Finding each other and getting stuff done
The post below was originally published on our sister blog, At the grassroots. As the title implies, it’s about supporting people and projects bringing about real change where they live in their neighbourhoods. Stirrings from below by contrast could be incessantly banging on about how the world is going to Hell in a handbasket. It’s not like we’re short of material is it? From the orange man baby, Trump declaring he’d like to annex Canada and Greenland through to another man baby, Musk, campaigning to have little Tommy Robinson as leader of Reform, there’s no shortage of fuckery to comment upon. The point is, by incessantly doing that, we end up working to other people’s agendas. We’d rather focus on our agenda of supporting people at the grassroots actually getting stuff done:)
This is something we wrote on this blog after the general election last year: Now the election theatrics are over… 5.7.24.
Let's get the important bit said first of all, namely that the winner of the UK general election is...the government! The two images above hopefully convey the message that the proposition that elections offer a real choice is illusory. What you have witnessed in the election campaign from politicians, candidates, pundits and the media are performative theatrics that are indulged in to try and convince the voters that there are real alternatives on offer. Anyone who takes more than a cursory look at politics in the UK will realise that the notion that there are real differences between the main parties is nothing more than an illusion.
There are still many people out there who think that electoral politics can bring about change. Even when they’ve been let down time after time by the mainstream parties, they think some saviour in the form of a populist politician will ride in to cleanse the system and put it onto a more honest footing. At the time of writing, there seems to be an obsessive fetishisation of these populists. How sadly deluded some people are…
If voting could fundamentally change things, do you seriously think that for one moment, the powers that be would allow it? Along with pretty much most other anarchists, our thoughts are about what can be done at the grassroots to bring about real change. There's no set manual on how to bring about change at this level. What has to get done will very much depend on the specific circumstances of the area you're operating in. It could be setting up a food kitchen to meet immediate and urgent needs. A community run food growing project may well also be needed. It may be the case you're in an area with a large number of rogue landlords and action has to be taken to deal with them. This list could go on and on but we're sure you get the point that the people best placed to decide what action needs to be taken are those directly impacted by what's going on.
We've been around the block when it comes to activism and have a fair bit of experience of different ways of working at a community and neighbourhood level. Where there's been a fairly flat level of organisation with little or no hierarchy, the experience has generally been good. When it's been in a set up with a discernable hierarchy and a leader or leaders with a bit of a Messiah complex, the experience was pretty grim.
This is where the concept of an affinity group comes into play. This isn't some fluffy way of getting people together. It's a tried and tested way of actually getting stuff done, as explained in the links in the post below which we've borrowed from our comrades:
This was first posted on the D.I.Y. Culture Facebook page
The idea of affinity groups comes out of the anarchist and workers movement that was created in the late 19th century and fought fascism in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Anarchist movement provides an exhilarating example of a movement, and the actual possibility of a society based on decentralised organisation, direct democracy and the principles behind them.
★Affinity groups: an introduction. 2003 but still good...
"Affinity groups challenge top-down decision-making and organising, and empower those involved to take creative direct action. Affinity groups allow people to "be" the action they want to see by giving complete freedom and decision-making power to the affinity group. Affinity groups by nature are decentralised and non-hierarchical, two important principles of anarchist organising and action."
★Affinity Groups from Re-Education. 5:52mins:
Obviously some kind of mutually agreed structure and consensus decision making process needs to be in place because at the end of the day, affinity groups are about getting stuff done, not just feeling good in each others company. It's in this spirit that we present this comprehensive range of pamphlets and readings from Seeds for Change that covers many aspects of affinity groups and consensus decision making:
A Short Guide to Active Listening
A Short Guide to Making Changes in your Group
Consensus Decision Making - Short guide
Consensus Decision Making - Long guide
The above list is taken from a fairly lengthy piece we wrote in a bid to try and get to terms with the mixed experience we've had as a result of involvement in a few projects where decision making process was a tad on the opaque side! Here it is: Consensus, keeping it small and federating 17.2.22.
None of this is going to be easy. Mistakes will be made and lessons will be learnt – some more painfully than others. Everything we do as activists is a learning curve. None of us are perfect. However, there are things we can and should be doing to build the new world we want from the grassroots upwards. It’s in this spirit we’re putting out these pieces to add to the discussion about how we go forwards, to learn from each others experiences and to be inspired by each others ideas.
