|
|
| (16 intermediate revisions by 11 users not shown) |
| Line 6: |
Line 6: |
| | Since the beginnings of anarchism there have been countless attempts to manifold anarchist theory into social structures. The few major anarchist-style societies that have arisen in the late centuries, have been fairly short lived. However the increasing popularity of anarchist philosophy and the global trend towards left-leaning thought has produced a wide variety of anarchist experiments, although the importance and impact of these are negligible. As more and more people in various communities decide to organize their world under principles of self-management and mutual aid, cooperation and direct democracy, Anarchism has the potential for a reemergence as a popular political philosophy. | | Since the beginnings of anarchism there have been countless attempts to manifold anarchist theory into social structures. The few major anarchist-style societies that have arisen in the late centuries, have been fairly short lived. However the increasing popularity of anarchist philosophy and the global trend towards left-leaning thought has produced a wide variety of anarchist experiments, although the importance and impact of these are negligible. As more and more people in various communities decide to organize their world under principles of self-management and mutual aid, cooperation and direct democracy, Anarchism has the potential for a reemergence as a popular political philosophy. |
| | | | |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Really great info can be found on site. gdfddakedfcdkdke
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ==Examples of revolts and uprisings with anarchist qualities==
| |
| − | Instances of anarchist and anti-authoritarian systems of operation during periods of uprisings and revolts against authoritarian governments.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===Israeli Kibbutz Movement===
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The [[Kibbutz|Kibbutz movement]] was an outgrowth out of socialist strands of the [[Zionism|Zionist Movement]], many of which stressed Arab-Jewish cooperation. The movement revolved around anarchist principles of non-hierarchy, self-management of production, and direct democracy. The early kibbutz collectives could be seen to be following the doctrine of, "...from each according to ability, to each according to need". New people joining the collective farms, however, were expected to give up most of their assets to the greater whole.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ::"... a voluntary collective community, mainly agricultural, in which there is no private wealth and which is responsible for all the needs of its members and their families." (''Encyclopedia Judaica'', 1969)
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ::"...an organization for settlement which maintains a collective society of members organized on the basis of general ownership of possessions. Its aims are self-labor, equality and cooperation in all areas of production, consumption and education." (Legal definition in the ''Cooperative Societies Register'')
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The early kibbutzim were examples of a closely-knit egalitarian community, based on common ownership of the means of production and consumption, where all, conferring together, made decisions by majority vote and bore responsibility for all. Decisions were generally made during general assembly dinners, and direct democracy was used to come to consensus. In discussions, which often continued late into the night, members would decide how to allocate the following day's work, guard duties, kitchen chores and other tasks, as well as debate problems and make decisions. Beyond farm land and dining halls, many centers included offices, sports areas, libraries, and entertainment areas.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | When kibbutzim were smaller, social and cultural life was characterized by togetherness and being "one big family". This found expression in the high involvement of members in planning, organizing and carrying out activities, which ranged from campfires and nature walks to choirs and folk dancing. Each kibbutz appointed a cultural director to plan and coordinate events.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | After the creation of the state of Israel, the kibbutz movement began to become much more hierarchal and wage-labor based. Ideas of egalitarianism still existed, but became seen as not as important. To this date however, hundreds of thousands of people have existed and worked in worker-self-managed kibbutz farms.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===Italian Factory Occupations and Councils===
| |
| − |
| |
| − | After the First World War, Europe’s working class went on a massive radicalization process. Union membership exploded with strikes, demonstrations and uprisings increasing with it. Italy was no exception. Its workers were angry with the fall-out from the war and were getting increasingly militant. In Turin, and all across Italy, a rank ‘n’ file workers’ movement was growing which was based around ‘internal commissions’. These were based on a group of people in a workshop with a mandated and recallable shop steward for every 15-20 workers. The shop stewards in one factory would then elect their ‘internal commission’ which was recallable to them. This was known as the ‘factory council’, and is a structure of direct democracy practiced and proposed by anarcho-syndicalists, (and today through spokescouncils by modern day anarchists).
