Black anarchism is a loose term sometimes
applied in the United States to group together
a number of people of African descent who
identify with anarchism.
They include Ashanti Alston, Lorenzo Kom'boa
Ervin, Kuwasi Balagoon, Kai Lumumba Barrow,
Greg Jackson, and Martin Sostre.
Critics of the term suggest that it elides
major political differences between these
individuals, incorrectly presenting these
individuals as having a shared theory or movement,
while imposing a label that these individuals
do not (or did not) all accept.
The individuals to whom the label has been
applied all oppose the existence of the State,
the subjugation and domination of black people,
and other groups, and favor a non-hierarchical
organization of society.
In general, these individuals argue for class
struggle while stressing the importance of
ending racial and national oppression, opposing
white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and
the state.
They have generally rejected narrow or vulgar
forms of "anarchism" that ignore issues of
race and national oppression, a deformed "white,
petty-bourgeois Anarchism that cannot relate
to the people" and that refuses to deal with
issues of race saying "No, don't talk about
racism unless it is in that very abstract
sense of we-are-all-equal-let's-sing-kumbayas-and-pretend-the-color-of-our-skin-does-not-matter"
anti-racism.Ashanti Alston (who has explicitly
used the term "Black Anarchism") also argued
that:
Black culture has always been oppositional
and is all about finding ways to creatively
resist oppression here, in the most racist
country in the world [the United States].
So, when I speak of a Black anarchism, it
is not so tied to the color of my skin but
who I am as a person, as someone who can resist,
who can see differently when I am stuck, and
thus live differently.He added that, as an
anarchist, he viewed black nationalism as
progressive yet also as deeply limited: "Panther
anarchism is ready, willing and able to challenge
old nationalist and revolutionary notions
that have been accepted as ‘common-sense.’
It also challenges the bullshit in our lives
and in the so-called movement that holds us
back from building a genuine movement based
on the enjoyment of life, diversity, practical
self-determination and multi-faceted resistance
to the Babylonian Pigocracy.
This Pigocracy is in our ‘heads,’ our
relationships as well as in the institutions
that have a vested interest in our eternal
domination.
== See also ==
Anarchism and nationalism
Anarchist People of Color
Anarchist Black Cross Network
African anarchism
Black Liberation Army
MOVE
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front
== Notes ==
== External links ==
Black Anarchism by Chuck Morse includes transcript
of a talk by Ashanti Alston
Anarchist Panther
Black Anarchism.
A Reader.
Black Anarchism - Has its time come?
Senzala or Quilombo: Reflections on APOC and
the fate of Black Anarchism
Kuwasi Balagoon
Anarchy and Chaos in Black Communities, Robert
A. Wicks.
Lewrockwell.com ("pro-market" anarchism).
