123 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
123 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
SF Anarchist Convention,
|
|
August 1989, by Liz Highleyman
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, I just got back from an exciting 2 weeks at the anarchist
|
|
convention in San Fran. Seems the news coverage spread far and
|
|
wide (did it get any mention in Europe?). The articles Mike
|
|
sent were, somewhat unfortunately, mostly accurate. I'm glad
|
|
to see that at least one source mentioned the gathering as a
|
|
whole rather than only the riot.
|
|
|
|
The conference proper took place at an elementary school in the
|
|
Mission. There were workshops on a wide variety of topics, as cited
|
|
in the second of Mike's posted articles. This year there were some on
|
|
anarchist history and theory, which was notably lacking at tlast
|
|
year's gathering in Toronto. Also quite a few on various liberation
|
|
movements, squatting, sexuality (fewer than last year), etc. I
|
|
attended a workshop of anarchist hackers, which was quite fun. Lots
|
|
of stuff on anti-racism and anti-sexism. I thought a real problem was
|
|
an attitude that encouraged hostility between women and men, whites
|
|
and non-whites, and hets and queers. Most of the plenaries were
|
|
devoted to one ``oppressed'' group or another complaining about how
|
|
badly they were being treated. Quite a bit of oversensitivity, I
|
|
thought. Also, a goodly amount of white/male/het liberal-guilt
|
|
self-flagellation. You can probably tell that this is one of my pet
|
|
peeves. Is any modern left political movement free of this?!
|
|
|
|
Aside from the workshops, there was a lot of time to sit around in the
|
|
courtyard, network, and meet people (which to my mind is the primary
|
|
reason for attending these things). The comment about the two
|
|
factions of anarchists (the older armchair intellectuals and the young
|
|
punks bent on destruction) has a grain of truth, but is also
|
|
stereotypical. There are also lots of people like myself (and
|
|
probbaly many of the others on this list) who fall into an in-between
|
|
age group (say early 20s to early 30s) and who are interested in both
|
|
political theory and direct action. Unfortunately, it seems that this
|
|
group represents a third distinct tendency rather than a bridge
|
|
between the other two. Sunday was a festival in Dolores Park, which
|
|
was another opportunity to hang out play music, dance, and engage in
|
|
general frivolity (one of my complaints about these things is the
|
|
dismal food. Granted, it's free, but how much tofu can a person
|
|
eat? Fortunately, the burritos arecheap and plentiful in S.F.)
|
|
|
|
During the evenings there were various events such as band
|
|
performances, poetry, and a coffeehouse. The York Theatre featured a
|
|
film series to go along with the conference which included such gems
|
|
as `Growing Up in America,' `Clockwork Orange,' and `WR,' a film
|
|
based on the Wilhelm Reich's sex-pol philosophies.
|
|
|
|
Wednesday was, of course, the day of action, which is much better
|
|
described as `The Riot.' As it turned out, a group of Bay Area
|
|
anarchists had been planning the action for many weeks in conjunction
|
|
with Berkeley's homeless community. There really was an intention to
|
|
focus attention on homelessness and the gentrification problem in the
|
|
southside area. The plan was to take over the Berekely Inn for use by
|
|
the homeless. Unfortunately, the police got word of the planned
|
|
takeover, and prevented it (by among other things, knocking out the
|
|
building's stairwells to make it impossible to access past the first
|
|
floor, and surrounding the building completely by police). Once this
|
|
happened, the planners were completely thrown for a loop, and left to
|
|
make last minute contingency plans (in a small group, to avoid the
|
|
likelihood of infiltrators). Whatevere these plans were, they were
|
|
never adequately communicated to the group of eager anarchists that
|
|
gathered later in the day at the Berkeley BART station, and the
|
|
results were predictable as the group became an amorphous mass
|
|
following whoever happened to be in front at any given time. I would
|
|
say that overall, out of the 300 estimated participants, 50 or so
|
|
were part local anarchists long involved in the homeless struggle
|
|
in the area, with a clear political focus. Another 20 or so were
|
|
community activists who were not part of the anarchist gathering.
|
|
Another perhaps 100 were out-of-towners with an appreciation of
|
|
the political situation, and somewhat skeptical of the action.
|
|
Maybe another 100 were tag-alongs who attended the action out of
|
|
curiosity of because it was the thing to do, and 30 or so were
|
|
young punks out to riot, regardless of the politics. Unfortunately,
|
|
it has become somewhat of a tradition that these days of actions will
|
|
occur at gatherings, and there is always that element that shows up
|
|
with destruction in mind. There is a great deal of debate about
|
|
whether such days should be a part of conventions; in fact, this year
|
|
the day of action was scheduled after the gathering proper because the
|
|
gathering organziers did nit want to be associated with the riot. As
|
|
the press reports show, however, the riot became the focus of the
|
|
gathering despite intentions. It is unfortunate that a small rowdy
|
|
band is able to so greatly influence events. This is due in large
|
|
part to the fact that there is no clear plan of action, and also
|
|
due to the fact that the few who are destructive get a big notice,
|
|
while the many who are not are ignored.
|
|
|
|
Contrary to Scott's analysis a few days ago, the rioting was not
|
|
solely directed at yuppie eporiums. Unfortunately quite a few homes,
|
|
cars, and small shops were trashed too, which certainly doesn't help
|
|
the anarchist image in the minds of the local community, who should be
|
|
an ally if such an action is to succeed. On the other hand, there is
|
|
something to be said for the spontaneous energy generated by such
|
|
actions. I get off on the adrenaline rush of running wild in the
|
|
streets ahead of maddened cops as much as the next person! I found
|
|
that the commandeering of the Coke truck was quite a coup. Unlike the
|
|
reports, the truck driver was not thrown from his vehicle. He saw us
|
|
coming from a block away and fled (leaving his keys in the truck and
|
|
the truck in reverse, much to the chagrin of the driver of the small
|
|
car behind him!). Soon, one of the punks had taken the truck and
|
|
driven it into an intersection while another participant (this guy was
|
|
a friend of mine, and definitely *not* a punk) unlocked the back and
|
|
distributed the sodas. Since Coke is a perennial political baddie
|
|
(South Africa, etc.), it can be argued that there was some political
|
|
content to this action on the part of at least some. The police
|
|
periodically rushed the crowd, which retreated, only to advance again.
|
|
Eventually, after one particularly frightening rush, the crowd
|
|
dissipated as participants fled their separate ways. Hoping to avoid
|
|
arrest, I ducked down a side street with my affinity group and missed
|
|
the final dispersion. The arrests that were made occured later
|
|
quite a ways from the riot site as participants were boarding the BART
|
|
back to S.F. I have no idea whether the ones arrested were part
|
|
of any of the violence that occured (again, relatively few were), or
|
|
whether they were just a suspicipus looking group in the wrong place
|
|
at the wrong time.
|
|
|
|
So, that about wraps it up...any questions cheerfully answered.
|
|
|
|
Always on the spot...
|
|
|
|
-Liz
|