Iowa City

My stop in Iowa City was organized by the good folks over at the Wild Rose Collective. It was great to reconnect with a sister organization in the project of developing a nationwide organization. The Wild Rose Collective have been instrumental in helping to coordinate much of the national dialogue between groups. So, being able to spend a little time with some of their members talking about the process of regroupment has been very helpful.

I was surprised immediately at how small Iowa City really is. I had thought I was headed to a city about the size of Rochester. But it's actually a small fraction of that size, which the local college making up much of the local population.

The talk however, had just over 20 people at it, making it larger than some others. There was local media there from the Daily Iowan. It was generally well organized and went really smoothly. It was good to be able to direct people to join the local organization if they agreed with the perspectives being shared, rather than advocating the creation of something totally new. And, in a great surprise the audience included by half-brother and his sister who both work with Ajax, a long-time anarchist internet personality that I've known via MYSPACE! (yea, I'm that old!)

Of course an O'Malley family reunion meant staying out late and up until around 5am partying. This didn't mean good things for the drive to Milwaukee the next day!

St. Louis

Today begins my rapid fire end of the tour. The next few days will be right on top of each other! Today I'm in St. Louis, tomorrow Iowa City, the next day Milwaukee, the next Chicago. I'm getting ready to pass out in my bed though.

In St. Louis the stop was coordinated by another comrade from the Worker Solidarity Alliance, who had actually attended the stop in El Paso as well. The talk was in a space called the World Community Center that seemed like a catch-all space for various social justice organizations in the city. 

There were just under 20 people at this talk. The talk went very smoothly, and didn't really get much push back. It seemed like a few people there were looking for more of an introduction to anarchism than to especifismo. 

There was a brief question about "especifismo's critique of industrial civilization". This was confusing to me for a couple of reasons. First, the language sounded like it was coming from a primitivist perspective, but when I said that was told that I was misunderstanding. Second, I think the question seems to come from the notion that especifismo is like a new suffix to anarcho-. It's as if we are advocating for an anarcho-especifismo rather than especifismo as it's own theory of the role of revolutionary anarchist organizing, which is definitely not the intention. 

I'm not actually sure if there are especifista groups that would call themselves anything other than anarchist communists. But, if there are, I've never seen them. 

Salt Lake City

Being in Salt Lake City was surreal. I grew up here for much of my childhood. The city has developed a ton since last I was there. There is now an above-ground light rail line running down one of the streets I used to live on. The neighborhood I grew up in has turned into a sort of hip neighborhood rather than the fairly sketchy place it was when I was there.

This talk was at the public library (which was a beautiful space!). It was put on by a new, platformist-influence group calling themselves the Wasatch Anarchist Organization. The talk was pretty small. As it turned out many people that would have otherwise been there were downstate involved in an anti-tar sands pipeline action.

Small conversations though, allow for such a more participatory presentation. Being able to really engage in conversation with people rather than just present was a great switch. The folks there seemed really solid, and I hope that we'll stay connected through the process of creating our national organization.

I didn't get as much of a chance to connect with the organizers of this talk though, as I spent much of the time there exploring neighborhoods that I remembered as a child.

Seattle

After Portland, I think I ran into Seattle a little cocky. The event went so well in Portland that I didn't really prepare for many of the specifics that may come up in Seattle, didn't have some of the conversations about the local context that I had in other cities, and didn't really reflect on the anarchist history of those cities as I knew them. So, it doesn't surprise me that this talk didn't go quite as well. Well, that and it seems there were some people there with a preconceived notion of who I am and what I stand for.

The talk was organized by an old friend of mine who had been involved in Common Action and is now a member of the Seattle Solidarity Network. The talk was held at the Black Coffee Co-op and had about 30 people in attendance.

This more than any other talk was one that I was intimidated by the audience. Not because of the many people there that disagreed with my perspectives, but because of the presence of my friend Marie Trigona, whose writing and video work during a decade of involvement with the anarchist media project Grupo Alavio has informed much of my own understanding of the movements of Argentina.

One major conversation that was raised during the discussion was about the revolutionary potential of some of the major mainstream unions in the US versus the Industrial Workers of the World. In their current form I don't think either are likely to bring us closer to revolution. But, one statement of mine was certainly taken out of context there and spread around a bit. I had said that given their size that if there was a serious shift in internal ideology that the 2 million member Service Employees International Union would obviously have greater revolutionary potential given it's size. This was then quoted as "the SEIU is more revolutionary than the IWW."

