Demystifying Anarchism: A response to the ongoing villianization of anarchists

BLOG POST posted on July 23, 2010 by Niki Thorne

Demystifying Anarchism: A response to the ongoing villainization of anarchists

By Niki Thorne

Over the past month, we have been shown the same several moments of news clips over and over again: black clad anarchists and burning cop cars: anarchism portrayed as destruction, chaos, and mayhem. A number of anarchists have been preemptively arrested, targeted, and held in maximum security prison, some for more than a month as they await drawn out bail hearings.  Several of these people were taken from their homes and the homes of friends in pre-dawn raids, before any of the vandalism on Saturday occurred.  Crown attorneys are contesting bail, calling for the continuing imprisonment of these activists.  While I cannot comment directly on the nature of the evidence due to a publication ban, I do feel confident in asserting that this trial is not about the mere smashing of windows, but has heavy political implications. 

In this article, I aim to discuss anarchism within the context of the multiple meanings that it holds for anarchist communities, in an attempt to dispel some of the current and pervasive myths and (mis)representations that surround anarchism. I do so as an anarchist and a researcher, drawing from conversations with friends from southern Ontario, including some of those who are currently being targeted.  As of writing, some of those who’s words and ideas went into this document are sitting in maximum security prison on charges of conspiracy, having been denied bail.  Others are subject to stringent bail conditions, unable to leave their homes, associate with their friends, or so much as use the internet without the supervision of a surety.   

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To begin: What is anarchism?  As historian George Woodcock notes:

“Anarchism, indeed, is both various and mutable, and in the historical perspective it presents the appearance, not of a swelling stream flowing on to its sea of destiny…but rather water percolating through porous grounds—here forming for a time a strong underground current, there gathering into a swirling pool, trickling through crevices, disappearing from sight, and then re-emerging where the cracks in the social structure may offer it a course to run.  As a doctrine it changes constantly; as a movement it grows and disintegrates, in constant fluctuation, but it never vanishes.” (1986:18)

Peter Marshall builds on this, stating that “[i]t would be misleading to offer a neat definition of anarchism, since by its very nature it is anti-dogmatic” (1992:3).  One of my friends also defined anarchism along these lines, while fixing bicycles in his basement:

“Anarchism is more of a philosophy than a particular ideology or dogma, and that makes the anarchist movement unique, because there isn’t a party line, each comes to it with different ideas and perspectives on what it means.  Just because one person wants to see a workers committee running factories and another wants to hunt and forage, doesn’t mean they’re not both challenging power dynamics.”

Part of the beauty of anarchism is the multiplicity of possibilities for definition and action—there is no one way to definitively define anarchist theory or practice.  Given this multiplicity I can only speak from my own experiences with and within anarchist communities, primarily drawing on experiences and conversations with my community of friends. However, as George Woodcock notes, consistently at the core of all anarchisms is “a criticism of existing society; a view of a desirable future society; and a means of passing from one to the other” (1986:ii). 

There are several themes that run throughout anarchisms, fluid as it may be.   First, struggle against hierarchy and authority—against the state and capitalism[1].  This includes confronting and unlearning internalized oppressive behaviours.  With this struggle comes a striving towards autonomy and egalitarianism as well as a conscious and ongoing refusal to oppress others[2]. Friends and freeskoolers also emphasized the balance between individual freedom or autonomy and collective responsibility.  Self organization was also emphasized: do it yourself (DIY) and direct action as strategies for creating a more egalitarian future society as well as a more egalitarian world in the present, the kind of world in which we wish to live.

Anarchisms  are anti-authoritarian: this means organizing against all forms of oppression, including capitalism, colonialism, and the state, which holds ‘legitimate’ claim to violence and serves to uphold the privileges of the elite.  As another friend noted:

“There are two basic ideas that unite all anarchisms: struggle against authority and struggle against hierarchy.  The basis of united struggle against hierarchy, which translates most often to struggle against any kind of inequality, injustice, prejudice, violence, and struggle against authority…makes anarchism a hard thing to define but allows for so much creativity in alliance building.  Every resistance against hierarchy that does not aim to establish a new hierarchy can be viewed as anarchist…Anarchism doesn’t belong to any elitist group of intellectuals—it belongs to anyone refusing authority, anyone who is reclaiming land, fighting against racism, ableism, or sexism.”

