When we think of anarchy we think of violence and chaos; characters like the Joker, V,
and Discord. But anarchism is actually a very broad school of theoretical and practical
commitments. A lot of people think it's about resisting government but even that is
just one facet of it. Schools and education; economics ; theatre; art; religion and spirituality; sexuality; linguistics; history; sociology
ecology and our relationship to the environment;
defence policy; Marxism - it's possible to approach all of these and more through the lens of anarchism.
Which is why if you scroll down to my comments section right now you'll probably see a lot of
people in there going, "Grr, why didn't you mention this person or this theory?!" Anarchists
are like fish, and anarchist theory is like the ocean. Fish live in and move through the
ocean - they have that in common - but there are lots of different kinds of fish
and they have lots of different kinds of behaviour. And sometimes other animals
take a dip in the sea and share a bit of space with the fish too.
There's also a common myth that anarchists are egoistic - focused on the individual,
sometimes even to a selfish extent. Some anarchists are egoistic - Max Stirner, for instance,
said that the individual should be placed under no external constraints; all forms of
government and even morality and family were despotic. But some anarchists take a much more
community-minded focus, especially because in the last 50 years anarchism has changed
both theoretically and practically.
The philosopher David Morland says that although there are lots of different kinds of anarchism,
the common theme - both of the anti-government kind and all the other kinds - is resisting
power. He writes, "Anarchists whether old or new are united in their belief that [power]
should wherever possible be uprooted and eliminated."
That's why anarchism is so broad and various. Part of the legacy of poststructuralism was
that people realised that there are lots of different kinds of power and power works in various different overlapping and intersecting
ways. And anarchism, to its credit, totally rolled with that, and said - "If there's lots of different kinds of power,
there'll be lots of different ways of resisting it." The variety of power also explains why different anarchist
groups sometimes use very different tactics, and sometimes even disagree with each other about what the best tactics to use are.
Speaking of tactics, one thing that has become important to a lot of modern anarchists is
praxis. Praxis means putting the theory into action, walking the walk as well as talking
the talk. That's why a lot of anarchist groups put a focus on direct action, protest,
and demonstration. So an anarchist approach to a problem might be, "Let's not just sit around and
talk about how good it would be to be environmentally friendly; let's set up a garage and start converting
our cars to run on biofuel! Let's not just write an article about how it sucks
that women's shelters are being closed down; let's squat in an abandoned house and build a women's shelter of our own!"
The author and political theorist Murray Bookchin wrote, "There can be no separation of
the revolutionary process from the revolutionary goal."
Praxis is important to lots of different groups, not just anarchists. Professor Sarah Ahmed's resignation from
Goldsmith's University over that institution's failure to address endemic sexual
harassment of students is an example of feminist praxis. Starting a YouTube channel to give
away free education when the government tripled tuition fees is, I guess, an example of some kind of praxis.
Anarchists don't have a monopoly on this idea - remember, big ocean: lot of different kind of things sharing
it - but as you read modern anarchist writers you'll find that they have
an eye on how they can build the change they want to see in world.
Ok, So for anarchists there's a focus on resisting power and doing more than just talking about
it. Ok. But why? Why resist power? Well - what is power? We mentioned before there
are lots of different kinds of it, so what's the one theme that power has in common?
Political scientist Michael Taylor says that power is the ability to change the range of someone's
available actions. To expand or to limit somebody's options. So for instance, if I'm the government I can
pass laws that limit your options, or I can repeal laws and extend them - I have power
over you. Parents expand or limit the options for their children: that's another kind of power.
Your boss probably expands or limits your choices in terms of when you're allowed to turn up at work and when
you're allowed to leave. If you injure somebody or kill them you exercise
power over their choices in terms of how they can use their body. If you commit hate speech you limit somebody's
options in terms of how they are seen in public and maybe even how they see themselves. Lots of different kinds of power;
all to do with altering somebody's available choices.
There's an inseparable relationship between power and violence. Violence is much more
than just being punched in the face - like with power, there are lots of different kinds
of violence. Norwegian Sociologist Johann Galtung says violence is the force that limits
people's options. PBS Idea Channel did an great video on violence a while ago, in
which Mike says to inflict violence is to remove an agent's choice. Whether it's the
direct violence of a punch to the face or the structural violence of buying life-saving medicine and raising the
price so that people can't afford it and they die, violence is what boxes people in.
We see the relationship between power and violence played out in politics. Some people
say "Violence has no place in politics!" but actually violence occupies every place
in politics. If you choose not to obey the laws of your country sooner or later you will be confronted by the
direct violence of the police and the structural violence of the penal system.
Government maintain their sovereignty against invasion and revolution with the direct violence of
the armed services; national borders are maintained through the direct violence of arrests and detention
centres and the structural violence of fences and walls. Economic growth is sustained through
the structural violence of capitalism. Violence absolutely saturates politics. The entire point of a government is to distribute, manage,
legitimise, and maintain a monopoly on violence. The French philosopher Michel Foucault said
that politics is just "the continuation of war by other means."
So if violence is the removal of choice and power is the ability to expand or limit someone's
choices, then violence is at least half of all power. To the anarchist then, power is just
the ability to inflict violence on you. Far from itself being itself violent, anarchism could be seen
as the philosophy that resists violence the most. Although like I said, some anarchists
disagree about tactics and praxis. A lot of anarchists focus on government power because
that's one of the most visible kinds. But it's not the only one. Just as a coral reef
is one very interesting ocean environment but it's not the only place you find fish.
Remember, theory is a big ocean: lot's of different kinds of things living in it.
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