[instagram thread by activistjayden. title “affinity groups: an anarchist form of organizing”. 1. affinity groups are powerful: relative to their small size, affinity groups can achieve a disproportionately powerful impact. in contrast to traditional top-down structures, they are free to adapt to any situation, they need not pass their decisions through a complicated process if ratification, and all of the participants can act and react instantly without waiting for orders - tet with a clear idea of what to expect from one another. 2. the affinity group is a flexible model: a particular team can act together over and over as an affinity group, but the members can also break up into smaller affinity groups, participate in other affinity groups, or act outside the affinity group structure. freedom to associate and organize as each person sees fit is a fundamental anarchist principle; this promotes redundancy, so no one person or group is essential to the functioning of the whole, and different groups can reconfigure as needed. 3. decide your appropriate level of security: affinity groups are resistant to infiltration because all members share history and and intimacy with each other, and no one outside the group need be informed of their plans or activities. once assembled, an affinity group should establish a shared set of security practices and stick to them. in some cases, you can afford to be public and transparent about your activities. in other cases, what hoes on in the group should never be spoken of outside it, even after all its activities are long completed. in some cases, no one except the participants in the group should know that it exists at all. you and your comrades can discuss and prepare for actions without acknowledging to outsiders that you constitute an affinity group. remember, it is easier to pass from a high security group protocol to a low one than vice versa. 4. pick a scale that’s right for you. an affinity group can range from two to perhaps as many as fifteen individuals, depending on your goals. however, no group should be so numerous that an informal conversation about pressing matters is impossible. you can always split up into two or more groups if need be. in actions that require driving, the most straightforward system is often to have one affinity group for each vehicle. 5. go into action. stop wondering what’s going to happen, or why nothing’s happening. get together with your friends and start deciding what will happen. don’t go through life in passive spectator mode, waiting to be told what to do. get in the habit of discussing what you want to see happen - and making those ideas reality.]
tangentwithtanner
titsay
2087
