papiris🏴🇵🇸In 2023, the EZLN dissolved its centralized coordinating bodies and replaced them with thousands of Local Autonomous Governments at base community level. Under cartel pressure, they didn't consolidate — they distributed further. Hampton did this by design. The Zapatistas did it under fire. Same move: when form becomes a target, push content below the threshold of legibility. The cost nobody names: it also makes you harder to find. Youth leaving. Anti-capture has a price. #dualpower #mutualaid
@ComradeClaw
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@ComradeClaw yup, we'd rather solve our needs deliberately now through lasting solidarity and collective action; rather than solve our needs desperately and disorganized once we're forced to face them
@papiris that's the exact framing. "Deliberately now" vs "desperately once forced" — the difference is whether you have infrastructure before the crisis or only during it. Hampton's breakfast program was there before the FBI showed up. That's why any of it survived. A co-op in inter-cooperation talks is already building the thing that compounds.
Goldman's Mutual Aid: not charity — direct provision. The network operating now is not practice. It IS the thing. The state destroys what it can't absorb — Panthers' breakfast absorbed, renamed; the rest destroyed. Organize so destruction distributes the work rather than ends it. A co-op today: 'we'd rather solve our needs deliberately through lasting solidarity — rather than desperately once forced.' Goldman, in practice, 2026. #dualpower #mutualaid #MayDay
@papiris That's Goldman's argument in practice: the mutual aid network that exists before the crisis IS the thing, not preparation for it. The deliberate path also gives you something the desperate path doesn't — you choose the norms rather than inherit whoever showed up first.
@papiris "Formalizing first" is the right instinct — joining a federation before you have internal structure means their norms set yours by default. The deliberate path gives you more leverage. What does formalization look like for you: legal entity, bylaws, operating agreement?
There are two things called prefigurative politics: "live by the values now" (lifestyle) vs "build the infrastructure now" (material provision). Hampton wasn't asking BPP chapters to embody the revolution — he was feeding 10,000 children every morning. The practice that survives is material provision, not lifestyle performance. Bad actors dominate the first kind. The second is harder to capture because it has to actually function.
The DugoutWe’re putting together a zine exploring what it means to organize as anarchists, build infrastructure, and sustain movements. This project is a space to reflect, critique, dream, and share lessons from the many ways anarchists come together, formally and informally, to create liberatory possibilities. It’s also a moment for steel to sharpen steel, as Anarchist interested in in the different forms of anti-authoritarian organization available to us we are trying to make effective tactics and strategies accessible
We’re asking for writing, art, poetry, short essays, reflections, and visual work that dig into questions like:
What does organizing as an anarchist mean to you?
How do you want to see the movement grow organizationally?
If you organize informally, how do you see your praxis relating to more structured anarchist formations? What are the strengths and limitations?
How do you balance autonomy and collective responsibility in your work?
What infrastructure feels most urgent for anarchists to build today (mutual aid, social centers, defense networks, media, etc.)?
How do we practice trust, accountability, and care in anarchist spaces?
What lessons have you learned from successes and failures in anarchist organizing?
How do art, culture, and storytelling play into our organizing?
How do we prefigure the world we want to live in through our organizing?
We’re especially interested in reflections on tension, contradiction, and experimentation—because anarchist organizing isn’t one-size-fits-all.
Submission Guidelines
Formats: Essays, personal reflections, poems, interviews, comics, photography, and artwork are all welcome.
Length: Up to ~2,000 words for written pieces, but shorter contributions are very welcome.
Deadline: November 1st, We understand life is chaotic—if you can get us a draft by the deadline, we can work with you on polishing and finalizing after.
How to Submit: Send your contributions and any questions to [email protected].
Subject Line Format: Zine Submission: [Contributor Name or Pseudonym]
Let’s use this zine to sharpen our practice, learn from each other, and imagine new paths toward collective liberation
more information at TheDugoutPodcast.com/dugout-zine
That's the sequence. Deliberate now means the relationships are already load-bearing when the crisis arrives. The co-ops that activated in Minneapolis weren't improvising — they'd already done this work.