Queer Ultraviolence: BASH BACK! Anthology

430 Pages·2011·6.07 MB·English

by  BASH BACK!

queer
ultra
vıo
lence
BashBack!
anthology
Queer Ultra Violence
Edited by Fray Baroque and Tegan Eanelli
Ardent Press, 2011
Licensed under Creative Commons
Ardent Press is a group engaged in research,
publishing, and local projects.
More information at: ardentpress.org
Cover Art and Book design by
The Institute for Experimental Freedom
www.politicsisnotabanana.com
Type set with ITC AVANT GARDE, our contribution
to the abuse of the family (no pun intended),
Milo Serif, who will grow up to be a big boy some day
and Adelle, who continues to dominate the headlines.
QUEER
sserP tnedrA
ULTRA
illenaE nageT &
VIOLENCE
euqoraB yarF
yb detidE
BASHBACK!
ANTHOLOGY
YGOLOHTNA
!KCABHSAB
ECNELOIV Edited by
Fray Baroque
ARTLU & Tegan Eanelli
REEUQ Ardent Press
Table of Contents
introduction gnaG inidraN yraM ehT htiW weivretnI 482
Fray Baroque ?lufituaeB emoceB oT tI sI tahW 872
ycamitnI lanimirC 272
timeline
yroehT erohW 862
communiqués noitcerrusnI tsereeuQ ehT drawoT 652
syasse & yroeht
34 Unconventional Queers
54 Forging A Praxis Of Vengeance
daeR llitS dluohS uoY
92 Dispatches From The War On God
tihS modnaR rehtO dnA ,stuollaC ,stnemecnuonnA 232
125 Rejuvenating The Struggle
truoC oT seoG kcattA leirA 222
Against Assimilation
erutluC reeuQ lanimirC A drawoT 891
161 The 2009 Bash Back! Convergence
stoiR 02G suoiraV morF séuqinummoC 381
And Subsequent Drama
amarD tneuqesbuS dnA
183 Communiqués From Various G20 Riots
ecnegrevnoC !kcaB hsaB 9002 ehT 161
198 Toward A Criminal Queer Culture
noitalimissA tsniagA
222 Ariel Attack Goes To Court
elggurtS ehT gnitanevujeR 521
232 Announcements, Callouts, And Other Random Shit
doG nO raW ehT morF sehctapsiD 29
You Should Still Read
ecnaegneV fO sixarP A gnigroF 45
theory & essays sreeuQ lanoitnevnocnU 43
séuqinummoc
256 Toward The Queerest Insurrection
268 Whore Theory enilemit
272 Criminal Intimacy
278 What Is It To Become Beautiful? euqoraB yarF
284 Interview With The Mary Nardini Gang noitcudortni
stnetnoC fo elbaT
290 Hell Hath No Fury: A Chronology Of
Genderfuck Insurrection
298 How Is It, To Be Done In The Ass?
300 Preliminary Notes On Modes Of Reproduction
314 Interview With Gender Mutiny
320 Questions To Be Addressed Before Denver
328 Destruction Not Separation: Some Thoughts On
The Church And State
332 Identity, Politics And Anti-Politics:
A Critical Perspective
342 Thoughts On Developing Anarchist
Queer Theory
348 Reflections On The Demise Of Bash Back!
356 Interview With An Editor Of
Pink And Black Attack
362 Public Sex And Social War
368 “Let The Trans Women Speak!”: A Response To Camp
Trans 2010
372 Towards An Insurrectionary Transfeminism
378 The Failure Of The Correlative Form
384 Interview With Not Yr Cister Press
392 I-Don’t-Bash-Back-I-Shoot-First
bash back! is dead; bash back forever!
concluding notes
Tegan Eanelli
W
ith this anthology we
intend to tell an accurate
and holistic story of Bash
Back! In doing so, we continue our
struggle to construct the queer com-
mune. The profits from this book
will be distributed to trans and oth-
erwise queer anarchists in prison
as well as those facing legal cases
and criminal charges. Subsequent
speaking tours will provide finan-
cial support to sustain pre-existing
projects and create new transqueer
models of resistance.
8 Queer Ultraviolence
9
Through collections of essays, communiqués, narratives, images,
and interviews, this anthology hopes to account for what Bash Back!
was and what happened to it. We have included a number of actions,
dnef ot redro ni dna dnim ni siht htiW .noitacilbup siht etubirtsid
theories, and other essays that were not explicitly or implicitly related
yleerf dna ,ecudorper ot sreeuq detseretni lla dna yna ot noissimrep
to Bash Back! as a name. In this context, if we do not recognize the
evig eW .evah yeht yenom elttil tahw eraps ot droffa tonnac ynam
actions of related tendencies and publications, then we fail to tell the
taht dnatsrednu ew ,stcejorp dna srenosirp reeuq dna tsihcrana ot
complete history of Bash Back! as a network and as a tendency.
noitanod a sa ygolohtna siht esahcrup ot slaudividni egaruocne ew
The term queer in this book is used both loosely
elihW .koob siht fo thgirypoc yna ezingocer ot esufer ,noisserppo
and inclusively. We view queer as the blurring of sexual and gender
gniltnamsid ot detacided ,sreeuq tsilatipac-itna ,eW
identities. Queer is the refusal of fixed identities. It is a war on all
.deyortsed eb oot tsum reeuq fo yrogetac eht ,denrub
