The WSM - Who We Are, What We're For..
Who We Are, What We're For..
It's one of anarchism's fundamental claims that it's possible to organise in an effective manner without submitting to authority. Not only that, but we believe that it's more effective than organising in a hierarchial manner as it makes use of everybody's talents and minimises the alientation that comes with decisions being made over your head. That's why we don't have a leadership - we think it's ineffective.
One of the obvious consequences of anarchism's rejection of leaders is the need for people to act for themselves. This doesn't mean acting alone - far from it - anarchism is all for collective action as being clearly a more effective means of changing society. But we think it vital that people participate in the decisions that affect them and collectively take action to improve their situation. This direct action stands in marked contrast to appeals to political leaders and their rich friends. It's not in their interests to change the make up of society so we'll have to create enough pressure in order to achieve the change ourselves.
All members of the WSM have an input into making policy and all members participate in the organisation's activities. The activities the WSM are involved in straddle major national campaigns such as Shell-to-Sea and against the USA's use of Shannon to occupy Iraq . We've also members participating in the trade unions, anti-racist groups such as Residents against Racism, the anti-G8 protests of last summer, and local neighbourhood residents' groups. The intensity and number of members involved varies with the strength of the campaign, how widely our activities are spread, and how important an issue is at any one time.
We are especially concerned with promoting anarchist ideas within these campaigns so that people will have practical examples of libertarian methods as well as more broadly with this newspaper, our magazine and website. The more workers get used to acting for ourselves in the here and now, the easier we will be able to run society in the future.
Our primary reason for existence is to promote the ideas of anarchism. As stated in Thinking About Anarchism, this encompasses a critique of capitalist society, a strategy for changing it, and a vision for a future based on freedom, equality and solidarity. Capitalism isn't about to fall by itself. It's going to need a lot of help from workers from every area of life to replace it with a libertarian socialist world. We hope that those of you attracted to libertarian methods will join with us in the struggle for a free society.