Logical?

 Many would like to call Anarchism an “extreme” and  “far left” political ideology. 

Actually, no.  

I’m very accustomed to the professional gas lighters of the Alt-Right describing their political views as the most “rational” “logical”. The most based in “reality. 

 For this philosophical musing I utilize their tactic and arrogantly describe my thoughts as common sense. As “logical.” This is the MOST logical, except with out hierarchy- because, you know, anarchy.

Since I am writing about Anarchy it makes more sense to ask questions rather than dictate theory. That is just common sense: to let others come up with their own ideas around my questions. I will admit many of these are leading.

Can we even define Anarchism? Isn’t it the purest of freedoms? Are we all equal if we have the same freedoms? Is a “right” something you’re given? Do we need to have groups bestow us with freedoms? Is it insulting to humans ability to assume they must be granted basic freedoms by bureaucracy?  Are we capable of functioning without the patriarchal babysitting of the state? Could we effectively manage our resources as individuals within collectives?

There seems to be this assumption that humans cannot function without authority and directions. Has capitalism and singular leadership of the workers created laziness? People claim that people are too lazy and need incentives to work. How about the incentive to work is survival? Wouldn’t people learn to work the land? Didn’t we all used to know how to do this? And then wouldn’t they likely figure out that working the land collectively will produce more varied yields? To assume one needs to directions- does this dumb one down? Does it make it that one is too lazy to take personal responsibility for their resources? If we did not have the state managing welfare would people come together and form collectives that would serve the same purpose as tax funds? Would we be dealing with actual resources rather than monetary bullshit? Can we figure out how to come together without the authority of the state?

Is it truly “logical” to assume that its “human nature” to want to dominate? To want to compete? Can this not be fulfilled with a game of monopoly?

Imagine a Monopoly game where you can’t buy any property.. that would be no fun at all! Right? Do we need life to always be so “fun” at the expense of our freedoms?

Is it actually “logical” to assume we can truly observe our own nature? Does another species understand its own nature? I’d say a lot of other animals certainly know how to sustain better than we do. That I won’t even ask a question about. It is clear to me that we were given a paradise where we could literally recycle our shit to make food, but we instead we’ve allowed ourselves to poison ourselves in the giant game of Monopoly.

Is THAT logical? Is THAT human nature? If so, why do people of the “far right’ praise such extremist individualism? To believe that humans are naturally so cold-hearted..do they even have faith in humanity? What is weakness? Is weakness the inability to lift a chair or a tendency to cry? Or is weakness the failure to treat others with compassion?

Isn’t the basic concept of the Capitalistic myth that if one works hard enough they can have whatever they want? If one truly believes this why would they not work towards a world that allows humans freedoms? A world built on compassion? Even if human nature is greed and lack of compassion, could we not evolve to be more compassionate? Do you believe if we work hard enough we can reach this? Is that common sense? Is that logical? 

— Took Edalow

Angry Rant On Libertarian White Bois and Zionists.

“But Took thats so divisive! Is this really good for the movement?”

  I don’t know what fucking movement you’re part of, but in my movement we try to be fucking aware of how the system treats us on  the basis of race AND class. It is not like we are all born with the same opportunities and the same privileges. “That would be impossible” cries the cold hearted white boi libertarian with their perfect “logical” “rational” oh and don’t forget “objective” view of the world. Its downright fucking obnoxious. I have a better word for someone who completely disregards emotion and/or feelings when it comes to politics (which you know, directly effect peoples lives)  I call those people sociopaths.

Obviously I have met people who call themselves Libertarians who are really just Anarchists who chose a different word and I can get down with that, but more often than not I meet a Libertarian who cannot fathom that under the capitalist system we are not all equal. If you cannot bother to pull yourself out of “free-market” theory essays written by old white men long enough to look at how CLASS and RACE INTERSECT then please just back the fuck off and go read something by someone who is not a cis male and white.

Or maybe I’m just playing “Oppression Olympics” as a young white and not so wise male told me in a park today (who also later expressed he saw no similarities to the Holocaust with what is happening to Muslims in America.)

