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Title: To Seize the Moment Author: Anonymous Date: Winter 2019 Language: en Topics: Yellow Vests, riots, blockade, radical movement, insurrectionary, Avis de TempĂŞtes, The Local Kids, The Local Kids #3 Source: Translated for The Local Kids, Issue 3 Notes: First appeared as Saisir l'occasion in Avis de tempĂŞtes (Bulletin anarchiste pour la guerre sociale), Issue 12, December 2018
More than one hundred thousand enraged persons who for almost 4 weeks
now occupy roundabouts and toll booths, who try to block or slow down
the operating of logistical hubs and supermarkets, oil depots or at
times factories, who gather each Saturday in small towns as well as big
cities to attack local state headquarters and city halls, or just to
destroy and loot what surrounds them. Behold, the autumn gives birth out
of the blue to yet another social movement. Enough to have those who
have a nose for the smell of herds come running to attempt to steer it,
or just to be there where it happens, following the smell of teargas.
Like during the syndicalist movement against the Loi Travail in 2016
(March till September) and its follow-up against the regulatory
implementations in 2017 (September till November), or against the reform
of the railway company this year (April till June). But it didn’t really
go down like that this time.
For once a movement emerged in a self-organized manner outside of
parties and syndicates, for once it has from the start set its own dates
on a local as well as on a national level – mostly daily and not on a
weekly or monthly rhythm of big days orchestrated by the leaders of the
herd and from the start controlled by the police – setting out even its
own places and trajectories of confrontation and of blockades,
resolutely refusing to beg for a state authorisation in advance. […]
[The following paragraphs are a harsh critique of an anti-authoritarian
milieu that was disorientated by the eruption of this movement and was
missing the usual framework of leftist slogans, demands and leaders.
When the comfortable position of “most radical” of the left is not
available, many seemingly choose to stay behind their screens and
dismiss the events as not enough this or that to meet their standards
for what constitutes a legitimate movement (apparently one spearheaded
by an authoritarian left is preferable). The original text is quite
specific to the French context and also in the meantime many seem to
have been able to overcome their initial aversion (see the follow-up
text). Thus this translation skips a few pages. - TLK]
[…] To drown with delight in the red herd or to jump with reluctance
into the yellow herd; that is a good example of a fake dichotomy,
because the terms itself of the question are flawed. In our view the
question is never to take part or not take part in a movement, to be
spectator or actor, but only to act to destroy the existent in all
circumstances, with or without the context of a particular struggle,
that others are motivated at the start by this or that more or less
(un)interesting crumb, as long as we act with our own ideas, practices
and perspectives. Inside, outside or next to a movement, in relation to
it or far off it. Alone or with several. Daylight or night time.
As for the insurrectionary question; it is true that if we want to bring
down the state and destroy all authority, it seems to be an essential
prerequisite – which in any case will not be only an act of anarchists
and revolutionaries (it’s precisely for this reason that the
authoritarian neo-Blanquists [Auguste Blanqui – revolutionary socialist
and non-Marxist – in favour of conspirators seizing power through an
insurrection and starting to implement a new society from above –
France, 1805-1881] spend their time attempting to steer struggles and
movements, to find a mass to direct, or that others persistently attempt
to recruit followers in them). Revolts and insurrections emerge already
without us, and when we neither have a desire to manage these movements
nor a contempt towards slaves that revolt for their own reasons, the
interesting question becomes rather: what do we want to do? To act
already without waiting, here and now, doesn’t exclude the possibility
to act all the more so when a chaotic mess of a situation emerges.
Certainly when we have reflected a minimum on our own perspectives. When
we are then capable in all autonomy to seize the moment that is
presented to realise our own subversive projects.
As for revolution; we agree with what some Italian anarchists have
written in a text about what has been happening in France (Di che colore
è la tua Mesa?), from which we take up one of the threads. For those who
still cherish this desire; how do we imagine a revolution could emerge?
