Anarchist Disaster Relief

I was just on my usual perambulations of the interwub, when I came across this article.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/116789.html

I no longer live in America, but that hardly counts with the speed of information nowadays it is as easy to keep up with current events as if my physical presence still resided in NYC. The news feeds I have been monitoring, regularly comment on how Anarchists, Burners etc are pretty much ineffective at doing anything that actually changes things for the better. These people are mostly seen as good natured hippies, hipsters and ehm, even Neophiles out to have a good time and pontificate about how they are changing the world, or planning do so, without, well, doing so.

Being of a Techno-Anarchist bent, I both agree with and despair of these comments. The above link gives me hope, and demonstrates how co-operation, imagination and dare I say it, even anarchism can coalesce and make a difference to peoples lives. Read the article, and realize that the co-operation is the natural state of humans, and not, as we may have been led to believe, competition.

Welcome to the work of the "Common Ground Collective"

It's a great example of Burners, Anarchists and various middle class counter culture types actually taking the initiative and creating a service that in many ways goes past what FEMA and the Red Cross are doing down in whats left of New Orleans. Its pretty much a "fuck you" to the naysayers.

Disaster relief as Civil Disobedience, many of the projects that these guys and girls have been up to, violate the law as it stands. They help people with medical, food and reconstruction aid and set up in areas that have not been "cleared" by the authorities, and reconstruct buildings that legally need a permit to do any work on, many times the Common Ground volunteers do not have said permit, but they do have the owners permission, and help. Common sense over bureaucracy.

When the Government has fucked up, its time to Fuck the government and do it yourself.

Anarchists functioning in an area where Government has completely failed.

Idealism turned to pragmatism.

Peace and Hope

FatherCrow