The Free Society Collective will be presenting at the National Conference on Organized Resistance, February 2006

January 13, 2006

Members of the Free Society Collective will be presenting at the National Confernece on Organized Resistance, on the weekend of February 3-5, 2006, at American University in Washington D.C.

The presentations include: Sustaining Revolutionary Politics in Nonrevolutionary Times; Anarchist History in the Present: “Maggots and Men” Film Pre-view Screening and Discussion; The New Anarchism; and, What's the Meaning of Protest, Anyway?.

Free Society Collective presentations at the National Conference on Organized Resistance, February 3-5, 2006. American Unviersity, Washington D.C. www.organizedresistance.org

Sustaining Revolutionary Politics in Nonrevolutionary Times
By Ace McArleton and Cindy Milstein

Since 9-11, there’s been a simultaneous rise in the power of the Right, and a continual loss of the kind of radical anti-capitalist critique and vision we saw
in the global justice movement. The constant barrage of new atrocities and attacks against every basic aspect of life has left most of us feeling overwhelmed and at a loss about what to do. In this presentation, we will argue that critical thinking as a visible, instituted praxis is essential not just to sustain a revolutionary sensibility but also to build reconstructive movements that can challenge contemporary hierarchies. We will explore some hopeful examples of this integration of engaged thinking and doing, such as developing horizontal models of anti-authoritarian scholarship, popular education, and radical public debate and decision making. Such praxis, in all its various forms, allows us to prefigure the types of selfhood and social organization that suggest the outlines of a liberatory, directly democratic world.

Ace McArleton and Cindy Milstein have been involved in a variety of radical political and educational projects, and are currently both members of the Free Society Collective and Black Sheep Books collective in central Vermont.

Video & Presentation: Anarchist History in the Present:
“Maggots and Men” Film Pre-view Screening and Discussion
By Ace McArleton

Join Ace McArleton, one of the actors in the film, as he screens the new trailer/short for the upcoming anarchist, independent, queer/trans film “Maggots and Men.” In the style of a Soviet propaganda film, “Maggots and Men” recounts the tragic events of the Kronstadt uprising (Russia, 1921), where anarchist sailors fought for freedom under the oppressive Bolshevik government. Also shown will be clips from “Battleship Potemkin”, the 1925 Sergei Eisenstein film, which inspired “Maggots and Men” director Oakie Treadwell visually, homoerotically, and politically. “Maggots and Men” is a project which brings anarchist revolutionary history into the present, combining authentic historical portrayal with a reworking of the themes through a current-day young anarchist, transgender, queer lens. This is anarchist history at its sexiest, most relevant, and not to be missed!

Ace McArleton is a 28 year old transgender butch who works with queer and trans youth through Outright VT; is a collective owner of Black Sheep Books, a radical scholarly used bookstore in Montpelier; and gives talks and workshops on gender and politics regularly. He is also engaged in anticapitalist, antiauthoritarian political work in central Vermont as a member of the Free Society Collective and the Queer Liberation Army.

Presentation: The New Anarchism
By Cindy Milstein

Over the past few years, anarchism has emerged as one of the most compelling currents within today’s anti-capitalist milieu. With its emphasis on participation and prefigurative politics, anarchism has contributed to diverse experiments in horizontal organization as well as social power, alongside or in solidarity with a variety of anti-authoritarian movements worldwide. It has also brought a refreshing wave of utopian thinking to a tired Left. And perhaps for the first time in its own history, anarchism is all that much more relevant and even workable in this era, variously labeled the network society, the information age, or simply globalization. This talk will explore the outlines of what’s been called “the new anarchism,” including whether it’s new at all, against the backdrop of the present moment, in an attempt to capture some of the vibrancy and even innovations of -- and tensions within -- contemporary anarchism.

Cindy Milstein is co-organizer of the annual Renewing the Anarchist Tradition conference, a board member of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, and a collective member of both the all-volunteer Black Sheep Books in Montpelier, VT, and the Free Society Collective. She does grassroots political work in central Vermont and public speaking anywhere else. Her essays appear in various anti-authoritarian periodicals and several recent anthologies, including Globalize Liberation (City Lights, 2004), Confronting Capitalism (Soft Skull, 2004), and Only a Beginning (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2004).

Presentation: What’s the Meaning of Protest, Anyway?
By Rob Augman

For radicals who want to transform power relations from deeply hierarchical ones into horizontal ones, that allow for meaningful participation, protest is an odd thing. Whether legal marches or direct actions, we find ourselves in a strange situation in which we are street lobbyers in a practice of influencing power holders. While protests are spaces in which we can practice and experience some degree of democratic and anti-capitalist (or mutualistic) life, how to extend these practices to life beyond the protest moment is under-considered. Protest, and their often liberatory moments, become isolated from, rather than influential upon, everyday life. Is this the fate of protest, or can it be reformulated so that the liberatory dimensions it holds can continue on and be incorporated into life after the event is over? This presentation will look at a variety of tendencies within the anti-authoritarian left, in order to discuss our current practices, and to push them forward.

Rob Augman co-founded and edited Onward newspaper, an anarchist newspaper covering news and analysis of the anti-globalization movement. He currently organizes with the Free Society Collective, writing leaflets and organizing seminars for radicals. He is also a board member of the Institute for Anarchist Studies. He is currently based in NYC.

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Also, Free Society Collective will have an information table at the Black Sheep Books and Institute for Anarchist Studies table. Check it out!