| |
| − |
| |
| − | By November 1918, these commissions had become a national issue within the trade union movement and by February 1919, the Italian Federation of Metal Workers (FIOM) won a contract to allow the commissions in their workplaces. They then tried to transform these commissions into councils with a managerial function. By May 1919, they “were becoming the dominant force within the metalworking industry and the unions were in danger of becoming marginal administrative units.†(Carl Levy, Gramsci and the Anarchists) Though these developments happened largely in Turin, this militancy swept Italy with peasants and workers seizing factories and land. In Liguria, after a breakdown in pay talks, metal and shipbuilding workers occupied and ran their plants for four days.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | During this period, the Italian Syndicalist Union (USI) grew to 800,000 members and the influence of the Italian Anarchist Union (20,000 members plus Umanita Nova, its daily paper) grew accordingly. Welsh Marxist, Gwyn Williams says clearly in his book Proletarian Order that the “Anarchists and revolutionary syndicalists were the most consistently…revolutionary group on the left…The syndicalists above all captured militant working-class opinion which the socialist movement was utterly failing to capture.†Anarchists were the first to suggest occupying workplaces. Errico Malatesta wrote in Umanita Nova in March 1920 “General strikes of protest no longer upset anyone…We put forward an idea: take-over of factories…the method certainly has a future, because it corresponds to the ultimate ends of the workers’ movementâ€.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Obviously, this militancy was going to provoke a reaction from the bosses. Bosses organizations denounced factory councils for encouraging “indiscipline†amongst workers and asked the government to intervene. The state backed the bosses, who began to enforce existing industrial regulations. The big showdown, however, was in April. When several shop stewards were sacked at Fiat, the workers staged a sit-in strike. The bosses responded with a lockout which the government supported by deploying troops and placing mounted machine gun posts outside the factory. After two weeks on strike, the workers decided to surrender. The employers then responded with the demands that the FIOM contract should be re-imposed along with managerial control. These demands were aimed at destroying the factory council system and the workers of Turin responded with a general strike in defense of it. Workers called on Marxist and socialist unions and parties to spread the strike, but they refused, and the anarcho-syndicalist groups were the only ones to act. In the end, control was given back to the bosses with the help of authoritarian socialist groups, and many of the main anarchist organizers were arrested.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===Hungarian Revolution (1956)===
| |
| − | ''Main Article:'' [[1956 Hungarian Revolution]]
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The [[Hungarian Revolution, 1956|Hungarian Revolution of 1956]] can be seen as an excellent example of a functioning anarchy. From [[October 22]], [[1956]], [[Hungary|Hungarian]] [[proletariat|workers]] refused to obey their managers or their government, in the face of authoritarian Stalinist rule. Claiming sovereignty for their own [[workers' councils]] they organized economic, military and social production on an increasing scale. An example of the anarchic [[social organization]] was that vast sums of money were freely donated for injured revolutionary fighters, and that this money was left unattended in the street for days at a time. Peasants supplied the workers with food on a voluntary basis. Between [[October 22]] and [[December 14]] Hungary's economy and society was governed by the democratic opinion of workers councils and voluntary associations.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | These councils constantly increased in scope and depth, eventually forming a Central Workers Council of Greater Budapest (CWC-GB), with intellectual and student associations affiliated to the body. The attempts to form a national Workers Council were crushed by Soviet military violence. The workers councils fought off one invasion by the [[Soviet Union]] between October 23 and 28, and fought a second invasion to an armistice of exhaustion between November 3 and November 10. After this time the Soviet Union negotiated directly with the Workers Councils. However, arrests of the primary and reserve leaderships of the CWC-GB, and massive reprisal executions and deportations of Hungarian revolutionaries lead to voluntary dissolution of the CWC-GB as it was no longer able to uphold its aims and ideals. Sporadic resistance by Hungarian revolutionaries and workers continued until mid 1957. Only one self-proclaimed anarchist, the playwright [[Julius Hay]] (Hay Gyula), was involved in organizing the revolution. Most revolutionary Hungarians adopted their own "anarchist" way of organizing spontaneously.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===Kwangju Uprising (May, 1980)===
