Up-Goer Five Anarchism

Are you familiar with Up-goer Five? No? That's OK. That's what links are for. Up-goer Five is a way of expressing yourself using only the 1000 most common words in the english language. It is extremely difficult and frustrating. It is much more limiting than one might think.
However, there is a tool that can help you. The Up-goer Five Text Editor. You can write anything you want in there and it will help you replace it with simpler and more common words by highlighting the words in your text that are not in the 1000 most common english words. Go, have fun. But before you do, here is my fun. It's a short description of anarchism (against-power in the text) using up-goer five language.


Against-power is a way of thinking, acting and living which holds the state to be not wanted, not needed and bad. It is against power or control in human relationships. Friends of against-power back the idea of large groups of people without state held up by free relationships. 

As a quiet and not wrong-headed way of thinking, acting and living, against-power draws on many lines of thought and acting. Against-power does not offer a fixed body of positions from a single way of seeing the world, instead changing and moving as a way of thinking, acting and living. There are many types and groups of against-power, not all of which are different. 

 Against-power schools of thought can be so different, holding as important anything from being very alone to everyone being part of a group. Some friends of against-power don't like any form of fighting, while others hold as needed the use of some fighting, along with angry change and talking of the acting, on the way to an against-power world.

Memes and the Greek Far Right

Do not misunderstand me. I will be talking about nazis. I do not use the term "far right" out of embarrassment. I only use it to refer to a group that includes but is not limited to the obvious, unevolved skinhead.
In greece there is a rather wide spectrum of douchebags. By douchebags I mean right wing scumfucks. Let us find out more about them and their recent weird relationship to internet memes.

I will start randomly and move in no particular order. First there is LAOS (Laikos Orthodoxos Synagermos which can be loosely translated as Popular Orthodox Alarm and yes it is as stupid as it sounds). They are a populist fascist party. They do not present themselves as full blown nazis mainly because that would not serve their purpose but rest assured they are about as fascist as you can get without shaving your head and tattooing a huge swastika on it. Recently, I read this article in one of the greek blogs I enjoy. It showed this:

It is a sticker on a non-descript surface by the youth branch of the party. It features Success Kid with its shirt in a different colour to match the party's. I wont bother translating the shit they say because it is fascist propaganda but notice the "muslim mob" at the back. That should convince everyone what they are about. I will not comment yet. There is more.

Next there is Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy), a neoliberal conservative party with a much longer history than the rest of the scumfucks presented here. However, I am semi-cheating here. The fuckwit I will be presenting has only recently moved to this party from the one mentioned above. Rest assured though he is a fascist piece of shit just like the rest of them. He also proves that the two parties, even though presented differently, cater to the same idiots. Without further ado:

Yah! It is Islamic Rage Boy. As you can imagine he says and believes shitty things about immigrants and I wont soil this place with it. Total fucking shitstain. I will not comment yet. But here are some close ups of him:

And another one:

And yet another one:

These are not momentary derps by the way. That's how he looks (and thinks) all the time.

And then there are my favourites. Chrysi Avgi or Golden Dawn. They are about as nazi as can fit in a shitbag. And then a little more. They are thick, ugly, unevolved and pretty much fucking evil. They deserve to die horribly in a fire and hopefully they will. But hark! Do I hear the sound of fucking nazis being dumb as shit? Why yes! Yes I do. First, people mistakenly thought that this meme was an actual member of this neonazi party:

Which is understandable because they actually look like this. No, they really do. OK fine, here you go:

See? I told you. Nazis are idiots and they look it.
And then this happens:

Ring a bell? I swear to fuck. They are not even trying to avoid ridicule. That's another nazi in the nazi party by the way. Notice the detail behind him. It is a nazi grenade, may it be live and explode in his face.

So now it is time to comment. There is an underlying theme here and it is not conservative stupidity. That is self-evident. I mean look at them. Do I have to try and prove that they are morons? They are also pretty obviously ugly but not in an aesthetic way. More in an unevolved kind of way. The same way that most of us would find pond scum unattractive.

No. The underlying theme here is that these people are as absurd and idiotic and detachedly funny as some of the most successful memes on the internet. This is so true that nobody is actually trying to do this to them. They are doing it all by themselves. Accidentally. They cannot hide the stupid.

Prozac People

I'm sick and tired of you. Yeah, you. The one that feels the need to maintain equal distances from everything. The one that is absolutely certain they are the voice of reason. All of you. I'm tired of your smug superiority and the obvious conviction that you are somehow more educated, more knowledgeable than me, than us.

No, I don't care that I sound fanatical to you. Why would I, since you so obviously confuse fanaticism with passion/pathos. I care a little that you call me stupid, or ignorant, but not because I value your opinion, no. I care because it is frustrating to be called that by idiots.

