If you're in that situation, or you're unsure where to begin (assuming you're alone in your area), consider forming an anarchist social club. This means a club that engages in a particular activity and is comprised of anarchists.
What you do specifically is your own business, but I'll give you some ideas below. I should point out that this was done in Spain in the decades prior to the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). At that time, anarchists congregated in political clubs around the country -- it was a place where they could get together with fellow-thinkers and have drinks, or play chess, or talk, or do whatever the hell they wanted.
In a depoliticized country like the US, the notion of a political club is utterly alien, although many social clubs exist, particularly right-wing ones. A left-wing one like an anarchist club would be a novel thing, indeed. The advantage of something like that is that it allows for the creating of an anarchist community in your area.
Better still, it allows you to develop important social relationships with anarchists, to build trust between the others in your community, which is very important in our far-flung society.
And because it is a social group, even if the police or the feds try sending informants or undercover agents to spy on you, because you're engaging in simple social activities, they're not going to have much to report beyond recounting what things you did, whether discussing a book, or playing darts, or bowling, or playing soccer, softball, or whatever you did.
There are already some Anarchist Soccer Leagues forming, in Washington, DC and in Chicago. You might consider forming one yourself. This is a key example of an anarchist social club -- anarchists getting together to let off steam and play some soccer. Simple as that.
Anarchists are uniquely suited for such political clubs, because we're very different from the other left-wingers out there, mostly because we have a sense of humor. If you talk to anybody left-wing, particularly Marxists and their assorted by-blows, you find that they're a notoriously humorless lot. They're just so serious, and, frankly, boring. Their authoritarian political existence saps the vitality from their lives and ultimately consumes them, making them little more than political automatons. Go that way and you'll be on streetcorners selling their newspapers for them with pinwheel eyes, desperate to get new "converts".
Anarchists, conversely, want to get the most joy out of their lives that they can -- we see human happiness as a realizable goal in our daily lives. And much human joy is derived from social interaction with others like us. Anarchist social clubs provide that opportunity for getting together, and getting out there, and having a good time with people. It also provides a "neutral ground" for newbies.
A lot of people, particularly Americans, are leery of political activities. But if you have a soccer league, or a bowling league, or something like that, it gives people something to relate to. It humanizes you as an anarchist, and lets people see that anarchists have fun, too. It also helps strip away some of the myth-making around anarchists -- the media portrays us as nutcases or bomb-wielding freaks, but if you've got a soccer or bowling league in your area, and people see you out there, doing your thing, there's not much they can say to that. It helps peel away some of they myths around anarchism and anarchists.
Plus, it makes you visible in the community -- it shows anarchists as people proud of their philosophy, rather than shadowy political radicals that nobody knows about. The first stage of an anarchist social club will form around a core group.
But if you stick to it for awhile, and just have a good time, you'll find other people will join you as well. Maybe some are only there for the sport, or whatever activity you're doing. However, others will genuinely want to learn more about anarchism, and you can build your community from there. Plus, it'll give you practice at organizing and publicizing activities, so when you do some de facto anarchist political work, it won't seem as daunting.
Once you have a decent core community of anarchists in your area, you can go from there, starting whatever activities in your area that you want -- a Food Not Bombs, Books to Prisoners, an IWW local, an Earth First! affinity group; an infoshop; whatever floats your boat. The important thing is that you'll have a "critical mass" of anarchists in your area to draw from -- people you will know and trust. Friends and comrades.
It is important to go to that next step, once you feel you've got a decent group of people together. To move from building community to starting to interact with the community in anarchist ways -- to start some affinity groups, to create a real anarchist political presence. And keep the group together even when you've got your core group together, because it'll be a way to let off steam and have a good time.
This kind of community is vital in an alienated and socially atomized society like the USA -- if you're out in the city at night, you see how many apartments and houses are lit by the blue glow of television sets. People part of an inert, atomized mass. Anarchist social clubs fight that impulse, getting people out and together.
So, give it some serious thought. Consider forming an anarchist social club in your area. Be open-minded, light-hearted, and humorous. Humor really helps with political things, which can be so dry. Take advantage of the anarchist propensity for humor, and you'll make real progress, whether you've put together a soccer league, a bowling brigade, a softball syndicate, a kite-flying collective, a hiking group, whatever it is. Make it fun, make it a group outing, make it anarchist.
3/20/00
a4a
Return to Anarchy for Anybody