An editorial written for Freedom by RG aimed at people like you!
Take heed internet nerds
Lost In Cyber SpaceAnarchists were amongst the first to recognise the benefits of the web as a means of communication, propaganda, organisation and information. Well before authoritarian left groups had a presence in cyber space anarchists were there arranging and promoting demonstrations like Mayday through the web. Type 'anarchist' into Google and you'll get 283,000 results, compared to 188,000 for 'Marxist'. Given how prevalent the internet is in the life of many people today it has probably played a significant role in raising the profile of anarchism and attracting people to our ideas in recent times. We may not be able to turn too many people out to sale copies of Freedom on demos' but you don't need to search too far on the web to find out about anarchism or Freedom.
The internet is in fact particularly suited to anarchism. Open, democratic, participatory, non hierarchical and generally out of the control of the state (although as the recent seizure of Indymedia's server and the attack on the US based Raise the Fist site shows not completely immune from the state's attention).
So far so good but is the web becoming a problem for us? I think it might be. Technology should be a means to an end, not an end in itself. For some anarchists though posting on the web is becoming a substitute for engaging with real politics. Go on any anarchist discussion board and you will read post after post after post. You will notice that some people seem to spend most of their day posting - it's almost like an addiction. Some of the stuff that's posted is rubbish, egotistic or self indulgent (sometimes all three), a fair amount though is decent and some very good. Whatever the quality though it is clear that there are plenty of anarchists spending a fair amount of their time on the web. How can it be then that most issues Freedom has to scrape around for copy? Why is it that some people spend hours posting but won't bother writing for the main anarchist newspaper? How can it be that Black Flag is about to go under because there are not enough people to keep it going? Couldn't some of those frenetic posters give up a little of their time and help out? It seems odd that in less than a year 13,500 articles by 700 odd people have been posted an enrager.net but the movements main publications are struggling.
This wouldn't matter so much if the web had replaced paper based sources of information and propaganda but it has not. Despite early predictions people still like to read books, papers and magazines, but as a movement we are struggling to produce and support these. Much of what is posted is also inward looking of little appeal I expect to people outside the movement. I support Reading FC whose fans have a great website (Hobnob Anyone?). I regularly read Hobnobs message board but I can't imagine any one who doesn't follow the club bothering. I also doubt it will add one person to Reading's fan base.
Here's another thing - the internet isn't real life. It is not a substitute for meeting people, organising activities in local communities or whatever. For some people though I suspect posting on discussion lists has become their idea of being active when in fact it can be a distraction. The movement will only grow and develop through human contact with real people not someone who glories under a clever assumed web name.
The web's a great tool and anarchists are great at using it. The sheer volume of stuff that is posted on sites like enrager.net though makes it hard though to see the wood for the trees: yeah their may be something important buried away there about international solidarity but I can't be bothered to plough through a plethora of posts about some ones favourite books and what they'd do if they won the lottery to find it.
I'm not suggesting we throw the baby out with the bath water. It's about balance. Sure use the web but decide whether the time you are spending on it is really worth it. What else could you be doing? Writing an article for Freedom perhaps?
nice one. Though i am quilty for 300+ of the posts mentioned in the article. I post mainly from work, so nothing lost there.
But why don't i write for freedom? Well to illustrate, here's a post on enrager:
or
and compare these posts to the one written above in freedom. Point being, this is mostly chit chat, not deep analysis (and conflicts arise when some try to have a serious conversation which gets derailed by chit chat).
Also, i don't feel confident enough to be contributing. As you know, i have shit politics anyway