innsmouthful posted:

one time not too long ago i was non-seriously flirting with the idea of joining some student leftist group on campus. i was slouching in some chair at an initiation session when the topic of demonstrations and confrontations resulting from said demonstrations came up. i asked some question about what the group would do in the event of a confrontation. the guy in charge of initiation was like "well of course we'll defend ourselves with violence if we need to!" and i'm just in my chair looking at his pasty white doughnut of an excuse for a body thinking to myself lmao you can't be serious bro

Polyeuctus, the Sphettian, once on a hot day was urging war with Philip, and being a corpulent man, and out of breath and in a great heat with speaking, took numerous draughts of water as he went on. "Here, indeed," said Phocion, "is a fit man to lead us into a war! What think you he will do when he is carrying his corselet and his shield to meet the enemy, if even here, delivering a prepared speech to you, has almost killed him with exhaustion?"

(Plutarch's Life of Phocion)

Edit:

Aristogiton, a common accuser, was a terrible man of war within the assembly, always inflaming the people to battle, but when the muster-roll came to be produced, he appeared limping on a crutch, with a bandage on his leg; Phocion descried him afar off, coming in, and cried out to the clerk, "Put down Aristogiton, too, as lame and worthless."

Phociowned

Edited by Lykourgos (June 17, 2012 00:20:52)

Jerthebear posted:

will there be starbucks during the revolution

drinking coffee is counter-revolutionary and starbucks makes shit tea so the answer is no

Lessons posted:

Deserting classical politics means facing up to war, which is taking up arms and maintaining an “armed presence” than it is about armed struggle. We need to distinguish clearly between being armed and the use of arms. Weapons are a constant in revolutionary situations, but their use is infrequent and rarely decisive at key turning points: August 10th 1792, March 18th 1871, October 1917. When power is in the gutter, it’s enough to walk over it.

Because of the distance that separates us from them, weapons have taken on a kind of double character of fascination and disgust that can be overcome only by handling them. An authentic pacifism cannot mean refusing weapons, but only refusing to use them. Pacifism without being able to fire a shot is nothing but the theoretical formulation of impotence. Such a priori pacifism is a kind of preventive disarmament, a pure police operation. In reality, the question of pacifism is serious only for those who have the ability to open fire. In this case, pacifism becomes a sign of power, since it’s only in an extreme position of strength that we are freed from the need to fire.

so how often do you spend time training with your militia

littlegreenpills posted:

don't ignoranceshame me you fucker

i was responding to shennong's sneery sneer

shennong posted:

i wasn't sneering so much as pointing out that being a credible threat means more than possessing and knowing how to operate a firearm

the point of that passage, (and i think it's a correct one), is that we shouldn't aim to directly challenge the military power of the state, either through a sort of revolutionary coup d'etat or through insurgency. there's no chance to succeed through force of arms, but fortunately arms are a secondary concern in revolutionary situations, (as opposed to civil wars or insurgencies).

shennong posted:

i agree with the general thrust of it, but it seems naive to suggest that you can be in a position of strength merely by establishing an "armed presence"

no doubt. they aren't saying "armed presence" is force in itself, but rather that it's the military supplement to the rise of popular power and corresponding decline in state power. the ideal revolutionary situation is one where the state can control neither its subjects, its finances nor its troops, and in that situation full-on insurgency is neither necessary nor useful.

Edited by Lessons (June 17, 2012 06:26:04)

littlegreenpills posted:

lol at doing things. hehe good luck with those things you're doing there thing doers. im makin another quality rhizzone post

Cycloneboy posted:

lol at drinking coffee. oh i can't get my sleep cycle under control so i'm going to self-medicate with some disgusting swill.

i drink coffee and it has nothing to do with my sleep cycle... you literally just came up with a dumb opinion about coffee because you dont have a sophisticated enough palette to appreciate its taste LOL