> Aren't consensus, twinkling, etc. part of a subculture of white
> American youths on the Left, rather than "an anarchist process"? I
> doubt that anarchists twinkled during the Spanish Civil War.
Nope, this isn't the case, despite the best efforts of left vanguardists to smear these practices with this charge.
If anything, twinkling was introduced by older activists who have been involved in the peace and anti-nuclear movements. Twinkling is usually found wherever somebody is doing the spokescouncil technique of running meetings. The story is that twinkling is based on American Sign Language and was developed to get a sense of people's opinions without having to deal with audible interruptions such as hand clapping.
Consensus was certainly not something developed by white American youths, as it is a process used by many cultures for thousands of years. I first was sold on consensus, not in some activist meeting, but in a graduate level class on the history of West Africa. Of course, being an activist for many years, I've been through my share of meetings that use consensus. I would say that the primary problem with consensus is that it isn't implemented very well. When consensus works, it works very well. When it goes bad, you'll often find some clique manipulating the process.
No, I don't think anarchists twinkled during the Spanish Revolution. I heard they had some long meetings too.
<< Chuck0 >>
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