Anarchy literally means ‘without rulers.’ It offers a simple alternative
to capitalism and state rule: self-sufficiency. Why should we rely on politicians
and bosses to run our lives, strangers who we have never met and know nothing
about our lives, when we can organise amongst ourselves? Why not do away with
them and let the people that live in a street, town or whole area decide what
happens there, in co- operation with other areas? The people who work together
know how to do the job, or even if it’s worth doing at all? Produce the
essentials of life for need instead of profit, and distribute it freely and
equally?
Under the present system we’re left with the false choice of voting for
one bunch of lying scum or another, while the people with money and power remain
untouched - landowners, directors of industry and finance, high ranking police
and army chiefs, and the rich elite in general, ruling through their middle
class administrators. According to our democratic system the problem is just
with the policies of political parties - every time one of them fails in government,
we’re supposed to hope the next lot do better. Of course they rarely do.
Even when a so-called revolutionary party takes over, the names may change but
the essence of politics, of handing over your life to someone else remains the
same and most people find they still have very little control over their own
lives.
What we need is a change, facing up to the fear of a world turned upside down.
We can’t just vote for it, we must act for ourselves. From the Peasant’s
Revolt to the Poll Tax, people have taken action in grassroots movements that
challenged their oppression. It is a struggle because people with power don’t
want to give it up, but we each individually have the ability to live freely.
We are resisting the same old politicians, the profit hungry corporations, and
reclaiming our power to have fun without permission from above. We want a chance
to live differently, to organise in our communities and our workplaces without
leaders. Our revolution is also a celebration of creativity and imagination.
Today is a chance for everyone to rejoice in resistance, realise their own potential
and start making a difference.
1. Isn’t anarchy basically just violence and disorder?
Anarchism is against anything that stops people living a free and fruitful life.
The rule of the strongest is just another form of oppression. ‘Anarchy’
means ‘without government’ not ‘without organisation’. Freedom
creates true order - the peace of free, rational co-operation.
2. How can you be against the vote when people have died for it?
If the Pankhursts were alive today, which party would they tell people to vote
for? In this election there are even fewer female candidates. One third of MPs
are millionaires, this is a democracy only for the rich. People wanted the vote
to get some control over their lives. Nowadays real control cannot be got through
parliament.
3. Why do you always smash up McDonalds?
Simple answer: we don’t. Anarchism doesn’t necessarily mean property
damage, but equally Anarchists don’t pretend that it is anything more than
simply — property damage. People hate McDonalds because it destroys the
environment, attacks workers’ rights and abuses millions of animals. Some
Anarchists oppose property damage, some endorse it as costing McDonalds money
and giving them bad publicity.
4. Why do you fight the police?
After you strip away the media lies and exaggeration there isn’t much to
say on this. Reclaim the Streets parties use direct action to turn a road into
a free festival. The police move in and crack heads. As one banner said ‘We
want to dance, they want to fight.’
5. Your ideas sound nice in theory, but will you actually change anything?
We already have changed things. Rights and freedoms are not granted from above,
they’re won from below. Direct action works. Genetically Modified crops
would have carried on growing in our farms and fields without people being prepared
to pull them out of the ground. Any act of rebellion shows people what can be
done and encourages them to take control of their own lives.
6. How can you be against globalisation when you use the internet?
‘Globalisation’ usually means the companies becoming more international
- factories in the Third World, head office in London. We want globalisation
of people, not money. The internet is a fantastic opportunity; it could help
unite us all - if only everyone in the world had access to it! Unfortunately
good opportunities get exploited by capitalists. We want more and better technology,
and once human creativity is free from the bonds of profit and elitism we will
get it.
7. Has Anarchy ever happened
Of course - anarchic ideas and ways of organising bubble away in civil society
all the time. Many volunteer groups and credit unions, for example, keep leadership
to a minimum and instead concentrate on getting things done. Most revolutions
are anarchic in their opening stages; however, if the right-wingers don’t
crush the revolution, the backlash of authoritarian revolutionaries who want
to impose a new State usually finishes off any flowering of freedom. Good examples
are the first few years of the Iranian Revolution (1979) and the Russian Revolution
(1917). Since 1994 the Zapatista movement in Southern Mexico has included hundreds
of thousands of people living with no government. They don’t call themselves
Anarchists, but in a true state of anarchy there is no reason to.
8. Aren’t you just attacking things without having a realistic alternative?
The alternatives cannot be imagined by one group of activists, however well-intentioned.
Any attempt to plan a total transformation of society will only result in an
attempt at total control. All we want to do is to encourage people in making
their own plans that are suitable for their own circumstances. If a ‘realistic
alternative’ means having an idea of how these small plans fit together
into a big picture, then no, we aren’t agreed on this. Do we need to be?
Would you like to help us work these ideas out?