Power to the Peaceful Festival Photos

power to the privileged white liberals....bad dancing, expensive food, and tye-dye clothing will end the war and bring social justice.

Obviously you weren't there anrako.

If you were you would have found many kinds of people, even a circle of cranky anarchists like you stewing in revolutionary hatred of bath tubs.

This event was free you whining bastard.

P.S. thanks for these lovely photos

i agree with anarcho and this "anarko" was there


ps thanks for the pictures

I bet most of the people in attendance would have danced just as merrily if the banner above the stage had said something mindless like "US Troops Should Keep The Peace" instead of "Bring 'Em Home."

These good vibes confabs are an embarrassment and do NOTHING to end the carnage in Iraq. Indeed, their net effect is negative, I'd wager.

"If you were you would have found many kinds of people, even a circle of cranky anarchists like you stewing in revolutionary hatred of bath tubs. "

Actually that was the skill share Crystal meth making workshop. Anarchists are smart don't use bathtubs that have been used to make meth. Good for them, hopefully there will be a lot more awake revolutionaries.

"what? you mean counter culture hippy festivals wont stop the war? what? oh, i get it, youre one of these bring the war home types. thats harsh, dude! what? what do you mean the war is already here? oh, i see... it has been here all along. damn. and ive just been too busy patting myself on the back for being enlightened to notice? too buried under my bumper stickers, back issues of the nation, crappy music and passive aggressive cowardice masquerading as pacifism to do anything to fight the class war at home? man, maybe i really do suck. well hold that thought dude, i gotta get up front for this bitchin set. cant talk now, here, have the rest of my 8 dollar kebab. later!"

having fun sometimes sucks, right anarko?

Because if you show that you like to have fun and actually enjoy music and life and have a sense of humor and aren't all wrapped up to the hilt in being PC... then you might get dissed by people who think they are (oops) more PC than you.

Ya know, if you don't like the $8 kebabs, why not bring your own grub? Were they checkin yer circle A bag as you came in the gate for contraband food? sheesh.

no they didnt check my bag. no i didnt eat (xcept for some FNB). no theres nothing wrong with havin fun either.

the problem is that so many of these folks think they are doing something *for someone else* when in reality, they are doing somthing *for themselves*. thats how the whole fucking thing is billed they come to this thing and they think its an event about making the world a better place, and its not. and its not just this event its the entire "left" and the whole damn "movement".

these people (aggregate) out there sat had power, for sure, cuz their demographic is hella powerful -- not because they are peaceful (cuz they arent). and im talking about the hippies and liberals here not the organizer/opportunist types like me or the commies or the anarchists or the or the vendors that use the festival but never really get anywhere because getting these hippies to do more than have a picnic or dance is fucking intractable.

well thats not exactly true the vendors do great cuz getting liberals to spend $ is about the only thing it is easy to do. as long as you dont ask em to do anything or scare em too bad. anyway... yeah i was there for business not pleasure, i still had an ok time, saw friends, and antiflag was fun, but whatever...

i have nothing against 8 dollar kababs or the folks that sell em. i had 0 dollars in my wallet, so i couldnt eat anything even if i wanted to. in fact, im thinking about having our own booth next year. milk the liberals. those booths are the best thing to do at that concert, and next year im gonna see if my group can put one together.

It would be one if this were billed as, and understood to be, a break from the hard, on-the-ground work of building a counter-power to the power of the system. But that's not what they are. They're instead, *in effect*, a way to blow off steam dressed up in all the conceits of alterna-hippiedom. The ruling class--including shitballs like Gavin Newsome (who was an invited guest)--considers these "power to the peaceful" events about as threatening to their power as the latest issue of People Magazine.

The event looked pretty cool, I wish I could heve been there. Most of the whiners posting here seem like utter bores. The first commentator is a a total guilt ridden idiot-- complaining about "priviledged" white people" dancing. Yes Dancing!!!!!

And then you have whiners complaining about food prices. The fuckin event was free!!!!! They probably want somebody to wipe their ass for them too.

And then we have sad Aaron complaining about how the event didn't live up to his revolutionary standards.

I really am just sooooo impressed by cranky, self-righteous windbag "revolutionaries" who denounce events that they neither organized nor attended.... who make gross, sweeping generalizations about huge crowds of people whom they have no actual details about other than a few fucking pictures... and who toss around crass stereotypes that serve only to minimize the value and dignity of the persons toward whom they aimed.

