Anarchist Studies

Reanimating anarchist geographies: a new burst of colour

by Simon Springer

Springer S, Ince A, Pickerill J, Brown G, and Barker A. Forthcoming. Reanimating anarchist geographies: a new burst of colour. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography.

The late 19th century saw a burgeoning of geographical writings from influential anarchist thinkers like Peter... more The late 19th century saw a burgeoning of geographical writings from influential anarchist thinkers like Peter Kropotkin and Élisée Reclus. Yet despite the vigorous intellectual debate sparked by the works of these two individuals, following their deaths anarchist ideas within geography faded. It was not until the 1970s that anarchism was once again given serious consideration by academic geographers who, in laying the groundwork for what is today known as ‘radical geography’, attempted to reintroduce anarchism as a legitimate political philosophy. Unfortunately, quiet followed once more, and although numerous contemporary radical geographers employ a sense of theory and practice that shares many affinities with anarchism, direct engagement with anarchist ideas among academic geographers have been limited. As contemporary global challenges push anarchist theory and practice back into widespread currency, geographers need to rise to this occasion and begin (re)mapping the possibilities of what anarchist perspectives might yet contribute to the discipline.

After December: Spatial Legacies of the 2008 Athens Uprising. In Upping the Anti vol 10.

by Dimitris Dalakoglou

See: http://uppingtheanti.org/journal/article/10-after-december-spatial-legacies-of-the-2008-athens-uprising/

The cold-blooded police killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in the Athens neighbourhood of Exarcheia on... more The cold-blooded police killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in the Athens neighbourhood of Exarcheia on December 6, 2008 sparked an unprecedented wave of protests and rioting. These protests quickly spread not only throughout Athens and the majority of Greek cities but also beyond the country’s borders. Around the world, more than 200 solidarity actions took place in December alone. During the riots and clashes that followed Grigoropoulos’ death, police departments, banks, government ministries, and other public buildings in Athens came under near-daily attack, while universities, high schools, town halls, and other buildings were occupied by demonstrators across the country. This episode ­– a major insurrection sparked by a single incident of police brutality – has attracted considerable attention from global social justice movements. The question of the uprising’s aftermath remains on many people’s minds. Before considering the legacies of the uprising, however, it’s useful to look at how the events of December 2008 became possible in the first place.

Illegal evictions? Overwriting possession and orality with law’s violence in Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. Forthcoming. Illegal evictions? Overwriting possession and orality with law’s violence in Cambodia. Journal of Agrarian Change.

The unfolding of a juridico-cadastral system in present-day Cambodia is at odds with local understandings of... more The unfolding of a juridico-cadastral system in present-day Cambodia is at odds with local understandings of landholding, which are entrenched in notions of community consensus and existing occupation. The discrepancy between such orally recognized antecedents and the written word of law have been at the heart of the recent wave of dispossessions that have swept across the country. Contra the standard critique that corruption has set the tone, this paper argues that evictions in Cambodia are often literally underwritten by the articles of law. Whereas ‘possession’ is a well-understood and accepted concept in Cambodia, a cultural basis rooted in what James C. Scott refers to as ‘orality’, coupled with a long history of subsistence agriculture, semi-nomadic lifestyles, barter economies, and–until recently–widespread land availability have all ensured that notions of ‘property’ are vague among the country’s majority rural poor. In drawing a firm distinction between possessions and property, where the former is premised upon actual use and the latter is embedded in exploitation, this article examines how proprietorship is inextricably bound to the violence of law.

