llllllll

DDDDDDDDDDDDD
Twant fieedom, the right to self-expression,
everybady' right to beautifi, radiant things.

—Emma Goldman, 1931

An anarchist is someone who rejects
the domination of one person or class of
people over another. Anarch-ism is a very
broad umbrella term for a group of po-
litical philosophies that are based on the
idea that we can live as anarchists. We
anarchists want a world without nations,
governments, capitalism, racism, sexism,
homophobia... without any of the numer-
ous, intersecting systems of domination
the world bears the weight of today.

There is no single perfect expression of
anarchism because anarchism is a network
of ideas instead of a single dogmatic phi-
losophy. And we quite prefer it that way.
THE WORLD TODAY
You're obliged to pretend respect for peaple and
institutions you think absurd, You live attached in
a cowardly fashion to moral and social conventions
you despise, condemn, and know lack all foundation.
1t i that permanent contradiction between your
ideas and desires and all the dead formalities and
wain pretenses of your civilization which matkes you
sad, troubled and unbalanced. In that iniolerable
conlict you lse alljoy of lfe and all fecling of
personality, because at every moment they suppress
and restrain and check the free play of your powers.
That's the poisoned and mortal wound of the
civilized world,

—Octave Mirbeau, 1899

There are those who say that anarchism wouldn't work, that we
need laws and cops and capitalism. But we say that it is the sys-
tems currently in place which aren't working.

Industrialization is warming the planct to the degree that it
might yet just kill us all. In the best case scenario, we've already
created onc of the largest mass extinctions in the history of the
earth. Deforestation spreads the deserts in the wild and systemic
racism expands the food deserts in the ciies.

Billions go hungry every day across the globe because global
capitalism makes it more profitable for the clite of starving nations
to grow crops for export than to feed their own people. Science
has been subverted by the demands of profit, and rescarch is only
funded if it explores what might make some rich bastards richer.

Even the middle class is beginning to fall into ruin, and in this
economy there aren't many left who buy into the myth of prosper-
ity they sold some of us when we were kids.

We're told that anarchy can't work because people are “inher-
ently” Rawed and are motivated solely by self-interest. They some-
how make the illogical jump from this idea to the idea that we
therefore need leaders and government. But if we don't trust peo-
ple to lead shemselues, why do we trust them enough to put them
in charge of everybody?

What ifinstead of the top-down organizations that have led us
into ruin, we created horizontal organizations? What if we made
a society in which we collectively confront problems-without ig-
noring what makes cach of us unique and without forcing the
dividual into subservience to the whole?

RESPONSIBILITY AND FREEDOM

An anarchistis one who, chousing, aciepts the

responsibility o choice
—Ursula K. Le Guin, 1974

One way some anarchists like to think about it s that anarchism is
the marriage of responsibility and freedom. In a state socicty, un-
der the rule of government, we are held responsible to a set of laws
to which we did not consent. We are expected to be responsible
without being trusted with freedom. There are laws about every-
thing: whom we can love, what imaginary lines we can cross, what
we can do with our own bodies. We are not trusted to act on our
‘own authority, and at every turn we are being managed, observed,
policed, and, if we step out of line, imprisoned.

The reverse—freedom without responsibility—is not much
better, and it forms the mainstream myth of anarchy. Government
thrives off this misconception, the idea that it’s only the existence
of cops and prisons that keeps us from murdering one another
wholesale. But in reality, the people in this world who act with
total freedom and no responsibility are those so privileged in our
society so.as to be above reproach, such as the police and the ultra
rich. Most of the rest of us understand that in order to be frec,
we must hold ourselves accountable to those we care about and
those our actions might impede upon: our communitics and fam-

s and friends.

ANTI-CAPITALISM

The first man who, having fenced in a picce of land,
said “This is mine,” and found pesple naive enough
1o believe him, that man was the tru founder of

s
civil scicty. From how many erimes, wars, and.
murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes
might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling
up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and erying fo bis
Jellows: Bewware of isteming to this imposter; you are
undone if you once forget that the fiuits of the carth
belong to us all, and the carth iscif to nabody.

