Conversations for this year’s East Bay Anarchist Bookfair:
11:00 AM
Hello From the Wired: An Introduction to Cyber-Nihilism
The question concerning anarchy and technology is the central question for anarchists today. The recent resurgence of fascist sentiment in America through the alt-right on the Internet, the milestones in climate change that have been passed this year alone, and the continual push for labor reforms in the third world all bring technology to the forefront as a threat against autonomy, a weapon against authority, and as a wildcard. Yet on the pro or anti-tech sides of the debate, anarchists have tended to rely on progressivist narratives when engaging with technology, while failing to address the possibility that we will have to carve whatever space we can for autonomy and attack out of a rapidly-expanding bio-mechanical, networked landscape.
Against this, cyber-nihilism steps into conversation with anarchy: Flung forward along the force of our facticity, turned to the past, the hacker-revolutionary piles fork bombs and DDoS attacks onto the techno-corporate house of cards.
12:30 PM
Community
Building long-term projects and institutions has often been a challenge for anarchists in the US. How does seeing these projects as a community help their longevity, while also provide its own difficulties? This presentation will be based on thoughts about the last 25 years of building Suigetsukan, a martial arts collective. Discussion, led by Mike E. may touch on questions of how to manage the ebb and flow of a sense of community within a project? Is it useful to hold folks, who we identify as being part of our community, to very different standards from everyone else? This can lead to not holding folks accountable or lashing out at one another due to sense of betrayal we feel when we are let down by people we had greater expectations of. Does having a shared project/activity enhance a sense of community between people?
2:00 PM
Stirnerian Hauntology and the Creative Nothing
In this presentation I will present a series of meditations and digressions oriented around Max Stirner and the antiphilosophy of egoism. Throughout, I will attempt to question the hostility shown by many anarchists toward Stirner, to destabilize the dichotomy between individualist and collectivist projects, and to imagine an anarchy devoid of metaphysical law, essentialist identities, and teleological praxis. By exploring radical subjectivity and how Stirner’s thought can inspire an immanent critique of all forms of coercive authority, I will reflect on how we can each create an insurrectionary anarchism that is immediate and for ourselves. The presentation will conclude with time for questions, group discussion, and possible contretemps.
3:30 PM
The Resurgence Of The Hermetic Left: A Conjuration
Alchemy, Anarchism, and Ancient Alexandria, with remarks on W. Benjamin, W. Blake, W. Whitman. Inspiredby the book GREEN HERMETICISM: ALCHEMY AND ECOLOGY by Peter Lambourn Wilson
3:30 PM
APOC Breakout Group
A space for self-identified people of color to connect and build community with other anti-capitalists/anti-authoritarians in the Bay Area.