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| CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective | |
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| Type | decentralized collective |
| Membership | voluntary association |
| Website | www.crimethinc.com |
CrimethInc., also known as CWC ("CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective" or "CrimethInc Ex-Workers Ex-Collective"After the Fall: Analysis of the Events of September 11th 2001. Crimethinc.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.), is a decentralized anarchist collectiveGordon, Uri (27-28 May 2005). "Liberation Now: Present-tense Dimensions of Contemporary Anarchism". Thinking the Present : The Beginnings and Ends of Political Theory. Retrieved on 2007-10-31. Thompson, Stacy. "Crass Commodities". Popular Music & Society (Oct 2004): 307-322. Retrieved on 2007-07-08. Ludwig, Mike (2007-07-30). Melee breaks out uptown at end of anarchist confab. The Athens News. Retrieved on 2007-08-01. composed of multiple cells which act independently of one another. The collective emerged in the mid-1990s from its beginnings as Inside Front, and began operating as a collective in 1996. It has since published widely-read propaganda for the anarchist movement.Brandt, Jed. Crimethinc: In Love With Love Itself. Clamor. Retrieved 2008-01-14
Several divisions of the group have published books, while others have released records or organized large-scale national campaigns against globalization and representative democracy in favor of radical community organizing. Less public splinter groups have carried out direct action (including arson and hacktivism), hosted international conventions and other events, maintained local chapters, sparked riots and toured with multimedia performance art and/or hardcore anarcho-punk musical ensembles. The collective has received national media and academic attention, as well as strong criticism and praise from other anarchists for its activities and philosophy. CrimethInc. has had a long association with the North American anarcho-punk scene due to its relationship with notable artists in the genre and its publishing of Inside Front, a seminal genre zine. It has since expanded into nearly all areas of the contemporary anti-capitalist movement.
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Crimethought is not any ideology or value system or lifestyle, but rather a way of challenging all ideologies and value systems and lifestyles—and, for the advanced agent, a way of making all ideologies, value systems, and lifestyles challenging.
—Crimethinc.comAll Traveler Kids Purged From CrimethInc. Membership. Crimethinc.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
CrimethInc as a loose association represents a variety of political views; the CrimethInc. FAQ asserts that it has "no platform or ideology except that which could be generalized from the similarities between the beliefs and goals of the individuals who choose to be involved—and that is constantly in flux." Anyone can publish under the name or create a poster using the logo; each agent or group of agents operate autonomously. As well as the traditional anarchist opposition to the state and capitalism, agents have, at times, advocated a straight edge lifestyle, the total supersession of gender roles, violent insurrection against the state,Let Me Light My Cigarette on Your Burning Blockade. Crimethinc.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-31. and the refusal of work.D., Brian. How I Spent My Permanent Vacation. Crimethinc.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
The collective has been described as "inheritors of the political avant-garde",Puchner, Martin (2005). Poetry of the Revolution: Marx, Manifestos and the Avant-Gardes. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford. 320pp., ISBN 13: 978-0-691-12260-1. and CrimethInc. has acknowledged the influence of the Situationist International.Days of War, Nights of Love (2001) , Crimethinc.Workers Collective, ISBN 097091010X Situationist Ken Knabb has criticized CrimethInc. for presenting simplistic and in some cases false accounts of history in Days of War, Nights of Love, and for mythologizing themselves as "a pole of international subversion". Knabb, Ken. Comments on CrimethInc. by Ken Knabb. Libcom.org. Retrieved on 2008-02-26. For their part, the authors of the book cited "the exclusive, anti-subjective" nature of history as "paralyzing", advocating a non-superstitious myth in its place.Days of War, Nights of Love (2001) , ISBN 0-9709101-0-X, p. 111–114 Observers have noted elements of Situationist thought,Lang, Daniel (May 2007). ""Give Us the Dumpsters -Or- Give Us Life": Res Derilictae and the Trash of Free Trade". Cultural Recycling 3 (1). Other Voices. Treesong (2004). Revolution of One. ISBN 9781411614055. Dadaism, anarcho-primitivism, and post-left anarchy in CrimethInc. writings.
CrimethInc. promotes itself as a mindset and a way of life first and foremost, rather than as an organization per se, by its active participants. Its main goal is to inspire people to take more active control of their own lives, becoming producers of culture and history instead of passive consumers.Summerisle (2005). Times of Hate, Times of Joy, Lost Highway, Volume 1. ISBN 9781411665064. About CWC: Index. Crimethinc.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-10. Those who ascribe to the CrimethInc. philosophy advocate radical ways of living one\'s life to the end of eliminating the inequities and tyrannies it perceives within society. Contributors to publications are generally not credited in respect of an anonymity asserted by participants to be one of the organizations primary values. The name "CrimethInc." itself is a satirical self-criticism about hypocrisy of revolutionary propaganda (and other "margin-walking between contradictions"Frequently Asked Questions. Crimethinc.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.) and a direct reference to the concept of "Thoughtcrime" developed in George Orwell\'s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
"Police Not Welcome" CrimethInc. community watch sticker.
