Ask an Anarchist!

[Perfection]

How should large projects like highways and airports be put together?

 

[amadeus]

If I steal somebody's car, what happens?

* Who arrests me?
* Who decides under what statute I would be charged under?
* Who is the jury in the trial? (Is there a trial? What's that process?)
* Who can be appointed to be the judge? If it is a non-hierarchical society, can there even be judges?
* If it is decided that I'd be punished, what is stopping the system from having me tortured?

 

[Karalysia]

Please delete

 

[amadeus]

1. Police

But isn't having police hierarchical?

2. Law and Jury

Who writes the laws and selects the juries?

4. Panel

A panel of who? How is the panel selected?

5. Constitution

So what separates anarchism from what we have now? It sounds like a state, which is what I assume the anarchists are trying to abolish.

 

[Karalysia]

Please delete

 

[BuckyRea]

You can abolish the state and still have government provided it's consensually and democratically agreed upon.

Sounds like "You can completely removed food from your diet so long as you continue to ingest nutrients and calories through your digestive tract."

Question 1: Explain how my analogy is flawed.

Question 2: If you "still have government" don't you still have the state?

Question 3: How can you have a set of rules for determining consensus and democracy if you don't have a state government to officiate that group decision making process?

 

[Left]

"You can completely removed food from your diet so long as you continue to ingest nutrients and calories through your digestive tract."

Its more like "You can cut meat out of your diet and continue to eat."

Anarchy doesn't mean no law. State level organization is but one form of organization.

 

[amadeus]

In the case of meat, we can clearly differentiate it from what is not meat. Now tell us what the difference between a state government and non-state government is.

 

[cardgame]

a government is the State.

Question to the OP: What grand projects could be accomplished by an anarchist country, as opposed to one such as the 20th century United States? Could a Hoover Dam, Space Program, or Internet have been created without some form of government?

 

[Left]

In the case of meat, we can clearly differentiate it from what is not meat. Now tell us what the difference between a state government and non-state government is.

Societies are classified into 4 types, band, chiefdom, tribe and state.

Band: 10-200ish people, hunter-gatherer society (historically), no or very little hierarchy, no official leadership.

Tribe: Larger group, leadership is charismatic and usually not hereditary, little formal leadership structure.

Chiefdom: Even larger, power strucuter is more dependent on family lines, more hierarchy, but still a largely egalitarian and communal society.

State: Large, centralized government with a bureaucracy, formally elected (or not elected) leadership, taxes, etc, etc. What we have now.

I'm not an anarchist but I would suspect that the posters in this thread would advocate for diminishing the state and placing more power in the hands of autoonmous communities. Essentially eliminating state and corporate bureacracies which inevitably lead to abuse, putting power directly into a more communally minded local democratic governments.

 

[Joecoolyo]

I can give you a general outline though. The world would be highly federalized into different communities(probably towns/townships/cities) that would be run through direct democracy. These different communities would be connected much like they are today and broader decisions between them would probably be run in assemblies with appointees from different communities(different from representatives in that they basically have to do exactly what their "constituents" tell them to do). The internet could even be used for this and human appointees would not even be necessary.

Wouldn't this invite a sort of mob rule though? How would you prevent things like laws that discirminate against a certain race or laws banning certain religions from passing? Especially if your society lacks a centralized government. Who's there to protect people's rights, especially minorities?

 

[Left]

^ I'd like an answer to that to, I once attended an anthropology lecture where the speaker contended that cultural homogeneity was essential to an anarchist community.

 

[GhostWriter16]

Wouldn't this invite a sort of mob rule though? How would you prevent things like laws that discirminate against a certain race or laws banning certain religions from passing? Especially if your society lacks a centralized government. Who's there to protect people's rights, especially minorities?

I echo this question.

Also- @Civver- Is not the definition of anarchism lack of a state? How do anarcho-capitalists NOT count? Or did you mean just for this particular thread.

Also, how would you consider anarchism should be instituted? Violent or non Violent? If non Violent, how?

 

[Harvin87]

Me too. Order is needed in a society and the state is prepared to give law.

 

[Ayn Rand]

1. Aren't anarchists supposed to be about individual freedom? Yet you have consistently defended communism and socialism as "real anarchism". Why do you support communism yet call yourself an anarchist?

2. Don't you think it's contradictory to call yourself an anarcho-collectivist when, in fact, individual freedom in the form of anarchy is completely contradictory to collectivism?

3. Have you ever actually got involved in a protest or revolutionary activity? If you are a "real" anarchist, then shouldn't you be a member of a revolutionary cell trying to overthrow the State?

4. Anarchism is supposed to be a form of ethics, yet you have consistently advocated the use of force for controlling members of a community and taxation. How do you square this up with your supposed anarchist beliefs|

5. Anyone can be an anarchist if they choose to, yet you claim that anarcho-capitalists are not anarchists. So do you also own the entire anarchist movement? Shall anarchists call you "king"?

 

[onedreamer]

1) How do you cope with living on a planet where Anarchy has no place and the State rules above everything? Starting, for example, from the means of survival which depend on money which is clearly an alien concept to Anarchism
2) How can there be direct democracy without a state? What would people vote about?
3) There can't be real anarchy in any part of the planet until when there are states in other parts of the planet, do you agree (because States only recognize other States, and Anarchy is not a State)? This kinda contradicts your claim that Anarchy is not Utopia. Why if not.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I look forward to the fruits of this thread. Should be highly interesting. I will be paying attention, as I have a long anarchist reading list. The only Anarchist text I've read is Chomsky on Anarchism, so I hardly qualify to answer questions here.

 

[galdre]

I'll admit, I've always liked the idea of anarchism because I find hierarchy so distasteful and would love to see the amount of power any one person could have greatly reduced.

However, I tend to think that it's not the system that's the problem, but the people making up the system, and therefore any form of government would abuse its power

 

[emzie]

A highschool Freshman is wearing an anarchy shirt (red A in a circle). An upperclassman punches him. He reports the assault to the principal. Is this ironic?

I wasn't trolling. I'm actually curious. This happened when I was in school.

 

[shadowplay]

How do you feel about the protests in London today?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11829102

Did they go too far?

Are they even anarchists?