I was there (At the General Strike in Washington Sq Park) debating a middle aged Jewish man with a sign that said “Jews for Trump.” I was raised Jewish and I am an anti-Zionist. I believe Judaism is about Tikkun Olam which translates to “repairing the world.” I do not think that what has happened in Israel is repairing anything. I think Jews were pushed out of their homes during the Holocaust and then Palestinians in Israel were pushed out of their homes and they were straight up fucking colonized. I know its more complicated than that and I do empathize with jews having no where to go after the Holocaust, they are my people after all, but FUCK COLONIZATION! Jews who voted for Trump because of Israel, holy fuck holy fuck. Nothing gets m e angrier than a Jew who obviously has issues with Muslims and is pro Muslim ban because of their anger at Palestine.

It could not be more obvious to me that the Christian Extremist running the United States want to turn us away from their terror and bigotry by pointing fingers at Islamic Extremists. The Jews became colonialists and became assimilated into the Western Christian world as “whites” and now we are being turned against our Muslim family. We are both Semites with similar as fuck cultures. We are being manipulated and used.

And fuck Religious Nations.Its not the religions. Its the Extremists. Christian Extremists, Muslim Extremists, Zionist Extremists… (see a pattern???)

As I was getting there. Just as I was about to establish a similarity between the two of us  (we realized we were both Ashkenazi jews) here comes well-dressed Libertarian white boi who chimes in with “Guess he wins the Oppression Olympics” and derails the entire conversation on the basis of me “making it all about identity” which of course I continued to do so by calling him out on being some white dude chiming in without even being there for the entire debate. He proceeded to inform me it was not a Muslim ban, it was just countries where people happen to be Muslim and wanted to discuss only “objective facts.” This went on for sometime with him using classic bro talk complete with condescension, ignoring me whenever a man chimed in because they were “having a calm conversation” with him. And gaslit the fuck out of me by telling me I got quiet when I heard the Jew for Trumps family had been in the holocaust which from watching the video of it WAS SIMPLY NOT TRUE.  Said I kept using “Ad hominem’s” by calling him a white man, but it is not a logical fallacy when it actually plays a role. Very often white men grew up in an environment where they were treated as the ideal. Conditioning plays a role in how you view the world. You grew up a man in America? Chances are you have some misogyny. You grew up white in America? Chances are you are fucking lacking some awareness of what is is like to be marginalized. So yea white dude, sorry you don’t fucking understand that YES identity DOES play a role and some people don’t have the fucking luxury of just having a “calm” conversation with him. The way he mocked intersectionality by calling it the “oppression olympics” and the way he chose to mostly engage with men.. I think my point is proven. Unless women are willing to admit they are”not oppressed” and “not victims” they can be a part of the boys club Libertarians. This is not supposed to be a piece where I explain to you fact by fact why I despise the American Libertarian Ideology. This is where I am not tone-policed and not mansplained to. This is where I get to feel.

Its a fucking Muslim ban. Just because some white people are in jail doesn’t fucking mean the system isn’t oppressing POC. The Prison System is oppressing people of color. This does not negate those who are not POC. There is a fucking ban on countries where a significant portion of the population is Muslim ( A MUSLIM BAN) I told him this and he said “more men are in jail is this sexist against men? Or do men just commit more crimes?”  I did not have an answer off the top of my head.. as he was reminding me of my abusive ex (triggered… YES PEOPLE DO GET TRIGGERED PEOPLE HAVE FEELINGS DON’T TALK POLITICS IF YOU CAN’T FUCKING HANDLE IT )…but perhaps its because men are shamed out of emotions so there is pressure to be more manly?

The moral of the story is Libertarian men (and others)  can’t deal with emotions and its a fun sport for them to watch women freak out.

Epilogue: He apologized for being so condescending and I apologized for calling him names and saying someone should spit on him. I left him telling him to loo k up indirect abuse tactics and the similarities between Trump and Hitler.

Also if you want to call me “racist” for calling him a white boy realize how we neutralize white and how we call a white person “a person” and a person of color “a black person” or “asian person” why is white the default? All lives will matter when Black Lives Matter, when Brown Lives Matter, etc.

If you want to hear my debate with Zionist Jew listen to What Would Save The World? on Radio Free Brooklyn  Wednesda y Feb 22nd 3-4 pm

 

 

 

 

 

No Wall! No Registry! Fuck White Supremacy!

