A few days of anarchism...
Thursday was the first day of the anarchist discussion series that we've organized in Buffalo. It went incredibly well. Nearly 50 people attended. This meant that the room was packed and that we almost ran out of the readers that we put together. I gave a general introduction to the history of anarchist organization in Buffalo (which is REAL easy to do quickly) and the reason for why we were having this discussion series. Matt talked about the ground rules we had set for the discussion, which surprisingly didn't get any harsh response. I was expecting at least one person to be like "Rules!?! This is teh Anarchy!" But that didn't happen, and people generally agreed that these rules would be good to having a productive space.
We then showed the movie "Un poquito de tanta verdad" (A Little Bit of So Much Truth) about the popular uprising in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2006. I really hope that the movie helped to set the tone for the discussion -- one of seriousness, actual popular organizing, and concrete action rather than of absurd theorizing, belittling of people's struggles, or vanguardist style disregard for people's capacity. Which to me are essentials of anarchism that the anarchist scene in the US often forgets.
The turnout was scattered. Folks from UB, Buff State, and ECC. There were some non-students in the room. There were a handful of non-20 somethings in the room. I wouldn't call it racially diverse, but it was better than I was expecting. There were punks there, but they were definitely not the majority. So, all in all I'm excited and hope that it continues to go well and that people seriously participate.
Then off to the National Conference on Organized Resistance, which in some ways embodied the type of anarchyist scene that I mention above and in some ways didn't. So I was not surprised when punk and anarchism/activism were totally conflated in the first night. I was not surprised when the majority of participants were punks with nearly no actual analysis or understanding of what anarchism is and how it relates to social movements. I was however surprised when some of the discussions were incredibly well organized, from a wide variety of perspectives, and still well attended. In the end, it seems to me a space that has been institutionalized within the US punk scene and is a space specifically for speaking to punks about political/strategic action. I wish there were spaces like this for other sub-cultures, but that shouldn't lead to me attacking this space for existing as such. It can just be really difficult when white punks force themselves onto and AS the stage of anarchism in the US, and this space definitely didn't do anything to question that, and actually reinforces it. In the end though, it was better organizing and more diverse than I had expected, so I was pleasantly surprised. Although, this is probably because I went in with such incredibly low expectations that it would have been hard to walk away with any other sense.
We then showed the movie "Un poquito de tanta verdad" (A Little Bit of So Much Truth) about the popular uprising in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2006. I really hope that the movie helped to set the tone for the discussion -- one of seriousness, actual popular organizing, and concrete action rather than of absurd theorizing, belittling of people's struggles, or vanguardist style disregard for people's capacity. Which to me are essentials of anarchism that the anarchist scene in the US often forgets.
The turnout was scattered. Folks from UB, Buff State, and ECC. There were some non-students in the room. There were a handful of non-20 somethings in the room. I wouldn't call it racially diverse, but it was better than I was expecting. There were punks there, but they were definitely not the majority. So, all in all I'm excited and hope that it continues to go well and that people seriously participate.
Then off to the National Conference on Organized Resistance, which in some ways embodied the type of anarchyist scene that I mention above and in some ways didn't. So I was not surprised when punk and anarchism/activism were totally conflated in the first night. I was not surprised when the majority of participants were punks with nearly no actual analysis or understanding of what anarchism is and how it relates to social movements. I was however surprised when some of the discussions were incredibly well organized, from a wide variety of perspectives, and still well attended. In the end, it seems to me a space that has been institutionalized within the US punk scene and is a space specifically for speaking to punks about political/strategic action. I wish there were spaces like this for other sub-cultures, but that shouldn't lead to me attacking this space for existing as such. It can just be really difficult when white punks force themselves onto and AS the stage of anarchism in the US, and this space definitely didn't do anything to question that, and actually reinforces it. In the end though, it was better organizing and more diverse than I had expected, so I was pleasantly surprised. Although, this is probably because I went in with such incredibly low expectations that it would have been hard to walk away with any other sense.