Anarchy Works.pdf - Infoshop.org

decisions
Anarchy Works
thought-out, idealized form of decision-making complex enough to
seem foreign even to many participants.
An anti-authoritarian group may use some form of consensus,
or of majoritarian voting. Large groups may find voting quicker and
more efficient, but it can also silence a minority. Perhaps the most
important part of any decision-making process is the discussion
that happens before the decision; voting does not diminish the
importance of methods that allow everyone to communicate and
arrive at good inclusive decisions. Many autonomous vUlages in
Oaxaca ultimately used voting to make decisions, and they provided
an inspiring example of self--organization to radicals who otherwise
abhor voting. Though a group's structure doubtlessly influences its
culture and outcomes, the formality of voting may be an acceptable
expedient if all the discussion that takes place before it is steeped in a
spirit of solidarity and cooperation.
In a self-organizing society, not everyone will participate equally
in meetings or other formal spaces. A decision-making body can
eventually become dominated by certain people, and the assembly
itself can become a bureaucratic institution with coercive powers.
For this reason, it may be necessary to develop decentralized and
overlapping forms of organization and deciSion-making, and to
preserve space for spontaneous organization to occur outside of
all pre-existing structures. If there is only one structure in which
all decisions are made, an internal culture can develop that is not
inclusive to everyone in the society; then experienced insiders
can rise to positions of leadership, and human activity external
to the structure can be delegitimized. Soon enough, you have a
government. The kibbutzim and APPO both evidence the creeping
development of bureaucracy and specialization.
But if there are multiple decision-making structures for
different spheres of life, and if they can arise or fade out according
to need, none of them can monopolize authority. In this regard,
power needs to stay in the streets, in the homes, in the hands of the
people who exercise it, in the meeting of people who come together
to solve problems.
Recommended Reading
Gaston Leva!, Collectives in the Spanish Revolution, London: Freedom Press, 1975
(translated from the French by Vernon Richards).
Melford E. Spiro, Kibbutz: Venture in Utopia, New York: Schocken Books, 1963.
Peter Gelderloos, Consensus: A New Handbook for Grassroots Sodal, Political, and
Environmental Groups, Tucson: See Sharp Press, 2006.
Natasha Gordon and Paul Chatterton, Taking Back Control: A}ourney through
Argentina's Popular Uprising, Leeds (UK): University of Leeds, 2004.
Marianne Maeckelbergh, The will of the Many: How the Alterglobalisation
Movement is Changing the Face of Democracy, London: Pluto Press, 2009.
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