Anarchism

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"To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated at, regulated, docketed, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, weighed, censored, ordered about, by men who have neither the right, nor the knowledge, nor the virtue."

Anarchism, also known as Anarchy, Anarchy without Adjectives or Mother Anarchy, is an ideology inhabiting the bottom of the political compass that advocates for a society without rulers or constituted authority, with a focus on the notion of freedom. One universal and defining aspect of anarchism is opposition to "the state" and centralized bureaucratic governance which they consider to be unjust.

Apart from this defining principle however, anarchists tend to diverge on several key issues (mostly regarding the organization of revolutionary struggle, the subject of anarchist critique and economic issues). Many left-wing anarchists consider anarchism to be in stark opposition and contrast to all vertically organized institutions (or all hierarchical institutions, basically) which manifests in various forms ( opposition to the capitalist mode of production, opposition to patriarchal hierarchy, opposition to anthropocentric hierarchy, opposition to heteronormative hierarchy etc.) and support left-wing notions of freedom such as sexual liberation and class liberation whereas right-wing anarchists consider anarchism to simply be the ultimate negation of the state and bureaucracy and support certain right-wing notions of freedom such as free trade and freedom of the community and its culture from foreign influence. There are also individualist anarchists who believe anarchism to believe the ideology which places the liberation of the individual as its central focus and supports ideas such as self-sufficiency (although this type of rhetoric is common on both the left and right of anarchism with most individualist anarchists, who do not believe in either left-wing or right-wing beliefs, associating with post-left anarchism or egoist anarchism). Ultimately, the definition of anarchism is quite loose and can be used within several contexts, which is why it is have been synthesized with most mainstream and esoteric ideologies.

She is the mother of countless anarchist ideologies and is known to love all of her children except for some failed children. Unlike most other balls, whose gender is undefined, Anarchism is always female and wears a grey bow, as a reference to the Russo-Ukrainian anarchist song, Анархия-мама Сынов Своих Любит (Eng: Mother Anarchy Loves Her Sons).[1]

History

Proto-Anarchism

The etymological roots of anarchism come from Ancient Greek (as with several political vocabulary) and roughly translate to "without rulers" and has existed in the English language since 1642. Yet despite this and the fact that Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was the first to call himself an anarchist, many scholars like to envision earlier philosophies as being a sort of "proto-anarchism".

Some such as Harold Barclay and David Graeber claim that before the existence of society, all humans lived in a state of anarchy (a state that would later be envisioned by anarcho-primitivists). The ancient philosophies of Taoist sages such as Lao Tzu and Zhuang Zhou as well as the Greek philosophies of the Cynics and the Stoics have often been portrayed as anarchic by certain scholars. Aristippus, one of the pupils of Socrates can also be considered one of the forerunners of anarchist thought due to his beliefs about rule and autonomy.

During the Middle Ages, various theological strains of Islam and Christianity developed that had anarchistic qualities such as the Mu'tazilite and Kharijites in Persia (who are considered by historian David Goodway to be a part of the historical anarchist tradition) and anticlerical movements such as the Brethren of the Free Spirit and proto-Protestants such as the Hussites. Historian James Joll describes this as the rise of a strand of anarchism based in the theological, zealotic and ascetic critique of institutions.

The early modern era in Europe saw the development of both secular anti-authoritarian thought as well as the divergence of anti-authoritarian theology within Christianity as part of the greater Renaissance and Reformation respectively. Several French thinkers used the concept of 'utopia' to bypass censorship and project their libertine political views, examples include François Rabelais, Gabriel de Foigny and François Fénelon. During the English Civil War, Diggers such as Gerrard Winstanley would develop a proto-communalistic view of society preaching values such as absolute egalitarianism, communal ownership of property and socioeconomic organization in small agrarian communities based on the Bible. Alongside this religious egalitarianism, more libertarian philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau would go on to develop understandings of freedom and equality that would strongly resonate with later anarchists.

WIP

The start of the Anarchist Theory

Anarchism has been used as a term a long time ago, and used to mean simply "without rulers", deriving from the greek word ἀναρχος (anarkhos), with great emphasis on its use during the French Revolution by Robespierre to disqualify more radical groups like the enragés, a group which inspired Socialism as a whole, but the term had mostly a negative connotation. The ideology took shape after Pierre-Joseph Proudhon self proclaimed himself as an anarchist formally, and because of the word's ambiguity, based his theory on organizing a society based on Anti-Authoritarianism and Socialism, and although he had differences with later Anarchists ideologies (a lot because of his emphasis on Market Socialism and individualism), still he laid the basic foundations of Anarchism. During the XVII century, different branches truly developed even more the ideology, to the way we're accustomed to in the Modern Age, Anarchism took two different paths, a more Marxist analysis, with notable names like Mikhail Bakunin and the Anarcho-Collectivism, Piotr Kropotkin and Errico Malatesta with Anarcho-Communism and the Social Anarchism umbrella term, for the more collectively minded anarchists ideologies, in contrast with the individually minded anarchists such as Benjamin Tucker and Lysander Spooner, marking as well economical differences, between Left-Wing Market Anarchism, or Mutualism and Gift Economy, and sparkling the first forms of Right-Anarchism in the end of the century, inspired by Austrian School, Chicago School and Libertarianism in general, as infamously Anarcho-Capitalism.

