Philly Anti-Capitalist Philly Anti-authoritarian News

If we name a tendency, how do we make that tendency spread like fire? How can we make that tendency escape the dead-ends of liberal identity politics and/or academia and/or activism? How will we find commonality with forms-of-life that bash back? How can we make this world explode?

Is our violence of substance or of image? Are we joking when we write about violence?

What is meant by that picture of beautiful people holding baseball bats and sledge hammers? Is this symbolism? Is it real? Does it mean anything to bash back?

-Some Questions to be Addressed Before the 2010 Bash Back! Convergence in Denver

The return of Bash Back! in the fall of 2023 with its international convergence in Chicago (the first of its kind in roughly fifteen years) excited and drew in many queer anarchists and anti-authoritarians with promises of ‘orgies and riots’; not a mere reunion, but seemingly a return to form for the networktendencyganghoweveryouwanttoconceiveofit. And while, in many cases, Chicago set a good tone for the nature of what Bash Back! was to mean in the new context in which we find ourselves, it is important that we continue to be very clear and intentional about what exactly we mean when we say “Bash Back!” and when we talk about being violent faggots. We must not let ourselves be so overcome with the glamour and excitement of “doing a bash back” that we lose sight of what this means, or rather, what it could (or should?) mean: sheer, unrelenting, anti-social conflictuality. It would be both counterproductive, misleading, and to some, demoralizing, to take on the image of “orgies and riots” and bring forth only parties, dances, and otherwise chill hangs.

We are not inherently subversive simply through our identities as queers, trannies, faggots, anarchists, punks, dykes, or any combination therein. To accept this, even tacitly, is to accept the liberal identity politics of those we supposedly seek to destroy, to simply want our own aesthetically cool and edgy subcultural niche within this industrial death march called civilization and its society. Do our desires begin and end with an endless trawl of “anarchist” dance parties, galas, fashion shows, raves, or private warehouse sex parties (even if they are fun!). If they are indeed present, what of our desires to see this society destroyed and this civilization reduced to ashes under our feet? When will we trade mere subculture for an anti-culture, one foaming at the mouth for war; one that seeks to ravage the social order, one with a wild fuse, seeking to blow itself up at any moment? For how long will we settle merely for campfires on the rave pier while deferring to set them in the streets, the banks, the factories, the prisons? Are we to simply throw parties until the next wave of social unrest comes, or will we be that social unrest?

Before going on, it must be stated clearly: this critique is written with the utmost love, respect, and appreciation to those who organized the Northeastern Bash Back! Regional convergence in Philadelphia this past spring. Taking on organizing a regional Bash Back! convergence is a massive organizational undertaking to say the least, and there is a ton of work that must go into planning and putting on something like that! And for that, many thanks and kudos go out those who made it happen, especially in the short order that it occurred after the Chicago convergence and the proceeding call for regional convergences. However, in the rush, excitement, and stress of putting on something like this and asking the logistical questions of “how, when, who, and what,” it is easy to forget to ask “Why?” Once again, what does it mean for us to “Bash Back!”?

“Is our violence of substance or of image?” When the queer anarchist Muay Thai smoker is happening and at least one hundred of us collectively chant “A-, Anti, Anticapitalista”, “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Fuck 12!”, and “Death to America, Death to Israel!” between rounds in the safety of the reserved warehouse space, the painfully liberal UPenn encampment sleeps quietly on the university lawn two miles away. What if this clear sense of rage, conviction, and unity of purpose in our chants was channeled into an opportunity for a surprise attack against the university, its presumably vulnerable and unsuspecting police forces, or the upscale businesses surrounding the university? What could it have meant to turn the joy of the fight club into the jouissance of a rampage? This is not to imply that the Philly organizers simply did not care about the conflictual and insurrectionary nature of Bash Back!, and in fact, they probably wanted people to bring said energy. Unfortunately though, this energy is not always as spontaneous as we would like. Moreover, it didn’t help that any nods to these insurrectional desires were literally tacked-on at the back end of the daily schedule. In the information zines handed out at the convergence, listed after every day’s events was the following: “11PM–Late: Autonomously Organized Late Night Fun.” Although the implication and intentionality was somewhat clear, the actualization was far from so. This led many interested parties to confusedly wander around the convergence, asking any Philly BB!ers they could find if there was anything that was actually planned for that night, or even if anyone knew of any particularly relevant or vulnerable targets (which were also notably absent from the distributed zine). Such inqueries were usually met with, “Oh, I think they are just expecting people to go do stuff on their own.” Of course, by this point, it was much too late for anyone from out of town to plan and carry out anything substantial. Regardless of the organizers’ intentions, it seemed that any real conflictuality had taken a backseat to hangouts, parties, dances, and movie screenings. To be clear: to realistically expect out-of-towners, many of whom may have never lived in Philadelphia for any period of time, with comparatively little (or completely nonexistent) knowledge of the political, social, or literal terrain to autonomously organize “late night fun,” is at very best a severe miscalculation and at worst, utter laziness.

Others have guessed that this omission of conflictuality may have been actually been intentional, with some organizers prioritizing a need to “rest and recuperate.” Considering the current political climate, this desire, and others like it that focus on ~building connections~ and networking for bigger, more confrontational (and more importantly, presently imaginary) encounters in the ~future~, seems both confusing and out of touch. There are so many others who continue to courageously and tirelessly fight in the here and now. And far be it from this critique to lay out a measured response to the increasing prevalence of the care-pilled “politics of rest and compassion” that seems to be further creeping into anarchist spaces, it is important to remind ourselves that this moment of re-emergence, especially in the context of all that surrounds us, is a critical one. A moment where it is up to us to decide if this thing will merely be consumed by the narcissistic myopia of subculture, and consequently cynically recuperated liberal identity politicians and grifters parroting lines about “Queers Bashing Back” until they or their audiences tire of the fashion. Or, does it instead take the anti-social turn of a destructive, unnameable, nihilistic queerness that truly destabilizes the nature of identity and the social order, refusing the repackaging of its violence into mere aesthetics, its lust for incendiary jouissance into a social nightlife, its negativity into “mutual aid projects”?

“If we name a tendency, what does it mean to make that tendency spread like fire?”