Strikes increasingly took on an anti union as well as anti boss character, with wildcats occurring in crowing numbers throughout the armor this and beyond. So I wanted to of course pull on this example because this is

not a unique issue. Right Even historically where unions have stood against the struggle of workers against more or against you know, actually defending the class interests, the rank and file have had to organize themselves importantly, So that's also

something to keep in mind. Yeah, and last but least, I just want to see to s ry briefly on the proposed side of the social revolution equation when it comes to anti war struggle, and as usual, this is going to take solidarity materially, not just saying that we stand in solidarity with such and such and such, actually share an aid, share a notes, supporting refugees and going fully the because this, I think is where a lot

of our energy needs to be right now. Our efforts to oppose are going to be for the most part to us as long as we don't have an underlying structure that we are building upon that be a seeken to defend and to spa You know, we are not at a position right now where we pose muchever threat yet, and we also have to consider that merely posing a

threat is not going to liberate us by itself. So I want you to consider, as we you know, wrap up this episode, what you can do to put forward that our seriences to actually try to create the new social arrangements that we think should replace capitalist statust militarist order. And this is something that I talk about on my channel of course. I talk about building the commons, building alternative media, autentsive economy, and developing our powers, our drives,

and our consciousness. And so you can check that out if you'd like. Unfortunately, this is it is happening here, and don't forget you could check out the YouTube, the Patreon, et cetera, or Power to all the people Peace.