Mèo Mun (Black Cat) is an anarchist collective that works to make
anarchist materials and ideas available to a Vietnamese audience whileproviding analysis of social struggles from the perspective of
Vietnamese anarchists. ---- What role do you want to play in the
revolutionary movement? ---- Mèo Mun, as he is and what his goals are
today, works primarily to provide a theoretical and educational backbone
to the anarchist movement in Vietnam. Specifically, we are concerned
with archiving, translating and disseminating anarchist texts, which can
be found online at the Southeast Asian Anarchist Library and various
other places. We are also working to connect Vietnamese anarchists and
libertarian socialists in general and build a network where they can
freely express themselves, exchange ideas and live the arrangements we
wish to see in the real world. Or, in anarchistic terms: the
foreshadowing of social relations and organizational forms. From our
point of view, these things are the first steps towards something bigger.
However, it is important to place our work in the context of Vietnam.
Most Vietnamese are alienated from politics: politics is something
esoteric and superfluous, comprehensible only to the "highly educated",
doctors and professors, elites, and only they are able to make
decisions, that's how it is. People just have to follow their lead and
not question their politicians because the people's only job is to work
for the nation - it is not for us to participate in political discourse!
Or so they say. Such is the class division between the so-called
people's party or people's state and the people themselves. Plus, making
a living in Vietnam is a arduous endeavor, so our working class people
don't have the time or energy to bother with politics.
With this in mind, precisely to alienate the Vietnamese (including us)
from politics, Mèo Mun is doing the aforementioned basic work (albeit
only a small part of it). Without the abolition of the alienation of the
population, there is no hope of mobilizing against the state or any
other hierarchical system. There could be opposition and claim that this
basic work is not enough and that we have no revolution. We point to
them with tired hands and call on them to see the revolution of the
past, in the shadow of which we still live, where the people were not
alienated, where they were pushed into the so-called revolution by a
self-righteous vanguard, where proper foundations were not laid. See for
yourself: the gap in wealth, the market economy, soul-sucking wage
labor, the corrupt state - all this bears the sign of socialism! We say
"never" to the opposition. A true revolution must necessarily be
continuous, a constant process of building and dismantling, and where
everyone can participate at their own will. So here we are.
How are you organized and who makes the decisions?
We are organized horizontally, relatively spontaneously. When it comes
to decisions that affect the whole group, we all discuss our options,
reach a certain consensus, and then implement it. This is possible
because our group is not yet massive, so meetings that most members can
attend are relatively easy to organize. However, it should be noted that
a significant part of our work is done independently of the collective.
An example of this is translation work; members decide for themselves
what they want to translate and then proceed with it. From now on, we
prefer introductory texts that are medium in length and can be
translated with a minimum of time and manpower. This also allows us to
enjoy the translation process instead of tolerating it as a duty. When
there are problems or questions about the texts, members can ask for
help from the entire collective. After we're done with a piece, we
usually ask for proofreading from others and then the piece is published.
Other tasks, such as archiving texts and producing original materials,
require more collective action. But the mechanics are the same: artists
make art, writers write, readers read and summarize source materials,
techies work their magic, and so on. Nevertheless, we accept a degree of
flexibility so that the group can adequately meet any needs that may
arise. This is achieved by rotating roles within the organization. This
is also necessary to give everyone the opportunity to learn and gather
different skills. Many members also organize independently, independent
of Mèo Mun; these individual organizational activities influence and are
in turn inspired by their work within the collective.
In all countries anarchists have to deal with the regressive force of
nationalism. You have criticized Vietnamese nationalism quite
prominently. In what ways do you believe it is limiting socialism in
Vietnam and how do you plan to address it?
First, we must be clear in our language and avoid catchphrases like
"socialism in Vietnam." Is this "socialism" interchangeable with
"communism" - a stateless, classless, moneyless society where everyone
has free access to the means of life and production, as used by Marx in
his literature? Or more generally, is this "socialism" where the workers
control the means of production? If we go by these definitions, there is
no such socialism in Vietnam because we have a great class
stratification - there are billionaires and there are those who are
starving; there is a ruling party that has all legislative, executive
and judicial power; and worthless currency.
In addition, labor struggles are suppressed in Vietnam. Currently, there
is only one trade union in Vietnam - the Vietnam General Confederation
of Labor, which is state-run and has not organized a single strike in
years. Independent unions are met with hostility and accusations of
reactionary activity, trade unionists are targeted and jailed. As a
result, any strikes that do take place are wildcat strikes that, while
effective in improving the temporary condition of workers, are
relatively atomized and fall miles short of seizing the means of
production or ending wage labor.
