By Dan Coleman
The anarchists are their own worst enemies. This was my thought watching the aftermath of the occupation of the Norina/CVS building on Feb. 4. In cities around the country, such occupations have been met with indifference at best from mayors and with often-brutal crackdowns by police. In Carrboro, Mayor Mark Chilton spent two hours in the building with the occupiers and worked with the police to allow everyone the opportunity to leave the building without arrest.
In return, the mayor faced a level of foul-mouthed rudeness and disrespect not seen in downtown Carrboro other than from the occasional late-night drunk. The anarchists have their own analysis of why the mayor is their class enemy, but few in Carrboro are listening. Ironically, while it was police action that overshadowed the anarchists’ objectives in the Yates incident, in this case it is their own behavior that will do so. And throughout, the political philosophy that informs their occupations is lost in the shuffle.
This is unfortunate, as we live in a time when we all need to think broadly and deeply about our economic and political problems. The anarchist belief that private property lies at the root of injustice is the radical and challenging assertion that lies at the heart of both the Yates and Norina/CVS occupations.
The concentration of ownership and the prerogatives of private property are also fundamental concerns posed by the Occupy movement as it examines the disparities between the 1 percent and the rest of us. When well-meaning Americans of all stripes are horrified that profit-hungry bankers can throw millions out of their homes, we are questioning not only the justice of our private-property system but its morality as well.
This question of whether there are more just and more humane ways to conceive of property relations is not really so foreign. In Carrboro, we have cooperative housing, cohousing and community gardens. All of these suggest there are ways of sharing and cooperating that can lead to a more wholesome and sustainable way of life.
Issues of private property can stymie those seeking to improve the wellbeing of our communities. As far back as 2005, the News & Observer concluded that “Riddle’s vacant properties [which include the Yates building] have become a primary source of frustration for those who want a more robust downtown.†Community leaders called them an “eyesore†and “a blight on our downtown.†Yet state law has constrained town leaders and concerned citizens alike from any recourse.
After years of such complaints, it was the anarchists who took action, occupying the building to present what they described as “one possible blueprint among many.†They envisioned the building enlivened with a daycare, a clinic, a library/media center and meeting space.
A few months later, a similar action led to a similar plan being suggested for Norina/CVS. Many in Carrboro have a different vision for that site and might have been receptive to a message as to how the concentration of capital puts control of the property in distant hands. As one participant told the Independent, “It’s my personal hope that the community reclaims our vision for this land and makes it clear that multinational corporations and their money are not more important than people.”
Any such idealism was undermined when, on leaving the building, the anarchists laid out the possibility of a clinic or school one moment and angrily shouted down and cursed the mayor the next. I doubt any parents who heard the masked anarchist tell a Carrboro police officer he ought to commit suicide would entrust their healthcare, let alone their children, to this group.
The anarchists lack what Saul Alinsky called “the most elementary grasp of the fundamental idea that one communicates within the experience of his audience.†Their repertoire consists of a critique, an ideology and a confrontational style that in its urgency to reclaim private property and denigrate the state tends to leave the human beings around them out of the picture. They forget, or have never learned, that for people to hear you, they must be respected and treated decently. And, consequently, their good works like the Really Really Free Market or the Prison Books Collective (prisonbooks.info) tend to be overlooked.
Those who know the anarchists only from these high-profile occupations will be surprised to learn that, within Occupy Chapel Hill, the anarchists have contributed positively to a sense of community, inclusiveness and consensus-building, constructive work undone by their autonomous actions. It’s sad that like other Saturday night revelers, these folks, drunk on political self-righteousness, succeed in little more than offending the community around them.
Dan Coleman is a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.
Very well put Dan!
In my mid 20s, I’ve identified as an anarchist for at least 5 of the 10 years I’ve lived in the triangle. I’ve mostly been an observer of activism in the area for a number of reasons. The Occupy movement has recently envigorated and renewed the promise that I see for doing good works through various forms of activism. I was there for the occupy “solidarity march” on Feb. 4th, which to my own and many other’s surprise, turned into an occupation of the Chrysler/Norina/CVS building.
Ever since my unwitting involvement in that action, I’ve been digesting why I find myself outside of “mainstream” anarchist ideology and “activism”/publicity stunts in the area. I guess I’ve always wanted to be in favor of something as opposed to against something. Raging against the machine,even now with all the momentum built by #OWS, seems like a pointless excercise to me. Having gotten involved in local foods and local non-profits, I see building a local economy as the next phase of Occupy. We can’t dismantle our corrupt institutions until we have solid alternatives in place, particularly for those that depend on the current system (the downtrodden and disadvantaged, often women, people of color, and those with various disabilities).
So, the way I see it, there was another way to try to make the whole Norina/CVS “occupation” work. I bet if the Carrboro kids (perhaps even disguised as well-dressed entrepreneurs!) tried to work with mayor Chilton they could find an abandoned building somewhere in Carrboro that would make a similarly good target as the one on Franklin St. Once identified, they could probably cut a deal between the town of Carrboro and the property owner to cut their property taxes and create an anarchist style halfway house with some of the ideas that were proposed for the Norina/CVS building. They’d pay a subsidized rent and develop some sort of non-profit to steward the development and vision for the property. At first they might be on a short leash, but eventually could build trust with both the city, property owners and the community. Maybe this isn’t the best way to go about the situation, but it seems like one that might work.
Feel free to follow up with me on G+: gplus.to/ecb or twitter: @eric_bowen