Photo by David Bluvband

I hear of the Muslim ban while at home on the internet. I see Facebook posts about an Emergency Action at JFK to set  free the seventeen detainees at the Airport.

 My final push to attend the Emergency Action was watching the video   Moumita Ahmed posted of herself getting to Terminal D. I was lucky enough to run into her as I was leaving at around 7pm. She expressed that “As a digital organizer” she was “very excited” at how quickly the numbers grew at Terminal 4 at JFK.   “Be Proud of yourselves for being here. This is incredible. This is history. The amount of organization time is unprecedented.” * From the time I arrived to the time I left the numbers had grown significantly. There were entire crowds where no one had stood just an hour before.

When I first arrived I attempted to ask people how often they attended political protests. I figured that could be the one of the few positives about the Trump presidency, is that more people want to be involved. A few people answered before I  met a livestreamer who asked me to assist them with putting on their glove and said “I don’t want to answer that question”. I respected that, because if we want to create a  better world we need not behave by the pushy mainstream media. It seems this is an age of paranoia and fear for those of the far-left. I can definitely relate as an open anarchist. Hence, I was nearly unrecognizable at this protest.

 The energy was high, intense and angry “Let Them In” was chanted with regularity. Quite the contrast to the Women’s March I had been witness to in DC just the week  before, where I had chanted “Open Borders” and not a single other person chanted with me.  There were pink pussy hats at this act of resistance, but the cheery chants of “USA” had been replaced with “Build a Wall, We’ll Tear it down” and my personal favorite “No Wall, No Registry, Fuck White Supremacy.” There were people standing on cars in the parking lot and standing all throughout the parking tower.  There were many amazing signs, one message was multiple signed with the letters N-O  B-A-N lit up with lights. Another was an upside down American Flag which read NO BORDERS (Check my sketch below).   I could not take  photos because my phone died at 60%. Tip to those trying to document at actions: Either bring a charge block or non-mobile devices as your battery can get drained by “the powers that be” or the cold. (The happened to me at #J20 multiple times)

 Inside there were multiple lawyers volunteering to help people that may have difficulties upon arrival.  There is still a need for lawyers and other folks to volunteer. Click the link to find more info on how you can help.

A person was standing a little ways from the crowd with speaking through a megaphone to cars passing by “This is an Emergency, A Fascist has taken over the White House, I repeat a Fascist has taken over the white house.”

  The weather literally went hand and hand with the “Political Climate”, as it was freezing cold and unforgiving. The metaphor of “power in togetherness and organization” becomes literal when standing in a crowd of those shouting creates warm air.

I found myself a little annoyed with the frequency of which people referenced the Statue of Liberty Quotes and a multitude of American Myths. I would love to believe that America has always been a country that happily welcomed immigrants. This land was stolen and many indigenous were murdered (and are still ridiculously oppressed #StandWithStandingRock) and we want to pretend like this is a magic land. It WAS a magic land before it was destroyed for the poison that is capitalism and greed. It is foolish for anyone here who is not indigenous to pretend they are “Original Americans.” If you are not indigenous your family immigrated here and it is likely their cultural group was treated with prejudice and hate upon their first arrival. I agree we should work towards open borders, but lets not go with the myth of Donald Trumps slogan.. that was once great, especially in terms of kindness towards immigrants.

What it really meant was “lets make America even more White Supremacist again”. Not everyone agreed with the Action and they were at the airport getting on planes, on the air trains. I had no direct interactions, but you can hear it yourself in Moumita Ahmeds video I linked to above. I find the frequency of which people call upon the word “divisive” in political discourse to be some bullshit, but it is unavoidable. We are an extremely divided world. As I go inside  the Terminal to warm up for a moment  I overhear three young men having a conversation about the protestors annoyed that “the police are getting paid over time with out tax dollars” saying about the protestors “I hope they leave.”

