Blame Johnny Rotten (who by the way, was never really an anarchist – he only needed a rhyme for “antichrist” in that song), but lots of folks still think anarchy is just young people want only smashing public property. Like it’s some kind of macho Project Mayhem, from Fight Club, with no plan and no limits.
But at its heart, Anarchism is almost the exact opposite: it grew out of the radical pacifism of the Quakers. And its roots trace back to before ancient Greece.
During Occupy Wall Street, the late David Graeber was in heavy demand at Zuccotti Park as anarchism’s resident demystifier. Tour guide for the anarcho-curious. The short man in the long scarf was no hippie malcontent; he was an anthropologist who taught at the LondonSchool of Economics.
Look around, he’d say. See what’s going on here? The free food and shelter and medical aid; the wifi and lending library and daily teach-ins and thoroughly decent coffee — this sustainable and vibrant way to live? This all sprung up “horizontally.” Every decision made only after every voice was heard. No leaders. Government by consensus. Everyone gets a go. A self-reinforcing ecology of respect. It’s not perfect but it’s holding together pretty well. (David didn’t mention the bag containing close to a million dollars in cash stashed under one of the desks. People kept giving us money. No one saw any reason to take it to a bank.)
“You’d be surprised how much you yourself are basically an anarchist right now,” he’d tell people.
Take this quiz:
“If there’s a line to get on a crowded bus, do you wait your turn and refrain from elbowing your way past others even in the absence of police? If you answered ‘yes,’ then you have been acting like an anarchist!
“People don’t need to be threatened with force or fines or jail time to get them to do the right thing,” he’d continue. “We can organize ourselves and police ourselves. In fact, that’s the only way it can happen with respect and dignity maintained.”
Dignity definitely does not hold in a system that corners people like rats with massive consumer debt that strips them of power and saddles them with shame.
Anarchy is about honoring your “desire lines”
AB# 153
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