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Events in Kwangju unfolded after the dictator of South Korea [[Park Chung-Hee]] was assassinated by his own chief of intelligence. In the euphoria after Park's demise, students led a huge movement for democracy, but General [[Chun Doo-Hwan]] seized power and threatened violence if the protests continued. All over Korea, with the sole exception of Kwangju, people stayed indoors. With the approval of the United States, the new military government then released from the front lines of the DMZ some of the most seasoned paratroopers to teach Kwangju a lesson (see [[Gwangju Massacre]]). Once these troops reached Kwangju, they terrorized the population in unimaginable ways. Soldiers beat students, killing many. Bodies were piled into trucks, where soldiers continued to beat and kick them. By night the paratroopers had set up camp at several universities.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | As students fought back, soldiers used bayonets on them and arrested dozens more people, many of whom were stripped naked, raped and further brutalized. One soldier brandished his bayonet at captured students and screamed at them, "This is the bayonet I used to cut forty Viet Cong women's breasts [in Vietnam]!" Despite severe beatings and hundreds of arrests, students continually regrouped and tenaciously fought back. As the city mobilized the next day, people from all walks of life dwarfed the number of students among the protesters. [The May 18 Kwangju Democratic Uprising, p. 127] This spontaneous generation of a peoples' movement transcended traditional divisions between town and gown, one of the first indications of the generalization of the revolt.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | People fought back with stones, bats, knives, pipes, iron bars and hammers against 18,000 riot police and over 3,000 paratroopers. Although many people were killed, the city refused to be quieted. On May 20, a newspaper called the Militants' Bulletin was published for the first time, providing accurate news — unlike the official media. At 5:50pm, a crowd of 5,000 surged over a police barricade. When the paratroopers drove them back, they re-assembled and sat-in on a road. They then selected representatives to try and further split the police from the army. In the evening, the march swelled to over 200,000 people in a city with a population then of 700,000. The massive crowd unified workers, farmers, students and people from all walks of life.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Cars were taken from the government, and were now being used by the people. In the heat of the moment, a structure evolved that was more democratic than previous administrations of the city. Assembling at Kwangju Park and Yu-tong Junction, combat cells and leadership formed. Machine guns were brought to bear on Province Hall (where the military had its command post). By 5:30pm, the army retreated; by 8:00pm the people controlled the city. Cheering echoed everywhere. Although their World War II weapons were far inferior to those of the army, people's bravery and sacrifices proved more powerful than the technical superiority of the army. The Free Commune lasted for six days. Daily citizens' assemblies gave voice to years-old frustration and deep aspirations of ordinary people. Local citizens' groups maintained order and created a new type of social administration - one of, by and for the people. Coincidentally, on May 27 — the same day that the Paris Commune was crushed over a hundred years earlier — the Kwangju Commune was overwhelmed by military force despite heroic resistance. Although brutally suppressed in 1980, for the next seven years the movement continued to struggle, and in 1987 a nationwide uprising was organized that finally won democratic electoral reform in South Korea.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===[[Situationist]] and Worker/Student Occupation Movement (May, 1968)===
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Following months of conflicts between students and authorities at the [[University of Paris]] at [[Nanterre]], the administration shut down that university on [[May 2]], [[1968]]. Students at the University of the [[Sorbonne]] in [[Paris]] met on [[May 3]] to protest the closure and the threatened expulsion of several students at Nanterre. Prominent student activist [[Daniel Cohn-Bendit]] rose to the limelight. Police were called in and finally prevailed, but only after arresting hundreds of students.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | On Monday, [[May 6]], the national student union and the union of university teachers called a march to protest the police invasion of the Sorbonne. More than 20,000 students, teachers and supporters marched towards the Sorbonne under red and black flags, still sealed off by the police, who charged, wielding their batons, as soon as the marchers approached. While the crowd dispersed, some began to create barricades out of whatever was at hand, while others threw paving stones, forcing the police to retreat for a time. The police then responded with tear gas and charged the crowd again. Hundreds more students were arrested.