There are 330+ anarchists on Organise from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Columbia, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Philippenes, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Costa Rica, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, USA, Zambia, Denmark, Puerto Rica, Bolivia and Iceland. ------
Organise
This is a private, invitation-only list run by dedicated "class struggle anarchists" (libertarian socialists, anarcho-syndicalists, and anarchist communists). To join read the statement below and mail revolt at newmail.net if you agree with it saying "I agree, please subscribe me to organise"
******* Organise list statement ********
Organise is a private e-mail list created in 1995 by a number of active class struggle anarchists looking for a space to hold discussions that were open only to class struggle anarchists and where that space was not the property of any one organisation. Everyone on the list considers themselves to be an anarchist, anti- capitalist, recognises the need for revolution and recognises the need for anarchist organisations. Anarchist in this context means list subscribers must self- indentify as anarchists, not sympathetic leftists interested in learning about anarchism. Anti- capitialist implys list members oppose ALL forms of private ownership of the means of production, including state/party ownership and all forms of petty bourgeois proprietorship. Revolution in this context means the abolishment of state and corporate power by the active insurrectionary efforts of the working class, not the creation of "Temporary Autonomous Zones" or other personal revolutions. The need for organization implys that list members are active or aspiring members of either anarchist organizations, or organizations pursuing goals congruent with anarchism. The list is also limited to those who do not have faith in political parties and the electoral system as meaningful instruments of social change, and who believe that reformism is a [bourgeoisie] tactic that has no place in radical thinking. Thus members do not believe that stateless socialism will ever be produced from above by electoral politics, and are not members of political organizations that do. In addition "reformism" (the notion that capitalism can be slowly reformed into socialism) is rejected. While organise members will certainly fight for reforms within the system, members reject joining the State or any of its coercive institutions to "undermine capitalism from within" as a failed social democratic strategy. Finally "class struggle" implys an active struggle of the working class against the ruling class in the real world. Hence absolute pacificists do not qualify for list membership, nor do primitivists who believe the primary struggle is against technology rather than capital. Anarchists also reject any attempt to limit the freedom of individuals. Therefore those who engage in racism, sexism, homophobia, or who support restrictions on the freedom of individuals to control their
own health and fertility (including the freedom of women to seek an abortion) are not welcome on this list.
The exact focus of the list beyond this is open. Practical activity can be organised or theoretical differences can be discussed. Advice can be sought from other comrades on how to organise specific things or indeed how to organise in general. Everyone should feel they have a right to post to the list and to ask any questions providing its within the guidelines above. [In general comrades should not discuss seriously illegal activity as some list members are in countries with very restrictive conspiracy laws, such discussion might leave them open to prosecution or victimisation].
This is a list for all class struggle anarchists regardless of organisation. In the real world arguments exist between different organisations and individuals. It is acceptable to discuss these here _but_ such discussions should not include insults or unsubstantiated accusations. In particular the practise of calling list members 'racists', 'middle class', 'authoritarian' or 'collaborators with the state' is frowned on as only being disruptive. Flame wars do no one any good and will just demoralise new participants and discredit all those who participate.
You should not cross-post to Organise! with other lists or forward mail to Organise! from other lists unless it is of extreme importance. Also you should _never_ forward someone else's mail from Organise to any one else.
We have had problems in the past with people joining who don't really agree with these guidelines. This has resulted in a lot of list disruption. So now we ask for a clear statement before sending people subscription information If you are a class struggle anarchist and agree with the list statement above then mail revolt at newmail.net just saying "yes I agree, I'd like to subscribe".
If you more or less agree but want to discuss it then mail revolt at newmail.net just saying "yes I agree, I'd like to subscribe but..." and we'll discuss it with you. Tell us where you disagree!
--- More information about the list can be found at http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/org_list.html
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Posting Protocol for Organise
As the Organise list attracts new members there is a growing need to ensure that the volume of posts to the list remained low (and of high quality). This is important because many people on Organise have to pay for their email and only have limited time in which to read it. In particular email outside of the USA and parts of Western Europe tends to be both slow and expensive and we particularly want to maintain the participation of comrades from these countries. A high volume of mail can drive them off the list (See the note at the end for an illustration of the problem)
To achieve all this the following protocols for posting to Organise has been drawn up. Although there are sanctions for people who consistently break them we would hope that it will not be necessary to apply these and that people will follow these protocols out of respect for their comrades on the list.