Or is this "socialism" a "transitional period" between capitalism and
communism? If that's the case, then any political entity that claims to
have caused communism can call "socialism" any horror they inflict on
their subjects, be it disappearing dissidents, censoring criticism, or
systematically alienating the majority. For us, this definition is
rather meaningless and useless: 'socialism' that anyone can throw away
to get a 'brand'.
Vietnam's so-called 'socialism' is state capitalism in a red coat. The
state hangs in a communist shelter from the downtrodden while
politicians and capitalists exploit the people to the bone and call it
"socialism" so that no one will think of revolting. Vietnamese
nationalism supports this lie by selling the illusion of transclass
solidarity-solidarity between Vietnamese workers and Vietnamese
capitalists, between Vietnamese subjects and Vietnamese rulers. The
shared identity of " dong bao" (compatriots) obscures class
stratification, soul-sucking wage labor, the bleeding wounds of
capitalist exploitation and alienation, and the systemic oppression and
discrimination of many marginalized groups.
Nationalism also pits workers of different identities and ethnicities,
such as Viet and Khmer, against each other. While the extreme
nationalism of Pol Pot and Ho Chi Minh exacerbated the animosity between
the two groups, as noted by the libertarian socialist Ngô Van , the Cham
and Khmer populations are also constantly being displaced by the Viet
people. "Nationalism is truly the scourge of our time," he concluded.
After occupying us with internal struggles, the rulers are left to
exploit their subjects in peace and invite foreign rulers to fill their
shares.
As such, our relationship to the state is that between a child and an
abusive parent. An abusive parent reassures the child that he is better
off than others who suffer worse, or that there are other parents who
desire to harm the child. "The outside world is scary and outsiders are
evil," said the parent. "Parents know best and you have to do what we
tell you or you will get hurt. If we punish you, it would be for your
own good and to protect our family." Other abusive parents lie to their
children in similar ways and, knowing no alternatives, generation after
generation of children submit and accept their "destinies".
In the pursuit of anarchy in Vietnam, the fight against nationalism is
an uphill battle to overcome. Some of our suggestions for addressing
this include:
?Kill the nationalists in our heads: Unlearning the nationalist
conditioning that was instilled in us from our youth is a difficult but
necessary task. It is no exaggeration to say that if we are not careful
and conscious in our conduct, nationalism could creep into our practice
and taint our views and separate us from those who would otherwise be
comrades. If we are not exempt from it ourselves, it would obviously be
difficult to spread anti-nationalist sentiments to others.
?Workers' Solidarity: Workers must be aware of our plight and common
enemies in order to organize and fight back. Years in oppressive social
structures such as feudalism, colonialism, and capitalism have
conditioned many of us to become competitive and bitter beings,
instilling in us a reflex of hostility directed toward "foreigners"-to
distract us from seeing the commonalities between workers of various
"nations". We hold that practicing worker solidarity means replacing the
nationalist reflex, learning to see that "nationality" is just a lie
perpetuated by hierarchical structures to appease our righteous anger at
our oppressors.
?Self-organization and mutual aid: In just the last few months of 2021,
there has been a stream of bleak news about migrant workers from
Vietnam. In Serbia, where there is no Vietnamese embassy, more than a
hundred Vietnamese workers from a Chinese tire factory who were on
strike to protest their deplorable working conditions had their food and
other essential supplies taken away and their passports confiscated. In
Saudi Arabia, a teenage domestic worker from Vietnam was beaten to death
by her employer while the Vietnamese embassy offered virtually no help.
Meanwhile, the state of Vietnam was more than eager to work with foreign
countries to secure aid for itself, with the Ministry of Public Security
working to facilitate the extradition process. Such is the power of the
state in matters that concern it, and the impotence of the state in
matters concerning the workers it claims to protect. Unsurprisingly, the
Serbian and Saudi states did not help either. So there, without the
slightest doubt, we see the need for self-organization and mutual help.
These will serve not only to protect workers, but also to weaken the
charm of nationalism.
Anarchists and workers outside of Vietnam can help us in this struggle
by supporting Vietnamese migrant workers in your communities and
remembering that the Vietnamese people are not a monolith. It is
impossible to give us blanket solidarity: if you stand in solidarity
with the Vietnamese capitalists, you are actively sabotaging the
Vietnamese workers. If you support Vietnamese nationalists and statists,
you side with the oppressors of Vietnamese anarchists and libertarian
communists who fight tooth and nail against Vietnamese nationalism and
authoritarianism.
