SCAO Field Guide to Organizing
Printable Version can be found here:
Introduction
Very little has changed over the past hundred years for anarchists. We still find ourselves under siege by interlocking systems of oppression. Systems such as Capitalism, White Supremacy, Theocracy, Patriarchy, Ableism, and so much more strip oppressed communities across the so-called “United States” of their ability to determine their destiny. Where we are located, on stolen land that belonged to the Karankawa-Kadla, Akikosa, and other indigenous peoples, we find social struggles everywhere.
To this end, we must go to the people, the downtrodden, our loved ones, and our communities. We are tasked with planting the seeds of solidarity, mutual aid, and revolutionary ideas. We are tasked to develop relationships and resources for a wide range of resistance to build liberation. This is a basic guide for anarchists who want to organize in the so-called “Greater Houston Area” and perhaps beyond. Here, we’re building a movement in support of the people.
A movement is an ecosystem of groups, collectives, and organizations, in this case, we’re building a movement so that everyone can determine their futures. In SCAO we’re aiming to build a hub for like-minded radicals to come together, and build liberatory projects that are in line with anarchist/liberatory principles.
“Dare to struggle, Dare to win! All Power to the People!”
Some Golden Rules for OpSec:
1) Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in front of a cop, fascist, judge, & more.
2) Don’t do anything illegal with strangers off the internet.
3) Don’t ever turn your friends over to your enemies
What is Organizing?
Organizing is getting everyday people together to work together for a shared goal of liberation from oppressive structures.
This means building social relationships and doing tangible action that encourages people to organize themselves. This is a skill that anyone can do, which is vital since we aim to build power from below.
On building social relationships:
Not everyone who identifies as a Marxist, Anarchist, or what-have-you is interested or willing to commit themselves to action. However, there is still a very big pool of people that you can draw from, even in places you wouldn’t normally expect. Here are some tips and strategies to help you build yourself up as an organizer.
Bottom-Up Organizing:
We emphasize bottom-up organizing, not just because it’s in line with our principles, but also because there are some advantages to this method of organizing.
More Delegation: Everyone can help join in and help out with the tasks of organizing.
More Resilient: If someone is facing repression, illness, or burnout, they can be assisted and their responsibilities can be delegated.
More accountability: More people have a say in the decision-making process, so no one is left out.
Can you think of any other advantages?
Democratization
This feeds into our model of bottom-up organizing, but generally, we wish to aim to build up and spread our collective knowledge so that more people can take on organizing. Organizing shouldn’t just belong to a select group of people, instead, the ability to organize our communities is important for everyone to have so that we can determine our futures.
We can do this through skillshares. If you have a skill, you should aim to teach it to other people so that any potential power imbalances can be removed. Gatekeeping knowledge ends up hindering our ability to organize well.
Democratizing our skills is a viable strategy so that cadres of laborers, soldiers, organizers, and more arise from our communities, which will give birth to a self-sustaining community that is resilient against repression.
Self Perpetuation
Being able to continue our work, even when disaster strikes, is necessary so that the labor of organizing our communities isn’t gatekept or controlled by a party, or in most cases, a small informal group. We wish to distribute our skills so that we can create more radicals who have skillsets that overlap.
However, this all takes time. Sharing skills is time-intensive, especially when building competence. But over time, as more and more people learn and teach each other, we can exponentially create more radicals that can help fill the gaps and carry on the struggle, to build a better world.
Organizing requires being social and learning about your surroundings, you may want to take some time to understand the social and political landscape of the area you’re trying to organize in, as this will help you save much-needed time instead of wasting it on ill-fated projects.
*The worst thing someone can say is no. Facing rejection may hurt, but ultimately that’s a part of life. You still need to take chances on people, even if they aren’t obvious radicals, or are even versed in political knowledge. It can be awkward, but you might miss out on some valuable comrades if you don’t take that chance.
