A nice autumnal weekend was the setting in October for a midwest anarchist get together in Bloomington, Indiana. A couple hundred anarchists from around the midwest and points beyond got together for fun, food, music, and workshops. The main site was Indiana University's Dunn Meadow, a big park space on the edge of the campus, but still in the middle of town.
Our hosts for the weekend were the Indiana anarchists who got together to put on this fun event. A big online thank you to Trash O'Brat, Joseph, Pat, Michael, Sid, and anybody else whose name slips my tongue. They did an outstanding job. It was a very successful event--one that I think many people got something out of.
I was with a carload of four anarchists who made the arduous journey from Madison. Joining me were Mark, Jeannette, and Jordi. We left Madison in mid-morning on Friday, October 2. On our way down we made a brief stop at Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago to check out the Haymarket Monument and the graves of Lucy Parsons, Emma Goldman, Voltarine de Cleyre and many other radicals and people involved in labor struggles. It was my first trip to the cemetery since the Haymarket Memorial in 1986. It was a perfect day to visit such an important place in anarchist history.
My impressions of the events can best be organized in the following fashion. I list below the main scheduled events and will discuss those that I attended.
We arrive in Bloomington shortly after sundown. At this point most of the action (hanging around mostly) has moved from the meadow over to the Red Herring Coffeehouse / Bloomington Peace and Justice Center. Lots of hanging around and meeting new and old friends takes place throughout the evening. I get a chance to meet some people that until then I had only communicated with via INTERNET or the mail. The musical tone for the evening was set by a very under appreciated guy who was playing old IWW and labor songs on his guitar. I hung around for a little bit, then walked across the street to:
This was held at the county /city building (?) near the Peace and Justice Center. It was a community hearing on the drug war and its effect on civil liberties. Local activist Dan Combs was joined by an attorney from the Indiana Civil Liberties Union and another guy who I forget. The meeting room was packed with anarchists. I only saw part of the discussion and I thought it was pretty interesting. The folks talked about the zero tolerance policy and property seizure. We also talked about how to fight the laws against drug use and the silly drug war.
This was the day with the most events and the most attendees. I would guess that the number of participants for the day's activities was around 150 people. Due to our setup in the Meadow we got a lot of pedestrian traffic too. Literature tables were set up in the mid-morning. In addition to the tables devoted to stuff from the Indiana hosts, there were tables staffed by the folks from Anarchy magazine (Columbia. MO), Wind Chill Factor (Chicago), Perennial Books (Montague, MA), AYF of Cincinnati, the folks from Smile and Smut magazine, and a table devoted to Practical Anarchy and some madison anarchists.
I attended the workshop on electronic mail. The "One million villages" workshop was led by Eric of Dreamtime Village. About 25 people attended that one. I'm not sure if the one on women's self-defense was held. The computer networking workshop was led by Sid who has graced the anarchy-list with his posts. Other participants included a few people who are on anarchy-list, as well as several novices. This workshop was held in one of the university's computer labs. Imagine if you will, a gaggle of anarchists and anarcho-punks in a slick computer lab learning some stuff about computer networking! A great workshop.
Near fiasco here. Initial attendance at these workshops was sparse, thus the facilitators decided to combine the workshops into one big one (excluding the theater demo which was held elsewhere in the meadow), which did not work out. I was to facilitate the workshop on Urban Cooperatives. Eventually, some folks split off from the main combined workshop to focus on cooperatives. The general impression was that the CSA part of the workshop was poorly presented, which was too bad.
Tim Sutherlin, the presenter of the strategies workshop, had a great workshop planned, which would have been great with a smaller crowd. We saw part of it anyway, but it was rushed due to the merging of the workshops. Tim had us talk about several scenarios. What should anarchists do, for example, if they were working in coalition with a nonviolent activist group against a proposed nuclear reactor. Should the anarchists comply with the other groups' request that the anarchists' tactics be toned down? Another scenario was one that involved a local race for city commission which involved three candidates: a liberal, a progressive, and a right wing conservative. All in all, an interesting workshop with lots of potential.
The group that broke away to discuss housing had a fruitful talk. Jim from Wind Chill Factor in Chicago explained some various strategies to finance alternative housing projects. I relayed my experience living in a Madison co-op for two years.
The folks from Bloomington sponsored this meal which featured a veggie sub that was made up of a great vegetable / potato curry. Excellent! The serving line was set up next to all the literature tables. It was great to see passers-by staying for a while and helping themselves to some good chow. My only regret is that I didn't help with the preparation, but I couldn't cause I had to do the workshop. I'm a pretty good cook so the Bloomington anarchists can expect some good grub from me if they ever make it to Madison.
I attended most of the workshop on pirate radio. The workshop on home abortion and women's health was attended by over forty people and I heard it was very productive. The workshop on pirate radio was hosted by some folks from Detroit who ran a pirate radio station. The discussion focused mostly on the organizational and legal aspects of running a pirate station, but there was some discussion of technical stuff. This was a very successful workshop with constructive discussion and sharing of ideas.
Several bands played in the Meadow in the late afternoon, but the only one that stands out in my mind was Bloody Discharge from Cincinnati. This group featured two women on guitars and a guy on drums. They played some great punk with a good dose of folksy feminist humor. I'd still love to get a tape or record of their stuff. Later Saturday night a regional band, Walking Ruins, played at the Peace and Justice Center. They were pretty loud, but good.
A day of wrap-up with fewer people around. The day was cloudy and cooler.
There were some people doing silk-screening, but I don't know if the first workshop happened and I believe the non-monogamy workshop didn't happen. There was a large crowd for the anarchy and criminal justice workshop. Professor Hal Pepinsky and activist Bill Bredon were the moderators of this dynamic, stimulating, and somewhat problematic workshop. I got a lot out of this one, but there were a few problems. First, maybe too many people made for a discussion which meandered down some not so relevant paths. A few people didn't know when to shut up. I was a little disappointed that the discussion wandered onto the subject of the drug war (which I'm very concerned about) instead of dealing with the questions raised by prisons and a general belief in the need for justice, police, and punishment. The facilitators did an excellent job, but the obnoxious form of male anarchist behavior was present in some of the participants.
I was supposed to moderate the CSA workshop, but there wasn't much interest and there was a similar workshop going on at the same time, so I joined the squatting workshop. Once again this was a session on alternative housing and was very productive. I listened in on a few minutes of the food workshop. At that point they were talking permaculture and everybody seemed to be getting a lot out of the workshop.
I thought that the Gathering was rather successful overall. I got to meet people from all over the Midwest. Jordi, Jeannette and Mark also had a good time. I wish that more people could have made it--that would have given the workshops an added boost and maybe we would have seen more spontaneous workshops. It was a fun and educational weekend of "practical anarchy."
A longer version of this report will be featured in the Fall issue of my paper version of Practical Anarchy. Those who attended the Gathering and would like to add something please send stuff to me!