—Jean-Jacques Roussear, 1754

‘There’s this idea, which has proven demonstrably false on a global
fevel, that it's “good” or *healthy” or “more natural” for most every-
one in a society to act solely for personal gain. In cconomic terms,
this i the central myth of capitalism: that everyone should try to
get one over on everyone else all the time, and that if everyone
does that, most people win. The people who want you to believe
that myth are the people who do win: the people who already
control everything.

Capitalism docs not, as is popularly misunderstood, mean an
economic system in which people work for money that they can
exchange for goods or services. Capitalism is instead, an econom-
ic system in which people can leverage their access to capital to
extort money from other people. That is to say, capitalism is the
system by which people who own things don' have to work and
everyone else does. The owning class makes money just by already
having money. They make money off of investments, off of renting
property, off of the value produced by their employees. They live
in luxury because they are in the process of dominating everyone
who makes money through work.

Capitalism is a system by which one class of people dominates
another, and we oppose it. Instead, we suggest all kinds of dif-
ferent ways of organizing our economies. Some anarchists argue
for communism, in which the means of production are held in
common by communes or larger scctions of society. Others favor
mutualism, in which means of production are owned by individ-
uals o collectives and money s used but money can only be made
through work, not through capital. There’s collectivism, which
strikes something of a middle ground between the two, There are
many more ideas than this besides, and most anarchists believe

-
that any given group of people ought to be free to choose the
system that they prefer—as long as these ideas steer clear from
demonstrably oppressive systems like capitalism.

ANTI-STATE

Government is an association of men who do
violence to the rest of us.

—Leo Tolstoy, 1894

For the past several hundred years, the progressive thetoric in
Western societies has been around what sort of government to
have. But the di
der which they are ruled is itsclf preposterous and harmful. To an

ion of people and geography into *states” un-

anarchist, asking what sort of government to have is like asking
whether it’s better to be caten by wolves or lions. What is not
asked often enough is whether or not we ought to be “governed”
atall.

Anarchists do not eschew organization, however. If anything,
we spend too much of our time concerned with its intricacies. We
are opposed to government because we are opposed to being ruled,
not because we are opposed to organizing amongst our peers for
our mutual benefit.

Some anarchists say that what they want is a direct democra-
cy-that the people themselves can rule without a state through
community councils and other horizontal organizational systems.
Others eschew the word democracy entirely, finding it too wrapped
up in the systems we have now and suggesting that democracy is
a government still, one that makes up a set of laws that everyone
is compelled to obey—like when six wolves and four sheep get
together to plan what they would like for dinner. Every anarchist,
ke every person, is different and finds resonance in different ideas
and différent ways of framing our ideas.

Amongst ourselves, we generally create organizational struc-
tures that allow for the full autonomy of ever
no person can be compelled to go along with the wishes of the

dividual, wherein

group. Because we are not interested, by and large, in static organi-
zational structures with fixed and official membership, anarchists

“
are able to organize organically. People come and go from organi-
zations and the organizations themselves come and go over time
based on the needs of the people who make use of them. When
larger structures are deemed useful or necessary,various groups of-
ten form networks, which are horizontal structures for disseminat-
ing ideas and information and for planning complex operations

A WORLD WITHOUT LAW

Houw noble the law, in its majestic equality, that
both the rich and poor are equally probibited from
peeing in the strects, slecping under bridges, and
stealing bread!

—Anatole France, 1894

No great idea in its beginning can ever be within
the law. How can it be within the law? The law
is stationary. The law i fixed. The law is a chariot
wheel which binds us al regardless of conditions or
place or time.

