Sociology of the Anarchists - Gozips.uakron.edu - The University of ...

[approach organizations are greater than the sum of their parts—not organizations are
merely collections of individuals]
Anarchistic North American Organizations
Finally, we look at the geographic dispersion of predominantly American-flavored
anarchist organization concepts that have spread throughout the world, or what cynical
might call “franchise anarchism”. I have selected four oft-found organizations, none of
which are explicitly anarchist, yet owe an undeniably huge debt to anarchism: Anti-Racist
Action (ARA), Critical Mass 67 , Earth First! (EF!), and Food Not Bombs (FNB). There are
recent books about two of these groups that are very good: “Critical Mass”, Carlsson
(2002) and “Food Not Bombs”, Butler & McHenry (2000). McGowan (2003) wrote a
good article on ARA 68 ; see Knutter (1995) for a European precursor to ARA (the
“autonomen”). The best primary source for info on Earth First! is their magazine of the
same name, although the organization has also had substantial academic study directed at
it, particularly in the 1990s (CITE ALL).
Other examples of franchise activism/anarchism are the ACT-UP!, Anarchist Black Cross
(ABC), Animal Liberation Front (ALF), CopWatch, Earth Liberation Front (ELF),
Homes Not Jails, Independent Media Center (IMC; discussed in an upcoming section
called “Indymedia”), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and Reclaim the Streets.
[A FUTURE PAPER HERE??] ALF and ELF are unique franchise activist
organizations, being completely underground. The only above-ground organization to
these groups is the public mouthpieces and mediums that “actions” are reported through.
There is no centralized authority that determines whom is an official
collective/chapter/event, but there are principles that are generally accepted for all.
Although they are autonomous of each other, many interact and share information, ideas,
and resources with each other, and provide solidarity in campaigns. Regional, national,
and sometimes international gatherings of group members helps to spread ideas and
sometimes leads to the creation of more formal links, like networks and federations.
Table 6. “Power fists” in the logos of anarchist and anarchistic organizations
67 As will be explained below, Critical Mass is actually more of an “event” than an “organization”. This
distinction is important, and is interesting from a sociological view.
68 Wong (1994) also points to Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin's criticism of white anarchists (alluding to ARA?)
for going after “obvious” (but marginal) racists like the Klan and neo-Nazis, but overlooking the more
common, systemic (but perhaps less obvious) racism of society (such as the prison system, schools,
courts, police, the economic system, etc).
[ Williams 72 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]