Who's coming to the Anarchist Movement Conference and what do you want to get out of it?
May 31 2009 08:05
I'm starting this debate here as its perhaps the most used area of the site. I wanted to see what peoples perceptions are about the conference, what use it can serve and what people would see as a success to it.
We have around 150 people already register and hope that there will be atleast 100 more arriving on the day. Due to the nature of the conference it has attracted many "leading" people involved in anarchist and libertarian politics across the UK, though we still expect a few wingnuts to attend - as is the nature of ANY politic event. However it isn't about focussing purely on what divides us but what we see collectively as the problems we face with anarchist politics and ways which we can go beyond what we have.
There will be a final plenary at 2pm on the Sunday 7th June which should give all those that attend a concisive overview of what the movement thinks. There will be summaries presented by all the 10+ groups that have been formed and action proposals (in terms of initiatives rather than proposals for demonstrations). A final conference report book will be published for the London Anarchist Bookfair during the follow-up meeting organised there as well as a proposal for it to become a yearly event - though perhaps with a more outward looking conference format and content.
The aim for us as organisers (which includes AF, HSG, L&S and some members of SolFed) is to give more depth and strategy to the movement, and enable people and groups to develop collective strategies no matter which town or issue they are involved in.
Anyway, would like to hear peoples thoughts on this.
cheers
a
p.s. I am not going to argue with people on this thread just clarify any issues
May 31 2009 15:42
#2
Yeah I'm along, personally my aim is gonna probably be to pick up on the subject of propaganda/anarchist media and see what can be worked out in the way of building more cohesion - centralising the best skills (NB// obv not in a leninist way, more like having them available) info and comment into a few seriously well-organised projects, that sort of thing.
As a secondary part I'll probably want to talk about cross-regional and cross-group communication and working out something a bit more robust so national activity can be organised on a basis other than general callouts from individual groups which rarely get further than their own immediate circles.
May 31 2009 16:58
#3
Rob Ray wrote:
Yeah I'm along, personally my aim is gonna probably be to pick up on the subject of propaganda/anarchist media and see what can be worked out in the way of building more cohesion - centralising the best skills (NB// obv not in a leninist way, more like having them available) info and comment into a few seriously well-organised projects, that sort of thing.As a secondary part I'll probably want to talk about cross-regional and cross-group communication and working out something a bit more robust so national activity can be organised on a basis other than general callouts from individual groups which rarely get further than their own immediate circles.
Sounds like an excellent idea. I think there are a few people thinking of this. There will be the Sunday morning session to discuss "where next?" type things with the main suggestions taken to the final plenary. After that we will have space for people to discuss these action proposals with a request that they delegate one person to be the contact for it.
May 31 2009 17:33
#4
i'm planning on going, but haven't registered yet (sorry!).
i'm not entirely sure what to expect, but i'm hoping for some constructive face-to-face discussions to find common ground for practical co-operation (and also clarify differences). we've been discussing strategy a lot in our local group, so it will be good to bounce ideas off people and see where that leads, in terms of what we should be doing in the short and medium term.
i'm still not convinced by the idea there is an 'anarchist movement', or that building one per se is even a useful thing. i'd much rather see a workers movement of which anarchism is hopefully a major tendency, but fingers crossed this is semantics, and it won't stop me participating in good faith.
May 31 2009 18:55
#5
Joseph Kay wrote:
i'm still not convinced by the idea there is an 'anarchist movement', or that building one per se is even a useful thing. i'd much rather see a workers movement of which anarchism is hopefully a major tendency,..
You will not be the only one who is thinking in these terms. There will also be others that say we should move beyond the "anarchist" label as it is too narrow - from an historical point of view as a well as for practical reasons.
I'll be there, altho I don't have too many preconceptions one way or another. I suppose it'll be interesting to see if we can come up with a coherent response to the economic shitstorm, altho I recognise that sounds a bit vanguardist - it's the class as a whole that'll be coming up with a response (and it's not doing too bad of a job so far), we just have to try and make ourselves relevant to it somehow.