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A new world is possible and not just in our hearts. Anarchic Agreements is a quintessential field guide for the revolution, answering the practical questions often left out of works of political theory and philosophy.
How do leaderless groups organize? How might they create constitutions, balance power and write protocols? How do group cultures and institutions maintain coalitions? This urgent and inspiring how-to is the product of more than twenty years of research. Designed explicitly for everyday use, it contains lived examples, illustrations throughout, and text from current horizontally organized constitutions. These documents illustrate the never-ending process of developing community and keeping collaborations alive in the fairest ways possible. Written by dedicated anarchist scholars and organizers, and based on the widely popular Anarchic Agreements pamphlet series, this book facilitates grassroots activism and provides methods to improve and streamline decision making. It is an inspiring celebration of the novel, complex and flexible constitutions Anarchists have created over time. This book shows how to realize another world, collectively without domination, while leaving the future open to infinite other possibilities.
“Anarchic Agreements is a kind of how-to offering about something not often codified at all, much less with systematic and comprehensive care—forming effective groups, and then, groups of groups, consistently with anarchist aspirations and insights. It addresses the nitty gritty of working well together, a focus that everyone who wants a better world ought to prioritize.”
—Michael Albert
“I’ve been using the tools and principles in the Anarchic Agreements pamphlets—here at last as one book, with more besides—since 2017. The book works with campaign groups, charities, housing co-ops, worker’s co-ops and all sorts of organisations and committees with an aspiration to be less hierarchical or to work better with volunteers. Making agreements that are consensual, changeable and conscious is the keystone for making groups that last. It can also be a tonic for groups that have gone stale, inherited old rules or need a new shared vocabulary to move from a vision of the future to the real thing.”
—Jed Picksley, community organiser, trainer, activist, and permaculturist
“Informed and informative, this is a rare and much needed response to the often simplistic approaches to anarchist organising. For every piece of practical advice useful to organisers, there’s an equally valuable reflection on the complexities of working together without hierarchies. I couldn’t recommend this more highly for newcomers to horizontal organising—and I’d make the case that it should be mandatory reading for anarchist veterans!”
—Matthew Wilson, author of Rules Without Rulers
Acknowledgements
Part 1
How to Build Durable Groups
Introduction
Key principles
Consensual
Changeable
Conscious
Key areas of constitutionalising
What is the group?
How are decisions made?
How do we get things done?
What policies do we need?
How can we make the group empowering?
Part 2
How to Build Durable Coalitions
Challenges for coalitions
Constitutionalising: key questions
How will you organise yourselves?
How will you make decisions?
Who are the decision-making members?
How will you share information?
What policies and ‘rules’ do you need?
Building your coalition culture
Conclusion: Connections within a wider movement
Further reading
Appendix 1: Sample Constitutional Texts
1. Declarations
2. Institutions
3. Decision making procedures
4. Rules and rule making
Appendix 2: Putting it all into practice