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Was #riotcleanup an anarchist initiative?

Anon | 15.08.2011 18:28 | South Coast

The guy behind the #riotcleanup stuff in London is saying that it was "anarchy" in action.

Dan Thompson from Worthing achieved national fame through his #riotcleanup initiative.
(see, among others:  http://prigg.thisislondon.co.uk/2011/08/twitter-cleanup-organiser-stunned-by-the -capitals-response.html )
In an article on his website, Dan argues that the broom-wielding citizens who joined the grass-roots campaign were in fact putting anarchy into action.
He writes: “Anarchy, says Wikipedia, may be 'a complete lack of authority or political organization,' but it can also mean 'a social state characterized by a lack of a state, ruler, or libertarianism'. So while the lawlessness of people smashing shop windows to steal trainers or burn furniture shops down was anarchic, so equally was the mob who, without any leaders or instructions, gathered brooms and dustpans and brushes and took to the streets to clean up on Tuesday.
“They hadn't signed up to a manifesto or an agreed set of rules or beliefs. Nobody was in charge of them, or told them what to do. They were hundreds of individuals who, without leadership or state intervention, took to the streets and worked out a new way of doing things. ”
Full piece at  http://www.artistsandmakers.com/article.php/20110812051756469

Dan will be speaking about his initiative, the riots and the implications at the next Worthing Alliance meeting on Thursday August 25 (Beechwood Hall Hotel, Wykeham Road, Worthing, 8pm), where there will, of course, be a chance to ask questions and discuss his viewpoint.

Worthing's local anarchist newsletter, The Porkbolter, took a rather different angle on the riots in its recent statement
 http://www.eco-action.org/porkbolter/riots.html
Should be an interesting debate.

Anon
- Homepage: http://www.eco-action.org/porkbolter/Updates.htm

Comments

Hide the following 7 comments

Great article on that

15.08.2011 18:58

@


stupidest thing i've ever heard

16.08.2011 12:07

thats the stupidest thing i've ever heard! anarchists are in uprizing against authority, rioters against domination, looters of the fullness of life, not citzenist muppets brooming up for the state and social tranquilization!

anarchist


Another media loving self serving ass....

16.08.2011 12:24

who will probably write a book or get a job with the government rehabilitating those feral youth....

Aunty Christ


@anarchist

16.08.2011 12:43

"anarchists are in uprizing against authority" .. uprizing? Sounds massive! Where? When? How?

HiRize


mixed bag

16.08.2011 14:49

Arguably it was anarchist in the sense of people coming together to meet a shared need without leaders.

It may have built a sense of 'community', among certain sections of society, but perhaps at the expense of class conciousness.

In the broader sense, it's also helped the media to demonise and isolate the rioters.

Still, as an initiative, it would be simplistic to portray it as either completely negative or completely positive.

--


Big Society

16.08.2011 15:15

It's good if it was an anarchist initiative, but this fact does need to be publicised more if it is true.

Riots are great but things do need to be cleaned up afterwards (for regular people - fuck the big corporations).

It does sound a big like the Tory idea of "Big Society" though - getting the plebs to do things for free so the govt can cut spending and give more money to the rich. I doubt you got many millionaires out with their brooms - they didn't get where they were by helping other people for free.

I wonder if this was a so-called "anarcho-capitalist" initiative?

anon


perhaps it means something else?

17.08.2011 21:02

Uprizing? Never seen that spelt with a z, so perhaps it doesn't mean the same thing as uprising.

Krop


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