You may think that in describing anarchy as organisation, I am being deliberately paradoxical. Anarchy you may consider to be, by definition, the opposite of organisation. But the word really means something quite different; it means the absence of government, the absence of authority. It is, after all, governments which make and enforce the laws that enable the “haves” to retain control of social assets to the exclusion of the “have-nots.” It is, after all, the principle of authority which ensures that people will work for someone else for the greater part of their lives, not because they enjoy or have any control over their work, but because to do so is their only means of livelihood.
Those anarchists who call themselves communists (and I am one of them) do so not because they wish to impose their particular way of seeing things on others or because they believe that outside communism there can be no salvation, but because they are convinced, until proved wrong, that the more human beings are joined in brotherhood, and the more closely they cooperate in their efforts for the benefit of all concerned, the greater is the well-being and freedom which each can enjoy. They believe that Man, even if freed from oppression by his fellow men, still remains exposed to the hostile forces of Nature, which he cannot overcome alone, but which, in association with others, can be harnessed and transformed into the means for his own well being.
Man, like all living beings, adapts and accustoms himself to the conditions under which he lives and passes on acquired habits. Thus, having been born and bred in bondage, when the descendants of a long line of slaves started to think, they believed that slavery was an essential condition of life and freedom seemed impossible to them. Similarly, workers who for centuries were obliged, and therefore accustomed, to depend for work, that is bread, on the goodwill of the master, and to see their lives always at the mercy of the owners of the land and of capital, ended by believing that it is the master who feeds them, and ingenuously ask one how would it be possible to live if there were no masters.
It was once put to me as an argument against anarchism, that “if everyone could choose what to do, no one would elect to join the army, and the country would be undefended.” My interlocutor was not an idiot but could just not imagine a world without “countries” that needed armies to defend them against foreigners.
-Donald Rooum, What is Anarchism? An Introduction, pg 5
Let it be emphasised. Only a small minority of terrorists have ever been anarchists, and only a small minority of anarchists have ever been terrorists. The anarchist movement as a whole has always recognised that social relationships cannot be assassinated or bombed out of existence.
-Donald Rooum, What is Anarchism? An Introduction, pg 5
Anarchists do not suppose that all people are altruistic, or wise, or good, or identical, or perfectible, or any romantic nonsense of that kind. They believe that a society without coercive institutions is feasible, within the repertoire of natural, imperfect, human behaviour.
Anarchists do not “lay down blueprints for the free society.” There are science-fiction stories and other fantasies in which anarchies are imagined, but they are not prescribed. Any society which does not include coercive institutions will meet the anarchist objective.
It seems clear, however, that every conceivable anarchy would need social pressure to dissuade people from acting coercively; and to prevent a person from acting coercively is to limit that person’s choices. Every society imposes limits, and there are those who argue, with the air of having an unanswerable argument, that this makes anarchism impossible.
But anarchy is not perfect freedom. It is only the absence of government, or coercive establishments. To show that perfect freedom is impossible is not to argue against anarchism, but simply to provide an instance of the general truth that nothing is perfect.
-Donald Rooum, What is Anarchism? An Introduction, pg 3
For dictionary purposes, anarchism may be correctly defined as opposition to government in all its forms. But it would be a mistake to think of anarchism as essentially negative. The opposition to government arises out of a belief about society which is positive.
-Donald Rooum, What is Anarchism? An Introduction, pg 2
Any social relationship in which one party dominates another by the use of threats (explicit or tacit, real or delusory) restricts the choices of the dominated party. Occasional, temporary instances of coercion may be inevitable; but in the opinion of anarchists, established, institutionalised, coercive relationships are by no means inevitable. They are a social blight which everyone should try to eliminate.
-Donald Rooum, What is Anarchism? An Introduction, pg 2
All anarchists reject the legitimacy of external government and of the State, and condemn imposed political authority, hierarchy and domination. They seek to establish the condition of anarchy, that is to say, a decentralized and self-regulating society consisting of a federation of voluntary associations of free and equal individuals. The ultimate goal of anarchism is to create a free society which allows all human beings to realize their full potential.
-Peter Marshall, “The River of Anarchy”, Demanding the Impossible, pg. 3
To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated, regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, evaluated, censored, commanded; all by creatures that have neither the right, nor wisdom, nor virtue… To be governed means that at every move, operation, or transaction one is noted, registered, entered in a census, taxed, stamped, priced, assessed, patented, licensed, authorized, recommended, admonished, prevented, reformed, set right, corrected. Government means to be subjected to tribute, trained, ransomed, exploited, monopolized, extorted, pressured, mystified, robbed; all in the name of public utility and the general good. Then, at the first sign of resistance or word of complaint, one is repressed, fined, despised, vexed, pursued, hustled, beaten up, garroted, imprisoned, shot, machine-gunned, judged, sentenced, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed, and to cap it all, ridiculed, mocked, outraged, and dishonoured. That is government, that is its justice and its morality!
PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON
Man is truly tree only among equally free men.
MICHAEL BAKUNIN
Every State is a despotism, be the despot one or many.
But it is easy to see why rulers should fear anarchy and wish to label anarchists as destructive fanatics for they question the very foundations of their rule. The word ‘anarchy’ comes from the ancient Greek ἀναρχία meaning the condition of being`without a leader’ but usually translated and interpreted as 'without a ruler’. From the beginning, it made sense for rulers to tell their subjects that without their rule there would be tumult and mayhem; as Yeats wrote:`Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.’
“Of the classic anarchist thinkers, only Bakunin celebrated the poetry of destruction in his early work, and that because like many thinkers and artists he felt it was first necessary to destroy the old in order to create the new.”
LGTBQIA+ Anarchist icons! Free use! If you use them i ask credit me if you can :> I have a bunch more coming!!! Thinking of making them stickers too? maybe? lol Well anyway happy pride month and enjoy!!!
1997Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is released.
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1998Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is released
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1999Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is released
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2000Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is released
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2001Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone film is released
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2002Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets film is released
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2003Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is released
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2004Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban film is released
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2005Harry Potter and the Half Blood PrinceandHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film are released
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2007Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsandHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film are released
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2009Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince film is released
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2010:Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 film is released
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2011:Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is released
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2018: JK Rowling: women deserve female only spaces
Breadtubers: The Harry Potter books are anti-Semitic, transphobic, homophobic, racist every other ist except sexist, because we don’t care about sexism. The fact that Harry didn’t become a teenage anarchist who lead a revolution to overthrow the corrupt ministry and abolish slavery is classist.
TODAY IN LGBTQ+ HISTORY: On May 21, 1979, following the conviction of Dan White for voluntary manslaughter in the assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk, San Francisco gay activists have a night-long battle with the SFPD, which becomes known as the “White Night Riot.”
“Imagine a society that subjects people to conditions that make them terribly unhappy then gives them the drugs to take away their unhappiness. Science fiction It is already happening to some extent in our own society. Instead of removing the conditions that make people depressed modern society gives them antidepressant drugs. In effect antidepressants are a means of modifying an individual’s internal state in such a way as to enable him to tolerate social conditions that he would otherwise find intolerable.”