I can't, in good conscience, suffer you anymore. Your opinion is no longer a valid one. It is not informed and as such is not important. I know that if it were up to you, the world would be a flatness with no end in sight. You would playfully joke about political correctness while meticulously upholding it, all the while using it as a mantle for your various inequities.

I know that if I let you have your way, there would be no ups or downs. If we let you have your way, we would have to suffer not only you but the endless violences of our daily lives. It would be miseries all the way down and you would make us feel guilty about the way we felt, thought, talked and acted. Really, I know that if you could, you would probably medicate us.

So, I suppose this is my very roundabout way of saying, fuck you rationalists. You can suck my hairy irrational ass.

Some call me Hermes

Thomas Gandharas, also known as "the Black Bandit", came from Akri Elassonas, became an outlaw in July 1918, was a partner of Georgios Velonis and having deserted the army, was planning to kill a landowner who had raped his wife.

 
A little later, Gandharas and Velonis were caught and on July 21st 1919 the court martial of Larissa sentenced them to 14 years imprisonment. On November 21st 1921 Thomas Gandharas escaped from the prison of Larissa and a year later a bounty was given for his head. Thomas Gandharas had a brother who was also a bandit, Georgios Gandharas, who was killed in February 1920 in Koumaria Elassonas, in a conflict with a pursuit squad. With him, the Bandit Manatsas was also lost.

One night, the outlaw Gandharas wore his foustanela (greek kilt) and his silver tsaprazia (greek male jewelery) and went secretly to the home of the famous photographer from Trikala, Athanasios Manthos. He descended quietly from the roof, came in and woke Manthos to come photograph him with his bandit gang, because he understood that their end was near.

Thomas Gandharas was killed on August 5th 1923. He was killed in Oxia of Deskati Grevenon, near Mavreli, by the mavrelite hunter Georgios Siakavaras, who participated in the pursuit squad that hunted him. Gandharas' head was cut, was transferred to Gerakari and then exposed to public view in Kalambaka on August 6th 1923, as an example to all.

Thomas Gandharas left a son and two daughters, Eleni and Vasiliki. He had time to give Eleni, as an infant, to be guarded by the mayor of Kalambaka, Rammides. The two women met for the first time in 1998.

Leviathan

What Is To Be Undone

The hate and the violence in my heart, you put it there. All I am doing is trying to get rid of it. Every stone, every hit, every smashing thing, every barricade on fire carries a little hate with it. A tiny bit of violence that you gave me without asking me if I wanted it. So now you're getting it back.

And one day, when it has all left me. I will realise that I have no more hatred to give. No more violence to return to you. I'll probably cry.

Ignorance and Fear

This is a 1918 german anti-anarchism propaganda poster. It reads: Misery and destruction follow anarchy.

Post-Revolution Blues

I think I'm suffering from a light case of burn-out. Yesterday I practically pushed myself beyond my limits. I woke up at 7:30 in the morning, had a small and quick breakfast that was going to be my only meal for the next 12 hours. I traveled in a train packed with early commuters to the centre of Athens to meet with the people from my union. There we joined in solidarity with another union to block the entrance to a huge coffee shop that has been using and abusing its employees. That was an amusing way to wake up and start your day. After that we handed out a call for more people to join our union and joined another three unions to form a bloc that then marched all the way to the central square of Athens. I held the banner too.

I was hot, thirsty, possibly sunburnt already and a bit tired. I spent some time with the people I've met in the union and when shit started getting kicked, and they decided to leave, I stayed and watched and participated depending on the tides of battle I suppose. I inhaled cubic arseloads of teargas and various asphyxiants and thank fuck I was wearing a mask otherwise I may have been deadified by now. I came face to face with plenty a pig in all shapes and colours and I walked tens of kilometers.

We built and lit barricades, flung rocks, insults and other debris at cops and tried to protect ourselves and other people, some of whom didn't even want us there. That's the shittiest thing of all. To be treated like an unwanted servant. Fuck you lady. I didn't come here for you, I came here for me. I'm alive and you're still dead. Underneath the mask I'm smiling.

I met a lot of people, I like most of them and I was genuinely happy. I only had water and cigarettes, I was definitely sunburnt and dehydrated by the end of it, very dirty and tired but I was fucking happy. The explosions didn't scare me or the fire. That's not to say I wasn't scared. This was happiness resulting from fears being faced and defeated.

Today, I'm healing. Apparently the government will be changing but that won't change my life. Or the life of most other people. It'll still be "same shit, different asshole". And I'm kind of down today. I feel like a wild animal that has been caged for all its life, has tasted freedom for a day and then has been shoved back in its cage. I still have to find a shitty job to pay my shitty rent. But yesterday. O yesterday I lit fires.

Words Don't Work

They don't, do they? Not always. Just when it's most important that they do work, they fail. Consider the use of words in arguments. From personal experience and from what others have communicated to me over the years words are never enough to shift someone's worldview. And how could they? We grow up in complex systems which give rise to well rooted, ingrained ideas. You think a well thought out, well researched and well presented argument is enough to change that? Fuck no! That would be reasonable.

