For a long time now there has been a terroristic blackmail in act leading to more and more recourse to the policeman-like logic of emergency. The media carries out the task of upturning problems and using the apocalyptic images of the imminence of catastrophe pushing great masses of people to mobilize to avoid it.
One should ask oneself what lies behind the picture presented by the media of the impending nightmare of ecological catastrophe. This is presented as a problem to be resolved beyond the realms of social relations or class conflict.
We have strong doubts about the show of good intentions made by politicians of every kind and color (including the environmentalists) and their sudden interest in the population’s he... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
As long as the present social order exists, it will be impossible to avoid interaction with the various facets of the power structure. Those of us who call ourselves anarchists need to choose to make these interactions clearly adversarial and conflictual, reflecting our desire to destroy the power structure completely. Such a choice requires knowledge of the enemy. Almost every anarchist recognizes that the state and capital are facets of the power structure and has some minimal understanding of how these function as such. Increasing numbers of anarchists are recognizing that technology and ideology are also part of the network of power. One would think that from this they would draw the due conclusion that the technological system for the ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
“We must tell our children and our children’s children the story of the heroes of every land and every time who have given their lives that liberty and fraternity and equality might survive among men.”
— Governor David Marston Clough, Dedication of Hermann Monument, New Ulm, Minnesota
This is a letter to those who remember that before they were Americans, before they were Germans, they were Chatti, Cherusi, Harii, Marsi and Suebia.
This is a letter to those who remember their own homeland and the ways of their ancestors; to those who remain Tru.
This is a letter to those who remember that they too were once resistors of colonization.
This is a letter to those who remember Hermann Der Cherusker... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Nearly 2000 years ago, near the beginning of what some fondly call the Christian era, an army came marching across the British Isles. Thousands of soldiers, uniformed and armored in a manner never before seen in that part of the world, sent the tribal peoples fleeing westward and set about establishing fortresses and cities. Britain was now part of the Roman Empire. Civilization had arrived.
It’s a pattern which has been repeated all over the world, as recently as 100 years ago in parts of the American West. The tendency of people to cluster together in great cities is hardly new and in many ways understandable. What isn’t so clear is why the city-dwellers feel compelled to make the whole planet over in their image.
... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
When we talk about security culture, people tend to have one of two kinds of experiences. The first is of building walls and keeping people out, the second is of being excluded or mistrusted. Both of these come with negative feelings – fear and suspicion for the former and alienation and resentment for the latter. I would say that they are two sides of the same coin, two experiences of a security culture that isn’t working well.
I want to be welcoming and open to new people in my organizing. I also want to protect myself as best I can from efforts to disrupt that organizing, especially from the state but also from bosses or the far-right. That means I want to have the kinds of security practices that allow me to be open w... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Introduction
I’ve written this analysis as an introduction to the structural and social politics of fascism and anti-fascism. This text is meant to examine mechanisms of the fascist ideology not often touched on in popular media discourse, while also examining possibilities for confronting the fascist influence in our political and economic system.
Usually, a vague and misrepresented description of fascism accompanies popular media analyzes on the rise of fascism in the United States. Everyone knows Fascism is dangerous and to be stopped at all costs, few know how to identify it when it’s revealed to them. Since this is the case, we must find an accurate description of fascism before we can begin this analysis.
... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
A review of Hakim Bey’s Millenium
According to Hakim Bey, he wrote Millennium to answer to the question of whether he still holds the position he staked out in TAZ. By reading Millennium we can both understand Bey’s current theoretical position and how he placed TAZ in the first place. First off, Bey notes that between the two books the world changed: the Soviet Union fell apart. This has radical implications for anarchists. Before the fall, anarchists were the “third way” (not to be confused with Tony Blair’s Third Way) and the real opposition to Capital was the Soviet Union. With the Soviet dissolution, anarchism has become the other of Capital. Where as when anarchism was the third way, anarchists cou... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
What’s Wrong with Religion?