Do we really think it would be the work of a convergence of social
movements, all endowed with a legitimate claim, motivated through
decisions by unanimity in assemblies where the most radical idea will
win the day? Thus in such a scenario a movement would be born with an
impeccable cause, with at its helm the most enlightened militants that
will guide it from battle to battle, winning inspiring victories, its
ranks growing, its reputation increasing, its example spreading like a
virus, other similar movements popping up, their forces meeting,
enriching and multiplying each other, till arriving at the final
confrontation during which the state is finally brought down… Such a
nice tale! Who produced it, Netflix? Which episode are we at? If we
don’t want to ridicule, we can also stay serious. Better, we can even
scientifically analyse. Like the visionary Bordigists [Bordiga –
Marxist, anti-Stalinist and pro-dictatorship of the proletariat – the
political party and programme are the unambiguous expression of the real
movement of the proletariat towards communism – Italy, 1889-1970] who
knew from August 1936 there was no revolution happening in Spain. The
reason for it was evident, an obvious fact before everyone’s eyes, it’s
even embarrassing having to recall it: without revolutionary theory no
revolution, without revolutionary party no revolutionary theory. Was
there a revolutionary party in Spain (theirs, of course)? No? Thus, what
could we be talking about?
Because in the course of history the spark of riots, insurrections and
revolutions has almost never come from profound reasons but from simple
pretexts (for example: the moving of a gun battery triggered the Paris
Commune [March till May 1871 – while the French army retreats and the
Prussian army surrounds Paris, its streets are transformed by an
insurrection, eventually smothered in blood by the French army], a
protest against the hotchpotch made by the German naval military ignited
the November Revolution [in 1918 – inspired by the Spartakusbund, an
anti-war and revolutionary socialist group – a second uprising in
January 1919 against the anti-revolutionary and pro-war social-democrats
ended with the murder of two Spartacus leaders, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl
Liebknecht], the suicide of a street vendor launched the Arab Spring,
the cutting down of some trees brought about the Gezi Park revolt in
Turkey). We find it really embarrassing that those faced with the yellow
vests (or yesterday, the Catalan autonomy protests) only focus their
gaze on it to find traces of the communist programme, or the anarchist
idea, or radical theory, or anti-industrial critique, or… After which –
following the disappointment of not having identified a sufficiently
subversive content in the streets, of not having counted enough masses,
of not having noticed enough proletarian roots, of not having recorded a
sufficiently equal female presence, of not having heard a sufficiently
correct language, and we could go on forever – there can only be disgust
and the question of who could benefit from all this social agitation.
Cui prodest? [Legal term: Whom does it profit? To whose benefit is the
crime done?]
If some put the riots that shook the country in November 2005 down to a
pre-electoral ploy of Sarkozy – who would have intentionally put oil on
a small flame (one of many police atrocities) to ignite and then put
out, to be afterwards rewarded as a competent firefighter – in the same
vein, it would be easy today to see the hand of Le Pen in the popular
demand for the resignation of Macron. At the moment when a strong wind
in favour of the right blows through Europe, why wait until the next
electoral deadline while it is possible to bring it closer with a slight
nudge? This is a conspiracy theory that, also in its logical trait, is
above all totally idiotic to formulate. But, of course, the lion tamer
Sarkozy or the aspiring circus director Le Pen could secretly have
opened the gates of the wild animals to spread panic and, when the
emergency situation is over, could be called upon to replace the
incompetent that wasn’t capable of protecting society!
But let’s imagine, even if it’s absurd, that it would have happened like
this… and so? Those wild animals are all of us, and it’s exactly during
moments of free movement that our possibilities increase to get rid of
the cages of this world. As long as we are locked in, we stay mainly
powerless, only capable of roaring and baring our teeth – always more
decayed. But during these days of freedom, even if we are chased after,
everything becomes possible again, including the impossible. Has it been
decided that our freedom should only be temporary, a short-term
arrangement for an investment in the middle or long term? Then it is up
to us that it becomes permanent, screwing up the plans of those who were
certain of being capable of controlling the demon of revolt after having
summoned it. If someone leaves the cage open then it makes not a lot of
sense to lose oneself in elaborate imaginings on their real intentions
or to stay inside as not to serve some obscure plot. Better hurry out
and attempt at all costs to not get caught again.
All said, for who still cherishes such a desire, how do we imagine the
eruption of a revolution? Conscious that it probably only can spring
from a heterogeneous situation, in the midst of opposed interests,
expressed in a confused and contradictory way; should we however defend
opposed interests, expressed in a confused and contradictory way? The
fact that the pretext of riots, insurrections and revolutions is almost
always trivial – does that mean that we should repeat the triviality?
