small town anarchists

[Everyday Anarchy]

I live in a small midwest town that is nowhere near any known radical/anarchist organizations. In my town, I only know of 4 ( <_< ) anarchists, all of which are close friends of mine.

We really want to get active and reach out to people but we&#39;re not sure exactly how we can. We&#39;re just four 16 year olds in a small town. We feel helpless around here. We&#39;re worried that our age will cause others not to take us seriously and also us being so few makes a lot of things impossible for us.


If anybody has been in a similar situation and can offer advice, please do&#33; Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[RedStaredRevolution]

if you dont want your age to be a problem, mabye you could write something that would apply to the people of your town but write it anynmously. then secretly distribute it at cafe&#39;s, newspaper stands, etc. you coulden&#39;t get in trouble for it because no one would know who you were and no one would know how old you were.

[Organic Revolution]

Do you mind if I ask what you are already doing? are there any homeless in your town that you could do FNB for? How about a really really free market? mobile book distributor? You could soap box, that works occasionally. What do you want your actions to look like? do you want a youth and student movement?

[Everyday Anarchy]

We&#39;re currently not doing anything, but in the past we have organized (non-political) games of Capture the Flag that attracted 100+ townspeople and created an atmosphere of community, fun, and a bit of rebellion when the park district tried to stop it. Due to the weather, we&#39;ve since stopped that.


A small pamphlet or newsletter would be nice, and we&#39;ll definitely give it a shot when we have time (which is almost always).


Our town is too small for the kind of homelessness that you see in big cities. I believe there are maybe one or two people with "no homes" but who stay at other people&#39;s homes often enough to stay off the streets. However, there is quite a bit of poverty in some corners of the town. (Unfortunately, the residents of the poorest areas are also the number one customers at the town bars [and as a result, the police station].)


We don&#39;t necessarily want our group to be exclusively youth, but being started by youths will probably lead to that. We&#39;re wanting to shoot for a fun, exciting, and communal atmosphere-- not depressing or obnoxious.

[Organic Revolution]

Originally posted by Everyday [email protected] 13, 2007 08:40 pm
We&#39;re currently doing anything, but in the past we have organized (non-political) games of Capture the Flag that attracted 100+ townspeople and created an atmosphere of community, fun, and a bit of rebellion when the park district tried to stop it. Due to the weather, we&#39;ve since stopped that.


A small pamphlet or newsletter would be nice, and we&#39;ll definitely give it a shot when we have time (which is almost always).


Our town is too small for the kind of homelessness that you see in big cities. I believe there are maybe one or two people with "no homes" but who stay at other people&#39;s homes often enough to stay off the streets. However, there is quite a bit of poverty in some corners of the town. (Unfortunately, the residents of the poorest areas are also the number one customers at the town bars [and as a result, the police station].)


We don&#39;t necessarily want our group to be exclusively youth, but being started by youths will probably lead to that. We&#39;re wanting to shoot for a fun, exciting, and communal atmosphere-- not depressing or obnoxious.
Well, since you live in Illinois (looked at your intro thread) you could probably organize massive snow ball fights, which I used to do in Chicago. I&#39;ll post more ideas later.

[Everyday Anarchy]

Originally posted by Organic Revolution+November 13, 2007 08:44 pm--> (Organic Revolution @ November 13, 2007 08:44 pm)
Everyday [email protected] 13, 2007 08:40 pm
We&#39;re currently doing anything, but in the past we have organized (non-political) games of Capture the Flag that attracted 100+ townspeople and created an atmosphere of community, fun, and a bit of rebellion when the park district tried to stop it. Due to the weather, we&#39;ve since stopped that.


A small pamphlet or newsletter would be nice, and we&#39;ll definitely give it a shot when we have time (which is almost always).


Our town is too small for the kind of homelessness that you see in big cities. I believe there are maybe one or two people with "no homes" but who stay at other people&#39;s homes often enough to stay off the streets. However, there is quite a bit of poverty in some corners of the town. (Unfortunately, the residents of the poorest areas are also the number one customers at the town bars [and as a result, the police station].)


We don&#39;t necessarily want our group to be exclusively youth, but being started by youths will probably lead to that. We&#39;re wanting to shoot for a fun, exciting, and communal atmosphere-- not depressing or obnoxious.
Well, since you live in Illinois (looked at your intro thread) you could probably organize massive snow ball fights, which I used to do in Chicago. I&#39;ll post more ideas later. [/b]
Funny that you suggest that. We&#39;re actually planning that since everybody keeps begging for Capture the Flag or something to keep them busy. :lol:

Did you ever use your playful events to encourage anarchist tendencies?

