Anarchism is a political philosophy which
holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary,
or harmful. However, others argue that while
anti-statism is central, it is inadequate
to define anarchism solely on this basis.
Therefore, they argue instead that anarchism
entails opposing authority or hierarchical
organization in the conduct of human relations,
including, but not limited to, the state system.
Proponents of this form of anarchism advocate
stateless societies based on non-hierarchical
free associations.Since the last third of
the 20th century, anarchists have been involved
in student protest movements, peace movements,
squatter movements, and the anti-globalization
movement, among others. Anarchists have participated
in violent revolutions (such as in Revolutionary
Catalonia and the Free Territory) and anarchist
political organizations (such as IWA-AIT or
the IWW) exist since the 19th century.
== Overview ==
Anarchism was influential in the Counterculture
of the 1960s and anarchists actively participated
in the late sixties students and workers revolts.
In 1968 in Carrara, Italy the International
of Anarchist Federations was founded during
an international anarchist conference held
there in 1968 by the three existing European
federations of France (the Fédération Anarchiste),
the Federazione Anarchica Italiana of Italy
and the Iberian Anarchist Federation as well
as the Bulgarian federation in French exile.In
the United Kingdom in the 1970s this was associated
with the punk rock movement, as exemplified
by bands such as Crass (pioneers of the anarcho-punk
subgenre) and the Sex Pistols. The housing
and employment crisis in most of Western Europe
led to the formation of communes and squatter
movements like that of Barcelona, Spain. In
Denmark, squatters occupied a disused military
base and declared the Freetown Christiania,
an autonomous haven in central Copenhagen.
The relationship between anarchism, punk,
and squatting has carried on into the 21st
century.
Since the revival of anarchism in the mid
20th century, a number of new movements and
schools of thought emerged, well documented
in Robert Graham's Anarchism: A Documentary
History of Libertarian Ideas, Volume Two,
The Emergence of the New Anarchism (1939-1977).
Although feminist tendencies have always been
a part of the anarchist movement in the form
of anarcha-feminism, they returned with vigour
during the second wave of feminism in the
1960s. The American Civil Rights Movement
and the movement against the war in Vietnam
also contributed to the revival of North American
anarchism. European anarchism of the late
20th century drew much of its strength from
the labour movement, and both have incorporated
animal rights activism. Anarchist anthropologist
David Graeber and anarchist historian Andrej
Grubacic have posited a rupture between generations
of anarchism, with those "who often still
have not shaken the sectarian habits" of the
19th century contrasted with the younger activists
who are "much more informed, among other elements,
by indigenous, feminist, ecological and cultural-critical
ideas", and who by the turn of the 21st century
formed "by far the majority" of anarchists.Around
the turn of the 21st century, anarchism grew
in popularity and influence as part of the
anti-war, anti-capitalist, and anti-globalisation
movements. Anarchists became known for their
involvement in protests against the meetings
of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Group
of Eight, and the World Economic Forum. Some
anarchist factions at these protests engaged
in rioting, property destruction, and violent
confrontations with police. These actions
were precipitated by ad hoc, leaderless, anonymous
cadres known as black blocs; other organisational
tactics pioneered in this time include security
culture, affinity groups and the use of decentralised
technologies such as the internet. A significant
event of this period was the confrontations
at WTO conference in Seattle in 1999.International
anarchist federations in existence include
the International of Anarchist Federations,
the International Workers' Association, and
International Libertarian Solidarity.
The largest organised anarchist movement today
is in Spain, in the form of the Confederación
General del Trabajo (CGT) and the CNT. CGT
membership was estimated at around 100,000
for 2003. Other active syndicalist movements
include in Sweden the Central Organisation
of the Workers of Sweden and the Swedish Anarcho-syndicalist
Youth Federation; the CNT-AIT in France; the
Union Sindicale Italiana in Italy; in the
US Workers Solidarity Alliance and the UK
Solidarity Federation. The revolutionary industrial
unionist Industrial Workers of the World,
claiming 10,000 paying members, and the International
Workers Association, an anarcho-syndicalist
successor to the First International, also
remain active.
