Once people find out I’m an anarchist (and get over the shock that I am not a fifteen year old punk rock white boy who likes to smash windows), they want to know what anarchy is (if not violence and mayhem). I explain to them that anarchy means “without rulers” and that I am against all forms of domination.
Now, of course, they want to know how we are going to live without domination. They tell me that, without police, we will have no protection from violent criminals. They tell me that, without bosses, nobody would do anything and we’d all starve. They tell me that, without coercion, people would just argue forever and nothing would ever get resolved. They tell me that, if you remove coercive institutions tomorrow, someone would just go about trying to recreate them.
They think anarchy is a utopian dream.
They’re right. It is a utopian dream. And there is nothing wrong with utopian dreams. Whenever humans have made progress, it has been because of people who had seemingly unrealistic dreams about human possibility. Mother Jones, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King had utopian visions for the world. Their visions may not have been fully realized, but they changed things radically for the better.
I don’t believe I will ever see a society that is completely free of coercion and violence. But that doesn’t mean that I’m just going to roll over and accept coercion and violence. I don’t believe I will ever see a society where hierarchies don’t exist. But that doesn’t mean I’m just going to roll over and accept man over woman, white over black, straight over gay, rich over poor, owner over worker.
When they tell me that, without police, we will have no protection from violent criminals; I tell them that half the people who are languishing in prison are not violent criminals. I tell them that “17.6 % of women in the United States have survived a completed or attempted rape.” I tell them that most rapes go unreported and most rapists unpunished. I tell them that, in many cases, the police are the rapists and not protecting us at all. I tell them that I don’t think I’m protected now.
When they tell me that, without bosses, nobody would do anything and we’d all starve; I tell them that people are starving now. I tell them that “almost one person in six does not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life.” And I tell them that there are alternatives to hierarchy. I tell them about the FASINPAT in Argentina and Arizmendi bakeries in California. I tell them about AK Press and Mondragon (soon coming to a U.S. town near you).
When they tell me that, without coercion, people would just argue forever and nothing would ever get resolved; I tell them that ordinary people, working together, can come up with solutions on their own. And if they don’t believe me, they can ask nobel prize-winning economist Elinor Ostrom.
I don’t disagree that there will always be people trying to rebuild the coercive institutions that we manage to tear down. There are people out there who long for the antebellum south. There are people who would like to bring back ruling monarchies. And obscene amounts of people supported McCarthyism and the Patriot Act and every other rollback of civil rights some butthead has proposed. That’s not an argument against anarchy.
I’m not naive. I understand the challenges. I understand how imperfect we all are. But I also see the possibilities. I see anarchy happening in little (and not so little) ways all over the world. And I know that the people are wrong who think obtaining power, and using that power over others, is the only way to accomplish anything. It isn’t the only way. It isn’t the right way.
I do not believe that the world will ever be all peace, love, and cotton candy. I do believe that the more people adopt anarchist principles, the better off we will be.