Anarchism

After having to revisit the Kronstadt revolt with a campist I realized realized I don't have a hangout where I can shoot the shit with other of a similar mindframe. So I just opened a room on matrix based on this comm. The assumption is that if you're joining it, you're an anarchist or at least knowledgeable about it.

Not planning this to be a debate channel. More like a cozy space.

I'm a young anarchist thinking about moving to a different country (in my case UK or Ireland). I'm wondering what the best way to begin would be.

I imagine that having some contacts in the country would be a good place to start, but how to get them? Maybe you could share some tips?

They are not specifically anarchist, probably democratic socialist, though I’ve been pushing them more and more to the left (they started off as neolib), and I think Trump getting elected really disillusioned them with the prospect of reformism actually making meaningful change.

They basically asked me, “It’s fucking crazy over here. People are dying and Trump is fucking up everything. I feel so helpless and hopeless. Do you have any resources on things to do?”

Do you guys have links I could send. Cheers.

Hello, I'm thinking of creating a matrix account after a long time and I thought about creating one on an anarchist server (like something with similar ideas in this lemmy server). Do you have any suggestions? I was looking at this database, but it says it has gone down and they provide a json list.

I found https://4d2.org/ , but I saw that they removed the mention of anarchy from their description. (Compare this snapsot from 2025/01/05 with today's snapsot.)

Hopefully this is the correct place to ask, if not, pls direct me to a more appropriate community:)

Edit: The admin of the server told me that 4d2 became a non-profit company (https://www.acabinc.org/) and they don't want to look that political to avoid any legal issues (I think they have to be non-politicaland such, so they removed the mention of anarchy from their website description.😄 (I eventually made an account there.)

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/17611547

The fantasy-story of right-wing anarchy is creating misinformation, someone thinks that something like "anarcho-capitalism" is real philosophy, instead of the linguistic distortion of fascist-capitalism that it is.

Should people even specify that they are left-wing anarchists now? Do we really want to put a stop to this propagandistic joke? Anarchy will always be the extreme left into the political pendulum.

And I will tell you more: anarchism is by its nature also pacifism, as it aims to prevent any form of uncontrolled power on others. This is to silence even centrists: another fake group, people who think that it's not "extremist" in its own abstinence, in delegating violence.

ID for all 3 images: White text on a black background:

"Fascist raids by law enforcement should be met with:

I don’t know.

I can’t help.

I do not know anybody’s legal status.

I have no idea who is an immigrant.

White folks are used to being polite and accommodating to cops.

Do not fall into your old ways.

For once, your silence will not be violence. STFU if the cops come looking for your neighbours. No matter how friendly.

Fascism only works if we go along with it. Fascism only works if we surrender to it.

Resist.

Do not say a word about your neighbours. As far as the cops are concerned you’re a recluse who doesn’t talk to anybody where you live."

Credit: @Raeeka Yassaie

More about FreeQuency and their fantastic work:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mwende_Katwiwa

https://www.freequencyspeaks.com/media

For such a useful website it has a really annoying pop-up.

I just read this essay by Dan La Botz from 2022 which '[...] examines the ideas of people coming out of the left who call themselves “anti-imperialists,” but who have become defenders of dictatorial governments—some of which call themselves Communist or Socialist—that oppress national minorities, beat down movements for democracy, and crush workers’ struggles for a better life.'

TBH, I think it's useful in understanding the mentality of a lot of the MLs on Lemmy, who tend strongly towards this type of "campism". Definitely worth a read. Extract below:

Many older, former leftists who today are campists adopted this mindset with its origins in Maoist or Third Worldist notions Some of these political analysts and activists today, who still think of themselves as leftists, tend to subordinate all questions to imperialism, arguing that it is the most important and virtually the central issue. If a state opposes the United States, then it is by definition anti-imperialist, so that its government’s own political, economic, and social system is irrelevant to that principal world conflict, which is imperialism. Moreover, whatever the problems of any of the so-called anti-imperialist states, they should not be examined or criticized, because that might weaken support for the anti-imperialist camp and its struggle against the United States and its allies. So, today’s campists will not discuss the authoritarian and oppressive political powers or the exploitative economic systems of what they consider to be the “anti-imperialist nations,” such as Russia, China, or Cuba, or of Iran or Syria. The campists are even more hostile to the notion that one should examine the class character, governmental system, and economic regimes of beleaguered nations like Venezuela or Nicaragua. To question these governments, they argue, is to aid U.S. imperialism. So traditional Marxism, based on analyzing the political economy, social classes, class struggle and oppression in a country, as well as its international relations, is discarded.

