A-Infos (en) Anarchist Centre in Belgium

[de_nar@agoranet.be (De Nar)]

________________________________________________
     A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
           http://www.ainfos.ca/
________________________________________________

The Anarchist Economic Community (AEC) is/was part of the larger anarchist 
scene in Ghent/Belgium, which includes some squats, the Anarchist Collective 
(studentorganization),ABC-Ghent, an @ library, a bookdistribution-centre,.... 

Originally, summer 1992, the idea behind the AEC was to provide a small 
scale but veryconcrete economic alternative to the huge and monstreous 
European Economic Community.
Indeed! It was considered that besides direct action and 
informationgathering and -distribution,anarchists should put their idea(l)s 
- which include economic ones - in practice on a daily basis.We should not 
wait for the great revolution to come (though it will, be sure), the 
revolution is here
and now. The AEC should thus be a real life experiment where people work 
together to reclaim their lifes, to break the artificial boundaries between 
the economical, the political, the personalspheres of our existence... . 

In practice all this came down to the AEC constructing itself as a network 
of different workgroups, organized along some anarchist-federalistic 
principles (non-hierarchical, combining autonomy and mutual aid), with a 
common aim: working towards a self-dependent socially and ecologically sound 
community. 

The workgroups are: a garden-group (a large piece of land in the city is 
cultivated, the vegetables - when not eaten by the rabbits - distributed), a 
food-collective (collectively buying food proves to be much cheaper), a 
mobile kitchen ( practical support for actiongroups, during campaigns, 
strikes,etc.), a food processing group (fruit becomes jam and wine,...), a
peoples-kitchen (vegetarian food once a week, afterwards: bar), an 
info-kitchen (once a week vega-kitchen , then info-evening + bar). Some 
other projects were initiated but didn't really take off: a 
carsharing-project, a clothes-recycling project,... . 

During the period 1992 - 1995 the AEC established itself pretty well. 
Besides the usual ups and downs, we managed to rent collectively a house, 
where the kitchen and bar could be installed.
And all this attracted a lot of folks. In fact the house became a centre 
where various people could meet,discuss, plan actions, etc. . Especially the 
coming of the info-kitchen sparked off several actions and initiatives. So a 
women's group saw the light, which led to a ...men's group; some
people were interested in anarcho-syndicalism and are discussing if they 
should form a CAT/AIT-section, a refugee-support group started working. 

During the same time also more international contacts were established 
(thanx to internet, our refugee-working, people becoming more mobile...). 

This evolution, together with earlier and ongoing discussions and critics, 
forced us to rethink our function, objectives and strategy. 

>From the beginning there were some doubts about the initial objective. The 
stress, so some said, did lay too much on economical independence. How could 
we possibly be independent from the larger capitalist economy? How to be 
self-dependent without doing concessions to the capitalist system and its 
values? (Should we for example in the long run pay some volunteers, so that 
they're no longer dependent from the state? Who, how and on what basis 
should we pay them? What would be their relation to the rest of the group? 
What with our objections to wage-slavery?, etc.)
In short, the danger of recup-eration always lurked behind the corner, and 
we sure didn't want to end up in the "alternative", green capitalist sector! 

Indeed, the 'strategy-of-strangulation' - the AEC being one knot in a 
growing network which would slowly strangle the capitalist economy - was far 
too idealistic. And what is the value of a self-sufficient economic 
community as such? Would the AEC not just become an island in a sea of 
misery? Isn't it in fact a stategy of retreat (from the harsh reality of 
exploitation, poverty, racism, repression,...), instead of one of 
confrontation? Doesn't it lead to depolitization, instead of radicalization? 
Didn't it, finally, reflect the middle-class background, values and 
attitudes of many of us and wasn't it time to break away from all that? 

Posing all these questions is in a certain sense already answering them. And 
the answer was indeed already given in practice. The various new groups 
developping at the margins of the AEC, but not really finding their place in 
it, were no more nor less and consciously or not the concrete expression of 
these critics. As a group we only needed to become aware of it. Also the 
need for a clearer profile, to facilitate our contacts with other (foreign) 
groups, was felt. That's when we decided to rename our group: the Anarchist 
Economic Community became the Anarchist Centre. 

This simple name was given for the simple reason - putting aside the fact 
that it lacked us some imagination - that it reflected the best what was 
going on and what was at stake. Firstly there was little discussion about 
what we had all in common: our belief in anarchism, as a critique of and
viable alternative for existing society. Secondly, we should not hide our 
differences, but neither should we allow them to divide us. On the contrary, 
since diversity is a central value of anarchism (as it is a central fact of 
life), we must make these differences explicit, discuss them, think and live
them through. More concretely, it means we have to be fully aware of the 
different contradictions and their complex interelations that exist in 
society. In our view anarchism has always tried to capture this complexity; 
it is at the same time its strenght and its weakness... . 

Although historically anarchism is rooted in the struggles of labour for 
socialism in the 19th century, and had it greatest victories and defeats as 
the world-wide anarcho-syndicalist movement, it always did point to other 
power relations - other than labour-capital only:
man-woman, human-nature, child-adult, black-white (the latter, signifi- 
cantly?, only recently). 

[We realize all this is still quiete abstract, we hope to develop these 
points more systematecally later on. Just to say this is not a mere cry for 
tolerance, we are well aware of the condescending and repressive sides of 
'tolerance', as well as of its 'idealism'. The point is, again, that we 
should not allow ourselves to be divided along some self-proclaimed 
'principal contradiction'. We have seen too many sad examples of 
sectarianism, endless fragmentation, groups splintering themselves
to death... . In stead we'll have to stress our common ground, reclaim our 
collective identity by placing ourselves in our history, making anarchism a 
coherent, synthesizing, and effective force. 

The Anarchist Centre wants to be an organization that embodies this "unity 
in diversity". To thisend we did install a secretariat, not as a 
centralizing bureau, but as a coordination-committee to promote dialogue, 
communication and cooperation, provide logistic support, reinforce and 
expand our external relations. 

For all assurance, the AEC does not disappear but will be integrated into 
the larger local federation which is the Anarchist Centre, and it remains 
the economic basis where upon we can build an independent, and hopefully a 
more global and offensive politics. The @c comprises thus the different 
workgroups of the AEC, the refugee-supportgroup, other groups are still in
discussion... 


     ****** A-Infos News Service *****
  News about and of interest to anarchists

Subscribe -> email MAJORDOMO@TAO.CA
             with the message SUBSCRIBE A-INFOS
Info      -> http://www.ainfos.ca/
Reproduce -> please include this section