Listen to the Divinity School's Miroslav Volf in conversation with Kelly Corrigan and Rainn Wilson at the Aspen Ideas Festival. #lifeworthliving

https://www.lifeworthlivingbook.com/resources/what-makes-life-good-aspen-ideas-festival-feat-rainn-wilson-from-the-office

#MiroslavVolf #LiveWorthLiving #YDS #YaleDivinitySchool #AspenIdeasFestival #AIF

‘Friday Evening. SS Geelong
Dear Mother,
I’m writing this from nowhere, or somewhere, and under difficulties. The good steamship Geelong is rocking about and it is a bit hard to write.’

“It’s suddenly obvious. Of course. He’d taught himself to write left-handed. Seven months after the Battle of Pozières, he was writing again with the only hand he had.” — #JonathanGreen

#AIF 2/27 Btn. #Anzac / #SSGeelong / #Pozières <https://themonthly.com.au/issue/2023/april/jonathan-green/war-correspondence#mtr>

» 2022台灣產業 #AI 化大調查 https://t.co/lf3Vw2LI9j // #AIF 與電子時報、美商訊能集思智能科技、電通集團及KPMG等多家企業合作，進行「2022 產業AI化大調查」，並於2023年2月開始陸續發布調查結果...

» 產業AI化大調查 2022 摘要報告
https://t.co/bZTAELUUFx
#report

@HeavyMetalWings

Just to make sure we're clear on all this because these are important clarifications:

Yes we are patriotic and pro-democracy. And we would encourage anyone who doesn't like that vibe to organize elsewhere. We won't be offended and it won't stop us from organizing in solidarity with you whenever we're welcome. Our patriotism is aspirational, meaning that we feel we can only truly love our country by criticizing its faults and demanding it be better. But it's understandable that this won't sit well with everyone and we don't feel it needs to.

We can all fight for liberation together even if we don't agree with each other's symbols. At the end of the day we will fight against fascism alongside anyone as long as they're not a bigot or a fascist themselves.

We welcome liberals and leftists alike, but we are anti-police which may upset some liberals and we are anti-authoritarian which might upset *some* leftists.

AIF does not condone straight pride events (see above re: bigots) but we don't have control over every person who wants to call themselves a member, just as Antifa doesn't. At the end of the day we're just a label and an assortment of symbols that anyone can use if they want to. I can tell you that anyone attending a straight pride event in MA for any reason except counterprotesting would not be welcome with us.

We very much agree you don't have to join an org to fight fascism! If you want to that's great and we're here to help but it's 100% not required. And sorry if that was implied.

Apologies for using the word "chapter" for Antifa, the point is that there are local groups that organize with an "Antifa" label and they are distinct from other groups such as, say, an #AIF group. Not sure what to call it but the intent was simply to make the distinction that there are other groups that may be local to people that they can join if, for example, patriotism is not their thing.

Also all opinions are individual, we are not a monolith, etc etc disclaimers

Wondering how to start getting involved in #communityDefense and #antifascism ?

Here is our incomplete guide to how to get started! Opinions are our own, and are incomplete. Other orgs with advice, please chime in if there's anything we're missing or getting particularly wrong.

Generally speaking, there are three options:
1. Find and join an existing anti-fascist group in your area (e.g. join your local #Antifa or #AmericanIronFront/ #AIF )
2. Start a new branch of an existing "style" of anti-fascist group in your area (e.g. create a new chapter of Antifa)
3. Make a new group all your own!

We'll go into the details on how each option might look for you.

:ironfront: Joining an Existing Local Group :ironfront:

The first step to joining a local group is finding a group to join. You can do this in a couple of ways, but the easiest two are to look on social media until you find a group that is posting about doing things in your area, or to start going to events and looking for who the organizers are, and picking up materials or getting information from them about how you might be able to join.

There are many different types of anti-fascist groups, so it's important to research a group you are interested in before committing too hard to it. Because of the non-authoritarian structure of most groups, local chapters are free to do their own thing and you may find that, for example, your local chapter of Antifa may look very different than the local chapter of Antifa somewhere else. Same with local chapters of AIF.

If the group you're interested in and has a social media presence, you can check their posts online to see what kind of style of organizing they are doing. Are they mostly starting fights with fascists? Are they mostly flyering, or does it seem like they don't ever do anything in the real world and mostly just post online? All these types of groups and more exist so checking them out beforehand can give you an idea of what types of actions you might expect if you were to get involved with that group. Keep in mind however, that many groups limit what they post online for security purposes so you may also not be getting the full picture.

