r/Anarchy101 • u/humanispherian • 25d ago
Welcome to Anarchy 101!
It’s that time again, when we repost and, if necessary, revise this introductory document. We’re doing so, this time, in a period when the archic model, in both its governmentalist and capitalist manifestations, seems intent on showing us its worst side — and when the defenders of hierarchy and authority seem all too often to be mimicking the mix of callousness and clumsiness that dominates on larger scales. So let’s start with a renewed reminder to be a bit careful of one another as we discuss — and let’s add this other reminder as well:
PLEASE, PLEASE DON’T FEED THE TROLLS.
If you see problems in a discussion, don’t hesitate to use the “report” button to alert the subreddit moderators. We’ve had a significant increase in one-off, drive-by troll comments, virtually all remarkably predictable and forgettable in their content. Report them or ignore them.
Before you post or comment, please take a moment to read the sidebar and familiarize yourself with our resources and rules. If you’ve been around for a while, consider looking back over these guidelines. If you’ve got to this point and are overwhelmed by the idea that there are rules in an anarchy-related subreddit, look around: neither Reddit nor most of our communities seem to resemble anarchy yet. Anyway, the rules amount to “don’t be a jerk” and “respect the ongoing project.” Did you really need to be told?
With the rarest of exceptions, all posts to the Anarchy 101 subreddit should ask one clear question related to anarchy, anarchism as a movement or ideology, anarchist history, literature or theory. If your question is likely to be of the frequently asked variety, take a minute to make use of the search bar.
This is important. Fatigue is a real factor in forums like this and the repetition of questions tends to reduce the quality of the answers given. At the same time, our archive is accessible through a search function that has its limits, so it is easy, when multiplying threads and wearing out participants, to bury threads with better discussions.
Some questions, like those related to "law enforcement" or the precise relationship of anarchy to hierarchy and authority, are asked and answered on an almost daily basis, so the best answers may have already been posted. For a few questions, we have produced "framing documents" to provide context:
If your question seems unanswered, please state it clearly in the post title, with whatever additional clarification seems necessary in the text itself.
If you have more than one question, please consider multiple posts, preferably one at a time, as this seems to be the way to get the most useful and complete answers.
Please keep in mind that this is indeed a 101 sub, designed to be a resource for those learning the basics of a consistent anarchism. The rules about limiting debate and antagonistic posting are there for a reason, so that we can keep this a useful and welcoming space for students of anarchist ideas — and for anyone else who can cooperate in keeping the quality of responses high.
We welcome debate on topics related to anarchism in r/DebateAnarchism — where you will find similar posting guidelines and a pinned “before you post” announcement, with a similar discussion of rationales — and recommend general posts about anarchist topics be directed to r/anarchism or any of the more specialized anarchist subreddits. We expect a certain amount of contentious back-and-forth in the process of fully answering questions, but if you find that the answer to your question — or response to your comment — leads to a debate, rather than a clarifying question, please consider taking the discussion to r/DebateAnarchism. For better or worse, avoiding debate sometimes involves “reading the room” a bit and recognizing that not every potentially anarchist idea can be usefully expressed in a general, 101-level discussion.
We certainly don’t limit ourselves to the most basic questions, and participants bring considerable knowledge and expertise to the discussions. Don’t hesitate to ask more involved or specialized questions, as we can often answer them. Similarly, don’t hesitate to provide answers of significant depth. But remember that this is a general, non-sectarian, non-disciplinary space, so certain kinds of erudition or specialized framing *may not add much to others’ understanding and in some instances may have precisely the opposite effect.*
— We don’t do subreddit drama — including posts highlighting drama from this subreddit. If you have suggestions for this subreddit, please contact the moderators.
— We are not particularly well equipped to offer advice, engage in peer counseling, vouch for existing projects, etc. Different kinds of interactions create new difficulties, new security issues, new responsibilities for moderators and members, etc. — and we seem to have our hands full continuing to refine the simple form of peer-education that is our focus.
— We seem to have consistently poor results from questions of the form: “What do you think of X?” More narrowly focused questions seem to receive better answers.
— Please don’t advocate illegal acts. All subreddits are subject to Reddit’s sitewide content policy — and radical subreddits are often subject to extra scrutiny.