[YSR]

Are you in the vicinity of any cities that might have an anarchist population? One of my best experiences when I was still a small town anarchist was to meet other anarchists and share with them.

[Organic Revolution]

Originally posted by Everyday Anarchy+November 13, 2007 09:26 pm--> (Everyday Anarchy @ November 13, 2007 09:26 pm)
Originally posted by Organic [email protected] 13, 2007 08:44 pm

Everyday [email protected] 13, 2007 08:40 pm
We&#39;re currently doing anything, but in the past we have organized (non-political) games of Capture the Flag that attracted 100+ townspeople and created an atmosphere of community, fun, and a bit of rebellion when the park district tried to stop it. Due to the weather, we&#39;ve since stopped that.


A small pamphlet or newsletter would be nice, and we&#39;ll definitely give it a shot when we have time (which is almost always).


Our town is too small for the kind of homelessness that you see in big cities. I believe there are maybe one or two people with "no homes" but who stay at other people&#39;s homes often enough to stay off the streets. However, there is quite a bit of poverty in some corners of the town. (Unfortunately, the residents of the poorest areas are also the number one customers at the town bars [and as a result, the police station].)


We don&#39;t necessarily want our group to be exclusively youth, but being started by youths will probably lead to that. We&#39;re wanting to shoot for a fun, exciting, and communal atmosphere-- not depressing or obnoxious.
Well, since you live in Illinois (looked at your intro thread) you could probably organize massive snow ball fights, which I used to do in Chicago. I&#39;ll post more ideas later.
Funny that you suggest that. We&#39;re actually planning that since everybody keeps begging for Capture the Flag or something to keep them busy. :lol:

Did you ever use your playful events to encourage anarchist tendencies? [/b]
For sure, games organized autonomously, and freely empower people to organize in daily life. shit, while your with your team mates just talk to them about it.

[which doctor]

I suggest you not make it an "anarchist" group, but instead focus on issues that people (workers, students, whoever) in your community find interesting. Focus on smaller issues and relate them to the larger picture.

[Revolucija]

I suggest you to make a local anarchist group and do some propaganda, later you can organize a local anarcho-syndicate.

The best way of making an anarchist group in your city is by organizing speeches and meetings with some topics like "revolutionary activism" or "what is anarchism" and more and more people will join some informal group that later can be a strong anarchist local group.

[obsolete discourse]

everyday anarchy,

I&#39;ve been involved in anarchist circles for about a decade and I think it&#39;s best to avoid political organizations for as long as one can. Maybe you and your friends should just meet other people who want to read the same things as you or like similar past-times, and then you and your friends could collectively do whatever. I don&#39;t think an anarchist-specific organization will help you make more anarchist friends in a small town, nor really contribute to the spontaneous self-organized generalization of revolt. I would suggest maybe just actively rebelling with your friends and learning about eachother and yalls ideas and not wasting your youth on politics or political organizations.

[Exovedate]

Coming from a small town, I have found that there usually is not a lot of political actions that one can do as anarchist.
My theory is that this is because small towns usually have a very strong sense of commmunity. In the town I came from (population of maybe 500 people) you know everyone in town by name, and so you watch out for people. The older folks in my town used to take walks or drives in the evening in order to keep an eye on children who were playing, that kind of thing. Just contrast this with the city where many people don&#39;t even know the names of their next door neighbours.
Many folks in my home town may have voted for the Conservative Party, but they were still more left wing than most communists I know, at least in terms of action (although not necessarily theory). Most communists I know just sit around and talk about revolution, but I don&#39;t see them taking any action whatsoever. In small towns people help each other and share. If you are driving into town (from the countryside) and see someone with their car stuck in the snow or mud, you just automatically stop and help them get out. If your lownmower breaks down, you call you friend and they bring theirs over for you.
In my opinion small-towners are far more actively leftwing* than most city dwellers, even if they do not realize it. The problem is when you try to tell them about anarchism all they can think about is bombs and chaos.
As for actions one can take in a small town, just try activities/actions that build community, and through these activities, slowly integrate the idea of anarchism.
One activity I think is great for small towns is a community mural. Our town recently build a new recreation centre, and a friend of mine who is very artistic suggested we paint a mural on the side. What we did was draw the basic outline and assign each colour of paint a number (ex green = 1, blue = 2, etc.). We then had painting supplies on hand and anyone who felt so inclined could stop by and paint part of the mural. It went great and lots of people had fun and felt like they contributed to the community.
Another great idea is to start a music festival. In one of the small towns near my home town we have a yearly music festival where local people get together to form bands/musical groups and then play at scheduled times during a couple evenings of one week. There is always a huge turnout and the money raised goes towards community projects (such as the new recreational centre). I am not sure how one could work anarchism into these two activities, but I am sure there is a way.

