Anarchist Memes is now pro-Capital! Wait what?

As reported at CounterPunch, one of the most stalwart anti-Capitalist pages on Facebook, Anarchist Memes (I've linked you to the current iteration), was taken down Thursday January 9, 2014. I won't get into the story of that, as CounterPunch does so fantastically. But what is of particular interest is that the same day another page was started with the same name, the same (mostly) logo, and the same approach to political graphics and propaganda. Yup. There's another Anarchist Memes page, but they have nothing to do with Anarchism at all. They're AnCaps. And if you click on the links you'll see that the same logo is being used, only the latter has changed the flags to yellow. Bright, happy, yellow flags denoting their devotion to Capitalism.

I saw that and felt like I had just gotten punched in the dick about thirty times. In terms of sensibility and common decency, the creation of this new group is a direct attack against the very active and formidably-mobile Left. Over the past several years, the very real and very dangerous ideologies of the extreme right have been targets of coordinated attacks by groups on the social network. Leftist groups have dismantled arguments by voluntaryists, free-market ideologues, and everybody else who falls under the AnCap umbrella (though, like hipsters, we're all aware of how vehemently they all deny being AnCaps). While they have ventured into our territory a number of times, their arguments are quickly shredded and they leave claiming the "I never cared to begin with" card or just up and quit. This, however, is a direct appropriation of ideas, images, and intellectual property from their ideological opponents.

Now, I'm not saying we should fall to pieces over an internet pissing contest. Honestly, what good is happening in the world by us fixating on these Facebook-based ideological wars? In terms of real human terms, such as lifting people out of poverty, asserting the rights of labor over the rights of capital, etc., these Facebook wars do nothing. But, knowing Facebook's attitude towards the far left, this type of appropriation stings deeply. We know that in any battle between the two AM pages, Facebook will ultimately ax the original, the radically left AM instead of the radically right AM. We know this to be true, and so the existence of the usurper represents an existential threat to one of the most vibrant and well-managed anarchist communities on Facebook.

This is a threat that must be answered according to the strictest code of solidarity. Yes, we've seen the way Anarchists attack Marxists, Leninists, Maoists, Trotskyites, etc. We know that Anarchists are just as sectarian as we are. But to stand silently while this battle rages only means it will be that much harder the next time this happens. And the next, and the next. Always remember Niemoeller's poem, "First they came..."

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.
This is the environment in which we are finding ourselves. Because of this, we must be willing to defend each other in the face of a reactionary right that fancies itself "humane", but laughs as the left is torn to shreds in the name of "Community Standards". They can have their misogyny, their racism, their classism, their homophobia, and their Islamophobia. This is something we know that Facebook will not remove. But our existence and are goals are made easier, more evangelistic, more attainable by being allowed to speak on a social network that has defined the dominant social paradigm of our age. When they take this away from us because we cannot unite in the name of solidarity, the fight will be the same fight we were undertaking in the 1980's and '90s, and the Left's crisis of relevance will be magnified a thousand fold.

This is why the usurped AnCap page is so important. This is why our petty arguments on Facebook are important. This is why solidarity is important.