Affinity Group - History

History

Although Affinity groups are a natural way for humans to organize and are, in that sense, as old as humanity, the origin of Affinity groups, in the current context, dates back to 19th century Spain. It was the favourite way of organization by Spanish anarchists (grupos de afinidad), and had their base in the tertulias or in the local groups.

Affinity groups appeared again in the U.S. anti-war movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The term was used by Ben Morea and the group Black Mask. Later, anti-war activists on college campuses organized around their interests or backgrounds -- religious, gender, ethnic group, etc. They became popular in the 1970s in the anti-nuclear movement in the United States and Europe. The 30,000 person occupation and blockade of the Ruhr nuclear power station in Germany in 1969 was organized on the Affinity group model. Today, the structure is used by many different activists: animal rights, environmental, anti-war, and anti-globalization, to name some examples.

The 1999 protests in Seattle which shut down the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 included coordinated organization by many clusters of Affinity groups.