Biting the hand that feeds you

[Tor]

http://help.resist.ca/org.php#basis
The Resist! Collective is a group of Vancouver-based activists working at providing communications and technical services, information and education to the greater activist community. The Resist! Collective and resist.ca project grew out of the old Vancouver TAO collective which has now been disbanded. The collective is founded on anarchist principles and makes decisions using consensus.

http://users.resist.ca/~kirstena/pageanarchistgoddessclassists.html
Anarchists and Hippie Earth Mother Goddesses: Genuine Classists?

by Kirsten Anderberg (www.kirstenanderberg.com)

I have to laugh at the combativeness I can raise in people who fancy themselves progressive by hitting the "class privilege" button. You will hear anarchists, hippie Earth mothers, "goddesses," peace activists, etc. talk a radical talk, but when you talk about the very real class separation in the world, they want to just sit down and hide their heads in the sand! I can only laugh at the sheer hostility I receive from "loving goddesses" when I DARE threaten their class privilege with a mirror. I also laugh heartily at anarchists who love me until I talk about serious and real wealth redistribution, which apparently is far too real an application of anarchist principles for many American anarchists. I find so many activists want to drink their Starbuck's Latte, while driving their SUV's and "supporting" our troops, while also pretending to be against war and human oppression. When I point out the FACT that the gluttoneous American lifestyle is absolutely NOT maintainable without oppression of others not in the American middle class, such as the lower classes in America and "third world" countries we exploit for resources and labor, the American middle class gets downright volatile, whether those middle class folks are privileged white anarchists or middle class hippie mamas (aka yuppies) or Republicans.

I burst out laughing recently when I was removed from a hippie Earth mother forum, after being literally eaten alive by a bunch of women who must be feeling mighty guilty about their class privilege! Rather than deal with the issues I raised, as usual, they decided instead to try and attack my character and to twist things via semantics. But my continual clarity, drove them nuts, basically. At first, the flaming in this forum of supposed Earth mothers began when I had the audacity to proclaim that the U.S. military is NOT fighting for MY freedom and that I consider every single U.S. soldier to be supporting and engaging in a race/religious war right now, and to be paid murderers. There was no room for such clarity on a forum of middle class Earth-loving "goddess" killer supporters! I was stunned to see this group of supposed "peace activists" supporting America's killing, as if our being "positive" to EVERYTHING was more important than becoming politically ACTIVE. These "goddesses" tried to argue that soldiers need to be allowed their own "life path" and not be judged, to which I countered if your life path requires killing innocent women and children, you have to be blocked from that life path, whether you want it or not! I found these women preferred artificial peace to real peace and thereafter found all their words to be hollow and meaningless. Apparently, they came to the same conclusion about my words, saying I just wanted to cause chaos and hatred, which is what I accuse them of, but on an international scale. Unfortunately, THEIR words promote killing and hunger. My words said no killing and everyone eats. I prefer my way, yes.

The next round of flaming from these "goddesses" came when I had the nerve to proclaim that charity was different than sharing and that sharing involved dignity for all, whereas charity was about one remaining in power and doling out rewards to the "good" poor people who mind. That analysis sent these women into a frenzy, which apparently ultimately ended in me simply being unregistered from the forum and apparently all my comments banned on my own articles they leave up all over their site, as they twist my words! Apparently my articles are good enough to blanket their site, but I am not good enough to comment on my own article topics once they began to reinterpret my articles to cover their own class guilt. I stayed steadfast in my footing and did not budge that I feel the poor are exploited by the American middle class, no matter how superior the American middle class fancied itself to others, which was utterly intolerable to these hippie earth mamas.

