decentralized action in affinity groups

Geschrieben von: wirbelwind Montag, den 22. Februar 2010 um 16:49 Uhr

during the days before, after, and especially on march 11th, an important additions and alternatives to the planned big actions are small decentralized actions in affinity groups. they can be very effective and lots of fun, but they work well only if people take care of each other and organize themselves in groups that are able to find consensus most of the time.

during the big blockades on the 11th, blocking crossroads, running through the city being loud and visible, short term symbolic occupations, flashmobs etc. can draw more attention to the issue and, maybe even more importantly, bind police forces who could otherwise be used at the bigger blockade points to remove people who are blocking the streets. also, if many of those small crowds are around, they can help slow down traffic and make it harder for visitors of the bologna summit and for police forces to get through.

for decentralized actions, it is maybe even more important than for bigger planned actions that people are organized in affinity groups. a good size for an affinity group is about 4-6 people who have a similar idea about how far they want to go, how fast and dynamically they want to move, whether they disappear when police comes or rather stay and be carried away etc. if you chose to opt out, always let your affinity group know. within an affinity group, it is useful if people are organized in pairs of two as "buddies", thus, even numbers are best for affinity groups.

a buddy is another person that one stays together with during all the action, even if people are being dispersed by police or chose to disappear. in action, it is sometimes even hard to watch three other people permanently, but it is usually possible to watch and stay together with one. if one out of two buddies wants to end an action, the other one should at least accompany the first one to a safe place.

within an affinity group, it is useful if people know and trust each other, and if they know each other's personal data it can prevent long detention by the police, for example if one person has no id on them, two others are enough to verify their identity (full name, date and place of birth).

also, if everybody is organized in affinity groups, it can not happen so easily that someone gets caught by the police and nobody notices it. it's bad to be in police custody, but it's even worse if you're not sure if anybody outside knows about it.

for actions that need more people, say 20-30 (as for blocking crossroads) it makes sense that several small affinity groups work together and coordinate themselves among each other. sometimes this works well with delegates, i.e. every group sends one delegate to a delegate meeting and reports about ideas and tendencies within each group, and discuss options for all. then they go back to their group and report about the delegate meeting. this can be repeated a few times, until it is clear if all do something together, or if a part of the people does one thing or another (stay, make a new action, go home...)

for roads or rossroads, the chance for legal consequences is small, at least in vienna, if people leave as soon as police arrives, this way, they are able to meet again somewhere else some minutes / half an hour later. for that, it makes sense if when entering a road, the next place is already clear.

most important for these kind of actions is that people take care of one another. if someone seems to be alone, ask them if they have an affinity group, and if not, take them into yours or find another one for them.

united we stand, divided we fall...

some links:

http://www.starhawk.org/activism/affinitygroups.html

http://aia.mahost.org/dec_affinity.html

http://www.rantcollective.net/article.php?id=30

http://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/Affinity.html