The Capital Terminus Collective (CTC) was an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

group based in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

with sympathetic or contributing members throughout that state. It was affiliated with NEFAC and shared some members with the Atlanta group of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

(IWW) . One of its members was a fighter in the

Durruti Column during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. The group engaged in various political activities including pamphleting, demonstrating against groups such as The 21st Century Paul Revere Ride and Hammerskins, protesting war, and helping to organize public housing tenants.

Birth

It was the idea of a few

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

attendees of the Million Worker March in 2004 to create an anarchist

collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an e ...

in Atlanta, and early in 2005, a few locals began holding study groups on

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

and

political theory Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from d ...

. Apart from the study groups, the collective began organizing to promote the idea of a Southeast anarchist-communist

federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, much like that of NEFAC, or FAI of

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

. In April 2005, with the intent of further spreading their desire to form a Southeastern anarchist-communist federation, members of CTC attended the 2nd annual Southeast Anarchist Network (SEANET) gathering in Charleston, SC. Capital Terminus held a

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

in the idea, and proposed it to the assembly, however, most of the attendees were not necessarily convinced of the idea. The collective continued however to spread the idea as best they could to parts of the Southeast.

July 2005 Conference

In July 2005, the CTC held the conference that was meant to establish a Southeastern anarchist-communist federation. Attending were people from

North Georgia North Georgia is the northern hilly/mountainous region in the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of north Georgia were often scenes of important eve ...

, and

Athens, GA Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an R1 research institution, is in Athens and co ...

, as well as observers from the Northwestern Anarchist Federation (NAF) and participants from the labor union UNITE-HERE. At the beginning of the conference, it was clear that a federation was a goal that was too long term, and the conference became a "second formation" of the collective. The collective membership boosted to at least two-dozen, and potential for an effective organization was realized, and CTC was re-organized into three

working groups A working group is a group of experts working together to achieve specified goals. Such groups are domain-specific and focus on discussion or activity around a specific subject area. The term can sometimes refer to an interdisciplinary collab ...

. Two working groups were to focus on issues sorted out and elected by the assembly, which were

Self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of Force (law), ...

Women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

and the other Counter-recruitment/ Anti-militarism. The third working group was for constant production of the newsletter, ''Anarchist Atlanta'', and production and maintenance of a website. Coordinators were elected for each working groups and each acted autonomously within the whole. Prior to the Conference, the offices of Secretary and Treasurer had not been re-elected because of the short lived life so far, and the two offices were reorganized and new people were elected.

Self defense/women's rights

In the following months, the Women's rights working group would decide to create a women's self-defense class as well as produce small leaflets to distribute throughout the community. These were coined "info-bombs". The classes fell through due to external complications and as to this date, the info-bombs are still being produced.

Counter-recruitment/Anti-militarism

At the beginning of the school-year, CTC met with Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition and adhered to their plan to flyer local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

games with information concerning military enlistment, opt-out forms, and sign-up lists to receive more information. As the football season of that year ended, talk of doing the same thing at

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

games was discussed among the two groups, but nothing came of it. The GPJC continued with the efforts as CTC left the project.

Disestablishment

Members drifted away and work ceased around 2008, one of the last public activities was hosting Andrew Flood's 'Building a Popular Anarchism' 44 city tour of North America in April of that year. The remaining treasury was donated in 2010 to a Haitian workers relief fund.

References

{{reflist Defunct anarchist organizations in North America Organizations established in 2004 2004 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Organizations disestablished in 2010 2010 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Socialism in Georgia (U.S. state)