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Title: On Addiction, Ableism and Anarchism Author: GusselSprouts Date: August 3, 2013 Language: en Topics: ableism, drugs, Mutual aid Source: Retrieved on 9th December 2021 from https://theexpropriationist.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/on-addiction-ableism-and-anarchism/
Addiction is something that touches almost every individual, directly or
indirectly, and often is the ravaging menace of marginalized
communities. The Anarchist community is not an exception, weâve lost
comrades in this struggle, and the void felt from their loss and
subsequent rifts stay for longer than anyone wants to acknowledge. We
are also no exception in reproducing and replicating systemic ableism.
All too often, we exploit neurotypical privilege even amongst the most
social justice-minded of us.
I am an addict, one whose struggle has not been easy. For the purpose of
this essay however, I will refrain from sharing specifically on my own
experience. I am first and foremost writing as an Anarchist. Also, when
Iâm speaking about addiction, understand I am also talking about
alcoholism and behavioral addictions.
Even in the first world, the addict is one of the most vilified and
marginalized voices. Navigating through the capitalist system as an
addict is all too often a painful variable in the cycle of
self-destruction. They are the recipients of a social disgust, a brutal
police state and a draconian justice system. The addict is disowned,
estranged, and disinherited. Some become lost vagrants or outcasts. They
are what people picture when thinking that a different world might be
impossible.
Everyone knows the addict. They are our siblings, comrades, parents,
lovers, and idols. Their stories are not all the same, and surely the
experience of the drug addicted sex-worker who faces abuse daily, is
going to be different than that of the white collar executive, whose
drinking problem is the familyâs well-guarded secret. These
âintersectionsâ of systemic oppression reveal a striking conclusion
which seems apparent but is all too often ignored. From the HIV and
methamphetamine co-epidemic amongst the queer community, to the heroin
dens serving child-soldiers in Liberia, addiction goes where oppression
goes.
Whether you believe addiction to be a disease or a disorder, it most
certainly is a disability and certainly is not a moral affliction. This
is important to remember when talking about addiction in a social
justice or Anarchist context. Under capitalism, the addict has an
immediate adversity in their relationship to production, the same way
other marginalized groups like people of color, women and queer people
do. The state holds the same grudge as the ownership class, seeing
mass-incarceration as the only viable solution.
As the addict ponders if another cure to their misery is possible, the
neurotypical savior will always know the solution. The addict needs to
grow up, the addict needs to be a productive member of society (which
sounds Orwellian to any Anarchist), the addict needs to be punished, the
addict needs medication, the addict needs authority, the addict needs
rehabilitation, the addict needs you to save them.
Itâs more than obvious that upon considering any of these options, the
addictâs mind drifts to simply needing another fix. Whether the chicken
or the egg came first, the addict knows their addiction as a crippling
disability as well it knows addiction as a chronic, progressive, and
deadly disease. They learn even before they begin their downfall what
their relationship is with society. The addict experiences life in a
irreconcilably antagonistic world. Viewing the neurotypical world
through the foggy lens of compulsion, they grow increasingly distrustful
of the those who believe they are acting in their interest.
This ableism makes its way into every level of society, and therefore
every social relationship, and this is all too true amongst Anarchists.
Alienation, judgement, and gossip are always done before someone
approaches with well-meaning concern. Sympathy, as the ability to have
compassion for those with whom you do not have the shared experience
with, is often misunderstood by most neurotypical people trying to
âhelpâ addicts. Sympathy is something often abused, misconstrued and
postured. The addict knows this well. They grow even more hostile.
The same way the gay manâs struggle is different from that of a
transperson, but both struggle against the same system, mental illness
is often different struggle than that of addiction, while both struggle
against the same ableist system (and they are hardly mutually-exclusive
either). The social experience between them is very different. One thing
is certain to me though, to be neurotypical is to be privileged. It is
not a bad thing in any regard, it is simply something to be aware of and
avoid exploiting.
A common opinion is that the greatest asset to the addict is those who
share a common experience and struggle. This is true in social justice
regards too, and is commonly held belief amongst those organizing other
marginalized voices. It is of no surprise to Anarchists, that the most
successful organizations are mutual-aid organizations. Youâll find
âMutual Aid: A Factor of Evolutionâ at the top of my reading. There is
no Anarchy without the concept of mutual-aid, even if the book was the
product of half a centuryâs worth of critical development of Anarchist
theory before it.
The 12-steps often dominate the recovery praxis of these organizations.
Anarchists have also developed more intersectional radical mental health
projects like the Icarus Project which embrace neurodiversity and also a
diversity of solutions. Many Anarchist spaces host both, which I think
is good yet other Anarchists might be critical of. Regardless, AAâs
success as a sustainable and international organization, founded on
principles of voluntary association and mutual-aid, should at the very
least spark the interest of the Anarchists. But what did Bill W. (the
founder of AA) have to say about Anarchism?
Bill W. in âAA Comes of Ageâ:
âWhen we come into AA we find a greater personal freedom than any other
society knows. We cannot be compelled to do anything. In that sense our
society is a benign anarchy. The word âanarchyâ has a bad meaning to
most of usâŠ. But I think that the gentle Russian prince who so strongly
advocated the idea felt that if men were granted absolute liberty, and
were compelled to obey no one in person, they would voluntarily
associate themselves in the common interest. AA is an association of the
benign sort the prince envisioned
But when we had to go into action â to function as groups â we
discovered that we also had to become a democracy. As our old-timers
retired, we therefore began to elect our trusted servants by majority
vote. Each group in this sense became a town meeting. All plans for
group action had to be approved by the majority. This meant that no
single individual could appoint himself to act for his group or for A.A.
as a whole. Neither dictatorship nor paternalism was for us.â
The âgentle Russian princeâ Bill W. was describing was Peter Kropotkin.
Bill goes lengths to describe his reasons for adopting a decentralized
and anti-authoritarian organizational structure based on mutual-aid and
how he borrowed from Kropotkinâs theories on mutual-aid. So in a sense,
Anarchists have already influenced the ways in which addicts find
recovery. Many Anarchist ideals and principles made themselves into AAâs
organizational companion to the steps, known as âThe 12 Traditionsâ,
which keep the organization decentralized and non-hierarchical across
nations.
So what is to be done with this observation? How do we build a better
world for the addict and act in solidarity with them? I think there is
somewhat of a spark being born within the radical mental health
organizations like the Icarus Project. We also can focus on attacking
the ableist system and mass incarceration with the same strategies as we
attack all other systems of oppression. But most important, we can
realize that we have each other, and remember that mutual-aid is an
intrinsic factor of evolution. It is not something we have to create, it
can only be realized and embraced.