anarchism

Day 2033, start?

Anarchy, why not?, Daily picture

Anarchy, why not?

First, something about anarchy. When most people think of anarchy, they think of lawlessness and political disorder. In the Standford Encyclopedia of philosophy1, you can read in the introduction: Anarchism is a political theory, which is skeptical of the justification of authority and power, especially political power. Anarchism is usually grounded in moral claims about the importance of individual liberty. Anarchists also offer a positive theory of human flourishing, based upon an ideal of non-coercive consensus building. Anarchism has inspired practical efforts at establishing utopian communities, radical and revolutionary political agendas, and various forms of direct action… At this moment, I am not so interested in the political side of anarchism. There are countless forms of anarchism, sometimes also called libertarianism2, and like with all political tastes, they all claim some unique knowledge on how the world should be organized based on their conception of what the world is.  

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Day 1934, diss order.

anarchism, Daily picture, Poetry

The barrier we lean against

comforts us

 

After almost 15 years of seclusion from much of society our move to the city was both a welcome surprise and change. Before I moved to North Norway I lived in Holland where you can meet all kinds of people if you want to, and I did. I have had a lot of good conversations, I was already interested in philosophy, psychology and more and I always tried to talk about these subjects but with little success overall. Most people have some interest in for example philosophy but up till a certain level. Its like talking about your train collection, at first people indulge your enthusiasm but if you still talk about the different train tracks you can buy after 20 minutes you start to see in their faces that you went to far. So, my move to Norway, and thus lack of social contact, was not a big problem because I could do without the disappointment of people losing their interest when I wanted to dive deeper.

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Crass.

anarchism

crass-picture-13-1200x480I you think about anarchism and music you think about punk, if I think about punk I think about Crass.

The lyrics might not always be refined  but they come straight from the heard and are in essence not different than a pamphlet from a revolutionary anarchist from the 19th century or more learned books from the twentieth century.

I will show here parts of some lyrics that speak to me with links to youtube if you like to listen to it.

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James C. Scott – Two Cheers for Anarchism

anarchism, Books

James C. Scott.jpgTwo Cheers for Anarchism is a book written by James C Scott a political scientist and anthropologist.. It’s a collection of examples of “anarchistic” behavior in daily life and other stories related to the movement. While writing this I almost finished the book and so far I can recommend it but don’t take my word for it.

Excerpt:

Preface

The arguments found here have been gestating for a long time, as I wrote about peasants, class conflict, resistance, development projects, and marginal peoples in the hills of Southeast Asia. Again and again over three decades, I found myself having said something in a seminar discussion or having written

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Max Sterner, the ego and its own.

anarchism, Society

Max Sterner, the ego and its own.

max-stirner.jpgI know about Max Sterner for many years now, mainly as a predecessor of Nietzsche philosophy but I never read anything from him, till yesterday when I started on his most famous book The ego and its own. There is lots of information to find on the internet but Wikipedia says the following about this book:

The Ego and Its Own (German: Der Einzige und sein Eigentum; meaningfully translated as The Individual and his Property, literally as The Unique and His Property) is an 1844 work by German philosopher Max Stirner. It presents a radically nominalist and individualist critique of Christianity, nationalism, and traditional morality on one hand; and on the other, humanism, utilitarianism, liberalism, and much of the then-burgeoning socialist movement, advocating instead an amoral (although importantly not inherently immoral or antisocial) egoism. It is considered a major influence on the development of anarchism, existentialism, nihilism, and postmodernism. Read the rest here.

Excerpt:

Translated from the German by Steven T. Byington. 1907

  1. A Human Life

From the moment when he catches sight of the light of the world a man seeks to find out himself and get hold of himself out of its confusion, in which he, with everything else, is tossed about in motley mixture.

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Slavoj Žižek.

anarchism, Society

Slavoj Zizek.jpg

I like watching video’s with Slavoj Zizek in it and it fits well with my quest to understand more of the progressive political and philosophical world now and in the past. He is not an anarchist per se but he has little pretensions and is not afraid to be provocative. The truth is mush harsher then we are used to consume it in our world of “bread and circuses”.

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Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays

anarchism, Society

Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays

Anarchism and Other Essays is a 1910 essay collection by Emma Goldman, first published by Mother Earth Publishing. The essays outline Goldman’s anarchist views on a number of subjects, most notably the oppression of women and perceived shortcomings of first wave feminism, but also prisons, political violence, sexuality, religion, nationalism and art theory. More on Wikpedia here

goldman_anarchism.jpg

Excerpt:

PREFACE – Some twenty-one years ago I heard the first great Anarchist speaker—^the inimitable John Most. It seemed to me then^ and for many years after, that the spoken word hurled forth among the masses with such wonderful eloquence, such enthusiasm and fire, could

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Peter Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread.

., anarchism, Books, History

The Conquest of Bread

This is the first short introduction of famous anarchist and anarchism in general i post. It just happens that I started listening to this specific book today so that’s why it will be the first. My intentions are to write about anarchism regularly as a way for me to categorize it, something I would do any way, collecting links, names, books etc.

Peter_Kropotkin_circa_1900.jpg

It’s like a shared adventure into the world of anarchism, a world that is misunderstood by most but it might surprise you how mush we have to thank those pioneers for the things we take for granted now. My starting premise is that anarchistic ideas where often so explosive that it changed the trajectory of the society in witch it exploded, afterward the speed of change dropped fast and conservative forces took control but they where not able to turn back the clock on everything.

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Day 997, speak to yourself.

Day's pictures, Poetry, Society

Day 997-1.jpg

Intertwined with loneliness,

the silence when you speak to yourself.

Nochrisis

Verweven met eenzaamheid,
de stilte wanneer je tegen jezelf praat.

 

I always lived more in my head than in “real life”. Life is something I am interested in ever since I started thinking for myself. I studied it, read countless books about psychology, philosophy and on many other related subjects.

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