Anarchist ideas have been influential in the
development of the Democratic Federation of
Northern Syria (DFNS), more commonly known
as Rojava, a de facto autonomous region in
northern Syria. Abdullah Öcalan—a founding
member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
who is currently imprisoned in Turkey—is
an iconic and popular figure in the DFNS whose
ideas shaped the region's society and politics.
While in prison, Öcalan corresponded with
(and was influenced by) Murray Bookchin, an
anarcho-communist theorist and philosopher
who developed Communalism and libertarian
municipalism. Modelled after Bookchin's ideas,
Öcalan developed the theory of democratic
confederalism. In March 2005, he issued his
"Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in
Kurdistan", calling upon citizens "to stop
attacking the government and instead create
municipal assemblies, which he called 'democracy
without the state'".
== Post-classical schools of thought and movements
==
Whilst the classical schools of anarchist
thought remain popular and relevant to the
modern world (for example, anarcho-syndicalism,
a movement within anarchism that seeks to
organize society along economic syndicalism,
has proponents that include Noam Chomsky,
who said it is "highly relevant to advanced
industrial societies), anarchism continues
to generate many philosophies and movements,
at times eclectic, drawing upon various sources,
and syncretic, combining disparate concepts
to create new philosophical approaches.
Insurrectionary anarchism is a revolutionary
theory, practice, and tendency within the
anarchist movement which emphasizes insurrection
within anarchist practice. It is critical
of formal organizations such as labor unions
and federations that are based on a political
programme and periodic congresses. Instead,
insurrectionary anarchists advocate informal
organization and small affinity group based
organization. Insurrectionary anarchists put
value in attack, permanent class conflict,
and a refusal to negotiate or compromise with
class enemies. The Informal Anarchist Federation
(not to be confused with the synthesist Italian
Anarchist Federation also FAI ) is an Italian
insurrectionary anarchist organization. It
has been described by Italian intelligence
sources as a "horizontal" structure of various
anarchist terrorist groups, united in their
beliefs in revolutionary armed action. In
2003, the group claimed responsibility for
a bomb campaign targeting several European
Union institutions. In 2010, Italy’s postal
service intercepted a threatening letter containing
a bullet addressed to Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi. A large envelope containing a
letter addressed to Berlusconi with the threat
“you will end up like a rat” was discovered
on Friday in a post office in the Libate suburb
of the northern city of Milan. On 23 December
2010, credit for exploding parcels delivered
to the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome
was claimed by the Informal Anarchist Federation,.
Green anarchism (or eco-anarchism) is a school
of thought within anarchism that emphasizes
environmental issues, with an important precedent
in anarcho-naturism, and whose main contemporary
currents are anarcho-primitivism and social
ecology.
Anarcha-feminism developed as a synthesis
of radical feminism and anarchism that views
patriarchy (male domination over women) as
a fundamental manifestation of compulsory
government. It was inspired by the late 19th
century writings of early feminist anarchists
such as Lucy Parsons, Emma Goldman, and Voltairine
de Cleyre. Anarcha-feminists, like other radical
feminists, criticize and advocate the abolition
of traditional conceptions of family, education,
sex work and gender roles.
Anarcho-pacifism is a tendency that rejects
violence in the struggle for social change
(see non-violence). It developed "mostly in
the Netherlands, Britain, and the United States,
before and during the Second World War".
Christian anarchism is a movement in political
theology that combines anarchism and Christianity.
Its main proponents included Leo Tolstoy,
Dorothy Day, Ammon Hennacy, and Jacques Ellul.
Religious anarchism refers to a set of related
anarchist ideologies that are inspired by
the teachings of (organized) religions, but
many anarchists have traditionally been skeptical
of and opposed to organized religion. Many
different religions have served as inspiration
for religious forms of anarchism, most notably
Christianity, as Christian anarchists believe
that biblical teachings give credence to anarchist
philosophy. Non-Christian forms of religious
anarchism include Buddhist anarchism, Jewish
anarchism and most recently Neopaganism. Neopaganism
focuses on the sanctity of the environment
and equality and is often of a decentralized
nature. This led to a number of Neopagan-inspired
anarchists, one of the most prominent of which
is Starhawk, who writes extensively about
both spirituality and activism.
Synthesis anarchism is a form of anarchist
organization that tries to join anarchists
of different tendencies under the principles
of anarchism without adjectives. In the 1920s,
this form found as its main proponents the
anarcho-communists Voline and Sébastien Faure.