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | High school students started to go out on strike in support of the students at the Sorbonne and Nanterre on [[May 6]]. Student Occupation collectives, general assemblies, and committees started to take over the Sorbonne, the teachers and whole system was attacked, and the church was looked upon with contempt. The use of vandalism and posters as a way of communication and propaganda became one of the main uses of distributing information during the revolt. General Assemblies at the Sorbonne were carried out every night, (generally, sometimes waiting for marches, etc), and students volunteered or elected various groups into action collectives that carried out various tasks. The people within the various groups had to be re-elected at various times and could be recalled. One of the most influential of the groups of students was the Enragers, who also worked directly with the Situationist International (SI), which was a autonomous Marxist group that had much of an organizational view like that of anarcho-syndicalism. Situationism rejected the state, and all hierarchal organization. It had an expanded vision of Marx's theories on the alienation created by capitalist society on workers and consumers. Although Situationists made up only a small amount of people involved with the revolt, their ideas and forms of organization would spotlight them as a critical group.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Soon, wildcat strikes took over many French factories in solidarity with the student strikers, and went against the wishes of the labor leaders, who were under Stalinist (Communist Party), control. Literally millions of workers were on strike, occupied their factories, and a social revolution began. Workers' councils were formed on factory floors (councils generally meaning large assemblies of all workers without a hierarchy), and began to make contacts and networks with the student assemblies. "Committee for the Maintenance of Occupations", (which included Enragers and Situationists), grew out of the student assemblies at the Sorbonne, and worked to carry out occupation of buildings, help with various workers strikes, and produced massive amounts of propaganda, most of it advocating for the creation and power of the workers councils and self-management. Goods and services were traded and shared, money began to disappear to some extent, and direct democracy, and the creation of councils of students and workers carried out decisions along with general assemblies which used to be done by the state and the authoritarian unions. Militant resistance to the police, capital, (including the periodic destruction of police cars and vans, and the sacking of a stock exchange building), drew thousands of workers and students together, and many of the battles lasted through the night. Large sections of French working society began to come under the influence of anti-authoritarian principles of mutual aid, self-management, and direct democracy. Nurses organized against bureaucratic doctors, soccer players kicked out their managers, and grave diggers occupied the cemeteries (for example). Large masses of people largely rejected a modern, commodity driven capitalist society in favor of something new.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Infighting and desire by authoritarian Marxist groups (i.e., Maoists, Stalinists, etc.) to control the student assemblies and groups destroyed much of the direct democracy at the university. The infighting and sectionalism was so bad that many of the anti-authoritarian groups left the university to go and work out of occupied government buildings. The Stalinist Union labor leaders also tried to get the solidarity between the students and the workers to end, calling the rioters and Situationists various names, and said that they were not to be trusted. They also tried to get the workers back into the factories and end the strike, partly to make sure that they could gain power in the upcoming elections, and also to regain control over the working class - as opposed to having the workers control and manage their own destiny. Although first having left the country, the French President returned late in May, met with Communist Party leaders, and basically challenged the strikers and students to a civil war if they refused to end the occupation and strikes. With not many of the workers prepared to engage in armed struggle against a very powerful state, and with the constant orders of the labor leaders, many of the strikers went back to work, and the occupied buildings were retaken.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===[[Zapatista]] Autonomous Municipalities===
| |
| − | The [[indigenous peoples]] of Southern Mexico [[rebellion|rebelled]] in [[1994]], partially in response to the signing of [[NAFTA]], reclaiming their lands in what is called "a war against oblivion." They established various municipalities which are, in practice, outside the realm of Mexican [[law]].
