#wolfi

Just imagine

When anarchists call for realism, it is almost always in the face of a perceived situation of urgency - sometimes of 'moral urgency' like experimentation on animals, sometimes ongoing emergencies like environmental devastation, sometimes more immediate emergencies like the current economic catastrophe or specific incidences of state repression. Combined with the altruism of many anarchists, this sense of urgency leads to the feeling that one has to do 'whatever is necessary' to alleviate the immediate situation. The basic argument is that since there isn't going to be a revolution any time soon, we have to deal with these urgent situations within the context of the current social reality. How far specific anarchist realists are willing to go in this conformity to the present social and political reality varies. I have heard self-proclaimed anarchists use it to justify petitioning the government, writing letters to various authorities to affect their decisions, litigating, promoting legislation, and so on. One anarchist I knew even tried to justify Paul Watson's (the captain of the Sea Shepherd) work with certain police forces in South America against marine poachers in the name of the urgent need to protect endangered marine animals. So this sense of urgency combines with altruism to make these 'realistic' anarchists willing to sacrifice themselves to... the existing social order. Any fierce and challenging ideas, any wild, utopian desires, any intoxicating, playful dreams are suppressed in the name of being realistic. A stark and unimaginative morality of altruistic pragmatism replaces the resolute, egoistic amorality of anarchist revolt.

Malo Mart dance