Activities by CrimethInc. cells have included publishing radical literature and music, while less public splinter-groups have carried out direct action, hosted international conventions and other events, maintained local chapters, sparked riots and toured with multimedia performance art and/or hardcore anarcho-punk musical ensembles. In 2002, a cell in Olympia, Washington staged a five day film festival with skill-sharing workshops and screenings.Raihala, Ross. "The heArt and Film Festival", The Olympian, 2002-12-12. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. Cells have also supported various large-scale campaigns with publicity work, including the "Unabomber for President" and the "Don\'t Just (Not) Vote" campaigns as well as the protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas of 2003 in Miami, Florida. Individuals adopting the CrimethInc. nom de guerre have included convicted ELF arsonists,"3 plead guilty in attempts at arson", The Sacramento Bee, 2005-10-15. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. as well as hacktivists who successfully attacked the websites of DARE, Republican National Committee and several sites related to U.S. President George W. Bush\'s 2004 re-election campaign. Schachtman, Noah (2004-08-17). Hackers Take Aim at GOP. Wired. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.Deagon, Brian. "GOP Sites Hit By Denial Of Service Attack; Hard To Tell Who Culprits Are", Investor\'s Business Daily, 2004-10-22. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. These activities have earned the collective irregular attention from the mainstream news media.Whitehead, Chris. "How do you say \'dese, dem, dose\' in Chinese?; The Mayor\'s Office of", Chicago Sun-Times, 2007-04-13. Retrieved on 2007-07-08. Childress, Sarah. "\'Hacktivists\' Log On", Newsweek, August 2004. Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
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For six summers, CrimethInc. has hosted a convention, extending an invitation to all who wish to attend. Typically featuring the performances of traveling theatrical troupes, musicians, direct-action and mutual-aid workshops from individual participants, the few-days-long camping trip has attracted coverage in newspaper articles, initiated multiple Reclaim the Streets actions, mobilized large Critical Mass actions, and catalyzed many other activities. The 2007 convergence in Athens, Ohio saw an impromptu street party which resulted in a few arrests on minor charges. Goussetis, Elizabeth (2007-07-31). Anarchist answers to riot charge. Athens Messenger. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. The Athens News characterized the convergence as "a sort of networking, resume-swapping opportunity for would-be radicals, free-thinkers, Levelers, Diggers, Neo-Luddites and other assorted malcontents." Phillips, Jim (2007-09-04). Good going; you left town for the summer and missed everything. The Athens News. Retrieved on 2008-02-25.
It is typical of these gatherings to demand that all attendees have something to contribute to the momentum: whether it\'s bringing food or equipment to share, leading a discussion group, or providing materials with which to write to political prisoners. There has also been a pattern of promoting convergences as festivals, reminiscent of barnstorming flying circuses and traveling sideshows.
Harper\'s journalist Matthew Power described the 2006 convergence in Winona, Minnesota as follows:
—Harper\'s Magazine, March 2008
These convergences have been hosted by different groups within the collective each time, typically based on the initiative of local enthusiasts. Every year a different set of policy requests is released from locals in the field, typically encouraging a sober, consensus-based space in which no financial transactions are made. The one firm rule always made clear has been “No police informants.”, a regulation which has been ignored at least twice by the FBI in Des Moines, Iowa in 2004 and in Bloomington, Indiana in 2005.Confidential Source “Anna”-issued affidavit (.pdf). United States District Court Eastern District of California. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
The creation of propaganda has been described as the collectives\' core function.Power, Matthew (March 2008). "Mississippi Drift". Harper\'s Magazine: 54–63. Retrieved on 2008-03-10. Among their best-known publications are the books Days of War, Nights of Love, Evasion, Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook and the pamphlet Fighting For Our Lives (of which, to date, they have printed 500,000 copies),CrimethInc. Shareholder Report. Crimethinc.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-31. the hardcore punk/political zine Inside Front, and the music of several hardcore punk bands. The group is also connected to other collectives/organizations that share some of their ideas (notably Curious George Brigade which has written a number of publications including Anarchy in the Age of Dinosaurs) The group also maintains several websites which promote their ideas. In 2005, they began publishing a half-gloss journal, Rolling Thunder, with the byline "An Anarchist Journal of Dangerous Living". CrimethInc. texts have received wide coverage in the anarchist media and in academic publications.Doy, Gen (2004). Picturing the Self. London: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1850434131. Clark, Dylan, "The Raw and the Rotten: Punk Cuisine", Ethnology, Vol. 43, 2004 Edwards, Ferne; Mercer, David (November 2007). "Gleaning from Gluttony: an Australian youth subculture confronts the ethics of waste". Australian Geographer 38 (3): 279 - 296. Routledge. doi:10.1080/00049180701639174.
"Ne plus ultra" edition of Days of War, Nights of Love.