*Some radicals are organized & are busy doing their own thing, but this doesn’t mean that they aren’t interested or aren’t willing to join your project. Movements aren’t controlled by one party or organization and they shouldn’t be. Having allies is good sometimes. It means that you might be able to utilize folks in coalitions in certain situations.
*Collaboration can be a chance to grow your local radical spaces. Usually, when you’re transparent about who you are and what you’re doing, other organs might be willing to participate or collaborate in direct action. So long as you’re doing good work.
*Many supposed radicals are comfy where they are in their scene & aren’t interested in growing the movement or participating in actions. Keep this in mind when you encounter folks in punk, university, or other nominally radical spaces.
* Overtime & with a lot of goodwill and work, potentially other organizations may wish to merge, form a union, or forge an alliance. Not guaranteed as a lot of radicals engage in organizing as if they were running competing businesses.
Some organizations one needs to be aware of in so-called “Houston”:
*Party of Socialism & Liberation: Entryism, Stalinism, Can’t go to a march without finding them. Nationally has numerous abuse/SA allegations. As well as platforming transphobes.
*Socialist Alternative: Trotskyists, Entryism, Newspapers, really really love attempting to co-opt actions.
*Democratic Socialists of America: Relatively okay. Rather reformist, has a lot of presence in union spaces.
*Houston United Front Against Fascism: Very hierarchical, top-down, and led by old white folks.
*Food Not Bombs HTX: Abuse allegations swept underneath rug, dubious attempts at accountability. Very de-centralized and loosely organized.
*Industrial Workers of the World (IWW): Federally recognized union, rather solid. Houston General Membership Branch shares overlap with SCAO.
*Socialist Rifle Association: Houston chapter occasionally has activity but is just a gun club.
*Houston Abolitionist Collective: Solid group of abolitionists, more electoral-minded though.
Getting social:
Many people are already fighting capitalism and alienation. Look out for marginalized people in your community or your city. There are a million starting points dependent on local culture/economy/population and other factors. Here are some suggestions to help you get started:
* Think about financially disadvantaged people: unemployed/work insecure/ immigrants/felons/trans folk/etc.
Many people are dissatisfied with the system & nurturing their grievances is a good method of trust-building which can then lead to radicalization. Look to your local punk scene, queer community, or some other local progressive space. Punk scenes especially you need to consider, while a lot of folks claim to be anarchists, libertarians, or what have you, a lot of the time it’s in name only, and rarely do folks engage in direct action. It’s still a good place to encounter budding radicals though, considering how a lot of different spaces cater to young folks.
Some other places that are good places to talk to people are activist circles, your neighbors, classes, workplaces, religious gatherings, and just really any social space. Find out what common struggles people have, and if they’re willing to act on it. Perhaps you’d find that by omitting certain buzz/trigger words, people are more receptive to our ideas than you’d think.
You’re going to encounter pitfalls & a fair bit of awkwardness when first diving into a community you’re not already connected to. These tough conversations & lessons are a fundamental part of learning. Be prepared for things to go wrong, and expect some tabling events to be a bust. Improvisation, adaptation, and a little bit of grit go a long way.
While it is important not to exceed one’s limit, having a large base of people you know at work, school, or anywhere you normally are day to day is important if you wish to optimize your chances of encountering the right people. Consider casting a large net.
How you present yourself & your ideas are a key part of how accepted your presence can be in many communities. Many marginalized people have already been harassed by religious, political, and non-profits, let alone the police. Being approachable, and genuine is a make-or-break point. No pressure.
There is no need to debate strangers. Some people are just looking to argue. Look to break the conversation as soon as possible. However, by having conversations with people, you will learn how to articulate ideas more effectively, but you will fail before you succeed.
You can be as well read on anarchism or Marxism as you want. However, if that doesn’t translate to your organizing or daily life what’s the point? Similarly, take the time to learn more about the ideas you present, being competent and being able to come to anarchist/radical conclusions is necessary.