Not every believer is a social conformist. His independence of mind, his resistance (to war, for example) or rebellion can outdo those of many atheists. Yet religion is tantamount to social acceptation, because its very principle separates a here below from a hereafter which created the here below and is necessarily superior to it. Religious thought (and therefore behavior) is dualist: it is based on the division between body and soul, matter and spirit, and this divide can only favor the latter over the former. Whatever the believer does to change this world, for him there will always be another world of a higher order. History, life as we daily experience it here and now matter less that what is be... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
"NOSOSTROS", the daily newspaper of the Iron Column in Valencia, printed this article in March 1937, on the eve of the column's militarization. In 1961 it was resurrected by Burnett Bolloten in a chapter devoted to the column in his book, 'The Grand Camouflage". About one third of the present text appeared there in translation. The remaining bulk of the article was dredged up only in 1979, in a complete bilingual edition published by "CHAMP LIBRE". An Italian translation appeared 2 years later. As far we know there was at least one version in English which was reprinted in 1987 by 'News From Everywhere'. This is the text we have used. Throughout the text references to "man" and "men" have been left as they were in the 1937 original, althoug... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Hey y’all this is my first post. Thank you for letting me contribute. These are tough times we are facing as colonized peoples. This apocalypse is scary, but necessary. As it is not an apocalypse aimed at us, but our oppressors. The time has come that settler colonialism is to fall and we are to make sure of that. We’ve faced an oppressive death for far too long and to see the state crumble is a beautiful site. That doesn’t mean we won however. The oppressors are desperately trying to hold on to power killing us in the process. Its not over until we dismantle every institution of colonial oppression. We do so by adopting something I like to call Decolonial Apocalypticism.
Decolonial Animist Apocalypticism
This wo... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Territorial Acknowledgment
This essay was written on the unceded traditional territories of the WSANEC Nation, specifically the Tsawout and Tseycum peoples. The thoughts herein have been developed through spending time on many nations’ territories, including the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht, T’souk, Songhees, Esquimalt, Cowichan, Tseshaht, Sinixt and many more. This essay is meant to be distributed far and wide and will hopefully pass through all of these territories and more, as it seeks to build relationships and understanding between settlers, Indigenous people, and the Land. I thank these nations for allowing me to learn from the Land, and all of the connections therein. I thank them for preserving these beautiful places for ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Desert1 noun
1. A barren or desolate area, especially: a. A dry, often sandy region of little rainfall, extreme temperature, and sparse vegetation. b. A region of permanent cold that is largely or entirely devoid of life. c. An apparently lifeless area of water. 2. An empty or forsaken place; a wasteland: a cultural desert. 3. Archaic A wild, uncultivated, and uninhabited region.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin desertum, from neuter past participle of deserere , to desert; see desert2.]
* * * * *
Author’s Note
I have written Desert as a nature loving anarchist primarily addressing others with similar feelings. As a result I have not always explained ideas to which I hold when th... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
1
One of the most harmful prevailing prejudices of our times is the belief in Nature as a unified being separate from, and even opposed to Humanity (also perceived as a unified being). In the context of this doctrine, what is specifically Human – what is created by conscious human activity – is called Artificial as opposed to Natural.
2
The concept of Nature (that is the concept that all beings, things, relationships and activities not created by human beings constitute a unified whole that stands in contrast to all the things, beings, relationships and activities consciously created by human beings) is itself a product of conscious human activity and, thus, artificial.
3
Etymologically, &ldquo... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
A difficult subject, yes. A subject that can rapidly turn towards a polemic, sterile or otherwise. But that is not the goal. Neither is this an existential questioning, a “Who are we”, or a “Who am I”. I want to discuss about the anarchist movement the way I know it, that means the movement of today, although I can imagine that these mechanisms apply to other times or perhaps outside the anarchist movement. There are a lot of things to say, but I would like particularly to talk about the dynamics that uphold the relationships inside this movement, between each other, across language and geographical barriers. However I would not like these words to be taken for something they are not, in fact in whatever I talk about... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
The following is a transaction of a text from the June ’91 edition of the Spanish magazine Etcetera based loosely around the Spanish truck drivers’ strike of October 1990. It could equally apply to the French truckers’ strike of July ’92. The occasion doesn’t matter too much as basically the text deals with the re-organizing of production in the 80s. How a highly efficient managerial offensive is equally highly vulnerable to a sectorally limited action which due to the new totalitarian invasion of capital cannot have much visionary edge but could prove to be one of the decisively destructive components of the new upsurge from below we are beginning to see all around the world. (not from translators:BM Blob).
... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
“BE REALISTIC, DEMAND THE IMPOSSIBLE.”
Slogan on a Paris wall during the Student Rebellion
REVOLUTION TOWARDS A FREE SOCIETY: YIPPIE!
By A. Yippie
This is a personal statement. There are no spokesmen for the Yippies. We suggest to all reporters that they ask each and every Yippie in Lincoln Park why they have come to Chicago. We are all our own leaders. We realize this list of demands is inconclusive, they are not really demands. For people to make demands of the Democratic Party is an exercise in wasted wish-fulfillment. If we have a demand, it is simply and emphatically that they, along with their fellow inmates in the Republican Party, cease to exist. We demand a society built along the alternative... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Paris, May 4, 1968.
[Leaflet by students of the March 22 Movement explains why students fought the police]
Fights in the Latin Quarter.
Press + university + cops + owners = repression.
Why are the students “enraged”?
The papers write about “madmen,” about “golden” youth who want to get rid of their idleness by throwing themselves into violence and vandalism.
What’s the purpose of those articles?
Only one: to cut the students off from the workers, to caricature their struggle, to isolate in order to muzzle them better.
Three thousand students fought the police for five hours last Friday--is this the “handful of trouble-makers” refer... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Introduction
The winter of 2011–12 saw a number of clashes with the police in Atlanta. Almost a year later, I’m comfortable enough to sit down to write about them. There were many other things going on around the country and even right here at home that made the following events possible, and I couldn’t feasibly account for all of them here with my limited perspective. The anti-police actions in themselves were not very significant, if gauged by the limiting discourse of “effective direct action” or “community organizing.” The cops still murder people, many people still have terrible ideas of how to respond. They were important, however, because they created a sense that something was occ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Political philosophers have examined what kind of government is, in their opinion, the best kind. In voluminous writings justifying various forms of government they either ignore or quickly dispense with the more fundamental question: DO WE NEED OR WANT ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT?
What is it to be governed? And what is the alternative?
TO BE GOVERNED
To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, censored, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, author... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Political philosophers have examined what kind of government is, in their opinion, the best kind. In voluminous writings justifying various forms of government they either ignore or quickly dispense with the more fundamental question: DO WE NEED OR WANT ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT?
What is it to be governed? And what is the alternative?
TO BE GOVERNED
To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, censored, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, author... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Ego-Anarchism is the negation of all fixed ideas: of Homeland, State, religion, Morals, Property, Belonging.
It’s all about those who don’t belong to any group, act alone because of their character or geographical isolation, don’t recognize labels, follow their strong attitudes, recognize their individual Ego as genius. It is an unconditional, full, aware experimentation with oneself, which often encounters others’ experiences and is destined to succed or fail. The many shades of becoming, which are not aborted, are the expression of a choice, an attempt at the highest revelation of the individual, who realizes the conditions of being because he is.
The need to individuate the new dynamics of interrelat... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Social revolution is like the sea. Its waves chase one another, crash against the obstacles they encounter, crushing them or backing down. With all the violence of an indomitable rush, they destroy, blow after blow any trace of power, of exploitation and oppression. A first wave, immense and unexpected, swept away the dictatorship of Murabak. A second one put the army that was about to take over power on its knees. A third one is rising today against the new order that the islamists are trying to impose.
The real revolutionary storm does not obey any party, any boss, any power. On the contrary, these are its irreconcilable enemies. They will be swept away as the storm intensifies. Between the social revolution that will subvert any r... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
We must choose between two paths: the road of El Salvador, of a lethal sidetrack into capitalist politics which is actually a prelude to world war, or the road of Poland, of mass and autonomous confrontation against the capitalist state.
