More by: Bob

In my last two columns (1, 2), I wrote a lot (perhaps too much?) about why I believe that punk and anarchism are linked and my own path towards involvement in anarchist politics and how that has been connected to my involvement in the punk community.

Over the years, I have seen a lot of calls for punks to “get involved” and to “do something,” but sadly there have often been few ways to get directly involved in anarchist politics. All too often, there is little discussion about what it means to “get involved” and folks interested in doing that are often left hanging. In many cases, “getting involved” means working with “progressive” groups that may have some overlap with the punk scene’s values and beliefs, but often are coming from radically different perspectives. While some cities are lucky enough to have a punk community that is politically active, punks wanting to “get involved” in Grand Rapids have generally had to choose between working with “progressive” groups or trying (often in vain) to work with a small number of anarchist groups that have existed over the years.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many existing projects to get involved in right now. For punks that want to “get active,” doing so in Grand Rapids will take a lot of hard but ultimately rewarding work. I would love to be able to list off a number of amazing anarchist projects to get involved in, but sadly this is Grand Rapids and there isn’t a whole lot going on right now. However, rather than look at this as a negative, it can be a positive: there is a blank slate on which it is pretty easy to make an impression. In Grand Rapids, it doesn’t take more than a few people to shake things up and because the city is generally pretty conservative, simple things—like graffiti, banner drops, marches, protests, direct actions, wheatpasting, tabling at shows, distributing anarchist propaganda, etc—can often have a surprising impact.

That said, I’m going to give a list of resources that will help with some of the “how to” aspects of anarchist organizing. It’s pretty clear that the world is beyond messed up, so this list primarily collects resources that I think would be helpful for anyone seeking to get involved in political work. I’ll leave the case for anarchism to others who have made that argument far more eloquently than I ever could.

The list:

• Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook (book) – This book—released by the Crimethinc Collective back in 2004—is an essential anarchist organizing manual. It includes well-written and easy to follow guides on 62 different topics including squatting, organizing collectives, street art, Food Not Bombs, antifascist action, black blocs, and more. The guides are frequently accompanied by accounts of the ideas in action. It’s a great source for inspiration and ideas.
• ACTIVATE “How To Guides” (Website) – ACTIVATE was a mostly anarchist anti-war group that existed in Grand Rapids from 2006-2008. As part of its activities, it produced a series of “How To Guides” on a variety of different subjects including forming affinity groups, banner drops, wheatpasting, advertising, dealing with the police, etc. They are helpful generally but are particularly helpful to folks in Grand Rapids as the information is often tailored to Grand Rapids. Also, check out a piece they wrote on working with the media and the misplaced idea that anarchists should narrowly tailor their activities to appeal to the media.
• Build Those Collectives! (Zine) – This is a really good zine that explains how to organize an anarchist collective. It covers all the steps from the how and why of building anarchist collectives to the nuts-and-bolts of running a collective. It also includes some material offering historical perspectives (on the role of anarchist collectives in the Spanish revolution) and contemporary analysis of the anarchist movement (somewhat dated but still good).
• How to Organize a Protest March (Website) – This guide was posted on the Grand Rapids Anarchists blog and it gives a good overview of how to organize a protest march. It draws on experiences of folks in Grand Rapids, making it a valuable resource for anarchists here who wish to organize a protest march.
• Organising Communities (Zine) – A lot of what you can find on the Internet or in books about community organizing often doesn’t apply to anarchist organizing. This zine shares a number of lessons that can be learned from community organizing, told through the writing of an anarchist community organizer. It’s older (1993) but it is worth reading as many of the arguments can be helpful in developing an anarchist strategy.
• Security Culture: A Handbook for Activists (Zine) – Anarchism is a movement that challenges the state, so it isn’t surprising that the state actively works to disrupt anarchist organizing. One way in which anarchists resist state repression is by observing security culture. Security culture defined means “a set of customs shared by a community whose members may engage in illegal or sensitive activities, the practice of which minimizes the risks of such activities being subverted, or targeted for sabotage.” Basically, it is a way of trying to stay safe and minimizing the risks of repression.
• Anti-Oppression Principles (Website) – An essential aspect of anarchist organizing is doing anti-oppression work. This means working to confront and address sexism, heterosexism, racism, classism, ablism, and other forms of oppression that exist within the larger world—and all too often within the anarchist movement and the punk scene. There are a lot of resources out there and anyone serious about doing political work should work to understand oppression, albeit with the understanding that it is a job that is never done.
• Zine Library (Website) – Zine Library is a website that contains hundreds of zines and pamphlets on all aspects of anarchism and anarchist organizing. It’s a great source for more information on the topics above and a wealth of other topics.

Doing political work is an ongoing process in which you are constantly learning from your friends, comrades, other organizing groups, and the struggle itself. However, the aforementioned resources will give you a good foundation from which to build. They will help you to start a collective or affinity group and give you ideas for what to do once you start.

Most importantly, I just want to remind folks that it isn’t that hard to act. In most cases, it’s just a matter of overcoming our own internal barriers and the cultural barriers to political involvement.