Part of Muntjac Issue 2.
[A4 PDF] [US-Letter PDF]
Note: This is a self critique and a critique of communities I’ve been a part of my entire adult life. It was very hard to write especially in a moment where it feels like anarchist activity is low but revolutionaries have to remain honest especially in these perilous times. I speak about Black anarchists cause those are the people I spend most of my time around however many of these critiques could be extended to Non-Black POC and Indigenous anarchist tendencies as well.
It is unclear if Black anarchism matters. Despite those who would say to the contrary, Black anarchism is not a primary vehicle actively pursuing the short term goal of destruction of the United States and the longer term goal of social revolution. Despite the rise of podcasts, social media accounts, publications, zines, articles, Black anarchist organizing projects remain sparse. To the authors’ knowledge, Martin Sostre House (a social center/housing collective), Balagoon Boxing Gym (unclear if this project is still active), Black Autonomy Federation-LA, Black Autonomy Federation-Chicago (unclear if this project is still active) and Black Lantern Book (a bookstore) are the only projects that exist in the United States with a clear commitment to Black anarchist politics. It should be acknowledged that some projects and affinities must remain clandestine but regardless of that, it remains a relatively poor showing for a tendency that has existed for decades at this point.
Despite the constant Black anarchist critique of white anarchist subculture as ineffectual or disconnected in texts such as Black Anarchism and the Black Radical Tradition published by Daraja Press, Black anarchists themselves have failed largely to organize amongst themselves let alone amongst Black people. This is a failure. If all Black anarchists can offer is zines and critique, they are no better than white leftists who stick their heads in books all day. While it is easy to blame white anarchists, Black anarchists refuse to look to their own failures. If there’s a true belief that white anarchists or authoritarian socialists are as fascist or counter revolutionary as some proclaim, then why are they not being organized against? Why are they not being robbed or beaten? If the Black leftists and the non-profits are such a threat to our movements, why are they not being robbed or beaten? The threats are all rhetorical. Instead, Black anarchists act like liberals as they demand reparations/accountability from white radicals.The unfortunate truth is that Black anarchism as a tendency in the United States is still rooted unfortunately in a politics of victim-hood rather than agency.
Furthermore, Black anarchism is going the way of the non-profit industrial complex or academia as more books, articles and lectures are published. Numerous opportunists see Black anarchism as a way to make a quick buck so they build their personal brands around it. I’m not gonna name names cause it’s actually so common though at this point, the only Black anarchists I trust are the ones who publish anonymously. These “black anarchist” personalities are no different than enemies like Patrisse Cullors or Opal Tometi from BLM. Black anarchism no longer exists in a subversive sense. And perhaps, it never did (although Lorenzo, Ashanti and Kuwasi’s brave actions certainly must be acknowledged). Anarchism is fundamentally a set of practices that revolutionaries use to pursue revolution. But if the anarchists in question are not building towards any type of revolution or insurrection, then the practices make little to no sense as they are not being practically applied. Again, I ask myself how are Black anarchists any different from many white radicals who simply read books and make critiques while refusing to get their hands dirty alongside the oppressed and exploited? Podcasts, memes, edgy twitter threads, cookouts, patreon accounts, and gofundmes are not an organizational orientation that is compatible with a revolutionary anarchist set of politics. Platitudes, complaints, hanging out and slogans are not substitutes for action. Idealizing anarchist movements in other places and posting riot footage is not a substitute for action here. And unfortunately, there is quite little action from Black anarchists these day. But there’s a whole lot of tweets.
Despite anarchist critiques of the following formations, the Black Panthers, the Black Liberation Army, the Black Guards, RAM, various New Afrikan formations, the Black Unity Council, Black Guerilla Family and others had an organizational orientation that built towards revolutionary struggle. There is nothing equivalent to that in the United States in terms of Black anarchists. Instead of a movement that organizes, there is a rampant culture of individualism (not the cool kind either), complaint, cowardice, and opportunism. The refusal of Black anarchists to organize and provide alternatives to all of the things they hate is proof of a weakness that is rooted in a racist self hatred, inferiority and victim-hood mentality that is inherited/taught by the legacy of from slavery and its afterlives…the non-profit industrial complex, academia, racist public schools, and prisons.
