Eight Years of Sketchy Thoughts

It has been eight years since i started this blog, basically as a way of trying to figure out how to develop and explore some political ideas and perhaps also deal with a period of political and personal isolation i was going through. It “worked”, and provided a space not only to try and figure some things out, to record things i would otherwise have forgotten, and to try and elaborate a set of political reference points. It has been a nice complement to what at the time was the more business-oriented kersplebedeb.com site i also run.

Of course, every medium shapes the message, and there are drawbacks to this particular format. For one, not all blog posts are equal, and not all have the same staying power. Reposting a callout for a demo may be more important than writing up thoughts on the Iranian Revolution, but a year later the latter might retain some value, while the former does not. Furthermore, for some reason, google does not index all blog posts. There are things i have written here that for whatever reason are essentially invisible to the internet. And finally, with the advent of Facebook, a lot of things i would have written about here, i now simply repost or “like” there. Facebook is an amazing organizing tool, but comes with a major built-in security liability, and tends to dumb down our thoughts as well as our conversations. Beyond the quip and the snark, anything worth saying becomes “TLDR” in a mindscape ruled by grumpy cats and bad collages dubbed “memes”.

Ever since i set up the leftwingbooks website for stuff that i sell, the distinction between what belongs on Sketchy Thoughts and what belongs on kersplebedeb has become pretty arbitrary. The ideal would be to somehow combine them. For the past year or so i have been exploring, with different people, ways to do just this, in the hopes of making a more coherent and useful repertoire of documents and thoughts. This was supposed to happen before the end of 2012, but that obviously was as bit too hopeful. Nevertheless, i’m going to take advantage of this New Year’s to post a retrospective of sorts, a compendium of the things i am most pleased with having written on this blog over the past 8 years. (Unfortunately, this leaves out the many excellent things other people have written which i have reposted here, as well as series of reports i posted which only take on relevance when seen together; however this is just not that kind of retrospective!)

My hope is that soon all of this will be consolidated in a new way, but in case it isn’t, here is a guide to the my favorites out of over 1000 postings to have made it on to sketchy thoughts since 2005, in reverse chronological order and separated out into categories:

Class and National Contradictions in quebec (and canada)

• Class, Nation, and Health: with some thoughts about H1N1, and building movement capacity
  Looking at class and nation, and the need for autonomous organization, through the lens of the H1N1 “swine flu”. (friday, october 30, 2009)
• Trade Unions Line Up for a “Neutral” Racist Quebec
  Islamophobia as a binding agent in the Quebec nation of the 21st century. (tuesday, december 11, 2007)
• Anti-Racists Attacked by Police Outside “Reasonable Accomodation” Hearings in Montreal
  Montreal was the city where the racist dog and pony show finally got opposed. (friday, november 30, 2007)
• Pauline Marois, the PQ’s “Quebec Identity Bill” and Divided Strategies on the Radical Left
  A look at left-wing disarray before the PQ’s sly brand of secular racism. (friday, november 09, 2007)
• Reasonable Accommodation Hearings: On the creation of a Muslim boogeywoman
  A look at how Muslim women have become the proving-ground for various visions of settler nationhood in Quebec. (monday, october 15, 2007)
• Some Initial Thoughts on Racial Profiling in Canada: Challenging the Myth of ‘A Few Bad Apples’
  An attempt to use a book review to examine the interplay between racist policing, colonialism and Canada’s racialized class structure. (sunday, may 13, 2007)
• The Freedom to Wear What You Want
  Yet another look at Islamophobia in Quebec. (sunday, march 25, 2007)
• The Hijab and Soccer: Women, Immigrants, and the Fear of the Female Proletariat
  An attempt to think out class and national dynamics behind sexist Islamophobia in Quebec. (wednesday, february 28, 2007)
• Secularism, Women’s Liberation and Intervention: More on the Racist Reasonable Accommodation “Debate”
  (saturday, february 10, 2007)
• Racist “Reasonable Accommodation” Anxieties: A Short Summary
  (friday, february 09, 2007)
• More on the Quebec Nation
  A dialog with Phebus of NEFAC, regarding class dynamics and the Quebec nation. (sunday, august 20, 2006)
• Quebecistan? I wish…
  This is the post that led to the above discussion. (friday, august 18, 2006)
• Detoxing From Canada
  Addressing the 2006 Six Nations Reclamation. (tuesday, april 25, 2006)

Political Struggle

• Hungerstrike Recap: California Prisoners Showed the Way!
  A look at the heroic and unprecedented hungerstrike by thousands of prisoners in California, against isolation-torture. (saturday, august 20, 2011)
• Class, Nation, and Health: with some thoughts about H1N1, and building movement capacity
  Looking at class and nation, and the need for autonomous organization, through the lens of the H1N1 “swine flu”. (friday, october 30, 2009)
• Antifascism and Violence
  A look at why antifascism is different from other forms of organizing, in that the questions of breaking with legality and doing things “for real” are posed much more quickly. (saturday, october 10, 2009)
• Radicals and the State
  On the need for autonomy. (sunday, january 21, 2007)
• Thinking About Growing Pains
  Reviewing the editorial of Upping the Anti #3, and the need for militancy. (friday, january 19, 2007)
• Gymnaslaerer Pedersen (Comrade Pedersen)
  A review of a cool anticommunist movie from Norway. (sunday, september 24, 2006)
• Revolution in Nepal
  Inspiration from the Nepalese Maoists, before the sellout. (tuesday, march 28, 2006)
• Some Thoughts on Anti-Muslim and Anti-Jewish Vandalism in Montreal
  (monday, march 27, 2006)
• Talking About A Revolution: Reading Richard Day’s Gramsci Is Dead
  On the need for offensive strategies that think big. (monday, march 13, 2006)
• Upping the Anti, Identity Politics, etc.
  Thoughts occasioned by UTA #1. (monday, january 09, 2006)