identity. In line with the Bash Back! tendency, for the uses of this
galf kcalb eht dna etelpmoc noitulover htiW .strapretnuoc thgiarts
anthology queer is trans because the gender binary is inherently
ruo gnoma noisufnoc erom etaerc thgim ti ,yldettimdA .ria eht raelc
oppressive. More often than not, our use of the term queer is
lliw ygolohtna siht nihtiw tnetnoc eht taht ylekil si ti tub ,gnisufnoc
interchangeable with our use of trans, though that is not necessarily
eb thgim ygolonimret sihT .seirogetac redneg ro lauxes lanoitidart
true of the way in which trans-whatever is used. We acknowledge that
fo edistuo llaf ohw elpoep yb deretnuocne ecneloiv citametsys eht si
society ensures Queer is an oppressed identity. Anti-Queer oppression
noisserppo reeuQ-itnA .ytitnedi desserppo na si reeuQ serusne yteicos
is the systematic violence encountered by people who fall outside of
taht egdelwonkca eW .desu si revetahw-snart hcihw ni yaw eht fo eurt
traditional sexual or gender categories. This terminology might be
ylirassecen ton si taht hguoht ,snart fo esu ruo htiw elbaegnahcretni
confusing, but it is likely that the content within this anthology will
si reeuq mret eht fo esu ruo ,ton naht netfo eroM .evisserppo
clear the air. Admittedly, it might create more confusion among our
yltnerehni si yranib redneg eht esuaceb snart si reeuq ygolohtna
straight counterparts. With revolution complete and the black flag
siht fo sesu eht rof ,ycnednet !kcaB hsaB eht htiw enil nI .ytitnedi
burned, the category of queer must too be destroyed.
lla no raw a si tI .seititnedi dexif fo lasufer eht si reeuQ .seititnedi
We, anti-capitalist queers, dedicated to dismantling
redneg dna lauxes fo gnirrulb eht sa reeuq weiv eW .ylevisulcni dna
oppression, refuse to recognize any copyright of this book. While
ylesool htob desu si koob siht ni reeuq mret ehT
we encourage individuals to purchase this anthology as a donation
.ycnednet a sa dna krowten a sa !kcaB hsaB fo yrotsih etelpmoc
to anarchist and queer prisoners and projects, we understand that
eht llet ot liaf ew neht ,snoitacilbup dna seicnednet detaler fo snoitca
many cannot afford to spare what little money they have. We give
eht ezingocer ton od ew fi ,txetnoc siht nI .eman a sa !kcaB hsaB ot
permission to any and all interested queers to reproduce, and freely
detaler ylticilpmi ro ylticilpxe ton erew taht syasse rehto dna ,seiroeht
distribute this publication. With this in mind and in order to fend
,snoitca fo rebmun a dedulcni evah eW .ti ot deneppah tahw dna saw
!kcaB hsaB tahw rof tnuocca ot sepoh ygolohtna siht ,sweivretni dna
,segami ,sevitarran ,séuqinummoc ,syasse fo snoitcelloc hguorhT
9
off would-be profiteers, we use the Creative Commons License. Fuck
intellectual property.
Bash Back! originated as a haven for queers already
involved in anarchist struggles, and it intended to carve a space for
those often disenfranchised from direct action-oriented straight
anarchist space. Bash Back! arose in a context in which patriarchy ran
rampant in anarchist circles. While comfortable, white college kids
dominated the so-called radical queer scene, political correctness was
an epidemic illness among the potluckgoing, craft-obsessed queer
“radicals.” It was this frustration with the straight anarchists and queer
so-called radicals that gave way to the unique anti-identity politics
form of separatism that became rooted in Bash Back!
Bash Back! was not just a group or organization, but
a militant tendency on the part of queer individuals. While Bash
Back! was occasionally public and campy, bashing back was more of
an everyday evolutionary occurrence than any sort of activist entity.
Most of what can be attributed to the Bash Back! period never made
it onto the internet or into newspapers. Bashing back meant bar
fights, outrunning lynch mobs, glamdalization, attacking the homes
of heterosexist murderers, outright chaos, alleged lootings, theory
discussions, self-defense tips, social gatherings, beatdowns, the
acquisition of large quantities of pepper spray, and attempts at sexual
liberation. It was a temporary counter-culture amongst friend groups
and peers that called for nothing short of direct confrontation with
the (mostly) straight, (mostly) white and always normative society:
the ultimate queer propaganda by queer deed.
We chose to divide this anthology into two
parts, Communiqués and Essays. However, to view Bash Back! as
either theorists or actors is a false dichotomy. There were few, if
any, boundaries between those who acted and those who wrote.
10 Queer Ultraviolence