Anarchists give up on Recreate!6!8

A long, long piece by the jolly sociopaths at Crimethinc discusses the effectiveness of "mass mobilizations" and strategerizes on the RNC and DNC protests, taking time to diss Recre!at!e68 along the way:

Unfortunately, in the course of the past year, major differences have emerged between the local organizing in Denver and St. Paul. It now appears that, as in 2004, the demonstrations at the RNC will be several orders of magnitude larger than those at the DNC. Like it or not, we must take this into account. . . .

[A]narchist organizing [for the DNC] has taken place in the shadow of Recreate 68, a coalition of liberal and radical groups. This has manifested itself most recently with the cancellation of one of Unconventional Denver’s two primary days of action, despite two nationwide consultas [!] and months of planning, at the request of an immigrant and Chicano rights coalition. . . .

Hadn't heard about that. No doubt accusations of racism were exchanged. But really, you have to wonder what R68!!! honcho Glenn Spagnuolo did to alienate anarchists even more than they're usually alienated (which is pretty alienated). Probably a charisma overload. Crimestinc ain't sayin', instead using the "anarchists have responsibilities too" excuse:

The surge in anarchist traveling culture that coincided with the publication of Evasion is long past; nowadays most anarchists can only be away from their communities for limited periods of time, so they have to choose carefully which national events to attend. Most will probably choose the RNC over the DNC, deeming Denver a tragic but unavoidable missed opportunity.

I've long deemed Denver a tragic but unavoidable missed opportunity.

This does not mean there is no potential for demonstrations at the DNC. Even a small but exciting action in Denver could serve the important purpose of heightening expectations and morale for St. Paul. Hopefully at least a moderate number of highly motivated anarchists from the surrounding region will converge in Denver with a plan for making something memorable occur.

A small but exciting action. In contrast, things are jumping in the Twin Cities, where

anarchists are involved explicitly in every level of the organizing in a way we haven’t seen since the successful FTAA protests in Quebec of April 2001. The RNC welcoming Committee, an explicitly anti-authoritarian organizing group, has for
well over a year already, and has established relationships of mutual respect and collaboration with broader antiwar organizations throughout the region—an achievement that has eluded other anarchist organizers for years. . . .

So, following a full year of regional and national strategy consultas, the RNC strategy that has been consensed upon by groups nationwide is… shutting it down via blockading.

Yep, that's what they've consensed upon, all right: blockading. They go on and on about it, too, but I'll just throw in a few more fun quotes. A philosophical question:

So is it more effective for one person to smash twenty windows on an empty street, or for twenty people to smash one window with the eyes of the world upon them? For that matter—is it safer to smash windows alone, or during a mass mobilization when lawyers are prepared to spring into action and police may be hard pressed to prove that they grabbed the right black-masked hoodlum? Is an example more infectious when it takes place in a typical suburban setting, or in a glamorous moment of collective activity?

A sad truth and a wistful daydream:

The antiwar movement of the following years was a colossal failure—perhaps the most colossal failure in the history of antiwar movements. . . . Imagine the effect if a mere tenth of the participants in the February 15 [2003] demonstrations had smashed recruiting center windows or blockaded ports!

Pigs want violence (we'll claim):

All this could change overnight if the powers that be saw a significant threat to their ascendancy; but it suggests that compelling the police to use force at the conventions this summer would be a coup, in that it would frame them as aggressors in a time when they are trying to dispel that
image. . . .

It may be that we don’t need to succeed in actually shutting down the convention in St. Paul this summer to deal a blow to our enemies and seize the attention of the world; we need only provoke a serious confrontation with the police.

Lovely folks. But here's the question: Is Rec!reate68 falling apart?