Anarchism

Facilitation is a skill set that we should all develop. Group problem solving is a focus of anarchism. Other than through practice, how have you developed this skill?

Most of the resources I find online are focused towards a corporate and business approach. While I imagine some of what is taught will be universal, I wonder if there are better resources for learning community facilitation skills. Are there any books , courses, or videos series you recommend?

Georgia prosecutors are facing what one expert called “probably the highest-profile failure of using conspiracy charges to indict a protest movement” in US history, after a two-year attempt to prosecute a criminal conspiracy in connection with opposition to the police training center known as Cop City.

Fulton county superior court Judge Kevin Farmer announced his decision to dismiss charges against the case’s 61 defendants during hearings this week on a handful of defense attorney motions.

After an hour-plus of discussion in this week’s hearing, Farmer came back from a break and used only 18 words to stymie the state’s prosecution, nearly three years after arrests: “At this time I do not find the attorney general had the authority to bring this Rico case.”

According to AP, there were messages engraved on the casings in the Kirk shooting. They read:

• One read, “hey fascist! catch!” with an up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols. 
• Another one read: “oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao,” Cox said. 
• The third fired casing read: “if you read this you are gay lmao.”

My first thought is. Whoever killed Kirk was clearly inspired by Luigi. The writing on the casings just like Luigi did. The timing. It just makes sense.

Does this mean Luigi’s propaganda of the deed was successful? I think so. In any case, I wonder if this means there is more to come.

Edit: Apparently there are 3 main software used by various regions across the world:

• https://demosphere.net/en
• https://gancio.org/instances
  • more here: https://fedidb.com/software/gancio
• https://lauti.org/#instances

In greece we have https://kinimatorama.net/ which is a calendar of upcoming mainly anarchist (but also generally leftist) events, like protests, squat bars, free cinema, mutal aid kitchens, live perfomances, festivals etc. and also allows you to filter by city, type of event etc.

I'm curious to know if there's anything similar to other countries. It has helped me really a lot to stay active in the movement and meet like-minded people (especially since I dont have instagram and also dont use fb to check for events).

Edit: I just found out that kinimatorama is based on a specific software that is also used by other countries. They list the countries here https://demosphere.net/en

Also thanks to poVoq and wakest, I learnt about 2 other software for similar uses: https://lauti.org/ and https://gancio.org/instances

Hey y'all! Here we are reading and discussing Sections A.4 and A.5 of AFAQ this week, which are about anarchist thinkers and examples of anarchism throughout modern history! These are the last parts of Section A, we're progressing!

Happy reading!

• Section A.4: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/sectionA.html#seca4
• Section A.5: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/sectionA.html#seca5

There is also an EPUB version of AFAQ, courtesy of @[email protected]: here

If you'd like to join, please comment and we'll ping you next post.

Link to last week's read: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/52213671

PS. Feedback request: How did you find last week's reading pace? Fast/Slow/OK/etc.?

I can't find a job.
Well I could but there doesn't seem to be any jobs that fit.
Or if there are I can't find them. (But I don't think so)

The biggest problem is that I live in estonia and it seems there really isn't a well-developed anarchist/socialist/syndicalist movement here. The IWW doesn't have a branch and searching online doesn't really yield any results (aside from a couple of socdem groups),

I don't know how to search for a job that isn't just doing menial labour for some company.

I would like to work for a global fully-remote anarchically managed tech syndicate. But I don't think those exist and I imagine starting one is incredibly difficult. (Well starting it wouldn’t be difficult, but finding people capable and willing to work for something like that, while getting enough income, is.)

At the end of the day the means dictate the ends. Looking for a job in a capitalist way is going to land you with a capitalist job. I need to look for a job in a anarchist/socialist/syndicalist way, but how do you do that in an environment where those ideas aren't widespread?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/35588338

Italian dockworkers have threatened to “shut down all of Europe” and block all shipments to Israel if communication with the latest aid flotilla bound for Gaza is lost. The threat marks a significant escalation in dockworkers’ long history of industrial action in solidarity with Palestine.

