the challenge of becoming an anarchist - why nearly everyone's a statist

Steve Kinney admin at pilobilus.net
Sun Jun 12 06:18:07 PDT 2016


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On 06/12/2016 05:57 AM, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
>> Lastly, one should realize that your first obligation is to
>> yourself, then to your [chosen] family/friends, and finally none
>> at all to "society", which is a construct of dubious utility, and
>> which doesn't exist on its own. It's not a matter of "every man
>> for himself and devil take the hindmost", it's a matter of
>> "there's only so much one can do, and the most important things
>> come first".
> 
> Problem is, "most important things", in almost all humans, fails
> to include "actions which will in some (even small) way, bring
> forward some correction or shift to my wayward state, in which I am
> in some small way a party to".

[description of issue oriented populist political activism omitted ]

> Good luck, and may your actions speak for you. Rock the world in
> your own little way. Inspire others where possible. Do what we can.
> Amongst the 100s of causes and slogans, one may take off - and
> that's all that's needed! Enjoy the ride.

Plus one on that.  Let me get out my Norton II hat & soap box for a
minute here.

Anarchism provides a frame of reference that enables us to understand
how systems of government actually work, and what we can do with and
to them in purely practical terms. Anarchism does not propose a
Utopian system of government to replace the ones already in place, nor
is it a call to "smash the State" and replace it with nothing.

Anarchism describes a group of people who work together for mutual
advantage as a syndicate.  Syndicates organize themselves to develop and
exploit resources for social and economic gain, often in competition
against rival syndicates and among their own membership.

In a stable going concern State, law and public policy are whatever
its dominant syndicates impose by force on the rest of the people in
the territory they control through the State.  In this context force
means applied power, not just physical violence:  Propaganda,
elaborate deceptions and economic incentives do all the heavy lifting.
 Competent State authorities only apply kidnapping and murder when
other methods of manipulation fail:  Violence "is wrong" in the sense
that, except in the context of terrorism (using the threat of violence
to enforce compliant behavior), violence destroys valuable resources
that "should" properly belong to the dominant syndicates.

Anarchists study politics as social power:  Who has it, who does not,
and how these groups interact.  As such, Anarchism provides a frame of
reference for analyzing and comparing various "systems of government"
and for modifying these systems where and as useful opportunities to
do so arise.  A State sanctioned discipline called Human Ecology seeks
to exploit anarchist theory for the exclusive benefit of dominant
syndicates.

Anarchy becomes a visible "force" when and as enough previously
unorganized people push back against State sanctioned syndicates to
forcibly modify those syndicates' behavior.  When dominant syndicates
controlling a State lose touch with reality and exceed the bounds of
their real social power, they may do enough physical and economic harm
to motivate active rebellion among formerly docile State subjects.  At
these times, Anarchists provide propaganda, educational resources, and
facilitation to enable formerly unorganized people to form effective
ad hoc syndicates of their own, and exercise the specific forms of
social and economic power accessible to them.

In the context of political warfare, Anarchism functions as a force
mltiplier:  By themselves, anarchists do not have the material
resource base needed to affect significant changes in the behavior of
State sanctioned syndicates.  But where and as substantial numbers of
disenfranchised people begin to demand social and economic power of
their own, anarchists can facilitate the rapid development of
effective organization, realistic goal setting, and effective action
by those motivated people.  Some call this process Direct Democracy.

As a countermeasure to the potential impact of Anarchist theory and
practice on the behavior of populations dominated by powerful minority
syndicates, State sanctioned propagandists present a fictional version
of Anarchism based on nihilism.  States spare no expense in promoting
and reinforcing a false definition of Anarchy as "violent opposition
to social order of any kind."  Naive self identifying anarchists who
rebel as they are told by State sponsored propagandists provide
"living proof" that the State's definition of Anarchy is correct.  The
well promoted presence of these pseudo-anarchists on mass
communication networks diverts and obstructs public access to
Anarchist resources - except where and as "real" anarchists
effectively weaponize their own understanding of propaganda and
information warfare techniques.

Well that's enough about that for now.

Get busy.

:o)













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