—Emma Goldman, 1917

Some people have an unfortunate tendency to insist that you can't
be against something unless you know what you're for. We reject
that idea. We dont fecl the burden of proof is upon the oppressed
to identify what they would like to replace their oppressor with.
If you're being hit with a bascball bat, you shouldn' fecl obliged
to articulate what you would prefer to be hit with instead. Or,
more to the point, police hit us with batons and the media insists
that if we wish to stop being hit with batons we need to articulate
exactly how it is wed like to see crime and punishment handled
‘within a socicty that docsn't rely on police. This is nonsensical
But while identifying and destroying the existing systems of
domination is the task immediately before us, we do spend some
of our time imagining what a world without law would be like.
And oceasionally we have the chance to enact such a world for
days or weeks o years in groups both big and small, and we've met

with a fair amount of success. We know anarchism works because
we've experienced it.

A world without law is not a world without guidelines. We
are opposed to law because law is 2 way of understanding human
conduct that was designed—and has been implemented—for so-
cial control rather than for the furtherance of justice. Laws are
designed to be obscure yet rigid, creating a series of traps for those
who are already disenfranchised by socicty:

Lawis not actually a particularly useful tool for judging human
behavior. As the folk wisdom suggests, good people donit need
Taws and bad people o't follow them. Laws are black and white,
forcing people to obey the “letter” of the law while glecfully ig-
noring the “spirit.” And what’s more, because they are enforced
through violence at the slightest provocation, they polarize socicty
into those too afraid to step out of line and those who disobey
simply for the sake of disobeying. Either way, they hinder p
ple’s ability to develop their own personal sets of cthics. They dont
help people learn to respect other people for the sake of respecting
people.

Peaple who are encouraged to act socially tend to act social-
Iy, and people who are treated with empathy will, by and large,
respond in kind. There will always be cxceptions, but for dealing
with those people,
stance—are a significantly more useful tool than law will ever
be. Further, many anarchists work towards what is referred to as
transformative justice. This is the concept that, while it is impos-
sible to repair the harm done by the perpetrator of an unjust act,
one can work to help the perpetrator take personal responsibility
for what they have done so as to prevent them from returning to
such behavior in the future. An anarchist socicty, like any other,
will still defend itself from those who cannot or will not take re-
sponsibility for their actions, but this self-defense is done in the
name of protection rather than punishment or revenge. It's worth
acknowledging here that like many of our ideas and methods,
transformative justice is practiced—and was developed—not just
by anarchists but by a wide range of marginalized groups.

And of course, we don't live in an anarchist society; free from
the influence of the culture of domination that surrounds us, and
any thoughts we have about a world without law arc reasonably

fines—which remain mutable to circum-

“
hypothetical. Once more, we reserve the right to condemn atroci-
ties, like the culture of prison and police, without fecling an obli-
gation to field and implement fully-developed alternatives.

MUTUAL AID & SOLIDARITY

Tam truly free only when all human beings, men
and women, are equally free. The fieedom of other
men, far from negating or limiting my freedom,
is, on the contrary, ifs necessary premise and
confirmation.

—Mithail Bakunin, 1871

Mutual aid is a fancy way of saying *helping each other out,” and
it’s one of the core anarchist beliefs. We believe that people can
interact in meaningful ways by sharing resources frecly, without
coercion. We share because it helps ourselves and everyone around
us live more meaningful lives. We put more stock in cooperation
than competition.

Solidarity is a fancy word for “having one another’ backs.”
Solidarity is the most powerful force that the oppressed can bring
to bear upon their oppressors. Every time they come after one of
us, we act as though they are coming after all of us. Solidarity can
look like a thousand different things. It can be when someone
tackles a cop to free another protester, it can be demonstrations or
actions in the names of those whose voices have been silenced by
the state. Solidarity can be offering childcare for parents, it can be
medical aid. Solidarity is when we show the world that none of us
is alone, when we choose to intertwine our struggles.

Solidarity is often contrasted with charity. Charity can be un-
derstood as a way of providing aid that reinforces the hierarchi-
cal relationship between groups. Rich people donating money to
charity makes poor people even more dependent upon the rich.
Poor people, however, organizing to share resources as equals, are
acting out of solidarity.
CONSENT & CONSENSUS

Whaewer lays bis hand on me ts govern me is a
wsurper and tyrant, and 1 declare him my enemy.

