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Anarchist Defense and Emergency Tactics
I want to have a discussion about how decentralised communities and individuals best defend themselves. In the face of disaster there are many ways people can come together and find solutions through direct action but i think that constantly planning ways with your affinities will help you survive a lot of disasters or a attacks and figuring out a way to do this is of hyper importance as the state attacks or declines. Anti-institutional and formal or federal ways of doing this should be valued and investigated allowing people to still be incredibly flexible with various contingency plans for self preservation.
I'm not sure what to make of your question, I think I need an example of the kind of disasters and attacks you're referencing. Are we talking about earthquakes? Police raids? Terrorism? Martial law?
I guess it would be helpful to know what anarchist faction you're addressing as well, as there are several. Each ideology will likely face different threats, and necessitate different responses.
I was intentionally vague. I wasn't looking for any specific anarchies. Specifically, I am not interested in the arguably more minarchisty syndicalist and federalist tendencies of anarchism. As for the situation, I also wanted to talk generally about disasters and attacks.
Something about a Soviet state...
When the USSR collapsed, just about everything government related stopped working for quite a while (which as you'd expect in a communist state, was quite a lot). It'd be over a decade until there was anything near 50% employment. Any food beyond the most basic grains were luxuries. Utilities were broken. It'd take nearly two years until electricity worked for more than one to at best two hours a day consistently. Those who couldn't or wouldn't migrate to the more affluent countries in the winter had to literally strip the capital of its trees just to have firewood and not freeze to death. The only real job the vast majority had was to survive.
This happened just a few years after a devastating earthquake that killed tens of thousands, for which the USSR did very little. A shooting war broke out only a couple of years after the collapse, when things were still incredibly horrible, against a country with over triple the population and GDP.
Anyone related to government in any capacity was either completely powerless or a dressed up thug. The most ambitious of them became the oligarchs who would become the ministers, parliamentarians, and president. They looted and pillaged for a few years until some war heroes came back from the front and were elected to lead on the promises of reform. They were assassinated during a meeting of parliament. The oligarchs retook power and would continue to drain the nation for nearly 20 years, until a successful revolution that took place just a couple of months ago.
Decades of top to bottom corruption, unemployment averaging around 20% (officially, much higher in reality), wages barely enough to do anything beyond working and eating like a peasant, landlocked and bordered by hostile nations, little to no help from the international community, etc.
Basically, a near 30 year disaster. But day by day, it got better and better, no thanks to government. In spite of it, if anything.
Until very recently, no grand plans of reform. No people's leaders or community organizers or whatever coming up with plans to feed the poor or retake the government or care for the elderly. What few protests there were, always organic and orderly.
Mostly, just a few million people minding their own business day by day, and considering their neighbors to be a part of their business. Just an overall culture of asking the people around you how they are, and doing something about if it they weren't well. Kept people fed through what could easily have been famines. Kept people from falling into gross, entirely reasonable bouts of depression. Kept kids happy and optimistic rather than hopeless and violent.
No real organization usually, certainly no coercion. Social shaming for bad actors, at worst. Just the golden rule applied regularly.
The mortality rate barely ever rose, even during the absolute worst years. Violent crime and suicide rates were and still are among the lowest on the planet.
It's a bit funny to me. Have spent a minority of my life in this country, but I've both heard of and seen myself people deal with food shortages, the state rounding people up and outright murdering some, utility hikes that'd leave the destitute majority even more impoverished, the ousting of a pseudodictator, and more... and all of it more orderly and civil than I've seen from people trying to deal with as little as some college speaker who says arguably mean things in the US. Hell, better even than when it snows in an area where it generally doesn't.
Anyway, this probably isn't very on topic. Just somewhat anarchy related, I guess.
I like the response regardless of whether it was off topic a bit. It shows what people do without the supposed necessities of the state! I will remember this reply for awhile!