Anarchism and Political Theory: Contemporary Problems

by Uri Gordon

My Oxford doctoral thesis

This thesis explores contemporary anarchism, in its re-emergence as a social movement and political theory over the... more This thesis explores contemporary anarchism, in its re-emergence as a social movement and political theory over the past decade. Its method combines cultural sociology and philosophical argumentation, in a participatory research framework.
The first part, “Explaining Anarchism”, argues that it should be addressed primarily as a political culture, with distinct forms of organisation, of campaigning and direct action repertoires, and of political discourse and ideology. Largely discontinuous with the historical workers’ and peasants’ anarchist movement, contemporary anarchism has fused in the intersection of radical direct-action movements in the North since the 1960s: feminism, ecology, and the resistance to nuclear energy and weapons, war, and neoliberal globalisation. Anarchist ideological discourse is analysed with attention to key concepts such as “domination” and “prefigurative politics”, emphasising the avowedly open-ended, experimental nature of the anarchist project.
The second part, “Anarchist Anxieties”, is a set of theoretical interventions in four major topics of controversy in anarchism today. Leadership in anarchist politics is addressed through sustained attention to the concept of power, proposing an agenda for equalising access to influence among activists, and an “ethic of solidarity” around the wielding of non-coercive power. Violence is approached through a recipient-based definition of the concept, exploring the limits of any attempt to justify violence and offering observations on violent empowerment, revenge and armed struggle. Technology is subject to a strong anarchist critique, which stresses its inherently social nature, leading to the exploration of Luddism, the disillusioned use of ICTs, and the promotion of lo-tech, sustainable human-nature interfaces as strategical directions for an anarchist politics of technology. Finally, the lens of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is used to address anarchist dilemmas around national liberation, exploring anarchist responses in conflict-ridden societies, and direct action approaches to peacemaking.

[2012] Capitalism, Illegality and Subversion: The Pre-Figurative Politics of the 2-Hour Work Day

by Michael Loadenthal

published in Unrest Magazine, Issue 6 March/April 2012.

Though this essay does not seek to apologize for the management and owning class, it does attempt to pose a more... more Though this essay does not seek to apologize for the management and owning class, it does attempt to pose a more challenging question about our relationship to work and survival: What about those of us who make our way through capitalism by exploiting not our neighbors or coworkers, but the outside margins of ‘less than fully regulated’ economies? What about those who seek to work less, yet earn more because they choose to operate in a sphere of employment that exists in between legal and illegal, regulated and unregulated, socially accepted and stigmatized?

[2002] “The People’s Strike”: Analyzing A Day of Action by the DC Anti-Capitalist Convergence

by Michael Loadenthal

On September 27th, 2002, thousands of activists from around the world converged in Washington D.C. for a day of... more On September 27th, 2002, thousands of activists from around the world converged in Washington D.C. for a day of “non-compliance and resistance” in response to the bi-annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.  Many groups from around the country helped to organize protest actions against these organizations, but one collective of radicals took a chance and broke from tradition.  The People’s Strike, organized by the D.C. based Anti-Capitalist Convergence (ACC), was a uniquely innovative attempt to create a new structure for the organization of mass protest actions.  The ACC’s plan was a revolutionary first that helped to promote an empowering organizational structure and create an unstoppable, self-fulfilling prophecy that indirectly caused a work strike, and effectively caused the stoppage of business in downtown D.C.

[2011] Asymmetric Labeling of Terrorist Violence as a Matter of Statecraft Propaganda: Or, Why the United States Does Not Feel the Need to Explain the Assassination of …

by Michael Loadenthal

published in "Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies," special topics issue, "Ten Years After 9/11: An Anarchist Evaluation"

“Terrorism” is fundamentally the same, whether it is carried out by States or non-State actors. Difference arises as... more “Terrorism” is fundamentally the same, whether it is carried out by States or non-State actors. Difference arises as one identifies the processes wherein labels are applied which identify select acts of political violence as "terrorism," while terming others "legitimate defense" within the national interest. The subjective labeling of “terrorism” which obscures the systemic violence of State terrorism has accelerated in the post-9/11 "Global War On Terror/Terrorism," as wars advanced by the US and its allies have further expanded into the Middle East, Asia and Africa with numerous proxy wars. This construction of terrorism can be seen as a rhetorical tool utilized by the State, as well as non-State actors that challenge State authority. Throughout these arenas of violence, authoritative language is used by the State within a process of “othering,” and intentional language is adopted to demonize anti-State opponents and legitimize State-crafted actions

[2012] Operation Splash Back!: Queering Animal Liberation Through the Contributions of Neo-Insurrectionist Queers

by Michael Loadenthal

TO BE published Spring 2012 in the Journal of Critical Animal Studies Special Edition: Intersecting Queer Theory and Critical Animal Studies.