What was interesting to me was how these women spewed hate, they had absolutely no respect for me as a human, a woman, a mother, a poor person, or an activist, yet they accused me of the crime of "hating." While I was being personally blasted and flamed intensely, these women were saying I was "enjoying the hate!" Now wait a minute. I was enjoying them hating me? What the hell? But then, my input was banned on their forums as soon as I made it clear that I was not backing down on my class analysis. And this mirrors Infoshop.org and Chuck Munson's censoring of me once I made it clear I was not backing down from my feminist analysis, so these forum owners are quite controlling like the media they proclaim to be an alternative to, using their control to influence public thought and discussion. I am banned from interacting most often if it is on the two topics I have studied the most, feminism or poverty issues. Apparently what I am saying is a danger, and let's look at who finds what I am saying threatening…that should say it all, really. Ah, what a beautiful microcosm of America. What we do not want to hear, we silence and/or kill. Right there on a progressive herbalist "goddess" or "anarchist" website. Where was the "positivity" they proclaimed reigned supreme? When it came to THEM BEING POSITIVE ABOUT MY VIEWS, forget it. I have rarely experienced such thorough hatred as I have from "goddesses" and anarchists once confronted with American class privilege. It is much easier to band together and silence me, than to look at what I am saying, which would require an entire lifestyle change based on human equality theory.

What is ironic to me, is while I am upsetting hippie Earth mother goddesses by pointing out their own gluttoneous American lifestyles and how that is not supporting the Earth or Life, I am also pissing off a hell of a lot of white middle class anarchists too! While I have these "peace activist" pro-war women screaming at me online that their brothers are fighting for my freedoms and rationalizing their class privilege as "freedom," I also have irate white alpha-anarchist males yelling at me about how much they hate hippie Earth mothers, as if they are talking about me! No, hippie Earth mothers HATE ME because I bring the political reality of class separation to the front door of feminism, and man, that hurts, apparently. The same way white male anarchists living luxuriously in the American middle class suburbs and freely taking numerous "activism" vacations a year, who NEVER have been hungry this lifetime, get really upset when I bust their class separation bubble.

I find that more often than not people try to character assassinate me, rather than actually argue issues with me. People would rather label me "too politically correct" as Chuck Munson of Infoshop did when I tried to interject feminism into his world, or they would like me to be "too angry," or "negative," as the "goddesses" preferred. But what is fascinating is the panicked manner in which these groups flee when confronted with class consciousness. I am literally villainized in many circles for my unending and noncompromising views of class separation and its harmfulness to the Earth and humans. And I am sorry, but I firmly believe in the class analysis I present. I understand poverty, homelessness, and hunger, and the insanity those things bring, and I am not shutting up for white male authoritarian "anarchists" or for middle class home owning "goddesses." I am sticking with the poor and disenfranchised, and apparently that puts me at odds with almost all progressive, as well as conservative, people and groups.

I have had to learn to laugh at the violent defensiveness American middle class people throw out, while then accusing the poor of being "hateful" if we dare complain about the class caste system in America. Apparently white male "anarchist" spokesmen know more about the woman's experience than a woman does, so we are silenced so the men can talk over us again and again in article after article in "alternative media." And if you are going to be a woman writer, you best just write about white males, like the ONLY woman-authored article in the latest Alternative Press Review magazine. And apparently people who are poor do not have any useful opinions about economic class systems, so only the middle class get to join in this discussion. And if the poor do somehow get into the discussion, they are silenced quickly, via character assassination or by forum owners banning them. And apparently goddess women can be as nasty, hateful, and negative to poor activist women as they want, but if a poor woman dare to speak with an equal tone of authority, well, the "goddesses" do not know how to handle it! What I see happening is a microcosm of banning books and writers. When I was a street performer, I was arrested for saying "What do you get when you cross a penis with a potato? A dictator." Yet Artis the Spoonman was screaming "Give me back my foreskin!" two blocks away, and Jeep was singing about balling all night while drunk one block away, and no one flinched. I was literally banned from public street performance in Santa Cruz, Ca. for my feminist views. This idea that my clarity and alarming honesty causes controversy is not new with my journalism. It happened as a feminist comedian and busker also. There have been people trying to ban my voice for decades now.

