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[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. ]
Anarchist Black Cross Earth First! Food Not Bombs All are based upon strong anarchist principles, a main component being direct action, in terms of either providing for/addressing a very specific need or creating visible protest of current societal problems. It is impossible to know how many chapters/collectives of any of these groups are active throughout the world, let alone have existed. Numbers will vary based upon access to first-hand accounts, duration of the group's existence, definition of a group itself, and so forth. In fact, all that can be said about existing groups is that they must at least take to heart the general values of the group/movement, as a concept. By identifying as a Food Not Bombs group or an Earth First! collective, people are defining their own involvement and organizational mission – much like Mead's “I” is what determines which “me” a group will collectively show at any given moment. Table 7. Radical Social Movement Organizations (RSMOs) RSMO Characteristics Anti-Racist Action Critical Mass Earth First! Food Not Bombs 1. Internal Structure Nonhierarchical leadership Yes No official leadership or structure Participatory democratic organization Popular vote for routes Yes Yes Consensus Consensus Egalitarian Yes More or less Yes Yes “Membership” based upon involvement Support indigenous leadership 2. Ideology Radical agenda Emphasis on structural change Flexible ideology Yes Yes; no “membership” All-local No official leadership Yes Yes All-local All-local Yes Yes [ Williams 73 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]
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Sociology of the Anarchists Analysi
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Index of Tables Table 1. Social Mov
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A NOTE ON SCHOLARSHIP Revolutions a
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INTRODUCTION We make the world sign
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RESEARCH ISSUES The power to think
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The increased focus upon anarchism
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camps of both the conflict and orde
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See the Models appendix for more on
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type of authority (particularly whe
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with much of this thinking, particu
Page 21 and 22: International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Page 23 and 24: a non-coercive consensus can actual
Page 25 and 26: develop more empathy for them (and
Page 27 and 28: they could get it for free? Of cour
Page 29 and 30: CrimethInc 29 , and interacted more
Page 31 and 32: domestic workers. Of course, anarch
Page 33 and 34: of the song, however. It is a sort
Page 35 and 36: VALUES Which side are you on? - Ata
Page 37 and 38: members are rotated overtime to dis
Page 39 and 40: ACADEMIA'S ANARCHISTIC “WANNABES
Page 41 and 42: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS When spiders unite
Page 43 and 44: Missing, again, is any discussion o
Page 45 and 46: Chomsky quotes Octave Mirbeau: “a
Page 47 and 48: information exchange. The Independe
Page 49 and 50: components of social movements incl
Page 51 and 52: actions (opposing police brutality,
Page 53 and 54: Individual anarchists also have qui
Page 55 and 56: meetings and congregate, as well as
Page 57 and 58: Labor Movement and New Social Movem
Page 59 and 60: anarchism”. Western US anarchists
Page 61 and 62: ● Map successive additions of IMC
Page 63 and 64: A 2002 user survey of the popular w
Page 65 and 66: organizations. This differs from re
Page 67 and 68: auspice of the United States govern
Page 69 and 70: and hierarchical authority structur
Page 71: hierarchy of positions.” 6. Incen
Page 75 and 76: Started Minneapolis, MN 1987 Slogan
Page 77 and 78: Critical Mass's only real credo is
Page 79 and 80: actions, cut up thousands of potato
Page 81 and 82: Michigan for example) might skew th
Page 83 and 84: Since many anarchists were engaged
Page 85 and 86: commitment does not conflict with f
Page 87 and 88: each IMCs webpage to “about” pa
Page 89 and 90: A look at the December 1999 archive
Page 91 and 92: Further, the focus upon anarchists
Page 93 and 94: Section Chief of the FBI stated tha
Page 95 and 96: TEACHING Everywhere not only educat
Page 97 and 98: my own attitudes that we should not
Page 99 and 100: The methods elaborated by McKeachie
Page 101 and 102: I'd be happy to do the same for oth
Page 103 and 104: The main points I would like the st
Page 105 and 106: Amster 2002 Carswell 2001 - clamor
Page 107 and 108: * Atkinson, Ian. 2001. “May Day 2
Page 109 and 110: * Boyle, Michael P., Michael R. McC
Page 111 and 112: * Corbridge, Stuart. 2003. “Count
Page 113 and 114: Ehrlich, Howard. 2002. “On the Wa
Page 115 and 116: * Gordon, Linda. 2002. “Social Mo
Page 117 and 118: * Johnson, Ana Gutierrez and Willia
Page 119 and 120: Social Movements, Conflicts and Cha
Page 121 and 122: Quarterly, 83 (3), September: 726-7
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* Przeworski, Adam. 2003. “Freedo
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* Shantz, Jeffrey. 2002. “Judi Ba
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* Thies, Clifford F. 2000. “The S
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Wood, Lesley J. 2004. “Bridging t
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APPENDIX: GLOSSARY What does anarch
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Sexuality: thought, identity, and a
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Compatibility model: anarchism inte
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Socialist model: anarchism has trad
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Index will be too huge and unwieldy
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