Way to go, Aaron! I sure hope I can be part of _your_ revolution... it sounds like it'll totally ROCK! Are we gonna re-animate Josef Stalin for that one, or will you kindly volunteer to take his place?

Hippies been dancing forty years. If it was going to transform anything, it would have happened by now.

Get a fuckin life.

"dont tease me for being a dancing priveleged liberal hipppy. its only dancing. so stop it. just stop it. cant you see im only dancing, dammit? dont you know that puts me above reproach? grrr. why wont you just stop denouncing me? im only dancing... just dancing... just... zippity doo day zippity day, my oh my what a wonderful day...... above reproach and im havin a nice day .... hurricane doo dah, iraquity yay."

Lots of back biting here. The faux-revolutionary mileu of cultural movements has been along string of disappointments for me too. The Dead Kennedys ended up where they are now; Public Enemy came, went, and came back; the underground DIY p-rock/hardcore scene is about as open and democratic as [fill in the blank with your choice of a hated vanguard group]. To paraphrase some dead german with a drinking problem "music is the opiate of the masses" meaning it helps people in a piss poor situation feel better for a little while.

It is the obligation of people with a broader and deeper veiw of the events in the world, and strategies for addressing those to spread their ideas. It is assinine to assume that a "correct revolutionary line" is going to magically spring out of the head of anyone. Especially people who grew up in this culture.

I agree that Franti/Williams/Anti-Flag/skating and the Dalai-Lama aren't the solution, but neither are a bunch of IMC trolling haters. We need to find a way to move people attracted to events like this to concious political action. We don't need to sound like a bunch of self-righteous know it alls. That is assuming the goal is revolutionary change.

Michael Franti and Spearhead live what they preach. I am a devoted spearite and go to every spearhead show i can. i am a hippie/activist from the 60's generation and i'm so happy that Michael Franti has picked up the new peace movement and continues to tell it like it is about our present day government and the War in Iraq. I feel that Franti is a modern day phrophet who has continued with the teachings of Ghandi, Jesus, John Lennon and all other peace activists of the 60's peace movement. angel

Don't worry "anarcho."

We were all in your shoes at one point in our lives. Being in your 20s and pissed off that you live in a capitalist society and will be forced to compete if you want to pay the rent is a totally justified anger. Life should be more just, and this system is unfair, and war started by corporate stooges sucks. We all agree.

But when you attack people for gathering and dancing and enjoying a sunny day, you seem petty. What kind of world do we want to see? Doesn't if feel good to just BE that world now and then?

We all live in this screwed up society, most of us are activists, and we deserve a party once a year to be with our friends and have fun.

Eventually you will quit hating your parents and you will get laid and everything will fall into place and life will seem less daunting.

Until then, pick on fascists and donate you time to helping the poor. Picking on harmless hippies and their grandkids is just annoying behavior that deserves to be smacked down by your community.

Consider yourself scolded.

I'm against calling dancing anything other than having a good time. Go ahead, Dance your asses off while poor people die all around you, and the planet goes to hell in a hand basket. But don't tell us you're saving the world, because that's a crock of shit. You're getting your rocks off, nothing more. It helps no one but yourselves.

<i>I'm against calling dancing anything other than having a good time. Go ahead, Dance your asses off while poor people die all around you, and the planet goes to hell in a hand basket. But don't tell us you're saving the world, because that's a crock of shit. You're getting your rocks off, nothing more. It helps no one but yourselves.</i>

Some people bitch about others and some people help others.

You can type how apathetic everyone is to your hearts content, but you really are accomplishing anything yourself by doing so.

We see in others what we know to be true within ourselves.

Neither are unsubstantiated allegations.

Just asNero strummed his lyre while Rome burned, George Bush strummed a guitar while New Orleans drowned.

And hippies danced.

This is a fact. If you don't believe me, scroll up and look at the pictures.

They danced while people were drowning. A city was dying and they held a party. Excuse me while I go puke.

I talked to many people at this festival face-to-face and found people who are giving back in a big way in their communities and working to make the world a better place. This was just their party day to celebrate. A concert is not a revolutionary act, and nobody claimed it was.