Speaking at a procession in the port of Genoa – one of Italy’s two largest commercial ports – on behalf of the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), a syndicate of various grassroots unions in Italy and thought to be the largest of its kind, the dockworker said: “If we lose contact with our boats, with our comrades – even for just 20 minutes – we will shut down all of Europe.”

“Our young women and men must come back without a scratch, and all this cargo, which belongs to the people and is going to the people, must reach its destination, down to the very last box.”

“13,000-14,000 containers leave this region every year for Israel. Not a single nail will leave anymore,” he continued.

When your lib "representative" represents delusional fascism... Wild video.

I've been thinking a lot about the relationship between anarchists and the state. Obviously I understand the reason behind anti-statism but I think mindless opposition to any idea is unproductive. So I want to discuss the concept of an anarchist-friendly state.

The starting point is the thought: "what if some people cannot be anarchists?". The effort needed to maintain anarchic structures is considerable and it's possible that a lot of people aren't willing to put in the effort. Voluntary association is fundamental to anarchist theory and that includes the creation of voluntary states. As long as these states are willing to work alongside anarchists there should be no reason for conflict, and states have a good reason to cooperate as anarchists could take over some of the problematic functions of the classical state like policing, after all any successful anarchist society needs to self-police anyway.

I'm not familiar with all of the theory surrounding minarchism but I think the term is applicable to these voluntary anarchist-friendly states.

Which brings me to a question: Could minarchist parties exist? And could they represent a form of electorialism that anarchists could participate in? They could be structured around instant recalls ensuring some level of protection against opportunists. Although such parties would require a change to election laws.

Hey y'all! Here we are reading and discussing Section A.3 of AFAQ this week, which is about the various types of anarchism!

Happy reading!

• Section A.3: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/sectionA.html#seca3

There is also an EPUB version of AFAQ, courtesy of @[email protected]: here

If you'd like to join, please comment and we'll ping you next post.

Link to last week's read: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/51731516

PS. Feedback request: How did you find last week's reading pace? Fast/Slow/OK/etc.?

I'm designing a self-governance system for these guys that might generally be useful for any kind of large-scale self-organized societies.

Before you ask, yes, this is crypto bullshit, but as I think about it (and the customer team that asked me to do this holds this opinion as well), crypto tokens are not supposed to be some capital. They are just computational infrastructure usage quota really, their scarcity is totally artificial and made into money just because capitalism. The idea here is to make a system where any community might be able to deploy a private network (and keep minting enough usage tokens for everyone while protecting the net from malware attacking community members electronics or brains), and use it in self-organization. And I'm mostly using capitalist vocabulary for obvious reasons.

So in short, the concept here is, first, to separate the community into some kind of small "core" (elders, technical experts, ecologists, immediate activist organization core, or nobody - why not? One chamber is fine too, but sometimes you just need more; maybe you are gently ramping up from little power to no power?) and large "everyone else", and then rotate a small random group of "general public" for their community decisions duty.

Please let me know what you think.

It's not like this is really new concept, but I'm going to implement it as a working self-governance tool in a particular way I've outlined in the linked document (after easy-to-read media text there is a link to actual document I made, also here it is: https://uncertain-aqua-crawdad.myfilebase.com/ipfs/QmaMxWHoDvwc8YpxHvQju9um2AySkejG5yfYF94vdBCwZX).

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/34210598

Note: I have no affiliation with the organizers; I attended one of their gatherings years ago though and had an excellent time!

