Punch Up is a small anarchist collective based in Ottawa, Ontario, on unceded Algonquin land. All members are longtime activists and trade unionists. Formed in 2014, we primarily focus our activities on building resilient radical movements in our city. We regularly participate in collective action as an affinity group, we periodically organize skills-building workshops, we host occasional fundraisers for local campaigns, we undertake research projects, we put out a weekly compilation of activist events in Ottawa, and we participate in coalitions and campaigns that align with our politics and priorities.
Contact us at punchup@riseup.net.
What do we believe?
We seek to create a world in which everyone can flourish.
We are anarchists and root ourselves in the best parts of this tradition: mass-oriented, working-class, syndicalist, eco-socialist, in motion, and continually working-through contradictions. We are committed to anti-capitalism, anti-racism, decolonization, feminism, disability justice, queer liberation, gender self-determination, prison abolitionism, sex worker self-determination, and the free movement of people without regard for nation-state borders. We are also committed to resisting human exceptionalism while cultivating a politics of responsibility toward the ecosystems that sustain us.
We understand the social relations that constitute oppression as interlocking/interconnected, and we attempt to take an integrated approach to fighting these relations.
In our practice, we are committed to building people’s capacities and collective power and, where appropriate, institutions that can last over the long haul. We think short-term wins can help build toward radical transformation of society, and we prioritize fights that help us move ahead strategically. We seek to be locally grounded and oriented but also responsive to struggles elsewhere. We attempt to do our work in an inclusive way, recognizing that people come to movements with different backgrounds, vocabularies, and understandings. We are committed to taking positions on things and taking risks when necessary while striving to be non-sectarian. We look to our political heritage and traditions but are open to exploring new approaches and practices.
We prioritize direct democracy, mutual aid, direct action, and study and reflection. We value creativity, humor, earnestness, tenderness, care, and intentionality. We want to contribute to building movements that are large-scale, organized, multi-generational, and combative.
We are not dystopians: we believe in hope and the power of solidarity.