But cranky 'anarchists' find it easier to judge and discount people who they haven't even sat down with and had a conversation. It happens to every 'true believer' whether it be a Born-Again Christian or a 'Revolutionary Anarchist.' Arrogance knows no political boundaries.

Unless you are on the streets of New Orleans handing out soup, you have no right to judge people who are living their lives, taking care of families, doing good work on a daily basis.

Being a contrarian is a fun way to bring attention to oneself.

But it's a little sad and juvenile. And now anarcho and company are defensive because we called you guys on your shit.

Just admit you rushed to judgement and your torment will end.

P.S. We forgive you.

so it seems we've brought the apologists out of the woodwork.

anarchists: note to self, next year, just get a food booth, and $gouge$ the fuck out of the liberals and hippies. alot small portion of the profit to post-festival alcohol purchase and wash away the bad taste in mouth (PTPTTPS - post traumatic power to the peaceful syndrome).

then spend rest of $ on actual organizing efforts - the kind of stuff most of these sloppy, floppy, loopy festival-going bastards wouldn't touch with a 12 foot pole.

but with surley attitudes you may not grow the 'mass movement' you hope for. because nobody wants to 'organize' the revolution with a bunch of cranks who never have fun.

try being less judgemental about people on your side and perhaps your revolution will come sooner.

Two qoutes seem appropriate...

"It takes less mental effort to condemn than to think."

"If I can't dance, I don't want to join your revolution."

- both by emma goldman

Doesn't if feel good to just BE that world now and then?

yeah, of course it does. making myself feel good. hmmm. and its so deceptively easy when im white priveleged educated and liberal. you know, it just makes me wonder, why arent more people priveleged and educated and liberal. and white... like me.

Doesn't it feel good? Yes, yes it sure does. For now.

i know someone who used to play with Franti. apparently, he's a royal fake. drives a SUV too.

To skeptic (and the other anti-fun idiots): You are indeed against people dancing because they're not working on your version of the revolution. You've complained at least two times on this thread about it. You're a fucking turd, a loser, and dipshit all rolled into one

Look how peaceful the "power to the peaceful" people are when their self-congragulatory little hippie-groovy day in the sun is criticized.

Apparently, we must all hail this embarrassing spectacle lest we be baited as being against "fun." Personally, I'd rather take my alienation straight. If I wanna have fun I'd prefer to be spared mindless "peace" rhetoric and self-amazed bores like Franti.

Aaron-- I'm not endorsing the event or Franti-- I didn't even go. I just can't stand people who rag on others for enjoying themselves. You're in that camp, sourpuss.

Was the vanguard too busy feeling alienated to go out and organize a huge population that was completely open-minded to hearing your story? Or was no one was biting? Maybe you are selling the wrong revolution?

"If you want money for people with minds that hate, all I have to tell you brother is, you'll have to wait."

don't blame the liberal folk who work hard every day to feed their kids. go out and organize them. get to work, anarchists.

until the cows come home. but it's not going to change your humorless world one iota. You can "take (your) alienation straight", eh?

All right then. Enjoy it. Revel in it. But I personally would recommend that you get over it. Alienation is not going to attract a hell of a lot of support or interest, whether intellectually, politically or otherwise. But hey, spin your wheels if that's the best you can do.

And as for those dancing hippies. They're really not hurting anyone. You want to rag on someone who's hurting others worldwide or locally, there's no shortage of better targets.

I have to say I'm really getting rather tired of all the people who whine about what others do and say, and yet have no solutions to offer that aren't coated in caustic superiority. Winning hearts and minds, you betcha.

Listen-- I'm not gonna expend more time then I've spent on this forum--about twenty minutes--ripping on the "power to the peaceful" fest. But in those twenty minutes or so I'm gonna speak my mind. Sorry for being so "unfun," all you tolerant, blissed-out peaceheads. I hope it doesn't bring you down from that wonderful buzz you got the other day.

I've just seen enough of these events in my time growing up in the Bay Area. They don't amount to anything. Personally, I find them boring, self-satisfied, and predictable.

If that was all, though, I wouldn't cap. But that's not all. These events purport to being something real and oppositional. They aren't. The implicit message is that an accumulation of "peace-out" events will change shit. It depresses me that mediocre music with peace signs attached draws more people than real demonstrations and actions that might crimp the war-mongers and profiteers style.

