What is Government? What is its principle, its object, its right? -- This is incontestably the first question that the political man poses to himself.
Now, this question, which appears so simple and the solution of which seems so easy, we find that faith alone can answer. Philosophy is as incapable of demonstrating Government as it is of proving God. Authority, like Divinity, is not a matter of knowing; it is, I repeat, a matter of faith.
That insight, so paradoxical at first glance, and yet so true, merits some development. We are going to try, without any significant scientific apparatus, to make ourselves understood.
The principal attribute, the signal trait of our species, after THOUGHT, is belief, and above all thi... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Bridging both time and work, the following is an article that was featured in one of Green Anarchy magazine’s “Back to Basics” primers. We see this as a starting point for further exploration and discussion. The topics covered are central to a green anarchist critique or perspective. This is not an exhaustive list, but rather the beginnings of what we hope will be an ongoing conversation – one to be further expanded, updated, and explored in subsequent issues of Black Seed.
This primer is not meant to be the “defining principles” for a green anarchist “movement”, nor an anti-civilization manifesto. It is a look at some of the basic ideas and concepts that collective members share with e... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
The EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army) came briefly to the worlds attention when they seized several towns in Chiapas on New Years day in 1994. This image of a new armed rebel movement in the period when such movements were meant to have recognized their own redundancy was startling and demonstrated that history was not yet over.
Since then most of the continued support the Zapatistas have received is strongly based on the idea that the Zapatistas are different. Different not just from the neoliberal world order they oppose but, more fundamentally, different from the armed revolutionary groups that exist and have existed elsewhere in the world.
Those involved internationally in Zapatista solidarity work are drawn to it ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
MUTUALISM — A Social System Based on Equal Freedom, Reciprocity, and the Sovereignty of the Individual Over Himself, His Affairs, and His Products; Realized Through Individual Initiative, Free Contract, Cooperation, Competition, and Voluntary Association for Defense Against the Invasive and for the Protection of Life, Liberty and Property of the Noninvasive.
FOREWORD
In the preparation of this book, the Mutualist Associates specifically delegated the following of their members to assist the author: Henry Cohen, lawyer and publicist, whose lifelong study of the financial question has particularly fitted him for the formulation of the Mutualist idea of Money, Credit, and Exchange; John K. Freeman, educator and student of socio... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
First Memoir
Adversus hostem æterna auctertas esto.
Against the enemy, revendication is eternal.
Law of the twelve tables.
Chapter I. Method Pursued In This Work. — The Idea Of A Revolution.
If I were asked to answer the following question: What is slavery? and I should answer in one word, It is murder, my meaning would be understood at once. No extended argument would be required to show that the power to take from a man his thought, his will, his personality, is a power of life and death; and that to enthralled a man is to kill him. Why, then, to this other question: What is property! may I not likewise answer, It is robbery, without the certainty of being misunderstood; the second proposition being no other than ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Reformism is not the same as advocating or getting reforms. There is a hell of a lot in this society needs reforming. Reformism is the belief that all efforts should be directed at the bit that needs reforming (with the economic system, society, the State or a political party) to which all efforts should be directed. Someone who thinks an old banger of a machine is fundamentally sound and only needs a bit of tinkering to make it perfect is called a bodger. Someone who decides there’s nothing wrong with a crap institution but a change of leadership, a reform of moral outlook, a few new laws, a ban here and a relaxation there, is called a reformist, though could equally well be called a bodger.
Certainly there is a lot about expl... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
A security culture is a set of customs shared by a community whose members may be targeted by the government, designed to minimize risk. Having a security culture in place saves everyone the trouble of having to work out safety measures over and over from scratch, and can help offset paranoia and panic in stressful situations—hell, it might keep you out of prison, too. The difference between protocol and culture is that culture becomes unconscious, instinctive, and thus effortless; once the safest possible behavior has become habitual for everyone in the circles in which you travel, you can spend less time and energy emphasizing the need for it, or suffering the consequences of not having it, or worrying about how much danger you&rsqu... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
This essay appears in Anarchy Archives with the permission of the author. It is from Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology, edited by M.E. Zimmerman, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993
What Is Social Ecology?
Murray Bookchin
Murray Bookchin has long been a major figure in anarchlst
and utopian political theory, theory of technology,
urbanism, and the philosophy of nature. He is the
co-founder and director emeritus of the Institute for
Social Ecology. His many books include Toward an
Ecological Society, The Ecology of Freedom, The Rise of
Urbanization and the Decline of Citizenship, Remaking
Society, and The Philosophy of Social Ecology.
What literally d... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
What is the CNT?
Founded in 1910 in Barcelona, from the trade unions not intertwined with social-democratic currents, the CNT still follows the anarcho-syndicalist principles and is the only heir in the Spanish State of the spirit of the First International.
The CNT is today the only Union in the Spanish State completely independent from political guidelines, where those who make the decisions are the affiliated workers and not a comity of professionals of syndicalism, we refuses State funding and patronage in order to keep economical independence, and as to not leave negotiations in the hands of middle-men.
What is a Trade Union?
A Union is an association of workers who try to improve their life conditions, both mat... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
What difference is there between anarchists and other men?
There is none!
In fact, take out a register and carry out an interesting survey: consult everyone around you about the reforms that should be carried out and you'll find that they are all partisans of the suppression of either one or several laws.
When you've gathered together all these opinions, add up the sum of the suppressions of laws requested by each person and there will be nothing left to be done but to burn the penal code.
This is what the anarchists demand. They are the summation of the aspirations of all, the conclusion to the volume of reforms, and in carrying out this survey you will have written an anarchist book. (From: Marxists.org.)
Revolt Library 
Anarchism 