—Picrre-Joseph Proudon, 1849

Since we anarchists arc committed to only doing things with peo-
ple that those people want to do, we utilize a number of methods
to determine what those things are.

On an individual level, were interested in practices based on
consent, It rather amazing how little mainstream society teaches
us to value one another’s consent.

Consent i a way of finding out what other people are inter-
ested in doing with you. Mostly, this just means asking people
before you do things with them. “Do you want to come to this
an 1 kiss you?”*Do you want my advice?”*Can
Ihelp you with that?” Some people consciously develop non-ver-

demonstration?

bal ways of communicating consent, but the important thing is
to not act without knowing if the other person s informed of the
ramifications of an action,is in 2 headspace to make decisions, and
is enthusiastic

One tool, among many, that we use for finding consent in larg-
ex groups is consensus. Consensus is a way of determining what
everyone in a group is comfortable with doing. “Do we want to
blockade this building?”*Do we want to sign our group’s name on
this public letter2”“Do we want to publish this book?

Consensus is a useful tool for respecting the autonomy of every
individual within a group. Some people mistake consensus to be

basically the same as voting but where everyone agrees instead of
a majority. Voting, however, can be a form of competitive deci-
sion-malding that is not designed to respect people’s autonomy.
Consensus, instead of being a way to convince everyone to agree to
the same plan, is 2 way of exploring what the logical limits of any
given group are. If all members of 2 group cannot agree on a spe-
cific action, then that action shouldnt be done by that group-but
perhaps the individuals who are e
separately. Unlike consent on an i

ited about the action can do it
dual level, however, it is not
always the case that group secking consensus needs everyone to

be enthusiastic about the given action, and “standing aside” on a

d

ion is common and respectable behavior.

Not all collectives and groups are very formal in their consen-
sus decision-making, and many groups tend to work more on an
“autonomy” model in which everyone is trusted to act on behalf of
the group and then be responsible to everyone clsc for the actions
and decisions they made on behalf of the group.

DIRECT ACTION

Anarchists know that a long period of education
must precede any great fundamental change in
saciety, hence they do not beliewe in vote begging, nor

political campaigns, but rather in the development of
self-thinking individuals.

—Lucy Parsons, 18905

Anarchists do not want to reform the existing political system; we
want to abolish it. Instead of political advocacy, by which we might
appeal to others to change our conditions, we generally practice
direct action. Direct action is a means by which we take control
over our own lives, by which we regain the autonomy and agency
that is systematically stripped away from us by governmental sys-
tems, by which we become self-thinking individuals.

Rather than plead and beg for the government or corporations
o start protecting forests, we put our bodies between the trees and
the chainsaws—or sneak in at night and burn their logging trucks.
No system based on industrialization and capitalism is ever going
to prioritize natural ecosystems over profit, so we won' waste our
time asking nicely.

Rather than ask the capitalist to repeal their trade policies that
are gutting developing nations, we will show up en masse to their

summits and block trade delegates from ever having the chance
to scheme. Rather than campaign for the right to marry, we'll ive
our queer lives however we fecl with whomever we choose, and
we'l defend oursclves from bigots instead of asking the state to
intervene.
PREFIGURATION

Ifyou took the most ardent revalutionary, vested
i i absolute power, within a year he would be
worse than the Thar himself.

—Mithail Bakunin

‘We participate in direct action because we find “means”and “ends”
to be inseparable; it is the act of working towards a better society
that shows us what it is like to live in one. It’s quite likely that none:
of us will live in an anarchist society, but that doesn't mean we
canftact like anarchists now. To be an anarchist is at least as much
about the ways in which you engage with the world and how you
treat people as it is about what fantastic utopia you hope to one
daylive in.

Sometimes we call this intertwining of the means and the ends
“prefiguration.” Anarchists aim to act in ways that maximize other
people’s autonomy. Many Leftists, especially Marsists, suggest 2
vanguard with which to seize power. We've no interest in scizing
power for anyone but oursclves, and we oppose anyone who thinks
they ought to rule us, whether they call themselves ‘revolutionary”
or not.

