Modern Anarchism: the problem and my solution

[Sip]

Obviously, as we are anarchists, each would try to help the 'cause in whatever way he saw fit, and no one would be forced to do anything. Those that like to make things would make things. Those that would like to connect with society and push our interests there would do that. And yes, those that would prefer to do nothing could do nothings but hang out in our home/compound and fuck or make music or whatever. I'm just laying out some ideas, and my way is by no way the only way. I've simply got a vision in my head and am laying it out the way I see it. It's a vision, not a stone tablet, and I continue to welcome ideas and arguments on how to put the idea into action. Anyone who is in MI near GR would be a HUGE fucking asset at this stage, as I feel like a school teacher trying to rope cats on surfboard here.

 

[psychofoamer]

Capitalism is not the demon, government is. Unfortunately they have been very intertwined. Capitalism would work way better if the government just kept there mooching hands out of things. In fact the government should just get up and walk away.

Sure we are all against privatization, etcetera,etcetera, but let's face it. Modern civilized humans don't want to give up their luxuries. Hell. I like my luxuries. Internet, craft beer, my nice gear and boots, freight trains, delicious food of all flavors. None of these things would exist without capitalism. Sure we could all be nomadic hunter gatherers, or live in small farming communities, yeah, sounds great, but unfortunately the majority of folks don't want to do that. They want there cars and iPhones and Pop music and fast food. Capitalism. The government is just another group of individuals who are
Mooching off of the hard work of others and because of that capitalism and exploitation have gone awrey (sp?)

I like freedom. Freedom to do whatever I want. If I wanna start a coal mine and sell or trade that coal for something valuable (money) then why should you or any group of people say I can't do that. (Just an extreme example)

Freedom is freedom the whole way. The government impedes freedom.

Y'all should read Atlas Shrugged or The fountainhead or We the Living or Anthem by Ayn Rand.

Most people Meet who claim to be anarchist are simply whiny petty bourgeoise.

 

[psychofoamer]

I very much like the idea of Detroit being that place, for reasons mentioned above. However, I don't think this has to be a single city, I think that it can take place in many cities. This idea is simply creating instead of destroying. Doing instead of writing. And focusing our energies in ways that make sense to Jo citizen.



I kind of have some reservations about looking for this type of set up. Part of the reason why I believe the anarchist movement has failed to effect the greater part of society is this idea that we need to be agriculturally self sufficient. The goal here is not a ranch where we can take people and show them how we milk the cows all day. It is modern urban living, shared by the group that is supported by the sale of hand made products, Jobs, theft, fund raising, and through the running of businesses by the group that is then used to fund the community. Obviously, we would not use money amongst ourselves, but it IS needed to fund the utlities we have to have to connect with the average citizen.

In order for the organization or group or whatever to have any impact in modern society, you need to be able to show them a modern living situation. And cows and acreage aren't it. Now obviously we would welcome our country cousins, so to speak, and "trade" with them would be very important once the ball got rolling.

But cities are where the power is at in modern society, and we need to show that cities can function under anarchist administration of some kind.

Anarchist Administratin?? That's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one. That would be some sort of authority. The complete antithesis of anarchy. Anarchy means NO regulation.

 

[psychofoamer]

The idea of the State is the issue. Good luck toppling the State.

 

[Mankini]

The issue at hand is not dismantling the state and its various societal appurtenances...rather anarchy is about existing independently of state infrastructure.

The state is composed of:
1.Finance sector
2.Communications
3.Mass transit
4.Fossil fuels
5.Corporate industry
Find a way to defeat these 5 and I will buy you a PBR.

Independent living is about freedom. Ayn Rand's and other ideologies involve coercion and thus are irrelevant.

 

[psychofoamer]

The issue at hand is not dismantling the state and its various societal appurtenances...rather anarchy is about existing independently of state infrastructure.

The state is composed of:
1.Finance sector
2. Communications
3. Mass transit
4. Energy
5. Corporate industry
Find a way to defeat these 5 and I will buy you a PBR.

No those things are NOT the State.
The state is the military, taxes, figurehead leaders, political boundaries, borders, the police, laws, regulation and ordinances hindering our freedoms. Weather it's freedom of speech or the freedom to buy or sell whatever I want whenever I want.

The thins you listed are products of capitalism

 

[Mankini]

Ah Young Paduwan! Find me a state which lacks infrastructure and revenue and I'll show you a failed state. Politicians and militaries are outgrowths of the state....appliances of the State. However the organism itself is based on those 5 components without which it would cease to function. Imagine what would happen if all tv, radio, internet, airports, banks, etc, were to go dark tonight....Voila! No more state!

 

[psychofoamer]

The issue at hand is not dismantling the state and its various societal appurtenances...rather anarchy is about existing independently of state infrastructure.

The state is composed of:
1.Finance sector
2. Communications
3. Mass transit
4. Energy
5. Corporate industry
Find a way to defeat these 5 and I will buy you a PBR.

And even as an anarchist I enjoy Mass transit, energy, communications and finance, etc. my lifestyle would not exist without it, and yes I live on the fringe of society. Dropping off it because I refuse to have a government regulate or mooch the fruits Of my labor and creativity

 

[psychofoamer]

Ah Young Paduwan! Find me a state which lacks infrastructure and revenue and I'll show you a failed state. Politicians and militaries are outgrowths of the state....appliances of the State. However the organism itself is based on those 5 components without which it would cease to function. Imagine what would happen if all tv, radio, internet, airports, banks, etc, were to go dark tonight....Voila! No more state!

There would be mass panic and lots of people would die.

 

[Mankini]

Yes. Remove any one of those pillars and the whole structure would collapse like a rotten house of cards.

