At Daggers Drawn With the Existent, its Defenders and its False Critics

by Anonymous

Translated from Italian by Jean Weir. Original title: "Ai ferri corti con l'esistente, i suoi difensori e i suoi falsi critici." Offset printed in an edition of 275 copies by Eberhardt Press.
A politically radical text. Subtitle: The secret is to really begin.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Anarchism

31 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Gabriel Gaybraham · Rating 4 out of 5]

on may day this year i read some insurrectionism in order to feel vindicated, less insane, less like you just gotta wait around for the rev and there's no point getting out of bed in the morning and going out into Hell World. it worked.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book (Eberhardt Press, 2009: 500 copies) in NY solely based on the fact that it was so intensely aesthetically pleasing. And written by an Italian anarchist...What's not to love?

However, upon actually reading this short text I was sorely disappointed. The author makes some interesting points, however I think assumes that the reader knows too much. I couldn't tell if they agreed with the libertarians, or held them in contempt. Same for unionists and other radicals. Or perhaps the author themself was undecided, praising the positive aspects of organizations, and criticizing the rest.

Anyway, this text had a lot of problems holding my attention, although what I did manage to glean from it was pretty interesting.

[Kersplebedeb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Romantic flowery language, a few good observations mixed in with facile and misleading claims. It would be interesting to examine the relationship between the kind of language-play and poetic delivery in this kind of text, and the tendency towards a romantic view of politics and struggle (easy dichotomies, a heroic lifeforce against a world grown old, etc.)

It's too bad, because - like most works from the insurrectionist tendency - there are some good observations here, some interesting points. But for me, romantic delivery=glib self-assurance, and it a bit offputting.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it! But the manichean outlook on display here demonstrates some daggers were left undrawn. Even in the spirit of insurrectionary joy, we must not deny that there is no *after* to attain, there is no unitary pre-alienated body to return to. To draw our daggers in the hopes of resolution—this can only leave us vulnerable to those who draw their daggers in the hopes of precisely the opposite...

[Andrej · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few interesting points.

[Blake Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

picked this up in a poorly printed zine format from monkeywrench. fine, poetic, overly anarchistic for my taste

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt a bit like Coming Insurrection, in terms of the type of language used, though maybe a bit easier of a read at times. Like another reviewer said, it's hard to know when they're serious sometimes. I got confused when they talked about 'organization' and 'armed struggle', but overall I liked it and I'll re-read it at some point.

[Joie]

bleh