“Our Dreams Don’t Fit in Ballot Boxes: Anarchist Examples of Encouraging Liberals to Break Free”
Length: 80 to 250 words
Due: ASAP, or by/before Tues, Nov 18
Email: cbmilstein {at} yahoo [.] com
Send me anecdotes of how we anarchists hold out welcoming hands to liberals to aid them in breaking free from their statist boxes; how we make anarchism a “beautiful idea” for liberals to embrace; and/or how we work with and around liberals without abandoning or watering down our ethics! I’m eager for stories of actual examples—things you’ve done and/or seen that even in a small way, actually worked.
To inspire you, here’s a piece from the forthcoming zine:
“We live in a smallish college town outside a major Southern city, where No Kings rallies have brought out the largest protest crowds. We gambled that many people attending No Kings were not hardened liberals but instead dissatisfied future anticapitalists, so we went there to flyer for a cookout and assembly, inviting people to meet each other and take action against fascism, ICE, bosses, cops, and so on.
“Over the course of a few months, what began as a small group of comrades has grown into a space bringing us autonomists together with disillusioned liberals, lost radicals, and experienced organizers (and some pups) twice a month in a public park to share food and zines, rotate the role of facilitator for political education, and scheme-up ideas for tangible ways to to disrupt the growth of fascism in our community.
‘By chance, a fascist showed up to a bar’s costume party dressed as a Nazi. Assembly participants quickly mobilized: we attended a huge street celebration to spread flyers celebrating the women who confronted him and declaring our town a no-Nazi zone, while encouraging other residents to join us in taking direct actions against fascism.
“We’ll continue to make space at assemblies for patient and compassionate learning shaped around practice. It’s through doing that we grow the most, after all.“ (squid and k.d.)
(Photo: [croco]dialing up anarchism; sticker seen in Vienna, Oct 2025)
