A debating point worth a little thought from
Infoshop:
Conflict, safe spaces and removing people.
by Scott
Crow
May 30, 2012
To all
of us engaged in groups in general. If you will allow me for a
minute. I haven't paid attention to all of the chatter and conflict
etc . of your particular group, but I bet it is similar as to most
places. I wanted to take a moment to address anarchism and open
groups in brief. I believe our spaces have value to them and we have
all learned and shared things over their existence. Flame wars have
happened since the dawn of the interwebz and personal conflict has
happened at least since we could open our mouths. But sometimes we
have to say Ya Basta!(Enough!)
I have
been an anarchist in the real world for a long time and I do not
believe in large open groups for much more than short term
organizing. They always fall into trouble over the long haul due to
not having enough cohesion ,collective input and shared power . I
actually mostly only work in small closed collectives with people I
can develop intimate shared ideals, principles and actions.
Our
Spaces , Our Places.
Anarchism
is not about all of us getting into one big boat and heading towards
the horizon--and all getting along singing Kumbaya. This is the mess
we are in now. This 'boat' is filled with the lowest common
denominator of ideal/principles of all the participants. The way I
see it is that the horizon is the goal (follow me on this for a
minute). And instead of all getting into one big stupid boat, we call
get into our own boats, rafts, ships or whatever and head towards the
horizon without sinking each others boats. Some will get there
faster, and some will not make it, some will go in armadas. But the
key is we get there individually or collectively how we can--without
sinking each others boats.
I also
believe and practice protecting the spaces we have carved out within
groups, workplaces, meetings, housing etc. I am not a liberal who
believes we have to , or can accept everyone. It's why I am an
anarchist. We need multiple small accountable groups that can
federate , network--or not. If we can't get along then we form other
groups and don't try to sink the others boat. We don't have the
capacity to deal with everyone's personal issues--whether its drugs,
alcohol, mental health or they are just assholes looking for a fight.
There is plenty of pie to go around for all of us, plenty of problems
to solve and lots of disagreements to be had with people we like or
love without the added stress . Find the place that fits and work in
it.