He also emphasized the positive ways that anarchist values play out in our lives: through building community, friendships, communication, personal freedom, exploring and defining meanings of consent and “breaking down alienation that is used to make us powerless through work, labour.”

            Challenging hierarchy, authority and oppression does not end at challenging systematically oppressive institutions.  It is also important to recognize, challenge and do our best to check the privileges we have by virtue of living in a culture of racism and patriarchy.  Anti-oppressive practice is an important part of this: commitment to the ongoing process of unlearning racist, sexist, and other oppressive behaviours, and challenging others on their oppressive behaviours as well.  Another friend emphasizes self-analysis of power and privilege as part of living resistance.  “Part of living my beliefs is trying to learn more about consensus and consent…how to express oneself clearly while not taking away power from others…And understanding that not checking that privilege can disempower others.”

“For a long time, I think I would say that anarchism to me is like the refusal to dominate or oppress another, and the refusal to take another’s freedom, I guess.  I think it probably means more than that to me now.  I think that anarchy is one of the most beautiful things humans can do.  More recently I’ve thought anarchism is finding out who you are and becoming who you are.  So much as like, anarchism is about no gods and no masters, to me it’s about finding out about, without these outside sources, what are my beliefs, what do I feel, what do I think.  So it’s really about self-discovery.”

Part of this self-discovery involves having autonomy in order to figure these things out for oneself.  Yet this process of self-discovery also involves figuring out how one’s actions might disempower others, a consideration of one’s responsibility to others.  Many of my friends emphasized this balance between autonomy and collective responsibility.  Another friend and I discussed this while he bottled dried herbs on a mat on the living room floor. 

“[W]hen I first started off it [anarchism] meant mostly anti-authoritarianism, which meant no top down power structure, but freedom, individual freedom.  As I got more in, the responsibility aspect became more prominent.  I guess for me, anarchism is the fine balance between freedom and collective responsibility.

Yet another friend emphasized personal autonomy within responsibility to other humans, non humans, and systems of life. 

“I think like a big part of it [anarchism] is looking holistically at life, and at taking a broad systemic view of who we are and what our relationships are, and with that perspective, acknowledging and embracing the responsibilities we have to everything that’s alive, and to all the systems we’re a part of.  That’s the analysis in the most broad way.  It’s also about personal autonomy, and being able and empowered to make healthy choices for myself, but within the responsibility I have to other people, and the systems that keep me alive too.  The way that I came into that analysis was definitely not like reading old anarchist philosophy of the Kropotkin era.  I was an environmentalist before I became an anarchist, and the way that I view anarchism has been inspired by the way I see ecosystems—each thing plays a part, gives meaning to the whole system, and would be lost without the rest.  There’s also some kind of beautiful chaos about that too, like wild nature, part of the romantic spirit about anarchism.  I don’t know how to put it into words, it just makes me happy.”

Her reference to Kropotkin is an example of a broader attitude within anarchism: the understanding that anarchism was not invented by the genius of individual thinkers.  People studying anarchism might assume a linear projection based on the writings of old dead anarchists, but this would be misleading. Anarchism is more fluid than that, and those who identify as anarchists do not rely on old texts to inform their beliefs: they often come to their beliefs through their own experiences and action.  They might read these texts, and take inspiration from them, but texts are not granted primacy over experience.  As she noted,

“there’s something else that’s really amazing about anarchism: I didn’t realize I was an anarchist until long after those ideas were already formed—it was something I came to naturally.  I suspect that there are twice as many people in the world who are anarchists, or who have anarchist tendencies than who know that they’re anarchists.  As far as constellations of political ideologies go, anarchism is the one that resonates most with human life.  I didn’t necessarily need a name to put on my perspective.  But one day I stumbled upon this one, and it felt useful.”

Intertwined with a rejection of authority and hierarchy is emphasis on autonomy and egalitarianism.  Anarchists strive to be autonomous within their responsibilities to other beings, both human and non human, as well as to the communities and life-systems that sustain them.  This means consciously working to unlearn oppressive behaviours in a refusal to dominate others.[3]  There are various strategies for this refusal to dominate and that serve to promote egalitarianism, including principles of direct democracy, consensus, voluntary association and mutual aid.[4]

Furthermore, anarchists insist that these more egalitarian and inclusive ways of relating and organizing against oppressive structures cannot wait: We cannot wait for some eventual revolution.  We need to be organizing in the present and living our lives and acting in ways that are consistent with our visions of how we want the world to be.  As another friend stated,

“To me, anarchism is a process, not an end-goal—one of dismantling hierarchy and asserting self-autonomy in organizing in constructive ways.  This includes elements of how we lead our lives, our lifestyles, as well as the broader pictures of struggles we identify with and choose to engage in.”