What are[some]of the cultural roots of Vietnamese anarchism?
First of all, it should be noted that Vietnamese cultures are very
diverse: there are fifty-four ethnic groups (at least according to
official state figures) with more than a hundred Vietnamese dialects. As
such, the cultural roots of anarchisms in Vietnam are equally rich and
varied, and we can by no means provide an exhaustive list of such
traditions and practices of all communities and all ethnic groups.
Soviet communist Ngô Van noted that before French colonialism, each of
Vietnam's communal villages was "governed by a council of notables and
enjoyed considerable autonomy and independence from the central regime".
This can still be seen in the Vietnamese proverb "phép nuoc thua lang
làng" (the will of the king yields to the customs of the people), which
naturally many Vietnamese people still adhere to in modern times. This
is compatible with the anarchist concept of self-organization: the
members of the community know best how to organize their lives, and the
state is just a foreign entity, serving only as a source of relentless
oppression and exploitation.
In addition to this ingrained concept of autonomy, many other anarchist
principles appear in Vietnamese customs, such as the spirit of
solidarity and mutual aid in the saying "lá Dong dùm lá rách
" (intact leaves protect the torn ones). This is the understanding that
the whole tree cannot be healthy if some leaves are plucked and left to
rot, so helping others is helping oneself, for the sake of a healthy
overall system or community.
We also say: (when the horse is sick, the whole herd refuses the grass),
which runs parallel to the spirit of 'an injury to one is an injury to
all.' The collective and the individual depend on each other. Indeed,
the people of Vietnam have practiced solidarity and mutual aid since
time immemorial, but in modern times this practice is often co-opted by
neoliberal and capitalist organizations, where the spirit of mutual aid
is bastardized into charity and branding.
Another folk verse: "Bau oi duong hon bí can Tuy den den diem dan chung
yen gàn." Which can roughly be translated as: "Even though winter melons
and squashes are different species, they are grown on the same
structure, in the same place, so they should love each other." This
celebrates the diverse cultures in Vietnam, the diversity of individual
human beings, while highlighting the fact that we cannot thrive without
mutual love and support. But again, in modern times it is unfortunately
often used to promote Vietnamese nationalism and chauvinism.
In the spirit of anarchist direct action, we say: "muon an thì lan vao
soi" (if someone wants food, they have to roll into the kitchen). This
is the Vietnamese equivalent of "direct action gets the goods", where we
understand that no one but ourselves is in charge of our well-being and
we are ready to fight for our interests.
Last but not least, we will point to community living and flexible
family structure, which is a stable feature of many Vietnamese
communities. It is not surprising that three or even four generations of
a Vietnamese family live under one roof and take care of duties such as
raising children and preparing food. Unlike the nuclear family unit,
which is incredibly vulnerable to capitalist exploitation and
alienation, the communalization of life has proven strong and tolerable
in the face of these adversaries. This can be beautifully incorporated
into building an anarchist society by reducing the power and influence
of capital.
What are the ideological foundations of your anarchism?
As a general anarchist organization, Mèo Mun does not strictly adhere to
specific anarchist tendencies. The strength of anarchism lies in its
diversity and flexibility, which embraces many fronts of struggle. As
such, our members follow several different anarchist tendencies.
To give a few examples, one member is an
anarcho-communist/anarcho-syndicalist who holds that anarchy can be
achieved mainly (but not exclusively) through trade unions and other
related organizations to build dual power: essentially a strategy of
prefiguration. However, they recognize that "no revolutionary labor
organization can take place from now on because the Vietnamese state is
cracking down hard on anything it considers threatening its power." So
the most important thing now is to radicalize the general population
using methods that are harder to suppress and crush."
Another member does not subscribe to any particular political label.
They believe that labels can easily be used to obscure one's actions.
This can be seen in the way many states blatantly declare themselves
"communist" while imprisoning labor organizers and churning out new
billionaires on a regular basis. The same is true of many "anarchists";
some are too eager to marginalize the undesirables and imagine an
"anarchy" where they get to police and punish-anarchists in name but
name. Of course, labels can be useful for theorizing and
conceptualizing, but actions speak louder than words.