The trap for all militants – irrespective of being defeatist or
enthusiast – is that in situations of social turmoil their brain is
fine-tuned to pose only one question; which direct and productive links
to create with the protest movements. They are obsessed with the quest
for the revolutionary subject to place themselves at the service of, or
just to praise. Thus one can hype the slightest confrontation in the
outskirts with the cops or authorities without caring about the question
of individual motivations (maybe linked with the trade in illegal
substances, with a problem of hiring a local workforce, with a conflict
over mob territory, with a religious drive, or with still more things?)
while stubbornly refusing to consider the slightest confrontation of the
yellow vests on the squares and roundabouts with the cops or authorities
because one suspects too much individual motivations (maybe linked with
the trade in legal substances, with a problem of hiring workforce, with
a discontent with taxes, with a nationalist drive, or with still more
things?).
It’s like reinventing the same wheel every time: no, the others in
revolt are not anarchists, they join in for their own reasons, that we
can find passionate or futile, that we can know clearly or not. But what
is of interest to us, is that the revolt here opens up space there, in a
diffuse possibility to go from the centre to the periphery, that it
allows to experiment with forms of direct or indirect complicity, and
that it breaks a normality that has been going on for too long. It’s up
to the anarchists to stir up their own perspectives by feeding the
communicating vessels of idea and action, it’s not up to others. During
quiet moments as well as during storms. And so, maybe, our dreams and
anger find an echo in other rebellious hearts.
Gladly though, not everyone is a militant, and so can be more interested
in what any conflict or disturbance opens up, not so much for others,
but for themselves as well. In the midst of this mess that slows down
the intervention of repression and facilitates the “not seen, not
caught”, do possibilities exist that are otherwise too hard, or even
impossible? Far away from this mess on which repression is
concentrating, can we attain objectives otherwise untouchable? Upon
closely examining the movement of the yellow vests, we can see that many
have already begun answering these questions, allowing us to set out
some leads on the possibilities to seize the moment. These are only some
examples, far from making a comprehensive list, banal leads maybe, more
or less shareable, but all suggest something to nourish the imagination.
The 24th of November on the Champs-Elysée, when it wasn’t clear yet that
the upcoming Saturdays would take a riotous turn beyond the forces of
police, unknowns had set out to free themselves of the horrors of wage
labour by organising to loot the Dior store. Almost 500,000 euros of
jewellery and other gadgets have changed hands in a few minutes side by
side with ongoing confrontations. Beyond the expropriation of a wide
range of common consumer products from sports shops and supermarkets, to
mobile phones and laptops (Paris, Marseille, La RĂ©union, Toulouse,
Saint-Étienne, Le Havre, Bordeaux, Charleville-Mézières, Saint-Avold, Le
Mans, Bourg-en-Bresse), also some other jeweller’s shops or upscale
stores here and there have been stripped bare. Generally speaking, alone
in the capital, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry counted 142
businesses looted or trashed (+ 95 with only a broken front window)
during the riot of the 1st of December and 144 businesses looted or
trashed (+ 102 with only a broken front window) on the 8th of December.
In the same vein, one could question what other possibilities the
occupation of a roundabout and the complicity in action would offer,
besides blocking or slowing down the circulation of products. To this
end, the example of what happened in Belgium can be particularly
telling. Not content with having burned a fuel tanker in Feluy (20th of
November) and having heavily clashed with the cops during several days,
five blocked lorries were relieved of their load the following days
(21st and 22nd of November). Next the movement of the yellow vests was
joined by several hundreds when the conflict zone moved from the highway
to the city of Charleroi, sidestepping the question of the social or
geographical origins, the practice of looting continued. Besides the
traditional supermarket, also a ATM of BNP was not only destroyed but
first pulled off its base to be emptied (23rd of November).
In a similar way at the start of the movement, a truck loaded with 900
tires was fast immobilized in Le Havre on a roundabout occupied by
yellow vests (20th of November). Once the security system deactivated,
some individuals set about emptying it and not less than 250 new tires
vanished, in spite of the opposition of the more legalistic attendees.
One hour later, emboldened by the new possibilities, a IT shop next to
the roundabout was completely looted (as well as the restaurant of the
commercial zone).
Looting of jeweller’s stores, lorries, ATM's; how many more
possibilities when a movement as this of the yellow vests opens up space
for everybody and everyone, without leaders nor security stewards nor
trajectory designed with the cops?
