Political Memes

Glad to see I'm not the only one having rambling problems. Hope you're ready for a swim (of an alphabetic variety).

But just quickly wanted to get in that I very much dislike cars, just a convenient example because of cars being notoriously long to get in the Soviet union.

the soviet union is the primary reason why I shy away from communism (technically state capitalism but that doesn't matter).

any system has successfully met all the fundamental basic needs of health, shelter and food, and is no longer capitalist.

I'm using the word capitalist the classical (marx) sense of private ownership of the means of production. Companies are capitalist and coops are socialist. one is privately owned, the other collectively.

Freely associated groups, who set rules amongst themselves? Doesn't sound very anarchist at all, sounds quick democratic

Why? If there are no hierarchical structures, Eg the rules are made collectively, why would it not be anarchism? On the democratic part I would say that without majority rule, which is still rule and thus would be opposed by anarchists, it shouldn't be called democracy as the original meaning of the word is "people rule".

Sure, Europeans states are free to do what they want, with certain restrictions they agree to by being part of the EU.

States are fundamentally archic structures, and the EU is even more archic. They are all managed top-down. You have someone at the top of the pyramid who says what will be done. That's archy. That's vertical organisation.

Anarchy is managed differently, through horizontal organisation. Instead of choosing people who will have power over you, you use your own social potential to build collective power to resist the archic power. I view anarchy as a fluid machine. Like a water bubble in 0g. The parts of the machine (people) can move around and bounce off of each-other which changes the shape of the machine. Every cog shapes the machine to fit them. Archy is a machine made of steel someone comes along, sets up the shape, and if a gear doesn't fit they get ground to dust. Anarchy is chaotic organisation. It doesn't do in-groups and out-groups, instead seeing the world as a single group, and empowering everyone in that group to find their place. In such conditions any harmful activity is completely pointless.

Bad people will always exist. But archy rewards bad behaviour by allowing them to get to the top. Anarchy is nothing more than saying "people are imperfect, so no-one should have the right to rule, as every ruler will make mistakes".

On the topic of defence. There is no need to have centralized defence. decentralized defence forces can work wonders. If someone comes and attacks your group the entire group will defend itself. Why should it fall on anyone specific. There are many ways to defend and an anarchist group would encourage everyone to defend the group in their own way.

supply and demand aren't made up things we can leave behind in a post capitalist world.

Maybe supply and demand aren't, but economics are: https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/sectionC.html#secc12. (If you didn't notice the AFAQ has different sections, The complete A4 PDF is 3077 pages)

Money is great. It's just accounting, and allows for greater personal choice

Money is one of the foundations of archy. as soon as you have a concrete number that is associated with a single person those people have power and authority over those with a smaller number. You can't have a fair society with money. And if everyone's basic needs are met then why do you even need it. how can you have an economy if people can just opt out of it.

Small freely associating groups are no longer possible we have cities of millions.

Why? Computers have allowed people to stay connected to hundreds of people. And even though it's currently used to incentivise consumerist isolationism, it doesn't have to be. Why do you think that millions of groups of millions of people can't work without some centralized oversight? I would say they would work better because they won't have the bottlenecks of centralisation. Why can't every apartment block be a commune? Why can't the chef that lives next door make the meals for all of you? Why can't the cleaner clean all of your appartments? Why can't that truck driver bring the chef fresh produce from the farmer he's known for 20 years so all of you can eat and be merry? Why can't that work in a city of millions? If an apartment block doesn't have a chef someone who wants to go to the nearby school and learn. Why does society need to be made up of people who don't know each-other, doing everything they can to screw over everyone else because that's how you get ahead in life? AND WHY SHOULD WE LIVE IN A SYSTEM THAT ENCOURAGES IT? That's all archy is. Means for awful people to screw over others. If not everyone is good then no-one is capable of rule.

are you seriously suggesting not having a police force? Not having courts?

ABSOLUTELY! ACAB! (Originally an anarchist slogan until it's mainstream adoption during BLM) The police are professional bullies, no matter what shape they take. If the responsibility of the enforcement of rules falls on a single group, that group makes the rules. Law enforcement should be the duty of everyone. you see something doing something you think is wrong, go up to them and tell them to stop. If other people are around ask them what they think is going on. no-one else is responsible for your safety but yourself, by keeping others safe. Tit-for-tat. By protecting those around you, you're creating a culture of mutual protection so when you're in trouble that culture will help you. The courts and police were not meant to protect people. They were made to protect property and the ruling class. The only reason they protect people is because the people that threaten the ruling class often threaten normal people as well. (Also the facade of justice gives them plenty of bootlickers) For every person that got justice out of the courts there is another that got screwed over. For every woman that sent their abuser to jail there is another whose life was screwed owner by false allegations.

Justice does not come from books and laws. but from the reactions of people. in a communal justice system the shame of being outed is far more motivating for not committing crimes than fear of jail. Just look at how effective christian rule was during the medieval ages.

Anarchy is about creating a culture that opposes archy. A culture that makes the security of all the people the responsibility of all the people. A culture that ensures everyone has a place in society that they have chosen, not been pushed into. A culture that doesn't assume anyone needs to be governed.

To me anarchy is the society of kindness. Where the power consolidates among those that gain the most respect. Respect that, if abused, will be taken away.

Anarchy is society in it's most complicatedly simple, chaotically ordered, and collectively individual. It's my reason to live. So I hope you can see why these ideas matter to me.