SF Anarchist Convention

August 1989, by Liz Highleyman

Well, I just got back from an exciting 2 weeks at the anarchist convention in San Fran. Seems the news coverage spread far and wide (did it get any mention in Europe?). The articles Mike sent were, somewhat unfortunately, mostly accurate. I'm glad to see that at least one source mentioned the gathering as a whole rather than only the riot.

The conference proper took place at an elementary school in the Mission. There were workshops on a wide variety of topics, as cited in the second of Mike's posted articles. This year there were some on anarchist history and theory, which was notably lacking at tlast year's gathering in Toronto. Also quite a few on various liberation movements, squatting, sexuality (fewer than last year), etc. I attended a workshop of anarchist hackers, which was quite fun. Lots of stuff on anti-racism and anti-sexism. I thought a real problem was an attitude that encouraged hostility between women and men, whites and non-whites, and hets and queers. Most of the plenaries were devoted to one ``oppressed'' group or another complaining about how badly they were being treated. Quite a bit of oversensitivity, I thought. Also, a goodly amount of white/male/het liberal-guilt self-flagellation. You can probably tell that this is one of my pet peeves. Is any modern left political movement free of this?!

Aside from the workshops, there was a lot of time to sit around in the courtyard, network, and meet people (which to my mind is the primary reason for attending these things). The comment about the two factions of anarchists (the older armchair intellectuals and the young punks bent on destruction) has a grain of truth, but is also stereotypical. There are also lots of people like myself (and probbaly many of the others on this list) who fall into an in-between age group (say early 20s to early 30s) and who are interested in both political theory and direct action. Unfortunately, it seems that this group represents a third distinct tendency rather than a bridge between the other two. Sunday was a festival in Dolores Park, which was another opportunity to hang out play music, dance, and engage in general frivolity (one of my complaints about these things is the dismal food. Granted, it's free, but how much tofu can a person eat? Fortunately, the burritos arecheap and plentiful in S.F.)

During the evenings there were various events such as band performances, poetry, and a coffeehouse. The York Theatre featured a film series to go along with the conference which included such gems as `Growing Up in America,' `Clockwork Orange,' and `WR,' a film based on the Wilhelm Reich's sex-pol philosophies.

Wednesday was, of course, the day of action, which is much better described as `The Riot.' As it turned out, a group of Bay Area anarchists had been planning the action for many weeks in conjunction with Berkeley's homeless community. There really was an intention to focus attention on homelessness and the gentrification problem in the southside area. The plan was to take over the Berekely Inn for use by the homeless. Unfortunately, the police got word of the planned takeover, and prevented it (by among other things, knocking out the building's stairwells to make it impossible to access past the first floor, and surrounding the building completely by police). Once this happened, the planners were completely thrown for a loop, and left to make last minute contingency plans (in a small group, to avoid the likelihood of infiltrators). Whatevere these plans were, they were never adequately communicated to the group of eager anarchists that gathered later in the day at the Berkeley BART station, and the results were predictable as the group became an amorphous mass following whoever happened to be in front at any given time. I would say that overall, out of the 300 estimated participants, 50 or so were part local anarchists long involved in the homeless struggle in the area, with a clear political focus. Another 20 or so were community activists who were not part of the anarchist gathering. Another perhaps 100 were out-of-towners with an appreciation of the political situation, and somewhat skeptical of the action. Maybe another 100 were tag-alongs who attended the action out of curiosity of because it was the thing to do, and 30 or so were young punks out to riot, regardless of the politics. Unfortunately, it has become somewhat of a tradition that these days of actions will occur at gatherings, and there is always that element that shows up with destruction in mind. There is a great deal of debate about whether such days should be a part of conventions; in fact, this year the day of action was scheduled after the gathering proper because the gathering organziers did nit want to be associated with the riot. As the press reports show, however, the riot became the focus of the gathering despite intentions. It is unfortunate that a small rowdy band is able to so greatly influence events. This is due in large part to the fact that there is no clear plan of action, and also due to the fact that the few who are destructive get a big notice, while the many who are not are ignored.

Contrary to Scott's analysis a few days ago, the rioting was not solely directed at yuppie eporiums. Unfortunately quite a few homes, cars, and small shops were trashed too, which certainly doesn't help the anarchist image in the minds of the local community, who should be an ally if such an action is to succeed. On the other hand, there is something to be said for the spontaneous energy generated by such actions. I get off on the adrenaline rush of running wild in the streets ahead of maddened cops as much as the next person! I found that the commandeering of the Coke truck was quite a coup. Unlike the reports, the truck driver was not thrown from his vehicle. He saw us coming from a block away and fled (leaving his keys in the truck and the truck in reverse, much to the chagrin of the driver of the small car behind him!). Soon, one of the punks had taken the truck and driven it into an intersection while another participant (this guy was a friend of mine, and definitely *not* a punk) unlocked the back and distributed the sodas. Since Coke is a perennial political baddie (South Africa, etc.), it can be argued that there was some political content to this action on the part of at least some. The police periodically rushed the crowd, which retreated, only to advance again. Eventually, after one particularly frightening rush, the crowd dissipated as participants fled their separate ways. Hoping to avoid arrest, I ducked down a side street with my affinity group and missed the final dispersion. The arrests that were made occured later quite a ways from the riot site as participants were boarding the BART back to S.F. I have no idea whether the ones arrested were part of any of the violence that occured (again, relatively few were), or whether they were just a suspicipus looking group in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So, that about wraps it up...any questions cheerfully answered.

Always on the spot...