Dec 8, 2022

This article was written on unceded Dharrawal land of the Eora Nation.

Abolish Australia.

Anarchists are, by our nature, going to always do what we want regardless of the ‘will of the majority’ or any of that bullshit. With this in mind, I thought the best way for us to organise in Wollongong would be to set up a loose network, with monthly meetings and a common communications platform so we can chat between meetings.

Network of Wollongong Anarchists (NWA) aims to hold regular meetings and social events with the purpose of getting everyone talking to each other, working together on projects and building some community solidarity.

We need to keep it loose. Only actions with unanimous support can use our name, everything else can be organised by the action group, affinity group etc. Think of it as kind of like a nascent Federation, where we have a few affinity groups, but most people aren’t that organised. We can create and destroy action groups as required for specific purposes and people can participate in whatever actions they feel an affinity for.

We may be Anarchists, but we are discerning Anarchists and will only associate with others who agree to some basic principles. I consulted with a few comrades and came up with this draft;

1. We expect all members of NWA to fight to abolish the state, class society, patriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism, property and all other systems of social domination, at a bare minimum.

2. NWA tolerates no bigotry. This includes racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and ableism. NWA will not tolerate the policing of others’ bodies. These are systems of social domination and whilst it’s covered in point 1, it needs to be clear.

3. We are serious about decolonisation. Australia is a settler-colonial state founded on genocide. We must dismantle colonial structures, the state and federal governments, their national borders, standing army, police forces, prison systems and the child ‘welfare’ system that continues the horrors of the Stolen Generations to this day. We must respect Indigenous knowledge and not subordinate such knowledges to the western scientific traditions. Equally, we must respect the traditional owners of the land and their wishes for its use, not only when it is convenient, but especially when it is not. Colonialism can only end when we stop the colonising process.

4. To consider yourself a member you must agree to this platform, attend three meetings and be approved by 2/3 majority of members present at a vote at or after your third meeting.

5. NWA will have an official publication, with contributions open to all members. An editorial collective will be formed to put together, layout and print physical copies. Contributions by non-members are welcome, but are subject to review by an editorial collective who can approve or reject any submissions by non-members. The editorial collective will consist of any members that wish to participate.

What is an Anarchist Network?

‘You’d love it. It’s not quite a Collective. Not quite a Federation. It comes with a slice of canteloupe at the end. You don’t get completely what you would from a collective, but you get a good organisation.’ Now that I got that bastardised Simpsons quote out of the way, I’ll say that you’d love it. It’s not quite a collective, not quite a federation. No promises on the rock melon.

This is an idea borne out of a problem of organising in a smallish city like Wollongong. There are quite a few Anarchists and fellow travellers who know each other and do stuff, sometimes together, sometimes with other people or organisations and sometimes alone. Which is standard fare, I know. The problem is a lot of the time we don’t know what other people are doing and miss out on the opportunity to join in or help in some other way. (Some stuff is always best kept on the down-low and that needs to be respected too.)

WANK (Wollongong Anarchist News Krew, a Facebook group) was set up to enable this in some small way and it works to a degree, a mycelium from which the occasional mushroom of action sprouts. Just sharing local news, memes, meetings and actions to interested people is the makings of a community. I think we need to take the next step and actually meet.

How should the organisation function? Having taken part in various direct actions at summit protests and elsewhere, I quite like the way the affinity group — spokes council communications work. It will require a little modification for our purposes, but the basic idea is that when you go to a serious protest and plan to engage in direct action, you team up with like-minded people into affinity groups. These can be groups of friends, comrades who share your particular micro-ideology, metal bands, work colleagues etc. These affinity groups plan amongst themselves, deciding on the level of risk they wish to take, what specific actions they want to participate in etc. then during the Spokes Council everyone shares their plans (to the degree they are comfortable with) and co-ordination can occur.

Each affinity group appoints a delegate to the spokes council who is responsible for communication for the group, they are always immediately re-callable and can consult their group during the meeting. The meeting is not to decide anything as a group. There is no democracy within the spokes council. Affinity groups maintain their autonomy and use the spokes to coordinate with other groups. Sometimes there’s actions planned that your group wants to get on board with, or specific times actions can occur that would get more participants etc. and negotiation and co-ordination occurs. Clusters of affinity groups can form blocs such as the infamous black bloc or support each other through participating in each others actions and events.

We aren’t that organised. Whilst there are a few groups that could act as affinity groups, there are a lot more people without that sort of support group around them. We aim to build solidarity and community, not plan to seize the Winter Palace (yet), so meetings will also be more relaxed. NWA will facilitate delegates from orgs that agree with the principles as needed as well as individuals who want to be involved. The meetings will primarily be to share information about actions and events away from NWA and to build the solidarity between like-minded groups and people.

Some Notes

Name: I’m an Anarchist, so I like the name Network of Wollongong Anarchists. Some people who want to get involved describe themselves as communists etc.. I don’t mind much if we vote on a name change, I am not that attached. However, I suggest a looseness with the name, where we can be Network of Wollongong (A)narchists, (A)nti-Capitalists, (A)utonomist Marxists or any other word beginning with A. We will all know what it means.

Membership: Honestly, I just don’t want to deal with power struggles, stacks or hostile groups trying to leech members. If people have better ideas, happy to adopt them.