The neo-insurrectionist network known as Bash Back! has contributed to the queering of the animal liberation discourse... more The neo-insurrectionist network known as Bash Back! has contributed to the queering of the animal liberation discourse through the publication of their 2010 communiqué entitled, “Bash Back!ers in Support of Autonomous Animal Action Call For Trans-Species Solidarity With Tillikum.”  The politic developed by the larger movement of neo-insurrectionist Queers, as exemplified by Bash Back!, has served to disrupt anthropocentric notions of human-liberator, animal-captive that form the centerpiece of the animal liberation discourse.  Through their appropriation of an attack wherein an orca whale killed its trainer at SeaWorld, Bash Back! problematizes not only the normalized domestication of non-human animals for entertainment, but also the discourse used to critique such enslavement.  Through satirical posturing and a liberatory framework, Bash Back! attempts to draw intersectional connection between the systems of domination that enslave both non-human animals and non-heterosexual Queers.  Through a queering of this understanding of liberation, Bash Back! serves to shift the animal liberation discourse away from the human centric “total liberation” framework, and towards an anti-speciest framework proposed herein, termed “total solidarity.”

Lajos Kassák and the Hungarian Left Radical Milieu (1926–1934)

by Péter Konok

In my study I would like to draft the intellectual, political
atmosphere, in which the Munka-kör (Work-circle),... more In my study I would like to draft the intellectual, political
atmosphere, in which the Munka-kör (Work-circle), bearing
the stamp of Lajos Kassák, was founded and formulated.
It was a leftist creative community, which through its
numerous branches most impregnated the Hungarian
labour movement at the end of the 1920s and the beginning
of the next decade. Nevertheless, instead of “background”
it seems more correct to talk about a kind of
milieu, a huge political sphere from the left of social democracy
to the most radical fractions and grouplets, namely the
Hungarian versions of Trotskyism and council-communism
(or, according to the terminology of the Communist
Party of Hungary: the “too-leftists”).

Neoliberalising violence: of the exceptional and the exemplary in coalescing moments

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2012. Neoliberalising violence: of the exceptional and the exemplary in coalescing moments. Area 44 (2), 136-143.

This paper sets out to develop two related ideas. First, it seeks to identify how both violence and neoliberalism can... more This paper sets out to develop two related ideas. First, it seeks to identify how both violence and neoliberalism can be considered as moments. From this shared conceptualisation of process and fluidity, I argue that it becomes easier to recognise how these two phenomena actually converge. Building upon this conceived coalescence of neoliberalism and violence, the second aim is to recognise how the hegemony of neoliberalism positions it as an abuser, which facilitates the abandonment of those ‘Others’ who fall outside of neoliberal normativity. I argue that the widespread banishment of ‘Others’ under neoliberalism produces a ‘state of exception’, wherein because of its inherently dialectic nature, exceptional violence is transformed into exemplary violence. This metamorphosis occurs as aversion for alterity intensifies under neoliberalism and its associated violence against ‘Others’ comes to form the rule.

Public Space as emancipation: meditations on anarchism, radical democracy, neoliberalism and violence

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2011. Public Space as emancipation: meditations on anarchism, radical democracy, neoliberalism and violence. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. 43 (2), 525-562.

In establishing an anarchic framework for understanding public space as a vision for radical democracy, this article... more In establishing an anarchic framework for understanding public space as a vision for radical democracy, this article proceeds as a theoretical inquiry into how an agonistic public space might become the basis of emancipation. Public space is presented as an opportunity to move beyond the technocratic elitism that often characterizes both civil societies and the neoliberal approach to development, and is further recognized as the battlefield on which the conflicting interests of the world's rich and poor are set. Contributing to the growing recognition that geographies of resistance are relational, where the “global” and the “local” are understood as co-constitutive, a radical democratic ideal grounded in material public space is presented as paramount to repealing archic power in general, and neoliberalism’s exclusionary logic in particular.

