The Write Stuff: Letters To Squall

Anarchic Boredom

Squall 15, Summer 1997, pg. 58.

Dear Squall,

The fluffy Vs Spikey debate that I’ve read with interest in the columns of your letters page, but more energetically in others, is a nonstarter. Take all the infighting, the point-scoring and the power games in the so-called alternative, DIY, anarchist movement, multiply it by ten thousand and you have the establishment.

Respect is a fundamental principle of anarchy; respect for people, histories, culture and motivation. Just because one side doesn’t understand the other doesn’t necessitate defensive posture (read aggressive).

What about some real dialogue? The whole of the classic class structure needs an overhaul; one that doesn’t compartmentalise and divide but one that is open enough to accomodate.

There are emergent sub-cultures that need to be able to access traditional structures but are excluded by a sociological framework, or more accurately, by people who are desperately hanging on to worn out theories.

The modern middle classes are a relatively new, and rapidly mutating, phenomenon that need to be understood more fully than classification as one or two distinct groups. Come to that, so does the whole class system. To the hard-core; stop, contextualise, and embrace the new. To the fluffy, NVDA crew; understand your history.

Political and ideological in-fighting is, historically, the downfall of every exciting, social experiment when, at the root, we are all fighting for the same thing; respect.

I would love to point the finger certain misrepresentations perpetuated on both sides, but fuck it, my indignation can wait until I’ve truly understood what offends me so much and, more importantly, what insecurities motivate me to be so vociferous.

Yours in respect,
a very bored anarchist,
Derbyshire.