Battle of Algiers

Tonight, we watched Battle of Algiers and had a discussion about moving the meeting time for next semester and potential fundraising. This is our last meeting of the semester.

Potentials for resistance, indigenous, culturally and racially inspired, or otherwise.

The article I wanted to send out for this week is a blog post about
indigenous resistance. It's short and sweet.
http://propertyistheft.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/the-uprisings-of-the-indigenous/

There's more about non-Western anarchism here: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/anarchism-ethnicity-culture/

There's another article that can be seen as being more theory-based
that I thought was interesting if you read them together.
http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Aragorn___Locating_An_Indigenous_Anarchism.html

There's one last article that's been circulating among my facebook
friends about an illegal 18 hour rave that happened in London last
week. I thought it was pretty amusing the way partiers get discussed
as 'terrorist', how one picture is captioned 'violence' but it's just
some guy with a mask standing there.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1325401/Illegal-London-rave-18-hour-spree-destruction-Royal-Mail-depot.html

Reading

The reading for this week is "As Beautiful as a Brick through a Bank Window: Anarchism, the Academy, and Resisting Domestication". I finally got it to work. A similarly cool reading is Nurturing Autonomy (http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Jamie_Heckert__Nurturing_Autonomy.html).

Newman's "Anarchism, Poststructuralism and the Future of Radical Politics"

Last week, we read Newman's "Anarchism, Poststructuralism and the Future of Radical Politics".

REAP is an RSO!

REAP was recently approved to be a registered student organization! Woo hoo! :)

Does the "War on Terror" Still Exist?

Since no one sent out a reading, I would like to invite you all to come to this event that's being organized by some conservative and moderate groups about whether or not the war(s) on terror still exist. It's being held from 7 to 9 pm at Foellinger tonight. It would be great to get some radical voices there to critique what is likely to be an apologist approach. Even in the event description, I find it problematic that Dr. Pipes' analysis creates a divide between 'radical Islam and the West'. It's problematic because this kind of ideology enables the war(s) on terror to exist. It creates the 'radical' terrorist body and justifies imperialism and war over there while ignoring imperialism and war over here. I plan to ask him something about what he thinks about the raids on anti-war activists last month, increasing federal surveillance and whether or not the presumed 'end' to the 'war(s) on terror' has a relationship to/decreases acts related to Islamophobia in this country. If anyone would like to take any of these themes instead of me, that'd be much appreciated.

Also drinks at Murphys after! :)

Love and struggle,
-Susan

Does the "War on Terror" still exist? Dr. Daniel Pipes, Middle East scholar, author, and lecturer, will address this question, and shed light on a tumultuous struggle which extends from distant deserts to academic halls, from the sheep farm to the metropolis. You won't want to miss this amazing opportunity to hear Dr. Pipes' message, and ask him your questions directly!

Dr. Pipes studies, writes, and lectures nationwide on the conflict between radical Islam and the West. He knows Arabic, and has his doctorate in medieval Islamic history; his studies have led him to conclude that "It's a mistake to blame Islam, a religion 14 centuries old, for the evil that should be ascribed to militant Islam, a totalitarian ideology less than a century old. Militant Islam is the problem, but moderate Islam is the solution." He has taught world history at the University of Chicago, history at Harvard, and policy strategy at the Naval War College, in addition to directing the Foreign Policy Research Institute serving at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Today he directs the thinktank he founded, the Middle East Forum, and oversees Campus Watch, a project that critiques academic literature published by North American Middle East departments. His personal website is at www.DanielPipes.org.

This event is cosponsored by Stand With Us, the David Project, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Hillel Foundation at the University of Illinois, the Chabad Jewish Center at the University of Illinois & Champaign-Urbana, the American-Israeli Student Coalition, Great News Radio (WGNN/WGNJ), the Orange and Blue Observer, and the Illini Conservative Union.

Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival (Chapter 1!)

For this next week in REAP, we will be reading the first chapter of Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival: http://www.carpediem.org.ve/imagenes/Noam_Chomsky_Hegemony_or_survival.pdf

Furthermore, we will be discussing the nature of power. As a lead up to this discussion, I (Dan) have prepared some questions for you to consider (and answer). We will be discussing your answers (along with the reading) at the next meeting.

Remember: there are no right or wrong answers; just try to be consistent with yourself. Consider:

1) Define "power".

2) By your definition, do you have/wield power?
3) By your definition, does the government or state have/wield power?
4) By your definition, do other people/things have power over you?
5) Can power be legitimate or illegitimate? What determines whether it is or not?
6) Is it a characteristic of an entity itself, or merely of an entity's action(s)?
7) Can power be created or destroyed?

Take your answers thus far to their extreme conclusions:
8) What would ultimate power look like?
9) Could you live in a power-less world? What would it look like?

Finally,
10) Think about it some more. Are there any interesting or unexpected conclusions from your thoughts?

A few readings on anti-oppression politics and anarchism

We could just do one or the other but I thought both were real compelling in the way that they talk about anti-oppression politics and anarchism. Plus they articulated some ways of thinking about anarchism that I found myself personally dissatisfied and suggest intriguing solutions. We can do a movie watching again sometime soon if people are interested.

http://athomehesaturista.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/refusing-to-wait-anarchism-and-intersectionality/
http://www.anarchistnews.org/?q=node%2F12230

Movie tonight!

There isn't a reading tonight. We'll be watching Anarchism in America at 9 pm at the Courtyard Cafe.

First meeting of the 2010-2011 year!

REAP's first meeting of the 2010-2011 year is tonight (September 1st) at 9 pm in the Courtyard Cafe. The reading is Voltarine de Cleyre's "Anarchism and American Traditions" (1908). This group isn't exclusive to students: all are welcome to participate in the discussion. Following the meeting, we'll most likely head over to Murphys for drinks.