Hurrah for Jayne. I am a new subscriber to this list (but a long-time
follower of eco-fem lit) and have hesitated to post anything (being that
I am a male) in light of the recent comments made.
For now, let me contribute this. Academics/intellectuals spend far too
much time arguing about semantics, complex theoretical frameworks, and abstract
philosophical propositions. If half of that time were devoted to activism,
I believe we could see a lot of changes.
The implications of this statement are that, if we choose to discuss
"anarchy," "spirituality," or other theoretical ideas, we ought to also discuss
how they can be made relevant to everyday life.
As John Lennon once said (and I am paraphrasing because I heard this quote
from someone who was more a part of his generation than I am):
"Life is what happens when you are making plans."
We definitely need plans, otherwise we may be tempted to pursue corrupt ends,
but more than anything else we need action.
Peace in the Earth,
Steve Zavestoski [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Nov 17 17:35:57 MST 1994
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 17:38:28 MST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Anarchy & Internet
As an offhand thought arising out of the neo-Luddite sub-theme of the
anarchy discussion,
how <do> anarchists justify using the INTERNET to have this
discussion? It�is, after all, the result of enormous amounts of funds
"coerced" from the populice through impositional taxation at both the
state level (funding supporting the mainframe gateways at public
universities) and the federal level, where the original architecture of
the NET (e.g., the software, the T3 backbone that is the "interstate
artery system" of the NET, & etc.) was funded and created. In fact,
the National Science Foundation was responsible for running it for a
long time now...though recently there is talk of of farming it out to
the private sector.
To make matters even worse, The original impetus that lead to
the skeleton upon which the current INTERNET is built came from within
the Department of Defense...and was for the purpose of linking the
computers of various scientists at various different sites who were
do research on nuclear weapons technology & wanted to do it more efficiently.
Is not the NET, as much as any other single thing, a good
representation of exactly what you are saying we ought to all withdraw
from and stop supporting? -JRC
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Nov 17 17:55:09 MST 1994
Thu, 17 Nov 94 19:58:16 GMT-5
From: "Brian A. Luke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: University of Dayton
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 19:58:04 EST
Subject: Re: Anarchy & Internet
> how <do> anarchists justify using the INTERNET to have this
> discussion? Itais, after all, the result of enormous amounts of funds
> "coerced" from the populice through impositional taxation at both the
> state level (funding supporting the mainframe gateways at public
> universities) and the federal level,
Same way anarchists might justify using highways (also built through
funds coercively extracted)--it's more important to work for the left
hypocritically than to be paralyzed by the fear of inconsistency.
(this problem is in no way unique to anarchism, it also comes up in
animal liberation, environmentalism, feminism, etc., possibly every
radical social movement--so much of presently existing society has
been built up unjustly. For example, if you are anti-racist today,
does that disallow you from using southern roads built by slave
labor, even if you're traveling as part of your work against racism?)
Brian