EDIT: * when I say leftwing I mean in the sense that they are willing to help each other and share resources with no monetary benefit for them.

[rebelworker]

Im not sure how big your town is, I also come from a village, but try to find out if their are any older folks already working on things. Mabey the local labour council is doing something interesting, possibly their is a peace group, or some kind of anti racist initiative.

I dont want to discourage your from organising your own things, but its good to learn from people with experience and find out what has been tried before you. In a small town your first impression may be a big deal, so dont be afraid to do alot of listening and learning before you step on too many toes...

Having said that, fins a short text or pmphelet on current affairs you find intereting and make some copies and lave them around town. Dont forget to leave a contact info(if the text isnt going to get you into lots of trouble) so folks who want to learn more or found it interesting can get in touch. You might want to start with something somewhat anonymous, like an email adress or non descript post box so you dont attract the wrong kind of attention.

Good luck&#33;

[Devrim]

I think that the first thing that you should do is get in touch with the anarchist organisations in North America, and open discussions with them.

As far as I know there are two, NEFAC, and the WSA. I personally don&#39;t have much sympathy with either.

The poster above has a link to NEFAC in his signature. I am sure if you PMed him he could put you in touch with the WSA too.

Devrim

[Lamanov]

Obviously you got enough info here. In any case, it wouldn&#39;t be bad if you, at least while you&#39;re young enough to believe that you wouldn&#39;t be taken seriously yet, to use the time you have to studdy theory and history and elaborate your positions further. Of course, the best ground for action would be schools you go to, amongst your "peers", people of the similar age.

In couple of years you&#39;ll have a local group theoretically developed and with connections within the community with possibility of growth. Then you can think about action.

Also, it&#39;s not a bad idea to contact linked anarchist organizations, but don&#39;t let them try to "steer" you. You yourselves would know what would be the best and most creative way for you to develop your own group.

[Axel1917]

There is not much you can do in a small town based on my experience. It is hard to find people interested in left wing ideas, and I essentially ended up studying theory for the most part. I tried distributing leaflets and the like, but that did not yield any results.

I lived relatively close to the Twin Cities in that small city of 33,000 people, and I did get in touch with comrades there. I realized that there were no prospects for revolutionary work in a small city (the only things that ever happened were some small scale anti-war protests put on by some anarchists, and they ended up fizzling out after some time.), so I saved up some money and moved to the Twin Cities.

I would start saving some money now so you can move to a major city when you are older. You are not going to find much in a small city. Study and save so you are ready to get active when you do end up making a move to a large city in the future.

[MarxSchmarx]

Our town is too small for the kind of homelessness that you see in big cities. I believe there are maybe one or two people with "no homes" but who stay at other people&#39;s homes often enough to stay off the streets. However, there is quite a bit of poverty in some corners of the town. (Unfortunately, the residents of the poorest areas are also the number one customers at the town bars [and as a result, the police station].)


You don&#39;t have to be homeless to take advantage of FNB. Obviously there are people who are hungry even if they have a roof over their head. And the idea of free food made available through surplus, even for the comfortable or for the kids, can be radicalizing. You basically show people that if people are willing to take the initiative they can mess with the established conventions of having to pay for a basic necessity of life.

[Taboo Tongue]

I live in a backwards part of the US in a town of 33,000. I started a group with 3 others, and while we are only up to 9 after a year of off and on activity; we have a few outside supporters, and we are becoming increasingly active, most importantly we are getting our feet wet with practice.
I suggest you do it. If you guys want to be "anarchist" that&#39;s up to you guys but, we are not &#39;communist&#39; nor &#39;anarchist&#39; but anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-racist, internationalist, and secularist.

If you want to know what has&#092;has not worked for us email us at StudentFront(a)gmail.com

[ahab]

being a small town anarchist is probably the best way to go. I grew up in a small town in southern oregon and it was a lot of fun lol. You can get away with so much more in small towns, not to mention you can introduce ideology to local kids that probably otherwise would have no idea what an anarchist or a communist is. being in a small town you probably know that everyone knows eachother, which is a good thing. Organize the youth, our motto in oregon was &#39;if the kids are united, they will never be divided.&#39; Plus learning how to make bombs and learning how to proficiently use guns is a lot easier too. have fun while you can comrade&#33;

[abbielives!]

food not bombs is easy and nonthreatening ( i know how close-minded a small town can be)