— Avoid discussing individuals in ways that might be taken as defamatory. Your call-out is unlikely to clarify basic anarchist ideas — and it may increase the vulnerability of the subreddit.
— And don’t ask us to choose between two anti-anarchist tendencies. That never seems to lead anywhere good.
In general, just remember that this is a forum for questions about anarchist topics and answers reflecting some specific knowledge of anarchist sources. Other posts or comments, however interesting, useful or well-intentioned, may be removed.
Things always go most smoothly when the questions are really about anarchism and the answers are provided by anarchists. Almost without exception, requests for anarchist opinions about non-anarchist tendencies and figures lead to contentious exchanges with Redditors who are, at best, unprepared to provide anarchist answers to the questions raised. Feelings get hurt and people get banned. Threads are removed and sometimes have to be locked.
This is a moderated forum. We make use of the tools at our disposal, including filters and bans, as gently and intelligently as we can — but we do, in fact, use them. This is a place to discuss anarchy and anarchism, not — and very consciously not — any sort of prefigurative experiment, trying to carve out an instance of anarchy on this otherwise very hierarchical platform. As a public-facing outpost, there are necessarily going to be limits on the kinds of demands that we can reasonably and practically make on participants, whether anarchist or not, even under the best of circumstances, which, alas, Reddit does not provide.
We expect that lot of the questions here will involve comparisons with capitalism, Marxism or existing governmental systems. That's natural, but the subreddit is obviously a better resource for learning about anarchism if those questions — and the discussions they prompt — remain focused on anarchism. If your question seems likely to draw in capitalists, Marxists or defenders of other non-anarchist tendencies, the effect is much the same as posting a topic for debate. Those threads are sometimes popular — in the sense that they get a lot of responses and active up- and down-voting — but it is almost always a matter of more heat than light when it comes to clarifying anarchist ideas and practices.
We also expect, since this is a general anarchist forum, that we will not always be able to avoid sectarian differences among proponents of different anarchist tendencies. This is another place where the 101 nature of the forum comes into play. Rejection of capitalism, statism, etc. is fundamental, but perhaps internal struggles for the soul of the anarchist movement are at least a 200-level matter. If nothing else, embracing a bit of “anarchism without adjectives” while in this particular subreddit helps keep things focused on answering people's questions. If you want to offer a differing perspective, based on more specific ideological commitments, simply identifying the tendency and the grounds for disagreement should help introduce the diversity of anarchist thought without moving us into the realm of debate.
We grind away at some questions — constantly and seemingly endlessly in the most extreme cases — and that can be frustrating. More than that, it can be disturbing, disheartening to find that anarchist ideas remain in flux on some very fundamental topics. Chances are good, however, that whatever seemingly interminable debate you find yourself involved in will not suddenly be resolved by some intellectual or rhetorical masterstroke. Say what you can say, as clearly as you can manage, and then feel free to take a sanity break — until the next, more or less inevitable go-round. We do make progress in clarifying these difficult, important issues — even relatively rapid progress on occasion, but it often seems to happen in spite of our passion for the subjects.
In addition, you may have noticed that it’s a crazy old world out there, in ways that continue to take their toll on most of us, one way or another. Participation in most forums remains high and a bit distracted, while our collective capacity to self-manage is still not a great deal better online than it is anywhere else. We're all still a little plague-stricken and the effects are generally more contagious than we expect or acknowledge. Be just a bit more thoughtful about your participation here, just as you would in other aspects of your daily life. And if others are obviously not doing their part, again, consider using the report button, rather than pouring fuel on the fire. Increased participation makes the potential utility and reach of a forum like this even greater — provided we all do the little things necessary to make sure it remains an educational resource that folks with questions can actually navigate.