Lots of us are stepping outside of our comfort zones and learning new skills. It’s normal to feel intimidated, or a bit anxious. Don’t be afraid to take on tasks, strike up conversations, or go into actions! These are all learning opportunities. To mitigate disaster, consistent communication, delegating tasks, recognizing people’s skill sets, and having a plan of action are all ways to mitigate risk.
Another consideration is consistency/momentum. Consistency is needed to keep a campaign moving. For example, setting a recurring date makes it so that everyone can plan to be at an event, rather than some random date.
Every campaign or struggle has momentum. Momentum is needed to motivate people towards action. The longer one waits, the less momentum the campaign has. Strike while the iron is hot! Be careful not to burn yourself out by constantly pushing forward things. This is where self-care and delegation come in.
Self-care is Revolutionary.
Remember, you can’t do everything all by yourself. Burnout is real, hard to spot, and very common. Remind yourself to check in, and delegate tasks. Perhaps ask someone to send an announcement on social media, or ask for help while planning for distro. Just let them know to contact you with questions.
Be sure to practice boundaries and be able to say no. Be mindful not to bite off more than you can chew.
It’s okay to ask for help, and it’s okay to ask questions. Creating a non-judgemental space is vital for teaching people skills.
Assess within yourself if you truly have the capacity, and set real boundaries. Plan with other people so that important stuff does not fall through.
Liberals talk a lot about “self-care”, and push a brand of individualism that ends up harming other people. Capitalism encourages the individualization of problems and pushes the most awful stuff you’ve seen to your social media feed. If we wish to call ourselves radicals, we must learn to take care of ourselves and our friends. We have to create relationships that are truly mutual.
*Communication is key. Please let other people know what you’re going through and rely on your community. Holding on to feelings can make them fester into bitterness and resentment. Communicate your feelings not only for your own sake but for the sake of your comrades.
*Fitness & Well-being: Society conceptualizes physical fitness as toxic, which is why creating a non-judgemental space is necessary. You don’t have a perfect understanding of what other people are going through, so reserve the criticism. Go on a hike with your comrades, cook for each other, spar with each other. We can all take steps to dispel toxic mindsets.
*Therapy is expensive, psych hospitals are prisons. We are all very anxious and traumatized in one shape or form. Creating reliable networks of peers willing to share their emotions, their struggles, with each other is a key part of managing the trauma relating to organizing, personal lives, and more.
*Resist the urge to call the police or authorities on someone going through a mental health crisis. It can very well save their life.
*Financial well-being, we’re all going through it economically, but by banding together and sharing our resources, we can pull through. Consider creating a collective emergency fund, or a pool to pay for gas money.
* Figure out housing for your housing-insecure friends. Letting folks crash on your couch or take the guest bedroom in your place is a good way to provide your friends with at least a safe place to sleep.
Having some preserved food essentials and re-distributing them is a great way to build those bonds as well, not only with your unhoused friends but your friends who might not have a lot to eat.
AEIOU: Not Just Vowels
pro-tip: Organizing is 70% listening, 20% asking questions, and 10% talking. If you think you’re not talking enough, you’re talking the right amount. If you think you’re talking the right amount, you’re probably talking too much.
A.E.I.O.U is an organizing framework that takes you through the steps for a successful campaign.
A – Agitate
E – Educate
I – Inoculate
O – Organize
U – Unity/Union
Agitation is stirring people up by bringing up issues that make them angry. Many issues frankly piss us off, but we usually overlook or ignore them. The job of the organizer is to bring these issues to the forefront and to validate anger. Ultimately, you’re tying their anger to systems of oppression and getting people to confront these larger systems.
Agitate
Agitation has two parts:
1) Asking questions you find someone’s issues.
2) Getting people to talk about their issues and building solidarity.
Leading questions are your friend! For example “Isn’t it bullshit that Fred (the landlord) is raising rent despite no improvements to the complex?”