Here is what I think we need: massive workers movements and their self-managed, self-directed, sustainable worker organizations that understands themselves as a tool of class struggle for all working people, including their members, and engage in militant industrial strategy (note: not simply workplace action). The SEIU is obviously a long ways off here. They've got sustainable. They've even got massive. Work self-directed? Not really. Engaged in class struggle? Not as the basis of their work and not militantly. Large scale industrial strategy? Inconsistently, although I'm more excited by the fast food organizing than my more purist friends.

What about the IWW? Worker self-managed? Maybe. They are certainly internally democratic. But so many of the members are activists disconnected from workplaces that it's hard to say it's worker self-managed. Massive? Clearly not. Has a class struggle orientation and readiness for militant organizing. Absolutely. Sustainable? Not really. In fact sometimes there are ideological stances taken to maintain a purity of revolutionary thought rather than allow for serious sustained growth. I'd rather see the IWW act as a union than an anarchist and socialist history club. The decisions that I see tell me that in some places that transition is happening and in most places, it remains a social club for revolutionaries.

So does this mean I give up on both of them? No, it means that I give up on neither of them. But they both have serious work to do if they intend to be organizations that move us towards a revolutionary tomorrow.

At the end of the day, this discussion has been had hundreds of times over. Rather than outing one another for strategic disagreements here, I think as anarchists we need to develop a strategy for developing labor organization and militancy that incorporates engagement in both mainstream unions and the IWW.

Beyond the talk though, Seattle was great to be able to reconnect with Marie and relax for a couple of days. Hanging out on a porch near the beach grilling food, drinking wine, and learning a ton in great conversation. That is exactly what vacation is about, and really should just be what life is.

Marie also pointed out a real problem with my presentation, which I made a point to incorporate into future talks. The analysis that I was offering about the build up to the factory occupations didn't include any mention of the piqueteros! Utter failure on my part. Go read up on the piqueteros! 

Portland

The stop in Portland was a huge success. Around 80 people were packed into the Red and Black Cafe for this talk. I feel like the presentation was stronger than it had been in other stops, and was received in great ways with a pretty large grouping of people interested in joining a nationwide anarchist organization and building a local group based on especifist thought.

It's not shocking how strong this event was. The Red and Black Cafe is a space that has a long history of great talks like this and serves as an important resource for Portland's anarchist community. The Institute for Anarchist Studies co-sponsored the event and had their board coming into town for a meeting in the next few days. Two former members of Rochester Red and Black live in Portland now and helped to do the on-the-ground organizing for this event. And there were three spots on KBOO local community radio helping to pump the event - one by me, one by another member of Rochester Red and Black, and another with Jeff Shantz about anarchist organizing. The strength of the local IWW was apparent with lots of their membership in the room and participating in the conversation. There was at least one former member of the past northwest regional anarchist federation, Common Action.

The conversation here seemed to focus very much on how the process of social insertion into broader movements can help to strengthen anarchist ideals and organizing skill. The notion of building depth of connection in communities was something that I raised a handful of times and that was echoed by others in the room.

I left Portland really excited for the remainder of the talk and the possibilities that the tour has for helping us to build a stronger nationwide anarchist organization in the US.

Eureka

Eureka California was a really rapid stop for me. The drive from San Jose is a long one, and I've got to be in Portland, Oregon the next day which is also a long drive.

The talk here was put on by the Humboldt Grassroots, a county-wide organization of Anarchists Communists. They're a local affiliate of the Anarkismo editorial board and have a warehouse space in Eureka with what they call the Rhizome Infoshop. They are also the key organizers of the Humboldt Anarchist Bookfair each year, which sounds like it makes some great connections in town.

The talk had around 10 people attending and was overall a very positive conversation. It seemed like an in-depth conversation on especifismo was something that few people there had attended before. But, there were a couple of Humboldt Grassroots folk that already had some understanding of the ideas and that have previously been in contact with the various Class Struggle Anarchist groups in the US. It seems like that connection has gotten a bit weaker in the time that the In Our Hearts Network has been undergoing it's rapprochment process.

Their upcoming Anarchist bookfair would be a great place to help revive this connection by sending some folks engaged in the rapprochment process to talk through what's been accomplished so far with them.

