a p p e n d ix 2 : provo a n d t h e situat i o n i sts
I t i s often difficult t o know exactly how much o ne radi cal movement interacts with another, but in the case of the Situationists and Provo there is clear evidence that they shared certain antecedents and an ongoing " con tact with the elements of the radical base . " In the years immedi ately preceding 1 968 , the Situationists under the direction of Guy Debord were making careful efforts to differentiate themselves and their specific theoretical contributions from all others . Since the Sit uationist International had purged Constant from its ranks in 1 960, when Provo declared itself defunct in 1 967 the editors of the In ter nationale Situationniste couldn't resist commenting . Revolt and Recuperation in Holland Internationale Situationniste # 1 1 (October 1967) The celebrated and ephemeral " Provo " movement has often been linked to the SI [ Situationist International] . There were the reve lations contained in a widely read article published in Figaro Lit teraire (4/8/1 966) - " Behind the angry young men of Ams terdam we find an Occult International " - and the equally popular article in the B elgian journal Syntheses, published in April [ 1 967] . which took into account the " radical argumentation " that the SI opposes to the derisory sub-ludic moderatism of the Provo " intellectuals , " and contained our prediction that the Provo movement was about to end, which was something it did not fail to in May [ 1 967] . when it dissolved. While it is quite true that " the Provos have invented nothing, " it is , however, quite wrong to suppose that " the Provos provide the previously isolated theorists of the Situationist I nterna tional with troop s , 'intelligent surrogates . ' capable of constituting the secular arm of an organization which itself prefers to remain more or less behind the scenes " (Figaro Litteraire) . We don't consid er ourselves so isolated that we need to keep such company; and it
•••••• provo : amste rdam 's anarchist revol t • l l9
