> As an outsider to both, I find the Young Communist League more
> democratic & less authoritarian than A16-style cliques, but let that
> slide for a moment, since we are not going to agree on this one. The
> fact of the matter is that I have never belonged to any socialist
> group or party, in Japan or America, since I can't find any I want to
> join; and I am not currently building any socialist party. My
> remarks in the initial post and the reply to Nathan basically come
> from my own direct experience of A16 & participant observation of the
> influence of the A16 style of running meetings in Columbus, Ohio. I
> just can't afford to participate in endless long meetings. I have
> work to do and want to have social life aside from meetings &
> political actions, neither of which is a Marxist -- let alone
> "democratic centralist" -- demand; and I believe many people of color
> agree with me, be they Marxist, religious, nationalist, or whatever.
> I find that the A16 style of meetings is very white (in culture, as
> well as color of participants).
I don't know much about the YCL, but I find it hard to believe that it is more democratic and less authoritarian that A16. I've been an anarchist activist for 15 years in a variety of activist groups and I've never seen a more democratic process than I did at A16.
I don't recall any authoritarianism in any of the A16 meetings. There were process problems that were caused by facilitators trying to keep the meeting below two hours in length. Another problem was communication, which was caused by activists in a certain group keeping mum about plans. This was necessary so that we weren't showing our deck of cards to the cops. There wasn't that much to hide from the cops, but it was important to keep some element of surprise.
I understand what you are saying about long meetings. I think a way to remedy this situation is for those of us who are working people (and usually older) to keep challenging younger activists on this. That's one thing that needs to be done to improve things; tossing the consensus-based affinity group model is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
I don't see how this relates to race. This is an activist style that needs to be changed. Fortunately we are seeing a willingness by many activists to think outside the box.
<< Chuck0 >>
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