Anarchist Reading and Discussion Workshop

Discussion around the Comiso Dossier (from Insurrection magazine). I'm not the host but volunteered to be a contact.

Pick up print copies of the Comiso Dossier at anti-Olympics meetings and at the Lichen Lending Library (1921 S. Blue Island). Or write to this address [xxx], and we can get you a copy. Articles for discussion will be highlighted or marked.

The actual discussion will happen sometime around November 19. Be in touch to get the time and location.

We're reading this because we think it presents some vital ideas for anarchist organizing here, especially in the wider community and with opposition to the Olympics, though we're certainly not proposing a fixed model. Here's a description of what the Dossier covers:

In the early 1980s, Italy was in the grip of repression and state-sponsored terror, as the forces of order worked to violently dismantle the massive and inspiring social movements of the previous decades. While many revolutionaries were hopelessly demoralized and disoriented, others pushed ahead without pause.

In Sicily, some of these anarchist comrades moved to oppose the installation of American cruise missiles in the rural community of Comiso. Refusing to play the game of negotiation or compromise, they worked directly with other local people to organize rebellion against the construction of the base. The form of struggle was the self-managed league- autonomous groups that brought together anarchists with the wider population, while excluding all the parasites of the Left.

These experiences are not so far removed as we might sometimes think. They reflect is an entirely different model of anarchist organizing, one constructed against overwhelming odds, but which contain many lessons for us. While we have frustratingly little access to these experiences, the Comiso Dossier is an important and inspiring collection of historical and theoretical documents. Our reading group will cover the basic history, but we want to move on to practically discuss anarchist strategy today in light of past transformative moments.