H ow terrifying is it that many Americans do  not seem to see the similarities Trump has to Hitler?  Publishing the crimes of the undocumented to rationalize the irrational in order to gain control.  I also find it incredibly bizarre that certain jews want to say Trump “not as bad” as Hitler and sight the fact that he is pro-Israel. Including  certain Holocaust survivors. Regardless, it is alarming. It is almost as if Israel is being used to cause Jewish people to be resentful of Muslims and Middle Eastern people.. Hmm…

Lets not pretend jews are not seeing the parallels. I saw significant number of jewish folks

there, people in Kipahs with signs about the Holocaust. As a Jewish person, I feel very empathetic and protective of the Muslim people. Semite refers to languages that are typically used by both Jewish and Muslim people. Antisemitism effects us both. Moumita Ahmed mentioned to me that people she spoke to said their Grandmother escaped the holocaust and said that she “can’t live through another holocaust.”* Lets not let that shit happen.

I think one of my favorite moments when a couple with luggage, approached the fence to get to the parking lot and one of them yelled “Fuck Trump!”  I pointed the ways they could get to the parking lot, as they were in the road and cars were passing by. One half of the couple ran in the direction away from the protest. The other looked at me and said “I want to stay. She wants to go.” I could not tell if they were from another country or what.. but it certainly illustrated our how polarized it all seems right now.

Had a great discussion with Patricia Daher(daugher of Lebanese Immigrants) and Irina Korlyarskaya (Ukrainian Immigrant) about the fuckery that is the Muslim ban. Catch it Wednesday February 1st 3-4 pm on Radio Free Brooklyn . (If you’re reading this when I first share this.. thats today!)

Aren’t my posters super professional and shit? 

 

*  Quotes were written down very quickly in notebook, as my phone died quickly. Quotes are as accurate as I could get.

All photos from JFK were taken by David Bluvband. Instagram @bluvbot and Twitter @bluvband

Equality and Freedom

I want freedom. I want equality. I want survival. I want warmth.

Fuck me. Fuck what I want. I grew up in New York City to middle class parents who really gives a fuck what I have to say? I’m just some scared little girl whose had everything I could possibly need my entire life and now Boogie Man Reptillian Donald Trump wants to “take it all away”

Either way I want to express. I want to express my anxiety attack on the way home thought process “my parents are getting older what if they can’t get the health care they need? What if I can’t survive without them?” To think that people for long periods of time today and in history have ever felt this way about a loved one.. to think that some, with treatable conditions, must suffer.. to know that instead of looking at these scenarios and improving, we now went backwards.

I feel confused. Oh so very confused. I understand that its easy to be selfish. I can be selfish as all hell, but I do not understand how people have gone so far away from equality. We are in a period of time where certain white people have become so angered with the outspoken realities of those oppressed that they have decided  to paint themselves in the light of the oppressed. The White Nationalists (Aka fucking nazis) have painted themselves as the under appreciated and silenced white people.

I have always looked for equality. I have fucked up many times. In my younger years I empathized with the mens rights movement because I felt sympathy for their words. I thought perhaps “we’re taking a voice away from men.” This was before I found intersectionality. This was before I considered history, before I considered class . I dropped this crap years ago. Though I do think its weird we try t o insist women call themselves “feminists” when its often been a white washed movement.   When it becomes about race I get it, but its also important to note some people seem to feel resistant to support feminism or womanism because of the demonization of the feminine.

Everyone has pain. Everyone has hardship and suffering. Not everyone has long lists  systemic pain and suffering. This is extremely important to be aware of when you get in conversations about identity politics.

How do you not care? You self righteous butt plug. Holy shit I’m tired.

 

 

?

Progress?

 

Questions on schooling.

If Food is a necessity, but the production of such is not taught in schools.. What does this say about the power dynamics of the world today?

There are people in positions managing hundreds and thousands of people. They have ridiculous jobs. It is unrealistic to assume one person could create a society that could meet the needs of everyone. “You can’t please everyone”, but could people be given the tools to please themselves.

Are individualism and autonomy different? Individualism, to me, is about being focused on ones own individual needs. To me its capitalistic idea. I envision a person pushing another person down in order to build themselves up. I believe autonomy could easily be called individualism, because screw elitist terminology politics. (I am guilty of such. I suffer or I am in insufferable due to my Anarchist OCD) I am however, speaking in terms of school of political thought. Individualism is an Ayn Rand sort of thing.

