Friendly Fire Articles

This article attempts to bridge the seemingly disparate interests of postcolonial theory and anti-authoritarianism. By suggesting that we think of our work as “decolonizing the everyday,” we can benefit from the work of postcolonial scholarship. Postcolonial scholarship allows us to see the complex history and affects of colonialism in order for us to dismantle the hierarchies within ourselves, our communities, and society at large.

A Financial Glossary to help us understand the difficult times ahead.

Using the G20 summit in Pittsburgh as a lens, this article examines the necessity for the development of long-term vision in anti-authoritarian organizing. Arguing that much of what is currently playing out are isolated tactics lacking strategic connection, David advocates for considerable reflection within organizing circles on the recognition of short- and long-term goals and how our tactics help achieve them.

As an anti-war movement, we find ourselves pouring our energy and time into mobilizations which result in isolated days of spectacular actions. We attempt to achieve short-term goals but without the necessary collectively developed long-term vision needed for a sustainable anti-war movement. At times these actions may be able to accomplish goals of their own, yet we must ensure that they are being carried out in the most effective manner possible and at the same time advance us in the achievement of our broader objectives. If our strategy is to build a movement—a movement capable of destroying the state’s capacity to wage wars—then we must be critical of our organizing and gauge its effectiveness by its capacity to build a successful antiwar movement.

Why is an analysis of property largely absent in current radical critiques of society? Why should space be incorporated into anti-authoritarian organizing, and how do we do it? How does the idea of the control of space work its way into anti-authoritarian strategy? This series of letters between Ian and David explore these ideas in an attempt to reinsert a critique of property into radical organizing and exploring ways in which the control of space can be shifted from the few to the many.

Precariedad, précarité, or precarietà. Take your pick. Those foreign words all translate roughly to “precarity,” something many of us are undoubtedly familiar with even if we’re unfamiliar with the word itself. All describe the current state of much of the work available to us in the US and Western Europe as our economies have transitioned from being based on industry to the service sector.

When we think of resistance in the North American context, it’s hard to not recognize the spectacular nature of both the protests and the target of the resistance. While the aesthetics of insurgency and armed groups has proliferated itself into the radical wings of the American left, our strategies, perhaps unconsciously, remain centered on performance.

Stories of Somali piracy have been abundant lately as a sharp increase in attacks in the Gulf of Aden have caused a crisis in the shipping industry and an international naval mobilization. This rise in attacks and the military response raises a series of questions: What are the reasons for this huge increase in piracy? Why has such alarm been raised in the international community yet the military response been generally restrained? What is at stake both economically and politically? And, the question generally not being asked, what is at stake for Somalia and its people?

With the rise of neoliberal economics and the proliferation of the police state after September 11th , the working class in the United States has found itself robbed of the securities and comforts that it had fought so hard to secure since the beginnings of the labor movement. As we look around at the conditions of our everyday lives, we find ourselves lost in the cacophony that is precarity. With little to no job-security, no hopes of owning property, rising food and energy costs, and the privatization and mediation of our social and cultural spaces, we are left adrift in a violent storm of social and economic disorder. This article is an attempt to properly articulate the conditions of precarity, as well as identify possible paths forward in the fight for a new society free of such conditions.

As the G20 met in London to try and solve the world’s financial crises by continuing to fund corrupt institutions with our tax dollars, thousands gathered in the city’s financial district to express their extreme distaste for state-run/free market capitalist policies and to demand a new way forward. In this interview I talk with an organizer of the mobilizations against the G20. She has decided not to reveal her name out of security concerns.

This article is meant to develop an analysis of the spectacular nature of the upcoming confrontations at the DNC/RNC, and contemplates how the North American anti-authoritarian movement can relate to this specific type of summit protest. Will the movement be successful in breaking down the spectacle of ‘law and order’, or will we continue to be marginalized by its message?

This article examines the separation between anarchist-based and community-based organizing efforts. Why do anarchists generally focus on one, leaving out the other? Why should we be engaged in both models at once? And how can we think strategically to not prioritize either at the other’s expense, but remain involved in both thereby enhancing our revolutionary potential?

Darwin BondGrahm is a writer, historian, ethnographer, and a graduate student in the Sociology Department at UC Santa Barbara. His research engages histories of poverty, racism, and militarism, aiming to further organizing against war and the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex (MIAC), and against racist economic policies that harm the working class. This interview addresses the development of the modern university, its corporatization and militarization, as well as some thoughts on movements of resistance from within its confines.

As students and radicals, we are constantly negotiating between our position within the university, our commitment to liberatory movements, and our desire to actualize and integrate our creative work in the everyday. This piece emerged from several conversations within our communities which we felt deserved more intentional exploration. We are dedicated to the struggle for radical social change, and for us, our art is integral to that process. We hope that this piece participates in the spirit of praxis by creating a space inhabited by both theory and action.

A short overview of the police repression used against protesters at the D/RNC, focusing on the larger threat presented by the terrorist charges being faced by members of the RNC Welcoming Committee and other legal challenges.