Anarchist Actions History

Variants of Anarchy (their sons)

Classical Anarchism

Ecological Anarchism

Overlapping theories:

Individualist Anarchism

Overlapping theories:

Mutualist Anarchism

Overlapping theories:

Social Anarchism

Overlapping theories:

Post-Classical Anarchism

Feminist Anarchism

Overlapping theories:

  • Goldmanism

Postcolonial Anarchism

Overlapping theories:

  • African Anarchism
  • Black Anarchism
  • Celtic Anarchism
  • Democratic Confederalism
  • Independence Anarchism
  • Indigenous Anarchism

Contemporary Anarchism

Nihilist Anarchism

Green Anarchy

Post-Anarchism

Post-Left Anarchism

Market Anarchism

Agorism

Capitalist Anarchism

Overlapping theories:

Left-Wing Market Anarchism

Pacifist Anarchism

Christian Anarchism

Overlapping theories:

  • Tolstoyism

Anti-Capitalist or Not?

The first individuals to describe themselves as Anarchists without adjectives were thoroughly anti-capitalist, with Anarchist without Adjectives Voltairine de Cleyre saying in 1907:

The hells of capitalism create the desperate; the desperate act - desperately!

Malatesta, Errico, "Towards Anarchy" in: Turcato, Davide (ed.) 2014, "The Method of Freedom, AK Press, pp. 299

But it's important to take into consideration the meaning of the terms employed. Voltairine, after all, also said:

(Anarchists) are firm in the idea that the system of employer and employed, buying and selling, banking, and all the other essential institutions of Commercialism, centred upon private property, are in themselves good, and are rendered vicious merely by the interference of the State.

Voltairine de Cleyre, Anarchism. Originally published in Free Society, 13 October 1901. Published in Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre, edited by Sharon Presley, SUNY Press 2005, p. 224.

However historical context is necessary, as these statements predate modern Anarcho-Capitalism, and with modern Anarchists without adjectives such as Fred Woodworth instead saying:

I have no prefix or adjective for my anarchism. I think syndicalism can work, as can free-market anarcho-capitalism, anarcho-communism, even anarcho-hermits, depending on the situation.

Fred Woodworth, An essay by Fred Woodworth in Avrich, Paul (2006). Anarchist Voices. Stirling: AK Press. p. 475.

Personality and Behaviour

Anarchy is a mother and therefore portrays quite motherly traits within the comics, but because she is anarchist, she can be quite lax in her parenting.

How to Draw

Flag of Anarchism
  1. Draw a ball,
  2. Fill it with dark, but not pure, black,
  3. Draw a white circle with an 'A' in the middle,
  4. Add a grey bow to the top,
  5. Add the eyes, and you're done!
Color Name HEX RGB
Black #202020 32, 32, 32
White #FFFFFF 255, 255, 255
Grey #434343 67, 67, 67


International Relations

Since world doesn't have any worldwide government, many theorists of international relations studies use the word anarchy to describe the order of the international system—independent states with no central authority above them. On this foundation was developed 4 schools of thought: Realism, Neorealism, Liberalism, Neoliberalism.

Relationships

Friendly (literally every anarchist)

Frenemies

  • All libertarian ideologies - Distrust of the state? Good, but why do you want to keep it?
  • Minarcho-Socialism & Minarchism - You hate the state even more yet you still want to keep it?
  • Anarcho-Monarchism - My weird monarchist child.
  • Hoppeanism - Even weirder monarcho-capitalist son.
  • Anarcho-Fascism - What!?
  • Federalism & Confederalism - Every local town, city, commune, etc. should have self-determination, but become anti-authority as a whole and we're good.
  • Anarcho-Totalitarianism - Ok, I think this is starting to become a serious problem.
  • Anti-Fascism - You hate fascists, yet you don't fully embrace Anti-Authoritarianism. Curious.
  • Hydrarchy - You don't call yourself an anarchist, but your society really wasn't bad, to be honest.
  • Anti-Japaneseism - Destroying the Japanese state? What about destroying all states? Also advocating for ethnic genocide is a pretty weird thing for an anarchist to do.
  • Libertarian Possibilism - You can't abolish the state with reforms.
  • Mao-Spontex - Huh?
  • Capitalism - Left-Anarchists hate you on how connected you are to the state, but my followers on the right advocate a decentralized free market model.
  • Avaritionism - You are similar to him but very extreme and violent. How are you an Anarchist?
  • Soulism - You also took correct ideas but, getting rid of the laws of physics?! Odd and too utopian. Also, stop being so lazy and escapist loner, and think about something more realistic.
  • Futurism - Oh wow, you are... certainly interesting.... why are you following me?
  • Marxism - You criticized me multiple times and you also kicked him out of the First Internationale. However, you also influenced some of my children.
  • Contrarianism - Likes to oppose the status quo like me, but for the sake of it. And I worry that you will also turn your back on me if I become the status quo too which will never happen.

Statists

Further Information

Literature

Wikipedia

Videos

YouTube Channels

Online Communities

International Organizations

Gallery


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