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why is letters journal so popular?

–2 votes
what is the appeal of letters journal?
What is letters journal's meaning of "anti-political communism"
 Does it have an (anti?)ideology, or focus on something specific?
by (160 points)
Why do you have this tagged as "academia"?
by (2.8k points)

2 Answers

+2 votes
Letters Journal is popular? That's news to me. I enjoy it myself, but I would be taken aback if it had a majority readership among anarchist circles.

For instance: http://libcom.org/forums/thought/letters-20122007

Frankly, I believe this question isn't appropriate for this site; same thing goes for the questions about Tiqqun. But I'll humor you anyway.

Concisely, "anti-political communism" is a description of a small, nihilistic discourse within the larger pro-revolutionary milieu that pessimistically endeavors to pose problems for common and exceptionally established pro-revolutionary beliefs, theory, and organization. I am unsure if this can be categorized as an ideology or something else.

From LJ No. 1: "What do we mean by anti-political? A rejection of representation and representatives… a refusal of activism and militancy… the embrace of human community and revolt… Anti-politics is an open question usually expressed in inaction; a negation that we do not have the agency to realize … First, a working definition of anti-politics in the time of irrelevant leftism: a position that understands that politics is an administrative practice determined by, and in the service of, economic forces. Anti-politics understands there are no political solutions. In short anti-politics is anti-strategy."
by (2.8k points)
edited by
The definition of "anti-politics" given by the author(s) of LJ does not satisfy me, hence the juxtaposition of my own definition with their definition. I believe it makes an attempt at establishing significance in a limited array of terms within a more broad (that is to say, diverse) and tentative concept. Kind of like putting too much sugar in your tea—eventually you'll cross a threshold and you start eliminating the tea altogether and all you have is very sweet water. This does not seem warranted or acceptable, for some reason.
by (2.8k points)
edited by
madlib, don't you know all the kiddies got into communism after you and others (occupation milieu) went wild over it back in 2009?

letters is totally hip with the kids, folks make fan videos even! but seriously after letters did that tour lots of folks have been into them. i'd say the majority of the ex I ride a bike, do fnb, and work at the local infoshop scene are into it, less folks in orgs... anti-politics, ia, ultra-left communism is the "in" trend. sorry to break the news to ya...
by (670 points)
There were two videos made in response to a nation-wide tour. That isn't indicative of popularity by my own measurement. But I am not a good judge of these sorts of things. My perspective is sharply limited. I can barely account for the effects of online affairs in offline affairs. I am very aware of the intense interest in the ultra-left among anarchists right now but I wasn't aware that the impression left by the dissemination of LJ had been swept up in it. Most of the responses I have seen to LJ and related projects were almost entirely negative and often hostile, so I just assumed…
by (2.8k points)
edited by
you are quite right about the videos. that was sorta a joke on my part, but no i'd say in the offline world i have noticed that things like letters journal are pretty popular. i've met quite a few people who are interested in it. honestly most of the younger anarchist scene reads @news now so their introduction is from there, not infoshop/@FAQ, etc anymore...
by (670 points)
–1 vote
Because the author is friends with a lot of people, even if he claims otherwise.
by (250 points)
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