1. There is to be no flaming on Organise!, that is no personal attacks on other Organise! members. This includes suggesting that someone should not be on Organise! Where you feel this to be the case you should email anyone in the Organise Administration group outlining why you believe this to be the case. You will then be included along with the person named in an off list discussion with the OA group to resolve this issue. (You are free to flame off list if you wish.)
2. No post is to be sent to Organise with a content where quotations from previous posts makes up 50% or more of the text. In general we would encourage replies in an essay format. Do not quote the previous message at the bottom of your reply, edit it out .Do not send messages simply saying 'I agree' (or the equivalent) to the list.
3. Do not send more then one post on any one subject to Organise in any twelve hour period. Do not send more then three posts to Organise in total in any twelve hour period. Obviously this does not apply to genuine emergencies.
4. Do not send announcements, posts or articles to Organise that are available elsewhere on the web or have been sent to other mailing lists. We recommend you send announcements, articles etc to the anarchist news service a-infos. We also recommend that all Organise list members subscribe to that service. To subscribe send the message 'subscribe a-infos' to lists at ainfos.ca. To send an article to a-infos mail a- infos at a-infos.ca. As of Jan 2000 A-infos had about five times more subscribers then Organise and you should assume that anyone who can handle the mail volume for news is subscribed to both lists. Others can check the a-infos web page
A infos has a web page that shows all the articles recently sent to it at www.ainfos.ca
Where you wish to generate discussion around an article you are free to post the URL and a brief summary of the article along with an offer to forward the entire article to any individual requesting it.
5. The existing points in the Organise list statement are also considered to be part of this protocol.
Sanctions:
The Organise Administration OA group shall administer sanctions against those who consistently break this protocol. Any member of Organise is encouraged to become a member of this group by emailing any of the existing members and asking to be added. In all the cases below anyone being sanctioned who feels they are being unfairly treated should immediately appeal to OA in general. [You can do this be emailing org_admin at flag.blackened.net]
The OA group is considered to 'own' the Organise list as it puts in the work required to create the space in which Organise operates.
The severity of sanctions accumulate to expulsion from the list. With all warning it should be pointed out that the full text of sanctions and protocol are available on the Organise web page at http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/org_list.html
1. On the first breach of protocol the person is privately emailed and the specific problem pointed out. The OA list is CCed with a copy of this post.
2. On the second breach of protocol the person is emailed on Organise and the specific problem pointed out. It is also pointed out that they have already been warned.
3. On the third breach of protocol the person is unsubscribed from Organise. After one week they can reapply by indicating they agree with the list statement as per any new member. A post to Organise explains the specific problem. It is also pointed out that they have already been warned twice.
4. On the fourth breach of protocol the person is unsubscribed from Organise until they send an apology for their behaviour for submission to the list. A post to Organise explains the specific problem and includes this document. It is also pointed out that they have already been warned three time.
5. Any further breaches result in the person being unsubscribed permanently from Organise.
6. If the behaviour involves a breach of the Organise list statement that is obviously incompatible with anarchism then OA may immediately apply (4) above. This can only occur for very blatant breaches e.g. subjectively racists, sexist or pro-capitalist statements or for attempted sabotage (e.g. mail-bombing) of the list.
7. When this protocol is first agreed and on the 1 Jan of each year after the record of breaches 1-4 will be deleted and everyone will start with a clean slate.
In enforcing all these stages any list maintainer (password holder) can apply these sanctions _but_ this decision can be overturned by a vote of OA in which case they have to apologise to the person concerned on Organise. Any list maintainer (password holder) can also be directed to apply a sanction by OA even where they personally do not agree with it (They may state their disagreement).
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As this protocol was being revised (Jan 2000) one org_admin member provided the following as a way of illustration for why it is needed
"I do not have the exact figures, but approximately:
Yearly Internet connection (that is what is paid to a "servidor" or server, apart from telephone bills) in at least one African country is superior to the yearly minimum wage.
Westerners travelling in countries like India can easily find fax/Internet shopfronts (like the European cybercafe but without the nonsense) in which they can have Internet access to read and send mails on URL postings. This only costs them a dollar or two. But a dollar or two in many of those countries are several hours or days' wages.
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