Points of Unity

Andrew showed me this.

www.nornc.org

I like their Points of Unity. Sounds like pretty much what we believe I think. Think about these? Talk with each other about them? If we can come up with common principles to work around and help us in our problem solving it might make things even easier than they already are for us.

1. A rejection of Capitalism¹, Imperialism², and the State³;

2. Resist the commodification⁴ of our shared and living Earth;

3. Organize on the principles of decentralization⁵, autonomy⁶, sustainability⁷, and mutual aid⁸;

4. Work to end all relationships of domination and subjugation, including but not limited to those rooted in patriarchy⁹, race¹⁰, class¹¹, and homophobia¹²;

5. Oppose the police¹³ and prison-industrial complex¹⁴, and maintain solidarity¹⁵ with all targets of state repression;

6. Directly confront systems of oppression¹⁶, and respect the need for a diversity of tactics¹⁷.

1Capitalism: A Capitalist system values profit and material greed above everything else. The bosses own the machines and coerce profits out of the workers. They use their monopoly on wealth and control over institutions of force (the police) to pay the lowest possible ‘wages’. Capitalism is a distortion of the market to provide privileges to one class at everyone elses’ expense. This is the current economic system in almost the entire world.

2Imperialism: When one nation, state, or economic system dominates another. Imperialism is at the heart of the current Bush administration’s policies.

3The State: A political organization that exists to support the ruling class by managing and policing people. The state is considered by most, though not by us, as the only modern institution that may legitimately use violence to achieve its goals, via the military and the police. The relationship between capitalism and the state can be clearly seen in the recent Enron and Halliburton scandals.

4Commodification: What happens when those things we share in common, like air, land, water, experience, emotions, and love, are appropriated by business and sold back to us. For example, the water from the Great Lakes which is being taken by Nestle and sold at a profit to consumers in their bottled water (Ice Mountain, Perrier, Poland Springs, Calistoga).

5Decentralization: The principle that we are happiest, healthiest, and most free, when we control our own local institutions. The principle of decentralization means that no one in Washington D.C. should be controlling folks in Saint Paul, or be controlled by them.

6Autonomy: The principle that our lives are most just, and most enjoyable, when we are able to live by the laws we give ourselves. The word comes from ancient Greek, and means ‘the law of the self.’

7 Sustainability: The principle that our societies must live in the world without destroying it. Our practices must be able to be continued forever, not only for the next thirty years (before we asphyxiate ourselves or our children).

8Mutual Aid: One of the oldest principles of anarchist organizing, mutual aid is the principle that we are most effective, autonomous, and sustainable when we help each other achieve our aims without dominating each other. The famous anarchist scientist Peter Kropotkin wrote a famous and still influential book in which he pointed out that Mutual Aid is a “factor in evolution.” Not all of life is reducible to the principle of the ’survival of the fittest,’ and a ‘war of each against all.’

9Patriarchy: The ‘rule of the fathers,’ a social habit in which only certain men have authority, and where masculine qualities are valued over feminine ones. People are punished for failing to live within assigned gender roles. We often find patriarchy even in oppositional movements, for instance whenever a movement is dominated by a few well-meaning, educated, white, men.

10Race: There is no scientific basis for the concept of race, but it dominates our interactions, even when all the people in a single room are of ‘one race.’ Race and skin color help to determine your power in society.

11Class: A term referring to the position of economic groups in society. Your power in society and over your own life is directly related to your economic situation.

12Homophobia: Hatred of or discomfort with anything aside from prescribed heterosexual norms. Rooted in sexism, a fear of difference, and a cultural aversion to sexuality.

13Police: A group of working class people who have sold their loyalty to the state. They are paid to enforce existing power structures through the use of violence. The police as a class are enemies of any movement for liberation.

14Prison-Industrial Complex: A modern partnership between the State and Capital. Prisons punish rather than heal. The Prison-Industrial Complex imprisons the most rebellious and oppressed communities in our country, and then holds them in for-profit prisons, both public and private, that taxpayers are forced to financially support. The prisoners are then forced to labor (for free or literally pennies an hour) to create commodities for sale by the capitalists. See also, “Prison Blues” Jeans.

15Solidarity: The support we lend to others in fighting for a better world, whether our support is material, political, or emotional. Solidarity is occasionally summed up in the slogan, “An injury to one is an injury to all.”

16Systems of Oppression: Any of the numerous systems that take their strength from the domination and subjugation of others.

17Diversity of Tactics: A tactic is a practice intended to achieve a goal. There may be many ways to ’skin a cat,’ and this principle insists that while we may choose to identify or practice only one type of tactic, we leave the policing of tactics to the police. We will not attack our sisters and brothers for using tactics that are not our own. Having a diversity of tactics means we are stronger overall.