This event is a space to network, to workshop, to skill-share, and to strategize about building dual power in our region. All levels of experience are welcome, from longtime organizers to folks who are completely new! The gathering will take place October 3-5 at a campground in southern Michigan, near Kalamazoo. The address of the campground will be released to folks who RSVP in the weeks leading up to the gathering. To RSVP, select "Donate and Tickets" above and select one of the RSVP ticket options. ... This event is a space to network, to workshop, to skill-share, and to strategize about building dual power in our region. All levels of experience are welcome, from longtime organizers to folks who are completely new! The gathering will take place October 3-5 at a campground in southern Michigan, near Kalamazoo. The address of the campground will be released to folks who RSVP in the weeks leading up to the gathering. To RSVP, select "Donate and Tickets" above and select one of the RSVP ticket options.

Campground lodging will be available starting Thursday evening (October 2), as the gathering will kick off promptly on Friday morning.

There are cabins on-site, but folks are are also welcome to bring their own tents and sleeping bags. ADA-accessible bathrooms and running water are available on site, as well as electricity, and vegan food for all participants. Cell service is available at the campground. We will have a shuttle service, but you will need to contact us so that we can coordinate pickup. If you need help finding an alternative place off-site to sleep, like in a hotel or on a couch, let us know and we’ll try to set this up (resources are limited.)

Families with children are also encouraged to attend! There are even plans to have youth-organized sessions so kids and teens can take an active role in creating the event. Please let us know if you would like any help with childcare during the gathering. Service animals and pets are more than welcome.

We want the event to be as accessible as possible: if you have any access needs or questions about the accessibility of the event, please feel free to get in touch by emailing us. We will do our best to make accommodations. At this event, we hope to mitigate the spread of COVID. You can read more about our COVID and masking policy here in the Orientation Guide.

Attendee participation fuels this gathering. It is structured as an "unconference".

What this means is that at the start of each day, we will gather and collectively create a schedule of sessions for the weekend. Everyone attending will have the opportunity to put unconference sessions on the schedule.

In past years, we’ve had a range of different types of sessions: from the formal to the informal, the prepared to the spur of the moment, the demonstration of a working tool to the whiteboarding of something completely new. This event is what you make it! Here are a few examples of previous sessions:

• Food Sovereignty, Foraging, and Farming (hands-on skill share)
• Conflict in Social Movement Spaces (roundtable discussion)
• What is Dual Power? (presentation and conversation)
• Indigenous Values vs. Capitalist Values (presentation and discussion)
• Narcan Training (hands-on skill share)
• Worker’s Cooperatives and the Labor Movement (roundtable discussion)
• Radical Media: Reflections and Scheming (roundtable discussion)
• The No Borders Struggle in Europe: a Reportback (presentation and conversation)
• Countering White Supremacy Culture (presentation and discussion)
• Radios for Community Defense and Disaster Relief (hands-on skill share)
• Bodywork and Co-Regulation as Mutual Aid (hands-on skill share)

Participation in the gathering is open to everyone, not just those camping: feel free to participate on any day in any activity or session that you choose to!

In addition to the self-organized unconference sessions, you can also expect shared meals, folk dancing, live music, and collaborative art making.

Hey y'all! After last week's warm-up, here we are reading and discussing Section A.2 of AFAQ this week!

Happy reading!

• Section A.2: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/sectionA.html#seca2

There is also an EPUB version of AFAQ, courtesy of @[email protected]: here

If you'd like to join, please comment and we'll ping you next post.

Link to last week's read: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/51243397

PS. Feedback request: How did you find last week's reading pace? Fast/Slow/OK/etc.?

Soliman is a young Palestinian from Gaza who lives under extremely difficult circumstances. Despite his young age, he struggles to balance his education while shouldering the primary responsibility of supporting his family. The burden has become overwhelming, especially after the family lost their only source of income.

They once owned a modest farm with olive and citrus trees, along with a small plastic greenhouse. This farm was not only a livelihood but a place filled with childhood memories where Soliman and his siblings used to help their father with the agricultural work. Sadly, the entire farm was burned and completely destroyed by Israeli attacks, wiping out the crops, tools, and everything they had built over the years.

The tragedy didn’t end there. Their family home was also destroyed in the recent Israeli bombardment of Gaza, leaving them homeless and without any source of income, amid the long-standing humanitarian crisis gripping the region.