What's more, prefiguration means that we donft put up with
attitudes in our circles, because we seck a world without
behavior.

Prefiguration docsn't mean, however, that we have to be non-
violent. While we do believe a responsible anarchist world would
be more peaceful than the world we inhabit today, most anarchists
accept that domination may occasionally need to be met with vio-
Ient force in order to stop it. Our problem isn't with violence itself,
but the systems of domination that make use of it.

TACTICS

An anarchistis anyone who denics the necessity
and legitimacy of government; the question of his
methods of attacking it is forcign to the definition.

—Benjamin R. Tucker, 1895
‘The same as there is no unified idea of anarchist cconomics, there
is no universally accepted framework for anarchist tactics. We
know we believe in direct action, but what kinds? Almost every
individual anarchist or anarchist group might respond to this
question differently.

One of the more famous anarchist tactics so far in the twen-
ty-first century s the black bloc. The black blo is a tactic by which
we obscure our identities by wearing identical black clothing and
then engage in various dircct actions, usually in public. People in
black bloc do everything from destroy corporate property (like
breaking out the windows of banks, court houses, chain stores, and
other institutions and symbols of domination) to defend demon-
strations from police attack (often by using shields, reinforced ban-
ners, and the occasional weapon like flagpoles or thrown rocks) to
physically confront fascists. The black bloc tactic remains popular
today because it is effective at empowering those who participate
in it and, compared to other tactics is effective at keeping those
involved safe from police repression. This docs not mean that every
anarchist participates in—or even supports—black bloc tactics,
nor does it mean that people who participate in black blocs don't
engage in other tactics as well.

The other thing anarchists are perhaps best known for today are
mutual aid organizations. In some ways, these organizations scem
like the exact opposite of militant strect demonstrations-instead
of attacking the far right and capitalism, mutual aid organizations
distribute food, organize medical care, teach workshops, and gen-
erally help us,as part of society, take care of that society. Yet these
two tactics mutually reinforce cach other, and while many anar-
chists prefer one or the other, many participate in both,

‘There are many, many more tactics that anarchists are actively
engaged with all over the world besides distributing food in parks
or wearing black and taking the strects. (We also, for example,
sometimes wear color when we take the streets.) We organize
demonstrations. We organize workplaces into unions and we start
worker-owned cooperatives. We work towards cities designed to
suit the needs of people and the ecosystem instead of the desires of
the wealthy. We deliver firewood to those who need it to heat their
rural homes. We punch Nazis. We infiltrate Nazi organizations to
disrupt them. We throw pies at politicians to show the world that

R
they are not untouchable. We run magazines and podcasts and
write as journalists. We hack sccurity databases and leak infor-
mation to the public about the ways in which the public is being
spied upon. We tell stories that heroize resistance to oppression.
We help people cross borders. We help fellow prisoners or those
getting out of prison. We've been known to burn down a building
or two, And it’s been awhile, but we used to kill kings

‘We advocate what's called a diversity of tactics, mea
got as much respect for those practicing nonviolent civil disobe-
dience as we do for arsonists—that is to say, only as much respect
as the individual actions themselves deserve on their own merit at
the time, place, and social context in which they were used.

STRATEGY

An anarchiststrategy is not a strategy about how to
make a capitallst or statist society less authoritarian
or spectacular: Tt assumes that we cannot have

an anarchist saciety while the state or capitalism
continues o reign.

—dragorn!, 2005

Alot of broader strategies have been suggested for how we might
go about creating an anarchist society—or even just strategics of
how we might best live as anarchists here and now. Each has their
proponents and detractors, but few people believe that there is one
single correct path to take towards freedom, and all of these strat-
egies have in the past and will continue to overlap.

‘The most famous strategy is that of revolution, in which a sin-
gle, reasonably organized mass uprising allows for the oppressed
classes to seize the means of production and take their lives into
their own hands. Many anarchists remain skeptical of how we
might go about organizing such a thing in a way that doesn't sim-
ply leave a different class of people, an anarchist government of
sorts, in charge.

