by Matt Morgan-Brown

The Ottawa Anarchist Discussion Group (OADG) is regularly held every second Sunday afternoon and is made of local Ottawa community organizers and participants who share an anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist and anti-oppression politics. We are involved in diverse struggles and prioritize maintaining a link between theory and practice.

The OADG has been running for three years. We organize discussions that are intended to deepen our revolutionary consciousness and that of the Ottawa anarchist and activist communities. We see this as being fundamentally about linking theory and practice in order to develop a revolutionary praxis; “praxis might be accurately defined as action consciously and intentionally guided by theory while simultaneously guiding the evolution of theoretical elaboration. [We agree that] any liberatory transformation of society is dependent on the development/articulation of an adequate praxis by which revolutionary struggle may be carried out. “

In 2007 we showed movies on topics like animal liberation, had local and out-of-town anarchists and/or activists speak on diverse subjects, and hosted community forums such as that which led to the creation of the Ottawa Anarchist Assembly. Some of our outstanding speaker / discussions included Cindy Milstein on The “New” Anarchism, Dave from the North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists on Anarchism and Organization, and Common Cause’s Andrew on the Worker’s Solidarity Movement and Irish anarchist organizing.
In 2008, it will be more of the same, only better! Upcoming topics include the Black Panther Party (February 10), resistance to the 2010 Olympics (February 17), jails, prisons and the prison-industrial complex (March 11), the historic and current significance of MayDay (April 27), class consciousness (May 11), and anti-war and anti-imperialist organizing (date TBA). Organizers are looking for more people to help run things! For more info, email a_ottawa@mutualaid.org or visit http://adg.roadnetwork.org