Members of Beyond Resistance recently gathered in a not-so-secret location in Taylors Mistake, Otautahi/Christchurch, for our very first internal hui. The Catholic Worker bach, while a bit 'rustic' suited our needs very well — the amazing view which greeted our reprise from discussion made up for any other faults, not to mention 'the confessional' (the toilet...).
Over the course of the weekend we managed to discuss, develop and finalise a lot of ideas we've been throwing about in the short time we've existed as a collective. After a few drinks and a movie on the Friday night, we got down to some serious pow wow on Saturday, kicking off with an in depth round about ourselves, our pasts, and our ideas. Session two was dedicated to our Aims & Principles, which helped consolidate our collective perspective and gauge where we are in terms of individual understandings (you can check them out here). That evening we held an open session for anyone to attend, which was filled with films, beer and all-around banter.
Sunday was dedicated to group strategy, something we feel has been lacking in a lot of past groups we've all been involved in. It's easy to know what you are against and react accordingly, but it's harder to vocalise (and put into practice) what you are for — so we talked extensively on what we felt constitutes a constructive anarchism. Tino Rangatiratanga, feminist praxis, dual power, industrial networks and community assemblies were the main focus, from which we have developed a strategy paper for the collective. This paper, 'Towards a Constructive Anarchism' will be published shortly.
We also finalised How We Work, including things like conflict resolution, responsibilities, and membership. We now have a membership form where you can indicate whether you'd like to be a support member, or a core member. We have the two types of membership because we recognise that time and energy can't always be spared, and hope to include those interested accordingly. If you'd like to find out more about this, please click here.
It was a great weekend, filled with lots of laughs and lofty aims. We in Beyond Resistance look forward to sharing the outcomes gained over the course of the weekend, and most importantly, the struggle ahead.
In solidarity,
Beyond Resistance
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