cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/432724
I'm part of a local organization in the imperial core. I like the people there and they are all very well read and have a good understanding of theory, much more than myself.
The methods used to organize seem a bit dated and I'm not quite sure why. To give an example, people are expected to contact one another to let them know about whether events are happening or not. I think this is great, when I first joined this helped make it feel more personable. It felt like there was already a development of camaraderie since there was a name and a face behind every message that I knew. This doesn't always work though, since some members don't always remember and don't remind others and there isn't a definitive list of members. It's more so word of mouth and the different people who are in someone's recent text messages.
Something like this could definitely be more well organized right? When I brought up working on some kind of spreadsheet, mailing list, or calendar they told me that they relied on sort of a network effect (they used a different terminology) where some people will let others know and then those people will let others know, etc. I struggle to see how the two methods are incompatible or mutually exclusive. If the concern is about leaking information, there are authentication methods which could be used to silo off information.
The only sort of conclusion I can come to is that there is a (rightful) distrust of technology. What I don't get is why all of it is thrown out the window. It could even be done in analog, at least some bookkeeping would be nice. Some of it might have to do with party discipline, or lack thereof. I really think it might have to do with being set in one's ways and being very willful about the need to adapt in the modern era.
Would anyone have any other ideas for how to organize in a different way? Just for brainstorming, I don't think a perfect method would be made here, it's nice to entertain some ideas though.
Our party relies on tech a lot. We have membership lists with contact information. We communicate through social media and we even have official Instagram, Facebook and TikTok accounts. I don't see why others can't do that apart from danger of being outright communists.
Thanks for the response! Could you think of any reasons why? I want to try bringing it up again without starting a struggle session, right now it seems like the best course of action is to get enough clout (I've been attending almost all the upcoming events, offering technical help where it wasn't asked of me, etc) and build the infrastructure myself and show how it works in practice.
This will take a bit of time since I think I might need to write guides as well.
side note: make sure you're not planning protests (and so on) through unencrypted messaging platforms
Yeah definitely, at the moment we are doing it in-person and then sending details through MMS which I think is less than ideal.
indeed, SMS and MMS are about as insecure as protocols get
My party was relying on the same 1970s measures as you described above for a long time. Just hoping that the members themselves would bring in enough participants to events and actions. But somewhere in 2015 or something like that they decided to modernize and create social media accounts and build an online presence. The time of solely going to the factory gates and handing out leaflets is gone. You can still do that, but a good way of communicating to both your members as well as the general populace is crucial.
The way we do it is have local action groups create their own way of communicating (be it through Whatsapp, Telegram, Instagram etc.) so they can set up local actions. Every group has a 'leader' that gets and gives info to the party officials. The party itself has official social media accounts to spread information about actions and about themselves and their ideals. Members and their info gets added to a database so that they can be easily contacted through mail or calls.
This is just a general summary of how we run our communications. Like you said, there are ways to make this more privacy proof if that's what they are concerned about. Or to make it easier if they are not that handy with tech. But to rely solely on word of mouth communication seems a bit outdated in a time where everyone is online.
I'd actually argue for embracing traditional pre internet methods of organizing. Online spaces are great for agitation and general discussion, but serious organizing should happen offline and in person. This is a true and tested approach that has produced serious movements in the past.
And worrying about having a digital footprint seems very much warranted given all we know about massive surveillance in the west. I would go as far as not even bothering to bring a cellphone to meetings. There's really nothing wrong with using pen and paper.
Yeah for sure. Do you think it's ok to use digital methods offline for organizing stuff like infrastructure? E.g. spreadsheets and word docs? I'm working on a local wiki to put the different kinds of knowledge we accumulate in one place instead of spread out in different paper docs or in members' heads.
I think using digital methods for knowledge databases and information resources is pretty sound. Basically, the rule of thumb I'd use is to keep any information you wish to keep private offline, and any information that isn't sensitive online.
Honestly, I've been annoying every single org I come into contact about this, but creating an email list is such an underrated way to keep people informed. People will receive it regardless of any shitty social media recommendation systems, you have full control over what you send and they're easy to opt or out of.
Most people already have routine of checking their email daily anyway, and there are many ways to anonymise your own email if you want a little bit of security. If you're participating you're already not properly anonymous anyway. That way a solid core of information propagators (a "vanguard" some might say) can help with the rest of the network effect.
There are also some other newfangled things like WhatsApp announcement groups, but those are just email lists with extra steps. Also I never get tired of propping up the UK strike calendar: https://www.strikecalendar.co.uk/
tbh I have no idea. I'm not British, so I only used it to keep track of the Cost of Living crisis strikes last year, since their own news media don't really report on it much. It would be pretty cool if the AFL from the states or the CUT from my country did something like that too eventually, but I have no idea how hard it'd be.
