This blog has been set up by South Wales Anarchists to act as a discussion forum to establish exactly what it is we stand for. At the end of it we will update the Frequently Asked Questions on the ‘About Us’ page on our website. Please feel free to contribute, there are no wrong answers! Questions will be posted one at a time over the coming weeks/months, please feel free to comment on them as they appear!
Questions will include things like…
· WHAT IS ANARCHY?
· WHAT IS WRONG WITH WHAT WE HAVE GOT?
· WHAT IS WRONG WITH GOOD OLD FASHIONED LOBBYING AND PROTESTING?
· WHAT IS AN ANARCHIST?
· WHAT IS ‘NON HIERARCHICAL’ WHEN IT IS AT HOME?
· WHO IS OUR LEADER?
· WHAT BOOKS MUST I READ TO BE AN ANARCHIST?
· WHAT DO WE THINK OF THE MEDIA?
· DO THE PEOPLES GLOBAL ACTION HALL MARKS GO FAR ENOUGH?
· DO I HAVE TO AGREE WITH EVERYTHING SOUTH WALES ANARCHISTS STAND FOR TO GET INVOLVED?
· ARE SOUTH WALES ANARCHISTS VIOLENT?
· WHAT WILL AN ANARCHIST SOCIETY LOOK LIKE?
Some of these questions are deliberately provocative, some of them will never be answered….
If you have any questions you want to add to the debate, please comment below!
7 comments:
- Don't We NEED borders
– How do we have Justice without the police, courts, Prisons etc
WHAT IS AN ANARCHIST?
is the first self-proclaimed anarchist
On a basic level
In 1840 Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , adopted the anarchist label in an article entitled 'What is Property?'
He defined anarchy as:
"a form of government or constitution in which public and private consciousness, formed through the development of science and law, is alone sufficient to maintain order and guarantee all liberties. In it, as a consequence, the institutions of the police, preventive and repressive methods, officialdom, taxation, etc., are reduced to a minimum. In it, more especially, the forms of monarchy and intensive centralization disappear, to be replaced by federal institutions and a pattern of life based on the commune."
WHAT IS AN ANARCHIST?
Lots of people have called themselves an anarchist from Pierre-Joseph Proudhon being the first to self identify back in 1840 to the likes of Johnny Rotten in 1977 and Pink in 2004 using the tag to promote thier music.
Furthermore many earlier thinkers and doers have been given the tag in retrospect. Partically William Godwin who put forward the idea that man is rational and should not be stopped in this pursuit of reason, also as all forms of government should be removed as they are founded irrationally and are tyrannical in nature.
Answer @ Difficult questions:
-No. Borders are just imaginary lines, anyway. "property is theft" as coined by the same P.J. Proudhon.
Borders are owned land, and owned land is theft.
-Justice is served by the people, in an Anarchist Society. The people capture, judge, and punish according to a democratic-type vote.
What is an Anarchist?
There are many ways this question can be answered on an intellecual level. However, on a more personal, passionate and perhaps meaningful level could we not say that an Anarchist is:
- a person who places greate value on individuals than on institutions, corporations, local or national government and indeed any bureacratic structure
- a person who regards all forms of wealth as immoral as wealth can only exist where poverty also exists
- a person who believes that everyone has the right to enjoy freedom and determine their own coursesof action, providing that in so doing this does not infringe upon anothers freedom
- a person who rejects all authority and use of force as opression
You don't really need to read any particular books. As being an Anarchist is not about learning and agreeing with any particular individual or text. Anarchism has by definition, to be a broad inclusive heading. So, introductory stuff like any of Colin ward's books are enough for most, those wanting a more ntellectual approach can find all sorts of useful books and pamphlets. However, a lot will be historic. We need to think of the future not the past!
An Anarchist society could look like anything we want it to look like. "The Last Capitalist" by Steve Cullen (I think!) was his attempt to put his ideas down. Perhaps more of us shopuld follow his idea and try to detail our ideas/vision?
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