Submitted by anon (not verified) on Tue, 03/05/2019 - 09:54
Gatherings are still the greatest way to break open the gang gimmicks -as long as they aren't set up by specific gangs themselves- for how their social dynamics tend to be "flattening" relations in putting back people on equal footing (what the gang structure works against, self-servingly, as it is turned inward). Centralization is a problem... especially when it's roughly always the same crowd of spooky lefties, it's pretty good argument to stay away or at least not get really involved.
Ever since the '90s I observed the rise of the "affinity" group paradigm, that really, as I had somewhat foreseen, evolved into a validation of the retrograde tribal politics. I dunno what an affinity group was supposed to be, but what it became over the years was just another type of closed, private, insular gang who tends to be disconnected with the world around. The fact that these well-resourced groups have closed shop to the "outside world", that they also stopped taking couchsurfers or squatters in an open fashion is quite revealing.
The age issue has also increased in weight. Or maybe I'm just getting old. I have seen open events on the public place that were definitely of anarchist character lately, but since they were set up by youngsters this got pretty uneasy for randos, and especially older ones. There's a bunch of preconceptions kids will throw at you if you're a guy in your '30s-'40s and aren't a hippie of sorts. Social stereotypes are heavy and only a radical change in the way we connect to others (i.e. the social bond... the sociological analytic concept) can do this. Therefore gatherings should rely on one or a few rites or referents that bind people on equal footing, which subvert their views of age, ethnic, gender cleavages. The formalized structure of assemblies has been doing that, but anarchists know how counterproductive and overall depersonalizing that is. We need some more playful and non-dogmatic means.
Gatherings are still the greatest way to break open the gang gimmicks -as long as they aren't set up by specific gangs themselves- for how their social dynamics tend to be "flattening" relations in putting back people on equal footing (what the gang structure works against, self-servingly, as it is turned inward). Centralization is a problem... especially when it's roughly always the same crowd of spooky lefties, it's pretty good argument to stay away or at least not get really involved.
Ever since the '90s I observed the rise of the "affinity" group paradigm, that really, as I had somewhat foreseen, evolved into a validation of the retrograde tribal politics. I dunno what an affinity group was supposed to be, but what it became over the years was just another type of closed, private, insular gang who tends to be disconnected with the world around. The fact that these well-resourced groups have closed shop to the "outside world", that they also stopped taking couchsurfers or squatters in an open fashion is quite revealing.
The age issue has also increased in weight. Or maybe I'm just getting old. I have seen open events on the public place that were definitely of anarchist character lately, but since they were set up by youngsters this got pretty uneasy for randos, and especially older ones. There's a bunch of preconceptions kids will throw at you if you're a guy in your '30s-'40s and aren't a hippie of sorts. Social stereotypes are heavy and only a radical change in the way we connect to others (i.e. the social bond... the sociological analytic concept) can do this. Therefore gatherings should rely on one or a few rites or referents that bind people on equal footing, which subvert their views of age, ethnic, gender cleavages. The formalized structure of assemblies has been doing that, but anarchists know how counterproductive and overall depersonalizing that is. We need some more playful and non-dogmatic means.