Not long after I questioned myself and my assumptions about Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV from now on), chaos ensued among the Italian organising team. This is incredibly fascinating.
The situation is rather foggy at the moment. Most of the people are preparing themselves to leave AV behind, but so far, to the extent of my knowledge, there have only been meetings and heated discussions. Some of the activists I’ve talked to agree with me that something has to change, because whatever is going on hints to a toxic environment we don’t want to be a part of any more.
I don’t intend to indulge in personal attacks and random witch hunting. My doubts and concerns about AV were already there, way before the last few days of rage and desperation. From where I stand I have a limited point of view anyway, so it’s impossible to point at official culprits with absolute certainty. Nor do I need to, to be honest.
What is really important to me is how everything I’ve read about AV since the moment I started questioning it has been turning out to be true. For instance, the lack of a clear communication on how the money is managed tells a lot about the level of consideration AV has for the activists in the streets. In a recent online meeting I was reminded of the top-down hierarchy behind AV as something I am supposed to silently agree with in the name of the greater good. My refusal to act as a grovelling sycophant was deemed aggressive and unhelpful. To be fair, yes, I reacted with loud anger, but I cannot suffer obsequious smiles and selfish connivance. This, more than anything else, caused my outburst.
And yet I wasn’t expecting the proverbial shit storm I’ve witnessed in the following days. But again, I’m not interested in the gory details behind a fight of egos. The fact that there is a fight in the first place matters here. Since this doesn’t look like a disagreement that can be solved with rational discussions, all of it is just the surface of a deeper problem within AV with which nobody around me has ever wanted to engage before.
Not that I can be excused here. When I joined AV, I too was impressed by their online videos. Driven by the righteousness of the cause for non-human animal liberation, I complied and accepted their modus operandi without paying too much attention at what was going on behind the shiny facade. Now I can only wish I had started the questioning of my actions and those of AV sooner.
On the flip side, there is a valuable lesson for me here. Every form of activism I am embracing from now on needs to be closely examined before I start. I need to avoid assumptions and compromises. I need core values aligned to my own. I need honesty and proper cooperation. I need people on a common ground, not arguably benevolent dictators and obliging pawns.