libertarianism & left/right

Dddddd0814 at aol.com Dddddd0814 at aol.com
Tue Aug 13 14:05:18 PDT 2002


In a message dated 8/13/2 10:12:46 AM, you wrote:


>I think that left/right convergence around libertarianism is inevitable. I
posted
>something on this a week or two ago in relation to "individualist anarchism"
and
>I have raised dangers relating to the term "libertarianism" on other lists
too.
>The fact is that if your point of departure is anti-statism, and not class,
capital,
>history, etc., you are going to find yourself at some stage or another in
strange
>company. This is one of the reasons why I am not an anarchist myself,
although
>I have strong sympathies for communist anarchism. I personally have known
many
>people whose notion of anti-statism (and even "anti-capitalism") draws from
both
>the right and left notions, people whose idea of liberation involves
withdrawing
>into the countryside armed with crossbows or AK47s or whatever and forming
communities
>of like-minded people, "away from all the crap of society", hunting and
growing
>vegetables, etc. There is nothing left or right about this, it is simply an
appealing
>fantasy !
>that many people have and some will act on it.

Tahir, this is a good point. The point is that, given the global dominance of the capitalist economic system, there is no "third way" out of all of this. We can either be with the capitalists or against them. Any "third way"-- from fascism on one extreme, all the way to individualist anarchism on the other-- will simply lead back to support of the class in power. This has been bourne out time and time again throughout history.

Best, David



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