There are members who are simply anarchists without attributes. They
focus primarily on sustainable development and the negative
environmental impacts of our current society. In the past, they believed
that the problem lies in the way of production, in the abuse of
resources, waste management or perhaps in the use of non-renewable
energy sources. However, he now thinks that the problem lies not only in
these areas, but also in the systems upon which modern society is built,
and how these systems perpetuate inequality in the distribution of
power. It is concentrated in the hands of a small group of people - the
wealthy and political elites - and thus is used to satisfy their
wasteful needs (think space tourism, private jets). Meanwhile, the
working class - the people most affected by climate change - are
disempowered so they cannot directly protect the environment and improve
their conditions. Yet they are robbed by the system, taxed for their
supposed destruction of the environment, or encouraged by companies to
consume greener products that are completely unaffordable. Environmental
protection, instead of being something anyone can participate in, has
been commodified and exploited. People are forced to consume green
products to avoid being labeled as irresponsible. While it is true that
urging everyone not to use and throw away plastic does have an impact,
as long as the wasteful systems of capitalism and the state operate,
efforts will be made to maintain the military; to test newer, scarier
weapons; and on the production of luxury goods for the rich - all at the
expense of the majority and the environment.
Mèo Mun seems to be the first group to translate anarchist texts into
Vietnamese, what are the problems in translating them?
Terms for many anarchist concepts in Vietnamese are either poorly worded
or non-existent. One of the main problems we encountered early on, for
example, was that the word for anarchism in itself did not at all lead
to interest and further learning from non-anarchists. The main term used
was "chu nhay vô chinh phu", which literally translates as
'non-government-ism'. This unpredictable literal meaning of the word
comes from its etymology, which is a loanword from Chinese. In any case,
we decided to use another word, "vô tro", which translates as 'no
government' - obviously better.
Another problem is the amount of work itself. Think of all the basic
anarchist texts in the last century, all... all - that is the fact we
will have to translate! And when one visits the Vietnamese Wikipedia and
searches for articles related to anarchism, one is greeted with
extremely rudimentary content-or worse, no content at all.
We must also remember to prioritize the Global South and other
lesser-known but important anarchist struggles in our translation work.
Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us, but that's also what
makes it exciting.
It is worth noting that we are certainly not the first to translate
libertarian communist texts into Vietnamese! Some older
anarchist-adjacent materials, such as those by Ngô Van Xuyet , a
Soviet communist active in Vietnam during the struggle against French
colonialism, as well as the Situationist text " The Society of the
Spectacle " by Guy Debord are available in Vietnamese. They are simply
almost unavailable in Vietnam, which is why projects like The Southeast
Asian Anarchist Library are extremely important. It served not only as
a platform for original Vietnamese anarchist texts and translations, but
also for older translations that used to be scattered around the obscure
corners of the Internet. This underscores the growing importance of
online anarchist organizing and archiving.
In the past, there was some degree of interaction between Vietnamese
anarchists and anarchists in other East Asian countries. Is this
something you would like to revive, and how do you approach
international cooperation more broadly?
During the 20th century (especially in the 1920s), many Vietnamese
radicals actually went overseas to learn and seek support from other
radical environments due to heavy repression by the colonial government.
There some came into contact with and were influenced by Chinese and
Japanese anarchists; anarchism subsequently reported on its activities
and radicalism back in Vietnam. For more information, we recommend
Hue-Tam Ho Tai's Radicalism and the Origins of the Vietnamese Revolution .
Vietnamese radicals and anarchists are currently in a somewhat similar
situation, where information is suppressed and state censorship cracks
down on any fundamental criticism of capitalism and the state.
Naturally, like our predecessors, we turn to other environments to learn
from their experiences and seek support. As such, we believe in the
solidarity of the alienated and the interconnectedness of our struggles.
We may be geographically far away, but as we all toil in global
capitalism (albeit in different contexts), we must stay close and learn
from each other's experiences to resist our common enemies. Solidarity
on all fronts is the key not only to local liberation, but to the
liberation of humanity as a whole. The principled support from many
groups fighting and operating at the forefront has strengthened our
belief in the importance of international solidarity. However, we must
admit that we are limited by the circumstances in which we find
ourselves, and therefore we have not been able to offer as much
solidarity as we would like. Therefore, we hope that in time we can join
the international anarchist environment by creating a close-knit network
of solidarity.
In what ways do you see anarchy applicable to the Vietnamese context?