Washington and Manhattan types know how vulnerable their set-up is. They realize that without atm cards and cellphones the population would implode overnite....Ah well, what can ya say? Better just to focus on permaculture and food preservation. 100 years ago no one had highways, cars, phones, petrochemicals, or bank accounts...What has changed and why is society now so dependent on these items?

 

[psychofoamer]

Technology has changed. Ideas have changed. With technology the government/state have been able to gain more power and spread their
Propaganda even farther and more effectively.

Anarchism in the U.S. has been distracted by silly things such as food politics and gender politics. I've had so many "anarchists" tell me that my views and ideas aren't valid because I'm not a queer vegan or some such. I like to be myself and eat meat so therefore how could I really oppoSe the state.

What I really oppose is oppression of freedom. Freedom is a broad thing and most people wouldnt know it if it smacked
em in the face!

 

[psychofoamer]

Id rather live in the system we have now then a communalist or communist state.

If I can't have anarchy, then I'll gladly take the weird corporatist system we live in. At least now I can live off the waste, but in a communist society people like us would all be sent to the gulag during a purge.

 

[Mankini]

Yes. For a couple years now I've been learning how to live without rent, running water, electricity, cars, etc. This to me is real freedom. With my bike and my camping gear I can live near virtually any community, working and surviving with much fewer of the concerns ''civilized'' people have. Feels free!

 

[psychofoamer]

Yes. For a couple years now I've been learning how to live without rent, running water, electricity, cars, etc. This to me is real freedom. With my bike and my camping gear I can live near virtually any community, working and surviving with much fewer of the concerns ''civilized'' people have. Feels free!

But you're using electricity now;-)

 

[Mankini]

Yes, right now. I love and admire the Amish very much, but I'm not quite one of them yet. They understand what most people fail to comprehend: that life is not about what you own, but about living without as much as you can divest yourself from. The man with no utility bills, no rent, no car, and no money can be just as happy, if not much more happy, than the poor sods who live their pitiful existences like automated and preprogrammed units.

 

[psychofoamer]

even the Amish have some oppressive ideologies. Admirable yes, but still existing within the current system. We could learn a lot from the Amish.
Mennonites As well

 

[Mankini]

I. We have to strip ourselves down to the bare essentials and discover how little we need to be happy. For millennia philosophers have been dealing with the question of what man needs to feel fulfilled, purposeful, content, and at peace. Everything men do-every motive for every behavior- can be reduced to what men do to stroke their own egos. Food, water air shelter and companionship are only secondary to the ego's drives. The real struggle involves individuals admitting that only in saving others can we save ourselves...Hence communities, families, interpersonal relationships.

II. The Struggle for self-assertion:
In Texas, there is very little public land. Everything is fenced off and owned by someone or something...It is this impulse towards power, acquisitiveness, greed, and domination that I despise. Texans covet everything. They cant leave anything wild. No flower, no lake, no sunset can be allowed to merely exist: it has to be owned and controlled....For them land and sky are not precious, God-given surroundings, theyre commodities to be consumed.
And the cops and politicians are the same way. Their drive towards imperialism is repugnant to me. A message to them: An individual can be born, live, and die, without ever submitting to any sort of co-op. We as individuals must assert ourselves as independent beings, of no particular association, and with wills of our own. The air we breathe, the thoughts we think, everything is ours; not assets that can be dominated by those who would co-opt or try to assimilate.

 

[psychofoamer]

You should read Ayn Rand

 

[Mankini]

I have. ...Anthem was cool; the other ones I thought were pretty dry. I'm more of a John Muir/Ned Ludd/Thoreau kinda guy. Have you read her biographies?...and her letters? She was most emphatically not a nice person.

 

[Sip]

Anarchist Administratin?? That's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one. That would be some sort of authority. The complete antithesis of anarchy. Anarchy means NO regulation.

So, because we are anarchist, we should never attempt to build a structure in which we have to have organization and leaders, even if that is the only way to build the leaderless world we desire? This is the exact bullshit I'm talking about. Talking about what an anarchist IS instead of BEING what we talk about. What I have put forward is a realistic, concrete way to show the average citizen that there IS an alternative way to the capitalist lifestyle. It will resonate with them. Is it a purely anarchist way of doing things? Fuck no. Because guess what ladies and gentlemen, the anarchist way has FAILED! You're all so busy debating anarchy and burning trash bags, that you've lost sight of the fact that none of this does SHIT to advance the cause! Yes, we should fight oppression, yes we should stand up for minorities, yes we should feed the hungry. We should use violence. We should use protest. We should use walk outs and sit ins and wheate paste posters and write books and make pamphlets and try to change laws. AGREED. But these things will not in and of themselves topple Capitalism.

I give you an idea that has a real chance of building up Anarchy and compromises between what we want to do and what we need to do and you tell me I'm not an anarchist and command me to read. Guess what, if this is what it means to be an anarchist, I have nothing for it. I want to build a stateless society of independent communities that work together through the idea of mutual aid, not "be a better anarchist." Tell me to read a fucking book because I'm not an anarchist. I'll make you a deal, you keep reading Ayn Rand and I'll start building and spreading Modern anarchist communities through fundraising, theft, hard work, and brilliance of its members. You get into an argument with your friends about if food not bombs is helpful to the cause and I will feed the homeless, show them the world I'm trying to help build, and recruit them to the cause. You bash someones poster design and break bank windows and I'll get loans to build groups that will take down the banks using their own money. We'll see who creates the new world. When you realize reading your 10,000,000 anarchist zine doesn't help, you know where to find me. In Grand Rapids Michigan, making shit happen.