What is this all about?

By The ImModerator

Anarchy is an idea whose time has come – but we need to discard the accumulated baggage built up over centuries of use and abuse of the word ‘Anarchy’. We need a vibrant, new and fresh interpretation of just what Anarchy means. Not just you, and not just me or them but ‘us’.

If all of our anarchistic thoughts and interpretations were distilled into a single thought – what would it be? If it were visual, what would it look like?

This is going to be a journey. You are not obliged to tag along but you are welcome to stop by from time to time, maybe adding your bit when it suits you. Or not.

Not everything is as it seems. Nor should it be.

If you are comfortable then you shouldn’t be. Open your eyes, your ears and your mind. Then ponder your version of Anarchy…

 

Occupy Wall Street protesters in Frankfurt wearing masks from the movie "V"

Let's ponder "anarchy"

  1. The ImModerator says:

    A well written piece, forcefully arguing the basic tenets of anarchy as a philosophical movement.

  2. The Patriot says:

    “Why is our flag black? Black is a shade of negation. The black flag is the negation of all flags. It is a negation of nationhood which puts the human race against itself and denies the unity of all humankind. Black is a mood of anger and outrage at all the hideous crimes against humanity perpetrated in the name of allegiance to one state or another. It is anger and outrage at the insult to human intelligence implied in the pretenses, hypocrisies, and cheap chicaneries of governments . . . Black is also a color of mourning; the black flag which cancels out the nation also mourns its victims the countless millions murdered in wars, external and internal, to the greater glory and stability of some bloody state. It mourns for those whose labor is robbed (taxed) to pay for the slaughter and oppression of other human beings. It mourns not only the death of the body but the crippling of the spirit under authoritarian and hierarchic systems; it mourns the millions of brain cells blacked out with never a chance to light up the world. It is a color of inconsolable grief.

    “But black is also beautiful. It is a color of determination, of resolve, of strength, a color by which all others are clarified and defined. Black is the mysterious surrounding of germination, of fertility, the breeding ground of new life which always evolves, renews, refreshes, and reproduces itself in darkness. The seed hidden in the earth, the strange journey of the sperm, the secret growth of the embryo in the womb all these the blackness surrounds and protects.

    “So black is negation, is anger, is outrage, is mourning, is beauty, is hope, is the fostering and sheltering of new forms of human life and relationship on and with this earth. The black flag means all these things. We are proud to carry it, sorry we have to, and look forward to the day when such a symbol will no longer be necessary.”

  3. Anthony Anarchyy says:

    There we go, I’m properly registered now 🙂


  4. Lol, “And we all do conform. To say otherwise is to suggest that you will turn up naked at a movie cinema or happily scream and yell whenever people try to communicate with you- the layers of conformity run so deep that even the most conformist of us is likely to self-express in some way or another.”

    I go to McDonalds naked and when they refuse to serve me I throw things at them…and I am probably one of the most loudest people you’ll ever meet, I’m ruthless, I do what I want, when I want and nobody can change that.

  5. The Moderator says:

    Interesting take on things. The absence of rebels doesn’t necessitate a totalitarian society but it would certainly make for a boring one. If you get a moment, it would be worth sitting down with a copy of Albert Camus’ “The Rebel”. A lot of what he has to say might be of interest to you. And yes, Anarchy means different things to different people – that’s part of its lure – but in its purist form, Anarchy actually holds as much rules as just about anything else. Try watching any society larger than a small settlement as it attempts to negotiate the no-man’s land between individual rights and societal obligations (interpret that as the right of others for your activities to not impact on their enjoyment). Eventually you end up with committees and rules and obligations and requirements. All very un-anarchy to most people’s minds. If that sounds trite, have a read of “Demanding the Impossible, a history of Anarchism”, by Peter Marshall. It’s a brick of a book but an easy read none-the-less. It lists a whole series of attempts at setting up societies based on anarchistic principles.

    So it makes sense that the individual needs to find their own comfort level in adopting the extent to which they will conform. And we all do conform. To say otherwise is to suggest that you will turn up naked at a movie cinema or happily scream and yell whenever people try to communicate with you- the layers of conformity run so deep that even the most conformist of us is likely to self-express in some way or another.


  6. Anarchy is the way I live, I don’t follow any rules (also why I’m on good behaviour) but without rebels we’d just be living in a totalitarian society…

  7. The Moderator says:

    True but only in a superficial sense. Risk everything and you may lose everything. Risk nothing and you may be rewarded beyond your dreams. Not all good people receive good outcomes from an uncertain world, and many quite bad people revel in plenty.

    But the point “Anarchy is a way of living,…” is a good one. How will you choose to live your life? An evil government adminstrator or a brave rebel? A good government worker or a brutal and reckless perpetrator of random acts of violence? Anarchy is many things but it will not solve all problems – hopefully the big ones though!


  8. Anarchy is a way of living, it is the solution to all the problems.
    No Risk, No Reward.
    Risk everything and be rewarded. Don’t risk a thing and don’t be rewarded at all.

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