San Jose

The San Jose talk was the largest yet, with over 30 people in attendance. The talk was organized by the South Bay IWW and was held at the San Jose Peace and Justice Center. As is becoming a really common occurrence at these talks, there was another member of the Worker Solidarity Alliance present, Tom Wetzel. It's been exciting to have the WSA be a common element of many of the talks! There was also a recently confirmed member of Miami Autonomy and Solidarity in the room, which is great since this tour wasn't able to go all the way to Miami. That member of MAS is the author of the article "Especifismo: The Anarchist Praxis of Building Popular Movements and Revolutionary Organization in South America." That article has really been the basis of a large chunk of the presentation, and is one that I really wish I had brought printed versions with me to each stop around the country!

It was at this conversation that I finally began feeling like I had a pretty comfortable rap down for the presentation. The presentation has been changing slightly at each stop based on the different crowds and this one was no different.

This presentation had a larger portion of people that were there out of an interest in organizing worker cooperatives. It's probably silly that I was surprised by this, given that time I spent around cooperatives in Argentina is much of the premise of the talk. But, my reflection on the form of workplace cooperatives has been one that doesn't really prioritize the creation of cooperatives as the best way to challenge capitalism - or even to establish worker democracy internal to capitalist economies.

To me, cooperatives are a tool. Without a similar degree of class consciousness and without an orientation of the cooperative as a tool to further a broad class struggle in favor of worldwide worker and community self-management, I find cooperatives can often simply be small businesses with multiple owners rather than anti-capitalist counter-economies. So, I've increasingly found myself thinking of cooperatives as something I'm excited about only when they're created as part of a larger class struggle. I can think now of two forms in which cooperatives can be just that: 1) offensive expropriation of a workplace away from capitalist ownership and 2) as part of an survival program initiated by unemployed workers movements.

There were some really friendly people here building a very new IWW branch in San Jose. I think they'll be very successful based on their ability to be good with new folks in town! On to Eureka!

Los Angeles

It was only a few days before the Los Angeles stop, and there wasn't really any information yet on where exactly the stop would be or any publicity out. So, I was starting to get worried that this stop wouldn't happen at all. Luckily, a local member of the Worker Solidarity Alliance saved the day, got it set up, and got some folks out to take part in the conversation.

There were a couple of people there that have been working with the Institute for Anarchist Studies and who were also previously members of Amanecer in the Bay Area. Most of the people in the room belonged to a group called the Free Association of Anarchists. The folks in the FAA claimed after hearing this talk that they have been effectively been acting as an especifist organization without having the language to self-describe in this way. It seems to me that they seem relatively disconnected from the broader class struggle anarchist groupings in the country and that this has created some fairly significant differences with their aims and principles than would be seen today in many other class struggle anarchist organizations in the US. I hope that from this talk that we can keep in better touch with them and possibly begin some conversations about the different approaches to anarchist organization and especifismo that are manifesting around the country.

In this discussion, I again found myself in the increasingly familiar territory of being intimidated by the presence of more informed individuals than myself. But, I'm starting to get more comfortable with the idea that a speaking tour doesn't need to present me as an expert, but as someone brought in to provoke and organize a conversation around.

One of those great conversations that came up was about how similar or different platformism and especifismo are. My answer, as has been my answer in the past, is that in effect I find they are nearly synonymous. As I think about this answer more, I find that I certainly don't think that The Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists is the same as the concepts of especifismo. But, that the practices of people that now call themselves platfomists essentially ends up being identical to especifismo.

In the Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro's recent release "Social Anarchism and Organization" says "The Platform advocates an anarchist organization, at the political level, that acts in the midst of social movements, a social level, and emphasizes the role of active minority of the anarchist organization." And further that "[the Platform] is an important document and has considerable influence in especifismo."

But they do also go on to say: "However, we do not believe that especifismo is the same thing as Platformism".

The details of the platform itself express a form of organization that I think very few platformists today would argue for - likely for many of the same reasons as the FARJ differentiates especifismo from the Platform. The Platform was specifically constructed from the experience of military action in a revolutionary period. Of course, I have met almost no platformists who argue that we should take on the draft organizational structure offered in the Platform as a way to organize. Instead, what I suppose we could call neo-platformists tend to water the ideas in the Platform down to the more essential components of the necessity of an explicitly anarchist organization built on a unity of theory and practice. Especifismo makes the important further arguments about the need for social insertion and the relationship between the revolutionary anarchist organization and the social movements while coming from a perspective of movement building in times that are not militarily revolutionary. All of these are elements that nearly every platformist I've met agrees with.