| |
| − |
| |
| − | [[Laws]] in the Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities are not passed by "leaders," as such, but by "[[Good Government Councils]]" and by the will of the people (representatives in these councils are truly representative of their communities, rather than professional [[politician]]s). This is very similar to the delegate structure that many anarchists engage in with spokescouncils, or with unions. In many communities, general assemblies gather during the week to decide on various things facing the community. The assemblies are open to all, with no formal hierarchy. The decisions made by the communities are then passed to elected delegates whose only job is to give the decided upon information to a council of delegates. Like anarcho-syndicalist organizations, the delegates are recallable, and are also rotated. This way, massive amounts of people are able to decide things with no formal hierarchy, and without people speaking for them.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The assemblies and councils serve not as traditional governing bodies but as instruments of the people to provide medicine, education, food, and other essentials. The "laws" passed by the Good Government Councils are not enforced with policemen and prisons, but in a way that respects "criminals" as members of the community. For example, it was decided to ban alcohol and drugs, due to their nefarious influence on Indians in the past. Violation of this law is surprisingly rare; those who do may be required, for example, to help build something their community needs. Some anarchists believe this to be a decentralized, non-authoritarian style similar to what they advocate, having always loathed [[prison]]s, [[police]] power, and [[capital punishment]].
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Like anarchists, Zapatistas also believe in forming freely associated collectives to carry out various jobs and tasks. Zapatistas collectively work land, and plant and grow crops.
| |
| − | The Zapatistas do not claim to be anarchists, but through their actions and [[Our Word is Our Weapon|words]], have shown some similarities to self-proclaimed anarchists and have become a ''cause célebre'' of the global [[Left-wing politics|left]] and the "[[anti-globalization movement]]". It should be stated however that the Zapatistas have been very influenced along with [[libertarian socialism|libertarian marxism]] and traditional Zapatismo, (which is almost identical to anarchism), by the writings and actions of [[Ricardo Flores Magón]], or "Magonism", who was an anarcho-syndicalist during the Mexican Revolution.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===Christiania (1970's-present)===
| |
| − | [[Freetown Christiania]] is a quarter of [[Copenhagen]] that became independent and self-governing in the 1970s after an anarchist commune took over army barracks in the center of the city. While in theory governed by the laws of [[Denmark]], it is left alone by the authorities. For a third of a century, this self-described ''social experiment'' has successfully resolved conflicts threatening its continued existence, arising both internally and from the Danish state. Some in Christiania derive income from the sale of illegal [[drugs]] such as [[Hashish]] and [[Marijuana]] to non-residents. This has created problems for the community, notably between supporters and opponents of recreational drug use.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===Fatsa, Turkey (1979 to 1980)===
| |
| − | The concepts of self governance and direct democracy was put to action in 1979 Fatsa, a municipality with a population of approximately 20,000 of northern Turkey in the coast of Black Sea. The well known left wing activist at the time, Fikri Sönmez, or more commonly known as Terzi Fikri was elected as the Mayor to the Fatsa Municipality from the [[Republican People's Party]]. Fikri Sönmez was a part of [[People's Liberation Army of Turkey]] movement in pre-[[1980 coup d'état]] Turkey, who was particularly was renown for his activism against the black market profiteers which took advantage of the U.S. sanctions on Turkey at the time.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Fikri Sönmez was elected as mayor with 3.096 votes (62% of all) <ref> http://www.ikkistanbul.org/site/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=377Aksakal, Pertev, "Bir Yerel Yönetim Anlayışı, Katılımcı Demokrasi Deneyi" </ref> on 14th of November 1979. He pursued [[Devrimci Yol|Dev-Yol]]'s councilist policies, and formed local committees for governance and collectives for production. Citizen's committees were formed in 7 neighbourhoods and 11 centers. As an example, the local committees practiced self-control on the small businesses through inspection, against black market profiteering.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The most well known project at the time was the "end to mud campaign," which aimed at building the finishing the infrastructure projects of Fatsa that started before the elections but never finished. This was decided right after the election with the decision of the technical, political and citizen's committees. Fatsa citizens worked collectively to finish the infrastructure works, in the end not only a new 4 km highway that passed through the city was built, but also new committees were formed in the neighboring villages to extend the efforts to the rural areas under municipality jurisdiction.