[lbo-talk] anarchism, was Cuba

[Chuck]

B. wrote:
> French writer Octave Mirbeau said "Anarchism has a
> broad back, and endures anything."
> 
> No matter how some individuals might act, it's hard to
> say that the kind of anti-authoritarian critique
> anarchism presents will die, esp. as long as there are
> unjust power relations between men and women, humans
> and state, people and private power, between folks of
> different cultures & races, etc. Over the years I've
> come to see anarchism as an anti-authoritarian
> methodology, not an out-of-the-box system -- a
> methodology, paraphrasing Chomsky, that basically
> looks at a given power relation and asks if there is
> legitimacy to it;  if not, it should be dismantled, to
> increase the scope of human freedom.
> 
> Maybe people will call that kind of anti-authoritarian
> critique something else over time, instead of using
> the provocative term "anarchism," but it's hard to
> imagine this perspective disappearing. Esp. any time
> soon.

Well said, B. This reflects my own take on anarchism. It's more of a 
methodoloy than it is a series of historical events leading up to some 
revolutionary change. This is why I put so much more effort into 
practice over theory. I think that you have to have both, but I think 
that practice is an important way of putting our ideas into everyday 
life and showing people that they are feasible.

Anarchism is also a tool-kit, which we use to dissect, analyze, mock, 
pull aprt, construct, praise, scorn and much more.

Chuck
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