Proof that volunteering makes you A) look good B) get chicks.

funny thing is, i've gone to the anachist book fair and other such events for years, and there is never any real organizing done there, aside from the same set up--tabling and book selling... and it's all internal.

i think you're preaching to the choir--these people aren't your enemy. i won't repeat what's been said in response, but you have to admit we aren't doing so much in respect to organizing in the anarchist community... not on any massive or measurable scale, anyway. the grass roots stuff is important too, but who are we affecting when we're all patting each other on the back at how we've managed to keep true to something?

who do we touch? i want to see that same passion applied to something useful... it's growing stale, and the black hoodies and 'fuck it' attitude seems incongruent with action that you seem to advocate so strongly for... something great is lost in all of that elitist, and seperatist rhetoric...

come back to the beginning. why do you care? why do you want things to be different? what does that world look like? how do you make it happen?

anarchists are motivated from the heart, by an integrity that desires to raise conciousness and see human beings and our world become what we know is possible. we value community we work for this because it's the only way we can LIVE. i don't see any room for hate or loathing in that... that is the tool of the opposition...

>i've gone to the anachist book fair and other such events for years, and there is never any real organizing done there,


Sure there is. If it doesn't involve you, personally, that says more about you than it does about the fair.

I'm not against having party. But there is a time and a place for everything. Having a party while a hundred thousand poor people are up to their chins in sewage is just plain disrespectful. That goes for for Burning Man, too.

At best, it's insensitive. At worst, it's a slap in the face. If I was up to my chin in sewage and I heard you people were having a party instead of trying to rescue me, my first inclination would be to smack the next one of you I saw upside the head. But that's just me. Maybe people in New Orleans have bigger hearts than I do. You'd better hope so.

That's right, of course there was organizing. Very productive organizing.

Remember, that's how the war was stopped, Bush was impeached, racism was ended, and the poor were taken care of. All of the organizing at the bookfair. Way to go people!

It wasn't a self-congratulatory and masturbatory hoorah for and by mostly white anarchists after all.

Of course, if there's anything bad going on anywhere in the world at the next bookfair, we expect you to cancel it. War, starvation, poverty, and racism don't count obviously as that's never been enough to stop you before.

The problem with PttP isn't that some people have fun while others aren't. The problem with it is that it's (in the main) a canned, new-agey, mentally-soft form of fun. While I accept that any large event with a "good message" contains possibilities, PttP mobilizes nobody new--all it does is allow for a bit of steamletting with no strategy attached. Its impact didn't reach past those in attendance. That's the definition of ineffectual.

I'm sorry if you fun-mongers are unwilling to countenance a political critique of an ostensibly political event

(btw, I don't consider myself an anarchist--and I don't aim to "organize the anarchist community"--so I'm not gonna get pulled into diversionary brand wars."

>if there's anything bad going on anywhere in the world at the next bookfair, we expect you to cancel it.

That's an invalid analogy. The book fair is not a party. People come there to learn, teach and network. The fun is incidental.



>that's how the war was stopped, Bush

More bunk logic.

See:

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-ridicule.html

Guys like Bush come and go. So do wars. They are only symptoms, anyhow. The real problem is structural. As such, it's going to take some time to solve. You need to learn how to look past the next demo, the next president, the next war, the next catastrophe. It's not about the short today. It's about the long tomorrow.

We're in protracted struggle, we know it, and we're in it for the long haul. We're into our second century already. If it takes another century, so be it. If it takes us another five centuries, so be that too. We will not give up just because we don't get instant gratification. We're more mature than that. Besides, insurrection not revolution. We must not get them confused. Think of it like this. Revolution is like sex. Insurrection is like orgasm. Just 'cuz you ain't cum yet don't mean you ain't having sex. And the longer you put off the orgasm, the bigger it is when you do cum.

Also, we learned a great lesson in Spain. It took sixty years of organizing to get to that point, and we still lost. We wont make that mistake again. Capitalism is global. So too, must be our response. There are no national solutions to global problems. Next time we rise it must be everywhere at once. That's the only way we can win. If it takes another six decades, so be it. If it takes another sixty, so be that, too. We've risen before we were ready too many times to do it again. We know better now. Isolated pockets of sporadic resistance are not enough. Capitalism is too tenacious a beast to die from a nip at its ankle. We must drive a stake through its heart once and for all. That will take being organized on a global basis. We aren't yet. Do the math.