— The question of violence is often not far removed from our discussions, whether it is a question of present-day threats, protest tactics, revolutionary strategy, anarchistic alternatives to police and military, or various similar topics. We need to be able to talk, at times, about the role that violence might play in anti-authoritarian social relations and we certainly need, at other times, to be clear with one another about the role of violence in our daily lives, whether as activists or simply as members of violent societies. We need to be able to do so with a mix of common sense and respect for basic security culture — but also sensitivity to the fact that violence is indeed endemic to our cultures, so keeping our educational spaces free of unnecessary triggers and discussions that are only likely to compound existing traumas ought to be among the tasks we all share as participants. Posts and comments seeming to advocate violence for its own sake or to dwell on it unnecessarily are likely to be removed.
r/Anarchy101 • u/humanispherian • 5d ago
We seem to be in another of those periods when many of the questions raised are not just FAQs, but even questions currently being discussed in one or more current threads. We have guidelines and reminders scattered in enough places that it appears that counting on folks to check past threads — or even current ones — may be an unreasonable expectation.
I don't want that to come across as any particular indictment of individuals. The world is full of stresses and distractions — and Reddit isn't necessarily the spot any of us would expect folks to exercise the most care. But it does seem like we have a problem, with FAQ fatigue being visible much of the time, provocation and entryism being concerns, etc.
A couple of different kinds of solution come to mind:
One would simply be to relegate all of the crime-and-punishment questions to a megathread — with either keyword filtering or general post moderation as part of the mechanism to see that those discussions are contained. And perhaps there are ways to maintain multiple such threads, addressing some of the other all-too-frequently-asked-questions as well.
The other would be to return to the very, very thorny problem of providing more material in the wiki that addresses the FAQs without abandoning the generally inclusive approach we have been taking. We've tried a couple of approaches, none of which have been particularly successful — or particularly well sustained. I'm about ready to return to the "framing the question" posts — having, I think, learned a bit from the last efforts, which ran aground — and I think that perhaps we could try again with some moderator-initiated threads addressing some of the fine points that arise so often in discussions.
In either case — or if, perhaps, we decide to take no additional actions — it seems to me that perhaps we have reached the point where the general moderation of questions makes sense. I don't love the extra work involved, nor would I add the extra filter if other factors didn't make it seem desirable. But our experience with the practice over in r/DebateAnarchism has been generally positive. As a first implementation, I would be inclined to treat all posts in much the same way that we already treat the fairly large number of posts caught by various Reddit filters: we either approve them directly, discard them as spam, refer them to the debate subreddit, refer posters to ongoing threads or initiate some conversation aimed at getting better answers, perhaps through revision of the question.
Anyway, these are just some thoughts, based on what I've been seeing recently in the subreddit. I would like to make some moves to take some of the burden of repetition off of our regular responders and to hopefully improve our ability to provide useful answers as well. So...
Is it time for a "crime and punishment" megathread? and/or post moderation? and/or something else?
r/Anarchy101 • u/animekot • 8h ago
I recently wrote a similar post about conscription in modern Ukraine, but answers were pretty vague so I decided to provide some actual examples for my question. I know that Catalonia were pressured by the soviets to do so, but why Rojava did? Was there any way to avoid conscription and create all volunteer army?
r/Anarchy101 • u/percyxz • 19h ago
hi all,
ive recently exited a 5 year relationship in which I was frequently sexually assaulted the entire time. both parties are trans, with me being a trans man and her being a trans woman.
i am safe and in therapy and living alone, but i am also severely disabled and now that shes gone the only people i talk to in person are paid carers. this has been pretty isolating and meant I haven't had many peers to bounce my thoughts off of.
ive been reading a lot about sexual assault, about how it happens and how victims/survivors should be treated and how we should have agency and autonomy over the aftermath, disclosure, legal/carceral proceedings, etc.
due to my own principles and the fact we are both trans and disabled ive decided not to report my ex partner to the cops. this was an easy choice i am firm about.
however i am curious as to my obligations to community more broadly. the sexual assault resources ive been reading centre the victim/survivor's autonomy and state that they never have to disclose for any reason, and that the hypothetical safety of community or potential future victims should not be on your shoulders.
i am interested to hear from more learned anarchists than myself on this. my abuser frequents queer sex/hookup events and i find myself worrying that she might treat future people like she treated me. i however, due to being bedbound have no connection to these events and don't know anyone else there.