Agitation is all about provoking people to think about their conditions. Validate people’s concerns! Showing solidarity and creating a space for people to vent will make them feel more comfortable and will build trust.
Be careful not to be patronizing. You’re not here to lecture someone, you’re here to build solidarity by connecting their issues to a larger struggle rather than something more individualistic.
Agitation by itself is useless and will be counterproductive if you don’t lead people to action. Venting is cool and all, but people need solutions! Being a doomer is counterproductive to an organizing campaign. After you’ve successfully brought these issues to the forefront, and people are looking for solutions, education comes next.
Education
Whereas agitation brings up the problem, education brings up the solution. In this instance, you are educating people on why collective action is the solution. This is where the 10% of talking comes in! Education has to be combined with agitation, if we’re just agitating, we’re not doing anyone any favors.
Again, open-ended questions are your friend here. “What if we all collectively organized together? What if we refused to pay rent? What if we met together to figure out a plan of action?”
Education is important to make people realize that collective action is not an abstract construct, but possible.
Inoculate
This is arguably one of the most important parts of the strategy. Here, you will inevitably encounter concerns about retaliation. Inoculation is needed to prepare people for repression.
Concerns are ultimately good. It means that people are critically thinking about taking action and already thinking about the consequences, both positive and negative. The more people are prepared for the reality of organizing, the more resilient the campaign will be.
A good part of inoculation is taking a small-risk action, like a potluck for your coworkers where you can discuss how shit your workplace is, where people will realize that they are not alone. It also builds legitimacy in your campaign!
Be sure to ask yourself some important questions such as: “What can we expect from organizing?”, “What potential blindspots do we have that might affect our efforts?”
This part of the conversation must happen as a group. Prepare for common counter-insurgency tactics such as “playing nice”, public forums, hiring union busters, peace police, etc.
How do we deal with fear? Continue agitating, The way to break through fear is to remind us of what is motivating us to fight. Anger always beats fear.
Inoculation is not optional. Inoculation keeps people from making stupid decisions. Make people aware of the threat that exists, and build a culture of discretion. For example, “What do you think will happen if the boss finds out about our campaign?”
The more you can prepare people for the worst-case scenarios, the more reliable and credible you will appear. Again, like agitation, it comes with the end goal of driving people to organize. Don’t doom about how the boss is powerful, build contingency plans. Ask “How do we prevent this campaign from being sabotaged/repressed/destroyed?”
Organize
Okay, so now we’re at the meat and potatoes of this framework. At this point, you’ve helped get people to the conclusion that collective action is not only possible but necessary. Hopefully, you have enough of a network of interested people to start organizing!
Start slow, start with socializing! Try doing a potluck, or a hangout that gets a bunch of interested people engaged, Bring up actively organizing at these socials! Use this opportunity to delegate tasks. Realize people’s skill sets and start dividing up tasks. Tasks such as making a flyer for an event, getting other organizations to show up, and organizing food and childcare.
Delegation will help you understand people’s commitments and their abilities. It is also a good way to get people involved! This will help to build people’s confidence in taking up, carrying out, and eventually deciding tasks of their own that further the campaign. Remember the end goal is to build power from below, to democratize the role of the organizer as much as possible.
Remember, it’s okay to ask for help. It’s also vital to understand your capacity.
In formulating a campaign, one of the most important things is to create a specific goal, with a vague timeline to keep you consistent, and benchmarks that will lead you to victory.
By doing this, you get a consistent temperature check of how the campaign is going. Every time you achieve a benchmark, you build confidence and also identify common issues that you can troubleshoot.
After an action or a social, it might be a good idea to get an idea of areas of improvement and to re-evaluate your benchmarks.
Mapping is a sound strategy to ensure where everyone is at. Whether it is a workplace, an apartment complex, or just a social group, it can be handy to draw up a nice little diagram.
For example, assigning people to a stoplight system is handy. Green is organizers/people who are on board with the campaign, yellow is someone who is undecided/neutral, and Red is opposition, both neutral and hostile.