We have a lot of social and physical infrastructure to build before we are ready rise on the scale that the task requires. That's where we who can see past the blinders of our own lives today are organizing. You people with short attention spans, should go build another puppet or something. Learn some new chants. Have a party, even. Just don't get in the way of long term organizing.

When you grow up a little and start worrying about what kind of world your grandkids will live in, you'll start thinking a little further into the future. Then you'll be ably to put tactics into perspective, and focus on what really counts, logistics. Without sound logistics, even the best tactics and strategy are doomed.

Strategy, tactics and logistics are three legs of a stool. Without sound logistics, the stool falls over and you're flat on your ass. We know this from experience. Never again.


> steamletting

Steamletting is wasteful. Only the enemy gains when we waste. Better our steam should drive turbines.

"Sure there is. If it doesn't involve you, personally, that says more about you than it does about the fair."

Except it sortof does speak about the Fair in that many people like the person who complained above can't find an easy way to plug in to activism at the bookfair because the anarachist style of organizing often resembles a social clique. Many people cant find a way to plug in and the dynamic of how one gets involved unfortunately also results in a severe lack of diversity.

"I'm not against having party. But there is a time and a place for everything. Having a party while a hundred thousand poor people are up to their chins in sewage is just plain disrespectful. That goes for for Burning Man, too."

That just seems like a cheap blow. You could call a benefit concert a party...

"At best, it's insensitive. At worst, it's a slap in the face. If I was up to my chin in sewage and I heard you people were having a party instead of trying to rescue me"
Most people cant just run down to New Orleans to help. You would have to be indpendently wealthy or have a really flexible job to be able to do that.

I really am not into the whole hippie scene either and didnt go to PTTP for that reason but I think the underlying problem people have with it isnt political and thus all this denunciations are counterproductive. If you dont like the music or subculture and prefer a different style, dont go to an event like that. But dont go denouncing other people for your musical and subcultural preference and pretend its a political disagreement. You can try to pretend that the specific subculture in question is classist or racist but the crowd at PTTP was more diverse in terms of both class and race than most activist only events. A lot of these denunciations go back to the problem of many Anarchist organizations often just resembling highschool social cliques where punks hate hippies and one gets status within ones social group by trying to humiliate members of some other social group that mainly differs from your own in terms of musical taste or clothes style. Its not an inherent problem with anarchism but it is a problem with much of the Bay Area anarchist community.

>Except it sortof does speak about the Fair in that many people like the person who complained above can't find an easy way to plug in to activism at the bookfair because the anarachist style of organizing often resembles a social clique.

Some people find it very easy. If you don't, then you don't belong. Go organize your own project. The more people organizing the more projects the better. You don't need us to hold your hand. You're gown ups. Hold your own hands. If you do need someone to hold your hand, you don't have what it takes to be an anarchist. You'd be better off as a slave-drone. Go find a master. Do what he says. You'll a be happier person.


>Many people cant find a way to plug in and the dynamic of how one gets involved unfortunately also results in a severe lack of diversity.

That's a guess on your part. You demonstrate no causal relationship. Diversity is complex issue. One aspect of diversity we strenuously avoid. If you need your hand held, we don't want you. Go join something else. People like you are a burden. If you can pull your own weight, think your own thoughts and take your own responsibility, then yeah, you're welcome. We don't care who your parents were or what your first language was. Otherwise, you don't have what it takes. Go away.


> just seems like a cheap blow. You could call a benefit concert a party...

That's my visceral reaction. If I lived in New Orleans, I'm exactly the kind of person who would have been left behind to die because I don't own a car. So I identify with those people more than I do with the rescuers. I can very easily imagine the lot you throwing a party while I drowned in toxic sludge. And it p*sses me off. That's how I feel. If that bothers you, you can kiss my *ss.

What, you'd prefer I be diplomatic and lie about it? Gimme a break. Ain't gonna happen.

As for benefit concerts, they are at best a necessary evil. Personally, I think there's something fundamentally wrong with people who wont give to a good cause unless you entertain them. But there they are, so we cater to their spiritual vacancy because we have to. It's that or rob banks for money, and throwing a concert is safer and easier.



>Most people cant just run down to New Orleans to help. You would have to be indpendently wealthy or have a really flexible job to be able to do that.

Then donate. I recommend the Bay Area Radical Health Collective. They have people on the ground there at this very minute.