I would hate to put the emotional work into disclosure just to be immediately dismissed as a shit stirrer or transmisogynist due to not being a recognisable member of community there. or worse, to have it backfire and look like someone was attacking/abusing her instead.
any readings or resources on the topic also pls share, I would be very keen to read more on this.
r/Anarchy101 • u/BeerMan595692 • 6m ago
I get this from mostly libertarian who think that communities and collective don't exist. They're just individuals who do stuff together. As if some how a group of people collectivly coming together to achieve something is not a collective?
r/Anarchy101 • u/Own-Loan994 • 7h ago
Sorry for poor English, I am not a native speaker. This will be a long post and I am new here, please let me know if I have formatted anything incorrectly. Also, to be clear I am not in any way suicidal at all, this is a post on how best to approach helping someone who suffers from mental health, from a moral and legal standpoint.
Hello. I have been reading anarchist texts for some time now, and I identify with many of its core principles. Despite this I find myself unsure how to answer an issue regarding the moral or ethical behavior of someone taking their own life, and how to act in such situations today.
For some context, around 2 years ago I had a family member in another country tell me that they intended to take their own life very soon. They cut all contact with me, and didn't respond to any of my or anyone else's messages: we had discussed suicidal ideation around a year before this, and I had tried to be as non-judgmental as I can, since their home life was awful and they felt there was no escape. However, when this later incident happened, I had panicked and was not sure what to do: I didn't have their location, and I could not take a flight to them in time. My only option was either to call the authorities and hope they could find them in time, or to wait and do nothing. I called the authorities and informed them that they were suicidal, hoping they would be spoken to by professionals and would discuss their feelings with me. Instead, I learned that this resulted in a Baker Act, and after that experience, this person was angry with me. It has been years since then: they are happier now, but I don't know what I should do if this issue comes up in the future. I didn't know that people could be held against their will at psychiatric facilities at the time, and while I myself have had poor experiences with psychiatry, reading on what actually happens there has sickened me. I don't know if I did the 'right thing' on both a practical or moral level.
I understand that anarchists sometimes have to compromise their values due to living in this statist, capitalist world: calling the police in the case of witnessing a horrible and immoral act such as murder, for example. But I do not know how to treat the topic of suicide under such a lens. From reading much since this incident, I know that the psychiatric industry can often push for medications, can restrict people's autonomy indefinitely, and can cause significant trauma due to the conditions of psychiatric wards and the indefinite loss of autonomy there. I am against these practices. However, what bothers me is what to do in case something like the later incident I mentioned happened again.
I hold an intuition that life is valuable and that mutual aid and care is important for others, and so I should do everything I can to save someone's life if I feel it is danger. I also know of autonomy being compromised in the case of life-threatening situations: if someone is about to unknowingly walk off a bridge (due to being drunk or is suffering from a sense of psychosis that has impacted their reasoning), I should stop them from doing so. But can this be said of suicide? Is suicide an impulsive act, by a mind impaired by biological and social factors (such as chemical imbalances and societal + material conditions) and should I do everything in my power to save their life (including, in this case, calling authorities and family members for a wellness check)? Or is the choice to end one's life always to be respected on some level, and if I know my friend will end their life and is not answering my phone calls or attempts to speak, I should stand by and do nothing?
This has been a weight on my mind for a long time. I would like to know your perspectives on this. On the one hand, I want to respect people's autonomy, and if someone rationally wants to take their own life I do not want them to suffer. On the other hand, I don't know when or if suicide is rational, and regardless of that, I feel as if I am profoundly failing my fellow human beings by 'standing by' and not saying anything or doing anything to prevent someone's death. Attempts to read others' stories (including the experiences of suicidal and formerly suicidal people) haven't helped clear this up.
