DRAFT Prelude & Instructions for the Anarchives for #S17

[From Jez]

Comments & criticisms are absolutely necessary. But you can expect something like this to be distributed along with the signs on S15 in Washington Sq & S16 in Foley Sq. Negesti is my main coordinator in NYC right now, but contact me if interested in helping. We need movers and photographers!

                 [DRAFT]

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                 PRELUDE

In the first days of the Occupation of Liberty Plaza, amidst all of the pragmatic bustle and idealistic anxiety, a small group of radical archivists began to assemble a small collection of the community's signs.  Each sign's anonymous composition showed distinction, each one clever, eccentric, and beautiful in its own right. And when assembled together, the many signs' messages beamed a light in the darkest nights of NY's Financial District, a beacon, a light, one bright enough to outshine even the Eye of Sauron.

And the People came, from all around the city, surrounding states, other nations; they came to Occupy Wall Street. And so the community grew. And as the community grew, so did the Archivists' collection. And as the Occupiers grew proud of their occupation, so did the archivists of their collection. And everyone was so content and busy with all this growth that nobody stopped to ask: what are these signs, what do they mean to us, why are they important...and most obvious of all, what should we do with them?

In the days after the Raid, when we'd lost our place to live, and after the money had begun to dry up, though it had mostly caused trouble anyway, these questions were still unanswered and the Archivists were getting restless. In particular, one that was more radical than most began to suggest wild ideas of returning the Archives to the People, creating a revolutionary archive, a decentralized network of individuals, places, and things, that would be documented by the movement in-itself and for-itself.  While the Archivists either ignored this unfamiliar idea or tried to distance themselves from the archivist, his idea had begun to travel around the movement, and has come to be recognized under a distinct name: they called it the Anarchives.

The Archivists could neither understand the project's logic nor tolerate it's seeming uncertainty, but they also could not suggest a solution for maintaining the non-institutional OWS Archives as the group had originally planned. So instead, the Archivists made plans to give away the collection to the Tamiment, a traditional, institutional archive where the signs would be guarded and documented by experts. And despite these plans to ultimately surrender the archives to NYU, they demanded first and foremost that the radical archivist surrender his collection to them.

But the rogue archivist couldn't stand to see his work perverted and ideas rejected out of hand. So the archivist - now, declared, an Anarchivist! - stole away with his portion of the signs, vowing to return them to their rightful owners. But with no names to go on, and no one to claim to own them, the only rightful holder seemed to be the OWS community itself.  Believing it fitter to lose them among the community of their creators, rather than to stow them away safely for a thousand years in a private tower in Greenwich Village, he stowed the signs in a locker. On the birthday of the movement, he would give them back to the People and let them decide what to do. So the Anarchivist, having abandoned his property to the Commons, leaves the signs to you this day along with the following note:

            INSTRUCTIONS
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            Anarchivists' Challenge

1. Take these signs. Take one or a few, or as many as you think you can personally care for and keep them safe. But DON'T keep them to yourself! 
2. Record yr history of the sign, yr thoughts and experiences and share them with others. Call together events to discuss the experiences and ideas that these signs represent. Be engaged in history, even as you write it.
3. Come together again around the movement's birthday, wherever you are and with however many you can assemble, and prepare to give them away again. These signs belong to all of us, as all of us are their archivists; so we are Anarchivists and so we pledge our dedication.

With all hope in lost causes,
The Anarchivist(s?)
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Interested participants are invited to come to Washington Sq on Sept 15 and Foley Square on September 16, 2012, where the Anarchives will be distributed.

We request you join one (or more) of the following start-up communities:
1. An email listserv
2. The OWS Anarchives Facebook group
3. A wiki.occupy.net account

Indicate yr preference and we'll set you up as necessary. We invite you to develop community events using your gifts. You are our historical astronauts. We invite you to imagine & urge you to create the meaning of what the history of this movementous event has been.

Update on Friday, September 14, 2012 at 04:28PM by admin

Would you like to help write the history of Occupy Wall Street? The OWS Anarchives is offering original signs from Liberty Plaza to activist historians & archivists interested in documenting the movement through artifacts of OWS history!

INSTRUCTIONS

Participants are requested to come at 12 pm Noon to Washington Sq on Sept 15 and Foley Square on September 16, 2012, where the Anarchives will be distributed.  In return, we will take yr contact information and invite you to join one of the following start-up communities:

1. The OWS Anarchives Hub @Interoccupy.net
2. The OWS Anarchives Facebook group 
3. A wiki.occupy.net account

Indicate yr preference and we'll set you up as necessary. We invite you to develop community events using your gifts. You are our historical astronauts. We invite you to imagine & urge you to create the meaning of what the history of this movementous event has been.

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If you have any questions, plz let me know. & Plz FWD: as interested or necessary!