So, in my experience many of the people that call themselves platfomists are essentially especifista in their orientation while simultaneously being inspired and influenced by the Platform - just like the FARJ say in their experience. Functionally to me, this means that these traditions and terms in the context of the United States have such close similarities and unity that treating them as the same is helpful in an organizing context. However, in an internal process of theory developing and political education, I can certainly see the value in showing the distinctions to help us all have a more developed understanding of the terms that we use.

More than anything, at this stop in Los Angeles (with around 10 people in attendance), I was glad to have a conversation that challenged my admittedly introductory level understanding of especifismo. Most of the conversations at this point have remained at that introductory level, and this one went into conversations that I think any organization of anarchists should be having!

El Paso

In El Paso the talk was set up by Sarah, a comrade that I know from the Worker Solidarity Alliance, one of the other organizations involved in the formation of a nationwide anarchist organization. The talk was scheduled to be held at Maternidad de Luz, a midwifery school in El Paso where Sarah is working.

The first thing that was pretty apparent on arriving in El Paso was that this talk would certainly be better there if done in Spanish. From most of the places that I went, it seemed as though Spanish was the language people assumed you knew, and maybe you'd also speak English. While I have ok Spanish, I don't think that it's strong enough to give this presentation in Spanish.

The group that attended the talk was also a really great group of some people that had a strong understanding of anarchism and others that were there to learn more about the idea. From the talks I had with Sarah leading up to the presentation, it seemed like there was a pretty light presence of an organized radical left in El Paso. There were a couple of folks that showed up who had been involved in Occupy El Paso. There was also a couple that had been engaged in indigenous community organizing in Minnesota that were present, which led to some great conversation. Another member of the WSA was also there from St. Louis, which gave him an opportunity to see how the talk goes before we do the same thing in St. Louis later this month.

Maternidad de Luz was a great place for the presentation and really was the perfect size. A couple of new, and really valuable conversations came up at this presentation that weren't raised previously. First was really a question of the efficacy of consensus-based organizing. And, the further west I go, the more I expect this to be a major point of contention. So, I'm glad to start practicing how to talk more effectively about this now.

Second, and this conversation actually happened a lot more after the presentation than it did during the presentation, was about the importance of nationalism or anti-nationalism in anti-colonial and anti-occupation struggles. It was particularly relevant as it came to the question of indigenous autonomy struggles in North America.

To me, this presented much the same situation as working with other organizations of marginalized and oppressed folks in the United States and really points to the strength and flexibility of especifismo. When anarchists have their own organized group connected to struggles it helps us to engage in imminently important struggles that are far from perfect (from our perspectives) while still maintaining our own positions and not giving into a watered down revolutionary outlook. So, in the midst of anti-colonial struggles, it seems apparent to me that anarchists should certainly organize against the aspects of domination -- cultural, political, economic -- that all impose themselves on colonized people both as an immediate part of the anti-colonial struggle. But the key is to be in the position to point out the weaknesses of simple nationalism -- a propensity to empower an elite class within the previously dominated people, to enact many of the same styles of economic and political organization as the previous colonizers, and to avoid acknowledging important power differentials internal to the colonized peoples.

While I don't have a ton of information and understanding about anti-colonial struggles, I do have a pretty comfortable working knowledge of the Irish nationalist and republican movements. And, that history, I think very clearly points to the weaknesses of a purely nationalist strategy or even of a two-stage revolutionary process (nationalist then communist for instance). And to ignore the potentials for an anarcho-communist revolution during an anti-colonial struggle seems to me very similar to saying something like "We'll deal with patriarchy after the revolution."

Again though, I'll admit my own weakness on these questions and hope that this can help to spawn a conversation in discussion that we can further develop our analysis on this question.

Austin

In Austin, I spoke at MonkeyWrench Books, a long time anarchist bookstore that apparently was set up by a couple that have helped set up a number of anarchist bookstores across the country.

This talk was coordinated by Rogue, a long-time organizer in the class struggle anarchist crew. Most recently, I met her as a member of Common Action when she was still living in Seattle, WA. Not long before I came into Austin she had apparently given a talk in Austin that you can listen to here. She also co-edited Queering Anarchism: Addressing and Undressing Power and Desire. As you can imagine, I was rolling into town a little intimidated. Rogue could likely give a better presentation on the topic of why anarchists should create their own organization than I could. Luckily when I arrived in town she took me to a nearby bar and we got a couple of drinks, which certainly helped me to loosen up before the presentation.

