"How could we not think that a system that can no longer function at all except on the basis of emergency would not also be interested in preserving such an emergency at any price" -- Giorgio Agamben
"Let the combination of morality and inhumanity begin" -- Amiri Baraka
Aporia #1 is focused on the emerging war in Iraq as symptomatic of larger, global systems of force and the new face of Capital since the fall of the Soviet Union. Whether this war is an instance in the unfolding of a new type of global politics or the latest stage of a more familiar imperialism is not as obvious as the fact that our traditional tactics and methods of revolt are inadequate. The emphasis on the "local" has overdetermined our perspectives and our tactics. We remain fixated on this or that crisis while ignoring the global structures that need and produce the contradictions we so readily combat. Capital continues to use these micro-crises to adapt and outstrip our efforts of resistance. It uses our reactive stances to make its machinery more effective in the future.
We see hope in the worldwide uprising against the war, especially as more and more people realize just how unresponsive their governments are, how political decisions have nothing to do with popular sentiment. However, in contrast to the anti-globalization protests of the late 90's, anti-war activity has rested too much on organizing against a specific regime, rather than challenging the entire apparatus of power that allows for U.S. dominance to continue. In this dominance, the U.N., the European Union, as well as the W.T.O., I.M.F. and World Bank are equally complicit.
We are creating a space for autonomous thought and action. As anti-state communists and anarchists we refuse to repeat the failures of vanguardism and representation. These pages are neither intellectual abstractions nor dogmatic prescriptions for a certain type of action. They are a step towards making the amorphous and seemingly disparate networks of global force that surround us into something we can once again recognize and overcome. This publication is a witness to the attempts to confront the worldwide and everyday tyrannies that make of an abundant and joyous existence something akin to a heap of ashes.
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