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Affinity
Group Information and Resources
An
affinity group is a small group of 5 to 20 people who
work together autonomously together on direct action or
other projects. You can form an affinity group with your
friends, people from your community, workplace, or
organization.
Affinity
groups challenge top-down decision-making and
organizing, and empower those involved to take creative
direct action. Affinity groups allow people to
"be" the action they want to see by giving
complete freedom and decision-making power to the
affinity group. Affinity groups by nature are
decentralized and non-hierarchical, two important
principles of anarchist organizing and action. The
affinity group model was first used by anarchists in
Spain in the late 19th and early 20th century, and was
re-introduced to radical direct action by anti-nuclear
activists during the 1970s, who used decentralized
non-violent direct action to blockade roads, occupy
spaces and disrupt "business as usual" for the
nuclear and war makers of the US. Affinity groups have a
long and interesting past, owing much to the anarchists
and workers of Spain and the anarchists and radicals
today who use affinity groups, non-hierarchical
structures, and consensus decision making in direct
action and organizing.
There
are many roles that one could possibly fill. These roles
include:
- Medical
- An affinity group may want to have someone who
is a trained street medic who can deal with any
medical or health issues during the action.
- Legal
observer- If there are not already legal
observers for an action, it may be important to have
people not involved in the action taking notes on
police conduct and possible violations of activists
rights.
- Media
- If you are doing an action which plans to draw
media, a person in the affinity group could be
empowered to talk to the media and act as a
spokesperson.
- Action
Elf/Vibes-watcher - This is someone who would
help out with the general wellness of the group:
water, massages, and encouragement through starting
a song or cheer. This is not a role is necessary,
but may be particularly helpful in day long actions
where people might get tired or irritable as the day
wears on.
- Traffic
- If it is a moving affinity group, it may be
necessary to have people who are empowered to stop
cars at intersections and in general watch out for
the safety of people on the streets from cars and
other vehicles.
- Arrest-able
members - This depends on what kind of direct
action you are doing. Some actions may require a
certain number of people willing to get arrested, or
some parts of an action may need a minimum number of
arrestables. Either way, it is important to know
who is doing the action and plans on getting
arrested.
- Jail
Support - Again, this is only if you have an
affinity group who has people getting arrested. This
person has all the arrestees contact information and
will go to the jail, talk to and work with lawyers,
keep track of who got arrested etc.
The
idea of affinity groups comes out of the anarchist and
workers movement that was created in the late 19th
century and fought fascism in Spain during the Spanish
Civil War. The Spanish Anarchist movement provides an
exhilarating example of a movement, and the actual
possibility of a society based on decentralized
organization, direct democracy and the principles behind
them.
Small
circles of good friends, called "tertulias"
would meet at cafes to discuss ideas and plan actions.
In 1888, a period of intense class conflict in Europe
and of local insurrection and struggle in Spain, the
Anarchist Organization of the Spanish Region made this
traditional form (tertulias) the basis of its
organization.
Decades
later, the Iberian Anarchist Federation, which contained
50,000 activists, organized into affinity groups and
confederated into local, regional, and national
councils. Wherever several FAI affinity groups existed,
they formed a local federation. Local federations were
coordinated by committees were made up of one mandated
delegate from each affinity group. Mandated delegates
were sent from local federations to regional committees
and finally to the Peninsular Committee. Affinity groups
remained autonomous as they carried out education,
organized and supported local struggles. The intimacy of
the groups made police infiltration difficult.
In
July 1936, Francisco Franco, with a group of fascist
generals, launched a military revolt to take power from
Spain's government. Spanish workers and peasants armed
themselves and defeated the military throughout much of
the country, particularly in Anarchist strongholds.
Millions of Spaniards took action to restructure society
along revolutionary lines, not revive the treacherous
Spanish government.
Factories,
transportation, telephones and even wholesale and retail
stores were taken over and run collectively; an
estimated 1200-1800 self-managed workers' collectives
were formed. Workers' self-management effectively
replaced the remnants of government and private
institutions, providing the everyday necessities of life
- food, clothing, shelter, and public services. The
experience of working in non-hierarchical affinity
groups created the conditions for 6 million people in
Spain to reorganize society along revolutionary
principles, organizing workplaces, agriculture, and
communities without bosses and government.
The
idea of large-scale affinity group based organization
was planted in the United States on April 30, 1977 when
2,500 people, organized into affinity groups, occupied
the Seabrook, New Hampshire nuclear power plant. The
growing anti-nuclear power and disarmament movements
adopted this mode, and used it in many successful
actions throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. Since then,
it has been used by the Cental America solidarity
movement, lesbian/gay liberation movement, Earth First
and earth liberation movement, and many others.
