Anarchist & Radical Book Club discussion

Goodreads has a section called "Rules" that pops up when you first comment in a group, and displays under the group description on the group's home page.

What are the ground rules and guidelines that we should set for our discussions?

Discussion Guidelines
No oppressive language, please, but feel welcome to ask questions, display ignorance, and debate.

Be mindful of the diversity of people here. "Our" culture or "our" society may not actually be shared experiences, identities, or beliefs. Best to be specific or speak from your own experience instead of assuming. Note this is an international group, so be aware of geographic, national, and linguistic difference, too.

Be sure to file new books as "to-read" on the bookshelf, so only the books we read as a group are on our "read" shelf. GO ahead and tag them with whatever categories make sense.

When possible, try to include links to free online versions of written works.

You can always add your thoughts to old topic threads about previous group reads-- your new comment might jumpstart another conversation!

If you want to be added as a moderator and you regularly participate & contribute to the group, just ask. We may revisit this guideline in the future if the group gets bigger or trolled or whathaveyou.

If you have additional suggestions for discussion guidelines, please share with a comment here.

How to add books to the bookshelf

You can browse the bookshelf (on the menu to the right) to find books by subject.

The books on the shelf are culled from various 'recommended reading' book lists and member's additions. When adding books, try to include variety in difficulty & length, genre (fiction, theory, current affairs/history), topics, author standpoint (background & perspective), etc.

To add books:
1) Go to the bookshelf page
2) Type the book's name in the "add books" search bar (top left, above the shelf titles)
3) Choose the appropriate shelf categories
-->Place your book under "To-read" (reserve the "read" and "currently reading" shelves for the book club)
4) Click "save group book"

You can add a new shelf category by writing the name of the new shelf in the box at the bottom of the list that pops up when you click "choose shelves" while adding a book. To avoid it all getting crazy messy, try to only create shelves when a good umbrella shelf doesn't exist, and try to use the existing shelves when possible. Feel free to re-name if there's a more inclusive term.

We should bin and possibly ban people shamelessly plugging authored and co-authored books, self-promotion or whatever you want to call it.

Agreed. I am happy to have an author chime in with their knowledge and maybe even reference their book/zine/article where relevant, but self-promoting for sales is really not in line with this group's purpose.

If there's interest we could create an authors folder or thread like other groups, but I'm personally kind of wary of that.

Book Club Guidelines
(as of early 2013)

The book club is an evolving project, driven by participation. Suggestions are always welcome for a more efficient and inclusive system.

Lately, we have been operating on a discussion-driven majority rules system for choosing group reads:

1) Discussion thread: A discussion thread for selecting books is open to suggest specific books, ask for recommendations based on a subject, give your opinions on suggested books, and to respond with a 'second' for the books someone else suggested that interest you.

2) Poll: All the 'seconded' books from the discussion thread (the books that two or more people said they'd like to read) are added to a poll. Discussion is open throughout voting, and feel free to change your vote and offer opinions on why folks should choose or not choose a book.

3) Decision: The majority poll-winner is the group read, but as discussion remains open, sometime we'll agree to read the two top books, or make some other change based on discussion participation. The poll is not a binding decision, especially important given how easy it is on GR to vote on a poll even if you won't read and write about a book.

Timeline
Please note with apologies that the timeline is subject to the forgetful, busy, and internet-free traveling-prone whims of the mods.

3-4 weeks out: Open discussion on book selection
2-3 weeks out: Open poll
1-2 weeks out: Choose book
Read books for 2-3 months, based on activity and how fast the mod remembers to get another selection thread up. ;)

FEEDBACK WELCOMED & ENCOURAGED!

Rules? This is supposed to be Anarchism!

Holy Lord Kek wrote: "Rules? This is supposed to be Anarchism!"

Anarchism, contrary to popular disinformation, does have rules and is not a state of total chaos.

An example is the well-known anarchist motto, "No masters, no slaves." That's a rule, and it is fundamental to anarchy.

That's as may be, but I agree with message #6 above. Lord Kek has the right idea. Too many rules already.

Of course, yes--if we were huddled by torchlight, waiting for Juan to bring us rifles, while we pore over some blueprints of the city's economic assets, yes we'd need some rules to govern our operational profile.

But this is not anarchy, its just a reader's group for individuals interested in the topic of anarchy. And its also a very quiet reader's group with not a lot of activity and only a few members.

So, I'm with Kek. Enough micro-managing. Rules are for command/control hierarchical entities who aren't interested in real communication to solve problems.

Mark E. wrote: "Holy Lord Kek wrote: "Rules? This is supposed to be Anarchism!"

Anarchism, contrary to popular disinformation, does have rules and is not a state of total chaos.

An example is the well-known anar..."

I thought it was, "No Gods, No Masters", like that Amebix song?

(Amebix = one of my all time fav bands)

Then, who enforces the rules if they are broken?

Holy Lord Kek wrote: "Then, who enforces the rules if they are broken?"

That's precisely why anarchism hasn't taken over the world. It's theoretically perfect, but in reality it doesn't always work.

Holy Lord Kek is a troll...do not enter into a discussion with him.
Check out his 'welcome' message

^^ Wise precaution. Thanks.

Aziz wrote: "Holy Lord Kek is a troll...do not enter into a discussion with him.
Check out his 'welcome' message"

Okay, so I'm a troll; although it was just admitted that your whole ideology is based on pure fantasy and has no basis in the real world. Doesn't that kinda make your whole movement troll like? So, you can see by my avatar, screen name, and profile that I am alt-right. That kinda makes me the worst troll in the world. I don't understand how extreme vetting of people entering the country is a bad thing. I also don't understand why respecting your ancestors and making sure the citizens of your own country are well taken care of before you start policing the world is a bad thing either. All i read from leftist articles and essays is that these are bad things but absolutely no reason why is given. If I make a comment asking why or instigating a debate, I am automatically censored. So yeah, i am actually interested in the movement and not as you describe to actually troll. We all have mothers, sisters, girlfriends, etc...and we want them to be safe. Nobody really wants what happened in Cologne, New Years Eve, I'm assuming. Just, keep it real.