Keep an eye out for bigoted antifascist groups as well. They do exist, and of course you want to avoid these. Besides the obvious reason that anti-fascist organizing and bigotry are at odds, you're likely to notice that if there are multiple groups in your area, the other groups will avoid an exclude groups that have bigoted views, and thus those groups are more likely to be lone groups that don't get as much done. Don't fall for the trap of feeling like you can "fix" a group that has problems with bigotry. It's not worth it.

You will also probably notice that your local groups require a certain amount of introduction and getting to know you before really including you in any of their organization. This is a natural and prudent response to the massive amount of attempted infiltration from right wing groups and police. Leftist groups are used to being oppressed by the state, and they are understandably very cautious. You will probably be expected to undergo some sort of vetting process to prove that you are not a fascist or a fed, and that is generally a good sign. If you are not expected to undergo this process at some point and are able to access the identities or other information about the organizers of the group without any sort of preamble, then that should be a red flag.

Likewise, we strongly suggest taking measures to protect your own identity while you are doing anti-fascist organizing. Fascists are not opposed to doxing and harassing anti-fascist protesters, so taking a few basic steps to obscure your identity such as using a separate and anonymous email address (we recommend proton mail) and not using your real name are recommended. Don't give personal details like your name, phone number, or home address to a group, and if they ask for them that is also a red flag.

But what if there are no local groups in my area, or the ones in my area have lots of red flags?

Then you can move on to option two...

:ironfront: Creating a New Branch of an Existing "Style" of Anti-fascist Group :ironfront:

Different national groups provide different levels of support for creating a new chapter, but in general don't expect any kind of financial or material support. However, what a national group can provide is advice, connection to members in other locations, and useful digital materials for organizing, such as graphical designs for banners, flyers, and possibly detailed guides on how to do certain things.

Name recognition can be another reason to start a branch of an existing group. For example, antifa is a recognizable name that most people associate with anti-fascist organizing, so organizing an antifa group is a good way to let people know what you are trying to be about.

#AIF is newer and we're less likely to have an existing chapter, but you can join our discord to figure out if one already exists.

It's important to be aware that if there is an existing branch of a group in your area and you are organizing another branch, that may cause some conflict. Use your best judgment about whether that's the case. If it is, we'd recommend finding some way to distinguish yourself with a different naming convention.

Still not happy with your options? Then it's time to...

:ironfront: Make a new group all your own! :ironfront:

Anyone, and -- we cannot stress this enough -- literally anyone can start an anti-fascist group. There are multiple guides online for ways to get started, or you can contact one of the anti-fascist organizations that you have already found in your research for advice, but all that anti-fascist organization really takes is a commitment to:

1. Track fascists in your area through some kind of intelligence gathering process, and

2. Make those fascists' lives difficult.

This could literally just be keeping tabs on which local politicians have fascist connections and showing up at all their public events to let everyone know about that. It could be educating your classmates on which members of your school board are fascist and urging them to advocate at their parents to elect different school board members. It could be keeping an eye out on social media for events organized by fascists in your area and bringing a group of friends to counter protest those events.

Typically, if you're thinking about who you might need in your group, an important thing to consider is that there's both an online component and an in-person component to anti-fascist organizing. Someone needs to be online running the social media, doing research on fascists, and making sure that everyone can communicate with everyone else, while other people need to be out on the street meeting folks in person, showing up to events, posting flyers, and doing other in-person activities. Having both these elements, or collaborating with another group that supplies one or the other of these elements, is important for success.

Mutual aid can also be anti-facist organizing. Start a local community fridge, winter clothing drive, program to help the elderly, etc. These are a bit beyond the scope of this particular post, but you will find many resources online for how to start a mutual aid organization. Our only advice is to ask for help, start small, and not expand beyond what you feel you can support in any given time. The point of these activities is to build community connections, and improve the ability of your local community to help each other out in times of crisis.

**

It may feel like a lot, but you can do it. And in doing it, you can help save our country from fascism. So what are you waiting for? Get started!

We are always happy to give what advice we can, so if this still feels daunting but you want to get involved, reply to this post with your questions and we will do our best to answer!

#antifascist #fuckTERFs #BLM #LGBTQRights #TransRights #SocialJustice #RacialJustice #ReproductiveJustice #feminist #feminism