Should anarchists attempt to aid rebels/revolutionaries across the world?

Question

Is it desirable for @s to join or otherwise aid 'foreign' rebellions/revolutions that are anti-authoritarian, decentralized, communal, etc. if they want the help or don't mind the help?
Examples might include the Zapatistas, Spanish indignados, uprisings in Greece, autonomous movement in Egypt, @Against the Wall/Palestinian rebels, Syrian rebels, coastal African pirates, squatters in your city, etc

Related to this question:
http://anarchy101.org/4847/anarchists-think-states-funding-foreign-revolutionaries

Note: I'm kind of bullshitting the tags for this one, so suggestions would be cool

Comments

i'm bumping this question because we've been discussing this in my reading group recently. there's so much talk about solidarity of all sorts, and it so rarely means much beyond positioning the person expressing it in a constellation of cliques.

and things do, as alluded to here, just get more attenuated and complicated when you factor in distance, cultural differences, etc.

and it is irritating to be told that we're supposed to care about everyone/anyone all over the world for some reason, whether it's natural disaster or war.

on the other hand, people who reject out-of-hand the idea of engaging with those who are far away or so-far unknown, are also rigid, and i think tend to lack a generosity of spirit that i don't want for myself.

so... how do we support people who are far away, and how do we decide who we want to support?

i will return to this...

Answer 1

First the disclaimer: if this is fishing for someone to advocate providing material aid to groups viewed as terrorists, etc. none of us in the "community*" would do that - we all love all of the everything about 'merica, and hateses all it's enemies, or something.

Why wouldn't anarchists aid and show solidarity with other rebels, regardless of where they are located geographically? In fact, there is a long history of solidarity actions being taken across the globe to show support for particular struggles or individuals, some of which might even be included in the list you made. Of course, what that aid looks like will differ based on the specifics of each situation, but if folks we find some affinity with need support and are elsewhere, there is no reason not to support them on some level. Logistics might dictate what this aid looks like.

Some publicized examples I can think of off the top of my head:

-anarchists across the world provided various forms of support to the CNT/FAI during the Spanish Revolution.

-Individuals took various forms of action to show solidarity with or materially support the EZLN throughout the mid to late 90's and early 00's.

-Solidarity rallies in support of the three members of Pussy Riot who are currently incarcerated in Russia.

I could keep listing things...

The big thing to keep in mind is that for an anarchist, solidarity is not a given. Just because one is a revolutionary (/especially/ if one is a revolutionary) we are not uncritical with our support. We might refuse to support actions, groups or individuals we see as statist, or otherwise authoritarian. We might refuse support because a particular group is engaging in an action we don't personally agree with.

*"Community" http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/john-zerzan-the-nihilist-s-dictionary#toc5