My place in antifa

I recently read an article on the ABC news site that gave me a lot to think about.

=> Anti-vax group My Place is pushing to take 'control of council decisions'

The "extreme" group described in this article could - with a few details swapped - easily be an actively-recruiting anarchist group. Instead, it's a conspiracy-fuelled group that is, at best, at risk of collapsing into a fascist spiral. As I read this I thought about what passes for Australia's "extreme Left" - mostly fossilised Marxist and Anarchist groups of various flavours, constantly at each others throats, sepnding most of their time reminiscing about long-dead European men and calling on unnamed powers to "stop racism".

If Australia had a tactically and strategically sophisticated, united Left, groups like My Place would be full of the same people doing much the same things, but instead of talking about 5G brain implants and global conspiracies they would recognise that the real "global power" is something much more sinister, a whole economic system that no longer requires a smoke-filled room of conspiracists to maintain it. I mean, there are awful people - mostly awful men - conspiring to maintain their power and privilige, but the system (re)produces them as much as they reproduce it.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this on and off for a week or so, because whilst it's easy to complain about "the Left", it's not as if I'm doing anything active here. The question is, as always, "What is to be done?". An inspiration of thoughts came today in the form of the latest episode of "Anarchist Essays" podcast. Spencer Beswick talks about the actions of American anarchists in the 1980s, coming out of the punk scene to fight - both figuratively and quite literally - the growing fascist and white supremicist movemements.

=> Anarchist Anti-Fascism

Beswick explains the background to these events, and the creation of "Love and Rage", the group that brought Black Bloc tactics to the USA. I've long been sceptical about the utility of the Black Bloc - it's always seemed unsettlingly performative and testosterone-fuelled to me. But Beswick's background on Love and Rage's backstory provides more context. Whilst I would probably never join such a group - my slight frame makes me an unlikely street figher - ni the original context I have a fair bit of admiration for those who were willing to take on violent facsists directly and physically, to run them out of town in a very literal sense.

I'm not really convinced that "street fighters" is what is needed in Australia right now - the very extreme right arent actually strong enough right now for this to be needed or useful. Having said that, I'm happy for people interested in taking them on to start preparing. Mor e importantly, those of us who consider ourselves leftists need to grapple with how to reach the sort of people attracted to My Place. Much of their analysis is right - powerful people who don't care about most of us largely do call the shots. Australia is indeed not a true democracy. It would certainly be better for us to look after each other in close community with low wastage. These people are crying out for community, for support, for a way to make sense of a world that seems to not make a lot of sense, and that doesn't seem to offer much support, care, or justice. The problem is that right wing propaganda and organision is more convincing and appealling than left wing propaganda and organisation. The question I'm mulling is what contribution I can make towards tipping that balance.