Some thoughts on anarchism

ireland / britain | anarchist movement | other libertarian press

Thursday July 30, 2015 09:15

by John Mulligan - no organisation

johnmulligan1978 at gmail dot com

172-4 plymouth Grove, Manchester. M13 0AF

074488527741

n/a

There are preliminary ideas about anarchism and the difficulty it faces. The short piece of writing is sombre in places but ends on a positive note. It is an attempt to separate anarchism from other ideologies.

If anybody goes back and looks at anarchism and the the issues they were concerned with, that has magically disappeared today. Emma Goldman, wrote about “victims” in prisons, you do not get that today and the question is not even raised even from people on the left, what ever that is meant to mean anymore, and that is scary.

The main concern I have with anarchism is people’s unwillingness to label themselves as such. Just consider the terror after the 1901 assassination of the American President. What followed was a terror campaign against anarchists, not just in the U.S but all over the world. Even Sartre said he would commit to the anarchism of the 1890s but not of the 1970s and one grasps his meaning.

I believe most freedoms have been vanquished and that, for me, at least, goes back to Thatcherism and Reaganism. The savagery of the free market is now treated as Darwinian evolution; a fact of life. It is not even questioned on narrow grounds.

I am an anarchist because what separates anarchism from other ideologies is like the lunatic in Gogol. Even mainstream anarchists don’t really write about it anymore; Chomsky is the best example. I think without anarchism or the mere mention of it we will all begin to lose our humanity, at least whats left of it in this decaying world.

Anarchism is the one ideology that is separate from all the others; it is the only one that does not worship state power. Tell me, can anyone tell me where a serious anarchist press is? There isn't one and if there was, Anarchism would be a meaningful movement once again but government have dispelled that nonsense called freedom yet continue to prattle on about it as if it was the greatest thing on the earth. All our prejudices have take over our instincts and the consequences are humanity's retardation.

If Kafka would have lived longer he would have embraced anarchism, he was already beginning to, his favourite book too was one by Kropotkin. Anarchism is prevalent through great literature: Beckett, Zola, Balzac, Gogol, Joyce, Steinbeck.

If we are, as a community, a race, a civilisation, as humanitarians, are concerned about liberty, morality, freedom, we should start to develop basic philosophical and moral principles. Government, is, to quote Godwin, "the brute engine", that is correct but we must become active citizens and disregard the government, any government and smash this nonsensical idea about authority. I think the start is to develop arts-based community groups and get people involved in film and literature and that way they will start to develop a sense of compassion, humility, and solidarity. It is a slow step forward; it is a step forward nonetheless.