> This is a very good point. The appeal of autonomism is that you can call > yourself a revolutionary without actually forming organizations and taking > responsibility for anything. This was also the appeal of the New Left in > the 1960s.
But, with due respect, even there I think you are mistaken. Autonomists often form very extensive networks and, certainly, here in Amsterdam the "Autonoom Centrum" is a definite organising post. See for yourself at http://www.xs4all.nl/~ac/ . In the New Zealand unemployed rights movement there were also many good people who were autonomists that you could learn a lot from. If it had not been for this Centre in Amsterdam, many people here would have been dead or sick, and that is not a small thing, at least not for me, because I have to be concerned, above all else, with life. The autonomists also take an active role in championing the cause of immigrants unjustifiably deported from this country. You might not necessarily "win a car" through autonomism, but that doesn't mean much of their work isn't extremely valuable. I'm not disparaging them at all, and I don't think I ever have, I've only just had some specific arguments with some autonomists sometimes, about points of theory. But heck, a lot of them are far more capable than I am, that's the reality. If I were to write a critique of the autonomists, I would do it by tackling the issue that they feel is their very strongest case. But why ? I see no political point in it whatsoever at this time. I prefer to criticise ideas which I believe are an obstacle to my own political program, real opponents, but even if they are real opponents, this doesn't necessarily mean they do not deserve respect, and that aside, I have to keep firmly in mind what the purpose of criticism is, otherwise I will slide into "critical criticism" which is easy to do, if I do not watch out. In saying this, I don't want to posture as more politically correct than you are. I am saying it only because I strongly believe it is an ABC principle of any effective politics. Jurriaan
