--------------------------------------
Q. ANARCHISM A PUBLIC VIRTUE?
A. You must be joking! No, I'm not pulling your leg. It's time all those people who continue who continue to believe that anarchism is the stuff of nightmares realise the important role anarchists play in society. There are vere few, if any, groups or organisations in society apart from anarchists who continually resist the ever growing centralisation of power and wealth in bothe the State and corporate sector.
Liberals talk about capitalism with a human face, Labor party supporters drone on about how their policies are designed to keep the ugly face of capitalism in check. Socialists and communists (I believe there are still one or two communists about) carry on about how things would be different if they controlled the State.
Anarchists talk about the dangers of both the State and the corporate sector. Irrespective of how powerful these institutions are, anarchists provide intellectual, moral, ethical and practical opposition to the centralisation of power. They have no hesitation in resisting the idea that centralisation of the power is the inevitable consequence of living in the 21st century.
In the post-modern age in the west and in the east, the north and the south, in authoritarian societies and societies that hide their innate authoritarianism behind the transparent veneer of parliamentary rule, they alone provide an alternative to the authoritarian juggernaut that destroys local initiative and regional autonomy. Anarchists are at the forefront of the struggle to maintain and expand what few freedoms people still enjoy. Anarchism is a public virtue because it provides the framework people can use to both understand and resist the sweeping away of rights and liberties that has become the hallmark of 21st century society. Using the spectre of mass terrorism to terrify their citizens, the State unilaterally destroys what few liberties people still enjoy. People around the world are quickly finding that they have more to fear from the State and the corporate sector than some ephemeral terrorist threat.
The current climate of fear and cultural and political xenophobia created by States exploiting individuals and communities fears about their security is the single most important threat faced by the world. Anarchism provides an island of sanity in a sea of insanity. It provides a glimmer of hope in a culture of despair. It gives individuals, groups and communities both the will and the power to tackle this runaway monster. Anarchists are at the forefront of that struggle. We have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of.
Q. WHAT FEATURES OF 'POST-MODERN ANARCHISM' MAKE IT A UNIQUE BRANCH OF ANARCHISM (I.E. WHAT SETS IT APART)?
A. I began using the term post-modern anarchism in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review a few years ago to describe the shift in strategic thinking in the Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society that began about a decade ago. Although anarchist thought and action is not constrained by the dead hand of ideology, it is constrained by a set of historical precedents that have taken on an almost mystical quality within the anarchist community.
Those of us who cut our political teeth in the new Left in the 1960's and 70's, unquestionably accepted these historical precedents as core principles. Using the legal system, accepting a leadership position in the trade unions, accepting or striving for a position in the bureaucracy, participating in the electoral process and cooperating with government at any level, were strategies that were anathema to the modern anarchist movement.
As a consequence of pursuing strategies that encouraged non-participation and non-cooperation at all levels of society, the anarchist movement allowed the instruments of power at all levels of government and bureaucracy to be held and manipulated by individuals and groups from the Left and Right with an authoritarian political and social agenda. The anarchist movement and the ideas we stand for, have, as a consequence of pursuing strategies that have marginalised us, have become irrelevant in the 21st century.
Post-modern anarchism rejects historical strategic structures and precedents that have become to be considered by a significant proportion of the anarchist movement to be core principles. We accept that the anarchist project is to create a community without rulers. The best way to do this is to strive to create a society where everybody has the right to be involved in the decisions that affect them and has the right to share in the wealth of the society they live and work in.
We reject the idea that certain strategies are off limits to anarchists and will examine each situation on its merits. If we believe we can use the courts in particular situations to highlight the absurdity of capitalism and authoritarian politics, we will. If we believe that being elected or appointed to a particular position will help us break down authoritarian structures and our participation as anarchists will encourage members to become active and change the principles of association of the organisations they're involved in, we will. The only constraint we place on this strategy is that we carry out these assaults on these institutions as anarchists and that during our campaigns we highlight that we aim to get members to abolish hierarchical structures within their institutions and replace them with non-hierarchical structures.
Radical egalitarian social change doesn't normally eventuate from one enormous upheaval, it generally comes from challenging those who wield power at every level in society. That's why post-modern anarchists strive to work at all levels in society.
#
Q. GOVERNMENT IS ORDER?
A. Of course it is. Every time a government collapses, disorder follows. You've seen the television pictures, read the newspaper articles, browsed the internet, listened to the radio. No government - chaos, pure and simple. Or is there more behind the story than meets the eye? If the police went on strike tonight, an army of looters would materialize out of the darkness and steal everything that wasn't nailed down. Some people would help themselves and many would try to settle old scores.
The State, whether democratic or a dictatorship, maintains order through the use of force. The less enfranchised the population, the greater the inequalities that exists within the community, the stronger the disciplinary arm of the State. When people lose faith in the representative process and no longer identify with the institutions that exert authority over them, the State needs to reinforce its repressive arm. If the State collapses, people will attempt to redress the inequalities that exist in society. Whether this is done in an orderly and democratic manner will to a large degree depend on the political and social organisations that existed within the community before the State disintegrated.
If no political or social movements exist and no central authority fills the vacuum, strong individuals will impose their will on the people around them, creating personal fiefdoms that they maintain by the use of force. Failed States like Somalia and Afghanistan do not have to be ruled by warlords. People can build structures that allow them to control their lives in an egalitarian democratic manner. The creation of a dual power situation involves planting the seeds of the new society in the ruins of the old. Government can be inclusive and democratic or it can be exclusive and authoritarian. What type of society grows out of the shadow of the old, is to a large degree dependent on the political, social and cultural organisations that emerge, as the struggle for egalitarian social change gains momentum in society.
#
