FIND EACH OTHER: WINTER EDITION

We wanted to submit this addendum to “Find Each Other, Build Your Communities: Full Moon Anarchist Gatherings”. So many people have been able to connect or reconnect with other anti-authoritarians thanks to the organizers of gatherings like the ones described. BUT, it seems that whomever wrote this either left some stuff out, or just isn’t familiar with Great Lakes region weather and/or doesn’t seem to be concerned about hosting potential superspreader events inside in the midst of another covid surge and the height of flu season. We have enough ancestors and enough of our people have been sidelined by long covid already. So here’s…

Most readers probably don’t imagine such social events happening outside in the middle of winter, in deep snow or blustry north winds, but sometimes that’s what we HAVE TO DO, for almost half the year. Thankfully, doing so can be just as fun as a summer event, just in different ways, and can leave you feeling badass after pulling it off.

Building off the previous post, here’s some tips for hosting such events outdoors, no matter how cold it gets:

You GOTTA HAVE HAND WARMERS. Put two people on this duty so that if one messes up you have a backup! Cold hands makes for a very short gathering.
You GOTTA HAVE HOT BEVS! We’re tryna make this fun, not just survivable. Hot pasties or baked goods double as surplus warmers too. Again, put two people on this.
Obviously, a fire is great, if the space is suitable for it. Oooooh, fire!
In your announcement channel or group chat, make sure everyone has proper gear for the conditions. Transplants to your city might not know how to dress for 0 degrees F vs 0 degrees C. Old-timers might not have experience dressing in black bloc in 20 below, so why not test that out when its low-stakes, so youre ready to go after your local PD kills someone on the coldest day of the year? You can share tips about which local stores have easy-to-boost cold weather clothes.
Keep your announcements high energy and upbeat, especially when reminding folks the day of the event, to fight the natural urge to wanna stay inside when its cold and maybe dark. If you want you can set a mutually agreeable extreme weather threshold so that everyone’s clear about if the event will go forward, such as: “We won’t cancel if its snowing, but if the weather app temp is below 0 degrees F at 3pm, we’ll reschedule”.
Covid can still spread outside with close proximity, so MASK UP like you should be anyway, plus your face is probably cold. BONUS: Learn to recognize your comrades in more or less full bloc!

Add a PHYSICAL ACTIVITY component because moving around helps keep you warm and engaged. Let it double as a skillshare or have some other type of real-world application! A snowball fight can be followed up by talking about direct action tactics and situational awareness. One group did a neighborhood scavenger hunt that helped with learning the geography of an area before a rowdy march later that month. Get people together in teams with folks they don’t know as well. Build in ways to include people with less mobility or accessibility challenges, if necessary.

Stretch your boundaries working together as comrades as well as practicing incorporating new folks. Someone in the group like to sing? Write up “the “Fuck 12″ Days of Christmas” and go caroling in a bougie area for an hour before heading back to the meeting point to talk about how it went. Got someone familiar with local surveillance cameras and cop communications devices? Do a walk around town pointing them out with a prize for whoever finds the most cop cams or ring cams. Use your imagination. Whatever you do – keep it a low risk level, keep it creative, give it a purpose, and keep it fun.

Most importantly, when the event’s done MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS A WAY TO GET HOME SAFE. Not only does this show the new folks that we really care for each other, but it’s just what we do up here when its fucking booger-freezin’ cold. If we drop someone off, we always wait to drive away until they’re all the way inside.

After each month’s event, have a video call to talk about what went well, what didn’t, and to plan the next one.

Together we can keep us safer, healthier, warmer, and spread the fire of anarchy across the snowbanks and frozen lakes!

Anonymous submission to Unsalted Counter Info.