For the past several months since the proclamation of the Left’s “final offensive”, we have witnessed a further scourge of capitalist brutality in El Salvador. Within the countryside the guerrillas are completely on the defensive, having been sacrificed for “reasons of (capitalist) state” as the modern-day La Passionaria, Ana Guadalupe Martinez, will argue. The F.D.R. now cynically admits that its meager military offensive was nothing but a bargaining ploy against the Du... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
everyone has long known that nothing is sacred in the modern era so only a few are shocked when everything is marketed. currently, a mini-debate is raging over the propriety of selling a large range of products bearing an “X” on them with the advent of the release of “Malcolm X,” Spike Lee’s cinematic depiction of the slain black leader’s life.
it is ironic that the symbol taken by members of the nation of islam to their “slave name” and widely publicized by a man reviled by white society and parts of the black community as well, now appears on everything from baseball caps to potato chip bags. Betty Shabazz, Malcolm’s widow, even has a lawyer tracking down those who use the tra... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Introduction
As the US occupation of Iraq continues along with the Iraqi resistance to this invasion, it is necessary to continue to examine the forces of domination that have led to the current situation of endless war and also to look into the possibilities for resistance.
The invasion of Iraq has been presented as a specific battle in the “war on terrorism”. The alleged evidence for Iraqi possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction and involvement with Al-Qaeda has vanished like smoke in the wind, but since the “war on terrorism” has been a case of bluff and extortion from the beginning, it continues to be appropriate to analyze it in this context.
The texts below have all been written since Sep... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
[A new magazine has recently appeared in Italy called Diavolo in Corpo [December 1999]. It is a magazine of anarchist ideas that is intended to get beyond the anarchist ghetto. The following text is a translation of the introduction the publishers of this magazine wrote for it. It is printed here as an introduction to the ideas of certain of the insurrectional anarchists of Italy.]
To have the devil within. This is an expression that has fortunately survived from its medieval origins. Since the last witch burned on the pyre of the inquisition, the devil has continued to creep into human beings to shake them from the torpor of their existence. Indeed, something of the sulfurous remains in this idiom, an odor of heresy. To have the dev... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
To fully understand the context of global environmental problems, one must assess the role that humans have played in the destruction of the nature. Environmentalists and social science scholars have argued on behalf that social justice and environmental justice go hand-in-hand. Long time Vermont resident and activist Murray Bookchin brought forth the philosophy of social ecology, which laid out the ideological framework that bridged social and environmental justice movements. In his seminal work Post Scarcity Anarchism, Bookchin argues to challenge the social order that is rooted in the exploitation of man and nature alike. He writes, “ Owing to its inherently competitive nature, bourgeois society not only pits humans against each o... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Mühsam chronologies in print include: Chris Hirte. Erich Mühsam: “Ihr seht mich nicht feige.” Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben, 1985 (pp.453-456 and passim) and: Chris Hirte (ed.). Erich Mühsam: Tagebücher 1910-1924. Munich: deutscher taschenbuchverlag, September 1994. Other chronologies can be found online at anarchismus.at, The Daily Bleed, the Erich-Mühsam-Gesellschaft, Irina und Conrad Piens' Mühsam website, zeno.org, and the Erich Mühsam page of the Deutsches Historisches Museum.
1838
Birth of Siegfried Seligmann Mühsam, Erich's father.
1871
January 18: Founding of the German Reich.
1875
German Social Democrats unite with the Lassallians.
187... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Finally the Western civilization has woken up to the climate crisis. To those of us anarchists who have not been following scientific research on the crisis for the past decade in detail, who live in the West and who haven’t been involved in green nihilist circles, the current mass of information can feel like an avalanche.
We might be used to confronting the heartbreaking realities of this world, but how do we face the on-going, ecosystem threatening loss of biodiversity, melting permafrost, methane gas explosions and ravaging fires in Arctic regions, the probable breakdown of the Gulf stream, the loss of 75% of Arctic sea ice, European heatwaves drying up rivers used to cool down nuclear power plants and freak storms destroyi... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)