I'm reading Getting Free by James Herod. It's well written and insightful commentary on viable strategy for ending state/corporate/capitalist oppression (personally I think there's more to the oppression thing than just capitalism, but it's another story). First, the book talks about current, popular strategies - demonstrations (more or less violent), petitions, etc, and then it points out how much those strategies are ineffective, how much they are about curing symptoms, how they are waste of energy and focus - how we misunderstand that striving for being free is not quite the same as asking our masters to be nicer to us, please.
And, although it's barely mentioned, how easy our efforts can be subverted directly by entryism, or less directly by astroturfing, or in general terms how our energy and focus can be hijacked or simply redirected. When we are distracted or barking up the wrong tree is harmless to the system. How us being violent makes the monsters stronger - think about wider implications of Hamburg. Noble as the fight is, it is also what harms us much more. Cold calculation shows how counterproductive burning cars is - in fact, no true capitalist would be unhappy about a car being burned - planned obsolescence is one thing, but proper destruction is so much better - everyone benefits from it, apart from anarchists who burnt it (although the very joy of acting might be enough of a reward).
What do the system cares if we shout, sing and build tent cities even in the middle of Wall Street? It changes nothing. It changed nothing. It might have nudged few people to think about issues, but seeing from time perspective, the movement dissolved, fade away, remaining mostly in recorded history, but what it wanted to achieve - it did not.
The book shows different direction, and points out where our true strength is. Not only against capitalism, but against general oppression, which could come from any direction, from any ideology, exploitative capitalism, communism, whatever. Kings, moguls, First Secretaries, self-anointed masters and saviors alike, it doesn't matter what ideology and way is used to make us slaves. So, what defenses have we?
The first, most basic, strongest bastion we the people have is our immediate environment and people around us. Local community has immense strength and resilience. Amongst one or two hundreds of people who know each other, live in the same place, meet face to face, there is a formidable potential for self-regulation, self-governance, self-defense, self-sustainability and self-sufficiency. It's not an accident that much is being done (whether consciously by people or semi-consciously by systems created by "masters") to disable local assemblies.
First example, we have to work, but in most cases we have to commute to some remote location. In London one hour of communing is considered "living close enough". Two hours per day plus eight or nine in the work place - this leaves no time or energy for other activities. Moving home and freedom of movement (especially when looking for work) is presented to us as great achievement. Freedom of movement indeed, how about freedom of staying in the same place? Then, all production is send elsewhere, and all goods are imported. There is virtually no such thing as local production for local community - in rural areas there are local food markets, but they are relicts now more than backbone of communities. Then, another great instrument of control, our children being sent to schools and pre-schools, and pressure to "get back to work as soon as possible" after a child is born, leaving them in the hands of strangers - even the nicest strangers can't substitute parents though, without sufficient amount of parental love children develop attachment issues, and will carry them most likely forever, never to become fully adult. And of course the system is more than happy to drug the children up with psychoactive shit. And TV - for both parents and children. Average parents spends about half an hour with their children, statistically. They barely know what the children learn (are being taught) in schools, let alone have any influence. This produces society of passive, obedient zombies, nothing more, nothing less.
We, humanity, started with tribal communities. It is time we wake up from the current delusion of "each man for himself" (and one System to rule us all) and remind ourselves that true strength lies in unity, cooperation, decentralization.