On the Subject of Patriarchy

• [Movie Review] Songbirds, a Musical Documentary about Women in Prison
  (sunday, december 03, 2006)
• [Movie Review] Guan Cha Mosuo – Mosuo, The Last Matriarchy Family
  A look at a ridiculously racist and sexist documentary about a matriarchal people who survive in the pores of modern-day China. (friday, september 01, 2006)
• Missing, Raped, Murdered
  Police are not the solution. (wednesday, february 01, 2006)
• The North Shore Rapist Is Caught – Guess Who?
  Montreal serial rapist is revealed to be a cop. (thursday, january 26, 2006)
• Caliban And The Witch [Part One, Two, Three and Four] A review of Silvia Federici’s book Caliban and the Witch, using the Marxist concept of primitive accumulation to explore the connections between patriarchy, capitalism, and colonialism. (december 6-10, 2005)
• Les Femmes du Mont Ararat / The Women of Mount Ararat
  A critical movie review of this documentary about the women’s guerilla army led by the PKK. (monday, november 14, 2005)
• Unser America
  A brief movie review of this film about women looking back at the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. (saturday, november 12, 2005)
• Marilyn Waring’s Counting for Nothing (Introduction and Parts One and Two)
  A review of this book of feminist economics, and its implications for anticapitalism. (october 6-22, 2005)
• Rape and Murder in the News
  A look at the fucked up police strategy for catching the North Shore serial rapist – who it would turn out was in fact a cop. (saturday, october 08, 2005)

Militant Resistance and State Repression in quebec (and canada)

• On Mass Struggles in the Metropole: Thoughts Inspired by Quebec
  A recurrent theme is how to retain an openness to militant resistance within the imperialist countries, while not losing track of the imperialism’s incredible capacity to contaminate and recuperate opposition here. This article attempts to explore this conundrum in the context of the 2012 Quebec student strike which brought down the provincial Liberal government.
• Report on Quebec’s Student Strike
  A look at the 2012 Quebec student strike, the most unique and incredible upsurge that i have ever been lucky enough to witness first hand.
• Montreal Cops Sought Army Advice After 2008 Riots
• Reflections on the RCP’s “Legitimate Revolt Is Not a ‘Conspiracy'”
  In the wake of Toronto’s G8/G20 resistance, in which the Black Block featured prominently.
• G20 Theories, Debates, and Slander: Sorting the Mess
  The splits around property damage, legality, and the State that followed the G20 resistance in Toronto were a turning point in the development of a radical praxis in canada. This was my attempts to sort out the different positions at the time.
• Army Recruitment Center Bombed in Quebec
  While there have been numerous acts of clandestine sabotage in Quebec over the past years, this was probably one of the largest. No arrests to date, glad to say.
• Smashing Cop Cars in Montreal
  Not much writing by me here, but a nice story.
• Canadian Counterinsurgency vs. Indigenous Resistance: Doug Bland’s Predictions
  (saturday, march 13, 2010)
• Thoughts on March 15th
  Looking at a traditional day of fighting with cops, in Montreal. With some thought given to Clausewitz and faking it. IMO March 15th is one of the seeds that blossomed in the spring of 2012. (monday, march 16, 2009)
• The Cops Look Back at Montebello
  (saturday, march 14, 2009)
• Trashing Police Cars in Quebec: In Praise of Fog
  (sunday, november 16, 2008)
• Rearview Mirror Glance at August’s Riot
  A brief look back at the riot in Montreal North that followed by police murder of Fredy Villanueva. (thursday, september 18, 2008)
• Montreal Police attack Anti-Capitalist May Day Demonstration
  Quebec is one of the only places in North America where May 1st is regularly observed as a worker’s day. Breaking from the trade union and social democratic leadership of the main May Day events was one of the turning points in creating a radical political police in Montreal. Predictably, this development was opposed by the police. (friday, may 02, 2008)
• The Only Good Thing About Hockey
  Attacking police cars, and snitching, in the context of a sports riot. (thursday, april 24, 2008)
• Montreal Police Seize Computers in Hunt for Your Father, Your Uncle and Your Dog
  Police attempt to find out who was behind recent acts of sabotage in the city. Luckily, still no arrests as of 2012. (thursday, march 20, 2008)
• Montreal Mazda dealership and Bell Canada vans attacked
  One of the spate of high-profile acts of property destruction late at night in Montreal in March 2008. (tuesday, march 18, 2008)
• More Political Playing with Matches: Attack Against the National Bank in Montreal
  One of the spate of high-profile acts of property destruction late at night in Montreal in March 2008. (monday, march 17, 2008)
• The Full Communique: Setting Fire to the Hochelaga Police Station Parking Lot
  More on the first of a spate of high-profile acts of property destruction late at night in Montreal in March 2008. (monday, march 17, 2008)
• Six Montreal Police Cars Torched: Anti-Capitalist Collective Claims Responsibility
  The first of a spate of high-profile acts of property destruction late at night in Montreal in March 2008. (monday, march 17, 2008)
• Classes, Cops and Liberal Spin: Thinking About Montebello
  The resistance when Bush, Harper and Calderon met at Montebello was a small step forward for the radical left in Quebec; however, when 3 undercovers were outed by the Black Block this created a myth (subsequently exploited by the conpiratorial far right and soc dems alike) that the latter was really encapsulated by the State. (saturday, september 01, 2007)
• Radical Anti-Imperialists Carry Out Second Armed Attack in Quebec
  A car belonging to Carol Montreuil, vice-president of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute gets torched. (friday, august 18, 2006)