Anti authoritarian assembly - Saturday 18th February 2012

by ? Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:03

Were minutes or report of this meeting circulated?
When's the next one?

by Andrew Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:32

If no one else does (RAG might intend to) I'll probably have a go at writing something up once the minutes are circulated, but briefly it went well, about 35 people involved in 14 groups with one outcome being the intention to put together a Grassroots Gathering in Dublin in the early Summer.

by B. Sun Feb 19, 2012 22:01

If anyone who was at this could post up a little report that would be great, esp. for those who couldnt make it. Thanks.

by Clare - RAG - personal capacity Wed Feb 15, 2012 13:05 ragdublin at gmail dot com Dublin

Hi,

I think the reason and purpose of the assembly is summed up quite well by Ciaron's post above.

I love those 2006 AAA minutes, had forgotten about them... "he said our dog was called jessop"! Hopefully this event will be just as colourful but marginally more productive.

Assembly will start at 2.30pm sharp. There will be tea and coffee from 2.00pm so why not come along a bit early.

See you all there,

Clare
RAG member

by Andrew Thu Feb 09, 2012 14:21

This is meant to be a fairly low key, does what it says on the can, exploratory event so there isn't really an answer yet to some of the questions about purpose.

I think the fact that initiatives come and go without being properly written up is a product of the fairly small number of people who act as organisers for such initatives. It means things tend to 'vanish' as they move on and as they are busy with something new they seldom manage to complete write ups (I have unfinished ones for SSN & 1% Network on my drive that I've yet to get back to). Its a pretty serious structural weakness that will probably only be partially solved as more people step up as organisers.

by Ciaron - Giuseepe Conlon House, London Catholic Worker Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:44

From my memory, form an orderly queue to correct me if I'm wrong, AAA came out of a post Gleneagles G8 meeting.

The proposal I was pushing was informed by my experience in the mid-90's with Radical Preston. I'm now (with London Catholic Worker) involved marginally involved with the local Harringay Solidarity Group which is different and a little more formal than Radical Preston.

My proposal (wasn't the only one) was a face to face meet up every 4-6 weeks between folks involved in anarchist (anti-authoriatarian/ direct grassroots) organisations and campaigns. The value of meeting in the real world outide of cyberspace was significant. Groups could send delegates. It would be more an info sharing, clraifying requesting, mutual aid offering, rather than a decision making gathering.

It worked pretty well the ones I went to involved groups that identified as anarchist
- anarcho feminist
- Anarchist Black Cross
- WSM
- Dublin Catholic Worker
- an anarchist bookshop in Temple Bar

Anarchists involved in ongoing broader grassroots direct action campaigns
- Shannon
- Rossport
- Coca Cola/ Colombia solidarity
- Vote for Nobody
...and many others

Anarchic Projects
- Seoama Sprai
- Critical Mass

And international anarchists passing through Dublin
- there was a Russian bloke at one passing through,
- also Australian and North American anarchists at other updating us on the scenes there

At Radical Preston they would have a guest speaker sometimes from outside the group on something topical. I gave a talk on a Ploughshares trial on in Preston at the time, another time a guy from the Fire Brigades Union that was on strike was invited to update us on the strike

......there was a break and then it was a go around from campaigns and foks in the circle updating, answering questions of clarifcation and requesting or offering specific help ot the other campaigns. It wasn't rocket science...and was very valuable.

Dublin being the size it is. You'd meet people at these things then bump into them in the streets and have longer chats. It was/ is worth doing.
Good luck with it!

by Tyranny - of Structurelessness Fri Feb 03, 2012 21:16

Hmmm...

Just curious what the vibe / aim / direction of the event is.

Without a small actual (achievable) goal to work towards - without wanting to sound like a total cynic - groups formed out of assemblies like this in the past tend to have a big start up, then quietly trail away with a whimper...

Take your pick over the last few years. Grassroots Dissent, The Social Solidarity Network, Real Democracy Now, the 1% Network... where have they all gone to? The people are still around, but the groups just slowly disappeared without any conclusion.

