Grand Rapids Anarchists

Last week, we posted a few items about anti-Olympic protests in Vancouver (read more: here and here). In the past week, a few really good analyses have been published online that look at the politics behind the organizing and evaluate the effectiveness of the tactics being employed. They range from discussions of how specific actions functioned (i.e. how the black bloc was able to destroy property in the middle of such a militarized city) to how anarchists incorporated their politics into the organizing. The depth and range of the analysis has been impressive, especially given how recently the actions occurred.

I have been particularly impressed by the writings coming from The Friendly Fire anarchist collective out of the Bay Area as part of their “Beneath the Snow” blog covering the protests. An excerpt from one of the articles (“Day 3 – Heart Attack”) makes for an interesting read with valuable insight on the organizing and message of the protests:

Angry Bystander: “You don’t have the support of the public”

Calm Anarchist: “We are the public”

From yesterday’s anarchist presence in the “family friendly” Take Back Our City march directed against the Olympic opening ceremonies to this morning’s anarchist-organized Heart Attack directed at blocking road access to the first day of Olympic games, the anarchists and especially black bloc contingent have been a strong force of resistance here in the Unceded Coast Salish Territory. That’s often true at such convergences. What’s especially striking here, though, is how disciplined and strategically–even politically–effective they’ve been, and how much respect they’ve earned through their organizing efforts leading up to this point as well as their actions on the streets.

Much of this is likely due to the fact that anarchists have been a big part of organizing efforts toward this convergence for years now, and have been doing lots of public outreach, popular education, and even press conferences, not to mention direct actions. They’ve also created a space, through a “diversity of tactics” strategy that reaches outward while retaining its anticapitalist stance, for genuine ties of friendship and solidarity beyond anarchists, to others who share concerns for a just world. Many of the anarchist organizers here on the ground in Vancouver and nearby cities have long been working in collaboration with nonanarchists on everything from tent cities to No One Is Illegal–on issues that impact people’s daily survival needs. Many also “came of anarchist age” through the anticapitalist movement of movements, and are utilizing lessons from that to build and perhaps expand on past successes as well as go beyond past mistakes. And they are acting and organizing in concert with others, premised on daily issues that impact people’s lives and their communities–communities of which many anarchists here are also a part (poor, people of color and indigenous, queer and women, among others). Finally, they seem to have been willing to work out a balance within the various political events here, where during yesterday’s Take Back Our City march the anarchists followed the lead of others, so to speak, and today, some of those nonanarchist folks joined the anarchists for their more militant Heart Attack direct action, as part of this anticolonial and anticapitalist convergence.

These are some impressions, at least, from an outsider perspective. But as an “U.S.” anarchist, it’s been striking to witness what appears to be cooperation and solidarity of a genuine character between anarchists, justice types, nonprofit types, and others, in a way that’s ensuring that all the components form a far more powerful whole, and probably far beyond this particular convergence. At the same time, interestingly, the message here overall remains radical.

Additionally, a report titled “Riot 2010” by the CrimethInc collective also offers some valuable insights. Among them:

This was not “just another summit”—this was the culmination of several years of direct action by indigenous people, anarchists, anti-poverty activists, environmentalists, and others against the 2010 Olympics. One of the most inspiring aspects of this convergence was the framework that created it. Unlike many summits, which lack an anti-racist and anti-colonial analysis, indigenous sovereignty and decolonization was front-and-center this time. Indigenous people called upon their allies to help defend their territory against further colonization, and solidarity activists answered that call. An anti-capitalist analysis permeated the entire movement and it was a radicalizing force among the broader activist community. This was not a showdown in which local issues were left on the back burner; as far as the authors know, this was the first summit in North America that was entirely focused on local issues.

Hopefully, these analyses—and those yet to come—will contribute to how anarchists organize convergences in the future. Something was certainly done “right” in Vancouver and we should collectively build on that experience.