CITIZEN'S ACTION GROUP "l. Citizen's action groups should serve the articulation of citizen's interests only. Any centralised structure should be avoided because it would be too restrictive. The groups should exist in order to bring about change in the citizen's living conditions, and should thereby guarantee their autonomy. "2. They must develop means of self-government, for autonomous discussion of local affairs, and make suggestions for solving local problems which can be put in practice together with all persons concerned. "3. They must participate in the development of specific models for each local neighborhood. But we don't mean that any one person should be given the right to speak or act for others. Every neighborhood, every house and every family must have the right to represent its own interests and to put them into action. We set our limits there where an individual's freedom is restricted or oppressed. But we do find it necessary to organize people; this should only lead to discussion and to coordination, however, not to the reglementation of the ones by the others. "Finally we must admit that we are still far from accomplishing these goals, but that each action undertaken by citizens is a step in the direction of peoples' self government in all realms of their lives."(22) In an article on "Atomic state and radiation death". which deals with citizen's action groups in Germany, the editors of the anarchist paper Befreiung (Liberation) defend the following position: "Anti-nuclear protest in the country is only a beginning. We must see to it that it also takes hold in the cities ... for atomic power plants not only threaten us with radiation: they also necessarily lead to an 'atomic state' in which the lives of all citizens would be under total government control. "(23) * * * The German Trade Union Congress (DGB) also plays an important part in discussions on the function and importance (22) Heinze/press, anarchist paper, Nr. 12. (23) Befreiung, anarchist paper, Nr. 1/77. 75
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