Add new comment

TOTW: Islands in the Stream

My entry to anarchy had everything to do with attraction to the people I met who shared core values, and to whom I was personally attracted, sometimes romantically, sometimes just by affinity, often it was all mixed up.

I recently had the opportunity to see a screening of the film Animal People, a documentary about the SHAC USA campaign, which was, arguably, organized on anarchic, decentralized methods. I was reminded of how much face-to-face interactions played a critical role in finding my comrades. In particular, I was struck b the way face-to-face relations led to the SHAC 7 not snitching eachother out, which was not universal to the Green Scare.

Members of SHAC USA present for the panel discussion spoke to why they didn't turn on each other. It seemed both intuitive to me, and also like an echo of some nostalgic memory. This type of (counter?) socialization now feels largely moribund, and I wonder how younger anarchists today make those same connections.

I am an anarchist of a certain (middle) age, and a lot of the anarchists I found initially are now socialists, democratic socialists, or just boring liberals.
This Topic of the Week is geared towards younger set: How do you find your Islands in the Stream?