“A reflection on the re-appropriation of time as the revolution within the yellow vests insurrection.”
Posted in emergency, freedom, justice, Nota Bene, performance, power, resistance, revolt
Tagged France
“Spontaneously, the reference to the French Revolution constituted for the Yellow Vests the only historical reference, because only it carries the collective memory of a social and political upheaval with which they can identify.”
Posted in agonism, emergency, Nota Bene, power, revolt, the common, the Left
Tagged France, French Revolution
“A self-organized movement deprived of any tradition and historical memory learns from its experience and its own mistakes; it does not accept lessons from outside and has its own times of apprenticeship. Unfortunately, I am not sure they have much time.”
“From my point of view, Yellow Vests are doing what the whole society should do. They are the ones who start because they are the exploited, they are the ones who earn the least, who have the most difficulty in living, and the others who earn just a little more, who know well that soon they will be in the same precariousness, in my opinion, if all goes well logically, the non-Yellow Vests will soon join the Yellow Vests because they know that they are also threatened with downgrading and that these extreme difficulties in life throw Yellow Vests out of their homes and bring them outside.”
Posted in autonomy, emergency, fraternity, freedom, Nota Bene, power, resistance, the common
Tagged France
“Several questions remain. How can we make sure that the ways we participate in the yellow vest movement and others like it won’t be simply perceived as an “apolitical” expression of anger, giving nationalists a platform to take credit for our efforts? When we act to create a crisis, how do we prevent far right parties from capitalizing on it by promising a return to normal? How do we confront legalist and reactionary ideas within the movement? How should we prepare for the next round, in which we will either face a stronger repressive and authoritarian state or a massive nationalist and reactionary wave? But also—how can we reinforce our connections with everyone else in the streets and traffic circles?”
“At the very heart of anarchism is the radical and uncompromising celebration of autonomy. And what is autonomy if not the permanent possibility of refusal and insurrection, of destruction and/or creation.”
“the question faced by the politicized minorities that still raise red and black flags remains: can we participate in something that exceeds us, in struggles that pose the problem of organization and justice on the level of a historical stake, to find ourselves next to people that we do not agree nor identify with, to risk, to err, to be disappointed? If the answer is negative, we can verbalize about revolution, but we will not be one of its productive vectors.”
Posted in emergency, freedom, Nota Bene, revolution, the common
Tagged France
“Everything is possible, even self-managing assemblies in the middle of street intersections, villages and neighborhoods.”
‘The “yellow vests movement,” which was sparked earlier this fall but clearly has much deeper roots, has left many bewildered by the lack of party or union alignments on the part of the participants, the combination of extreme left and extreme right elements, its remarkable resilience and growth since November, and its ongoing creativity and dynamism in the face of massive state repression.’
‘Commentary on French protests, both in France and especially outside it, quickly become a search for historical comparisons, feeding a narrative of repetitive crises which satisfies some broad cultural assumption about “Frenchness.”’
Posted in emergency, In The News, revolution
Tagged France
