Using the word "anarchy" to refer
solely to violence only adds to the state
of confusion about what "anarchy"
and "anarchists" are really about.
It adds to the hysteria and fear people already
have - rather than contributing to knowledge
about an important historical movement. How
many people know about Emma Goldman or the
effects that anarchists had on the labor
movement (i.e. the 40 work week)? The ACLU,
Planned Parenthood and even Dorothy Day's
Catholic Worker Movement all originated out
of an anarchist intellectual milieu.
When people use the word "anarchy"
to refer only to violence it adds nothing
to our understanding of the continuation
of anarchists to civil society we have today.
The anti-authoritarian core of anarchy is
perhaps as relevant today as it ever was.
As "big government" and central
planning become more and more discredited,
the decentralized, voluntary cooperative
spirit of mankind begins to look more attractive.
Demonizing anarchy and anarchists only adds
to the confusion about what is an appropriate
level of government and how it might be possible
for people to get along with a minimum of
coercive institutions. Of course, whenever
some one who claims to be an anarchist uses
violence, it only reinforces public bias
toward anarchy. This only illustrates the
difficulty of defining what it means to be an anarchist - as by definition there is no authority
to enforce a membership criteria. While few
people would blame Catholicism when a Catholic
commits a murder, it is common practice to
blame anarchism when someone who claims to
be an anarchist is violent.
| What do you say to someone who demonizes anarchy and anarchists? |
| 1. First talk about the meaning of anarchy. According to the The Harper Collins Dictionary of Philosophy, the word "anarchy" is from Greek, prefix a, meaning "not," "the want of," "the absence of," or "the lack of", plus archos, meaning "a ruler," "director", "chief," "person in charge," "commander." The Greek words anarchos, and anarchia meant "having no government -- being without a government" [Peter A. Angeles, The Harper Collins Dictionary of Philosophy, Second Edition, pp. 11-12]. The Encyclopedia Britannica entry for anarchism says that it is,
"...a social philosophy whose central tenet
is that human beings can live
justly and harmoniously
without government and that the imposition
of
government upon human
beings is in fact harmful and evil. Anarchists
are
distinguished from Marxists
and other socialists in that the latter believe
that the state must first
be taken over before it can "wither away";
anarchists are too suspicious
of the corruptions of power to believe that
this is desirable or even
possible." |
Anarchism (Doctrine and Movement in ethics and politics) — Anarchism was a sometimes violent political movement around the turn of the century, but the word also describes a moral-political ideal of a society untouched by relations of power and domination among human beings. This moral ideal has most often expressed itself in what is the technical meaning of the term, namely the total absence of government. Anarchism, in this sense, differs from the position of classical liberalism or libertarianism in politics (which upholds not a lack of government but limited government), but in its moral sense (the abolition of force and domination from human relations) it is consonant with a rational ethics. Note, however, that this ethical aspect is overshadowed in popular understanding by the political aspect, and by the former political movement. --anarchism at The Ism Book
"I must tell you, first of all, what anarchism is not. It is not bombs, disorder, or chaos. It is not robbery or murder..." --'Defining Anarchism' by Jason Justice
Anarchism is a tendency in the history of human thought and action which seeks to identify coercive, authoritarian, and hierarchic structures of all kinds and to challenge their legitimacy -- and if they cannot justify their legitimacy, which is quite commonly the case, to work to undermine them and expand the scope of freedom. --Noam ChomskyI was attracted to anarchism as a young teenager, as soon as I began to think about the world beyond a pretty narrow range, and haven't seen much reason to revise those early attitudes since. I think it only makes sense to seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, and to challenge them; unless a justification for them can be given, they are illegitimate, and should be dismantled, to increase the scope of human freedom. --Noam Chomsky on Anarchism, Marxism & Hope for the Future
You may add a comments to this page