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THE ANTIOCH GATHERING
A NEW NETWORK
and (DIS)CONNECTION
>From the Deja'vu again corner: The loose association of
anarchist and anti-authoritarian collectives and assorted
individuals who have been the usual participants in gatherings
over the last year and a half, engaged in a "What are we doing?
What next?" kind of discussion and recognized that the embryonic
structure of a network existed. It was proposed and decided (by
those attending this meeting) that this relationship be
formalized and thus a new network has been born. While the
official title of this network is still to be decided, it is
officially subtitled a "Network of Anarchist Collectives". There
was some disagreement over use of the word "anarchist", but this
was worked out under the condition that the network actively
endeavor to define its interpretation of anarchism. This
network's first project was to coordinate several speaking tours
and engagements, including one by Lorenzo Ervin, author of
"Anarchism and the Black Revolution" and co-founder of the
Federation of Black Community Partisans. . (Dis)Connection was
identified as a network project, having the specific role of an
internal networking/resource journal.
Network collectives still have to determine the decision-making
structure and long term goals and strategies. Since this network
is the result of an organic evolution of events (gatherings,
proximity to one-another, etc.) it makes sense to start with
recognizing the ways in which we are networked now and work on
methods of strengthening them.
To this and other ends, the A - Zone in Chicago (NOT Toledo!)
will hold a More Fun Than Santa winter shindig & gathering in
late december-early January , likely in Chicago (pack your
warmest skivvies!) This gathering's purpose is actually twofold:
To hammer out our network, including (Dis)Connection, and to
work on Active Resistance, the CounterConvention to the 96
Democratic Convention in Chicago. You will be hearing more about
this soon!
Things we need to think about for the Network:
--How can the Network meet the needs of local collectives?
--Mutual Aid Project?
--How will network decisions be made? By consensus? At
Gatherings? How do we have a structure that does not result in
collectives supporting the network instead of vice versa?
--How will this network relate to other networks, etc? LNR, Fed.
of BCP, AANCO, EF!, FNB, IWW, WSA, ABC, etc.
--How do we relate to (and involve?) collectives who do not
currently use the term "anarchist" but who fit in with the
working (evolving) definition? How do we define anarchism? How
do we get that out? How do we relate to non-anarchists?
--How is membership defined? By collectives? By dues? By
agreement with general principles?
--Our network is largely lacking strategy, or at least a stated
one. What is our strategy? Is it Dual Power? Is it the
development of a highly centralized vanguard? How do we
project/define this?
Obviously this is going to take some time & thought to work out.
We propose that all y'all talk about these issues with your
collective and then bring an idea piece, a brainstorm, a
proposal, a manifesto, or even frantic notes scribbled on napkins
to the winter shindig so that we can all sit down at the start of
the discussions and have a Big Brainstorm and share our ideas and
generally get a feel of where we're at on it. Then we can set a
course on how to proceed.
RE: (DIS)Connection
The problems in getting out a 3rd issue of (Dis)Co were raised by
Montreal folks and discussed by the network. Issues raised were
exposing dirty laundry, internal networking vs. outreach, size of
issue, amount of contributions, etc. What was decided was that
Disco is intended as an internal networking journal. Thus, the
size of an issue is not that important, and neither is the
quantity of copies per issue--1000 is probably fine. Other
collectives do need to get off their butts and contribute more.
It is also the responsibility of the collective publishing the
issue to proselytize, recruit, and otherwise wring articles out
of folks. Each issue is also intended to have a "local flavor"
that represents what the publishing group is up to, and so the
publishing collective needs to work on putting in articles too,
they are not merely a coordinating point.
In Detroit, the birth place of (Dis)Connection, the collectives
and individuals present hoped that the journal would be published
at least four times a year. Obviously that hasn't happened. At
the winter gathering in Chicago, the publishing schedule and
rotation process will be discussed. It might be better, in terms
of getting the paper out more often and for receiving material
from contributors, if a collective adopted (Dis)Connection for a
one year term, similar to the Earth First! Journal.
The Deja'vu part: In looking through old papers and chatting
with people who were active in the anarchist movement in the
eighties, this has been done before. There was a network. There
was a paper/newsletter, Mayday, that rotated among affinity
groups and served as clearinghouse/bulletin board for the
movement. The focal point for the participants was initially
fairly large, continental anarchist gatherings. The first,
Haymarket Remembered, occured in Chicago in 1986 (?) and the
final one, Without Borders, took place in San Francisco in 1989.
Following the SF international gathering and its aftermath,
organizers decided to back out of any more big gatherings for a
while and cancelled the one to take place in Mexico City in 1990.
Discussions in Mayday focussed instead on regional gatherings and
developing the movement in home communities. Most of these
organizers, for many reasons, retired or burned out, or became
part of Love and Rage (which has pursued its own direction...)..
However, a few years later, this Network of Anarchist Collectives
is developing in the manner tentatively approached by people who
for the most part we don't even know, even adopting the rotation
clearinghouse journal. Maybe we should try to find some of these
people and their publications and approach with the experience of
previous organizing.
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