The 1% Network for example - what happened with that? It seemed to have faded into nothing months before the Occupy thing kicked up, where the whole idea of the 1% unfairly owning the majority of the wealth found a lot of currency in the media and beyond.

Anti Authoritarian groups berate the Trots for their constant front creations... not sure if their MO is entirely a million miles away.

Anti Authoritarians will probably shudder at the thought of it - but they need some project management skills in their campaigns. A goal, with a closed timeframe, with a beginning, middle, and end - and analysis afterwards. The idea of a never ending campaign means nothing ever gets finished, people drift away and the energy is lost...

I'm back and forth on jobs to the UK loads at the moment so will probably miss this meeting but I hope something concrete comes out of it.

B.

by lefty Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:45

I would like to point out that somebody on this thread was using my regular nick that I use on this site ("lefty") to post comments which I certainly do not agree with. Regular readers will notice this.
Andrew is a respectable activist, a decent article writer whose articles I enjoy reading on this site and he does not deserve to be harangued in this manner by a cowardly sock puppet with nothing worthwhile to contribute.
solidarity Andrew
-lefty

by Andrew Wed Feb 01, 2012 14:13

How terrible, apparently there was an assembly once that no one really turned up for and someone wrote up some humorous minutes about. Your quite right, no one should ever be so 'pretentious' to ever use the word assembly again!

(I recommend reading James Connolly 'A full life' by Donal Nevin where you will be horrified to discover such messing around is as old as the left. Most of us get over it and move on.)

by Ragfan Wed Feb 01, 2012 13:03

I am just going on past experiences. A bit humility would not go amiss with some people here. I want to see these type of meetings succeed but the title would not attract very many ordinary people.

Heres an example of a past AAA (2006).

>>>
the meeting held on the 28th of may in the phibsboro garden went very well
a total of 3 people turned up
some people from the dolphins barn garden showed up but only to see the
garden and not for the meeting
what was discussed:

1 how much drink people had the night before

2 cooking baked potatoes and linda mc cartney sausages on the fire. they
were very tasty

3 an alcoholic man showed up and tried to convince us he owned our dog. he
said he would put some fish from the canal in our pond (a waterlogged fire
pit). he said our dog was called jessop and he lost it on mothers day after
he walked out on his wife. he said he could bring photos the next day to
prove it and that his kids would be very happy to know that the dog was
still alive. he said the dog was constantly barking at him because it
recognised him.

AOB
the man left but took our 2 wheel trolly. we asked for it back and he
apologised, mumbling something about wooden palates. he gave it back

all in all, a very productive day for all involved, and anarchism in dublin
in general
>>>

Did this meeting deserve a grandoise title?

by Jaybro Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:45

Anti Authoritarian= people or groups who are against vertical organising, absolutism, being governed.
Assembly= A group of people gathered together in one place for a common purpose

I think semantics are far less important than organising and making society better and fairer right now.

by JoeMc Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:35

That’s it Andrew change the label , no-one will notice .Keep the rotten old stuff at the back of the cart , a bit of fresh fruit for the front .

by Andrew Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:01

That is an even stranger use of the word 'pretentious' - either that or I've missed the meaning of the word changing some time recently.

Anti-authoritarian is a common enough political expression internationally to distinguish between those parties of the left, right & center who seek state power and those organisations of the left (mostly anarchist but also some marxists, feminists & environmentalists) who seek to change the world without taking power. It's tended to become more popular in recent years because of the success of the section of the US minimum state right who have hijacked the term libertarian.

by John Joe Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:30

Whats more pretentious is the use of the term anti authoritarian. So who are the authoritarian groups 'not welcome' by default then?

by Andrew Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:18

What's so "terribly pretentious" about the word assembly?

It isn't a fancy word for 'meeting' rather it describes a particular type of meeting where all those present have a similar right to speak, vote etc. Lecture is another word for another type of meeting where that isn't the case.

by Ragfan Wed Feb 01, 2012 00:04

But the title of the meeting is terribly pretentious. Its the sort of thing that gets the Libertarian Left laughed at. These AAAs were held in the past and never really deserved the name assembly. Just call it a meeting.