The point of mapping is to first identify the position of other people in your organizing environment and then to try to move as many people from yellow to green. Hopefully, you can even move people who are potentially hostile to your organizing efforts to be neutral, if not actively undermine their influence.
Overall, the usage of these strategies and tactics is so that you can cohesively weave them together so that you can build unity in your organizing efforts, and build a resilient campaign that can’t be easily repressed.
Ultimately, our strategies and tactics are all highly contextual. There will never be a campaign in which everything goes to plan. You, the organizer, are going to encounter situations where you have to think on your feet and adjust your plans. Like with all skills, your performance will improve over time. We have to accept that there might not be a one-size-fits-all solution when organizing. The usage of strategies and tactics should be based on how well your enemy is prepared for them, and if you’re able to adapt quickly.
Union
At this point, you are acting as a cohesive unit that can make strategic decisions together, give feedback, and develop a concrete plan of action.
Remember to take loss in stride. Not every campaign is going to be successful. But that’s okay. Every campaign has lessons and ramifications that will lead to better campaigns in the future.
On being an “Organizer”
To create a truly horizontal and functional organization, our decision-making, goal-setting, initiative-taking, and action doing, need to be horizontal as well. A few individuals or worse, one individual, cannot be the main driver of a horizontal organization. It not only creates the prime conditions for power imbalances but is contradictory to our ideology. In hierarchical organizations, the leader gives commands that are obeyed, and people do not think for themselves. Ideally, the role of “organizer” in our movements, collectives, and organizations, should be abolished in favor of a collective responsibility and participation in which everyone is an organizer. Experience shows that the average supposed “mutual aid” or “horizontal” group offers little in the way of authentic consensus decision-making and lets lateral decisions happen under the guise of informality.
This is an important mindset to have when integrating people into collectives. To be an “organizer” is not a status but something you do. The most successful anarchist organizations are the ones that are most accessible in decision-making, skills, and handling of power.
Often, you’ll come across people who are in an organizing space for the first time. Your validation and support is important. You need to have an authentic, non-professional relationship with the people you organize with. We are all very anxious, the revolutionary action of the future is overcoming the social anxiety that we are conditioned to feel.
Ask people to do things outside of their comfort level, but don’t actively pressure them. Consent is important. Move them to take on responsibilities outside of their normal level of participation. Making mistakes is normal and learning from mistakes should be encouraged. Introducing people should be more than a brief acknowledgment at the door, it should go on to introduce people to the organization’s members, their interests, and projects.
But also, have self-respect. If someone is constantly ditching your events, and won’t respond to your messages, chasing them can be a waste of time. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. Be mindful of people’s conditions, and how much people can realistically participate, but it is important to realize that flakes make terrible friends much less comrades.
While information is typically best kept on a need-to-know basis, often it is hard to gauge that that is. You do NOT want to keep your group’s members in the dark about important information if it involves them. Often groups keep information centralized to a few members and this is the fastest way to create an informal hierarchy or what’s more commonly referred to as a power imbalance.
It is important to always be learning from others, even if you are incredibly well-read, are a long-time activist, or are generally experienced. If you want to understand the best ways to network with others, listening is essential. Be careful not to fall into anti-radical headspaces, if someone is presenting a radical or new idea, don’t shrug it off as impractical. This is the same attitude levied at anarchists by liberals & statists. This doesn’t mean embracing ideas that endanger the well-being of other people who do not consent or are actively harmful.
Always analyze yourself and your group for potential power imbalances, and act accordingly. Healthy mediation and conflict resolution processes and norms are essential. Make sure everyone has a voice and no one is obtaining too much informal power such as social capital. This can manifest in people making decisions more than others, forming cliques, external chat rooms, or a skill bottleneck.
A few words before we move on:
*Share your sources so that people can understand where you are coming from, and can participate in theoretical development.
