AMAG Communique #1: What happened with Anarchist Memes?

The admins of the new page wish to make the following clear. We established the new Anarchist Memes page after being betrayed by an admin who had serious charges leveled against him but refused to accept accountability that was not on his own terms. A survivor named that admin as a serial harasser and a rape apologist. The rest of the admins were in a tailspin for a couple of days trying to figure out how to deal with these charges which (nearly) all of us took very seriously. The accused admin’s first suggestion was to unpublish the page for a few months until people forgot about the issue. The rest of the admins rejected that proposal immediately. We put forth an accountability process and at first the accused admin agreed. The accused admin offered to step away, but then did not. Repeatedly. He continued to post his defense and delete comments that he felt were critical. He also continued to engage in the admin discussions about how to move forward and to give his opinions on the person leveling the accusations against him. All of that was inappropriate. He was asked to stop, but would not. We did not feel it was fair or right to have his participation in creating accountability at that stage. The admins removed his admin status and removed him from the admin discussion group. We then moved on aggressively and sincerely to give voice to the aggrieved parties and to have a survivor-led accountability. We made contact with some of the aggrieved, but before we could go much further, we were betrayed. An admin on the site who never participated in any of the discussions re-added the accused to the page as a manager. The accused admin then demoted all the other admins so they could no longer change page settings, then he unpublished the page.

It is for these all of these reasons we can no longer support or participate in the former Anarchist Memes page that had the rhetoric of a team effort, but ultimately was undone by the person who created it who felt they had individual ownership of the page. We sincerely tried to hold that admin accountable for his behavior. Instead, he gave our community more reasons to want to hold him accountable.

All of our Love, Rage and Solidarity

AMAG

(Anarchist Memes Affinity Group)

http://www.facebook.com/anarchistmemes1

(new page^)

From an Anarchist to Dr. Ron Paul

(originally published July 16th, 2013)

Dear Mr. Ron Paul,

I think the biggest assumption that you make is that we live in a post-racial society, and that we’ve deconstructed race at every level. You don’t explicitly say this, but your position is dependent on this. The entire American “Libertarian” ideology is dependent on this idea that we are all equal. The truth is in our society, people are not equal. We should be, and that’s an ideal most working people in the U.S. have, but if you think we’ve “arrived” somewhere, I would call that naïve, and this naïve notion is ubiquitous in white culture.

Your solution is also naïve and vague, and conveniently identifiable with large number of people. “Liberty”. This is toxic and Orwellian in my opinion. We will never have “Liberty” without dismantling racism. I believe when politicians use terms like “Liberty”, “Equality”, and “Peace”, you use them in a disingenuous manner. I can’t say it surprises me, but it’s also a major factor in Americans quickly losing faith in the system altogether.

If you feel racism is “collectivist”, then subject it to a class analysis, because I think “collectivist”, despite the McCarthyist appeal you’re making, it alludes to something rather true. Racism is found at many levels of society. You’re a politician, you should know the statistics on race and the police state, the justice system, the prison system, and economic disparity. Racism is intersectional with classism. Institutionalized racism reflects that of a white (now colorblind) ruling class. It’s become subversive and advanced as the mode of production you believe is our solution to everything, dependent on naïve notions of equality.

Oh yeah, aren’t you a Nazi?

Güssel.

(in response to:)

“Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called ‘diversity’ actually perpetuate racism. Their obsession with racial group identity is inherently racist. The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity.” – Ron Paul