I see much of this as class prejudice, honestly. Whether you are a middle class white male anarchist who is patrolling anarchist perimeters for troublesome thinking feminists like myself, or are a middle class white "goddess" patrolling the perimeters of class privilege with blinders and assaults for anyone who shatters the illusion of being peace loving and Earth loving while supporting the rape of people and the Earth in wars, I am apparently a problem. If I talked with less clarity, it would be easier to denegrate me to the nothingness many Republicans, and anarchist men and hippie women, would like to see me reduced to. The problem is what I am saying is packed full of truth and there is no way around it. And I am relentless in my stating the Emperor has no clothes. I do not care if it is anarchists and "goddesses" who are pretending the Emperor is clothed, or if it is corporate America, the reality is the American dream is created on the backs of the American poor and "third world" countries America exploits. And I am NOT going to stop saying that, no matter how much stigma is loaded upon me by supposed radicals and progressives!

I find that almost all of the slings and arrows aimed at me are hypocritical. While the goddess women are flaming me for being negative, the irony is rich there. I have anarchists squirming because their class privilege is all of a sudden brought into question. Apparently many anarchists thought they would get to keep class separation while spewing wealth redistribution and human rights theory. They thought they would get their nice cars and hot lattes prepared for them, while others went hungry and did not think anyone, such as myself, would bust them. Apparently many home owning and SUV driving "peace activists" want to stop war, but keep on consuming at rates that far outweigh their individual production levels, passing that inequity on to the poor for their luxury. And apparently "goddesses" can get really negative and full of hate, when they feel threatened by class analysis. So, all I can do is laugh, honestly. If nothing else, I am highly effective. I have people pissed off all over the place, and mostly, when you look at WHY they are pissed off, it USUALLY has to do with my class analysis and others' class guilt. I laugh when I am called "negative" for confronting class rape of the poor, especially when that critique comes from white male middle class anarchists and predominantly white middle class "goddesses." I do not have poor people telling me to shut up or calling me "too angry." I see middle class people doing that, solely.

The remaining trend is the poor need to be exploited and silenced for the American middle class. Even American middle class anarchists and Earth mothers exploit the poor and try to justify it. Whether you are the poor in the American mainstream, in Iraq as a poor mother in a war zone, or a poor woman involved in anarchy, you still are expected to sit down and shut up by those with class privilege, whether the privileged be "anarchists" or Republicans. And the fact that I do not do that is what has everyone riled up and so shocked. The fact that I speak with equal authority, conviction, and facts to back up my beliefs, to those who are class privileged in America, has people really flustered and trying to figure out how to silence me. It is interesting that I have found the one thing that threatens American radicals more than feminism, and that is poverty activism.

I think at this point, most radicals would prefer I went back to feminism and laid off the class activism. But the class activism INCLUDES feminism. My feminism LEAD to class activism. So, I am not turning back. And I am sure of what I am saying. So, it is up to others to now discredit me, character assassinate me, and to silence me in whatever way their powers allow them to, but reality is, I am still talking. And I am not stopping until I am dead. Anarchists, goddesses, Earth mothers, peace activists, etc. will just have to deal with that. They will call ME divisive for busting THEIR class separation! They will call ME "too politically correct" for staying the course. But I am convinced the poor are being used profoundly by the American middle class, and that women are relegated to poverty more than men due to sexism, and that these topics are essential to ANY talks about war, peace, feminism, human rights, health, anarchy, collectives, utopia, etc. As I have said over and over, "NO PEACE UNTIL EVERYBODY EATS!" Exceptions? None!
©Kirsten Anderberg. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint/publish, please contact Kirsten at kirstena@resist.ca

[Tom]

after being literally eaten alive by a bunch of women

..and we thought chuck was bad!

[Aaron]

Bah, the more of Kirsten Anderberg's writings I read, the more I see her as an opportunist, and the less I consider her an anarchist. I mean, honestly, nobody joins an anarchist collective expecting to make a living from it. She'd be better off working at McDonald's.

[Tom]

Even if thats true (im undecided), it doesnt invalidate most of what she writes.

[Guest]

you knw what, that's a great fucking essay.

i don't doubt that kirsten is volatile. unless there was some physical biting going on, her use of the word "literally" is, of course, incorrect.

however, what ese is there in this article that doesn't jive with your view of the world? my experience with hippies is that they are synonymous with selfishness. earth mommas are the queens of denial and defenders of their (upper) class privs. and sexism amoung male anarchists, particularly white anarchists from the USA, Spain, and Italy, is extremely obvious.

it was just the other day that a "conscious" person i know was saying "i don't like to hear about what is happening in iraq, it disturbs the peace of my mind." duh...

