I was in Montreal last week with my family. Honestly, I had every intention of staying there and not returning to the US, but that's another story. C'est la vie.
One of the biggest reasons we decided to be out of the country was in anticipation of last week's pseudo-State of the Union Address. I'm writing casually about this, but we absolutely dreaded some of the worst possibilities. We weren't the only ones. While there, I discovered another friend of mine had left the US for Montreal at the same time, for the same reasons. We took advantage of the opportunity and visited a wonderful cozy queer bar which I would definitely visit again, Notre Dame des Quilles (I don't like linking to Facebook, but it's what they use to promote their establishment).
It was wonderful to see each other. Both of us remarked, however, how it was difficult to talk about anything else than The Horrors. There is always beauty in the world to find and share and hold, and we did share and hold this beauty in our time together over drinks, but conversation always made its way back around. Our community is terrified, the world is a powder keg, it really is difficult to find ways to pull back from this. Everything feels so imminent. You know this, we all feel it.
Anarcho-linguistics
While I was in Montreal, on a different night, I was having a discussion over dinner with yet another friend of mine I had planned to visit, an anarchist in a similar vein as my own philosophies. My friend is originally from Spain, but we conversed in English in a Francophone city.
For those less familiar, the Spanish and the French have incredibly rich anarchist histories– histories that are rarely even mentioned in passing in the US, though to add, most USians are not actually familiar with the term anarchism as a political concept. I would love to discuss those anarchist histories more with you sometime. However, a thought entered my mind as we were discussing a particular French anarchist of the 19th century– Elisée Reclus, though he is not relevant to this story...
This friend and I had actually visited the city's Anarchist Library, Bibliothèque DIRA (more information about the space in English), a day or two beforehand and my friend had checked out a book of this author's collected works and I had skimmed through some of it, all of it in French and becoming intrigued–
Side note: It's a wonderful library and if any fellow anarchists or other interested people are in Montreal at any point, I highly recommend a visit. Coincidentally, that first friend also happened to pay a visit before they met up with me and had their own excitement over it, as well. I also spoke with one of the volunteers at the library and I'm happy to hear that there is a lively scene, network, and much leftist and queer/trans organizing going on within the city.
I speak a few languages, some better than others. My Spanish is rusty and I have always been able to read far better than I can converse, also, as I was in Montreal, j'apprends le français, mais je ne le parle pas bien. However, I realized I think I've only ever really spent significant time discussing politics in English, even if I've consumed in other languages. This is what got me thinking.
I asked my friend, "Are you received differently when you speak with people about anarchism in English, French, or Spanish?"
As expected, the answer was no and that people in every language just think of anarchism as dangerous and violent, which is ironic to anyone who has any real knowledge of it. Many of you reading this likely think of anarchism in these terms, and I extend no judgement. It's to be expected in a society that indoctrinates us and traps us within capitalist and fascist frameworks and structures from the youngest ages, myself included.
My friend went on to tell me that in Spain, most of the general population can't distinguish between Marxism and Dialectical Materialism... hold up.
Hold. the fuck. up.
This is the bar of understanding?
Before I could respond to this, my friend asked me, "What is the state of anarchism in the US?"
The state of anarchism in the US
I could barely stifle a laugh, and the shock on my face was incredibly evident.
My friend, in the US, people can't even tell you what capitalism is, and they definitely can't tell you the difference between socialism and communism, let alone anarchism. Forget about Marxism and Dialectical Materialism!
If you're one of these people who can't distinguish or describe these, it's okay, there's no judgement, keep reading this post, I have something I want to share with you.
This time I wasn't the one with the look on my face. I explained to my friend, even when I was doing my Master's degree in a political science discipline at top university alongside seasoned mid to advanced career professionals working around the world, most of my US classmates couldn't define capitalism, socialism, or communism, let alone anarchism.
I explained how most of my US classmates would argue with me that cooperative business models were capitalist because money is exchanged. I explained that I could use a phrase like each according to their ability, each according to their need and they would have no idea of its source, and the concept was something novel.
I explained that when USians hear the word anarchist they think of bombs, and when they think of socialism, they think it's the government giving them things and that communism is just the government giving you even more things but also with dictators, and that socialism is viewed as communism-liteTM, and that it also basically means Russia. I also explained that Russia means the same thing as Soviet in the minds of USians. I explained that the indoctrination is so deep among USians that even I make this linguistic and diplomatic mistake regularly– and I have friends who live in former Soviet countries, countries who never wanted to be a part of the USSR– I had even spoken to a dear friend in one of those countries that very morning. Some of these people even work in government, policy, and diplomacy. And yet I still make this mistake regularly. I blame Hollywood more than anything, honestly.
My friend made the remark that USians also are not especially known for they're knowledge of geography. So very true.
We discussed how Russia and USSR were always the boogeymen growing up. And, of course, we lamented the fact that somehow this has changed in the US in the last 6 weeks or so, and what the actual fuck?
Explaining in relatable ways
But back to my point, I have a lot of reasons for writing these newsletters, and one of them is that I believe in the need to explain concepts of power and radical politics in relatable ways. It's not the only thing, but it's one of the things that I enjoy about this writing.
I've been appreciating the growth in subscribers lately, but one thing I've been struggling with is a good problem to have– I have people of all types following these posts! Which means some of you are incredibly versed in the topics I write about, and some of you are incredibly new to many of the concepts I discuss, both of which are wonderful.
I'm going to keep writing whatever inspires me, but I had the realization as I was explaining all of this to my friend that some of my readers might struggle with the same confusion over these different terms and that I might be doing you a disservice. So, two things I want to bring up.
- I'm going to create a series of posts for y'all that define and explain these topics in clear terms for you. Subscribers will receive them in their inbox (you are subscribed, right?), but I think I might create them as living documents, as well, subject to change, so I can include links with common questions and insight. I'm going to create a new tab for these explanations in the menu of the website.
- I want to remind you all that when you receive these emails in your inbox, you can reply directly to them and if there's anything that you want clarified (or just to say hi! Or to share news, resources, etc.). This is something that I wholeheartedly welcome. Sometimes it takes me longer to respond than other times, but I do my best to read and respond to everyone (except for trolls, don't feed them) to the best of my ability, and will continue to do so for as long as I can. And yes, I do love hearing from you.
- Okay, fine, a third thing, but it's really an extension of the last. Just so that you're aware, if you are subscribed to the newsletter, for more public things, you can comment on posts by viewing any of the posts on the website (which you can do by clicking at the top of the email).
I often like to leave breadcrumbs for y'all to follow if the mood strikes you, but I do think that there is some foundational knowledge that I want to be more explicit about so that I'm not leaving anyone in the dust, and so that we're all on the same page. I hope these approaches can be helpful. Moreover, let me know if there's anything that you would like me to discuss on an individual basis or through the newsletter and website, and I'm generally happy to oblige.
no ends, only means