#endciv

At the moment we are reading the book "desert" and yes we have unanimously decided that everyone must read it.

Everyday Anarchists

When I talk with people about anarchism, they tend to tense up. I can use words like mutual aid or police abolition quite comfortably these days, but I think people have big feelings when I use the word anarchy. It conjures images violence, rioting, revolution. They think of punks and skinheads. But the colloquial use of the word “anarchy” (confusion, disorder, lack of obedience) is far from the political ideology.

Anarchism is a belief system that rejects all involuntary, coercive forms of hierarchy. Anarchism believes in autonomy, the right of the people to self govern without state leadership. Anarchists believe that the state should be abolished as it holds too much power and is harmful towards most people. That’s it. Not nearly as radical as one might think, right? At least not in today’s political climate.

Part of the misconception around anarchism is that many people think of it as an alternative form of government born out of violent revolution. But I’ve come to learn that anarchy isn’t necessarily just an end goal but an ongoing process, like “justice” or “solidarity”. Most anarchists don’t believe that revolution will happen overnight and people will be able to self organize in the ashes of that revolution. While that might happen, it’s not an ideal transition away from state control. Like so many concepts that we deal with these days: collapse, genocide, apocalypse, etc. anarchy is not one single event but a series of events that started in the past and will continue into the future. It’s an ongoing process.

What’s more, anarchism isn’t a single approach! There are dozens of ideologies that branch off from anarchism: green anarchism, anarcho-pacifism, communo-anarchism, anarcho-primitivism, anarcho-capitalism. The list goes on. Each take considered different factors depending on where you live, what your community looks like, what resources you have, how healthy you are.

Unschooling as a Gateway

While I’ve always been counter cultural and questioned authority, my role as an unschooling parent has undoubtedly fueled my current point of view about how the world works. The last two years have been a pretty intense dive into personal and political beliefs. I wanted to document this ongoing step-by-step process and I come to form new beliefs. It’s gone something like this:

1. As an unschooling parent, I believe in the autonomy and inherent rights of my children as fully formed humans who know what’s best for them.

2. If I believe in the rights of my children, it follows that I should believe in the rights and autonomy of all people.

3. Current systems of oppression including racism, sexism, childism, homophobia, and transphobia find their roots in colonial ways of thinking. They are intersectional. If I believe in the rights and autonomy of all people, I need to decolonize the way I live.

4. Capitalism is a product of colonialism and a system which continues to uphold colonial power.

“Capitalism has established an unswerving dichotomy of relations between a certain center, which is the heart of the capitalist exploitation system, and the periphery which consists of dominated countries and populations of people.” – Samir Amin (quoted from David Harvey) on colonialism as the fuel for capitalism.

If I am trying to decolonize the way I live, I must also choose a stance of anti-capitalism.

5. In exploring other options to capitalism, communalism is a natural alternative, but communism led by state forces is just another brand of authoritarianism which prevents people from acting autonomously. Communialism, then, must be paired with decentralized political structures and self-governance as is found with anarchism.

6. Anarcho-communism makes sense if we view humanity in a vacuum without being part of the intricate web of life or ignoring climate catastrophe. We must also stop excessive resource extraction and pollution. Anarcho-communism must be green.

7. The likelihood of a global green-anarcho-communist revolution is unlikely. What’s more likely is a path on our current trajectory that will lead to collapse (stay with me…) and as such, rather than “saving the planet”, we would be more prudent to focus our individual and collective energies on how to live in a post-collapse world. Solarpunk technologies, mutual aid networks, rewilding, grassroots action, collectivism, permaculture/indigenous agriculture practices: these approaches must be intersectional and not siloed in order to be effective. If not, oppression will continue to grow.