Revolution does not have the best track record in terms of in-
creasing liberty to those in the revolutionary country. Quite often,
state communists or other authoritarian groups have essentially

2
seized control of the revolution at the last minute, stepping into
the vacuum of power. This, many anarchists would argue, doesn't
mean that an anti-authoritarian revolution is impossible, only that
it faces numerous challenges.

A second strategy s that of fostering insurrections. Insurrec-
tions are moments of frecdom and revolt, often occurring in times
of crisis. These insurrections can allow for areas to be liberated
from state control and, if uprisings occur in increasing strength
and frequency, allow for a generalized revolt that could break state
power. It has been argued that insurrections do not provide lasting
change and can often simply serve as an excuse for government
repression, but insurrections have also played important roles in
numerous anarchist struggles.

A third strategy that anarchists have historically tried is syndi-
calism. This method relies on building the power of the working
class through organizing workplaces into interwoven, mutually
supportive unions. Syndicalism has been incredibly popular and
often successful in the past, but the second half of the twenticth
century fundamentally changed the way that unions and work-
places organize. Conditions are changing again, however, and
workplace organizing is once again a promising stratcgy.

Another strategy is referred to sometimes as the dual power
strategy, or “building the new world in the shell of the old." This is
a strategy of building up “counter-infrastructure” along anarchist
lines to fulfill people’s needs and desires while simultancously at-
tacking the mainstream institutions that are destroying the world.

Other anarchists have no interest in the creation of an anar-
chist society, but instead are focused on attacking the society that
has immiserated the world. These anarchists generally practice
nihilism.

None of these strategics are mutually exclusive, of course. Nei-
ther is this list cxhaustive. Some anarchists find themsclves pri-
marily concerned with strategies based around decolonization,
cducation, or intervening in crisis. Others are likely hard at work
scheming strategies that have never been tried, ideas that we can't
wat o test.

ENGAGEMENT WITH THE SYSTEM
The individual cannot bargain with the State. The
State recognizes mo coinage but power: and it issues

the coins ifsclf.
—Ursula K Le Guin, 1974

Obviously, despite our best efforts, we live within a capitalist,
statist world. Anarchism is aspirational and optimisti s not,
however, delusional. Just because we do not approve of the state’s
existence docsn't mean we don't understand that the state exists
and has material power. We dont “believe” in prison, but that
docsnit keep the state from locking us inside it. Every action we
take, as individuals and as groups, needs to accept the reality of the
situation. Perhaps if we were perfect anarchists, we would destroy
our state-issued IDs and not pull over the next time a cop puts on
their lights behind us, but we must all make strategic concessions.
Similarly, we want a world without wage labor, but this does not
make us hypocrites when we work for the money we need so that
we can eat

HISTORY

The anarchists of revolutionary Spain would
probably rather we fight our svwn struggles today
than spend so much time discussing theirs! The
Spanish anarchists were just regular folks, and
they did exactly what we'll do when we get the
apportunity

—Curious George Brigade, 2004

Anarchists are more concerned about the present than the future,
because how we live here and now is more important than some
illusory utopia. And we're more concerned with the future than
the past, because we have control over the future and we will live
in it. But we do have a long and rich history, from which we can
draw inspiration, pride, and numerous lessons.

It'sworth distinguishing between Anarchism, with a capital-A,
and the broader anarchic tradition (or sometimes “anarchy”as con-
trasted with Anarchism). Anarchism, as it’s usually discussed, is an
ideological position developed in Europe during the 19th century
alongside soci
to capitalism. This Anarchism can be scen as a part of a broader

ism, communism, and other European responses

anarchic movement-all of the anti-authoritarian, pro-communal
traditions that can be found in almost every culture in history,
including many non-Western cultures around today.

