For our next meeting, we are going to be discussing deference politics — the organizing tendency to defer to someone else’s judgment about what should be done in a given situation based solely on their perceived social location. We are going to dissect this tendency through “Being-in-the-Room Privilege: Elite Capture and Epistemic Deference” (2020) by Olúfémi O. Táíwò, and the local Ada’itsx “Fairy Creek” anarchist zine Creeker’s “Water Falling on Granite: Deference Politics, Indigenous Leadership, and Anarchist Relationality” (2023).
“Being-in-the-Room Privilege: Elite Capture and Epistemic Deference” by Olúfémi O. Táíwò is available for free via The Philosopher as screen or custom imposed zine PDF.
“Water Falling on Granite: Deference Politics, Indigenous Leadership, and Anarchist Relationality” by Anonymous (Creeker Zine) is available as a stand-alone reading from Creeker Vol 4 as screen or imposed zine PDF.
We ask you to please read the pieces ahead of time.
As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territory at 6:30pm on Sunday November 10th. Bring a notebook!
PS: Our friends at Food not Bombs serve free vegan food for revolution every Sunday 4-6PM at Spirit “Centennial” Square. They are always looking for extra support from volunteers.
PPS: Our neighbours at Heart & Hands, and Green Muse Herbs, are having an open house from 12-6PM, before our circle. Come say hi!
Next time, we will be discussing Sobre la violencia en una época de catástrofes AKA About violence in a time of catastrophes (2023). We will also be pairing it with an excerpt, Chapter 7: Trusting, from Worth Fighting For: Bringing the Rojava Revolution Home. (2023)
Our last readings got us into talking about building collective capacity to become better ̶a̶l̶l̶i̶e̶s̶ accomplices. We also briefly touched on the Black Panther Party’s programs (and formulation of revolutionary Self Care) which brought communities together to build this capacity, which naturally led us into Crimethinc’s Self-Care: Self as Other (2013). 
Spilling over from our last conversation on Turning Away from The State, we decided to revisit the classic Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex (2014) by Indigenous Action (now Indigenous Abolition), and to pair it with Peter Gelderloos’ Debunking the myths around nonviolent resistance (2020).
In early preparation for September’s upcoming Bi Visibility Week, we have chosen readings that centre the admirable bisexual freedom fighter Kuwasi Balagoon. While the two readings don’t place especial emphasis on Balagoon’s orientation, they do provide a thorough overview of his contributions to the struggle for Black liberation in the 70s and 80s. Both texts, Maroon: Kuwasi Balagoon and the Evolution of a Revolutionary New Afrikan Anarchism by Akinyele K. Umoja and Kuwasi at 60 by Kazembe Balagun, chronicle Balagoon’s daring acts of insurgency. Their scope includes Balagoon’s time before and after joining the Black Panther Party, his organizing in prison, and his later criticisms of the Black Panther Party from an anarchistic standpoint. These accessible historical accounts are sure to stoke more curiosity about the revolutionary figure and time period they illuminate.
Good security practices are essential to effective, sustainable organizing. We have decided to review these practices by reading two zines about security culture, Security Culture: A Handbook for Activists and Confidence. Courage. Connection. Trust: A Proposal for Security Culture.
For August 4th, our reading group will be focusing on two pieces about fascism and authoritarianism.
