Post-left anarchy
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Post-left anarchy is a recent current in anarchist thought that promotes a critique of anarchism's relationship to traditional leftism. Some post-leftists seek to escape the confines of ideology in general. Post-left anarchy is marked by a focus on social insurrection and a rejection of leftist social organisation.[1]
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[edit] Arguments
The left, even the revolutionary left, post-leftists argue, is anachronistic and incapable of creating change. Post-left anarchy offers critiques of radical strategies and tactics which it considers antiquated: the demonstration, class-oriented struggle, focus on tradition, and the inability to escape the confines of history. The book Anarchy in the Age of Dinosaurs, for example, criticizes traditional leftist ideas and classical anarchism while calling for a rejuvenated anarchist movement. The CrimethInc. essay "Your Politics Are Boring as Fuck" is another critique of "leftist" movements:
Why has the oppressed proletariat not come to its senses and joined you in your fight for world liberation? ... [Because] they know that your antiquated styles of protest – your marches, hand held signs, and gatherings – are now powerless to effect real change because they have become such a predictable part of the status quo. They know that your post-Marxist jargon is off-putting because it really is a language of mere academic dispute, not a weapon capable of undermining systems of control…
—Nadia C., "Your Politics Are Boring as Fuck"[2]
Some post-anarchists have come to similar conclusions, if for different reasons:
There is a certain litany of oppressions which most radical theories are obliged to pay homage to. Why is it when someone is asked to talk about radical politics today one inevitably refers to this same tired, old list of struggles and identities? Why are we so unimaginative politically that we cannot think outside of this 'shopping list' of oppressions?
—Saul Newman, From Bakunin to Lacan, p. 171[3]
[edit] Conflicts with leftism
Advocates of post-left anarchy argue that anarchism has been weakened by its long attachment to contrary leftist movements and single-issue causes (anti-war, anti-nuclear, etc.). It calls for a synthesis of anarchist thought and a specifically anti-authoritarian revolutionary movement outside of the authoritarian leftist milieu. It sometimes focuses on the individual rather than speaking in terms of class and in some cases shuns organizational tendencies in favor of attempts at absence of hierarchy, with some attention paid to the idea that informal, unstructured groups tend to create informal hierarchies.
The authoritarian left, post-leftists argue, is anachronistic and incapable of effecting change. Several post-leftists have also argued that an essential element of authoritarian leftism is a reliance on "compulsory moralism". Such socialized value judgements perpetuate alienation and an inability on the part of individuals to think critically. Post-leftists believe that anarchism necessitates organic, subjectively derived self-theory.
[edit] Proponents and detractors
Groups and individuals associated with Post-left anarchism include CrimethInc., Jason McQuinn, Bob Black, and the magazines Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed and Green Anarchy. The ideas associated with post-left anarchy have been criticized by other anarchists, notably Murray Bookchin, whose polemic, Social Anarchism Or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm, attacks these recent trends in anarchist thinking. Bob Black wrote a book in response to Bookchin's arguments called Anarchy After Leftism.
[edit] See also
- Green syndicalism
- Illegalism
- Insurrectionary anarchism
- Left anarchism
- Post-structuralism
- Situationist International
[edit] References
- ^ Macphee, Josh (2007). Realizing the Impossible. Stirling: AK Press. ISBN 1904859321.
- ^ Nadia C. "Your Politics Are Boring As Fuck", CrimethInc. Selected Primary Texts.
- ^ Newman, Saul (2001). From Bakunin to Lacan. Lexington: Lexington Books. p. 171. ISBN 0739102400.
[edit] Further reading
- Black, Bob (1997). Anarchy after Leftism. Birmingham: CAL Press. ISBN 9781890532000.
[edit] External links
- "Anarchy After Leftism" a comprehensive primer and portal from Infoshop.org
- "Primitivist and post-left 'anarchism'" from Anarchism.ws
- "ifightbears.org" a hub for like-minded writers and theorists of the post-left school of thought
- "[1] Letter to "Anarchy" magazine criticizing Post-Left Anarchism
