Workers Solidarity Movement

For over a year, the European Union (one of the most prosperous areas on the planet), has been embroiled in a ‘crisis of immigration’ - the result of failed government responses to increased population inflows coming from the Middle East and Africa. The hundreds of thousands of migrants attempting to travel to Europe are refused conventional safe entry and are forced to rely on criminal smugglers and dangerous land and sea routes. The predictable result has been a massive humanitarian crisis, concentrated at bottleneck transit points such as the Greek islands, and in sprawling migrant camps within and outside Europe. 

 

Organising requires getting together and making decisions, sharing information and organisational work.  It only takes a few informal chats among any group of people before it becomes obvious that some structure is greatly needed in facilitating group functioning.  Without structures and procedures people often forget what was agreed, what tasks were to be done and by whom, or when the next meeting is.  

 

Like almost any political term, ‘anarchism’ is very broad in scope and covers a huge range of ideas and practice.  Instead of trying to give an exhaustive description, or detail everything that is and isn’t anarchism, this article will attempt to get to the heart of it, and capture the essence, as far as possible, at the core of anarchism. Giving a complete definition of such a broad term would take many more words than will fit here and has been done well in other places (e.g. An Anarchist FAQ).