Daybreak! editorial against war (and the authorities that benifit from it)

As you read these words the storm of war has likely already broken. The self-described progressive media is full of explanations of why the current war is unjust and unnecessary. As anarchists we must oppose the type of thinking that insinuates that war, which kills and mutilates millions of people and is the best example of the violence and callousness which governments and authorities operate under, is ever fought in the name of freedom or justice.

War is a terror and a nightmare. There can be no arguments about this. Governments cynically manipulate the population so that the rich people who run them can make a little more money, and gain a little more power, a little more oil. How many dollars do they make for every person who is mercilessly slaughtered in the name of whatever they're trying to make us believe we should die for now?

Some leftists will tell us that the reason for war is because the American people are thirsty for blood and not as aware or interested in justice as the old 60's peace movement or the young fodder for whatever socialist group is currently trying to dominate the anti-war movement. Instead of telling Americans how brainwashed they are (in comparison to your own enlightenment), try and understand why people support wars. Is it because we're thirsty to see people suffer and die? Or to alleviate the boredom and loneliness of our society? Or because everything around us is telling us that only war will bring peace? People want to do the right thing and they want peace. They know that leftists will never bring any type of peace (for fuck's sake, they can't even get along with each other). Peace in a world of capitalism and authority is no more peaceful than war and no less violent or destructive.

So we are only given the choice between constant War and a society based on violence, and as anarchists we choose neither. We choose a world where war is not necessary, where the alienation we feel is supplanted by having meaningful lives in tolerant and supportive communities. We choose a world where a true democracy of every person and community replaces the violence the rich use to dominate and control other people. We cannot justify any war regardless of the specifics because we know that a world without war is possible and imperative if we wish to survive as a species.

No more boring demonstrations at Federal buildings- they're useless and everyone knows it. No more professors speaking to students in elite teach-ins- if they want to talk set them up on a street corner and let them blabber away. Anarchists call for direct action, both against the war and against the entire system of authority that makes war inevitable- sabotage, draft evasion, whatever is possible. No more compromise with the murderers that want to send us and the people and world we love to our deaths! We want action in any way that will help bring this system, loaded down with so many mutilated corpses, to a halt.



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