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Title: Mirror Kaleidoscope Dagger Author: Anonymous Date: 12/03/17 Language: en Topics: anarchism, introductory Source: Retrieved on 12/05/17 from https://plainwordsbloomington.noblogs.org/post/2017/12/03/plain-words-4/
“The subject is not whether we accomplish anarchism today, tomorrow, or
within ten centuries, but that we walk towards anarchism today,
tomorrow, and always.”
Errico Malatesta,
“Towards Anarchism”
What is anarchism? The question itself opens like a budding flower,
exposing further questions. Do we speak of anarchism as a political
theory, with its corresponding list of important books and figures? Or
of anarchism as an approach to life, a way of living one’s days in a way
that is liberating? Anarchism can be both of these – and much more –
because it is elusive, defiant of orthodoxy and final words. Let us not
speak of anarchism in the dead tongues of Great Men, the dusty language
of library shelves, or the meaningless prattle of the artistic
avant-garde. In defining some basic principles, let us cut new paths
away from definitive pronunciations.
It is impossible to envision a free world when our everyday lives are
poisoned by Power: from above (police, prisons, bosses, courts,
landlords), from others (the cycles of abuse that plague our
relationships, the petty snitch mentality), and from ourselves (our own
acceptance of and participation in the above). Anarchism offers us a
mirror with which to evaluate ourselves, to recognize faults and,
ultimately, to make changes.
Am I capable of living without authority? This question breaks through
all hand-wringing about utopia, bringing our ideal world into dialogue
with our own behavior. Are we slavish, sycophantic, submissive? Are we
exploitative, dishonest, manipulative? Are we dominating, uncaring,
sadistic? Are we living our lives, now, in a way that opens doors for
experiments in freedom – or has all of this world’s bitterness
diminished our capacity for simple
human kindness?
The mirror exposes us for what we are, and only through this will we
change. Anarchism does not wait for “material conditions” or the
“contradictions of capitalism” to transform us – it demands we sow the
seeds of a new humanity now.
As our daily lives are impoverished by systems of power, so too are our
dreams deadened and constrained. Political ideologies – with their
dogmas, “strategic thought,” and “objective conditions” – strangle our
unrestrained day dreams of cooperation and free life. The beauty of
anarchism is that it has dispensed with ideological certainties,
scientific measurements, and grand plans, favoring instead the limitless
possibilities that can spring forth from the unknown. Each turn of the
kaleidoscope – this way and that – brings new arrangements of light,
unique and vibrant colors, evanescent and determined by the movements
we, ourselves, make.
Much has been made of the anarchist as wild-eyed bomb thrower, and much
more has been vomited in response by those “anarchists” who fall over
each other to distance themselves from any tinge of violence. Whatever
one’s personal inclination toward or against violence, the reality of
our lives within capitalism and under the state is one of ruthless
brutality and exploitation. This will not be done away with by simply
wishing it were so, or by loving the hand that beats us. To retaliate
against the violence of work and law, property and alienation, is
self-defense. More importantly, it is a small assurance that those who
wish to violate us will not do so without repercussions. In the face of
the violence of the system, dignity is to be found in the
counter-violence of our direct action.
Having traversed some fields and forests with you, I will leave the
“justification” for anarchism to others, as so much has already been
said about the human history of free cooperation and mutual aid. Neither
will I dwell upon the intricacies of an anarchist society (who will take
out the trash, etc.), because I find such questions impossible to answer
in the midst of this social prison. Besides, there will not be one
answer to such questions; systematic thinking is what has ensnared us in
the barbed wire for so long. What to do with a world of total freedom
will be determined by those who live in that world. The best we can
offer are visions, small experiments that summon that world in our
immediate lives, and audacious actions to rid ourselves of Power and its
footsoldiers.
Anarchism is a path made by walking. It is a tension: against Power,
toward unknown freedoms.
Without map, we traverse the wilderness. We do not fear the dark; it
hides us from our enemies. We do not fear the wild beasts; they are our
companions. We do not fear hunger; the trees are plentiful. We do not
fear disease; many among us are healers. We do not fear each other;
tenderness abounds. We know not our destination – only that behind us
the city without silence consumes the horizon with its cataractous
glare. In the darkness we can see the stars. They are so beautiful.
Margot V.
Some tappings on the cell wall
Osvaldo Bayer
Afrikan Anarchism” by Akinyele Umoja