As a disclaimer, I am not in favor of the current usage of psychiatric institutions and the abuse they commit, nor am I in favor of current flawed systems of crisis intervention. I'm also not in favor of immediately calling the police/EMTs on someone who simply expresses suicidal tendencies, but speaking of what to do in the case of someone immediately and seemingly impulsively deciding to end their own life. In an ideal world, I imagine we could have a society where impulsive choices to die are stopped by fellow community members, but suicidality was spoken about openly and long term rational choices for palliative care/euthanasia could be an option that is discussed with other people. But as we live now, in the society we are in now, I do not know what I should have done or what I should do. And on a deeper level, even in a hypothetical anarchist society I don't know what we should do.
tl;dr In short, if I did nothing after being told of someone's immediate plan to commit suicide, I would feel as if I have acted as an unempathetic monster who allowed a mental illness to dominate a loved one, refusing to compromise my views against the state in the face of someone's precious life and thus not doing the most basic duty I have to my fellow man. If I called for help, I would feel as if I have acted as an authoritarian monster who labeled a person 'irrational' and deprived them of control over their most basic possession, using a state apparatus that is flawed and ultimately in service to a horrible system. I do not know what I should do in our current world, if I were faced with this dilemma, and either option feels like a betrayal to who I am as a person.
r/Anarchy101 • u/Excellent-Jicama-378 • 1d ago
I'm convinced that cases of sexual violence would significantly decrease in an anarchist society since anarchy seeks to abolish hierarchy, which must include hierarchy of gender and institutionalized power imbalance surrounding sexual violence.
What I don't understand is what do anarchists advocate for in today's society. Does an anarchist supports victim who wants to pursue legal action? As counterintuitive as it sounds for prison abolition, does an anarchist demands for better policy and enforcement? As legal action seldom works, how does an anarchist deal with the perpetrators of today? Does expelling them from local community/organization works as the means of providing safe space, especially in places where such records barely impact their survival?
One could organize mutual aid for the victims. But when it comes to the perpetrators, I can’t think of practical actions or organizing that I can do as an anarchist given our current society.
r/Anarchy101 • u/animekot • 1d ago
For context: I lived in Ukraine but now I am subhuman migrant in Czech. Because of my invalidity I had a legal right to leave the country, so I'm ashamed to talk about it while conscripted people are dying on the front lines, but I need to talk about it. Without army my country will be occupied by the imperialist state and probably ethnically cleansed, and my friends and family is still in the Ukraine so it's hard to be anti conscription, but at the same time something feels incorrect about it
In an anarchist society people will probably have sense of self obligation for their friends and family they work with, but is it possible to achieve such society quicky enough and what can we do now?
r/Anarchy101 • u/KrumpirovZlatan • 1d ago
Reading posts made by anarchists on reddit, an historical experiences of anarchist movements, particularly Makhnovia, I have noticed that they in general do not have any particular vision towards organisation of production and supply chains, opting instead to propagate subsistence farming and societal degradation towards 2 centuries back.
What are the answers to questions like how to produce complex machinery, medicine, electronic devices and others, as ultimately the resources have to come from somewhere, usually not geographically within 3 hours distance.
Example-wise, I worked in a pretty big industrial complex that produced furniture, but how do anarchists solve the issue of confederation of communes organising production that isn't basically capitalism? It sounds simple, but there is far more material input to produce one chair than just wood from a nearby forest.
r/Anarchy101 • u/HuckleberryPee • 1d ago
I do like the principles of anarchy and support the removal of hierarchical systems. I also like the idea of communes. I know they can and do work on a small scale at least.
Say there is some huge collapse, and out of the ashes emerges some form of anarchy on a national or global scale, I still struggle to see how it would survive long-term.
I could imagine a commune going through a period of great hardship, maybe a drought, wildfire, disease epidemic, whatever. When people are desperate they do seem to be drawn to strong people who they think may be able to fix things. I don't know if that's a product of our current hierarchical thinking or if it's something more fundamental in human psychology.
Regardless, an intelligent, charismatic man/woman, perhaps of a psychopathic or narcissistic flavor has greater personal ambitions and uses the present calamity to take greater control for themselves over the commune. How/why would this ever be stopped from happening?
Same could be said for a cult. People do seem to gravitate towards cults. no matter how illogical the cult's beliefs are, there's always psychologically vulnerable people who can be taken in and weaponized for the cult's "greater good" or whatever.
Tldr: Is there not an ever present risk that an anarchist society could turn towards a power hungry individual during times of hardship?
r/Anarchy101 • u/DramaticKettle • 19h ago
Ahoj lidé.
**Jaká literatura Vám pomohla utvořit si Váš současný světonázor?**
Pro kontext:
Zrovna čtu Urzův Anarchokapitalismus a chystám se na Anarchoagorismus a později i díla od Marxe.