*Encourage other members to read what you’ve read (a good way to get everyone on the same page, especially the creation of reading groups inside your organization).
*Show others how it’s done and take them through the processes
*Encourage people because you believe in them, and you know they can do it.
A Quick and Dirty Guide to Vetting
Vetting is one of the most important skills in organizing. Being able to effectively vet someone can save you from needless conflict and lets you know who you can actively trust.
It’s the first line of defense against malicious actors and serves as risk-reduction against people who might compromise the organization.
Every radical organization needs to have a vetting structure before accepting new members.
A typical vetting looks like this:
* Someone submits an application
* A person on the vetting committee reaches out to schedule an interview
* Interview happens
* Post-Interview vetting discussion
* 24-hour waiting period
Probationary protocol:
* Any immediate red flags?
* How do they act in person?
* How do they act in potentially stressful situations?
Vetting is a continual process!
As visited earlier in this pamphlet, a stoplight system, like mapping, is a handy tool to figure out if someone is a good fit for the organization or not. Having a good idea of red, yellow, and green flags is useful to determine how much of a good fit someone is for the organization.
Green flags are traits or pieces of information that can be beneficial for organizing.
Yellow flags are traits or pieces of information that are not necessarily beneficial to organizing but can be explained away/improved.
Red flags are traits or pieces of information that are harmful to organizing.
Green Flags:
* History of consistent radical organizing
* Consistent radical social media presence
* Solid understanding of good faith
* Able to be vouched for by multiple trusted sources
* Open about who they are and their intentions
* Exhibits enthusiasm for organizing or is generally passionate
* Sociable outside of organizing
* Well read
* Takes care of their environment, and is liked by animals
Yellow flags:
*Inconsistent short answers (could be because they’re anxious, hence yellow flag)
*Indifferent towards action/not willing to engage in action
*Overmarkets themselves and their abilities (Lots of talk with no follow-up
*Lack of verifiable history/social media presence
*Previous membership in state/right-wing organizations
Red Flags:
*Bigotry
*State apologia
*History of sexual assault or abuse
*Participation in Right Wing Groups or Law Enforcement
*Fedposting/Enthusiastic about committing illegal actions
*Overly inquisitive
*Gossips
*Doesn’t respect other people’s boundaries
* Serious charges that were recently dropped
Some people may not exhibit any obvious green/yellow flags. People don’t fit into neat categories, and that’s okay. You just have to be observant to make sure that their behavior isn’t harmful.
When vetting someone, sometimes listening to your gut instinct is advisable. It should not be the end-all-be-all decision. It can be a useful indicator of how a person is. If someone makes you uncomfortable, however, it is necessary to evaluate that.
If someone is pressuring someone to do illegal activity, or openly advocating for illegal action, then they should be removed from the organization.
If someone is disrupting the organization, and preventing productive conversation or reconciliation, then their membership in the organization should be evaluated. Be careful not to confuse genuine critique with wrecker behavior, this can be very contextual.
On Vouching
If you’re ever in a pinch and need to get a bunch of people for action without having a comprehensive vetting system, a vouch system might be handy. This is still pretty contextual, (assuming that the pool of people you’re vetting has already been vetted by a comprehensive vetting system). The vouching system is pretty effective at establishing trust. A potential way to establish this is during a meeting. People can raise their hands for someone they can vouch for. Another way this can happen is if someone is looking to take on a larger role in an organization, you can ask a couple of people if they can vouch for them. This establishes a baseline level of trust.
Operational Security
Operational Security is a process that identifies critical information (personal information, addresses, other sensitive information) and protects it from being exposed to malicious actors (The State, Fascists, Oppositional Forces).
We can probably spend days on the nuances of OpSec. This field guide will probably scratch the surface but will provide you with the knowledge to be secure while organizing. Feel free to ask for resources that expand more on Operational Security.
Good Operational Security means that malicious actors won’t have access to information that could be devastating to organizing efforts if leaked. Rather than creating a culture of paranoia, we aim to practice a good security culture to mitigate risk.
