wait... these guys... still actually exist?

Some folks went to Times Square to try and disrupt a talk by David Irving, noted Holocaust denier and friend to many an American Neo-Nazi. The event had been moved around a lot, since they’re a pretty unpopular bunch and have to book events using
fake names. Yet some kids came through, and a barrage of text messages let us know what was going down. He would be speaking at the Doubletree Hotel; folks would assemble around five and make magic happen.

As usual, our crew late and missed the entire action, but it sounds like some folks tried to rush on in there, found the door locked, and ended up having to rush on out stage left after effectively dearresting one of their number. It turned out the event wasn’t actually starting for a number of hours. Anyway, those folks dipped out, and folks who were left decided that since their numbers were reduced, they might as well just use the affective power of the spectacular disruption to their advantage. So some folks put on their friendly faces, assumed the demenour of the concerned activist, and headed on in there.

They came running out after a few minutes. Apparently the manager had refused to believe that David Irving, real life Nazi (TM), was hanging out in their hotel, scheduled to speak in a matter of minutes. The folks who had been talking decided to engage in dialog with customers instead and security promptly emerged. I think that one could safely assume that there was a collective feeling of “What the fuck do we do know?”

Minutes later, the manager and a hotel security officer came running outside; she was visibly shaken, holding a cup of coffee and a cigarette. But the security officer, with an anxious look on his face, was the first to speak. “I just want you guys to know I feel like a complete asshole”. We think he was the guy who grabbed our friend. Then the manager, who had minutes before thrown some of us out of the hotel, began to apologize. We figure she probably did a google search and found out what her guest was planning to say. Uh-oh!

“Listen, I’m working on getting them out of here right now. But our guests can’t know about this. What would it take to make you guys disappear?” We look at each other. Sure, it would be amusing, but that’s not what we came here for. “Uhm, we’re not going to do anything. We just wanted to tell you about it.” “But what about... are there more of you?” “Most certainly.” We waved at a bunch of European tourists on the other side of the street. They waved back, and continued walking. At this point, there were several hundred people around the square, and who are we to say they’re not down with the cause.

“Well, can you tell them, uh, not to do anything for half an hour? We’re doing the best we can.” “Not really. But if we see them leave, we can text our friends. But we can’t promise anything. There are some real crazies out there...” She runs back inside, and we proceed to giggle a little bit. We cross the street and wait for the media. But media is all around us, giant garish digital screens and abrasive pixels. So we make fun of tourists for a little while, and contemplate disrupting an Apple commercial that’s being filmed. Every few minutes a bunch of tourists would ask the cops where the olive garden was. We giggled. After twenty minutes, some angry looking old white men started emerging from the hotel, getting into cabs. They looked around,
trying to find the punks that had disrupted their event, but only saw a crowd of ambivalent tourists smiling at them. We hung back, avoiding cops and waiting for the big fish. Apparently more folks had repeatedly gotten inside, stirring up some more mayhem. So when he came out and saw a bunch of kids running at him, he headed for his limo pretty fast. He got away, or perhaps we did. After all, he was flanked by three huge skinheads, each weighing double what we do.

Antifa is fun now and then, but the far right is really not what we need to worry about nowadays. Instead, it’s the complex mediated environments we find ourselves in, the cultural milieu of sublimination that we experience every day. An Iphone might not exactly be a copy of Mein Kampf, but it’s an indoctrination nonetheless. Neoliberal society has taken the most compelling element of fascism, of futurism; it’s ability to aestheticise everything. The giant screens show explosions, fashion and conspicuous consumption; sex and poverty without missing a beat. Our universities, our workplaces; our homes and our lives are theirs. Our analysis has granted us a degree of nihilism. How could it not? It may be that our actions have no effect, since the system is so malevolent, so entrenched that few can even perceive it...

...yet we survive
in moments of joy.
an affective current
encircles
&& threatens
to liberate a world.
(list of occupied universities)