Contact: liz [at] black-rose.com

There are also at least a thousand evacuees in the Bay Area already, and hundreds and hundreds of pets, and more on the way. Go help some. You can do it in your spare time, without taking off from work.

Also, if you don't have a flexible work schedule, IMHO, you need a different job. Time is life. Who owns yours, you or the capitalists?

As for social cliques, we call them affinity groups. The fact of the matter is that, whatever their politics, people who like each other personally work together better than people who don't. This is a fact of life. It's not about politics. It's about biology. Instead of fighting this natural human tendency, we put it to work by making the affinity group the basic unit of our society.

If certain people don't want you, personally, in their affinity group, try another one. If that doesn't work, go start your own. If no one wants to work with you, that's not their fault. It's yours. You're doing something wrong. Change.


>the crowd at PTTP was more diverse in terms of both class and race than most activist only events.

So what? So is the crowd at SBC Park. They don't accomplish much either. Stop fetishizing diversity at the expense functionality. What is important is what is accomplished in the long run, not who shows up to work on it any particular day. Build a viable alternative to capitalism and people will flock to it. In the meantime, you're just jerking off.



>it is a problem with much of the Bay Area anarchist community.

(1.) It's not a problem. A problem is something that gets in your way. Really, look it up. Differing tastes in entertainment does not get in our way. Last night at the book store meeting, for example, two new people volunteered. One is punk and the other sings opera.

What is a problem is that people in the Bay Area, not just anarchists but every body, tend to identify themselves by their favorite way to enjoy themselves, their favorite music, their favorite foods, their favorite sex acts, etc. It's the bourgeois self indulgence of a decadent society. That does get in our way. It means, for example, that people who oppose factory farms because they produce meat wont work with people who oppose factory farms because they produce unhealthy meat. Cui bono? That's one example. There are too many to list. Yeah, that sh*t gets in all our way, bigtime.

(2.) It's not peculiar to the Bay Area anarchist community. It's part of the human condition. Human beings gather together around mutual interests. It's a fact of life. It happens all over. Cricket fans don't go to baseball games. Opera fans don't show up in mosh pits. So what? There's enough cultural events for everybody. What a sad, grim and boring world it would be if we all only liked one kind of fun.

What a sad, grim and *frighting* world it is where the capitalists rule because we wont unite against them because we are too bourgeois, decedent and self indulgent to see past our own personal tastes. It is a key characteristic of Bay Area culture that people around here tend to care more about each others personal tastes than they do about ethnicity, gender, orientation or age. If you don't believe me, go see the Cold Cut Trio play sometime. They play, according to their ad, "weddings, parties, picnics, protests, and funerals." Find one. Check them out. Not only will you get to see a young Black woman tear it up on bluegrass fiddle, you'll get to see who she gets to dancing. You want diversity? There's your diversity. When the show is over, just like when any show is over, they all go home, they sleep, they get up in the morning and they go back to working for capitalists. Nothing changes.

That's a problem.

This whole discussion is totally overblown.

It's as bad as a KPFA board meeting.

No wonder the left never gets anything done. We spend too much time arguing about stupid shit.

P.S. Anyone with enough spare time to 'politically critique' a day in the park is certainly a member of the bourgousie. So quit casting stones.

we cannot evolve politically. If you don't have enough time to do it, you're working to hard. Find a new boss. If you claim you don't have enough time to do it yourself, but you do have enough time to criticize others for doing it, you're part of the problem. Do us all a favor. Die off and quit wasting air.

With another whitey shouting that, no wonder the bookfair is 99% white and completely non-representative of the diversity in the Bay Area.

Kind of like you already have to be "in" the club, know the codewords, to join it.

It is certainly not a mystery that the anarchist community is not growing and not very influential beyond its cloistered social cliques with organizers being so hostile to outsiders.

What are you trying to accomplish here? Are you trying to make the world a better place, or are you trying to stop others fro making the world a better place? It sounds to me like the latter, in which case, you're part of the problem. Die off. Quit wasting air.

If you have something constructive to say, come talk to my face. I'm always open to constructive suggestions. we all are. Otherwise, you're part of the problem, and we want nothing to do with you.