Sharing Secrets, or On Burrowing in Public

by Ian Angus

“Sharing Secrets, or On Burrowing in Public” in Ian Angus (ed.), Anarcho-Modernism: Toward a New Critical Theory. In Honour of Jerry Zaslove. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2001.

Anarchism! What geography still ought to be

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. Forthcoming. Anarchism! What geography still ought to be. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography.

This article is a manifesto for anarchist geographies, which are understood as kaleidoscopic spatialities that allow... more This article is a manifesto for anarchist geographies, which are understood as kaleidoscopic spatialities that allow for multiple, non-hierarchical, and protean connections between autonomous entities, wherein solidarities, bonds, and affinities are voluntarily assembled in opposition to and free from the presence of sovereign violence, predetermined norms, and assigned categories of belonging. In its rejection of such multivariate apparatuses of domination, this article is a proverbial call to nonviolent arms for those geographers and non-geographers alike who seek to put an end to the seemingly endless series of tragedies, misfortunes, and catastrophes that characterize the miasma and malevolence of the current neoliberal moment. But this is not simply a demand for the end of neoliberalism and its replacement with a more moderate and humane version of capitalism, nor does it merely insist upon a more egalitarian version of the state. It is instead the resurrection of a prosecution within geography that dates back to the discipline’s earliest days: anarchism!

Violent accumulation: a postanarchist critique of property, dispossession, and the state of exception in neoliberalizing Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. Forthcoming. Violent accumulation: a postanarchist critique of property, dispossession, and the state of exception in neoliberalizing Cambodia. Annals of the Association of American Geographers.

Employing a poststructuralist-meets-anarchist stance that advances conceptual insight into the nature of sovereign... more Employing a poststructuralist-meets-anarchist stance that advances conceptual insight into the nature of sovereign power, this article examines the dialectics of capitalism/primitive accumulation, civilization/savagery, and law/violence, which are argued to exist in a mutually reinforcing 'trilateral of logics'. In deciphering this triadic system, this article offers a radical (re)appraisal of capitalism, its legal process, and its civilizing effects, which together serve to mask the originary and ongoing violences of primitive accumulation and the property system. Such obfuscation suggests that wherever the trilateral of logics is enacted, so too is the state of exception called into being, exposing us all as potential homo sacer (life that does not count). Proceeding as a diagnostic assessment of sovereign power, where although signposted by Cambodia's contemporary experiences of violent land conflict, this article is not intended as a fine-grained empirical analysis. Instead, it forwards a theoretical dialogue where Cambodia's neoliberalizing processes offer a window on how sovereign power configures itself around the three discursive-institutional constellations (i.e., capitalism, civilization, and law) that form the trilateral of logics. Rather than formulating prescriptive solutions, the intention here is critique, where in particular it is argued that the preoccupation with strengthening Cambodia's legal system should not be read as a panacea for contemporary social ills, but as an imposition that serves to legitimize the violences of property.

Atitudes de Modernidade: autonomia libertaria e estetica da existencia

by Carlo Romani

Published in Utopia , Lisboa no. 27-28 (2009)

A tradição do pensamento libertário funda-se na possibilidade da construção de uma relação de autonomia dos indivíduos... more A tradição do pensamento libertário funda-se na possibilidade da construção de uma relação de autonomia dos indivíduos frente todas as formas de poder instituídas. Neste ensaio, propomos colocar o anarquismo no cerne da modernidade, vinculando-o ao projeto iluminista de constituição de um sujeito autônomo através de si mesmo. Num primeiro momento serão analisadas as relações estabelecidas por Michel Foucault entre iluminismo e modernidade (particularmente suas análises sobre emancipação política e estética de vida). Posteriormente, procuraremos mostrar como o conceito de estética da existência desenvolvido pelo filósofo francês em seus últimos escritos tem claro parentesco com as idéias utilizadas na teoria e prática do pensamento libertário.


