Anarchism Without Hyphens

Posted on February 27, 2007
Filed Under General, Politics

Great little article this, worth thinking about.

It is assumed by many that anarchism is an ideology when in fact it is simply a statement.

I am an anarchist. This is a statement which does not define my ideology, any more than it defines yours. I simply believe that it is up to each person to determine thier own ideology, and that they are capable of doing so. We don’t need any overarching authority to tell us what to believe, think, or do. If an individual wants to follow the orders of an authority figure then that is up to them. It is their choice to make. I will no more impose my idea of what freedom means upon them than I will allow them to impose theirs upon me.

This is why anarchism as a political movement has been beset by failure. It is self defeating in that those using it for political ends try to turn it into an ideology, with followers, rules and, ultimately, leaders. It destroys itself with hyphens; anarcho-capitalism, anarcho-socialism, anarcho-paganism, etc. etc.

Anarchism is not ideological, it is merely an idea, which only individuals can live up to. Anarchistic societies are always doomed to failure. They fragment too easily into opposing groups of individuals. Then the politicians take over and play the various factions off against each other purely to gain more power for themselves.

People have puzzled over the centuries what it actually means to be free. I have come to the conclusion that it is enough to act according to your own reason and rationale, beholden to no rules, rulers or other human beings. Do what you believe to be right at the time of doing it, not what the law, the state, or your religion, says is right. Then you are truly free. There may be times when your decisions coincide with the law and other authorities, these are happy coincidences. There will be other times when your actions will be deemed unacceptable, even illegal. There is no way round this quandry, you are either free or a slave to societies mores, there is no middle ground.

The thing about me, you may have noticed, is that I welcome discussion. Its good mental excercise. be warned that simply flaming doesn’t count as discussion, think about what you’re going to type before you type it. So with that caveat in mind, bring it…

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