Our influence is growing slowly because we're building something to last, unlike the flash in the pan Bolshies whose influence came and went in a single human lifetime. We're patient because we have to be. Patience is the key to victory in any asymmetrical struggle. If you lack the psychological maturity to forego instant gratification in order to reach a greater goal, then you don't have what it takes to be an anarchist. Go away. Anarchism isn't for everyone. It's for people with vision, tenacity and above all patience. Do you have what it takes? If so, we welcome you with open arms. If you are going to criticize without constructing, go away. You're not one of us. We're here to build a new world, not to whine about the old but do nothing to change it. If you want to help build the new world, then help build the new world. If you want to whine but not work, go away.

if you don't like the book fair, either start your own and make it be better, join us in improving the one we have, or STFU. If all you're going to do is whine, you're a useless waste of skin and we don't care what you think.

You were piling on an event that wasn't to your taste, calling it insensitive amongst other things, noting that yours was sooo much better, more productive, whatever.

And now you cry and up the hostility when the shoe is on the other foot.

It's your hostility and unwelcoming attitude that keeps people from appreciating anarchism, not people pointing that out.

"dish it out but cannot take it"

That pretty much sums it up.

I actually enjoyed the Bookfair and didnt go to PTTP because I dont like those kinds of events. Its hard to put one's finger exactly on the problem with the Anarchist community here that annoys me but I think the responses above reflect a lot of the problem. In terms of much of the anarchist critique of events like this, I get a picture in my head of a table of cool kids in a highschool cafeteria making snide remarks about the other kids who dont fit in. Just as most highschool students have learned not to complain about the social hierarchies that are seeds of later political and economic inequalities, it doesnt pay to bring up issues about the mean and alienating behavior of many Anarchists. A simple call to "stop throwing tatertots on the skinny kid with glasses" is bound to just get you a wedgie.

Ideologically Anarchism sounds great and my biggest problem with Socialists and Communists is the tendency for many such groups to excuse autoritarian behavior. But power relationships are not always written down on paper and the unoffical power heirarchies that detemine whats cool and hip have just as much of a real effect in the real world. Social class and economic classes keep their rigitity partly because of cultural differences that are based on knowledge of what clothes or music are in, who to quote, who to make fun of ... (even large corporations will openly based their hiring policies off whether the person interviewing "seems like a good fit" into the social enviornment of the office)
In activist communities some of the status symbols that display to others that one is part of the "in crowd" are partially obscured by politics (company A may be horrible but to shun an outsider for wearing clothes made by them or listening to music produced by them is partially an unconcious way for the group to screen to see if someone is already part of the social scene and is at the root of much xenophobia) While the reason one becomes an activist is usually a desire to help others the normal human desire to impress and gain status within social groups manifests itself in activist communitise in the same way as any other group. Group boundaries are most threatened by ones that are similar to a given group since they tend to occupy similar social niches. Anarchist attacks on less political hipsters (people who go to events like PTTP) and less hipsterish political groups (like ANSWER, the ISO, less radical single issue activist groups...) can be seen in this light. The unwelcoming feel of the Bay Area Anarchist community to outsiders is likewise similar to the social need for highschool cliques to require some form of initiation that involves at least mild humiliation until one can be seen as a legitimate part of the group and be invited to the cool parties. In a highschool environment the humiliation may mainly consist of making fun of peoples clothes and music until they act the same as the rest of the group, but in an Anarchist scene political humiliation plays a similar role (although music and clothes do seem to matter too).

>Except it sortof does speak about the Fair in that many people like the

On the Bookfair...I like the event, but don't fool anyone by saying it is organizing, it is a place for mainly book distro joints to make some serious money. That is fine, it is great to support collective projects and get more information and knowledge. But organizing? Oh yeah there is the soccer game organizing and the Karival organizing, and the organization that is needed to make the event happen, any other organizing is based in social cliche circles. Some call it security culture others call it paranoid, whatever. The bookfair has the potential to be a great counter institution, and it is attacked for it's successes. But a certain percentage of attendies aren't feeling the love, because they don't look like what it means to be an anarchist in the bay area. I had a couple of friends in town from Germany (where anarchists don't all dress the same) and they reported that no one would talk to them, people were not friendly or engaging at all. I have heard similar perspectives from other people that appear "normal", after being at the bookfair. It is drepressing for sure. It makes me appreciate people that don't need to wear patches to be who they are.
As far as the PTTP or BM festivals, come on now does it really matter at all. Things like that are just cultural expressions of the counter culture. For those of you that are jesus christ or movement martyrs, screw you, you never have fun? When you drink your beer, how can you do that when people are being killed by police? When you have sex how can you do that, when somewhere there is oppression happening or someone suffering? Fuck that puritanical self sacrafising garbage. We demand heaven here on earth, it is something worth fighting for for everybody.

