They like it. Got this off an email list, where it’s sparked a bit of discussion. One question is whether they mean something like the old lefty ‘boring from within’ idea, or just ‘organize in/against your workplace’. In any case, I like the piece.
December 16, 2005
… does NEFAC think about workplace organizing?
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If you didn’t know, there is also an excellent discussion of it going on at this location http://anti-politics.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=929 if you’re interested. I don’t really see what there is to like about that piece, it seemed like typical leftist tripe to me.
Comment by Quinlan Vos — December 19, 2005 @ 10:15 pm
hi Quinlan,
“Typical leftist tripe” doesn’t give me any sense at all of what your objections are, can you unpack that please? It also strikes me as a typically ultra-leftist sniping response, of the sadly all too common sort that gives the rest of us ultra-leftists a bad name. It’s also rather disrespectful thing to say about some people who are sincerely trying to carry out projects that I agree with the spirit of (if not always the actual enactment).
All that said, I am genuinely interested in hearing why you don’t like the piece. What is it you object to? Workplace organizing? Talk of unions? Talk of ‘the unions’? Organization as such? And, what do you recommend instead? If you don’t know what to recommend instead that’s okay too, I’m largely unsure about almost everything, which is to say, I am not trying to the “got a better idea?!” snide conversational powerplay.
take care,
Nate
Comment by Nate — December 20, 2005 @ 2:22 am
hi again Quinlan,
I looked at the discussion you referenced. Thanks for recommending it. I think I just don’t agree with the anti-politics/anti-left/post-left kind of thing. First off, the tenor of that millieu in my encounters with it is very acerbic and unfriendly, in which positive relationships between people occur mostly while sharing together in the slagging off of someone else. I can’t live like that anymore, emotionally. Second, none of the post-left/anti-left/anti-politics people I’ve met have had any better ideas about what to do about things than left/politics people. So left/politics or anti/post-left/politics strikes me as largely a non sequitir. We’re all doing what we can, muddling through. I’ve got huge disagreements w/ a lot of people and a lot of perspectives, so I’m not positing any kind of “can’t we all just get along” popular/united front. But I’m not impressed by many of the totally negative responses to the NEFAC document - including that of Chris Wright, who is an old friend and ex-reading group mate. Chris is totally brilliant and really fun to be around, but he makes a lot of groups like Aufheben and the SI, who, while intellectually really exciting and as people (re: the SI, I don’t know any of the Aufheben people individually), also don’t really have much in the way to offer us for positive activity. (I mean, Society of the Spectacle’s a beautiful book, but what do you do when you put it down, aside from get drunk and be in a foul mood?) I’m much more taken with the various wings of workplace organizing direct stuff I’ve encountered, including NEFAC and the work of people like Martin Glaberman.
happy holidays,
Nate
Comment by Nate — December 20, 2005 @ 2:37 am
Not NEFAC related, but another anarchogroup to remember to check out, SCAF. Nice folks. http://www.mediadissent.com/scaf/
Comment by Nate — January 27, 2006 @ 4:59 am