Autonomy, on the other hand, is the ability to survive, to hold power over oneself. Voluntary association. Can we give the tools neccessarry autonomy to the youth without implementing regulation over school? Would school look very different?

There are definitely examples of “free schools” that exist throughout the world. They would be considered “private”, but often they are not “for profit” and not managed by the government either.

Large scale becomes complicated.

— Took

 

 

 

 

Food.

Why are people choosing capitalism? Wouldn’t people want to be liberated? Why don’t people want to grow their own food? Why the hell don’t we build more community gardens? Why isn’t gardening considered an essential thing to be knowledgable about? Why isn’t it taught in school?

I had a bean sprout growing in a cup.. well it didn’t actually grow. Why didn’t it grow? This wasn’t really explained to me. We moved onto more “important” things, like math, which I was simply not able to grasp at that age. Was it the school system? Or could I just not appreciate the skills being given to me? Probably a little bit of both.

Regardless of my own obnoxious personal reaction to my privileged education, I find it strange what schools consider to be “core curriculum”. Intellectual pursuits are interesting and useful, but they don’t give way to autonomy. They encourage autonomy of the mind, but not of resource management. Thats expected to be taught to you by your families. Is that a symptom of class? Those from rich backgrounds can pay someone to do it for them, some people have to beg those with public funding to consider them worthy. Others grow their own food, either because they recognize the importance of autonomy or because it makes the most sense from you survival. The way you get food can depend on class.

Perhaps its “too personal ” to be relevant to schooling. If families cannot afford to pay for school lunches, free lunch is available, but who would really discuss whose paying and who is not? Its hard to say no to kids eating. We have a lot more humanity for humans before they are adults, where we expect them to be fully functional, but you know, possibly having little to know idea how to grow their own food.

 

— Took

 

The Internalization Of Competition

“Your set was awesome” I say, commenting on another woman’s performance at a show I also performed at.

I hold my hand out, offering a shake. “My name is Took.” I say.

She pauses, takes a moment. Shakes my head. Says her name. Proceeds to respond quite differently to the men who compliment her work. Responds with large smiles, warmth. Perhaps, its not a gendered thing, perhaps I was the weirdo wearing blue eye shadow, lipstick and blush.

Or, its because I am woman. Not even my compliments are as valid as a mans, even if I am more of a seasoned performer than any of the other men present. This was not necessarily the case, but I just felt like typing that. There is some gratification which comes with calling oneself a seasoned performer. In fact, I have to refrain from typing the abbreviation for “laughing out loud” over and over.

Anyway, I decided it was likely a gender thing. “Could *I* be engaging in internalized sexism?” is a question that will send shivers down the spine of any enlightened feminist. Internalized sexism does not make someone a “bad” person, as it is easy to imagine how women raised in our society could subconsciously pick up on hatred of women. In a society where women are trained to believe they are only as valuable as men, it is no surprise that women feel they must compete.

The question still lies “Could *I* be engaging in internalized sexism?”

Yes. I definitely could be, because moments after I decided to move on from this woman who clearly has zero interest in socializing with me (because the patriarchy. DUH) I find myself trying to avoid another woman who performed on the show. I find this woman to be obnoxious, bland, unoriginal.. but she is a nice girl. Even so, they grate on me. I avoid social situations with them. I don’t feel like I must like everyone, but why is that a woman who makes unoriginal, regurgitative art so much more repulsive than men who do the very same thing?

Do we (or just I) praise male artists of mediocrity? Am I discouraging the voices of women? Wouldn’t a man who makes mediocre art be even more mediocre than a woman’s?  Yes, yes I am engaging in generalizations. Hopefully we can agree that women are typically more likely to be silenced. If this is the case it is more of an accomplishment to find the voice to get on stage for a woman? Is a woman on stage at all a radical act? Its unfortunate that it may be that way, I thought we were making progress… but its not enough is it?  For a man, praised, told they deserve power for much of their life to be mediocre..well theres nothing radical about that is there… (There really could be, again forgive my generalizations)

I do not wish to discourage women from their art. In fact I should give my support. Not many are born original.. Is originality overrated? Is that some Ayn Rand bullshit? What is original to one is not to another. Its subjective. If I think there is an objective “original” then I am the Ayn Rand. OY VEY.

