So I'm on this Anarchist soccer team, Kronstadt, the one that had a three-game series with the Left Wing soccer team (a.k.a. the Communist soccer team). Here are some pictures of game one if you're curious...but it takes a while to download, be warned.
Often, when I describe the series and the teams, people are amused that I'm on the anarchist team. I then launch into an explanation that in fact, I'm neither here nor there, and that the team recruited me first, etc., etc. not to apologize for the fact that I'm on the team, but to explain why some people find my affiliation an incongruity.
The team requested that people write up why we joined and how we politically self-identify, so I'm reposting it here (cuz why not). I can also point people to the schpiel here rather than running through it ad nauseum.
I joined [Kronstadt] team because Chris Crass recruited me at the May 19th Day of Racial Justice action that I'd been working on in the affinity group Global Intifada. He said, "Do you want to be a part of an anarchist soccer team?" and I replied, "Chris, I don't necessarily identify as an anarchist!" He said that was OK, that I supported anarchist organizing (which I do).
He also said that it was an effort to build community with members of Left Wing, which I would like to believe is both possible and happening at some level. At the time I questioned the use of competitive sports as a community building tool, given that competition is rife with issues when people are socialized in a capitalist society...invoking the very mechanisms of divide-and-conquer we're trying to overcome. I'm still not convinced, but gosh, I do like playing soccer, and it feels like a useful metaphor to air issues between the groups that otherwise may never have come up. It's safer to critique someone's soccer strategy than their organizing strategy....So if this is a way to build understanding and dialogue between revolutionary-minded anti-imperialists in the Bay Area, we're the better for it.
As far as my political self-identification, it's a bit hazy (except for the anti-racist anti-imperialist who strongly believes in the self-determination of oppressed peoples part). I've read a lot more Marx, Gramsci and Luxembourg than Kropotkin, Goldman and Burkman but anarchist critiques of Marx and of the implementation of Communist systems appeal to me; I found Marx's theories useful but elitist in places (and Leninist practice not so hot) and I appreciate anarchist ideas of decentralization. My being on an anarchist soccer team has led me to want to do more of my academic homework as far as anarchism has concerned, and it's been a great opportunity for me to engage around theory. My practice looks about the same as it did when I began, and I have a vested interest in maintaining a working relationship with quite a few members of Left Wing...I think it would be ridiculous to have the net outcome of this project be *less* unity among anti-imperialists in the Bay. In my opinion, Anarchists and Communists have done both crappy and brilliant things in the name of Anarchism and Communism...let's take what useful and good from both and unite around it, because there aren't enough of us to be picky. But, for the record, it makes me nervous to put all this out there. I'd appreciate the opportunity to continue to learn and grow with the team politically, as well as personally.
A friend of mine, upon hearing a recap of my political label, called it "cafeteria-style" - take what looks good and leave the rest. I was amused so I thought I'd share.
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