It is the main principle behind the anarchist
federations grouped around the contemporary
global International of Anarchist Federations.
The International of Anarchist Federations
(IAF/IFA) was founded during an international
anarchist conference in Carrara in 1968 by
the three existing European anarchist federations
of France (Fédération Anarchiste), Italy(Federazione
Anarchica Italiana) and Spain (Federación
Anarquista Ibérica) as well as the Bulgarian
federation in French exile. These organizations
were also inspired on synthesist principles.
Currently alongside the previously mentioned
federations, the IAF includes the Argentine
Libertarian Federation, the Anarchist Federation
of Belarus, the Federation of Anarchists in
Bulgaria, the Czech-Slovak Anarchist Federation,
the Federation of German speaking Anarchists
ipost-n Germany and Switzerland, and the Anarchist
Federation in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Platformism is a tendency within the wider
anarchist movement based on the organisational
theories in the tradition of Dielo Truda's
Organizational Platform of the General Union
of Anarchists (Draft). The document was based
on the experiences of Russian anarchists in
the 1917 October Revolution, which led eventually
to the victory of the Bolsheviks over the
anarchists and other groups. The Platform
attempted to address and explain the anarchist
movement's failures during the Russian Revolution.
Today "Platformism" is an important current
in international anarchism. Around thirty
platformists and especifistas are linked together
in the Anarkismo.net project, including groups
from Africa, Latin America, North America
and Europe. At least in terms of the number
of affiliated organisations, the Anarkismo
network is larger than other anarchist international
bodies, like the International of Anarchist
Federations and the International Workers'
Association. It is not, however, a formal
"international" and has no intention of competing
with these other formations. Today there are
organisations inspired by the Platform in
many countries, including the Workers Solidarity
Movement in Ireland, Common Struggle/Lucha
Común in the United States, the Union Communiste
Libertaire in Quebec, Common Cause in Ontario,
the Federación Comunista Libertaria (FCL)
and Organización Comunista Libertaria (OCL)
in Chile, the Federación Anarco-Comunista
de Argentina (FACA) and Línea Anarco-Comunista
(LAC) in Argentina, the Federazione dei Comunisti
Anarchici (FdCA) in Italy, the Fórum do Anarquismo
Organizado in Brazil, Unión Socialista Libertaria
in Peru, the Organisation Communiste Libertaire
and Alternative Libertaire in France, the
Alianza de los Comunistas Libertarios (ACL)
in Mexico, the Melbourne Anarchist Communist
Group (MACG) and Sydney Anarchist Communist
Trajectory (SACT) in Australia, Motmakt in
Norway, Libertære Socialister in Denmark,
Collective Action in the UK, the Zabalaza
Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF) in South
Africa, and the Revolutionary Confederation
of Anarcho-Syndicalists by the name of N.
I. Makhno (RKAS), which is an international
anarcho-syndicalist, platformist confederation
with sections and individual members in Ukraine,
Russia, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Bulgaria
and Israel. Organisations inspired by the
Platform were also among the founders of the
now-defunct International Libertarian Solidarity
network and its successor, the Anarkismo network;
which is run collaboratively by roughly 30
platformist and especifista organisations
around the world.
Post-left anarchy is a recent current in anarchist
thought that promotes a critique of anarchism's
relationship to traditional Left-wing politics,
such as its emphasis on class struggle, social
revolution, labor unions, and the working
class. Influenced by anti-authoritarian postmodern
philosophy, post-leftists reject Enlightenment
rationality and deconstruct topics such as
gender. While a few advocate for armed insurrection,
most advocate for creating spaces and affinity
groups to act freely within current society
rather than fighting for utopian ideal. In
the United States, CrimethInc., Anarchy: A
Journal of Desire Armed, and Green Anarchy
are associated with post-leftism, as are many
primitivists. CrimethInc, which is influenced
by Situationism, anarcho-punk, and green anarchy,
argues for a DIY folk approach to everyday
life, including refusal of work, escaping
gender roles, and straight edge lifestyle.Post-anarchism
is a theoretical move towards a synthesis
of classical anarchist theory and poststructuralist
thought, drawing from diverse ideas including
post-modernism, autonomist marxism, post-left
anarchy, situationism, and postcolonialism.
