mockingjanthony

mockingjanthony OP wrote

i think we can do both. labels are important because historical-strategic-analysis and "tradition" for lack of a better word, are what inform our mutual aid and direct democracy. without analysis mutual aid and direct democracy can just as well be part of a reactionary movement as a progressive, liberal or revolutionary one. fascists do mutual aid too, and im sure some of them practice direct democracy sometimes. corporate board rooms do as well. without analysis defining what mutual aid and direct democracy in a broader revolutionary movement building, and historical context, its meaningless and can even be counter productive. there is a time and place for expressing and defending ideology, in the course of doing more practical work, every day when issues around how that work will be done, and who needs to be engaged in doing it, etc, ideology is always present, whether or not we engage it directly. for integrity i think its good to be up front about what we stand for and why. folks who judge us prematurely show their own weak solidarity, they are not the folks we should be working with anyway, they are likely themselves closet ideocentrics who were seeking to oppertunistically exploit our work anyway.

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mockingjanthony OP wrote

co-ops now, expropriation tomorrow, is my stance on this. co-ops are well and good but we cannot compete under capitalism, where capitalists form enterprises with a growth strategy, we need to form co-ops with an escelation strategy, we need to know how many years the co-op is forming, and then spend a couple years growing it, and then a couple years liquidating it into something else, keeping behind only the shell of whats needed to feed into the next level organizing.more or less leaving self sustaining movement infrastructures in our wake. we need printing, we need venues, we need housing, we need transportation and health care, can we form movement co-ops that provide these things to members, develop the personell and tools in our movement networks to help one another, while also sustaining broader resistance with dues and whatnot. we need to support one another economically, we need to develop communal networks, for support as well as resistance.

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mockingjanthony OP wrote

dunno. i didn't have anything specific in mind tbh. i just want to build a print shop, and encourage more folks to start them. whether or not its something the raddle community formally endorses or wants to collaborate on isn't as important, as those able and interested on the ground doing what they can i think. independent media is essential and powerful. giving the tools of the media to the poor especially, the homeless who don't have reliable internet access in many places, people in prisons, refugees, those living without electricity or internet infrastructure. the poorest of the poor in the world.

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mockingjanthony OP wrote (edited )

crowdfunding, accepting donations at the point of distribution, having a pay-arm of the print shop to fund the movement side(without having the pay services take over), membership dues, fundraising events and/or campaigns, outside enterprises that pay in.

i think organizational membership might be a cool sustainance plan, never atually tried it out, but want to some day. need to find like 3 or 4 other groups, that have funding, and need printing, and form a kind of co-op, where those groups are the members and govern the co-op together for shared printing needs. if they are activist groups this could also open the door for funding a drop in community space, a shared movement newsletter for the local community etc.

in smaller towns and rural areas like here in maine, it might require partnering with less-then-radical groups, like mainstream non profits, community organizations, third parties, liberal activists, etc. but its the most sustainable framework i can think of for getting these essential movement infrastructures back together, even if some day down the line, we need to organize an aggressive takover and kick the liberals and whatnot out of the co-op.

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mockingjanthony OP wrote

i know about the printing side of things. and can help get more local options set up. do you have any comrades in your area who might be into partnering? we can figure out distance collaboration, but im trying to move away from this personally, i just want to encourage more folks to do this stuff online, but then take it into the streets. i think we can help eachother best by sharing information and maybe crowdfunding together.

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mockingjanthony OP wrote

zines, not much. nothing consistent. sold a handful of sets of zines, like did an eco zine collection, and an antiracist zine collection. only sold a few though. i really dont have the skills or interest in marketting and sales, but know its important. im more into the production and coordinating distribution efforts on the street level. its all important though.

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mockingjanthony OP wrote

yeah, i don't mean to be exclusive for sure. i just know my situation and recent history of the movement. since 9/11 the movement has kind of internalized, there was an uptick in infoshops and indemedia centers, but then with the explosion of social media and housing crisis, access to spaces became kind of secondary and more difficult then say just forming an online group. so we lost a lot of infoshops and ground level indemedia here. not sure what its like elsewhere. i trust this needs to grow everywhere, the US has virtually nothing though, nothing consistent except in a few cities.

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