As for anarchism itself, it was a French working-class typeset-
ter, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who coined the term in 1840 and
was the first to self-identify as an anarchist. The idea spread quick-
Iy and grew beyond what one man could have imagined.

Anarchists have played an cnormous role in revolutions, labor
struggles, uprisings, and culture cver since. In the 18805, anarchists
fighting against wage labor in the United States got caught up in
the fight for the cight-hour work day. After a series of labor rights
culminating in a fight in Haymarket Square in Chicago, cight an-
archists were put on trial explicitly for being anarchists. Four were
hanged and one llled himself in jail as a result. Their martyrdom
changed labor history across the world, and anarchism continucd
to be a strong voice in the labor movement. A widow of one of
those martyrs, a Black anarchist named Lucy Parsons, went on to
help form the most revolutionary union in US history, the antirac-
ist Industrial Workers of the World.

Anarchists in Mexico led that country's first srikes in the mid-
dle of the nineteenth century and eventually were involved in the
uprisings that led to the Mexican revolution.

At the turn of the twenticth century, we killed kings and oth-
ex heads of state, forever carning a reputation as bomb-throwers

and assassins which some of us wear with pride and others would
prefer to forget.

‘W fought for revolution in Russia for decades, only to be be-
trayed when the Bolsheviks turned around and began to murder
us in 1917. For three years, from 1918-1921, seven million Ukrai-
nians lived as anarchists until the Bolshevik army betrayed an al-
liance and conquerd us while we were busy fighting armies hired
by the capitalists.
In Germany in the 19205, anarcho-syndicalists organized two
hundred illegal abortion clinics, helping people-anarchist or not-
control their bodily autonomy.

We had another three years of revolution from 1936-1939,
when anarcho-syndicalist labor unions took control of Catalonia,
a region in Spain, during the Spanish Revolution. Once again,
whilé anarchists were busy fighting a right-wing invasion, the
Bolshevik-controlled communist party opened fire on us and the
country fell to fascists.

Anarchists were heavi

involved in Korean independence from
Japanese colonial rule-trying more than once to assassinate the
Japanese emperor-and we were involved in labor and land strug-
gle in South America. We organized hobos with guns in the US
and we robbed banks in France. And we've been involved in nu-
merous art, literary, and music movements—from Andsé Breton's
involvement in surrealism to Crass’s influcnce on punk and Ursula
le Guin's anarchist pacifist approach to science fiction and fantasy.

But we cannot be weighed down by the past. We have our own
history to make.

PRESENT

Anarchism is not a concept that can be locked up in a
word like a gravestone. It s not a political theary. It
isa way of conceiving lfe, and life, young or old as
we may be, old people or children, is not something.
definifive: it is a stake we must play day after day.

—Alfreds M. Bonanno, 1998

Since the start of the twenty-first century, anarchism has been, as
amovement, on the upswing, It started with the anti-globalization
demonstrations at the turn of the millennium, then moved into
the era of anti-austerity movements across the world in the early
20105, and now into an era of disaster relief, mutual aid organi
ing,and the fights against rightwing extremism and the expansion
of policing.

‘The problems the world faces right now are indescribably dire-
between a rise in the far right across the globe to the rise of, well,

16
temperatures across the globe. Yet the economic and governmen-
tal systems we have in place have proven themselves cither inept or
complicit. Every day, more people are willing to reject authoritari-
anism, capitalism, and the state solutions to our problems. Which
makes sense—capitalism is quickly destroying everything, and
we wonlt soon forget what a nightmare the authoritarians made
of revolution, whether the right-wing fascists or the left-wing
Stalinists.

SO LET’S SAY YOU WANT TO JOIN

Ina society that has destrayed all adventure, the only
adventure It is to destray that socty.

—Anonymous French Graffiti, 1968

Anarchism isn't a membership club. Even as a political ideology;
we're more of an anti-ideology than we are one wi
rules. So there are no membership forms to mail in and there arc
no fees. There are anarchist groups, all over the world, working on
any number of problems that might interest you, from ccology to
social justice, and many of those groups will let you join, or at least
participate in their actions.

