> It used to be assumed that anarchists were very *old*, so perhaps this youthful stuff represents progress.
> Tom
Anarchists these days tend to be young, because North American anarchism has attracted many young people over the last 10 years. Still, I cringe every time I see a newspaper article or non-anarchist activist describing anarchism as being "youthful." I know all to well that often this is said to dismiss anarchist radicalism as being a rebellious period that young people go through.
A survey of anarchists that I conducted last year on Infoshop.org found that the average age of anarchists who visit Infoshop to be 24. That's probably a bit low for the overall anarchist movement, given that the demographic of Internet users skews younger. Many of the anarchists that I know are in their 30s and 40s. But the public face of anarchism tends to be younger, thanks to protests. It's not easy for an anarchist in their 30s to keep up with a black bloc, but I've known plenty of older anarchists who have participated in the black bloc. I understand that an anarchist woman in her 60s marched with a black bloc several years ago.
There is also a political agenda used by some left sectarians to misrepresent anarchism as being just a stage of youthful rebellion. They push the idea that young anarchists will grow out of this anarchist phase and then join their sectarian party like mature adults should.
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