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The Fatsa experiment under the slogan "The red sun will rise in Fatsa," ended with a Turkish military operation ''nokta operasyonu'' on July 11 1980 just two months before the [[1980 Turkish coup d'état]]. Although the residents did not resist, almost 5,000 people were detained <ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6qPTYun46M&feature=related "Fatsa GerçeÄŸi"("The Reality of Fatsa"), a documentary </ref>, and Mayor Fikri Sönmez was killed under detention due to torture.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | During the short lived Fatsa experience, tailor Fikri was able to bring together all fractions of the society and political spectrum to realize public projects, which is underlined even by the opposition right party members and politicians in Fatsa of the time <ref>http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10oe5_12-eylul-belgeseli-69-1980-son-hiz_events 12 Eylül Belgeseli, (September 12 Documentary in Turkish)</ref>.
| |
| − |
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===[[Cascadia]] Free State 1996 (US)===
| |
| − |
| |
| − | In the mid-1990's, an arson fire near Warner Creek destroyed some sections of old growth forest in Oregon state, in the United States. The forest service responded by burning more of the forest, and selling it off as low price salvage. In response to this, [[Earth First!]], (a network of collectives organized on anarchist principles, and [[deep ecology]]), began organizing to stop the logging by road occupations. These occupations stopped the flow of logging and forest service workers in and out of the forest.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | What first started out as a small group of protestors, grew to a large eco-village. In the following days the blockade grew and grew. Rock walls sprang up and deep trenches spanned the road in numerous places. Mainstream environmentalists, Earth First!ers, Congress people, school children, people outside of the local community, and many others made the trip up to see the "Cascadia Free State". Several teams of people occupied the logging roads, with teams up in trees to do media and be watchouts, people read to 'lock-down', (meaning to lock on to some sort of device that would hinder vehicles moving on the road), and a whole campsite constructed under a massive wooden structure.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | [[Mutual aid]] was practiced, and the occupation was allowed to go on for over a year because of people from the surrounding community bringing food, blankets, and other items. Steady streams of people moved in and out of the camp, allowing people to spend various amounts of time blocking the road. "Warnerization" spread, and various other "free states" erupted on logging roads, and various groups occupied land to stop the logging of old growth eco-systems.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Eventually, with the resistance from the occupations, media campaigns, and also pressure from other groups, caused the government to make a deal with the logging company to stop the logging of Warner Creek. The free state was then destroyed by forest service workers, and activists arrested. Although the free state had been ended by force, the goal of its existence, to stop the logging of Warner Creek, was successful.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ===Argentina (2001-present)===
| |
| − | After the [[Argentine economic crisis|collapse]] of the [[economy of Argentina|Argentine economy]], coupled with [[December 2001 riots (Argentina)|riots]] and finally the fall of the government in the last days of [[2001]], the social and economic organization of [[Argentina]] underwent major changes. Argentina was once a shining example of free market reforms and structural adjustment programs ("the IMF's best pupil"). However, after the economy crashed, the IMF responded by demanding that more social programs (health care, schools, etc) be cut, and more things be privatized. Massive popular rebellion erupted.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Out of the uprisings came many popular organs of self-management and direct democracy. [[Worker occupation]]s of factories and [[popular assembly|popular assemblies]] have both been seen functioning in Argentina, and both are the kind of action endorsed by anarchists: the first is a case of [[direct action]] and the latter a case of [[direct democracy]]. Approximately 200 "recovered" factories (''fábricas recuperadas'') are now self-managed and collectively owned by workers. Over 10,000 people are working in factories with little or no management or hierarchy. In the large majority of them, pay is completely egalitarian; generally no professional managers are employed, or managers are collectively controlled in the other cases. Decisions are made by all workers, in general assembly type structures. These co-operatives have organized themselves into networks. Solidarity and support from external groups, such as neighborhood assemblies and unemployed (''[[piquetero]]'') groups, have often been important for the survival of these factories. Unemployed workers elsewhere have also organized takeovers of plots of vacant land, and taken them back for housing and growing food. Similar developments have taken place in [[Brazil]] and [[Uruguay]].