The tradition of libertarian thinking is based on the possibility to build an autonomist relationship between the individuals and the institutional power forms. In this article we propose to put anarchism in the core of modernity and linked it at the enlightenment project to constitution an autonomist subject by himself. At first we will be analyzed the relationship established by Michel Foucault between enlightenment and modernity (especially the political emancipation and life aesthetic). Next on we will try to show how life aesthetic concept developed by the French philosopher in his last writings has evident affinity whit the theory and practices used in the libertarian thinking

"Antiglobalization: The Global Fight for Local Autonomy" (New Political Science)

by Jason Adams

A. Starr and J. Adams, New Political Science 25:1 (2003)

***

Excerpt:

"Unlike the New Left, contemporary autonomous movements reject the seizure of power as a strategy just as surely as they reject the elusive politics of mass struggle; instead they work towards a “revolution of everyday life.”42 As George Katsiaficas documents, these movements appeared first in an autonomous version of the traditional class struggle movement of Autonomia in the late 1970s in Italy. Then, as Autonomia began to decline in the 1980s, the far more diverse form of the Autonomen first arose in the metropoles of Germany. Similar movements have since emerged in other areas of Europe, South America, North America, Asia and other parts of the world. The best-known and most influential of these newer autonomous movements is undoubtedly the Zapatista movement, based in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The Zapatistas have staked out a unique political space that goes beyond that of the autonomous movements that preceded them, while maintaining their strongest features. Like Autonomia and the Autonomen, the Zapatistas directly challenge neoliberal capitalism and defend the autonomy of local communities. The primary tactic they have employed has been the municipo libre (autonomous municipality) in which a majority of the residents vote to declare it autonomous from the state, which is promptly denounced as illegitimate. The Zapatistas have initiated a widely flung network of 38 core municipalities which control over a third of the political territory of Chiapas.43 The tactical logic at work here is nothing new; as one Zapatista remarked, “Zapata championed and fought for Indigenous ownership of land (which at that time, as now, meant removing the mestizo capitalist owners), and autonomous local political control.”44 But in taking up this old struggle, they also go far beyond it, effectively tearing open a new social and political space which encourages local, national, regional, and global networks of autonomous local groupings—not only municipo libres, but also affinity groups, subsistence cooperatives, collectivized clinics, autonomous schools, independent media groups, and other directly democratic community structures. This is the space from which a “triangular agrarista alliance began to evolve… between a periodically active village mass, the local militants, and… anarchist urban intellectuals and workers.”45 Now, eight years after the initial uprising, the Zapatistas are but one of many such autonomous movements in Mexico. Employing the municipo libre tactics, dozens of communities have declared themselves autonomous since 1995; while communities in neighboring states of Oaxaca, Hidalgo, Morelos, Michoacan, Mexico D.F., Tabasco, and Guerrero are laying the groundwork for such activity. 46 In Zapata’s home state of Morelos, for instance, inspired women of the new United Community of Tepotzlan (CUT) near Mexico City declared their town autonomous and defended it for over three years from attempted police incursions. In Tabasco, over 100 indigenous Chontales went to prison for seizing government buildings and declaring their region autonomous from both the state and the clutches of PEMEX Oil. In the state of Mexico, D.F., the 800,000 strong suburb of Nezahualcoyotl declared itself autonomous in 1998, as did the smaller community of San Nicolas Ecatepec. And in early 2002 the city of San Salvador Atenco was declared autonomous and defended in pitched battles following a victory against the building of a new international airport that would have appropriated 5000 hectares of farmland and displaced 4375 families."

US Environmental History and Social Ecology Talk given to Yale University School of Environmental Studies and Forestry 13th April 2011

by Damian White

Talk I gave to Yale University School of Environmental Studies and Forestry, April 13th, 2011 about Murray Bookchin and US environmental history.

Damian White and Gideon Kossoff Anarchism and Environmental Thought

by Damian White

Summary/review of the relationship between anarchism and environmentalism over the last century,,,,

White Kossoff Anarchisme, libertarisme et environnementalisme 

by Damian White

French version of Anarchism, Libertarianism, Environmentalism - a review of the relations between the traditions

Translators' Introduction to Daniel Colson's "Lectures Anarchistes de Spinoza" (with Jesse Cohn)

by Nathan Jun

The Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy (formerly The Journal of French Philosophy) 17:2 (Summer 2009), pp. 86-90