[Guest]

Kirsten needs to get help as soon as possible. Not just financial help but some serious counseling. Right now she is just hurting herself with this lashing out at friends and comrades.

[Guest]

kirsten isn't an anarchist. plain and simple. she's a leftist (and hence totalitarian) as is obvious from her support for welfare, PC thought control, and other statist institutions and doctrines.

[tsihcrana laicos]

you knw what, that's a great fucking essay.

i don't doubt that kirsten is volatile. unless there was some physical biting going on, her use of the word "literally" is, of course, incorrect.

however, what ese is there in this article that doesn't jive with your view of the world? my experience with hippies is that they are synonymous with selfishness. earth mommas are the queens of denial and defenders of their (upper) class privs. and sexism amoung male anarchists, particularly white anarchists from the USA, Spain, and Italy, is extremely obvious.

it was just the other day that a "conscious" person i know was saying "i don't like to hear about what is happening in iraq, it disturbs the peace of my mind." duh...

Thats a pretty crappy essay.

I am a hippy, yet about as selfish everyone else i know.

Earth mommas are upper class?

Sexism is usually obvious, among many groups.

[Post_industrial]

I think Kristens articles are shit.

I find her work offensive, and I think she does more harm to her cause then good.

Doesnt mean I support chuck censoring her, but I seriously cant stand her work.

[The Black Flag]

I seriously can't help but to wonder if she'd insult me for not being poor as hell. Sure, I'm alot better off than most, but that doesn't mean I'm going to burn my house down in the name of anarchism. I'm an anarchist person surviving in a capitalist society. So, untill I find a way around capitalism (or straight through it, preferably), I'm stuck working just like most.

[Guest]

I am a hippy, yet about as selfish everyone else i know.

...

[Din]

Sexism is usually obvious, among many groups.

I would say that sexism is more often than not subtle rather than obvious. Ditto with racism today. One does not need to shout insults out loud or physically abuse another to hold discriminating viewpoints and to commit marginalizing actions against an entire group of people.

[Guest]

I seriously can't help but to wonder if she'd insult me for not being poor as hell. Sure, I'm alot better off than most, but that doesn't mean I'm going to burn my house down in the name of anarchism. I'm an anarchist person surviving in a capitalist society. So, untill I find a way around capitalism (or straight through it, preferably), I'm stuck working just like most.

reminds me of the so called "cultural revolution" of Mao. Maoists would go around to people and smash their things because their things look more "luxurious" or "better" and they ended up smashing a lot of unique things that have nothing to do with how rich a person is but have sentimental value and are priceless.

stupid maoists

[Tom]

Privalidge is more than simply money. It's a complex subject that has more to do with attitudes that are the result of sheltered, financially comfortable existences than how much money you own.

The essay doesn't say "stop having money!" In fact, most articles she writes involve her complaining about not having money, and then saying she could do with getting more...so it's obviously not comfortable living thats her problem, because she's quite vocal about the fact that she'd like to live comfortably and never has..however people who have lived comfortably, and then give themselves a radical tag, retain attitudes from their middle-class upbringing that reflects how they act, eg sexism, racism , etc, no matter how subtle.

Her problem, imo, is that she approaches two completely legitimate and large problems knowing that it'll tread on a lot of people's toes, and proceeds to attack it in a slightly rambling way in which she doesnt really focus her anger. It's like trying to open a nut by firing a flame thrower at it.

Of course, on the other hand, it's as much the problem of the people reading it who immediately get riled and denounce it as "leftist PC rubbish" without looking at it any closer.

[Aaron]

retain attitudes from their middle-class upbringing that reflects how they act, eg sexism, racism , etc, no matter how subtle.

Sexism and racism are middle-class attitudes?

Anyway, from my experience, the problem with people from middle-class and upper-class upbringings is that they have a severe lack of understanding of the situation of the poor. They also tend to have an attachment to their privilege.