These same people generally also tend to define imperialism to mean only U.S. imperialism, ignoring or pushing aside the practices of other imperialist nations and their acts. Since in the eyes of these activists the United States is the only or by far the dominant imperial power everywhere, they then define nations that are opposed to the United States—such as Russia, China, Iran, or Syria—as anti-imperialist nations. And having defined those nations as anti-imperialist, they often then become apologists for the governments of those nations, even though they are authoritarian governments ruling capitalist countries. They will even attribute to these nations “socialist” or “democratic” characteristics that their governments do not in fact have.

The logic is something like this: X is an enemy of the United States, therefore X is anti-imperialist, therefore we support it, and since it is anti-imperialist, it must be progressive. It follows that any criticism of country X is reactionary. People who criticize any anti-imperialist nation such as X must be on the side of imperialism. So, for example, since the United States is an imperial power, and China opposes the United States, then China must be progressive (some will even say socialist). So then, the argument goes, those who criticize China for putting some 1.5 million Uyghurs in concentration camps or for its crushing of the democratic movement in Hong Kong, must be allied with the United States government and are objectively pro-imperialist. This is the campist logic.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24255628

Murray Bookchin (1921 - 2006)

Fri Jan 14, 1921

Murray Bookchin, born on this day in 1921, was a libertarian socialist political philosopher whose thought is associated with the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

Bookchin was the author of two dozen books covering topics in politics, philosophy, history, urban planning, and social ecology. Some notable titles include "Our Synthetic Environment", "Post-Scarcity Anarchism", and "The Ecology of Freedom". In the late 1990s, he became disenchanted with what he saw as an increasingly apolitical "lifestylism" of the contemporary anarchist movement and stopped referring to himself as an anarchist.

Bookchin's ideas have influenced social movements since the 1960s, including the New Left, the anti-nuclear movement, the anti-globalization movement, Occupy Wall Street, and, most notably, Abdullah Öcalan's concept of democratic confederalism and its application in Rojava.

"If we do not do the impossible, we shall be faced with the unthinkable."

- Murray Bookchin

• Date: 1921-01-14
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, theanarchistlibrary.org, reason.com.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

I’m asking in an anarchist group chat, because literally every series I can find is heavily embedded in a statist and capitalistic context… Are there any you enjoy despite that? Are there any that provide you a respite from it?

I’m disabled and bedridden so my only contact with the outside world is through social media… I’d like to be able to intact with people with similar political beliefs in my region.

Direct action of the most antifa variety.

It’s about the anarchistish commune in Copenhagen Denmark.

I’m wondering if it’s worth the watch, or if it feels too Bourgeois biased?

it's not made for anarchists but for people who have probably never heard of it.

For instance I know some lawyers and insurance CEOs who built the company themselves and run an ethical business model but because of innovation have made a ton of money. One lawyer has made a name for himself only defending those who have been hurt my big corporations and their life is ruined. The other made an insurance model that helps these hurt people invest their court winnings into annuities to guarantee they’re financially taken care of for life. These are not billionaires but both companies have won for their clients/work with hundreds of millions if not billions.

How can one clearly define someone like Musk or Bezos as bourgeois whereas these hard working individuals who came from nothing and build a huge business actually from nothing and help people?

Hoping for a non-black and white answer. My local MLM group declares everyone evil who isn’t their exact ideology. It doesn’t make sense to apply this thinking when someone whose become rich through helping people isn’t the same as someone whose has taken advantage of people for generations.

Edit: getting downvoted to hell when I am asking a question sure isn't welcoming.