The talk here was also recorded by Allan Campbell and you can listen to it here. The crowd here was really mixed in terms of understanding of anarchism and involvement in local social movements. There were a couple of people there that didn't have much of a grasp of anarchism as itself and then others that had already incorporated these ideas some into their organizing within local movements. I didn't get a great chance to hear much about the organizing that many people were doing, although one of the people that helped to set up this stop spoke with me some about his organizing with a group called Grassroots Leadership, which seems similar in many ways to Chattanooga Organized for Change. 

One of the great points of conversation that came up near the end of the talk was about whether or not it was essential, valuable, or important to specifically connect our work to the word anarchism rather than simply incorporate many of the ideas and principles into our work on the day to day. There was certainly no great answer to this question, as it's obviously something that varies by situation. While in some cities, there have been very counter-productive anarchist strategies that have often further separated anarchist ideas from the communities most directly and heavily impacted by capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy. 

I do think however that it's important that someone, not necessarily everyone be involved in reclaiming the history of anarchist ideas, the inspiration of many of our heroes and movements, and the road-map of struggle that they've helped to lay out for us. To lose the word anarchism could very easily lose us the connection to many ideas, principles, and histories and allow the ideas of anarchism to slowly be watered down into a much weaker "radicalism". And, I think it's a term that needs to be re-captured by those that actually hold a connection to the long tradition of class struggle anarchism so that those ideas can't so easily be manipulated by opportunists. But, clearly the conversation about when and how to use the word anarchism is clearly important given the very mixed history that term has in different parts of the country today. 

Chattanooga

Only about an hour drive from Knoxville, the day I presented in Chattanooga allowed for a real slow day to drive and hang out with the host of the Chattanooga stop. This turned out to be a great opportunity to learn a bunch about the history of the city and the context of current social movements there.

This stop was coordinated by a man that is well connected to a number of other great organizers in town. The talk had about 15 people attend, and they were nearly all organizers involved in a variety of efforts in the city. Two social movement groups present were particularly well represented. Chattanooga Organized for Action is an organization that works to help develop the power and organization of everyday people from marginalized and oppressed communities.  Their efforts to organize alongside tenants in public housing was particularly exciting to me as it related to past efforts of Buffalo Tenants United. Their model of offering their efforts and resources as a catalyst to help with the development of organizations of marginalized and oppressed peoples' was itself a model that I think deserves a lot of thought and attention. Concerned Citizens for Justice also had a number of members in the room. CCJ was partly founded by Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin before he moved to Memphis and were really excited about the success of a recent march against the acquittal of George Zimmerman. CCJ also does work towards the direct organizing and empowerment of marginalized and oppressed communities and were having some great conversations about potential upcoming campaigns with public housing tenants while I was there. There were also some members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization there who seemed to mostly be engaged in CCJ. They had been pretty heavily involved in trips to Jackson to help with the election of Chokwe Lumumba. Leaving here I was hopeful to spend some time in Jackson, Mississippi to see what the situation there was like on the ground.

The presentation itself went far better than the stop in Knoxville. I felt more confident and tried to squeeze in less information. Also, the entire room had a fairly strong working knowledge of anarchism and class struggle anarchism specifically. It seems like there is a strong group of a few people there that would be interested in forming a local anarchist organization, given the right resources and support. A lot of the conversation after the presentation focused on details about the growing nationwide anarchist organization. Some of the questions I was in a position to answer based off of our ratified constitution. Some of the questions were unanswerable, as they have not been collectively figured out yet.

Because many people in the room were organizers, the notion and importance of especifismo wasn't hard to pass on to them. Many were radicals involved in broader movements alongside reformist and more moderate elements.

The day I was in Chattanooga, the front page article of the paper was also one of the most absurd stories I had ever seen. Apparently Volkswagen is planning to expand an auto-factory that they have in the area. But, VW has said they would only make this expansion if the factory would be represented by the United Auto Workers as a closed union shop. Amazingly, conservative activists on the ground were coordinating efforts to sop the expansion by VW and the creation of many jobs in the area because of the expectation that those jobs would be union! Apparently in the South it isn't necessary for the right wing to couch their anti-unionism in anything at all. Just outright anti-unionism even in the face of a business that wants the union there and the promise of creating lots of jobs. Just amazing.