First, as we said before, it is important to remember that the "Vietnam
context" is very diverse. Fifty-four ethnic groups live in Vietnam, and
life in different regions varies to varying degrees. We will not and
cannot speak for other Vietnamese communities whose contexts are
significantly different from ours. Even among our members, our
experiences vary because we are different individuals who have dealt
with and are dealing with issues that are specific to our circumstances.
With that, we think the answer to that question rests with the
respective groups when the time comes. To try to say what will happen is
just speculation, nothing more. In " Towards anarchism in the
Philippine Archipelago ", Simoun Magsalin summarizes the ubiquity of
anarchism as follows:
"Besides the anarchist elements in the existing movements, it can be
argued that anarchy already exists all around us, as the pamphlet
Anarki: Akin ang Buhay Ko suggests . For the authors of Anarchy,
anarchy is mutual cooperation without the need for coercion or payment.
Anarchy is whenever we treat each other as equals and peers and whenever
we discuss the problems we have with each other instead of relying on
some authority. We already naturally organize along egalitarian and
non-hierarchical lines when we organize among friends. Human cooperation
is already natural. Anarchists want all social relations to be organized
along egalitarian lines with free association and without hierarchy or
coercion." We sincerely hope that everywhere in Vietnam, in our
lifetimes and long after, people will decide for themselves how to
answer this question.
What specific problems do you face as a group and how do you solve them?
As a group composed of different individuals with different life
experiences, the first problem we naturally have to face is intragroup
conflict. Of course, to prevent them from occurring, we try to break the
boundaries that exist between us. For example, when you address someone
in English, there is only "you" and "I". But in Vietnamese, pronouns
depend on age, gender, etc., which carries with it some implicit
hierarchy and order of dominance. So we try to use neutral pronouns in
our group.
If interpersonal problems arise, we try to deal with them while they are
still manageable, rather than letting it fester. If worse comes to worse
and the problem is serious, we resort to a meeting to discuss the
conflict; we will state our problems, our views, explain the causes and
then see what can be done to alleviate the problem as best we can.
People are different and that's okay! We are flawed and constantly
growing: we do not have a perfect plan or answers to every problem in
Vietnam, nor are our suggestions applicable in every context.
Consequently, we must be conscious in our efforts to create and
reproduce prefigurative social relations, namely egalitarian social
relations. This is all the more important to avoid building among
ourselves the very structures we want to destroy.
On external issues, we face a constant stream of accusations from
Vietnamese nationalists and other unsympathetic actors. They condemn us
as reactionaries and masked anti-communists. They say we are foreign
state pawns trying to infiltrate the radical movement and make the
Vietnamese people lose faith in the Communists so that Vietnam will
eventually be sold to foreign capital! We can pretty easily dismiss
these accusations for their obvious absurdity, but we'd be lying if we
said we weren't concerned at all. Aside from the occasional death
threats, we are simply saddened because it shows how much work needs to
be done.
We also have problems trying to connect with other left-wing groups in
our country, often for reasons of cyber security. As noted above,
attempting political action is quite dangerous; you can be tried and
imprisoned if you dare to say something "wrong about the CPV" (CPV -
Communist Party of Vietnam). For this reason, left-wing groups in
Vietnam that are in opposition to the CPV often operate alone. This is
also a fairly complex problem that we cannot simply make disappear
overnight; so we return again to the point of constant, continuous
revolution. We already have the tools to protect ourselves and keep our
operations hidden, with a big thanks to the open source community, and
of course we do our best to share those tools. However, it takes time
for others to become aware and adopt these tools. So that's another
problem we have to deal with for now.
Another problem when trying to connect with other leftist groups is
different principles. We put a lot of emphasis on mutual respect,
regardless of whether a person is new, young or still inexperienced.
This allows everyone to listen and consider the views of others and
facilitate a productive exchange. But perhaps in part because of
Confucian culture, elitism creeps in everywhere-even on the left. We may
be sidelined for not being able to demonstrate our qualifications or not
having access to certain resources or information.
The practice of constructive criticism is also important and
challenging: there are criticisms that will help the recipient grow, and
others that are just personal attacks and humiliation. The capitalist
education system certainly doesn't help us develop a healthy culture of
criticism, which means we have to learn through trial and error to avoid
personal attacks and focus only on our own practices and points of view.
Getting input from a wider demographic is also a challenge. While this
would allow us to be more informed about the various struggles of
Vietnamese people from different walks of life, we must walk a fine line
between outreach and drawing unwanted attention to ourselves and coworkers.
What was the biggest success in your fight?
