this is post is based on a conversation i had with someone about whether we positively connect our anarchism to democracy or not, because on one hand the democratic ideal, of everyone being in power and making decisions together is pretty neat and anarchist, and that’s also what many people think of when they hear democracy, but then democracies (as in democratic organisations and states) since the greek inception of the word also have almost exclusively been the ruling of a privileged few over the rest, with just enought power (or illusion of power) handed back to us that we wouldnt rebel. as one argument goes: if “democracy” literally means “rulership of the people” then who are the people?
sadly we did not kiss after the conversation :<
but i think we agreed that honestly either is fine ฅ>⩊<ฅ
and now: me rambling about anarchy :3
if you are wondering now “anarchy? isnt that when everyone just does whatever they want and fucks everyone else over?? isnt that just destructive chaos?”
then well, that is one definition of anarchy but it is not the anarchy that anarchists desire ;3
anarchy as anarchists understand it is a society organizing itself by anarchist principles. this expesses itself through things such as mutual aide, free association, absence or minimalization of hierarchies and direct action.
basically people getting together in all areas of their lives, to together fulfill their needs, help each other, make decisions among those affected and resolve conflicts together. it’s ofc not always glamourus, no society is, but we believe that it is a better way of living and organizing and we can start building it here and now by just doing those things
important values of anarchy are equality, freedom, solidarity, consent, and uniqueness. those are also shared (or claimed to be shared) by other political movements and organizations, but i would argue that most put other things first such as upholding the current system, maintaining and extending the rulers power and such.
ofc not all anarchists think alike so at the end of the day this is just one perspective out of many
if u are intrigued now and wanna hear more about anarchism, you could check out the anarchist faq or ask in the comments but pws don’t be mean
What’s everyone’s opinion on gradual reform vs sudden revolution and how to accomplish that, probability of success, costs/risks/consequences etc?
Well, both have their issues. Gradual reform will be the work of generations, and good luck keeping everyone pointed in the same direction for that long. Sudden revolution overcomes that issue, but it’s basically a dice roll on what you are going to get on the other side of it. The idealized version of the outcome that the initial revolutionaries present is very rarely what you actually get.
Thanks for the thoughtful response. What do you think we should do?
Personally, I’d work on option A. Sudden revolution is going to result in a whole lot of people dead, and there’s a strong chance that it just makes everything worse. Quick fixes rarely work long term anyway.
i believe that social change is necessarily a gradual project, because we need to build the new systems and learn to act self empowered and build new relations to each other and all of that takes time and room for experimentation.
people can show great initiative during power vacuums or sudden breaks, but if they never experienced anything else, i think they are likely to just reproduce what they already know.
the important thing is that states and private companies can not bring those gradual changes. they can make things easier, encourage things, and open doors, but at the end of the day it’s against their own interest to completely subvert their own power and we need to learn to be indepentent from them and reclaim our power. we have to be the change. we can’t wait for or rely on reforms.
Thanks to you too for the thoughtful response. What’s one specific thing a person can do that would make the most change?
thank you for ur kind words <3
i believe the best way is to form connections to the people around you, your neigbourhood, workplace, place of study,… , get to know each other, help each other find the issues and needs that you share and ways to solve them together. when you build social structures, build them horizontally, where everyone can meet as equals and with power rooting back to the base and being delegated from there, not the other way around. when possible cooperate with other groups to combine your strength and resources.
i often ask myself “how might this be solved in a better society?” and then try to do that
it might be useful to find people who are ideologically aligned with u so u can talk about this stuff, learn new things, and kick things off together
Well, I’ve always been a Suzaku guy, but I get where Lelouch is coming from!
Sorry for my naivety, but that’s way over my head. Never heard of either.
It’s a reference to the 2007 anime Code Geass, considered one of the greats. They’re the main characters that are childhood friends living in a subjugated Japan under a large authoritarian superpower. Lelouch spends the show scheming to burn the current order down to then build a new world from the ashes while Suzaku works to carve out better living conditions for the oppressed Japanese and improve the world from within the system. Who is right? Within the show it’s debatable.
It’s got a lot of anime tropes, but it’s pretty good.
Thank you! You two are reminding me of what makes the Fediverse so good.
That depends on how you see gradual reform we need to build split power(power lose from the goverment such as local farming arming the working class) and change cultural stuff in that way gradual reform is needed for a revolution to start but if you mean it in the voting way its not gonna change much the whole voting system everywhere is to wraped up in big capital to bring actual changes best we can do is fight off collapse by voting left On revolutionary action and if it would work i think it would the system is not too stable right now everything is slowly crashing down it just needs a lil push(not saying it would be easy at all)
I prefer Kaizen (continuous improvement) but I’m also in a pretty damn comfortable position in the existing system. I can fully understand the desire for Kaikaku (radical change) and will mostly excuse (if empaneled to a jury, refuse to punish) behavior that rejects the status quo in favor of something better as long as “crimes against persons” are defensive and reasonably restrained.