The abandoning of our political prisoners is evidence of this racist self-hatred as well. Big names in Black anarchism do nothing to uplift and support the various Black prisoners of the George Floyd uprising such as Malik Muhammad or Mujera Benjamin Lunga’ho. While Black anarchists make constant claim of revolutionary politics, there is little to no support for Black revolutionaries in prison. Perhaps it is because many Black anarchists are simply subcultural scenesters scared of the real revolutionaries who have sacrificed their freedom and ended up on the inside of the enemy’s prison? Or perhaps many Black anarchists are so divorced from real struggle that they have no knowledge that some Black people have taken real risks for our movement while they complain about crackers online? Perhaps it is because Black anarchism similar to the white anarchists they constantly set ourselves up in opposition to remains a petit-bourgeois tendency that cares little for the struggles of the lumpen-proletariat? I don’t have a clear answer. I know that’s not the case for me and my comrades but we are few and far between in the existing Black anarchist tendency. And it makes me wonder, what is the point of any of this? Shouldn’t we just be anarchists?
Maybe to find revolutionary organizing efforts oriented towards Black liberation (albeit imperfect), it is better to look to some of the Black nationalist groups such as Community Movement Builders, Cooperation Jackson, Huey P. Newton Gun Club, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Black Men Build and others. These groups despite their contradictions are making efforts to build a Black revolutionary trajectory albeit one that I am largely uninterested in personally. Doubtless some readers will admonish me for referencing these groups due to their political failings but the reality is that these groups are at least attempting to building capacity while many Black anarchists remain inactive or adjacent to ineffectual white anarchist subculture. These spaces may be contested perhaps while the Black anarchist spaces themselves do not seem to exist besides the projects mentioned earlier.
The author believes these questions must be asked because the current culture around “Black anarchic radicalism” as some call it is not a revolutionary culture. It is a culture largely for those with proximity to white anarchists, the Black left or the non-profit industrial complex to voice their frustrations and then sit at home. There is no revolutionary horizon with this current trajectory. Critique is not a stand in for attack. Critique is not a stand in for organization. Critique is not a stand in for capacity. Critique is not a stand in for affinity. Critiques only hold weight if there is a desire and effort to out-organize the enemies or even comrades you are critiquing, otherwise your politics hold no weight.
Black anarchists should tweet less and attack more. I no longer feel committed to the Black anarchist project. Instead, I remain simply an anarchist with a desire for Black liberation. Various anarchists I know (regardless of their apparent to Black anarchism as an ideology) are more committed to these struggles than most self identified Black anarchists. Political identity especially when it comes to race can only go so far. Black anarchism remains mired in the muck of opportunism, inferiority, self hatred and cowardice. Until Black anarchists commit to a politics of comradeship, bravery, experimentation, and love of other Black people, it is unlikely I will rejoin the tendency. I learned my anarchism from the Black anarchist theorists but I cannot willingly remain a part of a tendency that has done so little for ourselves let alone the broader Black struggle. Black anarchism was meant to be a weapon to be wielded for Black liberation. If the current Black anarchist culture in the United States is the example, it is a faulty weapon that would backfire and kill me.
My comrades who I remain most inspired by take inspiration from many other tendencies other than just Black anarchism. While understanding the importance of our historical legacy from Black anarchist elders, my comrades politics are much more grounded in different strains such as insurrectionary anarchism, Islam, Black nationalism, nihilism, and queer militancy. These things seem like better jumping off points for building a revolutionary culture than Black anarchism even if some of them contradict one another as these origin points are a set of politics not built entirely on complaint as Black anarchism seems to be. Anarchy pulls from many different strains, the insistence on Black anarchism or an anarchism that is non-white is uninteresting as it is simply reactive. So I think for the moment, anarchy will just have to suffice.
Anonymous Submission, if this article made you feel some kinda way, consider writing a reply to it… (or better yet, go do some cool shit and mention you’re a Black anarchist in the reportback)
