Prospections

The event Third Assembly: After the Assembly took place as part of the daylong program Propositions #2: Assemblism, convened by BAK and artist Jonas Staal on 27 November 2017. Bridging the tactics, goals, and challenges of autonomous and activist movements in Northern and Western Kurdistan, Catalonia and Spain, Iceland, and across several borders within the African diasporic struggle, this deeply engaging discussion responded to the prompt, “How is power taken and practiced differently after the moment of assembly?”

After the Assembly brought together Kate Shea Baird of Barcelona En Comú, Havin Güneşer of Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan—Peace in Kurdistan, Birgitta Jónsdóttir of the Icelandic Pirate Party, and KUCHENGA of Black Lives Matter UK to debate long-term strategies and struggles of autonomous organizing, from dealing with consensus and collectivized motivations to articulating intersectional and pluralist demands and addressing concerns about institutionalization and government intervention. As a retroactive response to the question of the focus “How to Assemble Now,” the conversation offers a set of critical strategies and observations on how to move from assembly to lasting change.