"person who complained above can't find an easy way to plug in to activism at the bookfair because the anarachist style of organizing often resembles a social clique.
Some people find it very easy. If you don't, then you don't belong. Go organize your own project. The more people organizing the more projects the better. You don't need us to hold your hand. You're gown ups. Hold your own hands. If you do need someone to hold your hand, you don't have what it takes to be an anarchist. You'd be better off as a slave-drone. Go find a master. Do what he says. You'll a be happier person. "

I support constructive criticisms of events like PTTP and the anarchist bookfaire. However the "criticism" here amounts to whining by a bunch whiny ass turds.

Most of the criticisms on here about PTTP amounts to enjoying yourself makes you an anti-revolutionary. Whatever, no one is listening so go fuck yourself.

To the bookfaire people-- Great fuckin event-- I try to make it every year. Keep doing it!!! Yeah I'd like to see us work on being more inclusive (not an easy task) but don't let these guilt ridden fuckwads hang you up.

To the nimrods posting here, who don't think the bookfaire diverse enough they can do a few things:
1. Actually get involved and work on making the event more inclusive, including bringing your brillant ideas to accomplish this. Hopefully this wouldn't mean bringing in the "anti-oppression" cadre for reeducation classes.
2. Don't go. It's an option you should consider.
3. Organize your all inclusive PC event on a shoestring budget. When no one comes you can blame the Bookfaire organizers.

The PttP bills itself as a political event.

Why are y'all so opposed to critiquing it as such?

Is it because invoking and defending the right to have fun is an intellectually easier enterprise?

Bottom line: The PttP accomplished nothing other than giving people the comforting feeling that they've "done something"--something, that is, to savor until next fall when Michael Franti and his acolytes make the call out for another bout of righteousness in the park.

Argue with that.

Alot of event do, like gay pride or the coming anti war marches.
unfortunately mass gatherings don't necessarily ever do anything directly but maybe make the participants and the voyeaurs in other places feel better about what they believe in. It is really hard to know what the effect of things are, in the long run, even if they seem really lame at the present time. I seriously doubt that people think that going to a concert is doing something, but people who drive hybrids probably think that that is doing something, that is why I really let bad hybrid drivers have it when they almost run me over.
"Bottom line: The PttP accomplished nothing other than giving people the comforting feeling that they've "done something"--"

All that giving people the comforting feeling that they've "done something" accomplishes is now they wont actually *do* something because they believe they already did.

"I bet most of the people in attendance would have danced just as merrily if the banner above the stage had said something mindless like "US Troops Should Keep The Peace" instead of "Bring 'Em Home."

These good vibes confabs are an embarrassment and do NOTHING to end the carnage in Iraq. Indeed, their net effect is negative, I'd wager."

So Aaron this is your "critique" in your words. Actually I'm not sure what the critique is. Where the fuck is it? Complaining that the dancers are stupid unlike you. Complaining about a banner that didn't exist. Complaining that the event had "good vibes". ???

Other dimwits here whined: 1.about the food prices at a FREE event (the never heard of packin a lunch). 2. dancing and having fun and in general 3. dancing incorrectly as opposed to the true revolutionary correct way of dancing 4. the anarchist bookfaire 5. Franti is a fake-- which they don't back up with any arguments 6. That the event didn't end the war in Iraq-- let me know when you organize that event I'll be there.

especially a symbolic event. If you really want to stop the war you are going to have to physically disrupt the war making capacity of the state through many, many acts of strike, sabotage and mutiny.

It's been done before:

http://www.nlg.org/mltf/links.html

ive heard this type of thing called ''hackysack activism''.or ''white rasta'' giddiness party!i know im just bitching, but being african in ''america'' is intolerable since this alleged ''terror attack'' has given police excuse to be goebbels HELP

If we want to dance st a concert let us. Most of the people there were very good people who DO care about America, and New Orleans. I am donating money every chance I have to New Orleans, and I know many hippies, punks, or whoever was at that concert are donating too.

ale hardkor

THESE GUYS ROCK!