"Gentlemen, please! You can't fight in here! This is the War Room..."

HLK, I think you might find ample discussion worthy of your topic in this group. Why not initiate a thread?

I haven't seen any activity in this group in months. So this is actually kind of refreshing. It occurs to me I have a few new things to say too, based on my reading list lately.

Anyway with regard to your questions, lately I'm dissatisfied with this line-of-reasoning: "Oh! You think X, Y, & Z, therefore you must be an X, a Y, or a Z!"

If you can refrain from these kind of assumptions, I bet we'd have a semi-productive discussion around here for a change. How about it?

Well, when we talk about anarchy, there are conclusions to be drawn: one being support for the removal of all borders, and second being lais·sez-faire government (pretty much no government interference in any matters, thus none at all).

It's the same with the alt-right. We know that with alt-right thinking you have White Nationalism (although a small amount of non-whites have joined the movement through dedicated patriotism), and sensible constitutionalism.

These are the monoliths of both schools of thought, all though, for some reason, the anarcho-communist "anti-fascist", movement supports radical islam. Makes no sense to me either, but hey, let them get killed and subjected by the people they are trying to so hard to defend. No skin off my back.

https://youtu.be/NL0tRHvBlQQ

HLK do you seriously want others to enter into a discussion with you when you come here reeking of fanaticism and mockery? I don't think anyone has a problem to argue about different claims, ideologies or what have you, I would in fact welcome it. However, you could create your own thread as already mentioned, and you could try some humility and respect.
ps. Sharing a youtube video to support your ill-established claims not a very good idea

Aziz wrote: "HLK do you seriously want others to enter into a discussion with you when you come here reeking of fanaticism and mockery? I don't think anyone has a problem to argue about different claims, ideolo..."

I didn't know i was behaving so abominably. My apologies. Some of the stuff I said was in the more in the tongue-in-cheek variety. Sorry for any offense. What didn't you like about the video? I thought it was very humerous. I'll generate a new thread and stuff. Thanks...

He's not that far out of line, so far. Speech is clean. Coherent. Really, Goodreads in general is a kindergarten. He's not upsetting me.

Kek, this:
Holy Lord Kek wrote: "Well, when we talk about anarchy, there are conclusions to be drawn: one being support for the removal of all borders, and second being lais·sez-faire government (pretty much no government interfer..."

I'm in favor of anarchistic tactics for change, yet (unlike your assertions here) I am not in favor of these homogenizing measures. No way. I do not want an amorphous, identity-less, world-society. World government would be a disaster.

Maybe I am just not a good anarchist. I definitely dislike governments; am I a nihilist? No...I don't seek endless chaos...but I do want people to be able to retain their identity.

Specific point: 'no government interference'...? No. Even though I dislike government, this doesn't mean I want to turn the world over to capitalists. Would corporations run the world more ably? Without checks? Hell no. They'd kill us for profit.

This is where Marxism shines. The State is unfit to rule, money-grubbers are unfit to rule...who is left? The people.

Feliks, nothing would be worse then having a secret police like the KGB (your avatar), Gestapo Islamic thought police, or some other lunatic bureau watching your every move and sending you off to the gulag if you happen to get caught. That would be a nightmare, obviously. There is no way i will stand for these fools taking away the borders. Anyone who believes that there would be no war and utopia with no borders is utterly ignorant. Peaceful Muslims are currently maiming and killing for a world of peace and no borders. It's called a Caliphate. Socialism can only really work when you have a people's common ancestry and identity, along with a small land mass. Socialism in a humongous country like the US cannot work because of the amount of bureaucracy involved. With Obamacare, you are no longer allowed to keep the physician of your choice, and a bureaucrat will decide if and when you need what. You have to also pay for other people's heath care, including sex-change surger. Is that your idea of socialism?

Multiculturalism doesn't work. Even that fat hag Merkel admitted it several years back. Now she is ferreting them all in so they can abuse and disrespect our people, our culture, and our ways. These left-wing people are living in fantasy land. In one German city, it was reported that liberal numbskulls are seeking jobs for 60k migrants while the city already has 50k unemployed. In Sweden, idiot Swedes walked through the Muslim infiltrated part of town carrying rainbow flags and signs that read, "Muslims and Gays Unite". Predictably, they were pelted with rocks and verbally abused. WTF is wrong with people now-a-days. You got these Antifa anarchists who are apparently "anti-fascist", but try to shut down anything they disagree with through violence. They claim to be fighting for the week and oppressed, yet it is those same, "weak and oppressed" which target our women for assault and rape and traffic child sex workers.

It is time for WPWW. Those of European stock did nothing different than any of those of other stock as far as conquring and procreating. We just did it the best! In fact, it was Europeans who were the first to outlaw slavery. It was the Europeans who showed compassion for their enemies and created the Geneva Conventions. The White Beasts of Wotan need to rise from this PC mire, and sound the bells of liberty.

Always nice to remember the alt-right has no coherent understanding of material reality or politics beyond "Obamacare is literally communism".

Sal wrote: "Always nice to remember the alt-right has no coherent understanding of material reality or politics beyond "Obamacare is literally communism"."

Daaaamn, you told me!

Meh. None of these issues are concern-some as far as I can tell. What's important is the political process itself. Chicanery, behind-the-scenes manipulation. Parties gerrymandering states to solidify their dominance. An American public who is basically asleep; unconscious. A surveillance state emerging.