Analytical anarchism, which partly began as
a response to analytical Marxism, is a recent
development in academia that uses the methods
of analytic philosophy to clarify or defend
anarchist theory. Analytical anarchists include
Robert Paul Wolff, Alan Carter, and Michael
Taylor. Wolff argues that we have no obligation
to obey the state, while Carter argues that
the state cannot be trusted to liberate the
people, and Taylor uses game theory to argue
that cooperation is possible without the state.
Queer anarchism is a form of socialism which
suggests anarchism as a solution to the issues
faced by the LGBT community, mainly heteronormativity,
homophobia, transphobia and biphobia. Anarcho-queer
arose during the late 20th century based on
the work of Michel Foucault The History of
Sexuality.
Left-wing market anarchism is associated with
scholars such as Kevin Carson, Roderick T.
Long, Charles Johnson, Brad Spangler, Samuel
Edward Konkin III, Sheldon Richman, Chris
Matthew Sciabarra and Gary Chartier,who stress
the value of radically free markets, termed
"freed markets" to distinguish them from the
common conception which these libertarians
believe to be riddled with statist and capitalist
privileges. Referred to as left-wing market
anarchists or market-oriented left-libertarians,
proponents of this approach strongly affirm
the classical liberal ideas of self-ownership
and free markets, while maintaining that taken
to their logical conclusions these ideas support
strongly anti-corporatist, anti-hierarchical,
pro-labor positions in economics; anti-imperialism
in foreign policy; and thoroughly liberal
or radical views regarding such cultural issues
as gender, sexuality, and race. This strand
of left-libertarianism tends to be rooted
either in the mutualist economics conceptualized
by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, American individualist
anarchism, or in a left-wing interpretation
or extension of the thought of Murray Rothbard.
Free-market anarchism, usually referring to
anarcho-capitalism, is a political philosophy
advocating property rights and the non-aggression
principle. While not considered to be a form
of anarchism by the majority of anarchists,
due to its connection with capitalism, it
is most common in the United States. It is
"based on a belief in the freedom to own private
property, a rejection of any form of governmental
authority or intervention, and the upholding
of the competitive free market as the main
mechanism for social interaction." Anarcho-capitalists
advocate for all services, including law enforcement
and security, to be performed by multiple
private providers all competing for business,
rather than by a monopolist state agency funded
by taxation. Anarcho-capitalism's proponents
include Murray Rothbard, David D. Friedman,
Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Walter Block
Anarcho-transhumanism is a recently new branch
of anarchism that takes traditional and modern
anarchism, typically anarcho-syndicalism and
combines it with transhumanism and post-humanism.
It can be described as a “liberal democratic
revolution, at its core the idea that people
are happiest when they have rational control
over their lives. Reason, science, and technology
provide one kind of control, slowly freeing
us from ignorance, toil, pain, disease and
limited lifespans (aging)".
== New Anarchism ==
"New Anarchism" is a term that has been notably
used by Andrej Grubacic, amongst others, to
describe the most recent reinvention of the
anarchist thought and practice. What distinguishes
the new anarchism of today from the new anarchism
of the 1960s and 1970s, or from the work of
US-UK based authors like Murray Bookchin,
Paul Goodman, Herbert Read, Colin Ward and
Alex Comfort, is its emphasis on the global
perspective. Essays on new anarchism include
David Graeber's "New Anarchists" in A Movement
of Movements: is Another World Really possible?,
ed. Tom Mertes (London: Verso, 2004) and Grubacic's
"Towards Another Anarchism" in World Social
Forum: Challenging Empires, ed. Jai Sen and
Peter Waterman (Montreal: Black Rose Books,
2007). Other authors have criticized the term
for being too vague.
== See also ==
Anarchism and the Occupy movement
Anarchist schools of thought
History of anarchism
== References ==
== Further reading ==
== External links ==
Amster, Randall, et al. (eds.), Contemporary
Anarchist Studies. Routledge, New York/UK
2009.
Graham, Robert. Ed.The New Anarchism (1974-2012).
Black Rose Books, Montreal 2012.
Perlin, Terry M. Contemporary Anarchism. Transaction
Books, New Brunswick, NJ 1979.