Most
recently, affinity groups have been used in the mass
actions in Seattle for the WTO, in Washington DC for the
IMF and World Bank, and in Philadelphia and Los Angles
around the Republican and Democratic National
Conventions as
well as in Georgia during the protest actions to shut
down the School of the Americas.
A
cluster is a grouping of affinity groups that come
together to work on a certain task or part of a larger
action. Thus, a cluster might be responsible for
blockading an area, organizing one day of a multi-day
action, or putting together and performing a mass street
theater performance. Clusters could be organized around
where affinity groups are from (example: Texas cluster),
an issue or identity (examples: student cluster or
anti-sweatshop cluster), or action interest (examples:
street theater or lockdown).
A
spokescouncil is the larger organizing structure used in
the affinity group model to coordinate a mass action.
Each affinity group (or cluster) empowers a spoke
(representative) to go to a spokescouncil meeting to
decide on important issues for the action. For instance,
affinity groups need to decide on a legal/jail strategy,
possible tactical issues, meeting places, and many other
logistics. A spokescouncil does not take away an
individual affinity group's autonomy within an action;
affinity groups make there own decisions about what they
want to do on the streets (as long as it fits in with
any action guidelines.) All decisions in spokescouncils
are made by consensus, so that all affinity groups have
agreed and are committed to the mass direct action.
An
affinity group could be a relationship among people that
lasts for years among a group of friends and activists,
or it could be a week long relationship based around a
single action. Either way, it is important to join an
affinity group that is best suited to you and your
interests.
If
you are forming an affinity group in your city or town,
find friends or fellow activists who have similar issue
interests, and thus would want to go to similar actions.
Also, look for people who would be willing to use
similar tactics - if you want to do relatively high risk
lockdowns, someone who does not want to be in that
situation may not want to be in the affinity group. That
person could do media or medic work, but it may not be
best if they are completely uncomfortable around certain
tactics of direct action.
If
you are looking to join an affinity group at a mass
action, first find out what affinity groups open to new
members and which ones are closed. For many people,
affinity groups are based on trusting relationships
based around years of friendship and work, thus they
might not want people they don't know in their affinity
group. Once you find which affinity groups are open,
look for ones that have an issue interest or action
tactic that you are drawn to, like a Free Tibet affinity
group or a blockade affinity group.
Anything!!!
They can be used for mass or smaller scale actions.
Affinity groups can be used to drop a banner, blockade a
road, provide back-up for other affinity groups, do
street theater, block traffic riding bikes, organize a
tree sit, change the message on a massive billboard,
play music in a radical marching band or sing in a
revolutionary choir, etc�There can even be affinity
groups who take on certain tasks in an action. For
instance, there could be a roving affinity group made up
of street medics, or an affinity group who brings food
and water to people on the streets.
What
makes affinity groups so effective for actions is that
they can remain creative and independent and plan out
their own action without an organization or person
dictating to them what can and can't be done. Thus,
there are an endless amount of possibilities for what
affinity groups can do. Be creative and remember: direct
action gets the goods!
What
is it?
Consensus is a decision making process based not on
"majority rule," but the greater agreement of
the community. Instead of a majority making a decision
for the group, all people in the decision making body
have equal voice and power. Consensus is reached when
all members of a group, committee, or organization agree
that a proposal is best for the group; individuals may
not agree with everything in the proposal, but a
commitment to community building and needs makes
consensus work. Why do it? We use consensus for many
reasons. It allows people to collectively explore
solutions until the best one for the group emerges.
Consensus assures that everyone has a voice in the
decision making process, synthesizing all ideas into one
plan that all participants agree to implement. Since all
participants agree to the decision, people are more
invested in carrying out what has been decided. The
process promotes commitment to carry out decisions.
Consensus
is important in allowing minority opinions and concerns
to be heard and considered, and encourages cooperation
among people with divergent views. It attempts to
minimize domination and empowers the community in the
process of making a decision.
How
do we do it?
First, a group must define the issue: what needs to be
decided.
Next,
discuss the issue. After the group has had enough time
to discuss the item, someone makes a proposal (some
proposals may be brought to a meeting beforehand) for a
specific plan of action. The facilitator can ask for a
proposal if she/he feel that people are repeating the
same points.
After
a proposal is made, people can offer clarifying
questions. This is not the time to speak for or against
the proposal.
Then,
list out all concerns people may have with the proposal.
Attempt to resolve each individual concern through
further discussion or amendments to the proposal. If
there are no concerns, there is consensus.
The
facilitator will ask for any stand asides. People who
stand aside have concerns that have not been resolved,
but will not block from moving forward.
The
facilitator will then ask if there are any blocks.
People who block have serious concerns that have not
been resolved and cannot allow the decision to be made
by the group; blocks are serious decisions, and they
must be based on a belief that the proposal being put
forward goes against the principles of the group or
organization. If a block happens, the group will need to
re-evaluate how to proceed. If there are no blocks,
there is consensus.
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