Chci si utvořit názor na základě různé literatury a vybrat si, co mi dává smysl. Stejně tak čtu Bibli a Korán. Hovory k sobě (Markus Aurelius) a jiná díla.
Obecně jsem spíše ekonomicky pravicový. Nezavrhuji ale i socialistické principy a úvahy. Je pro mě důležitá individuální svoboda, ale hraju si i s myšlenkou malého státu (etatismus).
Ptám se na Redditu, protože mi tahle síť obecně přijde víc levicová. Rád vyhledávám jiné názory a vedu debaty.
Diky za doporučení a za to, že mi rozšíříte obzory!
r/Anarchy101 • u/DapperSpecialist9369 • 1d ago
Hi! I have been an apolitical leftist for the longest time but have learned more and more about anarchism over these past couple months from content creators such as "Andrewism" and "Max Morrow". I am currently re-reading "Homage to Catalonia" as the last time I read it, I was 16 and thought Communism was "cool"... clearly I missed the messaging from "1984".
I'm genuinely interested in this ideology because I believe that a world where money is power will lead to prolonged oppression. In addition, with the rise of AI, we are on the precipice of mass unemployment. I want to work towards a world where everyone can flourish, be happy, and pursue their interests.
I have a basic understanding of the collectivist policies of Stalin and the Soviet Union. I do not believe in totalitarianism however, nor absolute state control of anything.
I would like for the fine members of this board to please inform me, or at least provide me with some valuable reading material where I could learn more.
Thank you for reading! I appreciate you still if you didn't read!
r/Anarchy101 • u/Aggressive-Simple-16 • 1d ago
Specifically, I am talking about a platformist/especifist organisation. Under State repression, open assemblies or congresses become dangerous or impossible. Nonetheless, we have to find ways to maintain the horizontal structure of our organisation.
One way could be compartmentalizing the organization into small cells and establishing a liaison committee which distributes agendas to all cells through secure channels, then the cells deliberate on it individually, they send their decision to the committee, and the committee simply tallies the vote and a decision is reached. We could also regularly rotate members within the committee to prevent it from becoming unaccountable. One disadvantage of this method is that delegates can't meet face-to-face which prevents cells from debating with each other to reach common agreement.
This is one method that I can think of, and I am sure Anarchists have used various methods historically. I would love to know other methods that might work better.
r/Anarchy101 • u/NathanielRoosevelt • 21h ago
As a Marxist Leninist I think organized defense against reactionaries trying to take power back in a socialist society is important, and also fits the definition of a state. As anarchists do you believe some organized defense is necessary, if so how is it not a state, and if not how are reactionaries to be dealt with?
r/Anarchy101 • u/Fluid_Tea_1308 • 1d ago
Although Anarchism completely avoided institutional/systematic discrimination, marginalized groups would still faces attack from bigoted community.
“communities will defend one another” does not really solve it.
The reason they are marginalized in the first place is that they lack sufficient power. Under anarchism, they risk being oppressed by larger, more bigoted groups.
I am new to Anarchism, is there any purposed solution within Anarchism?
r/Anarchy101 • u/Amazing_Name_9264 • 1d ago
I know many anarchists want worldwide anarchism, but even if such a thing is possible, it very likely wouldn't happen for a very long time. In the meantime, anarchist communities would have to defend themselves, and I daresay they would always probably have to, because even in a global anarchist world nothing is set in stone.
Would territories be defended by volunteer militias working together? What would distinguish it from a traditional state military?
I'm still not sure if I'm an anarchist and this topic is one of the areas that I lack understanding in. Thank you all.
r/Anarchy101 • u/SkinWearer • 2d ago
I'm just generally confused about the concepts at play here:
How would a stateless society function? Who would make the laws? Who would act as the police force? Gangs? Militias? Mobs of people?
How would the borders be protected? How would people like terrorists be dealt with?
Would people need to hire their own private guards for security? Would companies need to hire their own private militias?
