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zoom_zip wrote

i’ve never found the right people

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[deleted] wrote

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zoom_zip wrote

i’d like to think i’m hard to find and cover my tracks well enough, but that’s probably an illusion

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Stigmata wrote

I am in the socialist rifle association. I am not very active just because I am somewhat shy, and also there has been a history of police harassing members.

It is nice though because I see photos posted by the other members, and it lets me know that there is at least a small community that is in my area that if things got really bad I could turn to. I think my chapter is out of the ordinary though and is a lot more active than others.

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disabled_larper OP wrote

I'm not in the US but the SRA looks pretty cool. One big criticism I have though is it being explicitly far-left. That's just begging to be a major target for state infiltration & surveillance.

Of course, the state will infiltrate any left wing organization regardless of how tame it is, but maybe they would take it less seriously if it was just advertised as an anti-racist queer-friendly alternative to reactionary gun clubs.

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metocin wrote

yes but not much direct action so pretty boring. I hope to find some fellow like-minded anarchists offline some day and do more of that. it all works better in small groups than big orgs anyways

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existential1 wrote

If what you're doing is large enough to be an organization, it is probably trash.

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disabled_larper OP wrote

Would you be able to elaborate? Personally I think lacking a large, international organization is a major barrier to progress. I guess it depends on your politics, but the way I see it, if people aren't coordinating a global movement, we might never truly abolish capitalism. Just a constant back and fourth between different factions from different geographical areas with different languages and different cultures.

I'd like to hear your thought process though. Maybe there's something I'm not seeing.

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existential1 wrote

I dont believe capitalism will be replaced on a global or interplanetary scale with anything I would consider more preferable. One issue people tend to have is the assumption that others will think as they do or not fight against a change they view as detrimental to their understanding of the world. Global scale for anything is going to have to account for global difference of resources and opinions.

That isnt to say I dont find the idea nice...but i dont find it anything near realistic or practicable. Local anarchy on the other hand...much more practicable.

The fundamental question that must be addressed for any aspiring global scale solution is the question of enforcement. How do you enforce such things? It isnt very difficult to see that the answer will lead to archy. And I'm not a fan of archy.

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subrosa wrote

Used to be an IWW member, which barely exists where I live. Was a big waste of time and money. Almost exclusively focused on convincing people to join. Other organizations in the area are basically Lenin or Trotsky fanclubs doing similar shit.

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disabled_larper OP wrote (edited )

Thanks for sharing. I was thinking of joining the IWW myself but they're so small that I question if I should even bother. But at the same time, they're the only explicitly left wing organization I know of that's somewhat popular internationally.

Almost exclusively focused on convincing people to join.

Have you thought of trying to make change from within? I find an issue with political junkies is that many are focused on fantasy and culture rather than real world organizing and change. I was that kind of person for a while until recently. I think it could be beneficial if we could get other "radicals" to see that side of things and turn them into effective organizers that focus on what people actually care about, rather than being ideological larpers. What's your take on that?

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subrosa wrote (edited )

Most of the contact I had with other members was via email, as I lived an hour away from the smaller of the two 'local groups' in the small country I live in. Maybe one or two people I met were active and enthusiastic about the whole thing. The discussions that weren't how do we get new members revolved around relations to the GLAMROC (German Language something something committee), finances and the organizing of some big meet-up in Hamburg (iirc).

I can't be too harsh on them for the strong focus on growth, there really weren't too many people involved. I couldn't afford a trip to Germany, and I didn't see any reason to join the chit-chat sessions, so eventually I settled for paying my 3 buck a month fee and occasionally bothering people about the One Big Union, hoping to eventually see some growth. So that the actual fun can begin.

All this caused me to question the whole approach. People weren't interested in joining a union. Most seemed happy enough with how it is, and I never managed to talk anyone out of that. Woulda been a good time to get into anarchy.

My kind of 'change from the inside' wouldn't fit the program, so all that was left to do was leave. My ideas about 'organizing' have changed drastically over the years. I have no interest in negotiating wages, nor in dual power approaches, nor in attempting to out-organize capitalist firms with democratic committees... or whatever else syndies think they do. If there really is any use in the real world organizing vs ideological larping juxtaposition dichotomy, I'd probably put the IWW in the latter category. It might be a good place to make friends though.

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