What do anarchists think of activism?

Question

How relative is being an activist, (anti racism, anti sexism, anti war, etc) to anarchists?

Comments

There was actually a question asked pretty recently that might give you some insight into this subject:

http://anarchy101.org/6922/why-are-anarchists-critical-of-opposed-activists-activism

Although it depends on what you mean by "activism". Having a stance against all forms of domination, oppression, and hierarchy (for example, being against racism) is kind of assumed to be a part of being an anarchist - but having these stances isn't necessarily "being an activist".

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Thanks  for the link RB, I think that pretty much sums up what I wanted to know, rather then taking up someone else cause one should fight his/her own. Am I missing something? As you see I'm not really good at articulating my views, let me know if I'm missing something. Thanks

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I think you've got the gist of it.

Of course, there might be a point to make about how finding real commonalities with other people is a vital part of anarchist action, but this is distinct from the sort of representational politics implied by fighting "on behalf of" someone else.

Some anarchists might criticize activists based on their tactics or strategies.

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I see, have you ever done any activism? If so what was your experience?

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I once participated in what I would describe as a broadly anti-war activist coalition that drew its membership almost exclusively from left-liberal and socialist college kids.

My experience was an abundance of meetings, a small handful of rallies and demonstrations (which were largely disappointing), and no impact whatsoever on the war in question. After a while, the group in my city was increasingly dominated by two competing communist groups, and sort of dissolved as people either joined those groups or stopped participating (mostly the latter).

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Anarchists advocate direct action. Most Anarchists realize that protests themselves don't accomplish any thing. Activists in North-America somewhere took a means of direct action by planting marijuana plants across the city for ex.