CrimethInc. has published three collectively-authored books that collect and expand upon the individual essays produced by the group in a particular period; authors are generally uncredited or credited pseuodonymously.
The CrimethInc. Letters series of books are not intended direct propaganda, but rather as letters to the reader detailing the story of the experiences of the authors.
Stenciled graffito in Washington D.C. bearing the slogan of CrimethInc.\'s 2004 Don\'t Just Vote campaign. Image courtesy of the Brian MacKenzie Infoshop
In March of 2001, two documentaries from Eugene, Oregon\'s Pickaxe Productions were published by a CrimethInc. cell: Pickaxe and Breaking the Spell.
At the end of 2005 (a year after the release of Recipes for Disaster), CrimethInc. announced the first volume in a Guerrilla Film Series, a DVD including three feature-length documentaries and a collection of shorts. A few of CrimethInc.\'s "thinktank" experiments had been documented on film by the "folk-scientists" themselves, and copies of these lived in relative obscurity until included in the series. CrimethInc. Guerilla Film Series, Volume One included Pickaxe, Breaking the Spell, The Miami Model, two subMedia shorts and three Thinktank documentaries.
CrimethInc. is associated with the North American anarcho-punk scene because of its long relationship with notable musicians in the genre and its publishing of Inside Front, a "journal of hardcore punk and anarchist action". CrimethInc. has released LPs, CDs, and 7"s from a number of bands, including Aluminum Noise, Blacken the Skies, Catharsis,Thompson, Stacy. Punk Productions: Unfinished Business. Albany: SUNY Press, 109. ISBN 0791461874. Countdown to Putsch, Face Down in Shit, Gehenna, Newborn, Requiem, Sandman, Froseph, The Spectacle, Timebomb, Ümlaut and Zegota. Academic Stacy Thompson has situated CrimethInc. as "exemplary of a more contemporary and nuanced approach" to the possible forms anarcho-punk could take to resist commodification through aesthetic expression. However, Thompson does not consider the aesthetic choices of the collective to be substantially different from the anarcho- and crust-punk bands released by Profane Existence in the mid-to-late 90s.
Since its inception in the mid-1990s, CrimethInc.\'s activities and in particular its philosophy has received a mixed reception from other anarchists. Anarchist anthropologist David Graeber and Andrej Grubacic lauded the collective in 2004 as "the greatest propagandists of contemporary American anarchism".Graeber, David; Grubacic, Andrej. "Anarchism, or the Revolutionary Movement of the Twenty-First Century", Dissident Voice, 2004-01-06. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. Upon the release of Expect Resistance (2007), Chuck Munson identified the group as "one of the more important anarchist projects happening in North America over the past decade", asserting that in its activities the collective had set the standard for "publishing, organizing, instigating, and activism".Munson, Chuck, "New CrimethInc sequel to Days of War due out soon", 2007-11-02. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
The collectives perceived focus on the "terminal boredom of consumer culture" at the expense of the real world condition of the working class,Lee, Butch (2002-11-07). Would You Shoplift Days of War, Nights of Love?. Retrieved on 2008-02-22. and its fetishizing "the narcissistic side of the 1960s" (Clamor) has lead others in the anarchist movement, such as Libcom.org, to descry the collective as "lifestylists". "Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness" - washing... and brainwashing - CrimethInc.. Libcom.org. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
CrimethInc begins with the brand name, and ends with the relentless merchandizing of “radical” products on their website. In between there is…an individualist, selfish, and inchoate rebel ideology that eschews work, political organizing, and class struggle. In a world at war and facing terminal crisis, CrimethInc’s transcendental philosophy and ahistorical lightness is a form of intellectual masturbation. Like rootless ex-pats unconnected to the daily life around them, CrimethInc’s lifestylism is a form of self-imposed exile within their own society.—Ryan, Ramor
Red Emma\'s infoshop has claimed that regardless of the group\'s politics, "you have to give them credit for helping revitalizing two very vital traditions of radical writing: on the one hand, they\'ve kicked out enough all-encompassing, no-holds-barred, just barely still prose polemical manifestos to make Guy Debord proud, on the other hand, they\'ve also produced some stunning personal narratives of living free in the boxcars and margins of late capitalism."Red Emma\'s Bookstore Coffeehouse : Expect Resistance: A Crimethinc Field Manual. Red Emma\'s Bookstore Coffeehouse. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
| | Anarchism Portal |
| CrimethInc. |
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| Books: Anarchy in the Age of Dinosaurs · Days of War, Nights of Love · Recipes for Disaster · The Secret World of Terijian · Expect Resistance • Pamphlets: Fighting For Our Lives Letters series: Evasion · Off the Map · Rusty String Quartet · Stone Hotel • Zines: Inside Front · Rolling Thunder · Harbinger • Videos: Guerilla Film Series, Volume One Cells: Curious George Brigade Campaigns: Don\'t Just Vote, Get Active • Bands: Requiem · Ümlaut · Zegota |
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