Look at the world around you, it's full of ideas that shouldn't exist. Control, hierarchy, oppression, prejudice, domination, authority. But these ideas exist and it looks like no amount of argument is going to change that. So if words aren't any good, what's left? Actions I hear you cry in my head, and can you please stop it?

Actions affect the tangible world and everything in it. But what happens if what you want to eradicate an idea? Not make it vanish, because that would deny people choice. Not matter how idiotic an idea may seem you have to be able to choose not to follow it to make the result worth anything at all. What good is it to not be a racist if there's only one race or not be a sexist if there's only one gender? Crude examples I know but the reasoning behind them is sound. But what happens if you want to reveal the shittiness in an idea? To make it clear for everyone to see and to make it a horrible choice. Surely that would be enough to make an idea wither and die, right?

To cut a long story short, I want to know how we can kill ideas. Words don't seem to work and actions have an equally long history, if not longer, of not working. So consider this a call for developing an armoury for fighting ideas. We need it.

Pigs in Blankets

That’s what Doug Stanhope called the imaginary charity gig he did for police officers fallen in the line of duty. That opener should have got rid of the cop sympathisers among you and for those of you reading still on the fence here’s another one, more succinct and one that leaves no doubt about where I stand on the issue of police. I shit on the grave of fallen police officers.

But seriously, let’s analyse this lest we make ourselves look as dumb as the pigs. The first and extremely common argument about cops, living or dead, is that they are people like us. Ha! I say to thee. Let’s just find out. I’m not going to quote the numbers that show the grief and malignancy caused by cops, oh no, because you can argue numbers. In fact, I’m not going to refer to anything you can argue about. Instead, I will talk about things that no matter how good a debater you might think you are (even a master debater, heh) you will have to accept as general truths or otherwise reveal what an idiot you are. So without further ado, what makes us human?

The common things among all people are our fundamental human needs. These, according to the school of "Human Scale Development" developed by Manfred Max-Neef and others (Antonio Elizalde and Martin Hopenhayn), are seen as stemming from the condition of being human. They are subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity and freedom. For the time being we can ignore subsistence, protection and understanding, not because they’re not important or for any silly reason like that but because they’re not really unique to us humans. Animals fulfill these needs every day so I don’t think we can use them as something that makes us stand out as humans. The same is probably true of affection but I chose to leave that in, if only slightly facetiously, in order to poke further fun at the argument that “cops are people just like us”. So let’s pick at each of them one by one.

Oh look, the first one is affection. Do I really need to analyse that? Is there anywhere on this planet where cops are known for how sweet and cuddly they are? No, I didn’t think so. They might have a deep need for affection that they hide very, very well but it is most definitely something that does not go well at all with their role and it is probably stamped on early on, either at a young age in their family or later on in their training or maybe even both.

Next up is participation. This may appear to be somehow fulfilled by the illusion of police being an integral part of society but nothing is further from the truth. Cops are elitists. They are their own special little boys’ club. More importantly though they exist because society is elitist and it wants to stay that way. The haves are protected from the have-nots and those higher up on the hierarchy need someone to do their dirty work and manage the chaos created by those lower down. For all intents and purposes, there is no organisation more segregationist than the police. And that is most likely true on an individual level. We’ve all seen and heard of “corrupt” cops but when was the last time you heard of a cop fighting for the rights of immigrants, or women, or children, or animals? Even if by some miracle you did find some, they would only highlight their rarity. The only thing cops are interested in participating in is the police and its purpose.

To show you that I am not prejudiced however, I will give them leisure. Although I don’t believe that one is limited to humans either, it is I feel a connecting point among absolutely all humans. Everyone, absolutely everyone, wants a break once and a while no matter how much fun they’re having with a task. Not even machines can run forever.

Creation. This is my favourite. I’m going to let you do the thinking for this one though because I feel it illustrates my point perfectly. What is it that cops create? What do they make? No, really, think about it. That’s right, absolutely fucking nothing. They are a bunch of bloodsucking parasites.

As far as identity goes, please no more, this is too much. The police, as much as any other kind of army, wants you to be a number not a person. They want individuality set aside and they want each cop to work like a well-oiled cog in the machine of state-sponsored repression. There is no identity in the police, you are whatever your commanding officer tells you you are. If cops need to find an identity then they’re looking in the wrong place.

And last but not least, freedom. I don’t know how to talk about this one without laughing. Seriously, I need to argue about this one too? Get the fuck out. Police for freedom would really be like fucking for virginity.

So that’s one stupid argument down, about a million more to go. Let’s take a break now, fulfill our need of leisure, possibly the only thing that we and the pigs have in common and we’ll come back with even more cop-apologist bashing.