We hesitate to call any of our activities successful. But if we did, we
think that just putting our own thoughts and truth out there is an
achievement. For people living under a regime like Vietnam, the very act
of expressing our thoughts and living our libertarian politics, let
alone having people listen to us and show solidarity, is like being able
to breathe for the first time. We risk breathing a lot, but it's worth
it. So for those of you who refuse to fall for Vietnam's statist
propaganda, you are our greatest achievement.
Being able to share our modest platforms with comrades in the diaspora
also keeps us going. Vietnamese anarchists in the diaspora also face
alienation and ostracism from nationalists and so-called leftists who
brand them as fake Vietnamese and jump at every opportunity to feed and
harass them. So being able to connect with each other and speak out
collectively against systems of oppression has given us quite a lot of hope.
What would you advise those who would like to learn from your practice?
First of all, we would like to emphasize that we are not a pioneer and
emphatically not even a vanguard. Radicalism in Vietnam has a long and
elaborate history; we just see that there is work to be done and
clumsily set out to do it. We ourselves are still learning, so our
advice is rather basic. It is clearly not our intention to be teachers.
This advice is shared among equals, nothing more:
?Practice operational security: Vietnam's state counter-revolutionary
organizing apparatuses, both online and on-site, are constantly looking
for cracks in our operational security. And so we too must be constantly
alert and aware and observe strict operational security. The general
principle could be summed up like this: Don't talk, don't ask questions
you don't need to know, and use every technology tool you can,
regardless of convenience. We can reduce ourselves to mere ghosts, we
will never be able to reveal much even to our closest comrades, we will
never even be able to address ourselves by our real names. But ghosts
are hard to catch, so that's the price one has to pay. And when it comes
to these technological tools, they are easy to find on the Internet: you
just need the intention to look for them.
?Don't Overlook Online Organizing: One would not be guilty of thinking
that online organizing cannot revolutionize. It is not outrageous to say
that ideas not translated into the real world will not achieve much. And
it's true that online organizing alone wouldn't do much. However, it is
not to be discarded as a distraction from the so-called "real work" of
the revolution. The Internet is a powerful tool and Mèo Mun as an
organization and all our educational work would not be possible without it.
?Take good care of yourself: Self-care is radical: "If I can't dance, I
don't want to be part of your revolution" (a misquote by Goldman, but
still sums up her sentiment). A balance must be found between doing
revolutionary work and self-service work. Only then will you be
effective in revolutionary projects.
?Feel free to reach out (with regard to opsec): In an authoritarian
regime like Vietnam, where politics is a scary word to be avoided like
the plague, political (or anti-political) creatures like anarchists are
often atomized. and isolated. It takes time, effort and caution, but the
connections are essential. "Man is small, weak, he cannot do much" as
ingrained in us by the system of oppression: this could not be more
false. Of course, those in power would have us believe that we have no
power of our own, that it is too late to fight, that their positions are
impossibly fixed and impervious to any struggle! But all this is simply
untrue. Even stone wears away against flowing water, and even dikes
break under the pressure. And together we can do great things.
?Have hope: Believing that we have extremely little or no chance against
the hierarchies and are thus doomed is an unhelpful attitude at best and
counter-revolutionary at worst. It induces apathy, and thus inaction, in
the face of perceived inevitability. After all, what's the point of
fighting in an enemy system if you don't want to win or get anything out
of it? It also lays the groundwork for a counter-revolutionary attitude,
or rather the mindset of making the best of supposedly inevitable
outcomes while disregarding the welfare of others. So I hope so! Hi! We
are not saying that we will definitely win; that would be too optimistic
and would also induce some inaction. What we have is a chance, and
that's why it's worth fighting for. Hope gives power to build power to
tear power down. So... I hope!
?Be kind: Kindness is the glue that binds an organization together. It
is a prerequisite of understanding and empathy between other members,
and without understanding and empathy it is almost impossible to reach
consensus or resolve conflicts. One would find that without kindness,
anarchist organizations would soon disintegrate or turn into something
diametrically opposed to the goals and methods the organization first
set forth.
Is there anything you'd like to add that we haven't covered?
Ms! If you've made it to this part, please drink a good cup of water!
Thanks for reading and thanks to The Commoner for their hard work and
nice questions. We had a great time talking about them and answering
them. Have a great day and remember to stay hydrated.
https://anarchiste.org/rozhovor-s-vietnamskymi-anarchisty-ze-skupiny-cerna-kocka-meo-mun/
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