smash the state !
March 3, 2007, 9:02 pm
The right wingers in Copenhagen are making asses of themselves again by closing the most significant squat/youth center in the city. Ungdomshuset, "The Youth House", is a historic building (at least in the squatter-verse), "symbolic of a wider struggle against a capitalist establishment". The city granted them a charter in 1982 and now they are breaking that and refusing to buy them a replacement building.
Personally I'm not part of the anarchist style of struggle, but I am a sympathetic outsider. I agree with Baudrillard when he says that this pose of direct opposition to the mainstream only serves to enhance the hegemony of that mainstream.
I believe that pockets of culture exist for periods of time where expression and life can flourish outside of market-driven culture. "Outside of", not in a pose of "opposition to". I think that most people avoid participating in those pockets due mostly to their own laziness and social inhibitions. Those are the most important thing to fight. There is no point trying to attack the Machine: its fueled as much by people's complicity as by its ability to project its aura of cultural hegemony. If anything, attack its aura and dismantle that via media action. Attack the idea of commerce-is-the-be-all-and-end-all-of-everything. Turning over police cars is so old school and completely ineffective.
Anarchists are so old school. Its a huge red flag for the Christian right wing bulls (who aren't too clever themselves, but they are armed).
The riots were sparked when an anti-terror squad on Thursday evicted the squatters from the red brick building with graffiti-covered walls. Built in 1897, it was a community theater for the labor movement and a culture and conference center; Vladimir Lenin was among its visitors. In recent years, it has hosted concerts with performers like Australian Nick Cave and Icelandic singer Bjork.
``The spoiled kids in the Youth House woke up to reality in Danish society where you have a job and pay rent,'' Anders Fredrik Mihle of the governing Liberal Party's youth wing said, referring to the building where the squatters had been evicted.
Like its neighbors, Denmark has a generous welfare system supported by high taxes. Education is free and health services are heavily subsidized.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6455485,00.html
That would be a valid point if there were thousands of houses living off of the backs of a prosperous capitalist society, but there are very very few, and they already shut down Christiana. So shutting down this most significant one is merely abusive. Capitalism doesn't need to fuck these people over to survive. You don't need 100% participation. What they are achieving is to justify hatred. They would be smarter to let them exist as a token struggle.
Personally I want centers like this to exist. If your marketplace economy is so great, why can't you tolerate one building where people avoid it for a few years of their lives ?
Rgds!