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CrimethInc.

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CrimethInc.
Typedecentralized collective
Websitewww.crimethinc.com

CrimethInc., also known as Crimethinc or CWC ("CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective"), is a decentralized anarchist collective composed of many cells which act independent of one another, fulfilling a variety of the collective's goals. Multiple divisions of the group have published books, while others have acted as record labels; less public splinter-groups have carried out direct action, hosted international conventions and other events, maintained local chapters, rioted, toured with multimedia performance art and/or hardcore anarcho-punk musical ensembles, and supported various large-scale campaigns with publicity work (including the Unabomer for President and the Don't Just Vote campaigns as well as the anti-FTAA protests of 2003 in Miami, FL).

CrimethInc. is associated with the North American anarcho-punk scene because of its long relationship notable musicians in the genre and publishing of Inside Front, a "journal of hardcore punk and anarchist action", it has since has expanded into nearly all areas of the current anti-capitalist movement. The name "CrimethInc." is a satircal self-criticism about hypocracy of revolutionary propaganda (and other "margin-walking between contradictions")[1] and a direct reference to the concept of "Thoughtcrime" detailed in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.


Philosophy

It promotes itself as a mindset and a way of life first and foremost, rather than as an organization per se, by its active participants. The ongoing CrimethInc. experiment is primarily anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian, looking critically at the culture, economy, politics, work ethic and social dynamic of modern life. Crimethinkers, 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. CrimethInc. is often categorized as post-leftist, although it has also largely drawn from situationism, green anarchy, and class struggle anarchism.

Activities

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)[2], the hardcore punk/political zine Inside Front, and the music of several hardcore punk bands, of which the most notable is Catharsis. 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 high gloss journal, Rolling Thunder, which they call "An Anarchist Journal of Dangerous Living".

Participants

CrimethInc as a loose organization represents a variety of political views. Anyone can publish under the name or create a poster using the logo. Each agent or group of agents operate individually. As well as the traditional anarchist opposition to the state and capitalism, agents have, at times, advocated a straight edge lifestyle, including veganism, the total supersession of gender roles, violent insurrection against the state, turning one's life into a series of vignette moments, and the refusal of work.

Convergences

For five summers (and counting), CrimethInc. has hosted a members-only convention of anarchists and adventurers, 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 made newspaper articles, initiated multiple Reclaim the Streets actions, mobilized large critical mass actions, and catalyzed many other extremities.

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. A website is maintained promoting the event on one of their websites. (http://www.crimethinc.com/convergence/)

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[3].

Convergence Locations

Books

Zines / papers

Video

In March of 2001, two documentaries from Eugene, Oregon's Pickaxe Productions were published through one cell of CrimethInc.: 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 3 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 Guerrilla Film Series.

Music bands

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Frequently Asked Questions http://www.crimethinc.com/main/faq.html
  2. ^ Crimethinc. "Ten Year Report" http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060403151117469
  3. ^ Confidental Source "Anna" Issued Affidavit http://www.thestudentunderground.org/stuff/54/affidavit.pdf

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