[LAF] Why I am an anarchist - aka - Re: The Last Post: Why I am No Longer An Anarchist

[VolodyA! V Anarhist]

I wish to say that in the recent couple of years i have started becoming more 
and more of an anarchist. Currently i am at the point where i am no longer 
afraid to disclose such a fact publically, regardless of the audience, because 
it is an intrisic part of my identity as an individual, and, until i'll achieve 
enlightenment and stop being alone and become one, me not being an anarchist 
would be a de-facto suicide.

Why i am an anarchist?

1.

Anarchy is the only practical solution to most of the world's *root* problems. 
While there exist hierarchical approaches which work "better" or "faster" than 
non-hierarchical and anarchist ones, they often create more problems than they 
stamp out. A good example of this is censorship of Nazis, after the factual Nazi 
take over of the German government, anti-nationalists could only publish their 
literature on the printing presses that would publish nazi propaganda. It was 
only after the public accepted the censorship laws (something Nazi state was 
very fond of) that opposition to Nazism was all but destoyed.

But practicality extends into "day to day" existance, as can be seen by the 
Right To Be Lazy approach, where people oppose the more hierarchical approach of 
the "right to work". Needless to point out that even capitalists and statists 
notice the productivity increase when people become lazy, the problem for them 
is that the ideology of laziness actually prevents them from gaining control 
over the creative and productive process, and thus they are very willing to 
sacrifice productivity for the sake of the power and control.

2.

Anarchy is copatible with my spiritual and physical beliefs. Actually to tell 
you the truth it's almost the other way around, my spiritual beliefs often 
complement my political ones. While i do admit that if somebody were to prove to 
me that there is no cause-effect (karma) law in the world around us, i would 
still try to stay consistent with my goals, but so far nobody has managed to 
provide me any proof that my experiences are somehow false and that effect can 
arrise without the cause. As such there can never be a free society which has 
been built through tyrany of the state.

3.

Anarchy is non-violent. True there are many anarchists who like violence. And 
true, i myself believe that there are times when people are put in a situation 
where they have (almost) no choice left to them but to use violence. However, in 
comparison even with the most "liberal" cop, an anarchist is a saint. There are 
numerous statistics which show how many people are killed by the cops *in 
error*, and there is nothing that is being changed in the system of policing to 
prevent that in the future; however, when during some riots a minority of 
anarchists hurl rocks in such a way that they can potentially (or sometimes 
actually) hurt some bystanders, that does get discussed, and future organising 
is different.

4.

Anarchy is "today". Anarchy is not something that will exist in the far future, 
it is today's reality of interaction with people that you know and meet. No 
political party, and no political organisation deals with the issues as broad as 
Anarchy. You can discuss the relation of anarchy with age, gender, sex, race, 
nationality, citizenship, spoken language, disability, etc. and each of those 
discussion will only diversify the understanding of the anarchist movement and 
allow one to see the relation of anarchy to the daily existance.

A long time ago, when i have meat a first other person who called oneself 
"anarchist" (in real life not over the internet). I have told about the 
interesting fact that when somebody asks me "Do you want an apple?" i think of 
the future consequences of my answer, and this person told me that i wasn't the 
only one like that. I would say most anarchists tend to personalise their 
politics to a great extent and live them today... as a lifestyle.

5.

Anarchy is constantly evolving. Ok, it doesn't quite evolve as fast as i 
sometimes want to, and there are many things that we (and that includes myself) 
cling to, which slows us down. But Anarchy has this potential to evolve and to 
create a revolutionary movement withing its own self. With the few (very sad) 
exceptions, no anarchist will claim to understand the relations between 
individuals and of the whole society completely; there is always room for 
growth, and there are always anarchists who will challange you and expect to be 
challanged back.

6.

Anarchy implies consensus. I didn't realise how important it was for me until i 
have been in two different prison abolition groups, one of them operated by the 
simple majority, another by consensus. And while i still often feel like an 
outsider, consensus allows me to view myself as relevant to that group; and the 
decisions which are achieved by taking into account everybody's ideas and 
feelings need not be "enforced", which frees the creative process of the 
individuals.


There are probably significantly more points here that i'm missing. I have not 
prepared this letter, i have simply written out what i think.

I'm also interested to hear thoughts of other participants of London Anarchist 
Forum.

              - VolodyA! V Anarhist



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