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...

-Liz