How we live our lives, how we interact with other human and non-human beings in the present, how we share knowledge, and how we engage in research, to whatever extent possible, should be done in ways that are consistent with our aims for a more egalitarian future premised on anti-oppressive and anti-exploitative systems and relationships.

These aspects and values within anarchist theory and practice often remain largely underrepresented and under examined along with other creative elements, given the tendency to (mis)represent anarchism as being solely about destruction and chaos in its challenge to the state and capitalism.  Popular representations of anarchism and anarchist actions often focus narrowly on direct action: blockades, occupations and illegal activities.  Direct action tends to be interpreted within the rubric of diversity of tactics, which many people (mis)interpret as an uncritical free for all: brick throwing, fire-bombing, violent teenage angst.  In fact, smashing windows is perhaps better describe as symbolic action.

Direct action does involve confrontation, and might involve taking space, blocking traffic, or destroying something.  One interviewee defined direct action as “where you skip the middle man, and you do exactly what needs to happen for your goals to be achieved.” CrimethInc. Workers’ Collective  describes direct action as follows:

“Practicing direct action means acting directly to meet needs, rather than relying on representatives or choosing from prescribed options…actions that cut out the middleman entirely to solve problems without mediation.” (2005:12)

David McNally characterizes direct action in terms of politics of self activity.  He writes:

“the direct action approach is based upon a politics of self-activity.  Steering away from appeals to politicians, bureaucrats or other elites to ‘help’ the downtrodden by doing something for them, it demands and mobilizes, encouraging [people] to act for themselves” (McNally 2002:243).

In this way, direct action is related to Do-It-Yourself [DIY] culture within anarchist communities.  DIY might involve growing one’s own food, patching one’s own clothes—anything that encourages less reliance on corporations and government, and encourages more reliance on one’s own abilities and community.  DIY might take parasitic forms: for example, living off the scraps of wasteful grocery corporations through dumpster diving, all the while planning how to be sustainable as autonomous communities if civilization falls and grocery stores cease to exist.  Other examples of collective DIY actions include movements like food not bombs, reclaim the streets, and critical mass.  Holtzman, Hughes and Van Meter (2007) argue that these actions move beyond creating temporary autonomous zones, and create collaboratively produced public spaces.  They do this without asking power to address their needs, and they do it without seeking permission.

            As much as anarchism is about critiquing the systems that oppress us, it is also about creatively imagining alternatives and bringing them into being.  These alternatives, no matter how small, are not insignificant.  Holtzman, Hughes and Van Meter (2007) argue that DIY culture is effective in empowering marginalized persons and communities while at the same time providing a means to subvert or transcend capitalism—a way of withdrawing while constructing and experimenting with other forms of social organizing.  These alternatives are more than just symbols.  They are spaces for empowerment, non-alienating production, mutual aid, and struggle.  Holtzman, Hughes and Van Meter argue that through emphasis on direct participation, “DIY reoriented power often fosters a newly found awareness of individual and collective ability to reproduce social change (2007:48).  The politicization that occurs through this process is incredibly important: the process of figuring out one’s identity, building community, and fighting collectively against oppression has a profound effect on wellbeing and emotional health[5].  As they note:

 “By moving within and expanding on DIY culture, participants have been able to escape the idea that there is no alternative.  As a distinct form of anticapitalist struggle, DIY culture has provided a means of circumventing the power of capitalist structures, while at the same time creating substantive alternatives…These and similar activities can serve as positive examples of new forms of social relations and within them, new worlds” (Holtzman, Hughes, Van Meter 2007:54).

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Attempts are being made to reduce and delegitimize anarchist ideas and actions to unthinking, criminal vandalism and unaccountability.  On the contrary, anarchism is all about accountability: accountability to other living beings and the systems that sustain us.  It’s about criticizing and challenging those people and institutions who ignore these responsibilities for profit and power.  Anarchism is not something to blindly fear.  Rather, anarchism involves a multiplicity of ideas and strategies to strive to eliminate all forms of oppression and create greater autonomy and healthy communities, within our responsibilities to other living beings and the systems that sustain us all.

[If you are curious to read more, Niki has a blog: curiouspraxis.wordpress.com]