3-6PM, second Sunday of every month, in the meeting room at Durango Joe’s, 732 E. College Dr. in Durango, CO
In light of the recent presidential election and the upcoming Trump presidency, we are reaching out to community members and organizations in hopes of opening up honest dialogue and forging connections and networks of support in our community.
In the face of shifting social, economic, and political environments we know we are not alone in feeling that now is a great time for communities to be learning about and working towards becoming communities of resistance, communities of resilience, ready and able to support and protect ourselves and our land bases.
We are aware of many individuals and groups getting together, talking, and planning and we are inviting you all to a monthly Durango Autonomous Assembly (Community Meeting), a space for folks to come together to collaborate on projects, campaigns and broaden the struggle (inspired by the Denver Autonomous Assembly).
We are hoping that if we can get around one table we can learn about each others goals and projects and how we can support each other, as well as begin discussing community-wide initiatives.
The format of the meeting will be generally very free. We will come prepared with a basic agenda and hope to keep our organizing within the framework of the St Paul Principles.* To be clear, we believe that diversity of tactics is paramount to change and we are very focused now on exploring how we can create informal structures at a grassroots level that can exist and be powered outside of and regardless of systems and institutions.]
The assembly will collectively create the agenda to be discussed, but we’d like to suggest that folks come prepared to discuss: announcements and projects to collaborate on; skills, resources, and spaces we can share with one another; direct issues/crises facing the community or concerns we’re feeling; and mutual aid networks (cop-watches, community medical programs, rapid-response call networks, etc.) we can begin building in Durango now. We will provide materials to help folks learn how they form affinity groups**, so that they may begin autonomously building these networks themselves.
Contact: durango-solidarity [at] riseup [dot] net
*St Paul Principles
1. our solidarity will be based on respect for a diversity of tactics and the plans of other groups.
2. the actions and tactics used will be organized to maintain a separation of time or space.
3. any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.
4. we oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance,
infiltration, disruption and violence. we agree not to assist law enforcement actions against activists and others.
**Affinity Group resources:
• How to Form an Affinity Group: The essential building block of anarchist organization
• Affinity groups: an introduction: For many small group actions an ‘affinity group’ is the most effective organisational form. This is a page of information about affinity groups, their structure, uses, history and advice.
Dirty Hands Collective 