| |
| − |
| |
| − | In a survey by an Argentina newspaper in the capital, it was found that around 1/3 of the population had participated in general assemblies. The assemblies used to take place in street corners and public spaces, and generally gathered to discuss ways of helping each other in the face of eviction, or organizing around issues like health care, collective food buying, or conducting free food distribution programs. Some assemblies started to create new structures of health care and schooling, to replace the old ones that were not working. Neighborhood assemblies met once a week in a large assembly to discuss issues affecting the larger community. [http://www.americaspolicy.org/citizen-action/series/12-factories.html] In 2004, [[Avi Lewis]] and [[Naomi Klein]] (Author of ''[[No Logo]]'') released the documentary ''[http://www.nfb.ca/thetake/ The Take]'', about these events.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Popular assemblies have gradually died out as the economy began its recovery. However, activism has continued. The piqueteros and unemployed worker movements have become organized and often adopted an extreme left-wing ideology. Most middle-class Argentinians, especially in Buenos Aires, now regard piqueteros as violent and disruptive, due to the continuous road blocks and massive demonstrations they stage in the capital.
| |
| | | | |
| | ==Examples of projects and other movements with anarchist qualities== | | ==Examples of projects and other movements with anarchist qualities== |
Since the beginnings of anarchism there have been countless attempts to manifold anarchist theory into social structures. The few major anarchist-style societies that have arisen in the late centuries, have been fairly short lived. However the increasing popularity of anarchist philosophy and the global trend towards left-leaning thought has produced a wide variety of anarchist experiments, although the importance and impact of these are negligible. As more and more people in various communities decide to organize their world under principles of self-management and mutual aid, cooperation and direct democracy, Anarchism has the potential for a reemergence as a popular political philosophy.
The "/b/," or random, board on many Chan Imageboards exhibits anarchist qualities. While they have formal leadership (moderators), they rarely exert any of their authority over users, other than, for example, shutting down a thread that contains child pornography, which could get the board shut down by the government or ISP. Most users choose to post anonymously, making it nearly impossible for one user to gain a higher position than another, even socially. The lack of an overall focus for the board makes it entirely unstructured.
Some people seek to avoid existing States by setting up societies that are hidden or far enough away from power centers to be relatively safe from statist attack. (Cf: March region.) The term "Galt's Gulch" comes from Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged." Traditional anarchists are more likely to call this "frontierism" due to their rejection of capitalism. One of the more well-known attempts was Laissez Faire City, which attempted to buy 100 square miles from a third-world country along the Hong Kong model.
Counter Economics is a theory advocated and practised by Agorists that proposes to bring about an Anarchist society through the use of black and grey markets. Movements, predominately agorism, state that counter economics can be used to wither away the power of the state by depriving of it of the tax money it needs to survive. In this way counter economic movements seek to establish a new society within the shell of the old.
These technologies also made anonymous digital currency practical. With redundant servers in many non-public locations, digital money provides protection from taking and regulation, statist or otherwise. In "The Sovereign Individual, Davidson and Rees-Mogg argue that technology now favors freedom, allowing people to ignore the State. They predict an evolution to smaller States competing for customers (tax-payers) by offering various services and citizenship programs. As States get more competitive in pricing and the cost of switching to a new "product" declines, there will be de-facto anarchy, i.e. the States will essentially evolve into anarchist PDAs (Private Defense Agencies.)
