tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5770450628194471768.post4905761767676202548..comments2023-04-24T11:33:39.731-04:00Comments on Anarchurious: If I were a Libyan rebel...Cüneythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839492265797382364noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5770450628194471768.post-56354292770739613252011-08-27T12:20:07.784-04:002011-08-27T12:20:07.784-04:00You are speaking very clearly and wisely, Justin. ...You are speaking very clearly and wisely, Justin. I suppose I wonder, then, if one can ever deal with a great power in any capacity. Shall we go off the grid (or shudder, go Galt) and refuse to deal with the powerful? That would strangle many a rebellion, and as I argued regarding Viktor Bout, sometimes rebels need to deal with the awful creatures that possess hardware in order to, ultimately, possess something of their own.<br /><br />Was Einstein a fool for working against the Nazis? No, we are not fighting such a force again, but we all deal with great evils in order to address other evils. Can this game ever be played or is it to be dismissed, avoided, and rejected in favor of some other route to power?Cüneythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839492265797382364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5770450628194471768.post-79327290617462995782011-08-26T08:39:20.750-04:002011-08-26T08:39:20.750-04:00I am saying that we mute or suppress our objection...I am saying that we mute or suppress our objections to the crimes this system commits in return for the privileges it affords us. If you think in terms of nationalist identity, this is easy to miss. <br /><br />If you abandon that nationalist identity, and it is a social construct so there is no reason why it cannot be deconstructed, then there is no difference between asking for a foreign power's interference in return for favored status because 'foreign' ceases to be a meaningful qualifier. We accept the interference of power by giving consent, in spite of our grumbling, in return for some amenities. Whatever form that power takes shape in is not irrelevant, I wouldn't go that far, but its a distinction in degree, not in kind. This is partly why modern anarchists see very little difference between corporate and state power.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924326177370725150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5770450628194471768.post-76631423036942945462011-08-24T17:39:00.507-04:002011-08-24T17:39:00.507-04:00Well, I may be misunderstanding one part of your a...Well, I may be misunderstanding one part of your argument, but I would say that possessing American privilege is not the same "as accepting a foreign power's interference." American citizens may have very little power to influence American politics, but are they really less powerful, or equally powerful, as a foreign elite which serves as a justification for war?<br /><br />I'm torn in two pieces, here. On one hand, the international monied elite is like a nation unto itself. I probably do have much less power over US actions than, say, the Talabani clan. Then again, I know that many refugees of Nazi Europe were treated like shit. Then again, that is probably to conflate a very different kind of international emigre.Cüneythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839492265797382364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5770450628194471768.post-90055338242848714292011-08-24T12:23:57.832-04:002011-08-24T12:23:57.832-04:00Relax your identity of nationality, fully and comp...Relax your identity of nationality, fully and completely, and you can ask this question of yourself. No reason to imagine oneself as a Libyan rebel.<br /><br />I can say that part of me fears the consequences of refusing to participate in the colonial imperialism of our present age. calling myself an American citizen, enjoying the privileges of that status, and the identity of being a white male within that system, is the same as accepting a foreign power's interference once you stop identifying with the ruling elite of this country. The elite powers of our system are every bit a foreign occupier once you relax your nationalist identity here as they are abroad.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924326177370725150noreply@blogger.com