There is only a need for “objective originality” in a market, where there is a need for competition. I do not wish to give into such capitalistic nonsense.

–Took

 

 

 

 

How do we make this our world?

 

The election of Donald Trump has been both shocking and sickeningly unsurprising. On one hand you have this man who throughout his campaign was hateful and threatening, often to groups who are already frequently oppressed. The typically liberal New York City screams “who would vote for such a person?” Lets get real though, is it really surprising we couldn’t elect a woman?

 I get that its not about women in general, its about THAT woman. “We voted for Jill Stein!” Awesome. I sincerely wish we could’ve had a third party candidate, although maybe not THAT third party candidate(or THAT one)  I can clearly see why one would view Hilary Clinton as corrupt and “the system”.

Hilary Clinton may have been working in politics for a long time and is of the political aristocracy and I am also very tired of people who stick with the interests of the corporations running the country. You can say Hilary Clinton is in bed with the corporations, but Donald Trump is the corporation.

In this article  from the Wall Street Journal, David Axelrod, one of Obamas top adviser said “It seems that Trump does not come to this with a well-developed philosophy so much as a well-conceived marketing strategy.” This comes from an article about his cabinet disagreeing with him on issues, which gives me a tiny, minuscule amount of hope . Having said that, marketing strategy? Is this truly what we want? For life to all be about the market?

The point of this free-write of political philosophizing is not to argue over whether or not Hilary or Trump would’ve been better. I think its obvious what I thought and who cares? (Probably some bro reading this) The election is over.

What I want to say is I think there is a water-colored background in our country right now where people are fearful we will no long have a “man’s” world. It can be comfortable for some to live in a man’s world, for quite some women, as you can see in the 53 %percentage of  white women  who voted for Trump . I can tell you from my experience as a white women, if I wanted to, if I wasn’t so insistent on being appreciated for my mind, I could get everything handed to me. If I felt influenced by the bible? If I felt threatened by a world where not everyone lived exactly like myself?

What do I mean when I say man’s world? I do not necessarily mean it is super easy for men to live in this society. What I do mean is certain careers are simply seen as “man jobs” (Yes this goes both ways, one example is how folks discriminate against male babysitters) It becomes especially problematic when the jobs viewed as “man jobs” are frequently the positions of great power. “Man’s job” translates to positions of power. Those indirectly in power, the people whose needs are at least seemingly being represented by those in direct power have a tendency to become complacent. Unaware of the fact not everyone shares their experience. Frequently becoming defensive when corrected.

Are they fearful of becoming just another one of the masses? Would true equality mean perhaps these people just would not have as much privilege? Would power and resources be more evenly distributed? Is a Trump presidency the result of a fear of losing power? Even if you disagree with Hilary on a wide variety of valid viewpoints, you have to acknowledge her administration would have represented a shift in who holds power. Only on the surface representing a higher allowance of participation.

I made this   video  when I still hoped Bernie would win.

 

The kind of system I fantasize about would require a lot more participation. I am opposed to anyone being forced to participate in anything. It would have to be completely voluntary. Do people not want to participate in politics? Do people just want to continue their lives? Are their lives difficult because we are encouraged to be self-reliant? If you ask for too much aid you are labeled as either lazy or a burden. Even if this is not the case in all situations, systemic or interpersonal, I believe it becomes internalized. Are there people who fear speaking up because they fear it will make the discussion even more complicated and do not wish to bare the backlash? Are people downright exhausted? Is the election of Trump a sedation tactic?

The market is the way resources are distributed. Members in high-level positions of the market are now in charge of the government. This is a hell of a lot of power to give  to one person or few. Have we just shifted into an “extreme” man’s world? Or was it not so secretly, always this way? Probably the only good thing about a Trump presidency is it exposed the poison in the water.. and that poison is Trump himself.

How do we move past this or away from this? How to we create another source to gain our needs? How do we take back power? I hope we can organize ourselves and on a deep, true level encourage participation from those on the lower level of the market.

The state has been corrupt and has been run by the man’s world for a long time and so has the market. We see them become one.

How do bring these concepts down to earth. To our world.

Lets make this shit our world.

—- Took Edalow