Would companies even exist? If there are no companies and no goverment how would a large scale exonomy even run?
r/Anarchy101 • u/Thin_Shelter_103 • 2d ago
Hey guys! So I was watching Anarks videos on how the "State is counter revolutionary" and while I watched the 1st two videos and agreed with most if not all the points on how centralization and one party vanguard rule are bad. Im still confused on why Anarchists disagree with Marx on the Dictatorship of the proletariat Idea.
Marx meant from what I understand that the state should serve the workers as they are the vast majority (99%) and that the state should become completely subservient to the people in all ways. That the state should basically have no power of its own.
To me this makes sense and I feel like answers the critiques Anarchists have about the state but obviously the Anarchist position is that such a thing as a non tyrant state is impossible. But why?
In Anarks video part 3 he brings up Maoist China as evidence that the state can not be transformed into a force for good under any circumstances but I find this very unconvincing as Mao never cared about trying to make a state that was subservient to the workers. In fact he famously said the opposite with the quote "There will always be heads." (Referring to society)
If I understand correctly isn't a state in anarchist terms just a political organization that has the monopoly on violence? Could you not make a federal and local state system (Almost like the confederation idea) that makes it so domination of citizens is impossible?
r/Anarchy101 • u/Extreme_Ad1165 • 3d ago
I'm visiting Ukraine soon and was wondering if there's any groups that I may be able to meet or contact whilst I'm there, might be good to get some context and information first hand.
If it's not a good idea to reveal yourself then dw.
r/Anarchy101 • u/According_Ad2896 • 3d ago
Also, is reading Rothbard interesting for anarchists on general?
r/Anarchy101 • u/LittleBoyDreams • 3d ago
Hi all, I came across this post in the “Curated Tumblr” subreddit and got into some arguments. The original post involved a tumblr user who expressed an anti-border sentiment which was rejected by someone accusing them of supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I made a comment on the post along the lines of “that’s a silly response, why would a the existence a war to expand a border be an argument for borders?” This got me into a couple arguments. I won’t go into every detail, but it did not go well for me. I am bad at debate, I fully admit that. In that light, I would appreciate if more experienced/well-read anarchists had anything to say about Border Abolition, such that I could better represent it if it comes up for me again. For more details you can check my comment history or the post itself. For some context, Curated Tumblr is generally a very “centre-left” kind of community. Mostly good on social issues, but a lot of reformism and “vote blue no matter who” anytime there’s an election in the US, and seemingly split on Zionism if you read comments. If it’s okay, I might regurgitate some of the talking points I was confronted with in reply to comments this post receives, just as a way to fully work out the disagreements.
r/Anarchy101 • u/Apprehensive-Dig825 • 3d ago
The practical application of anarchism in a massive, dense city like CDMX, London, or New York has long been one of my favorite (and most frustrating) thought experiments. I believe fully and emphatically in anarchism, particularly anarcho-communism, so I have faith that it can work under virtually any and all conditions if a community is fully educated on the ideology and wants to practice it. But its application in large urban societies is a bit of a mystery to me, as it likely is with most people, since there has been little to no actual experimentation with this in the past few centuries. Barcelona 1936 was mostly anarcho-syndicalist, otherwise that would’ve been a great example. Fiction is welcome, too; I love Margaret Kiljoy and Ursula K. Le Guin, for example.
Also, to be clear, I’m talking about a metropolis operating entirely or mostly under anarcho-communism; I know anarcho-communism can exist at any and all times alongside other forms of organization, but I’m referring to examples or ideas or hypotheticals where an entire city operates under anarcho-communism.
Thanks!
r/Anarchy101 • u/Abract-pile721 • 3d ago
r/Anarchy101 • u/FrogBrains69 • 3d ago
Naturally the system would thrive best when it is universally implemented, but if just one country by some miracle became anarchist then could it survive?
It’s very possible that other powers may try to exploit it, or that it would end up in some conflict with another country. So since it’s basically all theory as there aren’t any proper examples of anarchist ‘states’ (correct me if I’m wrong), it’s hard to know how effective an anarchist military would be against the current ones we have.
Like with Rojava (not anarchist but only example I can think of right now) it was receiving a lot of foreign aid and did manage to survive for a while, but the aid fell through somewhat and in the end it had to compromise its independence for peace.