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Since this great talk btwn @xenogothic and @deontologistics at @adh_global I've been thinking about my book (Shock Doctrine of the Left) and its relation to Mark Fisher / accelerationism. Particularly this idea of MF as not just a theorist but a strategist, even an organiser... https://twitter.com/xenogothic/status/1350835517030617089
...of networks, around the blogosphere, and of institutions like Zero and Repeater that enabled him to publish his written work. I'd wondered about the impact of MF on what I do, bc despite his clear influence I never write much like him - no cultural critique or anything...
and I tend to background a lot of the capital T Theory I'm drawing from. I think instead it's more this frenetic desire to construct organisations and networks, the approach to theory that puts its real world impact as a primary consideration, and the...
... attempt to genuinely experiment with something which will likely fail but in the process move something forward, open up some new potentials.
And Pete's other point on accelerationist praxis as understanding leverage points in systems, and the formation of new autonomous...
And Pete's other point on accelerationist praxis as understanding leverage points in systems, and the formation of new autonomous...
... bodies stood out. In hindsight and with honesty its probably fair to call my book a kind of guide to left accelerationist organising, trying to fill the gap and answer the critique that it hadn't produced any viable on-the-ground praxis for mass movements. I may have...
... avoided the term accelerationism but really it fits, once you've discarded the nonsense definition of 'make it worse to make it better'. Albeit I was perhaps a bit Mr Motivator about it in a way that would make MF and his close comrades cringe, but whatever. In one review...
... the book was criticised as 'opportunist' and I couldn't think of a response except for 'and what of it?' So I was pleased to hear @deontologistics using the term without reservation. I understand there might be some history around the term for Marxists, but...
...it seemed to escape this critic of opportunism that its possible to both be oriented towards acting on immediate opportunities at the same time as having solid principles and long term goals. It's about steering towards them (Ancient Greek for steer is kybernan -> cybernetics)
If you're not analysing systems and taking opportunities to shape them then you're left with only reactive and defensive politics, which is precisely one of the persistant problems with the contemporary left
This thread is largely just me being pleased that I momentarily like my book again after a period of getting bored of dragging it around everywhere