On the 1st of December in Avignon while in lots of other cities the
demonstrators were gathering in front of the city hall or prefecture to
attempt to storm it (the one of Puy-en-Velay was partially burned on the
1st of December to the cries of “You will fry like chickens”), a small
group decided to take care of the courthouse: almost 30 meters of thick
windows were smashed. In Charleroi the tribunal also received Molotovs
during the riots.
In Toulouse on the 8th of December during a destructive riot that lasted
for hours, a group similarly decided to pay a visit to the control room
of the CCTV of the city situated in the Saint-Cyprien neighbourhood.
While the municipal stalkers were inside, its windows were being smashed
and its own camera stoned. While the attack was very brief, the
syndicates nonetheless demanded to move the HQ of CCTV, it became a bit
too hot this time. In Blagnac on the 4th of December instead of simply
blocking the Saint-Exupéry secondary school, the pupils ignited the heap
of trash wisely piled up in front of the entrance: the fire destroyed
the reception room and hall, while the rooms for the teachers, the
school library, the administrative premises and the science rooms were
severely damaged (1 million euros in damages) and the school closed for
a week. At the tollbooths of the highway Narbonne-Sud, blocked by yellow
vests, during the night of the 2nd of December a group didn’t only trash
it (as in Virsac, Perpignan, Bollène, La Ciotat, Sète, Muy, Carcassonne)
but also burned the infrastructure of Vinci [this omnipresent company
also operates toll roads] and of the police station. Aside from 800 m2
of premises and its security HQ, Vinci also lost some 30 vehicles, while
the servicemen lost two vans aside from their premises and material
(computers, radio, uniforms).
Attacks on courthouses, CCTV headquarters, police stations or schools;
how many more possibilities when a movement like the yellow vests opens
up space for everybody and everyone, without leaders nor stewards nor
trajectory designed with the cops?
Finally, further away from the crowds, either to take advantage of
repressive forces overburdened elsewhere, or to nourish the conflict
with their own objectives, night birds went for a walk in the moon
light. Several tax and social welfare offices were attacked with
different means (with burning tires as in VĂ©nissieux the 2nd December,
in Riom the 4th and in Semur-en-Auxios the 14th, with gas bottles and
Molotovs in Saint-Andiol the 4th and in Saint-Avold the 14th, with a
burning rubbish container in Chalon-sur-SaĂ´ne the 27th of November).
While there’s no reason during a period of blocking traffic to only
focus on roads; a relay station for railway signals was burned in
Castellas on the 30th of November. And four yellow vests that met on a
roundabout in the Lorraine region, embarked on a nocturnal spree the
28th of November. They sabotaged 9 railway crossings between Saint-Dié
and Nancy, opening with a crowbar the control boxes to force the barrier
arms to close, thus blocking all road traffic. Elsewhere a campaign
office of a deputy of the LREM [party of Macron] lost its windows in
Vernon (Eure) the 29th of November and likewise in Nantes on the 6th of
December. Or some aimed directly at the homes of two others: in VĂ©zac
(Dordogne) on the 10th of December the car of a deputy and her husband
was reduced to ashes and in Bourgtheroulde (Eure) on the 15th, yellow
vests marked with 20 signs the road leading up to the house of a deputy
who heard six shots of a hunting rifle in front of his door.
Destruction of institutional premises, sabotage of major railway routes,
visits of offices and homes of deputies, how many more possibilities for
those who want to make their own nocturnal contribution, including one
not based in a consensus, through acts that go against the demands of
the movement as well as against the interests of the state? When a cell
tower of Orange is sabotaged on the 12th of November in Villeparisis, we
don’t think that it fits directly into a struggle stuck in the
technological cages. So what? When three sites of Enedis [company that
manages the electricity network distribution] are delivered to the
flames as in Foix on the 6th of December, we don’t think that it fits
directly into a struggle that demands more state and local public
services. So what?
There are as many possibilities of nourishing social war as there are
individuals. Inside, outside or besides a movement, in relation to it or
far off it. Alone or with several. Daylight or night time. As long as we
do it with our own ideas, practices and perspectives, far from politics,
herd mentality or composition [a concept in fashion in the radical
leftist milieus of France – attempting through political strategy and
discourse to steer different sectors of a struggle or movement in a same
direction, by fabricating (and enforcing) consensus on aims and means
and suppressing contradictory or dissent voices]. With this movement of
yellow vests as on a more general level, one of the knots of the
question is certainly there: actually, what is our perspective? And
which means do we give ourselves to reach it, in calm as well as hectic
conditions? Un peu d’imagination, que diable!