But you can also just, well, do it. Find yourself a like-mind-
ed group of people and get to it. Organize all the gardeners in
your neighborhood to share produce for free or organize against
a multinational like Walmart moving into town. Squat a building
and steal electricity to throw shows and raise money for anarchist
prisoners. Attack symbols of power. Spread information. Act in
the ways you feel compelled to act.

But the most important things about being an anarchist are:
treating other people with respect, as masters of their own lives;
and taking control of your life, seizing frecdom, but remaining
responsible to yourself and those you care about.

In some places, there are existing groups who can use your help.
ill these be anarchist organizations-instead, they will
ions that anarchists participatc in that organize hor-

. Food Not Bombs is the longest-running mutual aid or-
ganization, providing free food to all those who need it. Prisoner

astrict st of |

e
et writing nights are a good way to plug in as well. There are
fundraisers to attend at community centers.

Rather than looking to join “the anarchists,”its generally bet-
ter to join the social movements in your arca and look for the
anarchists or those with anarchic tendencies.

As a word of warning, there are predators in the anarchist
movement. Agents of the state infilirate our movement and do
their utmost to destroy it. They prey upon new people in particulas,
sctting them up to break the law and then sending them to prison
for years or decades. Don't commit felonious crimes with anyone
you haven't known for years. Never let anyone convince you that if
You “eally cared” about anarchism or some other cause that youd
take some dangerous action.

And even if you're acting alone or with your closcst childhood
friends, think carcfully and maturcly about the ramifications of
any illegal action you might take. While we cannot let ourselves
be paralyzed by fear, we need to remember that certain types of
actions will be treated very, very scriously by the authoritics and far
more good can be done from outside of prison than from within.

But that aside, welcome. We need you. The world needs you.
Together we can get some things don.
FURTHER READING

People sometimes inquire what form of government
is most suitable for an artist to live under: T this

question there s only one answer. The form of
government that is most suitable to the artistis no
government at all.

—Oscar Wilde, 1891

Some cool historical anarchists to look up for fun include: Lucy
Parsons, Ricardo Flores Magon, Emma Goldman, Peter Kro-
potkin, Mikhail Bakunin, Errico Malatesta, Kuwasi Balagoon,
Ricardo Flores Magon, Jules Bonnot, Maria Nildforova, Nestor
Makhno, Noe Ito, Kaneko Fumiko, Voltairine DeCleyre, Louise
Michel, and Francesc Ferrer.

Suggested fiction:
The Dispossessed, by Ursula K Le Gui
A Country of Ghosts, by Margaret Killjoy
Just Passing Through, by Paco Ignacio Taibo I1
The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore
The Fiffth Sacred Thing by Starhawk

Suggested fms:
Ifa Tree Falls
Libertarias

Rebellion in Patagonia

Anarchist From Colony
Land & Freedom

Was tun, wwenn's brennt? (What to Do in Case of Firc)

Suggested podcasts:
“The Final Straw.
Trouble
Anything on the Channel Zero Network
Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness

19
‘The Spectacle

Live Like the World is Dying
Poor Proles Almanac

Working Class History

It Could Happen Here

Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff
1t Going Down

Working Class History

Last Born in the Wilderness
Black Autonomy Podcast

Suggested anarchist publishers:
+AK Press

PM Press

Crimethlnc

Eberhardt Press

LBC Books

Detritus Books

On Our Own Authority

Strangers In a Tangled Wilderness (that's us!)
We are going to inberit the earth. There

is not the slightest doubt about that. The
bourgeoisie may blast and burn its own
world before it finally leaves the stage of
history. We are not afraid of ruins. We who
ploughed the prairies and built the cities
can build again, only better next time. We
carry a new world, here in our hearts. That
world is growing this minute.

—Buenaventura Durruti, 1936
STRANGERS

TANGLED WILDERNESS

An anarchist is someone

who rejects the domination
of one person or class of
people over another.

Second Edition
Published 2024 by Strangers in a'

ingled Wilderness