Before it was adopted by teens
who didn’t like school and were hopped up on Fight Club
anarchism was actually preached by the world’s most prominent thinkers
Anarchism is a political philosophy
that opposes authority and hierarchy in all human relations
It rejects the harmful, unnecessary government
and its coercive rule
This concept was first developed by Chinese Lao Tzu
and Greek Diogenes and Zeno in the 4th century BC
It took a long time before this idea flourished.
During the Enlightenment
Jean Jacques Rousseau’s concept of moral freedom and autonomy
acted as a predecessor to modern anarchist theory
Englishman William Godwin was the first to
truly want to promote individualism
and abolish the government through gradual changes.
Along with Godwin, French Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
is considered a founder of modern anarchism.
He imagines societies without authority
and describes governments as tyrannical enemies.
Anarchism is achieved through educated
gradual changes to society and its infrastructure,
and not by burning tires, hacking websites
or letting your hair grow and dyeing it purple
Besides Zomia, a stateless region in Southeast Asia
populated by a 100 million people escaping
war, slavery, and governments
there aren’t many real instances of anarchism
and it remains a distant utopia.
