ATHENS, OHIO Anarchists gathering at university to plan strategies

Event organizers warned the anarchists to behave in Athens.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
About 200 anarchists from around the nation are gathering to talk about ways to distance themselves from government. The site of the meeting -- a government-funded university -- doesn't seem to bother them.
Organizer Nathan Ebert said he sees no contradiction in the group meeting at Ohio University in southeast Ohio.
"It's a government-funded university, but I think educational institutions should be used for conferences of this sort and promote these ideas," Ebert said.
The three-day conference started Friday and will include workshops with such titles as Work Is a Dictatorship, Pirate Radio for Beginners, and Compassionate Anarchy.
Anarchists believe everyday people should be directly involved in making decisions through group consensus about their communities instead of leaving that up to elected lawmakers and corporate executives.
Herb Asher, political science professor at Ohio State University, said he sees "a little bit of irony" in the location of the conference, but points out that the group has to meet somewhere.
Says he's proud
Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economics professor, said he is proud the school in Athens is hosting the event.
"I chuckled when I heard about this," Vedder said. "I said as long as they don't blow up the town, it's probably a cool thing."
Anarchists have drawn attention in recent years as key participants in sometimes violent protests at meetings of international groups such as the World Trade Organization and World Economic Forum.
Robert Adams, assistant professor of political science at Wright State University, said anarchists holding a conference seems to be somewhat of a contradiction since anarchists are known as individualistic free-thinkers opposed to rules and authority that an organized event suggests.
"You can joke about it," Adams said. "I'm sure they see the irony in it, too."
On their Web site, event organizers acknowledge that Athens residents may have concerns about anarchists rolling into their town. Registrants are warned not to shoplift, spray-paint graffiti or do anything illegal. Pseudonyms and sketchy contact information are accepted on registration forms.
One conference workshop will analyze the effectiveness of street protests, with a special session on how to stage protests in the form of cheerleading instead of conventional picketing. A lesson in making pompoms is part of the workshop.
Other sessions will address topics such as revolutionary parenting and "anti-civilization," which is creating revolutionary communities that follow anarchist principles.
Main purpose
Ebert, a 24-year-old anarchist from Athens, said the main purpose for those attending is to come up with ideas on how to separate themselves from power-based governments.
"Most Western countries are governed through force, through the threat of force," Ebert said. "That's something we're all striving to distance ourselves from."
Mark Lance, a Georgetown University philosophy professor and an anarchist who taught an anarchism class, said believers in the theory strive for a society without rule and don't believe in the legitimacy of any form of government that currently exists. He said some anarchists believe in abolishing government by violent revolution, but others are pacifists.
Lance said anarchists would be willing to come to a conference because they don't oppose organization, just rules and coercion.
The classroom building space where the anarchists are meeting was reserved by a student group called Positive Action.
"We view these activities as constitutionally protected and, as a public institution, don't approve or deny requests based on the subject matter of the scheduled activity," said Terry Hogan, dean of students.
However, Hogan said allowing use of university buildings is not an endorsement of the activities or content of the program.
Athens police don't expect any trouble and have no plans to increase security.
About 250 people attended the last anarchist conference, which was held outside Lawrence, Kan., in 2002. Police gathered intelligence on the group and monitored their activities, but there were no arrests or any problems, Lawrence police Sgt. Dan Ward said.