It seems like the causes of the clashes that I ventured about Christians and “Dissenters” have proven right. It doesn’t look like these people have worked regularly in autonomist/libertarian environments. What I see is that they have approached the dissent network as you would approach any big organisation to which you try to form part, seeing it as a hierarchical structure to which you make demands and/or offers. They/we have also approached it as a group with a certain identity, this identity being one that naturally will not be welcomed by dissent because of the Churches’ History and histories.
It is a fact that in our part we acknowledge, that in certain anti capitalist circles christians can not begin from an equal position to any others, there is an initial draw back, or burden, caused by that history that puts us in a level below deserving trust. It is as if we were held responsible for the crimes of the church, or churches. In my opinion this is as if a German group came and we looked at them with mistrust simply because part of their identity is German, and Germany did terrible things in the past.
Many things have been said on lists, some really contemptuous. One of them welcomed us as individuals as long as we don’t have a visible presence, as a group. For me this is as if they told a gay person to hide that part of his/her identity. Or exactly like what frikis tell some women who complain about the attitude in help chat rooms: “get a neutral nick, one that doesn’t denote so clearly that you are a woman” – hide from us an important part of your identity and then we will respect you. You can’t hyde your woman condition in a face to face situation. It would be as if saying, “Ok mate, we accept you are a woman, but can you just try and ignore and make us forget that part of your identity”?
Accepting Christians as individuals as long as they do not let their christian condition be seen is to make us deny an important part of our identity. I have not been made to hide it in Indymedia, why am I made to hide it if I choose to go to the rural camp-site of the G8? Because now we are a group and before I was an individual? That is (or was) the whole point of getting together in the G8 dissent network. But if one condition is to ignore/hide/make forget part of my identity… I think we should all refuse to be part of something that doesn’t accept us as we are, but this is just my rant that no one needs to believe.