Security culture is the set of customs shared by a community whose members wish to minimize the effects of malicious actors as much as possible. The purpose of having a security culture is to prevent paranoia, fears of infiltration, or panic in stressful situations. A good security culture prevents the need to constantly update security protocols, allows the ability to collaborate with people you may not trust with relative ease, and effectively hinders separation and repression by outside actors.
Generally, people should not have access to information that they don’t need to know. Now granted, as we discussed earlier, not being transparent could lead to power imbalances, but at the same time, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should tell everyone about the direct action that you plan to take. Ultimately, this is a matter of discretion.
Don’t ask other people to share confidential information you don’t need to know. Don’t brag about actions you’ve done. Don’t mention activities that may or may not happen outside of the appropriate setting, or even mention your interest in things.
Remember, you can say no. Being pressured into doing actions, especially direct actions that carry risk is problematic. Nor should you pressure people into actions that are beyond their risk threshold.
Avoid gossiping, and don’t snitch. Don’t spread drama about what someone did to the outside world, or to your other friends. Don’t air someone’s dirty laundry unless it is something that is irreconcilable and violates the points of unity. Don’t turn your friends over to your enemies.
Don’t allow malicious actors to figure out what you’re doing. Don’t be predictable in the methods you employ, or places you meet, and don’t be too visible when it comes to organizing. Keep your names off of mailing lists, and keep track of your social media presence. Assume that everything that is typed has a log.
Avoid throwing down direct action ideas in public, and avoid doing it in mixed company.
When considering meeting, try to avoid meeting at someone’s home or public areas like a park. Places where you have plausible deniability are places that should be favored. Empty university classrooms, library study rooms, or private areas in public buildings. A sympathetic business that allows you to use their space is even better.
There is a tendency on the left to classify objectionable behavior as “fed behavior”. This tendency is known as fedjacketing. It is important to emphasize that you should not fedjacket people unless you have clear evidence that they are tied to state agents. Fedjacketing with evidence destroys movements and projects. Accusing someone of such behavior is very serious and unless you have concrete evidence it should be absolutely avoided.
Look out for your friends. Make it explicitly clear to those around you what risk you’re willing to take, and how your presence may affect things. Let people know what your risk tolerance threshold is, and if you can afford to be arrested. Don’t get people who are not inoculated in trouble, or let anybody else get in trouble if you can help it. Radicals have a responsibility to not allow unwitting people to be at risk for their actions.
Again, security culture is not a culture of paranoia. It is just a set of practices to ensure that information does not get into the wrong hands. If your security practices are good enough, infiltration can be effectively minimized, and you won’t have to be constantly paranoid if someone is a bad actor or not. Outside actors greatly benefit from fear and distrust.
If you keep sensitive information inside the circle or people it concerns, only collaborate with reliable comrades, and don’t openly talk about the activities that you’re doing, malicious actors won’t easily disrupt what you’re doing.
To this end…
We emphasize that anyone can be an organizer. Everyone’s voice matters, and everyone is invited to contribute, and everyone can take the initiative to help build an organization they are proud to be part of.
These are principles that drive forward our organizing. If we wish to proclaim “All Power to the People!”, our politics and practices should make good on that. We are not entrusting a bunch of leaders and representatives with our futures. To bring about a society where people can determine their destiny, we must prefigure this in our organization.
Organizing that is done by a cabal of people, a party, or a charismatic leader can appear to be efficient and powerful, but is ultimately in danger of being incapacitated by simply having the leaders taken out of the equation.
We are building a more resilient movement by giving the skills of organizing to everyone so that everyone can take up the banner of organizing, and ultimately help steer the ship.
Further Resources:
We Are All Very Anxious by Crimethinc
Replace Yourself (IWW article on libcom.org)
Organizing 101 by Atlanta and Ottawa General Defense Committees of the IWW