Knoxville

Yesterday was the first presentation of the Building Revolutionary Anarchism tour, and honestly it didn't go great from my end. It's been about 2 years since the last time I did this presentation, and I really came into the conversation feeling like I didn't need any serious preparation. The presentation ended up being a bit scattered, and probably tried to make too many points in one sitting.

There were some good folks there though. It was scheduled for midday on Saturday at a space called The Birdhouse. This space seemed like a sort of eclectic little spot. There was a art and music show being prepared in the background while the presentation took place. There were 8 people there, and a couple that didn't have much of a base-line understanding of anarchism. So, there was some need to do a brief introduction to anarchism. I gave the introduction, but it was probably a little too brief, as there was a lot of ground to cover with the more in-depth organizational conversations.

Many of the people in the room seemed to identify anti-mountain top removal activism as the major form of organizing happening in the Knoxville area. So many of the people there had an affinity for a sort of "green anarchism", which I always have a hard time with. Sometimes this term is used to identify as anarchists who focus their organizing efforts in the environmental movements and other times it means an affinity for anarcho-primitivism.  It seemed to mean a little of both in Knoxville.

It also seemed as though the term anarchism wasn't very frequently used in Knoxville. The smaller group had a some what mixed batch of anarchist ideas among them and they seemed fairly disconnected from the nationwide anarchist discussions. Although there were a few people that certainly seemed interested in keeping up with the formation of a nationwide organization and that may be interested in developing a local group.

On arrival I didn't actually know who exactly was my personal contact when I came into town, and didn't even know if I'd have a place to stay for the night. But, the people that came to the event were very hospitable. After asking the group if anyone could put me up, one couple immediately offered a place at their house and then showed me a fun night on the town too. Through one of them, I was also able to meet a local activist with Jobs with Justice and union postal worker.

I was glad to find a connection to local economic justice work, as Knoxville was pretty apparently poor and segregated. I don't want to diminish the importance of anti-mountaintop removal work, but just to highlight that it was pretty noticeable that I didn't make much connection with anti-poverty or union organizers while in Knoxville.

New York City and Fast Food Workers!

The first stop of the Building a Revolutionary Anarchism Speaking Tour isn't until Saturday the 20th in Knoxville, Tennessee. I had hoped for stops at Wooden Shoes Books in Philadelphia and Red Emma's in Baltimore. But, I think the details for the tour went out a little too late for those dates to get put together.

This gives me some time to stop by New York City and visit some friends. A couple of those friends work for New York Communities for Change, one organizing tenants and the other organizing fast food workers for the Fast Food Forward campaign.

That campaign has some exciting moments coming up. A third strike of New York fast food workers is planned for July 29th. While in NYC I was able to attend a meeting of organizers and workers that was one of many meetings throughout the day helping to plan and build for the strike. They also used these moments as opportunities to talk about the strategy of their work and do some base level political education with some of the fast food workers present.

They've clearly got a strong intention of having their activities reach hundreds, even thousands of fast food workers in the city. Their first strike had around 100 participants, their second around 400, and they were calling for around 1,000 to participate in the third day of strikes.

As a former restaurant worker, who spent a decent amount of time in a Pizza Hut, this is incredibly exciting work to me. In 2008, I attended a Restaurant Opportunities Center conference around their efforts to build a nationwide worker center of restaurants. There were some things that bothered me there. Firstly, it didn't seem like there was unanimity within the organization that their aim was to eventually form a union for all restaurant workers. Second, there was a strategic focus on higher-end restaurants as the drivers of industrial standards. I don't know the argument for them being the drivers of those standards, so that might actually be a very good strategy. Unfortunately for me, I was working in a little cheap diner. I wasn't the sort of worker they were organizing, especially in a city where they didn't have an established office and line of funding.

Since fast food seems to represent the floor in terms of working standards, benefits, pay, and job security in the US, it seems like an important place to see serious workplace organizing despite how difficult this work would be.

Had you asked me 4 years ago if we'd see a movement of fast food workers organizing in their workplaces in multiple cities around the country, I'd have laughed at you. But, not only are we there, these workers are demanding a union for all fast food workers, $15/hr starting wage, and are striking to demand recognition rather than relying on the awful NLRB election process. This is an exciting moment, and I was glad to participate in the meeting of those workers beginning to build their strike for the 29th.

I hope that all fast food workers will go out in solidarity on that day, and that anarchists throughout the country will also support those efforts!