Yet, despite all this, Soliman remains resilient. He continues to pursue his education and works tirelessly to provide even the bare minimum for his family. But the weight of these responsibilities is far too heavy for one young man to bear alone.

In the face of such devastating hardship, you are their only hope after God. Your support can help Soliman and his family overcome this tragedy and rebuild a part of the life they once knew. Any assistance, no matter how small, can make a profound difference.

i live in a small college town and im too old to be hip enough to join or form a reading group in the normal age range in this town.

can I join yours?

if it meets in jitsi or signal or zoom, I would love to join, if you'll have me.

I think my last anarchist reading group was 10 years ago, and we read crimethinc's ABCs of anarchism.

I've been to some study sessions with maoists and leninists, but I really want to hang out with anarchists, even if it's only virtually.

If he wins the New York City mayoral primary, Zohran Mamdani will not be in totally uncharted territory. A long line of municipal-level socialists in the United States and around the world have been in his position before.

This week we are reading and discussing Section A.1 + The introductions for AFAQ!

Have fun

• 10 Years of AFAQ: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/10years.html
• AFAQ Intro: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/intro.html
• AFAQ Vol. 1 Intro: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/vol1intro.html
• Section A.1: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/sectionA.html#seca1

All of this combined should be quite short :)

There is also an EPUB courtesy of @[email protected] https://files.catbox.moe/mi41sy.epub

If you'd like to join, please comment and i'll ping you next post.

[Edit: We are 11 people interested so far!]

Anyone interested? It's very long in total (could be like 2k pages) and people probably dont read it linearly, but I figured it'd be cool to take up on it:)

So far, I'vs finished reading Section A and has been very informative. I've tried to keep notes of it in .md format here:

https://codeberg.org/BlastboomStrice/book-notes/src/branch/main/AFAQ-Summary.md

If this fails, maybe we could pick other smaller books, but me personally might not be able to participate (already reading afaq and another book).

New here, and even though i've favored anarchist philosophy for a long time, i never discussed it with anybody else. So i thought i should ask around and get an idea of what the common ideas are. Specifically regarding economy and capitalism.

Premises, i'll try to keep it short:

1. I believe we can agree that "people should be fairly/ethically rewarded for their labor" is a reasonable ideal, and that profit is a much greater barrier to that ideal than tax is. With tax, it's less ambigious if, where and when things "trickle down", and people get some (certainly much room for improvement) democratic (likewise) say in the matter.

2. The capitalist economy obviously contradicts anarchist ideals of decentralization. Non-democratic and hardly meritocratic (chance and anti-competitive tactics) power is concentrated in the hands of a small elite, arguably more influential for our day-to-day lives than governments.

3. Humans are imperfect - imperfectly aligned and imperfectly capable, - so one shouldn't give a human (or a body of humans) more authority/responsibility than is absolutely necessary, and do all that one can do to continuously ensure and audit their alignment and capability. As a political idea you're all very familiar with this, but i also extend it to economy.

4. Capitalism does some job at allocating ("investing") labor and resources "intelligently" (using very generous wording), indirectly, into various measures of progress. It doesn't do the best job, very far from it, but i think any alternative one proposes should at least try to do a better job at converting labor and resources into improving everybody's quality of life.

There are some existing alternatives to convert labor. There is for example the concept of worker cooperatives (which could optionally be non-profit), which i find interesting.

But i don't see that by itself scale easily to national or even global level. Especially regarding the labor/resource allocation or "investment" aspect. I've spent a great deal trying to conceptualize an ethical, decentralized and also more effective (at converting labor and resources into quality of life) alternative to capitalism, but i don't feel like my thoughts are worth seriously sharing yet. As a very vague summary, think non-profit worker cooperatives + WIP decentralized, local-first hierarchial method of democratic crowd funding.

I'm curious to hear what thoughts and ideas you have on the subject. Also perhaps literature recommendations (please summarize).